The 12 Kits of Occassions

Kelly's Kreative Kit----

 

Take a look at this kit.  Isn't it just the greatest?  I was asked to be a guest with the 12 Kits of Occassions member Kelly Schirmer.   It is so exciting and such an honor to be a part of this month's kit.  Kelly really outdid herself with all of the color coordinating papers, ribbon, embellishments, and all of the chalkboard sentiments.  I fell in love with them and ended up using most of those in my images.



Of course many of these goodies came in red gingham bags which were so cute.  I saved mine and want to incorporate it into something else.

I couldn't decide where to start because I wanted to use every piece of this kit.  So, first I created a card using the Scotty dog image.  He became something really fun to use and I decided to glitz him up a bit by adding some red crystal embellishments as his collar.  I then fussy cut him out and popped him on a piece of ribbon and look at the matching paper.   The green sweater for him was too cute, love the argyle.  The sentiment was white embossed on black cardstock (like a chalkboard).

So, then I decided I wanted to do something clean and simple, which is never as easy as it looks.  Well I took one look at the white embossed christmas tree on black cardstock and decided black and white was the way to go!  So I layered black and white all the way.  I loved the way it looked and couldn't justify putting a sentiment on the front of the card so added one to the inside of the card.  I received some retro stamps free with my latest cardmaking and papercrafts magazine and loved the sentiment.  The first layer of white paper was embossed with Snowflakes.  Yay!

 

 

 

Now the next one was really easy as Kelly included lots of things to make tags.  The Spellbinders Opera Tag was diecut and stamped with a sentiment from Waltzingmouse stamps (sorry I don't know which set it's from).  There was also a gift card pocket from Memory Box and I tied the tag onto the pocket with red ribbon and viola!  A gift card holder and you can slide the tag front over to easily get out the wonderful gift card.  The one I have in there is from our local grocery store Wegman's which is a huge travel attraction, if you come to Western NY you'll have to check it out.  I can never walk out of there without grabbing things I never intended to.

 

 

 

 

Hang in there with me, I'm almost done. I really had to use this sentiment as it's one of my favorite Christmas Songs.  I can only ever remember the one line, but when I hear it, up goes the volume.  Drives my family crazy. 

 

Since it was so cold here today and I was outside for so long, I really wanted to warm up.   And the sentiment was exactly what I said when I got home. This stretchy snowflake sock was just what I was looking for to dress up this bottle and to add this cute little gift tag to it.  I used the square stax dies from My favorite things and added a snowflake to the corner.  Easy Peasy.

 

Last and not least I really, really, really, wanted to use the jingle bells that Kelly had packed into the kit.  Whenever someone opens this card, they'll jingle all the way!

 

 

 

The snowman is from Tremendous Treats by Paper Trey Ink and the chalkboard frame is from My Favorite Things Stamps. I also used a candy button and popped up the snowman and jingle sentiment with foam tape.  The snowman was colored with Copics.  I just completed a class and have been practicing, practicing, practicing.  I love using a white gel pen to make the dots on the scarf and hat.

 

I have so many things left, that I can't wait to use from Kelly's kit. She is hosting a prize giveaway this month! Leave a comment on the 12 Kits of Occasions blog Here for your chance to win the Echo Park 6 x 6 Tis The Season Paper Pad !    You have until December 5th at 11:59 P.M.  to leave your comment. You will also see the blog links for all of the kit team members, as well as a supply list for Kelly's kit.

 

Thanks so much to Kelly for asking me to be her guest with this lovely kit! Don't forget to check out their Pinterest Board HERE and the Facebook page HERE for more 12 Kits inspiration!

 

Hope you enjoyed visiting today and thanks for stopping by.  

 

 



Wow, it's October already!

Hi everyone.  Can you believe it's only two more months until the holidays?  It seems like summer was never here, of course in Western NY, it's usually short lived anyway, It's been busy the last couple of months as I had my son's wedding at the end of September.  Now that the wedding went off without a hitch, it's time to get back to some crafting.

Not sure what I was thinking when I offered to host a month for the Christmas Card Challenge as I'm quite a newby at this but what does it hurt.  All for fun and having lots of cards to send out in December will make it all worthwhile.

So here's what I came up with for a challenge this month.  Let's go for a Whimsical Card.  When I thought of whimsical, the first thing I thought of was a Snowman on a beach with palm trees and a surf board.  Coming from a snowy state a beachy holiday is not anything I see.

Join me in the challenge here and have fun with it. I can't wait to see how whimsical and silly we can all be this month!

Waltzingmouse Pajama Party

Have a quick second to get this card uploaded before I have to leave. Needless to say it wasn't a pajama party for me as I didn't stay up all night.

However, I love the new rope and nautical sets that Waltzingmouse released last month and had purchased one and borrowed another. 

I went for a framed masterpiece and used the rope for the frame border.  Plus it's nautical so I will use it for two of the challenges. 

WMS CASE Flower Show card #2

I created my first card last week and have been thinking that I wanted to have another go with a different card to case.

So, first I figured out that I wanted to use the 2011 Holiday Ornaments because I had this vision that I could turn the ornament into a "tulip" like flower.  After I stamped the ornament and clear embossed it, I cut it out sort of along the center to create the two outer petals of the tulip.  The with some glossy accents I stuck the petals on and then trimmed it down to my liking.  Not a perfect tulip, but I like the way it looks.

With that done, I decided I would CASE (Copy and Share Everything) Debbie Olson, you can find her card here.   I loved looking through her blog!  Here's a picture of her card.



She did some sewing and coloring with Copic Markers, but I stuck with straight stamping and using a white colored pencil to do my sewing...I'm not good with needles or thread of any kind. 

Here's the card I created and you could maybe use it even for Christmas...yikes it has even warmed up and I'm saying that word.  Although I think I'm going to use it for Mothers day.

 

 

Supplies:  PTI paper, Memento Black Ink, Versamark, SU Cherry Cobbler, clear embossing powder.  Stamps, Sewing Box Christmas, 2011 Holiday Ornaments, Compact Sentiments Part II, Compact Sentiments Family, red ribbon, white colored pencil. Spellbinders die.

WMS Flower Show Competition

Claire has come up with another amazing challenge, where does she find the time to get so creative?    To get more details and participate in this challenge please click here. 

It took me looking at the special guest designers over and over to finally decide on a project that I wanted to "CASE" (Copy and steal everything).  Never knew what CASE stood for before and love the concept.  I really like the new look of a blackboard so fell in love with Kimberly Crawford's card that she created for this project.  I knew I wouldn't be able to copy every single detail as I don't have the folk art medallion set (YET).  It's on my list with soooo many others (did you know Mothers Day is coming soon, hint hint to my family).

Here is a snapshot of the card Kimberly created and the link to her great  blog:

 

 

So for my take on the card I went with My Heart, Earth Angel, and Sewing Box Hugs.  I just love the versatility of all the Waltzingmouse Stamps.  I tried to get the blackboard to look like the chalk had been erased but may have went a little overboard.  Still I like the way it turned out and here's a Mothers Day Card down.  Woo Hoo!!

 





 

 

I stamped the border with the border stamp from My Heart, the sentiment was from Earth Angel, and the hearts were from Sewing Box Hugs.  I stamped all with versamark ink and embossed them with Martha Stewart dove embossing powder.  Next, I used the mini rose die from My Favorite Things and cut it out twice.  Wrapped one around the other to get an even bigger rose...I love how it turned out.  The leaves were cut with MFT Leaves die.  A bit of glossy accents was then used to hold it all together.  The cute flower paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle "Splash".  I used heart brads to help the border look a bit like flowers and to hopefully tie the heart theme together.   Snow Cap White distress paint was added to try and create some reality to the chalkboard (think I went a little overboard).  And last but not least, I popped the blackboard up with foam dimensionals and adhered it to some pretty yellow card stock.

