myasperations 3-20-23

This month’s Sheepski Designs FB Challenge theme is “Embellish It” and I had fun creating with an adorable gnome digi named “Twiggy.” My embellishments provide some texture (a bit of twine adds realism to the “rope swing”) and depth (printed an extra copy of Twiggy and leaves, which were colored, fussy-cut then attached with foam tape.) So fun! PS Stop by the Sheepski blog to learn more about the monthly challenges and have a chance to win some wonderful digis created by artist Andrea Norris!
I’m entering this card into several challenges including the Path Of Positivity’s: Anything Goes Positive (I love the front sentiment, as the coming of fall, with crisp nights and colored leaves always makes me happy. And although I’m now in my 60’s, swooping through the air in a swing still thrills my heart.)  

Supplies: 

·   Digi- Sheepski Designs (Twiggy)
·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen
·   Sparkly Holly Swirl Stickers- Hobby Lobby
·   Front Sentiment- TLC Creations Freebie (Happy Autumn)
·   Inside Sentiment- RG Ave Fall Greetings “Harvest Greetings” (no longer available)
·   Pioneer Black Photo corners- available from several sources
·   All other items from my stash.
Entered into:  
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends- #202 Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #587-588 Anything Goes   
Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG #250
Jan’s Digi Stamps- March 2023 Anything Goes    
Path Of Positivity Challenge- Challenge #110   
Paper Funday- #51-Anything Goes      
  
The current theme at WeCraftCards Forum is “Movies” and this challenge honors the Mission Impossible movies with an Impossible Fold. It looks difficult, but with the help of this video, it really is NOT impossible to create! I found a few pink feathers when cleaning my craft table, and decided to put them to use instead of putting them away. And the results are quite fun!
I’m entering this card into several challenges including Outlawz Twisted Thursday: Same Old Stuff (the digi set is a favorite that I’ve had for at least four years, and the feathers were on a hair scrunchie that I found in the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby at least a year ago.)

Supplies: 
·   Digi and sentiments are from a Beccy’s Place Digi Set (Feathered Friends)
·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen
·   Video instructions for making the “Impossible Fold” can be found HERE
·   All other items from my stash.
Entered into:  
Wecraftcards- Impossible Card
Outlawz Challenge- Twisted Thursday  (Same Old Stuff)  
Outlawz Challenge- March 2023 Linky
Di’s Digi Stamps- Mixed Media  
2craftycrittercrazies challenge- #72 March 2023                       
Beccy’s Place Challenge-March   
        Since I’m a Contributor for Beccy’s Place, I’m entering just for fun!

One challenge I really enjoy is Pixie's Snippets (which encourages me to use the many scraps, i.e. snippets, that I just can’t stand to toss!) For this card, I pulled out the bags of my snippets that are long strips so I could arrange them into pretty stripes to resemble a rainbow-colored Easter egg. The inspiration for this theme was a free Easter Bunny Silhouette digi. (Although the image is from an SVG site, I just like to print them off as digis and create with them.) The Easter egg on the inside of the card is cut from the card front (since I couldn't stand leaving all those beautiful stripes hidden away behind the egg!) The sentiments are also both freebies… so this card cost me just the cost of cardstock, envelope, and time! (My sweet Mom would be so proud of my frugality!)

Supplies: 
·   Silhouette- Freebie from LoveSVG (Easter Bunny Silhouette SVG Cut File)
·   Spring Confetti (Flowers) -Hobby Lobby
·    Copper Nuvo Drops used to create center dots for Confetti flowers
·   Front Sentiment- Desert Diva Freebie (hello!)
·   Inside Sentiment-“Celebrate April” TLC Creations freebie (no longer available)
·   Pioneer Black Photo corners- available from several sources
·   All other items from my stash.
Entered into:  
Snippets- Week #450
Outlawz Challenges- Tuesday Color Challenge  (Pastel Balloons)
Double D’s Challenge- Easter  
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge- Recycle It
Allsorts Challenge- Week 720: AG   (Option- Pastels)
The Four Seasons Challenge- Spring    

myasperations 3-17-23

One of my favorite challenges is the Butterfly Challenge, partly because the talented and generous sponsor provides easy-to-follow instructions for making a creative fold card each time. I usually try my hand at the featured fold, and the Tent Fold was new to me. It was super fast and easy to make, so I’m sure I’ll be using it again. The adorable digi, from Di’s Digis, includes a butterfly, so win-win! My card features all the required colors (in the rainbow, leaves, and butterfly) plus all the themes- Tent Fold, Twine, and Butterfly (I added butterflies on the sentiment on the back, because, you know you can never have too many flutterbys!)

