Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope your Thanksgiving is fantastic! 

I don't have a card from me today, but I have one from my cousin Laquisha:

and the first Christmas card of this season from a true sweetie pie, Sandra van Blaricum:

AG at Little Miss Muffet!

Swings N Slides Snow Buds... I wish I'd found some more of those ornament snowflakes on clearance when I went to Wal-mart yesterday. The little movement they add to cards is perfect!

It's time for the last challenge of the year at Little Miss Muffet Challenges! We're making it easy - Anything Goes! I am a huge fan of an Anything Goes challenge, especially at this busy time of year. I'm actually about to go shower and get on the road. Lord willing, I'll be back on Saturday so you won't get much time to miss me.  :D  The challenge runs until Jan 8, and I hope to see your name on the Inlinkz list!

Also, if you haven't checked out the Winter Sale, it's still going until December 31! The Hatters, some Sugar N Spice Dolls, a couple of Pollycraft cuties, and some dies can be yours for 30% off!!


**Challenges: Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes, The Paper Shelter - Anything Goes, Divas by Design - Anything Goes

Snow Challenge at Guylou's Inimitability

Seriously? My tech is so not working with me today. My phone claimed that I'd posted a post, then it never showed up. Once I found it, all the text was gone! BOO!!!! Oh, and would you believe that just now a message popped up to tell me an error code to enter into the Blogger Support Group. And another one! We'll see if this post actually makes it online this morning...

But yeah, I just realized earlier that I hadn't posted about the new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability. I had my card finished in time to enjoy Thursday's shows (Last Resort, Grey's, Scandal!), but completely forgot about the post. You know what? That **ing error thing keeps giving me error codes. I'm just going to hit Publish to see what happens...

Okay, it wouldn't work so I copied everything I'd already typed, opened Chrome, and pasted into a new blog post. Problem solved! Very strange...

Anyway, I used part of an image, Roger and Chuck Get a Christmas Tree, for this card. Being able to alter is one thing I love about digital stamps. Sometimes I just want to color a little or blow something up huge...

Something with snow is easy, so I expect to see YOU in the challenge! You have until 10 pm EST on December 27 to get your project uploaded. You could win some digis and be a GDT in a challenge!

Last oops! at Guylou's

I also forgot my post at Guylou's Inimitability! :s  The challenge is to make a Christmas card using nontraditional Christmas colors. You have a week left! I'm using my phone to post so I'll have to add some good stuff when I can put it all in the right places...

Okay! I used a super cropped version of Bernadette for this card and some American Crafts papers that definitely don't look like Christmas.  I sure hope you join us for the challenge; you have until December 13 to get linked up at the Challenge Blog!

Challenges: Try Stamping on Tuesday - #95 Sketch, Charisma Cardz - Christmas, Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes

Boxing Day! + Rambling!

In case you haven't made it over, Guylou's Inimitability is having a Boxing Day sale this week! My personal favorites are the digis in the Gabrielle Series. And since you might be ready to start on Valentine's Day card already, I would take a look a Cupid and the Love Seat digis, too! Until the 31st you get half off with coupon code 2011-BOXINGWEEK!

I have been enjoying my break. So far, I've watched a number of movies. I saw Bad Teacher (crude yet funny), Horrible Bosses (also raunchy, very hilarious), and Conan the Barbarian (actually enjoyable, but I had really low expectations).

Also, since I wasn't smart enough to pre-schedule a post, I now have to tell you that I hope you had a great Christmas! A special Christmas shout-out to my new Secret Pal! I just got your card... You are on it! I've barely thought about next year's SP stuff, but your card will encourage me to get something together... Here are some of the last Christmas cards I made for this year!

This SEI paper did all the work!

Love this image from Mo Manning!

Cute Karber digi in a card for Oct/Nov issue of Ready, Set, Create!

Ah, speaking of Ready, Set, Create, you can get the current issue half off until the 29th! And if you're interested in submitting some work for the upcoming issue, check this page for the calls! You have until Jan 10, 2012 to get some projects in for publication!

Repeat for the Sketch Challenge!

