HIMCR #73 - Christmas Themed

Are you ready for the holidays?  I am in the midst of getting ready for a wedding and haven't given much thought to Christmas yet!  This challenge helped get that ball rolling for me.  I've always intended to make Christmas cards and send them out.  I don't do so badly on the make part - I have several different style cards I've made over the last few years.  But I am really bad on getting them sent out!!  I will have to pull together what I have and make it a goal to get them mailed this year :)

For this challenge though I came across an image that I had stamped about 2 years ago but never did anything with!  So I decided to spruce it up for this week's challenge.  I used some embossing powders , Kiwi Kiss and Regal Rose ink from Stampin Up and the sentiment came from Close to My Heart.  I also added some red stickles!  So although the image itself was already done I did design and finish the card this week!

Don't forget to head over to Hiding in My Craft Room and link us up with your Christmas themed creations!!

Happy Crafting!

Winter Play

I really liked this sketch over at Little Red Scrapbook:

But when I set about creating my layout the photo I wanted to use had some background that I didn't want to lose so I didn't actually cut my photo into circles.  I do admit it intimidates me.  I may give this sketch a whirl again and actually cut photos *gasp* but we will see!  Because this is going in one of my personal albums I made the size 9x9.  I really like using this size!

I dug out my Pink Paislee Snow Days goodies.  Living in Arizona I don't have much by the way of snow pictures but I liked them for this page!  Pretty much everything but the washi tape and cardstock came from Pink Paislee!  Thanks for looking!

Its Winner-Day!

I had so much fun sharing my Unity Stamp Co creations with you last week!  I really LOVE Unity Stamps!!  Thank you so much for joining me.  There was a grand total of 38 comments throughout the week.  To decide the winner I copied and pasted all the comments from each post and put them in a document then numbered each one and then used Random.org to pick the winner.  Whew!

Congratulations!!

36.         Julie Odil said...

That is a very touching picture. Love this layout.

November 15, 2012 7:05 PM

Julie please send me an email to awendybird {at} gmail {dot com}

so I can send your info onto Maria and you can pick your two itty-bitty stamps! 

Thanks again everyone for your kind comments!

Glad you joined me today!  Click on the following to go straight to the posts you are looking for :)

Hiding in My Craft Room Glitz & Glam Blog Hop and Challenge

Growing in Unity with Unity Stamp Co.

Last day - Growing in Unity

I have really enjoyed sharing my Unity Stamp Co. creations with you!  For my last day I am sharing another layout.  Since it had been awhile I decided to make a 9x9 layout and keep it simple.  I used the itty-bitty Bubble Gum Tree stamp and paper pieced in the lower corner then found this quote I have had forever it seems.  I have no idea where I got it - it was just hiding out in my stash!

Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win 2 itty-bitty stamps from Unity Stamp Co!  I will be announcing the winner on Monday so don't forget to check back!  Thanks for joining me this week!

HIMCR - Glitz and Glam Blog Challenge Hop!

Welcome to the next stop on the Glitz and Glam Blog Hop and Challenge!  You should have come from Angela's blog.  If not head over to the Hiding in My Craft Room Blog to get started!

Today's hop features beautiful digi stamps from The Scrapbook Stamp Society.  Be sure to link up your creations on the Hiding in My Craft Room blog post to be entered to win your choice of 3 of the different stamps used by our design team today.

I was given the lovely Enchanted Dreams stamp to work with.  It is an intricate stamp and I have to say I really enjoyed working with it.  I broke out my watercolor pencils and spent an afternoon happily coloring and glitz-ing this sweet girl and fairies.

 I used some silver glitter glaze to make the wings shimmery and tried to get a close up of the wings so you could see how cool they turned out.

I really enjoyed working with this stamp and a huge thanks to  The Scrapbook Stamp Society for providing us with the images to use!

Here is the order for the hop.  Your next destination is Melissa! Be sure to leave a comment on each blog then go back to Hiding in My Craft Room to let Laurie know you did so to be entered into the drawing to receive your choice of 3 of the digi stamps featured in the hop today!  Happy hopping!

Laurie from Hiding in My Craft Room
An'Jenic from AJ Scrapbooking & Cards 
Jennie from Jenscrapstoo

Jessica from Craftin' and Stampin'

Angela from Angela's Crafty Spot
You are Here ----->  Amber from Momma Scraps
Next Stop ---->  Melissa from My Watermelon Moon
Jenn from Scrap Happens Embellish It
Robin from Create-a-latte
Kim from Stamping with Kim
Naomi from Creative Bug on the Loose
Laurie from Hiding in My Craft Room

Hoo Loves Ya Baby? - Growing in Unity

Welcome back for the next installment of Growing in Unity this week!  Today's card is a masculine one.  Having a husband, two boys, a father and 3 brothers I tend to need masculine cards often!  I chose to use Owl Always Love You  today.  I love the owls!  I think Unity Stamp Co. was the leader in the owl trend because this is one of the first kits I bought!

The owls are stamped with Chocolate and Barn Red ink from Close to My Heart with the branch and sentiment in Chocolate and Baja Breeze from Stampin' Up.  For the background I used some Coordinations paper I had left over from another project and two of the words from Sentiments O'Simple stamped in Whisper White from Stampin' Up. The size of the card is a bit bigger than normal :)  I cut the paper at 7 inches wide x 8 inches tall to fold down into a 7x4 card.  I like to mix it up once in awhile!

Thanks for visiting today and be sure to leave a comment on any of the Unity Stamp Co. posts I've made this week to be entered into a drawing for 2 itty-bitty stamps of your choice from Unity Stamp Co.!

