AND WISE MEN STILL SEEK HIM

I wanted to make sure to take the time to wish all of you a very Blessed Christmas and Happy Holiday Season.  It's hard to believe that 2012 is just a week away.  I hope that you all are having special times with your family and friends to celebrate this season.

BAKING WITH TARYN

 

If you wonder where I've been, I've been busy shopping and had the pleasure of this precious little granddaughter last week for two nights and three days.  Taryn is the youngest of our grandchildren.  We almost always make cookies when the grandchildren stay and our normal routine is to make Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookies for their Grandpa.  However, with Christmas so close this time Taryn and I made cut out Sugar Cookies.  It didn't take long and she wanted to roll them out herself  and she did a really nice job.

Tomorrow I'm off to finish a little shopping and running errands but things are falling into place here better than usual.  Hope all of you are enjoying this time of year where you are.

Thank you for stopping by! 

GOLD EMBOSSED DESIGN

I always tell myself that I should choose one design and make all of the cards the same to save time.....but what fun is that?  With all the stamps I have it is much more fun to make a nice variety of them.  Because of the amount of Christmas cards I make, I do need some that are quick and easy.  

This card is made using PapertreyInk off white cardstock.  I first embossed the front of the card with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dot folder.  This beautiful stamp is from Serendipity and I stamped it with VersaMark and then heat embossed it with Egyptian Gold embossing powder.  The design was cut with a Spellbinders Classic Oval.  Another layer was cut with the slightly larger Spellbinders Classic Scallop Oval using some gold paper to help set off the design.

The sentiment inside the card is "Let Heaven and Nature Sing"........also heat embossed with the gold embossing powder.

Thank you for stopping by!  Your comments are always welcome............I love hearing from you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASHLYN

This is the card I made for our granddaughter, Ashlyn, who is 11 years old today.  And yes, guess what that means................she will be 12 on 12-12-12!!!!  What a special birthday that will be for her next year.

This card was made using a Honeypop stamp set from Inky Antics....."Sundae Birdy".  I colored the designs with Copic markers and was pleased that there was a color that matched the sundae dish so well.

When I make these, I do the inside of the card first to make sure I get the Honeycomb paper pieces mounted just right.  I don't want to have the outside of the card all finished and then ruin the inside.  

The dotted background paper was also a good match for color and came from a JilliBean Blossom Soup paper pad.  Before attaching it to the front of the card, I used my Martha Stewart punch to add the "Happy Birthday".  The little bird on the front was stamped, colored and then cut with the Spellbinders Lacey Circle.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this card.  They are so fun to make.  If you are interested, I sell the Inky Antic HoneyPop stamp sets as well as the HoneyComb papers and sell them at a 20% discount.  Let me know if you are interested.

THANK YOU for stopping by!  Your comments are always welcome..............I love hearing from you.

A ROUND CHRISTMAS CARD

I sell Penny Black Stamps and I saw a card sample in their catalog that looked a lot like this card.  I stamped the image once on white card stock and then angled the stamp around the first one three more times so that I could cut the piece with the Spellbinders Classic Circle.  Copic markers were used to color the design.  I then swirled Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink over the entire piece and colored the design with Copic markers.  The space between the stamped images seemed like it needed something so I took my go Spica Gold pen and just made random marks.

The next step was to cut a slightly larger red circle with SU card stock and then a SU Garden Green circle with the Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Circle.  I added small gold dots to each of the scallops with the gold pen.

Thank you for stopping by!  Your comments are always welcome...........I love hearing from you.

SEASON'S GREETINGS

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

It may not show, but the ornaments are attached with very fine gold thread.

SILVER BELLS

Let me know if you have questions.

PEACE

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

GLITTERED CHRISTMAS TREE

Let me know if you have any questions.

SNOW WHITE TREE

If you click on the picture and enlarge it you may see the rhinestones I added to some of the snowflakes.

CHRISTMAS BELLS

Over the next few days I will be posting pictures of Christmas cards that I have been working on.  To get a closer look at them, all you have to do is click on the picture.  Time is pretty busy right now so I won't be going into any details about each one...........but..............please email me if you have questions about any of them.  I'll try to get back to you in a timely fashion.

Thank you for stopping by!

SAME STAMPS - DIFFERENT CARDS

When I pulled out my stamps to start making Christmas cards, I found some "card parts" that were left over from previous years.  

Since I have some new people on my list for this year, I figured this would be a good time to use some of these pieces.  Both of the cards shown here today were made using two Penny Black stamps.  A glue pen was used to add glitter to the stamped star.

Thank you for stopping by!

PENNY BLACK STICKERS - Christmas Traditions #6

I love this Santa sticker!  I can just see the smile on the face of one of my grandchildren when they receive this card at Christmas.  Although our family generally is able to get together on Christmas or close to then, I usually make each of the children their own cards.

NOTE:  I have prepared the last three weeks of posts in advance because of moving my mother.  This post is appearing on December 1 and I hope to have things settled enough that I have returned to making some new Christmas cards to share with you.  If not,  I'll be back soon!  I hope you have enjoyed the posts that were prepared in advance.

(See full sheet of stickers on my November 10 post.) 

Thank you for stopping by!

PENNY BLACK STICKERS - Christmas Traditions #5

It may be the last day of November, but Santa is probably showing up in various stores and malls to talk to the children and get their wish lists.  This will make a great card for one of our small grandchildren.

(See full sheet of stickers on my November 10 post.) 

PENNY BLACK STICKERS - Christmas Traditions #4

Thanksgiving weekend is a time when many families begin decorating for the Christmas holidays and put up their Christmas trees.  This sticker seemed to be appropriate for today.

(See full sheet of stickers on my November 10 post.) 

PENNY BLACK STICKERS - Christmas Traditions #3

So did you enjoy your Thanksgiving gathering yesterday?  I know our family enjoys being together on Thanksgiving Day and the food is always so yummy!  It's so nice that we all pitch in with the food so that no one has to do it all themselves.  Now is a day to rest and wonder why we ate too much!!!

(See full sheet of stickers on my November 10 post.) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRIET!

 

This year my friend, Harriet, is celebrating her birthday on Thanksgiving Day.  I hope she has a very special day. 

PENNY BLACK STICKERS - Christmas Traditions #2

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving...........I hope all of you have a wonderful day celebrating with family and friends!!!  (See full sheet of stickers on my November 10 post.)

PENNY BLACK STICKERS - Christmas Traditions #1

Because of all the things that need to be done moving and following the move of my mother, I decided I was going to need some quick and easy cards to send to family and friends this year.  A few days ago I posted pictures of two sheets of Penny Black Christmas/Holiday stickers. (See full sheet on my November 10 post.) Today's post and five out of the next six posts will show cards that I made using stickers from the Christmas Traditions set. 

The front of the card was embossed using a Sizzix snowflake embossing folder.  The strip behind the sticker was made with SU Pacific Point card stock which matched so well with the color on the sticker.  I punched the edge with a MS snowflake punch.  I mounted this sticker onto SU Real Red card stock and added it to the card.  To give it a little sparkle I lightly touched the center of the embossed snowflake with Crystal Stickles.

I am going to post the other cards at this time and schedule them to appear November 23, 25, 28, 30 and December 2 so please stop back and check them out.

Remember, these stickers are available for purchase by contacting me.  Thank you for stopping by! 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, ANNIE!

Today my friend, Annie and her husband are celebrating their Anniversary!  This is the card I made and sent to them in Canada.

THANKSGIVING CARD #4

THANKSGIVING CARD #5

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, NANCY!

Today my friend, Nancy and her husband are celebrating their anniversary.  This is the card that I made and sent to them.

THANKSGIVING CARD #3

THANKSGIVING CARD #2

THANKSGIVING CARD

Last night when we went to church, the sermon was about using our talents to help others.  I'm not one that volunteers out of the home but I realized that maybe my "talent" of making cards could be a way that I could help others remember that they are being thought of during the holidays.  We live in a small community and I know of people from here who are in care centers or friends of my mother who are in the same center where she will be living.  Today I spent time making several versions of Thanksgiving cards to send to them and will be posting them to appear over the next few days.

Over the next couple of weeks or so I am going to be very occupied with helping my 89 year old mother move into the Independent Living Center so I am not going to have much time if any to be making or posting new items.  Please continue to check back for when I can start posting more items again following these Thanksgiving cards.

Thank you for stopping by!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ABBY!

Our Granddaughter, Abby, is celebrating her birthday today and this is the card I made for her.

 Inky Antics has several stamp sets that can be used with Honeycomb Paper Pads or just by themselves.  Since I can purchase these for resale, I bought several and the granddaughters just love them.

The image was stamped and then certain areas colored with SU markers.  Since part of the inside of the card is just one layer and has coloring, I didn't use Copic markers on this one or the colors would bleed through the card stock.  

The pink layer on the front of the card was run through the Cuttlebug with one of the Cuttlebug embossing folder.  Below you can see a picture of the inside of the card. 

If you would like to order any of the Inky Antics HoneyPOP stamp sets or the Honeycomb Paper Pads, just let me know.  I will be more than happy toorder them for you at a discount.  You can see all of the stamp sets here:  Inky Antics Rubber Stamps

Thank you for stopping by!  Your comments would be welcome!!!  I love hearing from you.

BIRTHDAY CARD FOR GRANDDAUGHTER

Saturday one of our granddaughters will be celebrating her birthday.  My card for her will be posted tomorrow, but my mother-in-law asked me to make a card for Abby as well.

The stamp I used is from Penny Black "Sweet Thing".  I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored it with Copic markers.  I wanted to just add dots of Stickles to the frosting on the cupcake but it came out in big "blobs" so I smeared it around the entire topping.  Stickles was also added to the wings of the little girl.

I have a tendency to color my objects and then search for the right patterned paper to use as the background.  I should choose the paper first since there are so many colors and shades of Copic markers but it worked out OK this time.  The brown layer of dp and the patterned dp is from a Basic Grey 6 x 6 paper pad "Bittersweet".

Remember...........if you are ever interested in Penny Black stamps, let me know.  I have an order I am preparing to send over the weekend -- so let me know and you will receive the everyday discount of 20%.

Your comments are always welcome.................Thank you for stopping by!

PENNY BLACK CHRISTMAS STICKERS

If you are wanting to make some quick and easy Christmas cards because time is premium for you, I have several sheets of each of these Penny Black stickers for sale.  The first set is a whimsical, fun way to make Holiday cards and the second sheets has some beautiful religious designs.  The sheets will be $2.00 each plus a small amount to send them to you.  To minimize the shipping expense, I can carefully cut these sheets apart so they can fit in a smaller envelope.  

Let me know if you would like to purchase both or either by emailing me at vboddicker@aol.com.  

I have been appointed Chairman of the elections held in our precinct and this requires some time the day before elections, pretty much the whole day of the election if not early morning to late at night, and again some time the day after the election (which was today).  I need a little time to catch up so I'm sorry there is no card today.

Thank you for stopping by!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, LYNETTE

Today's card is getting posted a little late in the day, but it is an anniversary card I made and sent to my friend, Lynette and her husband Jim for their anniversary which is today.  I sent it plenty early and I know they received it but I wanted to wait to post it until their special day...........sorry it's so late in the day!

The patterned dp used on this card is from a K&Company 6 x 6 paper pad "Julianne".  The solid color card stock is from Stampin' Up.  I saw this layout on a weekly layout challenge and liked it so tried to come up with complimentary papers to make one.

Your comments are always welcome............I love hearing from you!!!  Thank you for stopping by!

ANNIVERSARY

A little break from Christmas until I get some more cards made.  Once again my MIL needed an anniversary card for some friends.  

I made this a top fold card and ran the front through the Cuttlebug with the SU tulip border embossing folder.

