First Christmas card of 2016, and some exciting news!

Hmmmm, should I share my card first or my exciting news?  Lemme see, eeny, meeny, miney, moe, catch a tiger by his toe, if he hollers let him go, eeny, meeny, miney, moe!

OK, ok, you wrangled it outta me....I'm one of the newest design team members for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra!!!!!!  I'm so excited!!!  This is my first ever DT position, and I'm super honored that Hazel has chosen me for her FAB team!  I get to work with Bugaboo digis all the time too, which is an added bonus!  So I guess that leads me into sharing my card then:

Isn't this the cutest image??  It's called Meowy Christmas Cats, and can be found here.  I went super CAS with my first DT card, keeping it all one layer.  I used Prismacolor markers to color my kitty trio.  The brim and pompom of the Santa hat are decorated with white Puffy Paint, and I smeared on some Stickles after I dried it.  Spending some time looking at this card, I should probably add some ground for the kitties to sit on, instead of floating in air like that...LOL!  Poor kitties!

 

  Challenges:

 

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up:  Anything goes or optional sketch

Jingle Belles:  Something old and something new (old= Puffy Paint, new= Meowy Christmas Cats digi)

CHNC #262:  Anything goes or Vintage

Crafty Calendar:  Something New (new digi stamp)

Creative Card Crew:  Anything goes

Catch the Bug Challenge:  Anything goes

2 Creative Chicks:  Anything goes

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today...may God bless you all today, and every day in 2016!!

~Marie~

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Good day and happy Friday, bloggers!  For all of this month, I will either be getting off early on Fridays, or already be off, so you *may* be seeing some posts earlier in the day than usual.  There IS some cookie baking that needs to be done though, so we'll see how this goes!  Today however, I have a card to share with you:

 

              

 

This simple card was made with the One Layer Christmas Card challenge specifically in mind.  They are asking for a one layer card (as always!), with the optional theme of using a snowman.  WELL, what better way to accomplish this than with an adorable snowman digi from Bugaboo??  This one is called "Winter Snowman," and can be found here.  As I am a big fan of snowmen, this purchase was a no-brainer for me!  I sized him in my Silhouette program (which is super easy, I might add!), printed him out, and colored him up with my Bic and Prismacolor markers.  Of course, various colors of Stickles made several appearances, and look much better IRL than in my photo.  Promise!

 

Challenges:

 

One Layer Christmas Card Challenge #23:  Snowman

Christmas at Sweet Stampin':  Stars

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #12:  Optional Santa Claus theme, or anything goes

The Glory of Christmas:  Optional outdoor scene, or anything goes

CHNC Extra for December:  Anything goes

Jingle Belles:  Extra Christmas card makes

Creative Card Crew:  Cold Outside

The Cutie Pie challenge:  "Simply" cute and Christmassy

Papertake Weekly:  Anything goes

Sweet Stampin':  Sparkle and shine

Crafting for All Seasons:  #115  Brrrr, It's Cold Outside!

 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a good weekend, and God bless!

 

~Marie~

 

It's the last day of November!!!!

Is anyone panicking yet?  Do you feel like you've accomplished enough throughout the year to be ready for Christmas?  Looking back, there is so much more I wish I had gotten done, but Christmas time has come around again!  With that in mind, I have a card to share:

 

 

Pretty simple card, with some emboss resist going on.  I was originally trying to use my newly purchased laminator to foil this beauty, but something didn't work out...I'll try again later on!  Angel stamp by Inkadinkado, and sentiment by Stampendous.  Mustard Seed ink for the resist.

 

Challenges: 

 

One Layer Christmas Card #22:  Silhouette

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #11:  Sparkle, sparkle everywhere, or anything goes (my sentiment was embossed with glitter embossing powder)

CHNC November Extra:  Anything Christmas

Jingle Belles:  Holiday Leftovers (believe it or not, my card base is left over from the church bazaar!)

Holly Jolly:  Embossing

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown:  November Technique challenge of embossing

Penny Black and More:  Anything Christmas

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today, and God bless you!

