Oldie Moldie Monday Meets Two Challenges

 It is Monday, time to show some love for your old supplies.

I found these flowers already done.  They were done with a stencil and there were two sets so I could make two cards.  The butterfly embossing folder has been in my supplies for many years and of course, I have an ample supply of card stock which has been aging for many years.

The first card is for the current challenge at Paper Players.  They have a fun Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge. 

I chose to do birthday, floral and circle.   I fussy cut the flowers.  I found a circle birthday sentiment in my spare sentiment box.  To add texture to the white background, I used a butterfly embossing folder.  A few circle sparkly things completed the arrangement.  

The second challenge is Can You Handle the Pressure where you need to use an embossing folder on your card.  (I should challenge myself to use one each week - I probably would not repeat myself all year.)  The optional twist is butterflies.  I looked in my embossing folders and I had three folders which had butterflies on them.  They add such a wonderful texture to the background of my floral card.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.  Find some challenges and let them kick start your creativity.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge Guest Designer

It is my pleasure to be guest designer at the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge.   At the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge, the challenges are BI-MONTHLY - 1st & 3rd SUNDAY at 12:00 AM (EST). Ending on the Thursday prior to the new Sunday challenge goes live. Winner's announced on the Saturday before the new Sunday challenge begins.

Here is the cute inspiration board for this challenge.  If the board does not inspire you, you can post something else in a Christmas theme.

There is so much to inspire you on this board.  Who does not love penguins; who does not love a snowman or that sweet vintage image with the girl and her dog.

The penguins inspired me.  They inspired me so much that I made three cards.  I found these sweet images in my very well aged Christmas papers.  I also found all the other papers I used to complete my cards.

I love to layer up patterned papers for my cards.  This is how I started making cards.  I was not a good stamper so I had to find a different way to make nice cards.  Patterned paper was my saving grace.

All the images were matted with black cardstock.  Snowflake stickers were added to the cards to add some more interest to the card layout.

The red paper was dry embossed.

Thank you for asking me to be a guest designer.  I hope you will play along with this fun challenge.

Oldie Moldie Monday Tackles Christmas

 It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.  Boy, do I have some old Christmas supplies.  I will never get them used up.  I have tried not to buy card making supplies like I use to.  Tried being the operative word.  It is much easier when you don't get to walk into a real paper store very often.

Here is the current mood board at Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge Blog.  

The little deer was my inspiration along with the rustic colors in some of the pictures.  I had recently gone through my embossing folders and found this sweet little deer.  I embossed him on kraft card stock and inked the embossed deer so he was more visible.  I used assorted Christmas papers which were lying on the design table and dug in my box and found this cream colored sentiment that worked with the tones in my card.  I distressed the edges of the paper.

Thanks for stopping by.  Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Floral Birthday Wishes

 I always try to stay ahead on my birthday cards - thank goodness - because all of a sudden it is May and I have two birthdays to send cards for.

I am playing along with the current challenge at Just Us Girls which is flowers.   

On this card I used my flower dies from My Favorite Things and the patterned paper is from Penny Black.  I layered the die cuts on a scalloped edge die cut which has been ink smooshed to add color to it.  The nice green color on the die cut complements the flowers and leaves.  

Thanks for stopping by.  

May Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge

 It is time for a new challenge at Happy Little Stampers for the month of May.  

The challenge each month is Anything Goes.  Stencils are such a wonderful option for card makers because they are inexpensive and you can use them in so many different way with many different mediums.  

The stencil I used for my card this month is from Pretty Pink Posh.  The stencil has three layers and is very easy to use.  I used distress oxide inks for the butterflies and also colored my sentiment with the same colors.  Before I started my stenciling, I did some ink smooshing to the background so it was not stark white.  I love the added depth the ink smooshing adds to the card front..

I die cut the front panel.  The butterflies are in a straight row but I angled my rectangle die so they looked at little more random on the front.  I added Wink of Stella to the inside of the wings.    

I matted the front with dark grey and die cut the friend sentiment from the same color.  

I have three more panels that I stenciled to make more cards with.

Here is a close up of the sentiment and top of the card.

Please join us at Happy Little Stampers for our May Stencil Challenge.  

Thanks for stopping by.  

May Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge

First of all - how did it get to be May already.  It seems that the last four months have flown by but also dragged.  

I hope you are getting a few Christmas cards made to help you when it comes time to mail out your cards in December.  By doing challenges, you get at least one card made but you may also rediscover old supplies and they trigger some creativity.

As always the Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers is Anything Goes.  We do add an optional choice you can use on your card.  This month the option is House.  I was amazed when I was going through my supplies, how many patterned papers have houses on them and you could do a few cards of the same design.  

For my card I chose to make a flat shaker card.  I seem to be a little obsessed with them lately.  I know they will cost extra to mail.  

I believe the background stamp with the houses and Santa is from Hero Arts.  A friend bought it on a crafty week end and I stamped off a few of the image.  I stamped the image on watercolor paper.  I colored the background with distress inks and colored pencils.  My coloring job was not too good so I decided the flat shaker card elements would hide some of the bad coloring.

I bought a set of scrapbook page inserts at a local thrift store and I cut them down to make the covering for the front of the card to hold the shaker bits.  You can also use packaging.  You have to be careful to not put too many bits in the shaker.  I did put some snowflake sequins and blue sequins in the mix. 

I matted the card front with blue cardstock and used a die word for the sentiment.   

Here is a picture of the card upright with the shaker bits at the bottom

Here is a picture of the card with the card laying flat and the bits all over the front of the card.  It is hard to photograph with the shiny bits.

Please join us for our May Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

Thanks for stopping by.  

The Male Room - Guest Designer

 I am honored to be the guest designer at the challenge blog The Male Room for the current challenge.

The current challenge for The Male Room is Sport.  It was the perfect challenge for me to participate in because I needed a masculine birthday card with a golf theme for a birthday in June.  

My first love when I started making cards was patterned paper.  I believe it comes from my background in sewing and love of fabrics.  The paper collection I used for this card is from Authentique.  It is a hunting themed collection but it had this beautiful plaid, check and dots paper that worked for my card.

The stamp is from Northwoods Rubber Stamps.  I actually found this image already stamped and heat embossed so the hardest part of making this card was already done for me.  I did distress the edges of all the patterned paper.  I used extra layers of cardstock to add dimension to the image and sentiment.  I did stamp a golf ball on the inside of the card and also on the envelope.

Please join us at The Male Room for their sport challenge. 

Thank you to The Male Room challenge blog for asking me to be a guest designer.