I lived to 100 and all I got was this card

My mom started a cardmaking group at her church some time ago, and it's quite the active group now! One of the members likes my cards (Mom of course brings my cards by to show off! Love ya Mom!) so she's commissioned a couple. This time she wants a birthday card for a friend who's turning 100! That's all the information I had, so I tried to make something classic that would appeal to just about anybody:

Stampin' Royalty

I had too many ideas floating around in my head, so I was glad to have some focused inspiration via challenges (hello Feline Playful!) As soon as I saw the Stampin' Royalty Challenge Picture (right), I felt the whole project come together. I think my folks own those blue water glasses! I also used this week's sketch at The Paper Players (see below).

The focus of this card is a rubber stamp by Magenta Style, which I found in a box of stamps Mom acquired. The stamp came back to Maryland with me from Arizona, and now the card I made with it is on its way from Maryland to Arizona! I stamped it six times; all the colors are embossing powders, except for the 2 blues which are stamped in blue inks and then heat-embossed with clear embossing powder (well, the dark one is in clear & the lighter one is in Kaleidoscope). I pieced it in 3 layers, using 2 thicknesses of pop foam. I edged the foam in yellow, but wrapped the final square with white ribbon.

Challenges:

Paper Players #80: Anne Marie's Sketch Challenge (right)

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #108: Picture Inspiration (above right)

Mark's Finest Paper Challenge #92: At Least 4 Layers

Thanks everyone! May you live 100 good years!

A Snowy Valentine

I awoke to the nicest present in my inbox: the new newsletter from The Stamping Boutique, complete with tutorial & freebie! I really like how Audrey's Heart includes a snow theme...at least in our area, we're more likely to have a White Valentine's than a White Christmas!

I decided to put off the card I should have made today and used the freebie to make this card, with more inspiration from the following challenges:

The Stamping Boutique Challenge #24: Die Cuts

Gingerloft Challenge #32: Let it Snow

Cooking It Up with Katie Challenge #88: Hearts + Punches + Embossing

Card Positioning Systems Sketch #136 (Challenge #1 of their 5th Anniversary Celebration!)

Totally PaperCrafts Challenge: Pearls and Lace
The Corrosive Challenge: I {Heart} You

I recently purchased some wonderful ribbon, twine & embellishments from the NEW online store Can You Digi It?, which you've got to check out. They have some great sales going on! I bought some wooden buttons, and was tickled to see some pretty wooden snowflakes include in my package! One of my favorite parts is that they're pre-painted white; all I did was edge them with a pink Copic marker (R83).I used teh same color to edge the backing papers.

I cut the little hearts with my Cricut, using the Walk in My Garden cartridge. The big Conversation Heart is from an SVG/SCAL set available for free at Denise's Scrapbooking. Thank you Denise!

I edged the light blue background with a Recollections border punch, and patterned the paper by stamping hearts & snowflakes on it and heat-embossing them with two different pink embossing powders (Stampendous & Martha Stewart).

I colored the image with Copic markers, and added dimension to the "snow" with Glossy Accents. I paper-pieced Audrey onto the the heart background, and popped up the little conversation hearts with foam tape.

I finished it off with some pink & regular adhesive pearls. What a great way to spend a chilly Sunday! I craft on my couch, with my husband in his chair playing XBox and working... I had red Copic build on the couch beside me, and Walt decided to jump up to take advantage of the blanket pile. In this house, we live around crafting!

Have a great day!

Pile It On #5 - Just Because

Happy Sunday! This week's challenge at Pile It On is "Just Because" and we're sponsored by Stamp-N-Doodle.

I've entered this card in the following challenges:

CRAFT #139 - Digi Image, Ribbon, Buttons

Crafting for All Seasons #19 - Blue & White

Dutch Dare Card Challenge #149 - Buttons Galore

Shelly's Images - Text Me

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes

Stampavie Challenge #161 - Blue and white

The Pile It On team members were given this lovely Chickadee digi stamp from Stamp-N-Doodle to play with. Their images are so beautiful...wait till you see what the DT came up with! Wow! I colorized the image in PhotoShop; the image is shaded so well that you really get a great mix of hues. I printed it on thick, textured Letterpress paper, which I used for teh card base as well.

I made the patterned paper by embossing Letterpress paper in my BigShot with a Sizzix Texture folder, and then using a baby wipe to color it with blue Tim Holtz distress ink.

