Peace on Earth #116

I'm way behind with my Christmas cards and I've been playing with some new things I got a while ago.  One of them is perfect for the challenge at Peace on Earth.

The dies are from Simon Hurley's Mantle Village.  They are all cut from scraps and antiqued a little with Distress Ink.  The background is the burlap folder from Honey Bee. 

Thanks for dropping by and spending a bit of your day with me.

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Time Out #317 - Theme Challenge

Time Out has a theme challenge this fortnight and this is it.

The prize for this challenge is a stamp, stencil and die bundle from Pinkfresh Studio called Berries and Blossoms, donated by team member Jaydee. 

We welcome Kathy Asper of My Asperations as our guest designer. 

What's water without something swimming around in it?  Here we have a duck from Gerda Steiner along with some fish, cat tails and a little dragonfly to finish out the scene, all colored with Altenew Artist Markers.  The background was made with an MFT cloud stencil and Salty Ocean Distress Ink that was spritzed with water.  The sentiment is from Altenew. 

We'd love to see your water themed cards in our gallery.

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Just Us Girls #827 - Word Week

The Just Us Girls challenge is wide open as Vicki has chosen this as her word for the week.

There are so many ways you can go with this theme that I expect to see a lot  of cards in our gallery.  One thing that means summer to me is something I happen to have just the stamp set for.

That's right!  What's summer without s'mores?  This S'mores set is from The Greetery. The graham crackers were cut from Kraft cardstock and the marshmallows were colored with Distress Inks in Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap and Gathered Twigs.  Don't ask how many combinations I tried to get the look I wanted and this is the best I could do,  The chocolate is done with Altenew's Mocha and Espresso.  The sentiment is The Greetery's Warm and Cozy and the background is an ancient Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder.  

Let's go take a look at how Kellianne and the rest of the Design Team put Summer on their cards. 

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CAS Christmas June 2026

Today I'm guest designing for CAS Christmas.  That's right.  Loll has resurrected her CAS challenges and the Christmas one starts today. I happened to be the last winner before she closed down in 2022 so she invited me to be her guest on the restart.  I hope you are as excited about this news as I am.  This month's challenge is

That's an easy one since I love my birds.

The cardinal is from Honey Bee's Winter Birds, the greens from their Winter Greenery and sentiment from Let Nature Sing. The panel was lightly inked with Speckled Egg DI and a little Frantage was added for snow.  I love seeing these beautiful birds perched in the trees and also at my feeder. 

I hope you'll check out the CAS Christmas challenge and what the Design Team has made to inspire you.  You have until June 30th to enter your card in the gallery.  

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The Paper Players #782

It's clean and simple time at The Paper Players and Christy wants to see baby animals.  I mean who doesn't love baby animals.  

I immediately thought of my old WPlus9 set called Unforgettable.  I stamped and masked to get a soft blue sky and then colored the images with Ohuhu markers, adding Glossy Accents to the balloon.  We have a lot of young greats that this card could go to. 

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Freshly Made Sketches #728

I'm still trying to use older stamps when making cards and I have one that sparked my card for Freshly Made Sketches.  Christmas Rose from WPlus9.

It is stamped with Memento Toffee Crunch and colored with CP inks for the flowers and Distress Inks for the leaves.  I added white anthers with a Uni-Ball pen and a few splatters before stamping the sentiment from PTI in Toffee Crunch.  The colors were inspired by my own flowers that I always called Lenten Roses, scientific name Hellebore.  

Pardon the dead leaves in the middle.  When I know the frost is over they will be removed.  

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Inkspirational #362

They had me at plaid.  The challenge at Inkspirational is stencil - with the option of plaid and I went with the option.

I really thought I had more plaid stencils but I only found this Buffalo plaid by Echo Park in my stencil file.  I thought it would make a great Sweater Vest using the dies from Sunny Studio with the same name.  It was stenciled with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink on PTI Fine Linen cardstock.  For the sentiment I thought a small 'emblem' on the shoulder would be the best way to go.  It's from PTI, gold embossed on a scrap of rust.  The card base was cut with the same die so it's a shaped card.

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Seize the Birthday #321 and NBUS #84

When Spellbinders had a sale a while ago I purchased their Perched Birds.  I thought they would be great for the challenge at Seize the Birthday - Anything with Wings. 

I started with a trimmed panel, an MFT cloud stencil and Speckled Egg DI for the background.  All the bits and pieces were cut from scraps.  Then it was the sentiment dilemma.  I found this one on the Gerda Steiner Owl set.  I think it fits. 

This is the first outing for this die set so I'm sending it to Darnell's NBUS challenge, too.

