Scrapy Land Challenge #80

Hello crafty friends,

and welcome to Scrapy Land's Challenge #80!  I created a card and a tag as inspiration for this challenge.

Been on a winter more than Christmas kick lately and it's all because of the "Winter Cheer" die, which is one of three dies in Penny Black's Winter Cheer die set.  I LOVE the script Winter conbined with the block Cheer.

For these two I used three of the dies in the Spellbinders Snowflake Snippets Holiday 2017 Etched die set to create my frosty shaker panels.  Unfortunately, this set is not currently available, but these two sets would work just as well:

Frantic Stamper Reverse Snowflake Panel
Impression Obsession Snowflake Background

Thanks for stopping bye.... please join us for this challenge.  The winners... one selected randomly and one selected by the Design Team will both receive a $10 gift certificate to Scrapy Land.

Until next time... take care.

  

IO Challenge Card 3

Hello crafty friends,

My third card (tag) for the Impression Obsession Last Minute Cards & Gifts Challenge, which ends on Tuesday, December 19th at 7 p.m. Central Time... is tall tag with a stamped background, a vellum layer onto which four green glitter paper die cut ornaments have been foam mounted.

The following products were used on these projects:

Christmas Shaped Tags dies
Merry On sentiments stamp set

Thanks for stopping bye... wish me luck in the challenge :)

IO Challenge Card 2

Hello crafty friends,

My second card for the Impression Obsession Last Minute Cards & Gifts Challenge, which ends on Tuesday, December 19th at 7 p.m. Central Time... is also a tall tag placed onto a tall card base, with a water colored background and six rainbow colored stamped and fussy cut penguin ornaments.

The following products were used on these projects:

Penguin Ornament stamp

Thanks for stopping bye... wish me luck in the challenge :)

IO Challenge Card 1

Hello crafty friends,

I'm submitting three cards (tags) to the Impression Obsession Last Minute Cards & Gifts Challenge, which ends on Tuesday, December 19th at 7 p.m. Central Time:

Tag 1:  is a tall tag, with a stamped background and three stamped and fussy cut penguin ornaments.

Add caption

The following products were used on these projects:

Penguin Ornament stamp
Merry On sentiments stamp set

Thanks for stopping bye... wish me luck in the challenge :)

Encouragement Squad - Dec 2017

Hello crafty friends,

Here's a link to this month's Calling All Sistahs Challenge blog and our inspiration colors are Red, Green, White and Black.  

The card I made has a "I'm thinking of you" sentiment on the front, which can be easily pared with a "during this holiday season" or "at Christmas time" on the card's inside.  The sentiment "I'm thinking of you" and the flowers are from the PRETTY POSIES stamp set.  The Holly from the SLEIGHRIDE stamp set and the sleigh from the SLEIGH FRI-DIES set.

Thank you for stopping bye today.  This is my last card for the Cas-ual Friday Encouragement Squad Design Team, as I will be moving over to the Cas-ual Friday Inspiration Squad Design Team in January.  It's been very rewarding being on this team and I'm super excited for the opportunities being part of the Cas-ual Friday Inspiration Squad Design Team will offer me.  

Wishing all of you a VERY Happy Holidays... take a little time for yourself if possible and consider submitting a card to this month's challenge.   

Calling All Sistahs - Dec 2017

Hello crafty friends,

It's time for the CAS-ual Fridays Encouragement Squad reminder to do your monthly breast self exam and scheduled your yearly mammogram.  I used sentiments from the Calling All Sistahs stamp set for my inspiration card this month, which is simply and straight to the point:

Thank you for stopping by today.  Come back tomorrow for December's Encouragement Challenge!  Until tomorrow... take care. 

CTMH Workspace Wonder Carousel Review

Hello crafty friends,

I got my Close To My Heart order today, and sadly it's ALL going back. I'm BEYOND disappointed that the Workspace Wonder Carousel is not going to work for me. 

Think of this post as a public announcement...  which I'm posting because I looked online for pictures and sample setups of this system before ordering and found very little out there.  I even spoke w/a Rep about what I wanted and she though it would work.   

Apparently, the Ink Pad Stack Cubes don't fit any ink pads other than their own brand and what I thought as an open shelf component for the carousel (Workspace Wonder Medium Stack), does NOT fit the carousel base.  

Here's a quick video showing the pieces I got and how I wanted to use them. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mOkNSK6sWsPb844V2

Hoping this video helps someone make a more informed decision.  Thanks for stopping bye. 

