It's a Birthday Celebration and Blog Hop

Creative Card Crew is turning one year old this week and we're having a celebration! That's right and it's a celebration for YOU. Because without you, our loyal participants, we wouldn't have made it this far. The festivities this fortnight include:

3 digital images of the winner's choice from Sunshine Stamps

These two stamps from Bunny Zoe's Crafts:

A $20 gift certificate from Simon Says Stamp

and (...drumroll please...)

A One Month Guest Designer Opportunity with Creative Card Crew

And that's not all folks. Our design team has blog candy on their blogs. So start hopping and sign up for your chance to win individual blog candy from:

Paula, Owner

Claire

Janna

Linda

Maria

Pauline

Sam

Victoria

and welcoming back Sharon,

one of our original founders who is making a return visit

just to celebrate with the Crew

Our challenge theme this week is CELEBRATION. Can't wait to see your challenge entries.

Here's my blog candy. To be entered into the drawing, you must post your CELEBRATION card on the Creative Card Crew challenge blog, post your entry here using Mr. Linky and also leave a comment in this post. This contest closes at midnight on March 15th and the winner will be announced on March 16th.

Thanks for stopping by here and the Creative Card Crew blog to help celebrate our birthday. Can't wait to see your entry into our celebration card challenge this week. Good luck on all the drawings!

Have a wonderful week!

Blessings,

Challenges entered:

Lexi's Creations - Anything goes

Pollycraft - Distressing

Paper Jewels - Cute & Girly

Quirky Crafts - Cute

Crazy 4 Challenges - 3 Distinct Textures (mine are smooth/normal, heat embossed bottom panel, distressed/torn edges)

One Stop Craft Challenge - Optimistically Pink

Scrap & Stamp - Use texture on your card

Secret Crafter - Use stitching

Stamp Something - Recipe Challenge - Use ribbon, buttons and designer paper

Cute Card Thursday - Ribbon-tastic

Pixie Dust Studio - Think Birthday

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - Use scallops

This Week at Creative Card Crew - Ribbons & Gems

From The Funkie Junkie

It's Sam's turn to be hostess this week at the Creative Card Crew challenge blog and she has selected something that is close to my heart - ribbons & gems! That wasn't hard at all!



Here's my DT card for the challenge. I started by stamping this darling Sarah Kay image onto Neenah Solar White cardstock and coloring with Copic markers. After cutting with the Nestability Oval die, the panel was sponged with Tim Holtz distress inks starting with Old Paper from the other edges inward. Once I achieved the desired color, it was then sponged very lightly just on the edges with Brushed Corduroy. To give the image an inner glow, Scattered Straw was sponged next to it and then I also surrounded her with a series of tiny dots using the Yellow Ochre (YR23) Copic marker. This panel was then mounted on a scalloped panel of Mellow Moss with the edges lightly sponged with Brushed Corduroy. The DP used was Cosmo Cricket Gretel: Gingerbread, another horded piece from my stash.

Sentiment panels: Both are computer generated. The bottom calendar strip is a digital download from Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals. The top one was simply printed on my computer and lightly stamped in Creamy Carmel with a flourish from the Layers of Color Old World Floruishes set. Both panels were stamped on white cardstock and then sponged heavily, first with Old Paper and then with SU's Creamy Caramel.

The bottom "Golden Orchard" tag is a Melissa Frances sticker, again sponged with Creamy Caramel. The eyelet trim is from Lace Heaven and the ribbon from SU! The safety pin is Tim Holtz. The oposite corner features both Prima and silk flowers, orange gems and branches and leaves from MS punches.

The sentiment inside is from the retired SU set Season of Plenty. The stamped frame is Inkadinkado and the embossed floruish on the bottom panel is one of the new Cuttlebug border embossing folders called Oranic Flourish. All panels were sponged with distress inks.


Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

Thanks for stopping by. Blessings and hugs to you!

A Hug for Jaimie

From The Funkie Junkie

Greetings and welcome to my blog! I know it's been a long hop and you must be getting tired. Thank you for hanging in and making it this far. You've come full circle and after leaving here, you'll head back to the main blog Stamp Something...for Jaimie.

If you haven't arrived here through the Spread the Love Blog Hop, here is a brief recap of what this blog hop has been about. On the night of October 4th in Mont Vernon, New Hampshire four local teenagers with knives broke into the Cates home. They murdered Jaimie's mom, Kimberly Cates and severly wounded Jaimie. It was an act of random violence for no other reason than to commit violence. Here is a link to the news article if you wish to read more.

A good friend of a Cates neighbor, Erin Bailey, started this internationl blog hop to raise awareness of the crime and to show love and hope to Jaimie. Anyone who can, is asked to send a card as soon as possible to Jaimie.

