New Year's Eve 2010- More video challenge cards

Well, it's almost time to ring in the New Year.   This past year went by so quickly, and one of the things I am reflecting on, is all the new online friends I have made.  What a wonderful hobby this has turned out to be.  Thank you friends!


My first card today is another that uses the "cracked glass" technique. The focal image is from Asela's "Fruitful Harvest" stamp set.  I just love this apple image.

 

Gina's next video challenge is the Baby Wipes Background technique.  I used the vase of flowers from Theresa's "Purrr-fectly Delightful" stamp set. I decided to make a pale pastel background, using alcohol ink, on glossy card stock.

The sentiment if from Gina's "Friends" stamp set, stamped on a die cut.

Have a safe night!

Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010 Countdown Challenge Cards

I am having a blast with the video challenges over at StampTV, and today I have two more to share with you. 

The first card is for the Stardust Pens challenge.  My focal image is from Rupa's "100% Sweet" stamp set.  I colored it with Copic markers before I went over it with the Clear Star pen.

My next card is for the Rubber band brayer technique. I like the result-

to me it makes for a light-hearted, happy looking card.  I used another image from Rupa's set (mentioned above).  I colored the ice cream cone with Copics, and added Glossy Accents to the top layer of chocolate.

That's all for today, and I hope you will stop back tomorrow!

Wed, Dec, 29th, 2010 Victorian box

I was so happy with how the box I showed you on 12/27/2010 turned out, I made a similar one for today's post. This one is shorter than my first one, but still a 4" square one. This one has two stacked paper rosettes and a gold bow and some raffia, in addition to the little "joy" embellishment.  I painted it gold, since a bright blue "joy" just didn't look right! Ha!

Glad you stopped by today!

Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2010 FIVE Countdown Cards

Today I have a number of Countdown Challenge cards to show you, so this post is waaaay longer than normal and I hope you'll bear with me.

The first one  requires us to make a card with a shimmering background.  I need a card for a party hostess on New Year's Eve, so I used a CB Dotted Swiss folder, which I layered onto a snowflake embossed folder. I highlighted the flakes with a Clear Star pen.  I added Stickles to the dots and then a die cut star/banner.  The wine glasses from Melanie's "Square Pegs" stamp set available at Gina K's were heat embossed with detail gold EP. The numerals were die cut and painted with a gold paint dabber.
The snowflakes shimmer a lot, but I just couldn't get them to show up as well in the photo as they are IRL.

 

For the next challenge, we were to make a background using wax paper that has been embossed in a Cuttlebug.

 I made 3 of them for this challenge, because it is so much fun. This first one uses flowers from the "Elegant Flowers" stamp set.

 My next card uses a bird from Asela's "Winter Wings" set, and the music bg from Nina's "Vintage Borders" set.

 

Next up is my card that also uses the bird from Asela's "Winter Wings" set, and the diamond pattern CB folder.

 My last card for today calls for the cracked glass technique. My stamped images are from Theresa's "Timeless Treasures" set.  This set and all the ones mentioned above are available from Gina K Designs.

If you made it to the bottom of this post, I REALLY thank you for hanging in there!

Mon. Dec. 27, 2010 Gift box to match Paper Roses card

Good morning everyone!  I hope you are all safe and if you had a lot of snow, you weathered the storm in fine form!

  On Christmas eve, I shared this card with you and then decided to make a box to go with it.  I haven't decided who I am giving it to yet, but there are some birthdays coming up.  I still have to figure out what to put into the box-haha!

I used a video tutorial by Jennifer McGuire to make the rosette, and then went from there.

Here is a close up of just the box.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Dec. 26, 2010 Using newsprint

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day yesterday! We had a great day with my family and one of my stepsons, here too! Lots of food and laughter, and happiness that my granddaughter is home for Christmas break from college.

Another challenge at StampTV this holiday season, is to use newsprint, which has been inked and distressed. Here is the masculine card I made using this technique.

The stamped images are from Theresa Momber's "Timeless Treasures" stamp set.  The sentiment is from Gina's "Labeled with Love" set.

Thank you for stopping by!

Christmas Day 2010

I have a "countdown" card to show you today, and a message for you below the photo. This is for the challenge to use a button on a bow.  My focal image is from Gina K's Holiday Cheer stamp set.

I did want to be sure to wish you all a Merry Christmas and an especially Happy and craft-filled New Year.  I also want to thank all of you that follow my blog and leave me such wonderful and encouraging comments!  I appreciate each and every one of you and the time you take to visit here.      Hugs, Karen

Christmas Eve 2011

I hope you are all ready for Christmas and have some time to kick back and relax.

