ABC Challenges #52 - Case a DT Member

Hello friends and Happy Monday!  This week at ABC Challenges we've decided to try something different.  We are nearing our 1 year anniversary and would like to celebrate by CASEing a DT member. 

Just a quick note before I go further to let you know that we will be taking a break at ABC Challenges until after the holidays so this will be our last challenge of 2013 - but we'll be back in January for another year of challenges.  Thanks so much for all your support this year- we've so enjoyed your beautiful cards!

Now... back to the ABC52.  You can pick any card of one of our fabulously talented ladies to CASE - please tell us which card you are CASEing. 

This was a bit difficult for me as I admire all the styles of our DT members.  Oh dear...how to choose???

Rosi has a great almost eclectic style that showcases different styles each week depending on her mood or the challenge.

AnnMarie loves pink and flowers and doesn't typically use very much DSP. She likes to make 3D projects as well.

Jackie likes to add a tab at the top of her card, butterflies, banners, layers, shapes and texture - and feminine (not masculine)  cards - however she is very good at masculine cards :o).

Ger loves square cards with darling images and an almost vintage style. Often there is a strip of ribbon too.

Lela likes ribbon, buttons and tags (and layers) and slight distressing. She tends to use softer colors.

Jeanette almost always uses designer series paper (inside and out) and has a very clean look with mostly rectangles for shapes. 

And...our fabulous Challenge Blog Owner Patty has a great classic style (I've CASEd her several times before :o) ).

So ultimately I decided to CASE Jeanette's style - take a look and see  how I did:

Here's the inside too (not sure what happened to the lighting in this one ):

Here's one of Jeanette's cards that I based my CASE on:

Gee I had a lot of fun browsing back through our past challenges at ABC Challenges and really looking our our DT members styles and cards. How did I do on my CASE of Jeanette? 

I hope that you will decide to join us this week at ABC51 - Case a DT Member.  Please go check out what the rest of the team as done as well.

Til next time...hugs and happy crafting! D 

ABC51 - "What's Old is New Again" - Use your oldest stamp set.

Hello friends - Happy Monday!!  This week at ABC Challenges #51 we would like to see you use your first (or one of your oldest) stamp sets to make a card. I had a lot of fun digging through my forgotten stamps while getting ready for this challenge.  Unfortunately, I recently went through a massive clean out of my craft stuff and sold lots of my old sets (bummer!) at a garage sale. But did keep a few of my favorites from long ago.   It was kind of hard for me to remember which ones were oldest, so I decided to use a stamp from a set that my sister bought for my birthday (many moons ago) when I was just getting started with stamping.   There are 4 sentiments in the set - this one is my favorite. Take a look please...

I think I'm going to have to use the other 3 sentiments now - just because :o). I also might be using some of the other forgotten stamps I found (it felt a bit like Christmas) soon.   

Do you have a basket, or drawer, or closet etc. with some older or forgotten stamps that would love to see some ink and be used on a new and beautiful card?  I'll just bet you do!  

The other ladies on our DT at ABC Challenges have also risen to the challenge and pulled out some old stamps to make some gorgeous cards for your inspiration. Won't you go visit and see what they've made?  I hope that you will decide to join us this week. Till next time... hugs and happy crafting friends! D

ABC50 - Recipe Challenge: 3 shapes, 2 patterned papers, 1 ribbon & Divas by Design -Autumn Colors

Hello friends and followers!  This week at ABC Challenges we have a recipe challenge for you to try.  ABC50 - Recipe Challenge is to to use the following: 3 shapes (circles, ovals, squares, stars, hearts, hexagons, etc.), 2 patterned papers and 1 ribbon.  Note: the shapes can all be the same - or 3 different ones.  

My DT card above uses 3 ovals to make the pumpkin.  I decided to challenge myself and see if I could keep my card CAS (clean and simple) while still incorporating the entire recipe.  I think it turned out quite nicely (but am disappointed with the slightly blurry photo).

