Holiday Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop

This is a fun day for many stampers who are participating in a HUGE holiday coffee lovers' blog hop!  Not only will there be lots of prizes donated by many generous companies (last time I checked there were 27!), but many of the blog participants are offering blog candy as well!  So...take a break from the holiday rush...grab a cup of joe...and comment as you hop along!  A big THANK YOU to Amy Tsuruta for heading this up!  You will want to start the hop by visiting her blog here.  She will have the posting details available there which will include the linky tool so you can join in and hopefully be a winner!

Here is my coffee-themed card that I also created for the new Color Throwdown Challenge where Tammy is our hostess with these

fun colors: pink, red, teal green and aqua.  I used some of my fave stamping elements - watercoloring, die cut sentiment layering, texture paste with stencils and loopy twine!  I mixed some blues and greens from a Pelikan water color palette for the background then added light modeling paste using a stencil.  See the list of all the products I used at the bottom of this post.  Also, you will want to check out the other designers' creations on the Color Throwdown blog post.  There will also be details on how you could possibly be our next star stamper by joining in the challenge!

I am offering the following blog candy to one of you readers!  It will include a Keurig variety pack of coffees (not shown in photo) and some stamping goodies - 2 My Mind's Eye paper pads, embossing folder, wood veneer embellishments, jingle bells and burlap shapes!  The hop commenting for this prize will end Monday, December 15, at 2:59AM EST (this time was edited to match Amy's end time of 11:59 Pacific time).  Please remember to include your contact info with your comment if you don't have the reply settings in place and I will contact the winner by Saturday, December 20th.  Good luck!

Another perk (yes...pun intended - lol) to this hop is that everyone's hop projects will be pinned to a special Pinterest board!  Woohoo!  Let's get this party started!

 

STAMPS: Holiday Treats (Verve); Diagonal Stripes BG (MFT).
PAPER: Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, White, 90 lb Watercolor CS.
INK: Melon Mambo, Black.
ACCESSORIES: Stitched square dies by Lil Inker Designs, Hand Lettered Thanks die by WPlus9, Dotted Flowers stencil by Dylusions, Light modeling paste by Liquitex, Fishtail Flags Die-Namics by MFT, Black twine.

Let It Snow!

...and snow it did nearly all day yesterday! Huge flakes which means it was a wet snow and didn't stick much in spite of falling most of the day.

The SCS Sketch Challenge is an easy one this week and perfect to showcase this new sled image from Our Daily Bread Designs' December release.  I love adding coarse glitter to the snow because it really sparkles and shines IRL!  The tag is a new Mini tag die by ODBD.  I tweaked the layout and added the sentiment to a tag rather than the bottom of the sketch.  Stay tuned for my next post for the Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!  This will be a fun, prize-filled ride beginning at 9:00 AM EST!

STAMPS: Let It Snow (ODBD)
PAPER: Cozy Christmas by Simple Stories; Vintage Cream (PTI), X-Press It Blending Card.

Mojo Monday

I feel like I'm in a time machine that is spinning out of control toward the new year! It's already the second Mojo Monday Challenge in December and I am just now starting to address Christmas cards! ((gasp!))  Feel so behind, but somehow the "to do" list generally gets done.  Anyway...check out this new sketch by Julee...isn't it a classic and easy to use layout?  I kept things pretty simple and layered up 3 sizes of snowflakes from Verve's Glad Tidings set.  I went over the stamped flakes with a silver Wink of Stella shimmer brush pen to give it some subtle sparkle.  The sequins are from Verve's signature sequin mix.  A quick sentiment stamped with Midnight Muse ink and some loops of silver cording finished it off.

For more inspiration, you can go to the Mojo Monday blog or you can click on the links below of the other mojomakers' blogs:

  Carole Burrage

Debbie Carriere

Julee Tilman (Owner)

Marisa Ritzen 

Mary Fish

Sarah Biglow

Teresa Kline

STAMPS: Glad Tidings (Verve)

PAPER: Sweater Weather (My Mind's Eye), Silver glitter CS (SU), White (PTI)

INK: Midnight Muse

ACCESSORIES: Snowflake Tidings dies by Verve, Stitched rectangle die by Lil Inker Designs, Silver cording, Signature sequin mix by Verve, Brad.

Curtain Call & SFYTT

When I saw the new December sketch for the Reverse Confetti Sketch For You To Try challenge, I knew I wanted to pull inspiration from the current Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge to pair with it! I water colored a couple of distress inks (Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feathers) for the background.  I just love this RC circle garland die which really popped with the silver glitter cardstock! I'm also entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where we are to use a festive Christmas/holidays theme.

Here's what I used:
STAMPS: Tinsel 'n Trim by Reverse Confetti.
PAPER: Bermuda Bay (SU), Sour Apple (MFT), Tim Holtz water color cardstock, Silver glitter CS by SU.
INK: Peacock Feathers and Mowed Lawn distress inks, Versafine Onyx Black.
ACCESSORIES: Stitched rectangle die by Lil Inker Designs, Silver cording, Frosted jingle bells, Snowflake and Circle Garland dies by Reverse Confetti, Rhinestones by SU.

Color Throwdown

Are you ready for a festive color combo? Broni is our hostess and has these great metallics paired with a couple of neutrals! I would love to have this "floral" arrangement at my entrance door!  Here is how I interpreted the colors...

!

I knew right away that Our Daily Bread Designs' Winter Collection of 6x6 papers would be perfect for this challenge.  I colored this new nativity stamp from Verve's Weary World with Copics then layered the star with silver glitter cardstock and metallic gold cardstock.  Also went a little loopy with some gold cording.  I clear embossed the sentiment, so this was an easy peasy card to throw together!

We are happy to welcome a new guest designer for the month of December on the Color Throwdown blog!  It's the talented Sue Lelli from the Card Therapy blog!  I look forward to getting to know Sue better and have already enjoyed checking our her card creations!   

Our guest star stamper this week is Joanne James at the Crafty Owl Blog.  Congrats Joanne!

For details on how to play along and for more inspiration, be sure and check out the rest of the design team's creations on the CTD blog or you can go to the links below:

Barbara Anders  
Broni Holcombe   
Joan Ervin  
  Jodi Collins 
  Lori Tecler   
Monika Davis
Tammy Hershberger  
Vickie Zimmer 
  Wanda Cullen (you are here)

  Sue Lelli - December Guest Designer 

STAMPS: Weary World (Verve)

PAPER: Winter Collection (ODBD), White, Metallic Gold, Silver Glitter CS (SU)

INK: Baked Brown Sugar (SU), Versafine Onyx Black

ACCESSORIES: Weary World coordinating die by Verve, Gold cording, 

Clear embossing powder, Copics.

ODBD December Release Time!

It's December 1st and that means it's release day at 
Our Daily Bread Designs!

Prize Details:

Three randomly selected winners will each receive a $25 gift certificate to Our Daily Bread Designs, good towards the purchase of ODBD stamps found in the "stamps column" of the ODBD website, just for commenting on the design team cards!  You have until Tuesday, December 2, 2014 at 9:00 p.m. EST to leave your comments.  The winners will be posted December 3rd, on Our Daily Bread Designs blog, so be sure to check back there to see if you won!

My first card (5 1/4" square) uses a fun-to-color sled image from the new set - Let It Snow - which could be used for any winter greeting...not just Christmas!  I colored with Copics after stamping the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on X-Press It Blending Card then die cut with Spellbinders' Wonky Rectangle die. I took a needle and picked up tiny dots of Liquid Pearls to add to the berries that are interspersed in the greenery.  I used a silver Wink of Stella shimmer brush marker to add a hint of shimmer to the bells.  Coarse glitter was added to the snowy areas, so there's lot of sparkle in real life!

So...for my second card, I switched gears and went with a patriotic theme so I could feature the newly released Patriotic Collection 6x6 paper pad and one of the mini tag sentiments and dies. 

There is a new Mini Tag Sentiment stamp set and a Mini Tag die set that is so versatile!  Check out the oodles of sentiments  which cover almost any occasion you can imagine!  So many times, I create a card that has no room for a large sentiment, so now these small tags allow me to tuck in a teeny sentiment without blocking the main design. The Sparkling Star dies are from ODBD's November release and pair up perfectly with the new designer paper!

There is much more to see with this new release, so you will want to hop on over to the Our Daily Bread Designs blog...OR...you can
just click on each of the designer's links below!

Julie * Chris * Cathy * Lori * Dawn * Sandee * Paula * Angie 

* Lisa * Audrey * Silke * Wanda * Grace * Gracie (Guest Designer)

Mojo Monday

Hi everyone! Can you believe we're into December already?!
A new month means it's contest time and YOU could be the lucky winner if you participate!  Check out the details on the Mojo Monday blog!  Julee has another great Mojo Monday sketch challenge for us and I decided to do a flipped version of it. I love these fun non-traditional Christmas papers and paired them up with stamps from 2 different Verve sets.  I used the tag and snowflakes from Holiday Treats and the sentiment from Peace on Earth.  I paper pieced the 'merry' in the sentiment and retrieved some of the punched snowflakes from the border to use as embellishments.
 
For more inspiration, you can go to the Mojo Monday blog or you can click on the links below of the other mojomakers' blogs:

  Carole Burrage

Debbie Carriere

Julee Tilman (Owner)

Marisa Ritzen 

Mary Fish

Sarah Biglow

Teresa Kline

PAPER: Frosty Friends by Doodlebug Designs, Black, White.
INK: Bermuda Bay, Pacific Point, Versafine Onyx Black.
ACCESSORIES: Tagged Rectangle die and Frosty Snowflakes die by Verve; Jingle bells, Silver cording Verve signature mix sequins; Brad, Martha Stewart snowflake border punch.