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!

Sketch Spotlight STVSKSP3

Today I have a card to show you that I made for a sketch challenge on the Stamp TV Site.  If you have never checked out Stamp TV you should.  Gina, of Gina K. Designs, has some wonderful tutorials where she shows lots of great techniques. 

This card was made for the Sketch Spotlight STVSKSP3 challenge. 

I started with a background paper that I created when I was visiting my friend Mary a couple weeks ago.  We learned a really cool technique using water and Smooch to make marbleized paper.  This one turned out to be a very subtle yellow and brown.   I thought it would work great for with the Leaf stamp (#3901)  from QKR Stampede which I stamped with VersaMark  and then used Perfect Pearls to give them color and shine.  Unfortunately, the picture doesn't capture the shimmer and shine.  I adhered the stamped layer onto a metallic bronze paper.

The sentiment is from a $1.00 set I got at ACMoore and is layered onto a piece of the marbleized paper. 

The 3 dots below the sentiment are Stickles.

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my card.  Leave me a comment if you wish.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Christmas Placemat

Hello blogger friends!  Today I'm showing you a place mat that I embellished.  I bought a few of these place mats from "The Christmas Tree Shop"  for $1.00 each, for the purpose of seeing what I could do with them to alter them a bit.  Below you can see what I am doing with them.   

We will be having an Open House for our business this weekend will be serving some yummy cookies and warm spiced cider.  I plan to use the mat with one of my favorite Christmas dishes to serve the cookies.

Here is a close up of the embellishing I did.  I used the Holly stamp (#15701) from QKR Stampede and stamped it with Versa Fine Black Onyx ink.  I then used Keepsake Colors Fresh Foliage Gel Paint to paint the leaves green.  I have had this paint for quite a while, got it on clearance, but had never tried it.  The label says for "Scrapbooking and Photo Tinting", but I figured I would give it a try.  Let me just say that a little goes a very long way.  It does tend to bleed, so you need to be very careful to only use a small amount on your brush and start in the center of the image, but using just a tiny bit at a time, worked very well. 

I used Stickles on the berries and that gave it a bit of sparkle and pop.

I have been experimenting with different kinds of inks and paints and will be making more of these embellished place mats.  I'll post more when I get them done. 

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you like my latest project.  Try altering some things like this, it's a lot of fun and a fairly inexpensive gift that can be made for a teacher, neighbor or as a stocking stuffer.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

QKR Stampede 12 Blogs of Christmas Blog Hop

Welcome to the QKR Stampede 12 Blogs of Christmas Blog Hop.  If you have come to my blog first, you may want to go to the QKR Stampede Blog and begin there.  You won't want to miss any of the design team posts!  We have some wonderful designers on our team that will be sure to inspire you!

If you are following the hop you should have arrived from Ceal's blog.  She is such a wonderful designer, don't you think? 

I have a couple projects for you today. So let's get to them.

You may recognize this image, as it is the one I used on the card I showed yesterday.  It is called Best Friends (#23502) from QKR Stampede and I think it is just adorable.  I started with a large ornament that I purchased at Crafts 2000 while I was visiting my friend in Toledo.  We don't have a Crafts 2000 anywhere near the Buffalo area, so when I visit Mary, a trip there is a must. I'm sure they can be found at many of the craft stores or even places like Target and such.

This ornament measures 6" across, so it is a very large ornament. It is also a very reflective silver, so I had a tough time photographing it.  Sorry about that flashback, but I just couldn't figure out how to not get either the flashback or a reflection of me in the ornament. 

I used StazOn black ink to stamp the image onto the ornament.  I put the stamp onto a stamping pad, the kind that you put under your paper when you are stamping, then I could make it conform to the curve of the ornament.  You have to be very careful as the StazOn is permanent and once you stamp it, you are 'stuck' with it. 

I then used acrylic paints to color in the image and used Diamond Stickles to give the snowman some sparkle and a bit of Icicle Stickles on the trim on the hat and jacket.

Since I had painted in the face, I used a black Zig pen to draw the eyes, nose and mouth on the girl.  To get them just right, I stamped the image onto a piece of scrap paper, then holding it up to the light I traced the features onto the back with pencil.  Then I went over them with the pencil to make a heavier impression on the paper, I lined that image up with the one on the ornament and drew over it from the front.  This transferred just enough of the pencil mark from the back onto the ornament so I could see where to draw them on with the Zig pen.

I freehand painted the snowflakes in the sky.  I think it looks like the snowman is rejoicing that there is more snow coming down.  I had to give that little gal red hair since my daughter is a redhead.

Another Christmas project that I have to show you is a few of my Christmas cards.

These are some of the different papers I used

This is the inside greeting.

