Favorites of 2010

Hello crafty friends!

Sorry I haven't been around much this past week! As with most of us, things have been a bit crazy during the holidays. I have had a little time for crafting, but not a whole lot. So nothing new to post right now.

I have several blogger friends who have posted their favorites of 2010 and I'm thinking that is a great idea.  Here are some of my favorite projects from this past year. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Leave me a comment and let me know what your favorite one is.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

These first 3 are things I made for my almost niece, who is now my niece, for her Bridal Tea.

          Sorry this picture isn't the best, but I did love making this ABC book for a baby shower.  I loved it so much that I made another one similar to it for my great niece and nephew for Christmas.

These are the invitations I sent out for my son, Jaryd's, graduation party.  Isn't he a handsome guy?!?!

Love this Thanksgiving card I made for QKR Stampede

 I love how this layout turned out!

This is the card I made for my nephew and nieces wedding in October.

 I had a lot of fun painting this ornament with this adorable QKR Stampede image. Very happy with how it turned out.

I made this card for my almost nephew who is kicking cancer's butt.

 This is the gift card holder I sent my Aunt for Christmas, there is a tag in each "page" and a gift card or certificate on the back of each tag.

 Finally, this is one of my favorite new techniques.  I love the embossed overlay on this card.  A technique I'm sure I'll be using again.  I love this

QKR Stampede image.  I feel so lucky to be on their design team and show y'all some of their wonderful stamps.

Best Friends Embossed

Today's card is another Tim Holtz inspiration.  I love this technique of embossing clear plastic.  Again, I used a piece of laminating film, but could just as well have used some recycled packaging. I embossed it with my Cuttlebug and the Snowflakes Embossing folder.

The image is from QKR Stampede and is titled Best Friends (#23502) I stamped it onto white card stock and colored it with water color crayons.  I used Icicle Stickles to give the snowman some nice sparkle.  I love the Icicle Stickles, depending on the light and angle, they show up different colors.  Sometimes blue, sometimes purple or pink.

I layered the image onto a piece of scrap pink paper from my scrap stash, then attached the embossed laminating film to it with pink brads.

This was then adhered to a blue card base with ATG Tape.  I love the look of the embossed snowflakes over the image!  What do you think?  Leave me a comment and let me know. 

Thanks for stopping by today to see my card.  I hope you enjoyed it.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my blogger friends!

Today I'm posting a simple card to wish you Joy on this Christmas day!

I used the JOY (#15703) image from QKR Stampede and stamped it onto plain white card stock with VersaFine ink.  I then colored it with watercolor pencils and layered it onto red card stock.  The 'starburst' paper is from a 6x6 Christmas stack from DCWV that I have in my stash.

I layered them both onto a white card stock base.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Christmas has been filled with Joy!

Until next time, Happy Crafting

Embossed Poinsettia

Today I have a quick and easy card that looks like a lot more work than it is. 

I used a piece of red card stock and a beautiful corner stamp of poinsettias, made by Stacy Stamps.  I stamped the image with VersaMark and embossed it with gold embossing powder.  I layered it onto a base card of white card stock and trimmed it to size.  The ribbon is some that I got as a gift at the 12 Days of Christmas Crop that I attended at My Happy Place.  It fit perfectly with the colors!  The 'Merry Christmas' is a clear sticker that I got at the Christmas Tree Shop. I really need to go see if they have any of them left, I love those stickers!

Thanks for stopping by today, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Gold card with ornaments

Hello crafty friends!  I hope your Christmas prep is coming along really well, it's pretty close to the big day now. 

Today I'm showing you a card that I made just a few nights ago.  More Christmas cards is the last thing I really need, but I found this paper and had to make something with it.

The front of the card is made with a piece of paper that I found in a little pack that I bought from someone selling Creative Memories. You can't see the color and the sheen on it very well in this picture, but it is a very pretty shimmery, metallic gold.  The ornaments are in red and gold.  I simply cut the paper to size and layered it onto red card stock, then onto a kraft card stock base.

On the inside I used another section of the same paper, again layered onto red card stock to give the inside a little extra pop.

