Snail Mail

 I took a little time to play in a couple of challenges today.
One is Tuesday Morning Sketches  #704 using this sketch:

And the other challenge is a new one to me
but am sure I will be joining it on a monthly basis and it is
Wood Block Wednesday

where you are to use a wood block stamp
and if you have been following my blog then you know my
friend gave me ALL her wood block stamps last summer,
boxes and bags of them, I was in wood block stamp heaven!!

The block I am using today is this never seen ink before cute snail
from Outline Rubber Stamps and thought it would pair up good with a
sentiment from Pretty Pink Posh.
I used an already embossed panel underneath.

That's it for me today, just something fun and quick!!

Big Bold Butterfly

Out challenge theme for The Sisterhood of Crafters is
BUTTERFLIES
for the next couple of weeks,

I used a beautiful set I purchased form Pink Fresh Studio. 
There are many options to this set, stamps, dies, foil plates and of course
the stencils.  I stamped my image first, then stenciled it with a five
piece stencil set and then die cut it out.
The sentiment is part of the stamp set.  The name of the set is
just simply Butterflies.  My next time I use these I will use the glimmer plate
first.  I placed it on a 3D Spellbinders Floral Frenzy embossing folder
that once embossed I cut in half and made two cards with it,
You will see that card further down the road!
I really love how this card turned out!

This is part of the set, minus the foil plate.

If you haven't tried the layering stencils you should do so,
they are super easy to use and the finished results are always amazing!!

Make sure to visit over at The Sisterhood and see what the 'sistah's
have to inspire you, lots of beautiful butterflies there!

Entering the following challenges:
Word Art Wednesday .... ATG
Simon Says Wednesday .... ATG
Elliebelle's Crafty Wednesday .... ATG
Country View .... Things With Wings
Sparkles Monthly .... Emboss It

Rainy Days

 Today I am joining the Memory Box challenge
The Sky's The Limit!

I had fun with this card creating some fun plaid and polka dots clouds with
Memory Box  Cloud Bank Dies, this is a nice set of 9 different cloud dies
giving you lots of options to create with!!
I also used the Memory Box Proper Umbrella die
and cut it out in fun bright and cheerful colors.
The sentiment is from Elizabeth Crafts

I thought it worked perfect for my fun clouds and happy umbrellas!!.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!!
It's 40 and raining here!!!!

Also entering the following challenges:
Fab 'n' Funky .... April Showers May Flowers  Umbrellas and/or Flowers

Pink Fresh Studios April Challenge

 I am joining in the April Pink Fresh Studios monthly challenge
which is FLOWERS or you can use the colors or BOTH!

I am a Pink Fresh Studios 'junkie'!!  It is one of my favorite companies to purchase
products from, it seems almost every order to scrapbook.com has something
of Pink Fresh in it, I have a lot and I mean a lot of their products,

which makes me ask myself 'why don't I do their monthly challenges?'
So I am now going to try and do better at that!!

Almost all of my products used are from Pink Fresh Studio
with the exception of the embossing folder, that is from the Spellbinders 3D
embossing folder  'Flower Frenzy', it's  beauty isn't it?

My Pink Fresh Studio products used are
Happy Blooms Floral Stamp, die and stencil

Folk Edge Circle Die

Ballet Slipper Jewels

and everybody's favorite Perfect Sentiments stamps and dies!!

I first purchased the stencil for the
Happy Blooms set and what I thought was the matching die
but to my 'dismay' I had purchased the Happy Blooms Frame die instead.
So then I also decided I need the matching stamp set and ordered it and the correct die.
But what's a girl to do with the other die? 
Well, buy the stamp set for that of
course which I did,
but now I see there is a stencil to go with the Happy Blooms Frame as
well, it will be on my next order, not a hardship, hah!!

Thanks for 'listening' to all my 'babble'
and have a great day!  I am NOT affiliated with Pink Fresh Studios
in any way, I just LOVE their products, it's an addiction!!

Also entering the following fun challenges:
Make My Monday .... Flowers
613 Avenue Create .... Let's Stencil
Creatalicious .... ATG~Optional Use a Stencil
Happy Little Stampers .... Stencil

Word Art Wednesday .... ATG
Double Trouble .... Celebrate A Special Lady

Sketch 724

It's once again Sketch time at Sketch Saturday and what a creative one it is.
The optional 'twist' is monochromatic. 

It might be hard to tell but I did use a monochromatic panel 
at the bottom of my card but up close and personal you CAN see it!
The little frames are a die from Memory Box and it's my first time using them.
I added little floral images behind each using tiny prints from Graphic 45.
I added a tiny bow and the background paper is from an old paper pad by SU.

We would love to have your interpretation of our sketch!
See YOU at Sketch Saturday!!

