Lucky Stars

Hi Everyone!

I hope you have all enjoyed your holidays. Mine was fairly calm and quiet; but lots of fun, nevertheless. It was really strange without the hubs; but we are anxiously awaiting his return in the next week or so and will be happy to have him home for at least a few days before he has to leave again!
I have had a chance to play with some new stamps I picked up at my LSS over the holidays. Hero Arts just released a whole new line and they are all just fabulous! For the card, I'm showing today I used one of the new
OWH sets "Year Round Sentiments"
I decided that it would be a good set for the CASE study challenge. I really liked the simple layout. It was one that could be dressed up or kept really simple. I think I found a middle ground with my design...at least I hope I did.

I have also been playing and experimenting with my Distress inks for this card I used Iced Spruce, Rusty Hinge, Walnut Stain to coordinate with my color palette of Dark Chocolate, Ocean Tide, Aqua Mist, and Melon Berry from PTI. I also used some Soft Sky ink from SU. I used the three colors to stamp on the new Hero Arts Zig Zag background stamp. I messed up one piece and then messed up the second piece...and then somehow they ended up combined and layered together in the two pieces that are on the card.
Anyhow, it was rather refreshing to step away from Christmas cards. I did find a few challenges that were non-Christmas related:

4 Crafty Chicks: Something New
Aud Sentiments: Anything Goes
Just For Fun: Anything Goes
CASE Study: Case the Card
Rainbow Lady's Challenge: Anything Goes

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25 days of Christmas: Finishing Up

Hi Everyone!!

Well, I decided to do something a bit different with the rest of the cards that I want to share with all of you for the rest of the 25 days of Christmas series that I've been doing. With the big holiday right around the corner, I am swamped with shopping and wrapping and family things as are so many of you I am sure. So, I am going to post the remainder of the cards here in this post. The pictures below are for Days 19-24. Now, you'll notice that Day 25 is missing. I did. A day 25. I really really did; but then I mailed it before I photographed it!! D'uh! So, you'll just have to take my word for it.
So, that is going to wrap up my blogging for this year. I am going to enjoy the rest of my holiday season and I hope you all do the same! Merry Christmas to all of you and I'll see you again the first week or so in January! Please be sure to visit Kristina's website one more time where you can see all the inspiration for these final cards.

Day 19: Sparkle and Cheer

Day 20: Noel

Day 21: Peace

Day 22: Joy, Love, Peace

Day 23: Merry Christmas

Day 24: Happy Hollydays.

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A Foggy Day in London Town

Hi Everyone!

I'm here with a little late evening post for you because I just couldn't wait to share this new card with you!  Now, as I am sure many of you are aware, Hero Arts has just released a whole line of brand new stamps! Yay!! I love me some new stamps. I also found a new stamp store in town yesterday so I bought a couple of those new stamps along with some new distress inks. I couldn't wait to get home and start playing with them. Unfortunately, Mommy duties called and I wasn't able to do anything until today. I was very excited to try some new distress techniques. I was especially intrigued by the idea of embossing and water coloring together. So, I started with a Peeled Paint Card base and cut a piece of watercolor paper to 5 1/4 x 4. I embossed the new Hero Arts Cling stamp with versa mark and black embossing paper. Then I put some Aged Mahogany, Pumice Stone, and Peeled Paint on my craft sheet and then spritz it with some water before swiping the paper through it. I played around a bit more with it until I got the background the way I wanted it, then I heated it with my heat gun quickly just to dry it. I used my ink blending tool to add some colors to the edges. I went back with a bit of white craft ink in various places along the background. The effects don't show up as well in the picture; but in real life it gives it a "Foggy" type of look, which is actually pretty cool! The panel on the left side was original PTI cream; but I thought it was a little bit too much of a stark bright contrast. So I took my ink blending tool with a bit of Pumice Stone and just lightly went over the piece to tone it down a bit. I used Aged Mahogany, and Peeled Paint inks to change the original white flowers. The sentiment is from Stampin Up. I added the black twine before attaching the panel with some dimensional adhesives.
I had so much fun playing with my new stamp. I can just see lots and lots of uses for this. I know there are two similar sets featuring scenes from Italy and Paris; and I'm pretty sure those are going to be added to my collection soon! I've seen a lot of people use the Paris theme stamp; but I wanted to be a little different, so I opted to purchase the London background instead.

Enjoy your evening and I'll see y'all again tomorrow for day 19 of the 25 Days of Christmas. Be sure to check out Day 18 which I posted earlier today

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25 days of Christmas: Day 18

Hi Everyone!

Today's card is one that I really like; but I can't exactly explain why I like it so much. It's definitely not a traditional Christmas card; but I was really pleased with how elegant it turned out. I thought the silver embossing on the smoky shadow was a big success and I will definitely remember to do again. For her Merry Christmas card, Kristina very generously offered an SVG file for 99cents. I downloaded the file; but wasn't able to use it because I just couldn't get it to cut right with my Cricut. So, I made a different one instead and it was still a bit difficult; but I finally got it to work. Yay me!!! I tied some retired Pomegranate ribbon from S.U.around the center. I was going to use red ribbon again, like I did yesterday; but I decide that I really rather liked the purplish hue with the dark grey instead. I wanted a little more sparkle to the card, so I finished it off by adding a little row of silver stickle dots along the top.
So, there it is. Simple, and easy. Please be sure to visit Kristina's original post for the card to see  Thanks for visiting again with me today; and I'll see y'all tomorrow!

Challenges:
Bearly Mine: Non-traditional Christmas
Crazy Amigo Challenges: Embossing

25 Days of Christmas: Day 17

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well on this chilly December morning. I know for some of you it's a LOT colder than it is here in Texas; but it's still quite cold for here too! And I am so happy about that! That may be a strange statement to hear; but I am very much a seasonal gal! To that end, I think it should be cold in December. It's supposed to be, just like it should be hot in July! (Although I will say that I wouldn't wish Texas summer heat on ANYONE!)
Anyhow, I'm sure you aren't here to listen to me babble on about the weather, so let's talk about today's card, shall we?!
As with many of the cards this season, this is another example of keeping it simple. For her card, Kristina used a couple of different stamps and elements from what I needed to use. I chose the Plaid Background stamp from Hero Arts which I embossed with versa mark and clear embossing powder on New Leaf card stock.
I added a small strip of light blue card stock that I had punched with the threading waters edge punch. I did a little more embossing with the sentiment using some white powder. I added the stitched ribbon from PTI and finished the card.
Thanks so much for visiting with me again today. Enjoy your afternoon and I'll be back tomorrow!

Challenges:
Crafty Boots Challenges: Christmas
Hooked on Crafts Challenges: Christmas
Karen Doodles: Clean and Simple
Make My Monday: Red Ribbon

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25 Days of Christmas: Day 16

Hi Everyone!

How is everyone? Hopefully, you all had a fabulous weekend. Ours was lots of fun and busy including a trip to the mall to see Santa. I think Reagan was most excited about the fact that we ate Chinese food at the food court. She's at the age where she's just not really into Santa anymore! Sunday the boys had a gymnastics recital. It's always fun to see them do their routines. Tyler has been on prep team for 2 years now and is doing so very well. Jonathan isn't quite as advanced; but he sure is cute to watch!

So, let's talk about today's card, shall we? Lots of fun patterns going on with this card. I was also pretty pleased with the fact that I was able to cut a pretty decent curve from the top of the center panel piece because I'm not always the most competent with the scissors! I tried to pull a lot of colors from the ornament pattern paper to coordinate the front panel of papers. I think the otherwise non-conventional colors would not coordinate together as well. I didn't think these patterns lent themselves very well to a lot of images, so I opted to just put the sentiment in the center.  Kristina used a a dimensional sticker for her center image on her Night Before Christmas card that took up a little more space in her center than mine did. I also decided to add a ribbon at the bottom because I just thought my bottom portion was a little bare. I hope you like it and thank you so much for visiting with me today. I'll see you all tomorrow!

2 Sisters: Christmas
Paper Sundaes: Christmas
Scrappy Frogs Challenge: Stitching
The Squirrel and The Fox: Christmas
Truly Madly Crafty Challenges: Christmas Colors and image

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