Blue Grey Butterfly

I am not sure I like this card...I am sure I don't love this card. I am thinking it needs something but then anything I tried seem to look WAY too busy, so I left it alone.

The patterned paper is Close to My Heart. The butterfly was cut and embossed with my Cuttlebug Duo die set. Sentiment is Verve.




This card does, of course, work for several challenges:

• Cardalicious asked for flowers, stars and stitching. I have been sitting on this challenge for almost two weeks. The butterfly paper itself actually has stars and flowers on it, but I also added the star rhinestones on two corners.
• Color Chef asked for grey, light blue and brown. I was glad to find this CTMH paper with the blue and grey on it.
• The sketch is this week's Sketches {by tamara} card sketch.
• Truly Scrumptious asked for folds - meaning more than one. As you will see on the inside, I did the double pocket card fold so that I could use it as a gift card holder. One pocket for the gift card, the second for the tag where you can write your note to the recipient.

This could be the only card you see from me today. It is Race Day after all!!

BIG BIG BIG FLOWERS!

I love this card...it's so simple.



Don't let simplicity fool you though - I was able to get a few challenges accomplished with this one.

• Stamp Simply asked for Flowers. There's actually two there - layered. These flowers are by CTMH and they're huge and gorgeous!! To give you an idea, the card is 5.5" square.
• 365 Cards said Front & Center. Nothing on the edges - everything had to be in the middle of the card. I am not 100% sure that layer of paper is technically allowed, but I went with it anyway. (Upon reading the challenge, that paper is probably not allowed!)
  
• PaperPlay (a new challenge blog for me) asked for buttons! Well you can see the huge center of this huge flower is a lovely brown button.
• Stampin' Bees also asked for flowers.
  

I just want to thank everybody who takes the time to stop by my blog and comment. It is truly appreciated!

Happy Anniversary!

Okay - it's not my anniversary! I had a challenge to create an anniversary or engagement card and this is what I came up with!



Here's the information that coordinates with it:

• The first challenge is from Limelight - they provided the sketch, and also requested patterned paper ~ and it's so appropriate because they are about to celebrate their First Anniversary!!!!
  
• 365 Cards asked for an anniversary card (on Monday or Tuesday)
• Danni's Flutterby challenge was to use a butterfly & brads

All the papers and cardstock on this card came from an Apron Strings Designs card kit! I don't get them very often, but I have a couple in my stash!! They're as GREAT as the Scrapbooking Kits! You should go check them out!!!

Anyway, you might see something else from me today, if not - definitely tomorrow!

I've Got My Eye On You!!!

I am loving this cute little card!! Sometimes I make a card and don't particularly care for it, but this one I do! I am thinking it would be REALLY cute for the little boys!




And of course you know there are details details details!

• 365 Cards asked for "eye" on a card. They were doing a whole Cutting Cafe week and had fruit - and apple to be specific, so I think most people went with the Apply of my Eye thing. I had this cute little stamp from Unity and in the circle it made me think of the moon!
• Flourish's Timeless Tuesday challenge was sponging - it gave the planet a lot of depth I think.
• If The Shoe Fits is really who got this card started. They had an ad inspired challenge that you can see HERE. All I really saw was the black background and outer space elements.
• Daring Cardmakers asked us to Take 5. Use five of "something" on a card. In my case, it's the five rhinestones on the planet.

I am sure there will be more coming this weekend! I think I have one more for 365 this week...and a few others that I want to get to. Hope to see you back here soon!

GUEST DESIGNER - OUR CREATIVE CORNER

I am just THRILLED to be today's Guest Designer for Our Creative Corner. They have a beautiful sketch today, so you should definitely check it out!! Our Creative Corner is one of the challenges I do regularly - and I got to do it early this week! Jennifer Meyer is such a delight to work with!

I know you're not here to hear me ramble, so here's the card:



The flowers and leaves are made from a QuicKutz die - and the flower being two separate pieces made is really easy for me to coat the outer flower in Diamond Dust. (at least I think that's what it's called). I made a card earlier this week that is a great match to this one. You can see that card on THIS POST. Since this card is obviously a match to the first, it also hits the same challenges as that one, so you might see it linked on any of those other blogs too! It also hits the Stamp Simply challenge this week - Spring Has Sprung.

Thanks for stopping by! There'll definitely be more to see this week so be sure to come visit again. And be sure to stop by the Project Tuesday blog - they have a great accordian card for this week's project and next week's is right around the corner!

It's a Blue & Orange Kind of Day...

This is my second card tonight, and this one also uses blue and orange! Well, I am at least using up scraps!


