Season's Tweetings

 I've had this Lawn Fawn stamp set for a while and don't use it nearly enough, so today I'm sharing a Christmas card I made with it. I colored the little birds with Copics and stenciled some clouds behind them with some tumbled glass distress ink. I die cut both the image panel and blue panel as well as the card base with Lil Inker stitched rectangle dies. This one has already gone out in the mail and I'm glad to have put this cute stamp set to use once again.

I will share this card with the following challenges:

The December 2024 Stencil Fun Challenge - Winter/Christmas

the Triple B December 2024 Challenge - Blooms, Birds, Butterflies 

(use 1,2 or all 3)

the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #78 - A/G Christmas

the Allsorts Challenge Week #812/13 - Use Your Dies

Thanks for stopping by and as always, I wish you the best day ever!

Carol

Christmas Poinsettia

I used an older Spellbinders Poinsettia die to create this card. While the pieces were still in the die, I took a gold paint pen and drew through the lines on the petals which gave the poinsettia a more festive look. Unfortunately the paint pen malfunctioned on one of those leaves and leaked all over it, but I managed to hide most of the blotch of gold ink under another petal. I decided to use it instead of creating another one. I curled each petal around a pencil to shape them and then popped the flower up on dimensionals, along with the leaf. The embossing folder is a poinsettia design by Taylored Expressions. The sentiment is a pre-printed one by Simon Says Stamp. I added a ancient gemstone to the center of the flower and called this one done.

I'll enter this card into the following challenges:

The Peace on Earth Challenge #78 - A/G Christmas

Can You Handle the Pressure? Dec 14, 2024 - A/G with a twist of Poinsettias

(must use an embossing folder)

The Triple B December 2024 Challenge - Birds, blooms, or Butterflies

(or use all 3)

the Christmas Kickstart Challenge #93 - A/G Christmas

the Allsorts Challenge Week #811 - Lots of White or A/G

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Monday.

Carol

 

Christmas

 I've been asked to guest design for the Allsorts challenge #110 which has a theme of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" or you can choose the Anything Goes option.

Through the years, I've used this process to make cards from leftover strips   of designer paper that are too small to make cards with, and that's how this card came together. I cut the strips randomly into tiny pieces rather than dispose of them. I still have a Xyron machine that transfers a layer of adhesive onto a piece of cardstock, so I used that with a piece of white cardstock and just added the cut pieces of red and green papers to the adhesive - leaving spaces between them. After all the bits were adhered, I sprinkled on some gold embossing powder and heat embossed the whole piece which adds a fun touch of gold to the spaces between the bits of designer paper. I cut two tags from red and green cardstock; rounded the bottom corners and layered one on top of the other. The sentiment was done with a (r) SU! Merry Everything stamp set; stamped with Versamark and heat-embossed with gold ep and I used a coordinating (r) SU! punch to cut it and place it on the two tags. The tiny white bow was the finishing touch. 

I hope you can find time to play along with this fun challenge. I look forward to seeing what you create. 

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

Carol

Merry Christmas

 I've had this Tim Holtz embossing folder for quite some time and never really knew what to do with it, so I finally sat down and made a card that I'm happy with. After embossing, I swiped it with a platinum ink pad which made the really large greeting stand out from the white. I adorned it with tiny dots of platinum stickles to indicate snow, placed it on a green card base and called it done!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

the Christmas Kickstart challenge #93 - if it's Christmassy, link it up!

The Peace on Earth challenge #77 - A/G Christmas

Can You Handle the Pressure? - A/G embossing with a twist of winter fun

the Allsorts Challenge #809 - Winter Flowers & Fauna or A/G

Thanks for stopping by and as always, make it a great day!

Carol

Thanksgiving Card

 I made this Thanksgiving card with 3 different colored pattern papers from a PTI paper pad I've had for quite some time. I cut 3 panels and placed them on a piece of green cardstock and criss-crossed the dark green polka dot ribbon on top. The sentiment is a very old (retired) SU! image that was cut with a matching SU! punch and the leaves were cut from snippets of brown and green cardstock using Lawn Fawn stitched leaf dies. The random colored gems were from my stash and I placed this all on a cream colored card base. Thanksgiving will be here in less than a week - this month has just flown by for me.

Sharing this with these challenges:

The Allsorts Challenge week 808 - use ribbon or twine or A/G

the Four Seasons Challenge (Fall Season November 2024) -  Fall Theme

Love Those Pretty Papers November Challenge - A/G using designer papers

*optional - use brown and yellow as the main colors

Thanks for the visit and as always I wish you the best day possible.

