PCI Show Us Your Flowers Challenge

It's time for another great challenge at Paper Creations Ink! This time we are being challenged to use flowers in our cards. Our sponsor for this challenge is Crop Stop and the winner will get a $15 gift certificate to their online store! As an added bonus, Crop Stop has awarded all of us a 10% discount to their online store for the duration of the challenge! Please visit the PCI blog for all the details and to see the other flower cards from the PCI design team. Why don't you grab some flower stamps or paper or embellishmnet and come play along?!

For my first card I used alot of supplies available at Crop Stop at a discount with the code. I started with a Cherry Blossom embossing folder from Craft Concepts bought at Crop Stop and I colored in the stems and added Flower Soft for the blossoms. The flower is created with Nestabilites and the border punch and butterfly punch are from Martha Stewart. And of course Crop Stop carries all these brands too!

My second card is a CAS design using beautiful digital paper with flowers from DezinaWorld at Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps and a Mrs. Grossman's Laser Cut Sticker. That's it- CAS and I love the finished product, but it was super simple to make.

I am entering these cards in the challenges at Your Next Stamp for beautiful borders and at One Stitch at a Time for Anything Goes.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week

This is my second post today- for my Critter Sketch post, please scroll down. Mondays are fun because I get to share a new stamp every week from Repeat Impressions and this week, the Stamp of the Week is this Large Blueberry Cluster. This stamp is available for 50% off this week with a discount code found on the RI blog, The House that Stamps Built.

I decided to go CAS with this card. The dark blue background is embossed with my favorite embossing folder, Swiss Dots by Cuttlebug, although it is hard to see in the photo. The scalloped circle was cut and embossed then sponged while still in the nestie. I stamped the blueberry cluster in blue ink and attached it to the ribboned piece with mounting tape.

I am entering this card in the CAS challenge at Cute Card Thursday.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Critter Sketch Wedding or Anniversary Card

It's another fun Monday here on my blog as I get to share ideas from two of my design teams. First up is Critter Sketch and their challenge this week is to make and link a Wedding or Anniversary card. Our wonderful sponsor this month is Jen's Digi Stamps. To find out all the details on what you can win and to see the other dt cards, please visit the Critter Sketch blog.

For my card I used an embossing/cutting folder from Cuttlebug. I started with some glossy red paper and punched both sides of the piece with an ek success border punch. The inside heart punches out and I sponged the edges and also the center with red ink and popped it back in raising it a bit with mounting tape. The ribbon is the final touch in this CAS card (which is based on one I made at our local Stamp Shoppe.)

I am entering this card in the Emboss It! challenge at DYSU.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Gingerloft Challenge and some Sneak Peaks

It is my dear Aunt Helene's 90th birthday party this weekend so I created this sparkly card for our family to give her. The challenge at Gingerloft this week is "Make it Sparkle" and even though the photo doesn't show it that well, the whole front of this card sparkles with glitter. The beautiful background stamp is from Heartfelt Creations and I colored the flowers with copics and added the 90 stickers and then covered the front with fine glitter. The sentiment is from Flourishes and of course the tag is Nestabilities. I will not be blogging this weekend because I will be celebrating with my family in Chetek.

If you are local to Wausau Wisconsin, here is a sneak peak of the cards I will be teaching at Jo-Ann's Fabric and Crafts in September and October. The class is called Fall Cards with Punches and Diecuts and it is available for 50% OFF this Saturday only if you sign up during the open house either at the store or by phone (715-355-1007)! To be honest, corporate sets the prices of the classes very high, but if you sign up on Open House Day, it is a great deal. There are three instructors offering stamping classes and many more doing other crafts. I will also be teaching Scrapbooking Basics and Beyond in September and October too.  So if you are interested and local here, please stop by JoAnns Saturday August 13th or call that. The complete samples are available for your viewing at the store.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Speedy the Cat's Friends and Paper Creator's Crafts Challenges

                                       

The challenge this week at Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge is to create a card any shape but A2 and at Paper Creator Crafts they are all about flowers this week. My card is square and is all about flowers:) I started with a pretty dp from Stampin' up for the card base. I was playing with my punches one day and decided to see what it would look like to punch my large Martha Stewart flower punch once on each side of a 4 1/2 inch square. This pretty frame is what it looks like. I added some flower eyelets in the corners and the flower in the middle is a $1.00 find at Jo-Ann's Fabric and Crafts from Inkadinkado.

(I have edited this to add back in the picture that disappeared - sorry to my subscribers for the big X the first time.)
Stamping smiles, Karen

What if? Wed. Sketch Challenge

It's Wednesday and time for another fun What If? Wednesday Sketch Challenge at The House that Stamps Built. We are challenging you to make a card using the sketch below and enter it for a chance to win some great Repeat Impressions rubber! I had fun creating this fun CAS summer card using Ri's new summer stamps Dandelion Breeze and Happy Summer available here. I started with a yellow card and added the blue and green strips. Then I stamped the Dandelion Breeze and embossed the whole front with a Stampin' up embossing folder. I added the Happy Summer circle with some more Dandelion seeds and raised that piece with mounting tape. The final touch was a piece of baker's twine.

You have almost two weeks to play with this sketch and enter our challenge. You do not need to use RI stamps but if you do, you get two entries into the prize drawing. So come join us!

I am entering this card in the Outdoors/Summer Colors challenge at Just Some Lines.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Stamp Something and Raise the Bar Challenges

The challenge at Stamp Something this week is to use a digi and at Raise the Bar it is Anything Goes. I am excited about this card for two reasons: a fun new fold I learned here, and an awesome digital stamp called Oliver Cheesehead I found at Kelley's Kids (a division of Stitchy Bear.) I love love love the Packers and am not ashamed to admit it. I am so excited to have the lockout over and soon to be back to watching football every week. When I saw this stamp at Kelley's Kids, there was no way I was going to resist it:) I printed him on white paper and paper pieced his cheesehead, clothes and football. Tooo cute! The sentiment was just printed with my computer.

The card design is called a "Stand up Card" and this is how it looks when laying flat. Pretty easy to make - here is the tutorial.

Stamping smiles, Karen