Here is the card I am sending to Jaimie. I don't know much about her, but was told she is 11 years old, is not a girly girl but loves pink and black. She enjoys snowboarding and has a black belt in karate. Even though she isn't a girly girl, I still wanted to make something sweet and soft, something loving and nurturing. So I searched through my stamp collection and found this sweet Sarah Kay image. I wanted the card to be bright so I found this striped paper from Creative Memories in my stash and paired it up wth Certainly Celery. The Night of Navy was run through the Cuttlebug with the Paisley embossing folder, which I thnk sponged with white craft ink. I love the way it looks - sort of like faded denim. The "Hug" seal is a digital download from Katie Pertiet with Designer Digitals. A little hemp ribbon (not too girly) plus buttons and a double hemp bow finish off the front of the card.


The inside of the card was finished off with coordinating papers and colors. The 'With Love' is a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I also sponged it with white craft ink for that soft faded denim look.

I hope you will take the time to show Jaimie some love by sending her a card. All the details can be found on the Stamp Something...for Jaimie blog which is your next and last stop on this hop.

Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

Daisy Days

I am making a scrapbook layout now and then. I just love these Sara Kay images and thought I would try them out on a scrapbook layout. This is the result. I made this layout and thought it was so cute that I wanted more of the same theme. So I ended up making a card as a companion piece to it. The whole daisy theme started with little Sarah with her picnic basket. It started me off in a "summer days" direction. Then somehow daisies popped into my head, maybe because they are the type of wildflower you might see on a country picnic.

Unfortunately, I am not very skilled at photographing these two page layouts. They are sort of dark and small, but trust me, it is a very cute layout. The recipe is the same as the card below so see that for the materials list.

I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder With Love to do the dry embossing on the photo mats. Several of the mats have journaling tags slid behind them.

Daisy Daze

Red gingham, a white picket fence and daisies. Is that summer or what? I am really pleased with the way this card turned out. To me, it has a clean, crisp feel to it while still retaining an aire of sweetness. This little country girl is ready for a picnic on a sunny summer day.

This card was actually designed as a companion piece to a two page scrapbook layout I will post later this week. The layout had a daisy theme and when I finished the layout, I still wanted more daisies and red gingham so I carried the theme on to this card. I pulled out the Cuttlebug Floral Borders die to create the look of a trellis. I know daisies aren't a vining plant, so you'll have to allow me some creative license here. The vine was cut with the same die. I snipped off the little flowers and just used the stem. Once I got my little trellis made, I remembered the Martha Stewart fence border punch and to carry the daisy theme forward, I embossed the base of the fence with the small strip EF from the With Love EF set. It really perked up those tiny embossed daisies when I added a yellow center with a marker.

I punched the Barely Banana panel with a Fiskars border punch. I always have trouble with my corners when using the border punches so I covered up this slight irregularity with a teeny tiny flower that also came from the Floral Borders die and added a itty bitty yellow rhinestone for the center. I liked it so much I carried it along the entire border of the panel.

The inside is pretty simple with crisp red gingham and white. I love the sentiment from Verve Visual that I stamped on a tag that I cut with a Spellbinders tag die. The dry embossing on the message panel is also from the CB With Love EF.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Sarah Kay image from Stampavie and sentiment from Verve Visual

Cardstock: Barely Banana, Garden Green, Whisper White, Neenah Solar White for the main image, Bella Rose DSP from SU

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Garden Green, Copics for coloring main image, Barely Banana marker for daisy centers, Creamy Caramel and Bashful Blue for sponging background of main image

Accessories: SU flower punch, Cuttlebug Floral Borders and Dandelion dies and With Love embossing folder, Martha Stewart and Fiskars border punches, Barely Banana SU brad, Spellbinders tag die and Mega Rectangle Nestabilities

Untraveled Roads

Here's another Sarah Kay image colored with Copics. I was fortunate enough to be able to buy about 10 of her stamps from an acquaintance. She wasn't using them and offered them to me at about half price. Some had been used a time or to, but if you are a stamper, you know that doesn't matter. What matters is the quality of the stamped image, which is perfect.

I coupled this image with a sentiment from Rubbernecker about untraveled roads. I think it will make a great card for someone just starting a new phase in their life, especially a young girl.

The DSP is by Melissa Francis stamped with Chocolate Chip Classic Ink and a flourish by Inkadinkado. The black gingham paper is old, old Creative Memories paper. I took my Creamy Caramel stamp pad and lightly sponged the color onto the black and white gingham until it was almost a perfect match for the black and tan gingham ribbon. The paper flowers were made out of the gingham and Melissa Francis DSP. The brads are from the SU Vanilla hardware set and I colored them with the Close to Cocoa marker. When the ink had dried, I polished off the excess. The completed panels were mounted on SU Kraft cardstock.

