joy...

here we are.  the last day of 2012. and tomorrow is twenty-thirteen???  are you kidding me?  remember back in the day (hehe) when the thought of even they year 2000 seemed so far away and so science fiction-esque? those days are long gone. because now it is upon us.  and we aren't living in space or sharing the earth with aliens.

as we say goodbye to 2012, i wish you joy.

joy

stamps: purple onion, unity

cardstock: white, echo park pp

ink: onyx black, cherry cobbler, lucky limeade, tumbled glass

tools:  silouhette

other: prismacolor markers

holiday wishes...

well the big day has come and gone.  hope the man in red (or whoever brings you goodies) was kind!!  now is the time for what i call, chill week. because the week between christmas and new year's is always pretty mellow and low key. i still have a couple of holiday cards to share, so i'll do it over the next week.  hope you are having a good chill week!

holiday wishes
stamps: unity
cardstock: white, soft sky, chevron cherry
ink: onyx black, cherry cobbler
embelishments:  rhinestone
other: prismacolor markers

merry & bright...

can you believe it's the saturday before christmas?  holy cow.  year's gone by in the blink of an eye.  i'm actually enjoying this weekend without the stress and frenzy of being so close to christmas.  i have to work christmas eve and christmas day, so my family is having a "holiday" party on new year's day this year.  will be a little strange waiting so long to see them, but will be nice to have it be stress free!!  i have one more think i need to do and that is make some of chocolate chip cookie dough truffle balls.  so addicting!!

here's a card i made for the die cut diva blog.  i used a fun little reindeer set from cottage cutz. i wanted a little color so i did a splash of washi tape on the edge of the inside of the card.  which i thought made the perfect touch!  i may have to do this more often!  inside sentiment says "may your season be merry and bright".

merry & bright
stamps: unity
cardstock: soft sky, forest, kilanrney green, pomegranate splash, carob creme, maltball
ink: peeled paint, tumbled glass, soft sky, onyx black
embelishments:  washi tape
other: elegant reindeer cottage cutz

hope you are enjoying the weekend and don't have too many last minute things to do!

snowflakes...

i can't believe i'm finally saying this, but my christmas cards are DONE!!! and with only days to spare!  i swear, next year, they will be done by the 4th of july!!  i had to limit who received cards this year.  because come on...stamps are almost 50 cents a pop!!  so if you happened to be one of my peeps and didn't get a card, consider this an e-greeting!  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

i saw a card like this on pinterest a while back and of course now i can't find it again to give credit for the inspiration   i cut out a snowflake on the silhouette, then stamped snowflakes on the card.  love the effect.

snowflakes
stamps: unity
cardstock: crumb cake, soft sky
ink: bermuda
other: silhouette

stashing thru the snow...

there is a craze going around.  everywhere you look, there are little mustaches on anything!  my friend sherri asked at our last get together, "what's with the mustaches?"  now she is a little obsessed with them.  i made her this card for christmas.  (don't notice that there isn't a stamped anything on it!!)  made it mostly with my silhouette.  i used the lettering delights graphic set here.

stashing thru the snow
cardstock: white
embellishments:  washi tape
tools: silhouette, corner chomper
graphic set:  ld stashing thru the snow

wonderful time...

as i type this post, i'm looking out my window and watching it snow.  it's very pretty (knowing i don't have to go out in it!).  made me think of my snowman card i made for the christmas card swap we did with my monday night crafty group.  if you like mixed media things, you should join us each monday night.  it's a lot of laughs and inspiration   even if you don't do mixed media things, you can learn nifty little tricks for whatever kind of crafty you do.  here's a link to all the cards that the monday night peeps did.  big kudos to tracy for organizing!!

wonderful time
stamps: purple onion, unity
cardstock: white, watercolor paper
ink: jet black
embellishments:  buttons, hemp twine
other: acrylic paint, gesso

christmas trees...

oh my tgif!!  i don't love that saying, but i'm so glad it is friday because i have the whole weekend off!!  woot woot!  and i missed last week's friends with flair so i wanted to get in on this week's.  i'm just under the wire!  check out the rest of the friends with flair peeps on the unity blog.

this is a project i made using some die cut boxes from creative cuts & more. they are intended to be slices of cake, but i saw cute christmas trees instead!

christmas trees

stamps:  ippity
cardstock: white
ink: iced spruce, evergreen bough, more mustard, versamark
embellishments: wire, hemp twine, rhinestones, clear embossing powder

have an awesome weekend!  i hope to get my christmas tree up!

believe...

playing catch up today.  trying to get some things done like christmas cards, tags, etc.  here's one tag i've been playing with.  it's got quite the mix of things...regular stamps, digital, used the silhouette.

believe

stamps:  eat cake graphics, unity
cardstock: white
ink: onyx black, iced spruce, tumbled glass
embellishments: prismacolor markers, washi tape, hemp twine, tag
silhouette design: kolette hall

warm & toasty...

i just love this little polar bear.  he makes you all warm and fuzzy!  how are your christmas cards coming along?

winter wonderland

stamps:  purple onion
digi stamps:  birdie brown
cardstock: my mind's eye pp, pepple, white
ink: onyx black, iced spruce
embellishments: prismacolor markers

happy birthday...

so are you out there in the frenzy of "black friday" shopping?  i'm so not a shopper...i hate it (well, except shopping online...which i love!) and this year it seems that half the stores opened yesterday instead of waiting until friday. lame.  oh well...

since it is friday, it's time for friends with flair over at unity.  check out the blog and you have a chance to win some free unity stamps. who wouldn't love that?  here's a card i made for the diecut diva blog.  this is totally outside my thinking box, but i think it turned out ok.

happy birthday
stamps:  unity, webster's pages
cardstock: tangerine tango, fancy pants pp
ink: tumbled glass, spiced marmalade
embellishments:  baker's twine, balloon die cuts

hope you had a great holiday and have a good weekend!

thankful heart...

happy thanksgiving!  

there isn't enough space to list all the things i am thankful for so i'll just say my heart is very, very happy.  i hope you have a happy heart, as well!!

thankful heart

stamps:  unity

material: canvas, book text, vinyl

paint: gesso, acrylic

tools:  silhouette (phrase, leaves)

hope...

i made this card in october for the diecut diva blog. you can't have too many cards of support.  the ribbon and gatefold card can be found over at creative cuts and more.  i used a cool velcro closure to keep the card  closed.

hope
stamps: unity, susan weckesser
cardstock: white
ink: crumb cake, purely pomegranate
embellishments:  rhinestones

snowy...

here's a set of atcs i made for a paper piecing swap christy is hosting.  i cheated a little and used my silhouette to cut the circles.  because if anyone knows me, they know i hate cutting little things out!!  i know, i know...why did i join a paper piecing swap??  cause i'm silly!!

snowy
stamps:  stampin' up
cardstock: midnight muse, echo park pp
ink: lady bug, ripe persimmon, faded jeans, broken china, mustard seed, onyx black
embellishments:  book text

winter wonderland...

i mentioned last post that i needed to get some christmas cards done. so i've been working on a few.  i love when i've made a card and it's a design that will work for several different cards.  like this one (taken from my last post's card).  so simple, but lovely!  and i stumbled upon a cute new digi stamp designer.  birdie brown's digital stamps are so cute.  check her blog out here.  this image was a freebie from her blog.

winter wonderland

stamps:  purple onion
digi stamps:  birdie brown
cardstock: my mind's eye pp, pepple, white
ink: onyx black, iced spruce
embellishments: prismacolor markers

pride...

i need to get started on my christmas cards.  by no way does this mean i'm glossing over thanksgiving like the  crazy people who have already decorated for christmas.  just means i'm "thinking" about christmas...and the time it takes to make my christmas cards!!  this card isn't necessarily a christmas card, but i did use cute christmas patterned paper from my mind's eye.  can you say a little obsessed?  i can't get enough of it!!  i also used the set, pain and pride, which is the fabulous feature over on the {ippity} blog.  you should check out the other cards using this cute set.

pride

stamps: ippity
cardstock: my mind's eye pp, echo park pp, white
ink: onyx black, cherry cobbler
embellishments: prismacolor markers

birthday wishes...

i adore this stamp of the week. as soon as i saw it i couldn't wait to get it inky.  it's perfect for cards...girls, boys, women, men, kids, adults, dogs, cats...you get the picture.  and i have never been a huge fan of mixing different patterned papers or using more than one.  until recently.  now i love to do it.

birthday wishes

stamps: unity, christy tomlinson
cardstock: my mind's eye pp, white
ink: onyx black, spiced marmalade, worn lipstick, spun sugar, broken china
embellishments: prismacolor markers, shipping tag

and the winner of the grab bag of unity goodness from my random acts of kindness post is...

