God's Love

Some Christmas cards that you receive in the mail are just too pretty to throw away.  I have several in a bin near my desk waiting for some inspiration to strike.  The one I used today has been sitting on my desk in the midst of being cut up for a while.  So, today, I finally pulled together a card using the sentiment and I'm working on a second one that will use the image and other parts of the card.  Also sitting on my desk was the piece of scrap paper that I use to protect my desk when I'm inking, stenciling, embossing, etc.  I've thought for a while that it would make a really fun background, and today was the day.  One side of the paper had a lot of gold from a paste and the other side had more blue/purple/black from blending ink and off stamping.  I really thought I was going to use the gold as it was so pretty, but the blue fit much better.

I matted my sentiment on gold card stock and die cut some snowflakes out of a gold glitter paper.  Then finished it off with some irridescent blue/purple rhinestones that I had had for YEARS and never used as they don't match with very many other colors (or at least my style!).  You can see the shimmer and glitter in the photo below:

The background piece has a bit of silver sparkle on it in places, I don't remember if it was from a shimmer spray, or just some diamond glitter that doesn't brush off.  Either way, it adds a nice little sparkle that's hard to catch in a photo.

Supplies:

Dies: MFT "Cute Snowflakes"

Challenges:

Sparkles #159--non-traditional colors

Cards Galore #122--anything goes

ABC Christmas--H is for hats, I is for inky (I chose I for inky with my inky background)

Unicorn Challenge #97--use dies

Craft Rockets #113--layer it up

Crafty Gals Corner #254--anything goes

Try a Sketch on Tuesday #644--sketch

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog #275--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #227--anything goes

Girlz Creative Christmas  Challenge #67--no red

Fab n Funky #593--add a sentiment

Word Art Wednesday #643--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Krafty Chicks #711--Christmas

Jingle Belles--Peace On Earth Day (use at least one recycled element--Christmas card and the pieces of scrap paper) 

Prayer for you

 Hello, everyone!  It's time for a new challenge from the Creative Moments Challenge blog.  The theme is: Cute and Cuddly .  I am using a Freebie image from one of our fabulous sponsors: Beccy's Place.

 Here is my card:

A saw this sweet little bear in the shop and thought he was too cute to pass up!  I did flip him vertically to fit my card design better.  I colored him up with my Spectrum Noir markers and added a sentiment about prayer (because, obviously, he is praying!)  I finished it off with a scalloped patterned paper panel and some gold ribbon to match the gold foil in the paper.  A quick and easy card that's also Cute & Cuddly!

You have all month to play along.  So, get inky and link up your creation; I can't wait to see what you create!

Supplies:

Stamps: Beccy's Place "Prayer Bear" freebie digi image; Papertrey Ink "Inspired: Prayer"

Dies: MFT "Stitched Scallop Trio"

Challenges:

Cards Galore #122--anything goes

Pattie's Creations #217--anything goes

Cutie Pie Challenge #193--simply cuties

Sheepski Designs #85--anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #253--anything goes

Incy Wincy Designs--Inspired by a movie, song, book (I was inspired by the book "I Prayed For You"

Once Upon a Time #21--inspired by "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?"

Double D--cute little animals

MFT #692--sketch

Crafty Catz #669--anything goes with a cute critter

Creative Fingers #275--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #227--anything goes

Experience

 Happy Friday!!!  It's time for a new challenge from the Cut It Up Challenge Blog.  This week, the challenge is a recipe challenge: Use 3 gems, 2 die cuts, and 1 sentiment.

Here is my card for your inspiration:

Sometimes it is challenging to use more than one die cut and other times it is challenging to use ONLY 2 die cuts!!  I had a card I was working on, but it had waaaaaay more than 2 die cuts, so wanting to stay true to the challenge, I had to create a completely different card.  I love the softness of this one with the light gray and shades of pale, wintery blue papers.  I realized after I was all finished that I should probably have used black for the sentiment as it is a bit challenging to read when you are not holding it in person.  It says "May you experience the richness of God's love this holiday season."  But if I had used black, I think it would have stood out too much against all the softness.  My strips of paper were all cut from scraps from the same Christmas themed paper pack.  The pack was already on my desk and needed to be put away, which I did AFTER I used some of it.  My two die cuts are the white rectangle panel and the silver snowflake.  This is one of my favorite snowflake dies; it's so delicate and elegant.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you will hop over to the Cut It Up blog for the full details of the challenge and to see what the rest of the Design Team has created. 

