Who Let the Dog's Out and A La Card Monkey Holiday Sketch #79 - What a Combo!

It's a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky.  I'm going to take full advantage of this break in our normally rainy weather by doing a short post and then taking the dogs for a walk around the lake. They'll be so excited to run through the leaves and chase the ducks!  "Who Let the Dogs Out!" 

We've been babysitting Murph's little sister for the past six weeks and she's been a real joy to have around.  She loves Murph's company, gets the cat all excited (she hates dogs!) Here's some pictures of the them looking all innocent..............anything but!!!  

Here's Murph, the love of our lives.  You can tell by the look in his eyes that he runs our lives. 

And this is his sister Meeka.  She's a much smaller dog.  Who couldn't love that face.........snaggle tooth and all!

 

My post today is based on this week's sketch from A La Card Monkey # 79 called Holiday Cheer.  Isn't this an awesome sketch?  I love groupings on a card and enjoy finding a singleton stamp that works by repetition.  When I started planning my card I knew I wanted to use the Frostwood Lodge Designer Paper (124002 pg. 28 Holiday Mini).  It's so woodsy looking and reminds me of men in plaid shirts.  I love the masculine colours that go with this Designer Paper - Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Early Espresso, Marina Mist and Whisper White.  Any combination of those colours would work well.  So with no further ado here is my version of this wonderful sketch.  Let me know if you like it.

The card base is Whisper White Card Stock with a 5 1/4 x 4" layer of Garden Green that's been embossed with the Snow Burst Embossing Folder (#124096 pg. 33 Holiday Mini).  A strip of matching plaid designer paper from the Frost Wood Lodge DSP (Holiday Mini) was used for the half layer  along the top.  The small reindeer image from the Winter Post (#117780 pg. 31 Idea Book and Catalogue [IB&C] set was stamped in Cherry Cobbler ink on Whisper White cardstock.  I punched out the squares with the 1/14' and 1 3/8" square  punches. These three images were mounted with  dimensionals to give some definition to the card.

The Whisper White scalloped piece was made with the Lace Ribbon Border punch #122362 pg. 211 IB&C) and is topped with a piece of 3/8" Quilted Satin Ribbon in Cherry Cobbler (#124105 pg. 30 Holiday Mini).  The Mix and Mingle tag is from a retired stamp set called Perfect Presentation.  Isn't it cute!  I stamped it in Cherry Cobbler on Whisper White and punched it out with the Large Tag #119876 punch.  The Garden Green layer was punched out with the Extra Large Tag punch #119866 (pg. 209 IB&C).

Here's a view of the inside of the card.  I used a piece of the plaid designer series paper from Frost Wood Lodge (#124002 pg 28) along the bottom of the card and topped it with a small strip of Cherry Cobbler that was punched out with the Scalloped Edge Border Punch (#119882 pg 211 IB&C). I didn't want to use a large border so the cardstock strip I used in the punch was only 1/2" wide to begin with.  This leaves you with a much smaller scallop.  The sentiment is from a retired stamp set called Christmas Punch.

Here's a close up of the cute little tag.  I've mounted it on dimensionals and  tied a bow with Cherry Cobbler/White Baker's Twine (#123125 pg. 194 IB&C).  These cute litte Mini Jingle Bells (pg. 30 #124116) are from the Holiday Mini and I secured them with crystal effects to ensure they wouldn't fall off the card. The Mini Jingle Bells come 48 to a package and for $3.95 they're a really good buy.   Prior to the Holiday Mini coming out and since then, I've been looking for small silver bells in our local big box craft store and dollar stores and can't find any in the 6mm diameter, so  I plan on stocking up on them before the Holiday Mini buying period ends on January 4th, 2012.

Okay so that's it for today.  Hope you enjoy these! 

Penny

Monday Monster Mash Halloween Count Down Blog Hop - Week Eleven

                                      Only two more posts to go until the big day!  Wow I've actually made it through this far in Shirley Pumpkin's awesome Monday Monster Mash Halloween Count Down Blog Hop. 

Today I'm posting a few things since I thought I better step up the process a bit here and make up for the two weeks I wasn't able to post.

To begin with I'm sharing a card I actually made for Mojo Monday 211, however when making it I had this blog hop in mind.  You can see my previous post for all the details and more pictures.  For now though here are a few views of my card.

