This year I accomplished a pretty big goal I set for myself by starting this blog!  And then my friend Katie and I started a challenge blog in November – Retro Rubber.  What?  Two blogs in a year!  Once I started blogging, I worked up the nerve to enter some challenges.  I didn’t think I would win or be a runner up.  But then it happened!  A huge honor to be singled out from the talented pool of crafters that enter these challenges. 

But I would have to say that my greatest accomplishment is you!  Thank you!  Thank you to each and every one of you who stop by to visit and to each of you who became a subscriber to my blog.  It means so much to me!  I know you could pick anywhere to stop on the World Wide Web and I appreciate that you picked me!  This blogging gig has allowed me to make some new blog friends and to push myself to be a better crafter.  I hope you continue to stop by in the New Year too!  So with that said…

Happy New Year’s Eve!  I meant to post several New Years’ cards this week but between running out of town and sheer laziness it just didn’t happen!  This card was inspired by The Friday Mashup and I am just making it in under the wire.

I used Perfect Pearls to make a splatter background and then popped up one of the very few New Year’s stamps I have.  I dug out some fancy foil vellum to spotlight the image.  I added some sequins and gold string to simulate the confetti that flies around when the clock strikes 12.

I wish all of you a very Happy New Year!

Supplies:  CS:  SU! basic black, fancy gold foil vellum.  PTI cream.  Other:  SU! gold embossing powder.  Ranger Perfect Pearls - heirloom gold, confetti white, perfect pearl.  SU! gold bakers twine.  SU! new years stamp.  SSS sequins.

Welcome to the Retro Rubber Challenge 4 – a color challenge!  Be sure to join us!  Just grab your older Christmas stamps and use the colors blue, silver and white, link up to us and you are done!

Today I broke out a wonderful stamp that I bought several years ago.  I love snowmen and this one with the bird on it could not be passed up!  I stamped using black ink and colored using my SU! watercolor crayons and a blender pen.  Pretty simple really!  I have been saving this stamp for this challenge because I knew I wanted this bird to be a bluebird!

I layered the image using the Lil Inkers stitched ovals and SU! brushed silver CS.  I popped everything on SU! night of navy CS with a bit more brushed silver and a card base of night of navy.  I used the SU! stripes embossing folder to add a bit of texture to the card.

A button and twine, of course, and I was done.

Be sure to play along with us!  This challenge is extended for the holidays so you will have three weeks to play along!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:  CS: SU! night of navy, brushed silver, whisper white.  Stamp from stash.  Other: SU! watercolor crayons, button and twine.  Memento black ink. Lil Inkers Stitched Ovals.  SU! Stripes EF.  Glossy accents, SU! silver dazzling details.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!  I am off to track down some of the great after Christmas sales.  So I am going to leave you with a few of my favorite cards from the Christmas season.  I will be taking the weekend off but will be back on Monday with a new post!

And my three favorites:

A friend of mine really liked my wine tag that I made for the November Pals Blog Hop.  See it HERE.

She is going to her in laws for Christmas and was planning on bringing a bottle of wine.  Thus the request for the tag.  So I busted out my PTI wine bottle tag die for the base.  Then a quick cut with the tag sale #9 after I washi taped the white CS.  I stamped the Christmas drink in memento black and used a combination of blendies and markers to color. 

Then I stamped the second half of the Thanksgiving sentiment at the bottom of the tag.  After that it was just a matter of using my wet paint thanks die to cut one in silver and two in lost lagoon.  I added a bit of lost lagoon ribbon and some rhinestones.

I like this tag so well I hate to part with it!  But it is going for a good cause – WINE!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:  CS:  PTI white.  SU! soft sky, lost lagoon, and silver.  Stamps:  SU! making spirits bright.  Dies:  PTI wine bottle tag, tag sale #9 and wet paints.  Other:  SU! all is calm washi, lost lagoon ribbon, blendies, markers, memento black, rhinestones and twine.

Monday again!  And the final countdown to Christmas!  And my last few Christmas cards for the year.

Today’s card came about in an unusual way.  I pewter embossed the pine branch on a piece of lost lagoon.  I was intending to die cut either a stitched circle or a stitched oval out of the image.  And then do something with it.  But then I decided to cut the oval out of the soft sky and I liked the way it showcased the branch.  So I decided to go with that! 

I put the soft sky over the lost lagoon and decided to square up two of the edges.  Then I did the same when I popped it up on the white base.  A bit of ribbon and a sentiment added the finishing touches.  (I did run the soft sky thru the linen impression plate because I just love the look of linen paper.)  I am into these blue colors for some reason and I think they are some of my favorites of all the SU! colors.

Sorry for the bad lighting!  My brother came by and borrowed my lamp that I use and so I had to wing it!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Tomorrow I have a tag and not a card so be sure to pop in!

Supplies:  CS:  PTI white.  SU! soft sky and lost lagoon.  Stamps:  SU! ornamental pine.  Dies:  PTI linen impression plate.  Lil Inkers stitched ovals.  Other:  SU! pewter embossing powder, lost lagoon silky taffeta ribbon and rhinestones.

Wow, this week has flown by.  In seven short days we will all be sitting around, wondering how Christmas came and went so quickly!  I am looking forward to my Christmas break from work and hope to get some major crafting done! 

Today’s card is a quick and easy card.  It took about twenty minutes from start to finish.  I love this patterned paper.  It reminds me of the patterns in the sweaters my Grandmother knit for my family when I was a kid.  The Fair Isle is a really hot pattern – I am seeing it everywhere this year.

I simply layered the dsp on garden green and popped that up on sahara sand.  I ran the Season’s Greetings die through cherry cobbler twice and silver paper once and glued them together.  A bit of cherry cobbler ribbon and the card was done.  See? Easy!  I am taking a posting break again this weekend but will be back on Monday with a final push of Christmas cards.

I am excited to report that my snow card was named as a The Friday Mashup Glamette!  Yay!  Thank you so much to those ladies and their wonderful challenge blog!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a great weekend!!

Supplies:  CS:  SU! sahara sand, garden green, cherry cobbler, silver, trim the tree dsp.   Other:  Simon Says Stamp Seasons Greetings die.  SU! cherry cobbler ribbon.

Today I am posting a rather untraditional Christmas card.  It is a case from this PTI Make It Monday on partial die cutting.  I let that idea roll around in my pea brain for a bit.  And made this. 

I grabbed a bunch of different inks and my SU! endless wishes stamp set and went to town.  Then I ran the snow die cut through so I could pop up the die.  I used a layer of Bermuda bay to add the color that I was looking for.

I put everything together, added a bit of sparkle and I was done.  I wasn’t so sure I liked this card at first.  But it has grown on me the more I look at it.  What about you?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:  CS:  PTI white and SU! Bermuda bay.  Inks:  SU! tempting turquoise, old olive, daffodil delight, pumpkin pie, smokey slate, elegant eggplant, melon mambo and Bermuda bay.  Memento black.  Stamps:  SU! endless wishes.  Die:  PTI wonderful words – snow.  Rhinestones.

I am all about the sparkle today.  When Stampin’ Up! had the smooth spritzers from a few years ago, I bought the colors they had but never used them.  Today I decided to use the white spritzer on my black paper to jazz it up a bit.  I managed to spray myself with the spritzer a couple of times while I was at it! 

Anyway, I started with this wonderful stamp from the SU! evergreen stamp set and heat embossed it with silver.  I added the star in gold and love how the combo looks on the black paper.  Then I grabbed the spritzer and went to town.  I love the shimmer and shine.  The downside is that the spritz muted some of the embossed wording a bit making it look a bit muddled. 

I spritzed the base layer while I was at it and added a piece of brushed gold CS that I ran thru the linen impression plate.  I cut the image out using the Lil Inker’s stitched anytime tags and popped it up on the gold.  I felt that the card still needed a bit of something so I pulled the gold and silver thread out of the baker’s twine that I had and then put it all around the tag.

I am really pleased with the overall look of this card.  It is definitely a better looking card in real life so I apologize for my photography skills!  I am entering this card in the Paper Players Black Tie theme challenge.  I hope you aren’t too tired of the many challenges I have been playing along with.  But they have been making me feel more creative!  I hope you think so too!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:  CS:  SU! basic black and brushed gold.  Stamps:  SU! evergreen.  Other:  versamark, gold embossing powder and silver ep.  Lil Inker stitched anytime tags.  PTI linen impression plate.  SU! gold and silver baker twines.  SU! smooth spritzer.