The Happy Holidays is a clear sticker that I got in a pack that I bought at the Christmas Tree Shop.  These turned out to be a great buy, $.50/pkg and there are 8 stickers in the pack.  I'm not a huge fan of stickers, but these are really beautiful.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Christmas Gifts

 Do y'all have "fake relatives"???  Well I do, quite a few of them in fact.  Fake relatives are those friends of the family that are too close to call Mr. or Mrs. yet they are older, so using first names just isn't right.  My parents had a lot of these kinds of friends, consequently I grew up with a lot of Aunts, Uncles and also cousins. 

My Mom had a friend who she was close to since high school, that was my Aunt Lou.  Now I have a great nephew named Anthony. Anthony is Aunt Lou's great grandson.   I know it doesn't make sense really, since he is my "cousin's" grandson, but it's the way we do things in my "family"

Anyway, today's projects were made for Anthony's Mom and Grandma as Christmas gifts.

A while ago, I found some little 6"x6" canvas' at Micheal's that were on clearance.  They were originally $1.00 and were marked 75% or 90% off, so were very inexpensive.  I bought a bunch of them, knowing that I would find a use for them.  That is what I used for the covers of these little albums. 

First I covered the canvas' with patterned paper, being sure it was secure with ATG Tape. 

Next I cut kraft card stock to 5.75" square.  I laid out brown satin ribbon from Stampin' Up, 2 pieces, each being about 24" long.  I then used ATG Tape to adhere the pages to the ribbon, leaving space between pages.  I then adhered the end pages to the insides of the covers and covered the backs of the other pages with more kraft card stock.  Once this was done, my little album was set to be decorated. 

 I used pictures that my son, Jaryd, took of Anthony at a picnic this summer. I matted the pictures, adhered them to the pages and embellished the pages with a variety of items, metal brads, buttons, rub ons, and flowers.

 For the fronts of the albums, I used a Junkitz Foam Stampz set.  I have had this set for quite a while and never used it, but boy do I love these stamps. These stamps are foam stamps mounted on acrylic slides, love them!

I stamped "Anthony" onto kraft card stock with brown StazOn ink the fussy cut them, layered them onto patterned paper that matched the cover and fussy cut them again. On one I layered them again onto kraft card stock, the other I just layered right onto the cover. Finally I added a elastic cord and bow to hold the album closed.

Both albums were made the same way, I just changed up a couple pictures and the embellishments.  I think they turned out pretty cute, I hope Mom and Grandma like them as much as I do.

Thanks for stopping by today to see my projects and thanks if you read all the way through this post.  I know it's a bit long. 

I hope you enjoyed my projects and may try making your own little album from some items you can alter like this.  

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Become a follower too!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Gift card holder for Kevin

This past Saturday we had the Backstrom Family Christmas Celebration. There are about 30 or so of us that get together, 4 generations in one place!  I love it.  Anyway, my generation and my kids generation each pick one name to give gifts to.  I had my brother Kevin's name and one of the gifts I gave him was a gift card for the golf dome.

Today I'm showing you the holder that I made for it.

For the front of the holder I used some silver card stock, very shiny, so it was tough to photograph, sorry about that!  I used StazOn black ink to stamp the reindeer, which is from Inkadinkadoo.  I used red Stickles to bling him up.  I wish I could have gotten a better photograph of this, as it is really a very beautiful image.  I then layered it onto blue card stock to be attached to the front of the holder with foam tape.

This is the back of the holder, as you can see it is made from an envelope.  Once I had scored the envelope where needed, I stamped snowflakes with VersaMark and embossed them with clear embossing powder.  The holder was tied closed with a silver ribbon that I attached to the back and tied in a bow in the front.

Here is a picture of the holder open with the gift card inside.  It's a very simple holder that can be made quickly.  You can make it as plain or as fancy as you want. 

I'm pretty sure Kevin liked it and I know he liked the gift inside.

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope you like my gift card holder.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Inspired by Tim Holtz!!!

I don't know if y'all are familiar with Tim Holtz, but he is the crafting, inking, embossing, tag making guru of the world! And I just love that man!  Although his style is much different than anything I ever make, his techniques are amazing and can be used with just about any style.  For 12 days this month he hosted The 12 Tags of Christmas on his blog and each and every one was absolutely amazing!  I learned so much from just these 12 posts! 
Today's tag was inspired by one of his tags and a technique he used on it.

I started out by stamping Ice Skating (#7902) onto a piece of white card stock.  This adorable penguin is from QKR Stampede, you have seen him before on my blog and I'm sure you will probably see him again.  I love this image, soooooo cute!