 

~Marie~

 

Back again, really quickly!

I just wanted to come back again for a minute to share this Christmas card also:

My card features Patches from Stamp Fairy, getting ready to decorate his tree!  I used more of those Recollections Jolly Jamboree papers, since they were still on my desk.  The sketch is #99 from Papertake Weekly.  The snow on the tree is white puffy paint, with Stickles added afterwards.  I used Prismacolors on this also.  His little red ornament is Stickled as well.  The sentiment comes from the Heidi Grace set, Believe.

 

Challenges:

 

Papertake Weekly:  Christmas Critters

CSAYL #60:  Anything Goes

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #11:  Sparkle, sparkle everywhere!

Glory of Christmas #71:  Glitter and/or shine

Sparkles Christmas #59:  Christmas decorations

CHNC November Extra:  Anything Christmas

ABC Christmas:  "W" for wild thing (wild animals)

Crazy 4 Challenges (C4C310):  Christmas

CHNPP:  Use patterned paper

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today, and God bless you!

 

~Marie~

Busy, busy, busy!

Hello friends!  I am busy today die cutting lots and lots of Christmassy shapes for a children's card-making booth at our church's Holiday Bazaar tomorrow...right now my Silhouette is doing all the work so I can post this!  I'd like to share a couple of Christmas cards with you:

 

 

My card features a stamp from Marianne Design that I won a few weeks ago in a challenge.  It has no name, but the number is HM9457.  She really needs a name though...how about Aggie?  Sounds good to me!  So Aggie is colored with Copics (pink), and Prismacolor (green and hair) markers.  Her wand seems to be giving off sparks, so they are colored with a clear Sakura gel pen.  Her star halo, wings and shoes also have some added sparkle, which you cannot see, of course!  The embossing folder from Darice is called Snowflake Trim.  The letters I used to spell the sentiment come from Glitz, Teeny Alphas.

 

Challenges:

 

 

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' November:  Stars

CSAYL #60:  Anything goes

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #11:  Sparkle, sparkle everywhere!

The Glory of Christmas #71:  Glitter and/or shine

CHNC November Extra:  Anything Christmas

Merry Monday #179:  Pink, green and white

CHNC #254:  Bright colors

The Cutie Pie challenge #93:  "Simply" cute and Christmassy (clean and simple!)

Penny Black:  Anything Christmas

Crafting for all Seasons #114:  Embossing

Crazy 4 Challenges (C4C 310):  Anything Christmas

 

I think that's it!  I'll be back super shortly with another Christmas card!  Take care and God bless you!

 

~Marie~

 

Here's the green!

Back again this Saturday evening with another card for the Christmas stash:

 

On this one, I used an adorable Bugaboo image called Peace, Love, Joy Penguins.  All the dp comes from the Jolly Jamboree 8x11 paper pad from Recollections.  I picked a matching green cardstock to layer them onto, and used the same for mounting the image.  The white embossed sentiment is from Studio G, series 37.  I had lotsa fun coloring the image, especially the dotted sky, and the snow is glittered up with Stickles.

 

Challenges:

 

Catch the Bug Challenge:  Stella Says Sketch 317

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #11:  Sparkle, sparkle everywhere (the middle piece of dp is glittered too!)

Glory of Christmas #71:  Glitter and/or shine

CHNC November Extra:  Anything Christmas

CHNC #254:  Bright or Sparkly colors

ABC Christmas:  "V" is for Very Cute

Papertake Weekly:  Anything goes

CPPC November:  Anything goes using patterned paper

 

Thanks again for stopping by this evening..  Take care and God Bless!

 

~Marie~

 

 

Red, Gold (and Green!)

Happy Saturday, blogger peeps!  I'm back today to share another Christmas card:

 

 

 

 

I just wanna say that my picture of this card is absolutely horrible!  I couldn't get the colors "just right," no matter what I tried to do in Picasa!  IRL, this red is not quite so orange!  Be that as it may, this version of this card is actually attempt #4!  I was trying before to make it in this red and white, but each time I kept messing something up!  This version uses Recollections gold tinsel embossing powder for the sentiment, on the die cut candles, and on the layer behind the top red layer.  Matchy, matchy!  :)

 

Challenges:

 

Merry Monday #178:  Red and Gold (no green as my title would suggest...it just reminded me of the Culture Club song, "Karma Chameleon!"

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #11:  Sparkle, sparkle everywhere!

Glory of Christmas #71:  Glitter and/or Shine

Sparkles Christmas #59:  Christmas decorations

CHNC November Extra:  Anything Christmas

Crafty Calendar:  Sparkle, bling and embellish...my card has lotsa sparkle!

Papertake Weekly:  Anything goes

 

 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!  Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and God bless!

 

~Marie~

 

 

Happy Holiday Wishes!

I'm back again this evening with a simple Christmas card:

 

 

Easy peasy card here:  Wonderful Words Holiday die collection, "Happy" from Studio G, "wishes" from Happy Everything set (maker unknown), ink Memento Rhubarb stalk.  Jingle bell from Silhouette cutting file.  Some bling for the dot in the "i", and call it done!

 

Challenges:

 

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #11:  Anything Christmas or optional "Sparkle, sparkle everywhere"

Glory of Christmas #71:  Glitter and/or shine

52 {Christmas Card Throwdown}: October pick a previous theme (Bells, January 2015)

Winter Wonderland:  Anything Christmas

Sparkles Christmas:  Christmas decorations

CHNC November Extra:  Anything Christmas

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C310:  Christmas

 

Thanks again for stopping by!  God bless!

 

~Marie~

 

 

 

NOEL

This post is for the birds!  See what I mean?

 

 

LOL!  These guys are seriously cute tho, so I don't mind.  Sure looks like they've made a royal mess outta this set of Christmas lights, but who could be upset with those faces?  :)  This is an adorable Bugaboo image called Noel Birds, which can be found here.  I colored this with Bics and Sharpies, and accented it with Stickles and Wink of Stella.  The ornament topper was done with a silver Sakura gel pen.  I mounted the image on a piece of black and the whole thing on a white card base.  Easy peasy!

 

Challenges:

 

Winter Wonderland:  Anything Christmas 

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #11:  Anything goes or optional "Sparkle, sparkle everywhere"

The Glory of Christmas #71:  Glitter and/or shine

Sparkles Christmas #59:  Christmas decorations

CHNC November Extra:  Anything Christmas

CHNC Christmas #253:  It's time to sing

52 {Christmas Card Throwdown}: October pick a previous theme (June 2013, Christmas ornaments)

ABC Christmas challenge: "V" for very cute

 (a new one to me) Crazy 4 Challenges C4C310:  Christmas

 

 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!  Stay safe and God bless!

 

~Marie~

 

 

Good Tuesday evening!

Hello bloggers!  I hope all is well with you.  I'm back again to share 2 more Christmas cards for my stash:

 

 

The top one features George, one of my favorite characters from the now closed Stamp Fairy store.  I had this image printed out just sitting around, waiting for the perfect coloring opportunity.  I found that opportunity today when I saw the challenge for Merry Monday:  Christmas Lights and Glitter!  George is extremely happy with his festive tree, decorated with gold glittery balls and blue lights enhanced with clear Wink of Stella.  There is more glitter added to the snow in the form of Star Dust Stickles, but of course, none of said glitter is visible in the pic...sigh.  Well, it IS visible IRL, so please take my word for it!

 

On the second card, I used the Tim Holtz Townscape die for the first time since I bought it last year (gasp!)  I was inspired by these cards Patty Bennett made here.  I used white glitter paper, inked the sky the same way as on this card, and used Squeezed Lemonade ink for the windows and doors.  A couple of the houses are burning wood stoves to keep warm, and the smoke is made with clear Sakura gel pen.

 

Challenges:

 

Merry Monday #177:  Christmas Lights and Glitter

Jingle Belles:  Do you Sketch what I Sketch? (please forgive me ladies, I put my pink piece on the wrong way!)

