"Bling" in the New Year!

Every month my blogging group, Crafters of Faith has a blog hop.  Kelly is our hostess and the theme is snowy and wintery.  I want to "SNOW" you my winter inspired card, although we have not had one ency snowflake come our way this winter.  I am celebrating the gift of this beautiful season - snow, winter and of course snowflakes! 

I used the Poppy Stamps Madison Window die and a beautiful snowy window stamp from Memory Box.  I sponged faded jeans distress ink on my stamped image and embossed snowflakes for my panel.  I added snowflakes from EK success and glued gems to the center of the snowflakes for that extra "bling".  This was fun and I finally used my new Imaginisce i-rock tool that has been sitting in a craft drawer for ever!

I want to thank everyone for visiting our hop today, I love receiving comments and I'm sure my blogging friends would love to hear your comments too - their blogs are listed on my sidebar.    I'd like to wish everyone a very happy, peace- filled and prosperous New Year!

Making My Way Back With Some TLC Goodies!

I can't believe I have not posted anything to my blog since December 4th!  Alas, my poor mac has been out of commission since hard drive failure earlier this month.  After three trips to the "Genius Bar", and I put that in quotes because it sure was questionable, I had to send my blogging lifeline off for repairs.  I finally learned how to use my tablet to take pictures, watermark them and then send them off so I could share some cards with you.  Kinda like the "old dog" story, hee hee!  So, without further chattiness, I'd like to show you two cards I made with digis from Paulette at Create with TLC:

 

Merry Christmas

 

 

 

 

Lighted Candles

 

 

I raided my stash to make these, sorry I can't share details.  I'm just happy to be able to post these!

 

Thanks for visiting my blog, I've missed posting and visiting your blogs.  I appreciate all your support and love reading comments!  I hope everyone is ready for Christmas! 

 

 

 



Whimsy and Stars Studio Blog Hop and New Design Team

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!   To get ready for the season, we are having a blog hop to show off all the Christmas and winter themed images available from Whimsy and Stars Studio and to introduce the new Winter 2013 design team!

If you just arrived from Lesley's blog, you are on the right track! If not, please start at the beginning of the hop at the Whimsy and Stars Studio blog to make sure you don't miss out on anything. Hop along and leave a comment for each member of design team. The hop will end on Friday, December 7th at midnight EST. One random winner, to be announced on the Whimsy and Stars Studio blog on December 8th, will be picked from all the comments received to win the Grand Prize of THREE Digi Stamps.

Please fill in what you like about this time of year or anything special you would like to share about your project here.

For my project, I used the image Felicity Angel.

I'm sorry my card does not have my usual finished look.  My computer decided to take a siesta and the ticking noise I hear sounds like a time bomb for the hard drive!

For the duration of the hop, Mabelle is offering a special gift with purchase. With any order from the Whimsy and Stars Studio Etsy store, you can select one of two special images, Stocking Ted or Xmas Tag.

 

 

 Thank you for hopping with us today! Your next stop on the hop is the talented  Melissa's blog.

Don't forget to leave a comment at each stop on the hop to increase your chance of winning the Grand Prize!

 

Here is the entire blog hop list in case you get lost along the way:

Whimsy & Stars Studio

Cheryl 

Christine 

Debra

 

Kathy 

Lesa

Lesley 

Marsha  (me)

Melissa 

Suzanne 

Tracy

Thanks for visiting today!

 

Merry Christmas Tree

As always, I'm dashing around trying to squeeze in as much as I can in a 24 hour day.  We saw a fabulous Christmas concert last night and I've got Christmas music playing in my craft room this morning.  Now all I need is some hot chocolate and cookies, LOL!

Today I have such a cute Christmas Tree to show you from Whimsy and Stars, and the best part... it's free!  But this offer is only good through 6 pm today, so hurry on over!

I decided to create a tag with my image and then attach to this gorgeous design paper from Little Yellow Bicycle, "Once Upon a Christmas".  My embellishments were made with a Creative Memories Border Station, I am such a geek when it comes to gadgets!

Time to get crafty with Christmas!  I can't believe today is the 1st of December!

Thanks for visiting my blog today, I love reading your comments!

How About Some Christmas TLC?

Christmas is coming like a runaway sled barreling downhill!  Eek!  I don't even have any decorations up yet!  Next week is my target for decorating, the last two weeks have flown by.   I have been constructively busy as I related in my last post.  I am super excited about our new children's ministry and our performance scheduled for December 16th.

I did manage to spend some time in my craftroom, that is my relaxing, happy place.  I have two new cards to show you today using Create with TLC images:

Ornately Christmas Beautiful Word Art Collection

Christmas Bird, Vintage Printable Tag or Ornament

There are just so many possibilities with these images!  Just grab your Cricut or Spellbinder dies and your creating ability is limitless!

Thanks for visiting my blog today, I love reading your comments!  Please feel free to email me with any questions.

Challenges entered:

The Corrosive Challenge #163 - anything goes

Whimsy Stamps Challenge #53 - traditional Christmas colors

Sugar Creek Hollow #39 - vintage Christmas

I'm Still Around!

Last week...  The highlight of last week of course was Thanksgiving, what a gorgeous day we had and I love being with all the family.  We had Food Pantry at our church on Tuesday, the turnout was enormous and what a blessing it was to know others could have a wonderful Thanksgiving too.

Next, our "ministry in motion" children's ministry is going strong, I met with other leaders and we worked out the movements to "Hope Was Born This Night".    Time is short so we videoed my cute friend performing the song and movements and made copies to hand out.  Friday and Saturday were spent decorating the church, alas my home is still not decorated!

So...this week I will be posting some new cards, but first I need to drag out my decorations and get busy!  I love the holidays, hugs and blessings to everyone!

Teddy Bear Christmas

Today was chilly here in the South, I think old Mr. North Wind was practicing for some upcoming weather.  This was a good day to stay inside and play in my craft room.  I've been wanting to try out my new Cricut cartridge, "Teddy Bear Parade" and there was the cutest reindeer outfit!

I embossed my image and added some highlights.    I used a Spellbinders die set and my tree border was made with a Creative Memories border maker.  The sentiment is from Create with TLC.  This was just a such a fun project!

Thanks for visiting my blog today, I love reading your comments!

Christmas is love...

I had time to play in my craft room today and couldn't wait to create this Christmas ornament!  I had colored my Maybelle R.O. image a day ago and was just waiting for a chance to play with my Cricut and new cartridge "Holiday Frames and Tags" from Creative Memories.

Winter Friends

sentiment from Create with TLC

The sentiment is attached to a ribbon which hangs from the bottom of the ornament, it's actually longer than depicted here and has jingle bells attached.   

I cut out my image and glued it to a layer of the ornament.   My image is colored with Copic markers and I decorated around the edge of the ornament with a gold Viva Decor pearl pen.  

I love having "play days"!  Thanks for visiting my blog!

Birthday Blessings

I was recently asked to make a birthday card for a friend, and of course I said yes.   I didn't discover until later that the card was for her friend who is celebrating her 100th birthday!   How thrilled to take part in this special occasion!  

I fell in love with this PTI set "Lovely Layers" the first time I saw it.  I guess I wasn't the only one because it was on backorder for a while.  I chose fall colors for my palette:

On the inside, I used a digital SU sentiment 

I also used a circular greeting from Desert Diva and modified the design with Photoshop adding the "100".  I used distressed inks which coordinated beautifully with my design paper and sponged the same moss green ink on my embossing.  The sentiment is from the Vintage Filigrees Fancies collection, Amazing Paper Grace Stamps.

Thanks for visiting my blog today, I always appreciate your comments and support!

Be Thankful

I'm excited to be posting on my blog today as a new member of the Crafters of Faith blogging group on Splitcoaststampers!  This month Sharon is our hostess and asked us to create a card of thankfulness.  She challenges us with this scripture verse:

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus".  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I have created a card using the  Maybelle R.O. image "Acorn Girl":

The challenge requirements also included using at least two design papers and an embellishment.  I thought I'd take a stab at creating a ribbon flower so I pulled out  two different ribbons and jute to create my flower.

I used the following for my card:  "Autumn Word Collage" sentiment from Create with TLC, PTI Text-Style First Fruits design paper, ribbon and jute from my stash, Spellbinders dies, Martha Stewart punch, Creative Memories leaf punch, dew drops, ribbon and jute, Copic Markers and distress inks.

Thanks for visiting and please be sure to visit my Crafters of Faith sister's blogs which are listed on my sidebar.

  

Hope Your Holidays Are A Hoot

When I saw this fun sentiment from Create with TLC, I just knew I had to design a card around it!  Talk about getting the cart before the horse!!!  I immediately thought about a Cricut cartridge I owned called "Give A Hoot".  And of course with a name like that, there had to be an owl...

Holiday Hoot

The sentiment is from TLC and my owl and first background diecut were all made with Cricut cartridges.  The other background diecut was made with a Spellbinders die and the branches were made with a Martha Stewart punch.  The design paper is from My Mind's Eye Stella Rose/Mabel collection.  

This was loads of fun!  The majority of my owl parts were embossed and the eyes were made with buttons and dew drops.  

My prayers and thoughts are with those who have suffered such tragic loss from Sandy.  I have been watching the news and I just can't believe all the damage.  I live close to the Outer Banks and Cape Hatteras, they suffered extensive damage but nothing like NJ and NY.

Thanks for visiting my blog today, I love reading your comments and appreciate all your support!

Snow Wishes

Well, I can't say I'm wishing for snow yet, we're still "hunkered" down in our home due to hurricane Sandy.  We are blessed to have power and we avoided the major flooding that is wrecking havoc on our neighbors just over the state line in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.  I've been watching the news and I can't believe all the devastation.  

We arrived home from our Smoky Mountains vacation on Saturday just in time to button up everything.  I've actually spent some time in my craft room today and have a delightful image from Maybelle R.O.'s Whimsy and Stars Studio:

Girl with Snowman

My sentiment is from Create with TLC and my design paper is from Echo Park.  I colored my image with Copic markers and distress inks.   My tools included an embossing folder, Spellbinders dies and a Martha Stewart punch.

I did notice today that my mojo still seems to be on vacation, it seemed like everything took twice as long and my "thinking cap" wouldn't stay on.   More crafting time is definitely needed!

Thanks for visiting my blog today, I love reading your comments and appreciate all your support!

Give Thanks

I thought it might be fun to make a Thanksgiving card, seems like I've been in Halloween mode for quite a while.  This year the retail stores have jumped into Christmas way before Halloween, and I don't want to overlook Thanksgiving!  I found these adorable pilgrims at Whimsy and Stars Studio and would love to share my card with you today:

Give Thanks

 closeup

card recipe:

Maybelle R.O. (Whimsy and Stars Studio) "Pilgrim" digi, Create with TLC Autumn Subway Art,  Cheery Lynn Flourish Leaf Strip, Martha Stewart punch, Copic markers, Crate Paper Farmhouse design paper, Georgia Pacific and Bazzill cardstock

I enjoyed creating this card, especially since I had these gorgeous leaves to decorate with.  Now I'm off today to see the fall leaves up close and personal - on my way to the mountains of North Carolina for a week, whoo hoo!

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog today, I love reading your comments and appreciate all your support!

Fresh Pumpkin Anyone?

Love this image from Create with TLC!  Now how convenient is this to have your whole pumpkin in a jar?  I thought this would look great on a tag card, so I added some autumn colors and embellishments.  This reminds me of Thanksgiving and what would Thanksgiving be without pumpkins?

card recipe:

Cricut tag and fence, Fresh Pumpkin image from TLC, Creative Memory leaf punch,  Cheery Lynn vine, distress inks and Viva Decor Inka Gold

I loved designing this tag.  I cut out the image and then added a fence, leaves and a vine.   I finally updated my Cricut and found many tag designs to choose from.  

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog today, I love reading your comments and appreciate all your support!

Spooky...

I can't believe October is halfway over already - soon the little trick or treaters will be out knocking on doors or doing "trunk or treating".  There's not much time left to dabble with my Halloween stuff.  The most recent card I made used the "ornate gate" digi from Create with TLC and one of Paulette's papers.  I added embellishments I made with my Cricut and a Martha Stewart punch.

Spooky Gate

All too soon Halloween will be over and then Christmas will be speeding our way.  I can't believe Christmas decorations and displays are already out now!  Seems like we can't even catch our breath between holidays now.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog today, I love reading your comments and appreciate all your support!

Grateful

I love this image and beautiful papers from Paulette at Create with TLC.  The word art reminds me of all the blessings God has bestowed on me and my family.  I am truly grateful and thankful.  Here is the card I created:

card recipe:

TLC word art and design paper, Recollections cardstock, Cricut diecut,

Creative memories leaf punch, Sizzix embossing folder, distress inks

Can you tell I love bright colors?  The fall season has such a palette of beautiful colors to choose from.  I love seeing all the changing colors in the leaves and even our soybeans have turned such a beautiful green and yellow!  

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog today, I love reading your comments and appreciate all your support!

Best Witches

Halloween is fast approaching!  I hope all your little trick or treaters are getting their costumes ready.  I love making cards for Halloween but it always seems the time passes way too quickly!  I remember the excitement of choosing my costume or better yet, searching through my mom's clothing and sewing basket creating my own exotic creation.  Then we were off to the neighborhoods that had the reputation for the best candy and raced from door to door.  Our weather was usually still warm and we happily sweated and tripped over too long outfits making sure we did not miss a single house with a light on.  Tricks?  Nah, we were all too well raised to even think of playing any tricks and we knew our parents would wear our bottoms out!  We just gloried in our bags bursting at the seams and could hardly contain our hunger and excitement until parents first checked every piece of candy or treat.  Then we were in a sugar coma for a week!  

