Merry Monday Ornaments

This week over at the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge Blog the theme is ornaments.  I originally pulled out a different stamp and planned to get fancy with it, adding on layers and die cuts and generally pretending to be someone I'm not.  I was up for the challenge though!

That is, until I actually sat down to do it.  By then I was feeling melancholy and blue so I switched gears and made a simple card.  I was pleased with myself that I used some designer paper with words on it because I don't much care for it but I like how it looked with this image.

I was concerned that my card was too simple, so I wrapped some ribbon around the edges like I've done before.  Then I wasn't so sure that was the answer so I went to make a fancy double bow to add on.  Forty minutes later I gave up, as for the life of me I couldn't remember how to tie one on my bow-maker (and I never knew how to tie one without it).  So I mocked up a fake double bow.  I'm pretty sure it is a disaster.  I asked the cat his opinion and he gave me one of those you-poor-pathetic-human-being looks.  On the bright side, it isn't horrible and I've got one more Christmas card made. 

The Fine Print: Stamp by Hampton Arts, designer paper by DCWV, bling by Hero Arts, ribbon from my stash.  Please don't fret about my blue and melancholy mood, it was due to getting bad allergies from my allergy shot and then taking one of those coma-inducing allergy pills.  I'm a little dazed still, but much better today!

Show Me the LOVE!!!

This week's House Mouse and Friends challenge is all about showing some love.  What with Valentine card making in full-swing this is a very timely challenge.  Also, it is House Mouse, and what is not to love about House Mouse?!

For this challenge I pulled out an old, well-used and well-loved stamp along with some bits of Valentine's goodies I had out on my desk.  I made the glitter hearts glittery.  It was my Spica pen's last gasp, but never fear I have another one ready to go.  I really liked how I found a scrap of cardstock that was the same shade and same amount of glittery-ness as the hearts I colored in so I could make a large glitter heart to embellish my card with.

I thought I'd get fancy with the inside of the card and instead of just putting a die cut greeting in it, I'd use the negative of the greeting instead.  That meant I had to carefully pry out the inside of the "L" and "E" to glue down.  In the end, you can't tell from the photo that you are seeing the back of the card through the greeting, but it in real life it is pretty nifty.

The Fine Print: HM stamp by Stamp Rosa, heart die from Cheery Lynn, flowers by Prima, love die cut A Muse Studio.

What's on My Workdesk?

What's on my workdesk, you ask?  Why, a lot of the same old stuff and a cat.  Aren't you glad you asked?

I've worked on some of the projects in progress/leftover bits from last week but some of them are still stashed on the desk.  There are some new ones added on top to boot.

Dio wants me to show off the stuff to the left of my desk.  The top row has two CD hanging file cases that store dies in them.  The silver and black case holds my Copic markers. Under that is a wooden paper holder with paper it in.  The bookcase has bins with drawers with papers by color, ribbons in boxes and magazines.   Left of Dio's head is a three-tiered plastic case that is crammed full of washi tape.  The white drawers under it have stickers, embellishments and paper pads.

Here is a get well card my Momie sent me earlier this month. It was such a nice surprise to find in my mailbox.  And, Lookit! She made it.

The Tic Tac treats is a project my stamp group will work on this evening.  This is definitely not an original design.  I saw this over at Susan's Simple Stampin' blog and just had to try it out.  I don't usually make anything but cards, so this is really out of the box for me.  Check out Susan's blog for easy to follow directions.

The Fine Print: Stamps on Get Well card by MAMBI and Copper Leaf, papers on Tic Tac boxes by A Muse Studio, punches by Stampin' Up, ribbon and twine from my stash.  Yes, that's the twine I have two rolls of each color that I showed off at a previous WOYWW.

Toadilly Awesome Snippets!

I bought myself a new die this past weekend so of course I had to use it.  The die is reeds and cattails.  We used to have some cattails growing near the creek (not crick) when we lived in Ohio.  My dad, another crafty person, once cut some down and put paraffin over them to seal them.  That way we could enjoy them all year round in the house.

