{cQc #117} I Love You Tons!

Hello & Happy New Year's Eve!

Where did the last few weeks go?  Did you have a nice Christmas?  We sure did!  (see photos below)Time flies when you're busy and it's been a very busy holiday season!  I've missed stamping and blogging, but I do have a few goodies to share with you in the coming days!  : )

Today, I'm sharing a  5 x 5" square card I've created especially for this week's Colour Q Challenge.  The cute little (or should I say BIG?) image is from a new stamp set I got from my sweet kids for Christmas.  It's an itty bitty set by UNITY and titled Love You Tons.   Let me tell you, these are *awesome* stamps!  They are thick red rubber mounted on cling foam that sticks really well to acrylic blocks.  They gave me 4 different sets that are going to be such FUN to play with.  Stay tuned! 

Here's the terrific colors for the challenge... 

I've got a large assortment of black and white designer papers, so went to my stash for inspiration.  With the sweet little hearts above the elephant, I naturally chose RED as my extra color of choice.  Wouldn't this make a perfect Valentine? 

The elephant was stamped with onyx black Versafine and clear embossed.  The hearts are part of the stamp, so I taped over them and stamped them separately with real red ink.  I tried coloring the image with a grey copic marker and decided I liked the black/white best...for this card anyway!

As you can see, I did a little stitching all around the layers, embossed the red layer and tied it up with some all purpose black and white baker's twine!   (Note:  I still have a lifetime supply of this awesome twine available.  If you need any, please email me or check it out in my Etsy Shop.)

 

I'm so happy you stopped by because I want to wish you all a very Happy Healthy New Year 2012! ♥   I don't often find time to comment on all your blogs, but please know that you are an inspiration to me!  I'm so grateful for your friendship and appreciate each and every one of you! ♥ 

In closing, here are a few photos of my family at Christmas . . .

My sweet daughter in law Jami holding her niece...
our precious grandbaby Emery.

There's nothing better than a BABY in the house! ♥

 My mother meets her first great-grandchild...  ♥

 My son in law, daughter & precious granddaughter. ♥

I sure wish we would have thought to take a group photo when everyone arrived for the evening! Next time!  

Thanks again for stopping by!  

New Year Hugs ~   

 

Quote for Today ~
When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~Joyce Brothers

{cQc#114} a very Merry Christmas to YOU!

There is a little twist on the Colour Q Challenge this week and it is to create anything BUT a card!   Hmmm,  how about a cute little gift box?   This "five in one box" design is so easy to make and oh so versatile!  It's been around awhile, but if it's new to you and you're wondering how to create one yourself, Beate Johns has an excellent picture tutorial on Splitcoaststampers.  Here is the link. 

Look at these FUN colors for this week's challenge!  I really wanted to make a snowman card as cute as this little guy in the photo below . . .

I used the Stampin' Up! snowflake wheel and white craft ink to give the cool caribbean and poppy parade cardstock a little design. 

Wouldn't this be the perfect way to wrap up a little gift for someone special?  And depending on what cardstock and designer paper you choose to use, each one will be unique and perfectly festive!  These are colors I would never think to put together, but I like them, don't you?  ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Holiday JOY to you and yours!  ♥

Quote for Today ~
He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. ~Roy L. Smith

{cQc #113} Believe!

It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas here in Nebraska today!  Yes, the fluffy white stuff is coming down and blanketing the ground in beauty.   I say that only because I'm able to stay indoors and view it from the warmth of my craft room. ;)

Look at this beautiful color palette and inspiration photo for the Colour Q Challenge this week!  And the cards and scrapbook layouts by Arielle's cQc Royal Court Design Team are incredible!  I really love the color blue and shades that blend such as these.  Pretty Pretty!

