Just add snow

I admit it, I am cheating a little bit on this homework assignment. The task is to add snow to your project and they offered a few ways none of which I had so instead of doing another snow stencil with paste I am opting for something I have had in my stash for a few years. Yeah that's me buy it, set it aside but never use it until one day you realize you can and will use your supplies. 

What I made are ornament tags, they are from Papertrey Ink the kit was released in 2014 ( yeah I know) and I am sure are not available on their website anymore but they do re release archived stuff so you never know. 

Honestly when I first bought the kit I was like why are the stamps and tags so big and what am I supposed to do with these plastic orbs, I'm never gonna use those..lol funny how we can be some narrow minded and limited. I am here to say holy cow! why didn't I ever use these before they are so darn adorable and after watching a couple of videos I have a very clear idea how I am supposed to use all those dies and stamps where before I was a bit intimidated not knowing how to use them. 

And these were actually very simple to make. So here is the first step of die cutting the scenes, I then stamped over the deer, snowman and trees after coloring them with copics. Also tried to give the little cabin some dimension and just for fun a little glitter glue to make it a bit more festive. So everything you see is part of the Tinsel and Tags kit. 

Here is the scene before I add the snow and globe. 

And the finished globes. I plan to use these on a couple of gifts for friends

So I have four more globes left than I'm not sure if the globes are still sold, my guess is probably not and haven't searched Amazon to see if there's anything like these through them. Until then I guess I'll just have to be selective when gifting the rest. 

Sprinkled With Love

 After making my granddaughter a shaker card for her birthday I thought I would also make a Valentine's Day shaker card. I pulled out my older Papertrey Ink Sprinkled die and stamp set for this one.

As I mentioned before I take both the pp panel and my foam panel and diecut them together so they align nicely. Then I just stick the foam panel to my base cardstock fill it with some sequins then cut a piece of acetate and place it ontop then all I need to do is adhere the pp panel on top of all that. 

I wanted some shimmery and had just bought a red glittered piece of cardstock and Joann's so I used that and then all was left was to finish stamping the sentiment. I fuzted around with a speech bubble and also a strip but ultimately found a heart that I thought was the best fit. 

I think I may give this card to my youngest grandson because I'm pretty sure he'll appreciate the shaker part of this card. 

Peace and Love

Digging around in my stamps I came across these Holly and Leaves from Papertrey Ink that I never seem to use much and after browsing around in a Stampin Up catalog I decided I needed to do some stamping and opted for these florals. I wasn't sure at first what I wanted and after a few mishaps I was pretty happy with the my stamped outcome and just needed to add some pp and finishing touches like that snowflake die from Simon Says Stamp. And I'll let you on a little secret, I dropped the damn ink pad on the stamped card panel. Originally I was going to put the sentiment on the left side but you see I now needed to hide my mistake and thus the snowflake helped me rescue me from my clumsy hands.

Feliz Navidad

Originally I picked out and planned to back this cute doggy on some plaid paper but at the last minute I decided to add the string of lights and sadly the card just didn't look as good as it did on this wood panel so I had to make a slight change. 

The dog is from Tim Holtz, my lights are from Papertrey Ink and the sentiment from Simon Says stamp, and if you noticed there are no enamel dots. I am a little shocked myself since I use so many of them. 

Hope everyone enjoyed their Turkey day and had a wonderful time with family and friends. I for one am ready for Christmas, my calendar is already getting full and I hope the month doesn't fly by I really want to enjoy it. 

Noel

I want you to know that I bought a set of ornament stamps and tag dies from Papertrey Ink a good 5 years ago always thinking I will make my own tags for presents and never do. Sadly I saw them sitting there and figured I needed to give em some exercise.

I decided the round tag would work as an ornament and then scouring over my pp pads I found some distressed plaid from Tim Holtz and knew they would work well together.

The ornament die by itself looked a little bland to me and I saw these enamel holly dots I bought last year I think so time to put em to use.

I'm really digging plaid for some reason right now, I even bought my hubby a plaid tie to wear at a Christmas party and my dgd some black and white plaid pants as a Christmas gift and did I even mention all the throws I am making out of yep plaid fleece. I think I may be a little plaid crazy even.

Peace on Earth

Well my fellow blog readers I received a delightful email over the weekend. Appears that Scrapbook.com is featuring one of my cards in their Top 10 Holiday Cards article. I am both delighted and ecstatic that someone loved my card enough to feature it. If you want to read more about their article you can find it HERE

I have been playing with some warm and cozy flannel and it inspired me to make this card. The greys and reds against the white really spoke to me so I replicated it.

The Peace die and sentiment stamps is from Papertrey Ink. the little house and tree die is from Memory Box and the fallen snow stencil is from My Favorite Things stamps.

Sending Sunshine

The other day my daughter came over with the boys and they had just gotten the Valentine Day's card I sent them. She was telling me how much they enjoyed getting mail and usually she gives them the flyers so when my card came it was a big treat to have actual mail. The little one loved it so much he stuck the card in the bib of his overalls and carried it around all day. Now doesn't that just warm your heart?

I told her I would try to send them cards on a regular basis so this is the first of that attempt. I will confess I was in a bit of a rush it was late last night when I pulled it together but it's sort of cute and with a snappy superhero stamp to stick on the envelope I am pretty sure they will love it.

Oh and this was all pretty simple. The cloud die is from Simon Says stamp, the paper, sentiment and sun stamps and dies are all from Papertrey Ink. The pre-imaged paper really helps this be a fairly simple and quick card.

Zappy Birthday

Continuing on with my February birthdays, I made this card for the 5 yr old grandbaby. Not too much superheroish but maybe just enough. I used some Tim Holtz distress inks to create the background mimicking a bit of a sunset. Cut the city from a Taylored Expressions die and then used my Papertrey Ink superhero stamps and dies for the rest.

Confetti Birthday

It's no secret that I love these confetti stamps from Papertrey Ink. They are so fun to play with. You may remember I used them recently for this Valentine's Day card.

Using them I built up layers along with a Hero Arts stamp that also had large circles. I stamped the Hero Arts stamp in a pale pink to add to the background. Then using the confetti stamps with inks from Colorbox cat's eye or Papertrey Ink I completed the layers. I cut two stars from a Fiskars star punch and a few tiny ones using a die from Memory Box. The Happy die and Birthday stamp are also from Papertrey Ink.

It's Birthday Season!

At least in my house. I realized that I have 2 friends with birthdays in Feb, 1 friend with a birthday in January and then 5 family members all in February so I need to crank out some birthday cards. Of the 8 cards I needed to make 5 are all male. I find those are always a bit more of a challenge. First up is this card I made with my oldest grandson in mind. I figured being 16 he's definitively not going to want some cutesy card, something more on the serious side for him. Using a round dot die from Papertrey Ink and a stitched rectangle die from Simon Says stamp, along with an arrow die cut from QK.

A few more Valentine's Day cards

So I think I have officially put my December Daily on my long list of stuff to do, not good but right now I am trying to get more items available for my Etsy shop so my time and energy has been spent sewing.

But I am still being bitten by the pink bug so I couldn't help making a few more cards. I really should have been making some Thank you cards, but alas that's not what my heart wanted to do.

I have also been loving the splatter look so I have been playing around with different styles.

I used mostly Papertrey Ink dies and stamps except for the textured hearts, those actually are from Sizzix. I received the die free with something and at the time I kind of dismissed them because I thought they just embossed, I didn't realize they actually embossed and cut out (swoon)!

Valentine's Day Cards

Ok after I broke out my copics and was digging around for some pp and stamps I started getting in the mood for a little V-day cards. So armed with way too many supplies for inspiration I ended up just making a few simple cards.

I bought this stamp last year way past Valentine's Day on some sale so I was happy to use it.

 

And this was a combination of some fun confetti stamps from Papertrey Ink to make that background, plus I found a few heart stamps to add to it. I have decided I don't own enough pink colored inks. I did manage to make out with what I had but adding some pink to the shopping list.

