TGIF Challenges 280 Have A Cozy Christmas

It has been a doozy of a week. Between all the the back to school stuff, Josh had his appointment at Children's in Denver. It was a 4 hour appointment and while I know that it was really grueling for Josh, the 6 hours in the car round trip on top of that, wipes a Momma out! The good news was that Taryn cleaned the kitchen while I was gone. She is an expert organizer and did an amazing job!

I am back with my TGIF Design Team friends creating with one of my favorite color combos. I have always loved the combination of Pear Pizzazz and Blushing Bride and what better than Soft Suede too?! I have decided to make this color combo into something "Holiday" like with the returning favorite Merry Moose. Let me show you what I have created.

This card started with a piece of Very Vanilla Card Stock. I have stamped it using the Birch Background Stamp with Soft Suede Ink. After stamping it, I decided to sponge it a bit to give it a bit more of a vintage like feel. Next, I embossed a piece of Blushing Bride Card Stock with the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder. After I had it embossed I tore the edge and sponged it a bit with the Soft Suede ink and accented it with a bit of the Open Weave Vanilla Ribbon in the Forever Greenery Ribbon Combo Pack. After stamping the tree in Pear Pizzazz, I chose to die cut it with the tag die from the North Pole  Wonder Dies. It too was sponged before the Heat Embossed Gold sentiment. My Moose, stamped in Soft Suede on Soft Suede and accented with a Blushing Bride scarf was the perfect touch. The bow made of the Open Weave Ribbon with Gold Bakers Twine was just the right touch. A soft curl of the corner and a Wonderful Gem accent and this beauty was done!

I can't wait to see what you create with this weeks challenge! Have an amazing weekend!

A Paper Pumpkin Thing Blog Hop My Wonderful Family

Good Morning and Happy Thursday! I am so happy that today is Thursday! Troy and I are working hard at planning our garden. I had the kids plant about 60 starter pots to no avail. Lucky for me, I started about 36 peat pods and we may not be entirely out of luck. We have an amazing local greenhouse that I plan on storming tomorrow! I would love to have enough veggies to share with friends or to even let the kids do veggie stand...

A Paper Pumpkin Thing team is back for our monthly blog hop that features alternatives for our "One Stop Box". This months kit is called My Wonderful Family and featured a fun fold card, a beautiful stamp set with amazing sentiments! Let me show you what I have made...

This card has a beautiful base of Mint Macaron card stock with a layer of Crumb Cake. I inked up the Birch background stamp with Crumb Cake to create a bit of a visually textured layer. I took the Soft Seafoam strips and stamped them using Soft Seafoam ink with the tree like stamp in the kit. The tree die cut it is layered behind the sentiment label that I stamped with Crumb Cake ink as well. A bit of Linen Thread seemed to be the right touch with the colored pearls and little bird in the kit!

I will try to get a better picture of this today! This a fun little sign I found and painted from Dollar General. I have matted the sentiment layer over the leaves from the kit. I found the flower in my stash of things I have used. It has a great center of colored pearls from the kit. This is accented with the Braided Linen Trim and Lace Trim bow on the handle!!!

I am so glad you stopped by today! I can't wait for you to see what all of my friends have created! You can click along the list below to see all the amazing alternatives on today's hop!

A Paper Pumpkin Thing Winter Woods Kit

Whew!!! Its the last Thursday of the month and we ALL know what that means right? It is Halloween! Well not only isn't Halloween, it is time for the A Paper Pumpkin Thing Blog Hop! We are hopping with the October Kit, Winter Woods.

It has been a really cold few days here in on the Easter Plains. The kids had a snow day yesterday after we got about 6-8 inches overnight Tuesday-Wednesday. This morning we woke up to single digit temps and negative wind chills. Life has been a bit crazy and the next two weeks will be spent getting things ready for OnStage in Vegas and a craft fair the weekend.
When I opened this months kit, it was NOT my favorite. While I know there is market out there for cards like this kit, it just didn't say "I know what I am going to make!!" . Which is crazy, because if you saw the live on the Facebook Paper Pumpkin page, I made those two cards in less than 2 hours! I always work better under pressure... Let me show you the two alternatives for today!

This card started with a sponged background of Night of Navy and Pool Party ink. I heat embossed the large snowflakes from the kit with White Stampin' Emboss Powder. A nice strip of the Wrapped In Plaid Designer Series Paper was a great accent for this winter holiday card. The In The Woods Dies are great to coordinate with this kit. I chose to die cut a Shaded Spruce cardstock tree and heat emboss the falling snow. This layered onto a wood Stitched Nested Label from the Coming to Gather DSP and accented with Gold Metallic Pearls. This card has a rich mat of Shaded Spruce and a card base of Pool Party.

This card features something from the Paper Pumpkin live event. I decided that with this card that I wanted to show the Birch Background stamped trees on the Shimmer White die cuts. They are stamped with Early Espresso ink and then I used the Aqua Painter to move the ink around so it looked like real wood. I chose to fussy cut one set of tree trunks off.  I stamped the pine tree from the Winter Woods stamp set with Shaded Spruce ink and distressed the edges a bit with Early Espresso. This card also features a sponged background with Night of Navy and Pool Party inks and a heat embossed snow element at the top. A quick rectangle sentiment with a few loops of thread and this card was done!

Thank you so much for stopping in today! I can't wait for you to see what everyone else is making today! Make sure you click through the list below to tour the whole hop!

TGIF Challenge 232 Painted Harvest

Friday! Friday! I know that most of us can't wait until Friday, although it seems like lately my work whatever it may be is NEVER done! Wesley has his last football game of the season tomorrow and starts up basketball next week. I was silly to think that I would have a lull! 

