Pretty Umbrella for the Rain

The umbrella pattern made me think of those pretty paper 'flowers' I see on the blogs and have been wanting to try. I used a kraft card base, matted with a gold shimmer paper and CTMH Moonstruck blue cardstock, used a little Liquid Glass to hold a gold brad in the center of the 'flower'. It makes an elegant card.

The second card has such gorgeous colors in the paper. I matted the design with CTMH Blush and Baby Pink cardstock, put it on an Outdoor Denim card base. The sparkle bling are green (hard to see in the photo), and pick up the leafy green.

My winter break is speeding away...still have school work I must get done...and another big dinner here to prepare... but am so loving the opportunity to be in the stamp 'cave.'

a "Perfect Day" for a birthday!

Happy '65' to my dear friend! ME and I met in '79...wow. Well, I plan to fill the little box with some instant Starbucks packets and a Starbucks gift card. I got this idea and directions from Pam Jarrett, a CTMH consultant. I did alter the dimensions a little bit because my Score Pal doesn't have 1/16" grooves-- the drawer measures 3 1/8" square and so you could also use it to give a few cute 3x3 cards. The sides are 1 1/4" high. You make the drawer and then use a cardstock 'wrap' to enclose it and add another cardstock piece for the 'card' on top.

products used: CTMH Perfect Day papers and Stickease; Juniper cardstock, Tulip ink, pewter brad embellishment; Signature stamp from Papertrey, grosgrain ribbon from the stash.

MoJo Monday 170 Thinking of You

My paper stash has some of the most beautiful papers from Japan and Korea - gifts from my son who lives and works in Japan, and a student at my school who moved here from Korea. She has gone on to university now, but her gift continues to give me fun and pleasure.

I've used a very softly colored paper for this MoJo sketch and paired it with kraft paper and naturals CTMH (retired). I think it might have used a darker matt and rounded corners...so I'll make another and see which one looks best.

This is a great sketch for making the pretty paper the focus.

OLW33 Challenge

Well, true to form...it's last Wednesday's challenge....tomorrow I can see another one, and perhaps have a speedier turn-around.

I feel like a split personality with my cards. I adore the clean and simple, one layer cards I see on blogs of some very talented people. But when I make one it just doesn't have the same great look. I will keep working on it.

The challenge was to create a one layer card with an image of furniture or a household item. Close To My Hearts Welcome Home set was a perfect go-to. Stamped on CTMH textured White Daisy.

Take Note!

This beautiful design template and the notepads themselves are both from Papertrey. The template was designed by Nicole Heady and can be found at http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2010/01/introducing-daily-designs-sentiments.html

I made a few adjustments to the pen holder piece since it was originally designed for a pencil. The Pentel RSVP pen is slightly larger, but has the delightful feature of being able to open it and insert matching paper!

Products used are mainly from Close To My Heart: papers -Magnifique+Silouette(retired) + Mistletoe; Pacifica, New England Ivy, Cranberry, Black,Chocolate, and Colonial White cardstock; chocolate ribbon, Mistletoe embllishment assortment, and Basic craft buttons. MS* punches and some other papers from my Dog stash collection :)

Jingle Foot Gift

Some pretty fun making presents! Found this cute cupcake idea on the blogs, made a matchbook cover for a foot cream packet, added a bow to a pumice stone....voila! a present. I'll put this in a clear bag and tie it up with a bow.

I am SO EXCITED!!! to be on school break. I got started very late on my gifts, but it feels great to be playing with my things in the 'card cave' this morning.

products used: Jingle paper from CTMH; stamp set CTMH Snowflake Kisses; Tulip and Juniper inks CTMH; CTMH white Bitty brads; others: punches, Krimper, ribbon, pom-pom + socks.

Snowman Won 2nd place from Bugaboo!

I was thrilled to have my card chosen . . . and even happier to win some images from Bugaboo!

You'll see them later this week when I get to play.

Jingle Bells Snowman

Gorgeous cards showcased on Taylored Expressions today, paired with a darling Snowman from Bugaboo Stamps, inspired me today. The idea for using punched circles on the bottom of the card came from Jodie's card. The gold metallic pen provides a bit of sparkle. It is time to start writing some of my cards or they won't make it for Christmas!

http://www.bugaboostamps.com/ has some wonderful digitals just released. I bought several today, and once I've finished Christmas projects I'm going to have fun using them. Hurray for the weekend.

Giftcard holder

You know life is good when you can stamp for a while in the evening during the work week!

I cleaned up my little stamp cave - it's cozy up there, and it felt like Sant'a workshop :)

The design for this sweet gift holder is Tresa Black's genius. My photos don't do it justice. It's such a pretty thing! All it needs is the gift tucked inside....

Hope you are having a bright and merry evening.

products used are all CTMH unles noted otherwise: cocoa and Colonial white cardstock, New England Ivy and Cranberry inks, distressed with Chocolate ink; Twas the Night Before Christmas stamp set (retired); Mistletoe paper collection and flower brad from the coordinating Accents package; EK border punch; vanilla grosgrain ribbon from my stash of ribbons.

Girly!

This card is a CASE (Copy And Steal Everything) from Lucy Abrams. I left off a large butterfly, and changed papers/colors. I now think that perhaps this card needs something...so I may play around a do another one after I cut the remainder of the papers for a card workshop tomorrow.

The rain is falling - a very very pleasant sound in my attic workshop. Gotta' love the northwest :)

products used: CTMH Topstitch papers, Kraft cardstock, CTMH paper blossoms and brad, Papertrey Ink signature greetings stamp, CTMH Chocolate ink, punch SU!, CTMH corner rounder, bling from stash.

Cheerful Thanks

This was inspired by a card from Papercrafts magazine.

The CTMH Mistletoe paper has been delightful to work with! Every paper is useful - the collection has bright, crisp, vintage ...all in one package.

This card uses the 'other' side of the green music paper. I matted it with black and placed it on a bamboo card base. The paper flower is made from some scraps of Silouette paper set that was a favorite also.

Tomorrow back to cut for Christmas cards!

Hope your Monday was a good one. Mine had its ups and downs. Down=computer had corrupted files and would not open this morning. So teaching was a bit different from planned...sometimes I wonder why I make plans when so many things happen each day to disrupt them! lol Up=the dear technology man came from the district and took it away, fixed it and brought it back this afternoon. Rare to have them understand how crucial they are to normal function. Speedy repair is a rare and marvelous thing :)

products used: CTMH: bamboo and black cardstock, black ink. Colonial white button, and waxy flax, Flutter and Card Chatter -Thank You stamp sets, Silouette and Mistletoe papers. Other - satin ribbon from ? ? (I'm a ribbon junky and buy them everywhere!) and black crystal sparkles.

Plenty for Twenty

Close To My Heart is having an incredible December offer! For any order of product from the catalog totalling $20 or more (before tax and shipping), you will receive a D size set of My Acrylix stamps. The company picks a set and sends it along with your order. No tax or shipping charges apply. You don't pick the set - it's a FREE surprise.

You can order on my secure web-site:

http://denahughes.myctmh.com/

Merry and Bright

This is such cheerful, bright paper. It is from the CTMH Mistletoe collection. I made this a while ago, and did not post it. I've used two sizes of Martha Stewart snowflake punches. The snowflake punched out of the front is inside the card along with a greeting. The fancy brad (CTMH) is the only embellishment.

I want so much to be stamping tonight, but have still not finished school work. :( Reading and preparing the next unit for the advanced placement government class has taken longer than I thought it would. I was also distracted for a while by an amazing program about the secret service and the Kennedy assassination. So my love for history won out tonight. Tomorrow belongs to paper and ink!