SSW2-Sami Stamps

Happy New Year's Eve!

In a few hours, my honey and I will be sitting in front of our fire, toasting in the New Year.  We generally don't go out tonight.  He's an introvert and I'd rather hang with just him than be at a crowded party anyway.  I hope that YOU have fun celebrating in your favorite way.

This week over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 we have Sami Stamps as our sponsor.  I'm using her hot cocoa wind image.  I LOVE this image.  My son was "helping" me finish this today and he made a comment about the image as I was coloring it.  "I like it," he said. "But she isn't wearing very practical shoes to go outside in the snow."  He has a point but we know that it's all about fashion rather than being practical!

There is a $12 gift certificate for our winner this week!  I think you will want to play.

Merry Christmas!!

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a VERY Merry Christmas!  Thank you so much taking the time to stop by each day.  I cherish each of you!

My card today isn't very Christmas-y is it?  My neighbor needed a fun Holiday card to give his Orthopedic Surgeon.  His instructions to me were, "make it have a backbone and kinda fun."  I whipped out my Silhouette and found a skeleton.  Doodle Pantry has this great set called "Santa Accessories" which can make pretty much ANY stamp Christmas-y and off I went.

I think it's kinda fun!

SSW2-39: Dearie Dolls

Happy Wednesday Peeps.

It's also the last day before Christmas ... are you ready?  My youngest never thought this day would come!  He has been counting the days ALL month!  I was just talking to the hubby about when the excitement about Christmas is replaced with stress and panic.  I need to get a bit more of that "wonder" back into my life.

Over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2, we have another challenge for you to join in.  Our sponsor this week is Mary Ellen from Dearie Dolls.  The great thing about Dearie Dolls is that her images are free.  All you need to do, is comment.  Pretty cool deal.  I'm using her "Dearie Little Snowman".    Mary Ellen loves to draw snowmen so there are LOTS to choose from

Why don't you join in the fun?

DP: Giant Nutcrackers

I still needed a card for our closest neighbor.  When I saw this image from the Doodle Pantry shop, I knew that this was the one that I planned to use.  It's called Holiday Nutcracker. 

Aside from being available pre-colored in my favorite colors, the reason that I immediately loved it was because this was the gift that I gave these friends' daughter.  I know, what 6 year old wants gigantic nutcrackers instead of toys?  But she did!  I had the darnedest time *buying* this gift (I went to 4 stores before FINALLY finding them).  I thought that the entire family would be amused by the card.

I'm using the sketch from over at Bugaboo.  I loved it's simplicity and the shape was perfect for this image.

DP: Pennies for Pizzas

I know.

It's NOT a Christmas card!  I just needed a card for one of my favorite teens.  She's going through a rough time and has been on my mind quite a bit.  I think this image is PERFECT for a teen.  It's from Doodle Pantry's November release and it's called "Pizza Slice."  How yummy does it look?  Sadly as a diabetic, I can't have much yummy cheesiness but I can look (and steal toppings from my kiddo's slices when he isn't looking!)

Off to wrap presents.  Thanks for stopping in.

SSW2-38: DigiStamp Boutique

Hello Wednesday friends.  Is it just me or are the days flying by?!!  Yikes, there are only 8 days left before I have to be ready to go for Christmas!!!  Will I get my act together in time or not ... only time will tell!

Over on the Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 blog, we have another great sketch for you to try.  With all the squares, this card came together VERY quickly.

Our sponsor this week is Sally-Ann from DigiStamp Boutique and this card features her Jolly Snowman image.  Sally-Ann has some GREAT images on sale right now, I recommend a trip to her blog to see!

Christmas Chaos #4

This challenge is all about the recipe ... 1-2-3

I have:
1-image
2-fish tails
3-colored papers: aqua, yellow and white

Boom.

What I do NOT have is Christmas.  While making sure that I did all the challenges, I re-read the rules and apparently my cards SHOULD have all been about Christmas. (insert whimper here) Oh well, it's December and I still need other cards.  Soo, I won't be the Grand Poo-bah winner (sigh) Buuut, you did get to see me make 7 cards in 7 days (8 if you want to count the DT card I made.  I rock.

Bugaboo Christmas Chaos 7

The last card in the challenge.

I'm still going to finish the Bugaboo Christmas Chaos challenge, despite making 2 birthday cards.  Oops.  This card, however, is CAS (Clean And Simple) and Christmas.

I'm using a great image from Doodle Pantry's vast selection of Christmas images.  This is from the Quirky Snowman set.  Laurie has an entire collection of quirky critters.  I highly recommend a look-see.

Bugaboo Chaos (I've lost count what #)

Ken took today off so we are having a bit of a "date day" while the boys are in school.  He got to pick today's activities (I'm picking tomorrow's fun!) so far we've gone to Bass Pro to window shop and then we went to the gun range to shoot.  Despite being out of MY box, it was a fun morning (except for the hot piece of brass that ended up ricocheting down my sweater.  Ouch)

And speaking of out of my box and different, I wanted to try out this sketch.  It's soo different from my normal style.  I saw it on Karen Giron's blog and wanted to try it.  I actually like how it turned out.  I'm going to use THIS one as my funny card for the Bugaboo Christmas Chaos Challenge.

Bugaboo Christmas Chaos #5

 

It's another Bugaboo Christmas Chaos post.  I'm still one behind.  Today's challenge is to use a "critter."  Check and check. I am in love with my teamie, Linda's style so I totally CASE-d her card from the Sweet Sketch blog.  Check out her beauty here.

It's been a long morning so far.  The dog ate an ornament off the tree ... apparently the home-made ornaments are just plain yummy and can't be ignored.  I'm waiting for its second appearance.

On the way to school, the kids fought over whether it's better to have titanium armor or a titanium sword.  Really? Who cares ... just get IN the car!

But my day got seriously better when I found out that I had a free Starbucks drink waiting for me and there is a contest to win free Starbucks for life.  I must win this!

SSW2-37: Meljen Designs

Happy Wednesday!

I have yet another Christmas card for you to see! This week over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 this week, we are sponsored by Melissa from Meljen Designs. 

Melissa has some cute images and from now until the 15th of this month, her entire store is 50% off!  Wow, hurry over to get some images!  She is generously offering our winner 4 free images.

Our sketch is so perfect for Christmas cards, I really DO hope you get a chance to join in.

Bugaboo Christmas Chaos 3

I'm killing you with all my card posts aren't I?  I'm STILL not caught up.  Just to break it up a bit, I went with a birthday card this time!  It's still Stella (because I adore her).
 

I'm doing the color challenge over at Bugaboo.  I focused on the pinks and the cream since I'm not a big fan of mustard yellow.  Blech.

I'm also doing the Creative Card Crew challenge of a birthday card WITH a sentiment on the front.

I wanted a sketch to base my card on so I'm using a new blog for that,  Creaine Challenges.  It was a fun one so I'm sure to be back for further challenges.

SSMIS-Dec/Bugaboo Chaos Challenge

 

I'm killing three birds with one stone here (OK, one card).  This card is my entry for the Bugaboo Christmas Chaos Challenge, the Bugaboo Stella Says Sketch Challenge AND my card for the SSMIS.

Our SSMIS hostess, Jessica, challenged us with this gi-normous image from Stampendous.  It's called Jumbo (jumbo indeed!) Top Hat Snowman. 

She also challenged us to bling it up and add sparkle and bling.  Coincidentally Bugaboo's Christmas Chaos challenge wanted bling too!!  Convenient!  You can't tell from the photo, but I popped up his scarf, nose and bird friend.  Yay me, I finished the year of challenges ... on time too!

Bugaboo Christmas Chaos #2

It's time for Bugaboo's annual chaotic challenge.  There are prizes to be won for those who can manage their time wisely and finish all seven challenges (and still be ready for Christmas in 2 weeks!)  I'm already behind because this is challenge number two; hopefully I'll catch up.  Soo, you'll be hearing from me a lot in the next few days.  We'll see since I still have to buy more presents to buy, wrap and mail (and of course, feed my family in my spare time).  There always seem to be a million things to do this time of year.

I smushed my card into a square because I always feel like I have to change SOME element of the sketch to make it mine!

The kids "helped" me find time to craft by putting up the tree and doing the lights.  All the lights are clustered at the top and all the ornaments are on the lower branches.  It's killing me not to fix it ... let's see how long I can control my OCD and not touch the tree!

SSW2-36: Bugaboo

 

Hello my crafty peeps

This week over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 we are once again sponsored by Jodi and the gang over at Bugaboo. One of my absolute favorite sponsors (OK, I know, I say that about all of them but seriously!)  As usual, Jodie is offering her usual AMAZING prize of seven, yep (7!!) digis to our "winner-winner chicken dinner" winner.

There are SO many cute Christmas images in Jodi's store.  This week I used her Merry Christmas Tree.  I just loved the simplicity of it and it looks great with that dotted paper (you guys have probably noticed by now how much I love polka-dots!!)

Remember, in order to be eligible for this week's fabulous prize, you must comment on the Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 blog.  Good luck!

Go leave some love for my fellow DT members on their blogs.  This week, they knocked it out of the ballpark.

DP: December Release

Happy December 1st my friends!!!

That means it's time for another release of images from over at Doodle Pantry.  If you like holiday sets, you won't be disappointed with this release.  There are some great new images over in the store.

This month I'm using Laurie's set: Holiday Partridge.  The 12 Days of Christmas was one of my favorite Christmas Carols as a kid so I wanted to use this image.  Well ... I liked that one and Bing Crosby's White Christmas ... but mostly because I lived in Arizona and had no idea what a white Christmas might even look like! 

This month you can get get the free set is Milk and Cookies.     I know!!  If you, shop the store before December 24th, you can get another set ... FREE!!  My favorite part of this set is that fabulous striped straw in the bottle!

My kids still leave cookies out for Santa and throw carrots on the yard for Rudolf but I think that this practice may end soon.   My youngest whispered to me that he "knew" that I was Santa but he thought that we should keep it quiet since he was pretty sure that my oldest still believed.

I used Mynn's November sketch over at House of Cards. 

DP: Make Waves!

You will NOT catch this girl out doing Christmas shopping today.  Sadly I won't really have shopping opportunities because I am making the drive from Arizona to home.  But even if I weren't trapped in a very, very small car for 13 hours (did I mention that my Jetta is REALLY small?) with a cranky husband and  even crankier children ... shopping on this day is a "for-gedabout-it" moment. 

I went to Wal-Mart last year with my niece to buy a blow-up mattress because we NEEDED it for the night.  That experience alone was enough to swear me off ANY Black Friday shopping, ever. EVER.

I'm sharing another card I made for Doodle Pantry. This one uses Little Octopus which Laurie has in her "free with purchase" category.  How cute is he?  If you ever needed a reason to shop the Doodle Pantry shop, this might be it!

SSW2: Diane's Daydream Designs

Happy "almost" Thanksgiving!  I hope tomorrow is full of delicious food that doesn't cause you to gain an ounce.  That's what I'm hoping for at least ... I'm having a meeting with my personal trainer the Monday after Thanksgiving to "assess" my weight-loss progress.  Yikes, I could have planned THAT better!  I will just cry if I've gained any from this holiday of eating!

This week over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 we have a new sponsor.  It's Diane's Daydream Designs.  She promotes family-friendly, wholesome products, with many Christian themed images.  She is providing our winner with a $10 coupon to use in her store.  This week, I'm using her image: Snow Baby Love.

Since this is the last week in the month, we have a retro sketch and a twist.  To see what the designers did with this sketch previously, click here.

This week we'd like you to break out your buttons or bows to use.  The twist is that you must use both the sketch AND the twist to win.

I can't wait to see what you do with this sketch!

Bugaboo Sketch 219

I'm supposed to be packing right now but instead I'm hiding downstairs with my red Christmas Starbucks cup, sucking down a latte.  I'm trying to de-stress before our Thanksgiving journey.  It's 26 degrees and snowing here.  I'm trying not to think about the snowy passes that stretch out between me and sunny Arizona.

