Santa Hedgies for Rudy Day

Good evening, and welcome. It's time for the October Rudolph Day Challenge, and next month will be the last one for 2018. In case you don't know about this challenge, it is a Christmas Anything Goes themed challenge, which opens on the 25th of each month, and closes on the last day of that month. Our hostess, Maureen always has some nice prizes, and it's just a fun and fairly easy rules challenge...just do something related to Christmas. 

Here's my entry for October....I've managed to join in each month of 2018 (I _think_!)

Penny Black image

CZ Design die sentiment

Hedgies colored with copics; Polar White Flowersoft for the fur and used a quickie glue pen over the string of stars. Then dumped some Brutus Monroe Gilded Gold over the wet glue. The glue pen allowed the EP to adhere fairly well, so IRL the stars have a nice glimmer. A silver slicci pentel pen helped the scissors to look metallic.

the snow was created by using a rather dried up snow writer (it wouldn't come out of the end so used an embossing paste spreader to put some on the card; then used my finger to spread it). Then dumped on some glitter while this was wet.

I sprayed a fixative over the flowersoft to keep it from falling off (hopefully) and the wet 'snow paste' held the glitter as it dried.

used red mats and a dot dp snippet piece to add some color on the background.

3 layers of snippets made up the sentiment. A red snippet in the middle, with 2 white snippet layers colored with copics. A business card was handy, so used the white back and sandwiched the red snippet between. The thickness of the business card gave a nice dimension. Nuvo Crystal glaze applied, once the layers were put together. Laid this on the kraft non-stick mat, as I applied the Glaze. This way when it blobbed over, as it does sometimes, it was not on the card, leaving a splodge that the camera picks up.

Please check out this month's Rudolph Day Challenge, and see lots of inspiration & then play along if you are able. Only a few more weeks to build your Christmas Card stash!

Hope to be back later with a card for our Christmas Card Club. Ya'll take care, and thanks for joining me. Hugs

An Easter Hedgie

Good morning and welcome. First off, please help me welcome a new follower, Kara Lynne of Bright Hope Creations. It's always a delight to have  new follower and make a new friend; I hope you'll have time to surf over to visit Kara Lynne, say hello and enjoy at her stunning projects.

Easter will soon be here, so I thought I'd intersperse some Easter cards in with the St. Paddy's cards I've still got to finish up, and share here. Here is one of my favorite Penny Black hedgie......helping out the Easter Bunny.

- Stripe DP from a 6x6 purchased at Michaels - this is quite thin paper too.

- Green texture cardstock from the stash - cut with a Memory Box die

- Cheery Lynn egg die, glitter paper, decoration from glitter paper, a border punch....

S/B die for the mat and postage stamp die for Hedgie. Thought the waste from the Memory Box die cut look liked Easter eggs, so threw several under Hedgie's cart...they fell off!

Prayers for all of you enduring this stormy weather both in the USA and in the UK. Hopefully this will be the last blast of winter, before we can enjoy a lovely spring.

Come again when you have time, God Bless and sending many hugs your way.

Penny Black Hedgie Says Happy Easter

Good evening, and thanks for stopping for a visit. Thought I'd give you a break from St. Pat's cards, and finish up an Easter card. This cute little PB Hedgie lady was colored years ago. It's a clear set called Tiny Wishes.  Found the colored image in the stash, added more contrast to her dress, selected a S/Binder to die cut, and off I did go.

- Miss Hedgie was shopping (I think), but decided to go with the 'Easter Bonnet' and use this as a card for Easter. When I was a child, everyone had an Easter outfit to wear, and the ladies wore hats (sometimes the little girls did too). I think that's a tradition that has disappeared these days. Copic coloring, WoS on the Rose, and although the photo doesn't show it, a little drop of Nuvo Jewel Drop (Grey Mist) - which dries clear and looks like dew on the flower. These Nuvo Crystal and Jewel drops are easier to control the size of the 'drop' (at least for me) than the liquid pearls were. Really like the ones I've used.

- S/Binders Oval Bliss to die cut Miss Hedgie, then used Memento Dewdrop sized inks to add some color at the edge. After making the background, thought there needed to be another color between Ms H and the background, so found an oval S/B that sort of fit the shape, to do an underlayer.

- Artplorations Delicate Leaves stencil - embossed over white c/s, then used brushes to add color: DI Milled Lavendar, Dewdrop size turquoise shade, keeping the corner areas darker. Then used some old small floral stamps to add darker pink & some turquoise flowers over the stenciling. Trimmed down this piece, added tiny strips of the same turquoise mat shade at the edges of the white card base.

- Sentiment stamped and punched with an oval punch. Yay, first Easter card done!!!

Big Hugs, and hope it's nice where you are this afternoon. It's been overcast here with some very early morning rain. Come again when you have time. I'll be back to visit you too. Sometimes when leaving comments, I'm not always certain Blogger publishes - if I have time, when I go back to check, I don't see my comment. I know with comment moderation on, it won't publish immediately - but I do try to get back to all my sweet visitors.

Penny Black Balloon Hedgie Valentine

Good afternoon & happy Monday; thanks for stopping by. Sure hope you had a wonderful weekend. Ours was quiet, had sunshine, but one day it was awfully windy.

Yay - there's 2 new followers showing in my followers list. A big welcome to Birgit of Crafting While I Wait! So happy to have some new followers, as it's been quiet for a long while. Thanks for becoming followers, and I hope my friends will pop over to say Hello to Birgit, and enjoy some gorgeous cards. I've not been able to determine who the other new follower is, so if it should be you, please let me know. I add the names of followers in my spreadsheed database, and then your name is included for when Blog Candy winners are chosen.

Speaking of Blog Candy: For a while now, there's been some goodies collecting in a box. Was hoping to reach the 350 followers milestone, then Blogger played games with the followers. However, all the Blogaversaries I've been seeing around Blogland reminded me, I have a 5 year Blogaversary coming on March 12. So if the milestone goal happens first, some of the candy will go for that. And then there will be another give-away for the Blogaversary!  That 5 years has gone by so fast, and I've met so VERY many lovely people.

I hope you won't get too tired with Valentine cards in the next few days, but that's what I've got to work on. (and get in the mail too!). So here goes with today's, using my favorite Penny Black Hedgie. Just love this little guy, and he's so easy to color. This is an old wooden PB, bought when I first started learning how to stamp.

 

 

 

Copic coloring, some Winks added on some of the hearts. The background around Hedgie & his balloons is BG0000 and BG000 (pale blues).

 

- Cheery Lynn die sentiment

 

- MB Oval Master Frame 99357 - cut from a 6x6 Recollections Christmas Noel pack. The design is a wood grain motif. Happened to notice the opposite side is white, with some raised embossing, so used that side. The frame is popped up on foam strips placed along the inside edges.

 

- Rhinestone hearts to trim, and the white card base was edged with DI Weathered Wood and Memento Summer Sky sponging. This enhances the light blue background around Hedgie, that the photo is not showing, but looks nice IRL. The camera IS showing the adhesive dots that were on the rhinestone hearts, though, which IRL the eye does NOT see! Go figure!!!

 

Ya'll have a great evening, and come again when you have time! I try to visit all who leave comments, but sometimes I'm not absolutely certain that my comment was published. So if I should miss coming to enjoy your work, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Sometimes Blogger likes to tease me! Hugs

 

Penny Black Hedgie

Good afternoon and welcome to a scheduled post.

- a UFO that's been hanging around for a while. Of course you'll recognize the PB Hedgie that is one of my fav PB images. He's always such fun to color..Matted Hedgie with the same S/B label die (?Label 4?) that cut the image out originally. Traced around the outer edges of the same size die, then hand cut to get a scant mat. I always cut out the inside with one of the smaller dies in the set. This saves on layering weight when mailing, plus a little snippet for future use.

- White card base, added some striped washi on the side and some butterfly washi at the bottom.

- a Zig watercolored butterfly from the Altenew Wild Hibiscus metallic embossing images sent to me by a sweet friend. A very easy card to put together...dunno why it took me so long!

Hugs & thanks for popping in.

Cutout Technique with Penny Black Flower

Happy Saturday!!! Thanks for coming to visit..and let's start with a warm welcome to some new followers (one I missed at the time, and then noticed a new face in the line-up, so apologies for that oversight)!

Caz of Bunnys Bits n Bobs

 

Sandma of Sandma's Handmade Cards

 

Cheryl of Cheryls Creative Space

Some of these bloggers are new to Blogland - so I hope you'll have a few minutes to pop over and say Hello, and enjoy some fab inspirations. Some have been blogging for a while, but again, some good inspiration to scroll through the posts. Speaking for myself, I always am inspired by seeing what another card maker has created..(sometimes intimidated too! but in a good way :-}  ). Thanks for joining as followers here, and I hope you'll be able to visit when you have time. It's exciting to see new faces in the followers list. When you're a new blogger, it's thrilling when that spot starts to populate. Then when you do have some followers, and no new followers join for a while, it's another big high to see new friends come to visit. I guess all of us feel that way, regardless of how many followers are in that list! It's the best part of blogging, I think, to meet new friends, get to know who they are, what their lives are like, and hear their stories. Anyway, thanks to all of you who come here from time to time.

OK...recently Brenda of Friends Crafting with Friends shared a beautiful card that I just loved, and she explained to me the technique. Well, I'm kinda thick-headed sometimes, so bless her sweet heart, she did a tutorial that shows in pictures, exactly what she'd explained to me. (Hope you'll check out the link, if you didn't already see Brenda's post). I've seen other bloggers making use of Brenda's tutorial.  I've been trying to do one, but not use the same flowers I've seen other people using. Well, today's card is part of that effort:

- Still haven't quite got the look I'm going for yet, but this one is going in the mail today, as a family birthday card.  I've done a few others, still not quite right to show off this technique, but hey, I'll get there eventually! I think the problem my eye sees with this card, is that there is not enough of the flower colored..due to using the center oval die.

Hope your day is going well. Mr. is off with a neighbor guy, and I only have one thing on my house chore list for today. So I may go downstairs when I finish this post, and do some stamp cleaning & supply put-away. It's a bit cooler so far this morning, from the mid-to-high 90F's we've had this week. We're getting July weather here in June, so July might be brutal in our area.

Thanks for coming by, and have a wonderful day. Also Happy Father's Day to any fathers who might visit here. Big Hugs.

And how do you like the Summer Blog Look? (thanks to the generosity of the sweet lady who helped me with this!!! ♥)

- Penny Black clear Efforescence - stamped with Tuxedo Black, colored with copics in Y and YR shades.

- Just Right Graceful Sentiments - Rich Cocoa

- Lil Inker Stitched Oval die

- Flower petals from stash, come colored with copics.

Penny Black Kitty with Valentine Balloons

Welcome, and thanks for visiting. Today's card is from the Penny Black Transparent Share a Hug set. I'm allergic to cats, so don't usually buy cat motifs, but the Penny Black kitty is one that I gravitate towards. He's cute & looks so happy. Easy to color as well.

- Center red balloon got a layer of Clear WoS, then added some glossy accents for shine.

- A sizzix die (has no name on it) for the Kitty. Papers from stash, and the top scallop was a 6x6 Authentique pack, cut with a La-La Land border scallop. Authentique and Graphic 45 are 2 of my favorite paper companies. Love to find these patterns in 6x6, which I personally find more user friendly.

That's it! Don't forget to check out the Happy Little Stampers February Christmas Challenge. The theme this month is a Tick Tack Toe challenge one.

Ya'll have a nice evenin', and Big Hugs.

Edit: Thanks to visiting Carol's Blog this evening, I learned that this card might fit in with the Penny Black Saturday Challenge for February  going on to use hearts or red with a PB product. Just linked in, so I hope it works as this post went live today.

And one other sweet blogger suggested this cute PB Kitty would fit in over at Penny Black & More since it fits in with the February challenge of Anything Goes with a Stamp and a die! Thanks Brenda.http://stamping-fantasies.blogspot.com/.    Aren't bloggers just the greatest support community? Yes indeed!

Penny Black Happy Birthday Snow

Good evening. Back with another birthday card that took forever to finish (but was fun to color). Some images just seem to color so easily, and ones you'd think would be a breeze, just don't go that well. This is a Penny Black cling stamp, and doesn't this little fella just look as though he's having the most-est fun? Guess I could have taken a better close up view...sorry.

Kai (PB in the snow) - was colored with copics, with a bit of WoS & spica pens. Snowflakes done with a white gel pen, then some Stickles Star Dust. Star Dust on the snow piles. Silver Sakura pen on some of the trims. There's a bit of SnS Twinkling Clouds sprinkled on the snowbanks & the pompoms on Kai's snowsuit for some texture.

- Snippet of glitter paper for the scant black mat, then some SU paper (forget the color) for the 2nd mat. Purple cardbase embossed only at the bottom area, with a snowflake EF, HLS Fun Birthday Sentiments punched out with an SU punch. Used a bit of the snippet black glitter to punch a 2nd layer, cut in half, placed as a semi-mat.

Some rhinestones for bling, and that's it. Very easy card & I don't know why it took me so long to finish it!

