HOUSE MOUSE AND FREINDS MONDAY CHALLENGE - #88

WELCOME TO THE HOUSE MOUSE AND FREINDS MONDAY CHALLENGE #88

The challenge theme this week, chosen by our own talented Lori is to USE HEARTS ON YOUR CARD.

With "love in the air"  with Valentines Day coming up, this should be an easy challenge.

Our challenge this week is being sponsored by House Mouse Designs and they have generously offered a $20.00 electronic gift card for their online store.

I chose this adorable image of the two mice smelling a beautiful red rose.  The sentiment is by Verses, I love these words, hopeless romantic I guess!  The roses are Prima and the paper is a piece I bought at AC Moore and I cut off  the end that said who made it, sorry. The deep red layer was run through a Cuttlebug Folder.  The Heart border is by Martha Stewart.  I filled the larger heart cutouts with some of the smaller hearts from the same border punch.  I used a Spellbinders die to cut out the image and the sentiment,then used distress ink, red and black to distress the edges. The card is 5 x 7 inches black cardstock.

Close up of these sweeties.

My fellow teammates have come up with some excellent cards for your inspiration, please check them out and leave them some love.

Hope you will ink up a House Mouse, Gruffie or Happy Hopper stamp then add some hearts and enter the challenge.  We look forward to checking out your blogs to see what you came up with.  Please remember, the prize draw is a random draw, so everyone has an equal chance to win!

We say goodbye to our January Guest Design Team member, Tracy.  Tracy has done such a good job for us this month with beautiful entries to inspire others.  Thanks so much Tracy.

We are also welcoming back, after a long absence, Stacy, to the design team. Welcome Stacy!

We are also looking for a guest design team member for each month, please see the House Mouse site for more information.

Have a great Monday.  Thanks for stopping by.  Until later............

BSS-MONDAY IDEA - STACK UP THE BORDERS

Good Monday Morning and Welcome to the Buffalo Stamps and Stuff Monday Idea.

Today's idea is to use your border punches in multiples and stack them up on your card.

For this sample card, I have used two different Martha Stewart Punches.  The first one in white with the little hearts added.  The next three are the same punch, but I punched them using three different papers that I also used on the card to tie it all together.  The little hearts were punched out and glued to the first border.

Close up of borders.

The card is made from Basic Gray, Bittersweet.  The Gray paper is also BG, Ambrosia.  The stamp is by Penny Black, a clear set.   I added Kaiser pearls and an organdy ribbon.  The image is colored with Copics.

Try using several border punches of different designs and don't forget to use patterned paper for a great look.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great Monday.  Until later..............

BIRD AND ROSES

Hello, happy Sunday.  Sun is shining today here, nice to see the sun!

Today's card is for Round 16 of the challenges at the Crafters Digital Art Center.

This sweet bird and roses image was free from HappiScrappin Doodles.

The challenge is a color challenge, using sage, mauve, light brown and pastel pink.

The card is made from paper from K & Company.  I ran the sage card stock through a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The bird image was cut out and mounted on handmade paper and an oval of the sage.  Bird image is colored with Copics.  Border punch, Martha Stewart.  The roses were made from a Paper Shapers punch, from pink pearl card stock.  The stitched ribbon is from my stash.  Pearl centers for the roses are Kaiser.  I sprayed the oval area with perfect pearls and water from a mini mister to add some sparkle. Leaves for the roses were punched from an oak leave punch.

Hope you have a great Sunday, including some time for yourself.  Thanks for stopping by. Until later..........

RAIN

Hi, posting late tonight, hope you have had a good week.  This working for a living cuts into my craft time!

Today's card is a digi image by Nana Vic.  The sentiment is a Tim Holtz by Stampers Annonymous.  Colored with Copics, Stickled Star Dust on raindrops.  Ppaers are by DCWV, Stripes, Plaids and Dots.

Red frame is punched for photo corners and the image is tucked into them.  Border Punch and the multicolored decorations are both Martha Stewart.

We are above freezing for the next couple. East of us is supposed to get snowed on again this weekend, including NYC.  They have been getting burried this season.  And we potentially have two more months of winter!!

Thanks for stopping by.  Until later.................

WINTER FUN

Hi, welcome to Tuesday!  Snowing again.  I'm off to work today, so hope the driving isn't bad for the ride in.

Today's card is a stamped image from my Canadian friend, Karen, I'm sorry, but I don't know whose stamp it is, but she is a cutie.  I colored with Copics.  The oval is cut with a Spellbinders die.  The side panel paper is Basic Gray.  Used White glittered paper to simulate snow.  Her earmuffs and fur trim on her dress are flower soft in white sparkle.  The snowflakes are a MS punch.  I pierced each scallop on the oval.  Dotted the snowflakes with a Sharpie Paint Pen in white.  Sentiment is My Sentiments Exactly.

Close up of sweet ice skater.

Have a great Tuesday.  Thanks for stopping by.  Until later...................

BSS MONDAY IDEA - USE A CALENDAR ON YOUR CARD

Good Monday morning and welcome to another Buffalo Stamps and Stuff Monday Idea.

I got this idea from an Aussie blogging buddy, Debbie P, thanks Deb!

The idea today is to use a calendar on your card.  I found these little business card size calendars for free at

http://www.eprintblecalendars.com/

You can also print other size calendars if you wanted to use it as a background paper.

You can highlite the special date that the calendar represents.

The papers I used are Basic Gray.  The die cut is Tim Holtz and I ran it through the candle cuttlebug embossing folder.  The adorable image is Whipper Snapper.  I stamped the cupcake portion and the pom pom on the hat twice and popped them up.  The cupcake border is EK Success.  The sentiment is a die cut by cuttlebug.

Here is a close up of the birthday cutie.

This is a fun way to put a special day on a card.  Kids and adults will love it!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great Monday.  Until later.................

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

Hello, hope you have your sun glasses on today because this is a bright one!!  Like sun on snow BRIGHT!

Today is the mid-way for the January Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenge and just wanted to remind everyone that you still have plenty of time to enter a card.  The Challenge runs through January 31st.

AND to add more excitement, and additional Whiff of Joy stamp has been added to the prize list!

So that is a total of three prizes for this challenge.

I received this darling Stampavie stamp from my friend Stephanne in the mail and just had to ink up the little hedgie.  I embossed the card with a Cuttlebug plaid folder and the tag with a Sizzix water folder.  The image is colored with Copics and cut out with a Spellbinders die.  The borders are punches by Martha Stewart, including the little flowers.  Used yellow rick rack on the tag.  Lace and gingham paper is from my stash.  Kaiser rhinestones on flowers. Stickled butterflies are a punch from Anna Griffin.  Sentiment is Indadinkado, from their kid's sayings collection.  Diamond Stickles on butterflies and the umbrella.

Please go to the challenge site and check out the other mid-month cards made by the talented ladies on this design team, some really beautiful examples to inspire you!  Then, get out those stamps and make a card to enter, all you need is an animal on your card, as the theme this month is ANYTHING GOES!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great rest of the day.  Until later........

ANOTHER ADORABLE - VERITY

Hi, hope you're having a good Thursday.  This was my first week back to work for two days a week, it went okay, but it is early in the tax season here, so things will get more hectic soon.

Today's card is another image from the digital collection called Adorables from Sugar Nellie.  I am so in love with these little girls.  They are so beautifully drawn and shadowed that they are a dream to color, and that's coming from a die-hard rubber stamper!!!!!!!

This is a ticket digi from Cutiepie Inspirations and it is an entire sheet and it was free!

The card is made from the sketch at Midnight Madness #87.  I haven't participated in the challenge for awhile and for no other reason than life gets in the way, but I have missed it.  I particularly love this sketch, and it fit so well with these little girl digi's.

Close of of Verity, by Sugar Nellie

Recipe:

Hearts - Spellbinder's Die

Both heart borders, Martha Stewart

Papers = DCWV - Sweet Stack

Lace - My sewing stash

Colored with Copics

Ribbon is from Michael's

Pearls - Kaiser

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Creatalicious Challenges - #18 Love is in the Air

Pile it On - #3 Anything Goes

Simply Create - #35 Use Punches

Copic Creations - Something new (Digi) and use Copics (no problem!)

Mark's Finest Papers - Hearts

Do You Stack Up -#3 Use Pink

Enjoy the rest of your Thursday. Thanks for stopping by.  Tomorrow is the mid-way card for the Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenge, just a warning, put your colored glasses on kids before viewing!!!

Until later............

THANK HEAVEN FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Hi, happy Tuesday.  On Sunday night, my local stamp store, owned and operated by Sharon Klima, got together for an employees dinner.  Sharon graciously invited me to attend with the gals that work in the store and teach classes.  I had such a nice time and it was so nice of Sharon to invite me. Thanks friend.

Today's card is made from an image (digi) from Sugar Nellie.  It is from a series of beautiful little girls, both portrait view like this one of Faith and full length sitting or standing positions.  There are four wonderful little girls in all so far. Aptly called Adorables.  This image was pure delight to color.  I used the colors from the color challenge at Just Us Girsl #67, Coral, Aqua and green, using Copic Markers.

I cut the ovals from a Nesties die.  The background is embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder.  A Martha Stewart punch was used for the borders.  The swirl and flowers is also a Sizzix die cut.

Here is a close up of this little beauty, just precious!!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great Tuesday.  Until later..............

HOUSE MOUSE AND FRIENDS MONDAY CHALLENGE AND BLOG HOP CANDY WINNER

Welcome to the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge. 

First off, what a great response we had to our blog hop for the New Year.

A lot of great prizes were given away and we saw some awesome entries when we were surfing your blogs. Thank you to everyone who took part, hopped along, and entered a card!

Our new challenge #87 theme is to use EMBOSSING on your card and was chosen by our talented teammate, Heather.

I used this Gruffie stamp, used Versafine Onyx to ink up and clear embossing powder. Colored with Copic Markers. Added Stickles to the snow hill.  The snowflake embossed background is a Cuttlebug folder.

Glitter paper blue ice cut with decorative scissors.  Blue gingham ribbon added to edge of embossed mat.

Tucked white embossed snowflake cut in half behind the main image.

Close up of this darling image.  Is he adorable or what!!! The stamped snowflakes are

from a Martha Stewart set.

I used a Cuttlebug snowflake die and folder to emboss this beautiful snowflake. I added white sharpie paint pen accents and lots of Diamond Stickles.

There is wonderful inspiration from my teammates on the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge site.

Go check it out, you won't be disappointed. 

Our sponsor this week is Shelly, from One Stop Card Crafts who has generously offered a 10.00 voucher, including free postage worldwide to one lucky person, thanks Shelly

 Hope you have a chance to ink up a House Mouse, Gruffie or Happy Hopper and use some embossing to enter a card in our current challenge.  We can't wait to visit and see what you came up with.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE WINNER OF MY BLOG CANDY FROM THE BLOG HOP

The winner chosen by Random.org is:

Ribenaruby - Ruby

Please email me at rsdrees@verizon.net with your full name and address as it should appear on the mailing label and I will get the stamps off to you right away.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great Monday.  Until later.....

BSS MONDAY IDEA - BRAYERED EMBOSSED BACKGROUND

Good Monday Morning and welcome to the Buffalo Stamps and Stuff Monday Idea.  Today's idea is to emboss a background with an embossing folder and then brayer over it with ink.  You have to use a light touch with the brayer to color just the embossed image.  I have used the Cuttlebug "bees" embossing folder on white card stock.  I then brayered over it with Vivid dye ink, Lemon Ice and then Vivid, Straw.  You can brayer in both directions, just remember to use a light touch so you skim over only the embossed images.  Keep brayering until you get the desired color coverage.

The image is a Gruffie Bear from House Mouse Designs.  I have colored with Copic markers.  I used a nesties die to cut it out and black glitter paper mat behind it.  The sentiment is by Stampendous K085.

I stamped it with Versamark and embossed with bright yellow embossing powder, matted with yellow glitter paper.  Added a red polka-dot ribbon by making a slit at the top of the card to feed the ribbon through.

Close up of embossed image.  I used decorative scissors to cut the end edges.

This is a fun technique.  You can use more than one color ink.  Hope you have time to try it, adds some interest to a plan colored embossed background.

Have a great Monday,  Thanks for stopping by.  Until later.............

YOUR AN ANGEL

Hello, hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday.  We snuggled in today.  Slept in and then just stayed put.  Supposed to get really cold tonight.  Forecast is snow most of next week, but then it is January and that's what we can expect here.

Today's card is a Meljen image from Whimsy.  I colored with copics.  Cut it out with a Nestie die.  Distressed the edges with distress ink.  Papers are from the DCWV, Nana's Nursery stack.

Lace doily is cut in half and tucked up along bottom edge of image.  Border punch is Martha.  Ribbon is from Michale's dollar bin.  The sentiment stamp is one of the first stamps I bought years ago.

I'm entering this card in the Stamp Something Challenge -Anything Goes

Have a great rest of the weekend.  Thanks for stopping by.  Until later.

