Hearts, a sketch, and some washi tape

I have really enjoyed just relaxing the last couple days. I haven't even left my home since Christmas Eve! It is so nice to not have to drive anyone anywhere. I know it is short lived, but for now I am relishing the relaxation!

I've been up in my craft room trying to organize (just a little) and couldn't keep myself from playing.  CAS(E) this Sketch had a fun sketch so I decided to play along.

I actually made two cards for it. They both use the SU set Love You to the Moon and some washi tape that I picked up at Michael's after Valentine's Day last year. 

This last card uses the same stamp set, more washi tape from Michael's (yes, I bought it at the same time!), and a sketch from Mojo Monday. I'm really having a hard time getting the pictures to turn out. I'll have to start looking for better backgrounds.

Hope you have a great weekend, and thanks for taking a look!

Bows and Babies

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas this year! I know I did.  It was wonderful to enjoy my family and friends yesterday in the warmth of my home. I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything except bake a ham for a rather casual dinner. I basked in the glow of a fire, the love of my family, and the wonder of my God.

I did have a few moments in between presents, eating, and games to sneek up to my craft room to play. I recently learned how to make bows! This has been a skill that I have not been able to master for years! StampTV had a tutorial on how to do it so I gave it a try. I'm embarrassed to tell you how many times I had to watch the video to get it! But I think I did.

I made this first card for Crafting by Designs challenge "It's all New" and for Allsorts, who had a challenge for brown and blue.

One of the new stamp sets that SU will be coming out with in January is called Baby We've Grown. I read some where that it is good to make 5 different cards using a new stamp set to familiarize yourself with it. I managed to do three.

This one is for The House that Stamps Built. I loved their sketch, and I got to practice making bows again! You may be seeing lots of them on my cards in the next couple weeks!

This last card I kept simple. I think the owls are so cute.

Thanks for stopping by to look! Hope your day is wonderful.

A Few More Christmas Cards

Christmas is fast approaching and I find myself wondering how I will get it all done! A Chrismas party this Sat. at my house for my hubby's staff (and of course the house needs cleaned!), presents to buy and wrap, a ham to get for Christmas dinner, cookies to bake.... the list goes on. Just feeling a little stressed. So what do I do? Make cards, of course!

The first one is for The Shabby Tea Room. Their theme was Sweet Christmas, using red and white gingham and/or gingerbread. I loved Lesley Croghan's use of the doily, so I used it in mine. Hope you don't mind!

Here is another card I made.

This one is for Word Art Wednesday. I love the verse they are using. I have to admit that I was humming this verse from Messiah as I made the card. There is a great flashmob doing this in a food court here. If you get a chance, watch it. It makes me cry everytime I see it! I'm also entering this in the Flourishes and Twist of Faith challenges.

I hope to have some more time this season to create, but if I don't make it back until after Christmas, I hope you have a Very Blessed Christmas!

Snowman Gothic

Wow, has it been busy the last couple weeks! I haven't had time to do much cardmaking until recently. I don't know whatever made me think I could get Christmas cards made in December! I think I'll be visiting those all year Christmas challenges a lot in 2014!

I found this digi stamp a while back and wanted to use it. I think it is so cute! I was trying to keep with the gothic look, but I think more color might be nice. You can't really see the shading on the snowmen very well.

CASology has a challenge with the word "snowflake", and although this isn't technically a snowflake, they are snow flakes! I'm not quite sure if it qualifies for clean and simple either, but I entered it in CAS on Sunday's Christmas challenge too. The Shabby Tea Room is having a Christmas challenge using buttons and polka dots and Sentimental Sundays challenge is snowman, so I am entering it in those also.

This is another card I made.

I'm entering this over at Word Art Wednesday and Twist of Faith challenges. This one might be the card I send this year (If I ever get around to making more!).

Thanks for stopping by!

My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with string

These are a few of my favorite things

I love this song! Over at House-Mouse they have a challenge based on the lyrics of this song. I love House Mouse too, so I decided to play along. 

Here is my packages tied up with string. This is also for Without Words Challenge.

And my warm woolen mittens, even though it's really a hat and booties. This one is also for Tuesday Morning Sketches. 

                                      

 And since reading is one of my favorite things, I included this one. I think their stamps are so cute! I am also very inspired by the DT over there. I am going back for another look and some inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by.

Joyful Tidings

Well, I am in full Christmas card mode. I am having fun making them and keep designing new ones instead of making multiples of the same design. That has always been a problem for me! Once I finish, I'm off to a new one. Mmmm, maybe undiagnosed ADD! Oh look, something shiny - and it's on my card!

I made this card for Bearly Mine Challenges and Technique Time Tuesday.