I just love these ghoulish sneaks as they make their way through the graveyard on the way to collect their Halloween Treats!  This image is from the Haunting Wheel that is for sale on Stampin' Up's Clearance Rack.  What a bargain and what a hoot for Halloween!

Here's my full card using the sketch challenge from Mojo 211.  I really like the bow and the layers on this card.

I couldn't resist showing this spooky scene one more time.  I've used one of the gorgeous papers from the Pick Your Poison Designer Papers series for the background.  It's a perfect scrapbook page for those scary shots and also for highlighting this spooky card! 

I've been busy making treats for company and friends for the upcoming festivities.  Can you guess what this is? 

Right now I'm in love with making these Lollies and have been putting them on everything, including my treats! 

These two beautiful little gifts are quite simply dressed up Cadbury Chocolate bars.  No kidding! They're fun to make and certainly don't look like plain old chocolate bars when they're dressed up in this finery.  For something that takes very little time and supplies treats like these make a big impact.

I thought I'd show you just how simple they are to make.  To begin with just remove the outside wrapper from your chocolate bar and measure it to get the width of paper you will need.  Once you've got your measurement just cut out pieces of DSP to use for the wrappers.

 Before wrapping the bars, score lines to make it easier to wrap the designer paper around the bar and then secure by overlapping ends with sticky strip.

 Here's what they should look like before you add your embellisments. They look really pretty just as they are!

And voila the finished product on display.  I love the way these turned out and my plan is to make a  whole bunch of them for the grownups............... providing my husband and I don't eat the chocolate bars first! 

So that's it for this week of Monday Monster Mash Halloween Count Down.  Have you decided to play along yet?  There's still time to get your name in Shirley's draw for $25.00 in free product from the Holiday Mini catalogue.  Here's some rules for you to make your playing along easier........... hope to see you in this week's postings.

Here are the rules:
1. Whatever your entry is it has to be Halloween - either a card or 3D item.
2. It does not have to be 100% SU 80% is ok.
3. Yes using Retired is OK...
4. Use Shirley’s Monster Mash Badge/Graphic in your post and a link back to her blog.
5. Add your card to the blog hop then put the code on your post.
6. You can enter as many times as you like, it just has to be a new card and post.

The Blog Hop started a few months ago and is now in week eleven.  Shirley picks a favourite every week during the 12 weeks and then out of the 12 weekly winners will pick a Grand Prize winner. The Prize is $25.00 in new cool stuff from the new Holiday Mini, and the lucky winner will be announced on Halloween.  How cool is that!

When you post Shirley’s badge please add a few words about the blog hop on your blog. Shirley had to delete a few entries a while back because they didn’t follow any of rules.  Might be wise to mention there are rules or copy them to your post like I did.  Okay so now I’m excited to see your entry.

Stampin Queen's Sketch Challenge #9

Wow, Sunday again.  This week has gone by in a flash.  There's so much happening in the next few hours that I decided I better get this card posted before I ran out of time............ what's new.  Today's Sketch Challenge was created by guest designer Pam Staples, and consists of lots of layers and embellishments.  Here's her sketch:

Since we're celebrating birthdays today I thought I would use this sketch for  my friends Jerry and Carol's birthday cards.  Jerry's birthday was actually yesterday and Carol's is on the 26th. 

We always buy scratch and win tickets for our friend's birthday cards, so I've incorporated a little holder for these tickets on the inside of the card.  Okay here is Jerry's card and I'll post Carol's later in the week after her big day!  Shhhhhhhhhh she turns 65.

Mojo Monday 211

I really liked the sketch put out on October 17th  by the Design Team for Mojo Monday  this week and I decided to play along.  This would be a great sketch for just about any occasion including  birthday, wedding or sympathy. 

There wasn't a  theme for this sketch designed by Julee Tilman so you could pretty much do anything you wanted.   I decided to continue with my Halloween cards so I would have one ready for Shirley Sumption's Monday Monster Mash Haloween Count Down blog hop on Monday. 

Here's the card I made.  Once again I was able to use the Haunting Jumbo Wheel which I pick up for a super price on the Stampin' Up! Clearance Rack .  Let me know if you like it. 

 

I'm A Monkey Princess...........Whoo Hoo!!!

I had some exciting news today when I was checking out the A La Card Monkey blog site for this weeks sketch challenge.  I received a "Princess" recognition for my My Spooky Cute Sketch 78 entry.  Not only that, but I'll be invited to be a guest designer for an upcoming challenge!  WHOO HOO!   What excitement........see me dancing like this little princess.  A La Card Monkey DT has made my day!  I'm sending a great big thank you to the Design Team at A La Card Monkey for choosing my entry and for encouraging me every week to participate in their awesome challenges.  Such Fun! 

Okay so enough braggin rights I'm heading off to work on this week's challenge.  It's another awesome sketch.  Make sure you drop by the A La Card Monkey site and check out the other entries in week 78.  They were all really great.

And, if you haven't already played along with one of these sketch challenges join in, they're fast and fun, and don't usually require a ton of layers and other embellisments.  Oh and the design team is

awesome too!  Hope to see you there.

Colourful Impressions Meeting

Kristina Koch, Stampin' Up Mentor held her quarterly meeting event for members of her Stampin' Up! Colourful Impressions group of demonstrators. We get together to share creative & business ideas with each other, and it's a couple of hours filled with great demonstrations, swaps, project displays, overviews of promotions or business topics, recognition, door prizes, refreshments & lots of FUN!!

Monday night's meeting was no exception!  It was wonderful to get together with so many old friends, meet new demonstrators and hear all about the successes our group has accomplished in individual sales and activities during the past two months. 

So you get an idea of what we do when we get together, I thought I'd share some of the wonderful projects demonstrated and swapped by members of our very talented team.  If you are interested in joining my team, you too will be able to participate with this group.  Call me for more information.

Jo-Ann Unrau demonstrated a technique called Border Braiding and provided us with a template for left or right handed cutting.  The template is available for Colourful Impressions members on our team blog site under Jo'Ann's files.  Here are some pictures showing projects completed with this fun and easy technque.

Napkin Ring andCutlery Holder sample.

Here the Braided Border Technque is featured on the side of a card and it looks absolutely stunning.

Used as a center panel on a card this technique adds lots of texture on this Spice Cake Designer Paper  background.

Here is a close up of the braiding detail.  This is accomplished by making a series of long and short cuts on a paper template, and then folding the cut sections back and tucking them below

This was one of the Make and Take projects we made later in the evening featuring this great technique. 

 

Jo-Ann also demonstrated colouring basic rhinestones with Sharpie Markers.  Lots of ooooooohing and ahhhhing was going on during this demo. 

The green and purple rhinestones were coloured with alcohol based markers (Sharpies or other brands).  This is a great way to customize Stampin' Ups! beautiful basic rhinestones to match your cardstock and DSP.

Our next demonstration was by Julie Ramsay.  Julie showed us a card and some special occasion treat boxes made with the new Bigz L Die called Peekaboo Frames (pg 36 of the Holiday Mini #124587) and the Stamp set called "25 & Counting" (pg 37 of the Holiday Mini #123794(c) or 123792(w)).  The large box actually fit over top of a treat container so it easy for little hands to get at the treats.  The Halloween box is made by covering a square tissue box with Halloween DSP.  Both examples were very unique and beautifully constructed. 

This tall box fit over the top of a treat container.  It was really awesome and all the little Peekaboo Frames had neat surprises stamped behind them. 

This Halloween treat box was made by covering a tissue box with Halloween DSP.  This box was still being completed and Julie was going to stamp small Halloween images behind the little black doors.  Really cute project and fairly easy to do.

This is a card using the Peekaboo Frames concept.  Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of the card with the frame open.  It looked really good in the silver glimmer paper.

Following the demonstrations we broke into smaller groups and completed two Make and Take projects.  Here is the first project we made which was demonstrated above:

The second project was a Telescope Card.  Once again this was a fairly quick project to make using the Big Shot Machine.

Isn't this little face adorable!  This card will actually fit inside a standard card envelope.

Here is a view of the telescope card opened up. 

Another event during the evening was a card swap.  Check out these gorgeous cards.  Unfortunately I didn't get the names of the gals who swapped them, so if you're reading this post, send me an email with your name and I'll give you credit below the card.  They were all awesome!

This card was made by Sandra Farrell using My Digital Studio.  It was simply awesome.

This card was made by our very own Silvermo - Maureen!  She also demonstrated how to cut the beautiful border using the double border punch.  Great card Maureen!

Thanks for dropping by today and I hope you enjoyed looking at all these great projects and cards!