My card is a 5-1/4" square using sahara sand as the base.  The nativity stamp is one I purchased last year at Archivers and never used.  Imagine that!  ;)   It's a cling rubber set by Stampendous and comes with a large "Believe" in script letters. I used that stamp on the back of the envelope as it just didn't fit on the card with this layout.   (Cling Sacred Believe Set CRS2037) 

You probably can't tell by the photo, but the nativity has been stamped in night of navy and clear embossed for texture and shine.  Then I added little teeny tiny rhinestones to the star and larger ones in upper right corner.   The little believe tag was printed on the computer and punched out with an oval punch.  I tied it to the big shimmery bow with some silver thread.

 

The inside sentiment is one of my favorites.  Jesus is the Reason for the Season!  Yes, He is~!

This is a stamp by The Stamp Pad Co, Inc. Big Lake, MN.  Have you ever heard of them?  I think I bought it second hand several years ago or it may be one I got in a swap with my friends from the Stamp Shack.  

Well, hubby is home now and we're going to have homemade vegetable beef soup for dinner.  So easy to make and soooo delicious on a day like this!   After dinner we need to go over our Christmas shopping list.  He's been buying for our son and son-in-law and I've been shopping for the girls and my precious grandbaby.  So, it's time we do an inventory and see if we're done or not.  Probably not!  ;)  I'm trying to be frugal this year, but it's easy to get caught up in the shopping madness and forget the real meaning of the Season.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Wishing you JOY * PEACE * LOVE today and always!  ♥

Quote for Today ~

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale

{cQc #111} Autumn Splendor

Look at these splendorific autumn colors the Arielle has chosen for this week's Colour Q color challenge!   Her inspiration photo and all the gorgeous samples by the cQc Design Team are what inspired me to play along.

I've used crumb cake cardstock for the base and distressed it a bit with the linen background stamp and some sponging of versafine vingage sepia ink.  The rich raspberry cardstock is the next layer and that's topped with naturals white. Notice my funky stitching...a little zig zag and straight stitch combined.  French Foliage by Stampin' Up! is the stamp set used with the challenge ink colors.  I think this set is one of my all time favorites by SU.

Here is the inside...stamped to coordinate with the front, but left blank.  I'll add a sentiment  for the occasion when ready to send.  My embellishments were kept pretty simple...just three little antique brass brads and brown and white baker's twine.

 Thanks so much for blogging by today!  I may not get a chance to post again before Thanksgiving, so want to wish all of YOU a very blessed day feeled with love and gratitude.   I'm so excited that I'll be spending the Thanksgiving weekend with my precious grandbaby, daughter and family in Nevada.  Emery is going to be 5 months old already on the 29th of this month.  Time flies and she's growing up sooo fast! 

she melts my ♥

God's blessings and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Quote for Today ~
What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving? ~Erma Bombeck

Just Saying Hi !

Oh Happy Weekend!

This is just a quick little post to share a card I made this weekend

 using two new woodmount stamps from the $1 bin at Michaels.

First,  I stamped three trees on heavy white cardstock, colored with Copic markers, cut them out and popped them up with dimensionals.  This is a 4-1/4 x 5-1/2" card using Kraft (crumb cake) cardstock for the base. 

the inside of the card... left blank for your personal message!

I hope you've had an enjoyable weekend!
Thanks so much for stopping by to say Hi! : )

Quote for Today ~
Follow your instincts.  That is where true wisdom manifests itself. - Oprah Winfrey

{SSSC142} Feeling Grateful

TGIM!  Have you ever heard anyone say that?  (Thank God it's Monday!)  Well, neither had I until this morning at work.  It made me *smile*.  Attitude is everything.  : )

Today's card was created using the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge by Karen Giron.  This is a 5-1/4" square using cajun craze and really rust cardstock.  The flowers are from the Upsy Daisy set by Stampin' Up!  I've colored direct to the rubber with markers, spritzed with water and stamped.

 

I'm not so sure about my ribbon and twine bow.  I tried my best to make one of those messy bows that are all the rage these days and I couldn't do it.  If you know how, please tell me the secret.  As you can see, I gave up and all that is left are these short little tails.  : /

the inside

 I'm *grateful* you stopped by.

Have a blessed day! 

Quote for Today ~
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.
  ~Meister Eckhart

{cQc #109} Hello Friend!

