Cheers to a New Year!!!

Happy New Years everyone!!! With 2011 coming to a close, I'm realizing how ready I am for a new year.  I'm hoping 2012 is full of many possibilities and opportunities.  I figured what better way to ring  in a new year than with a card celebrating it!!! For my card, I've used one of the Flapper Doodles sets called Cheers to a New Year from MFT.  I've stamped the image in Versafine Onyx Black and then embossed with clear embossing powder.  I've watercolored the image with my Tombow Markers (no surprise on that one right?). I'm loving this Scarub Vintage seam binding from the Ribbon Carousel. The sketch is the most recent Card Patterns sketch (which I know I'll be using again). 

Thank you for popping by my blog!!!!

Happy New Year!!! See you in 2012. 

TSG Sneak Peek - Lovebots

WOW WOW WOW!!! I can't believe this year is coming to an end!!  I swear 2011 has absolutely flown by!! I'm looking forward to what 2012 has to bring (hopefully many good things).  What better way to start off a new year with the upcoming TSG release. 

If you loved Friendbots, you’re going to love Lovebots. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Torico has created an adorable set that will have your heart bursting with joy. This adorable mini set will have your creating cards and gift tags that carry your message of love and friendship to all your special Valentines.

This set just brings a smile to my face and I love it!!! I can't wait to play with it more for making Valentines cards.  I'm such a sucker for anything cute I tell ya!!! I've watercolored the image with my Tombow markers (are you surprised? LOL!!!) and went with a fun layout.  DP is from Bella Blvd., Echo Park and Fancy Pants Designs.  The super fun dingle ball trim (that's what I like to call it) aka pom pom trim is available at the Ribbon Carousel.

 

Lovebots is a 4x4 set that includes a total of 7 stamps $10.

Would you like to win the new Lovebots stamp set?

Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetter’s blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop

challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter’s blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday December 31st

with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

CAS Colorful Butterflies

Hey there!!! It's been a quiet week on my blog (getting ready for Christmas, working pretty much full time the last couple of weeks and getting organized for a new couch getting delivered) but I'm here for today's challenge at Scrapbook Essentials. 

This week it's a color challenge and I went Clean and Simple!!!

Once again, I've used our set this month called Whimsical Butterflies 1. I've stamped the butterflies in Regal Rose ink (from SU) and then added some clear rhinestones to the antennae of each butterfly.  Easy peasy I tell ya!!!

This will be our last "Essential Sketch Challenge" this year but we'll be back in January with more fabulous sets!!!

I'll be posting a few cards over the next week or so, make sure you check back to see all the wonderful holiday goodies.

Butterfly in Flight - Essential Sketches 2

Wow! Another week has flown by!!! I can't believe how quickly December is flying by.  I'm back with a cute Springy type card for a new challenge blog called "Scrapbook Essentials BC Challenges". We are sponsored by the online crafting store "Scrapbook Essentials BC" and we will be featuring the products they carry in their online store.

 

 

For my card, I've used the set called "Whimsical Butterflies 1"  and I have stamped the butterfly in Versafine Onyx Black Ink that I embossed with clear embossing powder.  The image was stamped on designer paper for a bit of extra dimension.  The DP is an older Crate Paper line that I've been hoarding for way too long... yup I'm a paper hoarder!!! LOL... Each layer of DP has been dry embossed with various Cuttlebug folders. I love the dimension that using embossing folders create on a card.  It just makes your card pop that little bit more.

Make sure you check out what the rest of the DT has created. 

Lesley Croghan

Nina Forsyth

Stacey Rumsby

Teresa Winstone

Our Rules for Playing:

1. Create a NEW project for this challenge.
2. Be sure to link your blog with a direct link to the post you would like us to visit.
3. Please put a link on your post to our challenge.
4. Create a project with only 3 challenges including our challenge.
5. Feel free to use any stamping products you have!

Delight

Hey there!!! It'll be a little quiet on my blog the next couple of days so I thought I'd show you an 8x8 scrapbook page I made last week for There She Goes Stampbook Saturday. My cousin recently had a baby girl after having two boys so I decided to make a Stampbook page in honor of her new daughter. I searched through some of my cousins' pictures that she had on Facebook (she lives out of town and I haven't met her new sweetheart yet) and settled on this one. I absolutely love her expression in this one and what a cute outfit!

At the top of the page I have stamped a sentiment from the TSG set called "Beautiful Day" and then at the bottom of the page I have stamped the word "girl" using the set "A-Z, 123".  The more I look at this page, I've decided to mount the page onto a 12x12 DP. 

