Big Announcement!!!

Hi there everyone!!!

I have BIG news!! I was asked to join the Challenge Team for Our Daily Bread Designs for the next 6 months, which I accepted without hesitation! What an honor to be asked by such a fabulous Company! Being on a design team is exciting in itself, but being with a Christian stamp company is icing on the cake! I get to do what I love to do and glorify God at the same time! It doesn't get any better than that!

The ladies at ODBD have been so welcoming and encouraging to me. This will be an amazing experience for me and I know I won't want it to end!

You can read all about it here on their blog and meet all the other talented ladies on the team! If you don't know anything about Our Daily Bread Designs, you are missing out on something very special!

ODBD was started by Kelley Holland because of the lack of stamp companies offering stamps with religious and Biblical themes. The first time I saw their stamps, I was so excited to see Christian stamps being sold. I have their Scripture Collections 1 & 2, and love using them on my cards for all kinds of occasions.

I am so excited to have this opportunity, and so thankful that the Lord has opened this door for me. I pray that I will glorify God in the creations He helps me make!

Happy New Year everyone!

Blessings!

Kathy

Around We Go - Elphine House Australia Challenge

Hi there!

It's time for a new challenge at EHA. This time it's "Around We Go", include circles on you card or project. You need to use ANY Elisabeth Bell Design in order to qualify. The winner, randomly selected, will have their choice of 2 EHA stamps!!!

Here is my sample for the challenge..."Daisy Bouquet"!

I just LOVE Daisy and keep wanting to use her!!! I love this K & Co. Watercolor Bouquet paper too. It was nice to do something other than red and green!

For ingredients:

Stamps: Daisy Sitting (EHA), Noteworthy (SU)
Paper: Watercolor Bouquet (K&Co), Solar White (Neenah), blue (?)
Ink: Black (VersaFine), wheat (VersaMagic)
Accessories: Large petite scallops, standard circles large, standard circles small, parisian accents (all Spellbinders), always artichoke marker (SU), liquid pearls white opal (Ranger),Prismacolor pencils, mineral spirits, chenille fiber (my weaving stash), paper rose (Recollections), adhesive pearls, lace trim, sponge.

I hope you find to play along with the Challenge this next 2 weeks!

Blessings!

Kathy

Christmas Ornaments

Hi there!

Hope everyone had a good Christmas Day! I enjoyed the slower pace from before Christmas! It was nice to have the four of us here together and catching up with all our family members on the phone that are far away.

These are a couple of ornaments I made for Christmas, but didn't have time to post.

These are slightly different from eachother, but pretty much the same. Here is a close up of one of them.

These are ornaments I bought at Michaels, just like the rectangle frame one with the Cardinal in it from a few days ago. I stamped and colored the candle images which are from JustRite, and cut out and placed in the frames. I replaced the ribbon it came with and added a button. Very easy to do, and makes a nice little gift!

Ingredients:

Stamps: A Merrry Little Christmas Set (JustRite)
Paper: Solar White, Natural White (Neenah)
Ink: Black (VersaFine)
Accessories: Ornament frame (Michaels), Prismacolor Pencils, mineral spirits, and Diamond Stickles (Ranger).

Thanks for looking! I appreciate the comments you leave me, it's so nice to have feedback on your work! Blessings!

Kathy

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! May you all have a wonderful day and enjoy time with family and friends! Remember the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus our Lord and Savior! Blessings to you all!

Kathy

Cardinal Card - Flourishes FTTC148

Hi there!

Well, I finally finished the cardinal card that I was making to go with the cardinal ornament for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge this week...Opposites Attract! Yikes, I didn't think I would ever be happy with how the card was coming out! It took forever!!! Here's the card:

Here is the card and ornament together:

You can see my post yesterday for the ornament ingredients, and here are the ingredients for the card:

Stamps: Christmas Classics (Flourishes), A Merry Little Christmas Set (JustRite)
Paper: Solar White (Neenah), Black (SU).
Ink: Black (VersaFine)
Accessories: Triad Leaves EF (Sizzix), ribbon, bell, gold thread, adhesive pearls, Lacy Square die (Spellbinders), corner rounder, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches (SU), piercer, Prismacolor pencils, mineral spirits.

That's it for now!

Blessings!

Kathy

Cardinal Ornament - Flourishes

Hi there!

I've been busy making Christmas cards and gifts. I thought I would show you an ornament I made as a gift for a family member. I love cardinals and have a couple of stamps, but just bought this one from Flourishes as part of the "Christmas Classics" stamp set. I love this set! I bought this ornament at Michaels for 1/2 price and I wish I bought more of them. There's so many things you can put in it and it makes a nice gift!

Here's the ornament:

I love gold and red together, it's so pretty together. Here's a closeup of the picture:

For ingredients:

Stamps: Christmas Classics (Flourishes)
Paper: Solar White (Neenah)
Ink: Black (VersaFine)
Accessories: Ornament frame (Michaels), nailheads metal stickers (Michaels), Glad Tidings rub-ons (K&Co), Prismacolor pencils, mineral spirits, rhinestone flower, ribbon.

That's it for now! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings!

Kathy

Spellbinders 2012 Design Team Contest

Wow!!! I entered into the 2012 DT for Spellbinders, and made it through to Round 2!!! How amazing is that!!! Little ol' me on the same list as these talented ladies!!! I don't even know what to say except "Thank You Lord, You have blessed me beyond my imagination!!!"

I am reminded of this verse that I memorized years ago and so love:

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Blessings to you!

Kathy

Christmas Cards with Eskimo Kisses

Hi there!

I made these cards a couple of weeks ago using "Eskimo Kisses" paper from Basic Grey and the "Joys of the Season" Cricut cartridge. I love these papers for Christmas. The cartridge is one I bought a couple of years ago, but hadn't used yet. So I sat down (to play) one day and just started making trees, ornaments, fireplaces, and stockings. I still have things left over to use another time, but these are the cards I came up with. I used the same basic sketch on 5 of them to make things more simple.

I actually submitted 4 of these to a magazine, my very first time doing a submission, but none were accepted. :-( I was hoping at least one would make it, but it wasn't to be! At least now I have more Christmas cards to send out!

Here is the first one called "Houses & Trees".

I think these trees are really cute. I made the base at the bottom of the trees using a tag punch.

The next card is called "Green Trees". Pretty similar to the first one.

This one is called "Kissing Ornaments". I really like the way this one came out. I will probably make a few of these up to send out for Christmas. Very easy to make.

This is called "Kissing Tree".

This is "Eskimo Tree". I love these little eskimos on the paper. I don't like how the tree base came out on this one and would do it differently next time. It's actually covering something else I did underneath that I didn't like, lol.

This last one is the called "Fireplace & Stockings". This is the one with the different sketch, actually there really isn't a sketch to this one.

The ingredients for all these are:

Stamps: A Merry Little Christmas Set (JustRite), Teeny Tiny Wishes (Stampin Up).
Paper: Eskimo Kisses (Basic Grey), pool party, real red, riding hood red, pear pizzazz, blushing bride, pretty in pink, certainly celery (all SU), solar white (Neenah).
Accessories: Adhesive pearls (Recollections), bakers twine (Marth Stewart), Joys of the Season (Cricut), 1 1/4 & 1 3/8 circle punches, word window, modern label, scalloped trim border punches (SU), deco fan punch (Martha Stewart), tag punches (Marvy), perfect polka dots embossing folder (SU), lace (JoAnns), diamond Stickles, petal pink liquid pearls, DMC floss.

Well, that's it for now! Hope these give you a little inspiraton if you still need to do Christmas cards like me!

Blessings!

Kathy

Lighthouse Bookmark - ODBDSLC87

Hi there!

Here is my newest creation...a bookmark! I made this for the latest Shining the Light Challenge on Our Daily Bread Designs which you can find here. The challenge was to make any type of bookmark, using one of their stamps.

I bought this Christmas paper, Naughty or Nice by Recollections, but really liked it for some of the papers it had that I could use year round. I loved this brown and teal flourish paper.

Here is the front of the bookmark.

Here is a close up of the image. I used the Light of the World stamp set by ODBD. I stamped the lighthouse first in sage shadow (SU), then the verse in soft suede (SU), then die cut it with Labels Four from Spellbinders, then sponged the edges with the die still in place with VersaMark. I like the effect it gave.

For the back of the bookmark, I stamped the lighthouse image in Vintage Sepia (VersaFine) and colored it with my Prismacolor Pencils and mineral spirits...one of my favorite things to do! Here's the back.

Here's a close up of the colored image.

I then die cut the image and all the mats using Labels Four again. I glued 3 different ribbons together (not sure I'll do this again...little stiff)for the ribbon portion, then I used Lables 13 (Spellbinders) for the top of the bookmark. I added some adhesive pearls and a flower.

That's about it for now! I think this will be a nice Christmas gift for someone.

Bessings to you all, and I'll be back next week!

Kathy

Elusive Poinsettia Ornament

Hi there!

I have one more ornament to show you. I actually made most of this a few weeks ago, but couldn't decide how I wanted to finish it. Here's what I came up with!

I love how this one came out. Here is a close up of it.

This is a Holly Berry House stamp called "Elusive Poinsettia" that I bought a couple of years ago. Here's a link to their website if you would like. Their stamps are gorgeous and very well made! The technique on these is to stamp/emboss the image a number of times and cut away the layers for each progressively smaller. I have 4 layers on this one, but you could do more or less than that. I used a different paper on each layer. I added some diamond stickles in places to highlight some of the areas.

On the back of the ornament, you can do the same thing, but I opted to do just one layer embossed with a copper powder on black paper. Here's a picture of the back.

For ingredients used:

Stamp: Elusive Poinsettia (Holly Berry House)
Paper: Heritage Scrapbooking Paper Pack (Pizazz), black (SU)
Ink: Black (VersaFine), Versamark
Accessories: Embossing powder: black (Creative Beginnings), Classy Copper (SU), diamond stickles, buttons, ribbon, decorative brad (My Mind's Eye), rhinestone flower.

Thanks for looking! Have a blessed weekend!

Kathy

Sweet Rose

Hi there!

I have taken a little break from the Christmas theme to make a card with a new rose stamp I purchased. I LOVE roses and I love to color them to make them come alive! At least, I hope they look "real" and not just colored!

I'm submitting this to new challenge for me, it's at Stampin Sisters in Christ which you can find here. The challenge (#117) is use a bird on your creation. I love this little bird punch from Stampin Up and I thought it was cute with the rose and the frame shape.

For ingredients used:

Stamp: Rose (Inkadinkado)
Paper: Solar White (Neenah), Sweet Pea DSP (SU), Watercolor Bouquet (K&CCo)
Ink: Black (VersaFine)
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, mineral spirits, adhesive pearls, Labels 13 die (Spellbinders), Rebecca embossing folder (Cuttlebug), petite petals punch (McGill), pearl heart brad, 2 step bird punch (SU)

Thanks for looking!

Blessings!

Kathy

Cherry Heirloom Ornament - ODBDSLC86

Hi again!

This is the second ornament I made using my new dies and stamps...see my last post about these...

Here is the front of the ornament:

Here is the back of the ornament:

This time I used the small ornament stamp from the "Ornament" set (ODBD) and embossed it with Ruby Tinsel embossing powder (Recollections). I cut it with the 2010 Heirloom Ornament Die and then cut another larger ornament with glitter paper.

For the back of the ornament, I did the same sentiment as in the last post using the "Ornaments" Stamp Set (ODBD) and embossed it with the same powder as the front.

I'm submitting this to the same Challenge as the other ornament I posted, ODBDSLC86 using lace, ribbon, and glitter.

For remaining ingredients:
Paper: Cherry Glitter Paper (Recollections), Parchment Tan (TPC)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Diamond stickles, button, rhinestone, brad, nailhead sticker, lace, ribbon, 1 3/4" circle punch (SU).

That's it for now! I need to make sure I get this to the Challenge on time!
Thanks for looking!

Blessings!

Kathy

French Heirloom Ornament - ODBDSLC86

Hi there!

I finally bought the Heirloom Ornament 2010 Die (Spellbinders) from Our Daily Bread Designs! I've been wanting this since last Christmas and finally have it! Yikes, now they have a 2011 version which I love too! I also bought the stamp set "Ornaments" from ODBD that goes with the die and the Fanciful Flourish (Cheery Lynn Dies) that I've been wanting. They're all so beautiful together. I've been playing with these the past couple of days and have come up with 2 different ornaments so far.

Here is the first one I'll show you that I used a new paper called The French Country Stack (DCWV). I love this paper! I saw this last year as part of a calendar kit at Jo-Ann's and fell in love with it then. Now they have the 12x12 paper available so...I just had to get it!

I used the largest die for the ornament and wrapped the flourish around it. I also used a different coordinating paper for the back of the ornament so it looked pretty too. The sentiment is from the Ornaments Stamp Set (ODBD) which I embossed on more coordinating paper. The stamp is actually one line together that I separately stamped/embossed to fit on the heart. After I did this, I actually cut the stamp into 2 separate words so I can use the "Blessings" portion with the other words in the set. I wish I had done this in the beginning...

I'm entering this in the ODBD's Shining the Light Challenge to use lace, ribbon, and glitter (ODBDSLC86).

For the other ingredients:

Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Lace, adhesive pearls, ribbon, button, flowers (Recollections), pirate gold embossing powder (Stampendous), 2" heart punch (Marvy), diamond stickles.

Thanks for looking! Watch for more ornaments to be posted!


Blessings!

Kathy