For my Friend

So...I tried out for the CAS team on Splitcoast last week and...I made it to the semi-finals! That fact was so exciting for me! I love the CAS team and love their challenges...and it is a challenge...keeping it simple is not easy for this not-so-simple girl! However, it is a style that I definitely enjoy and want to keep working at perfecting! Unfortunately I didn't make it to the final round of try outs but there's always next time! I'm excited to see who they pick for the team!

Our second challenge for the semi-finalists was to create a card featuring presents. I created two cards for the challenge and this is one of them! (I ended up posting the other as it was a bit more simple and sometimes you can't help but wonder if you should have gone with the other option!!) No worries, now I get to share this card featuring a sweet present image from Sweet 'n Sassy today!

This image is from the Christmas Itty Bitties stamp set and is the greatest set that includes six itty bitty stamps! The design is fairly simple, an embossed panel and a few scallops on each side of the embossed area. My three little presents are colored in pink and glitter stripes (I've got a thing for pink lately!) and backed by a pink square.

While I didn't make the team this time, I hope you enjoyed today's card and you take a moment to check out the CAS message board on Splitcoast!

Enjoy!

PS - PSA Essentials blop hop on December 1 - be sure to check back for all the details!

Give Thanks

Happy a few days after Thanksgiving! Did everyone have an enjoyable Thanksgiving? We had a blast and I'm excited to share a Thanksgiving page, featuring PSA Essentials stamps, from last year's feast.

For the past 10 years or so we've gotten together with a few families from our church. When my husband and I were first married we spent Thanksgiving with my side of the family (Christmas is with his side - yeah!!) and then a few years ago it became difficult to gather with my family in NY so we opted to say gathering with our friends, who are just about as close as family. And that is a blessing - a wonderful family and friends! Bonus!

All of our families together total about 14 people and we all bring a few dishes to share so none of us are burdened with doing all of the cooking. The fun part is that we each bring our best and favorite dishes to share. Each year I can hardly wait for sweet potato casserole, ham, and cranberry salad and one of the features of my page was to feature photos of my favorite foods!!

Since this page was fairly complex, I opted to focus on the photos and just a few embellishments. The paper banner was created by stamping and embossing a decorative image, from PSA, on kraft cardstock. I then used a blending tool and Distress Ink to color the banner; the embossing resists the ink. I then folded and stapled the paper to create dimension. The 'thanks' (isn't that font amazing?!) title was stamped also using PSA stamps. Since these are clear stamps, it's a breeze to line up the letters! The flower was created using Gluebers and ribbon (from Papertreyink) and the inside of the flower is another PSA image stamped in yellow ink. I added a few glittery leaves and the 'give' sentiment (using stickers) finished off the page!

Enjoy and be sure to check out all of PSA Essentials stamps...they rock!!

Snowflakes

I have a post on the Sweet 'n Sassy blog today, featuring the above card. Come on over and check it out!

Enjoy and wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Lunch Bag Gift Card Holder

Happy Monday my blogging peeps! How is everyone today? Ready for Thanksgiving? I can't wait! But before we talk turkey, let's talk gift card holders! This one is made from a paper lunch bag...isn't that the greatest idea! It's not my original idea but was inspired by a project found in Card Maker magazine. I'll be creating this project with my crafting buddies at an upcoming Wholly Scrap! class that is focused on using Spellbinders dies.

One of the goals of our Spellbinders class is to create a fairly quick and easy project, something that can be completed in about an hour and this project fits the bill! To create the paper sack card holder, I simply folded a brown paper bag in half and secured the sides with glue (hey, class participants, no creating your project early! LOL!) I then covered the front of the paper sack with papers from Little Yellow Bicycle (Winter & Wonder line). The dies used are from the Labels Nine set. I also used a Just Rite stamp set, You Inspire Me, to decorate the outside frame around the sentiment, from the Primitive Christmas set from Sweet 'n Sassy.

The inside card, which is easily pulled out by the little button tab (buttons and ribbon from Papertreyink), was created by embossing some plain cardstock and again layering the LYB paper. The largest Labels Nine die is the gift card holder and I simply cut a slit in the label for the gift card. A piece of foam tape keeps the gift card from sliding out of the slit. I finished up my project with a few Dew Drops and scallops.

Enjoy! And if you want to give this project a try, do so and leave me a comment with a link back to your blog or online gallery to show me your project. I'll give you until next Monday (great day-after-Thanksgiving project) to comment and then I'll pick a random winner from the list of commenters to receive a stamping grab bag of goodies from me!

It's Another Happy Birthday

I'm on a happy birthday kick this month!! Did you know that this month is Sweet 'n Sassy's birthday celebration month! During the entire month of November (our 4th year in business - yeah!!), Sweet 'n Sassy is offering weekly sales! There are some amazing offers so please visit the SNSS web site asap!

Today's card, which is one I created for this week's CAS challenge over at Splitcoast, features my friend Ted (I don't know, doesn't he look like Ted? Ted the Turtle?) from the Gifts from Turtle stamp set and designer paper from Jillibean Soup. Nothing complicated about this card (as is the joy of CAS cards!), just an embossing folder, a notebook punch, and a few snips of ribbon. Love this sweet and simple cards!! (And I have a thing for Ted too...he's awfully cute..)

Enjoy!

Journey

Just a quick card to showcase some new stamps that I recently acquired. Two stamps were used on this card, both from Memory Box. This is the first time I've purchased Memory Box stamps and I almost didn't as they are wood mounted stamps and honestly, I've kind of left my wood mounted stamps behind in favor of acrylic or unmounted stamps but these two images were so pretty that I simply had to grab them while I was visiting a local stamp store.

To create my card I started by embossing the card background with an embossing folder and then I simply added a piece of text designer paper and this fun die cut, from MFT, in black. For the main image panel, I started by misting the cardstock with Perfect Pearls, you can just see the shimmer in the upper right side. Then I stamped the print image, Journey Collage, in black and stamps the floral image, Birch Branch Print, on top of the text. Love it!! Last piece was this fun metal brad that I found in my stash, perfect color match! Don't you love when that happens?

Enjoy today's card and check out Memory Box stamps...they're fabulous!!

Halloween Dress Up

Hey strangers! Life continues to be busy and my crafting time has once again fallen by the wayside. However, I'm planning on spending an entire day stamping with a friend this coming Saturday. I am so looking forward to spending the day crafting!!

So today's project is a bit late with regards to holidays, seeing as we're on the verge of Thanksgiving (can you believe it??!!) and Halloween is long past. But I had to share this page, it's one of my favorites!

The stamps used on this page is from PSA Essentials and features this sweet Hello Kitty image. Isn't she darling hiding out under the tree? Surrounding the number 31 is also a circle of tiny bats, also from PSA.

The papers and stickers are from Best Creation and the black sparkley circles are new from Kasier Craft, called Sparklets...they're way cool. :-) The letters that spell out Halloween are grungeboard letters. And that cute little pirate? She's my friends daughter...she's pretty darn cute too!

Enjoy! Check out all of the Hello Kitty stamps from PSA, you'll love them!