A Winter Wonderland and a Winner!

Hello, and good Friday before the big Christmas Day!  I'm sure everyone is frantic getting all those last minute preparations done right about now... I know I am!  I sure am looking forward to all the good food and family time to be had though!  I am also anxious for more time to relax after all the holiday festivities come to a close as well! ;) 

However, today I wanted to first announce the winner of my giveaway that was up for grabs for the Advent Calendar day I hosted at The Nook! Thanks to everyone who left their wonderful comments... I really appreciated them!  And the winner is...

Sherri said...

oh wow, that looks just like real wood. how cool is that!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 5:50:00 PM

Yay, Sherri!  You won my card kit with the Tim Holtz Alterations Brick and Woodgrain Texture Fades!  Please pm me your address and I will get them off to you real soon!

Now who's ready for a Winter Wonderland?  I'm not really wanting any significant amount of snow right now, but I wouldn't mind a few flurries for Christmas Day.  Right this minute though, I will stay warm and enjoy the beauty of a previous snowfall from earlier in the year on my latest SOUS sketch layout.  Here's this week's sketch from SOUS designer, Sandi Clarkson...

And here's my interpretation, which I rotated...

(Please click on pictures to view larger)

I still used 3 photos, only I adjusted the placement and of course used larger pictures.  All cardstock used here is Core'dinations... even that vibrant glittered blue which is Core's line of "Glitter Silk" cardstock... perfect for Wintery pages and projects like this.  I have to say that it cuts wonderfully in the Cricut Expression too! The beautiful and intricate snowflake imagery here is cut using Cricut's Damask Decor cartridge.  I know I always seem to have a new favorite Cricut cart, lol... but this one totally IS a favorite! I also used the Martha Stewart pine needles deep edge punch again and I love the look of the design punched from white cardstock.  It really pops off that blue Glitter Silk!  The BG Nordic Holiday line was a pefect fit for a Winter page paired off with some really cool gray plaid May Arts ribbon.  Yes... I really love to look at the beauty of a Wintery scene like this! If only snow wasn't so cold!

I want to wish all my friends and followers a very Merry Christmas, and wonderful wishes for a very blessed and healthy New Year in 2012!  Love to ALL! 

Advent Calendar Day #19 At The Nook!

Today is the 19th... and that means it's the 19th Advent Calendar day at The Nook and I am happy to be the calendar host for the day!  If you haven't already heard about it, now is your chance to join in and help us count down the days til Christmas in a very exciting way and with some fabulous giveaways to boot! 

Everyday from December 1st up to December 25th, one Nook friend is hosting a giveaway on her blog as part of the Advent Calendar festivities!  I urge you to go back and take a look if you've missed out on any of the previous days because there is always fabulous inspiration!  If you check out the Nook blog you can find a link posted for the day's host, which today is me.  If you are coming here from the Nook's blog post, then I simply say, "Welcome"! 

Here is a list of all the participating blogs for the Advent Calendar... please visit!

1	Hilde	http://www.scoobieslilleblog.blogspot.com/
2	Antenucci	http://antenucci.blogspot.com/
3	Danielle	http://picsandcheesecake.blogspot.com/
4	Lisa J	http://cutcreateandcare.blogspot.com/
5	Pam	http://happytobecreating.blogspot.com/
6	Meg Aaron	http://thoughtsoftraveling.blogspot.com/
7	Mag	http://magandscrap.blogspot.com/
8	Monique	http://moniquesscrapbook.blogspot.com/
9 10	Kate Vickers Sherri	http://www.scrapsation.com/ http://faithandscraphappiness.blogspot.com/
11	Lilith Eeckels	http://lilithandscrap.blogspot.com/
12	~jan	http://jantatomir.blogspot.com/
13	Carol	http://carolmonson.blogspot.com/
14	Arty Carty	http://blog.artycarty.com/
15	Tanya	http://little-scrapper.blogspot.com/
16	Annelie Maddoc	http://swewi.wordpress.com/
17	Nenne	http://www.creativenenne.blogspot.com/
18	Nicole	http://justnicks.blogspot.com/
19	Andrea Amu	http://imlivinonscraps.blogspot.com/
20	Marinette	http://www.scraptherapie.com/
21	Pysselpetra	http://mittkreativakaos.blogspot.com/

