Anything but a card!

Stampin' for the Weekend

has chosen

ANYTHING BUT A CARD

for this upcoming challenge!

 

Mine happens to include a small, tiny card to accompany it, but the box was a quick answer to a gift-giving problem.  Easy to pack and mail, too!

 

 

Supplies used:

Purchased ready-made box

Felt swirls and flowers (Close to my Heart)

Spellbinders (Labels Eighteen)

Stamped and embossed border (Waltzing Mouse)

Sentiment (Unknown)

 

Doesn't get easier or faster than this!

 

 



Hey, Friend!

Welcome to the next stop of your hop at

Waltzing Mouse!

The challenge this month is to use felt or cozy fabrics!

If you've gotten here by other means due to the challenge at
Stampendous,
Thank You and please enjoy my project!

Sentiments are by Stampendous

Dotted frame is Waltzing Mouse, Vintage Labels

I decided to recycle something from my stash of boxes, containers,

and objects that I have hoarded for the last 2 years. 

After pulling out the only felt shapes I own (Heartfelt, CTMH) , I recalled having an empty Close To My Heart kit box from back in the early days of my scrapping!

It was perfect for decorating and using as a future gift box!

I'm always looking for a clever way to give something special that's a bit different from the everyday.

I stamped and heat embossed the label from the "Vintage Labels" set, and ran it through my Cuttlebug with the coordinating Labels 18...easy!

The Close To My Heart punch-out felt pieces made it pretty easy, too!

This was as simple as just a card to make, and it will be such a fun gift to give!

What shall I fill it with?  The options are many!

 I made the little matching gift card, adding the felt and embossing.

Thanks for taking the time to hop today!

And before you hop on, please remember Claire in your prayers, and send her strength to continue all the wonderful accomplishments she's had thus far.   
Please show your appreciation to ALL the women in your lives, today and everyday;
mothers, daughters, family, friends, neighbors,...
We tend to take them for granted,
assuming that they are doing what they do because it is expected of them.  
We are strong when we need to be strong,
and tender when the situation requires it.
Love each other.

Cardstock:  Bazzill
Stamps:  Waltzing Mouse (Vintage Labels),
Stampendous (Happy Messages, Sunny Flowers)
Die:  Spellbinders Nesties, Labels 18
Embossing powders: Stampendous

Also entered into the challenge at
Stampendous Impressions (Gift Box and card)

A most difficult challenge...

You would think a simple,

single layer layout on a card would be simple!

Think again!

The Waltzing Mouse sketch challenge this week is to create a card using only ONE layer...that means no die cuts, no mats, no layers of any kind!

 For those of use who love to use ribbons, and trims, and all sorts of goodies piled on our cards, this was HARD!

 I stamped and embossed the label from Waltzing Mouse "Holiday Labels 14"

and the sentiment from "Rescue Remedies Additions" directly onto pattern paper from Prima's "Songbird" collection.  Then, I stamped and glitter embossed a few extra little

birds!  It was really difficult to walk away at that point.  This really challenged me as far as keeping it simple and one layer!

Entered at Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenges

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Welcome to the Waltzing Mouse Blog Party!

Nobody knows how to celebrate St. Patrick's Day like Claire at "the Mouse"!

I know we all get excited at the prospect of green beer, corned beef and cabbage, and kissing strangers in the pub, (ok, I may be telling on myself here) but there are some of us who have Irish ancestors and we take this time to remember and appreiciate where we came from.

My Paternal Grandmother was half Irish.

She passed away when I was only a teenager, and I never knew her very well.

My father knows little about his family's history.

So, I wanted to take a more serious approach to my celebration.

I printed this beautiful image from the Waltzing Mouse blog, colored it, and decided to use it for more than just a card front.

I had found a recipe for Irish Shortbread and thought it would be nice to copy it onto a recipe card to keep with my shamrocks.

Then, wanting to share the image after spending hours coloring it, I made this card. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Claire!

I hope everyone has a great time today hopping around.

Remember, today we are ALL Irish!

Be safe, be happy, and be green!

(Consider yourself PINCHED!)

This card is also entered in the sketch challenge this week at Waltzing Mouse!
(Flip the sketch on it's side, of course!)

Waltzing Mouse - Be My Valentine Sweetheart!

This week the challenge at Waltzing Mouse was so much fun!

For my DH this year! 

He has been so nice and understanding with all my medical issues and

doctor's visits of late! Changing medications and lack of

sleep has made me, at times,  a bit

difficult to live with, to say the least!

And in addition,
the sketch at City Crafters was almost identical, save for an added element, which I easily utilized in my card!
Also, this card is proudly submitted to the challenge at:
Sentimental Sundays (Die Cuts)  SWEET sentiment and heart (Nesties)
The Crazy Challenge (Vintage)
Creative Card Crew (Seeing RED)

Blame it on Claire!

It's all WaltzingMouse's fault that I was up at 7 am this morning baking my cookies!  No, not really, but that's my story as to why I had Chocolate chip cookies for breakfast!
Actually, I wanted to get my holiday cookie gifts out today and there is the terrific tag challenge over at Waltzingmouse!

Yesterday I worked with the silver glitter for my candy tags, so today I chose to go GOLD!  These "Rescue Remedy" stamps are pretty regardless of what you pair them up with!

If you have multiples to make, this is so easy with the Spellbinders!
And I used vacuum jars purchased at the Dollar Store!  They hold about 8-9 cookies each, perfect for that individual on your list.

So, as I sit here with a "sugar high headache",

I'll just keep telling myself, "It's all Claire's fault"!  Haha!

The little tassle is one I just recieved from Pink Paisley, and the swirled paper is

last year's SEI, "Glitzmas".

Waltzing Mouse Tag Challenge

I love that the Waltzing Mouse "Rescue Remedies" coordinates with the

Spellbinders Labels Four!

It makes tags so easy and pretty!

I simply stamped the "SWEET" labels, and heat embossed,

die cut with the Nesties out of AC Glitter Cardstock,

and added some little bows....

I plan to put these on my candy gift bags!

 

I wish the photo could do the glittery background justice!

They are so gorgeous!

What's really weird is that the glitter cardstock is silver, not gold!

I will retake the pictures tomorrow in the daylight, rather than artificial...

Now to get to work on my tags for my chocolate chip cookie jars!

Waltzing into the holidays!

I am not a big Sunday night football fan, so I decided to start on my Christmas decorations...  I know, some of you have already finished or gotten a really good start on yours! Well, I'm a bit of a procrastinator, so I wait until one holiday gets put away before thinking about the next! With Thanksgiving and Christmas, that can be a bit dangerous.
    Waltzing Mouse has a challenge for the holidays to make place cards for our Christmas dinner table.  Whether I host at my house again this year, or we have it at someone else's, I'll be one step ahead with my cards all made for Christmas Day!

I used my Spellbinders Nestibilities Labels 18, which made it so easy to cut out the white standing cards.  Next, the coordinating Waltzing Mouse Stamp Set, "Vintage Labels 18", made the perfect highlight of gold embossing on red to turn a simple place card into a thing of beauty!  I placed a Bazzill paper Poinsettia and a few tiny sprinkles of holly and Stickles to add some sparkle to each.

I have quite a few more to go before I finish this project!

Holiday Hugs!

Waltzing Mouse Stamps has a wonderful CAS sketch this week, and I had to take a break from laundry and house cleaning to make this Christmas card for the challenge.  We can never start too soon, and I love that the cards I send out each year are each totally different. Challenges are great for that!

It's not obvious in the photo, but the frame around the sentiment is heat embossed in gold to match the gold Stickle centers of the poinsettias.

Supplies:
Bazzill cardstock
Stamps; Waltzing Mouse Stamps, "Bountiful Basket Additions" and "Vintage Labels 4"
Die;  Spellbinders, Nestibilities, Labels Four
Background; Red Bazzill cardstock, Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge
Wilton Doily
Copics Markers
Stickles

Waltzing Mouse to the "Rescue"!

When I saw the sketch at Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge, an idea came to me that I've been considering for a while. Not a big, fancy idea, but rather a little detail that I thought would make life a little prettier for those I care about.

