Some cards you receive are way too pretty to throw away. And since I love pansies this is one of them. I used the Timeless Tuesday #134 sketch, the Stampin' Sisterhood #8 inspiration photo challenge (you can see the photo at the top of this post) and the Pretty Palette #145 challenge to use white/pear/plum/eggplant. I embossed a text stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps' "Pansy-February Flower of the Month" set to carry on the pansy theme and add a little bit more white.
This may be the easiest Christmas card ever! (Outside of buying one, of course.) I was not feeling like making a Christmas card, but it is a requirement for Crafty Hazlenut's Christmas Challenge (this week it also had to be square), so I had to give it a go. After I saw the Mojo Monday #226 sketch (which was also square or round), I thought maybe a recycled image would be perfect. Well, I was looking through my stash of commercial cards I have saved with the intention of recycling them, I came across this gorgeous pointsettia. Then I started looking at the rest of the card and realized I could cut it apart and reassemble the different pieces to create a really beautiful square card. The only new products I used are the ribbon and the Merry Christmas stamp (from Verve's Ornamental Christmas). Doesn't get any easier than that. : )
Isn't this little guy adorable!!??? He is a plain jane stamp from Verve and his name is Emory. My inspiration for him is the adorable little TY Valentine Bear. Have you seen him? He's red with white hearts all over him and if you buy 3 Hallmark cards, you get him free. My girls and I see him when we go to the grocery store. So, I stamped Emory on red dot paper, cut him out and colored in his ears for some contrast with a white paint pen. Then, I stamped him a bunch of times on a reverse color paper, added a trio of hearts from Verve's "To the Moon" (the sentiment I used is from the same set) and adhered it to this mailbox I got at Target for $1. The leaf dies are from PTI. The mailbox is going to be a Valentine's Day treat for one of my 3-year-olds. It fits the Delightful Challenge to create anything BUT a card for Valentine's Day, the JUGS #121 challenge to create a 3-D project for Valentine's Day, the Our Daily Bread Designs #94 LOVE recipe challenge (use the word "love" or "loves", use hearts, lace and red/white or pink/white color scheme), and the Pixie Cottage #105 Love and Kisses challenge.
I promise, spring really is coming. Although, if here in the Northeast, we have been having very nice weather for this time of year. This adorable chick snowglobe image definitely made me think of spring. It is a digital image from A Day for Daisies which they were offering free if you played in their challenge which was to use glitter (with one of their images, of course). I discovered ADFD since they are the sponsors for Sweet Sketch Wednesday #138 challenge this week. That sketch is the one that begins this post. Such a fun sketch. They have changed up their challenges a bit and now require the use of an image from the sponsor. These chicks were just perfect. I'm also entering the For Fun challenge which is to use farm animals ONLY. As you can see in the picture below, I used a glitter pen to color over the eggs and added little dots in the air of the globe to mimic snow.
This is a Valentine's Day card for one of my sweet girls. Her favorite color is pink, so it's perfect. Luckily, she's only 3, 'cause she's right here watching me post this. : ) I used the sketch from Skipping Stones Design #112, the Creative Inspiration #147 challenge "Anything Goes", JustRite Stampers Friday challenge #65 "For the love of . . ." (The card is for my little girl that I love and I love making cupcakes), the Sweet 'N Sassy Digi #38 challenge "Desserts, Anyone" (you have to use a digital image of a dessert), and the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge to be true to your style (I'm such a clean and simple kind of girl and as I said, love those cupcakes). The papers are from an OLD SU! pack and the cupcake border is a stamp from SU!'s "Tag Alongs" also old! The "100% Sweet" sentiment is from JustRite Stampers "From my Kitchen" set, one that is being retired if you like it. And the digital cupcake is from Bird's Cards (and it's free).
This gorgeous photo is the inspiration for this weeks' Stampin' Sisterhood Challenge. My inspiration came from the heart shape and the pink of the roses.
