*{BYSHC} Sketch #67 Take 2*

The end of March!  Already?!  I'm back with my second and final card using the current sketch at Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers.

I chose to use some more masculine looking apers for today with some plaid and a wonderful reindeer die!

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Paper:  Stampin' Up! Peaceful Prints

*Stamps:  Penguin Palace Magical Christmas Sentiments

*Dies:  Penny Black Reindeer Leaps; Penguin Palace Magical Christmas Sentiments

*Tools:  Perfect Layers

*Challenges:  BYSHCardmakers #67

*My Favourite Instagram Hop*

 Good morning... this morning I am sharing a card that highlights my favourite silhouette stamp for the My Favorite Instagram Hop.  I had a few things to choose from, but I decided to go with this super old wood mounted stamp from my stash!  I stamped it on a white panel and added a little ink blending with a splatter stencil.  

Card Info

*Stamps:  Penny Black Fantasy; MFT Something for Everything

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Peeled Paint Stormy Sky

*Stencil:  Lawn Fawn Paint Splatter

*CASE It Instagram Hop*

 Hello friends... it's the last CASE It Hop for 2025 and I thought I would share my take on a card made by one of my Instagram Idols.  I absolutely LOVE the work that Cecile Ribon posts... She has an amazing eye for design!

Here are the cards that inspired me this month...

Cecile's cards are mini slimline cards with a band around the centre... the inside is a gift card holder.  I was inspired by the strip of paper and the die cut over it.  Instead of a slimline, I did a regular sized card.  Instead of clean lines, I did a little paper tearing along the sides of my panel (that I did not make in to a band). I also added a sentiment to my card and popped that front panel up with some foam adhesive.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake

*Stamps:  The Ton Easy Expressions Holiday

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Penny Black Christmas Wonderland; The Ton Easy Expressions Holiday

*Etc:  foam adhesive

*Crushing Christmas Instagram Hop*

 I joined a new monthly Instagram Hop where we make Christmas cards each month... this month our theme was Reindeer!

I chose to use both a reindeer patterned paper and a gorgeous gold die cut reindeer for my creation...

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black, unknown gold mirror

*Paper:  Stampin' Up! Wrapped in Plaid

*Stamps:  The Ton Easy Expressions Holiday

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Penny Black Reindeer Leaps; The Ton Easy Expressions Holiday; Waffle Flower Nesting Circles, Additional Circles

*This or That Instagram Hop*

 We've changed the name of the "Is It Fall or Is It Winter" Instagram Hop to "This or That"... each week, we will have two themes to choose from... a this or that, if you will.

This week, our choice was between sand and snow.  While in my real life, I much prefer sand (think beach!), I do love snowflakes and snow in my creative world.  I played with a lot of different snowy items from my stash for my card today...

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Not Quite Navy; unknown silver sparkle

*Stamps:  Mama Elephant Little Snowmen

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Copics

*Dies:  Mama Elephant Little Snowmen; Poppy Stamps Snowscape; Penny Black Christmas Wonderland; Impression Obsession Small Snowflakes

*Embossing:  Simon Says Stamp Snowflake Visions

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Brother Scan 'n Cut

*{BYSHC} Sketch #43 Take 2*

 I'm back with my second card using the fabulous March sketch at Build Your Stash Holiday Card Makers...  another great reason to use up some of my stash of Christmas papers!

I do struggle with using so much patterned paper on a card... first it's not at all clean and simple (which is truly pleasing to my eye) but I used SO MUCH of my favourite paper pack on this one card LOL!

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler; unknown gold sparkle

*Paper:  Stampin' Up! Tidings of Christmas

*Images:  MFT Christmas Wishes

*Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  MFT Christmas Wishes; Penny Black Reindeer Leaps

*Challenges:  {BYSHC}Sketch #43

*Less is More #296*

It's time for an anything goes challenge with the team at Less is More.  This is a wonderful theme as we see so many different ideas from the creatives that play along with us!

