Quick K.I.S.S.

Happy Sunday! I'm feeling pretty good - Colts won AGAIN (11-0 - gotta love 'em!). I hope that youre Thanksgiving weekend has been a good one. Did you get out for the Black Friday deals? I didn't! *LOL* Haven't done it for a couple of years now...the last time I did was a very memorable (& slightly painful) experience. I won't bore you with what happened, but because of that Friday, two years ago, I've learned to buy through the summer & try to be done by October. It makes it nice to enjoy the Holiday Season. This entire year the economy has kept it very lean around here, so there hasn't been much shopping on my end ~ we're content to have a roof over our heads, food for our tummies, warm beds to sleep in each night, and each other. Keeping life simple was one of the main inspirations for K.I.S.S. & I hope you enjoy today's offering.

I used a pre-made A2 base; some red card stock (be mindful of your reds because they're tricky - you can't just put them together because some have a bit of a blue undertone, like the one I used here - you can lay them together & really see a difference); a clear Glaze pen by Sakura; a scrap piece of blue script paper from DCWV; a piece of lace (I get most of mine at JoAnn's by the yard); my oval punch from EK Success; ladybug red Memento Ink by Tsukeniko; & my Inkadinkado stamp (the smallest cardinal from the clear set "winter birds"). I stamped the image onto white card stock with the ladybug red ink, used a clear Glaze pen by Sakura to give an embossed look to all of the red areas, then raised it above the lace with some pop dots. Just a few steps for a very nice looking "non-traditional" Christmas card.

I really like the details that Inkadinkado puts into even their smallest stamps.
I'll have more cards to share throughout the week. Hope you can stand to see a few more Christmas cards, because that's the mode I'm in for the next couple of weeks! *LOL*

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

The Day After...

Well, yesterday wasn't too stressful - I only made FOUR cards! *LOL* The weather was fairly decent, if a bit cool, so while I held KP duty, the youngest hid in his room with his Nintendo DS, the two older boys went out exploring the neighborhood on their skateboard & bicycle, and the OLDEST boy went riding around town with a buddy "to keep the bikes charged up a bit" (yeah, right!).

There's enough turkey left to make some turkey salad sammies on hot rolls later, ham that we enjoyed for breakfast with our eggs & still have some for supper tonight...green bean casserole was obliterated, stuffing's gone, mashed potatoes disappeared so fast the bowl stayed clean, and there's half of a gingerbread and sweet tater pie left. My healthy eaters didn't disappoint! *LOL*

Today, since there's nothing to enjoy on the telly, I don't DO Black Friday, and the guys all seem content doing their own thing around the house, I'll be making more Christmas cards. I had so much fun putting these together last night. What do you think?

I wanted some NON red/green cards - that color combo is too hard on the eyes anyway! *wink* This first one uses some script paper that I picked up at Michaels last summer, a bit of red bohemian paper that came from Sharron, and my newest set from The Angel Company called "Vintage Santa." I just LOVE this set! I stamped in ladybug red on cream card stock, cut out the image with my deckle scissors, then antiqued with different brown inks till I got the look I was after.

I LOVE this version...very grungy! I had some washed red paper from Prima, used my Vintage Santa on cream card stock again with Rich Cocoa ink, some tan Scrapper's Floss to tie around the front, deckle scissors to cut Santa out, brown inks to antique, then pop dots to raise the image.
Here's Santa up close...doesn't he remind you of the old Coca-Cola ads we had as kids? He's fast become one of my favorite TAC stamps because it doesn't take much work to make him fabulous.

This one could qualify for my Sunday K.I.S.S. post! It's not red/green either...it's burgundy & olive! *ROFL* I used ONE sheet from a Christmas mat pad by K& Co, covered an A2 card base with the main color, then flipped the scrap pieces over & made the "ribbon" trim. Finished the look with some country buttons & tan Scrapper's Floss on pop dots. Looks like a Christmas package!

Now this one will appeal to a lot of vintage lovers out there, I think. I used some brown marble paper out of that pack I got at Michael's last year, a piece of blue script paper from DCWV's winter mat stack, blue card stock made the snowflake & branches (glittered with silver & clear from MS), the girl is colored with COPIC marker (face) and Ranger Distress Inks with a watercolor brush (weathered wood, faded jeans, fire brick red, vintage photo). I used my Heidi Swapp distressing tool on the edges of the card stock, then swiped Weathered Wood ink over the background & Vintage Photo around the edges. When I mounted it, I left the corners to curl up just a bit on their own. Stamp is from Hearts In Touch (#108 Christmas) ~ thanks Frances!

