Merry Christmas to All!

First Christmas Card of the Season

Just finished this Christmas card using an idea from my dear friend, Christel.  The tree is Stampin' Up's "O' Tannenbaum" and the rose toile background is Stampin' Up's Elements of Style.  The sentiment is a Michael's dollar bin find.  For ink I chose Real Red and Kiwi Kiss.  (I have a ton of Kiwi Kiss paper.)  Think I'll try some other color combos.

Christmas in the Air!

It's freezing here in Southern California, down to 34 tonight, and it sure is bringing in the holiday season.  Even though I love Thanksgiving, with all the colors, smells, and the general feeling of blessing and gratitude, I'm getting really excited about decorating for Christmas.  Here is my latest published work from the holiday issue of The Stamper's Sampler made exclusively with stamps from Oxford Impressions.  I used the St. Nicholas collection and the Bon Bon collection, which brings to mind the joy of special Christmas sweets.

Halloween Cards

Another card with stamps from Artistic Outpost.  The glitter made it difficult to photograph.  I really need to learn Photoshop!

           Happy Halloween, 
                  Everyone! 

Halloween stamps for this card from Artistic Outpost.  The French cherub background is an oldie; don't remember the company.

Tag with Artistic Outpost stamps.


























The cards above and below were made with Oxford Impressions stamps. 

Halloween Vignettes from My Kitchen

Halloween is one of my favorite--if not my favorite--holiday.  I love the colors, the smells, the adorable kids, and the creativity!  Not to mention the excitement in the air and the sense of community that Trick-or-Treating night brings to my neighborhood.  A whole group of adults making sure that kids have fun, fun, fun!  What could be better than that?

I made the banner and the two silhouette plaques.

The candle wraps were made with Stampin' Up! wheel stamps that I detached and the tag and matching card were made with stamps from Oxford Impressions.  My new friend, Lisa, made the card with the green background.  (Thanks, Lisa, I LOVE your card!)

My kitchen mascot loves celebrating each season with me.  Didn't make one darn thing in this vignette, but did put a reprinted Halloween card in a nice old frame.  Love the "punkinhead" girl with her baby.  Une petite jolie!

Do you decorate for Halloween? If you have decorations that aren't bloody or gory or super scary, I would love for you to link up this week to my Inspired Sunday blog party!

Laura

I am linking up with these great parties:

Creative Home Acre Blog Hop
Creative Monday Blog Hop

Blissful and Domestic

Amaze Me Monday

Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House

Metamorphosis Monday

Tweak it Tuesdays at Cozy Little House

Knick of Time Tuesday

You're Gonna Love It

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Show Me What You Got Tuesdays

Wow Us Wednesdays at Family Home and Life

Wow Us Wednesdays
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Creek Cottage
Creative Things Thursday @ The Vintage Farmhouse 
Blog Stalking Thursday @ The Crafty Blog Stalker

Share Your Cup Thursdays

Feathered Nest Fridays
Fabulously Creative Fridays

Grace at Home

Show and Tell Friday

Sweet Simple Fridays

Open House Party

Seasonal Sunday
 The Creative Home and Garden Blog Hop

Home Coming: DIY'ers

Bouquet of Talent Linky Party

That DIY Party
Submarine Sunday 

Share It One More Time Sundays

DIY SHowcase 

 Clever Chicks Blog Hop  

Sunday Showcase

I wanted this to look like a quilt folded back to reveal a lace sheet.  The lace and sentiment are secured to the inner part of the card and only the flap lifts.

Miscellany

I love this card with the multiple layers of embossing.  The French stamp with cherubs in pink ink is one of my favorites.  I bought it in Lock Port New York on one of the best family vacations we ever took.  Great stamp and great memories!

Second Cover of The Stamper's Sampler

A Stamper's Sampler arrived in the mail one day.  They had a few pieces of mine, but I had no clue what would be in the magazine.  What a surprise to find one of my favorite pieces, the boy in the tent, on the cover!  They always keep me guessing!

Aug/Sept 2009 Halloween Card in The Stamper's Sampler

 

My "Boo" card made it into the Halloween section!  But the bat card didn't.  : (

Oct/Nov 2008 Stamper's Sampler Submission

These happy sunflowers were made with the PSX sunflower stamp on a busy background paper.  The script background is from Stampin' Up.

Here's the original card.

Autumn 2008 Take Ten Submission

This card features my father's aunt and his father when they were children.  Bessie and Morton Sparks were their names.  I remember my great aunt Bessie as an old woman sitting on the porch.  I never met my grandfather, as he died tragically when my father was 4 yrs old.  Anytime I get depressed about how hard life seems now, I just look back at how hard it was in that time.

Doodling is Big Feb/Mar 2008 card in The Stamper's Sampler

I've always loved to doodle, but I don't think I'm as creative in it as most artists I've seen.  I really feel like I need to just loosen up and not always fixate on having it just right. Doodling was hot, so I gave it my best shot, and it got published!  My card is on the lower left corner.

The Victorian Scrap Cards

Here are the original cards printed in the June/July 2008 issue of The Stamper's Sampler.

Four Years Later . . .

After my little successes in getting artwork published, life took a difficult turn and left me no energy or creative joy. I changed careers, and in mid-stream, my son needed three surgeries and endured a 4-month mono-like illness that caused him to have to drop out of high school for a semester. Here in Los Angeles, the writers' strike and then the recession took a hit on my husband's work. Stress, stress, stress... and lots of migraines! But the faithfulness of the Lord saw us through those days.

Trying to revive my creative muse, I forced myself to create one summer and came up with a series using Victorian clip art that I loved, and that again was published in The Stamper's Sampler in a two-page article.

Second Submission to The Stamper's Sampler

Giddy and confident over my first success, I tried my hand at the French-fry template and was delightfully surprised when it also got published.

First Cover on The Stamper's Sampler

The card on the cover at the top left was my first submission to The Stamper's Sampler. At the time, I only owned about five stamp pads and 20 stamps, most of which were dregs purchased at a local Joann's that was closing. I submitted the card, which was a template challenge, in June of 2004 for consideration in the Dec/Jan issue. I was just dying to see if my card had made it into the magazine, so I drove to a local stamp shop as soon as it hit the stands, picked up the magazine, and screamed with delight. My first submission had made it onto the cover! It was an especially meaningful moment, as the card featured my mother-in-law and her sister as little girls, and her sister had passed away a month earlier.