Sending Hugs

 At Can You Handle The Pressure
our embossing twist this time is BUTTERFLIES!
But remember you can use ANY embossing folder if you so choose!

I had a fun Darice butterfly embossing folder I used for my card!
I inked up a piece of photo paper with a few TH Oxides in
lilac and yellow colors.
I added a Cottage Cutz flower and a Pink Fresh Studio sentiment.

Join us over at Can You Handle The Pressure for our
embossing folder challenge and check out all the pretty
inspiration form the team!

Entering the following challenges:

Word Art Wednesday .... ATG

Graduation Gift Purses

At The Sisterhood of Crafters  our 'sistah' Annie is our hostess and
she has chosen the theme of Bag It for our challenge!

I made two purses for graduation money for a graduating granddaughter Sophie
and one for a graduating niece Caitlin.

Sophie's was what I called a 'selfie' purse as that was the paper I chose.
She was very pleased with it (or the money in it lol)

Caitlin's was all about sunflowers as her entire grad party was all Sunflowers.
I changed the handles a bit for hers but think I like the first sample better!

These were very fun to create using the 
Concord & Ninth Everyday Purse Builder and Stamp Set!

To see even more fun and inspiring 'bags' be sure to visit 
The Sisterhood and see all the fun designs from the DT!

Sending Birthday Blessings

 Time for a new challenge at Double D

and the theme is MONOCHROMATIC!
Dar has created this mood board for inspiration
but you can use ANY monochromatic color choice as you choose!

Not sure what monochromatic is?
Here is a definition of it for you:

Monochromatic colors are all the colors of a single hue. Monochromatic color schemes are derived from a single base hue and extended using its shades, tones and tints. Tints are achieved by adding white and shades and tones are achieved by adding a darker color, grey or black

 

For MY card I chose to go with lavenders!
I used one of my favorite stencils from
Taylored Expressions Butterflies Stamp and Stencil combo
and Altenew Enchanted Garden ink set.
There are four inks in the set and I used three of the four.

I'm sure you have seen me use this set before and surely will
again as while at the lake house this summer I spent many a day
stenciling and stenciled 4 of this set, all in glorious different color combos!

I once again used my favorite Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Strips die for
a place to stamp my sentiment, which is from
The Greetery Sentiment Suite Birthday  which I embossed with SNS white detail EB powder.

Join us at Double D and see all the 'pretties' from the design team!

Peace On Earth Anything Christmas

 Time for  a new challenge at Peace On Earth and it is as always
ANYTHING GOES as long as it is Christmas themed!

We have a fun and colorful mood board for inspiration,
so many different options to choose from if  you desire!!

 Anything Christmas 

I always try to let the mood boards inspire me, they just give a great starting point!

Back in the winter months I did a little  fun shopping,
after all what else there to do to entertain yourself , right?

I purchased this fun stencil TCW of penguins to make a slimline card.
It is a perfect sized stencil for slimlines!!

I inked them with Tim Holtz Black Soot Distress Ink.
The sentiment is from Altenew Holiday Flower stamped in Memento Love Letter.

I encourage you to join our challenge, come Christmas holiday time
you will be glad to have some of your Christmas cards ready to go!
Visit us at Peace On Earth and see all the pretty inspiration from the design teams!!

Celebrating You Today

We ae to our second challenge of the month for 

Dies R Us
and once again the theme is ANYTHING GOES
as long as you use a die company that Dies R Us carries.

The flower for May is Lily of the Valley and was also the month of my
Moms' birthday so this card makes me think of her, I miss her so!

I used a couple of Tutti Designs Nesting dies,
the Cross Stitched Nesting Ovals and Cross Stitched Banners.

The flowers are Cheapo Dies Lily of the Valley Bunch

That were cut from green card stock scraps and then from white
card stock and paper pieced on.
I also added a few fun Nuvo drops and a twine bow to finish!

Tutti Designs Cross Stitched Nesting Oval
Tutti Designs Cross Stitched Nesting Banners
Cheapo Dies Lily of the Valley Bunch

We would love to have you join us at the Dies R Us challenge!!
Take a peek at all the inspiration from the Design Team while there!

For your convenience, all the important Dies R Us links are provided below. 

click below for:

STORE 
 CHALLENGE BLOG
  FACEBOOK
  FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

Dies R Us now has a sister store with warehouses in the USA and Canada called Didi Crafts.  

It will ship to both the US and Canada.  Didi Crafts will carry some of the same products as DRU, but most will be different.  Now our Canadian friends don't have to worry about huge taxes or shipping fees. How great is that!?!

Just A Note

Time for a new embossing challenge at 

Can You Handle The Pressure and the 'twist' is FLOWERS!