I ran away for the weekend and didn't make my card for this week's Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz before I left. I was really happy to see that I had a card from last year that was kind of close to the sketch. Even better was that the card featured a digi from our sponsor this month at the Sketch Challenge, Michelle Perkett!

Here are the sketch and my card:

I hope to see you in the challenge! Remember, we have Michelle Perkett sponsoring the Sketch Challenge, plus Oozak, SCACD, Paper Temptress, Gilli Rubber Stamps, and Anita Be Stampin are our site-wide sponsors for December!! I saw that Tiddly Inks and EK Success are also sponsoring challenges this month. You'll have to poke around the site to figure out where they are!

And just in case you haven't been to The Outlawz in a minute, Sandi and Anne from the DT have been putting out great FREE digis. We also have an active blogging group full of encouraging crafters who check in and comment at each others' blogs and an ever-growing list of tutorials! See you around!

Oh, before I forget again... Thank you Shonda (former Secret Pal) for that awesome Christmas card! My bf was over here trying to work out the mechanics behind that wobble you used for Santa! And thank you Naomi for the surprise card and GC! I'll be posting your cards later this week! :D

I'm So Sorry!

I didn't manage to make a single thing last week until Friday afternoon! That really sucked since I had two DT projects due (sorry) and orders due this week for Christmas cards... I was really suffering from major blahs; my hormones had me in a seriously crappy place. Thankfully, I feel way better now! I went to on online crafty friend's house on Saturday for some crafting (Hey Trish!), and I went shopping at Michaels, Blitsy, and Oozak yesterday... (YAY!!) At least I'll have some things to show you all this week...

And to start, here's one for the Christmas set I owe. It's serving double duty as my card for the Sketch Challenge this week at The Outlawz.

It's shinier than this picture shows. Glittery paper and Stickles...  See?

Here is this week's sketch if you'd like to play along:

This month, the Sketch Challenge is sponsored by Michelle Perkett. She's giving away some of her awesome digis! Plus, we have our monthly site-wide sponsors, Oozak, Paper Temptress, SCACD, and Gilli Rubber Stamps! OH, and it looks like Anita Be Stampin' is a site-wide sponsor this month, too! Remember, we pick all of our winners randomly; whether you're just starting or have been crafting forever makes no difference! We just want you to hang out and have a good time with us. Hope I see you there! :D

Challenges: Going Gray with Scrap-Creations - First Snow, Digital Tuesday Challenge - Winter Wonderland, Creative Card Crew - Tis the Season

**Birdie, your profile isn't set to show me your email address on the page or when you comment. The colors of the tree are  YG95/97/99...

Guylou's Inimitability Christmas Hop

Welcome, welcome, welcome! If you're here from Tracy's blog, you are on the right path. If not, then please start at Guylou’s Inimitability or refer to the blog hop list at the end of this post to get you on the right track. The hop will open today at 9:00am EST and end at 9:00pm EST tonight.

 

Before I share my card, I want to give a big welcome our new DT member Chana. Chana is such a sweet person, an awesome card maker, and someone who probably sees my smiling face every time she goes online! We run in a lot of the same circles, don't we?

 
Now, here is my card. I had an idea that I could not get to work out; I'm going to try again before Christmas, though! Even if I mess up again, I love this image and won't be too upset about making a magillion cards with it before I get it right! (And yes, this is the image I used for last year's holiday hop...)

I couldn't get a good pic anywhere! :S

Please take a moment to leave me a comment; someone will win the  "Gabrielle and Lamb" digi I used for my card!

 

Blog Hop prizes:

If you started at the beginning of the hop, you know that there is another prize for everyone who wants it! We also have a couple of grand prizes! For a chance at a $25 gift certificate and a $15 gift certificate from Guylou's Inimitability Online Store, figure out the secret phrase and enter it in the Inlinkz on Guylou's Inimitability.  Here's my piece of the pie... "MERRY AND" 

 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed it! Your next stop is Kim; she has an awesome project! 

