Season's Greetings

 Hello friends, today is the last Wednesday of the month and
that means that Amy is having her FUN Woodblock Wednesday
where you can get those much neglected woodblock stamps out
and let them have their glory!!

For my woodblock stamp I used an oldie I picked up at a 
garage sale several year ago.  I was a little leery as you could tell
it was very much loved and used!
It is a 2003 Penny Black Winter Glow stamp and it stamped like a charm!
I colored the image in a bit with a couple of Altenews Alcohol markers
and used a bit of green ink to tone down the white Spellbinders 
Labels 17 I had die cut from white card stock.

The designer paper so happens to be Penny Black as well from their 
Wintertime (2015) collection .  The sentiment is Hero Arts.

It's a pretty simple card but all I had time for with the upcoming holiday on us!
 

I'm sure Amy would love to see YOUR woodblock cards over
on the challenge, I know I would!!

Also entering the following fun challenges:
Penny Black Saturday Challenge ....ATG or Optional Make A Scene 
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge .... ATG

Anything Goes Challenge at The Sisterhood of Crafters

Hello friends, at The Sisterhood of Crafters our challenge theme
is ANYTHING GOES
can't get much simpler then that!!

Every year we give the kids and grandkids 'moolah'
instead of gifts and I make the money holders.
Twenty for the grands and 5 for the adult couples.
Each year I try to come up with something different
and this was my creation for Christmas 2023.
I bought a Sunny Studios Woolen Mitten die and
spent a couple days creating 25 of these, all in various
patterns and colors to suit each person!
This one uses beautiful Mintay paper.

All kinds of pretty creations over at The Sisterhood so come on over
for a visit and join in with us, take a break of all that
hustle and bustle getting ready for the holidays and have some FUN!!

Entering these fun challenges:

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday .... ATG
Little Red Wagon .... Non-traditional Christmas Colors
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge .... ATG
Word Art Wednesday .... ATG

Let It Snow

Hello friends, it's that time again for a fun
challenge at
Can You Handle The Pressure
where your embossing folders make their debut!
We have an OPTIONAL theme and it is
Winter Fun!

Talk about fun I had some fun with these peeking snowmen
from Cottage Cutz!  I die cut a fence with an
Impression Obsession fence die, cutting it down
to fit my snowmen peeking over the top.
These guys were pretty easy, EXCEPT I kept
losing the smaller pieces that I had to cut not once but maybe
at least twice again, geesh!  But look at those cardinals,
the little black pieces and the beaks are each a tiny die cut piece.
The embossing folder I used is one of my favorites for
winter cards, Tim Holtz Alterations Snowfall.
The sentiment is from The Ton.

Speaking of snow, we had our first blast of it on the 21st and it just keeps coming down,
the downfall of living 25 miles off of Lake Michigan, we get hammered with lake effect!

Out our picture window.

Facing towards my gardens

Facing the woods

Out the bedroom slider

Get your embossing folders out and come and have
some embossing fun with us,
you can choose to use the theme or any embossing
folder you want!

Get Ready For Winter

Are you ready for some fun??
At Double D our theme is  
Get Ready for WINTER
and we have a fun mood board for inspiration!

I focused on the upper left corner, the steamy hot drink on a cold winters day!
I pulled out my much loved Pretty Pink Posh Winter Mug die
and a 3D embossing folder from Sizzix and set to work.
I filled my mug with a pine tree marshmallow, a glittery snowflake and
a couple of roasted marshmallows.
Of course I had to keep my cup warm
so I wrapped it with a die cut scarf from the PPP 
Fall Mug Additions die.

Come on over to Double D and have some 'winter' fun with us
and check out all the winter beauty from the teams!!

Peace On Earth #76

Only a few more challenges left at Peace On Earth for this year,
so hopefully you can join in with us too.
As always, we have a fun inspiration board
but you can create anything as long as it is Christmas themed! 

Look at all those fun birds in the inspiration board,
how can you resist them, I know I couldn't!

I used an old set from Sparkle N Sprinkle I received while I was on
their design team Winter Bird House and added  some snowy Stickles
along with a few snowflakes,  I once again used The Ton
Easy Expressions Holiday stamp and dies for the sentiment.

Come on over to Peace On Earth and have some fun with us!!

