International Day of Happiness!

Here it is, time for another duel - despite the Corona Virus pandemic.  Tami is the Hostess for the Divas and Terry (L) is the hostess for the Divas.  Since March 20th is the International Day of Happiness...and coffee makes many people VERY happy...They decided to send us coffee themed kits for the duel.

Here is the front of my card, which features some hand-stamped DP that Terry sent.  I just LOVE hand-stamped DP!!!

Terry stamped the Coffee Blend Turnabout Stamp by Concord & 9th using Dark Chocolate, Warm Cocoa, Warm Glow Amalgam, Chocolate Truffle Amalgam, Tomato Soup and Turquoise Sea inks.  Matching papers by Gina K are Tomato Soup and Turquoise Sea.

Here you can see the left panels opened to show off the embossed card stock that Terry included: Close to Cocoa CS embossed with Sizzix Alterations folder.  Cute, right?
The coffee cup die cut is from Concord & 9th, their Coffee Blend dies & stamp.
Here is the card fully extended:

I used a sentiment she sent from Hero Arts Monthly kit, August 2018.  I sponged a little of Stampin Up's Cajun Craze ink onto the punched sentiment.  It's pretty close in color to the Tomato Soup color.
Ribbon from Michael's and Enamel Dots are from the Paper Studio and Eyelet Outlet.

Thank you Terry for a great kit!  Please use the links on the left to visit the Divas and other Dazzlers for their cards.

We were asked to share something that makes us happy - besides coffee.  Since I am self-isolating to keep my parents safe (mild, questionable symptoms so far) I'll have to go with, the internet and all of my streaming options, a couple of novels, a jigsaw puzzle and - of course - all of my card making treasures!!!

Stay healthy and be kind!

Let me Call You Sweetheart - Feb. Duel

A Sweetheart February Duel

The Hostess for the Dazzlers this month is the lovely Shelly...and she sent all of us a LOVELY kit!!

Kit Contents Were:

Images: The Project Bin- please use handmade logo on back of your card

Cardstock- Neenah Solar White- this is the one Jennifer McGuire recommends

Ink- Memento Black Tuxedo

SU cardstock for hearts and X & O's  - one retired not marked (101991), Rose Red, Purely Pomegranate

Ribbon- SU Rose grosgrain

White ribbons- The Ribbon Boutique, Rose Gold cording- Target $1.00 spot

DP- American Crafts

Silver Metallic- Paper Studios

Sizzix 3-D heart EF

Dies:

Project bin hearts and xo’s.  Also a neg of the heart in case you want to sponge any : )

Concord & 9th Love in silver metallic

Sunny Studio Fishtail banners

Embellishments:

larger adhesive hearts- Paper Studio

Park Lane- pink rhinestones

Memory Makers-heart brads

Stash- tags

Well, I set my goal to use as many of the contents as possible.  Here's my tag/bookmark card:

White tag/bookmark covered with
the heart designer paper, tied with the pretty, sparkly twine, xoxo's are glittered with Spectrum Noir glimmer pen.

I used the fishtail banner to make a pocket, decorated with more designer paper, red heart (again glittered with SN marker), Paper Studio gems and a bow.

The top features the "Love" cutout from Shelly's kit.

Here's a picture of the bookmark/tag:

The inside panel features the embossed heart paper and more of the pretty papers from Shelly.  I colored the tag and sentiment, glittered the tag with SN marker and added the glitter ribbons and hearts from the Paper Studio.

There were just a few of the items from Shelly's kit that I didn't use, but it sure stretched me to get as many used as I could!  Thank you Shelly for such a generous and fun kit!

New Year - New Duel!

A group of lovely friends on Split Coast Stampers called the Dueling Darlings host a monthly "duel".  We are to make a card with the contents of a kit put together by one of us who is the host for the month.  We are divided into two teams, the Dazzlers and the Divas.

My team, the Dazzlers, received kits from Terry, and the theme was penguins!  Here's the card I came up with:

Terry sent:

• Inky Antic's "Petey Penguin #2
• Designer papers from Reminisce "Chilling with the Penguins"; MME "Polka Dot Orange"; American Crafts "Snowflake";  The Paper Studio "Black Chevron" and "Yellow Dots"
• Die cut clouds by Memory Box and suns by Lil' Inker
• Ribbons: SU's Orange Trimmed; yellow grossgrain; Gingham by Offray
• Embellishments from The Paper Studio

I'm so grateful for these friends.  They've stood by me in good times and hardships.  It feels great to be back with them and sharing our love of this craft!  Terry, thank you for such a great kit to start of the year!

Kindness Means Hugs!!

