The 12 Kits of Occasions--December 2013

Hi there!  Sorry I've been even quieter than usual lately, but this month has been especially hectic for my family.  My husband and I sold his mother's home of 42 years and bought her a new one closer to us, and we had less than a week to clean it out.  It was incredibly stressful getting everything lined up to happen in time, but somehow we finished up just a few days before Christmas.  We're looking forward to getting my MIL moved into her new place soon and settling back into our normal routines.  :)

Believe it or not, we've come to the end of another month, and with it another round of The 12 Kits of Occasions.  This month's hostess is Jessica, and she sent us a Christmas-themed kit full of the most darling images and supplies.  I knew I'd only be able to scratch the surface of this fantastic kit in the limited time I had this month, so I pulled out my very favorite items and went to work.

The first card I made used the cute rabbit on a sled from Lawn Fawn.  I colored him with Copics and added a trail of gems behind him to give a sense of movement.

My second card uses more Lawn Fawn images and sentiments with a fun chevron embossed background.

My last card uses die cut poinsettia flowers from Paper Smooches with a pretty script sentiment from Mama Elephant.

I can't wait to see what the other ladies made!

Stop by The 12 Kits blog to see the full list of supplies, plus you can find out the winner of our recent Guest Designer contest!

Don't forget to leave a comment here and on the rest of the designer's blogs for a chance to win a fabulous giveaway, courtesy of Jessica.  Stop by the 12 Kits blog for more details.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge--Carnival Craze

Hello, Curtain Call fans!  Are you ready for a new challenge?  Check out our new inspiration board, Carnival Craze:

We have another fabulous sponsor for this challenge, too.  Lawn Fawn not only provided the Curtain Call Designers with their choice of the Admit One or Blue Skies stamp set, but they are offering a stamp set of the winner's choice to this week's LEAD!  Many thanks, Lawn Fawn!

I couldn't wait to work with the Admit One set--I've long had my eye on this cute ferris wheel.  Once again, I was drawn to the colors in the inspiration graphic, and I decided to create some faux watercolor stripes using my ink pads.

First, I heat embossed the ferris wheel in white onto white cardstock.  Next, I swiped some ink onto a piece of clear acetate and added a few drops of water with a wide paintbrush.  Instant watercolor.  :)

For the background, I repeatedly stamped the ticket image with Soft Granite ink and added a heart from Lawn Fawn's Good Fortune to one of the tickets.

Cardstock:  WPlus9 Design Studio (White)

Stamps:  Lawn Fawn (Admit One, Good Fortune)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Melon Mambo, Baja Breeze), Hero Arts (Mint Julep, Soft Granite), Memento (Tuxedo Black), Versamark

Other:  Filigree (white embossing powder), sequins

You'll definitely want to check out what the rest of the Curtain Call ladies did this week, then link up your entry for a chance to win some Lawn Fawn stamps!

Have a fantastic day!

The 12 Kits of Occasions--July 2013

Hello there!  I have so much to share with you today!  It's the last day of the month, which means it's time for another edition of the 12 Kits, a monthly event where 12 designers work with the same supplies to create cards and projects with a particular theme.

This month we are debuting a new 12 Kits blog where you can learn more about our group and how it started, see sneak peeks of each month's kit, and enjoy bonus posts as we continue to create projects with our "leftover" supplies throughout the month.  It will also be your go-to source for links to each designer, supply lists, and links to our Pinterest board and new Facebook page.  These are all great places to connect with us and find inspiration every day!

To celebrate all of the new features we're bringing you this month, I'm offering a giveaway on The 12 Kits of Occasions blog!  Head on over to check it out and leave a comment on the July kit post for your chance to win.

Now on to my cards for this month.  I was our hostess this month, working with the theme of birthdays.  I had so much fun creating this kit, and you can check out the full supply list on the 12 Kits blog.  I've made 6 cards so far, and I'm sharing 4 of them with you today.

My first card uses the cake and banner topper from Mama Elephant's Soiree, a gold embossed sentiment from Hero Arts, and some fabulous metallic gold twine.

My second card today is my favorite.  The row of cupcakes is colored with Copics and highlighted with a glitter pen, and I placed the sentiment banner at an angle just for fun.

Next up is a simple card using the die cut cupcakes on an embossed label with just a strip of patterned paper and a few wood veneer stars.

For today's last card, I couldn't resist using this cute takeout box from Lawn Fawn.  I stamped the top of the box a few times, cut apart the pieces of the lid, and glued them back on the top to make an open box (inspired by Yainea's card HERE).  Then I arranged the balloons to look like they've just come out of the container.  I pierced small holes for stringing thread behind each balloon.

Thanks for sticking with me to the end!  I'd love it if you'd visit the new 12 Kits blog, leave a comment there, and pay a visit to the rest of the designers if you haven't already.

Have a fantastic day!

Moxie Fab World Birthday Ensemble Challenge

Cardstock:  WPlus9 Design Studio (Kraft, White), Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy)

Stamps:  Lawn Fawn (Good Fortune)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Chocolate Chip, Real Red)

Other: Papertrey Ink (twill ribbon), DMC floss, twine, takeout box

There's a birthday party ensemble challenge going on in the Moxie Fab World to celebrate the latest special issue, Birthday Creations.

The challenge is to create 3 items as part of the ensemble, and I knew just what I wanted to do.  My party ensemble was made using Lawn Fawn's Good Fortune set.  Those fortune cookies are the cutest!

Item #1 is this birthday card, which would make a fun table decoration for the party guests to sign.  I stamped the take-out box directly on the white panel, then stamped the chopsticks and fortune cookie on kraft cardstock and fussy cut them.  The cute little heart is from the Good Fortune set, too.

The second piece of my ensemble is a favor box for party guests to take home.  I got a package of plain white boxes at a party supply store, where they were much less expensive than the ones at Michaels.  I tied red twill ribbon around it and added a cookie with the fortune "thanks".

The last item in my party ensemble is a cupcake pick.  We only have cupcakes in our house for the kids' birthdays, so I decided it would be dangerous to buy one just for the sake of my photo.  :)  So you'll just have to imagine it in a cupcake.  And the best part is that you can imagine it in any flavor you want.

That's all for today!  Have a great start to your week!

The 12 Kits of Christmas--December

Hi there, friends!  Hard as it is to believe, we are almost at the end of 2012.  That means it's time for the last installment of The 12 Kits of Christmas.  This month is hosted by Sharron, who provided us with a sweet winter themed kit.

Photo by Kara

We have some changes coming to The 12 Kits group in 2013, including some sad goodbyes.  Cathy and Suzanne will be stepping away from the group in the new year, so I hope you'll take time to thank them for a year's worth of holiday inspiration!  They will both be missed.  :(

On to Sharron's fabulous kit.  I didn't get to spend nearly enough time playing with this kit, between being sick for 3 weeks and preparing for our Christmas guests.  But luckily I'll be able to use it all winter long for quick and easy cards!

This first card is my favorite:

The second one is a CASE of a card a did a few days earlier but never posted:

I couldn't resist using the sparkly die cut hills on another card, too:

I'll be back later to add supply lists.  We just spent 18 hours on the road yesterday and I'm still recovering.  In the meantime, be sure to hop around to the rest of the girls' blogs.

Suzanne:  The Card Yard

Cathy: EmptyNestCrafter

Joyce: Cards-by-the-Sea

Kim: CupcakesCardsandKim

Amy: Stamp-n-Paradise

Kara: KandRDesigns

Sharron: OnPapillionWings

Marybeth: Marybeth's Time for Paper

Jeanne: AKeptLife

Jessica: The Paper Parade

Renee: ItsAPatchworkLife

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you have a fun and safe New Year's celebration and a great start to 2013!

CAS-ual Fridays #63

It's time for a new CAS-ual Fridays challenge!  This week we have a fun color combo for you to try:

Our sponsor this week is Stop and Scrap, where you can find great deals on patterned paper and more.    Thank you, Stop and Scrap!

I didn't have much time for stamping this week, but I thought these colors would be great for a grungy but upbeat card for my brother.  I used stamps from The Craft's Meow's Typically Teen, layering them along the side of the card.

Originally I tried stamping the sentiment directly on the white panel, but I smudged it.  :(  To try to salvage it, I stamped a strip of cardstock with chevrons, added the sentiment, then layered it over the boo-boo.  

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! (Pacific Point), WPlus9 Design Studio (White)

Stamps:  The Craft's Meow (Typically Teen), Lawn Fawn (Chevron Backdrops), Paper Smooches (Sentiment Sampler)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Pacific Point, Gumball Green), Papertrey Ink (Hawaiian Shores), Memento (Tuxedo Black)

What will you do with the challenge colors?  I can't wait to see your clean and simple creation!

I hope you have a fantastic weekend, friends!  Thanks for stopping by today.

Card Patterns sketch #167

Hello, friends!  I hope you're enjoying your weekend so far!  I'm just popping in to share my card for this week's Card Patterns sketch, which is another "keeper".

Our sponsor this week is a wonderful shop I recently discovered called Freckled Fawn, and they carry a fabulous assortment of washi tapes and accessories.  They've generously offered up a gift certificate to a random participant this week, so be sure to enter your creation for a chance to win!

For the Design Team, this was a "stash" week, meaning we were free to use any supplies we wanted on our design.  I decided to make a card for my little guy, who had his last day of preschool on Friday (sniff, sniff).  His favorite color is green, so I used SU's Garden Green as my card base, masking and stamping a panel of chevrons in Versamark.

The focal image is an assortment of stamps from Paper Smooches' Smarty Pants set, which I stamped and colored with Copics.  

I was stumped for a while about what to use for the banner element of the sketch, and I would have loved to use a ruler, but I settled for a strip of grid patterned paper from Fancy Pants' Off to School collection.  I punched a hole in each end and wrapped it with baker's twine.

