Saturday, December 14, 2013

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 7: Heat Embossing Vellum

Happy Saturday dear friends!! I'm a little bit behind as I didn't feel well last week, but the Twelve Days of Christmas continues!  Today's post was inspired by PTI's Make it Monday 144: Heat Embossing Vellum. I made two card as I just had to try to emboss the City Scene Stamps like the amazing Melissa Phillips did and of course I had to do a take in my own style.  I stamped the beautiful bells from PTI's Bells and Boughs onto the vellum in Versamark ink and then sprinkled the bells with Pink Embossing Powder and then I embossed the bells once more with Versamark and then sprinkled with gold embossing powder.  How fun to have two toned embossed bells!!


Just in case you haven't noticed, gold is my "go to" color this year! Everything is coming up golden!!  I used some old October Afternoon papers for the card base along with some scraps of Pink Paislee's Snow Village to embellish. 
 In the next card I used a scrap of Webster's Pages papers for the card base.  I heat embossed the village on vellum and I'm really loving the colors.  I wish the Zing and Ranger embossing powder was a little finer grained, but I'm loving the color choices, so I won't complain too much!!  Both cards use non traditional colors for Christmas Cards and I'm loving it!!
I'm going to have to play around with the City Stamps a little more.  There will be so many different possibilities with those stamps!!

 Supplies Used:
Papertrey Ink City Scene Stamps and Dies
Papertrey Ink Bells and Boughs Stamps and Dies
Papertrey Ink Rustic Wreath Die
Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, Gold Shimmer and Vellum Cardstock
Zing Blush Embossing Powder
Ranger Red Pepper Embossing Powder
Fine Gold and White Embossing Powder
Simply Chartreuse Felt
October Afternoon and Pink Paislee Papers and embellies from my stash

Thanks for stopping by and I will see you throughout the next several days for the rest of the Twelve Days of Christmas Series!!
Kristii

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 6: Sugar Cookies

Hi there dear friends!! I hope you are having a joyous Holiday Season!! Friday night my hubby and I got our Grandparent fix babysitting for some friends of ours!  It was a ton of fun and we were blessed beyond measure!  We read books, played Duck, Duck, Goose, and watched a little Frosty the Snowman!  It was an enjoyable evening indeed!  Today we spend the entire day decorating our house and doing laundry.  Whew!  I'm exhausted!  I also baked some sugar cookies today and I used my all time favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe!

We call the recipe Nancy's Sugar Cookies as the recipe was given to us by a dear friend twenty years ago and they have been a family favorite ever since.  They are so good, I thought I would share them with you!!
\
Nancy's Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
1 scant tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cream of tartar
6 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs, milk, and vanilla.  Mix together flour, salt, soda, powder and cream of tarter.  Mix dry ingredients with butter mixture one cup at a time.  Refrigerate one hour.  Roll, cut and bake 6-10 min @ 350 degrees.

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!! You can also cut this recipe in half for a quick batch of sugar cookies if need be!!

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you tomorrow for the next installment of the Twelve Days of Christmas!
Wishing you a wonderful week,
Kristii

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 5: Repurposed blocks and Chalkboard Art

Happy Fifth Day of Christmas everyone!  Today I have a little something different to share with you!  If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you know I have used some of my sons old wood blocks to create some fun seasonal projects and I thought it would be fun to add a Christmas project to the block series!  The blocks looked like this  before I started:

I took those plain old blocks that were sitting in a box collecting dust and turned them into this:
The fun part of this project is the Chalkboard Technique theme.  I actually used a free printable on one of the blocks and I used Papertrey Ink Stamps on the other one.  The honest truth is they are both easy and fun to make, it just depends on how much time you have and what sentiment you want.  I spent an hour tonight loading up fonts for the chalkboard technique so that I can make some wall art in the next few days.  I really want to put my spin on the whole digital side of this technique, it's just going to take me a little bit of time to put it all together.  In the meantime, I Googled free chalkboard printables and you would be amazed at how many free printables there are out there!!  The sky really is the limit with this technique!  The first block I have featured here is the stamped block.  I used PTI Photo Finishers stamps along with a sentiment from Stylish Sentiments: Holidays.  I stamped them with Versamark ink onto some Glitz Design Patterned paper and embossed the images with ultra fine white embossing powder.  Then I took a dried wipe and dabbed it on a white ink pad and added some white highlights like you would find on a chalkboard.  I added a nice big red bow and some pretty little embellishments to finish the little package.
 For the second block, I used a free printed chalkboard from this site.  I resized the printable in Photoshop so that it would fit on my block.  I printed the image and added some white ink just like I did on the stamped image.  I embellished with a big red bow, snowflakes and holly leaves.


I hope this inspires you to look around the house and repurpose some of those things that are collecting dust and make something pretty with them!!  It is so fun and very cost efffective too!!

Supplies Used:
Wood Blocks
PTI Photo Finishers and Stylish Sentiments Holiday
Versamark Ink
Ultra Fine Embossing Powder
Snowflake Dies
PTI Holly Jolly Dies
PTI Peace be Still Dies
Ribbon, Bells, and Boughs from my stash

Thanks for stopping by and joining in the fun of the Twelve Days of Christmas!!
Kristii

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Twelve Days of Christmas Day Four: Shaker Tag Ornament

Happy Day Four of the Twelve Days of Christmas!!  Today I have a little shaker tag that I plan on using as an ornament on my tree.  Ever since Betsy Veldman made this card, I have been dying to try out a shaker tag for myself! Betsy is so amazing and she inspires me beyond measure!  Thank you Betsy for the inspiration!!
To make the shaker tag:

  1. Cut out 5 tags- one out of patterned paper, one out of cream paper, one out of clear cardstock and two out of chipboard.  
  2. Cut the centers out of all the tags except the base tag.  
  3. Glue together the 2 chipboard tags.
  4. Stamp the cream base tag with City Scene stamps and adhere it to the back side of the chipboard layers. 
  5.  Add some glitter dots with the stamp set using sticky embossing powder and sprinkled it with glitter.  
  6. Add some glitter to the inside and then adhere the clear cardstock tag on top of the chipboard tags and seal.
  7. Cover with patterned paper.
 I love to make things!  It just makes my heart happy and so I thought I would leave you with this inspiring word:
Crafting your heart out makes room for your soul to grow.  ~ Sara Lanan
May you grow by leaps and bounds this holiday season!!
Thanks for stopping by and joining in the Twelve Days of Christmas Fun!!
Have a wonderful evening!!
Kristii

Supplies Used:
Tag Sale #8
City Scene Stamps and Dies
Confetti Garland Stamps and Dies
October Afternoon papers from my stash
Peaceful Pinecone Stamps
Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers Stamps
Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet, and Simply Chartreuse Ink


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 3 - Modern Whimsy Shaped Card

Happy Day three of the Twelve Days of Christmas dear friends!! We are in the deep freeze here in Montana and I'm happy to say that we are no longer dreaming of a white Christmas!!  Whooo hooo!  Everything is beautiful and sparkly! It may be beautiful, but it comes with a price.  The low tonight has been forecast to be 8 below zero, brrrr!

I was inspired by the snow and I have to say that I am still enamored with Danielle Flanders' MIM Challenge over at PTI.  There is nothing more whimsical than snow and the idea was born!!
If you look closely at the white base of the shaped card you will see a little sparkly texture.  I temporarily adhered two snowflakes to the base and rubbed some gesso into the holes.  Once I filled all the holes with gesso, I took the snowflakes off and sprinkled them with glitter.  It made for a very nice textured background!
I know that I am going to have to play around with this technique some more! There are a lot of possibilities!!
I die cut some Snowflakes, Leaves, Rustic Wreath and One Liners and embellished the sweet little shaped card.  I added a little lace, ribbon and a little pearl to embellish.
Supplies Used:
Papertrey Ink One Liners, Fancy Flakes, Happiness in Bloom Leaves, and Peace Be Still Dies
Sweet Blush, Vellum and Stamper's Select Papers
PTI White Ribbon
PTI Simply Chartreuse and Cream Felt
October Afternoon Scrap Papers
Gesso and Pearl from my stash

I have also entered this card into Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes!!
Thanks for stopping in for the Twelve Days of Christmas Celebration!
Hope you have a wonderful day!!
Kristii

Monday, December 2, 2013

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 2 Modern Whimsey Banner

Happy Day two of the Twelve Days of Christmas my friends!!  One of my goals this Christmas is to make a Christmas Banner for both of my girls and when I saw the MIM Challenge at Papertrey Ink, I was totally inspired!! I love Danielle Flander's style so much and you can just imagine how excited I was to case her style!!!  Whoo hooo!! I had a ball!!
Here's a close-up of the whimsical style:

I used several different Papertrey Ink sets for this fun little Banner.  I started with the Banner Dies and cut two sizes of banners - one in red and one in Stamper's Select White cardstock.
Then I die cut  a Rustic Wreath out of Stamper's Select White and stamped it in Simply Chartreuse Ink and colored it in with Copic Markers.  Notice I wasn't too worried about staying in the lines to keep in with the Modern Whimsey feel.  I die cut several Confetti Borders out and some I stamped and the heart border I die cut in PTI red patterned paper.  I die cut a pink snowflake and a vellum snowflake using the Fancy Flakes dies.  Way fun!!  Then I cut out the Christmas One Liners which I totally love!! So fun and fancy!!
 I was wishing I hadn't sold my Tremendous Treats set to embellish this banner, but I made do with what I had.  So I grabbed the cute PTI Penguin, The 2010 Holiday Tags Reindeer, and the cute little snowman from Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers.    Such an eclectic mix of goodies, but this year is all about using my scraps and I am enjoying the challenge!!

Holiday Banner
STAMPS: Rustic Wreath, Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers, Confetti Garland Borders, 201o Holiday Tags; Winter Penguin
INK: True Black, Pure Poppy, Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush, Simply Chartreuse
PAPER: Pure Poppy Pattern Pack, Sweet Blush Cardstock, Stamper's Select, vellum
DIES: Fancy Flakes, Basic Banner, Rustic Wreath, Confetti Garland, One Liners; Winter Penguin

OTHER: Baker's twine

This Project also qualifies for the Wednesday Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes!!
Thank you for Joining me on Day two of the Twelve Days of Christmas!
See you tomorrow for Day three!!
Kristii

Sunday, December 1, 2013

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day One

Happy December dear friends!! Whooo hooo!  It's my favorite time of the year!! I am so excited to bring you my take on the Twelve Days of Christmas once again!!!  I will spend the next 12 days sharing different projects and goodies with you celebrating all things Christmas!!

My first project for this series is based on the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday Challenge #142: Decorated Kraft Bags.  I was so excited to use up some scraps for this challenge and break out one of my favorite PTI Sets: Shape Up Snowman.  Love, love, love this set!!
 I used PTI's Autumn Pattern Pieces to create the bottom border.  Another set I absolutely love!! I stamped the red in Pure Poppy Ink and the white was stamped with Versamark and then embossed with fine embossing powder.  I added a Confetti Garland border between my fussy cut images and the stamped border.  There are so many PTI sets that I love!!  This project uses so many of my favorites!! I love it!
The trees, gingerbread house, and snow man are all cut from various Webster's Pages papers that I have had around for quite a long time!! Whooo  hoo!!  So glad I was able to use them finally!
Isn't that little snowman the cutest!!  Sigh....I love Christmas!!!
Thanks for joining me for the first day of the 12 Days of Christmas!!  I will see you tomorrow for another installment in the series!!!!
Kristii

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving my sweet friends!! I hope you have been blessed beyond measure during this fabulous day!!  Our kids came over for the traditional turkey dinner and a wicked game of 5 crowns and we had a blast.  One of our favorite things to do over dinner is share what we are thankful for and so I made these fun little cards to dress up our table.

I cut out a craft Card Base-ics card and layered it with a cream colored "thankful for" card and added some stamped leaves from my favorite fall stamp set from PTI: Leaf Prints.  Love, love, love those leaves!!  I added a bow and had some quick and easy little place cards for our table.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Thanksgiving!!
Kristii


Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge

Happy Tuesday evening sweet friends!! I am still in Christmas Card mode and decided to take part in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and this week's challenge is based on Heather's sketch!  I thought it would be fun to pull out my PTI Nativity Silhouette stamps for this challenge and I do have to say I was feeling golden!!

I embossed the silhouettes with gold embossing powder and used some of my scraps from the Pink Paislee Snow Village patterned papers.
My favorite part of the card is the embossing on the tag that looks like shining rays radiating from the Christ Child.  Sigh....He is Wonderful, Counselor, Everlasting Father, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Thanks be to God for this Glorious Gift!!