Let It Snow - Shaker Card

I bought this lovely chunky glitter last year because it reminded me of snow. Its been sitting on my desk ever since, waiting patiently to be used. Well at last its chance to sparkle has arrived.

Using the Papertrey Tinsel and Tag die kit along with their Snow die which has coordinating stamps I created this fun little shaker card.

I will say this card was a bit tricky due to the scene I wanted to place inside, in the end I figured it out and while it's not a loose shaker card I think the concept is there.

 

 

Papertrey Ink - Snow Die, Let it stamp, Holly Leaves stamp and die, pointsetta stamp and die, shaker card die, scene it or Make It Tinsel and Tag dies

 

Lawn Fawn - Pattern Paper

Simon Says - Embossed cardstock

Other - Enamel Dots

Christmas Time

Halloween is now officially over at my house, all the decorations have been put away and I started on my Christmas Cards. I have to say it feels strange to be starting these but since I also started my Christmas shopping last week I guess it really shouldn't. We all know how time flies and next thing you know Christmas will actually be here so I guess it's best to get a leg up while I can.

Keeping it a bit simple this week. I stamped the sequin tree and die cut that plus two more from pp and of course added a few sequins for decoration. I also added some glitter snow to the background using a falling snow template. And then stamped the sentiment and popped up the center tree.

MFT - Tree Stamp and Dies
Papertrey Ink - Sentiment Stamp, Ink
Simon Says Stamp - Falling Snow Stencil, Stitched Rectangle die
Aleene's - Glitter Snow Paste
Chickinadiddy - Pattern Paper
Other - Sequins

Halloween - Trick Or Treat

When I first started stamping I was intrigued by the Stampscapes stamps, although they were fairly pricey I slowly accumulated a few, but like most things I never really used them because quite frankly I wasn't too sure how to use them. This of course was a long time before Youtube.

I could never bring myself to purge them because they still hold a soft spot in my creative mind and one day I hope to master them. I have decided I might need to go buy a few more. Seems in order to have a nice scene you need at least three or four of the of same scenery. Mine are all over the place.

In the mean time I brought out a few and decided they would work well for this window scene.

I have also decided this window die doesn't get nearly as much love as it should. Seems the only time I use it is for Halloween, so now I have a goal to use it for at least one of my Christmas cards as well.

 

Window die is from Poppystamps, Cat die is Papertrey Ink, background stamps from Stampscapes and the little witch die is a punch from who knows where. I can remember a time I used to go to the Expo and buy these little pkgs of punched things and these were part of that collection.

HW - Got Treats

Well I don't know about you but frankly I do not know where August went, I am completely dumb founded because I feel like I lost an entire month somewhere.

I found myself with some free time and figured it was probably a good idea to start some Halloween cards because the last thing I need is to turn around and find out Halloween is here and I have zero cards prepared.

To be honest I have decided to try and not buy any more pp and try to use up what I have on hand. So this is an older Belva Blvd line, funny thing is it's the same line they used for their fabric that I bought to make my dd her HW quilt.  The cute little ghost is from Papertrey Ink.

HW - Scene It

I have been noticing a lot of cards lately that are pretty much a mini scene and really like they way they look. I decided it was my time to attempt one, not as good as what I have seen but hey it's my first time.

I used Tim Holtz Distressed Inks to create a setting sun look, die cut the grave yard from Memory Box, then stamped my Kraftin Kimmie witch, colored it with copics and yes ladies I fuss cut it..I decision I kind of having second thoughts about as I was doing it. The moon and clouds are from Papertrey Ink as well as the sentiment . 

And there you have it my first attempt at creating a scene.

Polka Dots

I am not sure why but when I first saw this die I imagined colorful polka dots, in fact looking at this now it reminds me of those pastel sprinkle used for cake decorating.

 

The die is from Papertrey Ink, the stitched rectangle die and Happy Birthday stamp is from Simon Says Stamp and the pp is from Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine paper pad. The little epoxy hearts are from my long time stash but are from K&Company.

