Merry Kissmas!

Last weekend the Pacific Northwest got its first big snow of the season. While I was cooped up at home, I was able to make a few cards that I needed for two of my guy friends' birthdays and then also just play around with some of my holiday stamps.

This first one I made just for fun. I love this Mistletoe Girl image from Rubber Romance! The "Merry Kissmas" sentiment is by A Muse. The greenery background paper is from Rubber Soul. Inside I stamped "Meet me under the mistletoe," an image by Hampton Art Stamps.

The second card I made is for my buddy Brian's birthday, which is today. He is a manly man--loves hunting, football, and driving BIG vehicles (like his Hummer and one of the big brown delivery vehicles!). I had fun making this slider card. If you pull on the Hummer, it goes "driving" along the tree-lined road! The original Hummer stamp looks like is the military vehicle with the cloth top. Since Brian has the sporty H2 vehicle, I masked off the back and hand drew in the hard top and window to make it look like his. I think it turned out pretty good! The trees image, Hummer stamp and note card are by A Muse. The "have an adventure" is from the clear set Tiny Words by Wordsworth.

Thanks for looking! To all my WA friends, I hope you're staying safe and warm during our Deep Freeze!

Stamping with Rhonda

It was so much fun to get together with Rhonda yesterday and stamp! I really miss having so much free time to play. It definitely makes me appreciate the time I do have to craft and take advantage of it to stock up on cards. We played along with the Addicts Stamp of the Week challenge--using the Alpine Hut and Cupcake Builder set. Here are my two cards, plus two more, just for fun! My Alpine Hut card is a slider card. The car with the tree moves along that track I cut at the bottom of the card. All stamps, note cards, sheer white ribbon and pretty little papers are by A Muse. The gingerbread border punch as well as the red dot satin ribbon is by Martha Stewart. Thanks for looking, and have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Celebrating Rhonda!

Rhonda's birthday was Monday, but I didn't want to post her card on here until I'd actually given it to her. I gave her the card and a special birthday present yesterday when we got together to stamp. So, this is for her! I'm so fortunate to have met Rhonda last spring at the A Muse shop. She is a fantastic friend and was so supportive while I finished up my cancer treatments. I'm truly blessed to have you in my life, Crafty Blessings!

The martini girl stamp is from Hampton Arts. The sentiment is from Rubber Soul. The note card is from Memory Box.

Warmth and Good Cheer

Wow, two posts in one day! Not only that, but I actually MADE a card! Mark that on the calendar! Anyway, I was thinking about what I was going to do for my bumper card this month, so thought I would draw on some inspiration from the Addicts message board. I really liked Jennie's gingerbread sweet holiday wishes card on this post, and decided to play along with her challenge to create a holiday card using non-traditional colors. I like the warm look of brown and red together. The brown started making me think of chocolate...hot cocoa! I have the A Muse hot cocoa stamp--it's one of my favorites (which one isn't?!) and I haven't used it in ages. I pulled that out and started to look in my drawer of holiday sentiments..."wishing you warmth and good cheer." That's perfect, and it's A Muse, too! The card just fell in to place. I used my favorite layout for 4-bar cards and pulled out my oval Nestabilities and SU! scallop punch--more favorites. I used Prismacolor pencils on the cocoa image and went over the swirls of steam and starburst with a clear Spica glitter pen. And...this card also qualifies for the December Home Page Contest--create a card that says WARMTH! A cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows says warmth to me! Thanks for the inspiration, A Muse Addicts!

Birthday Wishes

I'm back! Sorry for being the slow poke blogger. With my return to work earlier this month, it hasn't left me with much time or energy to spend on my crafting and blogging interests. Good thing I have a few cards banked to share with you, since it's been several weeks since I last made a card! Boo hoo. That should change, as Rhonda and I have a stamping play date next week! Yippee!

This card is a birthday card I made for my friend JoAnne (the stamp is Hero Arts, the note card from Memory Box). JoAnne is very special to me because she was my favorite teacher in high school--my French teacher for all four years! After I graduated, we kept in touch and became friends. She's also the one responsible for getting me involved in SEAFAIR and becoming a volunteer driver for the annual festival each summer. Every year for her birthday, I try to give her a French-themed gift. I've made her Paris note cards, found soap and lotion from Provence, etc. This year I found this awesome hot pink hat box with Eiffel Towers on it, and inside I will put a copy of a fascinating book I read in January, The Story of French, which chronicles the history of the French language and discusses its place now in an ever-increasing English-speaking world. It would be a great read for a current French student. I hope she enjoys it as much as I did! Joyeux Anniversaire, JoAnne!

November Birthdays

A lot of my friends have November birthdays, so last weekend I spent making cards for each of their special days. First up is my friend, Kelly. This year is one of those monumental birthdays, and I wanted to make her card classy and fabulous, just like her! I've had this image from Hampton Art Stamps for quite awhile, but this is the first time I've made a card with it. I'm pleased with how it turned out. I colored the image in with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, and added a few glittery touches with Spica pens (on her dress and shoes). The "celebrate in style" is part of a larger sentiment from Rubber Soul, and I just inked the one portion of it, stamped it on red cardstock, and punched it out with the SU! word window punch.

Thanks for looking! I'll be back next week with another birthday card!

Thank you, Cupcake!

When Rhonda came over last week, we participated in the week's Addicts challenges. I was moving slow that day, so I only got one card done. This one works for the stamp of the week, which is the party set, and it also applies to the weekly challenge, which is to make a thank you card. I plan to send this to Linda after Friday's Cupcake Social! Have a great week!

All stamps, note card, pretty little paper, heart twinkle stickers and ribbon by A Muse. Accessories: Stickles, Copics, SU! scallop border punch