Once he was stamped, I applied Broken China Distress Ink with an ink blending tool with a sponge applicator, around the image.  I colored the image with water color pencils.

The other day I was laminating something and had a piece of the laminating film left that had gone through the laminator.  I saved it just in case I had a use for it, I hate throwing away potential crafting items!  The very next day I saw this technique on Tim's blog. 

I took that piece of laminating film and ran it through my Cuttlebug in the Snowflakes embossing folder .  I happened to have this piece of laminating film available, but you can do the same with any type of packaging, you know the kind I mean, those clear plastic packages that are so horrible to get into!

Using brads I attached the embossed piece to the tag.

I used a piece of red satin ribbon to make a loop and attached it to the back of the tag with ATG tape, then covered the back with a piece of white card stock.

This would make a very cute tag for a gift, or would be very cute hanging on the Christmas tree.

Thanks for stopping by so I can share my creations with you.  I hope you have enjoyed this tag and may be inspired in some way.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think, I love feedback!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Simple Digital Card

This is a little card I made using all digital elements.  The background and the 2 'badges' are from Jingle Jangle Christmas CD from Polkadoodles.

The snowman is one I found in my Printmaster program. 

Dave wanted a simple little card that he could use to send with some of our Christmas orders and this fit the bill just right.

This is the same card with a picture of our family replacing the snowman.  He is using this card for some of the orders to customers who know him/us a little better.  The family picture was taken at my nephew's wedding in October.

I don't do a lot of digital cards like these, but with the CD from Polkadoodles it is really easy.

Thanks for stopping by today. 

I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Stocking Stuffers

Stocking stuffers are always such fun!  When we have my family Christmas get together each of us has a stocking.  There are "30 something" of us when we are all there and I like to put something in everyone's stocking.

Everyone doesn't get the same thing and nobody knows who puts things in the stockings.  I'm guessing some people who get these will know who put them in the stockings though.  I'm the papercrafter in the family, so now big guessing game here.

I have seen several pictures and tutorials that show ways to make little holders for chocolates, but of course when I want to make some, I can't find those tutorials again.  Sooooo.... I just had to make up my own.

 This picture shows some of the little goodies that will go into the stockings.  Each little package opens on the front and back.  There are little pockets inside that hold.........

a Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares.  YUMMY!

I found a 6x6 stack of DCWV Christmas paper that I totally forgot that I had and used that for the little pockets.  The center piece and flaps are just plain white card stock.  The ribbon is red satin ribbon that can be bought at any of the crafting stores for $.50/roll (or less if you wait for sales, like I do)

These were an easy and quick little stocking stuffer to make, once I figured out what I wanted to do, that is.  That's always the hardest part, don't ya think?

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Merry Christmas to you and your!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Flying Downhill

Hello and welcome to the December QKR Stampede Design Team Blog Hop.  This months theme is Winter Sports.  If you haven't arrived from the QKR Stampede Blog you might want to see what is posted there, then pop back over here, as you won't want to miss any of the wonderful projects the other DT members have created. If you get lost along the way or one of the links doesn't work, hop back there as all the links will be posted there. 

Today, I am showing you a card I created with Sledding (#8707) from QKR Stampede.  I love this image, these little ones look like they are having a lot of fun in the snow, don't they?

I stamped the image with Black Onyx Versa Fine ink onto a piece of card stock that I used Smooch and water to create a marbleized design.  I love the way it looks like sky.  I then colored the image with water color crayons.  I added Glossy Accents to the runner of the sled, which unfortunately doesn't show in the picture, but it does give it a shiny, wet metallic look.

I used Versa Mark to put the snowflakes in the sky and embossed them with clear embossing powder.

The fluffy "snow"  was put on with Sticky Powder, which is a product sold in the QKR Stampede store.  It is simple to use, very much like  using embossing powder, but when heated it becomes sticky.  I swiped Versa Mark across the 'hill' area of the card, applied Sticky Powder and heated.  When it became sticky, I pressed cotton onto it.  This gave me the fluffy snow.  Easy peasy!

Once this was done, all I had to do was round the corner and adhere the image to the red base card, round the corner on the card and my card was finished and ready to go.

Now from here you will be hopping on to Roxie's blog where I know you will find a wonderful project.

Be sure to check out this and the other wonderful stamps (both rubber and digital) that QKR Stampede has in their store. You never know what you might find that you need!

