Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Getting Together in 2012


It is the middle of the week already, just a few more
days until we ring in the New Year.

I really want to thank the girls over at
for inviting me to be their Guest Designer
the entire month of December.

I really enjoyed working with the 
'Snowflake Flourish' set and although I chose
one of the tiniest stamps to feature here
(along with the sentiment)
the thought behind it became quite big for me.

We are so powerful as individuals, but
collectively, we can do great things.
So I hope you will make 2012 a year of
being creative in new and exciting ways.
Get together with friends or join a blog hop.
Whatever you do, make an effort to
team up with someone because together
'we CAN do so much'!


I found this very vintage Heidi Grace paper in my stash.
I've always loved it...the soft velvet of the snowflakes
is so striking and I thought it was a great fit for this card.
I stamped the snowflakes & sentiment in 'Slate' ink
from A Muse Studio 
(you KNOW they're my faves!)
and paired it with ribbon from American Crafts.
The label die is from Sizzix.


 I'm so glad you popped by today!

Don't forget, we are in the middle of a
TWO WEEK CHALLENGE
over at The Play Date Cafe.


 We would love to have you play with us!
You could win a $25 Shopping Spree from

 See you soon!


Project Recipe:
Designer Paper: Heidi Grace
Stamps: Snowflake Flourish from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps
Ink: Slate from A Muse Studio
Embellishments: Brads from Recollections
Ribbon from American Crafts
Tools: Label Die from Sizzix, Big Shot

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Wishing You a Most Blessed Christmas...


My youngest grandson Finn along with his new friend
Santa Claus are here to wish each one of you
a very Happy and Healthy Christmas...
...one filled with joys of family & good food
always remembering the 'reason for the season'
as we are reminded here with one of the dearest
songs from a mother's heart....



Merry Christmas and God bless us everyone.....


Friday, December 23, 2011

CAS-ual Fridays Joins the Market Street Block Party!


Taking another quick break from the holidays
because I've got an especially fun treat for you all!

This week the Girl Fridays of CAS-ual Fridays
are joining up with the fabulous designers of
Market Street Stamps in celebration of
their newest releases.

This week's Clean and Simple Challenge is...


Begin with a Clean and Simple idea
and incorporate Brown Paper and String
and you are good to go.


I love this sweet little button card from Cosmo Cricket's
Clementine Collection.  I thought it was the perfect backdrop for
this week's challenge using the new set
called 'Faith in You' from Market Street.
My 'string' is Mandarin bakers twine from The Twinery.

Along with the joint challenge, it is also


time over at MSS.
You can have a chance to be a guest designer with
our fabulous team, so make sure you check out all
the details over on the MSS Blog.

Hope you enjoyed your visit to The Open Window.
I know I enjoy hearing from you, so thank you
so much for stopping by!


Project Recipe:
Designer Paper: Clemetine from Cosmo Cricket
Stamps: Faith in You from Market Street Stamps
Embellishments: Die Cuts Clementine from Cosmo Cricket
Bakers Twine in Mandarin from The Twinery

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Let it Snow....


It's another chilly reminder that snow is
coming to different parts of the US today.
As I continue to play with stamps as

 'Snowflake Flourish' was the set that I've
had fun with all December long and here is
a brand new take using the largest image in the set.


It is a busy card indeed, but when you break it all down, it's not so much : )

I stamped the flourishes in inks that would compliment the
paper from My Mind's Eye's 'Lost & Found Christmas' and
stamped one at top and one at the bottom, making sure to let
both 'run off the page'.
From there it really was just a matter of placing my embellishments
where they filled the space most effectively.

I created the snowflake from my Spellbinders Original Snowflakes Die
using the same papers as the background panel.


 All of the chipboard embellishments were from the
same collection by MME.
For those who are getting slammed with snow, I wish you
much safety and hope that you will be able to share photos
of snowmen along the way.

Happy Holidays all!


Project Recipe:
Designer Paper: Lost & Found Christmas from My Mind's Eye
Stamps: Snowflake Flourish from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps
Ink: Curran & Slate from A Muse Studio
Embellishments: Brad & Pearls from Recollections
Chipboard Sentiments from Lost & Found Christmas from My Mind's Eye
Tools: Snowflake Die from Spellbinders, Big Shot

Holiday Inspiration


Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah to all!

I just wanted to share a quick post to let you know
that the new challenge over at The Play Date Cafe
is up and running.

I actually have a project nearly completed sitting on my
table, but I've been out of the house so much
this week, it's been impossible to complete anything.

You will have TWO FULL WEEKS to complete the
challenge and of course, the colors can't help
but inspire you to play.

This week, someone is going to win a
fabulous prize from


 So I hope you will have some holiday time to play!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Once we Believe...


 

Taking a break from holiday cards tonight to share a beautiful
new collection from Market Street Stamps.

 

It's New Release Preview Week and you are going to love
what is to come from all of the designers over at MSS.


