Merry and Bright Chalkboard

Good morning! Hard to believe that it is Friday already - hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Just sharing my card this morning for Unity Friends with Flair:

I also thought I would play along with the current Unity {be inspired} Challenge:

I used the October 2013 Kit of the Month for this one - one of my favorites for Christmas images! I did it up with a chalkboard technique, then added some pretty May Arts ribbon from my stash, a bit of silver thread, and some silver jingle bells tied on.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!!

My Craft Spot Black Friday Sale

Hello! Hope you are all enjoying a super Happy Thanksgiving with your families! Also wanted to share a special sale with you - over at My Craft Spot! Here are the details:

Click HERE to go shopping!

 You must enter through the above link to get this discount or enter the following html in your browser:  

http://mycraftspotshop.com?code=MCSBLACK

Click HERE to go shopping!

MCS Challenge - Thanksgiving/Fall

Good morning! A new challenge is starting this morning at My Craft Spot, and this week the theme is Thanksgiving/Fall.

Today is the day we are leaving the wonderful town that has been home for these past 2 1/2 years. Our hearts are so full of thankfulness for the wonderful friends, memories, and church family we have enjoyed in our time here, and also thankful that since the Lord decided to move us, he moved us back near our families in Washington as well. Definitely a bittersweet parting - but we are thankful for it all nonetheless. This card couldn't sum it up better:

Super simple, but I love the non-traditional colors! I layered two pattern papers from an MME paper pad, heat embossed my sentiment from Fall Leaves on vellum, then attached them with some simple machine stitching. That's it! These would be super simple to mass produce as well! :-)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!!!

Rustic Deer Note Card

Good morning! Stopping by to share another card that I had all ready to submit to the recent publication call to Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine - and now have free to share here...kind of sad still, but trying to think positive!

I am also linking this up with the Simon Says Monday Challenge - To the Moon (because of the stars!):

I used a fun stamp set from Unity Stamp Co called He's a Wordy Buck - LOVE deer, and this one is so cute and fun! I heat embossed him on vellum with Ranger Platinum embossing powder, then stitched him to a rustic woodgrain panel of pattern paper from a Crate Paper paper pad. I also distressed the edges of the woodgrain paper. Finished off with a tiny Tim Holtz paper clip, some jute twine, and wood veneer stars.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful weekend!

Beautiful Day Fall Leaf

Good morning! Happy Friday! Just sharing my card this morning for Unity Friends with Flair:

For this card, I used the leaf from the August 2013 Kit of the Month, and a sentiment from the September 2013 Kit of the Month. I stamped on my cardstock, then debossed with a PTI woodgrain Impression Plate, then added some Stickles. Pattern paper is by Glitz designs, and a bit of washi tape and a few sequins finish it off. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a wonderful week!

Paper Smooches Stencil and Ampersand

Good morning! Just dropping by with a card I actually made a LONG time ago for a publication call that was never picked up, and I never got around to sharing. I thought I would pop it in now for a couple of challenges:

First up, linking this up to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Thanks/Thanksgiving:

Next up, linking this up with this weeks Anything Goes Challenge at Paper Smooches Sparks:

For this card, I used a stencil and 3 different distress inks - I taped the stencil down and stenciled in a random circle with one color, turned the stencil one quarter turn and used my second color, then turned another quarter turn and used my last color. I thought it was a fun layered effect with the colors! I added a little die cut ampersand using Paper Smooches Always and Forever Dies and little pieces of foam adhesive, then added my sentiment from Many Thanks stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Happy Thoughts Skyline

Good morning! Hope you are having a great start to your day - today is moving day for us! Eeek! Movers should be here and starting in just a little big...so crazy how fast this day came, not sure if I'm ready!