22 Samantha http://samawright.blogspot.com/
23 Anna Sigga http://annasigga.typepad.com/scrappalicious/
24 Jennie http://pappersverk.blogspot.com/
25 Leah http://www.leahkillian.com/

Now onto some holiday sharing and giving from me!  Today I was busy creating some holiday cards and I got to thinking that it would be perfect for me to make up a little card kit with the products I've used on my cards and offer it up as a giveaway for today's Advent Calendar!  Here is the card I created using one of my favorite new embossing folders... the Tim Holtz Alterations woodgrain texture fade! 

And even better, the woodgrain is perfect embossed on some fabulous Tim Holtz Distress Collection Core'dinations cardstock. I also used the Cricut Winter Woodland cartridge to cut out the cardinal from some Tim Holtz Nostalgic Kraft-Core. Isn't the green pine needles border a really neat detail?  That is my new Martha Stewart Deep-Edge punch that I just got on sale at Michael's for 50% off! I also got the wood buttons in the Dollar bin at M's and spritzed them with some Burnt Red Glimmer Mist. 

Okay, here's what's up for grabs... and yes, the Tim Holtz Texture Fade set with the woodgrain is included in my card kit giveaway!

 

There's enough to complete 2 cards!  If you'd like a chance to have this kit, just leave me a comment here in this post by 12 PM EST, Wed. Dec. 21st.  I will randomly draw a winner by December 22nd. 

Also, You don't want to forget to hop on over to Leah Killian's blog and get entered for the grand prize sometime between now and Christmas Morning. You could win a free subscription to the always inspiring Nook kits!

My Friday Finale!

So excited that it is Friday, which makes me all the more excited to share some scrap-happy things today as well! 
First off, all week long on the Core'dinations blog, we've paired up with the most fabulous company, and a personal favorite of mine too... BASIC GREY!  I can never have enough BG collections, and the same goes for the awesome Core'dinations cardstock offered in Basic Grey patterns now too! 

If you haven’t heard, we have a BasicGrey Core Impressions line that we just LOVE! There are TWO Core Impression packs in this line that are fabulous. The Whimsy Collection is full of bright colors and whimsical patterns that match BasicGrey papers and embellishments. And the Ornate Collection has beautiful blues, greens and pinks that coordinate with BasicGrey papers and embellishments as well. You will be seeing both of these collections in action this week along with LOADS of BasicGrey goodies, too!

Each pack has FOUR embossed patterns in FIVE colors totaling 20 unique sheets and we sell certain sheets individually as well.

And you know it wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t have a giveaway! We are giving away one of EACH of our BasicGrey Core Impressions lines!!!

You have a few ways to win this week.

1.) Leave a comment here on the Core blog all week long! Leave a comment everyday for up to FIVE chances to win!

2.) Head over to our Facebook page for another chance to win!

3.) Make your way over the BasicGrey blog for additionial chances to win, too!

4.) And hurry over to the Facebook page, too! Tell them we sent you!

Now are you ready for some inspiration? Don’t forget to click HERE to get see the gorgeous projects over at the BG Blog and more chances to win win win!

Today was the final day of the swap, and I was pleased to have had two of my holiday layouts showcased using Basic Grey's super cool Nordic Holiday collection!

This first layout is pretty and festive... using some more traditional holiday prints included in the Nordic Holiday line, such as the red and green pointsettia pattern.  I paired it all with some floral embossed green cardstock from the Basic Grey Ornate Core Impressions line and green and white Core Essentials.  Punched border detailing really helps to define the backround texture of the cardstock! 

(Click on pictures to view larger)

Then, I also created the following page, which also leads me to another fun announcement! 

