Celebrate!

Seasons Greetings! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate. We have had a very nice week. It is great to have Paul home even if it is only for a few more days and we've enjoyed just being together.

This week's challenge at the House Mouse and Friends challenge site is to use embossing on your card. Since I need to replenish my birthday card supply to have on hand for mailing, this was a great time to use my Cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder and this funny House Mouse stamp.
The "celebrate" sentiment is heat embossed using red pigment ink and clear embossing powder. The balloon is covered with red stickles and then when it was dry I covered it again but this time with clear dimensional glaze. These photos make it look dark and murky but it is not, in real life. It is a snowy and overcast day here and really hard to get decent photos.



Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year. I doubt I'll be staying up to ring in the new year since our puppy seems to think our day should begin around 5 a.m. each day. YAAAWWWWnnnnnn.

Thanks for stopping by!

Whiff of Joy and a Friday Sketchers challenge

Meet Lizzie! This is one of the new Lizzie & Herb stamps from Whiff of Joy. I fell for this sweetie as soon as I saw her hand and ear muffs. When I was a little girl one of my older sisters had a hand muff and, yes I admit it, I coveted that muff. I thought it was the epitome of elegance.

Over at Friday Sketchers the challenge 32 layout for the week is this layout and it is perfect for my new stamp.


I don't generally do square cards because I didn't have the proper envelopes but I found some and I have to say that I really enjoy doing the square cards which allow a better use of space and layout I think.

My little Lizzie is standing in snow made with Ivory colored flower soft. I punched a few snowflakes using my Martha Stewart snowflake punch layered them adding a few pearls.

I used the snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folder for the snowflake panels behind the image. The sentiment stamp is from an All Night Media, Anna Griffin sentiment set.


I think this image will be fun to use for general notecards throughout the winter months as well as during holiday times. Living in such a cold and snowly place as I do I like to have general winter themed stamps for holidays, birthdays and general greeting cards.

Well, as expected, we have more snow to shovel so I had better get outside and do it. I'm sure I won't look as elegant as little Miss Lizzie here, but I'll definitely be snow covered.

Stay warm!

House Mouse - A kind thought

It is with sadness that papercrafters learned that Joanne, one our fellow bloggers and papercrafters, suddenly passed away over the weekend. You may have known Joanne from Splitcoast as her screenname "Stamps4Sanity" and JOANNE'S BLOG

Joanne's family left word on her blog and wrote the following: "Joanne spread much joy through her card making. If you would like to do something in memory of her, we are sure she would like you to send a card to someone in need."

So, in honor and in memory of Joanne, the challenge for this week's House Mouse and Friends group, of which Joanne was an active participant, is to use this week's challenge card sketch and for us to make the card to send to someone in need.

This card is following the sketch (below) and one that I want to send to another blogger friend who is in the hospital. I hope the bunny and mousie will cheer her a bit.



I flipped the layout like this for my card:


When blogging started several years ago I'm not sure any of us who began realized what sweet friendships we'd find over the internet. We may never get the opportunity to meet face to face, yet we share triumphs and joys as well as sadness and problems. I never met Joanne face to face but she was someone I recognized immediately online. One who always created joy and beauty in her cards and left positive and cheerful comments. You'll be sorely missed, Joanne.

Baby gift card

This was such a fun gift card to make for a new baby.

I began by adhering the pink rose paper to my A2 size card base. Then I used SU circle and scalloped circle punches for the ruffles and openings for the legs and neck. I measured down about 1 1/2" from the shoulder for the sleeves and angled the cut down to the leg opening. The SWEET ONE circle sentiment is from the Stampin' Up! set called "So many Scallops" that I stamped in Pink and embossed with clear embossing powder. Then I added a little row of white rick-rack to the sleeve and dotted on raspberry colored liquid pearls. Finishing it off, I added three white eyelets to the bottom to give the illusion of snaps. The whole card from start to finish took just a few minutes to create.

