Pals Paper Arts Tags

It's the last Pals Paper Arts challenge of the year! I hope you'll bring our your crafting goodies and play along! Remember, you can play with any brand of products!


This week's challenge is all about tags! You can choose to make a tag or add a tag (or tags) to your card. I chose to do the latter and I'm loving this card!


Here are the DEEtails:

I started with an Old Olive card and stamped some trees from Stampin' Up!'s Season of Joy with some VersaMark ink. Then I added some Riding Hood Red DSP and layered on some Whisper White card stock, trimmed with some punched Dotted Ribbon Border in Riding Hood Red. I stamped a portion of the sentiment from SU!'s Heard from the Heart. Then I wrapped some Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine around the card and tied on some Jewelry Tags, punched from some Old Olive and Riding Hood Red DSP and stamped with letters from SU!'s Occasions Alphabet.

Be sure to hop over to Pals Paper Arts and link up your fabulous tag creations! I can't wait to see what you come up with! :)

November Pals Hop

Welcome to the November Pals Hop! This month, we're featuring Winter, Christmas, and Hanukkah inspired cards and projects! Enjoy the hop and the amazing creations that the Pals have come up with.

I'm the first stop on the Pals Hop and I'm glad you hopped in! I'll help you "hop along" from blog to blog where you'll find great ideas for Winter, Christmas, and Hanukkah paper projects from the Stampin' Pretty Pals! Should you hop off course, simply click on any of the links in the Pals Hop Line-up below and you'll be back on track!

Today I'm sharing several cards that I made using Stampin' Up!'s fabulous Pennant Parade set. This versatile set is featured in SU!'s Idea Book and Catalog in the Occasions section, alongside some fun birthday sets, but today I'm showing you how you can use it for several Christmas cards.

DEEsign 1: Simple Christmas

This card uses the tree image stamped several times in Wild Wasabi and cut out. I folded three triangles in half and adhered them together to create a 3-dimensional tree, attached to the tree base and topped with a little star. I matted my stamped image with some Wild Wasabi card stock and adhered it to a Riding Hood Red card. For the sentiment, I used the retired SU! set, Christmas Greetings.

DEEsign 2: Classy Christmas
My second card uses some other pennants from the set, stamped in Lucky Limeade and adhered to the potted bases. I stamped the sentiment onto some Cherry Cobbler card stock and punched it with the 1/2" circle. I added some Rhinestone Jewels and matted everything on some Chocolate Chip card stock. I stamped the sentiment from SU!'s Heard from the Heart and tied on some Dotted Scallop ribbon.

DEEsign 3: Whimsical Christmas

Back to using the tree image, I cut out three more triangles, this time stamped in Garden Green ink. I stamped the same potted trunk image, but this time adhered my trees a little lower. Then I added some Rhinestone Jewels, colored in with a red permanent marker. I stamped the sentiment from SU!'s Season of Joy on Real Red card stock and added some Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine.

Hope you've enjoyed my cards today! Hop along for more inspiring ideas from Julie Trevett-Smith at The Stampin' Affair, stop number 2 on the November Pals Hop! Thanks for "hopping" by!

1. Nina Dee at Deesigns by Nina Dee
2. Julie Trevett-Smith at The Stampin' Affair!
3. Maxine Conrad at Stamp to the MAX!
4. Jessica Ying at YoYoStamping Studio
5. Mike Funke at Stampin-Style
6. Jennifer Takacs at My Stampin Blog
7. Nancy Gleason at My Stampin' Space
8. Nicole Watt at Impressions By Nicole
9. Mikki Sarkisyan at Mikki's Creative Corner
10. Kylie Nicolosi at Kylie's Crafty Corner
11. Mary Fish at Stampin' Pretty
12. Barb Furlong at The Love of Stamping
13. Ann Schach at The Stampin' Schach
14. Linda Fisher at Linda's Stamin Loft
15. Sandie Conner at Pretty Provisions
16. Cindy Hall at Pretty Impact
17. Rae Harper at Wild West Paper Arts
18. Angie Blake at Angie's Musings
19. Kris Kilcoyne at Kween Bee Kreations
20. Camila McManus at OBX Scrapbook
21. Leah O'Brien at Leah's Stampin' Corner

Winter White (And A Bit About Me!)

