Birthday Raccoon

Hello, everybody!  First I would like to apologize for not visiting your blogs lately.  I have not been online much; May has turned out to be a very hectic month.  I will catch up with you soon, if I haven't done so already.  

In the meantime, I just saw a fun challenge that I didn't want to miss!  Allsorts Challenge is celebrating its 13th birthday!  Woot, woot!  Happy Birthday to Allsorts!  Here's a card that I made a while back but did not have a chance to post on my blog until now.  

This card is not my usual style but I do enjoy playing with my crafty products and oftentimes forget to post these cards on my blog. In this case I was experimenting with stamping on old book pages and paper tearing.  This adorable raccoon stamp is from Carabelle Studios and I love all the detail in the image. Lately we've had a raccoon that has visited our yard!  Yikes!  I tore the edges of the old book page and layered it on some scraps of patterned paper, each of which I tore and inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I stamped a birthday greeting (The Old Island Stamp Company) onto a label (Nothing But Freebies) and adhered with foam tape.  I chose this label for a pop of colour on this monochromatic card.

I would like to join the following 10 challenges:

Allsorts 677 13th Birthday - Anything for a Birthday 1/3

DL.ART May Linky AG UE

Gem of a Challenge 11 AG 1/2

Penny's Paper-crafty 522 AG 1/3

QKR Stampede 444 AG 1/3

Simon Say Stamp Wednesday AG 1/5
Snippets Playground 428 All paper was snippets, including the label 1E C10

Taylormadecards4u Anything Goes Masculine Cards 1/3

Through the Craft Room Door May 24 AG 1/4

Word Art Wednesday 545-546 AG w Uplifting Sentiment wk1 1/5

Thank you for looking at my card! Wishing you a peaceful and carefree day!

Guest Designer - The Outlawz Tuesday Colour Challenge #2

Hi, everybody!  I'm continuing as Guest Designer this month at The Outlawz Tuesday Colour Challenge.  We have a new challenge for you that begins today and runs until May 30.  

The challlenge for this fortnight is to use black and white and add one colour from the inspiration photo, plus the twist, which is to include a butterfly.  Our sponsor for May is Gerda Steiner Designs, a personal favourite of mine!  I hope you'll join us!

The colour I chose from the inspiration photo is pink.  My card features the adorable Love You Kitten from Gerda Steiner Designs.  I've been collecting Gerda's digital images for about nine years, and it looks like this one from 2016 is now retired.  Too bad, because it's so cute!

I coloured the image with markers to look like our Snowie (RIP) and added some white accents with a paint marker and then fussy-cut so I could pop it up on foam tape.  My ombre-look background was created with Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide Spray.  I adhered a die-cut black scalloped frame (Gina Marie Designs) directly to the background and then a white scalloped frame with foam tape.  I stamped xoxo (Clearly Besotted) at each of the four corners.  Lastly I adhered three punched butterflies, each double-layered and embellished with a black gem.

Head over to The Outlawz Tuesday Colour Challenge and join our challenge!

I would also like to join the following challenges:
Colour Crazy 19 AG with Colouring 1/2
Crafts Galore Encore May 3/3

Crafty Friends 155 May Animals/Birds 1/3

Creations in Pink 46 AG 1/3

Cut It Up 251 Any Animal or Insect 1E
Die Cut Divas May AG 3/4

Digi Choosday 20 AG 1/2
DL.ART May Linky AG UE
Gem of a Challenge 10 AG 1/3
Gerda's Share Your Designs Challenge May UE
Incy Wincy May Use a Die-cut or Punch (used both) 3/5

Jan's Digi Stamps May AG 1/5
Penny's Paper-Crafty 521 AG 1/3
Polkadoodles 20 AG 1/3
QKR Stampede 444 AG 1/3
Scribbles Designs 109 AG 1/3

Through the Craft Room Door May 10 AG 1/4
Word Art Wednesday 543-544 AG w Uplifting Sentiment 4/5 wk1
Your Scrapbook Place May AG 3/3

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a peaceful day!

May Guest Designer - The Outlawz Tuesday Colour Challenge

Hi, everybody!  I have more exciting news to share this month!  I've been invited to be a Guest Designer for May over at The Outlawz Tuesday Colour Challenge!  Woot, woot!  Our sponsor for the month is Gerda Steiner Designs, a personal favourite of mine!  For the challenge running from May 3-16, we have an inspiration photo for you:  

The challenge is to create a project inspired by something in the photo and let us know what inspired you.  For example, there are shapes in the photo (circles of the plates on the wall, triangles of the lightshades), as well as the colours or even the images on the plates.  I hope you will be inspired to join us!