I'm writing this post up a little early and keeping it very short today as I have to get my house cleaned up and dinner made for 10 to celebrate my Mom's birthday.  Working overtime last week and then getting ready for a card class on Sunday, I have seriously neglected the house cleaning and laundry. Sigh... so guess I'd better get to the cookin', cleanin' and laundry (probably not a good idea to show up for work on Monday in sweats - though it sounds good to me right now :o)).  

My lovely DT teamies have also made some beautiful cards using this Recipe challenge.  I sure hope you will go visit them and then decide to play along this week with ABC50 - Recipe.    

I'm also entering my card in Divas By Design - Autumn Colors.

Til next time lovely friends...hugs and happy crafting!! D

ABC49 - Halloween

Hello dear friends and followers - happy Monday!! Getting very close to Halloween here in the states - there's a chill in the air and lots of trees shedding their leaves.  Seems in Montana that Halloween is often the first extremely cold night of the fall season and usually involves snow.  This means that you better plan ahead for a costume for the kids that fits over the winter coat - or be prepared for the battle about covering up the great disguise. Maybe I'm too much of an optimist that the weather would hold out (or a poor planner) but we usually ended up in the battle stage with our kids. My daughter and I were looking through some of her scrapbooks a couple night ago and came across a Halloween page from when she was 6 in her pink princess costume.  She said "Oh I remember that! I was so mad at you for making me wear my coat".  "I almost didn't get to go because I threw such a big fit huh?"   Oh yeah, I do remember that it was a whopper! :o) Fun memories..hehehehe.  Honestly I'm really quite glad that now we stay home and hand out candy and get to see all the fun costumes from the warmth of our house.

So....speaking of Halloween.... that is the theme this week for the ABC Challenges - ABC49 Halloween.  Here is my DT card using the sunburst technique again - take a look please:

Did you notice that funky bat in the upper corner?  I made this using a butterfly punch and a very small circle punch.  I colored my sentiment stamp first with an orange marker and then went over it again in places with a black marker. Really love the way it turned out. Hope that you like it too and will decide to join us this week at ABC Challenges for our Halloween theme.  

The rest of the ABC Challenges DT members have made some beautiful cards to share with and inspire you as well.  Please go visit them here.

Til next time friends...hugs and happy crafting! D

ABC48 - Celebrating Kids and Divas by Design - CAS

Happy Monday friends and followers.  My how the weekends fly by!  This week at ABC Challenges we are celebrating kids by making a card for a kid (or with kids in mind).  I've been busy making several Halloween cards for my own kiddos, my nieces and nephew, and for some of my friends and co-workers little ones as well.  This one is for my sweet teen niece. She's still just enough of a kid to make a "cute" card for her.

I colored the image (witch and sentiment from Paper Smooches) with copic markers (G24 & R02, R22 -face & lips, E8 -hair, V04, V06 & V09 -clothing & hat, Y38 -buckle, C7 -hat band) and added some stickles for a bit sparkle.  Kept it CAS this week so I've decided to also play along with Divas by Design - CAS challenge.

The other lovely ladies on the DT for ABC Challenges have also made some great "Kid" cards to share with and inspire you. I hope you'll go visit them and then decide to play along with us this week.

Til next time...hugs and happy crafting! D

ABC Challenges (ABC47) - Use 3 or More DSP and Freshly Made Sketches

Hello friends and followers - happy last day of September, 2013.  Wow - time flies right on by - sometimes so fast I can't hardly remember which day it is :o)  That, I'm told is a sign of old age - but I refuse to accept that.  Our challenge this week at ABC Challenges is to make a card using 3 or More DSP (designer or patterned papers).  I've used 4 DSP patterns.  Here's what I came up with to share with and inspire you: 

Still having fun with my new Envelope Punch (Stampin Up!) to make coordinating envelopes for my cards.  I got my order of new papers in the mail on Saturday so I couldn't wait to use them for this challenge.  This paper is called "Sweater Weather" (SU) - how perfect is that for Fall?  I'm so cold all the time that sweater weather for me starts rather early (sometimes late August - definitely early September) and sometimes lasts into June.  I found this die cut in my Stash pile - I remember buying it years ago for a scrapbook page layout on Thanksgiving that still hasn't come to pass, so I thought I'd use it for this card.  Honestly, I can't remember what the idea what that I had in mind at the time - and I'm not sure when I'm going to get back to scrapbooking much.   I'm rather tickled with how it turned out!  The overall size is 5 1/2" square.  

