Wishing Everyone a Very Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to stop by and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! It's so easy for me to caught up in the busyness of the season and forget to really focus on what Christmas is truly about, the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

I wanted to share a couple of my favourite Christmas songs... you know, the kind that make me tear up. ;) Amy Grant's 'Breath of Heaven' ALWAYS gets me....



...as does 'Ere zij God', the dutch version of 'Glory to God'. We use to sing this (in dutch) at church when I was growing up and in recent years when visiting my parents' church. There are very few dutch people at the church we go to now and I really do miss singing this...



Thanks for stopping by today and, again, Merry Christmas!

Hero Arts Color Combo Challenge

Here are a couple more cards I've made in the the last little bit for Hero Arts December Color Combo challenge.

For this first card I went lighter with the green and darker with the blue...

Here's my second card....

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. We had 2 family Christmas get togethers yesterday! Lots of fun (AND food). :)

The Stocking Were Hung...

Well, I`m not hanging them quite yet... BUT they are FINALLY done! :) Pretty sure I had Jaden`s done for his 1st Christmas and Chris`s by his second. Finally finished the twins` (in time for their 5th Christmas).

They`re all x-stitched and all have a snowman theme but each one is different. :) My Mom did the sewing for the 1st 2 boys and now that I have my own sewing machine I figured I should tackle that part myself. ;)


Here they are. Sorry the pictures are SO bright. Lots of snow outside and the sun is reflecting off of it.

 

I thought I`d throw in a picture of Steve and my stockings too. My Mom made them for us, I believe for our first married Christmas.

Well, there you have it. Hopefully now that I have those projects done I can get back to making cards and leaving comments on people`s blogs. :) Hope everyone is staying warm!

Hugs,
Sarah

Can't wait 'til Friday....

when Hero Arts will be hosting a blog hop showcasing many of their NEW 2011 stamps. I've only been seeing the sneak peeks so far and am already compiling quite the wish list. ;)

All the details can be found here.

Shiny Christmas Tree

I made this card for Hero Arts December challenge. I used the color combo this month (kraft, white, green, red, and slate blue - which looks gray or silver to me). I also used the adding shine technique (using Pearly Sparkle Gelly Glitter by gel-a-tins over my Peeled Paint Distress Ink for the tree).

HA:
Swirl Christmas
Old Letter Writing
Metallic Decor

Thanks for looking! My apologies for not commenting as much on your blogs the past week or so. I`m trying to finish x-stitching my twins stockings in time for Christmas...

Scrappin' Saturday and 'What Women Want"

Hi all,
Quick post today as I'm about to take the kids out to an event at my sister's church. Here's my next installment of Scrappin' Saturday, a layout for my son's album about a trip we took to visit family and friends in the states:

Sorry about the bad pic. Still try to figure out how to take good layout pictures. No stamping on this one but I did use my Silhouette. Lovin' that machine! I just discovered that if you click on the picture you get it full screen. ;)

One more thing to share. This flyer came in out mail yesterday and I just had to adjust it for my hubby's benefit... only slightly. ;)

Thanks for popping by! Hope everyone has a great weekend. We finally have snow! So fun for the kids! :)

I'm back!

edited to add: this will be my early posting of Scrapping Saturday... not sure I'll get another layout done this week. ;)


Hi all,
It been a while... but I'm back! :) Here's a layout I just finished for Jennifer McGuire's final Holiday Thinking Inking class and Hero Arts November Technique Challenge.

The main techniques I used: 1. Glossy Accents on my title 2. Inked and stamped on holly leaves before spraying with Perfect Pearls/ water 3. Stamped tree on Sticky Back Canvas and added embossing powder for snow.

HA:
Get Merry
Antique Flower Background
Old Letter Writing
Grenadine and Eggshell Layering Papers
Red Metallic Decor

HA shapes for the Silhouette:

Merry Christmas - www.silhouetteonlinestore.com/sd/viewShape.aspx?id=14086
Holly - www.silhouetteonlinestore.com/sd/viewShape.aspx?id=13852

Thanks for looking! Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! :)

"Money Tree" Card & "Do Not Open" Gift Card with Nichol Magouirk

Please come visit me here today: 2 peas in a bucket. I was asked to play along with Nichol Magouirk in making gift card holders or money cards. So much fun and such an honour! If you scroll down to the guest projects mine is the one with the Christmas Tree Card and Owl Card. All the details are over there. :)

Thanks for dropping by!

