Be Merry!

Christmas is just ten days away. Are you ready? I am! This week's Chicka Challenge was to make a card with a Santa stamp. Well, I don't have many stamps of Santa himself, but I do seem to have several of his hat! This hat by PSX (retired stamp company) is one of my favorites. There is so much detail to it and it looks so realistic. By stamping it on to kraft paper and coloring it in with pencils, it made the white trim really pop. A small jingle bell tied to the ribbon was the finishing touch, and reminded me of the classic book and movie "The Polar Express."

I am getting one of my Christmas presents early. I know what it is, but I'm not ready to share the surprise with you just yet. Hopefully I'll be back this weekend or early next week with a photo of my special delivery!

Happy Holidays!

Card details:
Santa hat stamp by PSX; sentiment by Hero Arts; Memory Box notecard; A Muse polka dot ribbon; Prismacolor pencils; jingle bell accent; Nestabilities.

Cats Never Bark Up the Wrong Tree

I had fun making this card for the Chicka Challenge, which was to make a card with a cuddly animal. Among many of my rubber stamp addictions are these fun kid sayings from Inkadinkado. I have most of the entire collection. Bad, I know, but they're just so clever! My sister and I are six years apart, and I remember some of the funny things she would say when she was little. For example, a napkin was a "nack-in," and Mary Jane shoes were called "pahty shoes" (yes, that did sound like "potty"!). My mom tells me I had my share of funny words, too. I couldn't say "Christmas" when I was really little, instead it was "Chrim-sas."

Hope you had a good weekend. Are you done with your holiday shopping? I've started, but I still have more to go. My big project this week will be making 10 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange I'm attending on Friday. Thankfully I've already done a test batch, and they've passed inspection!

I hope you have a good week and take time to enjoy some of the pleasures of the season!

Thanks for stopping by!

Card details:
Sentiment by Inkadinkado; girl with cat stamp by Creative Beginnings for Me and My Big Ideas; Memento ink; Copic markers; Bazill green cardstock; PaperTrey Ink red and terracotta cardstock; Amuse woodgrain cardstock; Memory Box notecard; Marvy scalloped punch.

With Gratitude

This is my second post today. I was inspired to play along with Dawn and Jane's Chicka Challenge early this week, since the theme was to make a card dedicated to gratitude.

I just took three pumpkin pies out of the oven and am enjoying a relatively quiet day at home before I head over to my parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner.

I have a lot of gratitude this Thanksgiving. I'm grateful for my family and friends. I'm thankful I now I have a new job that is meaningful for me and challenges me every day. Most importantly, I'm thankful for my health, and that I'm a cancer survivor and made it to one year in remission.

What are you grateful for? Thank you for visiting my blog and sharing an interest in a fulfilling, creative hobby! Have a most Happy Thanksgiving!

Card details:
Ink, cardstock, button and twine by PaperTrey Ink; Stamps from Stampin' Up!

Color Inspiration Challenge

I love Dawn McVey's color challenges. This was a fun challenge, and as I've perused the entries of other challenge participants, I see that a few of us had similar ideas in mind!

These colors were a fresh change from the more earth-tone inspired autumn greetings I've been creating lately. I'm so used to adding a sentiment to the fronts of my cards that it felt odd leaving this one blank. But the more I looked at it, the more I felt that if I added anything else it would just be too crowded, so I left it alone.

Thanks for looking, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Card details:
Cardstock, ribbon and stamp by PaperTrey Ink; Versamark watermark ink; Martha Stewart 3-in-1 butterfly punch; Pearls by A Muse and Basic Grey.

Noel

This week's Chicka Challenge was a challenge for me. I had a hard time deciding which item that was gifted to me to use to make a card. I have several choices! My mom gave me my first PaperTrey Ink sets a couple of years ago. It was all of the Borders & Corners sets, which coordinate with the Marvy punches. I finally decided to use the Borders & Corners oval set as part of my Noel card. It took no time at all to make, but the result was elegant and simple.

Card details: Stamps, ink, paper and ribbon by PaperTrey Ink; A Muse pearl stickers; Corner Chomper; Marvy punches.

My Fabulous Friends

Happy Monday! I didn't get a ton of crafting in this weekend like I planned, but at least I got the two birthday cards done that I had to have for this week. I also made sure to ink up at least one stamp that I had never used before so I could qualify for this week's Chicka Challenge! Both of these cards use the "Friends til the End" set from PaperTrey Ink I love all of their sets, but this one in particular is one of my favorites. Both flowers were colored in with Copics. I had a lot of fun practicing my blending techniques on them.

I spent a good part of my weekend re-organizing some of my craft supplies. I've outgrown some of my current storage solutions, and have been looking for suitable replacements for quite some time. I discovered some great boxes at Office Depot called "The Really Useful Box." They totally live up to their name and come in multiple sizes, styles and colors. I purchased their 3L size to store my PTI stamp sets and ink pads as well as Nestabilities that I have in CD cases. They fit perfectly. I also found a great upright file box that comes with hanging files, and bought two of those to try out for my 12 x 12 papers. So far I like them a lot. I recommend checking them out if you're in the need for some new craft storage.

Thanks for looking, and have a great week!

Card details:
Stamps by PTI; Copic markers; Memory Box and Neenah paper; PTI and Memento inks

When I Count My Blessings...

This week's Chicka Challenge is to actually cut and use one of your extra special papers in your stash. This was very difficult for me because I have a TON of paper in my stash, and I consider most of it special! LOL! I finally decided on this beautiful oak leaf and acorn paper from PaperTrey Ink. It's part of a collection of six patterns in the Autumn Abundance line. I love pretty much everything from PaperTrey Ink, but this has to be one of my all time favorites. I also initiated a couple of images from their Fall Elegance stamp set. The glittery brown tag rim is new from Making Memories. I used it with their Tag Maker tool. I was really pleased with how this card turned out. I'm giving it to my mom on Thanksgiving. :-)

Thanks for looking! Have a fabulous week!

Card details: Cardstock, designer paper, ink and stamps all from PaperTrey Ink; Brown glitter metal tag rim and Tag Maker tool from Making Memories. We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper.