Cozy Up for PP798

Hello friends!  Today I'm hosting our new color challenge at the Paper Players, and I chose a color combination that I really like!  As a reminder, you may also use neutrals along with the challenge colors.

Paper Players

I'm also joining the current Anything Goes Die challenge at Just Us Girls.

JUGs #835

Initially, I chose these colors with a water or beach scene in mind but ended up going a completely opposite direction with my design, which just shows you that there are plenty of design options with these colors.

As I was preparing to make the card for this challenge, I received some items that I'd ordered from Spellbinders.  In that order was this darling reindeer, which was the club stitching die of the month for July 2026. At that point I realized I could use the challenge colors just as well for a Christmas card as a summer scene card.  So why not? ;-)

As the name suggests, there are dies are made for stitching - the scarf as well as the sweater front.  But rather than stitch, I used a white paint pen to create faux stitching.  I don't mind the idea of actual stitching, but I don't have the right needles or floss...yet lol!  

All the deer parts and pieces were die cut from colored cardstock with the exception of metallic cardstock for the strings of lights wrapped around his (her?) antlers.  Everything went together so easy although the strings of lights were a bit fiddly to wrap around the antlers.  Rather than die cut the cheeks, I used a light red Copic marker to create some color in the embossed cheek area on the face.  The set also has either a gift or a coffee cup for the reindeer to hold.  I chose the coffee cup because it seemed perfect for the sentiment I used.  A white paint pen was then utilized to add polka dots.  

The ivory embossed panel was matted on a red A2 panel, then adhered to the card base.  The last step was to use foam tape to pop up both the reindeer and sentiment.  I think he's adorable!

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate it!  I encourage you to take and moment and visit the challenge blog to see the fabulous cards with a variety of designs created by the rest of the design team.  The challenge will remain open until Friday August 14th at 3pm EDT.  I hope you'll join us this week!

Stef

• Spellbinders Sweater Weather Friend Stitching Die OTM - July 2026
• SB Spectacular Holiday Sentiments Stamp
• SB Festive Greetings Embossing Folder OTM - July 2026
• SSS Sentiment Label die
• Posca 0.7mm white paint pen

Let's Party for PP797

Hello friends!  It's the first Sunday of August and that means a new theme challenge at the Paper Players.  This time the fabulous Jan is hosting and has chosen a delightful theme.

Paper Players

I'm also sharing with Darnell's NBUS challenge as this is the first outing for the main stamp and die set I used in today's card and joining in with the Anything Goes option of the Seize the Birthday challenge.

NBUS

STB #331

The newest little in our family is our great niece, and she is a cutie patootie!  She turned two in mid-July and I had So.Much.Fun. making this card for her birthday!

I started out with Lawn Fawn's stamp and die set that came out last year for Stamptember at Simon Says Stamp.  It has all the kitties and much of the other parts, but I also grabbed two older LF stamps from my collection to add the balloons, the cute bird, the hearts and one of the sentiment bubbles.  

I decided on a color palette (other than the critters) of pink, aqua, yellow and lime green.  I used my Copic markers to color everything, then out came the white gel pen to add some polka dots and stripes on the balloons and some of the packages.

I was trying to decide what type of scene to make with all these critters and thought it would be a fun design to use one of the postage collage A2 dies to create frames for little vignettes.  I went with the A2 size, which is 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and it was die cut 3 times and stacked for dimension. 

Distress inks were softly blended on a panel of white for the background, which was trimmed down to the same size as the frame before adhering.  Most of the images were popped up on foam squares.  Before adding to the card base, I ink blended pink around the edges. Lastly, I added Glossy Accents to the balloons, Stickles to a couple of the party hat pompoms and lots of sparkle with a shimmer pen to many of the items.  

Thanks so much for visiting!  I encourage you to take a moment and head over to the Paper Players, where my amazing teammates have some super cute cards to inspire you.  The challenge will remain open until Friday, August 7th at 3pm EDT.  I hope to see your card in the gallery!

Stef

• Lawn Fawn/SSS Purrfect Birthday stamps and dies (no longer available but LF has oodles of similarly cute sets available).
• LF Happy Birthday Deer stamps and dies
• LF Hippo Birdie to You stamps and dies
• Waffle Flower Postage Collage A2 Block die
• Kitsch Flamingo, Twisted Citron and Salvaged Patina Distress Inks
• Stardust Stickles, Tonic Shimmer pen and Ranger Glossy Accents
• Copics - BG11, 13, RV 02, 04, Y00, 11, 15, YG05, 01, T1, 2, 3, 4, YR14, 16 18, Black

Merry Christmas for CH138

Hello friends!  Today marks the beginning of a new challenge at Color Hues!  This time the lovely Karen is hosting and has chosen a beautiful color combination.

Color Hues

Thinking I wanted to create at holiday card with the color combo, I envisioned a stamped image with ink blending in the background.  But then I happened upon a small stamp set that I received 2-3 years ago as a gift with purchase and changed course with my plan, although I still made a card for Christmas.

As soon as I spotted that sweet little bird opening its gift, I knew I had to create with it.  Because it's a mini stamp, I created a mini scene.

After stamping the image I started with the night sky, using a lighter blue Copic around the bird and package and create the "snow" line, intentionally making it a bit bumpy like snow would be.  Two other blue markers were used to create the dark part of the sky then I blended them into the lighter portion.  After coloring the bird and package, I used a gold gel pen to color the ribbon and the stars on the package, then white splatter was used to create a light snow.  

The scene was cut with a small, notched corner rectangle then I use the same die and a smaller one to create a gold frame.  The background panel was created with a larger notched rectangle die, then embossed with a snowflake folder.  Everything was layered on a panel of navy, including the foiled sentiment.  The final touch was to add three gold stars in the sky, just because the left corner seemed a little bare.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you'll take a moment to head over to the challenge blog to see the fabulous creations by the rest of the design team and our wonderful guest designer, Rachel Ball.  The challenge will remain open until Friday August 14th at 9 am EDT.  I hope to see your card in the gallery!

Stef

• Colorado Craft Company/Anita Jeram Thoughtfulness Bird (CCC doesn't carry AJ products anymore but I saw many CCC/AJ sets on Ebay.)
• Simon Says Stamp A2 Notched Rectangle dies
• Spellbinders Comfort and Joy Sentiments Foil Plates & dies (ret).
• SB Sparkling Snow embossing folder

Jingle All the Way for PP796

Hello friends!  It's the 4th Sunday in July (can you believe it?) and time for the monthly sketch challenge at the Paper Players.  This week, the amazing Christy is hosting and has created a fun sketch.

I think this is sketch is a neat way to showcase three of something, like little flowers or numbers or quilt block designs.  For my card, I went with Christmas and three icon images.

This card uses images from the 2024 Simon Says Stamp/Tim Holtz Stamptember stamp and die set, including 2 sizes of postage stamp dies.  I first used the set for this card with the larger postage stamp dies, but the smaller ones worked better for this layout.

I was fortunate that the images were already stamped, colored and die cut, so it was a matter of choosing a trio.  But as it turned out, I had plenty of images ready to go, so I ended up making six cards using this layout and one where I changed it up a bit.

I'm not fond of mass production but I couldn't resist since these images were all ready to go!  I used another Tim Holtz Christmas stamp and die set for the sentiments, except for the one on the card at the top with the different layout.  That was a from a TH sentiment sticker book. The snowflakes were die cut from white glitter cardstock and I added a small red gem in the middle.  Some of the icon pieces have Glossy accents for shine.  After assembling, I decided no other embellishments were needed for all these cute cards!  Thanks for the fun sketch, Christy!

Thanks for stopping by and I encourage you to head over to the challenge blog to see all the fabulous inspiration by the the rest of the design team.  The challenge will remain open until Friday July 31st at 3pm EDT.  I hope you'll find time to join us!

Stef

• SSS/Tim Holtz Stamptember 2024 stamp and die set, including 2 postage stamp dies
• Tim Holtz Tiny Text Christmas stamps and SSS Tiny Text dies
• TH/Idea-ology Christmas Noel sticker book
• SSS Sensational Snowflake die
• SSS A2 Postage Rectangles 
• Patterned paper from stash (Honey Bee and MFT)
• Copic markers

Spectacular Christmas

Hello friends!  I popped in to see what the new challenge was at Inkspirational and saw that the word prompt was Christmas in July.  I had recently received my Spectacular Christmas bundle from Spellbinders and knew I wanted to use a couple of the images for this challenge.

Inkspirational #372

The bundle comes with a bear, a penguin, a deer and Santa Claus.  I decided to use the first two for my cards.  Here are both finished cards.

Aren't they so cute?  I adore them.  I started with all the die cutting after I figured out what color combinations I wanted to use.  Initially I thought I would put them both on a landscape 5" x 7" card but changed my mind, instead opting to use the Color Block Accent Arches die along with the Essential Arches dies.  

