Cute Fall or Halloween Cards 4 Kids at Send a Smile 4 Kids

It’s Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This time our challenge is: Cute Fall or Halloween 4 Kids! Create and link any cute Fall or Halloween card appropriate for a child and you could win one of our great prizes. 

We have two very generous sponsors for this challenge: Bugaboo is giving their winner four digis of their choice! And the winner from Die-Versions will receive a $15 gift certificate! TEAM S.A.S will also be choosing their favorite cards for our top three and the winners will receive a blog badge and an opportunity to be a guest design team member on a future challenge.

My card features the Happy Halloween Cat digi stamp from Bugaboo. I printed it on a yellow square of cardstock, added a line of embossed boogie eyes (Darice embossing folder) and punched a jack-o-lantern smile with a Fiskars punch.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday.

 

Twist and Pop Kitty Card

We love cats in our home and so when I saw this beautiful Zen Kitty in the Seaside Stampin' Ink booth at the Rockford stamp show recently, I knew she had to come home with me. I dug out some old designer paper and die cut the edge with a Penny Black die. I stamped the Zen Kitty with my MISTI to make sure I got a good image and colored her eyes and nose with some markers. I own many kitty stamps and dies so I decided to use lots of them in the twist and pop center: 

The twist and pop card has many tutorials and pins all over internetland, but I saw one card where the pop up panels were turned to go vertical and I decided to turn mine that way. I have tried many tutorial instructions of how to make a twist and pop card and the easiest one I learned from this video tutorial by Jen Evers. I cut my four panel piece out of red cardstock and cut a couple white pieces to stamp the fun sentiment from Crackerbox Palace. I die cut the paw and "meow" with a new set of dies from Kat Scrappiness. The kitty on the bottom panel is a Fiskars punch and the two cats on the top panels were cut with dies from Tonic Studios. 

I am entering this card in the use more than one die or punch (I used six) at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

Ugly Christmas Sweater Card With Neglected Punches

I love ugly Christmas sweaters and had one but it fell apart. Until I find another one to wear, I decided I could make one with my punches that have gone unloved for a long time. I make cards all the time with my dies and rarely pull out a punch anymore. But it is easier to punch 4 Christmas trees and 3 stars and 3 snowflakes and a mitten in a pear tree...or on a pocket like here. I found a template on this blog as a starting point and cut the front of the card in red. I embossed it with a new embossing folder by Tim Holtz for Sizzix. I added a plaid collar and button stripe down the middle. My "buttons" are snowflakes (punch by Emagination.) The trees are made with a punch by Fiskars and I decorated them with Nuvo Crystal Drops. The mitten was created with a SU punch on an embossed purple pocket cut to 1 1/2"  by 1 3/4" with rounded corners. The stars were made with a Tonic punch and the poinsettia with a new die from Impression Obsession. The sweater card front is attached to a white top folding A2 card base with a white shirt neckline punched with a 2  1/2" circle punch from Recollections.  I added a few gems to complete my beautiful Ugly Christmas Sweater. It was so fun to make I am going to share with my classes next year in my home.

Happy Halloween Z-Fold Card

As you know, I love fun fold cards and have made a few z-fold cards since discovering this fold earlier this year. I saw a couple versions on Pinterest with extra tabs in the center but never saw a tutorial for how to do it. It looks similar to box cards I have made, so I tried it and it was not difficult to figure out. The picture above shows the card closed for mailing. Here is a look at the card opened up to show the fences on the inside tabs: 

Isn't that fun? Here are the measurements in case you would like to make one: I started with a spooky cardstock weight designer paper I bought at JoAnns cut 5 1/2" x 11" and scored at 5 1/2" and 2 3/4". I cut the orange strip 1" x 11" and scored at the same measurements. I cut two black tabs 4 3/4" x 3/4" and scored on each side at 1 inch. I diecut the Happy Halloween Channel die from Memory Box out of black and attached it to the longer side of the orange strip. I popped up the little pumpkin for the O. I punched the jack-o-lantern face (punch from Fiskars) and attached the orange strip. The two black tabs are attached inside the center of the orange strip and I punched and attached the Halloween fence using a Martha Stewart punch. I die cut Cheery Lyn's Witches Skirt out of purple and attached it upside down behind the fences. I added some grey bats (die from IO) and a ghost die cut with an old Sizzix die. Here is another look at this fun fold card: 