I used a TH Roses embossing folder on a piece of 
cardstock that was inked with various distress inks,
I added a die cut Rose from Cheapo dies and a
Pink Fresh Studio Perfect Sentiments Stamps and Dies

Take a peek over at Can You Handle The Pressure and see all the pretty
designs from the rest of the team, join in with us too as it is a good
way to put those embossing folders to use!

Two Old Bats May Challenge Reminder

We are halfway thru the month of May
and we have a reminder of our challenge at
Two Old Bats Halloween year round challenge!

A mood board has been provided for inspiration 
but anything is fine as long as it is Halloween themed! 

I used the bottom left corner for my inspiration
and stamped a funky and spooky hat with Inkadinkado stamps.
The background die is a wacky rectangle die from Cottage Cutz.
The creepy spider is from my stash.

I had purchased some pre-printed sentiments from Simon Says
and this is one of them, they are printed in toner so they could be
foiled too!

Pop on over to the Two Old Bats challenge blog
and see al the spooky fun by the Design Team and get your Halloween
out and join in with us!

Birthday Wishes

I am hosting today's  challenge at 
The Sisterhood of Crafters
and I chose  THINK PINK for our theme!

I purchased this two part die from
Altenew Dog Rose Panel A and B Bundle.
I created four different panels with this die in four different colors and
have used the pink one for this particular challenge.

The background floral paper is from Lawn fawn Spring Fling 6 x 6 pad.
The sentiment is Pretty Pink Posh Simple Sentiments.

Make sure to visit The Sisterhood to see all the pretty PINK creations from the team!

Entering the following challenge:
Word Art Wednesday .... ATG
Little Red Wagon .... Make It Bloom
Craft Rocket Challenges .... Birthday
Moving Along With The Times .... Birthday
Seize The Birthday .... ATG Birthday

Mermaids

Our new challenge theme at Paper Dragonfly Creative Challenges is: 

Our sponsor is Leigh SB-Designs and I have used a digi provided
MerWitch.
I printed her on a bubbly soft background paper,
then used a stardust gelly roll pen to give her sparkle her and there,
added some sequins, a few tiny fish and a couple of seahorses. 
I used a homemade paper for her background.

Here is a closeup of all her sparkle!

Make sure to visit the Paper Dragonfly Creative Challenge blog to see all the other
pretty mermaids form the design team.

It's All About The Birds

Time for a new challenge theme at
Double D Challenges and our theme is: 

BIRDS - NESTS - BIRDHOUSES/CAGES

We have a fun mood board for inspiration
but you can create anything as long as you use
one of the themes mentioned above!

Long ago I made a card using a Cottage Cutz Bird Trio die
(which just so happens to be our prize for this challenge)
and saved the 'negative' part of the die.
That is what I used for this card and by placing it on a piece of scrap (snippet)
paper I was able to achieve getting a small heart showing on each bird!
The heart background paper I found in my bag of red scraps and seemed
the perfect choice to show off my birds!

I heat embossed a sentiment from 
Altenew Sentiment Strips 2.

Make sure to visit the Double D Challenge blog and see all the 
beautiful inspiration from our very talented team...join in with us too!!

Entering the Following challenges:
Snippets Playground .... Snippets
Word Art Wednesday .... ATG

The Paper Players .... Birds and/or Bees

Pretty Pink

Today is the start of challenge at Colorful Options and this month of May
our color is PINK!  You also have the option of using a rainbow of colors
but how can anyone resist this pretty pink mood board?
I know I couldn't! 

How excited are we to be partnering with DOUBLE TROUBLE today!!!

 We are partnering with the Double Trouble Challenge Blog for a joint collaboration the first two weeks of this month.  It's fun and easy and you have a chance to win more prizes! The Double Trouble Challenge #109 runs from May 2 - May 15 and their theme is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."  Thing One asks you to use a rainbow of colors (or predominately pink) and Thing Two would like you to include a fantasy element of your choice.  Below is their cheerful and whimsical inspiration board.

I once again used a panel I had stenciled this summer while
at the lake house.  It is from Altenew Sweet Spring Stencil.
Altenew has weekly sales starting every Monday and this stencil
happened to be in their weekly sale.  I just love it,
it is only a two layer stencil, so very easy to work with.
I also used Altenew ink cubes Cherry Blossoms.
I think this is only the second mini slimline I have made.

The sentiment is The Greetery Suite Birthday.

A few white pearls were added.
Take a peek at all the pretty pink creations at
Colorful Options and join in the fun with us!

Entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge .... ATG
Word Art Wednesday .... ATG
Cupcake Challenge .... Inspiration Challenge (pink flowers)

Creations In Pink .... ATG PINK
{PIN}spirational .... Inspiration Picture

Altenew .... Inspiration Board/Screams Summer(pink~green~floral)

Two Old Bats May Halloween Challenge

We are into May for our Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge
and have a fun mood board for inspiration!
You can create anything you want as long as it is Halloween!

Inspiration Board

I used the Ravens for my inspiration and knew I had this BIG old stamp
that has never seen ink (Stampendous Raven Background 2012). 
I was a bit worried getting a good impression
with it since it's on a wood block and so large,
but with the use of a foam stamp pad and my favorite black ink
Hero Arts Hero Hues India Ink Black it stamped

beautifully first time!
I matted it on some orange card stock then adhered it to a 
black card stock base.

We would love to have you join our year round Halloween challenge at 
Two Old Bats

and just think, I will have 24 Halloween cards done for the year
which is a first time ever for me!

Four Seasons May~Anything Goes Spring

 We are still in the SPRING mode at
Four Seasons
and have a fun mood board to inspire you, I mean look at all
those pretty things to choose from lilacs~mother's day~peonies~even Memorial Day
if you so choose, but anything is okay as long as it is about SPRING!

Last year I  wanted to try out some new inks besides my TH Distress and Oxides
and ordered several different brands to see which I liked best.
I started with Altenew cubes that come in sets of four, varying the colors 
light to dark, perfect for the new layering stamps and stencils!
I also bought Wendi Vechi~Simon Hurley~Hero Arts Hero Hues~Fairy Hugs~
Versa-Fine Clair and Simon Pawsitively Saturated.

I have to admit I loved them ALL, but ended up buying more of the Altenew and the Simon inks!

With a craft show coming up I created this card for Mother's Day in mind.

For this card I used my new Simon inks in pinks,
lovely colors of Bubblegum~Sweets~Taffy.
The greenery was stamped with Altenew Firefly and Shadow Creek.

Being peonies are a favorite garden flower of mine (of which I have many)
I used the Altenew stamp set Peony Bouquet and the sentiment from the 
stamp set Beautiful Day stamped in the clear precise black ink from Hero Arts 
Hero Hues India Ink Black.  This ink will stain your stamps but not harm them
and I am loving the crisp look!

The die cut added butterfly just happened to be flying about my desk!

Please visit our blog at Four Seasons and see all the beautiful SPRING
creations from the team, join in with us too!!

Entering the following challenges:
Stamping Sensations .... Floral and Fauna

Die Cut Diva's .... ATG
Altenew  .... Inspiration Board/Screams Summer (I used pink, green and floral)

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge .... ATG
Shopping Our Stash ....  (what A difference You Made In my Life)

Peace On Earth Anything Christmas

We are already into May for our
Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge
and have a fun mood board to inspire you below! 
You can create anything you want as long as it is Christmas!

Anything Christmas

 

I was originally going with the bottom left corner but decided to
go a bit simpler and let the bottom right corner inspire me instead!

I used a never been used before Sizzix die 'Christmas Tree'.
I paper pieced each of the tiny stars in, the larger star and the heart
on the base of the tree.  Those stars are not uniform in size so it was quite picky
to place them in correctly!
The doily underneath is an oldie from Cheery Lynn Designs 'Pinwheel Doily',
I am not sure if they are even still in business now, does anyone know?

The sentiment is from Altenew!

Please visit our Peace n Earth challenge to get lots of inspiration
from our teams, join in with us too, you will be one card ahead for he holidays!!

Tulip Window

Happy May 1st!  time for a new challenge theme at
Dies R Us and it is anything goes! 

We still have tulips blooming here in early May in my part of Michigan
and as much as I love tulips I decided to base my card around them!

I also long gingham and use that as a background by die cutting a
Tutti Designs Nesting Scalloped Rectangle.
The tulip frame is also by Tutti Designs and is Tulip Window.
It was cut from a green card stock scrap then I cut just the flowers
from a card stock leftover inked piece giving me some fun colors for  the tulips.
These were paper pieced on along with the butterfly, which is part of the
window frame.

Tutti Designs Tulip Window
Tutti Designs Scalloped Stitched Nesting Rectangles

We would love to have you join us at the Dies R Us challenge!!
Take a peek at all the inspiration from the Design Team while there!

For your convenience, all the important Dies R Us links are provided below. 

click below for:

STORE 
 CHALLENGE BLOG
  FACEBOOK
  FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

Dies R Us now has a sister store with warehouses in the USA and Canada called Didi Crafts.  

It will ship to both the US and Canada.  Didi Crafts will carry some of the same products as DRU, but most will be different.  Now our Canadian friends don't have to worry about huge taxes or shipping fees. How great is that!?!