Happy Tree Fun!

Happy Tuesday friends!  And Happy Belated Veterans Day to those that are serving or have served...we thank you and appreciate your service to the US.  Its supposed to be cold and snowy today here in VA...eeek...I HATE WINTER and COLD...yup, I'm a SNOW HATER.  The cold weather has already put a damper on my level of energy and my joints are aching so I'm counting down until Spring is upon us again LOL.  Good for you that love it, but I just am not a fan. I simply wouldn't care if the only place I ever saw snow again was in my snowglobes ;) and that's the honest truth.

However I am getting excited about the upcoming holidays and have already started many projects, ordered my photo cards and am pulling out the decorations for my 10 trees this year...gotta start early ya' know!  You can see some other fun holiday projects I've done on my other blog HERE if you missed them.

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Holiday Tree Decorations!

Today I'm sharing some ornaments I made with the sweet Magnolia stamps from Magnolia-licious.  Today kicks off the newest Tuesday Challenge at the Magnolia-licious Challenge Blog and its winter themed!  Hope you can join in with us and hop on over when you get a chance to see the gorgeous DT projects! 

I used stamps from the newest "Winter Wonderland 2013" Collection of Magnolia Stamps at Magnolia-licious...both regular and mini sized!

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I picked up some sweet wood holiday ornaments in different shapes at AC Moore the other day (I got 12..shhh..I'm a hoarder)!  They were only 70 cents each...DEAL!  I knew I was going to make some fun ornaments with them and couldn't wait to use some with my Magnolia stamps.  I spray painted these two in white gloss paint...2 coats...before I got started decorating!

For this first ornament I used super sweet "The Day Before Christmas Edwin" and colored him up with Copics.  Then I added both Stickles (Star Dust) and MS Snow Glitter (my fave) to the snow on the tree he's peeking thru.  I also used the snow glitter on the frame surrounding the image.  The holly swirls and pineneedles are Memory Box dies that I inked with darker green SU ink.  Then I diecut the sentiment banner (PTI) and stamped it with a holiday sentiment.  A bow and hanger finish it off.  I usually let my ornaments dry 24 hours really good before I spray them with an acrylic acid-free sealer...that way they last over the years and help prevent damage.

I cut my image out with an oval die in my Cuttlebug and glued to the back of the frame, then I cut another oval out of holiday paper to place over it in the back once I was all finished.  That way the back looks nice too because we all know ornaments have a way of "spinning" on the tree :)

On this second one I used was "Show The Way Rudolph" (I used the MINI version, it comes in regular size too here)...isn't he a cutie-patootie!?  He was colored with Copics & TouchTwin markers as well.  I cut the image out leaving room for a sentiment at the top (sentiment by PTI).  I used MS Snow Glitter on the image and around the frame as well and stamped a few snowflakes around the image too.  Another Memory Box die cut border was used to cut 2 borders and add to each side of the frame.  I also punched a few snowflakes out of aqua cardstock, cut a few in half and added them around the frame.  Then one for the bow topped with a button and twine.

Hope you enjoyed this post and maybe want to make a few ornaments of your own!

Have a wonderful week!

Entering these into the following fab Linky Parties:

The DIY Dreamer
Commona-My House
Savvy Southern Style
Domestic Superhero

A Packin' Post!!

Hiya & Happy Thursday friends!! This is a jam packed post for you today, including a BLOG HOP & a NEW RELEASE, so I will keep my chitter chatter to a minimum & the supplies will be in recipe form for ya! Glad to know that I'm not the only paper and craft supply hoarder, hee hee---I knew it was a widespread sickness!! Some of you buy megapacks of paper (never even heard of those thank goodness) and some of you buy 4-5 sheets of each---whoa nelly!! You all gave me a good giggle--yesterday was a very long day so it was fun to read all your comments as they came in!! The sad thing is, if there is a 12 step plan I think we'd all FAIL!! LMBO!

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So today we have a fun "Find-It Lockhart Stamp" BLOG HOP from Susana's Custom Art & Card Design DT for ya! The "Find-It" part means that you have to find something in all the DT's projects that are hidden and the hidden picture is a PINK HEART!! Each DT gal has a different number of hearts hidden in their projects so you have to keep track as you hop along. When you're done hopping, hop over to the store blog HERE to leave a comment for a chance at a fabulous prize AND if you are picked randomly and have left the right # of hearts in your comment, you can win an ADDITIONAL PRIZE!! All details are on the store blog as well, 'kay!

(Hint: all the hearts are in my first project picture below)

Well, Mr. Brown (UPS) came just in time yesterday bringing all my new PTI goodies so I quickly switched up my plan for what I was going to do. I decided to make holiday notepad planners using two of the fabulous Lockhart Stamp Co. Christmas Trees "Cranberry & Popcorn Tree" & "Della Robia Tree" that you can find HERE! Karen Lockhart makes the best holiday stamps as you will see when you hop around to the DT's blogs!! And ALL of my projects today fit in the Paper Play Challenge this week to use your favorite embellishment--well duh, mine is all about BLING, hee hee (rhinestones, pearls, glitter, stickles)!!!

As you probably know I am a manic list maker and no time more than the holidays--we've all got lots of lists to keep, so these can come in super handy. They're thin & easy to store in your tote or purse. The lil' notepads are from PTI and I just made a simple cover for each planner, very easy to do (PTI has a downloadable template HERE, but I just made my own since I had issues downloading it).

This tree was embossed in Gold Zing embossing powder & then I lightly colored w/ my Copics in a few areas. I also added some stardust stickles to some areas for sparkle.

This shows the inside; on the left I took one sheet of the notepad and drew lines with my Gold Spica pen to create a section that can list names and a small box that can be checked off. The right side holds the actual notepad so you can make lots of to-do & to-buy lists! I love these!

RECIPE: Zing embossing pwdr, gold spica pen, Graphic 45 holiday papers, PTI cardstock, PTI "Take Note" stamp set, Lockhart "Cranberry & Popcorn Tree" stamp, copics, PTI Vintage Cream notepads, PTI ribbon, Fiskars border punch, Bella Baubles in Goldilocks, Nestabilities, Scor-Tape

Since my first planner was very traditional I decided to switch it up and make this one very trendy & sassy! Nothing says that bettah' to me than hot pink & black for Christmas!! I colored this tree with pink and gray Copics, then added stickles and diamond glaze to some of the ornaments. All of the patterned papers & cardstock are from Paper Trey Ink as is the ribbon.


This one I made the inside a bit different--I put the notepad on the right and made a small pocket on the left so you could slip receipts or notes in. Easy to do with some leftover cs & dp and a little bit of Scor-Tape.

RECIPE: Lockhart "Della Robia Tree" stamp, PTI papers & ribbon, stardust stickles, diamond glaze, spica pen in black, scor-tape, rhinestones, Inkssentials blending tool, PTI white notepads

Well hope you liked my holiday planners that I made for the HOP today!!
**Now to hop along on this BLOG HOP you're next stop is DIANNE!! **
If you get lost along the way, the blog hop list is on the store blog HERE!

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Pink Cat Studio Digi Stamp Release

So another fun Digi Stamp release from Pink Cat Studio today as well--so much eye candy!! These new images are just holiday fabulous I tell ya! This card I did above uses "Snowflake Fairy Lily" & I think she's just a beauty! I wanted to keep all my colors limited to white & soft aqua (SU soft sky) to match some of my favorite Heidi Grace papers (yes, that I hoard) for an icy, frosty feel! I printed her out and colored her with copics (don't ya love her frosty hair, hee hee) and cut her out so I could pop her up. I cut a circle with my Nestabilities from the center of the card and replaced it with a transparency that I stamped snowflakes on with Staz-On ink. My snowflakes are a mix of punches and SU's felt snowflakes that I glittered up with my Martha Stewart Snow Glitter (love, love that stuff)! I added lots of clear rhinestones and pearls to everything for lots of sparkly bling and of course some stickles. The sentiment is from PTI that I added more frosty Snow Glitter too! A fun & frosty holiday card for ya!

Second card uses the new digi stamp "Lily Winter Coat"--I love that Melissa is making some Lily's for all the digi stamp lovers out there! Isn't she just a doll dressed up in her wintry finery?! I used some of my favorite Basic Grey "Wassail" papers to make a traditional holiday card. I distressed the edges of my cardstock and layered Lily using my oval nestability shapes. Lily has sparkle fluff on her muff and hat trim--so fuzzy & sparkly and the cute birdies got diamond glaze on them! I made a double bow with my Bow Easy and added a mix of flowers that I had in my stash. The lil' "JOY" sentiment is from a PTI set as well. Now make sure & stop by the Pink Cat Studio Digi Store HERE to see all the fabulous digi stamps and projects by the DT!

Would you like to try digital stamping for free? Melissa has created an informative tutorial to show you how easy it is to download and print digital stamps. In the tutorial there is a free digi stamp that you can download and try out.

Here is a link to the tutorial if you would like to give it a try: http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/Digital/Tutorials/DigiStamps_TestItOut.htm

Melissa also has a fun CONTEST going on at her blog HERE--so make sure & stop by to enter!!

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Whew, I'm tired now--how 'bout you? LOL! I'll see ya back here tomorrow with ANOTHER BLOG HOP from the Magnolia-licious DT, so come back tomorrow 'kay and get some rest, LOL!!


hugz,
Suzanne

Silent Night!!

Happy Monday morning to you all! We survived the weekend and hopefull you did too, lol! Octoberfest was a blast even though we got a quick rainshower which the kids loved playing in--but it was steamy hot for sure. My Copic class was fun and hopefully the girls came away with some good tips and learned something! And my football team, the Redskins won their game yesterday so all is good!! But as always I'm sending out good thoughts and prayers to those who are suffering from the aftermath of big, bad Hurricane Ike! Hopefully that's the last of those kinda storms for the coast, here here!!

I'm just posting one card for ya today. I have lots to share with you this week though, so stay tuned. I actually colored this image at my Copic class I did on Saturday and knew I had to make another card with her. I love this Willow by Whiff of Joy (illustrated by the fabulous Elisabeth Bell)--she is definitely my favorite, just so beautiful and elegant for the holidays (not to mention that her dress is super fun to color). I wanted to use some colors that aren't always associated with Christmas but are lovely just the same. I chose to use this dp from Memory Box called "Frost"(absolutely love all their holiday paper) and incorporate the lilac colors throughout my card and image. **NOTE--I just found out that Christine from All That Scraps is carrying most of the Whiff of Joy stamps--yippee! So for you in the US this is wonderful!**

After coloring her with my Copics, I added sparkle with my Copic Atyou Spica markers (if you haven't tried them you really should)--a softer, finer sparkle than Stickles. The only problem is they don't photograph as well as the Stickles, so in real life this card really sparkles! The sentiment is from Cornish Heritage Farms "Christmas Expressions" by Mona Lisa Moments--wonderful for Xmas. I also added pearls to the center of the dp's snowflakes to match the snowflake flowers by K&Company. I wanted her to look as though she was floating thru a snowy night--so whatcha think? BTW, sneak peeks of the new Whiff of Joy stamps will be coming real soon--wait until you see them, omgosh just so fun and beautiful!! Katharina will also be having sneak peeks on her blog too!

If you didn't go to Paper Trey Ink's release party last nite (super fun) then you should definitely check out their new releases. The stamps, paper and ribbon, oh my--I had to have it all :)

See ya tomorrow,

Suzanne

Christmas Blitz!!

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope you're enjoying your holiday weekend so far. I got to spend time in my craft room today--yippee--because we are having friends over tomorrow and going to the pool for the day. I've been able to finish a lot of projects on my to-do list which always makes me feel better!

I made two cards for ya today and both are Christmas--what can I say, these stamps are too cute to not use right now! I have to tell you that I have more fun coloring these images--I just love it! Both cards use the new stamps from Whiff of Joy's Charlotte and Charlie stamps. And wait to you see what Katharina is releasing next week--omgosh, I looooovvvveee them! You need to hop on over to her blog to see some of the new stamps by Elisabeth Bell coming out, just so lovely--you'll want them all! I hope to have them in the next few days so I can give you some "peeks" and possibly some blog candy too!! Stay tuned....

Alrighty, onto the cards! These cards use "Charlotte Decorating the Christmas Tree" stamp--isn't she just a cutie all dressed up and "Charlie Building Snowman". I used Memory Box's "Winterberry" dp on both of these cards--I love that paper, gonna have to order some more ( I get mine from Ellen Hutson)! The images are colored w/ my Copics of course :)! I cut both the snowman and Charlotte on the stool out and popped them up on the cards for lots of dimension--it really makes your card feel extra special to have a 3-D element on it ya know. The sentiment on Charlotte's card is by PTI's "Holiday Wishes" set and the sentiment on Charlie's card is from Sweet 'n Sassy's "Snow Friends" set. Pretty much just layering of cs after that. I did want to make Charlotte's card a little more "vintage" so I inked the edges with brown Colorbox ink and added some corner brackets (SU punch) and buttons.

Ok, hope you like my lil' bit of Christmas for ya in August :) Have a great weekend! See ya Tuesday!!

Suzanne

What...More Christmas!!

Good Thursday Morning to ya! Hope everyone is doing well so far and I'm hoping all my blogger friends in Florida are staying safe with that Hurricane coming to town. I don't want a hurricane, but if we could get just a little bitta rain, that would be wonderful--it is pathetically dry and brown here in VA. I'm typing this up (last nite) while watching the Olympics again and feeling an increasing urge to get in my bed. I am extremely tired and feel like I might be coming down with somethin' not so good--hope it passes me by, we'll see...but it's definitely slowin' me down!

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***BLOG CANDY ALERT*** If you haven't entered for my blog candy here, you still have until 11 pm EST to do so. I will be picking a winner on Friday using that random # thingy (have yet to try it--hope I can figure it out--lol) and posting by 2 pm on Friday.

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I know what you're thinking...its August, what's with the Christmas stuff? I just really love my stamps from Whiff of Joy, they are so much fun to color and you know how much I love to color--I find it so relaxing. I had seen this Joy Fold technique card on All That Scraps blog and wanted to try it out. This stamp is called "Carol Singing Charlotte", isn't she the cutest thing? I so had to use this holiday sheet music dp (from Recollections last year) that I've been hoarding and paired it with the poinsettia dp from Daisy D's. I colored her with Copics and inked around the edges with my Memento dew drop in desert sand, highlighted w/ Inkssentials pen, black stickles on the music notes and diamond stickles on her furry cap. The clip and ribbon are both from Michaels, flowers are Primas. On the inside of the card I used some of my new Inkadinkado stamps for the sentiment and the ivy (Ornate Christmas and Winter Trails). I was quite pleased with the end result, whaddya think? I'm entering this into the Caardvarks challenge--you have to use something on your card with "music"--I think this works, yes?

I have a confession--I ordered 800 coasters from a restaurant supply store 6 months ago and they sit under my desk day after day after day. I have made it a personal challenge to make a project with them once a week to justify my purchasing them--lol! I thought the quilt stamps from PTI's "Quilters Sampler" would make a wonderful Christmas ornament. I wanted to make this ornament kinda country vintage so I really distressed/inked up the edges of the dp (by Memory Box). The quilt blocks are colored with Copics and mounted on many layers of cs. The reverse side's sentiment is from PTI's "Quilters Sampler Sentiments" and I just love it. I used my nesties to cut the ovals out. The buttons are from Michaels and the delish ribbon is new from PTI (yes I got my big box of new goodies yesterday--can't wait to share)--its their new poppy color, just a beautiful red and perfect for the upcoming holidays. I have a ladies holiday luncheon every year and I'm going to make these as their favors/gifts to hang on their trees. I need to make one for myself too--I am a Christmas fanatic and I have 8 trees (this year will be 9) that I decorate every December all in different themes (I will post pictures for ya in December) and yes I am that CRAZY, but I love it!!

Alrighty, I'm outta here! Much to do, lots to catch up on and blah, blah, blah--LOL!!

Suzanne

A Whiff of Christmas!

Good Sunday morning to you all! As you are reading this, I am on my way to Philadelphia w/ my hubby (no kids, no dogs, & no cats--yeehaw)!! We are really enjoying our downtime and I'm sooo looking forward to walking around the city and eating some great food. We love to eat good food and we love all kinds of food, so its always fun to find great, new restaurants in different places. Last night we went to a fondue restaurant and it was really fun, but I ate wayyy too much...will definitely have to walk all these calories off while we're away :) I will probably only have 1 more post for ya while I'm away, but I'll be back next Sunday with some new stuff and some pics for ya.

I got my new stamps from Katharina today for A Whiff of Joy (a great perk of getting to be a Guest Designer for her)--I just had to ink them up and share one project with you before my vacay. They are sooooo cute--I love them all---go check them out when you get a chance!!! I also love that she included some cute boy images in her stamps (his name is Charlie and hers is Charlotte). This particular image I used is called "Winter Charlotte w/ Cat"--ya know I'm always partial to stamp images w/ animal friends on them!! I used traditional holiday colors for this card--you can never go wrong with green & red, ya know!! I love this new dp from Imagnisce's "Snowy Jo" line, the colors are softer and the patterns are really nice.

This card is 5.5x5.x5" and I used SU always artichoke cs for the card base. I wanted to give Charlotte a scene to stand in front of, but I didn't want it to overpower her--so I stamped a Christmas tree from the SU set "Tis the Season" onto PTI's spring moss cs, then added liquid applique (heated to puff up) to the tree and ground. I also drew small snowflakes with an SU marker and then added diamond stickles to the snowflakes and on top of the liquid applique. Charlotte was colored with Copics and then diamond stickles were added to her hat trim and muff (I love my sparkles)! I cut her out and added to layers of dimensionals (one on top of the other) to really pop her up from the "scene".

The skinny piece of red cs was embossed with one of my CB embossing folders and then I wrapped some sheer white ribbon around it and tied off. The sentiment is from SU's set "Circle of Friendship" and layered onto cs that was punched out with my circle punches and scalloped nestabilities. I placed the sentiment on top of a red Prima flower and then layered with the scalloped circles and placed on top of the bow's knot. For a final touch I added 3 red dew drops to the top of the card--ta da!!!

I hope you like it and hope it gets ya in the Xmas spirit (at least for a few minutes, right)! Make sure and check out Katharina's stamps when ya get a chance. I will share more projects with these stamps when I return. Have a great week and see ya soon!!

Suzanne

Snow in July!!!

Hello everyone! Hope your Wednesday is going well. I have to say a big "YIPEE"--know why? Cuz' I FINISHED all of the 20 Dirty Girl Challenges today on SCS---yeah me!! I did it and can't believe I did it, it was fun, tiring and challenging that's for sure. I'll share some of the challenge cards with you over the next week or so.

So today I got some happy mail from my blogger friend Heidi. We swapped images--she sent me some oh so adorable Precious Moments images and I sent her Sarah Kay images. I want all of these Precious Moments stamps--LOVE them! I have alot of Precious Moments figurines, my mom started buying them for me when I was little and I have a ton!! Of course they're going for a small fortune over on Ebay, but I have my lil' eye on a couple that I want (don't ask me what I'm willing to pay cuz' you might faint away-lol)!! So, I'm sssssooooo thankful to Heidi for sending me a bunch, especially the Xmas ones--just darling.

Since I was so excited to get these PM images I just had to use one today. I decided to do the challenge over on Our Creative Corner this week--it's to make a Christmas card in July. Now I am definitely not one to get going on my holiday stuff early especially when it feels like 100 degrees outside--ya know what I mean? I love Christmas (I am a xmas addict and will have 9 trees in my house this year--yes I am a fanatic--I will post pics in December) but I just can't into the mood until fall when the kids go back to school--I want to enjoy the summer, not worry about how many days I have to make my xmas cards-lol!!

Ok, onto the deets of this card. I watercolored the image with my SU inkpads and Twinkling H2O's. I added some stickles to some of the Xmas decorations and put on liquid applique and puffed it w/ my heat gun for the snow. The yummy Xmas dp is from Basic Grey's "fruitcake" line that I got last year. I paired it w/ some Bazzill cs that I had. I used my nestabilities to cut out all of the circles (gosh, how I {heart} those things). The ribbon is from Michaels and those cutie-patootie white glitter dots I got from Gina K (love em--want them all)--don't they look like snowballs? The silver snowflake I got in a pack from AC Moore last year and I added a glitter dot to the middle and attached it to the ribbon center. For the final touch I used my Inkssentials pen to highlight the image some and add dots to the scalloped circle.

So there ya go--Merry Xmas in July!! It was fun to make, but I think I'll save my Xmas creations for the fall--I'm still on summer TIME people!! Until tomorrow...

Suzanne