A Yummy Strawberry

Hello and happy Fabulous Friday to you. Fabulous Friday is the day that the Friday Freebie comes out on the Sugar Creek Hollow website. It's also the day that the designers from Sugar Creek Hollow all get together and do a DT challenge. This week our challenge is to use the following colors from SU: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip. For this card, I used the SCH strawberry digital image and digitally paper pieced it. I printed it off in several sizes, used Crystal Effects on the chocolate and stickles on the green hull. I made up the sentiment seal on computer and then inserted a smaller version of the paper pieced strawberry. The more I work with digital images, the more I see advantages to using them. For example, I digitally paper pieced the strawberry. Not only could I print it off in several sizes, but I didn't have to fiddle with cutting and piecing 5 strawberry images, one of which was very tiny, manually. Very cool, huh?

Be sure to stop by Sugar Creek Hollow today to pick up your Friday Freebie. Here's the rest of the design team. Hope you'll stop by to say hi and see all their beautiful samples created with Sugar Creek Hollow digital images.

♥Donna♥Stephanie♥Loretta♥Cheri♥
♥Sarah♥Dani♥Tracy-Owner♥Kelly♥
♥Marsha♥Joan♥Nancy♥
♥Joseline-DT Coordinator♥
♥Kristina♥Cassie♥

Thanks for stopping by today and blessings,

Challenges:

ABC Challenge - P is for Paper Piecing

Lace, Pins and Pearls

Welcome to my Wednesday post. Does it seem to you like this week is just streaking by in a blur? I was away last weekend visiting my daughter and am leaving for another family weekend on Thursday. So my whole week's DT commitments have been compressed into several days for the second week in a row. Yikes, I'm kicking out cards in record time (which is about 4-5 each for me - LOL). This week, the challenge at Creative Inspirations is Lace, Pins and Pearls.

Here's my DT card. Not much to tell. Just a few layers in Perfect Plum and Barely Banana. The DPs are digital and the flowers made with Spellbinders dies. The sentiment and brackets are from Verve, the yellow pearls are Kaiser and the tiny pin from Tim Holtz. The vintage image is from Magic Moonlight and was printed on my home printer.

Let me know if you have any questions. You can leave it in the comments or email me privately. Now hop on over to the Creative Inspirations Wednesday challenge blog and check out the rest of the awesome DT's work.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Hugs & blessings,

It's a Birthday Celebration and Blog Hop

Creative Card Crew is turning one year old this week and we're having a celebration! That's right and it's a celebration for YOU. Because without you, our loyal participants, we wouldn't have made it this far. The festivities this fortnight include:

3 digital images of the winner's choice from Sunshine Stamps

These two stamps from Bunny Zoe's Crafts:

A $20 gift certificate from Simon Says Stamp

and (...drumroll please...)

A One Month Guest Designer Opportunity with Creative Card Crew

And that's not all folks. Our design team has blog candy on their blogs. So start hopping and sign up for your chance to win individual blog candy from:

Paula, Owner

Claire

Janna

Linda

Maria

Pauline

Sam

Victoria

and welcoming back Sharon,

one of our original founders who is making a return visit

just to celebrate with the Crew

Our challenge theme this week is CELEBRATION. Can't wait to see your challenge entries.

Here's my blog candy. To be entered into the drawing, you must post your CELEBRATION card on the Creative Card Crew challenge blog, post your entry here using Mr. Linky and also leave a comment in this post. This contest closes at midnight on March 15th and the winner will be announced on March 16th.

Thanks for stopping by here and the Creative Card Crew blog to help celebrate our birthday. Can't wait to see your entry into our celebration card challenge this week. Good luck on all the drawings!

Have a wonderful week!

