Another DT Opportunity

Many months ago I had applied to be a DT for Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge Blog. However, due to some family health emergencies, it didn't work out for me to actually join the Penny's Team until this week. Julie, the owner of the weekly blog, has been so patient and helpful as I finally can dive in, so I'm very excited to post my first card as one of her  Design Team members.  (I know that there will be many more to follow.) Here goes! 

The adorable image, named "Baker Girl" is from an Etsy shop named Time for Tea. The artist/owner, Jo Davies, has many wonderful images. (You can find her here- https://www.etsy.com/shop/TimeforTeaDesigns) And, if you stop over at Penny's Blog (http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.com) you can enter this week's "Anything Goes" challenge for a chance to win three of the Time for Tea digis. I used Spectrum Noir markers to color the sweet image, mounted it onto some yummy brownie scrapbook paper (recently purchased at JoAnne's), added a computer generated sentiment printed on vellum, and finished the card off with several puffy stickers (from a 99 cent pack I found at Walmart, Sticko brand.) Now I need to bake some brownies! 

 
Entered into: 

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #346-347 Anything Goes     (wordartwednesday.blogspot.com)

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

Used a Fiskars hexagon punch to create the background for this card. Am entering it into several challenges including Paper Smooches (the sentiment is one of their freebies, you can get it here- www.papersmoochesstamps.com) and Double D's Challenge- Don't Bug Me (the bee image is from an All Night Media wood mount stamp). I did paint a little Radiant Pearls on the bees wings to add the sparkly translucency. 

Entered into: 

Paper Smootches- Anything Goes            (papersmoochesstamps.com)

Double D’s Challenge- Don't Bug Me      (daranddiane.blogspot.com)

Had fun making this z-fold card with Bugaboo digi named Alligator Balloon. I used a tutorial entitled "How to make a z fold card in 7 easy steps" but used a strip of acetate on the top of the card to serve as the base for the floating balloon. Really was pretty easy to make! (Find the tut here- papercraftinspirationsmagazine.co.uk/category/how-to/z-fold-card.htm) 

I added a yellow circle behind the alligator so there will be a hidden place to write a greeting inside of the card. 

 

Entered into: 

Bugaboo Stamps- Anything Goes                                        (catchthebugblog.blogspot.com)

A2zscrapbooking Monthly Challenge- Anything Goes    (a2zscrapbookingblog.com) 

I love the Callin' All Sistahs monthly challenges that remind me to send notes of encouragement to people I know that are living through health issues. Right now these cards go to one of my Sistahs (by birth) who is recovering from stem cell replacement transplant for Multiple Myeloma. One of her sons coaches a youth baseball team that just won a state championship. So I think she'll like this card. I plan to write, "You're hitting the Big C out of the park, Sis!" I love that lady!

The paper behind the medium blue square is actually a grey crosshatch. (You can see it in the close-up photo. The baseball is made from a white scrap of textured paper that feels like leather. I found a photo of a baseball on the web that showed the stitching, lightly sketched the circular lines with a pencil, punched holes with a needle, then added the stitching with embroidery floss! A little time consuming, but I think the results are kinda nice. 

Entered into: 

Calling All Sista’s- Color Challenge #16       (callingallsistahs.blogspot.com)

Fall Is Comin'

We've had a little chill in the air the last few nights… which thrills me. I've always loved fall (at least once the ragweed infestation dies off!) Was inspired to make this card for several challenges including  Simon Says Wednesday Challenge (Make You Own Background), CAS-ual Fridays Challenge (Stamp a Pattern) and Power Poppy (Inspired by Home. This is the color scheme that I use in many rooms of our home.) Used an old wood mount leaf stamp from Embossing Arts and Autumn Kaleidacolor ink pad to make the background pattern/wreath. Punched the leaves from paper scrap and drew in veins and edging with Tombow markers. The alphabet tiles are from my scrapbooking stash, but I sketched around the letters with a fine line black Sharper to make them stand out a bit. (And so they'd be highlighted as an entry into Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge- Words.). After playing around a bit for placement, decided to just glue everything down in a haphazard way. Finished off with assorted bits of fall colors bling to add a bit of mixed media interest. I've been making an effort to spend some time dressing up the inside sentiment the last month or so and had fun dressing up the inside of this card with a bright leaf and two wonderful sentiments from TLC Creations (createwithtlc.blogspot.com)
PS I apologize that the photo placement below is all wonky. They had a mind of their own tonight. After six tries, I give up and christen this card "The Dance of the Onery Leaves!" 

