Anya - Life is What You Make It

Play Date Cafe

2012-02-07T21:02:00.006-05:00

How the heck did it get to be 9:00 already? I'm out of town for work, and I'm sick, and I feel like it has taken me 2 hours to write this post.

Ok, people, let's focus.

Here's my contribution to this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge.

The colors were soft and romantic this week. I used my newly acquired Iconic Images set to make my card (I had to track it down after I saw this card from Lynn).

I started by stamping the background with Text It. Then I stamped my vase and flowers. :) So pretty.

That's it for me - time for my NyQuil and jammies.

xoxo

Anya

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Recipe
STAMPS: Iconic Images - Papertrey Ink; Text It - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Fine Linen, Autumn Rose, Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
INK: Malted Mauve, Aspen Mist, Wheat VersaMagic - Tsukineko; Pebble - Amuse|Studio; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Silk Ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Sewing Machine - Janome

Project Life Week 4

2012-02-05T21:31:00.009-05:00

It feels good to have another week under my belt. Even though today ends my Week 5, I don't at all feel like I'm behind. I printed out my pictures for this past week today, so I've got them all ready to go. I like to map my pages out before I do them, so I will do that pre-planning and sit down and tackle it (hopefully tomorrow night). Anyway - Week 4 is my favorite week so far. The pages really feel cohesive and I love how it looks. I really can't wait to get these babies into page protectors!

Here we go:

It was quite a week here in the Schrier household - my neighbors cut down a tree and I got a new cell phone for work. Hold onto your hats, I know! ;)

Got a package in the mail from one of my college roomies. I snapped a few pics of some of the things she sent. I stamped right on to the photo of the mug - love this - it is cut off in the close up, but you can see it in the full version of this page.

Journaled a bit about my neighbors cutting down a tree. I'm pretty passionate about the trees in my neighborhood, especially the ones in the back of our house, and I was really disappointed about this. For this journaling card, I die cut a tree (PTI) from a post it note, stuck it to my card and then spritzed some October Afternoon Sprinklers on it. When I removed the mask, I had a tree-shaped spot to journal. :)

Here's page 2 of this week:

On Friday of this week, my Mom went into the hospital for her surgery. It was hard to take pictures for this - I didn't want to photograph her.. she felt terrible, and I didn't want to be a disruption in the hospital. I took a photo of her room number and a bouquet of flowers for this first week (she's still in the hospital for the first part of Week 5, too) and am pretty pleased with these pictures for my story.

We had our first extended family event this week too. It was our niece's birthday - she had a guitar shaped cake.

And finally, my husband's drink of choice - white hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles. Yes, he is spoiled... I mean well-loved ;)

Hopefully, Week 5 will be coming shortly. Until then, I am so glad you stopped in to check my PL for this week. It was really rewarding to finish this one. Have a great night!

Anya

Peace and Joy

2012-02-03T09:15:00.006-05:00

Hello to all of you, my friends.

My mom is home from the hospital - everything is going well and, to me, she is starting to seem more like her old self. She had been diagnosed with diverticulitis and the diet changes and antibiotic treatments that sometimes can remedy the problem weren't working, so she was scheduled for surgery. It isn't an easy thing, there is a high risk of infection given the location, and in her case required a larger incision than usual. But hopefully it means she will no longer have any discomfort and can get back to eating relatively normally. Thank you all for your thoughts and well wishes.

I am grateful we've made it to Friday - I found myself having a rough time getting much of anything accomplished this week which typically leads to me feeling overwhelmed. I think I will benefit from a very low-key weekend to boost my mental and physical health.. I am so tired.

Did you know that every month Waltzingmouse Stamps has a Christmas Card Challenge? I have chatted about it here before, and this is what I created for January's challenge.

January's challenge was to create a card that showcased either a day or nighttime sky. It has been a while since I've used the cute little angel from Earth Angel, so I thought she would be perfect for this theme.

I switched up a few of the elements on each of the cards just to keep things interesting. Changing up the patterned papers and the sentiments (both from Say It Loud - Winter Holiday) was easy, and since I primarily use the 6x6 patterned paper pads, it distributes my supply use.

I paper pieced the angel and layered her on a pinking circle that had been stamped with the wreath image from Faux Fun Circles. I used a fine tip glue pen to add glitter to her wings. I also made a point to finish the inside of the cards - this will be a HUGE help when it comes to December. I used the coordinating phrases from SIL.. 'to the world' on the inside of the Joy card, 'on Earth' for the Peace card. Nothing fancy, but still finished. I like to go easy on the inside stuff as I always write a message in my cards.

You have all year to complete the challenges, and there are prizes along the way, so you should consider playing with us. There is a thread in the forum and a challenge album in the Gallery, but all the details you need to get started are here on the WMS Blog.
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I have been behind on my Project Life this week. That didn't take long! I'm tackling this two ways. 1. Going easy on myself. This week has been very trying. And 2. I have a plan - this weekend I will print my pictures for both last week and this week and try and hammer out as much as I can this weekend. I have been taking notes, jotting down what I want where, etc. and I feel like once I do sit down to do it I will be ready to go. Plus I have some new goodies from Elle's Studio that I am looking forward to using :)

Thank you for stopping by today, your positive energy, encouragement and support that each of you shares is more helpful than you know!

Anya

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Recipe
STAMPS: Earth Angel, Say It Loud - Winter Holiday, Faux Fun Circles, Midnight Feast - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Rustic Cream, Fine Linen, Ripe Avocado - Papertrey Ink; Riding Hood Red - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Season's Greetings - Echo Park Paper Company
INK: Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, River Rock - Stampin' Up!; Black Onyx VersaFine - Tsukineko; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Smoky Quartz Glitter - Martha Stewart Crafts; Pinking Circles - Spellbinders Paper Arts; Copic Markers

For Cath with Love Blog Hop

2012-01-31T07:00:00.001-05:00

Morning!

Today I'm taking part in a blog hop for the moxielicious Cath Edvalson.

Cath wasn't able to make the trip to CHA, and so some lovely ladies (Virginia and Lorena) organized a little blog hop let her know we're thinking of her. A list of the other participants can be found here.

One of my favorites from Wplus9, Hope Seed Co.

I won't keep you, as I'm sure you have lots of other participants to visit. Sending big hugs, Cath, and I hope you are back to feeling 100% very soon!

Anya

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Recipe
STAMPS: Hope Seed Co. - Wplus9; Gingham & Co. - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Wild Wasabi - Stampin' Up!; Rustic White, True Black - Papertrey Ink
INK: Tuxedo Black Memento - Tsukineko; Wild Wasabi, Whisper White - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Swiss Dots Embossing Folder - ProvoCraft; Black Dots Smash Tape - K&Company; Rustic Cream Button Twine, New Leaf Buttons - Papertrey Ink; Copic Markers

Thank You

2012-01-30T14:53:00.005-05:00

Thank you for all your well wishes for my Mom. It will be a slow recovery, but she's getting there.

It was another beautiful color combo this week at The Play Date Cafe. Here's Jax's lovely color story.

A bit stumped at first by those colors. I wanted them to really look well together, sometimes you can combine elements that just look good together, but these colors were all so bold I didn't want to overdo it. So I went simple and geometric with this one.

I kind of love those hexagons and kind of maybe bought the Rosie Posie set just for them. The flowers are growing on me, though.

I paired my design with a sentiment from Very Vintage Greetings. I like the loopy, delicate font with the bold geometric pattern. (Sometimes I laugh to myself when I say things like that - do I sound like I know what I'm talking about? Cause really, I'm just winging it ;)

Regardless, I needed simple, and this fit the bill perfectly. It was fun to make, and I think it would be great to pull a set together with all different colors and sentiments. I could get a lot of mileage out of these two sets together. There's still a little bit of time left, have you played along with this week's Play Date Cafe challenge? (You should, its fun!)

Thank you for stopping to say hi - I hope your day is going well!

Anya

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Recipe
STAMPS: Rosie Posie - Papertrey Ink, Very Vintage Greetings - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: White - Papertrey Ink
INK: Perfect Plum, Marina Mist, Kiwi Kiss - Stampin' Up!; Onyx Black VersaFine - Tsukineko

Project Life Week 3

2012-01-29T21:22:00.010-05:00

Can I have a weekend do over?

My Mom went in for surgery on Friday, and while everything went well, the whole situation is really stressful. It isn't easy to see your Mom in a hospital bed.

I feel like I'm a little late finishing Week 3 of Project Life, but this week was a lot more fragmented than the past 2. But still being able to finish off a week with a few minutes here and a few minutes there makes me happy. I feel like I couldn't finish a card like that.

My first page for this week. I mentioned last week about my kidney stones, this week I had a CT scan to see what was going on. I included a photo of my kidneys from the scan along with my bracelet from the hospital. I was actually pretty excited to be able to print one of the photos - looking at the scans was really fascinating.

Here's my second page. Paczki from the baker shop, one of our first real snowfalls, a $750 bill for car repairs (hence the ouch), a photo of Bill and I at Phipps, a movie ticket.

And some close ups.. a heart penny rug my Mom made for me..

My map paper covered lampshade and some of the leftover paper..

A photo post-manicure - I like the around-the-photo journaling on this one, and details about my kidney stones and CT scan. Might be a little weird, but was a big part of life for a while.

Bill and I went to Phipps Conservatory on Sunday, and this week I added an insert to my other pages with some photos from the day. We were there for the orchid show, which I love.

These are 10" x 12" page protectors from American Crafts. They were perfect for the photos I had, which were a combination of verticals and horizontals.

Love these photos.

A lot of times when we go to Phipps I leave the camera behind and let Bill take the pictures, but this time it was fun to take the other one along as well so we were both taking pictures. It was a good day, and I'm glad to have the extra pictures to include.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my third week. Still loving it!

Have a great night!

Anya

Birthday Wishes

2012-01-25T20:12:00.007-05:00

Do you know what tomorrow is (it may be today by the time you read this!)? It is my sweet friend Claire's birthday.

Inspired by this week's Tuesday Trigger, I made a card for her.

Isn't that a beautiful photo? So soft and airy. Here is my card.

I used the Loopy Blooms die from MFT to make the felt flowers. To make them different sizes, I just trimmed down the amount of felt I used... a shorter length makes a smaller, less full flower. The birthday sentiment is from the Earth Angel set.

Happy Birthday, Claire! Sending you big hugs and a day full of love.

Thanks for stopping by, friends. I think I will have PL Week 3 ready to share tomorrow - please stop back!

Anya

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Recipe
STAMPS: Earth Angel - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Crumb Cake - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
INK: Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
OTHER: Loopy Blooms Die - MFT; Fine Linen, Melon Berry, Vintage Cream Felt - Papertrey Ink; Score Board - Martha Stewart Crafts

In My Thoughts

2012-01-23T20:07:00.006-05:00

Hi there - how are things?

I'm late posting today, I had hoped to get here earlier, but you know how it goes. This morning I had a doctor's appointment - had some trouble with kidney stones a few weeks ago and am still trying to track down what's going on. After a CT scan and some other tests it seems I'm stone-free, but a little uncomfortable right now. At this point, the only recommendations are to watch the coffee/tea intake and drink lots of water. Hopefully I won't have to repeat any of that entire experience.

I made a card yesterday for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge. Very woodsy colors this week.

Here is the card I made.

Was in a fussy cutting mood. I used images from the Wplus9 set Guiding Light to create a little scene on my card. I particularly love the grass and bird images in this set, and it was a joy to put them all together. I so enjoy using these stamps.

I thought the colors suited this design well - something serene and calming, which plays perfectly off of the ocean scene. My Mom is having surgery on Friday and I think she will like this card.

Thank you for stopping by - take care!

Anya

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Recipe
STAMPS: Guiding Light, Guiding Light Sentiments - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Early Espresso - Stampin' Up!; Soft Stone, White - Papertrey Ink
INK: Slate - Amuse|Studio; Crumb Cake, Mellow Moss, Early Espresso - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: Linen & Canvas Impression Plate - Papertrey Ink

Project Life Week 2

2012-01-21T16:23:00.008-05:00

Hi there. I should be getting ready to go out right now, but I promised to share my second week of Project Life, so here it is.

Lots of food photos this week.

Here's the first part of Week 2. My husband started a new job this week, so I made a favorite dinner for his first day. Cookies, too.

This week I felt pretty comfortable with the number of photos I had. I like incorporating photos into the 3x4 slots. My only beef is that I feel like I spend all of the daylight hours at work - so any photos at home I'm fighting light issues. It will get better (or I will get more creative) I'm sure.

Here's the second part of Week 2. I felt much more in a creative groove with this week.

It seems like with the way our weeks flow, this second page ends up being mostly our weekend, since so much stuff is put off until then. Our weeks are pretty routine until we hit Saturday.

My mom brought mini cupcakes. I journaled right on Washi tape for this photo - I've got a few others where I did this. I like adding little labels or notes to all the photos even if I did journal about them somewhere else. It helps me to feel like they aren't just hanging out there on their own, but I'm a labeler, so that's just me.

I need to find myself some more puffy letters - stat. Love these.

We took our Christmas decorations down this weekend and snapped one last photo of our tree. We used the TTV camera for this, so I cut the photo down to size and matted it with some Clementine patterned paper.

So there's my Week 2! I'd love to hear your feedback. Hope you have a great night.. we're heading out to a movie, and I'd better scoot!

Anya

Miles Apart

2012-01-20T15:19:00.005-05:00

Happy Friday, friends.

Rough week - I'm kind of cranky. But the weekend is almost here, so I should cheer up. We are forecasted to get some sleet and snow tonight, so I will be happy to stay inside in my jammies.

Here is a card I made for the Moxie Fab Map to Your Heart Challenge.

The stamp set and coordinating dies are MFT's First Class Friend.

This challenge inspired me to create another project as well. I fell head-over-heels with the map lampshade that Cath featured in her post. I just happened to add an old lamp to my desk that needed a lampshade update, how lucky was that!

I found a lampshade I liked in the As Is section of Ikea for just a few bucks. I knew I was covering it, so the dirt marks on it didn't bother me. Then I tracked down some map paper - I really love the look of the map in the pictures, and wanted to find something similar. Here's the finished product, what do you think?

I think I love it. :) I used the paper I had left over for my card.

Hope your weekend is fab. I think I'll share Project Life Week 2 tomorrow, so I hope you'll stop back.

Anya

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Recipe
STAMPS: First Class Friend - My Favorite Things
CARDSTOCK: Kraft, Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Et Cetera Collection - Bo Bunny; World Map Wrapping Paper - Cavallini
INK: Onyx Black VersaFine - Tsukineko; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Vintage Cream Grosgrain Ribbon - Papertrey Ink; First Class Friend Dienamics - My Favorite Things

Project Life - Week 1

2012-01-18T10:16:00.006-05:00

Well, chickies, here it is! My first week of Project Life. Yay!

