Eat Cake

Did my title get your attention?
It sounds pretty good, though I wouldn't want to eat this cake since those
pesky little mice have been in it.  The only kind of mice I can tolerate
are the ones made into stamps, otherwise I would be screaming
through the house!

I created this card with a few challenges in mind,
first being Woodblock Wednesday. 

I told myself last year
that I was going to try to enter this challenge every month the entire year,
so far, so good LOL!!

A few summers ago I purchased several House Mouse stamps off a friend that
quit card making, and received even more from two generous friends,
one in particular gave me ALL her wood block stamps
making this the perfect monthly challenge for me!

This house mouse stamp is Birthday Cupcake (2003)
stamped on a Spellbinders Label 3 (an oldie).
The background is washi tape from Altnew, it has gold shiny splatters all over it.    The sentiment is from The Greetery
and the glittery banner is die cut from Tonic.

Also entering these fun challenges:
House-Mouse & Friends .... Optional to add gold/silver or anything goes
Seize The Birthday .... ATG

Simon Says Wednesday .... ATG

Sketch Saturday #743

A new sketch is up at our challenge for Sketch Saturday and the
optional twist is to use your favorite stamp .

For my card I turned the sketch so go vertical using a few dies
and designer papers from Carta Bella's Flora 6 x 6  paper pad.
I did use a favorite sentiment stamp from The Ton Easy Expressions.
The circle die is Tutti Designs,  the background die is Spellbinders Label 17,
the flower/ribbon die is Memory Box Petal Ribbon, and the small leaves are Yvonne Designs.
A few gems were added to the flower centers.

We would love to see YOUR take on our sketch
so head on over to Sketch Saturday and join in with us!

Happy Birthday

Hello and welcome to our challenge at
Can You Handle The Pressure
where embossing folders rule! 
You MUST use an embossing folder though heat embossing is permitted
as long as you have included an embossing folder!
Our OPTIONAL theme is birthdays!

With the making of this card my mojo had left the station!
Something so simple as a birthday card and I was at a loss!
I have a ton of new, beautiful embossing folders and I grabbed this very OLD
Cuttlebug folder, must of been my 'what do I create" mood!
I embossed the birthday folder on a Spellbinders labels die cut
then die cut a few balloons (Creative Expressions, I think) from
various scraps of colorful cardstock and to give them a 'confetti' look
I added a few dots.  The balloon string was sitting on my work desk
that came in a cutely tied up order from Newton's Nook!

Bright colors, maybe this will cheer up someone's special day!!

I hope you will join our fun at Can You Handle The Pressure,
we would LOVE to see you there!!

Winter Blues

Can you believe we are nearing the end of January
and if you are like me you are very happy about that,
living where I live that means we have almost put 
another month of cold behind us!!

It also brings us to a new challenge theme at
The Sisterhood of Crafters and that theme is
Winter Blues, meaning to use blue in your creation!

I had a pretty powdery blue card base already sitting there
waiting to be used and topped it with a
Penny Black Masterpieces Made Simple
Winter Dream panel that I added some pretty
sparkle-y glitter too (wish you could see it).  The recipient doesn't
have to worry about getting glitter on them either
as I sprayed hairspray on to keep the glitter in it's place!

I matted the panel on brown card stock
then stamped my Pretty Pink Posh sentiment on.
I really like this panel as this photo could be a picture
of my own home place!

Come and have some 'Winter Blues ' fun with us at
The Sisterhood of Crafters!!

Peace On Earth Challenge #56

 We are in the  cold winter month  of January and our teams are
still keeping busy creating Christmas cards for our year round
Christmas challenge at Peace On Earth!

As always we have a fun inspiration board just to give you
some creative ideas if you need them!!

I focused on all the wreaths for my card,
using a Spellbinders Holiday Floral Swag embossing folder
along with a never been used before new Holly Wreath from Amy Designs that
I die cut twice and then offset the lighter color.  
The bow is the fun Big Bow die from The Greetery!
The sentiment is from Simon.

I love these 3D embossing folders, they make such a statement, don't they?  Make sure to come on over to
Peace On Earth and get a head start on those
2024 Christmas cards!!

Entering the following challenges:
52 Christmas card Throwdown .... Wreaths
Jingle Belles .... Something Old (Bow) & Something New ( wreath die)

Sparkle and/or Shine

The challenge theme at Double D is
Sparkle and/or Shine!
We have an optional mood board for inspiration!

 

I had this embossed panel already done in my stash
and decided it fit the challenge pretty good.
I embossed a SU stamp, stamped with Versamark on black cardstock using a
SNS black embossing powder that also contains
glitter, so you might say my card does shine AND sparkle!
Here is a view of the shine.

And here is a view of some of the sparkle showing!

The sentiment is from Spellbinders, die cut on a silver
metallic paper.
Hope to see you with some sparkle/shine over at
Double D!!

Two Old Bats Reminder January 2024

We are halfway though our monthly challenge at
Two Old Bats but there is plenty of time to join in.
Our January 'mood' board is below with plenty of inspiration,
but you can create anything Halloween !!

Well over a year ago I purchased a 12x12 page of these square Halloween scene stickers,
I die cut stitched squares and mounted each scene on a square framing it nicely.
This is one of those stickers.  I used a fun batty designer paper and a 
Halloween sentiment strip and a few tiny popped of die cut bats!

Join us at Two Old Bats for some January Halloween fun!!

Entering the following challenge:
Halloween Crafts All Year Round .... ATG Halloween

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge January 2024

Happy January 2024, can you believe it?
The months and years seem to pass by so quickly don't they?
Well it's mid month and that brings us to a new challenge at
Beautiful Blossoms.
We have a beautiful mood board for inspiration
but you can create anything with blossoms on it!

When I saw this mood board I knew right off what I was going to use
for my design team card.
I purchased this Sizzix Brushstrokes Flowers #2 a long time ago
and never have used it before, 
felt it was the perfect choice for this board!
It's a very different die that's for sure but super easy as each big
die piece is a 'map' of sorts, leaving an embossed place to put each
separate die cut.  I wish you could see it in person as it is really prettier IRL!
I drug out my much neglected Spellbinders Floral Ovals
to build my flowers on.
The sentiment is my most often 'go to' sentiments from The Ton!
Designer paper is Prima Frayed Denim.

We are also celebrating our ONE year anniversary/birthday and have a special
challenge for that in addition to our regular monthly challenge.
You can read all about it here:

Make sure to pop on over to the birthday bash and have some fun with us!!

Here is the LINK
Here are the rules for entering this challenge:

To be eligible for the Prize Draw, you must:

1. Create a Project with the theme of Birthday and/or Anniversary.

2.  Link back to our challenge blog in your social media post.

3.  Be a Follower of our Challenge Blog.

4.  Your project must contain Florals.

A.)  You may enter this challenge an unlimited number of times and you may play in an unlimited amount of other challenges

B.) YES! You are allowed to enter BOTH our regular challenge and this special Birthday Challenge.

 This Special Challenge will end on 12 February 2024 @ 11:59 PM EST USA. The Winners will be posted on the regular Feb/Mar 2024 Challenge post on 15 February 2024.

So that is two places you can enter our challenge this month
just make sure to follow the rules at each challenge,
but remember, you must use blossoms/flowers!!

More beautiful inspiration over at Beautiful Blossoms
won't you join us?

Entering the following challenges:
Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday .... ATG
Die Cut Diva's .... Never Before Used Stuff
Try It On Tuesday .... Winter Blues

Beautiful Blossoms Birthday Bash

 Beautiful Blossoms is celebrating its FIRST year Birthday/Anniversary!
Come and join us for some celebration fun and birthday prizes
to random winners and it could be YOU!!

We have a pretty mood board for inspiration but you can create 
anything as long as your focal is FLOWERS!!

For my card I used the Pink Fresh Studio
Charming Floral Border, stencil, foil plate and die.
Instead of hot foiling, after my flowers were stenciled
and die cut, I then used the hot foil plate to emboss with.
The designer paper is from SU and has always been one of
my favorites.  The sentiment is The Ton Easy Expressions.
The embossing folder is one I am sure everyone owns
at this point, the dotted swiss!

Make sure to pop on over to the birthday bash and have some fun with us!!

Here is the LINK
Here are the rules for entering this challenge:

To be eligible for the Prize Draw, you must:

1. Create a Project with the theme of Birthday and/or Anniversary.

2.  Link back to our challenge blog in your social media post.

3.  Be a Follower of our Challenge Blog.

4.  Your project must contain Florals.

A.)  You may enter this challenge an unlimited number of times and you may play in an unlimited amount of other challenges

B.) YES! You are allowed to enter BOTH our regular challenge and this special Birthday Challenge.

 This Special Challenge will end on 12 February 2024 @ 11:59 PM EST USA. The Winners will be posted on the regular Feb/Mar 2024 Challenge post on 15 February 2024.

Don't forget we also have our regularly monthly challenge
and you can find it HERE!
That gives you TWO places to enter your pretty florals
for prizes and honors!
Here are the rules for this challenge:

Points to Remember:

• Your Project must have flowers(s)/floral(s) as a MAIN part of the design.
• Use the optional Mood Board as an Inspirational Tool but it's not a requirement.
• A Limit of 6 Entries per Challenge.
• Check back to see if you're a Winner!

You have until the 12th of February 2024 to link your project.  The Winner and Top 3 of Challenge #13 will be announced on the new Challenge post starting the 15th of  February 2024. 

Entering the following challenges:
Creations In Pink #66 ....Mainly PINK
Daisy Chain .... No Designer Paper
Let's Craft & Create ... ATG/A Penny For Your Thoughts
Make My Monday .... Happy Birthday
Unicorn Challenge .... Birthday

Sketch Saturday #742

Our first sketch of 2024 is starting today at 
Sketch Saturday.
We have an optional twist which is to
Use Your Scraps

I turned the sketch to go vertical which worked better for my design.
That's what's fun about sketches, you can make them your own
as long as you can see the sketch in your design.

Once I saw this sketch I knew right away what I wanted to use.

During one of Cottage Cutz big up to 85% off sales I
purchased this new, never been used before cute Smore's Snowman die set.
I have to say he was one of the most easiest CC dies I have
put together in a long time!  All the papers are scrap pieces
with the exception of the milk and cookies piece which is
from Doodlebug's Milk & Cookies line.

So, why not come on over to Sketch Saturday and show us your
take on our sketch and have some fun with us!!

Entering the following challenges:
NBUS .... Never Before Used Schtuff
Word Art Wednesday .... ATG
Time Out .... NEW

Snowpeople Challenge

Well, hello there!!
It's time for another challenge at
Can You Handle The Pressure
where you MUST use an embossing folder.
We have an 'OPTIONAL' theme of

 Snowpeople~Yeti's etc~Snowmen

and a GREAT prize to give away to one
lucky random drawn winner residing in the USA.

Prize:

For my card, I used this fabulous Sizzix
Christmas Tree pattern folder on a metallic
green card stock.  I added my cute and fun little popsicle
eating yeti's to the front, they are from Lawn Fawn! 

So get those embossing folders out and come and join us at
Can You Handle The Pressure
where the embossing folders take center stage.
All the rules can be found on the challenge blog!

Entering the following Challenges:

Heartquest Fantasy Challenge  .... Yeti

Icy Cold Challenge

A new challenge starts  at The Sisterhood of Crafters
and it's Icy Cold there,
at least that is what our theme is this time around.

I used a die I haven't used for a few years it seems,
from Impression Obsession
die cut with a So Silk Fair Blue Metallic paper
that I wish you could see all the pretty shine with it.
I also for the first time used a deer die from Poppystamps called
Woodland Fawn and an Easy Expressions Holiday sentiment from The Ton.
To finish I also added a few silver half pearls to the snowflakes.

Come on over to The Sisterhood and have some Icy Cold fun with us
and check out all the pretties from my 'sistahs'!!

Entering the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday .... Cute Critters
Crafty Gals Corner .... Winter Fun
Little Red Wagon .... Snow
Try It On Tuesday .... Winter Blues

Peace On Earth Challenge #55

The holiday season is over but NOT at
Peace On Earth 
where we celebrate Christmas all year round!
We always have a fun mood board for inspiration
and you choose to let it inspire you or not or just create anything
as long as it is Christmas themed! 

Of course I WAS inspired by the mood board and created my card
in all the pretty silver and gold colors.
I used a 'new' to me stencil from Spellbinders, inked in silver
for my background!
I also grabbed one of my favorite dies from Sizzix for the stocking
and filled it with bits and pieces of various die cuts!
The sentiment was stamped and then heat set in gold ink!

Would love to see YOU over at Peace On Earth
where you will find plenty of inspiration from the design team! 

Big Thanks

 I saw this fun sketch that came into my email from 
My Favorite Things and just had to join in!
You can use any product you want but I knew I
have quite a few fun stamps/dies from them, so why not!!

I love~love this fun set You're Ext-Roar-dinary  which I believe isn't available anymore,
but they have a few other adorable 'dino' stamps
Christmas Party Dinos and MSTN Ages of Fun!
and the pretty MFT Poppin Polka Dots paper along with MFT Petite Plaid.