To create this page, I followed an awesome layout sketch for Dec. 9th from the Stuck On U Sketches (SOUS) challenge blog.  This sketch design was created by their own designer, Sandi Clarkson. 

And, I can now announce that I am a new design team member at SOUS!  I am very happy to be joining this fun site with such a great group of talented ladies!  Looking forward to designing with many, many more inspirational sketches in the weeks and months ahead!

Here are some more details of this holiday page...

 I used the BG Ornate Core Impressions in the Olive Cornbread pattern. I painted on some Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze within the embossed areas to give the cardstock a different look and then I also sprayed on some Glimmer Mist.  This all gave the olive toned cardstock a more golden and glitzy, festive look. I also used May Arts ribbons here... that chevron patterned ribbon is thee coolest and the red really gives a cheerful punch.  The stitched brad and fun feltie ornament sticker embellies are also all part of the Nordic Holiday line!  Finally, I used the Paper Lace 2 Cricut cart to cut out the pretty ornate circular background diecut. I really do love this page and have decided to frame it and gift it to my mom this Christmas.  I know she'll love it just as much as I do!

Before I go, I just wanted to thank everyone who has voted for my cards in the Card Sharks challenge at the Nook!  I appreciate the votes and comments so much.  There is also a little more time left to vote if you can... I believe voting closes at 9am PST Saturday morning (Dec. 10th). 

Vote for me HERE, please! 

Have a terrific and fun-filled weekend!  ;) 

This Card Shark Needs YOUR vote!

That's right my friends!  In order for me to swim and stay alive in the pool of big sharks, I do need the kindness of my friends!  For this third round of challenges they have opened up voting, and for me to continue to stay afloat, I do ask for and will appreciate your votes if you do believe that I deserve to survive and make it into the 4th and final round!

Here is the link to the Nook's blog where the voting is taking place. . . 
http://myscrapbooknookkits.blogspot.com/2011/12/card-shark-round-3-voting.html

And here is a refresher of my two cards that can be voted on in this round! 

Card Sharks Week 3 - Challenge #2

Card Sharks Week 3 - Challenge # 1

So, if you want to vote for my cards, simply add your vote with my name in the comments section of  both of the blog posts for these cards, HERE  and  HERE !  Thanks sooo very much!  ;)

Week 3 of Card Sharks!

Hello there, friends!

As the last few hours of the weekend wind to a close, I wanted to post about my card creations that I've done for this, the third week of Card Sharks challenges at The Nook!  Gotta tell ya that even though I'm not in the lead, I've still been having so much fun pushing myself with these creative challenges.  Plus, I've also had my first card that I made for Card Sharks requested for publication with Cricut magazine, so I can not be anything but happy about that!

So onto the latest challenges...

The first is "POKER FLUSH", which involves any 5 cards of the same suit... so we are to create a card using 5 embellishments of the same kind.  A variation of color or shape is allowed, but it should be easy to identify 5 embellies of the same suit!   I went with 5 trees to design a Christmas card. 

I used a tin Christmas tree ornament (in the center) that I bought after Christmas last year and I sanded it a bit and repainted with some Suade It Krylon spray and then spritzed on some Glimmer Mist.  Then I cut the two bird topped trees using the Give A Hoot Cricut cart and the other two trees using the Designer's Calendar cart.  Cardstock is Core'dinations Essentials, TH Kraft Core and BG Ornate collection (Chocolate Box).  The patterned paper is all from the BG Nordic Holiday collection.  I also embellished the tree cuts with Diamond Dust glass glitter, Sugar Coating glitter and glass micro-beads. And I almost forgot... I cut a strip of green Tim Holtz Kraft Core and punched it through my Dymo label maker for the "Oh Christmas Tree" banner.

 

I also happened to see that there is a diecut challenge going on over at Stuck On U Sketches right now using Christmas trees!  How perfect!

