Your A Sweetie

It is New Year’s Eve and I am enjoying a quiet evening at home.  Well, not really quiet – lots of fireworks going off around us and my poor dog is shaking at my side.  Thought I would add a quick card before the year ends.

Earlier this month I created a card for our Stamp Club Swap with the theme of child’s birthday.  Since I had to make twelve of these for the swap, I kept it fairly simple.  Yesterday was both my girls’ birthday (go here for the details on this) so I decided to revamp this card and make them something a little more detailed and sparkly.

I changed the shape of the card to a square and added more layers.  The large purple scalloped square, the small white scalloped squares, and the pink squares were all cut out using Spellbinder Nestabilities. 

I used Swirl Cupcake and You're a Sweetie!, both from Sparkle N Sprinkle.  These can be purchased individually or together is Set 374 - Sweet Treats.  I stamped them on a white circle and then layered them on a scalloped circle cut out of sticker paper using a Spellbinder die.  I added Lacy Lilac glitter on both the scalloped circle edges and also on strips of "Tear-ific" Tape.

Happy Birthday, girls!!!

E. Marie

This card is entered in the following challenges:

Top Tip Challenge #66 - Anything Goes

The Pixie Cottage Challenge #101 - Someone Special

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #58 - Use It Three Times   

Clearly Inspired Challenge #42 (CIC42) – Birthday

Charisma Cardz Challenge #50 – Anything Goes    

Paper Sundaes Challenge #100 - Celebrate

Simon Says Stamps Challenge - Anything Goes

Crafts and Me Christmas Bumper Challenge #66 Part 1 - Anything Goes

Everybody Art Challenge #173 – Anything Goes
DYSU Challenge #52 - Rainbow of Colors

A Year In Review Blog Hop

With 2011 coming to an end, we have a tendency to look back over the year and review everything that has happened, both the good and the bad.  Karin, one of my fellow Sparkle N Sprinkle designers, is have a Year In Review Blog Hop at With an “I” for Paper so I have reviewed the last twelve months on my blog and I am going to share with you my 12 favorite cards for 2011. 

Being a designer for Sparkle N Sprinkle the last six months has been an honor and so much fun, so I want to share my favorite cards using SNS stamps and products first.

 

Tri-fold card using Fancy Butterflies.

  

        Bird Swirl Set                                       Easter Chicks Set combinded with

                                                                  Spellbinders' 2010 Heirloom Ornaments.

 

Shaker Ornament using Playful Pengies and Tis The Season sets combinded with Spellbinders' 2010 Heirloom Ornaments.

My next cards use stamps from Our Daily Bread Designs.  When I first started to enter their challenges, I borrowed a stamp from a friend and had to be very creative with this one image to meet the various challenges.  I was really thrilled to be asked to be a guest designer for two months this summer.  Here are a few of my favorites.

 As You Graduate and Faith sets. 

     

        

Card Holder and a set of cards using Scripture Series 2 and Scrolly Borders

A side-step card using Scripture Series 2, Scrolly Borders, and Happy Birthday sets from ODBD.  I added a Garden Oval Topper, Fushia Mix, and Ultra-Fine Sage from Flower Soft.

  

  

         

Holiday Easel Card using Serve the Lord and His Gift stamp sets and Crocheted Circle Die from ODBD and 2010 Heirloom Ornaments, Standard Circles, and Layered Poinsettia dies from Spellbinders.

The remaining favorites use stamps from various companies whose challenges I try to enter as often as I have time. 

I have collected House Mouse stamps for years because they are just tooo cute and irresistible.

Another one of my favorite companies is Impression Obsession.

    

My final card used stamps from JustRite .

This was my first Center Step card and one of the first cards I won a challenge with.

 I hope you enjoyed reviewing these favorites.  I would love if you left me a comment, letting me know which of my favorites is your favorite and why.  Also, don't forget to go here to find links to other blogs that are participating.

One last item - in reviewing my blog I realized that I totally forgot about my one year blogiversary.  I plan to combine this with a celebration of another year to come in January.  Watch for this because I will be offering some candy.

