8 Quick Christmas/Holiday Cards

Happy Tuesday!
Just a quick post with a few ideas for Christmas and Holiday Cards.
The first 4 all feature girls:


The 1st is a favorite of mine, Cherry Kisses from PollyCraft



The 2nd is another Cherry Kisses, this one was a freebie on their blog but she available for just a week. But there are more new freebies there now so it's worth a look!



The 3rd one is from an etsy company called Digi Stamp Characters



The last one is another Pollycraft freebie.

And the second set of 4 are a little more chilly! LOL



This is the 1st of 3 snowman images I used by Dustin Pike



This penguin was a Pollycraft freebie too. You see you do need to bookmark their blog and grab all the wonderful images!!





These are all 5 1/2" square and I hope you like them!
Katie

Trick or Treat - New Pile It On Challenge card

Happy Sunday,
I hope you are all having a great weekend.
Today's card is my DT card for the Pile It On challenge.
Today's challenge is to include punches on your card and we got to work with the super images from Crazed which was great.
As Pile It On is a blog that wants you to combine as many challenges as you can I obvious had to do a little searching before creating my card.
Delightful Sketches started me off with the sketch (I love their sketches and try to do each one)
Tuesday Taggers wanted Punches and/or Die Cuts.
PaperTake Weekly wanted "Fake Anything" so I added faux (aren't I being posh!)stitching to the mat on the front and inside too.
Everybody Art Challenge was looking for something Shabby so I inked the edges of the mats as well.
Daring Cardmakers wanted us to get Shabby too!
Paper Maniac wanted you to use Ribbon.
Belli wanted a Fall or Halloween theme.
Paper Play were looking for tags so I add my sentiment on one.
Treehouse Stamps wanted us to go "Just Around The Corner" and I think my fancy corner punch counts here!
Finally I used the elements from the recipe at my own challenge blog Cooking It Up With Katie which was use 1 image, 2 shapes (I used squares and circles) and 3 paper embellishments which I did with the square accents, punched borders and paper tag.

This fantastic image is from my new favorite artist, Mo Manning, and she is simply called Halloween Witch. She was so wonderful to color and I admit I'm getting hooked on her illustrations and stalk her blog and site every day!
The papers The Paper Studio and the Bat border punch is from EK Success. The Halloween accents are from this weeks Pile It On sponsor Crazed and the sheet is called Halloween Fun. They have a fabulous deal of 5 sheets for $10 going on right now so it's the perfect time to try them out! Plus enter the challenge and you will be in with a chance to win some!
The sentiment sticker is The Paper Studio also. I used an older Emaginations corner punch but sadly that company is no longer around :(

The inside is more dp and a matching "shabby" message mat with an additional rub on sentiment that I aged with more inking.

I hope you'll give Pile It On a try this week and get your punches out and get creating!
Have a great rest of your Sunday.

Double Trouble!

Second post of the day!
I hope you read about my excitement over a new challenge blog I'll be a part of, if not scroll down to read it below.
Today's card just make me smile everytime I look at it!
First here are the challenge I used for it's creation.
Crazy 4 Challenges gave me the sketch. It is a brand new challenge blog but it has some very familar faces at it's helm.
Pile It On and Polly Craft both had the same challenge of "Black and White and 1 other color", so I chose Pink to add to the combo.
Flutterby Wednesday's wanted to see Pink along with either a Fairy or Butterfly.
Rosie Dee's wanted you to use 2 squares and a rectangle on your project
and finally Courtney's Closet challenge was a "playdate"



I hope you don't get tired of seeing Mo's images as today's features another of her fantastic creations! This one is called Stepsisters although I think they could be friends not having a good day as well! LOL
I colored them with Copic's and with Black being one of the colors it gave me an excuse to play with my Grey's again and I just love that!
The dp is a combo of The Paper Studio and some Dovecraft from a pack I picked up on my last trip back home to England. The rhinestones are from the $1 spot at Michaels and the flower, butterflies and patterned brad are all from HobbyCraft, again from my England trip.
The sentiment is The Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby.