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope you have gotten some inspiration from the card I created.  Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think. 

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Playing Hockey

Before I tell you about today's card, I want to remind y'all to come stop by tomorrow (Friday, December 17th) for the QKR Stampede Design Team Blog Hop.  We have some wonderful projects planned for this hop, you will be sure to get some great inspiration from them.

Now for todays card.

I don't know about all of you out there in Bloggerland, but here in my home we are big hockey fans.  Of course we live in the Buffalo, NY area and have the Sabres!!!!  When I saw this QKR Stampede image "Playing Hockey" (#14203)  I knew I had to have it.

To create this card, I started with Kraft card stock cut to 8.5" x 5.5" and scored it at 4.25"  I stamped "Playing Hockey" onto white card stock with VersaFine Black Onyx ink and colored it with watercolor pencils.

I used  a bit of Glossy Accents on the skate blades and the "ice" to give it a little shine.  Then I used some Sticky Powder from QKR Stampede to add some glitter to the hockey player and the snowflakes around him.  If you check out the home page at QKR Stampede there is an area where you can learn more about Sticky Powder.  I'm having a lot of fun playing with this product.

I used a Nestabilities die in my Cuttlebug to cut the orange frame from card stock and adhered the image to the frame, then layered that onto the Kraft card base.

I found some alpha stickers in my stash for the "go team" and added some dash lines around the inside and outside of the frame to add a little more interest.  Rounding the corners with my Corner Chomper finished off the card.  I think he's pretty cute, even if the poor guy has a bit of a black eye.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have enjoyed my hockey player. Leave me a comment and let me  know you stopped by and what you think.

GO SABRES!!!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Quick little tag

Today I'm showing you a quick little tag that I made. 

I had been working on some cards and had some scraps left and decided to make this little tag with them. This Christmas tree image is from Bo Bunny.    I stamped it with VersaMark and then embossed it with green embossing powder. 

I tied a little bow for the top of the tree, believe it or not, that bow does match in person, I just couldn't seem to get it to photograph correctly.

On the inside I added a piece of white card stock, rounded the corners and called it done.

I think little tags like this are such fun and they are quick and easy too.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Best Wishes

Welcome friends!  Today I have a card that was inspired by Kristina Werner who is one of my favorite bloggers.  I have mentioned her before, so hopefully you have checked out her blog.  She is wonderful.

I used papers from my scrap stash for this card.  I love that striped paper and wish I had more of it, it is double sided and just gorgeous.

I recently visited my friend, Mary and we took a little trip to Hollo's Papercrafts near Cleveland, Ohio.  If you live anywhere near Cleveland, you really should check it out.  They have the most amazing things there. But be warned, you will come out of there with a much lighter wallet.  Their prices are phenomenal, but there is just soooo much to choose from and it is all hard to resist.

Hollo's is where I found some very reasonable priced paper doilies, something like $.02 or $.03 each, so I picked up a few.  That is one of the things I love about Hollo's, you can buy 1 or 100 or 1000 of anything.

I have wanted to use some doilies on some cards recently and finally did on this card.  I cut the doily to fit into the corner of the card and glued it to a scrap of green, then trimmed around it.  This was layered onto the striped paper, which was in turn layered onto Kraft card stock.

The sentiment was stamped onto another scrap of green with brown Staz On ink and adhered with foam tape.  The entire front was then adhered to an A-2 sized white card base.

I really love how this card turned out and I hope you do too.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by today, come back soon. You never know what might inspire you.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Gift card holders ~ Polkadoodles Week 49 challenge

Joys of the season to you all!  Today I'm showing you a couple gift card holders that I made for Christmas gifts.  They are for the same person, just from different people.

 This first one is one that I made for my Mom to give to her bestest friend in the world, Aunt Marilyn!  They have been friends since they met in 4th grade and since they are 85 & 86 yrs old, you can see they have been friends for a VERY long time.  The image is from QKR Stampede and titled In the Manger (#16701)

I stamped the image onto kraft card stock and colored it with water color crayons, trimmed it out, rounded the corners and used foam tape to attach it to the front of the card holder.

 The inside of the holder is stamped with the word Rejoice, which I think goes very well with the Christ Child on the front. 

The holder itself was very simple to make.  If you are interested in making one yourself, there is a video tutorial here. 

Now on to my 2nd holder.  Aunt Marilyn lives in North Carolina and loves to take herself out for quick lunches.  She goes walking and then stops someplace for a quick and inexpensive lunch.  A few years ago I started sending her gift cards for Christmas, to a variety of fast food restaurants.  This year I saw this idea on one of my favorite blogs, Going Buggy, and decided this would be perfect for Aunt Marilyn.

 This cute little gift card book is made with toilet paper tubes.  First, I flattened them, then I covered them with papers from a DCWV Christmas Stack.  I had forgotten that I had this 6x6 stack and I'm so glad I found it.  The papers are adorable.  I'm pretty sure this stack has been discontinued as it has been in my stash for a couple years.

I then used my Bind It All to make them into a little book.

Each "page" has it's own tag with a gift card or certificate on the back of it.

The first tag is covered with paper from the same paper stack and says Merry Christmas. All the others I used QKR Stampede images that were stamped onto kraft card stock. 

The Santa is Santa Snowman (#16704) and was colored with water color pencils. I used Liquid Pearls on his beard, hair and the fur on his hat to make them a nice shimmery white. 

The next tag is Pine Sprig (#15702) was colored with water color pencils, I used gold Stickles on the bells. 

Holly (#15701) was used for the next tag, colored with water color pencils again and red Stickles were used on the berries. 

This picture shows where I used the Liquid Pearls and Stickles.

The last image I used was Trees (#21704), this one I stamped with Moss Green VersaFine ink and used a white gel pen to add the 'snow' to the image. 

I then added an eyelet to the top of each tag, using my Crop-a-dile.  Then threaded a ribbon through it and added the gift card or certificate to the back.  The gift cards I attached with a small amount of ATG tape.  For the gift certificate, I attached a loop of ribbon to the back of the tag, folded the certificate and slid it under the ribbon.

I know Aunt Marilyn will enjoy the gift cards and certificate and I'm pretty sure she will like the little book I made to send them to her in. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you have enjoyed your bit of time here and I hope you have been inspired to make something yourself.

Come back again soon and see what else I have to show you. 

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Warm Wishes

Hello crafty friends!  I have a lot of blogs listed in my favorties and I follow quite a few of them on a regular basis.  One of my favorties is Kristina Werner.  I can not tell you how fabulous I think she is.  If you have never seen her videos, you should go check her out!  I get so much inspiration from her!

Today's card is one that was inspired by one she did in her recent Holiday Card Series.  She did a holiday card a day for 25 days, each one with a video.  Wonderful series!  You can still go check them out and she always posts on Monday and Fridays each week.

Now on to my card!

The base of this card is 4.25" x 11" scored at 5.5"  I used papers from my scrap stash for this card.  I don't believe any of the papers are from the same companies, and I really can't even tell you what companies they are from.  Sorry, I'm so bad about knowing that info!

I cut strips of paper and layered them onto the Kraft card stock.  I use an EKSuccess border punch for the scallops on the green paper.

The sentiment is one I have in my stamp stash and have no idea where it even came from.  LOL! Told you I am bad at info!

The embellishment at the right was made by cutting some wonky circles, crumpling them, layering them and putting a brad through the center.  I then put it onto the card with a Pop Up Glue Dot.

I added the dash lines with white gel pen, rounded the corners with my

Corner Chomper and had a nice little card in no time.

Thanks for stopping by today, leave me a comment and let me know what you think and that you stopped in.  I love to hear from you!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Ice Skating

Hello bloggers!  Today I have a card I created with an adorable stamp from QKR Stampede called Ice Skating (#7902) I think penguins are just so cute.  Petting a penguin is one of the things on my bucket list and one day I will pet one.  But enough about that, on to the card.

I started with a piece of white card stock and stamped "Ice Skating" with

Black Onyx Versafine ink.  We all know that is my favorite ink to work with. I colored him in with water color pencils, then fussy cut the image. 

The card base is cut  4.25" x 11" and scored at 5.5" and is also white card stock.  I used Faded Jeans Distress Ink to ink around the outside of the front of the card, using a foam pad.

I then used Glossy Accents and spread it over the bottom of the card front to give it the look of ice.  I also used the Glossy Accents on the blades of the skates.

I used foam tape to adhere the penguin to the card front to give it dimension, which, unfortunately, doesn't show in the picture.

