HAPPY NEW YEAR***

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!! ALL THE BEST FOR A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS 2009***

Beautiful Christmas Cards from my Friends***

I just wanted to share some of the beautiful cards that were sent to me at Christmas...

The first two are from Cheryl Moody and Curt O'Brien...

My sister-in-law Brenda cross-stitched the three kings card, and my good friend Chris painted the Christmas tree.

The last card is from Kathy and the tree is spun with many microbeads and is beautiful.

Thanks to everyone***

House on the Hill***

I had this stamp in my room sitting on my desk forever so I thought I would put this card together.

I stamped the image in black archival ink and watercolored it with Tombow markers.

Added a few layers of paper and there you have it*** Sweet and simple!!

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

Have a great day everyone and thanks so much for stopping by***

SSNOTIME67***NEW TOYS

Ok so I am a bit late... But Christmas comes first!!!

Anyway today's Stamp Simply Challenge is to use any new toys that you received...

See Sharon's site for all the details and all the links to everyone's creations.

Check it out HERE***

I didn't get any new toys on Christmas but I did receive this new set last week from Whipper Snapper designs.. It is the "Crazy for Chickens" designed by Anna Wight.

I thought it would be perfect for my brother-in-law's birthday coming up.

The chicken is stamped and colored with prismacolors pencils and gamsol. Because I was rushed for time I just used bit box stuff !!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas... My family left today and tomorrow we are celebrating with both my sons' girlfriends...

Thanks for stopping in ***

MERRY CHRISTMAS***

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

ENJOY THE DAY WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

HAVE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2009!!!

New Home***

My niece and her boyfriend just bought a new home and I thought that this card would be nice to send. It uses Papertrey Inks "Boards and Beams" set, stamped in black ink, colored with Copics and cut out.

I added acetate to the windows and popped up the image so that you could see that better.

Check out Nichole Heady's blog HERE for information on this technique.

The trees were stamped and colored and cut out as well.

I used some designer paper from my bit box and then layered everything and popped up the trees.

Thanks***

This card is one that I did in one of my classes and I like it so much that I made one here at home and thought I would share.

The mulberry paper has strong strands in it so I was careful when I wet it and pulled away some of the paper to let the strands show.

The corner was stamped with a Penny Black image in black ink and layered to black paper and again to a gold shimmer card.

The ribbon is from Michael's and the thank you is from Stampin Up I think.

Just a little simple card that you could use any time of the year.

All is Calm***

Good morning everyone!! We have snow in London, Ontario and more to come.. It is just beautiful here this morning. Looking forward to Christmas with my family...

SSNOTIME66***BEYOND QUICK

Hello everyone!! Today it's time for Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge.
Check out Sharon's site HERE
for links to all the design teams FABULOUS creations.!!!


As Christmas is literally just around the corner, any cards we make at this point need to be quick - really quick -- BEYOND QUICK!!! And that's what today's challenge is. Create a Christmas card (or card for other event if you are done with Christmas cards) that are SO SIMPLE you could assume that someone CASING your card COULD MAKE 6 of them in 30 minutes or less -- now that HAS to be a simple card!!!! No other rules.

Well*** Let me tell you a little story. I thought today was Wednesday. But it isn't. It's Thursday... I didn't have as much time to get the challenge card done as I thought. Plus we are having company for dinner soooooooo... I ran down to my studio, grabbed my stickers, grabbed some red paper and silver mirri card from my stash and THREW this card together.
Literally it took me seconds. SO I think I met the challenge requirements***
Let's see if you can*** Have fun with this one***

Have a great weekend everyone*** Aren't you excited.??? Santa arrives SOON!!!

Just a Note***

Hi everyone*** Michelle Giraud over at Twisted Chick has a great sketch that I thought I would try.

The cardstock is 4" x 12" and scored at 2", 5" and 8"..

The cardstock I used was a really light purple and slightly darker purple bazzill.

I used some designer paper from my bit box and added a flower image from Magenta on the second page.

The "Just a Note" sentiment is on the front cover so to speak.. I love this sketch.. There are so many possibilities***

Have a great night and thanks so much for stopping in***

Show and Tell***

For the last almost 4 years I have had the priviledge of teaching a most wonderful group of ladies.

