Tuesday, November 30, 2010

So Close!

Hi friends! Sorry to be missing in action for so long, but with Thanksgiving and company and working on this stocking, I just haven't had a minute to spare! Today is Tara's bday, and here's what she's getting... It's *so* close - but I still need to do all the backstitching on the bottom half, finish the silver across the top, and add in the french knots. When I finish this, I'm going to work on a project that I can finish in a night or two that has *no* back stitching. ;-) I can't say that it doesn't add to it, though! It really seems to just light up with each stitch!!

Thanks for stopping by! I plan to have a card to show you by tomorrow at the latest. :-)

Blessings!

Tricia

Friday, November 19, 2010

Verve Project Parade Trio

It's Verve Project Parade time, and the challenge is to make a "trio". My trio includes a little notebook that I found at our grocery store that I decorated with a Plain Jane, a decorated clothespin and a cute paperclip. I really should package it all up and give it away as a Christmas gift, but I'm tempted to just keep them! :-) I love having a decorated notebook in my purse and the clothespin and paperclips are so fun to use to clip bags shut or papers together.

Have a lovely weekend!

Blessings!

Tricia

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Quick Tags

I have a hard time making "gorgeous" tags for Christmas gifts, when I know they will just be thrown away. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed making these quick and easy tags with the free stamp I got with my last Angel Company order. Isn't the little Cuddly Penguin precious?? I took my color inspiration from my wrapping paper for this Christmas, and it just happened to have some penguins on it, and the colors just happened to be the color challenge colors over at Stamp TV this week. :-)

Have a thankful day!!

Tricia

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Stocking Update!

Well, there is light at the end of my tunnel! I have just a couple more weeks before I need to have this done, but I'm almost there! I did leave all the backstitching for the end, so that will add a little more time, but thankfully there's not a lot of it! :-)

When I'm done with this, I hope to whip up a few ornaments before Christmas. I've found that I can stitch quickly when I'm listening to a Librivox Audiobook, though, so I should be able to get them done. THEN... I have a list of things to stitch for next year. Two Shepherd's Bush fobs, CCN's Pumpkin Cottage, something for Love Quilts, more ornaments... I can't wait! I'd also like to participate in a few more exchanges next year. I only did a couple this year, but they were so much fun! :-)

Happy Stitching!

Tricia

A fun sketch

I had fun this morning making a card with this week's Stamp TV sketch. It's an easy one. Why don't you join me! :-)

Monday, November 15, 2010

OWH Winner!

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments! I've drawn a winner from those of you who entered cards and left comments with the word LUCY and the winner is...

Valerie!

I don't see a blog or an email, so I hope she checks back! If I don't hear from her in 48 hours I'll be drawing another winner.

Blessings!

Tricia

Warmest Wishes

Morning, ladies! :-)

I almost forgot to post today! I have been having so much fun reading all the comments from the OWH hop this weekend and seeing the beautiful cards, that I didn't realize what day it was! :-) But I'm on top of things now (LOL!)! And I have such a fun card to show you this morning with a number of the images from the new Cup of Cocoa digi that's being released today at Clear Dollar Stamps! I got brave this month and decided to work with some of the pre-colored images, instead of coloring them myself. It was fun for a quick card, but I'll admit that I did miss coloring, so I'm thrilled that the set comes with both type of images... both pre-colored and ones you can color yourself.

For my card today, I used both of the colored mugs that come in the file, and, by using the .png files, simply dragged them over one another in my word processing program to make them look layered. Then I dragged the "Warmest Wishes" sentiment over the stacked cups. Isn't it a fun look? And so quick, too! I added a strip of kraft cardstock that I'd stamped in white ink with a little circle from Circle Somethings, and added some stitching, sponging, and a few scallops here and there to finish it off.

There are a number of sweet digi sets coming out today. I hope you'll take a hop over to Lori's blog to see them all!

Here's the details...
CDS Set Used: Cup of Cocoa Digi (color), Circle Somethings (for dots)
Ink: White (for dots), Memento Desert Sand (for sponging)
Paper: Kraft, White, Strawberry Jam, Kaisercraft DP
Tools & Accessories: Sewing Machine, Hole Punch, Ribbon, border punch, sponge


Thanks so much for stopping by!

Blessings!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Lucy's Valentine

Hello! And welcome to my stop on the Operation Write Home Be My Valentine Blog Hop! If you've come to my blog from Shelley's, you are on the right track. Be sure to read to the end of the post for a link to your next stop, some candy, and a challenge! If you get lost during the hop, just pop back to Stars and Stamps for the complete list.

My card today features Lucy from The Angel Company, all watercolored with Tombow markers and layered with some of TAC's new FREE downloadable patterned paper. Oh my! I couldn't believe it! Look at those gorgeous colors!!! :-) (And no, I'm not a TAC demo!!) The sketch is from the Stars and Stamps sketch challenge for the week. It also is a "thinking of you" card with ribbon... so I guess it fits the Midweek Throwdown challenge, too! :-)

Be sure to remember, if you're sending some cards to OWH during this holiday season, that the deadline for Christmas cards is passed. The heros wouldn't get them in time to send them home! The next looming deadline is January 7th - the last day for Valentine's cards. Interested in sending some in? Check out the Archway Cookie challenge here! Also, don't forget to vote for OWH in their Craft for a Cause competition at Joann's. You can vote daily and it would be such a blessing for OWH to win!!!