The sentiment was printed from my computer before I started the rest of the card. I love using the computer for sentiments that I don't have a stamp for. Easy as can be.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope you like my little skater. Stop by the

QKR Stampede store and see what other wonderful stamps they have.  Their images come in unmounted rubber as well as digital, so stop in and take a look.

Leave me a comment, I love to know you've been here and hear what you think.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Take That!!!!

Welcome!  I'd like to share a card with you today, that I made for a really special guy.  My lovely niece, Nicole has a wonderful fiance, Dave.  He was diagnosed not too long ago with brain cancer for the second time and has been undergoing quite a lot of therapy to be rid of it.  He's gonna beat this thing!!! I saw a card that was sent to a blogger friend, Monique, (she is fighting breast cancer) that gave me this idea. 

In his own words, Dave is a dork where it comes to comic books.  He loves them and when I saw the card that Monique had recieved similar to this one, I knew I had to make one for Dave. 

To make it, I found a Superman symbol and printed it out to make a template. I traced the template onto red card stock,  then cut it out and layered it onto yellow card stock.  This, I adhered to blue card stock which was then adhered to a Kraft colored A-2 sized card that I folded to make an easel card.

I hand wrote the ZAP and colored it in with a black Zig pen, I used red and blue to outline the 'starburst'.  Once it was cut and adhered to the blue and red card stock I used foam adhesive to place it on the card. 

I printed the 'sentiment' from the computer onto white card stock. I also added a piece of white card stock to the inside of the card to write my own sentiment.

I hope Dave enjoys this card as much as I enjoyed making it for him.  I just wanted him to know I'm thinking about him and I know he is kicking cancer's butt.  To me he is a real Superman!  He is fighting a very tough fight and is going to win!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Leave me a comment if you wish.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Wish

Hello crafty friends!  Today I'm showing you a card I made trying a couple techniques that I'd never tried before.  And I must say, I like the results!

I started with a piece of white card stock.  First I stamped the image onto the card stock with Black Onyx Versa Fine ink, I then stamped over it, using my Stampamajig, with Versa Mark.  I then embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Next I used Distress Ink on foam pads to color the sky.  First, I used lavender, then two shades of blue.  I then buffed the embossed impression with a cloth to take the extra ink off that area.  I used the Black ink directly to the paper at the bottom of the cardstock where the edge was white.   

I love how there are some areas that didn't match up exactly when I did the 2nd stamping with the VersaMark, causing some bits of white to show through making it look like the moonlight shining on the trees and snow on the ground.

Finally, I used black embossing powder to emboss 'Wish' onto the card front.  I then layered onto white card stock, then a blue A-2 card base. 

I really love how this turned out and I'm sure I will be using these inking and embossing techniques again.

Thanks for stopping by, I'd love to hear what you think, so leave me a comment.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Week 47 Challenge for Polkadoodles

"The Children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads"  This is the line of the poem  'Twas the Night Before Christmas that inspired this card for the challenge on the Polkadoodles Blog.

I started with a marbalized piece of card stock that I made with Smooch and water.  I love the swirls, as they reminded me of "dreamland"  The bed was a die cut that I had in my stash.  I made the little girl's head and hair with a circle punch, cutting away part of the brown to make it into her hair, then drew the closed eye on with a Zig pen.

The candies were printed from the Polkadoodles Jingle Jangle Christmas CD, then fussy cut for the card.  Everything was adhered to the marbalized card stock and then layered onto a dark blue A-2 sized card base.

For the inside of the card, I printed the candy border from the same Polkadoodles CD, trimmed them down and adhered them to white card stock and used my ATG Tape gun to layer it inside the card.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you like my card.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Santa Snowman

Ho Ho Ho to all of you!  Today I am showing you a card I created with the Santa Snowman (#16704) image from QKR Stampede.  Is he cute or what?

I stamped him onto white card stock and colored the image with water color pencils.  I added a bit of Diamond Stickles to the hat and red onto the berries to give it a some dimension and sparkle. 

The image was adhered to red card stock and then layered onto white card stock.  The sentiment is a sticker from a set that I found at The Christmas Tree Shop for only $.50, what a deal!

This card measures 3 1/4" x 5 1/2" so it isn't a standard size, but it will fit into an A-2 envelope. 

Here is a tip, when mailing an off size card in an A-2 envelope, take small pieces of foam tape and put them into the bottom of the envelope, making sure that the card will still fit into the envelope properly.  With this bit of foam tape in the bottom of the envelope the card is sitting at the top when the envelope is opened.  This same technique can be used when a card is not as wide as the envelope, simply put the foam tape along the sides of the envelope. 

