Hi everyone! Happy Christmas Eve Eve! This will probably be my last post until next week so I can relax and take some time out for festivities. I hope that each and every one of you has a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family gathered near to you. I hope Santa brings you stamps and that everyone you love is safe and healthy. Merry Christmas!

Before I post my card, I have some BIG NEWS to share with you! I have been selected to be on the first ever iCopic.com Design Team! CLICK HERE FOR THE WEBSITE! They sell Copic Markers and stamps and ink and all kinds of wonderful stuff. They are also getting ready to open a store in the LA area. I'm excited about giving this a try. My time on the team will be three months and I will be posting projects made with their stamps and Copic markers. I hope you will follow along with me on this journey! More information to follow!

Okee dokee…now for my last Christmas card of 2010:  

 

 

 

Mittens! Made in shades of cream, kraft and brown… You know all season I have been trying to mix it up with my color schemes for the holidays. This time I wanted it subtle and soft. I used my Cuttlebug and a Sizzix die to make these ADORABLE little mittens out of PTI felt. MMMMMM. Here's how they started out… 

 

Ya know I had to add lace, ribbon and a little silver bell! I also made a snowflake embellie out of two punches, a button and some kraft twine…The snowflake background is an embossing folder and then I smudged some light brown ink over the top so the flakes would pop through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Good-bye Christmas stamps….until next year…

 
  

We are in the Christmas home stretch now! Only a few more days til Santa squeezes down the chimney to bring us some new stamps and paper! I have two more Christmas card projects to share with you this week and then we're moving on to some non-snowflake related items! hahaha.

Today's card is of the CAS variety. What is a CAS card? Clean And Simple design. I love this type of design, but I tend towards the GOAYSSAMAGM design (Get Out All Your Stamping Supplies And Make A Giant Mess) cards! Or, as I like to say, more is more. So for this one I've toned it down and used some pretty patterned paper for my focal point and a sweet sentiment.

 

 

The tag and sentiment are from Papertrey Ink and the snowflake background stamp is from Amuse. The patterned paper is October Afternoon. Real Red and Kiwi Kiss inks from Stampin' Up and Brilliance white ink.

 

 

 

This is a sweet little birdie I spotted at the mall Saturday night. Isn't he cute?

  

 

Today's card was inspired by two beautiful cards I saw and saved. Do you ever see someone's cards and go "I NEED to try that!"? Well, that's what happened when I came upon this neat technique of stamping and then embossing and then inking… The results are cool! You could do this with so many different images and seasons. Love it!

The two cards that inspired me are this one from Lin's gorgeous blog, and THIS CARD from Flickr. I really encourage you to check them out! And, give this a try!

Here is my finished card. The bottom image is a big collage stamp from Hero Arts. Then you emboss images over the main image…and then get inky!

 
 
 

I thought that my chalk inks worked very well for laying down the final colors. I used a palette of blues and lavendars. You can see that monster collage stamp here!  

 

Here, I've stamped my main image in black. Then I did snowflakes in clear ink and clear embossing powder over certain parts of the image. I also stamped dark blue snowflakes randomly.

 

You can see where I clear embossed the snowflakes…now that I'm putting down that first layer of light blue ink. It's neat, because you can see the words underneath the clear part.

 

 

 

This is a close up of the finished main image before I started to bling it up and before I cut it down to card size.

 

 

 

My sentiment was stamped and then cut out with the "fancy labels" Nestability set. I stamped little tiny snowflakes over the words. Sheer lavendar ribbon finished it off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's VERY stormy, rainy and windy here today. We are all snuggled up in the craft studio blogging and organizing. Mr. Buddy is fascinated by the rain and I caught him in a cute pose looking out the window at who knows what. Isn't he adorable!!?? Maybe I'm biased but I think he is the cutest cat in the universe! (Doesn't every mom say that?) hahaha.

 
 Thank you for coming by the old bloggy blog today.

Good to see ya! Have a great week ahead!

 

  

Howdy! Is it Friday? Yup, I think it is! I lost track this week…but here we are. One week closer to Christmas and holiday fun. Is your shopping done? Are you ready? I think I'm about 90% ready so that's good. I'm more relaxed this year than normal and I'm not sure why. But I'm happy about it! This weekend we have some last minute shopping and errands. I'm working next week too. I hope you have a great weekend in store for you.

Today's card is my entry for Stacey's Stamping Stage Curtain Call #60 Challenge. I love Stacey's blog and she picks great images to go with her color challenges. Given that the last card I posted took me FOR-ever to make, I thought with this one I would take it down a notch and do something elegant and more simple. You can't go wrong with this pretty color palette for Christmas, and the image made me think of a traditional Christmas feel. So…here's my card…

 

 

 

Here is the Challenge Inspiration Image:

 

 

 

 

The "Peace" stamp is from an OLD All Night Media set that I've had for years. The flowers are from Prima and the patterned paper is Basic Grey. The stamp image has these little dots around the word and I thought…hey…why not add some bling! So I used pretty golden rhinestones to add some pop. Olive green is a favorite color of mine…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
   

Whew…I'm so excited to post this card! Monday was my day off and I spent the better part of the day creating this one! Seriously, I think it took me like five hours! Stamping, coloring, cutting, glittering, more cutting, more stamping, more glittering! Hahaha. Hero Arts is having a contest for December with a color challenge of kraft, cranberry, slate blue, pine green and white. I used all five! The contest also called for "adding shine" and I did that in the form of glitter. The prize is $50 in products! Woo Woo! Wish me luck! I had a lot of fun making this one and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for stopping by today.

 

 

 

  

 

 
The first thing I did (after choosing my Hero Arts stamp set and stamping the images in black) was to pick out markers in the challenge color palette. That way, I knew I would just color all the houses in those shades. This also made the finished project look uniform and eye catching. Yup, I used ALL those markers! It was fun mixing it up on each house. I love this set!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next step was to make my background for this wee village. I stamped the trees in Adirondack Bottle Green ink which is a nice deep pine green. I stamped the snowflakes in Brilliance White ink.

 

 

I had to add some bling to my snowy scene by making my own glitter mixture. I took some plain chunky white glitter and added Prisma Glitter to it. Before I put the glitter on, I edged the snow in a light blue ink.

 

 

Here's my scene…now the hard part…trying to fit all those houses on there! Hahaha. My finished card is 4.25 x 8.5 inches. Sometimes you just need more room to stamp, ya know? I put the scene on a kraft base, then a layer of cranberry.

 
 

The houses all have prisma glitter where the snow parts are. It's really hard to photograph glitter…trust me I tried! When I mounted the houses onto the card I put them on with double sided foam tape so they pop up off the card.

 

 

 

 

 

 
  

Today I have a treat to share…and some stamping! One of my favorite treats to make and share at Christmas time is Peppermint Bark! MMMMMM. I love anything minty and chocolatey. Peppermint Mochas…York patties…and Peppermint Bark. It's super easy to make (although really messy) and a nice treat to give others. Everyone seems to like it. I had fun this year documenting the process for you and making some cute tags to put on the boxes and bags. I hope you decide to try it!

All you need to make Peppermint Bark is Chocolate, Candy Canes, and Peppermint Extract! How easy is that? I like to buy Ghirardelli Chocolate because it seems more creamy to me. Don't use old chocolate because it won't melt nicely.

Melting chocolate is simple, but you need to take your time so it doesn't scorch. I make it in the microwave! I like to use pyrex glass for the melting process. Put all the chocolate chips in the dish and microwave for about one minute. Stir and then microwave again at 30 second intervals…stirring each 30 seconds. To make it shiny, you can add about a teaspoon of crisco to the chocolate.

 
 

Once your darker chocolate is melted (you can use milk chocolate or semi sweet or dark – your preference! I like to mix semi sweet and dark together) spoon it onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. spread it around to try to get a nice even layer. Then put it in the fridge. You want it very hard and cold before doing the next step.  

 

 

Now, the fun part! Smashing candy canes! Put them in a freezer bag and take out your agressions! Hee hee. You want some little chunks left for decoration. Now, melt your white chocolate same as the darker chocolate. After your white chocolate is melted, put in 1-2 teaspoons of Peppermint extract and candy cane chunks and stir, stir, stir!

