Twofer Card Challenge #1

Yippee!  Hip Hip Hooray! Today's the day a new challenge arrives on the scene.  This one is from the creative mind of the fabulous Darnell and is called the Twofer Card Challenge. 

Doesn't that sound like fun and a great way to increase your stash of cards?  Each challenge has a word prompt and a wonderful Design Team to inspire you. This month it is

I have a few feather stamps but I chose this one from Clearly Besotted.

This cheer/get well card has the feathers stamped and die cut.

On the birthday card they are stamped in spritzed Peacock Feathers and heat embossed in gold.

I know you'll want to get in on the ground floor of this fabulous challenge.  Head on over and check it out. 

Time Out Reminder

I'm here to remind you of the 100th challenge at Time Out where the word is:

I think grateful and thankful are synonymous and that is what I used for my card this week.

The anemones are from WPlus9 that I masked and loosely watercolored with Distress Inks.  The sentiment is from CPD.

The Design Team has some wonderful inspiration for you over on the blog so be sure to check it out. There's still time so we hope you'll make a card and help us celebrate this challenge milestone. 

CAS(E) This Sketch #253

CAS(E) This Sketch is doing one of their retro challenges this week.  This sketch was also the challenge on January 27, 2015.

January 2018

MFT stamps, Distress Inks and a little screen stencil that I hoped might look like gauze are the ingredients.

January 1015

Even the photography/photo editing is better now. ;)

Thanks for dropping by today.  I hope your week is going well.

Inspired By #1

I heard from Michele who heard from Leanne about a 'new' challenge called Inspired By.  (Uh oh.  Now that REO song is running through my head.) I had to check it out - the challenge not the song - and this is the photo inspiration. 

It inspired me to make this.

I knew I wanted to heat emboss the CF snowflakes on kraft but then what?  I went searching for a sentiment and thought this would be perfect.  All I needed was the little snowman from Stampendous and some MFT snowflakes in glitter cs to finish it up.

Thanks for dropping by and sharing a little of your time with me.  It does take the chill off. 😊

Inkspirational #151

Stamping only?  That should be an easy task to complete for Inkspirational.

Wow!  This looks a little washed out now that I see it on the big screen.  Between my light box, point and shoot camera and iPiccy you'd think I'd have a better handle on what my photos look like.  Where does the blame lie?  Maybe with the user?  ;)  The flowers are from Altenew and sentiment from MSE.

I hibernated all weekend and have eleven cards to show for it.  Some are for Design Teams and the others for some of my favorite challenges.  There are still a couple of other challenges that I'd like to enter so more time in the craft room today while the laundry is going.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

CASology #281

What a great cue word for CASology to start out 2018.

I HAD to have this set and bought it in 2016 and this is the first I've used it.  I don't usually let stamps linger that long and it wasn't that I forgot about it.  I just didn't find the right time or right way to use it.  If this isn't encouragement, I don't know what it.  Thanks Teddy and SSS.

At Carol's urging I'm going to send this card to the STAMPlorations January CAS challenge with the optional twist of silver.

I'm glad you dropped by.  Please take this sentiment to heart.

Addicted to CAS #127

Welcome to another year at Addicted to CAS.  Our host Stephanie has chosen this as her word for this challenge.

I had all kinds of ideas but none of them were Clean and Simple and since this IS a CAS challenge I had to think even harder.  Please remember to keep your cards CAS.

I stamped and clear heat embossed the staff from CPD across the bottom of my card and added the sentiment from the same set.  The little church is from Sunny Studios that I colored with Zigs and mounted on some coaster board to give a little dimension.

Our guest designer Sue Symens and the Design Team have some wonderful cards to inspire you in this challenge.  Head on over to Addicted to CAS and check them out.  And if that's not enough incentive, Happy Little Stampers is sponsoring all our challenges and you can win a gc to their store. We hope to see your card in the gallery.

Just Us Girls #422 - Anything Goes

Welcome back everyone.  Our host Vicki has chosen Anything Goes as the first challenge of 2018 for Just Us Girls.  That is always a very popular challenge so we expect to see a lot of entries.  Our guest designer this month is Cathy McCauley.  You will want to check out what she and the rest of the Design Team have made but first here's my card.

