Life Is Tweet Birthday Card

This colorful little birthday card came together easily.  I used CTMH Lagoon cs, and ran the inner piece through my Cuttlebug.  The bird and sentiment are from CTMH's "Life is Tweet" stamp set.  I stamped the bird once on the tag, and then again on a separate piece of paper and cut it out.  I paper pieced the body over the image on the tag so the image went off the tag, but I didn't have to cut around the skinny bird legs.  The punch along the left edge is from EK Success, and the punch around the sentiment is from SU.

Beer Mug Birthday Card

This card was completely lifted off of Pinterest.  I couldn't follow the link because it was blocked, so I'm not sure who originally designed the beer mug, but I think it makes a great guy card.  On mine, I used CTMH's "Victory" paper for the background.  The beer and mug are all paper pieced.  I used CTMH's Goldrush ink and cardstock for the beer.  The sentiment is from CTMH's "Card Chatter - Birthday" stamp set.  Cheers!

She Knows Her Own Strength

     Back to blogging!  I have a lot of new post-Christmas inspiration and hope to spend a lot of time in my studio now.  I bought this stamp set online before Christmas from Artistic Outpost.  I like the image of the woman.  She looks like one tough broad, and I appreciate that.  The B&T papers are from CTMH's "Dakota" set.  I colored the images with Copic markers and distress ink, and distressed everything in black ink.
     Something I've just started experimenting with is art journaling and, along with that, sprays.  Here is an admittedly beginner's art journaling attempt I made:

It's becoming a new obsession, which is just what I need--a new reason to buy more art supplies.  This page includes sprays, chalk, ink, Copics, Stickles, Liquid Pearls, and probably more that I can't recall.  The journaling, which is hard to read in the pic, is "Life Is Far Too Short Not to Have a Little Umbrella in Your Drink."  The little umbrellas are in different colors--blue, green, and lavender. 

Let It Snow! Shadowbox

Another shadowbox.  This time I filled it with fake snow, a pine cone, and a few red glittery Christmas balls.  "Let it Snow!" are glitter stickers.  It came together in about five minutes.  I gave it to a friend with three little kids, and they love it.

And, it must have worked, because after having no snow on the ground yesterday, this is what we woke up to today--about 10 inches at our house, and much more in other areas of Iowa:

And the Winner Is . . .

We had a very sophisticated drawing here at Ms. Molly headquarters.  By that I mean I made up little slips of paper numbered one through eleven, and then I interrupted my husband's football game to ask him to draw a number from my cute snowman dish.  The winner, No. 7, is TERRY.  Congratulations, Terry!  I've contacted you via Facebook, and will get your Hooray Bouquet stamp set in the mail to you as soon as I receive your mailing instructions.

 

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to enter and signed up (or was already) a follower of my blog and left a comment.  I saw a huge increase in blog traffic during the last few days, so thank you, too, to those of you who just stopped by.  I hope you all continue to read my posts.  For those of you who entered but did not win, if you have a blog, my next step is to become a follower of your blog, because that just seems fair.

I Used All My Christmas Stamp Sets! / A Hooray Bouquet Giveaway!

This is it!  I used at least one stamp from every single Christmas stamp set I own.  This cute snowman is called "Mini-Me's Sleigh Ride," and it's actually a rubber stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs, Inc.  It was fun to color with my copic markers.  I pretty much followed the colors right from the example on the back of the wood mount.  The blue cs background was dry embossed using my Scor-Pal, then sanded to show the white core.  I also added a punched snowflake, some baker's twine, and a few pearl embellishments.

 

Thanks for following along as made myself use some of my stash of stamps that sometimes gets overlooked.  In case you want to look back at all the projects, here are the sets I used linked back to their posts:

Pear & Partridge WOTG

Flakey Friends

Happy Hour (SU)

Heartfelt Christmas

Wonderland WOTG

Believe WOTG

Bundled Buddies

Penguin & Snowman (Recollections)

Snow Friends

Holiday Wishes

I Believe

Nature's Gift

Santa's List

Snow Flurries

Merry Pursuits

Pair-a-Phrase

Christmas Greetings

Winter Joy

Feathery Flakes AND Perfect Fit

Father Christmas

Just for the Holidays

Stocking Style

Evergreen

December Word Puzzle

Sparkly Tannenbaum

Holiday Magic

 

Hooray!  I did it!  And in the holiday spirit of giving, I'm going to give away a brand new Close to My Heart stamp set, "Hooray Bouquet," to celebrate.  To enter, just sign up as a follower to my blog AND leave a comment to this post.  I will randomly draw a winner and announce it on Sunday, December 9, so have your comments in by 5 p.m. CST Sunday!  Good luck!

Hooray Bouquet CTMH Stamp Set

 (No comments submitted from "Anonymous" will be eligible--I get too much spam from Mr./Ms. Anonymous.)

Holiday Magic Card

I bought this stamp, CTMH's "Holiday Magic" at least a year ago, and this was the first time I can remember using it.  I love the different patterns on the trees and the sleigh.  There are also two stockings on the set with two more different patterns.  The background of this card is B&T paper from the "Mistletoe" paper pack.  The sleigh and sentiment banner are raised with dimensional adhesive, and I added the little ribbon bow to the sleigh.  No bling at all, but I like the traditional feel to the card.

Sparkly Tannenbaum Tree Card

The color in this photo is poor, but at least you can see how glittery the tree is.  I used CTMH stamp set "Tannenbaum" for both the tree and sentiment.  I paper pieced the tree using a red background, then I covered that in red Stickles.  The tree really sparkles, but without the glitter getting everywhere.  The background B&T paper is the CTMH "Mistletoe" paper pack.

December Word Puzzle Christmas Thank You

This simple thank-you card was made with the little trees of the CTMH "December Word Puzzle" stamp set.  The punched scalloped circle is raised on dimensional adhesive so it pops off the card base.  The bright green cs makes the Ruby ink and baker's twine really show up for a modern look.

Evergreen Card

This crooked little tree and the surrounding sentiment come from CTMH's "Evergreen" stamp set.  I used second generation stamping for the tree stand, then tipped the tree for a little quirkiness.  There's a lot of Stardust Glitz making the tree shimmer.  I repeated the "merry and bright" sentiment stamp arround the whole edge of the pink background.   I'm getting close to using all of my Christmas stamp sets!

Stocking Style Tag

Although it was made as a package tag, this stocking would work fine as an ornament too.  It's from CTMH's stamp set "Stocking Style."  I just added the snowflake punch, punched a hole in the corner, and tied on some red ribbon.  Super easy and it will look great on a gift.

Just for the Holidays Nugget Boxes

These paper-crafted Nugget boxes have been around almost as long as Hershey's Nuggets, but they're still a good little gift.  I made these with CTMH's "Jingle" papers, Tulip cs, and the "Just for the Holidays" stamp set.

Of course I used my favorite snowflake punch and added some CTMH Stardust Glitz to both snowflakes and the tiny snowflake in the center of the mitten on the stamped image.

I chose to make a box that holds three Nuggets, but there are patterns all over the Internet for all different sizes.  I might be the only blog that hasn't done a how-to post on these.  Maybe for Valentine's Day....

Tag Brag Book

Here's another example of a the quick mini book I made from coin envelopes and tags from Staples.  My first post about this kind of album can be found HERE.  I helped my niece make this brag book full of picture of her baby, Aiden.

This picture shows the book open.  Each envelope is a page, and there's a tag inserted in each envelope with more pictures.

And here's poor Aiden (and his mom) being made to pose with the book.  I think if Aiden could describe the process, he would say, "I spit up a lot during the making of this book."  :)

Father Christmas Easel Card

Easel cards are simple to create but impressive.  I used CTMH's stamp set "Father Christmas" and B&T paper pack "Believe."  This was a great image to color with Copic markers.  For skin tones I always use E00 Skin White first, shade with E02 Fruit Pink, then blend with E00 again.  Because I wanted Santa's cheeks to be rosy, I blended in some pink here as well.

Here's a picture from the side showing the easel:

 

Feathery Flakes and Perfect Fit Card

I love how the colors on this card look.  I used Outdoor Denim cs for the card base and stamped it with a snowflake from CTMH's "Feathery Flakes" set using White Daisy pigment ink.  The little birds and sentiment are from CTMH's "Perfect Fit-Holidays" set.  I colored the birds with Copics, and the whole white piece is popped up with dimensional adhesive.  The red & white bakers' twine is also from CTMH.

Jingle Shadow Boxes

I got this general idea off (you guessed it) Pinterest.  The 5x7 shadow boxes were on sale this week at Michael's for something like $4.50, so this was really cheap.  The jingle bells, also from Michael's, came in a tube with assorted colors, and I used about 2/3 of them for each shadow box.  The letters are glittery chipboard I had left over from another project.  The snowflake "dot" of the "i" is piece of cs punched out with a pink adhesive gem in the center.  I also added some B&T paper with a muted pattern of snowflakes for the background.  The bells are loose inside the box, so they shake (and jingle!), and you can let them pile up any way you like.

Here's a second jingle box I made:

This time I left the black felt in the background that comes with the shadow box to show off the blue, silver, and white bells.  I also gave it a horizontal orientation instead of vertical like the first box.  "Jingle" is stamped with white ink on the outside of the glass.  The glitter sticks to the background and the back of the glass and adds even more sparkle.

Here are both boxes together:

Neither picture really does justice to the box with the pink and green bells.  It really sparkles and looks festive with a modern look.  I would estimate that each box only takes about 15 minutes to put together.  I probably spent more time shopping for the supplies than making them.

Winter Joy Card

I was going for a retro feel with this color combination, and I think it worked.  The image and sentiment are both from CTMH's "Winter Joy" set.  I added just a little Stardust Glitz to the snow at the base of the image.

Christmas Greetings Cards

These cards are both made with CTMH's "Christmas Greetings" stamp set.  I colored the images with Copics, and on the card below, added some Stardust Glitz.  Both cards are pretty simple and self-explanatory.  You can barely see it in the pictures, but when I color images with Copic markers, I almost always outline the image in C1, Cool Grey No. 1.  I think it really makes the images pop. 

 

Pair-a-Phrase Snowman Card

A post on Pinterest inspired this card.  I liked the dark blue and red with brown, so I copied the scheme for this card using the snowman from CTMH's "Pair-a-Phrase" stamp set.  I stamped the snowman on white cs, then colored with copics.  I ran the Twilight blue mat through my Cuttlebug for the snowflake embossed background.  I sanded it lightly so the white core of the CTMH cs would show through.  The Cranberry strip of cs was stamped with a newspaper stamp from Stampers Anonymous.

Mojo Monday 269 / Merry Pursuits Card

I'm playing along with the Mojo Monday sketch challenge blog this week.  Here is the inspirational sketch:

I chose the square version and made my card (above) using CTMH cs, the "Merry Pursuits" stamp set for the elf, and the "Vintage Type" set for the letters.  My favorite snowflake punch is on there again, and I added some adhesive pearls to the snowflake centers and one red adhesive gem to the end of the elf's stocking hat.

Snow Flurries Cards

CTMH's "Snow Flurries" is a great stamp set.  Both the flourish and the sentiment are from this set.  I chose to stamp right on my card base with White Daisy pigment ink.  I added one snowflake punch and embellished the punch and the snowflakes within the image with Liquid Pearls.

Basically the same as the last card, on this one I just switched the sentiment and embellished with CTMH's Stardust Glitz.

Santa's List Card

Back to my quest to use at least one stamp from every one of my Christmas stamp sets.  These images are from CTMH's "Santa's List" set.  I colored them with copics and added CTMH Stardust Glitz on the star and the ground and some pink Stickles on the Christmas tree.  

Penguin Gift Tags

Penguin Tags!  I think these little guys are the cutest.  Tom bought me an early Christmas present on Black Friday---A Cricut Expression 2!  It's way more complicated than my little baby 6" Cricut, but so far I absolutely love it!  I made these penguins from the patterns that were included with it, and I added the CTMH black embellishments for the eyes.

Nature's Gift Tags

These tags came together in minutes and turned out so cute!  I have a big clunky punch that I used to make the tags, and I stamped the images with CTMH's "Nature's Gift" stamp set.  I stamped each with a different color, making sure the stamp ran off the edge of the tag.  Then I added a snowflake punch to each card, which I embellished with Stardust Glitz, and a simple piece of coordinating baker's twine. 

Here's the Slate tag up close.  They turned out much classier than I expected.  I have several small gifts to give, and I'm going to put them in plain white boxes with only baker's twine and one of these tags as decoration.

I Believe Photo Card

This is one of my all-time favorite Christmas photos of my kids.  Jess must have been around four, and St. Nicholas must have been about one.  I probably make something every Christmas using this photo.  This year I paired it with CTMH's "I Believe" stamp set.  The bottom right stamp is all one, but I paper-pieced the word "Believe" in red.  The snowflakes are the same punch I use an almost every Christmas card, and I used lots of Stardust Glitz--looks like I need to touch up a few spots around the picture.

Holiday Wishes Embossed Cards

CTMH's "Holiday Wishes" is a beautiful stamp set.  I thought this set screamed to be embossed, so I dug out the silver embossing powder and the heat tool, and came up with this elegant card.  I used a white card, Slate cs mat, and embossed on Outdoor Denim cs.  I also used Outdoor Denim ink around the edges to give it a little depth.  I'm a novice embosser, so I usually do at least two at a time when I have all the gear out, and here's the card I made with the second image:

I used my Cuttlebug to dry emboss snowflakes into the Slate cs background.  The sentiment is also from the "Holiday Wishes" stamp set.  It's not showing up on the picture, but the snowflake is covered in Stardust Glitz. 

Christmas Card: Snow Friends

I used my old CTMH "Jingle" paper again.  I love this paper.  I don't know why I have so much left!  The stamp set is one of my favorites from when I first started selling/using CTMH, "Snow Friends."  I tore strips of white cs to make the snow drifts and highlighted them with Stardust Glitz.  The snowman and birds are colored with copics.  I used my BG10 Cool Shadow copic to make the barely blue shadow on the snowman.  The sentiment is from the "Perfect Fit Holiday" stamp set.