LOVE IN FULL BLOOM

Hi, it's finally Friday, and bet your looking forward to the weekend!  It finally stopped snowing here and we got the driveway and sidewalks cleaned up.  Lots of piles of snow sitting around though.  Supposed to get colder and more snow on the way this weekend, Ugh!

Today's card is for the challenge at Totally Tilda, the theme this time is Ribbon and Roses for Tilda.

I stamped Tilda with Versafine Onyx and embossed with clear embossing powder.

The sentiment is by Paper Inspirations.

Papers by My Mind's Eye and Prima.  Flowers are Prima. Border punch is Martha Stewart.  Paper doily tucked in behind designer paper.  Diamond Stickles on flowers and image. Lattice and gingham ribbon is from my stash. 

I'm also entering this card in the challenge at Just Magnolia week89-My favorite things.  I love using Magnolia stamps, of course, and paper doilys and beautiful designer paper. 

Hope you are staying warm.  Thanks for stopping by today.  Until later.............

MAKE NEW FRIENDS

Hello and happy Thursday!  Hope everyone here in the US is staying warm, seems like there is snow and cold everywhere, even in the South where it is supposed to NOT be!!!  I shoveled for about two hours yesterday.  It snowed all day.  Good thing it was light and fluffy because if it had been heavy it would have been ten times worse.  So much for never learning to use the snowblower!!!  Ricks shoulder is coming along good, but he asked about using the snowblower when he saw the doctor last and he said not yet!!!

Today's card is for the Penny Black and Friends Saturday Challenge #133-New Beginnings.  I chose this stamp called bunny friends.  A new friend is a great new beginning don't you think?  I wanted to make it bright with primary colors.  Added some swirls that are a Sizzix die cut and some Prima flowers and Kaiser Rhinestones.  Sponged color onto the oval that the image is stamped on with distress inks.

Hope you have a great Thursday.  Thanks for stopping by.  Until later............

BSS MONDAY IDEA - NO BLACK SILHOUETTES

Welcome to the Buffalo Stamps and Stuff Monday Idea.  I was looking at all the new 2011 Silhouette Stamps that Hero Arts has in their collection (I don't have any yet) and I was wondering why we always ink up Silhouette stamps with black.  So I set out to experiment with different ink colors.

I used this Rubber Stampede The Magic of You (#3818F) stamp and inked it with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink.  I also sponged the edges of the circle with the same ink, as well as the edges of the paper doily.

Here is a close up of the image.

The background paper is from Prima, Fairy Flora 6x6 stack.  Love this stuff!

The daisies and the swirl were cut from separate Sizzix dies.

The centers of the flowers were filled in with pink Flower Soft.

  I used Cyrstal Stickles to frame the circle

and brighten the daisies.  A gingham ribbon to finish it off.  I cut the leaf shapes from scraps of the glitter green paper, then ran them through a crimper on an angle.

Here is what I used.

Try stamping a Silhouette stamp with a colored ink.  I like how it turned out and it looked great in many colors that I tried.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great Monday.  Until later...............

A MOTHER'S LOVE

Hello, happy Saturday.  Woke up with a headache today and still have despite taking something, don't you hate it when that happens, so many plans will go undone today!!

Today's card is for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge.  The challenge this week is to use

your newest stamp.  I bought this Stamp Happens Stamp of the Momma Duck and her Ducklings at Simon Says just before Christmas.  When I started stamping many years ago, Stamps Happen was one of my favorite stamp companies, and when I saw a listing for them on the Simon Says store site, I had to have a look see and I spotted this beauty.  I colored them with Copics and distressed the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.

The base card is made from paper from the Vintage Collection by Core'dinations.  The other papers I used are by DCWV, Rustic stack and Home for Christmas stack.  The punched edge on the gingham paper is by Martha Stewart.  The Swirl, the fence and the flower are die cuts from Sizzix.  The ticket is Tim Holtz.  I stamped the heart, Magenta Rubber Stamps with Red Brick distress ink on kraft paper and distressed the edges with the same ink.  The sentiment is by  Penny Black, stamped with Versafine Onyx ink and embossed with clear EP.



Sweet Ducklings with Mom



Flower is a Sizzix Die cut from brown texture CS, distressed with black distress ink
a button tied with twine for the center.

I'm also entering this card in the Pile it On Challenge - Brand Spankin" New (new stamp, new babies)

Alphabet Challenge Blog - I is for Infant

Have a great weekend.  Thanks for stopping by.  Until later.............