THAIC #62

Hello! I'm back with a fun card to share for the Holly and Ivy Christmas card challenge. Once again our challenge is "Anything Goes", so do consider playing along with us. You can continue with us all year long, and next year when Christmas rolls around you will be all set. The dies I used for the bird and pine branches are from Taylored expressions, and the sentiment is from SSS. Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #351

Hello! I'm back with my final card for CC&S this year, don't worry I'll be back after the New Year. This week's challenge we were asked to pick a previous challenge and make it seasonal. Well this is what I had in mind for challenge #349 all along, I just didn't get the die in time to make it.  I'm looking forward to seeing what challenges everyone picks to make seasonal. Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #350

Greetings! I'm getting ready to send out my Christmas cards, so this challenge worked perfectly for me this week. I used this fabulous die from Pretty Pink Posh , ink blended the pieces to this week's colors, popped it on a die cut ,added a sentiment and some gold splatters and it was complete. I love how these colors look together, so festive and cheery. Thanks for stopping by today, don't forget to play along.

P.S. I will have a giveaway this week, for a chance to win comment below. Extra chance for subscribers.

THAIC #61

Hello! I've been hard at work creating my final batch of Christmas cards for a friend's order. This adorable die is from the SSS November card kit. I was in love with it at 1st sight. Thankfully I have a short week at work , I need a little down time. I hope you all are close to finished with you holiday cards too. Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #349

Hello! It's time for another challenge, a sketch this week. I opted to flip my sketch, worked better that way my flowers weren't upside down. I wanted a simple color palette, so black , white and sea glass it is. Last week was very stressful for me, our school board voted to close my son's school , so he will have to be bused across town for his last 2 years of high school. He is fine with it, I'm not. Thankfully I have only a 3 day work week, looking forward to some relaxation. Thanks for stopping in, I hope you have a great week and my stateside viewers Happy Thanksgiving.

CC&S #348

Hello! It's been a whirlwind of a week since I posted last and not for the best. In the last week the school board announced it plans to sell my boys HS to the local community college (they ran out of growing room) and it will close. This would mean my youngest  (oldest graduates this year) would have to ride the bus across town to school and we would be scrambling to get home to get him from practices. We currently live 2 blocks down the street from the school, and he can walk to and from practice. It's very upsetting. So when stressed  I do a lot of watercoloring.... hence today's card. I struggled with the placement of the sentiment. It still feels a bit off to me. Thanks for stopping by today.

May your season sparkle

Hello! It's been a cold and gloomy here, so I wanted to make something bright and cheerful. I am crazy about this new pointsettia die from prettypink posh.I ink blend the pieces and then added gold splatter dots . I plan to make a few more, trying different colors for the flower. I'm playing along with the Flower challenges "dots and stripes " challenge. Thanks for stopping by today.

THAIC #60

Hello! It's getting closer now, are you ready? I'm getting there slowly. I sold a ton of my Christmas cards I made at a local craft show and to a few friends. I need to make some more. This design should be one I could mass produce if needed. I used the new stellar snowflake stencil from GinaK, and some nuvo glimmer paste for the snow flake , added a sentiment and it's done. Be sure to snoop around my blog, I may have tried this in another color... Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #347

Greeting from a blustery cold and snowy NW Indiana. It's been unseasonably cold and snowy here already. This put me in the mood to make a snow scene card. I do not own any diamond shaped dies and my attempt was ridiculous looking (currently in trash) , so I'm going to push the envelope on the sketch a bit and use an oval stencil. Thanks for stopping by today.

Warm Winter Wishes... I need them

Hello! It turned really cold and icy today . I came home from work (where people turn the heat to 80), I was sweating most of the day... now I'm frozen solid. I'm playing along with the AAA cards CAS #153 challenge and Christmas card throwdown Purple and white challenge.  My snowflake is a new Gina K stencil , I used dreamworks pearlescent paste over it. It's been awhile since I've had some time to play along with any challenges, I missed it. Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #346

Hello! I hope this snarky card doesn't offend anyone. I saw this sentiment and had to have it. I ink blended the colors , but it looks like my mango looks a bit more peach , I must have picked up a bit of poppy. I have a couple friends who will love this card, going to make plenty more. I've been so busy lately I've not had a moment to myself, mid college visits with my oldest... hopefully he will pick one soon. Thanks for stopping by today.