Baby Boy

 Our new challenge starts today at
Can You Handle The Pressure
and the 'optional' theme is BABY!

You can choose to go with our optional theme or not
but you just need to make sure you use an embossing folder,
after all, that is what we are all about!

I used an old but favorite EB folder from Darice.
I'm not sure of the name but it is a quilted folder
and reminded me of  baby quilt.
I ran it thru my Big Shot using cord-inations paper
which I lightly sanded to show more of the texture!

The pocket was cut using a nesting set of pockets from
Honey Bee, the paper I used for the pocket is a
random piece from my stash.
The silly giraffes are Impression Obsession .
I added bow ties to each!

Hope to see YOU over at Can You Handle The Pressure,
get those poor neglected embossing folders out and join us!

Things That Fly

 The challenge at Double D is Things That Fly
giving you LOTS of options to create with.
We have a mood board full of inspiration and ideas of just a few 'flying things'!

Things That Fly 

I let the bottom right inspire me with the regal owl!
I have had this 2012 Stampendous Steampunk Owl stamp for quite sometime.
In fact I have 2 of him as a friend gave me one too, mine is on a wood block, the other
a rubber cling stamp.  Once he was stamped I colored him with Copics and a couple
glitter pens.  I added a 'cork' frame (it's real cork but part of a paper pack)
it's rather thin and has a peel off adhesive.  I also added an old piece of SU
designer paper underneath but as I usually do managed to cover most of it up!
I think this will make a nice masculine card as soon as I decide on a perfect sentiment!

'Fly' on over to Double D and see all the mazing inspiration from the teams
we have a random prize to give away to one lucky entrant too,
so make sure to join in with us, it could be YOU!

Entering the following challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday .... Things With Wings
Country View Crafts ....Things With Wings (m)

Peace On Earth Challenge #38

 Peace On Earth has a new challenge starting today with a fun 
mood board of gnomes!  It's for inspiration only, you don't have to
use gnomes as it's always an anything goes as long as it's
Christmas themed!

I went with the gnome theme as I had them so why not use them!

They are a set of dies from Cottage Cutz, picky little things to
put together but so worth it!
I also used a row of trees from Cheaop dies and  a pretty piece of
snowflake paper for my background!

We would love to have YOU join us at
Peace on Earth and stop in to see all the inspiration
from the Design Teams!!

Entering the following challenges:
Christmas Kickstart .... Gnome For Christmas

A Barrel of Monkeys Popits Challenge

It's challenge #3 at
A Barrel of Monkeys and the theme is Pop-its.
This is a challenge where all the themes are based on kids toys
and it's up to you how the toy inspires you,
is it the colors, the shapes or the toy image itself? 

I think it's the colors and the butterfly that got me inspired!
I have had this butterfly die from Stampendous that I have had 
forever along with a matching stamp set I have never used
so pulled it out as I thought it was the perfect size to emboss with
my WeR Memory Keepers Dotted 3D embossing folder.
I first inked up a panel using various Distress Inks,
 die cutting it out, then embossing with the folder.
The big Hello is a Pink Fresh Studios Simply Sentiments
Hello stamp set.  I added a few gold half gems to finish,
also from Pink Fresh.
The purple gingham is from my bag of gingham scraps~

This is a fun challenge and we would like to have you join
in with us with your interpretation of the Pop-its
at A Barrel of Monkeys!

April Floral Color Challenge

It's time for a new color flower challenge at
Beautiful Blossoms and we have a colorful mood board below
showing the pretty combination. 

We are also joining in the challenge with Double Trouble

Now onto my card:

I know my blue looks off but it really is spot on, just my photo editing
changed the color slightly.
I used a 1998 Penny Black Wild Rose Frame stamp given to me by a friend.
I stamped it in Versamark on a Spellbinders Hemstitch die cut 
 then embossed with Ranger Princess Gold
embossing powder.  The card has a pretty sheen IRL!

The sentiment is from Pink Fresh Studios.

Head on over to Beautiful Blossoms to see some gorgeous floral beauty,
very inspiring and we would love to have you join us!

Entering the following challenges:
Double Trouble .... Celebrate A Special Lady

TOB April Mid Month Reminder

We are half way through our Two Old Bats
year round Halloween challenge and have a stormy skies
inspiration board, but you can create anything as long as
it is Halloween themed.

  Inspiration Board

I did a simple card using one of the photos right from the mood board.
I adhered it to a star background paper from 
Pink & Main's Not Too Spooky paper pad.
A Martha Stewart punch is my flying witch, flying right into the storm.

The pumpkins and Happy Halloween text is an old (2001)
rub on from K&C, about time I used them don't you think?

Get those Halloween supplies out and join us at Two Old Bats,
if 25 or more players we have a fun prize to a random drawn winner!!

Frog Went A Courtin

It's April Showers time at The Sisterhood of Crafters!

I had this adorably cute frog stamp from a set of Pebbles 2021 stamps.
This set has the cutest images on it that I hope to use again soon!
When I saw him I immediately thought of him holding an umbrella
which I borrowed from a My Favorite Things stamp set and stamped
then paper pieced.  The 'rain' was also borrowed from another
stamp set, stamped with Versamark then embossed with
Zing Frost embossing powder.
The background paper is from a 2013 Pebbles Garden Party pad.
I added a little green leaf flourish and flower to finish it off!

Won't YOU join us at The Sisterhood with your interpretation of
April Showers?  The 'sistahs' have some very pretty inspiration for you there as well!

Sketch 723

A new challenge starts today at Sketch Saturday with an 
'optional' twist of a 'pick me up' theme.

I used one of the stamps given to me from a friend last summer when
she purged her stamps, my goodness, you should see all the gorgeous
wood mounted stamps she gave up, I was one lucky recipient!
It's an old PSX 1993 stamp, isn't it pretty?
I stamped it on a Cottage Cutz die cut doily then colored it in with my Copics
The sentiment is from Pretty Pink Posh.
The background paper is from last year when I went on a paper
splurge of mostly blues/navy papers, it is from Prima's Frayed Denim pad.

We would love to see YOU at Sketch Saturday with your 
interpretation of our sketch!

Celebrate

A new embossing folder challenge starts toady at 
Can You Handle The Pressure
and our OPTIONAL theme is CLOUDS!
Remember the theme is just that, optional,
and you can create anything you want
as long as an embossing folder has been used!

I used an OLD folder this time from SU called Cloudy Day!
I let the entire folder be my background and die cut 
three kites to soar through the clouds.
Each kite was cut twice and paper pieced.
The kite ties were colored with Copics, the celebrate sentiment
and banner it's on are all part of the same die cut set from Sizzix.

Hope to see YOU over at Can You Handle The Pressure!

April Showers

It's time for our first challenge this month at 
Double D and our theme is APRIL SHOWERS.
Just look at the cute mood board we have for you
just to inspire YOU to have some fun with us!

 April Showers

I pulled out several things to use for this challenge
then had to decide WHICH one to use!
I finally decided on this adorable bunny stamp I purchased way back when I
worked for Dies R Us.

It is Pink Ink Designs Rain Mouse.
I think Miss mousey is distraught as she just came out to water
her flowers and it has started to rain!  I used my Tombow markers
to color her in and it has been well over a year

since I have worked with them, a learning experience once again!
But I did see on a FB group I belong to that Strathmore Bristol 

smooth surface 100# paper was found to be the best for Tombow
so I did purchase some and yes, it is VERY smooth for sure!

For the background of my card I used a rain rain go away paper
from Pebbles Garden Party pad.  Yikes it says 2013  on it, it's ten years old
finally time to use it I would say.
I had a frame just sitting and waiting to be used in my already small
bins of cut outs to use and added that behind my image!

Take a peek over at Double D, the design teams always always
have amazing creations for inspiration!

Entering the following challenges:

Little Red Wagon .... Spring or Fall?  It's Spring for me with all the beautiful Spring flowers!!
Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday .... ATG
Word Art Wednesday .... ATG
Passion For Markers .... Animals

Hello

 Our Stencil Fun challenge (Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game)
starts a new month today!
Our 'twist' is patterns but you can use any stencil you want,
it's just that, an optional twist!

Last summer while at the lake house I took my stencil
notebook with me and spent many an evening 
stenciling to my hearts content while the hubby watched TV.
This is one of the stencils I did.
It is The Greetery Square Dance, it was a fun stencil for sure!
I added Cottage Ctuz die cuts Stitched Tulip and Daisy
cut with lots of scraps of papers, 
along with a Hello sentiment stamped and cut with 
Pink Fresh Studio's Perfect Sentiments.
This is the the stamp that is all one big stamp,
you stamp all the sentiments at once and then they can be
die cut all at once, making it fast and easy and so many colors
you can choose to stamp with!

My second card was created for the 'anything goes' sample.
Since there are just two of us on the design team we each 
make a twist card and an anything goes card!

The stencil I used for this one is Pink Fresh Studio's 
Delicate Floral Print as is the sentiment like I mentioned above.

Dar and I would love to have you join in our

Stencil Fun challenge with us and we won't always
but sometimes there is a fun stencil prize
randomly drawn from one of the entries!!

Entering the following challenges:
613 Create .... ATG Optional Stencil

April 2023 Triple B Challenge

We are already into April which makes me happy as it will soon be time to clean
up all my gardens from the winter mess!  I love the Spring air and all the blooms
and singing birds.

April also brings us to our second Birds~Blooms~Butterflies challenge at 
TRIPLE B!
Dar has created this months inspiration board and it's just that 'inspiration'
as you can create anything you want as long as it has
birds, blooms or butterflies on it, you can add one, two, or all three if you prefer! 

Inspiration Board

I did let the inspiration board inspire me by going with the bottom left corner.
The stamp I used is a BIG one and an oldie by Stampendpous (1998) Garden Birdhouses.
It is a stamp I was lucky enough to be given when my friend purged out all her wooden
block stamps.  It stamped out beautifully and colored in easily too!
Besides the gingham background the only thing I had to add were three bluebirds
to finish my card.

We would love to see YOU join us at Triple B
and can't wait to see your creation!

Entering the following challenges:
Stamping Sensations .... ATG goes with optional Cas (not playing the option)
We Love Stamping .... ATG (not playing the option of real birds/animals)

Pastel Color Challenge

Colorful Options has a pretty mood board this month and it is all about
PASTELS which to me are always so dreamy and beautiful!!

I created an Easter card just in the nick of time for April 9th!

The base of my card is a last piece of card stock from Stampin Up
topped with a swirly embossed background.
The egg is from a Spellbinders nesting egg die
(only I would have nesting egg dies lol, and I have 2 different sets of them)!
The paper I used for the egg is my favorite paper company MINTAY
from the Happy Place collection!
The sentiment and wavy banner are Lawn Fawn
and those cute little bunnies are Impression Obsession!

Do you love pastels too?
If so, then join in our challenge at Colorful Options
but be sure to check out the design team inspiration either way!

Entering the following challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday ....Anything Goes
C.R.A.F.T. .... Easter (bunnies & egg are Easter)
I Spy with My Little Eye .... Spring or Easter
Word Art Wednesday .... ATG

TOB April Halloween Challenge

Happy April Fools Day
but we aren't 'foolin' when it comes to the new start of our
year round Halloween challenge at Two Old Bats !

We have anew monthly inspiration/mood board but 
you can create anything as long as it is HALLOWEEN themed!

 Inspiration Board

Lots of spooky weather on that inspiration board for the month of April!
I let the lightening inspire me, adhered to a starry background paper 
from Echo Park's I Love Halloween paper pad.
The witch is a MS punch and she is fly8ing right into the path
of the lightening!
The haunted house is from a sticker pack I have had forever in my stash (2001)
and it looks as though the lightening is striking right on the house,
maybe that is why all those ghosts are flying out the window!

So get YOUR spook on and join us at Two Old Bats
for a spook-tacular fun time!!

Entering the Following challenges:

Halloween Crafts All Year Round .... ATG Halloween

Peace On Earth Challenge #37

It's time again for a new challenge at Peace On Earth
and as always it's an ANYTHING GOES challenge
as long as it is Christmas themed!
Because it is April I thought it would be fun to do a 
Rainbow themed inspiration board,
but it is just that, for inspiration!

I for one always let the inspiration boards inspire me,
I find it fun and, well, challenging!

For my cards I went with the bottom left corner.  Pretty easy as I had
saved some packaging from something I purchased that had the
rainbow colors so I just cut my stockings from that.
The stocking die I used has become a favorite of mine, it is from Sizzix.
It comes with the bow and candy cane and I added some greens,
the tree and the gingerbread!  The embossed background panels
on both were a couple I already had embossed in my stash and seemed to work
well for both.  The sentiment is from one of those $1 sets you used to find
instore years ago!
I had a lot of fun putting these together and they are easier mailers too!!

Card #1

Card #2

Make sure to visit at Peace On Earth and see all the beautiful
holiday creations from the design team!!

Four Seasons April Spring

We are still happily into SPRING at Four Seasons
and have a pretty mood board for inspiration.

You can let it inspire you like it did me or create anything as
long as it is SPRING themed! 

Anything Spring 

I created my card with a newly purchased Bouquet of Tulips die
from Cottage Cutz.  When they have their up to 80% off sales I really stock
up on their dies knowing they will come in pretty handy down the road!

I die cut all my pieces from white card stock then colored them in with Copics,
sometimes I cut in all colors of scrap card stock but this way is much easier
and quicker then doing that.
I used a Pink Fresh Studio Blanket Stitched Circle, using the negative part
and placing my designer paper behind.
The sentiment is also from Pink Fresh Studio Simply Sentiments-Hello.

We hope to see YOU at Four Seasons and make sure to stop by to
see all the beauty from the design team!!

Entering the following challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge .... Anything Goes