Snowflake Kisses

Snow finally found us last night in the Shenandoah Valley.  We got enough to cover the ground and make everything look sparkling clean.  By afternoon, though, it's all gone (and that's fine with me!).  Snow is so much more enjoyable when you can simply enjoy it and not have to trudge around in it, don't you think? 

This week has been a busy one here.  Miss E had an orthodonist and dentist appointment on the same day.  She took it all in stride, though.  Mom needs to coordinate a little better...  And Mom needs to brush better - I have to go back Monday for a filling! 

How about a happier topic?  This card was designed for two challenges:  My Craft Spot and Fantabulous Cricut.  Both challenges are all about snow:  snowflakes, snowmen - if it's cold and wintry, it works for the challenge!

I decided to go with a turquoise and purple color palette for this  4 1/4 X 4 1/4 card. The background chevron paper is from MME Fine and Dandy Tickled Pink.  The paper on the hat is made by combining TH Distress Stains:  Picket Fence, Dusty Concord and Faded Jeans.  Just blob some on your craft mat, spritz with water, lay the paper on top and work it around.  The nice part is that after you dry it with the heat gun, you can add another lay until you get the effect you want!  It's really easy and it gives your projects a little something extra! 

After the paper dried, I used My Craft Spot White Christmas stamp set to stamps the snowflakes in Fresh Snow from PTI.  The sentiment is from the set too.  Don't you love the font and sentiment?  I can't wait to add some more of those stamps to my collection!

The hat is cut from Winter Wonderland and I used stickles on the trim and fuzzy ball .  I used the shadow cut to give a little extra oomph to they layout and put a little bling in the middle of the snowflake for interest.  The big snowflake peeking from behind the hat is from Winter Lace and it got 'stickleized' as well!

The purple ribbon is bias tape that I dyed to match using TH Distress Stain in Dusty Concord. 

Oh and if you look closely at the card photo, you can see the storage system DH and I came up with for my growing Copic collection.  It's definitely a budget friendly solution Since I saved on it, I should be able to buy more Copics, right? ;) 

We're still working out all the design details (and I had to tell DH that we didn't have enough cans...oopsie!) but it's working well so far.  I like to be able to organize by color family AND see my choices while I'm planning a project!

Enough for now!  Hope you stay warm and happy on this winter weekend!

Cindy

Love You to the Core!

How do I get myself into these things?  Miss E is my Valentine's Day baby.  Last week when I said the Christmas tree was coming down, she and DH decided that it would be much better to leave the tree up for a while.  When I said the Christmas stuff had to be put up, Miss E had the great idea to decorate the tree for Valentine's Day! [What???]  "Mom," she says as she looks at me with her big blue eyes, "wouldn't it be great if my birthday presents were underneath the Valentine's Tree?"

What's a Mom to do?  Yup, you guessed it.  This weekend the Christmas decorations were put away and the very empty Christmas tree was repurposed as a Valentine's tree!  I used my trusty Cricut to make somewhat fast work on some decorations to get it started.  I figure Miss E will want to add her own decorations this week so there is plenty of more room for lovey dovey decorations. 

So in honor of my early start to Valentine's Day, I decided to start working on a Valentine's card and use it for a couple challenges.  My challenges this week are masculine card (Fantabulous Cricut), delicious treat (Crafty Spot) and Love/Romance (Crafty Sentiments). 

The base is PTI kraft cardstock cut 4 1/4 X 4 1/4.  The background papers and apple papers are from Echo Park and MME.  Sentiment is from PTI's Fruit Fusion Apple Stamp Set.  I roughed the edges up on the stop layer and used Jenni Bowlin Malted Milk to give more aging to the paper.  The apple and tag is cut from Preserves.  There are a lot of great tags, circles and fruit cuts on that cart!

Overall a fun easy card that came together quickly!

Have a great week,
Cindy

And So It Goes...

Two days back to school and Miss E is out with a tummy bug.  So today has been a day of small sips of Sprite, saltine crackers and toast.  (Makes me wish I hadn't tried her chicken last night...)  But she is a trooper through it all only asking for the occasional hug.  We're hopeful that she will feel well enough to go back to school tomorrow. 

In between all of the above, I've been working on a challenge card for My Favorite Stamp's Wednesday Stamp Club.  I don't have any MFT stamps {yet!} so I used a digi stamp called Spring Bringer by Sylvia Zet at WeeStamps. 

Paper is from my stash and includes PTI solid colored paper.  Sentiment is from PTI as well.

Last night I made this card for a co-worker who turns 50 tomorrow.  The original card design was focused on Peter Pan (the whole never growing up theme...) but my cut was a small one.  I couldn't even get some of the cuts to be more than a small dot on the Cricut so I gave up and went with Nifty Fifties cart and Echo Park's Happy Days.  The red on the car is from DCWV and is a metallic red.  Thought it worked well as a paint color for the car.

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend! 

Cindy

Warm Winter Wishes

The winter holiday is winding down.  It's cold and very windy here today - winter may be finally making an appearance here (but hopefully won't stick around too long!). Tomorrow the kids are back to school and I'm back to work.  We still have our tree up until the weekend.  Doesn't the house look bare after packing away the Christmas decorations?

Today's card is for the Mojo Monday Challenge #222. 

I used Verve's Sip and Savor as well as Winter Mittens for the sentiment and coffee mug.  The paper is from Echo Park Winter Park.  I decided to hold off on going full force Valentines (at least for a few more days...)  I used Ice Spruce Distress Ink to color the background of the sentiment.  Copic R22 Light Prawn is the color for the mug and the heart is stamped in Festive Berries Distress Ink.  The snowflake cut is from Winter Lace and lightly stamped with PTI snowflakes and sprayed with Tattered Angel Pearl Glimmer Mist. 

Thanks for looking and hope you have a great week!

Cindy

Cool Thank You

Christmas has come and gone for another year.  Yesterday was a whirlwind of presents, family and food!  Now it's time for the thank you notes.

I designed these for Miss E to give to her special friends who are so kind to her. 

I have a hard time making multiples - there is always a tweak or change to something!  The penguins are from Create a Critter.  (This cut also makes a great wall vinyl - we made some for Miss E and her friends last Spring.  They loved it!)  The card is a small one - just 3 3/4 X 3 3/4.  This size is too small for US mail when placed in a 4X4 envelopes but we plan on handing them out so it's not a problem.  The flower on the penguin's head is one I made from the Cricut project cartridge Flower Shoppe.  The flowers are so easy to make.  I watched a tutorial on Creations with Christina's blog and was creating as I watched! (Thanks Christina for making it so easy!)

 I put a dot of Liquid Pearls in the middle of this flower. 

The stamp is PTI Fillable Frames #5 stamped with Fresh Snow (PTI). 

Patterned paper is Echo Park Be Mine and the ribbon is from Michaels. 

Thanks for looking and have a great week!

Cindy

Old School Meets New School

A recent challenge was to use old scrappy products to make a project. 

So out came the old stencils, fancy scissors and brads to make this card!  The base is stamped with PTI Stitches and Swirls in Aqua mist.  I love the subtle pattern it makes.  The lace is colored using the aqua mist stamp pad and some water to mix in the color. 

The tag... let's just say I am so thankful for my Cricut because cutting out a handtraced stencil tag isn't as fun as it sounds!  The tag is stamped with the same Stitches and Swirls stamp from PTI in Fresh Snow (don't you just love the name Fresh Snow?).  The brads in the corners are dotted with Pearls.  It gives the brads a little touch of class.  The letters are silver stick ons - easy peasy. 

Lessons learned from this card:

• Using the fancy scissors on PTI's heavyweight paper is a disaster waiting to happen.  The ends of my tag were chewed up right away because the scissors couldn't cut through the paper.  The tag ended up being smaller than I wanted because I had to trim off all the chewed up mess.  Still got some fancy cuts in by cutting the bottom edge of the card...
• Pearl dots take time to dry.  If you're impatient like me, you'll end up bumping the dot while trying to finish up without leaving time for the pearl to dry, getting it all over your hand and you'll have to redot.  Ugh.

Overall a simple, sweet card using old school products.  If it's all the same to you, though, I think I'll stick with my Cricut... :)

Smiles,
Cindy

Tis the Season

Happy Holidays!

The past few weeks have been crazy around here:  Christmas parties, getting Miss E ready with teacher gifts, exhibiting at a craft show with my sister.  You name it and it was probably on my to do list! 

One of the fun crafty projects for the holidays was making these nugget tins.  I sold a bunch at the Craft Show and then made some more for a special order and for teacher gifts.  These are such fun to make and each one was a little different.  It makes me smile to see how each one takes on its own personality (Pumpkin Spice & Denine - I hope it makes you smile too!)

This Snowman cutie  & sentiment is from Unity Stamps.  I colored with Copics and let his personality shine through!  Tucked inside the tin are 12 individually wrapped Hershey Nuggets.  A perfect gift for a teacher, friend or bus driver!

Sorry for the glare on this one.  I {LOVE} the 12 Days of Christmas paper line from MME that I used on this tin!  I used a PTI stamp set for the sentiment and added some Stickles to make the bulbs glow.

And this one used PTI stamp sets for a fun retro feel with the big bulb lights. 

Thanks for taking a look today and hope your weekend is great!

Cindy