Warm Hugs for Christmas

This card follows the same sketch as this one I previously posted. It's an easy sketch that utilizes any piece of fabulous patterned paper you have lying around. I used Heidi Grace flocked paper for mine, and the cutest little snowman image EVER- Warm Hugs by Stamping Bella. I coloured the image with Copics and added Stickles for extra "oomph". The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

I mentioned last week that I became an aunt and that I now have an adorable nephew...well he STILL does not have a name!!!!! I can't believe it- one whole week and we're still referring to him as "what's his face". :) Lovingly of course...haha.

Also, yesterday my mom and I did our last craft sale for the season and it was fabulous! I was actually hoping to come home with a few cards to send out to family and friends, but I sold them all! :) That's a good thing I guess! Oh well, back to my craft corner to keep stamping, but this time for fun and not business!

Rubber Soul Christmas

I love these little stick people from Rubber Soul. They are so cute! I used Basic Grey Wassail papers, and paper pieced the dress with coordinating papers and coloured the rest in with Copics. Buttons are from my stash and the tiny piece of gold ribbon is from Papertrey Ink.

Tomorrow is the last Christmas craft sale my mom and I are doing for the season...thank goodness! I'm not sure if I'm cut out for the business world...haha. I realized I love making the cards for my own pleasure and it's not worth it to put pressure on myself to crank out 200+ cards for one day only! Not to mention with this baby coming I have about 2 doctor's appointments a week, so I'm booked up as it is!!! My C-Section is booked for January 27th!!!!!! Countdown is on!

Little baby, Big Love!

I made this baby card for my brother-in-law and his girlfriend once he called Friday morning to say she was in labour, CONVINCED they were going to have a baby girl. BUT I was wrong!! :) Baby boy it is...so I'll show you the girl card anyway. :) I'm so excited to have nephew- 7 lbs, 7 oz. even though he was 4 weeks early. He's going to stay in the hospital for a few more days just to be safe- but so far so good- no problems or anything! Phewf!


I used Lavender Moon cardstock and ribbon from Papertrey Ink for his one, and patterned paper with a beautiful shimmer to it, from KI Memories. The bottom half of the card I ran through my Swiss Dots embossing folder and rounded all the corners. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and was embossed with a purpley/pink powder. I bought both the stamp and the embossing powder at the fabulous Paper Pickle!! I paper pierced around the edges and sponged Lavender Moon ink around also. Brads are from Making Memories and I covered them with Diamond Stickles.

Grumpabella feels yucky!

Ooooo Grumpabella! She's too cute to be grumpy! :) At least she has a coffee in her hands- one thing I miss about being pregnant is not having coffee in the morning...decaf, ahem, *sucks*. I think she's in her housecoat all snuggly trying to feel better!

So I coloured her in with Copics, doodled around the edges and matted her on brown Bazzil cardstock. All designer paper is Urban Prairie from Basic Grey. Gems are Doodlebug Design, ribbon is misc. from my stash and the sentiment comes from the Garden of Life set by Papertrey Ink. Hope she is feeling better soon!!

We had an exciting phone call this morning. My brother-in -law and his girlfriend are in labour!!! It was supposed to be another 4 weeks- which is early yet, but not tooooo early. I think 37 weeks is considered "full term" so she is very close. I'm sure everything will be fine. Meanwhile, I'm pacing around the house waiting to hear if I have a niece or nephew...my first time as an aunt!! On my side I think I'll have to wait awhile; my brother is not too anxious for a family yet so it might be a long time before I get to be an aunt again, so I'm going to enjoy it!!!!

Snowmen Holiday Wishes!

These snowmen (or are they snowwomen??) are so cute! Sunshine Designs packages them in a set of 4, which I bought at the Paper Pickle. I love that they are rubber, but are no longer mounted on a bulky wooden block- making it easier for me to peel and stick and position.

I coloured them in with my Copics and of course added lots of Diamond Stickles to them! :) The sentiment is from the Holiday Tags set by Papertrey Ink, and is popped up with dimensionals. Other details? Ribbon is from Papertrey Ink, I used Nestabilities for the circles (plain and scalloped) and the gorgeous flocked paper is from Heidi Grace.

Birthday Wishes

This card utilizes a sketch from a week or so ago when Verve Visual had their November release celebrations. I used White Stamper's Select cardstock as my base, layered with black and yellow Bazzil cardstock. The embossed image is from Cuttlebug, ribbon is from The Paper Pickle, and the sentiment is from, of course, Verve Visual! The only other detail that is relevant is that I sponged a soft yellow ink around the embossed image before matting it...that's it!

Okay, I'm off to think of something for supper...ugh. My husband travels for business quite a bit, so tonight it's just Jake and I. It's not that fun cooking for a 2 year old...bologna satisfies him just fine...ewwww! Meanwhile any recipe I make will give us 3 days worth of leftovers! I'm sure I'll think of something-- Kraft Dinner anyone?! :)

Bella Baby mouthful!

What a name for a stamp...Bella Baby Buggy Bumper...that's a mouthful! :) Still, it's pretty cute isn't it? A nice soft baby card that works for a baby boy. Just another baby card that I made for the upcoming craft bazaar next Saturday!

I coloured in the image with Copics, and used papers and ribbon by Papertrey Ink.

Stamps: Bella Baby Buggy Bumper by Stamping Bella, Polka Dot Basics by Papertrey Ink
Ink: Graphite Black ink, White craft ink, Copic markers
Paper: Aqua Mist, Kraft, Lemon Tart, White Stamper's Select cardstock, patterned paper from Polka Dot Parade ALL by Papertrey Ink
Misc: aqua mist ribbon by Papertrey Ink, brads by unknown.

Figure skates and baby surprises!

I was inspired by this post of Sharon Johnson's. I decided to work simply and let my image and papers do the 'talking'. :) The cute little figure skates image is from Sunshine Designs, and the patterned paper is from Wassail by Basic Grey. I used my Copics to colour the image in, using gold Stickles here and there. The circles were cut using my Nestabilities. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. Thanks Sharon for more great inspiration!!!

As for an early Christmas present for my family....we FINALLY got to find out the sex of this baby that is kicking me like crazy!!!!! Drumroll please..... It's a GIRL!!!!!!!! I am literally stunned. I never expected it to be a girl and the doctor could tell I was shocked. I almost started crying in her office I was so happy. We're trying to get our little guy Jake to say 'sister' but he's reluctant...I'm tellin' ya- all he wanted was a puppy not a sibling! :)

Paper Pickle make and take!

This is the card everyone had the chance to make at Sunday's Christmas Open House at the Paper Pickle. Isn't it pretty? They have just started up a new blog too so that's exciting!!

The image is from Inkadinkado, the embossing was done using a Cuttlebug folder, and the tag is from Making Memories and was set using their tag curler. That's about all I can tell you since it was all set out for us to make. I added Diamond Stickles to the snowflakes and sponged ink around the edges for effect. Sorry for the glare! It's a rare sunny day around here this week!

Take a break...

I used Amy Rysavy's sketch AMYRS45 for my inspiration on this card. I've had this Annie LaPoint image from MFT for awhile now and am finally inking it up!

I paper pieced the tub onto some of the solid coloured paper included in the Basic Grey Granola 6x6 pack, and coloured in the rest of the image with my Copics. I added Diamond Stickles to the flowers, and sponged Polar Ice Versacolor around the edges before matting it. The corners were punched using my SU! Ticket punch, and the brads are from...hm...I don't remember! The rest of the papers are also from the Granola pack (I love the colours in this pack!!). The flowers are those white shimmery ones you can buy in a big tub at Michael's...I used my Copics to colour them a matching shade to the patterned paper and used the same brads for the flower centres. That's about it for card details!

My weekend was a cardmaker's dream...well, my particular cardmaker's dream anyway! TWO stops at my favourite stamping store!! Wahhooo! Saturday my mom and I went to a Christmas Bazaar (craft sale, whatever you want to call it) and then afterwards, of course, stopped in at The Paper Pickle where we spent lotsa $$ :) Unfortunately our stay was not long, since we had my son Jake with us (he's 2) and he must of inherited his dad's and grandfather's genes for NOT liking cardmaking stores at all! While we were there we noticed that the next day was their Christmas Open House, so of COURSE we had to back on Sunday and spend more $$. Except this time they had cookies and cider AND I found a sitter to watch Jake, which made both of us happy :) After a lovely make-and-take Christmas card (which I will post someday soon) we got out there in a hurry before our VISAs blew up! :)

Hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend!