The card I have to share today came together fairly quickly.  I saw a tutorial online the other day showing how to create flowers using some of the many paper flowers I have on hand.  I seem to have a lot of these, but never particularly liked the colors, when used as normal.  However, by following the instructions, I made ones I really liked.

The sentiment is from Gina K's "Inside and Out" stamp set. I like the Victorian feel of this card.

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010 Easy gift bag

Here is an easy gift bag to put together.  Using a store bought bag, I cut a piece of Navy cs and stamped with white ink, using the snowflakes from Gina's "Holiday Cheer" stamp set. I attached this to the bag front and then added a tag I showed you a couple of weeks ago.

Thank you for visiting!

Wed. Dec. 22, 2010

I needed another small gift box, so I just made one the size I needed.  The box itself took less than 5 minutes to make, and then a short time to stamp and sponge the focal image, and cut out with Nestie dies.  These trees are from "Holiday Cheer" Stamp TV kit.

Tues. Dec. 21, 2010 Speedy #34

Happy Tuesday- The Winter Solstice and yikes- the first day of winter!  Sheesh, seems like it has been winter for months already, hasn't it?

Here is the card I made for the Joanne Grezlak's color challenge at Mark's Finest Papers  Speedy's #34. The colors are Mustard, Blue and Green.

The pears for my focal image are from Asela's "Fruitful Harvest" from Gina K Designs, which I colored with Copics.

See you tomorrow- I have another little gift box to show you!  Stay warm. 

Monday, Dec. 20, 2010 CP95

I made this one for the Card Pattern # 95 sketch. I used a "Block Greeting" from Gina K Designs behind the bow, for my focal point.

Hope you are almost ready for Christmas!  I hope you will stop by tomorrow!

Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010 Gift bag

Hi everyone!  Today I wanted to share a gift bag I made, using a template I found online by Vanessa Menhorn.

 The focal image is from Nina's "Lord of the Season" stamp set (available at Gina K Designs). I colored the tree image with Copics.  I added some Glossy Accents and glitter to the ornaments.   Have a great day and I hope you visit tomorrow!

Saturday 12-18-2010 Mugs, Kisses and Flowers

Hi everyone!

The card I have to show you today is one I had fun creating.  I love Melanie's new stamp set called "Mugs and Kisses".  I made some flowers to fill the mug, which I partly paper pieced. Thank you for checking in!

Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010

I can hardly believe that Christmas is one week from today! My mom always said that time flies faster the older we get-guess she wasn't kidding!

Today's card is a rather CAS one, using Asela's "Nesting" stamp set from Gina K Designs, for the owl and Theresa "The Giving Tree" for the sentiment. I kept the base simple, with only some score lines near the bottom.  Do you find CAS cards easy, or do you get stumped?  I think it is difficult for a lot of us to "stop" adding a lot of other stuff. LOL

  See you tomorrow!

Color Challenge STVCSP6 12/17/2010

Well, it's Friday again and only one week away from Christmas Eve.  Are you ready or are you running around doing last minute shopping?

The card I have to share today is for Gina K's color challenge at Stamp TV.

I thought I'd have some fun with Theresa Momber's "The Giving Tree" set to make a happy Thank You card.

Don't those hearts just make the cutest leaves on the tree?

I hope you stop back tomorrow!!!!  Thank you for all the comments you leave.  They are very much appreciated!

Thurs. Dec. 16, 2010 CP 94

Are you staying warm?  It is supposed to reach in the 20's today- hey, a heat wave compared to the last 4 days! Yesterday morning it was .5° (that's right- less than 1°) when I got up!

I made this card for the sketch at Card Patterns #94.  My focal image and sentiment are both from Asela's "Nesting" stamp set from Gina K Design's.  The dp is from K & Co.

Have a great day!

Wed. Dec. 15, 2010 Winter Birthday

Brrr.... the Midwest is in a deep freeze.  Hope you all are finding warmth!

The card I have to share today is for a winter birthday, good for one in January or February, I think!

I am not sure where I got this stamp, but I stamped in white ink and added some liquid Applique and some sparkle. I used Gina K Navy cs for my die cut and mat and then CB'd a piece of white cs with the snowflake embossing folder. The sentiment is from Gina K's "The Giving Tree" by Theresa Momber.

Thank you for visiting!  See you tomorrow!

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2010 Little candy box

Just a quick post today!

I am just loving making these small candy-filled boxes for Christmas.  This one is 4" square and filled with Hershey mint Kisses. I used my favorite Santa stamp for the tag. Thanks for stopping by today!

Mon. Dec. 13, 2010 Challenge STVSKSP6

Wow- it's Monday again and the days are flying by. Thanks to all of you that have commented over the weekend. The CSS Hop was a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the "love" left here!

Gina has another sketch challenge for us today.

I decided to make a Happy Holidays card, using this sketch.  I CB'd the bg panels with the a Snowflake embossing folder. and used Asparagus PL cs for my base along with some Basic Grey cranberry print. The ice skates are from the Winter Wonderland Stamp TV kit, and the sentiment is from Gina's Light of the Season kit.  Both sets are available here. To make the ice look more realistic, I cut a piece of packaging acrylic and tucked it in behind the blades of the skates.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, Dec.12, 2010

To see the cards I made for the CSS Alumni hop, please scroll down.  Hop through each of the blogs and leave a comment on each one. On Tuesday morning (Dec 14th), we will randomly choose one of the comments from all the blogs who will get a GKD stamp set of their choice valued up to $24.95!

Today is my sweet daughter's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Jessica!

The card I have to show you today uses a base of kraft, and some dashes of Fresh Asparagus GKD card stock. The bg is Basic Grey.  I used Tami's Block Greetings on my Nestie die cut for the square and the sentiment.  I stamped it again on a piece of Basic Grey text and cut out the oval and glued to the center of the block. I also die cut a frame using Nesties and sponged with Vintage Photo distress ink, after I embossed with the CB Swiss Dots folder.  The butterfly is from Asela's "Nested" stamp set, which I colored with Copics. Some jute and a button finished this card.  I love this color combination and am happy with the result.

CSS Alumni sketch hop Sat. Dec. 10, 2010

It's time for another Alumni team hop, and I am very happy to participate.  If you arrived here from JOY'S blog, you are in the right place.  If you'd like to start at the beginning, click here.

This time we are working with a sketch that Melissa has given to us.

Here is my 1st card.  I am pretty happy with the result.

Behind the scalloped circle with the sentiment -from the Friends are Forever set, I stamped one of Nina's Heirloom ornaments, onto a nestie oval. The edges were all sponged with Antique Linen distress ink. The card base and the rose were made with Gina K's PL Innocent pink cs, and the bow is ivory grosgrain ribbon.

My next card is one I just whipped up and I think it turned out great.  What do you think?
For this one I started with a mug image from Melanie's "Mugs and Kisses" stamp set, and then added a little penguin from Rupa's "Winter Friends" set, from last year.  After coloring the mug with Copic markers, I added glitter to the inside of the mug, for this little guy to skate on, and attached to an oval Nestie. I sponged the Nestie and heat embossed some snowflakes too!
My background is a CB embossing folder called "Snowflakes". I had the plastic snowflake embellies in my stash, but I glittered them up, although difficult to see in the photo.

Now I am sure that KAY has something fabulous to show you.  Enjoy!

Please let us know if you had fun hopping along with us.  See you soon.

GKD Color Challenge STVCSP5 12/10/2010

Happy Friday!  

With all the cold weather we have been having here, has inspired me to create a Spring looking card with the colors Gina has challenged us to use this week.

I used "The Giving Tree" stamp set by Theresa Momber and Melanie's "A Year of Borders" for some of the flowers and the butterflies.

Be sure to head over to StampTV tomorrow morning for another CSS Alumni Hop.

Thurs. Dec. 9, 2010

Today's Christmas card uses Nina's Heirloom Ornament stamp set. I used Basic Grey dp (love this paper in particular).  On the Nestie label, I stamped the text from Gina's Winter Wonderland Stamp TV kit, and heat embossed with clear. The ornament was heat embossed in gold and lightly sponged with Antique Linen distress ink. I ran a black Sharpie marker around the edge of the patterned paper and the label. I think the green grosgrain bow finished this card! I am entering this for Speedy's Challenge # 31.

Thank you for visiting!

Wed. Dec. 8, 2010 Small candy box

Happy Wednesday!

Here is the box I told you about yesterday.  It is filled with red and green m&m's, and will be given to a neighbor.

  I used Gina K's Pure Luxury cs, since it is so nice and sturdy and makes great boxes. The leaves were cut with my Cricut and the rose was rolled using cs and then dabbed with Tim Holtz distress inks and metallic alcohol ink. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Comments are really appreciated!

Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010 Place Cards

Hi everyone!

Since I am trying to get ahead of the busy Christmas Season, I decided to make some little boxes, filled with candy- to use as place markers for our Christmas dinner. They are 2.5" long and 1" high.  I used GKD Pure Luxury cs for the boxes and then covered with dp.  I made mini tags and attached with twine. Each box is filled with red and green m&m's.

Here is a close-up photo of the tag. You will see little bits of Nina's Heirloom ornament stamped in Black.

Thanks for visiting! Tomorrow, I will show you a little 3" square box, full of m&m's, for a neighbor.

Mon. Dec. 6, 2010 Challenge STVSKSP5

Happy Monday everyone!  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We finished decorating for Christmas and now get to sit back and enjoy it. Ok, maybe we should put the tree in my studio, so I can see it-LOL.

Here is Gina's sketch for this week's challenge. I hope you are going to play along.

I decided I needed to make a sympathy card to have on hand and this sketch seemed perfect for this type of card. 

The background paper is from Basic Grey and the focal image is from Gina's "Friends are Forever" and the sentiment is from "Labeled with Love" stamp sets, available here.

 I appreciate you taking the time to visit my blog!

Sun. Dec. 5, 2010 Homes across the road

I hope you will be having a great day today! Brrr- it's sure cold here!

  

Today's card is a card for any occasion, and I used three different stamp sets to make it. The houses are from Rupa's "Welcome Home" set, the sentiment is from her "Warm and Wonderful" set, and the window is from Melanie's "Hip to Be Square" set.  All these sets are available at Gina K Designs. I colored the houses with Copics and sponged the sky with Faded Jeans Distress ink.
Thank you for stopping by!

Release Party challenges

I finished all three of the Release Party challenges yesterday, so I am going to show them all here.

Challenge 1 (gkdec10cb) was to make a set of 4 tags. My focal image is from Gina K's Winter Wonderland Stamp TV kit, and some misc. snowflakes, which were heat embossed with white EP.  I sponged the bg and then added Art Institute transparent Crystal glitter to the snow.  A few ribbons to finish off the tops. Voila!

 

Next up is my card for Tina's challenge (gkdec10tg) -to use 12 embellishments. I actually used 12 red brads and 1 gold one.  The focal image is from Gina's Holiday Cheer set. The sentiment is from the Light of the Season set. I CB'd the bg with the Swiss Dots folder. For the green scallop nestie, I cut the die cut scalloped oval in half and attached to a plain oval. After stamping the tree, I colored it in with green stickles, and then applied stickles to all the brads, as well.

Last, but not least, is Jennie's challenge- to make a gift (gkdec10jh).  I made a kitchen counter file basket. The label attached to the twine on the front is a nestie, which I stamped with Melanie's Wild at Heart stamp.
I used GKD PL kraft, for the folders.

I loved doing all these challenges.  Thank you for taking time to peek at them.

Fri. Dec. 3, 2010 Challenge STVCSP4

Today's card is for Gina's Color Challenge STVCSP4 and a favorite color combination of mine.

The dp is Basic Grey, which I distressed with one of my favorite tools- the Distrezz-it-all. I added some lace to add to the shabby look and feel of this card.

The mittens are from Gina K's Winter Wonderland stamp TV kit.  The sentiment can be found in the Holiday Greetings set, which I popped up on a pretty pink bow. The card base is GKD Innocent Pink, with some Chocolate CS to make the card pop. I used GKD Ivory CS for the Nestie label and the sentiment circle.

Thank you for stopping by!

Thur. Dec. 2, 2010 Two cards today

I am really enjoying making Christmas cards, and maybe I should just keep going and set these aside for next year!  Wow, to be that far ahead of the game would be great, wouldn't it? LOL

 my 1st card for today...

The trees are from Mark's Finest Papers "A Walk in the Woods" stamp set.  I love these trees and will be able to use this set all year around. This card is for Speedy's Challenge #31.  

I was so excited to have had a card published in  Scrapbook News and Review Magazine -- the world's largest online scrapbooking magazine! 

Here is the card I submitted and was chosen. The call was for cards using black as a background.  I used Gina K's Pure Luxury onyx and multiple CB folders and a Nestie label for lots of texture.  The flowers are from Theresa's Aloha stamp set, colored with Copics and Koh-i-nor pencils and OMS.

See you tomorrow!