I used lots of snippets and scraps to make this card, so I'll be linking up with Di's Playground Pals.  All the die cuts were made out scrap paper, the dotted piece was another scrap, and the cool puffy butterfly was a present from Darnell.  I mentioned before that I don't consider quarter sheets of designer paper to be snippets but this was in my "to use up" stash, as was the card base (which matched my scraps!!).  So I got to use up lots of bits and pieces to make this card.  The inside greeting says "You're toadilly awesome" and you are!

The Fine Print: Frog stamp by Annticipations, large scallop punch by EK Success, oval dies by Spellbinders, cattail and reed die by Cheery Lynn, colored with Copics.  I might not be spelling 'toadilly' the same way they did on the stamp, but you get the idea. 

Valentines!

I know all those recent Christmas cards made some of y'all a bit twitchy, so how about some Valentine's cards to balance things out?

I made this card to use that nifty piece of fun designer paper in the background.  It had the added bonus of really matching my NBUS stamp. After I assembled the card I thought that the hearts needed some gloss and I was tickled pink (pun intended) to find out that my A Muse Studio Crystal Clear glaze easily came out of the bottle. I didn't have to fight with it with needle and swear words to unclog the tip.  Woot!

This card I made to use up one of the cards and papers that came in a Valentine's kit a friend gave me.  The kit had the card blanks, designer papers and stickers.  Being a stamper, I thought it needed it bit more than that and added this stamped, colored, an glittered image, along with a piece of ribbon.

The Fine Print: Swirling Heart stamp by Embossing Arts, heart paper from my stash, ribbons from my stash, birds and hearts stamp by Impression Obsession. and Valentine card kit by Paper Adventures, which btw, I used the stickers on the inside of the card.

Rudolph Day - Yes, More Christmas

You know, I don't know how to break it to y'all but I'm starting to suspect all these Christmas challenge are why we are so cold, why we're having polar vortexes, and why snow exists.  Anyway, that's my new non-scientific theory that I have now posted to the web.  That makes it true, because you can believe everything you read on the web.

For the Rudolph Day challenge we are to make two Christmas cards. I wanted to make some extra fancy ones for this challenge.  I broke out my nifty poinsettia stamp set and made some layered poinsettias.  Then...  I had no idea what to do with them.   The blue version came together very well.  I found the scrap of paper which matched so well and this card was born.

The red version gave me far more fits.  The paper is an orangish-red which is kind of awkward to match up to anything.  I really wanted to use it though because it has a neat gold shimmer to it (although you can't tell it from this scan).  I dropped the big scroll when I was gluing it on and it would have been too messy to move so it is placed a bit off too.  I'm just not so sure about this card, but never fear, come next December 23rd I'll be loving it and trying to decide who to send it too.

The Fine Print: Poinsettia stamp by Stampin' Up "Joyful Christmas," greeting by A Muse Artstamps, designer papers from my stash (most likely DCWV), giant scroll die by Quick Kutz.  The blue flower has black bling in the middle and the red one has Tim's soot distress glitter.  While I'm a huge fan of bling, I like the glitter better.

Merry Monday Color Challenge

As you can guess by the title, this challenge is issued on Monday.  Once I saw it I had to ponder it and ponder it, and ponder it.  Miss Merry Monday wanted us to use the colors red, vanilla, kraft and chocolate all on the same card.  And anyone who knows me, knows that kraft makes me weep.

After all that pondering I did, I finally decided that I was going to have to skip this challenge because nothing came to mind.  Then in the wee morning hours this card popped into my mind.  Well, a similar version popped into my mind.  My mind likes to fancy that I'm a real artist, which means the reality version is usually not nearly as spectacular.  Even though, I thought it was a fun card.

Come check out the others who came to play at Merry Monday #92.  You can see spectacular cards there.

The Fine Print: Pine tree die by Sizzix, Swiss dot embossing folder by Cuttlebug, dot and square punches by EK Success, tag punch by Marvy, vanilla twill ribbon, pinecone and greeting stamps by A Muse Artstamps.

House Mouse and Friends - NBUS Challenge

I'm so excited that I just found out what NBUS means!  NBUS = Never Before Used Stuff!  Not that any of us crafters have any of those kinds of things lying around, oh no!!!  But just in case, on some off chance that you do, and it is House Mouse (or friend) themed, the House Mouse folks are hosting a challenge to get you to use it.

That's right, House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge #161 is to ink up that never before used House Mouse Designs stamp and have at it. I just so happened to have bought myself an Easter Mouse right before Christmas and here he is.

During the design phase of this card I knew it was lacking something so I consulted my husband.  He is not in the least bit crafty but often has some good input.  He said the egg needed grass, because it isn't Easter without Easter grass and by jove, he was right.

The Fine Print: "This Egg's for You" House Mouse stamp by Stampabilities, paper from my stash, egg die by Cheery Lynn, grass die by A Muse Studio, Madera Corner die by Memory Box, and pink bling by Queen & Co. And yes, next month I plan to be more timely with this challenge.

Get Well Pills

I made this pretty in bright pink get well card to send to a friend who has been ailing with the same creeping crud I had.  Hopefully it cheered her up and got her on the road to wellness.  I know it made me happy to make it.  So much pink!  I secretly like pink, or maybe it's not such a secret. I don't want to wallow in it, but pink has it's place.

The Fine Print: Stamp by Stampin' Up, dies by Spellbinders, papers from my stash, and twine from that package of twine I showed off a couple weeks back (the one that had two rolls of every color).  BTW, just because my friend had the same creeping crud I did doesn't mean I gave it to her.  She caught it all on her own accord. So there!

Winter Blues - SOS 135

This week the Shopping Our Stash folks are celebrating Winter Blues.  Despite the name, they don't seem so interested in the "winter" part of that title.  This is what they have to say:

We ask you to make a card or other project with the main color of blue. It doesn't need to be all blue, and you can include any other colors you like, but when we look at your card, we should be able to say, "Oh, blue!"

Oh, blue! I used cooler blue colors to maybe, just maybe give a wintery vibe to the card.  It has flowers though, so probably it doesn't feel too wintery.  I was proud of myself for using one of the shimmery card bases I have lying around.  I'm not a big fan of shimmer cardstock right up until I up it and they I realize that it isn't so bad! It does have its place in this world. Thanks for checking out my card!

The Fine Print: Stamps by Stampin' Up "Flower Shop" and "Happy Day," all other supplies from my stash. I'm using up some of that old stuff! Woot!

Workdesk Wednesday - The 2nd First Day

Welcome to the second first day of school.  See, I work at a school where the classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursday.  What that translates to is we have two first days of school.  I know today will be better than yesterday because for one thing I don't have my underwear on inside out.  But you didn't come here to hear about that.  You came to snoop around on my desk and see what I'm up to and if I managed to finish any of the projects in progress I pointed out last week.  Let's bring on the What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday hosted by Julia:

I know this photo disappoints many because it is rather tidy.  Sorry, but it is what I do because if I don't I'll have to spend what little time I have after work picking up instead of playing.  Or I'll come home to find out the cats have done some paper crafting.  Let's just say they think wrinkles and teeth marks are the in embellishments.  But, look, I do know how to make a mess:

This is from this weekend. It was heaped higher but I had started to pick up before I thought to take a photo for y'all.  I was working on Valentine's cards.  Except for finally using my new Lawn Fawn set I did not do any of the projects I pointed out last week.  The House Mouse with purple underfoot is still around, as are the purple flower rejects, and that funky cat I've stamped and colored.  Besides those I have added some new projects shown in the top photo. On the right hand side of my desk are Valentine card kit I was given a couple of years ago. I want to use that and the store-bought heart embellishments under them.  I have several Stampin' Up wood mount sets tucked on my desk to make cards for various occasions--birthdays, cheer up, a vintage themed swap.  So we'll see what we get accomplished in the following week.

Here's a card I made with that set on my desk  Check it out, I even managed to use one of those store bought hearts on it--only 25 more of those things to go!  Here's a close up the card kit and the hearts.  There is also a packet of Bo Bunny stuff that I don't think I'll use this year and a Basic Gray card kit that may or may not get used.  Stay tuned...

The Fine Print: Stamps on card by Lawn Fawn "Science of Love" set, heart embellishment by K&C Company, designer paper by Basic Gray.  For those of you paying attention to my Christmas card progress and the one set I have on my desk that I dislike--I haven't made any cards but I did make a decision to get rid of that set.  That's progress.

Green with Happiness

I've sent a couple of cards to my friend that I thought were less than stellar lately.  You know, it happens.  Into every life mediocre cards happen.  Then I redeemed myself because I made this card.

Janeen, of A Little Bit of This and That, inspired me to hunt down some beautiful green paper and make a happy spring card.  And that makes me happy. 

I need some happy in my life because today is the first day of school.  Let me tell you about college students.  They don't think they need to bring a writing utensil to the first day of school.  Or their schedule.  Or check to see if they are on the right campus.  On the right day.  At the right time.  "What do you mean six pee em is at night?!!!!"

The Fine Print: image stamp by Stampendous, greeting stamp by Hero Arts, plain papers from my stash, checkerboard paper from that company that makes stencils..... and matte brads and paper that has a pattern on one side and is white on the other... Lasting Impressions??? I just don't remember the name.

CASE this Sketch #60

I needed to make a card for a friend and was stumped for ideas for the stamp I wanted to use.  So I turned to CASE this Sketch #60 for ideas.  Here's the sketch:

Due to the orientation of my stamp I opted to turn the sketch sideways.  I was originally going to use staples along the one side but decided that stitching fit the stamp better.  I like the final product okay but I think I would have liked it better had I moved the main image further to the left, more like the sketch.  Hey, those sketch people must know what they are talking about!

The Fine Print: Stamp by PSX, colored with Copics, designer paper by Chatterbox, stitching done with embroidery floss.

What is a Snippet?

To me a snippet is a piece of something larger such as a hunk of ribbon as opposed to the whole roll. A snippets can be that one odd-ball epoxy brad you have or even a stash of 5 regular brads.  It can be that image you stamped but never used, or even the one you stamped and colored.  Snippets can be die cuts or the left over paper from die cutting out of it.  They can be random embellishments that have been abandoned on your desk.  They can be previously punched out objects.  They can be that package of charms you won in a raffle.  To me snippets are the black sheep of the crafting world, often over-looked but collecting like dust bunnies in the corners of your crafting space, the left over bits and bobs.

One thing that does not count as s snippet in my world are quarter sheets (A2 card sized) of designer paper.  That's because that's how I cut my patterned paper up.  You get four quarter sheets from an 8.5 x 11" sheet of paper and six from a 12x12" sheet.  It is rare that I use all four or six at once so I put the unused ones away in their proper places until I need that color or design again.

Yet, I call this card a snippet card because of its background paper:

Sure it is a quarter sheet of patterned paper but it was not in its proper place and that makes it a snippet in Judylandia.  This ridiculous orange and black plaid piece has been wandering around various places in my craft room since October.  It missed the boat, or in this case bin, and never got put away.  I'm too lazy to drag the Halloween bin out of the closet to get it put away.  Instead this sheet of paper has drifted around here and there constantly turns up when I don't want it to.

So I decided to put it to use and be done with it.  And just in case the gals at Pixie's Playground don't feel it counts as a snippet, all the other pieces are snippets too.  The speckled white (which doesn't look so speckled in this photo) is just a random hunk as is the dark gray under it.  The black ribbon is from my box of loose pieces of ribbon.  The orange brads were pulled out of a tin of various orange brads (found two that matched!).  The bats were die cut from a mere scrap.  This is a total snippet card even if it is for a holiday that is a long way off.

The Fine Print: Stamp by Penny Black, die cut shape by Stampin' Up (the trick for the gray layer is to trace around the die you cut with and then cut it out, that's how you get a slightly larger layer, yes I learned that from someone else's blog), die cut bats by A Muse Studio colored with a glitter pen, ribbon and brad from my stash.  I wonder if I can muster up the energy to drag the Halloween bin down out of the closet to put this card away????  Don't hold your breath.

Shopping Our Stash--Miss You

I played along with the SOS Challenge #134 where the theme was "Miss You."  I thought this was timely because our local group that collects for Operation Write Home put out a call for miss you cards.  This is the first time I've ever played along with Shopping Our Stash.

I made this sweet little mouse card for the challenge.  Even though he is holding a balloon I always thought this mouse looked sad, like he was missing someone or something, so he was perfect for a miss you card.

I have to say I like the concept of Shopping Our Stash.  We all have enough stash that there is no need to go out and buy stuff to join a challenge (c'mon, admit it's true).  I like that the name makes you think about those random things you have lying around that you haven't used in awhile.

