A Little Christmas Magic!

Ready, set...go! That's how I always feel at the beginning of every week! Wow, life can get busy...especially with kids! We are also coming up to one of the busiest times of the year, and incidentally my favourite time of year! I love the Christmas season. The sights, smells, decorations and family traditions are just a few things I treasure at this time of year. As it is officially November, my husband will be starting to play carols. Now, this is a bit early for me yet...but not for Dean! It is not too early, however, to be making cards and other Christmas crafts. Actually, if you are just starting now then you better get cracking!

Today I have another new Motivet image to share with you. How cute is this little boy with his teddy?? The expressions on the children's faces in this Traditional line are just priceless. Imagine, sneaking downstairs on Christmas morning and seeing Santa just disappearing up the chimney! To me, it looks like he's wondering "how does he fit...is he stuck???"! lol. Almost all of the supplies for this card (including the stamp) are available from Phebe at The Town Scrapper in Petrolia.

I had a lot of fun with this stamp. The details in these images are great, and it is very easy to see where the shading belongs. I coloured the image with Copic markers of course. A lot of bloggers list their colours. I end up using so many colours that I would need a separate post for them! It's a little embarrassing...my table is a mess of markers by the time I am done! I used some Basic Gray Wassail DP to make the "wallpaper" behind the fireplace. The "carpet" is paper from My Mind's Eye. I cut the little boy apart from the fireplace to pop him up on foam tape. Ok, I am confessing here to all my online stamping friends...I am addicted to Polar White Flower Soft! It is so pretty! I think you will be seeing a lot of it in the coming weeks! I used this Flower Soft on the stocking trim. I used Frosted Lace Stickles (my personal favourite) on Santa's pants. There are some swirls on this stamp around Santa's feet which I think may be soot, but I chose to add Stickles to that as well, as part of the magic of this scene. Glossy Accents were applied to the clock face, and to Santa's boots.

That beautiful flower is made with layered Primas and a cardstock poinsettia. The card base is SU, the main DP is Basic Gray Wassail (this is a beautiful pack of Christmas papers!), the sentiment was printed on my computer. The ribbon is American Crafts (it was not the right shade of green however, so I just coloured it with a Copic marker to match). Finally, I sponged all the edges with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I really love this combination of traditional Christmas colours.

I'm submitting this card in Kraftin' Kimmie's Challenge #4...they are asking for tags of any shape or kind. I mounted my sentiment on one of the Spellbinders Fancy Tags...these tags are so pretty, and there are three in the set.

If you are interested, you can scroll down for a look at card I made with another of the new Motivet images last week. I do have one more that I am hoping to show you all shortly!

I hope you all have a fantastic day, and as always, thanks for stopping by. I really do appreciate you all taking the time to look in on me! I always love to read your comments, and to come visit at your blog!

Blessings,

Melanie

Shine Brightly...High Hopes Challenge #50

Hello and happy Friday! I hope your week has been a good one. My daughter was able to go back to school today. I had kept her home for two days to monitor her. She has had no fever, so I'm pretty sure she just has a lousy cold. Half the city seems to be coughing and sniffly...and no, not every cough or sneeze is the H1N1 virus people! My goodness, people are just in a panic! That being said, let's all be sensible and carry hand sanitizer...and if you are sick, please don't share!

Ok...enough babbling, and on to my card!

The challenge over at High Hopes this week is "All About Kids". I love this stamp. I have never actually caught fireflies before. I did see a ton of them at camp this past summer. They are so beautiful. I stamped the image on Neenah, and used my trusty Copics to colour her in. I added some Glossy Accents on the jar to make it look like real glass. You know, I realized that I don't often put flowers on my cards!! I have a stash of them, so I'll have to make sure to pull them out more often. I used colours which I figure every little girl loves! This pretty double sided design paper is from Kaiser Craft. The cardstock is a mix of Coordinations and Stampin Up.

I thought I'd pull out my sewing machine and add some stitching. I really love this look. I kind of cheated and hand wrote the sentiment. I cut it out as a banner, and pop dotted the middle of it for some added dimension.

Here's the closeup ( I think you can actually see the Glossy Accents on this!!):

Kids are awesome! I am one of the Sunday school teachers at our church, and let me tell you...our kids bless us on a weekly basis! We love to encourage them to "shine brightly"! God made each and every one special (that goes for us big kids too!)...and He wants us to shine for Him! That's what I had in mind while I was making this card. I love how cardmaking gives you time to reflect on the person (or the reason) you are making the card for. Who doesn't love to receive a card that let's them know they are loved and appreciated!