Well, my goal is to make 4-10 cards every day till the 15th of December...that should get me my supply for this year's Christmas mailing list. Which means that I need to work on cards today! *LOL* Hope you enjoyed looking at these as much as I enjoyed making them!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, kiddos, I've got my she-cave lined out in crafts waiting for the moment that I start to feel caged in by these four rowdy males. *LOL* I'm getting ready to put a large smoked spiral cut half-ham, a whole turkey breast into the oven for a bit and when those are "resting," I'll make a green bean casserole, sweet tater pie, mashed potatoes, a big green leafy salad, cranberries, and some stuffing. There's only five of us, but with the way these guys eat (ESPECIALLY the 13 & 14 year olds!), I'll be surprised if there are any leftovers for tomorrow! *LOL* We'll have football and old movies going on the telly all day, while they spend time sprawled in the living room floor playing games like Operation, Battle Ship, Skip-Bo, Cribbage, Connect Four, and Heaven knows what else they'll drag out of the closet!

I hope that if you're celebrating this Thanksgiving holiday, you take just a second to remember WHY we're honoring this day ~~ the people escaping from the Political and Religious persecutions of their home countries...traveling pilgrims that adventured across the ocean in search of a new home....a home where everyone could do what they want, SAY what they want, PRAY how they want and the government would not interfere in their lives. Remember, too, the Native Americans that were wary of these pale strangers but opened their hearts and homes to them anyway and brought them food from their gardens and freshly caught wild game so they would survive the cold, hard winter that was to come. If it weren't for these daring people, we wouldn't be here today.

A toast {raising a mug of Pumpkin Spice latte} ~~ may your Thanksgiving be blessed with love, laughter, family, & friends today. May you celebrate Thanksgiving in your hearts EVERY DAY!! God bless!

Image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

HI!

Can you smell that? Gingerbread baking...MMMMMM! Nothing screams "Holiday Season" like the smell of something yummy in the oven! We're not big dessert people around here - give us the MEAT! - okay I am a dessert person & I try really hard for the most part to be good, but I do have a bit of a sweet tooth kicking in now that the temps are dropping & staying low. Didn't want to make pies, cakes, and cookies that I'd be eating till Christmas & making my clothes shrink, so I figured a simple loaf of gingerbread would finish off tomorrow's supper nicely. Just a touch of sweet without being too much. Of course, if my sweet tooth doesn't let up, there's a brand new pint of Starbuck's Mocha Frappuccino ice cream in the freezer waiting patiently for me! *ROFL*

While the gingerbread is baking, I thought I'd share a card that I made the other night with you. I used another image from last month's TAC Vintage set "Fall & Winter Whimsy" & I think that he's just the sweetest lil scarecrow EVAH! I stamped him onto a blank ATC, colored him with COPIC markers, chalked the sky & grass, then mounted him on this lovely paper by DCWV. All of the flowers are by Prima - on the yellow & blue ones, I used antique copper brads for the centers; the two white ones centers are some of my "faux dew drops" made from the glue gun & colored with COPIC YR65; the brown center in the large pale orange flower is another glue gun dew drop colored with COPIC E49.

'K! That's it for now. I'm working on Christmas cards this entire weekend, since I'll have ALL FOUR of my ADHD males at home from Thursday through Sunday, so you KNOW that I'll need some creative therapy to keep from going insane! *LOL* Gotta go get everything laid out so I can just dive in at the first sign of stress.

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Time for a BIG K.I.S.S.!

Well, friends, it's COLD COLD COLD here today (started snowing about an hour and a half ago) and so my mojo to empty the rest of my boxes from our move just withered up & blew away in the frigid north winds. I ended up redecorating the blog here, loading up my Playlist with Christmas tunes, then playing with some stamps, ribbons, and digital images that I printed off ages ago. Came up with a nice selection of cards for today's K.I.S.S. post. Guess we're overdue, since I haven't done any of these for ya in a couple of weeks.