Here is a card using Create with TLC images and Cricut spiderwebs complete with oodles of spiders and the requisite black cat:

Best Witches

card recipe:

TLC Vintage Halloween Decorations, Spooky Tree, and sentiment

 Spellbinders tag, Cricut cat, spiders and spiderweb, Basic Grey design paper

My next card is also a TLC creation:

Trick or Treat

card recipe:

TLC Postage Stamp Halloween Witch, Halloween Postage Stamp and 

Vintage Witches Papers, Cricut spiderweb and spider, Martha Stewart

 fence punch, Spellbinders die and Stampin Up sentiment

I hope to have a few more Halloween cards to show you this month.  I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog today!

The day for our TLC Blog Hop is finally here!  I can't think of a lovelier theme to celebrate  than children.  October 8th is Children's Day and I'm thrilled Paulette has chosen to celebrate our hop in honor of children.  Paulette has given all of the designers new images for the hop and I have a card to show you using my new image and as a bonus, I am also giving away the digi I used, courtesy of Paulette!  

Vintage Childhood Play

Here is  your free digi!  just right click and save or drag to your desk top.

Now for the hop order:

Cynthia
Karen
Penny
Marsha
Carla
Lisa Lynn
Rhonda - Printables
Vicky

TlcCreations

Please be sure to grab the "freebies" after each post.  We'd love to see what you create with these!  

Thanks for visiting and hope you enjoy the hop!   I love reading your comments and appreciate all your support!

challenges entered:

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

Through the Craftroom Door Challenge #37 - anything goes

Clear It Out Challenge - child image and stash

Create With TLC Blog Hop Tomorrow

Just wanted to remind everyone tomorrow is the Create with TLC Blog Hop!  The theme will be "children" to celebrate Children's Day which is on October 8th.  The entire team will be posting new creations.  Did I mention freebies?  All the designers will have their images available as a freebie...and you never know what other surprises Paulette will have in store!

Please don't miss this special event!  The hop starts tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. PST.  And almost forgot... everyone who promotes the HOP on their blog with a post displaying the badge below will be entered into a drawing for a $20 Gift Certificate to the store.  So, create your post and send an email to tlc4lo @ ca.rr.com.  Two of these will be drawn  Good Luck!

The Rose

I just love this new set designed by Paulette from Create with TLC!   I needed images for two birthday cards this week and I chose two different designs for my cards:

I love floral cards, they can be used for so many different occasions.  I used a Sizzix embossing folder for my first card and distressed the swirls to match my Stampin' Up cardstock.  Both images were cut using a Spellbinders die.  My second card is embellished with a Martha Stewart punch and Cheery Lynn dies.  Distress inks and Copic Markers were used on both cards.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and please be sure to come out tomorrow and check out the Create with TLC blog hop!

Thanks for visiting my blog today, I love reading your comments and appreciate all your support!

Heartfelt Creations September Alumni Blog Hop

I can't believe fall is already here!  We're having cooler nights and the daytime temperatures are much more comfortable and a welcome relief from the scorching summer.  The last Tueday of the month is set aside for the monthly Heartfelt Creations Alumni Design Team Blog Hop.  I have used  Heartfelt Creations and Spellbinders diecuts to create my scenic card.    If you arrived here from Lisa's blog then you are on the right track.  If not, you will want to start at the beginning with Olga's blog so you don't miss any of these beautiful creations!

My card base is Stampin Up and  DCWV cardstock, the design paper is "Dilly Dally" from My Mind's Eye.   I used HCPC 3369 "Outside My Window" for my image, Posy Patch Die HCD 701, Spellbinders Shapeabilites Foliage and Grand Ovals dies, Copic markers and distress inks .

Your next stop on the hop is Carla's blog and she has a gorgeous creation to share with you!  Be sure to leave a comment on every blog you visit while you're hopping because one randomly chosen commenter will win a $25 gift certificate to shop at Heartfelt Creations.  You have until Friday, September 28 at midnight EST to leave your comments.  The winner will be announced Saturday, September 29th at noon,  The winner will need to email Emma Lou with "winner of September Alumni Hop" in subject line.  Here is a complete hop list in case you get lost hoppiing:

Olga

Dina 

Lisa

Marsha (you are here)

Carla

Tessa

Linda