Saturday, August 27, 2022

The World Needs Your Gifts


Less Is More #472 starts today and ends on September 9th. We are challenged to create a Clean & Simple card using Vellum. 

My card features the Jumbo Curiosity Dragonfly Die Cut from The Greetery. I cut it from a remnant of Alcohol Inked card stock placed the over a die cut circle of vellum from a wedding invitation. I adhered my dragonfly and vellum circle to an embossed circle created with one of the dies from the PinkFresh Braided Circles Die Set. The sentiment is from The Gray Muse's You Grow Girl stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and heat embossed with Wow Clear EP.

Please head over to the Less Is More Blog and see what the Design Team has created for your inspiration. I hope you'll play along with us to share your creations. Remember to keep your design Clean And Simple which we define as designs that include large areas of CLEAR AND CLEAN space with NO PATTERN, NO INK and NO TEXTURE See challenge guidelines on the Less Is More Blog.


I'm also playing at:

The Greetery Jumbo Curiousity Dragonfly Die


Thank You So Much

 



A new challenge starts today at Can You Handle The Pressure? where the theme is always Anything Goes with an Embossing Folder and an optional twist. Heat embossing is welcome, but not required. An Embossing Folder must be used. For this challenge, the twist is "sentiment as the focus". The challenge is open from August 27th to September 7th.

For my card, I used Simon Says Stamp Exotic Vines Embossing folder, applied Catherine Pooler Sea Glass ink directly to the valleys of the folder and ran it through my Platinum Plus. The sentiment was done with PinkFresh Studio's Thank You So Much hot foil plate and Spellbinders Rose Gold Glimmer Foil, then die cut with the matching die.

Please head over to the Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge? Blog to check out the Design Team inspiration projects. You are sure to be impressed! Then dive into your embossing folder collection and join us with or without the twist! Just be sure to use an embossing folder on your creation!

I'm also playing at:


Simon Says Stamp Exotic Vines Embossing Folder

Thursday, August 25, 2022

This Calls For Mimosas!


Time Out Challenge #221 begins today. This time we are challenged to be festive.


We are generously sponsored by Birch Press Designs!


We welcome Gail Gross of Greetings From Gail, and winner of Time Out Challenge #218 as our Guest Designer.

I built my festive design around Avery Elle's Mimosas (retired) stamp and die sets. I stamped the floral image from the stamp set with Memento Cantaloups Dye Ink to create my background. I die cut that piece with Lawn Fawn's Scalloped Rectangles and mounted it on a SU Basic Gray card base. I stamped the champagne glasses with Memento London Fog Dye Ink, colored them with Copics and die cut them. I added some Wink Of Stella to the champagne for a little sparkle. I used Simon Says Stamp Dome Arches dies and SU Apricot Appeal card stock as a frame and to ground the glasses. The sentiment is stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and heat embossed with clear EP.

Please head on over to the Time Out Challenge Blog to see the wonderful creations that Gail and the Design Team came up with to inspire you. Come play with us!

I'm also playing at:

Simon Says Stamp Dome Arches Dies

Saturday, August 13, 2022

Echinacea - Coneflower



Less Is More #471 starts today. We are challenged to create a ONE LAYER, CAS card featuring our favorite flower. That means a card base only with stamping - no die cuts or additional panels. 

My card features Echinacea, which is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family. It has ten species, which are commonly called coneflowers. They are found only in eastern and central North America, where they grow in moist to dry prairies and open wooded areas. I live in northeastern US (New Jersey), and this plant is doing beautifully in my gardens.

I recently got some goodies from Doodle Bug including the gorgeous Altenew Build A Flower Coneflower stamp and die bundle, so I decided to use the stamps with various Altenew Inks to create my one layer card for this challenge. The sentiment is also from the same stamp set. 

Please head over to the Less Is More Blog and see what the Design Team has created for your inspiration. I hope you'll play along with us to share your creations. Remember to keep your design Clean And Simple which we define as designs that include large areas of CLEAR AND CLEAN space with NO PATTERN, NO INK and NO TEXTURE See challenge guidelines on the Less Is More Blog.


I'm also playing at:


Friends Furever


A new challenge starts today at Can You Handle The Pressure? where the theme is always Anything Goes with an Embossing Folder and an optional twist. Heat embossing is welcome, but not required. An Embossing Folder must be used. For this challenge, the twist is "Dogs / Cats / Pets". The challenge is open from August 13th to the 24th.