OK. I know that there are a bazillion blogs on the hop this weekend, so I'd like to offer a challenge and some candy up for grabs if you've read this far! :-) To be eligible for the candy, just mention the word LUCY in your comment. You may want to become a follower, too... to see if you've won! If you'd like five extra chances to win, make a Valentine with the colors pink, green and brown, and post it in your SCS gallery or on your blog. You can get an adorable FREE digi from my dd's blog ~ Splashing Joy, and the FREE digi paper from TAC, so you'll be all set!!! :-) (Those aren't necessary, of course, but everyone loves something for free!) And, by the way, it's no fair using a card that's already made or posted! :-) All right, off you go now to Tara's blog. Just don't forget to link your challenge card here before 11 pm CST on Sunday!

Blessings!

Tricia



Friday, November 12, 2010

Cupful of Thanks

I made a quick card the other day with the Cup of Joy from Deedee's Digis and a sentiment from one of my new sets from The Angel Company, so I could enter Deedee's Happy Monday Challenge for a card of thanks. The dp is from my stash, and I colored with, of all things, my regular old Stampin Up markers.

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget the OWH blog hop in the morning!

Blessings!

Tricia

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Christmas with Lucy

Lucy the Mouse, that is! Welcome to my stop on The Angel Company Deck the Halls - Christmas Blog Hop! I've had this adorable Angel Company set by Mabelle RO sitting on my desk for a week now, just begging to be used, so I knew just which image I would color for my blog hop project! I stamped Lucy with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto watercolor paper and watercolored her with Tombow Markers before cutting her out with an oval Nesties die.

Here's the outside of the card in a close up...
As for the inside... I'd seen a cute idea on Taylor VanBruggen's blog to make a pouch for some Starbucks VIA coffee singles, and thought that would be a perfect gift for a dear friend. The flavored coffee VIA packets, though, are a little bigger than the normal ones, and Taylor hadn't given any directions, so I had to just play around a little with my Scor-Pal and a scissors until VOILA...

I had made my very own little pouch for the inside of the card! I cut the entire card from a 12 x 12 sheet and it's basically a normal size card with a pocket that folds over on the bottom half. I am *not* a very good 3-d girl, so I was pleased that it turned out at all!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! And be sure to visit the Savvy Projects Blog for the whole list of hoppers. There are always such good ideas!!!

Blessings!

Tricia

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Birthday Blog Hop!

Edited to add winner!! Debby!! I've emailed you! Thanks so much for stopping by, everyone!!

Hello friends! Welcome to the Sweet 'n Sassy Birthday Blog Hop to celebrate their THIRD birthday!! If you've come from Monika's blog, you're on the right track, and if you've just dropped by and want to go "hopping" you can start here, or go back to the Sweet 'n Sassy Blog so you can start at the beginning. You won't want to miss a single stop, since we are all giving away Sweet 'n Sassy goodies!!

I wasn't sure which set I wanted to use for today's card, until I paged through my digi file and saw Fenton. I just love this little guy! Fenton is for all of us forgetful types. The inside of the card has the sentiment... "Hope your birthday was toad-ally awesome!". I colored Fenton with Copics and mimicked the lines on the dp by drawing in some of my own on his tummy with an SU marker. DP is Debbie Mumm and PTI.

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you care to leave a comment I'll be drawing one winner on Thursday morning to receive the Fenton Frogot digi. Be sure I know how to contact you if you win! :-)

OK... your next stop on the hop is the amazing Tami Mayberry! Oh, and I've attached the whole list in case you would like a road map!! :-)

Blessings!

Tricia




Friday, November 05, 2010

Happy Penguin

I stamped for fun last night! :-) I used the adorable little penguin gift with purchase stamp from The Angel Company and the sentiment from the Lucy set. There's lots of glitter and stitching and I used my Snowflake nesties and SU snowflake punch. I think I might still add some polkadots in versamark on the pink. I just feel like it needs something...

Blessings!

Tricia

Clearly Inspired Challenge Today!

Hi ladies! It's time for another Clearly Inspired Challenge and today our theme is all about food. Speaking of food, I have brownies waiting for me that just came out of the oven, so I'm going to make this quick... :-)

I used the single Birthday Cupcake Tag for my card and some K&Co background paper that I recycled from another card. I have *so* many birthdays in November, so I plan on sending this one out shortly.

Be sure to swing by the Clearly IStamp blog for some more inspiration, and maybe even a digi to help you play along!

Blessings!

Tricia

Monday, November 01, 2010

Stitching Update & Pay It Forward!

Saturday was my niece's wedding, so I took some time off of stitching on The Stocking (notice the capital letters... I think it now has it's own personality! LOL!) to stitch up this adorable little star ornament by JBW from the JCS Ornament magazine. I actually got about 1/2 done with it and realized that the measurements that I'd cut my material by were assuming you were doing it over 1. I'd been stitching over two and after getting two points of the star done I figured out that it would be too big for my fabric. Silly me! So I restarted over one and it turned out so pretty!

Here's their gift...

Here's my stocking progress for the last two weeks. I only have 29 more days to work on it!!!

And, finally, here is the Pay It Forward from Cath that I received last week. Isn't it fun?? I couldn't figure out who would be sending me something from overseas, but what a treat to find something stitched! So, now it's my turn! If you are interested in doing a Pay It Forward with me, let me know! I will send something handmade in the next year to you if you are one of the first three to respond. You in turn will post on your blog and "pay it forward" to three more people. You can let me know if you would prefer something stitched or quilted or some of my handmade cards. Just so you know, though, I doubt I'll get them out before the first of the year. It's busy, busy, busy around here just now! :-) Be sure to sign up soon!

Pay it Forward gift from Cath

Thanks so much for dropping by today! Blessings!

Tricia