From Our House

Happy Friday, everyone!  It's that time again: time for another challenge from Christmas Stampin' All Year Long.  And this week it is an easy one: Anything Goes!  We are sponsored by Limited Runs Digis and one random participant will win 3 digis of their choice!

So, does anyone recognize the image I used today?  Yep, I used it last week for this card.  I thought it was a Fred She Said image but when I saw who our sponsor was this week, I realized I grabbed the wrong image.  Arrrghhghh.  A huge apology to Fred She Said for not using their image!!  Hop on over to the CSAYL blog for all the details and to see what the other Design Team members came up with.

Challenges:

Viva La Verve May week 4--sketch

JUGS #190--inspiration photo (I took my inspiration from the gray, yellow and white color scheme and the polka dots--on my ribbon)

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #126--Show some white; a lot or a little

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra--anything Christmas goes

Catered Crop--Yellow

Card Mania Challenges--Spots and/or Stripes (spots on my ribbon)

Eureka Stamps--Great Outdoors

{Pin}spirational Challenges #59--inspirational photo (I went with gray and white and the dots)

Word Art Wednesdays #82--anything goes with an uplifting sentiment

Crafting By Designs--anything goes

Supplies:

Stamps: Limited Runs Stamps "Christmas Door" digi; Verve "Merry and Bright" sentiment

Martha Stewart scalloped border punch

Love You Mower

Isn't this sentiment so fun!?  This is my Father's Day card for my husband.  It's perfect really because he has been trying extremely hard to keep the lawn looking nice this year.  I thought he would appreciate it. : )

Challenges:
Viva La Verve May week 3--sketch
Crafty Ribbons #46--anything goes with ribbon
Brown Sugar Challenges # 43--Father's Day
Sister Act #8--anything goes
Eureka Stamps #41--Great Outdoors
Squigglefly #21--Just around the corner (use rounder corners)
Timeless Tuesdays #222--summer plus sheer ribbon
Word Art Wednesday #82--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Supplies:
Stamps: Squigglefly "My Punny Valentine 4"
Paper: DCWV (it's grass!  perfect for this card)
SU! Corner rounder punch

Vintage Christmas

I created a card last week using this same image and the French script and I loved it so much I just had to use the same elements again on this card.  I decided to give a fun fold a try for one of the challenges.  You can see how the top flap lifts up in the next picture and the last picture shows the sentiment on the inside.

Challenges:

Viva La Verve May week 4--sketch

Winter Wonderland--all tied up

Crafty Catz--a fancy fold or two

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown #17--baker's twine

Tammy's Scrappin Corner #64--vintage

Inkspirational Challenges #22--anything goes

Stamping with the Dragon--tags

Supplies:

Stamps: Eureka Stamps "Poinsettia"; Verve "Ornamental Christmas"; Hero Arts "French Script

Papers: Basic Gray

Dies/punches: Spellbinders "Floral Doily Motifs" and tag; Fiskars apron border punch

Collection of Christmas

These are all cards that I have already posted but I need to put them all together into one post to be able to enter them into the Creative Craft World--Beat the Christmas Rush monthly challenge.  I actually made a few more than 5, but 5 is the limit, so that's what you get.  To find out the details about any one of them, click on the link below each picture and it will take you to the original post.

 Home for the Holidays--May 24

 Merry Christmas--May 15

 Double Trouble--May 17

 Silent Night--May 10

Winter Fun--May 6

Home for the Holidays

 Is it Friday again, already?!  Yikes, time sure flies when you're having fun.  Time for another challenge from Christmas Stampin All Year Long: Use Non-Traditional colors on your Christmas project.  Our Sponsor is Fred She Said and the winner will receive a $10 gift certificate to the store!

I chose to go with a purple theme and I posted two different pictures because I had a hard time getting a good shot of the true color.  The base is a soft lavender and the accents are a deep purple.  I really love how it turned out.  There is a house nearby here that has a lavender door; it's so pale that you don't even notice it at first, but it is really pretty.  That was the inspiration for my color scheme since I wanted to color my door purple.  But after I didn't have a marker with the right shade.  So I left my door white and when with purple accents instead (with a little black thrown in for contrast).  I used a glitter pen on the bow and the purple berries on the wreath and the trees but it doesn't show up very well.  But in real life it's really quite elegant; you'll just have to take my word for it. : )

Now, hop on over to the CSAYL blog to check out the full details and to see what non-traditional colors the rest of the DT have used.  Then get inky and play along.