 



On The Road Again

This is my last moving card I made for my mom. I hemmed and hawed over this adorable car/trailer stamp set from Papertrey Ink and I finally caved. I am also loving these circle-scapes. I purchased their Christmas Tinsel & Tags kit last year which came with some of these and then they came out with additional scenes that can be used together so I opted to buy a few more.

I have a friend who has a trailer so I can't wait to make him a card with this stamp set.

Watercolor strikes again

Hello fellow readers well I was MIA for a bit because over the weekend we undertook a huge task, we remodeled our garage and ai yi yi, it was a lot of work. Took me a day just to recover. My youngest ds and I came up with the idea and were going to surprise my husband when this all started but we quickly realized that wasn't going to happen so we filled my dh in on the project and being in construction lets just say one thing led to another.

If you don't care about seeing any pictures or what not I will spare you the details but for those of you who do just keep going.

So back to scrappy goodness. The My Favorite Things blog has been having a contest using color theory and while my initial thought was to join in on the contests I just didn't get around to it, but their challenge inspired this card. I was initially going for monotone but I think this doesn't quite apply since some of Ranger's Distressed Inks had a green tone to them despite being blue in origin.

 The stamp and die are from Papertrey Ink

 

And for those of you interested in my remodel I hate to tell you that I forgot to take photos when the old cabinets were still intact, but alas I came home one day and my son had removed them. The one side was basically a wall of those white particle board cabinets you find at Home Depot.

 

Most of our garage already had dry wall installed but there were a few places missing and my dh wanted to go back over and make sure everything was properly taped and prepped. That's him below

 

 

This was part of the mess that my ds and I emptied on Friday afternoon.

 

As you can see we had a mess everywhere you looked, part from empting the garage and part from the garage being packed with way too much stuff.

 This set of cabinets over the washer and dryer we left.

 

When I say we had a lot of stuff, we had a lot of stuff..or I should say my husband has a lot of stuff. This is our patio full of junk.

 

 

This is a snapshot of the walls after my dh sprayed on some texture, thank goodness for power tools my hubby did most of them Friday night and what was leftover on Sat am

 

We started painting the walls where the texture was already dried from the night before.

 

 

Now that the painting is done we needed to start emptying the garage so we could lay down the flooring, yeah we put in vinyl flooring. Very easy to do but at this point my son left for work and guess who got stuck with helping my dh lift it. I am sure a few swear words escaped my mouth during this time.

 

 

 It's looking nice and tidy wouldn't you say.

And then as my son slept in Sunday morning mom was out there assembling cabinets as my dh did final paint touchups. Once he was done he put the doors on and leveled the cabinets.

 

Here is half of the garage. After my ds got up and helped he left for work again, I am beginning to think he planned that. So dh and I once again dealt with the other half of the flooring and cabinets. He finally returned to help assemble the last two cabinets. And didn't believe mom did one set correctly so he took it all apart and redid it. I told him feel free and decided this was a nice opportunity for a break. Needless to say mom did them right. The manufacturer had a flaw with them but they were built as designed.

 

Here is the other half, but we still need to install the upper cabinets over the workbench and add a few things like trim around the doors. We basically ran out of time. So maybe this weekend it will get the final steps completed. DS has already started putting stuff back so my patio is returning to normal but there is still much to organize as it goes back in. Can't wait for this to all be done.

And I am thinking of painting these cabinets above the washer and dryer but they are laminate and I guess they need to be treated specifically for painting or the paint eventually blisters. And if anyone cares these were Gladiator Steel cabinets which are made by Whirlpool and the vinyl flooring with a coin pattern. They can hold up to ~50lbs per shelf more or less depending on the overall size of the cabinet which is perfect for all of my dh's tools. 

 

And now you know why nothing got posted on Monday, I was literally worn out. There was a lot of heavy lifting, bending over, cleaning and all the cardboard had to get cut up for recycling the next day. Good news is I lost 2.5 lbs which I am going to attribute to the long days of physical labor.