The inside is more dp with a matted message mat.

I just love the look on the faces of these girls and I hope you do too!
Keep coming back as this will be a very exciting week on the blog and especially on Thursday when I'll give you all the news on my very OWN challenges blog!
Katie

Autumn Leaves - New card for My Grafico

Another double posting day :)
It's time for another challenge at My Grafico and today it's hosted by yours truly!
I came up with a recipe that I'd love you to try and if you do you'll be in with a chance to win this fabulous set called Autumn Elements which is so cute and was great to work with!
The recipe for the challenge is:
Use 1 image,
Add 2 Patterned Papers
and finally use 3 different embellishments.
I think you'll like it and it's a pretty easy challenge to add to others if you are into combined like me!
I used the fantastic sketch from Dare U2 Digi and also added the "Favorite Embellishment challenge from Stamp Something. My favorites are flowers and brads and as I couldn't choose I used both!
Also Our Creative Corner had a Fall theme that this fitted with perfectly.
Whimsy Stamps also wanted the Fall theme so it was another to add to my list!
Finally Play Along Monday is a new challenge blog and this challenge was to include Autumn Leaves and I sure did this! LOL


This girl is from the set you can win and she looks like she's having so much fun!
I colored her with Copic's and cut her with a label Nestie.
The dp is from my stash and I embossed the back panel with my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.
The flowers are Prima and the fabric brads are from the $1 spot at Target.





I hope you've liked today's card and I'd love you to go over to My Grafico Challenges and play along with my recipe!
Katie

Just for the New Mommy, Cute Daisy May DT Card

Happy Monday Everyone!
It's time for another challenge at Cute Daisy May and this time the challenge is to create a baby card.
There were so many wonderful images that the Design Team got to chose from and I chose this super cute Mommy from Sheet 64.
I also am entering this card at Sketch Saturday for their DT Call and the 1st round application deadline is today! It was quite a complex sketch but it worked wonderfully for this image.



As usual I colored the image with Copic's and I edged it with a border made from the Apron Lace border punch by Fiskars.
The dp is DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Boy stack. I used the same border punch to edge the bottom of the card. I printed out the sentiment and added it to a circle sticker. I topped it with a Martha Stewart premade bow.
I added Dew Drops as a finishing touch.



For the inside I use one of the new Spellbinders Pendant dies as the message mat.



What New Mommy wouldn't want this after all her hard work growing a baby? :)
Have a great day!
Katie

Time for Tea?

Happy Sunday Everyone!
I'm in the middle of a busy weekend but I wanted to squeeze this card in for you :)

Friday Sketchers had a super sketch that I just had to do.
The Pink Elephant had a challenging color combo of Red, Yellow, Black and White that I didn't think I could do but I did!
Simon Says wanted us to get Oriental and I had the perfect image for this that I'd been itching to use.
Paper Play had the hard challenge of No Patterned Paper and I've always passed on that challenge but when I saw Charisma Cardz had the challenge of Patchwork I knew I'd be fine with just cardstock :)




I'd been dying to use this fantastic image from Mo's Digital Pencil and with the Oriental challenge I no longer had an excuse!
I colored her with my Copic's and it was wonderful! All the papers on this are just cardstock. I used Coredinations cardstock that has different colors in the center which make it perfect for a project like this I used a different embossing folder on each color and then sanded the embossed area to reveal the color below. So it may look like a patterened paper but it really isn't!
I added Spellbinders corners that I embossed to match.
The sentiment is a Jolee's sticker.



The inside has more cardstock with a Teapot and Teacup to match the sentiment.



I just had to show her again as she is delightful!
Mo is such a clever artist and her images are wonderful to work with.
Have a great rest of your Sunday!
Katie

Costume? What Costume?

Happy Saturday!
Yeah it's the weekend and we have a super busy one planned!
Nathan is going a Boy Scout Merit Badge College, Georgia has a Junior Girl Scout meeting and then she has a birthday party with a movie and a sleepover to go to.
Then Nathan has a poll party with more Scouts tomorrow!
Hopefully it will be quieter by Monday!

Now on to today's card. I'll admit that this is one of my favorite cards I've done and I think it's because I'm at that "Mommy Stage" where clothes and attitude are big issues ;)
Of course I had to add a few challenges to the card or it just wouldn't be me!
Creative Inspirations started me off with a great sketch with the addition of brads or eyelets, this time they are sponsored by Paper Angels
No Time To Stamp wanted to see the Halloween theme.
Creative Inspirations Challenge had the color combo of Lilac/Purple and Grey and these are two of my favorite colors to color with. Plus it gave me the excuse to color more black hair!
Finally Paper Blooms , Gingersnap Creations and How Much Is Too Much all wanted a little Bling Bling!



This fabulous image of Cherry can be found at Polly Craft and I just love her! She was an absolute delight to color and I added just a little sparkle to soften her "hard edges" enough.
The papers are just from my stash and I printed the title in Burton's Nightmare again as I love it for Halloween projects.



The inside is just more dp and a message mat.



She may think she's tough but I still think she's cute!
I hope you like her as much as I do.
Have a great weekend!
Katie

My Guest project for the Victoria Case Challenge

Hello Everyone!
Last week my card was picked (albeit randomly ;)) at Victoria Case Challenges and it meant I got to play with her Design Team on this weeks challenge!
Of course I couldn't do a project without finding other challenges along the way!

I started with the Victoria Case Challenge which was a color challenge of Red, Orange and Brown.
Then I took the sketch from Friday Sketchers and tweaked it to fit the front of the lunchbox.
Then I saw that Scrappy Frogs were looking for 3D projects and this fitted the bill there too!
Also The Secret Crafter wanted Hearts and Flowers and the border punch has hearts and you can definately see the flowers!
And My Time To Craft wanted Polka Dots and I have them on the ribbon and the flowers too!



This image is off an older Victoria Case CD called Girls but you can still get it by contacting Victoria at her Art Designs website.
I colored her with Copic's.
The dp is DCWV from a couple of stacks, The Citrus Stack and the Sweet Stack.
The sentiment is Marcella for K@Co from Target and the flower is The Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby.



The ribbons are always the fun part of decorating a lunchbox and this time I just picked as many that I thought looked good together. Then I added 3 flowers with fabric brad centers to complete the look.



I just had to show you a close up of this sweetie as I think she is so super cute! I'm not sure who or what she is thinking of but it sures makes her look happy.
I hope you drop on over to the Victoria Case Challenge blog and join in the fun!
Have a great day!
Katie

Waiting for the Witching Hour!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!
It's time for another card from the Halloweenies Collection at Lily Boo's Boutique.
This kitty cat was so sweet and I didn't want to do the traditional Halloween colors with her.
So when I saw the color combo at Stamping for the Weekend of Orange, Teal and Pink I knew it was the way I wanted to go.
I needed a sketch and the one at Sunday Sketch and Stamp fitted the bill perfectly.
Also ABC Challenge are back with their next letter and it's D is for Die Cuts and as I used my Nesties this works for this too!

This kitty was so great to color, it was like going back to my childhood with a great coloring book and felt tips!
Of course I colored the scene with Copic's and cut the scene out with a Nestie.
I cut the mat from Coredinations cardstock, embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and sanded it for the pink to show through.
I printed the sentiment using the Burton's Nightmare font as it was perfect for a Halloween card.



The inside is simple with just a message mat and more of the same dp.



The sleeping kitty looks completely unaware of the upcoming fun he'll have on the witch's broom! LOL
Have a great rest of your day and be sure to check back tomorrow for a project I did as a Guest at Victoria Case Stamp Challenges
Katie

Scaring up Some Fun!