Thanks for popping in, and stay cozy where you may be, if the weather is dreadful. See ya soon, big hugs.
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Blogger News:  Here is some news which I copied from another Blog.  Here's the announcement they made on Blogger Buzz:
In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer

Hedgie says Happy Birthday

Good morning, and it's a lovely sunshine day in my part of the world. Not so hot (but would be if you wuz outside working). DD has been here for a few days, and we're just back from the local airport, and I'm in my usual blue mood. Just do NOT  handle goodby well when it's someone I love. Bless her heart, I think she spent the 2 days teaching us how to use the new Smart phones that everyone has been telling us we MUST upgrade to. (and she was one of them). We waited until she was here, to help us pick out the best features for our use of it. On our old 'dumb' phones, I had texting turned off, due to an unhappy experience with some kids playing pranks, and we had to pay for the messages. Being ignorant I opened these, as I didn't really know WHO would be texting me, but I know the DD does lots of that. Anyway, after getting our provider to dismiss the charges, I asked them to turn it off, so neither of us made that mistake again (They had said they would only honor iggerance ONE time!) This new plan - and yes we had to sign a 2 yr contract  which will be expensive to break if we're unhappy with this - provides unlimited talk & text. We got 1G of data, as it would be nice to do email while traveling - although I'd use the laptop at night. But it has really re-inforced our knowledge of the fact that we are woefully lacking in the technology dept. I did manage to get our contacts added into both phones - which the girl at the Costco kiosk was supposed to have done. She only got a few of them. Now just trying to learn some of the things and one thing I must get someone to show me, is how to do the coupons from the various stores. (I don't want to get more stuff we have to pay for unless I am aware up front that I'm doing it! DD said she doesn't do that, and couldn't help with it). Anybody else out there, feeling so dumb with this kind of thing????

Today's card has been received, so here goes:



- PBlack wood mount Hedgie, some years old, but I love it! Tiny dragonfly was in a sweet gift pack from the person who received this card, so thought appropriate to use on this card. Of course, image was Copic colored, some WoS. One booboo...when picking the WoS, thought I had clear. It was white, which I didn't realize at first. After all the WoS touches were added, I noticed the brilliant colors of the orange tones looking somewhat foggy. Hmm...what is wrong? Then I looked at the WoS marker, and dang - it was white! I was able to go back over with another coat or 2 of the same copics, and don't think the nib was bothered. But if you have white WoS, just watch when you are selecting...cuz it DOES make a difference.

-Sue Wilson Noble Collection Ornate Pierced Design die and then same die for the faux mat.

- Brusho background - previously done...with orange, yellows and some gold spray. But doesn't it look nice with the orange tones of the flowers in the bouquet?

- SU punch and sentiment. Ta Da.

One comment I keep intending to share, and forget, is this: got the Sizzix Precision Plate with the  Big Shot Plus (yes I got a good buy on it and free shipping - and while I'm still using the old beat up B/Shot, the Plus is handy for the bigger dies). I've been using the precision plate with some of the more intricate dies (f'r instance, the Cheery Lynn doilies that I have so much trouble with sometimes.) It works very well I'm pleased to say. Recently I used w/c paper with a die and even though I did several passes, changed the position on the plates one time - the die cut beautifully. So if anyone is waffling on the precision plate...I can testify that it is helping my frustration a great deal!!! Just sayin'.

Ya'll have a grand day and come back when you can sit a spell in the porch swing. Today would be a lovely day to enjoy the swing, as the humidity is low, and there's a breeze too. We had a spot of rain earlier, and predicted to get some more later today. Big Hugs.

Brusho background, Spellbinder Oval & Memory Box Too

Hello again and welcome. Today's card has lots of fun stuff on it, and has been done - pretty much - for a while. Just getting around to photo & posting, and that was delayed due to Life!

Here goes:

- Brusho background using just the Black pot. Didn't it yield magnificent color? Tried to do the technique Eileen Godwin did with the Ranger Spritz tool, but haven't mastered that well yet. Plan to keep trying to get the look however. Even though I didn't get the results desired, thought it still looked nice, so stamped a PBlack Flower Sparks transparent set using a Blackberry Colorbox Fluid chalk ink. Had never used this ink pad; looked black in the container, but was a dark purple. Did a 2nd generation stamping after the 1st two blooms, but the MB die cut (?small Chloe stem?) sort of obscures it.

-Die cut the motif using largest of the Oval Regalia S/B set.. Considering adding a few pearls around the lacy part, but need to look at it a bit yet.

- Lavendar/purple card base from Bazzil texture cardstock, and IRL the color looks darker than in this photo. S/B corner dies cut from white snippet. Copic BV markers changed these from white corners. Liked it better with purple tones, then drew a skinny line using a WoS purple pen. That may not have been my best idea, because one of the corners has a pretty shaky line (bottom left). Again, we'll say this is my Amish touch! Decided to go with it as is, and hope the recipient will like it anyway. The sentiment will go inside when the card is ready to mail.

Hope you like this one. Thanks for visiting, it's getting time to sit in the porch swing & enjoy something to drink. Ya'll come back when you can...and Big hugs.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hiya, and welcome. Big Hugs & lots of good wishes that each of you will have a super happy day spent with your Sweetie (and family too), and that it can just be a very loving day. I wanted to post a Valentine to all my wonderful followers along with the above wishes. Also will finish sharing the rest of the V. cards that I did.

For all who visit here today! This one's for you along with some big hugs.

Now for the rest of those heart cards:

 

 

 

(looks like the silver trim is coming off in this photo. I did press it firmly back down prior to mailing this card. The interior red backing is from a snippet of Gelli play with some sprays over it. Didn't photo all that well, as it does not look orange-y IRL. )

 

There, that's all until next year. Don't think I've posted any of these cards twice, but if so, please overlook it.

It's sunny here in Upstate South Carolina this morning. Windy though & quite brisk. We watched some tiny yellow finches at the bird feeder this morning. Each day their coloration is changing from the dull of winter to their spring feathers. Also saw quite a few of the finches with red heads...which are called purple finches in our area. Dunno why ...but that's what the locals tell me these are. DH just went out to shake up the Nyger seeds..they seem to be ignoring that in favor of the sunflower seeds. He thought perhaps their feeder had clogged. We'll see if they go back to the Nyger. It's too expensive to waste!!!

Have a grand day. Stay warm. (we're going to Olive Garden this evening for some good Zuppa de Tosca (potato soup) and the O/G salad. Not all that romantic as far as a restaurant goes, but we both like the food. My #2 Bro & SIL are going with us). Big Hugs.

Penny Black Kissing Hedgies

Hi & welcome. Yet another Valentine...this one was sent to DD with the idea that she might give it to her DH. He liked the Christmas card I did for him, so I hope he'll like this one. I did! Love these little Hedgies, you know.

- PBlack Hedgehog kisses cling stamp, colored with Copics, WoS on the balloons.

- Hearts EF, snippets from an earlier Valentine card

- S/B corner die (this is a real oldie...forgot I had this set, and saw it when I was looking for somethin' else. Happens to me a lot :-)

The inside is a little mushy, so if DD doesn't give it to SIL, it may not get used. The others I sent her were a different purpose.

Hope you like it, and come again when you have time. Stay warm if it's cold in your part of the world. Big Hugs.

Valentine - Surprise Blog Candy for my International Followers

Hi Again. I'm back with another Valentine card and a little surprise Blog Candy. When Random Generator for the blog candy was run earlier in the day, all the winners were USA residents. I felt that  all my lovely international followers were being a bit slighted. Decided that I would do another RG and select the first International follower whose name matched a number. That sweet follower will be thanked with an LOTV voucher in the amount of $35...which is approximately the cost of each of the earlier prizes. I have used LOTV before to send a voucher, so I know that company will work with my pay pal account and we can get the money conversion done properly....And I think all of us love the LOTV products.

First here's another {sorry!} Valentine card. Remember I still have to do some for my own use - so bear with me. This is another of the ones I did for DD.

-PB Hot Pants, Lil Inker Stitched Rectangle (or maybe it was MFT Pierced rectangle, gosh I forget!)

- S/B elegant ovals mat

- Momenta Arrows die cut from background paper created by spraying Dylusions over a piece of lace onto white cardstock. It was a bit too bright for my liking, so used it to die cut.

- other papers from Paper Studio 6x6 Love Struck pack

- VOS sticker hearts. Yay, that's it!

Congratulations to:

#254 - Kate of I Love Socks and Cards

The same rules as earlier: Contact me by 6:00PM EST on 1-25-15 and provide mailing address and also your email address please. (only I will see your personal data). I will contact LOTV and arrange for the voucher to be mailed directly to you. (at least this is the way LOTV handled it for me in the past..I hope they still do it that way.)

I do appreciate ALL of my lovely blog followers and it makes me happy to be able to send a little gift along to say so! I do so enjoy getting to know people from other parts of the world, learn about their lives and where they live...in places I shall probably never have the pleasure to see. I always love it when pictures are shared showing places that you visit. TTFN (TaTa for now. I watch too many British series methinks!). Big Hugs.

Penny Black - Tokens of Love

Good afternoon & warm welcomes. Hope you're not going to get sick of seeing Valentine cards, but that's the theme of most of my cards just now!

First order of business is to share the name of my newest followers:

Kellie of A Little Bit of Kellie and Sara of UTs Hobby Time . Shared Sara's blog link earlier, but I didn't have her name at that time. Sara was kind enough to let me share her name with you. Hope you'll take a few minutes and check out both of these awesome bloggers' work.

 

Another of the cards that were sent along to the DD. I'll keep the blather short, because the Blog Candy winners will be announced at the end of this post. Don't know how to insert the RG's results, so you'll just have to trust me on the numbers!

 

 

 

- PBlack Tokens of Love

- S/B Long Scalloped Rectangle

- MFT Stitched Fishtail banner

- VOS (probably Paper Studio) background paper

- Dylusions Sprayed background paper used for banner and card mat. Tried sprinkling Osti Red Brusho crystals over this piece while it was still wet...the crystals didn't spread as much as over just plain water.* You can just see some of the darker red sprinkles on the fish tail banner.

 

*This piece started out as one of my first Gelli plate efforts.  Gelli plate was inked with some copper acrylic paint, stencil placed and print pulled with white card stock. The piece has been on the table for a while. Since the background was white with the copper hearts, decided to spray Postbox Red Dylusions then sprinkle Osti Red Brusho crystals. Just goes to show, most warts can be salvaged to some purpose!!

 

- tiny heart brads - and yes there is some WoS on the Balloons & the envelope heart. The sentiment was done by masking off a portion of a stamp so that just the Valentine part showed, then punched with an SU oval punch. Card done.

****************************************************************************

NOW: Drumroll please: Congratulations to:

 

#224 - Benzi (http://benzistampz.blogspot.com/)

#180 - Shonna Erlenborn (http://shonasstampingstage.blogspot.com/)

#257 - Nancy ( http://whatsonmykitchencounter.blogspot.com/)

 

Did 3 passes on the Random Generator to get each number, matched the number to a name on the  database, and Ta-Da!

Each person has 48 hours to contact me by  1-25-15 at 6pm, provide mailing info, and an email address so that I can advise when candy is shipped.  Moderate comments is set to on, so any personal info left in a comment will only be seen by myself.  

 

Previous blog candy winners know that I like to include a little surprise in each envelope, which I hope the recipient will enjoy. It will be an unused product, or I will so state (sometimes I'll send along a well loved stamp that is extra to me. If it's stained, I will clean it as much as possible. Most of the items are duplicate purchases, or items purchased at good prices with the intention of using for blog candy. Sometimes original packaging has to be removed to make for easier mailing and I will say so.)

****************************************************************************

I want to thank each follower who took the time to join and help me reach this milestone goal. You can't believe how excited I am & I hope each person will be pleased with the items being sent. So thanks again for ALL of your support. Wish I could send something to each of you! Now it's set to go for the next milestone! I'm already collecting some goodies - oh I am optimistic, aren't I??? Many hugs, and hope I hear back from the winners within the time frame.

Penny Black Roses on the Run

Yahooo! Powered up the computer tonight and saw the 300 follower show up in the followers list. Whoo-ee! Candy time!! A big, warm welcome to UTs Hobby Time (sorry I don't know the blogger's name just yet).  Thanks so much for helping me reach this astounding milestone (well it is to me anyway!).

Sorry that I've been MIA for the last few days. I've received some lovely comments on the last couple of posts which made me feel so pleased. Had some other things going on in life & just haven't had a lot of time to spend on the computer lately. Also DD had requested some Valentine cards when she saw what I was coloring over our Christmas visit. Been working on those in the evenings, since she needed them soon in order  to send them out in a timely manner.  I'm sharing one here tonight:

- PBlack Roses on the Run, colored with copics & WoStella.

- S/B Decorative Labels 34 for the shape and some stencil coloring in the fancy edges.

- MBox Twisted hearts die; inserted the cut out pieces back in the die. Backed the red paper with some Elizabeth Craft double side tape (a new to me product, and it's a bit thinner than the Sookwang, so a tad easier to die cut. Made placing the cut out bits into the outline quite easy). Some VOSdimensional EK heart stickers were in the Valentine stamp drawer, so using some old stash too.

- Cheery Lynn sentiment cut from the same sticky paper as the hearts.

- Paper Studio 6x6 Love Struck paper pack.

Hope the DD will like this, and yes, I did finish off the inside. Even included envelopes for each card that was placed in the package sent to her.

As soon as I can catch up all the comments that are waiting on a return visit from me, I will be doing the Random Generator. It won't be long - I'll do my best to get it done and announced very shortly.

Thanks for joining me tonight, after another beautiful day. It was mammogram and bone density scan time for me - so I'm glad that's done for the year. Ya'll have a lovely evening. Big Hugs.

Gold Penny Black Starlit Christmas Tree

Good evening after a very busy afternoon running errands. This will be a short post, and I'll apologize right up front because I have so many email comments that I need to return visits. Just FYI, on the comments regarding the Word Verification, I will not be returning visits on those specifically ...but will do my best to get round to the others. I hope everyone has either gotten the aggravation fixed, or learned to ignore the box and make & publish the comment anyway. The comments do seem to be going through ok.

Here's a quick card that has been in the works for a while, and no good reason that it didn't get finished sooner.

- PBlack Starlit inked with Versamark, heat embossed with Ranger Queen's Gold. A WoL gold pen added small trunk.

- Snippet of lightweight gold glitter paper serves as a faux mat, (traced around outside of the S/B pennant die that cut the tree). The center of the mat was cut out with a smaller die from the set and ready for another project.

- White paper embossed a Nellie Snellen Christmas oval EF, which was inked with Brillance Galaxy Gold before embossing.

- Gold glitter ribbon and Starform sentiment sticker. Easy.

Ya'll have a wonderful evening. Tomorrow & Thursday will both be out-of-the-house days for us, so hope to catch up on visiting ASAP. Big hugs & God Bless. Thanks for stopping in this evening.

Falling Leaves

Good afternoon and a warm welcome to Pam of Pamscrafts  who is my newest follower. Pam has just joined the Poppy Stamps as a Design Team member, and my goodness, you must see how she uses these awesome dies to create some wonderful cards.

Today's card is back on the Fall theme...

Penny Black Falling Leaves cling stamp inked with Memento Espresso Truffle ink, colored with copics. Die cut with S/B Decorative label 34. Used copics to stencil some color around the edges, and not sure I'm liking that look after it was done.  Image is popped up on dimensional foam. As I'm seeing the photo, I'm noticing that the coloring needs more contrast too, it's way too pale for a fall card. May have to go back and touch up with some darker shading.

- S/B Curved Brackets for the border edging. Two of the dies were placed together to cut the green border. The bottom placement die cut the pierced edge while the top die cut the decorative element. This is the first time I've tried using 2 of the border dies together to make a cut.

- Leaf buttons from a $1.00 Walmart bag, and the top small leaf is close to the same yellow color as the edging on the sentiment, although it looks tan in the photo. The DP in the top left is a fall design that was purchased from Walmart - probably Paper Studio. A piece of that was cut with the bracket dies and trims the bottom edge of the inside.

Computer generated sentiment punched with a SU punch, distressed with distress ink.

Think this card might fit in with the Penny Black and More Autumn Colors Challenge, so will be linking there. And since this stamp is a few years old, and I don't think I've ever inked it up before, it's also going over to Our Darnell's http://www.djkardkreations.com/2014/09/nbus-challenge-2-here-we-go.html - she's celebrating reaching the 600 followers milestone. I hope you'll check out both these challenges and find time to play along.

In the meantime, big hugs and have a wonderful afternoon. I'm off to get a pedicure (tole ya I was gonna try to find a way to fund this indulgence!) Thanks for visiting.

Christmas Teddy

Good evening and thanks so very much for all the wonderful thoughts & wishes for our anniversary yesterday. It was a quiet day, but pleasant. DH did some moving around in the garage yesterday - cleaned out some bookcase type affairs. This afternoon, we dusted those out, and moved some into my stamp area. I had other things I wanted to do today, but hey, I don't turn down help when it is offered. I've been wanting a higher table for my Genesis cutter, as standing for long periods of time makes my back unhappy. DH used a heavy counter-top that had covered some cabinets, added some metal legs to the height that I need for comfort..and soon my cutter will have a new home. All of my punches can rest in the new bookcases - where I'm trying to arrange these by season. The table is high enough I can store plastic boxes of 'stuff' under it, and still leave a space for a sit stool. The table is next to the air brush table, which has a high stool, so that can serve both places.  I'll try to take some pictures of the re-arranged area and share. It's not 'pretty', but I think it's going to work better for me. (nothing matches and I'm not the greatest decorator/room arranger either).

SIL took us out to dinner last night (DD is in Fla, but called later in the evening). We had come home for dessert and the fellas watched Gravity - which is not my kind of movie. Today we spent moving things around in what used to be a basement bedroom. Gave away that bed and now it's MY room. I was gradually encroaching on the room anyway, but it's great to not have to pile stuff on the bed.

Today's theme for our bi-monthly Christmas Card Club was chosen by our sweet Miss Sue P. and she selected Teddies. Ok by me, as I knew exactly the Ted I wanted to use. (oh yes, Miss Sue had a birthday yesterday too - so Happy Birthday Sue.)

Here goes:

- PBlack Give Us a Kiss image, colored with copics and WoS. Hat fur is Sparkle n Sprinkle Twinkling Clouds - which works great for snow. Also added to the snow where Ted is standing. Ted looks a little moth-eaten in the photo, but I used the image on the stamp as a guide for coloring.

- Cottage Cutz holly flourish, from green glitter paper, shaded just a bit with dark green copic, berries colored with a red Smooch. (it looks dark in the photo, but is a ruby red color IRL; the holly shading is not that dark either).

- IO snowflake die from silver glitter paper.

- holly paper from a 6x6 BoBunny Rejoice Collection from stash. Opening die cut with S/B Label 4.

- red & white dot paper from 6x6 Pebbles Welcome Christmas paper. Opening die cut with S/B Gold Label 4. Edged with gold WofLuna, 2 coats. Dried, then edged with a Pentel fine tip gold pen.

- SU punch for the sentiment, then used the same punch on the holly paper, cut in half, to add to each end for a matting look.

You can find the links to the other members of this Christmas Card Club in the sidebar, so do please give them a visit for some great Christmas inspiration. As always, thanks for spending some time with me this evening. Have a great week, and many hugs.

Carolling Penguins

Good afternoon and Happy Father's Day to those readers for whom this would be appropriate. Thanks so much for visiting this afternoon. Our Christmas Challenge theme of penguins was chosen by Carol  and here's my challenge entry:

- PBlack Slapstick image (40-034-Carolling Penguins), stamped on Xpress paper with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored with Copics. Used some Opal Liquid Pearls diluted with water to paint the white areas of the penquins which gives a nice glimmer IRL. Sparkle n Sprinkle Cloud Nine Velvet Glitter was added to the fur and pompoms on the hats to give some texture.

- Sakura Silver Star dotted around on the snowflakes in the background, and added some sparkly Stickles around the area under the feet. Also added a bit more of the Cloud Nine for a little snow effect.

- die cut image with S/B Majestic Label 25. Faux cut a black mat using the outer edge of the same die.

- Dylusions background created with Calypso Teal diluted with White Linen and the same color diluted with just water. Added in some of the new Slate Gray, which was diluted with white, and this made some nice snowy blobs of color. Sprayed just a bit of Tattered Angels gold that has an iridescent look. After drying, embossed with the Kars snowflake EF.

- MBox Snowflake border die cut using some 6x6 DCWV glitter paper. This has a sort of 'plastic' backing, but is more lightweight than a lot of the glitter papers. However, even though the metal shim was used, several rolls through the Big Shot took place, I still had to fiddle about with scissors to get a nice cut. This die cuts nicely, but this paper was probably not the best choice for such an intricate die. Selectively cut the border to place bits of it where I thought it looked nice, and added the tiny punch out stars from the die around on the card front.

Please do check out the other members of the Christmas Club group to see what beauties they submitted this week. You can find the members listed on the sidebar.

Back later with a Father's Day card. Have a wonderful afternoon, God Bless. Hugs

Penny Black Rose for the Butterfly Challenge

Hello there, and it's a wonderfully sunny & warm Saturday afternoon in my neighborhood. We're told temps will drop later on, and tomorrow won't be as nice. This afternoon, we filled up the bird feeder - pulled a few weeds underneath where the silly birds waste the seeds. Then sat on the back porch to just enjoy a pretty afternoon for a bit. Then I made myself go downstairs to work on today's card, which had been in progress. Had 2 nights where I just didn't feel inspired to do anything but watch tv & doze (currently I'm on Season 12 of Midsomer Murders on Netflix..hate to see the end of the series come around; I prefer the episodes with John Nettles.)

Here's the card which is going over to Mrs. A's new Butterfly Challenge, where the theme for week 3 is A Stitch in Time. There must be butterflies (of course), but also some stitching, real or faux.

- Penny Black Rose Die (51-023) which I have been seeing on some gorgeous cards. Was longing for this die, which recently arrived from Ellen Hutson when there was a 17% discount. Am pleased to say there was fast shipping. Colored vellum with copics, using shades of red at the top, green at the bottom, blending each color to the previous. If doing this technique, stamping is done on the reverse side of the colored vellum. (wanna know how I remembered this fact?). Since I wasn't stamping on this vellum, I could use either side, and chose to use the brighter, colored side of the vellum. Die cut 2 roses, and glued together with vellum glue. Provides just a tiny bit of a raised effect. Dew drops were added to the leaves because I could detect the 'glue', although I don't think anyone else could. I knew where I had placed the tiny dot of glue. Probably should have just added 1 dewdrop on a leaf.

- previously embossed pink cardstock with a dots folder - edged with DI spun Sugar and Shabby Shutters..

- more vellum colored for the Hero Arts H5426 Artistic Butterfly - stamped on the reverse of the copic shading. Used Spica Black to darken some markings, then added Sakura Silver star for some glimmer; Spica Blue for the dots in the wings, highlighted with a white pen.

- C/Lynn DL112 Exotic Butterfly Small done in vellum.

- edged white card base with DI Spun Sugar and Peeled Paint.

- Elizabeth Craft gold outline sticker sentiment.

I'm off to link up with Mrs. A's Stitch in Time Butterfly Challenge, which I hope you'll check out, and do please enjoy what's left of your Saturday afternoon. Thanks as always for dropping in to visit. So enjoy reading your comments & suggestions. Hugs.