The second challenge is the game of "Crazy 8's".  Simple enough we had to use various elements to total a formula of 8 items and no more than 8. 

I used (1) Authentic patterned paper, (1) Authentic Diecut, (1) Webster's Pages Stickpin, (2) Velvet Maya Road ribbon flowers, and (3) Prima leaves.

And for the BONUS challenge, we needed to create a Love themed/Valentine's card. 

Here I used all Core cardstock and My Mind's Eye Lime Twist collection (with a bit more of the Stella and Rose wood-grain and speckled blue pattern from the Pretty Please line). Isn't that the cutest little nest of love birds?  Found this on the Sweethearts Cricut cart!  To create the  nest filler I cut up some jute string and glued the fibers to the top inside of the nest.  The stamp edge frame was cut using the Elegant Edges cart.

 

That's it!  Hopefully I'll be able to continue on and won't be eliminated from week 4!  Have a great week, friends! 

Starting Those Christmas Greetings!

With it being the last day of November, I got to thinking... I had better get cracking on the Christmas cards.  I did come up with a few ideas, but I still don't have anything definite on what I'm going to create to send out this year.  But, I guess I better make up my mind quick.  Of course I will put my trusted Cricut and Core'dinations brand cardstock to good use for whatever it is that I decide to make.  Those two items are a must ;)

So while I narrow down the various ideas floating about my mind, thought I'd at least share some festive cards that I have already created and that will surely be sent out to some special people on my list! 

Here's one that I created with some non-traditional Christmas colors... gray paired with some burgandy!  I really love the combination! 

I also used some vintage looking Jenni Bowlin Design Core cardstock with the stars and cut the santa hat out with the Joys of the Season Cricut cart.  The hat was decorated with some fabulous Diamond Dust glass glitter to enhance the texture and give that extra festive look! 

Next I made a semi hybrid card with a digi "chipboard" Believe element from the talented Chris Hertel, who passed away this past year.  I've always enjoyed using Chris's digi elements in my crafting and I do so miss her and her designs! 

Here I also did some stitching near the bottom using the We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy stitching tool and I used the cool tartan plaid Cuttlebug emboss folder to emboss some kraft colored Black Magic Core cardstock.  For the flower I layered together various Making Memories and Recollections flowers secured with a Pink Paislee glitter brad.  There is also some Basic Grey Jovial patterned paper in the mix here as well! 

I guess that's about all for this time a round!  Hopefully by the weekend the rest of my holiday card making will be in full swing.  I'll be sure to post about them in the days ahead... enjoy :)

More Cards For Week 2 of Card Sharks!

Good day!  Just finished up my last of the challenges for the week at the Nook, so I have two more cards to show you all for now! 

Here we go... Challenge #1 for week 2... BRIDGE!  This one will takes focus on the word "bridge" and the challenge is to create a card using an element that is wood theme or nails (items used to build a bridge).   

(Please click on item to view larger)

I knew right a way what I wanted to do for this, lol!  "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel has long been a favorite song of mine and I have been wanting to use the song lyrics somehow on a card or scrap page, so with BRIDGE being a focus here I thought it to be perfect timing! Of course I also added a piece of woodgrain patterned paper from MME (Stella Rose) into the mix for the boat diecut!  Some older "The Merry Days of Christmas" in Pajama Plaid, was used for the card base here and I cut out cloud shapes from some MME Lime Twist pp.  All these sweet Cricut cuts on the card came from the Give A Hoot cart! I also used a mix of Core Essentials, Vintage Core and some Jillian Spotted Core cardstock.

Next up is my card for the BINGO challenge! 

Easy peasy... just had to use some form of a grid on the card design! So I designed a grid by scoring the backside of a piece of Tim Holtz Kraft Core cardstock and sanding the front to reveal the embossing.  I also used some kraft colored Core from the Graphic 45 Signature Series and some Core Essentials in a light red.  I cut the "I" the heart and the "U" with the Designer's Calendar cart and the heart border from a scrap of "vintage" Tres Jolie MME pp using the TC Sophisticated cart.  Added some wood buttons from M's dollar spot with some Papertrey Ink twine to complete the look!