 

Blog Hop Order:
Guylou's Inimitability

Chana
Gina
Sara
Tracy
Trina <-- Estas aqui!
Kim
Carmen
Guylou

Guylou's Inimitability

Wreath Challenge at GI!

The new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability is to use a wreath on your card. I used one of the new wreath images from GI to make a super simple CAS holiday card!

I went with non-traditional colors because I always love seeing wreaths in the store that aren't just green. I might go back and put some more glitter on this... (Love those atyou Spica pens!) My sentiment isn't quite as light as it looks in the picture; I put some glitter on it which didn't help it photo well...

If you want to join in the last GI challenge for 2011, please post your project on the blog before 10 p.m EST on December 1. The team has some awesome projects for this challenge! I just checked them out and can't wait to go visit their blogs!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Woohoo! Two more Christmas cards down! The first I made just because I saw this cute sheet in DCWV's Doodlin' Around stack and knew it would make for an easy, fun card...

That's Bright Lights Kaylee from Some Odd Girl getting her tree-trimming on! This card was really simple since all I had to do was color and cut out Kaylee and stamp a sentiment!

Challenges: Creative Craft Challenges - Minimalistic, Digital Tuesday Challenge - Christmas Time, Daisy Doodles - Anything Goes + a Digi

My second card is for this week's sketch at The Outlawz. Here is the sketch:

I used some paper (American Crafts + Dear Lizzy), a stamp and a snowflake sticker that were all on clearance back in the spring. I recently got some vellum, and this is pretty much the first time I've used it. After watching Kathy at The Daily Marker with all her vellum tricks, I went ahead and stamped and embossed my sentiment. The dew drop things I got from the awesome Piali last year with some Christmas goodies she gave away on her blog. Thanks again!

Challenges: Oldie But a Goodie - Let it Snow, Shopping Our Stash - Never Been Inked (sentiment)

Guess What?

Did you guess yet? Come on, just make some random guess... Okay, I'll tell you. I'm now on the DT for Little Miss Muffet Stamps! I've seriously been stalking visiting Barbara's blog, and she invited me (wha??) to join the team! I'm super excited!

Today, there are two extremely cute new releases for Christmas - a kitten and a puppy. I used Button, the kitten, for my project.

This stamp is adorable! And no, everything isn't as crooked as it looks. I didn't line up the camera right and had to rotate the pic in Picnik so it would look sort of straight. Maybe I'll re-photo this from a better angle when I get up in a few hours. (My mats are all uneven though, as usual!)

Challenges:  4 Crafty Chicks - Marker It Up, Ruby's Rainbow - Cute and Cuddly, I Did It Creations - Animals, Lollipop Crafts - No Sentiment

They Made Me!

Since I had to pull out my Christmas supplies for a recent challenge on The Outlawz, I have really wanted to make Christmas-y things! I let the feeling lead me for this week's Sketch Challenge...

I almost never manage to follow the sketch, but I do try to keep the overall feeling! :D Here's the sketch:

I hope you get over to play along! We have great prizes this month from Oozak ($50 GC), SCACD ($25 GC), Gilli Rubber Stamps (Gilli Goody Bag), and Paper Temptress ($20 in Goodies)!

Thanks again to Claire at Bearydo Paperie for the paper! 

Merry Christmas!

I seem to be extra late wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. My Google Reader hasn't seen many posts the last couple of days; everyone already said it and went on blog vacation...  I'm about to start cooking Christmas Eve dinner, but I couldn't skip telling YOU to have a great Christmas! I won't stay gone long...  :)

Not My Babies!!

No, not any real babies - my cards. I just started making cards in the summer, and while I hadn't planned for them to live with me forever, parting with them is so hard! There are cards I've made for specific people; I don't mind giving them up. It's the cards that I made just because I loved an image or wanted to try a technique that I have a problem handing over. Last week, my bf asked me to make some cards for people at his job. (First commission gig!!) I made extra cards but gave him the option to pick from all of the winter-y/Christmas cards I've ever made. Some of the ones he picked were my favorites, and I'm sad that I'll never be able to go to hold them again.  :)  Is this just me? Do you ever make cards that you love so much you want to keep?

