Jingle Belles 35 : The Midas Touch

Happy Friday!!! I'm so excited, 'cause today TWO boxes of Stampin' Up! goodies arrived!! I haven't placed an order in so long  but when I saw the new hoilday mini , I had to place my order!!! I have 5 new Christmas stamp sets and whatya know , I didn't use any of 'em for this week's Jingle Belles challenge!!!  BTW, this week's prompt comes from Leslie , The Crooked Stamper ( Don't you just love her blog title!!!!), which is called The Midas Touch. But don't worry , we can use more than just gold for this week's card , we can use silver with a wee bit of white or vanilla or mix all together!
I made two cards this week because I couldn't decide if I liked the gold or the silver one more.

First here's the silver.....

This was pretty quick , rally , once I decided what I wanted to create. Just an embossed tree on silver with some mini rhinestone gems and a bit of silver cord. A rubon sentiment and it's done!!! YAY!

This one took a wee bit longer..... I struggled with getting the golds to work together... the reindeer and sentiment are stamped in gold and the paper ribbon is leftover waffle paper from last years' mini. The card base is actually embosse using my brand new embossed folder called Snow Burst ! I love how the snowflakes just pop off the card!

So there it is , not one but two cards for this week's JB!!!

Hae a great weekend .... see you next week!!!

" With Love & Caring" sympathy cards

Hello stampers! I still have a day or so before hubby arrives home ( he's been gone 5 weeks!!!!) and our family takes off for a minivacation , so I'm trying to squeeze in some stamping before I go. Recently, a friend asked me to make a sympathy card for a co-worker whose wife had recently miscarried. I felt so emotional as I made these cards .... as a mother my heart ached for her loss and I hugged my babies ( they still are my babies at 14,12 and 8!)  just a little tighter as I was once again reminded of the great blessings they are in my life.

I embossed a section of the front of this card after I stamped the sentiment. I colored the image with my markers for a softer look. I ruffled a strip of seam binding and adhereed it to the vanilla mat.

This is probably my alltime favorite stamp set from Stampin 'Up! called Inspired By Nature. I sponged the flowers in Bordering  Blue and the stems were sponged in Crumb Cake and the edges were inked in Crumb Cake as well. I like how it looks like a watercolor image.

It sure feels good to know that something so simple as a handmade card can mean so much to someone , especially during such a difficult time.

Thank you for stopping by today... have a great one!

Hang In There : Reminisce sketch challenge

Hello again.... I'm back for yet another post today!!! I found this sketch challenge at Reminisce blog site which I really liked .

For this card I used the Jungle Stripes patterned paper . I used the leafy print side for the main card base and then used a strip the same paper, I just flipped it over to reveal the striped side.  The little monkey and sentiment are from an acrylic set from Hero Arts. Did you notice how the monkeys tail is over the circle edge? I couldn't fit the whole monkey inside my 2 3/4 " punch so I stamped another monkey 's tail which I handcut and adhered it to the original image so that his tail hangs over the edge.

The punches and baker's twine are from Stampin' Up! as well as the  orange and teal cardstock.

Whew!.... I think I'm done posting for the day!!!!!! I'm glad you stopped by!!

Jingle Belles 34 : Holiday Fall To Layout

Hi, thanks for visiting my blog today! Summer isn't over ( yet!) but I'm starting to think about the upcoming hoildays! I'm eagerly awaiting my new Christmas stamps and papers to arrive from Stampin' Up! .... oh, I can't wait to get them all inked up! I have a little red tin that holds all my cards I've made since I started playing along with Jingle Belles .... that stash is growing every week!!! This week the ladies at Jingle Belles have teamed up with  Clean and Simple Stamping   for Holiday To Fall Layout  CAS challenge.

We have a fab sketch to work with.....

Here's what I came up with.....

I used accents  and brads from Kaisercraft 's Christmas Carnival collection.... there's no stamping here!  This was a fun challenge to work with and already there are so many great entries over at both blogs.

Hope you've enjoyed my card ..... have a great day!!!!

Still scrappin'....