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #10:  Anything Christmas or optional "for a child" twist

CHNC October Extra:  Anything Christmas

Holly Jolly:  Snowman

The Cutie Pie challenge:  Pretty in Pink

CHNC Patterned Paper:  Use patterned paper (obviously!)

 

Thanks for stopping by tonight.  Be safe, and God Bless!

 

~Marie~

 

 

 

It's lovely weather for a sleigh ride...

together with you!  OH YEAH!  2 months until Christmas as of today, people!!  Are you panicking yet?  Do you have enough Christmas cards for the people on your list this year?  Here's another one for my stash, bringing me to a total of 50:

 

I love this silhouette image!  I have a few of these vintage-type images from the Silhouette Store, but this is the first one I have used.  It cut so beautifully out of the black cardstock...I always worry about such detailed images when I size them down.  The winter night sky background was created using Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Dusty Concord, and Black Soot.  The snowflakes/stars were made with a white gel pen.  I hand cut the snowy ground, and edged it with Star Dust Stickles (I swear!)  The itty bitty sentiment comes from the Partridge in a Pear Tree stamp set Martha Stewart sold at Walmart several years ago.  I am so pleased with how this one turned out!

 

Challenges: 

 

Christmas at Sweet Stampin':  Christmas travel or transport

12 Months of Christmas Link up:  Anything goes or optional "for a child"

Sparkles Christmas:  Distress it!

CHNC October Extra:  Anything goes

ABC Christmas:  "U" for unusual Christmas colors

Christmas Card Challenges:  Anything goes

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today!  God bless!

 

~Marie~

 

Purple Peace, and Pink Snow!!

Tuesday greetings, bloggers!  I hope the week has gone well so far, and will continue to do so!  Here is what I have to share with you this evening:

 

 

I have added to my "collection" of monochromatic inked background Christmas cards with these two.  I really love how the purple one turned out!  I decided to try a new technique on that one with the stacked Papertrey Ink die cut.  I really like the look of it, but in hindsight, I wonder if my "stacks" should have been cut from black instead of white.  Ah well, next time!  On the PINK card, I used the same layout as on this green version here.  I added some Wink of Stella to the pink portions of the Fred, She Said snowflake, and I heat embossed the Cloud9 Design sentiment on vellum.  These backgrounds also have the same yummy shimmer as their predecessors do.

 

Spending some time looking at the purple card, I'm thinking it looks too plain.  Should I scatter some sequins, perhaps?  Please let me know in your comments!

 

Challenges:

 

Jingle Belles:  PINK for the Cure

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up #10:  Anything goes or "for a child" twist

Sparkles Christmas:  Distress It!

CHNC Extra:  Anything goes

ABC Christmas:  "U" for unusual Christmas colors
Classy Cards 'n Such:  Pretty Pink Christmas

 

Thanks for stopping by, and God bless!

 

~Marie~

 

PINK for the cure!

It's nearing the end of October already, and this is the only PINK card I have made for this year's PINK for the Cure prompt over at Jingle Belles:

 

The challenge isn't over yet, so I may get another one or two made...this year has just not been a very good one for craft room time!  I punched all these MS snowflakes out of the scraps from a baby girl project, die cut a open circle to glue them onto, then just started adhering!  I smeared some Cotton Candy Stickles all over the wreath, put a burlap string bow at the bottom, added a few pearls, and heat embossed the Papertrey Ink sentiment in white in the middle.  Voila!  Pretty simple.

 

Challenges: 

 

Jingle Belles:  Deck the Halls...in PINK!

ABC Christmas: "U" for unusual Christmas colors

The 12 Months of Christmas Link up #10:  Anything goes OR optional "for a child" twist

The Glory of Christmas #70:  More than one fold OR anything goes

CHNC Extra for October:  Anything goes
C.R.A.F.T Challenge:  Christmas
Classy Cards 'n Such:  Pretty Pink Christmas

 

Thanks for stopping by, and God bless!

 

~Marie~

 

 

A Quickie Post!

