Vintage St Nick

Hello All!

Hope you got plenty of turkey, stuffing, and pie yesterday!  Hard to believe that the Christmas season is officially underway.
I have a fun vintage Santa to share today.  He is an oldie but goodie from Stampendous. I don't have a particular style when it comes to Christmas cards, but when it comes to Santas, vintage is it! 

I stamped Santa on watercolor paper and colored him with 3 Shimmerz Coloringz- Keep Palm, Pink Stiletto and Scarlet's Fever.  His beard was done with Angel Wings Shimmerz paint.

I heat embossed the sentiment, which is from MFT, in black embossing powder.
The background was done with the Scarlet's Fever Coloringz. I started out applying the color using the packaging technique, but in the end, using my finger turned out the be the best way for the look I wanted.  Once the Coloringz was dry, I splattered white acrylic paint on the background.  Once that was dry, I stamped the music from the Sweet n Sassy Stamps Texture Tiles 1 Stamp Set.
Santa was fussy cut out and then popped up on dimensional adhesive.  A few sequins were added.

I am linking up to a couple of challenges-
Christmas Kickstart Challenge- Show us Your Santa. 
Double D Challenges "What is your Christmas Style"
Winter Wonderland Challenge- Use Holly and/or ivy on your card
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge- Anything Goes

Thanks it for me!  Happy Christmas Season!

Lee Ann 

Pink Snowman

Hello Everyone! 

Just a quick post to share a card I came up with the other evening using a background piece from my ever growing stash of waiting-to-be-used card pieces. 

I snagged this adorable snowman at Tuesday Morning, of all places.  I guess I am a bit of a snowman snob, so when I find one that calls out to me, I have to get him! 
I used the sketch from Sunday Stamps~

I am also linking up to Shopping Our Stash for their "Gah! Pink" challenge, which is a tribute to Leslie Hanna. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Lee Ann

Colorburst Peony

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there! 

Just sneaking in a quick card that I had lots of fun making.  I really really wanted to play around with my Colorbursts.   I am still learning, as I think I tend to use too much water when I activate them,  but they are so freeing, in that you do not need to worry about precision (which is what I typically do!). 

I used by Stampendous Peony, embossing it with black ep.  Then I just started playing!  The shine is from Crystal Effects- I coated most of the peony with it.

I am linking up to Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge- 'Shine',  Tuesday Throwdown-'spring',
and Freshly Made Sketches~

Thanks so much for popping in and have a blessed week! 

Lee Ann  :)

One Layer Christmas

Hi Everyone!

I thought I would be tired of making Christmas cards by now but I got a couple of really cute Christmas stamps for Christmas, including this Jolly Santa from Stampendous.  In addition, there is a new challenge out there, One Layer Christmas Card Challenge, so I thought I would give it a go.

 In addition, the inspiration at Curtain Call this week is gorgeous; I am a fan of neutrals these days. 

Over at Shopping Our Stash and at  the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, the challenge is to use something new (the stamp), and over at Darnell's NBUS Challenge #3, it is Anything Goes.

CAS on Sunday has a Christmas Challenge.
There are a lot of Santa images out there, but this has to be my favorite.  I think there is some nostalgia in my liking this image as it reminds me of childhood.  I colored him with Prismacolor Pencils, added some stickles to the berries and scored around the edge for a border.  I kept everything neutral except for the hat-  I really like it with the pop of color.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a blessed week!

Lee Ann  :)

Season's Giving Blog Hop

Hi Everyone and Happy New Year!  

Welcome to the Seasons Giving Blog Hop!

This hop is a thank you to our blog readers and followers; there are over 100 participants in this hop and everyone has a give away!  That is a lot of free goodies!

What a difference a year makes; I am still asking myself where 2014 went.  

This year has been an exciting one, being on several design teams; they kept me busy!

I am grateful for all of you who stopped in and left snippets of kindness and love; 

everyone's time is valuable and I know you have as much or more

on your plate than me, so 

THANK YOU!
Now on to the give away!  Please note that unfortunately, due to shipping costs,

 I cannot ship out of the US.

