Keeping Christmas: February

Hello! And welcome to February's blog hop for 'Keeping Christmas'.

It's a card hop for inspiration, and just plain joy for doing our 

Christmas cards any time of year. 

2 cards with the same layout and stamp set from Concord & 9th's Christmas Florals

and a stamp called Woven Stripes.

1st card is stamped with Momento Northern Pine, and colored with copics.

The Merry and Christmas letters are die cut with shimmer card stock.

The centers of the poinsettia, Nuvo Gold drops. I wanted a down home country

very traditional look to my card, so the stripe stamp was turned and stamped

again for a plaid look.

If you like a more contemporary look for a card, this card's chrome and black is 

on target. Same background stamp, this time, 1st white embossed, then stamped

with silver ink. Both times on the vertical.

Stamped with Jet Black Archival, and painted with Metallics, one of my

favorite mediums on rich dark cardstock.

If you look closely, the silver mirror letters are placed just above the stamped 

black letters for a bit of shadow.

2 more cards for the Christmas pile! Still a long way to go, folks! But

it feels so good to get a stash going. Do you like creating Christmas cards

throughout the year? It sure helps during the busiest time of year, to have

some if not all of my Christmas greets done!

Be sure to check out all the designers on the hop for more inspiration.

Here's a list:

Kelly Lunceford (Creator)

Vicki Finger

Claire Broadwater

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Nancy Guse

Marybeth Lopez

Nancy Penir (me)

Carol Hintermeier

The Card Concept: Warm Winter Wishes

Hi and welcome to a blog post celebrating one of my favorite card challenges, 

The Card Concept. You are given an inspiration photo and several styles

to choose from, and you create a card with that style, or one of your own. Yes,

you can combine styles too.

The neutrals and wood inspired my card. I used the Greetery's Halvsies die and ran it

through a wood embossing folder. 

Oopsie Daysies (the Greetery) provided the bouquet.

Our challenges are for 2 weeks, and the winner has a guest designer spot on the blog.

Hope your weekend is extra craft.

A Quartet of Pine Blossom

Hi and Happy New Year! 

Well, the New Year is off to a happy start. Saturday was one of those days

with no one around, quiet and chores free. Way too good a day to waste!

The holidays came and went so fast, I hadn't used the Greetery's Pine Blossom

at all, and there it was right on the top of my order.

I die cut and stamped the bouquet and flowers in several colors.

I hadn't used the Berry Branch Stencil either. 1st inked, then played with

stencil paste in a couple of colors.

My stash of birthday cards is low, so all 4 cards were done for winter birthdays.

My outdoor garden is sleeping right now. It's down to freezing where I live,

but on this card it's bright and happy.

I just love the new bow Betsy created. So open and animated!

And finally one with my favorite greeting, blessings.

Nothing better than a crafty weekend!

Here's a list of what I used: All Greetery

Pine Blossom stamp set and dies

Fit to be Tied die

Inside Out Berry Branch die

Berry Branch stencil

Terrarium die

Knit Wits stencil

Nordic Frames die

The Card Concept Challenge:

Hi and welcome to a new challenge at the Card Concept.

Now the title to this challenge is Adventure Awaits. But I was inspired

by the tones and neutrals in the photo. Closer inspection gave me a 

sense of vintage warmth and lots of vintage texture. 

Here's my card:

Creating a card with a bit of vintage texture and warmth, I chose the Greetery's

Bountiful Wreath, and the sentiment from Bountiful Wreath.

I was late acquiring this gorgeous stamp set, and have drooled over every

card I've seen made with it. Finally it was back in stock and I 

couldn't wait to use it!

The frame is from PTI's Infinity Frames, versamarked and covered with copper 

emboss.

One more loves to share... Altenew Inks. This is a set called Coffee Break. It

includes: Sand Dunes, Rocky Shore, Mocha & Expresso. Neutral but with

warm tones, just yummy! And the way the inks cover the surface of a stamp,

well, I'm a fan. 

Hope you have a chance to play along. I love seeing all the ways the

challenge inspires you.

Happy Crafting!

The Card Concept #121 {Adventure Awaits}

Praying

I have a post today for the Altenew Card Challenge, this month inspired by this photo

and colors. 

All stamps and dies, Altenew, with the main bloom from Best Buds.

Best Buds is a line stamp, no color filler stamp at all. Perfect for me 

who loves to color. I started with copics and added some pencil for 

definition.

The Mid-Century Frame die is new to me and it's cut twice from shimmer card stock.

Kinda reminds me of an Autumn sunset.

