Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Even if you don't live the in the United States or celebrate your own Thanksgiving with a special day, we all need to take a few moments from our busy lives to acknowledge and be thankful for all the blessings in our daily lives! Wherever you are, I wish you all a blessed day and am ever thankful for all you wonderful blogger friends out there!!! `~) Be safe!

Blog Hop November, 2008

Welcome everyone! I decided to use a favorite fold of mine, a Spring card by Sandy Hulsart, found here. I used PTI's Stamper's Select White Cardstock and after folding my card, I covered the bottom & front with 2 different PTI Pink Patterns papers. Due to our unusually dark/cloudy weather, I was unable to get a decent photo, though not for lack of trying! ;~{ If you click on the photo, you can see the detail much better!!!

For my floral embellishment, I altered a felt flower from the $1 bin @ Joanns. After punching a center hole with my Crop-a-Dile, I added "veins" to it using six-strand DMC embroidery floss. For the flower center, I used sheer green ribbon, doubled it over & tied a knot at the fold. I pulled it through from the top of the flower, securing it on the back with a large pop dot. For my stem, I pulled the cotton from both ends of a Q-Tip and bent it slightly. I then wrapped the stem from top to bottom with the same sheer ribbon, securing at top & bottom with a small glue dot. I also folded a small piece & glue-dotted it to the stem for a leaf.

Papers: PTI Stamper's Select White CS; PTI Pink Patters DP

Stamp: PTI's Birds of a Feather

Embellishments: Island Blossom Dew Drops; ribbon & floss from stash

Tools: Crop-a-Dile; Scor-It

Hero Art's Scrappy Thank You

The challenge on Hero Arts Blog this week was to use a stamped scrap & Hero Arts stamp to create a Thank You card. My entry includes the stamped flower scrap, a punched-out stamped flower as an accent and scalloped edge scraps. An added bonus for me is they've added an additional winner for a total of 4, a "fresh face" (someone who's not yet won a contest) -- I certainly qualify there!!! So I got to use several scraps and I have a thank you card when the need arises!!!

Paper: Bazzill and darker purple cardstock from my stash

Stamp: Hero Arts Graphic Letter Messages; Technique Tuesday's Kabloom & Wild Vines sets
Ink: VersaColor's Grape & Heliotrope

Tools: Square Nesties; Fiskars Threading Water Punch; Stampin'Up's Spring Flower Bouquet Punch

Blog Candy!!!

If you're like me & you'd love to try Copics, but never seem to find the cash to puchase them, go here for not only a chance to win Copics, but MORE!!! ;~) Good luck to you too!!!

Chocolate Cake Card

As my entry for CardVaarks Chocolate challenge, I created this card which is nothing like I'd imagined in the beginning! Due to circumstances beyond my control, it's now dark, so my photo will not be the best either! I'll try to re-upload in morning light tomorrow. The challenge ends @ midnight tonight, so here goes!

I couldn't really think what else chocolatey to do but a cake, so I made it 3-layer cake with pearls and white roses. I envision it for a birthday, but guess it could work for a chocolate-lover's wedding too!

Paper: PTI's Shimmer and Bazzill cardstocks

Tools: Square Nesties; Fiskars Threading Water Punch

Embellishments: Martha Stewart Rub-Ons, pearls & ribbon from my stash

Simple Merry Christmas

Between my quest for simple, elegant Christmas cards for this year & a challenge I saw yesterday for a simple one-layer card, I dug through my stash and came up with this one. Sadly, it's too late for the challenge, but I do like its simple elegance. I've had this stamp since 2005 when I took several DeNami classes @ a local LSS and bought most of their Christmas stamps. Sorry to say that I've not used several . . . yet! :~) The gold/deckle-edged cards & matching gold-lined envelopes have been in my stash for several years also! I merely inked the stamp in two colors, added green Spica to the leaves & went over the phrase in red Spica. Though not discernible in the photo, in real life, it's so pretty! Simple & easy, yet elegant -- exactly what a Christmas card should be, I think!!! I'm sending a special "thank you" to Gwen too for recommending the Spica Pens -- they're AWESOME!!! ;-)
Stamp: DeNami Design
Ink: PTI's Ripe Avacado & Pure Poppy
Tools: Spica Green & Red Glitter Pens

Merry and Bright

I decided it was time to break out this Stampendous set from my purchase this summer. Only after I'd spent the time paper piecing "merry" did I attempt to stamp "and bright" -- only to "wiggle" my block that's too large for this dainty phrase! I was so bummed, but I just let it lay on my table for a couple days. Knowing I had nothing to lose, I decided to add some glitter with my now beloved Red Spica pen, not even thinking it would cover my error! I was beyond thrilled when it did -- just another reason to love those pens!!! My husband tried to tweak my camera settings for me today too, so we'll see if this helps capture the Spica glitter. Hope springs eternal!

Paper: PTI's Basic White; Bazzill cardstocks
Stamps: Stampendous' Mega Merry
Ink: PTI's Hybrids: Pure Poppy & Noir
Tools: Fiskars' Threading Water Punch; Scor-It

Witchy-Witch

Though Halloween is long gone until

next year, I realized I never posted this card I made in a rush the day before Halloween. When my sweet friend Kelly sent me a RAK with SU shoe verses, I just had to quickly make a card for my friend Ilene, who dresses up as a witch every Halloween & just got new "witch" shoes & my BBGF (best blogging GF) Gwen, who never fails to comment on my posts in spite of working many long hours every week! Luckily they both live locally, so their cards arrived on Halloween Day! I've had this witch since I first began stamping back in '95 & still love her! I added Lavendar Spica for a bit of glitz, though it's hard to see in a photo!

Cardstocks: Black, Orange & white from stash

Stamps: Witch (unknown); verse: SU's Humor in High Heels

Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black

Other: Tombow Markers; Spica Lavendar pen; Martha Stewart Ribbon

Tools: Spellbinder's Wizard & Long Rectangle Nestabilities

Happy Fall Card II

I finally did a paper piecing, though it's a bit late now for our SBS22 challenge which was for last month!!! My card is fairly simple, since the various Basic Grey Mellow papers give it enough detail, I think! It could work for a male also.
Papers: PaperTrey Ink's Kraft cardstock & pumpkin cardstock from stash; Basic Grey's Mellow 6" x 6" cardstock pad
Stamps: Stampendous Mega Happy & Seasonal Swirls acrylic sets
Ink: PTI's Dark Chocolate Hybrid Ink
Tools: Scor-It Board

Card Toppers RAK

Pictured are the card toppers along with a card Tina sent me for our SBS22 RAK exchange this month -- aren't they just awesome?!!! I love them, Tina, and will be gearing up here soon for my annual Christmas card-making extravaganza! I'm not one who terribly enjoys making more than 2 or 3 of one particular card as a rule, so getting 45+ Christmas cards done is always a big undertaking! Unfortunately, it's very hard for me to make many different designs and then make up my mind who to send them to, so I eventually decide on 1 design & make them all the same. I usually lean more towards "elegant", which means more work embossing, etc., so at least this year I already have 2 cards practically done, thanks to Tina! **U**

Bazzill Stitch'z Flower Card

I got this Bazzill Stitch’z Flower cardstock at their annual warehouse sale in September and had been wanting to try a card with it. I decided not to do any stitching this time. Instead I used my Cuttlebug Bloom Dots folder on the top of the card, added a bow, a little Stickles and a flower-shaped gem to the flower center -- easy!!! I wanted to use these #9 envelopes I've had forever & got the idea to emboss part of the envelope to match my card, since it's color doesn't. Hope the postal machine can handle it!!! **U**
Paper: Bazzill; Orange cardstock from stash
Embellishments: Orange Peel Stickles; flower gem from stash
Tools: Spellbinders' Wizard; Cuttlebug Embossing Folder