The stamp is from Great Impressions.  It is such a detailed stamp and makes such a pretty stamped design to color with my Copic markers.  The colored design was cut with one of the Spellbinders ovals and the mounted on a layer of SU Real Red which had been cut with one of the Spellbinders scalloped ovals.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the card.  Thanks for stopping by!

YULETIDE BLESSINGS

I have to say that I really like today's card.  It was a challenge to get it finished so I'm not sure I'll be making large quantities of this one.

The card base is SU Real Red card stock.  The Gina K stamp was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on off white card stock and then colored with Copic markers.  The sentiment is from a stamp set designed by Joanna Munster "Christmas Cheer" which I won on her blog.  (Be sure to check out her blog:  Inspired by Stamping.   You will find a lot of wonderful ideas for cards and see several stamp sets which she has designed and is selling.)  The sentiment was stamped with VersaMark ink and then heat embossed with Egyptian Gold embossing powder.

There was just something missing to give it the pizzaz that was needed to make it more special.  I went over the oval frame and the outside rectangle frame with my VersaMark marker and again heat embossed those areas with the Egyptian Gold embossing powder.  I think the finished project turned out nice.

Thank you for stopping by!  Your comments are always welcome...............I love hearing from you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This stamp is from Penny Black (4208K Christmas Narative).  I stamped the design with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on off white card stock and colored the design with Copic markers.  After the design was colored I added some yellow glitter to the center of the Poinsettia.

At this point the layer was just a square and needed help.  There was a lot of empty space in the two right hand corners so I took a chance and used a Martha Stewart snowflake punch to remove some of that space on both corners.  It still needed a little something more but the square was a little too big to add another layer of gold card stock under the design so I took a Gold Leaf Pen and edged all four sides.  In real life it really added the right finishing touch.

A Cuttlebug border folder was used to emboss the bottom edge of the card.

Thank you for stopping by!  Your comments are always welcome................I love hearing from you!

(Supplies you can purchase from me at a discount for this card:
Penny Black Stamp, Copic Markers, Glitter, Gold Leafing Pen )

PENNY BLACK - Snowflake and Holly - #2

Using the same stamp as yesterday's card, I stamped it onto off white card stock and colored it with Copic markers.  I sponged Ranger Distress Ink Brushed Corduroy around the design and heavier onto the area with the snowflake.  After cutting and embossing it with the largest Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Oval, I added the Red Stickles.

The card base is SU Real Red and was embossed with the SU embossing folder.  Before attaching the stamped layer to the card base I wanted to set off the layer a little more since I wasn't able to cut a larger area for underneath.  I took the Distress ink pad and added a little bit heavier ink to the scalloped edges although I doubt it shows up very well if at all in the picture.

Thank you for stopping by!  Your comment are always welcome...........I love hearing from you!

Supplies for this card which you can order from me:

Penny Black stamp, Spellbinders Ovals, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Copic markers, Distress Ink and Stickles.

PENNY BLACK - Snowflake and Holly

I can't believe it is November already!!!  So I am going to start posting ideas for Christmas/Holiday cards.When I saw this stamp, I knew I was going to want it to use for some of this year's Christmas cards.  The first thing I did was to stamp it with Memento Tuxedo Black ink so that it could be colored with Copic markers.  I like to use layers on cards and I prefer using 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 cards.  This stamp was so long that I wasn't sure I'd have a die to cut it out that would be good proportions.  The largest die from Spellbinders Labels Seventeen turned out to be the only die I had that would not cut off part of the design and since it was the largest one, I wasn't going to be able to add an additional layer under it.

Once the design was cut and embossed, I sponged the area around the design using Ranger Distress Ink Bundled Sage which seemed to go well with the Copic green I had used.  I sponged that same color a little heavier over the area with the snowflake.  The design still looked unfinished so I used Red Stickles to enhance the berries and added the three small dots as well down in the lower corner.  The card base was embossed with the new SU Snow Burst embossing folder.