To enter for a chance to win, please leave me a comment below, telling me what trends/

techniques you would like to try in the new year.  

For an additional chance to win, please "follow" my blog by clicking on the blue "join this 

site" button in the side bar and then leave me a second message telling me you are a follower!

I loved all of the new trends, techniques and products that came out this year!  From 

gold embossing and vellum to watercoloring and sequins, I embraced them all, LOL!  The 

above project uses a Stampendous image, gold embossing and watercoloring.

My inspiration for this card came from Runway Inspired Challenges, AAA Cards-use gold and from Colour Me...!, where
they are celebrating their one year anniversary.  I used CMCC#14.

 Here are my top 10 favorite cards of the year~

This CAS card was made with Altenew stamps Hennah Elements and Label Love and Add a Little 

Dazzle Craft Metal.  I used the gold embossing and vellum.  :)

 

Another CAS card, this one using Cas-ual Fridays stamps and dies and Add a Little Dazzle Craft Metal- and some more gold embossing!  I also used my favorite 

new tool of 2014- the Misti.  

One of my favorite floral images is this Precious Poppy image from Sweet 'n 

Sassy Stamps; colored with Prismacolor Pencils.  I am trying to bring back torn paper, LOL!

I love the look!  :)

Another trendy technique of 2014 is mixed media, which I did here, along with vellum.  Shells are 

from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Beauty By the Sea and sentiment is from Across the Miles. 

I really love how all of the elements came together.  

It is hard to go wrong with this gorgeous die from Die-Namites; I layered up the flowers 

and colored the tree limb with Copics.  I used vellum and gold embossing here; 

noticing a trend??  LOL!

This may be my fave for the year.  I used dies from Top Dog Dies- Fall Foliage and

the Signature Beatrix die along with the fabby stencil from Crafters 

Workshop.  And gold embossing!

Sponging is the name of the game here, along with a Windmill die from Top Dog 

Dies and Add a Little Dazzle Craft Metal.  And torn paper.  :)

I love a collage style card, but really struggle with them, so when this one came

together, I was thrilled!  There is quite a variety of goodies represented here- 

Stampin' Up sea shell image, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps nautical compass image, Top 

Dog Dies- Decorative Corners dies and Laurel Lace Border die, some Heartfelt Creations dp, 

and a water colored background. 

This card came together well with an MFT sketch.  I used MFT stamps and 

dies for this card.  I worked on improving my Copic coloring skills

this past year. 

Had to sneak a masculine card in!  Poor guys always seem to be getting left

out! I used  PTI stamp set, Happy Harlequin, and die.  I love

how the Add a Little Dazzle Craft Metal pops on this card.  Another trend this past 

year?- the inlaid die technique, which I used here. 

Thank you if you are still with me on this lengthy post!  Here is your blog hop list~

