Noel, Noel

First, a great big thank you to my most recent followers!  Always amazed and delighted when someone decides to follow my blog.  We are up to Week 11 at Twelve Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style, with The Funkie Junkie Boutique being our sponsor.  Linda's beautiful tag is shown below.  I was inspired to use numerous elements from Linda's tag.  The bronze tones, a white flower and bronze leaves, some lace, a script background and copper liquid pearls.   

I chose my Holiday image based on Linda's "A Joyful Christmas."  It inspired me to choose my beautiful "Joy and Happiness" image from Stampington, which I embossed with Copper powder.  The "Peace" and "Noel" sentiments are by Recollections.  I did not have a holly die cut so I used my Tattered Flowers die cut, purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Thanks for dropping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

December 25

Happy Tuesday!  I am sharing a card today for the latest challenge over at 365 Card.  This week, the sponsor at 365 Cards is Stamp Your Life.  For my card, the beautiful, bold December 25 circle is a digi image from Stamp Your Life.  This is my very first ever card using a digi image.  After printing my image, I cut my card stock down to fit a card base.  I worked with images from Oxford Impressions.  The holly and snowflakes were stamped directly onto the card stock.  The sweet boy and girl were stamped on scrap card stock, trimmed and water colored with Distress Markers.  Simple embellishments include tartan plaid twill ribbon and a vintage red button tied with burlap string.  Thank so much for dropping by.  I hope you will drop by 365 Cards and join in the challenge.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Fall Harvest

Happy Monday!  It's is just so good to be back home again.  There truly is no place like home.  Since it's Monday, that means there is a new challenge over at Make My Monday.  This time, the challenge is to include Buttons and Ribbon in an Autumnal design.  While rooting through my ribbon stash for some fall ribbon, I came across this twill ribbon.  I decided to go with it and the rest of my card flowed from there.  The images are from Artistic Outpost's Bluebird   plate.  The little boy appears to be harvesting wheat to me and birds on a wire are a frequent scene this time of year. I had fun sorting through my vintage button stash and decided to stack a few of them for added dimension.  A bit of paper doily, via a TH die cut, a paper leaf, a feather and some copper liquid pearls complete my card.  Happy Harvest everyone.  Yvonne

Harvest Time

Playing catch up, but wanted to play along at Make My Monday Challenge where the challenge continues to be Autumn and specifically Vellum.  I rarely work with vellum, so this was a great challenge for me to try.  I began by stamping some acorns and leaves onto vellum with Black StazOn Ink.  The acorns and leaves by Studio 112 were colored with Distress Markers in various shades.  Paper leaves were layered over a paper doily and accented with a vintage button.  Lace, burlap string and a scrap of seam binding are wrapped around the bottom of the card.  The sentiment, also by Studio 112, was added to the top of the card and accented with Copper Liquid Pearls.  Thanks for dropping by.  Yvonne

Happy Christmas!

It is almost impossible to believe we are up to the 10th week at 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style. The challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  For week ten, Linda created the tag below.  I have to tell you, this really took me back to my childhood.  My dad use to wrap the stand our tree stood on with brick paper and the brick on Linda's card just reminded me of my childhood instantly!  

For my own card, I was inspired to use a brick embossing  folder to incorporate brick in my own card.  I also included the number 25 and a scrap of cheese cloth as inspired by Linda's tag.  I was also inspired to select a vintage replica art image and in place of icicles, I decided to frost the top of my card with a portion of paper lace that I purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique some time ago. Some kraft and green striped paper, also from The Funkie Junkie Boutique, and a couple of snowflakes and vintage buttons complete my card.  

On a personal note, I am home again, after being out of town for three weeks while my husband under went some medical treatment.  It is so good to be back home.  We are hoping he feels better soon and that the treatments are successful. Thank you to each of you who have sent kind wishes of encouragement our way the past few weeks.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Send in the Clowns!

Greetings!  This is a scheduled post as I continue to be out of town with my husband.  Today is hopefully the completion of his treatments so we look forward to tomorrow!  I am sharing a card today for the newest challenge over at 365 Cards where today's challenge is "Just Smile."  We are to include a big smile on our card.  My first thought went to images of people, which I adore.  In the end, I decided to go with clowns as they are known for making us smile.  I hope you will join in the fun and submit your take on our challenge.  My images and sentiments are from Artistic Outpost's Send in the Clowns Plate.  I am also submitting this to the November Artistic Outpost Referral Program.  Happy Thanksgiving to those who will celebrate tomorrow here in the United States.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Home Sweet Home

The weeks go by so fast!  Once again it is time for a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenge.  Our theme this time, selected by me, is "Home Sweet Home."  There are all sorts of ways to go with this theme.  My first thought went to this Artistic Outpost image from the Outpost plate, however, you could also make a house shaped card or a card with a bird cage.  The possibilities are endless.  For my card, I began with smooshing various Distress Inks on my Craft Mat and sopping up the inks onto white card stock.  I stamped my house image with Black StazOn Ink over the background.  The sentiment was stamped onto a torn piece of Kraft paper.  Simple embellishments include vintage seam binding and button, burlap string, and some beautiful die cut leaves compliments of the Funkie Junkie Boutique with a recent order.  I hope you will check out the inspiration pieces of my design team sisters and submit an entry of your own for a possible prize.  Please remember we need to see stamping on your entry as we are a stamping challenge.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Autumn Harvest

