Taking a few days off....

I will be taking the next couple of days off. I have a card ready for Monday and will have a Trending Tuesday project ready on Tuesday, but New Years is the time we spend together as a family. My husband works at UPS so from Thanksgiving until Christmas day we see very little of him. This is my favorite time of the year. He is relaxed and happy to be home.
See you on Monday!

Thursday....

I prepared a video with a product profile for today but I had to scrap it. I ordered a card keeper from the Holiday mini and I filmed myself covering it and putting it together. When I got to the end I realized I put the thing together all wrong. A new one is on the way. I do like the box and will order more. I just don't think I will cover the whole thing. I think I will keep the box white, add something behind the plate/label and cover the lid.

So instead I just got something in the mail from SU. I am fortunate enough to attend Leadership this year. This will be my first SU event and I have NO IDEA what to expect. I feel very much like the new kid in school where I don't know anyone, but I know we are all in the same school. So for my team, and for other demo's that feel as I do, I thought I would share the process. So here is what came today..

Not sure what this is for, but I like that it arrived and I have something to hold on to. I love the colors and the theme!
I know this won't interest all of you, but thank you for letting me post about this adventure!

Wednesday - Cards I Love and CQC #117

I made this card BEFORE I saw this week's CQC. I lucked out and I thought it fit perfectly.

I LOVE black and white with one other color. Check out all the fantastic cards this week at http://colourq.blogspot.com/

I may enter again this week -just because I love to play with this color combination!

Trending Tuesday #16

Monday Make a Page....

Christmas Eve is the time when our extended family (on my side) always gather together. My folks take us out to dinner and back to their house for desserts and family time.

I try to get a picture of all the grand kids each year.

One grandchild is grown with a child of his own, but the rest are very close in age...

13, 13 in two weeks, 12, 10, 10, 9, 7, 7, 6

They are growing up so quickly.

Merry Christmas and CQC #116

This is, officially, my last Christmas card of the season!

I LOVE the Colour Q Challenge this week (seems like I say that every week)

Isn't it great! 

Go check out all of the fabulous creations each week

http://colourq.blogspot.com/

I have so much fun with these challenges.

If you want to expand your creativity, join one these challenges!

I used two-way glue and Dazzling Diamonds to give the glittery illusion of snow.

I love this Holiday Line Up set.

All three stamps make me laugh and I enjoy the process of coloring them.

I used a blender pen on this one.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Step It UP! Saturday

Step #1 CARD:

No video today. I tried to get it done but it didn't happen. I have had 3 kids and a wild dog with a UPS working husband (a supervisor so he works as many hours as needed with no overtime)

which means.... no quiet time to make a video. 

This one uses a basic black card base.

Very vanilla cut at 4 1/2" x 3 1/4"

Timeless Portrait DSP cut at 4 1/4" x 3"

Cherry Cobbler CS punched with Decorative Label Punch

Very Vanilla stamped with sentiment from Oval All (I inked just the words using basic black marker) and punched with Lg Oval Punch

Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon

One Basic Rhinestone next to the sentiment

Step #2 CARD:

Cherry Cobbler card base

Basic Black CS cut at 5" x 3 3/4"

strips of Timeless Portrait cut at 1 1/2" x 3"

The strips will overlap a bit. I placed the two outer strips first and then the center on top.

It made the over lap easier for me, and I don't think the size difference is noticeable with the busy papers.

Cherry Cobbler CS punched with Decorative Label Punch

Very Vanilla stamped with sentiment from Oval All (I inked just the words using basic black marker) and punched with Lg Oval Punch

Cherry Cobbler Quilted Ribbon

Three Basic Rhinestones in the upper right corner and one more next to the sentiment.

Step #3 CARD:

Cherry Cobbler card base

Basic Black CS cut at 5 1/4" x 4"

Very Vanilla cut at 4 1/4" x 3 1/4"

strips of Timeless Portrait cut at 1 1/2" x 3"

The strips will overlap a bit. I placed the two outer strips first and then the center on top.

It made the over lap easier for me, and I don't think the size difference is noticeable with the busy papers.

Adhere the strips to the Vanilla mat and use your big shot and square lattice embossing folder to add texture to this layer

Cherry Cobbler CS punched with Decorative Label Punch

Timeless Portrait DSP punched with Scallop Oval Punch

Very Vanilla stamped with sentiment from Oval All (I inked just the words using basic black marker) and punched with Lg Oval Punch

Pop up on dimensionals over the ribbon

Cherry Cobbler Quilted Ribbon

3 silver brads in upper right corner

Vanilla, Cobbler, and two patterns in DSP punched with Jewelry Tag punch

Attach tags with silver safety pin (from Vintage Trinkets) to the knot in the ribbon.

I plan to use one version of this card for my Leadership Swaps.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. Stay safe if you are traveling.

