Christmas in July

Happy Monday! It's time for a new Blossom Challenge over at the Power Poppy blog and this month it's all about Christmas in July. Anybody who knows me knows how much I love Christmas so I am thrilled with this theme!

For my card I went with one of my very favorite sets, Season's Greenings. I just love the little Santa in this set and so that is the image I went with for my card.

My card layout came from the current sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to use it for this card!

Don't forget, by entering the challenge with a Power Poppy image you are in the running to win a $20 gift code to the Power Poppy store. How awesome is that? Marcy has also discounted all of the Christmas digi's in the Happiest Holiday Category. If you like the image I used on my card you can find it HERE in the store!

Head over to these fellow Bloomie Blogs to see what they created for Christmas in July!

Christine

Gloria

Sending Warm Wishes

2 posts in 2 days? Whoa, I must be sick! Naw, I'm just on my month long vacation, woohooo! I actually have time to play in my craft room again, I love it.

I was scrolling through my blog feed when the current challenge for The Paper Players popped up. It's a color challenge and I immediately thought Christmas! when I saw the colors. I started going through my sets and when I saw Flowering Santa by Power Poppy I knew that was the perfect set to use for these colors. This set is retiring and is only $9.00 right now! (you can also get it in digital form)

I used the Basic Gray on the hair, beard and card base, the Tranquil Tide on the leaves, dots and DSP and the Real Red on the flowers, sentiment and the stitched frame. It's hard to see but I covered the flowers and leaves in clear Wink of Stella.

Thanks for stopping by!

Power Poppy Day 5- Favorite Holiday Set

We're on Day 5 of the Christmas Remix at Power Poppy and today it's all about our favorite stamp, whether it's a clear or digital one.

It was really hard for me to nail it down to just one set as all of the Power Poppy Christmas sets are spectacular and I love working with each and every one of them. However, I ended up choosing Flowering Santa (found in the Power Poppy shop HERE) because it is just so unique and finding another image like this is pretty much impossible!

Anyone ever watch the show Friends? To paraphrase Joey Tribbiani... What's not to like? Christmas? Goooood! Flowers? Goooood! Santa? Goooood! 

For my card I went with some cool colors that I pulled from the patterned paper I used. I wanted the big flower in his beard to be the stand out so I made that one bold and kept everything else a bit more muted.  I just love how this stamp looks good no matter what color combo one uses!

Here are some previous cards I've made with this set:

 Would you like to see what the other DT members chose for their favorite sets? Just follow the links below and let's take a journey through some holiday greatness!

Stacy
Barbara C 
Nancy
Barbara W
Gloria
Jenny
Saskia
Allison 

Flowering Santa

Our temps are still nice and low, Hallmark Christmas movies are still playing on my TV and I made another Christmas card :)

I'm playing along with 3 challenges for this card....Freshly Made Sketches, Creative Confetti and Jingle Belles.

As soon as I saw the Freshly Made Sketches sketch I knew I wanted to try it, it's very unique, but I was a bit scared. Then I got an email from Power Poppy where it said they were retiring some Christmas sets and that Flowering Santa would be one of the sets retired. NOOOOOOO!! Thankfully I had bought this set as soon as it came out as it is one of my favorites. It's one-of-a-kind and I just adore it. As I started thinking about how I could use it with the sketch another Power Poppy set came to mind, Snuggle Down. It comes with stamps to make your own plaid pattern....a perfect way to create the border that makes up the sketch! I headed into my craft room and started stamping my pattern using red, green, gray and black as my colors and I carried these colors into my Santa image. After coloring my Santa image with copics I popped it up with dimensionals in the center of my frame.

The Creative Confetti challenge is Christmas in July and seeing that Flowering Santa was retiring inspired me to create another Christmas card for the challenge!

The challenge over at Jingle Belles is a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge and I chose the middle row going down...glitter, red or green and Santa. I used red glitter Stickles on the red dots in Santa's beard, the red and green are the flowers and leaves plus part of the plaid pattern and of course the image is Santa!

Stamps: Flowering Santa, Snuggle Down (both Power Poppy)

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110#

Ink: Real Red (SU), Garden Green (SU), Smoky Slate (SU), Memento Tuxedo Black

Copics: R24, R27, R29

YG03, YG63, YG67

E0000, E000, E01

N0, N2, N4, N5

Accessories: Stickles Xmas Red, Dimensionals

Merry Little Christmas

For today's card I am playing along with 2 challenges....the Santa challenge over at Jingle Belles and the sketch challenge over at MFT Stamps, which unfortunately I missed the link up by just a few hours. Oh well!

The gals over at Jingle Belles are celebrating Santa or anyone else who may be living at the North Pole. I decided to use this great stamp set from MFT called Secret Santa. I just love how Santa is peeking out from behind the tree!

I colored the images with copics and then used some Stickles for the ornaments on the tree, as then some Wink of Stella on the fur areas of Santa's hat and coat as well as on the little girls stocking.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Secret Santa (MFT Stamps)

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Sour Apple (MFT), Plaid Patterns Merry and Bright Paper Pack (MFT)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red (SU)

Copics: YG03, YG63, YG67

R24, R27

E50, E51, E53

RV10, RV11, RV13

E33, E35, E37

E84, E87, E89

N0, N2

C3, C5, C6

Accessories: MFT Inside and Out Stitched Squares, Wink of Stella clear, Stickles-Silver, Candy Cane, Green, Gold, dimensionals, Silver Gel Pen

Christmas Cheer

Today's card was made for 2 challenges....Jingle Belles is to use something new we got for Christmas and The Paper Players has this great sketch.

Other than copics to finish off my collection Santa didn't bring me anything specifically stamping related so for my card I used this new Christmas set from MFT that I bought before Christmas with intentions to make cards for it and well, after the earthquake I didn't get much stamping done so this is the first time it's seen ink.

For the sketch I added a Santa and a reindeer to the circle portion and then heat embossed the sentiment on a banner just below the 2 images.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Here Comes Santa Claus (MFT)

Paper: Early Espresso (SU), Old Olive (SU), Riding Hood Red (SU retired), Neenah Solar White, Letters to Santa DSP (SU retired)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Copics: R32, R35, R37

E53, E55, E57

E41, E42, E43

N1, N3, N5

C00, C1, C3

YG03, YG63, YG67

E000, E00, E21

Accessories: MFT Blueprints 13 and 27, MFT Inside and Out Stitched Circles, White Embossing Power, Dimensionals

Monochromatic Santa

This week for the Creative Confetti Challenge over at the Power Poppy blog we are asked to create a monochromatic project with a bit of sparkle. I instantly knew which image I would use, as I have used it for a monochromatic scheme before....Flowering Santa. I've previously done it in red and blue so today I decided to go with an olive color, that way I could pair it with some retired SU DSP I have. I added black card stock as my neutral against the green.

I used Copics YG61, YG91, YG93, YG95, YG 97 and YG99. I admit to forgetting about the sparkle until I was about to photograph my card. I grabbed some green stickles and put that in the middle of the flowers and on the dots scattered through the image.

Thanks for stopping by!

Santa's Zoomin' to Town

I finally got a card done for the Power Poppy Hues to Use challenge from May 8th. I've been running ideas through my head since first seeing the colors but I was in South Carolina the week the challenge came out and then I had to get over serious jet lag the following week LOL 

I thought Christmas as soon as I saw these fun bright colors and so I grabbed a set that I hadn't inked up yet, Power Poppy's Action Santa. How fun is this Santa on his scooter? I smile every time I see this image!

The patterned paper is some from S.E.I  that I've had in my stash for a while and it was the perfect color to go with the blue in the graphic. I also incorporated the blue through the scooter and the packages on the back. The red was brought in on the card base, the scallop circle and of course Santa's outfit, plus a package. The green was brought in on the strip across the middle and the Christmas tree.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Pop of Color with Santa

The current Power and Spark challenge over at the Power and Poppy blog is all about a pop of color....they want to see us create a black and white project with a pop of color. I thought it was going to be easy but I actually got stumped with this for a bit! I actually created a card before this one but didn't like it and started over, and this card is what came about.

I took the Flowering Santa stamp, stamped it in black and then used a rectangle die to cut it. I used red copics to color in the flowers in Santa's beard and then used my cool grays to color in the rest of Santa's beard and hair.

I cut out another die piece the same size as the image panel and situated that on the red plaid paper background (I spent last week in South Carolina and got to visit Hobby Lobby, this plaid paper is from a paper stack I got there. I wish Hobby Lobby would come to Alaska!), and then I layered the image panel across the black rectangle. I was going to put a sentiment across the front but didn't like how it blocked part of the image so just stamped an image on the inside panel instead.

Thanks for stopping by!

Getting Text-y for Jingle Belles

This week over at the Jingle Belles blog they want us to make text the focus of our project. This one stumped me, I had a hard time with it for some reason.

I went through my paper stash and found this paper from Carta Bella that has the words from 'Twas the Night Before Christmas on it. After staring at it for a while I cut out a panel with a stitched die and then used a die from Stampin Up to cut out the houses. I then took a stamp of Santa flying through the air and stamped that above the houses. I used red to keep with the theme of the text on the paper, with a brown border behind the text panel.

Blue Santa

I've gotten behind on the Power Poppy Hues to Use challenge and so it's my goal to hurry up and get the ones I missed done before the end of the week. This card is for last weeks Hues to Use, which is a lovely blue palette!

I'm playing along with the Daily Marker 30 Day challenge and my theme this week is winter/cold so I decided to use Power Poppy's Flowering Santa and color him blue. Nothing wrong with a blue Christmas :)

I tried to match my copics to the challenge colors as best as I could, hopefully I came close! My 19 yr old son really liked this card...it's rare to get a reaction from him when it comes to cards so it made me feel good that he liked it so much!

I'm also playing with the Power Poppy Power and Spark Challenge, which is to create a card using a layout from PageMap.

Greetings from Santa

Happy Weds! It's time for a new challenge over at The Merry Christmas Challenge! As always its an Anything Goes challenge with an optional theme, and this week the option is 'stockings'. I'm a tad later posting my card but let me tell you, my two puppies got spayed on Monday and trying to keep them calm and not jumping around on Tuesday took all of my attention! Going to work Tues night seemed like a vacation after dealing with the puppies LOL

For my card I decided to use this older image from MFT. I just adore this images by Heather Ellis, whenever I find them in digital or stamp form I scoop them up! I already had 2 of these images colored so I created 2 of these cards to add to my 2018 Christmas card stash!

My layout was inspired by THIS card I found on pinterest. I really liked the window behind the image and the fun banners.

Head on over to The Merry Christmas Challenge blog to see what the rest of the DT created and then play along with us!

Christmas Sweaters

I'm a few days late but Sunday Stamps has a brand new challenge and this week it's a fun sketch to play around with. I decided to go with a Christmas theme and used a fun set I just got from Stampin Up called Christmas sweaters.

Make sure you head on over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT created and then play along with us, we'd love to see your interpretation of the sketch!

Stamps: Christmas Sweaters (SU)

Paper: Garden Green, Whisper White, Real Red, Quilted Christmas DSP, (all SU), Neenah Soloar White

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red

Copics

Accessories: Dimensionals

Catching Snow

Jingle Belles current challenge is to use Santa on our projects. I immediately thought of this fun set from Avery Elle called Oh What Fun, with Santa looking towards the sky to catch snowflakes. I actually started this card last week but life has gotten in the way and I wasn't able to finish my set of 5 until tonight!

I had this paper in my stash and I liked the presents for the bottom half, because that's what Santa does, bring presents, and then the top portion was the reverse side and it was perfect as snow falling from the night sky.

Stamps: Oh What Fun (Avery Elle)

Paper: Basic Black (SU), Neenah Solar White, S.E.I. 

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Copics: R05, R27, R46

N3, N4

C1

W0, W1

YR24

R01, R81

Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT Zig Zag Stitch Circles, Dimensionals

Santa Snowglobe

Once again I'm combining a Power Poppy challenge with a Jingle Belles one, as they both fit together perfectly!

The Power Poppy challenge is to CASE the card of a Bloom Brigade team member, and for Jingle Belles they want to see projects with Santa on them. I've admired this card by Allison Cope for a while so it was a no brainer on how to combine the 2 challenges!

Allison went with white on white with a touch of color but I'm not that brave LOL Instead of using washi tape in the corners I just did a full back panel of patterned paper, although I did keep the theme of stripes. Allison used Texture Paste to create a background but I don't own any of that so I went with some embossing on white card stock. The snowglobe is from a Power Poppy digital stamp set called Snowglobe Greetings. I love snowglobes and I love Santa so it's a perfect stamp for me! I colored the image with copics and then fussy cut it out.

I got stuck on the sentiment for a while...I didn't want anything too cute because the snowglobe gives off an old fashioned feel but all the sentiments catching my eye were too big to use. I finally settled on a retired SU one that I felt worked well with the image. Like Allison I heat embossed it on red card stock and then cut it to make a banner coming out from the snowglobe. A lot of the same ideas on my card but still a tad different :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Snowglobe Greetings (Power Poppy), Endless Wishes (SU retired)

Paper: Thick Whisper White (SU), Neenah Solar White, Cherry Cobbler (SU),  S.E.I Kris Kringle

Ink: Versamark

Copics: G07, G09, G19

E31, E34, E35

R27, R46

R39, R59

E25, E27, E29

R01, T1

C1, C3

N2, N4

E33, Y08, TR24, B34

BG0000, B0000

Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT Blueprints 15 and 20, SU TIEF Softly Falling

An Owl Christmas

This month for my Kitty Bee Design Team spotlight I'm continuing the Christmas in July theme with this fun image called Kawaii Santa Owl. He is definitely a jolly fellow!

I colored the image with copics and then used my Scan N Cut to cut out the image. I used a retired SU background stamp to create the chevron background, added a strip of chevron DSP and then popped up Santa Owl. Lastly I added the sentiment.

You can find this fun image and more at the Kitty Bee Design Shop HERE.

Don't forget to head over to the Kitty Bee Designs Aloha Friday Challenge and check out the latest challenge!

Stamps: Kawaii Santa Owl (Kitty Bee Designs), Toasty Greetings (MFT-sentiment), Positively Chevron (SU retired)

Paper: Baked Brown Sugar (SU retired), Neenah Solar White, Season of Style DSP (SU retired)

Ink: Printer Ink, Chocolate Chip

Copics: E42, E43

R29, R46

E33, E35

G07, R5

Accessories: Scan N Cut, Dimensonals, Clear Wink of Stella

Santa CASE for Power Poppy

Over at the Power Poppy blog the challenge this month is to CASE a card by a Bloom Brigade member. For those who aren't familiar with the term, CASE stands for Copy And Share Everything. You create a project based off of someone else's project. Most of the time this is a good thing!

There are so many gorgeous cards by the team members to choose from and I know I'll be submitting to the challenge again but for now I started with this card by Julie Koerber. I've admired this card for a while and it's the first one I thought of when I saw the challenge. It's also perfect for the Christmas kick I'm on right now...who else is watching the Christmas movies on Hallmark this week? :)

For my card I changed the colors to darker colors, since I'm pretty traditional when it comes to Christmas. I've hoarded this DSP from SU for many years so it was perfect to break out for this card. 

I kept the basic layout and just changed the border along the middle panel to a scalloped one. The oval image panel seemed too stark to me against all the papers so I used a sponge to put Old Olive around the edges. The camera didn't pick it up but I added some Wink of Stella to the Santa ornament and used a white gel pen to add some snow to the branch and the tree in Santa's arms.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Glittering Santa (Power Poppy)

Paper: Chocolate Chip (SU), Baja Breeze (SU retired), Neenah Solar White, Holiday Treasures DSP (SU retired)

Ink: Printer Ink

Copics: YG95, YG99

B000, B01

R27, RV52, R01

G46

N2, C3, W1

Accessories: Big Shot, SU Oval Framelits, MFT Blueprints 15 and 23, Ribbon, White Gel Pen, Wink of Stella Clear, Dimensionals

Layers for Jingle Belles

Monday is here but I feel like I could use another weekend to recover from this past weekend! We took the new car for a drive to Anchorage and we bought a new living room set. Between crafts, a new car and furniture I think I've spent enough for the rest of the year. I'm avoiding shopping for a while LOL

The new addition to the family aka the girl my husband now loves best LOL

One thing I won't avoid is the Jingle Belles blog! The current challenge is all about layers....they want us to create a project with at least 3 layers. Mine are subtle but I hope it counts.....my first layer is the card base, the 2nd layer is the decorative DSP, the Santa is a 3rd layer and the 4th layer is the banner with the sentiment. I know the 3rd and 4th items are small so hopefully they still count!

There is still time to play along so head over to the Jingle Belles blog and check it out!

Stamps: Oh What Fun (Avery Elle)

Paper: Real Red, Neenah Solar White, Santa & Co DSP (SU retired)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Marina Mist

Copics: R27, R29, R46

YR15, N3, N4, N7

C3

R81, R83

W0, W2

Accessories: Dimensionals

New and Old for Jingle Belles

This week at Jingle Belles they are ringing in 2016 with a challenge that is all about the new, and the old! They'd like us to use something brand new from our craft stash along with something that we've had for a while.

My something new is the set 'Jingle All the Way" from My Favorite Things. I tried getting my hands on this set throughout 2015 but I kept getting the "out of stock" caption everywhere. I FINALLY found it at Butterfly Reflections Ink just after Christmas. I was so excited to finally pick it up, the images in this set are so fun!

For my old I used some retired Christmas DSP from Stampin Up. I have a huge hoard of Christmas paper so the old part of this challenge definitely wasn't a problem for me LOL

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Jingle All the Way (MFT)

Paper: Whisper White Thick (SU), Baked Brown Sugar (retired SU), Season of Style DSP (retired SU), X-Press It Blending Paper

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Cherry Cobbler (SU)

Copics: R27, R29, R46

C1

N2, N3,N4,N7

R0000,R000,E50

Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT Peek-a-boo Wonky Windows, dimensionals

Santa's Gifts for Sunday Stamps

It's time for a new challenge at Sunday Stamps and this time we have a great sketch for you!

I'm going back and forth with autumn and Christmas lately and today's card is all Christmas. I used a new SU set called Santa's Gifts to create a little scene, Santa tossing some presents over to Rudolph. I kept the background nice and simple as I wanted all the focus to be on the scene. The present in the air is popped up with dimensionals and I used clear Wink of Stella on all the presents. I did have to move the sentiment to a spot below the scene, and I used some retired Real Red ribbon to create the division between the images and the DSP on the lower section. I did some paper piercing around the edges to finish it all off.

Head over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with and then play along with us!

Stamps: Santa's Gifts

Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Merry Moments DSP Pack

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red

Copics: E13, E15, E17, E18

G07, G28, G21, G40

R27, R29, R59

YR24

N1, N2, N3, N4, N7

B00, BG02

BV02, BV04

ROOO, ROOOO

Accessories: Real Red Ribbon (retired), Paper Piercer, Wink of Stella,  Dimensionals