I created a shaker card for the Make It Monday challenge using punched hearts in the colors of little conversation hearts and coarse glitter. The Clearly Inspired challenge #44 is to use pastel colors, so this fit perfectly. And I'm using the sketch from Seems a Little Sketchy #5. I stamped and cut out those adorable little conversation hearts. I'm having so much fun with them this week.
Why is it that when you are told NOT to do something, it's the only thing you can think of to do? The Sweet Stop Sketch challenge had a spin this week: create a non-traditional valentine. All I could think of was pink and hearts, etc. But I finally decided to go with a non-traditional color scheme. Papers are DCWV, blue cs is SU! and the green is PTI. The sentiment is a part of a cheepo set I bought a while ago and the House Mouse stamp I've had forever.
A couple years ago, I bought this set of really cheap foam mounted rubber stamps (one of those you see in a catalog: 100 sentiments for $5 or something like that) and discovered that they are really not all that useful. I do like this Valentine sentiment and the conversation hearts came out super cute! I might be using them more often. This is the first center-step card I have made and other than the square shape, I rather like it. Making one was the Timeless Tuesday challenge #153 this week. I also used the colors pink/daffodil/melon from the Pretty Palette #44 challenge. The dies I used are a border punch from Martha Stewart, Floral Doily Motif and Standard Circles, large from Spellbinders, and PTI's Places Please.
My father is having double hip replacement surgery on Feb 14th, so I needed to make him a feel better soon card, which just happens to be the theme for the For Fun challenge this week. I also used the Our Daily Bread Designs sketch challenge and the Creative Inspirations challenge #146 to use only your favorite color and white. This adorable little bear is one of the Pixie Cottage stamps and I colored him and his little friends with colored pencils. The doily is from spellbinders Floral Doily Motifs.
Someone I know is having a baby and when I saw the Crimbo Crackers challenge #7 was to create a Christmas card for a child, I knew a "first Christmas" card was just the thing. I'm also using the sketch from the Pixie Cottage and their theme of embossing. All the papers are DCWV and the stamps are all from Verve's "Ornamental Christmas". I heat embossed the ornament topper and the sentiment with gold embossing powder then stamped the ornament and colored in the stripes around the sentiment with a gold pen.
This is a nice simple card (other than planning the layout of the punched snowflakes!) I used the Skipping Stones Design sketch #111. The top snowflake is a Marth Stewart punch, the bottom four are a SU! punch; the ribbon is also SU! The sentiment is from Verve's "Ornamental Christmas" which I heat embossed with white powder. Paper is DCWV.
I know this is a strange color combo for a Christmas card, but for some reason I really wanted to use the striped paper and this is what came out of it. The sketch is from Sweet Sketch Wednesdays and I also used the challenge from Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge to use digital image and/or paper. I used this really fun snowflake image that I found here. And it was free! I "colored" it with glue and sprinkled it with silver glitter.
Usually I make my parents a joint Valentine's Day card, but this year my Dad is having a double hip replacement surgery on Valentine's Day, so I though maybe my mom could use a special Valentine. The sketch is Stampin Sisterhood (Rubbernecker Stamps) and the color combo (pink, white, navy) is the Pretty Palette challenge for this week.
The "MOM" sentiment is from SU!'s "Messages for Mom" and "love" is from "Noteworthy". After I stamped "MOM", I colored it in with colored pencils and highlighted the edges in glitter pen (which you can see much better in the second pic). The navy paper and both navy and rose red inks are SU! The papers are DCWV which I dressed up with "Timeless Textures" from Skipping Stones Design and a French Script from Hero Arts. The border die is from PTI and the little oval and mat is from Verve.
