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Challenges

Sending Hugs

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We were away for a week, and I came home to three packed days of commitments and lunches out with friends. Most of my limited crafting time has been spent working on birthday cards for three grandchildren who have birthdays before the New Year. I did, however, need an encouragement card in a hurry. Today’s card is thanks to a fabulous win at Pinkfresh Studio (the WHOLE October release!) It came just before we left for Wisconsin, and I had the time to foil and stencil several images before I left.

This is one of two images from the Moonlit Blooms Press Plate which I foiled in gold. The stencil makes ink blending so easy. That was done ahead of time. I added one of the new coverplates, Floral Lattice, die cut in white, and added an older frame from Pinkfresh, Notched Corner Frame.

Once the elements were assembled, I added a previously gold foiled sentiment from the Pinkfresh Perfect Sentiments set. Three clear drops from Pinkfresh finished it up.  Sadly, the gold foiled sentiment and the gold foiling on the image didn’t show in the photographs. I didn’t realize it until after the card was sent so I couldn’t retake the photos. Also, I wished I had used some dimensional tape behind the floral, but I’m sure another card will be in the works soon.

I’m entering this in the monthly Pinkfresh Studio Challenge which is always Anything Goes, but this card also matches one of the themes, Petals, as well. It’s also off to NBUS. With enough crafting time, I now have an enough  brand new Pinkfresh products to fill up a good portion of the NBUS Gallery for awhile.

Gold Foiled Christmas Tree

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Just Us Girls has an Anything Goes Challenge to celebrate 15 years of challenge which adds up to the current challenge: #800! It’s one of my favorite challenges, and I wanted to be sure I got a card in the gallery. I chose the colors from the CAS Colors and Sketch Challenge: red, green and gold, but I’m not sure my card ended up being CAS enough for them. It’s CAS to me, so I’ll put it in their gallery and see. I’m also adding it to the Peace on Earth Challenge where Anything Goes. There’s also an inspiration board, but I didn’t use it this time.

The main image is a gold foiled Christmas tree that was a gift from The Greetery. I foiled it on green cardstock and die cut it with an arch from Ellen Hutson’s Essential Arches. I love her Essentials dies because they die cut the shape as well as a narrow border, so I die cut it a second time from gold metallic cardstock.

I mounted it on a red card base and added a single gold pearl to the star on the top of the tree. One of my favorite Memory Box Black Tabs: Merry Christmas was, once again, the perfect size.

Color Hues #121

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Sheri has chosen two late autumn colors for the new Color Hues Challenge: 

We took a drive a week ago to the Finger Lakes expecting peak foliage. Some areas were past peak—mostly orange and brown, and some were still quite green. I pulled out an older die set from Pretty Pink Posh, Fall Basket, which worked perfectly for this challenge.

I die cut all the pieces from scraps of cardstock in my boxes and then ink blended them for some dimension using three oranges and two browns. Once the pieces were colored, I assembled them in and around the basket on a dark brown Stitched Rectangle from Simon Says. 

The gold sentiment is from The Greetery, and added a touch of elegance to the arrangement. The stamped and gold embossed sentiment is from Papertrey Ink’s Color Pop: Autumn, a very old set. It was cut with one of Honey Bee’s Sentiment Banners. Once that panel was complete I added it with dimensional tape to a card base created with Woodgrain cardstock from Simon Says. The little acorn in the corner was also attached with a bit of dimensional tape. 

You’ll find lots of inspiration on the Color Hues Blog from our Guest Designer, Valerie, and the always amazing Design Team. You have until November 14th at 9 am to join us in the gallery, and I hope to see you there! 

I’m going to add this card to the Shopping Our Stash Challenge: Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice and to As You See It: Happy Harvest.

Christmas Gnome

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I’m delighted to be the Guest Designer for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge. The current challenge is:

I knew I had a small gnome die, but couldn’t find it quickly once we returned from our road trip to the west coast. I found two inexpensive dies online and although I wish the gnome was a bit smaller, the dies worked well. The gnome is from the Christmas Gnome die by Scrapbooking/Cardmaking. I also used the gift from the Gift Gnome by the same company.

After die cutting the gnome and gift from white cardstock, I used finger daubers and inks to color them. Once they were assembled, I set them aside to create the background. I ink blended a Stitched Rectangle by Simon Says with Distress Inks, die cut three trees from green cardstock using Memory Box’s Tall Evergreen Trees, and die cut some snow drifts with Papertrey Ink’s In the Meadow dies. I added some Liquid Applique to the trees and sprinkled on some Candy Rock Glitter which gave the trees a bit of dimension as well as some sparkle. I edged the snow drifts with some glitter as well. 