These first two were SUPER SIMPLE. I trimmed them out (these 2 images & 3 borders that you'll see later were already printed & sitting on a full sheet label in a file cabinet), peeled off the backing & stuck 'em down. Doesn't get any easier than that! *LOL*
These are two 4.5"x6.5" wheat colored cards by K&Co - they really made the country colors jump out beautifully. On the one above, I used some Distress Stickles in "antique linen" on the corner stars & some burgundy Stickles on the jar lids. I'd provide a link for this set of images, but Theresa Kogut's work is no longer available through PC Crafter...I think I bought them about a month before her contract with them ended, 2 years ago.

For this one, I used a pre-made A2 base, some soft blue dotted satin ribbon by American Crafts, a pair of deckle-edge scissors, a stamp from Inkadinkado, my Xyron 510, Tsukeniko ink in "sea breeze," & Martha Stewart's clear (fine & coarse) and carrara glitters.
I ran the stamped image face down through the Xyron to get a nice even coat of "sticky" then sprinkled the glitters on. YUMMY!Just look at that thparkle! Feels positively FROSTY!This little gingerbread man is another darling stamp from Inkadinkado (gotta LOVE the $1 bin at JoAnn's!). I used "rich cocoa" ink by Tsukeniko, a pre-made Kraft card base, some more of those cool glitters from MS, my Xyron, and some wired country ribbon that I've had forever (like back when I started making my candle jars).Doesn't he look delicious?!?This is one of those borders that I printed on that full label sheet. I cut it in half & trimmed as close to the image as I could (top n bottom) - I had just enough to do a double border. Then I cut a strip of red paper about 1.5" wide and stamped the sentiment from The Angel Company's "Vintage Santa" in white. I have to apologize, I can't find any links for these sets...I'm wondering if they were part of my monthly HugClub membership...Here's the second border from PC Crafter, done the same way as the peppermint. The sentiment from TAC is done in burgundy. Here's the final PC Crafter printed border, mounted onto a wheat color pre-made card from K&Co, with the sentiment stamped in Tsukeniko's "lady bug red."This last one is the "hardest" of my K.I.S.S. cards today. I used a snowflake from one of the "Purchase with Purchase" sets, called "Swirly Seasons," and stamped it in lady bug red all over a 5x7 pre-made base. I had a bit of spare "Swiss Dots" Cuttlebug-embossed cardstock that I mounted onto some red paper, trimmed it to match with my "ripple" scissors, then stamped this swirly cardinal from Inkadinkado in lady bug red ink, and "sugared" the image with my Xyron & MS glitters.
It was still very simple to do & the result was STUNNING! I'm REALLY happy with how it turned out. I hope these give you some inspiration to whip up some lovely, elegant cards for family and friends....FAST (and SIMPLE, of course!).

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

No K.I.S.S. tonight, but I still have cards...

I hope that's okay with y'all. I'm still a bit under the weather from this sinus infection this week and I must confess that I've spent most of today getting my 2nd blog lined up and live - you'll see the link for it over here on the right. I broke for a bit to have supper (went all day on a bagel and 2 handfulls of trail mix - not good) and I watched a bit of Doctor Who (CANNOT resist the yummy David Tennant - I think if they announced that he was just going to sit on a stool & read the phone book, I'd tune in & stay with it till he was finished!). I also planned to get together a K.I.S.S. post and call it a night. Instead, I ended up getting sucked into the Patriots/Colts game with my oldest son for a while, bathing & tucking in my youngest, then sitting in utter silence for the last 10 minutes because ALL of the males in my house decided to go to bed before 9pm & I had to wait for the shock to wear off. *LOL*

Instead of unpacking the rest of my she-cave, hubby wanted me to take it easy, so I managed to get seven cards made yesterday that I'd like to share with you now. These first two cards were made for Kerry's challenge #39 over at Three Clovers Designs. She wanted us to do birds or bugs, so I did one of each:

This one was made using a stamp from Seeds of Blessings by The Angel Company. I used a pre-made base, a 4x6 paper from Making Memories called Gypsy, a bit of striped cardstock from Making Memories that coordinated nicely. The corners of the ATC were done with SU!'s ticket corner punch, I colored the image with COPIC markers, then chalked the entire ATC.

