your day to celebrate

 I've been watching Simon Hurley's Paste Palooza YouTube series and playing around with some of the techniques he's shown.  For this one, I used a 3D embossing folder on white cardstock, then ink blended the embossed piece and applied solar paste on top for a slight shimmer.  I added the stamped cat with balloons and the sentiment, adhering the little cat with foam tape for dimension.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Can You Handle the Pressure - embossing folder with option of balloons

Shopping Our Stash #573 Man's Best Friend - feature an animal that could be a pet

Shopping our Stash Challenge #412

The new challenge at Shopping our Stash is Winter blues themed...a Winter project or something primarily blue.  I combined both for this blue Christmas card.

The background stamps are from WPlus9 and the image and sentiment on the oval are from GinaK Designs.  I used two different shades of Catherine Pooler inks.  It's been awhile since I used those Nordic stripe stamps but I really like the way they look....almost like this was one big background stamp.  The oval diecut is from Spellbinders. 

Happy Easter, Chickie!

Started on my Easter cards this week.  This one uses stamps from one of 2017's monthly kits from Simon Says Stamp.  I colored the chick and eggs with Copic markers and then mounted them on papers from Doodlebug.

I'm entering this in the Shopping Our Stash challenge to use a bird on your project

 and the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge, based on the Easter/Spring mood board shown below:

Floral card with Cricut Explore

I tried something a little different with this card.  Instead of using a stamped image, I used the "write" function on my Cricut Explore and a rose image from the Anna Griffin Elegant Embellishments 2 cartridge.  The image was drawn with a fine tip black Cricut pen and then colored with colored pencils and gamsol.  The sentiment was stamped and I added a few tiny sequins.

The background paper is from Bella Blvd. Illustrated Faith.  I still need some practice with shading with the colored pencils, but I do like the softer look when compared to my usual Copic coloring. 

This is for the current challenge at Shopping Our Stash (use a rose on your project) and the card sketch challenge at Stick It Down. (see sketch below) 

   

Shopping Our Stash + Paper Issues Challenge

The current challenge at Shopping our Stash is to use punches and/or die cuts on your project.  I used a really old slot border punch on this layout, and wove some narrow blue paper through the punched slots.  I also used my Cropadile to punch some holes and added eyelets to thread the jute through the border strip.

I also used this page for the Roll the Dice challenge at the Paper Issues Facebook community - use two tags and six stickers.  These two adorable guys are my grandsons, who are either best buddies or mortal enemies, depending on the day, LOL!  

It's a joint challenge with Jingle Belles and Shopping Our Stash!

The current challenge @ Jingle Belles is a joint effort with Shopping Our Stash - use something at least a year old on your Christmas card.

For my card, I used some paper from BoBunny and a border sticker from Bella Blvd.  (The BoBunny paper is from 2013 and the Bella Blvd sticker is from 2009.)  I added a few tiny sequins and a 3D paper bow that I cut with my Cricut.

 

I actually used up a lot of my Christmas stash last year, but I still have a few papers and embellishments that go back several years....but then again, you can never have too much Christmas stuff, right?

 

 

A Jingle Belles and Shopping Our Stash challenge

Jingle Belles and Shopping Our Stash our joining forces for a challenge this month.  The challenge is to create a Christmas card using items that have been in your stash for at least a year.

I used some My Mind's Eye Christmas items that I've been hoarding for a few years (since 2009 and 2012 - I had to look up the collections to see just how old they were!).  The chipboard tree and kids are from MME's Colorful Christmas collection, which is one of my all time favorites because of the bright non-traditional colors and touches of glitter.  The paper is from MME's Winter Wonderland collection.  The sentiment stamp is fairly new; it's from Mama Elephant.

 

So, one more Christmas card ready for 2014 and used up some of my favorite stash goodies!