Snowflakes abound...

Okay, I've searched every gallery and blog imaginable and can't find where I CASEd this card from...let me just say it's not my idea and I liked the original card so much that I knew I wanted to try it myself. (edited to add: I found it here!)

Pretty much all supplies for this card are from Papertrey Ink, unless otherwise noted.

Ocean Tides is the 5x5 card base, with Kraft (rolled through my Big Shot with the snowflake embossing folder by Cuttlebug) and patterned paper from the Polka Dot Parade collection. Ribbon is Ocean Tides Saddle Stitch ribbon. The snowflake comes from the Holiday Tags set (stamped on White Stamper's Select), and it's popped up with dimensionals on Ripe Avocado. Both the plain and scalloped circles were cut using my Nestabilities. The final touch was a silver bauble from Stamping Bella.

This house believes...

This is the card that I taught at my cardmaking class on Tuesday night at the local library. I used an image from Inky Antics for my sample, but everyone was free to use whatever image they wanted (I took about 5 for them to choose from).


I coloured my image in with Copics and used Gold Stickles on the star. Papers used were Kraft, Pure Poppy, Ripe Avocado and White Stamper's Select- all by Papertrey Ink. Patterned paper is from the Holiday Vintage Prints collection by PTI. I also used gold ribbon by PTI, and the Ornament embossing folder by Cuttlebug and baubles from Stamping Bella.

Busy days ahead!

I'm wimping out on cards lately...I've been busy!! I promise lots more creative stuff coming your way soon... :)

This one used my new Ripe Avocado cardstock from Papertrey Ink, paired with White Stamper's Select ran through the Cuttlebug Ornaments folder. I also embossed a small piece of Ripe Avocado and cut out the ornament, popping it up with dimensionals and using my Gold Leafing marker to colour the top. The ribbon is adhesive, which was wonderful to stick on, but not so wonderful to tie a knot with!

My mom and I hosted a card-making class last night at the local library, so I'll be sure to post a picture of the card that I taught...I think everyone had fun and they all seemed to catch on rather quickly. We did one last Valentine's Day which was frustrating me for because I'm NOT a good teacher and get frustrated easily when people don't "get it" as fast as I think they should...or when they misuse my supplies :( But this group seemed a little beyond the beginner stage and were genuinely interested in card-making and I think they went home happy with the cards they made. At least, I thought they all made beautiful cards! Now it's just preparing for 2 more craft sales, getting baby thank-yous and announcements reading for our little one (arriving around Feb. 2nd) and finishing up a baby album for my FIRST son, let alone this new one! :) Easy peasy! :)

The cutest dragon ever!!

Well I stamped that Sunshine Designs snow globe image a few dozen times, so be prepared to see it lots in the next while. :)

Cardstock is White Stamper's Select and Pure Poppy (which was ran through my Cuttlebug Snowflake folder) from Papertrey Ink, while the patterned paper is DCWV. Ribbon is Pure Poppy, and the dark green is Bazzil. I stamped both the image and the sentiment (from the Holiday Tags set by PTI) in Brilliance Graphite Black and sponged Pure Poppy ink around the edges. The circles are cut out using my Nestabilities. The final touch...a snowflake embellishment from Making Memories.

I hope everyone had a safe Halloween if you were out trick or treating. My DH and I took our son out early in the afternoon as to get home before dark. Poor guy (Jake, not my husband!) was just whipped by the time we got him to bed. But he WAS the cutest little dragon you have ever seen!! :)

Snowy Snowmen in a Snowglobe...

I freaked out when I saw this CUTE image from Sunshine Designs at the Paper Pickle...it's soooo cute! I only wish they could come up with a more creative name than SD052 J...I mean, really! That's a little boring!

I used Bazzil cardstocks and patterned paper from DCWV, along with white stamper's select cardstock to stamp the image on. The lavender cardstock I ran through the snowflake Cuttlebug folder. The image I coloured with Copic markers, sponging Lavender Moon ink around the edges before matting it to the blue cardstock (which I cut out using my Nestabilities). I added Diamond Stickles to the snow falling and on the ground. The gems are from Heidi Swapp, the ribbon slide from Making Memories and the ribbon is misc. from my stash.

The entire sketch is based on a SFYTT from Jen Del Muro's blog.