Bling It Up!

Happy Monday, friends!  I hope this is the beginning of a great week for you.  We've had some slightly cooler weather here in Florida the last few days, which has made it feel more like Fall.  We're really enjoying that.  Did any of you get creative on World Card Making day?  I didn't actually get a card finished, but had lots of fun playing with paint and glitter to make backgrounds.

This card was difficult to capture in a picture due to the mirrored silver card stock background.  The poinsettia was made with the Spellbinders Layered Poinsettia die set.  I highlighted the gold petals with silver ink.  The leaves are cut from silver card stock.  The flourishes are made with the Sizzix Flower & Accent Set.  Again, I highlighted the gold card stock with silver ink.  The corners are made with a Stampin' Up punch.  The letters for the greeting were stamped on silver card stock, embossed in gold and punched out.  I used a typewriter key alphabet set by Rebecca Sower.  The finishing touch was lots of bling.

Challenges:
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge -#197 Something Beginning with P - Poinsettia
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Christmas Goes - Oct. 2014
Gltter n Sparkle Challenge - #105 Anything with a B - Bling
QKR Stampede Challenge - #107 Anything Goes
Sentimental Sundays Challenge - #227 Bling It Up
We Do Doobabdoo Challenge - #16 Christmas
Weekly Christmas Card Challenges - #45 Layer It Up
Word Art Wednesday - #152 Anything Goes

Blessings:

• Friendship :)
• A family picnic - even the dogs came along.
• A devotional book that I'm learning so much from.
• You Tube Craft Tutorial Videos

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!

Shelly

Christmas Memories

Hi friends. When I let the dogs out yesterday there was a large, black snake climbing up the side of the rain gutter on our house.  One of the dogs went after it and knocked the snake down.  The snake slid right up our back steps and on to the porch.  Totally freaked me out.  I had never watched a snake go up stairs before. lol

With approximately 16 weeks left before Christmas, that means it's time for me to panic get serious about making Christmas cards.  On this card I used a digital image by Inger Harding.  I added some Crystal Lacquer to the window panes.  The flowers are from my stash and I adhered some flat back pearls to the centers.  The sentiment is computer generated.

Challenges:

Crafty Hazelnuts' Christmas Challenge - #192 People Matter

Lacy Sunshine Challenge - #41 Include a window

Scrapbook Blessings Club - #28 Anything Goes

Allsorts Challenge - #274 Early Christmas Makes

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Sept. 2014 Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday - #147 Anything Goes

Blessings:

• My husband and his mom sang as part of a trio at church this morning.  It was so beautiful to see them singing together for the first time. (This was his mom's first time singing in public.)
• Extra family time tomorrow as hubby gets part of the day off for Labor Day.
• Butterscotch hard candy to satisfy my sweet tooth occasionally. :)

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!

Shelly

Snowflake Legend

Hi friends.  This week just flew by for me.  It's hard to believe the weekend is already here. 

Today I have a Christmas card.  The snowflake legend stamp I used on my card is from Heart and Soul Rubber Stamps.  They have awesome stamps.  The spatter stamp is from My Paper Moon, which is another terrific place to shop for stamps.  I don't know the origin of the flourish stamp.  I embellished my card with ribbon, snowflake punches and a couple stick pins.

Challenges I'm entering:

All Sorts - Use Ribbon, no bows.

Catch the Bug - Winter Wonderland

Crafty Calendar - Let's Celebrate - Christmas Card

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge - Winter Weather

Crazy Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes

Crafty Hazelnuts Patterned Paper Challenge - Anything Goes

Scrapbook Blessings Club - Celebrate Winter

Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes

Blessings:

• I'm so thankful that I know how to mend and alter clothing.  I use these skills nearly every week for myself or my family.  
• We're back to warm weather!!!!  I'm a cold weather wimp. lol
• I was able to do my exercise this week, despite a high pain level and a migraine.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Christmas Cheer

Hi friends.  I'm wondering if the Christmas in July kick I'm on lately is a sub-conscious wish for cooler weather.  Just kidding!  I honestly can't complain about the weather we've had in Florida this summer.  We did have quite a thunder storm today though.  Lightning struck a tree in our neighbor's yard.  That was loud!

The darling digi stamp I used is from the Cherry Kiss Collection at Pollycraft.  Pollycraft closed last month, but you can still visit Paula's blog.  I apologize for the blurry picture.  I didn't realize it was blurry until I saw it on here and I'm too tired to take another one right now.  I'll try to take a new picture tomorrow.  I paper pierced along the wavy border, added faux flower soft to the snowballs, added Stickles to the snow on the ground and the coat and hat trim and finished off the hat with a holly brad.  I also stippled in some blue sky.  My papers and the holly brad are from my stash, so they qualify for the Clear It Out Challenge.

You can see in this picture that the snowballs are dimensional.  A fun feature for a card that will go to a young girl.

I'm entering these challenges:

Stampin' Sisters In Christ - Sparkle

Send A Smile 4 Kids - Christmas in July

DL.ART Challenge - Christmas in July

Clear It Out - Christmas in July - Use something red or green.

Blessings

• My daughter is helping me clean out some stuff we no longer need.  The trick is for us not to keep any of each other's discarded stuff. :)
• Good music.  It's so uplifting.
• My hubby's paitence and love in fixing my computer for me frequently as it's getting old and problematic.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Blessings and hugs!
Shelly

Blue Christmas

Hi friends.  More Christmas in July today. :)  The digi image I used on this card is from Paper Cupcakes.  I'm not sure who makes the little sentiment stamp.  The hat is trimmed with some faux flower soft and I used Stickles on the ice.  The rest is just bits and pieces from my stash.

I'm entering these challenges:

Word Art Wednesday #36 - Encouraging or Uplifting Sentiment.

Stampin' Sisters in Christ #148 - Sparkle

2 Sisters #100 - Christmas in July

52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown - July Color Challenge

Catch the Bug Saturday Challenge - Christmas Cards for Kids.

Send A Smile 4 Kids - Christmas in July

Blessings

• My sweet, little dog snuggled up next to me.
• A great sale on some otc medications we neeeded. 
• I thank God for a husband who not only does the shopping, due to my health problems, but also searches to find excellent buys. 
• Mark bought a used flip side belgian waffle maker this weekend.  We had delicious, belgian waffles for supper tonight.
• Extra time with my sweetheart this afternoon. My favorite way to spend a day.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Blessings and hugs!
Shelly

Christmas in July

Hi friends.  Don't ask me why I'm messing with Christmas cards when I have half a dozen other projects under way that I should be working on.  Sometimes my creativity gets a wild hair and wants to do the opposite of what I want it to do, so I go with the flow. :)  I saw this folded Christmas tree in a magazine awhile back, but they didn't give the instructions for it.  Mark and I messed around with some double sided paper until we came up with a tree fold.  I made the trees up ahead to be added to cards at a later time.  I often make elements ahead for my cards that way. I have since found a tutorial for the tree fold.  The tutorial uses a scalloped circle, so the tree is a bit more fancy than mine.
I stamped "JOY" with a typewriter alphabet by and used a punch to cut the letters out. 

I'm entering these challenges:

Card Crafters Circle #31 - Christmas in July

Card Caravan #22 - Christmas in July

DL. ART Thankful Thursday - Christmas in July

Sarah Hurley Challenge #70 - Buttons

Blessings:

• I used my birthday money to purchase a box of books and audio books.  I'm in the midst of 5 of them right now.  Utter bliss!!!!  Here's a link to the awesome book sale that enabled me to purchase so many new books at once.
• A sweet note from a friend.
• We were given a "new to us" toaster with slots that are big enough for bagels.  It's so nice to be able to easily pop a bagel into the toaster.  A big thank you to our friends. :)

Have a terrific day!!!

Blessings and hugs!
Shelly

Light Up Your Holiday

I have a few more Christmas cards to show before the year is over.  My favorite part of this card is the sentiment - "Light Up Your Holiday with God's love!". 

Here's a close up that shows the Crystal Lacquer on the large lights and the glaze pen on the small lights.

Blessings

• We watched our friends' two youngest kids tonight.  It was such a joy to have little ones in the house.
• I think I'm finished with all of the Christmas gift and card preparation!!!!  I wouldn't be if Mark hadn't done most of the wrapping for me.  Thank God for my loving husband.
• A phone visit with my mom. In the new year she's going to visit in person!!!

I hope you have been able to find time in all of the hustle and bustle of the season to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas - Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Christmas Preview

Christmas is getting all too close and I don't have very many Christmas cards made yet.  Here's one that I do have done.  I painted the image with Twinkling H2O's.  I used Star Dream card stock to go along with the shimmery paint.  I dry embossed the black card stock with my Scor Pal to frame the image.  This is such a beautiful image that I kept the card simple to keep the focus on the image.

Blessings

•  Mark & Lydia are always willing to lend a hand when I need it.
• Time to spend in prayer despite my busy schedule this week.  I need the prayer time to keep going.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugz!
Shelly

Christmas is Coming!!!

I don't get too into making my Christmas cards until about November - usually well into November. :) But I have managed to make a few here and there. I love this Layered Star stamp from My Paper Moon. It's so versatile. It can be used to form many different designs and layers and is great for so many occasions. It even makes a pretty 4th of July card if you use appropriate paper. You can view it at here at the My Paper Moon site and see four samples of other ways to use the stamp. Scroll down to the last stamp. Here's a close up view to show you the detail in the star. I only used three layers on this star, but sometimes use 5 or more. I used the micca card stocks to help showcase my super sparkly silver embossing powder on the star. I also used my Scor Pal to add a few details. I finished the center of the star off with a small gemstone.

Supplies:

Stamps: Layered Star, Peace - both from My Paper Moon
Accessories: Silver Tinsel Embossing Powder, Stamp Cabana Silver Detail Embossing Powder, Scor Pal, Gem Sone

Blessings

• A nice phone visit with my dad for his birthday today. :)
• Happy Mail!
• My daughter's tender heart. She does such sweet things for us.

Have a terrific day!!!
Inky hugs!
Shelly

Last, but not least

I am so goofy. Last year we bought some gorgeous cards, because I send store bought Christmas cards to people who don't know the difference. When it came time to mail the cards I couldn't find them anywhere. We finally decided that maybe they had accidently gotten thrown away. After Christmas when I was unburying the house from the holiday rush, I found the box of cards buried on our roll top desk, so I saved them for this year. Today I went to get the cards to address them and they weren't where they belong. I have searched high and low for the cards and can't find them anywhere. I can't imagine what I did with them. lol Last year some friends gave us about 5 boxes of beautiful cards that they had decided not to use. That got me out of my jam. I may be digging back into that stash of cards this year if Mark can't find my box of cards somewhere when he gets home.
Here is the third and final card in my series of One Stamp, Three Looks. For this card I paper pieced the Christmas tree. I adhered it to the Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossed background, which I had added Icicles Stickles to. I cut the corners of the dp with a SU punch that I can't remember the name of right now. (Too bad these things aren't labeled. lol ) The Christmas tree stamp is from Heart and Soul Rubber Stamp Company. Be sure to check out their new images. On the catalog page click on "Late Fall 2008 Supllement". You will be adding some of these to your Chrstmas list. : )


And I have a little surprise for you. : ) I have a fourth card to show you that is made with this Christmas tree stamp, but it isn't made by me. You'll have to visit Sue's blog, Purplestamper's Musings to see this pretty card. It's fun to see how different it is from any of the cards I made. I love to see what different people do with the same stamp. When I used to teach stamping classes I would marvel at the different touches that each person put on the same project.


Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!

Shelly

The Second Look

I'm sneaking in here to post this and then I have to get back to working on Christmas preparation. I've managed to fall so far behind that we just may have to postpone Christmas until I catch up. : ) Just kidding. I know the real meaning of Christmas is our Saviour's birth and I would never want to postpone celebrating that. But I would appreciate some prayers that this flu we have would improve instead of continuing to get worse. It is slowing me down.

This card is the second in my series of One Stamp, Three looks. Today's card is a very traditional look. I colored the tree stamp with my Prismacolor pencils and oms and paper pierced inside and outside the lines of the heart and Christmas tree. I machine sewed the image layer and the dp layer on to the card. That's something I won't be doing again. Why? Because I didn't enjoy it. My theory with card making is that it is for relaxation and enjoyment, so if I don't enjoy something, I don't do it. I used to love to sew, but gradually sewing machines and I have developed a terrible relationship. Every time I touch one for any reason the tension is wrong. But I digress. The stamp on my card is from Heart and Soul Rubber Stamp Co. I think you will need to click on the card to enlarge it in order to see the details on the card today. Stay tuned for card number three next time : )


Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

One Stamp, Three Looks

Happy Thursday! It rained here all day, because we have another cold front coming in. It was good weather for staying in and working on the craft projects I'm trying to finish for Christmas.
This evening Mark's student's performed their annual Christmas play. It went very well. In fact one boy performed even better for the audience than he had in practice. He brought the house down with laughter. Thankfully Mark's voice made it through the evening as he is extremely hoarse now.

Both stamps on this card are from Heart and Soul Rubber Stamp Company. The Christmas tree is painted with Twinkling H2O's. I mixed colors to get the green and pink, because I only have some of the most basic colors. I added tiny rhinestones to the heart and a larger rhinestone to the star brad. Some lace and ribbon finished off the card. Tune in next time to see what else I will do with the tree stamp. : )


I ran across a blog that I am finding alot of useful information on. It's called Inspirational Tips, Techniques, and Tutorials. Many different people write for the blog and you never know what you will find as the subject, but it is all craft related. Enjoy!


Have a fantastic day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Christmas Mouse

This is one of a wide variety of Christmas cards I made for this year. I usually only make one or two of the same card, because I get bored making the same thing over and over. Though sometimes I will use the same image many times and just change the layout of the card. I didn't get these two stamps to use together, but had them sitting on my desk and thought the mouse would look cute in the mitten and I do like him in there. : ) The stamps are both from JRL Design Company. These are the only stamps have from this company. I looked for the company online and only found used stamps for sale from them. But several sites mentioned that JRL Design company is related to D.O.T.S., which is now CTMH. An interesting bit of history. : ) The mitten and mouse are both colored with Prismacolor pencils and oms. I highlighted the white areas on the mitten with a white gel pen. The little squares in the corners are cut with a punch and have large white brads embellishing them.


I've had several people ask me about coloring with the Prismacolor pencils and oms (odorless mineral spirits). You don't have to use Prismacolor pencils, but they do work the best. If you have another brand of colored pencils, experiemt with them and see if they will work. They do have to be colored pencils, not watercolor pencils. I purchased my Prismacolor pencils at Amazon.com and they were a terrific buy. The odorless mineral spirits can be bought at the hardware store under the brand name Gamsol. You need blending stumps, which are inexpensive to purchase in the art section of a large craft store like Michaels. It's imporatant that you stamp your image with a permanent ink like StazOn, so it won't run. You also need a good quality smooth white cardstock. Here is a link to a great video that will walk you through the technique: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4912926818455764703


Have a wonderful day!!!


Inky hugs!
Shelly