Inkspirational #378

There's a clean and simple challenge over at Inkspirational with the optional twist of plaid.  I love plaid so had to include it on my card.

I'm always in need of masculine birthday cards and I thought cattails and a seed pod from Honey Bee would be the way to go.  This plaid from Honey Bee was such a great color to go with them.  The sentiment is from PTI.  

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Just Us Girls #844 - Word Week

Carol Mc is hosting Word Week at Just Us Girls and she would like to see movement on your cards.

This can include shakers, pop-ups, spinners, wobblers or any other type of movement you can think of.  I made a Magic Color Slider card.

I used Lawn Fawn's Magic Color Slider dies, stamping the panel with a sentiment from Altenew.  The "Make a Wish" is from Mama Elephant.  When you 'pull", this is what you get.

The image is from Hearts Aplenty by Penny Black, colored with Altenew artist markers and the sentiment is from PB's Snippets.  I used this die to make Christmas cards for my grandkids with gift cards included back in 2017 and haven't used it since. You can find one of them here.  

Put your thinking caps on,  pull out any of your products that will add movement to your card and join us for this fun challenge.  The Design Team and our guest Carrie Sheridan have plenty of ideas for you.

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CAS Mix-Up October 2026

Linda is hosting this month's CAS Mix-Up challenge and the technique is blackout.  It's a fun one to do and if you haven't done it before there are videos on the blog to help you through.  

 
I've made several and this one was a little different since the embossed images are so small.

The embossing folder is Tiny Flora from SSS.  It was colored with Altenew inks on the debossed side with small blending brushes.  Once dry, black ink was lightly rubbed over the top until the raised part was covered.  The frame around my  panel is Double Frames from Penny Black.  

For more inspiration please check out what the Design Team and our guest Darnell have made using this technique.  We'd love to see you try it and enter a CAS card in our challenge. 

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Krafty Chicks #839

It's a masculine challenge at Krafty Chicks and I finally made a card I've been wanting to do for a while.

I picked a light teal color and cut six of MFT's Hooray die from it, then stacked them with another cut, before arranging them on the same color card front.  The sentiment from Altenew was stamped in black, trimmed and stacked.  

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Double D Challenge - Pretty in Pink

Double D has a Pretty in Pink challenge and I wanted to play with some new products and used their challenge as inspiration. 

It started with Pinkfresh Studio's Beautiful Branch, stamped in light gray ink and stenciled with Gina K Light Carnation, adding it darker in the center.  Altenew Frayed Leaf and Forest Glades colored the leaves. I cut a panel with PFS Blanket Stitch Ovals but wanted to pop it up so a piece of cardstock was folded to make the mechanism.  To frame it all, pink cardstock was embossed with SSS Flower Frame.  The sentiment is a BetterPress. 

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Inkspirational #376

The challenge at Inkspirational is Furry Friends.  Except for a Christmas bear, I didn't bring any animal stamps with me but I do have a card I made last March for my son's birthday.

This Conga line is from the Anita Jeram collection at Colorado Craft Company and was stamped and given to me by my friend Michele quite a while ago.  I can't find it on their web site. Sorry.  They are colored with Zigs and I added them to a full card shaker filled with a variety of dots cut with an MFT die.  The sentiment is from Penny Black.    

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Color Hues #140 and NBUS #90

I took advantage of a couple of sales and used several of the items for Color Hues and Darnell's NBUS.

The NBUS flowers are Penny Black's Refresh colored with Stormy Sky Distress Ink.  The same ink was used to edge my new Flower Puff embossing folder from SSS.  For the brown, I used Frayed Burlap on PB's Ascending.  The sentiment is from SB Just Add Cake.  

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Just Us GIrls #840 - Word Week

 The Word of the Week at Just Us Girls as chosen by our host Ina is

This can mean just about anything but I decided to go with bold colors from a paper pack from A Colorful Life. 

I needed something simple to go with it so I cut the MFT Roses in Bloom die from black and then used Neat and Tangled Everyday Labels for the sentiment.  EZPZ.  Both the die and label stamp have been languishing in my stash for quite a while.  

