Merry Christmas 31

Hi there! It's time for an all new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! Whether it is homemade cards, gift tags, or gift wrap there is a lot of making and giving this time of year! This week's challenge is all about Holiday cards!

I was in the mood for creating a metallic shimmery textured Christmas card:

I'm all about texture and metallics this holiday season! Using Texture Paste along with a Layering stencil makes for a beautiful textured background. Randomly sprayed metallic Distress Spray Stains adds a beautiful shimmery appearance highlighting all the intricate stenciled detail.

I completed the card with a gold embossed Mini Holidays 4 image that really compliments the metallic background:

I was having so much fun that I created a second card featuring the Santa image from Mini Holidays 4:

To create the background, I added lots of texture using Texture Paste along with the Harlequin stencil. For color, I used a various Distress Stain Sprays listed below:

Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you enjoyed my cards today and I hope I have inspired you to give it a try and join along with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Stamp Challenge! Please be sure to visit theSimon Says Stamp Monday Stamp Challenge blog to see what the rest of the DT has created!

Products Used:

Ranger Texture Paste, Tim Holtz Layering stencil Gothic, Distress Spray Stains, Stampendous Gold Encrusted Jewel kit, Tim Holtz Cling Rubber Stamps Mini Holidays 4, Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink Pad, Simon Says Stamp Kraft Woodgrain Cardstock, Ranger Clear Emboss It Dabber, Tim Holtz Sizzix Die Mini Cabinet Card Movers and Shakers Alterations, Tim Holtz Idea-ology Gumdrops Ornamental Embellishment, Dina Wakley Ranger Gesso Medium, Tim Holtz Core'dinations Kraft Core Cardstock, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad Weathered Wood Ranger, Tim Holtz Ideaology Crinkle Ribbon, Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper String Solids, Tim Holtz Layering Stencil Harlequin, Tim Holtz Distress Stain Spray Ranger Pine Needles, Tim Holtz Distress Stain Spray Ranger Evergreen Bough, Tim Holtz Distress Stain Spray Ranger Stormy Sky, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad Worn Lipstick, Tim Holtz Sizzix Holiday Words: Script Thinlits Dies, Tim Holtz Idea-olgy Paper Stash French Industrial 

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Do you want to build a snowman?... Winter wishes 41

Hi there! I hope you are having a great weekend! Yesterday was another warm and sunny day here in Phoenix. After Tina and I went for a bike ride, we hung around home, crafting while Scott watched football and worked on a few projects of his own. While Tina crocheted, I built a couple of snowpeeps :) I referred to a tutorial I found HERE substituting various items such as papers, dies and embellishments. The first one up is my girly version that I made for Angie:

I combined pretty papers from the Pion Design Days of Winter collection with various Tim Holtz rosette dies and pretty buttons from my stash:

I added lots of shimmer and shine with snowlike glitter to many of the die cuts:

Next up, is the masculine version which I made for Scott :) 

This guy features fun patterned papers from the Tim Holtz French Industrial collection. I embellished his hat with a Tim Holtz metal bird trinket that I had been saving for a rainy day. It was originally a charm but the hanger was in the way so I had Scott Dremel it off for me then I painted it with picket fence Distress Paint and faded jeans Distress Ink. The carrot noses were made using oven bake clay then painted using Rusty Hinge Distress Paint: 

The snowflakes on the tags were made using Grunge Paper, painted with picket fence Distress Paint, distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and coated with snowflake like glitter:

I'm entering the masculine version in the current A Vintage Journey challenge where the theme is "Birds of a Feather". I'm also joining along with the card Concept, (under the Shabby Chic style), where the challenge is to create: 1.) A TAG or a CARD with a tag on it 2.) Snowmen, snow or any other "wintery" theme. I've done both.

Many thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Be Sweet ;)

Pion Design products used:
Days of Winter ~ Christmas Eve ~ PD5104 back
Days of Winter ~ Pink ornament ~ PD5107 front
Days of Winter ~ Pink ornament ~ PD5107 back
Days of Winter ~ Borders ~ PD5110 front
Days of Winter ~ Borders ~ PD5110 back

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artful 37

Hi there! I hope you are doing well. Today was a great day! While Scott watched football, my dear sister, Tina and I took advantage of the beautiful warm weather here in the desert. We went for a 20 mile bike ride then came home and had some crafting time. I took on another type of exercise at the Mixed Media Place Creative Gym and joined along with the Exercise #2 challenge ~ go 3D!

I altered a wooden birdhouse that I had on hand:

Here's what it looked like before I got my inky hands on it ;)

I added texture to all four sides, embellished with various trinkets then added a variety of inks and paint. I covered the roof with buttons from my stash, covered with a coat of Gesso, followed with blue ink, Gesso and a dusting of course glitter:

Using the same color palette, I made a tag joining along with the Prima 12 Days of Christmas Cards Day #2 ~ Prima dies:

I added texture using Prima Light Texture Paste along with a Prima stencil to a pretty piece of paper from the Prima Vintage Vanity collection.

After adding various inks to the background, I embellished with a wooden snowflake, a die cut that was made using one of the Prima Flowers Set of 3 dies and a beautiful Prima flower:

For color inspiration for both projects, I joined along with Colour Me creative challenge:

Thanks so much for visiting ~ I hope you have a great Friday!
Be Sweet ;)

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Let the Light of the season Shine... 37

Hi there! I hope you are having a great week! I can't believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving ~ yikes! So much to do ~ so little time. No travel plans for us ~ how about you? I've been having so much fun playing with a couple of the PTI shaker dies.

I filled each shaker with some snow like glitter and silver sequins:

I pulled out some really old pre glittered paper to use for the sentiments and ornament extras. I love that the glitter doesn't end up everywhere!

I also pulled out an embossing folder to add design and dimension to the backgrounds:

For the first color inspiration, I joined along with the Fusion challenge:

 and for the second card color inspiration, I joined along with the Merry Monday challenge:

Many thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you have a great day and Happy Thanksgiving to all whom celebrate!

Be Sweet ;) 

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Merry Christmas to you...November PTI Blog Hop 47

Hi there! It's that time of month again ~ time for the PTI Blog Hop! This month's challenge the theme is snow. 

I made a trio of three similar Christmas cards featuring a snowflake shaker that I made using one of the beautiful PTI Damask Snowflake dies:

I filled each snowflake with shimmery snow like glitter and sequins:

All three sentiments are from the PTI Vintage Ornaments Stamp Set:

My goal was to keep them rather flat to cut down on postage cost yet keep them pretty:

For sketch inspiration, I joined along with the current Fusion challenge:

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ happy hopping!

Be Sweet ;)

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LOVE nature 38

Hi there! I hope you are having a great weekend! Today I joined along with the Compendium of Curiosities 3, Challenge 16:

For theme inspiration, I joined along with the current Our Creative Corner challenge where we are challenged to create a project based on Magical Nature Moments:

I scrapped a photo that was taken about 15 years ago when I was hiking with my children in Allegany State Park located in upstate New York where I used to live:

Using the layering stencil: embossing technique I added lots of gold shimmery detail to the background using the Tim's Burlap stencil:

I'm lovin' all the new metallic Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain. The flowers, gears and leaves were all colorized using various metallic Distress Spray Stains:

The die cut foliage was made using Grunge paper, coated with Gesso followed with Distress Crackle Paint then Distress Spray Stains. I think the Crackle Paint is too old because it didn't leave a nice crackle effect :(

For sketch inspiration, I joined along with the My Scraps and More Sketches sketch challenge:

Many thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you have a great week!
Be Sweet ;)

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