Blue Christmas

Hi stampers!  I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!  I actually managed not to stuff myself silly this year!  And remember all that cream cheese that was in my fridge last week?  The cheesecakes were SOOOO good!  I forget every year how good my pumpkin cheesecake is!  We had two meals in about four hours time so I made sure to go lighter at lunch (than normal anyway, lol) and all I had for "dinner" was some green bean casserole (because it was the one thing I really like that we don't usually have at my mom's family) and TWO slices of my cheesecake, lol!  Quite a balanced diet, no?

And sorry for not having more to share with you over the "long weekend" but it's never a long weekend for me, it's usually a short one as I always have to work the day after Thanksgiving and on Saturday as well at a basketball tourney.  So sadly, stampy time was limited!  BUT I declared yesterday Sweatpants Sunday and got to stamp quite a bit!  I've got a lot of projects due this week so I mainly worked on them but I did get one "for fun" card done.

I combined the Create With Connie & Mary color challenge with the Inkspirations sketch challenge. 

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Petite pairs
Paper:  Night of navy, lucky limeade, river rock, 2011-2012 in-color DSP stack
Ink:  River rock, lucky limeade, versamark
Accessories:  Scallop circle & circle punches, petals-a-plenty & stripes embossing folders, lucky limeade ruffled ribbon, polka dot brads, pewter embossing powder, basic rhinestones, silver smooch spray

This one turned out better than I thought it would while I was working on it (love that).  I have to say that night of navy is one of my least used colors.  Not sure why but I just don't use it much so it was fun to challenge myself to make it work, especially with this rather unique color combo.  I also took a little liberty with the sketch but the basic idea is pretty much the same. It's hard to see in the photo but I sprayed the navy CS with the silver smooch for a little sparkle because it looked kind of flat.  Sponging on the "wreath" really made the embossing pop as well.

Thanks for a fun challenge ladies!

Happy stamping!

Snow much fun!

Hi stampers.  Before I begin this post I want to take a minute to remember all the victims, their families, and survivors of 9/11.  We will never forget the events of that terrible day or how all of our lives have been forever changed because of it.  God bless America!  This may sound kind of corny but I went for a run this morning and dedicated it to all those who suffered so much on that day.  I don't really enjoy running and I wanted to quit today but the discomfort I was in was nothing compared to what so many went through that day and for long after.    It just kind of brought a new perspective to my day today.  I may be back later today with a special card in remembrance if I get time to work on it.

On a happier note, today is my grandma's 90th birthday!  She has seen a lot of terrible things in this world in the pat 90 years but she has seen so many more WONDERFUL things as well!  We helped her celebrate yesterday and I hope she has a great day today!  It was fun to see her with her four great-grand kids....one day maybe she'll have a couple of more;-) Happy birthday Grandma, I love you!

And now back to your regularly scheduled post:-)  I have a card today using the colors from this week's Inkspiration's Color Challenge.  It was a bit out of my comfort zone as I probably would not have put these colors together on my own but they do work!

The colors immediately made me think of Christmas!!!  I've got to say though that great minds MUST think alike because as I was working on my card last night I clicked on over to the challenge site and saw that my good friend Rita had beat me to the punch and used Snow Much Fun for this challenge already:-)  I think her and I have the same stamping "personality" and I love all of the cards she makes!  It just made me laugh because all day long I had been thinking about this challenge and that set, hehe.  Anyway, here is what I came up with:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Snow much fun
Paper:  watercolor, whisper white, real red, old olive, marina mist
Ink:  stazon and various for watercoloring
Accessories:  old olive polka dot scalloped ribbon, dazzling details, basic rhinestones, lots of tags sizzlets, medium oval and modern label punches, snow burst embossing folder

I got this set WAAAAY back in June during pre-order time and I have NOT inked it up enough!  So I grabbed some watercolor paper and stamped the tall snowman (I'm jealous he's so tall, hehe) and the short little tree (it's like me, lol).  I did have to add a couple of extra colors in there to make him work but otherwise I stuck with the challenge colors.  I'm loving that new snow burst embossing folder too! It adds some great texture!  I'm also on a roll with the new polka dot background stamp from the main catalog.  I finally broke down and got it on Thursday and I can't stop using it:-)  I added the olive polka dot ribbon to tie in with the stamped dots but oh how I wish I had the marina mist ribbon, I have GOT to order that stuff!

As a finishing detail I have some dazzling details on the ornaments on the tree and then I layered some punches and a sizzix tag for my sentiment!

Thanks for stopping in today!  Happy stamping!

Challenge Palooza

Hi stampers!  I've been having stampers withdrawl as of late!!!  There wasn't a whole lot of stamp time this weekend so I've been itching to get into my studio.  Add the fact that I've been inspired by a TON of challenges this week and I was basically freaking out all day until I could STAMP!!!  I even had a list of what to do in what order since the challenges all close at different times, lol!  I got FOUR cards done tonight which is quite a feat!  Nevermind the load of laundry I got done too....ok, well washed and dried, I can put it all away tomorrow, hehe.  So you can look for a load of posts from me in the next few days...I'd like to post them all tonight but even with an energy drink ( I KNOW, I have GOT to stop drinking them) I'm fading fast now...didn't sleep well last night after eating some M&M's after work and having heart burn...who knew...M&M's????  But I'm feeling terrific now that I've got some stamping done (add to the fact that I stayed out of the candy tonight)! 

Anyway, I loved the Inkspirations Sketch Challenge this week and was happy that I got to play along tonight!  This sketch was so fun:

I think this may become a go-to sketch for me.  I have so many ideas for this sketch using different sets!  Can't wait to get my shaker frames from the UPS man tomorrow....too bad I have to work late tomorrow night, 12+ hours on Friday AND then on Saturday too....guess they will have to wait!

Anyway, I immediately thought of using out on a limb for this sketch and it turned out cute!  I've been waiting to use this little witchy woman!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Out on a limb, wicked cool, fang-tastic (retired)
Paper:  2011-2013 in color DSP, more mustard, elegant eggplant, whisper white, basic black
Ink:  Staz-on, craft white, more mustard, basic black, lucky limeade
Accessories:  2.5 inch circle punch, petal cone die, glimmer brads (neutral), dazzling details, elegant eggplant scalloped ribbon, white EP

Squeeee!!!  Isn't she cute????  I went a little polka dot crazy, I know.  I do have to say I love the elegant eggplant scalloped ribbon even if I'm not a huge fan of that color normally.  I thought the card looked a bit neked so I added some bats along each edge of the mustard.  Two finishing touches were to use some dazzling details on the clouds and I embossed the sentiment in white to make it pop and bring out the dots in the ribbon (and you'll have to excuse me for using a retired sentiment BUT it was just perfect here).  Oh, and don't forget my glimmer brad! 

See you soon with another challenge:-)  Happy stamping!