Wire Wrapture

Saturday, August 1, 2026

Yarn Birthday

Happy August 1st!! It's time for a new challenge on the Critter Crazy Challenge blog! As always, it is a month long challenge: Anything Goes as long as you feature a creature. Here is my card for your inspiration:

This birthday card is for my nephew; he just turned 12! A couple years ago, he and his two siblings were super into stuffed animal kitties. Hopefully he will still appreciate this cat themed card. I had some fun with this one. I chose a bright and happy background and then chose the rest of my color scheme from there. I stamped the cat bed on an melon card stock and then again on a scrap of paper from the same pack as the background piece. Then I fussy cut them both out and pieced them together so the bed has a pretty cushion inside. I stamped colored and die cut the kitty and stamped and cut out the yarn ball. I thought it would be "fun" to give it some texture so I cut tiny pieces of twine and glued them in place over the lines on the ball. It worked, sort of. It didn't turn out exactly as I thought and there was a lot of glue stuck to my fingers!! But in the end I think it added a fun touch. I used the same twine to tie to the balloon and made it look like it connected to the yarn ball that the kitty is playing with.

I stamped the sentiment and some matching images from the same set on the inside.

Thanks for stopping by! Hop on over to the Critter Crazy blog and check out the details and the rest of the projects from the Design Team.

Supplies:

Stamps: Lawn Fawn "Meow You Doin'"

Dies: Lawn Fawn "Meow You Doin'"; MFT "Blueprints 26"

Challenges:

Be Merry

Hello, everyone! It's time for the mid-month reminder for the challenge from the Creative Moments Challenge blog. The theme is: Shimmer and Shine. I am using an image from our fabulous sponsor: Love to Color.

Here is my card:

I had it in my head that I wanted a pink dragon. I think it's because I have made a couple card recently with non-traditional Christmas color schemes and felt like I wanted to do another. So, I have a pink and green dragon all ready for Christmas. I created my background by cutting half inch strips of pink, red, and green card stock and I also cut thin strips of gold card stock as accents. Then I just adhered them onto my card base. Quick and easy and fun! I matted my image with the same gold card stock and added a sentiment and some gold sequins and it was done! I added some Nuvo gold silver sparkle pen to the wings; you can see the sparkle in the photo below:

And the shine from the gold cardstock is fabulous!!

You have all month to play along. So, get inky and link up your creation; I can't wait to see what you create!

Supplies:

Stamps: Love to Color "Flamesnort Santa Hat"; Papertrey Ink sentiment

Challenges:

Friday, July 24, 2026

Sympathy

Happy Friday!!! It's time for a new challenge from the Cut It Up Challenge Blog. This week, the challenge is: Embossing (Dry/heat)

Here is my card for your inspiration:

I once again found myself in need of a sympathy card. As I was thinking about what I wanted to do, I remembered that years ago I had received a package of embossed backgrounds from someone in the mail. It may have been part of a prize package I had won, but I've had them so long I really can't remember. Anyway, in that pack was this beautiful flower embossed background. I die cut it with a stitched rectangle die which flattened out the embossing in the center a bit, but it was ok since that was were my image ended up being placed. I stamped and colored the image and then die cut it with the matching die. I then stamped the sentiment and cut it out and adhered it in place. I didn't add any embellishments because I always feel sympathy cards should be a little less flashy.

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: Avery Elle "Orchid"; Papertrey Ink "Boutique Borders: Sympathy"

Dies: Avery Elle "Orchid"

Challenges:

Pattie's Creations Challenge #244--anything goes with hand colored image

Unicorn Challenge #122--no patterned paper

Moving Along With the Times #191--use a coloring medium (Spectrum Noir markers)

Beautiful Blossoms #43--anything goes with optional mood board (I did not use the mood board)

Crafty Catz #718--anything goes

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog #326--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #282--anything goes

Monday, July 20, 2026

Oh Christmas Tree

I was given the opportunity to be the guest designer for Double Trouble Challenge for the month of July. Today begins the second challenge of the month. Here are the details:

WELCOME to Challenge #221 - Let the Troubles Begin!

Challenge runs from Monday, July 20th thru Sunday, Aug 2nd

Here is Thing 1's 3-2-1 Recipe - "Christmas in July"
Servings - Unlimited Portions of Fun
Specific information is available by clicking on each ingredient.
3 Colors of Your Choice (Neutrals Do Not Count as one of the three choices, but neutrals can be used in addition to the colors of choice)

2 Layers (Card Base does not count)

1 Holiday Sentiment

Directions: You MUST include at least the required minimum of each ingredient for successful results and a chance in our random drawing... but you may enhance your project by using more than the ingredients stipulated.

THING 1: Trouble Maker says, "We had snow much fun with our previous 3-2-1 'Christmas in July' recipe. If you participated, you already have a head start on your holiday crafting. Let’s celebrate, stir up some more trouble in the kitchen, and create another project using all the ingredients from our 3-2-1 recipe above!

"Let me give you a heads-up: Twisted Sister is changing the optional twist for this challenge, but Double Dare is still giving you a choice of two sketches."

You can stop here...
OR
play along with Thing 3's Optional Twist and/or Thing 2's Optional Dare and earn additional chances in our random drawing.

THING 3: Twisted Sister

says, "'Wow, Double Trouble. How simple is that? I'm ready to take on snow much more fun.

"I'm craving a change from traditional red and green. The Jingle Belles Unicorn Christmas color palette to the left looks way more fun. So, my optional twist is to use at least three non-traditional Christmas colors (your choice) in our recipe above. OR, select three colors from the Jingle Belles palette to earn another chance in our random drawing."

Optional Twist: If you included non-traditional colors in your project, then you have earned another chance in our Random Drawing. If you use three colors from the Jingle Belles Unicorn Color Palette instead, then you will earn another random drawing chance.

THING 2: Double Dare
says, "Double Wow!! Repeat: Click the clipart to the left for another peek at sketches #699 and #700 from our sister challenge, Try a Sketch On Tuesday. My optional dare is to combine your choice of either sketch with the Double Trouble 3-2-1 recipe for Christmas in July.

To prevent backlinking, please ensure your project is not posted, published, or entered anywhere before July 21st. Following this guideline will earn you TWO additional chances in our random drawing!

Want to earn another chance in our random drawing? If your project includes at least three colors from the Unicorn Color Palette, with or without using TSOT sketch, you can also link it up at the Jingle Belles Urnicorn Color Challenge until Aug 2nd.

Here is my card:

I chose three of the colors from the unicorn color palette: light pink, turquoise, and the pale green. I added some fun patterned paper that pulled in some of my colors to the right hand side of the card. And the pink card stock looked much too plain, so I found a text background stamp and stamped that in a slightly darker pink, and I think it gave just the right amount of interest. I decided to have a lot of fun with the sketch I chose and made it a fun fold card:

And for even more fun, I turned the Christmas tree element of the sketch into a shaker element!

I used some sequins in colors that matched my color scheme--both inside the shaker element and on the front of the card. The little star was backed with gold glitter paper, and I die cut the "merry" out of gold card stock and backed it with a white die cut layer for a little more stability before adding it to the card.

As always, there was a lot of doing first and THEN thinking about it, so I probably put in more effort than I really needed to, but I am quite pleased with the results, if I do say so myself.

I hope you will come and play with us. I can't wait to see what non-traditional color schemes you come up with!

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink "Just Sentiments: Be Merry" I masked off the "merry" so I could just add "Christmas" to go with my die cut sentiment; MFT "Typewriter text" background stamp

Dies: Picket Fence Studio "Merry Christmas Die Set"; MFT "Christmas Tree Window"

Challenges:

Christmas Cards All Year 'Round--M, N, O (m is for merry)

Cards Galore #149--anything goes

Crafter's Cafe--Anything goes with the optional twist: Christmas in July

Die Cut Divas--Christmas in July

Try A Sketch on Tuesday #670--sketch

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

Creative Creases #117--anything goes with a fun fold

Pearly Sparkles #121--Christmas in July

Fab 'n' Funky #641--Christmas in July

Alphabet Challenge--F is for festivities

Make My Monday #282--Christmas in July

Little Red Wagon #867--pink

Crafty Catz #718--anything goes

Creative Fingers #326--anything goes

Jingle Belles--unicorn holiday color palette

Inkspirational Challenge #372--Christmas in July

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #282--anything goes

Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Merry

Hello, everyone! It's time for a new challenge from the Creative Moments Challenge blog. The theme is: Shimmer and Shine. I am using an image from our fabulous sponsor: Love to Color.

Here is my card:

I started with this adorable dragon all ready for Christmas! I colored him up and fussy cut him out and added super fine diamond glitter to his hat and silver Nuvo glitter pen to his wings. In real life you can see the sparkle and shimmer really well, but not so much in the photo. You can see it a bit better in the photo below. I used a matte gold cardstock for the base and mats--it's not a shiny as a gold cardstock, but it adds a subtle shimmer. My gold ribbon has sparkly edges and I finished everything off with some shiny gold pearls.

You have all month to play along. So, get inky and link up your creation; I can't wait to see what you create!