Faux Chipboard

I made this layout this week for Nichol Magouirk's Making the Most of your Die Cut Machine class over at 2peas. The challenge was to cut multiple copies of the same image and adhere them together to make faux chipboard. Such a fun technique! I used it for the scissors, comb, and 'C' and love the dimension it created.

 

 Thanks for stopping by! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Playing with Canvas

I made this card for Jennifer McGuire's Holiday Thinking Inking week 6 (stamping on different surfaces) and Hero Arts ink technique challenge. I did a take on the letterpress idea Jennifer shared a few weeks ago. I inked up the male side of the Tim Holtz snowflake embossing folder with Hero Arts chalk ink and ran it through my die cut machine with sticky back canvas. I then stamped on the sticky back canvas with the flourish stamp and also the friend definition stamp - which is hard to make out here.

HA: Holiday Sayings
Friend Definition
Flourish Background
Magical Background
Felt Snowflakes

Back with a layout!

Back with another layout! This is one of my 2nd son (and his older brother) 4 years ago. Yikes! I have some catching up to do! :( Anyways, I love these pictures of them playing in the leaves and just how expressive and full of joy they are. :)

On an unrelated note, I just have to share some pics of what my oldest son likes to do for fun these days... using our "teddy bear counters" and "pattern blocks." He made the rink himself too. Detroit fan like his Dad.

                     The yellow bear is the ref and is about to drop the puck. :) So creative!

                               Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Who doesn't love twine?

Look at this GREAT giveaway of some wonderful twine from The Twinery I came across on the Ink Spot Workshop blog! Yum, yum, yum! The winner gets to choose 4 spools of this fabulous twine! Hoping this prize finds it's way home to me.... or maybe even you. ;)

Go check it out!

Tag time!

As soon as I saw this cute little 'Do Not Open' stamp I knew I had to give it a home and use it for my Christmas tags this year. LOVE it!

I'm entering it in Hero Arts 'gift tags & homemade gifts' challenge.

Holiday Thinking Inking: Alcohol Inks

Sorry for my absence... I've been making some cards I can't show you yet. ;) I did however make this card yesterday for Jennifer McGuire's Holiday Thinking Inking class focusing on alcohol inks. I bought a set of three inks for Jennifer's first Thinking Inking course and really haven't used them much since. I really should be pulling them out more. This card was fun to make... especially with the sticky back canvas. :)

Thanks for looking! :)

More Thinking Inking

Just sharing two more cards made for Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking class. The first one was made last week when the focus was on embossing powders...

I clear embossed Hero Arts Flourish Pine stamp on some BG patterned paper and went over the whole image with distress ink.

This second card was made for this (the 4th) week of the Holiday Thinking Inking class which is focusing on using acrylic paint...

I inked up the Stunning Snowflake and sentiment stamps with my Gold Paint Dabber. Once the snowflake image was dry I went over it with distress inks.

Thanks for looking!

Another Scrappin' Saturday

I'm typing this up at 8:30 pm Friday night and am one tired chickie. Sooo... I be brief. :) Here's this weekend's layout. It's about my 2nd son becoming a big brother and what a wonderful, loving big brother he is (and has been from day one). Sorry about the bad pic. If I had more energy I'd retake it. ;)

I must say that I'm kind of embarrassed to be showing my layouts on here. I feel like I've been bitten bad by the card making bug and am having so much fun with that and all the fun inky techniques out there...  I just can't seem to project all that on to my layouts. Maybe it's because I'm feeling pressured to just get them done? *sigh* Anyways, thanks for bearing with me. ;)

Have a great weekend,
Sarah

Scrappin' Saturday

Sometimes I feel guilty about all the cards I make. I do send them out to family and friends and make birthday/anniversary cards for all the members of our church on behalf of the church. I know that they are appreciated BUT... sometimes I still feel guilty because I feel like I should be doing more scrapbooking for my kids. So, when Libby tweeted that she was planning on posting a new layout on her blog once a week I thought it was a wonderful idea and told her so. She welcomed me to join her and so here we are! :) I hope this helps me to get at least one page done each week. ;)

You'll probably be seeing lots of layouts about my son Chris for a a while since his album is the one I'm currently working on. The kids all have their 1st year albums done and the 2nd ones are going to cover 1-5 years. I'm at 2 years with Chris's album.

Here's this week's page:

Fun times playing in the rain. :)

Thanks for looking and be sure to see what Libby has come up with!

Two More Christmas Cards...

for Hero Arts October Challenge and Jennifer McGuire's Holiday Thinking Inking.

