Celebrating Love

Happy Monday! Did you have a wonderful Christmas? We had a great time with our family at Mom's house this weekend - lots of laughter, lots of hugs, and lots of memories.

I checked out the new challenge over on the Cheery Lynn Designs blog, and their theme is "Celebrate." I created this photo tray for my grandparents who will be celebrating their 67th wedding anniversary in January. Yes, 67 years! That calls for a celebration, don't you think? :-)

I started out with some Authentique papers and some Cheery Lynn Designs dies to put together six different "trays." The "love you always" and the little flourish under the heart (upper right tray) are chipboard pieces that I painted with black acrylic paint and then covered with Antique Silver shimmery paint from Creative Inspirations Paint. I love that shimmery antiqued effect over the black paint.

You can see that I repeated some of the die cut flourishes in several of the trays. That is the Fanciful Flourish die from Cheery Lynn Designs (purchased from Classy Cards 'n Such). I've also used the Victorian Picket Fence die, the Pair of Ferns die, and the Olive Branches die. I'm loving these Cheery Lynn dies! :-)

The flowers are from a Spellbinders die (Rose Creations) and the butterflies are Martha Stewart punches.

The hearts are cut out with some Spellbinders heart dies, and I used the Cuttlebug Highlights technique (Technique Junkies) after running the gray heart through a Sheet Music embossing folder.

I used a Tim Holtz die to create the large rosette (bottom right tray) and then I hand-made the smaller rosette.

This was a fun project to make, and I know my grandparents will love this. I can't wait to see this hanging up in their house where they can see it every day. :-)

Have a wonderful day!

Salty Glimmers Christmas

Howdy, folks! I had some time to play tonight after spending the last three days taking care of a sick hubby. Hopefully he is on the mend, as no one wants to be sick on Christmas.

I pulled out my Cheery Lynn Designs dies and made this fun Christmas card. The challenge on the Cheery Lynn Designs blog is a "Tis the Season" theme, and I really wanted to play with the Christmas lights before the holiday passed me by.

I started out by creating a background using the Salty Glimmers technique from Technique Junkies. What a cool background, and I love the shimmer! After I cut out the lamp post, the Christmas lights strings, and the lightbulbs, I wanted to make them shimmery as well, so I pulled out my Creative Inspirations Paints.

The lamp post and the light strings were die cut from black cardstock, and I applied some Antique Silver paint to those. I love how the Antique Silver paint looks against the black cardstock. The lightbulbs were painted with Garnet paint, and they really pop out against the die cut fence and the dark blue background. I also painted a tiny piece of white cardstock with some Sunshine yellow paint and adhered it behind the die cut lamp.

The Victorian Picket Fence was die cut from kraft cardstock, and I lightly rubbed a white ink pad here and there to give the fence a snowy look. Well, white ink doesn't dry very fast, so I covered it with some white embossing powder and hit it with a heat gun.

The sentiment is from Rogue Redhead Designs' Candy Kisses stamp set. By the way, you still have a few days left to take advantage of the awesome sale over at Rogue Redhead Designs. I colored the scallop oval with the same Garnet paint to match the lightbulbs.

Wanna see the great shimmer?

It still hasn't quite dawned on me that Christmas is just a few days away. Where did the time go??? I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. Hugs!

Stamps: Candy Kisses (Rogue Redhead Designs)
Ink: Jet Black Stazon, Fresh Snow
CS: white, black, kraft
Cheery Lynn Designs dies: Victorian Picket Fence, Christmas Light Swag, Colonial Lamp Post (purchased at Classy Cards 'n Such)
Creative Inspirations Paint: Garnet, Sunshine, Antique Silver
Other: Frosty Nights glimmer mist, oval punch, scallop oval punch, white embossing powder
TJ Technique: Salty Glimmers

Life is the Flower

Good morning! I found some time to play last night and this is the card that I created. There were a couple of challenges that I really wanted to play along with, and it was fun to combine them for this card.

The challenge on the Rogue Redhead Designs blog is to create a grid with at least three squares. I used four squares of designer paper for my background, and I used a sentiment from Rogue's Floriculture stamp set. BTW - all their stamps are on sale through the end of this month! The oval is where I used the Wisped Frames technique - there is a pale, pale pink ink on there. :-)

The second challenge is from the Cheery Lynn Designs Blog, which is to use at least one of their dies and to have flowers on your project. I pulled out my Fanciful Flourish die (the green swirl on my card) and the newest Miniature Rose die (the three purple flowers on my card). This was my first time playing with the Miniature Rose die, so I think I need some practice to figure out how to really make these look like roses.

