Sparkle & Shine, It's Birthday Time

Front

Second Flap

Inside

Let me introduce you to Pogo Joe the Snowman.  He lives over at Sassy Cheryl's Digi Store with Snowy, Max, Maddie and all the other neighborhood kids.  I needed a birthday card for someone special and the pogo stick will make this card quite personal.  I don't want to go into the whole story since I haven't mailed this card out yet and don't want to spoil the surprise for the recipient

Before printing the card I turned the image in 3 positions.  Straight up, falling over to the right and falling down.  I know I have a sick sense of humor, but so does the recipient.  I designed the card to have a left flap  which shows the upright snowman.  When you open the left flap you see the snowman beginning to fall on the right flap,.  When the right flap is opened the snowman has fallen in the snow.

I colored with Copics and sponged the sky with a light blue and violet inks.  The snow was made by gluing Diamond Dust onto the paper.  DD is sparkly and beautiful to look at, but it is sharp to the touch.  You wouldn't want to use this on a children's card.   I think I will pad it before I put it in the envelope for mailing. This card is for male so I left off my ribbons and embellishments.  I couldn't help but put 4 little rhinestones in each corner.  Guys like a bit of bling too don't they?  The top of the card is folded down and border punched with EK Success Bubble punch.  The sentiment is cut with an Elizabeth Crafts Die.

The card was quick and simple but it does look very sparkly and should bring a smile to that certain someone.   So let's see what Sparkle and Shine you can add to a Sassy Cheryl Stamp or Digi and post in our Sparkle and Shine Challenge.  Winner gets 2 digis from Cheryl's store.  Need more inspiration?  Click here to see the beauties my DT has come up with this week.

Y'all have a  Happy New Year.  We are staying home and watching the ball drop on TV.  Way beyond the party scene, but we will have a drink and a smooch at midnight.  How about you, what are you going to do tonight to celebrate?

Just received a News Flash from the Boss Lady herself.  Cheryl is having a New Years sale. When you spend $15.00 or more, you will receive 50% off of the entire order!  Now is that a way to ring in the New Year or what.  Don't wait to shop, this offer is only good until midnight January 1, 2014.   EST

Flowers for You

Oh my look at Old Calvin.  He has some flowers for someone.  Wonder who his sweetie is?  He is so debonair.  He can bring you some flowers if you click here.  He will pop right over from the Make It Crafty store to your house.  Check out his friends while you are there.  You will also find the most amazing backgrounds to fulfill your every coloring dream.

I had some free time and the need to color now that the Christmas to do list is finished.  I belong to the Make It Crafty FB group and their sister blog, Make It Colorful.   I like this group because it challenges you to expand your coloring skills. The gals there give you constructive criticism (if you ask) and help you to master coloring.  I decided to combine both group's challenges with my card.  FB challenge for December is a sketch and Make It Colorful wants to see red and green.    

Their are two levels to the Make It Colorful Challenge -easy and hard.  This month hard challenge is to add texture.  I drew a pattern in his tie and pants for texture.  I also used my blender pen to add texture to his slippers.  

Make It Crafty FB Group is having a DT call too.  The call ends December 31, but if you hustle you can still enter.

Card Recipe

Coloring Medium - Copics

Paper - Cryogen White Iridescent; The Paper Studio's Bella Bohemia Collection.

Flowers, ribbon and pearls from my stash

Leaves - Spellbiners Dies

The Holy Family Leaves Bethlehem

Open View

Closed View

Whew look at me 3 posts this week.  I am so excited to be sharing some of the cards I have been making lately.  I am teaching classes at my LSS and haven't posted any of the cards.  Since my classes are finished for the year I am taking some time seeing what is going on in bloggy land.  I found that this card will meet the Challenge at Mo's which is to post your  "Favorite Mo's Card I Made This Year".  I am going to join in the fun at Mo's today.

My image is a stamp I bought at Scrapbooks By The Sea.  It is one of Mo's that Penny Black is selling.  It is called Leaving Bethlehem.  I used a Sizzix pop-up card base to cut it out.  I liked how the base allows the image to stand up and be displayed.  

The papers are from  Little Yellow Bicycle 25 Days of Christmas collection.  They have a beautiful shine and weight for this type of card.  They are so beautiful you don't need any embellishments  I used two pieces of paper for this card and used the flip side of each.  The red snowflake has a red back and the embossed strip on the front of the card shows that.  The gold print and the word paper are flip sides of the same sheet.  I also used this for the sentiment and image mats.

The dies are Spellbinders;  embossing folder from Cuttlebug;  sentiment from Penny Black's Seasons Wishes;  satin ribbon from my stash;  and coloring medium is Copic markers.

I 'm off to see what other challenges I can find for my stash of cards.  Take care of your health during this busy time of year.  Did you know it is a proven fact that coloring is a tremendous stress reduction.  So girlfriend, get coloring and tell anyone interrupting you not to "poke the bear"!

Peace and Love Ya'll!

Deck The Halls

It has been a long time since I posted any House Mouse cards on my blog.  That doesn't mean that I haven't been making them.  In fact I taught a couple of classes featuring House Mouse Christmas stamps at Scrapbooks By The Sea.  This is one of my favorites.  I am going to enter it in the current House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge.  The challenge is to use gold or silver.  I think I spot a bit of gold on this one, don't you?

This stamp is called Deck the Halls and  I got it at Scrapbooks By The Sea.  I colored  the card with Copic markers, but I used some Prisma and Faber Castell colored pencils to highlight the branches.  The paper is from Graphic 45 12 Days of Christmas collection.  Don't you just love this plaid.  I swear I think my Mom sewed a dress for me using this same print when I was a little girl.  LOL.

The die is a Spellbinder Nestabilities.  The gold edges are stickers from Elizabeth Crafts.  I also used them as hangers on the inside.  The ornament punch is from Stampin Up.  The sentiment stamp is from my stash and I am sorry, but do not know the maker.  I stamped with Versamark and used Gold Detail embossing powder and heat embossed.  The inside border punch is from Martha Stewart.

There are only 5 more days until the Big Guy in the Red Suit slides down your chimney.  Are you ready?  No?  Me either, but I am almost there.  It is down to the baking.  This is the time of year when my  Big Guy gets his knuckles slapped with the spatula.  There is something about turning the mixer on that brings him out to the kitchen.  He loves to taste and I love to slap his knuckles.  LOL.  I have to freeze everything immediately or it won't last until Christmas.  Jimmy takes his job as the official taster quite seriously.

Wishing you and yours a very safe and blessed holiday season.

Hugs Linda

My Favorite Card for My Favorite Time of the Year

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Well here it is, our last Sassy Cheryl Challenge before the big guy in the red suit slides down our chimneys.  Our challenge this week is to show your favorite card from 2013.  I chose this one because I got to combine a whole bunch of goodies in one card.  I think everything on here is my favorite.  I love the "Hang Ten" Max and Maddie and the fun little twirly bob I popped them on with.

I love that window die from Joy Crafts and how the warmth of the room shows through with the yellow card stock.  How about that plaid wall paper?  This paper pad is my favorite this Christmas.  I love the non-traditional colors and I am a very traditional person.  LOL.

The Christmas Tree die by Elizabeth Crafts is the best I have found.  It comes in pieces so you can make the tree any size you want.  I have used this one a BUNCH this year!

Nothing makes better snow that Polar White Flower Soft and I boy did it snow on this card.  Maybe it should have been a warning to me of the wicked winter weather we were going to have this year. The Frantage is new to me and I have been Frantaging everything that will hold still enough for me to hit it with the heat gun.

All in all I had fun making this one and so I chose to repost it for our Challenge.  Now that you have seen mine, be sure to pop over and see what the other Sassettes have chosen for their favorite.  I tell you, we have been having fun this past week seeing what each of us chose as our favorites.  I am looking forward to seeing your favorite card too.  Be sure to post it here for a chance to win Sassy Cheryl's darling images.

I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.  I pray that you  all have a safe and happy holiday.  No matter which one you celebrate, make it a special one.  Sending lots of love and hugs your way!
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Recipe:

Kraft paper  and DP from Bazzill

Christmas Tree die and glitter - Elizabeth Crafts

Snow - Polar White Flower Soft and white Frantage

Window Die- Joy Crafts - Home Sweet Home

Snowflake Border Punch- Martha Stewart

Bakers Twin for the pom poms on Max and Maddie's hats.

Corner Round punch - Creative Memories

Sentiment - Penny Black

The toboggan is mounted on a Wobble.

Gift Bag Time

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge this week is "Ribbons and Bows".  I needed a bag for a gift I was taking to a party of very crafty women so I decided to get crafty and make my bag.  I chose "Star Light Star Bright Snowman" from the Sassy Cheryl Store to be the center of attention.  Here's a link for you to get him for yourself.  Doesn't he look jolly?  We had our exchange tonight and the recipient loved my bag.  She was going to regift it , so Star Light Star Bright will be travelling a little bit farther now.

I saw this DP on Cathy's card last week and so I went digging through my stash until I found mine.  I used the tree paper on the front and back.  The sides are a coordinating paper.  The gift inside was a bit heavy, so I reinforced the bottom with card stock and the sides with a twill ribbon in off-white with red and green stripes going though it.  I used my Martha Stewart Snowflake Border punch, ribbon from my stash and a paper doily.  The die folder is from Sizzix the gold button is from my stash.

I had fun coloring.  I am simply amazed at how relaxed I get when I color.  The creation of the bag was more of a stress because I had to plan and think what I would put where.  When I got past all of that I was home free.  If you need a stress reducer,  hop on over to the Sassy Cheryl store and grab you a digi, pull out some ribbon and get to coloring.  Need so inspiration?  Click here and you will be taken to the Sassy Cheryl Challenge Blog page.  My DT mates have cooked up some beauties for you.  Hope to see you enter the challenge this week..

Happy Crafting and Hugs!

Did you know there is only 15 days til Christmas?

From Our Family to Yours

Close up of background stamp

Well the Sassy Gals over at Sassy Cheryl's are back again after a two week break and do we have some pretties to show you.  It is Anything Goes so you can just get down and get creative.  Just grab yourself a Cheryl Alger image and start coloring.

This week I am using Snowmen In  Love and you can get it at the Sassy Cheryl store by clicking right here.   I didn't glitter them up because I wanted to pop against the sparkly background paper I created.  I used a background stamp from Impression Obsession.  I stamped with Versa Mark and then sprinkled some Iridescent Ice embossing powder and heat embossed it.  I loved the background so I kept the rest of the card simple.  The sentiments are Penny Black stamps that I stamped in black ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  The ribbon and gems are from my stash. The gold borders are from Elizabeth Crafts.  I just noticed that my ribbon pulled down the top border sticker, but in real life it is on there nice and straight.  So sorry for the crooked picture.  I glued a bit of Polar Ice Flower Soft at the base of the snowmen to anchor them.

I am not used to making such plain cards, and I keep looking at the picture trying to decide what else to do.  When I look at the card IRL, it doesn't look like it needs anything.  I guess it just looses something in my photography skills.

One more Christmas card down and a few more to go.  I made my DD 36 cards this past week.  She and her family came up and did some yard work for us a couple of weeks ago.  DH and I are not able to climb up and clean gutters or prune tall trees anymore so I thought making her Christmas cards would be a good trade off.  I will see about posting them on my blog after she has mailed them out. 

Hope all of my friends in the US had a fabulous Thanksgiving.  We went up to Virginia to my brother's house and I taught my SIL how to make cards.  She is now addicted to Copics.  Sorry brother, there goes your budget.  LOL  We found out Suzanne J. Dean of Scrap Bitz lives close to them so Debbie is hoping to be able to take some classes from Suzanne. 

Well enough babbling.  You need to pop on over the the Sassy Cheryl blog and see all the goodies the rest of the design team has made this week.  Hope we will inspire you to grab a Sassy Cheryl digi or stamp and create something with ribbon and enter our challenge.  You know the winner does get 2 digis from my favorite store.

TTFN and Happy Crafting,

Linda

Did you know there are on 22 days until Christmas.   Muwah!