Thursday, February 24, 2022

Krafty Chicks Challenge #600: All Occasions and Throwback Thursday

  Happy Krafty Chicks Thursday to you!

Welcome to another great challenge week from the Krafty Chicks Challenge Blog. All Occasions is the theme, so pretty much anything goes. Here's my card:

I got inspiration from a paper crafter I stumbled upon Facebook, Kimberly Oliver, a Maker Forte Design Team member. I tried to find the card on a blog somewhere to give her proper credit but I cannot find an actual post with that card. Here is Kimberly's: 

I absolutely love that stencil, so I'll have to search for it and buy it. And the bear is quite adorable too. My inspiration was the layout, the stencil, and yellow. And because I'm all about combining my challenges, I used a retired stamp set so my Krafty Chicks All Occasions Challenge card is also a Throwback Thursday card.

I used the small honeycomb die from the coordinating retired Detailed Bee Dies as my stencil (mask), I just kept moving it around until I filled my background the way I liked it. Then I stamped the hive and the bee and die cut them. Stamped the sentiment, embossed it and fussy cut the semi-circle. And to finish off the card: some dots (not in supply picture).

 
Supplies I used:

I like to keep the inside of the card and the envelope just as CAS, a little hive here and a few honey bees there.

Head on over to the Krafty Chicks Challenge Blog for more details about the challenge and for more inspiration for All Occasions week from the Design Team. There's even a place to upload your project at the end. I hope you play along with us and show us what's happening in your craft space.

Here's a direct link to our wonderful Design Team's personal blogs:

Leanne's Blog

Melanie's Blog

Lori's Blog

Heather (Guest Designer) 


 

Friday, February 18, 2022

Friday Inspiration and Freshly Made Sketches #523

 Welcome back, thank you for stopping in today. I played along with the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge and with the Hello Ladybug bundle from the January-June Mini Catalogue (JJMC2022).

As soon as I saw the new sketch layout, ladybugs came to mind. Maybe it's because I already created a card with them in a similar layout when I CASED the catty. The Hello Ladybug bundle and the Rainbow Of Happiness bundle are my favourites from the JJMC2022.

Supplies used:

And never a naked envelope. By simply adding DSP to the flap and stamping a leaf, you have a nicely coordinating envelope and card. Then you add scraps of black card stock and more DSP, a easily decorated inside. KISS (Keep It Simply Simple) is the perfect acronym for how to decorate and coordinate your inside of card and envelope. Don't over think it!
 
Hope you enjoyed today's inspiration and squeeze in some crafty time this weekend.

Thursday, February 17, 2022

Krafty Chicks Challenge #599: CAS and Throwback Thursday

 Happy Krafty Chicks Thursday to you!

Are you ready for this week's challenge? I'm the hostess and we are looking for CAS, as in Clean And Simple. Here's my card:


 As I was creating some special Valentine's for my little peeps, I looked into some old Paper Pumpkin kits to make this a Throwback Thursday card too. Pretty much all of the 2021 monthly kits have NOT been touched. Don't judge! I was busy playing with other stamping toys and life. I did however play with this January kit: Sending Hearts and had lots of left over bits to create alternatives.

  In case you didn't realize this: just because all the consumables (card stock, die cuts, envelopes, etc) are used up, there's still lots of life left in the stamp set and Stampin' Spot that remains. I don't have very many Valentine stamp sets, current or retired, but I do have 3 Paper Pumpkin ones that are perfect for the event.

 Paper Pumpkin is a great way for beginner stampers to add to their supplies slowly and costs as little as $28 plus shipping and taxes if you buy a one-month prepaid subscription before March 1, 2022. Or you can purchase a 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month prepaid subscription before March 1, 2022 and save lots more AND receive FREE Sale-A-Bration products for every $60 and $120 you spend (before February 28, 2022). A slight price increase will begin on March 1, 2022 so it's the best time of year right now to purchase the pre-paid subscription.

Supplies I used:

I kept the inside of the card simple by just stamping the heart of hearts and the envelope just as CAS with an added snail.

Want some more inspiration?? Go check out the Krafty Chicks Challenge Blog to see what the Design Team have created. Hope you play along and upload your project so that we can see what's happening in your craft space.

Here's a direct link to our wonderful Design Team's personal blogs:

Leanne's Blog

Melanie's Blog

Lori's Blog

Heather (Guest Designer) 


 

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Krafty Chicks Challenge #598: Christmas

Yeah, it's Thursday! Time for another great challenge from the Krafty Chicks Challenge Blog. Let's put the spotlight on Christmas this week! 