I used a sentiment from the Clearly Beautiful Cardinal set by Prickly Pear, and stamped it in Memento blue. I picked up this Keepsake Shaker Box kit by Dimensional Scrapbooking/DASA Industries at Mom's church's rummage sale. I filled it with blue glitter I got somewhere.

I sewed the buttons onto the card with metallic thread. The button on the frame is glued on, but I did put thread through it first. I used three ribbons on this card; As the Beauty Queen said, I'd like to thank double-sided tape!

Have a great day, and be sure to Pile It On!

A little freaky

I'm totally crushin' on Dilly Beans Stamps...they are both cute and funky, and use great patterns. I splurged and bought one of their new pre-colored Digi Collage Sheets, Girlie Skellies. The hanging hearts are from the same set, but I printed them on Shrinky Dink plastic and shrunk them in my toaster oven. The heart brads are red, but I heat-embossed a black enamel on the tops.The charm is from Stamp and Create.

This card was inspired by several challenges:

Dilly Beans Designs: Freaked

i[heart]2stamp January Challenge: Sketch

Crafty Ribbons Challenge: Love is Red & Black

HIMCR #31: Nontraditional Valentine's Day Project

One Stop Craft Challenge #167: Stitching

Ruby's Rainbow #20: Red & Black/Valentines

Inside (image from same set):

Update: Wow, this card made the Top 3 for the Dilly Beans Designs Freaked Challenge! Be sure to check out all the cards, they are freakishly amazing!

Kitchenalia

My followers know that I have a little niece whom I absolutely adore, and one of her many talents is making cookies with Nani (my mother-in-law). So I made this card for them!

The little cutie is the What's Cookin? digi stamp by Mo Manning, and I paired it with this sweet background rubber stamp from Art Impressions Stamps.

Inspiration:

• Digital Pencil Challenge #119: All My Favorite Things + Mo Manning image
  
  • This celebrates two of my most favorite activities: crafting and cooking!
• Daring Cardmakers: Kitchenalia
  
  • I love Kitchenalia. I love the word & I love filling my kitchen with pretty tools!
• iCopic Challenge #66: BV Color Family
  
  • I only have 4 Copic markers from the BV family: BV000, BV00, BV02, BV04. I colored the main image with this build, and colored the flowers with the set as well. The flowers are from a white ribbon; the netting on the sentiment piece is from the same ribbon.
• Art Impressions Stamps Challenge #48: A Card for a Child
  
  • I know a four-year-old who's going to be getting her sticky little hands on this!
• Mad for Markers January Challenge: Use a New Color Combination
  
  • What a fun challenge! Since I already had chosen a lavender scheme, I paired it with the color Teal to make a combo that I for one have never worked with!

Copics: BV000, BV00, BV02, BV04, BG000, BG10, BG15, BG49, BG09, B000, G00, YG25, YG67, G07, B32, Y08, YR12, YR31, R29, R59, RV02, C-2, C-5, C-7, E50, E51, E33, E11, E13, E17, E37, E47

Dude Time Doodles New Release Blog Hop

Welcome my stop on the Dude Time Doodles New Release Blog Hop! [If you arrived here from somewhere else, please begin at the beginning, which is a very good place to start!]

One of the Dudettes - or Dude - will be named our MYSTERY HOST at the end of the hop and one lucky person who comments on that blog will win a free Dude Time Doodles image of their choice; So be sure to comment on each blog. You have a whole week to hop!

Here's the hop order:

Anne

Michelle
CG (You're here)
Dawn (Next stop)
Ruth

Cleota

Kevin

Tammy

Dude Time Doodles

The Design Team is featuring three fantastic new DTD images: Archie Heartful, Axel Lumberjack, and Syd Sadsack. I used Archie Heartful to make a fairly traditional Valentine's card:

I used the tutorial & template from Extreme Cards & Papercrafting to make the Double Heart Spiral Pop-Up on the inside:

Your next stop on the hop is the wondrous Dawn. Thank you in advance for your comments!


