Happy Halloween

So these two images don't seem to go together and they don't. :) My daughter wanted me to put up a photo of her with her pumpkin on my blog, so here she is with her creation. (She drew the face on paper, adults wielded the sharp carving knives!) And I was pleased to find portions of Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown online so she got to watch that for the first time last night. Neat to see all the portions that are usually cut when it is squeezed into a half hour TV timeslot with too many commercials. I like commercial free viewing!

And for the second photo, a friend asked me how a pair of socks are coming along that I am knitting for another friend to give to her SIL for Christmas. She chose the sock yarn, Lornas Laces bittersweet I think is the color. One is done except for the kitchener stitch to close up the toe and the other is coming along nicely. Hope you have a great Saturday!

Finished gift, finally!

I finally finished the gift set for my SIL for Christmas that I had posted as a 'partial' for the blog hop the other night. I hope to make more of these for my other SILs and a few other people on my list, in different colors. :) The other night, the notepad still needed more embellishments, I hadn't made the notecards or the tea holder yet. What do you think? Too many dew drops on the tea holder? There are six notecards with envelopes in the holder, too few? Add a pen? What would you do differently? Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Take Note, Tea for Two, Fresh Alphabet, Simply Stationery, Damask Designs

Paper: PTI white, New Leaf, SU Pink Pirouette and DP

Ink: PTI New Leaf, Hibiscus, SU Going Gray, Black Stazon

Accessories: punches, nestabilities, decorative scissors, PTI buttons, ribbon, dewdrops

Templates: Lauren Meader's Recipe Wrap-Up, From the Desk Of, Nichole Heady's notebook cover

Autumn Card Swap

I don't participate in card swaps much. As you get older you realize how precious your time is, you only get so much of it! And I want to spend my time making gifts and cards for friends and family who appreciate it, to show my love for them.

There is one set of swappers that I 'play' with and that is a joint swap between the dorks and PSFers. :) We do two to three swaps a year.

I know there has been some confusion about this but yes, I have a group of online friends who chat together and we do call each other dorks, that's something we have in common! If folks are honest, they'd admit that we all do dorky things once in a while!

And we made friends with another online group of chatters, the PSF gals, who have that acronym because I believe one of the gals' kids asked her while on the computer one time, if she was talking to her "pretend stamping friends." That always makes me smile to think of it, all these folks who make cards and leave comments . . . are they really real? I've met some in person so I can testify they are! I think I hold the honor of meeting the most dorks, including Karen, the queen!

Beth started the first swap and now we've had different hostesses. The latest hostess was Pam (a PSFer) who ran a Fall-themed swap. And now that the cards have gone postal, I can put mine up on my blog.

I wanted to keep this card relatively simple. I used a leaf from an Inkadinkado set stamped using a combination of two Kaleidacolor pads, Cappuccino and Desert Heat. I cut out the panels and edged them with a Martha Stewart glitter to match one of the tones in the ink. Overstamped the leaves with a Northwoods sentiment embossed in gold. I colored white pearls with a walnut copic marker to match one of the brown tones and found this luscious satin ribbon at Mike's. I believe the PTI button in the center is melon, but it could be Summer Sunrise (I can't remember anymore) tied with copper cording. Paper is white confetti.

Thanks for looking!

Papertrey Ink October Blog Hop!

The other day I was telling the kids about Saturday Night Live, the 'not yet ready for prime time players,' because they didn't know Second City began in Chicago. What does that have to do with the blog hop? Here you see a 'not quite ready to post' project but I wanted to play in the hop, so this is my work in progress. We had a water pipe break in the kitchen today, spraying everywhere and leaking buckets which I had to empty while DH went to the hardware store twice to get the items needed to fix it. We still have no water. So I had this idea in mind, but not enough time this weekend to finish.

This is a gift for my SIL for the holidays. Not very holidayish in color scheme, but I wanted something feminine. I love Mish's new Take Note set, and just picture this with a few more embellishments and Lauren's lovely 'From the Desk of' template set filled with notecards and a nice bottle of hand lotion from Bath & Body Works. I'll post again when its finished!

I have a different post right below this one with a completed project that I made for my daughter, a notebook inspired by Melissa Phillips lovely work. Thanks for stopping by, sorry I'm not done!

Stamps: Take Note Papertrey Ink
Templates: From the Desk of, and Notepad (one by Lauren, one by Nichole from PTI)

Papers: Stampin Up DP

Ink: Hibiscus and Green Leaf PTI

PTI buttons

Giving Thanks . . . in soft pink

Happy Sunday stampers! Its time for a new challenge from the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge blog. This week's hostess is Laurie! (a recent birthday girl) and the verse she has selected is I Chronicles 16:34 "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Our challenge is to make a card or project that expresses your thankfulness for someone or something they have done, or to make a card that encourages someone to be thankful.

And our sponsor this week is Rubber Stamp Shack. Be sure to check out the main blog here to catch a glimpse of what you might win. Also you don't want to miss seeing what the rest of the design team has created for this challenge, I think it gets better week after week!

My project uses one of the new notepads that Papertrey Ink just issued with their latest release. So handy for so many things! What you are seeing is the notebook cover, when you untie the ribbon on the side, it opens. My daughter is a faithful journaler as she reads her bible each morning. I watched her settle into her quiet time each morning before work when she was home from college this summer.

I know that one area in our lives that can always use a little encouragement is a reminder of what God has done for us, so I made her this little thankfulness journal/notepad so when she sits with her bible in the morning or goes to bed at night, she can jot down the precious gifts God has blessed her with that day or recently. I tried to make it as pretty and feminine as my lovely daughter is, and received a lot of inspiration from the Papertrey Ink designers and one in particular, Melissa Phillips. Check out her blog here.

We've had such rainy weather here lately, the photo is a bit dark, hard to get a good image when its all gray outside! We had one nice weather window this afternoon and took advantage of it to have a wonderful time at a local apple orchard. We came home with a half bushel of all different types of apples and three pumpkins.

The star is glitter covered chipboard, the scallops from a Martha Stewart punch on a shimmery vellum that overlays the music stamped BG. I used Tim Holtz antique linen ink for a soft, vintage look, not to mention DD is an elementary ed music major. The DP is from SU, but it matches perfectly with the blush ribbon from PTI.

The chiffon flower is handmade, there was a great tutorial on Priscialla Styles blog a bit over a month ago, you'll find the instructions here. I dyed the chiffon with Pink Pirouette ink and because the chiffon is so light and airy, you get a lighter shade of color when you dye it so again, it matches the ribbon nicely. A nice trick is to edge the chiffon with a bit of stickles for some extra shimmer, I think I used lacy white (?) stickles on this flower. I have two strips of PTI white velvet ribbon there as well, some pearls and a sentiment and some flourishes from the Stampin' Up set Elegant Notes. The little border around the pink paper is from a new PTI set, Take Note, helps frame things nicely. Thanks for looking and we hope you get a chance to participate in this week's challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ.

Virtual Stamp Night -- Preparing in the Okiya

On splitcoaststampers we're celebrating a VSN mini, or virtual stamp night mini, with five challenges to get your appetites whetted for the big weekend November 14-15 (I hope I have the dates right).

The theme for this VSN is masquerade, and each challenge had to fit in with that theme somehow. We also have 'masked' messages, so inbetween the <> marks below, see if you can figure out the secret. :)

I am one of the hostesses for a mini this evening and here are the details for my challenge:

One of the best books I've read in the last decade was Memoirs of a Geisha. Always hard to believe that it wasn't actually a biographical novel, but fiction. The geisha or maiko in the book spend a good deal of time preparing every evening for their work entertaining clients in the city's tea houses.

Their visual appearance is striking--the elaborate hairstyle, the gorgeous kimono and the white makeup that covers the entire face and most of the neck. The white makeup is all part of the costume, a mask of a sort that doesn't conceal the personality beneath.

The challenge to you this evening is to create a card that wears a mask, one that enhances the main image without hiding it, an accent.

You will need acetate and white craft ink. If you're very careful you can use your heat gun to speed up the drying time on the white ink, but make sure you don't hold it too close or hold it in one spot for too long, you'll melt the plastic.

When you stamp in white on your acetate, a few things to remember; first make sure your pad is nicely inked up.

Second, do a practice stamp on a piece of scrap paper.

Third, don't touch the white ink on the acetate until it dries or it will smudge! <(Ask me how I know this!)>
Fourth, if you do smudge it, a damp tissue will wipe off your first attempt at white stamping. <(Ask me how I know THIS! Sorry, I won't tell.)>

Another hostess suggested that if you don't have white craft ink, you could also < use another color, or use a white rub on.>

If you get a chance to play, check the thread in the VSN forum for details on how to post. Thanks for looking!

Breast Cancer Awareness

October is breast cancer awareness month and I when I saw the limited supply challenge on splitcoast to make a girly card, I thought of these stamps right away because I need to send a card to my SIL. She beat breast cancer ten years ago but this year has been struggling with a new form of cancer and just completed a round of chemo treatments.

I used the sketch from Midnight Madness challenge 24, you'll find details here. I made the card mostly in shades of pink, with just a touch of green (for the leaves on the roses on the robe).

This robe and bunny slippers just look so comfortable, don't they? Its a shame you can't tell from the photo, I used a variety of twinkling H20s to paint the robe so it looks as though it is made of satin. I have a wonderful pair of satin pajamas that is lined on the inside with flannel for warmth and this stamp always makes me think of those cozy pjs.

And can you see the roses by my window? The roses outside are almost gone now with winter on its way, so my DH brought me a mini bouquet of roses for the inside. I had to get those in the picture! Thanks for looking.

Stamps: Impression Obsession robe and bunny slippers, Technique Tuesday breast cancer set (ribbon), Stampin' Up Belle Toile (BG), Itty Bitty Backgrounds (roses on kiwi kiss paper)

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss, Neenah solar white, shimmery white paper

Ink: Black stazon, gold EP, white craft, variety of reinkers

Others: Martha Stewart edge punch, oval nestabilities, cuttlebug vintage die, gold EP, rhinestones, paper piercing tool, twinkling H20s

King of Kings

Happy Sunday stampers! Welcome to another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ.

This week's hostess is Lisa, who selected the verse from Luke 2:11 "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

Our sponsor is Taylored Expressions and she has a beautiful set that you can win just by making a card to fit this challenge, which is to make a card or project featuring the nativity or other religious theme about Christ's birth.

I selected one of my favorite verses from the book of Isaiah, a book so full of promise so many years before the Messiah came. Anything in the bible set to music just pops out at me as I read it, does that happen to you? And what is more memorable than Handel's Messiah? Can you hear the choir singing the verse I used in my card? I expect you to be humming it all day long now!

I used the set Silent Night from Papertrey Ink for the verse and the star. Because this verse is set to music, in such a memorable, classic work, I used a retired music background stamp from Stampin Up beneath the verse, stamped off in Vintage Photo. Another PTI set, Damask Designs, makes up the background sheet beneath the sentiment and both layers are sponged with gold craft ink. Thanks for looking and we hope you play along this week.

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Silent Night, Damask Designs, SU Music background

Paper: PTI Poppy, Cream

Ink: PTI Poppy, Black Stazon, Vintage Photo, gold craft

Other: Gold EP, gold ribbon (PTI), gold dots, nestabilities

Charlotte's Halloween

Everyone, please say hi to Charlotte. She is a bit shy, she's new, but she came to the Halloween party with her well loved, favorite dolls hoping to make friends. I saw this image and she just looked like a dork sister, so I brought her home (actually she came by post from Canada).

She's a little bit quirky but looks friendly enough. I might take a new photo tomorrow when the light is natural outside, I just cannot get a good shot of the colors at night time.

I have always enjoyed Halloween. As a family when I was young we highly anticipated the night we'd carve pumpkins with my dad while my mom roasted the pumpkin seeds. My kids enjoyed that when they were younger too and still enjoy the pumpkin seed portion of the evening even though they're in college. The seven year old still enjoys the carving portion and gets more advice than she probably wants from all her older siblings on the finer points of pumpkin faces.

Last year when I took my daughter out for trick or treat I saw the cutest thing, a little girl from India or Pakistan was in her native dress going out for her first time with her dad, and I got to watch her approach her very first door. She opened up the tiniest little drawstring bag purse and you could tell she was delighted to find out when you ring the doorbell they drop a piece of candy inside. This year when we go out I bet we'll have to wear our winter jackets, its been that cold!

This is for the Midnight Madness sketch challenge for this week, challenge 23, which you will find here. Also, be sure to follow along on their blog hop on October 16th, ought to be fun, there is a lot of talent on their design team.

Thanks for looking.

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps (Charlotte), a 99 cent spider web and spider from somewhere

Ink: Memento black, black craft

Paper: SU Black, Orange, Green, Eggplant, Lavendar and . . . Amethyst? Maybe?

Other: Irridescent Ice embossing powder, orange ribbon, black organdy crinkled with the heat gun, silver cord, brads, nesties, stickles, reinkers, aquapainter, cuttlebug vintage die

My first devotional on WTW

Hi everybody! Just wanted to let you know I wrote a post for the Women to Women Sharing Jesus blog, the link is here in case you'd like to read it. I know this is an issue many of us struggle with so maybe something in there will be of a little help.

Celebrate Babies!

Happy Sunday stampers! This week's challenge at Stampin' Sisters in Christ is to create a baby card. The verse for this week is from Jeremiah 1:5, "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb."

That is such an exciting and heart warming verse to me. The God of the universe knew me, knew my children, before anyone else. He knew the entire plan of my life, of my children's lives and He knows the plan for your life as well, and He loved you before you were even born.

This card evolved a bit over time. I actually made the bottom card first following the Mojo Monday sketch from last week, but the more I looked at it, the more it looked to me like a card for a little boy's birthday maybe, but not for a new mom and her precious baby boy bundle. So I softened up the colors and added more white, sponging the edges of the kraft cardstock I used as the base.

I had a stamp that said 'baby' on it out on my stamp table and it has disappeared on me, but luckily found the Stampin Up baby tag shaped stamp to use instead.

The main image is the patchpal elephant from Clear Dollar Stamps. They have quite a few patchpal animals and the nice thing is they are sold separately so if there is one in particular you like, you don't have to buy the whole set.

I actually pulled out my copic markers for this set of cards, I need to get more used to them! Please visit the rest of the design team for more inspiration. We look forward to having you play along!

The baby card I created at the top is going to go to a new friend of mine who lives in New York. She and her husband are expecting their very first child, a boy, some time this month so very soon!

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps Patchpal elephant, Papertrey Ink polka dot basics, background basics spots and dots, Stampin Up baby tag

Ink: white craft, black stazon, Cool Caribbean

Paper: Doodlebug Designs DP, apricot, chocolate chip, gable green, cool caribbean, lavendar, kraft, summer sun, Neenah solar white

Accessories: copics, ribbon, twine, PTI button, stickles, Fiskars threading water punch

Happy Birthday Laurie!

Today at Stampin' Sisters in Christ we're throwing a virtual birthday party for Laurie, one of our design team members. She doesn't know yet she's the guest of honor!

All the design team members are participating, so if you'd like to go on a birthday blog hop, start at the main blog and then follow along with the listed links below. If you already started there, welcome to my portion of the party!

I brought chocolate dipped strawberries for everyone to enjoy, please help yourself!

Now for the birthday card. I found my inspiration for this card viewing the blogs of two Papertrey Ink designers, Lauren McVey and Betsy Veldman. Thank you ladies for always posting such lovely creations.

I used the Stampin Up set Serene Sunflowers with Pink Pirouette and Regal Rose, with a Clear Dollar Stamps set for the sentiment, sponging the edges of all the layers with Creamy Caramel for a bit of a vintage look. The button is PTI Lavendar, but I find it matches pink inks marvelously well.

Thanks for looking and happy birthday blog hopping! Start the birthday blog hop on the Stampin' Sisters in Christ site. Right after my post, visit Kathy. And if you want to wish the birthday girl (Laurie) a happy day, you'll find her blog here.

Birthday blog hop order is listed below:

SSCC Blog

Peggysue

Kathy

Ceal

Helen

Pamela

Kristine

Candace

Randi

Lisa

The Earth Rejoicing

Happy Sunday stampers! This is my first week as a design team member for Stampin' Sisters in Christ and here is the challenge for this week, which is challenge number seven. If you post your creation in a personal gallery such as on SCS, make sure you put SSCC7 in your key words.

Verve stamps is offering a great stamp set as a prize to one lucky winner, so be sure to enter your name and a link on the Stampin' Sisters in Christ post for challenge seven.

On to this week's challenge from Kristine Breach which focuses on the theme of praise and rejoicing. The inspiration verse for this week is Psalm 97:1 "The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the oceans be glad." The card challenge is to show some element of the earth rejoicing, flowers blooming, oceans roaring, trees bursting with fruit, mountains and hills 'clapping' . . . whatever comes to mind for you as long as your card or project shows the earth rejoicing.

You will find inspiration from all the other design team members on the blog, as well as a picture of the stamp set from Verve that you could win.

I know buttons aren't real flowers, but the position of the stems and the cluster of blooms they form just seemed to me to be springing forth in joy. Flowers to me are such happy creations, always pointing heavenward, nodding in the breeze . . . a flower looks like a smile. Looking forward to seeing all of your lovely creations!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Button Bits, computer generated sentiment

Ink: PTI Avocado

Paper: SU Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, PTI Spring Rain, Neenah solar white, assorted random DP

Other: Nestabilities petite scalloped circles, tags, velvet ribbon, paper piercing tool, yellow ice stickles, PTI buttons, Fiskars notebook edge punch

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Design Team

I am so excited and humbled to tell you that I am now a member of the Stampin' Sisters in Christ design team. My first reaction was 'wow.' And I am still thinking 'wow.' Hope you are all able to play in the weekly challenges that are posted every Sunday. Leaving you with this thought . . . 'wow.' :) Thank you so much.

Actually that should not be the final thought. This is a great way to share the love of Jesus Christ through our stamping ability. Having a personal relationship with Him is the best gift I've ever been given. If you have any questions about what it means to ask Jesus into your heart, or what that relationship has meant personally to each of us, just ask any member of the design team, they would be happy to help.

Cup of Cocoa on a wet day

The first photo shows none of the dimension of the card, so I tried to take a side version to show the parts of the card that are popped up.

This is for the challenge on Stampin' Sisters in Christ for a card of encouragement, thinking of you or praying for you. Just Because from PTI's Damask Designs set just fit the space, so I chose that.

This is the layout this week on Priscilla Styles Midnight Madness sketch challenge as well, cool sketch, although I had to scrounge around for a pin that fit. Because of the color scheme and theme of the card I didn't want to put any beads on the pin, so I glued on some buttons instead.

I wanted to use this stamp particularly after seeing Priscilla's card because we are having cocoa weather, so she inspired me to make a cocoa theme as well. And I never had any intention of popping up any elements of the card, until a gold pen I was using to mark dots on the cup leaked a huge gold splotch all over the cup. The rest of it was all colored, what to do? Cut and color another cup and then the cocoa label as well to balance things out.

This is mainly painted with WWC except for the silver on the cocoa tin, I used a silver pencil for that and you can see a bit of shimmer when you look at the card in person. Papers are SU, buttons are PTI, ribbon was a scrap I found in a drawer. I also chose the nestability shape for the main image because it reminds me a bit of the shape of a Hershey's cocoa can. :) Thanks for looking.