The Holly and Ivy #59

Hello! I've been super busy making tons for Christmas cards for an upcoming craft show I'm doing. I've tried to make sure I've got all my bases cover... snowmen, Santa, reindeer, snowflakes, trees, bells, gingerbread men,poinsettias ,  angels, and religious cards too. I think this die set might work for Easter too. For someone who was making cards all year,I'm in crunch time now. Normally I'm more together than this, but a good friend ordered 50 from me. I hope you all are fairing better with your holiday cards. Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #344

Hello! I'm popping by to share my card for this week's sketch challenge. I used a stamp from the oak leaves and acorns set from Colorado craft company , sentiment is SSS. I didn't intend to do a messy watercolor, but once one side started running outside the lines I decided to go with it. The leaves are in full bloom here , what is left of them after today's weather. We had 70 mile an hour wind gusts, trees down and power out all over. Thanks for stopping by today.

The Holly and Ivy #58

Hello! I'm back with a couple of quick and easy Christmas cards to share. For these cards I used the plaid background stamp and trim the tree die from Concord and 9th, sentiment is from PTI. I stamped the background, die cut the tree and added it to the kraft panel for the first card and then added a piece of kraft behind the negative for the 2nd card. I splattered a bit of white paint and added some twine to finish the cards. This is a great way to really bulk up you card supply quickly. Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #343

Greetings! I'm back with a fun card to share for this week's color challenge. We are having a DT call so consider playing along , who knows you might be my new team member. I pondered these colors for days, before coming across another baby card I did using this stamp and found my inspiration. I have needed several baby boy cards recently, so this will help replenish my stock. I have finally cleaned my craft area, now I need to either sell or donate the stamps and things I no longer use. What does everyone do with their's ? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #342

Hello! Happy Tuesday to you. I'm popping in to share my card for this week's sketch challenge. I flipped the sketch to fit what I had in mind, kind of similar to the card I did a few weeks back with the 3 leaves. I stacked the dies so they stand out more. I forgot I had so many different snowflake dies, I found these while cleaning my craft area. Yes you read that correctly, I cleaned and de-cluttered it finally. Now if I can figure out what to do with the things I no longer use. Any suggestions? Thanks for stopping by today.

The Holly and Ivy #57

Hello! I'm back with another Christmas card to share. It's getting closer, but I'm not worried. I'll have my cards done in plenty of time. For this card I used a turn about stamp from Concord and 9th. I used 3 different blue oxide inks, you could use 4 colors,but I liked the way the 3 looked.  I hope to create another in a different color . Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #341

Hello! I'm back with a card to share for this week's color challenge . I have been starting my Christmas cards , so I wanted to use the colors that way. I used 3 colors on the turn a bout snowflakes. I don't have the rose ink , so I used worn lipstick , seemed close. I have a busy week ahead of me, lots of stuff with my kiddos as XC season is close to finishing. Thanks for stopping by today. Check my other post today to see another color version of this card.

CC&S #339

Hello! It's been a very busy week for me. My boys had 2 cross country meets, my mom's birthday, work, hosted team dinner, and finally a family reunion. I really could use a nap. I wanted to try to stay as true to this week's sketch as possible, so PTI's dot spot stamp did the trick. I used ink colors from Gina K and a sentiment strip I had lying around (I usually make a bunch at once ) . Thanks for stopping by today, can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

THAIC #56

Hello! I'm back with another card to share for the anything goes challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas challenge. I used this great stamp from Pink fresh  studio and the sentiment is from SSS tiny words Christmas set.  I think this will be a design I mass produce. It was fairly simple, stamped the trees image onto light blue cardstock with versamark ink, sprinkle on white embossing powder and heat set, and finally i blended on a medium blue and dark blue inks around the image , i then splattered on some white paint to look like snow falling, then just pop on a sentiment and it was complete. I am really pleased with the finished card. Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #338