Two Old Bats Reminder November 2024

Hello friends, we are halfway through our Halloween challenge at
Two Old Bats and hope you will come and join us for our year round challenge! 
We have a fun mood board for plenty of inspiration if needed!!

Myself, I always try to challenge me to using the inspirational mood board.
If you saw my original post for this challenge you might remember I used the
same Spellbinders leaf die to make the upper left pumpkin leaves,
but this time changing to the bottom right photo.  I inked these silly ghosts with
Memento London Fog ink, some google-y eyes, had drew the mouths and a layered
BOO die cut sentiment from Tonic Studios.
The background paper came out of my Halloween scrap paper bag!!

We would LOVE to have YOU join us at our year round
Two Old Bats challenge!!

Entering the following fun challenges:
Halloween and Other Occasions Crafts .... Halloween

Beautiful Blossoms November Challenge

 Hello friends it's once again time for a new challenge at
Beautiful Blossoms and we have an optional mood board
but you can create anything, any color as long as 'blooms'
are your focal point!

I know it doesn't probably look  like it, but I did try to stick as close to the colors 
as I could, I know mine are a little brighter and maybe a bit more summery,
but these were the color inks I had to work with.  I think had I  gone with a
different background paper the colors would of fallen in to place better!
I used The Ton Posy Bouquet stencil and a various supply of inks from
Dew Drop, Altenew and even Simon Says Stamp.
The 'frame' under the stenciled flowers is from Cottage Cutz
and the sentiment from The Ton.  I added a bit of 'bling' using
Pretty Pink Posh Party Mix Gems.
I love this stencil as it is so petite and I surely wish
other companies would do the same instead of all those
6x6 stencils, just my opinion!

Come and join in some floral fun with us at
Beautiful Blossoms, we would love to see your creations!!

Landscapes

At The Sisterhood of Crafters our theme is LANDSCAPES.
I had this 'landscape already done and just needed to put it
together for a card.  I think it will make a great masculine card! 

Several years back my BFF and challenge 'partner in crime'
came for a visit and brought her Stampscape Stamps with her
and we had lots of fun getting inky and making  scenes
This is one of my scenes, I have yet to purchase any of these stamps
and think I need to treat myself to a BIG shopping spree of these stamps!
I really like the mill stamp as my hone sits on an old mill run and our front
walk, right at the front door has the old mill stone as part of the walkway,
pretty cool!

We would love to see YOUR landscapes at
The Sisterhood of Crafters!

Entering the following fun challenges:
Dream Valley .... ATG

Coffee/Cocoa Warm Drinks

 Hello friends, it's time for a new challenge at 
Can You Handle The Pressure
where we are all about embossing folders!
Our OPTIONAL theme is Coffee/Cocoa Warm Drinks!
You can create anything goes though as long as you have used an
embossing folder, that is a must requirement!

For my card I pulled an OLD and never been used before 
Tim Holtz Alterations coffee embossing folder.
I embossed it on a kraft paper then die cut and put together
one very picky Cafe Colorize coffee cup!

I die cut it all from scraps of paper and when I went to put it
together several parts had disappeared, has that ever happened to you??
I did have a ceiling fan running at the time so maybe that was my culprit!!

Anyhow I decided to turn it into a thank you card
thinking I could always add a Starbucks gift card to it for a thank you!!

Make sure to visit Can You Handle The Pressure and have some
embossing fun with us!

Entering the following fun challenges:

Inspiration Station .... coffee mug inspiration

Shopping Our Stash .... Time For A Hot Drink
A Cut Above .... Let's Warm It Up
Aloha Friday Challenges .... Thanks

Word Power #11

We are into the 11th month at Word Power 
which seems so hard to believe, time sure does 'fly' as they say!
Our challenge is all about letting your sentiments 
take 'center stage' not just a one word tiny sentiment.
I pulled out my fun (and yummy) Concord & 9th
Sweet As Pie die set and created a fun pumpkin pie card,
after all it is the season for it, right?
All you see is part of the die set, they thought of everything,
even the pie server!!
I die cut my sentiment words three times and
stacked one on top of the other so it would really 'pop'!
All the papers used are scraps with the exception of
the plaid which is a P13 Hello Autumn paper.
I think this card will go to a granddaughter
that loves her grandma's cards and saves each and every one,
 she is 18 now, she has quite a collection of them!!

We would love to have you join us at Word Power,
what are you waiting for??

Warm and Cozy

Hello friends, today at Double D we are all about being
WARM & COZY which is our theme this time around!
We have  cozy mood board for inspiration! 

I let the winter scarves inspire me, after all they do keep you warm and cozy!!
I inked a cold and dark sky, cut my snow hill with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Hill die
and created the bears using  a Cottage Cutz Artic Polar Bear & Cub die.
This is the same die we are giving away to one lucky random drawn winner
as our prize, and it's a special one, as it is no longer available for purchase!

The sentiment is an oldie from JustRite.

Come on over to Double D and get 'warm & cozy'
with our teams, we would LOVE to see YOUR
cozy entries!!

Entering the following fun challenges:

A Cut Above .... Warm It Up (optional)

Unicorn challenge .... Winter or Christmas

Make My Monday .... Wild animals

Stencil Fun November 2024

Hello friends, today at Stencil Fun our OPTIONAL theme is 
Make it Sparkle/Shine
but you can create anything as long as a stencil has been used!

For my 'shine' card I used an older Memory Box (2014) Texture Shine stencil with gold metallic stenciling paste.
I was happy it still was plenty wet since I rarely use the
paste to stencil anymore but love the sparkle-y shimmery shine it gives.  I heat embossed my sentiment
with Sparkle N Sprinkle Gold detail embossing powder.
The sentiment is a Sizzix Hello Sunshine stamp set.
I added one of my little handmade flowers.                         

             

For my Anything Goes card I used one of a set of four
background stencils from the February 2024 Spellbinders Stencil club.
stenciled in a pretty pink.
When Simon has their BIG sales (usually a lot for 99cents) I try to keep track
so I don't miss out and get some pretty great deals.  That is where my floral
topper came from, a Stampendeous Quick Cards Hope of Spring.
The sentiment is Pink Fresh Studio.

Come on over to Stencil Fun and join in with us!!

 

Entering the following fun challenges:

Moving Along With The Times  .... Sparkle

Peace On Earth Challenge #75

 Happy November!!
The holidays are sneaking up on us real fast it seems
and there is still time to get some of those holiday cards
created and entered into our Peace On Earth challenge!

We are an anything goes challenge as long as it is
Christmas themed!
As always we have a fun inspiration board
full of sweet goodness!

I did let all those 'gingers' inspire me and used a fun
Mintay Sweetest Christmas paper for my background.

I used a Tutti Designs postage die cut and all the rest
of the dies are from a Tonic set that makes an actual gingerbread house gift box,
I just used a few pieces of it.
The sentiment is part Hero Arts and part Pretty Pink Post..

Come on over and visit us at Peace On Earth!!

Entering the following fun challenges:

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge.... Anything Christmas

Triple B November 2024

Hello friends, we are already into the 11th month of the year (yikes)
and that means a new challenge for the month of November at
Triple B 
where you can enter your butterfly, bird, and/or blooms into our fun challenge.
As always we have a pretty inspiration board in true fall colors!!

I used mostly die cuts for my card. The white doily cut underneath was already
cut and in my stash of die cuts to use up.  It is a Cheery Lynn Designs
Lords & Commons die.  The flowers are Concord & 9th Picked Posies.
The butterfly is new all favorite Poppystamps Fanfare Nordic Butterfly.
Sentiment is Stampendous.
I could of added a few more florals to it, but decided I liked the eye drawn
to the big boldness of both the butterfly and bloom!

We hope to see YOU at our Triple B challenge with your
Blooms~Birds~Butterflies!!

A Sweet Holiday

 Hello friends,  I am guest designing today at
Send A Smile 4 Kids as I had a Top 3 win back in August.
Their theme is Happy Holiday Cards for Kids

Kids cards are some of the most fun to make for me
as I love the fun cute stamps and dies available!
I purchased this Spellbinders Dancing Figgy Pudding last year
and this is my first time using him, I just couldn't resist his cuteness!

I die cut him entirely out of scraps, colored in some and inked some others.
The sentiment is from Newton's Nook and stamped with
Altenew's Sea Forest ink.

He is an interactive card as his legs swing

I want to thank the team at Send A Smile 4 Kids for having me guest design.  Make sure to come over to the blog and read
what they are all about and join in too!!

Every Flower Is a Soul

 Hello friends, back again in a new month
with a new OPTIONAL theme of use Brown & Yellow at
Love Those Pretty Papers challenge.
I sure hope you have been joining in with us as
I have to admit it has been a blast using my papers
that normally seemed to just sit and multiply
(I can't resist buying more and more)!!

For my brown & yellow themed card I used a sheet of
Crafters Companion Nature's Garden from The Sunflower Collection.
This is an 8x8 Vellum pack of papers and ALL Sunflowers!
I adhered my sunflower paper to a white card stock then
embossed my Spellbinders Garden Favorites sentiment
with Sparkle N Sprinkle Coffee embossing powder.
This has always been my very favorite brown embossing powder,
it embosses perfectly every time!
The sentiment reads 'Every Flower is a Soul' blossoming in Nature.

For my anything goes card I can't tell you whose paper I used
(it's a secret), haha, not really it was a loner pulled from a pack
and I have no idea of whose it is and with all my zillion of
paper packs I am not going to see if I can find it.
I used a 2 piece Altenew die for this card Dog Rose panel A&B
cut from 2 different color of lavender scraps.
I didn't think this card needed a sentiment on the outside.

So what do you say?  Can we see YOU over at
Love Those Pretty Papers??

Two Old Bats November 2024

Happy November my friends!
Yes it is November and we are still creating Halloween at
Two Old Bats
as we are a year round Halloween challenge.
So get those Halloween supplies back out and join in with us,
no need to put all those fun goodies away for a year!!
Below we have a fun inspiration/mood board to give you a
few creative ideas!

I used the upper left corner for my inspiration by die cutting
a few Spellbinders leaves and addling fun pumpkin faces to each.
After i had them all done I noticed I have another single set of pumpkin face dies
that were probably more sizable to my leaves, but these kind of grew on me so I let them be!!  A couple of Halloween scrap papers
were added along with a few die cut bats, some sequins and
a sentiment from AI!

Head on over to Two Old Bats and 'scare' up some fun with us!!

Colorful Options November 2024

 Are you ready for another fun challenge at Colorful Options?
We certainly have a pretty and fun 'mood' board for you!!
It just screams Christmas which is just around the corner it seems!

I  not only let the the black and red plaid inspire me but also
the green wreath!  I first die cut an OLD Spellbinders Build a Wreath die that I had never used before,
it came with a few extra green pines to add but for the life of me
I couldn't figure out how to add them and found no old video on them either.
So I grabbed another oldie die from Cheery Lynn Creations and layered that instead,MUCH easier!! 
The sentiment is also part of the die set, which I stacked three times
but the red bow is from the SB set I tried first, (more detailed then the picture shows).

Come on over and have some colorful fun with us at Colorful Options!!

Joyful

Hello friends, at our imply Clean & Simple challenge
we have a new OPTIONAL theme and it is
Christmas Is Coming!
However, you can create anything as long as it is CAS!

I was pretty proud of myself with this card as I pulled out my
very neglected  Glimmer Foil System and a foil die I purchased
in one of Simon Says 99 cent sales.  Have you ever seen those sales?
I usually see them AFTER they are sold out but once in a while
I am lucky enough to get in on one!
Anyhow, my CAS card was also made with 3 die cut snowflakes
from Impression Obsession , pretty simple but I really like it

Come on over to the Simply Clean & Simple challenge and
have some holiday (or not) fun with us,
as usual, plenty of awesome inspiration from the design team!

Four Seasons November Fall 2024

 Hello friends, it is our last FALL season at
The Four Seasons
for this year and we have a fun and colorful
mood board for inspiration!  Look at all those pretty colors
and that adorably cute cozy kitten, who could resist that?

Though I loved that cute kitty I let the acorn inspire me!
A few years ago a friend gave up card making (I know how could she , right?)
and sent me a few boxes of her dies and stamps and this cute
Cottage Cutz Acorn Owl was in one of the boxes!  I probably should of
inked him brown instead of orange but I really wanted him to stand out
and all those orange colors in the mood board made me do it!

The background paper (Spellbinders Serenade of Autumn)
has gold metallic (the white leaves) so I
embossed the FALL part of my sentiment with gold EB powder,
I know it's hard to see, but IRL as they say it is nice and shimmery!

Come on over to The Four Seasons and have
some creative FALL fun with us!!