Just stopping in to the 'ole blog to share my latest Christmas card:

 

I threw this one together this evening specifically for the challenge over at Merry Monday:

as I thought about what I could do for this one, I didn't think I had anything that would fit, until I remembered this cute little pair of hedgies, sharing a cuppa.  I always thought of it as hot chocolate, but it works for coffee too!

 

Challenges:

 

Merry Monday #174:  Java time

CHNC October Extra:  Anything goes

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up #10:  Anything goes or optional "for a child" twist 

The Glory of Christmas #69:  Green and gold or anything goes

Papertake Weekly:  Anything goes

CHNC October Patterned Paper:  Anything goes

 

OK, this took longer than I intended, so I'll get this linked up, and hit the hay!  Thanks for stopping by, and God Bless!

 

~Marie~

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Tuesday evening!

Just checking in really quickly this evening to share a few cards for the Christmas stash:

 

 

 

 

I was playing around with distress inks for the first 3 cards pictured; I still wanna do a purple version too!  All 3 cards feature three shades of the chosen color.  After I applied the colors, I used the darkest shade to splatter drops all over the pieces.  Then after thoroughly drying that process, I strategically sprayed/splattered water on them.  After another drying, I sprayed them with homemade shimmer spray in metallic pearl white.  I had lotsa fun during this process, and wore LOTSA ink on my hands!

The final card features another pre-colored image from the Winter Fairy Wee Stamps topper set.  Who can resist a bunny on a sled with gifts??  For something different, I put matted dp in 2 corners, and then repeatedly stamped the sentiment and a couple of snowflake images in the leftover white space.  Not quite as nice as Jennifer McGuire does it, but it'll do.  To match the sparkle on some of the dp stripes, I added clear Wink of Stella to parts of the image as well.  Three small blings in the same corners, and this was done.

 

Challenges:

 

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up #10:  Anything goes or optional "for a child" twist

Sparkles Christmas Challenge:  Distress it!

CHNC October Extra:  Anything goes

Jingle Belles:  The Hanukkah Song,  aka cards that don't necessarily celebrate Christmas

CHNC #249:  All wrapped up

ABC Christmas challenge:  T is for "transport"

Papertake Weekly:  Anything goes

CHNC Patterned Paper:  Anything goes

 

Well, that's all for me this evening.  Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, take care, and God bless!

 

~Marie~

 

 

 

Happy Fall Greetings!

According to the calendar, it is now Autumn here in PA, but the weather is still pretty warm at about 75º.  Nice and sunny, with a breeze a-blowin' intermittently...ahhhh, beautiful!  The weather tomorrow is also supposed to be wonderful for the Selinsgrove Street Fair that Chad and I are going to attend.  Lotsa food, local vendors, local politicians, music and entertainment...a great way to spend a few hours on a Saturday!

 

As for today, right at this moment, I have another Christmas card to share:

 

 

This cutie is from a topper sheet from Sylvia Zet for Wee Stamps called Winter Fairy.  I love these images, so adorable!  I went with all dark blue for my card and designer paper to really set the image off.  Invisible in the pic (as usual!) is lotsa Wink of Stella on the snow, earmuffs, bells, and snowflakes.  I added three iridescent white sequins in the upper right and lower left corners, all topped off with tiny iridescent bling.

 

Challenges:

 

CSAYL #56:  Lots layers or different texture (this card has 6 layers of paper between the base and image!)

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up #9:  Anything goes with optional Christmas tree twist

The Christmas Challenge #68:  Christmas Dinner or Anything goes

CHNC September Extra:  Anything Christmas

Jingle Belles:  The Hanukkah Song (celebrating other winter holidays or general winter cards)

CASE-ing Christmas #29:  Be inspired by this card made by Mynn (I liked all the blue and white)

ABC Christmas:  "S" is for Silent (no sentiments or text)

Papertake Weekly:  It will soon be here (Christmas, of course...3 months from today!)

CHNC Patterned Paper:  Use patterned paper (mine is from Jack Frost American Crafts 6x6 pad)

 

 

Well, thanks for stopping by my blog today!  Have a blessed weekend!

 

~Marie~