The Reason

Hi and welcome to October!!  It's time for another challenge from Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra.  You have all month long to play along and you can create anything you want as long as it is Christmas related.  Our sponsor is Bugaboo Stamps and the winner will receive 7 images of their choice.  Here is my inspiration card for you:

After seeing this image, my oldest daughter said she now knows what grinning from ear to ear means.  And then she said she thought Mary probably was grinning like this when she held the baby Jesus; she's so smart!
I hope you will get a chance to play along with us, we're definitely getting closer to Christmas now!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bugaboo Stamps "AKV Nativity-Mother and Child" digi; Verve "Richly Blessed" sentiments
Dies: MFT "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle; PTI "Fancy Flakes"; Verve "Classy Labels mini" and "Flag It!"

Challenges:
Christmas Cards All Year 'Round--shabby chic and/or monochromatic (mine is monochromatic with blues)
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes with patterned paper
Holly Jolly--embossing, stitching or piercing OR paper piecing (I used a stitched die)
Little Miss Muffet #147--anything goes
Fussy & Fancy Challenges #173--My favorite things (ribbon, rhinestones and BLUE)
Hiding in My Craft Room #268--any holiday
Dis Digis--ribbon, lace, or twine
Craft Your Passion #33--anything goes
Creative Craft Cottage #72--anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #250--anything goes with uplifting sentiment
Fab n Funky #320--Christmas
ABC Christmas--T is for Two (two people)
Sugar Pea Designs #17--sketch

Penny's Challenge #297--winter/Christmas
Inspiration Destination--anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday--anything goes
Crafty Ribbons #169--ribbon or lace
Aud Sentiments #165--anything goes
Winter Wonderland--tic tac toe (I used the snowflake, blue, ribbon column)
Brown Sugar #218--anything goes
Creative Fingers #117--anything goes

Be thankful

Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another What If? Wednesday challenge from The House That Stamps Built.  This week we have a sketch challenge (my favorite!) for you:

I know I used a paper pieced pumpkin only a few weeks ago for our challenge inspiration, but they're just so cute that I had to do it again!  I actually had one left over from the last card and I was planning to use it on this card, but alas, I couldn't find it.  Which is not a big surprise considering the disaster that is my craft area.  So, I stamped and cut out two more and added some adorable leaf and vine die cuts from a brand new die I bought recently.

I LOVE how this turned out!  The papers are all from an Authentique paper pack and most of them were scraps which are always fun to use up.  Once again, I selectively inked up part of my sentiment stamp to use only the part I wanted.  I hope you'll get a chance to play along; this really is a fabulous sketch.  And if you NEED these adorable pumpkins (or any other stamp from Repeat Impressions for that matter) check out the 10% off your entire order code on my left sidebar.

Supplies:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Tall Pumpkin", "Wide Pumpkin" and "Let Us . . ."
Dies: Spellbinders "Floral Ovals"; MFT "Ornate Corners" and "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle ; pumpkin leaves (can't think of the maker right now)

Challenges:
Craft Your Passion #331--anything goes
Pixie's Crafty Workshop #248--anything goes with snippets (all the papers were scraps except the brown card base and the patterned paper base layer.  The corner bracket was left over from another project)
Di's Digis--ribbon, lace or twine
Sweet Stampin'--buttons and/or ribbons
Fussy & Fancy #173--my favorite things (I used my favorite die--the stitched rectangle-- and my favorite embellishments: ribbon and rhinestones)
Brown Sugar #217--anything goes
The Paper Girls #112--nature
Alphabet Challenge--O is for Oval (oval die cut)
The Divas That Cut--fall theme
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes with patterned paper
Die Cuttin' Divas #285--vegetables (pumpkins!!)
Shopping Our Stash #271--apple for teacher (use fruit or vegetables--my pumpkins)

Love

Hello, and welcome to another Friday Funday challenge from Jo's Scrap Shack.  This week we have a fan favorite: Anything Goes

Our fabulous sponsors are Sami Stamps and Little Blue Button Stamps.  I have had a bunch of Sami Stamps digis that I haven't gotten to use yet, so I chose to use this adorable "Winter Romance" image.  And since it is a winter image, I decided to get ahead of the game and make an anniversary card for my parents.  Their anniversary is the day after Christmas, so I know this is waaaaaaaay in advance, but it always sneaks up on me.  My mom's favorite color is red so that was the basis for the color scheme AND the red coat.