I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Creative Stamp Friends Challenge #43: Old-Fashioned or Antique
Cupcake Craft Challenge #176: All you need is Love
Critter Sketch Challenge #99: 3 Embellishments
Paper Creations Ink Challenge #17: Love/Romance
Stamp with Fun Challenge #144: Cute Vintage

Birdies & Banners

We send out a fair amount of Valentines, so I wanted to get another one ready to go. This looks so much better in person! As always, I had plenty of fabulous inspiration:

• MelJen's Designs Challenge #93: Red and/or Pink plus Kraft
• Fetch-a-Sketch #16
• Crafting When We Can Challenge #10: Something Not Intended for Crafting
  
  • I made the banners from a brown paper bag!
• Hiding in my Craft Room Challenge #30: Baby Wipe Technique
  • I made the pink backing paper with this technique; my first try and it was so fun! The HIMCR tutorial is super, give it a try.

Inside:

Stamps: Love Strung Birds digi stamp by Meljen's Designs (thank you!), Pretty Pendants set by SP & Company
Dies: Sizzlits Scribbles Swirls, Spellbinders circle, Recollections border punch
Paper: Recollections cardstocks, paper bag!
Tools: ZipDry glue, Recollections double-stick tape, BigShot, Marvy heat tool, MS scissors, baby wipe!
Embellishments: Copic markers, Recollections embossing powder, Versamark ink, Sakura gel pen, Martha Stewart adhesive gems, Recollections heart brads, Tim Holtz & 7Gypsies distress inks

Toot toot!

It's official: I'm part of the One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT) Design Team! Toot toot! (That's me tooting my own horn!) Many thanks to Choccy & Stitchy & everyone at OSAAT [the challenge blog for StitchyBear Digital Stamps]. I'm already having great time!

I made this card as a sort of personal celebration (you know how I love those!); I used a digi stamp from Ike's Art, one of the fantastic artists whose work is available at the StitchyBear store.

For further inspiration, I used the following challenges:

Deconstructed Sketch #35

Colour Create #88: Pink & Green

The Ribbon Reel Challenge #19: Pink Polka Dots (oops, missed the deadline!)

Some time ago I created this polka-dot digi paper template in InDesign, so I can just go in and change the color scheme and resize it. I printed it on linen cardstock, so it's nice and sturdy! The center ribbon is actually 3 pieces of ribbon. I made the furls on the outer white silk ribbons by pulling on a thread, and then adhering & styling it with double-sided tape.

Polkadots & geraniums always remind me of Spring in Spain, so I used a Spanish sentiment stamp from one of my Dilo en Español sets.

Have a great day everyone, and Happy New Year!

Pile It On #04 - Add Lace

It's challenge time again at Pile It On! This week we're sponsored by Whoopsi Daisy, and so have the theme "Add Lace" to go with their sweet images. One lucky winner will receive their choice of 2 digi sheets their online shop. I chose this groovy gal from Sheet #261:

This is a Free Standing Pop-Up Card, but it's not really a card as there's no room for a message section!. Here it is closed:

I couldn't get any good light in the house today (and it's too gray outside), and some of the best light is in the living room. So Walt helped me with these photos :) Allen stood behind me & barked the entire time.

Challenges:

Pile It On #4 - Add Lace

Gingersnap Creations Random Redhead Challenge - Use Your Favorite Paper

I Brake for Challenges - Fancy Folds

Whimsical Designs - Anything Goes

Cupcake Craftroom January Challenge - Anything Goes

Hotshot Craft Challenge #3 - Flowers

Karen's Doodles - Paper Piecing

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything But a Card
Crafty Emma - Anything But a Card
Little Claire's - Anything But a Card
Pattie's Creations - Fancy Folds
Craft Your Passion - In the Bag/Box

I had so much fun making this. I've been saving this paper from  (I bought it from SP & Company as part of a $5 grab bag!), and I'm glad I used it for this. I printed the Whoopsi Daisy image along with this sentiment by Create with TLC as one piece, and then fussy-cut & colored another copy of the image. Her shirt & pants are printed onto Heidi Grace fabric. I added some embellishment with a glitter pen, and create the 3-D hair with a mix of yellow flocking & light brown FlowerSoft.

I masked the image and created a border with yellow Tattered Angels glimmer mist. I ran the the base piece through my sewing machine to create a zig-zag stitch.


Update: This card won the random prize for Pattie's Creations Challenge #35 - Fancy Folds! Thank you!

One for the Moms

So have you entered the Dude Time Doodles BINGO Challenge yet? The Design Team examples are so awesome! I was particularly inspired by Anne's cute shaped card featuring Gladys Salt by Dude Time Doodles/Bonibleaux Designs, so I just had to use the image myself. Here's my card, with Walt in the background:

I was intrigued by the current Color Throwdown combo of Ivory, Kraft, Olive & Red, and thought it would look good with the "Stripes & Pearls" theme at Card und More.