Good morning ! As I 've said before,  this has really been one busy summer for our family .... we had lots of relatives visiting, and not much time in my craftroom. It's was great to have them here but it was very difficult to say goodbye.  We are going out of town to do some visiting, ourselves , but before I go I 've got a few things to post. I  managed to get a few more layouts completed ,  here they are......

I love this new of paperline  from Amercian Crafts called Margarita. The colors are so vibrant and fun... just perfect for carefree summer layouts! Those fun little chipboard accents were a dollerstore find!!! Those teeny little fish, the sun and the bucket are from a very old Amercian Crafts stash !!! I can't beleive I let these cute plastic shapes sit unused for sooooo long!!!!

I love this photo of my kids and I wanted it to be the focal point of my layout so I had it printed in a 8X12 size... I added a bracket dp and a few embellishments- the journalling will be added later.

This a hybrid page ... the 8X11 layout was done with my digital scrapbooking software program ( My Digital Studio) but I  wanted to add a few more things to make it a bit more interesting. So I adhered it to a Basic Black 12X12 cardstock and attached a few randomly palced buttons and a journalling bracket ( right side), a paper ribbon  and a cute little chipboard owl to finish it all off.

Thanks for stopping by....have a great day!!!!

Jingle Belles 33 : Bring On The Bling

Hello!!! Who doesn't love a little bling, especially during the holidays! Lauren and Stef have a fun prompt for us this week at Jingle Belles  called Bring on the Bling!  Already there are so many gorgeous entries.... go check them out!! But before you go, here's my card for this challenge. I still have family visiting so I don't have a  lot of time to create. Here's my quickie card!
I did buy some new rhinestone stickers that I wanted to try out , so this is the perfect time to use them!

I added some bling to the wreath and to the sentiment, as well. The paper is leftover from my X-Mas stash ... I just love the pink and greens together! I distressed my green cardstock mat before adhering it to a Rose Red ( SU) cardstock base.

Anyhoo, that's my card for this week..... I'm off to enjoy some time woth my family!!!

Have a great one!!

"Curly Cute" birthday card

Good morning! I have purchased so many great sets from Stampin'Up! that have barely seen use- it's not because I don't want to use them , I just don't seem to have enough time to put them to good use!! I fell in love with the Curly Cute stamp set ( love that font)  but it has  seen ink only a couple of times!!! I was inspired for this card while surfing the web. IMy usual style is to add lots and lots of layers ( oooh, how I love layers!!!), but not for this card! I added a border made with Stampin Up!'s new lace border punch, which I machine stitched to the front. I added a pearl accent to the flower ( SU Triple punch). The sentiment is inked in Early Espresso ( my current fav color in the browns) and that's it.... quick and simple.

Thanks for stopping by .... have a great day!!!!

A glimpse of our summer so far ; 2011

Hi all!!! I really wanted  to blog regularily this summer and with all the cool days and rain , yoou would think I'd have more time, but nope!! My house was a crazy, chaotic place full of kids , visiting family ( so happy to have 'em,too!!!) and absolutely no schedule at all!!! I wanted to share you just a glimpse of our summer, so far......

I just love those sunsets by the ocean!

On our way to hike the Starlight Trail .

BJ loved the hike,too!!

We braved the damp and cold to celebrate our nation's birthday!!!

The view from one of the lookouts .... I'm so lucky to live here!!

The kids had a blast jumping and playing in the waves at the park.... the water was so cold!!!!!!

It was great having my niece visit this summer!!!! (Allie and Meg)

There were so many of these jellyfish along the shore.

The beach looked pretty cool here.

Gotta love summer , now matter how short of a season it is!!!!

Jingle Belles : A Blue Christmas

Hello!!!  I can't believe how fast this summer seems to be going!!! I'm already thinking Back To School  even though we still have a few weeks left to our summer break!!! I hope you are having a great summer,too!!
Now that I've turned on my laptop again, I realized how much I have missed viasiting my fav blogs, like Jingle Belles. This week , June Houck ( visit her blog here) is the lovely guest designer and her prompt is a Blue Christmas - we are invited to use blue as our main color. I managed to get mine done with just hours to spare, here's it is.....

I just got this Pink Paislee paper ( santa's workshop) and thought it would be great apaired with a diecut snowflake for this week's challenge. Very simple and quick!!!

Thanks for stopping by.... have great day!!!