E. Marie

Merry Christmas

This is a bit late but our day didn’t quite go as planned.  Right after I posted last night, my daughter, Trisha, told me she was feeling very ill.  I had to run out to the only store that was open to get her some medicine,  but right after she took it she began to throw up.  Her stomach was really hurting and after five hours of constant vomiting, we headed to the emergency room.  We were very luck that there were hardly any other emergencies and we only had to wait around fifteen minutes.  They ran some tests, gave her medicine to settle her stomach, and gave her fluids through an IV since she was already very dehydrated.   They could not find anything wrong and decided that it must be food poisoning.  As relieved as we were that there was nothing seriously wrong, we were not sure their diagnosis was correct since we had all eaten the same things all day.  We came home at 7:00 this morning and crawled into bed.  She is better now but very weak.

Needless to say, our day was a bit different.  We slept in and decided to skip the Christmas dinner.  We will enjoy our meal tomorrow.  We did spend a nice time together in front of the tree, reading about the birth of Christ in the book of Luke, and opening gifts.   Sarah’s boyfriend, Brett, joined us.  Now Trisha is sleeping, again, and Sarah and Brett are busy playing with her new Wacom Create Tablet.  I am relaxing and enjoying my first cup of coffee from my new Mr. Coffee Single Serve Brewing System (made by Keurig).  I have wanted one of these for a long time so was very grateful to my daughters for giving me this.

Well, it is time to make all my Christmas calls to family members, since my parents and siblings all live far away.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas day, hopefully a little calmer than ours.

E. Marie

The Joys of Christmas Eve

Well, the house is decorated, the shopping is done, and today we just laid low and finished last minute details.  I had a few gifts left to wrap and the girls decided they wanted to do some baking.  Since they are both pretty much on their own they think they know it all, but after leaving them on their own in the kitchen, they finally came and asked for help.  The terms “cream the butter” and “sift the flour” were a bit confusing for them but after a little explanation and demoing, they did amazing.

Then came the decorating. 

   

They always get creative and humorous when they get together and it was just fun to watch.  After a while they begged me to come help finish and it went very quickly. 

We have a family tradition of making a cookie call a peppernuts.  You have to roll out the dough, snip it into bite size pieces, and bake.  It takes a long time and is pretty messy so the girls decided they would rather make another favorite cookie that my husband’s mother made every Christmas.  It is a delicious molasses cookie, and though we had never made them ourselves, the girls did a great job and my husband was thrilled.

Well, the baking is done, though I will probably still throw together some fudge.  Now for another family tradition – putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

Hope you are enjoying your time with family and friends as much as we are.  Have a wonderful Christmas!!

E. Marie

Then All The Trees...

Sorry I haven’t been around for a while.  I made a quick trip to Memphis, TN to deliver a car to my daughter and had a wonderful time visiting with her.  I met her new boyfriend and he was very nice.  I also delivered a huge fake tree that I rescued before it was thrown out and she and her roommates were thrilled.  So were their two little kittens who immediately climbed to the top, knocking it to the ground and breaking the stand.  We finally found a new stand to hold it up but I am not sure how long that will last with those silly little critters.  My husband joined us the next day and we headed back a day later.  I went to work on Monday but must have picked up a bug and ended up in bed for two days.  Not the best time to be sick with all the extra activity at school and getting things ready at home for the holidays so I have been playing catch up.  Now that school is out for a few weeks and my Christmas cards are in the mail, I couldn’t resist heading to my craft room to make this card that I have been thinking about for quite a while.

This card was created using a technique that I had recently been told about, though I did make a few adjustments to meet my needs.  The original instructions said to use Versamark ink to stamp images but I used an embossing folder to add a few trees and ran my Versamarker over the embossed images.  The background is sponged twice with two different green inks and spritzed with water to give it a snowy look.  I layered this on green and added it to a white card base.

I used a die cut tree and used SNS Brushable Glue to add Twinkling Clouds Sparkle N Soft.  After it dried I added more along the top of the branches and layered it on the front of the card.

For the sentiment I used Then all trees… from Sparkle N Sprinkle and cut it out with a Spellbinder label die.  I layered this on top of two holly scrolls covered with Sparkle N Sprinkle's Lady Luck glitter and popped this up on the card with foam tape.

To get detailed instructions on how to make this card you can go here.

