One last tag...

OK this is the last of my tags and I hope it gets you into the Christmas spirit. I stamped the background with a large 6x6 music stamp that I had gotten quite a while ago from Cornish Heritage Farms, one of my favorites. Over the top of that I stamped the black flourish from Fancy Pants. The sentiment was a single unmounted that I picked up at a stamp convention so I have no idea who the manufacturer is-sorry. I punched it out with the Modern Label SU punch. The Hero Art poinsettias were distressed with Vintage Photo Ranger ink and then I brushed a bit of gold on them to tie into the gold on the little jingle bells in the center. Old St. Nick is a chipboard tag from K & Company- Christmas Cheer with gold embellishments added for a bit of bling. And there you have it- a very quick and easy tag. Now head into your stamping area and grab your supplies to create your very own.

The Christmas season has officially begun and the parties are right around the corner. Our small stamping group of ten friends is celebrating next Wednesday with a potluck. I really enjoy getting together with this group gals and with the surprise in store for us, I am sure it will be an eventful evening. For those of you who read my blog, I'm not giving away what Carol has planned. I can tell you her house is decorated beautifully for the season which will add to the occasion. Our larger stamping club party is later in the month which is also a potluck and we do a very fun gift exchange. It is amazing to see how aggressive a group of women can get over the packaging, because we have no idea what is inside. The prettiest package seems to really make the rounds.

I have three more parties in the following two weeks. One is for the hospital administration and physicians which is always a nice time at one of the local golf clubs. The other two are put on by the Radiologists for the employees (and guest) in Medical Imaging and the following week is from the Cardiologists for those who work in Cardiology and their guest. It just so happens that my department is part of both. One will be at another golf club and the other is at a banquet hall. These are rather large parties with at least 200 people at each and they have always provided an evening of good food, drink and celebration. Somewhere in there I have to find time to put up the tree and decorate the house. I probably should have done that this weekend not that I'm thinking of it. Oh well, I'm not going to stress over it because in the end it always seems to get done. The one lesson that I have learned as I get older is to let the little things go and only stress over major life issues- the aged heart and body just can't handle it any more.

~Have fun and enjoy!

Christams Joy

As promised here is another Christmas tag. I used my cuttlebug Christmas Tree embossing folder for this one. Are you wondering how I didn't end up with the top of my tree at the edge of the tag? This is a little hint that I learned from Tim Holtz- cut a slit on the fold of the folder. Make sure you don't cut all the way across or you will end up with two pieces instead of a folder.I cut a slit just wide enough for the tag and then slid the tag in from the top down into the folder just to where I wanted the top of the tree. That Tim is one crafty guy- and someone who can afford to try these things if he ruins the first one.

After I embossed the tree, I used Brilliance Copper ink to color the tree. I then used Distress Ink Shabby Shutters to very carefully color the background with a blending tool. I then added some bling here and there and the ornaments were buttons that I cut off the backs and glued on. I proceeded to take it a step further and add some black to the trunk of the tree only to drop the brush on the background just under the sentiment. I found this little poinsettia stamp and thought it was perfect to try and hide my mistake. I had just one chance to perfectly align the stamped image over the black mark- sometimes things just work out. So I then added a few more here and there. The border at the top is a sticker that I added more bling to and then some lovely chocolate seam binding to top it off. As I was making this card, I wasn't happy at all with the way it was turning out, but in the end it turned out to be my favorite. It might have been all I had to do with salvaging it. Anyway I hope you like it.

I am sure everyone is getting ready for the big turkey day. I plan on cooking just a small turkey this year- enough to feed us and still have a few leftovers. I don't even think I am going to be doing any Black Friday shopping (on line that is) and there certainly isn't anything I could want bad enough to hit the actual stores. I may have to just spend some quiet time in my stamp studio, using up some of the stash I bought last year. Sounds like a plan to me.

I hope you all spend some time with family, thinking about what you are thankful for and realizing how fortunate you are for the things you have.

Christmas tags...

