Believe You Are Wonderful Card and Tag / 2 Challenges in 1 / My Challenge #39

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Hey y'all. Happy Thursday! I hope you're having a great week so far. I have the day off but it'll be busy none-the-less. I'm going to see some of my most favorite people ever. True Heroes. Then I have to go see the orthopedist to see if we can get my feet feeling better. For those of you that don't know I started running almost 4 months ago and was doing really good, running 2 hours/day, 5 days/week (in non-running shoes) & doing pretty good. Then I switched to expensive "running" shoes and messed my arches up. Yep, arches, as in both of them. They have been painful for a month now and just walking is uncomfortable. Even a round of oral steroids has not fixed it. I'm expecting steroid shots in both arches and right now they hurt so bad the thought of the shots is the lesser evil of the two. :(

Know what makes me smile? When a card comes together like you visualized (or at least pretty close). Know what else? Getting my card for the Nacho Average Challenge done early, even though it's a dreaded "color challenge". Top that off with being able to combine it with another challenge makes it even better. Here's what I came up with-

Encouragement Card featuring
Snowflake Soiree Stamp Set, Northern Flurries Embossing Folder,
Delicate Designs Embossing Folder &
Large Scallop Edgelet

I was able to use this for Nacho Average Challenge's Color Challenge #12-

I was actually pretty excited about this color combo. It didn't totally terrify me, always a good thing! I don't usually look at the DT's cards before I do my own, because I don't want to be influenced by them. For some reason I did this time and I'm really glad I did, because Tammy loves her some snowflakes and had posted a card very similar to what I had in mind. I wonder if she would be offended if I were to say "Great minds & all that?" Have you seen her cards? Fab-u-lous! I would love to have someone think my cards were on her level. :) So anyways, I knew I had to change my game-plan just a little and went in search for a new sketch to use.

Lucky for me I have Try Stamping on Tuesday on my RSS feed and this was just waiting for me. It's been a while since I was able to play with them so it's nice to get to join up with them again. :) Here's their great sketch-

I'm pretty excited with what I came up with, how bout you? The only thing I'm missing is the 3 brads at the bottom of the tag. I do however have 3 pearls on my card. Do you think the fine D.T. over at TST will think that's sufficient? I sure hope so. :)

I decided to make the tag a functional part of the card and I think it still looks pretty good even once the tag's been removed-

I started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. Such a nice color, I'm not sure why I don't use it more. I ran my Island Indigo layer through the Big Shot with my Northern Flurries Embossing folder and then lightly sponged the raised embossed areas with my Whisper White Craft Classic Ink and a sponge dauber. Initially I tried coloring a Whisper White piece of c/s by inking up the E.F. with the Island Indigo ink and then embossing it. It came out ok, but it just wasn't even coverage everywhere and well, you know how I am so I had to formulate a new plan. I'm really happy with how Plan B turned out. My Lucky Limeade layer was run through the Big Shot with my Delicate Designs Embossing Folder and then used my Large Scallop Edgelet to cut it out. A little L.L. sponging helped define the embossed areas a little more. This layer was adhered with Dimensionals so the tag could be removed a little easier. I needed something to keep the tag from falling off the card so I added a pearl to my bottom snowflake as a stop. Since I didn't want it to be lonely I added a few more, cuz I'm just nice like that. :)

Here's a picture of the tag with the card-

I used my Two-Tags Die and cut the bookmark out of some scrap Very Vanilla c/s. The smallest snowflake in the Snowflake Soiree set was stamped in Crumb Cake and Lucky Limeade. The sentiment was stamped in Island Indigo. Don't you just love that font? So pretty! A little sponging in L.L. and I.I. and some I.I. Bakers twine finishes the tag. I did  stamp the snowflakes on both sides so it's pretty either way.

Here's the inside-

The sentiment is from Fabulous Phrases and I thought it went really well with the sentiment I used on the front. I went a little crazy with the snowflakes on the inside, but I couldn't help myself. There's still plenty of room for a hand-written note so I wasn't too worried. You know what I didn't add? Not a bit of glitter. I know you're reading that twice to see if you read that right. You did. Not a bit of glitz or glimmer on this card. And guess what, I still think it's pretty. :) I don't have enough cards that I could give to a guy, so I left it off this one. However, I think this is one I'll make multiples of for an upcoming craft show and some of those will have a little shimmer.

Well, that's all I have for you today. What do you think? I hope you like it and I hope those fabulous ladies over at NAC and TST like it too. I love hearing what you think, so if you liked today's card or have questions about it I hope you'll take a moment to leave me a message below. I read them all and they really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's card, I've put the buttons on here for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! I hope you'll stop back by tomorrow for this week's End of the Week Technique. I think you're going to like it. Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the Rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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Wonderful Winterland Watercolor (try saying that 3 times fast!) /Challenge Fun SSC #267 / My Challenge #33

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope you had an awesome weekend. I got to watch some Olympics, spend time with my Stamping BFF April, and get a little stamping done too. All in all, a nice, laid back weekend.

It's overcast and rainy here in the DMV. :( Not sure where you're at, but I hope it's a beautiful, mild temperature day with plenty of sunshine for you with all the rain you need coming at night after you've done everything you need to do. We can all hope and dream right. :) Now, most of you know I don't do that BAD 4 letter word that begins with a S and ends with a W. Nope, don't do it at all. Ok, maybe a little cuz it's pretty, if I'm inside with no expectations of having to go out in it, my pantry and fridge is fully stocked and the snow magically dissapears from my steps, sidewalks and vehicles and never gets yucky and dirty, oh and most importantly it only happens when its 72 out. Since that somehow never seems to happen, I'll take my snow like this-

Winter Card featuring
Wonderful Winterland and Snow Festival DSP

All bright and sparkly, oh and shared with a friend and a cup of hot chocolate. Yeah, that kind of snow wouldn't be bad at all! :)

I used this sketch over at Stamping 411 for my layout-

Today's card is a little mix of old and new. For the old, I used the Northern Flurries E.F. and the second smallest Labels Framelet. The new is the Wonderful Winterland Stamp Set and the Snow Festival DSP. Both are Super Cute. While I don't like snow and like Winter, as a whole, only moderately better, I love this cute little stamp set. All sort of fun images that just invite you to sit down and color. F.U.N.! Here's a close-up-

I used my Blender Pens and Classic Ink Pads to color in this sweet little scene. I stamped the image in Black Staz-On so the ink wouldn't bleed when I did my coloring. Although it's hard to tell in the picture the snow coming down is a stamped image that I stamped multiple times in Bashful Blue. I then lightly colored them in. The snow they're sitting on is also a pale Bashful Blue. I simply let Tink have her way to create a sweet wintry scene. I used the 2nd smallest framelet to cut this image out before coloring it. Once I was finished I sponged the edges in Baja Breeze. I then cut two more labels in Baja Breeze and used them to mat my scene. I also used my sponge daubers & Bashful Blue Ink to lightly color over the embossed snow-flakes for a little "pop" off the Whisper White background, then let Tink have her way again. Both my center panel and the Whisper White embossed layer are mounted with Dimensionals.

Here's the inside-

Inside of Winter Card featuring
Greetings of the Season and Wonderful Winterland

The sentiment is stamped in Baja Breeze. Can you tell it's not quite straight or centered. AUGH!!! That's why I hate stamping on the inside of c/s and not on a layer. Once I had stamped it, it was too late to do anything about it. :(  I used the same image from the front but masked off part of the stamp with sticky-notes. I then colored my precious little bunny in, and gave him some snow to play in.

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked today's card and I hope it inspires you to get out your supplies and play-along. Don't forget to stop by Stamping 411's site and check out all the great samples.

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! I love hearing from you, so if you have questions or comments about today's card, I hope you'll leave me a comment. I read them all and they really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's card, I've put the buttons on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more bout the storms than than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storm to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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Very Last Minute Gifts - Wine Tags

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Merry Christmas Y'all!

I had intended to do this post on Monday but when I went down to the storage room to get the plastic ornaments for the Dasher Ornament I was going to show you, guess what I found? That's right no ornaments. Now I'm sure they are down there somewhere but definitely not where I expected them to be. :-( As I am however already about 12 hours later than I had planned on posting I decided to just go ahead and post this instead. So I sit here writing this blog as I watch A Christmas Story. It just never gets old!

I did a wine tag and post for Thanksgiving and it was so well received and so easy to do that I decided I would make extras and keep them on hand. They dress up even a bottle of Sparkling Grape Juice and are so much nicer than a bag. I have 3 to show you today. These will make great last minute gifts that you can whip up in no time as you are getting ready to head out today or for any of your other special occasions.