Supplies:

Stamps: Love to Color "Flamesnort Santa Hat" digi

Dies: Picket Fence Studio "Merry Christmas Word Die Set"

Challenges:

Creative Fingers #326--anything goes

Christmas Cards All Year 'Round--M, N, O (I used M is for merry)

Cards Galore Challenges #149--anything goes

Pattie's Creations #244--anything goes with handcolored image

Crafter's Cafe--Christmas in July

Die Cut Divas--Christmas in July

Craft Rockets #138--animals

Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 #165--sketch

Moving Along with the Times #191--use a coloring medium (I used my Spectrum Noir markers)

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

Pearly Sparkles #121--Christmas in July

Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog--Christmas in July

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #281--anything goes

Fab 'n' Funky Challenge #641--Christmas in July

Alphabet Challenge--F is for festivities

Make My Monday Challenge #282--Christmas in July

Friday, July 10, 2026

Hats Off

Happy Friday!!! It's time for a new challenge from the Cut It Up Challenge Blog. This week, the challenge is: Create your own background.

Just a reminder that we are trying to get to 1,000 followers on our challenge blog! We are so close, I believe we are only 3 followers away! When we reach 1000 followers we'll have a random drawing from all of the entries in the challenge in which the magic number is reached and reward the lucky drawing winner with a box full of crafty goodness. So, be sure you've checked the Followers box on our sidebar and pass the word to your crafty friends. We're still at 997 so let's make this challenge be the one!!!

Here is my card for your inspiration:

We had 5 young people from our church graduating this year and we had a little reception after the church service a couple weeks ago. This is the card that I made for each of the three young men (the two young ladies are my daughters so I didn't make them a card, yet, they're still finishing up). I started by stamping the caps in the background to make it look like they are falling after being thrown up in the air in celebration. Then I die cut the sentiments from black and gold cardstock. I was trying to decide whether I liked the black "congrats" better or the gold, when my youngest daughter suggested layering them together. She's pretty smart, that one! I stamped the sentiment in the corner and while everything looked good, it still needed something. So, I die cut some tiny gold stars and sprinkled them around the caps and the sentiment and I think they finished everything off perfectly!

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 "The Inside Scoop Stamp Set--Grad"; Repeat Impressions graduation cap

Dies: Papertrey Ink "congrats" die; MFT graduation die set; Stamps of life flip card star die set

Challenges:

Crafty Catz #717--anything goes

Creative Fingers Challenge #326--anything goes

Cards Galore #149--anything goes

Unicorn Challenge #122--no patterned paper

Word Power--anything goes with the sentiment as the focus

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #281--anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday--back to school (mine is more the ending of school, but it does have to do with school--if not fitting the theme, please remove. Thanks!)

Word Art Wednesday #760--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Monday, July 6, 2026

Pink Christmas

Good morning! Today I am sharing my project as a Guest Designer for Double Trouble Challenge. Here are the details:

WELCOME to Challenge #220 - Let the Troubles Begin!

Challenge runs from Monday, July 6th thru Sunday, July 19th

Here is Thing 1's 3-2-1 Recipe - "Christmas in July"
Servings - Unlimited Portions of Fun
Specific information is available by clicking on each ingredient.
3 Colors of your choice (Neutrals Do Not Count as one of the three choices, but neutrals can be used in addition to colors of choice)
2 Layers (Card Base does not count)

1 Holiday Image

THING 1: Trouble Maker

says, "'Christmas in July' is a fun and quirky commemoration of the traditional winter holiday... so why wait until December to create a little holiday cheer? It's the perfect time to mix sunny skies with snowy vibes and celebrate the season in the most unexpected way. It's also a great way to get ahead of your holiday stash!

Let's celebrate, stir up some trouble in Double Trouble's Kitchen, and create a project using all the ingredients from our 3-2-1 Recipe above.

You can stop here...
OR
play along with Thing 3's Optional Twist and/or Thing 2's Optional Dare and earn additional chances in our random drawing.

THING 3: Twisted Sister

says, "Even though the July 4th weekend has passed, Trouble Maker wants to celebrate 'Christmas in July.' She will probably think this idea makes snow sense, but why not go with a 'patriotic-meets-festive' vibe? We can have snow much fun with a 'Star-Spangled Christmas.' My optional twist is to use stars and/or stripes in our 'Christmas in July' 3-2-1 recipe above."

Optional Twist: If you have included stars and/or stripes in your project, you will earn another chance in our Random Drawing.

THING 2: Double Dare

says, "Click the clipart to the left for a sneak peek of sketches #699 and #700 from our sister challenge, Try a Sketch On Tuesday.

"My optional dare is to combine your choice of either sketch with the Double Trouble 3-2-1 recipe for 'Christmas in July.' To prevent backlinking, please ensure your project is not posted, published, or entered anywhere before July 7th. Following this guideline will earn you TWO additional chances in our random drawing!"

Want to earn another chance in our random drawing? If your project includes stars and/or stripes, with or without TSOT sketch, you can also link it up at the Jingle Belles Challenge until July 19th.

And here is my card for your inspiration:

My three colors are red, pink, and a blue-ish gray. I have at least 4 layers once you get to my image, and I have 1 snowwoman image. For Thing #3's challenge, I added stars and I followed one of the sketches: