Just Punch It

Many of us have been busy with the recent Thanksgiving holiday, and I'm no exception. I was thrilled to have my son come down from North Carolina and spend the past week with me. He left this morning to head back. My younger daughter and her three children shared Thanksgiving with us also. Sadly, it was not my entire family as my older daughter, her husband and her son, my oldest grandchild, were missing.

This week, at Flutter By Wednesday, we decided to make it easy for everyone. We would like you to made the usual butterfly or fairy card but add some punch to it. You may use a punched border, punched pieces (such as I have used) or a punch to create slowers or other embellishments. Now I know we all have some of those lovely border punches -- or a snowflake, flower or butterfly punch -- those are essential tools, right?

I do apologize that due to my company, my crafting time was limited, so I've kept this card pretty simple. I started with a white base, then a layer of blue topped with a dry embossed layer of white again. I quite like this embossing folder and find myself reaching for it quite often. It is from the Art Nouveau Collection by Courture Creations called Fireflies. I really wish I could remember where I got it beause there are several others in the collection that I would like to add to my collection -- just saying, you know.

Anyway, I matted a piece of DP from the Prairie Farmer's Mark pad by Crate Paper with the blue card. I punched three butterflies (Martha Stewart) from the blue and place them onto the DP. I then added rhinestone swirls behind each buterfly and a blue gem for the "head" of each butterfly. I added a larger, single rhonestone in each of the corners of the DP. Lastly, I found a clear sticker that reads "Life is Wonderful" which I placed on a piece of white card and matted with the blue. Thought this would make a nice birthday card or thinking of you card, with an appropriate verse inside, for use at a later time. This was an easy-peasy fairly quick card, not my usual, but none-the-less, I think it turned out rather pretty.

I do hope you will have a chance to join us this week in our challenge at Flutter By Wednesday. Remember, your card MUST have a butterfly or fairy on it AND this week you must use a punch. Thanks for stopping by.

Use Blue

Our theme for you this week at Twist of Faith is

BLUE ... USE BLUE!

This is a colour challenge, so we want to see lots of blue ... maybe you'll create a monochromatic card or perhaps you'll use blue along with others... whichever you pick, make BLUE  your main colour! Remember our 'twist of faith.' Your creation must also include a scripture, or quote or an uplifiting sentiment that suits this week's theme.

Taste and see that the LORD is good.
Oh the joys of those who takes refuge in him!

Psalm 34:8 NLT



Even though we just had, as our theme last week, "children," I went with that theme again this week. Our sponsor is Stamp Art by Kathryne, and this beautiful guardian angel was one of the two images Kathryne provided the design team. Is the image just BEAUTIFUL? The image is perfect for a new baby card, a christening or a baptism, and keeping with that idea, I used part of a verse from Psalm 127 as my sentiment.

 

The card is rather self explanatory. I used a white card base, layered blue card and then a blue patterned DP (from a Recollections pad). I punched a white lacy border using a Martha Stewart border punch, cut my image using a Spellbinder classic circle and then scalloped circle dies. I added a white double bow, white flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and some blue gems. The card, to me, has a simple elegance -- not too fussy, but not plain either -- more in keeping with a sweet baby.

 

Challenges:

http://pileitonchallenge.blogspot.com/ - Anything EXCEPT Christmas Card

http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes

http://onestitchatatimechallenge.blogspot.com/ - Fabric, Ribbon or Lace

http://crazy4challenges.blogspot.com/ - Put a Bow on It

http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/2012/11/challenge-55-anything-goes.html - Anything Goes

http://craftsandmechallenges.blogspot.com/ - Circles
http://tuesdayalchemy.blogspot.com/2012/11/challenge-42-anything-goes.html - Anything Goes
http://songbirdchallenges.blogspot.com.au/ - Deeper Shade of Blue
 

Thanks

Many of us just celebrated Thanksgiving Day; however, being thankful should not happen just once a year. The practice of saying thank you or sending thank you notes seems to be dwindling, so we, at Card Crafter's Circle, would like you to create a thank you card for this week's challenge.

We are happy to have Milk Coffee Stamps joining us again with sponsorship for you! The winner's prize purse is 3 Milk Coffee images of their choice, and our super sponsor also provides each of our Top 3 with an image of their choice too! How nice is that?

My little card is Thanksgiving oriented, but your entry does not have to be for the Thanksgiving holiday/season. It just has to be a thank-you card.

I've colored my digital image using copic markers and cut it into a rectangle shape which I then matted on orange card. My card base is tan matted with brown and then my DP which is from a Recollections pad. I also took a companion DP (same pad) and matted it on orange then added a gold ribbon with double bow. The flowers at the bottom are from Prima and the yellow brads in the center are from Basic Gray. The leaves are punched from scrap card and then "shaped" using a stylis from my flower making tools kit. I did not add a sentiment because the background DP is made up of words, and "thanks" shows up just above my image.

