CHRISTMAS WITH THE CUTIES -- WHITE CHRISTMAS 3/23/2020

Hey all, welcome back to my blog!  I hope you are all doing well in these uncertain times we are going through ATM.  As for our household, my hubby and daughter both have off for 2 weeks, but I still have to go to work.  BOO!  Where I work, the business is considered to be essential, so we are still plugging away!  

Anyway, I am posting today to share my card for the Christmas With The Cuties challenge, whose theme this month is White Christmas.

This month's sponsor is Polkadoodles.

Store:  http://www.polkadoodles.co.uk/

Blog:  http://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.uk/

I am using one of the adorable penguins from the Cute Christmas Penguins set.  I interpreted this challenge to mean an all white card, so that's what I did!  I asked my uber talented friend Renee at Delaney Jane Cards for some advice on how to color this fella because I had NO CLUE how to color a BLACK penguin for an all white card!  She suggested adding some shading to the darkest places and using the lightest color in the set to blend it out.  I was doubtful at first, but he turned out looking great!  To finish off the image, I added some Star Dust Stickles to the brim and pompom of the hat, and to the snowy ground.

I embossed some strips of white card stock with a snowflake embossing folder by The Paper Studio and adhered them to the 5.5" square card base.  Also, I have been working on making some simple Christmas cards with the fairly new Marie Snowflake die by Simon Says Stamp...you know I just HAD to have that one, right?  ;)  LOL  Anyway, I had these white ones laying on my desk with no particular purpose in mind for them, so I thought it would be neat to cut them in half and glue them around the circular image panel.  An all white card is all about adding lots of texture so it doesn't look flat and boring.  The sentiment comes from the Hello Bluebird set Joyful Mouse, and is stamped in VersaClair Nocturne ink.

--CHALLENGES--

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #63:  ATG
Merry Little Christmas #20:  ATG Christmas
Love to Craft #44:  ATG (3/5)
Mix It Up #34:  ATG (3/5)
Creative Moments #187:  ATG (1/3)
Crafty Animals #36:  ATG with animals
Daisy Chain #39:  Use Dies
Classic Design #3:  ATG
Paper Funday #15:  ATG (1/4)
The Die Cut Divas:  ATG using die cuts/embossing folders (3/4)
Gem of a Challenge #6:  ATG (1/2)
ABC Christmas E, F, & G:  "E" for embossing
Crafty Creations #407:  ATG (2/3)
Crimbo Crackers #206:  Penguins
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #128:  ATG (1/3)
Word Art Wednesday #430 - #431:  ATG (2/5)

Colour Crazy Week #11:  ATG with coloring
Fab 'n' Funky #473:  Christmas
Simon Says Wednesday:  Whatever the Weather
Polkadoodles Week #12:  ATG (1/2)
Digi Choosday Week #11:  ATG (1/2)
Penny's Paper Crafty #467:  ATG (1/3)
Crafting Happiness #41:  ATG 
CHNC #482:  ATG Christmas
Jingle Belles: FA-LA-LA-LA-LA (Christmas Music, Lyrics, etc.)
C.R.A.F.T #549:  ATG or Christmas Animals (I used a Christmas animal)
The Outlawz Festive Friday:  Christmas

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you all are well, and continue to stay that way, for however long this goes on!  Until next time,

Take care of yourselves, and each other, and God Bless!

~Marie~

BUGABOO HUMOR ME WEDNESDAY --WORLD SLEEP DAY!

Hello everyone!  Welcome back to my blog!  It's Wednesday, which means it's Humor Me Wednesday over at the Catch the Bug blog.  There are quite a few things to be celebrated this week; from International Women's Day on the 8th (very important!!), PI day on 3/14 ( I prefer eating pie to doing math!), and even Save a Spider Day, also on 3/14.  I will NOT be celebrating that one, on any day!  LOL!  For myself though, I just need a nap...so I'm celebrating World Sleep Day on 3/13 with my card:

This adorable Bugaboo image is Pup Sleep.  He sure looks like he is napping quite peacefully...I hope his little kitty friend doesn't wake him!  I colored the image with my alcohol markers, and I was going for a monochromatic look with my card, so I used very light browns for the majority of the pup.  The polka dotted patterned paper was some I had sitting on my desk at the time, so I'm not sure which paper pad it's from.  I didn't have a peachy colored card stock to match, so I colored the edges of my Spellbinders scalloped oval with the same light peach marker used to color the "hello" die cut stacked sentiment.  I was going for a gradient look on the sentiment also, so I made the bottom half of the letters darker.  It was then coated with Wink of Stella, and Glossy Accents.  I think it turned out cute!  