This one does, of course, hit several challenges. All but Caardvarks are new challenges for me! (Unless you count Cute Card Thursday, which I did in my last post, but since I did both cards the same day, I am still going to say it's new for me!) Here's the information you're looking for:

• Caardvarks requested a shaped card! Round is definitely a shape - or should I say a circle is definitely a shape.
• The Cuttlebug Challenge blog asked for a monogram. This is the second time in about 10 days I have taken on a monogram challenge - I really like the negative monogram look. Also, as being the Cuttlebug Challenge, you will see when you look through my V I have embossed my kraft layer with my Swiss Dots embossing folder.
• Three Clovers also asked for a shaped card.
• Cuttlebug Spot asked for brown with blue or orange. I gave them blue and orange (and of course the brown) so I am good!
• And I am going to throw this one into Cute Card Thursday, as it has much more bling than my card in the previous post (although that one had bling too!) I think the rhinestones on the scallops gives it some feminity - that and the bow!!
  

That two for tonight...if I do another, I don't plan on blue and orange! LOL

No Surprise Here....

I made a card tonight - not really a surprise.
It incorporates several challenges - again, not really a surprise!




So anyway - after that lack of surprise - here are the details:

• The sketch is this week's Stamps & Smiles sketch from the Fresh Batch - sort of! I went a LITTLE big on the little side element - in my case - the balloon! So I will just say that the sketch inspired this card - that's what it's all about right??
• 365 Cards asked for two colors - in this case turquoise and orange
• If the Shoe Fits Color challenge today was black, orange and turquoise - actually, I think it said teal, but it was really turquoise on the screen, so....
• Our Creative Corner asked for the sentiment as a focal image - not totally sure the balloon doesn't "over-impose" on the sentiment, but...you be the judge!
• Cute Card Thursday (new challenge for me) asked for bling! Now, I definitely got this one - the Kaiser Craft rhinestones in the corner and you probably can't tell but I glittered the balloon with my stardust pen.

And that's my story and I am sticking to it! :)

My Personal Challenge Record

Okay - I think this card is going to be a challenge record for me for a LONG time!! This one covers TEN - yes you read that correctly - TEN challenges!! I must say when ten challenges line up for you - it's just luck - because they really have to line up correctly!


Okay - here we go:

• Secret Crafter - New Beginnings - That little sentiment is from Verve (one the the new sets I just bought) and says...Wishing You a Lifetime of Happy Tomorrows. Would be perfect for wedding or engagement.
• Charisma Cards - Dots and Circles (plenty of those on here!)
• 365 Cards - Watermelon colors
• Raspberry Suite - Avacado, Celery and Raspberry - hard to tell from the picture, but they're very close!
• Creative Card Crew - Pretty Flowers
• 2RedBananas - May Flowers
• ABC - P is for...PEARLS! Those are black Kaiser Craft pearls.
• CCEE Stampers - 2 designer papers and one brad
• Cupcake - 2-2-2 challenge - two ribbons, two colors and two shapes...the two ribbons are the same color but different widths, pink and green for the colors and circles and ovals (with a few rectangles for good measure!)
• Last but not least - the sketch is from Verve - SOA Event!
  

Color Throwdown meets Mojo Monday!

I have a pretty card to show you today! It's for several challenges - the flower is QuicKutz. The glitter on the flowers edges is called Diamond Dust. I little bit on the chunky side.



Here are the challenges:

• The sketch is Mojo Monday and also works for the Stamp Out Alzheimers event.
• Creative Card Crew asked for Pretty Flowers (in this case they only got one! LOL)
• The color combination is this week's Color Throwdown Challenge of Elegant Eggplant, Barely Banana and Bordering Blue.
• 2RedBananas asked for May Flowers (again - they only got one!)

That will wrap it up for this one. I will tell you however that I have another card that matches this one, but I just can't show it to you yet!!

Pretty Flower

I made a very similar card to this recently and liked it so much I opted to do it again! You know, of course, it works for at least one challenge - and in this case - two!

Here are the challenges it works for:

• Creative Card Crew asked for pretty flowers.
• Belli Challenge blog asked for apricot appeal, cameo coral & certainly celery. I must tell you I am a day late and a dollar short on this one, but that's okay - I will link it up anyway!

All these papers are from a DCWV paper pad. I am sorry - but I just don't remember which one as I write this. It was probably spring - possibly glitter spring. I bought both the same day (they were on sale) so that would be my guess. The sentiment is Verve (and if you come here often, you know Verve is my FAVORITE for sentiments!)

The petals were made using nestibilities from CropStop.com and the flower center and stem were both hand cut.

That's about all there is on this one. I love the clean and simpleness of it and I hope you do too!