 Julie Odil said...

Hi Angie, I LOVE this idea! Thanks for doing this. I work in a nursing home so it's easy for me to pass on RAK many times a day. One I did yesterday: as part of my job, I took 9 residents to a local restaurant for lunch. One woman had no money and wouldn't have been able to go, so I paid for her meal for her. She was very happy to go along and be with her friends.

10/26/12 12:24 PM

what an awesome thing to do, julie!! please email me email me your info and i'll get your prize to you.

august...

i know, i know...it's not august, it's november!  but i'm sharing a calendar of august with you.  each year for the past probaby five years maybe?  i've hosted a swap with 11 other peeps  and we create a coaster calendar.  i'm addicted to them.  they are so cute!  i have august in this year's swap.  i struggled trying to think of something "augusty."  i came up with a sort of back to school/varsity type theme.

august
stamps: jilibean soup
cardstock: white, pebble, becky higgins pp
ink: raspberry ripple, pacific point, dafodill delight, lulu lavendar
embellishments:  wood veneer stars & arrows
font:  king cool kc
other: acrylic paint, gesso

and i of course used lots of unity stamps on it, so it fits right in with friends with flair.  after you check out the awesome projects, visit the unity site for an awesome sale!!

finally, remember you have another day to enter my random acts of kindness contest for a grab bag of unity goodies.  check it out here.

happy halloween!!

ok, so i'm a little late, but...

happy halloween!!!!

halloween treats
stamps: unity, studio g
cardstock: becky higgins pp, white
ink: tangerine tango, rusty hinge, onyx black, mustard seed
embellishments:  twine, muslin

home...

i have a couple friends who have recently moved.  and i think this may be the first time i've ever sent a "happy new house" card to anyone!!  hopefully they have gotten their cards by now, if not, SURPRISE!! i have loved mixing card making and mixed media together and that's what i did here.  i used watercolors to color the card.

and it's friends with flair day!  so check out the unity projects over on the unity blog.  you have a chance to win!

home
stamps: unity (sotw)
cardstock: white, watercolor paper
ink: jet black
other:  watercolor crayons, gesso

plus, don't forget that i'm giving away some a little bag of goodness.  check out this post.  you don't want to miss it!!

and speaking of practically giving away, go check out this awesome sale at unity!  

love...

another page from my gratitude journal.  i have until the end of october to finish up this creative dare and let's just say i have a few pages to fill up in not a lot of time!  i gotta get crafting!!

this page is pretty much self explanatory.  i'm thankful for all the love in my life.  and i don't mean one type of love here.  there are so many types of love, it would take days to write about them all.  and i didn't know how to get every aspect of love down, so i went for simplicity.  and i do l.o.v.e. it!!

love
stamps:  stampin up
material: canvas, book text
paint: gesso, acrylic
embellishments:  wood shapes (studio calico), glimmer mist
other:  charcoal pencil

remember to visit this post to #spreadthelove #rak #payitforward #sharethejoy!!

under the mistletoe...

it's flashback day today for the fabulous feature.  (read: no time to create a new card.  shushh...don't tell!)  visit the {ippity} blog for other cards using the fab feature, kissmas & mistletoe.

mistletoe

stamps: ippity
cardstock: crumb cake, early espresso, echo park pp
ink: baja breeze, early espresso
embellishments: prismacolor markers, hemp twine, glossy accents

and don't forget to visit this post to #spreadthelove #rak #payitforward #sharethejoy!!

random acts of kindness...

random act of kindness   pay it forward.  what does that mean to you?  to me, it means doing something that will make another person happy or just put a smile on their face.  i don't know why people don't do these things more often.  it's not like  you have to even spend any money to do this.  a simple gesture can be a rak or pif.  know what i mean?

it's not a secret that i love unity stamps.  and i seem to have gathered quite a collection of stamps so i'm going to offer up a grab bag of unity goodness. what i ask in return for a chance to win is simply to pay it forward.

