Paper Creations Ink Joins SAS4Kids for Holiday Wishes 4 Kids!

Today is the start of a new challenge at Paper Creations Ink and they are partnering with my favorite cause, Send a Smile 4 Kids, in a card drive to help cheer as many kids inpatient at Children's Hospitals as possible. Our challenge to you is to create a holiday card for a child, enter it in both challenges to have twice as many chances at winning a great sponsor's prize, and then send the card (along with any others you have appropriate for children) to one of the addresses here to put a smile on a child's face this holiday season.

The sponsor of this challenge at PCI is Digi Doodles and they are offering a $10 gift certificate to the random winner. We got to play with their fun images and I chose Christmas Puppy to make this card. The top picture shows what the outside looks like - a big present.

This is what pulls out of the present- isn't he cute? I paper pieced the stocking and puppy and added some embossed dots to the top of the stocking. I finished with a little coloring and a semi-circle layered for the sentiment. I hope a child in one of our seven hospitals is happy to pull this sweetie out of his holiday card present.

Check out the PCI blog for some great cards by our design team including a couple special guest dt cards from TEAM S.A.S. at SAS4Kids as well. Then please consider joining us at both challenges and then sending in your card if you can. I would like to thank Sara and Michael of PCI publically for all they have done to support Send a Smile 4 Kids and especially hosting this Holiday Card Drive.

Details on the new challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids can be found here.

I am entering this card in the challenge at Sweet N Sassy Digital Challenge to use a digi and make a Christmas/Holiday card.

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen

CASual Fridays and Mami Doodles Challenges

The challenge this week at CASual Fridays is to make a CAS card with an element that goes over the edge, and at Mami Doodles, the theme is Christmas. I started this card with a 4 1/4" square red card that I embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder and added the Martha Stewart snowflake border to. The super cute Christmas teddy is a pre-colored digital stamp from Cuddly Buddly and I printed him and cut him out and he sticks over the top of the card, but just high enough to fit into an A2 envelope.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Starting Early- Holiday Wishes 4 our Kids!

It's another fun Saturday at Send a Smile 4 Kids and we are Starting Early for Holiday Wishes 4 our Kids!  It may seem early to make and send holiday cards, but to have time to get them to our hospitals and our kids, we need them by early December. We are also announcing the following exciting news:

Starting Monday November 7th through November 20th, SAS4Kids is thrilled to be partnering with Paper Creations Ink for a CARD DRIVE for our kids! At SAS4Kids and at PCI, the themes of our challenges are "Holiday Wishes for Kids", and we are asking all who participate in the challenges to please mail your holiday cards to SAS4Kids to cheer a child who is inpatient in a Children's Hospital over the holidays. You can enter your children's holiday card at both blogs for twice as many chances to win a great prize from our sponsors! Then please mail it (and other other cards you have that are appropriate for children in a hospital) to any of our addresses listed here.

SAS4Kids has three generous sponsors for this challenge: Stamp Shoppe Creations is offering one random winner a $15 gift certificate; Shelley's Images is giving a lucky random winner a $9 gift certificate; and Designed 2 Delight is giving a random winner a $10 voucher AND each of the Top Three a $5 voucher! That's right: our Top Three as voted on by our design team wins a sponsor prize this time from Designed 2 Delight as well as a Blog Badge for your blog and a guest design team opportunity in a future challenge!

Because we had such great sponsor images to work with, I had to play with each of them, of course! Above is a fun reindeer resting after his long journey on Christmas Eve from Heidi at Stamp Shoppe Creations. I am lucky enough to live just blocks away from The Stamp Shoppe and consider the owner and artist, Heidi, a close personal friend. The holly background on some of the strips of paper is one of her designs too. I stamped and paper pieced the main image and created the background with strips of dp and embossed lines.

This fun card uses a beautiful Christmas morning image from Shelley's Images that bring back lovely memories for me. Our beloved kitty was a Christmas present to my husband from me nine Christmases ago now. I started with a scalloped green card and paper pieced and colored the scene and added red pearl pen pearls on the scallops.

My last holiday card for our kids features a wonderful digital stamp from Designed 2 Delight. I love my Believe dog and again did some paper piecing, embossing and added white flock on his hat. The sentiment is also from D2D.

The front flap opens like a mini easel card to reveal an inside piece for a special message and I used a Martha Stewart snowman punch on that piece for a fun touch.

So come join us at both SAS4Kids and PCI for these challenges and then please consider sending in your children's holiday card to cheer the many children at our seven hospitals who are inpatient over the holidays.

I am entering these cards in the Anything Goes challenges at Paper Take Weekly and Whimsical Wednesdays and the paper piecing challenge at Pixie Dust Studio.

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen

Digital Tuesday and Charisma Cardz Challenges

Cute and Cuddly is the theme of the challenge this week at Digital Tuesday and at Charisma Cardz, they want to see Cutesy. I made a bunch of cute cards for my kids using free and already colored digis from Cuddly Buddly, so these challenges are perfect for one of those cards. Isn't the holiday teddy in a wreath just adorable? I printed and cut him out with my nesties and layered on another nestie circle. The card itself was made with a red stripe attached before embossing the whole card with a holly embossing folder from Sizzix. CAS and cute!

Stamping smiles, Karen

Cuttlebug Spot and Pollycraft Challenges

Anything Goes is the challenge this week at Pollycraft and The Cuttlebug Spot (using embossing) and that is my favorite kind of challenge. I use embossing folders all the time so I am glad The Cuttlebug Spot is back offering challenges again! I started this card with a funky designer paper, embossed and distressed the flower frame and rounded the corners. The label stamp is from Gina K Lovely Labels by Nina Brackett. I added a simple HB sentiment and some brown pearls in the corners and on the label to complete the card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

What if? Wed. Sketch Challenge

The challenge this week at Repeat Impression's blog, The House that Stamps Built, is a sketch challenge. The sketch we are challenging you to use is below. I love the CAS style and this sketch is perfect for that. I used the beautiful Glitter Star Ornament stamp and embossed it with a aqua blue glittery embossing powder and cut it out. The lined aqua blue paper is a shiny cardstock and the white center piece was embossed with a Tim Holtz embossing folder. I added some gems to complete the card.

So come join us in this fun sketch challenge and you could win some cool RI Rubber! Please visit the blog for all the details and to see the cards the rest of the Rock Stars made with this sketch.

I am entering this card in the Christmas challenge at One Stitch at a Time.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Papercrafting Journey, Meljen's and Winter Wonderland Challenges

The challenge this week at Papercrafting Journey is to use a digi; at Meljen's it is Christmas; and at Winter Wonderland it is CAS Christmas. I found a whole bunch of free digital stamps at Cuddly Buddly as well as many many others too cute to resist. So easy to make a CAS holiday card for my kids. I love to paper piece, but in this case I chose the colored version and simply printed and cut out. Add some dp, snowflakes and a snowflake border (Martha Stewart) and the card is complete. Isn't the Santa balloon sweet?

Stamping smiles, Karen