So, one of the cards I made especially for him that he picked is this one:

The digi stamp is Holly the Christmas Friendship Fairy from Michelle Perkett Studio. She's colored with Copics and outlined with colored pencil + OMS. There are a gang of Stickles, but I don't know what colors they are. I got the multipack of big bottles from Michaels, but they don't have any name or other indicator of color on them. (Help me out. They're both white in the bottle. One has gold glitter; the other has blue. The other one from the pack has green glitter.) The little pearls just arrived the other day as part of a Christmas present from my friend Theresa... I really like how this card came out and hope you do too!

Challenges: Michelle Perkett Studio Challenge - Let it Snow, Pollycraft Monday Challenge - #74 All White or Snowy Scene, Bunny Zoe's Crafts - #7 Sparkle and Shine, Bizzy Becs Store Challenge - Christmas

Is it really almost Christmas?

First things first, I am really diggin' those weird Christmas songs that Target has on their commercials this year! I am seriously debating whether I'm going to the site to download the songs... Also, I want to say Thanks!! to my buddy Claire for giving me a Stylish Blogger Award. I just realized she gave it to me the other day!

So, I know I shouldn't post this card online until late next year. If you know why, just hush if you know the person I'm sending it to. If she happens to post it online or you know her personally, just act like you've never seen it before. If you don't know what I'm talking about, stick around until next October and all will be revealed...  :)

Anyway, I made this card with last week's Monday freebie from Marker Guru/Gurukity. She's been really sweet about giving cute digis on Mondays. The one this week is TOO adorable; you should go pick it up now then check out the goodies in the store...  Also, if you're into Copic coloring, she has some really neat tutorials including one on coloring darker skin tones. Trust me, it's way more than your usual E11/13/15 tutorial... I CASEd the card on the Repeat Impression's blog to come up with this little guy.  That paper is from DCWV, and the coloring is a mix of Copics, colored pencils, and pastels. Oh hey, I finally picked up some Stickles! (I used my coupon at Michael's...)

Challenges: Repeat Impressions - CASE #D8,  Stamp Something - Anything Goes (digi), 2 Sisters Challenge - Twas the Night Before Christmas (...not a creature was stirring...), Digis with Attitude! - Anything Goes (digi)

You Shouldn't Have...

Have you ever gotten a present that completely underwhelmed you? Something that made you want to slap the person who "thought so much" of you?  If so, you'll understand how this little guy feels...

Oh goodness, his little screw face is too much! This is Chihuahua-dolf from Digis With Attitude!, and I needed him in my life...  I made a card using sketch #168 from Mojo Monday and a perfect, FREE sentiment from Create with TLC.

In case you haven't seen it everywhere, that paper is from the Eskimo Kisses pack by Basic Grey. It made so much sense with this little reindog... (Oh, umm, Dorcas if you decide to visit, I'm borrowing your blue outlining technique because I like it so much!)

Challenges: Digi Doodle Shop's Best - #37 Animals/Insects, Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge - #44 Merry Christmas, Dutch Dare Card Challenges - #92 Christmas or Winter Themed Projects, and Mojo Monday (listed above)

Guylou's Christmas Challenge!

Hey! I am so happy that it's that time of the year when Christmas songs are on the radio. I swear I've heard The Temptations' Silent Night almost every day since Thanksgiving, and I am very happy about it!  In the spirit of the season, the new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability is to make a Christmas card. (I'm sure if you make a Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Epiphany, Islamic New Year, Boxing Day, etc. card, it will be ok too...)  Here's my card for the challenge:

 

I used Guylou's Cowboy Snowman digi stamp, Copic markers, a MS snowflake punch, some Recollections pearls, Celebrate It ribbon, DCWV paper, Colorbox ink, and my pastels to make this card. I hope you like it...

Now, I know you're busy making holiday cards, so make sure to enter at least one of them in the challenge!  You can use any stamp to enter, but in order to win a free GI stamp and a guest DT spot, you'll need to use a Guylou's Inimitability digi stamp.  (There are plenty of ways to get a free one if your money is tight like mine... Click "guylou's" in the tag list if you're interested.) I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Time to Get Back to Work!