I colored Gladys with watercolor pencils, and distressed all the pieces with Antique Linen distress ink. The flower was cut on my Cricut from glassine paper using the Walk in the Garden set. I scrunched up the paper, stacked the pieces, secured them with a brad & glue, and sprayed the flower with a green Tattered Angels glimmer mist. For a final touch, added an adhesive pearl in the center.

I generated the sentiment with Folkard™ font. It's a favorite quote of mine, attributed to Mark Twain: "My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it." The look on Gladys' face is exactly the look Mom gave me when I quoted that to her! Ha ha!

Public Dancer

My mom was recently given 4 giant boxes full of wood-mounted rubber stamps, and they are slowly making their way to her cardmaking group, friends, and various classrooms she works with that need crafting supplies. One of the stops was in my room at her house, while I was visiting...I swear, I went through those boxes before unpacking! My intention was to use them while I was there, but I got swept up in the holidays and ended up bringing a bunch back with me in my suitcase. Yes, I tipped the skycap! One of the stamps is this fun ballerina from Art Impressions Stamps,and it works so well with this sentiment from Create with TLC.

I embossed & cut out the piece with a Spellbinders die in my Big Shot (Love it!). Although it's difficult to see in these photos, I added pink to the edges of the image & sentiment die cuts with chalks, and sprayed the pieces with matte coating spray. The swirl is from the Scribbles Swirls Sizzlits die, and the flowers are from the Flower Creations Spellbinders Shapeabilities set.

She makes me want to dance across the living room!

Inspiration:

The Crazy Challenge: Tic Tac Toe / left-to-right diagonal (Ribbon/Lace, Image, Gems/Pearls)

The Paper Players Colour Challenge #78: Calypso Coral, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz

Everybody-Art Challenge #176: Sketch

Stamps: Art Impressions Stamps, sentiment from Create with TLC

Paper: Hot Fudge Studio, Recollections, KI Memories, stash

Tools: Big Shot, Sizzlits & Spellbinders dies, HP printer & ink, EK Success corner punch, tweezers

Embellishments: Memento ink, Hero Arts & Martha Stewart self-adhesive gemstones, stash lace & bakers twine, Copic marks, Sakura glitter pen

Update: This card made the Top 5 for The Crazy Challenge #102! Thank you!

Stampin' Up! Love

I'm so embarrassed; I made a card for this week's "Dies" challenge at Simply Stampin' and completely forgot to include a Stampin' Up! stamp. It's not like this requirement is hidden; I believe it's actually bolded and underlined directly above the Linky LOL! They were nice enough to leave my project in the pool for the random prize (using a Stampin' Up! stamp is a requirement for Top 3), but it's not like I don't have SU! stamps I want to use, so tried my hand at the challenge again.

I stamped this lovely balloon/sentiment from a 2002 SU! set in SU! Wild Wasabi & Memento Rich Cocoa inks. I embossed & cut out the piece with a Spellbinders die in my Big Shot (Love it!). I distressed the circle & the card base (a pre-embossed cardstock) with SU! Barely Banana ink. I stamped a balloon border with the same stamp and colored it (and the center balloon) with SU! watercolor crayons.

I finished off the card with a little ribbon furl. So glad I made this -- I'm very happy with it.

Inspiration:

Simply Stampin' Challenge #42: To DIE for!!!

Emerald Faerie Garden Challenge #16: Green and Gold/Yellow

Cardabilities Sketch #47

Party Time Tuesday's Challenge #51: Happy Birthday

BINGO Challenge at Dude Time Doodles

This week at the Dude Time Doodles challenge blog we're playing BINGO!

I chose the right-to-left diagonal row: twine, step card & brads.

Wait till you see the DT cards...Wowza! Hope you'll join us. One lucky winner will receive Two images from Pattie's Creations.

I made this card with the Rodeo Randy set from Dude Time Doodles, for my husband to give to his brother on the occasion of the birth of his son (my husband's nephew)!

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #59: No Floral Embellishments

One Stitch at a Time Challenge #96: Anything Goes
Crafty Calendar January Challenge: New News
Cards for Men: Boys & their Toys
Pattie's Creations Design Challenge: Fancy Folds

Stamps: Rodeo Randy set from Dude Time Doodles

Paper: DP from stash, Recollections

Tools: Zip Dry glue, glue dots, Fiskars papercutter & finger knife, MS detail scissors, HP printer & ink, hole punch

Embellishments: Recollections embossing powders, stash eyelets, watercolor pencils, Sakura gel pens, Copics for edging, bakers twine, Recollections brads

Happy Chinese New Year!

I wanted to make a card this evening, so I whipped together this Chinese New Year card with help from the following challenges:

Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge #117: Clean & Simple w/Mo Manning Image

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #35: Clean And Simple project with scallops

clean&simple Fall-to Layout #173

I used InDesign to combine Fan's Cricket by Mo Manning and the sentiment by Create with TLC, and printed it onto the smooth side of a banana/coffee bean paper Mom bought on a trip to Ecuador. The backing paper is actual Joss Paper that I bought years ago at a local Chinese market. After coloring the image with Copics & gel pens, I glued the pieces together and ran the whole thing through my Big Shot with a Spellbinders emboss/die. I cut the bottom off of the top piece to reveal the ruffle. It's simple, but very textural.

Have a lucky day!

It's all in the numbers

It's the 100th Challenge over at Our Craft Lounge, so the theme is to include numbers on your project. I had the perfect papers from a KI Memories set that I've been itching to use, which went great with my favorite Tiddly Inks sets, Whaz Up or Down, which I always have to color like my dogs, Walt & Allen. I also always have to add Polar White FlowerSoft to "Allen" and black OCL Sparkly Fluff to "Walt"!

This is my first time coloring transparent balloons with my Copics, but thanks to a YouTube video I really like the result!

The sentiments are heat-embossed in light blue, and are from a set that I've had for years...it was one of the first stamp sets my mom gave me, way before I was even into cardmaking, so it definitely qualifies this for the Shopping Our Stash Challenge! This week's theme is "Borders", and although it's a little difficult to see (click image to enlarge) I spent a lot of time on the central border. The presents are a strip from one of the pieces from the KI Memories set; I added orange ribbon to the top & bottom of the strip, and hand-sewed a zig-zag border in bakers twine on the bottom.

Inspiration:

Our Craft Lounge Challenge #100: Numbers

Sketch Saturday Week #190

Robyn's Fetish Challenge #90: Animals

Tiddly Inks Challenge #78: green, yellow, orange, blue (+ use Tiddly Inks image)

Shopping Our Stash Challenge 35: create a border detail

Here's Walt with the card:

I wanted to get both of my boys in the photo, and this is the best I could do:

Have a great day everyone!

Dude Time: King of the Neighborhood

I'm having so much fun as part of the Dude Time Doodles Design Team! I still kinda have to pinch myself! I wanted to make a simple card for the Sexton of the church across the street, who also tends our lawn & keeps me up-to-date on the neighborhood gossip, and the proud Leif Blower from DTD/Bonibleaux Designs seemed a perfect fit. I paired it with this fun sentiment from Create with TLC.

Inspiration:

• Card Positioning Systems: Sketch #251
• Samuel Taylor's January Blog Challenge: Distressing
  I distressed the all pieces with Antique Linen distress ink. Their prize this month is 4 bottles of Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Tea Dye, Weathered Wood, Pine Needles and Worn Lipstick. Oh how I'd love to add those to my collection!

You have until this afternoon to submit to the Dude Time Doodles Freebie challenge, and a new  challenge will be posted tomorrow (Wednesday) on the Dude Time Doodles Challenge Blog. Trust me, you won't want to miss this one!

Pile It On #03 - Fuzzy Friends

Pile It On is sponsored this week by Di's Digi Downloads with the theme of "Fuzzy Friends" so I used her adorable Daffodil Fun digi, which is only $2 and has so many fun crafting possibilities. I made a birthday card appropriate for a child (for the Celebrate the Occasion Challenge), using my NEW Big Shot machine and Spellbinder's dies. Thanks Mom & Dad & Santa!!! I love its emboss/cut function (also qualifies this card for the Use Your New Stash challenge at Ladybug Crafts).

I actually printed this twice and fussy cut the colored image and glued it on top to give it some dimension. The image is colored with watercolor crayons, which give some a great effect! I even added a shadow in crayon behind the sentiment piece, which is raised with pop-foam.

