Finally starting my Christmas cards

Well by this time last year I was almost finished with my Christmas cards. I typically join in on the Christmas card challenge over at Splitcoast stampers (SCS), but with new work responsibilities this past March, I have had very limited time. So . . . here is the first card of the season. First off I must say the tea dye ink that makes the image look old fashioned isn't quite that dark on the left as it looks in the photo, couldn't tame it down in PhotoShop without making the rest of the card lighter. Ahh well, you get the idea. (wink)
This card was actually created from a Christmas card kit, which I received in a swap I was in with some great friends over at SCS. This one came from Monkeymama aka Angela. I just love this stamped image. There are so many things you can do with it. I chose to just keep a little bit of color by coloring the holly leaves green and then sponging on some tea dye distress ink from Ranger products. The cs colors used were hunter green and bravo burgundy from Stampin Up, and the dp Angela included in the kit were Stampin Up, so I knew they would match perfectly. I added the brads (albeit a little crooked I noticed after punching the holes), ribbons and some of my favorite K and Company half pearls. One down at least 49 more to go. lol :)

Hope you are all having a GREAT week! Thanks for stopping by!

Are you ready for fall?! Wow, it has been hot these last few days, but luckily here in the northeastern United States it has not been as bad as out West. Phew, I don't want to move to California when it is THIS hot! :)

Well with my wish for cooler temps . . . Fall was the inspiration for this card with my never before inked Harvest Bear from T.A.C. and the little pumpkins are from my Happy Fall Y'all SU set. The colors are old olive, pumpkin pie and really rust with some BasicGrey DP thrown in. All of the sketches in this post are from the Anni-Verve-sary week from http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ this past week. They were lots of fun! :) Julee from Verve gave away a ton of goodies. I was a little jealous that I didn't win a set, but . . . ahh well, I still had a good time playing along.


This card also was created with a stamp that hasn't seen ink before. It is from the JustRite monogram set. I believe it is considered the 1 3/8 inch set. It was one of their early sets that I just had to snatch up before they were all sold out and the new ones in stock. I hadn't used it for months and months, but now I would love to add more to my collection. If you haven't seen them before, you gotta check them out. The dp is the pretty Bella Rose from Stampin Up and a little extra scrap of a darker red in the front that matched so well I couldn't resist.
Lastly, this set was made with the discontinued groovy guava and purely pomegranate papers and Riveting stamp set from Stampin Up. I was going to place an image in the center rectangle, but I just couldn't bring myself to cover up that pretty patterned paper. I also moved the ribbon up in the sketch challenge instead of leaving it at the bottom to cover my edge of the scalloped layer. It also has tiny half pearls on every other scallop, but later after the picture I decided to use them on each little scallop.

I hope you enjoyed all the photos, and I hope wherever you are, you are staying cool and comfy! :) If you would like to see what I created for the other 2 sketches, they will be showcased on the KL Stampin N Scrappin DT blog on Tuesday, August 18th, because they use Magnolia stamps! I hope to see you there!!

Hugs and Best Wishes,

Wishing You Sunny Days

Hello there, readers! :)

I am wishing you all sunny days!! We have had a pretty wet summer here in Pennsylvania, and now it is getting hot and muggy . . . ohh boy, but ya know before we know it the leaves will be changing and it will get cooler. So, I am not complaining really. When I saw this Tilda Animal Keeper stamp, I knew I just had to save one of them for myself!! This Tilda reminds me SO much of my mom when she is doing chores with her rake and bucket or water/feed. On second thought, maybe I should have stamped a few alpacas in the background to make her look more like Mom. :)

The card stock was run through the tiny mosaic folder to make it look more rugged and then layered on dp with vines and flowers from the Junebug collection. The tag is also from the Junebug "Do Me a Favor" kit. The image and layers were either trimmed to incorporate rounded corners or punched out with Label One dies to keep the same uniformity. Tilda was also colored with Copics, Sakura sparkly gel pen and a Signo white gel pen for highlights.

This Tilda card is on its way to my mom to send her a little happy mail. The sentiment says "Wishing you sunny days . . ." and the inside says "and smaller bean piles." LOL I think she will get a chuckle out of this, I know I did. I just hope she doesn't see this post before she gets it and spoils the fun.

Thanks for stopping by,