January Catch Up Cards

Several friends and I enroll in various Virtual Card Making events and classes.  Sometimes we are unable to attend the class when it is live, but fortunately the videos are available to participants to view later. 

One day we were lamenting how behind we were. One thing led to another and the concept of the Catch Up Challenge was created!  On the last day of the month we would post cards made from an event or a kit received in the past. 

This month I went back to an unfinished class from March, 2022 at the Crop & Create Delivered virtual card making event.  One of our favorite designers, Taylor VanBruggen, featured one of her Create-in-Quads stencil sets and taught us how to make 4 cards out of one round of stenciling!

I must admit that I like the cards much more in person than I do in the photographs.  The colors are very pretty together.

The card bases are all Poblano Pepper by Taylored Expressions.

Ink colors all by Taylored Expressions:

• Peapod
• Spearmint
• Poblano Pepper
• Blue Corn

The designs are all from the class. I only deviated one sentiment to make it an appropriate card for sending it to someone  now.

The stamp set was also part of the class and is called "Oh Yes You Did".  The stencil set is Create-In-Quads Hexagon.

I want to try this stencil  set with some of Simon Hurley's Lunar and Solar pastes, and with some metallic inks by Lisa Horton. Stay tuned!

Here are the links for my friends in the Catch Up Club.  Please visit their blogs and admire their work from some past project or class.

Barb's Inkin' to Retirement

It's Totally Terry

Cre8tive Play: It's Cheaper than Therapy

Encore Challenge #1

Some friends and I are starting a new challenge this year - the "Encore Challenge".  The concept is to retrieve something (dies, stencils, stamps, etc) that we have used once.  We promised ourselves that we would use it again, but then the speed of life takes over and we have yet to use it again!  The Encore Challenge will hopefully prompt us to get back to these favorites.

Here's my card, featuring stamps and dies from Gina K Designs, Honey Bee Stamps and Concord & 9th.  

All of the sets were part of the Let's Stamp Together kits received in prior years.  

• Lemons & sentiment: Gina K Designs
• Leafy branches: Concord & 9th
• Bushel Basket: Honey Bee Stamps.

The wood grain background was made with an old embossing folder.  Gina K Designs  Soft Stone ink was rubbed across the embossed panel to highlight the texture.

I have to admit that this card took several turns during its creation, and it's not entirely what I envisioned.  But that happens sometimes!

I encourage you to visit the blogs of my Encore Challenge participants!  The list and links are provided below:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Rebekah - istampscrapcraft

Double Duty Featuring Concord & 9th

On the 22nd of each month some friends challenge ourselves to create 2 different cards repeating the same image, sentiment, etc on each card.  We have a predetermined list of the stamp company or specific challenge for each month and then...away we go! 

This month we feature Concord & 9th.  I've been wanting to learn how to use their Turnabout Stamps so that's what I decided to try, and here are my cards:

These were made with the "Contempo" Turnabout stamp set. 

The yellow & blue card was made with these Concord & 9th inks:

• Buttercup
• Blueberry
• Poppy
• Parsley

The sentiment is part of the stamp set and was stamped with VersaMark and Blueberry inks and embossed with clear embossing powder.

The pink card was made with the following inks:

• Concord & 9th Briar Rose
• Concord & 9th Honeysuckle
• Simon Says Stamp Taffy
• Simon Says Stamp Peony

The sentiment was stamped with VersaMark and Peony inks and embossed with clear embossing powder.

Both cards were die cut with oval frames by Newton's Nook Designs.  Each card base was embossed with a cover plate and the pink card has a light brush of Peony ink blended onto the white panel.

Please drop by the blogs of the other Double Duty members and comment on their work:

Barb

Jeanette

Carol 

Terry

Creative Crew, January 2025

It's a new year, and a new round for the Creative Crew! I have the privilege of being this month's hostess, and I selected stamps and dies from the "You Are So Loved" set by Gina K Designs.  

There are a lot of images in this set and everyone was sent some extra
images which are optional.  The main image is the set of hands holding hearts and the You Are So Loved sentiment.  

Also included in their kits was a panel of Holographic cardstock by Pink & Main, an embossed panel using "Cross My Heart" embossing folder by Spellbinders using Cherry Pop cardstock by Taylored Expressions, and a heart panel made with Bee Sting Lunar Paste by Simon Hurley, using a heart stencil by Gina K Designs.

My images and the sentiment are colored with Olo markers and all hearts have Wink of Stella added for some soft shimmer.

I hope that you join me in visiting the blogs and gallery of the rest of the Creative Crew.  Their links are listed below.  Thanks for stopping by!

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie 

January Hot Mess = Success Challenge

On the 12th of each month we have a challenge amongst friends. Create SOMETHING making a mess SOMEHOW.  LOL  Each of us can define "messy" in our own way, but we must end up with a card. It's a lot of fun!

This month I decided to dig out the Alcohol inks and Silver Sparkle Alcohol Ink Cardstock by Ranger and see where it took me.  Here's what I ended up with:

The first panel was a combination of three colors: Watermelon, Sailboat Blue and a bit of Dijon.

The second panel had only Turquoise on it.  I used a blender handle with a
flat foam top, applying the ink directly to the foam top.

Next I dug out a set of Stampin Cut & Emboss dies by Stampin Up.  The name of the set is Gorgeous Garden. I cut one of each die panel from each of the silver blended panels and mounted them onto black cardstock. The rectangle and the sentiment are mounted with black foam tape

Using the trimmed scraps from both silver panels I punched out some dragonflies and created a rounded rectangle to mount the "Grateful for You" sentiment, which is part of the Elegant Thoughts set by Gina K Designs.

The "Thank You" script die is by Picket Fence Studios.  I colored black cardstock with Cloud 9 Silver Shine Metallic ink pad by Lisa Horton Crafts (direct to paper). When it was thoroughly dry I die cut out the sentiment and mounted it on 3 black die cut sentiments to make it more sturdy and give a hint of dimension to the card.

I kept returning to the panels over several days. Not because of difficulty, but because I couldn't find just the right way to use them.  Now I'm glad that I took my time because I like how they turned out.  The shine on both are very pretty.

Thanks for dropping by my blog!  Be sure to visit my Hot Mess friends using the links below.

Jeanette

Barb

Terry

Carol

Unused No More Challenge!

We are starting off the new year with a fun new challenge: Unused No More!  

We all have stamps, dies, stencils, etc. which are waiting patiently (?) for us to use them for the first time.  Voila! Jeanette and Barb came up with the Unused No More challenge. We will all create with previously unused treasures from our stash and share our creations on the 6th of each month.

For this month, a Sale-A-Bration set by Stampin Up cried out "Pick me! Pick me!"  I think that this set is from 2020, so it's not the oldest in my stash but definitely overdue for ink.

Here are my cards.

The background pink panel is dry embossed with a cover plate by Pinkfresh Studio called "Floral Tiles".  The dark pink card stock is "Passionate Pink" by Gina K Designs. The image and sentiment were heat embossed with white embossing powder and fussy cut by hand. 

These are flat cards which means easy to mail out!  I've been working on a load of birthday cards to build up my supply so that I don't get behind. We shall see how that goes 😉

Here are those in our group who also have blogs.  Please drop by and admire their creations!

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Rebekah - istampscrapcraft

Shelly - My Creative Rumblings