Fri. Sept. 30, 2011 OLW65

I really enjoy playing along with the One Layer Wednesday challenges.  This time, we were to make the sentiment the focal point, even if there is an image on the card. I sure I hope this qualifies!!!

The tree is a Michael Strong cloisonne' stamp and the sentiment is from PTI (love this!)

Thank you for letting me share today!

Thurs. Sept. 29, 2011 Mojo Monday 208

I haven't played the Mojo Monday in a while, and since I wanted to use some new Tim Holtz stamps I recently purchased- I figured this sketch would be perfect.I love this color combination too, so I was done in hardly anytime at all.  Thanks for stopping by.   ...Karen

Wed. Sept. 28, 2011 Apple Picking

It's the time of year for apple picking, taffy apples, cider donuts, colorful leaves and all things Fall.  To celebrate this wonderful season, I wanted to share this card, using an image from Gina K's "Autumn Splendor" stamp set.

I layered a die cut Lattice from Cheery Lynn Designs (love them!) over a subtle dotted bg.  I colored the image with Copics and popped it up on another die cut- Spellbinder's Lacey Rectangles.

I am not quite sure why I coloring apples, but I really do!! LOL.

So glad you stopped by!

Tues. Sept. 27, 2011 STVMONDB4 challenge card

Donna's Magic challenge had us stamping with white ink and then coloring the image with colored pencils.  I was very happy with the result of this one.  The image is from Theresa Mober's "Hope Grows" stamp set, available at Gina K. Designs.

 Glad you stopped by!

Mon. Sept. 26, 2011 Non-traditional Christmas colors

 I made this card over a week ago for a StampTV challenge. The background was made by cutting a bunch of snowflakes with my Cricut, using a piece of vinyl.  Then using that as a mask, I gave my Copic Air Brush a workout, with about 3 or 4 different colors.
I heat embossed the trees and added Stickles, although I just couldn't get them to show up in the photo.
Thanks for visiting today!

Sun. Sept. 25, 2011 Speedy Challenge #74

I made a tag for Speedy's challenge this time.  Carol's challenge was to use wings.

I used the little pig image from Mark's Finest Papers "Fun on the Farm" set, and a tree from MFP's "A Walk in the Woods" set. The butterfly wings and the fence are die cuts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fri. Sept. 23, 2011 CSS Treasure Chest Hop

I am so excited that it is time again for another CSS Treasure Chest Hop. We have lots of inspiration for you and hope you enjoy hopping along! If you arrived here from Linda's blog, you are in the right place.  If you'd like to start at the beginning, click HERE.

****Make sure to leave a comment as you hop along because on Tuesday morning (September 27), we will randomly choose one of the comments from all the blogs who will get a stamp set of their choice valued up to $24.95!

 Here is the challenge Carolina gave us this time:

Let's SHAKE things up for the FALL! For this hop, I'm issuing you a double challenge. You need to create a Fall themed card and it must be a shaker card. The shaker part can be as big or as small as you'd like but it must include some type of shaker element. If you're not familiar with shaker card, Gina put together a two-part video where she gives you step-by-step on how to put one together. Here are the links to those:

Shaker Cards Part 1

and

Shaker Cards Part 2

...and here is my shaker card.

The tree image I used is from Theresa Momber's "Fanciful Fall" stamp set. I inked the image with Memento markers and sponged the sky with Distress inks. The pumpkin was colored with Copics.  The large oak leaf was die cut and sponged with distress ink. I used a punch for all the little leaves in my shaker.

Be sure to watch Gina's videos and try making a shaker card and post it on StampTV so we can all see your lovely cards.

 Thank you for visiting my blog today, and now it's time for you to be inspired by the super talented Joy Hadden.  I am positive her creation will knock your socks off!

Fri. Sept. 23, 2011 Happy Friday

I am posting this early!!
I have a card and a matching box to share with you.  I entered this into Joan's Garden's challenge as well as the Scor-Pal challenge.

I love making boxes and I always use my Scor-Pal- love it!

Thanks for visiting! I really appreciate comments!