This week I'm a little pressed for time, still doing paper work, prepping for my card club and posting on Facebook. I did squeeze in a little time to play too. This time I played smarter and combined two card themes into one card: Christmas, of course and Throwback Thursday. Trying to show my retired stuff some love. Just because it's not current, doesn't mean it's rendered useless. There's still plenty of life left in this stamp set. 

I know Stampin' Up! has a poinsettia stamp set (Poinsettia Petals) in the current Annual Catalogue but I couldn't justify buying it when I own this gem from the Joyful Christmas stamp set. I almost bought it though, because it has coordinating dies and I wouldn't have to fussy cut the layers. 

I had so much fun colouring with my Stampin' Blends. I stamped the poinsettia twice, coloured one full image, then just the center layer of the other. And fussy cut it out. Remember my tip from a little while back when you're cutting to the outline leaving no border?? Use a black marker and go over your edge to give it a professional finished look.

 
 
Supplies I used:

I like to keep the inside of the card and the envelope just as CAS. Added a bit of DSP to coordinate.

Now head on over to the Krafty Chicks Challenge Blog for more details about the challenge and for more inspiration for Christmas week from the Design Team. There's even a place to upload your project at the end. I hope you play along with us and show us what's happening in your craft space.

Here's a direct link to our wonderful Design Team's personal blogs:

Leanne's Blog

Melanie's Blog

Lori's Blog

Heather (Guest Designer) 


 

Friday, February 4, 2022

Freshly Made Sketches #521

Welcome back. I'm so glad you stopped in today. I have another simple  card to show you today.


I'm playing along with two challenges for this card. My layout is using this week's Freshly Made Sketches. In case you missed it, I made it as one of the Perfect Princesses for last week's challenge. Yay! And for my colour choices, I'm following the Color Throwdown's Valentine charcuterie board colour scheme.


I thought for sure it would be easy using pink, red and kraft together, especially making Valentine cards but I did struggle a bit. I ended up using Petal Pink DSP (this is where I had issues), Real Red matte layer, Melon Mambo for the flowers and Crumb Cake for the base.

Supplies I used:



For the inside of the card, I stamped and coloured the cherry blossom. Have I mentioned how much I love colouring. I also added it to the envelope with some DSP on the flap. Now I have a coordinating set. I'll throw in a tip here:

When colouring with Stampin' Blends on your envelopes, insert a scrap paper in the envelope to absorb the bleed through. I usually remember this step but I was rushing to get it done. Don't do that either!!! I was going to scrap it, as it's not up to my standards to sell or give to customers but then I thought, my close friends and family won't mind the oopsie.

Well that's all for today. Here's hoping you get some crafty time in this weekend.

Thursday, February 3, 2022

Krafty Chicks Challenge #597: Stamp Act

 Happy Krafty Chicks Thursday to you!

Welcome February and more winter weather. According the famous groundhog and his tradition, we have 6 more weeks of it. Let's hope it's on the mild side. I wouldn't mind a bit more snow though, just not a blizzard.

Onto my card for this week's Krafty Chicks Challenge : Stamp Act. As long as something is stamped, be it an image or a sentiment, it qualifies for the Stamp Act challenge.

February is also the month of LOVE! So I'll be creating lots of love, Valentine, anniversary type cards for the next couple of week, starting with this one. This is also a Throwback Thursday card. Just about everything I used has been retired; the stamp set, the dies, the mask too.

I wanted dimension and I forgot all about the Foam Adhesive Sheets when I die cut the word LOVE. So I die cut it two more times, then used liquid glue to adhere all the layers. It's a little fiddly getting the letters to line up. Take your time with this step!

Supplies I used:

I like to keep the inside of the card and the envelope CAS. A little masking on the envelope will keep the card flat and not have to add extra postage. When I blended the heart mask onto my card front, I used a full quarter panel. This way, when I trimmed it to size, I used the cut off for the inside. Work smarter, not harder. Sometimes I master this, but honestly I'm not that lucky.

If you need more inspiration for the Stamp Act challenge, hop on over to the Krafty Chicks Challenge Blog to get the details. And upload your project so that we can see what's happening in your craft space.

Here's a direct link to our wonderful Design Team's personal blogs:

Leanne's Blog

Melanie's Blog

Lori's Blog

Heather (Guest Designer) 


 

Krafty Chicks Challenge #743: CAS

Happy Krafty Chicks Thursday to you!   Are you ready for this week's challenge?? On the third week of the month, I'm the hostess an...