I'm in full-on Christmas card mode, so of course, I made a Christmas card!  I saw a card on Pinterest that had embossed vellum to look like snow, so I decided to play with the idea myself.  

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Handsome Hunter, Crumb Cake;  Spellbinders gold foil; unknown vellum

*Images:  The Ton Easy Expressions Holiday

*Ink:  Versamark

*Embossing Folder:  Cuttlebug Swiss Dots

*Dies:  Waffle Flower Circles; Penny Black Reindeer Leaps; The Ton Easy Expressions Holiday

*Etc:  Stampin' Up! gold embossing powder; foam adhesive

*Challenge:  Less is More #296

*TIme Out Challenges #246*

It's an inspired by words challenge over at Time Out Challenges... "the best time to play a tree was 20 years ago.  The second best time is now".  How will you be inspired by those words?

I went with the obvious... and did a card with a tree on it.  I tried to mark the passage of time with a fall sunset in my card as well... and I am in love with the ink blending combination that I did!

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Images:  Penny Black Fantasy; MFT Bitty Birthday Wishes

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Abandoned Coral, Mustard See

*Dies:  Waffle Flower Additional Circles (cut in to printer paper to create a mask)

*Tools:  Perfect Layers
*Challenges:  Time Out #246

*Christmas Craft Creations July*

 It's an anything goes theme for July at Christmas Craft Creations....  I sure hope you'll play along with us!  This is a wonderful way to build up your supply of Christmas Cards!

We are also having a design team call until the end of the month.  See the post HERE for more information!!

I saved a card a while back that had the diagonal striped paper along the bottom of the front panel... I really liked that card so I thought I'd use some elements of it to make my card to share today.  I kept the idea of the diagonal stripes, but I turned my card on it's side instead.  I added a red mat to it as well to help it pop off the card front.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler; Spellbinders gold foil

*Paper:  Stampin' Up! Peaceful Prints

*Images:  Simon Says Stamp Christmas Blessings

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Penny Black Reindeer Leaps

*Tools:  Perfect Layers

*Challenges:  Christmas Craft Creations; Build Your Stash Holiday Linky Party

*Christmas Craft Creations December*

I'm here to remind you about the current Christmas Craft Creations challenge... our December theme is "make a scene"... I am looking forward to making Christmas cards throughout the year with this design team...

I don't do well with "making a scene" in my card making, so I went with this wonderful Penny Black die instead.  I love the simplicity of the gold on white.

Items Used

*Cardstock:  gold mirror

*Images:  Simon Says Stamp Clean Line Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Penny Black Christmas Wonderland

*Challenges:  Christmas Craft Creations

I hope you'll play along with us and share your Christmas creations HERE!  I can't wait to see what you create!

*Freshly Made #510*

I love when I get a chance to play along with the Freshly Made Sketches... but it can be tough for me as they go live a few hours before my work week starts on Wednesday and close on Mondays which doesn't leave me a lot of time to play along.  Thankfully I found a little creative time on Wednesday before I went off to have lunch with a friend before work.

This is the sketch for this week... 

And this is my card....

Items Used

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Shaded Spruce; unknown gold foil

*Paper:  Stampin' Up! Perfectly Plaid

*Dies:  Waffle Flower Additional Circles; Penny Black Reindeer Leaps

*Tools:  Perfect Layers
*Challenges:  Freshly Made #510

*Making Spirits Bright*

I'm heading off to work in a few minutes but I decided to head to my craft room for an hour this morning.  I decided the other day that I want to try to make seven cards every week and I had 6 done on my days off.... and I really wanted to get #7 done.  But I had no idea what I wanted to do!  I went through my blog feed and found the latest sketch by Freshly Made and went to work!  I have a half hour before I have to leave for work... so good timing!

 This is the sketch for this week....

And this is the card I created...

Items Used

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler; unknown gold mirror

*Patterned Paper:  Stampin' Up! Peaceful Prints

*Images:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Penny Black Reindeer Leaps; Taylored Expressions Simple Strips, Simple Strips Backer

*Challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches #502

*CASology#378*

 It's time for another clean and simple challenge with the team at CASology!  We are a group of clean and simple card lovers who love to see how others interpret our bi-weekly challenges.  Play along with this challenge for your chance to win a prize from Stamplorations and to be a guest designer on an upcoming challenge!

I have exactly one item to use that follows the cue of Stag...  and thankfully, I love it....

You'll recognize the colour combination from a card I posted yesterday...  I had the colours fresh in my mind, I guess!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Seaside Spray; silver mirror

*Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Holly & Pine; Penny Black Reindeer Leaps

Tools:  Gemini Jr

*Bring On The Happy*

I really love how this card turned out....  maybe some different colours of glitter paper as it looks a little wintery, but otherwise I love it!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb
*Patterned Paper:  Heidi Swapp glitter paper
*Images:  Penny Black Sprinkes Smiles
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Floral Sparkle
*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Perfect Layers
*Embellishments:  Black Pearls by Kaiser

*Leaping Deer*

A quick and easy card for you today....  it started out as a full sized A2 card but it just didn't feel right... so I cut it down to 4.25" X 4.25" and voila!  I am using a rose gold mirror paper with this card... if only you could see how beautiful it is in person!  The background die is the Stampin' Up! Christmas layers cut out of white cardstock and the deer is Penny Black Reindeer Leaps.  I, of course, used my Perfect Layers tool to create that fabulous 1/16" border!

*AAA #155*

Welcome to another challenge with AAA Cards!  For the next several weeks, we are looking to see your clean and simple cards that use the theme "along the edge" with an optional twist of time travel.  Post your creations to the blog for your chance to win a prize from Stamplorations!  We are also excited to welcome Coni as our Guest Designer!

I purchased a new winter scene die and thought it would be perfect for this Along the Edge challenge.  I couldn't figure out a way to do the time travel optional twist... my first time not using the optional twist since I joined the design team.

If you've been around my blog much lately, this card should be a little surprising to you... I didn't use a white card base!!

Items Used:
*Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue
*Images:  Simon Says Stamp Clean Line Christmas
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Dies:  Penny Black Christmas Wonderland
*Tools:  Big Shot
*Embellishments:  bling

*Geometric Embossing Folder*

I was playing around with a new embossing folder, seeing how it looked when I embossed it on coloured cardstock and decided to make a card out of it.  I really wasn't sure about this card as I put together each piece, but in the end, I really like it.

I used some of those great (and old) Michael's Bridal flowers and I coloured them with some Copics and added a little black pearl to the centre of each flower.  I used a Spellbinders die to create the white circle and stamped a Penny Black sentiment in black Versafine ink.  I adhered the flowers to the white circle and then added it all to the purple panel before placing it all on to a white card.

In other news... yesterday was my last day of chemo pills....  I am *really* looking forward to the next 6-8 weeks as these drugs leave my system and I start to feel "normal" again... it could have been so much worse, but I'm tired of the constant exhaustion, of not tasting food and of just not feeling well, day after day. 

*CASe This Sketch #238*

It has been a long time since I've used a sketch and come up with an idea to go with it...  For this card I used the flourish from Stampin' Ups Baroque Motifs.  I coloured up some white shimmer flowers (from Michael's several years ago) with Copics and added a Penny Black sentiment in black VersaFine ink.  I used my Perfect Layers Tools to create the green layer and then popped it all on to a white card.

*Have Your Cake*

I'm so pleased with this card.... another from my head instead of from the internet!

I used my new Memory Box die on a white panel and used my Perfect Layers Tool to create the purpl-ish border.  I put the centre of the circle in white on the under layer with pop dots and added some flowers to the centre (with a little bling in the centre).  I added the Penny Black sentiment in black VersaFine ink and put it all on to a white card.