Happy Tuesday!
I hope you all had a safe and happy Labor Day yesterday. Ours was just the 5 of us and quiet and laidback, just what I needed :)
I'd had this image colored for a few days but had some "me time" yesterday and used it to finish it up.
It's another card for the Lily Boo's Design Team and the image is from the latest Halloweenies! collection and all of them are just so cute!
Of course I had to include some challenges ;)
Mojo Monday provided the super sketch
Whimsy Stamps asked us to Sew, Sew, Sew, either real or faux
2 Red Bananas wanted Stripes and Dots and my dp has both.
Digital Tuesday wante it to be "All About the Kids"
And both 365 Cards (Day 189) and Kaboodle Doodles wanted charms. I had to improvise a little on this but I think I made it work. I didn't have any Halloween charms but I did have Halloween eyelets. So I carefully squashed the back of the eyeley with my Cropodile leaving a nice smooth hole. Then I glued the eyelets to some small black ball chain and I think they look great as charms!



I colored the image with Copic's and "Dracula" has a green suit today as it worked better with my dp!LOL
The dp is from the DCWV Fall Stack from last year. I used the Martha Stewart Spooky Fence border punch across the bottom and I'll admit I'll a Martha addict when it comes to her punches :)
I cut the image with a labels Nestie and inked the edges with both green and brown chalk ink. The sentiments are from 7 Gypsies.



The inside is coordinating dp and a matching message mat. I added a further sentiment to the bottom edge and faux stitching all around the mat.



I made the image into a pocket and added 3 tags for you add further messages to. Also you can get a good look at my "faux charms" as well! LOL
I hope you've liked todays card and remember you can get this image along with the other in the Halloweenies set in just minutes from Lily Boo's Boutique

Remember to click on the Blog Candy post and be in with a chance to win it all. The drawing is tomorrow evening!
Katie

Ghouls Just Want To Have Fun!

Happy Halloween!!!
OK I know it's not Halloween quite yet but it will be upon us before we know it!
I love all the fun that Halloween brings and to celebrate I want to share a card made from the fabulous new set of images from Lily Boo's!
These are some of the cutest Halloween images I've seen and they are so much fun to work with.
You can see all the wonderful things the Design Team has come up with at the Inspiration Blog.



As usually I colored this cutie with my Copic's and I have to say I've never used so many markers on one project! LOL
The paper is from Debbie Mumm's Holiday collection from last year.
The gravestones border is one of the new punches from Martha Stewart and I just love it!
The sentiment is from 7 Gypsies and the ribbon is Michaels from I don't remember what year! LOL

I added a coordinating dp on the inside and the carried the punched border with ribbon to the message mat.

Don't you feel sorry for the froggy?
I know you'll want to run over and get this new set right now so you can get playing and creating some Halloween fun!
These images are perfect for all sorts of things, not just cards, like Treat Bags, Party Invitations, Favors and more.
Have fun!
Katie

It's not a card but it sure is a Halloween Cutie!

Hello Everyone!
I got super news this morning, the card posted here yesterday won me the 1st Place at Victoria Case Challenges! What's even better is that I meant I'm joining them as a Guest Designer for next weeks challenge!
I love Victoria's sassy art work, her girls have so much character and are so much fun to color.
Today I used one of her latest releases and of course it covered a few challenges along the way! LOL

Use It wanted a gift bag decorated in a Halloween theme. I suppose this is a purse but it would work wonderfully for Halloween treats!
Creative Inspirations Challenge wanted stitching either real or faux and the mat around the image is faux stitched in silver.
I Heart to Stamp had a Halloween theme that fitted in perfectly.
Trimmies Craft Challenge wanted "Anything but a card" and finally the super new blog Haunted Design House wanted Halloween with wings so I added tese cute chipboard butterflies to the handles although as they are green I'd like to think they were Luna Moths!



This fabulous image can be found at Victoria Case Art and is called Mr Moon. I colored her with Copic's and she's so naughty I just love her!
The paper is from an old stack and the Halloween stickers are The Paper Studio.