I thought the Martha Stewart picket fence edge punch was perfect for this card. In my stash, I found a flower charm that matched up well with the DSP. The charm is from Petals A Plenty. Michael's had them on sale over Memorial Day weekend, two cards of charms for $6.

You can see that the inside of the card is finished off using the same papers and color scheme as the front. The sentiment is from Rubbernecker - they have a lot of beautiful sentiment stamps. The brown dotted paper is from the Bella Rose DSP by SU. I also used a CB embossing folder to emboss a row of flowers across the message panel. The small gift box was decorated with more coordinating paper and handmade paper flowers.

Dreams

I have always loved this sentiment: "Dreams come a size too big so we can grow into them." from SU's Happy Harmony set. Add the gorgeous paper from the Bella Rose DSP and a sweet Sarah Kay stamp and you
indeed have a dreamy mixture. I sort of reversed my process of starting a card for this piece. Usually I flip through my paper and select a combination. Those colors then influence the colors I use in my stamping. For some reason, I did this the opposite. Maybe because I am new to this type of outline stamp and to using Copic markers, I decided to color the image first. Then I went looking for DSP with red in it and struck the jackpot with the Bella Rose paper pack.

I had a feeling that this little sweetie was dreaming of being an artist so I went hunting for sentiments that would fit. The small charm says "Follow your heart" while the inside sentiment wishes all dreams to come true. From there, I added the butterflies thinking of the transformation from catapiller to butterfly has to be a dream come true. I added a few ribbons, a handmade flower and glittered, embossed die cut butterflies and think this card really is dream come true!

Because my cards are 5.5x5.5" and thick, it is hard to send them in regular envelope so several months ago I started using small boxes instead of envelopes. The boxes provide a great opportunity to continue the theme of the card with decorations on the front plus a label to write the recipient's name. Slide the box into a bubble envelope and it is ready to mail.

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Sarah Kay, Stampin' Up Happy Harmony, Rubbernecker (inside sentiment), On Gossamer Wings
Paper: Whisper White shell, Neenha Solor White for coloring with Copics, Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Real Red and Bella Rose DSP.
Ink: Chocolate Chip ink for stamping and Copics for coloring image
Accessories: Various gingham and solid red ribbons, button, brad, jewelry rondell, Cuttlebug, Rectangle, Oval and Mega Rectangle Nestabilities, CB Butterflies die and embossing folders set, red cord from SU, Martha Stewart branch punch, sewing machine

Key to My Heart

This sweet little girl and doggie is my first Sarah Kay image. I loved watercoloring it with my SU reinkers and making it in the Shabby Chic style. The paper is a pretty design from the K&Co. Classics box. (Such a deal at Michael's last week - a 150 sheet box for $14.99 and the prints are beautiful!!). I decided to make the theme 'key to my heart' by adding a couple of chipboard hearts that I painted with Tim Holtz distress crackle paint. The paint color is actually Picket Fence (white) but I scooped a little out onto a pallet and added a tiny drop of SU Rose Romance reinker plus a dash of Creamy Caramel to bring it down a tone. It came out a pretty good match for the rose color in the paper. The 'Love' and 'Trust' tickets are by Tim Holtz also. I happened to have a tiny silver key in my stash that is so pretty and has a tiny clear rhinestone at the end. The edges of all the papers were sponged with Creamy Caramel and distressed with scissors. The wide lace on top is from Jo-Ann's and the burlap lace is from Stamper's Dream. The raspberry polka dotted button is from Stampin' Up which I colored with a Copic marker and added the black polka dots. It actually matches the dots in her dress and cap almost perfectly. This card was a joy to make. I just loved working with the colors and textures of the design elements. I even decorated the back panel.

Don't forget, to see the details close up, just click on the picture and it will open in your full screen.

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Sarah Kay by Stampavie, SU Seaside Sketches (for the sentiment)
Paper: K&Co., SU: Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa
Ink: SU

Reinkers: Rose Romance, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, More M

ustard, Soft Sky, Basic Black. Stewart Superior India Ink and a little Encore silver metallic for the key
Accessories: Brads and lace - JoAnn's, Prima flowers, Cuttlebug Hearts & Stamps die for the chipboard hearts, Tim Holtz distress crackle paint, Nestabilities Curved Rectangles, Martha Stewart

leaf punch, SU button and Copic marker, Tim Holtz tickets, key - who knows - some kind of jewelry finding, burlap lace - May Arts.