 

Entered into: 

Simon Says Wed Challenge- Make Your Own Background        (simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge)

CAS-ual Fridays- #205 Stamp A Pattern                                      (CAS-ualfridays.blogspot.com)

Power Poppy- Inspired   (powerpoppy.blogspot.com/2018/08/august-power-spark-home-sweet-home.html)

Doing Life- Create with TLC Challenge #22                                   (desiref.blogspot.co.za)

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #346-347 Anything Goes     (wordartwednesday.blogspot.com)

For many people, fall means… Football! For this card I used two Bugaboo images, Football Boy and Cheerleader Girl, in Packer colors. (Because, well, I live in Wisconsin!) Decided to make a Z-fold card  Instructions for making a simple Z-fold can be found here stampindolce.com/2014/04/diy-zfold-card-tutorial.html) Used scrapbook papers, stickers and fussy-cut stars to finish off the card. Go Team!  Am entering the card into Bugaboos Challenge, Anything Goes, SumMoreFun Mood Board Challenge (inspired by the greens and yellows), Di's Digis, Use Your Stash (I have a ton of papers and stickers so was fun to pull them out and dig through them!) and Crafty Hazelnuts PPC (because, well, the papers!)

 

 
 
Entered into: 

Bugaboo Stamps- Anything Goes                                                       (catchthebugblog.blogspot.com)

SumMoreFun  Challenge- Mood Board #34                                   (summorefun.com) 

Di’s Digi Stamps- Use Your Stash                                                       (disdigidesignschallenge.blogspot.co.uk)

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

Last weeks wecraftcards Forum challenge was a Make a Gift. I decided to make a teacher gift for a dear friend. Remembered an old (as in purchased in the late 90s) stamp from a company named Comotion. Stamped four of the images, colored, fussy-cut and attached them to the top of large paper clips. The little teachers are holding chalkboards. But my gel pen wouldn't show very well on the black ink, so I instead used small puffy stickers that I'd picked up at WalMart a few weeks ago (the packet contained 46 small school items for 99 cents.) Clipped them onto a mini-file folder and added a free thank you image from lovesvg.com

Entered into: 

We Craft Cards Monday Challenge- Make a Gift                           (wecraftcards.com/forum)

Cute Card Thursday- #541 Anything Goes                                      (cutecardthursday.blogspot.com) 

Artistic Inspirations Challenge-Challenge #205                           (artisticinspirationschallenges.blogspot.com.au)
A2zscrapbooking Monthly Challenge- Anything Goes (Aug)     (a2zscrapbookingblog.com) 

Food and Beverages

I was just introduced to the Mod Squad Challenge Blog just last week and made this card to enter into its current challenge,  Getting In Shape. I couldn't find a template for a beer mug on the web, so I developed one of my own. (At some time I'll write up the details and develop a tutorial to share. For now, I'll just share my card.) I used yellow and white vellum to make the mug. The "foam" was made with white paper that I'd embossed with a swirls die. The sentiment is a revision of something that I saw on a greeting card on the web a while ago. (When I shared this card with my hubby he liked it enough to note that I should make a few more to send to a few relatives that are celebrating birthdays in the next few months because they are… um… Geezer age!) I am entering this card in a few other challenges including Simon Says Monday Challenge Wild Things because research will show that people who drink several of these beverages sometimes do "wild things" that they often don't remember very well later!                                                                   

Entered into: 

Mod Squad Challenge Blog- Getting In Shape                              (modsquadchallenge.com)

Simon Says Monday Challenge- Wild Things                                (simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge)

A2zscrapbooking Monthly Challenge- Anything Goes (Aug)    (a2zscrapbookingblog.com) 

I used a handful of sweet little mice cut from a New Year's Freebie from Gerda Steiner to create this card. The sentiment is computer generated in a fun font named Jokerman.

Entered into: 

Gerda Steiner Designs- Share you Designs Challenge     (gsd-stamps.com/blogs/share-your-designs)

Cute Card Thursday- #541 Anything Goes                         (cutecardthursday.blogspot.com) 

I made a few ATCs for one of the last Happy Little Stamper challenges and had so much fun that I thought I'd make another one. This time I created a background with strips of scrap paper. Some of the strips are metallic silver to offset the silver wire coffee cup brad (that I bought at Oriental Trading Company during 60-80% off after-Christmas sales over 10 years ago. I forgot that they ever carried craft supplies!) I cut a piece of light green dotted paper to size and slipped it behind the silver wire cup. The brad held it in place. Then colored the "coffee" with a dark brown fine point marker. The sentiment on this card was a freebie in this past Aprils Progressive Challenge at Gerda Steiner Designs.