this stems from this post by rhonna farrer, #rhonnadesigns who is simply quite amazing.  today is her birthday and she offered an awesome gift to celebrate (check it here!).  all she wanted in return, was to share the love.  so i did.  i went to starbucks to get me a cup of pumpkin spice deliciousness and my pay it forward/random act of kindness/share the love was to pay for the person who was behind me in the line.  it was awesome.  the thing i loved most about it???  the starbucks girl thought it was so cool she was giddy!  and she shared her enthusiasm with her coworkers and they all came to the window to thank me.  how neat is that?  so not only did one simple act make the recipient happy (hopefully!) it made the starbucks girls happy too!!

so back to the free unity grab bag of goodness. here are the rules. you have until november 3rd at 11:59pm to enter.  what you must do is comment on this post and tell me what rak/pay it forward kind of thing you did.  i will draw a random winner.  if there are more than 10 people who participate, i'll draw two winners. and if there's more than 20, another!  so pass this along to your friends.  after all, what do you have to lose??  make more people happy??

so #spreadthelove #rak #payitforward #sharethejoy do whatever it is you do!

mixed media monday...

i think i may have mentioned once or twice (not sure!) about my love for monday nights.  the reason is an awesome group of peeps now named, mixed media mondays, that tracy weinzapfel  started (visit  her here).  we gather from all parts of the globe to watch her work some mixed media magic. in september, she threw us all another creative dare to fill up a canvas journal with all that we are grateful for.  here is my tribute to mixed media monday.  because without it, i don't know that i'd have discovered the love and passion i have for this new form of expression!

mixed media monday
stamps:  unity
material: canvas
paint: gesso, acrylic
  ink: jet black
embellishments:  label tape
tools:  pen

here are the other pages so far in my gratitude journal if you wanna take a look-see.

a life inspired...

it's been awhile since i've done any art journaling. but after the last mixed media monday night (catchy, isn't it?) with tracy, i was excited to get this page done.  and i even used the dreaded charcoal pencil.  a lot.  i'm not saying i like it any more, but i do love how it looks on this page.  so here's to stepping outside the comfort zone and using something you aren't comfortable!

a life inspired
material: mixed media paper
paint: gesso, acrylic
stamps:  donna downey, christy tomlinson
  ink: jet black
other:  bubble wrap, cardboard, dictionary pages

and i found a new tool to stamp with.  those little cardboard hand protectors around a cup of coffee??  well, the corrugated inside makes a cool set of lines!!  

believe in magic...

this is my second extra card for the bonus entry in the wcmd year's worth of kit of the month giveaway.  making a card for the unity kit of the month sketch challenge.  in this challenge  you had to make a card based on the sketch (found here) and use stamps from any kit of the month set.  i used stamps from faith, hope, love, live by it and love in an instant kotm.  here's what i made.

believe in magic
stamps:  unity
cardstock: echo park pp, white
ink: worn lipstick, spun sugar
tools: silhouette

cross your fingers!!  how awesome would it be to win a free year's worth of stamps??  and you all know me...i like to share!

and if  you haven't already, don't forget to check out this!!!

fall...

talk about under the wire!!  today i'm posting the last two entries for the world card making challenge.  i figured i could make two extra cards for an extra chance to win an ENTIRE year of the kit of the month or the smak kit.  right?? right. so here is the first one. it is for the unity monthly challenge. only the tricky thing was the challenge changed after the wcmd challenge started but before it ended.  so i didn't know which one i should do!  so i did both on the same card!  the first one was using banners, the second was using pumpkins (pumpkin challenge is here).  how did i do??

fall
stamps:  unity, ippity
cardstock: echo park pp, dictionary pages
ink: seedless preserves, burnt umber, dusty durango
embellishments: twine

so beautiful...

who doesn't want to get a card in the mail that says "you are so beautiful"?  everyone would!!  here's my friends with flair card for today.  not feeling great, so gonna keep it short.  check out the other projects this week for your chance to win!

so beautiful
stamps:  unity, ippity
cardstock: date swirl, studio calico pp
ink: baja breeze, going gray, mustard seed
embellishments: flowers

AND...don't forget to check out this!!!

your day...

today is a big day.  a shout out to my brothers, mike and mark, for their birthday.  happy birthday, boys!! and also to my cousin, mandy (who i still can't call miranda!), on her big wedding day to tyler.  congrats you two!!

here's the last of the challenge cards i made for world card making day.  how fun it's been trying to come up with a design for each challenge.  this one was using a sketch (found here).  i used the awesome stamps from this kit of the month.

your day
stamps:  unity
cardstock: certainly celery, my mind's eye pp, echo park pp
ink: spiced marmalade, onyx black

memories...