 
 

 

Take the darker chocolate out of the fridge and spoon the white chocolate on top. I like mine very separate, but some people wait for the hot white chocolate to melt the dark chocolate and swirl it. After you put on the white chocolate mixture, sprinkle more candy cane pieces on top! Then stick it back in the refrigerator.

 

 

This time around, I tried making some in this little silicone mini muffin thingee I have. It ended up making them like little candies instead of the traditional bark.

 

Let it cool for a long time – at least a few hours. Take your bark out of the fridge and break it into pieces. Now it's ready to eat!

 

 

I wish my computer had smell-o-vision so you could smell the minty-ness of this! It smells so fresh and yummy. Doesn't taste bad either (of course I had to taste test it, right?)

 

 

Here's how the little candy ones came out:

 

 

 
 

 

Next, to start on the tags! I used this cute set from PTI – Tiny Treats Xmas – for the first set. I used Kiwi Kiss and Real Red inks from Stampin' Up and a giant punch I have had for years.

 

 

For giving out, I used some of these boxes from Wilton. They are about four inches square and I found them at Joann's Crafts in the cake making section. Line the box with wax paper in case the chocolate melts.

 

 

Ready to go!

 

 

 

 
 

I ended up making three kinds of tags…of course, all with a peppermint theme! These were all the stamps I had that were candy cane related! Do you love that little penguin guy? SO cute!

 

 

I used a few Copics for the image. I added glitter glue to the white parts of the candy cane and his hat. I put two leaf punches together to make it look like a wreath on the bottom.

 

 

I only had a few of the boxes, so the rest of my treats went into cello bags and glassine bags. I stapled them shut and then double-sided taped the tags onto the front. Pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 
 

 

Whew! Friday it is! Two weeks before Christmas and one day before the hubs' birthday. Dang…talk about busy bees. This week went by in a flash. DH gets a wee bit jealous every year since my birthday seems to last an entire month and the poor dear only gets one day. So in honor of him, this week we have been celebrating the six nights of Markukkah aka Markmas. He has been taken out for dinner each night and also given a present each night! It's been a fun treat for us…and tomorrow is his birthday. Happy Birthday darlin'!

My card for today is a little Christmas snow globe. I had fun trying out different images inside the adorable snowglobe until I found just the right one. It seems easier than it was to get something in that darn thing. The snow globe stamp is from Memory Box and the girl/bird is from Amuse. Hope you likey. Hope your weekend is full of joy and merriment for the season.

 

 

I decided to go really bright, bold and cheery with this card. This shade of citrusy clear green is one of my all time favorite colors. How can you be in a bad mood when you see that color?

 

My Copic palette:

 

I had to bust out the stamp-a-majig to fit her in there just perfectly! Every time I get it out I think to myself…self…you need to use that more often! 🙂

 
 

I put some chunky white glitter on her coat and hat and on the tree. I used some stickles glitter glue to add some snow inside the globe. Use BG000 to edge the circle…to make it look like glass.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Today's card is a patriotic card I made for a young, brand new soldier. One of my favorite things to do is custom cards for people. (Actually it probably is my favorite kind of card to make!) A really nice lady I work with has a son who is in boot camp right now. She had me make a card to send him, to let him know he is sorely missed at home. Also, today is Pearl Harbor Day, so I thought I would post this card in tribute to all our veterans, current and past. It was nice to get out some other stamps besides snowflakes and trees and ink up some stars and stripes!

 

 

The font for the word Jeremy is called "Top Secret" and I found it on dafont.com! I love that site…free fonts everywhere! I am sort of a font junkie and I always will look to find just the perfect one to fit the idea I'm cooking up. Definitely check it out. I highlighted the link for you!

 
 

Partial supplies list… The stamp set is called Vintage USA and is from Close To My Heart. I like the vintage-y masculine feel to the set. Three different sizes of stars and love the flag image. I also used my versamark ink for the stars that are on the red paper background. I forgot to put that in the photo.

 

 

 

 

I jazzed up the envelope (just a little!!) to make it match the card. Printed his name larger and matted it on a piece of navy cardstock. Went a bit crazy with the stars… 

 

I printed the inside on the computer also and then left some room for writing…added some of the patterned paper to tie it together. I hope he likes the card and that it reminds him that he is doing a good thing! 

 
Lots of love, until we meet again…