Is it too early for a Christmas card?

Hero Arts is hosting the Stamp Your Story Challenge over the next few weeks, so I got busy using this project by Shari Carroll as inspiration. I just LOVE the layout using the Brush Strokes set, but I decided to change up the colors using Pale Tomato, Mint Julep and Tide Pool inks, as well as Shari’s Tree No. 1. I stamped part of a sentiment from Holidays Sayings, then added some splashes of gold and the Prima bling.

WAY out of my comfort zone - how’s that for living on the edge for a Friday?! Hee hee!

Suzanne

It’s month #12 of our 12 Kits of Christmas project…where on earth has the year gone?! I can’t believe it! This month’s hostess is Sharron! If you’d like to read about how this group started and works, please read this post. Sharron assembled a super fun winter kit for us, and I have to say that I think this one of my favorite kits yet. But it’s also my last kit, as it’s time for some others to have the fabulous chance to play along with these super talented ladies every month. I am going to miss them very much but I will be watching from afar to see what 2013 has in store for them!

For this first card, I added my own dotted washi tape and stamped the sentiment from Wplus9′s Winter Wishes (which was also included in the kit) onto my most favorite piece of patterned paper from the kit.

For my next card, I cut 1.25″ squares from some of the remaining sheets of patterned paper and stitched them together to look like a quilt. Then I used a PTI edger die along the bottom edge, and added the Wplus9 sentiment in Rich Razzleberry from SU!, along with the stitching image from PTI:

And last but not least…a card with the Simple Snowflake die. I embellished the “O” in JOY with a snowflake from last month’s kit, and layered everything, including the glittered snowdrifts that Sharron sent along onto soft stone cardstock:

And that’s a wrap! This isn’t goodbye to all my 12 Kits friends at all - I love you all and will forever treasure your kindness and generosity. I have had so much fun playing with all the goodies over this last year (though at times my wallet has scorned you). I hope you will pop in on me every now and then to see how much progress I am making on my own 2013 holiday cards…it will be the reminder that I will surely need!

Here is a list of everyone else in our group. Have fun hopping around and seeing their creations!

Thank you so very much, sweet Sharron, for an absolutely fabulous kit!

xoxo

Hugs,
Suzanne

This week’s Make It Monday challenge was to use layered glitter shapes on a card, so I broke out PTI’s Peace Be Still dies and Stylish Sentiments: Holiday, as well as some Jillibean Soup papers to make this card. I was loving the idea of green with navy for a holiday card, as well as the idea of layering a diecut heart into the dove’s mouth.

The sentiment was stamped in Enchanted Evening ink and all of the cardstock is the same shade or Vintage Cream. I can’t wait to mail this one out - I sent out a first batch of cards today, but I still have lots more to go.

Hope you’re having a fun weekend. Thanks very much for stopping by!
Suzanne

How’s your weekend going? Ours has been going great and even better now that I am able to share this card with you. I made it for this month’s Cloud9 Blog Hop, using several Wplus9 goodies. This month, I chose two coordinating inspiration pics:

I was inspired mostly by the color scheme of grey, yellow and red, and when I went through my holiday papers, I noticed that the City Sidewalks collection from Pink Paislee included all of those. I also decided to try something less CAS than usual, and this was NOT easy. This card took me 2.5 hours! For real! LOL!

I used the Simple Snowflake and Hearts and Clouds dies, as well as a sentiment from Iconic Christmas, which was stamped in SU! ink. I thought that it went really well with the Santa diecut from the City Sidewalks line. I would have loved to incorporate some ribbon or twine here, but I wasn’t sure where to squeeze it in.

I hope you will join us at Cloud9 this month! Your card does not have to be a holiday card - you just need to use at least one Wplus9 image…everyone is eligible to win a prize, too.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the holiday season!

Hugs,
Suzanne

I fully admit to loving non-traditional colors for holiday cards, and raspberry fizz is my all time favorite color but honestly and truly…Michael’s has been out of red bling for ages! That is making Christmas cards kinda tough to do in regular colors.