Thurs. Sept. 22, 2011

The StampTV Facebook challenge this time around is to make a card with 3 different patterned papers. Fun!!! I love coloring this apple from Asela's "Fruitful Harvest" stamp set from Gina K Designs.  Used my Copics, of course. That's all for today, and thanks for visiting!

...Karen

Wed. Sept. 21, 2011 Another GKD Release Party challenge

Good morning dear friends!

Last week was the Gina K. Release party and Deb Felt challenged us to make a card with four colors, three embellishments, two die cuts, and one stamp set.
  I just love these gorgeous Authentique papers to make this Christmas card.  The mug image is from Melanie Muenshinger's "Mugs and Kisses" stamp set available at Gina K. Designs.  It is so much fun to paper piece this mugs!!!

Thank you for stopping by today!

Tues. Sept. 20, 2011 Two cards for you today

The SCS CAS 135 challenge called for me to make this sketch Thank You card.  I used lots of texture, and a tree image from Mark's Finest Papers "A Walk the the Woods" set.  I inked the tree with Memento markers, and the sentiment was heat embossed with Platinum EP. 

This next card is for StampTV's Release Party challenge gkdsept11db.

 Donna gave us a color block sketch.  I am lovin' how this turned out.  The cupcake image is from Gina K's 100% Sweet stamp set by Asela, and I colored with Copics.

Thank you for letting me share.

Mon Sept. 19, 2011 Autumn Blessings

Happy Monday morning!  I hope you all had a nice weekend.  Weather here was gorgeous on Saturday, but very gloomy and rainy all day yesterday. 

Blechhhh!!!!

The card I have to share today uses one of the images from the new Mark's Finest Papers "Autumn Glory" set.

Since it was such a dark day when I made this, perhaps I should have made a brighter colored card-hahaha. I started with brown cs and I stamped the leaf from this set, with bleach. Makes for a marble looking background.  I used a piece of text patterned cs to stamp the pheasant image in brown. The sentiment is also from this set, so makes for a pretty quick and easy Fall wish!

Have a wonderful day!

Sun. Sept. 18, 2011 Halloween Invitations

We have wonderful neighbors who host a Halloween party every year, and I volunteer to make invitations for them. I used an image and sentiment from Mark's Finest Paper "Boo to You" set. The background was a clip art image from years ago, that I made into a negative in my photo program- cool, huh?

Here is a close up view.

Thank you for stopping by!

Sat. Sept. 17, 2011 STV challenge # STVFRIJM2

Jimmi had a challenge for us on the 9th to make a sympathy card, and I didn't post it here yet- at least I don't think I did-LOL. I haven't tried sewing on a card in a long time, because I was never happy with my results.  I had better luck this time around, and I think it turned out great for this one and the distressed look I had in mind.

So glad you visited today!

Sat. Sept. 17, 2011 Speedy Challenge #73

Linda challenged us to make a 1 layer CAS card this week, and I decided to use an image from the new "Boo to You" stamp set from Mark's Finest Papers.

I stamped the image on MFP's 140# white cs, with Memento black ink and then heat embossed it.  I colored the image with Copics.

 

Thank you for stopping by today!

Fri. Sept. 16, 2011 MFP Blog Hop Day 4

Hello! Welcome to the September 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!

This week's new releases are:Autumn Glory, Boo To You, Covered Bridges, Get Your Broom On .For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.

Here is my card to showcase the "Get Your Broom On" stamp set.

So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: Get Your Broom On? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if today's winner has already purchased this set!)

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Get Your Broom On. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's MFP blog post.

Emily
Nancyruth
Neva
Faith
Dawn
Marilynn
Patricia
Chrissy
Karen K
Pam
Joanne
Markie
Carol
Mark’s Finest Papers

Thurs. Sept. 15, 2011 MFP Blog Hop Day 3

Hello! Welcome to the September 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!

This week's new releases are:Autumn Glory, Boo To You, Covered Bridges, Get Your Broom On .For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.

Here is my sample for the "Covered Bridges" set.

So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: Covered Bridges? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if today's winner has already purchased this set!)

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Covered Bridges. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's MFP blog post.

Emily
Nancyruth
Neva
Faith
Dawn
Marilynn
Patricia
Chrissy
Karen K
Pam
Joanne
Markie
Carol
Mark’s Finest Papers

Wed. Sept. 14, 2011 MFP Blog Hop Day 2

Hello! Welcome to the September 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!

