Thinking of You for Monkey 88

Merry Christmas! This card is for the latest challenge over at A La Card Monkey. This week's challenge is Thinking of You plus sketch. The card I made uses Tempting Turquoise card stock as the base, then I think it's Daffodil Delight cardstock, but I'm not sure. The DSP is from the Playdates pattern. The ribbon is Old Olive. The image is from the Pines and Poinsettias stamp set in the Holiday mini catalog. I colored in the stamp with Old Olive, Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight markers. The sentiment is from a set that I found at Michaels. I used Melon Mambo, Old Olive and Tempting Turquoise markers to color it.

Here's the sketch:

Isn't the monkey cute? And how appropriate for a Monkey challenge. 

Gift Tags from scraps

I haven't been able to find the box that contains gift tags and various other gift-wrapping supplies. I had to move it from the closet where it "lived" when we had a furnace installed in that closet earlier this year. The whole thing reminds me of my mother - she used to put things away and could never find them again. lol.

Anyway, the time had come to wrap presents and I needed gift tags. So I went to my stamping room, opened the drawer where I keep scraps of card stock and paper, got out my oval punch, scalloped oval punch, decorative label punch, scalloped round punch, and stocking die and got to work. Here's the results:

The "To/From" stamp is from the A Holly Jolly Christmas stamp set. You can see that I also used one of the stamps from the Four Frames set. After I took the photo, I added a little Christmas tree to the white stocking.

I took this picture because I didn't think that the dark green showed up very well against the brown in the first picture.

This was a variation that I did today. In all, it only took me about 45 minutes to make about 2 dozen gift tags.

Pop-up for Winter Wednesday

It's the last week for Shirley's Winter Wednesday blog hop.

I chose to do something different this week - a pop-up gift card holder. It was HARD! But I got to play with my new Big Shot :).  I found the directions on the splitcoaststampers site. Here's the front of the card:

I embossed the front with the dotted folder. The Christmas tree, star and ornaments are a die cut. The Christmas banner and holly are from the Pines & Poinsettias stamp set. Santa is from the A Holly Jolly Christmas stamp set. He is stamped in Real Red and Basic Black. Real Red is also used for the holly berries and sponged around the sides. A band of frostwood lodge DSP holds the card closed. Here's the back view:

The little Santa hats are brads that I found at Joann's. A length of Cherry Cobbler baker's twine completes the closure. And when you open up the card, here's what you'll find:

The two papers are again from the Frostwood Lodge DSP. The sentiment is from the Christmas Lodge DSP and the holly is another die cut. I used the decorative label punch to cut out the red background for the sentiment. Since I didn't have an envelope for the gift card itself, I made one out of regular paper.

Monkey 87 Guest Designer

I'm a Guest Designer this week over at A La Card Monkey. The Challenge this week is to create a birthday card using their sketch:

Cute pig isn't it?

Anyway, getting back to the card. Since I, myself, have a birthday in December, I wanted my card to look as different from any holiday card as I could get it. AND my husband gave me a Big Shot for my birthday, so I wanted to use it right away! The basic card is made from Certainly Celery card stock. I embossed some Tempting Turquoise card stock with a floral embossing folder. I then sponged Marina Mist on the embossing to bring it out a bit and add some shadows. The image is one half of the flower stamp from Pines and Poinsettias stamp set. (I noticed that the flower looked like the embossed flower) I colored in the partial stamp using my Marina Mist and Certainly Celery markers and sponged MM around the edges. Then I layered it with Tempting Turquoise and CC. The sentiment is a stampabilities stamp, again in Marina Mist. The white satin ribbon is from Michaels and the rhinestone brads were another birthday present.

Now go make your own card and join the challenge!

Winter Wednesday Co-winner

My Snoopy on a wreath card was a co-winner for this week's Winter Wednesday Blog Hop! I'm really honored to be picked. Even though Shirley says I didn't play fair by including Snoopy LOL. I know that she loves Snoopy, but so do I! In fact, some might say I'm obsessed! This is the last week for Shirley's Winter Wednesday Blog Hop  so go over there and join the fun! I may have a card to add later in the week.