Hello! I hope everyone is doing well. It's been a busy couple of weeks here and this week is the busiest for my family. My boys have 2 cross country meets this week , 1 being the BIG one of the season. My youngest son is terrified, the older kids have told him how tough the course is. I was rushing when I put this card together, I thought I had the peacock cardstock... couldn't find it anywhere. So I ink blended a couple colors until I got something kind of close... maybe. Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #337

Hello! I hope those of you state side enjoyed an extra day off yesterday, I know I did. When I picked these colors I wanted something that would work nicely for fall cards. I used the leaf prints dies from PTI (sorry no longer available) a sentiment from the sentiment strips stamp from Taylored Expressions and then splattered on a bit of gold paint. I plan to make a couple more of these as it was so simple. Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #336

Welcome my pretty's !!! I"m back with this fun card to share for this week's sketch challenge. I chose to rotate the sketch to fit my images.I enjoyed making this card. I've started on a few Halloween cards. For this card I used dies and a stamp from Sugar Pea Designs. Starting to feel more like crafting this week, hopefully that continues. Now off to bed , It was a long day. Thanks for stopping by.

CC&S #335

Hello! Hope you are all doing well. I'm sharing my card for this week's color challenge. I am still in a major crafting slump. Not sure how to get out of it. It's been ongoing for several months now, seems to be getting worse. Before when I would get stuck I would check out pinterest or other blogs for inspiration and treat myself to new stamps , haven't bought a thing in 6-7 weeks.... bank account very thankful. Hopefully it ends soon, the holidays are coming and I need to get it together. Thanks for popping by today.

CC&S #334

Hello! It's been a busy day. I was really last minute with this one. I hate waiting until the last minute. It seems life has been too busy for me lately, maybe it will calm down once school starts tomorrow. I sure hope so. Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #333

Happy Tuesday! Lots has happened since I shared last week. My family and I enjoyed a lovely vacation on the east coast, school preparations , and my doctor I work with was honored by the ASRS (American Society of Retina Surgeons) with a major award named in his honor. The office couldn't be more proud, he is a great doctor to work for. Now on to the card, I used a MFT stamp and distress oxides as I don't own this week's colors ( YIKES) . Now I must go check on my teens, they are cleaning their room.... without being asked.... Thanks for stopping by.

THAIC #53

Hello! It's been a bit since we had a challenge, so I've been catching up on other things. I've been trying to be better organised in my craft area, not going so well yet. I keep losing things due to my piles of stuff. Any tips to get better organised?

CC&S #332

Greetings! I'm sharing my card for our double challenge. I pondering a few different ideas for this sketch/color combo, but ended up using a flower stamp in the end. I used my new favorite floral stamp from the greetery, anyone shopped there yet? So I'll be off on vacation when this posts, really looking forward to the time away. Life has been really busy lately and so family time is much needed at this point. Where are we headed to you ask .... Scranton PA, why? my oldest is a HUGE fan of the office and hubs is planning to take his senior pictures there. We are planning to hit a few other places after, Salem, Boston, Newport, Mystic.... places with things to do besides checking out the lighthouses. Our kids complain if all we do is go to lighthouses. I hope everyone has a great week.

CC&S #331

Hello! I'm back with a new card to share for this week's sketch challenge. I used a couple scrap pieces from an alcohol ink project. I have not been feeling very inspired lately. Anyone else get into a slump ? Mine has been bad for awhile. I tried cleaning my apace up ( that usually helps) , no luck. Hopefully it resolves soon , as I'm signed up for a couple craft shows in the fall and should get working on those now. Thanks for stopping by today.

CC&S #330

Hello! I'm back with a card for this week's color challenge. I liked pushing myself to try new colors. So what is new and exciting with all of you? Not much on my end, it's very hot here so I've been staying indoors and following updates on "Chance the snapper" . So if you aren't from the Chicago area, Chance the snapper is the name people gave to the alligator (yes a real one) that has taken up residence in a local park pond. The news has been covering it for about a week now. Yes, completely ridiculous , but in 100 degree heat what else is there to do? Thanks for stopping by today, now off to check for an update... LOL!