Mojo Monday #119

Today there is another sketch challenge posted over at Mojo Monday...make sure you check it out! This sketch was fun and I knew right away that I would be using some more new products from the Occassions Mini catalog :)

This is the cute card I came up with using the new felt flowers from the Occasions Mini catty coming January 5th...watch for it!!!

Stamps: Whimsical Words, Vintage Vogue

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Sweet Pea DP, Rose Red

Ink: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Mistletoe ribbon, dimensionals, ticket corner punch, sponge dauber

Back at it with a Pink Elephant Challenge.....

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and enjoyed some time with friends and family over the holidays. We sure did....it's been a busy holiday week filled with loving friends and family, baking, opening presents and playing outside in the snow forts! I haven't had any time to sit and create, so today was the day! I hopped on over to the Pink Elephant site to see what sort of wonderful sketch they had for me to try out....here it is.....

....and here is the card I created using all new products from the new Occasions Mini catty! I just *heart* these new colors in the paper pack!!! Hope you all enjoy it too....let me know what you think of it or where I could have improved on it :)

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes

Paper: Taken with Teal, Sahara Sand, Choc Chip, Sweet Pea DP

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Accessories: new scallop trim border punch (SAB), new Chat Room rub-on's, Finial Press embossing folder, markers, new old olive satin ribbon, button, silver cord, dimensionals

It sure feels good to sit down and create something! I have candles lit and the coffee tastes fantastic today since I made a gingerbread spice infused coffee :) MMMMM! Now...off to see what other crafting fun I can get myself into....happy stamping!

Christmas party fun....

I hosted my monthly stamping club's Christmas Potluck here at my house last Saturday night and I thought I would share some of the fun with you all :o) We had a visit, then we created December's calendar page, played a couple fun games (complete with prizes), made a gorgeous coffee card from Loretta, then made icicle candles!!! Here are some pics of the evening:

We are sitting around visiting over a glass of wine and just enjoying the night!



The club made a 12 x 12 calendar over the year and so it was time to do the final December page - I will post a picture of that later :o)

It was Loretta's month to be "hostess with the mostest"so she supplied us with materials to make this ADORABLE card!!! Thanks again, Loretta, it was awesome!!

....all the ladies hard at work making the card fronts Loretta supplied :)

I found a really neat idea in the Martha Stewart Holiday Giving magazine she puts out every year....it was to take pillar candles and paint them with Mod Podge and then roll them in epsom salts to give them a "sugary or icicle" effect....they turned out MARVELLOUSLY!!!

This is Loretta's pillar that she did up :o) Don't they look FANTASTIC? Then...as if that wasn't a wow factor craft, Loretta decided to use one of my gorgeous dinner napkins (a clean one) and wrap that around the candle first....so here's the final result on that:

Isn't that beeeooootiful??? Imagine the possibilities with the epsom salts...you could color them with reinkers or buy different colors of pillars and decorate them with plain epsoms....they are gorgeous!

It was a great night filled with laughter, great friends, good food, wine, and warmth. A super great way to end another successful stamping year! Thanks to each and every one of my group members for making it another AWESOME year! Hugs!!!

Combo Challenge :)

Good evening!! Can you believe there are only 8 more sleeps until the big day?!? That just seems *wrong* in my eyes...where did the time go? I guess with being home every day and homeschooling my 2 kids this school term, days just seem to flow into each other and POOF, they are gone! One of the many benefits of homeschooling, is at least I *can* craft every day if I choose to *insert happy dance here*

Tonight my good friend, Melissa, and I chose to challenge each other by using the same challenges and see what we come up with. Make sure you pop on over and check our her WONDERFUL creation! We chose to combine 2 great challenges. One from Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge and one from Diva Coffee Break Design Challenge.

