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!

The Darlings and April Showers

Guess what?  It's the 15th and I'm not even late posting this month's duel!  (shocker)
Our Dazzling hostess this month is Tracie and the Diva hostess is Barb, and they chose April Showers as our theme.

Tracie send us "Sophi" by Whipper Snapper and included the cute papers from Photoplay's "Spring in my Garden" and Doodlebug's "Anchors Aweigh"

Here's how I used her adorable kit:

Sophie is colored with Spectrum Noir markers and accented with glitz from a Wink of Stella pen.  I decided that the rainbow and the polka dots also needed some glitter so used the pen on the papers too.

Tracie's seam binding ribbon was so pretty and has a nice sheen to it too.  The clear gems from Tracie's kit reminded me of big, spring raindrops so that's what I was going for on the card.

Thank you for such a versatile and colorful kit to go with the adorable Sophie!  I'm off to visit the rest of the gang and admire their April Showers.  Thanks for stopping by!

March Dueling Birthday Cards Challenge

Donna is the Hostess for the Dazzlers this round and she really went all-out on her kit! (thank you)  She gifted us with two different options for images and it was impossible for me to choose, so I made a card with each option!

Image is "Wine Diva" by Art Impressions
Floral Designer Paper is from The Paper Studio

The sparkly ribbon has a story: I tried to straighten it, but it really wanted to be in tendrils...so I went for a party streamer type of effect.  What do you think?
The image is colored with Spectrum Noir markers, her earrings, shoes & skirt are glammed up with a silver Wink of Stella pen.



Here's the inside, the sentiment Donna gave us was too cute to not include:

Sentiments on front & back were colored with Spectrum Noir marker.





















And for my second card:

Images are from the "Happy Hippos" set by My Favorite Things.
The die cut is "Happy Birthday Circle Frame" also by My Favorite Things. I've colored them up with Spectrum Noir markers.

Balloon Paper is from The Paper Studio and the plaid paper is from Donna's stash.

Twine is from Doodlebug, the button is from my stash.
<GASP>  I actually used a button, haha.

I just love the green sequin stars that Donna included.  I wish that my photography was better, so you could see them!

Donna, you really gave us an excellent kit.  Thank you!