July Creative Crew Challenge

 Hello there.  Time to revitalize my little blog.  I've been busy the last few months, searching for a new place to live, getting ready to move, the move itself...and of course, Grandma Duty with my grandson, Jake!

On the 15th of each month a group of friends called the Creative Crew have a challenge. We take turns hosting the challenge and this time it is Terry's month. Terry sent us the image and sentiment from "Silly Goose" by Taylored Expressions.  She also included a fun assortment of papers from her stash.

Here's my card. 

The sentiment and image are colored with Olo markers and I fussy-cut the goose.

The layout uses the papers that Terry sent to us. The die used to create the background layout is by Newton's Nook and is called "Card Layout 6".  It's a fun way to show off papers.

I used clear Wink of Stella to sparkle up the balloon and birthday hat.

I cut a strip of the remaining paper and put it on the inside of the card, leaving room for a message when I get ready to send it off.

Thank you, Terry, for such a great kit! That goose just melts my heart and makes me smile!

Here are the links to view the other members of the Creative Crew.  Please view their cards and leave some love.

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie 

February Creative Crew Challenge

This round it was my turn to come up with the Creative Crew Challenge.  I was inspired by our own Crew member, Terry.  She always impresses me with her creations and one of her favorite companies is Concord & 9th.

So I decided to use C&9th's Accordion Card Base Dies and give our Crew free reign on what to use with it. Other dies, stamps, stenciling, whatever they come up with.

A bit of a different take on hosting the monthly challenge, so I hope that everyone had fun with it!

Here's my card.  

Everyone received the Accordion Card Base cut with white card stock.  Since I have the dies, I resisted the urge to cut designer paper.  Instead I used inks, embossing folders, stencils and other die cuts to make my card.

The kit included a half height panel that can be used to create a scene mid way through the window and the background.  I just cut a narrow section off of that panel, ink blended green on it and attached the flowers, leaves and little dog.

I used a wood grain embossing folder and rubbed a light brown ink cube over it for the wood panel look.

The back panel used 2 different stencils to get the grass and the clouds. The hearts, puppy and sentiment are from a stamp set called Pocket Full of Sunshine by Gina K Designs. 

The vine and leaves are from a set of cover dies by Stampin Up called Gorgeous Garden. I cut the vines apart and arranged them to frame the oval window.

The stems and flowers beside the puppy are from the Playful Posies die set by Gina K Designs. All in all, this took me a while. I had a bit of a learning curve on the middle element with the puppy and flowers.  But now that I have done it once, I can't wait to make more!

I sure hope that my friends on the Creative Crew also had a good time with this. 

Here are the links to their blogs and Lorraine's gallery on SplitCoast:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie 

January Catch Up Challenge

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 sets of cards are from March, 2025's Virtual Stamp Joy event by Taylored Expressions.  

This set uses watercolor panels that we colored with Karin markers.  The panels were ink blended first with very light blue.  The last addition is the sentiment.

These were mailed out a few weeks ago.

The next set of cards are also from the Virtual Stamp Joy event.

These cards feature a stencil set to create 4 scenes at once. I love that!

I varied a bit from the instructions and used a wood grain embossing folder that had brown ink applied, direct-to-paper. Otherwise I followed the class examples with ink blending and die cutting.  I only used the "Hello" Sentiment on each card to better suit my purpose for the cards.

These cards have already been sent out but I can assure you that I'll be making more soon!

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 using Simon Hurley Penguins!

We all have so many wonderful things for this hobby. Friends and I noticed that some items only get used once. We love them and promise ourselves that we will use it again, but somehow we never get around to it.  So we created the Encore Challenge! 

We go into our stash and select any item, a stamp set, dies, stencils, etc. and show it the love it deserves. We post our creations on or around the 25th of each month. We would love to have anyone interested play along, as often as you like.

This time I circled back to these adorable penguins by Simon Hurley. The penguins, sentiment and confetti stamp were all part of a Simon Hurley kit a few years ago during the Crop & Create Delivered virtual card making event.  

Aren't they cute?!  I made a pile of these for a lot of January birthday cards that are all ready to mail.

The confetti is white embossed and the penguin is clear embossed and then colored with Olo Markers.
 

Here's another version with silver and gold embossing.

The penguin is also part of the same set by Simon Hurley. So cute!

Please visit the blogs of the other Encore Challenge participants.  The list and links are provided below:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Terry - It's Totally Terry 

Double Duty Featuring Pinkfresh Studio

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! 

Our featured company for January is Pinkfresh Studio. Recently I bought a pretty little set called"Sending Love". Here are my cards using this cute set.

This card used silver embossing powder on "Huckleberry card stock by Taylored Expressions.

The background has the floral image randomly stamped using Macaron ink by Taylored Expressions. I stamped it off first to make the image lighter.