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Jingle Belles - Banner Inspiration

The gals at Jingle Belles would like to see cards based on their blog banner and I was happy to oblige.

The background was watercolored with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink.  Once dry, I used the BetterPress Season's Greetings Evergreens and the same ink for the first pressing.  Then I pressed again using Pine Needles adding some splatters with the same ink.  The snow is Altenew's metallic watercolor.  The sentiment is "merry" from Penny Black cut in Altenew moonstone and a stamped "Christmas" from PTI.

Thanks for dropping by and spending a little bit of your day with me.  I hope your Thanksgiving was blessed with fine food, family and friends.

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Color Hues #119

My friend Marcia picked the colors for Color Hues and they work beautifully for this time of year.  Somewhere I saw a wreath made of gourds and wanted to make one for this challenge.

The dies are Honey Bee's Fall Bounty colored with Distress Inks in Scattered Straw, Fossilized Amber and Rusty Hinge along with Altenew's Warm Sunshine, Honey Drizzle and Red Jasper.  The biggest gourds also have a spritz of Fossilized Amber Distress Spray.  A Honey Bee sentiment and Burlap embossing folder complete the card. 

I'm still trying to get my stuff organized after unpacking all I took to Michigan (plus things I bought while there) and in trying to make labels my printer quit.  I guess they're not supposed to last longer than 10 years.  😖  I'm researching new ones and when I decide I'll be back in business. 

Thanks for dropping by. 

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Addicted to CAS #285 and Krafty Chicks #773

I was lucky enough to win the Addicted to CAS Floral challenge with this card, and as it is my policy, I made a card for the subsequent challenge - water.  This one was more of a . . .challenge.  😅

Once I knew I could make a scene with Spellbinders Coastal View Escape I tried several versions before I came up with my final card.  The background was inked with Caribbean Sky and placed behind a panel cut with MFT's Wonky Peekaboo die.  The trees and island were cut from cardstock and shaded with Altenew inks.  The sentiment is from Altenew. 

I am also sending this to Krafty Chicks for their CAS week challenge.  

Thanks for dropping by.  I do hope your day is fabulous!

ETA: I just noticed that AAA Cards is having a CAS challenge.  I'm sending this without the twist.

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Time Out #292 - Photo Inspiration

It's time for our Photo Inspiration Challenge at Time Out. 

The seashells and sentiment are from a Honey Bee set.  The background was colored with Distress Ink and splattered to resemble sand.  The shells are colored with Zigs and also splattered.  

We are being sponsored by The Frantic Stamper and our winner will receive a $20 store credit so get those cards made. 

The Design Team has plenty of inspiration for you on the blog.  We hope to see your card in our gallery.

I'm also sending my card to Cardz 4 Guyz #374 - Seashells.

ETA:  I just saw the challenge at Double D and I'm sending my card there too.

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Color Hues #108

I decided to go clean and simple with my card for Color Hues and add to my sympathy stash.

The side and bottom were taped off and inked with Salvage Patina DI.  The iris from Penny Black was cut from Bristol and colored with Zigs.  The sentiment is from Penny Black, stamped in gray.  

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Just Us Girls #766 - Word Week

I picked the word for Word Week at Just Us Girls and this is it.

I know this looks like a color challenge but you can interpret this any way you choose.  It doesn't have to be all green.  I mean what about a golf theme or maybe money.  Anything you associate with green.  Here's what I did.

A gentleman was selling out of his Penny Black stock at a big discount and I picked up a few oldies from him including the Toadily stamp set.  Using the MFT irregular stencil, I inked the sides with Salty Ocean on Bristol cardstock.  The toad was colored with Zigs and the sentiment from Hero Arts stamped in two shades of Altenew ink.   Although I prefer to think of them as frogs, I'm sure it's because of the pun sentiment included that they are called toads. 

Now it's your turn to think about something green.  The Design Team and our guest Jeanne Jachna have inspiration for you over on the blog.  Check them out and make a card for the gallery.  We'd love to see you there. 

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Freshly Made Sketches #676

One would think I'd be using flowers for the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches but not this time. 

I dug out an old set from Penny Black called April Showers.  This card took a couple of turns before I ended up with this.  It started as a one layer card until I didn't like the way I colored the umbrella with my Altenew artist markers.    So I stamped and colored another one planning to place it over the first when I realized there were borders on the sketch.  I cut a panel down, cut some masking paper with Honey Bee's Deckle Edge rectangle, placing the negative on before inking with Stormy Sky DI.  That meant I also had to fussy cut the boots because PB didn't make dies back in the day.  The umbrella was stamped to get the handle, then placed over a PTI cloud.  The sentiment is from Stampendous.  

Thanks for dropping by. I hope you have a fancy umbrella for rainy days. 

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