Happy Birthday, Jon

My twin boys just celebrated their 23rd birthday. My goodness, time surely flies. I made this for Jon, and when he opened it, he said "this is so me". I loved that. He is such a wonderful guy trying to make his way in the college lacrosse coaching world. He is very tenacious, passionate, and boy, can he work a room! I am so very proud of this guy, and I like him very much too! 

Jon loves lacrosse and he loves coffee, so I combined them for his card using Bear (Ellen Hutson). I bought a digital image of crossed lacrosse sticks, edited one out of the images, resized it for bear, and colored the head red. Jon is working with the Rutgers University Lacrosse Team at present.  RU colors are red and black. Bear's coffee cup has a red band to match. The background stenciling is inked with Faded Jeans. I love the way this turned out. Love ya, kid.

I'm playing at:

Seize The Birthday #250 - Anything Goes

Krafty Chicks #635 - All Occasions

Allsorts Challenge Week #700 - Any occasion

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

All The Treats

I am so excited to be here with my Guest Designer project for Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, where it's always anything goes - Halloween.

 

Here is the November mood board for some inspiration.

To create my card, I blended Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Seedless Preserves and Black Soot Distress Oxide inks on a piece of Neenah Solar White 80# card stock. After it dried, I spattered it with water, and after that dried, with Mr. Huey's Opaque White Color Mist. I used the Essentials By Ellen Birch Trees Cover Plate and Ebony Black Cardstock to die cut the trees and ground and affixed it to the blended panel. I stamped, Copic colored and die cut several images from Bear Ware 2 & 5 and arranged them in a Halloween scene. I added a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Sentiment Strips Halloween die cut with Pink & Main Sentiment Strip Dies and my card was complete.

Please head over to the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge and check out the wonderful Design Team Creations. This is such a fun challenge where it is all Halloween all the time! Also check out the winners the and honorable mentions from October in the the November 1st post - so much great inspiration there too! Thanks so much Darlene and Diane for the opportunity to design for Two Old Bats! I had a great time making this card!

I'm also playing at:

Inspired By #193 - Friends Fall Together

Daring Cardmakers - Halloween Inspired

Krafty Chicks #583 - All Occasions

Little Red Wagon #625 - Outside

Use Your Stuff #434 - Halloween or Pumpkins

O is for Outdoors

This is Halloween November Challenge

Love Your Heart

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.

Since the Inspiration List is a mix of elements related to the festivity, the creator has the choice to make something for that festivity, or to ignore the festivity all together and create something using just the three (or more) elements selected.

Today's festivities are in celebration of International Polar Bear Day, which is celebrated on February 27th. The challenge runs from February 5 - February 15.

For my Polar Bear themed project, I used: bear, blue, snowflakes and sentiment from the inspo list. The trees and snow are cur from white glitter paper using the Birch Trees Cover Plate by Julie Ebersole from Essentials By Ellen. That sweet bear is from All Inside, and his little hot cup is from Bear Ware 3, also by Julie Ebersole from Essentials By Ellen. My bear scene is mounted on a sheet of blue foiled card stock. The snowy sky is made from blended Distress Oxide inks and spatters of Mister Huey's Opaque White Color Mist. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Sentiment Strips and die cut with a Sentiment Strip Die from Pink & Main. The card base is Neenah Solar White 110# card stock.

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

Ann Schach

Beth McCullough

Sharon Hashimoto Burkert

Melanie Hungerford

Helen Jennings

Stephanie Lanzalotto

Melva Peters

Judy Rozema

I'm also playing at:

The Paper Players #526 - Die Cut, Animal, Scene

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Create Your Own Background

With Love

When I saw the Inspired By Challenge this week, I HAD to play. I am late to the party with my acquisition of the Essentials By Ellen Bear Ware Collection, but now I will be using them like crazy as I finally have them all. Thanks to my enabler - she knows who she is! I hand drew the collar and cuffs of Bear's sweater. and gave them a little sparkle with WOS. If you look closely at his sweater, you can see a herringbone pattern that I added with some masking and a stamp from PTI's Background Basics Herringbone. The stripes he is standing on are from PTI's Background Basics Super Stripes. I have had both these sets for years. I am using my NBUS - Never Before Used Schtuff! This is a Valentine for my coffee-loving son. He will love it.

I am also playing at:

NBUS #22

The Male Room # 146 - Animals

CAS Colors & Sketches #401

Krafty Chicks #551 - Stamp Act

Daring Cardmakers January Elemental Inspiration

The Card Concept #146 - Winter Warmth