BitterSWEET Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!

If you have followed my blog for any amount of time you would know that on Wednesday's I usually post a card using a Sweet Sketch Wednesday sketch!  Well today is a little bittersweet because I don't have one for you.  I have had to make the decision to trim down some of my responsiblities a little so I can keep up with my own personal goals  involving my family and paper crafting.  I have decided to resign from the Sweet Sketch Wednesday DT!  :-(

To see this week's sketch, please visit the SSW blog!

I am starting this New Year with my DT work load lightened by two DT's.  As you previously knew, SheetLoad of Cards is stopping, and now I have resigned from the Sweet Sketch Wednesday DT also. I can't thank Arlana enough for allowing me the opportunity to design with all her talented ladies for the past six months.  I was always amazed with her sketches and plan to continue to use them for my personal card making, but decided that I needed to have a less regimented schedule for designing.

I am continuing with my {ippity} DT, and also Whimsie Doodles, and will finish my last three months as a Dirty Girl for SCS, but I realized towards the end of this year, that by designing for so many teams I was too busy to make cards for my friends and family members for their birthdays and anniversaries and such.  I need to have some days during the week where I can just created for fun like I used to, so I have decided to keep a cap on DT memberships.  I mean the whole reason I do this is to keep in touch with my family and friends.  So if I have been struggling to do that, then something had to give right?

I will be sponsoring a SSW sketch in the future with {ippity} stamps so I will still be involved, but I hope you understand my decision to scale back a bit! Thanks again Arlana!  It was really SWEET working with you!!

I also want to thank Alicia for everything she has done for me on the SheetlLoad DT .  She was the first person to have confidence in me enough to allow me on her DT.  I am so thankful for her and all she has done for me.  I am thrilled though to keep working with her on the Whimsie Doodles DT.  I  know she will fit in perfectly and am happy to continue to work with her! 

Before I close today's post, I wanted to share the last bit of  SheetLoad of Cards submissions that were in this month's final issue...  And yes... they are Christmas again, but sorry I just HAD to share them!!  LOL!  I promise (unless I find some more I forgot to share) that these are the last of my Christmas cards!!  He he!!

I made this for the final issue of SheetLoad of Cards as my beyond the Card project. I made a set of three tags for use on Christmas gifts.  The images are all from Doodle Palace who graciously sponsored our final issue.

Here is the last tag shown on a present!  It is so cute, it doesn't even need wrapping paper.  Don't you love it when your packaging and wrapping can be part of the gift itself?

Here I used the same Gingerbread people to make a card!  Aren't they the cutest?

Well that is all I have for you today! I am still enjoying having my daughter Leah in town from college. We have plans for some shopping and for watching some more Glee on the DVD! Season 1 was released yesterday and she had never seen it before!  It is so fun to watch again!! I love that show!

Be sure to go get this week's sketch from Arlana at the SSW blog and also if you haven't done so already, please go and download your copy of the December eZine from SLC's. They both are awesome sketches to keep in your collection!!

Have a fabulous Wednesday and may your bucket overflow with enough spare time to enjoy making memories with your family!!

Feeling Sketchy?

I hate to do this to you, but I have another Christmas card to share with you!! I know, I know... I don't want to see anymore for a while either, but I made this one before Christmas for a sketch challenge and didn't get a chance to share it with you yet.

The sketch for this card is from Sketchy Thursday.  And {ippity} is sponsoring their latest sketch. So, if you decide to play along, you will have a chance at winning the Because of You stamp set from {ippity}. You have until the 31st to submit!

Here is the sketch...

And here is what I came up with after rotating the sketch and changing the square to a circle!

I used the Kissmas & Mistletoe kit from {ippity} for the snowman which I embossed with white embossing powder that has some silver glitter in it.  The sentiment is from Unity's October Stampin' Store Kit and the flourish is from Unity's January KOM.  The DP is a mat stack from DCWV, the green CS is from The Paper Co.  I used SU's real red ink and added the machine stitching and three rhinestones from Studio 18. 

To purchase the Kissmas & Mistletoe kit you can visit my {ippity} Sales Blog HERE.  I hope you decide to play along with this sketch too.  It is a really great sketch to keep in your stash!!  Thanks to {ippity} for sponsoring the sketch!!  Good Luck!!

