Let It Snow

Belated Merry Christmas wishes to all of you who celebrate Christmas! I hope you enjoyed a wonderful holiday with your loved ones!

I know "Let It Snow" are the last three words many of you want to hear, but here in Virginia we have yet to get anything more than a light dusting. I'm ready for some snow! Today's card is my sample for both Jen del Muro's Sketch for You To Try and for this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner, which is to use something clear on your card. Very little stamping today - just the "Let it Snow" sentiment (by Verve) on the tag. My clear element is a clear button on the snowflake/tag stack. At the bottom of the stack is a Bazzill chipboard snowflake. I coated it with some coarse Martha Stewart snow glitter, then topped it with a felt snowflake, the clear button and the tag. The rest is pretty straightforward, but if you have questions, just ask!

The rest of the SFYTT team's samples can be found here:

Jen (where you'll find the sketch and guest designer Lynn Put's GORGEOUS sample ... Lynn has another one on her blog, The Queen's Scene. Thanks for playing with us this month, Lynn!)
Amy
Carole
Shannan
Susan

All of the OCC's projects can be found on the OCC blog. For more designer chitchat, visit their indivdual blogs:

Cindy Haffner
Dawn Easton
Denise Marzec
Jennifer Meyer
Julee Tilman
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynda Benden

And check this out ... the UBER-talented Jen Tapler is Our Creative Corner's guest this week!! She is AMAZING!

That's it for me today ... thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll play along with one or both challenges this week!



Stamps: Winter Wonder (Verve)
Paper: Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Ski Slope dp (SU!)
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze
Accessories: spellbinders tag die, clear button, burlap string, SU felt snowflake, Bazzill chipboard snowflake, olive ribbon, paper piercer, sewing machine, sponge dauber
Size: 5 1/2" square

Lovey Dovey First Kiss

I am so lucky to have made so many stamping friends over the past year! This week, I've received some amazing handmade cards and goodies. Among those goodies was a stack of pre-stamped Sarah Kay images tucked inside a gorgeous Christmas card from Michelle at Stamper's Dream. One of the images, called First Kiss, was perfect for today's challenge from Our Creative Corner.

Julee Tilman, our December host, is celebrating her 11th wedding anniversary with the love of her life, her awesome husband Mark. If you've been to any of Verve's online release parties, you'll know Mark as Mr. Verve on SCS, and he really IS awesome! The fact that he knows what SCS is, much less has a user ID, makes him awesome in my book. Anyway, Julee's challenge for us is to make our best lovey dovey projects. Think anniversary, Valentine's, or anything for that special person in your life. See what I mean about First Kiss being perfect? It's just the sweetest! And how about that sentiment? From Verve, of course. The set is called Fairy Tales, and it's a fantastic mix of {mostly} sentiments.

Check out the Our Creative Corner blog for all the challenge particulars, plus samples from all the OCC designers. I lovey dovey these girls . For more chitchat on the samples, visit the individual designers' blogs.

Cindy Haffner
Dawn Easton
Denise Marzec
Jennifer Meyer
Julee Tilman
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynda Benden

And how about this: check out who we were lucky enough to snag as our guest designer - Jackie Pedro!! Woo hoo Jackie - so glad to have you this week!

Something else I lovey dovey is when YOU play along! Leave a comment on the OCC blog with a link to your creation so we can check it out. If you upload to SCS, use keyword OCCC (that's three C's). And YOU will lovey dovey this week's prize ... a randomly chosen challenge participant will win a $30 Verve gift certificate!

This card doubles as my sample for Jen del Muro's Sketch for You to Try for the week. This sketch is definitely a keeper for any sketch library - perfect for all of your larger, vertical images especially. Visit Jen at i{heart}2stamp to see the sketch, Jen's sample, and guest designer Lynn Put's sample. Amy, Carole, Shannan, and Susan have samples, too. To play along, leave Jen a comment with a link to your project. If you upload to SCS, use keyword: SFYTT. Can't wait to see what you create!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!