Scrapy Land Challenge #79

Hello crafty friends,

and welcome to Scrapy Land Challenge #79.  I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend.

I'm now, in full Christmas mood here.  The house is a mess with all our boxes of decorations.  I promised myself that I would do some much need editing this year, but after 25+ years of collecting stuff, it's hard to decided what doesn't have sentimental value to me.  Are you like this?   I'm the same with cards... sometimes I make and keep them for myself.  I should really start making 2 of each card... one to give away and one to keep. 

I created this tag using a stitched die like this one and then I used the peeking penguins die.  I added a light brush of black watercolor to my penguins and backed their noses w/a tiny piece of orange card stock.  I was going to back the tag w/red and called it done, but instead I ended up using foam tape and seed beads to create a shaker tag.  I finished the tag with some nuvo drops.

Thanks for stopping bye.... please join us for this challenge.  The winners... one selected randomly and one selected by the Design Team will both receive a $10 gift certificate to Scrapy Land.

Until next time... take care.

Add Some Sparkle Challenge

Hello crafty friends,

update 12/5/17... so happy to report that my card was selected as a favorite :)

We recently got a third cat... after mush deliberation we decided on Storm for a name.  And believe me he is living up to his name.  He is a tiny package of energy and loves to move things around with his mouth/teeth.  Our other two boys (Rusty and Bear) have totally excepted him into the pack.

Obviously I love cats :) I also love the Newton's Book Club stamp set and used it for this card that I made for a young friend who's graduating college in the spring. 

The graduation cap is from the Lawn Fawn Hats Off To You stamp set and the Congratulation die is from Die-Versions.  On the cards inside I wrote... we can tell all your sleeping (cross off) studying paid off.  

Now a graduation card is not one people associate with sparkle normally, but I added sparkle to the caps with my Wink Of Stella and with glittery dots.  I'm submitting this card to the Inky Paws Challenge #60 - Add Some Sparkle, so wish me luck!

Encouragement Squad - Nov 2017

Hello crafty friends,

Here's a link to this month's Calling All Sistahs Challenge blog. 

I think this month's inspiration board is very relaxing, with it's two shades of greens, white and brown color combo.  I bet you can create something wonderful with this color combo.  Here's what I made with just one leaf stamp:

I used the largest leaf in the Pretty Posies stamp set to create my leaf pattern.  The Bravo die is from the Smiling die set and the sentiment is from the Sassy Smiles stamp set.

Thank you for stopping bye today.  Please consider submitting a card to this month's challenge.  Until next month... take care.  

Calling All Sistahs - Nov 2017

Hello crafty friends,

I can't believe how fast this year is going bye.  With the Holidays fast approaching, the next two months are busy ones for a lot of us, but please don't put off scheduling your yearly mammogram.  It really only takes minutes to have one done.

I used a sentiment from the Sassy Smile stamp set and the flower ribbon from the Hope Ribbon stamp set to make my card this month. 

Thank you for stopping by today.  Come back tomorrow for November's Encouragement Challenge!  Until tomorrow... take care. 

Scrapy Land Challenge #78

Hello crafty friends,

For this Scrapy Land Challenge we are doing something a little different... in October some of us on the Scrapy Land Design Team took part in a Halloween card exchange.  It was lots of fun and we're sharing these cards with you today.

This is the card I made and sent Maryvonne Cousse.  A box card full of digital trick or treaters.

I received this super cool and spooky card from Lori Kobular and an unexpected pile of awesome Halloween goodies.   THANKS again Lori... I LOVE everything!

Thanks for stopping bye.... please join us for this challenge.  The winners... one selected randomly and one selected by the Design Team will both receive a $10 gift certificate to Scrapy Land.

Until next time... take care.

Scrapy Land Challenge #77

Hello crafty friends,

Here's my card for Scrapy Land's Challenge #77...  My last Halloween 2017 card.

Looking at his cling cat stamp (sorry, I'm not sure who's it's by, because I lost it's package sleeve) gave me the idea of a cat clinging to a screen door, because it wanted out of the haunted house.  But my door die was a little too small in comparison to the cat, so I created a double door by die cutting the door twice, making sure I did one upside down.  In other words, the first door (left in above pic) I die cut with the green side up and the second door (right in above pic) with the green side down.

