Happy Thanksgiving!

If you're celebrating in the US today, Happy Thanksgiving! I'm sitting here watching the big parade on television; no cooking for me today - we're going to the Afton House Inn for Thanksgiving dinner - yummy!

I made five different styles of Thanksgiving cards this year but I'll share two here - first up, the invitation I used to invite friends (more like family to me) to join the celebration at Afton House Inn.

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps CL886 Color Layering Fall Trees, DC150 Happy Stamp & Cut, 

CL179 Sparkle Clear Party; Lawn Fawn Happy Everything

Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Gathered Twigs, Fossilized Amber, Carved Pumpkin, Tumbled Glass

I just love the new fall Hero Arts layering tree stamp! And it'll work well for a winter card I'm planning! On the inside, I used more stamps from the Party set - a plate with silverware and "where" and "when" for me to hand write the details of my event. I made the next card for my parents who are across the country enjoying Thanksgiving with cousin Jon and company.

Supplies: BoBunny paper; 3M glitter tape; Stamps - Hero Arts: CL799 Thankful for you, 

CL119 Happy Thanksgiving; Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Ground Espresso; Copic markers

Hope you're having a wonderful day! I'm thankful today for a great family, fabulous friends, and the freedom to enjoy life - including crafting! Thanks for stopping!

Blue and White with Texture

Merry Monday, everyone! It's always merry when I can make a card on my day off! This week's challenge at Merry Monday is a color combo - use blue and white with some texture - courtesy of Lesley. Right away I went to the embossing folder stash, planning to ink the white embossed paper with blue ink. As usual, the ink went on more than the embossed portion so I continued adding with a lighter blue and then edged the paper with a darker blue. I stamped and white embossed my sentiment directly on the card base, then stamped a tone-on-tone blue snowflake background. I popped the embossed snowflake onto the card with foam and added some crystal domes. Done!

Here's my card:

Supplies: 

Stamps - Hero Arts CL630 Miracle of the Holidays (sentiment), CG685 Hand Drawn Snowflakes Bold Prints 

Embossing folder - Sizzix/Hero Arts 658287 Snowflakes Set

Inks: Hero Arts Cornflower Blue; Ranger Embossing Ink; Tim Holtz Distress Inks- Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass

Embossing Powder: Stampendous Detail White

Gems: Michael's Reflections crystal domes

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Merry Monday for more blue and white inspiration!

Reindeer Time on Merry Monday

Happy Saturday! Hope you're having a crafty day. I made a quick card this morning before running off to see the final Hunger Games movie. I'm back from the movie (a satisfying conclusion to the saga - Jennifer Lawrence is amazing, as always) so thought I'd post this morning's card.

It's reindeer time for this week's Merry Monday challenge so I've been thinking all week what to do. I have lots of reindeer stuff - stamps, dies, Silhouette files, you name it. But I didn't decide until I opened the Simon Says Stamp December card kit. I'm not one to buy kits but this one had a cute cat stamp I couldn't resist. The kit includes some yummy card stock, puffy stickers, sequins, etc (see the link above for the full contents). Anyway, I found a cute reindeer in the sticker package and decided to use him, along with a sentiment sticker, and a stack of presents. Here's my card:

After forming an A2 card with 1/2 a sheet of SSS Audrey cardstock, I layered a black mat, a patterned paper (a snowy piece of Basic Grey's Juniper Berry), and a white hill topped with Lawn Fawn's Forest Border. I used three Pinkfresh Studio puffy stickers from their Christmas Wishes package (29 pieces - a great deal). I added some stickles to the bow on the present stack and I matted the sentiment with Audrey and black cs. Done - a very quick and easy card! I call this Inquisitive Reindeer because it looks like the reindeer is sniffing the bottom package - maybe some reindeer treats are inside?!

Thanks for stopping and have a great weekend!! For more Christmas card inspiration, be sure to check out Merry Monday!

One more Hero Arts Challenge Card

Yay - another day off so I thought I'd take the opportunity to make another card for the current Hero Arts Challenge!

Hero Arts started doing monthly kits and I was lucky enough to get the debut set for October. I also ordered oodles of sets from the new Christmas collection so decided to incorporate some stamps from Holiday Pine Branches (CL889) with my kit stamps. Thanks to Hero Arts for all these great products!!

Jennifer McGuire, who always inspires, showed a monochromatic stamp layering technique on this blog post. I decided to try it with my new stamps. I must say the MISTI makes doing this technique a lot easier. I just moved my paper a bit to do the white stamping once I was done with the tone on tone stamping. Then I'd move my stamps to a new spot and start all over again. Because the flowers are designed for layering, I added some of the definition lines using a darker ink than the tone on tone - I liked how it turned out! Here's my card:

The kit included a felt flower and set of leaves but I had an entire package in my stash. I layered two flowers and two sets of leave using a brad - haven't used a brad in eons! But the holes in the leaves and flowers were made for brads so I couldn't resist - LOL The final step was to add some white dots with a gel pen.

Thanks for stopping and I hope you're having a crafty day!

Merry Pink, White & Green!

Hi everyone - it's another Monday  off work - yay! So I had time to play right away with this week's Merry Monday challenge from the amazing and colorful Deanne to use Pink, White and Green on your Christmas card!

