April Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

April is here which means the promise of spring, flower, budding tress and lots of fun outside! I love the change of seasons because it gives me a chance to change my wardrobe. Away go the heavy coats, boots, wool sweaters and lined pants and out come the cropped pants and 3/4 length sleeves!

If you've arrived here from Laurie Levnik's blog you're on the right track. If not just keep hopping because it's one big loop so you'll always make it back to where you've started.

The stamp of the month for April is Flower Pot and is filled with different flowers, flower pots and a darling window. It's perfect for adding some spring to your cards or scrapbook pages.

For my project this month I decided to give a diorama card. It's a fun 3 dimensional card. With Mother's Day fast approaching I decided to make a Mother's Day Card. I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone. I used a few of the pots and a several of the flowers. It's so fun to see blooming! Here's a picture of the front and one from more of a top view so you can see the 3D effect.















Now hop over to Jen Patrick's blog to see what inspiring art she's created this month!

In Pieces and All Mixed Up

Today I've had a few minutes to catch up on yesterdays challenge and to complete today's challenge, yeah!





Tuesday was "In Pieces" The challenge was to: Use an image on the outside of your card, then use it again on the inside but don't use it in the exact same way.

I used the vase on the outside and put in a single flower and some grasses and on the inside I turned the vase upside down and made it a cake.




Today's challenge is "All Mixed Up" and the challenge is to: Take an image and break it down into thirds - 1/3 no color, 1/3 patterned paper, 1/3 hand colored (markers, colored pencils, chalks, paint, etc.).

I used this adorable owl set and left most of the two owl's without color but added a bit of coloring for the wings and eyes and then added patterned paper for the tree branch and the leaves. This stamp set is fast becoming one of my favorites!

Hang In There

Today's challenge is to make any card that has the sentiment "Hang In There" attached to it. I love this monkey and thought it was perfect for the sentiment.

Day 28 - Super Sketchy Sunday

Another Sketch challenge today at 365 cards. I've had some twlight colored embellishments I'd been wanting to use and with the oval in the sketch I thought this would be a perfect opportunity. I decided that I might as well work on a card that I would be need in the future so I made a Father's Day card. I feel so ahead of the game...both Mother's Day and Father's Day cards are done and ready to go! I love that I'm getting my stash of cards replenished and I'm sending some out just for fun. Thanks 365 cards!

I want to thank everyone for stopping by to view my cards each day. I really appreciate each of the comments you all leave! I have decided to send some blog candy to one of the people (selected at random) that leaves a comment on today's card (by Wed morning at 6:30am EST). I will be giving out another blog candy selection to anyone who's a follower at the end of the month. Only a few days left to become a follower! Thanks to everyone who stops by!

I'm Touched

The name of the challenge "I'm Touched" says it all. Make a creation with at least 8 elements and all of those elements must touch at least 2 other elements. I've seen ribbon blossoms and have been wanting to try one and this challenge seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I used red grograin, blue twill and white ricrac for the blossom. I cut 10 of each color and tied them up into the blossom. It isn't a card I can send through the mail but will be great as a table place setting or hand delivered during the holiday to a family member. It was a fun challenge!

Sunday and Friday Challenges

Sketchy Sunday
Ok I'm a bit late on the Sketchy Sunday challenge but I finally caught up.





I decided to take the flowers in the sketch and make them these cute kites. I love bright kites on a breezy day! It's hard to see in the photo but I sponged the background a light blue so it looks more like a sky.

Friday Card Recipe

Today's challenge is to follow a card recipe to create the 365 card challenge. The recipe for today is the following:
5x5 card
3 circles
2 squares
ribbon
sentiment of your choice
I chose to use a color combination that was posted on Jeanette Lynton's blog a number of weeks ago. I was in a purple mood and thought this combination was very pretty and something I typically wouldn't have used. I used all card stock so to add some pizazz I used some dry embossing and sanding. I just got this new stamp set and love the birds in a nest. It's part of a baby set but I'm finding it to be very versatile.

Another fun technique I used was to color ribbon. The satin edge ribbon is off white but I wanted a purple ribbon so I put the ribbon between the ink pad and the cover, squeezed the top and pad together and pulled the desired length of ribbon through. Like magic I have purple ribbon. This is such fun and so easy!

Do-It-Yourself

What a fun challenge today. It's something I never would have thought of doing and yet it's so easy and fun! Today you need to make your own sparkly brad or pearl by adding glue and glitter to it. Today I decided to cover pewter brads with glitter. I was really surprised at how it changed the color of the brad. I have 5 brads on this card and the glitter added so much!

Terrific Ten

What exactly is Terrific Ten you ask? It's a challenge to use 10 patterned papers on one card. For me this was a challenge but I dug though my paper packs and used the backside of 10 different CTMH patterned papers which are all chocolate in color. I love that the backside of the papers are patterned! I decided to make a simple Thank You card. I'm always in need of these so using them is never a challenge.

Movie Monday and Stencil It Tuesday

Ok I admit that I didn't get a chance to make the cards on Sunday or Monday. It was busy here at home and I just didn't it done. I did however get inspired and decided to try and play a little catch up today. I got cards made for Monday and Tuesday and am hoping to catch up tomorrow for the missing one from Sunday.

Monday's challenge was Movie Monday and it was to create a card inspired by Alice in Wonderland. I was going to create a card with mushrooms when I realized that I had a few in my stash after I worked with the Twittepatted paper last fall. I admit it wasn't an original card of mine at all but I did make it by myself so I thought I could count it today. I love the mushrooms and they remind me of the fields in the Disney version of the movie.

Today's challenge was to create something with a stencil. I have many, many stencils but like many others mine are not alphabets or other paper crafting stencils. During my big quilting phase I collected many stencils for quilting the final quilt layers together. For the challenge today I made a quilt block card and cut out the stencil image to put on top. It will make a great baby card.

Let's Make Some Noise

It's Day 20 of the 365 Challenge and today's it Let's Make Some Noise. I'm currently at an all day crop and thought I'd packed pretty much everything and wouldn't have a problem making a card for whatever the challenge would be. I saw the challenge and was completely stumped. I didn't bring anything to make a shaker or have any bells or anything. Thankfully my friend suggested the great voice recorder from CTMH.

I've this recorder for a long time and have been waiting for the perfect time to use it...that turned out to be today! The recorder can be covered in paper and adheres great to cards or scrapbook pages. It's permanent with a flip of a switch but can also be changed until you get it perfect. It records 30 seconds of voice. I am going to record my son wishing my mom a happy birthday. I know she'll treasure the card forever! Now I need to order another so I can make a page with the many pictures of my son laughing and actually add his laugh to the page!

Imagine This: Cotton

What card can you come up with that is inspired by cotton? I'm not only a scrapbooker and stamper but also a quilter and knitter (can you say too many hobbies?) so as soon as I saw the challenge I though of textiles. I have been working on a quilt that will be auctioned off at my son's elementary school next month so I decided to go with a fabric theme.

I love the feel of nice cotton fabric. It comes in every shade and pattern imaginable. I have made many many quilts and have loved each one. It's so much fun to cut apart large pieces of fabric and then sew the up with others to create something totally different. It's really not that different from scrapbooking really.

For today's challenge I decided to use fabric on my card. A great way to incorporate my love of multiple crafts. It's a soft pink gingham brushed cotton. I loved the hedgehog and mushroom and thought the fabric really made it look more springy. I stamped "You make me Smile" right on the fabric for a blended look.

Plentiful Patterns

Plaid, Paisley, Gingham, Houndstooth, Toile

Today's 365 challenge is to pick any of the above three patterns and create a card. I often find mixing many patterns challenging because it can be overwhelmingly busy so I was a bit unsure of how today's challenge might go. In the end I found it lots of fun and I'm thrilled with how my card came out.

I used Originals card making book from Close To My Heart for the card design. Nearly all my cards are made using either Original or Wishes because they make it so much faster, simplier, easier! In this particular case I found this pattern in the birthday section and love it so much that I decided to make it a birthday card too. I mixed multiple paper packs and used a variety of colors.

I ended up using all but the Toile pattern which I was impressed with. Not I just a person with an upcoming birthday to send it to!

Twinchies

Twinchies? Ok I have to admit when I saw the challenge for today I had absolutely no idea what twinchies were. I guess there is inchies too! Come to find out it's a term used when you create a piece of art that is 2 x 2 inches. As you might have guesses inchies are 1 x 1 pieces of art.

Now that I understood the directions it made it much easier to create the card for the challenge! I decided to go with a fun summer watermelon and added brads on the rind for some dimension. Doesn't it look tasty? The card shape was traced for a great card kit that Close to My Heart offered this past September. Isn't is fun? The paper is a retired boy paper kit but I thought it looked like a summer table cloth and went with my watermelon theme well.

Opposites Attract

Todays 365 card challenge is to make a card with opposites. It can be anything with some examples of rain and sun, in and out, dog and cat, girl and boy, etc. I've chosen to do black and white. I've been wanting to try the split negative technique and this challenge was the perfect opportunity. You stamp and emboss one image in white and then a second in black. Cut each in half and trade halves. This is enough to make two cards. I chose this big star. The card had so much going on with switching colors that I decided not to add much except the blue ribbon. I will stamp the inside with "Thank You" or "Happy Birthday" or whatever the occasion is. Now the waiting continues to find out what tomorrow's challenge will bring!

Ad Inspired

Today's challenge is to use the add to inspire something. For me this was a real challenge. I usually have trouble creating with eggs for some reason.

Although the eggs in the ad are blue green it's the pink paper that caught my eye. I decided to go with a Christmas paper and paper piece some eggs. I stamped the egg on the backside of the juniper patterned paper and then again on the pink. I cut the pink egg apart and paper pieced to get a pink egg with juniper accents and a juniper egg with pink accents. I added ricrac a bow and some extra bling for good measure! All in all it turned out pretty cute. I have a niece in love with pink so this will make her smile I'm sure :)

Sketchy Sunday

I am really enjoying these daily challenges. It's getting the creative juices flowing and is productive too. I'm getting much more efficient at getting the card completed. For me I usually pick the stamp set I want to use and then the paper. I'm using up lots of my scraps which is also a bonus!

Today's challenge is to make a card based off this sketch show here. I wanted to showcase the Charmed stamp set with fun petals to make a flower. To tie it together I used the Heavenly Blue ribbon with accents the center of some the flowers on the paper. I love the sparkly blue brads at the bottom...who doesn't love some sparkle?

A Whole New Dimension

The 365 Challenge for today is to take an image and do just a bit of paper piecing in order to raise some portion of it off the page to give it dimension. Do NOT raise up the entire image. This can be a stamped image or an image cut from patterned paper.

I decided to use this darling lion and add color to his mane with paper piecing. To give it some extra dimension I crumpled the paper before I stamped so it looks a bit "ruffled". I'm going to send this to my 4 year old niece just to say hi and I miss you. Although it was a challenge for me to leave so much of the background white I think it was ok.

Circle Frenzy

Today's 365 challenge is my favorite so far. Create something using at least 20 circles from at least 2 sources. I love, love, love circles so the hardest part was figuring out which of my circles to use! I decided to go totally circle crazy. I made a circle card, with circle shaped pieces on it. I stamped circles onto the card base and each of the three patterned papers has circles on it. The butterflies have circles on them and I embellished with circle buttons. How fun is this?! The spring colors are from Close To My Heart's new Caboodle paper pack which I've fallen in love it. Is it the circle or the colors I love so much, I'm not sure? I can't wait to see what the challenge is for tomorrow!

Lovely Landscape

Today's 365 challenge is to create a landscape using ONLY patterned paper. As soon as I saw the challenge I knew I would be making a beach landscape. I really worked outside my normal comfort zone on this one and combined 4 different paper packs and 3 different stamp sets!