**CHALLENGES**

CHN Patterned Paper:  ATG using patterned paper

Love to Craft #44:  ATG (2/5)

Mix it Up #34:  ATG (2/5)

2 Sisters on the Blog:  Dots or Stripes

Crafty Animals #36:  ATG using animals

Daisy Chain Challenges #39:  Use Dies 

The Die Cut Divas:  ATG using dies or embossing folders

Crafty Creations #407:  ATG  

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #127:  ATG (2/3)

Word Art Wednesday #430- #431:  ATG (1/5)

Crafty Friends #130:  Animals/Birds

Colour Crazy Week #9:  ATG with coloring

Lemon Shortbread #115:  ATG 

Polkadoodles Week #10:  ATG (1/2)

Digi Choosday Week #10:  ATG (1/2)

Crafting Happiness #39:  ATG

Thanks so much for spending some time here today; I'm so glad you could come by!  Please stop over to the Catch the Bug blog to see what other quirky holidays are being celebrated today, and leave my Bugaboo teamies some love!

Until next time, 

Take Care, and God Bless!

~Marie~

CCAYR, MARCH 2020 -- GINGERBREAD, AND BUGABOO STELLA SAYS SKETCH CHALLENGE

Hello, and welcome back to my blog!  It's the 1st of March, which means it's time for another challenge at Christmas Crafts All Year Round.  This time, we are hungry for some gingerbread, so show us those cute little houses, and those adorable little ginger people!  Here is my card:

This post also doubles as my Bugaboo DT card for the Stella Says Sketch challenge at Catch the Bug this week.  It doesn't often happen that I get to kill 2 birds with one stone, but when it does happen, I try to take advantage of it!  So, here is the sketch we are following:

I flipped the sketch and adjusted the positioning of the 3 circle elements slightly, but other than that, I followed the sketch pretty closely.   I can't find this image in the store as of yet, but there is a similar one in this set here, if you wanted to get it.  I colored up the adorable ginger girl image using alcohol markers.  I used what Courtney Kreeber calls a "scary dark" brown shade in the darkest areas, which at first I thought made her look like she was a burnt cookie!  After some time though, it did fade back, so now I'm OK with it. 

 The patterned papers all come from the 6x6 Sugar Plums paper pad by Recollections, which I seem to have used quite a bit of!  I wish I had gotten more than one!  :(  The open scalloped border below the gingerbread houses was made with a die from the Bevels, Brackets, and Lace set from Sizzix.  I used a dark red Recollections card stock mat cut with a Spellbinders scalloped rectangle behind the patterned paper image panel.  Ginger girl was popped up on dollar store foam tape, and so was the partial Lawn Fawn sentiment from the Deck The Halls set.  100 lb. Recollections Kraft card stock was used to make the card base, as I thought it would better match the cookie "feeling" of the card.  I added some of Christy Gets Crafty's favorite Star Dust Stickles to the white areas of Ginger girl, added the 3 glittery enamel dots, and this card is done.

**CHALLENGES*

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #63:  ATG 
Merry Little Christmas #20:  ATG (1/5)
CHN Patterned Paper:  ATG using patterned paper
Love to Craft #44:  ATG (1/5)
Mix it Up #35:  ATG (1/5)
Classic Design #3:  ATG 
Die Cut Divas:  ATG using die cuts and/or embossing folders
Gem of a Challenge #5:  ATG (1/2)
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #127:  ATG (1/3)
Word Art Wednesday #428 - #429:  ATG (1/5)
The Sisterhood of Crafters:  Patterned Paper (1/3)
Double Trouble:  Go Green (I have a fair bit of green on my card!)
Heart 2 Heart Challenges:  Put Your Green On (partnership with Double Trouble)
The Paper Girls #195:  Glitter
Lemon Shortbread #114:  ATG
Simon Says Wednesday:  ATG
The Paper Shelter #416:  Color it!
Polkadoodles Week #9:  ATG (1/2)
Digi Choosday Week #8:  ATG (1/2)
Crafting Happiness #38:  ATG 
CHNC #479:  ATG Christmas
The Outlawz Festive Fridays:  Christmas

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I appreciate the time you have taken to spend here, and I hope you will also stop by the CCAYR blog, and the Catch the Bug blog to see what all of the other respective DT members have made to inspire you!  Until next time,

Take Care, and God Bless!