At Bearly Mine, they wanted traditional Chistmas colors of red and green, and die cuts. Technique Time was looking for a faux frame. I combined the two to come up with this card. I bought these die cuts after Christmas last year and have finally used them! Wahoo!!

I know I'll be posting more cards in the next couple days - just have to get pictures taken. So stay tuned and thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Card

Another quick post for a card I made. This is for The Shabby Tea Room and Mojo Monday challenges.

                                              

I used the above sketch and the challenge of using red, cream, blue, and gingham from The Shabby Tea Room. When I think of gingham, I think of the country. This star die cut reminded me of primitive decorating, so I put all that together and came up with this card.

Hope you enjoy! Now off to make dinner.

Brenda

Mini cups and cup holder

I'm really excited to share my project today! I am making mini cups for the store I get my milk at so they can sample out some of their products. As we were talking about it, the owner was trying to find something to put multiple cups in. Later I thought, I can make something. How hard could it be? Here is what I came up with.

I'm entering it in 2 challenges, Crafting When We Can and Just Us Girls. The  color combination was red, white and brown. 

                                                        

As promised to the girls at card club, I will post the instructions. It is simple to make.

1 - 7" square card stock
1 - 6 1/2" square card stock
circle die (4th smallest in SU, 3rd in SB)
stamps to decorate (I used SU and Technique Tuesday)
ink (I used Early Expresso, Cherry Cobbler, Baked Brown Sugar)
sticky tape

Score the 7" square at 1" on all sides. Fold all scorelines. Stamp your sentiment on the sides. Cut each corner along scored line up to the other scored line. (Hope you know what I mean! You can see it in the last picture if it doesn't make sense) Use sticky tape to form your box.

Score the 6 1/2" square at 3/4". I marked the center of the square (3 1/4") so I would have an easier time placing the die.

When placing the die, put it more toward the outside of the box so your cups fit in better. Mine looked like this.

When you are running it through the big shot, you have to fold one side in to make it fit. Make sure you remember to unfold it or you will cut off part of your side. Not sure if it matters, but I thought I would warn you. Cut your corners and form your box. Insert into the other box. Decorate however you wish.

There are lots of possibilities for this. I think it would look cute with snowmen or snowflakes and it is useable for lots of holidays. Valentine's Day isn't far away!

Thanks for looking!

Brenda

Challenging Challenge

Over at Festive Friday they are having a color challenge that I find a little, well, challenging! I love the aqua and white, but the red was hard for me to add in. 

So I pondered it a bit and decided to use just a little bit of red. Here is what I came up with. You can see the red in the snowman's scarf and gloves. Of course, after I made it I went and looked at the other entries. What a lot of creative ladies out there! Seems I may be the only color challenged one!

I'm also entering it in ABC Christmas Challenge. It has been so fun and motivating for me to discover all these challenges. And to see all the wonderful creations everyone comes up with! You all are truly an inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by.

Brenda

Snow!

It snowed here last night. While I am not ready for this (still have to store the camper, put away the patio stuff, etc.), it did put me in the mood to make Christmas cards. That, and the fact that a local store wants to buy some seasonal cards! So I figured I'd better get creative. And nothing better to do that than look at a few challenges.

First up is a card I designed for Dynamic Duos and Just Us Girls.




I combined these two challenges and made this card:

I was excited to find that a SU punch I have fit perfectly with this SB die I picked up last night! Can't wait to play with that some more.

Over at 52 (Christmas) Card Throw Down they had a black, white, and gray color challenge. Here is my card for that.

And finally, a snow one. I made this for a challenge but never posted it. 

Thanks for taking the time to look!

Brenda

More Thanks

The challenge over at Less is More this week is to make a one layer thank you card. I figured since I needed to write so many, I would go with a simple design so I wouldn't spend all my time making cards and would actually write the thanks! Here is my card.

Added embossing to make it stand out a little. Hope you like it.

Brenda

Thanks and a Tribute

I find myself in need of thank you cards.

 My father died a little over a week ago. It was one of those expected, yet unexpected things. I am still grieving over the loss of what was and what could have been. He was a simple man, always quick to help out anyone in need, not a man of many words but of action. He loved my brother and me and I am grateful for the many things he taught us. I get my dry sense of humor from him (my brother does too) as well as many other good things. There is a hole in my life now that will not be filled until we meet in eternity. I am thankful he was my dad.

The thank you's are mostly for my church family who have been such a blessing to me. They have loved me through this hard time, supported me with food and prayers, and been the friends that I needed to get through this. I am grateful that God has put them in my life. He truly knows my needs!

I haven't been motivated to do much, so I went looking through all the card challenges to see if I could get inspiration for a thank you card. Over at Cupcake Inspirations they had a challenge that was a fall leaves theme. So I decided to go with that. After all, cupcakes can be very inspiring!

