Ways To Use Moons

I'm the hostess for today's Ways To Use It challenge on Splitcoaststampers.  Since today is the last New Moon of 2016, I chose to use moons as my theme.  Of course a new moon doesn't show up in the sky, so full moons, crescent moons and gibbous moons are all acceptable.  

For my card, I masked and sponged my background first.  After I was satisfied with my sky color, I removed my masked and stamped my bamboo background in a light color.  Then I opted for a darker color to stamp my bird and bamboo image.  I water colored my bird next.  Of course, my ink ran so I had to go back through with a fine tipped pen to retrace my bird image.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you get a chance to play along with the Ways To Use It challenge.

Details - Stamps: Bamboo II, Asian Artistry, Thank You Kindly; Paper: Smooth White; Ink:  Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Tuxedo Black; Accessories: post it, removable adhesive, circle punch, May Arts burlap twine, Scor-tape, stampin' sponges, sponge dauber, waterbrush.

Friends of Flourishes & Christmas

Good morning!  The Friends of Flourishes are sharing a Design Team challenge today.  Today's hostess is Gloria and she chose Christmas as our theme for the challenge.  It's very timely, I must say!  Every time I pull out the Coastal Christmas set, I think of my sister.  I just got to spend time with her two weeks ago, so I can't whine. Still, I miss her.  

My card involved a bit of masking.  Then removal of said masks, trimming and reshaping, and then more masking.  I do like how it turned out and my husband really like the colors.  You can see all the images from Coastal Christmas down below.  

The rest of the Design Team has beautiful creations for you as well.  Be sure to stop by and see them! Follow these links to see the rest of the design team:   

Davi, Gloria, Kren, Shirley, Toni (YOU ARE HERE), Vickie. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a Very Merry Christmas!

Details - Stamps: Coastal Christmas (Flourishes); Paper: Smooth White, Black Licorice, Whisper White; Ink: Tuxedo Black, Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, Night of Navy, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight; Accessories: Circle punches, Scor-Pal, jute twine.  

VSN & Santa

I had a chance to play along with VSN this weekend. Robin challenged crafter's to make a card that showed one of their strongest memories of Christmas.  I have a vivid memory of Santa honking my bicycle horn when I was about 5 or 6 years old.  Even though I know that was years ago, I can still recall that memory today.  

Just a quick post for today, have a wonderful day!

Details- Stamps: Must Be Santa (Flourishes); Paper:Whisper White (SU), Unknown SU blue, Black Licorice (MFT), Recollections Southern Charm dp; Accessories: Watercolor pencils, French Blue grosgrain ribbon, Scor-Tape, stampin' dimensionals.  

Friends of Flourishes & Pearls and Lace

Good morning!  The Friends of Flourishes are sharing a Design Team challenge today.  It's hosted by Davi and she chose pearls and lace as her theme for the challenge.  I worked in another Christmas card for this challenge.  I took the ornament from Elf-N-Christmas for today's card and added some pearls.  You can see my crocheted lace beneath my branch and behind my ornament.

The rest of the Design Team has beautiful creations for you as well.  Be sure to stop by and see them! Follow these links to see the rest of the design team: Davi, Gloria, Kren, Shirley, Toni (YOU ARE HERE), Vickie.

Details - Stamps: Elf-N-Christmas (Flourishes); Paper: Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Unknown designer paper; Ink: Versamark, Barely Banana; Accessories: Victoria Crocheted lace, watercolor pencils, paper snips, SU pearls, Fall Shapeabilities, sponge dauber. 

Flourishes Coastal Christmas in Review

The Friends of Flourishes design team is joining in on this month's Stamp Review for Flourishes LC.  Today, my card features a recently released stamp set.  I chose to work with the Coastal Christmas set. Since my sister moved to Florida several years ago, I have been searching for just the right stamp set to make Christmas cards to send to her.  Now, I have found the perfect set.  

I used a digital image for today's card.  I love that I was able to resize the image to fit in with my card design idea.  I printed out my image and sentiment and then colored my image.  After trimming it carefully, I layered some die cut edges beneath my top layer.  Look at the great images in this set!

You will definitely want to see what the rest of the Friends of Flourishes have in store for you today.  Be sure to visit them for some wonderful eye candy. Follow these links to see the rest of the design team: Davi, Gloria, Kren, Shirley, Toni (YOU ARE HERE), Vickie.  Thanks for joining us for the Stamp Review.

Details - Stamps: Coastal Christmas (Flourishes); Paper: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede; Accessories: Watercolor pencils, Corner Chomper, paper snips, craft knife, stampin' dimensionals, Flourished Trim die.

December "More Than One Score" Challenge: Anything Goes

Hello Crafty Friends!  It's December and that means we are into another "More Than One Score" challenge. This month's theme is an anything goes theme.  By definition, it's a wide open challenge and you can use this opportunity to make a fancy Christmas card or gift packaging for the holidays or whatever you are needing at this time.  Be sure to check out what the other design team members on the Scor-Pal Team have created. 

I made this Four-Paneled stand up card just for fun and just to give it a try!  It was pretty simple and left me with a really nice card to share.  I love the hanging element in the negative space.  Here's another view of the card.  I used four different patterned papers on my card.

I hope you will consider playing along with this month's Anything Goes theme at the Scor-Pal blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Ornamental Christmas (Verve); Paper: Whisper White (SU), Turquoise (MFP), Brushed Silver (SU) Recollections Christmas dp; Ink: Pear Tart, Tempting Turquoise; Accessories: Scor-Pal, Scor-Tape, Spellbinders Nestabilities, silver cording, hole punch, Charming Banner die (Verve), Recollections rhinestones.

Flourishes LC and Imagine Crafts Cyber Monday Blog Hop

&

Thank you for joining Flourishes LC and Imagine Crafts on this fabulous Cyber Monday for our first blog hop together, we are excited to share with you our designer’s creativity using each company’s products and each designer's unique style. Make sure to leave a comment on each designer’s blog as we will be giving prizes away randomly from two of the designer’s blogs.

For my card today, I turned to Flourishes set called Winter Blooms.  The Christmas cactus really called out to me.  My mother and sister are in constant competition to get their cactus to bloom first.  Our school librarian has her Christmas cactus at the check out desk and it has been blooming for a month and a half, at least.  Bev Cole illustrated this gorgeous set which has the image I used, as well as Paperwhites and Poinsettias.  

Flourishes is only half of the story here. Of course, the other half of today's story is about Imagine Crafts!   I needed to back up my image with something and my Versamark stamp pad was the perfect choice.  I wanted to keep with the pinkish-red color of the blooms.  To do this, I embossed my card stock and then used a small brayer to apply my Versamark ink.  This gave my raised embossing a darker tone than the rest of the card stock.  I love the tone on tone look. I think it compliments my image very nicely.  

If you have just stumbled upon my blog today, you will want to head back to the beginning of the hop.  You won't want to miss a single step!  You have until early Wednesday morning to finish commenting.  Winners will be drawn after that.  

Imagine Blog - https://imaginecraftsblog.com/

Barbara Thompson - http://cardsandpaperfun.blogspot.com/

Toni Storie - http://sweetpeasstory.blogspot.com/ (You are here)

Alison Heikkila - http://alisonsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/

