Christmas

Hi everyone!  Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedules to stop by my blog!  I really do appreciate it.

The last month has been pretty hectic, as you can tell from the lack of blog posts.  But, as things are calming down, I hope to post a bit more.  I have many cards from the last few months photographed and waiting, which is good, because the ol' mojo has been on hiatus lately.   Maybe posting will give the boost the mojo needs.

The first card today is the one and only Christmas card I sent this year.  Shame on me.   My mom was the recipient.  See how sparkly the focal image is?  Please take my word for it....it is VERY sparkly!  Well, Colleen and I learned this technique from Polly of Polly's Pals at Stampaway last August and did it together shortly after so we wouldn't forget.   I just checked Polly's website to see if she has the technique posted, but I couldn't find it.  Darn!  We'll just have to rely on my lack of memory.  I used adhesive sheets by Therm-o-web (can get them at Mike's) and the Christmas Tree stencil by Dreamweaver.  Here are the steps if you are interested.

1.  Cut a piece of cardstock and adhesive sheet the same size as the stencil.  Remove one side of the adhesive sheet and apply it to the cardstock.
2.  Remove the second side of the adhesive sheet and apply glitter.   Sorry, I don't remember the type or brand at the moment.
3.  Cover the glittered sheet with a second sheet of cardstock, and, using a brayer,  firmly roll over the second sheet of cardstock to make sure the glitter sticks well to the original adhesive/cardstock.  Remove 2nd sheet of cardstock.
4.  Place the tree stencil on top of the glittered cardstock and hold it in place with removable scotch tape.
5.  Using pigment ink and a stencil brush, apply the ink to the stencil as desired.
6.  Remove stencil and cut image to desired size.

The really neat thing about this, is the glitter totally sticks to the adhesive and doesn't come off!  Not on your hands, or your stencil brushes.  Totally clean!  My kind of glitter.

The second card is a thank you I mass produced for Christmas gifts John and I received this year.  Pretty simple...used up some of my most favorite holly paper from Basic Grey, the stamp is from Stampendous and used my Nesties circle and dahlia dies.   Colored with copics, including the spicas for a little shine that you can't see very well in the picture.

That's all for today!  Thanks for peeking!

OLW 33 Home Decor

I should be working, working, working.  Instead, I am playing, playing, playing.  Hmmmmmmmmm.....

A quick one here:   New challenge today over at Simplicity's blog.  One layer card using home decor as our inspiration.   Have had these Unity stamps for a while now and figured today is as good a day as any to put them to use.   Colored with Copics....nothing fancy...just quickly colored and added a simple black line to ground the floating lamps.

Thanks for peeking!

OLW 32: Ages and Ages

Two weeks in a row.  I'm back at it.  I think.  Maybe.  We'll see.

During my hiatus of doing the one-layer Wednesday challenges change occurred.  Life became a bit hectic for Susan over at her Simplicity blog to continue posting the challenges on a weekly basis.  Then Jennifer Styles of Styles Ink came along to save the day.....she and Susan now alternate Wednesdays in hosting the OLW challenges.  

It's Jennifer's Wednesday this week and she came up with the theme of Ages and Ages.  We need to make a one layer "age" card.   Perfect!  I was lacking an idea for my last birthday card of the month which was for my brother in law.  After rumaging around, I came up with this:

I really liked the dry embossing around last weeks image in the OLW 31 challenge, so I decided to do it again!  I like how this turned out.   Image is from Inkadinkadoo and the sentiment is from Impress Rubber Stamps.  Love that sentiment....I usually use it on the insides of birthday cards, but it worked really well for this particular challenge.

Thanks for peeking!

OLW 31: Back to the Beginning

Yeah!   I FINALLY got to do another challenge!  And a really, really simple one at that!
The One Layer Wednesday challenges over at Simplicity's blog finds this past week's mission to go back to our roots.  How did we start stamping/card making????   Inquiring minds want to know.

Years before I started scrapbooking which eventually worked its way into addictive, smaller, quicker gratifications known as cards, one of my sister's-in-law showed me how she made quick and simple cards by heat embossing every stamped image in gold embossing powder.   I was mildly interested and quickly dismissed it.  I worked long hours and barely had enough time to make meals, do laundry, spend time with my husband and once in awhile clean the house.   But, when I finally had the time to venture into card making, I remembered the gold embossing technique and that's what I started with.  Ooooooh!  The magic!

Here's my very simple, gold embossed card, along with a modern twist....an added dry embossed frame around the sentiment made with my long rectangle nesties.

Simple, eh?
The sentiment is from Penny Black and that sparkly gold embossing powder is by Judikins...twinkle gold, I  believe.  LOVE that stuff.  So glittery, without the need to use glitter!  I also used 110 lb. Classic Crest natural white cardstock....its heavy weight and thickness gives such a nice and distinct embossing from the nesties without cutting through the cardstock.  Yum!

Thanks for peeking!

Ok, Colleen.....

....here ya go!
The card you've been requesting I post on my blog.
The card that was inspired by YOUR card.  Thanks for the inspiration! :-)

What a quick and simple card!  Cardstock is PTI Simply Chartreuse with a Cosmo Cricket overlay of dots from Garden Variety (LOVE those dots....must get more!).  Created the big scallops with a border punch from EK Success.   Balloons are from scraps using the Martha Stewart balloon punch with some crochet thread from my stash.   Just popped up and added "strings" to the bottom three for dimension.  Sentiment is from Hampton Art that I just recently found at Michael's.

Thanks for peeking!

Until One Has Loved.....

I have had this old Club Scrap stamp for years and years.....just had to have it when I first saw it.....love, love, LOVE the saying.....BUT! it has never seen ink....you all know how that is, dontcha????!!???

Well, one of my sisters-in-law just adopted a shelter dog - not a puppy - and is in love.  And, I thought this saying was perfect!   While I had it out, I decided to make two.  One of these will find its way to her and her new "Danny"!

The sentiment says, "Until one has loved an animal, a part of ones soul remains unawakened."   Beautiful!

For those of you who so faithfully follow my blog, I apologize for being MIA.   Life's been a bit busy lately, and will continue to be so until after the first of the year.   I have been making the occasional card and have many I want to share on the blog.  I'll try to get a few posts made in the next few weeks.   A HUGE thank you to those of you who visit.  I really do appreciate it!

Thanks for peeking!

OLW 22: Gratitude

What a busy week it's been!
But, Simplicity's challenge has been at the back of my mind all week...whipped one up today and decided it's better late than never to post.   This also covers the Color Throwdown challenge of using old olive, riding hood red and pumpkin pie colors.   I also threw in the kraft and memento dandelion color to round things out.

Pretty simple card...that is the challenge, huh!???...a different size to fit the stamps...3-3/8" x 6-1/4".  The pretty maple leaf is from Inkadinkadoo and the sentiment is from Hero Arts.

Thanks for peeking!