Congratulations

 Hello and welcome to my blog today, for my fellow Canadian friends I hope you had fabulous Victoria Day weekend, finally we have warm weather, there sure wasn't any spring weather here in SWO.  I guess you checked in to see what the new challenge is at Shopping Our Stash and as by the title I'm sure you have guessed we want to see projects that congratulate someone, perhaps Wedding, Anniversary, Graduation or anything else you can congratulate someone for.  Well last challenge I already congratulated Riggs (a charcoal lab) for being adopted to a great family so decided to go with a new baby theme.

90 % of baby cards I make are with a House Mouse Design image, this one is a Happy Hopper and so cute. Since I made a 51/2 inch square card I finally used my Elizabeth Craft Designs scalloped square dies and a very ancient dots embossing folder, it's one of the few I have that fit a 5 inch square layer. The sentiment is from another older set, I stamped it fussy cut around it and flat attached it.

Closer look at the happy hopper which is popped up on the card.

Finished the inside with a 2005 woodblock sentiment from Stampendous.

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to check out the Main Blog and see what the rest of the design team has made, who will you congratulate, a grad, a bride and groom or new parents so many choices. We would love to see your creations on our gallery.

Baby It's Cold Outside!!

 Hello fellow crafters, I'm finally slipping in with a card for the current (soon to end) challenge at Christmas Kickstart. When I saw the prompt "Brimming with Style" which means Hats I knew I had the perfect House Mouse image to make a winter card. Thank goodness we have finally passed (fingers crossed) the need for winter hats, bring on the face shading straw hats. So here is my card for the challenge. 

Being a Winter card I decided to use my favourite colour....Purple I like non-traditional colours for Christmas as well. The sentiment is a wood block stamp from Impression Obsession/

Finished the inside with a Stampendous Cling Mount Sentiment stamp.

I am adding this to:

Christmas Kickstart Challenge ~~ Brimming with Style

Thanks for stopping by today as you can see I'm making progress with my Holiday Cards, hopefully there will be less stress in November. 

It's Not Easy Being Green..............

 Hello and welcome to a NEW challenge at Shopping Our Stash as Kermit always says...It's not easy being Green which is our challenge for the next fortnight. We want to see projects that are mostly green. Sounds like an easy peasy challenge unless you are green challenged as I am except I love lime green so that is what I decided to use for my card. 

Since we were shopping our stash I dug deep for long retired Gable Green cardstock and ink as well as Green Galore for the mat and die cut. I tried a new technique with the 3D folder, ink the debossed side, spritz and run it through the big shot, I feel it doesn't have enough dimension next time I will add a shim so the embossed parts are sharper and maybe go heavier on the ink.

Finished the inside with a cling stamp from Stampendous, a couple of scraps and a trio of rhinestones.

Here is the proof of the age of my ink and cardstock.

The ink pad is the really old style and I was surprised it wasn't totally dry.

 I am adding this to:

Seize the Birthday ~~ Anything goes

Thanks for checking today and don't forget to check out what the rest of the Design Team have made for your inspiration.

 

Challenge #228 at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is ~~ E is for Expletives!!!

A new challenge is up at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Blog!!

Edna has a few words to get you started,

I must admit I gathered my stamps for the challenge and then I saw the Color Hues blog and the colours for their challenge and I was so happy I hadn't started colouring yet as the colours were perfect for my image.

First I made the background with distress oxide inks on watercolour paper, when it was dry I stamped the music background is teal ink from Simon Says Stamp. Coloured and fussy cut the Art Impressions image, Stamped the Stampendous sentiment (it is a perfect match for the AI girlfriend. Flat attached both and added 3 sequins. (not bad for a sequin challenged crafter)

Closer look at how I trimmed the sentiment to fit.

Since the challenge is Expletives this is the time in the blog to stop scrolling or close your eyes and scroll so you can comment. You have been WARNED !!!

Did you read or scroll fast? 

I finished the inside with a sentiment I really thought would work with the image on the front and I have someone in mind to send it too as well.

I am adding this to:

 Color Hues~~ Lime Green/Cyan (my favourite)

Thanks for stopping by today and head over to the MAIN BLOG and check out what the rest of the design team have made, then join us in the fun. 

Time for Presents!!

 Almost time for Christmas but I still have a birthday left for the year (not mine) so I decided to take time out from making my "new year" cards or "winter" cards for some I still need to send and make a birthday card with present on it for Challenge #486 at Shopping Our Stash is Time for Presents. 