There are screens to fit this door, but after searching my craft room for almost 30 minutes, i gave up and used acetate to cover my shaker card.... which i stuffed with ghosts and bats on the top and skulls on the bottom.  I used this door die... Cheery Lynn Designs Screen Door w/Cat and the screens are these... Cheery Lynn Designs Screens  and for you dog lovers their a version w/a dog :)

Thanks for stopping bye.... please join us for this challenge.  The winners... one selected randomly and one selected by the Design Team will both receive a $10 gift certificate to Scrapy Land.

Until next time... take care.

2017 CAT LOVERS HOP - Card 1

Hello crafty friends,

As you know I'm playing along with other fun cat loving people at ...

and here's the first card I will be entering/submitting:

Yes, it's a Halloween card, but you know how much I love Halloween and you know how much I love cats... and it this October, just one week away from Halloween (four away from my bday, in case you wanted to know). 

I started this card by printing my digital cat stamp from Tiddly Inks (Pumkin Juice) onto water color card stock and coloring it with my Zig Brush Pens and my Wink of Stella.  I fussy cut my colored image and set it aside while I worked on my card's background panel. 

One square piece of card stock inked with Distressed Inks (purples and black).  For the moon, I used watered down black distressed ink and the white patches were made with white matte gelso.  I added some black glitter glue around the cards edge for a grungy look. 

Thanks for stopping by... until next time, meowie halloween!

2017 CAT LOVERS HOP - Day 2

Hello crafty friends,

Day 2's prompt is to share something cute or funny one of your cats does.  So I thought I would share Rusty's preferred method of drinking water. 

He will stand next to the sink and meow at you until you give him water like this and you can't rush him... he takes his time :)

2017 CAT LOVERS HOP - Day 1

Hello crafty friends,

I just found out about this blog hop and I'll be making a card or two for it this weekend.  Now the cool this about this blog hop is that we can take part is three different ways.  click on the above image to go to their site and read all the details, but one of the ways to win, is to play their daily games.

Their game today (day 1) is Kitty Roll Call, where you basically leave a comment letting them about your cats.  Here's what I wrote:

We had five cats in total.  A few weeks after we got married, my husband told me about a co-worker who had kittens. We ended up taking two brothers who we called Rascal and Domino. We later learned they were born on our wedding day! Domino was my lap cat and pillow cat. He just liked being near me. Rascal was more independent, but still very friendly. We all lived for 3 years in an apartment and later moved into a brand new house miles away.  Rascal passed away at the age of 12, but Domino was with us for 19 years.  He was the cat we introduced to our baby son in 2000 and the cat who had the run of the basement in our next new house in 2002.  After Domino passed, we were pet-less for several years, until we adopted Rusty.... an orange, tan and white tabby.  He is the most laid back chilled cat I have ever known.  He loves people, loves to be held like a baby and his purr has this little broken whistle sound to it.  When Rusty was two we adopted Bear.  Bear is my black slick panther.  When he was a kitten he would run around our family room without touching the floor, just flying from one piece of furniture to the next.  He is now two and much calmer.  He loves to sleep under the blankets and purr... he is a very long purer.  He does not like people and will hide when we have company.  But he loves hanging out w/me in my craft room.  He will nap right next to me when I'm making cards.  Well, that brings me to oct2017 and our newest kitty, who we were told was a girl, but is not and therefore went nameless for two weeks until we all finally decided on Storm as a name.  Storm is gray and white and looks like a husky.  He is also fearless and was ninja jumping his older brothers on day one even though he was a fraction of their size.  We are trying to break him of his biting habit.  Thanks for letting me talk about my boys.  I will have pictures of them on my blog.

Here are some pictures:

Rusty (nov2015)

Bear (dec2017)

Storm (Oct 2017)

from back to front:  Rusty and Bear (dec2016)

from left to right:  Rusty, Storm and Bear (oct2017)

from left to right:  Bear and Storm (oct2017

Thanks for stopping bye today.  Until next time...

Encouragement Squad - Oct 2017

Hello crafty friends,

I have to admit that I had to give this Inspiration board some extra thinking, because of the colors.  When I think of October, I think of Fall and Halloween... oranges, black and purples, definitely not pinks.  But sometimes it's good to step outside our normal...

I picked the dark brown (which I later found out was actually black... LOL) and the light pink as my colors.  Using the largest leaf from the Pretty Posies stamp set and letters from the Flower Alphabet  stamp set I created this card:

Basically, I die cut a panel, stamped my leaf several times at the bottom of it and then I cut openings into it each of the leafs w/a craft knife, so that the pink of my background paper could be seen.  Next, I added my sentiment and as a finishing touch some sequins.

