Santa Owl - SSS190

It's time for another Sweet Stop Sketch.

I needed a gift box for some jewelry I bought for my niece for Christmas. So I used several different cut files and my Silhouette to create this box. She loves black and white damask. I threw in some red for a splash of Christmas color. I love how it turned out.

The adorable Santa Owl is from the Happy Hoolidays stamp set. He is just so cute. And she loves owls, so I am sure she will love this fun little box. Especially when she sees what is inside.

Now it is time for you to join us and create something with the sketch. You can all the details over at the Sweet Stop Sketch blog.

Have a Very Merry Christmas!

CSS Alumni Color Challenge Hop

It's time again for a StampTV Center Stage Alumni blog hop. Several of the members of the CSS Alumni DT are sharing their projects for this hop. You most likely came from Lori's blog. If you did not, then please make sure you hop over to StampTV to start at the beginning. You will want to leave comments along the way for a chance to win some FREE stuff. And with our wallets being pretty empty this time of year, who doesn't want a chance to win some free stamp supplies. Get the details below.

This month we were challenged to make a Christmas Card with non-traditional Christmas colors. That means no Red and no Green. I decided to use Purple, Gray and White.

My inspiration for the colors came from paper in a My Minds Eye 6x6 pad called Christmas Wish. There are some fun papers that have purples, grays and blues. So I what is more non-Christmas traditional than purple. I also used a stamp from a set that was not made for Christmas. The square stamp with the beautiful flourish is from the set called Block Greetings illustrated by Tami Mayberry. The sentiment is from one of the past StampTV Kits called Holiday Greetings.

Make sure to leave a comment as you hop along because on Friday morning (December 21), we will randomly choose one of the comments from all the blogs and that person will receive a huge grab bag of fabulous Gina K. Designs Stamps!

Now head over to Miesje's blog to see what she has to share.

Falling Snow - SSS189

It's time for another Sweet Stop Sketch.

Look at this fun sketch with the big tag.

And the twist for this challenge is Winter Wonderland. I love winter and especially snow. So when I think of Winter Wonderland, I think of beautiful snowflakes falling. So here is my Winter Wonderland card for the sketch challenge this week.

I used traditional Christmas colors for this card. Sentiment is from Snowflake Silhouettes. Pattern paper is from My Minds Eye, Tis' the Season collection. I cut the tag, snowflakes and label for sentiment with my Silhouette Cameo. I used a snowflake embossing folder on the tag after putting the white snowflake on the green tag. Before putting the tag inside the folder, I coated the one side with green ink. Touched it off with some ribbon, twine and a button and there you have it.

Now it is your turn to join us. Head over to the Sweet Stop Sketch blog to get the details and share your creation using the sketch and theme from this week.

Winter Wonderland - SSS188

It's time for another Sweet Stop Sketch.

I pulled out a fun new set I just received in the mail for this one. It's called Old Fashioned Christmas. I love the beautiful sleigh ride silhouette.

I stamped part of the image onto some blue pattern paper with snowflakes with Basic Gray ink. Then I coated the entire piece with VersaMark ink and then with some glittery embossing powder. Looks like a glistening snowy scene in real life. I did the same thing to the panel with sentiment. Then I used some other pattern papers to complete the sketch and put it all together. I kept it fairly simple.

You can join the fun over at The Sweet Stop Sketch blog. Head on over and check out what the rest of the Sugar Babies did with the sketch this week. Then show us what you can make using the sketch.

Vintage Christmas - SSS187

I continue to be in the mood to make Christmas cards.

I found some gorgeous pattern paper at Michael's that is so wonderfully vintage looking and when I saw the sketch for this week

I immediately thought about using the both the Vintage Postcard and Poinsettia sets from SNSS.

I love the combination of the two for making an elegant vintage card for Christmas. I stacked my stamped postcard on top of a piece of pattern paper and tied them together with some cotton twine. I used some of the scraps to make faux washi tape. The photo is a little blurry. With a lack of sunlight when I am actually home, it is hard to take good pictures. Sigh! I hope you like my card.

