Wrapping Up the Holidays

Did you see my little pun there? It's time to wrap things up and get back to normal...we'll have to take down the decorations and stop eating Christmas cookies for breakfast (or was that just me?), and go back to our regularly scheduled lives this week. But I did have one last project that I wanted to share to say goodbye to the holiday season.

This is a card I saw in my IG feed for Hallmark and I loved the idea, so I used it for some inspiration. This is their card.

And here's my drawing. I got some new uniball signo pens, and I love how they look on black. I used silver for this one. The red is marker on top of the silver. I never made him into a card, but was fun to make and I might try him with white uniball on kraft like theirs.

Oh and if you want to squeeze in one last holiday, today is National Spaghetti Day, which I could celebrate every day. I'm a huge pasta fan and my favorite sauce is a meat sauce which I haven't made in forever, with green peppers and beef that simmers for an hour on the stove. I think this weekend is the perfect time for it!

Happy Spaghetti Saturday!

Chark

Snowmen on Parade

Hi, friends, I have some more snowmen cards to share with you today. I got this fab paper from The Plaid Daisy and by cutting it up, was able to make a lot of cards with these guys. Here are some of the parade of snowmen cards I made.

I used four different images and added a punched snowflake center and a sticker. Didn't do another thing to this one...these little guys are just so cute, they don't need a lot of fuss.

For this one, I chose one snowman for this glittery die cut background. I used a favorite Triangle Die from Hero Arts and cut both purple glitter paper and aqua cardstock and then offset them so you could see both papers. I adhered them to the yellow cardstock and it looks much more complicated than it is. The die is older but it is so fun to use and this store has one in stock! It was new in 2014 and if you click this link, you'll find a lot of my projects with this die from over the years. And you'll see I really do love it!

For this guy, I used a yellow ink dauber to color the white card, then added some Bo Bunny blue dot paper and some rainbow dot paper from Doodlebug Designs. The little dots are matte (not shiny) enamel dots from Doodlebug in shades of pink.

The last card in this batch includes a heart that was already embossed with the word. I just watercolored it with my Tombow markers. The snowflakes are from a variety of Hero Arts stamp sets (similar to this digi stamp) and stamped in pinks and blues. I added some Ice Blue Stickles to add a little sparkle. 

You can click this post to see two more snowmen cards with this paper (and a little more work with stencils). I'm telling you, this sheet of paper was my best purchase yet—useful, cute and on sale! 

Happy Friday,

Chark

But It's Still Summer

If you live in the states, you know it's still summer and hot just about everywhere, however, I have a couple of winter cards to share today. Maybe they will cool you off!

I joined in the Cards for Little Hearts card drive and the theme was winter cards that caregivers can give to sick kids. I broke out some patterned paper I've never used and the Hero Arts Diamond stencil, along with some Distress Oxide inks and went to town.

I used Worn Lipstick, Cracked Pistachio and Faded Blue Jeans for both of these. On the card above, I added Diamond Stickles to the birds and snowman and on the bottom card, I embossed a white panel and added Stickles in Diamond and Tropical Tangerine. 

The patterned snowman paper is from Crate Paper Snow and Cocoa...I got it here at the Plaid Daisy Shop. Stinkin' cute, right?

Happy Thursday...let's pretend this was Wednesday's post and I wasn't at the Verizon store getting a newer phone yesterday and then spending soooo much time setting it up.

See you tomorrow!

Chark

Little Snowmen Are Cuter

I used this older cling stamp from Hero Arts to stamp on Shrinky Dink plastic. I used my heat gun, which is so much easier to use than an oven like I did in the old days :)

I think he's so cute as a little guy. He'd be great on a necklace or pin for the holidays. Here's what I learned though. Color on the stamped side, not the back. Even though you can see through the plastic when it's big, you can't really do that when it's small. I had to color this guy again after shrinking. I used thin permanent markers.

Do you ever use your older stamps? I feel like if I'm keeping the stamps in a drawer, I need to use them. But it's hard to remember when I have brand-new stamps waiting to get inked!

Happy Wednesday!
Chark

Another Snowman in a Hoop

So, as I was experimenting with embroidery hoop crafts, I decided to create a little snow scene in felt. I love how cozy felt looks for winter decor. Of course, it's 90 degrees here in Ohio, but let's pretend it's winter for just a moment and enjoy the snow scene.

I made his head a little larger than his body just to make him a little cuter and added enamel dots for his face. The star stickers are Doodlebug design and came in different colors. I just used lids to trace around for the circles and guessed on the hat pieces. 

You can use fabric glue to secure the pieces or create a variety of little felt pieces that you could use for different scenes. The felt sticks to itself and it could be a little play piece for traveling for kids. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Friday!
Chark

Friday the 13th!

Eeeekk! It's Friday the 13th, which means bad luck and scary stuff. Except when it doesn't. Today was a fine day (not scary at all)! I got to visit my mom and take my bunch of cards to the nursing home so the residents will have Valentines. 

My mom is at home now, but spent a bunch of weeks in the nursing facility after a fall and it was one of those bummer places. It's good that they exist, just they aren't the most uplifting places. The people there were kinda great, though, since they got my mom back on her feet. So, I took the staff some candy and a thank you card.

 

They said they needed 96 cards when I was expecting them to say 80, so I made 50 cards last night! This is what 96 cards looks like in a box. 

My hubby and son helped me write notes in the cards and it was so helpful! I made a lot of Hello cards, because I wanted to get them all finished for Valentine's Day, but I wasn't sure I'd pull it off. This one uses Doodlebug stickers and papers and I love them!

 

This one uses watercolors and a hello die and a flower sticker by Maggie Holmes. The stamp is Hero Arts and it's my newest stamp...I'm loving it. The lines are so elegant, don't you think? If you want one of your own, you can head over to a2z Scrapbooking Supplies to order Hero Arts/Basic Grey Waves Stamp.   p.s. I have it on good authority that the new Spring Collection from Hero Arts is in at a2z...I'm going to get one of the new Stamp and Cut sets...and some other cool stuff!

Hope your Friday the 13th was good and that Valentine's Day is fantastic!
Chark

Saturday Smooches

I love Paper Smooches stamps and Paper Smooches SPARKS, their challenge blog. So much inspiration and talented folks over there. Their challenge this week is a sketch.

Here's what I did with the sketch.

I love these little snowmen stamps (Freezy Fellas) and you can get your own at the Paper Smooches store, if you love em too! I stamped and colored him with colored pencils, then fussy cut the little guy. I used Doodlebug Designs papers, love the vibrant colors of the Frosty Friends collection, and some sequins. The sentiment is in Kim's (from Paper Smooches) great handwriting, like a lot of their stamps. Adorable!

If you want to join in, you only have a few hours left, but there's a new challenge posted on Sunday, so join in tomorrow if you can! You do have to use Paper Smooch products, but they have the cutest free digi stamps that you can print and color if you don't yet own any acrylic stamps. Seriously, check em out and join me! 

Happy Saturday,
Chark