Thank you for stopping bye today.  Please consider submitting a card to this month's challenge.  Until next month... take care.  

Scrapy Land Challenge #76

Hello crafty friends,

For Scrapy Land's Challenge #76,  I went with a very simple design.  I wanted to create the look of a Fall sunset in the woods.   I used a birch tree die for my "woods" and a frame die to give the card a finished look.  The sunset, I created by bending distress inks.

I used the Taylored Expressions Birch Tree die, which is currently not in stock, but Scrapy Land has these other two similar dies that would work just as well:

Frantic Stamper Vertical Birch Tree
Sue Wilson Woodland Collection Birch Tree Forest

For the frame, try the Frantic Stamper Elementals 16 Stiched Rectangle Frames. 

Thanks for stopping bye.... please join us for this challenge.  The winners... one selected randomly and one selected by the Design Team will both receive a $10 gift certificate to Scrapy Land.

Until next time... take care.

Trick or Treating

Hello crafty friends,

I got both my digital and physical stamp loving friends cover with these projects.  The digital stamps I got from MMedelIllustrations, but you can find some of her designs in physical format at Brutus Monroe.  

Working with digital stamps is so easy... I love that I can size them to my needs.  And you can see that on my print sheet I only printed the heads on some of the characters.  I was thinking wobble heads when I printed them, but changed my mind later.

 Once printed... I cut them out using my scan&cut2 or color them:

I used Frankie, Wolf boy, and Mummy Girl on this card,  

which I started by stamping houses in the background high up, so they would look far away.  Next I drew in the houses walkways... keeping in mind where my three kids would stand.  Once the background was gone, I add my kids.  The girl mummy I glued directly to the background, the boys I popped up w/foam tape.   I finished the card by added the white "stars" with my white glaze pen.

Since I had extra characters and an art journal layout in need of filling,

I used some of them on it and I love how it's looking.  But it's still a work in progress.  It needs more details and the house needs colors. 

Thanks for stopping by today, until next time... take care. 

Scrapy Land Challenge #75

Hello crafty friends,

For Scrapy Land's Challenge #75,  my Halloween  2017 series continues with this cute cat card:

This was so very easy to put together.  I die cut 4 dark grey cats and arranged them on my card panel.  I added the die cut sentiment, which is included in the die set.  For a pop of color I added orange glitter paper bow ties die cuts... also in the die set (LOVE this die set) and a few Ripened Pumpkin Nuvo Crystal Drops... sadly they weren't include in the die set.
 
I made a Halloween card using Cheery Lynn Designs' Whimsical Halloween Cat, but you can easily turn this card into a birthday one by replacing the Happy Catiween w/Happy Birthday.  And the little spider on the cat's tail can be easily snipped off.  Here are a few cat die sets that would work all year long:

Cheery Lynn Designs - Friendly Felines

Frantic Stamper - Dies - Large Mod Cat

Thanks for stopping bye.... please join us for this challenge.  The winners... one selected randomly and one selected by the Design Team will both receive a $10 gift certificate to Scrapy Land.

Until next time... take care.

Halloween Series - Brutus Monroe

Hello crafty friends,

Have you visited the Brutus Monroe shop?  If you haven't, go take a peek.  They have some really cool, edgy stamps that I'm drooling over.  I found them this summer and ordered the City Sidewalks - Chicago and the Chuck Carson Collection - Mummy stamp sets to try out:

Here are two cards I made for my Halloween Series with the Mummy selfie stamp:

For the first card (my favorite of the two)... I tried to created a wall portrait by layering three mummies inside a raised window.  Think open shaker window.  I trimmed the selfie stick and cellphones for the green and purple mummies, so that only one of them was taking the picture.  As a finishing touch, I added googly eyes and a sentiment from the stamp set w/a messy handwritten year.

For the second card...  I created a flat window on my card and added the mummy on foam tape to give him dimension.  Since I used a strong pattern background paper, I thought the white background winder would allow the mummy to stand out.  As a finishing touch, I added a simple "smile" sentiment from the stamp set and googly eyes.

Thanks for stopping by today, until next time... take care. 

