It's a Banner Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Here it is...the last night of our holiday break from school! It will be fun to head back to school tomorrow to see all of my students and colleagues, but it is always nice to have some time off. Our next day off will be when we get some of the white fluffery stuff... something that my whole family enjoys. In fact, we were fortunate to spend this vacation enjoying some ice skating, snow shoeing, and sledding. Now you can see where my inspiration for the banner came from. When I saw the My Favorite Things Guest Designer Challenge was called "It's a Banner Year", I decided to give it a try and make one. You can find all of the details about the MFT contest here. This was a lot of fun to make and something that I think I'll do for each season. (Please click on the photographs for a better view.) Our home doesn't have a fireplace mantle to hang the banner on, so I thought that the hutch in the dinning room would work well. Here is a close up shot so you can see all of the wintery details.

The banner is made from some Bo Bunny polka dotted paper that I cut into circles with my Nesties. Each circle with a letter (Tag Sale Alphabet for the Cuttlebug) has a MFT Jumbo Ric Rac Die-namic strip of Certainly Celery and some MFT Die-namic snowflakes (out of stock at the moment) that I added some buttons and Baker's Twine to. My darling image is from My Favorite Things. It is called Wyatt Just Chillin' and it's colored up with Copic Markers (BG000, BG72, BG78, C3, C5, E000, E11, E35, R20, R29, and Black). The snowflakes and pompoms on the hats have some Star Dust Stickles to make everything sparkle. I used some wide red grosgrain ribbon to hold the banner pieces together. There you have it...my very first banner. I hope you like it! Thanks so much for stopping in for a visit tonight...Toodles! :D

Happy New Year's Eve!

Are you ready for 2011? Do you have any fun plans to ring in the New Year? We are having Chinese food and spending the evening with some wonderful family friends. I can't wait! Before all of the festivities begin though, I have my recycled project for this week's Blogger's Challenge to share with you.

This is what I started off with. I picked up a few of these little, plastic, photo album at Big Lots for $1.oo each. My first thought was to put flash cards in all of the sleeves for my little Kindergartners at school. They could take the flash card books back to their seats and work with a friend. However, a little while back, I saw someone take one of these photo albums and turn it into something crafty, like this... I didn't save the picture of the sketch book that I saw so I'm not sure who came up with this fun idea. If you know who thought of it or if it's you, please let me know so I can give credit to the right person. Here are some of the details of my little sketch book for you. The patterned paper is from DCWV and the solid pink cardstock is from Core'dinations. I sewed the papers to the original cover. I used my Coolvetica Alphabet stamps from The Cat's Pajamas for the word, "Sketches" and then I added some rhinestones from my stash. The die cut is made from the Die-namics Framed Greetings set from My Favorite Things. For the pages of of the photo album, I printed out some of my favorite sketched from Jen Del Muro's Sketch for You to Try. They fit perfectly and then when I need a great sketch, I'll have a bunch right at my fingertips! I snapped a picture of the inside for you.
For more ideas with today's recycling theme, please click on the Blogger's Challenge logo in my right side bar. I hope that you have a safe and Happy New Year's Eve! Thank you so much for visiting with me today...Toodles! :D

One More to Share!

I hope that you and yours had a very Merry Christmas. By now, I know that everyone is probably tired of seeing Christmas cards. But...I really wanted to try out the new camera that Santa left for us, so I have one more to share. I hope that you don't mind!

This is the card I made for my little one. The main image is called King of the Candy Canes and it is from Stamping Bella. The sentiment is from the Pure Innocence Something Special Just For You set from My Favorite Things. The patterned papers are from the Tinsel and Twig collection from The Girls Paperie. The Real Red and Old Olive cardstock are from Stampin' Up along with the Real Red grosgrain ribbon. I used Joanne's "Buttony Bow" treatment again. The button and the Baker's Twine are from Papertrey Ink. This little guy is colored up with Copic Markers (C3, E01, E11, E35, E37, R20, R29, Y35, YG63, YG67, and Colorless Blender) and then I cut him out. The circle is made with my Nesties and the embossed snowflakes are from the Snowflake Cuttlebug Embossing Folder.

