Welcoming Woods Birthday Wishes

Happy Wednesday stampin' friends! 

Fall is officially here, the weather is getting colder and the days are getting shorter.  While I am far from ready for snow, I am happy to create a snowy scene with paper, stamps and ink!

Welcoming Woods caught my eye in the Mini Catalog right away, but I just recently added it to my collection.  I love the simplicity of this stamp set.

I stamped the trees in Memento, then added a snowfallen blanket of Balmy Blue.  Using the Blending Brushes, I added a bit more Balmy Blue along the bottom.  I softened up the sky with a light bruising of Smoky Slate...the perfect winter sky!

A few heat embossed white snowflakes were added amongst the trees for a peaceful touch.  I am not a fan of the cold winter months, but I do love the peacefulness of freshly fallen snow.  A simple sentiment and a few bits of pretty blue bling were all these trees needed.

I tore the top and bottom of the stamped panel and layered it on a strip of Basic Black embossed with the Bark 3D embossing folder.  I thought I had grabbed a piece of Smoky Slate card stock, but it was actually Gray Granite and I really liked how it all came together.  Some days it's good for me to let my OCD go and mix things up a bit!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Stamping!

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Celebrate Amazing Friends ~ Monday Montage 200th Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the 200th Monday Montage Blog Hop!!  Can you believe we've made it through this many hops?!?!  What started out as a group of Almost Artisan's back in 2013 is now a group of amazing stampers that I am so proud to call my friends!

What better way to celebrate this milestone blog hop than with a CELEBRATION theme?!?!  The Create With Friends stamp set was absolutely perfect for the occasion!

I stamped the words Celebrate, Amazing and Friends in Coastal Cabana on Basic White and set to work fussy cutting each word.  At first I was thinking of black and white stripes, but after going though the Pattern Party pack of DSP, I paired up the Flirty Flamingo and White stripes with the black and white polka dots.  

A few layers of Vellum behind the striped paper was a fun touch and much better than the layers of Basic Black that I had originally tired.  A Costal Cabana card base made the fussy cut words pop a bit more and a few fussy cut flowers from another Pattern Party DSP pattern were the perfect added touch.  I threw in a handful of my favorite Artistry Blooms Adhesive-Backed sequins for just the right amount of bling.

It has been such an honor to create with this group of amazingly talented stampers!  I can't wait to see what the next 200 hops will bring!

Hop on over Cathy Casey or hop on back to Amy O'Neill...either way, make sure you make your way all the way through and CELEBRATE with us in Monday Montage style!

Happy Stampin!

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A Very Merry (Non-Traditional) Christmas ~ Control Freaks October Blog Hop

Welcome to October's Control Freaks Blog Hop!

This month we are bringing you Holiday's With a Twist!  Hold on while you hop through some amazing creations with different color combos or themes...we're shaking things up!

Did you just arrive from Tami Hewlett of Swimming in Stamps ?  I can't get over how creative she is!!!  If you are just starting, make sure you hop all the way through so you don't miss a single creation!

The beautiful Whimsy & Wonderful Suite in the Mini Catalog is filled with wintery beauty in some non-traditional shades of gorgeous!  Yes, greens are typically a traditional Christmas color, but when you mix them with some blues and pinks you have a whole new non-traditional look!

I dusted off my trusty Stamparatus for the perfect alignment of these wispy trees in shades of Misty Moonlight, Mint Macaron, Mossy Meadow and Polished Pink.  I used the polkadot tree stamp to create some Blushing Bride snowflakes as well as a few Blushing Bride die-cut stars.  I had originally intended for the sentiment to be along the bottom of the card, but due to a little stamping mishap, I had to move it up. Don't you love it when you can cover up your mistakes???

Next up is another one of my favorite mini catalog suites, Painted Christmas.  I love all of the traditional reds and greens in the Painted Christmas DSP, but it was so much fun to ink up with Christmas Season stamp set in these soft colors.

After stamping the pinecones in Smoky Slate and Basic Gray, they were die-cut with the Season Labels dies and tucked in with some Misty Moonlight and Petal Pink holly and berries.  I chose one of the cheerful sentiments from Christmas to Remember stamp set and stamped it in Petal Pink on Basic White.  The Seasonal Labels dies were put to work again to cut the sentiment out as well as another pretty label to layer behind. A few of the Wonderful Gems was all that were needed to finish this card.

It was fun to break away from tradition and have some fun with different holiday colors!  I hope you find inspiration from everyone's creations!

Next up is Melissa Davies of Rubber Funatics.  Be prepared to be blown away!

Happy Stamping!

Forever Fern Friendship ~ #HSSCC375

It's Tuesday and time for an all new Hand Stamped Sentiments Color Challenge!  I absolutely love this color combination!

I pulled out Forever Fern again to ink up in these gorgeous colors!  I cut a panel of Misty Moonlight and stamped a few of the splatter images around the edge and die-cut a couple of the larger leaves as well.

Some of the other plant images were inked up in Rich Razzleberry and Smoky Slate, then die-cut with the coordinating Forever Flourishing dies.  A Basic White circle was die-cut and stamped with some Smoky Slate leaves, then topped of with a heat embossed sentiment on a Rich Razzleberry circle.  Do you spot the little bits of bakers twine behind the sentiment circle?

A little extra texture was added to a piece of Basic White with the beautiful Timeworn Type 3D embossing folder.  Can you believe I didn't even add any embellishments?!?  That almost NEVER happens when I'm creating!

I hope you'll join along with this weeks challenge.  We always love to see what you create!

Happy Stamping!

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Cutest Halloween EVER

Welcome to Friday and an all new TGIF Challenges! This week we're getting ready for Halloween and we hope you'll join along in the fun! 

I'm back with another Cute Halloween {stamp set} card.  This fun stamp set coordinates with the super cute Halloween Punch.  These cute little Halloween critters were quickly punched out and added to some cute layers of DSP.  A quick Trick or Treat sentiment was stamped in Highland Heather and cut with the Layering Circles Dies.  A black and white gingham bow and a few little adhesive stars were all that were needed to create the Cutest Halloween card EVER! 

You can't have Halloween without treats, right?  This adorable little tombstone treat box was cased from the catalog.  We made these at my stamp club this month and everyone loved them!

I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and a restful and relaxing weekend!  My hubby and boys are all away hunting this weekend, so I will certainly have a restful, relaxing and quite weekend.  Hopefully it will also include a LOT of stamping too!

Happy Stamping!

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Fa(BOO)lous Freshly Made Halloween

Happy....Thursday?  I had to really think about what day it was!  Between it being a school conference week and having a sick kiddo at home, this week has been a blur.  The good news is that it really is Thursday, which means tomorrow is finally Friday!

If you've been following me for sometime, you may know that I am an early riser.  My early morning hours are spent working out and getting in a little stamp time before I head into whatever the work day may bring me.  I was super excited for this weeks Freshly Made Sketches sketch to guide me through my craft session this morning!

Halloween is quickly approaching and I've been working on some fun special request cards this week.  The Cute Halloween Suite has been well loved by me this year.  I love all of the adorable images in the Cute Halloween DSP and was happy to fussy cut some of the images that don't coordinate with the Halloween Punch.

Aren't these little skeleton heads just so cute?  I love all of their facial expressions!  I fussy cut a few to go along with the circles of the sketch, as well as a few little tombstones.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white on Pumpkin Pie and, you guess it, fussy cut for that perfect placement!  A few Pumpkin Pie Cute Star Sequins brough everything together.

Did you notice the fun stamped edges?  I finally inked up the Natural Textures host stamp set.  Why did I wait so long to do this?!?!  I love the brick pattern!

I hope you all have a Fa(BOO)lous day!

Happy Stamping!

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Friends That Make You Smile ~ Monday Montage

 

Hello and welcome to another Monday Montage Blog Hop!

We interrupt this Mini Catalog season for a visit to the Annual Catalog.  I am guilty of getting so wrapped up in the Mini Catalog that I often neglect all of the beauty the Annual Catalog has to offer!

The Pattern Party DSP is probably my favorite pack of paper...EVER!  I love all of the bright and cheerful patterns on one side, but the black and white patterns on the flip side are the BEST!  I've been on a fall creativity kick the past few weeks and was drawn to the black and white leaf pattern.

In an effort to keep things simple, I die cut the large leafy image from the Forever Flourishing die from a piece of Gold Metallic Specialty Paper.  I stamped the sweet sentiment from Forever Fern in Memento, adding just a bit of black Baker's Twine behind.  A single strip of Gold Fine Art Ribbon and some gold Brushed Metallic Dots were the perfect amount of gold to bring everything together.

I love it when a card just comes together without too much thought.  And today's card was a good reminder that simple is often times so much better!

Be sure to keep on hopping and see what the rest of my Monday Montage friends have for you!  You will not be disappointed!

Happy Stamping!

Monday Montage Blog Hoppers:

Amy O'Neill - Amy's Paper Crafts
Breelin Renwick - Craft-somnia Momma
Cathy Casey - Sugar Shack Designs
Charlet Mallett - Painted Orange
Cheryl Curtis - Pomp and Sustenance
Dani Dziama - Dani's Thoughtful Corner
Elizabeth Price - Seeinginkspots
Julie Warnick - Creating on the Run
Melissa Stout - The Stamp Doc
Wendy Weixler - Wickedly Wonderful Creations

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