You should jump over to The Sweet Stop Sketch blog and see what all the other Sugar Babies did with the sketch this week. And join us by sharing what you've made with the sketch.

Baby It's Cold Owl-Side - SSS186

I pray that you all had a wonderful time with loved ones and enjoying a bountiful feast for Thanksgiving. I spent the evening enjoying dinner and fellowship with my mom, step-dad, sister & her husband, my niece and my friend Nathan. Friday was spent shopping till I literally dropped. We go to White Marsh Maryland every year to shop the White Marsh Mall, Ikea (Yeah!), and some other fun stores in the area. It's been a tradition for as long as I can remember with my mom and sister and me. But now it is the weekend and time for some stamping.

For The Sweet Stop Sketch this week, I chose to make a wall hanging decoration for Christmas.

I used the newly released SNSS set Happy Hooliday, which you can get for 30% off until the 30th while supplies last.

I just adore these fun whimsical owls. I think this little guy will be the star of my Christmas cards this year. I used some thick and sturdy watercolor paper as my base. The pattern papers are from MME 6x6 pads, The Merry Days of Christmas and Holly Jolly. I paper pieced the festive owl wit the papers and used the watercolor paper for the eyes and the hat trim. I also used some lace trim as a border for the owl piece and the main wall hanging panel. The snowflakes are felt pieces I bought many years ago from Stampin' Up. and I added some fun black and white ribbon and red buttons with red and white twine. I used some soft ric-rac ribbon for the loop to hang this decoration.To give all the layers some depth, I edged everything with a black PrismaColor marker. I also used lots of foam tape. Since I'm not sending it in the mail, I could make it really thick with lots of dimension.

Now it is your turn to have some fun stamping with the sketch this week. You can see what the other Sugar Babies have made with the sketch as well as get the sketch details over at The Sweet Stop Sketch blog. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can join us this week.

Rhubarb's Sweet Treat - SSS185

For the Sweet Stop Sketch this week we have a twist: include a tasty treat.

Well my favorite tasty treat is a cup of coffee with toffee nut syrup and half& half. Yummy Sweet Caffeine Goodness! So Rhubarb decided to join me and she is having a yummy sweet toffee nut coffee as well.

Notice I called Rhubarb she instead of he. I made Rhubarb a girl by using lots of pink, a little gray and some white. I love this color combo and I don't know why I don't use it more often.

The Rhubarb image and the sentiment is from the Rhubarb's Winter Fun set. I don't see it in the store any more  but you can get Rhubarb with a mug of coffee in the digi section, and they are on sale right now. I had some fun making my own pattern paper with some other SNSS stamp sets. For the gray base I used the dotes from the Grunge Borders set. Wow was that easy too. They just line right up and since they are grungy you don't have to care about getting perfect straightness. Well, I didn't anyway. I also used the dots in a lighter gray stamped off once on the small white panels. Then I stamped part of the Light of Christmas background with pink. Finally I used the dots with a very pale pink on the sentiment strip and then stamped Winter Wishes on top with dark gray. I used the dark gray ink on all the edges to give it a slightly grungy effect and some dimension. To add some girly features to this grungy card I used some pink ribbon and a pink button with some dark gray DMC floss.

I hope you like my girly winter card. I want to see what you made with the sketch this week. Please stop over at The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge blog and join in on the fun.

Also check out the rest of the Sugar Baby's blogs to see what they did with the sketch and twist this week.

Have a fabulous weekend and an wonderful Thanksgiving. I look forward to stuffing myself on Thursday and shopping till I drop on Friday, then decking my apartment for Christmas on the weekend. Whew!

Show Me The Stamps Holiday Kickoff

Welcome to the Show Me the Stamps Holiday Kick Off.  Several of the Gina K Designs Illustrators have brought together their design teams and guests for a lineup of fun and exciting things to share using their stamps. We also want to help you celebrate the holidays in style with some Gina K Design stamps!

PRIZE #1 For this hop the Gina K Designs Illustrators will be giving away a $50 gift certificate to the Gina K Designs store!

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on each Illustrator’s blog.

Want an extra entry?

Become a blog follower of any of the illustrators and leave a comment letting them know you did. That’s up to 8 chances to win if you become a follower of each illustrator and leave a comment!!

You can find the complete list of Gina K Design Illustrators participating on Theresa Momber’s blog. Be sure to read below to find out how to win a Prize #2!

Here is the Christmas card I made with Theresa's set Joyful Holiday for the Show Me the Stamps Holiday Kickoff. What a fun elegant set to create with. I used the poinsettia and branch with berries stamps to make the background on my tan card base and the tan main panel by stamping around the stamped sentiment from the same set. I added a few gold pearls to the centers of the flowers on the main panel and some red satin ribbon and a green button threaded with linen thread. These cards would be easy enough to create one for each person on your Christmas card list this year.

PRIZE #2 Theresa will personally be sending out a Vogue Vases 2 Clear Stamp Set to someone who comments on our blogs as well. Here is the complete list of Theresa’s designers...

Melissa Shultz {you are here}

Melissa Cash

Brenda Turner

Kay Simmons

When you get done be sure that you hop on over to Theresa Momber’s Blog to get the complete list of Gina K Designs Illustrators participating and entry for a chance to win that $50 gift certificate!

Deadline to enter for the gift certificate drawing is 5pm Central time on Thursday. November 15, 2012—release party day! AND just in time for someone to do some exciting release party shopping when the new stamps become available at 7pm!

Holiday Stockings - SSS184

It's time for another fun Sweet Stop Sketch.

This is a clean and simple sketch that leaves room for a lot of creativity and a variety of card styles. You can use the sketch literally and just add four circle stamped images or you can get creative and replace the circles with some fun cut out stamped images like I did.

I chose to use Christmas stockings in place of the four circles and finally had a chance to use my little clothespins. I used the Mosaic Cuttlebug embossing folder on the red card stock and sponged with some red ink for dimension to mimic a brick fireplace.

Now it is your turn to play along with us. I can't wait to see what you make with the sketch this week. You can get all the details about The Sweet Stop Sketch challenge over at The Sweet Stop blog and see what the other Sugar Babies made with this fun sketch.

Stamps: Holiday Baubles
Paper: Wild Wasabi, More Mustard, Ruby Red, & White
Ink: Wild Wasabi, More Mustard, & Ruby Red
Other: mini clothespins, green polka dot ribbon, red and white twine, and Mosaic embossing folder

Be Merry - SSS #183

Happy Saturday! It's time for another Sweet Stop Sketch.

I made a fun Christmas card with one of my new favorite sets from Sweet N Sassy, These penguins are just adorable. I found some fun pattern papers at Hobby Lobby last weekend. I just adore the chevron pattern I am seeing everywhere. The card stock is Soft Sky and Whisper White from Stampin' Up. I strung some buttons together with cotton twine for a fun embellishment and used some satin ribbon.

Please make sure you check out all of the other Sugar Baby's blogs today for some inspiration and then play along with the sketch. I can't wait to see what you make with the sketch for this week.

Sweet Stop Sketch #182

I am so excited to share with you my first Sweet Stop Sketch card along with the rest of the Sugar Babies.

It is currently way too warm for the end of October here in Pennsylvania and it has literally made me sick. Ugh! So I am longing for cooler days and lots of snow. So my card for this sketch is a fun wintry card that has me longing for the next season to get here.

I used the snowman stamp from Love You This Much and the 'Warm Hugs' sentiment from Snowflake Flourish. I love this sentiment. What a great way to send a thinking of you card to someone you love and wish you could hug in person. The fun vintage looking winter papers are from a 6x6 pad I found at Big Lots. It is from Prima Company and it's called North Country Collection. I'm not sure how old it is, but I love the papers and can't wait to make more fun cards with it.  I used some stitched felt ribbon and a fun green button for the ribbon treatment on the sketch.

I hope you are inspired to go make your own fun wintry card. I can't wait to see what the Sweet Stop Sketch fans create with this sketch. If you did not find my post from the SSS blog, please head over to there to see what the rest of the Sugar Babies did with this sketch and to link up your project.

I am off to do some camping with my mom this weekend. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

StampTV CSS Sketch Challenge Hop

Welcome to another StampTV CSS blog hop. This month we are using a Sketch created by Melissa Cash.

You should have come from her blog here if you are following along the hop from the beginning. If not, I recommend starting at StampTV and hopping though the list of CSS members who are sharing the project they've made with the sketch. You will want to comment on each blog post for a chance to win some free rubber.  Details are listed at the end of this post.

I am soooo ready for winter. I am loving fall of course. The wonderful cool mornings and beautiful colors. And especially Pumpkin Spice Chai and Lattes from Starbucks. Yum! But nothing beats winter and snow for me. So my card is ready for winter with a big warm hug. :)

I used the Warm and Wonderful set illustrated by Rupa Shevde. I love this set with all it's knitted warmness. And I love the sentiment I used on my card. Isn't that a great way to send a big hug to someone far away?
I used one of my favorite color combos Red, Blue and White with a splash of Green. The red card stock is Pure Luxury Red Hot.

Now it is time to hop over to Miesje's blog to see what she has to share.

And remember you need to comment for a chance to win some free rubber. Here are the details:
Leave a comment as you hop along because on Tuesday morning (October 30), we will randomly choose one of the comments from all the blogs and that person will receive a huge grab bag of fabulous Gina K. Designs Stamps!

SSS179 - Hello Friend

What a fun sketch. I don't usually rotate my main panels, I tend to keep everything straight. But I love trying new things and really like how it turned out. I need to do that more often. So here is the sketch:

I love playing with Sweet N Sassy Stamps and I really love sketch challenges. What really made me fall in love with the company's stamps was Rhubarb Bear. I've always loved teddy bears. And I think that Rhubarb Bear the the most adorable teddy bear ever. So here is the adorable Rhubarb Bear holding a pumpkin and ready for fall, just like me. It's my favorite season.  Here is my take on SSS179:

I rotated the sketch 90 degrees counter-clockwise. I used a cloud in place of the circle behind the two rectangle panels. I also used a fall leaf for the sentiment. For the little flower accents in the sketch I used the pumpkins and the little acorn charm hanging off the leaf with the sentiment. The sentiment is from Simple Pleasures. I love the generic sentiments and fonts in that set. I used Spectrum Noir and Copic markers to color Rhubarb's Autumn Day and his fall scene. I saw a tutorial on the Spectrum Noir site for camouflage and thought is would also work to make ground covered in fall leaves. So I just laid down a base coat of GB8 and tapped different marker colors representing fall leaf colors on the base color. I used a dark brown to outline the shadow around Rhubarb's fee and leaves in the image on the ground. Then I colored over the ground with GB8, blending all the colors together. I really like how it turned out.I used BT1 and BT2 to color the sky and then sponged a little Soft Sky from Stampin' Up around the edges. It's kind of hard to see, but I used a large honeycomb embossing folder on the pumpkin paper panel. That pumpkin paper is some very old Stampin' Up paper, at least 8 + years old. Trying to go through my huge stash of paper and use it up. I cut the cloud, pumpkins, leaf and acorn charm using Silhouette Cameo cut files. Love my cameo.

Supplies:
Stamps: Rhubarb's Autumn Day Digi Stamp (also available in the clear stamp set, Rhubarb's Autumn Joys), Simple Pleasures Clear Stamp Set (no longer available) (SNSS)
Paper: Pure Luxury Grass Green, Soft Sky (SU), Georgia Pacific White, Xpress-It White for the Digi Stamp Panel, Pumpkins pattern paper (SU), Fall Words pattern paper (Target $1 bin)
Ink: Copic and Spectrum Noir Markers, Black Soot Distress Ink Pad, Soft Sky and Marigold Morning Ink Pads for sponging
Other: Silhouette Cameo, Mosaic and Honeycomb embossing folders, Sewing Machine and thread

Ginak CSS Color Challenge Blog Hop

Welcome to a color combination challenge blog hop hosted by members of the Gina K.' CSS Alumni team. Today we are featuring hand drawn sets designed by Melanie Muenchinger and Theresa Momber. As you hop along make sure to leave a comment because on Tuesday morning (September 25), we will randomly choose two comments from all the blogs and two lucky individuals will receive a Gina K. Designs Stamps set each (the winners will receive either a set designed by Melanie Muenchinger or Theresa Momber).

You should have come from Melissa's blog. If not you will want to start from the beginning at StampTV to enjoy the whole hop.

I made several projects using Theresa's set Autumn Beauty and the colors for our color challenge Fresh Asparagus, Pumpkin Spice and Sweet Corn. Doesn't that make you hungry?

Here is a fun little box that can be filled with some fall goodies. The sunflower from Autumn Blessings looks perfect with this.

I also made some cards with the sunflower and the pumpkin images. 

Now head over to Miesje's blog to see what she has to share with you.

You should also check out Melanie's and Theresa's blogs. They have some special to share for this blog hop as well.

New Stamps and Silhouette Cameo Fun

I am so happy to have my Silhouette Cameo replacement. I bought one of the machines back in February and seemed to have issues from the start. I first thought it was me not doing something right or expecting too much from the machine. But after hearing how everyone loves their machine so much and seeing the results they were having, I decided to contact the company. I am glad I did. After going back and forth in emails, they finally determined the issue was the machine and said they would replace it. I received my replacement the past Tuesday and am very happy with this machine.

I've not had a lot of time to use it, but was able to make a card on Wednesday night after visiting my mom. Everything on this card was cut using the Silhouette Cameo.

I love all the cool cards people make with the scalloped edges. So I used the Nesting Scalloped square cut file and added a mirror image and welded it to make the card base. I cut it out of dark brown Bazzil card stock.

Then I used one of the new frames cut files to create the pretty pink layer. I cut a simple square frame slightly smaller to put behind it, making sure to also cut out the middle.

I cut the cute silhouette image of the girl in the grass catching a butterfly and the phrase Happy Days out of shimmery brown Recollections card stock.

I had some sheets of Echo Park Digi Paper that I printed a while ago and thought the sheet with the text would make a neat backdrop for the scene. I also used some of that paper to cut out the butterfly.

I put it all together using foam tape between some of the layers for dimension and added some brads in each corner to hold the pink layer to the white. I only added adhesive to the grass part of the girl image so she could pop off the background for a more dimensional look.

Here is a side view to show the dimension:

The card base is 5.5" square.

I made another fun card with some new stamps I purchases last weekend. I was browsing Pinterest and saw this gorgeous card by blogger Julie. I love the gorgeous Vintage Snowflakes set. I immediately hopped on over to The Craft's Meow where the stamp set is from and purchased it. I ordered the set Saturday and within an hour had a shipping notice in my inbox. The stamps were waiting at my door Monday when I arrived home from work. Wow, what service!

So I had to make something with this fun new Vintage Snowflakes set. I had just watched a mixed media art video and was inspired by all the layers and texture that were being used. Soooo... I decided to go for some layers and texture on a card.

I stamped the snowflakes on some pattern paper from MME with VersaMark ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. Then I used a sponge and some distress inks to add a layer of color. But the color is resisted by the embossing, leaving the paper to show through from below. Then I used an embossing folder in my Big Kick to add some texture and used some more distress ink to define the embossing even more. I added a bunch of stitching, lace, ribbon and a button to finish it off. I love how it turned out. I hope you do too.

The card base is 6" square.

SNSCD68 - SNSS Fall Inspiration Digi Challenge

I know it has been a while since I've blogged. Between all the summer camping trips and a loss of some of my mojo, I've not done much stamping. I also decided to move my craft room back into my master bedroom where it was when I originally moved into my apartment. I have half my stuff moved and somewhat organized. And I decided to sit down and be creative before continuing on with the craft room move.

I was looking over the Sweet n Sassy Stamps Member Company area over at SplitCoastStampers.com and saw the digi challenge this week.

Fall Inspiration! Sigh! I love fall. I love pumpkin spice chai lattes (from Starbucks of course) and cooler days and everything else that goes along with fall. So this seemed like a perfect challenge to take on to get my mojo going again. So here is my card using the adorable Rhubarb Scarecrow. He is just too cute, not sure how any bird would be scared of him. LOL! The sentiment is from the Bear Sentiments digi set.

I pulled out some fall papers I got at Target in the dollar bin a few years ago. And also pulled out my sewing machine to add some stitches.

Playing with my Sweet and Sassy Stamps

I just adore the stamps from Sweet and Sassy. Korin has been releasing some amazing sets these past few months. I had a chance to play around with some sets I bought. Here is what I made so far.

I made this sweet Rhubarb card for boyfriend to tell him how special he is to me. I used the Sweet Stop sketch for this week to make the card. I used Friendship Script Background, Thoughtful Rhubarb, and Seeing Spots stamp sets. The floral pattern paper is from Bo Bunny. I also used my old Stampin Up Sanded background stamp to add age and texture. It is hard to tell in the photo, but I made Rhubarb with several layers of each of his body areas popped up with foam tape.

I made this one using the sketch from the Sweet Stop blog last week. I finally had a chance to upload it. I used the Flowers in Bloom stamp set. All pattern paper is from MME Stella Rose.

All pieces are cute using the Silhouette Cameo.  I just added some striped and gingham ribbon and used dimensional tape between each layer. The sentiment is from Summertime Rhubarb.

StampTV CSS Color Challenge

This month the CSS Alumni group is doing a Color Challenge based on this photo

The colors are Pink, Purple and Green.

If are following along the hop, you just came from Kay's blog. If not, you can start the hop here at StampTV and see what everyone from the CSS group did with these fabulous colors.

My card is actually huge, 5 1/4" x 9 1/2". To see it up close you can click the picture above.

I used pattern papers from a Stella Rose pad by MME that I bought yesterday. There are some great patterns with greens and pinks. The purple paper is from K&Company's Sweet Nectar pad.  I also added a bit of blue-green for the "sky" behind my hanging onesies and pennants.  I used  Wee Tees and Perfect Pennants. The grass, banner and small green pennants were cut with my Silhouette Cameo.  I added some purple/white baker's twine, some silver brads and a purple button.  The "clothespins" are small pieces of Kraft card stock.

Now hop on over to Miesje's blog to see gorgeous project she has to inspire you with.  And don't forget to comment on each blog along the way for a chance to win a grab bag full of stamps. Thursday, June 12th the random winner will be announced over at StampTV.  Good Luck and have a great weekend.

CPS Sketch #268

I made this card using CPS Sketch #268.

The stamps are from an older Stampin' Up set, True Friend.  I am challenging myself to use some older sets that I have. Since I am camping I brought limited supplies with me to stamp. And I purposely brought older stamp sets so I would be forced to use them.  I hope you like it.

Hippie Birthday

I am having fun camping in the woods and when I go camping I also do some stamping. I haven't had a chance to really play with my stamps for a while. So this is my chance. I started out making a card for the Paper A La Mode Challenge over at the Outlawz Challenge site.  The challenge is to use

1 Image
2 Words
3 Pattern Papers
4 Embellishments
5 Colors

I had to put on my thinking cap for this one. I pulled out three different patterns from the K&Company Edamame stack. I tried to find papers with at least five different colors combined. 

My five colors are 

Orange
Green
Blue
Yellow
Pink
Tan

 I am stretching it with the embellishments. I used

Paper Flower
Button on flower
Twine on button
Orange Ribbon
Blue Ribbon

My two word stamp is from and old Stampin' Up set, Groovy. My image is an a la Mode girl from My Favorite Things. I cut the card base, flower and wavy banner from the Silhouette Cameo.

Off to do some more stamping while camping.