It's the Start of my Christmas Cards with Paper Nest Dolls-Have you started YOUR list??

 I'm so excited that Christmas soon will be here...and a little terrified that it's closer than I think!  I love all the lights, trees, ornaments, family traditions...It's all part of the Magic.
I love this image from Paper Nest Dolls called Tree Dress Avery and she's helping me get my cards made for the Holidays.  I'm sorry that I couldn't get the lavenders and pinks to show up on this card as well as I wanted to but, her tree dress is so pretty with the pink and lavender ornaments and shimmer with a Wink of Stella clear.  I've been on a Frantage kick lately-hope it doesn't get snow heading our way!  There is a lavender Christmas Sentiment paper in the top half of the card and the bottom is a matching paper in beautiful ornaments of pinks, whites and soft purples.
On the inside is another ornament paper in the series and a stamped sentiment from my stash.  I hope this card will inspire you to start on YOUR cards also and take a trip to the Paper Nest Dolls shop to see all the delightful Holiday / Seasonal images that are available-  Best Wishes!

Join us and Bugaboo Stamps at Come And Get It Challenge! The Theme is WINTER SPORTS!

It's time for our WINTER SPORTS theme over at the Come and Get It Challenge.  Think out of the Box:  Ice Skating, Snowman Building/Fights, Ice Carving, Sledding, Ice Hockey---your mind can think of so many things!  We'd love to see your creation AND it's being Sponsored by the well-known BUGABOO.  If you win, you can receive several of Burgaboo's digital stamps, your choice!
The image I picked today is called Winter Kidz with Puppy (they have an adorable group called KIDZ that I find myself drawn to often).  They are nice clean images with lots of room for shading and detail.  After coloring him up with Copics, I added some Chunky white embossing with Frantage, on the ground and for the snow flurry.  I also added a die cut of white pine boughs and mounted some white features behind the boughs-I think it gives the feel of snow drifting.  A wooden star finishes off the effect for the Season.  On the inside liner, I used some dp that picks up the purples, blues and grays and stamped it with a Christmas stamp from my stash.  Again, Come and join us this month and next at our Challenge!  We'd love to be inspired by YOU!

Crafting When We Can is sponsored by Sasayaki Glitter this week--Spots &/or Stripes!

This week at Crafting When We Can, we have a great sponsor that I'm sure is no stranger to all of you-Sasayaki Glitter!  And the Theme for this challenge is Spots and/or Stripes.  That makes for a fun project!
The image I chose to use is Anita's Star and could be used for a number of cards-she's very versatile!  For mine, I made a Thinking of You card for a friend.  She is all colored with Copics and I'm really loving this angular look-an unusual touch for me.  The sentiment stamp is from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps.  On the inside, I finished it off with the yellow chevron paper and another sentiment in the same Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps group.  I can't wait to send this on to her and speaking of that, We can't wait to see YOUR creation at the Challenge..  Come on over and join in the fun!
I'm entering this in the Kraftin' Kimmie Blog Challenge-Square cards

Art by Miran Sponsors Southern Girls Challenge=Shine Like the STAR you are!

I'm SO pleased to finally get to use an image from
Art by Miran-one of my All Time Wishes!!  This one is called Florina and I love images that go off the page like this one. **sigh** Was such fun to color!  It was so cool that they were sponsoring Southern Girls Challenge these 2 weeks with a Theme of STAR(s).  I KNOW you're looking for it!!  Well, just over the round tag, you will see one of my charms in the shape of a STAR-in fact, it says Movie Star on it!  I used a 5.75 x 5.75" square card blank from The Paper Cut.  This is a great site to get pre-scored card blanks in all kinds of assorted cuts -even swing card blanks!  There blanks have a great weight to them and are so smooth to the touch.  Of course, envelopes to match!  Then a purple mat with a striped design paper on top.  The alternate patterned paper is roughed around the edges with a Tim Holtz distress tool and then I penned the stitch lines on it.  The ribbon is threaded through a top slot in the crease and wrapped to the inside.  The sentiment is just one I had from my stash.  I'm so glad you stopped by and took a look!  Come and join us in our challenge! 

Turkey Day cards are warming up our hearts at Doodle Pantry!

I love this time of year when the leaves have turned and there's a crisp breeze in the air.  It won't be long before Thanksgiving Day is upon us and we're stuffing all those yummy goodies into our tummys.
It's a perfect time to use some of Doodle Pantry's wonderful images on my Fall cards.  The beauty of the digital images is that you can combine several different elements of several different sets to make a gorgeous creation.  The leaves come from the set called "Eat More Ham" and the Craft Star is from the set "Autumn Star" (Laurie from DP has several of these 'Star' sets).  Of course the digital paper, mat, sentiments, and the "ribbons" are all from Doodle Pantry!  A One-Stop Shop for sure!  I used some fall cardstock stickers with leaves on the inside accent over some Fall leaf papers from Paper Studio.  Be sure to stop by and let your fingers do your shopping!

