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