Masculine CPS

As we all know, masculine cards are not the easiest to make - at least that's how I see it. The cardmakers who LOVE making masculine cards are few and far between. I don't dislike, they just don't "flow" as easily for me as the non-masculine.

Anyway, one of the ladies I work with requested a masculine birthday card. So, I made one! This one uses this week's CPS sketch and also works for Rosie & Dee's challenge of Embossed Stamping. The Happy Birthday 2U is Lizzie Anne Designs.


The other stamps used on this card - the Diamond Plate, the drill in the background and the Happy Birthday inside stamp are all from Clear Dollar Stamps. I have had these screw brads for quite a while and they went PERFECTLY with this card! I thought "screwing" the inner sentiment crooked would be cute, so I did! lol I hope she likes it and if not it will go into my stash as it is short on masculine cards!!

Thanks for stopping by and if you didn't see today's project for Project Tuesday, be sure to check out the post below as well as the Project Tuesday blog for the rest of the Design Team's take on it!

PROJECT TUESDAY!!

I am very excited to bring you my first Project Tuesday project as part of the Design Team! :) :) :) I must say this one was a little tough for me - I had never done something like this card before. Today's project is a Pop-Up Accordian Card. You can find instructions HERE!

I opted to make a thank you card for my son's teacher. My son Devin has ADHD and he is lucky enough to have a teacher with some extra patience.


Unfortunately, I was unable to get a good picture of the entire card open, but I think you can see easily enough how the card progresses. This was a fun one to make!

Be sure to visit all the other Project Tuesday girls! They have beautiful stuff for you to see today!

Using What You've Got!!

Ann over a Ann's Creative Nook asked for neglected embellishments this week. We should all think about this one. We all run out and buy the latest and greatest, but what about what we have sitting in our stashes? I am as guilty as anybody. So both of these cards will work for Ann's challenge.

Both of these cards were made from an old kit that I used to subscribe to called Scrap Jammies. Everything in the kit was precut, premeasured, etc. for a two page layout - all you had to do was insert the photos - great kit for a beginner scrapbooker. I didn't end up using them as they were meant to be used and I have started cutting them up and making my own stuff - after all - it's already matched, etc - half the work is already done for me - which is a good thing! If you look at most of my cards, these are not supplies I would have normally picked out myself.

Onto the cards...


This first card works for the following:

• Ann's Creative Nook - neglected embellishments (actually neglected everything - I haven't subscribed to these kits in over 3 years!)
• The sketch is from Mojo Monday.
• 365 Cards asked for purple and 5 circles - I have six obvious ones and the two upper panels are made of patterned circle paper. The purple I used is actually lavender. I counted it! :)
  
• Fun-Frilled asked for four eyelets (I haven't used eyelets in a while either) Luckily the Mojo sketch had circles right where I placed the eyelets.
  

This little card is about 4x4 and works for:

• As previously stated, Ann's Creative Nook - neglected embellishments.
• The Pink Elephant - this is their sketch challenge this week.

As always, thanks for stopping by and I hope you all had a great Memorial Day Weekend.

Same Card...new challenge

I made this exact same card - same flowers, same layout two posts ago! I liked it so much I couldn't get it out of my head, so opted to try it in a different color combo - for a different challenge.

• Corrosive Challenge asked for black, red & kraft
• The layout is once again from 365 Super Sketch Sunday.
• And again, 2RedBananas asked for May Flowers. Although these don't look quite a spring-like as the last ones.
  

Just so you know, the sunflower is a QuicKutz die and is actually called a 20-petal daisy...I don't name them, I just use them.

On another note - I was very inspired by the Memorial Day Cards for Heros bloghop. I have decided that when I can, the cards will be put aside and mailed off to the Cards for Heros program. In case you didn't hear about it, follow THIS LINK and check it out for yourself. Basically the hand made cards go to the troops for them to send on to their loved ones. So I will have this thought in the back of my mind while making my cards. (Just in case you happen to see any kind of pattern - that would be why).

Thanks for stopping by!!

A challenge - from a DEER Friend....

I was having a conversation with my DEER friend Dalis (pun intended! LOL) about QuicKutz dies - the 4x4 Revolution Deer die specifically. I own it - and it's still in the package (well, it WAS!) She thinks it's adorable and challenged me to use it.

On the other hand, I had sent her a 4x4 QK Owl die - which I didn't recall having seen on any project yet, which I questioned, and it hadn't been opened either. (she wasn't even totally sure where it was located) And so the challenge was set - both cards needed to be done by Noon EST tomorrow. Obviously, mine is already done. So go check hers out and if it's not up - leave her a comment and ask for it! Demand it even! LOL



I think it came out kind of cute and I love the sentiment! This is the sketch this week (#38) over at Eat, Sleep, Stamp and since these are the same colors as my last card Colour Create challenge I am going to link this one up as well!! They actually show a pillow as inspiration - so I pulled the darker pink from the shades on the pillow as opposed to the lighter pinks. After all, I wouldn't want to waste a perfectly good challenge, would I?!?!?

