Thursday, December 31

My final post of the year, Tim & Unity style

I've been working on my tags for Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge, but I didn't finish in time for the prize drawing. I'm glad I've tried his tags, though; because Tim's style is so different from mine, the experience has stretched me A BUNCH!

Today I'm sharing three of my tags. I have another one to share tomorrow, and maybe I'll finish all the tags to share in future posts. I've entered these in the Stamp Something "Holiday Somethings" challenge, too.



All the tags use Unity and {ippity} stamps from LOTS of kits. It's a bit late, so I'll try to come back and update this with the supply list later.

Thanks for visiting, and have a Happy New Year!

Monday, December 28

H{ippity} Hop: Getting ready for Christmas...2010?!?!?!

Welcome to H{ippity} Hop! Can you believe this is the 3rd hop already? Time sure flies! The challenge this last week was to create a gift card holder. I already made one that you can see in this post, but decided to do another for next year.

I only just heard about the "12 Tags of Christmas" challenge over at Tim Holtz's blog, but I decided I needed to try something WAY out of my comfort zone for once. I love Tim's creations, but they are not my style so I rarely spend much time using his products. I do like his distress inks, however, for general purpose stamping. This tag was way more than stamping, though, as you'll see.

I CASEd Tim's very first tag for this year, but substituted a lot since I'm so Tim-deficient.  =D  I can't seem to get enough of the stamps from the {ippity} Kissmas & Mistletoe set, so I used the snowman from the set for my focal image. The stamps in the background are from a couple of Inkadinkado Christmas sets.

My tag followed Tim's tutorial with some changes to inks up until the crackle paint. I don't have any of that & don't want to buy any just to try it out, so I used UTEE and the cracked glass technique to achieve a similar look. I also don't have any grungeboard, so just used cardstock for the snowman and flourish. And, being the bargain hunter that I am, I used some plain 'ole glitter glue instead of Stickles. I had a hard time capturing the sparkle, but the snowman and the flourish both have glitter glue on them.

The back is where the gift card will go. It was pretty ugly from the distressing and UTEE soaking through, so I covered it with some patterned paper from my scrap tray and made a little pocket to hold a gift card. I'll put this in my stash for next year's gift-giving.  ;)

Have a great hop, thanks for coming by for a peek, and have a marvelous Monday!

Friday, December 25

Merry Kissmas - it's a wrap!

This is my final Christmas project. It's a gift card holder for my hubby. I used a SheetLoad ShortCuts gift card holder folder. They make wrapping up a gift card easy and fun since they come pre-cut and pre-scored. Just decorate and give!

I used the ivory GCHF, some red cardstock scraps, and the kraft is actually postal wrapping scrap paper that was left over from wrapping gifts - why throw it away when it lends some nice character to my project, right?  =D   I used some background stamps to liven up the plain background, and used the mistletoe image from the {ippity} set to create a little background strip in the center.

supplies ~ GCHF: SheetLoad ShortCuts, cardstock: The Paper Company, kraft package wrapping, stamps: {ippity} Merry Kissmas, Unity Tea Time Pattern and Baby Boy Plaid, ribbon: Joann's, ink: Memento Rhubarb Stalk and Hampton Art white pigment ink

I've entered this into the following challenges: StampTV's Inspiration Challenge, Get Sketchy's "Trash to Treasure", H{ippity} Hop challenge to make a gift card holder and Stamp Something's "Holiday Somethings".

Enjoy a blessed Christmas Eve! May the birth of Christ the Savior bring peace to your heart!

Monday, December 21

H{ippity} Hop on the shortest day of the year

IppityWelcome back to another H{ippity} Hop! Did you know today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year? Here in the interior of Alaska, this is a big day because today we only have about 3 1/2 hours of daylight. Within a couple of weeks, however, we'll be gaining an hour of daylight every week - what a dramatic change! We even have a carnival today to celebrate the lengthening of days!

I know, you're probably thinking: Yuck! All that dark! But one thing we also have lots of this time of year is SNOW, and it reflects whatever light there is, keep it from being so dark. So, on this short day, I decided to celebrate the SNOW!

I CASEd this card from Nichole Heady's blog. I created a background with the snowflake stamp from the Kissmas & Mistletoe set, then stamped the snowman in white. I ran my Aleene's 2in1 Glue around the edge and added glitter (click the photo to enlarge if you can't see the sparkle). The snowdrifts were cut from vellum, and I used StazOn jet black to stamp the sentiment. I used Glue Dots vellum adhesive to attach the vellum - can't see it can you? LOVE that stuff!

supplies ~ kraft: Bazzill, vellum: Strathmore, blue cs: stash, image & sentiment: {ippity} Kissmas & Mistletoe


I also entered this card in the Simon Says Challenge to make a Christmas card and the Kaboodle Doodles challenge to make a "sparkling winter" card.

Want this set? I have several in stock, ready to ship. Just click here to order this or any other {ippity} kit. PLUS, if you leave a comment here and place an order today, you can take off $5 from your purchase price! I hope you enjoyed your H{ippity} Hop! Come again soon for more fun!




Sunday, December 13

H{ippity} Hoppin' toward Christmas!

Welcome to this week's H{ippity} Hop! If you get lost, you can go to the {ippity} blog to get a complete list of all the {ippity} Chicks, Dudes and fans in the hop!

Ever try bouncing while you type? I'm trying not to, but I only have four more days until a two week vacation. Lazy sleep in days, a quiet Christmas Eve, and relaxing Christmas, lots of time to play in my craft space...yep! I'm definitely excited!

Today I'm sharing a couple of gift card holder folders. The basic layout is a CASE from Maria Gurnsey - one I've CASEd before in this card. The smaller format, however, doesn't leave room for a whole lot of elements or I'd lose the clean and simple layout, and I still have five more to make. These GCHFs are only 3" x 4.25" once they're all folded up (and if you'd like to get your mitts on some, follow the link above for a great price on them). I embossed the snow flakes with white ep, then mounted on a dark green mat before adhering to the front. The sentiment was stamped and matted on black. I tried inking the edges on one of them, and did some pen work stitches on the other. Both have a little gingham ribbon to keep it closed.

Would you like your own Kissmas & Mistletoe set? I have several of these in stock, ready to ship. Just go to my {ippity} blog to order!

supplies ~ cs: The Paper Company, kraft: Memories Forever, images & sentiment: Kissmas & Mistletoe

Thanks for stopping by for a peek!


Thursday, December 10

FWF...and is it really almost Christmas?



I cannot believe how quickly Christmas is creeping up on me. All our family lives over 1,000 miles away, so gifts have to go in the mail a couple of weeks ahead of time - I gotta get crackin'!




Closer to home, my school does a Secret Santa draw every year, so today's project is a set of thank you cards I made for my Secret Santa. I'm pretty short on time lately, so I wanted to keep it simple. Kelly Landers' post on the {ippity} blog was just what I needed! I just stamped with one color of ink, though, for simplicity's sake. I did the first three cards up with some ribbon, but also tried a few without it. This set was a breeze!


supplies ~ cardstock: Georgia Pacific, dsp: Stampin' Up!, image: {ippity} Devoted, sentiment: {ippity} Just Wanted to Say..., ribbon: Pebbles

If you would like to have one or both of these sets (or any other {ippity} set), I have them all in stock and ready to ship today. AND, if you leave a comment here and place an order this weekend, you'll get a $5 credit toward shipping. That's FREE shipping for up to 5 kits! Visit my {ippity} blog today!

Thanks for coming to visit! Have a fantastic weekend!


Sunday, December 6

H{ippity} Hop!

Welcome to the first-ever H{ippity} Hop Blog Hop! If you get lost or a link is broken, you can go to the {ippity} blog for a complete list of participants.

Today I have a Christmas card to share using the Kissmas & Mistletoe set. I used the December SheetLoad sketch and some Basic Grey papers, decorated the inside of the card and gave the envie a little love, too. This would be a great way to use up some of your scraps (I know I have a TON to use up) since the largest piece of patterned paper is cut to 3.5" x 1.25". Just three that coordinate and some matching cardstock...voila!



supplies ~ cardstock: The Paper Company, dsp: Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, ink: Memento Rhubarb Stalk, pearls: Recollections, stamps: {ippity} Kissmas & Mistletoe

Would you like to have this set? You can purchase it from any {ippity} Chick, including me! Just click here to order any {ippity} set you want!

Now hop over to the talented Heather! Thanks for visiting!


Friday, December 4

(a sad) ShoutOut to SheetLoad

~~~Looking for my Friends With Flair post? Scroll down to the next one!~~~

I only found out about SheetLoad less than a year ago and have really loved the inspiration I get from each issue. Unfortunately, this month is the final month of this wonderful e-zine. My hope is that one day it will make a comeback (please?).

The great thing about SheetLoad is that with only a few papers and a great sketch, you can whip out a bunch of cards in no time. I have only had time to try the entire SheetLoad once - I usually only have enough time for a single card - and found it very gratifying to have so many cards ready to go. You can even change the focal image, the orientation of the layout and the embellishments if you want each card to be unique!

Click on the picture of this month's issue to go get your copy!

Thursday, December 3

Friends With {ippity} Flair



Welcome to this week's FWF hop! I hope you've been getting lots of inspiration!

I finally received my {ippity} kits, but haven't had a whole lot of time to play with them. I decided that I needed some quick cards, since I'm also trying to put together a classy card set I can give away, teach in a card class/stamp camp or sell in my Etsy shop. I may have found just the ticket!

I sat down with the {ippity} kit called "Just Wanted to Say." With three frames and eight sentiments, you have lots of ways to mix and match them to get the look you want. It seems to be one of the more popular kits according to my little poll over on the right (which YOU can do, too).  --->

I started with a thank you card, since I need more of those and plan to make this a gift set, too. It's a simple little card that I cased from Jackie Pedro. I left more white space on mine and kept the stamping to a single focal panel. I also opted for stamping in VersaMark and using some pearlescent chalks instead of simply ink. For mass production, I'd probably just use ink that matched my dsp and cardstock.

supplies ~ cardstock: Martha Stewart, dsp: Papercraft Inspirations, images: {ippity} Just Wanted to Say



The second card is for a co-worker whose family lost a loved one this week. I decided to keep the same layout, drop the extra patterned paper and simply highlight with my chalks one of the birds from the dry embossing. The sentiment on this card was chalked, too.

supplies: cardstock: Martha Stewart, images: {ippity} Just Wanted to Say

If you like this set, feel free to pop over to my {ippity} blog to purchase your own. As a thank you, leave a comment here and I'll refund up to $5 on the shipping if you place an order this weekend.

Thanks for coming to visit today! Now it's time for you to hop over to Kerry!


Friday, November 27

Holy Smokes! A really late Friends With Flair

I almost forgot all about FWF today! We had such a nice, relaxing day yesterday that I totally neglected my stamp room. Then today, we got up early and did a thorough house cleaning in preparation for Christmas decorating. It wasn't until about an hour ago that I remembered I was supposed to post. So sorry!

Without further delay, here's my card. I used the snowman and sentiment from the November Stampin' Store Kit for this card. I CASEd Maria Gurnsey, who just made the fourth member of the {ippity} design team. My card didn't come out quite as lovely as hers, but it was a fairly quizk one.

supplies ~ cardstock: stash, images: Unity November Stampin' Store Kit {Believe in fairytales)}

Hubby is calling for some dinner, so I gotta fly!

Happy weekend!


Wednesday, November 25

A Super Sale at Doodle Dragon starts TODAY!

ETA: I had a whopper of a day and forgot to post this earlier this morning. So sorry! Head over quick to get in on the deal!


Dustin is offering a fantastic price for his digis! He's resurrected his retired digis and added a bunch more for a mega sale of gigantic proportions! Head over to his blog for details, or go to the shop now!

My card uses one of the new digis in the super sale. I needed a quick card, and this image was such a breeze to color with my chalks. I paired it with some scraps I still have in my scrap tray.

supplies ~ cardstock: The Paper Company, dsp: stash, image: Dustin Pike

Have a great day, and a Happy Thanksgiving!


Sunday, November 22

Penny, meet CPS

It has been FOREVER since the last time I got to play in a Penny Black Challenge. This week was "Winter Wonderland," and I happened to have this cute little snowman from a PB swap. I used CPS Sketch 143, too.


I started with a white card blank and some Cosmo Cricket papers. Once I got the papers arranged and the image cut down to the size I wanted, I pulled out my chalks to color. To add a little sparkle, I painted on some Icicles Twinkling H2Os. It's hard to see the shine, but it's on his headband and underneath him.

supplies ~ cardstock: Georgia Pacific Image Plus, dsp: Cosmo Cricket Jolly By Golly, chalks: Inkadinkado, sparkly paint: Twinkling H2Os Icicles

Have a great day, and stay warm!


Thursday, November 19

Friends With Flair is...wonderful



Welcome to this week's FWF! I am constantly amazed at how Unity keeps coming out with gorgeous images month after month. When I joined their kit of the month several months ago, I thought to myself, "It's a really good deal, and if there are images I don't like I can always opt out for a month or two." I didn't realize then how hard it would be to resist all the gorgeous stamps, and now I'm a store kit member, too. Sheesh! Talk about addictions!

I decided this week to ink up two images from the October Stampin' Store Kit, {wonderful...you}. I saw a nifty tutorial on SCS called the "blurred vision" technique and thought I'd give it a go on the leafy branch image. It didn't blur as much as I thought it would (maybe 'cuz I let the ink dry?), but it did change the color slightly. The sentiment is the same ink as the leafy branch, but do you see how the leaves are slighty lighter?

supplies ~ cardstock: stash, dsp: DCWV Sweet Stack, images: Unity October SSK {wonderful...you}

Have a great weekend - less than a week to TURKEY DAY!


Monday, November 16

My loss...your {ippity} gain

I've been following the progress of shipments of {ippity}, and it looks like I won't be getting my {ippity} orders for at least another week. Soooooo, I've decided to extend my $15 per kit & FREE SHIPPING sale until they come in! Yeah for you! Just go to my {ippity} blog to place an order. I will adjust the prices after I receive your order and refund any overcharge.

Spread the word before time runs out!


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