I'm also entering my card this week in the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #105 since I used their great sketch for my inspiration and design.  As you can see I substituted a circle for the middle square.

The other lovely ladies over at ABC Challenges have also made some terrific cards to share with you this week.  I sure hope that you will go visit them and say "Hi" and that you will decide to join our challenge this week.  I feel very grateful to be part of such a wonderful team and to get the opportunity to visit each of your blogs each week to leave notes and get more inspiration.  

Thanks for continuing to support us at ABC Challenges!   Til next time dear friends and followers...hugs and happy crafting! D

ABC Challenges #46 - 3 in a Row

Hello dear friends and followers, can you believe it's Monday already? How is it that the weekends fly by so quickly?  Seems as if I'm just starting to make headway on checking off the items on my weekend "to do" list and suddenly its Sunday and I still have lots of unchecked items.  Maybe I ought to stop making the list - feels almost as if I'm setting myself up for failure sometimes - LOL.  

Anyway...time for another great challenge over at ABC Challenges.  Last week you amazed our DT with your beautiful fall themed cards.  This week for ABC#46 - we have a 3 in a Row challenge for you. I LOVE 3 in a Row!! So many options to choose from.  You can choose any 3 that make up either a column (vertical), row (horizontal) or diagonal.  My card uses Row 1 - Halloween, Pattern paper and 2 or more embellishments - but it could also fit the 2 or more embellishments, Any Stampin Up image and Use a punch (diagonal to the bottom right). Take a look:

I recently saw this sunburst technique and had to try it (thanks Dawn O for the video).  I also recently purchased the new envelope punch from Stampin Up! and made a coordinating envelope for my 5 x 5 card.  The sunburst technique is a great way to use up some of your scraps of patterned paper. Was really pleased with how this turned out and taught it to a class this weekend.  

Hope you enjoyed my card this week and I sure hope that you will pop on over to ABC Challenges to see what the rest of our lovely DT ladies have made to inspire you.  We love getting your entries each week - looking forward to visiting your blogs soon! 

Til next time... hugs and happy crafting! D

Card details (all products from Stampin Up! unless noted otherwise): Cardstock - More Mustard, Basic Black, Whisper White.  Stamps: Bootiful Occassions (sentiment) and Halloween Bash (new SU holiday catalog).  Papers are from the designer series paper (regals, brights & neutrals).  Punches: bat (retired) and decorative label.  Rhinestones from Close to My Heart.  

'ABC' Challenges #45 - "Fall"

Happy Monday dear friends and followers! Hope you are having a great start to your week!  The challenge this week at 'ABC' Challenges is a very appropriate one for this time of the year...ABC#45  "Fall".  Whatever Fall means to you - leaves, Halloween, hot cider, hunting, thanksgiving... we want you to show us with your beautiful card.  Here's my DT card to share with you:

For me fall means cool nights and warm days, beautiful colors of the leaves, the last of the flowers, the start of baking season and casseroles, and especially of pumpkins on the porch (LOVE pumpkins and anything baked from them :o) ).  The sunflower reminds me of the fields of them that we saw as we drove through South Dakota (acres of them that went on forever it seemed) on our way to Wisconsin recently.  It was absolutely amazing - I'll never forget that. This lovely fall scene is a digital image from Bugaboo Digis.  I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.   The papers are from a 6 x 6 pack (loved the colors) that I picked up while I was in Minnesota at the Archiver's store. I used Stickles (also purchased then) to add some sparkle to the image.  I so love Stickles - what a shame I hadn't discovered them sooner.  Here's a closer look:



