All About "U"

 A couple months ago, I decided I needed to step down from some of my DT work.  I have some "new" commitments having to do with church and a volunteer organization, so I needed to free up some time.  One of the challenge blogs I designed for was closing at the end of December which was a perfect out without having to feel like I was letting anyone down.  (It turns out that the owner decided NOT to close the challenge, but she is working without a design team anyway.)  Another team was running a design team call, so I figured it was the perfect time to step down since they would be able to acquire new team members without any problems.  And then the third team (the one I was planning to keep designing for) suddenly was closed down without any definite plans for the future.  So, I find myself without any DT commitments.  It's sad, but it's also good--now when I make (and post) cards it will be because I need them or because I WANT to make a card, not because I HAVE to make one.  This is my first card after being Design Teamless.  It is a birthday card for my cousin and I tried Jennifer McQuire's "Eclipse Sentiment Stamping" technique for something a little different.

A while ago (ok, a very long while ago) I purchased this "U" die from Altenew.  I had some other ideas for it, but decided to start here: by using it as part of the sentiment.  This card kind of started with the large blue die cut star.  I had several of them left over from a baby shower project last spring, and I have been slowing using them up.  I die cut out a couple smaller stars to go along with it and matched them up with some colorful paper.  Unfortunately as I was stamping on the star, it shifted a little in my MISTI and blurred a little.  UGH!!  Luckily, I had ONE more of the stars, so I adhered it over the original and it was all fixed!  I added a few little star sprinkle pieces that I got from Kat Scrappiness.  They add a fun pop of color!

Supplies:

Stamps: CASual Fridays "Shenanigans"

Dies: Altenew "Mega Alphabet U"; Stamps of Life/Stephanie Bernhart star; Verve small stars

Kat Scrappiness "Superhero Star Sprinkles"

Challenges:

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #173--anything goes

Shopping Our Stash #461--something beginning with "S" (Stars, sprinkles, stamping and Sentiment)

Cut It Up #242--birthday cards

Unicorn Challenge #72--layer it up

Cards Galore #95--anything goes

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

Creative Inspiration--anything goes

Craft Rockets #88--use dies

Crafty Catz #577--anything goes with the optional twist: CAS

Snippets Playground--anything goes with snippets (my patterned papers were all scraps and all the die cuts were cut from scraps--or were left over from a project)

2022

 Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps Built.  This week is very fitting: Create a New Year's card.  It's a bittersweet challenge, actually, as it will be the last one from The House That Stamps Built for the foreseeable future.  Let's hope it won't be permanent.

Here is my card:

I decided to go with a LOT of sparkle and shine for this one as it seemed fitting for a New Year's celebration.  I started by stamping just the "Happy New Year" portion of the "Merry/Happy Frame" image, then die cut it with a circle die.  I stamped and heat embossed the "Celebration Burst" with a gold tinsel embossing powder.  I also stamped the image repeatedly on a black card stock panel and heat embossed the images with the same gold tinsel embossing powder.  I die cut "2022" once from gold glitter cardstock and twice more from scrap white card stock and adhered them together for dimension before adding them just above the sentiment on the circle panel.  I finished everything off with some large, gold sequins.  This is definitely a celebration in a card!

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 challenge.  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 "Merry/Happy Frame" and "Celebration Burst"

Dies: Spellbinders "Classic Circles, large"; MFT "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle (the black embossed panel); PaperTrey Ink "numbers border die"

Challenges:

Creative Fingers #221--anything goes

Creative Moments #229--anything goes

Cardz TV #156--anything goes

A Gem of a Challenge--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #172--anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday--Party

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday--time to party

Krafty Chicks #591--all occasions

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #574--anything Christmas or New Year's

Crafty Sentiments--anything goes

Embossed Christmas

 Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps.  This week the challenge is Christmas with the optional twist: use your favorite technique.

And here is the card I created:

I had a bit of a hard time coming up with a favorite technique at first, and then once I started I had a hard time deciding on one!  I finally decided to go with heat embossing as I have been doing a bunch of it lately.  It is just so magical watching that powder melt!!  A couple weeks ago, my fellow Rock Star, Patti created a card using this stamp and she highlighted the scarf, hat and bird with red ink.  I really liked how it looked and I decided to recreate that using red embossing powder on the scarf only.  The rest of it I embossed with silver embossing powder.  I do love that pop of red; it's really fun!  It took some masking and a lot of hard pressure, but I think it was worth it.  I heat embossed the sentiment with silver as well, die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die and brushed on some white ink around the edges.  I would have liked it to be more sparkly with maybe some glitter embossing powder, but I didn't have any.  Maybe another time.

