The 12 Kits of Occasions: December with Cathy!

It's time for our December reveal as another amazing year is drawing to a close! Thanks to all of you who have followed our blog and let us share our projects. This month's hostess is Cathy, The Empty Nest Crafter, and the theme is "Baby, It's a New Year". This was an appropriate theme for Cathy as her first grandbaby was just recently born--an exciting event she has been looking forward to for quite a while. Her kit included such wonderful papers and so many die cuts (see photo below). Everything was so much fun and easy to use! Thank you so much, Cathy!!

PHOTO BY KARA

We do have some sad news this month though! This will be Renee's last month with the 12 Kits group so she can spend more time with her family. The group wouldn't even exist if it weren't for her and she has been such an inspiration to all of us. She is going to be greatly missed! Hope she can pop by occasionally and perhaps be a guest designer.

All supplies were included in Cathy's kit except for a couple of pieces of felt. I want to keep my post short so you can visit everyone else. Just click HERE to go to the 12 Kits blog where you will find links to all the blogs.

Wishing you all the very best in the year ahead!! Don't forget to come back and visit us on the last day of January!

Sharron

A Very Merry Christmas to All!!

Just wanted to share a few of my Christmas projects and to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I am so glad I ordered PTI's Tinsel and Tags set this year. It has been so much fun! I made a dozen globes  to use on Christmas gifts and still have a few more that are stamped and ready to put together. All are the same except I used two different sentiments.

I had requested this My Favorite Things Jingle All the Way set a while back from a favorite Kansas City stamping store. I had several other tags that I had been working on but when it arrived in the mail, I instantly fell in love with these adorable little Santas. I know it's not very practical to do tags that require a lot of coloring but I couldn't help myself. I've made a LOT of these! The 'a gift for you' sentiment came from Tinsel and Tags.

Except for hubby's gift and also his birthday present (BD is the 27th!), I think I'm actually ready for the holidays. The baking is even done!!

If you are celebrating Christmas, Hanakkah, or Kwanza this month, may December bring you peace. Wishing everyone a wonderful season,

Sharron

The 12 Kits of Occasions: November with Kim

Hi everyone! For those of you in the States, hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It's the last day of the month and time for the 12 Kits of Occasions group to reveal this month's creations. The theme is "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and what could be more appropriate. Have you gotten your decorations out and started your shopping? Did anyone jump into the rush of Black Friday? Definitely not me!!

Our wonderful and very talented hostess this month was Kim, Cupcakes, Cards and Kim. And below is a photo of all the goodies we each received. Our kits were stuffed full of fabulous stamped images and sentiments, wonderful die cuts and plenty of great embellishments. Thank you so much, Kim--I loved your kit!!

PHOTO BY KARA

Kim included several Santa images. This was such an easy card to make and one of my favorites. Kim even included that fantastic stamped envelope. I used my die cut 'Merry' on another card but had the same die set so I cut out a dark green version for this 'Merry Christmas'.

Below is the inside of the card.

Another great Santa! I was tempted to add some color but decided to stay with the black and white image and add this gorgeous die cut done in silver.

I thought the inside should be coordinated on this card too!

I added embossed snowflakes to go with this sweet bunny. All the snowflakes were brushed with clear Wink of Stella but that unfortunately doesn't show in the photo. Love the large framed die cut!

This next card was so easy. The papers are the front and back of a single sheet. Perfect design to use the jingle bells Kim included!

There were a couple of sheets of black cardstock so I thought black would make a great background for the sweet owl. I added a birch tree die cut using a Taylored Expressions die and a Mama Elephant sentiment that went with the 'Merry' in my kit.

Hope you find some inspiration for your holiday cards from all of the 12 Kits designs. That is if you haven't gotten everything done already!!! Just click HERE to connect with the 12 Kits blog where you can find links to all the other designers' blogs. A list of all the materials included in Kim's kit can be found at the top of the page.

Enjoy the hop1 And thanks so very much for dropping by,

Sharron

The 25 Days of Christmas Tags, Day 11

The 12 Kits are joining Tracey today with tags for her 25 Days of Christmas Tags! Have you been visiting her blog? There is so much inspiration with tags featured every day. There will also be prizes so be sure to leave comments on Tracey's blog plus on all the participants blogs as well.

 

I bought this wonderful Bo Bunny paper pad called Woodland Winter quite a while ago. Wish there was more of this particular design. Doesn't it make a fantastic background! I used one of the Anytime Tags dies from Lil' Inker. Stamps are from Mama Elephant's Winter Wonderland. Actually a quick tag--the only slow part was fussy cutting the deer. Sentiment was embossed with white embossing powder and a star (hidden behind some ribbon) was embossed in silver.  Some Wink of Stella added a little sparkle to the snow in front.

Be sure to visit Tracey's blog every day for many more tags and endless inspiration for your Christmas creating!!!