I'm glad you stopped in today because over the next few posts I will be sharing with you some Christmas tags that I made. I don't know why I enjoy making them as much as I do. It may be the height of the tags that allows me to feel more creative. I think with the shorter cards, I feel limited- does that make sense? I guess I am a vertical kinda gal. The size of these tags is 3 1/8 x 6 1/4. I made the tags for a challenge over at Waltzingmouse. This one I called my Victorian Christmas tag because of the lace and the cuttlebug folder I used for the background which was then distressed with Ranger Antique Linen Distressed ink. The poinsettia in the upper left is from Hero Arts with a bit of gold ink brushed onto it. The rose was done in the same fashion with a small paint brush to add the gold just on the edges. The roses were a great find at a dollar store and came in a wide variety of colors- this rusty red is my favorite. The Christmas Tree is from a Fiskars punch and the black paper had been sprayed with the Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist. If you enlarge the image you might be able to see it a bit better. The Sentiment is a tag from K & Company which I just adore. The tiny little jingle bells I used on the flowers were from Hobby Lobby- too cute. The ribbon is black seam binding that I scrunched up after I attached it to add to the vintage feel. I don't know exactly how I am going to use these tags. Maybe I will put them in a shadow box.

It is cold and damp here tonight and I am in my jammies already with my slippers and a luscious soft scarf wrapped around my neck (no this isn't that kind of site, I'm just letting you know how cozy I am). I can hear the wind blowing outside as the rain is hitting the windows. I am imagining the rain as snow being pelted against the windows like the stormy winter nights I experienced as a child in the U.P. and it conjures up all kinds of wonderful memories. I miss those days when we would bunker down for 2 or 3 days to ride out the storms. I'm sure my father didn't enjoy it since he did all the snow removal and we probably drove my poor mother bonkers being cooped up inside for so long. Now, it would give me a good excuse to stamp all day- oh please, like a need an excuse. Oh well I'm sure the snow isn't far off. I hit the Yankee candle store last night for the buy 2 get 2 free so I am ready for a cozy winter.

I still have two more tags to share with you, so keep checking back for a bit of Christmas inspiration.

~Have fun and enjoy!

My little Pretties

A few weeks ago I won this set of the new Perfect Pearl Mists from Ranger. I left a comment on their blog and they randomly picked three winners. Let me tell you that I was tad bit excited when I received the email that I had won. I had watched the Tim Holtz video on their blog showing how to use the mists before I tried them. As Tim states, these mists are made for darker papers and materials. I sprayed a few flowers and couldn't really see the color. Then I tried the mists on black card stock and it was amazing. I tried three of my favorite colors from the set and you can see the results below. If you click on the image you can see the names of the colors I used.

Since the mists didn't show up on my lighter colored flowers, I bought some of the new Inkadinkado spray ink in black. I had previously bought the raspberry shade and the flowers I sprayed were a nice vibrant solid color. I am hoping to spray a few flowers black and then add the mists on top for added color. I will let you know how they turn out.

It has been a crazy week for me as far as a sleeping schedule. I notice that I don't seem to do well with the time change the older I get. I do however do better with the fall time change than I do in the spring. That one kicks my butt for at least a week. On top of changing the clocks, we also had a major electrical power shutdown at work from 8:30 pm until 4:00 in the morning this week. Our equipment needs two hours once the power is back on before we can use it. Guess who was in at work turning things on so we were good to go by 6:30 am. You got it and then I stayed for a 12 hour shift. I was in bed by 7:00 that night only to wake up in the middle of the night for 2 hours. I did go back to bed for a few more hours, but I felt like a pot of coffee wasn't even going to help me navigate the day.

Tomorrow I am hoping to clean out the garage and the DH better be right there beside me helping me to pitch out a whole lot of junk, and I mean junk. Maybe I can fit some stamping in on Sunday.

~Have fun and enjoy!

A bit of early Christmas

It's time for another chunky tag and I can't begin to tell you how much fun I have making these. I could make these all day long. Now that would be a dream job! This time it's Christmas and I made it for the "Tag You're It" challenge over at Waltzingmouse. I started with a six inch 2x4 and I covered it in pages from an old book. I distressed it with ink after I adhered the pages and then I did a bit of subtle flourish stamping here and there. Nothing drastic, just for a bit of contrast and character. I was going for the "glitzy" look on this one so I got out the rhinestones and a pretty glass knob for the top. Hobby Lobby has a nice selection of knobs, especially when they are 50% off. I found this lovely Santa at the stamping convention in Novi. They don't have a brand name on them but it says they are printed in Germany.The Joy plate is from the Tim Holtz line and the flowers are Hero Arts. I did distress the flowers a bit to tone them down a touch. The poinsettias were the perfect flower to pull it all together.

You have got to try one of these. Just pick a theme and go to town. The sky's the limit and they look gorgeous sitting on a side table or shelf. I don't have much time to chat tonight, I just had to get this picture posted. I will let you know more later.

~Have fun and enjoy!

A Rainbow Masquerade

I think she is ready for the masquerade ball, don't you? This pretty gal is called Rainbow Beauty from Loralie Art Stamps. After digging my heals in for many years, I finally got into the Copic Craze. I told myself I didn't want to get started with the Copic markers because of the expense and there were just too many colors. And knowing me, I wouldn't be able to have just a few of them- no sir. I guess they are sort of like potato chips, you can't have just one and before you know it, you have eaten half the bag. Well that is exactly what happened. I now have a very nice collection of Copic markers and worth every penny. Frankly it was a bit overwhelming for me. I couldn't even imagine which colors to start with. I tried to start with colors I liked but would buy three in a color family for blending. I then started to take classes at Mary Maxim our local stamp store and I would buy the colors needed for the project . We have a great teacher by the name of Cathy Groden who is Copic certified. The best thing is the classes are free and we just need to bring our own markers.

For the card we added a bit of glitter to her mask and tulle under her dress. The paper is from Graphic 45- another love of my life. The shadowing behind her is done with Prismacolor pencils- Jasmine and a bit of French Grey under her feet.


Below is another one of my Halloween creations. The bats were a find at JoAnns and are actually clothing patches. I didn't realize that until I peeled off the backing and realized they weren't sequin stickers. Sometimes I have to just sit and laugh at myself. Lord knows others are already doing so.
The flower is Prima with a Making Memories Spellbound brad in the center. I finished off the bottom with a MS Drippy Goo punch. The DS is DCWV under a piece that I embossed with the Skull Cuttlebug folder.

Well there you have it. Halloween almost here and gone. I have to try and pull my Halloween costume together this week. We have a neighborhood party each year. In years past we have gone to three different houses like a progression party, but the last two years we have all paid $40 a couple for liquor and to have a tent rented with tables and chairs and a DJ. The tent is set up on our neighbor's tennis court. It gets decorated to the nines and we all bring a dish to pass. Last year it was a beautiful warm evening. Let's hope this year is just as nice. My witches costume isn't the warmest.

~Have fun and enjoy!

It isn't my favorite color

Orange isn't my favorite color but you would have never guessed it by my projects of late. It must just be the fall season with the leaves changing colors and Halloween being right around the corner. My DH says this is the reason that I like to shop at Lowes rather than Home Depot. He said there is too much orange for my taste. He might be right for a change. I'll let him have this one.

I have received a lot of compliments on the chunky tag from my last post. I really had wicked fun (that one is for you Elliot) creating it because it was so personal and I love the way it looks in my foyer. I have created a few more but that is for another time.

Today's card was created using Tim's Patchwork texture fades embossing background and die cuts from K&Company called Handmade which I found on clearance at Michaels. I love crowns so of course that had to be a highlight of the card.

We had gorgeous weather this past weekend so we sat outside and soaked up the last of it. We went out for dinner and ate outside watching the sun set over the lake. There were a few white swans that decided to stop by and make the evening even more memorable. If I hadn't had known better I would have thought it was still August. And to top off the night we went to Michaels on the way home. The hubby had a coupon and so did I- double heaven.

I better get working on some Halloween cards since it is right around the corner. I still have to come up with ideas for costumes for DH and me for our neighborhood party. Any ideas, please send them my way.

~Have fun and enjoy!