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 challenge.  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 "Snowman and Friend" and "Christmas"

Dies: MFT "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle

Challenges:

Sweet Stampin--anything Christmas

Cards Galore--anything goes

Love To Craft Challenge Blog #65--anything goes

Crafty Calendar--Christmas

Creative Inspirations--Christmas time

We Love Stamping--anything goes with the optional twist: CAS

Merry Little Christmas--anything goes

Winter Wonderland--anything goes

Dare 2B Artzy--CAS

Crafty Creations #428--anything goes

613 Avenue Create--anything goes with the optional twist: any holiday

Crafting Happiness--anything goes

Creative Fingers #221--anything goes

Sweet Stampers #63--anything goes

Cupcake Inspirations #534--snow people

The Paper Shelter--anything goes

Creative Moments #228--anything goes

C.R.A.F.T. #622--Christmas

Krafty Chicks #590--CAS

Alphabet Challenge--S is for silver (I used silver embossing powder)

Cardz TV #156--anything goes

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #573--anything goes with the optional twist: use the word "Merry"

A Gem of a Challenge--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #172--anything goes

Use Your Stuff #438--snow or winter

Tuesday Morning Sketches--anything goes

Unto You

 Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps.  This week is Christmas with the option of Words as the Focus.

And here is the card I created:

I heat embossed the sentiment with silver embossing powder and then die cut it with a rectangular frame.  I was going to put it on the black base and leave it nice and clean.  But I felt like it needed something, so I cut another panel of black card stock, embossed it with a snowflake embossing folder and wiped on a bit of white ink to help the embossing stand out.  I die cut some snowflakes from sliver glitter paper and adhered a bit of black and white ribbon left over from another project.  It was a actually quite quick and easy, and I really love how it turned out--very classy and elegant.

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 challenge.  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 "For Unto You"

Dies: Spellbinders "A2 Matting Basics A" rectangle; Memory Box "Lindeman Snowflake"; MFT "Sweet Snowflakes"

Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder

Challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop #416--anything goes with snippets (My ribbon was left over from some party favors I made back in July--the piece was already cut, sitting in my bits and pieces stash.  The sentiment was die cut from a scrap and the snowflakes were die cut from a sheet of paper that has already had several other die cuts cut from it.)

Double Trouble #99--It's up to you (Thing #1: anything goes; Thing #3: add a number (numbers in the Scripture reference); Thing #2: play with Paper Funday)

Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 #221--sketch

Sparkles #131--non-traditional colors

Paper Funday Challenge #36--anything goes with the optional twist: holidays

Word Art Wednesday #522--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #572--anything goes with the optional twist: quick and easy

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #171--anything goes

Christmas Blessings

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

The challenge this time is: Christmas/Winter Holidays
And here is my card for your inspiration:

Sadly, this is going to be my last post as a Design Team member for Di's Digi Designs.  I need to focus on some other things for a while.  I've so enjoyed my time on the team and I've loved working with Di's adorable images.

Onto my card, it seems I'm always in a rush lately and don't have a lot of time to spend making cards before deadlines come.  So, I was looking for an image that is relatively quick and easy to color and this cutie fit the bill.  I printed the image out and die cut it using a stitched rectangle die and then cut the bottom of the panel at an angle with a snowflake border die.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on the patterned paper.  The large snowflake embellishment came from punched snowflakes that my mother had gotten for me as part of a pack of stamping stuff she bought at a yard sale years ago.  I adhered 3 of them together for dimension and coated the top with a chunky glitter (which you can't see in the photo).  Then I adhered a green button to the center.  I die cut a couple of smaller snowflakes to adhere around the card to finish it off.

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.

Check out Di's Shop here; she has the most adorable images!!

And you can go to her Facebook page for all sorts of super cute inspiration!

Supplies: 

Stamps: Di's Digi Stamps "Merry and Bright" digi; Verve "Beyond Measure" sentiment

Dies: Amy Designs snowflake border; Papertrey Ink "Snowglobe" small snowflakes; My Favorite Things "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle

Challenges:

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #171--anything goes

Use Your Stuff #437--plaid (on my patterned paper)

Shopping Our Stash #460--Do you want to build a snowman? (the guy with the top hat is a snowman, I'm not sure if the guy in the back is one or a polar bear)

Crafty Sentiments--anything goes

Fab n' Funky Challenges #541--anything Christmas goes

Paper Shelter--celebrations

As You Like It--favorite Christmas embellishments (my favorite would be snowflakes--either die cut/punched/felt, etc.  They go perfectly with the winter theme--at least here in the Northeastern US--and are easy to add to pretty much any layout)

Aud Sentiments--Christmas/winter/new year's

Cut It Up #240--holiday cards

Alphabet Challenge--R is for red

Cardz TV #155--anything goes

Sweet Stampin'--anything Christmas goes

Cards Galore--anything goes

Pattie's Creations #189--winter fun

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

Love To Craft Challenge Blog #65--anything goes

Stick It Down Challenge--sketch

Crafty Calendar--Christmas

Dies R Us #182--anything goes with dies that Dies R Us sells (Amy Designs)

Sheepski Designs #57--embellish it (ribbon, button, glitter, snowflakes, twine)

Creative Inspirations--Christmas time

Creatalicious #257--anything goes with the optional twist: Christmas

Critter Crazy #57--anything goes with a critter (my penguin and possibly the polar bear?)

Merry Little Christmas #41--anything goes

Winter Wonderland--anything goes

Paper Funday #36--anything goes with the optional twist: holidays

Crafty Creations #428--anything goes

613 Avenue Create--anything goes with the optional twist: any holiday

Crafting Happiness #118--anything goes

Penny's Challenges #511--anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #521--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Creative Moments #228--anything goes

ART Impressions--Happy Happy Holidays

Krafty Chicks #589--Christmas

Crafty Catz--anything goes with the optional twist: Christmas celebrations

Creative Fingers #221--anything goes

Christmas Deer

 Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps.  This week is Christmas with the option of patterned paper.

And here is the card I created:

I started with a sketch, as I usually do, and a scrap of gold glitter card stock that was left over after I die cut a scalloped border for a card I made a week ago.  Then, I headed to my patterned paper stash (ok, a new pad of Christmas patterned paper) and thought this green piece went nicely with my gold glitter.  I stamped the image with versamark and heat embossed it with a gold tinsel embossing powder.  It gave a really nice, pale, sparkly gold touch.  I then heat embossed my sentiment with a solid gold embossing powder--I wasn't sure the sparkles would work well for the sentiment.  Then, because the edges looked a little plain and I wanted to add some more gold touches, I heat embossed antique gold frantage embossing powder around the edges of the image panel.  In real life, there is a lot of gold shimmer and shine going on here.  I adhered my gold glittery scalloped strip and then added some cream linen (the scalloped strip is just peeking out below the ribbon) and finished it off with a bow and a button.

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 challenge.  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 "Deer Family Silhouette" and "Christmas"

Dies: MFT "Stitched Scalloped Trim Trio"

Challenges:

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #171--anything goes

Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 #221--sketch

Crafty Sentiments--anything goes

Fab n' Funky #541--anything Christmas

The Paper Shelter--celebrations

Creative Moments #228--anything goes

Aud Sentiments #289--Christmas/winter/New Year

Creative Fingers #220--anything goes

Cardz TV #155--anything goes

YNS--Sparkle and Shine

Sweet Stampin'--anything Christmas

A Gem of a Challenge--anything goes

Cards Galore--anything goes

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

Love To Craft Challenge Blog #65--anything goes

Crafty Calendar--Christmas

Sheepski Designs #57--embellish it (I used embossing powder, ribbon, button, twine and a glittery die cut border)

Creative Inspirations--Christmas time

Creatalicious #224--anything goes with the optional twist: Christmas

Critter Crazy #57--anything goes with a critter as the focal

Merry Little Christmas #41--anything goes

Winter Wonderland--anything goes

Paper Funday #35--anything goes with the optional twist: holidays

Crafty Creations #428--anything goes

613 Avenue Create--anything goes with the optional twist: any holiday

Crafting Happiness #118--anything goes

Purple Christmas

 Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps.  This week is a fun one: Christmas with non-traditional colors.

And here is the card I created:

I definitely love my traditional color schemes for Christmas, but every once in a while I do like a good non-traditional colored card--specially purple!  I think it's so fun for Christmas!  I created a little shaker element tag to be the focal point.  I stamped the cute little snowman, colored him and added silver stickles to to his snowflakes.  I accidently swiped a bit of black ink on the frame after I had almost all the layers adhered together.  Ugh!!  So, I saw a snowflake die set I had and cut some out of silver glitter paper.  One of the small ones was just perfect to cover up the ink!  And as a bonus, they were a perfect addition to the card!  The little "Merry Christmas" was created with a little creative masking.  It turned out to be the perfect size for the little banner!

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 challenge.  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 "Winter Frame" (I used the snowman without the frame) and "Christmas Tree 2-sided Swing Stamp Set" (I used the Merry Christmas from the first part of the 2-part sentiment)

Dies: MFT "Tag Builder Blueprints 5" and freebie snowflakes

Challenges: