Riding in a one-horse Open Sleigh for Merry Monday

 

Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh... It's a very Merry Monday again! This is my last week as Featured Designer for Lesley. It's been fun! And I've really enjoyed seeing all of the fabulous creations with these great sketches and terrific designers week after week. Thank you all for your kind words! For my last hurrah, I'm going out with style - using the Open Sleigh stamp set.

 



This card is rich in textures, with the flocked red flourishes of the Candlelight Christmas Specialty Designer Paper to the dazzling sparkle of the Red Glimmer Paper and the softness of the White Organza Ribbon. I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the Merry Christmas greeting after cutting that layer with the Label Framelit.

Here's the sketch for Merry Monday Challenge #34. I'd love it if you made a card and uploaded it using the link above! Thanks.

Don't forget - You can get a FREE spool of In Color Ribbon (Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, or Summer Starfruit) for every $40 you order thru Sept. 30! The ribbon is valued at $8.95 a roll. If you don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. You can Order Online day and night through my Online Store at http://TheRubberRoom.stampinup.net. Thanks!

Christmas cards and cool furniture finds of the day

 

Ooh, these mittens look so cozy! I love the glitter on them. This was one of the five designs at a recent 10-card Christmas class.

 

 

I CASE'd this card from Jill Hilliard, though I changed the embossed part to a Delicate Design Folder. It uses the Make a Mitten stamp set and Mitten Builder Punch, along with Greetings of the Season with Baja Breeze and Island Indigo colors of ink and card stock.

 

 

I had the best day today! Look at my biggest score - a $25 pew! The seat compartment opens. I think it's adorable. My BFF Kim and I went to a vintage market, a thrift store, and a handful of garage sales. We each got a pew at a moving sale. Eric - an actor who starts filming on the TV show I Hate My Teenage Daughter next month - is helping his mom purge two storage units and a garage so he can move her to a condo he bought for her in Los Angeles. He's quite the talker, and an absolute sweetheart! I also found these two items at the moving sale:

 

 

This little unit is sitting on a shabby chic table I bought at the vintage market today. Eric's mom had used it to hold onions and potatoes. This is a "before" photo. It cleaned up nicely. I can't wait to use it at the Tacoma Holiday Food & Gift Festival next month. Kim and I have been working on lots of fabulous handmade crafts!

 

 

This was another little table I picked up. I like that it has a clear, hinged drawer and is sturdy.

 

Now for more Christmas cards:  











 

Sassy Salutations and Snow Festival dsp using a Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch from a couple of weeks ago.

 

A sentiment from More Merry Messages and the Music Notes standard wheel, CASE'd from Deb Lalim.

 

 

A monochromatic card in Soft Suede with Snowflake Soiree, CASE'd from Mary Fish.

 

The fifth Christmas card design was the No Peeking card here.

 

Have a wonderful weekend! I'll see you back here Monday morning with my last Merry Monday challenge as the Featured Designer for September. I hope you'll join in the fun!

American Ink fall and Halloween swaps ROCK!

Barb's swap

I truly enjoy my American Ink team gatherings. There are always great swaps, fun make & takes, a Workshop Wow! and technique, and yummy food. We talk about the current specials (right now it's the Back to Spool - a free roll of In Color ribbon for every $40 purchased), upcoming events (SU! Regional Seminar in Tacoma on Sept. 29), and more! This is a great group of women. If you'd like to join, there's always room. You can sign up in minutes online at my website - http://therubberroom.stampinup.net.



Barb's make and take

Frankie

 

Ginette

 

Kim

 

Sharlene
 

I hope you enjoy seeing these projects. I've got to head out for a private class tonight! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Wonderful Winterland for Pink Paper Bakery challenge

Scroll down below this post to see Week 8 of The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop!

 

 



Grab a cup of cocoa and share the love with your favorite bunny! At least that's what this image says to me. lol I don't mind making Christmas cards. We're having beautiful, sunny weather in the Pacific Northwest. I spent a few hours yesterday making jam and painting. At least I'll have most of my Christmas gifts made early. There's a first time for everything! :-)

 

I love the clean lines of the images in the Wonderful Winterland stamp set in the Holiday Catalog. I've used the kid on the innertube on a penny spinner card here. I even used the same pattern of paper - from the Snow Festival dsp pack. I prepped this card for a 10-card class on Tuesday. It was great to be able to use the girls' sketch challenge from Pink Paper Bakery.

 

 

There's still time to pull something together for the Card Cafe over at PPB. You have until Noon Friday (PST). At the very least, check out the talented designers!

 

In the meantime, I'm going back to painting, which is only the second step in the project I've undertaken. I'll share what I'm making when I get done. It's for a HUGE holiday gift fair next month. Ah, life is good. Enjoy!

