12 Kits of Occasions: Fashionista + GIVEAWAY

Happy New Year's Eve!  Are you as surprised as I am that the new year starts tomorrow?  If anyone knows how to slow time, please let me know! :) It seems fitting that I am closing the year with a post with my friends from The 12 Kits of Occasions.  This group of friends is one of my most favorite parts of cardmaking.  I love them all...past and present. :) And it is always such fun to see the surprise kit we take turns putting together.  Tracey's Fashionista kit this month was full of new-to-me items, and they could not have been more perfect for creating cards for my teen and tween nieces.  I'm so excited to pop these in the mail. 

Doesn't this girl from Ellen Hutson's Spa Day make you chuckle?  One of my nieces received several face masks for Christmas.  Naturally, this card is going to her. :)

Another one of my nieces told me all about how she loves all things Paris.  She even received Eiffel Tower Legos for Christmas.  She also made all of us the sweetest hand crafted gifts for Christmas, so this is for her.  Again, Tracey's kit supplied the most perfect pieces to create this card: Hero Arts Paper Layering Eiffel Tower,  MFT Stitched Flowers, and MFT Thanks Dies.

I loved the negative from the MFT Thanks Die, so I filled it with a bit of Echo Park's Fashionista Paper from the kit and added a scalloped frame from Winnie & Walter's Noelle Cutaways.  Simple but fun.

Now, make sure you head to the 12 Kits Blog to see everyone's projects.  And although these kits are not for sale, you can always find the list of supplies that we use HERE.  Now for the GIVEAWAY!!!  Jeanne, who puts together the most AMAZING kits, has one to giveaway for January.  If you'd like a chance to win it (and trust me...you do!), make sure you go to The 12 Kits of Occasions Blog to enter to win.  Thank you for stopping by!  Wishing you a year full of joy!

United We Flourish: Sweet Sprinkles Blog Hop

Hello and welcome!  I am thrilled to be hopping along with the United We Flourish Sweet Sprinkles Blog Hop.  And of course there are prizes to be won. (Details below.)  Yay!  Ellen Hutson has teamed up with Concord & 9th and the awesome result is a super fun set called Sweet Sprinkles:

Isn't it great?  It's fabulous for so many occasions.  First up is a thank you card that's quick and easy to put together.  

This ice cream cone is as cute as could be on it's own, but I thought that putting it on top of Concord & 9th's Plaid Background Stamp upped the sweetness even more.  The scattered confetti is made with the little heart sprinkles die included in the Sweet Sprinkles set.  Oh, and to emphasize the occasion just a bit more, I added "thank you" from Concord & 9th's Blooms Fill-in Set.

I'm still in the mood for Christmas, so I also made a trio of Christmas tags.  In addition to the Sweet Sprinkles stamps and dies, all of the tags use sentiments from my favorite Essentials By Ellen stamp set: Cozy Christmas.  The tag bases are from Concord & 9th's Blooms Fill-in Dies and the little circle tab comes from C9's Love Notes Envelope Dies.

My first tag features a combined sentiment using the Sweet Sprinkles and Cozy Christmas stamp sets.  I topped my cupcake with some sprinkles and a little tree cut with Essentials By Ellen's Home & Hearth dies.

My next cupcake has sprinkles as well, but I added a few stars from Cozy Christmas.  The little holly is from Concord & 9th's Ornamental Stamp Set and the sentiment is stamped on a tag in C9's Love Notes Envelope Dies.

My last tag features a darling cupcake topped with sprinkles and stars die cut with Essentials By Ellen's Home & Hearth dies.  On this cupcake I actually cut a slit and inserted the little tree.  It adds just a bit of dimension that I love and looks more realistically like a cupcake pick.  The sentiment is stamped on a banner from C9's Pineapple Perfection dies.

I cannot wait to tie these on some neighbor gifts!

Thanks so much for joining me!  Now to send you away with a bit more fun...

GIVEAWAY: 
To celebrate, two randomly selected commenters will win a $30 gift certificate to the Ellen Hutson shop and two commenters will win a $30 gift certificate to the Concord & 9th shop.  To enter just leave a comment on the Ellen Hutson Classroom blog and the Concord & 9th blog by 12 pm PST on December 26th.

NEXT STOP TO HOP: 
Your next stop on the hop is the fun and talented Laurel Beard.

Concord & 9th Polka Dot Turnabout

Good morning!  I'm so excited to share with you my latest (and maybe last) Christmas card of the season.  I always mourn the end of the Christmas cardmaking season, so I'm squeezing one more in and had some very special people in mind when I made it. :) I used the fabulous new Polka Dot Turnabout from Concord & 9th.  I think this one might be my very favorite!!!  I just used it stamped once here (the space between the dots is perfection), but I love all the options whether you stamp it one or four times.  

You may be wondering where I got the poinsettias on this card.  Well, back in June I made a exciting discovery that the small berry sprig in Concord & 9th's Wildflower Stamp Set fits perfectly inside the petals of one of the flowers (see THIS POST).  I used it then to create leaves, but as I stamped a bunch to cut out, it dawned on me that they would make perfect poinsettias if I layered them.  I created the picture below in June to help show you what I used.  The only difference is that I used the small flower this time as well.

And I love how the poinsettias turned out!  I stamped two in red, one in pink.  Then I dressed them up with a few gold pearls and topped them with a sentiment from the Magnolia Wreath Stamp Set.  Isn't the Polka Dot Turnabout the perfect background for it all?  This card just makes me happy. :D  

Concord & 9th has a whole bunch of designers featuring their fabulous Polka Dot Turnabout today, so make sure you head over to their BLOG to check them all out.  It will be inspiration overload in the best way!  Have a wonderful weekend!  Thanks for visiting!

Where Creativity Meets C9 Challenge #16

Good morning!  It's time for a new challenge over at Where Creativity Meets C9, and I think this one is going to make you happy and possibly heave a sigh of relief.  The theme for Challenge #16 is...

Anything Goes!  It couldn't have come at a more perfect time for me. 

Today I'm sharing a card I made a bit ago with some of my favorite Concord & 9th stamps: Barnwood Background, Hello Lovely, and Sophisticated Script.  It doesn't matter how many new stamps I get, I turn back to these time and time again.

Lots of my teammates are sharing cards using Concord & 9th's brand new release products today, so make sure you go to the Where Creativity Meets C9 Blog to check them out.  And if you're all ready to shop, you can head HERE to find Concord & 9th's the new release.  Hopefully I'll be able to share some of that soon.  Thanks so much for visiting today! Hope you have a fabulous weekend!