I'm working on a whole scrapbook for my cousin but life's craziness is getting in the way so I have a feeling it'll be after Christmas before I get any more done. 

Thanks for popping by!!!

MFTWSC49 Winter Wishes

Hey there!!! This little chicky had a bit of time on Wednesday morning to get my craft on so I just had to play with this week's MFT sketch challenge.  Loving it!!! I've had this cutie pie Holiday Hugs Snowman for a few weeks but no time to ink him up.  Yikes!! The horrors of un-inked stampy goodness. If you only knew how many stamps I have that have never seen ink you'd be horrified too!! LOL....

But you didn't come to hear me complain about un-inked stamps so let's get to my card.  Here are the deets....  I've stamped the image in Versafine Onyx Black and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  This just makes watercoloring so much easier as you're creating a bit of a dam that the colour is hard to pass through.  The image was then watercolored with my Tombow Markers and a white gel pen was used in a few places to add some highlights.  The DP is from this year's My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas (I am loving the colors!!! I'm definitely a non-traditional Christmas girl). The DP works perfectly for this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger challenge that I just had to play along in.  Rather than using the three small circles at the top of the sketch, I decided to add a rhinestone swirl.  I'm such  a rebel!!! LOL!!! And of course I had to add a sentiment, hence the fun sentiment embellishments.  As part of my embellishment, I've made a bow on the back side of the button using Black Jute Twine from The Ribbon Carousel. Loving that stuff!!!

Thanks for popping by today!!! Hope it's a good one!

Exciting new Adventure!!

So I've been keeping a secret!!! And a fun one at that!   I'm so excited to be a member of the Scrapbook Essentials BC DT!! I was excited and honoured to be a part of this DT because it is local!!  Well, an hour and a half away so pretty darn local if you ask me.  LOL!!!

We have a challenge blog located here at Essential Sketches where each week the Design team (the DT consists of only members from Vancouver Island which I think is pretty darn cool) will be having a challenge each Tuesday. We'll be featuring cards using the "Set of the Month" and this month it's a fabulous one called Whimsical Butterflies available at Scrapbook Essentials BC. 

Our first challenge is a sketch for you:

And here is my card:

I've been in such a Christmas card mode that it was nice to be able to make a card using Spring colours (from the Crate Paper Random Collection).  I've stamped the image in Versafine Onyx Black and then embossed it with clear embossing powder and watercolored it with my Tombow Markers.  I really like how this card turned out. 

Check out what the rest of the DT has created.

Lesley Croghan

Nina Forsyth

Stacey Rumsby

Teresa Winstone

We'd love for you to participate with us and here are the rules for playing:

Our Rules for Playing:

1. Create a NEW project for this challenge.
2. Be sure to link your blog with a direct link to the post you would like us to visit.
3. Please put a link on your post to our challenge.
4. Create a project with only 3 challenges including our challenge.
5. Feel free to use any crafting products you have!

Be sure to post your project to the linky by Sunday, December 11th at Noon (PST).

We look forward to visiting your blog!

TSG133 Happy Holidays

Have you missed me?  LOL!!! I wish....  It's been a crazy week at the Thomas household with getting ready for the holidays (and my upcoming birthday).  Chances are that many of my posts this month will be DT related which always means fun!!!

Melissa is our Trendsetter of the week at There She Goes and she has challenged us to create a card using the inspiration photo.  As soon as I saw it, my mind went to Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather DP which is perfecto!!!

Lucky for me, this month's SFYTT was posted so of course I just had to use it!!  I've used the TSG stamp set called "Wonderful Winter Wishes" and a sentiment from Penguin Pals.  I've watercolored the image with my Tombow Markers and then paper pieced part of the little guys' outfit.  I wanted to add a bit of texture to my card so I've dry embossed the circular panel with the Snowflake Embossing Folder.  I've used some Natural Jute Twine from the Ribbon Carousel threaded through each of the purple buttons.

We'd love for you to participate along with us so make sure you check out all the deets over at the TSG blog.

It's the getting close to the end of the year and I've managed to partipate in all the SFYTT sketches. Wahoo!!! Yeah, I'll be eligible for the grand prize of goodies!! Here are my cards from throughout the year:  January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November.

RCC31 Color Your World

I've been a little quiet the last few days with work and just trying to get some down time before the busy part of the holiday season hits me.  But I'm back with this week's Ribbon Carousel Challenge  and Stephanie is challenging us to use Red, Kraft (used as my card base) and Brown on a card (you can also add a neutral - thank goodness!!!) LOL!!!