This week's new releases are:Autumn Glory. Boo To You, Covered Bridges, and Get Your Broom On.For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.

For my sample today, I made the background using alcohol inks and a felt applicator. I cut the ghost out and then an extra pumpkin, so I could pop it up for more dimension.  I added Glossy Accents to the pumpkin too! Isn't this little guy adorable?

So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: Boo To You? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if today's winner has already purchased this set!)

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Boo To You. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's MFP blog post.

Lois
Vicky
Dawn
Anne
Peggysue
Connie
Linda
Karen
Patty
Liz
Geri
Lynn
Debbie
Mark’s Finest Papers

Tues. Sept. 13, 2011 MFP Blog Hop Day 1

Hello! Welcome to the September 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!

This week's new releases are:Autumn Glory. Boo To You, Covered Bridges, and Get Your Broom On. For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.

So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: Autumn Glory? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if today's winner has already purchased this set!)

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Autumn Glory. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's MFP blog post.

Lois
Vicky
Dawn
Anne
Peggysue
Connie
Linda
Karen
Patty
Liz
Geri
Lynn
Debbie
Mark’s Finest Papers

Mon. Sept. 12, 2011 Halloween Sneak Peek

I have had so much fun creating cards with the new Mark's Finest Papers upcoming stamp sets.  They will be for sale tomorrow, so I hope you will hop along with us.

I used an image from the "Boo to You" set here.  I colored this guy with Copics.  The bg was CB'd and then I added little dots of black enamel accents. I cut the Nestie frame, and popped it up for more dimension. 

Thank you for popping in!

Sun. Sept. 11, 2011 Cheery Lynn Challenge

Cheery Lynn Designs has an "Anything Goes" challenge, as long as you use one of their dies. I made this card using their lattice 2 die and just love it.  If you have ever tried making one using strips of paper before you know it was way too much work-HA

-so this die is perfect!!!

 

Thanks for checking out my card and be sure to visit Cheery Lynn Designs!!!

Sun. Sept. 11, 2011 Speedy Challenge #72

Carol challenged us with Speedy's #72 challenge.  We were to use a punch.

I knew I'd want to play along, since punches are a lot of fun to play with.  This time I used a Martha Stewart punch, and then scored from the punched edge to the bottom to creat my fence. I  stamped three of the leaves from the "Autumn Glory" stamp set from Mark's finest Papers. I sponged them with Distress inks, and fussy cut them.  The sentiment is also from this set. This set along with 3 other brand new ones, will be available to purchase on Tues. Sept.13th.

 Glad you stopped by!

Fri. Sept. 9, 2011 CSST Inspiration Hop

Good Saturday morning!!!!

Wow- Summer is just about over, but I love our weather here this time of year! It's time for another inspiration hop from the Center Stage Spotlight Team.  Are you ready?

If you arrived from Joy's blog, you are in the right place.  If you'd like to start at the beginning, click HERE.

Carolina gave us this beautiful photo to inspire us. 

First- here is the inspiration photo:

I was inspired by the headboard and all those gorgeous colors. 

I stamped the pumpkin from the "Autumn Splendor" stamp set from Gina K. Designs, and colored it with Copics.  I stamped the sentiment on a piece of acrylic, using black Stazon ink.  Inside the shaker are teeny little leaves, that I punched.  The ribbon is seam binding that I dyed with Distress re inkers.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my card, and will now hop over to KAY'S blog, to see how the photo inspired her creation.  Thanks for visiting!

Fri. Sept. 9, 2011 Get Your Broom On

Here's another sneak peek from one of the soon-to-be released stamp sets from Mark's Finest Papers.  This is such a cute Halloween set called "Get your Broom On".

This is a quick and sweet 3.25" card.  

The MFP Release hop starts next Tuesday, when all the new sets will be available to purchase.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Thurs. Sept. 8, 2011 Two cards for two challenges!

 I have two cards to share with you today.  You may have seen them over at StampTV, a couple of days ago- but maybe not????

This first card is for Lee's Monday challenge-STVMONLM5,  make it pink and make it for A.J.

