Birthday Wishes

  Happy Friday!!!  It's time for a new challenge from the Cut It Up Challenge Blog.  This week, the challenge is: Spring Project

And our fabulous sponsor is:

Taylored Expressions

Here is my card for your inspiration:

Taylored Expressions was so generous and gave the designers this beautiful stamp and die combo and a set of circle masking stencils to use for this challenge.  The flowers are just gorgeous!  And I'm excited to get to try the circle masks in different ways.  Thanks, TE!  I started by stamping the flower image and coloring it (for some reason, I find it much easier to color an image before I cut it out.  I guess I really need to be able to see those lines, I really don't know), then using the matching die to die cut it out.  I actually used the die to cut three more out of an inexpensive white card stock and layered them all together for some dimension.  I used the circle mask along with a brick wall stencil from MFT to create a landing place for these gorgeous flowers!  It also looks like it adds dimension, but the base is just one layer.  Using my mini MISTI, I curved my sentiment to fit in the blank space.  I finished everything off with a smattering of pink pearls  and then added some gold glitter shimmer pen to the green leaves which you can just see in the photo below.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you will hop over to the Cut It Up blog for the full details of the challenge and to see what the rest of the Design Team has created. 

Supplies:

Stamps: Taylored Expressions "Spring Spray"; Verve "Better Together" sentiment

Dies: Taylored Expressions "Spring Spray"

Stencils: Taylored Expressions "Masking Stencils-Circles"; MFT brick wall

Challenges:

Cards Galore #97--anything goes

Pattie's Creations #192--anything goes

Die Cut Divas--birthday

Sheepski Designs #60--flowers

Creative Inspirations--spring flowers

Dare 2B Artzy--anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner #229--add a flower

Crafty Friends #153--flowers

NBUS #36--anything goes (the flowers, die and masks are all brand new, never before used)

Fab n' Funky Challenge #547--hand colored image

Penny's Challenge #517--anything goes

CRAFT #631--anything goes

Creative Fingers #221--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #178--anything goes

Krafty Chicks #604--all occasions (birthday)

Party like a pirate

 I have no idea how this happened, but my oldest is turning 16 tomorrow!!  16 is a big deal, so I wanted to create a fun, interactive card, and this is what I came up with: a fun 3-D pirate-themed box card.

I bought the MFT "Out of the Box" die a month or so ago and hadn't gotten it out to play yet.  This was the perfect time!  It was really quite easy to put together, if I had stuck to the basic design . . . but, no, I wanted to create a see-through look on the front so I made it a little more difficult for myself.  But the way it turned out was worth it.  Since there really wasn't any place for a sentiment on the front of the card, I added some decorative panels on the sides: this side has the sentiment . . .

and this side has a black, glittery "16", die cut out of black glitter paper.  You can see the fun dimension added by all the little shelves inside the box.

So fun, and I love how cute the different sea creatures are!

Supplies:

Stamps: MFT "Party Like a Pirate" and "Friends with Fins"

Dies: MFT "Outside the Box", "Ocean Waves", "Ocean Floor"; Lawn Fawn "Stitched Hillsides"; Papertrey Ink "By the Numbers" border die

Stencil: Taylored Expressions "Set the Scene: Clouds"

Challenges:

Pattie's Creations #192--anything goes

Cutie Pie  #169--beginning with B (I have a lot of blue)

Die Cut Divas--birthday

Love To Craft Challenge Blog #67--anything goes

Craft Rocket #90--use an animal

Dare 2B Artzy--anything goes

NBUS #36--anything goes with never before used shtuff (first time using the out of the box die set)

Incy Wincy Designs--nature and scenery

Fab n Funky #547--hand colored image

Penny's Challenge #517--anything goes

Creative Fingers #257--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #178--anything goes

The Paper Shelter #504--animals

C.R.A.F.T. #631--anything goes

Krafty Chicks #604--all occasions

Christmas Present

 I decided to recycle some of the Christmas cards I received this year.  The present was recycled from one of those cards.  I found some red dotted ribbon in my bits and pieces stash and then found some matching patterned paper scraps to go with the color scheme.  The three snowflakes were part of a bunch of crafty items I bought at a yard sale a couple years ago.  They were already punched and I adhered two together to create each element, to give a little depth and stability.

I added a little bit of red and white twine, a little red brad and a stamped sentiment to finish it all off.