~Marie~

ANNNNNND WE'RE BACK! CHRISTMAS WITH THE CUTIES -- FEB 2020

Hey all, and welcome back to my blog!  It's the start of a new week, and also the start of the Christmas With The Cuties 2020 challenges!  We have enjoyed a nice long break, and we are ready to offer you loads of inspiration to help you get those Christmas cards done for this year!  So, let's go!

Our theme this month is ATG, with the option to go for clean and simple. Our sponsor is the fabulous Bugaboo Stamps. I chose to go the CAS route, but I also decided to make 2 cards!  I figured since I have quite the collection of Jodie's fabulous images, I might as well do a double shot!  The top image is WINBIRDSKI, and the bottom one is WINBIRDSLED.  I think these images are from the old shop, and Jodie hasn't gotten them moved into the new store yet, so I can't link  them for you.  Hopefully Jodie will find time to get them in there soon!

To create my scenes, I created a cloud stencil using the Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud Borders dies, and inked them onto my card base using Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink.  The hills were made using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Borders dies, cut from Recollections white card stock.  To add some sparkle, I ran Nuvo drops in White Blizzard along the stitched edges.  I also added some to the white part of the hat, and to the three snow splashes.  The images were colored using alcohol markers, and I popped them up with foam tape.  The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's Mice on Ice stamp set, stamped in VersaClair Nocturne ink.

**CHALLENGES**

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #62:  ATG

Merry Little Christmas #19:  ATG (2/5)

Love to Craft #19:  ATG (2/5)

Mix it Up #34:  ATG (2/5)

Color it, Create it, Show it off:  ATG (2/3)

613 Avenue Create #230:  ATG

Crafts Galore Encore #72:  ATG (2/3)

Crafty Animals #35:  ATG 

Classic Design #2:  ATG  

2 Crafty Critter Crazies #35:  ATG with a critter

Paper Funday#14:  ATG

Unicorn Challenge #51:  ATG

Gem of a challenge #4:  ATG 

Crafty Creations #406:  ATG

Crimbo Crackers #204:  Cute

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #126:  ATG

Word Art Wednesday #426 - #427:  ATG 

Colour Crazy Week #7:  ATG with coloring

Christmas 24 #4:  Make a Scene

Polkadoodles Week #8:  ATG (2/2)

CHNC #478:  ATG Christmas

Papercraft Challenges #55:  Winter Fun

The Outlawz Festive Friday:  Christmas

Thanks again for stopping by my blog today, and don't forget to head on over to Christmas With The Cuties to see what the rest of the DT has created with Jodie's images, and to join in the challenge!  Christmas is only 305 days away!  LOL  Until next time...

Take Care, and God Bless!

~Marie~

BUGABOO FREEBIE FRIDAY -- FANS WINTER

Hello all, and Happy Friday!  The weekend has rolled around again, and as always, I'm looking forward to it!  Even though I have to work OT tomorrow, it's still the weekend!  :)  But I'm getting ahead of myself...it is still Friday, so it's time for another Friday Freebie from Bugaboo.  Check out my card:

This sweet image is called Fans Winter, and you can grab her HERE for the following week.  I designed my card in Silhouette Studio so my sizing would be correct for an A2 card.  The trees, snowflakes, stitched hillside die, and clouds are all Lawn Fawn.  I used the puffy cloud borders die from LF to create a stencil to ink blend the clouds, using Tumbled Glass distress Oxide ink.  Oh, and Broken China distress Oxide was used to stamp the snowflakes.  The hillside die was cut from Recollections ink jet printable glitter paper.  Maybe last Christmas, or the one before, I picked up some rolls of gold and silver contact paper, and I thought the silver would make a perfect frozen pond for this cute skater.  At my friend Renee's request (Delaney Jane Cards), I colored her up in pinks.  I really need to invest in some softer pinks, I think!  It does look a bit softer IRL.

