The Flower Challenge #75 -- CHRISTMAS

The challenge theme for The Flower Challenge for December is CHRISTMAS.

And it's a short month, too, because of the busy holiday season. 

 

 Here's my card, using a traditional Christmastime plant--the poinsettia.

I assembled a Pretty Pink Posh poinsettia and spattered it with white paint.

A piece of gray and white gingham was adhered to a card base, cut at an angle

for a bit of interest. I stamped the sentiment at an angle, then adhered

the poinsettia to the card. Done!

Off to enter this or I'll have missed another challenge deadline!

Thanks for stopping by!

Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge -- SNOWMAN

I've become a fan of Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenges because I'm using coffee themed

stamps and dies that I've accumulated over the years. And I'm a fan of creator Amy Tsuruta

who I've had the pleasure of meeting when she came down to Honolulu years ago.

Here is this month's theme -- SNOWMAN/SNOWMEN.

 

And here's my card.

MFT's Snow Buddy reminded me of a juggling snowman which is what I made him do--

happily juggle some coffee mugs. Empty, of course!

I stamped the sentiment, then ran the panel through a snowflake embossing folder.

I colored the pieces of the snowman then assembled him on the panel. Four mugs

were cut and colored and adhered above the snowman.

 

 This card turned out differently from what I originally had in mind but I'm pleased

with my juggling Snow Buddy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Final Fusion Card Challenge -- Christmas Chalkboard

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was saddened to hear that another card challenge is

closing their doors. Fusion Card Challenge was the brainchild of Lesley Croghan and 

Jackie Rockwell and I liked the concept of playing with either the sketch or photo, or both. 

I didn't play as often as I could, but here are some of my cards from past challenges.

 

 

 

Here's the graphic for the last challenge--Christmas Chalkboard.

 

I played with the sketch and used inspiration from the photo. 

 

I cheated and used some Catherine Pooler patterned paper which had the perfect

chalkboard design. It's not Christmasy but I found a holiday sentiment from Hero Arts

that hopefully pulled it all together.

Thank you, Fusion Card Challenge, for the years of inspiration from the DT and 

participants and know that you will be missed 💗

* * * 

 

Edited to add: My card was chosen as the winner for the last challenge! Honored to be

the Zen Master and display this badge.

The Flower Challenge #74 -- Add Embellishments

Hello, hello! I'm back with a card for The Flower Challenge #74 to add embellishments.

 

 

Here's my project using Altenew's Craft-a-Flower Snowdrops Layering Set and

my embellishment of choice--sequins.

 

I started with navy card stock and cut two panels using Reverse Wonky Rectangles then 

the front piece was embossed with a bit of snowfall. All the floral pieces were die cut with

white card stock and colored then assembled on the front panel between hand cut snow drifts.

 

I adhered the PTI sentiment and iridescent sequins then joined the panels together 

with a hinge. I added another embellishment--glitter--but it was difficult to photograph.

Trust me, it's there on the top layer of snow.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

..........

Edited to add: Oops! I thought I had more time to enter but I see that the linky is closed.

I guess I shouldn't have done so much Black Friday shopping! 😜

Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge #11 -- HOLLY

The theme for Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge #11 is HOLLY. 

Here is my card.

 

I inked a Lil' Inker Designs mug in red ink then colored and added a bit of holly.

 

 

A strip of Catherine Pooler patterned paper was adhered to a card base then topped off 

with the mug and greenery. I added some red enamel dots as holly berries and stamped

the curved sentiment.

I'm also linking up this card to the 2022 Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop since

the card has all that holly.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

* * * * *

Edited to add: My CCCC card was chosen as a Top Pick! So honored! This means I will be 

guesting with them come January. Thanks so much, Amy, and to Kathy who made the pick!

2022 Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

 

Joining the latest season of the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop with a slimline card.

Sadly, Lil' Inkers has closed up its shop but I loved their coffee mugs and sentiments so much

that I decided to use them. I'm sure they were Super Sponsors at some point.