I experimented with this technique a bit and tried using cardstock that had a smooth coated surface but wasn’t glossy.  The background came out a bit different and I decided to add more glitter around the embossed tree using a glue pen.  I thought it was pretty but still liked the more subtle, snowy look of my first card.

Thank you for taking the time in your busy schedules to stop by.

E. Marie

This card is entered in the following challenges:

Totally Stampalicious – Sparkle

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge #65 – Anything Christmas

Stampin Sisters In Christ Challenge #120 –Christian Image and/or Sentiment (True Meaning of Christmas)

Paper Play Challenge Week #50 – Christmas

One Stop Craft Challenge Week #162 – Christmas Sparkle

Kaboodle Doodle Challenge #98 – Oh Christmas Tree

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #52 - Monochromatic and Sparkle

4 Crafty Chicks Crazy Egg Challenge #68 - Christmas Card

DYSU Challenge #50 - Winter

Delightful Sketches Weekly Challenge – Anything Goes

Crafty Creations Challenge #148 – Embossing and Glitter

Crafts and Me Challenge #65 – Christmas

Catch The Bug Challenge – Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Bling It On December Challenge #10 – Christmas

Stampin For The Weekend Challenge #22 – Christmas

Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge Week 86~~Make a Christmas Card

Everybody Art Challenge #173 – Everything Goes/Anything Goes

Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light ODBDSLC89 - "NOEL" Word Play (N-Nestabilities, O-outside, E-embossing, L-layers)

Aifactory Challenges Challenge #99 - Christmas Theme

Love, Faith, Hope

This is the sketch for the December monthly sketch challenge at the Sparkle N Sprinkle blog.  Make sure you visit the blog to get all the details.  You have the whole month to enter and the winner receives a stamp set of their choice.

Here is my card to give you some inspiration.

I started with this delightful image from Sparkle N Sprinkle’s Hope Love Faith Stampette Set, embossed with Log Cabin embossing powder.  I added Bridal glitter to the snow and Fire Engine Red glitter to the berries.  The words were embossed with Winter White embossing powder and cut out with a Spellbinder Classic Oval die.  I popped them up on top of a sparkly border of pine created with a punch and Meadow Spark glitter.  The green background layer is embossed with an embossing folder and more glitter added on the edges.

Don’t forget to check out the samples from other design team members here.

E. Marie

This card is entered in the following challenges:

Totally Papercrafts Challenge 94 – Christmas

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #140 – Anything Christmas

Phindy's Place Challenge #83 - A Sprinkling of Snow

Ooh La La Challenge #94 - Lots of Sparkle

Kaboodle Doodle Challenge #95 – Bundle Up for Winter

Incy Wincy Designs Challenge #122 – Trees

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C115 – Snow

Craft Your Passion Challenge #86 – Tis the Season (anything holiday or winter related)

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge #110 – Snowmen

Aifactory Challenge #98 - Something Red

Totally Gorjuss Challenge #108 – Sparkle

Stampin For The Weekend Challenge #21 – Friends

Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge - Show Some Stars!

Simon Says Stamps Challenge – Anything Goes

The Pink Elephant TPE127 – Color Inspiration Photo Challenge

Crafty Creations Challenge #146 – Photo Inspiration Challenge

Christmas Is...

I sure hope you have all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.  The weather was perfect here and we had a delicious meal.  I have decided that there is nothing for sale that requires me to go sit out in the cold in front of a store all night.  Instead I have stayed up late creating a card – much more fun.

Our Daily Bread Designs Shining Light Challenge is Baubles, Bells or Anything Hanging.  I have also been wanting to try making one of these lovely medallions that everyone has been using lately.  This combined both of these.  I started by using Spellbinders’ 2010 Heirloom Ornament die to cut through all the layers on the front of the card to create a window.  I embossed the front using a Sizzix embossing folder I bought in a 2 pack called Sugar & Starry Night Set.

For the ornament medallion I stamped and heat embossed ODBD’s doily image from their Serve The Lord set twice.  I cut then out using the Crochet Circle die and scored with my Scor Pal.  I did a fan fold and glue the ends together to create the medallion.  I layered a white circle, cut out with a Spellbinders’ die, after edging it with ink.  I added a beautiful red poinsettia, created with Spellbinders’ Layered Poinsettia die.  I hung this in the ornament window using some cording and added a triple bow.