Supplies Used:
Papertrey Ink Nativity Silhouettes
Papertrey Ink Star Border Die
Pink Paislee Snow Village Papers

Thank you so much for stopping by!!!  You are the best!!
Kristii

Holiday Hello

Good Morning Sweet friends!! I have another fun little card featuring a new set from Pink Persimmon called Holiday Hello. This set is so happy and I just can't help smiling every time I pull it out!  I totally love the sweet little girl in this set and the vintage text is absolutely amazing!!!  
 I stamped the sweet little girl four times and fussy cut the coat, dress, boots and felt trim out.  Way fun!!  I also cut out the birds and covered them in glitter and who doesn't love a little glitter!  I added some embellishments from Pink Paislee's Snow Village and a pretty little seam binding bow.
Supplies Used:
Pink Persimmon Holiday Hello Stamps
Pink Paislee Snow Village Patterned Papers and Ephemera
Papertrey Ink Card Base-ics Die
Thanks for stopping in!!
I appreciate you all!!
Kristii

Monday, November 25, 2013

Papertrey Ink November Blog Hop

Hi there dear friends!! Happy Monday!! I can't believe that I totally forgot about the blog hop today!! I came home from work, took dinner to some friends and got busy on my little creation! Here's the challenge:
The-Challenge

November-Blog-Hop-Challenge

photo credits:  :::1:::  :::2:::  :::3:::  :::4:::  :::5:::

If you have done any holiday shopping yet, you might have noticed that miniature holiday houses are making appearances everywhere!  Whether it be as an ornament, a gift tag or mantel decor, they are popping up everywhere.  We have provided you with a very simple printable template below so you can create your own holiday house.  Feel free to alter it in any way: add windows or doors, additions, glitter, trees, garland, mica flakes, artificial snow, woodland animals or whatever else you can dresm up!  You can even display your house in a unique way such as on a cake stand, nestled in a wreath or in a glass dome!  We are looking forward to all of your amazing house creations!
Here's my take on the challenge:
and here's a look at the other side.  It was fun to make my own little paper house and I may just make a whole city after this little challenge!!  It was a ton of fun to create in a hurry!  I need to take some time and really have a ball with this challenge!!
Supplies used:
Papertrey Ink Home Made Stamps
Papertrey Ink Holly Jolly Die
Papertrey Ink Felt
Echo Park Season's Greetings Papers

Thanks for stopping by!!
Kristii

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Make It Monday #141

Happy Sunday dear friends!!!  It's been a wonderful day as we celebrated my hubby's birthday and I tell you, any reason to have our family together makes me happy indeed!! After our birthday celebration, we turned on the football game and I pulled out my crafty goodies for Make It Monday Challenge!  This week's challenge is to add glitter with heat and stick embossing powder.  I totally love this challenge as I have never used this type of embossing powder and I love it!!  I don't know about you, but I love everything glitter!!  I had to run to Michael's and pick some up, but I know that I'll be using it lots during this Christmas Season!! 


I kind of went overboard on the glitter, but I just couldn't help myself!!  This card and all the glitter just make me happy!!  Papertrey Ink's In the Meadow Stamps and glitter are a match made in heaven!!  The tag was made using PTI's Photo Finisher's stamps and a little silver embossing powder.

Supplies Used:
Papertrey Ink In the Meadow Stamps and Dies
Papertrey Ink Photo Finishers Stamps
Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White and True Black Paper
Papertrey Ink Spring Rain Ink
Silver Embossing Powder
Heat and Stick Embossing Powder
Versamark Ink
Papertrey Ink White Grosgrain Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by!!
Kristii

Thursday, November 21, 2013

It's a Mystery

Happy Wednesday dear friends!!  I can't even believe that we are so close to Thanksgiving, although my heart been busy with all things Christmas!!  It's no mystery that Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I jump at every chance I get to create something to celebrate my favorite holiday. Speaking of mysteries, this week Simon Says Stamps is holding a mystery challenge and I thought it would be fun to take part! 

When I thought about the whole mystery theme, I considered all the components that make a mystery complete and I compared it to all the components that make a card complete and it reminded me of a collage. The definition of Collage: is a technique where the artwork is made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole.  A collage may sometimes includes newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or handmade papers, portions of other artwork or texts,photographs and other found objects, glued to a piece of paper or canvas.  After reading the definition of a collage I was totally inspired- I found my mystery inspiration and had a blast going through my scraps to create this card!


To create the background, I dabbed a craft sheet with some Tim Holtz Evergreen Bough ink and spritzed it with water.  I dabbed an ink block in the water/ink mixture and stamped the block onto the card base.  I let the water/ink mixture run until I was happy with the results and dried the card base with my heat gun.  I used Pink Persimmon Winter Girl Antiquated stamps by Lisa Pace to create the focal point.  I stamped the bells and text in Versamark Ink and embossed with gold embossing powder. Love, love, love those stamps!!  I stamped the greenery on patterned paper with Simply Chartreuse ink and fussy cut them.  I fussy cut the flowers from patterned paper and added some bits and pieces from my scrap box.  I tied the bells together with a twine bow and the collage was complete.
Supplies Used:
Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream Paper
Pink Paislee Snow Village Scraps
Pink Persimmon Winter Girl Antiquated Stamps by Lisa Pace
Fine Gold Embossing Powder

Thanks for stopping by!!!
Kristii

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Make It Monday #140 Ink Pad Designs

Happy Sunday dear friends!!! It's been a nice relaxing weekend and I was able to take some time to create a little Papertrey Ink project based on this week's Make it Monday Challenge to put ink pads directly to paper.  