What direction will the word 'bold' take you?  For inspiration, please check out the Design Team and our guest designer Julia Aston.

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The Paper Players #802

The Paper Players has a candle challenge this week and I made a card

What do you think of this for a bright and happy birthday card? The dies are from SB's Just Add Cake kit cut from scraps.  The sentiments are from MFT.  I added some Nuvo drops to the flames and Pico Embellisher to the cherry for a bit of shine.  The background is embossed with the Tasteful Textile folder from SU and the frosting with SB Crackle Paint.  

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Color Hues #139 and NBUS #89

I had a new die set and new fun fold I wanted to try for the Color Hues challenge hosted by my friend Marcia.  And since it's all new I'm sending my card to Darnell's NBUS. 

The die set is the Craft a Flower African Daisy from Altenew and I must admit I ordered the wrong one.  I meant to get the Lush Botanicals African Daisy which comes with an embossing folder and has a totally different look.   The flowers were cut in light yellow and shaded with Orange Cream Altenew ink in the center and on the ends.  The leaves are Altenew Green Gold, which I hope is a neutral since it looks brown.    

For the card I wanted to try a card I saw Jennifer McGuire make using Pinkfresh Studio Blanket Stitch Bracket.  Here you can see how it pops up.

And it will stand on its own.

The background looked a little bare so I smooshed some Scattered Straw Distress Ink.  The sentiment is from Spellbinders Just Add Cake.  

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Color Hues #138

My card for Color Hues is nothing special but navy and teal plaid makes a great masculine card and I need more of those.

The plaid are the thick and thin dies from Concord and 9th and the stacked sentiment is from Penny Black. 

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Just Us Girls #835 - Die Week

It's Die Week again at Just Us Girls with Vicki as our host.

I want to welcome our guest designer for this month, Betty Keefe at Created by BJK.  She and the rest of the Design Team have created wonderful cards to inspire you.  

My inspiration came from a friend's Cosmos Garden.

Mine are a little darker and I exchanged the stone wall for brick using Honey Bee's Rustic Brick Wall.  The Garden Cosmos are from Altenew, cut from their Vineyard Berry, Warm Sunshine and Mountain Pine cardstock.  The sentiment is from Spellbinders Just Add Cake.

I hope I see your card in our gallery.

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Time Out #319 - Pick Two

It's a Pick Two challenge at Time Out and these are the words you can pick from to make your card.  

I went with CAS, monochrome, birthday and floral for my words.  

Daffodil Delight from Altenew was embossed on watercolor cardstock and painted with Squeezed Lemonade and Wild Honey Distress Ink.  The sentiment is a BetterPress.  

Newton's Nook is the sponsor for this challenge and the winner will receive a $25 store credit and an invitation to guest design.

The Design Team has chosen their own two words to base their cards on.  You may want to check them out for inspiration.

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CAS MIx-Up August 2026

I hope you enjoyed CAS Mix-Up last month.  Today we're back with another fun technique for you.   Stenciling over patterned paper.

This should be fairly self explanatory but if you want some direction there are videos on the blog.

My patterned paper is from Altenew's Soft Wash paper pack.  The stencil is ARTplorations Bloom Silhouettes and the sentiment is from Hero Arts.  To keep it CAS, I made a frame from two rectangle dies.

The Design Team has some wonderful inspiration for you on the blog.  Be sure to check them out, then create your own stenciled card for our gallery. 

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Just Us Girls #834 - CASE a Designer

There are five Thursdays in July so that means this week's Just Us Girls challenge is CASE a Designer hosted by Carol Mc.

All you have to do is choose one of the designer's cards and create one using their idea but adding your own twist.  Please tell us whose card inspired you in case it's not obvious.  

My card started with watercolor paper, Distress Inks and an image from Penny Black's Garden Trio.  The image was colored with Worn Lipstick, Evergreen Bough and Forest Moss, with a light wash of Evergreen Bough on the panel that is inset into Curvature Frame, also from PB.  The sentiment is from their Sprinkles and Smiles. 

Now it's your turn.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.

 

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