For this card I used one of the many, many, many pre-cut and folded card bases I had lying around.  The designer paper I picked up from a friend who was down-sizing her stash and have had for several months.  I have a million, zillion paper flowers and I really need to use them more.  I also used a previously unused greeting for this card and some really old matte brads. I feel I definitely shopped my stash for this card.

The Fine Print: Stamp by Penny Black "balloon mouse," greeting by A Muse Studio "say it with style," designer paper by Chatterbox, oval dies by Spellbinders, flowers by Prima, matte brads by Limited Edition (is that the right name? they do brass stencils as well, odd combo).  BTW, that lacey oval die is cut on dark blue paper even though it looks rather black in my scan.

Love is in the Air

I decided to join the Penny Black and More Challenge this month which is ***Love is in the Air***  I do love me some Penny Black stamps. They are old favorites from way back and I really like coloring them and am almost always impressed with what I make with them.  That is, until I looked at my fellow challenge entries.  Oh my! I'm going to have to learn to step it up a notch!

I think this card is no slouch though.  It love the bright spring colors, the hint of glitter, and that fun flowered ribbon.  I hope you like my card and have someone you can snuggle under the flowers with.

The Fine Print: Stamp by Penny Black "Squeeze til I Squeak," colored with Copics, glitter by Stickles, card base and yellow embossed polka dot paper from my stash, pink layer from Bazzill, pink flower ribbon by Simplicity (a fabric store find), and pink bling by Hero Arts.

PPA188 - I Only Have Eye For You

Howdy Folks! I thought I'd join in with the Pals Paper Art sketch challenge this week.  I previously tried out a color combo one they did, but it turns out that ain't really my 'thang.'  But this sketch is a whole other matter.  Check it out:

It's clean and simple and not at all complicated.  You can interpret the sketch and get crazy with it or you could just follow along nicely like I did.

I have to confess this card made me laugh.  I like that my one-eyed creature can make this greeting work for him.  So silly.  It was inspired by this card that I made earlier.  After I made that I realized I could change it around to fit this sketch.  I like it when you think of different things to do with the same products.

The Fine Print: All products by A Muse Studio unless otherwise noted. Stamps used--"Monster Bash" originally marketed as a Halloween set; cardstock used--heartbreaker cherry (red with white hearts), sweetheart cherry (vice versa), onyx, cherry, and sugar;other supplies used--cherry & white baker's twine, cherry stitched ribbon, Spellbinders dies, Memento ink "rhubarb stalk" and googlie eyes from my stash.

Hopes and Dreams

I was about to say that I'm too tired to have either one right now--hopes or dreams.  Then I remembered that I have this:

And this:

Those are both from a Club Scrap kit called "Hopes" so obviously I have hopes.  And as far as dreams go, oh boy, did I have a doozy the other night.  There is a lady who works in a nearby department and I have occasion to run into her quite often.  She is always happy and smiling.  She's perky and has nice things to say.  She is a very nice person and you would vote her The Least Likely to Go on a Murderous Rampage Killing Spree.  

Or would you?

See I dreamed that she was batshit crazy insane, murder young boys and put them in the crawl space, boil your kid's bunny on the stove, completely over the moon lunatic psychotic murderer spree killer whack job who wears women's skin as clothing nutso.  It was so insane.  Think of the most notorious disgusting crimes you can think of and we found out she had done them.  It was quite a shock when I woke up because I too had voted her The Least Likely to Go on a Murderous Rampage Killing Spree and then I went and dreamed this about her.  But I did have to stop and think that there is something seriously wrong with perpetually perky people.  I mean, think about it.

To top it off I got an email yesterday from the supervisor of her department telling me I could take her off the email and phone directory lists, which means she doesn't work there anymore.  Do you think it is because she got arrested for some major crime spree?!!!!!!

The Fine Print: I read a lot of true crime books in case you are wondering what is wrong with me and I suspect I'd be voted Most Likely to Snap and Murder Her Coworkers with a Letter Opener and a Stapler anyway, so I'm probably not the one to watch for.  I already told you those were Club Scrap cards from the Hopes kit so I'm not sure what other info you're looking for down here.

Team Crap

The other evening my cough came back with a vengeance... not that ever really went away in the first place.  There I sat coughing and hacking and hacking and coughing.  Not to be outdone the cat decided to blow snot everywhere.  He sneezed and wheezed and made all sorts of disgusting snotty noises.

Hubby came out and shook his head at both of us.  He said between the two of us we made quite the team, so I dubbed us Team Crap.

We are thinking about getting team T-shirts made.  Team Crap has done some wonderful fund raising. So far we've raised enough money to buy a box of tissue.  And not the cheap stuff either!  We're totally styling with the lotion infused tissue.  Team Crap might sign up for a 5K fun run as soon as we find some designated runners.  Certainly you didn't expect us to run in our frail conditions, did you?  Jack thinks we should do a hot dog eating contest but I say only if they are kosher.  One must have standards you know.  And now I totally want a hot dog.

The Fine Print: Jack got the good pink medicine from the doctor. Me I still cough on unmedicated (because they say coughing is good for you). House Mouse stamp by Stampa Rosa, letters by Basic Gray, papers and ribbon from my stash.  Go Team Crap!

Workdesk Wednesday and Projects Planned

It's time again for another installment of Workdesk Wednesday where those brave or foolish enough to show you their workspace get together to snoop.  Come and join over at Stamping Ground.

Here's my desk as of Tuesday night as I toddle off to bed. I've been good about keeping it tidy even though I've done a lot of playing this past week. I finished off quite a number the things I had on my desk last week and have moved on to other things.

This little pile shows you my original rejects from yesterday's CASE this Sketch card, plus a rejected House Mouse (I didn't like the purple underfoot), a Penny Black stamp I got out to make a card with, and that same cat image from last week.  Although you can see I pulled out another cat stamp to put with him.  I'm still not sure what he'll turn out to be.

This is the same brand new unused stamp set from last week.  I did not get around to using it yet.  I did pull out some Valentine papers to inspire me.  Even though I had great plans for making Valentine's cards nice and early this year so far it hasn't happened.

This pile has a card I made for a swap, a get well stamp that needs to be made into a card, some stickers that were a gift that I want to use soon and underneath that a Christmas set that I don't much care for but am determined to use.  The package of twine was bought in late November in case my stamp club did a gift exchange.  We were talking about not doing one but hubby told me to pick up something just in case so I got this.  I thought it was really cool with all those solid colors of twine, but just the other day I noticed that it is TWO rolls of each color.  Therefore, it is only half as cool as I thought.  Well, as you can see we didn't do a gift exchange because I still have it.  I need to decide what to do with it. I'm quite sure I don't need two rolls of each color though.

Here's a close up of the card I made since many of visitors come to see my crafty creations.  The basis of the card swap is to use pink and brown. The medallion image is more pink in real life but came out very red in this scan.  I'm not sure if the bubblegum pink overwhelms the rest of the card or not.  When that color first came out I used it all the time. I was so in love with bubblegum pink.  Now however I think it is way too bright.  I must have been feeling flamboyant before.

The Fine Print: Cat image and stamp by Hero Arts, House Mouse by Stampa Rosa, Penny Black stamp by Penny Black (bet you didn't see that coming), solid flower by Hero Arts, "Love" by Copper Leaf, Chemistry of Love set by Lawn Fawn, Get Well Soon stamp by Stampin' Up, the dreaded Christmas set by Hero Arts, flourish and medallion stamps by Stampin' Up "Baroque Motifs," "Thank You," titan ribbon, bubblegum, shell, titan and sugar cardstocks by A Muse Studio, ink from Memento and bling from my stash.  Whew!

CASE this Sketch and Merry Monday

I decided to jump in and join some card challenges today because they do all the thinking for you and I cannot brain today.  I started off by trying out a new challenge called CAS(E) this Sketch.  They give you a Clean and Simple (CAS) sketch and see what you can make with it.  You are allowed to turn it this way and that.

I admire the Clean and Simple look but I don't necessarily think I excel at it so I really wanted to give this a go.  I have feathers and could have easily completely copied this sketch but I wanted to not do feathers just to make things more difficult (and besides if I used feathers I'd have to decide what feathers and that involves thought).