I inked up the background stamp from CASual Fridays with three Altenew inks. I wanted the die cut to match so I rubbed ink directly onto some white cs before cutting it out, then stacked it on two more cuts. The little flowers are also from CF and stamped with the same ink as the background.

If you are chosen Chic of the Week, you will be eligible to be our guest designer in March.  So what do you say?  Let's get card making!

Merry Monday #271

When they give you a choice of dry embossing or heat embossing I say why not do both.  Here's my card for Merry Monday.

I have to say right off that this card looks much better IRL.  The pearly embossing on the SSS sentiment and the silver embossing around the edges shows up much better even with photo editing.  The back panel is embossed with Pine Needles. 

I've already started off the new year with two Christmas cards to add to those left over from last year. If I keep this up I will definitely have what I need before Thanksgiving, especially since I may pare my list down.  How about you?  Joining this challenge is a great way to start.

Thanks for dropping by today.  I love it when you do.

Tag You're It! is bowing out.

Unfortunately this will be the final post for Tag You're It!.  Our fearless leader Tracey has decided that the time has come to end the challenge but she asked present and past Design Team members to post their favorite tag or tags during their time on the team.  I have a few that I'm rather fond of.

Please take the time to go over to Tag You're It! and say goodbye to the Design Team and see what tags they picked as their favorite.

Happy Little Stampers Christmas

I love making Christmas cards all year and now I have a good excuse - as if I needed one. ;)  I'm a new Design Team member at the Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge.

Kylie emailed me an invite a day before the post goes live so I quickly made this card.

I love this Penny Black wreath.  It's cut from gold foil with a red foil ribbon and the sentiment from HLS is gold embossed.

There are some wonderful cards that the Design Team has for your inspiration.  If you are the winner of this challenge, you will receive a $20 gift coupon to the HLS store.  We hope you'll share your CAS Christmas cards with us.

Less Is More ##360-1

Less Is More is back with their combined challenge to give us more time to create over the holidays. This is a sketch challenge with so many possibilities.

I thought this CPD stamp would work beautifully and I did it in blue to have another masculine birthday card to add to my stash.

I hope this isn't too frilly for a man. ;) I inked some cs with the same Altenew ink I used for the medallions so my heat embossed sentiment would match. 

Thanks for dropping by and spending a little of your time with me.  I appreciate it more than you know.

Celebrating Time Out's 100th Challenge

I am honored to be the guest designer for the 100th challenge at Time Out.  When Sandie contacted me there was no way I could say no to being part of this wonderful milestone.  For this challenge they have a word inspiration:

For my card I used some NBUS stamps and dies from Concord and 9th.

The globe is stamped in Old Paper DI on Bristol that was softly inked with Tumbled Glass. It is foam mounted on the stand that was stamped on a Fog panel in VF Gray.  I used the same gray for the sentiment. The background is a map paper that has been in my stash forever.

There is so much to be thankful for that you shouldn't have any trouble coming up with a card for this challenge.  It is sponsored by Verve but you can use any stamps that you have.  For more inspiration be sure and check out what the Design Team has for you over at Time Out.

Come join the celebration.

Addicted to Stamps and More #273

The first challenge of the year for Addicted to Stamps and More is a Holiday Challenge.

I didn't want to do another Christmas card and I ran out of time to finish a Valentine I was working on, so here's a card I made last year that I never posted.  I thought it would be great for this challenge.

I have two friends whose birthdays are October 31.  I made this for one of them using PTI's jar filler stamps.  The sentiment was computer generated.

It's time for you to check out what the rest of the design team has done for your inspiration.  You can use any holiday to spark your imagination.

We hope to see your card in the gallery.

CAS(E) This Sketch #252

I wanted to do something different with the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch.

My first inclination was to cut strips of PP and follow the sketch to a T.  Then I pulled out a card for my granddaughter's birthday and thought the stamp set I used for it would fit into the sketch.

She loved her card and I gave her art supplies as a gift.  I think I'll save this one as a thank you when she presents me with one of her paintings. ;)

Everyone arrived home safely from our Christmas celebration although one family made it just before I 94 across southern Michigan was closed between their exit and the next.  Too many reckless drivers caused a multi-car pile up.  By the time one son made it home to Traverse City he had 10 inches of snow in his driveway.  We all had a wonderful time with lots of good food, games and laughter.

Here's wishing you all a wondrous year in 2018.  May your troubles be small and your blessings be many.