My "Lifted" Snowman (and a little whining)...

Well, all I can say is that I am glad today is over. I had a root canal this morning on a tooth that has been bothering me since March! Going to the dentist is one of my least favorite things in the entire world. I had two children with no drugs and I have to say going to the dentist is worse!! You may think I am exaggerating, and I may be just a bit, but going to the dentist certainly is not fun. They can never get me numb enough and today I had to have FIVE shots before I was finally numb enough for them to finish the job. I am sorry for my whining. I usually save my complaining for my hubby, but I think he is tired of hearing it today. LOL!

Anyway, onto my card. Well, actually I can't really say that it is my card because my friend Bren is the one who came up with the cute creation. I just shamelessly lifted her idea and made my own. (Thanks for the inspiration Bren!) Bren doesn't have a blog, but she does have some fantastic artwork posted on her website if you'd like to check it out here.
This cute little snowman is from CTMH's November stamp of the month called All Decked Out. It is a "build a snowman" type of set and is soooo cute. I also used some patterned paper from the Aspen collection along with some Bamboo and Twilight cardstock. I used a White Gel Pen and some Prisma Glitter on the tag and snow. I also added a few CTMH tiny Clear Sparkles to the snowflakes. The ear muffs are from CTMH's new Winter Cozy Mini-Medley pack. They are Twilight colored cordory brads. Aren't they fun? Bren's neighbor came up with that idea. Cute, huh?I colored his nose in with an Orange marker and shaded his body with a Grey Flannel marker. The only other things I used were a foam tool to add some ink around the edges and an edge distresser to rough up the edges a bit. The ribbon is retired CTMH Colonial White Organdy ribbon.

Well, that's about it for me. I am off to take some more pain killers. Nighty-night. *Ü*

Four Seasons (well actually only one season) Card

I loved the Four Seasons stamp set as soon as I saw it in the current CTMH catalog. I finally got it and this is the first card that I made with it. (There are so many possibilities with this set.)

I stamped the tree in Twilight ink and then sponged more ink around the edges. Then I outlined the tree with a while gel pen. I used a fine tip glue pen to trace over the branches and snow and then added some Prisma Glitter. It is hard to see the glitter in the photos. The sentiment is from the October stamp of the month called Annotations. After popping the tree up with some foam squares, I matted the card with Twilight cardstock and was done in about 10 minutes. I love quick and simple cards. Don't you?

My Cased "enjoy" Card...

This card was inspired by Beate's Weekend Sketch here and pretty much cased from Nancy Riley's card here. (I love her work.) CTMH's Notebook paper was a quick and easy solution for the background. I loved Nancy's card but since I don't own the SU! stamp that she used, I used a Creating Keepsakes foam stamp that I had for the word "enjoy." I tried stamping it with Cocoa ink but it looked horrible. My foam stamps never look very good when I use regular ink, so I usually use paint. This time I mixed some white craft paint with Blush re-inker.

I used my CTMH Happy Birthday set for the tiny "celebrate" at the bottom and stamped it with Cocoa ink. I finally got a chance to use my new SU! scallop punch. (Love that thing!) After sponging some Cocoa ink around the edges of everything, I added a little organdy ribbon and some tiny CTMH Sparkles to finish it off.

