Kraft, Black & Gold--for Christmas

I love using gold in my projects & wanted to ink up my new Penny Black Peace on Earth (40-256) stamp. Not sure I've ever used so much black on a Christmas card, but I think it works.  The star & baby Jesus are colored with a gold gel pen & then Stickles is added to the baby as well as the dots.  The window is made with Spellbinders Labels 2.  I masked the other 2 words so I could stamp "Peace" in Delicata Golden Glitz from this older Penny Black stamp called Happiness (3000F). Thin gold ribbon & dots finish it off. I'm entering the All That Glitters Is Gold challenge in the Moxie Fab World and Anything Goes at Simon Says.

Wet & windy all day--glad I didn't have to drive anywhere.  Wishing you a great week & thanks for your visit. 

Outside the Box--for Me

I admit it--I'm one of the printed paper hoarders.  My friend Linda gave me a gift bag when I met her during my Indy trip & one of the items was MME The Sweetest Thing paper pad. It inspired me to make a card just using the papers & a sentiment stamp from the MFT Thankful Leaves set. I have to say it was fun & I do really like how it turned out using the current MFT weekly sketch. All the edges were inked with old paper Distress Ink. I trimmed out the piece with the flowers & used my black glaze pen to highlight the flower stamens, a gold gel pen on the gold flowers & the clear star pen on the blue flower centers.  The "Thanks" stamp fit on the piece stamped in Memento Espresso Truffle (matched the stems) & I added 3 tiny dots with the gold pen. I mounted the top piece with foam tape & tied on some hemp. 

Windy & rainy here--glad I'm at home watching football!  Hope you have a good weekend, whatever the weather, & thanks so much for coming by.

  

Back Home & PTI Blog Hop

I had a wonderful week visiting my cousin & his family in Indy. His wife planned lots of activities to keep us busy while he was at work. On Saturday the rain & humidity were gone & a group of us took the Segway tour along the canal downtown.  Oh what fun & I actually had no trouble maneuvering the Segway! From there I had the special treat of meeting my friend, Linda. We connected in July 2010 when she saw my layout of Indy pictures & we've been friends ever since. 

Turned out Joy O., Kathy W. & Deborah N. were at her house for a crafting party, so I met all of them! There's a picture in Linda's photostream.

It was a long day of travel, but I had seen the PTI Blog Hop theme while waiting for my connecting plane in Minneapolis (I waved to Barb & Linda W.) so had an idea of what I wanted to do. A week of no cardmaking had me in withdrawl, so before bed I made my card. 

I used a cardstock circle frame for the base to glue on die cut felt leaves from PTI's set The Sweet Life. I used spray adhesive to attach the burlap to a square of kraft cardstock which was then mounted to the card front & the wreath was attached with foam tape. The sentiment which expresses my feelings to my dear cousin & his wife is from PTI Lovely Leaves.

Lots of catching up to do, so I'll be visiting you soon. Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the hop!

Edited to add: I'm entering my Autumn card in the Penny Black & More challenge. Edited to add: I'm also entering the CAS-ual Fridays challenge.

My Turn to Travel

Very early in the morning hubby takes me to the airport & I'm off to see my Indiana family--the only ones left on my Dad's side of the family.  My cousin's wife has scheduled fun activities for the whole time I'm there.  If everything works out, I'll also get to meet some card-making friends in person--always such a treat! I won't have much computer time, so hope you understand when I don't visit you for awhile.

Here are the last of the Penny Black Color Challenges cards my sister & I made.  Laurie's Day 4 card uses an Impression Obsession tree die & a Penny Black sentiment from "in a pear tree", 30-035.  I stamped & trimmed the flag for her & she sponged the snow & did everything else.  Hard to tell, but she added Shimmer Spritz to the tree & the snow.

Laurie's Card

My card is for Day 5.  I stamped "melle papillon", 4300K in Delicata Golden Glitz.  I purposely used the Spellbinder Lacy Circle die so her dress would go past the circle. The butterflies were very lightly colored with a Faber-Castell colored pencil & her hair was lightly watercolored with Memento ink. The labels die is a Spellbinder & the embossing folder is Cuttlebug.  Thanks for all your sweet comments & you will hear from me when I get home.

Greta's Card

Goodbye to Sis

What fun Laurie & I had spending a week together! It went fast as I knew it would.  Flights worked out so that we picked up hubby returning from his genealogy research in Iowa, had him take a quick picture of the two of us and then said goodbye to Laurie as she headed home to a waiting hubby & puppy dog. It had been a year since we'd seen each other & we determined it will never be longer than that.  We weren't close as kids--being the oldest I was more a second mom to my brother & sister--but as adults we are truly friends & understand how special family is.  

We were finishing up cards until time to head for the airport.  Here are 2 more we made for the Penny Black Color Challenges.  Laurie's card is for Day 5 & mine is Day 4.  Fortunately, the rules say shades of the given colors are allowed. 

Greta's Card

My background piece is made by stamping Penny Black's "peacock feather", 40-203, in Ultimate Metallic Champagne on textured ivory paper saved from a store bought card.  Then I dry embossed it,sponged Memento Peanut Brittle on the edges & added the lace. Sue has me at least thinking about dry embossing every stamped image & so far I've loved it each time. Penny Black's dies "delicate wings", 51-010, were cut from 2 shades of green cardstock.  An additional body was cut & wrapped with gold floss.  
The open areas have Glossy Accents & then the entire butterfly is misted with Tattered Angels Iridescent Gold. Happy Birthday, 2912D, is an older Penny Black wood stamp that I frequently end up using.  The 3 green gems were colored with a COPIC to match.

Laurie's Card

Laurie used another Penny Black sticker she said reminded her of the 2 of us as kids except she always wore blue & I wore red. 











Thanks so much for taking time to check out my blog.  
I always love hearing from you.  Enjoy the rest of your week.

Christmas Card in Non-traditional Colors

I enjoyed the PTI MIM video showing striped heat embossing.  I don't have a large enough PTI sentiment, so decided to give it a try with this nativity scene from Star of Wonder. I used 3 Zing! embossing powders.  The die cuts are PTI Mat Stack 3 & I die cut a circle in the top one to make a window.  The scripture is one of the stamps in the same set.  Had to work today & then we watched football & then I finished this card, so it's very late & I'll keep the post short.  Thanks for stopping by.

Penny Black Color Challenges

I'm a bit late, but in case you've missed it, check out the Penny Black blog this week. There's a new color combo challenge each day & you have until Sept. 27th to play along.

My sister & I are having a great time (no men around to keep happy--LOL!)  Laurie only crafts when she's with me, & that's a shame as you will see by her beautiful card I'm sharing.

We pulled out some old Penny Black stickers & got to work.  Laurie took the Day 1 color combo.  She was able to change the green on the ornament by using glitter.  Love the layers she chose & the one rounded corner--& of course, the dots of Stickles & a pearl. The panel is mounted with foam tape.

My Sister's Card 

I decided to make a Valentine's Day card & began by cutting out the flowers from one sticker & layering it on my other one. (It's always great to buy 2 of a sticker sheet so you have this option.) I added Antique Linen stickles as the color combo I'm using is from Day 2. I also used a COPIC marker to change the stems to a shade of the blue we're to use & hopefully that's close enough--LOL! My sentiment is from Penny Black's "butterfly symphony", 30-148, clear set.  Love the row of hearts sticker--fun & easy to use.

Greta's Card

Thanks for stopping by. Off to tackle some of the other color combos--hope you'll join in! (Sorry about the formatting--can't figure out Blogger!)