Double the Shaker Fun

Hello crafty friends,

Made this card last night for the  Impression Obsession You're Invited Challenge, which ends on Tuesday, October 3rd at 7 p.m.Central Time:

It's a Halloween invitation using the following IO products:

1. All Hallow's Eve #CL284
2. Ghost die set #DIE121-E
3. Small Circle Shake It Pouch #SHP04
4. Large Circle Shake It Pouch #SHP02
5. Best Party Ever #D14590 (on card's inside, sorry no photo)

I started by getting my shakers ready.  I stamped my shaker backgrounds, added the sequin and topped them with the self adhesive pouches to seal.  These pouches make creating shaker elements a fast and fun thing.  My stash of them is getting really low, so I have to remember to get some more soon.

Putting my card together was super easy.  I die cut the glitter paper piece for my larger circle shaker and positioned it on my card slightly to the left.  I die cut a thin circle frame from the same orange glitter paper for my smaller circle shaker and position the element over the larger one.  I used foam tape under the smaller circle shaker.  

My finishing touches were to add a ribbon, some Nuvo drops and three die cut ghosts.  On the inside of the card I used the Best Party Ever stamp and added my party details.  This card is going to my parents :) everyone else gets an e-invite. 

Thanks for stopping bye and wish me luck in the challenge :)

Frankl Loyd Wright

Hello crafty friends, 

My Sister-In-Law gave me this stamps set years ago.  I love it, but never really used it.  I displayed it in my office more as a design element.  The Cardz 4 Guyz - Architecture Challenge #179 is the perfect reason to dust it off and use it on a card... this card:

I kept the cards colors very soft and light, because I wanted all the building on it and knew it would be a busy card.  A little washi tape at the right top corner to cover a weird white space created by my panel placement was all the embellishment I added to this card. 

Here's the stamp set I used:

Thanks for stopping bye and wish me luck in the challenge :)

Scrapy Land Challenge #74

Hello crafty friends,

For Scrapy Land's Challenge #74,  I'm continuing my Halloween  2017 Series with this card:

Which was really quick and easy.  I started by sponging a 5x5 piece of card stock with distress oxide ink (orange) and then sponging on some distress ink (black) using a Tim Holtz spider web stencil.  I die cut a fishtail banner, inked it and stamped my caption.  Placed the banner on my card on foam tape for dimension.  Next I die cut those cute spiders (paper spiders are the only kind of spiders I like).  I die cut them from purple card stock first, but they like them on this background, so ended up die cutting them again from black card stock and just stacking them for a little extra dimension.   I hand drew their web string and added a dot of nuvo drop.   I mounted the panel onto a 5.5x5.5 card and using a black glitter marker went around the edge of the panel for extra interest.

Thanks for stopping bye.... please join us for this challenge.  The winners... one selected randomly and one selected by the Design Team will both receive a $10 gift certificate to Scrapy Land.

Until next time... take care.

Encouragement Squad - Sept 2017

Hello crafty friends,

I love the strong deep colors of our inspiration board for this month:

I reached for my go to flower stamp set, the Pretty Posies (I can't stop using this set) and with lots of masks (the dies makes creating masks soooo easy) on hand I started stamping the one of the flowers. I wanted two rows of each color (red, orange, yellow) and a little room at the bottom for my sentiment.  I also masked the edges of my card panel for a clean finished look.  I used zig brush markers to make the centers of the flowers bolder.  As a finishing touch I placed matching card stock behind my card front panel.

Thank you for stopping bye today.  Please consider submitting a card to this month's challenge.  Until next month... take care.  

Calling All Sistahs - Sept 2017

Hello craft friends,

It's time for your reminder from the CAS-ual Fridays Encouragement Squad to do your monthly breast self exam and scheduled your yearly mammogram.  

Thank you for stopping by today.  Come back tomorrow for September's Encouragement Challenge!  Until tomorrow... take care. 

Booyah Halloween Card #1

Hello crafty friends,

I finally broke the seal on my Lawn Fawn Booyah stamp set.  It just took a little prompting from some Facebook friends :)

I started with a Distress Ink Oxides "watercolored" card background panel onto which i stamped some of the smaller elements from the stamp set.  Next I die cut a spider web from a very old die Quickutz die.  I gave my ghosts (also colored with the same Distress Ink Oxides) witches hats and arrange them onto the spider web with dimensional tape.  I added Wink of Stella to the web and the ghost.

I now have stamped and colored several more ghosts for a couple of more cards with this set.  Until next time... take care.