Sentiment As The Focus Challenge

 Today is a start of another challenge at 
Can You Handle The Pressure with an optional theme of 
'make the sentiment the focus'.
This challenge is all about using your embossing folders,
you know, all those folders you have but have a tendency to
just sit in your stash, get them out, put them to use
and join our challenge!!

I used a garden sentiment from JustRite Stampers
and a 3D embossing folder from Nellie Snellen.
I love the detail of this folder.
The paper is a graduating of colors from Ella and Viv,
perfect to emboss and stamp on!
My card base is actually deep, dark purple though it looks black!

Male sure to pop on over to Can You Handle The Pressure
and see all the pretty inspiration from the design teams!!

Floral Cards

 Today at The Sisterhood of Crafters I am hosting the challenge
and I chose FRAMES for our theme.

At the beginning of the New Year I told myself I was going to use up all I could of
things that I already had precut and these cards are products of that.
I had a baggie of stitched flowers from Cottage Cutz left over from
another project and a set of Impression Obsession frames that were also leftovers.

I had previously cut all these flowers and leaves from various colors of scrap papers,
a great way to use some up of those too!
I had plenty to work with for both cards and even some left for another day!

My first card, sentiment is from The Greetery.

My 2nd card, sentiment is from Pink Fresh Studio.

I kind of like my bright and cheerful cards

We would love to see your framed cards over at 
The Sisterhood and my 'sistahs' have plenty of beautiful creations
for you to feast your eyes on too!

Entering the following challenges:
Craft Rocket Challenges .... Flowers (M)
Try It On Tuesday .... Keep It Simple
AAA Birthday .... Anything Birthday

Stencil Mania

 Well, my partner and I in crime (AKA BFF) (Darlene) are at it again and have created another
NEW challenge blog!
I know crazy right??

We have started a new STENCIL challenge where we will
have an optional theme and also be anything goes!
Your choice to go with the theme or not!

Our new challenge starts Oct 4th,
take a peek and see what  you think!

Our stencil name is 
Crazy is our Fame - STENCILS are our Game!!

I have a couple of fun stencil cards to share with you today
using an embossing folder stencil combo.
It's a pretty big EB folder, so once done I simply cut it in half
making two cards instead of one!
It is from Gemini and a fun way to stencil!

Card #1 ( Bottom Open)

Card #2 (Side Open)

Make sure to visit the new blog and become a follower so you won't miss a thing!!

Crazy is our Fame - STENCILS are our Game

Peace On Earth Anything Christmas

We are on our second round of challenges for
Peace On Earth in August already and gee
Christmas isn't really that far off, hard to believe isn't it?

As always we have a fun mood board for inspiration
but you can create anything you want as long as it's Christmas themed! 

Anything Christmas

I always try to use the mood board for my inspiration and 
the first thing that 'spoke' to me was the dog in the upper left corner!
I knew I had a Cottage Cutz die that I hadn't used yet
and being a discontinued die I must of had it for quite sometime!
It was time to put it to use!!

This was one of their easier dies to use with all my scraps of papers
so I know I'll be making more of these!
I hand cut a snowbank and added diamond stickles along the top.
The paper is Carta Bella Farmhouse Christmas.
The sentiment is an Altenew.

Won't you join us at Peace on Earth?
Check out all the beautifully fun designs from the teams, too,
always lots of inspiration there!!

Entering the following challenges:
Snippets Playground .... ATG Snippets
NBUS .... Never Before Used Schtuff
Simon Says Wednesday .... Christmas
Make My Monday ....Christmas In August

Anything With Wheels Challenge

A new challenge theme is up and running at Double D challenges and it is 
WHEELS!

(Something that has Wheels)
We have an inspiration board just for a few ideas!

I had several things to choose from but n the end I let the upper
right corner inspire me as I had a yet to be used Cottage Cutz die
that seemed to fit the theme perfectly!
I like to hit the Cottage Cutz sales whenever they have them and this is where
this die "Garden Wheelbarrow' came from!
I have to say I have created with lots of Cottage Cutz dies but the wheelbarrow
was a tricky one with the placement of the handle bar.
I first cut in white card stock scraps (snippets) and colored everything in with Copics.
My normal is to cut from scraps of colored papers
but with so many little pieces and colors I thought this was an easier way of
doing things!  I popped each little flower up with foam for a tiny bit
of dimension!  The paper is Echo Park Spring Fling, the lattice doily die
is one I had previously cut and from my stash.  The sentiment is
Elizabeth Craft Designs!

I 'wheelie' hope you will join our challenge at
Double D and see all the 'wheelie' cute designs by the DT teams!