 

Hope you had as much fun as I did with this challenge.  Now I really have Spring fever and it has not been that warm in the Northeast yet!  Here's hoping all the flowers will help the sunshine through.

 

 



Sketch Challenge for Papertrey 6 year Anniversary

I decided to play along with a sketch challenge for Papertrey Ink's 6th anniversary.  There were 5 sketch's to be chosen from and I decided to use sketch 5 and create a clean and simple card.



I decided I would stick with the Christmas Holiday theme as I was working on the WMSC Christmas challenge too.  I used Tag-Its #9 and the sentiment from Tremendous Treats: Christmas Stamp Set.  I stamped the leaves across the bottom of vintage cream card stock in SU Garden Green, then stamped the sentiment in SU Cherry Cobbler and clear embossed it.  Next I just added some red stickles to create the berries amongst the leaves. 

This is the first clean and simple card I didn't go overboard on.  Hope you like it as much as I do.

A Great Challenge for Christmas Cards in February!

This months theme for the Waltzingmouse Christmas Card Challenge is to incorporate hearts into our Christmas Cards.  Feel free to play along with us, you can find the information here.  I've already got 4 cards down and by December who knows how many will be hidden away in my stash (hope I can find them LOL)!

Well, I wasn't sure how I wanted to create something with this and decided because I love snowmen so much that why not use him and show the love to some old friends.  Hope it melts your hearts like mine! 


I hope the picture turns out OK, I had to send my camera in for servicing after our trip last month and hope it's fixed soon.

Supplies used:
Waltzingmouse Stamps:  Sewing Box Christmas and Sewing Box Hugs.
Miscellaneous Paper, twine and buttons, Sizzix Snowflake Embossing Folder.

DIY Washi Tape Monday Make Challenge

You can find information regarding this challenge at Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog.  There is also another challenge for February coming up that entails the use of doilies.  Hmm, so many things you could do with those.  I have so many ideas in my head, I don't know where to start.

Well, going to try my hand at making some washi tape using masking tape.  I really liked using distress ink on the tissue paper.  I tried my copics, but didn't think the color was vibrant enough.  I wanted to use bright yellow, flowers and butterfiles because I'm so ready for Spring.  After a 10 day vacation in the Southern Carribean, it feels really cold back home.  Why couldn't I have stayed for the winter, oh yeah, who would support that habit let alone my crafting habits.

If you'd like to try your hand at this, visit the Waltzingmouse blog for some great insturctions.
 http://waltzingmouse.blogspot.com/.  There's plenty of other great information there as well.

I tried making a few different pieces and liked the one that is framing the top and bottom of this card the best.  I used squeezed lemonade to color the tissue paper, then stamped from the heirloom patterns stamps in pacific blue, and stamped the solid hearts in the circle using Earth Angel and poppy red.

I couldn't decide if I wanted to use the angel or not and decided to go with the butterflies as they are easier for me to color for some reason.  I used one wing and stamped it twice slightly overlapping to make the butterflies look like they were flying.  Then colored them in with copices and sprayed them with Goosebumps. 

I used the flower stamps from Papertrey Ink as it was solid colored and stamping different colors worked for me.  I stamped them across the center of the card and ended with the Happy Birthday greeting also from Earth Angel.  I outlined the flowers with a glue pen and added some sparkle with glitter!  They make them pop out a bit more.

One birthday card down, next a christmas card, then valentines day, boy am I going to be busy.

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse Heirloom Patterns, Earth Angel.  Papertrey Ink, Flower Fusion #6.
Ink:  SU Poppy Red, Pacific Blue.  Tim Holtz Distress ink Squeezed Lemondae. Amuse Studio inks, bubblegum and apricot
Paper:  Papertrey Ink, Vintage Cream, Lemon Tart  and Blue Doily from My Minds Eye.
Miscellaneous:  Yellow button from MFT, adhesive dots and rhinestone, goosebump texture spray, foam dimensionals. 

