Best Wishes!

 Welcome back, Friends!

I don't know about you, but I've always loved Altenew's stamps. I've been slowly collecting them over the last year, but I hadn't yet participated in one of their blog challenges, so I decided why not give it a whirl? 

Every month they challenge crafter's with a fun and inspiring photo or challenge. So this month, Altenew's February 2025 challenge is : Blue & Gold w/ Textures 

And here is their inspiration photo.

Gorgeous blues and a nice splash of a posh gold. What's not to love? I love that they decided to feature blues this month instead of pinks, reds, and whites for February. Nothing wrong with those colors, I love them myself, I just love a good challenge :)

I don't have many Altenew sets but I knew right away that I wanted to use the "Enjoy Your Journey" set. I stamped it out and colored it in with Copics, then I stamped out my sentiment from Altenew's "Gracious Peonies" set. Then I cut my image out with MFT's Stitched Rectangles dies, and matted it with Tim Holtz's Metallic Gold Cardstock, cut into a scalloped rectangle using MFT's Scalloped Mini Rectangle dies.

Obviously, I used a lot of Blues and added some gold touches in my image and coloring. For my Textures part of the challenge, I chose to use a shiny, smooth metallic cardstock as my texture for the challenge. It adds a bit of texture and sparkle to the card that I love!

Thank you for joining me and I'll see you next time I post my next project!

Happy Birthday

 Hello and welcome back crafty Friends! I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! I don't know about you, but I look forward to my weekends of crafting :)

Today I have a card that combined a few blog challenges :

Addicted To CAS : Center Focus

Word Art Wednesday : Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Blog : Anything Goes w/ Spellbinders

A Cherry On Top : Sketch

Just Add Ink : A Touch of Bling

I didn't want to combine too many challenges together, because I wanted to keep my card as clean and simple as possible this time. I usually have clean designs, but I really wanted this card to be clean and simple so the design would speak for itself and keep the focus front and center.

I chose to use Spellbinders Scalloped Symphony Notecard die set, on Tim Holtz's Metallic Cardstock in Rose Gold. I chose a close matching pink paper cardstock from The Paper Boutique's Moon Meadows cardstock collection. I stamped my sentiment from Crafter's Companion in a set called Gemini. After stamping my sentiment and placing it in the center of my card, I added a couple of gem stickers from Honey Bee Stamps from their Log Cabin gem collection.

Again, I felt it would look better if I made it as clean and simple as possible and I'm glad I did. I generally don't work with shimmery cardstock for many reasons, but mainly because I feel it's difficult to photograph well. I had to close some blinds and shades to keep from the high reflection on this card, but the darker room, I feel dulls it out. So it's tricky if you want to take photos with it, but in real life it just sparkles in such a lovely, eye catching, way!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a happy, crafty weekend!

Friends

 Hi Friends! I wanted to share with you another card I created for a blog challenge.

Over on Addicted to CAS, they're code word this week is : Center Focus .

I chose to use Colorado Stamp Company's "Bunny & Ducking" stamps with dies, and coloring them in with Copics. I masked off a border and sponged in Mermaid Lagoon & Prize Ribbon Distress Inks, then embossed a single line around the sponging with my Scor-Pal, to frame my images. I matted the scored and sponged paper with Kraft cardstock, to keep everything clean and non-fussy looking, then placed popdots under my bunny, to further give it depth, so it wouldn't feel "flat" and further reenforce the size difference, then added the duckling.

I love how it came out! So simple, gentle and clean!  I almost stamped a sentiment on the card but felt it would detract from the clean lines and the images. 

Thanks for joining me in my little craft corner. Until we meet again, have a great crafting day!

Father's Day

 Hello and welcome back, Friends!

I have another blog challenged card to share with you, and as you can see, it's a Father's Day card. I know it is rather early to even think about Father's Day, but it fit in so well with some other blog challenges, it was too perfect to pass up.

I chose Flourishes "In Nature" stamp set that I colored in with Copics - choosing to predominantly use mainly blues and greens to keep it masculine. I cut out the image with My Favorite Thing's Double Stitched Rectangles, and then cut the paper under it with the same die. I added a small die cut and stamped out my sentiment from Crafter's Companion called "Sentiments" set. I then took Simple Stories "Teal" and used my Scor-Pal and embossed a "frame" a 1/4" from the edge, all around my cardstock. Then I put popdots under my darker green paper with my image, and centered it over my blue Simple Stories cardstock, for added interest and dimension. 

I love how this turned out. I kept it as CAS and masculine as I possibly could. My only wish is that I had a "Father's Day" stamp with a little less "fuss and frill" to it, so it really would be completely masculine.

I created this card for the following blog challenges :

~ A Cherry on Top (using their Card Sketch) : Card Sketch

~ Freshly Made Sketches : Card Sketch

~ Inspired By : Boys Room (Masculine/Blues/Greens)

~ Word Art Wednesday : Anything Goes

~ Krafty Chicks : Masculine

~ DL.Art : Anything Goes

~ Paper Funday Challenges : Anything Goes w/ Optional Monochrome Twist

That's all I have today Friends, but I hope to see you for another card post from blog challenges, soon!

Have a great Crafting Day!

Let's Chill

 Ok Friends, I'm back with a fun card that's my new favorite! I just love Anita Jeram's images of the cute cat's holding ice cream!

I stamped out the images from Colorado Craft Company, called "Ice Cream Day" diecut them out and colored in with Copics. I cut out a frame with Stitched Scalloped Rectangles from MFT, in Bazzil "Chiffon" cardstock. I matted the scalloped rectangle with Echo Park's DP called "Kitty Plaid", and laid a Doodlebug Design "Mint" doily on top. After adding my doily, I put extra thick popdots under one of my images and thinner popdots under another image, for depth. I added a diecut tag from Momma Elephant's "Framed Tags", and stamped my sentiment from Colorado Craft's "Slimline Ice Cream" set, and added some candy dots from Bo Bunny's "Willow & Sage". 

I love the fun colors and images and how they turned out! Every time I look at it, it makes me smile :)

I created this card for the following Challenges.

Polkadoodles Card & Crafting : Anything Goes

The Outlawz Challenges : Use Blue

Stamping Sensations : Anything Goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends : Anything Goes

Love to Scrap : Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday : Anything Goes

Ok, Crafty Friends, that's it for me today. Have a great crafting day!

Good Friends

 Welcome back, Friends! I have another card created from blog challenges.

This time, I'm going to be combining three challenges together. 

Color Throwdown Blog : Blue, Pink, Yellow

Inspired By Blog : Pillows/Bright Colors

A Cherry On Top Blog : Weekly Sketch

I was very much inspired by the colors and using just a sentiment. But I decided that my sentiment would run from "top to bottom", instead of side-to-side.

I chose a long retired, but never used stamp set from Just Rite stamps, "True Friends" (I think). I chose to stamp it in Staz-On Timber Brown (because the black was just too harsh looking, though it definitely stood out better), on Acetate. I framed my sentiment with an old piece of Ephemera frames from a card kit I received years ago that I found in my stash. I put popdots under my pink Ephemera frame, placing it over my a scrap piece of paper that has blues, pinks, and yellows, so it pops off the background. Then I cut out a scalloped square frame from Bazzil's Pink cardstock, using MFT's Stitched Scalloped Rectangles. Then I added a few pearls for an elegant finishing touch (without them it looked like it was missing something).

As I said, I could have used black ink but I decided that I liked it better, almost faded looking. It was just too strong of a color with all the light colors in the card. Too striking for me. That being said, if you're stamping on Acetate, keep in mind it's slippery and difficult to get a nice crisp image. You really have to work on finding just the right pressure so it imprints, but not so much that it slides as you're pressing the stamp onto it.

Thank you for stopping by my little blog to check out my creations, I'm happy to see you here! Please leave some love, and come back soon!

Hello

 Hey Crafty Friends! Welcome back to my little corner of crafting paradise. 

Today, I'm submitting a card for Altenew's blog challenge, for January 2025, which you can find HERE.

Here is the challenge photo.

What beautiful colors, right?! I Love the color depths, but decided to keep my image colors lighter than the shades shown.

I chose to use Altenew's Timeless Tulips stamp set, coloring them in with Copics, and the sentiment from Altenew's Gracious Peonies set. I cut out the image with a die from Momenta, but I don't have a name of the die shape. Then I put popdots under the image and added that over some polka dot design paper from Bazzil called "Mint", diecut into a scalloped rectangle shape using the Taylored Expressions "Petite Scallop Mini Stacklets" die. I placed more popdots under the polka dot design paper to pop it off of the white cardstock from Brutus Monroe called "Not Your Momma's Cardstock".

I love how the dies really show off the image without distracting from it, but still adding to the overall look. I really enjoyed layering everything together and how clean and simple it is.

I look forward to seeing you again on my little blog, and until then, have a great crafting day!

Love You Very Much

 Hello again Crafty Friends! I'm back again with a new Card Challenge that I found online. This weeks challenge is from My Favorite Things. Their challenge this week is a Sketch, and here it is.

I Love, Love this sketch and I got so many ideas from it! Without further adieu, here is my submission.

I chose MFT's "Wish You Were Hare" stamp & die set, colored it in with Copics, and set it aside. I cut out and embossed the background with Taylored Expressions Diamonds Piercing Plate, then I cut out the Stitched Mini Scalloped Square to frame the background. I chose to use Bazzil'z Blush Polkadot pink background, cut into scallops using Simon Says Stamp's "Slim Line Borders", sponged in with "Tattered Rose" Distress Inks. I cut the Sentiment out using a retired die set from MFT called "Blue Prints 2", and finished the card using some blush pink Zva Pearls.

I absolutely love how cute the card turned out and non-fussy it looks. The only difficulty I had was choosing what design papers I wanted to use! :)

Well, that's it Friends! I'll see you the next time I post my challenge creations. Until then, stay Crafty! :)