i think this may be the first time i've completed a bunch of challenges for world card making day. it's been fun to stretch my imagination. i've done a ton of art/canvas journaling and mixed media stuff lately, so getting back to cards has been fun.  this card is for the color challenge.  you had to make a card using cream, pumpkin, olive and brown. i used stamps from this smak kit and this kotm.  love them!!

memories
stamps:  unity
cardstock: pumpkin pie, crumb cake, fancy pants pp, simple stories pp, echo park pp
ink: tangerine tango, early espresso, crushed olive, early espresso

wonder...

here's another card for world card making day. this one really made me stretch. the challenge was to create a border using a stamp that was not a border stamp. i love this star stamp (i've used it a ton lately).  and i had some post it notes on my table.  and it dawned on me.  mask the middle of the stamp.  created a cool border!!  check out the challenge here.

wonder
stamps:  unity
cardstock: summer sun, island indigo, white, echo park pp
ink: summer sun, island indigo
embellishments:  button, twine

happy fall...

it's fall in my neck of the woods.  full blown.  leaves are changing.  the air is cool and crisp in the morning and evening, but still warm during the day.  i love fall.  except that it leads to winter.  which i don't love.  but here's a card i made in honor of fall.  i made it for the creative cuts and more blog, diecut diva.   and as part of the world card making day event over on the unity blog.  (have i hit all eight categories yet??)  go make some cards!!  you have until the 20th to enter.  HUGE prizes!

happy fall
stamps:  unity
cardstock: sunshine, basic grey pp, walnut cream
ink: pumkin pie, dusty durango, soft suede
tools:  prismacolor markers

hold it together...

how is it that i have not used this stamp. ever??? what is wrong with me? it's awesome! i think someone borrowed it a few weeks ago and i remembered i had it. so i had to use it. this is for another world card making day entry. this challenge was all about texture.

and it's friday.  and i know some fridays i need a little help holding it all together!  so check out friends with flair  (clickie clickie) to help you hold things together and have a good weekend!!

hold it together
stamps:  unity
cardstock: pistachio, walnut cream
ink: midnight muse
embellishments:  fabric, muslin, cardboard
tools:  tiny attatcher

and don't forget there are some killer sales going on this weekend.  here's one of them.  (click image to go to the sale).  and if you put any {ippity} in your cart (and you SHOULD!), put my name in the comments...brownie points, you know?

beauty...

i got a card the other day from my cute friend sherri.  it inspired me to make this card.  i loved how she did such a simple background.  this card is a bit of mixed media and stamping.  i gessoed some watercolor paper then stamped the image.  used watercolor crayons and painted the image and background.  so simple!

another unity world card making day challenge.  and you guessed it...the challenge was to color an image.

beauty
stamps: phyllis harris
cardstock: white, watercolor paper
ink: jet black
other:  watercolor crayons, gesso

what do you know?  it's a sale!  go shop...

today...

it's been too long since i've done a page in my gratitude journal. i did this page at my crafty retreat two weeks ago. i'm thankful for {today} everyday, but i loved that day because i was with my favorite peeps. and every time i see this page, i'll be reminded of that.  take a peek at the rest of the gratitude journals here.

today
stamps:  unity
cardstock: simple stories pp
material: canvas
paint: gesso, acrylic
  ink: ripe persimmon
embellishments:  wood shapes (american crafts), washi tape

butterfly kisses...

another world card making day challenge. the challenge here was to create a card that is shaped.  basically, not your regular square or round card.  so i used my trusty silhouette to help cut out a ticket shaped card.  when it's flat, there's a heart in the middle.  (challenge #1 found here)

butterfly kisses
stamps:  unity
cardstock: crumb cake, cherry cobbler
ink: cherry cobbler
tools:  silhouette

the list...

it's time for {ippity} fab feature wednesday!!  this week's feature is naughty.nice.not sure.  i love this set!  i also love the paper pad, merry, from my mind's eye.  i think out of the whole stack, there's maybe 2 papers that i don't adore!!

the list
stamps:  ippity
cardstock: baja breeze, my mind's eye pp
ink: baja breeze, cherry cobbler, black craft
embellishments:  clear embossing powder, eyelet, twine

i'm also using this as my "embossed" card for the unity world card making day challenge (read the deets here).  have you entered any of the challenges??  there are 8 total.  so surely there is something for you!!