Blessings,

Challenges entered:

Lexi's Creations - Anything goes

Pollycraft - Distressing

Paper Jewels - Cute & Girly

Quirky Crafts - Cute

Crazy 4 Challenges - 3 Distinct Textures (mine are smooth/normal, heat embossed bottom panel, distressed/torn edges)

One Stop Craft Challenge - Optimistically Pink

Scrap & Stamp - Use texture on your card

Secret Crafter - Use stitching

Stamp Something - Recipe Challenge - Use ribbon, buttons and designer paper

Cute Card Thursday - Ribbon-tastic

Pixie Dust Studio - Think Birthday

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - Use scallops

Sugar Creek Hollow Grand Opening & Blog Hop

It's Grand Opening at Sugar Creek Hollow! I am so excited to be part of the celebration and Design Team! We are kicking off the Grand Opening with a Grand Celebration! For today only, we are offering a free digi for for EVERY $10 spent. Spend $10 you get one free digi, spend $20 you get 2 free digis, spend $30...well you know the rest!

Want to win a $50 gift certificate on Grand Opening Day? Here's how:

1. Become a follower of Sugar Creek Hollow

2. Post the Sugar Creek Hollow banner with a link on the sidebar of your blog.

3. Leave a comment on the SCH blog that you have done so.

The winner will be chosen at 11:59 p.m. on March 1st. Your name will be posted on the SCH blog the next day. You will then have 24 hours to claim your gift certificate. If not claimed, another name will be drawn.

All proceeds from the Grand Opening Sales will be dontated to Tree of Life Ministries to help feed the hungry in the city where Tracy lives. Won't you join us in making this a GRAND event, and by doing so you are putting food in little children's bellies that may otherwise not have anything to eat.

The Design Team has created a card for you to see these beautiful digis in use. Here's my card.

Now go visit the rest of the DT to see their beautiful cards. Then, go to Sugar Creek Hollow's website to purchase your favorite digis!!

♥Donna♥Stephanie♥Loretta♥Cheri♥
♥Sarah♥Dani♥Tracy-Owner♥Kelly♥
♥Marsha♥Joan♥Nancy♥
♥Joseline-DT Coordinator♥
♥Kristina♥Cassie♥

Blessings,

Challenges entered:

Stamptacular Sunday - Back in Time

The Funky Chicken

Hello friends and welcome to my Saturday posting for the Our Creative Corner design team. This is my last week as host and I am challenging all our participants to a sketch challenge.

Our sponsor this week is a brand new digital stamp company Sugar Creek Hollow. So new, in fact, that their Grand Opening is March 1st. They are a Christian company that is giving all of their proceeds to a food pantry. They are offering $10 in free digital images to the lucky winner of this week's random selection. But really everybody wins because as part of their Grand Opening there is a fabulous Friday Freebie (from yesterday), a blog hop, a drawing for $50 in free digital stamps and the opportunity to receive a free digital stamp for every $10 you spend on the Grand Opening day of March 1st. So be sure to drop by their site on Monday and check out all the goodies!

My OCC card this week was made with an image from Sugar Creek Hollow. Isn't this American primitive chicken just the cutest? As soon as I saw her, I thought BANDANA! So I searched out some bandana paper. I found a digital paper pack on line at Designer Digitals and had fun again with digital paper piecing. The blue background panel is Night of Navy that has been embossed with the Cuttlebug paisley embossing folder and sponged with white craft ink to give it sort of a faded denim look. Then I couldn't resist cutting up an old bandana for the horizontal panel in the center of the sketch.

Thanks so much for dropping by and for all your lovely comments. I hope you will take the time to stop by Our Creative Corner to see the awesome work by the rest of our design team. Have a wonderful weekend!

Monochromatic Butterfly

It's Wednesday again - Happy Hump Day, everybody!! Here's my DT card for this week's Creative Inspirations challenge. This week's challenge is monochromatic. For some reason, monochromatic cards always scare me. Don't know why - maybe I think I won't be able to stick to just one color. This one was easy peasy once I decided on the color.

