Tuesday Tips & Tricks

Here's a neat trick to help you make Stampin' Up pearls (#119247) or rhinestones (#119247) black. I have colored both the pearls and the rhinestones using Sharpie markers. It works wonderfully! However, when you can't find your markers, what do you do? Here is the solution I came up with ~

I took a sponge dauber and my black Staz-On ink and colored my pearls black!  How cool is that?  It went much more quickly than coloring with the markers and the black pearls really look awesome!

Thanks for stopping by!  And if you like my tip, please let me know!

Blessings,
Barbara

Watercolor Winter

Happy Saturday, and welcome to my blog! Grab your cup of coffee and check out the card I created for this week's Utah Divas International sketch. You can find links to all of the cards and designers here. This month's sketches were designed by team member Ruthie Burkey.  And here is the sketch for the week, DIVASC216.  Isn't this a classic?  I can see myself using this over and over.

I love a monochromatic card, and that's what I went with this week. Although it is not what you would think of as traditional Christmas colors, I think the overall effect is quite elegant, don't you?

Supplies used:

• Papers ~ Whisper White, Sahara Sand
• Inks ~ Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake
• Stamps ~ Watercolor Winter, Greetings of the Season
• Accessories ~ Basic Pearls, Big Shot, Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder

For the bottom embossed layer, I opened the folder and inked the flatter side with Sahara Sand ink before I added the paper and put it through the Big Shot.  It adds so much depth and richness to the bottom layer.

Have a wonderful weekend!   I will be spending time with family, working on my Christmas cards,  and making my house look festive for the month of December.  I just love Christmas!

Thanks a bunch for stopping by.  I look forward to your sweet comments, so bring them on!

Blessings,
Barbara

Three Little Trees

Happy Saturday, and welcome to my blog! Grab your cup of coffee and check out the card I created for this week's Utah Divas International sketch. You can find links to all of the cards and designers here. This month's sketches were designed by team member Ruthie Burkey. And here is the sketch for the week, DSC215.

A lot of different ideas went through my mind, but this is what I settled on. I flipped the sketch to a horizontal format.  I couldn't find a greeting that would fit in, so I added that at the bottom. Obviously, my trees were substituted for the rectangles, and I wanted to keep an odd number, which in my opinion, makes for a more interesting design.

Supplies used:

• Papers ~ Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler and Be of Good Cheer DSP
• Inks ~ Cherry Cobbler and Gumball Green marker
• Stamps ~ More Merry Messages
• Accessories ~ 1 3/4" circle punch

Since I know you will ask, the adorable trees were cased from Connie Babbert.  Here is a link to her directions for making them.  Aren't they sweet?  I love them in this teeny tiny size.

I'd love to hear what you think of my card!  I read all of my comments and really appreciate them.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a delightful weekend.

Blessings,
Barbara

An Almost Stampless Saturday!

Happy Saturday, and welcome to my blog! Grab your cup of coffee and check out the card I created for this week's Utah Divas International sketch. You can find links to all of the cards and designers here. This month's sketches were designed by team member Ruthie Burkey.  And here is the sketch for the week, DSC214.

Here is my card for the challenge. I substituted the mittens for the round image.  I think it is really fun! Don't you agree? And as you will see in my recipe, I let the Designer Series Paper work for me. The only stamping here is the saying. (Please excuse the distraction of my watermark!)

Recipe

• Stamps ~ More Merry Messages 
• Papers ~ Whisper White, Snow Festival DSP, Primrose Petals, Cherry Cobbler
• Inks ~ Cherry Cobbler
• Accessories ~ 3/4" square punch (non SU!), dotted scallop ribbon punch, white baker's twine, Mitten Builder Punch 

You can easily use a 1" square punch to duplicate this.  You will just have fewer squares to work with.  I wanted to take advantage of all of the adorable images in the Snow Festival paper.  These all came from the same sheet of paper, which had stripes of varying designs.

Here on the East Coast, we are still recovering from Hurricane Sandy.   My husband and I were without power and heat for a full week.  The last homes in our town finally had electric restored today, 12 days after the storm.  I have some friends who are still without power.  The gas lines are finally shorter, and there is talk of dropping the odd/even days.   Personally, I was very grateful for God's protection over us.  We had no damage to our property or vehicles.  Other than suffering through the loss of creature comforts we have become so accustomed to, we are well.  I continue to pray for those who suffered great losses in this terrible storm.

Please take time today to hug those you love and tell them what they mean to you!

Blessings,
Barbara