May Your Heart and Soul...

It's always a good idea to have some sympathy cards on hand, because when you actually need them, you are not usually in the mood to make them. So, this week, the challenge at JustRite Stampers, was to create either a sympathy or get well card. I used the Thinking of You set. I used Core'Dinations paper black/purple - embossed with the Victoria Cuttlebug folder, so the black on the card would not be quite so somber.

This is also for:
Clearly I Stamp - sketch
Simon Says- So Distressing
Crafty Creations - Anything goes
Papertake Weekly - open challenge

Distress with DZ Doodles

Hi! It's time for our 2nd challenge at DZ Doodles, and today we are using my favorite technique - distressing. You can interpret that any way that you like - distressing the edges, inking, ripping, tearing - you name it. We just want to see what you make using an image from DZ Doodles and your favorite(s) distressing technique.

I used Fresh Preserves and strawberries for my card today. I used my CTMH edge distresser, and also inked some of my edges with distress ink. My DP paper is all from the BG- nook and pantry line.

You will have a week to link your creations to the Oodles of Doodles challenge page. We can't wait to see what you come up with. And you could win some doodles of your own.

My card is also for these challenges
Creative Inspirations - sketch
Basic Grey - Tutti Fruity
Incy Wincy - sewing
Caardvarks - Lacy Days
The Pixie Cottage - circles
Copic Creations - clear/transparent
Cute Card Thursday - Dimension
Stamp Something - doodle (I used Doodle alphabet stamps)

Be Inspired by Karen's Doodles!

Do you like being inspired with picture challenges? Then, this is the week for you at Karen's Doodles! All of Karen's Design Teams are participating in a group challenge. Here is the picture - isn't it great? You can use anything from the picture to inspire you. It could be the colors, patterns, or even just the general feeling that you get from the photo.
I used Fairy Princess for my card. I just thought this looked like a little princess' room - very girly. We hope that you will play along with us - you have a great chance to win some of Karen's designs. Each week, every one of the challenge blogs gives not one, not two, but three prizes! What are you waiting for? Be sure to link you card up at the USA team blog. (You are always welcomed to enter on any of the blogs, but it must be a new card for each team.)
Don't forget to check back Thursday for our 1000 Followers Celebration Blog hop - there will be tons of prizes to be had!

This card is for these challenges -
Crafting Life's Pieces - sketch
Totally Papercrafts - pink and green
Cuttlebug Spot - pink and green
Paper Garden Projects - favorite embossing

Stamptacular's Build A Card

What a fun hop! Stamptacular Sunday challenge is having a blog hop with a twist - at each stop, you find out something else that you need for your card. There are fabulous prizes along the way - but you need to hurry! You only have until midnight tonight! EEEEKKK! So here is what I came up with.

something brown - pearls
add rectangle ( I added more than one for a sketch I was working on)
CS - favorite color - green
matting - I always add lots of matting
stamp - lady, gate, flowers
2 more colors - purple, cream
flowers - the stamped images and the prima
charm - shoe charm hanging from the flowers
sparkle - I embossed the gate with sparkly embossing powder and used glimmer mist
Friendship sentiment - on the inside

This is also for:

Copics Colour Challenge - G99, BV08, E59
Copic Creations - flowers/lilac

You Quack Me Up!

I sometimes have a hard time creating masculine cards, but I think using this Duck from Whimsy Stamps really did the trick. I used the sketch from All That Scraps . I colored the image twice with copics, and popped one up for dimension. I used my airbrush for the background. I loved the little wooden flower buttons that I had in my stash - they were the perfect accent, without being girly.

Happy Birthday from the Beary Scrap!

I'm wrapping up another week at the Beary Scrap. Haven't the other Beary Scrappy Gals done a fantastic job of inspiring you this week, with their Birthday Creations? The next birthday my family will be celebrating is for my nephew Will. He will be 9 years old in April, and is such a blessing to us all!

Most joy fold cards are rectangular, and if you look at my blog often, you can tell that I am partial to 6 x 6 cards. So, I will share the dimensions that I used to make my card. I used Bazzill cardstock for the base of my card. Cut a 6" x 8.5" base. Score at 2.5". Cut another piece of cardstock 4" x 8", and score at 4". I always use my ScorPal while making cards. This is one of those investments, that at the time I thought, do I really need this? and now, I couldn't live without it! If you make any cards, then, you really need this piece of equipment!

Now, back to the card - LOL! You have your two base cards, and you can now "dress" them however you would like. Basically, you end up with two cards -a large card that is 6" on the bottom with a 2.5" flap with the fold on the left and a little 4" x 4" card with the fold on the right. You will glue the small card to the center of the big card. (Hopefully, when you look at my pictures, this will make sense!) Any time I am gluing down lots of layers, that I really need to stick, I use Scor-tape. This stuff will hold anything! It's great for adding ribbon and other embellishments.

