Snow, and a card update

Hiya folks. Well, we're settling in for a long night here at Tremper Hills. With 7" of snow already on the ground, tonight's forecast is looking pretty scary:

Experts are predicting that this winter storm will be the biggest and baddest in the Pacific Northwest in decades; since the 1980s. I have been living here since the late 1980s, and I remember some pretty bad ones. So if this one tops that, I'm worried. especially now that I'm a homeowner with 5 huge evergreen trees in my back yard. If the winds blow and the snow falls like they predict, I might end up with an 85' cedar tree in my kitchen. Let's hope not.

Anyhow, Hubba Hubba Hubby bought a snow shovel and ice melt and worked on the driveway today, so at least that's cleared. My office decided to close tomorrow and we're all working from home, so I'm fortunate that I don't even have to think about leaving the house.

But I will get stir crazy, so you might see some disgruntled blog posts tomorrow. Or maybe I'll strap on my cross-country skis and take a stroll through the neighborhood. That sounds nice, actually!

So, because of the snow, I'm feeling inspired to make Christmas cards. And yes, I did want to have them done way in advance of next Christmas, and there's no time like the present.

So here's today's card. I was flipping through my expandable folder of dies when I saw my picket fence die (PTI), and thought to myself, "I wonder if the string of lights from Holiday Lights would fit on the fence?" Well, guess what? They did! But I didn't think the bulbs would show up on the kraft fence, so I went all out with lots of bling instead.

Whaddya think? With all that bling on there, I don't think I'll be making many more like this. I'll have to save this card for someone really special next Christmas.

OK, well the Hubs and I decided to take the Jeep out and grab some stick-to-your-ribs dinner tonight as we prepare to hibernate through the storm. Wish us luck!

Make It Monday #49; Ghost Masking

Ooooh, ghost masking. Sounds creepy. But it's really not. Betsy Veldman of Papertrey Ink showed us this technique for this week's Make It Monday. In essence, mask off an area, then stamp images around it. Once you're happy with that, then reverse mask and re-stamp the inside, lining up your images with the previous, only stamp off excess ink this time so that the inside image is lighter and more ghostly. Betsy's example is great, but I think mine would have turned out a little better with a more bold image. The delicacy of the images I chose lost a lot of their detail in the overlapping and ghosting if the image.

Take a peeksie:

You can see that the images inside my frame look lighter. This is a one layer card, so there aren't any tricks here. I just stamped off the excess ink to get a lighter inking of the images inside the frame. 

And here are a few more cards I made during the snow day yesterday.

Valentine's Day!

I'm not really big on Valentines, but being the girly girl that I am, I've been super hot on making some V-Day cards lately. Maybe it's the color palette, maybe it makes me nostalgic, maybe I just really like making cards. At any rate, I have only one hubby, so I'll have to find some girlfriends who won't think I'm a creeper for sending them a Valentine's Day card.

This is also the current challenge over at A Passion For Papertrey. So instead of meeting my challenge to make 1 card tonight, I made 4, Yes, 4. Four. Quatro. As in, one more than three. Yow-za!

So without further ado, here they are.

As you can see, I have been studying CAS blogs and attempting my first ever one layer card. Yipes. What do you think?

This was actually meant to be a Thank You card for a girl friend who needs some TY cards, and I thought the With Love sentiment could be either Valentine's or a sincere note of gratitude.

I kind of like the simplicity of this one. Thoughts?

Oh houndstooth. How I covet thee.  Grey and pink = so girly and sweet. It just makes my heart melt.

And for those of you interested in those pearls, those are actually my "Joan Rivers 10' of Pearls." Yes, you read that right. 10'. 10 feet. TEN FEET. For you Britts out there, that 3.33 meters. Can you imagine how heavy these are? But even so, they are pretty fabulous, no?

Cheers!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Woodgrain XOXO:
Card Stock: White (PTI)
Stamps: Background Basics; Woodgrain (PTI), I Heart Hearts (SU!), Think Big Favorites #11 (PTI)
Ink: Real Red (SU!), Soft Blush (PTI), Grey <-- from the $1 bin at Michael's
Other: silver marker

With Love:
Card Stock: Melon Berry (PTI), Dark Chocolate (PTI), White (PTI), Vellum
Stamps: I Heart Hearts (SU!), Perfectly Penned (SU!)
Ink: Melon Berry (PTI), Sweet Blush (PTI), Chocolate Chip (SU!)

Woodgrain Heart:
Card Stock: White (PTI), Soft Stone (PTI), Sweet Blush (PTI)
Stamps: I Heart Hearts (SU!)
Ink: Real Red (SU!)
Other: Woodgrain Impression Plate (SU), Large Heart Punch (SU!), Heart Punch (SU!)

Hugs & Kisses:
Card Stock: White (PTI), Soft Stone (PTI), Shimmer Red (DCVW)
Stamps: Background Basics; Houndstooth (PTI), Think Big Favorites #11 (PTI)
Ink: VersaMark
Other: Pink embossing powder

A New Year

Hey ho cheerio. Welcome to 2012. I have never really made resolutions, probably because I know myself well enough to know that I can't keep a resolution. Instead, this year, I decided to challenge myself. A resolution is something that you can attempt and fail, but a challenge is just that; something you make an effort to do and keep up with. 

Here are a few of my 2012 challenges:

1. Make at least 1 new card each week

2. Blog about at least 1 new card each week

3. Participate in as many challenges as I can, even if they are not "my style."

There are more, but some things need to be kept a secret around here. ;-)

On to the card. Sadly, I have occasion for a sympathy card this week, as tomorrow I will be attending my Great Uncle's memorial service. I knew Great Uncle Don my whole life, and he was always a cheerful, delightful man with stark white hair and a good "old person" with whom to have a conversation. Some older family members you avoid having talks with; not Great Uncle Don. 

So for Great Aunt Penny, I made this card. I chose a somewhat monochromatic color scheme to keep the somber mood, while the roses and little hints of glitter seemed fitting for a lady.

And as I am loving my new Rosie Posie set, this card just came together so naturally.

Much busier than my typical cards, but I wanted this to jump off the page and have a similar effect as handing over a bouquet or roses. 

I punched a strip with my Martha Stewart edger on both sides of Smokey shadow card stock, then laid a piece of ribbon down the center of that to ground it a little and take away some of the intricacy. I didn't want to make Great Aunt Penny cry any more from all the detail on the card. Die cut the large and small roses of Rosie Posie onto Enchanted Evening, Blueberry Sky, Spring Rain and Aqua Mist card stock. The leaves I cut from Ocean Tides. I stamped the images with their closely-coordinating inks from Stampin Up (yes, I know, I'm mixing companies, but the matches are close enough for my eye). Used a few bump dots to pop out some of the roses, then added a sentiment from Botanical Silhouettes (PTI). Add some Martha Stewart glitter, and voila. The base is white, matted with Smokey Shadow, and the images are adhered to Soft Stone.

Cheers!