Flower Card

I was laughing when I saw Kathi's post today. She and I both created the same card at the same time. Yesterday when I had a couple of hours to myself, I made three cards. I posted the other two earlier, but hadn't had a chance to take a picture of this one. This card is one from the new CTMH Originals Book. If you don't have it yet, you must get one. The samples alone make it worth looking at again and again for ideas. *Ü* The sample in the book used Dimensional Elements (chipboard) Flowers of which I don't have any longer. So, I used some Just Blooms pink flowers instead. I used my scoring blade on my paper trimmer to score the lines on the Sweet Leaf cardstock and then sanded them to let the white core show through. I used a stamp set called Because of You for the sentiment. The inside says “because you are my friend.”
The best part of the card is the leaves. They were so fun to make. I took a piece of New England Ivy cardstock and folded it in half. Then I ran it through my paper crimper at an angle. Then I cut half of a leaf shape while the cardstock was still folded. When I opened up the leaf, there were some nice veins. Looking at it now, I probably should have sanded the leaves to let the white core come through like I did with the left side of the card. I wish I could take credit for the idea of using my paper crimper to make the leaves but I can't. I saw the idea on someone's blog a couple weeks ago. I wish I would have bookmarked it so that I could give that person credit. Unfortunately I can't remember whose blog it was. So sorry.
All products CTMH unless otherwise noted:
Stamps: Because of You
Cardstock: White Daisy, Sweet Leaf, New England Ivy
Inks: Chocolate
Other: Just Blooms Big Pinks, Winter Cozy Buttons, Paper Crimper, Colonial White Organdy Ribbon, Foam Tool

Birds Galore Card

OK, so I have had this Inkadinkado stamp set sitting on my desk for over 2 months just crying out "Use me! Use me!" I bought it at Michael's when it was on sale a while back because I loved it. I kept it out on my desk as a reminder to actually use it!! Last night was the night. I had a few hours to play and this is what I made...
I pulled out some super old paper that I had in my stash. I know it came from an old Stack, but not sure which brand, sorry. I paired it with some CTMH Crystal Blue cardstock. I used my Nestabilities for the scallop rectangle and the regular rectangle. The image is stamped in StazOn and colored in with my CTMH watercolor pencils. I used my CTMH Blending Pen to blend it a bit. I wanted to use my markers to make the color more vibrant, but the color was just too dark and didn't match the patterned paper. It proved to me once again why I like using CTMH's B&T paper. It matches their other products (i.e. markers) perfectly.

Anyway, I added some ribbon from my Papertrey stash and a few Foam Squares and wa-la...a card that I may actually send to someone. LOL!
Stamps: Inkadinkado's Birds Galore and Garden Flower (sentiment)
Cardstock: CTMH Crystal Blue, Papertrey's White Card Base
Patterend Paper: Source unknown
Inks: Black StazOn
Other: Nestibilities Scallop Rectangle and Regular Rectangle, Papertrey's Spring Moss Twill Ribbon, 3-D Foam Squares, CTMH's Watercolor Pencils and Blending Pen

Embossed Snowman Cards

I found a few Cuttlebug folders in my stash that I bought last year and never used. Ugg! I had to make something with them so I could feel like I didn't waste my money, so this is what I came up with...
I made one plain card with no background and one with the snowflakes background. They are both fairly simple, but I can't decide which one I think looks better. I will be making some of these along with my Christmas Tree cards to send out this year. Which one do you like better?
Stamps: Papertrey's Mixed Messages
Cardstock: CTMH White Daisy and Cranberry
Inks: CTMH Cranberry and Black
Other: Cuttlebug Embossing Folders, ribbon from Walmart, 3-D Foam Squares

Whooo Loves You Card

I loved this new CTMH stamp set called Whooo Loves You from the first time I saw it in the new catalog. I finally had time to play for a few minutes the other day and chose this set to make a simple little Thank You card.I used the new Notebook paper pack along with some new Chocolate twill ribbon and Colonial White Ric Rac. I also used CTMH's new Rub Ons. (LOVE THEM!!) The owl's eyes are black Bitty Brads. Those tiny little brads are great although hard to hold onto. LOL! (There are probably a few of them hidden deep in my carpet right now.) I like the owl's pink tummy. I think it makes her look kinda cute.

From my sweet friend...

Look what my sweet friend Barbara left for me on my doorstep. Isn't this card cute? I love this stamp set and was sad to see it retire. Thanks again Barb!!

Be sure to check out Barbara's blog. She is SUPER talented!!!

Happy Thursday! *Ü*