Hope you have a fabulous Friday night...and be safe tomorrow if you are out trick or treating!

Blessings,

Melanie

Humble Pie Challenge

Make sure to head on over to the Humble Pie blog to participate in the weekly challenge. This week is a sketch challenge. There's a $10 gift certificate towards Humble Pie stamps up for grabs!

I'll be back later in the day with a new card to post!

Melanie

Let It Snow: A Motivet Christmas

Thursday already...where has the week gone? So, I last posted that my family had avoided all these nasty bugs going around...I spoke too soon. I've been working from home the last two days, as my daughter has been home sick. She woke up the other day with a sore throat and a bit of a cough. In previous years, she probably would have still gone to school. However, with all the hype surrounding H1N1, I thought it best to keep her home and monitor her in case she spiked a fever. No fever yet, but she is a bit run down. So, it's a jammie day for her again! Hopefully, this is just a cold that she is fighting...time will tell.

So, on to my card! Have you seen the new Motivet stamps from their "Traditional" line? I love them! Lucky for me, my friend Phebe is carrying them in her store. Phebe owns The Town Scrapper , a fabulous little store in Petrolia, Ontario. She carries some great stamp lines. So when I was out there the other day, some of these new Motivet stamps found their way into my bag!

This is one of my favourites. I absolutely love Christmas carols. However, I am NOT a singer! That is something I really wish I had a talent for. My husband is a musician, so a lot of people assume that I sing as well. Nope. Well, I do...but it doesn't mean that people want to hear it! I do love listening to children sing, and these three are out in the chilly winter air carolling for everyone to hear!

The image was coloured with Copic markers. I have never created a night sky behind my images before. I started by masking the image and sponging Memento London Fog behind them. This just wasn't quite deep enough, so I added some Memento Black as well. (it looks smoother in real life...you'll have to trust me on that!) This was the first time I played with my Polar White Flower Soft. It is just perfect for snow...so sparkly! I drew little snowflakes with my Inksentials pen. Then I debated whether to "Stickle" them up, or go with Flower Soft snowflakes. I obviously opted for the latter. What do you think?

Here's the closeup:

I added some Glossy Accents to the lamp shade ( why does this never show in pictures?? lol). I finally got a snowflake Spellbinders, and this was the perfect card to use them for! I have seen some beautiful snowflake medallions created with these, and was excited to try it out. However, I'm noticing that I covered my centre rhinestone with Stickles...oops. I will be sticking another one on that, so just pretend that there's a lovely un-Stickled rhinestone in the middle! Thanks for humouring me. Then sentiment is also from Motivet (I added the snowflakes). These lovely papers are also available at the Town Scrapper.

I am excited...since Halloween is almost come and gone, that means stores will be putting out Christmas stuff soon! Some already have. I'll be on the hunt for little treasures to use on cards and other projects. I love this time of year.

Have a wonderful day...and thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Melanie

Popcorn the Bear: Thanks a Bunch!

Good morning! I hope this day finds you all happy and healthy. There are so many colds and flu going around. Does anybody go anywhere without hand sanitizer these days?? So far, my family has managed to avoid all these bugs, and I'm hoping it stays that way!

We have been so incredibly blessed by so many of our friends and family lately, that I have been in need of thank-you cards! I was able to ink up one of my brand new stamps yesterday to make this card. I first saw a card with Popcorn the Bear from Crafter's Companion a month or two ago, and instantly fell in love with this cutie! I was thrilled to find out that the Rubber Room in London, Ontario now carries these stamps. I picked up two sets when I was there this past weekend, and hopefully the other will see ink soon too!

As always, I stamped Popcorn on Neenah and coloured him with Copics. I was trying to achieve a "furry" look, so I avoided blending the colours very much. I used a lot of feather strokes in many, many layers. I was pretty happy with the way he turned out! I won't tell you how long it took to cut this little guy out...but I am very grateful that I have Cutterbee scissors! These are the best for cutting out detailed, finicky images. Popcorn was pop-dotted for dimension. I added just a touch of shimmer to the flowers with a Spica pen (although it probably isn't showing up in the picture!).

