Thursday, July 24, 2025

myasperations 7-24-25a

     This card features one of my favorite digis from Beccy’s Place, which always makes me crave a hot beverage! I wanted to enter it into the current ABC Christmas Challenge- ‘N is for Non-Christmas Stash!' I quickly learned that was not an easy task, and I hope that this card qualifies. I gathered a coffee-themed sentiment and papers, plus sage green and navy blue papers to provide the foundation for the card. White and brown coffee bean papers, plus touches of deep burgundy scraps, helped to build the card. The cup of yumminess with peppermint candy embellishments, and the only item I’d call Christmas-themed, was the final addition to the card front. I’m also entering this card into Coffee Loving Paper Crafters/Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge,  and two Christmas challenges. So fun!

 
Supplies: 

·   Digi- from a Beccy’s Place Digi Set (Christmas Cheers) (Sadly, Beccy recently closed her digi shop.)

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Coffee Bean papers- Echo Park Paper Company  (I fussy-cut a few beans and taped them together to form hearts on the front sentiment)

·   Front Sentiment “Coffee and Friends…”- freebie from Create with TLC (Appears to be retired)

·   Inside Sentiment- “Thinking of You at Christmas” from a Beccy’s Place Digi Set (Sadly, Beccy recently closed her digi shop)

·   Sookwang double-sided tape- Available from several sources on the web.

·   Other misc. items and tools from my stash.

Entered into:  
ABC Christmas Challenge- “N and O are for…? ”  ‘N is for Non-Christmas Stash!'

   This old stamp from Stampin’ Up looks gorgeous with light pastel inks lightly sponged across the background, then glittered with a used dryer sheet technique! (You can't see the glitter in the photo, but it provides a wonderfully sparkly sheen to the card front.) The sentiments are a perfect fit for this beautiful card!
 
Supplies: 

·   Line of Trees Image- from the Stampin' Up! set, " Lovely As A Tree" 

·   Black ink pad, assorted pastel colored ink pads, small sponge or blending brushes

·   Dryer Sheet Glitter tutorial found HERE  

·   Sentiments are from a Beccy’s Place Digi Set, “Poinsettias”  (Sadly, Beccy recently closed her digi shop)

·   Sookwang double-sided tape- Available from several sources on the web.

·   All other misc. items and tools from my stash.

Entered into:  
Classic Design Challenge: Anything Goes #07-2025 Jul/Aug (optional- Sand/Sun/Water) 
Word Art Wednesday Challenge- Weeks #708-709 AG/Family Friendly
Outlawz Challenge- Festive Friday: July (Christmas)         
Outlawz Challenge-July 2025 Linky  

   I found a tin of scratch boards at a thrift store many years ago, and they just resurfaced. Some have grey outlines that can be scratched off to reveal pictures. I scratched off several of the boards and loved the bright rainbow colors that emerged, creating beautiful "etchings"! 
     The Unicorn scratch board makes a wonderful card for a child! I decided to use an easel fold so that the recipient can easily see the friendly unicorn from any place in a room!  (Because I fear that the black covering of the base could be accidentally scratched off by the envelope or mailing process, I plan to attach an A2-sized piece of acetate over the card front (once I find where I stashed the acetate when I found it last week!?!)
  
Supplies: 
·   Scratch board from my stash.

·   Easel Card- Instructions found HERE  

·   Front Sentiment “Happy Birthday”- from sheet of free sentiments and butterflies (Available from www.papercraftsecrets.com.au.- HERE)

·   Inside Sentiment- Thinking of you” from a Beccy’s Place Digi Set, “Hello Foxy” (Sadly, Beccy recently closed her digi shop)

·   Sookwang double-sided tape- Available from several sources on the web.

·   All other misc. items and tools from my stash.

