Cheers to 2017!

Happy New Year!  I finished my New Year's cards today so thought I'd post one of them for the latest Casology Challenge:

I had bought this stamp set from Ellen Hutson before Christmas.  It's called "Advent" and designed by Julie.  I loved the blocked, shadowy (is that a word? :) sentiments and knew it would be perfect for a Happy New Year's card.  The champagne glasses were colored with Copics and dotted with a blender pen for bubbles in the glass.  The floating bubbles were stamped in a light blue ink, filled in with Glossy Accents, then sprinkled with Fairy Dust glitter.  The sentiment was stamped in Versamark on a black scrap and heat embossed with white detail EP.

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ Cheers and Happiest of New Years!

Cards in Envy: Celebrate the Season!

Happy Holidays, CIE friends!  It's the last challenge in 2016 for Cards in Envy and we'd like you to "Celebrate the Season!"  Create a card, any size, but flat enough to fit in an envy that celebrates any holiday this season.  This challenge will close on Sunday, January 1st, 2017.

For my simple, traditional DT card, I first brushed the white card base background with Distress inks for an ombre effect, then stamped the pine bough (Hero Arts) with Memento Bamboo Leaves and Cottage Ivy.  I added some sparkle to random pine needles with a Gelly Clear Star pen.  The holly ornament toppers were fussy cut and added to the popped up vintage ornaments (K & Co.), along with some May Arts twine.  The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.

We hope you'll play along and share your holiday cards with us.  It's been a fun-filled 2016 and we're looking forward to 2017 with even more creative challenges.  Have a wonderful holiday filled with peace, love & joy! 

Merry Christmas!

Annie A.

W2CB #36: Winter is the Time for Comfort

Welcome back!  It's Wednesday and time for another quote-inspired challenge over at Words 2 Craft By!  This challenge is based on the following quote by Edith Sitwell:

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,

for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:

it is the time for home.

There are so many possibilities for your projects with this one!  I went for warmth and created this quilt card with Christmas colors.  It reminds me so much of a quilt that my great-grandmother made and was passed on to me.  It's a little worn but still very warm with memories of home.

Please play along ~ we can't wait to see what you create!  And don't forget to visit the other I-Teamers' blogs for some awesome inspiration.  Thanks so much for stopping by!  

Cupid's Bow

Happy Tuesday!  It's a good day...no rain and a new CASology Challenge:

A quick card today using the cue "Bow":

I mailed all my Christmas cards today, so rather than go with a ribbon bow, I decided to get a head start on my Valentine cards.  The only problem I had with this card is I have had this song bouncing around in my head all day ever since I made it - "Cupid, draw back your bow..."

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Enjoy the rest of your week!

Beary Good Christmas

Hello again!  Here's another Christmas card to play along with the theme challenge over at Paper Players:

I decided to shake it up a little bit and use pink for a Christmas card...not something I usually do but I like it!  The snowflake die cut (Darice) was layered over the pink card base. I had stamped some small snowflakes with VersaMark Dazzle in the background (hard to see in pic though :(.  The polar bear and sentiment are from MFT.  The inside sentiment reads "Have a Beary Good Christmas."

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ I hope you're having a good week!

JOY

Good morning and Brrrrrr!  They said it doesn't freeze at the beach, but everything covered in white outside tells me something different!

Anyway, I have a few cards to post today.  This one is for the latest CASology challenge:

LOL, I could tell you that the snowflake is falling out of "space," but I was really thinking white space, white space, white space when I made it.  I hope it qualifies for the Cue!

This little snowman is one of my absolute faves.  I masked off the heart he is catching on the stamp (Printworks) so I could add the shiny metal snowflake instead.  The letters (Little B) were die cut once in black and again in white so I could offset for a shadow.  I added a little Copic shadow and Wink of Stella to his body to finish him off. 

Hope you're warmer where you are!  Thanks so much for stopping by :) 

Cards in Envy: Wouldn't That Be SWEET!

Happy Monday and welcome back for another fun challenge over at Cards in Envy!  This time we are looking for cards that feature something SWEET such as candy, cookies, cupcakes or maybe a sweet teddy bear, animal, child etc. In your blog post tell us what is SWEET on your card.

Here's my DT card for a little sweet inspiration:

We hope you'll play along and feature something sweet on your card!  Thanks for stopping by and here's the products I used:

Cardstock - Classic Crest Sand, Gina K. Red Velvet

Ink - Gina K. Dark Chocolate

Stamps - The Stamps of Life (gingerbread kids & matching dies); Catherine Pooler's Stamp of Approval (Candy Cane Background)

Dies:  My Favorite Things (frame)

Other - DSP & cardstock scraps, Stickles, Wink of Stella, Mambi candy cane sticker

See you in the Linky!

O Christmas Tree!

Good morning!  This card started out with the embossed Christmas tree image (Rubbernecker) on a scrap of red cardstock that had been laying on my desk for a couple of weeks.  When I saw the challenge over at Shopping our Stash for Paper Strip Art (Bargello Technique), I thought I would go for it, try something new, and use the tree image...somehow!  I watched the linked video in the post and headed to my scrap bin.  There were a few hiccups along the way like when I realized I used temporary adhesive to attach the strips.  Oops.  So I Modge Podge'd the entire thing before I die cut the layer - problem solved! 

This was fun to put together.  The scraps were from a 6x6 American Crafts paper pad called "Crimson" that included only red/white patterns.  Perfect for my neglected little tree.

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ I hope you're having a good week!

Annie

Deck the Halls

Welcome back!  I'm on a mission to finish my Christmas cards this year within the next week or so.  Between family visits and Thanksgiving, I've missed playing with some of my favorite challenges the last couple of weeks.  Today I spent some crafty time for the newest CASology challenge:

I pulled out my Inktense pencils for this one.  I hadn't used them in a very long time and had forgotten how much I liked them for detail watercoloring.  The image is "Watercolor Candle" from Rubbernecker and the sentiment is from My Favorite Things.  Hard to see in the pic, but I dressed up the candles with Glossy Accents to simulate wax and used Wink of Stella on the flames and on some tips of the evergreen boughs. 

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ have an awesome week!  I'll also be linking this up to the Holiday challenge over at the Live Love Cards community.

Take care,
Annie

White or Red?

Hello!  Today's card is for a couple of challenges:

The Paper Players #322:  CAS Christmas
Shopping our Stash #279:  Warm & Fuzzy

I used one of my favorite stamps from Rubbernecker for this clean & simple Christmas card.  And, wine makes me warm and fuzzy so I thought it would work for the SOS challenge too :)

And for grins, here's the inside sentiment:

It might be hard to read in the pic --> "but when the white runs out, what the heck, I'll drink the Red!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving...I need to go find my roaster!! 

Cards in Envy: Thank You

Hi CIE Friends!  Welcome to another fun two week challenge over at Cards in Envy!  Our theme this time around is Thank You.  Timely for the season but certainly timeless for any day.  Create a card (any size) that thanks anyone for anything.  It does not have to be Thanksgiving specific. Just make sure that it is flat enough to fit comfortably in an envy for mailing (no lumps or bumps).

Here's my DT card for a little inspiration:

We hope you'll join in and play along!  And while we are in a thankful mood, Thank You for supporting Cards in Envy and generously sharing your awesome cards with us!  Have a great week :)

SOS #278: Front and Center

Happy Friday!  Gosh, the weeks are getting busier and I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week!  I did have some time to dive into my forgotten "I'll use this later" drawer so I could play with Shopping our Stash's challenge to use forgotten bits and pieces and take them front and center.  My forgotten pieces were die cut letters out of red glitter fun foam for a project that went south.

Thanks for stopping by ~ Have a great weekend!

OLS #33: Peace be with You

My rainy Sunday card is for the November challenge over at One Layer Simplicity.  The challenge is to create a one layer card that brings peace in a particular moment.  For me, few things are more peaceful than a quiet snowfall:

Creating a one layer card is not necessarily peaceful to me yet but I'm working on it :)  I do like the challenge and if it takes 2 or 3 tries (as this one did), I know the "peace" will eventually come!  On the Neenah Solar White card base, I masked off the center and stamped Tim Holtz' Treeline in VersaMark.  The trees were then heat embossed with white detail embossing powder.  I used Distress Ink (Tumbled Glass) to brush the sky and using Copic Opaque White and a stencil tool, I added the falling snow.  The sentiment is from a very old sympathy stamp set (mfg unknown).  I think this will make a "peaceful" holiday card for my stash!

