Oh Come Let Us Adore Him

Are you ready for Christmas?? If you are then hooray for you!  Me... not so much!  haha  But I'm working on it!

My card today is a simple yet elegant Christmas card.  The background is the gorgeous Black Onyz .  The stamp "Come to Bethlehem" by Stampin' Up was embossed with silver embossing powder.  The sentiment was stamped onto Autumn Hay glimmer paper and then a red silky ribbon was added.  Easy Peasy and fast! 

Thank you for stopping by!  And as always, I appreciate each and every visit and comment!

Saying Merry Christmas with Poinsettias

I love to say "Merry Christmas!" with these handmade poinsettias!  I LOVE this gorgeous paper from the Paper Temptress!   All the paper I used came from the Christmas Paper package.

Paper:
Poinsettias and "Merry" - Jupiter Red Mica/Metallic
"Christmas" and card background - Candido Incandescent
Embossed background - Emerald Mica

Dies and embossing folder:
Spellbinders - Layered Poinsettia
"Merry" - Taylored Expressions - very merry (with companion die)
"Christmas" - QuicKutz Holiday Phrases
Embossing folder - Cuttlebug - Holly

Thank you for stopping by today!  There's still time to order your paper from the Paper Temptress to make your Christmas cards!  I just ordered mine and it was shipped right away.  Happy Holidays!

Thankful Thursday Sale all weekend long at the Paper Temptress

Thankful Thursday….that is PaperTemptress’s sale name LOL!

Okay there is Black Friday,Cyber Monday,Small Business Saturday so I decided that PaperTemptress’s sale is going to be Thankful Thursday!  Clever huh…yeah right LOL!

Okay now to the good stuff!  Starting Thursday at 6AM (pst) everything and I mean everything will be on sale for 30% off until Monday December 2nd @ 6PM (pst)except for the products that are already discounted more than 30% off.  The amazing Leather paperline is already 40% off,all Ribbon is already 50% off,all Hambly Overlays,Screenprints,and stickers are 60% off too.

Once Monday @ 6PM every product that isRed,White,Green,Silver,Gold,Bronze or can be used on any Christmas design will go back to being 30% off so even if you miss the Thankful Thursday sale amazing deals are still available at PaperTemptress.com.

EVERYONE HAVE AN AMAZING THANKSGIVING!

Snowflake at Night & A Tutorial

I have a special treat for you today!  This is one of the cards I made using the Paper Temptress's Christmas paper package which is on SALE!! You can really get a lot of cards out of the package and I LOVE the gorgeous papers that come in it.!   I tried a new technique for this card which is called Die Cut Inlay.  The paper I used are: Black Onyz Mica/Metallic, Russo Incandescent and Candido Incandescent for the snowflakes.

 

 I found a video by Jennifer McGuire here: Die Inlay It's a fun technique and I think I did pretty well considering this was my first try at it.  I had to work with a LOT of small pieces because I chose snowflakes... which have a lot of small pieces.  hehe!

First, you need to choose your background paper and the inlay paper.  You need to decide where you want the inlay pieces (snowflakes) to be on the background paper.   I placed the snowflake dies on top of the black Onyz background, taped them into place and ran it through my die cutting machine. (pictured below - you can see the black snowflakes top left of the image and the black background cut out just below.)  You then need to cut the same pieces (in my case - the snowflakes) out of the contrasting (inlay) paper also shown below:

 

Be sure to save all the little pieces - you'll need them!  Next you will adhere your background paper to the card and then start filling in the white spaces.  It's just like a puzzle.  You need to be sure to fit the snowflakes and the tiny pieces in where they fit.  You'll need to dot liquid glue to the backs of the pieces.  My favorite glue is Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue found in most craft stores.  The smaller bottle has a fine tip so you can easily manage how much glue comes out.  Try not to get glue on the background paper or on the top of the snowflakes.  I use tweezers to pick up the pieces and place them onto the card.

