Who's Turning . . .

It's Saturday!!  That means it's time for another challenge from Di's Digi Designs.

The challenge this time is: Show Sparkle
And here is my card for your inspiration:

I didn't feel like coloring today (sometimes it just seems to take so long!), so I decided to do some paper piecing on my cute little critters.  After taking the time to print it out and then print it out two more times (and then another time because I missed on of their little paws), fussy cut all the critters and did some shading, I SHOULD HAVE just colored the image--it would have taken much less time!  But, oh well, the look super cute like this and I think it's really fun how they turned out.  I added some copper glitter paper for a mat and the die cut #2, then added some nuvo gold glitter pen to the little banners for my sparkle.  After I stamped my sentiment, the left corner looked a little bare, so I die cut  some little glittery stars and they seemed to finish it off perfectly!

I hope you will get a chance to play along with us; I can't wait to see what you create.  And make sure you hop over to the Di's Digital Designs blog to see what the rest of the team has made for this challenge.

Supplies: 

Stamps: Di's Digi Stamps "Jungle Shelf" digi; PaperTrey Ink "Big Birthday Wishes"

Dies: PaperTrey Ink number border die

Challenges: 

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

Sweet Stampers #56--animals, critters or birds

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #158--anything goes

Try Stampin' On Tuesday #507--sketch AND/OR a see through section (I used the sketch)

Creative Moments #215--anything goes

ART Impressions--birthday

Aud Sentiments #275--for the girls

Cardz TV #141--anything goes

A Gem of a Challenge--anything goes

Use Your Stuff #423--tic tac toe (I used the bottom row: paper piecing/shiny or sparkly/purple)

Crafty Sentiments--anything goes

Penny's Challenges #497--anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday--anything goes

Cute Card Thursday #688--anything goes with the optional twist: critters

Krafty Chicks #561--all occasions

Creative Fingers #209--anything goes

Be Strong

  Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps.  This week is a fun one: Embossing (Wet or Dry OR Wet and Dry).

And here is the card I created:

I used heat embossing.  I heat embossed the sentiment with gold embossing powder on the striped panel, and also the "Happy Birthday" on a piece of white scrap card stock.  All of the papers (except the light purple card stock base are all from the same paper pack.  I even stamped the flowers and leaves on patterned paper and added a little bit of shading with my markers.  I love using multiple patterns from the same pack because I know they are going to match (I have a hard time matching colors otherwise).  The patterned "frame" has some beautiful foiled parts that catch the light so nicely.  You can see all the shiny goodness in the photo below.

Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure you head on over to The House blog to see what the rest of the Design Team has done with this photo.  And if you "need" any of the stamps I used, check out my 10% off your entire order coupon code over in my lift sidebar.

Supplies:

Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Be Strong", "Happy Birthday", "Pattie's Flower Outline", "Daisy Outline small", "Leaf Outline, small" and "Leaf Outline, large"

Dies:  Spellbinders "A2 Matting Basics 2"

Martha Stewart butterfly punch

Challenges:

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

Pixie's Crafty Workshop #403--anything goes with snippets (except for the card base and the striped paper, all of the other elements were cut from scraps.  The leaves used up a nice long, narrow strip!)

Sheepski Designs #50--floral dance

Creatalicious #210--anything goes with the optional twist: for a woman

Paper Funday #29--anything goes with the optional twist: flowers/floral

Dare 2 B Artzy--flowers

Atlantic Hearts Sketches #422--sketch

Simon Says Stamp Monday--frame it

Use Your Stuff #423--tic-tac-toe (I used flowers, butterflies, purple +embossing, stripes, paper piecing, and shiny/sparkly--almost the whole board)

Nautical Birthday

  Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps Built.  This week the challenge is: The Birds and the Bees.

And here is the card I created:

As I was searching for a stamp to use for this challenge, this little pelican caught my eye, so I decided to create a nautical, masculine birthday card.  I pulled out a never before used anchor stencil and inked it up with some blue ink.  Then I used the postcard stamp and light gray ink to give it a subtle pattern.  I die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die and inked the edges with the same light gray ink.  For the striped panel, I used a diagonal line stencil and colored in the stripes with a red and a blue marker.  Then I inked up the edges with the light gray ink.  I created a "porthole" with a circle die and a stitched circle die layered together to create a frame.  I used a third stencil to create the waves in the background of the shaker element.