Entering the following challenges:

Word Art Wednesday .... Anything Goes
Crafty Gals Corner .... Lazy Days of Summer
Try It On Tuesday .... Summer Blooms
613 Avenue Create ....ATG
Cut It Up .... It's About Me (I am a MAJOR flower gardener)
NBUS .... Never Before Used Schtuff
Snippets Playground ....Snippets

Swimming By

  
Here we are halfway thru July already and that brings us to a new
challenge theme today starting at Dies R Us and the theme is
SUMMER!

I created an easy summer card starting first by using the
Tutti Designs Dotted Nesting Circles to cut my background circles
using just the negative part, I can always use the die cut circles for another project.

I die cut 3 coral pieces using Catherine Pooler Ocean Chums die, there is a stamp
for the coral as well but I chose to just add a bit of color with Copics, but I did use
the stamp set for the sentiment!

The fish are Poppystamps Whittle Fish and sorry to say no longer available
in the store, but they do have a fish trio that would be just as cute to use!

I added some Pink Fresh Studio and Pretty Pink Posh gems for bubbles
and extra sparkle!

Whittle Fish
Can use Poppystamp Fish Trio
Catherine Pooler Ocean Chums Dies (coral)
Catherine Pooler Ocean Chums Stamps (sentiment)
Tutti Designs Dotted Nesting Circles

Head on over to the Dies R Us blog and see all the fun summery
creations from the design team and join in with us too!

Two Old Bats August Halloween Challenge Reminder

We are half way through our Two Old Bats Halloween challenge
and 3 months til Halloween!
Now is the time to join our challenge and get some Halloween cards
created and ready to send before the big day! 

We have a fun and spooky inspiration board to give you some creepy ideas!

Halloween Inspiration Board

For this card I let the flying bats inspire me and used a new paper
from LDR Haunted Halloween paper pad.
I told myself I wasn't going to purchase any NEW Halloween papers
this year as I surely have plenty, but when I saw all the fabulous images on this pad I couldn't resist!

I kept this card simple and I mean real SIMPLE as I wanted to showcase the paper without covering much of it up!
I mean look at that Booville Bus, does it get any cuter then that?

I decided on a mini slimline that seemed to fit the paper perfectly!

I added a Halloween sentiment  strip and a popped up pumpkin at the end, I felt that was all it needed!

So why not join us at Two Old Bats with your Spooktacular creations
and have some Halloween fun with us....there is always a prize up for grabs
IF we have 50 or more players. 

An Old Dog

 

Time for a new challenge at
Can You Handle The Pressure
and as always it is an ANYTHING Goes challenge
with an optional twist of PETS!

I went with the optional twist and used a Darice embossing folder
embossed on a scrap piece of OLD SU designer paper
then I got the bright idea to sand it down and was 
pretty pleased with how it came out!

For the sentiment, I used a never before used stamp set from
Cloud 9 Simple Thoughts-Dog stamp set.

I hope you will join us at Can You Handle The Pressure
with your own embossed creations and check out the
fabulous designs from the design teams too!!

Entering the following challenges:
Global Design Challenges .... Animals

Sending Hugs

 At The Sisterhood of Crafters our theme is
SUNFLOWERS
and being hosted by out 'sistah' Darlene!

I used a Sparkle N Sprinkle Thinking of You stamp set,
colored with Copics and die cut with a Spellbinders Hemstitch Oval.
The papers are Honey Bee Gingham Galore Fall,
The butterfly is a precut from my stash!
The sentiment is Pink Fresh Studio.

To see a 'field of sunflowers' head on over to The Sisterhood
to see all the floral glory!!

Entering the following challenges:
Ellibelle's Craft Wednesday .... ATG
Word Art Wednesday .... ATG
Passion for Markers .... Say It With Flowers
Try It On Tuesday .... Summer blooms

Peace On Earth Anything Christmas

Can you believe it is August already?
Kind of scares me as I know summer is winding down
and we are getting closer to the cold, long winters again!
It is also time for a new challenge at 
Peace On Earth which is always anything goes as long as it is
Christmas themed!

We have a fun mood for for inspiration! 

  Anything Christmas

I originally was going to go with the nutcrackers, but they remind too
much of someone I would rather forget ...hah!!
So, that being said I let the bottom left corner inspire me, knowing I had the
perfect Memory Box Glowing Candles die to use.
I die cut it twice, once in white then used my copics to color it in
and once in blue to paper piece the blue candles in.
The blanket stitched frame around the black background
was a leftover piece from another project,
so I put it to good use!

We look forward to seeing YOUR creations at Peace On Earth
and check out all the beautiful designs form the DT while there!