I’m entering this card into several other challenges including Path of Positivity (POP) because the sweet bunnies' supportive pose speaks of friendship to me, plus the uplifting sentiment. (Speaking of the sentiment, I’ve had this one in my digi files since before I started my blog in 2017. Since I like to cite sources, I dug through my files and was thrilled to see that this one is from decosses dynamite doodles blogspot. I have collected many of the DDD’s digi images and papers long before I got to know Lisa, the artist and woman behind the POP Challenge site. I am blessed to now call her a friend. 

Supplies: 

·   Digi- Dis Digi Stamps (All Ears)

·   Decorative Chalks, Spectrum Noir Classique markers, Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen.

·   Front Sentiment- DDDoodles Freebie (Oh Happy Day)

·   Back Sentiment- “Happy Easter” Beccy’s Place Digi Set (Easter Joy) 

·   All other items from my stash.

Entered into: 

Di’s Digi Stamps- Hand Colored Image  

Butterfly Challenge- #179 T is for Tent Fold Card       
Path Of Positivity Challenge- Challenge #110 (Anything Goes Positive)  
Passion for Markers Challenge- Week # 681 Colours of Spring
Outlawz Challenges- Tuesday Color Challenge    
Double D’s Challenge- Easter                                   
Papercraft Challenges- Challenge #91- Easter
TRIPLE B Challenge (Birds, Butterflies or Blooms)- March  

I sized this slimline card to fits into a standard #6¾ envelope (which cost just 2 cents each!)  After printing off a copy of this fun St. Pat’s balloon (a freebie!) I traced them on scraps of green plastic index divider sheets. (These wonderful items- sometimes called document file folders- come in a pack of assorted colors and can be found in the office supply section of most stores. They're cheaper than colored vellum and more translucent. Punches and dies don’t work on these sheets, but they are easy to fussy-cut with a sharp pair of scissors. And you can trace shapes onto them with a permanent fine-line marker, which is how I created this card. I first used gentle pencil marks to sketch the outlines of the balloons that would be seen through the front ones. I then lay small, separate scraps of the green plastic onto the free digi, carefully tracing around each with the black marker, then carefully cut them out, making sure to leave the marker outlines intact. I adhered them to the printed image with small, thin pieces of double-stick tape, making sure they overlapped to create the look of naturally translucent balloons!) The final touch was to trace the “string bows” onto the green plastic balloons and add a few highlights with a white gel pen.

I’m entering this card into several other challenges including Simon Says Wednesday: Recycle It (the rainbow background paper is copy paper which was used to protect my table top when sponging pastel colors for a different card. I noticed it in my trash basket when looking for some pizazz for this card… and love how the rainbow colors frame the shamrock balloons!) 

Supplies: 

·   Digi- Scribbles Designs Freebies! (Friday Freebie Shamrock Balloons) a free single balloon digi is also available (Shamrock Balloon)  

·   Sharpie Black Permanent Fine-Line Marker and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen.

·   Inside Sentiment- Computer Generated

·   Cardstock, scraps of green plastic index divider sheets, and other items from my stash.

·   Mead envelopes-100 white standard #6¾ size

·   All other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

Outlawz Sunday Challenge- Irish Blessing     

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge- Recycle It

The Sisterhood of Crafters- The Colour Green  

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG #250

Colorful Options Monthly Challenge- Green          

The Four Seasons Challenge- Spring    

Leigh SB Designs Monthly Challenge- #115 Spring Leprechauns   

This sweet digi was the monthly freebie at Pattie’s Creations earlier this year. As soon as I

saw it I knew that I needed to use it on a pull-tab card. This fun interaction card technique is

pretty easy to make (you can find many instructions and videos on the web) and I made it

more realistic by using twine to connect the little Duckies together. The two pics of the card

front show how one pull on the tag moves the trio from left to right. Although this card was a

little tedious to make, I do love the way it turned out, and know I’ll be making a few more of

them in the future!

I’m entering it into several other challenges including Outlawz Twisted Thursday: Same Old

Stuff (I’ve had the polka-dotted paper in my stash since selling a stamp store that a friend and

I owned back in the late ‘90s, and I found a bag of assorted feathers, including these yellow

ones, at a Goodwill Thrift store at least 3 years ago!)

Supplies: 

·   Inside Digi-Now available at Patties Creations (Duckie Pull Toy)

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

·   Instructions for a pull-tab card can be found via google or Pinterest)

·   Sentiments- Computer Generated

·   All other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #587-588 Anything Goes   

Outlawz Challenge- Twisted Thursday  (Same Old Stuff)         

Outlawz Challenge- March 2023 Linky

Paper Funday-  #51-Anything Goes      

Patties Challenge- #204 Anything Goes (March)

myasperations 3-15-23

Here is my fun DT card for the mid-month challenge at QKR Stampede. Stop by the challenge, which is always “Anything Goes” and several prizes are awarded. Maybe you’ll be inspired to enter a card or two yourself?