Here's a picture of them grouped together-

The possibilities are really just endless with this design. Just take a 7 x 3 piece of c/s, score it at 2 punch out the opening for your bottle neck with a 1 1/4" circle punch and then decorate to your hearts content. The backer piece starts at 3 1/8 x 5 1/8 and then you adjust the length, adding to it depending on how much border you want to show at the bottom. See, I told you, Super Duper Easy!

Here's the one I'm taking to my sister's house for Dinner tomorrow-

I used the Petals-A-Plenty Embossing Folder, the Scalloped Ribbon Border Punch and added a few of our large rhinestones for a little extra shine.
Here's one for any winter occasion-

I did an extra layer on this one with Whisper White c/s that I spritzed with Frost White paint and alcohol to make it Shimmer after I ran it through the Big Shot in my Northern Flurries Embossing Folder. I used some Silver Glimmer Paper on this one. Want to know a secret? I punched multiple different punches from the center of the glimmer paper (it's so pretty I didn't want to waste any!) and then simply put another piece of Old Navy c/s behind it to cover up the holes.  Bonus, no waste! I used a whole string of rhinestones at the top and it's so nice because they were already attached to each other. All I had to do was lay them down in place. I just had to add two extras to finish off the line. How easy is that?

With New Year's coming up I thought about all the Celebrations that would be happening and decided to use one of my new SAB stamp sets. Here's a little Sneak Peek for you.

I started with a base of Pool Party and then got to play with some of my SAB goodies. I used a backer piece of Everyday Elegance DSP, which you can see peeking out at the bottom. I then got out my Outlined Occasions stamp set, also a SAB exclusive and stamped it 3 times on Very Vanilla c/s. I used my Blender Pens and Classic ink pads to color in the images. Because the Everyday Elegance paper is antiqued around the edges I got out my Crumb Cake ink pad and lightly sponged over the whole  piece of c/s, making it a little more concentrated around the edges.

If you liked today's project, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

That's all I have for you, well almost all.

Here's a video of one of my All-Time Favorite Christmas Songs. I couldn't find a video from the artists but I did find this one with Harry and Hermione. Yeah, I'm a Harry Potter fan. This is a funny song, and it always makes me smile, but I think it also gets the message out about how we often forget the true meaning of Christmas in our desire to get just the right gift.
If you don't like Harry and Hermione I hope you at least enjoy the song. It's the Twist of the Magi by She Daisy and Rascal Flatts.

I hope you have a safe, happy and Very Merry Christmas spent with family and loved ones.

I hope to see you back here soon.
As always, if today's project inspired you to make some of your own, I would love to see what you come up with.


Till next time-

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

A Wintry Holiday card

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Hey y'all! Hope your Monday is is a good one. Sorry I'm a little late getting started today, but here we go.
I hope you had a great weekend and got to spend some quality time with friends and family and of course in your design space. More to come later this week about my stampcamp. Let me just tell you though, I am still laughing about the bow fight, yes I thought the cousins were just about going to come to blows over bows. Try saying three times fast! Oh my goodness. And, if you think I'm a perfectionist, and let's face it I am and I know it and since I've told you all I can't remember how many times how OCD I am wait till I tell you I have a new protege who may outshine even me. Yes indeed.

Well, it is Monday, so you know what time it is, that's right weekend football recap. I am currently mourning the imminent demise of the collegiate football season. Bowl Season is upon us, and then in only a  months time no more college ball, and only 1 short month after that no more NFL! Now I know many of you will rejoice that you will not have to skip over a paragraph of game scores but I will have to go through withdraw. Not a pretty sight, I assure you of this! Sympathy card will be accepted.
At any rate here they are- #1 LSU stomped #13 Ga's hiney! (Yes I wrote hiney, I never know who might stumble upon this) Really! Who came up with this pairing? Did anyone really anticipate a different outcome? The good news is that now LSU and ALA will compete against each other for the Bowl Championship. That game should at least be watchable.
NFL wise- The Dolphins won huge over the Raiders. They are really doing good lately. I have to say I'm kinda proud of them this year. That being said they will probably go back to sucking, however I hope they prove me wrong. Timmy Tebow led the Broncos to a win over the Vikings. Go Timmy! Pats over the Colts. Cowboys lose in overtime to the Cardinals and The Jets (ThankYouVeryMuch!)beat the Redskins.