I'm Back!!

Happy H{ippity} Hop Everyone!!

Sorry for my sudden absence over the last week, but in preparing for Christmas for my four kids, my step-son and his girlfriend and then travelling to my in-laws where there was no internet connection, I haven't been able to get online and blog! I have missed you guys though and thought of you often!

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas and are planning a Happy New Year too!!  I am rested and excited for what the New Year will bring!

So speaking of the New Year, Eryn has challenged the DT and our {ippity} fans this week. She would like us to resolve to try something new on our project this week!  Is there a new stamp you haven't used, or a new paper or embellishment, or maybe even a new technique or tool that you have never used?   

Well now is your time to try something 

NEW for the NEW YEAR!!

To play along with us and for a chance to win a prize this week, simply create a new project using {ippity} stamps and submit it into the SCS Gallery using the keyword IHHC4 (Ippity Hippity Hop Challenge #4).  There will also be a thread on the forum for you to comment on telling us that you have submitted!  Have fun!!

For my challenge card, I decided to use a technique that is new to me.  It is one that I have seen many times and loved, but have never tried!

This is a thank you card made using the Flower Pot Pocket Card tutorial from SCS!  You can find the tutorial to make one yourself HERE!

Rather than using the punches or die cuts that the tutorial suggests, I thought it would be perfect to use the flower from the Because of You set.  I stamped it five times and colored it with Copic Markers.  Then I trimmed around each of them as close to the lines as possible.  For stability, add an extra layer of CS to the back before stamping and cutting.

This is the view of the card with the tag pulled out of it. You can see how the card is constructed.  This reveals the sentiment which is from the Just Wanted to Say kit from {Ippity}.  The branches and leaves that I also added are from the Devoted kit.

This is the perfect note to send to someone you want to thank who also likes flowers!  It is sure to brighten any day!  I am so happy that I tried this technique because it was easy and makes a great impression when finished!

Thank you for looking and I can't wait to see what you choose to do as you resolve to try something new! 

To follow along with all the blogs that are participating in today's H{ippity}Hop, and to see what  the other DT's members have resolved to try, please visit the {ippity} blog for the complete list. of blogs!  Have fun and thanks for stopping by!!

Happy H{ippity} Hop!!

Good Monday Morning Everyone!

 

If you are an {ippity} fan then you are in the right place for today's Hippity Hop!  If you aren't an {ippity} fan, then I bet if you hop around some of the blogs today that are featuring {ippity} stamps you surely will be!!

{ippity} is a division of the Unity Stamp company and is a line of deeply etched, high quality red rubber stamps designed by some of the most talented and trendy artists out there!  Plus {ippity} stamps are special because they can't be purchased at any retail stores. They must be purchased from an {ippity} chick.  It just so happens that I sell {ippity} so if you are interested in purchasing any of the stamps you see throughout the day today, please visit my sales blog for more details on how you can get some {ippity} sales of your own!

Today, Eva is hosting our Hippity Hop and she is issuing a challenge! She would like us to make a Gift Card Holder using {ippity} stamps!  What a perfect challenge for this time of year, and in fact I needed one, so I was more than happy to participate in today's challenge.  Everyone on the {ippity} DT will be sharing a Gift Card Holder that they made for today as well!  We would love for you to participate too, and if you do, please use the keyword IHHC3 when uploading your gift card holders.

For this card holder.  I created my own template.  The finished size is 4 x 3.5in.  I used the Christmas Tree stamps and Merry Kissmas sentiment from the Kissmas & Mistletoe set from {ippity}. The DP is from DCWV.  The hardest part of  making this was finding some Christmas papers to coordinate with the deep blue Dillards Gift card that needed to go inside!  LOL!

To make my gift card holder I started with solid light blue CS from DCWV.  I cut it to a size of 4 x 10.  Then I scored the piece at 3.5 in, 7 in. and 9in. 

To create the flap to insert the gift card in, I turned the 7 inch fold up and tucked in the last inch so that there were no raw edges where the card slips in.  I place a magnetic strip just under where the card rests and also a small magnetic circle hidden under the ribbon on the inside flap. This way the holder stays closed more easily.