It's just a simple card. But it says what I need it to. I am so thankful. I think my dad would approve.

Brenda

Sailboats and Tractors

Even though fall is one of my favorite seasons, I find myself missing the sailboats on the bay when I drive by. It's one of the first things I look for in the spring, so the disappearance of them is a little sad for me. It means winter is coming. They are calling for snow for tomorrow already! Not ready for that!

Over at The Paper Players this week they are looking for clean and simple masculine birthday cards, so I pulled out an old sailboat stamp and this is what I came up with. I love brown and blue together.

 

I made another one in honor of my husband, who really wants a new tractor and is trying to find a way to justify one. Maybe I'll give him this card because I think this is as close as he's going to get!

photos by Bekah Joan

Thanks for stopping by and looking.

Brenda

World Card Making Day

                                                    

Yesterday was World Card Making Day, so I did my part and made cards. This first one is for the challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches using this sketch.

                     

      

I've had these doilies around for about 6 months and haven't wanted to use them because they are so pretty and I was afraid I wouldn't like what I did and they would be wasted. Plus I am just a pack rat (don't want to say hoarder!). 

Over at Unscripted Sketches there was a challenge using this sketch.

                               

   

Here is my take on it. Since part of the purpose of WCMD is to start our holiday cards, I figured I'd use a Christmas theme. I love the SU Button Buddies set.

I did another Christmas theme for CAS(E) this Sketch! using this sketch.

  

I found these stickers at ACMoore in a clearance bin and though the would be perfect for this challenge. They are really sparkly and fun!

Those were my cards for WCMD. Thanks for looking.

Brenda

                                       

Halloween

I've been busy making items for a craft fair when I came across Curtain Call's challenge to make something spooky! Well, that fit right in with what I'm making, so I decided to post the "spooky" projects I've been working on.

After I made the tea cup the other day, I started thinking that they would be cute for Halloween with some candy in them.  I really like the way they turned out.

cs: black, cajun craze
dp: canvas home basics
stamps: SU  Googly Ghouls, Stampabilities,
Recollection
Candy: Hershey's ;)            

I also used the SU matchbox die to make up these two.

Cs: vanilla
DP: Canvas Home Basics
Stamps: SU Googly Ghouls, Recollection
Recollections Washi tape
Sb die

I absolutely love the little mummy! He is so cute!

Photos by Bekah Joan

I'm going to make a few more designs (I hope!), but I thought I would post these two for now. And I'll try not to eat all the candy!

Thanks for stopping by.

Brenda

Tea

I love tea. With the mornings being cooler I get to enjoy hot tea again. My oldest daughter enjoys it too. While she likes all sorts of flavored tea, I'm a black tea sort of girl. Nothing fancy, just a good hot cup with milk and sugar.

I made up this cute teacup that I saw on Pinterest. There were no instructions (don't you hate that!) so I played around with it and came up with this. Over at Dynamic Duos, they are having a challenge with pink so I decided to go with those colors for the teacup.

cs: blushing bride, primrose petals, ink: SU primrose petals, stamp: IO

I'll post the instuctions later, once I get them figured out a little more. I'm still working on the bottom and how to hold it together better. I think it would be cute filled with candy or tea or hot chocolate... the possibilities are endless!  

I also decided to make up some tea bag holders. I think they will make nice gifts. Here is one of them.

      

There were a couple other challenges that I made a card for this week. One was over at Mojo Monday and the other was at CASology. The cue card for CASology was autumn and this is the sketch from Mojo Monday:

           

Here is my card for those two.

Photos by Bekah Joan

Sorry for such a long post! Hope you enjoyed a nice cup of tea while looking at it! 

Brenda

Summer's End

Well, it's official at our house. Summer is over. We closed the pool yesterday. It was sad watching the water drain out and putting the cover on. Even though I didn't use it a lot this summer, I will miss it, mostly because I know what comes next.

SNOW!!!!

I know, I know. Don't rush things. Autumn is first. But I needed a good lead in for the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge over at Always Playing With Paper. Snowmen!

So I went digging through my stash to see what snowman stamps I had, and came up with one I bought on ebay a couple months ago. Here is what I came up with.

I made a recessed window using a tutorial over at splitcoast stampers. I did it from memory, but I probably should have gone and looked again because I struggled with it a little. It's colored in with prismacolor pencils and gamsol blending solution, and the backgroud sky is inked using a sponge dauber. I don't think it shows up well in the picture, but I put liquid pearls on the stars.

There was a sketch challengeover at Paper Players that I did too. Here is the card I made for that one.

I love these stamps from Inky Antics. When you open them up they have honeyconb paper inside that just adds a nice touch. I think they would be great for a kids birthday.

photos by Bekah Joan

Thanks for stopping by today.

Brenda