High Hopes Blue, Black and White Challenge

     These cute new penguin stamps will have you feeling anything but blue because they are just soo cute!  ... Still, that was our challenge for the week, to use the colours black, blue, and white.  I chose to use the cute new release images to make some gift tags as it is "that time of year".  I am hoping to make some gift jars filled with goodies to give neighbours this year, and these tags will work great on them!  I think I will fill the jars with home made white chocolate covered pretzels, and will have to find something black or blue to pepper in as well, so that they match!

      These tags took no time at all to make, and could of been done in any colour scheme and with most any stamp and the "To: From:" stamp.  I love a stamp that has literally hundreds of possibilities and uses, as lets face it, we have a lot invested in our collections!  The "To: From:" stamp is a collection staple, as it can be used for birthdays, weddings, showers, baby gifts, as well as holidays.  I will be making gingerbread men tags later today, using the awesome HH stamp images made by artist Laurie Furnell, and Dustin Pike.

I am hoping that the true colours of my tags show through, as I used a scanner this time in making the picture, not a camera, and the blue turned purple on Lacey as she tried to add them to the High Hopes Blog, so she had to take them to photoshop to make the blue blue again.  That in turn turned my hats and skates purple... and they are originally coloured to be red, and golden brown respectively.

I hope everyone is having a great October!  The leaves in our town are at the height of their colour changes and it is my favourite time of year, as I prepare for American Thanksgiving, and the holidays!

High Hopes Blog Hop

It is time for the High Hope's Blog Hop to Celebrate the Penguin Friend's release!

The High Hopes Divas have created some fun projects to showcase the stamps that are being released today.

The release includes 12 images, 1 background design, and 10 Sentiments illustrated by Laurie Furnell.

There is candy along the hop. You won't know where, so leave a comment at each stop!

The blog hop will run through Midnight EST Sunday, October 7th with the winners of the candy posted on Monday, October 8th.

You should have arrived here from Lynne's blog. If you haven't, you might want to start at the top at the High Hope's Blog so you don't miss any of the fun.

From here you will hop over to Anna's blog to see what she has done with her stamps!

The card I made was created with the "Slap Shot Stanley" image.  I love this image as I thought it would also be perfect for the little girl in your life who is a hockey player!  Just do it up in pretty pastels, some pinks and purples... and all the sudden Stanley becomes Starla!! :-)  I especially love images where I can pull out the ultra fine prisma glitter... ice, snow, water... sparklie is always good!

Winter Wonderland Challenge and Sneak Peek Day Two!

This is the card I made for the High Hopes Winter Wonderland Challenge, which this week is being combined with the sneak peeks day two of the new High Hopes release!  This card uses the cute penquin image stamp illustrated by awesome artist Laurie Furnell called "Leapin' Lewis".  I just love this little guy and how bundled up he is.  He is the perfect size to make into gift tags as well, which is great as I have Christmas wrapping paper with Penguins on it!  You should really go take a look at the High Hopes Blog to see what the other design team members have created for this challenge/peek! The talent that that group has is mind blowing! :-)  Be sure to come back tomorrow and participate in the High Hopes Release Blog Hop... It's my first ever to participate in, and I am so excited, also, there is candy that will be won along the way, so be sure to leave comments at each stop!  See Ya Tomorrow!! 

High Hopes October Release Sneak Peek Day One!

The past week has been so much fun in my stamp room, as I have received the newest High Hopes Rubber Stamps to play with!  This fun Wintery release showcases the awesome talent of artist Laurie Furnell, and is just in time to get some Christmas Cards done.  This will be the first time in over 8 years that I have been able to find the time to make my own cards to send to friends and family for the Holidays, so I am over the moon with excitement!
     My first card was created with  the "Winter Wonderland Background" image, and topped with the "Frozen Fun" Penguin selling snowballs image.  I used Tombow markers and a paintbrush with water to colour the images, and had a lot of fun using the "Bow Easy" tool to make pretty bows.  I have to admit, at first I was a little stumped with the written instructions, so I went to my friend Lacey's store blog where she has posted a video tutorial to help clarify the directions, since I am a visual learner.  Jeanette did a wonderful job with the video.  You may remember her from her designing days at High Hopes!   Here is a link to the tutorial:  http://goo.gl/ISz3h   I imagine I will be putting bows on many of my cards now that I know how truly EASY it is with the "Bow Easy" tool!
     The card was finished off with a glue pen, some ultra fine prisma glitter, and some self sticking gems.  Thanks for visiting, and be sure to come back tomorrow to catch another Sneek Peak before the kick off of the Blog Hop and Release on Wednesday, October 3!  There will be candy! :-)

Welcome to my first post!

It's quite appropriate that my first post on my blog is sharing my love of Cross Stitch.  I was first introduced to Cross Stitch by my Husband Jeff in the early 80's as a young wife and Mom to be, stationed at Edwards AFB in California.  I was a new bride, expecting our first child, away from my family for the first time in my life as Jeff was in the Air Force stationed at Edwards AFB, and our families were in Washington State.  Jeff realized I needed something to fill my time with, and bless his heart, he stopped off at the local craft shop one day after his shift, and purchased a Cross Stitch kit for me to learn with!

Over the years I have literally stitched and framed HUNDREDS of samplers.  Wedding, Baby and "Bless our Home"  theme's are the most frequently sewn projects I do for friends and family.  I collect antique reproduction and vintage looking patterns, as I find them the most appealing.  I will post pictures of my collection that I have hanging at my house one day.  Until then, this is my most currently finished project.  

I started this project while Jeff was going through chemotherapy treatments for colon cancer in 1999-2000.  Sadly, my sweet Jeff lost his battle.  Being widowed with 6 children ages 6-15, my life became quite a bit more complicated and topsy turvy for several years. I missed my old life, and the joy that stitching gave me.  It took me several years of struggling to be able to relax enough to concentrate and and get back into it.  I was inspired to sew a family sampler for my bestest of best friends... and once I had completed that, I was strong enough to face the sampler I had started when my dear Jeff was sick.  This sampler was finished in 2011 and is signed with both my old initials and start date, and my new married initial and finish date as well.  Usually a project like this one would take me a month or so to complete, but this one spanned a decade.  It was a really fun pattern, and can be found in an old issue of Cross Stitch and Country Crafts magazine, and a hard bound book of sampler patterns published by Better Homes and Gardens Country Crafts.