Entering the following challenges:
Jingle Belles .... Blue Christmas

My Time To Craft Christmas .... Winter Holiday Decorations
Christmas Kickstart .... Never In A Nativity

The 12 Months of  Christmas .... ATG or optional candy canes

Lighthouse Challenge

We are into August already and that makes me kind of sad
as  our summer will be dwindling down and it feels like we just
got rid of winter, sigh!

It also brings us to a new challenge theme at
Double D Challenges and our theme is 

LIGHTHOUSE

I find lighthouses so interesting and being near the Great Lakes in Michigan
we surely have plenty of them!!

I had light house dies and stamps to choose from but went with an old (probably 8 years or older)
Inkadinkadoo stamp that has never seen ink before.  I have 2 other
lighthouse stamps in the same predicament but chose this one for today!

I added just a tiny bit of color here and there and a seagull that was 'resting' on my
desk leftover and rejected from another project, poor thing!
The sentiment is from a Woodware Beside The Seaside stamp set.
The background paper is from Best Creation Ocean Breeze set, it was hard to use
as the backside was gorgeous and I had a hard time covering it up, but this side of the paper
seemed to work perfect for my scene!

I hope you will visit our Double D blog and see such a pretty array of lighthouses
from the design teams, those girls always~always outdo themselves!

Entering the following challenges:

Word Art Wednesday .... ATG
Retro Rubber .... Stamp older then a year old
The Dream Factory .... Old (my old stamp)

Turquoise Color Challenge

 It's a new color theme at 
Colorful Options challenges
and it is TURQUISE.

We have a fun mood board for inspiration below!

I used turquoise as my main focus adding a peachy color to my butterflies.
This is created with a stamp/stencil combo from Taylored Expressions
The stencil has two parts for the butterfly wings so you can do two different colors
and the stamp for the bodies...FUN!!

I also used a turquoise card stock base and a Wavy Sayings sentiment and 

Fancy Wavy Banner  die from Lawn Fawn..

Pop on over to see all the Design Team beauty at Colorful Options!

Entering the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More .... Dies cuts and/or Stencils
AAA Birthday .... Anything Birthday
Simon Says Monday .... Birthday

Two Old Bats August Halloween Challenge

Time for a new Two Old Bats year round Halloween challenge
to begin and once again we have a fun mood board to
inspire you, though you can create anything as long as it is Halloween! 

Inspiration Board

I did let the mood board inspire me and used the top right corner.
I remembered I had a similar die to the picture shown
and die cut it twice, once from black and then again partially from orange
to paper piece the pumpkin.
I added a couple of inked dotted circles underneath, one to represent the moon!

Head on over to the Two Old Bats blog to see all the fun spookiness
by the Design Team!

Four Seasons August~Anything Goes Summer

We are into our last Summer season month at Four Seasons
(kind of sad really)
and have a yummy fun mood board for inspiration! 

I had in mind all along to use my Cricut for this one
and picked out a real cute image to die cut, that is until I realized it had over
30 die cut pieces and just didn't have time for it sad to say.
I did use my Cricut but went with a much easier route and used their 
print and cut feature!

Once it was cut (and it did a great job) I also die cut a NBUS die
from Hero Arts Leaves and Vines Fancy die.
The cozy cup coaster die was also used from The Greetery.
The sentiment is from Pink Fresh Studio.

We would love to have you join us in our challenge at Four Seasons and make sure
to visit and see all the 'pretty makes' from the design team!

Entering the following challenges:
If You Gave a Crafter A Cookie .... August Challenge (m)

Layered Cosmo's

 

Happy July first!!
It brings us to a new challenge theme at Dies R Us 
and the theme is SUMMER!

Nothing speaks summer to me like a garden full of pretty posies
so that is exactly what I went with for my DT card!

Memory box released some new dies in May and the Layered Cosmos was one of them!
I used Tim Holtz distress inks Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick and
Cracked Pistachio with blending brushes for my flowers.

For the leaves I die cut 6 from the Lawn Fawn Hibiscus set.
I also used Precious Marieke Flowery Branch under the flowers
for more 'greenery'!

The die cut HUGS greeting is a Tutti Designs word set
which doesn't seem to be in store anymore
but I gave a link for another HUGS die below that is
very similar to the one I used!
All of this was arranged on a Cricut EB folder panel.

I cut the flowery branch again and snipped it in two,
placing one piece under the smaller flower and the other piece inside the card.

Here is a list and links of the dies I used:

Memory Box Layered Cosmos
Lawn Fawn Happy Hibiscus (flower leaves)
Precious Marieke Flowery Branch

Tim Holtz Distress Inks Cracked Pistachio~Picked Raspberry~Worn Lipstick
Tutti Designs Hugs Word Set (OOS)
can use Karen Burniston Word Set 14

Make sure to visit the Dies R Us challenge blog to see all the pretty
summery creations from my teamies, join in with us too!!