Can you believe it?  Another clean and simple card for this girlie!  Happy mail was on my door step when I got home so I had to play.  I've used the Christmas Ornaments Die-namic from MFT with some Crate Paper DP.  The DP was then sponged with Chocolate Chip ink.  I've added some Maraschino Red Baker's Twine from the Ribbon Carousel for the ornaments to "hang" on.  The sentiment comes from the new TSG  release "Wishing You"  (unfortunately it's already sold out) that I've stamped in Chocolate Chip ink.  This will definitely be my go to set for my Christmas cards this year (chances are you'll be seeing it pop up on my blog a lot this next few weeks).

The Greeting Farm is our sponsor at the Ribbon Carousel Challenge this week and one lucky random winner a choice of 4x6 rubber stamp set or one of their fabulous new clear acrylic stamp sets!

 We'd love for you to partcipate with us this week!!!

Your creation can be anything from cards, quilts, sewn items, paper crafts, paintings! *** Be sure to have ribbon, bakers twine, jute twine, lace, thread (basically anything that comes on a spool). ***

Thanks for popping by!!!

. 

A few discounts for you!!!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all of my American friends and family!!!

 In honour of Black Friday, both There She Goes and Ribbon Carousel are offering discounts as a way to say THANK YOU!!!

Happy Shopping!!!!

TSG Sneak Peek - Warmest Wishes

Torico is in the mood to make winter all warm and cheery. She has illustrated a fabulous set that will keep you in stitches or get you in the mood to make gingerbread houses and sugar cookies. The set includes hearts, stars, and snowflakes to create a one of a kind snowman or holiday tree. This set also includes six dies – so warm up your die cutting machine and let the baking begin. What set wouldn’t be complete without a few sentiments to add to your winter projects?

Can you tell I've been on a clean and simple kick lately?  It makes Christmas cards so much easier and less time consuming. I have watercolored a portion of the image with my Tombow Markers and then I've embossed the DP with the Snowflakes Cuttlebug Folder.  A little bit of ribbon, twine and some "twigs" and easy peasy I'm done. 

Warmest Wishes is a 4x4 set that includes a total of 23 stamps and six dies and will sell for $31.50.

Would you like to win the new Warmest Wishes stamp sets? Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetter’s blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter’s blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday November 26th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

TSG Sneak Peek - Holly Jolly

No two snowflakes are alike…each with a beauty of their own and Melyssa Connolly has captured the beauty of snowflakes in this new Holly Jolly set that are sure to make you wish it were snowing. This amazing set also includes a die! It’s a fabulous versatile set that will surely bring a holiday glisten to your projects – all you need to add is the glitter!

I had so many thoughts in mind for this set but then I decided I wanted to go a bit more clean and simple to create quick and easy Christmas cards.  I've used the letters j and y that come in the set as well as one of the snowflakes to spell the word joy.  Super easy!!! As I was looking at one of my fave sketching sites Freshly Made sketches I realized I must have had ESP or something because my layout is the same as their sketch (I hadn't looked at their sketches yet).

Holly Jolly is a 6x8 set that includes a total of 35 stamps and one die and will sell for $31.50.

Would you like to win the new Holly Jolly stamp set? Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetter’s blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter’s blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post.

 You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday November 26th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

TSG Sneak Peeks - Hohoho, Holiday Ribbons and Wishing You

Wowza!! I know I say this every month but wow I can't believe another month has flown by and it's time for There She Goes December release!! It's a fabulous one I tell you with lots of winter goodies for you!! Today we'll be previewing three sets for you so grab your cup of java, sit down and hop along with us.  You no longer have to comment on everyone's blogs to be eligible to win free sets but the more blogs you comment on, the greater chance you have to win.

What images come to mind when you hear sleigh bells ringing? Santa and his eight tiny reindeer of course! Torico has illustrated the perfect mini set to create your winter wonderland scene. This is the perfect set to create holiday tags, cards, and gift boxes. A complete must have.

Hohoho is a 3x4 mini-set that includes a total of 9 stamps and will sell for $7.

Just when you thought the World’s Best & Die stamp set couldn’t get any better…here comes another fabulous set illustrated by Melyssa Connolly to add snowmen, reindeer, and angels on the tails of your ribbon or flowers of the World’s Best stamp set. What a great set this will be to dress up a holiday bottle of cheer!

I had so much fun with this card!! I absolutely love the three snowman images that I had to use them all on one card.  I've watercolored the image with my Tombow markers and then added some clear rhinestones for a little bit of bling. 

