CPS 5th Anniversary Day 2 Sketch #166

Here is the card I made for day 2 at the CPS 5th Anniversary Celebration:

And here is the sketch that I used to create it:

Notice how the sentiment goes along with the curve of the circle? So I've never tried this technique before, but I will now be going back to it, it was super easy!

All you have to do is bend the stamp to the shape you want it and stick it on your block. (On the right you'll see the real straight sentiment on the bottom of this stamp set, and then on the left you'll see how I put it on my block to make the curve).

I've been going crazy with Twine lately since I won an awesome prize of TWO full spools of Divine Twine from Whiskar Graphics when I won a CPS challenge a few weeks back :)

This funky paper is from a K & Co pack. The cardstock is PTI, and I used my Nestabilities to cut the circles.

The apple and sentiment stamps are from the Paper Smooches Falling For You set. The apple didn't have any seeds, so I just added those in when I colored it with Copics. Make sure to head over to the CPS blog to check out the festivities yourself!

The 12 Kits of Christmas: January 2012

And here I am, off on my new year long adventure with some incredibly talented stamping women! I am honored to be a part of:

The details: Renee and Suzanne were talking after Christmas about how they were rushed near the end to finish their cards and their goal was to not have that happen again in 2012. And this is when Renee's wonderful idea was born, The 12 Kits of Christmas! 12 different ladies from the stamping community have agreed to be a part of this amazing group. We are each assigned a month to host, and get together 12 kits to send off to different parts of the country to our team mates. Then we will all post our cards at 12:01AM on the 30th of the month. Let me tell you that receiving these kits (I've already received my first 2!) in the mail is incredibly exciting! Getting to see the wonderful stamps, dies, paper, ribbons, and embellishments that were chosen by the hostess with her unique style is a delight. Here is a glimpse of all the goodies that were sent in our very first kit by the creator of our group, Renee!

Renee went ALL out and sent us each die in multiple colors, sent 3 kinds of ribbon and two colors of twine, she sent some gorgeous patterned papers, and sentiments stamped on all sorts of dies in various colors. And everything was packaged so perfectly in little baggies, on patterned paper! I had a blast with this kit as you will see below...I was able to create 4 complete Christmas cards solely from the kit (except for the card base which we provide from our own stash). Feast your eyes on these babies!

And now to look at each a little bit more closely. I was so excited that Renee sent dies from this PTI set that I did not purchase but definitely oogled. It was a lot of fun to get to try them out! And don't you love that red snowflake paper? She even sent jingle bells as embellishments!

Now this card was made with a new window die that Renee is in love with. She sent it to us in multiple colors, I even have extra to play around with on future cards as well. Isn't that tree die cool, too?

Another with the tree, and these adorable red birds to add a pop of color. It's hard to tell, but under the black velvet ribbon I cut the paper with my PTI pinking shear die.

And my last card. I used the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas sheet that Renee included in the kit behind the window, which I think gives it a nice effect and really makes the snowman and snowflakes pop. I love that plaid paper, and the ribbon was super easy to tie a nice big red bow!

So which one do you like best? I am thrilled to have 4 of my Christmas cards done already, and its only January! And these are just what I've created with the kit...I bet you're itching to see what the other girls have created (I know I am!) Also, make sure to check out Renee's blog to find out the details on everything included in the kit and for a chance to win some of the items used to make the kit! (Makes it even MORE exciting, huh??)

Suzanne: thecardyard

Cathy: EmptyNestCrafter

Joyce: Cards-by-the-Sea

Kim: CupcakesCardsandKim

Amy: Stamp-n-Paradise

Kara: KandRDesigns

Sharron: OnPapillionWings

Marybeth: Marybeth's Time for Paper

Jeanne: AKeptLife

Jessica: The Paper Parade

Christina: SeaGlass&Sentiments

Renee: ItsAPatchworkLife

CPS 5th Anniversary Day 1 Sketch #136

It's CPS's 5th Anniversary! For the next two weeks, they're going to have 15 featured sketches and tons of prizes. Anyone who participates in all 15 is entered in for a grand prize! Go and check it out here. I don't know if I'll be able to do all 15, but here's the first one, at least ;)

Here's the sketch that I used for this card:

I used two older SU sets that haven't received much love and the paper is from an older SU DSP pack. The twine is from Divine Twine.

The label punch is from SU, and the pearls are from Q and CO. I edged all sides with PTI Tea Dye ink. The cardstock is from SU.

I like that although this card has pink, its not the usual Valentine's Day colors. One good thing about this opportunity to do 15 sketches at CPS is that I'll get a lot of Valentine's Day cards made ;)

SC369

Time for my last Hambo SCS challenge. Actually, this will be my last card on the Hambo Design Team. I'll miss being a part of the team, for sure. Here is this week's sketch on the SplitCoast Sketch challenge:

And here's the Valentines Day card that I made using it:

I used the Party Elephant digi image which you can find here.

The balloon and the sentiment are actually rub ons that I found in my stash when cleaning out. They were a special gift to SU demos a few years back.

The patterned paper is all from a SU DSP pack. The cardstock is also SU. The twine is from Divine Twine.

As my time on the Hambo Design Team comes to a close, make sure to check back Tuesday to find out about a new adventure I'm starting on!

Market Street Stamps January Block Party

I decided to pull out some MSS stamps that I hadn't had a chance to play with yet and link up to the Block Party! Here's the Valentine's Day card I created:

(I'm not sure why in the pictures below the base looks orange, but as you saw above, it is actually PTI's Berry Sorbet which is a pink color).

