Flower Power and Friends...

 I colored these images with Copics at my friend Susan's house over the weekend.  The daisies were stamped and traded with my other friend Susan. They are by Stampendous called "Daisy Thanks". The "thanks" die-cuts were traded with my friend Sherry, probably by Lawn Fawn since I OWN the "smile" die-cut and IT'S by Lawn Fawn.  My friend Rhoda gave me a gift certificate to JoAnn's where I purchased craft foam to use behind my cards for dimension. A new craze I wanted to try out...

 

 The stitched die-cut is from Gina Marie Designs, recommended by my friend Sherry...

 

 This stamp is a wood mount by Northwoods Rubber Stamps, no name and came out in 2012.  I've used it many times. The sentiment is also wood mount made by Printworks. Burlap twine from my Etsy shoppe (shop HERE) , sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and a tiny butterfly from a SU Embosslits called "Beautiful Wings"....

 

 I did glitter all the calla lilies but this one really stands out... maybe a bit much?

 

I'm still not sold on the white ribbon. From my stash, probably from Michaels, but maybe too over powering? Let me know what you think? ALSO, which card is your favorite? Inquiring minds want to know... :)



Another Craftsy class...

 So, I'm taking another class thru Craftsy taught by the incomparable Catherine Pooler called "WILD Cards: 21 Techniques with Favorite Supplies".  These two styles are from Lesson 1, Bold Stamping and Ink Techniques.  Amazingly simple and SOOO darn fun...

In her lesson, she was using solid circles, of which I have none.  BUT, I did have hearts and hey!  Valentine's is just around the corner!!  These hearts are using stamping off and rock 'n roll techniques.  The sentiment is a wood mount I've had for years and could quite possibly be the first time I've used it (hanging head... LOL).  It's by RubberSoul called The Love We Give...

 

Now, isn't THIS one freakin' adorable?!!  Same technique as above but masking off the area.  The little girl, I believe, is from My Favorite Things.  I colored her with a friend months ago.  The sentiment is another wood mount that I own by Hampton Art.  I was so pleased with how she came out... AND it's super great to be replenishing my much depleted stash!!



More Christmas Cards... woot, woot!

 This card quite LITERALLY kicked my butt for the last three days. From taking forever to design, to having the perfect black with gold words background paper in my stash, to running to Michaels for a replacement paper because I only had enough for two cards and had FOUR colored images, to paying WAY TOO MUCH for a piece that I could "fudge" to work with black paper behind a clear sheet with gold words, to forgetting to use the embossing buddy before embossing, to holding the heat gun too close to the replacement paper (which was plastic) and watching it melt, to having the glue dot behind the button stick to me and rip the paper, to asking myself, "I do this because... why?"  OMG!!  I am SOOO happy this is done!!!

 

But, once finished, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I love, love, love cardinals!  The image is from a Clearly Gina K collection called "Peace and Joy".  Colored with Copics, cut with my new Scan 'N Cut and popped up over the circle with dimensionals.  The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set that doesn't appear to have a name (CL559) but I'm sure I'll use again.  I don't own the image so I'm guessing I won't be tempted to duplicate THIS card again.  Once is quite enough!! But the best part of completing this is, I can add four more to my January Christmas cards... :)



It's STILL Christmas?

 As many of you know, I've challenged myself to make a minimum of five Christmas cards a month and have done so for the past six years.  First for Operation Write Home and now for my personal stash.  Last year, I was SOOOO pleased to have a wide variety of cards to send to several different people, including thirty-two DIFFERENT for the Ernman's co-workers.  Last night, Sherry and I were messaging and challenged each other to get five done BEFORE bedtime.  Since it was already 7pm, that was challenging in more ways than one for me... 

Bling in the center?  Or no bling?  I can't tell which I like better. I'm leaning toward no bling...

 

I finished up about 9:30pm... with SIX done!  Off and running for 2017.  YAY!  Sherry sent a picture of HER card and it's phenomenal.  We both are ahead of the game and this was motivating doing it WITH someone, if only virtually.. :)

 

My Top Ten for 2016...

It was a much slower year for me, in blogging , then in past years.  Only 26 posts.  Wow!  I did, however, rock my Christmas card input for the year.  Not only was the # high, there were many DIFFERENT ones.  AND, I have twenty-five not used and ready for next year... bonus!

SO, without further ado, my Top Ten Cards of 2016...

I started the year off by hitting the ground running with my FIVE Christmas cards a month challenge.  This was one of fourteen made from the Simon Says Stamp December 2015 Card kit.   HERE is the original post...

 

 By February, I was taking an online class thru Craftsy, called Cards with Dimension which REALLY took some of my cards to a new level.  Original post HERE...

 Ernie's Valentine, using a stamp set by Inky Antics that I've had for a couple years.  Original post HERE...

Then along comes Cozy Crop in April and fellow crafter Deb, taught us how to make backgrounds on a cereal box.  This was so cool!!!!  THEN, layering on the bird I had previously colored and fussy-cut, I added one of her sentiments.  What a fun card!!  Original blog post HERE...

 Some more from that Craftsy class.  Original post HERE...

Tried out BRUSHO and made backgrounds...

This was so, so, SO much fun to color!  I want to do this again and again.  I think I've found a fellow crafter that'll be at Cozy Crop this year, that owns it and I'll ask if she can bring it, and I can stamp a few more images for coloring later.  Original post HERE...

I acquired a very, very, very LARGE box of stamps from our SIL's mom.  This stamp was pretty neat to color but took a LONG time.  Original blog post HERE... 

 

 And then, Scrapbook Expo was here in September.  I took four classes but this one was my favorite.  Original blog post HERE...

And the year isn't complete unless I add what became our personal Christmas card.  I took a class in NYC at the Ink Pad, in November, that was called Holiday Extravaganza.  I can't wait to take it again this year!!  It was wicked awesome!  I bought ALL the supplies to do this card (very unlike me) and made 32.  This was a very labor intensive project but I was very, very pleased with the outcome.  Original blog post HERE... 

 

I'm actually surprised that only four of ten are Christmas cards.  I really rocked my challenge this year making over 120 Christmas cards.  I mean, NAILED it!! 

SO, HAPPY NEW YEAR and let's go rock this year with lots of inspiration!!  :)