SCS Blogger 3 Challenge 3

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!!

Well, our 3rd challenge has arrived. First, it was a sketch challenge with a Christmas theme or summer theme (it was still before Christmas when this started).

I used some of the leftover pp from our Christmas cards, added the red strip down the middle with some ribbon I had bought for the cards, but never used.

The bella was from the image swap I participated in with my blogger group. I colored her with copics, did my first shadowing (!), edged the sides with versamark and heat embossed red glitter powder. I added a bit of red stickles to her shoes and the wreath.

The voting will begin tomorrow... I'll be back with the link once I have it!

Enjoy!

Kristin

MFT Sketch

This was an MFT sketch that I tried the weekend before Christmas. I used some more CTMH pp's from my friend Melissa (love this paper!).

I paper pieced the tub, colored with copics and used glossy accents on the the metal parts. Then, did some sponge distressing on all the papers, including the card base. I even distressed the ribbon b/c it was a little too pink.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Faux Silk technique

SCS challenge on 12/22 was to try a new technique: Faux Silk. To see the video tutorial for this... go here.

I used the SCS Sketch challenge from the 24th as well...

The verve butterfly stamp and sentiment is my only Verve stamp set... but I love it! I paired it with a butterfly border set that I've had since I first started stamping.

I simply used CTMH Hydrangea ink, with pp I've had for awhile.

This is not my favorite technique or sketch, but isn't this about trying something NEW??? That's how we know what we do or don't like!!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Disney world LO... FINALLY!!

Well, for all my long time friends... I have FINALLY finished the Disneyworld layout for Jake. Took forever!!

I was able to pull it together fairly quickly... I used a sketch from the CTMH Cherish book, all the pics were 4x6 that I cut down to either 4x4 or 3x3 (got lucky).

I distressed a lot with Ranger inks, and typed up the journalling (even using my DW font!).

Can't wait to go back!
Kristin

More to come!!

Hi all! I've finally gotten some time to myself today. I've made (finally!) Jake's disneyworld LO (from last year!!), and 2 cards. I'm working on a 3rd now.

If I get time to upload pics and write some posts tonight, they should be up starting tomorrow.

Also, I've done the next challenge card for my blogging group. Check in on the 31st to see the card and on the 1st to get to the link for voting.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Merry Christmas

Luke 2:1-20 (New International Version)

The Birth of Jesus
1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.
4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
The Shepherds and the Angels 8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Matthew 2:1-12 (New International Version)

The Visit of the Magi (Wise Men)
1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east[b] and have come to worship him."
3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ[c] was to be born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: 6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'[d]"
7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east[e] went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Sleigh pic at the Gaylord Texan...

Card and Tree...

Okay, Christmas is soooo close. Can you tell? Hopefully, the chaos is settling down and the merriment of the season is picking up. Maybe it's warm where you live, or cold... here in TX it's both! Simultaneously! Ha!

This is a pick of our tree in our living room. Terry does such a great job every year putting it up. I do the ornaments, but he does the rest. I collected snowmen for many years, so you might see a few :-). I have one of those lighted towns from my sister when I got married, and except 1 year, it always is up.


This will be the last card I show till after Christmas. I used Taylor's sketch challenge TECC47
but paired it with the Bella color challenge #59. The CTMH colors were Buttercup, Outdoor Denim, and Sorbet. I don't have buttercup cs, so I used PTI Lemon tart (shhhh!). And, if it weren't for my good friend Melissa (my CTMH consultant), I wouldn't have had any Sorbet. But, the pp in the pic is Sorbet (pretty isn't it?... cross between pink and peach).

The flowers are there b/c of a mistake when I was cutting out the scallop circle on my cricut. I just can't get my mats to stay sticky for very long! Oh well. The bella baubles finish out the flower and the 3 "dots".

Next couple of posts will be non-stamping stuff!

Merry christmas!

Kristin

Pretty Bella- Image Swap

My blogger group had an image swap a few weeks ago. I got my images this last week and didn't get to play until this weekend!

This is jammybella. Isn't she cute?? I pulled out some unloved CM Gazebo paper that I bought when Emma was a newborn. I used it a couple of times in the kids scrapbooks, but finally made it card paper. Still didn't use it much!

Anyway, once I picked the papers, I colored her in copics to match. Then, I paper pierced the main image, matted her and tied the ribbon.

Once I decide who she'll go to, I'll stamp the sentiment.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Altered Bag for Teacher gift

Sorry that the pic is crooked, I took this about 6:15 am before we had to take it to school for Jake's teacher!

I wanted to alter the bag of monogramed stationary and CASED an idea from Sharon Johnson's No Time to Stamp?

I used some of the same paper from our Christmas cards and paired it up with an ivory/offwhite cs. I used the Swiss dots cuttlebug folder on the 2 larger cs pieces, and one of those small folders with the heart/package image. I also used the Threading Water punch for the scallops. I did a lot of distressing- b/c I wanted too! :-)

Enjoy!

Kristin

Christmas Cards!

Hopefully, by the time this is posted, most everyone will have rec'd their card from us. If not, don't look! lol.

Anyway, I originally started out wanted to reproduce the same card. Yet, I kept running out of supplies, so I gave in and started using various supplies, but the same layout and idea.

These are the 7 different versions. All using supplies I either bought last year or this year at various stores. I don't know if I'll do this again! I think making a variety of cards that look different might be more the way to go.

I stamped all the insides with the same sentiment, and used a coordinating star stamp on the envelopes.

I used red and gold stickles on the main image panel... red for the wreaths and holly and gold for the wreaths and tops of the trees.


Enjoy! and Merry christmas!

Kristin

Gone Fishin'

When we visited Terry's family in September, Jake got to go fishing for the first time in granny's pond. This is the pond that EVERYONE goes fishing at in Terry's family.

Jake had actually brought it up (who knows why) several weeks before we went, and Terry set the whole thing up.

Jake had so much fun (even caught a bigger fish than Terry!).

I used CTMH Rustic Trail (apparently been around for awhile, but I love this paper!) and a layout from the CTMH Cherish book. I also used the CTMH stamp set (Outdoors, or something, I borrowed it and have already returned it). I also used Cricut PDDU (so VERSATILE!!) to cut out some fish. I think this layout turned out so great!

Enjoy!

Kristin

One Sheet Wonder and Cards

I keep seeing people in blog land talking about One Sheet Wonder (OSW). It's from Stampin' Up and you take a series of stamps and colors on a piece of plain cs and stamp either a pattern or randomly on the cs. Then, you cut that paper up to make cards.

I used 3 stamps from CTMH sets: Friendship Blessings, With Love, and Love in Bloom. I used CTMH inks: Watermelon, Amethyst, and Buttercup for the main images, and from the same sets I used smaller stamps in Bubblegum, Topiary, and Chocolate.


I intended on making 3 cards, but didn't like 1 at all and trashed it.

The first card is my favorite. It was Taylor's Cupcake challenge, but you don't have to use cupcakes (good thing!).

I cut up the OSW into 2 identical pieces and glued to PTI Lemon Tart cs. I cut out an add'l piece of cs and used my punch to scallop the bottom. I then stamped a sentiment from CTMH Follow your Dreams.

Then, I used Lauren Meader's Saturday sketch
for the 2nd card. I am not as happy with this one b/c the colors aren't what I would have picked.

I cut out one of the flowers and popped it up, then stamped the sentiment and adhered it. I also used my scallop punch on this.

I also used PTI on this card as the cs base (Chocolate) and the Chocolate Remix pp.

Try a sheet of OSW yourself... let me see it.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Vote for our challenge cards

Here's the link for the cards for our most recent challenge...

Blogger 3 Challenge 2

Please go and vote for your favorite card!!

Kristin

SCS Blogger 3 Challenge 2

Our newest Blogger challenge was a "Flap Card" either with a Christmas theme or a summer holiday.

As you can see, I picked Christmas!

I used some textured Bazzill red cs as my base and the same kind, but in green, as the accents/mats. The pp and ribbon I bought last year after Chrismtas when it was on sale.

I stamped the penquin in CTMH black, paper pieced his hat and scarf from the same red cs. I colored his beak and feet with copics. I used stickles on the trim of the hat and pom pom, then covered it with glossy accents (after the stickles had dried).

I used my cricut to cut the 2 circles to layer and pierced the image.


On the inside I used rub ons that matched the paper on the outside.

I glued the ribbon on the bottom part of the flap, so that when I tied it the card would stay closed.


TOMORROW, the voting will begin!

I'll post the link here on my blog.




Enjoy!

Kristin

SC 205

An old friend had a birthday and this was the card I made her from the SCS 205 sketch. I used the D'Vine swirls folder and then cut apart the three rectangles. I highly recommend cutting and THEN embossing, but live and learn!

