What If Wed? Sketch Challenge

It's What If? Wednesday at The House that Stamps Built and we are challenging you to make a card with the sketch below to have a chance at a great prize. Please visit the blog to see the other Rock's Stars cards and get all the details.

I used the Earth Ornament as my circle on the sketch and a fun border punch from EK Success along the bottom with some white peaking through. The postage World of Good Wishes works perfectly with the globe ornament and of course Peace, Love and Harmony is what I wish for the world and for all of you.

You have almost two weeks to make a card using this sketch and enter it for a chance to win big.

I am entering my card in the Anything Christmas challenge at Stampin' with the Dragon.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Card Cupids and Stamptacular Sunday Challenges

The challenge this week at Card Cupids is Cards for Kids and at Stamptacular Sunday it is Anything Christmas. Not a challenge for me at all as I love making Christmas cards for my kids. This is another of the freebie digital stamps from Cuddly Buddly and it is 3D! It is already colored for you and you print and cut out the layers and the finished image is 3D. Too cute! I put the image on an embossed layer (Sizzix) and added a simple sentiment to complete the card.

I just have to share: Send a Smile 4 Kids is the featured charitable organization chosen by CardMaker Magazine this month in their Readers Reach Out section!! You can read about it here and pick up a copy on newstands now or very very soon!

Stamping big smiles, Karen

Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week

The stamp of the week this week at Repeat Impressions is this fun Candy Cane Santa, and it is available this week only for 50% off with the discount code found at Repeat Impressions blog. What a deal! Please visit the blog for all the details and to see the other Rock Star's cards using this stamp.

For my card, I started with a white card base and punched the vine border from Martha Stewart in red. My brilliant daughter was the one that pointed out that this vine border punch also looks like Christmas tree bulbs and I have used it for several holiday cards now.

I cut a green circle and stamped the HO!HO!HO! from Repeat Impressions and then layered it on the card, cutting off one side. I paper pieced Candy Cane Santa, did some coloring with Copics, cut him out and raised him above the green circle. Then I added some gems to complete the card.

I am entering this card in the Santa challenge at Crimbo Crackers .

Stamping smiles, Karen

Aud Sentiments and Delightful Challenges

The challenge this week at Aud Sentiments is "Any Winter Holiday Sentiment" and at Delightful Challenges it is Red and Green. I had this CAS holiday card I made for my kids and am sharing it today. I just love the outline stickers from Mrs. Grossmans and especially this one of Santa decorating the tree with all the animals watching. I had tried putting glitter behind the sticker, but found I liked it even better just putting it on white cardstock and then cutting it out. The green is shiny metallic paper that I embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and layered onto a white card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Papercraft Star and Scrapbook Sisters Challenges

Anything Goes is the challenge at Papercraft Star this week and Christmas is the theme at Scrapbook Sisters. This is one of my favorite holiday cards I created this year so far, but the picture does not do it justice. The background is a beautiful stamp from Penny Black and I embossed it with red sparkly embossing powder on red paper. I would never have thought to do that except for a class I took at my local Stamp Shoppe. The ornament is a Sizzix die cut out and embossed with a SU embossing folder, then the Hope was diecut in the center (Tim Holtz die.) I cut the ornament top out in gold paper and hung the ornement with gold cord.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Guest DT Spot At Paper Crafting Journey

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! I am thankful today, of course, for family and friends and Packer football and also for the opportunity to be a guest dt member at Paper Crafting Journey. Their challenge starting today is my favorite: Anything Goes, and they are sponsored by Digital Delights by Louby Lou who has darling digital images. I had fun making this side stairstep card featuring a smiley Christmas tree and a pre-colored adorable reindeer from Digital Delights. The snow under the tree was created with a Snow Marker from Marvy and glitter. I attached some fun snowflake ribbon to the second step and the sentiment is an embossing folder from Cuttlebug.

I am entering this card in the Festive Cheer with Red, Green and Gold (bells and star) at The Crafty Pad.

I have scheduled this post in advance as on Turkey Day we are driving over to my sister's to spend Thanksgiving with family cheering on the Packers to another victory (we hope:) and eating lots, of course. Have a great holiday and stay safe.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Designer Choice Challenge featuring Snowflakes

It's another fun Wednesday at The House that Stamps Built and Kendra is challenging us to use Snowflakes in our cards. I just love the Repeat Impression's Snowflake Prism stamp and used that as my focal point in this card. I stamped three times on white sparkly paper, cut out and layered back on the dp raising each layer with mounting tape.

The card is a fun design. I started with a navy blue A2 card and cut down an inch from th top. Then you cut off another inch from the piece that is left and layer dp on both pieces. The center is acetate attached to the back of the front layer and then you attach the bottom piece back on. The wonderful holiday sentiment on the inside shows through the acetate and is from Repeat Impressions too. A couple more snowflake punches and some gems and the card is done.

So grab some snowflakes and join this challenge for a chance at some RI rubber! Please visit the blog for all the details and to see the other Snowflake cards by the Rock Stars.

I am entering this card in the challenge at Crafty Emma's to use snowflakes in our cards.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Crafting When We Can and OSAAT Challenges

The challenge this week at Crafting When we Can is "Female Birthday" and One Stitch at a Time is Anything Goes. I really like this card I made with a silhouette digi from a company that has gone out of business. I tried a new technique- put ink directly onto an acrylic block and stamp that onto cardstock to form a frame of sorts in soft color. Then I printed the digi onto that block of light color, layered onto navy and the blue card and added the sentiment and gems to complete the card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Paper Creations Ink Christmas Challenge

The theme of the new challenge at Paper Creations Ink is Christmas! So you can create and post a new holiday card and link it for a chance at a great prize. Our sponsor is Sassy Studio Designs and they provided the design team with some fun digis to play with. I chose Santa's Helper and did a little paper piecing and coloring before cutting into a circle and adding a piece of velum to soften the image. The base white card was embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder and a larger circle cut before adding a red piece to back of the front flap. I used two border punches to make the Joy border and competed the card with some pearls.

I am entering this card in the challenge at Glitter Geeks to show Christmas Shopping.

Paper Crafting Journey and Paper Shelter Challenges

Embossing is the challenge at Paper Crafting Journey this week and Snowflakes is the theme at Paper Shelter. I made this card using a freebie digi from Cuddly Buddly and a snowflake embossing folder from Cuttlebug. I like the layout of this card. The navy piece that is tied with baker's twine is 4 1/4" wide and sticks out from the white card base. The digi image from Cuddly Buddly was printed, cut out and raised with mounting tape to complete this CAS card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

More Holiday Wishes 4 our Kids

It's time for another new challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids and we are challenging you to make some holiday cards for kids and enter them in our challenge for THREE chances at a great prize from our sponsors. After you do, there is still time to send the card into any of our four addresses so we can spread some holiday cheer to our kids who are inpatient in any of the seven children's hospitals we are now donating the cards to. Please visit our blog to see the rest of TEAM S.A.S. cards as well as three by a special guest dt member.

Our wonderful sponsors for the Happy Holiday Wishes Challenge are: Prairie Fairy, who is offering a $15 gift certificate to a random winner; The Cutting Cafe', who is donating 3 sets of digital stamps or cutting files to one lucky winner; and Digital Delights, and their prize is 3 images of the winner's choice!

I had so much fun designing with the digital stamps from our sponsors as well as great digital paper and borders from The Cutting Cafe'! The cute snowman above is from Prairie Fairy. The dotted paper is from The Cutting Cafe' and I paper pieced the snowman over the paper. The bird and the hat were also paper pieced and then I added Diamond Dust to the snow.

My second card features a sweet dog from Digital Delights. More paper piecing, a little coloring and some flock and then I cut out with nesties labels die and did a little sponging. The card is a pocket that I embossed with a holly embossing folder and added some red gems for berries and a sparkly red ribbon.

Inside the pocket is a card made with two fun borders from The Cutting Cafe'. The dotted paper on the stocking is also from them. So a couple more holiday cards from the kids are done. How about you join us and enter your fun holiday cards in the challenge and then send them on in to cheer a child who is in the hospital during the holidays?

I am entering my cards in the challenges Digi Doodles Shop's Best for Red and Green cards, and at Moving Along with the Times for Let it Snow.

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen

Paper and Such Design and Sassy Cheryl's Challenges

Paper piecing is the challenge this week at Paper and Such Design, and at Sassy Cheryl's Anything Goes. My favorite challenge and technique:) There is only a little paper piecing on this holiday card, but I think it is effective. The ornaments were first embossed on white paper, cut out and layered on red paper. One of the ornaments was embossed on gold paper and paper pieced onto the card. I used some ornament dp and a nesties label to complete the card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Hooked on Crafts and My Partner in Crafting Crime Challenges

The challenge this week at Hooked on Crafts was Punches and Diecuts, and at My Partner in Crafting Crime it is to use a freebie on our card. I made this card with a freebie from Cuddly Buddly and it was pre-colored for me too:) So cute and easy to make into a fun card for my kids for the holidays. The top flap of this card was cut down about an inch on the right and bottom with the corner rounded. I punched a row of snowflakes with my Martha Stewart border punch. CAS but cute with the darling image from Cuddly Buddly.

Stamping smiles, Karen

What If? Wed. Sketch Challenge

It's time for a sketch challenge at The House that Stamps Built and I flipped the sketch below and came up with the card above. One thing I really like about Repeat Impressions What If? Wednesday Challenges is, even though we come up with a fun new challenge every Wednesday, you always have almost two weeks to enter each one. One week is never enough it seems to design a card, take a picture and blog about it, but two weeks is plenty of time. That was one of the reasons why I started entering their challenges and won twice before I was picked to be a part of the team! You can win too! Check out all the details on the blog and also check out the other Rock Star's cards using this CAS sketch as a starting point.

For my card I started with some thicker striped green dp for the card. The fun scene is "Christmouse Decorations" and I paper pieced and colored that. Of course, the sentiment is from Repeat Impressions too and is perfect for this card. I rounded some corners and added some gems to complete the card.

I am entering this card in the Christmas Traditions challenge at Totally Gorjus and the Red, White and Green challenge at Here Come the Boys.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Speedy the Cat's Friends and Sweet n Sassy Challenges

The challenge this week at Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenges is to use our favorite technique, and at Sweet n Sassy Digi Challenge it is to use a digi and paper piece. My favorite technique is paper piecing and I do it all the time, especially with digis. I won this darling dino from Stamping with the Dragon a few weeks ago and used several dps to make this fun holiday card for one of my kids. Of course I paper pieced the dragon, hat and gift bag. I made a z fold card and put striped holiday dp in in the inside and front flap.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week

The stamp of the week this week at Repeat Impressions is this fun Cats will be Cats, and it is available this week only for 50% off with the discount code found at Repeat Impressions blog. What a deal! Please visit the blog for all the details and to see the other Rock Star's cards using this stamp.

For my card, I started with some fun holiday dp and gems. I paper pieced the kitty grey and the ornament red and added some sparkly green. Of course I used my nesties to cut the oval and scalloped oval. It reminds me what our grey cat will be doing in a few weeks- playing with the Christmas ornaments on the tree.

I am entering this card in the Christmas challenge at Mami Doodles .

Stamping smiles, Karen

Dutch Dare Card, Stamp Insanity and Delightful Challenges

The challenge this week at Dutch Dare Card Challenges is Punchs and Dies, at Stamp Insanity it is Chilled Out Blues and at Delightful Challenges, it is Snowflakes. So this card works perfectly for all these challenges. I used new diecuts from Memory Box for the snowflake border and the large snowflake. I also used a nesties circle to cut out the circle on the navy blue cardstock that shows the dp below. Added a gem and a fun sentiment and the CAS card is complete.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Crafting for all Seasons and Crafts and Me Challenges

The challenge at Crafting for all Seasons this week is to use texture and at Crafts and Me, it is Happy Birthday. I started with an embossed background on this card using a Cuttlebug embossing folder. Because of a challenge this week at Repeat Impressions blog, I re-discovered the fun of making waterfall or flip cards. Repeat Impressions has a whole line of Flip Stamps here as well as card kits and the spines already cut and scored to make it so easy to make these fun cards.

I chose the Bird Flip Set for this fun birthday card. The bird hatches out of the egg and says "Happy Bird-day to you!" I paperpieced the bird and his hat.

The instructions on how to make one of these cards are on the website as well as available on You-Tube or on Splitcoast.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Catch the Bug and Heart Song Inspirations Challenges

Anything Goes is the challenge ast Catch the Bug and Heart Song Inspirations this week, so I am sharing my favorite new Holiday card that I have created recently. I started with a beautiful background stamp from Penny Black stamped in burgandy on white. Then I sponged inside the hole cut out with a Sizzix ornament die. I cut the top of the ornament in gold and added burgandy string and a bow at the top. The corners were punched and a pearl added on the burgandy card base.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Designers Choice Challenge at The House that Stamps Built

It's a Designer Choice Challenge at The House that Stamps Built, and Miriam is challenging us to make a Fall Waterfall or Flip Card. That could be quite a challenge, but lucky for me (and you), Repeat Impressions specializes in Flip Cards and has specialty stamps, kits (all cut for you!) and the spines (all cut and scored.) Makes it sooo easy and fun to make this type of card that I re-discovered how fun they are! Here is a link where you can check out the fun stamps and accessories Repeat Impressions carries to make a card like this.

I chose the Pumpkin Flip Set to make my Fall card for this challenge. He changes from a plain pumpkin into a grinning Jack-o-lantern with a pull of the string and the sentiment included in the set is perfect! I embossed the orange background paper with a Halloween embossing folder from Cuttlebug.

I am entering this card in the Halloween challenge at Crafting When We Can.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Sentimental Sundays and CAS Sunday Challenges

The challenge at Sentimental Sundays is to make a wedding card with a sentiment and at CAS Sundays it is to make a CAS card with a flower. I made this wedding card with one of the last sets I bought from TAC before they went out of business. I love the look of silhouettes on designer paper. I used some dp that had a vintage look and created this CAS wedding card. So simple I am sure you can figure out how it was made without any explanation from me:)

Stamping smiles, Karen