Last night was my last class. We made a great little coaster book and a Christmas ornament and had some food and Christmas cheer***

I received all these fabulous cards and treats that I just had to share with all of you.. They are a great group!!

Thank you Krystine, Carolyn, Karen, Sandy, Donna, Gwen, Guerdah and Patti***

Baby on the Way***

Good morning everyone!! My cousin and his wife are expecting their first child and I sent them this card to congratulate them.

The image is from Penny Black, stamped in Versamark and embossed in black e.p.

Quickly colored with Tombow markers and a sentiment from MSE added. The ribbon is from Michael's and although it is hard to see there are two little button attached to the ribbon. A little pacifier and teddy bear.

The designer paper is from my bit box.

Have a great Sunday everyone and thank you so much for stopping in.!!!

THANK YOU ***

Yesterday wrapped up our STAMP SIMPLY 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION!!!
We all had such a good time with our challenges, the making of our samples and looking at all the wonderful projects and cards that everyone came up with.

Thank you to all of you out there who participated ***

I would like to take this opportunity to thank SHARON JOHNSON for all her leadership and guidance in the very big undertaking. It took a lot of work and preparation and organization and she did it BEAUTIFULLY*** Thank you Sharon... You are a wonderful person!!!

And thank you to all the lovely women who have become my friends*** It has been fabulous meeting all of you and talking and laughing with you**

JULIE, JOAN, HEATHER, DEE, JENNIFER, BECKY, TAMMY, JERRI, AJ, BARB,

DARLENE, LESLIE, DEB, SUSAN, LEANNE, CATHY

UNTIL NEXT TIME***

SSNOTIME65***ONLY 2 INCHES***

Today is Stamp Simply's last day of our 12 days of Celebration*** and it's also our regularly scheduled Stamp Simply challenge***

Today's challenge is to create a simple layout for a Christmas card using just a 2" strip of Designer Paper.. You MUST use a 2" strip on your card but ONLY this one strip of DP no more.

You may border it with scallops around it or whatever you want...

Here is my card***

I am not kidding you *** This took me no time at all. Do you see my 2" piece of designer paper??? Hiding behind the snowflake.. I put the designer paper onto a small piece of blue cardstock just so that you could see it against the brown cardstock. I glittered up that snowflake and VOILA!!!!

Enjoy everyone and don't forget to check out below the last day of our Stamp Simply Celebrations..

Some great samples for the Stamp Simply Challenge today can be seen on these blogs: Julie, Jennifer, Tammy, Dee, Becky, AJ, Jerri and Darlene.

Welcome to Day 12 of Stamp Simply Celebrates! If you are new here, check out Party Central for a full rundown of our 12 day schedule. Feel free to jump in anytime at all!!!
Anyone can play ANY of the challenges by ANY of the hostesses during our 12 days of Stamp Simply Celebrates!!! You DO NOT need to have a Blog to play — uploading your project to SCS (Splitcoaststampers.com) is not only permissible, but HIGHLY ENCOURAGED. When doing so, use the KEYWORD SSC08.

Barb Schram - Explore. Dream. Discover. - Today for Barb's Featured Project she has created a useful Holiday Home Decor item for YOU if you please, or it makes a fabulous gift item that will knock the socks off your friends! It comes completely packaged with a card to match! I KNOW you won't want to miss out, so be sure to visit today over at Barb's place and lap up the inspiration!!!

Leslie Miller - Running with Scissors - Leslie has some BLOG CANDY for you today!
Sharon Johnson -No Time To Stamp? - Sharon has BLOG CANDY today too!!!

DAY 11 OF OUR STAMP SIMPLY CELEBRATIONS***

Today is AJ's TAG CHALLENGE!!!

Are you wrapping gifts yet? Probably! I'll bet you need some pretty tags to dress those packages up — well, be sure to check in on AJ's Featured Project today to see all her Gift Tags. And then play her challenge so you, too, can have some nice gift tags on hand!!!


I thought I would do a little picture tutorial on the TAGS I did.