I kept this layout fairly simple. I sponged the edges of all the layers with brown ink. The ribbon was originally white, but I coloured it with a Copic marker to match the cardstock. The papers are from Cosmo Cricket and Basic Gray. The sentiment is included in this stamp set.

Here's a little peek at the inside (those flowers are also included in this stamp set!)

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This card just happens to fit in with two challenges this week! (love it when that happens!)


1. Stampin' Sisters in Christ is asking for a card that expresses thankfulness.


2. Kraftin' Kimmie is asking for a card with shades of autumn (brown, rust, green and/or yellow). (Kimmie, I'm hoping you will count the dark orange shades in the flowers as the "rust" requirement!!)


I hope you all have a fantastic day, and thanks so much for stopping by! Oh, and don't be shy...leave me a comment to let me know you were here. I'd love to come by your blog and see your creations too!

Blessings,

Melanie

Thankful for Friends

Good afternoon! I can't believe the weekend is almost over already. We have been so busy. We took an impromptu shopping trip to London yesterday in search of costumes for the kids. While it was fun, it certainly ate up a lot of free time! I'm still hoping to squeeze in some time for stamping, although it honestly is not looking promising. I have acquired some fabulous new stamps over the past few days, and am very much looking forward to inking them up!


So, I thought I'd share a thank-you card today that I made a few weeks back for a couple at our church. Friends truly are such a blessing, and I thank God for those He has put in our lives. It is so comforting to know that you have friends who are there to help in a time of need.

This was a stamp that had been sitting uninked in my binder...can you believe it??!! I love this image from Whiff of Joy. Their stamps are just so beautiful. I bought this stamp on my very first visit to The Town Scrapper .




Melinda was stamped on Neenah cardstock and coloured with Copics. I used Nesties to cut her out, but used a technique I saw on another blog. I first placed the die over top of my image and marked where her hair would extend outside of the cut piece. I trimmed around her hair, and tucked the die underneath so her hair would not be cut with the rest of the circle. I really like this look where your image extends beyond the border. The DP is from My Minds Eye. Some of favourite papers are from this company. The edges were distressed, and I added some machine stitching.

As you can see from the closeup, I added a bit of blue underneath Melinda to "ground" her. I also added just a hint of blue around her body. The edge of the circle was sponged with Distress Ink. I also used a Copic Spica pen to add a touch of shimmer to her jewelry and the hearts. A bit of Frosted Lace Stickles adds a lovely sparkle to her wings. The sentiment is from the Amy R. Thank-You Sentiments, and was matted on one of the Spellbinders Fancy Tags.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,

Melanie

One card...three challenges!!

Happy Friday stampers!

I confess...I am quickly becoming addicted to challenges! I really enjoy looking at all the participants projects and seeing how different the interpretations of the challenge rules are. Wow, there are some talented papercrafters out in blogland!

So, I made this card for the following challenges:

1. Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge #9 : Based on Luke 2:11, make a project featuring the nativity or other theme about Christ's birth.
2. High Hopes Challenge #49 : Non-traditional Christmas Colours
3. Kraftin' Kimmie's Challenge #2 : Who's Got Some Buttons!

This adorable nativity scene is from High Hopes stamps. I love this stamp! I decided to go with shades of teal (yes, I know it looks more blue in the pictures, but in real life it's teal!) for my non-tradition colour choice. I absolutely love teal! I also wanted to do a card with a lot of sparkle. So, I started with a card base of deep teal and sponged the edges with white ink. The nativity image is recessed in that window (not sure if the dimension is showing in this pic), which was cut with my Nesties. The DP is from a Christmas pack I picked up last year, but the cover fell off so I have no idea of the company! lol This card also features some dollar store treasures...the snowflake and the word "hope". I picked up a pack of these super sparkly snowflakes, so you might just see some more in the future! That little wooden "hope" was painted white and then generously coated with some beautiful white sparkle. I also coated some buttons with some Martha Stewart glitter in a deep blue...love that colour of glitter! Finally I added some little rhinestones on the DP. Can I just tell you that I was a glittery mess when done with this card! lol It was on my face, in my hair, on my clothes!!!






Here's a closeup of the image. As always, it was stamped on Neenah cardstock and coloured with Copics.

I loved making this card! Christmas is just my favourite season, and I love making projects that focus on true meaning of Christmas. What a beautiful quiet moment we can peek in on, with Mary, Joseph and the little baby Jesus.

Make sure to find time to get inky this weekend!

Blessings,

Melanie