this little life of mine

So, before I jump into my amazing vacation to Paris, I would like to go back and share a card I made for my cousin and his wife for their Baby Fiesta that was held just before I left. It was a really lovely and super fun party, and it was nice to spend some time catching up with my uncle (my aunt was busy helping with the party, so we didn't get to chat much). They didn't actually want cards, but instead asked for books that we were to sign to be shared with the baby later on. My mom and I did that as well (we got Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and What Do You Do With An Idea? by Kobi Yamada), but sorry, not sorry, I'm still making a card!

The "superbaby" stamp is from Dreamerland Crafts, and I stamped it with Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black, and coloured it using Prismacolor pencils. The sentiment (Congrats) was stamped using the same black ink, and is from the "Bundle of Joy" set by Altenew. I used a wonky stitched rectangle die from My Favorite Things to cut out the image, and layered it over a piece of plaid pattered paper which I believe was from the Tim Holtz Christmas pattered paper pad. Then, I adhered it to a white card base. Pretty simple, but I think it turned out really cute!

Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

So, I finished all my Christmas Cards and got them all mailed off. I like the two designs I came up with (one for the Holiday Card Exchange I participate in, and the other for my immediate family and friends), but I recently purchased the "Winter Scene" stamp and coordinating die set from Simon Says Stamp, and I just HAD to play with it! This set is SO adorable! There's a  frame with a snowy hillside,  and several smaller stamps you can use to build sweet little scenes including a small house (which I didn't use), two deer, pine trees, mountains, the moon and stars, and a string of lights. It also has a few sentiments like "Merry Christmas" and "May all your wishes come true".  I had a few pieces of flannel printed cardstock left over from my earlier cards, and whipped together this little design:

I coloured everything with Prismacolor pencils and used gamsol to blend out the sky. I used my clear Wink of Stella pen to add sparkle to the Christmas lights, the moon and stars, and the snow on the trees, mountains, and hillside. I then used my Glossy Accents on the Christmas lights and the moon and stars for extra shine, and a little dimension. I adhered it to the plaid cardstock, stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment underneath,  and put it all on a pre-folded white card base. It took about an hour all together to make this card, but it was a lot of fun, and I'm glad a decided to play with this stamp set before putting all my Christmas  stamps away for the season! Cheers!

I previously shared the Holiday Card I made for this year's card exchange, and here now is the "friends and family" Christmas card I made:

I kept this design simple so it was really easy to made the 10 cards in just a couple weekends.  I used the “love peace joy” ornament and sentiment from the Gina K  stamp set "Joy of the Season" from the Simon Says Stamp Stamptember release (sorry, I can't find the link to it anymore ... it must've sold out!), and embossed it with detail gold embossing powder from PSX on green paper. The panel was then cut using a Simon Says Stamp stitched edge rectangle die, and attached to either a plaid panel from the Tim Holtz Christmas paper pack or the flourish paper from Mistletoe and Pear (sorry, no link for that either. I've had it several years, though, and purchased it at Michael's) which was then adhered to a pre-scored white card base. I believe they are Recollections brand. As for my Christmas Letter, I've had this Christmas stationery for a while and don't remember who makes it, but it worked out really well for this year's letter which primarily featured my awesome vacation to London and Paris. 

I think everything turned out really nice this year, and it was all super easy to mass produce! I even got my cards and letters mailed by the 17th as I had hoped! Now I can just relax and enjoy the holiday season! I hope you all have a fantastic Holiday! Cheers!

 

So, I had a wonderfully successful weekend - I got my cards finished for the annual Holiday Card exchange I participate in, and got a really good start on the "friends and family" cards. And the Packers won, so YAY! But, sadly, Navy lost to Army, so boo on that! Anyway, the Holiday Cards are in the mail as we speak, and I couldn't be happier with them! Here's a sneak peek:

I used the Hero Arts "Snowy Scene" stamp as well as the Hero Arts blue ombre stamp pad to give it a twilight/nighttime feel. I cut that panel out using one of Simon Says Stamp's Basic Stitched Rectangle Dies, and adhered it to a pre-folded white card base. I don't remember which stamp set either of the sentiments are from, though, but I think it turned out really nice! Plus they were super easy to mass-produce! I'm all about making my life easier, with less stress and more fun, and I highly recommend that approach to the holidays! Cheers!

Towards the end of last year, I hand-stamped my 2018 calendars, and each month I've been sharing the calendar page I made for that month on Instagram. I thought for Holidailies I would share December's page here. I started with the 5x7 blank calendar from Taylored Expressions, and stamped a scene using the adorable "Ready Set Snow" stamps and coordinating dies from Lawn Fawn.  I coloured it using Prismacolor Pencils and blending it out with gamsol, but you could use whatever you like - alcohol markers, watercolors ... really the sky's the limit! I think it turned out really cute, and now I kinda wish I'd kept this set instead of selling it on eBay with a bunch of other stamps! Ah, well! Live and learn! Have a great day! Cheers!

 

Now that we've turned the calendar page to December, it's time to switch out the stamps in my rubber stamp display case from Autumn/Halloween to Winter/Christmas.  While the majority of my stamps are now clear cling stamps instead of wood-mount rubber stamps, I still have a few Christmasy wood-mount stamps to put in my display case to use as decoration, as well as  inspiration for my Christmas cards. The ornament stamps and the champagne glass are all from Stampa Barbara. The wintery forest scene with the deer in the middle box is from Hero Arts, the Merry Christmas sentiment stamp above it is by Inkadinkado, the angel on the bottom is Acey Deucy, and the whimsical tree with ornaments is another Hero Arts stamp. I'm not sure if I'll use a wood-mount stamp for my Christmas cards this year, or if I'll go with an easier-to-use cling stamp, but whichever I decide, I need to get on it quickly! Christmas will be here before we know it! Cheers!

 

Each month this past year I have been sharing a page from my hand-stamped 2017 calendar on my Instagram page.  The December 2017 image above is my last entry for the year. It was stamped with a pretty and simple Christmas tree from Hero Arts, and colored with Prismacolor pencils.  It was around this time last year I decided I wanted to stamp our calendars for 2017 rather than purchase one, or make a photo calendar off of Shutterfly.com (which I did before because I got a coupon for a free calendar and made it for, I believe it was 2016. I didn't get a coupon in time to get a 2017 photo calendar, so I stamped one instead)  I purchased two (one for me and one for my mom) pre-made blank calendars from Top Notch Calendars, and stamped and colored various designs, usually related to the season or holiday celebrated during that month. I really enjoyed sharing my hand-stamped 2017 calendar this year! I have already stamped my calendar pages for next year and I plan to share those pages throughout 2018! Look for them coming soon! Cheers!

Hey, everyone! Here’s one of the Christmas cards I made for this year using the "Coolest Yulest" stamp set and matching dies from Simon Says Stamp, as well as two stitched circle dies and a stitched rectangle die also from SSS. I used the stitched circles to cut out the corrugated kraft paper and white card stock and layered them together with Tombow Mono Adhesive. The small reindeer was die cut from silver glitter paper I bought at Michael's and ahered tot he circles using the Xyron Sticker Maker.  These were all layered over a piece of blue card stock die cut with the stitched rectangle die and adhered to a kraft card base. I created the sentiment ("Wishing you a Merry Christmas") from those included in the "Coolest Yulest" stamp set and embossed it with silver embossing powder. These cards were super quick and easy to make, and I ended up putting 12 of them together in a little over an hour. I am planning to use the same design for another set of 12 cards, but use red card stock instead of blue, and gold glitter paper for the deer, and gold embossing powder for the sentiment instead of silver. I do have several other Christmas stamps, stamp sets, and dies I would like to use this year, and I will share them here if I manage to get any of them done! Have a great day! Cheers!

Good morning, and Happy Valentine's Day to you! I'm finally getting around to posting another Thingadailies, and today it's my Valentine's Day Card! This was a super easy card to make using some textured coloured paper from a paper pack (Craft Smith Wedding Neutrals - 70% off at Michaels!), and some patterned notecards I've had laying around for years and hadn't used.

I used a basic rectangle die from Simon Says Stamp to cut out the light pink textured paper for the background, and used the smaller rectangle die - also from Simon Says Stamp - to cut the patterend notecard. The sentiment (Stampourri) was stamped on some of the extra pink paper and cut out with a small square die from, yes, Simon Says Stamp. I used a heart punch to make three hearts from the extra pink paper. I stuck everything on dark kraft notecards, and voila! Three completed cards!

  

I also used a slightly darker pink from the paper pack that also coordinated with the pattered notecards and made three more cards, so I had six total to send out to friends. I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day and a great week! Cheers!

 

 

 

 

So it's February again, and it's the time for Thingadailies! It's like Horrordailies in October and Holidailies in December, but instead of writing a blog post every day (or trying to!), you make something everyday (or try to!). Now, I will probably only manage to make about five or six things this month, because I just don't have that kind of time. But it's fun to participate anyway, and I do love to see what other people create!

My first Thing is my February 2017 calendar page. I purchased two blank calendars from Top Notch Calendars so I could stamp designs for each month of this year, and make calendars for myself and my mom. For February I did a Valentine's Day-themed page using the Heart Ornament and Bow Ornament Hanger both from Stampa Barbara, and the "Happy Valentine's Day" sentiment from Stampourri. It's a simple design, but I think it came out really nice.

I hope to do some more rubber stamping this month (there's at least one Valentine's card in the works!), but the majority of my "Things" might be food, as all I've been really into lately is cooking. That or photography. Does taking a picture count as a "Thing" for Thingadailies? No idea. How about making a list? I have Weetacon coming up, and I always have several lists going when I'm travelling. Well, hopefully I'll be able to find some other creative things to share this month! Have a great day! Cheers!