This is the sketch challenge from Splitcoast:

....and this is the color challenge from Diva Coffee Break Designs:

....and.....here is my creation combining the two. I must say, I fussed a lot over the colors of the challenge. I like all the colors together, I just didn't really know *how* to combine them all :) I think I did pretty darn good...hee hee! The sketch challenge this week was fun! Thanks to everyone who creates these wonderful challenges for us who are CHALLENGED (LOL) I speak for myself when I say that - I have difficulty creating on my own a lot of the time, so I, for one, totally appreciate the sketch and color challenges :) Let me know what you think ok?!

Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Well Scripted (from the new Occasions Mini Catalog avail. Jan 5)

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive

Paper: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White

Accessories: acrylic blocks, Beautiful Wings Embosslit (Occasions Mini), Old Olive satin ribbon (Occasions Mini), Sizzix embossing folders - dots, finial press, paper piercer, sponge dauber, dimensionals

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #48

My good friend, Tamie, told me about this wonderful site for challenges! Sweet Sunday has great sketch challenges for us to show off our mojo! Try 'em out sometime! Here's the challenge she gave us:

....and when I saw the sketch, these dudes were the first thing that came to my mind with the Holiday Lounge paper!!! So, I'm making 8 of them in the teal colors and then I'm going to make 8 more in the ruby colors....let me know what you think...sorry about the smudgy coloring on the right hand snowdude...:(

Stamps: Holiday Lineup, To You & Yours

Paper: Sahara Sand, Basic Black, Taken with Teal, Whisper White

Ink: Versafine, Basic Black

Accessories: markers, clear embossing powder, modern label punch, word window punch, scallop border punch (new in SAB catty - coming Jan 5), ticket corner punch, dimensionals, adhesive pearls

A Cold Mojo Monday #117

Wow has it been C-O-L-D here in central Alberta the past few days....-42C on the thermometer this morning when my poor hubby had to go to work :( I felt bad for him going out in that. It has warmed up A LITTLE, not a lot, thermometer is currently sitting at -36C and supposed to be getting colder tonight yet. I cancelled a dentist appointment and decided to stay put where it is warm and I baked cookies today while the kids did their school work. A girl just can't pass up a Mojo Monday challenge either...so here's what I was working on this evening......

I made 2 different cards using the same layout, just different background paper. I hope you enjoy them! I sure had fun making them!

Stay warm everyone - there is some reprieve coming....Wednesday is supposed to be -3C or something like that! Crazy! But I'll take it...LOL. I'm off to make my kids and myself some supper and then I'll be back to see what other crafting mayhem I can get into :) Happy crafting!

*Happy Dance*

OMG! I am soooo stoked today! My good friend, Melissa, told me on the phone today that I got 3rd Honorable Mention over at the Color Throwdown last week for THIS card! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!!!! I am *still* sitting here with my mouth hung open! Well, ok, I've been doing a jig if truth be known....ha ha ha .... that is soooo incredibly awesome in my world right about now as my crafting mojo has been non-existent for some time and it's just recently it's returned. And then to get an honorable mention on a card I did is just too freakin' awesome!
Go check out the girls over at Color Throwdown - give their challenges a try - they ROCK! Thanks guys for the wonderful "mention" your challenges are so fun to do!

Well, my DH is on his way home as I type this - he's travelling on winter roads and won't be home until after midnight. We have a Christmas party to attend tomorrow so we are both looking forward to a night out! Doesn't look like there is any crafting in my sights for a while :( but that's ok. Life is just a *tad* bit busy for me right now - hopefully I can sneak some in next week! Thanks for popping by - stay warm - it's supposed to be N-A-S-T-Y this weekend!!!

** Dormant Stamp Sets to be Discontinued Jan 4 **

As promised, many of the stamp sets currently on our dormant list have been available for a year and now it is time to say goodbye. (In June we communicated that these stamp sets would be available for another year, but since there has been very low demand for these sets, SU! has decided to discontinue them earlier than expected.)


