Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas!


Merry Christmas, everyone!  I hope you are enjoying a peaceful Christmas Day even in the midst of all the noise and excitement of gift-opening and the fellowship of family and friends!  

Last night, Patrick, Matthew and I enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Eve service with our church family.  This morning we sipped coffee and opened presents, and now we're busy charging batteries for our new toys, contemplating tickets for this afternoon's showing of Les Miserables, and looking forward to a delicious Pork Roast with Mushroom Sauce feast this evening!  

My Christmas JOY has been made more complete by the news that not one but TWO of my friends got new ukuleles for Christmas!  Congratulations, Dina and Latisha!  :)

Remembering the reason for the season...blessings today and all New Year through, for you and yours!
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Sunday, December 23, 2012

Colors Inspired by the Sea



The Gourmet Rubber Stamps team is playing a color challenge today!  I absolutely LOVE these colors to begin with because they remind me of our beautiful Florida beaches, but I've fallen in love with a couple of paper lines in these colors lately too (Serenade and Winter Fun), so I was thrilled with the DesignSeeds palette Meridith chose!  Coincidentally, the new palette published this morning is a grouping of very similar colors inspired by a lovely winter scene!

These colors, probably because of their association with the sea, are calm and peaceful, so I paired them with the sentiment from Peace and Love to make a tag.  I'll be sending this to a friend who recently lost her husband and is spending her first Christmas without him, so these words, along with a simple sparkling Christmas snowflake, are just perfect.

There's a sheet of pale watercolor-like designer paper in Basic Grey's Serenade that has many of the colors of sand, sea and sky, so I stamped the sentiment on that, inking the edges with distress ink to bring out the blues, and coloring the letters with a pale blue-green Copic marker.  There's just a peek of a treble clef in the upper right corner...LOVE that!  Another beautiful sheet music print brings the browns from the palette into the design.  I used a Spellbinders die (35% off through December 24th) to add some interest to the bottom edge, covering the seam that it made with thin strips of each color of card stock.

The snowflake, from Made of Snow, was also colored with Copics and then painted with Stickles.  I used all my small latte pearls on another card with this same snowflake in a similar color palette, so for this one, there's only one pearl in the center.

Visit the Gourmet Rubber Stamps blog to see more projects using this gorgeous color combo!  Shop for GRS stamps and supplies at i {heart} papers where today, 12x12 collection kits are 45% off.  (Please note that your purchase will not ship until after Christmas!)

Notes:
sentiment from Peace and Love
snowflake from Made of Snow
Basic Grey's Serenade
Memento Rich Cocoa ink
Ranger distress ink
Copic markers
Spellbinders Banner Basics 2
Stickles
pearl
grosgrain ribbon
crochet thread
button
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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

ihp DT challenge!


It's time for another i {heart} papers design team challenge.  Since it's holiday time and family celebrations seem to revolve around food, our challenge is to make a food-related project.  Mine is a cookie recipe collection that hangs from a pedestal that I purchased half-price when one of our local scrapbook stores closed.  Inside, it has 4 x 6 inch photo sleeves to which I am planning to add recipe cards of all our family's favorites that have been passed down through the generations.

 The covers of my project have more to do with food than you might realize at first glance...they're made from a cereal box.  I covered them with Simple Stories designer papers with a cute GRS apron for a focal image.  There's a wool felt and corrugated paper border embellished with fussy-cut, Glossy Accents "frosted sugar cookies" and a stamped/die-cut snowflake.

Notes:
Ranger Frayed Burlap ink
Spellbinders scalloped circles, classic circles large and small

Before you go, check out my teammates' yummy projects!  Then you can head to ihp to shop!
Don’t forget ihp's 12 Days of Christmas Savings!  Now through Christmas Eve, each day a new sale item will be posted at a steal of a price.  Sale items valid until sold out or until Christmas Day, whichever comes first!  (Sorry, no restocks or rainchecks!) Inventory is low on some items but be sure to join us each day for the IHP 12 Days of Christmas!  Today’s special is all Washi Tape 35% off!

Here’s what we’ve had so far!

12/13 – Stickles/Liquid Pearls $1
12/14 – Scor-Tape 1/8” - $2
12/15 – Spellbinders 35% off
12/16 – BoBunny Flexi-ruler $9
12/17 – Scor-Bug tool $5
12/18 – Washi Tape 35% off
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Sunday, December 16, 2012

Clearsnap + TSOL!


The Stamps of Life and Clearsnap are having a blog hop featuring The Stamps of Life stamps and Clearsnap inks and other fun products. Be sure you comment on all the stops along the hop because prizes will be randomly chosen among the comments!

The Stamps of Life will be giving away a prize to 3 lucky people – one stamp set (of the winner’s choice) per winner.

Clearsnap will be giving away an assortment of Stephanie Barnard Colorbox Premium Dye inks.

My card is made with joy2Christmas, a circle flip-it die, circles, scalloped circles, and stars, Stephanie's Artichoke and Licorice Clearsnap Colorbox inks, Echo Park designer paper, and lots of little pearls.  For some reason these greens and reds really freaked my camera out.  IRL they match much more closely!