It looks really pretty up close & personal. This next one was super easy to do, because the only thing that really required color was the branch and the pinecone. Image is from stamp sheet #104 "Birds" by Hearts In Touch. I used some of my designer impostor Flower Soft that Holly taught us how to make for the snow, a corner shaper from EK Success, & chalked the background, then mounted it onto an A2 kraft base. Okay, now that I'm looking at it, it COULD qualify for today's K.I.S.S. post, because it was the simplest to put together out of the seven! *LOL*
The rest of these, I just went ahead and made up, because on Friday night I had stamped up several images onto ATCs and colored them while I watched the telly with my boys. I don't always enjoy watching what they watch, but I do like to be in the same room with them, so coloring with my COPIC markers gives me that flexibility of crafting without having to be in my she-cave.This lil piggy couldn't go to market because his "honey-do" list said to rake the yard! *LOL* Image is from "Pick of the Patch" by The Angel Company, paper is from The Autumn Stack by DCWV, leaves are buttons from Jesse James "Dress It Up" line. I colored him with my COPICs, drew in the horizon line, then chalked the sky & the ground.

This one was my first attempt at scoring on my new scoring board by Martha Stewart Crafts (aka EK Success). Had to cover a little boo-boo with flowers, so it finished out nicely. Image is from "Pick of the Patch" by The Angel Company. Colored "Squeakers" with my COPIC markers & chalked the background. Flowers are from Prima.

This darling little snowman is from last month's TAC Vintage set "Fall & Winter Whimsy." He's just darling & so easy to color. I drew in the snow around him - couldn't have him floating on the ATC. The paper that just HAPPENED to match so nicely comes from DCWV's Christmas Stack from last year. Snowflakes are punched from EK Success.

This is my first EVER peek-a-boo card (I guess that's what they're called - maybe some call them window cards). I used some cardstock from DCWV's Garden Party mat stack, mounted onto a pre-made white A2, punched a 2" scalloped circle with my EK Success Paper Shapers, found this darling trim in my ribbon box, & put this little duck from TAC's "Pick of the Patch" inside. I wrote above the card "I think that you are the." I drew in the horizon line, colored him with my COPICs, & chalked the ground and sky.
And finally, my elegant card of the day. I used a pre-made base, some lovely dark brown/bronze-y metallic paper that I picked up ages ago at Michaels, a stray bit of dark gold sheer ribbon, some metallic fabric flowers from Prima, an antique metallic-toned button, dark brown glitter glue from Studio G, & two clear Dew Drops. The image, from Inkadinkado, was stamped in Tsukeniko Rich Cocoa onto an ATC card, then I sponged several Ranger Distress inks around & washed them together with a sponge for a softer look. Then I took my buttermilk Spica glitter pen from COPIC & went over the image and the sentiment.

Even from another angle, it's difficult to see all the shimmer, but when this baby hits the lights...WOW!Well, that's it for me today. I'm gonna do a quick dork dance, because the Indianapolis Colts REMAIN UNDEFEATED as of 10 minutes ago - Peyton pulled them together & overcame a 10 point deficit in the last quarter to win the game 35-34! WooHoo!!!! I sure hope they can keep it together for another Super Bowl bid this year! Now I have JUST enough time to catch the last 45 minutes of a re-run on BBC America with "The Doctah!" There was a whiff of a rumor that yummy Mr. Tennant was taping a pilot here in the U.S. & if it airs, if it's successful, then look out - I'll have a whole new series of reasons to gush about my "Hot Scot!" *ROFL*

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Happy Autumn Punkin!

I really wish I had been able to show you this set before the sale ended on it, but it didn't arrive in time. This was from last month's Vintage stamp set from The Angel Company, called "Fall & Winter Whimsy," and it has the most adorable images in it...there's a Christmas one that I'll play with & share with you this weekend.
For this card, I used a pre-made A2 base, some brown from The Neutral Stack by DCWV (I love their woven texture), some grungy dotted paper scrap from My Mind's Eye, SU scallop punch, SU slot punch, natural twill tape, & my Labels Two Nestie.

I colored the image with my COPIC markers, and chalked the sky (one of these days I'm gonna invest in COPIC's AirBrushSystem). Aren't those faces just the sweetest?!?

