Wednesday, November 30, 2011

My Time Made Easy Preview: Insert Card Here

Hi everyone!  The My Time Made Easy design team is back in swing again previewing products from the new December release.  There's tons to choose from, so you'll probably want it all!  And you can have it all...tomorrow!  Just select, pay, download, and start crafting!

Today we are all previewing the newest template called Insert Card Here.  You'll see in the next photo how it got it's name.  It's a nifty little box.  I started with some new paper called Flakes and Fuzzies.  There are three color versions of the same patterns.  So many wonderful patterns and colors to choose from!  I chose this Snowcomb pattern and cut my template from it.  To make the fabby bow, I first printed another pattern from the same pack called Weave then used the new Bow-Tied cut file to cut it out.  It's so easy to pull together and there are a couple of design options to this bow.  Lastly, I cut a snowflake from the new It's Snowing cut file.  I resized it a little smaller to fit in the middle of the bow.  Then I covered it with some chunky glitter and adhered it to the bow.
Now for the inside.  Here is where you will see where the template got its name.  There's an insert that goes inside to hold a gift card!  This is the way the box was intended to be used, but take out that insert, and you have a nice little box to hold all sorts of goodies!  The sentiment is from the new Warm Sentiments digital stamp set.  I sized it to fit within the lid and colored it in GIMP using the colors of the paper.  And inside the box, I placed a gift card and a little Santa chocolate bar (which I am eating as I type this!). 
If you want simple, you have it with this little box.  It takes minutes to pull together and presents itself so nicely!  For more inspiration from the design team, stop by their blogs.  Thanks for stopping by!  We'll be back tomorrow with the official release day group post!  Hope to see you then!


Photobucket

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Pretty Palette #37

Happy Sunday!  Today we have a new Pretty Palette color challenge from My Time Made Easy.  Here are the colors.
 I decided to make holiday gift tags with this color palette.  I cut tags from kraft and ivory cardstock using two different Spellbinders dies.  The dp is Jolly Holiday from SU and the stamps are from the Secret Santa stamp set from MTME.  The ribbon is kraft taffeta ribbon and I added jingle bells with some baker's twine.
Here are some close-ups of the tags.  I stamped the sentiments in Old Olive and the swirls in Sahara Sand and distressed the edges with Peeled Paint distress ink.



 Stop by the MTME blog to see more inspiration from the design team and thanks for stopping by.

Photobucket

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Just Us Girls #112 - 3D Challenge

Happy Saturday!  Did you survive Black Friday?  I went out with my mom for a while in the afternoon, but didn't do any serious shopping.  I did go to my LSS and bought a couple of stamps though!

I'm here today with a new challenge from Just Us Girls.  This is our 3D/Template week, and our fabulous Andrea is challenging us to create a box and card.
My father-in-law celebrated his 80th birthday last week, and we gave him some gift certificates to some restaurants he likes.  I needed something to package them in, so this is what I came up with.

The box called That's A Wrap from My Time Made Easy.  I love this box!  It's so roomy and I love the way it opens (I didn't take a picture of it opened).  I used Creamy Caramel for the box and Cajun Craze for the base and wrap.  The dp is from the Timepiece Collection by Bo Bunny.  I love this paper for men.  I tied it off with Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon from SU.

The card uses the same papers (minus the Creamy Caramel).  The numbers were cut using By the Numbers die and Big Birthday Wishes stamp set from PTI.  I used an old corner punch on the two corners.

I used the Card Positioning Systems sketch from last week. 

Stop by the JUGs blog to see more inspiration from the girls.  Fabby stuff to see!  Here are links to their blogs.  Stop by and leave some love!

Kim O'Connell, featured designer

Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy your weekend!

Photobucket

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone! I'm just popping in to say Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends and followers! I hope you have a fabulous day with your family and friends!

Photobucket

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Pretty Palette #36

Happy Sunday!  It's time for another Pretty Palette challenge!  These colors (very fall-ish) were taken from a fabric on a chair that was featured in a JoAnn's ad a while back. 

Here's a shot of the fabric from the chair.  It looked fabulous on the chair!

So here is my interpretation of the colors.  I used the Basic Grey paper pack Max and Whiskers and the Up in the Air cut file from My Time Made Easy.  I've been wanting to use this cut file for a while.  It makes a very cute shape card for a birthday or congratulations for a promotion or something like that.

Here's the card open with the sentiment inside.  The "soar" sentiment is from On Display 1 stamp set and the "Happy Birthday" is from So Sentimental stamp set

I took a picture of what my Cricut mat looked like after I cut out the cut file.  (I did change my base colors up a bit after I took this picture because I wasn't happy with the mustard base, so I changed it to cajun craze.)  Great way to use up scraps too!  You can see how easy it is to cut and assemble this card when you have the right tools!

