Merry Christmas and Ornaments Cards

I was busy last week coming up with card designs for our upcoming Card Workshop for the Troops. We will be making Christmas cards along with all occasion cards for this batch.

Here are a couple of cards that I have taken the time to photograph:

 

 After embossing the white cardstock I used the Christmas distress inks that came out last year to color it. The colors are Festive Berries, Iced Spruce and Evergreen Bough. I then spritzed the embossed and inked cardstock with Perfect Pearls.

 The stamps are Recollections Merry Christmas. I first inked the stamps with VersaMark Watermark ink then inked it in Iced Spruce and embossed it using clear embossing powder. Using the Watermark ink with the distress ink gives a crisper image if you don't want a distressed look.

I have a ton more cards to share just need to get them photographed and up on the blog. I should do it today as it is nice and sunny.

Hope everyone is having a relaxing Sunday with the family.

Teresa

A Christmas Card and Sketch

Finally I have a card to share.

For this card I used sketch #210 from Clean and Simple Stamping



 

And here is my card:



 This was such an easy sketch. I really love it! I pulled out some old Creative Memories pattern papers that I really like to use for winter cards. Then I matted the three pattern papers and the white solid onto white cardstock and used a snowflake border punch on the edges of the cardstock.

The snowflake die, stamp and sentiment are all from Papertrey Ink. I used Concord distress ink for the snowflake and Memento Tuxedo Black for the sentiment. And that is it. Super simple. I can see this sketch being used for all kinds of cards.
That's it for today. Just short and simple.
Thanks for stopping by!

Teresa

Revisiting Old Times with Friends

Some friends of ours that use to live in Indianola are back in town after a twelve year absence. Our girls meant in second grade and became fast friends spending many hours and sleep overs together for two or three years. Now both are in college going their seperate ways.

With our friends back for a short time we have been visiting and reliving the past through our memories but last night we actually did something we use to do and have such fond memories of. We had a bonfire on the beach! Oh how we have missed those fun times on the beach together.

 

I remember one New Years Eve we spent on the beach with them and had a roaring bonfire as we watched the fireworks across the water from the Space Needle. It was a New Years Eve we won't forget.

Anyway enough about memories here are the photos from last night:

It was the perfect evening to be on the beach.

 

We had a roaring bonfire to roast hotdogs and  marshmallows for s'mores. We also had the first apple cider of the season!

 

Indianola has the longest dock around. It doesn't seem that long until you walk to the end of it and you seem to walk forever before reaching the end. The sun was getting low in the sky by the time we arrived at the beach and gave everything a warm glow.

 We enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the water: Red sky at night, sailors delight.

 Such wonderful cloud formations.

The moon was almost full and lite up the shoreline with its soft glow.

 It is a rarity not to have wind coming off the water but this night was very calm and still.

 It was still enough to get good reflections of the clouds in the water.

We enjoyed the wonderful night especially knowing that winter is close on our heels and nights like this will have to wait for another summer.

Here is a close up of Agate Pass.

So nice to make new memories with old friends.

Card Two For Clean And Simple Sketch

As I said in my post below I had an idea for another card using this Clean and Simple sketch:

 

And here is the card that I was rolling around in my head:

I went with with black gray and white since it is an anniversary card.

The sentiment is a Verve stamp and was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink before I embossed the background paper with a Cuttlebug embossing folder that is called Palm Leaves if I remember correctly. I think this embossing folder looks elegant and would be nice for any formal occasion.

I messed up the embossing on this square hence the reason for the punched heart. I was so mad at myself. I tried to add more silver embossing powder but it wouldn't stick plus it was smeared a bit too. So I had no choice but to either cut another square and start all over or hide the mistake. I went with hiding the mistake.

This is how the white square was suppose to look just stamped in reverse.

And here is the center image. The stamped images are all from Inkadinkado.

 

Sorry the photos are so bad. I think it is because to day is so grey out and there isn't much contrast in the photos.

 

It looks like it could rain soon so I am going to try and walk the dog now just in case it decides to rain.

 

Teresa







It's A Birthday Card & Clean & Simple Sketch

Finished my last birthday card for September. This one has a bit of a fall feel to it.
I used this sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping:

Here is the link to the sketch: http://cleanandsimplestamping.blogspot.com/2012/09/207.html

 

I love how elegant yet simple the sketch is.

 

Now for my card:

It was easy picking out the colors but after I embossed the three squares and matted them that is where the trouble began. It took me a while to figure out what the problem was. After I changed from a white card base to an ivory one, rotated the sketch and changed the leaf branch from a solid green cardstock to the pattern paper it all came together nicely.

By the way the leaf branch is not really pattern paper. I received a beautiful card from a friend and the envelope was just as beautiful as the card was so I just couldn't bring myself to throw it away. I think It really goes well with the colors I picked for the three squares .

I stamped the "Wishing You" in Walnut Stain distress ink and added the rhinestones.

I don't usually decorate the inside but today I had the time so I used the same ink to stamp the inside sentiment on another piece of the envelope and matted it onto two different colored pieces of cardstock.

 

And since I decorated the inside I figured I might as well use up some more scraps on the envelope too.

The "It's Your Birthday" stamp is from a Hero Arts stamp set and again it is stamped on a scrap from the beautiful envelope. I also used a border from Making Memories Border set in Walnut Stain distress ink then added a strip of the blue cardstock that was leftover from matting the inside sentiment.

The buttons I already had die cut when I took the envelope apart and also had the doily buttons too. All I had to do to the buttons was add the brown floss.

 

Even though it took awhile for this card to come together I already have another card in mind to use with this sketch.  I bet it comes together much faster this time ;)

 

Creatively Yours,

 

Teresa



80th Birthday Wishes & Mojo Monday

Aaaah! It's so good to be in my craft room again! Don't get me wrong I had a fabulous time while away but its time to get inky!

Today's card is for a special person who will be reaching one of those big milestones in life. Not everyone makes it to their 80th birthday and I thought the occasion called for a handcrafted card. I decided to use Mojo Monday sketch# 257 designed by Julee Tilman:

You can read here about the Mojo Monday Contest: http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/2012/09/mojo-monday-257-contest.html
The sketch looks a little on the feminine side but by using more masculine papers and shapes I think my card turned out masculine enough.
And here is my card:

 The pattern paper is Animal Crackers MatStack from DCWV. It always makes such fun cards and either be used for a guy or gal.

I used a lot of dies. The shapes are Nestabilities from Spellbinders the #s are from Sizzix and the letters are from a Martha Stewart punch.

I had a small piece of the blue polka dot paper leftover that from the border to punch two stars which I inked the edges to make them pop a bit more. I also inked the edge of the white circle. The Happy and Birthday stamps are from two different Papertrey Ink stamp sets.

 

I was busting my butt to get this card done and in the mail before the Post Office closed this morning thinking that our friends birthday was this Wed. Then it hit me that the 13th is next Wed. So I could relax and not rush around like a crazy person ha ha!

 

Some how it is hard for me to keep track of the days. Summer just seemed to fly by and here it is fall already and kids are back in school. For me fall is kind of bitter sweet. It's sad because it is the end of lazy summer days and means that winter is not far behind. But I love the warm days and cool mornings and nights and oh how I love all the beautiful fall colors! How do you feel about fall?

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Teresa



Hello, I'm Back

 Sorry things have been pretty quite on my blog but we went camping again for Labor Day weekend.

It was the most perfect weather we have ever had at Pacific Beach. It was absolutely perfect. Needless to say we had a fabulous time. We were with a bunch of friends so at night after dinner we would sit around the campfire or play board games.

 

This was the sunset on our first night there. Almost missed it but we ran all the way down the road to the beach and was able to catch and enjoy the last rays of the day.

 

The three of us on the beach.

On Saturday there was a Tug of War between the towns of Moclips and Pacific Beach on the beach. They take this seriously! Pacific Beach won again.

Labor Day Parade on Sunday. The floats are all pretty funny and it's fun catching the beads and candy they throw out.

Not sure what this was suppose to be but it looked interesting.

There were a bunch of these jeeps that all belong to the Offroad Outhouse. Note the stack of toilet paper.

A bunch of rowdy pirates which I think this float is in the parade every year.

They claim to be the real housewives!

 

The town filled with people during the parade otherwise it is pretty desolate.

 

After the parade we headed down to the beach to enjoy the rest of the day there. It was a great day for flying kites. (Click on this picture to see it better)

 

It was warm enough that the kids and dogs enjoyed being in the water. I have never seen Nanook so wet after swimming. His whole head was soaked.

It was the best day ever on the beach...

...and another beautiful sunset to end our last night there.



 

I'll probably still be missing a bit from my blog as we are company on and off the month of Sept and first of Oct.

 

Happy Fall to all!

 

Teresa