--CHALLENGES--

Classic Design #2:  ATG

The Paper Funday #14:  ATG (1/4)

The Holly and Ivy #65:  ATG Christmas 

CHNC #477:  ATG Christmas 

Winter Wonderland:  ATG Christmas 

Merry Little Christmas #19:  ATG Christmas 

The Crafter's Cafe #236:  Use Pink or Red

Word Art Wednesday #426 - #427:  ATG (1/5)

Polkadoodles Week #8:  ATG

Digi Choosday Week #7:  ATG

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend, and make sure you stop by the Catch the Bug blog to see what the other DT members have made to inspire you with this freebie!  Until next time, 

Take Care, and God Bless!

~Marie~

FRIENDSHIP HOP--FEBRUARY 12, 2020

Hey everybody, welcome back to my blog!  I hope your Wednesday is going well for you.  It's hard for me to believe that Valentine's Day is right around the corner...in just 2 more days!  Do you have all your cards and treats done that you wanted to make?  Yeah, me neither!  Today though, I'm not here to focus on Valentine's Day makes; let's talk about Friendship.

Do you make many (any) friendship cards?  I have to admit that I do not...if you've been here awhile, you know my main focus is on Christmas cards!  I am trying to branch out some and get more birthday cards into the mix though, so that's good, right?

Well, to get me headed in the right direction for making more friendship cards, I am taking part in a hop today that is all about just that!

This hop was organized by the FABULOUS Courtney Kreeber.  In case you don't know who she is, she is a very talented Copic colorist, and the queen of one layer scene cards!  Anyway, here is a complete list of all the hop participants, in case you lose your way, or there is a broken link:

1. Courtney 2. Leeann McKinney 3. Renee Moran 4. Natalie Walsh 5. Boryana Yankova 6. Marie Bingaman 7. Dana Joy 8. Amanda Bartholomew 9. Karen Page 10. Teresa (Scrapping for Less) 11. Amanda Stevens 12. Anne Fiene 13. Allison Kulka 14. Michele Margaret 15. Anna Celdran Mahtani 16. Tracy Shultz 17. Maria Nyce

Here is the card I made for today's hop:

My apologies for the shoddy picture; I'm really at a loss as to how to make my pictures turn out better!  Anyway, I had the SSS Emma Background stamp panel already finished months ago, just waiting for a good card.  This seemed like a great opportunity!  I had colored the white heat embossed image using Prismacolor colored pencils in red and white on this light tan colored card stock.  To add more interest to the panel, I cut a circle directly out of the center.  I decided to pop the circle up on dollar tree foam tape for added dimension.  The hello die (Recollections) was cut 5 times from red card stock, stacked up, covered in clear Wink of Stella, and coated in Glossy Accents (Courtney's favorite!).  The friend sentiment is actually part of the inside sentiment, and I embossed that in white on black.

I also rarely ever finish the insides of my cards with anything more than a sentiment, but since this is a 5.5 x 5.5 square card, I thought I should fill up more of that space.  I grabbed the stamp and positioned it all in the MISTI, and stamped it with Versamark ink twice.  I quite like how it turned out, and I hope that whoever gets this card will like it too!

So, the next stop in the hop is Dana Joy. You will be wowed by her card; I know it!!   I hope you have time to make it all the way through the hop, because I know there is LOTS of wonderful inspiration for you!  Thanks for stopping by, and until next time...

Take Care, and God Bless!

~Marie~

BUGABOO NEW RELEASE DAY -- CLYDE MADE WITH LOVE

Just a quickie post for now, as it is waaaay past my bedtime!  Popping on here to share my card for the new release over at Bugaboo:

This is Clyde Made with Love, and isn't he just so sweet?  Look at what he made for Valentine's Day!  He is one talented dragon, that's for sure!  I had my friend Renee (Delaney Jane Cards) challenging me with the coloring on this one, and boy was it a challenge!  It's definitely difficult to keep 6 different markers in the right shade order!  LOL  I think I did pretty well though, all things considered.  This card will be given to my 19-year-old daughter for Valentine's Day.

--CHALLENGES--

*will add these later*

Thanks so much for stopping by today...be sure to head over to the Catch the Bug blog for more inspiration with this cutie pie!

Take care, and God Bless!

~Marie~