A.J. is a Gina K Design Team member- who is fighting breast cancer.  In addition, A.J.'s birthday is next week.

Want a chance to play along?  Click HERE for further details.

This card is a one layer card, OLW63.  Jennifer and Susan took the summer off and I am so happy they are back to giving us these wonderful Wednesday challenges.

You can play along HERE.

The teddy bear image is from Asela's "First Christmas" stamp set, available HERE.

Wed. Sept. 7, 2011 SCS CAS134

Good morning!  I played along with the Clean and Simple challenge at SCS this week.  I used this adorable shoe/boot from the "Grandma's Boudoir" stamp set from Mark's Finest Papers. The sentiment is from the same set.  The rest of it is on the inside.  It reads "Buy a pair in every color!"

Thanks for visiting!

Tues. Sept. 6, 2011 MFP Sneak Peek

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed your Labor Day!

The card I have to share today, uses a gorgeous leaf image from the soon-to-released "Autumn Glory" stamp set from Mark's Finest Papers.  This new set goes on sale next Tuesday, September 13th.

This card is also for the SCS challenge F4A80-Crossing Strips.

 

I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then sponged with Distress inks. When the leaves were dry, I used the tip of a bone folder and debossed the lines on the leaves to give them more dimension.

Thank you for visiting.   ...Karen

Mon. Sept. 5, 2011 Labor Day

Good Morning!  I hope you are having a great weekend and that you will make it a safe and happy Labor Day!

Today I wanted to share a gift bag I decorated.  I started with a plain black one, but wanted to dress it up a bit.  One of our neighbor's had a 'zero' birthday party on Saturday, and we thought a bottle of wine would be a great gift for her! We hope she liked the wine and the bag!

Have a wonderful Monday!

Sun. Sept. 4, 2011 Speedy's Challenge #71

Colleen challenged us to make a "Bring on the Bling" card this week.   I used the Poppy image from "Poppies, Poppies, Poppies" stamp set from Mark's Finest Papers.

I added lots of pearl bling for this challenge.  The poppies were colored with Copics, cut out and popped up on a lacey circle die cut. The stamped border within the circle is from MFP's "Flourishes and Frame" set.

I hope you will play along with Speedy's challenge this week.

Sat. Sept. 3, 2011 STVFRICB2 Challenge

Carolina's challenge this time around was three-fold.  To use sewing, embossing (dry or heat), and use only a sentiment for the focal point. My sentiment is from Melanie's "Border Bling" stamp set.  I machine stitched around it.  (Still need more practice doing that-LOL)  I used platinum EP for the sentiment and and a couple of CB folders, with Co'ordination cs on the other card panels.  Thank you for stopping by today!  ...Karen

Fri. Sept. 2, 2011 Peaches and Nectarines

No card to share today, however I do have some repurposed boxes to show you.  We buy peaches and nectarines at Sam's Club a lot of times during the year.  For months, I was throwing out the boxes they came in- but always with a tinge of regret.  They are super sturdy, but hadn't thought of what to do with them until a few weeks ago. DUH!

So I painted two of them, and papered two with some patterned paper.  All were then coated with Mod Podge, to give them a nice finish.  Oh, I forget to mention that these boxes stack beautifully.There are sturdy little tabs that stick up and interlock with the box on top.  I have decided to use them for new paper packs, embellishments and ribbons, etc.  So often I buy new things, then 'hoard' them because they are not in full view, but now I have them close at hand and easy to use them.

Sorry for such a long post, but I hope you enjoy seeing this photo.  Who knows, you may be inspired to try something similar. Thanks for popping in today!

Thurs. Sept.1, 2011 A Christmas Sentiment

Wow- Can you believe it is September 1st already?  As long and hot as our summer has been, it still went by so fast. Thankfully, I enjoy Fall and all the activities that take place during the cooler months.

The card I have to share with you today is for Tina's challenge STVMONTG3 at StampTV. The challenge was to stamp a sentiment, ONLY a sentiment, so that it is the focal point of your card.

I used a sentiment from the "Vintage Borders" stamp set available here. The patterned papers I used are from the Authentique Wonder collection.

Thank you for stopping by and letting me share a Christmas card with you.  Another one down and many more to make!