We have occasional friends and family members come to town and stay with us. I like to make their stay here as much like home as possible.  Jokes have even been made by certain family members because I'm the one who likes to have place cards and printed menus at Thanksgiving, or change the wreath on the front door with every changing season or holiday. I send out cards for little or no reason....Yep, my family just doesn't get it. 
     But you, my scrappy blogger friends, do!

So, when I saw this very simple sketch, I knew it would be perfect for my soap and lotion bottles that I have been hoarding and waiting to decorate for my visitors and friends!  I may need to mention that I'm also a big couponer!  CHEAP/FREE stuff!

With a few silk flowers and some ribbon, I simply stamped the gorgeous label from Rescue Remedies and die cut it with my Nesties Labels Four. I disassembled the flowers, removed the plastic "innerds" and re-glued them back together so they lay flatter and softer on the bottles.  A tiny cream pearl accents the center.

This is so simple yet it lends a pretty, homey feel to my guest bath that I hope my company enjoys. I made 6 so far, and plan to make more. I also want to make "hand lotion" versions to give to my friends that I lunch with or run into this winter when the weather here in Phoenix is cold and dry.  Who wouldn't like a little surprise treat like this?

If we all made small gestures towards those we care about more often, this lousy economy and our personal problems would all seem a little less stressful.

And because Claire over at Waltzing Mouse Stamps is releasing some terrific new stamp sets this next month, I knew I had to throw my hat in the ring. 

I've let health and my other commitments keep me away from my favorite scrap blogs for way too long!

Enjoy your weekend!

Hug more and complain less!

Jan

Weekly Waltzing Mouse Challenge!

This week's Waltzing Mouse sketch challenge was such a simple one, yet left so many options... sometimes it's just easier to have fewer decisions to make!  LOL!

I love the whole western look of the Vintage Labels #18, this particular one reminding me always of a cowboy's belt buckle.

I have used it several times and always loved the outcome!

And the fact that it is made to work with the Spellbinder's Labels #18 is fantastic!

Easy Peasy!

Here's a close-up of the heat-embossed "buckle".

I chose to make it girly so that I could send it to any one of my gal friends

out here in Arizona who knows well the term,

"Cowgirl Up!"

Also, entered into TEXTURE challenge at "Do You Stack Up?"
and the weekly challenge at Kraft Journal!

Waltzing into Fall!

I am trying so very hard to get into the spirit of  Fall and "Trick or Treat", but when the temperatures here are looming way over 100, it's really difficult. But I'm also reading that most of the country is experiencing above average temperatures, so I feel a bit better as I sit here in Phoenix sweating my you-know-what off!

I loved the sketch over at Waltzing Mouse this week, and had to make it a Fall card! I've been dying to use these little pumpkins that come with the

"Bountiful Baskets Additions" set, but decided to go without the basket this time.

Feeling cooler already.....

OK, now I think I'm really ready for Halloween and pumpkin pie, and candy corn....

I love that the Spellbinders Labels Eighteen and the coordinating

Vintage Labels 18 from Waltzing Mouse are so easy to work with!

I used my new Cosmo Cricket, "Odds and Ends" paper pack,

a bit of embossing and inking, a few black pearls from Recollections,

and some jute twine and done!  I wanted to add some natural texture that the "garden" could be growing in...and it was so much easier to stamp the pumpkins onto

pattern paper than to color with the Copics today (hands just not cooporating).

Thanks for looking today! It would REALLY make my day if you left a comment!

This card has been entered in the challenge at

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge

Waltzing Mouse, "Tag, you're it!"

I don't make tags very often. The canvas just seems so very small. What can you possibly do on a tag? Well, I have been cruising through some of my favorite designers and they do some magnificent things on a tiny little 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 tag! I'm thinking, I can do this... The only thing that seems even more difficult would be ATC cards (no, I don't get that at all!)

Waltzing Mouse threw this challenge out there this week, so I felt obligated to at least try!

So, I pulled out the few sentiments I have from WM, and decided to go with a TAG ON A card that I needed to make anyway. Sometimes friends go way above and beyond to be there for you when all they probably want to say is, "Get over it!"   This is for one of those times when my friend should have said, "Chill-ax, man, Life's way too short".  I don't deserve such great friends!

The pattern paper is 7 Gypsies, Avignon pack, the "post card' was cut from the Cosmo Cricket, " Love Notes" Journaling cards.  My tiny little bike stamp is MME, Lost and Found, Portabella Road. And the Eiffle Tower image is TPC, Travel World. I don't think I left a stone unturned in my scrap room!  The sentiment is from "Rescue Remedies Additions".  I've really gotten my use out of that one!

I recently picked up some fantastic ruffles and trims when I went to California for my brief vacay. That wholesale store was amazing!  The epoxy flowers are my newest Ebay find.  A bit of machine stitching and seam binding, and done!  For someone who doesn't do tags, I kind of like it!

I could sure use some more Waltzing Mouse stamps, especially more sentiments. I'm really limited when it comes to WORDS! So wish me luck!

This is to be entered in the Waltzing Mouse sketch challenge this week!

Yee-Haw, Cowboy!

This next Thursday is my husband's birthday.  Yea, another one!  At our age, they seem to roll around more often than every twleve months! Of course, my advantage is that he'll always be so much older!  LOL! 
Being a cowboy at heart, I know he always appreciates anything with a western flair!  When I get a few moments, I will post the little wedding album I finally put together from our small, fairly private ceremony 9 years ago. The few pictures that were taken were saved onto a slide show on disc and I never found out how to pull them off, or if you even can! So, the ones I did salvage were those taken with a second camera and not the best quality...but, I digress...
Here is the card I made for the DH, taking my inspiration from the sketch this week at Waltzing Mouse!  I am determined to win a stamp set because my wish list grows increasingly longer!!!

  First, the wonderful sketch....

My card:

Someone recently asked on the Waltzing Mouse FB page if others prefer taking pictures of just their card alone, or adding a prop of some sort...well, as you can see, I enjoy adding a bit of personality to my posts on occasion! 
Not always, sometimes the card is quite enough.

     For this card, I used some old denim I had saved from a pair of capris that no longer fit. I cut out and sewed the edges of a pocket.  Then added the tops from thumb tacks for the grommets. The little silver concho has been in my stash forever! And the last time I used jute on a card as rope, my husband loved it.

Wierd colors because the ink on the large tag matches the denim perfectly! Funny how the lights and camera can make them look so odd!  I also hand cut the big tag, but am due to pick up my new Nestie Labels 18 die next week!!!  Yea!!! 

I absolutely LOVE the way these labels are made to work with

Spellbinders so perfectly!

Inside of card:

Since he leaves on the morning OF his birthday for a 4 day historical rendevous in Williams, Arizona, I will put together a "goodie basket" for him to take along.  I know what treats he likes to eat while he's out and away. (All the ones we normally don't keep here at the house due to the poor nutritional value!  LOL!)

Products used:

Dies:  Spellbinders Nesties, Labels 4

Stamps: Waltzing Mouse; Vintage Labels 4, Vintage Labels 18, and Rescue Remedies Additions.

Inside sentiment: Fiskars; "Make a Wish Quotes".

Entered, of course, at the challenge at:

Waltzing Mouse!

Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge

I love this sketch! I don't know what it is.  Maybe it's the little row of elements, or that it's so perfectly balanced.  I like balance and symmetry in my life.  It's not always there, but I love it when it works out that way!

I also love these stamps by Waltzing Mouse!   There's very few stamps I DON'T love from them!  I constantly wish they were closer or the dollar would be worth more! LOL!  Those money conversions and shipping make it so difficult sometimes! But, I have to give in to my "desires" every now and then!  And "Rescue Remedies" was definately one of my "have-to-haves"!  My list does go on and on....
Well, maybe I should show you the sketch for this week!

Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge

I'm off to measure and move furniture in my scrap space!  The wheels keep turning as to how I can utilize my large room better. And get all this "stuff" organized and put away!  I may be too stiff and sore to move tomorrow or post anything!

 Wish me luck! I'm goin' in!...  LMAO!