Jesus

 It's Friday again!  And that means it's time for another challenge on the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog!  Today's challenge is Anything BUT a Card.  You can use any stamp, any paper, any embellishments you want as long as 1) it is a Christmas/holiday project and 2) it is NOT a card.  And the PRIZE, you ask?  Well, it's a surprise, but I know it will be a good one.  So head on over to the CSAYL bog to get all the details, check out the other Design Team members' projects and get busy creating anything that is not a card.  I used this adorable template from My Time Made Easy: Mini Card Candy Wrap.  It measures about 3x3x1 inches and it is so cute!  My cover design was created to fit three other challenges and then when I went to post it, I realized they were all for LAST week.  This is always happening to me. : )  Oh well.  It stretches me anyway, right?

Challenges:
Pretty Palette #69--white, light blue, navy and kraft
Crafty Ann #72--Christmas in August
Stampin Sisters in Christ #154--punches, dies, shapes
Eureka Stamps #3--Anything Goes

Supplies:
Template: My Time Made Easy "Mini Card Candy Wrap"
Stamps: Verve "Richly Blessed"; Inkadinkado snowflake stamps
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink "Enchanted Evening; SU! light blue; recycled brown paper bag
Punches/Dies: Martha Stewart snowflake punch; Fiskars scalloped border punch; Papertrey Ink button die
Other: blue rhinestones and blue embroidery floss

Elegant birthday

A relative is celebrating here 80th birthday this weekend, so I needed to create something elegant for her.  The funny thing is, this sketch is the Viva La Verve August week 4 sketch which is their "CAS" sketch and I probably put more fuss into this one than normal.  It was just easy to glam it up.

Challenges:
Viva La Verve August week 4--sketch
JUGS #151--inspiration photo

Delightful Challenges--frilly & fancy

Supplies:
Stamps: Skipping Stones Design: "Timeless Textures"; Papertrey Ink "Damask Designs"
Dies/punches: spellbinders labels four die; fiskars open scallop punch
Cuttlebug embossing folder; rhinestones; white ribbon

Thinking of you

 The idea for this card came to me when I was thinking about the colors for the Pretty Palette #68, which I thought were saffron, red and black.  Saffron is  definitely NOT a color I am comfortable using, so I was trying to think what I could possible do with it when I thought of Winnie-the-Pooh.  Then, I checked and discovered the the colors were saffron, red and chocolate brown.  But hey, it still works and maybe even a little bit better since the brown is not as harsh as black would have been.  I have had this stamp for a very long time and don't know why I don't use it more often; it's so cute.  If you know anything about Pooh, you know that he is a "bear of very little brain" and thinking is something that is difficult for him.  That's why the look of concentration.

I was trying to create an "all-occasions" card, so I finished off the inside with this sentiment: "thinking of you".  So, if you read the sentiments together, it reads "Think, think, think . . . thinking of you."  Cute huh?  I thought so, but I might be a little bit biased.

Challenges:
Pretty Palette #68--saffron, red, chocolate
Skipping Stones Design #142--sketch
Timeless Tuesdays #183--Butterflies, bees, spiders, oh my! (what goes better with Pooh than bees?)
Clearly Inspired Challenge #58--circles

Supplies:
Stamps: Winnie-the-Pooh single stamp; single background stamp from Hampton Art; bee from SU! "Sweet Summer"; Verve "Celebrating you" (inside sentiment)
Dies: Spellbinders standard circles, large and scalloped circles, large; Verve "Charming Oval" dies
Other: SU! jeweled brads

Greetings

Another really fun challenge from Christmas Stampin All Year Long again this week: use non-traditional colors.  The sponsor for this week is Meljen's Designs and the prize is 4 (non-colored) images of the winners choice!!!  Now, if that isn't incentive to play along, I don't know what is!!  This card turned out quite different from how it started.  I was planning on going with pink and blue (which IS what I ended up with), but after I started coloring my image, the pink turned more into a peachy pink and then I had to scramble to find some papers that matched.  And it gave me the chance to use some paper that I have had forever and just never matched anything.  It was the perfect color, but a little blah, so I "fancied" it up a bit.  You can see it better if you enlarge the picture.  On the base panel, I used Guide Lines 2 stamped in gold and pink.  The left hand layer I stamped snowflakes in gold and the right layer I stamped a musical score also in gold.  Then I spritzed everything with a little gold glimmer mist (my new obsession) and edged all the layers with gold ink.  It really gives a subtle pattern to otherwise boring paper.  And I finally managed to use my heat and stick powder.  Thanks, Michelle, for the tips.  I used it adhere the flocking on the rim and ball of the snowman's hat.  It worked so much better than anything else I have tried.  Make sure you go over to the CSAYL blog to check out all the details, the other DT projects, and make sure you play along.  Can't wait to see what color combos you come up with!

Challenges:
Lollipop Crafts #87--anything goes
Seems a Little Sketchy--sketch
Card Mania #1--anything goes

Supplies:
Digital image: Meljen's Designs
Stamps: Verve "Ornamental Christmas"
Paper: DCWV
Cardstock: PTI "Enchanted Evening"
Dies/punches: Fiskars "Upper Crest" border punch; Verve "Charming Ovals" dies

Let it snow!

I know I'm a little slow, but I just discovered glimmer mists and I think I might be in love!  I have gold and red.  I haven't been successful with the red (maybe because I am a little afraid of using it), but I love the gold!!  It adds such a subtle glittery affect to card stock.  You can see it best on the base layer of my card and because I had to use the flash (due to procrastination on my part) it is actually more pronounced in the picture than in real life.

Challenges:
DYSU#85--buttons (they are also having a blog hop with a prize)
Sweet Stop Sketches #172 with a spin: use die cuts and/or punches--sketch
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #86--use a building
52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown--Christmas carol or hymn inspiration (I'm not sure what the actual title of the carol is, but you know what it is; the one that goes "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow . . ."

Supplies:
Cardstock: SU!
Paper: Basic Grey
Stamps: Gina K. Designs "Let it snow"
Punches and Dies: Spellbinders classic scalloped circles and standard circles, large; Fiskars "Upper Crest" border punch; Martha Stewart snowflake punch: Papertrey Ink button die

Look Out World

Do you not love the colors on this card?!  I am not usually a bright color card creator, but the occasion called for celebration and these colors scream celebrate!!  The occasion? you ask.  Well, my brother-in-law just wrote the music for his FIRST Broadway musical.  They had to produce and perform it at a musical festival, but the reviews coming in are super-positive.  If you live in NYC and like musicals, check it out.  It's called Non-equity.  Then, you'll have to let me know how it was because we are not going to be able to go see it.  Anyway, this card is going to be a "congratulations, shoot for the moon" card.  Don't you love that sentiment?!  It's from my favorite Verve set "To the Moon".  Though it's more of a cute set, this sentiment is actually perfect for this type of card.

Challenges:
Sweet Sketch Wednesdays #167--sketch
Stampin' Sisters in Christ #153--sentiment only; no images
Stampin' Sisterhood --color inspiration: lime, orange, yellow

Supplies:
Paper: Basic Grey
Stamps: Verve "To the Moon"
Dies: spellbinders classic oval and scalloped oval, large
ribbon: SU! real red
square rhinestones: Kaiser Kraft

Love

Ok, this is my last entry for the Verve Anni-VERVE-sary release week challenges.  It's their 5th anniversary and they are throwing a big party.  Head over to the Verve blog to see all the details.  This card is for the day 3 challenge sketch and a gorgeous sketch it is!

Challenges:
Verve release week day 3--sketch
Tuesday Alchemy--sea green, pink, and brown (mine looks blue, but it is a greenish/blue)

Supplies:
Paper: Basic Grey
Stamps: Verve "Celebrating You" and "Text Objects"
Punches/dies: Spellbinders standard circles and classic scalloped circles, large; Martha Stewart scalloped border die