Just thought I would share a card today that I made with some of my Altenew stamps:

I also am linking this up with the current Altenew Challenge: From the Craft Room:

I pulled the blues, neutral/kraft tones, and the ink splotches - as well as the black "hello" out of the inspiration picture. So much fun stuff to choose from in this one! I used Sketchy Cities America for my image and sentiment. I stamped the skyline once in clack, then shifted it and stamped it off again for a softer shadow look - can you see it? Then I attached my cling stamp backwords on my clear block, and stamped it with gray ink for another shadow effect. I kind of link the layered look it gave. Then I masked the edge of that off, applied a couple colors of distress ink, then added some water splotches - love how the distress ink reacts with the water. I pulled off my mask, stamped my sentiment, added some jute twine, then mounted with foam adhesive on a kraft card base. 

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you are having a wonderful day!!!

100 Watercolor Christmas Cards!

Good morning! I am super excited this morning to be sharing my Christmas cards for the year! We have been getting ready to move - and I have been trying to get ahead on my Design Team projects, so I really didn't think that I would get them done this year at all. But...I was super excited to have a little free time one day and get 50 of them done...along with a bunch of other things on my list! YAY! 

They worked out to be the perfect card for mass producing...and I am even more excited, because every single one is unique and different! I repeated color schemes for each 5 cards, so I have 20 different colors schemes, but watercoloring allows for unique variations on each card even still. The other thing I struggle with, is a one layer and mailable card, that still has dimension somehow. For these cards I sewed the top of the watercolor paper directly to my card base, which allows it to mail flat, but when it comes out of the envelope, it drapes so pretty! I just LOVE it!

Here is the entire pile all lined up:

I am linking these up with the November Mama Elephant Challenge: Holiday Cards and Tags:

I also realized that the touches of gold made this perfect to link up with Virginia's View Challenge: All Things Metallic:

I watercolored the background, stamped my sentiment, added the little stars from the same set using Gold ink, then added a spritz of Gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine - once that all dried, I sewed it onto my card bases.

And...be warned! Picture heavy post! I thought I would link the 20 different combinations of colors I ended up with...so here they all are in their close up glory! 

Whew...that's a lot of pictures! Here they all are together one last time!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!!

Silver Glitter Washi Strips

Good morning! Here one last time with one final card that I made for Splitcoast Stampers when I was a member of the Dirty Dozen earlier this year! For this one, I played with some silver glitter washi tape, cutting it into different widths, then layering and trimming it here and there. Took a lot of time fiddling with it - but I loved the results! Added a rounded panel of blue on the bottom, a strip of black cardstock along the top with my sentiment from Avery Elle heat embossed in white, then mounted that panel on an acetate cardbase for fun.

I am linking this up as fourth and final entry into Virginia's View Challenge as well:

Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful day!!!

Shine Bright Like a Diamond

Good morning! Here again with another card that I made for Splitcoast Stampers when I was a member of the Dirty Dozen earlier this year! For this one I used a Spellbinder's Die to cut my frame, and stamped an image from Unity Stamps on it. Colored it in with Copics, added a touch of stickles, and distress the edges with distress ink. Heat embossed my sentiment on vellum, then attached it to white cardstock with staples. Added some lovely My Mind's Eye pattern paper, a bit of jute twine tied in a bow, and a few sequins to finish it off.

I am linking this up as a second entry into Virginia's View Challenge as well:

Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful day!!!

You Are Awesome

Good morning! Just popping in real quick with a second card that I made for Splitcoast Stampers when I was a member of the Dirty Dozen earlier this year! For this one I used some Neat and Tangled stamps for my sentiment, the wreath is a Sweet Stamp Shop stamp, and and I added some gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine mist. Layered some washi tape on some Crate Paper pattern paper for the background, added some jute twine tied in a bow, and finished off with a few sequins.

I am linking this up as a second entry into Virginia's View Challenge as well:

Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful day!!!

A little bit of gold...

Good morning! Just popping in real quick with a card that I actually made for Splitcoast Stampers when I was a member of the Dirty Dozen earlier this year! I heat embossed in gold on vellum, added a stenciled background on my colored card base, then lightly colored in the rose with Copics on the vellum. Added a white panel to keep everything clear, then added some enamel dots and jute twine.

I really wanted to make something new for the current Virginia's View Challenge, but between moving and everything going on in our lives, it doesn't look like it will happen. But, I figured it was a good opportunity to link this up:

Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful day!!!