Thanks so much stopping by ~ have a great week!

Snowfall Blessings

Hi Again!  I'm back to post my second card for today.  This card was inspired by the Pretty in Pink challenge over at The Card Concept:

I think the color combination of pink and green is just beautiful and since I'm in Christmas card mode, why not a pink and green one? 

I used Distress ink to brush onto the card base and then embossed with a snow folder from Darice.  The DSP (Carta Bella) was perfect with it's typewriter font for the die cut circle.  The adorable snowman die is from Paper Smooches and the white embossed sentiment from My Favorite Things "Snowfall Blessings" stamp set. 

Thanks for taking the time to stop by!  I hope you're having a great week!

Rudolph - Team Leader

Hi All!  Today I made a couple of Christmas cards and the first one is for the latest challenge over at CASology:

This card is for my darling grandson and he doesn't really care about sports teams yet.  This time of year he is fixated on Santa's reindeer team and who is the leader of that team?  Rudolph, of course!

Rudolph is an adorable die from Paper Smooches called "Reindeer Wise Die."  Love it!  It's wise because you can also make dogs, pigs, and many other animals out of the one set.  I cut the antlers from some brown fun foam and I had to add googly eyes and a red enamel dot for his nose.  The perfect sentiment is from My Favorite Things.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

W2CB #35: Small Hearts, Large Gratitude

Good morning, W2CB friends!  It's time for another quote-inspired theme over at Words 2 Craft By!

Our quote this month is:

Source:  creativeartworksblog.wordpress.com

Who doesn't love all things Pooh Bear and Piglet!  Here's my I-Teamer card:

I only used two Distress Ink colors for my card today.  I lightly stenciled a brick wall on the card front.  Then I die cut the leaves out of watercolor paper and smooshed them around in a couple of ink puddles.  The "Grateful" die cut was also watercolored, glued to another fun foam "Grateful" die cut, and clear heat embossed twice.  After layering the sentiment over the leaves, I splattered the card with the leftover ink. 

We hope you'll play along with the theme this month and look forward to seeing your projects!  There's a couple of SSS gift cards up for grabs - now there's something else to be thankful for!

I'd also like to link up this card today to the Thanksgiving or Thank You Challenge (SOS #277) over at Shopping our Stash and  The Paper Players latest theme challenge: "Thankful"

Thanks for taking the time to stop by!

Cards in Envy: Just Pumpkins

Happy Monday, CIE friends!  It's the first Monday of the month and time for another timely challenge from Cards in Envy!  The theme this time around is "Just Pumpkins" and your card should feature at least one pumpkin.  As usual, your card (any size) should fit comfortably in an envy for mailing.

My DT card is featuring just one big pumpkin with a Thanksgiving theme, but any theme is welcome (Thank You, Birthday, Thinking of You, etc.):

We hope you'll share your pumpkin cards with us!  Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Below is a list of the products I used:

Cardstock:  Gina K. Sandy Beach & Ellen Hutson Natural White
Ink:  MFT Kraft, VersaFine Vintage Sepia, & Distress Carved Pumpkin & Vintage Photo
Dies:  Sizzix Pumpkin (Rachael Bright), Spellbinders Romantic Vine, and The Stamps of Life Stitched Rectangles
Stamps:  Hero Arts (sentiment) & Stampendous (text background)
Stencil:  Memory Box Sprinkle Dots

Lookin' Like Christmas

Hi friends!  The card today is being linked up to the latest Shopping our Stash Challenge:  Home Sweet Home.  The challenge is to feature houses or buildings on your project.  I dug through my stash and found a set of house dies from Memory Box.  I think I won these as a door prize at a LSS and I know I haven't used them before :-)

I also tried out the Hero Arts White Puff embossing powder on the roofs that gave them great texture...loved the look along with the white embossed snowflakes. 

Thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you're having a great weekend!

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Happy Friday!  This card is for new neighbors down the street and fits the latest challenge over at CASology:

I used three different old stamps on this one:  The house (Fiskars), the family (unknown), and the sentiment (Inkadinkado).  I masked off the house so I could stamp half of the family on the left side of the house and the remaining two on the right side. The sentiment stamp included a stork and "Welcome baby" sentiment so I masked off everything but "Welcome" before inking and stamping.  I colored the little red heart with a marker and then coated it with Glossy Accents. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Happy Thursday!  A quick post today for The Paper Players latest challenge:

I went with Red (scarf), Glitter (Stickles on snowflake centers), and Snowflakes (stamped background):

The polar bear is a die from Memory box, cut 3 times so I could inlay the white and red pieces within the gray outline.  I did hang his "you know what" over the edge and then cut it off so the card would fit in an envy :)  He didn't feel a thing!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Card Concept #60

Hi All!  I didn't have much time to be crafty this week but I'm happy I was able to play along with the latest Card Concept challenge:

I loved this pic of the chevron pumpkin.  It had a modern feel so I was inspired to use the pumpkin, chevrons, and colors for my card.  I was going for a clean & graphic look for my nephew's Thanksgiving card.  He's into photography and graphic design ~ I hope he likes it!

I used Distress Inks (candied apple, carved pumpkin, squeezed lemonade) and "smooshed" them with acetate over the stamped pumpkin trio image.  The Hero Arts sentiment was stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black as was the chevron background stamp from Impress. 

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ have a wonderful weekend!

Trick or Treat

Hello again with my final Halloween card (really, I promise) for the season.  I need to get them in the mail by tomorrow so I HAVE to stop!!  For this card, I used this great sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches:

I have just about used up the DSP from Doodlebug's Halloween Parade paper pad.  The image is from Great Impressions, colored with Prismacolor penciles and Wink of Stella pens.  I shined up the shoes with Glossy Accents, added some white gel pen stars and teeny Pretty Pink Posh star sequins, and the sentiment (Hero Arts) was heat embossed with white detail EP.  The ribbon with the "bat" bow is from Michaels.

This card is going to one of my best witches...she's the one on the right!  LOL!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope your weekend is a good one!

Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Happy Friday!  Today I was able to completely finish up my Halloween cards and use up some scraps in the process.  For this card, I used the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

And the theme from this week's Shopping Our Stash #274 - Hey Ghoulfriend!

I used one of my favorite Halloween stamp sets from MFT called Trick or Treat.  I did simple coloring with my Zigs, added some Doodlebug Eerie Eyes, white gel pen, Wink of Stella, and gave him a little die cut jack-o-latern for fun.  The sentiment is computer-generated.  The DSP scraps are from the Doodlebug Halloween Parade 6x6 pad.  I also used the same scraps and MFT stamps/dies for the card below adding the Hero Arts sentiment in Memento inks as a border.

Oh, how I love Halloween!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you have a great weekend!

Hug in a Mug

Happy Tuesday!  I was excited to see CASology's latest Challenge!

I probably drink too much (coffee :) and I'll admit I have spilled more than one cup on my crafting table! 

I was excited to play along because I absolutely love this sentiment stamp from Riley & Company!  I inked it up with Gina K. Dark Chocolate ink and stamped on a Classic Crest Sand card base.  I die cut the coffee cup (Memory Box) and was trying to make it look as if it was dangling off the 'g' and sloshing a little bit as it did.  The "coffee" was coated with Glossy Accents for shine and I added a little red candy heart Bonbon to the cup.  And, yes, I drank a cup while making this card!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!  Cheers!

Thanksgiving Colors

Happy Monday!  The winds have calmed down here and the sun is actually out (for a minute)!  This morning I started my Thanksgiving cards and wanted to link up to the following challenges:

One Layer Simplicity Challenge (OLS#32):  Color theme; Red/Orange/Yellow
The Paper Players:  Clean and Simple - Leaf

And here's my card:

Here's the stuff I used:
Cardstock - PaperZone 110# Ivory
Stamps - Altenew Freeform Greenery (love!) and Hero Arts Layering Grateful Leaves (sentiment)
Inks - Gina K. (Red Velvet & Sweet Corn), Memento (Tangelo), VersaFine (Vintage Sepia), and VersaMark.
Other - Clear embossing powder for sentiment and sequins.

I debated about coloring in the leaves but I actually bought the set because of the great lined art look so I left well enough alone!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you have a great week!

Cards in Envy: Purple & Green

Hello CIE fans!  It's the third Monday of the month and time for another fun Cards in Envy challenge!  This time we're looking for cards primarily featuring Purple & Green.  Any theme featuring those colors on your card will work ~ just make sure it's flat enough to fit in an envy for mailing.

It's another Halloween card from me for a little DT inspiration:

That sentiment just cracks me up!  I stamped the grid background (Impress) on the white card base in green ink.  Then I layered a purple background die cut (MFT), stamped the sentiment (Great Impressions) in the bottom frame, and tucked in the witch die cut from my stash (K&Co.) into the top frame.  The little frog was also from the same K&Co. die cut set.  Of course I had to pop the eyeballs with Glossy Accents and add some Wink of Stella shine too! 

We hope you'll play along with us and share your Purple & Green cards.  This challenge will close on November 6th so you have an extra week too!  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Spooky

Hello!  One more Halloween card...just had to do it! 

This super easy card was for the latest CASology Challenge:

(If you haven't played along with this challenge before, you

should check it out!  The DT is fantastic and so inspiring!) 

I die cut the pumpkin face on a piece of 4.25 x 5.50 black cardstock with this adorable little die set from Memory Box that I've had for quite a while (years?).  It has 4 separate pieces (eyes, nose, mouth) and is called Perky Pumpkin Face.  I layered the black on top of a yellow cardstock base and then also cut the face pieces out of the yellow scrap so I could inlay them.  I finished the card with the white heat embossed sentiment (Impress) and added Wink of Stella for additional "spooky" glow.  Easy peasy!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Have a wonderful weekend ~ Go Hawks!

Witches Brew

Hi there!  In between buttonin' down the hatches for the first big storm of the season on the west coast, I played with some paper so I could link up to The Paper Players Color Challenge and used the Freshly Made Sketches #258 as a starting point:

Of course I had to go with a Halloween card for the orange/black/green theme!   

Here's the stuff I used:

Cardstock - Memory Box Graphite

DSP - Doodle Pantry

Stamps - Hampton Art (bottles & labels), Impress (sentiment)

Ink - Distress (Carved Pumpkin, Hickory Smoke, Twisted Citron, Black Soot), VersaMark

Other - White detail embossing powder, Taylored Expressions Halloween Mix sequins, May Arts black twine, Glossy Accents, Wink of Stella

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you have a terrific weekend...maybe at the pumpkin patch? :)

W2CB #34: Happiness is a Warm Puppy

Welcome back, Words 2 Craft By friends, for another quote-inspired challenge!  This month we are celebrating Adopt a Shelter Dog Month with the following quote:

Happiness is a Warm Puppy.

- Charles M. Schulz

As with my fellow I-Teamers, puppies are near and dear to my heart and I've been blessed with wonderful fur-ever friends through adoption rescues.  We'd like you to create a project featuring a puppy and link up for a chance to win the Stampers Anonymous Crazy Dog stamp set by Tim Holtz!  Who wouldn't wag their tail over that?!!

Source: Stampers Anonymous

Also, please welcome Marty to the I-Team beginning with this challenge.  Her projects are amazing and will make you bark with joy ~ please leave some love on her blog to welcome her to the pack :-)

Here's the stuff I used on my card for a little inspiration:

Cardstock - Neenah Solar White

DSP - Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid (Fall)

Stamps - Crazy Dogs (Tim Holtz) for accessories, Doodle Pantry's digi: Doggies N Things

Dies - MFT (hearts), TSOL (stitched rectangles)

Other - Copics (for accents), Glossy Accents, Wink of Stella, and bakers twine.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have fun with this and we can't wait to see what pawsome projects you come up with!  The challenge will close on Wednesday, November 2nd, so you have plenty of time to play along.