It’s hard to see in the photo, but there was so much glitter being sprinkled on that the sky has a bit of twinkle as well. 

Hop over to the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge and add your gnome(s) to the gallery!

Color Hues #120

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Stef has chosen the perfect colors for the next Color Hues Challenge. 

Knowing I have several Halloween cards to create it was easy to decide on a theme. This Hey, Honeycomb Spider is the last of The Greenery’s honeycomb dies that was still in my NBUS box, so I was delighted to have a chance to use it.

The Letterpress Spider Web Background by Spellbinders also came out of the NBUS box. Once I had the background created I cut it down so I my bright purple card base would create a frame. I die cut the spider from black cardstock, and used the Hey, Honeycomb Basics to white emboss the “directions” for opening up the spider’s body.

I gave some thought to adding googley eyes, but the dies for the eyes looked great, and since this will likely go in the mail, I decided against any more bulk. The spider is attached to the background panel with dimensional tape. The sentiment from Honey Bee’s Sentiment Banners was also white embossed on the purple cardstock.

Be sure to hop over to the Color Hues where you’ll find inspiration for Halloween cards as well as some beautiful fall florals from our Guest Designer, Bobby, and the Design Team. The challenge is open until 9:00 AM on October 29th. Hope to see you in our gallery!

AAA Birthday Challenge: Guest Designer

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I’m delighted to be the Guest Designer for the new AAA Birthday Challenge: Ombre.

I thought it would be fun to create a card with ombre colored balloons, so reached for the Balloons and Streamers stencil by Kristina Werner for Concord & 9th. 

I don’t own many full-sized Pinkfresh ink pads, but I love having cubes that blend wonderfully from lightest to darkest. I used just two of the inks for the streamers.

Before die-cutting  the sentiment from Papertrey Ink, I did some ombre coloring on a strip of cardstock. I then die cut three more from white cardstock, layered them for some dimension and added them to a strip of vellum.

The final step was to add some clear adhesive stars for a bit of sparkle.

This challenge is open for the whole month, so you have lots of time to join in the fun! Thanks to the team at AAA Birthday for the honor of guesting with them.

 

Blooming with Happiness

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Just Us Girls Challenge this week is Stencils: Anything Goes and the Stencil Fun Challenge is for Nature.  I have one of my favorite ever stenciled cards to share. This was made mid-summer for a friend’s birthday. She lives in Canada, and I’ve waited until I knew she received it before sharing it here.

The color choices were easy–my friend loves the color pink. The stencil is Papertrey Ink’s Wild Blooms. It’s been in my NBUS box for a long time, and once again, I’m chagrined to see how wonderful and versatile it is. Change the colors and you have a totally different feel. 

The sentiment is from the Bloom and Grow stamp set from The Greetery, and die cut with My Favorite Things Stitched Oval STAX.  I die cut the floral panel with Gina K’s Master Layout #1 as well as the narrow pink mat. In addition to Just Us Girls and Stencil Fun, this is off to NBUS–my first September offering, and to Darnell’s I.D.E.A.S. where Week 1 is Inks/Color Mediums.

Woodblock Wednesday-August 2025

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There's been a lot going on around here, including a lot of crafting. Not all of that is ready to be shared. I did participate in the Pinkfresh Studio Create and Connect event this weekend, and have some cards ready to post later this week. I missed one class in order to go to Skylar and Ella's juried horse show. Both of them are becoming accomplished riders, and it's a lot of fun to watch them compete. I didn't finish the second card in a couple of classes so I probably have 3-4 hours of videos left to watch. All that to say, getting a card together for Woodblock Wednesday was a last minute event. (Thus the less than optimal photographs.)

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I've been heavily into Christmas cards, so grabbed an old set of tiny trees by Hero Arts, appropriately named Tiny Holiday Trees. When I set out to stamp these I'm reminded of how much I rely on the MISTI for stamp placement and the ability to restamp. I may have an old stamp positioner around somewhere, but I have no idea where it is. This was the third attempt.

WoodblockWed

I stamped the trees with two Simon Says inks. The middle tree is more olive IRL than it appears in the photo. I die cut the trees with a Stitched Rectangle by Simon Says and then matted it with the next largest one die cut with New Leaf cardstock (PTI.)

WoodblockWedClose

I wanted an alternative to red for the card base and decided on Paper Source Night cardstock– a very pretty (almost) navy. The sentiment from Savvy Stamps was embossed on white on a scrap of the Night cardstock and die cut with one of The Greetery's Pretext Banners. The final touch were three Pinkfresh Studio Iridescent Clear Drops for the tops of the trees.

It turns out that this card perfectly fits the new Freshly Made Sketches Challenge:

FMS Final 701-001

 

 

 

52 Christmas Card Throwdown-Guest Designer

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I was chosen as the winner in the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Technique Challenge: Foiling/Embossing.  And now I'm delighted to be Guest Designing for a new Technique Challenge: Teepee Card. 

Technique Challenge (13)

In all the many years I've been creating cards, I've never made a teepee card. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Not suprisingly, it wasn't hard to find a good video with specific cutting and assembling direction. I chose some dark green cardstock from Concord & 9th for the base, and then used paper from two 6X6 paper pads for the additional layers. The shiny gold paper is from a very old American Craft pad–no specific name for the pad. The patterned paper is from Spellbinders Handmade Holiday pad.

TeepeeCard

Once I had the card assembled, I could work on the decoration. I knew right away I wanted to use a new Spellbinder die set I found on sale not long ago, Christmas Bird Poinsettia. I didn't use the bird or the candy cane that came with the set, but chose a variety of green scraps for the foliage and two slightly different reds for the poinsettia.

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All three sides of the card are decorated with the two papers. On one of them, I will either stamp an inside greeting or write a holiday message. 

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This is how the card looks when it's ready to mail. It fits perfectly in a 5X7 envelope. 

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I'm not sure I would have tackled this challenge had I not been the Guest Designer, so I'm not only honored, but delighted to have made my first teepee card. There will probably be another one–maybe for a birthday card next time. I'm anxious to check out the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge for teepee cards to see what the other designers have created. Come along, and give it a try yourself!

A Shimmery Birthday Cake

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There’s lots of shimmer and sparkle on this birthday cake by My Favorite Things, but you can’t really see it in the first photo. 

MFTCake

Both the pink and white panels were die cut with dies from My Favorite Things Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX. They’ve been in my bin for a long time but this is their debut. Both panels are cut from Papertrey Ink shimmer cardstocks. You can see the shimmer and sparkle better here:

The cake feels a little retro to me, but I love the slightly wonky cake layers. The silver loops on the top layer as well as the cake stand were die cut from  silver cardstock. The candles were die cut from silver glitter cardstock and the flames from gold glitter cardstock. The silver embossed sentiment is from The Stamp Market’s Lots of Little Words. I think it, too, is making a debut here. The final touch were a few clear sequins. It’s been awhile since I pulled out sequins, but they worked here better than the clear drops.

I’ve been waiting to post this card until my friend received it. The timing is good, though, because the current challenge at Seize the Birthday is No Flowers. None here. It’s also going to Just Us Girls Challenge: Word Week: Birthday. Two of my favorite challenges at once! And, of course, it’s off to NBUS as well.

08-14-NoFlowers  JUGS.   NBUS

Elevated Rainbows

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There always seems to be one (or two) products that "speak to me" in every Pinkfresh release. There were several during the last release, but I managed to control any impulse I had. I'm not always so restrained, and the Elevated Rainbow dies and stencil are one example. When I purchase I try to find products that will work for a variety of occasions, people, and/or genders. These fit the bill, depending on the colors you choose. This time I chose more feminine colors, and one just went off to a friend who recently had a knee replacement.

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The sentiment from Waffle Flower's Hey, There was foiled in gold and die cut with the coordinating die. 

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I sprayed the stencil with some clear shimmer spray before adding a few Pinkfresh Iridescent Dew Drops.

The next card is for the birthday card stash. I used a few more colors on this one, and it's my favorite. 

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This sentiment, also foiled in gold, is from Spellbinder's You Are Everything.

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This is off to Seize the Birthday Challenge: No Flowers, Darnell's NBUS (the debut of Elevated Rainbows), and Darnell's I.D.E.A.S. for Week 2 Dies. 

08-14-NoFlowersNBUSI.D.E.A.S.


 

Bright and Happy Zinnia

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I'm a huge fan of zinnias. We started some from seed this year, and they are finally beginning to bloom. This bright and happy yellow zinnia is a bit bigger than mine right now, and is appropriately titled Big Blooms: Zinnia (Papertrey Ink). A friend gave me the bloom and when I saw the current Just Us Girls Challenge: Die Cut Florals, I knew it was time to get it on a card.

Zinnia

I started by die cutting the background with Papertrey Ink's Border Bling: Tin Stitched. It was also a perfect time to use Papertrey Ink's Alluring Brackets, another product finally out of the NBUS box. 

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The leaves were die cut and embossed with Concord & 9th's Paper Posies and the sentiment is from Memory Box. 

This is also the week for Dies with Darnell's I.D.E.A.S.

JUGS 787  I.D.E.A.S.

 

Christmas Wreaths

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My IG friend, Greta, is serving as the Elf at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge. I haven't had much time to create this week with a household of company, but I pulled out two very neglected Christmas stamp sets, and managed to get two cards done for the "Let's Wreath It Up" challenge. Since these are two neglected stamp sets, I'm sending them off to The Neglected Stuff Challenge.

The first card uses the Avery Elle Winter Wreath set. I've used the sentiments from this set on occasion, but I can't remember the last time I used the wreath.

GreenWreath

After stamping it in green, I added some marker and colored pencil to the base of the leaves for a bit of contrast. Rather than stamp the berries, I used some AMuse red pearls. I'm beginning to run out of these. They've long been a favorite. Last time I looked AMuse was taking the summer off, but these red pearls were still available. 

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The sentiment from the same set was embossed in gold. I rounded the corners of the stamped panel with a corner rounder punch, and did the same for the read layer before adding it to the green card base.

A year or so ago, I used the Santa image from Papertrey Ink's Santa's Sleigh, but I don't think I've ever inked up the reindeer wreath image. It's so small and detailed, I stamped it on a piece of drawing paper from Art Pop. The paper has a bit of "tooth" to make it easier to used colored pencils.

ReindeerWreath

After coloring the image with Polychromos pencils I die cut it with Pinkfresh Studio's Braided Circles. Then I cut both a red and a gold circle as framing with Ellen Hutson's Essential Circle dies. 

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After adding it to a square card base (Concord & 9th's Clover) I added a Memory Box Black Tab sentiment.

#101.   NeglectedStuff

 

Freshly Made Sketches

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This will be a quick one because the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge ends in just about an hour. If you read my previous blog post, you know I have a house full of family, some with Covid. Everyone is feeling better (but not necessarily well) today so I managed to get into my craft room for an hour or so.

FMS Final 697-001

I knew from the first time I saw the sketch that I wanted to play along because I knew I had a NBUS die set in my box that would be perfect for it–Pinkfresh Studio's Fancy Edgers. I had a choice of six edgers but chose the fancy florals to go with the die cut flowers I found in an envelope just waiting for a chance to used. 

FMSTag

I have a zipper envelope with flower dies and, luckily, some premade florals and ink blended leaves or this card would never have come together so quickly. A set of tags was also in the envelope which made the card design even easier. The florals came from a Spellbinder's set Be Bold Blooms. I'm not 100% sure where the leaves came from. I first created the panel for the tag, incorporating the top and bottom of the sketch design. Then I added the florals to the tag using a combination of glue and dimensional tape. I added a bow with black cord to the tag and mounted it on the panel with dimensional tape. 

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 One of the Memory Box Black Tab birthday greetings came to the rescue for the sentiment. 

This is off to Freshly Made Sketches, Darnell's NBUS Challenge, and another entry to Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes. 

 

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

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Today is my daughter's birthday, and the good news is she's here to celebrate. The bad news is two days before she came, she contracted Covid from her husband (now recovered), and our granddaughter, Hannah, also has it. They're wearing masks inside, and we did the best we could to celebrate. Overall, it's been a bit of a downer since today was supposed to be spent with their cousins, aunt, and uncle at the pool with pizza and cake afterwards. We had hamburgers and hot dogs on the patio with cake afterwards. It's been a quiet day with long naps when needed.

Here's the card I made for her. Hannah made a card this morning, but I forgot to take a photos of it for this post. I tried to resist purchasing the quilt related products from Waffle Flower but in the end, I caved when I realized I had plenty of recipients who would relate to "quilted" cards. Sarah is a quilt maker, and I knew she'd enjoy it. The background of this card is a CASE of one on the Waffle Flower site. I loved the bright colors.

SarahBD

After die cutting the Quilted Squares Texture plate, I used the coordinating stencils to color it. I love the way the colors blend together. They I cut and assembled many items from the Notions Die so I'd have plenty of things to play around with. I die cut an oval from The Greetery's Hoopla Ovals Insert Die as a resting place for the spools of thread and the pin cushion, adding some ink blending to them for a sense of dimension. I love the scissors die cut from both matte silver and gold metallic papers.

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I chose a round sentiment from the Postage Collage Sew Fun Stamp Set for the sentiment and die cut it with the Postage Collage Circle die. 

I loved the tape measure from the Notions Die, but couldn't find a place for it on the card front, so I added it to the inside with another Postage Collage die-cut sentiment added to a Stitched Circle die by Simon Says.

SarahBDInside

I'm sending this off to Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes as well as to Darnell's August NBUS. 

STB-AnythingGoes  NBUS