 The other lovely ladies on the 'ABC' Challenges DT have also made some beautiful cards to share with you - please pop on over and visit them as well.  Can't wait to see what you come up with this week for your "Fall" favorite!! Thanks for stopping by to visit. Til next time...hugs and happy crafting friends. Hugs D

'ABC' Challenges #44 - Sympathy

Hello dear friends and followers - Happy Monday to you!! Time for another challenge at 'ABC' Challenges.  Before I tell you about this week's challenge I would like to say that I was completely blown away by the amazing entries last week for the Use Your Markers Challenge - thank so much for continuing to support us and share your talents with us!  I came across a couple of blogs and talent that I just have to share with you at the end of this post.   So...back to this week's challenge ABC#44 - Sympathy.  Here's my DT card to share with you:

Sympathy cards are not something most of us think just to make - but sadly we do seem to need to have a couple on hand from time to time. I have found that it's very nice to have one to grab and send rather than try to make in a hurry (especially as my heart is breaking for someone for their loss).

 

I kept this one kind of subtle and added just a couple embellishments.  The background is made from a retired piece of Stampin Up DSP that I ran through the BigShot and the square lattice texture folder.  The paper was thin enough that the fibers came through so I sanded it a bit more to give it a uniform texture.  This is the first time I had used this particular stamp.  The flowers were a bit tricky for my tired eyes to color in but I like how it turned out.  Hope you do too. 

 

If you would like to have a sympathy card on hand to share with someone, please consider joining our challenge this week at 'ABC' Challenges.  The other ladies on the DT have also made some beautiful sympathy cards to share with and inspire you.

 

P.S. here are a couple of blogs that I visited last week that I really enjoyed:

 Nicole from Nicole's Craft Nook (thanks Nicole for being my newest follower too)

Lisa from WishCraft Cards 

Pam from Expressions from the Heart

and Pia from Pias Papir og Perler

 

Thanks so much for stopping by, I'm sure glad that you did! Hugs always and special hugs to dear Jeanette. D

 

 





    

'ABC' Challenges #43 (ABC43) - Use Markers

Hello dear friends and followers, hope you are all doing well!  I've been away from my computer and crafting for about 10 days while on a family trip.  This is a card I made just before I left for my DT contribution to 'ABC' Challenges #43- Use Markers (ABC43). Take a look:

I used a negative cut-out and ran it through my polka dot texture folder.  This digital image is from Bugaboo Stamps, which I fussy cut around after coloring with copic markers.  Since summer is on its way out I thought it would be fun to use this image one last time before I turn my focus to more fall and winter themed cards. 

 

I love stamping but I've also re-discovered the joy of coloring with markers.  I often use digital images that I've printed out on my laser jet printer but I do have a few stamps that also work well for coloring in.  Do you love to color as well?  If so, then go get busy and make a card to share with us this week at 'ABC' Challenges.  I can't wait to see what you create!! The other lovely ladies have "colored" some wonderful creations to share with and inspire you as well.  Please go visit them and say "hey!".  

Am going to make this a brief post today as I have a lot of catching up on comments and making cards for my next several DT challenges to do.  Thanks so much for stopping by - I'm sure glad that you did. Til next time....hugs and happy crafting! D

Lots of Layers for 'ABC' Challenges #41

Hello dear friends and followers - so happy that you've stopped by to visit me today!  Here it is Monday already and time for a new challenge at 'ABC' Challenges.  This week for ABC#41 we want to see Lots of Layers on your beautiful cards.  How do we define "lots of layers"?  The answer is that you need to use at least 5 layers on your card (the base does not count as a layer).    Take a look:

 

I was thinking I would have a hard time with 5 layers. I searched my card magazines and flagged pages that maybe I could CASE.  I think that I've been in such a CAS mode lately (due to being short on energy and crafting time) that this seemed nearly overwhelming to me. So as I was procrastinating by cleaning off my craft desk and organizing (things that really did need to be done) I came upon a copy of a sketch I had saved as a favorite from The Paper Players (Sketch challenge #143) and suddenly inspiration struck  It seems so silly now that I fretted about how I was possibly going to get 5 layers on my card when in the end I managed to use 10 layers - whoot whoot!! Do you see them all?

 For more inspiration and ideas, you should also go visit the other lovely ladies on our DT at ABC Challenges. They have some beautiful "lots of layer" cards to share with you as well.  Now that I've shown you how easy it is to do I hope to see your beautiful layers cards in our gallery this week.  I have a feeling this is going to be a fun week for our challenge as I have seen so many layering experts in my blog browsing of late. Can't wait to see what you do!

Til next time friends...hugs and happy crafting! D

Card details (all Stampin Up unless noted otherwise): Card base - raspberry ripple. Border - gumball green c.s. punched with a Martha Stewart border punch. DSP - Birthday Basics. Banners - summer starfruit, crisp cantelope (NEW), wild wasabi. Sentiment circle - raspberry ripple punched with 2 1/2" circle punch, Thinking of You - single stamp colored with SU markers (gumball green, summer starfruit, crisp cantelope) the sentiment middle was punched out from the original stamped image and layered on the RR circle. Flower stamp from Secret Garden and cut out with coordinating Sizzix framelits dies cut. Middle of flower is a flower from the Boho Blossom punch and an eye from the Two-Step Owl punch. 

'ABC' Challenges #40 - Stamps, Ink, Paper (no embellishments)

Hello dear friends and followers - happy Monday to each of you.  Hope you are all doing well!  This week the challenge at 'ABC' Challenges #40 is to use only Stamps, Ink and Paper.  The paper can be just cardstock or patterned paper - but we'd like you to avoid using ribbon, brads, charms and other embellishments.  Your card doesn't have to be CAS - it can have lots of layers.

I struggled a bit with this myself as I love to add embellishments of some sort and knowing that I shouldn't this week made it all the more tempting (isn't that how it goes - you want what you shouldn't or can't have sometimes :o) ).  In any event - here's what I came up with for my DT card - hope you like it:

I colored my sentiment stamp with markers to bring in the colors of the polka dotted background.  I bumped up the middle with dimension dots and created the layered sentiment.  The stamped cupcakes (stamped with Versa mark ink) were an after thought as I thought it looked too plain and needed something else. Not absolutely in love with this card - but it could easily be given to a kid, a teen, a man or a woman - so that part I like.  Oh, and I like the polka dots - they feel happy to me :o)

Hope you will decide to play along with us this week at 'ABC' Challenges #40.  The other lovely ladies on the DT have made some beautiful cards to share with you as well - so please go visit them and see.

Thanks for stopping by today - I'm sure glad that you did. Til next time....hugs and  happy crafting friends! D

ABC39 "Monochromatic Color"

Hello and Happy Monday!! The start of a new week and a new challenge at 'ABC' Challenges.  This week's challenge (ABC39) is to make a card using 1 color of your choice (white doesn't count as a color for this challenge).  That's right, the DT want to see your beautiful Monochromatic Color cards.

The most challenging part of monochromatic cards for me is to first pick which color I want to create with. Then I have to decide what sorts of elements or embellishments I want to add that stays in that color family. My card for this week was made for my darling niece.  I seriously don't know where the time disappeared to.  It seems like not that long ago she was a tiny preemie princess and now she is no longer a teen - makes me a bit teary really.  She is such a beautiful young lady. I wanted to make a card that reflects her a bit so I chose her favorite color for my monochromatic card.

I used a retired embossing folder from SU for the top layer then cut out a window and then layered a second die within that window for the sentiment.   and popped it up a bit with some dimension  dots.  The flowers were an after thought as I felt that the card was too plain and needed some more. I was pleased to find these blue flowers in my stash - sweet! After I made this I wished I had used flat brads for buttons for the flower middles.  But the first thing she did was touch the shiny brads and say "how pretty" - so I'm glad now that I chose them.

What will you make this week for the 'ABC' Challenges - Monochromatic Color theme?  I love visiting your blogs and seeing your beautiful creations each week.  My other lovely DT friends have also made some beautiful cards to share with you. I hope you will pop on over to ABC Challenges to see what they've done and visit them as well.

Til next time friends...hugs and happy crafting! D

'ABC' Challenges - Doubly Embossed

Hello friends and followers - hope that each and every one of you are doing well.  After taking last week off we are back in swing with a new challenge this week (chosen by yours truly) at 'ABC' Challenges.  The challenge this week is technique based - we want to see your Beautiful Cards made with two types of embossing (Doubly Embossed).

Adding texture through dry embossing is one of my favorite techniques to use and although I love to heat emboss things, I seldom seem to do it lately.  So...to keep myself in practice (and maybe help challenge you a bit), I came up with this idea.  What I'd really like to see is your cards using both dry (texture) and wet (stamped and heat set) embossing.  But if that doesn't work for you then please use two different types of dry embossing patterns on your card. 

Here's what I came up with this week using a previous sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

The sentiment is heat embossed using versa mark ink and melon mambo embossing powder (Stampin Up!).  A solid sentiment would have stood out better with the embossing but originally I thought I'd color in the lettering to match the cupcake colors (one of the added benefits of heat embossing).  Then decided it might be too busy so I left it alone.  The cupcake is a sticker left over from some other crafting stash (too cute to throw out and I knew I'd find another use for it) put on top of a punched 1 3/4" circle and a large scalloped circle punched shape.  My dry embossing is made using one of my all-time favorite embossing texture folders called Perfect Polka Dots (SU). 

 

Overall a very quick card to put together. Looking at my birthday card stash, I realized that I really need to try to make more masculine birthday cards.  But Pink is just so much fun to use!! Real men like pink too - don't they?  Nah... not so much! Oh well :o)  

 

I sure hope that you will go visit the rest of our lovely DT over at 'ABC' Challenges and see what they have made to inspire you as well.  I'll be excited to see if you are up for  my challenge this week.  May the crafting force be with you!!

 

Til next time... hugs and happy crafting! D 

   

'ABC' Challenges - "Christmas in July", the Paper Players - "Christmas in July", ABC Christmas Challenge - M is for Men or Mice, and Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge #23 - Seeing Stars

Hello dear friends and followers - and a very special hello to my two newest followers, Donna and Mau.  When I first started blogging and sharing my work I was hopeful that people would even look at it. To have reached 50 followers now is just amazing.  I thank each and every one of you for supporting me.

July brings one of my favorite challenges at 'ABC' Challenges called "Christmas in July".  We want to help you get a jump start on your Christmas cards - isn't that nice of us :o) ?  I like to make Christmas cards year-round and find that when Christmas rolls around I have a very nice stash of handmade cards just waiting for the Christmas photo and a note to each of our loved family and friends.  Since I make so many Christmas cards - and most of them are "cutesy" or "whimsical", I decided to challenge myself and try a vintage card this time.  Take a look:



I used soft colors and scuffed up the edges of my layers.  I also sponged around the scuffed edges ever so slightly to give it a bit more of an aged look.  I wasn't too worried if my letters all came through exactly as dark or evenly as the others.  I thought about adding a few spritzes of color with my spritzer tool but was concerned that it would really take away from the words.  I used two colors on this card: Bravo Burgundy and Baked Brown Sugar.  The burgundy looks decidedly darker than the layer, and almost brown when stamped on top of the baked brown sugar.  The saying is a stamp by Stampendous and the three wise men are a stamp from Stampin Up!.  After I finished gluing everything together, I felt that the card looked too "flat" so I added a few adhesive rhinestones at the top and on the star to add a bit more interest.  So what do you know - I made a card that didn't use one bit of patterned paper - lol, very unusual for me.

I do hope that you enjoyed this card and that it sparked some interest for  you to make a Christmas card in July and join our challenge at ABC Challenges - "Christmas in July".  My other lovely teamies have made some beautiful cards to share with you as well.  Each week we give you a variety of different styles to inspire you.  Please pop in and give them a visit too.

Some other fun challenge I've decided to also participate in this week are:

The Paper Players #153 - "Christmas in July"

ABC Christmas Challenge - M is for Men or Mice (I have wisemen)

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - #23 "Seeing Stars"( I have the star of Bethlehem)

'ABC' Challenges - Anything Goes!

Hello dear friends and followers - Happy 1st day of July!  We have had a rainy month of June here in Montana and as a result everything is very green and lovely.  Lots of pretty flowers and bushes right now practically everywhere you look - it's wonderful.  I used the beautiful summer scenery for my inspiration this week for  'ABC' Challenges - Anything Goes.  Oh boy... this is always a popular challenge and we see so much creativity and beautiful cards in our gallery.  I'm doing my finger and wrist exercises to get ready for all the comments I plan to be leaving for our participants this week. We love visiting you and seeing  your beautiful cards, but get very disappointed when we absolutely LOVE an entry that has broken the rules and therefore can't be chosen for our Top Award and guest designer slot (and its really not fair to the others who have entered).  So please remember to follow the rules (your entry must be a card, the number of challenges you can enter in addition to ours is limited to 10 and no back-linking is allowed).

So enough chit-chat from me.  Here's my card this week - enjoy!

I've really been into making large square cards lately (this one is 6"x 6").  Those fun colored dots that look like little brads are actually some new self-adhesive dots from Stampin Up! I love them. They come in each color combo family so there are lots of options.  Often it seems that I decide I want to add a brad after I've glued everything down and don't want the prongs poking through into the inside of the card - so then I just have to forget it.  With these great dots I no longer have that worry :o).  The stamp is one that I've had in my drawer from quite some time.  It didn't stamp well in the middle so I used my copic liner to fill in the spaces (thank goodness for that little marker).  I used glittery copic Spicas on the butterflies (that doesn't seem to show up too well in the photo).  As a last minute touch, I crimped the edges of the paper corners so that it didn't look so neat a tidy. Kind of a combo of different styles -but it seems to work (at least to me).  

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For more inspiration from the other talented DT members at ABC Challenges - just click here and it will take you right to the challenge site.  Til next time...hugs and happy crafting! D

'ABC' Challenges - Red, White and Blue {Celebrate the 4th of July}

Hello dear friends and followers so glad that you are here visiting me today!  This is the last Monday of the month of June (oh my goodness how time flies) so that means that just around the corner is the 4th of July.  The DT at 'ABC' Challenges has picked a terrific color challenge for you this week that works perfectly with the holiday coming up soon.   Fourth of July cards not your style? That's okay - make a card using those colors for any other reason.  How about a masculine birthday card, or a nautical themed card? Or... you fill in the blank :o)  I can't wait to see what you make this week.  

I only send one or two 4th of July cards out typically but I still choose this theme for my card as I had this darling digital image that I just couldn't resist using.  I resisted using other colors as much as possible to stay to true to the main colors in the challenge (neutrals are okay though to add  - grey, black, brown, and skin tones).  So without further ado - please allow me to share my card with you this week.  Here is my Red/White and Blue(s) card:

Aren't they just the cutest pair? My daughter said "a blue elephant?"  Yeah I guess I went a bit overboard with the blue theme (I used 4 different shades of blue) and probably should have used the traditional grey for my elephant - but I really wanted to keep the neutral color as an accent and not as one of the main colors. I still like him - he's an original :o).  Hope you do too!  

The other lovely ladies have prepared some beautiful cards to share with you this week as well.  To see them all you have to do is click here - or go visit 'ABC' Challenges.

Til next time friends...hugs and happy crafting! D

It's Summer time at ABC Challenges

Hello friends and followers hope you are enjoying the start to your week!  Not sure if any of you follow the show Long Island Medium but my daughter and I LOVE that show and Theresa Caputo and we had the opportunity to go see her in a group setting.  My husband, son and our son's girlfriend all decided to tag along for the trip (but not to see the show) so we just made a fun family weekend out of it.

