Christmas Wishes

Welcome!!  It's time for our mid-month inspiration post from Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra.  Remember we are a month-long, Anything (Christmas-related) Goes challenge.  So you still have a couple weeks to play along with us and work on that Christmas card stash!  Here is my card for your inspiration:

I decided to go CAS with this one and I really love how it turned out!  I die cut a medallion out of the white panel, layered it with the die cut banner and sentiment and added a few sequins.  Easy Peasy!  I hope you will play along with us this month!  Can't wait to see what you create.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Verve "Ornamental Christmas"
Dies: MFT "Blueprints 25" banner; Spellbinders "Medallion Seven"

Challenges:
Sweet Stampers #10--CAS
Crazy 4 Challenges #398--monochromatic
Hiding In My Craft Room #313--super scraps (the patterned paper down the side is a scrap)
Cardz TV #8--anything goes
CAS(E) This #234--sketch

C.R.A.F.T. #428--anything goes
Merry Christmas #25--anything goes
Mod Squad--black and white + one (I have used black and white and red)
Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps wonderful Wednesday--anything goes
The Holly and Ivy #12--anything goes
Pixie's Crafty Workshop #294--anything goes with snippets
Stamplorations Theme and Sketch--summer challenge: stamping + anything goes

Stamplorations CAS card challenge--summer challenge anything CAS goes

ABC Christmas--P, Q, R: people, quick or red (I used quick and red)
Sparkles #79--a festive sentiment
Christmas at Sweet Stampin'--anything goes

Get Well

Happy Saturday!  It's time for a new challenge from Di's Digi Stamps.  This one is a fun one: Flower Fancy--just add some flowers.  Easy right?

And here is my card for your inspiration:

Aren't these little mice just so sweet!!??  One of our family members just had some fairy major surgery so I made this little get well card for her.  It was my first time coloring a background and I think I like it, but boy it's a lot of color for me!  The ribbon and lace were both recycled from a card someone had sent me a couple year ago and worked perfectly!  The yellow flower paper has been in my stash forever and it was nice to finally be able to use some of it.
  I hope you will be able to play along with us this challenge; I can't wait to see what you create!

Supplies:
Stamps: Di's Digi Stamps "Hey, ho, hey, ho Mice" digi; Sweet n' Sassy Stamps get well sentiment set that seems to be retired
Dies: Spellbinders "A2 Matting Basics A" and "Classic Circles, large"; MFT "Fancy Corners"

Challenges:
Cards Galore--anything goes
Pattie's Creations #137--anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes with patterned paper
Dies R' Us #78--summertime fun
Crop Stop Challenge--anything goes
Sheep Ski #5--flower power
Crafting By Designs--anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #294--anything goes with uplifting sentiment
Crafty Creations #347--anything goes
Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Wonderful Wednesday--anything goes and I used the sketch

A Bit More Time To Craft #49--anything goes
Creative Fingers #135--anything goes
The Paper Shelter #304--blooming days
Penny's Challenge #341--anything goes
C.R.A.F.T. #428--anything goes
Cardz TV #8--anything goes

Get well wishes

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps Built.  This week we have a tic-tac-toe challenge for you:

The best thing about tic-tac-toe challenges is that there are so many options, and you can basically create your own challenge.  I have to admit that I was a little challenged with this one, though.  It took a bit of figuring, but I finally decided to use the bottom row.  Plus, I used butterflies and off the edge.  And here is my card:

 You can see right away my bright colors!  And my fun fold is a Z-box fold that I made using this tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers.  I tweaked it a little so my connecting piece was in the middle instead of the bottom.  And did you notice how perfectly the chevrons line up between the left and right panels?  It took a little bit of figuring out, but it really gives the illusion that it opens like a regular A2 card . . . until it doesn't. : ) Don't you love that glittery butterfly?!  After coloring it and fussy cutting it out, I added some glue and SU! Dazzling Diamonds fine glitter.  LOVE that stuff; it's so pretty!

 It opens out really fun.  The way I made it doesn't leave room for much writing inside, but it did leave a perfect spot for a small sentiment.

 Here is is all the way open. 

 And you can see my sentiment.  It's a bit hard to read, so, it says "Hope you're better soon!  Now, this is where the whole card almost fell apart.  I thought I had a get well sentiment, so I just made my card with the fun fold and the bright colors and then went looking for that get well sentiment only to find I didn't actually have one!!  Oh, boy, now what?  Then I came across one that is designed to go with a cat theme: "Feline Better".  Now, it reads: "Hope you're feline better soon" and that 'feline' just didn't go with my card theme at all.  But the way the words are placed, I was able to do some creative masking and selective stamping and no one (except all of you!) will ever know.  I really like altering my sentiment stamps like this; it really stretches the usage you can get out of just one stamp.  Hop on over to The House blog for the full details as we are trying something a bit different this month, which means more chances to win!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Feline Better" and "Butterfly, lg"
Dies: Spellbinders "Fleur Di Lis Squares"

Challenges:
Creative Craft Cottage #93--butterflies
Tuesday Throwdown #353--interactive (a fun fold)
Incy Wincy--no words (none on the front of the card)
Come And Get It--time to die (use die cuts)
Stamplorations Summer Theme and Sketch--anything goes with stamping

Crazy 4 Challenges--bright and cheerful
Cardz TV #7--anything goes
Alphabet--K is for Kinetic
Creative Fingers #135--anything goes
Scor-Pal #40--3D cards
Pattie's Creations #137--anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes with patterned paper
Crafting with an Attitude--anything goes
Love To Craft Challenge #13--anything goes
Cheerful Sketches--sketch

Crafter's Cafe # 178--more than 1 fold
A Bit More Time To Craft #49--anything goes

Special Sister

Happy Friday!!  It's time for another challenge from Jo's Scrap Shack.  As always, we are now an Anything Goes challenge and our sponsor for the week is the Oddball Art Company.  

I was given this sweet image to work with:

It came with a birthday sentiment that I had all intentions of using, but when it came down to it, I didn't have a place for it.  August 6th is National Sister Day, so I decided to turn my card into one for my sister.  We were never very close growing up as she is 6 years younger than I am.  That means, she was only 13 when I got married and left home.  Plus, I spent two years at college 14 hours away, so she was 11 at the most when I was still living at home.  But a year and a half ago, she and her husband moved to the town my husband and I live in, and we have become quite close, both physically and relationally.  They live one mile down the road from us, now!  Anyway, I think this girl looks like she is leaning out the window to send a special hello, don't you?  Thanks for stopping by!

What do you need to do to enter?

Challenge Rules

1. Please post a direct link to your blog post that includes your challenge entry project, using the linky tool on Jo's blog. 

2. Be sure to include a link back to Jo's Scrap Shack and to the challenge post you are entering your project into

3. THREE entries per person are allowed for each challenge and you must post a separate blog post for each entry.

4. For all entries -NO BACK LINKS ACCEPTED- 

The date on your blog post should be dated between the start date and the end date for the challenge you are entering, in order to be eligible for the challenge prizes

5. You may link up to other challenges but be sure to link back to Jo's Scrap Shack and to the challenge post you are entering 

 * All entries that do not meet the challenge requirements

WILL NOT be eligible for the top 3, any sponsor wins or any random wins by Jo

All random wins will only be mailed within the US and Canada only.

You have until Aug. 10th by 6:00PM (eastern, USA) time to link up.

All winners will be announced during the week of Aug. 13th.

Have fun and we look forward to seeing what you create.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Oddball Art Co. "Lizzy Love IMG287" digi; Sweet n' Sassy Stamps "Special"

Dies: Impression Obsession window die; Fun Stampers Journey "Daisy Blooms"; Verve "Sprightly Sprigs"; 2 Martha Stewart butterfly punches

Stencil: MFT "Small Brick Wall"

Challenges:

Kraftin' Kimmies Stamps Wonderful Wednesday--anything goes

Crafty Creations #347--anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #294--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Penny's Challenge #340--anything goes

SheepSki Designs #5--flower power

Divas That Cut--anything goes

Crafting with An Attitude--anything goes

Cutie Pie--here come the girls

Craft D Bow-Z--anything goes with handmade bow

Cut It Up #127--friendship (my card is an ode to becoming friends with my sister)

Sweet Stampin'--sympathy or thinking of you

Come And Get It--just add flowers

Tuesday Morning Sketches #414--sketch

Quick birthday

Last week, my family and I were at Word Of Life The Pines campground in Schroon Lake, NY.  I realized at the last minute that my brother-in-law's birthday was two days after we would get home and I would not have time to make a card and get it sent on time, so I took a few basic supplies with me to the campground and whipped up this card between making supper and playing in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament.  It actually came together quite quickly, and maybe that's because I had and idea in mind and only brought a very few supplies.  Even though it was quick, I think it turned out really cute!  I mean, can you resist those sweet puppy eyes?

