It’s that time - or maybe it’s really past that time. At any rate, I’ve started working on a few holiday things, and I used today’s Weekend Sketch Challenge to make a few ‘flat’ cards that are easy to mail for Christmas.  I’m using Christmas Blessings from Taylored Expressions today.  We Three Kings is one of my favorite Christmas Carols, probably because it’s one of my dad’s favorite Christmas carols.  Never a sentiment more true, ‘wise men still seek Him‘. The pretty patterned paper is Holiday’s & Winter’s Wings from Webster’s Pages.  It’s all stamped with Brilliance Chocolate Pearlescent ink, so it just shimmers and shines.  Sentiment is cut from Spellbinders’ Labels Nine, and it’s shaded with a little mist from my Copic airbrush.

We’re gearing up for a big weekend here in Missouri. I’m off to Science Olympiad with my youngest this morning and then a swim meet with my oldest this afternoon. We’ve got a lot to do in the next 2 days, but it will have to work around sleeping in tomorrow. I’m still playing catch up from being under the weather last week, and while I feel much better, I can’t seem to get enough sleep or OJ.

For other takes on the sketch today, visit Beate, Cambria, Charmaine, Jenn, Mary Jo and Sharon. Better yet, play along and create your own.

Have a wonderful weekend!

I’m pretty sure someone will call fowl play with my sketch liberties today.  You can do that when you’ve been under the weather. You can do that when you haven’t really stamped in weeks… You can do that when you really want to make a card and your supposed to be tying bows on 27 Fall Party treats. You can do that…whenever you want.

I pulled out Kim Hughes’ On the Farm from CHF for today’s sketch.  Copic Makers, a few buttons and a Fiskars punch. Now it’s back to the 27 bows. Hope your weekend is full of treats and sweets. Hugs!

For ideas that more closely resemble today’s sketch, visit Beate, Cambria, Charmaine, Jenn, Laurie, Mary Jo and Sharon. They won’t let you down.

• Stamps: On the Farm - Cornish Heritage Farms 
• Cardstock: Chocolate and Real Red Prism, Farm Fresh - October Afternoon 
• Ink: Rich Cocoa Memento 
• Accs: Copic Markers, Fiskars punch, buttons 

So Beate asked me to add a video to my Embossed Nestabilities Tutorial at Splitcoast as part of the Spellbinders Product Focus that was published today featuring Spellbinders Seasonal Die Templates. Video????

I now have about 12-15 of these easy-peasy Christmas cards almost ready to go. It’s only a 3 minute video, for goodness sakes! I had 2 different telephone lines ring and a internet chat request ding during ‘the shoot’ - not to mention my stuttering and stammering. Anyway, I felt like Fancy Nancy telling folks I was in the middle of  ‘a shoot’ yesterday.  Good times!

Anyway…if you want to check out the great review from the Splitcoast Product Focus Review Team, you can see that here: Spellbinders Seasonal Die Templates.  The info is great and includes fabulous samples from the team in the Review Gallery.

Hope you have a great day.

• Stamps: Christmas Blessings - Taylored Expressions 
• Cardstock: Kraft 
• Ink: White Pigment - Ranger 
• Accs: ribbon - May Arts, glitter, Stocking Die Template - Spellbinders, twine, button 

it takes hands to build a house, but only {hearts} can build a home

tap..tap..tap…Is anyone out there?

I’m back from a unintended, but needed break from paper crafting. It felt really odd to be sitting at my stamp table this morning, and even more odd to not know where my USB cable had drifted off to in the last few weeks. Don’t you always find yours under the passenger seat of your car when it disappears? When I left off last month, I was in the middle of 3 or 4 big projects (work, PTO and home improvement). I’ve wrapped most of them up, and it feels good to be moving on.

For the Weekend Sketch Challenge, this is a card for my mom — we’re celebrating her birthday this weekend. My brother and his kids and my parents will arrive today, and I’m really looking forward to it - even though my house is a mess and I’ve not cooked a thing. It’s always fun to spend time together.

To give you a hint of how sweet my mom is, she has just called from Costco in ‘the city’ to confirm a few things I had sent her on ‘my list’. Bless her heart - it’s the PTO paper goods list for the entire year. Then she’s stopping by two other stores to pick up things for me that I just can’t get here in town before she heads this way. I could really go on for hours about the many, many ways shes built our lives with love - of course - I’d be in tears because I just don’t fathom how a girl could be so fortunate. My mom blesses me, not by what she does, but for the woman she is.

As usual, more sketch-spiration from Beate, Cambria, Charmaine, Jenn, Laurie, Mary Jo and Sharon.  It’s good to be back, and I hope your weekend is full of wonderful moments.

•  Stamps: Hearts can Build a Home & Vintage Backgrounder - Unity Stamp Company 
• Cardstock: Indian Summer - Basic Grey, Kraft & Ivory cardstock 
• Ink - Rich Cocoa Memento 
• Accs: Copic Markers, ribbon - Taylored Expressions, oval nestabilities, sew-mini, brad - Basic Grey & punch - Fiskars 

Every month, just for fun, I do a challenge with a few friends where one person picks a stamp image that they like and another friend picks some patterned paper. Then using only the selected patterned paper (with solid papers to coordinate) and the stamp, we each make our own card. A few weeks ago I got this sweet little package in the mail from Kim Hughes with this cute Twizzle Tree from Memory Box, compliments of sweet Ellen. (Thanks, Ellen!) Then a few days later, sweet Julie sent me a few pieces of this pretty double sided polka dot paper,  Pink Floral JustChillin’ Girl from Making Memories. So sweet!

I paper pieced the circles on the tree from the big floral print on the backside of the paper, and added the fun polka dot print from the front side and some pearls that I airbrushed with Copic ink. Ribbon from Papertrey and a sentiment from Unity…Sweet!  This came together very quickly, but I am happy. (That’s not always the case! LOL)

Make sure you check out all of the Just For Fun girls: Alli, Julie, Kim and Michele. I love these girls, and I love watching them work.

In other news: It’s a day full of blessings here in Midwest USA: new babies, pretty paint colors finally decided for an exterior face lift, hubby is returning safely from a long hunting trip, crisp fall weather… God is good!

I can’t believe it’s sketch-99-time.  I remember way back when we started these - over 2 years ago. Good times.  Lots of stamping eye candy this morning if you visit the Girl Fridays: Beate, Cambria, Charmaine, Jenn, Laurie, Mary Jo and sweet Sharon.

I made a quick trip to Minneapolis last week, and when I returned, I had this darling vine pattern stamp included as a freebie with my Unity Kit of the Month. I immediately wanted to stamp it in a repeated pattern and hang flowers on the stems. I should have looked for a different sentiment, but I’m in the midst of ‘PTO bliss’ around here, we’re lucky I stamped at all! HA!

The paper is just a smidgen of the goodness that I found at Archiver’s last week. It’s Blue Sky from American Crafts. Love that paper line.

Today’s agenda: a full day’s work, finalize color selection for some painting that we’re having done, make 10 more pints of salsa, clean out my oldest daughter’s room in preparation for a weekend visitor and get ready for a host of fabulous parents to help me wrap up the annual ‘PTO bliss’ (aka fall fundraiser).

Hope you have a great day!

• Stamps:  vine & sentiment - Unity Stamp Company
• Cardstock: Orange & Aqua - PTI, Blue Sky - American Crafts 
• Ink: Bamboo Leaves & Rich Cocoa - Memento 
• Accs: Mambo - SU, Ribbon - PTI, Brads - Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts, flower punch - Stampin’ Up!, Stickles 

… I made a little trip out to the garden.

Then I chopped it all up in my Kitchen Aide.

I’ll be glad I gave up some stamping time come January. Don’t you think?

Thanks for stopping by.

A quick card for the sketch as we approach the weekend. I used the Dream sentiment from the {100% Happiness} store kit from Unity and some textured Core’dinations cardstock along with Earth Love - Cosmo Cricket.

I stamped the sentiment in Chocolate Chip Craft ink and embossed with detailed clear embossing powder. Applied some chalk ink to soften the edges of my cardstock and stitched on my sew-mini. Another stacked Prima/button embellishment from my stash.

I’m short on the chatter today, but these girls will make up for it with beautiful samples. Check out Beate, Charmaine, Laurie, Mary Jo and Sharon for fabulous sketch-spiration this week (and every week). Have a wonderful weekend!

Continuing with Christmas today on the JustRite Mega Font Blog Hop … I promised my mom a few weeks ago that I would make a few things for her to contribute to the annual craft bazaar that is coming up. I thought these little list pads would be cute for her to take.

Last year, I realized that I liked mixing my JustRite fonts (on sale thru 9/24) with fun stamp images and sentiments for one of a kind tags on Christmas gifts and packaging.

I loved this stamp image of these little children sneaking down the stairs with their candles, stockings in tow (CHF). I started with Poison Ivory cardstock, and using my JustRite 1 5/8″ round stamper and the Small Letter Set, I created a custom sentiment, ‘naughty or nice…check it twice‘, stamped in dark brown around the outside of my circle. Then I filled in the center with the candle image from Merry Little Christmas  in lighter, latte colored ink.  Over the top of that, I stamped Welcome Christmas Time (CHF) in Real Red ink. The ivory circle is punched with a 1 3/4″ circle punch and layered on the Marvy scalloped circle punch (super jumbo).

These list pads are made from 5″x8″ inch legal pads that I had cut in half at the local office supply. You can view the full tutorial on how to cover your own at Splitcoast.  The patterned paper is from the Merry Moments pack at Stampin’ Up!

I’m glad to have this project checked off of my Christmas list, but I think I’ll be making a few more lists in the next few days. They are too easy.

I’m sure you are enjoying all of the JustRite projects today. I love seeing how many different people use similar items to create totally unique projects. For sure,  I’m going to take a peek and take notes! You can see projects using many different JustRite fonts by visiting these fabulous bloggers:

Michelle Wooderson

Sankari Wegman

Heidi Blankenship

Eva Dobilas

Beate Johns

Sharon Harnist

Barbara Anders

Sharon Johnson

Deb Saaranen

Becca Feeken

Kazan Clark

Lauren Meader

Tammy Hershberger

Linda Beeson

Jenny Gropp

Tanis Giesbrecht

Jenn Balcer

Lisa Somerville

Karen Maldonado

Pamela Smerker

Karen Taylor

Latisha Yoast

Julie Overby

Mary Pfaff

I’m still determined to get a head start on Christmas this year.  So, I cut some snowflakes with Sizzix dies and vanilla cardstock then added Diamond Dust chunky glass glitter.

Vintage Christmas Sentiments from Cornish Heritage Farms and Joyeux Noel snowflakes fill the circular image panel, and Kaiser pearls (latte) made  the finish it easy. The patterned paper is Merry Moments from Stampin’ Up!

I’ll have another Christmas project tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by, and have a fabulous evening.