Today I am participating with the TGIF Design Team and this amazing color challenge that will definitely get you creating for fall! I inked up an old favorite Painted Harvest to play along with!

Somehow when I think of fall, I think of pumpkins and earthy toned flower arrangements that feature sunflowers and eucalyptus. Which is kind of the direction I was going when I created the card for today! My wood frame is created with Crumb Cake card stock and stamped with Early Espresso using the Birch background stamp. I made the frame with the Rectangle Stitched Dies. I stamped a bit of a background using the fern like stamps from Painted Harvest with Pretty Peacock and Crumb Cake inks. My Grapefruit Grove stamped sunflower is fussy cut and layered a few Linen Thread loops. I stamped the leaves in Pretty Peacock as well and distressed them a bit with Crumb Cake ink. This is nicely matted onto a layer of Pretty Peacock and is on a base of Crumb Cake!

Thank You so much for stopping by today! I can't wait to see what you create for this weeks challenge!

Third Thursdays Hello Holiday Blog Hop

Can you believe that it is already Thursday!? We are off to a watch Wesley play Football in Holyoke this afternoon. He came home from practice the other day telling me that he has decided to play Basketball as well... So it seems that the busy mom schedule will not have a lull after football is over!

Today I am back with the 3rd Thursday Blog Hop team designing cards with goodies from our new Holiday Catalog! I actually have two card classes this weekend using products from the new catalog so it was perfect timing! 

This amazing fall themed card is created using the Gather Together and Coming to Gather Designer Series Paper. Would you believe that I designed this TODAY! After seeing a card one of our concept artists made, I asked her how she colored the pumpkins. Needless to say, this may be my new favorite technique! I simply stamped onto our Shimmery White cardstock and used my Aquapainter to move the ink around! My leaf was done with Early Espresso and the pumpkins were done in Cajun Craze, Gray Granite and Mint Macaron. This layered onto a gingham stitched oval with a few Cajun Craze thread loops. I adhered this over a Gray Granite Birch stamped background that is accented with the polka dot burlap designer series paper. A nice big bow and Pretty Peacock sentiment was perfect touch. This is nicely matted on Early Espresso card stock with a base of Mint Macaron! 

I am so glad that you stopped in today to see my creation! I can't wait to show you what my friend Kimberley Morris has made for you today! You can get to her by clicking the next button below!

Kimberley Morris

Creation Station Got Your Back Blog Hop

 Happy First Sunday of July!! I hope those of you in the United States had a fabulous holiday this week! We were blessed to have Troy's cousin and kids stop in on their way to the Grand Canyon from Iowa! Our kids have such an amazing time with them. I have been a bit on the down low lately, with last weeks grueling schedule and company coming over this week, I had to focus on my domestic duties...

Today I am creating with the Creation Station Design Team. We creating with the "Got Your Back" theme! The idea is to showcase the background stamps in the catalog! I took the opportunity to mix up two for you! Let me show you what I have created!

This card started in a bit of a different way! I had been working on swaps and had some extra layers of Crumb Cake card stock that had been stamped with Soft Suede ink using the Birch back ground stamp! Today I took it a bit further by running it through with my Pinewood Planks embossing folder to add some texture! I also had a piece of Very Vanilla stamped with Soft Suede ink using the All Wired up background stamp. If you have the chicken wire of years ago, don't look at this and say "I already have it..." It is much smaller in scale compared to the old one! So you do NEED it! After adhering this to the wood, I added this to Pear Pizzazz, I had a bugger of time getting it straight, so I rolled with the wonky layer idea! My To A Wild Rose Flower is stamped twice with Petal Pink ink and has a Soft Suede outline. I chose to use Pear Pizzazz for the leaves. A bit of Linen Thread was the only thing suitable for this card. A Stampin' Emboss Copper sentiment and some of the new Designer Elements were just what this card needed to be finished off!

I can't wait for you to see what Elizabeth has made for you today!!! You can get to her by clicking the next link below!

Elizabeth Price

A Paper Pumpkin Thing A Little Smile Blog Hop

I am so glad that today is Thursday! Between last week and this week, I haven't been able to collectively have my ducks in a row... remember that gentle juggling act from last week???  This week that very juggling act has been with BOWLING BALLS! Taryn has had Gymnastics and Dance Camp, Joshua had his doctors appointment, I have swaps to finish, we have company coming next week and our house is in total disarray.... Needless to say, I am glad this week is almost over!

So let me just state that I ran to my craft room last night the minute we got home to whip something up for today! I really had no plan in place with this months kit... It isn't my jam. It isn't that the cards were adorable little note cards that fit inside this cute little pouch, it is the beachy nautical theme! We all know that isn't my favorite... but this card came adorable! If I was going to create with a beachy theme this is would be it...

My card base is a rich base of Old Olive to coordinate with the Palm Tree's from the kit. I have taken one of the card fronts and punched it with the 2 1/4" Circle Punch and set this aside. The Pressed Petals Specialty DSP is the most versatile pack in the new catalog, in my opinion of course! That is where my burlap pattern came from. It is adhered to a mat of Coastal Cabana. I added a 1" Strip with that I had stamped with Birch. A double strand of Whisper White Bakers Twine was perfect, but I didn't tie the bow yet. I started layering my elements on to the card using Multipurpose Liquid Glue. Then lastly added the sentiment with dimensionals and my bow!

Thank You so much for stopping by today! I can't wait for you to see what the rest of us have come up with! You can click along the list below!