I'm hoping to head into Boston tomorrow for some ice skating on the Frog Pond. I'd also like to go over to The Paper Source for a little bit of shopping. Let's hope that the weather cooperates and we get to fit it all in. I hope that you have some fun plans for yourself tomorrow too! Thanks for visiting with me...Toodles! :D

Merry Christmas Eve!

Good Morning All! I have this week's Blogger's Challenge card to share with you today. It's a fairly easy one because I've been making many Christmas cards lately and that just happens to be the theme for today. I used the sketch over on Alma's blog (from The Cat's Pajamas) to create this one. You can find the sketch and more details here.

My main image and sentiment are from the Big Bear set by TCP. He's paired up with some Core'dinations cardstock and some patterned papers from the Mitten Weather collection from Cosmo Cricket. I added some ribbon from Michaels and I used Joanne Basile's button and twine treatment for the top.

I'm keeping things short and sweet today because I still have a few things to finish up before this evening. I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Thanks so much for stopping by today...Toodles! :D

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Happy Sunday Friends! I have a Christmas card to share with you tonight. It uses one of my new sets from The Cat's Pajamas. These little penguins are so fun. The name of the set is called Round the Chimney. One of the challenges for this month over on Alma's blog, is to use any of the new TCP stamps and make a Christmas card. You can find all of the details here. I used my Copic Multi-liner to draw in the bricks on the fireplace and then I colored in the image with Copic Markers (C1, C3, C5, E21, E35, E37, R37, YG63, YG67, and YR16.) The sketch is this week's Blogger's Challenge. I'm late posting because I've been under the weather all week. I finished up my antibiotics yesterday and I'm still taking prescription cough syrup. Hopefully, I'll be well in time for Santa!

Lisa's wonderful sketch is above and the other details of the card include a layer of gingham paper with some red grosgrain ribbon, sparkles for each corner, a bright red button from my stash, and some Baker's Twine. The white circle was cut with my Nesties. I had to cut the main image out from my original circle because it was too large for the sketch. Cutting it out worked out perfectly though because it gave the card some added dimension. I finished it off with some Star Dust Stickles.

I hope that all of your holiday plans are coming along wonderfully! Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by for a visit tonight...Toodles! :D

A Winter Wonderland

Happy Monday Bloggers! After three days in the making, I have finally had the chance today to finish up this card. Our house has been sick all weekend...ugh! The good news is that if we are sick this week, then we should all be better for next week. Right? Let's hope so!

I started off with the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club theme...A Winter Wonderland. You can find all of the details for here if you'd like to join in as well. Then I headed over to Jen Del Muro's blog for one of her terrific sketches. She is changing things up a little bit for her weekly Sketch For You To Try. You can find all of the details about that right here. This week, we could pick any sketch from the past. I've been going through her blog and I'm trying to catch up on any sketches that I've missed. So here is the sketch from November 6th.
My card base is white and then I added a kraft layer that I sewed some Tinsel & Twig paper to the top and bottom portions. Red grosgrain ribbon connects the two panels. My main image is My Favorite Things Fred Bear - Snow Bear. Isn't he sweet!?!?! I colored him up with Copic Markers (BG10, E25, E35, E37, R20, R27, and R29) and then I added Star Dust Stickles to all of the snowflakes. I added some felt snowflakes as well. They were made with the My Favorite Things Snowflake Trio Die-namics. I dressed up the felt snowflakes with some Papertrey Ink buttons and some Baker's Twine. The sentiment is from the same Fred Bear set and I stamped that onto a scrap of kraft cardstock that I cut it out with the My Favorite Things Textile Rectangle Die-namic. Then I added a few pearls to dress up that piece.

That about covers it for this one. I'm off to get some more rest because this cold is hitting me hard. Thanks for visiting with me today...Toodles! :D

Blogger's Challenge...Birthdays!

