Let It Snow! (but not really till next winter :)))

Good Morning Everyone,

Today is Friday and that means there is another challenge from the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog where this week's challenge is to have fun with embossing (heat embossing, light embossing, embossing folders, faux embossing, etc.) As much as I love getting the glittery embossing powder all in my hair and forehead for the whole day, I went with the embossing folder for today's card creation.

I made this using the Christmas Joy Borders & Centers Oval 1-3/4" x 2-5/16" stamp set from JustRite Stampers. I LOVE this little penguin and as much as I love the sentiment "let it snow" - I really hope that we have seen our last snowfall and that it doesn't snow till winter :) I used the one of the cute oval borders in this cute stamp set and then adorened it with punched out snowflakes and bling. The cutie penguin was stamped six times and then colored, cut out and then popped up on dimensionals :) Here is another picture from the side:

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Choice Snow White from Taylored Expressions, Bazzill basics (blue shades)

Stamps: Christmas Joy Borders & Centers Oval 1-3/4" x 2-5/16" stamp set from JustRite Stampers

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black and Bahama Blue

Accessories: corner rounder, divine swirl Embossing folder, glaze pens, scalloped border from corner rounders, bling from Kaiser, ribbon from TE

I seriously love being part of this awesome group - its been fun to create a little bit of the holidays all year long (and that way, I get to use up my papers so that I can buy more papers without feeling any guilt :))))) Check out all of the embossed beauties over at the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog and we hope that you will play along with us!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Big hugs,

Sankari :)

CSAYL#44 - Wings of Happiness

Good Morning Everyone,

Every friday over at the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog, there is a fun new challenge to help inspire and keep us motivated all year long with making holiday cards and I can't tell you how much I am so happy to be part of it... especially as the weather gets warmer and it is hard to pull out all the snowy goodness of craft winterland :) Today, for the 44th challenge, Debbie has come up with a wonderful inspiration that is kind of springish for our challenge today - which is to create a card based on the pic that a) uses the colors in the photo, b) has lots of white space and c) has a bird! LOve that! And isn't this inspiration picture soooo lovely!?! I {heart} Pottery Barn - as much as I wish our house looked like the catalog, the reality is that it wouldn't last more than 20 seconds before my kids made it umm... "lived in"... Here is my card based on this inspiration picture using one of my fave images from the Wings of Joy stamp set from Taylored Expressions. - and it was really nice to be able to keep a lot of white space :)

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Choice Snowwhite cardstock and Prism cardstock Taylored Expressions

Stamps: Wings of Joy from Taylored Expressions

Ink: Memento Ladybug Red and Tuxedo Black

Accessories: liquid pearls, corner rounder, may arts ribbon, spellbinders, cuttlebug embossing folder, snowflake punch from MS, rhinestones from Want2Scrap.

I loved using this sweet inspirational picture and am glad to add another card to the pile - yay :) If you have a chance to play along please check out all the details at the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog and see all the lovely cards for this week's challenge!

Happy Friday! Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Big hugs,

Sankari :)

Joyeux Noel!

Good Morning Everyone!
I am so excited its Friday :) Yipee! Every Friday, at the Christmas Stamping All Year Long Blog, we have a different challenge to help get the holiday mojo lasting through the year, so that its not a mad dash of stressful cardmaking towards the end of the year :) This year, Patty has come up with a wonderful challenge: to create a card that is "out of the box" or basically to create a card that can be of any shape other than the regular A2 card that we all are used to.

I made a circle card using the lovely and versatile stamps from Just Rite Stampers, where you can mix and match your borders and sentiments. I created this stamp set from the Merry Little Christmas Borders & Centers Round 1-5/8" and I love the sentiment: "Joyeux Noel" :)

Card Ingredients:
Paper: Prism cardstock, DP from GCD studios
Stamps: Merry Little Christmas Borders & Centers Round 1-5/8" from Just Rite Stampers
Inks: Memento Tuxedo black and Ladybug Red
Accessories: spellbinders, liquid pearls, MS punch, silk ribbon, bling from Want2Scrap

I had so much fun making this festive card - although I have to say that as the snow starts to melt and the weather starts to get warmer, I might have to put on some holiday music as I make my Friday holiday cards :) And on that note, I leave you with the song: "Dashing thru the snow, on a one horse open sleigh......."

Check out the lovely creations that the wonderful DT has created for this Shape Challenge!
Happy Friday and thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs!
Sankari :)

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long #42 - Pink Holiday Cards!

Good Morning Everyone,


Another post today, you say? Well, every friday over at the Christmas Stampin All Year Long blog there will be a new challenge posted to help our mojo get going to keep creating holiday cards all year long. Today we have a challenge to create a holiday card that is mostly pink! I love this challenge! As much as I love the traditional colors for Christmas, its also fun to use the non-traditional colors to create a holiday card :) I used my scrap pieces of paper (hooray for using scraps!) to create this card which is made using the Star of Wonder stamp set from Verve. 

Card Ingredients:
Paper: Scraps of pink paper
Stamps: Verve -  Star of Wonder 
Ink: White Stazon and clear EP
Accessories: corner rounder, liquid pearls, CM cutter, MS tree punch, dimensionals, bling/ribbon from stash


I loved creating this card and can't wait to make some more! I LOVE participating in this Christmas Stampin All Year Long group because its a way to keep the holiday mojo flowin' all year long :) Please hop on over to the CSAYL blog and check all the holiday pinks that the DT has created!!! Can't wait to see your lovely creations!


Thanks so much for stoppin' by!
hugs,
Sankari :)

First Christmas card of the New Year (woot woot!) :)

Good Morning Everyone!

How has your week been?

Can you believe its already Friday?

Can you believe its almost March!

Can you believe its 2010! lol!

I sure can't! I feel like this year has been flying BY and I am so happy that the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog is starting up again with all new yummy challenges! Doing a christmas card every week last year was such a help by the time October rolled around and I didn't feel like there were a jillion Christmas cards to be done all at once, so I am excited to be part of the team again this year and get started on my holiday cards :) This week, Vicki has created a card making recipe challenge:

2 layers, 3 buttons and glitter!

can't beat a recipe with glitter in it! ;)

Here is my recipe card using the Wings of Joy stamp set from Taylored Expressions:

Card Ingredients:

Paper: MME Colorful Christmas and Prism Cardstock

Stamps: WIngs of Joy by Taylored Expressions

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: Spellbinders, stickles, liquid pearls, sponger, buttons/ribbon from stash, gel pen

If you want to get your christmas cards going -join in on the fun and check out the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog to see what all the lovely ladies have created with this awesome recipe challenge!

Thanks so much for stopping in and TGIF!!!

Big hugs!

Sankari :)

Happy Friday :)

Good Morning Everyone,

Wow - I can't believe that it is Friday - the last few days have been so busy and each day has been one late night after another - I wish I could say it was crafting but it was all the things that I have been putting off doing that I finally had to do.... and so I was so excited last night that I had a moment to craft :) yippeeeee! I couldn't wait to use Taylor's newest set: Wings of Joy and used the color combos from this week's color challenge from Debbie at the Christmas Stamping all Year Long blog :) I adore adore these sweet little birdies perched on their birdhouse and the sentiment: "May Joy take flight in your heart this season, bringing Love to all around you."

Card Details:

Paper: Prism cardstock fromTaylored Expressions

Ink: Not Quite Navy from SU!

Stamps:Wings of Joy from Taylored Expressions

Accessories: Spellbinders, Delightful Decorations punch, eyelet and cropadile, green flimmer ribbon, corner rounder, liquid pearls, liquid glaze and ribbon from TE

I don't know about you - but winter is arriving waaaay too early here in Iowa and so I wanted to make a summery happy card :) And so I pulled out the Berries and Cherries set from Taylored Expressions and made a fun little quick card with one of my fave sentiments: I love You Berry much :) (I was browsing for a fun sketch earlier today and found one from a while ago - but now can't figure out which sketch this is from?)

Card Details:

Paper: Prism cardstock from Taylored Expressions, red gingham paper from stash and black and kraft cardstock from stash

Ink: Ruby Red from SU!

Stamps: Berries and Cherries from Taylored Expressions

Accessories: Cuttlebug Swiss dots, eyelet and cropadile, black gingham ribbon from TE, liquid pearls,Sakura of America pens and Inkessentails gel pen

I can't tell you how much happier I am after stamping a little always good therapy to get a crafting done in the corner :)

Hope that you are having a happy friday and are happy to get your weekend groove started!!!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog :)

Big happy friday hugs!

Sankari :)

Wishing You Holiday Happiness!

Good Morning Everyone,

Its Monday Morning and that means that there is another challenge from the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog, where today Debbie challenge us to use the above colors in our holiday card making. I have to say, that it was definitely a challenge - but I couldn't wait to try it! I used the stamp set: Wings of Joy that Taylor just released this weekend over at Taylored Expressions and colored the image with copics, cut it out with spellbinders and added some ribbon and some buttons and of course - some liquid pearls (lol!).

Card Details:

Paper: Prism cardstock from Taylored Expressions

Ink: Memento Expresso

Stamps: Wings of Joy from Taylored Expressions

Accessories: spellbinders, kaiser rhinestones, adirondack expresso liquid pearls, Savannah buttons

I hope you have a chance to play along with us! And as Christmas is approaching, I feel the need to sit down one day and crank out a ton of holiday cards - I just can't believe how quickly the holiday season is coming up upon us!

Check out the lovely creations from this week's color challenge over at the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!

Happy Monday!

Big Hugs!

Sankari :)

A Holiday card and Halloween Treat bags :)

Good Morning Everyone,

Can you BELIEVE that it is almost the middle of September??? That means that Halloween and Christmas is right around the corner! Well today I made something for both Christmas and Halloween :)

Over at the Christmas Stamping All Year Long blog, Maria challenged us with a sketch challenge and I used the Boys Will be Boys stamp set and the sentiment from Season's Sweetings from Taylored Expressions. I realized that I haven't made any "manly man" cards yet for Christmas - and so it was fun to pull out this stamp set and create this card! Can't wait to make more :)

Card Details:

Paper: Martha Stewart

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Boys Will be Boys stamp set and the sentiment from Season's Sweetings from Taylored Expressions.

Accessories: eyelets and cropadile, spellbinders and ribbon from stash, circle butters from CM and scallop punch from SU!

Well, being in the holiday spirit from making this card, I made some fun treat bags for Halloween! I LOVE - I mean LOVE LOVE LOVE this cute little cupcake with the superman costume from the Trick or Sweet II stamp set from Taylored Expressions - seriously - how cute can a cupcake get???!! And I love all the costumes that the cupcakes are wearing - they are just too cute (here is the link to the first Trick or Sweet stamp set from last year) I think the hardest thing about decorating these treatbags was to refrain from eating the candies!

Here are my two quick little treatbags - it was such a cinch to make and can't wait to make more! I love these fun Halloween papers and ribbon that is in the Halloween Key Ingredients.

Here is a close up of these cute cupake superman stamps - I made two superman cupcake stamps - one strawberry and one chocolate :)

Project Details:

Paper: Halloween Key Ingredients.

Ink: Stazon Black

Stamps:Trick or Sweet II stamp set from Taylored Expressions

Accessories: Treat bags from Taylored Expressions, bling from Kaiser, copics

I had a lot of fun making these projects! Now that fall is in the air - I love making these holiday treats! (Do you guys have ideas for what you are going to be for Halloween?)

Hope your Monday is off to a great start!!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog :)

Big hugs

Sankari :)

Happy Holiday Monday :)

Good Monday Morning Everyone,

The days are getting colder here and it feels like winter and the holidays are just around the corner! Its really been great to be part of the Christmas Stamping All Year Long group where we have been making cards since the beginning of the year - but somehow with the winter holidays approaching, I still feel way behind! lol! This week, Debbie from the Paper Garden, challenged us to use the paper piecing technique in our cards. This is one of my most fave techniques to use -its just fun to make the DP part of the image. I used Karen Giron's sketch that she created for Taylor's Birthday Bash celebration (check out all the deets here) to make this card:

Card Details: 

Paper: Basic Grey

Ink: Adirondack Expresso

Stamps: Season's Sweetings from Taylored Expressions

Accessories: Corner Rounder, spellbinders, copics, bling from K& co, brown grosgrain.

This has always been one of my fave images - little cuppies with holly on them - so sweet :) This is such a fun challenge - and I hope you join us this week for some paper piecing fun! Check out what awesome creations the rest of the DT have created with this challenge at the Christmas Stampin All Year Long blog!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Hugs!

Sankari :)

Happy Holiday Monday :)

Good Morning Everyone,

Today over at the Christmas Stamping All Year Long Blog, one of our DT members Vicki of Summerthyme Studio's challenged us to use the spotlight technique where you highlight part of the image by stamping it twice and layering it (here's a great Tutorial to show you how). So I decided to pull out a stamp that I have only used a couple of times and has been sitting at the bottom of the pile - for 2 years (hanging my head down in shame!) 

Everything in the card is from my stash. The stamped sentiment is from Taylored Expressions and the tree stamp is from (hmm...? I will go and check on that!) Check out the rest of the cards in the spotlight over at the Christmas Stamping All Year Long Blog and play along if you have a chance! Its been a great way to not only get a jumpstart in the christmas card making insanity - but also to try out some new techniques :)

Hope you are all having a great Monday - I will be back in a little bit later today with some exciting news! 

(no - I am not pregnant- LOL!!!)

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Monday!

Sankari :)

Happy Holiday Monday :)

Good Monday Morning Everyone!

Its Monday and that means its holiday time! I am so happy to be part of the Christmas Stampin All Year Long blog, where every week we create a card on Monday - each Monday there is a different challenge for your card (so you can always keep it fresh - I don't know about you but it is SO hard for me to make 50 xmas cards that are all the same). This week, Debbie from The Paper Garden challenged us to use this awesome sketch where the bottom portion of the sketch is patterned DP and the top portion is embossed. 

I was cleaning up a few days ago for our guests this weekend and found (or re-found, I should say :)  this Martha paper from last year hidden at the bottom of this pile that was behind another pile :) and was psyched to be able to use it - I LOVE this gum drop paper and thought it would go perfectly with this sweet gingerbread house from Taylored Expressions. 

The top really is embossed (in dotted snowflakes)

 but you can't see it come through because of the light on the picture).

I had so much fun making this card! Its officially August folks - so if you would like to get crafting on some holiday cards - check out the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog and play along - and check out the wonderful holiday merriment that was created by all the wonderful women on the DT for this week's sketch!

Please come back later this morning where I am SO psyched to be able to show you something "berry" special (wink!) 

Hope you had a fantastic weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

hugs!

Sankari :)

Card Details:

Paper: Martha Stewart

Stamps: Gingerbread house is from the Home Sweet Home stamp set from Taylored Expressions

Ink: Stazon Black

Accessories: liquid pearls (5 different colors), spellbinders dies, frosted lace stickles, candy cane stickles, crystal stickles, brad for the door knob, ribbon from stash

Holiday Mondays - Eyelet Challenge

Good Monday Morning Everyone,

Its Monday and that means its time for another holiday card challenge from the Christmas Stampin All Year Long Blog and the challenge today comes from Debbie who challenged us to use our eyelets! I always forget what a fun embellishment eyelets are - and I wanted to share that ALL the eyelets on my card were hammered in by my son who is four (I thought for sure he was going to hammer my fingers - but he did a good job with them eyelets! ! He calls them eyeballs though :) (my favorite thing he said was - "I think we need to put more eyeballs on your card"  :) ha!

I had a lot of fun making this card and feel so happy to be part of this awesome blog where we knock one more holiday card off our "to-do" list so that we can enjoy the holidays without the pressure to make a zillion christmas cards two days before the 25th - (yes - that is what happened to me this year - and I am psyched that halfway through this year - I have a nice stack of holiday cards ready! yay!) I am never this organized!

Card Details: 

Paper: K&Company, Martha Stewart and stash

Ink: MOre Mustard from SU!

Stamps: Beary Special from Taylored Expressions

Accessories: Ribbon from K & Company, eyelets from stash, spellbinders dies, corner rounder, sponger, dimensionals, vellum, gold stickles for halo and platinum stickles for ears, Kaiser Rhinestones, Crystal Effects.

Technique - Paper Piecing and sponging'

Show watched while crafting: The Agatha Christie Hour on Youtube - I am HOOKED!

This is one of my favorite images from Taylor's new stamp release Beary Special from Taylored Expressions - and I have to say - that I have been itching to make a holiday bear card as soon as I saw this set. I paper pieced his little teddy pear paws and after adding some stickles to ear and halo  - I also added some crystal effects to nose and eyes and couldn't help adding some to the paws - man that stuff is addictive!!

If you have a chance to play along with us that would be awesome!! Its really a great motivating factor every week to be part of a holiday stamping group through the year! Check out the rest of the awesome merry and bright  creations at the Christmas Stampin All Year Long blog!!

Thank you all for visiting my blog!!! Stop by later as I have another post with some special treats coming up later!

Happy Monday!

Hugs! Sankari :)