You can see that parts of a couple of snowflakes hang over the edge.  Carefully cut off the excess for a professional look.  You can see in the photo below how the card is one layer.  I added 1/2 pearls to the snowflakes to give them an elegant look.

I added a sentiment for the finishing touch.  I just LOVE how the Black Onyz shines in the light.

Thank you for stopping by!  This was a fun card to make even if it was a little more time-consuming than most cards.  Once I started putting the "puzzle" together, it was fun and went quickly!  If you try this technique of Die Cut Inlay, please let me know!  I'd love to see it!  Please leave a message for me below! 

The good stuff:

Snowflake dies: Lifestyle Crafts - Snowflakes; Spellbinders - Create A Flake One 

Sentiment: stamp - Stampin Up - Angelic Joy.  (Unfortunately this stamp has been discontinued and is no longer available) 

Spellbinders dies: Fancy Framed Tags Two & Labels Twenty

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and don't forget to let me know if you make a project using the Die Cut Inlay technique!  

Christmas Cards Galore! And a SALE!!!

I haven't been posting very often because I've been creating Christmas cards like mad!  Below is an idea of what I've been doing.  All of these card fronts are made using paper from the Paper Temptress.  I only used 1/2 of the Christmas paper package!  These papers are luscious and so fun to work with.  And you're in luck!  This paper package is ON SALE right now!!!  So hop on over to the store by clicking here.

Stay tuned because I plan to highlight these cards one at a time and will include a few tutorials.

Thank you for stopping by and don't forget to leave a comment!  Comments make my day! 

Through a Christmas Window

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  *singing*  At least it does in my craft room!  I have been busy making Christmas cards from the wonderfully beautiful paper from the Paper Temptress!   All of the paper I used is from the Christmas Paper Pack.

I used Red Ruche for the outside of the house.  I made the card out of the white paper found in the Christmas Paper Pack.    I made the window out of the Autumn Hay.  The greenery is the gorgeous Emerald Metallic cardstock.

As you open the card you will see that the window was cut open so that you can see the main image on the inside of the card.  The image is from Stampin' Up called Welcome Christmas.  Unfortunately this set has been discontinued but you can still purchase the digital version here:  Welcome Christmas Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download .  The die I used is Taylored Expressions Picture Window.  

Here's the image on the inside of the card.  I sponged some yellow around the image to make it more warm and welcoming.

Thank you for stopping by!  I'll be back another time with more Christmas cards I made using 1/2 of paper from the Christmas Paper Pack.  I've made 8 cards and am still working on more so stay tuned!  

Have a great weekend and don't forget to leave a comment!  We all love comments!

Operation Write Home Blog Hop starts TODAY!

Hello Hopper! Thank you sooo much for coming by!

We brought our creativity together in the hopes that we would inspire you to join us (DT members) in doing a good deed!

Most of you know our Boys and Gals from the armed forces are deployed all over the world. Sometimes these men and woman are in places that make it very hard, or they’re far away from anywhere that they can pick up a sweet card to send a quick note home. Luckily, they have OPERATION WRITE HOME (OWH). OWH is a non-profit organization that sends special boxes filled with cards to soldiers all over the world. How can you help OWH keep the good deed going? Making cards!!! Yes! OWH angels receive tons of handmade cards from crafters all over the world, then they check and organize cards to be sent out to our soldiers. 

We would love for you to join us to help OWH. We thought it would be amazing fun to do a blog hop to inspire you! Design Teams from PaperTemptress, Oozak and Color me Creative Class will join together in one amazing Card Drive HOP. The fun just gets better! You can join in by making a project (following OWH – size and safety guidelines), entering a picture of the project on the hop inlinkz (One project linked per person please) then mailing the project to us. We would loooove it if you could send as many as you can by November 7th (we will screen them and send all of them to OWH) . You could win super prizes from amazing, super generous sponsors!!! YES!! You do a good deed and you also can win a sweet gift!!!