Happy Friday Everyone! I hope that you had a great week. As always, things have been quite busy here, but we tend to like it that way. Good thing...lol! We are going to the tree farm for our Christmas tree tomorrow and then we are going to celebrate the season with a little ice skating. I'm really looking forward to putting all of the finishing touches on our home for the holidays.

Our Blogger's Challenge theme today is Birthdays! I have been making a lot of birthday cards lately. My sister-in-law wants to give her boss a package of handmade birthday cards for Christmas. This is one that I created for her to put in the package. I used one of my Totally Stampalicious sets called Sweet Birthday Kids. I was lucky enough to win a gift certificate from Jen Del Muro for this site. In fact, I used Jen's Sketch For You To Try from a couple of week's ago for this card. You can find it here. I just turned the sketch on it's side and then I went from there.

My little birthday boy is stamped on Papertrey Ink White Cardstock with Memento ink. He's colored up with Copic Markers (BG11, BG13, E000, E11, E25, E29, E40, G21, G24, R27, R29, YR16, YR18, and the Colorless Blender.) I picked these colors to go with my new True Blue Fine and Dandy paper from My Mind's Eye. I also used Stampin' Up's Chocolate Chip and the orange polka dotted paper is from Bo Bunny. The stars were made with the My Favorite Things Stacking Stars Die-namics and then I added some Papertrey Ink buttons with some orange twine. The circles were made with my Nesties and then the chocolate circle was embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. I kept the embellishments on the simple side because this card is for a little boy.

Thanks so much for visiting with me today. If you have a chance, please stop by the blogs of the other players from the Blogger's Challenge group. You can find their links here. Have a wonderful weekend...Toodles! :D

My Favorite Things Sketch!

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope that your start of the week was good for you. I just came home from Literacy Night at my school. It was such a fun time! Children and books are always a great combination!

Here is my contribution to the My Favorite Thing Wednesday Stamp Club. This time around we were to follow a sketch. A picture of the sketch and all of the other details can be found here. I ended up turning the sketch and I actually made a card with a masculine feel to it. I'm never good at those, but with this Textile Rectangles Die-namics set from My Favorite Things, it came together well. These Basic Grey papers helped too. I went shopping with my friend Linda last week, and she thought that these papers would lend themselves to making a masculine card. I'm so glad that she was right! I added a lot of stitching to this one. Let's hope that it is still manly enough...lol!

I'm keeping it short and sweet tonight. Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit! Enjoy the rest of your evening...Toodles! :D

A Special Christmas Ornament!

Happy Sunday Friends! I'm running a couple of days late for Friday's Blogger's Challenge, but here it is. This is one of my many attempts at our Christmas Ornament challenge. You see, at first, I wasn't sure what I was going to do and then our family got a very special surprise! My sister in law was due to have her baby in late December, but we were blessed with an early and healthy little bundle of sweetness this past week! I immediately thought to make an ornament for my new little niece. I started making her a "Baby's First Christmas" ornament, but nothing seemed to work out right. So, I decided to put that project on hold and I moved onto this one.

I started with a paper mache ornament from Michaels. It's covered with red cardstock and then I added some pom pom trim around the side. The gingham ribbon on the top is also from Michaels. This delightful snowman image is a digital one from Heather Ellis. She is the illustrator of the Pure Innocence stamp line that My Favorite Things carries. I always love her sweet images, and this one is no exception! You can find Heather's Etsy shop here. I colored up my snowman with my Copic Markers (BG000, C7, C9, E29, R37, R39, YG63, YG67, YR16, YR18, and the Colorless Blender) and then I added some Star Dust Stickles to the snow for some sparkle.

So this isn't what I had in mind when I started out doing this challenge, but I'm happy with the end result. If you would like to see what the other Ladies from the Blogger's Challenge group have come up with, you can find the links to their blogs in my right side bar. I'll be back soon with some more crafty things to share. Enjoy the rest of your evening! Thank you for stopping by for a visit...Toodles! :D