Grateful Heart for TOC 326

Hello friends!  I'm excited to share that I am guest designing for Time Out Challenges!  This came about because I was chosen the overall winner for TOC 321 with this card.  

The new challenge is their monthly Inspired by and this time it is Gratitude, which is very timely as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US.

Time Out Challenges

The challenge is sponsored by the wonderful folks at Poppystamps, with a $20 store credit to the winner. 

As often happens in my crafting, I start with one design in mind and end up with something completely different.  But I'm really happy with how my card turned out despite changing course.

I'd purchased a few fall items from Simon Says Stamp with this specific challenge in mind and after playing around with different options, I decided to go with this beautiful cornucopia and large Grateful sentiment.

All the cornucopia components were die cut from colored cardstock then ink blended for dimension, primarily with Distress Inks.  I used a kraft-stock metallic paper from Tim Holtz for the sentiment and then chose to use it for the larger flower centers and pumpkin stems as well.  The dies were quite simple to assemble; the hardest part was ink blending all the little dies *wink*!

The background is an older SSS embossing folder and I used a moss cardstock, then inked around the edges with a darker green to create kind of a halo effect.  

I used the large sentiment as a place holder on the card front while building the cornucopia and contents.  Admittedly, I got a bit carried away with the number of leaves I used! I just couldn't stop...I love the combination of the fall colors, which is one of my favorite things about cardmaking this time of year.

After adhering everything to the card front, I decided to fill the space just below the large Grateful sentiment with a lovely sub-sentiment from a newer SSS stamp and die set, stamping it in brown pigment ink.  I tried gold heat embossing it, but it was too different compared to the other metallics.  I finished things off with some tiny sparkly gems in the smallest flower centers.

I am grateful that you stopped by and now I encourage you to head over to the Time Out Challenges blog to be inspired by all the gorgeous cards created by the design team.  Hopefully you can play along, especially with the chance to win a $20 store credit to Poppystamps.

Take care!

Stef

• All SSS products unless otherwise noted:
• Autumn Cornucopia die set
• Timeless Grateful die 
• Grateful Moments stamp and die (sub-sentiment)
• Basket Weave embossing folder
• Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Rustic Wilderness, Villianous Potion, Dusty Concord, and Ground Espresso Distress Inks
• Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Metallic Classics Kraft-Stock
• Spellbinders Aura AB gems

Merry Christmas for PP811

Hello friends!  It's time for a new challenge at the Paper Players.  This week the amazing Joanne is hosting our monthly color challenge, and she's chosen some seasonally appropriate colors.

Paper Players

I'm also sharing my card with the lovelies at Inspirational, where they are looking for Christmas Florals and Greenery.

Inkspirational #380

With these beautiful, traditional colors I felt a beautiful poinsettia would work perfectly.

Apparently, I've become a collector of poinsettias, because whenever there's a new die set, it seems to end up in my craft room!  Such is the case with the beautiful poinsettia die and embossing folder set from Altenew.  The poinsettia is fairly large and I love that the bracts (the red and green leaves) are not evenly sized, just as in nature, although it did take a few turns on the card front to find the best look.

The leaves were cut from red and green cardstock and ink blended towards to the centers, then embossing with the coordinating folder to give them the beautiful texture.  They were then adhered together. Using a single die, the three small cyathia (flowers in the center) were cut from brushed gold, as was the die cut Merry Christmas.

The warm ivory cardstock background was embossed with a lovely tapestry design before lightly splattering gold paint all over it, as well as the poinsettia and the white foliage.  When dry, everything was adhered to the card front.  I opted not to add any additional embellishments because I really think the embossing and gold dress it up well enough.

Thanks for taking time to stop by.  I hope you'll join us this week!  The challenge will remain open until lucky Friday, November 13th at 3pm EST.  In the meantime, I encourage you to visit the challenge blog for some wonderful inspiration by my talented teammates.

Take care!