Stamps: Sarah Kay First Kiss (Stampavie); Fairy Tales (Verve Stamps)
Paper: SU Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red and Old Olive; Neenah 80# Solar White; SU Holiday Treasure dp
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; SU Chocolate Chip classic and craft; Ranger Antique Linen Distress ink
Accessories: Copic markers; SU ribbon, buttons, sponge daubers, sponges, dimensionals, clear embossing powder, paper piercer, and scallop border punch; Nestabilities; Pink Hedgehog Papercrafts burlap string; Close to My Heart paper flowers; Boss Kut flourish die-cut; sewing machine and brown thread
Size: 5 1/4" square

Two CASEs and a Friday Funny

I used scraps from these cards and CASE'd this card to crank out two more Christmas cards for my oldest son's teachers. I really, really love these blue and green papers from K&Co's Christmas Cheer pack! Here they are:





And the inside:





Have you seen the Anita Renfroe Mom's Overture? It's been circulating for a while, but here's another take on the original that's worth a look (especially if you missed the original). Thanks to my friend Sandra for emailing a link to this blog post with the new video.


The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

[By the way, the video takes a LONG time to load (at least it does for me, and I have a decent high-speed connection), so be patient. Just when you think it's not working, it starts.]

That's it for me today. Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you manana for my regular Saturday SFYTT and OCCC challenges!

O Come All Ye Faithful

Here's another look at that gorgeous Christmas church set, Worship the Lord, available from Our Daily Bread Designs. I was going for a design here that I could make multiples of fairly easily (clean layout, no designer paper), and then I got carried away with the stick-on pearls and the little ribbon flowers. I just can't help it! I've resigned myself to the fact that there will be no mass-producing this Christmas. Which is perfectly fine, since I have decided to send photo cards this year (a first!) - our appointment is this evening and turnaround is only a few hours. I could conceivably get them in the mail tomorrow!

I colored the image with Copic markers, then used some liquid applique for the snow and added some Golden Wheat Shimmerz (coming soon, soon, soon to the Our Daily Bread Designs store) to the windows. I love the way Cindy Haffner ran her image through the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder to look like snow on this card, so I gave it a try here. I dotted each dot on the church with a white gel pen, but it looked way too uniform, so I added some extra random white dots. Hopefully, it looks a little bit like you're looking at the church through falling snow. I created the diamond dry embossed pattern on the red background panel with my Scor-Pal.

Here's a look at the inside. The sentiment, also part of the Worship the Lord set, is heat embossed.



Thanks for stopping by today!




Stamps: Worship the Lord (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Paper: Birchtone, Blush Red, and White Prismatics card stock (Prism)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Copic markers, Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, liquid applique, white gel pen, Golden Wheat Shimmerz, stick-on pearls (source unknown), pre-made, handstitched ribbon flowers and white satin ribbon (Offray), Martha Stewart lace border punch, Scor-Pal, clear embossing powder, dimensionals
Size: 5 1/4" square

Fan Club Sneak Peek

It's been a while, huh? More on that another time, but right now, I have some really, really exciting news to share!! I know a lot of you are already familiar with the SCS Fan Club and the monthly Dirty Dozen gallery. In case you're not, each month, the Splitcoast Design Team, aka the Dirty Dozen, dirty girls, dirt pile, etc., get to create projects around a monthly theme, and then on the 15th of the month (that's today!), the gallery is opened up to the Fan Club members. Well, this month, Splitcoast has a big ol' gift for everyone - the December Fan Club Gallery is open to EVERYONE! Head on over and get registered as a member (it's FREE), then feast your eyes on this month's gallery! [June, that means you, too!]

Even more exciting than the opening of the gallery is the announcement of the two newest Dirty Girls. Each month, two designers rotate out, making room for two new ones. And this month's pair is a sure hit! It's a rockin' mother-daughter team: Dawn Lusk (DawnL) and Amber Hillman (bambi64). They've both dazzled us with their creations this month - you MUST see!

If the many perks of a Fan Club membership sound appealing, a one-year membership can be yours for the special holiday price of only $19.95 (regular price $24.95). Already a member? Consider giving Fan Club memberships as gifts!

From a purely selfish standpoint, I'm so excited about the gallery being public because I spend sooooo much of my stamping time on these projects and then can't show them here (sniff, sniff). This month, you can see some of what's been keeping me so busy that I haven't been blogging as much. How about a preview?



And a close-up?




See that fuzzy collar?! I used some Baby Pink Flower Soft to get that look. Her friend has an Ivory Flower Soft boa, and there's some on the pink lady's fuzzy boots, too. This stuff is soooooo cool! And super easy to use!

Now don't wait another minute ... run, run, run visit the complete gallery. Enjoy!

Snow Wonderful

I was more than a little afraid of today's SCS color challenge colors (Riding Hood Red, Taken With Teal, and Baja Breeze) - after all, anything with Taken With Teal is scary. But I ended up really liking the wintry feel of this combo.

The adorable snowman and sentiment are from Verve's new Snow Wonderful set. For the snow, I layered some torn strips of white, then glittered the edges with Frosted Lace Stickles. The white snowflakes were punched with the Martha Stewart snowflake punch and also coated with Frosted Lace Stickles.

Hope you have a wonderful day!



Stamps: Snow Wonderful (Verve Stamps)
Paper: SU Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Taken With Teal
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: brush-tip Fantastix (for coloring the scarf), Take with Teal and Pumpkin Pie markers, Frosted Lace Stickles, Martha Stewart lace border punch and snowflake punch, Snowflakes Cuttlebug folder, clear embossing powder, Riding Hood Red striped ribbon, 1/4" circle punch, SU Vintage brads, mini glue dots

Spellbound!

All I'm doing these days is making more Christmas cards! It's about the time of year when I tell dh we're just going to send out the photo cards and call it done. Honestly, this might be the year I break down and do it :)

For now, though, here are two more. This first one is my sample for Jen's awesome Sketch for You To Try this week. I love this non-traditional color combo! The patterned papers are all from the K&Co Christmas Cheer mat pack. I also got to play with some new Spellbinders products that came this week. I used the Labels 2 Nestabilities for the olive panel, and I used the Victorian Border Piercabilities for the decorative edge on the blue patterned vertical strip. The fun trim is something I found at Hancock Fabrics yesterday. The ornament is chipboard that's been covered with dp and embellished. I used a ton of "pearl" dew drops for accents.

Check out the sketch, Jen's sample, and a sample from the NEW guest designer at i{heart}2stamp. The rest of the crew has put together some awesome samples, too:

Amy
Carole
Shannan
Susan


Next up is my sample for this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner. Julee Tilman is our host this month, and she's starting us out with a fun sketch challenge. Here's my take:




For this one, I again used the Labels 2 Nestabilities on the sentiment panel. The poinsettia is a combination of Making Memories, Prima, and the Martha Stewart branch punch. The edges of most of the panels as well as the card base have been edged with a thin band of gold. I just dragged my Encore gold metallic pad across the edges. The white poinsettia has been painted with Angel Wings Shimmerz. Along the bottom, you can see some dry embossing and piercing that I did with the Victorian Border Piercabilities.

Be sure to check out the sketch at Our Creative Corner. You'll also find all the details on this week's PRIZE, generously provided by Alma de la Rosa of The Cat's Pajamas. Thank you for joining us, Alma! She also made the most beautiful sketch sample! As usual, you'll find samples from the OCC regulars there, too, and guess what, Laurie Schmidlin is back playing this week. We've missed you Laurie! For more chitchat about their projects, visit their blogs:

Cindy Haffner
Dawn Easton
Denise Marzec
Jennifer Meyer
Julee Tilman
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynda Benden

I received some questions yesterday about where to get the Shimmerz. I bought my Angel Wings a month or two ago at Jacksonbelle Embellishments. Now there is a Shimmerz blog, where you can find a list of online stores that carry them, including My Favorite Things and soon Our Daily Bread Designs, as well as tons of how-to and inspiration. They are great!!

Also, my friend Angel suggested I show my decorated insides. These are both very simple. I'll add an inside sentiment when I'm ready to send these:





Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!



Stamps: Ornamental Christmas (first card, Verve Stamps); All Year Cheer (second card, Stampin' Up)
Paper: Christmas Cheer mat pack (K&Co); SU Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Garden Green, Encore Gold Metallic
Accessories: Labels 2 Nestabilities and Victorian Border Piercabilities (Spellbinders); gold and pearl dew drops, SU ivory taffeta ribbon, Offray wide satin ribbon, Making Memories Christmas Blossoms, Prima leaves, Martha Stewart branch and snowflake punches, gold stickles, SU gold metallic grosgrain, foam adhesive, Angel Wings Shimmerz, chipboard ornament (source unknown), gold cord, Wright's trim, paper piercer
Sizes: SYFTT card is 5 1/2" square; OCC card is standard A2 (4 1/4 x 5 1/2)

Christmas Elegance

I combined this week's SCS color challenge and sketch challenge to make today's card. I love, love, love the crisp elegance of this neutral color combo! See the shimmery snowflakes? Or maybe you can't see the shimmer very well? I punched them from Very Vanilla using the Martha Stewart snowflake punch, then painted them with Angel Wings Shimmerz (I can't say it enough ... I love this stuff!!). They are each topped with 1/4" Sahara Sand circles and a K&Co stick-on pearl.