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you like my card.  Leave me a comment and tell me what you think.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Polkadoodles Challenge

Hello everyone!  Today I'm posting a card that I made for the Week 47 Challenge - 'Twas The Night Before Christmas on the Polkadoodles Blog.  The challenge was to make the card with the theme "Twas The Night Before Christmas" by Clement C. Moore.  I chose the line "The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, gave luster of mid-day to objects below"  In this case the objects below were the "8 tiny reindeer"

                          

The riendeer are from the Polkadoodles Jingle Jangle Christmas CD.  I sized and printed and trimmed the border, adhered it to white card stock and then to the dark blue card stock. 

I used Versa Mark and silver metallic embossing powder for the 'dream' and snowflakes and heat embossed them.  I did the dash lines with a Versa Mark pen and embossed them also.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed your time here.

Leave a comment, I'd love to hear what you think.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Blog Award, How Nice!!!

Today I was honored to receive a Stylish Blogger Award from my blogger friend Larelyn.  Thank you Larelyn, you are so kind. 

Be sure to check out her blog, she has some wonderful projects to show us. Great inspiration! 

I will proudly display this award on my sidebar!

There are a few things to do when you are given this award.
1. Thank that person ~ done.
2. Write 8 things about myself for y'all to learn about me.
3. Choose 8 blogs and pay it forward.
4. Let those bloggers know you have given them the award.

Okay, so here goes:
1. I started out as a scrapbooker and said I would never be a card maker.  Ha ha ha, now I do both!
2. I am a member of the QKR Stampede Design Team. This is my first design team and I am loving it.
3. I have been married for almost 23 yrs. all to the same man.
4. We have our own photography business.  Dave, my hubby, is an amazing photographer and is celebrating 26 yrs in business.
5. I make mouse pads, coasters and notecards with his images on them for our business. I also do custom work with family pics etc. on them.  We also sell the pic-folios (some call them squash albums) that I make.
6. I am Mom to 2 wonderful kids, ages 20 and 18.
7. I just had a total hip replacement this past June and am feeling wonderful!  It's great to walk with no pain.
8. I have met some amazing people on line, in fact one of my closest friends started out as a cyber-friend!

Here are the 8 blogs I am sharing this award with.  Go check them out, you will find some wonderful inspiration there. 7 of them are stamping/papercrafting blogs and 1 is a fabulous writer's blog that I enjoy.
Carol at Stamp Alley
Jessica at The Bug Stampin Momma
Lisa at Blessed Beyond Measure
Sue at Sue's Rubber Stamping Adventures
Rachelle at Rachelle's Writing Spot
Kristen at Blankety Blank Blank
Chris at Creating with Chrissy
Enfys at Going Buggy

Thanks for stopping by today, now hop on over to these other blogs and see what wonderful things they have to offer in the way of inspiration.

Polkadoodles Week 46 Challenge - Give Thanks

This is my 2nd post for today, so be sure to scroll down and see what else I have to show you!

I'd like to share with you, a card that I created for the Polkadoodles Week 46 Challenge.  For this challenge the card had to have this "give thanks" sentiment, which they gave as a free download.  This is the first time I have entered a Polkadoodles challenge. 

I first became familiar with Polkadoodles when I saw it mentioned on my blogger friend, Enfys' blog Going Buggy.  I was fortunate enough to win one of their fabulous CDs from her blog and absolutely love it.

For this card I used the Polkadoodles Digital Papercrafting CD-ROM Jingle Jangle Christmas.  I printed the green polka dotted paper from that CD as well as the cute snowman.  I then did a bit of fussy cutting of that cute little guy.  I decided where I wanted him placed on the blue card stock, then stamped a variety of snowflakes with Versa Mark, drew the 'arms' with a Versa Mark pen and embossed them with white embossing powder.  I adhered the snowman to the blue card stock and then to the green dotted paper.

To add the sentiment, I changed up the size and positioning a bit and printed it onto white card stock.  I cut around the bottom of the 'g' so it would extend down over the main layers of the card.  This was all adhered to blue card stock cut to an A-2 sized card.  I think this cute little guy looks very thankful that there is more snow coming down around him.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you have enjoyed my post.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!