I just wanted to show her again, I can't wait to use her again. This really showcases how great digital images as you can make them whatever size you need whether you are making a card or something else!
Have a great rest of your day!
Katie

Meet my New Best Friend (and 10 new challenges! LOL)

Happy Hump Day Everyone!
You know how I love digital stamps?
And you know how sassy the stamps by Victoria Case are?
Well now I'm in heaven as I found she sells digi's as well as rubber stamps!
You can find her wonderful designs at Victoria Case Art Designs and of course she also designs for Susana's Custom Art in the wonderful rubber versions (I have the whole 1st release as I won a super blog candy from Suzanne at Scrapbitz earlier this year but I see they have a new set too!)
She also has a challenge blog and I squeaked in under the wire with this card! LOL
Victoria Case wanted us to use any of her designs (rubber or digi) and the colors Blue and Brown.
Creative Inspirations also had the Blue and Brown color combo
and Everybody Art Challenge chose that combo too!
Tuesday Taggers wanted Buttons and Bows and are giving a great prize sponsered by The Craft Emporium
One Stop Craft Challenges wanted Cute and Cuddly, I think the kitty is pretty cuddly!
A Spoon Full of Sugar wanted some distressing and I inked the edge of the image oval and added ink to the lace for an older/vintage look
Stamp With Fun provided the sketch
Digital Tuesday wanted Lace and Pearls and I hope my blue "pearls" count here ;)
Finally there were two "recipe" challenges that seemed to work well together.
Dare U2 Digi had the recipe of 1 ribbon, 2 papers and 3 flowers and Cupcake Crafts wanted 1 ribbon, 2 papers and 3 buttons, I think I covered all my bases!

The image was from an older Victoria Case CD compilation called Girls that you can find here, you do have to email her to order but she mails them out super quick and the images are just wonderful to work with.
I colored her with Copic's, the dp are K&Co from two different collection, the blue "pearls" are Martha Stewart at Walmart, the flowers are Prima and the sentiment is Sticko. The ribbon, lace and bow are all Offray and the buttons just from my stash.

The inside is just more dp with a rectangle message block.

This girl reminds me of myself a long time ago before life and kids got the better of me! LOL

I hope you enjoy this one, I truly enjoyed making it.
Remember to add yourself as a follower to be in win a chance to win some goodies from me on Saturday.
Katie

A triple play today!

Hi Everyone,
Sorry for the triple posts but I hope it will be worth it.
My visitors are on their way back to England and to help with my homesickness I've gone back to my table to create.
It has turned so much cooler here today, it was in the 60's when we got up this morning and as next month is traditionally Pumpkin Month in our family I decided to get a jump on it and start on my Fall cards!
This one covers a few challenges (well it wouldn't be me if it didn't ;))
I started with the great sketch over at Delightful Sketches

I just tweaked it a little to fit a square card.
Both Stamp Something and Pollycraft wanted an Animal theme.
The brand new challenge blog at Paper Maniac wanted us to use the technique of embossing and finally Scrappy Frogs had one of my favorite techniques, Paper Piecing.

I used a fabulous image from Digital Delights, Wendy's images are so cute!
I colored the cat with my Warm Grey Copic's and paper pieced the rest of the scene.
I embossed the pumpkin with the Bamboo stripes and sanded him a little. I also embossed the background paper with the Houndstooth embossing folder. The dp are just ones from my huge stash of Fall papers. The sentiment is a sticker from Beary Patch, another company sadly no longer with us :(
I used my trusty Apron Lace border punch as an edge to my ribbon.

The inside is just more dp and a square for a message.

Now how cute is this kitty cat?
I hope you've enjoyed my posts this week, be sure to keep checking back for more fun from the My Grafico Design Team and be sure to add yourself as a follower to be in with a chance on my Saturday drawing.
Have a great rest of your day!
Katie

Hubble Bubble,You'll be in Trouble! a sneaky peak at a new Lily Boo set!

My second post today will give you a taste of things to come!
I got to play with the new images from Lily Boo's Boutique and I can assure you you'll want to get these as soon as they are available!



That's all you'll get today but keep checking back as the whole image will be up for you to see super soon!
Katie

My Grafico, We have a winner!