Entered into:  
Outlawz Challenges- Monday Greeting Challenge- Happy Birthday (July
Outlawz- Tuesday Color Challenge- Color Board-July 
  Park Hopping-My Happy Place (JulyUnicorn Meadow (Rainbow’s End, New Zealand)
Colorful Options Monthly Challenge: July   Rainbow option!

myasperations 7-24-25a

    Tomorrow is the last day to enter cards in the July Coffee Loving Paper Crafters/Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge. I have two cards I need to enter by then… and here is the first one. It features one of my favorite digis from Beccy’s Place. I love coloring it… and it also always makes me crave a yummy coffee drink! I used a non-traditional color scheme for this card, which is based on a sheet of pretty snowflake vellum I recently picked up a Hobby Lobby. The other items are all from my stash! (The inside sentiment is embellished totally with scraps that remained after the card front was finished. I like how this builds a bit of symmetry on my cards, plus they make me think of my sweet mom. She called pretty little scraps “Snipples” and every time I use them, I feel her smiling down from above!)
  
Supplies: 
·   Digi- from a Beccy’s Place Digi Set (Christmas Cheers) (Sadly, Beccy recently closed her digi shop.)

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Snowflake Vellum- Hobby Lobby

·   Front Sentiment “Let it snow…”- from Lili of the Valley digi set (Christmas Wishes)

·   Inside Sentiment- “Thinking of You at Christmas” from a Beccy’s Place Digi Set (Sadly, Beccy recently closed her digi shop)

·   Silver photo corners available from several web sources (WXJ13 Photo Mounting Corners)

·   Sookwang double-sided tape- Available from several sources on the web.

·   Silver Stickers,  other misc. items and tools from my stash.

Entered into:  
Time Out Challenge- Challenge #293 (Inspired By… Your Favorite Song) 
Snippets- Week #511

     While downsizing, I’ve uncovered several boxes of items I’ve collected over the years. Several cards that I found in a thrift store feature an unusual nativity cut from what I thought was a thin layer of wood that was now cracked and falling apart. The back of the cards noted that they were from a missions project in the Caribbean. (I did some research and found that the project was no longer in business; however, in the process, I learned that the images on the card were not made with wood, but with a product named Banana Bark.) I gently tore the pieces from the three cards and used them to create one complete Nativity. The background and other items I used on my card are all from my stash!
Supplies: 

·   Pieces of Banana Bark, and inside sentiment are upcycled from thrift store cards.

·   Stickles- Diamonds

·   Sookwang double-sided tape- Available from several sources on the web.

·   Cardstock, ‘Peace’ sticker, and night sky calendar page are all from my stash.

Entered into:  
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge-Focus on the Sentiment
Word Art Wednesday Challenge- Weeks #708-709 AG/Family Friendly
Park Hopping-My Happy Place (July)  Santa’s Village (includes Nativity)  
Outlawz Challenge- Festive Friday: July (Christmas)         

     This card features a beautiful Moondrea Designs digi named Hydrangeas Maiden. I colored her face and hair, then used a Martha Stewart flower punch that I’ve had in my stash for several years. I punched white and pink petals from lightweight copy paper and adhered them with a Zig 2-Way Glue and a stylus pen. I adhered the finished beauty to a card front that has delicate floral images. The final touch was to add highlights to the flowers, leaves, and eyes with a white gel pen.
     Note- One reason I love creating with digis is that the images can be resized as needed. For this card, I knew I wanted to use the punch to add texture to the card. So, I cropped/enlarged just the maiden's head and face to fill the card front. Then the punched flowers fit beautifully! 

Supplies: 

·   Digi- Moondrea July Progressive Challenge (Hydrangeas Maiden)

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Martha Stewart 3-in-1 HYDRANGEA Craft Punch. 

·   Front Sentiment “Happy Birthday”- from sheet of free sentiments and butterflies (Available from www.papercraftsecrets.com.au.- HERE)

·   Sookwang double-sided tape- Available from several sources on the web.

·   All other misc. items and tools from my stash.