I will most likely be giving this card to my husband or his parents or grandparents since we all have campers, but isn't this image cute? And the little heart window makes it perfect for Valentine's Day!

The sentiment is from the MSS Compass set, and the Argyle is one of their background sets. The Dominoes are from a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

The bracket and heart are from a SU Sizzix die called Hearts and Brackets, the twine is from Divine Twine, and the pinking shears PTI die was used for the pinked border. PTI's Mega Mat Stack 3 and Sending You die were used for the mats.

All cardstock is PTI, the ink is SU, and the RV was colored with Copics. Now you should go over to the Block Party to check out what others have made and to join in yourself :)

cQc #121 & CPS #252

I found this adorable Sweet Shoppe Stamp set on Scrapbook Steals a couple of weeks ago for half off, and I just couldn't resist :) So I ordered it and didn't think much else of it until I get a text at work from my husband worried that our CC had fraud on it because he called the bank and they'd never heard of the vendor, and all it said on the statement was "Steal Network" or something like that, lol. But if you haven't checked it out, you should! That place has some great deals. Now on to my card:

I combined the colors from this week's ColourQ and this week's CPS sketch in my card.

The cute little mushrooms came in the Gnome set. The woodgrain is a SU background stamp. The die is a Nestabilities die.

Aren't they just so cute?? And I loved the sentiments that came along with them, too.

The wide ribbon is from SU. I used my corner chomper on the corners, and popped up the mat and the gnomes. I think this color combo worked really well on this card.

Happy Saturday! Thanks for stopping by :)

Card Patterns #149, Color Throwdown #176, RCC37

Looking for the Green Eggs and Hambo blog hop? Scroll down, this is my 3rd post of the day (can you tell I have the day off from work??)

Check out this adorable Valentine's Day card!

To make this card, I combined 3 challenges (something I've never done before!). Here is the sketch from the Card Patterns Blog:

Here are the colors I used from this week's Color Throwdown Challenge:

And finally, I'm entering this week's Ribbon Carousel Challenge that was issued by my close friend Suzanne! Find the challenge here.

So back to my card using Paper Smooches!

The cardstock is all PTI, the card was cut using a Sizzix scallop circle die and the circle with Nestabilities. The border die is from PTI.

The big heart is from a Sizzix Bigz die from SU (hearts and brackets). The ribbon is from the dollar bin at Michaels.

I did outline the monster with BG10, but it didn't turn out as blue as usual because its on the kraft. It still makes him jump off the paper, though.

I'm just loving this card, it turned out so cute!! Thanks for stopping by :)

Runway Inspired Challenge #4

I decided to give the new Runway Inspired Challenge Blog a shot and I created this card:

Here is the runway shot that they gave us for inspiration:

Obviously the rainbow colors stand out, and also that neat triangle bag stood out for me. I took the colors in order from the dress, cut one inch strips, glued them down to a piece of cardstock, and then cut it all with the PTI banner builder die.

To bring in even more rainbow, I tied several multi colored strips of Amuse ribbon into the knot. I got this idea from an Amuse swap that I went to last year, and I thought it was a great idea for scraps of ribbon, and it makes such a statement!

I colored the worm with Copics, and made the "sand" with dots in 3 different colors. I stamped out the sentiment and used an SU label punch to cut it out.

I think it turned out to be a very cute and festive birthday card!

The set I used is from Paper Smooches, and the embossing folder is from SU. I mentioned all other supplies above. I had a lot of fun deciding how to create this card, I bet you'll be seeing me over at the Runway Inspired Challenge again ;)

Looking for the Green Eggs and Hambo blog hop? Scroll down, this is my second post of the day.

Green Eggs and Hambo Blog Hop

Welcome to the “Green Eggs and….Hambo!” Blog Hop sponsored by Hambo Stamps! The Bacon Bits are here to help you start your New Year’s reading list off right with a little book title laughter and fun.

If you arrived here from Allison’s blog, you are in the right place. If not, you will want to start back at the beginning at the Hambo blog – TALK TO THE HAM. We don’t want you to miss anything!

A little surprise is hiding on one of the blogs today, so be sure to leave some comment love as you “hoof it” around the hop. One lucky commenter on the mystery hop spot will be in hog heaven and win a prize from Hambo Stamps!

We love comments anytime, but the deadline for prize entries is Tuesday, January 31 at 5 PM CST. Our current team will be retiring that day, and we will be welcoming a new Design Team AND celebrating the Hambo Hoedown’s ONE YEAR BIRTHDAY on February 1st. Blog Hop winners will be announced at the Hoedown on the 1st.

When picking a stamp to use for today's blog hop, I came across this adorable Amish image. I have always loved reading books about the Amish, and one in particular stands out, "Plain Truth" by Jodi Picoult (one of my very favorite authors!). So here is the card that I created to depict the book:

In addition to the Hambo digi Amish image, I used my new Mega Mat Stack #1 and Mat Stack #1 from PTI for the mats. The background was stamped with PTI's Tin Types. The impression folder is from SU, and the fence is a Martha Stewart punch.

The cardstock is all PTI and the ribbon is SU. The Amish image is colored with Copics.

And here's the inside....isn't the sentiment so funny/cute?!

In addition to the Bacon Bits, we are happy to show off some Hambo customer blogs as well. See below for the complete list of links to all the participants. Now head on over to Jen's blog to check out what book she is highlighting, I'm sure you're going to love it :)

Talk to the Ham

Jennifer S

Melissa

Karin

Pat

Laura

Stephanie

Sherry

Leslie

Judy

Sandy

Michele

Allison

Jessica (you are here!)

Jen N

Andrea

Libby