It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas and Rain or Shine!

Happy Sunday!!!

It couldn't have looked any less like Christmas here today! It was another beautiful day; the sun was shining, the temperature was perfect and we gained an hour. All in all a perfect day. I love Daylight Savings Time in the Fall, I just hate it in the Spring. I wish we could gain an hour in the Fall and the Spring, although that may mess things up a bit.

Well take a wild guess what I did with my extra hour today! I stamped! Good guesser. Jason even took Izzy to the grocery store this morning so that I could have a little time to myself. Isn't he a sweetie? Boy did I stamp. I did 3 cards for four different challenges! Can you believe it? I only have two of the cards to share tonight, because I ran out of daylight! I'm not used to the time difference.

Izzy has loved having Daddy home this weekend as she always does and guess what she wanted to wear to the store this morning? Her bee costume! I have started a monster I guess. Oh and Jason has informed me that she is obsessed with marigolds now. She smells each and every one and carries around the blooms that have fallen off. I asked Daddy where she would have learned this love from (I hate marigolds!), and supposedly Daddy has no idea. I have my suspicions though.

Well on to my cards! The first card I am going to share today is a card I created for Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge. It is a Christmas Card. I already caught some flack from Jason about it not even being Thanksgiving yet, but I am trying to get a jump start, at least that is what I told him. I am not the only one though. There is a radio station here in St. Louis who has been playing Christmas songs nonstop for the last couple of weeks and will continue to through the end of the year. (This is a little much even for me!) See Jason, I am not weird!

Isn't it sweet! I bought this set back in August and haven't inked it up yet. I know crazy! It is super cute, I just hadn't found the right layout for it yet I guess. Well I started off by stamping the sundae glass along with the penguin top and the straw from Merry Muffins by Eclectic Paperie on a piece of white card stock. I put the penguin a little higher up and drew in more ice cream. (Who doesn't love more ice cream!) I then colored it all in with my copics and a few stampin' write markers. I am getting more and more comfortable with the copics. I then drew in the table top on the bottom and colored in the background. (I wound up really disliking it, so I cut it out again, mounted it on white and left the straw sticking out. Much better!) I added some crystal effects to the glass and straw and then added some liquid applique and glitter. Next, I pieced the card together following the sketch and used my swiss dots cuttlebug folder and my snowflake folder to create some texture. I layered on the main image using Christmas DP, red card stock and green card stock and popped the image off the page. I stamped the sentiment on a piece of white card stock and then cut it out using my circle nesties. I also cut out a red circle and a green circle. I free handed a cherry (Yes, that is what that is supposed to be) and cut it out. I added a "stem" using some brown ribbon and tying a knot at the top, and popped it off the page. I can't wait to give it to my cousin-in-law at Christmas. She is totally addicted to penguins so I know she will love it.

My second card if for one of my new favorite weekly sketch challenges. (If I am honest though, I really love them all). Jen Del Muro posts a Saturday Sketch Challenge every week that is always so fun and creative. This is actually my third time participating and every week it is more and more fun to come up with a creative card following the sketch.

Here is my card.

I just love all the dark, rich colors. Who knew I like purple so much? I just picked up Rain or Shine by MFT Stamps yesterday at The Inkspot. I have been waiting and drooling over it for awhile and immediately had to ink it up. After I stamped the girl on whisper white, blue card stock and DP, I cut her out and paper pieced the image together. I then decided that it was too plain so I free handed the background scene with my ruler, copics and stampin write markers. I can almost see her walking down the street. I then layered her on a piece of DP and a piece of blue card stock that I cut out with my NEW rectangle nestabilites. YEAH!!!! I cut out another strip of blue card stock and punched it with my Martha Stewart edge punch. I added a green ribbon and layered it on some DP. I popped off the stamped image and cut out two circles of DP and black card stock that I then cut into an umbrella. I stamped the sentiment and layered it on the bottom using my edge punch again. I can't wait to give it to my friend Beth. She is always motivating me to go to Curves and I guess I want to return the favor. lol. Just kidding. She is a wonderful friend and I don't know what I would do without her.

Well I am shutting it down early tonight. I am crossing my fingers that Izzy will maybe sleep in tomorrow. Have a great rest of the weekend. Thanks as always for stopping by!