Beverly Cole - http://bevsbliss.blogspot.com/

Kren Kurts - http://afourthlife.blogspot.com/

Neva Cole - http://snippetscrafter.blogspot.com/

Roni Johnson - http://inkstainswithroni.blogspot.com/

Linda Lucas - https://lovelylindascraftcentral.blogspot.com.au/

Davi Long - http://alstromeriaartistry.blogspot.com/

Jennifer Vanderbeek - http://www.scrapsoflife.com/

Naomi Gong - http://www.naomigong.com/

Vickie Yeakley - https://stuffbyvickie.blogspot.com/

Nadine Carlier - http://myscrapnstuff.blogspot.com/

Rebecca Ednie - http://eclecticendeavours.blogspot.com/

Gloria Hayoung Lee - http://iiroom1004.blogspot.ca/

Mark Melnick - http://latidart.blogspot.com/

Shirley Qu - http://mypinkieisinkie.blogspot.com/

Martha Lucia Gomez - http://stampartpapel.com/

Terre Fry - http://terresscraptherapy.blogspot.com/

Mary Prasad - http://artbymdp.blogspot.com/

Trisha Traxler - http://simplystamping.blogspot.com/

Monica Edwards - http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/

Flourishes L.C - http://flourisheslc.com/blog/

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Details - Stamps: Winter Blooms (Flourishes); Paper: Whisper White, Rose Red, MM Wedding dp; Ink: Versamark: Accessories: Spellbinders Nestabilities, Spellbinders Nautical Frame and Accents, Watercolor pencils, petals-a-plenty embossing folder, baby brayer, white organdy ribbon, Scor-tape, stampin' dimensionals, Linen & Canvas impression plate (PTI), corner chomper. 

Using Coffee

Just a quick post today as I will be busy with Sunday School and the Seahawks game.  I wanted to share a creation from Thursday.  

On Thanksgiving, I was the Ways To Use It challenge hostess.  Since I was going to have to be fully caffeinated to get all of my Thanksgiving prep done and Wednesday was National Espresso Day, I picked coffee as the theme for my challenge.

I used this as my mantra for getting my Black Friday shopping done and boy did it work.  I found some pretty good deals, got my Christmas shopping significantly underway and kept my sanity.  It worked!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Details - Stamps: Hot, Hot, Hot (FSS); Paper: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Recollections Love U A Latte dp; Ink: Espresso Truffle; Accessories: Spellbinders Nestabilities Class Ovals, paper snips, two way glue pen, mini glue dots, stampin' dimensionals, scor-tape, early espresso taffeta ribbon.  

A New Adventure

What's that?  A new logo?  Why, yes, it is a new logo to my blog.  I have just recently been accepted as a designer for Flourishes and you can read about it here.  I'm a part of the Friends of Flourishes team that is about to jump into the mix.  Flourishes is a name you may recognize if you have been stamping for some time or a name you will want to learn.  They provide quality stamping supplies that you will want to add to your collection.  There is a sale going on right now and you can read about it in this post.  

For today's post, I grabbed a set drawn by Lauren Pope called A Season of Celebrations and used the fun sledding silhouette.  Although it looks pretty simple, this card required quite a bit masking to give shape to the sledding hills.  As per usual, the sparkle of the snow is very difficult to capture in the photograph!

Thanks for stopping by!  Stay tuned for more Flourishes card art on Monday.

Details - Stamps: A Season of Celebration (Flourishes); Paper: Whisper White, Black Licorice; Ink: Tuxedo Black, Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, Night of Navy; Accessories: post-its, sponge daubers, Sakura clear star gel pen, stampin' dimensionals.

Tropical Birthday CASE

My sister-in-law had a birthday on Saturday and went out of town for some birthday fun.  I asked my husband if he would like me to make a card for his sister and he said yes.  He asked for something tropical and purple.  I immediately knew which image I was going to use, so I looked to Pinterest and Splitcoaststampers for inspiration.  

Well, I ended up with a straight up CASE of Bridget's gorgeous card.  My card is definitely smaller in size and I embossed my card base for a bit more interest on my card.  I doctored up some punched leaves and added a birthday sentiment to my card.  Otherwise, my card is very much like Bridget's original.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Details - Stamps: Windows on the World (Flourishes), Small Phrases (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Orchid Opulence, Always Artichoke, Black Licorice (MFT); Ink: Tuxedo Black, Orchid Opulence; Accessories: Paper snips, sponge dauber, Spellbinders Nautical Frames and Accents, Recollections pearls, random paper flowers, glue dots, stripes embossing folder, stampin' dimensionals, Copic and Touch Twin Markers. 