I bought all of my Cheery Lynn Designs dies from Beverly at Classy Cards 'n Such. I asked her if she could get certain dies for me, and she was more than willing to help me out. She has lots of other things in her store as well, so it's always fun to go shopping there. I'm not affiliated with her - just a very happy customer. :-)

I hope you find some time to relax and play today. Remember to breathe and try not to stress out over the coming festivities. Enjoy being with your family and friends this Christmas season.


Stamps: Floriculture (Rogue Redhead Designs)
Ink: Eggplant, Spun Sugar distress
CS: Eggplant, White, Eva dp (Basic Grey)
Cheery Lynn Designs Dies: Fanciful Flourish, Miniature Rose (purchased at Classy Cards 'n Such)
Other: silver brads, oval die and scallop oval die (Spellbinders)
Technique Junkies technique: Wisped Frames

Shimmery Poinsettia

Hi folks! I took a little break from blogging after last week's flurry of blog hops. :-) I'm back with a Christmas card to share with y'all today.

Cornish Heritage Farms (CHF) opened its doors under new ownership a couple weeks ago, and there are a lot of wonderful digital images in their store. I used this Poinsettia Digital Stamp on my card today.

I colored this image with colored pencils, and then I used my favorite shimmery paints from Creative Inspirations Paints on the flower, the leaves, the jingle bells, and the berries. You can see the gorgeous shimmer in this picture:

I better get to work on addressing my envelopes and getting my Christmas cards out! We've only got a little over two weeks left before the big day! Yikes!

Stamps: Poinsettia Digital Stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Antique Linen, Walnut Stain
CS: Vanilla, White, Espresso, Wonder dp (Authentique)
CI Paint: Garnet, Sunshine, Winter Frost, Antique Gold, Green Olive
Other: May Arts ribbon, colored pencils, sponge, Copic markers, circle punch, Authentique Noteables
TJ Technique: Pencilled Twinks

TJ and Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and Technique Junkies Newsletter joint Blog Hop! The Technique Junkies Newsletter is excited to showcase their new 3D and Fun Folds CD.

“The Technique Junkies Newsletter has been publishing rubber stamping technique tutorials since 2002. The 3D and Fun Folds CD contains 70 step-by-step technique tutorials in pdf format – perfect dimensions, perfect directions and great pictures for every step. Visit http://www.techniquejunkies.com/ for more details about the CD and the Technique Junkies Newsletter.”

A fantastic group of design team members from both Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and the Technique Junkies Newsletter have helped put together this fabulous Blog Hop to kick off the new 3D and Fun Folds CD.

We have a Blog Hop happening each day with an opportunity for you to win many prizes from some of our wonderful advertising companies! Please stop through EVERY DAY and take your time visiting each blog. You have until 11:59pm EST December 2nd to leave comments on as many blogs as you can.

Monday – Joint Blog Hop with Classy Cards ‘n Such
Tuesday – Join Blog Hop with Rogue Redhead Designs
Wednesday – Joint Blog Hop with Paper Temptress
Thursday – Joint Blog Hop with Mark’s Finest Papers, a Heinrich Company
Friday – Joint Blog Hop with Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps

Saturday - Announcing Winners from each day

Monday - Announcing the Grand Prize

On Saturday, December 3, Pat from Technique Junkies Newsletter will announce the winners from each company. Be sure to hop along on each day. There will be FIVE WINNERS!

On Monday, December 5th, Pat will announce ONE LUCKY WINNER with a GRAND PRIZE with a bundle of prizes from all of the participating businesses.

If you have been following along already you should have come from Monica Davis' blog. If you are only starting here, please head back to the Technique Junkies Blog and go from there. You won't want to miss any stops along the way – in order to win you will need to comment on everyone’s blog AND Pat Huntoon’s Blog. There will be an additional chance to win by playing along in her Blog Hop!

I've created this fun Goodie Box for today's blog hop. The directions for this project can be found on the new 3D and Fun Folds CD from Technique Junkies. This adorable teddy bear named Rhubarb Santa is a digital image from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I printed him out and colored him with Copic markers.

The inside of this Goodie Box holds some yummy mini York Peppermint Patties. The pocket on the left side holds a small tag so I can write a sweet note to the lucky recipient of this gift.

Isn't that a great little gift? It's so easy to make, thanks to the concise directions and great pictures in the tutorial on the 3D and Fun Folds CD. You can purchase your cd by going to the Technique Junkies website or by clicking here.

Your next stop on the hop is Jane Bosi's blog, but just in case there are any hiccups, here is the whole list of celebrants on this Blog Hop!

The Technique Junkie Newsletter Blog
Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog
Cathy McCauley
Jackie Kalchert
Ann Clack
Monika Davis
Holly Brown --- YOU ARE HERE
Jane Bosi
Chris Dickinson
Pat Huntoon

Thank you so much for joining us in our joint blog hops this week. Good luck to you as you leave your comments for your chances to win. Enjoy!!