Sweet Stuff Card - Growing in Unity

Good Morning!  Today I wanted to share another card I made using stamps from Mix Up of Cuteness. There are a lot of great images in this set and I chose three sweet treats coloring them with a blender pen and ink from CTMH and SU.  The sentiment is also from Unity.  A few years ago they were selling a grab bag of images and it came in that.  I added a little washi tape as my background and two bling jewels from Bo Bunny. Thanks for looking today and don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win 2 itty-bitty stamps!!

***This just in!  It's Brown Bag Thursday at Unity!  Get a Grab Bag of 15 random stamps for only $9 using code 50THANKS. I have gotten this in the past and ended up with a great mix of stamps!

My Nana - Growing in Unity

Welcome!  I'm so glad you are joining me this week as I feature fantabulous stamps from Unity Stamp Co. Today I have a layout to share with you.  I am slowly making my way through pictures of my childhood and came across this one of me with my Nana and her dog Fifi from July of 1984.

I love these trees from  Tiny Giggle Grove but for a layout I wanted them a bit bigger.  Fortunately they are available individually in the slightly larger size- Hackle Berry Point, Shade Tree, and Shurberry Tree.  I thought these papers from Anna Griffin would be perfect.  After stamping them on the pattern paper I cut out just the branches sections and then stamped the trees directly on my cardstock, adhering my cut out branch sections.  I also used some stickers from Simple Stories to create my banner and the letter stickers came from Jillibean Soup.

Thanks for looking and don't forget to leave a comment!  At the end of the week I will be drawing a winner from all the comments this week to win their own choice of 2 itty-bitty stamps from Unity Stamp Co.!

Growing in Unity with Unity Stamp Co.

This week I am fortunate to be contributing as the guest designer for Growing In Unity on the Unity Stamp Co. blog.  I found Unity Stamps several years ago and I absolutely LOVE them!  They are high quality red rubber stamps and their designs are simply fantabulous!

For today's project I created a card.  There are so many great Unity stamps I had trouble deciding which one to start with and I finally settled on one of my favorite kits - Be Owl Mine. I adore the cute little owl and the darling frame but decided on the sweet flowers and sentiment.  I used ink from Close to My Heart in Petal and Barn Red with Purely Pomegranate and Certainly Celery from Stampin' Up.  The background paper is from K&Co.

Be sure to leave me a comment - at the end of the week I will be drawing a winner from all the comments to receive their choice of two itty-bitty stamps from Unity Stamp Co.!  Thanks for joining me this week as I share the Unity Love!

Congratulations - a baby card

One of the girls I worked with at church as a youth is all grown up, married and having a baby!  I am excited to go to her baby shower this afternoon and needed a card.  I pulled out an old stamp from Stampin' Up's Brides and Babies for the main image and used the sentiment from Stampin Up's A Word For You.  I used one of my favorite techniques - by placing a piece of tape over the part of the sentiment I don't want to use prior to inking the stamp then removing the tape I get only the part I want!  Ink colors include: Stampin Up - So Saffron and Certainly Celery; Close to My Heart - Chocolate, Buttercup and Lagoon; Stazon in Black.  I used Bazzil cardstock for the circles and some American Crafts ribbon from my stash. My design was inspired by the challenge over at SkippingStonesDesign.com Thanks for looking!

It's Super Scraps Saturday at HIMCR!

For this two pager I used a sketch I found at Scrapbook Challenges.  I love their sketches!  I used scraps of the Star Wars papers I used on a previous layout to create this two pager capturing the memory of my youngest participating in the Jedi Training Academy at Disneyland.  We were lucky enough to get to go on his 9th birthday and they chose him for this training.  It was the highlight of his day for sure!  Thanks for looking and be sure to head over to Hiding in My Craft Room and link us up with your creation made from scraps!

HIMCR #70 - 3 Favorite Colors

This week's challenge is to use our three favorite colors.  I love color so its really hard for me to choose!!  I decided on my two most favorite - red and teal and then tossed in a little cream for good measure.  We were blessed to be given digi stamps this week from the Scrapbook Stamp Society to use and I have to say I love my bride by Sherri Baldy!  She was a lot of fun to work with! If you'd like to check out the Scrapbook Stamp Society Challenge Blog head over and tell them we sent you! Make sure you head over to Hiding in My Craft Room to upload your image and play along with us!!

I used paper from Pink Paislee as my base and Bazzill cardstock for the flowers. The sentiment is from Close to My Heart.  Ink colors include:

Close to my Heart: Slate, Chocolate, Sorbet, Tulip, Lagoon

Stampin' Up: Riding Hood Red

Colorbox: Amber Clay

I cut the flowers using my Art Philosophy cartridge out of cardstock and then added bling jewels to create the flourishes and the centers of the flowers.  I used some stickles to add bling for the jewelry on the bride and you can't really see it but I used Stampin Up Crystal Effects to give a glossy raised look to the flowers.

Thanks for looking!!

CAS[E] Sketch #4

CAS(E) This Sketch is a new clean and simple card challenge blog that I am enjoying.  Here is what I created from this week's sketch:

I used a stamp from Unity Stamp Co. and stamped the sentiment in Hollyhock ink from Close to My Heart by using tape to mask the turtles.  I then restamped the image onto another piece of white paper using CTMH's new ink color Slate.  I then watercolored the turtles using Stampin' Up inks in Certainly Celery, Kiwi Kiss and Regal Rose.  

After fussy cutting them I adhered them to the card and added some Stampin' Up Clear Effects to the pink on the turtles.  I finished it with a clean black line around the edge of the card.

Head on over to their blog and play along!