The idea for this has been around for a long time and you can find many examples on Splitcoast if you search "Baby Onesie." Depending upon how you want to embellish the "onesie" you can make it for a boy or girl. I think making a little sailer suit for a boy would be very cute. I needed a baby girl gift card but I think this would be darling to use for shower invitations, thank you cards and even baby announcements.

Cheers!

Cute as a bug!

This set of baby cards is a gift I've been working on and I'm tickled pink (and yellow and green and blue) how they turned out. The baby's room is decorated in a bug theme so I thought the parents might enjoy having notecards matching the "cute as a bug" theme to use as thank you notes cards.
The stamps I used are a set of cute bugs from Sunshine Designs, made by The Stamp Barn here in Ottawa. Aren't they perfectly adorable? I'm generally not a huge fan of creepy crawlers but these little bugs are sweet!

Each image is colored using Tombow markers. Generally I watercolor with my Tombows but this time I used them direct to paper.

You know me! I can't make a card without adding a little Stickles glitter or bling-bling of some sort. Some of the cards have pearls and some have crystals as accents.

And of course no card is complete without a little ribbon and some punches. I just love this Martha Stewart scalloped eyelet punch. The swiss dot background on each card is created with my cuttlebug embossing folder.
I hope the parents will be pleased with these cards. I made 6 cards of each design for a set of 24 notecards total. This turned out to be a labor of love but a lot of fun too.

I'm off to the baby shower now.

Let it Snow!

This week's challenge for the House Mouse and Friends Monday challenge is SNOW! I can't think of a more appropriate theme for me right now because we are in the middle of a major snow storm as I type.

This is another of the new House Mouse stamps I recently purchased. I think I may use this card for a thank you card after the holidays.

The mice are colored with Prismacolor pencils. I added snow beneath their feet and falling around them with Flower Soft. I've been using my various colors of Flower Soft for so many different cards lately. This is ivory colored Flower Soft and really has a snowfall texture. I used a Martha Stewart snowflake punch on white and teal cardstock and centered the snowflakes with a teal colored pearl. The decorative paper is also Martha Stewart.

Well, it is time for me to go out and shovel more snow. We are predicted to get 30 centimeters (over a foot) of snow by morning and I believe it.

Stay warm. Until next time,

Peppermint Treats

This House Mouse stamp is called Peppermint Treats. I get a chuckle out of the little mouse inside the ornament nibbling away on the peppermint treats while the other little fellow looks in.

The challenge on HOUSE MOUSE AND FRIENDS challenge site this week is to use glitter and glitz. What fun for me because it gave me another reason to get out my new Glitter Glitz glitter product, crystals that sparkle as well as some stickles glitter glue and dimentional glaze.

After coloring the image with prismacolor pencils and added crystal glitter over the entire ornament and copper colored glitter and the top ring collar of the ornament. On the peppermint candy in the corner I stamped the peppermint, cut it out and filled in the red swirls with Christmas red stickles and then covered the entire piece of candy with dimentional glaze to give it a look of wrapped candy.

This was actually a fairly fast card to make, other than the drying time which wasn't too long. I like how it shimmers and sparkles in real life.


Thanks for stopping by.

Season of Simple Grace

December 1st! The first is the day, when my children were very small that we called the 'official' Christmas Cookie baking day. No decorations would have been put up yet, but I would officially begin playing Christmas music and begin the baking on this date. The dog would be covered in flour from our cookie baking process and the start of many family traditions would begin. All three of my children would start the planning of their annual Christmas program that they'd write, direct, and perform in for the relatives. They'd even make programs for us and I've saved every single one from all of those years ago.

Yes, it is a season of Simple Grace. That is also the title of this Stampin' Up!, set from the Winter Mini catalog, that I'm making some of my Christmas cards from this year. The idea for the layout I must give credit to a card I saw on Splitcoast Stampers made by Michelle (Screenname: Delirium) that you can see here and the inside here.