For this challenge, I  ran my Aqua Mist ink pad directly onto the vellum and created a nice subtle Aqua Mist shade of vellum.  Then I ran the tinted vellum through my die cut machine and cut out a nice little banner and a couple of snowflakes.

I added some Peaceful Pinecones and the sweet little sled from Two Feet Deep.  I did add some shading to the pinecones using E57 Light Walnut Copic Marker.  I totally love the look!!


Supplies Used:
Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, Aqua Mist, and Vellum Cardstock
Papertrey Ink Red Patterned Paper
Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist, Kraft, Dark Chocolate Ink
Papertrey Ink Two Feet Deep and Peaceful Pinecone stamps and dies
Papertrey Ink Fancy Flakes and Confetti Garland Dies

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you a wonderful week!!
Kristii

Saturday, November 9, 2013

MIM #139 Stamped Square Frames

Hi there dear friends!!  I hope your weekend has been fabulous!! I've been busy making wedding invitations and baby shower goodies!!  There's nothing better than a creative kind of weekend, so I'm in heaven!!  This week's MIM challenge at Papertrey Ink was especially perfect for the Baby Shower Card I wanted to create!  I just love the sweet little frame that Dawn created and here's my take on the challenge:



I used Blush Zing Embossing Powder to create the frame, baby bunting, and baby sentiment and  I used Cricket Zing Embossing Powder to create the greenery Love, love, love the Zing Embossing Powder!! Such a pretty pink and green!!!!  The frame was created with Boutique Borders Birthday and the greenery and flowers were stamped with PTI's Birds and Blooms stamp set.  The sweet little baby bunting was stamped using PTI's Bundle of Love stap set. I just love making baby themed cards! Baby's are beautiful and bring so much joy and happiness into the world!!  



Thank you so much for stopping by!!!  I am looking forward to seeing what everyone has created this week!!
Kristii

Monday, November 4, 2013

More Pink Persimmon Goodness!!

Good Morning my friends!! I have some more Pink Persimmon goodness to share with you today!!  I finally tried my hand at the popular Chalkboard technique and I just have to say I love it!!!  The new Pink Persimmon Christmas House stamps are perfect for this technique!!
This stamp set is absolutely fabulous and can be used in a variety of ways!!  I can't wait to incorporate the carriage in a project!! I love it!!
I used some October Afternoon Patterned papers from my stash to highlight this card and the black patterned papers are from Glitz Design. 

I started with some black patterned paper and I stamped the main image with Versamark and then sprinkled fine white embossing powder over the image and then heated it with a heat gun.  Then I shadow stamped the image using white ink just shifting the image slightly to create the shadow effect.  Finally, I used a paper towel and blended some white ink onto the background to add to the chalkboard effect.  It's a fun technique that's rather easy and very effective.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my love of stamping!!!!
I hope you have a wonderful day!!
Kristii

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Pink Persimmon Goodness!!!

Happy Sunday dear friends! In case you haven't heard, Pink Persimmon has some new Christmas stamps available!!!  You all know how much I love Pink Persimmon Stamps and this new release is no exception!!  Lisa Pace has created a new set in her Antiquated Collection called Winter Girl and it's beautiful indeed!!
 Don't you just love this sweet little girl and the vintage text is absolutely amazing!!
WinterGirl_WebCatalog
I colored the sweet little girl with Copic Markers and added some Snow Tex to the trim on her hat. What a fun little detail!  I have lots of ideas for this sweet little girl including a project or two for my 12 Days of Christmas Series!!  I can't wait to let the creative juices flow!

I love the little bell and greenery accents too!! I added some gold embossing powder and ink to the berries and the bell! Love, love, love gold this season!!  It totally makes me happy!!


Thanks for stopping by!! I'll have another fun card for you tomorrow featuring more brand new Pink Persimmon Stamps!!
Have a wonderful evening,
Kristii

Supplies Used:
A Merry Christmas Stamps
Pink Paislee Snow Village 6x6 pad
SnowTex 
CopicMarkers: R27, YR12, YR31, E50, E33, BG11, BG13, BG15, BG0000, 0 Colorless Blender