The following stamp sets will be discontinued on January 4, 2010.
113407 Back Woods
114492 Beautiful Baby
114486 Birthday Wish
113200 Branch Out
114496 Celebrations
113732 Central Park
113206 Classic Sketches
113226 Classy & Fabulous
114498 Flowers in Silhouette
113405 Font of You
113216 For the Bride
114494 Forever
109425 Friend by Definition
114488 Fun Flowers
113716 Garden Greetings
114490 Glad Friends
111580 Grand Soiree
113242 Hit the Road
113710 Lexicon of Leaves
113236 Man's Best Friend
114423 Ocean Commotion
113728 Playful Petals
109276 Polka Dot
111544 Putt Putt
113240 Quilt Quips
113754 Really Retro
113403 Sip by Sip
113726 Sweet Stems
113250 That's Funny
113688 Wonderful Watercolors
114028 Para la novia
114032 Acuarelas Maravillosas


If any of these stamp sets are on your wish list, make sure to purchase them before they are gone for good! You can click on the link to shop now, or you can email me HERE. Thanks!

2 Sketches 4 You #40

My good friend, Tamie, led me to this wonderful challenge! Hop on over to see what beautiful creations Tamie did for this one....

This sketch comes from Laura and Kazan over at 2 Sketches 4 You. This one was a lot of fun to do - really got my mojo flowin...I used a special stamp I've been *hoarding* for a couple years now and haven't put any ink on it (yes, I know...it's a coffee stamp and I haven't used it yet....head hung in shame). BUT..tonight was the night and I think both cards turned out "ok" but my coloring tonight leaves much to be desired LOL....thanks for poppin' in....happy stamping!

These are the 2 cards I made for the sketch challenge....I used different punches and pearl configurations along the bottoms of each card....these cards are both 5 x 5 cards. Thanks for clickin' by to see my works of art! Stay warm...

BIG Cake Card....

Idecided to take a break from some challenges (I will get to them later on this evening) and I went snooping through my LARGE stash of acrylics and other non-SU stamps :) This image has never seen ink and I have been wanting to make a large birthday card with it for some time....what do ya think? I totally *heart* it!! If you would like details on the card, you can email me HERE.....thanks for stopping in! Stay warm!!!

Jen's Sketch For You To Try....

Since today's storm gives us such a great excuse to stamp, I went searching for some challenges to do today. This is the first one I found...Jen's Sketch For You to Try....

The INSTANT I saw the sketch, I *knew* exactly what stamp I was gonna use for it...yep, you guessed it...THE CHURCH!! I have been wanting to make more cards with this set, so this gave me some more ideas to use it! I made 4 more using this sketch. Thanks Jen!!!

Stamps: Wish for Peace
Paper: Basic Gray, Whisper White, Basic Black, Night and Day DP
Ink: Basic Gray, Versafine Black
Accessories: clear embossing powder, petals a plenty embossing folder, black ribbon, ticket corner punch, gem, sponge dauber

Walkin' In A Winter Wonderland!!!

Last night I promised some pics of the snow storm...it's still happening actually, but it calmed down for a few minutes and I got some quick pics of some of the drifts around the yard. I haven't actually been outside yet, so these were all taken from inside the warmth of my house!!! We will have to go out and do some shovelling soon...we can't even get into the barn or out my front door - so we'll HAVE to go out....


This is the front door to our barn....will need to shovel or plow to get into it and the tree got broken too in the wind last night :(

This is out my front door (I could only open it a few inches) see next photo....

My front door is drifted in....need to shovel :)

This drift might look a bit deceiving....it's actually over my chest in height!! The metal fence behind it is over my head.... Crazy!!!

I got done taking the above photos, and then the wind picked up again...here's what it looks like out my office window right now :( I am so glad that I am in my warm house, with lots of coffee and Bailey's and a craft room that I have *giggle, snort* I'm off to do some creating....

You all please stay in and stay warm today - I would *love* to see what crafting mayhem you get into - post a comment with a link to whatever you create today :) I CRAFT CHALLENGE YOU!!!!

Inkingly Yours,

Lori :)

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #93

OMGOSH is it ever storming here in central Alberta! Our roads are drifted over and our yard out here on the farm is one big snow drift...and it continues to snow and blow! I will take some pics tomorrow morning of our yard.

My kids normally have gymnastics and trampoline club tonight, but thankfully, it was cancelled due to bad weather. So, what else is a Mom to do other than craft on a *free* night such as tonight?! So that I did...I hopped on over to Taylored Expressions to see what challenge she had posted for us there....this is the sketch challenge for us:

I dug through my MANY piles of DP and found this cupcake paper that I believe was a hostess level 3 bundle package. I remembered it came with rub-on's so I dug those out and went right to work on my "vision." This is what I came up with:

This was a fun sketch challenge to do....thanks again Taylor! Another awesome challenge for us!

Stamps: Eat Cake
Paper: Real Red, Going Gray, Whisper White, Certainly Celery, retired SU DP
Ink: Real Red marker
Accessories: celery ribbon, paper piercer, scallop circle punch, various circle punches, white gel pen, dimensionals, gems

I hope you all are safe and warm inside your homes this evening.....sure makes me thankful to have heat and a roof over my head on days like today. I post-poned my stamping club Christmas potluck tomorrow night due to this storm taking place...I sure would NOT want my wonderful PEEPS out and about in this!!!

I am off to see what other crafting mayhem I can get myself into.....thanks for stopping by!

Hugs and happy stamping!!!

Another 2-fer......

Wow, I got 2 more challenges done today - wahoooo on a roll! I did this one in between helping my kids with school work :) Nothing like learning about electricity, Native Peoples and crafting :) Here is the color challenge that is offered today over at Diva Coffee Break Designs:

And this is the sketch challenge that was offered last Saturday over at iheart2stamp:

And this is my card combining both challenges:

I totally *love* the colors of this challenge, I'm just not sure about the spaces left on the bermuda bay squares...do they need something on there? Maybe some rub on's??? Or, do I leave them the way they are.....please let me know what you think.....I had a lot of fun doing this sketch challenge - my creation kept changing, thus...my office looks like a tornado went through it! HAHAHA .... I'm off to tidy up before I feed the kids and head out to 4H. It's supposed to get VERY cold here tonight, so I am going to hunker down when I get back home and do some more crafting and sip on some tea.....:) Have a great night!!!

Stamps: Best Wishes and More

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Bermuda DP

Ink: Melon Mambo

Accessories: white gel pen, melon mambo ribbon, scallop circle punch, circle punch, finial press embossing folder, scallop edge punch, dimensionals, brad

Color Throwdown and SCS Sketch Challenge

Happy COLD "hump day" my fellow crafters! Woke up to -27C on the thermometer this morning...brrrr! Lit some candles, brewed some yummilicious Starbucks coffee and hopped on over to see what challenges I could get into today :) For starters, I decided to combine the Color Throwdown challenge and the Splitcoaststampers Wednesday Card Sketch challenge....

And this is what I came up with:

Stamps: Serene Snowflakes, Best Yet

Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Real Red, Pretty in Pink

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink

Accessories: choc brads, dimensionals, choc ribbon, paper piercer, markers, oval punch, label punch, circle punches, sponge dauber

This challenge was fun - I really like the different sketch layout....try it out!!!

Thanks for stopping in on this chilly December day - stay warm! I'm off to bake some cookies and then do the Diva Coffee Break Designs Challenge!! Stay tuned....it's another gooder!!

Very Black Suede

I saw THIS CARD on Dawn's blog and I just *HAD* to do one like it! I think it's very majestic...I was wondering what challenge I could do along with this card and I hopped on over to Splitcoaststampers and they are having their Tuesday Color Challenge. We had to make a card with Basic Black, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla...so they called it the Very Black Suede Challenge! FUN....and when I saw the card on Dawn's blog, I knew I could incorporate the two together :) Here is the card I made for the challenge:

You can't see it very well in the photo, but the card base is actually black. For the challenge, we also had the option of adding some glitter or bling of some sort, and I was going to put on some black shiny pearls in each of the ticket corners....I will go do that now :) Imagine them there LOL...Wallaaaaa! All done another superific challenge! Thanks for stopping in tonight - stay warm and remember to be good...the big guy will be here in 24 sleeps!!!!