Loving the stamp block technique! Jennifer may just have created a monster here. Hee. :)

Holiday Thinking Inking - week 2

Just popping by to share the card I made for the second week of Jennifer McGuire's Holiday Thinking Inking class. I'm learning SO much. :)

I used the inked stamp block technique for this card. Love how it turned out. :) Thanks for looking!

Moxie Fab's Tuesday Trigger

I finally decided to play along in one of Moxie Fab's Tuesday Triggers. :) This beautiful picture was posted:

I was inspired by the pink, green, orange color combo to make this card:

I made a similar card about a month ago and really liked how it turned out so I just switched the colors around for this one. :) Thanks for looking!

Holiday Thinking Inking (with guests)!!! :)

I'm so excited that Jennifer McGuire has brought back her ever popular Thinking Inking class over at 2peas. Yay! This week the focus has been on Distress Inks and some of the fun things you can do with them.

I decided to combine all three of this week's classes into one card.

1. For the background I inked up my craft sheet and stamped my snowflake stamp into it before spritzing water on it and stamping on paper. I then added ink to the edges. (Inspired by Jennifer's Peace Card).

2. I added some color/shadow to the snowman with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink using my foam applicator. I then used Hero Arts Raindrop Background stamp to give some texture. (Inspired by Jennifer's Deer Card).

3. I used distress inks with perfect pearls and water to paint the snowman's scarf and hat. (Inspired by Jennifer's Ornament card).

While I was playing my second son asked when he could try painting with ink too and before you know it this was taking place:

my little "thinking inkers"

card by Jaden (age 7)

card by Chris (age 6)

card by Zachary (age 4)... why he added an apple sticker, I don't know :)

card by Janelle (age 4)

So there you go. My first guest designers. Hee hee! :) We're obviously all enjoying Jennifer class. :)

World Cardmaking Day

Happy World Cardmaking Day!!!

I seem to have lost my mojo today and had absolutely no desire to play. :( I am however working on getting my Christmas cards done. I've got them designed and so I'm able to stamp without having to be creative today. :)

I'm entering them in the Caardvarks CAS challenge, the Hero Arts October challenge, as well as 2peas challenge to make a set of cards but with different colors in each card.

Here they are:

I used my Silhouette to cut out the Nativity Scene and Hero Arts Musical Background & Get Merry Clear Set for stamping. One gemstone in the center of the star and it's done. :)

Thanks for looking.

Pink and Purple Birthday

Thought I'd share my daughter's recent 'Clean and  Simple' birthday card which I'm submitting to the current Cardvaark challenge.


 Here it is:

What can I say. She's a girl. Loves pink and purple. :)
Thanks for looking!

My Final Pairing Up Challenge with Tanya (and giveaway winner announced)

I've had a lot of fun pairing up with Tanya for this challenge! Thanks Tanya! For our final week we decided to do a free for all.

Here's my card (which I`m also entering in the current Caardvarks CAS challenge):

 Tanya's card can be found here.

Thanks for looking. Now to announce the winner of some Hero Arts goodies!!! :)
Drum roll please......

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

7

Timestamp: 2010-09-28 17:15:34 UTC

#7 is...  Latrice!!!

Latrice said...

It was so fun meeting you and your mom. You two are beautfiful people seriously! I really hope to see you again. In the meantime we should Skype and craft together. I actually don't have those stamp sets! That's unheard of. Big Hugs and great pictures BTW!

 Latrice, I'll try and get your goodies out to be mailed tomorrow! :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Lots of rain over here. Makes me feel all warm and cozy being in the house. :)

Leaf Cards

Some more cards for Hero Arts Autumn challenge. I LOVE using my Silhouette (in case you hadn't noticed). ;) They have a new program and I'm trying to transfer my library to the new system but it's not going very well. Oh well... we'll get there. :)

Here are the cards:

 

 The leaf shape is from here: www.silhouetteonlinestore.com/sd/viewShape.aspx?id=12581. I ungrouped the image so I could use the outline for the back and front of the card and cut the inside on a separate piece of paper. The greeting is from the Frames and Messages clear set. On the last one I crinkled up the paper to give it the texture of a real fall leaf.

I also made this card for challenge:

The main panel was kind of a happy mistake. I clear embossed the maple leaves and went over the panel with Walnut Stain distress ink. Apparently some of the tiny flowers were embossed and so they also resisted the ink. :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend. We had family over today to celebrate our twins' birthday. :)