Here I am at noon on Sunday again, trying to squeeze in  my card for this week's Colour Q Challenge!  Honestly, when I saw this color combination on Tuesday, I thought "no way" can I do those colors!  And I don't own any island indigo anyway.  But, this morning while cleaning my stamp room, I came across this chipboard flower and one thing led to another.  I'm not sure if you can tell, but I've used tempting turquoise in place of island indigo.

It can be fun to step out of the box sometimes.

  Thanks for dropping by and have a wonderful day!

~ Quote for Today ~

Nothing but Heaven itself is better

 than a friend who is really a friend. ~Plautus

{FTL164} Wild Thing! . .

. . . You Make My Heart Sing! 

The inspiration for this *wild* creation, came from the leopard print designer paper (The Paper Studio) and the Clean & Simple "Fall to Layout" Sketch Challenge.   Gotta love simple!  And this really was. 

The sentiment popped into my head so I simply typed it up in Word and printed it out on naturals ivory cardstock.   The base cardstock is chocolate chip.  I ran the front side through my Cuttlebug with a new zebra embossing folder. (The Paper Studio)  Funny thing is, I really thought I was buying the woodgrain embossing folder! To finish it off, I've just added a big black button tied on with bakers twine.  

Can you think of someone you could give this card to? : ) I'll bet it would make them *smile*. hee hee

Quote for Today ~
Love - a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker. ~Author Unknown

{cQc108} Trick or Treat!

One more Happy Halloween card to wish

 you all the goodies you deserve! ;)

I was trying to get this in before the noon deadline today and just missed it by 5 minutes!  Oh well.  I *love* the Colour Q color challenge and always enjoy participating!  

The shimmery Halloween designer paper just happened to include the challenge colors.  I've had this in my stash for awhile...2006 Heidi Grace Designs, titled Halloween Circles with Glitter.   As you can see, I've added some buttons and twine and stitched it all together.  This shimmery paper made it difficult to photograph and looks a little fuzzy... or maybe it was because I was hurrying to get it posted!  : /

I'm so glad you've stopped by today!

Quote for Today ~

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself

 than be crowded on a velvet cushion. 

~Henry David Thoreau

My Quilted Christmas Cards

As I mentioned yesterday, this has been a popular layout of mine recently and an excellent way to use scraps of your favorite coordinating designer papers.   This assortment is from a Christmas pad I've had for a few years. (Greeting's of the Season by Hobby Lobby)  I like how it appears to have a linen texture, making the pieces look more like quilted fabric. 

My sister Judy asked me to create 40 Christmas cards she could send to her clients again this year.  Since I was mass producing, I needed a fairly simply design and something she could easily mail without extra bulk or postage expense.   Once I figured out the size I needed to cut the strips, the paper cutting process only took a few minutes.  I'll admit the stitching did take a wee bit longer.  ;)   Once I had the stitching done and threads clipped, I wrapped it all up with a light ivory crochet thread tied in a bow. (Red Heart size 3)

Card size is 5-1/2 x 4-1/4"  naturals white cardstock.  The designer paper strips are layered onto a solid dark green paper.  First, I put a small strip of adhesive down the center of the strips to hold in place, then stitched between them, clipped threads, then stitched around it all.  Make sense? ;) 

 The sentiment on the front is stamped in cherry cobbler ink.  It's an oldie from the Stampin' Up set titled Fun Phrases.  I didn't photograph the inside, but I used a beautiful sentiment from Penny Black ~ World Peace.  It reads:

May this

joyous Season

fill

your home with love,

your

heart with hope,

and

our world with

p e a c e .

This is the second year in a row that I've done this as a gift for my sister's November birthday.  If you're interested, here are the cards I created for her last year. . . and the post telling you all about them.  

 If you want create your own Christmas cards, these are two designs that can be easily duplicated.  Remember, the stitching adds to the design, but it isn't necessary.   If you have any questions about either design, just email me!

I'm happy you stopped by and hope you're enjoying your Sunday! 

Quote for Today ~
There are two ways of spreading light:  to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
- Edith Wharton