I love you

A few days before Valentine's Day, I was getting my cards all written and ready to get in the mail when I realized I hadn't made one for my in-laws!!  Yikes!  We were getting ready to leave for the weekend and I had a bunch to do, so it had to be quick and CAS.  The little bit of lace was recycled from a favor from a wedding we went to last year.  It was just the right length!

Challenges:
Hiding in My Craft Room #239--CAS
Creative Fingers #103--anything goes
Jo's Scrap Shack #126--anything goes
Crafty Catz #312--CAS . . No Dp . . No Fuss
Brown Sugar Challenge #186--anything goes
Winter Wonderland--CAS
Cute Card #413--warm colors
Kraftin Kimmie Stamps Wonderful Wednesday--anything goes
Inspiration Destination #73--anything goes
Penny's Paper #265--anything goes
Addicted To Stamps #181--anything goes
Crafter's Cafe #143--love is in the air
Crafting By Designs--Bingo (I used the diagonal "charms or tag, free, stitching")
Word Art Wednesday #220--anything goes with uplifting sentiments
Cuttlebug Mania--I {heart} you
Simon Says Monday--recycle/upcycle
Creative Craft Cottage #58--pearls and/or lace

Supplies:
Stamps: Verve "Take Note"
Dies: MFT "Pierced Heart STAX" and "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle and tag
MFT diagonal stripes stencil

Beach Love

Welcome to another What If? Wednesday challenge from The House That Stamps Built.This week we have a lovely inspiration photo for you:

  

And here is my take on the photo:

 I started off by masking the horizon line and sponging yellow, pink, lavender, and light blue on the background.  I deepend the edges with a bit of navy blue and added several clouds in a light gray.  It's a bit hard to see, so I included a closer-up photo below.  I probably should have stamped them in a darker gray, but I wanted them to be subtle and they definitely are!  Then I took the mask off and sponged black along the bottom edge.  I stamped the palm trees in black and selectively stamped a couple more "sand hills" along the ground line.  After looking at it for a while, I decided to color in the trees' outline with a black sharpie marker.  It gives it the silhouette look I was going for.  I used the "love" from the Love Stencil stamp for the banner.  Once again, after looking at the card for quite a while, and on the advice of my sister and my oldest daughter (it was actually her idea), I stamped the "Sandcastle" image twice onto scrap paper with a dark brown, colored in the starfish with an aqua marker and caramel ink and then fussy cut them out and stuck them to the base of the trees.  It was just the "something" that we all thought was missing.  Here's the photo of the clouds.

I can't wait to see how our photo inspires you.  It can be the colors, the theme, etc.  And if you see any stamps that you "need" I have a 10% off your entire order coupon over on my left sidebar.

Supplies:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions Stamps:"9016M. Sandcastle", "1222G. Love Stencil", "2408N. Large Palm Trees" and "3403F. Clouds"
Dies: MFT "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle and "Blueprints 12" stitched banner

Challenges:
Craftin Desert Divas--nature's wonder
Come And Get It--love is in the air
Fashionable Stamping #108--sunrise/sunset
Sweet Stampin'--CAS
Creative Fingers #102--anything goes
Crafty Cardmaker's #157--love, love, love
One Stitch At a Time #255--love is in the air
Unicorn Challenge #6--lots of love

Wishing Well

Welcome to another challenge from Love To Scrap Challenge Blog.  This time it's another Anything Goes challenge.  We know everyone loves those.  Our sponsors for this challenge are:

Lacy Sunshine Stamps

DRS Designs

Imagine That! Digis By Kris

I was given this gorgeous image by Imagine That! to work with.  I had one of these butterflies in my bits and pieces stash and was the inspiration for my card's color scheme:

There are several fabulous sentiments that go along with this beautiful image.  I chose the "Get well wishes" sentiment as I don't have any get well cards in my stash.  The dotted ribbon was also in my bits and pieces stash.  I punched a few more butterflies and voila! good to go.

Challenges:
DRS Designs #213--Hot and Cold colors (I went with the cool colors)
Little Miss Muffet #131--anything goes
Inspiration Destination #72--anything goes
Penny's Challenge #264--favorite color or embellishment (my favorite embellishments are ribbons and pearls)
Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog--anything goes
Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2--sketch

Craft-Dee BowZ--anything goes with handmade bow
The Paper Nest Dolls #2--anything goes

Supplies:
Stamps: Imagine That! Digis by Kris "Well Wishes"
Dies/punches: Martha Stewart butterfly punch; Verve "Mini Classy Label"

Advent Calendar

Well, here we are mid-February and it's time for our mid-month inspiration post from Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra.  It's a month-long anything Christmas related goes challenge.  This time I have something other than a card for your inspiration:

For several years, I've been wanting to make an interactive Advent Calendar for my girls.  I just haven't been able to come up with the right idea and never have the time to make it around Christmas time anyway.  This year I finally got around to making something and it also served to use up some scraps of paper that I have been trying really hard to use.  Here's how this project came to be: I usually hang the Christmas cards we receive in our entryway.  I usually just tape them on above the closet doorway and on the doors if we receive enough.  But this year, we started renovating the entryway and I didn't want to put tape on the newly painted wall.  So, my idea is that I could hang a string across the closet doors and I could use these decorated clothes pins to first hold little kraft bags that hold the little gifts or activity ideas for each day.  Then as that day's bag is opened I can clip in one of the Christmas cards we receive.  I think it's going to be a really fun decoration.  Here's how it was done:  I cut strips of my patterned paper into 1/2 inch by about 3 inches.  I sprayed the back with spray adhesive and adhered them to the clothes pins, then trimmed off the excess length.  I die cut snowflakes in two different sizes for interest and adhered them to the clothes pins.  Then I die cut numbers for each day and used spray adhesive to adhere them on top of the snowflakes.  It was a bit time consuming, but was really quite easy and will be really cute hanging in my entryway.

Challenges:
Inspiration Destination #72--anything goes
Pixies' Playground #216--anything goes using snippets
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterened Paper--anything goes using patterned paper
Hiding in My Craft Room #38--super scraps


Supplies:
Dies: Sweet n' Sassy Stamps small snowflake die; PTI "Fancy Flakes" larger snowflake and number border die

Little Babysaurus

I just love this cute little baby dinosaur; isn't he the most adorable!?  This is my Valentine's Day card for my niece.  She's three and she's a cute-a-saurus for sure!

The ribbon, focal circle, and the cardboard circle that pops up the focal were all in my bits and pieces stash and the little strip of paper is a scrap that I've had forever.

Challenges:
Fresh Brewed Designs--hearts
Inspiration Destination #72--anything goes
Crafty Gals #58--sweethearts (use a heart)
The Paper Shelter #235--be my Valentine
Mod Squad--from the heart
Crafting by Designs--hearts
Die Cuttin' Divas #252--love
Crafty Cardmakers #157--love, love, love
Pixie's Playground #215--use snippets
Sugar Pea Designs #39--sketch

Craftin' Desert Divas--hearts
Cutie Pie Challenge--all you need is cutie love
Cuttlebug Mania--kids (for a kid)
Crafty Ribbons #143--animals


Supplies:
Stamps: Sugar Pea Designs "Prehistoric Pals"; Verve "To the Moon" the little trio of hearts
Dies: MFT "Blueprints 13"; Spellbinders "Classic Circles, large"

The Bottom Line

When I chose this stamp set, one of my 7-year-olds tried to talk me out of it.  I don't think she was impressed with the underwear images. : )  I'm glad I didn't take her advice because I've used it twice so far and just LOVE it.  The sentiments are so fun and seriously, customizable underwear??!!  Need I say more? This is my Valentine's Day card for my husband.  I think he'll get a kick out of it.

 I started out by stamping the hearts on the background.  Then I stamped the panties and the boxer shorts.  They are both blank, so I added the red hearts.  So cute!   I added a bit of glitter pen to each of the dots on the heart on the panties, to give it a rhinestone look.  You can see that a bit better in the photo below.

 And the bottom line is . . . I Love You!  Here is the inside:

Challenges:
Open Minded #2--love/valentine
Fresh Brewed Designs #06--hearts
Inspiration Destination #72--anything goes
Crafty Gals Corner #57--love is in the air
{Pin}spirational Challenge #158--inspiration photo

The Paper Shelter #235--be my valentine
Mod Squad--From the heart
Crafting by Designs--hearts
Fantastic Tuesday #123--so in love
Die Cuttin Divas #252--love
Eureka Stamps #179--recycle it  (the white ribbon is recycled, I think from a birthday package from my best friend)
One Stitch At A Time #255--love is in the air
Craftin' Desert Divas--hearts
Sweet Stampin'--all you need is love
Sketch Saturday #398--sketch (I had to rotate the sketch so I could fit my images on)

Suzy Bee's #116--love
Aud Sentiments #148--use a love sentiment
Art Impressions #177--Love, love, love
Crafty Creations #308--hearts
Crafter's Cafe #142--monochromatic
Creative Inspirations #344--hugs & kisses
Unicorn #6--lots of love
Crafty Calendar--love is in the air
Pattie's Creations #119--love is in the air
Craft-Dee BowZ--anything goes with handmade bow
Raisin Boat #40--works of heart
Crafting Musketeers #34--monochromatic

Supplies:
Stamps: Raisin Boat "Undies in a Bunch"; PTI "Damask Designs" love sentiment; Repeat Impressions "Love Stencil" and "Valentine's"
Dies: MFT "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle; Spellbinders "Standard Ovals, large" and "Classic Scalloped Ovals, large"

Cute-a-saur

I just love this little dinosaur and this sentiment is just too fun to use with him (her).  This is a Valentine's Day card for one of my girls, 'cause they are definitely all "cute-a-sauruses".

The two colored circles were hanging out in my bits and pieces stash.  I thought they were going to be pretty tough to use, but I think they work perfectly with this sketch.

Challenges:
Inspiration Destination #72--anything goes
Open Minded Challenge #2--love/valentine
Creative Fingers #102--anything goes
Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps #317--love (and I used the monthly sketch)

Brown Sugar Challenge #189--valentine/love
Cards Galore--digi or stamp
The Cutie Pie Challenge--all you need is cutie love
Crafting with an Attitude--anything goes

Supplies:
Stamps: Sugar Pea Designs "Prehistoric Pals"; Double Vision background stamp
Dies: Spellbinders "Classic Circles, large"; Verve "Flag It!"; MFT "Blueprints 13"