Another Thank You Card

I made another thank you card using a BEAUTIFUL Deco flower background stamp by Basic Grey/Hero Arts  and a great versatile thank you set called Thanks A Bunch!  My friend Angela gave me these sparkling little silver and white ornaments and they have been sitting there too cute to use. But I decided it was time to put them to good use by making some holiday thank you cards.


Here's the recipe:
I clear embossed the background.
To showcase the snowflake I die cut a circle and then framed it with some kraft card stock
I attached the snowflake to the white card stock using scotch tape
A lovely bow below with the sentiment also embossed finished it up
Popped and ready to serve! (sorry, been watching cut throat kitchen on Netflix)

I think I am going to have to give in and get a lightbox. My photos just are not consistent and the light here is odd. You can't see the glimmer of the snowflake very well at all! BUMMER!

And THEN There Are the Thank You's

Hi! I hope everybody had a good holiday. I am sitting on the floor between my girls beds waiting for them to go to sleep and making good use of time by typing up this post. See the baths are done, teeth brushed, book read (short story about the boy who cried wolf) and now I have to wait for my 2 youngest girls to go to bed and then sneak off. Sometimes I end up falling asleep myself, sometimes they go to bed fast enough I can leave with enough energy to craft a bit or watch a program. Honestly, the days go by so fast, there doesn't seem to be much left over for me. In Colorado, I was able to stay up till 11 or midnight, but seems like I am getting more tired in my old age ;)

In any event, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. After getting those fabulous gifts, it's time to send out the thank you's! I am on the Hero Arts blog today showing off a thank you card using ink daubers. It was fun to experiment. I hope you will check it out during your "me" time...

I hope you will check out HERO ARTS blog to see what I did with it!

Top Cards of 2014

It's that time again. I want to share with you my top 14 cards of 2014.

PLEASE DO NOT PIN THESE CARDS FROM MY BLOG! Click on the link and it will take you to the persons blog and you can pin it from their own blog! Thanks!

1. Amy Tsurtura

This is the year of Amy. Her cards have been wonderful this year. Original and full of personality.  I love this card...The perfect mix of fonts, the white tone on tone, the gray etched looking snowmen with that cute baby in color. The offset tag. All these subtle details make this card dramatic, cute, original and edgy all at the same time.

2. Melania Deasy

I adore her work. She uses the Silhouette like no one else. I always buy whatever she makes using the Silhouette! Her use of colors are always playful!

3. Emily Leipart

This girl has got cute and clever all figured out! Look at this card!

4. Shelly Kurth

I love that coffee steam in the background, the simplicity of this card had me happy.

5. Amy Sheffer

The way that ribbon is tied just has me giggling. Perfectly placed stars, a bit of splatter, a dash of sequins and gems. It's a whole lot of perfectly placed sparseness.

6. Lisa  Adessa

When I pinned this...oh my so many other people did too! I think it is because it's timeless, and great for both boys and girls, men/woman, old/young.

7. Laura  O'Donnell

I can't remember where i saw this, but when I did...I fell in love. The girl is quirky, she is placed on such an artsy background and the sequins compliment her tiara. It's the right amount of awesome!

8. Julie Ebersole

That rainbow. The open and filled in stars. The rainbow. that GOLD GLIttErY strip on the cloud. It's yummy.

9. May Park

She understands how the canvas works. Beautiful white on kraft, gorgeous coloring of the dainty wreath. One corner rounded for a subtle something. Her entire body of work is all about impactful subtle artistic cards that have all kinds of wonderful if you just take a minute to look.

10. Erin Taylor

What a wonderful combination of color, shape, pattern. It's lovely.

11. Veronica  Zalis

I have such a card crush on her. She makes such lovely cards that have universal appeal. She uses patterned paper so well and look at that bow!

12. Jill Foster  

Oh my goodness, this was dramatic! I loved the way the colors have such depth.

13. Teri Anderson

I love the layout and the use of the stars in so many ways!

14. Heather Pulvirenti

Swoon! She always uses color combinations that are unusual, but this one takes the cake as the COOLEST card! I love the perfect bow. The texture with the felt. The beautiful snowflakes and that swooping hill. Very pretty.

For my favorite cards of 2012, click HERE.
For my favorite cards of 2013, click HERE.

THESE folks are still in my favorite list, the continue to be top notch designers in my eyes!

My Last Post for Crate Paper #Sad

I am on the CP blog today. It is my last post. It is a SAD moment. As you know, there are a few companies that I drool after and top of the list was Crate. They have the prettiest papers and embellishments out there and to rub elbows with the fantastic team was a dream come true. It has come to an end. I am sad.

For the last post, we were asked to make holiday DIY projects...Here is a sneak peek of my ensemble.

To see the rest of it, Click HERE.

Thank you CP for everything. It was a dream come true. 

Valentine's Day Release by Hero Arts!

I am on the Hero Arts blog today showing a card I made using the new Hero Arts Valentine's Day release stamps and stencil. Here is a sneak peek:

I hope you will check it out!

Holidays with Crate Paper!

Your favorite paper company is having a first ever holiday DIY challenge...Crate Paper is going to feature the design teams holiday projects with giveaways starting Monday!

Deck The Halls Blog Hop

Hi Everybody! If you arrived from the talented Donna Mikasa's blog, welcome! Today the Hero Arts design team is showcasing homemade ornaments. I searched google for my inspiration. The original post can be found HERE.  I have a tutorial to show you how I made my scrapbook paper ornament. 

Die cut 15 (3.5inch) circles. You can make the circles any size you want. I wanted a large ornament so that is why I made mine the size that it is.

Fold the circles in half alternating the pattern.

Stack them, alternating the pattern. One green side up, one blue side up. etc etc. 

Staple the circles on the fold line (thanks Melissa), one on the top and one at the bottom. OR you could use wire. I also tied the twine at this time (to hang the ornament). 

Glue (using glue dot) the top of the ornament. Put the glue dot about a third of the way down. 

Next glue the bottom, about a third of the way up. Alternate this around for the entire ornament. 

Attach the tag. I stamped Using Red Royal, Field Green, and Green Hills inks some of my favorite images from the  Spread Joy holiday set. Put rhinestones in the center of the snowflake for a little jaz. These are from Hero Arts too! 

Last attach a wood veneer snowflake and tie string!

Here is the hop order:

Hero Arts Blog  http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/

Yana Smakula  http://www.zrobysama.com.ua/?lang=en
Mariana Grigsby   http://marianagrigsby.wordpress.com/
Cheiron Brandon  http://www.cheironbrandon.typepad.com/
Donna Mikasa  
Wida Miller  http://beachorado.blogspot.com/  <----YOU ARE HERE!

If you feel inspired, Hero Arts is having a giveaway for anyone who wants to make a ornament too! Go to the Hero Arts blog for the inlinkz to include your ornament. You will have until Friday Dec 12 at 6pm EST, and we will announce the random winner on Saturday Dec 13. 

Hero Arts is also having a sale! This weekend only (Friday to Sunday) so check it out! 

Make You Envelopes MATCH...

   I had this idea and well it worked! Thought I would share it today...First take your favorite embossing folder. I am using this pretty one by Maggie Holmes Crate Paper Open Road collection.

I ran just the envelope flap through the big shot...WOW! The results were beautiful!

Finding color combinations can sometimes be challenging. Oh my sweet Pinterest, how I love you so. Did you know Crate Paper has a Pinterest board dedicated to color inspiration? Well that is where I went and found this beautiful photo. You can find it HERE.

Want to see the card I made inspired by this image AND that goes with the envelope? Click HERE!

Another Masculine Card

I made another masculine card. This card took me ALL day. No joke. AND I FINALLY, after 7 months,  found the perfect place to take photos. The problem? Um, we finally moved to our new home, so this fabulous area in my mom's house is no longer an option.  Grrr...

Paper and ephemera: Crate Paper Boys Rule

Twine: Lawn Fawn

Stamp: Hero Arts Good Luck

Embossing powder: Hero Arts 

So I am utterly inspired by this quote, thought I would share. 

I wanted to also say, I am thankful for you all who come and visit. I appreciate every comment and I hope that now that life is a bit more settled for us (we are still unpacking but at least the house journey has come to an end), my job and schedule has stabilized, kids are doing well in school and my fourth is going to begin preschool soon. I think I can finally, almost, maybe breathe AND visit all of your inspiring blogs again! I am also keeping tabs on my top 14 cards of 2014...even got #1 picked out, only 13 more to go!

These Tags...

I am on the Hero Arts blog today showing you how to use the JUST TAGS set to create a pretty holiday card. I also took the tag to create an ornament and a bag.

The tag set comes in a pack of 60. There is a kraft set and a black "chalkboard" set. isn't it beautiful??

To create this ornament, I die cut 2 snowflakes and layered the tag on top. Easy!

I used the tags to create a holiday card and a bag, come see them HERE! 

Tracey's Twenty-five Days of Tags

I am participating in Tracey McNeely's 4th annual 25 days of Christmas tags this year! She has dedicated a pinterest board to all the previous guest designers HERE, HERE, and HERE. Lots of inspiration :)

I made this simple tag.

There are great prizes available from (pretty fabulous eh?):

• Reverse Confetti
• Clearly Besotted
• CAS-ual Fridays
• Neat and Tangled
• Paper Smooches
• Lawn Fawn

You have a chance to win by leaving a comment on this post by Nov 27th. Winners will be announced November 28th!

Mixed Emboss Holiday Card

I am on the Hero Arts Blog today HERE showing you how to make a mixed metallic holiday card using the new Hero Arts stamp called MAKING SPIRITS BRIGHT. It is such a pretty stamp!

This card is perfect for the challenge going on right now at Hero Arts called MAD ABOUT METALLICS! There are other categories all holiday focused also so if you want to enter check it out!

Masculine Card

You know what there is NOT a lot of out there? Masculine cards! There are a THOUSAND flower cards, but try to Pinterest search a guy card and it's limited at best. So a PERSONAL challenge to self to make a card for a doc I work with (and there are a LOT of them, which is why this problem came to mind lately). Here is what I made:

I think the BEST cards come when you are not restricted in supplies and make stuff using your goodies.  And to not panic when the stamping isn't perfect, but just keep going and see what happens. Kinda like life, you know?


Gonna enter this is Virginia's View challenge this month: METALLICS! The entries there are really pretty!

Supplies: 

Emphemera: Crate Paper Boys Rule

Star: Fancy Pants

Star stamps: Paper Smooches Space Cadet

Gold Trianges: Mama Elephant

Twine: Maya Road

Tim Holz Tiny Attacher

Ink: Hero Arts Black

Gold Embossing powder: Hero Arts



QUESTION: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE GUY CARD? LINK UP BELOW SO I CAN CHECK THEM OUT!

I am ALSO on the A Blog Named Hero Blog

I am sharing a cherished Christmas memory today on A Blog Named Hero! There is a Hero Arts gift card up for grabs if you would like to leave a comment on my fabulous card!!! Hehe...

I don't know why it is that I have NOTHING going on on the ol' blog and then when I do, it's 2 posts on one day. WHY does that always happen? Then all that work will not gets its full ability to shine :(

Wida

On the Crate Blog!

I have made a darling (if I can say so myself) photo album for my daughter Sophia which is on the Crate blog today. Here is the cover...

Please stop by the blog for details and what it looks like inside HERE!

A GIFF

I am on the Hero Arts blog showing you the inspiration behind this card and how I made it! Would appreciate it if you stopped by HERE!  (Sometimes when I take photos, my kids like to have fun with me. This is Anya surprising me with a photo bomb!)

Inspired by Bloggers and Handwriting analysis

OK one of my favorite, is being inspired by people's who's blogs I visit. This is my attempt to make a card a la Jocelyn Olson. I tried to make it kinda random by using patterned papers that were randomly placed. I stamped  Hero Arts Decorate a Tree paired with Bird and Branch Christmas. I love the way Hero Arts inks stamp, the yellowish looking one is NEON CHARTREUSE. Chartreuse is my favorite color :)

I am going to enter this in the latest Hero Arts Challenge: Holiday using white space, metallics, Tags, or in my case...HOLIDAYS anything goes!

And for a fun addition to the post, I will leave you with THIS article on handwriting analysis which was pretty dead on for me. let me know if it was for you too!

New Stuff Old Stuff

I made this card while hanging out with the girls in Virginia. The thanks die is JJ Bolton's. She has all the latest greatest stuff. Kinda feel bad for my sad craft room after visiting her space. I think we have the same taste in things because I would have bought all the same things she had :)

I bought these watercolor roses and postage stamp die a while back and am finally able to use them. What a happy feeling! I feel bad when stamps just sit around. I am entering this in Runway Inspired Challenge this week. Here is the image:

Have you heard about MISTI? Well thanks to Vicki Dutchner, I finally got one. (They sell out quickly) They work great! HERE is a video showing how MISTI works. Been using it to make my mother in laws Christmas cards and it makes the process so simple. 

SUPPLIES:
Stamp: Altenew Painted flowers
Dies: MFT postage stamp die, Serendipity thanks die, Wplus9 leaf die
Ink: Fresh Inks

Winner, and Entering a New Challenge

Hello! I have come to announce the winner of my giveaway! I hope to have more giveaways here on my blog as a way to thank you all for visiting....after all, I DO have LOTS of other burning questions! It's the least I can do ;) Sometimes, an RAK too.

To sum it up, people DO like to know how things are made AND what the products are :) Now I know!

Ceal! It's you! I will email you shortly.

I am also entering a challenge today which I am so excited to say because I have wanted to enter this challenge forever but finally got to do it after having a craft night with my blog pals in Virginia. I am entering the Waffleflower challenge which was this image or white space.

I used the Waffleflower flower  circle die to create this card:

The leaf is from HERO ARTS called Scattering Leaves, it sparkles because I put some diamond stickles on it after stamping it in Green Hills Ink by Hero Arts. The banner is a similar banner stamp called Happy Thanksgiving stamped in Brown Bark ink. The font on the sentiment is so trendy!! The tine wood veneer heart is by Studio Calico...

Ok later friends!