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

Lawn Fawn

Spellbinders Paper Arts

Reverse Confetti

Clearsnap

Ice Resin

My Favorite Things

Technique Tuesday

Paper Smooches

Sweet & Sassy Stamps

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store

Avocado Arts

A Jillian Vance Design

Latina Crafter

Die-Versions

Unity Stamp Company

Splitcoaststampers

Verve Stamps

Latisha Yoast

AJ Otto

Vera Yates

Julia Stainton

Judy Hayes

Kim Watson

Yana Smakula

Chari Moss

Taheerah Atchia

Shemaine Smith

Emily Spahn

Kimberly Crawford

Lee Murphy

Lovely Linda

Laura Williams

Lori Tecler

Chaitali Narla

Darsie Bruno

Lydia Fiedler

Giovana Smith

Teri Anderson

Beth Pingry

Dina Kowal

Daniela Dobson

Lisa Adametz

Piali Biswas

Kelli Green

Keri Lee Sereika

Jocelyn Olson

Julee Tilman

Michelle Woerner

Lori McAree

Theresa Momber

Anita Autore

Melody Rupple

Sean Fetterman

Bunny Vance

Tricia Traxler

Lisa Arana

Lorena Cantó

Amy Tsuruta

Jodi Collins

Tenia Nelson

Kelly Klapstein

Jill Cornell

Emily Leiphart

Becky Williams

Margie Higuchi

Lee Ann Barrett

Lisa Hoel

Heather Campbell

Lisa Henke

Sheri Holt

Michele Kovack

Ashley Harris

Sharon Harnist

Lori Craig

Nicole Nowosad

Laurel Beard

Michele Boyer

Christiana Reuling

Laurie Schmidlin

Jennifer Priest

Stacey Schafer

Heidi Blankenship

Heather Pulvirenti

Anita Madden

Gloria Stengel

Sarah Gough

Rachel Kleinman

Natalie Dever

Lorine Mason

Loretta Lock

Meihsia Liu

Sarah Martina Parker

Angeline Choo

Christine Emberson

Karen Hightower

Sabrina Alery

Debbie Seyer

Dana Joy

Cat Tidwell

Deborah Saaranen

Ceal Pritchett

Lisa Lara

Colleen Schaan

Anabelle O'Malley

Megan Hoeppner

Monika Davis

Marisa Ritzen

Wanda Guess

Jenny Peterson

Annette Allen

Gracie Chavez

Christina Griffiths

Niki G.

Kristi Schurr

Jennifer Ingle

Karolyn Loncon

Camille Robinson

Lindsey M-P

Kathy Clement

Maria Levine

Savitri Wilder

Savannah O'Gwynn

Teresa Horner

Laurel Seabrook

Libby Hickson

Yvonne Van de Grijp

Leigh Penner

Lisa Lee

Tina McDonald

Nina Yang

Angel Johns

Remember, comment for one chance, follow for a second chance to win! You have until January 5th, 11:59 pm, EST to comment
for a chance to win this giveaway. Winner will be announced on January 6th.

Happy Hopping and

 Happy New Year!

Lee Ann  :)

A Sketch and Pastels

Hello Everyone!  I hurried home from work today to squeeze in some stamping time.  The sketch at SCS is a nice basic sketch today-

Here is my take on this sketch-

I got it in my brain that  I wanted to do a soft, pastel Christmas card, but with a bit of whimsy.  I chose this adorable reindeer image and watercolored him.  The background mat is embossed with white holly leaves and pink berries.  I forgot to cut my image panel down to size before I glued everything down (Oops!), so I had to trim the corners off after the card was completed (including the wet stickles!). Thus, the panel overlaps the blue card base, which is not what I had intended to do.
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog; you are a blessing!

Lee Ann :)

Supplies used-
Stamps-Holly and Berries (PTI), sentiment (PTI), reindeer-Special Delivery by Stampendous
Paper-all SU-Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Pink Pirouette, Naturals White, Whisper White
Ink-Stazon black, Bashful Blue, Basic Gray, various browns, various greens, Pretty in Pink, Versamark
Other-white ep, Aquapainter, silver Stickles, Silver pen (CM), Vintage oval die (Verve), Flourish (MFT), Shimmer Mist

Flourished Daffodils

Hello, everyone!  I was able to get some stamp time in this evening, and decided to play along with the Flourishes November challenge-

 I chose daffodils for my image, yellow as my monochromatic color, Stampin' Up dsp for my patterned paper and some rhinestone bling to finish it off.

This layout was actually very fun to work with, even though initially I was unsure of it.  I used my Mini Vintage Ovals from Verve for the first time and I think they worked wonderfully on this card. The daffodils were watercolored with an aquapainter and fussy cut out.
 Thanks so much for stopping by during this busy week before Thanksgiving.

Blessings!

Lee Ann :)

Supplies used for this card-
Stamps-daffodils from Stampendous, sentiment from Stampin' Up's Trust God
Paper-Stampin' Up Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Patterns dsp and other retired dsp
Ink-Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Stazon Black
Other-MFT Circle die, ribbon (unknown), Verve Mini Vintage Oval dies, bling (Micheal's), Scalloped circle die Spellbinders, dimensionals, aquapainter