But enough about me.  I'm guessing you popped in to see what the newest challenge is for 'ABC' Challenges and to see what I've made to share with and inspire you.  The theme this week is "Summer" and we want to see what summer represents to you.  Is it sailing, butterflies, bumblebees, flowers, gardening, laying on the beach?  Here's my Summer theme card...

You might not immediately get what the challenge is from this card - but if you are from Montana (or know anyone who is) you will know that rodeos are a big deal in the summer in Montana.  I love rodeos, but unfortunately my allergies from the dust and animals prevent me from attending for very long and from a great far away distance :o(.  My favorite event is the when the kids ride the sheep :o) and my least favorite is the bull riding - scares me to death!!

I made this card for my friend Jeanne who has an "almost" summer birthday in June.  Jeanne loves to wear really fun cowboy boots.  When I showed this card to my husband he said "there's not nearly enough bling on those boots to belong to Jeanne" -  lol.  Purple is also one of Jeanne's favorite colors so I used lots of that.

I stamped my own background added a bit of bling with my Versamark pen and some dazzling diamonds on the stars.  Then I added just  touch more bling with some teeny little rhinestones too.  Of course it couldn't be all sweet and soft so I added a bit of texture with the burlap ribbon and the hemp twine rope.  You can't see it really well in this photo but I also embossed the card base (6" square) and sanded the embossed portion to give it a western feel.

Jeanne loved this card and I hope you did too!  I would love to see what you make this week to share with us at 'ABC' Challenges so go get 'er done!  My lovely DT teamies have also prepared some wonderful cards to share with you so be sure to pop in and visit them as well.

Til next time... hugs and happy crafting! D

ABC Challenges - I {Heart} Animals

Happy Monday friends and followers!  This week the hostess at 'ABC' Challenges is AnnMarie who has chosen the theme of "I {Heart} Animals".  Our DT wants to see your beautiful cards that have an animal (or more) on them.

My favorite animals are dogs and horses (and elephants and giraffes).  But I had colored up this cute little fella a while ago and hadn't ended up using him as planned, so I was excited to see this week's theme as I now had a definite purpose for this penguin.  This could be a valentine's day card, a thank you card, or just a general "I love ya" card.  The other DT members over at 'ABC' Challenges have come up with some really great cards to share with and inspire you - you can see them by clicking here.

What will you create this week with the animal theme?  I can't wait to come visit you and see.  Til next time...hugs and happy crafting! D

'ABC' Challenges - Masculine cards

 

Hello dear friends and followers!  Here it is a new week and a whole new month of challenges at 'ABC' Challenges.  We thought we'd kick off  the June challenges with a  "Masculine" theme.  Yep... that's right, with father's day just around the corner we thought it might be a good idea to make a card for the men in our lives.  My card is ultra clean and quick this week.  My Dad is not one to appreciate a lot of frills or fancy paper - however he does like cards that play music or have some moving part on them.  He's out of luck in that aspect from me as I don't do moving parts quite yet - lol! 

 

Dad's not a huge outdoors guy (unless he's working) nor does he hunt, he doesn't watch much tv (my Mom doesn't complain as she doesn't have to share the tele with him), and the only sport he likes to watch is basketball.  But my dear Daddy really loves old cars, fast cars (once he had a corvette - whoooeeee was that fun to drive) and small planes.  So, I bet you are wondering why I chose this old bicycle.  I decided to be a bit funny with my Dad because he has been talking about slowing down lately and just not being able to do all the things he used to (or as fast).  I'm borrowing a really funny sentiment from a friend to put in the inside - it says something about no longer living life in the fast lane (can't recall the whole saying just now) and then I'll put a digi of a race car inside (since I don't have a stamp of that).  I think he will appreciate it. 

 

The other fine gals on the DT at 'ABC' Challenges have made some terrific cards to inspire  you this week - I hope you will go visit them and then decide to play along.  Hope your week (and your month) is starting off wonderful.  Til next time... hugs and happy crafting! D