November "More Than One Score" for Family

Hello Crafty Friends!  It's mid-November and that means we are into another "More Than One Score" challenge.  This month's theme is Family. It's a pretty wide open category.  I would think a crafter could make just about anything in the name of this one.  Be sure to check out with the other ladies on the Scor-Pal Design Team did.

For my part, I decided to make a simple easel card to recognize one of the most influential women in my life. My grandmother just turned 92 at the end of September and I have the good fortune to have been raised very near to her for all of my life.  More often than not, I lived next door to her.

Because of her generation, I know she will appreciate a piece of happy mail.  My Mom may have to explain the set up of the card, but that's okay.  Even though I will spend Thanksgiving with her, I wanted to include the sentiment on the inside of this card.

That's all for today.  I hope you get a chance to play along in the Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" challenge this month.  Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Because of You (Verve), I Am Thankful (MFP); Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, DCWV Autumn Melody dp; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel; Accessories: Scor-Pal, Scor-Tape, scalloped oval punch, large oval punch, wide chocolate grosgrain ribbon, vanilla taffeta ribbon, stickles, Spellbinders Nestabilities, stampin' dimensionals.

Thanks - MFP Stamp Shop Blog Hop - Day 4

Welcome to MFP 
October Blog Hop
Theme is: Thanks
There will be prizes given for commenting
and for doing the tutorials. Each winner 
will be chosen by Random.Org.
A large stamp set for commenting.
A mini stamp set for doing the tutorial, 
and everyone doing the tutorials will
earn a Tutorial Badge.

Join us each day, October 25 - 28, for some 

time to be THANKFUL!

You will have until 3pm CT,
Friday, October 28th to
comment and do tutorials.

Prize for COMMENTING,
chosen by Random.Org, is
"Witchie"

The MFP Winners Badge for 

commenting and tutorial 
will be awarded. 

BLOG HOP GUIDELINES AND RULES
FOUND HERE!

Tutorials

            1. Subway Art Sentiments by Kren
               2. Clip Place Card Holders by Vickie

Prize for doing a TUTORIAL, 
chosen by Random.Org, is
"Halloween Selections Mini"

Enter your tutorial submissions

at MFP October Blog Hop Day 1.

MFP Tutorial Badge is awarded
just for trying one of the tutorials.

All prizes and badge winners will be announced

on Saturday, October 29th.

It's the final day of the this month's hop of thanks!  I wanted to finish out with my fall themed thankful cards. I love this sweet pumpkin and couldn't resist adding an acorn too.  Incidentally, I had intended to work on the second tutorial (clip place card holders) because they are darling.  However, I had a super frustrating experience with those clips on a project for the school Harvest Gala.  No clip place card holders for me because I couldn't stand to look at another alligator clip.  You should try the tutorial though!

NOW...
Let's  get to hopping! Here is the Design Team:  Karen, Kren, Lois, MariLynn, Pam, Sandy, Shirley, Toni, Vickie and MFP Stamp Shop 

Thanks for hopping along with us this month.  Don't forget to work on the tutorials and show us what you make by October 28, 3pm CT. You will also want to get all of   your commenting in! Come back on October 29th to see if you are a winner!!

Details - Stamps: Autumn Splendor (MFP), Roses (MFP); Paper: Very Vanilla, Coredinations, Recollections Autumn dp; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Espresso Truffle; Accessories: Stripes embossing folder, sanding block, corner chomper, stampin' dimensionals, paper snips, square punch.

Thanks - MFP Stamp Shop Blog Hop - Day 3

Welcome to MFP 
October Blog Hop
Theme is: Thanks
There will be prizes given for commenting
and for doing the tutorials. Each winner 
will be chosen by Random.Org.
A large stamp set for commenting.
A mini stamp set for doing the tutorial, 
and everyone doing the tutorials will
earn a Tutorial Badge.

