stencils

 The new challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches is not a sketch this week. It is anything goes. You can do any crafty thing you want to do. It is a busy time of the year so we will be running this challenge for 2 weeks. That gives you plenty of time to steal away some time to create something.

A friend gave me a box of art supplies she cleaned out of her sister's garage. In it were a lot of stencils. I haven't used a lot of stencils so decided to try one. I liked the first one so much I ended up making 4 in different pastels. 

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a great New Year.  See you in January for our "favorites of the designers" challenges.

Valentine

I've used the sketch from Sketch Saturday for this valentine.

I used paper and ribbon from the scrap box. The background is a Cuttlebug folder. The punched hearts and sentiment are from SU.

Here is the sketch.

Visions of Sugar Plums

 Twas' the night before Christmas...visions of sugar plums danced in their heads...Mama in her kerchief and I in my cap,,,

These adorable gnomes are wearing their colorful winter caps and surely dreaming of sugar plums.

The gnomes are Stampingbella. The sugar plums are Lawn Fawn. The sentiment is a retired SU! one. I added scrap candy cane stripe paper on the left.

Playing along with Cardz 4 Guyz: Christmas Elves or Gnomes.

Palm Leaves

I am still dreaming of the tropics.  

Using this week's sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches 

Papers are from Artfully Composed retired from SU!. The palm leaves are 2 step stamped and die cut. The sentiment is also SU!

I know this is a busy season but I hope you can take a little time for yourself and find some time to create a card and share it with us. I often rationalize that my creative time is for mental health, cheaper than psychiatrist. Although my husband questions that. LOL!

Gift Bag

Cards are finished and mailed. Moving on to gifts. Adults and teens in my family get gift cards or cash.  I wanted something a little special beyond a card to package those gifts. I made this cute little bag for one. It is large enough for a gift card or cash. Or it would be a fun treat holder.

I used a double sided paper because it is a little heavier and stands up better. I have had the large snowflake die forever and don't know who makes it. The snowflake is attached to the flap with a large glue dot. I punched a hole through all the layers and tied on the coordinating tag with a silver ribbon. It is enough to hold flap closed. You could use a glue dot to hold it closed if you are not adding a tag. The snowflake on the tag is a Martha Stewart punch. 

The direction's for the bag can be found at Paper Pixie blog here. 

Entering this at Double Trouble Paper Crafting. I have used a die and ribbon.

And since I used Thing 1 and Thing 3 I can also enter at Thing 2"s challenge site Use Your Stuff.

Sort of Vintage?

 The new challenge at Let's Craft and Create is Anything goes with a twist of vintage.

Vintage is certainly a challenge for me. I think the patterned paper has a vintage look to it which helps a lot.

Using a stamp from Stamin' UP!'s Joy of Noel, I over stamped the background paper with one of the branchs with Evening Evergreen ink. I die cut the NOEL from gold mettalic and 2 layers in the Evening Evergreen paper. I tied on a gold sheer ribbon. 

I used the other bit of the paper to make a second card.

The Joy of Noel set is new so I will also send this to My NBUS

The Tropics

 Not to create panic but do you know there are only 20 days until Christmas? Do you have your cards done? It is Tuesday and a new sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches. You can try it out for one of your holiday cards.

I know it is not even winter yet but my thoughts are turning to the tropics. I am hoping to visit somewhere warm in January.

The papers are Artfully Composed, retired from SU. I used a palm leaf E/F on the oval die cut and added a die cut palm tree. The sentiment is also SU.

When the weather gets too cold, maybe I will take out this card and stare at it for awhile.

Go over to Tuesday Morning Sketches to check out the design team entries. I hope you can find a little time out of your busy season to play along with us. 

Caroling Penguins

 These cute penguins are all dressed warmly for their evening of caroling. The image and sentiment are old ones from My Favorite Things.

The music E/F is from Cuttlebug.

Challenges:

Cardz 4 Guyz #336 Festive Creatures

Can You Handle the Presssure Anything Goes with a Twist of Christmas

Inside the sentiment is the same wavy design as the front.

Walk Through the Woods

The current challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz is "A Winter Scene

I have a walk through the pine forest as a winter scene.

This is an all retired Stampin' Up! product card. The moose is a punch--so easy to use and is a great accent on any masculine card.

Beautiful Bouquet

This Week Tuesday Morning Sketches and Double Trouble Paper Crafting are joining challenges.

Here is the sketch

I have a beautiful bouquet of flowers to share.

Double Trouble Thing One challenge is "Keep Calm and Stitch On"

I used the Whimsey Embossing Die Cuts from Stampin' Up! for the border of the white piece. The 2 paper strips are from the stash. The pretty bouquet is from a package of pre-colored floral die cuts that I have lost the label. 

