Tic Tac Toe #180 and NBUS #42

My prayers go out to all those affected by Hurricane Ian.  My brother who lives in St. Pete faired well.  I haven't heard from DT members or a classmate who all live on the west coast.  Others I know have winter homes there and it may be a while before they know the extent of the damage if any.  It is heart breaking so see the devastation that Mother Nature can cause but so uplifting to see first responders, line workers and volunteers from around the country come together to be of assistance.  

I'm playing along with Tic Tac Toe today.   

I went with the top row across - stencil, jewel colors, flowers.  I recently got the Altenew set of Jewel Tones so they were the perfect inks to use on the Dazzling Dahlia set.   The background is a new cover die from Concord and 9th and the sentiment is from Altenew's One-go Birthday. 

Since my ink and cover die are NBUS I'm sending my card over there too.

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Inspired By #189

I recently got back from my summer at the lake and have spent the last two days unpacking and reorganizing my craft room.  I took two bins of stamps and dies to work with and ended up buying a few more during that time.  Since I had to put it all away and make room for the new I decided a redo was necessesary.  Now I have a fresh start to make cards for the Fall and Winter seasons.

There are so many choices for the Inspired By challenge this week.  I was fixated on the Christmas photo but couldn't seem to make something come together.  I looked at the sketch and an idea popped into my head.  It's actually a fusion of the All the Peels photo and the sketch.  

I already had the apples from Sunny Studio stamped so that made the card even easier to make.  I was going to use the dome die from Waffle Flower for a basket but when I pulled it out I saw the little wood strip dies that I knew would make an even better basket or box. The gray piece was something in my Bits bin. I glued the slats onto copy paper and trimmed it to size.  One piece was used for the sentiment from Altenew.  The background is Rustic Linen cs from Papertrey Ink embossed with a folder from Lawn Fawn.  The photos are below.  Maybe they'll inspire you to make a card.

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Time Out #197

Anytime there's a flower challenge you can be sure I'll make a card for it.  Time Out is having their 'inspired by words' challenge.  You can see the words below but here is my card

The Altenew Cattleya, stamped in shades of blue, was in my folder all ready to be the focal point of my card.  I placed it on a panel cut with a quilted background die from Honey Bee,  trimmed it with Waffle Flower A2 dies, layered it on some pale green also cut with WF dies and then on the card base.  The same green was used for a sentiment strip featuring one from Altenew's Cherished Memories.  I think the soft colors work well for a sympathy card.

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INKspirational #244 and NBUS #29

Another card from my rainy day crafting session.  This one is for INKspirational -  Spots/Dots.  It gave me a chance to use my NBUS die from Jillian Vance so my card will head over there too.

The flowers are a layered stamp from Altenew and the sentiment is from the same set.  I bought the die because I thought it would make a great background.  For this card I left the panel behind it white.

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Color Hues #22

Time for another Color Hues challenge and this time it's

Sometimes I like these colors on Christmas cards but since I have few Christmas stamps with me I had to go with flowers.  Not again you say?  Better get used to it.  lol  Flowers are what I do.

For my flowers I stamped Altenew's Canterbury Bells in Altenew inks adding a little shading with PolyChromos pencils.  I just got a background die from Jillian Vance and used it for some texture.  I had a little trouble cutting it out but made it work, covering the worst parts with the flowers and sentiment.

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The Flower Challenge #56

What is you favorite flower?  The Design Team at The Flower Challenge wants to know.

I love all flowers but I do have a couple of favorites.   You'll see one now and the other one in the reminder post on the 15th.  Today is poppy day.

The poppies are from Altenew and colored with their artist markers.  I liked them on a dark gray background which is cut with a die from Stamplorations.   The sentiment is from The Ton.

I'd like to welcome our guest designer this month - Bozena at Artcardbox.  Please visit her blog where you'll find some wonderful creations. 

I hope you'll join us for this challenge with your favorite flowers.  Remember they need to be the focal point of your card.

Color Hues #8

Green and blue.  What to do?  This is my card for Color Hues.  I just hope silver is considered a neutral.

I started with the pine boughs from The Greetery and wanted to hang an ornament from SSS.  I cut it from blue foil and added a silver top and star.  It looked a little bare but the Stitched Rays background from Reverse Confetti fell right into place behind the ornament.  A word die from TH in the same foil balanced it out.  

The holidays are getting closer.  I hope you all have things ready to go and aren't stressing out.  It's a time of hope and peace and joy and love.  And that's my wish for you.

The Flower Challenge #50

Are you ready for another The Flower Challenge?  It's an easy one this time.  You just need to include a sentiment on your card along with the flower focal point.

The flowers and sentiment are NBUS from Altenew called Positive Vibes.  I like the set as much for the sentiments as for the flowers.  The background is a LF die and the sentiment label is from PFS. 

I have a new picture of the Design Team since we have changed a couple of our designers.

We all hope you join us and our guest designer Enna for this month's challenge.

Just Us Girls #445 - Color Week

Ina is the host for color week at Just Us Girls.

Red and black are two of my favorite colors and I added green as my choice.

I bought the Criss Cross die from Paper Smooches a long time ago and this is the first I've used it.  On top I placed poppies from Altenew/EbyE. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

The Design Team and our talented guest designer Hannelie Bester have some wonderful cards to inspire you.  We hope you will make a card and enter it in the challenge.  If you're our winner you may be chosen as a guest designer in August.

Just Us Girls #437 - Color Week

That's right, stampers, it's Color Week at Just Us Girls and the color of choice for our host Carol is . .  .

I've had an alcohol ink panel on my desk for a while deciding what to do with it and this challenge sparked my imagination.

EbyE's Mondo Magnolia to the rescue.  I stamped it on the panel with Archival Ink and die cut it, adding a little green ink to the stem.  The die cut panel adds interest to the background and the PTI sentiment was heat embossed on a strip of black.  I still have a large section of the purple left so I need to think of a way to use it.  

I hope you'll check out the fabulous creations by our Design Team and guest designer Karren Johnson and then make a purple card of your own.  If you are chosen Chic of the Week you could be our guest in June.

I'm also linking this up to the Ellen Hutson PinSights Challenge where this mood board is our inspiration.

Inspired By All the Little Things #80

I had to look and think and think and look but I finally came up with a card for Inspired By All the Little Things.  This is what I was looking at

and this is where the thinking took me.

At first I tried the grid I saw on those wings but it didn't work out so I die cut a panel from TH and put it over some light aqua paper.  I added roses from WPlus9 for the flowers and instead of 'hello' used the 'enjoy' from SSS cut in gold foil.

Another week is beginning and my mind is full of card ideas.  Once they start they never stop until the card is made.  This addiction has a strong hold on me.  LOL.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you have a little crafty time this week.

The Card Concept #79

Today's card is for The Card Concept.  Michele challenged me to make a card for this challenge when she visited and she's already posted hers.  Mine took a little longer but here it is for the Clean and Layered category.

I recently ordered the Hellebore stamp set from WPlus9 and was thrilled with the way it stamped.  I used those on my card in place of the pumpkins in the photo.  The background die is gray popped up over cashmere.  Another prayer card for my stash.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope your week is off to a good start.