It's Happy Birthday for the STAR in your Family at Squigglefly!

 This week's challenge at Squiggle Fly is to make a card with a STAR on it, or make  your card STAR shaped. (We'd love for you to use a Squigglefly image, to be prize eligible it's required, but everyone is welcome to play along.)  I've used an image from Sandra Caldwell called Ladybug Gal--she has so many others in the SF shop!  I paired her with this great Happy Birthday paper I had that's LOADED with stars.  I used diamond stickles on all of those as well as her fairy wings.  The abbreviated version of Happy Birthday to You fit in just perfect over the 2 die cut stars that I used in the corner!  A truly FUN card to use for that Special Day.  We hope to see you with an entry on this weekly Challenge!

Use Summer Coloring-Orange or Blue on Squigglefly this week!

This week the Squigglefly challenge is to create card using Orange or Blue (or both) as your primary color.   It can blue for the summer skies or the water to play in or orange for the sunshine.  Show at least one of these colors on your card or even both.  Your card does not have to be summer in theme, but either blue or orange should be the primary color of your card  We'd love for you to use a Squigglefly image, to be prize eligible it's required, but everyone is welcome to play along.
I'm using one of Sandra Caldwell's images from her Americana series called Liberty Gal and it's sure appropriate for this time of year!  The card blank I'm using is the Double Hinge Fold from The Paper Cut in Wild Cherry.  It's a great way to start the card off and so easy to use as your
base!
Come on over and play-you'll have lots of fun!

It's anything goes at Seems a Little Sketchy this week

At Seems a Little Sketchy this week, our challenge is USE ANY IMAGE-any theme as long as you follow our sketch!  How easy is that!!!  I used the new image from Squigglefly Artist, Sandra Caldwell .  What with the Fourth of July coming soon, I used Liberty Gal centered with 2 squares of Holographic paper by Hot off the Press.  I love the way the stars are picking up the colors from the light!  The 2 sided paper has a great deep red checked on the back which I used for the corner features.  There are 3 silver adhesive stars instead of the banner.  I think this will make a great card for the Holiday wishes sent to a friend.  Be sure and join in our challenge this week-we are sponsored by The Robin's Nest and they are giving the winner a $10 Gift Voucher!  How Wonderful!

More Christmas Cards to share with you~

 I was determined on my Christmas card Marathon journey to take pictures to share with you.  The cards that I was working on seemed to have a mind of their own and all the papers and embellishments and sentiments seemed to call out to be a part of the card...either that, or I'm going looney doing all of these and am hearing voices!

This precious lovely I matted with an evergreen paper and put that on some luscious Deep Brown cardstock from The Paper Cut called Echo-has a gold shimmer to it also. Then used an ornament embellishment sticker from HL for the accent-very clean and simple. Inside I used an Old World paper in antiquey green. A triple matted sentiment was used inside from my dear friend Linda.

********************************************************************************** 
I went in a different direction with my favorite winter subject-a Snowman!  This one felt very "country-like" so I kept him rustic.   Using red/green plaid as a mat and the green starry paper I thought fit the bill.  There was a perfect cardstock sticker for my sentiment and I'm glad I snagged on to a set of rusty snowflakes a while back!  Didn't know where I would use them but worth waiting for on this card. I love the addition of my fav embellie- the BUTTON. On the inside I just kept it simple with a snowflake paper and cute Christmas lights and stamped sentiment.
I hope you like these and will get inspired to try some of my ideas.
 

Christmas is coming to Squigglefly-show us your Christmas spirit!

 The theme this week at Squigglefly is use Christmas paper, ribbon or image on your creation that show the Spirit of Christmas.  Well, for around here, lately, it would be snow and frigid weather.  Go figure, right?  Thank goodness that Cheryl Alger, one of SF's top designer's, loves Snowmen and I am using her image called "Admiring the Star", sooo cute!  I'm loving these reversible papers by BoBunny in their Woodland Winter series.  I added a few extras: Ice Stickles on the Star, a snowflake die cut from one of my Memory Box dies, and, my fav, blue buttons cause they're fun.
 
I'd like to add that if you use a Squigglefly image on our challenges, you will be eligible for a prize for the week!  Also, the first Saturday of each month, new artists and images are previewed for your pleasure.  It's always an exciting time for all of us and we hope you will stop by also and Catch the Magical Spirit of Christmas.