Now I have NEVER done this before so bear with me if it is miscombobulated!!! These are the tags all completed.


This technique is from Tim Holtz..








You will need tags of course. I bought mine at Staples.


A teflon craft sheet, water in a spray bottle, and your choice of distress inks.

Run the ink pad along the craft sheet with the colors beside each other. I don't usually use more than two. Sometimes a third.

Mist the ink with water until beads of water appear.

Dip your tag into the ink and move it around .. Keep dipping until you achieve the required coverage and you are happy with the results. Depending on how much ink and water there is you can get two tags colored.



Your tags will curl. Leave them to dry which only takes a few minutes.

Iron them flat with your craft iron if you have one otherwise put them under some heavy books until they are flat.

Use a stamps of your choice to decorate the tag and use any sentiment you want as well or just leave it blank. I also used some Tea Dye distress ink to ink up the edges. Because these tags look old to me I attached some heavy twine to them.

Also you will find that while you are inking up the tags the back of the tags will get ink on them from your fingers. I just glue on a clean tag to the back and all is well***

Check out all the other designer's samples

HEATHER

LEANNE

SHARON

DEB has BLOG CANDY today!!

JERRI has a Featured Project today of a beautiful 6 x 6 scrapbook... You won't want to miss it**

Check out JENNIFER'S sample for this project!!

Enjoy everyone***

Anyone can play ANY of the challenges by ANY of the hostesses during our 12 days of Stamp Simply Celebrates!!! You DO NOT need to have a Blog to play — uploading your project to SCS (Splitcoaststampers.com) is not only permissible, but HIGHLY ENCOURAGED. When doing so, use the KEYWORD SSC08.

Day 10 of STAMP SIMPLY CELEBRATES***

Today is Joan's challenge of SWEETLY SCENTED GIFTS*** Check out Joan's site HERE for all the details...
Joan is going to decorate candles and soaps with attractive packaging for the holiday gift giving season. See what you can come up with too*** Decorate a lovely bar of handmade soap, a beautiful candle or a combination of both! Let your imagination run wild with this challenge.

Check out all the wonderful examples from the Stamp Simply Designers***

LEANNE

DEE

AJ

HEATHER

BARB

DARLENE

SHARON

We are having friends for dinner this Friday and I wanted to do something for the ladies place setting. These candles are from a cute little store here in the city so I found some great designer paper in my bit box and wrapped it around. The snowflakes are Marvy punches which I added Diamond Glaze to and dunked into chunky glitter. I added a button and twine and there you have it... Simple and effective***

The little boxes are filled with tea and the same snowflake added along with a sentiment from one of Anna Wight's sets.

Enjoy everyone and thanks for stopping by***

TAMMY and LEANNE have Blog Candy today so check it out***

LESLIE has a Featured Project on her blog today showing you how to recycle a container for gift giving*** Check out the samples made my JENNIFER and DEE ***

Day 9 of our CELEBRATIONS***

Today it's time for JENNIFER'S QUICK CARD CHALLENGE BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO HAVE TIME TO BAKE !!!

Check out JENNIFER'S site for all the details... She has Blog Candy for the pickin' too.

And check out the designer's who helped with this challenge***

JULIE
TAMMY
AJ
SHARON
LEANNE


AJ also has a TRIVIA GAME so check it out and see if you win!!!

SHARON also has Blog Candy today too!!!



Here are my quick cards for Jennifer's challenge***

I needed three extra Christmas cards quickly and I am not kidding you when I say that after I decided what I wanted to do these three cards took my 5 minutes to make***

I used cream cardstock for the base and the piece for the snowflake. The snowflake is from Papertrey ink and is stamped in gold Encore ink. It is layered to a piece of brushed gold cardstock and that is it!! The longest thing on this card was the drying time for the gold stickles.

Enjoy everyone and thank you so much for stopping in***

Day 8*** Stamp Simply Celebrates

Today is time for Julie's JUST A LITTLE SOMETHING Challenge***
This time of year, you want to give a little token of thanks to those people who have done something nice for you or impacted your life in some way... Your mail carrier, your hairdresser, the newspaper boy or girl... This challenge is about sharing some fun handmade creations to say "thank you" from the heart... Create something new of link up to an old project that you think might be helpful to someone else. Everyone who links up a project will be in the running for some great Blog candy.

