Stitching the Day Away!

Happy Saturday to you! I've had a fun day in between my regular Saturday cleaning chores and stamping away. When I went over to the My Favorite Things blog this morning, I noticed that not only did the Teasers for their upcoming release begin, but they have also posted the details for their December Guest Designer Contest. You can find all of the information here. This month, the challenge is called, "Stitch It Up!" You can stitch by hand or use a sewing machine or even do faux stitching with a gel pen. The choice is yours. I have been using my sewing machine on my cards a lot lately, but I wanted to make something a little bit more special. My thoughts immediately went to Christmas stockings. My teenage niece would like money for Christmas because she is saving up for an iPod touch. I just didn't want to put some money in a card for her, so I decided to make her a stocking. She loves to stamp and make crafty things with me so I know that this will get hung up in her room or even placed on the family Christmas tree.

I started by tracing a stocking pattern onto two sheets of Core'dinations red card stock. They were sewed together with a straight stitch. Then I added the cuff, toe, and heel with a zigzag stitch. I used some Tinsel & Twig paper for those pieces. I finally got my hands on some of this beautiful paper thanks to my friend Linda and her dh that is nice enough to stop and pick up stamping goodies for us on his way home from work! I hand stitched the ribbon loop and button on with some Baker's Twine. My image is from the My Favorite Things a'la mode set called Candy Cane Kisses. She is colored up with Copic Markers (B95, B97,C1, C3, E000, E11, E27, E29, E35, E37, E40, R20 R27, R29, YG93, YG95, YG97, and the Colorless Blender.) I used a zigzag stitch to connect my image panel and a panel of olive colored card stock. The sentiment is from the same set and it is cut out with oval and scallop oval Nesties. I added three little red gems to sparkle things up a bit. Then some Star Dust Stickles were added to her hat and jacket buttons because those needed a little sparkle too...lol! I wanted a little something to actually put in the stocking to hold the money, so I made a little pocket with some more Tinsel & Twig paper and a piece of Kraft card stock. The sheet music paper was a perfect match because she'll be listening away to music with her new iPod touch. I'm so happy with how the whole thing came together.

I hope that you had a wonderful Saturday too! Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit. I'll see you soon...Toodles! :D

Blogger's Challenge...Blue, Rust, Mustard

Happy Friday Stampers! Have you been shopping today? Did you get any great Black Friday deals? I hope so! We are home today and that is just fine with me. Maybe we'll brave the elements and the crowds after lunch and see what we can find.

As I promised in yesterday's post, I'm back today with my creation for this week's Blogger's Challenge. We are to use the colors Blue, Rust, and Mustard. Now I realize that my card doesn't scream, "Winter is coming!", but I thought that this image would be perfect for these colors so I went in that direction. When Elzybells Rubber Stamps was going out of business this past summer, I treated myself to as many goodies as I could. This delightful image and sentiment were part of my package. The image is colored up with Copic Markers (B21, B24, E08, E15, Y21, Y26, YG63, YG67, and YR18). I used some retired Stampin' Up patterned papers and the large panel was sewed onto the rust card stock with my Janome Sew Mini. I added a blue button with some twine to finish off the sentiment flag. Now, if you are wondering where I used the mustard color, well, that would be the little flowers in the image. It's there...I promise...lol! I started off using Mercy Kerin's sketch, but the vertical panel didn't look quite right with my image, so I'll have to try again. I hope that you'll have a chance to see what the other Ladies from the Blogger's Challenge group have come up with. You can find their blogs here. Thanks so much for visiting with me today...Toodles! :D

Being Thankful

Happy Thursday and Happy Thanksgiving Day to all of you! I hope that you had a day filled with everything that you are thankful for!

This is the card that I made for the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club challenge. The theme this week is about what you are thankful for. I am a blessed girl and I certainly know it. One thing that I'm quite thankful for are my parents. This is the card that I gave them today for Thanksgiving. I am thankful to have both of them in my life and I'm grateful for all that they do for me and my family.

My card base is Papertrey Ink white cardstock. I used my Janome Sew Mini to sew the Chocolate Chip panel and the DCWV plaid piece together. I also sewed on the Chocolate Chip strip and the opened scallop piece that I made using the MFT Open Scallop Border Die-namic. The sentiment and die are from the MFT Framed Greetings Stamp Set and Die-namic. I added a button to each side of the sentiment and then a few more on the botton to dress up this simple creation.

Thank you for visiting today. I'll be back tomorrow with a Blogger's Challenge card to share with you. Enjoy the rest of your evening...Toodles! :D

"Brown Paper Packages...

tied up with strings...These are a few of My Favorite Things." Now that you can all hear Julie Andrews singing in your head, I'll explain why. The My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club challenge is to use the song from The Sound of Music to inspire a creation. My very first thought was to use the Pure Innocence stamp of the sweet little girl carrying all of her packages. However, the very talented Jodi Collins was apparently thinking the same thing...lol! You can find her beautiful kraft and pink creation here. I didn't want to copy Jodi, so I pulled out my "Sending You a Little Christmas" set and thought of the warm, woolen mittens part of the song. Then, I had a little idea! I already had the packages stamped and colored from the other image, so why not add them to her sled and she could pull them along with her tree! It's not often that things actually work out the way I plan it in my head...lol, but I'm just tickled that it did this time around!