Isn't this magnolia flower beautiful?! It is a digital image created by Just Inklined for a fund-raising package for a fellow card-maker, Katie Renz, who has since passed away from cancer. I'm following the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge to create a "thinking of you" card, the Just for Fun challenge "Anything Goes", and the Our Daily Bread Designs #92 challenge "WINTER wordplay" (use at least 3 items/tools/embellishments, etc that begin with the letters of the word WINTER). I used White paper, Ink, Nestabilities circle die, Thread, Embellishments (pearls) and Ribbon (so I used them all!). The sentiment is from Verve's "Accent Notes" and the background papers were stamped with the "Timeless Texture" set from Skipping Stones Design.
Time to get ready for Valentine's Day. This card is for my wonderful husband--definitely the King of my Heart! I'm using the Waltzingmouse sketch challenge #79 and the Clearly Inspired Challenge #43 (sponsored by Clear Dollar Stamps) to create a Valentine's Day card. I used the tiny mosaics embossing folder from Cuttlebug to create a "stone wall" look on the top of the card and created a pleated paper "ruffle" for the bottom stamping it with a sentiment stamp from Verve's "Text Objects". I don't own any Walztingmouse stamps yet, so I used this digital image from them that was part of a fund-raising package for a fellow cardmaker named Katie Renz, who has since passed away from cancer. The sentiment I typed up and printed off the computer.
I promise that my next post will NOT be a Christmas card. : ) This card uses the Skipping Stones #109 sketch and it had me stumped for a bit. The papers are from DCWV Christmas Stack and the best part is that they are all scraps from previous projects. Gotta love that! The stitch stamp is from Verve's "Text Objects" and the sentiment is from "Ornamental Christmas" by Verve. And the netting is a recycled strip I had to cut off my daughter's Christmas dress after she stepped on it and tore it.
. . . at a tri-fold card. That was this week's Timeless Tuesday (Flourishes) #150. And it was kind of fun. : ) The card also uses the JUGS #118 sketch challenge and the Pixie Cottage #102 challenge to create a monochromatic card (I love those, I don't have to match colors!). I used all Verve stamps on this one. The cross, "Jesus" and "the reason for the season" are from the Richly Blessed set; "love" is from Text Objects; and the "Merry Christmas" is from Ornamental Christmas.
As you can see in the last two pictures, I used some acetate under the front cutout to support the snowflakes and the sentiment diecut. I don't know how many tri-fold cards I will make since you have to use larger than 8x11 paper, but I do like the result. 
This card is based on the Mojo Monday #222 sketch challenge this week. All Verve's stamp sets are fabulous, but for Christmas cards, I love this set: "Richly Blessed". It has so many beautiful sentiments that reflect the true meaning of Christmas. All the papers are from DCWV.
January birthdays can sneak up on you after all the hoopla of the holidays. I needed a card for a birthday we are celebrating tomorrow. Nothing like last minute! The sketch is from Sweet Sketch Wednesdays and I also used the challenge from Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday challenge #47 to use one of the previous issued challenges--I decided to try out the layered mats & frames #37 challenge. This gorgeous rose is from PTI's "Year of Flowers set") and the sentiment is from "Big Birthday Wishes" with the same rose lightly stamped underneath. I used Spellbinders Lable #5 and Scalloped Circles, large to create the frame.
Here it is, the end of the first week of January and I am starting Christmas cards! I am determined to get them finished before last minute this year. This card uses the Sweet Stop Sketch #140,the challenge from Crimbo Crackers (all Christmas cards, yeah!) to use only black and white, the Our Daily Bread Designs challenge #91 to use something new (Ornamental Christmas by Verve--a brand new stamp set I just got last week) AND something old (had these snowflake stamps from Inkadinkado forever!!), the Last But Not Least challenge to use something new, and the Crafty Hazelnut Christmas Challenge #54 to create a Christmas card with something recycled (see that awesome netted "ribbon" bow? Yep, recycled from my daughter's Christmas dress. She stepped on the netting and ripped it and I had to cut off about 1 inch all around to even it out. Figured it could be used for something and this was perfect.)