This card features a sweet elephant and a sentiment that I divided into two parts so it would work for both the front and inside sentiment.  I was going to add a Happy Birthday sentiment, but instead decided to leave it as it is, so that I can send it to a dear friend. We were commiserating a few weeks ago about how our aging brains work (or… maybe I should say no longer work as effectively) after we became “old”! She is sure to get a chuckle out of this card! I found a box of brightly colored Thank You cards at Goodwill a few years ago, and love how the white curlicue mimics the bow on Ellie’s nose/trunk.  (I sized the digi to cover the Thank You sentiment on the card front.)

I’m entering this card into several challenges including Outlawz Twisted Thursday: Same Old Stuff (I’ve had the boxed cards for at least a year, and the added the digi sentiment to my collection back in 2018!)

                     

                                      

Supplies: 

·   Pink Card Base an envelopefrom a boxed Thank you card set found at Goodwill

·   Digi- Eureka Digital Stamp (Elephant Bow Nose) Also available in unmounted or cling-mounted

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

·   Sentiment-Eureka Digital Stamp (When You Get Old

·   Puffy Heart Stickers-Stickos

·   All other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #587-588 Anything Goes   

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG #250

Di’s Digi Stamps- Hand Colored Image  

Polkadoodles Challenge- Week#10 Anything Goes

2craftycrittercrazies challenge- #72 March 2023

Outlawz Challenge- Twisted Thursday  (Same Old Stuff)  

Outlawz Challenge- March 2023 Linky

 

This is my first entry for Power Poppy’s Challenge where the current theme is “Inspired by the Sea.” Although I have a nice collection of Power Poppy stamps and digis sets, I discovered that I have nothing that is sea/beach themed. However, that didn’t stop my creativity! I used an upcycled calendar page, plus two sentiments from a PP digi set named “Blossoming Cheery.” I had googled “Tropica flowers” and found lots of photos of “Plumeria Flower Clips” for beach weddings/parties, which inspired me to turn a few of the cherry blossoms from the set into embellishments for the sentiments. (Although plumeria doesn’t have the frilly stamens of cherry blossoms, they do add a nice floral addition to the card!)

I’m entering this card into several challenges including Outlawz Tuesday Color Challenge (my card includes all three pretty pastels-pink, lavender, and a touch of yellow in the blooms), and Allsorts Challenge: A trio of Something (three blooms embellish the front sentiment on my card.)

     

Supplies: 

·   Flower Digi and Sentiments- Power Poppy Digital Stamp (Blossoming Cherry)

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

·   Inside Digi-Patties Creations (Flip Flop Trio)

·   Instructions for Z-fold card can be found HERE.

·   Upcycled calendar page

·   Pioneer Black Photo corners- available from several sources

·   All other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

Power Poppy- The Blossom Challenge-Inspired by the Sea  

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge- Recycle It

Allsorts Challenge- Week 716: AG   

Outlawz Challenges- Tuesday Color Challenge 

Paper Funday- #51-Anything Goes      

TRIPLE B (Birds, Butterflies & Blooms) Challenge- March  

Last Spring I added a few cute digi sets from artist Jan Mahew to my digi collection. This one includes a sweet little bunny and fun sentiment that helped me create this Easter card. (During COVID I started sending more cards to family and friends. When medical and dental offices reopened, but gatherings were still restricted, I created packets of cards that I delivered to my doctor and dentist offices. The staff so appreciated that the cards helped them keep in touch with loved ones when they couldn’t yet meet with them, that I’ve continued providing card assortments, especially holidays. This card, plus other Spring/Easter-themed cards, will be delivered soon!)

I’m entering this card into several challenges including Incy Wincy Designs: Pets (during my childhood we had almost every kind of pet, including rabbits), Outlawz Monday Greeting (my card features a greeting on the front, with a Spring theme, and meets the optional twist of food!), and Passion for Markers: Colours of Spring (I know that green qualifies as a Spring color, and maybe orange does, too? Like in orange tulips!)

                                              

Supplies: 

·   Digi- Jan’s Digi Stamp (Easter Hippity Hop)

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

·   Inside Sentiment- Desert Diva (Celebrate the Hope of Easter)

·   Carrot seed Packet- from a sale rack at Goodwill years ago

·   Butterfly Sticker- Hobby Lobby

·   All other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

Incy Wincy Designs- Pets and/or Happiness  

Passion for Markers Challenge- Week # 681 Colours of Spring

Double D’s Challenge- Easter      

Gem of a Challenge- Week #5 Anything Goes                           

Papercraft Challenges- Challenge #91- Easter

The Four Seasons Challenge- Spring   

Jan’s Digi Stamps- March 2023 Anything Goes    

Outlawz Challenges- Monday Greeting Challenge- Hello March