Well, let's say I checked out the challenge right away this morning but first I had to make a couple of birthday cards. While I was working on them, I spotted some plaid paper with pink, white and green (plus a teensy bit of light red) - jackpot. I love plaid for Christmas but it's not usually this color - LOL! The paper pad from American Crafts is titled - Spring - so it's totally the wrong season. Who cares - I knew it would be perfect for Deanne's challenge! I also knew I wanted to use a new Penny Black die I just got. 

Here's my card:

Supplies: Hero Arts - CL722 Merry Christmas Messages (sentiment) & pine folded card; May Arts ribbon; white vellum; Penny Black die - Whirl Wreath; American Crafts paper; Reflections cs; liquid appliqué; Simon Says Stamp circle dies

I love the Reflections card stock from Michaels that I used - it's a jumbo 3.5x3.5 cube with 10 different colors, perfect for cutting out small dies. The hot pink really caught my eye and it was perfect with the plaid paper. After I layered the pink behind the green wreath, something felt missing. That's when I decided to add the white vellum behind the stack. The berries started out with a white gel pen but they didn't pop so I used liquid appliqué instead. 

Thanks for stopping and I hope you're having a great Monday! Be sure to check out all the inspiration from the fabulous design team at Merry Monday. I'm nearing 70 Christmas cards for my stash so I'm very thankful to Merry Monday for keeping me inspired!

Merry Monday - Red and Gold

Back today with the Merry Monday card I made yesterday but couldn't get uploaded until today. Finally, my computer remembered my camera!

Anyway, enough of my computer woes! The challenge from Bonnie this week is to use red and gold on your Christmas card. What a gorgeous combination and I had fun using a Spellbinders set (Heirloom Reflections) I bought last year but hadn't even opened. I die cut the ornament base with red glitter paper and the topper with a metallic gold paper. I embossed another piece of the metallic gold paper using Sizzix's Holiday Joy set from 2012 and framed it with a red glitter mat. I saved the sentiment for the inside, letting the ornament take center stage. The little bit of gold thread for the hanger came from a felt ornament kit I'm working on - oops, I should be saving it for the kit....

Bad photo - sorry - the card base is red but it looks pink in my photo! Also, the red in the bow matches the card better in real life. Here's my card:

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out all the inspiration at Merry Monday! This was my first year participating in the Merry Monday challenge and I can't believe how much fun I've had. I feel so prepared coming into the Christmas card season! Thanks Merry Monday!!

Some Hero Arts tags by Lia

Happy Monday everyone! It's not my Monday off but I did take a day off work. The chorus with which I sing, City of Lakes Chorus, performed midday for a senior citizens' group. They were having an early Veterans' Day luncheon with us as entertainment (doing some of our Rosie the Riveter package), then a speaker from the Historical Society. On the corners of the stage they displayed mannequins wearing WWII service uniforms - so cool. We had a wonderful time singing and I even had some MC lines and sang in a "pick up" quartet - two of my old Chord Company members and the bass from StarBurst quartet. The audience loved it all and we were delighted to honor the veterans there.

I made a quick card this morning but I'm having trouble uploading! Instead, I'll share a card I made on Saturday to add to my Christmas stash, using new Hero Arts items I just received. Their new Lia tag dies were a big hit and my order had to wait for a fresh supply - yay for Hero Arts! And thanks again for the goodies!! I adored all three Lia tag sets when I spotted them in the holiday catalog and couldn't wait to receive them. Here's my card:

Supplies

Hero Arts: DC166 Merry & Bright Tag Set by Lia (die), DC167 Joyful Tidings Tag Set by Lia (sentiment). DI087 Spring branch, CG685 Hand Drawn Snowflakes Bold Prints, light pool layering paper, Soft pool ink Other: Ranger Princess Gold ep, May Arts ribbon, Stampin' Up CS, 
vellum, American Crafts glitter paper.

When I die cut the tag from the pool panel, I left it inlaid and topped it with a green one that I cut from the other half of my sheet of green used for the card base. I stamped the sentiment and gold embossed it. When I saw the leaves on the tag, I thought they'd work well with Hero's Spring Branch die. I die cut it from vellum and snipped it into two pieces, tucking the ends behind the tag. I covered the opening with a bit of glitter paper and added the bow to make it look like a hanging ornament. Then I popped the whole pool panel onto the card base. Both the pool panel and the card base were stamped with the Hand Drawn Snowflakes - love this 6x6 cling stamp!! I'm submitting this to the current Hero Arts Holiday Cardmaking Challenge.

My next Saturday fun was to play in a card Scramble hosted by my friend, Heather. She had a fun theme recognizing Hero Arts' achievement as a "green" company. We had to make a tag and include something recycled! A Scramble lasts 90 minutes but I knew I'd only have 60 due to a memory service I was to attend. Here's my quick tag:

Supplies

Hero Arts: DC166 Merry & Bright Tag Set by Lia (sentiment), DC167 Joyful Tidings Tag Set by Lia (die)

red gems; Other: Copic marker (to shade the leaves), sequins, White gel pen, 

Embossing ink & white ep, recycled Hallmark card (behind the tag)

Thanks for a great Scramble, Heather! And thanks to you for stopping in today! I'll post today's card as soon as I can get it uploaded. Happy crafting!!