The dies were easy to assemble, although the glasses with the Ho Ho and adding the earmuffs onto the penguin was a bit fiddly.  The package she's holding is from this month's stitching die set but all the other accessories and the cupcake the bear is holding is from this bundle.

The background on both cards uses the Sparkling Snow embossing folder.  After embossed the arch panels I gently rubbed white pigment ink across the raised portions.  It was very subtle on the light-colored cardstock so after the cards were assembled Stardust Stickles was added to the centers of the stars, snowflakes and dots.

I could have added the finished arches to a larger rectangular card base, but I like the look of the shaped cards.  After white heat embossing the sentiments, they were die cut with a label die then trimmed down to fit the bottom of the embossed panel, after which the critters were added, all with foam tape.

Do you have a favorite critter or color scheme? Personally, I can't pick a favorite, I like them both.

Thanks so much for taking time to visit, I appreciate it!

Stef

• Spellbinders Spectacular Bear and Penguin die sets
• SB Sweater Weather Friend Stitching DOM (gift package)
• Spectacular Holiday Sentiments
• Essential Arches and Color Block Accent Arches dies
• Sparkling Snow embossing folder
• Simon Says Stamp Sentiment Labels die
• Spellbinders cardstock - Mulberry, Orchid, Carrol, Seaside, Teal Topaz, Peridot, Blush, Truffle, Matte Silver
• Stardust Stickles and Glossy Accents
• Tonic Shimmer Pen

Live Salty for PP795

Hello friends!  It's Clean and Simple week over at the Paper Players.  The lovely LeAnne is hosting and has chosen a theme of going to the beach.

Paper Players

I'm also playing along with the current Time Out Challenge, with the theme of Water and with Just Us Girls and their Summer Fun Mood Board.

TOC #317

JUGS #832

I made a fun birthday card using some Waffle Flower Postage Collage products.  Take a look!

I started with the PC die that cuts a 4"x 5.25" panel with six different postage "stamp" sections and then used the beach stencil and some coordinating stamps to create the individual scenes.  The whole thing about Finding Nemo (mine! mine!) and the fun sentiment had me smiling the whole time.  

As you can see, I cut apart the stenciled sections then chose the three I liked the best to go with the sentiment and our beach theme.  The sentiment was stamped then fussy cut.  The background panel was cut with a postage rectangle die, ink blended with a light blue ink and attached the to the card base, then the stenciled sections and sentiment were added with a mix of glue and foam tape.  

Thanks for visiting!  Please be sure to pop over to the challenge blog to see the fabulous cards my talented teammates have created.  The challenge will remain open until 3pm EDT Friday July 24th.  I hope you'll join us!

Stef

• Waffle Flower Postage Collage die
• WF Postage Collage Beach Day stencil
• WF Postage Collage Beach Days and Inquisitive Seagulls stamp sets
• SSS A2 Postage Rectangle die

Big Blooms Birthday for CH137

Hello friends!  We have a new challenge over at Color Hues starting today and the lovely Nancy is stepping in as host for Jules, who is still deep in unpacking after a move.  Jules chose a beautiful and dramatic color combination.

Color Hues

I'm also playing along with the Anything Goes portion of the current Seize the Birthday Challenge.

STB #330

For my card, I went with a stamp and stencil combination.  The stamp creates the background and outlines of the flowers and leaves.

I really love the dramatic effect of a dark background, so when I saw Jule's color choices, I knew I would be using this set.  

The first step was to stamp the image.  I used black pigment ink for the best coverage and still had to stamp it at least 3 times to achieve that.  I let it dry overnight and then used the stencils to color the flowers in three shades of red, then a gold gel pen for the top of the stamen.  

The stamped image is 5.5" square but I trimmed it down close to 4.75" square, and then mounted it on a 4.75" x 5.5" card base.  To pull in more gold, I used two skinny strips of matte gold on the top and bottom of the panel, then added the sentiment.   I tried adding some gold confetti sequins but it made it too busy for my taste, so no bling!

Thanks for taking time to visit and please take a moment to visit the challenge blog where my oh, so talented teammates and two guest designer, Joanne James and Julia Aston, have some amazing inspiration for you!  The challenge will remain open until Wednesday July 29th at 9am EDT.  I hope you'll join us!

Stef

• C&9/Kristina Werner Aubrey Blooms Background Stamp and Stencil set
• Spellbinders You Are Everything Betterpress plate and die
• SSS Strips die
• Altenew Gold gel pen
• Barn Door, Lumberjack Plaid and Aged Mahogany Distress Inks