So, I really slacked off on card making over the holiday. I had to move all my supplies out of the dining room, and toting things from an upstairs room back downstairs then running up and down for all the supplies I forgot the first seven times is not the easiest way to make cards...  I'm getting the hang of it though. I want to get the stuff organized upstairs and not bring it back to the dining room. (Christmas is coming and I don't want to start back over...)

Anyway, I made two cards yesterday. One I can't show you until the 3rd. It's for an upcoming challenge at Guylou's Inimitability. (Have you made your elegant card yet? I know you've made something that's classy/classic/elegant in the last week... Link it up!)  The second card I made was for a challenge at Copic Challenge Corner on Simply Scrapping Crafts. We were supposed to use our Copics and some other coloring medium. Here's what I made...

The image is digi stamp called A Special Gift from A Day for Daisies. I colored Mary, Jesus, and the star with Copic markers, then used my colored pencils and OMS for the background. It's simple, but I just felt like the image was enough; it didn't really need any embellishing or a sentiment. I have a feeling that I'll end up making some more copies of this card...

PaperAddict Catherine and some other bloggers are having a "Jesus is the Reason" blog hop that started this morning. I'm heading over to hit that up right now. They have a spot for faith-based Christmas projects at the end, and I'm planning to put my card there.

Guylou’s Christmas Digis Blog Hop!

Hey, this is Trina, the last designer on Guylou’s Inimitability Christmas Digistamps Blog Hop. I'm so excited!! We are kicking things off at Guylou’s Inimitability where you will start and end the blog hop. If you are here from Tracy's blog, you’re doing great! If not, please start at Guylou’s Inimitability or refer to the blog hop list at the bottom of this post to find your way. The hop will be open through Sunday, November 28th at 9:00pm EST.  

Guylou’s got some adorable new Christmas images to show you which are available NOW at Guylou’s Inimitability Online Store!

 

What is a blog hop without a prize??? One lucky winner will be drawn at random from the comments on this blog post to receive one digistamp of her/his choice from Guylou’s new releases, and a grand winner will be selected on Guylou’s Inimitability Blog to win all five new releases. You must comment on all the blogs participating in this blog hop in order to qualify to win the grand prize.

 

Eight designers are hopping along, each creating something amazing with Guylou’s new Christmas digistamps. I created my card with the darling digi called “Gabrielle with Lamb.”

I think this is a perfect image for Christmas. I colored her robe with what has to be the least cooperative Copic marker ever made... :-s  At a different angle her wings look really glittery since I used a Sakura Star Dust pen on them, and her lamb has some Studio G flock on it. The ticket is from Tim Holtz, and in the background is one of my favorite songs, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." (I really love a bunch of Christmas songs. One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is that it is the beginning of Christmas songs on the radio!)

 

Hope you enjoyed my card! Don't forget to hop along with us and leave us some love; you could end up a winner!!  If you started at the beginning, your next (and FINAL) hop is back to Guylou's Inimitability! Hope you've had fun!

The blog hop goes like this...

1.       Starts at Guylou’s Inimitability Blog

2.       Brenda

3.       Carmen

4.       Dale

5.       Gina

6.       Guylou

7.       Kim

8.       Tracy  

9.       Trina <= That's me!

10.   Finishes at Guylou’s Inimitability

Exciting News!!

Guylou's Inimitability has new digis just in time for Christmas card making! To celebrate, the DT is hosting a blog hop! The fun will go from 7 a.m. (EST) on Nov 27 to 9 p.m. EST on Nov 28.  Did I mention there will be prizes? One commenter on each blog will receive a digi from the new release, AND if you comment on all the blogs in the hop, you'll qualify to win all five new digis! 

Now I know you might be full of turkey on those days, but there are only ten stops on this hop. Unlike some hops, it won't take you the full two days to get through it. (You can take breaks if you want to...) Plus, there will be prizes! Make sure you put it on your calendar now because I'm expecting to see your beautiful face in my comments section this weekend!