Stamping With The Dragon and Forever Friends Challenges

The challenge this week at Forever Friends is to use an animal in our cards and at Stampin with the Dragon the challenge is to make a holiday or birthday card for a child. What is so neat about the Stamping with the Dragon challenge is that they are doing a surprise card drive for Send a Smile 4 Kids!! They are encouraging anyone who makes a card for the challenge to send it in to SAS4Kids and of course, we are thrilled to hear that.

I made a CAS card using a new Cuttlebug embossing folder I hadn't tried yet. I embossed on Core'dination paper and sanded so the color came through. I stamped the sentiment on a circle diecut with my nesties and popped that up with mounting tape. CAS but perfect for one of our kids inpatient in a Children's Hospital.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week

The Stamp of the Week this week from Repeat Impressions is this fun Puffins stamp. It is available for 50% off with a discount code found at the RI blog, The House that Stamps Built this week only.

I have to admit, I did not know what a Puffin looked like or what color they were. They are found in Maine (where the owners of Repeat Impressions live) but not in Wisconsin where I live. So I looked them up on the internet and found pictures and went with the black and orange on my card to match the bird colors. I colored the puffins with my copics and framed them in an embossing/cutting folder from Cuttlebug, then layered onto an orange card.

I have scheduled this post in advance as I am out of town until late Monday visiting my son in Chicago.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Send a Smile 4 Kids "Punches and Diecuts for Kids" Challenge

It's time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This time we are challenging you to break out your punches and diecuts and make a card for a child. Easy Peasy- we all have them, right? I use my nestabilities and punches everyday and I bet you have a lot of them too. We have three great sponsors this time, so you have three chances to win a random prize! The sponsors are: Stamp Shoppe Creations (my local favorite stamp shop which is my home away from home:) and Heidi's prize is a $15 gift certificate; Sassy Cheryl's 

Digital Stamps and her prize is a $5 gift certificate; and Crop Stop whose prize is a $15 gift certificate.

My first dt card for this challenge uses "Flying Jay" stamp from Stamp Shoppe Creations. Isn't he cute? I stamped him on white paper and paper pieced his plane, helmet and shirt. I used a corner rounder punch, a window punch, a star border punch and a nestabilities circle to make this card and most if not all of them would be available for purchase at Crop Stop. The card front was cut off and I punched the star border and the window for the tab to tuck onto. The front was also embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder.

My second card uses a super cute image from Sassy Cheryl's which I paper pieced (of course:) I punched the border with a large Martha Stewart punch and also punched the butterflies and the circle with the sentiment. Sweet!

Please visit the blog for all the details on this fun challenge and also information on how to help put a smile on children's faces who are inpatient in Childrens Hospitals. You can also see all the great cards by TEAM S.A.S. on the blog or by clicking their names on the side of my blog. We have a guest design team member this time and are introducing a new member of our design team today too.

I am out of town this weekend visiting my son in Chicago so this was scheduled for today. I will be back Tuesday after I hope a lovely long weekend visit. (Edited to add- and of course while I am away and can't fix it, I see Blogger didn't show the pictures again- so sorry to my followers and subscribers.)

Stamping smiles, Karen

Let's all help Lyndall!

I found another cause on line for us stampers to rally around. Please visit this site to read about Lyndall and to see how you can help. Here is a little about Lyndall written by a close friend:

Lyndall is the most incredible and inspiring person I have ever met.She fought and won her battle with Cancer Ewing’s Sarcoma in her late teens, this battle meant she had to have her finger amputated to totally beat it. Heart breaking as it was. She soldiered on.This battle took a toll on her, but her can do attitude got her through. Years passed and the cancer lay dormant and what we thought was totally gone.But this year the rare cancer she had in her late teens manifested its ugly head yet again. This time it came back as a tumour resting on her heart.For the past 4 months she has undergoing extensive Chemotherapy to try and eradicate it. With baited breathe we have prayed and prayed for yet another recovery. But this time we are not as lucky. Her specialist is of the belief that the tumour is not going to shrink away totally from the chemo and radiotherapy and it remains inoperable. This means that it will most likely start to grow again and may start to spread.If I can quote from Lyndall during her battle she has said to her family and friends “Believe you me, long before Lorna Jane put it on a t-shirt my mantra has been “Never Give UP!!”

I read this and just had to help in any way I could. I bought this really cute dragon and the coupon digital stamps at the site and also sent a card to Lyndall to be opened at her fundraiser in September. I created the background out of dp and a border punch from Stampin up. The digital stamps were just printed and cut out to create this CAS but fun card for a child.

I entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Art Impressions and Craft Us Crazy.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Paper Playtime and Cards for Men Challenges

Anything Goes is the challenge at both Paper Playtime and Cards for Men this week and that is my favorite kind of challenge! I made a card similar to this one at a stamp camp recently and was inspired to create one for myself to donate to my kids. I started with a tan card base and taped a green triangle onto a blue piece and embossed both with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The tree and wolf stamps are from Stampin' up and the moon and blue sky are sponged on using masks. Layer and attach and add a ribbon and you have a CAS but nice card for a man or teenage boy.

Stamping smiles, Karen

What if? Wed Designers Choice Challenge

The Designers Choice Challenge this week at RI's blog, The House that Stamps Built, is hosted by Darsie and she is challenging us to make a scenic card using black and white and just one more color. Since green is my favorite color, I chose Green. I had fun with this challenge- I had seen a card on line a while back that used this masking idea and had been wanting to try it. I masked both sides of the card leaving just the strip stamped unmasked. I stamped the larger pine tree several times without reinking in between and repeated that one more time. After removing the masking, I stamped the small pine tree and the sentiment and layered on black and then on a white card. The three black pearls in the corner complete this CAS card. Of course all the great stamps are from Repeat Impressions.

I am entering this card in the challenge at Southern Girls for Black and White and a Pop of one Color.

Stamping smiles, Karen

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