And one more item before I wrap this post up for the night...

not sure if ya'll have come across this huge giveaway or not on Birgit Koopsen's blog, but you may like to have a chance, and celebrate with Birgit for her upcoming Birthday in the process! ;)

Good Night and enjoy the rest of the holiday week festivities!  Happy Thanksgiving blessings to all!

A New Card... New Week of Challenges!

Today I thought about going out to do a bit of shopping, but then I thought twice and decided it would be much better to just stay home in the comfort of my pj's and do a little crafting.  And I am so glad I did.  Yesterday I had big plans to scrap and make cards but none of that happened because I was stricken with a ridiculous sinus headache that lasted ALL DAY LONG!  So today I am feeling much better and I seem to be back on track because I finished one of the three cards for the 2nd week's Card Sharks contest challenges at the Nook... Yay! 

So this challenge is called KINGS IN THE CORNER!  The challenge part is to create a card fit for royality!  I decided to make mine a Mother's Day themed version and went with the sentiment, "Mom, You Are My Queen Bee, Always".

I used the bee cut from the Sentimentals Cricut cart along with the Queen Bee phrase from Kate's ABCs.  I also added a lil' crown to the bee which I cut using the Teresa Collin's Sophisticated cart... a new favorite for sure! And the hexagon embossed cardstock is from the Core'dinations Pink Paislee Modern Prints collection... good stuff!  I also had fun using a mix of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Glimmer Glaze within the hexagon shapes.  The beautiful papers and brad accents are all from the My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 2 collection and I also added a few tiny golden Kaiser pearl accents to the crown with Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type stickers to complete the sentiment. 

As always, thanks for stopping by and do enjoy the rest of your Sunday evening!  I'm off to start another challenge as I wait for the hubs to get home with our take-out pizza for dinner!  That's what I'm talkin' about!! ;)

Card Sharks Continued (Week One)...

Told you I'd be back!  Just checkin' back in here quick on this Wednesday night to share my other card challenge for the week with the Nook's Card Sharks competition.

This challenge is called "Solataire"!  For this one we are to create a special card to "cheer up the lonely"! This can lend itself to a wide range of themes really... a miss you card, a thinking of you greeting, or an encouragement type of sentiment, which is just the direction I went with my, "Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining" card. 

(Remember to click on the photo to view it larger)!

And did you know that Core'dinations now has some awesome... and I do mean AWEsome new embossed Modern Prints cardstock designs to match back up to the Pink Paislee Nantucket collection? 

I used a bit of both right here on this card and if you want to see some more awesome projects with these papers and cardstock AND if you'd also like the chance to WIN some of your very own, then head straight to both of the Core and Pink Paislee blogs all this week long for some fabulous product swapping!  I will also have a layout posted to the Core blog later in the week with these super cool lines. 

Here's some more upclose detail of this card...

check out the silvery shimmer that the clouds have been outlined with!  I used a Liquid Silver DecoColor opaque paint marker along with some Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze in "Sassy Silver"!  I LOVE this stuff... so fun to use, just like finger nail polish for card making and scrapbooking! I also used the Liquid silver and Glimmer Glaze on the small Studio Calico chipboard clouds.  My larger clouds were cut out using the Cricut Serenade cartridge.

Thanks for stopping by! ;)

Playing With Card Sharks!

There's a fun card contest happening over at the Nook right now, and I've been busy playing around with some of this weeks challenges today.  The Card Sharks contest is an elimination rounds style of competition, so I do hope that I can continue swimming on with the card sharks after this week!  ;)
Here are the first challenges that I've finished up so far...

The introduction challenge is Challenge ZERO - POKER FACE.  We had to create a card with the envelope taking center stage and the sentiment on the inside card hidden from view.  The card also was required to contain a stamp image, a ribbon and the color black. 