Ok, so on to stamping. this is one of the cards I made for this weekend's stampcamp. I saw one similar to it on Stampin' Connection and thought it would be a quick and easy way to use the Stitched Stocking stamp set and Stocking Builder Punch.

I started with a base of Concord Crush. Such a pretty color! I can't believe it's going to be gone soon. :-( I then used Whisper White c/s and ran it through my Big Shot using my Northern Flurries Embossing Folder, and then I put it aside for a few minutes.

The stocking was stamped with Concord Crush on Whisper White c/s and punched out with the Stocking Builder Punch. I then punched out the heel, toe and cuff using Silver Glimmer Paper and adhered it using Tombow, and attached a pretty little Rhinestone in the middle.

I then took the embossed piece and the Whisper White piece for the inside liner and went to my Smooch/Spritzer box to experiment. I really wish you could see the results! I mixed some Frost White paint with Rubbing Alcohol in a little $1 pump spray bottle I got at a Big Box store and sprayed the c/s a couple of times from the edge of the box and it looks just like the White Shimmer Paper I used at one of my really nice Holiday Card Classes earlier this season. Unbelievably pretty!

*TIP* Remember when you do this not to spray too close, the alcohol will make your c/s curl because it will make your c/s damp.

*TIP* Don't stamp with regular ink and then spray, your ink will run. Ask me how I know! At least I had the foresight to try this out first om a scrap piece instead of on my good piece!

*TIP* Try not to touch anywhere except the outside edge of your card until it is dry because the oil on your fingers will leave marks on the cardstock while it is damp.

I then adhered my 4 Rhinestones to my embossed snowflakes and attached a piece of our beautiful 5/8in Organza ribbon to the front of my card. I just applied a little SNAIL to the edges and tucked them around behind the back of the card. I adhered the stocking next with 2 dimensionals. 1 just below the cuff and one near the bottom and the cuff sits just on the ribbon. Next came the bow.

 Ahhh the bow. The sweet little bow that almost caused blood to flow in my stampcamp this weekend. 9in. of Organza tied with the little bunny ears technique and then adhered with a Mini Glue Dot, to the other ribbon and the front of your card is done. So simple and pretty, but in person it packs such a presence!

So, let me just tell you about "The Bow". (BTW- I have their permission to tell the story here) I'm demonstrating how to tie the "Bow" and J tells D she knows how and will help her out because D seems to be struggling. Now J and D are family. So D decides she's going to keep that bow, and takes it back, but doesn't have it just right (now mind you D is the one that will rival me for my Need for Perfection) and is fussing with it (we finally got it just right). So I tell J, she can have the one I am making. Nope, It's got to be the other one, the one she actually took from D which was D's to start with. I tell you what they were threatening each other over that sweet little bow! I was afraid that Concord Crush card was going to have some Real Red on it! My friend April was there and we just looked at each other! It was soooo funny! J sent me a text later about it, how they were still laughing and how she was already telling the story to other friends!

Here's the inside of the card-

I used the sentiment from Four for the Holidays and I stamped it in Basic Black Classic Ink. I embossed the lower corner with the same Embossing Folder as the front, but I ate the folder up doing it, so I don't recommend trying this. (You know me I had to try and make the inside pretty too! Although the inside is really pretty because it's soooo shimmery!)

The good news is- No Bows were injured in the making of this card and no friendships either! In fact, just beautiful cards and a new found love for card making for 2 friends of mine. J and D had sooo much fun and are so excited to be making cards again soon. I can't wait to do this again with them!

So , while my friend April and I were waiting for J and D to arrive Saturday, we looked over at the Smooching table and wanna know what we saw? Take a look-

Bitty Smooches too!

Yep, My studio assistant Bitty can be counted on to find any box at all, anywhere in the studio, and she found this one Saturday! Doesn't she look sweet?

Well, that's all for today. Come back tomorrow, I'll have more  to show you from this weekend's camp.
Supplies for today's card-

Cardstock- Concord Crush, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper
Ink- Basic Black, Concord Crush
Big Shot, Northern Flurries Embossing Folder
Stamp Set- Stitched Stocking, Four for the Holidays
Punches- Stocking Builder
Ribbon- 5/8 in Organza
Accesories- Frost White Paint, Rhinestones, Stampin Dimensionals, Tombow, SNAIL

If you need supplies to make this card or cards like it you can purchase them 24/7 in my ONLINE STORE.

If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

I hope to see you soon.
Till next time.

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It