Spooky Bingo Bits treat jar for Week 8 of Halloween blog hop

One of the best parts of Halloween - I think - is the CANDY!

I found this cute little container of gum and thought my favorite little neighbor girl would love it. Gum is her favorite! I created a rosette with the Simply Scored, and used Sticky Strip to hold it together, and a jumbo round to hold it to the lid. I used markers (Basic Black and Tangerine Tango) to ink up the Candy stamp from Spooky Bingo Bits, and used all of Stampin' Up!'s fabulous circle punches - including a scallop circle - for layers, a couple with dimensionals. The trick or treat saying is from Toxic Treats. And I used the striped ribbon around the lid (under the rosette) as well as for this bow.

 

Now it's your turn to join in the Halloween fun - warts and all! We're moving right along in our 13 weeks of blog hopping, so I hope if you've been with me so far, you'll continue, and if you're new, you'll feel inspired to participate!

 

Each week, you're invited to add your Halloween creation to the blog hop, along with the code near the bottom of each post. When you add the code to your blog while you are in the edit HTML mode, your readers can play along, leave comments, and view the samples right from YOUR blog!

At the end of 13 weeks, one person will get a $50 Stampin' Up! gift certificate! The more times you enter the blog hop, the better your chances of taking home the Grand Prize. You also get a ticket just for displaying The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop badge on your blog. Whoo hoo!

Every Little Bit counts when it's penguins and snowflakes

 

Seeing this little penguin just makes me happy.

 

 

So three make me ecstatic! The pumpkin and snowflake are both in the Every Little Bit stamp set. Of course I had to add Dazzling Diamonds glitter with a 2-way glue pen for a bit of sparkle. I used Mary Jo's sketch at Technostamper. The blog hop just started today, so you've got all week to make something for it.

 

Stamps: Every Little Bit;

Ink: Basic Black and Tempting Turquoise;

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise card stocks;

Accessories: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, 2-way glue pen, 1-inch circle punch, dimensionals, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Big Shot.

 

 

 

No Peeking for Merry Monday

One of Santa's reindeer from the No Peeking stamp set made it to the front of this Christmas card for Merry Monday Challenge #33. I tried adding black rhinestones and pearls for the eyes, but it made the reindeer look a bit mad! lol

 

I did end up with pearls on the designer paper. But first, the Very Vanilla card was embossed with the Argyle folder, then I tied a Cherry Cobbler seam binding bow around the middle. The reindeer fit in one label framelit, and I used the next size up with Be of Good Cheer dsp. You can see from the sketch below that I just turned it on its side.

 

 

I love simple sketches like this! I am using this card for a 10-card Christmas class. I'd love to hear what you think about this card. Then you should visit the other designers to see their amazing creations!

Lesley Croghan

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Bonnie Klass
Melissa Davies (GD)

Stamps: No Peeking (126290 wood $24.95; 126292 clear $17.95);
Ink: Cherry Cobbler pad (126966);
Paper: Very Vanilla card stock, Be of Good Cheer dsp;
Accessories: Argyle embossing folder (127750), Cherry Cobbler seam binding (120992), sponge dauber (102892), basic pearls (119247), dimensionals, Label Framelits (125598), Big Shot.

Friendship Preserves tri-fold card

 

If you don't own the Window Frames Collection, this card is a good reason to buy it! I saw this on SU! co-founder Shelli's blog. I changed a couple of things, but not much.

 

 

All three stamp clubs this week made this Friendship Preserves tri-fold card. All of the layers were cut with the Big Shot using the Window Frames Collection. The So Saffron layer was also embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots folder. The card body is just a piece of 4" x 5-1/2" Crumb Cake with Ticket Corner punched corners. The Pool Party and Not Quite Navy layers were also pierced using the Festive Paper-Piercing Pack.

 

 

Un-tie the ruffled Pool Party bow to open the panels where you may write your message. The antique brad holds the ribbon in place.

 

Stamps: Friendship Preserves (127910 wood $21.95 or clear 127913 $16.95);

Ink: Not Quite Navy pad (126971);

Paper: Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Not Quite Navy (101722) and Very Vanilla (101650) card stocks;

Accessories: Pool Party ruffled ribbon (122975), Window Frames Collection (129021), Festive Paper-Piercing Pack (127857), Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, antique brads (117273), Ticket Corner Punch.

 

 

Teresa's Toxic Treats

Teresa, one of the Stampin' Up! demonstrators in my group, made this creepy cool card for an upcoming class. It's perfect for The Great Halloween Blog Hop too!

 

Each week, you're invited to add your Halloween creation to the blog hop, along with the code near the bottom of each post. When you add the code to your blog while you are in the edit HTML mode, your readers can play along, leave comments, and view the samples right from YOUR blog!

At the end of 13 weeks, one person will get a $50 Stampin' Up! gift certificate! The more times you enter the blog hop, the better your chances of taking home the Grand Prize. You also get a ticket just for displaying The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop badge on your blog. Whoo hoo!

Teresa doesn't have a blog, so I offered to put her card here. Feel free to leave some great comments for her and I'll pass them on. :-) Thanks!

The EYES have it for Week 7 of The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop

No mummy could resist faces like these, with those big, beautiful eyes! Yes, it's time for another Halloween card, this week with Googly Ghouls.

 

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I ADORE the Polka Dot Patterns dsp. I mean, they can cheer any card up, making this BOOOO card nothing but FUN! I used a sketch Jenn made for Try Stampin' on Tuesday. This challenge just started, so you've got all week to make up something for it!

 

 

 

I wish I had 1/8" Rich Razzleberry taffeta, so I could've had a third bow on this card. I love the Chevron pattern embossed on the card front.

 



Now it's your turn! Each week, you're invited to add your Halloween creation to my blog hop, along with the code near the bottom of each post. When you add the code to your blog while you are in the edit HTML mode, your readers can play along, leave comments, and view the samples right from YOUR blog!

At the end of 13 weeks, I'll be giving one person a $50 Stampin' Up! gift certificate! The more times you enter the blog hop, the better your chances of taking home the Grand Prize. You also get a ticket just for displaying The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop badge on your blog. Whoo hoo!

Snowflake Soiree for Merry Monday Challenge #32

I think blues and browns look wonderful together - especially for a snowflake card! This card uses Early Espresso and Bashful Blue inks, along with the Snowflake Soiree stamp set from the Holiday Catalog.

 

I used less than a page from the Festive Prints pad and a 2" x 4-1/4" strip of Early Espresso Core'dinations Card Stock, sanded after it was run through the Lacy Brocade embossing folder in the Big Shot. Of course the sentiment is on a Label Framelit. How did we live without Framelits?

 

 

I used my Illuminate pad for the first time. Can you see the snowflakes stamped on the ends of these banners? You can see it better in real life. To add to the sparkle, I added some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter with a 2-way glue pen.

I'm slowly filling up a box with Christmas cards. How are yours coming along? I hope you'll add a card or two to this Merry Monday challenge. These simple sketches make a great jumping off point to your creativity. I promise I'll swing by your place and leave a nice comment! Have a terrific week.

Please visit the other designers and leave kind words for them too!

Lesley Croghan

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Bonnie Klass
Lisa Johansen (GD)

Evergreen Christmas card for Technostamper challenge

Edited to add: I'm one of Mary Jo's Top Picks! Whoo hoo!!!

 

 

 

 

I turn to sketch challenges when I'm short on time. I prepped this card as a make and take this morning for my American Ink team gathering, also this morning. It uses Early Espresso Core'dinations Card Stock, as well as the Evergreen stamp set in the Holiday Catalog. The card and the strip of card stock are Crumb Cake.

 

Mary Jo at Technostamper always has nice, simple sketches. There's not much time with Challenge 236, but a new one will start Monday. As for my get-together, it was a blast. We had two new guests, learned the Delft Technique (thanks Barb), and learned new ways to use punches most of us already own (thanks Mary Ann). I hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Mixed Medley and Toxic Treats for Halloween

 

Have you earned the hostess set Mixed Medley yet? The spider web and this sentiment are both in that set. I chose the colors for this Halloween card from Pals Paper Arts Challenge #142. Inlinkz will close at noon (CST) Thursday, September 13.

 

I started with a Very Vanilla base and used the colors above, the Wood Grain and Square Lattice embossing folders, Wacky Wishes (in Elegant Eggplant), a rhinestone and 1/2" striped satin ribbon, along with Limited Edition dsp.

 

 

I used my bone folder to give the banners a little curl.  I love this sketch - it's from Try Stampin' On Tuesday Challenge 82. You have till Sept. 11 at 8 a.m. (EST) to add a project.

 

 

But wait, there's more! Since this is a Halloween card, I'm adding this to The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop!

 

Each week, you're invited to add your Halloween creation to my blog hop, along with the code near the bottom of each post. When you add the code to your blog while you are in the edit HTML mode, your readers can play along, leave comments, and view the samples right from YOUR blog!

At the end of 13 weeks, I'll be giving one person a $50 Stampin' Up! gift certificate! The more times you enter the blog hop, the better your chances of taking home the Grand Prize. You also get a ticket just for displaying The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop badge on your blog. Whoo hoo!