Thanks for all the wonderful comments you left yesterday!
Of course I can only give away one gumball machine and the lucky recipient is number 18 who is terriavidreader (IN-USA)!!! Look out for an email from me Terri with your image :)
Remember that there is alsorts of fun still going on at the My Grafico Challenge Blog where you can be in with a chance to win this set of Superhero digital stamps just by becoming a follower so make sure you head over and join!


Also remember that by joining my blog as a follower you'll be in with a chance of a special gift from me too!
Keep checking every day this week for lots of fun and lots of great creations.
Katie

My Very First Blog Hop!!

Happy Monday Everyone!
This is the very first time I've been a part of a blog hop (apart from a hopper of course! LOL) and this one is extra special as it celebrates the fact that My Grafico is up and running again and we are getting back into the swing of the weeKly challenges!

Here are all of the details - you don't want to miss a thing!

If you came to me from Crystal's Blog then you've hopped your way through and now what you're doing. If not then to start, you need to go to back to Martha's blog so you don't miss anyone on the list. Then follow the hop and be on the look-out for a LETTER to be highlighted on each blog you hop to! You will want to leave a comment on each blog along the way to win an image from the Candy Shoppe set (see below) AND you want to collect the letters to create a phrase. Once you know what the phrase is, you want to email your guess to mccreations@ymail.com by 10:00 pm (PST) tonight and you might just be the winner of this super cute Candy Shoppe set!



Of course as well as the hopping I have a new card for you and as I was in the celebratory mood I couldn't resist adding a few challenges to my finished card!

First the challenge for the team (and anyone else who wants to play)atMy Grafico is to use a sweet image and the colors red, pinK, and green.
Pile It On was going Round In Circles and so I thought this fit well :)
ABC Challenge were on letter C and that was a Circle theme too!
Whimsy Stamps wanted some texture and with the embossing, the glittered papers and different levels to the card I think I did that :)
Dutch Dare gave me the sketch, Allsorts wanted us to forget Rubber! and finally Creative Inspirations were looking for Friendship cards.


I'm sorry for the colors, they are really off on this, it was darK when I took it!
They are not as "neon" looking as this in real life.
I used the Gumball image from the set and one lucKy person will be getting the same image, just comment on the post today for a chance to win! I colored the image with Copic's, cut it out and matted it on an Octaganal Nestie. The dp is from DCWV, The Sweet StacK and I carried on the circle theme with the embossing on the green border.
I added for circles to a circle tag with Polka Dot brads! Finally I printed out the sentiment.
The inside is just more dp and a matching message mat.
Don't you want to just blow a bubble right now?

Remember I will be giving away the Gumball image to a random person chosen from everyone who leaves me a comment on this post today. And did you find my featured letter? Keep collecting letters to create a phrase and email to the address above by 10:00 pm PST TONIGHT to win this entire set:


I'm the last one on the list so I hope you've enjoyed seeing all my team mates creations and that you've had a little fun along the way.
Remember you can always go back to Martha's blog to see if you've missed anyone along the way.

There will be more prizes all week long so you want to visit the My Grafico Challenge blog every day for chances to win:
TUESDAY: sign up at the challenge blog to become a Follower and you could win a Superheroes set.
WEDNESDAY: They'll be more samples for you on the teams blogs and also you can join in and create a sweet card, you might just win a Back to School set of digital stamps.
THURSDAY: Leave a comment at the Challenge blog and you might win the Halloween Ghoulies set
FRIDAY: Last but not least, everyone who has joined the Followers list or left a comment at the Challenge blog has a chance to win the Trick or Treat set

Of course if you aren't a winner all the sets can be purchased at My Grafico so you can play at the super low digi prices! (and instant gratification too!!)

All kinds of fun planned so be sure to check back often! I will post reminderes through out the week of each day's activities so you have lots of chances to win!

Thanks for joining me and I really hope you've loved all the wonderful creations along the way.
BTW, one final clue to the letter?....it's the start of my name! LOL
And for a bonus prize just from me, join as a follower of this blog this week and you'll be in with a chance of a special something too!
I'll reveal the prize in a day or so.
Have fun!
Katie