I stamped the MFT image in CTMH Holiday Red, then White Daisy ink for the icing- I heat embossed it and stamped the sprinkles in red and used stickles on them.

I layered everything on some old CM cs I found and tied a cute AC Ribbon on, and done!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Mojo 63

I sorta went to town on the bling! I used the Mojo 63 sketch from Julee at Verve stamps.

I put white Bazzill Bling cs as my base, then stamped my snowflakes in glue and poured blue glitter over them. While that was drying, I stamped my sentiment and then main image. I paper pieced the snowman, and colored his nose, candy cane, and water with copics. I matted both on more snowflake paper.

Put all the layers together and added more sparkly ribbon and done!

Enjoy!

Kristin

SC 204 Spring in December!

The other day I wanted to use a stamp that's been sitting in my "bucket"... it is a definite background stamp. Hmmm, what to do?

I decided to go with versamark and silver embossing powder. Then, found some pp that matched and paper pieced this butterfly image to coordinate.

I used my paper piercer to make it look like it had been flying around.

Last touch was the ribbon.

I know the colors are bright and springy, but sometimes you need that when it's 30 degrees in December in N Texas!!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Merry Christmas Mom!

I made my mom her christmas gift and am now finished. She doesn't write to a lot of people, so I only made 4 cards, but could make more if she needs them.

Just used pp I got from Sams- 1 side is pp and the other side is a coordinating solid color (love that!). Everything matches!

I used my monogram stamps, scallop circles on my cricut from Okie, and some ribbon. On 2 cards I used my Threading Water punch and lined the inside so the scallops would show up better. I also used Swiss dots folder on it for some added texture.

Last, I used Lauren's template for the holder. I made it at the craft day a couple of weeks ago.

Enjoy!

kristin

Going Away

Terry asked me a few weeks ago to make a "going away" card for a friend of his at work who had gotten a new job. Had to be a guy card. Well, I sorta forgot! So, on Tuesday he went to go buy a card!! *gasp* WHAT???!!!

So, I came home that night, got the kids down and started working. No time at all and I had this done. I scored the bottom and top of the white cs base. Used MM paper I bought at Big Lots last year for $3!! The stamp is CTMH, and I used my square nesties to cut and emboss it for a bit more elegance.

Now, the funny part?? When Terry gave this card to his friend (kinda a guy's guy)... the guy asked Terry if I had a cricut at home??? Too funny... Terry said yea, but how do YOU know what that is?? (apparently there is a new girl in this guy's life!)

Enjoy!

Kristin

October layout for Jake

First, sorry for the lighting. It was well after dark!

Anyway, I finally put Jake's October layout together. I tried to follow the sketch I used for Emma's (see here). (I scrap them chronologically and try to use the same sketch when I do the same event for them).

I used the CTMH Rough & Tumble papers/colors. I added some "ugly" brown ribbon (b/c he IS a boy!), a close up of the pumpkin, and a handmade tag.

I always try to do lots of distressing with inks and sandpaper on his layouts... I always feel the need to make his look very boyish, since I really go to town on Emma's with glitter! :-)

Enjoy!

Kristin

I tried a Zindorf!

Hi all! There is a true artist in the blogging/stamping world... Michelle Zindorf. She has these amazing tutorials on her blog using a rubber brayer and inks after clear embossing a colored stamp image.

I finally had to try. I inked this stamp up and colored with copics. I used versamark over the image and clear embossed it.

Then, I masked off the bottom and used CTMH amethyst, petal, and hydrangea (from lightest near the edge touching the brown and working to the top of the card) on the top. I masked the top part and then used CTMH chocolate, desert sand, and cocoa (moving from the purple to the bottom).

I stamped the sentiment, tied brown grosgrain ribbon ("earthtones" as my dh said- hehe) and matted the image panel. Finally, I matted on the white cs.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Please Vote!

Hi all! Remember this card? There is now a survey you can go to and vote on the winner between me and my blogging sisters. Please vote for your favorite (even if it's not mine... just don't tell me- haha).

The survey will be open until December 8th.

It is a zoomerang survey and very easy... go here

Enjoy!

Kristin

SCS Color Challenge 194

I had to make a quick Thank you card last week. I used the Color Challenge from last week. The gray cs is the base and I randomly stamped the leaf in gray. I used Autumn Terracotta (CTMH) cs and ran through the cuttlebug (not that you can tell... I made the vanilla cs too big!). I also stamped the leaf in AT and the sentiment in gray. I used 3 copper brads to finish it off.

Enjoy!

Kristin

SCS Blogger 3 Challenge 1

Good morning all! I can't believe yesterday was Thanksgiving... where exactly did this year go??



First, here's my card for the SCS Blogger Group 3, Challenge 1!! Saxon challenged us to use orange and yellow with at least 1 flower stamp. I decided to ink up Stamping Bella's Belinda Bumbleboots for the first time. I will not admit how many months she's been sitting in my stamping area!

Orange and yellow typically are not favorite colors of mine, but I am pretty happy with how this turned out. I stamped her on a sheet of CTMH Boom-Di-Ada paper (love this set!). Then, I stamped her again on a solid sheet of

paper, and finally on this cream colored cs. I paper pieced her umbrella, skirt, and pocket from her jacket from the pp. I colored and cut out the jacket, boots, and water from the solid sheet of cs and pieced it on. Finally, I colored her skin and hair directly on the cream cs. I used my glitter pen for the flowers in the umbrella and skirt and stickles on her wings.

I used the Bella Sketch Challenge 54. I layered the image panel on another piece of the BDAda pp, and layered that over a piece of MM autumn cs. I sponged CTMH chocolate ink around all the edges.

Then, I took a piece of PTI Lemon Tart cs as my base and masked off a 1/4" all around it. I stamped that small flower from the CTMH With Love set in versamark all over, and then a few times in chocolate for some pop. I then sponged the edges in chocolate, lifted the mask and had a great sharp line. I added a "Happy Everything" sentiment from the same set (couldn't resist since that's the name of my blog-lol). Finally, some brown grosgrain ribbon and it's done!

Please vote for my card! I could win everyone else's!

Enjoy!
Kristin

Happy Thanksgiving

No cards today... just a note to wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving (if in the states). Even if you are in Australia or Canada, or even Germany (you know who you are)... hug your loved ones and be thankful for all the blessings in your life.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Just a pretty card

At my craft day last Saturday, I took a sketch from Holly and turned it on it's side. I was going to use a color combo challenge, but this paper just called to me! They are scraps from Emma's 2nd bday lo. I paired it with CTMH Hollyhock and Garden Green and PTI lemon tart. The stamp set was borrowed from Lisa (CTMH... I *think* it's From Me to You). Awesome stamp set!! I really am very happy with this card.

Turned out better than expected... gotta love that!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Warm & Cozy

The challenge at SCS on Friday was "chocolate". You had to use some type of chocolate in the card... so I used A LOT!

I finally got to tear open the package of PTI Sweet Blush I got with my gift card, paired it up with PTI Chocolate (#1) cs, Chocolate (#2) pp, and Chocolate (#3) ribbon. I also used the SCS sketch challenge from last Friday (love those 2 for 1's).

I then stamped my images in CTMH Chocolate (#4) ink, which I sponged on all the edges, and finally used some other ink to create a cup of hot chocolate (#5) instead of coffee!

Enjoy!

Kristin

RAK cards

I joined the RAK group over at SCS and was made an official member on 11/12. I knew (from reading the forum) that I would be getting some "welcome" cards... I just had no idea how awesome it would be to open them.

I *knew* they would be beautiful.
I *knew* I would post them to the blog.

But, I really didn't know how great it would be to see the envelope and *know* it was a card for me. I make cards for everyone now. Husband, children, parents, best friends, other friends, etc. But to get these cards meant a lot. I knew how much of a labor of love they were... so I could fully appreciate them.

Thanks girls!

Enjoy!

Kristin

CRAFT day...

Yesterday we had a great time at our church crafting away the day... I am in the midst of getting pics uploaded so you'll see plenty this week!

Here are pics of all my friends working hard!

Enjoy-

Kristin

Gift Card Holder

Have you found Lauren Meader's blog? She is amazing. Recently, she partnered up with Papertrey Ink to sell her templates. But, last month and this month she offered a FREE one. I am ALL about free :-).

It was for a Recipe Wrap Up, or Gift card holder. For the baby shower I attended the other day, I made her a Baby Shower gift card holder.

I used CTMH white craft ink, white embosing powder, and white glitter on the flowers. I also used the Threading Water punch on the outside and inside. The cs is from OT stack and the pp I got a long time ago.

I have some cute fonts I've downloaded from Creating Keepsakes (FREE!) and one is Ali's handwriting. So, I printed this off and layered it onto the inside flap.

This was super easy, the embossing just took time.

Enjoy!

Kristin

December "Doc" Boxes

So, it's that time again at work... We make boxes to take to the physician offices who we are trying (and in some cases successfully) to get them to refer to us. For Christmas, I used the SCS Try a New Technique with these mini-Christmas trees. We used a CTMH stamp set, Breeze ink, and pp I've had since last Christmas. We stamped the scene, added the cut out hats, and assembled everything.

This DID take some time, don't know we'll be able to do it again!! The boxes open up so we can put a little candy in there!!








We made several... I really think they turned out cute!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Blog Candy #2

hey, Holly has some blog candy too! Hers is trickier... read the post carefully!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Blog Candy #1

Check out this blog candy over at Korin's blog for Sweet n Sassy stamps (cute stuff!)

Enjoy!

Kristin

Prayers...

Today, a young man (okay, close to my age) who is a friend of ours is having a bone marrow transplant in TN. His wife, Jessica, loves to scrapbook too. They have a 6 yo daughter. He has been through many rounds of chemo over the years (he came home from Iraq sick with cancer when his daughter was 18 months old). He has served our country well.

If you would like to follow their story, here's her blog:

Heart and Soul 4 God

Would you say a prayer for them today? They have travelled a long road, and yet still have a journey ahead of them.

Jack and Jessica: We love you guys!

Updated SCS201

Earlier this week I showed a sketch (scs201). I wasn't happy with the image panel (wasn't what I had in mind), so I took it off and redid it. This would be cute for a baby shower card for a mom carrying a little girl. Funny, I know one of those! lol.

Enjoy!

Kristin

This is cricut New Arrival in pink and blue scraps- nothing too exciting!

SCS 202

The other night (pretty late) I wanted to try the sketch for this week's SCS challenge. I now love using scraps, and I have used my doodlebug scraps for a few things. The base is Bazzill, the stamp image and sentiment is CTMH School Zone. The coloring is CTMH markers and copics. This was super simple and fast... I figure it'll be cute for Emma's teacher next year at the beginning of the year.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Birthday Boys & Girl

Saturday afternoon we had 2, count 'em 2, birthday parties to attend. Normally, I am a 1 birthday party a weekend kind a gal, but I am such good friends with both moms, and the kids always enjoy them, so we went...

The first party was for the brother of the sister's party from last week. Turned 5, same age as Jake. Second party was for a brother and sister, turning 3 and 5: Princess & Knight...

Here are the cards I did... all cricut and CDS (castle from Capedia again), PDDU cartridge (love it!). Some coloring, stickles, and stamping and voila! Great cards!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Go here... NOW!

So, it's Tuesday night as I write this and I was going to read some of my SCS #3 blogs (howdy girls!), and thought I'd start at the bottom of the alphabet and work up (I have been starting at the top... lotsa love there, little by the end).

But, on my Feed list I started at Tori Wild's blog. Have you found her yet??

NO???? Oh my... go HERE now!!! (just come back!)

Wow, isn't she awesome? Love her stuff... sign up for her blog!

Okay, I'll have to leave some kind comments for my blogging sisters tomorrow night, sorry gals! (yep, I'm from TX... thought those of you in Australia and Canada would get a kick out of my accent in my post) hehe

Enjoy!

Kristin

happy... Pumpkins & Halloween

Morning all!

I recently completed Emma's layout for the pumpkin patch, carving, and Halloween fun. I used Storyteller's club pack (I got this when I attended their class at the GASC in Arlington in June). They have great cs quality, and some thin chipboard diecuts and thicker chipboard accents that you can alter. Their more expensive pack even includes ribbons and brads w/ additional cs.

I don't have circle nesties, or circle punches... just the good old reliable CM circle cutters and mat. I have never been able to make myself spend $$ on the punches, or even the circle nesties for that matter (especially now with the cricut!).

I love to journal, but sometimes like the clean look with title, pics, and embellies. So, hidden journalling to the rescue! Here, I made what looks like a file folder and tucked it under the pic of them dressed for Halloween. I used post-bound albums, so once I insert the lo, I use my craft knife to cut out an area for people to remove the journalling to read (and to save the page from being taking in and out of the album).

Enjoy!

Kristin