I'm also entering this in the Moxie Fab's Trigger Tuesday: Fall is in the Bag challenge. The colors are the same as the inspiration photo! Score for me!
 

You can see more inspiration using these colors over on the MTME blog. I've listed the girls' blogs below, too. Hope to see you creating something fabulous over there! Thanks for stopping by!


Photobucket

Friday, November 18, 2011

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Final Challenge for 2011

Hi everyone!  Well, for the last nine months the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long design team has been bringing you inspiration for those Christmas cards that we love to make every year.

This week, we have a beautiful inspiration photo to help your creative juices flow in whatever direction you choose. 
We are sponsored this week by KennyK designs.  They have some great digi images!
I chose this image called Boy Gift.  What a fun, cute image indeed!  And I took the silver and green from the inspiration photo along with the shimmer and shine to create my card.
I had this glittery green cardstock that I knew would be perfect for this card.  I paired it with the Christmas tree paper from The Merry Days of Christmas by My Mind's Eye.  The shimmery silver ribbon is something I've had for a while and it was perfect for this inspiration. I added the pretty snowflake button in the center of the bow to spiff it up a bit!  I used a glitter pen for more shimmer on the package's ribbon.  The Sweet Sunday Sketch was perfect to display this image!  This card is just so much prettier in person than in this picture!  I also entered this in the Buttons Galore and More challenge.

Thanks so much for hanging with me through these last nine months of Friday Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenges!  It was so much fun and very productive...I have so many great cards to send to family and friends!  And I just may be back again next year with more creative Christmas cards!  Make sure you stop by the CSAYL blog to see the fabulous creations from the design team.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Photobucket

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Pretty Palette #35

Happy Sunday!  We have a new Pretty Palette color challenge this week and I love these colors!
I'm so into  Christmas cards lately!  I have so many made or this year!  I used the Secret Santa set for this card.  That bell is just so pretty!  And did you notice my real bell in the picture?  Could it be more exact?  LOL!!  I stamped the bell in Riding Hood Red ink and then overstamped it with Versamark so I could emboss it with clear embossing powder.  That's a new technique for me!  It looks so shiny in person. 
 The rest is pretty self-explanatory.  I used the Sweet Stop sketch challenge.  Loved this one when I saw it!
You should see what the Pretty Palette design team did with these colors!  Amazingly beautiful!  Stop by the MTME blog to see for yourself.   Thanks for stopping in to see what I was up to and I hope to see you soon!

Photobucket

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Just Us Girls #110- Ghosting Technique

Happy Saturday!  I'm the hostess this week over at Just Us Girls, and this is our technique challenge week.  I chose a technique I learned at a Wendy Vecchi technique class at my LSS, Buffalo Stamps and Stuff.  I'm so in love with this technique!
Splitcoast Stampers has a tutorial in their Resources section here on the technique.  However, Wendy used white pigment ink instead of Versamark ink.  I like the "ghost" look you get with the white ink.  Here's what I did this week.
I used an old but loved stamp set from SU called Autumn Fest.  I wanted a fall card and you need a stamp that has a lot of surface on it to do this technique justice.  I inked it up in the white pigment ink then stamped it onto a manilla tag from Ranger.  I then used a few distress inks to achieve this color.  I first sponged Wild Honey all over it.  The image does not pop very well with lighter colors.  Then I sponged Spiced Marmalade next, and finished with Gathered Twigs.  The image really popped when I sponged the last two inks on it.  The sentiment is Autumn Foliage by Inkadinkadoo, and it's stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa ink.  The paper is Blink of an Eye by MME.  I finished it off with some light blue ribbon.  I used this week's Clean & Simple FTL166.  Love those CAS sketches!
Stop by the JUGS blog to see what the girls have done and to enter the challenge!  I can't wait to see what you all create!  Thanks for coming by today, and have a great weekend!

Photobucket

Friday, November 11, 2011

Paper Makeup Stamps - November Review

Happy 11/11/11!!!  I hope this is good luck!  What do you think?  Also Happy Veteran's Day!  I am so appreciative of all veterans and active duty soldiers protecting us!  Thank you and enjoy your special day!

I'm back today with the last day of reviews for the Paper Makeup Stamps November release.  This is a new image from the Color Kids line called Color Kids Gift Wrapper.  She is just too cute, and I wanted to do something a little different.  I just got this paper pack from Basic Grey called Little Black Dress and I'm in love with each and every pattern in there.  And I love paper piecing, so I ran with it.
I used the newest sketch from Pretty Patterns.  I don't usually like circles, but there was something about this sketch that I really liked and I love the way the circles look in this fabby paper!  There is a sentiment that comes with the image that says "Wrapped with Love"  (it's actually a heart, not the word love), but I chose not to use it because this is going to be my niece's birthday card.
I hope you stop by the PMS blog to see the rest of the creations from the PMS design team.  They have some great stuff to share!  Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend!