Holiday Ribbons is a 2x3 mini-set that includes a total of 9 stamps and will sell for $4.

Holidays are not complete without all the wishes of the seasons. Jessica has illustrated a beautiful set of timeless sentiments so that you’ll never be at a loss for words. This mini set would complement the collection of holiday stamps sets released this month!

I think this might be my favorite set of the release with all of its fantastic sentiments that begin with "Wishing You".  I've stamped one of the sentiments in black ink and then sponged around the edge with some Versamagic Wheat Ink to highlight the sentiment.  The layout comes from this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge that I've flipped on its side. I've added some Festive Fuschia Seam Binding and some Natural Jute Twine that are available at the Ribbon Carousel. 

Wishing You is a 3x4 mini-set that includes a total of 6 stamps and will sell for $7.

Would you like to win the new Hohoho, Holiday Ribbons, and Wishing You stamp sets? Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetter’s blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter’s blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday November 26th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday November 26th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

You give me Chills

Are you getting sick of me yet?  LOL!!! I've been busy creating lately, hence, I actually have cards to add to my blog.  Yeah!!! I may be quiet the next few days as I get creating for next week's TSG release.  A new feature at There She Goes is something we like to call "There She Goes (Again)"  where the Senior Trendsetters highlight some of the older sets and this week we've been taking a look at "Birdie Wishes", "Stick Together" and "Penguin Love".  For my card today, I've used two of the images from Penguin Love.  I've watercolored parts of the igloo (and then covered part of it with Diamond Stickles) and the penguin.  The hat has been popped up to give a bit of dimension.  I also stamped snowflakes from Stick Together in some blue Chalk Ink.  My layout is from this month's SFYTT (yeah me!!!). 

Thanks for popping by!!!

PPC41 I Miss you a boatload

Hey there ladies and gents.  It's been a busy week in the Thomas household and the next few days will be just as busy.  However, I managed to find a bit of free time yesterday to play with Scrapbooker's Paradise "Playing in Paradise" sketch. I had so much fun playing with this sketch but I have to tell you the bottom portion really threw me for a loop... That doesn't happen very often but it did yesterday.  LOL... Maybe my mojo is heading towards a funk.... Please mojo don't go!!! (I don't have time to miss you and to be quite honest I need you) LOL... 

I've watercolored the cute "Captain Stella and her dinghy" from Stamping Bella with my Tombow markers.  I think my coloring mojo may have taken a hike when I was coloring yesterday.  The colors just aren't as crisp as I would have liked them to be.  I've added a heart (using the Hearts Dienamic from MFT) along with a button and sentiment (from the TSG set called "Float my Boat") to finish off the card. 

Have a great day everyone!!!

RCC29 Does this make my butt look big?

Hey there everyone!! I hope you're having a fabulous week!! It'll be a busy one for me but I'll still have a few cards for you.  This week at the Ribbon Carousel Challenge, Laura Davis is challenging us with a sketch.

And here is the deliciousness I came up with.  This is one of my fave stamp sets from Skipping Stones Design called "Sassy Snow".  I've stamped the image in Versafine Onyx Black and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I then watercolored the image with my Tombow Markers.  For the "snow layers" I tore some DP, ran it through my Xyron and then added some Martha Stewart Chunky Glitter. To separate the two layers of DP (in the background) I've added some Dark Pink Seam Binding from the Ribbon Carousel.

Our fabulous sponsor this week is one of Corinna's dearest friends from the east-coast, Heather Sienkiewycz, an independent consultant with 31!

Heather will send one lucky random participant an Organizing Utility Tote! So perfect for any kind of crafting!

We'd love for you to participate with us this week!!! Don't forget that your creation must contain ribbon, bakers twine, jute twine, lace, thread (basically anything that comes on a spool). ***

Edited to Add:  Corinna has created a new blog for the Ribbon Carousel in addition to the challenge blog!!! Head on over there and subscribe and receive a coupon code!!!

FMS10 Hope and Comfort

It's been one of those weeks where sympathy cards are needed.  I didn't even have a chance to put the stamps away from the last sympathy card before I needed another one.  I wanted to keep it relatively simple, so I've used this week's layout from Freshly Made Sketches (that I've turned on its side). The sentiment is from the Impression Obsession set called Sympathy sentiments (stamped in Chocolate Chip Ink) and the leaves are from the new TSG set called Autumn (stamped in Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie Ink).  This card was relatively quick and easy to make.  I'm sure I'll be making this a go to sketch.

Thanks for popping by today.