Here's my card.  I'm not really sure what I think of it. I like how the background mimics the flowers in a way but I feel the flower placement is a bit awkward.  Well, live and learn I say. I'm going to lick this CAS thing yet, just maybe not today.

The second challenge I joined is the Merry Monday one in the name of getting my Christmas cards done earlier this year.  This week they ask us to use a snow dude in our creation.  Okay, I think they said snowperson but you know what I mean. 

Since I used a new-to-me snow dude last week I knew who I wanted break out again this week.  And here he is done up in blues this time. Oh yes, he was definitely a good purchase!

The Fine Print: I'm learning these challenge better like did you know you should add their nifty challenge logo into your blog post?  Yeah, that's considered polite. Top card stamps by Hero Arts (flower), A Muse Studio (love), and unknown peg (heart), papers and bling from my stash.  Bottom card stamp by Stamps Happen, papers and silver brads from my stash, glitter glue from Stickles.

Purple Birthday

I had a couple of 6x6 sheets of purple designer paper that someone had given me.  They've just been sitting around occupying space, so I finally decided to cut into one and make something out it.

Don't all those cakes look yummy?  I really like these stamps from this set.  I like them so much that I often find myself admiring them on Ebay.  Luckily I've only ever bought them the once but there's no telling I won't freak out and pick up a second set at some point... because I'm crazy like that.

I also want to report that the culprit has been identified.  Over the holidays there was a creature who would futz around on the roof in the night. I actually climbed up on the roof to see what there was to see.  What there was to see was a loose flap over the vent to the kitchen.  I secured it with a large brick. I had no idea what the creature was though and after consulting with my learned friends we decided that it could be a raccoon, a unicorn, a squirrel, reindeer, water buffalo, or pink flamingoes.  Here's the culprit:

By the way, I'm not the one who added the carrots into my bird feeder, so someone around here is definitely feeding him.  To show his gratitude, once the bowl was empty he threw it onto the ground shattering it. 

The Fine Print: Stamps and tag punch by Stampin' Up "Birthday Bakery," paper, ribbon, and brad from my stash, colored with Copics.  Squirrel by Mother Nature.  I was kind of hoping for pink flamingoes.

Snippets Every Sunday

It's time to skip on over to Pixie's Playground and show off our latest makes with our bits and bobs.  As seen on my desk this past Wednesday I had leftover cut out circles from a bonsai tree card I made.  I was bound and determined to do something with those circles.  I found it a bit challenging with three circles all the same size but I persevered.

I cut out a couple more circles (out of scrap paper, of course) to add to the mix.  One was for the image. I stuck with the bonsai tree because to me it just went with those papers.  I added in a scrap of a wavy ridged paper and stuck some micro beads into a crack for interest.  I'm rather pleased with how this card came out.

The Fine Print: Tree from Stampin' Up "Plant Hope," designer paper DCWV, colored and ridged paper from my stash, circle dies by Spellbinders, micro beads by Martha, and gold brads from my stash.

Extreme Glittery-ness

On Wednesday I showed off my desk and some random crafting things that were on it that I would hope would someday soon be projects.  There were quite a number of things there to be done and I'm pleased to announce that I actually did some of them.

The stamp and the red piece of paper are now this card.  I opted not to use the greeting I had pulled out as well.  In hindsight I think the brad placement is a little wonky for this card but I'm hoping that its extreme glittery-ness makes up for it.   I don't know if you can see the extreme glittery-ness in this photo or not but I colored the whole image with a Spica glitter pen.

I also CASEd myself and made this card, which looks suspiciously like the card I already had on my desk.  The difference is I put a put a sequin in the middle of the hearts instead of a button.  I needed a card for a workshop and thought this would be more postal friendly.  There's extreme glittery-ness on the camera flash too.

Ever since I broke out the glitter glue to make some winter cards I've been eyeing all things glittery.  I don't think you catch me breaking out the loose glitter though.  That stuff makes me itch.  And twitch.

The Fine Print: Teacup flowerpot stamp by Stampin' Up, dies by Spellbinders, paper and brads from my stash.  Bottom card all products by A Muse Studio. Stamps used--"Sending My Love" and "Sweet Love," cardstock used--grapefruit chevron print, slate, grapefruit and sugar, other supplies--heart trio dies and gold sequin.