Enjoy,

Sharron

The 12 Kits of Occasions: October--"I Fall to Pieces" with Jessica

We're back to our regular schedule this month and our wonderfully talented hostess is Jessica, The Paper Parade. Our theme is anything related to fall, Thanksgiving and thank you. I'm needing a bunch of thank you cards so I decided to do all of my cards with 'thank you' sentiments. The collage photo below was done this month by Tracey. Look at all the awesome colors! I just love this time of year. 

Jessica's kit was just stuffed full of wonderful stamped images, patterned papers, embellishments and dies. I was especially excited about the images from Avery Elle's Red & Goldie. It's been on my wish list since it was released. So I loved having a chance to use the adorable little images! Thanks so much, Jessica--your kit was fantastic. 

PHOTO BY TRACEY

MORE ADORABLE IMAGES ARE FROM LAWN FAWN, LIKE THIS SWEET FOX.

I USED A STENCIL AND MODELING PASTE FOR THE HEARTS, THEN COLORED THEM WITH A DISTRESS INK MARKER.

THIS WOULD HAVE MADE A GREAT SHAKER CARD BUT I DID THE QUICK AND EASY VERSION!

STAMPED SENTIMENT & DIE CUT ARE FROM WPLUS9.

THIS STAMPED IMAGE HAD THE 'THANKS' IN WHITE BUT I DECIDED TO COLOR IT WITH A COPIC MARKER. IT CAME OUT GREAT AND LOOKS LIKE IT HAS A VELVET FINISH. SORRY IT DOESN'T SHOW WELL IN THE PHOTO. THE ADDED LEAVES ARE STITCHED LEAVES FROM LAWN FAWN, COLORED WITH DISTRESS MARKERS

Well, that's it for my cards this month. Sorry to be late posting but I have been so swamped for the past two weeks! To find links to all the other blogs, just click HERE to connect to the 12 Kits blog. A complete list of supplies can be found at the top of the post, under Monthly Kit Supplies.

Thanks so much for taking time to visit my blog!

Smiles,

Sharron

The 12 Kits of Occasions: September REWIND!!

Hi all, it's once again the last day of the month! And you know what that means--another 12 Kits release!! And we're doing something totally different this month--a rewind of the year's eight kits. We ended up with an open month due to losing one of our members earlier this year and decided it would be a perfect chance to use some of our HUGE supply of leftovers. This year's guest designers were also asked to join us so you will have lots of places to visit. Below is the collage Kara created to show a snapshot of all the kit supplies.

We also have a very special announcement! Starting this month one of our fantastic guest designers will be joining us on a permanent basis. We are so excited to have you with us, Lindsey---WELCOME!!

Be sure to visit Lindsey at Occasional Crafting here.

Click here to visit the 12 Kits blog where you will find links to all the participants blogs.

Below are all my cards. You might notice that some of mine, like my first card, are a little more like copies than CASing! Thank goodness for our Pinterest file. What a great place to scroll through everyone's creations for this year!

LOVED THIS PAPER AND THE BIRDS SO I DID A CLOSE VERSION OF RENEE'S CARD

MARYBETH ALWAYS MAKES SUCH BEAUTIFUL CARDS. THIS DESIGN  USING JEANNE'S KIT IS NO EXCEPTION.

DESIGN: MARYBETH
ALL CARD SUPPLIES EXCEPT GLOSSY CARDSTOCK (KARA): JEANNE'S KIT

TRACEY USED JEANNE'S DIE CUTS GIVING A SHADOW EFFECT WHICH I USED FOR MY CARD BELOW.

DESIGN: TRACEY
ALL SUPPLIES FROM JEANNE'S KIT

LOVED JESSICA'S MASCULINE CARD USING JOYCE'S KIT.

DESIGN: JESSICA
SUPPLIES FROM JOYCE'S KIT
EYELETS FROM MY STASH

TRACEY'S CAS DESIGN WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR MY CARD.

DESIGN: TRACEY
TREE DIE CUT: RENEE'S KIT
PATTERNED PAPER: TRACEY'S KIT
BIRDS: KELLY'S KIT
SENTIMENT: MAMA ELEPHANT

I USED TRACEY'S TREE DIE CUT FOR MY VERSION OF KARA'S DESIGN.

DESIGN: KARA
PATTERNED PAPER, TREE DIE CUT, SENTIMENT: TRACEY'S KIT
LITTLE GIRL: MAMA ELEPHANT
SANTA: WALTZINGMOUSE




JUST HAD TO USE THE BIRCH TREES AGAIN, THIS TIME WITH ANOTHER SNOWMAN!

SNOWMAN DIE CUTS, SENTIMENT: RENEE'S KIT
STRIPED PAPER: JOYCE'S KIT
BIRCH TREE PAPER: KARA'S KIT
SNOWFLAKE DIE CUTS: PTI SNOWGLOBE DIES

LOVED THIS CARD DONE BY MICHELLE WHEN SHE WAS GUEST DESIGNER.

DESIGN: MICHELLE
SENTIMENT: KELLY'S KIT
PATTERNED & GLOSSY PAPERS: KARA'S KIT
CHOCOLATE KISSES DIE CUTS: SHARRON'S KIT

I could have made so many more cards but just plain ran out of time. This has been such fun way to play with leftover supplies and hope you enjoy this month's hop. We'll be back again next month with our regular schedule.

Thanks so much for letting me share!

Sharron

The 12 Kits of Occasions: August--It's a Birthday Party with Kara

This has been such a fun month! Kara, KandR Designs, is our hostess and the theme is birthdays. Today is the 12 Kits reveal and I'm sure you are going to love Kara's kit as much as I did. See her photo below. She included so many fantastic supplies--papers in so many bright, cheery colors, lots of die cuts and wonderful stamped images. There was even a stamp set from WPlus9 for each of us plus an extra that YOU have a chance to win! Do you feel like you're at a party yet!! 

PHOTO BY KARA

One of the things I especially loved was that Kara cut the plain cardstock with various dies, leaving two  trimmed pieces that could be used together or separately. It also created a great way to show off the awesome patterned papers!

Another item that was included was a supply of glossy cardstock. Kara has been doing some awesome designs with this over on her blog. Be sure to check our her last few posts. Unfortunately I didn't have as much luck. I tried several inks without any success and I don't have any Copic reinkers which is what Kara has been using. But I love the shiny look and the paper can easily be cut with dies. I used mine to make confetti die cuts, using a Mama Elephant die. They look just like white enamel! Wish the photo could capture the shiny finish. I used stars and hearts on two of my cards. 

To create another card with some shine, I used some paper from Marybeth's June kit. Several of the papers were tone-on-tone with a shine/matte design. The matte part can easily be colored with distress inks, leaving the glossy design--a technique I used before after seeing Kara's post here.

Hope this doesn't look too busy! I got a little carried away after I decided on the 'Happy, Happy, Happy' die cut that Kara included. I used a PTI die to cut out 'birthday' and made four layers so it would add more dimension. And the little girl from Mama Elephant's In My Heart set just seemed like she needed to be there!!

I also did the inside! I used the Ink Splats stamps, colored the 2 and used a 'you' die from the last WPlus9 release. Maybe a little too much--but it was fun!

There is still a lot more to see so visit the 12 Kits blog for a link to all the other members' blogs. We also have a special guest designer, Alanna, Allana's Spot in the World, so be sure to stop at her blog too. To enter the drawing for the stamp set, you need to leave your comment on Kara's blog.

Hope you enjoy the hop and have a great weekend,

Sharron

My New Love: Watercoloring!!

When Dawn at WPlus9 started posts for her last release, I knew I had to have this Flora and Fauna set! I love nature images and her butterflies and hummingbirds are AMAZING. I invested in some watercolors and new brushes and started playing with the stamps are soon as they arrived. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!! At first, I just tried different colors on scrap paper and made a bunch of butterflies. I was initially nervous about the hummingbirds but found them really quite easy, at least after I got used to the watercolor! There are many kinds of hummingbirds so I'm anxious to do more colors. These are ruby-throated, a male and a female--the most common ones in our area.

The above is a sympathy card. On the inside, I used an Altenew sentiment with the smallest butterfly in the WPlus9 set positioned at the top.

I decided to try a different colored butterfly for a birthday card and came up with this. I meant to use the smooth side of the paper but this worked okay. Even though I looked through pictures on the internet, I ended up with just playing with some greens and aquas. I purchased watercolors that are in tubes. with 12 colors. I did find a few more tubes in my old paint supplies. Never know what you might find! Don't even know what they were for since I've never done watercoloring but they had to be from ages ago by the prices on them! Initially I felt pretty intimidated with having to mix colors but as I got more comfortable, I really enjoy them. Makes me feel so creative!

I'm going to enter the butterfly card in the CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge.

Thanks for letting me share,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Flora and Fauna 2, Basic Banners  (WPlus9); Bird of a Feather (PTI); Sun Sentiment (Lil' Inkers)

Paper: White (Recollections and Neenah); Green Acres (WPlus9); Watercolor (Grumbacher); Solid Mat Pad (K&Company) 

Die: Basic Banners (WPlus9), Banner from First Place Award Winner Die Set (MFT)

Additional: Watercolors (Koi, Grumbacher, Winsor and Newton); London Fog Ink to stamp images, Bamboo Leaves (Memento); Wet Cement Ink (Hero Arts); Embossing Folder-Branches (Cuttlebug); Color Shine Gold Spray (Heidi Swapp)