Riding in the Sleigh

And here's project #2 for tonight. I made this sleigh over the weekend for the Just Us Girls Challenge. You were to use a template to create something. The sponsor this week is Clear & Simple Stamps and I was pleasantly surprised to find lots of free template son their blog. If you scroll down, in the right-hand column you will see a list of free templates. Here's the one I chose.

Do you see the gift card in the sleigh? Well, last Christmas I made a bunch of very cute gift card holders to give gift cards. Everything worked great until we got to my in-laws' house and one of the gift cards went missing. I have no idea what happened to it but it just disappeared. So this year I am making 3-d gift card holders so that something doesn't slip through the cracks. Hence, the sleigh with gift card! My fist holder done for Christmas giving. Yippee!

Check out the fun templates at the Clear & Simple blog and then join in the challenge at JUGS. It was simple and lots of fun!
Take care,

Donna

A Touch of Color

Good Tuesday evening to you all. I thought I wouldn't get much time to craft this week and I suddenly realized that I have things I haven't posted. So this will be another night with two posts. (Don't faint on me, please!) I know it doesn't happen very often. So here's my first card:

Here's the details:
Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps: Joyful Day
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder: Celtic Knot
Card stock: Gina K Pure Luxury 80 lb white and light purple
Embellishments: self-adhesive rhinestones

This was a very easy card to put together. It's for my in-laws' 60th wedding anniversary we will be celebrating this weekend. This card is for two challenges:

• Christmas Stampin' All Year Long: I know you are definitely shaking your head on this one or you think I've gone daft, but the challenge this week was to create a card that was anything but a Christmas card. So it was create anything your little heart desired.

• Making Greeting Cards Yahoo group: This Yahoo group has a challenge each month that we take turns hosting. This month the challenge was to make an all-white card with just a touch of color.

So there you have my first project to share for tonight. I'll be back shortly with Project #2. Have a lovely evening!

Donna

Frilly Delight

Well, Monday is almost over and we can look forward to the rest of the week. This is my second post for today. I didn't think I'd get this card finished tonight but here it is. I made this card for two challenges:

• Joan's Garden: striped paper, pearls or brads, piercing, and a stamped fall image; preferably  (but not required) a JustRite Stamp
• Digital Delights: cute and girly using pearls and lace

Details:
Stamps: Gina K: Whimsical Autumn by Carolyn King
Spellbinders Circle and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities
Embellishments: 3mm pearls, lace
Template from Maria Bell
Designer Paper: Hobby Lobby
Paper Piercing: Piercing tool and Tim Holtz ruler

Hope you like it. Most of this week we'll be getting ready for my in-laws 60th wedding anniversary. The party is Saturday. My daughter is making and decorating 7 small cakes to represent their children with their names and flowers. My DH is working on the music for which he is using my computer so I probably won't have much computer time later this week. Hopefully I'll be back with some more cards before we go but if not I hope you have a wonderful week and I'll be back as soon as I can!

Donna

Scrap-Creations!

I almost forgeot to post this card for the Scrap-Creations challenge.This week you needed to use ribbon, flowers and brads or pearls. I made this at our new property this past weekend and I forgot to take along anything to color with so I had to paper piece all my images. Actually I really like the paper piecing.

Details:
Stamps: Gina K Designs: Enjoy the Sunshine (image) and Arranged with Love (sentiment)
Card Stock: Gina K Green Apples
Spellbinders: Oval Nestabilities and Tags
Embellishments: 3mm pearls and Gina K dotted ribbon

Sorry this is such a quick post but I had to post this from work before the challenge expired. Don't tell my boss! LOL! Thanks for taking a peek. Take care!

Donna

Cuttelbug Spot Challenge

Good evening everyone. Tomorrow is Friday. And the weekend is almost here. Tonight I have a baby card for the Cuttlebug Spot Challenge: Oh Baby and embossing! I love to paper piece and so I used that technique on this card.

The background designer paper is embossed with the Harlequin embossing folder.
Here's the inside of the card:

Here's the details:
Stamps: Gina K Designs: Wee Tees and Arranged with Love; Stampin' Up!: Full of Life
Card Stock: blue, yellow, purple and two designer papers from Hobby Lobby
Spellbinder's Shapeabilities; Cuttlebug; Harlequin Embossing Folder

Thanks for checking out my Cuttlebug Spot Challenge card. Have a wonderful Friday!

Donna

Caardvark Challenge

Happy Wednesday! We're on the downside of the week. Yippee! Tonight I have a new project for the August Caardvarks challenge. The challenge is to create a NEW Holiday gift tag or mini card that incorporates stamping! And I used scraps to make these cards so I'm thrilled that some of my scraps got used up.

Here's the detail:
Stamps: Gina K Holiday Cheer and Holiday Hospitality
Card stock: maroon and designer paper (that I got in a blog candy)
Spellbinders Frameabilities
Colored with Bic Mark it markers
Outline stickers

Here's a close up of one of the cards:

Thanks for stopping by this evening. Hope your week is shaping up to be great! Hold on, the weekend is on the way!

Hugs,

Donna

Tag of Thanks

Happy Monday to you! My kids have all gone their own ways and the house seems empty after having them here for more than a week. But I thank God for the wonderful time we had together. Tonight I'm catching up with some challenges that I wanted to do so I made this tag. It's for this week's challenge over at Joan's Garden. The challenge was to make a tag using grunge paper or chipboard. I didn't have grunge paper but I cut the swirls with die cuts from cardboard.

Here's the details:
Stamps: Stampin' Up! retired set
Die Cutz Swirls
Embellishments: 3mm pearls, self-adhesive rhinestones
Colored with Bic Marks-a-lot
Penny Lane designer paper

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you've had a great start to your week. Stop back again any time!

Donna

Christmas Cards All Year Round

Happy Sunday everyone. So sorry it's been a while since I've posted but all of my kids were home this week so I haven't been doing much crafting. It's been wonderful to have them home and we had such a wonderful time together this week. Last Sunday we saw a Colt preseason game. Wednesday we drove to Cincinnati to visit family and Thursday we spent the day at Kings Island riding roller coasters and getting wet. It's been a wonderful week! But it has to come to an end. Steve moved back to college today. Dan flies home to Boston tomorrow morning. Tricia starts back to school tomorrow. This week will be something I will remember for a long time.

Today was the first chance I've had to make some cards. I wanted to make my 5 cards for the challenge at Christmas Cards All Year Round. Whenever I start the process I go through a process so that the card that I end up with isn't quite what I started with. Her's the first card I made.

This card was okay but with the second card I decided to try something different.

Then I realized I had used all the ribbon so I had to do something a little different with the last three cards. So here's the rest of my challenge cards.

I really love how they turned out, even if it took me a couple tries to get it the way I wanted. That's the fun of making cards.

Stamps: Holiday Hospitality (Gina K)
Card Stock: black, light blue,medium blue
Equipment: Cuttlebug, Snowflake embossing folder (inked), Spellbinders Frameabilities, Stampin' Up! Ornament punch, Stampin' Up! corner rounder
Embellishments: ribbon, 5mm pearls

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your weekend was wonderful and you have a great week ahead. Take care!

Donna

Butterfly Birthday

I am dashing off again to spend the night at Baby Creek (isn't that a great name!). But before I go I wanted to post what I managed to get accomplished last night. This card is for the following challenges:

• Flourishes: sketch challenge
• Joan's Garden: A strip of designer paper; colors green and purple; butterfly embellishment

Here's the front of the card.

And the inside of the card ready for a sentiment. And the details:
Stamps: Hope is Faith (Gina K): butterfly; Versatile Verses (Gina K): sentiment
Designer Paper: Hobby Lobby
Spellbinders Shapeabilities
Card stock: purple
Sorry this is so quick. Too much to do and so little time this week. Hope you had a fabulous Monday and that your week continues the same way. Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

Wild Thing

Just a quick note before we head to our new property and I have no Internet access. I wanted to get this card out for a challenge on Card Patterns blog. I used their sketch for the challenge.

Stamps: Digital Stamps by Louby Lou; Lenny the Lion
Sentiment: Made on the computer
Punches: EK Success label punch; Colluzzle; Scalloped border punch
Paper: Basic Grey Indian Summer
Embellishments: Gold heart stickers

Other Challenges for this card:
Digital Stamps by Louby Loo: SNR Digi Day Challenge

Thanks for stopping today. Have a wonderful weekend. I'll be back soon.

Donna

Distressed Bear Birthday

Mt second post for tonight. That's pretty amazing for me. I need to get this card in the mail for a friends birthday this weekend.

 I found this great bear at Beccy's Place. I cased the card that she made including the sentiment. But I've changed things quite a bit. I made this card for two challenges:

• Delightful Challenges: Use distressing on your card. I distressed botht eh background paper and the circle for the bear.
• Flourishes: I followed the sketch.

Stamps: Digital stamp (Mr. Thom) and sentiment from Beccy's Place
Background paper: Stampin' Up!
Card stock: white, orange and cream
Punches/Dies: Spellbinder Circle Nestabilities, Corner Rounder, Fancy corner punch from Stampin' Up!

Here's the inside of the card just in case you have to know how the sentiment ends.