Supplies:
Stamps: Your Next Stamp "Word Critters Collection--Cats and Dogs"
Dies: NONE!!

Challenges:
YNS #69--sketch

Creative Fingers--anything goes
Cardz TV #7--anything goes
Cards Galore--anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes with patterned paper
Creative with Stamps #17--boys to men

Stinkin' Inkers--guy talk
Crafting By Designs--anything goes
Penny's #339--anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #294--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Far and Away

Happy Wednesday and happy August!  It's time for a new challenge from The House That Stamps Built.  This week is a Designer's Choice challenge and Cheri has challenged us to "stamp our favorite movie"!  Wow, was this a hard one!  First, I had a hard time thinking of my favorite movie; I have so many.  Then, I was trying to think which stamps I had that would fit different movies that I like and I was drawing some pretty big blanks.  I've always been a Tom Cruise fan so I started thinking of different movies he's been in and then remembered my favorite movie from high school "Far and Away" with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.  It's a story about two Irish immigrants to America in the early 1900's and their struggle to survive.  Classic story of how they don't realize they love each other until it's almost too late.  And I remembered that at the very end of the movie, they're going out west to buy a plot of land and they come across the very one they had been dreaming about earlier.  And it even has a river running through it, and that, folks, is how my card fits the theme of stamping my favorite movie.  It was long and round about, but it works!  Here's my card:

I "water colored" my card with my SU! blender pen and some SU! dye inks and added a few highlights on the water with a white gel pen.  Over all, it has a very soft look, specially when paired with the kraft card stock and this beautiful paper.  It is going to make a perfect anniversary card.
I hope you will play along with us this week.  It IS a challenging one, but if you think about it long enough, like I did, I know you will be able to come up with something.  Make sure you hop over to The House blog to see what movies the rest of the team picked.

Supplies:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Footbridge" and "Love Stencil" I only used the 'love' part
Dies: Verve "Scalloped Trim Trio" heart border die; MFT "Mini Tickets"

Challenges:
Sketch Saturday #474--pick your sketch (I used #259; the bottom left)

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps #392--water
Sheep Ski Designs #5--flower power
Dies R Us #78--summertime fun
Divas That Cut--anything goes
Through The Purple Haze #130--anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes with patterned paper
Cards Galore--anything goes
Come And Get It--just add flowers
Southern Girls--flower power

Kidz Rule

Here it is August and it's time for another challenge from Love To Scrap Challenge Blog.  This month the challenge is: Kidz Rule--make a card or project for a kid.

We have three fabulous sponsors for this challenge:

Star Stampz

Bugaboo Stamps

Pickled Potpourri

I was given an adorable set of images and sentiments from Pickled Potpourri and I just had to use ALL of them!!  Actually, there were a few more sentiments in the set, but I didn't use them.  So, I decided to create a little set of cards that can be sent to kids for various reasons.  Here is a picture of the entire set:

 I used the same layout for each card and used scraps of paper for the patterns down the left hand side.  They needed something to add a little bit of pizzazz, so I use a spectrum noir marker I used in the image and colored a strip of white cardstock to insert between the paper and the image panel.  By using the spectrum noir marker, I was able to match the strip perfectly to the colored image.  So, here is a close up of each card:

 We have an orange striped cat, so I colored this one up to match him.  I added a small clear rhinestone to the center of the pinwheel.

 With, the flower, this image seemed a little more girly to me, so I used pink tones and patterned paper and added a clear rhinestone to the center of the flower.

 And the cute little penguin.  At first I had him floating in the air as if he were being pulled up by the kite, but since the other images all needed to be grounded (at least in my opinion) I decided to ground this guy as well, and I think I like it better this way.

 Like the penguin, I first had the bear floating off in the air, but grounded him, as well, to go with the other cards.  I added glossy accents to the balloon for a little fun touch.

And last, but not least, the cute little monkey!  Monkeys are my middle daughter's favorite, so this one will probably be going to her at some point.
Aren't these all sooooo cute!!  And they were really quick and easy, too.  I hope you will get a chance to play along with us this month.  I can't wait to see your kid projects!

Supplies:
Stamps: Pickled Potpourri "Fluffy Friends" digi images and sentiments

Challenges:
Crafty Gals #133--anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday--anything goes
C.R.A.F.T. #426--summer
Southern Girls #165--flower power (the dog card)
Come And Get It--just add flowers (the dog card)
Brown Sugar #261--anything goes
Cardz TV #7--anything goes
Hiding In My Craft Room #311--freestyle