Hope you've had a great first week of the year! :) Mine has been busy and I've been trying to get over a cold, but I've been trying to make time to create.

Today I'm here to share a few of my blog and crafting goals for the year. Here goes:

1. Blog More. Last year, I averaged about 16 posts a month, but there were some weeks that I went missing completely. This year, I'm hoping to blog more consistently (maybe even daily...?) So far, so good! This will mean a lot more planning and posting ahead, especially when I'm busy, but forcing myself to sit down and craft is always a great way to relieve some stress (and put a smile on someone's face!)

2. Get Personal. I know in the past I've been a little shy about my personal life, but this year, one of my goals is to let you all get to know me a little better. The truth is, I've always been a little afraid of putting myself out there on the internet. In fact, starting this blog last year was a huge jump for me. I'm so happy that I did because the experience has been phenomenal and I've only encountered nice, sweet, friendly people (not the internet monsters that I feared). :) I have enjoyed getting to know some of you a bit and because of you, I will be starting to share more about myself and allowing you to get to know me better. But don't worry if you don't care to learn too much about me, because I'll only be posting this type of chatter once a week. I won't be blabbing about myself to you the rest of the week. Well at least not too much.

3. Challenge Myself. If you're a regular reader, you know that my comfort zone is inspiration challenges. Honestly, I love not having to think too much and just copying from an inspiration photo. I've been trying to push myself to do more sketch and color challenges, but this year I'm really going to focus on this area of... would you call it a weakness? And I've already done one of each this past week, so I must be on the right track. Woohoo!

4. Inspire Myself. I also want to stop limiting myself to doing only challenges and sort of be inspired on my own. I don't know if you've noticed, but I rarely just make a card on my own. I almost always have to be challenged. I'm taking baby steps here and plan to work my way through the PaperCrafts Go To Sketches and Color Inspiration magazines. Although, it's kind of still a challenge because I'm challenging myself, so I hope it still counts.

5. Find A Home. For my cards, that is. I'll be trying to sell many of my cards on Etsy. And each week, when I update my Etsy store, I'll also update that week's previous posts with a little "Special DEElivery" section to tell you where my cards have headed. I'd love to send more of my cards in the mail to people - not sure if you knew, but I don't even send half of my cards to anyone. Most of them just sit in a box. Sad, I know... That's why I'm trying to fix that!

What about you? What are your crafty resolutions for the year?

On to today's card...


Today's card is for the Moxie Fab Winter White Tuesday Trigger Challenge. Isn't the Tuesday Trigger Inspiration beautiful?


Here are the DEEtails:

I started off with some Whisper White card stock, and embossed a piece of it with PTI's Woodgrain embossing plate. I stamped another piece with a sentiment from SU!'s Heard from the Heart stamp set. Then I added some Whisper White Grosgrain ribbon and a bow. Then I stamped the daisy from SU!'s Fifth Avenue Floral set on Vellum with Whisper White ink and cut them out. I added a bottom layer of Sahara Sand daisies and adhered them to my card. Some tiny Pearl Jewels in the flower centers add that extra touch.

Special DEElivery:

Aunt Susan purchased this card from my Etsy Shop!

Thanks for peeking in today (and putting up with my rambling)!

Blue Christmas

Leslie from A Creative Mint takes some of the most gorgeous photos. This week's City Crafter Challenge photo is no exception.

Here are the DEEtails:


I started off with a piece of Naturals White card stock and stamped a branchy swirl from SU!'s Mixed Bouquet set in Crumb Cake. Then I punched a 2" circle in Paper Source Pool card stock and added some Brushed Silver swirls, topped with Rhinestone Jewels. I cut a little piece of Brushed Silver card stock for the top of the ornament and added a Whisper White Taffeta bow. For the bottom portion of my card, I stamped the sentiment from SU!'s Heard from the Heart set in Baja Breeze. I added a Scallope edge in Brushed Silver (it's a bit hard to see) and a ruffled Whisper White Taffeta ribbon.

Thanks for peeking in today! :)

Welcome Christmas

Today I'd like to share my creation for the Embellish Magazine Holidays Color Challenge. I love throwing in non-traditional colors in Christmas cards!