This cute little primitive butterfly is a creation of Tracy over at Sugar Creek Hollow, a brand new digital stamp company specializing in vintage and primitive stamps. I decided to use Bashful Blue and Very Vanilla. The DP is digital and I matched up the colors by scanning a piece of Bashful blue and changing the colors in the DP to match. Nothing too complex on this card - a bunch of layers and a mess of Spellbinder dies and you've got yourself a card. If you have any questions, leave it in the comments or email me. I'm always happy to share.

Wishing you a beautiful rest of the week!

Blessings,

More Get Well Wishes

It's my team's turn to post samples at Pile it On this week. The DT is split into two teams and we rotate posting every other week. I really like that approach. It allows for a bigger team so more designers get the opportunity to be on the team, plus it gives us all a break, only having to produce samples ever other week. We have some really terrific designers so I hope you will stop by to check out this week's challenge, which is to make a get well card. Since our sponsor this week is Magnolia, I decided to dust off one of my two lonely Magnolia stamps. This one had never even seen ink! I don't know why, but I really struggled with this card. It took me about 7 hours, with a couple of major interruptions, so probably at least 4 solid hours of work here. I fiddled around a lot, trying different layouts and embellishments. So what you see is what I FINALLY settled on.

The DP, both gingham and patterned, is part of the Wild Apsaragus collection from My Mind's Eye. I LOVE their DP. It's so rich and heavy, nice and textured and heavenly patterns. I've been wanting to use these sheets for quite awhile and I thought it would go nicely with this Tilda stamp. Tilda is colored with Copics and her get well card envie is glittered. The Hugs and Kisses stamp is from Rubbernecker and the ...and Get Well Wishes was done on my computer. I made the paper flowers using Spellbinders dies, brads are from SU, spacers and end caps from the jewery asle at craft stores and a Martha Stewart punch to make the strip of paper lace. Oh, and a little distressing and Close to Cocoa ink sponging.

Here are all the challenges I piled on for this card:

• Pile it On - Get Well Card
• Papertake Weekly - Check This Out
• All Sorts - A tag, ticket or label
• Saturday Spotlight With Hidden Potential - Do the Mess Around
• Fussy & Fancy - Dazzel Us
• Paper Cutz - Get Well Card
• Crafty Creations - Stitching
• Corrosive Challenge Blog -Sew it Up
• Crafty Angels - Fantastic Flowers
• Incy Wincy Designs - Punch it Out
• Hand Full of Stamps - Sending You Wishes
• Cute Card Thursday - Metal Mania
• Sophisticats - Stitching
• One Stitch at a Time - Stitching
• Paper Sundaes - Distressing
• Quirky Crafts - Cute
• Practical Scrappers - Flowers
• Lots to Do - Use a Machine

Blessings,

Faux Buttons - My New Technique

I am the host for the month of February over at Our Creative Corner. That means I get to set the challenge - whoohoo!! This week I decided to challenge everyone to learn a new technique. There are so many wonderful papercrafting techniques, but I am guilty of never slowing down enough to stop and learn something new. I'm sure many of you have the same M.O. So this week, let's see what we can learn. If you are stumped for a technique to try, check out the Resources page on Splitcoast Stampers or the Tutorials page at PaperCraft Planet.

I fiddled around with several new techniques this week, but settled on faux buttons. There are several tutorials available. One is Stamping with Sheryl and here's a video tutorial by Linda Lloyd. I followed the step-by-step instructions from Linda Lloyd's video, but instead of punching the circles out, I cut them with my circle Nesties. I wanted the embossed ring around the inside of the top circle to simulate a button look. I thought it was cool that I could have "buttons" that matched the images on my card.

I finally broke down and purchased the set Peaches and Cherries from Flourishes a few weeks back. I have wanted it since it came out last summer and this is the fist time I have used it. I'm not real happy with the Copic work I did on that panel. I got a little bleeding around some of the edges. I haven't really mastered Copic coloring yet. I don't do it enough to get really good at it.