A few notes before I share my pics:

I am using the Clementine Core Kit. I love the colors and designs, and they mesh well with lots of things I already have in my stash. This is a good thing, and don't ever underestimate how much fun it is to go shopping in the craft supplies you've already accumulated :)

I am basing my layouts on the Design A Photo Pocket Pages. I don't have the pages yet (still OOS), but am eagerly awaiting February when I can hit the 'buy now' button.

I printed my photos for the first two weeks all at once at Target. I don't have time to go out of my way for this kind of stuff, so it was easy to just make it part of an already planned trip. This is how this is going to stay easy for me - when it starts to be a pain, then I'm going to start to pull away. So, keep it easy!

Here's my first page for Week 1 (click for a larger version):

Can I tell you how excited I was that our mail carrier left us a note about our new mailbox? My husband called to tell me and I made sure he understood that we had to leave the scene intact so I could take a photo! LOL! I think I might need to add that bit of journaling in to my album..

And here's the second page for Week 1:

I loved Mish's idea for doing a week in review, so that was one thing I plan to include for each week. I also love the idea of including stuff - here I'll be stuffing our hockey tickets in the same slot with the journaling about the game. I didn't include any close ups this week, but will start that for next week. The thought never even occurred to me.

I have to say, I *loved* every second of doing this. My second week is already done, and I think I loved that one even more. I am figuring out what sorts of things I want to include - I like the idea of having little bits on the photographs, whether its a blurb or a sticker or what, I like including photos in the 3x4 slots, and I like incorporating bits of our lives. I still struggle a little with feeling like I'm including silly things but always try and remind myself how much I enjoy looking through not only photos but ephemera from past times.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope if you're starting PL you are having a good time with it, too. I'd love to see what you are up to... this means you, Renee! I hope you took pictures of those boys with their undies on their heads! ;)

Big hugs,

Anya

January WMS Blog Party

2012-01-17T07:15:00.007-05:00

Good morning, my dears. Today is Blog Party day for Waltzingmouse Stamps. This month's theme is 'sweet things' - perfect for Valentine's Day ideas, I'd say.

Here is the card I created for the party:

The jar and candy images are from Candy Jar Christmas Fillers . I am so glad some of the images in the set, like these candies, aren't specifically Christmas images. With a little holiday-appropriate colors, they are now Valentine's Day candies :) I am going to challenge myself to see what other images I can add to these jars, they are just too cute to put away until next Christmas.

Anyway, I colored my candies pink and red and glittered them up. The sentiment, from Sweethearts, was a perfect fit with my images. A bit of patterned paper, some subtle background stamping and this cutie will be perfect for one of my nieces.

I thank you for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your stay. I'll see you at the party!

Anya

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Recipe
STAMPS: Candy Jar Christmas Fillers , Sweethearts, L'il Buddies - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Rustic Cream - Papertrey Ink; Pretty in Pink - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Yours Truly - Echo Park Paper Co.
INK: Tuxedo Black Memento Ink - Tsukineko; Whisper White - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: Maraschino Baker's Twine - The Twinery; Diamond Stickles - Ranger Industries; Copic Markers

Life is Wonderful

2012-01-16T11:31:00.008-05:00

Hello friends. Boy, I've missed you!

I apologize for the quiet blog here.. I am working to get back to posting on a more regular basis. I do have quite a few things lined up to share with you (PL! Week 1 done!), so that's a good start.

Today I want to share my card for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge. I hate feeling like I'm always sneaking in at the last minute with these, but I always reserve time to play over the weekend, so that's my defense :)

Here is this week's color story:

And the card I created based on those rich, beautiful colors:

Always a treat to incorporate metallic colors into a design.. I love the opportunity to do so, even though its not something I think of during my regular design process.

I used the Magical Moments set from Wplus9 for this card, stamping the peacock image in VersaMark ink and heat embossing in gold. I cut this lovely out (such a sucker for bird images) and added some rhinestones to the feathers.. purple and burgundy to go with the challenge colors. I'm a little disappointed in these photos, the colors didn't come out quite as warm as this card is. I kept the majority of the design purple and just brought bits of the other colors in, also added a cream silk ribbon to (hopefully) add some continuity and grounding to the design.

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Tomorrow is this month's Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Party (you may remember it as the 'Friends of Waltzingmouse Blog Waltz'). The new year has brought a new name along with a new format. The blog party will now be hosted from the WMS Blog using the Inlinkz tool instead of in the forum. I am excited to see this change, as I think it will make this event much easier! You can read more information about tomorrow's WMS Blog Party here on the WMS Blog. This month's theme is Sweet Things - I will be there, and I hope to see you too!

Hope you have a great day, I am so glad that you stopped by!

Anya

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Recipe
STAMPS: Magical Moments - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Royal Velvet, Scarlet Jewel, Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
INK: Elegant Eggplant - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries; VersaMark - Tsukineko
OTHER: Gold Glitter Paper - 7Gypsies; Filigree Gold Embossing Powder - Stewart Superior; Victorian Lace Border Die, Silk Ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Adhesive Rhinestones - Recollections

I Love You

2012-01-11T12:00:00.001-05:00

One of the things I love so much about this online paper-crafting community is just how abundant inspiration is. Yesterday I was perusing the WMS Blog, catching up on some of the posts I missed over the holidays and came across Claire's announcement of the winners for the tag competition.

Dana Gustafson's western-style Christmas tag was the chosen winner and my jaw hit the floor when I saw what she did with the Very Vintage Labels No. 18 set. I will admit that I never gave much thought to the little 'extras' included in the set, but the way Dana used them to add color to the label was just a lightbulb moment for me. I love the retro screenprint look it gives... like a vintage Christmas card. I wanted to play too!

I used pink and red to give a Valentine's vibe.. the pink is a little light, but man I just love this look. The circle in the center of the label was die cut, stamped with Text It and popped up. Then I added the cameos from Cameo Creations. The sentiment is from that set as well.

The red strip was embossed with a Houndstooth Cuttlebug embossing folder and swiped with white ink. I'm just slightly obsessed with houndstooth patterns right now, if you didn't know. Thank you for the inspiration, Dana!

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Project Life is going good so far. I have a collection of photos from my first week and I've started journaling about them. I don't have the page protectors yet (they are due back in stock in February), but I am collecting and completing everything else until then. I promise I will share as soon as I print my photos. I've been debating where/how I want to do that, I think I might try printing them a week at a time at Target or something and see how that works. Anyone else doing PL have any other suggestions or experiences?

Later gators!

Anya

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Recipe
STAMPS: Very Vintage Labels No. 18, Text It, Cameo Creations - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Sweet Blush, Rustic White - Papertrey Ink; Real Red - Stampin' Up!
INK: Going Gray, Pink Pirouette, Real Red - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries; Onyx Black VersaFine - Tsukineko
OTHER: Labels 18 Nestabilities - Spellbinders Paper Arts; Houndstooth Embossing Folder - ProvoCraft; Adhesive Rhinestones - Recollections

Love You More

2012-01-10T10:05:00.008-05:00

Hello, hello. The week is just moving right along... my husband started a new job yesterday and it has shifted our morning routine back about a half hour. It was a little rough this morning, but hopefully will get easier when it starts getting lighter earlier in the morning. His job change is a good thing, so I won't complain about being tired.

I wanted to share the card I made him for our anniversary back in December. I didn't get a chance to share it with the hubbub of Christmas, but now things have slowed down (and I was lazy last night :).

I used the super fantastic set Love You More from Wplus9 for this card. Love this set, the fonts are fab, the word art is so graphically yummy.. really a must-own. Love the application for anniversary or just love in general! I used the love you more word art, stamped onto a die-cut tag and embossed with white embossing powder. I dare you to keep yourself from singing the Spiral Staircase song after you see this. :)

I added some stamped and embossed hearts from Heartfelt Mix as well as some of the adorable die cut Love Notes to finish off the card.

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Today kicks off the 2012 Waltzingmouse Stamps Christmas Card Challenge. Each month, Lynn posts a challenge on the WMS Blog in an effort to help you bulk up your Christmas card collection much earlier than the last minute in December. Since I am that last minute in December girl, I am making a supreme effort to participate this year. Of course, prizes are offered (the biggie last year was a whopping $150 gift to the WMS Store) but making an effort to reduce the last-minute come next Christmas will be all the prize I need! You can check out today's post on the WMS Blog for more info. Hope you'll play along, too!

Have a super day!

Anya

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Recipe
STAMPS: Love You More, Heartfelt Mix - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Crumb Cake, Riding Hood Red - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Thrift Shop - October Afternoon
INK: Riding Hood Red - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: Love Notes Die - Wplus9; Detail White Embossing Powder - Stampendous; Tag Sale #5 Die, Vintage Cream Twill - Papertrey Ink; Red button

Thank You

2012-01-08T15:32:00.007-05:00

Just stopping in on a lazy Sunday to say hello and share my creation for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge. I love lazy Sundays, when the chores are all taken care of and there's nothing to do but a little of this and a little of that. We are having a sunny day here today (which is pretty rare for winter in Pittsburgh) and while it is still chilly outside, seeing the sun makes all the difference.

This week's color story at the Play Date Cafe was a beautiful pairing of blue and green, with some cream thrown in for good measure. I love all the frosty interpretations of these colors that the challenge participants posted. Here is the color story for this week:

And my take..

Nothing like some fussy cutting to make me happy! These cute matryoshka dolls from Hero Arts have been sitting in my 'new things I should use' basket for oh.. probably six months. Finally got around to using them!

I have the trio of woodblock stamps (that I cannot located on the HA website), but these gals are also available in the Dolls Clear Design set. I just stamped them a bunch of times on different patterned paper and cut all the bits out.

The sentiment is from a set called Perfectly Penned from Stampin' Up!. I know, I haven't used anything from them in quite a while. I do think the sentiment pairs up well with the dolls, though.

Some other details here and there to finish it off. Can you resist a smile at those cute faces?

And finally..

It is here! I spent Friday night pulling out all the bits and pieces and laying everything out. I have the cards all divvied up into a divided storage tray I picked up on sale at JoAnn's. I have some pictures ready, and have jotted some notes down in my calendar. I'll be ready to hit the ground running when the page protectors come back in stock. Until then, I'll just collect things and work on the journaling cards so I can just pop 'em in.

Thank you all for your overwhelmingly positive response and support of me taking on Project Life. I am super excited!

Hope you have a sun-filled, lazy Sunday too!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Russian Dolls (here in the Dolls Clear Design set) - Hero Arts; Perfectly Penned - Stampin' Up!; Text It - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream, Fine Linen - Papertrey Ink; Sage Shadow - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Fly a Kite, The Thrift Shop - October Afternoon
INK: Pebble - Amuse|Studio; Onyx Black VersaFine - Tsukineko; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Dotted Scallop Punch - EK Success; Eggshell Ribbon - Hug Snug; Adhesive Pearls; Sewing Machine

Keep in Touch

2012-01-05T12:39:00.005-05:00

Hello, sweets. How are you today? I'm having a weird hide under the desk and leave me alone kind of day. I need to work on my stress-repelling force field.

Let's talk good stuff instead, ok? How about this week's Tuesday Trigger?

I saw this, loved it, and took it in a totally different direction.

My first thought when I saw all those numbers all laid out, all different colors, was keys (makes complete sense). Specifically, this Antique Keys background stamp from Hero Arts. I busted out my very neglected Stampin' Write markers and colored the keys on the stamp, huffed on it, then stamped it on my cardstock. Um, I kind of love it. I know I completely neglected the whole number part of that photo, but sometimes you just gotta go where the mojo takes you!

I used the typewriter again to type out my sentiment - keep in touch.. keep.. KEYp.. get it? I hope so, or you'll think I've lost it for sure.

...

So I was thinking about Project Life and was going to ask you guys what you thought but then I went ahead and ordered the stuff anyway. But I'll still ask you.

I have always liked the idea behind scrapbooking and am in awe of those of you that scrap. I really never thought it was for me, though, because (and I know I'm off base, but ideas are sometimes hard to change) I don't have any children. I just didn't think I'd have enough to fill a scrapbook. Sure, Bill and I travel here and there, but the other 50 weeks out of the year are pretty much wash, rinse, repeat. Yawn, right? But I just love the look of Michelle Wooderson's and Ali Edwards' Project Life layouts. Normal, everyday pictures with some other stuff splashed here and there, I loved the simplicity of it. Write only as much as you need or want to.

So I started thinking about this week. This week we replaced our kitchen faucet. The stupid project took 3 days, and it might not mean a thing to you, but it is a recurring theme in our lives: updating our house is a painful struggle. I thought of the task of de-Christmasifying, something that will likely be happening in our house in the coming week or so. The cute petite snowball cake I bought from a bakery this week that had the most amazing (and unexpected) raspberry filling in it. This weekend we're going to a minor league hockey game with my brother and his girlfriend.

And then I thought about my Mom and how much my family means to me, and even if I don't have children, I still have a family and I still have a life that is worth documenting - if anything, just for the pure fun of it. To look back in a year and say - remember when we went to replace the faucet and we had to do this, and then this, and the planets had to be perfectly aligned before it worked? These are the things that are my most favorite about the Project Life albums I've seen - the complete normal everyday stuff that is included. So my original question was to ask you guys what you thought, am I totally off? Should I take the plunge (which is a little late, since I bought the Clementine Core Kit this morning)? Are you sighing and rolling your eyes like my husband at the thought of me taking on another Project? Feedback, please! I want to hear your thoughts.

Ah. I feel so much better - thank you for listening! ;)

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Antique Keys - Hero Arts
CARDSTOCK: Ripe Avocado, Kraft, Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Fly a Kite - October Afternoon
INK: Antique Linen, Gathered Twigs Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Earth Elements, Rich Regals Stampin' Write Markers - Stampin' Up!; Tiny Attacher - Tim Holtz; Typewriter; Button

Happy New Year

2012-01-03T10:23:00.005-05:00

Happy 2012 everyone! Thank you all for your thoughtful words about my Mom, she is back home and doing well. It is back to reality for me here, I enjoyed time off between Christmas and New Year, but now it is back to the grind.

I really didn't do much in the way of stamping over the break, but made sure to squeeze in a card for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge.

Here is my card.. quick, simple and cute :)

The lantern images, along with the sentiment, are from the Asian Gardens Additions set from WMS. I really like the build-your-own lantern capabilities.. especially for this card where I can incorporate the color combination. The cherry blossom image is from the original Asian Gardens set. The string image is from the Wplus9 set Heartfelt Mix, and I can't tell you how many times I think of using this stamp. I love images like this that are so versatile.