I made a challenge for myself when I decided to join the 365 challenge and that was to SEND some of the cards I created. I know I love to get snail mail and love even more getting something hand made. I put one card in my sons lunch box and I'm going to send at least one card a week. It doesn't need to be for any reason other than to just say hello! I challenge you to make someones day and send a card.

Calling Orange-Purple-Blue

Today's 365 challenge is using the colors orange, purple and blue to make any card you like. It's always interesting to me what different shades people pick. I was a my friend Michelle's and we were each creating and she chose a deep orange, smokey plum and a twlight blue. I on the other hand grabbed for the brightest shade of each I could find. I really wanted to create a small card that I can use to send a small message in my sons lunch box. It's fun and easy to surprise him with a bit of love. He loves the surprise and keeps all the cards he finds.

My small card today is only 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" so it's perfect for a lunch box. It uses the Gear Up stamp set from Close To My Heart. It's a pocket card I found in the Wishes How To book and it's so fun and different.

What a Wonderful World

Today's challenge 365 is based on the song What a Wonderful World. The first line in the song talks about green trees. I decided that with the warmer weather I was in the mood to make a card that had a green tree as a look forward to the upcoming summer. Stop in tomorrow to see what the challenge is and what I decide to create.

Outer Space

The 365 Card challenge today is Outer Space. I saw the challenge early this morning before I left for work and couldn't wait to get home to start my crafting!

I really enjoy the circle cards and thought I'd try one today...maybe a connection with outer space and planets being round???

All supplies are star dust. Paper is Stardust and the rocket is from Dream Big stamp set. The stars are actually part of one of the papers in the stamp set that I fussy cut out. Something fun and different. Now to determine who to give it to? I wonder what tomorrow's challenge will bring?

Sketch Challenge

My day number 2 for 365 Card challenge. Today is a sketch challenge. Here's the sketch that you need to use when making your card. The stitching was lots of fun to incorporate.

My card is made using Delight in Everything. The recent spring like weather (or as spring like as we get in March in Michigan) made me digging for some fun flowers and brighter colors.

To achieve the stitching I used the CTMH placement guide stamp set. This set is unique in that it just stamps the "dots" where stitching holes would be. You then use your paper piercer to make the holes and either stitch with floss or use a marker to connect the dots creating faux stitching. I chose the faux stitching because I didn't have the floss color I was looking for. This is a fun and fast way to "one-up" the simplicity.

365 Card Challenge

I've decided to take on the 365 Card Challenge thanks to my friend Michelle Nist. This challenge features a different type of card each day. Sometimes it's a featured pattern, specific colors to use, special technique, etc. Today's challenge is to stamp a solid stamp image with multiple colors WITHOUT stamping the image between the colors.
For the challenge today I used the Tissue Inking Technique. To achieve this stamp the entire image in the lightest color ink you are planning to use. Next taking a tissue ball up a bit of it and ink it up. Using the inked tissue transfer that color to the already inked stamp. This will remove some of the lightest color in and replace it with the tissue color. Repeat with the desired number of colors. To remoisten the ink on the stamp be sure to "huff" on it before stamping with it. I love this technique and find that I use it frequently. Give it a try on your next project.

Kid's Card Class

This month I'm hosting a Kid's Card Class. This is so much for young stampers and scrapbookers! Each child will get to make one of each of these four fun cards. Each is a different type of card and will give the girls lots of different ideas for making their own cards when they get home!

Going in clockwise order starting in the upper left corner. The first is a crisscross card where you can insert a picture of message on a pull out card. Second is a box fold birthday card that when opened reveals a yummy birthday cake and greeting. Third is a square card with edges that fold back to reveal a fun flower. Last is a fun opening tri fold card that opens to expose a fun kite...perfect for spring or summer wishes. Below you can see the cards opened up.

Email me today to reserve your spot! This is a great time for kids to get some creative time in WITHOUT testing your patients or using your supplies! I know all about going crazy when smaller fingers want to touch your stuff!