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (True Black, White), Stampin' Up! (Garden Green)

Patterned paper:  Fancy Pants Design (Off to School)

Stamps:  Paper Smooches (Smarty Pants), Lawn Fawn (Chevron Backdrops)

Ink:  Memento (Tuxedo Black), Versamark, Copic markers

Tools:  Fiskars (hole punch)

Accessories:  The Twinery (Maraschino baker's twine)

Stop by the Card Patterns blog for more inspiration, then be sure to link up your design for a chance to win this week's prize!

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back soon to share the card sets I made for my son's teachers.

Have a good one!

CAS-ual Fridays #53: Punchy

Welcome back, friends!  How are your weekend plans coming?  Any chance you'll be making time for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge?  I thought so!  

Our challenge this week is all about getting punchy--with your punches and dies, that is!

Our fabulous sponsor this week is Lawn Fawn, and they generously provided the DT with some of their darling stamps and new Bright Side papers.  Thanks, Lawn Fawn!

I chose to work with the cute florals in Blissful Botanicals.  They were so much fun to stamp and color!  For the punchy part of the challenge, I dusted off my old circle punches and created three windows in a yellow cardstock panel, then stamped the flower and leaf images in the open spaces onto a white card base.

The images were colored with Copics, and the flowers were adorned with yellow rhinestone centers.  I added faux white stitching around the "windows" and stamped a sentiment from Blissful Botanicals.  (Confession:  the sentiment doesn't have a dotted "i", but I just couldn't bear to leave it that way, so I added a dot with a black pen!)

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (Harvest Gold, White)

Stamps:  Lawn Fawn (Blissful Botanicals)

Ink:  Memento (Tuxedo Black), Copic markers, white gel pen

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (Linen & Canvas impression plate), circle punches, corner rounder

Accessories:  Queen & Co. (rhinestones)

This card turned out just the way I had it in my head.  I love it when that happens.  *grin*

Now it's your turn to put on your thinking cap and get to work with your punches and dies!  But first, make sure you pay a visit to the other Girl Fridays to see their CAS creations.  

Thanks for stopping by today!  

Happy Birthday Michele!

Hi everyone!  I'm part of a special blog hop today to celebrate a very special lady:  the one and only Michele Gross!  Not only is she our fearless leader at CAS-ual Fridays, but she is a wonderfully talented designer and all-around sweet gal.  I hope you'll join us in wishing her a happy birthday!

What better sketch to use for my card than this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge sketch?

I used Lawn Fawn's Bake Me a Cake to paper piece a birthday cake for Michele on the inside of the card, then cut a window in the card front with Spellbinders Labels 3.  I used the coordinating Vintage Labels 3 stamp from Waltzingmouse to add an aqua frame, then stamped a sentiment from PTI's Flower Fusion #9.

Hopefully you can see the detail of the debossed music score on the card front.  It seemed appropriate since the sentiment had me humming the birthday song.  *grin*

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (White), Stampin' Up! (Pool Party)

Patterned paper:  Echo Park (Dots and Stripes)

Stamps:  Lawn Fawn (Bake Me a Cake), Waltzingmouse (Vintage Labels 3), Papertrey Ink (Flower Fusion #9)

Ink:  Memento (Tuxedo Black), Stampin' Up! (Pool Party), Copic markers

Tools:  Spellbinders (Labels 3 die), Papertrey Ink (Music score impression plate), We R Memory Keepers (Corner Chomper)

Accessories:  Michaels (rhinestones)

When you open the card, you get to see the whole cake!

Many thanks to Karen Baker for putting together this hop for Michele!  You'll want to visit the rest of the hop participants to see what they've created:

Karen
Dana
Stephanie
Karolyn
Angie
Laura
Debby
Lorena
Suzanne
Kimberly
Jenny
Virginia
Julie Ranae
Laurie
Lisa
Deb


Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope your week gets off to a great start!

JUGS89 & Pinterest inspired

Hey there, crafty friends!  My week is off to a great start, as I got to spend a lot of time playing with stamps and paper today.  How about you?

I've been contemplating the colors for this week's Just Us Girls challenge, and when I pulled them out I just kept thinking of a rainbow and the way the color blocks in the photo remind me of those rainbow cakes I keep seeing on Pinterest.  Have you seen them?

That's just what inspired today's card.  I used the challenge colors to create blocks of color on a white card base, like the strips of color you see inside the rainbow cake.  Each block is debossed with a different PTI impression plate.

For the cake, I stamped all of the layers from Lawn Fawn's Bake Me a Cake onto white cardstock and cut them out, then colored the cake and stand with Copic markers.  The candles were stamped directly onto the Saffron cardstock before it was debossed.

The sentiment, from Verve's Dream Big set, seemed perfectly appropriate for a birthday cake of this magnitude.

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! (So Saffron, Riding Hood Red), Papertrey Ink (Simply Chartreuse, Aqua Mist, white)

Stamps:  Lawn Fawn (Bake Me a Cake), Verve (Dream Big)

Ink:  Inkadinkadoo (Black), Copic markers

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (Diamonds, Argyle, Polka Dots, and Book Print impression plates)

I almost gave up on this card halfway through making it, because it just didn't seem "me", but I'm glad I stuck with it.  You can never have too many fun and colorful birthday cards in your stash!

Thanks so much for coming by tonight!