Bugaboo had a fun sketch this fortnight so I had to try it.  I'm using JJ (and gave her the same red Christmas cup as I have in MY hand!)

Ugh, back to reality ... the dryer buzzer is ringing.  I'd best finish packing.

Doodle Pantry: Frosty Kisses

Still trying to perfect my CAS style for the Complete Cardmaking magazine, this card while beautiful, missed the mark on TWO counts.  It has just one extra layer but more importantly, I used the wrong Doodle Pantry set.  The image is from Snowflake Sheep,  and the sentiment is Quirky Snowmen.  I really liked this card too. {{sigh}}

SSW2-35: Digi-Stamp Boutique

Hi-ya all.  It's Wednesday already.

I can't believe that it's almost time to "get our jolly on."  Yikes, where is this year going?!!  Actually, I'm not gonna lie ... I'm kinda ready for it.  I've been listening to Christmas Carols already.

I'm back with another creation for Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2.  This week we're featuring the wonderful images of Digi-Stamp Boutique.  I'm using her Christmas Edwin and Hetty set.  Not sure if this is Edwin or Hetty but I *DO* know that whoever it is ... looks darling!

Sally has a wonderful sketch for us this week.  As you can see, I rotated it to fit the image better.

I used a phrase from Create with TLC to finish it up.  Paulette has free word art several days each week. 

I hope you have time to join in the fun.

Pimping Santa

I colored this guy up a few weeks ago and never used him (Sadly he was the wrong shape for that card).  But Gus is too cute NOT to use.  When I look at this card, I think of either my BIL or nephew.  One of them will be the big wiener of this one.

I used the sketch over at Seems A Little Sketchy and the theme over at Cute Card Thursday: red and green.

I have 62 Christmas cards made and I am down to just 13 more.  In the immortal words of the Little Engine that Could ... "I think I can!"

DP: Another try at just 2 layers

Here was my first attempt at the required Clean and Simple Christmas card for Complete Cardmaking, issue 53.  If you count ... there are 5 layers.  Not remotely close to the 2 that I needed.  It was cute but soooo not CAS.  What I loved about this card (besides those ridiculous googlie eyes) was Laurie's matching papers.  Each set you purchase from Doodle Pantry has images, sentiments and papers to use.  Pretty awesome, actually.

SSW2-34: Doodle Pantry

Hello friends.

It's Wednesday so you know what that means, yep, another sketch challenge from Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2.  Are you ready for Turkey day?  I am because every day brings me closer to seeing my family in Arizona.  I'm NOT excited for the (whimper) 13 hour drive ... but, my sister is worth it.

Sally gave us a great sketch to work with this week and our sponsor is Laurie from Doodle Pantry.  This week I'm using her image: Pumpkin Pie Ants.  I love those little ants and really ... who doesn't love pie with whipped cream.  Here's a little bit more about our sponsor:

Hello, my name is Laurie. I'm just a regular Joe crafter. While trying to find digital images that met my own crafting needs, I decided to draw some of my own, as I had so many unique (weird!) ideas that I just couldn' locate elsewhere. I sincerely hope something I've done inspires you to go create something to bring a smile to someone else and hope you enjoy creating to your hearts content with some of my doodles.. ~Laurie

This week Laurie is offering a $10 voucher to her store to our winner.  We hope to see you stop by!

SSMIS: November

It's official ... I am freezing down in my studio.  It's sad when the thought of folding warm laundry upstairs where it is closer to the rising heat is even remotely appealing. 

But back to the creative stuff ... this month for our SSMIS club, Vickie challenged us with this retired Stampin' Up! image called "Little Boys." If you'd like to see what the rest of the gang did with this image, click here.

 I used an old sketch from Papertake Weekly and plan to enter it in their theme of: 2 Legs or 4 Legs.  This card fits since it features a bit of both.

I'm off to get a coffee to warm up.  No need to get crazy domesticated with all that laundry folding!