COPIC markers used: Y11, Y21, Y00, Y26, E33, E31, YR02, E02, YG03, G24, G02, BG75, V01, BG78, V04, YG09, V09, G21, V12, YG06, V17, E25, #49, YR04, YR68, YR61, YR65, B21, B00, BG10, YG11, B24, & BG72

Well, that's it for me today...I've got to get some things done before the boys get home from school. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Thanks to our Veterans & a card to share

Both of my grandfathers served in WWII - Mother's Dad was Army Air Corps and stayed Stateside; Dad's Dad saw the worst of it. He had a 5 story building fall on him in a raid; he told me once of his buddy literally being blown in half but the guy was more worried about Grampa - Grampa held him while he died; he had a machine gun shell take out one entire lung and 1/3 of the other one; according to the copies of his records that Gramma gave to me, he was toe-tagged more than once; his Battalion had a book written about them; and I was a teenager before I realized WHY he would go miles out of his way to keep from going under a bridge, especially railroad bridges; he had horrible nightmares & to keep from hurting my Gramma in his sleep, he slept in another room for years.

We owe these brave men and women everything. We also owe the ones they left behind a debt of gratitude as well - they worked in the factories, made airplanes, ran the farms, raised children alone - they were warriors, too, though you'll never hear them tell it that way...they just did what they had to do. No one thinks like that any more and this Nation would be a LOT better off if we did. For those that went to Korea, Viet Nam, Desert Storm, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan....from the bottom of my heart...THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU! You keep me and my children safe every day and even though I can't see you, I know you're there - you're angels on Earth - and everyone in THIS HOUSE appreciates everything you do.

I spent all day yesterday with our military on my mind. Knowing that today was to honor those that made such huge sacrifices, watching the memorial service at Ft. Hood...these people SIGN UP to do this. They're not told they have to, they WANT TO. It takes a rare and special person to get up every day and do a job for little-to-no money and very little thanks. With that sitting on me all day, I was motivated to make this card:

The base is a pre-made A2; background paper is from a packet I picked up at Big Lots in the summer of 2008 (LOVED the old map); I inked the edges with Jumbo Java by Tsukeniko.

Image is from an old hostess set, called "Something for you"; sentiment is from "Ordinary Greetings"; used one of my new Labels Two die from Spellbinders; colored the image with my COPIC markers; chalked the background; mounted it with foam tape to lift it off the card a bit.

COPIC markers used: W1, W3, W5, W7, YR65, YG06, YG11, R39, R22, R29, B00, B21, & YG03

If you don't have a Veteran near you to thank, stop by your local VFW hall or try to make a trip to the closest VA Hospital - visit with one of them, even if for only an hour or so...it will change your life, I promise. If nothing else, wear a flag pin, say a prayer for those in harm's way now and be sure to say the Pledge of Allegiance!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

In Memoriam...

of those lost at Ft Hood and out of respect for their families left behind...a grateful Nation thanks you for your service. Prayers of comfort and peace today & every day until you again meet those that you've lost...

artwork: "Fallen Soldier" by Richard Rist

Keepin It Simple Sunday

Ya know why I came up with Keepin It Simple Sunday? I wanted you to be pressure-free when it comes to making cards. We ALL see those cards when surfing around in Blogland - loads of flowers, glitter, ribbons, charms, artwork...and we love them. We love to make them. This is just a nice way to satisfy your need to create without feeling like you have to go over the top ALL of the time. I know you feel that way, because I do sometimes, too.

Today, I managed to make three cards in less than half an hour. They have a masculine feel (well, two of them do, anyway!) and those are sometimes the hardest to make, so the K.I.S.S. rule can come in rather handy.

This first one is on a pre-made base from K&Co in wheat. I took a scrap piece of travel-themed paper that I had used in the past when altering composition books & stuck it down (the little gold tag is printed in the paper). I took a tag from the same paper pack, put a khaki colored brad in the top, wrote the sentiment with a brown Gelly Roll pen, and...done!

On card #2, I used an A2 kraft card base, some K&Co paper scrap, brown Prima flower, tan Scrapper's Floss from The Angel Company, and a button & ribbon from Vicki. Easy and ready for any occasion.

Finally for card three I used a brown pre-made A2 card base, some more of that gorgeous ribbon & a MONGO ivory brad from Vicki...REALLY couldn't be simpler! I hope that my weekly K.I.S.S. helps inspire you to de-clutter your mind and remember that sometimes, simple can be best.

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!