Supplies:

Stamps: Verve "Blessed Beyond Measure" sentiment

Dies: Spellbinders "A2 Matting Basics A" rectangle; Memory Box "Lindeman Snowflake"

Challenges:

Word Art Wednesday #642--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Penny's Challenge #568--anything goes

Snippets Playground #477--anything goes with snippets (all my paper strips were cut from snippets --leaving a little bit more for next time!)

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #571--sketch

Sparkles #159--non-traditional Christmas colors

Christmas Craft Creations--Designer paper

Crafty Gal's Corner Challenge #253--anything goes

It's your day

 Happy April 1st!!  It's time for a new challenge on the Critter Crazy Challenge blog!  As always, it is a month long challenge: Anything Goes as long as you feature a creature.  Here is my card for your inspiration:

I can't believe it: my baby turned 18 this past week!  Where has the time gone??!!  She has a big Rottweiler named Hawkeye, so I tried to color up this little pup to look like him.  But, at least for me, Rotties are really hard to color!!  They are mostly black with a little bit of brown thrown in here and there.  I had this fun paw print cover die that I had not used yet and thought it was the perfect backdrop for the little pup.  I used a couple of the hearts left over from the die cut panel to add a little embellishment to the image circle.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hop on over to the Critter Crazy blog and check out the details and the rest of the projects from the Design Team.

Supplies:

Stamps: Pretty Pink Posh "Playful Pups" image; PaperTrey Ink "Just Sentiments: Birthday"

Dies: Your Next Stamp pawprint cover die; Spellbinders "Classic Circles, large"; PaperTrey Ink "By the Numbers" border die

Challenges:

Creative Inspirations--anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner #259--anything goes

Alphabet Challenge--Z is for zoology

A Gem of a Challenge--anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #641--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Penny's Challenge #568--anything goes

Simon Says Wednesday--anything goes

Lil' Red Wagon #749--animal antics

Krafty Chicks #709--all occasions

Di's Digi Designs--lots of layers

Sweet Stampin'--birthday girls (this is not girly, but it is for my girl)

Try A Sketch on Tuesday #643--sketch (unfortunately, I was too late with my entry)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

NBUS--never before used schtuff (the pawprint die has been sitting in my stash for quite a while and this is the first time I've used it.)

Lantern Bear

 Hello, everyone!  Here is a mid-challenge reminder for our "Flora or Fauna" challenge over on the Creative Moments Challenge blog.  You still have almost 2 weeks to play along with us.  Our fabulous sponsor is Polkadoodles.  Here is my card:

As you can see, I chose both Fauna and Flora for this card.  I used the adorable "Lantern Bear" image from Polkadoodles and dressed him up with some gorgeous patterned papers and ephemera from Not 2 Shabby.  (Both were part of a prize I won last month.)  I printed the bear image rather large so I used the "Out of the Box" die cutting technique letting bits of the image hang outside the circle I die cut.  It's such a fun touch and it makes the image take up less room over all.  I finished everything off with a small sentiment and some red pearls.

Remember, you still have almost 2 weeks to play.  So, get inky and link up your creation; I can't wait to see what you create!

Supplies:

Stamps: Polkadoodles" Lantern Bear" digi; Papertrey Ink "Just Sentiments: Be Merry"

Dies: Spellbinders "A2 Matting Basics A"

Challenges:

Sparkles #158--plaid or tartan (I have a pink/tan plaid layer just under the image panel)

Pattie's Creations Challenge #216--anything goes

Die Cut Divas--anything goes

Cheerful Sketches--sketch (I used my poinsettias as the square corner elements)

Sheepski Designs #84--anything goes

Creative Inspirations--anything goes

Paper Funday--anything goes with the optional twist: the DIES have it

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #253--anything goes

613 Avenue Create--anything goes with the optional twist: diamond or pearl

Peace on Earth #60--anything goes with the optional twist mood board

NBUS #60--never before used schtuff (papers and ephemera just received last week)

MFT Christmas--anything Christmas goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #226--anything goes

Shopping Our Stash #517--round and round

Word Art Wednesday #640--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Penny's Challenge #567--anything goes

A Gem of a Challenge--anything goes

300th Challenge!!