Challenges:
Pile It On #3: Fuzzy Friends

Celebrate the Occasion Challenge #45: Child's Birthday

Ladybug Crafts Challenge #51: Use your new stash

Be sure to check out the gorgeous cards from the Pile It On DT and join us!

Warding off the snow

I don't want to go jinxing things by saying that it's been a fairly mild winter so far, so I won't. It's bitterly cold today -- at least by my standards -- but sunny. We got a little bit of snow on Monday (exactly during rush hour, thanks Universe), which was very pretty and just enough, thank you. But 'tis the season, so I'm expecting we'll see a bit of the white stuff before Spring; hopefully I'll get to witness one of my favorite sights: a red cardinal in snow. The current theme at the Dilly Beans Challenge Blog is "Frosty," so I decided to make my own version of that scene, in card form!

December's Silly Dilly Beans Stamp Club freebie was their cute Winter Birdie (thank you Megan!), which I thought would be perfect for the "Paper Piecing" challenge at DRS Designs as well as the Totally Papercrafts "Spots & Stripes" and the Fussy & Fancy "Let It Snow!" challenges. I used the sketch from Repeat Impressions.

I paper-pieced the Winter Birdie digi with 3 papers onto a light blue; I added some details with Copics and then ran the whole piece through my embossing machine. I lightly sanded it to show the white core and create "snow".

For the base, I stamped and heat-embossed the grass and sentiment in jade green and white respectively. I picked up this old rubber Sea Grass stamp by Posh Impressions at a church rummage sale and I think I'm going to have lots of fun with it! I cut around the grass blades so that the image piece would fit behind it.

Stamps: Winter Birdie and Girlie Skellies digital collage sheet by Dilly Beans stamps, Sea Grass stamp by Posh Impressions, sentiment from Build-a-Snowman set

Paper: DCWV, Paper Company

Tools: Zip Dry & tacky glues, Fiskars papercutter, Versamark ink, Marvy heat tool, stamp block, Big Shot, MS detail scissors, Recollections double-sided tape, sandpaper, HP printer & ink

Embellishments: Recollections embossing powders, stash eyelets, Copic markers, stash ribbon, Polar White FlowerSoft

With bells on

Yesterday afternoon I wanted to do some coloring, so I pulled out the lovely Rajasthani Girl digi by the very talented Priyanka (who's blog address I misplaced!) and used the super sketch at Robyn's Fetish Challenge Blog to make this card. I was also inspired by the Embellishments challenge at One Stitch at a Time.

The medallion & sentiment stamps are heat-embossed in gold & silver, and I added detail to the medallion with glitter and gel pens.

The backing paper is actually from India!


Update: Whoo hoo! This card made the top 3 for Robyn's Fetish Challenge #89! Thank you!

Valentine's Graffiti

I had so much fun making my funny Valentine with this week's Dude Time Doodles FREEBIE (join the challenge for your chance to be Guest Designer!), that I wanted to follow my heart and make another, ha ha.

I've been itching to use one of the neato wooden picket fences I got in a swap, so I decided to pair it with this cute Penny Back stamp. I stamped the image with black StazOn and then cut it out with a cut beautiful Spellbinder's die in my Big Shot (LOVE that machine!). I colored the frame & background with watercolor crayons, but I used watercolor pencils for the image itself. Using double-sided tape, I added some flair to the top with pink tulle. I adhered the image to the base with double pop-foam.

I painted the wooden fence with brown acrylic paint, sanded it a bit, and heat-embossed some hearts in red. Before embossing it, I sprayed the piece with matte coating, which has the added effect of repelling the stray embossing powder. I tied a small charm on it before gluing it down.

I was inspired by the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday #189

Penny Black @ Allsorts January Challenge: Love & Hearts

Dude Time Doodles January FREEBIE Challenge

Woot woot it's time for another Freebie Challenge at Dude Time Doodles! This week we have Count Vladimir to play with.

Hint hint, the current challenge at Pile It On is Manly Cards, sponsored by none other than Dude Time Doodles/Bonibleaux Designs! So why not join both challenges, and maybe a few more?

I gave him black jeans, because he's a romeo! Remember that song by Michael Penn? "What if I were Romeo in black jeans? What if I was Heathcliff, it's no myth..." My husband put that on a mixed tape for me when we were dating in High School ... love him so much!

This silly sentiment (Happy Valentine's from one bleeding heart to another) just popped into my head, so I heat-embossed it in red using the Bleeding Freaks font by Thomas W.Otto. For the frames, I used one from a the Frame It Fab set by Create with TLC. This heat-embossed from the printer so well!