Snoopy on wreath

I created this card for Challenge 86 over at A La Card Monkey. They have blog candy this week! The basic card is white cardstock, then I layered Frostwood Lodge DSP over Real Red cardstock. The 2 DSPs are actually the same paper front and back. I stamped Snoopy & the wreath on white cardstock using Stazon black. I cut it out after I colored it in with markers. The wreath itself is colored with Old Olive, the ribbon is Real Red. The lights on the wreath are various other markers. I distressed the edge of the Real Red circle before attaching the wreath with dimensionals. I don't know if you can tell or not, but glitter has been added to Snoopy and the ribbon. I stamped the greeting on the DSP and attached it and the RR glimmer brads to the scalloped oval (also in RR). Here's the sketch for this week's challenge:

I'm also adding this card to Shirley's Winter Wednesday Christmas Blog Hop. Only one more blog hop after this, just Dec. 14th. AND there's blog candy this week too!

 Just a few simple rules:
1. Anything goes, card, 3D project, it just has to be Christmas.
2. Add badge to post with link back to Shirley's blog.
3. Has to be a new post.
4. Add the hop to your post.

Thank-you Update

My card was picked as one of the honorable mentions over at A La Card Monkey this week. As a result, I'll be a guest designer again for one of the upcoming challenges. Is that Cool or what?

Thank-you for Monkey 85

Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas season has begun. Over at A La Card Monkey, the challenge this week is to create a Thank-you card. Definitely something that we're going to need in a few weeks. I took time out from decorating my house to create this card:

It's another monochromatic card, but I seem to like them LOL. The basic cardstock is Certainly Celery. You can't really tell from the photo, but the darker olive green paper is glitter paper. Since this is the winter season, I used some leftover snowflake paper from one of my Christmas cards for the background. The sentiment is from the Engraved Greetings set and is stamped in Old Olive (likewise Snoopy). The glimmer brads are from the brights set and the white satin ribbon finishes it off.  Here's the challenge sketch:



Now it's back to the decorations!

Pine cones and Holly

They're up to Challenge # 84 already over at A La Card Monkey! The sketches just keep coming. This was another "Anything Goes + sketch" Challenge.  First the sketch:



Now my card:

I used Garden Green cardstock with Frostwood Lodge DSP. The image is from the Pines and Poinsettias stamp set. I used Early Espresso and Real Red markers on the stamp. Then, because I don't happen to have a Garden Green marker, I carefully sponged it onto the stamp from my stamp pad. I stamped the image 4 times, once in each corner to get the wreath effect. I mounted it on a square of Early Espresso cardstock and attached it with dimensionals. The ribbon is SUs Mistletoe.

I'm also adding this to Shirley's Christmas Blog Hop:

Guest Designer and Blog Hop

This week I'm one of the guest designers at A La Card Monkey for Monkey Challenge 83. This week's sketch is simple:

Isn't it cute? Just stamp 3 figures and embellish! The theme is All Holidays. Here's my card:

I used the reindeer stamp from the Holly Jolly Christmas set. I stamped them in Soft Suede and colored in their harnesses with Real Red (also for Rudolph's nose - you have to have a Rudolph after all!). Their eyes, hooves and the other two noses are colored with Basic Black. The card itself is Real Red cardstock. The DSP is Frostwood Lodge from the Holiday catalog. The Christmas banner is from the Pines & Poinsettias stamp set (also in the Holiday catalog), it's stamped in Glorious Green to match the DSP. I joined the reindeer together with Cherry Cobbler bakers twine (I also used the bakers twine at the top join between the white cardstock & DSP. I think that the buttons make the reindeer look like little pull toys.

I'm also adding this to Shirley's Winter Wednesday Blog Hop.

It's just a few rules:
1. Add the badge to your blog with a link back to Shirley's blog.
2. Anything goes - just has to be Christmas.
3. Has to be a new post.
4. Add the hop to your post.

So come on and join the fun!

Birthday wishes for Monkey 82

It was Anything Goes + sketch for the challenge this week at A La Card Monkey. I needed a birthday card for a friend this week, so it seemed a good choice. The card itself is Marina Mist cardstock with a layer of blue plaid glittery paper. On top of that is a strip of Bridesmaid cardstock with lattice-punched MM on top. The ribbon is also MM. The image is the cupcake from the It's a loop thing stamp set. I stamped the image in Early Espresso, then colored in the cupcake with Bashful Blue and added Dazzling Diamonds to the "frosting".

Here's the sketch for the challenge:

Christmas Blog-hop week one

Princess Shirley is hosting a new weekly Christmas blog-hop each week from now until then over at Look at My Cute Stuff. It's an anything-goes-as-long-as-it's-Christmas theme. I've been playing with some of my new stuff and decided to make a card based on what looks like a gift bag in the mini-holiday catalog. Here's my card:

The card base is Real Red cardstock. I punched out the white scallop trim and attached it to a piece of Glorious Green cardstock.  I stamped the tree from the Christmas Lodge stamp set in pine on Glorious Green cardstock and cut it out. I added some glitter to the tree. I don't think the glitter shows up very well in the photo, but you can see a little sparkle here & there. I attached the tree with dimensionals on top of the layer of GG and Frostwood Lodge DSP. The sentiment is also from the Christmas Lodge stamp set and I stamped it in pine on white cardstock and hand cut the ends. Then I sponged Real Red around the edges.