Thanks for stopping by, so glad to see you!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Asian Gardens, Asian Gardens Additions - Waltzingmouse Stamps; Heartfelt Mix - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Crumb Cake - Stampin' Up!; Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
INK: Riding Hood Red, Wild Wasabi, Pear Pizzazz - Stampin' Up!; Onyx Black VersaFine - Tsukineko; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Red Adhesive Rhinestones - Recollections

Miss You

2011-12-29T22:16:00.004-05:00

Hi there.

I hope your Christmas was amazing and you have been enjoying your time before the New Year. My mom was admitted to the hospital on Monday, so things have been a little out-of-sorts around here. My parents live just down the street from me, so this is typically an opportunity for us to enjoy a little extra time together. Even though she is improving, it is still really bringing me down. I had a great list of things to accomplish while I was off work and I haven't managed one of them. I hope that things get back to normal before the beginning of the new year so we can start things off right.

I have a little card to share with you today, inspired by this week's Tuesday Trigger on the Moxie Fab World Blog.

I also tapped into inspiration from Maile Belles color blocking with dies post, which seemed perfect for this week's trigger.

The leafy branch and bird images are both from the Woodgrain Silhouettes Additions set from Wplus9. Both were embossed in white onto Crumb Cake cardstock and cut out. The sentiment was typed with an old typewriter that my mom dug out for me. I think the crookedness is part of the charm. Pretty simple - a bit relieved for actually finishing it.. it has been in pieces on my desk for the past few days. I'm hoping the act of finishing this card will help me to get some other things moving as well. If you can't tell, I don't deal well with not knowing what to do with myself - I like tasks and lists and crossing things off. I'm glad you stopped by, I am thinking of you!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Woodgrain Silhouettes Additions - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Violet, Crumb Cake, River Rock, Blush Blossom, Baja Breeze - Stampin' Up!; White - Papertrey Ink
INK: VersaMark - Tsukineko
OTHER: Detail White Embossing Powder - Stampendous; Typewriter

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T08:16:00.004-05:00

My dear, sweet friends - wishing you all a blessed and beautiful Merry Christmas. I hope your day is full of love and laughter and all the wonderful things that come with the season.

Merry Christmas!

Anya

Quilted Tree

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning! Today is a Serendipity Stamps DT challenge day, and today we were challenged to create a simple Christmas card. Thank goodness for that, I think simple is all I've got left in me right now!

I get a great deal of enjoyment out of fussy cutting, and so paper piecing was the way to go for me. It might not be quick, but it is simple. Certainly an easier way for me to add color than coloring!

I paper pieced the Quilted Tree (1252F) image using the Season's Greetings patterned paper collection from Echo Park. I love the colors and patterns in this pack. I feel that images like this one that have a heavy line weight are easier to paper piece, they are a little more forgiving than those with skinny lines.

I matted the image with a strip of punched scallop paper and added another strip of coordinating patterned paper to the card. I finished it off with Stickles on the bottoms of all the branches. Easy peasy!

Before I head out for today, I just want to say thank you to Mary and the other Serendipity Design Team members. This is my last challenge as a part of the DT; after much thought I have decided not to renew my term after this year. I am so grateful for the opportunity Mary has given me and the chance to work with the other DT members. On the upside, the sweet and super talented Jeanne Jachna has joined the DT and I know she will do amazing things with Serendipity's stamps!

Thanks for stopping by today. Please be sure to visit the other Design Team members playing along today to see their take on this challenge!

Amy
Jenny
Kathie
Lynda
Miriam

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Quilted Tree (1252F) - Serendipity Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink; Pear Pizzazz - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Season's Greetings - Echo Park
INK: Onyx Black VersaFine - Tsukineko; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Scalloped Scallop Punch - EK Success; Star Dust Stickles - Ranger Industries

C'est La Vie

2011-12-20T20:17:00.006-05:00

It has been a while since cardmaking happened in my house, its been a little hectic, you know? So today when I had some things that needed to be finished, I sat down with no mojo. Then I remembered that I had not yet played along with this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge, and I knew that would be the kick I needed.

Here's the color story for this color splash week:

And my card:

I used images from the Wplus9 sets C'est La Vie and Defining Words. I am in love with the bow around the waist of the dress form.

I always feel like such a procrastinator when I wait until the last minute to take on these challenges, but today it worked out perfectly! Have a lovely evening!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: C'est La Vie, Defining Words - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Rustic White - Papertrey Ink; Baja Breeze - Stampin' Up!
INK: Baja Breeze, Going Gray - Stampin' Up!; Pumice Stone Distress Ink - Ranger Industries; Onyx Black VersaFine - Tsukineko
OTHER: Label Layers 2 Die - Wplus9; Silk Ribbon - Papertrey Ink; BG11 Copic Marker - Imagination International; Houndstooth Felt - New Image Group (Hobby Lobby Stores); Labels Eight - Spellbinders Paper Arts

Happy Holidays

2011-12-19T11:02:00.005-05:00

Whew! I am so sorry for neglecting you, my friends, I feel like whirling dervish. Can anyone relate?

How about a quick little card for you today? Not much on this but some die cutting, a quick sentiment, and a million pieces of foam tape, but it packs a fun winter holiday punch.

The snowflake dies are the Die-namics Let it Snowflake dies from MFT. I used the larger two of the set on my pink cardstock and ran it through my die cutting machine until I had the look I wanted. The sentiment is a simple one from the Wplus9 Christmas Wishes set. After the die-cutting and stamping, I spritzed the pink cardstock with some Sprinklers ink from October Afternoon and adhered it to my card base (that's where the million pieces of foam tape came in). Super cute, reminds me of something Cristina would make.

Here is another version - this was actually my first attempt.

The shimmer cardstock was a heavier weight and so a first pass through my die cutting machine didn't cut entirely through the cardstock (plus, my cutting plates are warped - it happens). No worries, I just went with it and do like the deep embossed look this has.

Thankfully, these guys *finally* went out in the mail with the rest of my Christmas cards. You would think being a cardmaker I'd be a bit more together when it came to Christmas cards. I bet you all know exactly what I'm talking about. Next year, I swear I am playing along with the Waltzingmouse monthly Christmas Card Challenge!

Hope your days is great! I promise I'll try and pop back soon!

Anya

Recipe
Happy Holidays Snowflake Card
STAMPS: Christmas Wishes - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Rustic Cream, Sweet Blush - Papertrey Ink
INK: Early Espresso - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Let it Snowflake Die-namics - MFT; Paper Doily Sprinklers - October Afternoon

Merry & Bright Snowflake Card
STAMPS: Christmas Wishes - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Night of Navy - Stampin' Up!; Shimmery White - Papertrey Ink
INK: Night of Navy - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: Let it Snowflake Die-namics - MFT

WMS is Moxie Fab!

2011-12-15T08:46:00.007-05:00

Good morning!

Today Cath Edvalson is featuring Waltzingmouse Stamps for the Stamp of Approval feature on the Moxie Fab World Blog. Yay! Cath has extended the opportunity to win six WMS stamp sets (all of the goodies from the most recent release) to not one, but two lucky people!

I'm here to share some eye candy made with these lovely stamps. Some of my most favorite yet.

This card uses Seasonal Remedies, a holiday follow up to the popular Rescue Remedies.

I just fell in love with this next card.

I'm not sure if its the simple design, the classic colors, or that delicious font but I just love it. If I end up needing a few extra Christmas cards here or there, this baby is going to be it. This uses two of the smallest ornament images from 2011 Holiday Ornaments. I stamped them and then die cut them with the coordinating 2011 Heirloom Ornaments dies from Spellbinders.

And finally, a card for someone special that uses one of my favorite single images from this release - the cluster of candy canes from Candy Jar Christmas Fillers.

This idea was totally inspired by Cathy Weber's Dessert Buffet Placecards where she accented her various images with the holly from Festive Foliage. I loved the look of this and incorporated it onto my card .. this went to my sweet WMS Secret Santa :)

So, enough of my chit chat - rush on over to the Moxie Fab World Blog and enter to win some of these yummies for yourself! Thanks for visiting!

Anya

Recipe
Pure Distilled Christmas Wishes Card
STAMPS: Seasonal Remedies - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Sahara Sand, Riding Hood Red - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Season's Greetings - Echo Park
INK: Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Detail White Embossing Powder - Stampendous; Eggshell Seam Binding - Hug Snug; French Pastry Doily Die - Cheery Lynn Designs; Sewing Machine - New Home

Merry Christmas Ornaments Card
STAMPS: Nordic Winter, 2011 Holiday Ornaments - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Pear Pizzazz - Stampin' Up!; Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
INK: So Saffron, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz - Stampin' Up!; Pebble - Amuse|Studio; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: 2011 Heirloom Ornaments - Spellbinders Paper Arts; Maraschino, Honeydew, Buttercream Baker's Twine - The Twinery

Sweetest Christmas Wishes Card
STAMPS: Candy Jar Christmas, Candy Jar Christmas Fillers, Festive Foliage - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Woodgrain Assortment - Amuse|Studio
INK: Black Onyx VersaFine - Tsukineko; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries; Wild Wasabi - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: R27 Copic - Imagination International; Dazzling Diamonds Glitter - Stampin' Up!; Houndstooth Felt - New Image Group (Hobby Lobby Stores)

Warm Wishes

2011-12-12T10:59:00.006-05:00

I'll take some warm wishes - it is freezing here!

Here is a card today based on the ideas that were swirling after seeing this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge and Tuesday Trigger.

Here is what I created. Turned out just like I saw it in my head (love when that happens! :)

I combined the images of the mittens from Winter Wishes with the clothespin and triple string images from Heartfelt Mix. The sentiment was stamped on a die cut from the All Occasion Label Die and then trimmed to use just the top. I like doing this.

The edges were painted with an acrylic paint dabber, which reminded me of the wood floor in the Tuesday Trigger picture. The finished size of this card is 6-3/4 by 3-3/4. Instead of mailing this one, I think I'll tuck it in a little package to a friend.

I hope you all are enjoying the rush of the holidays. I just wish I could get something crossed off my list!

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Winter Wishes, Heartfelt Mix - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Rustic White - Papertrey Ink; Crumb Cake - Stampin' Up!
INK: Real Red, Cool Caribbean, Lucky Limeade, Pacific Point - Stampin' Up!; Onyx Black VersaFine - Tsukineko; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: All Occasion Label Die - Wplus9; Snow Cap Acrylic Pain Dabber - Ranger Industries; Sewing Machine

Talkin' Tags

2011-12-09T09:25:00.006-05:00

Happy Friday morning to you! I am excited for the weekend to get underway, tonight I have a hot date with my hubs for dinner and then tickets for A Musical Christmas Carol. We are heading out to get our tree this weekend, and generally Christmasify the house. Its the most wonderful time of the year!

Today I'm talkin' tags. Maybe you've been around before to hear about one of our holiday traditions, but my husband and I celebrate our anniversary on the 15th, and we share a gift a day with each other between then and Christmas. I always create a tag for each of his gifts that eventually is added to our tree. It came about purely because I love creating tags, I love family traditions, and I love my hubs. Wanna see some?

I used the Love Birds set from Wplus9 along with the coordinating Love Birds Die (this is a fantastic die set - must have). You know how much I love birdies, and this just seemed perfect for our anniversary. I also combined some other sets (cloud images from Heartfelt Mix and sentiment from Love You More) to finish the scene.

One of the reasons why I think I love creating tags so much is that they can be as simple or as complicated as you want. You can sit down and easily put together a little work of art.

Here is the second tag I created.

For this one, I started by stamping the tag base with one of the text images from Text It. Then I added some Iced Spruce Distress Ink to the edges and sprayed it with some Mister Huey's Calico Shine. The sentiment is from Say It Loud Winter Holiday and the snowflakes are from Nordic Winter. I stamped them onto scrap and cut them out, inking the edges with Antique Linen and adding some Copic-colored rhinestones to the center.

Here is a better shot of the shimmer and shine.

I set up a little tag station to keep me on task. I inevitably end up creating the night before what I need the next day, and sometimes that is ok, but I really do prefer to be a little ahead of the game :)

I cut all 11 tags at once so I can just sit down and grab one when I need it. In the past I have used all the same shape, but this year I thought I'd mix it up and used dies to cut some of the tags. I put them all in a little galvanized tin along with some Red Wood Bingo Calendar Numbers from Maya Road that I'll add to the tags each day.

Here are some of my previous tag posts if you're interested: here, here, and here.

With all this talk of tags, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that Waltzingmouse is having their annual Christmas Tag Challenge. You can read more about it here on the WMS Blog, the deadline is December 20th and the winner gets four stamp sets!

Have a wonderful day, loves!

Anya

Recipe
Love Birds Tag
STAMPS: Love Birds, Heartfelt Mix, Love You More - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Season's Greetings - Echo Park Paper Company
INK: Soft Sky, Cool Caribbean, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red - Stampin' Up!; Coffee Archival Ink, Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Love Birds Die - Wplus9; Tag Sale #1 Die - Papertrey Ink

Warm Wishes Tag
STAMPS: Text It, Say It Loud Winter Holiday, Nordic Winter - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
INK: Going Gray - Stampin' Up!; Pebble - Amuse|Studio; Iced Spruce, Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Adhesive Rhinestones - Recollections; Mister Huey's Calico Shine - Studio Calico; Tag Corner Punch - Stampin' Up!

My Cup of Tea

2011-12-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

Hi there! Today is a Serendipity Stamps DT challenge day, and today we were challenged to create a tea-themed card.

I used the Heart Cup and coordinating You're Just My Cup of Tea sentiment for my card. I also used the Postcard stamp.

I started by stamped the postcard border and sentiment onto a piece of cream cardstock, then punched the edges with the SU! ticket punch. I stamped the tea cup onto a square of cardstock and then colored it with Copic markers. I matted this with a bit of pink cardstock die cut using one of the postage stamp nestabilities. Some coordinating pink patterned paper, a bit of stitching and some Distress Ink and I was pleased!

Thanks for stopping by today. Please be sure to visit the other Design Team members playing along today to see their take on this challenge!

Amy
Jenny
Kathie
Lynda
Miriam

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Heart Cup, You're Just My Cup of Tea, Postcard - Serendipity Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Pretty in Pink - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Uncommon Collection - Authentique Paper
INK: Coffee Archival Ink, Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries; Latte - Amuse|Studio
OTHER: Postage Stamp Nestabilities - Spellbinders Paper Arts; Copic Markers - Imagination International; Ticket Corner Punch - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Button; Sewing Machine

Deck the Halls

2011-12-06T09:12:00.006-05:00

Hello, hello my friends. I hope you don't think I'm neglecting you - I haven't been posting here as often as I like, but it is for good reason. I've been busy with some things that I can't share quite yet, but come January you'll see!