Challenges:
Eureka Stamps #40--you decide: all white or no design paper (I chose no patterned paper)
Merry Monday #63--sketch

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra--anything Christmas goes

Supplies:
Stamps: Fred She Said "Christmas Door" digi; Stamp Fairy Merry Christmas digi
Dies/embossing folders: Spellbinders circles and scalloped circles, large; cuttlebug embossing folder

Congrats!

 It's that time of year again: time for graduations!  This card is simple, but really cool looking.  I die cut the numbers and then backed the panel with acetate to give the die cut letters something to adhere to.  I was going to put the green panel on the inside of the card so that you could see through the numbers to the inside.  But at the last minute, I realized that it would show all the writing on the inside and that wouldn't work very well.  So, I adhered it to the back of the front panel which makes the acetate unnecessary, but gives it a neat look anyway. You can see the shine from the acetate in the photo below.  Then I stamped, colored and glittered the graduation cap, cut it out and adhered it to the top of the 2 with pop-ups.

Challenges:
Go Fish #41--glitter (black glitter on the cap)
Delightful Challenges--Bingo (I used the dimension, lace/ribbon, glitter line)
DRS Designs #70--conGRADulations
Charisma Cardz #19--no digis allowed
JAI #166--crumb cake, lucky limeade, midnight muse, whisper white (it turns out the school colors of this graduate are kelly green, navy blue and white)
Sister Act Card Challenges #7--anything goes
Blogger's Challenge--for the grad
Crafting by Designs--anything goes with a twist--graduation

Supplies:
Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps graduation cap; PTI "Fresh Alphabet"
Dies: PTI "By the Numbers" and small alphabet
Ribbon: SU! Nearly Navy

Monkey business

I'm posting this card over on the Lollipop Ladies Challenge blog today as I swapped days with Susan who is having some family stuff that she needs to deal with and wasn't able to create a project in time.  This fortnight the challenge is:

Boiled Sweets

with the additional challenge of curves.

Guest DT spots are able to be won each fortnight

and our sponsor this fortnight is: Annabelle Stamps *

$10 Voucher (thanks to Andrea).

Please link up your entries in the sidebar :-) (after 3pm)

* Prize will only be offered if 7 or more entries partake in the challenge.

 When I first saw the inspiration photo, the green jumped out at me; so that was the starting point for the card.  Unfortunately, I cannot take pictures with true color; the card base is really a nice spring green color instead of the grayish green it appears to be in the photo.  I embossed the background panel with a spellbinders impressabilities plate and then sponged it with yellow, pink, purple, green and blue to bring in the other candy colors.

Here is the sentiment in the inside of the card.  I hope you will come play along with us.  Last week, sadly, we didn't have enough entries to give away the prize!  We'd love to have a bunch of entries this week.

Challenges:
Timeless Tuesdays #220--blue and green
Fab n' Funky Challenges #171--your favorite embellishment (my fav. is definitely ribbon, I use it on most cards)
Desert Island Crafts Challenge #54--choose at least 3 of the following (I used 1,5,7,8)
1. Colour Blue
2. Distressing
3. Doodling
4. Washi tape
5. Texture
6. Bling
7. Dots
8. a Critter or 2
9. Fabric
10. White accents
Seize the Birthday #17--sketch

Southern Girls Challenge--Going Spot Dotty

Supplies:
Stamps: DigiDarla "Curious Monkey" digital image; PTI "Big Birthday Wishes" inside sentiment.
Spellbinders impressabilities circles plate

Double Trouble

It's Friday!!!  And that means another challenge over on the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog.  Participation has been a little low the last couple of weeks, maybe you are all out enjoying the spring weather.  Anyway, maybe this one will get you in the mood to play along.  The challenge is:

Inspired by a Christmas Carol

Our sponsor is the wonderful Emma Canning

There will be THREE winners; each will receive 2 images of their choice!

I received this adorable image to play with called "Snow Race".  (I'll explain the double image in a minute)  The Christmas Carol that kept coming to mind (really the only one I could think of) is "Jingle Bells".  You might not know exactly what I'm talking about, so let me sing it for you:

"Dashing through the snow, in a little red plastic sled, o'er the fields we go, laughing all the way . . . "  What??  That's not how it goes?  Well, it should be because you can do some serious dashing through the snow if you are on a big enough hill and there can definitely be lots of laughing.  Well, if you don't buy that one, I could also go with "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" since that's what my sentiment says.  But I'm sticking with "Jingle Bells"

 I tried to create a fun border by  punching out a bunch of snowflakes and adhering them to the panel behind the stamped panels.  You can see it at the bottom, but unfortunately the stamped panels cover up most of them.

So, here's the story of the two girls on the card.  With the sketch I chose to use there were two panels and I thought it would be cute to put two girls on there because we all know that sledding is way better with someone else.  And I decided to color them to resemble my two twin girls.  I decided early before they were born that I was not going to dress them alike except on special occasions.  Sometimes they have similar outfits just in different colors.  So, although the sledding girls are dressed almost alike, you can see that their sweaters are different shades of blue and one has a gray shirt while the other has white.  Also, the girl on the left has darker hair and blue eyes (which you cannot see in the picture) like the older of the twins and the one on the right has lighter hair and brown eyes like the younger twin.  It was really just for my own amusement since I'm sure no one else will pick up on it.
After all that blabbering . . . hop on over to the CSAYL blog and check out the full details plus the projects from the other DT members.

Challenges:
Sparkles Christmas Challenge #28--use your favorite festive colors (I love blue and white together for Christmas)
Flat Friends Challenge #8--use punches
Christmas At Sweet Stampin--winter sports
Seems a Little Sketchy #39--sketch

Holly Jolly--First letter/first name (use a product/technique that begins with the first letter of your first name.  Mine is "H" which was hard to think of, but I finally came up with Heat embossing--my sentiment)
C.R.A.F.T. #209--Christmas in May

Supplies:
Stamps: Emma Canning "Snow Race" digi; Verve "Merry and Bright" sentiment
Punches: Martha Stewart snowflake punch
Dies: Verve "Charmin Oval" die
Paper: DCWV Christmas pack

Merry Christmas

 Another Christmas card, I know.  But I just love the Merry Monday sketches so much that sometimes I have to play along even when I don't "need" another Christmas card.  All though, really, until all the Christmas cards are finished, I always "need" another one. : )

This second picture shows a little more of the dimension of the poinsettia.  I printed out the digital image 4 times, colored them, cut them apart and layered them all together.  It really looks fabulous, but it is tall and I don't know if it will really fit in an envelope!

Challenges:
Stamping with Dragon--a flower for Mum (not quite what they were thinking, I'm sure, but it IS a flower--I could give it to my mother)
Sister Act #6--anything goes
Crafty Katz #182--anything goes
52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown #17--red and white
Merry Monday #60--sketch
Crafty Ribbons--No preprinted paper
Crafting By Designs--anything goes with paper piecing

Supplies:
Stamps: Eureka Stamps "Poinsettia" digi stamp; Verve "Merry and Bright" sentiments; Hero Arts "French Script"

Congrats

My brother-in-law graduated from Rio Grande University with his Master's Degree last weekend.  I thought I had another week, but looks like I'll be late with his graduation card.  Oops.

I wanted a subtle striped background so I stamped the stripes in versamark and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  It's the perfect affect I was looking for and it really just makes you want to touch it.

Challenges:
DRS Designs--circles
Charisma Cardz Challenge--Black and white plus one other color (red)
Frosted Designs--Black and white plus one other color
Get Inky #4--show us some diecuts
Verve Diva Dare--stars & stripes
Mojo Monday #293--sketch

Supplies:
Stamps: PTI "Distressed Stripes" and "Fresh Alphabet"; Stamp Fairy "Barry Graduation" free digi
Dies: Sizzix star die; Verve "Pennant Trim" border die; spellbinders circles, large

Silent Night

It's Friday once again and that means time for another challenge from Christmas Stampin' All Year Long!  I think our inspiration photo from last week stumped most of you, so hopefully this one will be a little bit easier:  Mrs. Claus--add fabric or lace to your creation.  A few weeks back, we were challenged to create a project using items found on Santa's coat, so this week we are looking to his wife for inspiration.  As I was looking through my fabric stash to see what I had, I came across this red canvas and knew it was perfect.  I used spray adhesive on my card base and smoothed the fabric on, then trimmed around the edge of the cardstock with scissors.  As you can see in the picture, the edges are fraying a bit, but it kind of gives it a homespun feeling.  I didn't have any lace to match, but I also used ribbon and added some black buttons.  I stamped my sentiment directly onto the canvas and the "Silent" came out perfect, but the rest was a bit hard to read.  So, I used a black sharpie marker and traced over it.  Our sponsor this week is Eureka Stamps and the winner will receive 5 digital images of their choice!

So, hop on over to the CSAYL blog for the full details and to see what the rest of the DT came up with.  Then dig into your stash and show us some creative ways to use fabric (or lace if you take the easy way out).

Challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #123--Let's get sentimental

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra--anything Christmas goes

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown--sketch

Timeless Tuesdays #219--Black accents

Supplies:

Stamps: Eureka Stamps "Mary and Joseph Circle" digi; Verve "Star of Wonder" sentiment

Dies: Spellbinders circles large, floral doily motifs; PTI  button die

Purr-fect

Ooohhhh . . . isn't this little kitten just adorable???  This card is a Mother's Day Card for my mother-in-law.  (The Mother's Day sentiment is on the inside)  Her favorite color is purple and the card is all sorts of beautiful shades of purple (even though it looks a bit blue).

Challenges:
House of Gilli--lace and pearls
V's Sweet Ideas #11--Mother's Day
One Crazy Stamper--May Flowers
Brown Sugar--Mother's Day
Sister Act #5--anything goes
Bloggers Challenge--A Feminine Touch
Viva La Verve May week 1--sketch
The Squirrel And The Fox #43--Mother's Day
Card Mania--Flower Power
Eureka Stamps #38--Mother's Day
Squigglefly #18--It's a Monotone kind of day
Tammy's Scrapin Corner--Mother's Day
Celebrate the Occasion #11--Mother's Day

Supplies:
Stamps:  Squigglegly "Kitten Bouquet" digi; Sassy Cheryl sentiment
Dies: spellbinders circles and scalloped circles, large; Verve "Charming Ovals" die

Courage

Today is my day to post over on The Lollipop Ladies blog. The challenge for this fortnight is:

Sour Cola Bottles

with the optional challenge of glitter!

 I just have to say that this challenge almost had me stumped!  I mean there is the obvious color combo, but I used those colors on this card here for the last challenge.  And I didn't want to create another "man" card with the same colors.  So this card took me a long time.  Not that there is anything special or time consuming, just had to stare at each part for a really long time before I could decide how to move on.  But in the end, I think I managed to create a feminine card with a masculine color scheme.  Although, really, I guess it could be for either a man or a woman--the glitter and the pearls aren't TOO much. : )

 Here's a close up of the gorgeous glittery butterfly.  Glitter is practically everywhere now.

Guest DT spots are able to be won each fortnight
and our sponsor this fortnight is: Mad for Markers*

(thanks to Sammi).

A choice of 3 of her M4M digi stamps.

But here's the deal:  the prize is awarded only if there are 7 or more entries, and right now we only have 1.  So come on over and play so we can give away this fabulous prize; maybe to YOU!

Challenges:

Desert Island Challenge #53--choose 3 of the Itinerary items (I chose 5.embossing, 7.glitter, and 9.fibres--little silver one behind the butterfly)

Southern Girls #68--You Can Say That Again (use a sentiment)

Sugar Creek Hollow #60--Spring Flowers (with vintage or shabby chic style)--flowers on my paper

Our Daily Bread Designs #153--use 4 items that start with the letters SPRING (I used P--paper, R--ribbon, I--Ink, N--nestabilities dies, G--Glitter)

Sweet Sketch Wednesday #205--sketch

Flutter By Wednesdays #239--Open challenge with Butterflies or Fairies
Word Art Wednesdays #79--anything goes

Supplies:
Stamps: Verve "Blue Skies" butterfly and "Beautiful You" snetiment
Dies: Spellbinders oval and scalloped ovals, large; Verve butterfly die

Mother's Day Wishes

This sweet Mother's Day card is for my sweet mom.  She loves lilacs (but then, who doesn't, really?) so this little Cocoa mouse image is just perfect for her.  I wish I was able to take better pictures, I just don't have the lighting figured out.  But anyway, the colors on this are much more purple than it looks in the picture.

Challenges:
Seems A Little Sketchy--sketch

Go Fish #40--MOM
V's Sweet ideas #11--Mother's Day
Our Creative Corner--anything goes
One Crazy Stamper--May Flowers
C.R.A.F.T. #205--a stitch in time
DRS Designs--butterflies
{Pin}spirational Challenges #56--inspiration photo (I used the mouse as inspiration. I was going to leave him white, but he just didn't look right at all, so I had to go with gray)


Supplies:
Stamps: Sweet n' Sassy "Cocoa with lilacs" digi; Verve "Joyful blooms" sentiment
Dies/punches: Verve "Charming Ovals" die; PTI butterfly die; Martha Stewart butterfly punch and scalloped border punch

Winter fun

Doesn't she look like she is having a blast!?  I don't do it very much any more, but I did get a chance to go sledding a couple times this winter, and we used to do it all the time when I was a kid.  But I have to say that I never looked this stylish doing it. : )  My color inspiration came from the Holly Jolly challenge this week, which I missed the deadline for but I still thought it was a fun color combo.

Challenges:
Christmas Challenge with Sketches #71--sketch (I'm actually going to make it in time this week)
Delightful Challenges--ribbon
Crafty Ribbons #44--anything goes with ribbon
Winter Wonderland--Dashing through the snow (show movement)
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra May--anything Christmas goes

Supplies:
Stamps: Emma Canning "Snow Race" digi
Papers: DCWV Christmas Pack
Punch: Martha Stewart snowflake punch
SU! ribbon

Santa with Tree

It's FRIDAY!!!  That means it's time for another challenge from Christmas Stampin' All Year Long and these week we have a gorgeous inspiration photo for you:

Isn't it gorgeous?  I with I could have a table setting like that!  For my take on this photo, I used purple (duh!  that's an obvious starting point!) and I also love that diamond patterned table cloth, so I embossed a (mostly) diamond pattern on my background layer.  I'm starting to realize (yeah, I'm a bit slow) that maybe I should check out our challenges before I pick my image from the sponsor, 'cause it was a bit of a challenge to add Santa to a purple color scheme!  Speaking of our sponsor, once again it is the fabulous Bugaboo Stamps

and the prize is 7 images of the winner's choosing!

Now, if you read my post last week, you'll remember that I mentioned that we don't celebrate Santa Claus and yet, here I am again with SANTA as the focus of my card!  Well, when a sponsor as wonderful and generous as Bugaboo gives you a free image to play with, you don't complain.  And he is cute, isn't he?!  I did a bunch of adding; I added purple glitter to the ornaments on the tree, white flock to Santa's beard and the trim on his suit, and a little snippet of purple ribbon to the present.

Now it's your turn.  Hop over to the CSAYL blog to see the projects from the rest of the DT and get all the details.  I'll be checking you out to see how our photo inspires you!

Challenges:

Crimbo Crackers #40--anything goes (Christmas related)

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #122--ribbons and bows (this was the inspiration for the ribbon on the present--I had to figure out how to use more ribbon!)

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for May--anything Christmas goes

Catered Crop--embossing

Cutie Pie Challenge #43--lots of layers (even though this card looks CAS, there really are 5 different layers)

Merry Monday #59--sketch

Timeless Tuesday #218--It's all in the date (since my birthday is in September, I had to use embossing and purple)

Supplies:

Stamps: Bugaboo Stamps "AKV Santa - tree" digi image; Verve "Merry and Bright" sentiment

Dies/embossing folders: spellbinders oval, large; The Paper Studio "Quatrefoil" embossing folder