I have a second card made using the same stamp which I will be posting tomorrow.  Thank you for stopping by today!  Your comments are always welcome...............I really enjoy hearing from you!

Supplies for this card you can order from me:  

Penny Black stamp, Spellbinders Labels, Copic markers, Memento Ink, Distress Ink and Stickles.

BABY BOY

A couple of days ago I posted the Baby Girl card I had made.  Instead of dimensional stickers, I stamped three small designs from Paper Inspirations inside the window openings.  The tag is from Spellbinders.

I can hardly believe it is November already so for the next few days, I'm going to start posting some ideas for Christmas cards.

Thank you for stopping by!  Your comments are always welcome..............I love hearing from you!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Today is Halloween so my post really needs to be something "spookey".  Since I didn't have any additional ones to show, I am pulling a card out of the ones I made in 2009.  This was a case of a card that my friend Georgia made.  The main difference between hers and mine was that she had added an orange layer of card stock between the yellow layer and the card base which really set hers off even more.

If you are out Trick or Treating tonight with the kids, hope everybody is safe and has a wonderful time.  Our weather is actually going to cooperate here.............no rain and not overly chilly.  It means up and down answering the door a lot of times but I do especially enjoy the little ones and some of the very clever costumes.

Thanks for stopping by!  Your comments are always welcome..................I really enjoy hearing from you! 

BABY GIRL

I decided it was probably a good idea to have some baby cards on hand.  Last summer I purchased some great dimensional stickers and decided to use them to make one for baby girl and one for a baby boy (which you will see later once the recipient has received it). 

The card base is obviously white card stock.  I cut a piece of SU Pretty in Pink card stock to approximately 3 3/4 x 5 inches and ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  This layer was attached to the card base.  

I then cut the three windows using the die from Papertreyink.  Three of the pastel colored dimensional stickers on one sheet were small enough to fit within the windows so it made for quick embellishments.  The label was cut using one of the NEW Spellbinders Blossom Tags and Accents after I had stamped the "Congratulations" with VersaFine Onyx Black ink.  The SU pearls are from blog candy I won from The Stampin' Schach.  I colored the pearls using a Copic marker which matched the pink card stock.

Thank you for stopping by!  Your comments are always welcome..............I love hearing from you!

50th ANNIVERSARY #2

The main focus of this card is the piece I cut and embossed using the Cuttlebug Embossing Plus Brocade Window.  I trimmed the 5 x 7 piece slightly to fit on the front of this card.  I used the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to place the stamped sentiment correctly.  I used VersaMark and Egyptian Gold EP.  

Thank you for stopping by!  Your comments are always welcome.................I love hearing from you!

ANNIVERSARY FOR FRIENDS

I made this card for our friends Joe and Cindy who celebrate their anniversary on October 27th.  The stamps are from Heartfelt Creations.  There is a set of dies to cut out various sizes of flowers for matching stamp sets. 

The first step was to use the largest of the Spellbinders Lablels 17 die to cut the cards base by setting the die slightly above the fold.  Then I cut a second complete piece with the same die and stamped the flower bouquet onto it.  It was colored with Copic markers and yellow Stickles added to the center of the flowers. 

The popped flower is from a separate stamp in a coordinating set and was cut out with the Heartfelt Creations die which is made by Spellbinders.  It was also colored and then popped onto the matching flower in the bouquet.

The sentiment was stamped and then cut and embossed with one of the Spellbinders Blossom Tags and Accents.  After cutting and embossing, I left the tag in the die and then sponged some pink ink over the design to go with the flowers.

Thank you for stopping by!  Would love to hear what you think!

50th ANNIVERSARY

We needed some 50th Anniversary cards.  I ran the card front through the Cuttlebug.  The stamp is from Ann-ticipations and was stamped using VersaMark and then heat embossed with Egyptian Gold EP.  The design was cut and embossed with a Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Circle and then mounted onto the Lacey Circle.

Thank you for stopping by!  Your comments are always welcome.............I love hearing from you!