Hero Arts Winking Reindeer & Autumn Cheesecake

Happy Cyber Monday, everybody!

Did you survive the Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend?

I did, but just barely! I worked more hours in the last four days

than I normally do in an entire week.

I'm beat.

But, I had the day off today, so I'm feeling a little more rested now.

Friday evening I had a lovely (but too short)

visit with my cousin Ashley and her husband Jason

and she and I got to talk crafty stuff, which was so nice.

I need more crafty friends!

Anyway, how about a card?

I wish I could take credit for this nifty technique,

but I scraplifted it from Lisa Spangler's blog,

with only a slight modification.

I thought the yarn scarf might not stay put through the mail,

so on mine, I paper pierced two holes on either side of

the reindeer's neck and threaded some baker's twine through.

The deer has a really great shimmer in real life thanks to the

perfect pearls, but it doesn't showup in the photo, unfortunately.

I also wanted to share a quick pic of the

Autumn Cheesecake I made for Thanksgiving.

It's covered with apple slices tossed in cinnamon

and sugar plus finely chopped pecans.

YUM!

Supplies:
cardstock: Bazzill
patterned paper: My Mind's Eye Wonderful Winter collection
stamp: Hero Arts Winking Reindeer, snowflakes, sentiment
ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Spun Sugar Distress Ink
watercolor pencils: Reeves 24 piece set
embellishments: Martha Stewart baker's twine, perfect pearls mixed with water

Lawn Fawn Reindeer Happy Winter

Hello there!

Happy Monday, everyone.

I love Mondays. I really do.

It's probably the first time in my entire life

that that's the case, but there you have it.

It's because Mondays are my day off!

And day off translates to day to craft

if I can help it!

I made three more Christmas cards today,

but I didn't get a chance to photograph them

before the sun went down, so I'll

have to save those for later this week.

In the meantime, here's the third of the

Critters in the Snow series I started last week.

It's using Francois the deer from Lawn Fawn.

Love him so much!

You'll notice I'm using more of the same papers

from this card series.

Normally, I have a tendency to want to use

as many different designs and supplies

as I can. I end up with way too many

half sheets and quarter sheets of patterned paper

which clutters up my desk.

In effort to quell some of that, I'm forcing myself

to reuse what's already out as much as possible

rather than cut into a fresh sheet of paper.

So far, it's going pretty good.

See you soon!

Supplies:

cardstock: Bazzill

patterned paper: My Mind's Eye

stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters In The Snow, Frosties

ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tumbled Glass distress ink by Ranger

copics: E27, E25, E55, E53, E51

embellishments: Martha Stewart baker's twine, jingle bell, ribbon from stash, Sakura Galaxy gel pen

Amazing Lawn Fawn card and a giveaway

Me again!

I came across another giveaway while

visiting my favorites list of blogs tonight --

this one by a blogger that I just discovered

recently. Danielle of Neat & Tangled posted this

totally BRILLIANT Lawn Fawn card on her blog

that caught the attention of Kelly Marie Alvarez

who thank goodness posted it on Facebook

so that we all could marvel at it.

Crazily enough, Danielle is brand-new to

papercrafting, and this is one of the first cards

she ever made! It's unbelievable, isn't it?

I mean, this girl has got some rockin' talent.

I took one look at that card, and had to send her a pm

to find out if she has a blog. She does, and it's hilarious.

Do yourself a favor, and stick around for a while when

you go check out the amazing card.

While you're there, don't forget to stop by this

post and enter to win the great giveaway she's hosting.

You can come back and thank me later. ;o)

Blog Giveaway at I Heart Art

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to stop in real quick and let you

all know about an amazing giveaway by Tiffany

over at the I Heart Art blog.

You may know Tiffany as one of the

members of the Lawn Fawn design team.

As she moves cross country, she's having

a bevy of guest hosts and all kinds of fun

stuff happening every day.

Be sure to pop over there and have a look-see!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Christmas card!

See you then!

Lawn Fawn Penguins Merry Christmas

Hi again!

