Trashy Snowmen

Over at Stampin Links to Love, Theresa issued a challenge titled "Trash to Treasure" last week. Here is my take on it. The frame around the snowmen is from the library cards we give at work. It's a coated plastic frame that the card was punched out from. The acetate window is also recycled - from clear stamp packaging. I will try to get a better photo tomorrow in daylight - I couldn't use the flash because of the glare and the colors aren't right in this picture...

The snowman image is from Winter Wishes, part of the Kim Hughes Collection at CHF. The sentiment is from CHF, Hugs and Kisses from Kim Hughes. The snowman on the right is the original image, and the one on the left was stamped onto acetate and then pressed onto the paper to get them facing each other. I colored them with my white Prismacolor pencil to make them stand out a little more. Their eyes and buttons and arms are traced with my black glaze pen and their noses are colored with an orange gel pen. The snow is Martha Stewart white glitter, and I think I used a little too much! Of course, the paper is from the Holiday Slab IV. I WILL use up all that paper with my Christmas cards this year!!

I hope everyone is having a good start to the week. Take care and thanks for looking!

ETA: I updated the photo with one taken this morning in natural light - what a difference!

Wow! I Actually Did A WSC...

Each Friday, I look longingly at Beate's Weekend Sketch. This weekend, I decided to tackle it. DH travels a lot, and in the fall his schedule gets especially busy. I think I'll tuck this into his suitcase on one of his next trips to let him know we miss him.The base is River Rock, and all the dp is from Making Memories Travel embellishment paper pad from Target. The airplane is from Toy Box, colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended. The scalloped and regular circles are cut from Nestabilities. The Rick Rack is American Crafts, from the clearance bin at Michael's.

I think this makes a great masculine card. I didn't have a matching sentiment (was hoping for Safe Travels or Bon Voyage), so I left one off. I can't believe another weekend is done. Sadly, I will miss World Card Making Day next weekend, but it's for a good cause! I will be walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in NYC. 39 miles over 2 days to raise money for breast cancer research. If you would like to make a donation, please go HERE to my participant page!

Thanks for looking!

CPS #83!!

On Friday mornings, I spend a little time cleaning up my craft room so that when I get home from work, I can dig right in. DH picks up DS from school, so I don't have that extra time spent traveling. Dinner is easy on Fridays - DS gets his treat of chicken nuggets and french fries, and DH and I have pizza takeout. So no cooking for me means more craft time!

So tonight I spent my time creating a card for the CPS Sketch #83. Sponsored by Clear Artistic Stamps, and I even had some of them to use :)

I used Sweet Peach Garden and Basic Grey Perhaps papers. It was fun to make this last summery card before I tackle the Halloween treats for DS's class! I colored the images with my Prismacolor pencils, blended, and used my Nesties to cut the circles. The sentiment is Verve.

On a side note, I've been populating my Facebook page. What a rush of nostalgia that brings on! If you are interested in joining my circle of friends, stop by my Facebook page (Melissa Schabel). Have a great weekend, and thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday - TechnoStamper Style!

I sat down tonight to make a few birthday cards, and decided to use this week's TechnoStamper Monday Lunchtime Sketch as the guide for the first one. Let me just say that I do love this sketch, but ovals are the bane of my existence! I'm ready to jump online and order the oval nesties to make my life easier. Too bad I've decided to cut back on my spending for a while...

This card will go to my SIL (hope you're not reading this, Chris!). The paper is DCVW Spring Stack, the solid layers are Marigold Morning and the images are from MFT Icing on the Cake (cupcakes and candles) and Hanna Stamps Tis the Season (presents). All images were colored with my Bic Mark It markers. The center cupcake is Stickled and the cherries are Ruby Red Liquid Pearls. The brads are Queen and Co.

Have a good night! Thanks for looking!

Who Doesn't Love Snowmen??

When I saw that Allison's Suggestive Sunday theme was to use snowmen this week, I was very excited. I picked up Flaky Friends earlier this summer (finally!) and have a bunch of these images colored and ready to be transformed into Christmas cards. I just love them so much, I don't care that they are retired.



I used dp from the Christmas Stack (also from last year - thanks again, Cindy!) There are so many great papers in this stack, I love that they incorporate blue and not just red and green. I cut two patterns on the diagonal to make the background, then mounted the image on red and blue I had lying around. The red might be Bazzill, but I'm not sure about the blue... The hearts of the snowmen are layered with Ruby Red Liquid Pearls and I used puffy paint for the snow and earmuff and hat details on the snowmen. The vellum snowflake is attached with a crystal brad and the sentiment is a 3-d sticker, also from Cindy!

I hope you enjoy this card as much as I do. It makes me smile to look at those 5 snowmen, even if I despise winter!

Have a good night and thanks for looking!

Happy Fall!

Since my blog counter is on it's way to recording the SLOWEST blog traffic since I started this blog, I thought it was time to tackle some challenges. This month has gotten away from me and I have not been crafting as much as I would like to. Thanks to those who keep coming back! Send some friends! Or if there's something missing here, let me know in comments :)

Thursday's challenge at Stamping Links to Love was from Jennifer, and was to make a card that had 5 leaves showing on it. Here's my Fall card to fit the requirements:

The leaves are Cuttlebug Dies, and I went over them with prismacolor pencils for veins and inked the edges with some chalk inks. The sentiment is Greetings 4 U stamped in Really Rust. I paper pierced and sponged the sentiment panel and added some Dew Drops to the brown twill. DP is Frances Meyer East India, which is my favorite fall paper. The colors are gorgeous and I love the pattern. I used it a ton last fall, and found another sheet in my stash! The card is big - 9x4 which is a size I hardly ever make, but I needed the size for the leaves.

Happy Fall (only a day late)! Thanks for looking!

A Birthday Blast

I've mentioned previously how many birthdays we have in the month of September. You'd think I'd be glued to my stamping desk to crank them out (most are at the end of this week!), but I'm wiped out from last week at work still. And to top things off, I also was sick on Saturday after my practice walk. Ended up in bed for the day, unable to keep anything down. Sunday was spent catching up on laundry, etc. that I missed doing Saturday. You know how it goes!

This card is for DS's friend who is celebrating this weekend. I used the DCWV mat stack, and the Pun Fun stamp set. I added some star eyelets and punched the red panel with my star punch to let the silver (DCWV Metallic stack) show through. I colored the rocket with my Bic Mark It! markers and added some Spica glitter pen. The birthday sentiment is from Greetings 4 U.

OK, time to make more birthday cards. I hope you all had a good Monday and enjoyed the first day of FALL! Thanks for looking :)

A Tribute to Alzheimer's Caregivers

Please go visit My Blog by Cammie today. She has the most incredible tribute for her Grandmother, who passed away from complications of Alzheimer's Disease. What a terrible thing to have to experience in your family. When I was in high school, my friend and I did a project on Alzheimer's and spent one day at an adult care facility that worked with Alzheimer's patients. It was devastating to see families come to visit and not even be recognized. My heart goes out to Carolyn and her family.

To celebrate World Alzheimer's Day (September 21), Carolyn is giving away a fantastic bundle of blog candy. To enter, just make a card for a caregiver of a person affected by Alzheimer's and follow her other instructions. You have a chance to bring a smile to the face of a caregiver, and a chance to win fabulous goodies yourself.

Here's my card, to be sent to the Artman Home that is mentioned on Carolyn's blog. It's a simple card, but I hope it brings a moment of warmth to the recipient. What caregivers do is truly amazing and it takes a special kind of person to be in that field. I made Bella's ribbon purple, because that is the awareness color for Alzheimer's. The yellow layer is Cuttlebugged with Birds and Swirls and the ribbon actually matches the card base, and is not as blue as it looks in the photo.

Thanks for looking!

Trying to Get the Mojo Back

This week at work has been completely draining, emotionally and physically. I won't go into the drama, but I'm happy to say that the worst is over and we can go on with our day to day operations again. UGH.

Tonight, I just wanted to spend a little time alone with my stamps, without anyone coming in to demand anything from me. DH and I had dinner and watched a movie, then I had some time to play. I made this card for CPS #82. There are certain sketches I copy down each week, and this is one of them.

I stamped the flower row from A Little Bit of Happiness and colored it with my Prismacolor pencils, then blended. Using my circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities, I cut out parts of the images and layered them on Certainly Celery and orange (Bazzil, but not sure of color name). The DP is We R Memory Keepers White Out collection, Explore - Roam. The felt rick rack is from Wal-Mart and I don't remember where the velvet rick rack is from. The base is a 6x6 Certainly Celery sheet, folded in half.

Well, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow morning I am meeting my walking partner at 7:00 and we'll see how many miles we can cover by 10:30. Have a good night. Thanks for looking!

Does This Count As A Silhouette??

For Allison's Sunday challenge, she brought out the silhouette stamps. They are so fun, and everyone seems to be using the new Upsy Daisy set from SU! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this set, and have it on my to-get list. But I wanted to break out of the flower box for a bit. So here's my take on the challenge:I used some MM papers from Target that are all travel themed and great masculine colors. The top half of DP is from DCVW Stack 3. The clouds are covered with puffy paint, and the twill tape is stamped with the sentiment in Always Artichoke (same color as the airplane). I added a few big eyelets and there you have it.Since September brings so many birthdays, and over the next few months we have about 6 birthdays from DS's Kindergarten class to attend, this will go to one of those little boys turning 5. Seems like just yesterday we were bringing the little bugger home from the hospital... I think I'm having a bout of baby fever!

Hope you are all having a good week. It's been crazy around here, with DH traveling, me working long hours to attend evening meetings, and catching up on homework that DS missed last week. I'll be happy for the weekend to arrive and look forward to spending some time in my craft room!

Thanks for looking!

Daisy Jar Sympathy

Before I went on vacation, I placed an order with Cornish Heritage Farms and this Daisy Jar was one of the stamps I ordered. I think CHF is my new favorite stamp company! Stamps are great quality, beautiful images and great customer service!! Not to mention a frequent shopper club :)

Since I keep getting caught without sympathy cards, I thought I should bulk up my stash in this category. This is one that will be added and hopefully not used very soon. I embossed the image with black ep, then used my water brush and inkpads to color the image. The flowers are Groovy Guava and the water is Bordering Blue. The jar is Going Grey and the flower centers are Summer Sun. I used Always Artichoke for the stems.

The image is layered on a piece of green and then Groovy Guava card stock. The dp is Basic Grey but I'm not sure which pattern - it was in my stash and I was very glad to find it because it had the perfect color combination. The tag is one of the Cuttlebug dies and edged with GG ink. Sentiment is from Little Paper Shop, stamped in Always Artichoke. Ribbon also from my stash.

Well, sadly it's already time for me to get ready for work. Although I'm going in late today, I have already done laundry and gone to the grocery store. Now my time is up and it's back to reality. Let's hope nothing catastrophic happened while I was away...

Thanks for looking!

JT Aloha RAK - September = YUM!

My RAK partner this month is Fida, from Hawaii. I don't know if she has a blog - there was no mention of one in her note. I wish she did, because I'd like to see more of her creations. I came home from vacation to find her package in my mailbox. The card is gorgeous, and if you notice, the color scheme of the card matches the chocolates box! Very clever, don't you think? She also took the time to make the matching envelope, which I love. I'm always too lazy to do that and revert to my stash of purchased envies, but it really makes the whole package come together.

Thank you!! Fida, if you are reading this, your RAK is top on my to-do list this week - we are still settling back into reality after being on vacation!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

This week marks 9 years of marriage for DH and I. I couldn't be happier with our state in life right now. We have a wonderful son, good jobs, a nice home and great family and friends. We have worked very hard to get to this stage, and I'm looking forward to what the future brings for us. I made this masculine card with only stamping a sentiment on the inside. The panels are Cuttlebugged with the new folders, including the edge folders. If you haven't gotten these yet, go shopping now!

I added a buckle to the ribbon because I didn't want a frilly bow or bling. The paper is from Amy Butler Sola Brown Jelly Beans. It has a great subtle canvas print that adds some texture. The solid panels are True Thyme and Certainly Celery. Ribbon is from a RAK and matched perfectly.

Thanks for looking!

Stamping Links to Love Sketch Challenge

Allison is hosting this week's challenge at Stamping Links to Love, and has posted a sketch. Here is my interpretation, but I feel it is a little crowded on this card. Maybe I should have gone with a slightly larger card base?? I colored Tilda with my Prismacolor pencils and blended with OMS. This is one of those cards that came together from my stash, so I don't have all the manufacturers for all my materials. I feel bad when I can't give credit where credit is due, but that's a hazard of having TOO much stuff!

All the flowers are Primas, I think (they're all jumbled in my stash!). The sentiment is from a generic set that I forget the name of. I hope you are all having a good week! Thanks for looking!

Today's Limited Supply Challenge

Since DH brought DS to daycare this morning, I had time to check out the Limited Supply Challenge and get a jump on it. The challenge is to use orange and coffee. Of course, I should be packing for vacation, but wanted to finish this card first. The dp is all from the White Out collection by We R Memory Keepers. Love these colorful patterns! The stamps are all MFT, Hot Stuff. I paper pieced her shirt and mug, then stamped the three hanging mugs on patterned paper and cut them out. In the upper left hand corner is a photo corner stamped with the coffee bean stamp from this set. I also separated the sentiment, adding extra ellipses with my small embossing stylus dipped in the Chocolate Chip ink. The steam from the cup is drawn over with my Sakura glaze pen. Ribbon is from my stash, brads are Making Memories.

Ok, off to create a few more posts so that I'm not totally MIA while away next week. Oh, and by the way, we are headed right up the coast to Cape Cod with Hanna tomorrow! Should be a fun drive, huh?

I wish you all good weather wherever you happen to be. Enjoy the weekend! Thanks for looking!

I Want Candy!

I decided to take a break from making birthday cards and make a Halloween card. Please understand that Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but I felt the need to use all the cute Halloween stamps I bought last year and never used...For the layout, I used the Techno Stamper sketch 33 from this week. The main image is from Hambo. The candy corn line is a dollar stamp from the craft store, and the background "I want candy" is from Studio G that I picked up this week at the craft store. The ribbon was a RAK last year, and I used the Black Magic technique to color the main image and the candy corn. What fun! The main image is also colored over with my Spica Stardust pen and is popped up on foam tape.

I hope you like it and don't find it too bright. I hardly ever use orange, and against the black it is striking! Thanks for looking!

Cheers to My Cousin!

The second in my September Birthday Series has been sent to my cousin. She's turning 22 this year and just started a doctorate program in physical therapy. Go, Lisa! I used papers from the DCVW Spring Stack, mounted on brown textured cs from the DCVW stack. Bella is colored with my Koh-i-Noor pencils and blended with OMS. The wineglasses are coated with my Sakura glaze pen. Her pearl necklace is touched up with some Stardust Gellyroll pen. The sentiment is from a set I received as blog candy, from Studio G. The brad is from my stash.

This is another card that was relatively quick to put together. I hope it makes it to her on time and she enjoys her day! Thanks for looking!

The First of Many...

...birthdays this month. I think we have about 7 to celebrate between friends and family members! I whipped this card together for my neighbor this weekend. It took less than 30 minutes, even with coloring and cutting out the car. The dp is from my stash, the main image is from Little Paper Shop and the sentiment is SU! Greetings 4 You.This week will be short but crazy as we try to pack for vacation. Hopefully I can pre-schedule some posts so you don't forget about my little blog!

Regarding my Avon Walk efforts - we did 20 miles yesterday and I am happy to say that I am close to my new personal goal for fundraising. If you can help me surpass that goal, click on my left sidebar to visit my personal Walk page. Thanks to those who already have!

Have a good night and thanks for looking!