My sister saved me from a big mistake: The anchor stencil has an alternating pattern of downward facing anchors and top facing anchors, but when I add the striped panel, it covered up the one row of anchors that was opposite the two that are showing.  I didn't notice and I had the circle element all cut and was getting ready to adhere the whole card together when she pointed out that the anchors were upside down!  Ugh!!  I already had the back panel (with the waves and the sentiment) adhered to the card base, but I was able to carefully detach it and flip it the other way.  Disaster averted!

Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure you head on over to The House blog to see what the rest of the Design Team has done with this photo.  And if you "need" any of the stamps I used, check out my 10% off your entire order coupon code over in my lift sidebar.

Supplies:

Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Pelican's Piling", "Postcard" and "Birthday"

Dies: MFT "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle and "Blueprints 14" stitched circle; Spellbinders "Classic Circles, large"

Stencils: MFT "Diagonal Stripes" and "Ocean Motion"; STAMPlorations "Anchor"

Challenges:

Crafty Calendar--masculine

Crafty Creations #421--anything goes

Crafty Friends #152--sketch (I turned it on end, and then had to flip it a bit again to fix my oops.  Hopefully it is not too much of a stretch.)

STAMPlorations Stencil Challenge--anything goes using a stencil

Use Your Stuff #422--stencils

Creative Moments #214--anything goes

Creative Fingers #208--anything goes

Sweet Stampin'--things with wings

Sweet Stampers #56--animals, critters, or birds

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #158--anything goes

Cardz 4 Guyz #271--create your own background

Perfect die cuts

 Today is my turn to share a Project of the Week for the House That Stamps Built.  One of my teammates asked for a tutorial on how I line up letter dies to cut perfectly straight words.  So, here it is:

All you need is something with straight lines (I used my gridded cutting mat, but graph paper would work or probably any lined paper), washi tape, and letter dies.

I tear off a piece of washi tape that is long enough to span all of the letters I am using.  I also tear off two short pieces.  Line up the long piece, sticky side UP, along a straight line.  Use the two smaller pieces to adhere it to the grid background.

Begin with the first letter of your word and line it up on the RIGHT hand end of the tape (cutting side UP), lining the bottom up with one of the lines below the tape.

Continue adding your letters, spacing them out exactly as you want, making sure to line up the bottom of each letter with the same line.  This would have been easier if I was making a word that didn't use the same letter more than once, but it will still work.

Once you have your word all lined up, you can pick up the entire strip of tape and all the letters will stay right in line.  Then you can place them on your piece of paper, cutting side down; the washi tape will hold them right in place.

After die cutting, remove the tape and your letters will be die cut perfectly straight.

If, like me, you need to use a letter a second time, just do the process over again, putting the letter needed into position.  I left my "O" in the same place and moved the "M" over to the other side.

I lined the "O" up in the already die cut "O" spot and ran it through my die cut machine again.  The washi tape holds it right in place.

And here it is all die cut!  I saved the cut out letters to use on another project, but make sure you keep any center pieces (such as the center from the "O") you will want to add them back in to make the letters look complete.

This is what the piece looks like once I finished the card off.  (See how I added the center back into the "O" so it doesn't look like a big hole.)

For this card I used Repeat Impressions stamps "I'm so glad . . ." and "Butterfly (sm)"

Relax

 It's Saturday!!  That means it's time for another challenge from Di's Digi Designs.

The challenge this time is: Birthday Wishes
And here is my card for your inspiration:

I made a tri-fold card.  I just think this image is perfect for doing some fussy cutting and allowing another panel to show through.  I printed the image out, colored it and fussy cut out all the blank spaces creating the first panel.  In the photo below you can see the dimension it gives as it starts to open.

Opening the front panel, you see the second panel.  I stenciled on some clouds that show through to the front.  The "It's your day . . . " shows through to the front as well, while the "Happy Birthday" sentiment is hidden behind the hammock until you open it.

The second panel opens up to a space for the birthday greeting and where you can write your message.

I think the last time I used this image, I created a Father's Day card.  The image is really perfect for so many masculine card occasions.  

I hope you will get a chance to play along with us; I can't wait to see what you create.  And make sure you hop over to the Di's Digital Designs blog to see what the rest of the team has made for this challenge.

Supplies: 

Stamps: Di's Digi Stamps "Sleepy Bear" digi; Raisin Boat "It's your day . . . " and "Relax" sentiments; MFT "BB Adorable Elephants" happy birthday sentiment; Mama Elephant "Inside Birthday Messages"

Taylored Expressions "Set the Scene: Clouds" stencil

Challenges:

Scor-pal #81--anything goes (I used my scor-pal to create the different panels)

Pattie's Creations #182--anything goes

Crafty Calendar--masculine

2 Crafty Critter Crazies #50--anything goes

Crafty Creations #421--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #159--anything goes

Double Trouble #83--fun fold

Cardz TV #140--anything goes

Pink Gem Challenge--anything goes

Use Your Stuff #422--stencils (cloud stencils)

Crafty Sentiments--anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday--stencil it

Creative Moments #214--anything goes

C.R.A.F.T. #597--birthday

Crafty Catz #551--anything goes with the optional twist: just chill (my bears are relaxin' and chillin')

Creative Fingers #208--anything goes

Blessed is the man

This card started with the turquoise star; I had several of them left over from a bridal shower and many have been making appearances on masculine cards.  Then, I picked out some bright coordinating colors and patterns and created this fun card.  The copper glitter stars were also left over from the shower and they finished everything off perfectly.  I also added a button recycled from some outgrown clothing (my kids', not mine!) with a bit of twine.

Supplies:

Stamps: Verve "Jeremiah 17:7 Plain Jane"

Dies: Sizzix/Stephanie Bernard star swing card set

Challenges:

Cards Galore #87--anything goes

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

Love To Craft Challenge Blog #58--anything goes

Crafty Calendar--masculine

Pixie's Crafty Workshop #402--anything goes with snippets (the stars were all left over from other projects, the little banners were scraps and the button is recycled)

Word Art Wednesday #491--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Creative Fingers #207--anything goes

Your Next Stamps #163--bright colors

Crafter's Cafe #265--anything goes

Cardz TV #140--anything goes
 

Have a very Merry Christmas

  Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps.  This week is something a little different and fun: Sew Special (a sewing theme, stitching, faux stitching, etc.)

And here is the card I created:

Yes, I did make a Christmas card!!  It's been a long time since I made one and it is time to get started!  I started by stamping the quilt block image and coloring it in with Christmas colors.  Then, heat embossed the sentiment with gold embossing powder, trimmed the image down and matted it with some red.  You can't see it very well in the photo above, but in the next photo you can see that I took a set of stitched border dies, taped them together in a row and used them to dry emboss the main white panel.

The texture is really cool and it ties in the stitching theme.  Then I stamped, colored and cut out the adorable, little moose and adhered him with some foam tape on top of some gold embroidery floss for a fun little embellishment.  If you look closely, you can see that I added some gold sparkle pen to the little Christmas lights wrapped around his antlers.

Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure you head on over to The House blog to see what the rest of the Design Team has done with this photo.  And if you "need" any of the stamps I used, check out my 10% off your entire order coupon code over in my lift sidebar.

Supplies:

Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Quilt Frame", "Merry Christmoose", and "Christmas Tree 2-sided Swing Stamp Set"

Dies:  MFT "Free with $60 Purchase Stitched Borders"

Challenges:

Cards Galore #87--anything goes

Pattie's Creations #182--anything goes

Love To Craft Challenge Blog #58--anything goes

2 Crafty Critter Crazies #50--anything goes

Merry Little Christmas #34--anything goes

Crafty Creations #421--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends--anything goes

Mojo Monday #559--sketch

Cardz TV #140--anything goes