These beautiful butterflies and sentiment are from the brand new
'Believing Butterfly' Collection.  
Butterflies are so trendy and I think are a perfect
alternative to hearts for Valentine cards.
For this card, I pulled out papers & embellishments from
Making Memories 'Je t'Adore' collection.
I embossed the butterflies and layered them for a dimensional effect.
I have a large collection of the heart lace border and never seem
to use it, so I am hoping to incorporate it on more cards this spring.

I hope you will join the designers of Market Street Stamps all week long
as we reveal the new stamp sets on offer.

So glad you came by....always nice to hear from you!


Project Recipe:
Designer Paper: Je t'Adore from Making Memories
Stamps: Believing Butterflies from Market Street Stamps
Embellishments: Die Cuts Je t'Adore from Making Memories
Vintage Heart Lace Border



Warm Hugs


I don't know what the weather is like where you live,
but it's been unseasonably warm here in
Northern Illinois.
Today, the temps are in the mid 40's
and not a sign of snow...well, yet.
I'm not sure if we will have a white Christmas
this year, but I'm ok with that.

The reason I mention it is because I have a
card to share of a 'wintery' nature but I haven't
a single 'real' snowflake to show for it!
I have been enjoying being the
December Guest Designer over at


and am happy to share this little card with you.


I have been playing with the 'Snowflake Flourish' set
from SNSS and with this card, I decided to focus on
one of the tiniest stamps in the set along
with the beautiful sentiment.
My focal point is a snowflake die from Spellbinders
cut from 'Blitzen' by BoBunny.

I hope you will stop by the Sweet 'n Sassy Blog
and join me there tomorrow with a brand
new project!


Project Recipe:
Designer Paper: Blitzen from BoBunny
Stamps: Snowflake Flourish from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps
Ink: Sky & Slate from A Muse Studio
Embellishments: Brad from American Crafts
Tools: Snowflake Die from Spellbinders, Big Shot


Sunday, December 18, 2011

'Back to the 80's' Blog Hop!



What a fun way to begin a Sunday!


It's Emily Lanham's 
'Back to the 80's' Birthday Blog Hop! 

If you've arrived here from the
then you are in the perfect spot to proceed.

If not, why not pop back to the very beginning on
because there are some amazing prizes up for grabs
in honor of Emily's 29th birthday!


 Although Emily's teen years were spent mostly in the 90's,
she loves everything about the 80's including the sights & sounds.
I made this card with thoughts of some of her favorite songs
by the New Kids on the Block & Def Leppard.

The main focus of my card uses 'Old School Rock' from
Sweet Stamp Shop and thought it was a perfect fit for the occasion.
The sentiment and alpha stamps are also from SSS. (see below)


 I stamped everything using my favorite inks from A Muse Studio,
which are available from my web store HERE.

We would love for you to hop along with us this weekend because many
of the participating blogs have terrific prizes!!

I'm giving away....


The newest colors from The Twinery!

So happy you came by!

To have a chance to win,
remember to leave a little note before you go
and include an email for contact.

Your next stop on the hop is my talented teammate
from Market Street Stamps....

Project Recipe:
Stamps: Old School Rock, Scootin' By & Alpha Doodles
all from Sweet Stamp Shop
Inks: Slate, Bubblegum, Ocean from A Muse Studio 
Embellishments: brads from Recollections

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Making a Holiday Splash!



I hope you are having a great week!

I am very excited to share the new challenge


I love this inspiration photo and so appropriate
for the Christmas season.
Because it is such a busy time, we thought it would
be a terrific time to make your challenge a bit 
easier to play.  All you'll need is ONE COLOR!

I am such a huge fan of our 'Color Splash'
challenges and it was nearly two years ago
that we had our very first one which featured
this beautiful color...teal.


This is a challenge that is always fun to create CAS.
I pulled out a sweet stamp set from Recollections and
stamped the trees.  Then I did a little 'faux watercolor' technique.
It's just using my Copics and the blender and letting it
leak beyond the design to give the effect of watercolor.
The beautiful sentiment is from Market Street Stamps.


We are really happy to have


Cindy Coutts Designs
as this week's sponsor and the wonderful prize
up for grabs is something featured on my card
this week.

So head on over to The Cafe...you are going to
be blown away by the design team creations on
display there.


Project Recipe:
Stamps: Essential Holiday Elegance from Market Street
Tree image from Recollections
Embellishments: Haute by American Crafts
Tools: Labels 18 from Spellbinders, Big Shot

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

'Tis the Season ...


Welcome back to The Open Window.

I've got just a couple of quick projects for you today.


If you visited yesterday, you saw the cards I did using the rub-ons
from Bo Bunny.  The papers that I've used today are also from
that same collection called 'Blitzen'.
There are so many warm elements between the colors and the designs,
so I combined 3 different sheets along with a label cut out as well.
The trees were created using a die cut from Lil' Inker Designs.
I highlighted the wreath, the greenery under the turtle doves & the trees
with Stickles in 'Stardust'.
Additional bling comes from the brads, add bakers twine
from The Twinery and done!