I'm back today with more Lawn Fawn cuteness.

I absolutely adore this Critters In the Snow

stamp set -- I can't seem to get enough of it!

It's a good thing this set is so versatile

for creating wintery scenes.

You definitely haven't seen the last of it from me!

Take a look.

Aren't these penguins so sweet?

And I love that little igloo!

Makes these critters seem right at home,

doesn't it? I can't wait to use it with

the polar bear! I lined it with a Sakura

galaxy silver gel pen for some shimmer.

Hope you like it!

Supplies:

cardstock: Bazzill

paper: Basic Grey "Jovial" collection, My Mind's Eye "Winter Wonderland" collection

stamps: Lawn Fawn "Critters in the Snow," The Paper Company

ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

copics: C3. C5, C7, YR04, YR09

embellishments: Sakura Galaxy gel pen, Martha Stewart baker's twine





Lawn Fawn Let it Snow

Trying something new today.

I've noticed a lot of blogs simply show the

card with a list of supplies underneath.

Wondering if that makes it easier for people

to navigate without the usual play-by-play.

Let me know which way you prefer, okay?

So, brief description: today's card features

Lawn Fawn's adorable seal from

Critters in the Snow. I thought it might be

fun and whimsical to draw him in a little

tongue for catching snowflakes. :o)

I did the resist background using clear

embossing powder and distress inks.

The sentiment shows up clearer in person.

Hope you like!



Supply list:

cardstock: bazzill, georgia pacific

patterned paper: My Mind's Eye

stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Snow, Frosties

ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Tumbled Glass

copics: C01, C03, C05, R24, colorless blender, muti-liner .05

embellishments: stickles, clear embossing powder, holiday twine

Elzybells Reindeer Peace On Earth

Hi there!

Long time no see, huh? Sorry about that.

Life has been so crazy busy, and I've had zero

time to craft -- that is, until today!

I had today off, so I decided to start my

Christmas cards. I put on some Christmas tunes,

parked my butt in the chair and set to work.

Aren't those the sweetest little reindeer ever?

They're from Elzybells. I'm so sad that I didn't

discover this wonderful company sooner -- as they

closed their doors at the end of September.

I colored them in with Copics, then added a little

glossy accents to the pudding frosting and their noses

and hoofs. Hooves? Whichever. Then I masked them

off with Inkadinkado masking paper, added another strip

to cover the bottom area for snow, then distressed the

sky with Tumbled Glass distress ink by Ranger.

I stamped my sentiment by The Paper Studio,

then used stickles to make my snow line and

snowflakes in the sky. I rounded the corners using

the We R Memory Keepers 1/4" corner chomper.

To assemble my card, I used green Bazzill

cardstock topped with two prints from the

Basic Grey Jovial 6x6 pad. So pretty!

I covered the seam with a bit of yarn from

the packaging of my last Lawn Fawn order

and popped my focal piece off with dimensionals.

I'll be entering this in the Wee Memories Challenge #31.

Go here to check out the other talented artists

and enter a card of your own!

I hope you enjoyed my first Christmas card!

I plan to be back tomorrow with some

Lawn Fawn Critters In The Snow cuteness.

Have a great night!

In the Spotlight

Hey everybody!

So sorry I've been MIA lately.

I've got this whole nasty broncial thing going on,

plus I've been picking up a bunch of extra hours at work.

In other words, I'm completely exhausted, sick,

and drained of every possible smidgen of creativity.

Luckily, I have the day off tomorrow,

so I'm hoping to just rest and recouperate in the

morning, and then maybe test the crafty waters

in the early afternoon, before I head out to pick up

the boys from school.

In the meantime, I've been making the rounds

of all the blogs I follow, and I've found some

wonderful inspiration that I'd love to share with you.

Take a look at this handiwork:

As a writer, I love all things writing-related,

especially vintage typewriters. So this adorable

card from Jen Cuthbertson at I'm Crafty Blog grabs

right ahold of my heart strings and tugs hard!