Woo-hoo I'm a Princess!!

Wow! I'm a Monkey Princess this week. My card was picked for challenge 81 over at the A La Card Monkey site. Thanks Terry Su & Shirley Su. Besides bragging rights, I'll be a guest designer for an upcoming challenge.

Thank-you Friend

Today's card is for the latest challenge over at A La Card Monkey. The challenge was to make a thank-you or friend card using the sketch below:



I just got some of the new Frostwood Lodge dsp, and I couldn't wait to use it. This plaid contains Cherry Cobbler and Marina Mist. I punched a decorative edge from Cherry Cobbler cardstock, stamped the deer image from the Forest Friends set in Marina Mist and one of the sentiments from Happy Greetings in Cherry Cobbler. I backed it with Marina Mist cardstock & attached it with dimensionals. The circle tag is from the Punch Bunch stamp set - here's a close-up:

I stamped it with Marina Mist and tied it to the satin MM ribbon with Cherry Cobbler/white baker's twine. I used my paper piercer to make the hole for hanging and I trimmed the circle to the edge and cut another one from the MM cardstock so it would have a wider border.

Another Christmas Card

The challenge this week at A La Card Monkey allows one to pick any occasion to make a card. I chose Christmas. The sketch this week is kind of fun:


I had a lot of fun making this card:

The images and sentiments come from several different stamp sets: Christmas Classics, To You & Yours, A Holly Jolly Christmas and Four Frames. I used markers to color in the stamps. The colors I used were Real Red, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron and Basic Gray. The card itself is Glorious Green. You can't see the paper very well under the squares, but it's a patchwork pattern of red & green, so my squares fit right in with the patchwork theme. I punched the squares with my postage punch and sponged Real Red around the edges.

The satin "we wish you a merry christmas" ribbon I picked up at Michaels. And of course I punched the Merry Christmas sentiment using the decorative label punch.

I'm also entering this card in the Winter Wonderland weekly challenge.

Christmas in October

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've done any cards. Actually, I guess I can. First my husband was hospitalized for 2 weeks with pneumonia, then we left for a much-needed and anticipated vacation in Hawaii. Since we've been back, it's been slow going getting back into the swing of things.

This week's challenge at A la Card Monkey is another Christmas card. Here's the sketch:

 

The instructions from Terry and Shirley said the images could be any shape, and to have fun. So I used my favorite punch - the decorative label punch of course - to make the shapes. Here's how it turned out:

The stockings are embellishments that I got from Michaels. They were all glittered up and just begging for a chance to be used. The card itself is Cherry Cobbler cardstock and the green snowflake paper is something I had in my stash. The sentiment is from the "To you & yours" set. I stamped it in Cherry Cobbler on white cardstock, punched it out with my oval punch and sponged around the edge before sticking it to the scalloped ovals. The ribbon on the tag is flocked with red stripes.

Christmas Monkey

It's another Christmas card challenge at A La Card Monkey this week.


Cute sketch huh? I must admit that when I'm making Christmas cards, I sing carols LOL. Anyway, here's my entry for this week's challenge:

It's not your typical red & green, but I thought that the snowy houses on the DSP went well with the image from the "To you & yours" stamp set. Everything is stamped in Marina Mist, then I colored in the windows with So Saffron to make them glow. The snow on the roof & ground have been "enhanced" with glitter. The sentiment is also from To you & yours, but it's framed by one of the Four Frames set. I added pearls to the sentiment to complement the pearls that are on the silk poinsettias.

Autumn Leaves and pumpkins

I can't believe it's almost September! We just started getting summer weather here in the Pacific NW and now it's fall! Anyway, Terry Su & Shirley Su have challenged everyone to make an Autumn card for Challenge 71 at A La Card Monkey. Here's this week's sketch:



Here's my card:

I needed a thank-you card to send to a friend, so this works perfectly. I started with a base of Daffodil Delight (even though Daffodils are spring flowers, the color works great for an autumn theme. I added a layer of Early Espresso and some leafy DSP that I found at Michaels. I stamped the pumpkin image using Pumpkin Pie and Wild Wasabi inks. I punched it with the Decorative Label punch and added a layer of Ice Cream Parlor DSP under it, again punched with the Decorative Label punch. The Early Espresso grosgrain ribbon is below that. The sentiment is from the Pretty Postage stamp set in the summer mini. It is also stamped and distressed in Pumpkin Pie. I used the Postage Punch on it and added a layer of the same Ice Cream Parlor DSP underneath it - again punched from the postage punch. Both the sentiment & the pumpkin were attached with dimensionals.