If you are interested, I will type up a tutorial for you so you can try this easy gift card holder yourself.  I think it is so much nicer than the generic ones that you get from the Department stores!

Want to see more Gift Card Holder ideas, and lots more {ippity}?  Then click HERE to start at the beginning of the blog hop. If you don't see the list there yet, it should be live by 10 am CST!

Have a great Monday!! Only 4 shopping days left til Christmas and I am getting ready to hit the stores right now! I will be back a little later in the day to visit your blogs and leave comments!!  Have fun!

May your bucket overflow with warm fuzzies on this chilly first day of Winter!!

Clean and Simple Masculine Card!

Super quick post today!  Sorry for neglecting the blog a little but I am happy to say that I am slowly but surely getting my Christmas projects and to-do list checked off!  I am starting to believe that I might actually be ready for Christmas by Christmas Eve, which is when we will be celebrating this year!

My Father-in-Law had a birthday this week and so I had to send out a card to him. Here  he is with his dog named Gator.  This picture was taken back on Father's Day this year.  It is Tom's step dad actually, but the man Tom considers his father since he raised him more than his biological father did.

I chose to follow along with a challenge on SCS and to use my {ippity} stamps for his card....

The challenge was this week's CAS Challenge CAS45 on SCS, which was to use curves on our card.  I used a masking technique and the numbers collage stamp from {ippity}'s Life's Little Moments kit to create the strip of numbers.  Then I added the sentiment from Just Wanted to Say.  I don't remember the brand of the DP since I found it in my scraps bin.  I kept the colors deep to make is seem more masculine, but then added a touch of red for accents.

I don't usually do masculine too well, but I did like how this one turned out. My husband doesn't quite get the CAS style and how it differs from my typical card style.  He asked me if I didn't want to add anything to the white space!  LOL!! I told him no... I  didn't!! The card was done!!

To purchase any of the stamps you see used in the card I made here, you can contact me through my {ippity} sales blog HERE.

Today and tomorrow I am off call and plan on making cookies and finishing my Christmas shopping.  I am down to the wire, but I have faith!!  I CAN do it!!  :-)

Have a wonderful Sunday and may your bucket overflow with the things you like to do to prepare for the holidays!!

Friends With Flair Friday!

OK I am down to the wire and ALMOST done with all my Christmas cards.  By today, most of them will be postal and hopefully on their way to reach their recipients BEFORE Christmas!!

Whenever I am in a pinch my Unity stamps are always there to help me get out of it!

Problem:  Needed more Christmas cards fast!

Solution:  Unity stamps Clean and Simple Style!!

Here are few of the last minute Christmas cards I whipped up to try and finish them up!  I hope you like them!!

The first one is called Merry & Bright!  Talk about easy... the only stamping is with the sentiment from Unity's October Stampin Store Kit.  It is the Merry & Bright stamp.  I love that one cause it fits perfectly into little circle or square punches.  I used my nesties here.  The DP is from Martha Stewart!! I love it!  It adds such class to the cards!!

 
Here is a closeup of just one of the cards...

The rest of them required a little more effort!  LOL!!

I call this one Funky Merry & Bright.  I used the same sentiment from the card above, but using inks that coordinated with my DP from MME, I added the funky trees from Unity's adorable Christmas set by Lisa Hetrick called Joy & Wonder.  I love these trees!!

Here is a closeup of this one...

The next group of cards I call Santa's Sleigh!

I love using Kraft and in doing so this card came out with a rather rustic, country feel to it.  I think it is cute!!  the two strips at the bottom are actually ribbon from Michael's.  I used MS punches to make the snowflakes that I adorned with buttons from MM and some twine. 

Here is a closeup...

I first created the background scenery with Unity's Deep Woods stamp by stamping it with Versamark ink, then jumbo java Versamagic ink and finally Creamy Color ink by SU.  It is just to provide a subtle tree effect.  Then, on top of that I stamped the sleigh and reindeer from Unity's Christmas Elegance set by Adrianna Marie.  I adorned the bottom with a border punch from MS.

And the last one I call Deep Woods Peace...

This was actually a rescued card. I messed up the background trying to create the scene for the previous card.  Turns out that embossing powder sticks to all inks and not just embossing ink.  So I originally had wanted to emboss only one tree in the center of the card, but instead the whole thing became gold!  LOL!

So I saved it by adding some gold and green DP from Martha Stewart and just let it be the main image!!  I like how it turned out except will you believe that I still messed up and sewed on the Peace panel crookedly??

Believe it or not I still have a few left to make... so I better go get busy!!  Have fun on the FWF hop this morning... I will try and hop along as soon as I can!   I hate how busy it is right now!

Start HERE to find the blogs that are participating today!

And then be sure to visit the Unity Stamp Co site today for a list of all the sales going on too!

The new {ippity} DT members are being announced today also 

so please stop by the {ippity} blog to find out who will be joining us there!!

Have a wonderful day and may your bucket be overflowing with Christmas cards that you are both sending and receiving!

New Whimsie Doodles DT Members

Whimsie Doodles has added 5 new Doodlelicious DT members and we are so excited to welcome them to our family!  Pop by their blogs, say hello and check out their work...  they are fantastic and we are so lucky to have them on our team!  Welcome Ladies!

Paula Bloom-Love Blooms in Me

Alicia Ekermans-Call Me Crafty Al

Dawn Burnworth-My Stamping Thyme

Denise Modin-I Ink I Can

Sheri Gilson-Papercrafty's Creations

 

Come back soon for my second post for the day featuring my Friend's with Flair Friday creations using Unity stamps!

A Tutorial that is Snow Much Fun!

Hello!! Super quick post here today.  I should be out the door to work already, but I am late!!

I have made a few Christmas cards recently that have incorporated a technique that I think I discovered!  I found a way to make a dimensional, yet lightweight snow to add to your card for wintery landscapes.

Do you remember this card?  I made it for our first H{ippity} Hop challenge to use SNOW!

I created this card by CASEing myself  while making the tutorial!

And you also may have seen my Dirty Dozen card from the November Gallery.  The theme was texture and that is when I decided to create this technique.

You can see that card HERE! (But you must be a Fan of SCS to view it!)

I have made a tutorial on the {ippity} blog today that goes through the easy process of making this snow.  There are pictures and everythng.  I hope you will hop over there and take a look at it.  Just click on the words ippity blog above to be taken directly to it!  Thanks for looking!!

I'll be back tomorrow with my Friends with Flair post for Unity!!

Have a great day!  And may your bucket be empty of all the Christmas cards you need to send out! Mine isn't yet... but almost!! LOL!!

Time for Another Edition of Sweet Sketch Wednesday!

I Hope you are having a sweet Wednesday today!  But if you are not (and that would be sad) I have a way to make it sweeter!!  Just take a look at the sketch below from Sweet Sketch Wednesday, copy it and get busy in your craft room making a card! I know that always makes me feel sweeter!!

Our sketch this week is being sponsored by Sally Ann from the Digistamp Boutique again!  We are so happy to have her as one of our sponsors and really thankful that she keeps sponsoring us again and again!!  Thanks Sally!!

We are already up to sketch number 28!  Can you believe that Arlana has been making these awesome sketches for us for over half the year already!! My how time flies!!!

I printed this adorable image called Coco with Little Hearts onto GP cardstock and heat set the ink using a heat tool.  I colored her in using Copic markers.  The background DP is from BG and the pink and white heart paper is from Design Originals. 

I altered the sketch slightly by using two strips of ribbon instead of one.  And for the three embellishments, I chose to use bows!   I thought it made this really girly and since I have plenty of girls in my family to give this to for Valentine's Day.  So the girlier the better!!

I hope that you will stop by and visit Sweet Sketch Wednesday where you can see what all the DT has done with this sketch this week. Also be sure to check out the details for this weeks challenge, because you could be the lucky winner of $15 worth of digistamps from Digistamp Boutique!!  That is huge, so I hope you will play along!!

Have a very sweet Wednesday!!  I'll be back tomorrow!

May your bucket be overflowing with peace and tranquility despite the craziness of the holiday season!

DD Gallery Opening and Whimsie Doodles Release Day!!

It is the 15th of the month and besides it being payday (yeah!!) it is also the day that the

 

Splitcoaststamper's Dirty Dozen/Fan Club Gallery opens  

AND it is also a

New release day for Whimsie Doodles!!