I decided to use one of my "dual" images, it can be used for many occasions and I have made it for both birthday and Christmas. This is a Stampedous image of Happy Hoppers I have a few of the bunnies and also the Gruffies (bears) The image was stamped in a pile of "waiting to be coloured" images. The image and layers were cut with Elizabeth Craft Designs stitched and scalloped die sets.  Hero Arts happy birthday was cut with the original spellbinders circle dies.

Finished the inside with a Stampendous "Fran's" Sentiment, that no matter how I work with it I never get it perfectly straight.

Thanks for stopping by today and head over to the Main Blog and check out the rest of the Design Team's projects, then dig in your stash and make a "present" card. 

It's a Banner Day!!

 The last Jingle Belle Rock challenge of the year is Banner Holiday, it's one of my favourite challenges too and I'm sneaking it in with one day to spare (better than last challenge) I haven't been keeping up with a lot of Challenges, there never seems to be time to craft, but today I made time the dishes can wait.  the challenge is to design a card using the Jingle Belles Blog Banner as inspiration....Here is mine.

I made a mini slimline card and used die cuts from Boss Cuts, Gina Marie, Impression Obsession and a mini stamp from Stampendous along with the background music freebie from the Jingle Belles.

Close up of Santa (looking for good points)

The inside was finished with a favouite Hero Arts sentiment (a prize from the Jingle Belles a couple of years ago) , of course while die cutting there are always extra so used a few on the inside.

I'm adding this to:

The Jingle Belles Rock Challenge ~~ Banner Holiday.

Rudolph Days for November ~~ haven't played much this year. 

Thanks for stopping by to see what I have been crafting. 

Better Late than not getting it Done

 Last week got away from me, too many appointments crammed into one week and I ran out of time to get a card done for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge, it was planned and on my desk but way too little time, I have deemed Wednesdays my crafting day from now on, lets hope it works. 

As you see Edna has made herself into a juvenile for this challenge, you decide which way you want to interpret  Juvenile. 

Of course I pulled out my Tim Holtz Snarky Christmas Cats, I coloured and fussy cut the image and added it to a evergreen branch, the sentiment is from the same set.

Just a close up of the bad kitty.

Finished the inside with some leftover scraps and a perfect sentiment from Stampendous.

I want to add this to.....

Jingle Belles Rock Challenge ~~ Funny Ho Ho (closes at 6 p.m._

Thanks for stopping by today and hop on the Holiday card train and get them done. You can see the rest of the teams Juvenile cards HERE.

Hey (h) Ombre!!

 It's time for a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash #479 Hey (h) Ombre, there are a few ways to do an Ombre effect on your project as you will see when you head over to the main blog, paper, ink blending, paint chips, you can do a background or use the technique on your image. I went the easy way as my plan "A" didn't work, but as with all crafters I have saved my "fails" and will use them, I even have ideas but it just wasn't working for me today. So plan "B" I dug through my stash and found some ombre glitter paper and made a Gah Pink Christmas card.

Pink cardstock from my stash, 2 piece snowflake die, gently falling embossing folder (SU) and it's a Mini Slimline card. 

I added two layers of heavy cardstock behind the snowflake and two extra JOY die cuts to elevate both, the Joy die is from Elizabeth Craft Designs 

Finished the inside with some scraps and a very (probably one of my first) Christmas sentiment stamps from Stampabilities 2005.

Since I mentioned Plan "A" earlier I finished it still not 100% but my "critics" think it's great. 

The Sunflower die was a fund raiser for the Ukraine, I used a couple of yellow oxide ink pads and made the ombre cardstock to cut the  Sunflower from and two green oxide ink pads for the leaves and stem (that shows, the background was a very old sample of smooshing that was in my stash and the brown frame too. The front sentiment Stampendous. 

Sentiment is from Impression Obsession. 

Thanks for stopping by today and head over to the MAIN BLOG and check out the ombre effects the rest of the team have made

Blending In

 Challenge #474 at Shopping Our Stash is Blending In which means we want to see some form of ink blending on your project. I have done some ink blending but for this challenge I decided to do some You Tube surfing and found a Gina K video from World Cardmaking day 2020 and followed her step by step, now I much admit I only got the ink blending part done while she made full cards, the best part I had fun and got very inky with abandoned coral. (I used distress oxide inks)  Now I finished my card as Gina does with a white base, thin black layer under the image and I left the 1/2 inch border as she did and I really like how it looks, how's that for venturing out of my comfort zone?

The silhouette stamp I used is a pretty old one from Stampin'up, it stuck on the stamp positioner very tightly I cold stamp it 4 or 5 times to get the black image, unlike the Birthday stamp that moved and I couldn't re-stamp it to make it darker, it looks better IRL. 

Closer look at the sentiment. 

For the inside I used a scrap of the blended paper, a smaller stamp from the same stamp set from Stampin'up. The verse is from Fran's Cling Stamps at Stampendous.

Thanks for spending some time here today I hope you will try your hand at some ink blending and head over to the MAIN BLOG and check out what the rest of the design team have made to inspire you. 

The Power of Pastels

 Hello and welcome to a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash ~~ The Power of Pastels, self explanatory use a pastel colour pallet but don't forget to tell us what you used from your stash!!!

I rarely make totally pastel cards unless it is a baby card and even them sometimes I get heavy handed with the markers. Talk about stash.....I was playing around with the floral edge die and had this one left over in my bin, the cardstock was a scrap the patterned paper could be newer or I could be from a pack I bought 5 years ago (I had both on the table) Now the oldest items on the card are the purple pearls which were left over from a DT spot on the Eyelet Outlet. Happy Birthday was cut from a piece of white cardstock that I blended with two shades of distress oxide ink. 

I layered the inked die cut on top of three die cuts from 100 pound cardstock from Michaels, the die cut is easy to glue together because it is nice and chunky. This shows how the sentiment is popped up.

After a 45 minute search for a shoebox full of Birthday sentiments  I finally located them, so many shoeboxes with stamps in them and other stuff too. making labels is going on the To-Do list. The sentiment is from Fran's collection at Stampendous.

Joining in the fun at:

Happy Little Stampers ~~ Anything Goes with Dies

Seize the Birthday ~~ Anything goes Birthday

Thanks for stopping by and please stop by the Main Blog and check out the beautiful pastel projects the rest of the design team have made. 

It's Time for a NEW Challenge at Happy Little Stampers Christmas.

 Oh my goodness we are in April already although Mother Nature is still pinging us here in Ontario with bits of snow, lots of wind throwing in some rain and freezing rain but as I write this it is sunny, for now.

Happy Little Stampers Christmas is Always Anything Goes but this month it's + optional: Glitter, everyone loves glitter don't they? 

For my card I used a very, very old Hero Arts Sketch Snowman. Lots of sparkle, a layer of glitter paper, a scalloped oval out of glitter paper and the snow that's grounding the snowman which I fussy cut and would have been on an oxide background if I could have located it but looks good on the sparkly oval which was an awesome find at the local Dollarama, each page has a plain and a sparkly one, and it's the perfect size for mini slimline cards. 

Oh yes along with the glitter paper I used spica glitter pens to colour "frosty" 

Finished the inside with a Stampendous sentiment that goes along with another ancient snowman stamp and a bit of patterned paper left over from the front. 

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you will join the HLS Christmas challenge, it's always anything goes with an option, this time it's GLITTER. 

We are going "Across the Border" at Shopping Our Stash.

 We are not doing any travelling yet, but challenge 482 at Shopping Our Stash is to use any border punch or border die on your project. I'm sure everyone has some ancient fiskers or Stampin'up border punches in drawer somewhere, time to dig them out and put them to use. I decided to use one of the first border dies I bought and make a Birthday card. Although I'm still making Christmas all year it's nice to have a change.

I also dug deep to find the blackberry bliss cardstock and the ribbon matches perfectly although no room for  a bow. The Happy Birthday is one of my newer dies but never been used, I really like it and I'm sure it will get much more of a workout now.

Close up of the daisies and the very very old rhinestones I have no idea when I bought them or even where, but they matched.

Finished the inside with a couple of scraps of cardstock and a Stampendous Cling Stamp.

Challenges I would like to enter:

NBUS ~~ #34

A Place to Start ~~ #012022 January Anything Goes.

Thanks for stopping by here today and head over to the Main Blog and check out what border punches/dies the rest of the team have made. 

It's Halloween all Year Long.......

 There is a great challenge Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge and you can make and add Halloween cards all year and enter, if there are 50 entries there is a draw. Quite often I'm scrambling to get my Halloween cards made, it would be less stressful to make one  or two a month then when October arrives you are prepared and can mail the out of town ones early.  I was gifted this gorgeous Stampendous Halloween kitty witch and it's the first time I've inked her up. (NBUS)

The stamp is from Stampendous and it fits an A2 card I did add the spider (left over from another project)  I do need to work on the colouring of the kitty though. 

Closer look at the spider. I did elevate him a bit. 

I found a scrap of a blended background and die cut the Happy Halloween and added a vellum shadow diecut. along with a scrap of spider web.

I would like to add this to:

Two Old Bats Halloween Chalenge ~~ November Anything Goes.

NBUS ~~ #32 November.

Thanks for stopping by today  and stay safe stay healthy.