Thank you to our sponsors

 ♥ Paper Temptress ♥ Oozak ♥ Color me Creative Classes ♥

♥ Heartfelt Creations ♥ Gilli Stamps ♥ Bugaboo stamps ♥

♥ A day for daisies ♥ Through the Craft Door Room Magazine ♥

♥ Floppy Latte ♥ SweetPea Stamps ♥ Pizzaz Aplenty ♥

♥♥♥
I have three cards for you today using all papers from the Paper Temptress of course!  

This first card features paper from the Mica/Metallic paper family.  I used Copper for the tree and parts of the owl,  Amber for the owl, Spring Larch for the leaves and Emerald for the grass.



This second card also uses mostly shiny, smooth paper from the  Mica/Metallic paper family.  I used Amethyst for the background; Emerald,  Azalea and Bronz for the flag and Emerald for the "happy birthday" sentiment.   Just a hint, I used a water-based ink to stamp the sentiment and then used clear embossing powder and heat-set it so the ink wouldn't smear.  I used Cryogen White for the image and used my copics to color the image.  By the way, the image is from A day for daisies.

This last card has the same die for the tree but I used Brown Bag Cardstock instead of the metalic color I used on the first card. The owl stamps are stamped onto my favorite paper, Cryogen White and I colored them with copics.  The grass is Olive Cardstock from the Basis Package.  

♥♥♥

It’s time to HOP around. Leave little note as you pass by these lovely designers’ blogs! Don’t forget to add you project to the inlinkz at the end of the Hop! You will also find the address to mail your cards at the end of the hop. You can Hop throughout the month of October. This way everyone in their own time can hop and join in!

Blog Hop list directory

Anary
Sandy Allnock
Patricia St Martin
Steph Ackerman
Ann Fran
Dana Joy
Anita Autore
Danni Bindel
Lynne Haston
Monica Lowrance
Suzanne J Dean
Linda Payne
Amanda Reed
Nancy Jensen (That's me!)
Cathy Preissing
Vickie Kertz
Holley Barnhart
Karen Gautier
Samantha Casey
Christine Riley
Melanie
Jacquie Heffner/Paper Temptress

OWH Prize Guidelines:
The ONLY objective to this blog hop is to get as many as possible "QUALITY" cards to our soldier's to send home so to meet that objective we are offering 
many great prizes that you can win! Here are the 14 prizes that are available:

Two $25.00 Gift Certificates from PaperTemptress.com
Three $15.00 Gift Certificates from Oozak.com
One Copic Coloring class offered at Color Me Creative classroom worth $50.00
One $25.00 Gift Certificate from Heartfelt Creations.com (I want to win that one LOL)
 One set of designer stamps created by Gilli Stamps.com
One $30.00 Gift Certificate from Bugaboo Digi Stamps
One $12 Gift Certificate from A Day for Daisies
A one year subscription of Through The Craft Door Magazine worth $18.00
Three Digis from Floppy Latte (worth is determined by choices of digis)
One $15 Gift Certificate from Sweet Pea Stamps
$10.00 worth of digis at Pizzas Aplenty 

SENTIMENTS TO USE…no Christmas since they will not arrive in time:
Birthday
Love
Thank you
Missing you
Thinking of you
Blank (no sentiment)

HOW TO WIN!
The person who sends in the most "QUALITY" cards (description on what is considered a QUALITY card is below in red) will win TWO prizes of THEIR 
choice having the first selection also so a real incentive to make as many QUALITY cards as possible…heck you have a whole month to create so do your 
best work EVER!

Then EIGHT more prizes will be handed out for the most QUALITY cards that are submitted with the winner also being able to select the prize they want. 
Example…one submits 10 quality cards and the next submits 9 quality cards so the person who submits 10 quality cards will have first choice at picking the 
prize and then the person who submitted 9 will choose next and so on.
The remaining 5 prizes will be selected randomly for everyone else that has submitted a QUALITY card and left a comment.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL, please remember this is such a worthy cause so let's work really hard to create a lot of happiness for those who are defending our 
freedom right now!

QUALITY DESCRIPTION
We do our best work for our heroes, since they do their best for us! Take your time to make beautiful cards, use your nice cardstock, and be sure everything is 
glued down well. No glitter, and no handwritten sentiments.....just really pretty cards! Remember that your card could be the last communication a family 
receives from their hero - and it could be scrapbooked and kept forever, so make it withstand the test of time. 

Thanks again and don't forget to leave some love!  

♥♥♥

Birthday Boy & Operation Write Home preview

Are you looking forward to the Operation Write Home Blog Hop??  We sure are!  It's coming up soon!  So for today's post I decided to give you a sneak peak at one of the cards I am sending to our brave soldiers.

The image I used is from A Day For Daisies who is one of the many sponsors for the Operation Write Home Blog Hop!  It is printed on my favorite paper Cryogen White which is VERY copic-friendly.  I love how it shines and is very smooth and great for blending your copic markers.  It's great for all your inks as I sponged around the inside of the tag with water-based ink pad.

Don't you just love all these luscious papers from the Paper Temptress?  I used Amethyst for the background; Emerald,  Azalea and Bronz for the flag and Emerald for the "happy birthday" sentiment.   Just a hint, I used a water-based ink to stamp the sentiment and then used clear embossing powder and heat-set it so the ink wouldn't smear.

Here's a closer look at the image.  Isn't he cute?

Thank you for stopping by today!  I look forward to each and every visit!  Don't forget to check back on October 2nd for our official Operation Write Home Blog Hop.  Make some cards for our soldiers and win some great gifts as well!

Follow me on Bloglovin!

As you all know, some of our favorite ways to follow each other's blogs are no longer available.  I am on Google + and on Facebook but I am also on Bloglovin.  I really like Bloglovin because you can choose to receive your updates individually as each blog your follow posts a new update or you can choose to have one email per day.  I chose the latter one and I love scrolling through one email to view each update.  You can click on an individual post too in case you would like to take a closer look.  Sign up for Bloglovin!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Operation Write Home Blog Hop

I have some awesome new for you!!! I am so proud to announce that I'm participating in a blog hop for Operation Write Home!  I hope you will join us on October 2nd!  More details to come so stay tuned!

Fairy Angel for Aspen

Good afternoon everyone!  I'm so sorry I'm late getting my post up today.  I hope my project is worth the wait!

I made a Fairy Angel for a sweet little girl named Aspen who is having heart surgery next week.  I wanted to make something pretty for her to look at that could be hung from her IV pole.  I think it will help to brighten up her hospital room and as she looks at it she can remember how loved she is.

I didn't just want to hand the Fairy Angel to Aspen so I made a pocket card to put her in.  Some time ago I bought Martha Stewart's Circle Edge Punch but hadn't tried it before.  I found a great video on YouTube on how to use it.  It's found HERE.

The pocket is made out of Lazer SilverLustre.

I used one of Sherry Baldy's stamp found here.  I printed the image on Cryogen White paper and colored her with copics.   

I flipped the image in my Photoshop Elements program, printed her up and colored her with copics.  For some reason the flipped image turned out slightly smaller than the original so I cut out a doily in Smoothie Silver Lustre to help hide the small discrepancy in the different sizes of the image.  It also gives it shine and a delicate, feminine touch.

Thank you for coming by today!  And don't forget to shop at The Paper Temptress for all your paper needs!  Patricia has some awesome sales going on now which will end soon so hurry on over!!  Also, please keep Aspen and her family in your prayers.  I've been in their shoes with my down daughter (who had multiple heart surgeries & other surgeries) and it's not an easy thing to get through.  Thanks again and don't forget to leave a comment!!!

Window into our World

I had fun making this card for today’s post.  I LOVE the Ruche line!  I love how the Deep Blue Crepe looks like it has a wood grain to it so I was excited to use with with the window die and stamp set I have.

The window is open into the center of the card so that the picture of the inside of the house is visible from the outside.  I made the flowers out of light pink and light purple paper from the Basis cardstock pack and the butterfly is out of Amethyst Metallic paper.

