The 12 Kits of Occasions: "Happy Fall Y'All"

I'm so happy to have you visit this month! I love fall and have enjoyed that I got to be this month's hostess. Another thing I enjoy is creating with lots of little critters and MFT provided two wonderful new sets that were perfect for the kit. The two little girls in Fall Friends have become favorites! Hopefully the other designers found them fun too. I know you will find lots of inspiration when you visit all their blogs.

Below is a collage of some of the supplies. Lindsey is our group's very talented and sweet photographer who puts together a photo for us each month. We are so spoiled! A complete list of everything each designer received can be found over on the 12 Kits blog. HERE is the link. 

PHOTO BY LINDSEY

In addition to MFT's great stamps, I found some amazing patterned papers at Michael's. I'm kind of addicted to those large paper packs that they sell at wonderful discounts. 

Thought I should have one CAS design using some patterned paper but couldn't resist adding the adorable little squirrel.

I'm really anxious to see what everyone else did with the kit. Bet you are too! So sit back, relax and enjoy some fall treasures with us! Enjoy the hop!!

And thank you so much for letting us share,

Sharron 

The Challenge, September--Week 2

Welcome to September's Week 2 at The Challenge! And this week the focus is on color. When I first started stamping and began participating in challenges, color themes were my very favorite. With cooler weather almost here, these inspiration colors made me think of fall, my favorite season. I was planning on something with leaves but then remembered these adorable mice from My Favorite Things. They always make me smile!!

These were colored with Copics and fussy cut. I coated all the fruit with ir-Resistible Pico Embellisher, Clear! 

Supplies

Stamps: Birdie Brown Harvest Mouse, My Favorite Things

Dies: Stitching Lines, Ellen Hutson

Cardstock: Lake House (WPlus9); Harvest Gold (PTI), Cantaloupe (Stampin' Up)

Now's your chance to show us how these colors inspire you. Thanks so much for visiting and letting me share!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend,

Sharron

Merry Monday #188: Hot Bevvies! & MFT Color Challenge

I've been having computer problems so I am posting this very late for this week's Merry Monday challenge! Love these MFT images so I wanted to use the colors for MFT Color Challenge too.  

I first embossed some snowflakes from Snowflake Flurry in white, and sponged the background with distress inks. The adorable mug is from BB Merry Christmoose and the sentiment is from BB Toasty Greetings. Love these stamp sets!! The snowflake peeking from behind the sentiment is a leftover from Lindsey's December 12 Kits kit. The oval was cut with a Stitched Ovals die from Lil' Inker.

Wish I could send some yummy cocoa to all my stamping friends in the snowed states in the Eastern U.S. To all of you, stay safe----and warm!!

Hugs,

Sharron

Merry Monday Challenge: Using Plaid

I love plaids and there is always something special about plaid decorations at Christmas. I found this wonderful plaid paper in my basket of 12 Kits leftovers. Great colors, don't you think! And it gave me the opportunity to play in this week's Merry Monday Challenge. 

CLICK HERE TO CONNECT TO CHALLENGE

The little elf is from MFT's Birdie Brown Santa's Elves. It is a wonderful set that received much love this past Christmas. I normally use Copics but decided to try colored pencils for a change. Only his red boots are done with Copics. The bell is done with a silver marker and topped with IrRESISTible Pico Clear. The embossed snowflake on the ornament is from PTI's Warm Wishes.

I'm hoping to do more Merry Monday challenges this year to help build my holiday stash. Lots of other activities took over my stamping time this past year so hope 2016 isn't so hectic!

Thanks for letting me share. 

Please drop by again!

Sharron

A Couple of Challenge Cards to Post Before the Year Ends

I've had these two cards done for a while but just didn't get them posted. The first was a Christmas card for a special friend and the second was my hubby's birthday card for a couple of days after Christmas.

I knew the instant I saw the Fusion Challenge inspiration that I would use my PTI Winter Woods set. Nichole designed a trio of birds in Charley Harper style. And I absolutely love them! The only problem now is wishing Nichole would design more birds in the same style! The background is embossed with a Sizzix snowflake folder, the oval is Lil' Inkers Stitched Ovals, sentiment is a PTI die cut and the patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket. Greenery is from WPlus9's Merry & Bright and the birch trees are Avery Elle. I tried several reds for the cardinal and found the best is Avery Elle's Strawberry, a gift from a very sweet friend. I wanted the bird's head to be black with the wing/tail stamp to be a dark gray so I cut my stamp apart to stamp. 

