PROJECT OF THE WEEK FOR REPEAT IMPRESSIONS

Hello and HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!  

It's Cheri Weston here with a new Project of the Week for Repeat Impressions and The House That Stamps Built. 

After the flurry of Christmas and all the projects I've been doing for several months, my craft area looked like a disaster area.  Things are scattered all over the place and organizing and cleaning up is absolutely necessary.  I have pieces of patterned paper and card stock in baggies and stacked along the sides of my work space and  I can't find anything.  Can you relate?  So what can we do with all those scrap pieces of paper?  Why not make more cards!!!  

My Project of the Week is to inspire you to use your scraps and here are a couple of cards I made using up some of the scraps I've had laying around.  

This first one is made using the Herringbone technique.  I cut my strips of paper at 3/8" wide and I assembled them randomly.  The center (first strip) must extend beyond corners of the layer piece so it will need to be longer than the others.

Supplies are minimal, just scraps of paper and adhesive.

Here are the steps:  

• A layering piece of card stock the size you desire.  I cut mine 4"X 5 1/4".  
• Adhere the first piece from corner to corner at the widest part of the layering piece.  
• Adhere a second and third strip on each side of the first strip to each outside corner to form a "T" quadrant and 4 open areas.  
• Begin assembling the strips as desired.

Here are some photos of the initial stages of assembly.

When the entire layer is covered with the strips, flip the project over and trim the pieces to fit the layer base.  This is now your background piece and can be used for a card.  

I used RI Stamp #1113-D "Happy Birthday" I love the font on this sentiment and it worked perfectly against this background.  

Here is other card I made using scraps.  

Stamps used on this card are RI 9309-C and 9313-D from the Pairings collection.  

I hope this will inspire you to use your scraps and create even more fabulous cards with all those left over papers.  

  

MERRY CHRISTMAS - FROM WHAT IF WEDNESDAY AT REPEAT IMPRESSIONS

Merry Christmas, blog friends! 

Wendy and the Rock Stars from Repeat Impressions are here with a What If? Wednesday challenge for you.  You have two weeks to enter the challenge with a card using Wendy's sketch.  Get all the details at The House That Stamps Built then come along and have some fun with us. 

Stamps used:  RI#2112-D "Sleigh Ride Silhouette and RI#424-G "Wishing You A Season".  
See more inspiration from the Rock Stars

Brenda - Deonna - Geri - Joy - Joyce - Karen - Melissa

Have a Merry Christmas everyone, and thanks so much for stopping by. 

DESIGNER'S CHOICE CHALLENGE AT REPEAT IMPRESSIONS

Hi there blog friends,  

I hope you holiday plans are coming together for you and that you are happy and surrounded by friends and/or family.  

Over at The House That Stamps Built, our Rock Star team mate Brenda Turner has a challenge for all of us....it's called "LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS CARD".  I don't know about you, but I can certainly relate to that one.  I'm still making cards and sending them out.  Every year I seem to get later and later....I'm grateful for the TWELVE days of Christmas, I need every one of them.  

Here is my last minute Christmas card.  

I love that lone pine tree image Large Pine Tree #2719-K and used an tree embossing folder to create a background for it.  The sentiment is RI #424-G"  Wishing you a Season. This was a quick and easy Christmas card and that's exactly what needs to happen in my life right now.  

Come on over and play along with Brenda and the rest of the Rock Stars.  We'd love you to join the challenge.  Get all the details at The House.  You could WIN a $25.00 certificate for some awesome RI stamps of your choice.  

See what the other Rock Stars have been doing with this challenge.  

Brenda - Deonna - Geri - Joy - Joyce - Karen - Melissa

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!

STAMPTV CSS INSPIRATION BLOG HOP

Hi blog friends,

Welcome to the December StampTV Center Stage Spotlight design team inspiration blog hop.  If you hopped here from my friend and the blog of the extremely talented Brenda Turner, you're in the right place.  If not, you may want to start at the beginning of the hop and see each and every outstanding creation using the inspiration.  

This inspiration came from our own Linda Payne and is a profusion of color and light.

I made two cards using Linda's photo - Christmas music playing in the background and enjoying the creative moments.  

The stunning winter snow scene inspired this card.  The light in my card comes from the brilliant winter moon shinning over these adorable deer.  This stamp set "The North Woods" is a gift from it's illustrator, Theresa Momber .  (Thank you so much, Thresa), I love this set and will enjoy creating with it for a long time.)  

The colors in the photo inspired this card.  The sets I used are "Lean on Me" and "Tropical Blooms".  The tiny pearl dots are from Viva Pearl Pen "gold".  

We hope you'll take this challenge and play along with us, and don't forget to leave a comment on each blog as you go along because we will choose a random comment and that stamper will win a grab bag of Gina K. Designs products! Look for the announcement on Tuesday, December 24."

Now, for the hard part.....this is our last StampTV Center Stage Spotlight blog hop and we are saying good bye to this group.  I've been a member of the CSS since December 2009.

I want to thank each and every one of you who have stopped by and left your sweet comments over the last 4 years.  It is from the heart when I say, your visits and those comments have inspired me in countless ways.  I hope you'll continue to stop by and say hello.  

What an honor to have been part of this group of super talented ladies.  We've become close friends and that's an incredible blessing.  My sincerest thanks go to Gina K for seeing "something" in my cards that she gave me the honor of being part of this group as well as the bonus of making these dear friends.  And to Carolina Butching (you ROCK) for keeping this group on track for all these blog hops.  

Now, you're off to the blog of my dear friend, the super talented mother of Brenda and Theresa Momber, Geri Utterback and see her awesome creations.  

Merry Christmas, everyone!  

WHAT IF? WEDNESDAY AT REPEAT IMPRESSIONS

Hi blog friends!!!

Christmas is getting closer and the days are filling up with exciting moments and events. 

It's What If? Wednesday at Repeat Impressions again and guess what?????  Wendy has a new and fun sketch for us to play with.  I hope you'll find some time from all the hustle and bustle to come on over to The House That Stamps Built and play along with us.  We'll be waiting to see what you create.  Link on over and get the details on how to WIN $25.00 worth of awesome RI stamps (of your choice). 

Here's this week's sketch

 

Here's my card

 

 

My inspiration for this card came on Sunday, December 7  the 72nd anniversary of Pearl Harbor.  My father was a Pearl Harbor survivor.  He was in the Army Air Corp (later becoming the Air Force) and was one of those who were assigned the morbid task of "collecting the dead" from the ocean after the attack.  He was barely 20 years old.  That's mostly all I know....all he shared about that day.  For whatever reason, those hours stayed within him for over 50 years until his death in 1994.  I have no one in mind for this card, its one of those that came from "within" and before I knew it, it was done.  

 

Stamps I used for this card are RI #2704-H and RI #5140-C. 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

 

 

 

 

 

CLEAN AND SIMPLE CHALLENGE AT OUTLAWZ

Hello blog friends!!!

The holidays are fast approaching and my goal this year is to be ready!  Last year I was pitifully behind in everything and it disappointed me - although I have to admit...the sky didn't fall and life went on....go figure.  That said, I'm sticking with my goal this year.  :)

There's a new posting at Outlawz Sunday CAS challenge - It's Cara's turn and she is challenging us to incorporate a poinsettia in our cards.  Here's her complete challenge:

December is a time of celebration. It is the one time of year that many people are able to set aside obligation and reunite with love ones and friends! It is also a time when Poinsettias (my favorite flower) are out in abundance! It derives its name from Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States Minister to Mexico, who introduced the plant into the United States in 1825.

 

The Theme for this week is poinsettias ... can be a stamp, sticker or die cut and any color is acceptable - just keep it CAS! 

 

 

My card uses an assortment of punches, dies and paper scraps.  The poinsettia is a stamp from a local stamp store that is now closed.  They had an incredible artist who would design gorgeous rubber stamps and this poinsettia is one of hers.  I stamped it with VersaMark on vellum, then heat embossed it with gold ep then fussy cut it.  On the reverse, I "painted" the deep red color with two Copic Markers. 

If any of you are interested in being a guest designer for Outlawz, CAS challenge group, please leave me a message here, with a link to your blog or online gallery, and I will forward it to our group leader.  We are actively looking for someone to feature their CAS cards with us for coming year. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a GREAT week!!!!

  

DESIGNER'S CHOICE CHALLENGE AT REPEAT IMPRESSIONS

Hi blog friends!!! 

It's time for another fun Designer's Choice Challenge at Repeat Impressions and The House That Stamps Built.  This challenge  - Christmas with Trees - is brought to us by the very talented and lovely, Joy Hadden. 

 

The stamps I used for my card are RI #2204-G "Christmas In the Heart" and RI #2719-K "Large Pine Tree.

 

Please visit the other Rock Stars for some awesome inspiration and then create your own card for Joy's challenge and link it over at The House.  You'll be entered to win $25.00 worth of awesome RI Stamps.  Get all the details there. 

 

 

Joy - Brenda - Deonna - Geri - Joyce - Karen - Melissa

 

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

 

 

WHAT IF? WEDNESDAY AT REPEAT IMPRESSIONS

Hi blog friends!! 

Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you who are celebrating this American holiday.  I hope you're all gathering with family, friends or people you don't know to join in thanksgiving for blessings known and unknown. 

It's What If? Wednesday time at Repeat Impressions and Wendy has quite a sketch for us this time. 

 

Awesome sketch - and fun to interpret.  I took some license here and enjoyed the results.

I hope you can see the sketch in this card.  I used some awesome paper by American Crafts called "Peppermint Express".  I couldn't resist. 
Stamps:  RI # 413-H "Let Heaven" and as you can see, there's "stretch" in the sketch....but that's what makes these sketches so much fun....you can find a way to interpret them. 

We hope you'll come over to The House That Stamps Built and join the WIW challenge.  While you're there,  check out Joy's Project of the Week (so very cool).  

For some incredible inspiration please visit my awesome Rock Star Teamies.

Brenda - Deonna - Geri - Joy - Joyce - Karen - Melissa 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving Day. 

 

 

WEEKLY CAS CHALLENGE AT OUTLAWZ

Happy Sunday, blog friends!!! 

There's a new challenge over at Outlawz Challenges and today's challenge is from Linda Anderson.  Here it is.

"It Was All Started by a Mouse" - This is part of a quote by Walt Disney. I have a quick trip to Disney World planned for this week with my son...I'm so excited!!! So of course, this challenge is dedicated to the man himself, Mickey Mouse. This week's challenge is to create a CAS card using a mouse. Any theme will do, as long as there's a mouse.

 

It's a fun challenge, so I hope you'll have an opportunity to play along.  There are challenges for every day of the week at Outlawz Challenges which is a free membership site and there are tons of prizes to be won each and every week. 

Stamps:  Repeat Impressions #910-E "Mouse and Cheese" and for the sentiment I used a PTI set "Handwritten Notes". 

Papers:  GKD Pure Luxury "White", "Black Onyx", "Red Hot" and "Sweet Corn". 

To make the "cheese", I took scraps of the "Sweet Corn" cs and using my "Crop a Dile", I made random holes.  I stamped the sentiment with VersaMark and then heat embossed it wth white ep so it would pop off the page.  Copic Markers were used for coloring the mouse and cheese. 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

I hope you all have a fabulous week ahead and if you celebrate Thanksgiving, have a happy Thanksgiving Day. 

 

 

 

SPREADING THE WORD

Happy weekend, blog friends!!! 

I'll be back later with a card posting, but this post is to spread the word about a little guy named Jonah who needs some cards. 

I subscribe to many blogs and read most of them....yeah, it takes me awhile to get through my mail, lol...and every once in awhile one captures my heart.  And so it was when I read Susan Raihala's blog this morning.  Please read it and see if you can also help her. 

Friday, November 22, 2013

When God Drops Something in Your Lap

This post appears on my other blog, Questioning my Intelligence, today, too. I hope you'll think about helping.


A few weeks ago, I posted on my stamping blog about keeping Christmas simple and asked readers to comment about their own plans for simplifying Christmas. One of the more than 50 comments stood out. Here's what a reader named Jane wrote:

Well -- on Sept. 28th my husband fell out of a tree while trying to help his 98 year old mother by trimming her trees. He broke 7 ribs in multiple places and his wrist. A week later we found out that our 4 year old grandson had a cancerous tumor on his kidney and within four days they removed his kidney and adrenal gland. After a second surgery for a bowel obstruction he is now starting chemo and radiation for his stage 3 cancer. So Christmas by necessity will be simple. The first thing I did was to give myself permission to not make my Christmas cards this year. So I have a good start on next year's cards! The other thing is to ask for help. So my son and his wife are coming tomorrow to help us decorate our Christmas trees. I think our simplest Christmas was the two years when we were missionaries in Africa.... we could not give or send cards or gifts... so it was very freeing. Yes we missed family terribly but the tension of the holidays was gone and the focus was where it should always be!

I asked Jane to send me her grandson's address so I could send him a Christmas card, and she did. I stared at that address for at least a minute without blinking. Then I prayed.

Seriously, God? What do You want me to do with this?

Because Jane's grandson, whose name is Jonah, lives ten minutes from me. Could this be a coincidence in the big, big world of the World Wide Web? Perhaps.

But probably not.

I believe God dropped information on my hurting neighbor in my lap, and as I prayed about what to do that might be useful, I realized Jane was my best guide.

