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

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

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

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.....

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

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

December's Guest Designer over at

 '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!

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

'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

Sweet Stamp Shop Blog

then you are in the perfect spot to proceed.

If not, why not pop back to the very beginning on

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL'S BLOG

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....

Stephanie Washburn

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

Making a Holiday Splash!

I hope you are having a great week!

I am very excited to share the new challenge

from The Play Date Cafe.

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

'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

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.

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

the Sweet 'n Sassy Blog.

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

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.