Die Crazy for my Favorite Dies

If you follow my blog, you know I was very excited to announce recently that I was picked to be part of the Die-Versions design team. I love my dies and one of my absolute favorites is this Nice Heels die available here on the Die-Versions website. What can I say- nice heels and flowers and swirls- love it! The die cut is just perfect over a beautiful Bisters background that I created by sprinkling Bister powders over watercolor paper and spritzed with water. I cut the shoe die twice and layered the peachy red over the black so it really stands out. I die cut "enjoy" from Penny black in the Bister background piece and also out of teal, then inlaid the words and pieces back in. I punched the corners with a Fiskars corner punch and layered the whole piece on a teal square card.

I am entering this card in the Die Crazy challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and the Favorite Die and Why challenge at As You Like It. I am also entering it in the Paper Artsy challenge Pigment Powders.

If you love this die or any of the others on the Die-Versions website, remember you can save 15% by using my code on the side of the blog.

Bee-cause You're Special!

It's Crackerbox Palace Friday and today I am sharing a card I made with Crackerbox Palace's awesome stamps. I used CBP’s sweet bees and a new sentiment to create this cheery card. I started with a yellow cardbase that I embossed with a new hexagon embossing folder from WeR Memory Keepers. I punched a bunch of black dp hexagons with a punch from Fiskars. I stamped the bees and sweet sentiment on a white square and did a little coloring. Then I layered it on a black square and attached everything to the cardbase.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Through the Craft Room Door and 613 Avenue Create.

Christmas in July Card

Never too early to start holiday cards so we are not stressed when they need to be done, right? I made this CAS embossed card recently and like how it turned out. I punched some hexagon shapes with a new punch from Fiskars and attached them to a white A2 cardbase before embossing with a pretty new embossing folder from Sizzix. Then I simply added a diecut "believe" from a holiday words set by Tim Holtz for Sizzix.

I am entering this card in the Christmas in July challenge at My Time to Craft and the Anything Goes challenge at Simply Papercraft.

NBUS Butterfly Cards

I have been playing with a brand new butterfly die from Pete Hughes for Sizzix, a new technique and some new ideas from an Online Card Class I am taking on getting more from our dies. The beautiful butterfly was cut out of a piece of glossy cardstock with blue, yellow and green Brusho Crystal Colours spritzed with glimmer mist. I tried a new technique after that on the piece, but it did not work. But I still liked the glossy piece and cut two butterflies out of it. I was going to place one on top of the inlaid butterfly on this card, but it was too pretty to cover up, so I ended up with two cards. I die cut the beautiful butterfly from the center of the aqua blue and lime green diagonal cut card front and inlaid the butterfly in the open butterfly space. I embossed soaring butterflies (Craft Concepts), added some mini butterflies punched out of the glossy colored cardstock with a brand new butterfly punch from Fiskars. I added the word Soar die cut with a new alphabet die from Die-Versions.

So after the first card was done I had the two diagonal pieces left, a half green and half aqua butterfly and a die cut butterfly out of the glossy Brusho piece to make another card with.  I attached the duo-colored butterfly along the diagonal color change center with the aqua blue over the lime green and the lime green over the blue. Then I attached the glossy butterfly with glue dots on the body only so the wings are raised and you can see the duo colored butterfly underneath. I added some punched butterflies and some blue and green gems to complete this card.

Darnell is having another NBUS challenge at her blog here and I do love playing with NBUS and am entering these cards in her challenge. I am also entering them in the Anything Goes challenge at ArtbyMiran and the no dp challenge at Crafty Catz.

Kitty Cat Diorama Class Card

I have been playing with my NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) and designing cards to teach in my monthly in home classes starting again in March. I created the front of this card with a cute new stamp called Cat's Meow from Fun Stampers Journey, the Kitty Cat Birthday sentiment from Crackerbox Palace and a new Geometric Square die from Leabilities. What's new and teachable you ask? Just look at the inside:

The inside of the card pops up to create a diorama look with the perfect sentiment from Crackerbox Palace in the inside of the popped up diorama piece. I added a Geometric Corner die cut from the same set by Leabilities and a couple punched kitties (Fiskars) to complete the inside.

I am entering this card in the "All Creatures Great and Small" challenge at Simon Says Stamp and the Favorite Color Combo (red, black and white) challenge at Kitty Bee Designs.

Giving Thanks Card

Hard to believe next week is Thanksgiving already. I have much to be thankful for. I finally had a chance to play with my new SU set of stamps and decided to make a CAS thank you card with some favorite colors. The embossing folder is from Darice and the corner punch from Fiskars.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at 613 Avenue Create and That Craft Place.

Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge

It’s Tuesday and time for another Through the Craft Room Door challenge. As always the theme is my favorite, Anything Goes! There is a new challenge every Tuesday at TTCRD. I am on Team A and this week is our turn to post our cards. The sponsor this week is Oozak and the prize is a $10 gift certificate!

I created my card with a large Memory Box die called “Have a Jolly Christmas.” I chose to emboss with the die on a white piece. I used this sandwich on my Big Shot: glass plate on Tab 1, "Have a Jolly Christmas" die face up, white paper, "No More Shims" thick embossing pad, glass plate. “No More Shims” is a very thick rubber mat that works beautifully for embossing and is distributed by Scor-Pal.com.

I also cut out the die with red and green paper and attached the holly leaves and ornament to add some color. I rounded the corners with a Fiskars corner rounder and added some red and white gems to complete the card.

**Don’t Miss It! The November-December 2014 issue of Through The Craft Room Door magazine is published for your viewing pleasure in the "Subscribers Only Area" of the TTCRD website. It is loaded with paper craft tutorials, tons of inspirations and projects you can create. Sandi Huggett is this month's Featured Digi Artist.  She has given us some wonderful images for you to download. Anne Fenton has also given us three sweet holiday digi images to download as well. We also have some yummy Holiday recipes! Come check it out! If you do not currently subscribe to the magazine you will need to go to the top of the page and click on the Subscription/Renewals tab. I look forward to seeing you there!**

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at 

Christmas Stampin' all Year Round and Treasured Times, and the “Enhance your Dies” challenge at We Do Doobadoo.

Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week

The stamp of the week this week at Repeat Impressions is this beautiful Wedding or Anniversary Border stamp, 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.

I have seen some cards on Pinterest where a stamp is stamped on a word die cut and raised above the same stamp in the background and wanted to try that here. I stamped the beautiful floral wedding image twice and cut out the love die (W Plus 9) from one. I colored just the wedding rings and bow and popped up the love with pop dots. I punched the corners (Fiskars corner punch) to complete the card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Robyn's Fetish, OSAAT and Whoopsi Daisy Challenges

Anything Goes is the theme at One Stitch at a Time and Whoopsi Daisy this week and monochromatic is the theme at Robyn's Fetish. Lately I have been making more and more monochromatic cards for some reason- I guess I just like the look. I played with a whole bunch of dies and punches for this card. The leaves are from Cherry Lynn Designs, the branch from Memory Box and the bird punch is from Fiskars. The sentiment on the inside is by Hero Arts. I love to use the positive and negative of dies and punches and did so on the bottom of the inside of the card which shows as the front was cut down. I used a variety of shades of green and added some gems and pearls to complete the card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Just Some Lines and Card Makin' Mamas Challenges

The challenge at Just Some Lines this week is Fall Colors and at Card Makin' Mamas it is to use punches. I got this new jack-o-lantern face punch (Fiskars) last weekend at a stamp show and just had to try it out on a fun Halloween card. Orange is my favorite fall color and my husband's favorite color all the time. The "Spooky" is a darling digi from Meljens and I added a spider stamp. I also used a punch on the corners and added orange brads to complete the CAS card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Fun with Delicious Doodles Digital Stamps

I won some awesome digital stamps from Delicious Doodles and have been having so much fun designing cards with them and am sharing today. I just love the Lovey Dovey Silhouette stamp and used it as the focal point on this Napkin Fold Wedding Card (tutorial on how make one here). I printed the Lovey Dovey stamp on white cardstock and cut it out with a circle nestie and added Pearl Pen pearls to accent all the way around. The corners were punched with a Fiskars corner punch and pearls added to each. I created a band using a ek success border punch punched twice on a black cardstock strip and attached a silver ribbon down the middle. The circle piece is attached to the ribbon band and it slides off to open the napkin fold card.