Below is my card.  I was inspired by the mugs on the table and the colours blue and brown.  I used Gerda Steiner's Smell Like Christmas clear stamp set - I recently won an awesome gift certificate from Gerda's Share Your Designs Challenge (thank you!), and this was one of the stamps I chose - I was excited to ink it up for the first time!

I made a yummy little Christmas scene inspired by the photo!  I stamped, coloured, and fussy-cut the adorable images and added Star Dust Stickles to the fur trim on the mice's hats.  For the "wall" I used a scrap of blue gingham-patterned paper on which I white-heat-embossed some snowflakes from Pink and Main.  For the "table" I used a die from Penny Black.  I white-heat-embossed the first part of the sentiment from Gerda's stamp set onto a black scrap and then stamped the Cookies word on the "table" in black. I finished the scene by adhering three blue snowflake sequins.  This card was a lot of fun to make!

I would also like to join the following challenges:

Allsorts 674 AG Optional Scenic 2/3

Christmas Craft Creations April Tartan/Plaid (hopefully gingham is okay) 1/3

Colour Crazy 16 AG with Colouring 2/2

Crafts Galore Encore May 123

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas 592 AG Optional For a Child UE

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper May UE

Creative Fingers 230 AG 2/3

Die Cut Divas May AG 2/4

DL.ART May Linky AG UE

Gem of a Challenge 9 AG 233

Gerda's Share Your Designs Challenge May UE

Incy Wincy May Use a Die-cut or Punch 2/5

Carlin's Kaartenparadijs May Animals and Scrap Design Paper 1/3

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends 181 AG 3/3

Penny's Paper-Crafty 520 AG 2/3

Polkadoodles 17 AG 3/3

QKR Stampede 443 AG 2/3

Scribbles Designs 108 Fur Babies 2/3

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday AG 3/5

The Outlawz Festive Friday AG (Christmas) UE

Word Art Wednesday 541-542 AG w Uplifting Sentiment 4/5 wk1

Your Scrapbook Place May AG 2/3

Thank you for looking at my card! Wishing you a peaceful day!

Butterflies Sending Smiles

Hi, everyone!  Today I'm sharing a butterfly card!  I like to join Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge as often as I can, even when I don't try the fold that's part of each challenge.  In this case, it was the bright, vibrant colours that inspired me as they are some of my favourites. See the inspiration graphic below.

The beautiful butterflies came from Gecko Galz Stamp Challenge for May, and I had fun colouring them with markers.  It's free to join, and the digital image is free, so why not go over and check it out.

I added accents with a white paint pen as well as little dots between the butterflies using one of my markers.  I added a die-cut scalloped frame in yellow (Impression Obsession Rectangle 6-in-1 Frames) and stamped a sentiment from Hero Arts.  As a finishing touch, I adhered gems to some of the butterfly centers.  

Below are the inspiration colours for Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge; I used fuchsia, flax, and flame so I went with Option 1, which is "any 2 of  the colours plus your butterfly."

I would also like to join the following challenges:
Allsorts 674 AG Optional Scenic 1/3
Crafts Galore Encore May 1/3

Crafty Gals Corner 230 Spring 1/3
Creative Fingers 230 AG 1/3

Die Cut Divas May AG 1/4

Digi Choosday 17 AG 2/2
DL.ART May Linky AG UE

Double Trouble 109 Thing1 Rainbow Colours 1/4
Gem of a Challenge 9 AG 2/3

Incy Wincy May Use a Die-cut or Punch 1/5

Jan's Digi Stamps May AG 1/5
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends 181 AG 2/3

Passion for Markers 638 Favourite Colours UE (I love bright colours, especially fuchsia)
Penny's Paper-Crafty 520 AG 1/3
QKR Stampede 443 AG 1/3

SheepSki 62 For the Girlz 1/3
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday AG 2/5
Word Art Wednesday 541-542 AG w Uplifting Sentiment 3/5 wk1

Your Scrapbook Place May AG 1/3

Thank you for looking at my card! Wishing you a joy-filled day!

May Guest Designer - We Love Stamping

Hello, everyone!  I have exciting news to share!  I've been invited to be a Guest Designer for May over at We Love Stamping!  Yay!  Our theme for the month is For a Lady (or Girl), so I hope you can join us!  If you would like to view the challenge rules, they can be found here.

 

For my project, I made a birthday card with stamps and colouring.  Even the striped borders are stamped!

On a white panel, I stamped the image from Waffleflower Thinking of You and then coloured it with markers, adding some highlights with a white paint pen.  For the sentiment, I white-heat-embossed a birthday greeting from Clearly Besotted A Little Sentimental on a black scrap, angle-cut the edges, and adhered with foam tape.  I stamped Your Next Stamp Thick Stripe-Tastic Diagonal Edge in black on a white scrap and then trimmed into thin strips, which I adhered on both edges of the card.  To finish it off I adhered some thin strips of orange glitter cardstock.

Thank you to Brenda at We Love Stamping for inviting me to be your Guest Designer!  I had fun!

I would also like to join the following 10 challenges:

Colour Crazy 16 AG with Colouring 1/2

DL.ART May Linky AG UE

Gem of a Challenge 9 AG 1/3

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends 181 AG 1/3

Pammie's Inky Pinkies 2217 AG 1/3 C10

Polkadoodles 17 AG 2/3

Scribbles Designs 108 Fur Babies 1/3

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday AG 1/5

The Paper Shelter 509 Birthday Card 1E

Word Art Wednesday 541-542 AG w Uplifting Sentiment 2/5 wk1

Thank you for looking at my card! Wishing you a fun and carefree day!

Guest Designer - Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #520

Hello, everyone!  I have some fun news to share!  I've been invited to be a Guest Designer over at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog this fortnight!  Yay!  The theme is Anything Goes using Paper, so I hope you'll come over and join us!  If you would like to view the challenge rules, they can be found here.

For my project, I decided to make a winter holiday card!  I enjoy making my Christmas cards all year long to avoid the rush in November/December.  Today's card features a cute digital image from SheepSki Designs called Winter Deer.

I die-cut the image into a circle (Nellie's Multiframe Circles) and added colour with Distress Oxides (Tumbled Glass and Broken China).  I added snowfall with a white paint pen and applied Star Dust Stickles all around the circle and along the snow.  This card has lots of sparkle!

On a white panel, I stamped a sentiment (Penny Black) in black and then embossed with Die'sire Embossalicious Let it Snow.  I adhered the circle to the snowflake panel and then decided to make the little scene look like an ornament.  I added a die-cut ornament topper (Top Dog Dies) in silver glitter cardstock and a bow (Elizabeth Crafts) in blue glitter cardstock and then adhered a blue gem.  To finish the look, I drew a faux string using a black fineliner.  

Thank you to Geesje at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog for inviting me to be your Guest Designer!  I had fun!

I would also like to join the following 10 challenges:

ABC Christmas I for Inky UE
BYSH Cardmakers Spring into Christmas 2022 Linky Party

Digi Choosday 17 AG 1/2

DL.ART April Linky AG UE

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends 180 AG 1/3

Polkadoodles 17 AG 1/3

QKR Stampede 442 AG 1/3

Rudolph Day April AG Christmas 1E C10

Simon Says Stamp Monday Wild and Wonderful (wild animals) 1/5

Word Art Wednesday 541-542 AG w Uplifting Sentiment 1/5 wk1

Thank you for looking at my card! Wishing you a joyful and carefree day!

Retro Kittens and Butterfly

Hi, everyone!  Today I am sharing a card featuring cute retro kittens with a butterfly.  I was inspired by several challenges, including Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge 168 (see details below).  The sweet kittens clipart is from The Digital Chick on etsy.

My card design was inspired by Sweet Sketch Wednesday Sketch 224:

I used lots of snippets/scraps so I'll be joining Snippets Playground 425.  As a matter of fact, all of the cardstock and patterned papers used on this card were from my scraps bin, so it feels great to use them!

Here's the information on Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge 168 that I mentioned above.  The letter is L is Latch Fold, but I was not brave enough to try it.  I went with Option 1, which is any two colours plus a butterfly.  My colours are Lettuce and Light Pink.

In addition to the 3 challenges mentioned above, I was also inspired by the following 7 challenges, for a total of 10:
Allsorts 670 Any Real Animal 1/3

DL.ART April Linky AG UE

Pammie's Inky Pinkies 2214 AG 1/3 C10

Show Us Your Pussycats 76 Furrything Goes w Cats UE

Simon Says Stamp Monday Easter/Spring 1/5
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday AG 1/5
Word Art Wednesday 537-538 AG with Uplifting Sentiment 1/5 wk1

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a peaceful and carefree day!