Sprinkles Goes Skating

You know what I hate, I hate when I can't figure out how to edit my photos so that the pink looks pink, cause the center bar on this card is a really nice almost hot pink. I think this card stock is from the SU in colors, maybe mambo melon? So if you have access to a color swatch for this year's in colors check it out, it's a much nicer color in real life.

So why do I care so much about how this color looks. The pic of the card is pretty decent overall. All the neato glitzy glitter on it doesn't show that well but maybe if you click on it to enlarge it, you'll be able to see the glitter but clicking won't change the color. Well, I care because this week at The Cat's Pajama's the challenge is a color inspiration based on this hat from the LL Bean catalogue. Cute hat, I'd wear it. I love the blue in it and the background is a yummy chocolate.

So I've got my first challenge picked out, and if you've been here before you know that I'm going to look for some others to combine with it. I like to do a sketch challenge, so I've picked the SSSC45 from the Sweetest Thing. For this layout I picked the skater cat Sprinkle as the center element and wanted to use glitzy glitter with it so I pulled out the Martha Stewart "Icicles" border punch. I added a couple embellishments. I just got the Spellbinder's "Create a Flake 1" set and had to use it. It works well with this layout, the colors and the stamp. Using the glitter and snowflakes makes it work for the Bizzy Bec's Creatalicious Challenge #4 to make something for Christmas, include snowflakes and lots of sparkle/glitter. Lastly, the Pile It On Challenge #25 is to use Rub Ons. The twist with Pile It On is to do at least one more challenge which is already covered. I was going to stamp something Christmasy in the sentiment area but since PIO is rub ons I pulled out a package from Close To My Heart and picked two snowflakes the the work "friend". Guess that will work.

The rest of the deets are: the edges of the circles are sponged with VersaMagic "Sea Breeze", the image is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black; the snowflake bling is from Hero Arts, the dp is KI Memories "Alpine Fashion", the blue card stocks are DCWV, the card base is brown cs from Nicole. When the card base is a dark color like chocolate it's difficult to write a message on it so I put a piece of white card stock inside. This time I added a couple strips of the blue and pink card stock that was used on the exterior of the card. The white card stock was punched with the EK Success snowflake border punch to go along with the wintry, snowy theme.

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again. I know this is going to be a busy week for everyone but I've been working on some special cards and projects. So I know I'll have lots ready to go next weekend, hopefully I'll be able to get a something posted before then. But just in case, I wish you all a happy holiday. I hope you spend the day surrounded by people you love, but whatever your circumstances spend a little time being thankful. Surely, if you are reading this you have much to be grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving, and by the way, you are one of the many things I have to be thankful for.

Deck the Howls

I haven't howled in a couple weeks so it's about time I participated in a Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge. I've been checking in to see the sketches and what the design team is up to, there is always something to make the visit worth while. Between blog candy give aways, blog hops and technique tips there's they keep me entertained, but as you may know I am easily amused.

This week Priscilla asked for Christmas cards, so I used one of my new stamps from Impression Obsession. I think it's called Holiday Topiary. It was so much fun to color it with copics and then ice it up with stickles.

Since I was making a Christmas card I used the Tuesday Taggers Colour (oh so British, can't you hear that great accent - hey I'm from Joisey, any accent sounds better than us) Challenge to use red, gold and green. They said they are going easy on us and I have to agree, and participate.

The last challenge I'm doing is the Crafty Creations Challenge to use metal or metallic finishes. One of the design elements in the sketch was a star hanging off a flower embellishment in the lower left. I happen to have a package of stars that I've been wanting to use so here it is. You want to click on the photo to enlarge it so that you can see the star. It's hanging of the brad that's attached to the red gingham bow.

Here's the rest of the deets: The paper is Basic Grey Figgy Pudding, the cs is DCWV neutrals, the gingham ribbon is My Favorite Things, the star is Blue Moon Beads, the brad is Making Memories Jumbo Pebble Brads, the edges are sponged with Ranger "Worn Lipstick". Lots of stickles on the image.

Thanks for visiting. come back again and don't forget to click on the Pink Ribbon. And if I may be so bold as to say it, don't listen to idiots who say 40 is too young for a mammogram. Follow your head and heart, talk to your doctor, your friends, your mother - but do not listen to statisticians, your breast health is not a numbers game.

A Charlie Brown Tree

It's week 6 of the MFT "So You Think You Can Stamp" challenges. This is the last week to be able to win a place in the finals. There will be six finalists who will get teamed up with a member of the design team to work on the final challenge. The winner will receive all the new stamp releases from MFT from December till May. That's quite a big honking prize and you'd have to be carzy not to like it, or not interested in stamps. Are there people out there who aren't interested in stamps? Doesn't seem possible, but I digress.

The dance this week is Krumping. Not exactly my generation but the instructions were "Bling It Out - Make It Shout". Now that speaks to me, I like bling and that I can do.