I used cards from Ta Da Creative Studios, these are from their Fiddle Dee Frames Card Making Kits.  I didn't use the entire kit, just the cards and will keep the frame parts for other projects.  I used the Holly (#15701)  in the cut out window of the card and Merry Christmas (#8717) for the inside sentiment.  Both of these are images from QKR Stampede. 

I stamped the images with black Versa Fine ink and colored them in with watercolor crayons and used a bit of red Stickles for the berries. 

I created a template with my Sure Cuts A Lot 2 program and cut the frames for the front of the cards on my Cricut Expressions.  I used Christmas papers from my stash and also some that I found on clearance at Joann's.  At $.10 a sheet, I couldn't pass them up. I simply used glue sticks to adhere the paper frames to the front of the cards.

I hope you have enjoyed my Blog Hop projects, I am the last stop on the hop from here you will be hopping back to the QKR Stampede Blog. 

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of todays projects and we would love to hear on the QKR blog what you thought of our blog hop.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Best Friends Christmas Card

Hello crafty friends!  Today I have an adorable gate fold card to show you.  I used the Best Friends stamp from QKR Stampede for this card and I think it is just a darling image.

I stamped Best Friends onto white card stock and colored it with water color pencils.  I then used a glue pen to add glue to the snowman and covered him with glitter.  The image was then layered onto red card stock. 

The card base is a dark blue that I had in my stash, scored and folded into a gate fold card.  I then ran some white card stock through my Cuttlebug with the Snowflakes embossing folder, trimmed and attached it to the 'gates' then attached the image only on the right side of the 'gate'

For the inside of my card, I ran a piece of white card stock through the Cuttlebug with a different snowflake embossing folder.  I can't find this one on the Provocrafts site, it came in a set and it may be a discontinued set, as I don't see any of the ones in that set on their site.

I stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment with another QKR Stampede stamp with Memento Lady Bug Dew Drop Ink.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed todays project.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Be sure to stop back tomorrow, I will be participating in the Christmas/Winter Design Team Blog Hop for The QKR Stampede Blog.  You won't want to miss any of the wonderful projects that the design team ladies have to show you.  You are sure to be inspired to make something wonderful too.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

"Snow in Love"

"Snow in Love" was created with the Snowman Couple image from

QKR Stampede.  I think this image is snow sweet (pun intended)  I started by stamping it onto white card stock and coloring it with water color crayons.  I then added glitter to the snow couple by using a glue pen, then covering it with stamping glitter.  I fussy cut the image and used foam tape to adhere it to the patterned paper that I got from my never ending scrap stash.  It was then adhered with ATG tape to the white card stock base.  I added a felt snowflake in the corner and glittered it up with some Stickles, rounded all the coners with my Corner Chomper and I was done.

I left the inside of this card blank so a sentiment or note can be added at a later date.

I hope you have enjoyed this 'snow' much that you will come back again soon.  Thanks for stopping by!  Leave me a comment if you wish.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Moose Ornament

I love moose!  Every time we travel in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine I say I am going to see a moose.  Unfortunatly, I never have, but someday I will.  Last time we were in New England, we made a point of asking where the best place to see a moos was and went there.  We sat for a couple hours while the sun went down and it got to be so dark that we wouldn't have seen one unless it walked up next to us.  Didn't see any moose, but we had a nice relaxing evening!

Enough of my ramblings!  Today I'm showing you a moose ornament that I made with Medium Winter Moose from QKR Stampede.  This image measures 3" x 3"  First I stamped it onto white card stock, then colored him with my watercolor crayons. 

I used my Cricut Expressions to cut the snowflake the white on the basic snowflake setting and the green on the shadow setting. 

After I fussy cut the Winter Moose, I used foam tape to attach him to the snow flake.  Then added self adhesive gems to give it a little 'glitter'  There is satin ribbon added to use to hang the ornament. 

I think he is adorable.  What do you think?  Leave me a comment and let me know.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you have enjoyed your time here and gotten a little inspiration.  These kinds of ornaments could be made with so many of the wonderful QKR Stampede stamps.  There are LOTS of great Christmas and winter images, in rubber stamps as well as digital, that would work great for this project.  I hope you will stop by and see what you might like.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Promarker give away on Going Buggy blog

I'm sure y'all know what Copic Markers are, but there is another brand of alcohol ink markers.  These are Promarkers and my blogger friend, Enfys, is giving away a set of them on her blog.  She will be posting some instructional and informative videos on her blog Going Buggy.

She has a wonderful blog and a fabulous sense of humor, so go check out her blog.  And you know what.  I'll let you come and play with my markers when I win them, okay?

There is also a link to her blog at the right side of my blog, where I have  my favorites listed, right under my 'followers'

Now go check her out and good luck (even if I am planning to win.  LOL)