Supplies:

Stamps: Verve "Ornamental Christmas" sentiment

Martha Stewart snowflake punch

Challenges:

Unicorn Challenge #75--dots and/or stripes (dotted ribbon)

Sparkles #134--Santa Claus is coming to town (there are two Santas on my patterned paper, and they brought a gift)

Cards Galore #97--anything goes

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

Love To Craft Challenge Blog #67--anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #43--anything goes

Winter Wonderland--Christmas presents

Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 #225--sketch

Christmas Kickstart #60--snowflakes are winter's butterflies

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #177--anything goes

Blessed my life

 A couple weeks ago, one of my cats knocked over my bits and pieces stash (in their defense it was quite precarious!).  So, I took a little time to organize it and look through the different bits and pieces I had.  Most of the elements on this card were in the stash, so it was a very quick and easy card to create.  The patterned papers, sentiment and matching leaf sprigs have been there for several years.  I received it in an order I received from Verve, probably just as they were closing up shop.  I colored the little sprigs and fussy cut the two that are not part of the sentiment.  Then I pulled the already stamped flower out of the pile thinking it worked quite perfectly!  I just needed some pink card stock and pearls and a bit of olive organza ribbon to finish it off.  I love quick and easy!

Supplies:

Stamps: Altenew

Challenges:

Unicorn Challenge #74--dots and/or stripes (I've got both)

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

Creative Sketchy Girls #68--flowers

Crafty Calendar--spots/stripes or Easter

Sheepski #60--flowers

Crafty Gals #229--add a flower

Crafty Friends #153--flowers

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #177--anything goes

Try Stampin' on Tuesday #546--sketch

Simon Says Stamp Monday--feminine

Word Art Wednesday #535--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Penny's Challenge #517--anything goes

Have courage

  Happy Friday!!!  It's time for a new challenge from the Cut It Up Challenge Blog.  This week, the challenge is: Women's History

And our fabulous sponsor is:

CAS-ual Fridays

Here is my card for your inspiration:

So, I have to admit that this challenge had me stumped for a long time!  What was I going to create to celebrate women's history?  As I was looking through my Cas-ual Fridays stamp sets and I came across this set with this sentiment.  And I started thinking of all the women that have gone before us and paved the way for the freedoms and privileges we have now.  think of how much courage it took for the first woman who wanted the right to vote, the first woman who wanted attend college, the first woman to join the Army, and I could go on and on.  So many things that we take for granted are the results of women who had the courage to try.  I paired the sentiment with some pretty flowers from a different Cas-ual Fridays set.  I was thinking of using the bold black and white flower patterned paper, and when I saw the little bit of yellow ribbon in my bits and pieces stash, my color combo was born!  The black and white checked ribbon was also in the bits and pieces stash and the scalloped border was die cut from a small scrap of black card stock.

I started by stamping my flowers in the corners of my main panel and then colored them.  I then heat embossed "courage" with black embossing powder and then stamped "have" with black ink.  I wanted the "courage" to really stand out.  I added a bit of gold sparkle glimmer pen onto the flowers; you can see it in the photo below.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you will hop over to the Cut It Up blog for the full details of the challenge and to see what the rest of the Design Team has created. 

Supplies:

Stamps: Cas-ual Fridays "Mon Ami" and "Powerful Words" (retired)

Dies: Spellbinders "A2 Matting Basics A" rectangle die and a mini scalloped border die

Challenges:

Penny's Challenge #516--anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #534--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

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

Creative Sketchy Girls #68--flowers

Stick It Down--sketch

Sheepski Designs #60--flowers

Snippets Playground #423--anything goes with snippets. (even my patterned papers were pieces left over from other projects)

Dare 2B Artzy--anything goes

Crafty Friends #153--flowers

Crafting Happiness #121--anything goes

Make a wish

 This year I decided to recycle some of the Christmas cards we received.  One had three presents on the front: one had a snowflake on it, but the other two were rather generic.  So, I decided to use this one for a quick and easy masculine birthday card.  The triangular patterned paper piece was left over from a card I had just finished (I only had to trim off the very point as it was about 1/2 in too long).  I knew just the stamp set to use to create a large, bold sentiment.  I stamped it in red to add a little bit more color to the card and then I finished everything off with some blue enamel dots.  So fun and easy!

Supplies:

Stamps: CAS-ual Fridays "Shenanigans"

Challenges:

Try Stampin' on Tuesday #545--sketch

Penny's Challenge #516--anything goes

Unicorn Challenge #74--dots and/or stripes (I have both!)

Cards Galore Challenge #97--anything goes

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

Love To Craft Challenge Blog #67--anything goes

Crafty Calendar--spots/stripes OR Easter (I used spots and stripes)

Crafting Happiness #121--anything goes

Creative Fingers #226--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #177--anything goes

Use Your Stuff #443--masculine

Little Red Wagon #644--CAS