Letters to Santa

Hi Everyone,

Did you all have a great Thanksgiving?? I sure did. Now it's time to get those cards and letters out to friends and family and of course to Santa.

This is the cutest stamp of some forest critters getting their cards out in the mail. I used silver mirror card stock and it really is like a mirror, sorry for the glare on the card, it's reflecting me taking the picture. The mirror CS is just too much like a mirror. So next time I will have to remember that, if I ever use it again. Maybe I will look around for a dull silver instead.  This card posed other problems but this is what I wound up with and I am still not super happy with it. The first go at this card had a totally different background and it felt too busy for the image. Oh well. 

Please stop in tomorrow for a look at the the next Art Impressions Weekly Challenge theme. 

Supplies used:
Art Impressions Christmas Mailbox - U1530
Copic markers: R00, R14, R29G94, YG67, O, C-2, C-5, YR65, W7, E25, E71,B21, B24, B32,  B95,BG10, BG72,  V04, V09, V17,
Ink - India Ink
Paper/Card Stock - Mirror CS, Green CS, Designer CS
Corner Rounder
Just Imagine Crafts/Kreations - Holly Punch 914 (used on the Corners)
Spellbinders Big Scalloped Rectangles LG - S4-255
Sparkle N Sprinkle Glitter - Fire Engine Red G1007, Sparkling Snow G1003

Thanks for stopping in today, see you soon

Cardinals and Snow

Hi Everyone,
I just picked up 3 new Northwoods stamps last week. I fell in love with these stamps because they have cardinals on them. I happen to love cardinals. I made this card using one of those stamps.

Supplies used:

Northwoods stamp - O8287

Martha Stewart Around the Page Punch - Double Arches

Copic Markers - R14, G29, C-2

Pearl Pen - Ice White

Distress Ink - Gathered Twigs

Sparkle N Sprinkle Glitter - Sparkling Snow G1003

Ribbon

Card stock - Green, Cardinal Red

These little guys are in my background almost every day. Maybe that is why I love cardinals so much. Of course they just happen to be the state bird for Ohio and Ky. and probably a few other states as well.

Have a great week and I will be back with cards using the other new Northwoods stamps I picked up, in a few days.

The winner over at ippity do da is...

Hi Everyone,
I am so sorry I forgot to post this winner yesterday over on my {ippity} do da blog. So, as they say, it's better late that never. Last Saturday, the {ippity} chicks had a blog hop and I decided to award a prize to someone who left me a comment on my ippity blog, so without further ado, the winner of my prize is Trisha from Upstate New York.

Trisha you will be receiving set IPK-157 Thanks for All Things.

This is such a sweet set. I really like the tree and the flowers and.... well, the whole set!!!

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Trisha,you will have til Tuesday Nov. 29 at 5:00 p.m. to claim your prize. Otherwise I will draw another name.  Please email me at bbruder at fuse dot net and send me your full name and mailing address. I will get this out to you ASAP.

Thanks to all of you who followed on the blog hop.And thanks for all the comments. I am looking forward to the next blog hop.

Have a great rest of your weekend and I will be seeing you soon.

Oh by the way, I will have some sneak peeks for the December {ippity} releases on Thursday Dec. 1, so stop over at the {ippity} do da blog for those. You're gonna like these.......

May the Love

Hi Everyone,
Well today it's Thanksgiving and I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving Day!! Hope you are all having a wonderful day with family and friends. Oh I bet the food is to die for, too.(LOL)

Today is Thursday and it's time for the next weeks Art Impressions weekly challenge. This weeks theme is "flowers".

So with that in mind, I made flowers using Nested Poinsettias, using vellum paper. Next I stamped beautiful snowflakes on designer paper and heat embossed the snowflakes using white detail embossing powder. I added a sentiment and some ribbon and the card is finished.

Supplies used:
Art Impressions Stamps - May the Love H774, Med. Snowflake H2753
Spellbinders dies - Nested Poinsettias S4-219, Ovals S4-110, Scalloped Ovals S4-111
Paper/Card Stock - Designer Paper, Vellum, Teal Blue CS
Embossing Powder - White Detail
Copic Markers - R81 (Used to color the Poinsettias)
Ribbon
Brads

Joy

Hi Everyone!!
Thought I'd share with you an Art Impressions Polar Pals favorite of mine, Sitting Polar Pals. These guys are so cute.
With the holidays right around the corner, thought these cuties would look great on a holiday card.

Supplies used:

Art Impressions Stamps - Sitting Polars - P4081, Joy - D2554

India Ink

Embossing folders - Tree and Swirls Background

Copic Markers - R000, R29, B18, B24, C-2, YG45

Glitter

Ribbon

Card stock/Paper - Dark Green CS, Designer Paper

I will be back tomorrow with the Art Impressions weekly challenge, so if you have time, drop in to see what I've created.

I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Noel

Hi Stampers,
Today I want to share with you the card I designed with the Art Impressions weekly challenge in mind. The theme is Red, Green and Metallic, so I decided to use some designer cs and gold cs and ribbon and fir trees and here is the card........................

Supplies used:
Card stock - White, red, designer cs, gold cs
Embossing folder - Sizzix - dots (used on the designer cs)
Spellbinders dies - Lace Doily Motifs S5-063, Grands Label One  LF-161
Ink - Distress Ink - Pine Needles
Emboss Powder - Clear Detail
Art Impressions Stamps - Mini Noel E2760, Mountain Fir G3237, Large Mountain Fir J3238
Ribbons - Red and Green chiffon

Hope you are inspired and design a card with red, green and metallic. Then go over to the Art Impressions blog and enter your card. You could be the next weekly challenge winner!!

Whatdya mean

Hi Everyone,
It's been warm in my neck of the woods and Vera went to the golf course to get in one more game before the winter sets in. So here we are overlooking the 18th green and .......listen to what Vera has to say!! (Click on the picture to see the verse better.)

Too funny!! And check out all the cool stamps at Art Impressions!!

Supplies Used:

Art Impressions Stamps  - Vera - L1243, Otis - J1524, Whatya Mean  - G1781

Cardstock - Dark green cs, mottled green cs, white cs, pink cs

Ink - India Ink Black

Copic Markers - YG67, G21, Y11, E93, E71, E08, RV21, B000, V04

Spica Pens - Sand, Silver, Clear

Spellbinders Oval - S4-110 (Trimmed to make a sharper oval)

18th Hole Flag - handmade

Don't forget to stop in tomorrow for next weeks challenge. 

And the winners are....

Hello Everyone,
First, a huge thank-you to all of you who took the time to hop along to see all the creativity the Sparkle N Sprinkle designers had come up with. Your comments were so sweet and I believe that the easel card was an overwhelming hit!!! I am so glad you liked it.

Sparkle N Sprinkle has announced their winners and if you haven't had an opportunity to check the names yet, click here to check the names of the winners over at the SNS blog.

Speaking of winners, it's time for me to announce the winners here on my blog.

I am giving away two 1/2 oz. jars of Starfire Glitter.(My favorite glitter color)

Winner #1 - abraddock (Anita Braddock)
Winner #2 - frann

Congratulations to both of you.

Please contact me at bbruder at fuse dot net to give me your name and mailing address.

I am working on a few projects that have to be done and out of here so I am off to finish up on those.

Thanks again to all of you and congrats to the winners!!

See you soon

Sparkle N Sprinkle's It's Cultural Thing Blog Hop

Hi there!!!!

This is my second post today. If you were looking for my Art Impressions post, scroll down and you will see my Merry Christmas post for Art Impressions. Otherwise, welcome to Sparkle N Sprinkle's It's A Cultural Thing Blog Hop!
If you hopped here by way of Angie Blasingame's Blog, then you are in the right place!  Otherwise, you might like to start from the beginning to become eligible for four great prizes. 

Design Elements, Asian, Medallions and Andrea Roberts stamps on special - 15% off at Sparkle N Sprinkle! To view all our specials, including stamps, glitters, EPs, and other fine SNS products, just click here. Since Asian stamps are one of the types of stamps that are on special this month, I thought I'd use the Asian theme in my creations.
I used the Medallion and the Hope stamps found in set 181 Asian-Carp. The card I designed is a easel that opens to the side.

This is the front of the card.(Closed)

 Here is the card, opened

This is a closer view of the floor of the card, where the card sits, opened up.

This card design is using the bonsai image also in set 181.This is a very clean and simple card. One stamped image.

The last card I want to share with you, is one I designed by using 2 stamps from the Fan Geisha set 302. The bamboo background and the Fan Geisha are in the Fan Geisha set. The Chinese character that I added to this card represents the word Love, which is in the Asian - Carp set 181. The fan that is attached to the card was a gift from a friend and I saved it specifically for this blog hop. It was the perfect embellishment for the card.

We hope you will enjoy viewing all our cards as much as we did in creating them. To become eligible to win a Grand Prize, please leave a comment on each blog, and follow the directions on the last blog. Winners of mini prizes are selected when they leave a comment on the mystery designer’s blog AND answer the final question at the SNS Home Blog. 

Here is a complete list of all the designers who are participating in today's blog hop.

Linda Loew   http://www.lindamloew.blogspot.com
Amanda Reed http://cardscatsandcopics.blogspot.com
Shona Erlenborn   http://shonasstampingstage.blogspot.com/
Angie Blasingame http://hopemorestudio.blogspot.com/
Barbara Bruder   http://www.artandsoulcreations.blogspot.com/ YOU ARE HERE
April Williams http://stampwillydesigns.blogspot.com/
Julie Zippel   http://backtobasicsandbeyond.blogspot.com/
Eleanor Jenkins http://stampinginva.blogspot.com/
Karin Martin   http://karin-withaniforpaper.blogspot.com
Gerlinde Townsley http://mycreativecorner-gerlinde.blogspot.com
Marie Berquist   http://craftemarie.blogspot.com/
Patti White http://iliveforsnsglitter.blogspot.com/
Sandy Meier http://simplysandylee.blogspot.com/
Dawn Thomas   http://belladonnasgarden.blogspot.com/
Donna Ellis http://creativesmiles2.blogspot.com/

Oh but I have a surprise for you and this applies to my blog only. On top of the prizes that Sparkle N Sprinkle is awarding, I will be awarding 2 prizes also. If you leave a comment on my blog, I will enter your name in a hopper to be eligible to win one of 2 prizes. Each prize will be a 1/2 ounce jar of Starfire glitter G1017. This is one of my favorite glitter colors, by the way. OK if you leave a comment here on my blog AND become a new follower on my blog, I will enter your name in the hopper 2 times. I will randomly draw 2 names out of the hopper on Saturday and the winners will have 48 hours to email me to claim your prize. So, you could be a winner here and on the Sparkle N Sprinkle blog, too. How cool is that!!! 
Thank you for stopping by here to view my cards and remember to leave a comment to become eligible for a prize from Sparkle N Sprinkle or a prize from me.

 Please click here to hop on over to April's blog to see what she has in store for you.

Merry Merry Christmas

Hi there !!!!
This is the 1st of 2 posts today. So thanks for stopping in for my usual Thursday post using Art Impressions stamps This post is showcasing my card that I made for this weeks challenge over at Art Impressions - and the theme is ribbons. I used 2 different ribbons on this card and I decided to use one of my favorite ribbons which is the snowflake ribbon and the other ribbon I used showcases a technique that I really love doing, ribbon braiding.

First off, these little guys are in the Polar Pals collection, and they are just so cute. I have the whole collection so I will be showing you more of these cuties over the next few weeks.

Next, I used a snowflake ribbon, and I must admit, I loved this when it was introduced a few years ago and still love it. I will probably never tire of it.

Last, I learned to braid ribbon a while ago, and I really think it gives a beautiful look and it makes a great accent to your card or project.

Well, as I mentioned, I have 2 posts today, the 2nd post is the Sparkle N Sprinkle's It's a Cultural Thing Blog Hop so stop back for that one later on, it's sure to be a great hop.

Thanks for stopping in and now I have to finish up on my Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog Hop post. Hope to see you over on that post as well.

Wine gets better ...

Hi Everyone
Just received some new Art Impressions stamps and some of those are words. Seems I am always lacking in verses/words. When I ordered the verse I used on this card, I figured it would go great with this stamp. Click here and take a few minutes to check out the words and sayings at the Art Impressions shop.I am sure you will find just the right words to go with your stamps.

Supplies used
Better with Age - F3565
Gigi and Monique - U2837
Copic markers - C-2, C-5,E43, E15, E71, R39, R29, RV69, V05, YR61
Ink - Distress Ink Gathered Twigs
Card Stock/Paper - Dark Green CS, Med. Green CS, designer papers.
Spellbinders Labels 22

Tomorrow will be the next Art Impressions weekly challenge, so stop over there to check out the next challenge theme.

A Child is a Precious Gift

Hi Everyone,
I just received some punches that I had ordered from Just Imagine Crafts/Kreations and the one I chose to use on this card goes great with the flowers in the stamped image.I chose punch 903-Flowers.

,

In using this punch, I was trying to make a lace look alike and I am really happy with the way the "lacy" border turned out. The Kreations punches are so versatile, and the selection is great. The 4-in-one punches are perfect in that you can get 4 different looks with one punch. I can always find a punch that will work with the project I'm working on.

Thanks for stopping by today, and have a great week.

Fun and Funky Fold

Hi Everyone,
It's time for the new weekly challenge over at Art Impressions. This weeks theme is Fun and Funky Folds. Once I decided on the fold the rest kind of fell into place. The card design is called a Double Display card. Here is a link for the cut and folds for this easy to do card.

This first picture shows the card closed. You may notice the paper clips I had to use to keep the card  closed as I photographed it.(See them just peeking out at the top of the card.)

Opened, this card makes quite a statement. 

The card, as I mentioned, is really easy but it doesn't appear to be. Give it a try!!

Supplies I used:

Spellbinders - Lace Doily Motifs  S5-063

Tim Holtz Alterations by Sizzix - Elegant Flourishes 656639

Art Impressions Stamp - Christmas Village Window  M3184

Copic Markers - E33, E43, BG01, Y1, B00, YG41, C-1

Spica Pens(Made by Copic) - 09 Sky Blue, 20 Chocolate, 07 Olive

Sparkle N |Sprinkle Glitter - G1030 Fascination

Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today, see you soon.

The English Countryside

Hi Everyone
I decided to take a break from making holiday cards.So I got out my English Countryside stamps from Art Impressions to do a little water coloring.The main stamp I used is in set 3498. Don't know about you, but I think the watercolor series of stamps are really great!! I think this set is one of my favorites. I have series 8 that is sitting waiting for me to get started so I will probably work that up soon. In the meantime here is the card from series 6.

Supplies I used:

Set 3498

Bare Branch D3489

Marvy Markers:43, 55, 5, 45, 49, 79, 15, 9, 60, 28

Marvy ink pads: 18

Card stock/paper: Blue shimmer CS, Silver CS, Dark Blue CS, Lite Blue CS Watercolor paper

Watercolor brush

Tomorrow is the day the new weekly challenge will be posted over at Art Impressions, so don't forget to stop back for the new theme.

The Sketch Challenge at Sparkle N Sprinkle

Hi Stampers,
I just want to let you all know that a new sketch challenge is being introduced over at Sparkle N Sprinkle. This is a new monthly feature and will give you an opportunity to submit a creation based on a sketch. The winner will receive a stamp set of their choice.

Please check the new challenge out and design your creation and then link it up to the blog using the inlinkz button.

The sketch designers have submitted their cards to give you all examples so please check it out and have fun.

Thanks for stopping by and I will see you soon.