I took a break from some late night work to make this card for this week’s Make It Monday: Glitter Detail Technique at Papertrey Ink and Mojo Monday Challenge:

I used Candy Cane Christmas and Stylish Sentiments: Holiday on this card, and I accented the candy candy and raspberry fizz strip with bubble gum glitter from A Muse Studio. The rectangle was diecut using Stitched Mats: Rectangles from Lil’ Inker Designs and the holly was diecut using PTI’s Holly Jolly dies. The patterned paper is from Echo Park’s Holly Jolly Christmas line- one of my favorites of all time.

Now, I’ve gotta get back to business and finish up some work before bed, but at least I’ve got my singing shows to entertain me while I do it.

Thanks for stopping by!
Suzanne

It’s Day 4 of Tangled up in Christmas at Neat and Tangled and I made this card because I was feeling glittery and because I just love that paper!

For all of the details, head on over to the Neat and Tangled blog!

Hugs,
Suzanne

Hi everyone~ whatcha up to this weekend? I had to work yesterday and I spent most of today running errands, but I did manage to play along with my Waltzingmouse Stamps for a little bit. I made this card for this week’s Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge:

I inked up Santa’s Coming to Town using emboss resist to make the white snowflakes stand out, and then stamped the sentiment in some teal ink from SEI. That fabulous Mossy Made button can be found in the Neat and Tangled store, and the snowflake dies are from Wplus9 and PTI. The patterned papers are from Crate Paper’s Sleigh Ride collection.

Now, for the BIG Waltzingmouse news: Claire is now offering shipping from the U.S. on select items! Woo hoo! You can read all about it here.

I am going to head back upstairs and make some more cards tonight. I have a lot of Christmas stash I really want to use.

Hugs,
Suzanne

Hi everyone! Today is Day 2 of Tag Inspiration over on the Neat and Tangled Stamps blog, where we are celebrating the Moxie Fab “Stamp” of Approval!

This is a peek of one of my tags…head on over to the blog to check out the rest!

Hugs,
Suzanne

It’s month #11 of our 12 Kits of Christmas project, and this month’s hostess is Jeanne! If you’d like to read about how this group started and works, please read this post. Jeanne is the queen of stunning detailed dies and this kits was so overwhelmingly full of amazing stuff - it was so beautiful that I honestly did not know what to do with it!

For this first card, I used a circle die to cut out the middle of the doily to shape it like a wreath and I added my own bow diecut from a MFT die. Isn’t the sentiment gorgeous?!

Jeanne sent along a gift card envelope diecut, so next I decorated that with some of the other beautiful dies that she included:

Then I made another CAS card, embossing the edge with a Lil Inker’s die and adding my own stamped frame and diecut to the sentiment - that is a Wplus9 die and frame stamp:

Be sure to hop along and leave some comments because one lucky winner from one of the blogs will win a stamp and die set from Serendipity, whose products you see on this hop today! AND in honor of this hop, they are having a ONE DAY SALE of 20% off all Christmas items!!! Head on over to check it out! Thanks so much, Serendipity!

Here is a list of everyone else in our group. Have fun hopping around and seeing their creations!

Thank you so very much, Jeanne! I am in awe of you and all of your frilly fru-fru fabbiness! xoxo

Hugs,
Suzanne

More than a week had passed since I last made anything, and tonight I went upstairs to clean my craft room, pack up all my Fall stamps and papers, and break out my holiday and winter stash. There is no shortage of Christmas stamps or paper in this house - it’s my one true addiction in paper crafting. I will never tire of my Christmas stamps! I love them!

Tonight I broke out my Wplus9 sets to make this card. I was inspired by the layout of a card that I made in my class with Shari Carroll and the color inspiration came from a pack of rhinestones that I picked up at Michael’s (who is completely sold out of red bling, by the way…it’s a bit of a crafty crisis, I think.)

I stamped Background Builders: Knit in Versamark on the pink background, and Folk Art Flurries in PTI’s Dark Chocolate on the brown side panel. I used the same ink to stamp the frame from Very Vintage Greetings onto white cardstock and heat embossed the sentiment from Classic Christmas onto the handcut banner. Lastly, I stamped a flurry from the FAF onto the Simple Snowflake diecut in Versamark and added a matching rhinestone.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Did you go shopping and find any deals? I didn’t shop much other than to stock up on some Crate Paper, but I am looking forward to Cyber Monday!

Have a great night!
Suzanne