The leaves and flowers are from Beautiful day, stamped with Altenew's Sand Dunes,

Rocky Shore and Mocha Inks.

Sentiment: Bamboo Rose

Inspiration Challenge

The Challenge ends soon. Check out all the deets on the Altenew Blog.

Have a great hopefully, crafty week!

Happy 7th Anniversary Paper Sweeties!

Welcome to a happy celebration!

Paper Sweeties is marking their 7th year. Applause applause!

And congratulations! 

I'm so honored to join the festivities with a special card,

and a favorite of mine, featuring Abigail.

Abigail's been around since the beginning. She and all the dolls have outfits 

and settings fit for a queen, or in this case, a mermaid!

Mermaid Wishes is a new set I've fallen for. That fish tail! I just 

had to glam it up!

The shell border was stamped, Copic colored and fussy cut.

'Sea' background: Distress Oxide Ink blending, water splashed, and white paint 

splatters. 

Anniversary banner: PS Hello Friend

The bubbles 'HAPPY' and 'anniversary' sentiment from an older

set, Happy Everything.

That's right! A 100.00 gc is the big prize to a lucky follower!

All the deets on the Paper Sweeties Blog.

Good luck, and go join the fun!

Happy 7th Anniversary Paper Sweeties!

Tag You're It Challenge: Bookmarks

There's a new challenge up on the Tag You're It Blog today, and we are challenged to

create a tag that's a bookmark. 

All 3 tags MFT and covered with Altenew Washi.

This one stamped with PTI's Bibliophile. 

Floral Image: Altenew's Daisy Sunflower.

PTI's Berry Summer

A sweet little reminder of the joy of reading!

I covered this bookmark with Altenew's Washi then added a vellum die cut 

with the word 'Books' from PTI's Bibliophile. The floral swag is a fussy cut

from the flower Washi added to card stock. 

Again a Washi covered tag with the Greetery's Fleur Impressions and PTI's Summer 

Berries.

Hope you play along with this theme of bookmarks. You don't have to do 3. Or you

can do 6. Have fun and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Be Still and Know

Another scripture card made with Betsy's new stamps and dies. I'm completely in love with

the Greetery's Fleur Impressions. The 3 step stamps + stamens = the look of an Impressionist 

painting . Tucked into the terrrarium with verse was a joy to create.

I stamped the background before adding the solid terrarium die cut. Then built the scene

within the terrarium. 

All Altenew Inks. Talk about vibrant! Love the many colors and how glorious they

stamp!

Hope you have a wonderful week. Plan to spend time planting some

much needed color in some pots outside. Hope you don't mind if I

post some pictures when they're done...

The Greetery

Fleur Impressions

Comforting Commands

Terrarium Dies

Altenew Inks

Magenta, Fuchsia, Baby Pink, 

 Coral Berry, Ruby Red, Marigold, Snapdragon,Sunray,

Lime, Fresh Leaf, Iceberg.

12 Kits of Occasions Party in the Park February '19

Welcome to February's 12 Kits' Post! I'm excited because this month I'm the hostess,

with a kit to celebrate the hope of spring... and a 'Party in the Park'. Outdoors,

friends and family and plenty of sunshine!

LOTS of cards, so let's get started...

1st off is a piñata from Pretty Pink Posh. Love the fact that you can go crazy with color.

He's hanging on a frame from PTI: Shape Shifters Square. The paper wasn't quite

bright enough, so touched up a bit with matching copics.

All this month's kits' supplies are on the 12 Kits blog, by the way.

The paper dictated this card's elements. Fussy cut flowers and a big 'hooray' from Spellbinders.

Color on the PTI shapeshifters die courtesy of Magicals.

A look back when carousels were in the center of fine parks. Used my metallic 

watercolors for the seahorse, and colored the waves with copics.

Echo Park provided the balloon paper, PTI the frame and ballon shaker.

This carousel unicorn in pink is perfect for a girl's birthday!

The rose papers were included, and I combined them for this 'celebrate' card. One rose

paper for the background, and one fussy cut to surround the sentiment.

My favorite is this window tag I included in the kit, (PPP) with Altenew roses.

When you open the shutters, the words 'happy birthday to you' are inside from 

one of the double sided papers.

Lastly, I included this little present bearing otter from Lawn Fawn.

Not sure if he belongs in a 'park', but I just loved him, and

had to pass the die cut on to my 12 Kits friends. After all, isn't he celebrating?

That's it from me. I hope you enjoyed February's kit. I loved gathering a bit of 

Spring to share with my friends and all of you friends too. 

Be sure to visit all of the designers on the blog. I can't wait to see what they've done

with the kit!