I changed my card up a bit from the card I CASED. Here is how many of my Christmas cards will look.



When you open the flaps this is how it looks from the inside with the sentiment:


And just so you can read the sentiment:



I know that this set is going to be a well used for Christmas over the years to come.

So as we enter this Season of many different Holidays I am wishing everyone much love and happiness as you prepare to celebrate your religious holy day, whatever religion you practice. For all faiths, I believe that it is a Season of Simple Grace.

Now...onto my holiday preparations.

A Merry Little Christmas to you

I wanted to put together a little somethin'-somethin' as a stocking stuffer or even a Christmas rush stress reliever for the ladies. These little toiletry bags were fast and fun to make. The idea is not my own. Mary H. over at the Stamp Shack made these last year for her craft sale table and shared her idea. Thanks Mary! These will really come in handy for small gifts and stocking stuffers.


I just took a little trip to the dollar store and found bath scrubbies, votive candles, small tubes of body wash and nail files to fill the little bag. You could also do something like this with chocolates, tea, nuts or any type of edible treat.

The cello bags I found at Michaels in the baking/crafts section. For the topper I just used some holiday greeting stamps, bright colored inks, a piece of ribbon and of course I had to add a little Stickles to the holly berries for sparkle.

Voila! A quick and easy "thinking of you" gift.


Are you starting to get into the holiday spirit?

Until next time....

Jennifer

Holiday baking attire

Are you getting in the mood to begin a little holiday baking, entertaining and cooking? I am. And you know the old jingle that says, "nuthin' says lovin' like somethin' from the oven." Well why not dress the part too.

This is the 4th and final Sassy Apron swap apron for this year that I made for my new swap partner. I hope she'll enjoy wearing it. The photo doesn't show it well but there is a metalic gold thread throughout the forest/bird scene on the main fabric and it really shimmers. This is the same pattern I used for the autumn apron but I really liked the off angle pocket and bodice detail in the contrast fabric and big buttons and flounce at the bottom. It is also double sided with the contrast on the inside so technically you can wear this the other way too, though I prefer the front.

For this Winter Sassy Apron swap we were to make an apron with a winter or holiday theme and include for our partner a cookie cutter and cookie recipe as well.

I'm not sure if Lucy is going to do more Sassy Apron swaps in 2009. There are approximate 150 people participating in this swap and that is a lot of work for Lucy to organize and keep track of. Just imagine all of the winter themed aprons being mailed to their partners! I'm looking forward to receiving my winter/holiday themed apron from my secret partner.

We have about 6 inches of snow on the ground outside and it really is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. I think I'll go and bake some cookies now!

Cheers!

Jennifer

Warm Holiday Greetings

I'm still trying to come up with Canada Post/USPS friendly Christmas cards that won't be too bulky for a single stamp. I tend to get carried away with using ribbon, brads, multiple layers and embellishments that stick up and thus require an extra stamp for mailing. But this little card just might allow me to use my fun "toys" and still create a flat (sort of) card.

The gate with the wreath stamp is by Sunshine Designs from The Stamp Barn. I colored it with Prismacolor pencils (no solvent) and used my rectangle Nestibilities to cut it as well as the scalloped green background. For the wreath, I used Christmas Green Flower Soft. For the snow I used Ivory Flower Soft. I just love this Flower Soft product. It is so delicate and natural looking. It isn't at all like any other product I've seen.

The card base is embossed with my cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder. I used a Martha Stewart snowflake border punch for the bottom. The sentiment on the front is from All Night Media (Anna Griffin) and the inside sentiment/greeting is from Stampin' Up!

So it IS possible to make a relatively flat card and still use a lot of the fun embellishments and tools we all love to play with.

To everyone in the States I wish you a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. And if you don't mind, waft some of the delicious roasted turkey aroma up north so I can enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday too!

Cheers!
Jennifer