Make a Difference

Brrr, baby….I had to dig the mittens and ear muffs out for my girls today. They said they couldn’t go out for recess unless they had the appropriate attire. Makes it a perfect day to share this little Lizzie Anne Designs notecard with you. Have you had a chance to stop by the Lizzie Anne Designs Forum at Splitcoast? Lizzie Anne is one of the initial Member Companies who landed their own forum at the number one stamping site on the web last month. Stop by, see news, post your questions, give feedback or just chat with Lizzie and Anne. The Member Company forums are a great place to gather information and get to know your favorite retailers.

All images of the images on this card are from Christmas in the City. They are stamped in Palette Burnt Umber on Curious Iridescent Cryogen White - shimmery cardstock and colored with Copic Markers. I added some glitter to the snowflakes and paired the panel with some Stardream Metallic cardstock the color of cocoa…..hmmmm, cocoa…..off to make some cocoa (with marshmellows)….have a wonderful day.

I had made time for Roxie’s Sketch Challenge today.  It feels good to be back in the saddle. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving, but I’m glad to be home.

All Cornish Heritage Farms images here. Notice the ‘x’ pattern? That’s part of the Dotted Diamond Backgrounder. It’s one of 15 new backgrounders being released on Saturday, December 1st. A ‘little birdie told me’ that the release date is in honor of sweet, Mona Lisa’s 30th Birthday! You are invited to party all day on Saturday, December 1st in the CHF Forums. Like any good party, there will be games (challenges), laughs and prizes (bring your own Diet Coke ). Check out Lisa’s blog  - she’s been busy posting 30 sneak peaks of these backgrounders. 

This little guy is stamped on Cryogen White and colored in with Copics and then glittered the belly and wings up with Martha Stewart glitter. I wish you could see how he sparkles in real life.

• Stamps: Dotted Diamond Background, Pretty Birds and Silhouette Blooms I by Kim Hughes - all from Cornish Heritage Farms

• Cardstock: Curious Iridescent Cryogen White and Stampin’ UP!

• Ink: VersaMagic White Cloud Chalk, Palette Burnt Umber and Latte Dye from Adirondack by Ranger

• Accs: Martha Stewart Glitter, Copic Markers, Brads by American Crafts and Ribbon from Stampin’ UP!

 Thanks for stopping by!

A sweet Kim Hughes inspired card before we blast full speed ahead into the Christmas season. This card uses Silhouette Blooms I from Cornish Heritage Farms and pretty Prism papers. The patterened paper is foo-foo-la. The image is stamped on plain old steno pad paper and punched with the SU! Spiral punch. Thanks for looking! I’ll be back from Thanksgiving vacation tomorrow with a fun Christmas notecard. Happy Sunday!

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. ~ Psalm 69:30

Sketch from the Card Maker’s Sketch Book by Tami Mayberry. Love that resource!

• Stamps: Bountiful Blessing - Stampin’ UP
• Cardstock: Curious Iridescent Cappaccino & Curious Iridescent White, Perfect Plum and Autumn Harvest patterened paper
• Ink: Palette Burnt Umber & Scattered Straw Disressing Ink
• Accs: Copic Markers, Nestabilities, Hodgepodge Hardware Copper, Cosmo Cricket Rub Ons, Stardust Clear Shimmer Pen, May Arts Ribbon

Happy Thanksgiving!

We’re going to see my father-in-law’s new house on the Chesapeake Bay today. He’s been building it for a while, and everyone is excited to see it. Not much time to ramble, (aren’t you blessed today?) I wanted to share my Lockhart Indian Corn with you before we go full steam into Christmas later this week. I couldn’t imagine letting Thanksgiving pass without inking this beautiful image.

It’s colored with Copics and the Stardust Clear Gimmer Pen. I just love this image.

• Stamps: Lockhart Indian Corn and Paisley BG from Cornish Heritage Farms

• Cardstock: Curious Iridescent Poison Ivory, Really Rust and Chocolate Chip

• Ink: Palette Burnt Umber & Scattered Straw Distressing ink by Tim Holtz/Ranger  

• Accs: Copic Markers, May Arts ribbon, Paper Studio Chocolate Brads, charm - unknown and Nestabilities

Please forgive the slightly crooked image, I wanted you to get FULL SHIMMER effect. Nothing like FULL SHIMMER is there?

This my 2nd ATC for Taylor’s HUGE ATC swap. Guidelines for this round were Papertrey stamps. I can’t wait to see what the other ladies do with these awesome stamps. I made 10 of these, and with that small number and the small canvas, I could part with some of my beloved chocolate crinkle ribbon and 3 brads on each card. :)  The blah, blah is short and sweet today. I’m enjoying time with my husband’s family and hopefully a sweet, sweet friend that I am ‘grateful’ for. Blessings ~

• Stamps: Papertrey Beautiful Blooms

• CS: Curious Iridescent Poison Ivory and Stardream Metallic Bronze

• Ink: Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate & Creamy Caramel (SU!)

• Accs: Paper Studio Chocolate Brads and Chocolate Ribbons - all by SU!

Do you know my friend, Taylor? Of course, you do. Her house is just a hustle and bustle this week because she is celebrating 1,000,000 hits to her AWESOME blog - Taylored Expressions. Check our her celebration prize packages all week long! On top of blog mania - the USPS man is probably swimming in packages this week as the postmark for Taylors huge trading card swap has passed. I participated in 2 rounds, and I can’t wait to see the goodies when they come back to Missouri. This trading card uses the wreath in the window from the awesome Christmas in the City set by Lizzie Anne Designs and the woodgrain backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms. Colored with Copics and shimmered with the Stardust Clear Shimmer Pen…Fun..fun..fun! Trading cards are a wonderful springboard for quick and cute full-size greeting cards: 

I used some striped paper to add a little awning to my window. Can you tell where I kind of fooled your eye on this card? Take a peek at the scalloped edging. I love that look, but when I put the card together, the edge stripes were green. See how they pop against the red? They DID NOT pop against the green layer up top…they kind of faded away. So, I cut a snippet of the pink stripe, scalloped the edge and hid the seam under the ribbon and the ATC. Now the scallops pop on the green, too!

I have lots of blog posts lined up this week. Can’t wait to share some of my recent projects with you. Tomorrow: Taylor Swaps - Take 2! Have a great day!

It’s Beate Sketch time! I found this beautiful paper in my stash. It’s by Bo Bunny. I added the stamped images on Curious Iridescent White with this stem from Oh, So Lovely by Stampin’ UP! It’s stamped in Palette Burnt Umber and colored with Copics. I restamped the image on the soft blue paper, colored in the stem and then trimmed out the flower heads to adhere to the blue. Then I cut the circle medallion with my Nestabilities. The brads were white, I colored them in to match the blues in the pretty paper. Ribbon is Stampin’ UP!

I’m going to check out Beate, Charmaine, Jenn, Laurie, Mary Jo and Sharon. It’s a weekend of celebrations for the Sketch ladies!  My friend, the most fabulous, Sharon Harnist is celebrating an acceptance to the Spellbinder’s Design Team. Well-deserved honor, for sure! And, certainly worthy of celebrating, Beate Sketch artist extrordinaire, Charmaine is snuggling and cuddling a beautiful ball of blue baby blanket this weekend as they welcome Baby Isaac to the family. Congratulations, Charmaine!

I’ve got 2 projects set up to show you over the weekend that I completed for my friend, Taylor’s trading card swap. Speaking of Taylor, she’s partying this weekend, as well….make sure to check out her blog. She’s celebrating 7 days straight for reaching 1,000,000 blog hits. Lots of fun, fabulous prizes each day! Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend!

As I am getting the Christmas stuff well underway, I’ve been reaching for my Christmas in the City by Lizzie Anne Designs. The images are fun and clean, makes for some quick Christmas projects! While most of my projects thus far have been bright and cheery, here I paired the tree with beautiful paper from Cosmo Cricket’s Wonderland line to create a pretty quick, vintage inspired card.

The tree image is stamped in Palette Burnt Umber on Curious Iridescent Cryogen White. It was colored with Copic Markers and then rubbed down with Scattered Straw Distressing Ink by Tim Holtz to age and make the color match the Cosmo Cricket line. I used a Sukura Clear Stardust Pen to accent the needles and branches. These are on sale at Cornish Heritage Farms right now. <wink>

Even with the sentiment and pretty May Arts ribbons, my tree looked a little lonely. So, I used my R59 Cardinal Red Copic marker and colored a tan mini brad. It came out a wonderful dark cranberry color to match my ribbons. Oh yeah, baby! This is a trick I learned from the Queen a while back. The alcohol marker dries quickly and without streaks, so you’ll be seeing that trick here again.  I dabbed a little bit of Sukura Clear Stardust to the tops of my ‘ornaments’ so they glimmer, too.

The tag and scalloped frame are cut with my Spellbinder Nestabilities, honestly, probably the best tool investment I have ever made. They are light-weight and easy to store. And, this is the biggie: You can tell exactly what you are cutting out without a lot of shifting. You lay the cardstock down and then put the open centered die on top of that. It cuts exactly where you want it to, every time. If you want Santa to put them under your tree, have him go to Ellen Hutson. 

 Tomorrow’s Friday - we’ll see you at 8:30 a.m. SHARP. You don’t want to be late for Beate’s Sketch. Have a wonderful day!

I wanted to share with you an outstanding customer service experience that I had this week.

It’s no secret that I *LOVE* Curious Iridescent Cryogen White and Poison Ivory cardstocks. The white is an exact match for SU! Shimmery White, and I love that I can get them both at the same place. I phoned Cindy at www.cutcardstock.com on Monday to ask her about folded A1 notecards (3 5/8″ x 5″). I already had Cryogen White envelopes that size, and they are wonderful for notecard sets. The smaller canvas makes for quick, attractive sets, and they are large enough to meet USPS mailing regulations.  I seem to make a ton of these sets at Christmas.

Yesterday, not 2 full days later, I get an email from Cindy that they are cut, scored and in stock. WOO-HOO! So, check it out. You want A1 Envelopes and Notecards (2 seperate items) in Cryogen White. You can also select your shipping method for the best pricing and delivery timing. Placed my order at about 9:20 this morning and they shipped about an hour later. LOVE CINDY and DARRELL at www.cutcardstock.com!