Snowed In!!

For many days we hunkered down under the blanket of an unusual, very cold storm here in the Northwest! I was picked up on Christmas Eve by my nephew with a four wheel drive, chained pick-up and went with them to my sister's home, where we were joined by all of her family and my son and family from Salem area. Even tho I have been inside for 19(!) days, with the exception of two outings, I didn't do nearly as much with my stamping as I had hoped to do.

I did make another jar, only instead of covering mints, I filled it with kisses and put the snowmen around the four sides of the jar, as well as the lid. It looks festive and fun!

Then I made these little packages below. They have been on many SU blogs, so I decided they would make a great little extra tuck-in for some of my people.

My daughter had a fondue party before Christmas and had made one of these folders for each of her nine guests. She had them sitting on their plates, all different, and they were thrilled with her thoughtfulness. I think they make great little gifts for any occasion.

Trust you all had a splendid holiday. Happy New Year!!

I hope to have more to post as I am making two of my grandsons, twenty thank you cards each. (They always use notebook paper)

A Few Gifts Finished

Finally, I've completed a few small tuck-in gifts. This idea was part of an email which I received from a SU demonstrator. She used a round jar, and when I couldn't find any, I settled for the little square jars. Since I had some SU bags around, I made some baggies, also. The candy is York peppermint patties covered with rounds cut by SU punches.

Excuses!

Sorry, I haven't posted anything new. I'm out of commission for the past eight days....and haven't done one creative thing, altho I have gobs of things I still need to make before Christmas. Oh well, it will get done!

The images are from a Christmas grouping from PC Crafters

Cards for Gift Boxes

I have finished my sets of cards for my Hispanic cleaning ladies. All I have to do now is box them and wrap these to give them on Tuesday. It feels good to have one big project finished.

I will be out of commission for several days recovering from mouth surgery, so I feel doubly blessed to have these finished and ready to go.


I also learned that I get much truer color if I take my pictures in the kitchen--perhaps it is having an over head light, rather than a table light.

And here they are, packaged and ready for gifting tomorrow..

Hearts

Cute Card Thursday has a 'heart challenge' this week. I have some new graphics from Daisy Company that I was thrilled to play with a bit. I'm making five boxes of cards for my Hispanic cleaning ladies who come once a month. They seem to love my cards and always check out my office to see what is going on in here! Only one of them speaks English, so I computer generated the greeting in Spanish on the other four.

inside

The DP is from a Glitter Mat Stack. The cardstock is from Michaels. I used two different sets of nestabilities. The snowman and backing are on 3D foam tape.

The inside is on white paper, altho it looks pink.

Thanks for stopping by.

No Patterned Paper!!

Penny Black Saturday Stamping would like examples not using patterned papers...so here is mine.

inside

Penny Black Stamps
From The Heart
"Toadily"

Stampin' Up Papers
pale plum
pretty in pink
certainly celery
green galore

Inks
same as papers

Cuddlebug folder for embossing and swirlies are from a die cut (didn't write the name on it)

Flowers are from my flower drawer and centers from the 'bling' drawer.

Inside stamp is from Craft Warehouse.

Paper Folding

OOh La La had a challenge this week of using folded paper on a card. Mine is a pattern that I learned 3-4 years ago and have enjoyed the cards I have made with it. It is time consuming, so I don't make them too often.

This is SU 'barely banana" paper as well as 'river rock' paper. The SU stamp set is Wild About You. The folding is easy and I have a picture to go with my directions. (below)

You need 5 different paper patterns, cut into 1 in x 2 inches. Fold those in half, open back up and fold the corners down to make the triangle pictured above. You need to cut an opening in the front of your card with an Exacto knife or your cutter. Do not make it bigger than your
template or the papers won't fit. Gently tape your template to the front of the card and turn it over. Tape your number 1 pattern where they belong. Tape to back of card, not to your template. After you have all of your little papers taped down, turn it over, gently remove the template from the front of the card, and mount it on your folded card. For #5, I usually just put a square there and sometimes stamp a flower in the square, put a button, or something cute for the center.

Here's another one using just three colors, plus what is in the center. I was going to pull it apart so you could see the back side, but it is glued too tightly to dismantle. It will look messy, but it is all covered, once you mount the the front onto your card.

Birds-Birds-Birds

Daring cardmakers issued a challenge for Birds this week. I'm just getting in on the tail end of the week, but did want to share mine.


I used SU papers, barely bananna and brocade blue. The print is from pcCrafters. I used nestabilities for the frame and the greeting is a stamp from SU set called Petal Pushers. The bling is from Basic Gray. The two punches for the greeting are also from SU. The greeting is on a 3D sponge so it is lifted from the surface. The print is from a book of DP that I have had for years. Wasn't too fond of it, but the colors were right!

Stamp Something and Snow Challenges

Stamp Something Friday had this layout for this week's challenge. I'm going to use this for Paper Take Weekly , also, whose challenge was 'Snow'.

My papers are SU 'not quite navy' and 'real red'. The stamps are a collection of acrylic stamps and the snowman is from SU set 'holiday tag team'. The sequins are from from Craft Warehouse, as are the red stones. The decorative border is from Martha Stuart's collection.

I've been making Christmas cards.

Several sets of cards are done now and I decided to share them. Most are done with SU papers. The insides are computer generated, and some of the stamps are from Craft Warehouse and other places. Some of my inspiration comes from machamama, and other great sites listed on my blog.











I think my background choice of a patterned napkin is a little too busy, but I'm without time to retake the pictures....so bear with me. Sorry. The insides of some of the cards follow the card they go with.

SNOWMEN

My Time to Craft has a challenge for snow people. Since I had a brand new downloaded set of snowmen from Daisy Company, I played with it this morning and came up with this card.


...and on the inside for a note.

This is on red cardstock, has some added "diamonds" on snowflakes, plus sparkley glue and black raised dots on the snow men.

SIMPLE SOMETHING Challenge

At Stamp Something Friday, we were asked to do a simple card with no cardstock layering. It took a little thinking, but here is mine. Do visit the Stamp Something website to see all of the great examples.

These singing snowmen are from the Ooh La La Christmas CD. The cardstock is white and my not so subtle sponging on the edges is Real Red from SU. I stamped the stars and they are embossed with SU silver. The ribbon is from SU and the greeting is computer generated.

Below is the inside of the card. I have often put verse, etc. on the inside, but have been doing it pretty consistently lately and I like the finish it gives a card.

Fairies or Angels

Cute Card Thursday is asking for fairies or angels. I decided to try one of my graphics from my Christmas CD from Ooh La La Creations.


I used white cardstock, along with Elegant Eggplant from SU.
The side strip was done with a Martha Stewart edge punch.
The greeting is computer generated.
I have never done this layering before and am not too pleased with my picture results. Looking at the real card straight on, it has quite a depth and richness to it that does not reflect in the picture.

I used 3d foam tape beween layers. (shown below)

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Halloween!! (two challenges)

Daring Card Makers has a challenge for scary Halloween something. This morning I made these four little bags for my neighbor kids on the culdesac where I live. They aren't scary, but they are 'Halloweenie' a little bit, so here they are!

Stamp Something Friday also is asking for something to do with Halloween, so will use this for that challenge also.

The bag toppers are all computer generated from my Print Shop program. I added a few stamped pumpkins, sponged the edges and a few dabs over background. The cellophane bags are from Stampin' Up. The staples are from one of those big staplers that hold oversize, decorative staples. I put a few stickers, also.

Thanks for stopping by.

sketch by Tamara (Thursday)

Card sketch by Tamara for Thursday. Mine is below.


Stampin' Up stamp set, Season of Joy
The textured colored cardstock is from a big Christmas book on sale this week at Michaels.
The brads and snowflakes are from my collection of stuff.
The paper lace is from a local scrapping shop. (I sponged it for color.)
The scallop edge is from a brand new Martha Stewart punch.
The white ink is heat embossed and you will notice in that textured paper it was hard to get out all of the fine little white specks.

The inside is computer generated. I made the background snowflake pattern at 50% color intensity.

Thanks for stopping by.

PATCHWORK CHALLENGE

Ooh La La has a new challenge of doing something with a patchwork look. I fiddled around this afternoon and came up with the one below.

This is a graphic from Print Shop which I have dressed up a little with different colored glitter, a few rhinestones here and there, and some 3D foam tape to lift up a few of the squares.
The paper lace is some I bought at a small shop in my little town.


This is a view from the side showing a little of the inside of the card which carries a congratulatory message about the baby.

Thanks for stopping by.

Something for the Birds--CHALLENGE

Stamp Something Friday has issued a challenge to stamp something for the birds...so here's mine!



The background paper is from a Basic Grey paper pad called Euphoria.
The greeting is from SU Spring Song stamp set.
Black card stock is from SU.
The picture is a graphic from my Print Shop program.
I used a nestability for the pink scallops around the picture and SU new scallop punch for the inside trim.
The brads are from Michaels.

The picture and the round insert are both mounted on foam 3d tape.

Thanks for stopping by!

Doodling and Flower Power

My Time to Craft has challenged us to make something with our 'doodling' on it.
Ooh La La has asked for 'flower power' this week.....so I combined my big old doodle flowers for both challenges!

I've doodled these flowers on everything scrap since I was in high school. I still find them on my 'to do' lists, my daily notes, etc.


The paper is from a Basic Gray book of designer paper.
The center flowers are from Prisma.
I used SU chalks and pen.
The diamonds are from Craft Warehouse.

The card is pretty 3D looking as the big flowers are on sponge tape and I've also bent up the petals.