I love Coffee!

 Hello Friends and Happy Saturday!

I spotted a challenge over on Paper Playful that I thought would be fun to play along in so whipped up this quick card.  The challenge is the CAS on Friday Challenge and the theme is COFFEE (ends 11/10).

 Here's what I came up with . . .

 Inside view ...

 

I've used kraft paper for my card base, a panel from the Your Next Stamp 'Crazy for Coffee' 6x6 paper pad and my coffee dies are by Frantic Stamper and called 'Coffee on the Go' (FRA-10659).

 

The coffee beans and inside stamps are also from Frantic Stamper called 'Coffee' (FRA-CL-133).

Another fun challenge to share in:

Time Out Challenge #199 (ends 11-3)- Down to Earth  twist/use Kraft paper

Thanks so much for stopping by!
It's Trick or Treat in our town tonight so if the weather changes, we could have up to around 200 kids but if this rain continues we will obviously have far fewer.  

As always . . .

 

Fancy Fold Fun

 Hello  and Welcome Back!

Today I have a card to share that is a little different from my normal, every day A6 fold card.  I spotted a Double Z-Fold card over on Pat Tecza's blog and was inspired.  I made a few modifications in the size (I like A6 vs A2) and came up with this card.

My BFF Diane (Nellie's Nest) sent me a beautiful Mintay paper pad last year called Fall Festival and I thought it would be nice to use these coordinating papers to create a masculine card.  I know there's a few flowers on the front panel but it's on a ring of wood so figure it's just fine!  LOL

I love the rich colors in this paper set and of course anything wood works perfectly for the guys.

I die cut a Tutti Designs Happy Birthday sentiment for the front panel and then stamped an older Impression Obsession inside sentiment.  This card is ready for the postman!

Challenges to share in:

Creative Creases Challenge #17 (ends 10/28) - ATG w/fun fold
Crafty Creations October Challenge #426 (ends 11/1) - ATG
Creative Moments Challenge #225 (ends 11/5) - ATG
Ellibelle's October Challenge (ends 10/31) - Any Celebrations/Holidays

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you've found inspiration in my project!

As always . . .

Make The Cards Challenge #39

 Welcome back friends!

It's time for a new challenge over on  Make The Cards Challenge.

Today we are having a Sketch challenge ...

 

I just love having a sketch to work with and this one can be used for a variety of occasions.  I've created the swirly background using an old Spellbinder die set.  The sprigs of greenery is an older die from Sue Wilson.  My sentiment panel was created using a stamp from the Simon Says 'Thoughtful Messages' set and the banner is a die from Sue Wilson (CED4317).

 I hope you'll come join in our challenge fun ... here's the link for you one more time ...

Make The Cards Challenge

 As always . . .

 

Sisterhood of Crafters - WREATH

 

 Hello my friends!

Today I have a card for the new challenge over on The Sisterhood of Crafters!

Our theme, chosen by Sistah Debbie, is:

 

WREATH
(Any type of Wreath)

 

Today, I chose to make a Fall Wreath (it is the end of October lol) so I started out by using a circle wreath die cut panel I had hanging on the hook from a past project.  From there I looked through my smaller dies and came up with this cute apple from the Karen Burniston 'Autumn Elements' (#1059) die set.

 Using scraps of red, yellow and lime green card stock, I started die cutting.  I cut 8 red, 4 yellow and 4 green.  Next I colored the stems using various green Tombow marker colors.  The Maple Leaf is also from that same die set and I used yellow, orange & red Tombow markers for the water coloring.

 My 'Happy Fall' border sentiment is by Lawn Fawn (#1784).

 

 I hope you'll come join in our challenge fun at The Sisterhood of Crafters!

My 'sistahs' have created some fabulous creations to help inspire you ... 

be sure to pop over and check them out!

 

Challenges to share in:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge  (ends 11-2) - Anything Goes

 Unicorn Challenge #70 (ends 10-30) - Autumn or Halloween

 Get Creative Challenge #106 (ends 11-1) - Anything Goes

 

 As always, thanks SO MUCH for taking the time to stop by!

 

Word Art Wednesday Guest Designer

 

Hello Everyone and Welcome Back to my blog!
I'm so happy you've stopped by!

Today's I'm honored to have been asked to Guest Design for the Word Art Wednesday challenge!  Thanks Karen & Company!!

This is the beautiful verse being shared today ...

 

 To create today's card I started by die cutting the largest die from this Tutti Designs Nesting Stitched Banners die set.  I then temporarily attached it to my card front with removable tape.

 

 I then started coloring with the TH distress oxide ink that was left in some of the sponge daubers.  Next I removed the banner and stamped my verse in the middle of the 'white space'.  By using smaller dies in the set and a little snipping, I was able to create my framing.  A couple die cut ivy vines from scraps of white card stock and my card is ready to go.

 I hope you like it as much as I do!

 Be sure to pop over to see what Karen and the team have created.  And of course, then play along!  They would love to have you join in!

 Thanks again for stopping by today, I sure do appreciate it!

 As always ...

 

 

 

Difficult cards to make . . .

. . . but this time around I made them pretty easy with a clean & simple design.

Hello Friends and Welcome Back to my Blog!

Today I have a set of four sympathy cards to share.  I know we all dislike making these cards because that means someone has lost a loved one and is hurting.  But hopefully just by sharing a simple card we can let them know they are not alone and we will help them through the difficult days ahead.

Here are four of the same design just used different colored card stock panels along with my Tim Holtz 'Flourish Layering Stencil' and white craft ink.

Brown

Navy Blue

Purple

Black

 Here's a peek at the inside sentiment . . .

 Once my ink was dry on my stenciled panel, I did a bit of accenting with a white Prisma pencil.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll come back tomorrow when I'll have a card to share that was created for the new challenge offered up over on the Sisterhood of Crafter.