I have been working like a fool because I am such a procrastinator who probably has a little touch of ADD as well!  I have just been swamped lately with deadlines and Christmas.  I am really happy that the Galllery projects got completed and uploaded even if it was just in the nick of time!  I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my chest.  Next month I am not going to wait too long to start my projects.  That is going to be one of my resolutions for 2010!  LOL!

To view the Fan Club Gallery at Splitcoaststampers, you can Click HERE.  But you have to be a Fan Club member to do so.  So if you aren't a Fan Club member, then click HERE to find out how you can become one!  The fee is minimal and gives you awesome advantages over the free membership!

The DD Gallery's theme this month is "Home for the Holidays" and it is filled with fabulous submissions from the current Dirty Dozen!!  You can also find out who the new Dirty Girls are if you head over there!!

Here is a snippet from one of my submissions!!

Now for Whimsie Doodles!!  It is another release day!! Woohoo!!  

I just love my WD stamps and look forward to playing with them as often as I can!  Today there are two new stamps available for puchase.  I am going to share only one of them with you now, and if all goes well, I will be back later to share another one with you this afternoon!

Here is the card that I created for one of the Whimsie Doodles releases today.  The digistamp is called Lush and from the looks of things, it is a very appropriate name!!

What do you think of that color combo?  It is olive green, navy and red!! After adding the red into the olives with Stickles, I decided to go with more red making it my accent color.  I think I like it, but I don't think I will have a lot of opportunity to use this combination again!  Just so you know, this is also the sample card that I made for the sketch challenge that will start tomorrow on the WD group at Paper Craft Planet.  So now you can get a little head start if you want to!  Wink!

Here is a closeup of the image. I colored the cute little lamb in with Copics, and kind of made her dirty like you sometimes see the wool being after the animals are roaming around on the farm.  The set that starts selling today comes with Lush in the martini glass and the sentiment too!

To purchase this Lush stamp, please visit the Whimsie Doodles stamp store and click on the Winter images tab.  Or click HERE to be taken directly there.

On this view I am trying to show you how I applied Diamond glaze to the martini glass to make it seem more realistic. It adds some depth and shine to the card as well!  The card stock used is Bazzill which I ran through the script embossing folder on my CB, and the DP is from K& Co.  The sentiment was printed out on white CS and both it and the mat were cut using oval nesties!

I hope you head on over to both the Fan Club Gallery at SCS and to the Whimsie Doodles store to grab this new image!! Have a great day and I hope to be back later with another creation from the other newly released WD digi!

Have a great Tuesday and may your bucket overflow with opportunities to enjoy the spirits  this holiday season!

Happy Hippity Hop!!

It's Monday and around {ippity} that means that it is time for our weekly Hippity Hop!  Don't know what a Hippity Hop is? Well it is easy, it is just a blog hop that starts at the {ippity} blog and goes to all the blogs that have signed up to show {ippity} on their blogs today!

So START HERE if you didn't come here from the list.  And enjoy being inspired by all the {ippity} goodness you are in store for.  If after seeing all these {ippity} stamps you decide you want some of your own. Please visit my {ippity} sales blog to order some of your own!

Maria is hosting our Hippity Hop today and she is also assigning our challenge for this week too.  Her challenge (IHHC2) is to use our {ippity} stamps to create our own designer paper.

Here is the card that I made for today's challenge...

To make my own designer paper, I started with a piece of pink Bazzill paper and then repeatedly stamped the heart image from the Devoted set.  I alternated it right side up and then upside down in strips across the paper. 

To top it off  while keeping it really simple, I just added a doily that I stamped the sentiment from the Straight From the Heart set on.  The flowers are from Prima and the ribbon's source is unknown.  I added the glittered MM brad to the center of the flowers.

It went together very quickly and it felt great to make something that wasn't Christmas for a change!  I even hae another valentine card to share with you later this week!

Have fun on the Hippity Hop today and thanks so much for stopping by!!

Ornamental Christmas Card!

Hello and Happy Saturday to all of you!! 

Hope your weekend is going fantastically so far!! I am off today and have wonderful plans of being very crafty and spending the whole day inside my scraproom working on my Dirty Dozen projects for the Gallery opening on the 15th and also the new Whimsie Doodles releases coming on the same day!!