This is what the inside of the napkin fold card looks like. I punched a Martha Stewart hearts border and added a wedding sentiment to complete the card.

I used another beautiful Delicious Doodles digital stamp to make this CAS holiday card. I love how if you have a beautiful stamp and a fun fold like above, or a great embossing folder like this one, it is so easy to make a lovely card. I used a Marianne Design embossing folder that cuts and embosses, rounded the corners, added some Pearl Pen pearls and the shaped Snowy Mailbox image and the end result is a beautiful holiday card.

I am entering these cards in the Anything Goes challenges at Woodware USA and Craft Your Passion.

Stamping smiles, Karen

CAS-usal Fridays and Crafty Catz Challenges

The challenge this week at CAS-ual Fridays is to do a CAS card using a sticker or rub-on and at Crafty Catz they did not want any pink or blue. I purchased some beautiful Laser Cut Stickers by Mrs. Grossmans and just love how they look on a card. I placed the Halloween scene sticker on white cardstock and cut it out. That piece is attached to the left part of the gatefold card opening. I punched the large fence border from Martha Stewart in black and attached that to the right side of the gatefold card opening. I simply stamped the BOO (Fiskars stamp) on the fence in white ink and the CAS card is done.

Stamping smiles, Karen

One Stitch at a Time and Stamping Scrapping Central Challenges

The challenge this week at One Stitch at a Time is Anything Goes and at Stamping Scrapping Central it is "Simple". This is a CAS card I made with pretty stamps by Fiskars and punches by ek success and Martha Stewart. I created the circular frame with a corner punch from ek success and then embossed it with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. I added a MS bird punch to the sentiment piece to complete the card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week

The Stamp of the Week this week at Repeat Impressions is this cute Birdhouse. You can get this stamp for 50% off all week - all the details are at our challenge blog, The House that Stamps Built.

I had so much fun making this card using a sketch I have seen recently out there in blog land. I found some dps that looked good together and taped them down on a rust card. The birds were punched (Fiskars punch) out of the dp with the sparkly spot in the dp used as the eyes. I cut out the birdhouse, paper pieced the bird holes, and raised it above a scalloped sponged nestie circle with mounting tape. The pearl flourish is the finishing touch. I really love how the card turned out.

I am entering this card in the "Anything Goes" challenge at Digi Doodles Shop's Best.
Stamping smiles, Karen

Fab n Funky and Paper Pretties Challenges

The challenge at Fab n Funky this week is to "Make Your Own Blooms" and at Paper Pretties it is to use flowers. I had fun with this CAS card making a flower using a technique I just learned at a stamp show up north. I will try to explain: Cut two small squares of patterned paper (I did 2 x 2"). Punch each corner with a corner punch you like (mine was a Fiskars punch). Cut between the punched corners a line towards the center but not meeting. Fold the side edges of each punched corner piece back. Make two of these and put them together with a brad for a flower. Try it and see for yourself- easy and fun flower.

I put the flower on a scalloped circle and attached all on a fun embossed purple piece (new from Sizzix). The "Happy Hello" is from Flourishes.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Critter Sketch & Crafty Sentiments Challenges and GO PACK!

The sketch at Critter Sketch this week was a great one so I just had to play along. I used my new Tim Holtz papers and flowers and I just love how it turned out. The bird is from a Fiskars set.

I am going out of town to babysit for my darling grandson and won't be back until just before my Packers play in the Super Bowl. So I decided to share one more card today that works great for the challenge at Crafty Sentiments to use bears on our cards.  I was organizing my punches and came upon this bear punch I have never used since I "had to have it" several years ago. I thought he might make a cute Packer teddy bear and so I made a #12 for my grandson (Aaron Rodgers our quarterback for those of you not Packer fans..) and a #52 for me (my other favorite: Clay Matthews). I made mine into a fun card with stickers and diecuts and an old football stamp. I have to say one more time: Go Pack Win!

Stamping and Packer smiles, Karen