Photobucket

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Never Seen Ink

This is the second to last challenge for Christmas Stampin' All Year Long 2011.  And I think this is my favorite week yet...use a new or old stamp that has never seen ink!  Boy do I have a LOT of those!  LOL!!  So today I used a new stamp that has not seen ink.  I'm pretty sure my friend Cheryl Rowley bought this for me.  She's always so sweet like that.  This stamp is called Comfort Cocoa from Impression Obsession.  I love their stamps!
I love this sketch!  It's from SCS a while ago.  I searched for the perfect one and this seemed to fit the bill.  I used Jovial paper pack from Basic Grey and colored the image accordingly.  I've been having fun using these flourishes from Want 2 Scrap.  I purchased these at my LSS, but I have an order coming my way from W2S any day now with more!  I love bling and these flourishes are very good quality and easy to use.  For more bling, I used Star Dust stickles on the cream.  This card is going to have to go to someone who appreciates home made cards! 
Stop by the CSAYL blog and play along!   There's not much time left before that big day rolls around!  Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Photobucket

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Paper Makeup Stamps - November Review

Hello friends!  Today the Paper Makeup Stamps design team is reviewing the new release for November.  If you haven't seen the release, you can see it in the PMS store here

I'm using a new winter fairy called Hayden.  She is so pretty!
The paper I used is Jovial from Basic Grey, and I took the colors from it to color the image. The image was cut out and placed on a small tag that was altered with some distress inks.  The sentiment, which comes with the stamp, was stamped with Memento Tuxedo ink.  The sketch is from My Favorite Things.
Stop by the PMS blog to see more of the new release by the PMS design team.  Thanks for stopping in today!

Photobucket

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Paper Makeup Stamps Release Party Challenge

Last night at the Paper Makeup Stamps Release Party, Dawn's challenge was to make a thank you card.  Here's what I did very quickly last night.  I tried to upload it to the PMS forum, but could not figure out how to do that!  Bummer!  But you should see it and the other girls' cards on the PMS blog.
I used this fabulous Color It Autumn set that Katie designed last release.  Just love this set!  And the fall colors are so pretty, don't you think?  I used a CAS sketch because I had to create something quickly without much fussing.  Love these sketches too! 
Thanks for stopping by and make sure you stop by the PMS blog to see the other Thank You cards!  See you soon!

Photobucket

Monday, November 7, 2011

Paper Makeup Stamps Release Day Blog Hop

Hi everyone!  Are you ready to begin hopping with Paper Makeup Stamps?  We have a great release this month (you can see the sneak posts on the PMS blog).  We have the whole PMS design team as well as the Digi Makeover design team hopping today.  I'm first on the hop and you can see the hopping lineup at the bottom of my post in case you get lost.

I'm using two new images from this month's release on my card today....the sentiment from the Handmade set and the Color Kids:  Snowflake image.  I just thought this sentiment went perfectly with this image.  I always have my students make these snowflakes during the holidays.  We put silver glitter on them and hang them from the ceiling in my classroom.  This sentiment reminded me of my students making them!
I colored the Snowflake girl with copics and cut it out.  Since she is cutting out a snowflake, I wanted to mount her on one.  I googled snowflake cut files and found this one for free.  I downloaded it and cut it out with my Cricut.  Then I put a thin layer of Monoadhesive glue over it and glittered it up.  It's hard to tell in the photo, but it's glittery!  I also glittered the girl's snowflake.  I glued the snowflake to the base (the paper is The Merry Days of Christmas from My Mind's Eye) and put the girl on top with dimensionals.  I had this banner cut out and sitting on my table, so I stamped the sentiment from the new Handmade set onto it.  I added the ribbon and bow last.

Don't forget about our Release Party tonight.  It starts at 9:00 pm EST in the PMS forum.  We'll have fun, challenges, and prizes!  We'd love for you to join us...tell a friend or two!

Your next stop on the hop is Ginger.  You can see the rest of the hoppers in the list below.  Thanks for stopping by!

1. Paper Makeup Stamps Company Blog
2. Lisa Kind
3. Ginger Schwerin
4. Randee Elsing
5. Jenn Cochran
6. Tangii Crain
7. Michelle Van Patten
8. Andrea Vernagus
9. Lisa McKinney
10. Janette Garcia
11. Kristie Wilson
12. Katie Cotton
13. Anita Hovey
14. Tina Hale
15. Jackie Rakoski
16. Dawn Mercedes
17. Jami Bova
18. Anne Temple
19. Britt Bass
20. Danni Bindel
21. Ivette Aviles
22. Jenn Scull
23. Melissa Shultz
24. Velta Wesson

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.





Photobucket

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin