Looking back .......

Nancy and Kath inspired me to do a final post for the year, choosing my favorite cards from 2011.  I spent a good couple of hours going through them all, and I guess I know now that my style is layered and flowery......do you agree?

These are chronological, beginning with my dreams of a baby granddaughter, and that dream came true when our sweet little Alma was born in January!

The pink theme continued into February, this time using one of my favorite Hero Arts stamps of the year, called 3 Dotted Flowers:

I used them again on this one, too, using a sketch from CASE Study:

And beginning to dream of spring here, using the Simple Frame stamp:

Here's my lone representation from March, which was inspired by one of my favorite card makers, Jacqueline:

April brought lots of butterflies:

Pinks in May, using my favorite Hydrangea stamp:

For June, I could not resist this one, using one of my oldest stamps that is a sentimental favorite:

I really liked this one, made for a sketch at PaperCrafts magazine, but it was not chosen for publication:

And these colors came from a challenge at CR84FN; such happy colors!

Are you tired yet?  From July I chose two cards.  This one uses beautiful Pink Paislee flowers and a Verve stamps sentiment:

And this one was a thank you for Nat:

Both of my August choices are from a challenge at Lily Pad Cards using the emboss/resist technique.  The second one won me a FAB FIVE prize at Hero Arts!

Two blue cards for September.  The first a case of one of Jill Foster's cards, when she invited me to take over her blog for the day:

This one uses another of my sentimental faves, a Flourishes violet stamp:

October is my favorite month, because it means autumn to me:

And one more using the big letter stamps from Hero Arts, along with the faux letterpress technique:

Here are my favorites from November:

And an early look at one of my favorite 2011 Christmas stamps from Hero Arts:

December was mostly Christmas and winter cards:

And for a final challenge of the year:

Are you still with me?  Thanks so much for going down memory lane with me.  I want to thank all of my followers for sticking with me this year, and encouraging me with your lovely comments.  Wishing you all a prosperous and healthy New Year!

Brackets

Hi!  Welcome to the last challenge of 2011 for Lily Pad Cards!  This week we are to use chipboard.  I found these brackets in my stash and covered them with paper to match my color scheme, trimming them out with a neat tool that I first saw Vicky use (see my supply list).

supplies: cream card base, printed papers from Hobby Lobby "The Paper Store", Hero Arts H5577 Classic Tea Rose, Versafine onyx black ink, pink and green markers and watercolor pencils, CL130 Frames and Messages, CL166 Special Friend, Memento Rich Cocoa ink, chipboard brackets from Darice Chipboard Tags and Frames, covered in Making Memories Willow Simple Sponge dp,  Fiskar's Precision Knife to trim paper around chipboard, Fiskar's Top Notch border punch, unknown orchid pink cardstock, pale pink embroidery floss

Once again, we're being sponsored by Simon Says Stamp, and if you play along, you might win a gift certificate to their Superstore!  

It's ANYTHING GOES at Simon Says Stamp!

Hello everyone!  I trust you had a fabulous Christmas!  We spent ours with our grandchildren and their parents, so it was a very special and joyful time!

Today will be my last post as a guest designer at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog - wow, that flew by fast!  I've had lots of fun!

Our challenge this week is Anything Goes!  As much as I enjoy making Christmas cards, it's good to get back to the norm.  Here's my card for you this week, using a beautiful Penny Black stamp called Mixed Media.  I've used it before in pink and black, so this time I wanted to try an aqua and brown combination:

supplies: ivory parchment and Core'dinations Brownie cardstocks,  Penny Black #4037K Mixed Media, Versafine Vintage Sepia ink, Fiskar's Upper Crest border punch, design papers from Prima's Madeline paper pad, My Mind's Eye Gertie paper pad, and pink paislee's sweetness paper pad, seam binding dyed with tumbled glass distress ink,  secured with a brad from Basic Grey's Sweet Threads Glazed Epoxy brad set, some lace, a Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags die and sentiment and some Hero Arts pearls

Please visit the Simon Says Stamp challenge blog to see what the other designers did this week, and then play along, too - you could win a $50.00 gift certificate from the Simon Says Stamp Superstore!!

I want to thank Simon Says Stamp for the honor of being a Guest Designer this month, and Joy Taylor for recruiting me - I've enjoyed all of the challenges and my time with you!  

Christmas children

Closing down shop here until after Christmas, but I wanted to leave you with my best wishes for a beautiful Christmas and for all your wishes to come true!  Aren't we all children at this time of year?

supplies: red, lime, and ivory parchment cardstock, design papers from The Paper Studio (Christmas sheet Music), Graphic45 (Christmas Post Collection from 2010), vintage image, Hero Arts CL343 Holiday Sayings, Adirondack Cranberry and old paper distress inks, red baker's twine, red heart button,  snowflake punch, red metallic dot


How many of you remember wearing these snow suits as a child?!  

It just so happens that the Play Date Cafe Challenge presented me with the perfect colors to highlight this sweet vintage image I found, probably at The Graphics Fairy.

Making Cards for Hero Arts

If you're looking for my Simon Says Stamp challenge post, please scroll down one post or click HERE.

Have you seen the post at the Hero Arts Blog showing the cards several of us made for Hero Arts?   Every year at the beginning of December, Hero Arts stores have Catalog Debut Parties.  At these parties, stores show the brand new Hero Arts products from the big new annual catalog.  Each store gets sample boards that have card samples using the new stamps, and we got to make these cards this year!  I was so tickled to be a part of it, and wanted to share just a couple photos of the card I worked on.

I like to think of this as the "L" card.  Lisa Spangler designed it, Lisa Carroll and Lisa Stein cut out all those flower heads, and I put all the pieces together - 199 times!  Many, many thanks to Lisa and Lisa for all that cutting; they saved me lots and lots of time!

Here is a picture taken at our local Archiver's in Fairlawn, OH at a catalog debut party on December 10,  showing the board with my card on it!  I was so thrilled to see it there!

And here's a picture of all of them before they were sent to Hero Arts:

If you're wondering how long it took me to get these finished, I worked at them for 10 consecutive days in November, and produced them in an assembly line, first cutting out all the pieces to size, then stamping the flower, coloring the leaves and stem, then popping the cut-out flowers on top and then adding the sentiment strip and the pearls.  I finished them before Thanksgiving.

Many thanks to Hero Arts for allowing me to be part of this new catalog debut!

BINGO! at Simon Says Stamp!

Hi!  I'm here again this week with my card as a Guest Designer at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog!  This week we're using a Bingo card:

You know the drill: choose any row, column, or diagonal, and make a project using those elements.  I chose to use the center row: die cuts, make your own designer paper, and fabric (I used felt).  Here's my card for this week:

supplies: red and cream parchment cardstock, Hero Arts CG222 Music Background, Adirondack Cranberry ink, S5247 Flourish Pine, VersaMark ink and Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold embossing powder, Papertrey Ink Beautiful Blooms II flower dies, red wool felt, Sizzix Sizzlits Branch with Leaves, mossy green wool felt, Spare Parts antique gemstone brad (thanks again, Sue)

I hope you'll play along, too!  As always, you can win a $50.00 gift certificate from the Simon Says Stamp Superstore!!

"Brown paper packages, tied up with string".......

Here's the fun photo inspiration from The Shabby Tea Room for this week.  We're to use kraft, red, newsprint, silver and a star:

This is my entry, using my old favorite Winter Tree from Hero Arts, along with a wooden star wrapped in aluminum foil and silver embossing for my silver element.

supplies: red and kraft cardstock, My Mind's Eye "Funday" design paper, old book page, Fiskar's top notch border punch, Hero Arts H5244 Winter Tree, Versafine onyx black ink and clear embossing powder, CL343 Holiday Sayings, stamped in VersaMark and embossed in Ranger Super Fine Detail Silver, Nesties ovals and scalloped ovals dies, Memory Box tiny red pearls, natural twine, wood star wrapped in aluminum foil

Red, black and cream

supplies: cream card base, papers from October Afternoon, Graphic 45, and The Paper Studio, Hero Arts CL496 Layered Flower, CL493 Live Life, VersaFine onyx black ink, stiped twill ribbon, ivory lace, red button and gems, natural twine

This card was made for a challenge at the Ribbon Girl Blog, to use red, black and cream:

Please go and visit there, as the Design Team went all out for this one!!

Two challenges

We have a color splash challenge at the Play Date Cafe for this week!  Here is the photo inspiration:

And the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is to make a CAS card and also an envelope to match.

Here are my submissions for both challenges:

supplies: white and pool card stock, Memory Box "Peace Collage", versafine onyx black, Hero Arts CL562 Snowflakes, Palette Water Lily Green ink, Hero Hues sea pearls, Glossy Accents, Fiskar's Top Notch border punch

I added some glossy accents to the large snowflake on my card for a little more interest.

Timely Bird

Another Ellen Hutson's CLASSroom challenge, this time to use a Hero Arts cling stamp.  We are supposed to include the stamp in the picture of our project, but it's almost as big as the card itself, so here it is, CG292 Timely Bird.And here's my card using it.  As before, I was inspired by Ellen's sample's colors and design:

supplies: white card base, kraft cardstock, CG292 Timely Bird, S5507 Envelope Pattern, CL490 Sending Smiles Messages, VersaFine onyx black, wild honey, broken china, and tea dye distress inks, clear embossing powder, Sea and Sunshine gems from Hero Arts

First time EVER!

supplies: white cardstock, Memory Box Tree of Birds, inkadinkado Round Frames (sentiment), VersaFine onyx black ink and clear embossing powder, Memento Summer Sky marker, corner rounder


I am so very excited to share with you my first publication!  To say that I am thrilled is putting it mildly - I have been floating around here ever since its first sighting by some friends at the Hero Arts flickr group.  And I finally was able to find my very own copy earlier this week.  I'm speaking of the January/February issue of PaperCrafts magazine!

I submitted 14 cards for this issue, and this, the simplest of them all, was the one that was chosen.

There are 3 people I especially want to thank.  First is my friend Mary Anne Rhodes, who first showed me the possibilities of stamping.  Next is Savannah O'Gwynn, who I met last spring and who encouraged me to submit for publication.  And the third person is Virginia Lu, who has been my cheerleader in this process.  Dreams do come true, don't they, V?

I will also be published in the January issue of CARDS, in the Style section, but I haven't been able to find a copy of that. If anyone has a sighting, would you let me know?

Runway Inspired Challenge #1

There's a new challenge blog in town, the Runway Inspired Challenge!  This week the inspiration photo comes from the Versace Spring Collection in Milan:

Here's my take on it, inspired by the design on her dress and the big circle behind her:

supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts Sunshine notecard, Hero Arts CL511 Sweet Threads Thank You, mustard seed distress ink, CL294 Big Circle, AR137 Script Messages, VersaFine onyx black ink

I'm looking forward to seeing what else this new challenge blog will inspire us with each week!  

A sketch by Domi

Hello!  I'm back again as a December guest designer at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog!  This week we have a sketch by Domi, and the added requirement is to use Stickles or glitter.  Here's my card for this week:

supplies: white, blue, and dark blue cardstock, Hero Arts K5537 Winter Town and CL459 Merry Christmas Trees (for the sentiment), chipped sapphire distress ink, VersaMark ink, white embossing powder, Clear Rock Candy Distress Stickles as glue to hold the Twinklets Diamond Dust glitter,  Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Ovals Large and Scalloped Ovals Large, EKSuccess snowflake punches and Diamond Border punch, and the stars from Hero Arts Clear Mixed Gemstones, CH156

I hope you're inspired to give this challenge a try - there are lots more samples from the designers over at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog to see.  And there's a $50.00 Gift Certificate waiting for the winner to use in the Simon Says Stamp Superstore!

And since, to me, this is clearly a night-time scene, I'll be entering it into the Flourishes Night & Day Challenge.