   
I'm not sure if this has happened to you, but my favorite Swiss Dot EF
will no longer EMboss!  I have no idea why and I even asked my friends
over on FB to see if it's ever happened to them.  So far, I'm the only one!
All of my other EF's still work fine, so it has to be a worn folder.
It does still DEboss, though and I really wanted the idea of snow falling,
so I went with it!
These trees were cut using the same die cut using beautiful paper
from My Mind's Eye's 'Lost & Found Christmas'.
The stamped sentiment is from Market Street Stamps.

I hope you enjoyed these couple of projects.
I created them especially for the challenge over on the
CARDS magazine blog this week calling for Christmas Trees
as the focal point.

I hope you will take a moment and check out my guest post
over at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps today.
Another winter-themed project awaits!


Tis the Season Project Recipe:
Designer Paper: 'Blitzen' by Bo Bunny
Embellishments:
Bakers Twine in Honeydew from The Twinery 
Stickles in Stardust, gemstone brads from American Crafts
Tools: Tree die from Lil' Inker Designs, Big Shot

Wishing You Project Recipe:
Designer Paper: Lost & Found Christmas from My Mind's Eye
Stamps: Essential Holiday Elegance by Market Street Stamps
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento from A Muse Studio
Embellishments:
Bakers Twine in Maraschino from The Twinery
Tools:  Swiss Dot EF by Sizzix, Tree die from Lil' Inker Designs
Big Shot

Monday, December 12, 2011

Rubbing it On with Bo Bunny



Happy Monday!
It's the start of another week...one day closer to Christmas.
This past Saturday night, I had a chance to play around
with a set of new rub-ons from Bo Bunny that I picked up
on my last trip to Archivers.

Photobucket

I don't use rub-ons all the often, but every now and then,
I like to play with something different and something
that gives me an opportunity to whip up lots of cards
all in one go.


All of these cards are pretty self-explanatory.
What I love about rub-ons is that, when you patiently apply
them, the finished surface is so smooth, almost like
it's printed onto the surface.
I just added a stamped sentiment and a little bling
and that's it.
Here are a few more cards using different images from the set.


So that does it for today.
I hope you will make plans to stop by tomorrow over at
I will be sharing another post there as December's Guest Designer
and I'm really looking forward to it!

Thank you for coming by The Open Window.
Let me know you were here, make sure there is an
email that I can respond to and I will pop by to say hello!

Project Recipe:
Stamps: Various sentiments from Hampton Arts, The Paper Company
Ink: Slate from A Muse Studio
Embellishments:
Rub-ons by Bo Bunny, Stickles, gems & mini brads from Recollections

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Come Catch Up with Me!



Hi everyone!

I am SO happy to be back in the land of Google Reader!!!

About 3 weeks ago, I purchased the domain name for my blog
and was so happy that I would no longer have to type in
blogspot.com at the end of every URL I typed.
But from that point on, all my posts stopped showing up in
Google Reader.
I did everything to make sure things were 'directed', 'pointed'
and 'redirected' to keep things running smoothly, all the while
working on SEVENTEEN NEW RELEASES
from three of my favorite companies!!!


It was so frustrating to do all this work and know that it was
going to be difficult for people to know there was anything new.
I appreciate all of you who emailed to ask why my blog wasn't updating
through Reader and I am happy to say that for now, problem solved!


I am giving all the credit to my husband Paul.
He knows absolutely nothing about what I do here on Blogger,
but has had enough software language experience in his career
to be able to take a look at things and make some changes based
on what he could see.  After three weeks, my brain was fried!

I pay tribute to him for his help in the project in the photo above
as well...he has been my sidekick this week for sure!


So I hope you will take a little time to catch back up with me.


The photos I am sharing now are just a taste of what you might
have missed.  Just click on search and start scrolling.
In the meantime, if you have had any trouble getting my blog
through the RSS feed, you may want to RE-sign up for it and
just use the blogspot.com URL above.


Thank you so much for taking the time to visit.
I am SO glad to be back among you all!!!

I'd be so appreciative if you would let me know you
stopped by on any one of these posts.  It's always a
great gauge to know that folks are finding me.




Friday, December 9, 2011

Bejeweled Snowflakes



This month, I have the honor of being the
Guest Designer over at
 
 

and all this month, I will be sharing projects
using the beautiful stamp set
Snowflake Flourishes

 
The moment I laid eyes on this set, all I could think
of was the color of 'ice blue', so this is what I came up with.
It's such a lovely flourish and so easy to embellish.


I selected a variety of gem & pearl brads
from American Crafts, Making Memories & The Paper Studio 
for the centers of my snowflakes.

I hope you will plan to join me each Tuesday in
the month of December over on the
for more winter greetings.

I'm so glad you were able to stop by during
such a busy time of the year.
I value each and every comment that you leave
and hope you will have time to say a quick hello
before you go!
  
Project Recipe:
Stamps: Snowflake Flourish from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps
Ink: Ocean & Slate from A Muse Studio
Ocean Depth from VersaMagic 
Embellishments:
Gem/Pearl brads from American Crafts, Making Memories
and The Paper Studio