Join us each day, October 25 - 28, for some 

time to be THANKFUL!

You will have until 3pm CT,
Friday, October 28th to
comment and do tutorials.

Prize for COMMENTING,
chosen by Random.Org, is
"Witchie"

The MFP Winners Badge for 

commenting and tutorial 
will be awarded. 

BLOG HOP GUIDELINES AND RULES
FOUND HERE!

Tutorials

            1. Subway Art Sentiments by Kren
               2. Clip Place Card Holders by Vickie

Prize for doing a TUTORIAL, 
chosen by Random.Org, is
"Halloween Selections Mini"

Enter your tutorial submissions

at MFP October Blog Hop Day 1.

MFP Tutorial Badge is awarded
just for trying one of the tutorials.

All prizes and badge winners will be announced

on Saturday, October 29th.

For the third day of our hop of thanks, I broke out the acrylic paint.  I used die cut leaves as a mask of sorts and applied acrylic paint with a paintbrush.  After removing the masks, I stamped my sentiments in the negative space that was left.  I embossed my card base and added a ribbon accent under my focal layer.  I popped up the top layer and that completed my card.

NOW...
Let's  get to hopping! Here is the Design Team:  Karen, Kren, Lois, MariLynn, Pam, Sandy, Shirley, Toni, Vickie and MFP Stamp Shop 

I hope that you enjoy today's hop. Come back each day to be inspired! Get to work on the tutorials and show us what you make by October 28, 3pm CT and don't forget to be commenting! Come back on October 29th to see if you are a winner!!.

Details - Stamps: I am Thankful (MFP), Holiday Tag (MFP); Paper: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede; Ink: Soft Suede; Accessories: Spellbinders Fall Foliage dies, Acrylic paint, paintbrush, Scor-tape, satin ribbon (MFP), Linen & Canvas embossing plate, stampin' dimensionals.

Thanks - MFP Stamp Shop Blog Hop - Day 2

Welcome to MFP 
October Blog Hop
Theme is: Thanks
There will be prizes given for commenting
and for doing the tutorials. Each winner 
will be chosen by Random.Org.
A large stamp set for commenting.
A mini stamp set for doing the tutorial, 
and everyone doing the tutorials will
earn a Tutorial Badge.

Join us each day, October 25 - 28, for some 

time to be THANKFUL!

You will have until 3pm CT,
Friday, October 28th to
comment and do tutorials.

Prize for COMMENTING,
chosen by Random.Org, is
"Witchie"

The MFP Winners Badge for 

commenting and tutorial 
will be awarded. 

BLOG HOP GUIDELINES AND RULES
FOUND HERE!

Tutorials

            1. Subway Art Sentiments by Kren
               2. Clip Place Card Holders by Vickie

Prize for doing a TUTORIAL, 
chosen by Random.Org, is
"Halloween Selections Mini"

Enter your tutorial submissions

at MFP October Blog Hop Day 1.

MFP Tutorial Badge is awarded
just for trying one of the tutorials.

All prizes and badge winners will be announced

on Saturday, October 29th.

Now we are on to day two of thanks.  I have always liked this wheat image from Buffalo Spring since I received it in 2012.  I love how it looks here, backing up my statement of thanks.  I opted for a clean and simple design to work with this classic image.  

NOW...
Let's  get to hopping! Here is the Design Team:  Karen, Kren, Lois, MariLynn, Pam, Sandy, Shirley, Toni, Vickie and MFP Stamp Shop 

I hope that you enjoy today's hop. Come back each day to be inspired! Get to work on the tutorials and show us what you make by October 28, 3pm CT and don't forget to be commenting! Come back on October 29th to see if you are a winner!!

Details - Stamps: Buffalo Spring (MFP), I Am Thankful (MFP); Paper: Whisper White, DCWV Pebbled Stack; Ink: River Rock, So Saffron, Soft Suede; Accessories:  May Arts Burlap Twine, stampin' dimensionals.