How about this little cutie from the adorable

Ruby 2 Shoes. She brilliantly combined

the Lawn Fawn pup with Basic Grey's

Max & Whiskers paper. Such a fun blog.

Check her out if you get a chance!

Love what you're seeing so far? Me too.

How about this adorably sweet baby bloom card

from Krista at  Crafty Little Pigtails.

Love that blurred coloring around the image!

Such a great effect.

Wanna see more?

How about some Christmas cards.

It's just six weeks away, you know!

Ack! I haven't even started mine yet.

Well if you're still floundering around for some

holiday inspiration, take a gander at this piece

of lovliness, featuring Lili of the Valley stamps,

by Niki Estes of My Paper Creations.

And last, but definitely not least,

can you imagine anything more fun than this

card by Kadie at In My Mind's Eye?

So pretty and sweet. Love it.

I hope you'll bookmark all of these

fabulously talented ladies blogs and visit them

in the near future.

As for me, I'm about to hack up a lung.

Better run.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Be back soon with a card or two.

Smooches!

Mr. Kitty and the Blustery Day

Hello, ladies!

I want to start off by saying that I had every intention

of starting off this first week of November

with a Christmas card.

But try as I did, for some reason I just wasn't feeling it.

We're stocking Christmas merchandise at work,

they even started playing Christmas music yesterday,

but I just haven't quite caught the Christmas spirit.

Maybe it's because it hasn't snowed yet?

It's not unusual around here for the first snowfall to take

place in October. But we've been lucky this year, I guess.

Once it comes, it's usually here to stay through April.

Anyway, since it's been cold and windy

and there's a lot of leaf-shedding going on

this is the card I felt inspired to make.

I had planned on using my favorite Lawn Fawn stamp,

Mr. Winter Bunny, but sensing my mood and the chilly weather,

 he graciously lent his scarf to Mr. Kitty instead. ;o)

In fact, I used three different Lawn Fawn sets for this card.

Critters in the 'Burbs, Winter Bunny, and Harold's ABCs.

If I had Harvest Season as well, I would have used that

to stamp the leaves. but since I didn't, I decided to fussy cut

them out of a sheet of Bella Blvd patterned paper.

I also used the same sheet to paper piece the top of my tree.

I colored the trunk, Mr. Kitty, and the scarf with Copics.

To assemble the card, I started with a cream Bazzill cardbase,

and layered over that a sheet of paper that came in a pack

from the dollar bins at target. I just loved the fall

argyle pattern. I used to have a sock obsession, and

argyle socks were my favorite. :o)

For my scene, I used a scrap of cloud paper from

American crafts, and a little strip of green tapestry

print from Cosmo Cricket's Travelin' Man collection.

I cut it into fringe for grass, then popped it up with

dimensional adhesive to give me room to slip my tree

and Mr. Kitty behind. I stamped my sentiment in

Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink in Chestnut Roan.

I wanted my leaves to look as realistic as possible,

so I bent up their edges a little. To give them just the

right amount of height and motion, I rolled a mini glue dot

between my fingers and attached each one to the card with

that, arranging some of them under the tree, some

caught in the grass, and a few floating on the

blustery breeze alongside Mr. Kitty's scarf.

As a final touch, I did a little dash and dot doodling

across the top and bottom of the card.

I'm really happy with how this one turned out!

It took a little longer than usual to make, but I

feel like it was worth it.

I hope you like it, too!

Blog Candy Winner!

Hey, Ladies!

I just wanted to pop in real quick and

announce the winner of my

"I Still Do" Blog Candy Giveaway!

I did the whole Random Number Generator thing

but I couldn't figure out how to copy

the result over here (if anyone knows,

please let me know for future use)

but anyway, the winning number was

lucky #11

Heather Innusa!

Congratulations Heather!

Please contact me at

penciledwhimsies (at) gmail.com

within 7 days to claim your prize.

Thank you so much to all of you who

played along! I wish I could give out

something to each one of you

just for being so sweet.

Hopefully I'll be able to do another

giveaway before too long.

Have a great night, everybody!