Stef

• Altenew Lush Botanicals: Poinsettia dies and embossing folder
• Gina K Tapestry ef
• Concord & 9th Fresh Cut Floral Edition 4 die (foliage)
• Simon Says Stamp Timeless Merry Christmas dies

Reindeer Kisses for Color Hues

Happy November, friends!  It's the first of the month and that means it's time for our new challenge at Color Hues.  The lovely Bonnie is hosting for the next two weeks, and she has a timely color pairing.

Color Hues

This time I turned to a new stamp set for this challenge, so I'll be sharing over with Darnell's NBUS challenge.

NBUS

The moment I saw this sweet Stamping Bella stamp set, I just couldn't resist.  Take a look.

This is Tiny Townie Rita and her snuggly reindeer friend.  I used Copic markers to color them, including the "gold" star and jingle bells on the reindeer's collar, along with browns for her hair, the reindeer and the ground beneath them.  I didn't think of it before editing my photos, but I added a bit of Glossy Accents to the star and bells.

I searched my patterned paper stash and came up with the perfect piece for the card front.  I really like the foliage pattern and the little white stars.  Before die cutting the arch, I adhered the patterned paper to a panel of 80 lb. white cardstock to give it a bit more heft.  Then a panel of red was cut with the next size smaller arch to create a frame under the top panel.  Before adhering it all together, the sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped above the main image.  

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you'll find time to join us for this challenge; obviously it's a good one for added cards to your holiday stash.  The challenge will remain open until Saturday, November 14th at 9 am EST.  In the meantime, I encourage you to head over to the challenge blog where my wonderfully talented teammates and our fabulous guest designer, Vikki, have some beautiful cards to inspire you.

Stef

• Stamping Bella Tiny Townie Rita's Reindeer Snuggle stamp set
• Simon Says Stamp A2 Arch dies
• Honey Bee stamps North Pole patterned paper
• Copic markers

Mochi Fall Girl for PP810

Hello friends and happy November!  It's the first Sunday of the month and that means a new theme challenge at the Paper Players.  This time the lovely Claire is hosting and plaid is the theme.  Perfect for this time of year, yes?

Paper Players

I'm also joining the lovely team at Inkspirational, where the current challenge is a fall visual prompt with leaves, pumpkins and rich fall colors.  

Inkspirational #379

My original plan was to create a Christmas card, but I had fun coloring an image a little while back that ended up on a plaid background and opted to use this autumnal card instead.  And I think the colors and leaves work well with the Ink visual prompt as well.

Say hello to Mochi Fall Girl!  The stamp is from Stamping Bella and I pretty much followed the packaging for the color combo as well as Elaine Hughes' (aka Marker Geek on YouTube and who colors all the SB product images on their packaging) exquisite shading.  I'm afraid I am a bit rusty coloring hair; that's the only part for which I wanted a "do-over" lol!  I just love all the leaves in her hair and that big scarf. 

With the coloring complete, the image was die cut with an arch die and matted with a mint arch cut with the next larger arch die.  For the background I used a panel of cayenne cardstock and did tone-on-tone stamping with a plaid background stamp.  The sentiment is from a separate SB stamp set and was cut with a label die and added to the card front partially with low profile foam tape to remain level with the layered image.  Lastly, some Honey Bee gems were added around the sentiment.

As always, thank so much for visiting!  I encourage you to take a moment and visit the challenge blog where my very talented teammates have some wonderful inspiration awaiting you.  The challenge will remain open until Friday, November 6th at 3pm EST.  I hope to see your card in the gallery!