Going Batty for Monkey 70

It's a Halloween theme this week at A la Card Monkey. This week's sketch is below:


Kind of spooky huh? I don't have a lot of Halloween stuff (just check out the name of the blog and you'll understand why LOL). But I made do:

I bought the bat stamp and the DSP at Michaels. The bats are stamped with Staz-on Jet black. The glittery paper behind the bats and sentiment is from my stash. I found the plastic bat embellishment at Michaels too. I printed out the "Trick or Treat" on my computer and then stuck it in the center of the Decorative Label.

Halloween Monday Monster Mash-up

This is the 2nd week for Shirley's Halloween count-down Monday Monster Mash-up challenge.
Here's the card that I did for this week's blog-hop:

I started with a Crumb Cake base, then added an Early Espresso layer topped with some Pawsitively Prints DSP. The large owl is punched from Early Espresso card stock and the same DSP. For his "treat bag" I used the shopping stamp from the "Things I Love" set. The ink is Pumpkin Pie. Bet you don't recognize the tree - it's the tree from the Forest Friends set without it's leaves. (It's also backwards since I stamped it on the Early Espresso card stock and then cut it out.) The little owl in the tree is stamped with Early Espresso and then cut out. The moon in the background is glittery white cardstock punched with a one-inch circle punch. The ribbon is SU's striped grosgrain. I don't have many Halloween stamps, so I typed the sentiment up on my computer and printed it out, then accented it with the Pumpkin Pie marker and punched it with the decorative label punch.

Sympathy for Monkey This week

This week's theme at A La Card Monkey is Sympathy or Thinking of You with the following sketch:



(nice lighthouse BTW)

Here's my take on the theme:

I started with a basic white cardstock then layered grey with some Paisley Petals DSP, then more grey and Marina Mist lattice. The sentiment is stamped with Marina Mist. The white ribbon is a glittery gauzy-type from my stash.

Anything Goes for Monkey 68

So this week's challenge over at A la Card Monkey is to create a card for any occasion with any color combination while following the sketch:



Cute sketch isn't it? After thinking about it, I decided to do a Christmas card (after all, it won't be much longer before holiday cards are needed - can you believe we're already past the 1st week in August?!?!?!?) Here's my card:

I started with a Crumb Cake base and layered some green and holiday papers. I punched the bottom of the "flags" with a scalloped square punch for a different effect.  I stamped the image and the sentiment with Crumb Cake and added a Crumb Cake layer behind the image. I used one of the four frames stamps with some green ink and punched it out with my decorative label punch. Then I punched the sentiment out with my oval punch and attached it with dimensionals to the label. The dove & the sentiment come from the "To You and Yours" stamp set. The card is topped off with Cherry Cobbler baker's twine.

Tri-fold Whimsical Wednesday

Here is a tri-fold shutter card that I case'd from Durango509 at splitcoaststampers. I used different dsp's, a different shape for the sentiment, a different kind of ribbon and the base card is red, not green. Santa, the reindeer, the sentiment and some of the trees come from the A Holly Jolly Christmas stamp set. The reindeer are linked together with Cherry Cobbler baker's twine. Cherry Cobbler was used for Santa and for the sentiment. I used Real Red to color in Rudolph's nose and the jingle bell harnesses. The jingle bells themselves are Daffodil Delight.  Here's another view so you can see the center:

I'm entering this card in the Whimsical Wednesdays Fun with Folds challenge.

Celebrate, Celebrate Dance to the Music

It's Celebration time at A La Card Monkey for challenge 67! This week's sketch was pretty simple:


The only real requirement was the pennants at the top.  So here's my card:

Who better than Snoopy to celebrate someone's birthday. He even does his little "happy" dance. Not to be outdone, Woodstock joins in by adorning the pennants. The shiny yellow paper that I used makes it a little difficult in the photo to see him, so here's a close-up:

The card is a crumb cake base with playdate DSP. Snoopy sits atop layers of Early Espresso, Crumb Cake and Marina Mist. Inks used are Early Espresso (Snoopy), Chocolate Chip (Woodstock) and Marina Mist (the sentiment). The pennants are made from scraps of Early Espresso, Marina Mist and some other non-SU cardstock.