Hard to believe that we're at October 15th already!  Even harder to believe that I'm not late with this post, haha!

Jeanette and Kelly are hosting for the October Duel and Kindness is the theme!  (Actually I've been wanting a personal license plate that reads BKIND...but I'll wait until after I move next year.)

Jeanette's kit contained an image by Stampavie called "Teddy & Me".  She's colored with Spectrum Noir markers.  Here's my card:

The striped paper and the pretty wood plank paper are from The Paper Studio.

The 3 ribbons are layered:
Silver Organdy by Amuse Studio on top of Ribbon Boutique Turquoise on top of Crafter's Square Black Glitter.    Topped off with 3 Heart brads by The Paper Studio.

Down the side of the card is some pretty Washi Tape.

A Recollections Flower is on the top corner.  Three heart rhinestones to show how much she loves her little bear!

The fun thing is the "Kind" die cut that Jeanette included!  I just love that script!



Jeanette also included a wonderful sentiment which I sponged and used on the inside.  Here's a look:

The Sentiment is from Picket Fence Studios "Comfort Words" set.

Hugs really can make a difference.  It sure seems like society would be kinder if more people shared a hug every day.

Maybe we all should give out hugs this week!

Thank you Jeanette.  This kit made me smile!

September Sunflowers!

I am so late on posting this...actually I was late making it also, but did get it made a couple of weeks ago, just kept forgetting to post it.  I apologize to the Darlings and most of all to Debby B our hostess that month!

Such a darling Stampability Image "Hammock Hibernation" was selected by Debby for the Dazzlers!  I colored it with pencils, blended with Gamsol.  The sky and sun were sponged on with chalk.  Here's my card:

The beautiful Sunflower paper is from The Paper Studio, as is the black & white polka dot paper.  I loved the sunflower paper so much that I went with an A7 size card so that the paper could be a prominent feature.

Debby also included some really luxurious polka dot ribbon and the bright yellow twine.

Green enamel dots finish off the bottom of the card.

Isn't he peaceful there snoozing away?  It won't be too much longer and we'll all be wishing for warmer days and summer sunflowers!

Thank you Debby for such a  lovely kit!

It's July's Busy as a Bee Duel

July 15th and that means it's time for the Dueling Darlings to post their cards. 
Terry A. is the host for the Dazzler Team and Terry S. is the host for the Divas and they selected "Bees" for this month's theme.

Terry A. sent a wonderful kit including:
Hero Arts "Busy as a Bee" stamped & die cut on Neenah Solar White using Versamark black ink.
Designer Papers from The Paper Studio, SU's Hexagon Hive die cut on SU's Hello Honey cardstock and also SU's Hexagon Hive Embossing Folder to emboss Vellum, A die-cut gold foil doily also from The Paper Studio
White gems from the Paper Studio
Black gems from Jolee's Boutique
An adorable "Bee Happy" button from Dress it Up
Yellow brads from SU
Yellow twine from The Paper Studio and Black gross grain ribbon from SU.

WOW!  So much to work with!!  Here's my creation:

Aren't those papers the best?!  The floral paper is actually translucent vellum, which I backed with SU's Pool Party CS, and the card base is SU's Hello Honey CS.  SU's hexagon punch worked perfectly with the "Happy Bee Day" sent by Terry, and it's colored with a Spectrum Noir marker.

I cut the button loop off the adorable bee and used a foam pop up to mount it.  

A small strip of the honey bee paper was used to spruce up the inside of the card.

Terry, what a delightful kit!!  Thank you so much for hosting, you did a marvelous job!

Everything is Coming up Roses in June!

I'm a bit late, this post was due on the 15th.  But it isn't because I didn't love the image or the theme!

Shelly and Carol are the Dueling Hostesses for June and they picked Roses as our theme since that is the flower for June.  Here are the contents of Shelly's lovely kit:

Image and sentiment all SU (the rose is from the 2002 collection)
The three small SU sentiments are punched out using the SU tag punch
The DP's - the green and green w/peach roses- The Paper Studio Kirby Teesdale
Yellow and wood BG- The Paper Studio-Country Road
All ribbons and twine- retired SU
Cardstocks-SU
Small butterflies- Martha Stuart punch
Yellow gems- Recollections

...And here is what I made from her kit:

What a surprise that Shelly stamped the image and punched the butterflies out of shimmery white card stock!  The photo doesn't do it justice.  I tried to capture the essence of my Grandmother's roses.  My favorites were the ones that were yellow and pink.  So very pretty, and such wonderful memories of going to her house and coming home with fresh cut roses!

Thank you Shelly for such an an enjoyable theme and a great kit!