I am sneaking in just in time with a card for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge. This week's color story is a soft combination of pinks and purple.

For some reason, I knew what I wanted to do as soon as I saw these colors. Here is my card.

I created this card using the Bells & Boughs set along with the coordinating dies from PTI. These images, along with these colors make me think of something a little retro, and I love it! I finished my card off with some flicks of Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls. They are a richer gold than the Perfect Gold color and I think it really adds to the retro look.

You'll have to take my word for it that this is nice and shimmery! Thanks for stopping by today! Take care!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Bells & Boughs - Papertrey Ink
CARDSTOCK: Rustic Cream - Papertrey Ink; Blush Blossom - Stampin' Up!
INK: Wisteria Wonder, Blush Blossom, Crumb Cake - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Bells & Boughs Die Collection - Papertrey Ink; Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls - Ranger Industries

Happy Holidays

2011-12-01T15:46:00.004-05:00

Hi there! Happy Friday to you. The days sure are flying by, aren't they?

Here in my world, I am super glad that the weekend is here. No big plans, just looking forward to the days off. How about a cute little card for Friday?

Don't you love these Four Framed Snowflakes from Hero Arts? I stamped each of them in a different color - I am a big fan of these four colors together for the holidays. I cut each snowflake out, inked the edges with Antique Linen Distress Ink, and adhered them to a mat of cardstock cut with the pinking blade on my paper trimmer. I added a strip of patterned paper from Crate Paper's Peppermint Collection, some paper piercing, and coordinating rhinestones in each of the snowflake centers. The sentiment is from the Wplus9 set Christmas Wishes, which was selectively inked to split the phrase.

This is a 4-1/4 inch square card. It makes me smile! Imagine all the different colors.. I'd like to try this in different shades of blue with lots of glitter!

So glad to see you today, have a good one!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Four Framed Snowflakes - Hero Arts; Christmas Wishes - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Fine Linen, Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Peppermint Collection - Crate Paper
INK: Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Cool Caribbean - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries; Onyx Black VersaFine - Tsukineko
OTHER: Adhesive Rhinestones - Recollections; Pinking Blade - Fiskars; Paper Piercer

Red and Rustic

2011-11-30T08:43:00.008-05:00

Morning!

How are things in your neck of the woods? We had a good 25 degree temperature drop from yesterday, so today is chilly, chilly! Time to break out my little foot warmer again!

While we're on the subject of warming up, here is a cozy holiday card I have to share.

I was inspired to create this card after seeing this week's Tuesday Trigger on the Moxie Fab World Blog.

I approached this challenge like I do the CASE Study ones: take a quick look at the inspiration photo and jot down a few of the things that stand out to me. For this picture, I picked up on stripes, the red/kraft/chocolate color combo, and the fancy woodwork on the door.

After pulling together my strips of paper, combining plain with some patterned - I added a row of doilies punched from kraft cardstock (Martha's Vintage Doily punch). I like how these sort of reminded me of the fancy bits on the door (is that a stretch? ;). The sentiment is from the Wplus9 set Winter Wishes.

Cute and easy, no? So how are your holiday cards coming? I haven't decided whether I am going to sit down and crank out a dozen or so copies of the same design or whether I am going to see how many cards I have in my collection so far and send them out. What do you do?

Thank you for stopping by, I hope your day is fantastic!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Winter Wishes - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate - Papertrey Ink; Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Season's Greetings Collection - Echo Park
INK: Chocolate Chip - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Vintage Doily Punch - Martha Stewart Crafts; Pinking Shears Border Die - Papertrey Ink

Hello

2011-11-28T21:39:00.003-05:00

Hi there. I am back today to share another card I created for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge.

A fun change from my normal fussy style. I kept wanting to add something else and then something else, but do really like this layout. Easy to change up!

Stamps are from Wplus9 (A Pocketful and Magical Moments) and the letters were die cut with the Block Alphabet Dies from Papertrey Ink.

I'm heading to bed - this was a rough Monday, I must have taken it a little too easy this weekend! See ya!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: A Pocketful, Magical Moments - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream, Fine Linen - Papertrey Ink; Dusty Durango - Stampin' Up!
INK: Cherry Cobbler, River Rock - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: Block Alphabet Die Collection, Pinking Shears Border Die, Terracotta Tile Felt - Papertrey Ink

Winter Wishes

2011-11-27T19:36:00.004-05:00

Well here we are, unfortunately, at the wrong end of a long weekend! It was a good one, though, and I'm looking forward to more time off during the holidays.. I was productive and lazy - gotta love that!

Still slowly adding to the Christmas card stash, this one was created for this week's CASE Study Challenge.

I stamped the jar and candy canes from Candy Jar Christmas Fillers off the edge of the card and colored them with Copics. This is a very clean card for me, but the glitter on the candy canes and the silk bow help to fancy it up a bit, I think.

I hope you had a great weekend! Thank you for stopping by!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Candy Jar Christmas Fillers - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream, Hibiscus Burst - Papertrey Ink
INK: Tuxedo Black Memento - Tsukineko; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Copic Markers - Imagination International, Inc.; Star Dust Stickles - Ranger Industries; Corner Chomper - We R Memory Keepers; Silk ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Pink button

A Note of Thanks

2011-11-25T23:01:00.006-05:00

Happy weekend! I hope you are doing well. I have been luxuriously lazy today, spending most of the day in my fuzzy PJ pants :) I had the chance to make a few cards and I'll be sharing them over the next couple days. First up is an entry into this week's Play Date Cafe color challenge.

Here is this week's color story, featuring rich jewel tones and images that remind me of Morocco.

And here is the card I created.

The background was created using the border image from Wplus9's Mehndi Medallions. Then I added a die-cut label stamped with a sentiment and flourish. The bird and leaf, from Woodgrain Silhouettes Additions, (I can't stop using it, seriously) were stamped, cut out and added to the label. I also added a wooden button.

Love this one lots!

I took the opportunity today to beef up my Wplus9 stamp collection during their Black Friday Sale. I am super excited about getting these new sets and really look forward to getting inky! Did you get any great deals today?

Thanks for stopping in today - have a great one!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Mehndi Medallions, Woodgrain Silhouettes Additions, A Pocketful - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Rustic White, Scarlet Jewel - Papertrey Ink
INK: Really Rust, More Mustard - Stampin' Up!; Currant - Amuse|Studio; Antique Linen, Gathered Twigs Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: All Occasion Label Die - Wplus9; Wooden button

Giving Thanks

2011-11-24T15:18:00.006-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

I hope you are having a day full of blessings and thanks. Here at my house, the turkey is in the oven, the pies are cooling, and the table is set. I found myself with some quiet time this afternoon and put the finishing touches on some place cards for the Thanksgiving table. There are only six of us for dinner tonight, so I didn't really want to create seating assignments. Instead, I used the Wplus9 set Season of Thanks to create simple greetings for our family table.

I stamped and cut out a selection of leaves and pumpkins from the set as well as the cutest little acorns. I stamped the greeting onto my place card, and then framed it with a piece of cardstock cut with an oval die. To this I added my little accents and called it done! I made two each of three different designs. I did a little masking to allow the sentiments to fit within the oval frame, just used a post-it note to cover up the part I didn't want. It is so nice to be able to do this - gets even more mileage out of the stamps.

One of the many things I am thankful for is you! Thank you for taking time to visit with me a little today. I hope your day is filled with thankful thoughts and turkey!

Big hugs!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Season of Thanks - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream, Fine Linen - Papertrey Ink
INK: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, Dusty Durango, More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: Petite Oval Small Nestabilities - Spellbinders Paper Arts

Country Cardinals

2011-11-23T07:00:00.001-05:00

Hi there! Today is a Serendipity Stamps DT challenge day, and today we were challenged to create a country themed card and to combine the technique of watercoloring.

I went for a homespun, cozy look using the Cardinals image.

I watercolored my image using Stampin' Up! inks and an Aqua Painter. After the image dried, I inked the edges with Antique Linen Distress Ink and stitched it to a postage stamp die cut from Spellbinders. Once it was all assembled, I added some glue to the snow area and covered it with glitter.

The patterned paper is the Nordic Holiday collection from Basic Grey, and I thought it lent itself well to the country theme.

I love this cute pair. Cardinals in the snow are one of my favorite sights. Thanks for stopping by today. Please be sure to visit the other Design Team members playing along today to see their take on this challenge!

Amy
Jenny
Kathie
Lynda
Miriam

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Cardinals (952E) - Serendipity Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Nordic Holiday - Basic Grey
INK: Tuxedo Black Memento - Tsukineko; Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Peach Parfait, Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Classic Squares Large, Postage Stamps - Spellbinders Paper Arts; Silk ribbon - May Arts; Crystal Fine Glitter - Martha Stewart Crafts; Aqua Painter; Sewing machine

From Our Gingerbread House..

2011-11-22T08:09:00.006-05:00

Good morning. The card I would like to share with you today is for this week's CASE Study challenge.

I really liked Kryssi Ng's winter skyline card and wanted to translate that to something a little less graphic.

I used the house image from A Cottage Christmas to make a pair of gingerbread houses. I colored them both in, glittered them up and cut them out, adhering them to a card base that had been stamped with Text It and inked up with some Iced Spruce Distress Ink.

The snowman and sentiment are also from the A Cottage Christmas set. Glad you could stop by today, I'll be back with more tomorrow!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: A Cottage Christmas, Text It - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Rustic Cream - Papertrey Ink; Soft Sky - Stampin' Up!
INK: Tuxedo Black Memento Ink - Tsukineko; White Pigment Ink - JoAnn Fabrics; Iced Spruce, Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Copic markers - Imagination International, Inc.; Glass Glitter; Sewing machine

Get Well

2011-11-21T15:04:00.006-05:00

Hi there!

In the midst of all the red and green I have something a little different to share with you today. I had a request for a get well card, and get well cards should all have cheery color combinations, don't you think?

The colors for this card came from that pretty floral patterned paper tape. I included a little snippet of it on the card just to bring it all together.

I used Hope Seed Co., still running strong as a favorite of mine, to create my Get Well seed packet. I seriously love adding all the little bits like the 'Hope Seed Co.' and the price to the front of these. Fun!

My flower was colored with Copic markers, and highlighted with a clear Spica glitter pen. I think this is a happy little card - I hope it cheers up its recipient!

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Hope Seed Co. - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Cool Caribbean, Ruby Red - Stampin' Up!; Lemon Tart, Sweet Blush, White - Papertrey Ink
INK: Cool Caribbean, Going Gray, Ruby Red - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Polka Dots Embossing Folder - ProvoCraft; Copic Markers (Y11, Y21, YR61, YG11, G00) - Imagination International, Inc.; Vintage Girl Paper Tape - Martha Stewart Crafts; Sewing machine

November Friends of WMS Waltz

2011-11-17T03:00:00.001-05:00

Good morning, Waltzers! Welcome to the November Friends of WMS Blog Waltz. Today we're waltzing with a Winter/Christmas theme.

Here are the details: if you want to waltz along with us and you haven't yet linked up your project, head to the link list thread in the WMS Forum to link up your creation and view the other participants. There is also a thread for chatting about what you've seen. This month a random waltz participant will be chosen to receive a prize.

I will admit, I have Christmas on the brain. Like so many of you, I plan to try and be more prepared this year and soak as much in as I can. Being card makers, we spend a lot of time thinking about our Christmas cards. I am always striving for something unique and lovely, but without exponential effort. Here are a few cards that are quick, easily mass-produced, mailable, and cute!

Nothing easier than a few strips of coordinating patterned paper featuring a festive color combination. It would be easy to put a set of these together with a variety of sentiments from Say It Loud - Winter Holiday. This design was topped off with a simple felt embellishment that would still easily fit into a regular envelope. Replace this with a punched snowflake, the smallest ornament from 2011 Holiday Ornaments... you're set!

Another simple design, this one featuring Festive Foliage and a sentiment from Compliments of the Season. The punched and popped up berries help to add a little somethin'. Glitter these babies up and you have a touch of snazz!

I just hope I can keep these things in mind when I finally sit myself down to make my cards! ;) Glad you could stop in today, have fun waltzing!

Anya

Recipe
Merry Christmas Card
STAMPS: Say It Loud - Winter Holiday - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Handsome Hunter - Stampin' Up!; Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Dear Mr. Claus - Cosmo Cricket
INK: Poppy Parade - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: Holly Jolly Die, Pinefeather Felt, Pure Poppy Felt - Papertrey Ink

Merry Christmas to You Card
STAMPS: Festive Foliage, Compliments of the Season - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Always Artichoke, Read Red - Stampin' Up!; Fine Linen - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Wonder Collection - Authentique
INK: Always Artichoke - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: 5/8-inch Circle Punch - EK Success

Warmest Winter Wishes

2011-11-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning, good morning!

Here is a card that I made for this week's CASE Study Challenge. I was inspired by the layout but decided to switch it up a little and create a card that was oriented vertically instead of horizontally.

This weekend I was talking with some friends about Christmas cards and one said how she liked the combination of purple and silver at the holidays, which inspired me to use similar colors for this card. I paired SU's Wisteria Wonder ink with Amuse|Studio's Slate ink for a warm and fuzzy holiday card. I used images from the Wplus9 set Fair Isle Backgrounds. I embellished the card with a glittered die-cut snowflake topped with a button. This was a good layout, I need to make a point to jot this one down in my notebook.

Thank you for stopping in to see me, I hope you have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Fair Isle Backgrounds, Winter Wishes - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Wisteria Wonder - Stampin' Up!; Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
INK: Wisteria Wonder - Stampin' Up!; Slate - Amuse|Studio; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Stone Baker's Twine - The Twinery; Dazzling Diamonds Glitter - Stampin' Up!; Apron Lace punch - Fiskars; Peace Be Still Die, Plum Pudding Button - Papertrey Ink; Sewing machine

Grateful Greetings

2011-11-14T10:42:00.006-05:00

Good morning, my dears. How are you today?

I am in a good mood, feeling upbeat and excited about some things coming down the pike. It is good to sit down and make something you love, too, you know? The card I want to share with you today, which I made for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge, is one of those things. :)

Here is the color story for this week - it is time for another color splash!

I will admit, when I first saw these colors I thought this would have made a great Halloween challenge. These are still great colors for fall, though, and here is how I used them.

Happiness.

A beautiful leaf silhouette stamped in black from Woodgrain Silhouettes Additions. Patterned paper strips and a few well-placed rhinestones colored to match with a Copic marker. The finishing touch is a sentiment from Season of Thanks.

Yay for color splash week! Did you play along, too?

I hope your day is great, and I'll see you back here tomorrow!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Woodgrain Silhouettes Additions, Season of Thanks - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Basic Black - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Norm's News - October Afternoon; Vintage Moon - Pink Paislee
INK: Onyx Black Versafine - Tsukineko; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Pinking Blade - Fiskars; Adhesive rhinestones - Recollections; YR68 Copic Marker - Imagination International, Inc.

WMS November SOAP Winner!

2011-11-11T08:35:00.004-05:00

Good morning!

Today I wanted to pop in and announce the winner for the WMS November SOAP CASE competition. If you remember, at the end of our SOAP event on November 4th, we invited you to participate in a CASE (Copy and Share Everything) Competition. We asked that you choose a project from any of the 4 days of the Stamp of Approval Parade (SOAP) held November 1-4th, and CASE a project from one of the Design Team members’ projects.

We are happy to announce that we have a winner! Today we are highlighting these two fantastic tags created by Charmaine Stack!!

Aren't these just so gorgeous? I love them! Charmaine took her inspiration from Tosha Leyendekker's Day 3 SOAP project.

The constant between Tosha and Charmaine's projects are the lovely snowflake, each peeking out from the side of the tag. Charmaine added lots of sparkle and shine; using glitter and lovely crystals on both of her tags. Moving from the bright hues of turquoise to the earthy muted colors of the second tag, she shows how easy it is to elicit different feelings with just a change of color.

A special thank you, also, to everyone who participated in the competition. Your projects were amazingly creative and inventive! You can see ALL the competitors here on the WMS Blog.

Please be sure to leave some love for Charmaine and the other participants if you have some time. Next Thursday, Nov. 17th is the Friends of WMS Blog Waltz, and we hope you will participate in that also! Details for that and the thread to sign up are on the WMS Forum!

Have a great day chickies!

Anya

Festive Fall

2011-11-09T08:00:00.001-05:00

Hi there! Today is a Serendipity Stamps DT challenge day, and today we were challenged to create a shaped card. After a lot of brainstorming, a bit of grumbling (squares and rectangles are shapes!), this one came to me.

I've seen layered-oval pumpkins before, but just little ones.. so I created a supersized one for my card. I used the largest of the Petite Ovals Small from Spellbinders, cut three of them from Pumpkin Pie (of course) cardstock, and layered them. The Scarecrow Boy image was stamped onto cream cardstock and colored with Copics. The Festive Fall (on sale at Serendipity for $0.25!) sentiment was stamped, colored, and die cut and both were added to the card front.

Thanks for stopping by today. Please be sure to visit the other Design Team members playing along today to see their take on this challenge!

Amy
Jenny
Kathie
Lynda
Miriam

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Scarecrow Boy, Festive Fall - Serendipity Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
INK: Rich Cocoa Memento - Tsukineko; Antique Linen, Walnut Stain Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Copic Markers - Imagination International Inc.; Petite Oval Small Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Leaves #2 Die - Sizzix; Label Layers 3 Die - Wplus9

Fall Blessings

2011-11-07T22:22:00.005-05:00

I've got a quick share for you tonight and then I'm going to head to bed. Does changing the clocks make anyone else feel out of whack?

I made this card for this week's CASE Study challenge. Love the negative die cut.

I'm not quite ready to dive fully into Christmas yet, I feel like Halloween went by in a blip, and I'm still hanging on to autumn. I used the Season of Thanks stamp set from Wplus9 for this card. The woodgrain background is from the Woodgrain Silhouettes set. I love those two little pumpkins, so cute.

Hope your evening is wonderful, I can't wait to curl up in my flannel sheets!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Season of Thanks, Woodgrain Silhouettes - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Crumb Cake - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
INK: Crumb Cake, Cranberry Crisp, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, So Saffron - Stampin' Up!; Coffee Archival Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Label Layers 3 Die - Wplus9

Magical Day

2011-11-06T16:23:00.006-05:00

Hi-ya friends!

How is your weekend going? We spent some time this afternoon cleaning up our outside patio in preparation for winter. A little sad to put my beloved patio swing to bed, but it was a project we've been meaning to complete, and luckily we had nice weather to do it.

Before I share my card with you today, I want to first say thank you for taking the time to stop and visit me, as well as leave such sweet comments, during the Waltzingmouse SOAP. It means so much to me that you share your feedback!

For Day 1 of the SOAP, I shared a matchbox gift box for packaging holiday treats. Many of you asked for the pattern, and I am happy to say it is ready!

Here is a link to the pattern and instructions for the box. Please note this is not a template and is not scaled to print directly onto your cardstock. It is just a visual to help you make the box, which is super easy, by the way!

Also, here is a link to the Pretzel Shortbread Recipe that I used. I drizzled chocolate on top when I was done to make them extra yummy! If you have any problems or questions, please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. Please be sure to let me know if you make a box yourself - I'd love to see them!

Ok! On to my card for today. This is my creation for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge. Here is the lovely color story.

This month at Wplus9, Dawn is focusing on some behind-the-scenes stuff instead of releasing new stamps, and I for one, was pretty excited about that! It allowed me to choose some things from my wish list that I have been eyeing for a while. My goodies arrived Friday and I sat down to create.

Isn't that peacock just beautiful? You'll find that image along with the sentiment and background stamp in the Magical Moments set. I'm really pleased with this one, which will be sent off to one of my girlies for her birthday later this month.

Glad to see you here today, later gators!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Magical Moments, Mehndi Medallions - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Going Gray, Barely Banana - Stampin' Up!; Soft Stone - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Hazel "Mother" Meadow (Stella & Rose) - My Mind's Eye
INK: Slate, Lemon Whip - Amuse|Studio
OTHER: Light Pink Rhinestones - Kaisercraft; Buttercream Baker's Twine - The Twinery; Mother of Pearl Button; Sewing machine

WMS November SOAP - Day 4

2011-11-04T03:00:00.001-04:00

Hi there. Thank you for joining me for the past few days of the November SOAP at Waltzingmouse Stamps. Today concludes our festivities, and I hope you have been inspired.

I'm starting today off with another card made using Candy Jar Christmas Fillers. I've had this card in my head for a while now, and I love how it turned out on paper.

This card is larger than normal (8" x 4.5") to make room for those delicious jars. They are resting on their own fancy doilies and some plaid patterned paper created using Off Beat Backgrounds.

My last project for this month's SOAP is another home decor or gift item. It started out as a desk organizer / photo cube and turned into a cute decoration for just about anywhere!

I started by removing the glass from the frames and spray painting the piece white (it was originally black, purchased from Kohl's). Then I decorated each panel, putting holiday sentiments in two and images in the others. I combined elements from Nutcracker Sweet, Holiday Labels No. 14, and Compliments of the Season for the frames. Here are shots of each side.

I filled my cube with candy canes, which would make a great table centerpiece or be a fun thing to put by the front door. You could also use the cube to present a gift.. fill it with some bath wash and lotion, or some hot chocolate packets and cookies.. lots of options! What is great then is that the packaging is easily incorporated into the recipient's home decor.

Well that is it for me today! We hope that you have enjoyed and have been inspired by this month's Stamp of Approval Parade, highlighting Claire's lovely Christmas and holiday sets. Now it’s time for you to get your craftiness on as we invite you to participate in a CASE (Copy and Share Everything) competition.

Find a card or project from any of the projects posted over the past few days by the WMS Design Team, CASE that project using Waltzingmouse Stamp images, and link it using the Inlinkz on Claire’s blog. At the end of the competition, one project will be randomly selected to be highlighted with a Parade of its own on several of the Design Team blogs.

We hope you will enjoy this competition and that it will inspire you be creative. You have one week to complete and link your project as the competition will close at 8:00 AM Claire’s time on November 10th, which is 3 AM Eastern, 2 AM Central and Midnight, Pacific time. The winner will be announced on Claire’s blog on November 11th.

Here are the other ladies sharing projects today:

Anya Schrier - you're here!
Becca Feeken
Clare Buswell
Julia Aston
Jennifer Holmes
Kate Whelan
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker
Claire Brennan (Owner)

Thanks for visiting!

Anya

Recipe
Christmas Candy Jar Card
STAMPS: Candy Jar Christmas Fillers, Off Beat Backgrounds - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Real Red - Stampin' Up!; White - Papertrey Ink
INK: Onyx Black VersaFine - Tsukineko; Real Red, Pool Party - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Pure Poppy Twill - Papertrey Ink; Die Cut Lace Tags, Baker's Twine - Martha Stewart Crafts; Copic Markers (R29, R46, BG11, E35) - Imagination International, Inc.

Holiday Altered Photo Cube
STAMPS: Nutcracker Sweet, Holiday Labels No. 14, Compliments of the Season - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Oh Joy Collection - Cosmo Cricket
INK: Rich Cocoa Memento - Tsukineko; Latte, Lemon Whip - Amuse|Studio; Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Labels 14 - Spellbinders Paper Arts; Alpine, Arctic Snowflake Punch - Martha Stewart Crafts; Copic Markers - Imagination International, Inc.; Adhesive Rhinestones

WMS November SOAP - Day 3

2011-11-03T03:00:00.002-04:00

Good morning!

Thank you for joining me here for Day 3 of the November SOAP for Waltzingmouse Stamps. In case you're just dropping by, non-release months at Waltzingmouse Stamps are a time for us to take another look at previously released sets and share some inspiration, now that your orders have probably arrived! This month we are using any of the WMS Christmas sets to help you get a jump start on the holidays.

The card I would like to share with you today was made using Nordic Winter. I've seen a lot of these particular patterns in the colors red, blue, and gray and wanted to create my own interpretation for this card.

I have really been loving using different cardstock strips for my card fronts lately. Fun to combine different patterns and widths. I will never get tired of using this set.

Today I also have a home decor project to share with you. I love to make these, but always struggle with photographing them. Bill helped me this time and did a fantastic job, but I wish you could see how this project looks in real life.

Using 2011 Holiday Ornaments and last year's Vintage Ornaments, I created a holiday garland.

I alternated ornaments from each set (die cut with their coordinating dies) and stuck with a traditional color combination of red, green, and tan.

The Vintage Ornaments were embellished with a little paper rosette. Recently I picked up Martha's Scoring Board and used it here to create my own mini rosettes. Each of the ornaments were finished off with a healthy dose of glitter and strung together on a length of baker's twine.

I really love how this turned out and the length was perfect to go across my fireplace mantle.

I hope you enjoyed my projects for today, here is the list of the other Design Team members sharing inspiration!

Anya Schrier - you are here!
Becca Feeken
Clare Buswell
Julia Aston
Jennifer Holmes
Kelly Schirmer
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker
Claire Brennan (Owner)

See you tomorrow!

Anya

Recipe
Nordic Merry Christmas Card
STAMPS: Nordic Winter - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Night of Navy, Going Gray - Stampin' Up!; Rustic Cream, Fine Linen - Papertrey Ink
INK: Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy - Stampin' Up!; Slate - Amuse|Studio
OTHER: Corner Chomper - We R Memory Keepers; Rustic Cream Button Twine - Papertrey Ink; Red Button

Holiday Ornament Garland
STAMPS: 2011 Holiday Ornaments, Vintage Ornaments, Candy Jar Christmas Fillers - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Rustic Cream - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: For the Record Collection - Echo Park Paper Co.
INK: Poppy Parade, Wild Wasabi, Crumb Cake - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter - Stampin' Up!; 2010, 2011 Heirloom Ornament Dies - Spellbinders Paper Arts; Baker's Twine - Martha Stewart Crafts

WMS November SOAP - Day 2

2011-11-02T03:00:00.001-04:00

Morning, all!

Welcome to Day 2 of the November Waltzingmouse SOAP. Back today with more Christmas creations!

Leading things off today is a card inspired by this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge (have you played along?).

I know I've said this before, but nothing brings me more pleasure than pulling out a bunch of WMS sets and combining little bits from each. That, my friends, is versatility!

For this card, I used images from Festive Foliage (one of my most favorite sets ever), 2011 Holiday Ornaments, Gingham & Co., and then topped it off with a big, bold sentiment from Say It Loud - Winter Holiday. Stamping happiness!

For my second project, I made a little shadowbox ornament perfect for the tree, to decorate a present - whatever!

I started by creating and assembling a little box, and then I lined it with patterned paper. All the images I used to create my little Christmas scene are from A Cottage Christmas. There are lots of layers and lots of glitter on this one!

A ribbon is threaded through the top so the shadowbox can be hung up. A bit of batting was added to the front of the shadowbox to resemble snow. This was a fun project, and one that would be great with kiddos! I can think of oodles of other Waltzingmouse sets that would be great for this project.

So that's me for today - as always, thank you so much for stopping by and leaving such lovely comments. I am working on the pattern for the box I shared yesterday, so I will make sure to let you know when that is ready. Thank you for requesting it!

Here are the other Design Team members that will wow you today:

Anya Schrier - you are here!
Becca Feeken
Julia Aston
Jennifer Holmes
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker
Claire Brennan (Owner)

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
Holiday Joy Card
STAMPS: Festive Foliage, 2011 Holiday Ornaments, Gingham & Co., Say It Loud - Winter Holiday - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Scarlet Jewel, Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
INK: Currant, Latte - Amuse|Studio; Handsome Hunter, Early Espresso - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Buttercream Baker's Twine - The Twinery; Apron Lace Punch - Fiskars; Swiss Dots Embossing Folder - Provo Craft; Smoky Quartz Glitter - Martha Stewart Crafts; Sewing machine

Christmas Cottage Shadowbox
STAMPS: A Cottage Christmas - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Peppermint Collection - Crate Paper
INK: Tuxedo Black Memento - Tsukineko; Real Red - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Simple Scallop Punch - Martha Stewart Crafts; Dazzling Diamonds Glitter - Stampin' Up!; Copic Markers - Imagination International, Inc.; Red Satin Ribbon

WMS November SOAP - Day 1

2011-11-01T03:00:00.002-04:00

ETA: Here is a link to the pattern and instructions for the shortbread box featured below. Here is a link to the Pretzel Shortbread Recipe. Enjoy!

Hi there!

Today is the first day of the Waltzingmouse Stamps November Stamp of Approval Parade (SOAP), our festivities for non-release months. This month will be very exciting! For the next four days, Claire and the Design Team will be sharing projects made with any and all of the WMS Christmas stamps! Can anyone say loads of card and gift-giving inspiration just in time for the holidays? Yay!

Each day I will be sharing a card as well as a home decor or gifty type project with you. Let's get to it!

First up is a cheery little card made using Candy Jar Christmas Fillers. With layout inspiration from this week's CASE Study challenge, I set out to create a festive little number with the gingerbread men. I also love the peppermint background. That pattern will make another appearance, I'm sure!

To go along with those yummy guys, I thought some treats would be in order for today. I whipped up a batch of Martha's Pretzel Shortbread Bars and some quick packaging.

The cookie box is like a matchbox, the inside slides into an outer sleeve. If you're interested, I will upload a pattern for you.

The box was decorated with the branch and berry images from Around Christmastime. The label was created and customized (love it!) with images from Candy Jar Christmas, which fit perfectly onto the Labels 2 Die from Spellbinders.

I also created a little seal for the inside packaging, again using one of the images from Candy Jar Christmas, stamped onto adhesive vellum and punched out with a circle punch.

I couldn't possibly leave you without sharing a picture of the goods. I drizzled chocolate over top of the shortbread once it was cool. The recipe didn't call for it, but that's the kind of girl I am. It is delish. This little box would be perfect for a friend or co-worker. Just enough to share with a hot cup of tea!

So glad to see you here today, here are the links for the other Design Team members that are sharing projects:

Anya Schrier
Becca Feeken
Julia Aston
Jennifer Holmes
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker
Claire Brennan (Owner)

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
Holiday Hugs Card
STAMPS: Candy Jar Christmas Fillers - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Creamy Caramel, Riding Hood Red - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
INK: Riding Hood Red - Stampin' Up!; Onyx Black VersaFine - Tsukineko; Vintage Photo Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Standard Circle Large, Classic Scalloped Circle Large - Spellbinders Paper Arts; Tiny Tags Die - Papertrey Ink; Bakers Twine, Crystal Fine Glitter - Martha Stewart Crafts; Copic Markers (E35, YG67, BG0000) - Imagination International; Adhesive rhinestones - Recollections; Sewing machine

Home Bakery Cookie Box
STAMPS: Around Christmastime, Candy Jar Christmas - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Creamy Caramel - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
INK: Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler - Stampin' Up!; Coffee Archival Ink, Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Labels Two Nestabilities - Spellbinders Paper Arts; Scarlet Jewel Saddle Stitch Ribbon - Papertrey Ink

Trick or Treat

2011-10-31T15:00:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween!

I think you know how much I love Halloween, but we don't get many trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood. So I make sure I put some treats together for my nieces and nephews to help get my treat giving fix.

I used this template from Anna Wight to package up some cute Halloween pencils I found at Target.

These were super easy to put together. I made the box then just layered some patterned paper and added a label made from images from WMS' Midnight Feast. I don't think Allison was too thrilled about getting pencils, she said "Pencils?! We have tons of pencils all over this house." Then I gave her some candy and she was happy ;) She is too funny.

Glad you could stop by - hope your Halloween festivities are downright spooky!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Midnight Feast - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Kiwi Kiss, Peach Parfait - Stampin' Up!; Smokey Shadow - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Crows (Blackbird Collection) - My Mind's Eye; Skeleton (Toil & Trouble Collection) - Making Memories
INK: Black Onyx VersaFine - Tsukineko
OTHER: Standard, Pinking Circles - Spellbinders Paper Arts; Bat punch - Martha Stewart Crafts

Thinking of You

2011-10-30T20:40:00.004-04:00

Good evening!

How is it going in your neck of the woods? I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but yesterday morning we woke up to SNOW! Not only was it snowing, but laying, too. It was totally crazy but I secretly loved it! With all that has been going on around here, it feels like autumn went by in a blur and it almost was time for Christmas. I know, jumping the gun, but it will be here before you know it.

It feels like it has been so long, but I spent some quality time in my studio this weekend and put together a card for this week's Play Date Cafe color challenge. Here is the color story for this week. I'll take a cup of whatever that warm beverage is, please!

Here's what I came up with for this color challenge.

I combined images from Very Vintage Greetings, Woodgrain Silhouettes and Woodgrain Silhouettes Additions from Wplus9.

I have been so inspired recently by Jinny Newlin's creations, particularly this card and this layout. I just love her scrappy collage style and tried to emulate that with this card. What fun to pile the stuff on!

I'm so glad to see you stop by this evening, thank you!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Very Vintage Greetings, Woodgrain Silhouettes, Woodgrain Silhouettes Additions - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Crumb Cake, Buckaroo Blue - Stampin' Up!; Rustic Cream - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Postmarks - Papertrey Ink
INK: Buckaroo Blue - Stampin' Up!; Latte - Amuse|Studio; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Postage Stamp punch - Fiskars; Crocheted lace - JoAnn Fabric Stores; Sewing machine

Need Some Inspiration?

2011-10-26T12:39:00.003-04:00

Cath Edvalson at the Moxie Fab World Blog is hosting a Halloween Blog Bop today. Lots of fantastic inspiration and lovelies to look at! (Yours truly even has a little something in it!)

I head home tomorrow, and after that hop I'm looking forward to some time back in my studio to create a little Halloween goodness.

Hope your day is fantastic!

Anya

My Nice List

2011-10-24T21:53:00.004-04:00

Hi there.

I hope you had a nice weekend. I am traveling for work this week, so I was trying to cram a lot into those two days. I was really hoping to get much more done than I did, but I had a great day enjoying the weather with Bill on Saturday, and that's really what its all about.

Anyway, I did manage to make something for this week's CASE Study challenge. This card was swishing around in my head as soon as I saw Niki's inspiration for this week.

I pulled out my new Candy Jar Christmas set to create this card. I used the Tim Holtz Rosette Die to create my little award ribbon. The patterned paper is a new acquisition - the Peppermint Collection from Crate Paper.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope your day is great!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Candy Jar Christmas, Candy Jar Christmas Fillers - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Pink Pirouette - Stampin' Up!; Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Peppermint Collection - Crate Paper
INK: Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Rosette Die - Tim Holtz for Sizzix; Corner Chomper - We R Memory Keepers; Standard Circle, Pinking Circle Nestabilities - Spellbinders Paper Arts; Sewing machine

Fall Blessings

2011-10-20T13:22:00.005-04:00

Hi-ya!

Fall is definitely in the air today here. So here's a cute fall card, especially for you.

I used the Wplus9 set Season of Thanks to create this card. I started by stamping each of the three block images onto different colored cardstock with Coffee Archival Ink. I cut each of these blocks out and adhered them to a piece of cardstock that had been trimmed with my pinking blade and stitched around the outside. That piece was then adhered to a card base that had been covered with plaid patterned paper.

This is a larger card, approximately 4 by 7 inches. I love making this size card, I wish I could remember to do so more often.

So what is fall like where you live? It is my favorite season, and I can't wait for this weekend when Bill and I head out for a drive to take in the fall foliage, pick up some pumpkins and enjoy the crisp air. I love it. Thank you for stopping in!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Season of Thanks - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, Really Rust - Stampin' Up!; Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Autumn Abundance - Papertrey Ink
INK: Coffee Archival Ink, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Dark Chocolate Twill - Papertrey Ink; Pinking Blade - Fiskars; Vintage button; Sewing machine

Grateful Greetings

2011-10-18T13:07:00.006-04:00

Hello, my blog friends!

How are you? I apologize for quietly ducking out of the end of the WMS release festivities, but somewhere along the way I decided to acquire strep throat. It wasn't one of my better decisions! By the time Friday night rolled around (right in time with the start of my 10 year college reunion!) I started to feel less than stellar. I am medicated now, though, and hopefully on the up and up. I still haven't had my chance to play with Candy Jar Christmas and the Fillers set, but we do have the November SOAP coming up soon! I can't wait!

Today, though, I am sharing my weekly last minute challenge card. I saw the colors for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge and knew I couldn't miss it. Yummy, yum, yum!!

I immediately thought about a cozy sweater and didn't hesitate to reach for the new Nordic Winter set from Waltzingmouse.

My card layout was inspired by this week's CASE Study Challenge. I incorporated some felt onto my card, and also embossed the main panel with a canvas impression plate.. although subtle, it still slightly resembles fabric ;) I love the way this card looks - these patterns are just as suited for fall as winter.

The sentiment, which I just love, is from Season of Thanks.. a Wplus9 set that I just couldn't get out of my head! I also couldn't resist adding the cute little acorns.

Glad to see you here today, I hope you have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Nordic Winter - Waltzingmouse Stamps; Season of Thanks - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Island Indigo, Basic Gray - Stampin' Up!; Rustic Cream - Papertrey Ink
INK: Island Indigo, Cajun Craze, Basic Gray - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen, Walnut Stain Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Terracotta Tile Felt, Mat Stack 4 Die, Ric Rac Border Die, Linen & Canvas Impression Plate - Papertrey Ink; Sewing machine

WMS October Release - Day 3

2011-10-14T03:00:00.002-04:00

Hi there!

Today is our third day of previews for this month's WMS release. We are previewing two sets today, 2011 Holiday Ornament and Santa's Coming to Town.

My first project is a blatant CASE of Cristina Kowalczyk. She created these fabulous mini notebooks, and I just loved the simple design.

I used images from Santa's Coming to Town, a small 4x6 set, to make my notebooks.

And a second...

These were quick and easy to make. Thank you for the inspiration, Cristina!

Next up is 2011 Holiday Ornament. These, of course, coordinate with the 2011 Heirloom Ornament dies from Spellbinders. This is a gift card or money holder, and would still be a beautiful tree decoration!

I stamped, embossed, and die cut three different sized ornaments. Using silver jump rings, I attached the ornaments to each other so they would hang nicely.

To create the gift card pocket, I just die cut a second ornament and snipped off the top. I adhered it to the back of my stamped and embossed ornament just around the outside.

For this largest ornament, I embossed it once with silver embossing powder and then once again with clear embossing powder. I cut out the scrolled pattern from the clear embossed ornament and adhered it to the silver one - I wanted a bit more contrast with this large ornament. I think it almost looks velvet, isn't it pretty?

And a final shot - it really hangs nicely, but was hard to photograph.

These ornaments are beautiful, and really make a great presentation for a gift card or money gift!

Here are the other ladies for today!

Anya Schrier - that's me!
Becca Feeken
Belinda Chang Langner
Clare Buswell
Julia Aston
Jennifer Holmes
Kate Whelan
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Niki Estes
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker
Claire Brennan (Owner)

See you tomorrow!

Anya

Recipe
Making His List Mini Notebook
STAMPS: Santa's Coming to Town (available October 15th) - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Jolly By Golly - Cosmo Cricket
INK: Garden Green, Bravo Burgundy - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: Sewing machine

Be Good Mini Notebook
STAMPS: Santa's Coming to Town (available October 15th) - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Jolly By Golly - Cosmo Cricket
INK: Regal Rose, Baja Breeze - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: Adhesive Rhinestone - Recollections; Sewing machine

Ornament Trio Gift Card Holder
STAMPS: 2011 Holiday Ornament (available October 15th) - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Scarlet Jewel - Papertrey Ink
INK: VersaMark - Tsukineko
OTHER: Filigree Silver, Filigree Clear Embossing Powder - Stewart Superior; 2011 Heirloom Ornament Die - Spellbinders; Silver Jump Rings - Darice

WMS October Release - Day 2

2011-10-13T03:00:00.001-04:00

Good morning!

Today is our second day of previews for the Waltzingmouse Stamps October release. Six new sets will be released on October 15th. Today's set is spot-on, super trendy! Fair Isles patterns have been popping up all over not just the paper crafting world, but also fashion and home decor. Claire has designed a set called Nordic Winter, and it is the most fabulous background set featuring these patterns! I can tell you right now, this set will be a staple for my holiday creations.

My first card uses one of the coordinating images from the set to create a patchwork pattern. Stamped and punched out with a 1-3/8 inch square punch, the squares were then layered onto some cream cardstock and stitched together. I topped it off with a bow. I left a sentiment off the card, but could see a cute little tag up top with holiday wishes. It would also make a cute baby or birthday card, too!

My second card was inspired by this photo, which popped up in a Google image search for 'Fair Isles' - this is a great way to find ideas and inspiration!

{Photo Credit}

Here is the spin I put on it.

I started by printing out the Stocking Gift Card Holder (a free template in the WMS store!) onto a piece each of cream and brown cardstock. I stamped a combination of the background images in shades of pink and brown onto the cream stocking. One thing I just love about these images are the detail! If you look closely, you can see individual 'stitches'! I adhered the pieces together per the instructions, putting the cream stocking onto the brown base. I added an extra strip at the top that had been punched with a scalloped border punch and stamped with additional images and a sentiment from the set.

I have so many ideas for this set! I can't wait to have more time to use it, and I hope what you've seen so far does the set justice! It will be a favorite of yours for sure!

Thank you so much for your visit today, here are the other Design Team members that are sharing previews today:

Anya Schrier - you're here!
Becca Feeken
Belinda Chang Langner
Julia Aston
Jennifer Holmes
Kate Whelan
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Niki Estes
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker
Claire Brennan (Owner)

Take care!

Anya

Recipe
Nordic Patchwork Card
STAMPS: Nordic Winter (available October 15th) - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Sahara Sand, Pink Pirouette, Soft Sky, Pale Plum - Stampin' Up!; Spring Moss, Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
INK: Riding Hood Red, Island Indigo, Garden Green, Perfect Plum - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Lavender Moon Satin Ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Sewing machine

Nordic Stocking Gift Card Holder
STAMPS: Nordic Winter (available October 15th) - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Early Espresso - Stampin' Up!; Rustic Cream - Papertrey Ink
INK: Early Espresso, Regal Rose, Melon Mambo - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Stocking Gift Card Holder Template - Waltzingmouse Stamps; Pink Sorbet Baker's Twine - The Twinery; Antique Linen Distress Stain - Ranger Industries; Scalloped Border Punch - Stampin' Up!; Sewing machine

WMS October Release - Day 1

2011-10-12T03:00:00.002-04:00

{This is my second post of the day. To see my Serendipity Stamps DT challenge post, please scroll down or click here!}

Hello there, my friends!

Can you believe it is already time for another Waltzingmouse Stamps release? Six new sets are being released on October 15 - Claire is pushing the schedule to get these babies out to you, and you won't be sorry!! Today we are sharing previews of Seasonal Remedies, a holiday version to follow up the very popular Rescue Remedies!

The set features a variety of labels designed around Christmas and other holiday sentiments, and of course they coordinate with Spellbinders dies! How about some projects?

To create the focal point of this card, I started by heat embossing the Joy label onto Crumb Cake cardstock. I stamped it again using purple ink and then cut out the letters. Then I embossed it onto melon cardstock and cut out the little banners. The bold, graphic features of this particular label made this paper piecing easy. I layered it onto a doily that had been swiped with white ink then onto another piece of cardstock that had been stamped with a snowflake image from another new set we'll share later this week.

Here is some treat packaging. Starting with a plain brown paper bag, I stamped a variety of the label images with Versamark ink and then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. This really helped to add something to the packaging without overwhelming the design. Then I stamped the snowflake label (yep, a perfect companion to the label image from Very Vintage Christmas) and die cut it using the coordinating Spellbinders label die. The Goodwill sentiment was stamped in the interior of the label.

I created a patterned paper band for the top of the bag and then tied a bow with grosgrain ribbon. I used some other holiday fixins, including a berry sprig and rusty jingle bells, and together with my tag, adhered them to my bag with a clothespin. These tags are awesome, my dears. The detail is just amazing and exactly what you'd expect from WMS!

My last card for today features another of the square labels... and perhaps images from another set we'll showcase later this week. ;)

This is a favorite color combination of mine for the holidays - I just love red and teal together. Again, this label was stamped twice: once in navy and again in red. I then cut out the center portion of the red image and adhered it to the navy. These labels, of course, would also be stunning colored in and I can't wait to hop around to the other Design Team ladies to see what wonders they created! I'll end there for today.. what do you think so far?

I will be back tomorrow with more previews, I hope you will stop back! Until then, here are the other Design Team ladies sharing previews today! Enjoy!

Anya Schrier - that's me!
Becca Feeken
Belinda Chang Langner
Claire Brennan
Jennifer Holmes
Julia Aston
Kate Whelan
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Niki Estes
Sandie Dunne
Sarah Martina Parker
Tosha Leyendekker

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
Pure Joy Card
STAMPS: Seasonal Remedies, Santa's Coming to Town (available October 15) - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Melon Berry - Papertrey Ink; Crumb Cake, Ruby Red - Stampin' Up!
INK: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: French Pastry Doily Die - Cheery Lynn Designs; Detail White Embossing Powder - Stampendous; Adhesive Rhinestones - Recollections

Goodwill Treat Bag
STAMPS: Seasonal Remedies (available October 15) - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Dear Mr. Claus - Cosmo Cricket
INK: Handsome Hunter, Cherry Cobbler - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Filigree Clear Embossing Powder - Stewart Superior; Labels Small Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Vintage Cream Grosgrain Ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Rusty Jingle Bells, Berry Sprig, Clothespin, Paper Bag - JoAnn Fabrics Stores

Old Fashioned Christmas Cheer Card
STAMPS: Seasonal Remedies, Nordic Winter (available October 15) - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Riding Hood Red, Tempting Turquoise - Stampin' Up; Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
INK: Riding Hood Red, Tempting Turquoise, Night of Navy, Going Gray - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Sewing machine

Here's to the Blessings

2011-10-12T00:00:00.000-04:00

Hi there! Today is a Serendipity Stamps DT challenge day, and today we're using an inspiration photo to kick start our creativity.

(Photo Credit)

I love the rich colors and warmth of this photo. This is the card I created based on that inspiration.

The image and sentiment are from the Sweetgum & Acorns Cling Set. The image was stamped with Versamark, heat embossed with gold embossing powder, then cut out. I love the detail of this image, it would be a beautiful one to color.

Thanks for stopping by today. Please be sure to visit the other Design Team members playing along today to see their take on this challenge!

Amy
Jenny
Kathie
Lynda
Miriam

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Sweetgum & Acorns Cling Set (929QCL) - Serendipity Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Enchanted Evening, Rustic Cream - Papertrey Ink; Really Rust - Stampin' Up!
INK: Coffee Archival Ink, Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Filigree Gold Embossing Powder - Stewart Superior; Linen and Canvas Impression Plate, Rustic Cream Button Twine - Papertrey Ink; Sewing machine

Creepy Crawly

2011-10-11T09:50:00.007-04:00

Morning!

I am back from my vacation, and ready for a break! Hah! Let's just say dive vacations aren't very relaxing, but we did have an amazing time. Pictures are forthcoming!

To jump right back into the swing of things, I pulled up my favorite challenge blogs and combined this week's challenges. There is a fun Halloween color story this week from The Play Date Cafe, and a great inspiration card from this month's muse, Niki Estes, over at CASE study!

I mixed the two together, and here is what I made!

All the images I used are from Wplus9's A Pocketful: Halloween. These little spiders have the cutest expressions :)

I used a Copic multiliner to extend the spider lines so that they would fit behind my sentiment.

I stamped the spider image a second time onto green cardstock and then cut out the spider bodies only and added them to my card with dimensional tape. My favorite is the little guy at the bottom that looks like he's jumping right off the page.

I am glad to be back and so glad that you have stopped by today! Did you know that tomorrow Waltzingmouse Stamps is starting previews for their new release? It is true! And I promise you, you will not want to miss a minute of it - I hope to see you then!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: A Pocketful: Halloween - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Lucky Limeade, Lavender Lace, Orchid Opulence, Basic Black - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
INK: Jet Black Archival Ink, Antique Linen, Black Soot Distress Ink - Ranger Industries; Lavender Lace - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: Standard Circles Small, Large Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Spiral Notebook Page Die - Papertrey Ink; Swiss Dots Embossing Folder - ProvoCraft; Plum Pudding Button - Papertrey Ink; Charcoal Baker's Twine - The Twinery

Get Well

2011-10-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

Hello, my friends!

We're on the last leg of our vacation.. I bet you didn't even know we were gone! We'll be back later this weekend, and I will be back to posting live! :)

I wanted to share a Get Well card with you today, one I made for a dear friend of mine who is recovering from successful breast cancer surgery. Say a little prayer of thanks along with me, won't you?

I used Wplus9's A Pocketful set to create this card.

The little cluster of flowers is sized perfectly for the little pocket, so I simply stamped it twice for the larger pocket. I stamped the flowers again on to scrap cardstock so I could cut out a few and pop them up on my card. I added the Get Well sentiment to the label image. After I had the design together, I felt like it was missing something, so I stamped just a portion of the fancy stitched image along the left hand side.

And since I was making this card with a recipient in mind, I even finished the inside :)

The inside sentiment helps to tie the whole pocket theme together, and helped to keep the front a little less busy. I used a combination of words to build my phrase - I love it when I have this flexibility!

I'm so glad that you stopped by today. I can't wait to tell you all about our trip - have a great one! See you soon!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: A Pocketful - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink; Baja Breeze - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Fly a Kite - October Afternoon
INK: Real Red, Sahara Sand, Baja Breeze, Wild Wasabi - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Star Dust Stickles - Ranger Industries; Sewing machine

Country Living Fair

2011-10-05T09:00:00.001-04:00

Hi there!

A few weekends ago, I made the drive west to attend the Country Living Fair in Columbus, Ohio. I went last year and really enjoyed it (I posted about it here), and made a point to attend again this year. I don't have anything crafty to share with you today, but I thought I'd share a few photos that I took at the Fair, just some things I saw. If you ever have the opportunity to attend, I would completely recommend it. Full of fun crafty things, antiques, beautiful displays - it is great inspiration! I even had the chance to meet the perfectly adorable Jenni Bowlin. What fun!

Fun shadow boxes full of random bits and pieces.

White table, white chair, white pumpkin.

Tower of fabric pumpkins.

Ribbons, and buttons, and trim - oh my!

This combination of a blue mason jar of fall flowers + chippy patio chairs = simple beauty.

Old suitcase full of lace.

I hope you enjoyed! Have a lovely day!

Anya

Wanda's Witch's Brew

2011-10-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday!

How about some Witch's Brew?

I just love creating for Halloween. It is so much fun! I combined a bunch of different elements with the Witch's Brew label from the Wanda's Pantry stamp set to create this card.

The patterned paper is of old apothecary labels and was a perfect fit. After stamping and die-cutting the label, I scrunched and crunched it up before inking it with Black Soot Distress Ink. Like it just came off of Wanda's pantry shelf!

Thanks for stopping by!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Wanda's Pantry - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Soft Stone, Spring Moss - Papertrey Ink; Elegant Eggplant, Basic Black - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Annonce (Avignon Collection) - 7gypsies
INK: Jet Black Archival Ink, Black Soot Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Labels Four Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Dusty Concord Distress Reinker - Ranger Industries; Bat punch - Martha Stewart Crafts; Sugared Grape Cabbage Rose Ribbon - MemrieMare; Crocheted lace - JoAnn Fabrics stores

Thinking of You

2011-10-01T08:00:00.002-04:00

Good morning, how are you?

I'm so glad you are here today! I have a card to share that I made with Wplus9's Woodgrain Silhouettes Additions set. I adore this set.. all those gorgeous leaves!

I layered the leaves onto the plain frame image from Very Vintage Greetings, which I had stamped onto patterned paper and cut out. The sentiment is from the same set, and the font is gorgeous. I added some button embellishments to compliment the colors. I really like this card!

So glad to see you here, I hope your day is great!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Woodgrain Silhouettes Additions, Very Vintage Greetings - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: White, Fine Linen - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: 5 & Dime - October Afternoon
INK: Not Quite Navy, Pear Pizzazz - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Enchanted Evening buttons - Papertrey Ink

Halloween Wishes

2011-09-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hi-ya friends!

How about a Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge card? I made this for last week's sketch, #66. Here is the sketch, I love circle cards!

And here is the card I created.

I used images from Hocus Pocus and combined them with patterned paper from My Mind's Eye. This is a fun sketch, I hope you played along!

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Hocus Pocus - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Basic Gray, Basic Black - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Mischevious Collection - My Mind's Eye
INK: Jet Black Archival Ink, Black Soot Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Big Scalloped Circles, Standard Circles Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Tin Type Sprinklers Spray Ink - October Afternoon; Black Adhesive Rhinestone; Sewing machine

Trick or Treat

2011-09-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

Hi there!

Just stopping in for a quick minute to share a card that was published in the September 2011 issue of CardMaker Magazine.

Halloween Party was the first Waltzingmouse set I ever bought, and I have been head over heels in love ever since!

The purple cardstock was stamped with the gothic font from Text It. This font is really quite versatile - it looks amazing with Halloween stuff, but also transitions so well to Christmas!

Thank you for stopping in today - I have some posts scheduled for while I am away, so I hope you'll continue to visit! I'll be thinking of you, my friends!

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Halloween Party, Text It - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Basic Grey, Perfect Plum - Stampin' Up!
INK: Jet Black Archival Ink, Black Soot Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Classic Circle Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Adhesive rhinestones - Recollections

Thanksgiving Blessings

2011-09-26T15:31:00.006-04:00

Hi!

How is your Monday moving? It hasn't been too bad, here!

I have a card to share with you today that I made for this week's Play Date Cafe Color Challenge. A HUGE congratulations to PDCC who is celebrating their 100th challenge this week! How awesome is that!

We have another gorgeous color story this week, and one that is sure to turn your thoughts to fall!

I was so happy for this inspiration, as it gave me a chance to make a card I thought about during the Waltzingmouse release last week but didn't have enough time to make.

Fussy cutting heaven!

I started with a background stamped with the herringbone pattern from Little Box Labels. I stamped the inked up image onto scratch paper first so that the impression wasn't so dark. I love to stamp these images with just light pressure so that they are a little splotchy. I know that might not make sense, but I love the vintage country faded look they have!

The sentiment is a combination from the newly released Say It Loud: Winter Holiday. I stamped it onto cream cardstock and stitched it to my patterned base.

The leaves are from Blessed by You. I stamped a bunch and then cut them out while I watched TV. :) They were the last thing to be added to the card, and I fussed and moved them around a lot before I found an orientation I liked. I couldn't resist adding the little acorns - I don't know what it is about acorns, but I just think they are so darned cute!

Thank you for visiting me here today, please be sure to stop over to the Play Date Cafe and give them a little love and for lots of inspiration in return!

Take care!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Little Box Labels, Blessed by You, Say It Loud: Winter Holiday - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink; Really Rust - Stampin' Up!
INK: Really Rust, Old Olive, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Sewing machine

In Sympathy

2011-09-25T16:36:00.007-04:00

Hi there! How is your weekend going? We are busy here in Casa Schrier .. Bill and I leave for our next vacation soon, and I'm trying to gather our equipment, tie up some loose ends, and snuggle with our puppies as much as possible before we go. This time we're heading to the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles for a week of liveaboard diving with Explorer Ventures. I will be sure to share photos when we get back.

Today I have a card to share that I made for this week's CASE Study Challenge.

I decided to try a different approach to the challenges this week. I was reading Cristina Kowalczyk's blog and she was talking about how, when she is creating for CASE Study, that she looks at the inspiration piece and walks away, writing a few notes about the elements that stood out to her. I liked this idea and thought it would help me feel like my creations were inspirations and not copies.

Here is the inspiration piece for this week from Julie Lacey:

My notes for this card included: layered rectangles, a pop of orange, and woodgrain. Here is what I created.

Initially, I wasn't going to go with the butterflies, but I remembered a set of butterfly stamps I have from Lost Coast Designs, and liked the look. In hindsight, I wish I would have incorporated some stitching along the side, but its too late now.

I painted part of the butterflies with some Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls for a bit of sparkle. Pretend you can see it :)

Thank you for taking the time to stop by today - I hope you have a great evening!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Butterflies Set - Lost Coast Designs; Asian Gardens Additions - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Early Espresso - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Mischevious Collection - My Mind's Eye
INK: Coffee Archival Ink, Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Woodgrain Impression Plate - Papertrey Ink; Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls - Ranger Industries; Dove's Nest Cabbage Rose Ribbon - MemrieMare; Vintage button; Paper piercer

Sending You Hugs

2011-09-22T15:17:00.005-04:00

Hi there!

Last night I sat down at my desk and realized I had no crafty obligations! I work well with a schedule, but sometimes its fun to make something just for the heck of it. So I thought I'd try this week's Get Sketchy challenge from My Favorite Things and combine it with the new First Class Friend set that was just waiting to get inky.

Here is the sketch:

And here is the card that I made.

As I said, I used the new First Class Friend stamp set and coordinating dies. All the little bits and pieces in this set are fun to combine. I paired my stamped, die-cut piece with some October Afternoon patterned paper and an embossed piece of Wisteria Wonder cardstock. I feel like I am the worst ribbon-tier in the world, so I opted for a button instead of a bow.

Isn't this fun? My closest girl friends live out-of-town, so cards like these are perfect for a little hello. I am so grateful that you stopped by today - thank you!

And while we're on the subject of thanks, I would like to thank the lovely ladies over at the Play Date Cafe for choosing my card as the Cup of the Week. I sure do love playing along with these challenges! You should see the gorgeous colors for this week! :)

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: First Class Friend - My Favorite Things
CARDSTOCK: Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder - Stampin' Up!; Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Fly a Kite - October Afternoon
INK: Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder, Going Gray - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: First Class Friend Die-namics - My Favorite Things; Script Texture Embossing Folder - ProvoCraft; Plum Pudding button - Papertrey Ink; Linen thread - Stampin' Up!; Sewing machine

Boo!

2011-09-21T09:02:00.003-04:00

ETA: Oh! Just a quick note about the recipes I posted yesterday. Dorothy C. asked if the cardamom and anise seeds were necessary for the Bundt cake recipe. Dorothy, the first time I made the recipe I didn't have cardamom, so I used pumpkin pie spice (a mix of spices) instead. It gave it a subtle spicy cinnamon flavor and I would not hesitate to use pumpkin pie spice (or something similar, like nutmeg or ginger) again. I am a recipe experimenter - if I don't have something, I either leave it out or substitute something else. So far, that has worked out ok :) I don't like anise either, so I left it out all together and certainly didn't miss it! Enjoy!

Good morning! I am here today to share this week's Serendipity Stamps DT challenge. We were challenged to create a project using something from Serendipity's Halloween stamps combined with floss or twine.

I chose to use the Spider Cling Set so I could create a web out of embroidery floss.

I started by stamping the spider onto my gray cardstock for reference. Then, I lightly sketched in a web with a pencil. I used a paper piercer to poke holes for my stitches, and used embroidery floss and a needle to stitch the web. A second stamped spider cut from scrap gray cardstock was adhered over top with dimensional tape. I added some Stickles to his legs just for fun.

Thanks for stopping by today. Please be sure to visit the other Design Team members playing along today to see their take on this challenge!

Amy
Jenny
Kathie
Lynda
Miriam

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Spider Cling Set (1226QCL) - Serendipity Stamps
CARDSTOCK: True Black, Soft Stone - Papertrey Ink; Tangerine Tango, Going Gray - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Glowing Collection - Authentique Paper
INK: Jet Black Archival Ink, Black Soot Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Upper Crest punch - Fiskars; Brushed Pewter Distress Stickles - Ranger Industries; Ecru embroidery floss

Cake Recipes For You

2011-09-20T15:05:00.006-04:00

Hi there!

How are you? Thank you all so much for stopping by during the countdown for the new Waltzingmouse Stamps release. You have until Thursday to leave a comment on my waltz post for a chance to win!

Somehow I managed to squeeze out another card last night for this week's challenges. But before I get to that, I had many requests from you about my zucchini cake recipes. And because I love you so much, here are the downloadable recipes:

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Zucchini Bundt Cake with Orange Glaze

The ingredients you saw on my recipe card yesterday is only a partial list.. the recipe linked above is the complete recipe. I would love to hear your reactions if you make these.. the Zucchini Bundt is a new favorite of mine. I love baking with zucchini - it makes cakes and bread very moist but really doesn't contribute much in the way of flavor (so its easy to trick kids and husbands!).

Now on to my card. I made this for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge. I also combined it with the CASE Study challenge for this week.

A beautiful color story, isn't it?

I used the Woodgrain Silhouettes set from Wplus9 to make this card. I love fussy cutting these flowers. I also love this new shade of purple, Wisteria Wonder, from Stampin' Up!.

Thanks for stopping by today, I appreciate it so much. I hope you enjoy the cake!

Anya

Recipe
STAMPS: Woodgrain Silhouettes - Wplus9
CARDSTOCK: Wisteria Wonder - Stampin' Up!; Rustic White - Papertrey Ink
INK: Wisteria Wonder, Barely Banana - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Classic Circles, Lacey Circles Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Buttercream Baker's Twine - The Twinery; Adhesive rhinestones - Recollections; Linen and Canvas Impression plate - Papertrey Ink; Sewing Machine

WMS September Release Blog Waltz

2011-09-19T14:00:00.002-04:00

Hi there! Happy release day! Today the four new Waltzingmouse Stamps sets we've been previewing for the past three days will be available for purchase.

You should have arrived here from Niki's blog (did you see her amazing card yesterday?). Claire's blog is the start of the waltz, so head back to her if you're just popping in, she has a list of all the Design Team members participating. Tosh will be your next stop.

As usual, Blog Waltz prizes are up for grabs! One winner will be randomly chosen from the comments left on one of the Design Team blogs, so let us know what you think of the new release! You have until Thursday, September 22 to leave your comments. Winners will be announced on the WMS Blog on the 23rd.

On we go!

Today we are sharing samples using the final set being released, A Cottage Christmas. This set features a snowy, romantic version of the large cottage from A Cottage Home as well as some coordinating elements perfect for holiday gift-giving.

I'm starting off today with some baked goodies.

I started with a gable box, approx. 4.5 by 7 inches, and spritzed it with Pearl Glimmer Mist. Then I stamped the snowman, tree cluster, and star images from A Cottage Christmas onto the acetate window using white Stazon ink.

The tag features images from last year's Vintage Ornaments set as well as two sentiments from A Cottage Christmas. I love the combination of these two together. Tucked inside the gable box is a mini bundt cake - Zucchini Bundt with Orange Glaze (YUM!) all wrapped up pretty in a cello bag.

A recipe card with the cake recipe is also tucked in the box. I stamped the cottage image onto the card with silver ink and then added a strip of pink cardstock stamped with the stars and finished it off with the Home Baked sentiment from the set. The recipe was hand-written (there is something I just love about hand-written recipes.. I love to go back through and look at my Grandma's recipes...) but you could certainly print it out onto your card. This recipe makes 6 of these mini bundt cakes, so one batch could get you started on hostess or coworker gifts! Think in bulk when it comes to the holidays!

I also want to share a card with you, I was so inspired by the DT projects I saw over the past few days I had a few ideas I wanted to put to use.

Jennifer's partial stamping of the cottage image, Claire's embossed house, and Kelly's glittery goodness all came together for this card. I also couldn't wait to see what sort of phrase I could put together using the new Say It Loud: Winter Holidays.

I started off by embossing my cardstock with Spellbinders Snowflakes Impressabilities. Then I brushed it with white pigment ink and had the bright idea of spraying it with spray adhesive (with the die in place) and covering it with glitter. In theory, it worked, but was a *huge* mess. If you like this look, try a different method.. haha! Maybe VersaMark and then embossing powder would be a better route. Rubbing alcohol cleaned it up, but.. not one of my brighter ideas.

A portion of the Christmas Cottage was stamped and embossed, as well as a collection of words from Say It Loud: Winter Holidays and the original Say It Loud. LOVE making my own phrases using these sets. Lots of winter white sparkly goodness on this one!

I don't want to hold you up any longer, and I'm so grateful you stopped by to see me today and listened to all my rambling! I hope you've been enjoying the previews over the past few days. I will be looking forward to seeing your creations popping up in the Gallery (and in the Big Cheese thread) soon!

Tosh is your next stop! Enjoy the rest of the waltz!

Anya

Recipe
Home Baked Gable Box
STAMPS: A Cottage Christmas (available September 19), Vintage Ornaments - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: White, Sweet Blush - Papertrey Ink
INK: White Opaque Stazon - Tsukineko; Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze - Stampin' Up!; Silver Pigment Ink
OTHER: Gable Box - Wilton; 2010 Heirloom Ornament die - Spellbinders; Crystal Fine Glitter - Martha Stewart Crafts; Blossom Baker's Twine - The Twinery; Pearl Glimmer Mist - Tattered Angels

Joy, Peace and Love Card
STAMPS: A Cottage Christmas, Say It Loud: Winter Holidays (available September 19), Say It Loud - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Crumb Cake - Stampin' Up!; Melon Berry - Papertrey Ink
INK: Whisper White - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: Detail White Embossing Powder - Stampendous; Crystal Fine, Crystal Coarse Glitter - Martha Stewart Crafts; Snowflake Impressabilities - Spellbinders; Stone Baker's Twine - The Twinery; Copic markers

WMS September Release Day Three

2011-09-18T02:00:00.002-04:00

Hello, my sweets! I am so glad that you have joined me here for Day 3 of the September Release previews at Waltzingmouse Stamps. Today we are previewing a new Halloween set called Hocus Pocus!

Hocus Pocus is a 4 by 6 inch set that contains a great mix of complimentary or stand-alone images. My favorite image of the set is this old wrought iron fence. The icing on the cake are the little crows you can perch on the fence.

I mixed Hocus Pocus with some older sets to create this graveyard scene. I started by inking up my cardstock with a variety of Distress Inks, blending them until I had the colors that I wanted. Then I stamped my images, the ones in the background are stamped in a dark gray to appear farther off. I used the spooky tree from Asian Gardens and (wait for it) the top of the surfboard from Free Spirit Boy to make my headstones. They are a little difficult to see through all that fog! - a look I achieved by adding some white pigment ink and then blending. Then I stamped that glorious fence and the little crows.

Next up is a card with a new favorite Halloween color combination of mine.

I think I may have developed an unhealthy addiction to patterned paper! Not only that, but I feel the need to use as many patterns as possible at once! I love the striped look of this card, combining some stamped backgrounds as well as printed patterned paper. The 'snowflake' image is so unique, but certainly spooky!

I punched a hole in the left side of my sentiment strip and tied a fancy bow with crinkle ribbon. I used a fine tip glue pen to add a bit of glitter to the sentiment as well... I have a thing for this Onyx glitter from Martha Stewart.

And last but not least, I couldn't resist the temptation to create another Halloween tag for you.

I combined images from a lot of different sets for this one, just bits and pieces here and there, but the witch profile silhouette and sentiment are both from Hocus Pocus.

I started by crinkling up a manila tag and then spreading it flat and spritzing it with a combination of Olive Vine Glimmer Mist and Tin Type Color Mist. I stamped some text from Text It, bats from Midnight Feast, the broom from Hocus Pocus. The witch profile was turned into a cameo using one of the oval images from Cameo Creations and matted with a paper rosette. I used my pinking shears to cut off the scallops and create a new shape for the edge of the rosette. I played around and had fun, digging through my drawers and adding other coordinating elements. I've included a fairly complete supply list below.

Good, good stuff! I'm so glad you stopped by to see me today, now on to my fellow DT members. Seriously, these ladies have been awesome!

Anya Schrier - you're here!
Belinda Chang Langner
Claire Brennan
Clare Buswell
Jennifer Holmes
Julia Aston
Kate Whelan
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Niki Estes
Sandie Dunne
Sarah Martina Parker
Tosha Leyendekker

Have a great day!

Anya

Recipe
Graveyard Scene Card
STAMPS: Hocus Pocus (available September 19), Asian Gardens, Free Spirit Boy - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Elegant Eggplant - Stampin' Up!; Soft Stone - Papertrey Ink
INK: Peeled Paint, Pumice Stone, Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord, Black Soot Distress Ink, Jet Black Archival Ink - Ranger Industries; Whisper White Ink, Basic Gray - Stampin' Up!

Happy Haunting Card
STAMPS: Hocus Pocus (available September 19), Midnight Feast - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Cajun Craze, Baja Breeze, Sahara Sand - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Mischevious Collection - My Mind's Eye
INK: Jet Black Archival Ink, Walnut Stain, Black Soot Distress Ink - Ranger Industries; Cajun Craze - Stampin' Up!
OTHER: Onyx Glitter - Martha Stewart Crafts; Black Magic Cabbage Rose Ribbon - Memrie Mare on Etsy; Postage Stamp punch - Fiskars

Witch Cameo Tag
STAMPS: Hocus Pocus (available September 19), Halloween Party, Midnight Feast, Text It, Cameo Creations - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Ripe Avocado - Papertrey Ink; Going Gray - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Mischevious Collection - My Mind's Eye
INK: Basic Gray, Going Gray, Old Olive - Stampin' Up!; Jet Black Archival Ink, Black Soot Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Manila Tag - Stampers Anonymous; Olive Vine Glimmer Mist - Tattered Angels; Tin Type Color Mist Sprinklers - October Afternoon; Paper Rosette by Tim Holtz Die - Ellison; Pinking Shears - Fiskars; Skeleton Key Embellishments, Specimen Tag, Onyx Glitter - Martha Stewart Crafts; Mini Clothespin; Sewing Machine

WMS September Release Day Two

2011-09-17T02:00:00.003-04:00

Morning all! Thank you for all of your wonderful comments on yesterday's post (I'll post the chocolate zucchini cake recipe next week!) - you are all so sweet.

Welcome to Day 2 of the September Release previews at Waltzingmouse Stamps. Today we are sharing previews of Say It Loud: Winter Holiday. Oh yes, you heard me right! If you loved the original version (I did) then you will really love this next installment (and I do)!!

The name says it all: fantastic build-your-own phrase options for autumn and winter occasions featuring a gorgeous font and endless possibilities! Let me show you.

Oh, that font! Swoon-worthy, don't you think? Also a perfect way to combine today's Friends of WMS Waltz and this week's sketch challenge!

I combined this set with images from yesterday's A Cottage Home (and another new set we'll be previewing tomorrow) to create a spooky scene for Halloween! Nothing like some well-placed cobwebs (I drew them in myself with a Copic multiliner) to take a nice house to something a little haunted!

And another card for today that I must admit I love. It just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Here I combined two of the large script font words, but just like Say It Loud, the Winter Holiday version also has loads of complimentary words in a smaller size. You can combine them all for about a million different occasions. Trust me when I say this set goes beyond just Halloween and Christmas! I can't wait to play around more with some phrase building - I've just scratched the surface!

Here is a list of the other DT ladies sharing previews today. I can't wait to check out what amazingness they have been up to!

Anya Schrier - you're here!
Becca Feeken
Claire Brennan
Clare Buswell
Jennifer Holmes
Julia Aston
Kate Whelan
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Mona Pendleton
Niki Estes
Sandie Dunne
Sarah Martina Parker
Tosha Leyendekker

Don't rush away just yet! Here are the waltz details: if you want to waltz along with us and you haven't yet linked up your project, head to the link list thread in the WMS Forum to link up your creation and view the other participants. There is also a thread for chatting about what you've seen. This month a random waltz participant will be chosen to receive a prize.

Don't forget about the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge either! Whew, its a busy day! Take care!

Anya

Recipe
Halloween Wishes Card
STAMPS: Say It Loud: Winter Holiday, A Cottage Home, Hocus Pocus (available September 19) - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: True Black - Papertrey Ink; Going Gray - Stampin' Up!
PATTERNED PAPER: Toil & Trouble - Making Memories
INK: Tuxedo Black Memento Ink - Tsukineko; Black Soot Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Copic Markers; Rhinestone Swirls - Recollections; Labels Fourteen Dies - Spellbinders Paper Arts; Houndstooth Felt - Hobby Lobby; Baker's Twine - Apple Blossom Paperie on Etsy

Holiday Greetings Card
STAMPS: Say It Loud: Winter Holiday (available September 19), Festive Foliage - Waltzingmouse Stamps
CARDSTOCK: Handsome Hunter - Stampin' Up!; Rustic Cream - Papertrey Ink
PATTERNED PAPER: Dear Mr. Claus - Cosmo Cricket
INK: Mellow Moss, Riding Hood Red - Stampin' Up!; Antique Linen, Walnut Stain Distress Ink - Ranger Industries
OTHER: Cappuccino Baker's Twine - The Twinery; Vintage Wood Snowflakes - Maya Road; Sewing machine