Fortunately, Jane shared that Jonah's family is surrounded by the love and support of family, friends, and church. His mom, Molly, started a Facebook group for Jonah. You can read it HERE. Molly combines their daily experience with Jonah's cancer and an amazing witness for faith and leaning on God. Jonah and his parents are facing an unimaginably challenging situation with grace, courage, and generosity.

Most efforts I could make to help are unnecessary and would probably would feel intrusive. But card making brought me and Jane together, and card making feels like the best way to respond.

Because who doesn't love getting happy mail?

I'm asking my readers to shower Jonah and his family with cards for Christmas. Store-bought, hand-made...doesn't matter. If you have children, perhaps you could ask them to draw pictures or make cards for Jonah.

Let's shower Jonah in love and support as he fights this thing.

Email me at susanraihala at roadrunner dot com for my mailing address, or you can click here for an email link. I will collect all the cards and drop them on Jonah's doorstep periodically. If you choose to continue sending cards after the holidays, I'll keep delivering.

Sending cards is one small thing we can do to lift this family up. Another is to pray for them. If you pray, please add Jonah to your prayer list and to your church's prayer list.

God's grace, peace, love, and healing mercy are descending on this family in their time of trial. I'm so happy to be a small part of that. Will you join me?

 

I emailed Susan and asked her for her address so I could help out and now I'm also spreading the word.  I hope you can help out too. Here's the address to send cards:

Jonah
c/o Susan Raihala
7430 Waterway Dr.
Waynesville, OH  45068

 

Thanks for stopping by and if you can, please spread the word for Susan and send Jonah some happy mail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DESIGNER'S CHOICE CHALLENGE AT REPEAT IMPRESSIONS

Hi blog friends! 

Oh, yeah....it's Wednesday once again and another DCC at The House That Stamps Built/Repeat Impressions.  This week it's Deonna's choice for a challenge and it's a "Thank You" challenge. 

Here is my card for her challenge.

 

My card uses RI Stamps #915-I "Wheat Sheaf" and #1140-E "Thanksgiving". 

Head on over to The House That Stamps Built and play along with Deonna's challenge.  You'll be entered into a drawing for $25.00 worth of RI awesome stamps.  If you have and use an RI stamp for this challenge, you'll be entered into the drawing twice. 

Please visit my Rock Star Teamies for even more inspiration. 

Deonna - Brenda - Geri - Joy - Joyce - Karen - Melissa

 

 

Have a great week and thank you for stopping by!

 



What If? Wednesday Time

Hello again, blog friend!!! 

It's Wednesday and that means another sketch challenge from Wendy at The House That Stamps Built for her What If? Wednesday challenge. 

This is Wendy's sketch challenge this week.

 

For my card I used RI Stamps #8912-I "Snowflake Solid" and #8914-E and #1816-E.  The sentiment is one of my favorites #8810-H "Snow Much Fun". 

This was a fun sketch and we hope you'll join in on the fun.  Just link over to The House That Stamps Built and get all the details.  You might just win a $25.00 certificate for some RI stamps of your choice.  If you use RI stamps in your project you'll be entered twice....but you don't have to use RI stamps to enter.  So go for it....have some fun.  We can't wait to see what you create. 

For even more inspiration, please visit my Rock Star Teamies - a super talented group of ladies

Brenda - Deonna - Geri - Joy - Joyce - Karen - Melissa

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have fun with WIW challenge!!!

 

 

 



STAMPTV CSS TEAM COLOR CHALLENGE BLOG HOP

Hi blog friends!!!! 

Welcome to another StampTV Center Stage Alumni Group blog hop and challenge.  The challenge comes to us from our own Kay Simmons and it's a color combo challenge.  The color combo is Dark Chocolate, Tomato Soup, Honey Mustard and In the Navy with Ivory as the neutral color.   I used inks and designer paper to get the color combo for this challenge. 

If you've come from the blog of the very talented Betty, then you're right on target for hopping.  If you haven't seen Betty's inspiring project, do link back and check it out.  She's an amazingly talented lady. 

You can take the full hop by starting HERE at the beginning so you don't miss out on any blog or project.

I created two cards for this challenge

Products:  GKD Pure Luxury "In the Navy" and "Ivory".  Stamps:  GKD "By The Sea 2", by Theresa Momber  and "Stamp It Big". 

Products:  GKD "Warm Cocoa" Pure Luxury CS,  Stamps:  "Inspiration Mosaic" by Melanie Muenchinger.  I needed a male birthday card and I liked the way this color combo worked into that for this card. 

We hope you'll have some fun and after hopping, play along with us.  Now, head on over to the blog of the wonderfully talented Kay and see her fabulous creation. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!!!!

NEW CAS CHALLENGE AT OUTLAWZ

Hi blog friends!!! 

Here in the USA we're celebrating Veteran's Day on Monday.  I personally would like to thank my brothers and my nephew and niece who have served and are serving.  I thank those before them, my father and my uncles and the families that stood by and supported them.  Thank you for the freedoms we cherish so dearly. 

There's a new CAS Challenge at Outlawz Challenges and this week, Lynn Cupido is challenging us.  Here is Lynn's challenge - I hope you'll come over and play along with us.

Our challenge for you this week is “Remembrance/Celebrate".

Our loved ones that have left our physical world are always in our thoughts and prayers and this week we challenge you to create a CAS card or project in their favourite colours, theme or even animal treat or toy.

Here is a card I made for Lynn's challenge

 

With this card, I'm remembering my grandmother (my mom's mother).  She was such a dear, dear friend and an influential person in my life.  She used to have a pear tree in her garden and in the fall when the pears were ripe, she would make sure my brothers and sister and I had one in our school lunch bags every day.  The other day I took a pear to work with me - and at lunch time, when I opened my lunch bag and this whiff of pear came out, it brought back those sweet memories of Deedee (that's what we called her) and of the kind and caring lady she was.  I still miss her terribly yet, I was so blessed to have known her and had her in my life.

I started by die cutting the pear and the flourish detail with these Memory Box dies.  I sponged the pear with some Distress Inks to get the reddish shading.  I sprayed the embellishment with some Perfect Pearls Mists.  I adhered it to the pear with glue stick pen.  I created the bg layer with a Hero Arts bg stamp called "Envelope Patterns".  I first stamped it with white pigment ink and then again with gold on grey cs.  The base layer is Hero Arts Layering paper.  I rounded the bottom corners, adhered the pear to the grey layer and adhered that layer to the card base.  The leaf and stem were cut using scraps.  I highlighted the leaf, stem, and various areas of the embellishment with my new Wink of Stella glitter pens (I love, love, love them).   

That's it for now!  Thanks so much for stopping by. 

DESIGNER CHOICE CHALLENGE AT REPEAT IMPRESSIONS

Hi there...it's Designer Choice Challenge at The House That Stamps Built

Repeat Impressions Rock Star  Melissa Cash is hosting and she is challenging us to "Snow Fun".  

Some of the BEST winter seasonal collection of stamps is at Repeat Impressions.  Check them out.....I know you'll love them. 

Great challenge, Melissa.

 

I used RI Stamp #4703-I "Snowball Sequence" and #4603-F "Got Snow". 

 

Come on over to The House That Stamps Built and play along with Melissa's challenge you might just win some awesome RI stamps.

 

If you need more inspiration, please visit the ROCK STARS

 

 Melissa - Brenda - Deonna - Geri - Joy - Joyce - Karen

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you found some inspiration here.

 

 



PROJECT OF THE WEEK AT REPEAT IMPRESSIONS

Hi everyone! 

I'm here with a new Project Of The Week for The House That Stamps Built. 
It's nearing the holidays and it's always such a busy time of the year for many of us.  While I love making handmade cards for special friends and family members, I never have much time to do it.  Therefore, I often look for techniques that are easy and quick and easily reproduced.  The spotlight stamping technique is perfect for fast and easy holiday card creating.  Your cards will look like you spent a lot of time on them but, only you will know how easy they are.  You can use a variety of stamps in your collection for this technique so give it a try and see what you can create. 

Supplies:  Card Stock, designer paper (optional), dies or punches, coloring tools (pencils, alcohol markers, chalks), stamps and ink.

The object of this project is to "spotlight" a portion of the entire image, making it pop off the card and drawing the eye to the "spotlighted area". 
You will need to stamp the image you've chosen twice.  One will be used for the image on the card and the other will be colored and used as your spotlighted area. 

I created two cards using this technique - I used RI Image #211-P "Chickadee At Rest" and #2002-J "Holiday Lamp Post along with #423-G "May All Your Dreams".

1.   Color only a portion of the image you will use for the spotlight. 

2.   Prepare your image for your card base.  In my case I die cut it with Spellbinder Label 8 dies.  I also die cut a second layer with the same dies using the next size bigger.

3.   Decide what portion of your colored image you are going to use as your spotlight and die cut or punch it out.  I used Spellbinder classic ovals to die cut my image.

4.   You can layer your "spotlight" onto a piece of card stock cut a tiny bit larger just to outline the image and give it dimension. 

5.   Assemble your card and decorate any way you'd like.  I used pop dots to pop my "spotlight" on both of my cards.

 

 

 

I hope you'll give this a try and if you have any questions, please email me. 

Thank you for stopping by.