Stef

(if you're here early on 11/1, swing back by after 9 am when I'll have another post for my Color Hues DT card)

• Stamping Bella Mochi Fall Girl and Autumn Sentiment sets
• Simon Says Stamp Soft Plaid Background stamp
• Altenew Nesting Arches dies
• SSS Tiny Text Label die
• HoneyBee Stamps Fall Is In The Air Gems
• Copics:  Hair - E79, 47, 44; Skin - 04, 11, 00; Lips - E04, RV34; Scarf - BG 72, 37, 11; Dress and Berries - R59, E07, R02; Leaves - BG96, G46, 43; E18, YR18, 14; YR27, 24, 21

Whimsical Wishes

Hello friends!  Today I have a card to share that works for three challenges - Time Out Challenges with a theme of friendship/encouragement/support, Just Us Girls where we are to CASE a DT (I'm CASEing Elizabeth's card) and Addicted to Stamps and More with an any occasion theme.

TOC 325

JUGS 847

Elizabeth - whom I'm CASEing

ATS 529

Several months ago I bought the Spellbinders Whimsical Wishes bundle because I fell in love with the wonky looking houses and flowers, which in a way reminded me of Whoville in Horton Hears a Who (I don't think I'm alone in that lol!).  Thanks to Elizabeth for inspiring me to finally put it to use!

While there are four styles of houses and four different flowers in the die sets, I stuck with just one house and a couple flowers so everything would fit on a A2 sized card.  

I first die cut and assembled all the images, then decided on how everything was to be laid out on the card.  I used the Village Companions set to die cut the clouds and cute doggo, and an edger die from Taylored Expressions to create the green hillside.  The light purple "sky" background was created using the Whimsical Skies embossing folder.  

Once everything was in place on the card front, I used a TE stamp and die set to create the greeting, which was added with thin foam tape.  I love the wonky house and those ginormous flowers; the sets truly live up to their name and hopefully give the recipient a reason to smile.

Thanks for taking time to stop by, I appreciate it!

Stef

All Spellbinders except where noted

• Whimsical Houses dies
• Whimsical Blooms dies
• Village Companions dies
• Whimsical Skies ef
• Taylored Expressions Easy Edger die
• TE Mini Strips - Sending stamp and die set

Autumn Magic for PP809

Hello friends!  Can you believe how quickly this month is flying by?  I'm trying to enjoy every remaining day of beautiful October.  The trees are turning color en mass, the leaves are falling and the chill is in the air.  Love it!

Anyway, that's not why you're here!  We have a new challenge over at the Paper Players starting today and the amazing Christy has a fabulous sketch to spark your creativity.

Paper Players

Speaking of flying by, I created an autumn themed card featuring a very cute owl.  Check it out...

Isn't she fun?  The die set includes everything except the sentiment and the branch, which I hand cut from brown cardstock.  The packaging definitely inspired the arched nighttime scene, but I changed it to align with Christy's sketch, the branch being the horizontal strip and the owl being the shape rather than a large leaf.

All the die cut pieces were ink blended with various Distress inks, the exception being her face.  There were dies to cut out pink cheeks for the owl, but I chose to just use a light colored pink Copic marker in the embossed areas rather than the harsh look of the dies.  In hindsight, I wish I'd done a bit of shading on her face.  In real life, she looks fine but the photos make her look much paler.

After I created the arch background from dark blue cardstock, I used a darker blue ink and blended it across the upper part of the sky.  When that dried, I used gold splatter to emulate stars.  When that dried, the moon and die cut stars were added around the owl sitting on her branch, and I filled the space beneath with a variety of fall leaves.  The sentiment was gold heat embossed and popped up on foam tape and that finished things off.

I realized, just as I was finishing this post, that I forgot the extra layer on top of the base.  I think the card still bears the essence of the sketch, hopefully!

This is such a great sketch with unlimited options, so I hope you'll find time to join us.  The challenge will remain open until Friday, October 30th at 3pm.  In the meantime, I encourage you to visit the challenge blog where my talented teammates have oodles of inspiration for you.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

• Spellbinders September 2026 Small DOTM Owl Be There
• Spellbinders September 2026 Clear Stamp & Die OTM Stuffed With Gratitude
• Simon Says Stamp A7 Arches die
• SSS Gold Splatter Matter
• Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Early Espresso, Gathered Twigs and Chipped Sapphire Distress inks

Happy Autumn for PP808

Hello friends!  It's time for a new challenge over at the Paper Players and this week I'm hosting.  This is Clean and Simple week and in addition to that, we're looking for cards with a fall/autumn theme.  