 Happy Friday!!!  It's time for a new challenge from the Cut It Up Challenge Blog.  This week, the challenge is: "Happy Birthday" as we are celebrating our 300th challenge!!  That is quite the milestone!

Here is my card for your inspiration:

I almost always start my cards with a sketch--it just gives me direction (and I guess it is taking the easy way out because I don't have to do the thinking!)  Sometimes a sketch really catches my eye and I just HAVE to try it out.  This is one of those sketches; it's so interesting and fun!

This is going to be for my father's birthday, so I went with some beautiful sea inspired papers from Stampin' Up (I have no idea what they are called as I won them last year some time).  It was a bit challenging to create those wonky panels, but it was totally worth it; I love how it turned out!  I started with a very pale gray cardstock for my card base and used an Ocean Tides cardstock (from Papertrey Ink) to frame the sentiment.  The dark blue papers have a beautiful shimmer and shine in their patterns, almost like a foil.  You can see it better in the photo below:

I die cut the gray cardstock with a stitched rectangle and then adhered my wonky panels and die cut it all again using the same die so the stitching would border the entire panel.  After adding the sentiment, I finished is off with some chrome rhinestones for a little bit of sparkle.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you will hop over to the Cut It Up blog for the full details of the challenge and to see what the rest of the Design Team has created. 

Supplies:

Stamps: MFT "Essential Sentiments"

Dies: MFT "Blueprints 25" stitched rectangle and "Blueprints 13" stitched banner

Challenges:

Cards Galore Challenge #121--anything goes

Unicorn Challenge #96--for the boys/men

Die Cut Divas--anything goes

Creative Inspirations--anything goes

Paper Funday Challenge--anything goes with the optional twist: the DIES have it

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #253--anything goes

613 Avenue Create--anything goes with the optional twist: diamond or pearls (I chose diamonds)

Incy Wincy Designs--birthday AND/OR funny/humorous

Creative Fingers #273--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #226--anything goes

The Paper Shelter #488--for the boys

Sketch Saturday #746--sketch

Spring poppies

 Hello, everyone!  It's time for a new challenge from the Creative Moments Challenge blog.  The theme is: Flora or Fauna.  I am using an image from our fabulous sponsor: Polkadoodles and I chose to use both flora and fauna.

 Here is my card:

Now, I know that these flowers are poppies, and in the Northeast, at least, poppies are not spring flowers.  But I colored them up in a light pink, and we can pretend they are a spring flower.  The little fox is wearing his spring scarf, because it can still be chilly here in the spring.  This image is really large and I wanted to show off some of the patterned paper, so I die some out of the box die cutting, allowing the flowers to stand tall but keeping the image panel much smaller.  All the papers where from a paper pack I have had for AGES and it was sitting on my desk since my daughter had just given it back to me.  Last week I decided to have a little fun and try to use some of the stuff that was on my desk before putting them away.  I added a little bit of die cut grass to the bottom of the image and some silver stickles to the centers of the flowers for some sparkle.  I finished it all off with a die cut "Hello" that I die cut twice and layered together, and then added some light pink pearls.

You have all month to play along.  So, get inky and link up your creation; I can't wait to see what you create!

Supplies:

Stamps: Polkadoodles "Poppy Flowers--Autumn Fox" digi

Dies: Sweet n' Sassy Stamps grass border die; MFT smartphone die "hello" and "Blueprints 12" square (I used it for the outside the box technique and then trimmed the square down further with my trimmer)

Challenges:

Fab n Funky Challenge #590--favorite colors (pink and green are not my favorite colors, but for some reason, they are my favorite colors to use when making cards.  I think it's because they go so well together in nature.)

Penny's Challenge #566--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #225--anything goes

Cards Galore #121--anything goes

Pattie's Creations #216--anything goes

Sheepski Designs #84--anything goes

Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 #274--sketch

613 Avenue Create--anything goes with the optional twist: diamonds or pearls

Beautiful Blossoms--anything goes

Triple B Challenge--anything goes with birds, butterflies, or blooms

The Paper Shelter #586--in the garden

Craft Rocket #112--for the girls

Paper Funday #63--anything goes with the optional twist: the DIES have it