For my card, I used PinkFresh Studio's Scalloped Rectangle to cut a red frame. I die cut a piece of white card stock with the same die in white and used the aperture piece with the Cuttlebug Heart Block embossing folder. I placed the white rectangle inside the red frame, and glued them together on white fun foam. I adhered that piece on a Neenah Solar White 110# card base after I added the black & white twine to the card base. I stamped, colored with Copics and fussy cut the boy and dog image from MFT's Friends Furever stamp set and popped that up on the embossed hearts panel. I stamped and clear heat embossed the sentiment from PinkFresh Studio Always Uplifting stamp set and my card was complete.

Please head over to the Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge Blog to check out the Design Team inspiration projects. You are sure to be impressed! Then dive into your embossing folder collection and join us with or without the twist! Just be sure to use an embossing folder on your creation!

I'm also playing at:

Third vertical row - die cut, free, embossing 

Thursday, August 11, 2022

Thank You So Much



Time Out #220 begins today. This time we are challenged to make our own background.


The challenge runs from Thursday, August 11th to Wednesday, August 24th. We are generously sponsored by STAMPlorations. The prize is a $25.00 gift vouchers for the STAMPlorations digital store (good for 6 months).

We are so pleased to have Desert Diva, Hannelie Bester with us as Guest Designer.

To create my background, I smooshed Distress Oxide inks onto my Glass Media Mat and spritzed it with water. I took a piece of Tim Holtz Watercolor paper and pressed it into the ink a few times, moving it into a different position as I went along. Once I liked it, I just let it dry, then die cut with a Lawn Fawn  scalloped rectangle die. I hot foiled the sentiment using PinkFresh Studio Thank You So Much hot foil plate and Spellbinders Moondust Glimmer Foil. I adhered it to the background panel, popped that panel up with fun foam, and my card was complete. It was very hard to photograph this card and show the effect of the foiled sentiment. It looks much better IRL.

Please head on over to the Time Out Challenge Blog to see the wonderful creations that Hannelie and the Design Team came up with to inspire you. Come play with us!

I'm also playing at:

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Playing Cards With Friends



Playing Cards with Friends!
with Michele Ferguson

One of the things I so love about the paper crafting blog world, is the friendships that are forged and fostered - many of which are with people you have not met and may never meet in person. These friendships can spring from many things from admiration of creative talents to the power of the written word. There is so much you can discover about a person via this wonderful medium.

Michele Ferguson is one of those people in my life. Michele's creations have made me swoon every time I see one, from the moment I saw her work for the first time. She has an incredible eye for design and color and a fantastic wit about her. In essence, I love her brain. Yes, it's true. We ALMOST met when I had a trip planned to visit another friend in Michigan, but personal circumstances made me postpone my travel, and then COVID. Some day...

All that brings me to this post today. I am so excited and honored to have received and accepted Michele's invitation to play with her in the August 2022 edition of:
Playing Cards with Friends!

Our assignment: 
  • A card for one of our special guys [you choose which one]
  • Must use the PTI Kinda Corny set
  • Stamping and summer color

I do love a good challenge, but this one was a real stumper for me. I struggled long and hard to come up with something, and then suddenly and finally, it hit me! My son, Greg, just moved into a townhouse in a lovely part of Philadelphia with 2 friends. It's a fabulous place and I am so happy for him. Greg is starting a PhD program at Wharton, and the other guys are starting their careers. Greg is my special guy for my card. The two corn cob people represent my husband, Joe and me. We are thrilled for Greg in his new home and his new academic pursuit. I created our CORN-y sentiment by altering a sentiment from SSS Home Sweet Home stamp set  and placed it in the speech bubble on the top of the card. The background is made with Altenew's Dotted Starburst Debossing Cover Die.


Thank you, Michele for inviting me to play with you. Much love.

Friday, August 5, 2022

Happy Birthday Dog



It's time for a new challenge at Festive Friday where every challenge is an inspiration list based on a selected holiday/festivity from the traditional to the unusual. Challenge projects must include at least three items from the festivity inspiration list. Your project does not have to go with the challenge theme. You can just use 3 or more items from the inspo list for your creation.

Today's festivities are inspired by International Dog Day which takes place on August 26th. International Dog Day is a special day to celebrate all dogs around the world. Read more HERE.

The challenge runs from August 5th - August 15th.

I like to create a card for our challenge that goes with the theme. For my dog-themed card, I used Funky Fossil Designs Pawsome Heart stencil to create an embossed background of paw prints. I framed the square with a scalloped square die from Spellbinders. I stamped and fussy cut one of the dog images and the party hat from Catherine Pooler's Peeking Pets stamp set. I colored the hat and adhered but to the embossed square. I gave my dog sunglasses which are die cut from Sugar Pea Designs SugarCut Basic Bookmark Dies. I used SSS Holographic card stock for the lenses for a very cool affect. The sentiment is from Paper Smooches Birthday Sampler stamp set.

I used dog, paw print, twine and texture from the Inspo List.

For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Challenge Design team.