The Freshly Made Sketches Challenge led me to this design. Guess what, a snowflake! Mine is a Memory Box Bianca Snowflake, cut from glittery paper. The embossing is a Lifestyle Snowflake pattern. I made my own sentiment which is computer generated. The cup (done in green-hubby's favorite color) is from a Christmas present set, MFT's Birdie Brown Merry Christmouse.

 And below is the inside. Stamp from the same set.

A Little Side Note:

I helped at our botanical gardens before Christmas making greenery arrangements to sell at the holiday Illuminations. There were a lot of assorted decorations to use for accents but when we started to run low I decided to make some using stamps. I used all kinds of stamps but this particular one is from MFT Birdie Brown's Santa's Elves. I bought the smallest plastic ornaments from Michaels and PTI's Tag Sale #4 fit perfectly. I just had to cut off the top tag part so we could use the more sturdy plastic one. I added artificiaI snow purchased at a local nursery. If you are ever looking for winter decorations for your home, fresh greenery works better than anything else as it will last for ages by just adding a little water to the oasis. I bought this one to bring home. It was made 3 weeks ago and is still fresh as new!

Have a safe evening if you are going to be out and about, and a very blessed New Year!!

See you next year,

Sharron

The 12 Kits of Occasions: Have a Holly Jolly Christmas & a Festive Fall

Wow, it's almost Christmas and we are in our eleventh month of 12 Kits of Occasions for 2015. The year has really flown! Our lovely hostess this month is Kim from Cupcakes, Cards and Kim. I was so excited when her kit arrived. I already had the Harvest Mouse set but I didn't order dies so I knew it would be so much fun to start by coloring all the little critters. And I really wanted the bears but finally decided to limit my purchase and wait until later to order them. And then they arrived--already cut out and stamped and ready for some crafty fun! Thanks, Kim!! As you can tell, I loved your kit!

I had already spent time playing with the mice that I had. I have limited Copic colors and you might see a lot of variation in their patterns. Kim included lots of polka dotted papers which is another favorite so practically every card has some dots!

I try to keep my post short as there is always so much to see. We have two guest designers this month to add to the fun. Just click HERE to connect to the 12 Kits blog where you can find links to all the different blogs. A collage created by Tracey is below showing all the wonderful supplies in Kim's kit and you can also find a list at the top of those on the 12 Kits blog.

PHOTO by TRACEY

THIS CARD USES AN IDEA I GOT FROM JENNIFER MCGUIRE IN A VIDEO ON ALTERING YOUR STAMPS. I JUST CUT OFF THE BASKET OF APPLES ON THE STAMPED IMAGE AND USED THE STAMPED PACKAGES. I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO LINK HER VIDEO HERE BUT YOU CAN CHECK HER LIST OF YOU TUBE VIDEOS. THE PACKAGES AND SENTIMENT ARE FROM MFT SANTA'S ELVES.

THIS CARD WILL BE ENTERED IN THE FRESHLY MADE SKETCHES CHALLENGE.

LINK TO FMS

SENTIMENT FROM MFT HAND LETTERED HOLIDAY

SENTIMENT FROM AN OLDER HERO ARTS SET

So happy that you came by and hope you got some inspiration from this month's theme. Enjoy the rest of the hop and have a wonderful week!

Sharron

A Few Cards, Two Challenges

I've been working on a few cards the last couple of days. The first was an entry to the February Altenew challenge with a theme of "gold and glitter. I started working on a card with flowers using frames and different shades of gold when I tried a design with this very cool origami elephant. I love this origami set! I thought this would work for the CAS-ology challenge too, with the cue word of Monochrome.

Supplies

Stamps: Ori Kami, Sohcahtoa (Altenew); Very Vintage Labels 1 (WMS)

Cardstock/Patterned Paper: White (Recollections); Gold (LSS): Sugar Chic (Heidi Swapp)

Dies: Labels One (Spellbinders); Sunshine Layers (WPlus9)

Additional: Gold Embossing Powder (Ranger); Copics; Onyx Black Ink (Versafine)

My next card was for this week's Merry Monday challenge. Oops--I missed the deadline though! This Santa wasn't new on this week's cards but the images on this My Favorite Things set have become a favorite of mine. He's not vintage but goes great with the photo showing a visit from Santa!

Supplies

Stamps: Jingle All the Way (My Favorite Things)

Cardstock/Patterned Paper: White-Recollections; Christmas Time (Paper Pizazz)

Dies: Stitched Rectangles (Lil' Inker)

Additional: Ribbon from my stash; Copics, Onyx Black Ink (Versafine); Wink of Stella Clear

Hope you're staying warm if it's cold where you are. It's snowing here today!

Thanks for visiting,

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

Happy Birthday, Scott!

I made this card this weekend for our son-in-law who is an AVID sports fan. And since this is football season, I thought he would like something in the colors of his favorite NFL team, the Kansas City Chiefs. Who, by the way, are so far having a super season!

Love how well the Lil' Inker Pieced Chevron worked for this. The feathers are WPlus9 dies and the sentiment is from On the Line by MFT. I glued two feather die cuts together with some twine in the middle. The twine was threaded through a hole in the circle and secured with a brad. A birthday sentiment from SS Birthdays by PTI is on the inside. The red color seems a little off but I couldn't retake my picture as the card was already in the mail!

Thanks for dropping by,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: On the Line (MFT)

Cardstock: Pure Poppy, True Black, Harvest Gold, SS White (PTI)

Dies: Pieced Chevrons (Lil' Inker); Fanciful Feathers (WPlus9)

Additional: Twine (Martha Stewart); Brad (Basic Grey); Onyx Black Ink (Versafine)

Happy Birthday, Joyce!!!

Today is a special day! It's the birthday of a very special lady and dear stamping friend, Joyce (Cards-by-the-Sea)! YAY Joyce, hope your day is FANTABULOUS!!!

Here is the card I made her. I do have to confess that I "borrowed" my design from a card that I fell in love with by Christina, Sea Glass Sentiments. I got my stamps and die at the time of their release and played with them a bit but never actually made a card until now.

Kim at Cupcakes, Cards and Kim was so sweet to organize this little blog party for Joyce. Below is a list of all the guests. If you are following the schedule below this will be your last stop. Kim has included Joyce's blog next so you could drop by there and leave her a little birthday love after seeing what everyone has made! And if you've never visited Joyce's blog, you will be amazed at all the gorgeous work she does. She is such a sweetie, always so thoughtful and ready to give encouragement to everyone. Joyce, I hope your day is as marvelous as you are!!!

Hugs to you,

Sharron

Jeanne

Cathy

Kara

Kelly

Kim

Marybeth

Renee

Tracey

Darnell

Joyce

Supplies

Stamps: Darling Diamonds (Lil' Inker Designs); On the Line (MFT)

Cardstock: Ultra Thick White (Simon Says Stamps); Terracotta Tile, SS White (PTI)

Dies: Circles and Diamonds Stitched Pattern (Lil' Inker); Fillable Frames #9 (PTI)

Additional: Ribbon (Amuse); Twine (The Twinery); Memento Ink (Moracco, Teal Zeal, Cantaloupe)

My CAS Challenge!

I haven't posted in ages and haven't even looked at possible challenges yet so I thought I would share the two cards I made for hubby over the holidays. I could call it my CAS challenge! We always exchange Christmas cards. I used to spend lots of time at Hallmark's reading through all the verses so now I write my own. Since I photographed this after I gave it to him, I will only show the front! I really did decorate the inside too using a couple more of the little birds.

And here is his birthday card. He's one of those people who always has to share his birthday with Christmas celebrations since it's on the 27th! But this year it meant I was able to use some of my new Christmas stamps. This is one of Lisa Johnson's (Poppy Paperie) sets. I have many of her stamps from when she designed for PTI but this is the first one I've used since she started with MFT. It stamps beautifully and has a wonderful variety of sentiments. I'm hoping to order more of her designs soon. 

Everything is embossed in silver so photographing it was a bit difficult. It's so much better IRL and he really liked it!

Here is a picture of the inside of the card.

I had the most wonderful day today! We got a late box of Christmas gifts and I received the January 12 Kits kit from Joyce. What fun---LOVE happy mail days!!!!

Thanks for letting me share! And I hope your day is wonderful too!

Sharron

Supplies

Card #1

Stamps: Heartfelt Mix (WPlus9); Love Lives Here-Holiday (PTI)

Paper: Pinefeather Cardstock (PTI); Patterned Paper-Silver Valley (SEI)

Dies: Folk Art Florals (WPlus9)

Card #2

Stamps: On the Line by Lisa Johnson (MFT)

Dies: Stacking Stars (MFT)

Additional: Stamper's Select White Cardstock (PTI); Silver Paper from my stash; Silver Embossing Powder (Ranger)