Season's Greetings Stocking

I just love sending out my homemade Christmas cards.  However, I have a confession, for the past year or two (maybe 3, I can't remember), November rolls around and I give up.  I have great intentions of sitting down and making a stack of Christmas cards, some matching, some not, it depends of my mood.  That time never comes.  So, November comes and I decide to order picture cards online.  Not this year.  I'm starting early.  I'm going to participate in a few Christmas card challenges to get a head start.  Today, this card is for the Merry Monday challenge, we had to have a stocking on our card.  I'm also participating in the Split Coast Stampers 2017 Christmas Card Challenge.  They have it for 11 months, with December being off.  The months and themes are posted on the forum, we can work on them through out the year.  My goal is 1 Christmas card per month (I'm starting slow).  April's card needs to have a creature on it.

I thought this little reindeer stocking from Stampin Up's Gift Givers set was adorable.  I decided that instead of coloring the stocking in, I was going to paper piece it.  So I stamped the stocking image on Cherry Cobbler cardstock, Kraft cardstock, and a patterned paper from October Afternoon's Good Cheer Paper pad.  Then I did some fussy cutting and glued the little pieces to the main stocking.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  I decided to make a hanger for it by folding a piece of Cherry Cobbler seam binding in half the long ways and folding it over to create a loop.  

Supplies Used:

Stamp set - Gift Givers and Happy Scenes - Stampin Up!

Ink - Tuxedo Black - Memento

Paper - Cherry Cobbler, Kraft - Stampin Up!, Good Cheer Paper Pad - October Afternoon

Seam Binding - Cherry Cobbler - Stampin Up!

Cupcake Birthday

I used the Mojo Monday 485 sketch, as my starting point for today's card.  One of the disadvantages to taking a hiatus from paper crafting is that I have all of these fabulous supplies, but sadly they are out of date.  Some of my stash I've passed on to my two oldest daughters, who also love to create, but I'm to cheap to completely get rid of it all and start over.  So, I've challenged myself to use it up before I buy more.  Today's card comes out of that effort.  I love the Enchanted Collection 6x6 paper pad from Bo Bunny.  It's black and white, and I love the flourishes and details to the paper.  However, I discovered that while I love it, I find it hard to use.  I really struggled with pairing it with some color so it would have some contrast.  I finally decided that pink was the color I wanted to use.  It helped that I had the great ruffle trim in Strawberry Slush.  I decided to "frost" the cupcakes using Stickles, because I love a little glimmer and shine.

Supplies used:
Paper - Enchanted Collection - Bo Bunny, Uncommon Collection - Authentique
Ink - Tuxedo Black - Memento
Stamps - Crazy for Cupcakes - Stampin Up!, Card Word Puzzle - Close to My Heart
Ribbon - Strawberry Slush Ruffle Trim - Stamping Up!, Cotton Candy Divine Twine
Markers - Bic, Copic
Embellishments - Diamond Stickles, Flower and button - Close to My Heart

Watermelon & Mints Live Simply

I played along with the color combination challenge at Split Coast Stampers.  This weeks is called Watermelon & Mints at Night.  The colors were Stampin Up! colors of Watermelon Wonder, Mint Macaron, and Night of Navy.  I just had to try that combination.  I don't have any of those colors, so I had to improvise from my stash.  The Market Street paper pad from My Mind's Eye matched up pretty close when I held it up to the computer screen, so I started there.  I added in Close to My Hearts Outdoor Denim card stock and ink to take the place of Night of Navy.

Supplies Used:
Stamp - Trust God - Stampin Up!
Paper - Market Street - My Mind's Eye, Outdoor Denim - Close to My Heart
Ink - Outdoor Denim - Close to My Heart
Dies - Spellbinders
Ribbon - Maya Road

Courage Card

I played along with the card sketch challenge at Split Coast Stampers.  This sketch is their SC632.  I've been challenging myself to use up what I have (because then I get to buy new supplies) and to break out some stamps that need some love.  I truly love the Blue Skies set from Verve Stamps, there's so many wonderful quotes in this set.

Supplies used:
Paper - Market Street - My Mind's Eye
Ink - Juniper, Chocolate - Close to My Heart
Stamp - Blue Skies - Verve Stamps
Ribbon - Maya Road
Pearl Swirl - Zva Creative

I'm Back and Mojo Monday 484

Wowza!  It's been almost 5 years since I've posted on my neglected blog.  I've done a little crafting during that time, a very little.  Since I've posted, we've added 2 more girls to our family, so now we are a family of six.  Two years ago, we did a house swap with my in-laws - we moved on to the farm into their house, they moved off the farm into our house.  Which means that I had to pack up my gloriously huge craft room and cram condense my supplies into a space a quarter (that's being generous) of the size I used to have.

Mojo Monday is my favorite card sketch challenge.  They are my go to if I need a place to start.  Here's the Valentine I came up with for this weeks challenge:

I had so much fun using a bunch of the supplies that I've been collecting.  The paper is from My Mind's Eye, the Ruby Glittered Cardstock Pad.  The die cut hearts and stamps are Stampin Ups! Hearts a Flutter.  As is the postage stamp punch and Cherry Cobbler card stock.  I embossed the heart and sentiment with Close to My Heart's White Daisy embossing powder and stamped the hearts with their Cranberry and Blush inks.  I recently was snooping on their website, and I realized how out of date my inks and card stock colors are.  My goal is to use up the little bit of cardstock I have left and buy the newer colors.  The sentiment is from Verve Stamps Sweet Treats.