While I was out shopping I spotted this Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I thought it would be the perfect tree to take along to Florida. We don't have any decorations there and it will be nice to have this there. We won't get there till 12/23 and I don't want to have to do a lot of work, it's time to be on vacation and take it nice and easy. Setting up this tree will only take a couple of minutes to put it up and very little time to put it away.

For the MFT challenge I made some decoration with bing to hang on the tree. The first ornament is made from MFT Chocolate Kiss paper, there are 6 scalloped circles made with the SU punch. There are 2 different papers. After you punch then out you fold them in half and adhere them to each other. Before you adhere the lost circle closed you drop in your thread hanger. Most of the glass beads and pearls you see on the cords have glass beads and crystals hanging from the threads.

For the heart shaped ornament on the left I stamped the candy canes from the MFT "Cool Yule" stamp set. It's popped up on white card stock that was embossed with the tiny dots folder. The pink stripes are covered with stickles. The cs was cut out with nestibilities. This ornament has an adorable bead on top. If you click on the picture you may be able to see it better. The other ornament is the snowflake from the "Baby, It's Cold Outside" set. It's stamped in Versamark and embossed with silver powder. Lots of pink bling on the embossed white cs.

The polar bear is last but certainly not least. He's so cute I had to make three of him. He's from the "Cool Yule" set. For each ornament I stamped him twice and cut one out. Then I made the scarves for him. He's got a little bit of copics color on his paws, nose and cheeks. He was stamped twice for each ornament. One of the bears is cut out and then the paper pieced scarf is added. Also for his image I added some white glitter. The red cs is from DCWV and is cut with a nestibilities. There's another scalloped circle on the back made with the same paper as his scarf.

It's very late and I starting to fall asleep so I may have neglected some details. let me know if I've made any glaring mistakes and I'll correct it.

Thanks for visiting.

Dreams Take Flight

papers because of the blues in it. They also work with the colors of the Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combos #21 challenge to use Creamy Carmel, Real Red and Bravo Burgundy. The bottom mat (I'm hoping that Kate considers mats borders) is bravo burgundy, the dotted dp mat is real red and the mat with the stamped stars is creamy caramel. The card need another element and a ribbon with a buttony bow in red satin tied it up nicely and fits the La-La Land Crafts Challenge #10 to use ribbon.

So this card got to be in a lot more challenges than I expected but I love when that happens.

I have a couple other things to share with you all. I made a couple other things this weekend but it's too late to post them now so come back again, I've got a neat autumn pin and some cards, cards, gee what a surprise.

Thanks for visiting, I hope you come back again. Before you leave please click on the pink ribbon, cause even though Breast Cancer Awareness Month is over, unfortunately Breast Cancer isn't.

Thanks for visiting.

There Are No Bad Cats

Who says Christmas cards have to be red and green? This one was made with fall colors using the Shirley's 2 Girls stamp "Bad or Good Cat". Let's set this record straight, there are no bad cats. Just cute little furballs trying to have fun. Oh but they do get into mischief. This little guy is just like my Shamus. He is the sweetest thing, he follows me like a dog would. Lots of times when I come home he's sitting in the window waiting for me. He cracks me up, he talks a lot in the morning when he wants to get fed but then he's quiet the rest of the day, instead of meowing he stares. When he wants a treat he'll sit in front of his bowl and stare at it, if there's something on the couch and he wants to sit next to me he'll sit on the floor and stare at the space next to me till I move whatever is in his spot. On the other hand there's Memphis, she will jump right up and sit on top of whatever's there. She'll get right in your face if she wants something. Memphis is pretty old now and doesn't play as much as she used to so the Christmas tree lights don't interest her but Shamus is nosey and has to get into everything, including the tree. This stamp just reminds me so much of Shamus I had to have it but this week it's colored more like Memphis. It's colored with copic markers and the lights are covered with stickles. The card was made for the Shirley's 2 Girls sketch challenge S2GSC29 with the twist to use chipboard. So I went to my kitty cat stash and pulled out the fish shape and the paw. The tag was in a fall collection and the sentiment on it is a rub on from Close to My Heart. The print dp is from 7 Gpysies and the olive paper is from Daisy D's. The paper edges were brushed with Ranger Distress Ink Vintage Photo.

Please click the pink ribbon before you leave. Thanks so much for visiting.

A Season That Sparkles

This Friday Flourishes will have their biggest release ever. Their October release is six sets of stamps. The sneak peeks started today but if you've ever cruised through their collection you know that the stamps will be classy and beautiful, and certainly something you'd want to own. They've posted the Season That Sparkles Challenge. The winner of the challenge will receive the entire release so I wanted to enter.
So for this challenge I chose the "Wreaths of all Seasons" set. I stamped the winter wreath in Versamark and embossed it with silver powder on SU Confetti White card stock and then colored it with SU watercolor crayons and covered it with stickles for extra sparkle. The papers are Creative Memories "Candy Cane" and DCWV card stock. All of the paper were sponged and edged with Ranger's Distress Ink Faded Jeans. The border punch is Fiskar's Sunburst with Basic Gray Half Pearls and there are dew drops in the upper corners.
I haven't has much time to stamp since last week and it's late already so forgive the quick post. Thanks for visiting, please click the pink ribbon before you go.

