Holiday Fun + Coffee!

Made another tree card for the latest challenge at Paper Smooches, "Christmas in July." I used one of their sweet free digis to create an ornament. I used an eXacto blade to cut two small slits along one pine branch on scrapbook paper and wove a strip of red ribbon through it to make a pretty hanger for the ornament. Colored the candy cane heart with Spectrum Noir markers adhered it onto the card with mounting foam.  A red bow and computer generated sentiments finish off the simple card.

Entered into: 

Paper Smootches- Christmas in July                                  (http://www.papersmoochesstamps.com)

Kitty Bee Designs-#122 Christmas in July                        (alohafridaychallenges.blogspot.com)

Christmas Cards All Year Round- Include a Tree            (christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.co.uk)

The Paper Shelter- #348 Ribbon, Lace and/or twine     (thepapershelter.blogspot.com.ar)

Crafty Hazelnut’s Patterned Paper Challenge                  (craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper.blogspot.com)

Another entry for the Power Poppy challenge called "Inspire Me" that involves CASEing a card made by one of the DTs. Once again I was drawn to a happy card created by Allison Cope. Instead of polar bears, I used a Power Poppy Digi stamp set and computer generated sentiments on my card.

  Inspiration Card- 

Entered into: 

Power Poppy- Inspire Me                    (powerpoppy.blogspot.com/2018/07/go-ahead-inspire-me.html)

Di’s Digi Stamps- Christmas in July                                (disdigidesignschallenge.blogspot.co.uk)

Happy Little Stamper- Christmas-Anything Goes        (happylittlestampers.blogspot.com)

Word Art Wed Challenge- #344-345 Anything Goes   (wordartwednesday.blogspot.com)

Just discovered another group of fun challenges at The Happy Little Stamper. Was fun to create a few designs for the July ATC challenge that features coffee. For this ATC I used a paint chip strip because the colors and names of the paint colors made me crave a cup of coffee. I think I need a Glazed Summer Pecan Latte and  Pronto! (PS The sentiment is from lovesvg.co).

Entered into: 

Happy Little Stamper- ATC-Coffee                  (happylittlestampers.blogspot.com)

Penny's Challenge- #389 Anything Goes        (pennyschallenges.blogspot.com.au)

QKR Stampede- #304 Anything Goes            (qkrstampede.blogspot.com)

                 

I needed a Valentine card for a wedding gift packet and decided to use a vintage PSX wood mounted stamp (sweet little cupid) and the row of posies is an unmounted stamp but I think it might be an old one from Art Impressions.. I added a smidge of sparkly Stickles in the center of the posies, and… of course… I used some of my beloved vellum to add a special elegance to the card. So lovely!

        Entered into: 

Simon Says Monday Challenge- Add a Little Sparkle   (simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge)

Artistic Inspirations Challenge-Challenge #204            (artisticinspirationschallenges.blogspot.com.au)

Holiday Fun

The latest challenge at Paper Smooches is "Christmas in July." I used one of their sweet free digi to create a Swedish Ornament. To hang on the pine branches on scrapbook paper. Doesn't the little chirper look like he wants to break out in song? So cute!

Entered into: 

Paper Smootches- Christmas in July                             (http://www.papersmoochesstamps.com)

Kitty Bee Designs-#122 Christmas in July                   (alohafridaychallenges.blogspot.com)

Di’s Digi Stamps- Christmas in July                              (disdigidesignschallenge.blogspot.co.uk)

Christmas Cards All Year Round- Include a Tree       (christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.co.uk)

Happy Little Stamper- Christmas-Anything Goes      (happylittlestampers.blogspot.com)

The current challenge at Power Poppy is called "Inspire Me," and involved CASEing a card made by one of the DTs. I loved this dreamcatcher card created by Allison Cope. For my card I used a Spellbinder medallion die, and, since I'm a guest designer for Beccy's Place right now, I just had to use one of Beccy's digi sets named "Feather Set."  (beccysplace.com)

Inspiration card-

Entered into: 

Power Poppy- Inspire Me                                          (powerpoppy.blogspot.com/2018/07/go-ahead-inspire-me.html)

Happy Little Stamper- Mixed Media-Newspaper           (happylittlestampers.blogspot.com)

Beccy’s Place Challenge- July                                             (beccysplace.blogspot.com)

Word Art Wed Challenge- #342-343 Anything Goes    (wordartwednesday.blogspot.com)

I've had this wonderful stamp named "Party Group" from Art Impressions for some time. I love that it features some of my favorite AI Oldies including Eunice (spinning), Cliff (hat on fire) and Burnadette (holding a mound of fire!)

Entered into: 

A2zscrapbooking Monthly Challenge- Birthday Bash (July)    (a2zscrapbookingblog.com) 

Crafty Hazelnut’s Patterned Paper Challenge                              (craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper.blogspot.com)

Artistic Inspirations Challenge-Challenge #204                         (artisticinspirationschallenges.blogspot.com.au)
The Monday Challenge at wecraftcards is to make a Double Point Fold Card. This was a new fold for me and was pretty easy to make. A sweet digi named "Coconut" from The Paper Shelter is the focal point of the card. And the inside sentiment is from a Beccy's Place digi set named "True Beauty"  (beccysplace.blogspot.com) The fun paint chip type paper is from a summer themed paper pack and the tutorial for the fold can be found here- youtube.com/watch?v=-VY1qv4q4xo

 

Entered into: 

The Paper Shelter- #347 Holiday Time                                        (thepapershelter.blogspot.com.ar)

Penny's Challenge- #388Anything Goes                                      (pennyschallenges.blogspot.com.au)

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge- Fun in the Sun                  (simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge)   

We Craft Cards Monday Challenge Double Point Fold Card    (wecraftcards.com/forum)

                

Weekend Playtime- Part 2

There are several Summer Fun type challenges going on right now, so I decided to dig out an old favorite stamp called Snorkeling Happy Hannah from Embossing Arts (which is no longer in business) and create a fun card. Used cloud patterned paper for sky and water, adding layers on torn vellum to make underwater waves. (The scuba cuties and fish are all on the wood mount stamp.) I made the coral with a foilage die, and the sentiment circle is a sticker that I blinged up with a teal colored rhinestone. So fun! 

Entered into: 

Simon Says Monday Challenge- Summer Fun               (simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge)

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge- Fun in the Sun      (simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge)

The Paper Shelter- #347 Holiday Time                           (thepapershelter.blogspot.com.ar)

Penny's Challenge- #388Anything Goes                         (pennyschallenges.blogspot.com.au)

                  

Used stamps from an old SU set, a striped stencil and sponge to make this card. Then added a bow made with red raffia (which I found hidden in my garage when cleaning) to make this wonderful Patriotic card. Since the 4th of July is over this year, I left this one blank so I can add a sentiment later when needed.

Entered into: 

Bugaboo Stamps-Patriotic Colors                                 (catchthebugblog.blogspot.com)

Artistic Inspirations Challenge-Challenge #204       (artisticinspirationschallenges.blogspot.com.au)
QKR Stampede- #304 Anything Goes                         (qkrstampede.blogspot.com)

This is my fourth ever entry into the Outlawz Progressive Challenge. Participants are provided with a free digi and encouraged to create a card that features it. This months freebie is this cheerful row of tulips. I CASED a card made by one of the DTs at Power Poppy(to enter it into their current challenge). The sentiments- on the front and inside- are both from Lily of the Valley. Instructions for making the simple Z-fold can be found here stampindolce.com/2014/04/diy-zfold-card-tutorial.html

  The DT card that inspired me-
Entered into: 

Outlawz Challenges- Progressive Freebie- July                (Outlawzchallenges.ning.com)

A2zscrapbooking Monthly Challenge- Birthday Bash     (a2zscrapbookingblog.com) 

Power Poppy- Inspire Me                    (powerpoppy.blogspot.com/2018/07/go-ahead-inspire-me.html)

I really enjoy the intriguing stamping opportunity called "Twofer Card Challenge." The goal of this fun challenge is to use the exact same stamp/image to make two cards with distinctly different designs for two different occasions. This time, I didn't use a stamp or digi image. Instead, used a template to create my images of a delicate cocktail glass out of vellum. Made a strawberry margarita, complete with glitter "salt" and then turned the glass upside down to create an elegant bud vase.