Challenges:
http://craftingforallseasons.blogspot.com/ - Thank You Cards
http://www.bellichallenge.blogspot.com/ - Greatful
http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.com/ - 2 or More Patterned Paper
http://freshbreweddesigns.blogspot.co.uk/ - Thankful
http://thesisterhoodofcrafters.blogspot.com/ - Thanksful
http://digidarlas.blogspot.ca/2012/11/ddc-38-thanksgiving.html  - Thanksgiving
http://www.lollipopcrafts.blogspot.com/2012/11/challenge-94-we-are-thankful.html - Thankful

Marci Angel Ornament

Three pies are baked and ready for tomorrow. The turkey will go in along with the casseroles tomorrow morning, so I had a little time today to play around in the craft room. I've made this little Marci Angel (by La La Land stamps) up as a little ornament. I saw the idea online (Kim Bell design -http://scrapsoffaith.blogspot.com/). I've actually colored up two images, and I like the other better (I think the pleats look better on the second one), but the Hubster liked this image best (it has more glitter on it - HA! - all these years and I didn't realize my Hubby was a bling type guy). The other will eventually be used, too, just not this evening.

I colored Marci using Copic markers on Cryogen card. Her halo, collar, sleeves trim and bottom of her dress are covered with Stickles Diamond, and her wings are covered with Stickles Star Dust. The diamond color has more gold in it than the star dust (don't think you can tell from the photo); thus the reason for using the two.

I cut the snowflake background out using my Cricut Expression and the cartridge "Noel." The 6" snowflake is cut three times -- once from cardboard (a frozen pizza box, to be exact - you know what we had for supper tonight, right?), and then twice from a glittery paper from a Recollections pack. I glued the glittery paper to the front and back of the cardboard snowflake to give it more thickness and stability (and to cover the images on the cardboard).

After fussy cutting Marci, I adhered her to the snowflake using glue dots. Because the background is glittery, the glue dots adhered better than any other adhesive. I will punch a hole in the top of the ornament and string ribbon through for hanging, but I needed to make sure the glue was completely dry before doing that and also, it is more difficult to photograph with the ribbon strands.

This was a fun little project that I did simply for no reason except to relax and enjoy -- no DT assignment, no deadlines to meet. I am still practicing making pleats (going to get the hang of those things if it "kills" me - HA!), and as I said, I actually think I did better with the second set -- but I'm determined not to give up! Here is a picture of my two colored images side by side -- what do you think? The one on the left is actually my second one. The one on the right is the one I used on my project.

For those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, I wish you a wonderful one. Enjoy friends and families and may you have many blessing for which to be thankful.

Challenges:
http://toddhouse.blogspot.com/2012/11/marci-angel-ornament.html - Christmas is Coming
http://hookedoncraftchallenges.blogspot.com/ - Christmas/No Red or Green
http://paperprettiesblog.blogspot.com/ - Anything But a Card
http://totallystampalicious.blogspot.com/ - Christmas Using Non-traditional Colors

Christmas Fairy

 



FBW215 - Sketch

We have another beautiful sketch by Kathy for this week's Flutter By Wednesday challenge. Just make sure you have your butterfly or fairy on your creation when you play along!
 

I decided to use another A Day for Daisies fairy this week. Isn't this one a beauty -- um, well they all are which is why I've been using a lot of them of late. I colored her up using red and green so that I could make another Christmas card. Yes, she isn't a traditional Christmas image, and her little flower dress isn't even a poinsettia, but I think she worked rather well anyway. Just my opinion, though (smile).

 

This was a rather simple card and fairly quick to put together. I started with a white card base, layered it with a nice Christmasy red and then cut my panels from a green and white DP. I matted the green layers with white -- are you seeing a theme here (HaHa). I actually fussy cut my little fairy image this time and then cut a square of white which I embossed using a Provo embossing folder. I matted that with the green and adhered my fairy atop of the square.

 

The three rhinestone colored gems and the chipboard sentiment at the bottom rounded out my card for this week. Easy-peasy, but actually quite stunning.

 

Thanks for stopping by. Now run on over to Flutter By Wednesday and have a look at what my team mates have created then use Kathy's lovely sketch and create your own lovely -- oh yes, lastly, share what you make with us!