BEFORE YOU GO ...

While writing up this post I realized the name on the stencil is identified as a 'layering stencil' so I thought "hmmm so I should try something a little different" and created this card.  I stenciled it with white craft ink first the moved the stencil over and sponged it with a TH oxide purple ink.  

I like the stenciling done both ways but doing it this way will save me from doing the highlighting by hand ... will have to keep THAT in mind in the future.  

Thanks for sticking with me to the end . . . LOL!

As always . . .

 

Birthday Cards for the Kiddos

 Hello Friends ... HAPPY MONDAY!!

Over the weekend I had a lot of fun creating birthday cards for the ladies ... the guys ... and also for the kiddos.  I've had some puffy stickers and fun background papers hanging around just waiting for me to get busy creating so here ya go ...

I've had this 12x12 sheet of Lego paper in the drawer for several years now.  I was going to create a tissue box cover from it but since I was in the mood to make kids cards I decided to use HALF of it and create these two cards.  Any kid ... boy or girl ... loves legos & Mickey so I also grabbed the puffy stickers off the pegboard. 

The center squares and rectangles are extras I've been saving along the way and thought the primary colors were PERFECT for my sentiment panel.

SPEAKING OF MICKEY ...

I also discovered a couple 12x12 sheets of Mickey & Minnie that I knew would make cute kids birthday cards so here are a few more for the kiddos . . .

Once again, using up left over cuts, I created this fun sentiment panel & added a 3d Mickey puffy sticker.  The yellow Happy Birthday die cut pieces didn't 'jump out' enough for me, so I took a fine tip black marker and first did 'faux stitching' inside the letters ... still not enough so I connected the stitching and here's what I ended up with.  Still not exactly what I wanted ... but better!! LOL

These next two are more MINNIE than Mickey but still really cute!  Once again I was able to use up some off cuts from other projects that have been piling up. 

So there you have it!
A very fun filled day creating cards for the kiddos.

I hope you have a wonderful day and a FABULOUS week ahead!
Can you believe October is coming to an end ... Holy Moly!
Trick or Treat is this weekend and I usually have anywhere between 100 and 200 kids.  Although in the past few years that number has come down a bit ... between Covid and kids growing up I guess!  LOL

As always . . .

Birthday cards for the Guys

 Happy Sunday Friends and Welcome Back to the Blog!

While hubby was busy watching College Football yesterday, I got busy creating a few masculine birthday cards using a VERY OLD stamp from a company that's been out of business for several years now.  The stamp is from the GM Series - 1955 GMC Truck and the company was Cornish Heritage Farms ... remember them??

Here ya go . . .

 After coloring my image using Tombow markers, I went through various paper pads to find green background panels that I thought looked masculine and came up with these two.

On this second card I felt the background panel also needed a black matting but didn't want the weight of yet another panel so I took a black marker and carefully went around the outside edge.  Viola!  I also used the excess ink that was on one of my green TH ink sponges to add color the the white panel my truck is stamped on.

Here are a couple more in a different color . . .

Once again going through my paper pads and came across these stripes & dots panels which were actually double sided so played around a bit for my background designs.

A few little dots of black Nuvo Crystal Drops was all the added embellishment needed on these two cards.  Guys don't like a whole lot of 'fru fru' on their cards so I've tried to keep these relatively simple in design ... letting the old truck take center stage.

Challenges to share in:

Inkspirational Challenge #250 (ends 10/30) - Boys or Men
Seize the Birthday Challenge #225 (ends 10/26) - ATG Birthday (not using topper)

 2 Sisters on the Blog Challenge #55 (ends 10/31) - Masculine
Creative Sketchy Girls Challenge #65 (ends 11/20) - Masculine

Today's another Football Day so I should be able to get a lot more cards done again today.  My first craft show is Nov. 6th so time is ticking away!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you've liked what I had to share today.

As always . . .

More Birthday Cards

 Hello Friends and Happy Weekend!

Here are a couple more birthday cards I created using the Easy 3D Topper with Glitter paint from Hearty Crafts images that I picked up at the Adventures in Stamping Convention here in Akron, Ohio in the spring. 

 I have used an older Memory Box stencil (#88574) for my background and inside coordination.

A very CAS design style but I wanted the focus on the layered floral elements.

Here are a few challenges I'd like to share in:

Krafty Chicks Challenge #582 (ends 10/27) - CAS
Gem of a Challenge #22 (ends 11/4) - ATG
Allsort Challenge #647 (ends 10/29) - ATG

 I hope you've found inspiration in today's creations. 
I never seem to have enough of a variety of birthday cards for my fall shows and with two shows back to back this year I'd better get busy.  I will not bore you with all the cards I'll be creating but I will share from time to time.

Thanks so much for stopping by today ... I hope to be back tomorrow with a few more birthday cards ... maybe a few for the Men in our lives next time.

Layered Images

 Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

I'm still busy working on cards for a couple upcoming craft shows but thought I'd take a quick minute and play in a few challenges.  This card I thought fit well for the Crafty Catz Challenge  (10/28) - Anything Goes twist/add layers.

This is another Easy 3D Topper with Glitter paint from Hearty Crafts that I picked up at the Adventures in Stamping Convention here in Akron, Ohio in the spring.  

I've used the Autumn Layering Stencil by Tim Holtz for the background and the sentiment stamp is by Inkadinkado.  TH oxide distress inks were used for my stenciling colors.

Other Challenges to share in:

Alphabet Challenge  (11/5) - O is for Outdoors
The Card Concept (11-1) - Fall Fun  (inspired by the fall colors)

 Dare 2B Artzy October Challenge (11-8) - Fall

 Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by ... I greatly appreciate it!!

As always . . .