I used Jen Del Muro's Sketch For You To Try as my starting point. All of the patterned papers are from the Mitten Weather collection by Cosmo Cricket and I used my Janome Sew Mini for the stitching. My sweet little girl is paper pieced and colored up with Copic Markers (BG000, C3, E000, E11, E21, E31, E33, E35, E40, R20, R29, YG03, YG63, YR12 and the Colorless Blender). I also used Papertrey Ink Kraft and Stampin' Up Real Red. The MFT Snowflake Trio Die-namics were part of my latest purchase and I accented them with a PTI Holiday Button and Baker's Twine. I used the Beautiful Garden Felt from My Favorite Things for the snowflakes and then I added some Star Dust Stickles to give them a little bit of sparkle. The ribbon is from the Holiday section at Michaels. Thank you so much for visiting with me. Have a Happy Sunday...Toodles! :D

Give Thanks!

Happy Friday! I hope that everyone had a terrific week! The Joanne Basile class that I was SO looking forward to last Saturday was as WONDERFUL as I hoped it would be! If you are lucky enough to take one of her classes, I highly recommend it! You can see her class listings here and I know that she has more things planned for after the holidays.

My card for today combines Jen Del Muro's Sketch For You To Try from last week and this week's Blogger's Challenge (Give Thanks theme). I didn't go with a Thanksgiving card because I needed a Thank You card for a sweet friend of mine. I did keep with an Autumn theme though. This adorable image is from the Pure Innocence line from My Favorite Things. She is colored up with Copic Markers (E000, E11, E21, E33, E35, E40, YG01, YG03, YG13, YR16, and the Colorless Blender) and her ginormous pumpkin is paper pieced with some fun polka dotted paper from Bo-Bunny. This particular stamp is out of stock at the moment, but I'm sure Kim will have it back in very soon! The sentiment is from a different Pure Innocence set called Bunch of Blooms. That one is in stock and you can find it here. All of my October Afternoon papers are sewed onto a cream panel and then mounted onto a Kraft card base. I added a few buttons from my stash to finish this one up.

Now it's time to see what the other Ladies from the Blogger's Challenge group have come up with. You can find their blogs right here. Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit...Toodles! :D

I Whipped This Up Just for You!

Happy Friday Stampers! I'm playing double duty again! I really wanted to participate in a few sketch challenges last week (MFT, Jen's SFYTT), but things didn't go as I had hoped with everything that is going on here. So, I combined this week's Blogger's Challenge (a sketch) along with the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club challenge (Cooking Up Some Love). For today's creation, I turned the sketch and then went from there. The patterned papers are from the Material Girl pack by Cosmo Cricket and the other papers are Choice Buttercream card stock and Stampin' Up's Not Quite Navy. This delightful image is from the My Favorite Things a'la mode set called, "What's Cooking?" (They seem to be sold out of this one at the moment, but I'm sure that Kim will have it in stock again very soon.) My sweet, little mixing girl is colored up with Copic Markers (BG000, BG72, BG75 C1, E000, E11, E25, E29, R20, R81, R85, Y26, Y32, and the Colorless Blender) and her apron is paper pieced with some of the same Cosmo Cricket paper. The ovals are made with my Nesties. I used the MFT Die-Namics Jumbo Scallop Die for the two rows of scallops, and then I wrapped some Hero Arts crocheted lace around them. To finish this creation off, I added a button with some twine.

It looks like many of the Ladies from the Blogger's Challenge group are playing this week. If you would like to see what they have come up with for this wonderful sketch from Lisa Somerville (Thanks Lisa!), just click here. I hope that you have a terrific weekend! Tomorrow, I'm having the pleasure of attending one of Joanne Basile's MFT card classes! How exciting! I'll also get to spend some time with some friends of mine which will make it even better! Thanks so much for stopping by...Toodles! :D

Being Patriotic!

Good Friday afternoon to you! I hope that you all had a wonderful week. It's been raining here for a couple of days (hence, the dark photograph), but all is GOOD!

This week's Blogger's Challenge is a Patriotic theme. I do not have too many stamps for that category, but I still wanted to play, so I headed over to Designed 2 Delight and found just what I was looking for. Faith has some adorable digital images and I really loved this wonderful birdhouse that she created. (Faith, I apologize for cutting off your copyright mark. I didn't realize it until it was too late. Please forgive me.) I colored it up with Copic Markers (B0000, B21, B23, B26, C1, E25, E29, E31, E33, R27, R29, Y21, Y32, YG67, YR18, and the Colorless Blender), and actually mounted it to an old card from my stash that I created about two years ago. I hadn't used the card and decided to recycle the image and make it into something that I thought would be a bit more useful. If I remember correctly, this was one of Mary Jo's Lunchtime Sketches. The papers are retired ones from Stampin' Up with some Bashful Blue and Real Red. The button is from Doodlebug Designs and the ribbons are from May Arts. I also used my Nesties for the circles.

Thank you for stopping by today. Please click on the Blogger's Challenge logo in my right side bar to see what the other Ladies have come up with. Toodles! :D