No Bad Cats

There are no bad cats only people with high expectations. Shamus is the most recent furry addition to our family. He joined us in the summer of 2007. My first kitty, Samantha joined me in 1980. In all these years I have had many cats, probably a dozen, and they have all been feral cats that came inside. My brother has had many cats too. Between the two of us we never had a cat bother a Christmas tree until we met Shamey. All I can say is that I was so happy that after hubby put the tree up back in 2007 I was busy and didn't start putting the decorations on right away. I have a lot of snow baby ornaments which are ceramic. I think I would have had a heart attack if Shamus knocked down the tree while they were on it. So that year the ornaments stayed packed and we tied ribbons all over the tree. Shamey climbed into that tree every day, he would climb up and down till he found a comfortable spot to lay down on. He really liked climbing around in it. I expected that it would fall over but it never did. Still baffles me. The tree was a pre-lit one and he chewed on some of the wires and now it's a partially lit tree. We thought he might have matured and tried the tree the next Christmas but he still liked getting into it. As I get older going up and down all the stairs with the decorations is a big job so these days we don't even bother to see if he's still interested. I have a lovely tiny little tabletop tree that's made up of pink ornaments which I love and Shamey ignores it so in the end we're all winners.

A couple weeks ago I won the sketch challenge on Shirley's 2 Girls with my Woof, Woof, Woof card. For my prize I got to pick the stamp of my choice and I choose the "Bad or Good Cat" stamp. When I saw that stamp I immediately thought of my furry little boy and had to have it. I didn't know that the Shirley's girls were going to have a cat theme for this month so how lucky for me that I had it in time for this challenge and how perfect is this sketch for showing off a picture of my kitty next to the S2G stamp. I pulled out my kitty scrapbook and was happy to see that I could fit the picture and the stamped image on the cat head shaped paper. I pulled out this My Mind's Eye paper and went to work. I stamped the cat in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored it in with my copics. The edges of the papers are sponged with Versamagic Sea Breeze. I wrapped the twine around the crossbar. I think it would also look cute with miniature lightsd strung around it but mine are stored at work with my miniature tree and I wasn't going out shopping. I settled for the twine as requested for the challenge. There's a teeny weeny kitty cat charm hanging off the twine. You can try clicking on the picture to enlarge it if you want to get a better look at it.

I hope you enjoyed reading about Shamus, he is one cutey pie, a very large cutey pie. He's so cute I could never call him bad.

Thanks for visiting, please come back again.

I'm Dreaming of a...

...warm Christmas, with every Christmas Card I make. Where the beach is sunny and bright and all my Christmases aren't white.

Have I mentioned how much I hate the cold? I'm sorry that I repeat myself but it keeps me amused, after all, I am easily amused.

When I was a kid my friend Susie told me that she hoped we had a white Christmas and I was appalled at the thought. Even back in the 7th grade I hated the snow. For a few years I tried to go down the if you can't beat it join it path and played in it. I actually loved skiing except for the fact that it was usually cold and I hated being cold so when I met my DH who didn't ski and wasn't interested in learning I gave it up and I never regretted it.

These days I dream of spending my winters in Florida. For now I will have to accept spending only Christmas week there but someday, someday my dream will come true. To reinforce my dream I have purchased the SU stamps "Shellebrate" so that I can pretend that I am one of the people who live in a warm climate and send sunny warm cards to torment the people who live in the snow belt. This card oughta be a start.

I used the Midnight Madness sketch challenge MMSC21. Oops, I forgot to try to come up with a "Howling" title. This is the first time I didn't stop to think about that before I started writing my post. I hope the design team forgive me, because this title was already screaming in my head before I even tried to think of one. I guess we can subtitle it "Howl Many Days Till Christmas". Whew, that makes me feel better, I really need to howl when I do the madness thing. If you like to get wild when you stamp go check out Priscilla's blog. If you just like to do a sketch challenge go check it out. If you'd like a chance to win an outrageous stamping station go check it out. There's lots of ways you can enter to win so go read all about it, I'll still be here when you finish. If you're not interested in contests you must be interested in paper crafts, why else would you be here, so go and check out the cards posted on her blog. There's always some great cards there and now there's a tutorial once a week. This week it was on making shaker cards, you know like a snow globe in your card. In globes or in cards are the only places I want to see snow.

The Color Dare #36 challenge is to use Creamy Caramel, Bermuda Bay and Barely Banana which work for a beach theme. The sand castle and pail were punched with the EK Success "Beach" border punch. Isn't it just the cutest? I used Memento Tuxedo Black to stamp the image on white cs and colored it in with copics and highlighted parts with stickles and a gelly roll pen. Ranger Tea Dye was brushed and edged on the papers.

I think that covers it so thanks for visiting, I am so happy that people come visit my blog and leave me comments. Before you go, click the pink ribbon. Thanks, you're the best