Here’s the inside of the card.

The "Picture Window" die and the stamp I used, "A Glimpse Inside" are from Taylored Expressions. 

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed your visit.  Don't forget to leave a comment!

Grateful Heart

I love the sentiment, "Start each day with a Grateful Heart".   I couldn't resist buying the stamp set 'Vintage Rose Medallions' by JustRite which contains this and other wonderful sentiments.  I made 10 cards just like this one to take to my Stampin' Up card exchange group.  I didn't have time to add the butterflies before having to go to my group so I ended up adding them to the card I posted on The Paper Temptress Blog.

Here's some of the cards ready to go to the card exchange.  I had either white or pink flowers on them for the ladies to choose from.

I used pink from the Basis Cardstock Pack and ran it through Cuttlebug's Juli's Garden embossing folder.  I stamped the image on Heavenly White Cardstock  and colored it with copics.  

I punched the butterflies out of Magenta Vellum but since the large butterfly was going to be on top of the pink, I punched it out again in Heavy Duty Clear Vellum and layered the magenta butterfly on top of it to help it stand out.  You can see some of the details better in the photo below.

I added a strip of Laser Silver Lustre on the bottom of the card.  Isn't that gorgeous paper?  I then added some pleated ribbon, a flower and some pearls to the butterflies.

Thank you for coming by!  Hope you get some crafty moments this weekend!  Don't forget to leave a comment!  Everyone loves comments.  

Floral Frenzy & a Tutorial

Hello everyone!  I'm here with a floral frenzy of a card.  I started making flowers using some of the Paper Temptress’s vellum and I couldn't stop!  Here’s my card:

I first started off with a teal cardstock and dark brown cardstock from the Basis pack and a Hambly overlay.  There are a LOT of Hambly overlays and Screenprints available at the store,in fact,Patricia has cut them down to 6×6 sheets and is selling them in sets. They are on sale too!

I used a floral die from Stampin up to make a window for the overlay to show through.  I then layered them and adhered them to the front of a card.

Next I took these beautiful purple and pink vellum ,white Smoothie Silver Lustre and Emerald Mica.

I took my Martha Stewart punches and just started having fun punching them out.  (the punches I used are pictured at the end of this post.)  I then took my flower making kit (by Punch Bunch) and took out the embossing tool (with the round metal ball at the end.)    

On a floral moulding mat I first turned the flower upside down and embossed the petals by gently rolling the ball in a circular motion.  Once all the petals are shaped in upward cups I turned the flower rightside up and gently embossed the center of the flower.  Below you can see two white flowers that are embossed and the one at the bottom still needs the center embossed.  

Here’s a look at the flowers close up.  I dabbed liquid pearls in the centers.  The large flower in the center was stamped with versa mark ink and heat embossed with detail white embossing powder.  

And the top corner:

I added some “shininess”to the overlay by putting some Viva Pearl Pen (Magic Transparent Blue).  It was really hard to photograph because the overlay reflects the light so much but I think the photo below captures it the best.

Here’s the card with the Martha Stewart punches I used.  

Here's some of the other supplies I used for this card.

Thank you for coming by!  Each visit and message is truly appreciated!  

Get Whale Soon

I have a card today that I’m sending to a special little girl who is battling cancer.  She loves cute cards and I thought the saying “Get Whale Soon”was cute even if it is a bit puny.  :)

I used Neenah Supersmooth Frost Blue for the sky.  I ran it through my big shot using Stampin Up’s Cloudy Day.  I used  Tim Holtz’s Broken China Distress Ink to ink up the little cloud dots.

For the background and ocean I used Teal from the Grandee Felt Package.  I LOVE the texture on this paper!

I stamped the Whale in SU Bermuda Bay and used the coordinating die for the whale,water spray,fishies and starfish.  The orange is from the Paper Temptress too and found here.

Thank you for coming by today!  I hope you have a crafty day!