***ETA*** I just noticed my "D" is slightly off....why didn't somebody mention it? LOL I will fix....

More Sunflowers...

Okay - so I started using this QuicKutz die and now I can't stop! I am just loving it to pieces!



I am thinking this is a very cute card! Nice and simple, yet effective. And here are the challenges it covers (I assume you already knew there was a challenge involved!):

• Colour Create - Today's challenge requested lemon, pink sorbet and chocolate. I must admit when I first read it, I wasn't too keen on it, but I do like it.
• 365 Cards - Today is Super Sketch Sunday - so go check it out!
• 2RedBananas asked for May Flowers.

The sentiment is Verve! They had a new release and I just placed my order, so I am now very NOT patiently waiting for more new wonderful Verve sentiments (and images!).

I am sure there's be more coming...but it is Race Day! We will see what else my creativity inspires...

BLOG CANDY WINNER!!!

And the winner of the blog candy is.......
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LINDA!!!!!





Send me an email (it's on the side bar) with your address and I will get it out to you this week!

Clean, Green, & Sentimental

I am always a happy camper when I can get more than one challenge into a card. This one, believe it or not, has three, and two of these challenge blogs are new for me. I am not 100% sure I am in love with it, but....here it is anyway.


Here are the three challenges it works for:

• Our Creative Corner asked for the sentiment to be the focal point. The sentiment is Verve Stamps.
  
• Over at the Clean & Simple Blog, this is the Fall-To Layout #43
• At KJ's Stamp Pad, this week's Color Chef combination is light green, dark green and white.

I am definitely going to be trying this layout again, as well as searching through their archives to see what I have missed!

As always, I appreciate you taking time out of your day to see my creativity at work!

It's All Black & White

I had actually started this card for the Black & White challenge over at If The Shoe Fits, but it wasn't working for me so I put it aside and did something else, but this white vase and flowers kept calling to me! So I worked on it and came up with this....



I also found some beautiful soap (and since soap is what I do for a living - I know soap! LOL) in the Etsy Inspired Challenge over at Heart Hugs. This week's shop is SunBasilGarden. Here's my inspirational piece:



And last, but certainly not least, in my challenge search, I found Ann's Creative Nook was also doing a black and white challenge. I did read the challenge correctly, however when I started to working, my brain obviously ignored the fact that she stated another color could be used. I am going to link it up for her to see anyway, but I am not totally in compliance with the challenge. I will obviously have to follow directions better next time! In my defense - her title does say "It's All Black & White" LOL

Thanks for stopping by!

Red Hot!

This one is a little on the bright side! I took out this sunflower die for the last card I made - the Recipe Challenge over at 365 Cards (see post below) and wasn't sure if I had even used it before, so I decided to give it another go through!


This one hits two challenges:

• PaperPlay (another new one for me) had a color/inspirational challenge. You can go check the post for the picture, but the color challenge is red, yellow and orange.
• The sketch on this one is from Stamps & Smiles - as is the sentiment on the card!

That should do it for this one! There will definitely more coming this weekend....maybe even today!

365 Recipe Challenge

Today's challenge over at 365 Cards stumped me a bit. I wasn't sure how much leeway we had with the instructions, so I tried to say as close to what they requested as possible. I think the card is cute, but that's about it.


Here were the instructions:

• 3x3 in size
• One ribbon
• One brad
• One Flower
• No patterned paper
• Stamped sentiment

So, that's what I gave them!! Working on some DT stuff, but will probably be back with a bit more today...

Patriotic Blinged Ice Cream

I love anything that's red, white & blue! So on this Memorial Day Weekend, I love the fact that there are several places who ask for red, white & blue.



So from my intro you already know this card is going to hit a few challenges. Here's what I have for you:

• Paper Blooms - Red, white & blue
• Stamp Something - They had a sketch challenge this week to honor one of their outgoing DT members.
• Dutch Dare requested bling. I love bling and this one is pretty blinged!
• The Stamp Simply challenge also requested red, white & blue
• I know over at Paper Planet Clear Dollar Stamps is also hosting a red, white and blue challenge. I happen to see the challenge over at Cassie's blog. Of course I didn't happen to use CD Stamps, although I do have a lot of them...
  
• Fun-Frilled was also asking for Red, White & Blue
• And last but certainly not least - another new one for me - Rosie & Dee's Challenge asked for layered stamping. I think of this as layered stamping, let's see if they do!
  

And that will do it for this one!