Paper Players

I'm also joining my friends at TOC #324.  I think a couple of the elements on my card (pumpkin, coffee cut) fit well with their photo inspiration challenge.

TOC #324

And I'm also playing along with the current Tic Tac Toe challenge, using Fall Colors, Leaves and Metallics.

#tttc303

Autumn is my favorite time of year and I know I'm not alone in that.  I had so many ideas about cards to make but then I received my Simon Says Stamp October card kit and that was the deciding factor as to what to create.

In the kit were four Seasonal Whimsy card fronts that incorporate both a pattern and a squiggly-edged white space on one layer.  That way the card looks layered but it's not.  Since I knew I would be using an orange and teal color combo, I chose this striped pattern.  

The images are from the Homespun Gratitude stamp and die set.  They were stamped in brown ink, then colored using Copic markers.  The set has multiple small images so they can be mixed and matched any way one chooses.  I thought the cup with the scarf wrapped around it was like the epitome of "cozy" (even though I probably would be too afraid of spilling my cup to wrap it up like that!).  They were die cut and added to the card front with foam tape.  

The sentiment is an older one from SSS and was cut with teal and added to the vellum die cut shadow before adhering to the card.  My camera did not like taking a clear shot of the sentiment, so I apologize for its fuzzy appearance.  The final touch was to add a few gold confetti sequins.  I know my card is a bit busy for "CAS", but I figured with limited layers I could squeak by. ;-)

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it!  Please take a moment and visit the challenge blog where the rest of our amazing design team has some fabulous CAS fall cards to inspire you.  The challenge will remain open until Friday October 23rd at 3pm EDT.  I hope you'll join us this week!

Stef

All products are from Simon Says Stamp

• Homespun Gratitude stamps and dies
• Happy Autumn die set
• Seasonal Whimsy card front
• Gold Embellishments

Boo to You

Hello friends!  I'm popping in to share a card made for the challenges at Just Us Girls and Festive Friday.  I had a die set on my desk for creating one last (I think) Halloween card for my family and realized it would work great for both of these challenges.  

JUGS #845

 

The little ghost cup with it's cute smiling face reminded me of the three I was readying for my card, except they have a few more apparel items, shall we say!

FF0220

My card has 4 items off the Inspo List - orange, black, green and a Halloween sentiment.

And here's what I ended up making...

These adorable ghosts are from a die set that I bought on sale earlier this year because I found their cuteness so charming.  I used a quad layout for my card similar to an example on the Spellbinders website except I changed up a number of things.  

I went with classic Halloween colors of green, orange, purple and black, both for the attire that the ghosts are wearing and the background.  After putting together the three ghosts and the sentiment, I went to work on the background.

I used four different colored panels cut to 2.5" x 3.5" and adhered them together on a 5" x 7" piece of super lightweight cardstock.  Not quite as thin as copy paper, which would work fine too, but thin enough that I could then emboss the layered panel after finding the right sandwich.  One of the small panels had pulled away from abutting the other during the embossing, so I cut four black strips to cover that up, which also acted to separate each of the four sections.

The ghosts were then added with thin foam tape as was the pumpkin candy holder and the sentiment.  Lastly, I used some black star embellishments that came in my Heroween kit to add a bit of sparkle.  I think these ghosts are so adorable and I'm also thinking their hats and glasses might work with other dies sets...we'll have to see!

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend! 

Stef

• Simon Hurley/Spellbinders Boo Crew Die set
• Spellbinders Diamond Blocks embossing folder
• Simon Says Stamp Strips die
• Spellbinders Peridot, Rainforest, Lilac, Fog and Brushed Silver cardstock
• SSS Creamsicle and Black cardstock