Christmas in January or February or March?

There is a challenge that has been continued  at Waltzingmouse Stamps to create a Christmas Card every month.  Each month one of the host's will issue a challenge on what technique, layout, color, etc. to use.  I think this really helps get the creative juices flowing and gives us all a huge jump on getting a head start on next years cards.  I for one could use all the help.  I participated in a card exchange this past Christmas and that was the ONLY card I sent.  My hubby wondered why I did that but didn't send any others out to family and friends.  Of course my reply was, because this is fun and you get to correspond with new people.  So, this will hopefully help get a head start and I can mail cards to family and friends in 2013! 

Here is some additional information regarding the challenge:  If you'd like to see more feel free to hop on over to http://www.waltzingmousestamps.com/ and join the forum.  There's plenty of other great information there as well!

This months challenge is a Sketch Challenge designed by very talented Anya.   I thought this looked pretty simple, but my projects never end up that way.  Here's my creation(s) based on the sketch, yes, I had to do two as I thought this first one was a little over the top.

Candy Canes are my favorite candies at Christmas time.  I love the mint and sweetness to them and enjoy them way into February (I buy lots of them after Christmas when they are on sale).  I thought the Papertrey Ink Pillow Box Die matched the shape in Anya's card and thought I'd make my own candy bowl that I could drool over (LOL).  Recently I say Kelly Schirmer color in her candy canes with Stickles and loved the look so I copied the technique for my candy canes and love the way they turned out.

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse Sewing Box Christmas, Candy Jar Christmas

Dies:  Papertrey Ink Pillow Box Die, MFT Chevron Stripe, MFT Sentiment Strips

Misc:  Ribbon, Mambi Paper, Papertrey ink white, leaf green patterned paper, Green Felt, Red and Crystal Stickles, Red Buttons, and Glitter.

Then I decided I'd try to find a shape that was more similar to the sketch and came up with this version.  It was a lot simpler to complete and I like the way the harlequin and stamping makes this look like a wrapped present.  So it finished it off with more ribbon and a bow. Too bad there's nothing inside, but wait maybe it could be a gift card holder, oh the possibilities are endless. 

I started out with the coverplate and used the cut out shapes from the Scarlet Jewel and Leaf Green patterned paper.  I didn't want to fill the whole card in as I wanted a few stripe lines that I could stamp in between.   Then I took a strip of paper and cut the fishtails out and folded it to look like a banner and added some bling, always need some bling.   

Supplies Used:

Paper:  Papertrey ink Vintage Cream, Scarlet Jewel, Scarlet Jewel and Leaf Green patterned paper
Dies:  Spellbinders label, Papertrey ink Harlequin cover plate
Stamps:  Waltzingmouse Sewing Box Christmas Snowflake, A Cottage Christmas.
Ink:  SU Sahara Sand, Memento Black
Miscellaneous:  Green Ribbon, Red embellishments

I hope this gives you some inspiration to start playing along with us!

2012 Holiday Card Exchange

For this holiday season, I was so excited to be able to participate in a holiday card exchange that was arranged by Cathy Weber via Waltzingmouse Stamps Forum.

It was the first time I participated and hope that it continues to be a yearly tradition.  It's so much fun to make a card and send it to someone you may or may not know to make new connections, friends, pen-pals, etc.

The card I received was from Renee Lynch. I love the colors and the fancy borders on this card.  Plus the extra special bling on the holly.  Renee also included some bling in the card and it was an extra surprise to find!  Thanks Renee!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday and may 2013 bring you many fine memories! 

It was decided that we would take pictures of the cards we made and sent to our designated recipient in the event that they weren't able to upload an image.

I created a special greeting for  Joyce M in Cardiff, CA.  The snowman on this card was created without his hat as I didn't think he'd be that cold in CA.  I hope that Myrna had a wonderful holiday and a happy new year!  Below is the card I created.  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!!



I was hoping the pictures came out better, but you can still get the drift (LOL)!