Spot the Snark! (challenge reminder)

Here we are, the day after Christmas, if that's your thing, or just happy Saturday! Popping in with a reminder that our current Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge, X is for Xmas, continues for another two weeks while the Sisters recover from their seasonal merry-making. Forgot to send someone a card? Make one now and link it up! Here's one more from me, with just a little bit of snark when you look closely...

Whatever or however you may be celebrating, enjoy your weekend! Our next challenge launches January 9th, 2016.

Supplies: white cardstock, Lawn Fawn Toboggan Together stamps and dies, My favourite Things black liquorice, Ranger classic cherry & milled lavender & tumbled glass distress inks, distress markers, homemade confetti white Perfect Pearls mist, pop-dot tape

The Stockings Were Hung...

It's Saturday, and that means it's time for a new Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge! Even our mascot Edna is getting into the holiday spirit... and perhaps spirits, come to think of it. ;) Our latest challenge: X is for Xmas! 

NEWS FLASH — to accommodate this busy time of year, this challenge will last

not just two, but FOUR weeks! If you're at all like me, you may have a card or two

left to create. (We won't even talk about getting them in the mail; 

that's not nearly as fun as making them.) 

Here's my latest...

This idea had been lurking in my brain for ages, and I finally let it out onto a card. I found three cats that would more or less fit into the three stockings die cuts, and then gave a vague impression of a fireplace mantle behind them. The sentiment is computer-generated. I'm submitting this card to the current STAMPlorations Stamp & a Holiday challenge. 
I hope you'll join us with any last festive cards you make! Be sure to pop over to the Snarky blog to see what my sisters have created as well as our latest guest designer Ike! 

Supplies: white, grey & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Echo Park Christmas This and That patterned papers, My Favourite Things I Knead You stamps and dies, Paper Smooches stockings dies, distress markers, Papertrey Ink woodgrain texture plate, Wink of Stella clear glitter marker, Recollections black half-pearls, pop-dot tape 

Still No Stamping

I have my second stampless card for the current Shopping Our Stash challenge. And this time, I didn't even use patterned paper! 

Embossing paste-stencilled snowflakes on a red card base and a die-cut sentiment panel. I'm also entering this into Simon Says Stamp's current "Let It Snow" challenge as well as the current Just Us Girls word week: Merry. 

It really doesn't get too much easier than this. ;) 

Supplies: white & textured red American Crafts cardstock, Memory Box winter tiny snowflakes stencil, Dreamweavers glossy white embossing paste, Memory Box grand Merry Christmas die, pop-dot tape

No Stamping???

The current challenge at Shopping Our Stash is No Stamping. Somehow, that always feels a little bit like cheating to me. On the other hand, I have lots of not-stamp supplies to make cards, so why not? Here's my first attempt: 

Here I'm letting patterned paper do all the work. But not just any paper... Christmas Carol paper! (World's biggest Dickens fan here.) While these supplies don't count as ancient stash, I have been happy to just admire the paper pad since I bought it a few months ago, so it was more than time to cut into it. No stamps doesn't necessarily mean no ink, so I sponged some ink around the edges of the card base to match the already-done distressing of the book pages. It seems once I really get going with patterned papers, I don't want to stop, so I decorated the inside of the card as well.  

The sentiment is from a package of die cuts, to keep with the no-stamping theme. 
I do have a second card in mind with an entirely different way to avoid the use of stamps! 

Supplies: Stampin' Up naturals ivory cardstock, Graphic 45 Christmas Carol patterned paper, antique linen distress ink, Kaiser Craft Christmas Carol die cut, pop-dot tape

Muse Challenge

Having started with Ardyth's Muse: ChristmasVisions challenge, this week I decided to play along with her original Muse challenge. (About time! She's already up to challenge #144.) This week's muse is Ardyth's talented daughter Kate, and this is her card: 

So cute! I chose to be inspired by Kate's line of fun and colourful theme-related images and her clean design. Here's mine:  

 Kate's row of images reminded me of this prehistoric Stampin' Up set. I stamped the trees in bright green, then coloured any ornaments in red. I get a little stuck on realism sometimes, so the trunks are brown. Each star is bright yellow with some clear glitter pen for shine. The sentiment is stamped in matching green on the card base — props to Kate for making a one-layer card! I tend to find them daunting... no room for error! ;) 
This card was so quick and easy to put together, I made another! 

This one is closer to the original inspiration, I think, since I used more colours and there is more variety to the images. Each ribbon and bow is traced with a clear glitter pen for some sparkle. 
Thanks for the fun inspiration, Kate! 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up real red & basic black cardstock, Stampin' Up Crazy for Christmas stamps, My Favourite Things black liquorice & Ranger lily pad & classic cherry inks, various markers, Gelly Roll clear glitter pen

The 25th Tag...

And with this post, I complete my goal of making and posting a tag for every. single. day. of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags! For my final tag, I was inspired by Tracy Gruber's terrific snowman tag to make my own snowman on kraft tag:

I picked a more solid image than Tracy, as I wanted the white to really pop. Instead of a red backing tag, I added a little red heart and some wide red linen ribbon for my colour contrast. With my snow guy taking centre stage, I'm adding this to the new Simon Says Stamp "Let It Snow" challenge. (But no thank you to the real stuff.) 
Thanks again to Tracey for organizing this fun event! :) 

Supplies: Stampin' Up kraft & real red cardstock, Unity Snowbody Warms My Heart stamps, Versamark, Wow white embossing powder, tiny random heart die cut, hole punch, May Arts linen ribbon

Tag Day 23

On to Day 23 of Tracey's re-opened 25 Days of Christmas Tags, with a tag inspired by Marcie Sharp. I loved her use of foiled music paper with a big red stocking. Here's my version: 

Marcie's paper reminded me of this foiled vellum I've had for ages. I cut tags out of both it and white cardstock. The body of the stocking is cut from red glimmer paper, and the cuff from white felt. The stocking still needed a little something, so I added a snowflake. I didn't want to cover up too much more of the music background, so instead I cut a little tag... but what would be small enough to put on it? Masking off the other options, I stamped just the "nice" portion of a naughty or nice stamp. A little twine finished this off.

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up red glimmer cardstock, foiled music vellum, white felt, Stampin' Up Visions of Santa stamp, Stampin' Up real red ink, Paper Smooches scallop tag & stocking dies, Spellbinders Charmed I'm Sure die, Snowflake punch, May Arts gold and white twine

Here We Go Again!

Tracey maust have sensed my disappointment at not being able to complete each day of her 25 Days of Christmas Tags event, since she has reopened the link-up! So I am going to be completist and post my final three tags tonight, starting with Day 22. I took Tracey's tree tag as my inspiration. As well as the tree, I looked at her sponged background and her clean design. Here's mine: 

After sponging the background, I stamped and embossed the bottle-brush tree with green tinsel embossing powder. Since my tree was almost as large as my tag, I overlaid my sentiment strip across the tree. I looked in my bag o' star die cuts and found this gold glitter star. I picked up on the gold with some white and gold twine. (This twine is awesome! Other metallic twines I've used unravel very quickly; this seems much more robust.) 
Two more tags on their way! ;) 

Supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts Friends and Family & Simon Says Stamp Furry Christmas Friends stamps, Versamark & Ranger lily pad inks, Ranger green tinsel embossing powder, (?) tag die (cut for me by Jessi!), random die cut star, small heart punch, 1" circle punch, May Arts gold and white twine, Affray green ribbon, pop-dot tape

Merry Holiday Leftovers

Click HERE for this month's

Naughty or Nice challenge!

While the current Jingle Belles Holiday Leftovers challenge is still on, I decided to use up my own stash of leftovers a little bit more. Lots of bits and pieces went into this one! 

Leftovers include:

- the snowman and the bird, stamped and die cut at least a year ago at Emily's house

- the sky panel, from when I mopped up some leftover distress inks onto a piece of watercolour paper a few months ago

- the snowhill, which was a scrap I had spread some leftover embossing paste plus glitter on, again last year

- the frame, die cut several weeks ago (also at Emily's)

I hadn't coloured my snowman or bird, so that was done today, as was adding the woodgrain texture to the frame. I also added the notes, to give the bird something to say. The sentiment was a happy accident — I stamped it in blue on white, then accidentally grabbed my white embossing powder instead of my clear! So I stamped and embossed it again, but then thought, hmm. So I sponged over the white embossing with distress ink, and liked it much better than my original plan. 

My little bird qualifies this for the current Merry Monday challenge! And I will also add this to Simon Says Stamp's current Anything Goes challenge. 

Supplies: white cardstock, Fabriano hot-press watercolour paper, Echo Park Keepin' Cozy patterned paper, Paper Smooches Cool Dudes, Stampendous Eighth Notes & Simon Says Stamp/Kelly Purkey Tis the Season stamps, Memories black, Brilliance Mediterranean blue, & tumbled glass, broken china & shaded lilac distress inks, Zing clear & Wow white embossing powder, Paper Smooches Cool Dudes & Scallop Frame dies, Papertrey Ink woodgrain texture plate, Spectrum Noir markers, Dreamweavers glossy white embossing paste, Stampin' Up dazzling diamonds glitter, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch, pop-dot tape 

Show Us Some WING!

Happy DECEMBER!!! Along with the rest of the Naughty or Nice Challenge troublemakers, I'm starting off the month by introducing our latest challenge: Show Us Some Wing. Any winged thing, real or imaginary, is welcome! 

While this challenge will fit quite nicely if you're working away on Christmas cards, I decided to take a break and make a birthday card. It was a perfect way to sneak in a little bit of naughtiness: 

I love these crazy birds! And while I've had the stamps and dies for a few weeks now, it's only now I'm inking them up. I thought this one had just the right look on his face for the sentiment. I kept the design very clean and simple, but putting the main panel on an angle added just the right amount of wonkiness. I'm going to wing this card into the current Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge. 
Wings — I bet you have some winged things that can go on a card or other project! We'd love to have you join us this month... and the challenge is open until Christmas! 

Supplies: white cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine patterned paper, Tim Holtz Bird Crazy & CASual Fridays Whole Shebang stamps, Versafine onyx black & Brilliance Mediterranean blue inks, distress markers, Zing clear embossing powder, pop-dot tape

Holiday Leftovers...

The latest challenge at Jingle Belles is a fun one! Stephanie and Lauren want us to use "holiday leftovers"... images we've stamped but haven't used, leftover die cuts, and the like. This is a good one for me! I save everything, but don't always remember to actually use what I've kept. So I got out my leftovers, and made this: 

My cute little snowman was stamped at my friend Emily's eons ago. The snowglobe base is also from a die Emily had (but not anymore!). I coloured and glittered my snow guy and die cut him in a circle to fit the base. The sentiment is actually a speech bubble but I masked off the bottom portion before stamping and embossing. 
I'm not as thrilled with my second card, but it did use up an embossed panel that was left over from last year's card-making. The snowflake embellishment was, yes, cut at Emily's at least a year ago. 

Supplies: (let it snow) white & Stampin' Up real red & smoky slate cardstock, Echo Park Keepin' Cozy patterned paper, Unity snowman & Hero Arts Holiday Conversation stamps, Versamark & Versafine onyx black inks, Wow white embossing powder, Spellbinders circle & Amuse snowglobe dies, Spectrum Noir markers, Martha Stewart glitter, frosted lace Stickles, Hemptique bakers twine, pop-dot tape; (Merry Christmas) white, green & DCWV red silky smooth cardstock, Little Yellow Bicycle patterned paper, Unity Santas, Stocing, Candy Canes, Etc. stamp, Colorbox frost white ink, Wow white embossing powder, Paper Smooches large snowflake die, Gelli Roll clear glitter pen

Naughty, Nice... or Snarky?

A belated Happy Thanksgiving if you are reading this in the United States! And now we look ahead to the next monster holiday lurking over the horizon... Christmas. And since I'm here today posting for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers, we're not dreaming of sugar plums, but of a Naughty Christmas. ;) 

As is my wont, I went subtle with my naughtiness...

After all, who KNOWS what Santa witnessed? The cool dude Santa is the major reason I had to have this particular stamp set. The sentiment is an extra added bonus. I kept my card super clean and simple, adding an embossed red panel down the left side, and of course heat-embossing Santa and the sentiment. 
Make sure you go and see what festive naughtiness my sisters in snark have been up to, as well as our latest guest designer EVIL EDNA! I hope you'll join us in our naughtiness... you have until December 11th to do so. 

Supplies: Neenah 110 lb white & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Essentials by Ellen Tis the Season stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Zing clear embossing powder, Darice diagonal stripe embossing folder, Spectrum Noir marker, pop-dot tape

And the 21st Tag...

And t's me, one more time tonight, with the final tag I managed to create for Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event. Once again I was drawn to the clean and simple, and decided to focus on Kim Bell's tag. I was inspired by the red (of course) as well as the large snowflake and splattered background. Here's mine:

Instead of a die cut, I decided to use a large snowflake stamp and emboss it in snowflake tinsel embossing powder. (I really should try to remember that this powder is never quite as impressive as I think it will be...) I then splattered some white mist over the rest of the tag and added the sentiment. 
Even with not quite being able to manage three days of Tracey's event, I may just have more than enough tags for Christmas now! ;) 

Supplies: Stampin' Up real red cardstock,Teresa Collins Santa's List patterned paper, Stampin' Up Holiday collection stamp, Versamark ink, Ranger snowflake tinsel embossing powder, homemade confetti white Perfect Pearls mist, Stampin' Up scallop & Creative Memories corner rounding punches, Offray white ribbon, Twinery solid maraschino twine

Tag, Day 20

On the 20th day of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event, I chose Tracey's gorgeous reindeer tag, clean and simple in red and white, as my inspiration. Here's what I came up with: 

This Dasher stamp is so classy! I paired him with a simple sentiment and added a little glitter gel pen on his antlers and the snowflakes. Equally clean and simple! 
One tag left to share... ;) 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Stampin' Up Dasher & Studio G Joy stamps, Stampin' Up real red ink, Spellbinders reverse wonky rectangle die, FIskars threading water punch, Twinery solid maraschino twine, Gelly Roll clear glitter gel pen

A Tag for Day 19

I have fallen a little short of my personal goal of creating a tag for each day of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event, but I'm here this evening with my last three tags, starting with Day 18. I picked Kay Miller's tag to CASE (copy and share everything) — because it has a frame but it's not a shaker tag! ;) I was also inspired by her use of kraft and green. Here's my version:

I cut the ornament tag out of white twice and kraft and patterned paper once. I die cut the trees from green, then cut one of the white tags with the base of the tree die for snow. After cutting a scalloped circle from the kraft layer, I adhered all the ornament layers together. Then it was a matter of adding the little snowman and a sentiment. Some ribbon, twine and a couple of jingle bells finished the tag. 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up kraft & garden green cardstock, Studio Calico Wonderland patterned paper, Hero Arts Snow Much Joy & Holiday Conversation stamps, Versafine onyx black & Stampin' Up garden green inks, Papertrey Ink tag sale #4, Spellbinders scalloped circle & (?) tree dies, Prismacolor pencils, frosted lace Stickles, green Divine twine, Affray white ribbon, $ store jingle bells, pop-dot tape 

A Tag for Day 18

This is my second post of the day! For my Guest Designer post

with Muse: ChristmasVisions, please click here. 

I'm starting to fall behind! Here I am, a little out of sequence, with my tag for Day 18 of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags. Today's inspiration is courtesy of Lisa Elton. I looked at the overall design of the tag, her fancy die cut top panel, her use of silver and the cute little penguin. Here's my take:

I used the bottom of a wine tag die to cut a fancy base to my top panel, then ran it through my regular tag die to properly shape the top. My penguin is watercoloured with distress markers.
A short post this time from me — thanks for stopping by! 

Supplies: white cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Stampin' Up silver glimmer paper, Little Yellow Bicycle patterned paper, Hero Arts Decorate You, Christmas Reindeer & Holiday Conversation stamps, Verafine onyx black & Memento London fog & pear tart inks, Zing clear embossing powder, Papertrey Ink tag sale #2, Avery Elle cheers, & Paper Smooches borders 1 dies, distress markers, frosted lace Stickles, scrap ribbon, pop-dot tape

25 Days of Christmas Tags with Muse: ChristmasVisions

Welcome to Muse: ChristmasVisions #30! MCV is sponsoring Day 24 of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event... and I'm thrilled to be a guest designer with the MCV design team for this special post. The entire MCV design team is playing along today. The theme is red and green with a tree element. I had yet to use one of my favourite Christmas tree stamps this season, so the time was ideal to ink it up, I thought.

I started by masking the edges of my tag and sponging some white chalk ink in from the edges. Leaving the masks in place (my husb will never see his roll of painters tape again, you know...) I tried stamping a small snowflake in the same chalk ink. It was barely visible! So I switched to my trusty pigment ink for the random flakes. While the pigment ink was drying, I embossed my little tree in gold. In a mixed media frenzy, I used green Twinkling H2Os for the tree, a distress marker for the trunk, and a gold gel pen for the star. While the tree dried, I embossed the sentiment in red sparkle embossing powder. An attempt to show some of the shimmer and shine: 

Extreme close-up also shows off how blobby my final step, liquid pearls for the Christmas ornaments, turned out. (I was going for 3D, but maybe not that 3D...) Luckily, I don't think the tag recipient is likely to be examining it quite that closely. ;) 

Have you participated in Tracey's tag event yet? The tags each day are so inspiring. Plus, there are even prizes! You can read about the event, and link up your own creations, here. And remember to link up at Muse: ChristmasVisions as well! 

Supplies: Stampin' Up kraft cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Hero Arts Snow Much Joy & Christmas Reindeer stamps, Versamark, Hero Arts snow, Colorbox frost white & Memories passion red inks, pirate's gold & red sparkle embossing powders, Papertrey Ink tag sale #3 die, Twinkling H2Os, distress marker, gold gel pen, ruby red liquid pearls, Hemptique red & green twine, pop-dot tape

Tags for Day 17

For the 17th day of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags, I was once again inspired by the event hostess herself. I was taken by Tracey's clean design and her big red star as focal point. I didn't have a cool star-sentiment combination, so I improvised just a little bit:

I stamped the star in red before embossing a sentiment over top in silver. I liked it so much (and it was so easy to make!), I made another! 

And one more, this time in gold. (Personally, I prefer the silver.)

I added my twines and cord and considered myself done. Then I looked at Tracey's example once more and thought, hmm, sequins. I did like them plain, but I'm glad I added the trio of sequins to each one. 
Tomorrow I'll be back with an extra-special tag post! :)

Supplies: white cardstock, Stampin' Up Holiday Collection & Unity Greetings of Christmas stamps, Versamark & Stampin' Up real red inks, silver & pirate's gold embossing powders, Paper Smooches zig zag tag die, assorted sequins, Hemptique red/white/silver bakers twine, gold elastic cord

The 16th Day of Christmas Tags

I'm all the way up to Day 16 of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event, and this time around, I'm inspired by Samantha Mann's adorable tag. I looked at her night sky, her full moon, the sprinkling of stars and of course the cat! Here's mine: 

I had such fun making my sponged background for my thirteenth day tag that I decided to make another one. This time I masked off the bottom portion of my tag so my cat would have somewhere to sit. After I punched a small circle out of yellow cardstock, I sponged a little orange ink around the edges for a bit of depth. I added three teeny tiny stars in silver ink and have now misplaced the world's smallest star stamp. Sigh. ;) 

Supplies: white & yellow cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Hero Arts Decorate You & Paper Smooches Birthday Buddies stamps, Memento luxe grey flannel, Memento tangerine, Colorbox silver & salty ocean, blueprint sketch & seedless preserves distress inks, Zing clear embossing powder, Paper Smooches stitched tag die, distress markers, EK Success 1" circle & alpine trail punches, scrap ribbon, pop-dot tape