I created a simple and fun Thank You card!!

A fun challenge, go check it out!!

Winter Challenge at SCAS

Today is the start of our first challenge for 2024 at
Simply Clean & Simple.
Have you been enjoying our somewhat new challenge?
I know I have as it takes me a bit out of my comfort zone
which I think we all need.
We are always an anything goes CAS challenge with an
optional twist  and this time the twist is
WINTER!

I have to admit I am NOT a fan of winter
and just hearing the word makes me cold!
My first thought of winter is SNOW
which led me to using a die from Memory Box (2015)
Distressed Snowdrift Collage.
There are 3 dies in the set and I chose this one
and after die cutting out my panel I adhered a
scrap of blue glitter paper under it for some shimmery bling.
The sentiment is from The Ton Easy Expressions 'holiday'
which just happened to arrive in my mailbox the day
I was creating this card!

Take a visit to Simply Clean & Simple to see all
the fabulous inspiration from the team!!

Just A Little Note

 Hello friends!!
Welcome to our newest challenge adventure
Word Power!!
It just so happens that this challenge idea was
all my 'partner in crime' (Dar's) brainstorm
and of course I 'had to' go along with it!!

A challenge where your sentiment takes center stage
and draws the recipients eye to it first thing!!
You can read all about it HERE!!

This new, fun challenge gave me the opportunity to
use a 'new to me' and 'never been used before'
Concord & 9th Picked Posies Greetings Stamp set.
This is a really pretty set with lots of BIG greetings
which I am sure you will see me use again in the
coming months as it is just perfect for our challenge!
(Just a note, we don't want to see and will not except
a tiny ONE word sentiment, so beware)!

My floral circle is one I have used before
as it is a favorite of mine
Memory Box Floral Ball Collage.
I added a few gems to the flower centers
giving it just enough sparkle!!

So, come on over to Word Power and join in with
us crazy ladies for a new fun challenge!!

Eighth Birthday Celebration At Double D

 We are celebrating our 8th birthday/ anniversary at Double D
and have a fun mood board for inspiration, you can create anything
as long as it is birthday or anniversary themed!

8th Birthday/Anniversary
8th anniversary is Bronze

I let the bottom left inspire me with that big gorgeous bow!
I used several 'new to me' supplies for the first time to
create my cards, (yes TWO cards, so unusual for me)!
Just before Casual Fridays went out of business I had won
a gift certificate to their store and picked up several stencils
and this is one of them I used for my background.  I stenciled it
with Distress Ink Old Paper very lightly.
I also received a free wreath die from scrapbookdotcom when
making a purchase and used it on this card. I die cut it from a Bronze Stardream Metallic paper I received when I was on the Classy cards & Such design team, remember them, Beverly was so nice, it's so hard to believe she isn't with us anymore! 
Anyhow, it had holly leaves
on it too but because I didn't want it to look like Christmas
I just snipped them off and placed my bow over that portion.
The bow BTW is the Big Beautiful Bow die by The Greetery.
As soon as that was available in their release I HAD to pick it up!
I stamped my sentiment with TSUKNEKO Cosmic Copper ink,
geez that ink is so OLD I wasn't sure if it would even stamp,
it stamped just like I bought it yesterday, very wet and inky!!

Here is my first card:

When die cutting the Big Bow I cut in two colors for the
contrast, so instead of putting the second set away 
like is my norm, I created a second card!

Here is the card #2:

Come on over to Double D and celebrate with us,
the teams all have amazing inspiration and there is
a nice prize to a random winner!

Come back tomorrow too as those crazy two
challenge ladies (Dar and myself) have put together a
NEW challenge blog called Word Power,
you can read all about it HERE!!

Entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday .... Something New
Little Red Wagon .... What's New?
Word Art Wednesday .... ATG

Triple B January 2024

BRRRR, it's pretty cold over at Triple B with our fun mood/inspiration board
but we want to see butterflies~birds~blooms
one, two or all three is just fine and you can be inspired by the 
mood board or not, up to you just so you feature at least one of the 'Bs'!! 

I had this dove (My Favorite Things) already just sitting on my desk ready to take flight
so I added him (or her) to an aperture card front that I had purchased a pack
of years ago!!   It has some nice cut outs that allowed the pink
card base to show through.  A few pink gems were added to some of the flower centers for a bit of 'glam'!!

So, why not pop on over to Triple B and show us YOUR
Birds~Blooms~Butterflies!!

Colorful Options January 2024

 For this months challenge at Colorful Options we are featuring
pretty blues, Blue Lagoon~Iceland to be exact!!
Don't favor these colors?  Then a rainbow combo is always welcome!!

I made an icy blue metallic card using a metallic paper I have had in my stash for
several years, about time I let it have it's debut!

I also cut a Tonic Snowflake from Pearlized Esse White Metallic paper
and topped it with a stamped and die cut sentiment from The Ton!

I was pretty pleased I was able to capture at least some of
the shiny/shimmery metallic goodness in my photo!

Hope to see YOU over at Colorful Options,
there is a pretty cool prize there as well!!

Two Old Bats January 2024

Hubble Bubble Toil and Trouble!! 
It's January but that doesn't stop us at Two Old Bats from creating
Halloween cards all year round!!  I mean WHY put all your Halloween 
supplies away for an entire year when you can have fun with them year round??

We have a spooky fun inspiration board, but you can create any Halloween
themed project you want!

I purchased this Woodware Witches Hat stamp set last year
and it is the first time it has seen ink.  The sentiment is part of the set.
I colored it in with various Copics and glitter pens,
added a few gems to add to the sparkle and a fun small bat left over
from another project you will see soon!
The sentiment was stamped in Versamark then embossed with Sparkle N Sprinkle Midnight Madness glittery embossing powder!

Come on over to Two Old Bats  and see all the Halloween fun from
the design team and get your spooky on!!

Entering the following challenges:
Halloween Crafts All Year Round .... ATG Halloween

Stencil Fun January 2024

 Welcome January 2024 and  to our first
Stencil Fun challenge for the year!!

As always we have an OPTIONAL theme and it is
Feed The Birds (Birds, Birdhouses, Bird Feeders).
But just that it is optional and you can create anything
you want as long as you have done some stenciling!!
We also have a fun prize to give to one lucky random
winner that resides in the US!

For my optional themed card I went with a fun
NEW stencil (new to me) from Concord & 9th Tweet Life.
When I first saw this stencil I knew I had to have it
but it was out of stock everywhere,
guess I wasn't the only one that fell for it!
I finally found a place that had it, ordered it and when it arrived
I found that this stencil had to have the matching
stamp set to complete it.
That will teach me for not paying attention or not watching the
video showing just how it all works!!
The stencil has 3 rows of birds and then the stamp has 3 rows of
bird feet/beaks that you just line up on your stenciled birds,
which is what I did but when I got to the middle row
I did not have it lined up properly and it looked pretty silly
where the beaks and feet landed,
so I just came up with this card design, snipping away
the distorted birds!!

For my anything goes card I used
Pink Fresh Studios Gardens Florals.
You have probably seen me use this stencil before
but I had a few of these already stenciled and my 
2024 goal this year was to use up what I've started!
After Stenciling I added some peach Fuzz gems,
also from PFS and a sentiment from The Tons
Easy Expressions.

Hope to see you over at our fun Stencil Fun Challenge!!

Four Seasons January 2024 Winter

We  are already into our second Winter season at
Four Seasons
and have a fun mood board for inspiration

I let the bottom left corner inspire me with that cozy
cabin snuggled in the snow.
I had just recently purchased some Penny Black 
Masterpieces Made Simple designs called
Winter Dream.  There are four different images in the pack
all 3 1/4 by 4 1/2, a perfect size for a card front.
After layering my image on a kraft card stock I
'painted' on some glue then sprinkled on semi-transparent
white snowy glitter.  A great tip to keep the glitter on your card
and not on everything else is to
lightly spray with hairspray and let dry.
I love the snowy~glittery effect it has on my card, 
I just wish you could see all the sparkle-y goodness your self!
The base of the card is night of navy blue.

Join in with us for some 'wintery' fun over at
Four Seasons, where we always have
beautiful inspiration from our team!!

January 2024 Winter Sled

 This month at A Barrel of Monkeys where a child's toy is our inspiration
we have chosen a WINTER SLED.
You can choose to create a sled, use the colors, the plaid, the wood
or anything you see in the photo to inspire you!! 

I went with the plaid, the red and the wood for my card, such an
over achiever aren't I ..HAH!!
But really I thought these fun buffalo plaid flowers were perfect
for winter and even gave them some black leaves.

We would love to have YOU join in our fun at
A Barrel of Monkey's and can't wait to see your take on our challenge