The mugs were cut from white card stock and the sentiments were white embossed on them.

I inked them in autumnal colors from Concord & 9th. They were adhered to a slimline panel, 

then finished off with brown enamel dots.

Huge thanks to Amy and her helpers for putting together another fantastic hop!

Inspired by GNOMES

I'm joining the newest Inspired by Challenge because of the challenge theme: GNOMES.

 

Gnomes. You either love 'em or not. They were so trendy last Christmas and I believe 

I bought every gnome die that Simon Says Stamp came out with. 

 

Here's my simple card. I was going to use Laurel's sketch but was too lazy to cut up

the patterned paper. 

 

I embossed a panel with woodgrain planks, adhered the paper and popped up the

gnome.The (retired) PTI sentiment was cut three times from white card stock and 

adhered together to form a thicker sentiment.

 

The card was finished off with some iridescent sequins. Off to link up this card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Color Throwdown Featured Stamper -- CTD717

I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that my card was the random winner over

at Color Throwdown Challenge. And as the Featured Stamper, I was invited to guest 

for Challenge 717.

 

 The color palette is mustard, pink, and green. 

Truthfully I was a little worried but then I remembered I didn't open or use some goodies

from Concord & 9th and used them for the very first time.

The alphas were cut from white card stock and the flowers and leaves were cut from

colored card stock and a bit of color was added so they wouldn't look so flat.

I inlaid the pieces into the alphas and adhered them to a quilted card base. I'm not sure

if you can see it well but teeny tiny green gemstones were added to some leaves. I 

finished off the card with the secondary sentiment.

 

It's such a happy card with the springtime colors--even though we're headed into fall.

Or is it winter? No seasonal changes here in the islands so I'm always clueless.

 

Thanks to Color Throwdown Challenge for the invitation as the Featured Stamper.

Hop on over to the blog and see how the rest of the design team featured the colors

and play along if you can.

One Card, Two Challenges

It's not often that I enter two challenges at once, but my card fits the criteria for

Color Throwdown 715 and Freshly Made Sketches 558.

 

 

Here's my card. The Throwdown colors are green, orange, and white and I just

realized I threw in a bit of gold. Uh oh.

The leaves and sentiment are by Waffle Flower Crafts. I own a bunch of leaf dies

but have to admit that these are among my faves. The solid portion was colored with

Zig Markers and a waterbrush and the gold outline was adhered slightly offset

and bent a little for interest. I stamped the sentiment in brown ink and rounded

off the right bottom corner.

 

Off to enter these--both deadlines are tomorrow! Yikes!

Thanks for stopping by!

* * * 

 

Edited to add: My card was chosen as the random winner of the challenge! As the

Featured Stamper I'm invited to join a future challenge. Stay tuned!

 

* * *

 

My card was also chosen as the Queen of Clean on Freshly Made Sketches!

SO very honored--thank you, Jacquie!

 

Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge #10 -- GNOMES

 

Entering Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge is a first for me. I've always meant to 

join a challenge but never had the time. I couldn't resist this month's challenge because 

I have a few gnomes and a ton of coffee related stamps and dies.

I had some leftover gnomes and wanted to have one holding onto a coffee mug.

Extra gnome noses worked perfectly as hands! The sentiment was stamped on a

panel before being embossed with the coffee cups so it's a little wonky looking

but still readable, I think.

A strip of gingham plaid was added to the panel and the gnome and some

greenery were adhered to the card.

And I can chalk up another Christmas card for my stash!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Flower Challenge 73 -- Use a Sentiment and 6th Birthday

The Flower Challenge is celebrating their 6th birthday and the current challenge is

to Use a Sentiment.

 

I started stenciling Altenew's Flower Bed Stencil and couldn't stop at one panel.

It's a fun stencil with unlimited color combinations. After working on the stenciling,

I chose three different sentiments from Concord & 9th.

The main sentiment was cut from Concord & 9th's Mushroom card stock and all were

backed with vellum. I went "old school" and used gemstones from my stash to finish off 

all three cards.

Happy 6th Birthday, Flower Challenge. Here's to many more years of floral inspiration!

Fusion Challenge -- Autumn Leaves

I have a soft spot for leaves and after seeing blogging friend Michele's card and finding out

that Fusion's latest challenge is all about leaves, I had to join in. 

At Fusion you can play with the sketch or with the inspiration photo, or both. I went with

the photo--such gorgeous colors!

 

A pad of Altenew patterned paper made quick work of choosing the colors, and I

used a retired set of leaves from MFT. A dark brown panel was embossed with

an Altenew folder and the leaves were adhered and pulled up for dimension.

I die cut the "thankful" from white card stock, then inked it in ombré colors and

adhered it to the shadow piece. The sentiment was then adhered to the card.

Thanks to Michele for directing me to the challenge and thanks for stopping by!

Inspired by National Coffee Day

 

I was excited to see that Laurel and Inspired by Challenges are back! And I wanted

to participate in the current challenge which is all about coffee.

 

 

Here's Laurel's easy peasy sketch.

 

 

And here's my easy peasy take on it.

 

 

 I own SO MANY coffee themed stamps and dies and one of my faves is this set of 

cups from Memory Box, which is long discontinued. I cut them from white card 

stock and inked them in warm colors. I die cut a small heart from the middle 

mug and mounted all of the cups on a kraft card base.

 

 Originally I was planning to white emboss the sentiment, but after stamping it 

in Versamark ink, I like how it looked so I clear embossed it instead. 

 

And that's a wrap. I'd better link this card in the IB gallery. 

Thank for stopping by! 

 

 

Guest Designer at The Flower Challenge

 

Several months ago I was invited to guest at The Flower Challenge and I humbly 

accepted. The theme for this month's challenge is to Add Sparkle in addition to 

featuring flowers as the focal point.

Here's my card featuring some subtle sparkle.

I'm such a fan of Honeybee Stamps' Lovely Layer flowers. This time I used the Coneflower

Honey Cuts. I cut all the pieces from white card stock and inked them with various dye inks.

The sentiment was silver embossed and the card was finished off with a rounded right

corner and some sparkling sequins.

So grab your bling and join the challenge! You have a full month to join and

you can enter more than once. Hope to see you in the gallery!

Many thanks to Viv and the DT for the kind invite to guest with you! 💝

A Card for Elysha

When blogging friend Aileen (huh_what_pardon) requested a card for her

sweet daughter's 30th birthday on Instagram, I couldn't resist. Judging by the 

responses and comments, Elysha will be receiving a ton of well wishes, and Aileen's

husband will be building a second mailbox just for Elysha's cards.

 

I asked Aileen what were Elysha's interests and favorite colors and made my card

per her responses.

 

I finally took out the rainbow sets from Honeybee Stamps from its packaging. I usually like 

to ink distress, but sought the easy route because I want to get this into the mail as soon

 as possible. It's quite a distance between Hawaii and Australia.

 

I liked the pastel colors in this patterned paper pad and finished off the card with a

sentiment from Simon Says Stamp and some iridescent drops.

 

Wishing Elysha the happiest birthday with many more to come! 

 

 

The Flower Challenge 71 and SSS August Flickr Challenge

I'm linking up this card to two challenges: The Flower Challenge 71--Circle/Circles, and

Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge for August which is Anything Goes.

 

 

 

The circle diecut is from an old deckle edge set that is so old, I don't remember 

the company I bought it from. I want to say it's from Papertrey Ink but there was

no packaging so maybe it's not. Lil' Inkers, maybe? I miss that company.

Here's a closer look at the diecut. If anyone knows where it's from, I'd be much

obliged. It came in two sizes and I also have a rectangle set of two dies.

The hummingbird and flowers are from Simon's Dream Big release. I've never seen

a real hummingbird, and I think I colored him a bit too bold. The sentiment is 

from Avery Elle.

Thanks so much for stopping by!