Challenges:
http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/ - Anything Goes
http://incywincydesigns.blogspot.com/ - Hip to be Square
http://paperplaytime.blogspot.com/ - Anything Goes
http://thepapergirlschallenge.blogspot.com/ - Christmas
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://corrosivechallengesbyjanet.blogspot.com/ - Anything with Wings

 

Bless the Little Children

Our theme for you this week at Twist of Faith  is

CHILDREN!

Your card creation should show CHILDREN... and perhaps it will even be for a child! Remember our 'twist of faith' your creation should also include a scripture, or quote or an uplifiting sentiment that suits this week's theme.

"And He took the children in his arms,
placed his hands on them and blessed them."

Mark 10:16 NIV

Our challenge prize for the  random winner is provided by the fabulous Bugaboo Stamps, and it is a wonderful prize of SEVEN DIGITAL IMAGES -- winner's choice!

 

We love Bugaboo Stamps, and we know so many crafters do too! We appreciate their awesome sponsorship... the images are so much fun! Also, there is a 50% off sale going on at Bugaboo until December 26th. (Do note that the sales does NOT  include the Daily Deal (which is already an awesome price!) or the Gift Certificates.) What a time to stock up on your favourite images!!!

 

For my card, I combined two images (Best Buds and Best Friends). Bugaboo stamps come in both .jpeg format and ,png format which allowed me the flexibility of combining the two images into one which I then printed onto Cryogen card and colored with Copic markers.

 

My white card base was layered with a soft orange color card and then the striped DP. The DP came from a Recollections pad that I got on sale from Michael's Crafts. I took another coordinating sheet from the same pad and matted it with the orange. My image and my sentiment are both matted, so it was just a matter of layering all the pieces. I added small yellow buttons to the corners, two Prima paper flowers (layered together) and hand punched green leaves to finish off the simple little card.

 

My sentiment is Mark 10:14, "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God." Jesus tells us we should all be child like in our faith -- notice the term is child like, not childish. There is a difference. One denotes an innocent trust and pure faith. The other denotes an immaturity, often a bit of rebellion as children learn and test their capabilities and boundaries. Babies and little children must depend on their parents and trust that their needs will be met; this is what our Heavenly Father wants from all of us. The next verse to the one I used on my card tells us that Jesus took the children into His arms and blessed them.  He wants us to be child like and trust Him for our needs. Come unto Jesus as a little child. He is the great comforter and provider.

Challenges:
http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com.au/ - Anything Goes
http://stampinsistersinchrist.blogspot.com.au/ - Children
http://eurekastamps.blogspot.com/ - For the Kids
http://sendasmile4kidschallenge.blogspot.com/ - Anything for Kids
http://ladyanneschallenges.weebly.com/sentimental-friday-anything-goes.html - Sentiment
http://stampingwithdragon.blogspot.com/ - Anything Cute



 

Touchy - Feely Christmas

It's time to get all touchy feely because this week our theme at Card Crafter's Circle is:

TEXTURES

Show us textures in your creation... what can you use? Embossing, fabric, 3D, beads and buttons, even burlap! Make your creations something that we want to run our fingers over!

 

Returning to sponsor us this week is LIMITED RUNS! There is such a variety of images at Limited Runs.... something for everyone. While you're there, check out the freebie offer, and the many many, CUPCAKE images! There are cupcake images for every occasion, and I promise they are calorie free!

Our randomly drawn challenge winner will receive their choice of 3 (three) images from the Limited Runs shop...

For my card, I've used "Little Santa." I have colored him up using Copic markers, I've kept my card fairly simple (truth be known, the closer it gets to the holidays, the less crafting time I have - grin - so my cards get simplier - LOL). I have used a white card base which I layered with red and green card. I then dry embossed a white panel (lots of lovely texture there).

 

I cut my little Santa using an oval Spellbinder die and layered him onto a green scalloped oval (again Spellbinder die). I then used Stickles on the "fur" on his hat band and jacket (sparkle and more texture). I then added a white pom-pom to the tip of his little hat. After layering all the pieces, I added a multi-colored bow to the top of the oval and the sentiment (layered in red and green).

 

There is a lot of texture going on with this little card -- the multi layering, the dry embossing, the fuzzy pom-pom, the ribbon -- and now I'd like to see what you come up with. Join us this week at Card Crafter's Circle.

Challenges:
 

 http://foreverfriendschallengeblog.blogspot.ie/2012/11/fortnightly-challenge-49-use-ribbontwine.html - Use Ribbon or Twine
http://littlemissmuffetchallenges.blogspot.com/ - Textiles/Ribbon/Twine
http://myheartpiecesdigitalstampchallenge.blogspot.in/ - Anything Cute
http://sassystudiodesigns.blogspot.com/ - No Patterned Paper
http://simplycreatechallenges.blogspot.com/ - Anything Goes