The ornament image and sentiment are from Ornamental Christmas by Verve Stamps, and the snowflakes I stamped on the inside are from Snowflake Splendor, also by Verve. The set includes a few different ornament images, as well as a bunch of different holiday sentiments, all designed to fit in the middle band of the ornament. I stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and then heat embossed. The band is colored with Copic markers (W1-warm gray and 100-black), and then painted with Angel Wings Shimmerz, just like the snowflakes. I also colored over all the black mats with a black Spica glitter pen. When the light catches it just right, it's ooo-la-la sparkly. Last, I added some black satin ribbon and a punched bottom border.

Here's a detail shot of all that sparkle and shine:



Right now, you can save 10% on the Ornamental Elegance stamp set during Verve's holiday sale! All month long, select sets are discounted between 10% and 20%, and this one is part of the sale. As are quite a few other winter sets, plus a whole bunch more!

Last, I'm hoping this card also qualifies for today's 12 Days of Christmas challenge on Papercraft Planet. Verve is today's sponsor, and the challenge is to make a project that is all black and white. Optional: add a small splash of color. Enter your project by midnight tonight (EST) for a chance to win a prize from Verve! Hope you can play! (You don't have to use Verve stamps, by the way.) Now I've gotta go figure out how to start an album on PCP - haven't done that part yet :) [Update: I did it! Easy peasy :)]

As always, thanks so much for visiting. I know my posts have been getting more and more sporadic here lately. My youngest, who's 18 months old now, is transitioning from two naps to one. Ack!!! There goes a chunk of my stamp time! I've also been working on my dirty dozen projects plus all the usual holiday stuff (stamping and otherwise). I don't know when things will get back to normal, but I'm sure it won't be this month! Thanks for your patience. I know we're pretty much all in the same boat this time of year. I'll keep posting as often as I can! And I'll try to make things extra, extra pretty in case they have to stay up top a few days (grin).



Stamps: Ornamental Elegance (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Basic Black, The Story of Us dp (ATD)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: clear embossing powder, W1 and 100 Copic markers, black Spica pen, Angel Wings Shimmerz, Nestabilities, Offray ribbon, Martha Stewart snowflake punch and border punch, Scor-Pal, 1/4" circle punch, K&Co pearls, foam adhesive

Rejoice!

Here's another look at that gorgeous winter church from Worshop the Lord by Our Daily Bread Designs. It's available TODAY, along with an advent wreath set called I Wait For the Lord. I know lots of stampers have been waiting for this release. It's such a great one! And thank you so, so much for all the comments on my Christmas Church card from last week. I didn't expect anything like that kind of a response! But truly - it's the beautiful image that does all the hard work! Be sure to visit the ODBD gallery for more ideas for both sets.

I stamped on watercolor paper and colored with a combination of Stampin' Up markers, reinkers, an aqua painter, and sponges. The snow on the ground is done with Dazzling Diamonds glitter from SU, and the snow on the roof is done with a Sakura Stardust gel pen. The flowers are by Prima. I got the idea to make the sentiment into a banner from the amazing Anna Wight. It's tacked down at the left and right and bows out in the middle. You can't see it very well in the photo, but I added two score lines just above the lacy punched border.

Thanks for stopping by! And how did it get to be December, by the way?!




Stamps: Worship the Lord (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; Riding Hood Red, Cranberry Crisp, Baroque Burgundy, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Going Gray, Bashful Blue, Basic Black reinkers and/or markers
Paper: Canson watercolor paper; SU Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White, and Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Prima flowers, SU riding hood red taffeta, Vintage brads, paper piercer, distressing tool, sponges, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, Martha Stewart lace border punch
Size: 5 1/4" square