Here are a few details- To make the little strawberries I punched hearts out of red dotted paper, rounded the point with a scissor, and fussy-cut a topper from scraps of green paper (learned via Google that it is actually called a calyx!) Added a little shading and highlighting to add dimensions to the strawberries. Yum! 
The pretty pink rose is actually upcycled from an old calendar. I carefully fussy-cut the image, the added shading with various shades of Spectrum Noir markers and highlighted with a white gel pen. The long stem was cut from a strip of scrap paper and colored with a few markers. The "Celebrate" vellum sentiment is from a packet of scrapbook sentiments. The sentiments on the rose card are from Beccy's Place digi sets (True Beauty and Nasturtium). The free template can be found here- papercraftsmag.com/content_downloads/C28_Pattern.jpg

 

 
 

Entered into: 

Twofer Card Challenge #7 Beverage                                   (twofercardchallenge.blogspot.com)

Crafty Hazelnut’s Patterned Paper Challenge                  (craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper.blogspot.com)

Word Art Wed Challenge- #342-343 Anything Goes     (wordartwednesday.blogspot.com) 

Weekend Playtime

My second card as a Guest Designer for Beccy's Place using Beccy's release named "Bonsai Set." (You can find it here- beccysplace.com/bonsai-digital-stamps) Although the set includes six sentiments I used a few computer generated sentiments on this card.  Decided to make a Tri-fold shutter card (tutorial can be found here- qbeesquest.blogspot.com/2013/05/secret-garden-tri-fold-shutter-card.html) using some Asian themed paper from a Stack I purchased a while ago at JoAnne's. Am sending this to a young friend for her 40^th birthday. She loves all things Asian so I think she'll like it!

Entered into: 

A2zscrapbooking Monthly Challenge- Birthday Bash   (a2zscrapbookingblog.com) 

Crafty Hazelnut’s Patterned Paper Challenge                 (craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper.blogspot.com)

Penny's Challenge- #388Anything Goes                          (pennyschallenges.blogspot.com.au)

                 

This card is my second entry into the current Challenge at Little Scraps of Heaven. I used one of their images named " You're Out Of This World", fussy cutting the sweet little space creature from his ship so that I could add acetate "glass." (You can see that in the close up photo.) Punched the stars from a scrap of metallic silver cardstock, and upcycled the strip of cardstock to use as a background for the inside sentiment. Both of the sentiments were hand generated and the pretty pastel sky is made with scrapbook paper.  (Oh, and the moon is from a di's digi set named "Love to the Moon and Back" (www.disdigistamps.com)

 

Entered into: 

Little Scraps of Heaven- Anything Goes      (lshdesigns.blogspot.com)

QKR Stampede- #304 Anything Goes         (qkrstampede.blogspot.com)

DigiStamps4Joy- #150 Anything Goes        (digistamps4joy-sa.blogspot.co.za)

Another creation to enter into the Butterfly challenge that focuses on the letter "W".  My card includes the color Wisteria and Wine (in the butterfly wings and ribbon) plus the theme Washi tape. The butterfly image is stamped from an old Rubber Stampede wood mounted stamp. I stamped the image, colored it with Spectrum Noir markers, added white gel dots and then fussy cut the bright butterfly from the cardstock. The beautiful background is a new journal page from TLC Creations. (createwithtlc.blogspot.com/2018/07/new-in-store_10.html) I love working with digis because you can make them any size and print off specific items to use for layering. That is what I did here with the two flower blooms that I glued on top of the circle of torn vellum. I've had the Washi Tape for a while and it seems like the perfect fit for this card, especially because the font matches a portion of the sentiment that is included on the journal page. The delicate silver weave from antique ribbon is from my mom's treasure stash. I use it on cards that I think she would have loved. Her name was Rose and she would have loved the delicate wild roses on this card.  

 

Entered into: 

Butterfly Challenge- #103 Letter W                   (butterflyspotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk)

Doing Life- Create with TLC Challenge #21     (desiref.blogspot.co.za)

Artistic Inspirations Challenge-#204                (artisticinspirationschallenges.blogspot.com.au)

I love this sweet image on a retired Stampendous Precious Moments stamp that features the Shepherd from Psalm 23. This one in a series of stained glass images and I wish I would have purchased a few more! Embossed on vellum with gold powder and colored from behind with Tombow markers. Tried a new way to attach the vellum by wrapping it around a strip of pink cardstock and taping it on the backside. Then attached the pink strip to the front of the card. Trimming the vellum and grey base with decorative scissors adds more beauty to the image. Since I wanted to keep the focus on the card front to this image, I'll add an Easter sentiment to this beauty which is being added to a packet of cards that will be given as a wedding gift later this month.

 

Entered into: 

We Craft Cards Monday Challenge Window To The World      (wecraftcards.com/forum)

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #342-343 Anything Goes     (wordartwednesday.blogspot.com)

CAS-ual Fridays- #203 Heat Embossing                                     (CAS-ualfridays.blogspot.com)