Carol

Give Thanks

 It's time to get those Thanksgiving cards ready as that day is just around the corner. I put this card together with some stamped and die-cut images, stitched clouds and designer paper all from Lawn Fawn. The large pumpkin was made with an older SU! oval punch, while the tiny pumpkins and apple were stamped and fussy cut using a Gerda Steiner stamp set. The sky was done with a stencil I made with assorted punches and some Tumbled Glass distress ink, and I added a few birds to the sky with a Sweet 'n Sassy stamp set. The Lawn Fawn sentiment was stamped on a white snippet with the ends fish-tailed with a hexagon punch and all images were colored with Copics.

Sharing this with...

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Thanks/Thanksgiving

the November 2024 Stencil Fun Challenge - A/G using a stencil

with an option to make it sparkle

the Allsorts Challenge week 807 - A/G 

with an option of Food and Drink

Thanks for stopping by and my wish is for all of you to enjoy a great weekend!

Carol

Christmas Snowflake

 It's that time of the year to get serious about building the Christmas stash, so quick and easy is how it's going to be this year. I used this retired SU! embossing folder to create the snowflake on white, then added silver Stickles to the tiny outer circles for some sparkle. I used an older Martha Stewart punch to create the smaller red snowflake and added a silver Candi dot to the center. The pre-printed sentiment is from SimonSaysStamp and I fishtailed the ends with a hexagon punch. I placed it on a red card base and called this one done.

Sharing with the following challenges:

The Allsorts Challenge #806 - Christmas or A/G

Can You Handle the Pressure? Nov 9th - A/G using an embossing folder

with an optional twist of coffee-cocoa-warm drinks

the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge#75 - A/G Christmas

Thanks for stopping by and I wish everyone a great weekend.

Carol

Sweet Wishes

 I picked the wrong time of day to photograph this card as it's filled with shadows. I tried to remove them which left the colors diminished but this was the best I could do.

I had some die-cut striped snippets of SU! designer paper left over from a previous project, so this card began with them. I also used 2 tiny snippets of white cardstock to create the candy pieces. The image, sentiment, and candy pieces are all by Newton's Nook - stamped and colored with Copics, and a touch of Wink of Stella added here and there for sparkle. I added a red and green gemstone to each of the fussy cut candy pieces. The 2 striped panels were originally die cut with MFT stitched horizontal dies. I placed this on a dark green card base and have now added another Christmas card to my stash.

Sharing this with the following challenges:

Rudolph Days October Challenge - A/G Christmas before the end of Oct.

Allsorts challenge week #804 - Cute and Cuddly or A/G

Jingle Belles Christmas Christmas Challenge - use an animal

the Snippets Playground #492 - use snippets

Thanks for the visit and I wish you the very best possible day!

Carol

Birthday Card with Gold

 I made this card for a friend of mine who recently celebrated her birthday. I found a pretty snippet of striped paper (not sure who makes it) and a strip of coordinating cardstock to design the card. I used a mini stencil from Creative Expressions on the side with some distress inks to add a little interest, and added a die-cut golden stem along with the rosette that a thoughtful friend sent me. The sentiment is gold-embossed with a SU! stamp and die combo (also a gift from another thoughtful friend) and I added some small flowers done with a (R) SU! mini punch and added random clear gems to the centers and the sentiment panel as well. For the final touch, I added a ladybug brad to the center of the rosette and used a fine red marker to outline the dots on the sentiment panel.

Sharing this with these challenges:

The Stencil Fun Challenge for October - use a stencil *opt. Halloween

The NBUS Challenge #67 - never before used stuff (stencil, sentiment stamp & die)

the Triple B October 2024 Challenge - birds, butterflies, blooms. Use 1,2, or all 3

The Allsorts Challenge week #803 - use pattern papers

Thanks for stopping by to visit and I wish you a wonderful day.

Carol

Candy Corn Halloween Cards

A thoughtful friend sent me this candy corn die and I used lots of snippets of Halloween papers and cardstock to create a few cards with it. After laying the strips of dsp down on a scrap of white, I cut the panel with a Lil Inker stitched rectangle. Next I added the die-cut candy corn along with a stamped and punched sentiment (R from SU!) and added a green glaze sticker just for fun. I put this one on a lavender card base.

Here's a 2nd card made with different snippets and colors on a green card base.

 

and the last one, made with a mix of assorted snippets of designer papers  and cardstock on a black card base.

Sharing the first card with these challenges:

The Snippets Playground challenge #491 - must use snippets

The Allsorts Challenge Week #802 - A/G or Magical, Myths and/or Legend

Love those Pretty Papers October Challenge - Optional theme Halloween Colors/ Papers

The Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge for October 2024 - A/G Halloween

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great Monday!

Carol

Birthday Flourish

I made this card using a Cheery Lynn Flourish die and some black, white, and green cardstock. After I cut the pieces and assembled them, I had to make a second one with the flourish going in a different direction.

 They were easy to create and all I did was add a Simon Says Stamp pre-printed birthday sentiment to each one with a couple sequins for sparkle and I had two birthday cards finished.

I'm sharing the first card with the Little Red Wagon Challenge#777 -

black, white and one other color

Also Sharing with the Allsorts Challenge #801-

falling leaves or the optional Anything Goes

That's it for me today. Thanks for stopping by and make it your best day.

 Prayers going out for the residents of Florida who are bracing for a 2nd hurricane in less than 2 weeks which is more powerful than the first one. I hope evacuations were able to happen with the shortage of gasoline in that state. I feel awful watching this happen to anyone and not being able to help. These are such sad times we're living in.

Carol

Snippet Christmas Card Set

 I started going through my red and green snippets of designer papers to create this set of cards. Whenever you cut a card front it leaves you with strips of pretty papers that are too good to throw away, so I saved them all and used them to make these cards. The papers are from SU! and Lawn Fawn and I'll describe each image on the individual cards.

This is Lawn Fawn's Season's Tweetings and all the horizontal panels of SU! papers were cut with MFT stitched horizontal dies and a Lil Inker stitched rectangle die for the image panel.

 This is a MFT image, cut on a stitched square die and colored with Copics. DSP by Lawn Fawn and the sentiment is by MFT.

This is a retired SU! image named Dasher, heat embossed in gold with a GMD stitched oval die and several red gemstones with a MFT sentiment and SU! designer papers.

This is also a retired SU! image called Snow Swirled, heat embossed in gold with red gemstones and a small punched gold star done with a SU! mini punch and placed on a Lil Inker die-cut stitched rectangle. The sentiment is unbranded. Papers by SU!

This last card uses some different SU! papers but is the same Snow Swirled image and a different sentiment by MFT.

Sharing this with the Snippets Playground #490 - must use Snippets

the Allsorts challenge week #800 - A/G

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #72

I was going to enter the Rudolph Day September challenge too but it's already closed. I still have over 2 hours before it's October, but I'll have to wait until next month on that one LOL

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a great Autumn week.

Heartfelt thoughts and prayers going out to all of those folks impacted by the wrath of that storm Helene. The videos and photos I've seen are just devastating and heartbreaking for what they're dealing with. May God bless them one and all.

Carol

Sympathy Card

 I made this sympathy card with some retired SU! cardstock called Soft Sky. It was always one of my favorites. I sponged on 3 different Distress ink colors in a random pattern on white and stamped the Tim Holtz image in black ink on top. After that dried, I covered the entire piece with Versamark ink and heat-embossed it using clear EP. I framed it with black, more Soft Sky and another black panel and added a SU! sentiment that was heat-embossed with white on a black snippet. I used a hexagon punch to fishtail the ends.

I'm sharing this with the Allsorts challenge week #799 - Get Well or With Sympathy or use the A/G option.

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day whatever you do!

Carol

Halloween Card

It's time to start making those Halloween cards so I pulled out this Lawn Fawn die and added little snippets of Halloween designer papers along with some stamped images and die cuts. The candy corn was done with Lawn Fawn stamps and dies and colored with Copics. The ghost mouse is an image by House Mouse and I added a tiny tag done with a long retired SU! mini punch and a glittery green sticker. The raven on the branch was cut with a die from Gina Marie Designs and the pre-printed sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp. The last square is just a bit of designer paper that fit perfectly into the last square.

Sharing this card with the following challenges:

Two Old Bats September 2024 Challenge - A/G Halloween

The Snippets Playground Challenge #489 - A/G using snippets

The Allsorts Challenge week #798 - "Something Fishy" or A/G

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - 4-legged friends (mouse)

Four Seasons Fall September 2024 Challenge - Fall 

HMFMC #424 - A/G + Option- Use Scraps of Paper

Triple B September 2024 Challenge - Birds, Blooms, Butterflies

(use 1, 2, or all 3) - I used a bird

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great September day whatever you're doing. 

I spotted a sign earlier this week that said "Be the "FUN" in dysfunctional.

Good advice 😁

Carol

 

Sending Hugs

 I had a play with my old Quickutz and a corner die along with a little flower paper punch and some pink papers and cardstock. I cut all the corners and placed them together to make little squares, and placed a glittered flower on top of each square. I used an old pearl pen (anyone remember them?) and gave each flower a pearl center along with a few others on the corners. I matted that panel with an older piece of SU! glittered cardstock and added another piece of pink dsp. behind that on a SU! Berry Burst card base. The hugs sentiment was done with a die from Pink and Main and the designer papers are from an old Tim Holtz paper pad. I wasn't sure if I liked this after it was finished but after all the work I put into it, I decided to share it anyway LOL

Sharing this with...

 the Love Those Pretty Papers Challenge for September ATG

the Allsorts Challenge Week #797 - fall colors or A/G option

Triple B September 2024 Challenge - birds, blooms, butterflies-use 1,2, or all 3 - I used blooms

 

the Sisterhood of Crafters August challenge - HUG(S)

Thanks for the visit and I hope all is well in your part of the world today.

Carol

Birthday Sweet peas

'

 I'm guest designing for the Allsorts challenge 796 this week with a floral birthday card. The challenge is to "add a sentiment."

 I dug deep into my stash and found this pretty Flourishes Sweet Pea stamp. Sadly Flourishes closed quite some time ago but this stamp still looks as pretty as ever.  I stamped the card base with the Sweet Pea image as well as another panel which I cut with a Cheery Lynn Designs French Lattice cover plate and then carefully placed it over the card base, matching up all the images as closely as possible. I colored everything with Copics and added lots of tiny black Nuvo Dots before adding a pre-printed Simon Says Stamp birthday sentiment. This was the first time I tried this technique and I love how it turned out. 

Also sharing with these challenges:

Triple B August 2024 Challenge - birds butterflies, blooms - use 1, 2 or all 3

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - A/G

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge #20 - A/G Floral with optional mood board

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to seeing the gallery filled with your designs with sentiments for this week's challenge.

Carol

Snarky Christmas Cat

 I have a friend who is a cat mom, and her cat is a handful sometimes with his finicky behavior and antics, so I made this card for her just for laughs.

The background was embossed with a Crafters Companion 3D Christmas Magic ef, and the cat, Santa hat, and bowtie are all from the the Tim Holtz crazy cat stamp collection. The Bah Humbug sentiment is a die from Die'sire Designs. I used a fine red marker to add red lines to the cat's eyes because this cat is usually awake all night long tormenting her while she tries to sleep. 😫

Entering this card into the following challenges

The Rudolph Days August Challenge - A/G Christmas

The Allsorts Challenge week #795 - delightful animals or A/G

The Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #70 - A/G Christmas

Can You Handle the Pressure?  - A/G using an EF *opt twist of "leaves"

That's a wrap for me, but thanks for stopping by and have yourself a fantastic day today.

Carol

Encouragement

 A very thoughtful and kind friend gifted me with these pretty SU! papers called "Wonderful World" and I love the summer feel of each and every one with the flowers and colors, so I used some snippets and cut them down to create this patchwork card. The big sentiment is by Pink and Main; cut from berry-colored card stock along with some pink. The word "sending" came from another stamp set and I backed it with black.

Sharing with these challenges:

Love Those Pretty Papers August Challenge - Use DSP *optional summertime

The Allsorts Challenge weeks #793/4 - Summer Days or A/G

Word Power #8 - Make the sentiment the focus of your card

the Triple B August 2024 Challenge - use Birds, Butterflies, or Blooms

use 1,2, or all 3

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend too!

Carol

A Summery Thank You Card

 A generous friend recently gifted me with 2 new small SU! embossing folders and I used one of them on this card. I had an old 12x12 piece of double sided Scenic Route Paper and used it to put this card together. I had a strip of red polka dot paper on my table that was a perfect match so I added that to separate the panels. I used a Nestabilities die set to cut the red and white flower panels, and added a punched SU! mini flower with a gemstone in the center. I added a die-cut fern behind it done with a Precious Maricke die and a snippet of green. The thank-you panel was done with a SU! die cut from the Chalk Talk Framelit set and stamped with a Unity sentiment. I added 5 green candy dots and called this one done.

Sharing with these challenges:

Allsorts Challenge Week #791 & 2 - Season's Delights or A/G (flowers are seasonal for summer)

the NBUS challenge #64 - Never Before Used Schtuff (the EF)

Can You Handle the Pressure? July 2024 - A/G Embossing with an optional twist of wings and things

Thanks as always for stopping by and my wish is always for the best possible day for everyone.

Carol

A Flag Maker's Birthday Card

 A friend of mine asked me to make her a birthday card for someone we both used to work with at the Flag Factory years ago. I didn't have any flag images, so I went with the red, white, and blue color theme of our US flag, and added stars and stripes. The background paper was bought at Tuesday Morning years ago before they closed. It's double sided with the stripes on one side and the blue panel with white stars on the reverse side. I die cut 3 different sized circles from cardstock, split them in half and placed them on the white panel which was embossed with a Darice tiny star ef. I added some tiny mirror paper punched stars done with a retired SU! mini star punch, along with stamping her age on 2 tiny die-cut circles. The base and image panels were both die cut with Lil Inker Stitched rectangles, and I added some red and blue gemstones to add a bit more sparkle to this card.

Sharing with these challenges:

Can You Handle the Pressure Challenge - A/G using embossing with a twist of stripes and/or checks

The Allsorts Challenge Blog #790 - Flowers or A/G

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Add some Sparkle

A Cut Above - Use Die cuts and Start this Challenge with a Bang!

Thanks for the visit and I wish you all a fantastic weekend!

Keep smiling 😉

Carol