Here are the DEEtails:

I stamped and embossed my Patterned Trees on Blushing Bride, Ruby Red and Certainly Celery card stocks. I cut each tree out and layered them onto some book page hills. I added a layer of Chocolate Chip card stock and a Masterpiece Ribbon Originals bow. I stamped my sentiment from the Heard from the Heart set in Chocolate Chip ink on some Pink Pirouette card stock and layered it over my ribbon with some Stampin' Dimensionals. Hope you like it!

Kindness

Wow. I just realized that all my cards this week are green. :)

Today's card is for the 2 Sketches 4 You challenge. I turned it sideways to create this card.


Here are the DEEtails:

I started out with a piece of Pink Pirouette card stock and stamped the flowers from my Upsy Daisy set in Pretty in Pink. I stamped a portion of the sentiment from my Heard From the Heart set over the flowers in Wild Wasabi ink. I added a Pretty in Pink mat. Then I wrapped some striped grosgrain ribbon around my Wild Wasabi card. I stamped the rest of my sentiment towards the bottom of my card, then adhered my stamped image above it. I took some more striped grosgrain ribbon and tied a big, fluffy bow and adhered it to the side of my card. Then I took two Pretty in Pink corduroy brads, used wire cutters to cut the brad off, then adhered them to my ribbon with some glue dots.

Thanks for stopping by!

Loving the Striped Grosgrain Ribbon? Take part in Ribbon Share Option 2!

And don't forget to take part in my Inspire DEE Button Butterfly challenge! I can't wait to see your creations!

Another Cupcake Card

I'm so excited that the cupcake card I made last week made the Top 5 at Hope Stamps Eternal! I'm back with another DEEsign:


This week's monochromatic cupcake inspiration looks divine!


Here are the DEEtails:

1. I started off with a So Saffron card and some scraps of Whisper White. I took a strip of Whisper White cardstock and punched the edge with my Scallop Trim punch. I adhered it to my card.

2. Then I added a piece of Taffeta ribbon in Kraft and tied a fluffy bow. I can't believe that many of the Taffeta ribbons are on the Last Chance list! Make sure to check out what will be retiring and order your favorites while they last!

3. I loved the look of my "fondant flowers" from the wedding card I made a few weeks ago and I couldn't wait to make more! I used my Itty Bitty punches to punch flowers, crinkled them up a bit, then added a pearl in the center of each. I lined them up on my card, using glue dots. They look so perfectly delicious!

4. I added part of the sentiment from my Heard from the Heart stamp set. I stamped the first part in Close to Cocoa ink. I can't wait for Crumb Cake (formerly Kraft) ink to come out! I stamped the middle part in VersaMark and used some white embossing powder to look a little like "frosting." I chose to leave the last part of the sentiment off.

5. Then I trimmed a little Kraft mat for my sentiment and adhered it to my card. Hope you like it!

PPA Featured Artist

Today is an exciting day! I am this week's Pals Paper Arts Featured Artist! Here is my DEEsign for the challenge and a perfect Mother's Day card for my Grandma:


This week, Pals Paper Arts is featuring an inspiration challenge - my favorite type of challenge. Check out the fun inspiration:


I was drawn to the little pitchers in blue, yellow and red, and decided to use that as my focus on my DEEsign. Here are the DEEtails:

1. The flowers on the pitchers immediately reminded me of the floral stamp from my Very Thankful set. I love how different each of the Thank You images in this set are - fun & playful and regal & elegant in one set! I inked the floral part of my image with Bashful Blue, So Saffron, and Ruby Red ink and stamped them on Whisper White card stock. To help line up my images just right, I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig.

2. The colors in my inspiration really made me think creatively about how to showcase each color in their own unique way. Since my Ruby Red was so bold, I needed to use it in the background and allow my So Saffron and Bashful Blue to stand out in the foreground.

3. I punched one corner of my Whisper White card stock with my corner rounder. I also punched the corner of my Ruby Red card stock that I trimmed to be a little larger than my Whisper White, with some extra hanging at the bottom to peek out under my sentiment. I adhered it onto my Bashful Blue card.

4. I love the fun colors and types of ribbons that come in SU! Ribbon Originals sets. I was totally pumped when I found Sherbet Ribbon Originals on the clearance rack at SU! So Saffron is one of my favorite colors, and I love this ribbon. I used a generous amount of ribbon and some Sticky Strip to make the fun ruffle on my card.

5. For my sentiment, I used my Heard from the Heart set - my all time favorite sentiment set. I used my Ruby Red Stampin' Write marker to ink the bottom part of the sentiment and used VersaMark to ink the word "Kindness." A little bit of embossing powder and some heat help make the word stand out. I trimmed my bashful blue card stock and adhered it to my card using Stampin' Dimensionals (and SNAIL adhesive over the ribbon).

Thanks for stopping by!

Kindness

Here's the final card for Nancys' set:

This one was inspired by this cushion from Crate and Barrel:


Here are the DEEtails:

1. I started off with a Basic Gray card and a Naturals White mat.

2. I stamped the kindness sentiment from my Heart from the Heart set using my So Saffron and Basic Gray Stampin' Write markers. I stamped it in 3 sections. First, the word Kindness, then the first part of the bottom line directly underneath, and the second part below.

3. I used a piece of Sticky Strip, overlapping part of the sentiment, then cut a length of Basic Gray satin ribbon. I tucked one edge of the ribbon over the top, then sort of randomly adhered the ribbon to the Sticky Strip, in a sort of wave-like motion to create the ruffles.

4. I found 4 small buttons from my stash and threaded them with thin strips of Going Gray card stock.

5. Then I punched 4 blooms with my Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch and stuck the tiny buttons in the flower centers. I adhered the flowers to the card, using dimensionals, purposefully adhering them a little wonky and overlapping the ruffe ribbon. Fun!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you've liked these cards!

Cinema Saturday

I'm so excited to participate in this week's Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge! Here's my DEEsign:


The challenge this week is 13 Going on 30:


I was so excited to participate since this is one of my favorite movies! I actually have the cream and brown Nanette Lepore jacket that Jennifer Garner wears in this movie!

Here are the DEEtails for my card inspired by Jenna's outfit in the photo above:

1. I wanted to take elements from her outfit - the nightie (lace trim and flowers) and jacket (brown polka dots and grosgrain ribbon trim) - mixed with a little bit of "Wishing Dust." I started off with a Rose Red card and layered the other elements.

2. I thought that the brown floral patterned paper from the American Crafts Letterbox series was perfect, even though it wasn't exactly polka dots. I cut a rectangle and trimmed it with some Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon.

3. I stamped the Wishes sentiment from my Heard from the Heart set on Rose Red Card stock and trimmed the rectangle to size. I'm pretty boring when it comes to geometric shapes. I opted for rectangles...

4. I used my Scallop Trim punch and Scallop Corner punch to create a lacy edge for the back of my Wishes sentiment.

5. For the final touch, I layered Chocolate Chip flowers, punched with my Martha Stewart Hydrangea blossom punch, with some flower confetti pieces from my stash, and a rhinestone to add a touch of sparkle - Wishing Dust!

What do you think?

Wishes

I decided to create a card for the Moxie Fab World Olympics of Stamping. Here's my DEEsign:

And the DEEtails:

1. I started off with a piece of Kraft cardstock and used a stamp from my Circle Circus set to create a grid pattern with Going Gray ink.

2. I took a piece of Going Gray cardstock and added a scalloped edge, then adhered my stamped Kraft mat to the side.

3. Then I tied a bow with some Riding Hood Red ribbon from the Dress Up Ribbon Originals set. I love the contrast and pop of color.

4. I stamped the Wishes sentiment from my Heard from the Heart set in Going Gray and Real Red, using my Stampin' Write markers on Naturals White card stock. I used some 3-dimensional adhesive to adhere it to the card.

5. I love this simple look and hope you like it too!

Birthday Flowers

Here's another fun challenge from Embellish Magazine:


And here's my DEEsign:

DEEtails:

1. I can't believe it, but I ran out of Chocolate Chip card stock! So I used Soft Suede, which I think looks more like a flower pot color anyway. I adhered the flower pot to a Not Quite Navy card. I stamped the birthday sentiment from my Heard from the Heart stamp set on the rim of the pot and used some thicker glue dots to raise it off the page a tiny bit.

2. I cut out various circles (1" and 1 1/4") and scallop circles out of Melon Mambo, Not Quite Navy and Naturals White card stock, then crinkled and layered them to create flowers.