Love and enjoy your time with family!

Use It UP! Friday ...

I have a generous friend that creates these amazing scrapbooks. She has a wonderful ability of pulling papers together from all different lines/manufacturers. She often gifts me paper. This paper is SU but it was before I was purchasing DSP, so I have no idea how long ago it retired or what the name is/was.
Anyway... here is a card for Kris:

I like to see a faint image behind a sentiment. I inked up the flower from Creative Elements, stamped off, and then stamped my cut card stock. 

Is anybody stamping today? :-) 

Thursday .... Clean & Simple

Another one for leadership. It is a simple card that would be easy to DEMO and I think the DSP really looks happy -it matched the sentiment - at least for me it does. I love this sentiment! Especially during this time of year it is good to slow down and just enjoy the moment... and just be happy,

Wednesday ....Cards I Love...

I was so excited to be able to pre-order from the Occasions Mini Catalog AND earn some 

Sale-a-bration items as well!

This Sale-a-bration DSP and brads I LOVE! I decided to start on my swaps for Leadership convention (this will be my first SU event and I am not sure what I am doing)

I planned out the card and started cutting paper and assembling the base of the card.

Loved the papers together....

After I did 10 or so of the bases I started on the framelits and coordinating stamp...

I put it together and thought .... ick

It didn't turn out at all like I had planned in my head. 

There was no way I was making 10 of these. They were ugly.

So I had to have a plan B.

I loved the base papers and the color combinations...

it was the stamped image I hated...

not really, just the BLACK ink!

Ahhhh ..... a solution is at hand!

Behold...

Isn't it so much better when I use the correct ink color?

The point of all of this?

If you ever run into this situation where you create a card that should be stunning (at least it was in your head) take a minute to think about what bothers you, and see if it is a simple fix.

I feel lucky that I only made two of the top ones and I have 8 of the revised card.

Trending Tuesday #15

Monday....

This is a traditional scrapbook page I did using all SU product. I decided that I am going to go back in my past, back to those days where I took very few pictures and most of them are not very good, and scrap those memories too. I had another life before I married and had children. They were great times. I will try to scrap a traditional page once a week for the near future.
I have a friend that I used to have a challenge with every Sunday. For about a year and a half we scrapped a page or a double page layout once a week on Sunday. She has moved far away, but we discovered Skype. We scrap together now, even though she is in Virginia and I am in Texas.

Sunday....

Saturday Scrapbooking & Color Q #115

These pages are digital and use non-SU products.

Tag #11

I made this one using Wisteria Wonder and Crumb Cake inks, on Whisper White CS. Not traditional Christmas colors, but you could use any color combinations you love. The Hello Doily background stamp is an impressive stamp -look at all that detail that is revealed after embossing and sponging ink to reveal the doily. LOVE this!

Tag #10

This was a fast & simple tag with the exception of getting the mini bells on the end of the bakers twine.

This is a zero stamping tag. The Santa stamp is Letters to Santa DSP. I just cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals.

Tag #9

Not very Christmassy, I know, but it was my attempt at one of "Jim Shultz" steampunk type tags.

The best part, I used a stamp set from our upcoming Occasions mini catalog, Rue Des Fleurs. The tickets are from the Attic Boutique Suite set. They are side notes and there are a number of fun things I can't wait to use.

It was fun to do something non-traditional. I just hope someone will like it enough to want it too. :-)

Tag #8

I know it is very plain and simple, but I love it. The tree was stamped with Sahara Sand Craft ink and embossed with iridescent ice. After I made Saturday's tag, I made this one. I needed something simple and plain after that very busy tag. :-)

Tags #7 and Colour Q Challenge #114

The inspiration picture is just so cute and colorful. This was a fun combination to work with.

I used:

Paper: Poppy Parade CS #119793, Whisper White CS #100730, Pool Party CS #122924, Silver Glitter Paper #124005

Stamps: Greeting Card Kids #120633, Bright Christmas #retired

Ink: Poppy Parade #119801, Pool Party #123002, Certainly Celery #105106, Crumb Cake #120967, Garden Green #100080, StazOn Black #101406

Other: Ruffled Ribbon #122975, Sliver Cord #retired, Mini Jingle Bells #124116, Dimensionals #104430, 1/2" circle punch #119869, 3/4" circle punch #119873, Aquapainter #103954

Tag #6

One time, while on retreat, I spent 10 hours on a card. It was a nothing special card, but I was stumped.  I kept at it and after so much time, all I think about that card is BLAH!
That is how I feel about this tag. I worked on it for 3 days. Not all day, of course, but way too much time. Blah. It is just too much of everything. I do like the winter wonderland banner -that is my favorite part. This was a "Jim Shultz" inspired tag. Today he might be glad I am not using his real name...LOL!