I LOVE this paper from Webster's Paper. I got the 6x6" pad with some Christmas money and this is the first time I have had it out. I started to use one of the papers with a cute retro cooking image on it and that's when I decided on the recipe card as an embellishment. But later I decided that I was covering up too much of the cook image so I sent it aside for a later card and used this beautiful red starred paper instead. But I still stuck with the recipe card. I pulled this card out of my recipe file. It's called Recipe for Home and the ingredients are things like friendship, thoughtfulness, tenderness, loyalty, faith, etc. It's my grandmother's handwriting and she wrote it for me when I was in high school (back in the '60s) so it is almost 50 years old. No I didn't rip and distress my grandmother's gift. I photocopied it onto white cardstock and tucked the original back into my recipe file. I also made up the sentiment and seal on my computer and printed it onto the card before I cut the card out. Not too many details on this card, but if you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments section or email me privately.

Now it's time to scoot on over to Our Creative Corner and check out what the rest of the design team learned and used on their samples this week. Have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,

Challenges Entered:

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - FTTC54 - All About Me (use what you love and makes you happy. For me, it's vintage/collage with lots of distressing, but you know that, don't you, LOL??)

Stamp & Scrap - Hybrid challenge - use a digital image on your traditional paper layout

CCEE Stampers - Sweet Challenge

You Light Up My Life - A Sepia Challenge

This week, the challenge at the Creative Inspirations Wednesday Challenge Blog is to make a sepia card. I was a little nervous about this assignment too, since I am pretty new to the design team I wanted to make a seriously nice card. Then I saw this Tiffany lamp, a Friday Freebie from Sugar Creek Hollow and everything just clicked. I was off and running.

The designer paper is from K&Co., and the brown textured CS is from the DCWV Heritage Pack. It came textured and then I ran it through the CB Textile embossing folder. Once embossed, I used a sanding block on it to reveal the white core. Then I scissor distressed the edges and sponged the entire panel with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink. The edges of the main DP panel were cut with a Spellbinders die and sponged with Vintage Photo ink. The frame around the lamp is also a digital image from Sugar Creek Hollow. I don't think it's for sale yet. I have it because I am on the Grand Opening design team. That panel was also sponged with Vintage Photo distress ink. I made up the sentiment and printed it on my home computer. It was cut with a Spellbinders tag die.

Now here's the part I'm not sure about. See how the lamp shade is sort of cloudy looking? Well I tried watercoloring it with my Vintage Photo ink, but that smeared the printer ink, even though I had heat set it. I covered it over with gold Distress Stickles and I like how it looks. But then I was thinking it was too cloudy, so I makde another lamp shade and colored it with Copics. Then I glazed it with Crystal Effects. The updated photo is below. My dilema - I can't decide which I like better. I think its the first version. Even though it the lampshade looks cloudy, it think it looks weathered and attractive. Which one do you prefer? Leave me a comment and let me know!




Once you solve my dilema, I hope you will hop over to Creative Inspirations and see the awesome sepia creations the rest of the team designed. This week our prize is a 10% discount at Happy Hippo and the chance to be our guest designer for the month of March! So what are you waiting for? Let's see those sepia creations!!

Hope you're having a great week!

Blessings,

Challenges entered:

Little Paper Shop - Distressing

Tuesday Throwdown - Distressing

Handful of Stamps - Open Challenge

Get Well Wishes - A CCC Challenge

This week the challenge at Creative Card Crew is to make a get well card. It's always good to have a few get well cards tucked away so I happily got down to the business of designing my DT card for this week. This card features an image from the new vintage/primitive digital stamp company Sugar Creek Hollow plus a sentiment I made up and printed on my home printer. The digital image of the pretty spring bonnet was colored with Copics and popped up with craft foam. The lovely mellow yellow paper is from SU's Parisian Summer pack.

The frame and border are both Spellbinders dies and the corner pieces are a Cuttlebug die. All edges are distressed with Creamy Caramel and the main image panel has also been sponged with Scattered Straw distress ink. The flower was also made using the Flower Petals Spellbinder dies. The leaf is a Sizzix die purchased through SU.

I think that's about it for the details. Let me know if you have any questions. I was really happy with the way this card turned out. I really like the gentle feminity of it. Be sure to stop by the Creative Card Crew blog and check out the lovely work of the rest of the design team ladies. Our sponsor this week is Truly Scrumptious Crafts and the prize is some lovely ribbon and charms.

Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you blessings on your week.

Challenges entered:

Corrosive - Sew it Up

One Stitch at a Time (a brand new challenge blog) - Stitching

Stamp Something - Something Cute (I think this card is very cute)

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Digi coloring

Fun 'N' Funky - Shabby Chic

Digital Tuesday - All Things Girly

Pile it On - Let's See Flowers

Cute Daisy May - Bright and Cheerful

Handful of Stamps - Open Challenge

A Giving Heart

This week the challenge at Our Creative Corner is Something Old That's NEW, a challenge to dig into our stash and use something that we've had for awhile, but have never used (or haven't used in forever). As hostess this week, I set the challenge and surprisingly enough, was very challenged to find something to use. Of course, I have tons of DP that I've been hoarding, but I really didn't find too many embellishments or stamps that hadn't been used. I finally decided to use a Tim Holtz mask that hadn't even been opened yet, along with some Ranger alcohol inks
that haven't been out in a almost a year. The mask is 12" so it makes a large pattern. It's sort of hard to see on the background layer. It's a large flourish that I laid over an 8x10" piece of natural cardstock and spritzed with Meadow and Ginger and just a splash of Butterscotch alcohol inks. Then I lightly stamped the Script BG stamp in Vintage Photo distress ink. I used that paper for the background and also cut a heart out of it. The DP by Creative Imaginations is sort of grungy rust with a green leaf pattern on it. I don't believe I have ever used this particular stamp either. I have used one of the other stamps in the set, but not that one. And the ceramic "hope" charm has been in my stash forever so I was happy to be able to work it in.

Both flowers were hand made with Spellbinders dies. The fluffy one was cut from coffee filters with a small scalloped circle. I sprayed the coffee filters with the same alcohol inks I used for the background panel and then stamped them with the Script stamp inked up with Vintage Photo distress ink. The small flower was cut from the designer paper with the two tiny dies that come with the Classic Frame die.

Although I met the challenge, I'm not sure if I like this card. Maybe it will grow on me. I had envisioned doing something green and springlike, but it didn't come out as I had hoped. I'm not sure of the occasion I would use it for but maybe someday I'll find just the right person and occasion to send it for.

Be sure to stop by Our Creative Corner to see how the other DT members met this challenge. There are some really beautiful samples over there this week!

Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you a love-filled St. Valentine's Day!

Sugar Creek Hollow Design Team Preview

It's Preview Week at Sugar Creek Hollow and each day on the website several design team members are being introduced. Friday is my introduction. For preview week, Tracy, the owner of Sugar Creek Hollow gave each of the team a set of three quilting images and turned us lose to do as we wanted. It's been such fun showing and sharing our wonderful creations with this set on the team blog. At first I was very nervous about what to do with the quilt image. As you know, I'm not very experienced in working with digital images, although I am always game to learn something new. The team members have been so fabulous about sharing their knowledge as each of us added to our body of knowledge about digi's. Two main things I learned this week that I am very excited about using in the future are layering in a photo editing program and digital paper piecing - a very cool technique.

So here's my quilt card. Considering that I went from being at a total loss as to what to do with the image to creating this card, I was pretty happy with the outcome. I tried to channel "country" with this card and the image of a stamped tin ceiling came to me. So I dragged out the alunium foil - you can read more about that adventure in the You Make My Heart Sing post below. The quilt blocks were not digitally pieced here, but rather paper pieced by hand (that's what convinced me that I HAD to learn to do it digitally).

The paper is mostly SU - Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla sponged with Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip, Rose Romance DSP and the quilt blocks are digital paper that I printed on my home computer. The beautiful country-ish brads are from Michael's.

I hope you will stop by Sugar Creek Hollow and get acquainted with the other design team members and see their take on this very cool digital set. While you are there, be sure to check out the Friday freebies and the details about the grand opening March 1st.

Love Conquers All

I love that sentiment "Love Conquers All". It's so perfect for this card using the Wings of Hope digital stamp from Whimsey Stamps. It's a special limited edition only available through February 28th. All proceeds are being donated to the American Red Cross to help with the Haitian earthquake relief effort.

This is my design team card for this week's Creative Inspirations Wednesday challenge. The theme this week is Anyone for Leftovers? I thought Nat came up with such a cute name for a challenge that all of us should be able to take part in. I have a bin brimming with bits and pieces of past cards. I was able to make this entire card (except for the base piece) out of leftovers from cards made earlier this week. The rose chintz and Mellow Moss pieces you will recognize from a pretty vintage Valentine I posted several days ago. You'll see the rose chintz again, as well as the cranberry dotted paper, when I post my quilt card on Friday. The upside down hearts have been in my bits and pieces box for at least six month. They were the punched out part from a Cuttlebug die. I don't know why I didn't toss them, but they finally found a home here on this card.

The rose chintz paper is digital so I was able to digitally paper piece the carousel horse. The rest of the horse is colored with Copics and Stickles were applied to the mane and tail, with a little Crystal Effects on the leaves for dimension. The Love Conquers All sentiment was computer generated. The silver embossed floral flourish is a stamp from Inkadinkado and the silver embossed flourish around the Mellow Moss panel is from Waltzing Mouse stamps. I used the Textile Cuttlebug embossing folder on the cream layer. The silver corner pieces were cut with a Spellbinders die and silver embossed then topped with a bead cap.

If I have missed anything that you want to know about, just leave me a comment and I'll be happy to share.

Blessings,

Challenges entered:

ABC Challenge: N is for New

Belli Challenge - Ribbons

Stampin' Royalty - Love/Valentine's

Digital Tuesday - It's All About the Animals

Jacksonbelle Tuesday Challenge - Love is in the Air

Lexi's Creations - Spots or Stripe

Polycreaft Monday Challenge - Things with Wings

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Love is in the Air

Sugar Creek Hollow

You may remember this post from last week when I announced that I had been invited to be a guest on the design team for an brand new digital stamp company specializing in vintage/primative stamps called Sugar Creek Hollow. Well, things have developed from there and I have been asked to stay on as a full time design team member . They have also asked me to write a monthly vintage/primative tutorial. That's an awesome opportunity for me and of course I said YES!!!!

Sugar Creek Hollow will open on March 1st, but you can already go to the website and sign up to be a follower and perhaps win a digi. There are also some freebies on the site to get you started. While you are there, check out the design team and their awesome samples. Tracy, the owner and artist, created a special quilt set for us to use this week for the DT introductions. We have all made a card with the set. My day to be introduced is Friday so be sure to stop by Sugar Creek Hollow and see the card I made with the quilt set.

I created this card as a Country Valentine with two digi's that are already for sale on the site. Click the New Releases butto and you will see a number of images that are already up for sale, long with beautiful samples from the design team. This is a pretty simple card - card stock is Basic Black, Ruby Red and Old Olive. The DSP is digital papers which I digitally paper pieced. Tools: A Martha punch and a Spellbinder die, some ribbon and black lace and a tiny metal frame from SU's Silver Hodge Podge Hardware.

Hope you'll all stop by Sugar Creek Hollow and get acquainted!!

Blessings,


Challenges Entered:

My Time to Craft - Hearts & Kisses

Fun 'n' Funky Challenges - Shabby Chic

Gingersnap Creations - Spicy Supply Challenge/Lace & Fibers

Die Cuts R Us - Love

Crafty Cardmakers - Digital Delights (use a digi)

Incy Wincy - Use Red or Pink and Black on a card

Quirky Crafts Challenges - Valentine's or Foreign

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps - Be a Little Ripper (ripped edges)

To Someone I Love

This week's challenge at Pile it On is "To the One You Love". I made this card to send to my daughter who is away at college. I wanted to do something vintage and girly for her. I have had this heart with the beautiful rose chintz pattern cut out and sitting on my desk for a couple of days. I had used the DP for another project and the heart was just one of those elements that you cut or make and then they really do work for the current project so you set them aside. But I didn't really set it aside. I had it propped up on my craft table because it was so pretty and have been looking at it all week. This just seemed to be the right project to use it on. I silver embossed the Letters of Love (SU) on Mellow Moss and cut them with Labels 1 Nesties. All the DP is digital paper printed on my home printer. I embossed a layer of Very Vanilla and sponged it with Creamy Caramel. The main element is from SU's See it With the Heart set stamped on vellum with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo ink and trimmed out. It's layered over a Very Vanilla heart. The leaves were cut with a Sizzix die purchased from SU, cut from Mellow Moss CS and then silver embossed with a filigree pattern. Add some pearls, end caps and Prima flowers and this card was ready to be photographed and posted. Here are the challenges I have Piled it On to this week:

• Crazy4Challenges- Be My Valentine
• Fussy & Fancy - Hearts
• Stampin' for the Weekend - Love is in the Air - Valentine's Preparations
• Stamp Something - Love SomethingsCRAFT
• Gingersnap Creations - Romance
• Raise the Bar - Heart to Heart Talk
• Charisma Cards - I Love You
• PaperPlay Challenges - Love Notes
• C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Valentine's or Love
• Just Buggin' - Love Ya
• Creative Craft Challenge - Roses are Red
• Simon Says Stamp - Photo Inspiration (red rose)
• Humble Pie - Love

I hope you will take time to stop by the Pile it On blog to see what the other teams members have whipped up this week for your inspiration.

Blessings,

You Make My Heart Sing!

Before Valentine's Day comes, I needed to make a couple of cards suitable for guys. I think I've pretty much run the gammet with feminine Valentine's cards for this year and it was fun making one for a guy. Since this is my month to be hostess over at Our Creative Corner, I thought a good first challenge would be to make a masculine Valentine.

I wanted to do a vintage guy card and what I actually had in mind was a photo or an ad for an antique car with a sentiment of "You're a classic" or something similar. But when I came across this motorcycle ad, the ideas started popping and I had to go with it. This image came from Heidi at Shabby Chic Papirskatter. The CS is Night of Navy and Bordering Blue with some gray DSP also from SU. The sentiments were both computer generated. I actually created the seal myself on the computer. The square sentiment was cut with Labels One Nestabilities and the frame stamp is from Waltzing Mouse Stamps. They have a number of what they call Nestie Friendly stamps - stamps that work perfectly with Spellbinder's Nestabilities.

I used aluminum foil for the Diamond Plate EF since I don't have any of the craft foil sold for that purpose. The way I did it worked, but not great. I used three layers of foil. I was afraid they would separate so I spread a very thin layer of glue between each layer. Then I glued a sheet of cardstock to the bottom layer. I let the glue dry for about an hour. Well, let me warn you, glue between foil takes FOREVER to dry because no air gets in there. When I pressed the foil with the EF and Cuttlebug, it squeezed the glue out the end of the embossing folder. What a mess - I had glue all over!!

The wings and heart are Tim Holtz Grungeboard type chipboard. I painted them with Distrss Crackle paint - white that I mixed a drop of Night of Navy reinker into. When dry, I pressed them into my gray stamp pad to grung them up a bit. I really like the way the paint came out - sort of verigated in color and then has the dark gray on it. Grunging things up is one of my favorite crafting activities - LOL!! The screw brads came from Michael's and probably the silver key did too. The winged heart brad is by Marah Johnson for Creative Imaginations. That's about it for this card. Let me know if you have any questions.

And right now, hurry over Our Creative Corner and check out the Valentine each of the DTs have made for a man in their life.

Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you a fabulous weekend!

Challenges entered:

Crazy for Challenges C4C23 - Be My Valentine

Bee Crafty - Romance (must include a digi - mine is the LOVE seal I created on my computer)

Stampin' for the Weekend - Love is in the air - Valentine's preparations

Stamp Something - Love Somethings

Your Next Stamp Challenge #9 - Charms

CCEE - Hearts & Charms

ABC Designs - I Love You Sweetheart

Gingersnap Creations - Romance

Drunken Stampers - Valentines with a twist of metal

Humble Pie - Love

With Love, From Me to You

Last Wednesday, when I posted my guest design team card for the Creative Inspirations Wednesday Challenge Blog, I thought my time with that team was over. But the lovely Nat, the blog owner, emailed me and asked me if I would like to join as a full time member. Of course, I said yes, and here I am with a weekly Wednesday post for Creative Inspirations. Here is my first card as a full fledged member of the design team. The challenge this week is Pink & Cream. It should have been a realitively easy challenge, right? NOT!! I had something in mind when I sat down to create and it just was not working out. This is the card that I struggled until 2 a.m. on the night before last. I had several lovely vintage Valentine images loaded with pinks. But my paper didn't match well with the pinks, I couldn't find any pink DP I was very excited about, tried doing several different elements with silver embossing, my desk was littered with rejected elements and cut paper. I finally found this MME DP in my stash but it didn't go well with the candy pink CS I had cut, so I ended up going with deep rose accents. When I made that decision, things finally started to fall into place.



Not too many supplies or tools on this one. As I said, the DP is MME, the cream CS is Very Vanilla and the rose is Rose Red. Dies used were Cuttlebug and Spellbinders, plus two CB embossing folders. If you want to know any specifics, leave me a question in the comments and I'll post a reply.

I hope you will stop over to the Creative Inspirations Wednesday Challenge Blog to see what my new team mates have designed for this week's Pink & Cream challenge. There are some really wonderful samples there. And while you're at it, stop by their blogs and get acquainted with my new teammies!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again for my next scheduled post on Saturday.


Challenges:
Raise the Bar - Old Paper
Pink Elephant - All About Pink - In Honor of Ella
Frosted Designs - Embossing Challenge
By the Cute & Girly - Love
The Corrosive Challenge - All You Need is Love

Cute Daisy May - Valentine's theme in pink and neutral

Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

Everything & Always

Good morning friends! Thanks so much for dropping by to view my weekly Tuesday posting. I'm sorry to be running a bit late getting it up this morning. If the truth be told, I was up until 2:00 a.m. struggling with a challenge card for later this week and then went to bed forgetting to schedule this morning's post. I guess sometimes I get too obsessed with certain projects - LOL!!

So here is my design team card for Creative Card Crew. The challenge this week given to us by DT member Sam is to make a Valentine card. This challenge was lots of fun for me. Sometimes cards just seem to fall together. As usual, this card doesn't look much like the idea I had in mind when I first sat down, but I really love the way it came out. Red is my favorite color and you have to admit, this card is a red indulgence!

I dug way down into my stash and came up with this designer series paper from SU. I've had it for at least three years and tend to hoard it because the reds are so lovely. This cool paper ribbon has been sitting on my craft table since Christmas. I have had it literally 10 years. I don't know if they even make the stuff any more. I found a bundle of it with my Christmas wrapping gear this year and grabbed it for my cards rather than pack it away again. Two stamp sets were used - SU's Always and a Verve set my DD gave me for Christmas called Thankful Accents. A couple of Spellbinder dies and a Martha border punch also contributed to the design of this card.

This week's challenge at Creative Card Crew is sponsored by Crafty Addicts. You can win this sweet stamp to be given away by random drawing. This challenge is now biweekly so you have until February 15th to play in the challenge and participate in this drawing. I hope you will stop by and see what the other wonderful ladies in the Crew have contributed.

Challenges:

Fussy & Fancy - Hearts

Stamp Simply - Bleeding Hearts (red hearts)

Stamp Something - Delightfully Delicious Somethings

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Love Actually

Blessings on your day,


Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.