What's Your Birthstone?

Today is the 15th and that means it's time to post our Creative Crew Cards!  This month it was my turn to host the challenge and the theme is "What's your Birthstone?"

Here's my card:

I colored the image using Yasutomo watercolors. They have a nice glimmer and sheen to them.

The background purple was created using Purple Paradise Metallic Gilding Polish. 

Here's a close up showing the shimmer of the watercolor paints.  

My birthstone is Amethyst. There's a wide variety of colorations for this gemstone.

Pictured here is an Amethyst ring, a tumbled Amethyst heart and a natural segment of Amethyst.

The small crystal is a Vera Cruz Amethyst which is only faintly lavender in a small portion.

Kit contents:

Hop on over to admire the rest of the cards from The Creative Crew:

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 Catch Up Club

A few friends and I regularly register for some really great virtual card making events.  It's so fun to be texting during the classes, sharing photos, helpful hints, etc.

However, real life does interrupt each of us from time to time and we miss classes.  Or, often one of us will find a particular card challenging or we may be tired so we opt to create it later.  Time goes by...and by...before you know it months have passed. 

We decided that 2023 would be the catch up year. On the last day of the month we would post something from an unfinished kit, challenge or class and feel better about catching up!

My first card features some products from Pinkfresh Studio:

• Ornate Circle Die
• Geo Arch Hot Foil Plate
• Foiled Sentiments III Die Cut Sentiments

I varied from the actual class design and die cut the Dove using the "Serene Garden"  by Stampin' Up. The Dove is heat embossed with a white sparkle powder from my stash.

The Geo Arch embossed panel is on a white glimmer stock by A Muse Studios.  The dragonfly is a punch that I've had forever.

I made a set of these for a swap on Split Coast Stampers.

My second card is a slim line card and features all Pinkfresh products:

• Geo Arch Hot Foil Plate for background panel
• Essentials Mini Slim Frames Dies
• Foiled Sentiments III Die Cut Sentiments
• Peony Fantasy stamp and die sets
• Peony Fantasy Layering Stencils

The peonies are gold embossed and then colored with blending brushes and inks. Then the are all die cut and layered on top of the card front.

There's a lot of depth to this one but I do like how it turned out.

Both of these cards were from a past Create and Connect Virtual Card Making Event.

Now it's time for me (and you) to hop on over to the blogs of my Catch Up Club members and admire their work!

Barb's Inkin' to Retirement

It's Totally Terry

Cre8tive Play: It's Cheaper than Therapy

January's Double Duty

On the 22nd of each month a group of friends have a challenge called Double Duty. We have a predetermined stamp company assigned to each month. We are to make two different cards, using the same stamp (or stamp set) from the designated company. 

As another way to double up, at least one item has to be used on both cards. It could be card stock, an embellishment, embossing folder, a stencil, etc.

This month we are to use a Gina K Designs stamp set. For my cards I picked the "Petite Geraniums" set. Here are my two cards.

This card has a white panel stamped with the geranium image and colored with Spectrum Noir markers. 

The background was inked using Gina K's blender brushes.

The black panel is die cut with "Through the Woods Window Die" by Hero Arts.

The card is embellished with clear drops by Pinkfresh and the flower centers have Stardust Sickles applied.

The second card was inked first using blender brushes. Then the image and sentiment was stamped onto it with black ink.

The centers of the flowers have Stardust Stickles and clear drops are also used.

White and black card stock is used on both cards and the same sentiment from the stamp set is used on each card.

Lots of doubling up for this month's cards! I hope that you visit the blogs of the other Double Duty members:

Barb

Jeanette

Carol

Creative Crew January Challenge

"The Creative Crew" formerly known as The Dueling Darlings, is back once again this year. Each month on the 15th we will post a card made from a challenge kit sent to the Crew by one of our own.

To start things off right, Jeanette and Barb co-hosted the January challenge. To keep us on our toes, Barb sent the image and Jeanette sent us papers and embellishments. And each of them kept it a secret from each other!  The only thing known to them was that the theme would be SNOW.

Here's my card.

Barb sent us "Snowman and Broom-Large" from Creative Vision. Isn't he just too cute?! 

I colored him with Spectrum Noir, and painted his body using clear Wink of Stella.

Jeanette sent us a great packet of papers, ribbons, sequins and snowflake sequins. 

The little striped tag is from Paper Studio. I wrote "SNOW" on it. 

Here's a close up of the snowman to try to show how sparkly he is from the Wink of Stella.

Thanks to Barb and Jeanette for a fun first challenge!

I'm up for February's challenge and I hope that everyone enjoys what I've come up with.

Hop on over to admire the rest of the cards from The Creative Crew:

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

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Catch Up Club!

Here we are...the last day of the month and that's posting day for some Catch Up Cards.  

A few friends and I decided that we would make a point to complete a card or two from challenges, classes, kits, etc. that we are behind on. Voila! The Catch Up Club was formed.

Here are 2 cards from last October's Crop & Create Delivered virtual card making event.

The tutorial was led by Meghann Andrew for Elle's Studio and was entitled "Clean and Colorful Cards.

She had us cut strips of the colored stock and glue them to a piece of scrap paper. Then we cut this and used it to create the backgrounds. I thought it was a great idea!

The stamp and die set is called "Sincere Sentiments Best of Friends" and I really like it.

The sentiments and flowers stamp nicely and the dies are easy to use. This is a versatile set that will see a lot of use by me.

I also enjoyed learning the "color blocking" technique with the strips of card stock. A nice and economical way to use paper to liven up your cards.

2022 is drawing to a close today. I wish all of you many blessings in 2023. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit the blogs of my Catch Up friends:

Barb's Inkin' to Retirement

It's Totally Terry

Cre8tive Play: It's Cheaper than Therapy

The Catch Up Day!

Some good friends of mine, who also love paper & ink, were chatting about how behind we all are on our card making commitments and classes.  Long story short, we decided that the last day of each month would be our Catch Up Day.  Whether from a kit, a challenge, or a class, we would post a card that gets us one step closer to being up to date!

This is a card from Crop & Create Delivered held from September 29-October 1, 2022.  The course was taught by Kelly Kohout for Honey Bee Stamps. 

The stamp and matching layering stencils are called "Always on my Mind" by Honey Bee Stamps.

The image is stamped and heat embossed with gold embossing powder.  Then the layering stencils are used to apply colors.

I varied the class sample just a bit and used Old Olive by Stampin' Up to layer the panel. The panel is Spectrum Noir's Ultra Smooth Premium White card stock. This paper blends so nicely. It's almost like blending on the glass mat!

This last weekend I called a dear friend back in New Hampshire and we caught up with everything. It was so great to hear her voice! I'm sending this to her, because we all have too few dear friends and I want her to know how special she is!

Thanks for stopping by my blog and if you want to see some great catch up cards, drop by my friends and see their creations:

Barb's Inkin' to Retirement

It's Totally Terry

Cre8tive Play: It's Cheaper than Therapy

Wishing all of you  a wonderful week!

October Duel: Gotcha Day!

I'm a day late, my apologies! It's pathetic because my card was actually finished a few days early 😞

Our lovely Kelly was the hostess for both teams this month and came up with a really great theme: "Gotcha Day"  This is to honor the one year anniversary of her adopting a Siamese cat who needed nursing, physically, emotionally and mentally.  The theme is to recognize all rescued animals on the day that their humans adopted them.  Pretty cool!

Here's my card:  

The adorable kitten and chicks is from CC Designs.  The image is colored with Spectrum Noir and Stampin' Up  markers.

Kelly included designer papers from S.E.I Crafts, "Madeleine Collection". I used Card Layer 2 Dies by Jaded Blossom to create the background panels.  

Enamel dots, ribbon and button are from Kelly's stash. 

This posting would not be complete without including a photo of my own little rescue guy, Dobby:

Dobby is a 7 year old Havanese that I adopted when he was 4. Unfortunately his timid little soul was subjected to some harsh human behavior and he can be so scared.

But he has come a long way and has finally started trusting people that I introduce to him!! A Havanese is a perfect breed for quiet living, they rarely bark and love their sleepy days on the sofa.  

They are non-shedders and have hair, not fur, which is great for those with allergies.

I'm so lucky to have this little guy in my life. Dobby is a devoted friend and a loving companion. 

Thank you for such a wonderful theme, Kelly! It's great that we can raise the awareness of adopting pets and giving them find a Forever Home!