I have a card to share with you today that I hope I haven't shown you before.  If I have, sorry!  I tried to scan back through my posts and couldn't see that I had posted it yet.

Anyway, I made this card for a challenge over at the Embellish online magazine that is published by my fellow Dirty Dozen Alumni, Ashley Cannon Newell!  What an awesome site for great inspiration and challenges!

This card was created for one of their challenges back in September, but since it is Christmas related, I thought it was the perfect time to share it with you!

I totally forgot to add some twine to this creation which was part of the challenge, so there was never a chance of this card being chosen to win anything!!  LOL!!

I used some great Crate Paper that had a pattern that perfectly fit inside the blank ornament stamp from Verve, called Ornamental Christmas.  And of course I added a pretty red rhinestone to accent the center of it.  The bough was created by stamping the smaller bough branch many times over. Then I added a very thin strip of glue to the branches and sprinkled some glitter to give the effect that the branches had winter snow and ice on them!

The sentiment is from the same Verve stamp set. I really love this set and that it has so many possibilities for Christmas cards!!

Thanks for taking a quick look!  I am going to lock myself into my scraproom until I get all my assignments finished!  It should be a really great DD Gallery this month and wait til you see some of the new Whimsie Doodles images being released. I will start showing you some sneak peeks tomorrow!!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with productivity like I need mine to!!

Blog Hop! Friends with Flair style!!

Happy FWF Friday everyone!!  

I was so excited to sit down yesterday and just create something with Unity.  I totally enjoyed being a Guest Designer last month, but typically we were showcasing certain sets and so I couldn't let the stamps "speak to me."  And yes, my stamps do speak to me!!  LOL!! Some of them are just begging to be used... and other's sit quietly until needed!!  Ha ha!!

So last night the stamp that was speaking to me the most was the Joy stamp from the November Stampin' Store kit  (which can be purchased at the Paper Maniac.)  I knew that I could incorporate that Joy word art into a Christmas card somehow, and God knows I am still need to finish some more Christmas cards!!

So after just a little thought... this Joy to the World Christmas card was born!

I know it might not seem like a traditional Christmas card, but I kind of like that about it!  Besides the Joy stamp from the Unity's Nov SSK, I also used the gorgeous flourish from the same set that I placed behind the world image that comes from none other than the Eco Chic set.  Edited to Add: This card fits yesterday's Ways to Use it Challenge to incorporate a Christmas Carol on your card!  WT248

I used SU's Chocolate Chip ink to stamp the sentiment and the flourish and I highlighted them both with a Sakura Gelly Roller pen.  The world stamp was colored with Copics and then punched with a circle nestie and then matted in red with a scalloped circle nestie. 

The DP is from K & Co's Swell Noel collection.  The snowflake dies are also K& Co.  And that neat red glittered trim is from Making Memories!

Sorry for those of you who are about done with seeing Christmas cards, but unfortunately until I get mine done, that is almost all I have time to work on!  I am ready to move on to Valentines and spring  stuff here really soon!!

Have a great Friday!  

Be sure to check out the Unity Christmas Sale going on right now with 25% off everything in the store.

To find the list of today's blog hop participants, 

head over to the Unity Blog!

And finally,  be sure to check out what Eryn has in store for us on the Ippity Blog today too! She is presenting today's Fresh Idea Friday!!

May your bucket be overflowing with lots of joy during this busy time of year!

BLOG CANDY Winner!

I closed the comments out last night at midnight and have randomly chosen the winner from those comments, and the Followers on this blog and my {Ippity} blog.  Thanks ftoall of you who left such (solicited) kind comments!!  LOL!! Seriously, I appreciate that you even visit my blog and I truly cherish all your comments !  You guys make blogging so worthwhile to me!

One of you lucky ladies has just been chosen to win the two wonderful {Ippity} Stamp sets  shown below...

So without further adieu, the winner of these two stamp sets is.....

Jenn!

Here is her winning comment...

Jenn please email me with "Blog Candy" in the subject line

and include your snail mail address so I can get these sets to you!

Congratulations Jenn!! 

        And thanks to all of you for playing along!!