Check out Julie's site HERE for all the details and check out the wonderful creations from the designers for today's challenge.
LESLIE
DEB
JOAN
BARB
JENNIFER
SHARON

Also check out Sharon's site HERE for more Blog Candy***

BLOG CANDY WINNER***

Hi everyone!! First of all I would like to thank everyone who participated in the STAMP SIMPLY COOKIE RECIPE EXCHANGE... It was so much fun to read all the stories and look at all the different recipes.
I am working on the booklet and will post it on my blog when I have it done.

Cathy from SEASIDE ROSE COTTAGE is the winner of the blog candy for this challenge.
She made some easy bar cookies and packaged them in an altered oatmeal container.
Cathy and her husband are "Angel" parents to a soldier in Iraq and have done some amazing work with the "Soldier's Angels" programme. She is sending these bar cookies to her adopted soldier. She says they freeze well and travel well and taste yummy.

Congratulations Cathy***

Day 7*** STAMP SIMPLY CELEBRATIONS CONTINUE***

Ok today is Day 7 and we are still going strong***

Today DEE from Stampincuziluv2 has some wonderful packaging ideas for your gifts of food this holiday season. Check out her site and be inspired to create your own packaging ideas.

Check out all the designers that helped Dee with this challenge.

CAT JENNIFER DARLENE HEATHER


Today SUSAN has a great challenge as well *** For those of you out there that give gift cards at Christmas or any time of the year make a gift card holder following the template HERE or create your own. It is always so much fun to give that gift card that special touch that says it's from YOU!!! Susan also has Blog Candy so be sure to give her challenge a go***

Check out all the other designer's creations for this challenge***

JENNIFER DARLENE AJ

Here are mine***

My pictures aren't that great I am afraid but I think you get the idea. The ones at the bottom follow the template on Splitcoaststampers.. I used My Mind's Eye paper and an oval nestabilitie. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. Sweet and simple.

The other one also uses the new nestabilities, I think they are the labels. I cut out two of the largest size and stamped them with snowflakes using Adirondack Snow Cap ink. I used a little white bag on the inside that I cut down to size and then put them together with double sided tape. I used a chipboard piece that already had a sentiment on it and attached it to the front.

Again - sweet and simple..

SHARON also has Blog Candy today too so don't forget to visit...

Have a great day everyone ***

Day 6 *** PARTY ON ***

Hello everyone!! Today is Day 6 of our StampSimply Celebrations. Today Leanne over at WeeInkings has a fabulous challenge for us.


She has provided us with a template for a Holiday planner. See her blog HERE for all the details and get started on making some of these wonderful little catchalls for the holiday season.


I was so excited to put these together. First of all they are easy to put together and they are so much fun to decorate. You can keep it simple like I did or you can go all out. I used the file folder and some K & Company designer paper to cover the inside and outside.
The star and tree are chipboard pieces that I had from last Christmas which I covered with co-ordinating paper. The letters are cut out from my Slice*** Great little gadget especially for something like this. I attached a red pen, a few clips and some recipe cards and little blank index cards for lists and reminders.

These two are going to my Mom and my Sister-in-law*** I think they will like them.


Check out the other samples that were made for today's challenge

Barb
Sharon
Deb
Darlene

Enjoy everyone and go and make a planner***

Also Heather Telford from bits and pieces is sharing a Featured Project with us today — how to Dress up Your Table! Fun!!! And Heather is also incorporating a Challenge in with her project, making it 1-2-3 easy for us to decorate our own tables!!! Be sure to stop in at Heather’s place today for many great samplings of table decor! And check out Heather's sample makers: Jennifer, Darlene, Joan and Julie for more ideas!

And don't forget to check out AJ's and Sharon's for some fantastic blog candy***

Day 5 of Stamp Simply Celebrations***

Today our November Guest designer CAT is supplying a sketch challenge to anyone who wants to participate. See her site HERE for all the details.
If you want you could combine the Stamp Simply Challenge and Cat's sketch challenge and see what you come up with***

Check out the samples for today's challenge ***
Darlene
AJ
Heather
Leslie
Susan

Don't forget to check out Barb's Blog too HERE for some wonderful blog candy***

Have fun creating everyone***

SSNOTIME64*** Non Traditional Christmas Card

Hi everyone!! We are partying on here at Stamp Simply***
Today is our regularly scheduled Friday challenge... Today we are to make a Christmas card using a non-traditional stamp and we are not to use any Christmas designer paper. You can use a Christmas sentiment...

Well I kind of read the instructions wrong and thought we were supposed to use a non-traditional color for our non-traditional Christmas card...AND yesterday one of the ladies that takes my card classes - Theresa - brought this beautifully made card to show us. She got the idea out of a cardmaking magazine but I thought that it was one of the most prettiest cards I had seen in quite some time. She did hers in blues and purples and it was just gorgeous.

That being said I thought I would try to recreate it from memory as I couldn't find the magazine and here it is. The stamp is sort of non-traditional and the colors are as well.

I stamped the tree - from Penny Black- in gold embossing powder. I made a circle template out of my coluzzle and taped it all down so it wouldn't move. I used Spiced Marmalade, Dried Marigold and Scattered Straw distress inks and sponged in the circle. I added gold dot sparklers to the tree and the sentiment is from Stampendous...

Enjoy everyone and thank you soooo much for stopping by***

Stop by CAT's creations HERE for her sketch challenge for our Stamp Simply Celebrations and join in the fun***

Day 4 of STAMP SIMPLY CELEBRATIONS***

Hello everyone!! What a party we are having!! Such great fun to see all the wonderful creations *

Today Deb from Dream in Color has a fabulous challenge for you*** Create a small grouping of note cards, thankyou cards, or anything that you would like and package them for a gift presentation.

Check out everyone's sample for Deb's challenge today***

Jennifer

AJ

Julie

Tammy

Jerri

Here is mine!

I used a box that Sharon Johnson makes all the time... I created it out of cream colored cardstock and used red mirri card for the inside and outside edges. The wreath is embossed in gold detail embossing powder and red stickles used for the berries. I layered each wreath to red mirri card and then again to cream colored cardstock to make each card 4" x 4" in size.

The ribbon is from my local stamp store Stamp Art and the tag just hand cut with a To/From from Inkadinkado.

The festivities continue with Blog Candy over at Sharon's and Dee's.

Enjoy everyone***

Day 3 of Stamp Simply's Celebration

Hello everyone!! Make sure you stay in touch with Sharon HERE for the wonderful festive fun***
Today Tammy is going to "WOW" you with her quick and easy mass produced cards.. Her cards are simple but really will knock your socks off***

Check out everyone's samples for this challenge***
Julie
Sharon
Darlene
AJ
Leslie
Barb


If you want to participate in Tammy's challenge she is adding a special twist... Mass produce your cards with the colors PINK, GREEN AND BLACK *** and let us see your creations!!

Make sure you also visit Jennifer over at The Buck Stamps Here and Joan at Joan's Garden's. They are offering up some wonderful blog candy***

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY EVERYONE***

DAY 2 OF STAMP SIMPLY CELBRATES***

The celebration continues*** Check out Darlene's site HERE for her 27 cent Challenge***

Dazzle your family and friends with a post-card Christmas card!! We all make beautiful cards that have ribbons and bows and doodads and whatnots on them so let's try making a post card size card that only takes 27 cents to mail (in the US that is) and that is a single layer - no dimension allowed... The legal postcard size is 4" x 6"...

Let's see what you come up with!!

Check out some of the great creations from CAT , DEE , and HEATHER *** LEANNE
and LESLIE . ***

Here's mine***

I stamped this great tree from Penny Black in versamark ink and embossed it with copper embossing powder.

I added a sentiment from Hero Arts.

I added stickles in all colors to the tree and edged the cream cardstock with tea dye distress ink and layered to a 4" x 6" piece of black cardstock.

The other side will have an address sticker on it for the recipient!!

Don't forget to check out Sharon's site for her blog candy offerings and also Becky over HERE for her Feature Project***