I'm entering this in the following challenges:
Pretty Little Ribbon Shop January Challenge #6: Be my Valentine
Anything Goes Challenge 58: Anything Goes

Stamps: Count Vladimir from Bonibleaux Designs/Dude Time Doodles, Frame It Fab set by Create with TLC, Bleeding Freaks font by Thomas W.Otto

Paper: Hammermill, Recollections, patterned velvet paper
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Marvy heat tool, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Martha Stewart detail scissors, ZipDry glue, ZIG glue pens
Supplies: Our Craft Lounge sparkly fluff, Copic markers, Recollections embossing powder & adhesives gems, silk ribbon

Green Hydrangeas

I wanted to do a little stamping, so I used the lovely Hydrangea Bouquet set from Raisin Boat.

The image is made of 4 stamps (3 from the set & a Hero Arts sentiment), but I did it 5 steps. The flower bunch and leaf is one piece, so I stamped & embossed in the leaf, cleaned the stamp, and embossed the bunch in a lighter green. The stems are in the same Stampendous Glitter Jade as the leaf, and the vase & sentiment are in a pretty Recollections red.

I was inspired by the sketch at CardPatterns and the red, cream and sage green color color at Colour Create. I sewed on the buttons onto a stack of lace, some leftover Christmas present ribbon, & a pattern ribbon.

I drew on the border with an Elmer's gel pen, and used a flower stamp from the Raisin Boat set to decorate the inside.

Inspiration:

Colour Create Challenge 87: Red, cream and sage green

CardPatterns #147: Sketch

Birthday Sundaes Challenge #38: Birthday Cards

Sweet Stampin': Spots & Dots

Happy Day everyone!

Christmas Thank-You

We spent Christmas at my parents', so when we arrived home we had a big box of presents from my mother-in-law. We physically got home at 2 in the morning, but we were so happy to see our sweet dogs after a week away that we stayed up and had a second Christmas! Several days later, I was organizing the recycling pile and decided to grab out the pretty wrapping she used to make her a thank-you card (I kept the beautiful tags & ribbon she used for next year!)

I was intrigued by the Recycling themes at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenges and Squiggle Stamps, so I made the backing and little presents by wrapping pieces of cardboard (actually from the packaging for my new Fiskars papercutter!)

Both the cute dog stamp & the holly border are from sets my Mom got free with her Quick Cards magazines.

Inspiration:

Card Positioning Systems #250: Sketch

CRAFT Challenge 136: Thank You

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge: Recycle Something

Squiggle Stamps: Recycle/Uprecycle

Crafts & Me Christmas Bumper Challenge #66: Anything Goes

I added dotted borders to the front and inside with a Sakura gel pen.

Stamps: Dulcie Jackson and Adam Pescott for Quick Cards, Hero Arts

Dude Time Doodles Piles It On!

This week's challenge at Pile It On is sponsored by Dude Time Doodles, so we have the theme "Manly Cards," whatever that means to you! It can be for a man or boy, or something that a man or boy would give. Hope you'll join us.

I used the Ernie Carpenter set from Dude Time Doodles/Bonibleaux Designs.

I heat-embossed the Builder3 sentiment onto blue metallic paper. I had lots of fun with Ernie: I colored him Copics, and then used Flowersoft on his hammer & cuffs, and flocking on his hat and hair (love the Sparkly Black flocking from Our Craft Lounge!)

I cut strips of Echo Park DP for the background, and covered the edges with dark blue-and-white baker's twine. I strung up the "loose wires" (actually silver elastic) with my favorite brads.

For the inside backing paper, I used a piece of silver-embossed white, handmade paper I found in my stash. I colored this Carpenter Box digi from Tiddly Inks, added silver FlowerSoft on the pliers, and stamped the "Happy Birthday" Hero Arts sentiment & heat-embossed it in silver.

Challenges:

Pile It On - Manly Cards

Skipping Stones Designs - Sketch Challenge

Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge - Brads (or eyelets)

Crafty Creations - Heat Embossing

Little Red Wagon - Felt or flocking

Fussy and Fancy - Happy Birthday (or use animal print)

Kathy’s Lily Pad Palette - Color Combo (with Our Craft Lounge)

Our Craft Lounge - Color Combo + photo inspiration (with Lily Pad)