For the inside of the card I added a red layer punched with a Martha Stewart Corner/Border set and a sentiment from ODBD’s His Gift set.  This weekend I picked up the new Winter Limited Edition Distress Inks and used the Festive Berries pad for this card (and the seam binding ribbon for the bow).  Two smaller white poinsettias and some gold pearls completed this card.

Here is the entire card opened.  

Thanks for stopping by in between all the Black Friday shopping.

E. Marie

This card is entered in the following challenges:

Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light ODBDSLC85 - Baubles, Bells, or Anything Hanging

Whoopsie Daisy Challenge – Christmas

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge 61 – More Than 1 Fold

Stamp and Create November Monthly Challenge - Easel or Center Step Card

Championing Award Medallions Challenge in the Moxie Fab World - Incorporates a three-dimensional medallion or award medallion in an innovative way.

Clearly Inspired Challenge - #40 Flowers
Crafts 4 Eternity Challenge R#47 - Christmas Decorations

Totally Gorjuss Challenge #107 - Swirly Whirly (swirls, whirls, flourishes, etc.)

Our Daily Bread Designs Stamping In Time Challenge (SNTODBD48) - Christmas Theme

Bunny Zoe's Crafts Challenge 18 - Anything Christmas with Pearls

Paper Sundaes Challenge #96 - Beautiful Bows

Have a Blessed Thankgiving

May God bless you during this time with family and friends.  I am so grateful for each one of you that share and support my blog.   Thank you.

E. Marie

In The Meadow...

I tried to just lay low today as this has been a very stressful few weeks.  I had hoped to spend Thanksgiving with my oldest daughter, but that didn’t work out.  We just found a car for her after hers was totaled but we were not able to get all the paperwork taken care of in time to actually get the car to take to her.  We really didn’t want to make two trips so she is spending tomorrow with her boyfriend’s family and we will stay at home.  My youngest daughter’s boyfriend will join us so it will be a relaxed, fun afternoon.

Saturday a bunch of my stampin’ buddies got together at Scrapbook Creations and we spent the whole day together.  We had a wonderful time.  My friend, Cheryl, came from Charlotte, NC and since she had recently had a birthday, we decided to surprise her with a birthday cookie.  When she walked in we all started singing Happy Birthday and everyone else at the store joined in.  She was very surprised.  We had ice cream with the cookie at the great little restaurant that is attached to the store.

Several of us brought a bunch of the large 6” background stamps from Impression Obsession to play with and Bonnie showed us this awesome background technique.  I went to play in my room tonight and decided to use this technique to make my card for the Impression Obsession Challenge to use stamps only – no patterned paper.

I used the Flourishes Cover A Card Background and a white paint dauber from Ranger to add white acrylic paint to white cardstock to create a resist design.  I dried it with the heat tool and  sponged different blue distress inks over it, then took a paper towel and buffed over the image which really made the white pop.   I have to give Bonnie credit for this exact background because this is what she showed us, but it was so lovely I just had to copy it.  I cut it into rectangles and layered it on dark blue.

The snowman is from IO’s Snowman Set.  I stamped the different parts, cut them out, and popped them up on another layered piece of the paint background.  The sentiment is also from this set and I cut it out with a Spellbinders’ label die and added some cute snowflake buttons in the top corner.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving,

E. Marie

This card is entered in the following challenges:

Impression Obsession Challenge - Stamps Only/No Patterned Paper

Totally Gorjuss Challenge #107 – Swirly Whirly (Swirls, Whirls, Flourishes, etc.)

CES Challenge #62 – Snowflakes

CRAFTYCATZ Challenge #109 – Snowflakes

Delightful Sketches Weekly Challenge – Bingo (Buttons, Dimension, Patterned Paper – I created with stamps)

Ellephantastic Challenge #29 – Weather Related

Everybody Art Challenge #169 – Christmas

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge #94 – Baby It’s Cold Outside

Random Fun Challenge In The Moxie Fab World – Create a paper crafted card that incorporates a button(s).