For my second card I used the stencils in the set to color the florals using
"Persimmon" and "Papaya" inks by Taylored Expressions. The background panel is "Persimmon" card stock die cut with the "Ornate Medallions" coverplate by Pinkfresh. 

This sentiment is also part of the stamp set.

This is such a versatile set.  I'm sure to get a lot of use out of it. And even better that i got it at a great price during their Black Friday sale!

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

Barb

Jeanette 

Terry

Creative Crew & Snowmen!

Here it is! The 15th of the month and time to post the Creative Crew Challenge. 

The Creative Crew is a group of friends on Splitcoast Stampers who participate in a monthly challenge.  We take turns identifying the theme for the challenge and this month  Barb & Jeanette set our theme.  They chose snowman/snowmen.  So we make a card featuring a snowman.  How fun!

I used the stamps and sentiment from the "Snowflake Kisses" set by Gina K Designs.  The images are colored with Olo Markers. 

The blue card stock is of unkown origin from my stash. But it's a bright, deep blue.

Frostbite Astro Paste by Simon Hurley was applied using a Snowflake stencil by Taylored Expressions.  I also applied some with my finger, dotting it around the base of the snowmen and onto each snowman. The texture and sparkle looks like snow at night!

Once dry, the panels were spritzed with "Beluga" Solar Spray, also by Simon Hurley.

I really like how these turned out!  They have already been received by 3 people that I try to mail a card to every week.

Thanks for getting 2026 off to a great start, Jeanette & Barb. This was a fun theme to get us going.

Here are the links to the Creative Crew blogs and Lorraine's gallery on SplitCoast:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie 

January Hot Mess Birthday Cards

On the 12th of each month a group of my friends hold a Hot Mess = Success Challenge.  Our goal is to create a card using any messy technique we want.  And we determine what is our personal definition of messy!

This month I decided to stock up on birthday cards. One of my favorite methods is to use various pastes with stencils. Then cut the panels into shapes, ink blend the card base with the same stencil and adhere the decorative shapes and happy birthday sentiment.  

This panel was white, and I ink blended Lime Zest, Passion Fruit and Cookie Monster inks by Taylored Expressions. I did direct-to-paper with the ink pads.

Then using the Mini Slim Polka Dot stencil by Taylored Expressions, I applied Opal Chroma Glaze by Brutus Monroe.

Here's the finished card (two were created from the panel).

It's not visible in the photo, but Passion Fruit ink was blended onto the Huckleberry base panel using the polka dot stencil. The sentiment is heat embossed in silver.

The next set of panels were also done with Opal Chroma Glaze using the Daisy Mosaic stencil by Hero Arts.  The panel is Cookie Monster card stock by Taylored Expressions.

These panels were cut in half and layered onto white card bases with ink blending using Cookie Monster ink and the Daisy Mosaic stencil. 

This netted six cards like this.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white.

Each set of cards feature the ovals in Master Layouts 1 by Gina K Designs and the Happy Birthday stamp in the "On Occasion" set by Taylored Expressions.

The final set of cards were made the same way using Lime Zest card stock and
Simon Hurley's Later Gator Astro Paste.

The sentiment is black heat embossed on Lime Zest stock.

This round of Hot Mess resulted in 11 cards for my stash of birthday cards.  Not too shabby for one afternoon of getting messy!

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

Jeanette

Barb

Terry

January Unused No More Challenge

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.

It was high time to use my Taylored Expressions "Diamond Botanical"
stamp and die set.

The image and sentiment are stamped an dgold embossed on to a deep blue card stock. I'm sorry to say that it's from my stash and I can't match it to anything so I have no idea which company makes it.

The white card background is stamped using Taylored Expressions' "Both Ways Background - Paradise" stamp. I used Gina K Designs' Blue Sky ink.

The diamond sentiment panel is popped up using 1/8 inch dimensional foam, making it easy to mail.

This was fun and quick.  I think I'll use the same set to make some birthday cards. I really like the font in this set.

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

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Creative Crew Final 2025 Challenge

This wraps up another year for the Creative Crew.  Jeanette and Barb really gave us a fun challenge this month.  

Barb selected a color palette from her Color Cube collection:

And Jeanette provided the sketch:

Here is my card! 

Cardstock:

• Gray base is from Recollections 110# Storm Clouds collection
• Concord & 9th Evergreen, Sea Glass and Cranberry 

Image & sentiment is from the Sparkle and Shine set by Gina K Designs and is silver embossed. 

Embellishments are Silver Sparkle Flat Glitter Confetti by Trinity Stamps.

I sure hope that I did the color palette and sketch justice! 

Here are the links to the Creative Crew blogs and Lorraine's gallery on SplitCoast:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie 

"Haunted Boo-levard" with the Creative Crew

Lorraine is the October hostess for the Creative Crew and she send us images from the "Haunted Boo-levard" stamp set by Taylored Expressions.  

Even though I'm late to post my card, I was really excited to receive her kit because I think this set is so dang cute!

The image and sentiment are colored with Olo markers.  The candy corn, windows, pumpkin die cuts, ghost and bats are all highlighted with a Wink of Stella pen to give them sparkle.

I used the square gems to make a path or sidewalk in front of the house.

Lorraine included such cute designer papers by Doodlebug and Imaginesce.  Each are layered on a purple panel (Concord Grape by Taylored Expressions).

This set has been advertised in my social media feeds and it's so fun.  It was great to have a chance to play with it.  Thanks Lorraine!

Here are the links to the Creative Crew blogs and Lorraine's gallery on SplitCoast:

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 

Double Duty Featuring Taylored Expressions

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! 

Our pre-selected company for this month's challenge is Taylored Expressions.  This is one of our favorite companies, so I'm sure that we all had a good time creating a set of cards.

Here are my cards.  I selected the stamp, die, embossing folder and stencil set called "Icing on the Cake".

The background panels on both cards have various colors of Simon Hurley's Lunar Paste applied through Taylored Expression's Confettie stencil.

Each cake was blended and stamped with inks by Taylored Expressions.

The final touch was the layer of decorative icing applied with the stencil, using Simon Hurley's Frostbite Astro Paste.  It gives a nice texture and sparkle in real life.

This was a very fun and easy way to create two cards. I think I'll go back to this set soon and make a few more, trying different techniques the next time.

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

Barb

Jeanette

Carol 

Terry

Creative Crew is Picture Purr-fect!

OK! It's the 15th of the month.  Which means that the Creative Crew posts their challenge cards.  Terry is our host this month and the theme is  "Picture Perfect".  Here's what she sent:

Images/Sentiments:  My Favorite Things "Picture Perfect"

Polaroid Die Cuts: My Favorite Things "Instagram"

Papers - Stampin' Up and American Crafts

And here is my card 👉  

I colored the furry friends with Castle colored pencils. I like that the end result is not as uniform as markers.  To me, it seems more like fur. 

The picture frame was ink blended with Candy Corn ink by Taylored Expressions.  The card base is also Candy Corn by TE.  I used almost each of the fun patterned papers that Terry included in our kit.

The little puffy hearts are from a prior kit from one of the Creative Crew, but I'm not sure who (maybe Tracie?)

I really like this kit and the sentiment.  I think it accurately describes our Creative Crew friendship!

Here are the links to the Creative Crew blogs and Lorraine's gallery on SplitCoast:

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 

 

Creative Crew "Add Your Favorite Color" Challenge

It's here - the 15th of the month.  Which means that the Creative Crew posts their challenge cards.  Jeanette is our host this month and here's what she said:

"This month's kit is going to be a bit different than our normal.  You've likely noticed the lack of color in the kit...for a good reason.  This month's theme is Add Your Own Color..."

We must include our favorite color on the card.  Well, my favorite color has always been brown. 

Jeanette included a wide array of white background panels, including Crystal Diamond Glitter card stock by the Paper Cut, which is my background panel.

Popped up on that is a die cut panel from Jeanette which is Elongated Lattice by Pinkfresh Studio.  I ink blended Chocolate Truffle (Taylored Expressions) and then sprayed it with a glimmer spray by A Muse Studio.  Which I've had for many years.

Here's a closer look to show the glimmer on the lattice panel.

The flowers and sentiment are Gina K's Smiling Blooms.  They are ink blended with several different yellows, tans and oranges by Gina K and Taylored Expressions.  Then I outlined the images with a dark brown Olo marker.

The florals overhang the edge of the card on one side.  I didn't trim them off because I liked the look.  A slightly larger envelop will accommodate them.

I must say that this challenge was very fun.  Jeanette made it so easy by picking a beautiful floral image and providing us with so many creative backgrounds to choose from.

 

Many, many thanks, Jeanette for this great kit and fun idea!  

Here are the links to the Creative Crew blogs and galleries on SplitCoast:

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 

Hot Mess = Success Challenge

On the 12th of each month a group of my friends hold a Hot Mess = Success Challenge.  Our goal is to create a card using any messy technique we want.  And we determine what is our personal definition of messy!

This month I decided to give my Astro Pastes by Simon Hurley a whirl.  Using a stencil by Gina K Designs from a Lets Stamp Together kit a few years ago, I applied Prom Queen on one panel and Bee Sting on another panel. 

Then using the same stencil Oyster ink (by Taylored Expressions) was lightly blended onto the base panels.  

Once dry, the two panels were trimmed with a thin edge of black card stock and mounted onto the base panel.  All was then mounted onto a white, top folding card.

The sentiments are from Altenew's Timeless Sentiments die set. 

If you haven't tried these Astro Pastes, I encourage you to give them a try. The glitter and shine is amazing and no glitter rubs off!

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

Jeanette

Barb

Terry

Carol