I made the background paper starting with a musical background stamp that I stamped off on a scrap paper first to mute it a bit.  Then I stamped the embroidered background stamp and finished it off with some black flourishes.I LOVE how it turned out and will probably be using this idea a lot.  I thought the little doily die looked like a snowflake and it looks fabulous under the sentiment circle.

Now I just have to remember to actually give it to them on time!  I hope you'll get a chance to play along with us this week.

Supplies:

Stamps: Sami Stamps "Winter Romance" digi; SU! "Noteworthy" sentiment; Hero Arts "Musical Score" background; JustRite Stampers "Embroidered" background; Flonzcraft flourishes

Dies: MFT "Mini Doilies" and "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle; Spellbinders "Classic Circles, large"

Challenges:

Inspiration Destination #204--anything goes

Penny's Challenge #90--anything goes

Addicted To Stamps #212--make your mark

Sugar Pea Designs #16--sketch

Fab n Funky #319--ribbon and/or lace

Creative Craft Cottage #72--anything goes

Craft Your Passion #330--anything goes

Lacy Sunshine--anything goes

One Stitch At a Time #271--special day (anniversary)

Paper Nest Dolls #9--anything goes

Craft Dee Bow-Z--anything goes with handmade bow

Birthday Cupcakes

Happy Birthday to Me!!  Oh, yeah, Happy Wednesday!  It's time for another What If? Wednesday challenge from The House That Stamps Built.  This week we have an inspiration photo for you:

Isn't that fun!?  You could be inspired to create a back to school card, or a teacher appreciation gift, or be inspired by the cupcakes and create a birthday card like I did.  It's my birthday today, but this card was for my husband's birthday on Monday.

I stamped the first cupcake and then stamped it on some post-it note paper and cut it out to use as a mask.  I did the same with the cherries, and then stamped the second cupcake and then colored them all up.  I was looking for something to add some interest to the red panel and came across this embossing folder that reminded me of the sprinkles on top of the cupcakes. And I added a little plastic star that I had on my desk from a craft project the kids had done a while ago.  It was the right color and seemed a fun little addition.   I hope you'll get a chance to play along with us this week.  Don't let the photo scare you, who doesn't love cupcakes?? : )  And if you have to HAVE any of the stamps I used, check out my 10% off your entire order code on my left sidebar.

Supplies:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Happy Birthday" and "Cupcakes"
Dies: Spellbinders "A2 Matting Basics A"; Cuttlebug embossing folder

Challenges:
Craft Your Passion #330--anything goes
Aurora Wings #36--For Men & boys
One Stitch At A Time #271--a special day (My husband's birthday!)
Sketch Saturday #430--sketch

A Bit More Time To Craft #28--anything goes
{Pin}spirational Challenge #174--photo inspiration (inspired by the cupcakes with sprinkles)

Unicorn Challenge #13--Happy Birthday

Autumn Roses

Welcome to another challenge from Love To Scrap Challenge Blog.  This time it is Anything Goes!  we know how much everyone loves those.  Our three awesome sponsors are:

Sparkle N Sprinkle

Dr. Digi's House of Stamps

Limited Runs Stamps

I chose to use this beautiful image from Limited Runs Stamps: Birdhouse #1.  I colored it up and then added some white gel pen for highlights and added glitter around the edges of the petals.

I don't have a lot of fall themed papers, so I created my own with a script background stamp and added a leaf stamp on top; then I colored up the leaves and I really love how it turned out.  I used a layer of mulberry paper behind my focal image; love the softness it creates.  I hope you'll get a chance to play along with us this challenge.  I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Supplies:
Stamps: Limited Runs Stamps "Birdhouse #1" digi; Hero Arts French Script; Repeat Impressions "Falling Leaves"
Dies: Spellbinders "A2 Matting Basics A"; Sweet N Sassy "Fence Die"; MFT leaves and "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle

Challenges:
Pixies' Crafty Workshop #297--anything goes with snippets (the leaves and fence die cuts are all from snippets and the orange panel behind the mulberry paper is actually a thin piece cut in half and layered behind the focal panel)
Come And Get It--Lots of layers
Dis Digis--Autumn
Cut it Up #105--Name Game (since my name starts with "H" I have to stretch it a bit and go with Handcolored digi)
A Bit More Time To Craft #28--anything goes
YNS #48--color combo

Creative Fingers #116--anything goes
Time Out #66--inspiration photo, I was inspired by the orange leaves

Art Impressions #183--Cards to Die For
Inspiration Destination #103--anything goes
Crafty Gals #84--freestyle
Penny's Challenge #295--anything goes
Fab N Funky Challenges #318--inspired by nature
Crafty Creations #324--for the home (a BIRD home)
Crafting By Designs--stitching, faux or real (a stitched rectangle die)
CAS-ual Fridays #156--dimension and bling (glitter)
Creative Inspirations #257  anything goes with a sketch

The Divas That Cut--Fall theme
A Blog Named Hero--texture (twine, button, and metal embellishment)

Gatefold Christmas

Wow, here it is the middle of September already!  How's your stamps of Christmas cards coming along?  Well, if you're not quite there yet, you can get some made and enter our Anything Goes Christmas challenge over on the Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra blog.  As always, our sponsor is Bugaboo Stamps and the winner will receive 7 images of their choice.  Here is my mid-month inspiration for you:

I don't usually do anything other than a traditional A2 card with either a top or side fold, but this time I decided to make a gatefold card for something a little different.  But it does make photographing the card difficult.  I used the eraser berry technique from Mark's Finest Papers challenge this week, but I used a small mechanical pencil eraser to create smaller berries than a typical eraser would make.  After "stamping" them, I added stickles to the berries and than used a clear wink of stella pen to add glitter to the star and the pinecones on the paper at the bottom of the card.

 Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you will get a chance to play along with us this month, I can't wait to see what you create.

Supplies:
Stamps: Verve Stamps "Peace On Earth" sentiment; Hero Arts musical score background; Repeat Impressions "Pine Needles, Sil."
Dies: MFT "Blueprints 12" focal square

Challenges:
Inspiration Destination #103--anything goes
Crafty Gals #89--freestyle
Penny's Challenge #295--anything goes
Addicted To Stamps #211--anything goes
Mod Squad--use a sentiment as the focal
Fab n Funky Challenge #318--inspired by nature (pine boughs)
Word Art Wednesday #248--anything goes with uplifting sentiment
MFP #37--eraser berries
Fussy & Fancy #172--music
Holly Jolly #80--more than one fold
Scor-pal--cards, cards and more cards
A Gem of a Challenge #177--ribbon, lace or twine
As You Like It--favorite song or film (O, Holy Night is my absolute favorite Christmas carol; so beautiful)

You're old!

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for another What If? Wednesday challenge from The House That Stamps Built.  This week it is Designer's Choice and that designer is ME!  This is crazy birthday time for our family--my brother-in-law's b-day is the 16th, my husband's the 19th and mine is the 21st--so I chose a Birthday theme.  We can always use birthday cards, right?  Well, this one is for my brother-in-law.  I hope the "potty" humor doesn't offend anyone.  If it does, I apologize.  That being said, my sister convinced me that this would be perfect for her hubby as he has a bit of a strange sense of humor.  (Edited to add: My BIL LOVED this card!  Right away he said he had to take it to work to show a co-worker.  Honestly, I think he was more excited about the card than the gifts that went along with it, which I know he liked!)

 I started with a red base, as that is his favorite color.  And I added some brown sequins for, well, I'm not going to say it.  Let's just say that my three girls thought it was kind of gross.

 The sentiment "oh crap . . . you're old" is kind of fitting because he is turning 30!  And I can say it, because I'm several (and a few more) years older than him.

I hope you'll get a chance to play along with us this week.  You can even make a birthday card for me, if you want!  : )

Supplies:

Stamps: Repeat Impressions from the Holy Crap series "you're", "OLD!", "oh, crap . . .", "plunger", and "toilet"

Dies: Spellbinders "A2 Matting Basics A" rectangles for the frame

Challenges:

Craft Your Passion #32--anything goes

MFP #37--anything goes

CAS-ual #156--Dimension & Bling

Crafty Catz #337--anything goes with the twist of anything but a square

Brown Sugar--anything goes

Creative Knockouts #158--for the boys

Unicorn Challenge #13--Happy Birthday

Cuttlebug Mania--anything goes

Anniversary

This is a busy card making week for me.  My brother-in-law's birthday is Friday, my in-laws' anniversary is Sunday, my husband's birthday is Monday and my birthday is Wednesday!  Obviously, this is my in-laws' anniversary card.

My mother-in-law and I actually went to the Stamp & Scrapbook Expo in Marlborough, MA last weekend.  We took a couple of classes offered by JustRite Stampers.  The first one was learning how to mix background stamps, so I gave it a go on this card, knowing that my mother-in-law would appreciate it.  Our second class was on two-step stamping and we received this flower set in the class, so I tried that technique, too.  It's tough to see, but I pierced a border along both edges of the sentiment strip for some added interest.

Supplies:
Stamps: JustRite Stampers "Chicken Wire" background stamp and "Romantic Wild Roses"; PTI "Damask Designs" sentiment; Hero Arts French Script stamp

Challenges:
Craft Your Passion #329--anything goes
Pixie's Crafty Workshop--anything goes with snippets (the flowers and leaves were stamped on scrap pieces of white card and fussy cut out.  The pink strip was a scrap as was the white sentiment strip.)
Sketch Saturday #429--sketch

Hiding In My Craft Room #266--super scraps (I think everything except the green base was a scrap or offcut)
CAS-ual Fridays #156--dimension & bling
Brown Sugar--anything goes
Crafting with an Attitude--anything goes

Sweet Birthday

Happy Friday!!  It's time for another challenge from Jo's Scrap Shack:

Our sponsors are Little Blue Button Stamps and Bugaboo Stamps.  I was given this adorable image from Little Blue Button Stamps and I combined her with a yummy fall cupcake to create a tasty birthday card for my sister-in-law.  

I have to confess that I totally forgot what the challenge was while I was making this card.  I was just creating away, having a good old time and when I was all finished, I realized I would have to stretch it a bit to get it to meet the criteria.  Oops!  So, my three colors are green, brown ('cause there is brown and tan) and a deep pink/red.  My two embellishments are square rhinestones and liquid pearls and my one technique is fussy cutting.

Supplies:

Stamps: Little Blue Button Stamps "Chef Lilly" digi; PTI "Baker's Dozen" cupcake; YNS "Silly Monsters" sentiment

Dies: Spellbinders "Floral Doily Motifs"

Challenges:

Little Miss Muffet Stamps #146--anything goes

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Wonderful Wednesday--anything goes

Inspiration Destination #102--anything goes

Crafty Gals #88--Let's here it for the girls

Penny's #294--anything goes

Sugar Pea Designs #14--sketch

Fab N Funky #317--fall colors

Lacy Sunshine--anything goes

The Divas That Cut--fall theme

Card Mania Challenge #84--earth tones

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes with patterned paper

Hiding in My Craft Room--fall colors

Smile

I'm not sure how it happened, but it's Wednesday already!  These Monday holidays really mess up my routine!  Anyway, it's time for another What If? Wednesday challenge from The House That Stamps Built.  This week is a beautiful color combo challenge:

This was perfect for me because all these colors are in a paper pack that I am trying to use up.  I LOVE the colors and patterns and now I'm down to just scraps, but they're too good to throw away!

So, everything on this card except the base itself is from scraps and all the patterned papers are from the same pack.  This was really quite easy.  If you want to make one for yourself, I'll give your the measurements to save you having to figure them out yourself.  If you are making an A2 sized card like I did, you need ten 1 1/4 in squares.  Then I rounded two opposite corners of each square.  Like I said, nice and easy.

Supplies:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Flower Power Separates, Daisy Outline, small", "Leaf Outline, small" and "You make me smile"
Dies: Spellbinders "Labels 37"; SU! corner rounder punch

Challenges:
Cuttlebug Mania--anything goes
Our Daily Bread Designs #278--dots or dashes
Craft Your Passion #328--anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday--Stamp it
Crafty Cardmakers #172--Layer it up
Pixies Crafty Workshop #245--anything goes with snippets
Come And Get It--flowers
One Stitch At A Time #220--lace or pearls (pearls)
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes with patterned paper
Cards Galore--anything goes
MFP #36--anything goes
A Bit More Time To Craft #27--anything goes
Aud Sentiments #163--anything goes with a sentiment
Word Art Wednesday #246--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Celebrating 95

This week we celebrated the 95th birthday of a man at our church.  He has been there his whole life I think, so we had a nice little celebration for him.  This is the card I made:

The stripes and numbers are actually nave, though in the picture they look almost black.

Supplies:
Stamps: PTI "Big Birthday Wishes"; Simon Says Stamp "Grid Background"
Dies: PTI "By The Numbers"; MFT "Stars STAX"
MFT "Diagonal Stripes" stencil

Challenges:
Cuttlebug Mania--anything goes
Craft Your Passion #328--anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday--stamp it
Crafty Cardmakers #172--layer it up
Alphabet Challenge Blog--N is for Numbers
Crafty Creations #303--use a number

Monster Wishes

So, I saw that one of the challenge blogs was having a "Stamp Selfie" challenge and right away my mind started tuning.  I have these cute monsters that I thought would be fun to use for it and as I was getting them ready, I decided that one needed to photo bomb the "picture".  Don't you just love that little orange guy jumping into the picture?!  Oh boy, it cracks me up.

Supplies:

Stamps: YNS "Silly Monsters"

Dies: Lawn Fawn "Say Cheese"

YNS navy gumdrops

Challenges:

Craft Your Passion #328--anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday--stamp it

Crafty Cardmakers #172--layer it up

Scrapper's Delights #59--anything goes

Crafting With Attitude--anything goes

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes with patterned paper

A Bit More Time To Craft #27--anything goes

YNS #47--sketch

Creative Fingers #115--anything goes

Aud Sentiments #163--anything goes

DRS #242--stamp selfie

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday--anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #246--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Crafting By Designs--anything goes

Inspiration Destination #101--anything goes

Thinking about You

Happy Monday!  That means it's time for another challenge from Love To Scrap Challenge Blog.  This time it is: Flower Power (use 2 or more flowers)

Our sponsors are:

Little Blue Button Stamps

Bugaboo Digi Stamps

Pickled Potpourri

I was given this beautiful set of images to work with from Pickled Potpourri.  There are actually 3 different flower clusters that you can add to the watering can.  I chose the pansies because they are my absolute favorite flower.  Someone that is more technologically talented than I am (and it wouldn't take much) would probably be able to merge these images together, but I printed them out separately and fussy cut the pansies out so I could add them to my can with a little bit of depth and dimension.

The image is large and didn't really seem to need anything else, so I kept this one nice and simple.  I hope you'll get a chance to play along with us this challenge.  Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Supplies:
Stamps: Pickled Potpourri "Watering Can Flowers" digi; Verve thinking about you plain jane
Dies: MFT "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle; Spellbinders "Classic Circles, large"

Challenges:
Tuesday Throwdown #309--CAS
A Gem of a Challenge #177--ribbon, lace or twine
Aud Sentiments #163--anything goes with a sentiment
Crafty Ribbons #165--anything goes with ribbon
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday--anything goes
Inspiration Destination #101--anything goes
Addicted To Stamps #209--CAS
Mod Squad--use foliage
Word Art Wednesday #246--anything goes with uplifting sentiment