I have a commission to make 2 retirement cards, one for male, one for female. So I just continued with this sketch and did a twofer and threefer.

The sentiments are done on the computer. On the feminine one instead of a strip of paper, I used a piece of netting which came from a package of a variety of specialty textured pieces from a facebook ad. I don't remember the company but I really like all their pieces for accents.

On this masculine one I rotated the sketch and stamped the globe form a Tim Holtz travel set in the background.

Check out all the design team ideas from these 2 blogs to get some inspiration for a creation of your own to share with us. 

You have extra time with this challenge. It will run until December 3. 

Encouragement

 Here we are another week has passed. One week closer to Christmas. I should be working on Christmas cards but I needed a thinking of you card. I used the new sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

All the papers and sentiment are retired Stampin' UP! Good way to use up some scraps.

I hope you get inspiration from our sketch and share your own creation.

Cute Boots

 This month's challenge at Let's Craft and Create is with a twist of stitching. 

I am using the stitched whimsey die from SU!

The image is a pre colored digi from Wink Wink. Don't you love the pre colored versions? It saves so much time. I am not so good at coloring so these pre colored ones are great for me.. I added my own sentiment on the computer. I popped up a rain cloud at the top. A light brush of Pool Party ink adds a puddle under the boots.

Inside is another computer made sentiment with the same stitched whimsey die around the edges.

Flowers

 Playing today with Time Our Challenges with this gorgeous photo inspiration. They are actually giving away this pretty floral bag as a prize.

My card is made with Stampin" UP! colors of  Seafoam and Melon Mambo

The sentiment is computer made. The flowers, leaves, and butterfly are preprinted die cuts from my stash. I don't remember what company made them. Hard to see in the photo, I winked the butterfly wings and added black Nuvo drops to the body. Then I used a gold gel pen to highlight around the leaves of the flower.

Fun Birthday

 Oh wow! Do you realize there are only 49 more days until Christmas? This is the first week of November. The first Tuesday and election day. Have you voted yet? I am pretty faithful about voting but boy am I disgusted with all the political negative ads on TV.

On a more cheerful note, it is a day for a new fun sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

I have a fun birthday card to share

The image is a Bugaboo digital. For the scalloped portion of the sketch, I dug out an old pair of deckle edge scissors.  It sort of looks like the irregular edges of cow spots.The background is gingham paper from SU! There was more room on the left of the image so that is where I placed my sentiment.

Inside is a computer made sentiment with "cow spots" accent made with an SU! diaroma die.

I hope you will try our sketch and share your creation on the blog.

2 cards 1 Sketch

This is the newest sketch from Sketch Saturday 

I am working on my stock of get well cards getting ahead of the flu season. 

For Her:

Papers are retired Stampin" UP!. Same sheet, reverse sides. Card stock is Bubble Bath. The stems are from SU Nature's Harvest. The get well is also SU. 3 little sequins to reflect the sparkle of the patterned paper.

Once you figure out the dimensions for one card, you should go ahead and make another.

For Him:

Another Penguin

 I am really having fun with the new Penguin Builder Punch from Stampin' UP!.  

This little guy is having so much fun sliding around on his little frozen pond during snow flurries. 

The E/F is by Cuttlebug. The pond is a diaroma die from SU. The sentiment is also SU.

I winked up the black part of the penguin to make him look shiny. I streaked some Stickles Glitter Glue around the pond to make it look icy.

Check out the other 2 penguin cards here

I am entering this at  Just Us Girls challenge CAS #704 with the prompt to  use just the center of your card.

Fall Theme

Last Tuesday of October and it is Halloween. I am sharing more of a general fall theme card for this week's Tuesday Morning Sketches

The papers are from Carta Bella and Park Lane. The rest is from Stampin' UP!

Inside I stamped and colored 2 more pumpkins.

I hope you will check out the design team inspiration and share a creation of your own.

Penguins

 Penguins are one of my favorite zoo animals. I would love to see them in their natural habitat but don't like the cold that much. I bought the new Penguin Builder punch from Stampin' Up! I love it so much I couldn't stop playing with it. 

The background paper is from my mountain of Christmas papers. The sentiment I've had for a long time. It may be from My Favorite Things. 

And a twofer:

See, I told you I couldn't stop playing with it. Their little feet can be positioned in front to make it look like sitting or in the back to look like standing. The white piece is die cut with a curvy die from SU. Background papers again from the stash. I added some small punched snowflakes and coated them with glitter glue. They really do sparkle but the photo doesn't show it well.

Entering this also at NBUS

A Dog Christmas

A cute dog card for Cardz 4 Galz challenge #210 dogs/puppies.

The 2 patterns are from a Memories and More card pack from Stampin' Up! The dog is fussy cut out of one of the coordinating papers. Doesn't he look so proud of himself all decorated for Christmas? The sentiment is an old one from my stash.