3. I found some green buttons in my stash and some matching DMC needlepoint floss to thread them. I glued these in the centers of the flowers. Then I arranged the flowers in the pot with 3-dimensional adhesive squares.

4. Can you tell that I love my bird punch? I used it again! This time, Garden Green card stock made the branch pieces perfect for ferny foliage and a the wings as leaves, which I stuffed into my arrangement.

5. I originally made 6 flowers to go in my pot, but they didn't quite fit. I wanted to make the birthday theme a bit more prominent, so I took the flower apart and stamped the 1" circle with the Happy Birthday circle stamp from my Wow Flowers stamp set. I reassembled the flower and adhered it to the bottom of the page.

So Exciting!

I made it on the Stamping 411 Stampers Showcase! I'm so excited (I actually squealed when I saw this!). So I'm back to play in the Color Inspiration Challenge:

Here's my DEEsign:

And the DEEtails:

1. I hardly ever make a white card, but I wanted to incorporate the crisp white sheets from the inspiration image. I used Naturals White (I like it because it is a nice, thick card stock and has a nice soft look to it). I started off with a Brocade Blue base stamped with VersaMarked flourishes from my Wings of Friendship set.

2. I inked the "Happiness" part of a sentiment from my Heard from the Heart set with Brocade Blue on the bottom of the card.

3. I used the same leafy flourish stamp on the So Saffron mat with Certainly Celery ink. (It's hard to see, but there is actually part of the flourish stamped underneath the bow.) I also used my Scallop Trim punch to add a bit of frill to the edge of the yellow mat.

4. Then I used VersaMark to stamp the flower from my Bella Blossoms stamp set on So Saffron card stock. I embossed two flowers and cut them out. I used 3-dimensional mounting squares to adhere flowers onto the leafy flourishes.

5. To tie it all together (no pun intended), I used some Certainly Celery satin ribbon and made a bow that tilted just so.

Hope you like it!

Compose a Card

I was really tickled when I saw Becky Oehler's Compose a Card Challenge. I love music and the idea of pairing it with a card challenge sounded so fun! So I got my iTouch and supplies ready and got to work. We've been snowed in for a week now, so it was nice to make a fun and springy card.

The inspiration photo was bright and cheerful:

And I love the song:

But the card recipe seemed very specific and a little tricky since I didn't have all the right supplies:

I hope you like my DEEsign:

Here are the DEEtails:

1. I used all SU! colors - Dusty Durango, Bashful Blue, Melon Mambo, and Whisper White - cut to the specified sizes. This is my first 5" x 7" card. I was worried because when I started, I felt like there was a ton of empty space to fill!

2. I used the large swirly flourish from my Priceless stamp set and stamped it with VersaMark directly onto the Dusty Durango card.

3. I used my Stampin' Write markers to ink a stamp from my Heard from the Heart set. I mounted it on a piece of Dusty Durango card stock just a tiny bit larger. Then used 3-dimensional squares to mount my sentiment to overlap the flourish and the Bashful Blue mat.

4. I didn't have white embossing powder (I've added it to my wishlist), so I stamped the flower image from my Always stamp set in ColorBox Frosted White ink and used clear embossing powder. I cut eight of these flowers - eight because I got tired after the eighth one! I clustered them randomly, and thought it would look cute with a few raised.

5. I didn't have rhinestones either (and one look out the window told me I had to improvise). So, I took some rhinestone brads and took them apart. I pulled the rhinestone piece out from each brad and glued them to the centers of a few of my flowers.

That's it! Hope you like it!

Embellish Magazine Color Challenge with Ribbon

Here's another great challenge from Embellish Magazine:

And here's my DEEsign:

Here are the DEEtails:

1. I started out by using my Heard From the Heart kindness stamp and stamped 3 lines separately onto Pretty in Pink card stock. This was probably the hardest part!

2. Then I took my Cuttlebug and my Sizzix Heart #5 die to cut out a heart on the card stock. I positioned it just so.

3. Then I laid different turquoise and pink ribbons into the blank space of the heart cut out.

4. I took some Bermuda Bay card stock and my Pinking Hearts Border Punch to add an extra punch of color to the card.

5. Then topped it off with a simple wrap and knot of Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon. These colors are too cute!