One Stop Craft Challenge Week #158 – Color Challenge/BLUE

Phindy's Place Challenge #82 - Christmas Cards

Totally Stampalicious Challenge – Combine Your Stamp Sets

Whoopsie Daisy Challenge – Christmas

Sketch Saturday Challenge Week #182 – Sketch

Give Thanks

Well, things sure have been crazy around here.  The biggest news is that my oldest daughter was in a bad accident.  A lady ran a red light and totaled the car.  Thank goodness that she is ok.  Sure scared the daylights out of all of us.  She is experiencing some back pain and banged up her knee but no other injuries (as far as we know).  I just have to praise the Lord for keeping her safe and give thanks!!  Guess you know what inspired my card today.

I re-made this card three times, but kept feeling the need to add to it and finally came up with what you see.  I missed most of the challenges I was making it for, but decided I would rather have a card that made me happy.  The card actually started with the Dainty Dutch Deco doily die from Cheery Lynn Designs,   The die includes the lacy looking center die cut also.  I sponged the edges with the new limited edition Fall Distress Ink, Seedless Preserves, and layered these on some decorative cardstock, that I also sponged with this ink.  I love this ink color and it really helped tie this whole card together. 

The flower image and sentiment are both from JustRite.  I stamped the flower image with the Seedless Preserves and then used distress inks and a water color brush to paint it.  I cut it out and popped it up on a green oval and layered this in the center of the card.  I stamped the JustRite fall border and sentiment, layered it on purple cardstock, and popped it up on the bottom of the card.

For embellishments I used a jeweled flourish, cut it in half, and layered across the top.  I used a few of the jewels from it to add to the bottom corners.  I added a few leaf buttons, a bow, purple pearls, and a lovely large flower with a pearl center.  The ribbon for the bow is seam binding ribbon that I stained with distress inks and the large flower was also colored with distress inks. 

Thanksgiving is just around the corner so let’s remember to thank God for all the wonderful things in our life.

E. Marie

This card is entered in the following challenges:

Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 2 – Autumn

Simon Says Stamps Challenge – Thanksgiving/Thank you

Corrosive Challenge #137 – Give Thanks

Creative Card Crew Challenge – Thankful

Fussy and Fancy Challenge 49 --Be Thankful and Feature a Sentiment!

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge #93 – Thanksgiving

Ooh La La Challenge #93 – BINGO (Pearls, Ribbon, Buttons)

Phindy's Place Challenge 81 – Thankful

Sentimental Sundays Challenge #81 – Thanksgiving/Thank You

Stampin Sisters In Christ Challenge #115 – Gratitude

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #138 – Punch It

Totally Papercrafts Week 92 – Victorian

Stampin For the Weekend Challenge #20 - Sketch 

Peace and Joy

As we get closer to December and we become busier preparing for the holidays, we need cards that are quick and easy to make.  Today I want to share a very quick and easy Christmas card using one of my favorite techniques – embossing.  Thought it is very simple, I think it will still make any recipient feel special.

I used an embossing folder on a white panel that left the perfect space for a sentiment or image.  I decided to use Sparkle N Sprinkle’s Joy of Christmas sentiment.  I stamped it with Versamark Ink and used SNS’s Holiday Blue Embossing Powder.  I layered this panel on coordinating blue cardstock and a white card base.  Told you this was easy.

For my dedicated followers, I am sure you are amazed that I was able to make such a simple card.  Well, here is my second surprise – my shortest blog post!!!

E. Marie

This card is entered in the following challenges:

Delightful Sketches Challenge – Snowflakes

The Cuttlebug Spot Challenge – Anything Goes

Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge #81 - Favorite Technique (Embossing) 

Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central – Christmas/Holidays (embossing folder)

CES Challenge #60 – Song or Film Inspired (Winter Wonderland)  

The Crafty Pad Challenge #147 – White on White  11-17

DYSU Challenge #45 – Inspired By a Song (Winter Wonderland)  11-15

Whoopsie Daisy Challenge – Colors of Winter  11-19

Craft Your Passion Challenge #84 – Let It Snow (snowflakes)

Everybody Art Challenge #167 – Advent

The Pink Elephant Challenge TPE125 – "Embossing"