I personally like a lot of layers to my cards - so I cut a layer of "glow" yellow Bazzill for framing all of my designer paper. I then used the Basic Grey Sugar Rush 6" paper pad for all of my designer papers. Something that I didn't realize for a long time is that the 6" paper pads are made specifically for card makers - the patterns are the same as the 12 x 12 sheets, but they are scaled down, making them perfect for cardmaking. They are always such an economical way to go, too. After I glued my paper, I headed to the sewing machine and added stitching on all of the layers. I added a border that I punched using the Martha Stewart Garden Trellis punch, to my front flap. This is a great border to run ribbon through. It would be lovely on a scrapbook page as well!

I then distressed the edges of the glow cardstock, and added my digi image - Herbert the Turtle Birthday Set, from Karen's Doodles. I colored him with copics and added Flower Soft - Spring for my icing. This color looks perfect with the Sugar Rush line. I printed the little round birthday sentiment from Louby Lou's, sprayed it with Tiger Lilly Glimmer Mist and added dimensionals underneath it, to tuck my turtle image behind.

I hope you enjoyed our birthday celebrations this week. Monday will start a new theme for the Beary Scrappy Gals, so be sure to come back and see what we are cooking up!

Challenges:
Sew Many Challenges - Punches
Copic Creations - Greens

Easter Egg Hunt

Can you believe we are just a couple a weeks away from Easter? I'm ready! Today, I wanted to share with you this adorable image from Studio 313 Exclusive Creations. This is the new line of digital images from Shawne (she is a fabulous stamp designer for Clear Dollar Stamps!) Her new store will be opening in a couple of weeks (and I think she is still looking for a few more members for her DT!) If you are interested in applying, you can go to her website and request an image (you have a choice of 2), and make a card/project. I think the deadline is March 30th, so you'll have to get busy!

This card has a bunch of layers that are sewn, distressed, inked - you name it! I colored this little cutie with copics and added just a few simple embellies.

Here are my challenges:
Sketch Saturday (don't you just love this sketch!)
Charisma Cardz - something for the kids
Shirley's 2 Girls - Spring/pastel
Digital Tuesday - Happy Spring
Stamp with Fun - Easter
Incy Wincy - Spring
Lexi's Creations - Easter
One Stitch at a Time- Vintage
Stamp Something - Distress
Stampin for the Weekend - Easter
All Sorts - Spring is in the Air
Crazy4Challenges - Spring

The first official challenge for DZ Doodles!

Are you ready for a fun challenge? and a chance to win some DZ Doodles images? Then get ready! We had a non-official challenge last week, but this week is the official launch of the new DT at DZ Doodles - Oodles of Doodles.
Today, we have a picture inspiration for you.For my card, I was inspired by the flowers, and know that it will soon be time to start planting flowers.
I always struggle a bit with CAS style cards, but decided this image was perfect for a simple card. We hope that you will play along with us this week. Remember to use a DZ Doodles image and upload your card by Monday, March 29th.

Here are the challenges for this card:
Paper Gardens - sketch
Stampin Sisters in Christ - Clean and Simple Card
Incy Wincy - Spring
All Sorts - Spring is in the Air

Fancy Folds with Karen's Doodles

Welcome to Monday and another fabulous challenge from Karen's Doodles! This week we want to see fancy folds - you know, easel cards, joy-folds, tri-shutter - and probably a bunch more that I've never tried. Just as long as it's not a plain old standard card. We will have 3 winners again this week (chosen by Random.org), so print your favorite Karen's Doodle and get coloring! Have you seen all of the adorable Easter images Karen has been adding? You know you will want to color those!

My anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks, so I decided to use the Wedding Dance to make a card for my husband. Of course, he walked in while I was finishing it up, so no surprises there. Don't you think this couple looks like they just danced off of the top of a wedding cake? I did. So, I designed a wedding cake and cut it with my cricut, and ran the "layers of cake" through different cuttlebug folders. I hand-sewed antique ribbon ruffles for icing, and sewed pearl colored seed beads into the icing as well.
I made a medallion at the bottom, with our initial "C", and used Justright stampers (Curlz monogram, and borders from the Preserves set, and Damask borders set). I stamped with Versamark, and heat embossed in gold. I also inked my edges with gold Smooch. You know I had to distress some of my edges and sew the card with gold thread.
Thanks for looking!

Here are my challenges for this card:
One Stitch at a Time- Vintage
Wild Flower Wednesday - Spring Cleaning (scrap papers)
Cute Card Thursday - Happy Anniversary
Copic Creations - Coloring skin, coloring black
JustRite Stampers - Mix and Match (I used 3 sets)
Stamp Something- Distress
Caardvarks - lace

Anything But A Card

I am really hoping that this is the last any of us will see of snow for the year! But the theme this week at Creative Inspirations is anything but a card - and I had made this nightlight for my nephew, and thought it would be perfect to showcase. The image is from Wild Flower Kids. The whole arrangement was made on an acrylic die cut, so it could be changed out for the seasons. I'm thinking it's time for a sunny spring one!

We hope you will play along with us. You have 2 weeks to link your creation at the Creative Inspirations blog.

This is also an entry for Copic Creations - to use any of the technique that they covered in the past year - this one was for coloring snow.