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Saturday, December 15, 2012

Playing Santa Blog Hop!


The Gourmet Rubber Stamps girls are playing Santa!  We're having a blog hop, sharing projects and each giving away some GRS stamps.

My card was inspired by Dina's "cool colors" VSN challenge over at Splitcoaststampers.  These cute Stick Chicks are Building the Snowman.  They were stamped with Memento, and colored with Copics.  Their snowman is embellished with sparkly Stickles, and Flower Soft snow.

Visit my team mates' blogs to see their projects.  You have today and tomorrow to leave comments.  Winners will be announced on Monday.  (ETA:  Congrats to Denise, who was the random winner of Building the Snowman!)
Most of the supplies for my card are from i {heart} papers.  Today, for Kate's 12 days of Christmas sale, Spellbinders dies are 35% off. While you're there, peek at her selection of GRS stamps!  ;)

Notes:
Carta Bella Winter Fun designer paper
Petaloo snowflakes
Evergreen crinkle ribbon
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Thursday, December 13, 2012

12 Days until Christmas!

i {heart} papers is celebrating as we count down to Christmas...there are special savings each and every day!

Today you can grab Stickles or Liquid Pearls for just $1 a bottle! We have over 40 colors of Stickles available, including the Suze Weinberg and Distress ranges. We also have 16 different shades of Liquid Pearls but hurry, because at this price they're going fast!  They're the perfect accent to paper crafting projects, and they make great stocking stuffers!

Make sure you check back each day on the ihp blog and on Facebook to see more special savings!
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Drape-fold card front



My friend, Kendra, is hosting a "Pin-spired Christmas Celebration" on her blog, and she has invited me to play along.  We're hoping you'll play along too!

If you hang out over at Paper Craft Planet, you might've seen this card posted for Monday's Tutorial!  It is a fashion/home-decor inspired project that is elegant and yet very simple to make.  Here's the pin of a vest from Saks that inspired this look, and some beautiful drapes that influenced my choice of colors and designer paper.  


While the tutorial I shared features this fold on a card front, it can be easily adapted to use on the front of a pretty gift package!  That's why I really wanted to share this technique for the holidays.  I hope you'll try it!

Notes:
Gourmet Rubber Stamps Made of Snow
Carta Bella Winter Fun designer paper (the 6 x 6 is sold out, but the 12 x 12 collection kit is still available)
Memento Espresso Truffle ink
Ranger ink
crocheted lace trim
pearls
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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Yucky Yesterday!


Yesterday was a kinda yucky day!  It all started when my Keurig died!  I fiddled with it for about 30 minutes hoping I could revive it, but no such luck!  To make matters worse, my fitbit wouldn't sync either!  Nothing major, but just enough to make the beginning of the day feel all out of kilter.  


It was POURING DOWN at about 3:00 when I should have been leaving for my last Copic class of the year.  Turned out to be a God thing that I stayed home later than usual, because around 4:00 my husband called, stranded in the rain in a truck full of groceries that had died in the middle of the street next to Publix.  We both got drenched moving everything from the truck to my car...but the tow truck came, and I real quick picked up the hubs and brought him home, then drove in the still pouring rain to Scrappies in  Palatka.  I found out later that there were tornado warnings in that direction!  It was BAD!

Thankfully, the rest of the evening was relaxing and relatively uneventful!  It is so fun to be with the girls and play with cute stamps!  We tried something different this time...we made one 4 x 6 and four 3 x 4 ATC-style cards for their Project Life pages.   We used Paper Smooches' set, Squeaky Clean, which has such adorable images and funny, punny sentiments.  Their favorite was the one that goes with the vacuum, which certainly described my day!  ;)

These little "scene" cards were lots of fun to design, especially with these bright, happy colors!  The bold blues we used were a little bit of a challenge  to blend since the lightest marker works more like a bleach pen, but everyone loved the results and had a good time.

Having just had our great room tiled, and still shopping for ideas for our bathroom remodel, I couldn't help but add little details like window sills, tiled floors, and multi-colored "carpet/etc" to these!  Makes me giggle!  And now, I *so* need to get out my own feather duster...the tile guys had to undercut our baseboards, so there is dust everywhere!

I started this morning with a cup of coffee made with our "hurricane emergency" French press!  I am happy to say, it has been a very pleasant morning so far!  We are planning to shop for a new coffee maker and hopefully also pick up the truck from the shop before the day is over!

I hope you have a fabulous Tuesday!
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Monday, December 10, 2012

GRS Sketch Challenge


It's sketch challenge day for the Gourmet Rubber Stamps design team, and what a fun pocket card sketch this is! There are lots of options with this layout, and it's a nice opportunity to use those larger scraps of designer paper and card stock!  

Although I normally have a stamp in mind when I begin a card, for this one I was inspired by this gorgeous designer paper.  It is so elegant and beautiful, and I especially love those gold notes on the music print, which is hidden in the pocket until the insert is removed.

The herald angel and coordinating sentiment from Season's Greetings were the obvious choice...they were stamped in Espresso Truffle ink, colored with Copic markers, and distressed with Frayed Burlap distress ink.  A festive red satin bow and a few red pearls draw attention to the tag's lacy edges and the asymmetrical fold.

Visit the GRS blog for more ideas using this sketch!  Shop for great paper-crafting supplies at i {heart} papers, where you'll also find a selection of Gourmet Rubber Stamps.

Notes:
Season's Greetings
Copic blending paper
Frayed Burlap distress ink
Memento Espresso Truffle ink
Copic markers
Kaiser Craft Twig and Berry designer paper
Spellbinders Fancy Framed Tags 2 dies
satin ribbon
dimensional adhesive
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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Gina K Inspiration Hop--Day 3



The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop! Gina and the Design Team will inspire you with many beautiful ideas! And as you hop through their blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of Gina K. Designs products! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a few days after the hops.

I hope you've enjoyed hopping with our design team this week! Thank you for all the "love" you've left for us!  We love our illustrators and have a great time stamping projects to share with you!  Today we're sharing projects with Tami's Perfect Plaids, and the One Free with Three, Snow One Like You.


After lots of Christmas card-making, I thought I was entirely OUT of red card stock *gasp!* so I gathered together all of my scraps and made this little scrapling...and then I found ONE full sheet.  ;)  Time to make an order ASAP!

This layout is a mini version (the base is ~3 x 4 inches) of the sketch I hosted on Paper Craft Planet last week.  I used Tami's Perfect Plaids to make the horizontal accent, the little dots of ink added with a stylus.  It reminds me of warm flannel...the sleeve and cuff of Santa's pj's might look just like this!

Notes:
Perfect Plaids, in clear or rubber
Carta Bella Winter Fun designer paper
Clearsnap Colorbox inks
button
jute thread

I used more scraps of red card stock (yep, I'm hoarding that one last sheet!) for my second card, with a beautiful bright red cardinal singing a Christmas serenade from the "front porch" of his snowy winter home!  That pop of bright red really stands out in contrast to the muted warm grey weathered wood and soft, snowflake-sprinkled sky.

Notes:
Snow One Like You, in clear or rubber
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Copic markers
Basic Grey Serenade designer paper
Spellbinders circle dies
Polar White Flower Soft
music stickers
red grosgrain ribbon
red rhinestone
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Gina K Inspiration Hop--Day 2



The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop! Gina and the Design Team will inspire you with many beautiful ideas! And as you hop through their blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of Gina K. Designs products! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a few days after the hops.


Thanks for all of your wonderful comments yesterday!  They are cherished!  :)  Today our team is sharing projects featuring two more sets, Elegant Florals, and Sentimental Holidays.

I love Theresa's new set, Elegant Florals.  This bird of paradise truly does make me think of living in Hawaii, and that makes me smile!  I used about 15 colors of Copics to color this, and I love how it turned out!  I kept the layout super simple because that flower needs to be center stage with no distractions!

Notes:
Elegant Florals, clear or rubber
Pure Luxury card stock
Memento Tuxedo Black and Cantaloupe inks
Copic markers
Spellbinders Labels 10 die
Kaiser Craft rhinestones


This little gift card wallet was a fun project to make.  The sentiment is from Beth's set, Sentimental Holidays, and it pairs so nicely with the silhouette of Bethlehem from City of David.  The star is actually two stars of different sizes...one from each set...heat-embossed in two different colors.

I wanted to echo the shapes of the city skyline, so I made this an arched card. It was nice to be able to use another sentiment and image on the inside.

Notes:
Sentimental Holidays, clear or rubber
Pure Luxury card stock
Coluzzle oval and blade
City of David, part of the Merry Little Christmas kit, clear or rubber
Memento Cantaloupe, Desert Sand, Elderberry, Grape Jelly, Love Letter, and Tangelo inks
Gingerale Smooch Spritz
Kaiser Craft jewels

Check out all the amazing designs and inspiration:
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Monday, December 3, 2012

Gina K Inspiration Hop--Day 1


The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop! Gina and the Design Team will inspire you with many beautiful ideas! And as you hop through their blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of Gina K. Designs products! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a few days after the hops.


My first card features Melanie's set, Lots of Letters, along with a tiny penguin from Holiday Tags.  I love how "rock-n-roll" makes the letters look like blocks of ice with Stickle icicles!

Notes:
Lots of Letters, clear or rubber
Holiday Tags, clear or rubber
Gina K Pure Luxury card stock
Cuttlebug and snowflakes embossing folder
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Copic markers
ribbon
Stickles
button
black sparkly thread



My long card using Becky's set, Warm Woolen Mittens, has a kind of retro feel!  Love that font and that tiny intarsia design!  Such a cute set!

Notes:
Warm Woolen Mittens, clear or rubber
Gina K Pure Luxury card stock
GKD Merry Little Christmas designer paper
red rhinestones
Spellbinders circle and eyelet circle dies
buttons
jute thread


Check out all the amazing designs and inspiration:
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