It is already the second week of Autumnal challenges for Make My Monday for November.  I missed the first week with my dear husband being hospitalized.  We are home just for an overnight before heading back to the hospital, so I thought I would join in at MMM for the current week.  This week, the theme is Autumn and Stitching (faux or real).  I chose to stamp a bunch of pumpkins on white card stock and water colored them with Distress Markers.  A zigzag stamp by Hero Arts was stamped around the border.  The prepared  image was mounted to background paper and a paper doily over the card base.  Paper leaves, burlap string and a button and some copper liquid pearls complete my card.  I hope every one is enjoying their weekend.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Christmas Adoration

Home for an overnight and thought I would try to catch up on the Twelve Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style with the ninth tag shown below.  The challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

For my card, I chose several elements from Linda's tag.  The embossed wood background, red and white stripes, a red button and  an Idea-ology ticket. I chose to punch snowflakes out of re-purposed white corrugated cardboard and swiped Festive Berries Distress Inks across them.  The little girl by Oxford Impressions was stamped, trimmed and water colored with Distress Markers.  Some chitchat stickers, lace and vintage seam binding complete my card.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Think and Wonder

This is a scheduled post as I continue to be out of town while my husband deals with health issues.  My post is for a new challenge at 365 Cards.  Today's theme is "Wordy."  We are to create a background for our card with words using stamps, background paper, etc.  I chose to work with a plate of images and sentiments by Artistic Outpost called Think and Wonder.  Sentiments were stamped directly to the background or to scrap card stock and then applied to the the card base.  The children were stamped, trimmed and distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Simple embellishments include brown burlap twine, a vintage button and die cut leaves stamped with script that I received as a thank you when I purchased items from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  To ground the busy background, I decided to add some Black Liquid Pearls to the four corners.  I am also submitting my card to the November Artistic Outpost Referral Challenge. Thanks so much for dropping by today.  Best wishes, Yvonne 

Seasons Greetings

My card today is for the eighth challenge of the Twelve Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie style that is sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Linda's beautiful tag is shown below.  I was inspired to try to recreate the coloration of her background as well as the stars by Inkadinkado.  I incorporated Santa, an image by Stampsmith, a red border, flowers from Tim Holtz Tatterered Florals purchased at the Funkie Junkie Boutique and added some bells to reflect Linda's tag too.  I also chose to use the same sentiment in a different font.  Have you thought about joining in the challenge?  There's still time!

Thanks for dropping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Melt Away

Greetings!  This is a scheduled post for the newest challenge at 365 Cards.  The challenge is to create a card based on the inspiration word:  Melted.  At first I thought of ice cream cones, but not having a stamp image of an ice cream cone, I decided to go more romantic and thought of a heart melting.  On a chocolate card base, I layered a paper doily and some torn vintage page text that were distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Distressed lace and some burlap twine were wrapped around the bottom of the card.  Next I layered a clip art image by Crafty Individuals over the paper doily.  Chit Chat stickers were added next.  I could not find the word melt so I stamped it with a Studio G Alphabet Set.  A vintage button, Platinum Liquid Pearls and distressed paper heart complete my card.  I hope you will give our challenge a go!  Take care.  Yvonne

Oh La La!

I have so enjoyed the challenges at Make My Monday during the month of October, all around a French Theme. It is nearly time for a new month of challenges, but I wanted to create this one last post for a challenge called Feminine Romance even though I have missed the deadline for submission.

I decided to work with several images from Stampsmith.  One of a French Cancan Girl and another of a portion of the Eiffel Tower.  The images were stamped with Black StazOn Ink and distressed with Vintage Photo DI.  The paper doily and torn strips of background paper were also distressed with VP DI.  Some ruffled trim, vintage seam binding, a vintage button, and some Eiffel Tower diamond stickers complete my card.  Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks to all of you who are keeping my husband in your prayers for the next few weeks.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Lovely Weather for a Sleigh Ride Together

Hello!  It's time for another challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenge.  This time, our challenge is to create a project around a "Musical" theme.  Now there are all sorts of ways to take off on this theme.  I thought about stamping some musical instruments, but in the end, decided to make a winter scene with a thread of a popular Christmas song included.  All the images and sentiment are from the  Sleigh Ride plate by Artistic Outpost.  The children were water colored with Distress Ink Markers.  The trees have glitter glue added to them, though it does not show here.  The edges of the images were distressed with Pumice Stone Distress Ink. A tartan plaid ribbon and some clear gems complete my card.  I hope you will check out all the beautiful inspiration pieces by the rest of the Design Team and create a submission for a possible great prize.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Happy Holidays!

Greetings!  Thank you to all of my dear friends who sent words of encouragement earlier this week concerning Hurricane Sandy.  I am happy to report that although we were prepared for the very worst, we were spared the heartache felt in New Jersey and New York.  Some how we managed to keep our power throughout the high winds and though we live one block from a river that flooded our home a year ago, we incurred no flooding this time.  This post is to share a card I created for The Funkie Junkie Twelve Tags of Christmas, Tag 7 Challenge, which is being sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. 

Linda has graciously allowed us to make other than a tag and I continue to make cards for the challenge.  Linda's beautiful tag is shown below.  For my own card, I was inspired by the following elements: the reindeer, the sentiment, snowflakes, and trees.  As my reindeer stamp seemed a bit contemporary, I chose a tree stamp by Studio G along the  same lines. The sentiment is also by Studio G. The snowflake stickers and punched snowflakes are from Martha Stewart.  

I hope you will stop back on Saturday evening for the latest challenge at Fashionable Stamping.  My posts will be scarce the following two weeks, as my dear husband is undergoing some medical treatments out of town.  Since the Hurricane, my Internet access has been spotty.  I will hope for the best and will try to keep up with all of you and your posts.  Best wishes my friends, Yvonne