Entered into: 

Simon Says Wed Challenge- Make Your Own Background   (simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge)

Pixie's Snippets-Week #332                                                         (pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.com) 

Artistic Inspirations Challenge-Challenge #205                      (artisticinspirationschallenges.blogspot.com.au)

I don't make many cards that have a primary color scheme of yellow. Not sure why it's just not one of my "go to" colors. But I wanted to make a card to reflect the bright colors and citrus fruits on the current SumMoreFun so gave it a go. I used a freebie sentiment (and sample card) that I found on the web as my inspiration. (You can find both here- paulaposts.blogspot.com/2013/07/tuesday-trigger-scene-in-tangerine.html) I've had the papers, ribbon and flowers in my stash for many years, so was fun to put them to use to make this bright and crisp card!

Entered into: 

SumMoreFun  Challenge- Mood Board #34                                (summorefun.com) 

DigiStamps4Joy- #151 Anything Goes (Add sentiment)           (digistamps4joy-sa.blogspot.co.za)

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #346-347 Anything Goes    (wordartwednesday.blogspot.com)

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

Bugs & Donuts

One of the first Bugaboo images I purchased was this wonderful assortment called Unicorn Set. It is one of the cutest unicorn digis I have in my collection. For this card, that I made for the current Stella Says Sketch at Bugaboo, I used a freebie sentiment from a site named Useless Trinkets (uselesstrinkets.wordpress.com/freebies), however, I couldn’t get the sentiments to print off clearly, so retyped them in the font named Kristin. I colored the rainbow mane and tail with Prisma color pencils, blending them with a damp paintbrush. The colorful and sparkly donuts are from my stash. I picked them up at WalMart a while ago, because the packet of 32 was just 99 cents! Was fun to finally put them to use!

Entered into: 

Bugaboo Stamp- Stella Says Sketch Challenge                             (catchthebugblog.blogspot.com)

Cute Card Thursday- #541 Anything Goes                                    (cutecardthursday.blogspot.com) 

Di’s Digi Stamps- Use Your Stash                                                   (disdigidesignschallenge.blogspot.co.uk)

A2zscrapbooking Monthly Challenge- Anything Goes (Aug)    (a2zscrapbookingblog.com) 

My second card in this posting is made with another cute Bugaboo image appropriately named Ladybug Hello. It worked perfectly as the focal point of a fun fold that I learned in a challenge last month. It's called Double Point Fold Card and a tutorial can be found here- youtube.com/watch?v=-VY1qv4q4xo The inside sentiment is from a Beccys Place set named Nasturtium (it is packed full of wonderful sentiments!)   

 

Entered into: 

Bugaboo Stamps- Anything Goes                                                    (catchthebugblog.blogspot.com)

Double D’s Challenge- Don't Bug Me                                             (daranddiane.blogspot.com)

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #346-347 Anything Goes     (wordartwednesday.blogspot.com)

Artistic Inspirations Challenge-Challenge #205                          (artisticinspirationschallenges.blogspot.com.au)

The free digi for this month's Outlawz Progressive Challenge is "Donut Hippo" from Sandra Caldwell (etsy.com/shop/babycakesdnd) I printed off a few copies of the image so that I could do some laying with foam tape to add depth to the final image. (I added a close-up of the card so you can see that the card actually has 3 layers, the snout is the top layer.) Once again, I used a few of the yummy donut stickers on the inside, and the sentiment (divided into two sections for the front of the card and inside is one of Kelli Winnell's Friday Freebies. (You can find it, and dozens more at kelliewinnell.typepad.com/blog/freebie-Friday)
Note- Am entering this into several challenges including Simon Says Monday Challenge named Wild Things (I think that a Hippo that is wild about donuts could be a little dangerous if you get in the way!) and DigiStamps4Joy Challenge Add a Sentiment (I loved finding a sentiment that was a perfect fit for the cute image!) 

 
 

Entered into: 

Simon Says Monday Challenge- Wild Things                         (simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge)

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

DigiStamps4Joy- #151 Anything Goes (Add sentiment)      (digistamps4joy-sa.blogspot.co.za)

The colors and themes for the current Butterfly Challenge revolves around the letter F. I had fun creating a background by punching various sized circles our of patterned paper scraps.  My card includes one color-Fuchsia (with touches of Ferrari Red) plus one theme- flowers. The Hello sentiment if a favorite old wood mount stamp from Embossing Arts.

Entered into: 

Butterfly Challenge- #105 Letter F                                                (butterflyspotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk)

Simon Says Wed Challenge- Make Your Own Background     (simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge)

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

QKR DT Member- Week 2

It's FRIDAY!  And that means it's time for a new challenge at QKR Stampede Challenge Blog.  I'm excited to post my second card as a DT. (It's still so fun to type that!) QKR challenges are always Anything Goes and prizes are awarded.

This week I chose to use the QKR digi image Knome in Garden. (#17903.)  The sentiment is also from QKR (#digi16108). You can find both of these items here- www.stamponit.net

I made a shape card, sketching a basic mushroom pattern. Made the mushroom cap with dotted red paper, and the mushroom base is made with a strip of wallpaper with scrap paper grass.  (I have a book full of wallpaper samples that I got from a shop years ago when they were tossing their old sample books. I do so love to upcycle!) Coloring this dapper Gnome and his "lady" friend with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers was quick and easy. I then fussy cut the image, clipping his arm from his body (Ouch... that sounds violent!) then attached his body with foam tape to add a bit of depth to the card. (You can see this in the closeup.) The little heart on the sentiment hanging between these two friends adds a sweet final touch.

Entered into: 

Double D’s Challenge- Don't Bug Me                                             (daranddiane.blogspot.com)

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #346-347 Anything Goes     (wordartwednesday.blogspot.com)

A2zscrapbooking Monthly Challenge- Anything Goes (Aug)    (a2zscrapbookingblog.com) 

Mod Squad Challenge Blog- Getting In Shape                              (modsquadchallenge.com)

This sweet little crab image is from Biblical Impressions, also available from www.stamponit.net (Item #BI-32711) is called Lg Hermit Crab. I love his wide-eyed stare! To get a nice rustic coloring, I printed the digi on kraft brown paper, colored him with Spectrum Noir markers and added highlights, and speckles, with a white gel pen. The background scene is from an old calendar page (yep… that upcycling thingee again!) The sentiments are both computer generated… and sure to bring a smile to whoever receives this fun card.

Entered into: 

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie- #99 (tropical)                              (giveacrafteracookie.blogspot.com)

Bugaboo Stamps- July Photo Challenge (Tropical)                     (catchthebugblog.blogspot.com)

DigiStamps4Joy- #151 Anything Goes (Add sentiment)            (digistamps4joy-sa.blogspot.co.za)

This entry into the Simon Says Monday Challenge "Wild Things" features a wonderful Owl image from a now vintage wood mount from Northwoods Stamps. I stamped the owl on kraft paper and colored him with watercolor pencils (adding a little more yellow in his eyes with Spectrum Noir markers and darkening his pupils with a fine point Sharpie black marker.) Loved pairing the image with this wonderful freebie sentiment from lovesvg.com. (Just did a google search and was happy to learn that they are still in business. They carry a wonderful assortment of stamps. The scenery and sentiments are my favorites! You can find them here- www.northwoodsrubberstamps.com/) 
Oh, and there was no question in my mind about what animal I needed to put on this card. I am such a night owl (stay up until 3-4 AM  whenever possible) that I couldn't function without caffeine!

Entered into: 

Simon Says Monday Challenge- Wild Things                 (simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge)

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

Artistic Inspirations Challenge-Challenge #205           (artisticinspirationschallenges.blogspot.com.au)

After making three pretty intricately colored and layered cards, it was fun to create one CAS to add to the mix. A while ago I'd used my circle dies to cut a bunch of assorted colored circles so that I didn't have to pull my Big Shot off the shelf when I needed just one or two circles. Was glad that I did that because it allowed me to assemble this card in a very short time. I used a yellow circle, some yellow feathers (that I've had in my stash for like EVER!), and paper scraps to punch the black eyes and snip out the very widdo feets!  I don't have heart dies, so used one of my scrapbooking stencils to create the paper hearts. After adhering all the pieces to the card, I dug through my scrapbook stash of assorted sentiments and added the final "Love You" touch.  

Entered into: 

Happy Little Stamper- CAS- Diecuts                                 (happylittlestampers.blogspot.com)

Cute Card Thursday- #541 Anything Goes                       (cutecardthursday.blogspot.com)