The Paper Players #800 and Love Those Pretty Papers

The Paper Players are celebrating their 800th challenge and went back to their very first sketch challenge for this anniversary.  Congratulations on inspiring us for all those years and here's to many more.

I went through all the stamps and dies I had with me and came up with another Christmas card for my stash.

I started with the poinsettia from C9 Festive Blooms, then went searching for some patterned paper to go with it.  All three pieces came from a Vintage Christmas pack from The Paper Studio.  The music piece actually has my sentiment included on it.  A little distressing with Hickory Smoke added a more vintage look to the poinsettia. 

With all that DSP I have to send my card to Love Those Pretty Papers - without the theme. 

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Christmas Kickstart #113 and Jingle Belles

The gals at Jingle Belles are the elves at Christmas Kickstart this month and their chosen theme is "A Friend is for Life and not just at Christmas".  Seems pretty appropriate, doesn't it?

For my card I used the Festive Friends dies from Spellbinders.  The Polar Bear's sweater is patterned paper as is the snowy background that was cut with PFS Blanket Stitch Rectangles.  A little sparkle was added to the penguin's hat to go along with the sentiment from PFS.  

The Jingle Belles have a masculine theme for their challenge and I think this fits so off my card goes to them too.

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Inkspirational #374

The theme at Inskpirational is Garden and I had the perfect set for it.  

I made a shaped card using Concord and 9th Garden Grown stencils, Altenew Inks and Spellbinders Essential Stylish Ovals.   One sentiment wouldn't do so I stamped two on MFT circles and cut one with a sentiment strip die.  They are all part of the Garden Grown set.    

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Freshly Made Sketches #750 and NBUS #89

While looking for something else the new Creep It Tweet set from Unity fell out and I thought it would be great for Cecile's challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  I'm also sending my card to Darnell's NBUS.

This is actually my second card.  I started a different one then used it as a template as I tried out what I wanted to do.  This one uses Fresh Picked Labels from Spellbinders to stamp my witch on and then a larger one cut in green to frame it. I added Wilted Violet around the edge of the white and Black Soot around the green and DSP from Honey Bee, coloring the eyes and beak with Ohuhu markers.  The lines were hand drawn and the sentiment is from the stamp set. 

This one has MFT squares at an angle in the center and the panel was trimmed to leave a white border.  Now I have two Halloween cards ready for my adult grands. I think they will get a kick out of the image. 

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Just Us Girls #837 - Mood Board Week

Lisa is the host for Mood Board Week at Just Us Girls and this is her board.

Sunflowers and butterflies along with bright colors should inspire you to make a card.

I saw Jennifer McGuire cover a card with Spellbinders Sunflowers and loved it.  I should have made enough to cover the entire card but I didn't' want to have to cut any of them down to fill the edges.  They are cut from PTI's Harvest Gold with Wild Honey Distress Ink for shading.  

The Design Team and our guest Betty Keefe have some glorious creations that will want you to make a card for our challenge.  I hope you do.

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Time Out #320 - Photo Inspiration

We have a gorgeous photo taken by team member Kate for our inspiration this fortnight at Time Out. 

I hadn't used my alcohol inks in quite a while and knew they would make the best panel for my card.

Pinkfresh Studio's Stained Glass die was cut from black and placed over the top.  The sentiment from C9's Shine Brighter was heat embossed on vellum and turned into a sticker with my Xyron. 

We are sponsored by Top Flight who will give the winner a $25 store credit.  The team is also being joined by Jane Taylor as a guest designer.  

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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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Freshly Made Sketches #749

Today's card is for Freshly Made Sketches based on a sketch by Jen B.

I bought this SSS Wonky Tree die a few years ago when I was at CREATE.  I may have made one or two cards with it last year but I had it with me and decided it would work great with the design and to add to my Christmas stash.  I pulled out a bunch of cardstock scraps and cut each of the three tree sections in every color.  That way I could play around putting them together and end up with extra trees.  The glitter strip is from Altenew's Moonstone and the silver embossed sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio. 

I put the extras all on one card.

I'll add a sentiment when I have access to one I think will fit across the bottom and put the panel on a card base.  

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Just Us Girls #836 - Word Week

I'm the host for Word Week at Just Us Girls and I have chosen "Water".

I've had to make a couple of other cards featuring water so I had to put my thinking cap on and come up with enough cards to cover them all.  For this one I used all die cuts.

I cut a panel with C9's Wavy Card Front die, then inked the various sections with the Lapis Lazuli set of Altenew Inks.  I tucked the boat from Spellbinders Set Sail under one of the cuts.  

What does the word water bring to your mind?  I hope you'll join our guest Betty Keefe and the Design Team by making a card for the challenge. 

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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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Freshly Made Sketchesd #748

Verena is hosting Freshly Made Sketches and her sketch made me think of my Houseplants die set from Altenew.

The polka dot paper scrap was the jumping off point and I made the pot in matching gray with pink flowers and added a pink strip accent.  The background is the Subtle folder from SU and the sentiment is from Altenew's One-Go Birthday.  

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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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Krafty Chicks #831

Krafty Chicks has an Anything Goes challenge this week because of the 5th  Thursday in the month.  Even thought it's AG, they do have a wonderful mood board and one of the images inspired my card.

If you look at the board below you will see in the upper right corner a glass of a cooling summer drink.  I turned it into a Popsicle from the Sweet Summer set from C9.  Using Distress Ink, I stenciled the lemons and strawberries and then went over the die cut in the same colors with a lighter hand.  It is layered and popped up on a panel embossed with Hero Arts Circle Confetti die.  The sentiment is from the set, stamped in Mocha and cut with an MFT circle.  

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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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