I used Core'dinations cardstock (Tim Holtz Kraft), Glitz Designs pp, Technique Tuesday script stamp, May Arts ribbon and trim, SEI pearl brad and MME decorative brad, Kaiser black gems, Cuttlebug emboss folders, Glimmer Mist, Papertrey Ink twine, paper lace doily and the Damask Decor and Lacey Labels Cricut carts.  Here are details of the front and back inside pull out tag-card ...


Next up is the Week One - Challege One (Phase 10). 
For this one we were given 3 different phases to complete. 
First phase was to create the BASE of the card using these 4 elements:
-1 patterned background
-1 block of patterned paper or cardstock
-1 strip of paper or trim
-1 decorative edge

I used BoBunny double-dot patterned cardstock for my background, a block of MME patterned paper, American Crafts ribbon rose trim, and a MME decorative edge punch-out.

The second phase was to then EMBELLISH the card from phase 1, using any embellies I have to create the best handby the end of the game.  Then onto the 3rd and final phase we are to UPLOAD the picture of our card to the appropriate thread and Nook blog post.   My final phase looks like this...

I embellished with a MME transparent flourish and 3-D sticker, a Prima chipboard journal tag, a K&Co. journal tag, plastic rosettes from Making Memories and a handwritten sentiment.

I have not yet completed the 2nd challenge of the week which is SOLATAIRE, but I will finish and post it later. 

The 3rd challenge for the first week is the UNO Challenge.  For this one we needed to create a card where the #1 is somehow incorporated into the card's design!

I dug out some BoBunny Blast Off collection for this one...

To create the #1 on the Canvas Corp. star, I used some Thickers as a mask and sprayed the canvas star with Sapphire Glimmer Mist!  Love the result!

So there ya have it so far!  I'll be back later in the week with other challenges I've been working on.  It's been so much fun swimming with the sharks this weekend!

Saturdays are Great Days!

Yes, Saturdays are wonderful days for lots of reasons, but NOT for snow and especially not snow in October!  How disappointing!  I thoroughly love my Fall wheather every year and I enjoy October in all it's wonderful Autumn splendor, but snow does not belong in the category of "Autumn  splendor"... at least not for me!  But, it is what it is, and I guess we just have to deal, lol!

However, like I said, Saturdays are great days, and today, well... today is a great one to stay home inside all curled up cozy on the couch enjoying one of the last days of October... watching AMC's Fear Fest on the telly!  It's also a wonderful day to bake some Chocolate Chip Pumpkin muffins and to finish up some crafty assignments with my Core'dinations cardstock and Cricut! And it's also a great time to finally catch up my blog posting with some previous magazine publications I've had!  So, for today I'll share with you various cards that I had showcased in the Cricut magazine's "Cards" issue...

 

My first card uses the fun martini Cricut cut on "From My Kitchen" and some of my favorite Summer Soiree papers from Fancy Pants. 

Second card is a heart shaped card from "Wild Card" and I used Basic Grey's Green at Heart collection... I love the turtle stickers that I Cuttlebug embossed!

Then I had one of my favorite cards featured!  I love this one because I used different cuts to make and form a totally new image.  For this one I combined a birdcage cut from the "Straight From the Nest" cart along with a flower pot cut to create a hot air balloon! 

This card uses the "Dad's Day" phrase from the "Designer's Calendar" cart.  I love the textures displayed on this one from the Green Vintage Core base and the shape cut from Prima screen-printed canvas! The Basic Grey Marjolaine collection was also used.

Next up is a card using some fun Core Amour Collection in Onyx (Darling print).  Other patterned papers are by BoBunny and Cricut cuts from "Lyrical Letters" and "Straight From the Nest".

And last, a wedding card featuring cuts from "Stamping Solutions", "StoryBook" and "Wild Card", along with papers by GCD Studios. 

And that's a wrap!  Okay, it's back to enjoying the rest of my wonderful, but snowy Saturday!  I hope everyone else enjoys their day as well!