Merry Christmas!

I will be off working the next 3 days and won't be posting so wishing you all a Merry Christmas early. Enjoy the day with your families. I was good to myself this last week and bought myself a few little gifts I have been wanting. They are all here but 1 and I look forward to playing with them during my vacation after Christmas. Hope all of you bought yourselves something little to make you smile. You know how a new stamp will do that. I want to share with you a picture. This is what I found this morning when I went to get in my car. The hubby needs to have a talk with his birds.

Playing with Speedy the Cats Friends

 

I had a squirrel left over from last weeks Speedy the Cats Friends challenge and it worked with this weeks Mustard, Blue & Green color challenge. I tried to layer various Nestabilities shapes. Punched slots in the tiny square forming a button.

Here are the details:

• Ink - Archival Jet Black-- Alcohol inks were used on the large scalloped square.
• Stamp - Marks Finest Papers
• Paper - More Mustard, Garden Green, Bashful Blue, White Glossy. DP in background is from SU

A change of Theme

I don't know about you but I am already tired of Christmas cards and winter cards and it's not even winter yet. LOL It is just too cold here in Florida. I moved to be warm. So today I just had to work with some springy colors and a new stamp . My first card is for The Speedy the Cats Friends challenge--Paper piecing. The little squirrel is stamped on paper and then cut out. The sentiment was also stamped on the same paper as the squirrel. I cut a 4" piece of the other DP and cut it into 2" squares to piece my background.

 Here are the details:

• Stamps - Marks Finest Papers
• Ink - Archival Jet Black
• Paper - Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Cream - DP from Basic Grey & The Scrapperdashery

My next card is for 2 things at The Paper Craft Planet.  This is for this weeks Sketch Challenge and its for a swap I was in called RAK your Stash. Along with our RAK we sent our partners an image. When we received the one from them were to make a card with it and post the picture. My image came from Italy from a lady named Fiorella. Hope she likes what I did with it.

3 Challenges for The Stamping Vacation

I had the opportunity to play a little at the Stamping Vacation this week. The first Challenge is called Animal Applause. We were to make a card with an animal that would be mostly Black & White. The zebra is from I Brake for Stamps, The Ink Blocks collection.

Next one is for the Start Here Challenge--Use Red glitter. Santa is an image I received in an image swap.

 Finally is the Name that Card Challenge. Snowy Christmas wishes. The snowman is an image I received in an image swap. The snowflake is from Spellbinders.

Red & Green

That's the challenge at Speedy the Cats Friends. I saw this idea a few days ago and thought it would be perfect for this challenge.

Here are the details:

• Stamp - CTMH
• Ink - Archival Jet Black, Distressed Fired Brick
• Accessories - Cuttle bug, Pin dot Folder, Sizzlets leaf die, Red Stickles

The last of the Christmas cards yahoooooo!!!

First I have to tell you something exciting. I made the top 5 for the month of November at the Stamping Vacation with my card from the Hurry Santa post. It was the Build a Sketch Challenge. They take all the cards posted for the month for all of their daily challenges and pick the winners from them. I was really surprised and have had a big smile on my face all day. I've had the day off and have finished all my Christmas cards finally. I also finished my card for the Build a Sketch Challenge for this month. I'm really liking how it turned out. This is a really fun challenge. You should try it out.

Here are the details:

• Stamp - Inkadinkado
• Ink - Memento black and Summer Sky, Distressed Stormy Sky
• Paper - White card stock
• Accessories - Silver stickles and embossing powder, Snowflake Cuttlebug folder

Now on to my last Christmas Cards. As part of my duties as a Design Team member at Lets Ink It Up I have to look at all the ladies entries and visit their blogs. Last night looking at some of our entries for Challenge #7 I saw a card that called to me. I was so in love with the technique I had to give it a try today. What do you think.

Here are the details:

• Stamps - I Brake for Stamps, Stampin Back from I Brake for Stamps
• Ink - Archival Jet Black- Distressed Vintage Photo and Frayed Burlap, White pigment ink
• Paper - Kraft and Black
• Accessories - Red and Gold Stickles, Black ribbon from Walmart

Let's Ink It Up Challenge #7

Hope you play along with this one. Check out the blog and see what the Design Team has come up with. The Challenge is to Make a Christmas card and be sure to add some sparkle or bling. Challenge closes on Dec. 19. There will be 2 winners and here is what you can win. Our first sponsor is Outlines Rubber Stamps. They are offering a Jewel It Kit valued at $20.00.

 

Crafty Ribbons is donating a 'Funky Christmas Ribbon Selection box.

Here is my card.

 

I used a sparkly paper for my background. Sparkly red ribbon topped with some metallic gold ribbon. The image is from I Brake for Stamps and it is embossed with a glittery red EP. Gold metallic ink around the edges and some added red & clear bling. The photo does not let you see all the sparkle. I know you are out there making Christmas cards. So get on over to Lets Ink It Up and enter your card. Remember it must be a stamped image and not a Digi and your card must  Sparkle or have Bling on it.

 

Glad this week is over

What a week since Thanksgiving Day. I started out that morning getting up to start the turkey only to break my toes. So hobbled through the day and I must say it was a wonderful day. Then came Friday and Saturday and I have to cram my broken toes into a shoe. Needless to say when I got home those evenings I went to bed. Sunday I sat down and addressed all my envelopes for the Christmas cards. And when I ran out of cards I still had envelopes. I don't know how that happened. I had such a huge pile. So since then I have had no time for card making or my beloved challenges. My husband has had truck problems and we have been running back and forth to a nearby town to a transmission shop dropping it off. Picking it up. Dropping it off because it still doesn't work and then picking it up again. One good thing out of all that I did not cook at all. We had several nice meals out. Then Thursday I took my mom shopping and came home to start more cards. I decided I needed to have some help with these cards since I will finally be starting my training for the new job starting on Monday.  So I went through my box which is what I slide everything that was on my desk into so my desk is always clean when I'm not home. Found some images and pieces. Then went through my image box. Found a number already colored in there. Next went through the paper bin and found all the scraps of Christmas paper I had left. And lastly I went through my stash of backgrounds in search of something usable in there.  With all that I sat down and started matching things up and slowly started putting cards together. These are totally different than all the others. I brought out all the stuff I never use. My dimensionals, Glossy Accents and ribbon. Oh what fun I had. The snowman card is actually paper I bought 4 years ago. I just added glitter to the scene. He is so cute. Don't know why I didn't use him before this. Well I have a few hours today to put a couple more together and then I start my challenges.