Entered into:  
Outlawz Challenges- Monday Greeting Challenge- Happy Birthday (July
Outlawz Challenge-July 2025 Linky  
Passion for Markers Challenge- Week #798:Birthday  
Classic Design Challenge: Anything Goes #07-2025 Jul/Aug
Moondrea Designs Progressive Challenge FB-(July-Hydrangea Maiden)  

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

myasperations 7-23-25a

      The sponsor for the July Outlawz Progressive Challenge is Anne’s Digital Art.  I really like her digital design named “Daisy and Bee”, but I opted to turn the daisy into a sunflower because a sunflower-loving friend is having a birthday next month, and this will be the card for her. I had fun coloring this bright beauty, then fussy-cutting and adhering it onto a photo upcycled from an old calendar page. After coloring the little bee, I added Stickles to his wings and eyes to add some sparkle and texture. After adding sentiments to the card, I added a little bee to the inside of the card, drawing little lines to show his dizzying path!  
Supplies: 

·   Digi- Daisy and Bee from Anne’s Art.

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers,a Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen, and a white colored pencil

·   Front Sentiment- Desert Diva Freebie (Sweet Birthday Wishes)

·   Inside Sentiment- “Happy Bee Day” from SnapClickSupply.com digi set (Sweet As Can Bee Word Art)

·   Stickles- Diamonds (on wing), Sea Glass (eyes)

·   Sookwang double-sided tape- Available from several sources on the web.

·   All other misc. items and tools from my stash.

Entered into:  
Outlawz Challenge- Progressive Challenge (July) Anne’s Digital Art
Classic Design Challenge: Anything Goes #07-2025 Jul/Aug  
Outlawz Challenges- Monday Greeting Challenge- Happy Birthday (July
Outlawz Challenge-July 2025 Linky  
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge-Focus on the Sentiment
Word Art Wednesday Challenge- Weeks #708-709 AG/Family Friendly

    Now, time for more cards to enter into the Christmas in July. This one features a cute little Christmas elf from Bugaboo. I found a card front from a boxes set of cards I found at a thrift store several years ago that had a rectangle cut from it and decided to turn it into a window. I trimmed a winter night scene from an upcycled calendar and taped it in place. When the cute little elf was perched him on a “window ledge” looking like he was excitedly awaiting Santa’s arrival. The computer-generated sentiment on the card front reflect that activity! 
 
Supplies: 

·   Winter night scene

·   Digi- “Elf Peeker” from Bugaboo Stamps (No longer in business)

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers, Sakura Gelly Roll white & silver gel pens

·   Sentiments- Computer Generated

·   Patterned paper from Dare2bArtzy (That’s A Wrap!) provided gifts that were fussy-cut into embellishments

·   Sookwang double-sided tape- Available from several sources on the web.

·   All other misc. items and tools from my stash.

Entered into:  
The Paper Shelter- Summer Break 2025   
Outlawz Challenge- Festive Friday: July (Christmas)         

Park Hopping-My Happy Place (JulySanta’s Village

    While decluttering my craft room I found a box of miscellaneous items, including stamped and cut images that just needed to be added to cards. The pretty ornament is from a retired Stampin'' Up! clear stamp set. The source of the smaller sentiment stamp is unknown, but I’m thinking that it might also be from Stampin’ Up! I used additional items from my stash, plus the Sketch from July’s Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers Challenge, to create this card front. Not sure what I’ll do for the inside yet, but I have several months to decide that!
 
Supplies: 

·   Ornament- from the clear stamp set, "Ornament Keepsakes", from Stampin' Up.

    (Stamped with white pigment ink on jade colored paper and embossed with white EP)

·   Evergreen Patterned Paper- Hobby Lobby

·   Sookwang double-sided tape- Available from several sources on the web.

·   Vellum, white satin ribbon, other misc. items and tools from my stash.

Entered into:  
Outlawz Twisted Thursday Challenge-AG July 2025