Enjoy the Summer Beach Card

Today I want to share a card I made for a challenge over at Paperthreads. The challenge was part of the July Bingo game and we were asked to create a project using as many of the Bingo words as we could. I managed to incorporate 6 of the Bingo words (beach, beach ball, ice cream, ocean, palm tree, sand). The clouds are embossed with the D'vine Swirls embossing folder and I then added crystal glitter to the swirls. I used the Forest Branches embossing folder on the trunk of the palm tree and inked it with walnut distress ink. I used the Swiss Dots embossing folder on the ice cream and Argyle on the cone. The sand on the beach is cut from sand patterned paper. I added blue Stickles to the water of the ocean. The beach sign is cut by hand and has tiny white brads in the corners. The post is embossed with the Distressed Stripes folder.


Cutter Files Used:
Clouds (cutter file from Aussie Caz)
Sand (cutter file from Ginny's Happy Cuts)
Palm Tree (cutter file from Sam & Hailey Designs)
Ice Cream (cutter file from I Scrap Designs)
Beach Ball (cutter file from Butterfly Designs)
Bear (cutter file from My Scrap Chick)

Other Supplies:
Assorted cardstock from my stash
Sand patterned paper (Shore by Colorbok)
Cuttlebug Embossing Folders (D'vine Swirls, Forest Branches, Swiss Dots, Argyle, Distressed Stripes)
Stickles (blue)
Glitter (Crafty Sparkles by Our Craft Lounge)
White mini brads
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Walnut)
Sentiment stamp from K Andrew Designs (Splashtastic Summer)





I am also linking this up to My Craft Spot - Challenge #18 (Emboss It!).


I hope you enjoyed my card. Thanks for stopping by!

Getting Cricky Guest Designer - For the Troops

I am so excited to be the Guest Designer for today's Simply Sunday challenge at Getting Cricky. This week's theme is "For the Troops" and we are creating cards to honor the men and women in our military. The Design Team will be featuring Kristal's Freedom Isn't Free Stamp Set ($1 from each set goes to Intrepid Fallen Heroes which is a non-profiit organization that provides rehabilitative services to US military members who are severely disfigured from combat). I do not own that particular stamp set, but I do own a couple of the other sets. They are fabulous stamps! I just love how cleanly they stamp and many of the sets are mix-n-match so you can create whatever sentiment you like. And the purchase of every stamp set benefits a worthy charity. You can see all of the stamp sets HERE.

I have 2 cards to share with you today. Here is the first card.




The background paper is from EK Success (Inspirables Fresh & Funky line). It made me think of fireworks when I saw it in my stash so I thought it would be perfect for this project. The flag ribbon is an Offray Microspool from Joann's. The America title is a cutter file from Shirley Clark and I adhered it with pop dots. As I mentioned above, I don't own Kristal's Freedom Isn't Free stamp set, but I loved the sentiment in the set that says "Home of the Free, Because of the Brave." I made my own using the Zipty Do font and cut it from vinyl. (I used the word land instead of the word home. I'm not sure why - maybe because I had the Star Spangled Banner playing in my head.) The stars are K & Company Americana pillow stickers. I added pen stitching with a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen around the outside of the card, as well as to the America title.

Here is the second card I created.



This card is an A2 size card. Usually I make my cards 5x7 because I like the bigger size for adding lots of embellishments and I buy the pre-made cards and envelopes in bulk. But for this card I really wanted to use my Stars embossing folder and that is designed for the smaller A2 card. I used blue cardstock for the background and then sanded the embossed areas to expose the white core. The eagle and the word freedom are from Visual Designs by Chris. The eagle is adhered with pop dots. I added K & Company pillow stickers to two of the embossed stars. Finally, I added some pen stitching around the outside of the card with a blue marker.

I hope you enjoyed the cards I shared with you today. Be sure to stop by Getting Cricky to see what the Design Team has created for this week's challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Owl Thank You Card

The girls on Kristal's design team over at Getting Cricky are hosting a blog hop to thank Kristal for all that she does and they are featuring thank you cards that they have made for her. If you are interested in joining the hop, click HERE to start at the beginning. They have invited Kristal's blog readers to create cards for Kristal as well. I actually had a card started for Kristal already to thank her for some amazing blog candy that I won from her, so I quickly finished it so I could share it with you today.



The card base and elements are from a cutter file designed by Jan of Sam & Hailey Designs. I just love shaped cards, don't you? I added Raspberry Tart Fun Flock to the owl's belly and gave her some googly eyes. There is pen stitching around the pink circle and the white flower. The card is held together with a floral brad from my stash. And the sentiment is from Kristal's Food for Thought stamp set. In case any of you do not know Kristal, she loves owls, so expect to see lots of owls on the cards for her. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Gifted with Another Blog Award

Jenni over at My Lollipop Garden has been sweet enough to gift me with a blog award. Thanks, Jenni! To earn this award I need to pass it on to five other people and let you all know five things about myself. Here we go...

1. Before I discovered my passion for papercrafts, I used to tell my husband that I wasn't creative. He laughs at me about that now.
2. I have never flown in an airplane, but I have ridden in a hot air balloon.
3. I have a degree in Economics from Cornell University.
4. I am a Chocoholic. I cannot keep any chocolate in the house for fear that I will devour it all.
5. My favorite sound in the world is my son's laughter.

Now, I need to pass the award on. Here are some very wonderful blogs with LOTS of style. Some of these I have been following for awhile and some I have just started following, but they are all worth a visit. Stop by and give them some love! And be sure to stop by and visit Jenni as well at her blog. :-)

Shen @ My Curious Crafts
Leanne @ Sweet Little Scraps
Pam @ Crafty Cards 4 U 2
Karen @ Crafted With Love by Karen
Kristan @ Baby Cakes

Enjoy the award ladies and remember to pass it on.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Birthday Card

Last week I entered a card into the Birthday Sundaes challenge for the first time (you can see the card HERE if you missed it). I am so excited that it ended up being one of the featured cards for the week.



So today I want to share another birthday card with you. I didn't make this card with anyone particular in mind, but now that it is finished I think I will send it to my sister-in-law, who is celebrating her birthday in a few weeks. The background paper is from the Paper Studio (Sprinkles) that I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby. It was just too cute to pass up. The Happy Birthday title with cupcake is from FileKutz by LisaJane. I cut it from pink vinyl (mainly because I didn't have the right color paper). The cherry has Pink Stickles added to it and the cupcake itself has Frosted Lace Stickles. I then added some pink rhinestones (from Creative Charms) for sprinkles. There is also some pink ribbon from American Crafts and some pen stitching around the title block.




I am entering this card into this week's Birthday Sundaes challenge (Anything Goes).

Thanks for stopping by!

Let's Ketchup Card & A Tip to Share

This week's Simply Sunday Challenge over at Getting Cricky is all about food. The theme is Lunchbox Lovin' and what a great matchup with Kristal's Food for Thought stamp set (I just love the cute sayings in this set and Kristal donates $1 from the sale of each stamp set to a very worthy charity). Before I share my card with you, I want to let you know that I won last week's Simply Sunday challenge (Fashionista theme - if you didn't see it already, you can see my card HERE) and will be the Guest Designer this Sunday. I am so excited so be sure to stop back on Sunday.




My card for this week's challenge features a cutting file from the sweet and talented Shirley Clark. The papers are all from my stash so I am not sure where some of them are from. I know the striped piece is from Michael's (Recollections) and the blue strip is Bazzill, but the rest I have no idea. I used my Bazzill In Stitch'z template for the stitching (silly stitches). The buttons and snaps are from my stash. I am not sure how I feel about the snaps I used. I think they are a little too pastel, but it is what I had on hand. I pop-dotted the one tomato for added dimension. The sentiment is from K Andrew's Food for Thought stamp set (which you can find HERE). The faces on the tomatoes are from Peachy Keen Stamps (Everyday Faces and Wide Eyed Kids).

I have a tip to share about the face stamps. I am never sure which face I want to use and it is hard for me to visualize without actually seeing the face on my project. Rather than pull out each stamp and hold it over the card, I decided to stamp all my faces on a transparency sheet.




Now I can easily hold each face over my image and see which one I like best.

This worked really well for me. Maybe someone else will find it useful as well. Now I just need to label each face so I know where to find the corresponding stamp. Don't forget to stop back on Sunday to see my project for the Guest Designer spot at Getting Cricky.

Thanks for stopping by!

Floral Birthday Card

Today I am sharing a birthday card I made for a close family friend, a woman who was like a second mother to me growing up. The background was embossed with my Plum Blossoms Cuttlebug folder. I used my Scor-Pal to create veins in the leaves. The flowers have either pearls or orange rhinestones for their centers.


The flowers and vines are from LisaJane over at Filekutz Designs. This is my take on the challenge that she is hosting over at her challenge blog. The Flower Vine Border file is available for download and the only requirement is to use the file in your project and link it back to her blog. The winner will also receive 3 free files from LisaJane. What a great challenge, right? You get a free file just for participating and have the chance to win even more files. The other ladies on the Design Team will also have examples to share to inspire your creativity. Please be sure to check out their fabulous projects as well. We would love to see what you create with this floral file.

Here is a photo of the free file that will be available. The File comes in WPC, GSD, SVG, AI, KNK, MTC. The challenge is open until July 31st.





I am also entering this card into the Birthday Sundaes challenge (create a birthday card using the colors orange, green & white).

Thanks for stopping by!