Thanks for checking out my blog. Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Hugs,

Donna

An Ornamental Christmas

Hello again! I'm on a roll this week. I guess I have to be. A Bunch of birthdays and anniversaries coming up. But I took  a little break to participate in the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge #6. The challenge was to make a keepsake box and matching cards. They give you a wonderful tutorial for the keepskae box so go over and check it out.

Here is my  matchingbox and card together. I kept it pretty simple but I love the ornaments that I made. I stamped the checked background and then used the ornamnet punch to cut them out. Then sponged around each one to give it soem depth. I added a gold sticker to help make the three dimensional aspect.

Here's the front of the box lid.

Here's the card.

Stamps: Ribbon Stripes (Gina K); Holiday Hospitality (Gina K)

Background: white card stock using the Victoria Cuttlebug folder

Ribbon: Candy Cane from Michael's

Base: Red card stock

Embellishments: gold stickers

Thanks for popping in today. I really enjoyed this project. I loved the way the ornaments turned out and they were super easy. Now it's back to birthday cards.

Donna

Pretty in Pink

Happy Monday to you all. I have some exciting news! Yesterday I was  the guest designer for Digital Delights by Louby Loo. You can see the cards I created by clicking on the link. Thank you Wendy for the chance to show off my cards using your fun digital images.

Now onto today's creation. Joan's Garden has a fun challenge this week: make a pink and white card, and be sure you have 4 corners punched preferably with a Martha Stewart Punch. And the prize this week is a Martha Stewart punch. I obviously need that punch because I only have Martha Stewart border punches and no corners. LOL! So I improvised and used my border punches to come up with this unusual card!

 I punched the flower border twice on each corner but I didn't have enough room to do all four corners. So I took my Martha Stewart butterfly punch and punched the other two corners. It's definitely a different look. I still haven't decided if I like it or not.

Other details:
Stamps: Versatile Verses (Gina K)
Spellbinder Shapeabilities: punch pin crepe paper background 
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Rose
Punches: Martha Stewart Butterfly and Flower Scalloped punches
Embellishments: Various sizes and makes of flowers


Thanks for stopping today. Pop on over to Joan's Garden and check out Challenge #9. Have a great week!


Donna

Margo's Christmas

Recently we took care of a friend's dog (Margo) for ten days. And when I found this darling Christmas dog stamp I knew what I would be sending them for a Christmas card this year.

The adorable dog stamp is from Spiral Whisper. I won him in a blog candy at some point. This card is for the challenge at Christmas Stampin' All year Long. The challenge is a sketch challenge. This is what I used for the card.

Stamps: Spiral Whisper: dog; In Stitches (Gina K); Blessed is the Season (Gina K): sentiment
Designer Paper: Hobby Lobby
Ribbon: Michael's
Embellishments: flowers, Green Stickles

Tomorrow is Friday. I hope yours is a good one!

Donna

Delightful Challenge

I am so excited that last week I was chosen to be a guest designer for Digital Delights by Louby Loo when the design team picked my card as the best entry for the week. I earned the guest designer spot and a Top 3 Badge. You can see it on my side bar. This is the second time I was picked in the Top 3. Be sure to check out Digital Delights this Sunday to see what I created for my guest designer spot.

So my card this week for the Delightful Challenge blog has a theme of the great outdoors. You also had to use two designer papers and three embellishments. I love flowers and they so remind me of beauty in the outdoors. And I needed an anniversary card. So here's my card:

Stamps: Arranged With Love (Gina K)
Paper: White card stock base; Stampin' Up! retired paper; Hobby Lobby paper
Embellishments: 5mm pearls
Colored with Bic Mark-it Markers

Thanks for stopping for my second post today. I'm loving that I have card time this week. Have a great rest of your week. And don't forget to check out Digital Delights on Sunday!

Donna

Cooler Weather...Wishful Thinking

I started this post last night but didn't get to finish it. It's blazing hot here. Yesterday the heat index was 105 and today it was 115. So when I sat down to make a card last night, I was thinking about cooler weather. And Joan's Garden Challenge was all about fall. Do a fall theme card using pumpkins or fall leaves with either embossing or glitter. So here's my card:

 I really love the way it turned out. Here's a close-up of the pumpkin with the Stickles glitter:

All the goodies I used:

Stamps: pumpkin image: Whimsical Autumn (Gina K); background: Ribbon Stripes (Gina K); sentiment: Strawberries (Flourishes)
Ink: Pumpkin Pie; So Saffron; Chocolate Chip; Tuxedo Black
Embellishements: 3mm pearls, 5 mm pearls, ribbon 

Check out Joan's Garden for some fun challenges and great supplies. Thanks for stopping by today. I'll have another post later tonight for another challenge.


Inky hugs,
Donna