How's that go, a day late and a dollar short?

 

That's me this week!  I am a day late with the challenge sketch at JUGS, but since it was such a great sketch I want to post it anyway.  Besides, I used this wonderful new digi image Snowmen from my friend Kristen at Kards and Klay's, shop Kahwinkedink, and I can't wait to show it off!  I made the letters and small circles with Cricut Plantin Schoolbook, cs Regal Rose, Mellow Moss from Stampin Up, dp K &Company Brenda Walton "Mira", Stampin up fine cosmo glitter - green and confetti snowflakes from JoAnns.  Best of all, I had a chance to use one of my new toys from Spellbinders, that I won in the When Creativity Knocks, Great Crafters Tool Hunt.  I used the Spellbinders Impressabilities Snowflake.  What I really like about this is that I was able to fill my 5 x 7 card front with the embossed image.  It took me some time to figure it out, but I cut the frame off of the Impressibility and ran it through my Wizard twice.  On the second pass I let the portion of the card that was done hang outside of the plates, so it didn't flatten it out.  I cut my frame off very carefully, because I intend to use that to emboss a rectangle frame in the future.
Personal note, the Just Us Girls team has a special challenge for you (in addition to a new one they will have for you on Saturday). This one is to raise money for a family that you may or may not have heard about. One of our fellow stampers in our very charitable stamping community suddenly lost her son last week. Henry Anderson was only three years old, suddenly became ill, and passed away. It is still uncertain what the cause of his death was.  Please stop over to the JUGS site for details on how we can help this family.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Play Date Cafe Challenge # 3

I love the colors chosen for this weeks challenge at Play Date Cafe!  I used the Stampin up Real Red, which is one of my favorites, along with a white and black.  I embossed the red cs with a Sizzix embossing plate, I cut the layered panels with Spellbinders Deckled Mega Rectangles Nestabilities.  I heat embossed the Stampin up Kanji and Oriental Paintings using Versamark and black opaque embossing powder.  I used a Stampin Up punch for the Kanji squares and trimmed the red and black squares to a slightly larger size.  This is a fun challenge site, so stop by and check it out!

When Creativity Knocks Tool Hunt Tools have arrived!

Whoo Hoo!  It's here!  When Creativity Knocks Great Crafters Tool Hunt prize package has arrived! These are all the wonderful tools Ana and Megan scoped out at the CHA Craft Supershow in Florida.  I entered the contest by voting for my favorite tool, Spellbinders Impressabilities.  Spellbinders won and so did I!  Although it looks like a have a whole new list of favorites now!  Thank you Ana and Megan Araujo,and all of the Awesome Great Crafters Tool Hunt manufacturers
for making this generous prize possible!
I am so excited, I have so many wonderful tools to explore and share!  I will be highlighting each manufacturers tool(s) as I make projects with them in the coming weeks.  And these manufacturers were so very generous I am totally amazed!  I received way more than I anticipated from anyone, this is an awesome prize package!  Even more awesome than I had anticipated!  I have spent my weekend photographing  all of my wonderful new tools.  There were so many that I had to stand on a chair to get them all in the same shot!   Do you have any idea how hard it was to photograph them before I opened them?  I so wanted to tear into those packages, but I restrained myself till after the pictures were taken.  The photo above is from Cindi Bisson Associate Producer, When Creativity Knocks.  She sent me a picture of it before it arrived, it was packaged up so beautifully in baskets with cellophane and a large ribbon.  And the contents totally blew me away!  Hold on to your hats!  This is the line up!

Bazzill in Stitch'z carrying case, Bazzill In Stitch'z floss, Bazzill In Stitch'z piercing tool,  Bazzill In Stitch'z Piercing mat, Bazzill In Stitch'z 8 x 8 Flowers, Bazzill In Stitch'z Heidi Lynn's CAPS, Bazzill In Stitch'z Formal Flourishes, Bazzill Jewel Templates bling,  Bazzill jewel templates Christmas,  Bazzill jewel templates garden,  Bazzill jewel templates alphabet, Bazzill jewel templates flowers and flourishes,  Bazzill jewel templates borders Bazzill self adhesive jewels in chablis, clear, wild pansy, paulypoo and desert sun!  Wow!  They even gave me the carrying case to keep it all organized!  Thank you Bazzill, this is a totally awesome package!    I can't wait to try it all out!

imaginisce i*top Brad Maker,  imaginisce i*top Medium Topper Punch, imaginisce i*top  Small Topper Punch, 2 packages imaginisce i*top  Small Brad Daddies,  2 packages imaginisce i*top  Medium Brad Daddies, imaginisce i*top Topper Template for all 3 sizes.  Thank you imaginisce!

Tattered Angels Glimmer Screens Vintage Ice, attered Angels Tweezers, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Turquoise Blue, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Wheatfields, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Deep Plum, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Coffee Shop, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Pink Taffy,

Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Iridescent Gold.  Thank you Tattered Angels!

Spellbinders  Impressabilities Paisley, Spellbinders Impressabilities Snowflake, Spellbinders Impressabilities Butterfly, Spellbinders ImpressabilitiesCircles, Spellbinders Impressabilities Tulips, Spellbinders Impressabilities Flourish.  Thank you Spellbinders and congrats on winning the Great Crafters Tool Hunt along with me!

We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper 1/4" & 1/2" round     
Completely Stencible  Re-Usable, Customizable Stenciling Kit         
McGill Angel Punch

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro                                                                      

Easy Arranger 5"  and Dangles in Champagne

Thank you all, these are wonderful prizes I will truly enjoy for years to come!

These are the extra items sent along with the prize package from When Creativity Knocks. 
Creative Hot Marks

Scraperfect Perfect Printing Pouch                                                    

Clover Sweetheart Rose Maker 

Thank you Ana and Megan Araujo, When Creativity Knocks Executive Producer/Designer

and Cindi Bisson Associate Producer and all of the Awesome Great Crafters Tool Hunt manufacturers for making this generous prize possible!  I just can't thank all of you enough, this is so much more than I ever could have dreamed of!

Be sure to stop by When Creativity Knocks, Ana and Megan Araujo bring you fun, creative projects each week.  Ana travels across the country hosting home crafting parties for amateurs.  Each episode features projects for all ages.  Episodes can be viewed weekly on When Creativity Knocks.  This is an informative and interactive site.  Be sure to check out the Bloggers Bonanza (promoting designers blogs) and Creative journal, 2 of my favorite spots. Thanks for sharing the excitement with me, many new projects featuring these tools will follow.  ~Diane

Two for One Challenge

 

I made this card with 2 challenges in mind.  The sweet little bird on a pumpkin is a free digital image from Nina May of There's Magic in the Air.  Nina taught me how to download and adjust a digital image.  I am also using this for a new color challenge, over at Play Date Cafe.  The colors are orange, yellow and dark brown.  

The products I used for this card are as follows. The beautiful designer paper is K &Company Brenda Walton Mira, you can't see the pretty shiny gold trim in this photo, it is gorgeous paper.  I used DCWV Heritage textured cs in brown, a vellum flower I made on the Cricut, I embossed with a Sizzix texture plate and cut and embossed with Spellbinders Labels 8.  The orange cs was from a sale.  This was a fun but really challenging exercise for me.  I would have to say color is my weak point in papercrafting so I am happy to be learning more at Play Date Cafe.  And I am also new to digital art, Nina at There's Magic in the Air has already helped me there, now I just need to master some coloring techniques.  Hope you enjoyed this, thanks for looking.  ~Diane

Just Us Girls challenge # 5 card

This is my entry for the 5th Just Us Girls Challenge.  This week they have challenged us to create a holiday card designed to present a photo.  This is a special Wild Card Challenge with a little something for everyone who plays.  You will have to go to their site to check it out!  I used clear polyester to make this card which is 5 x 7.  I used metallic blue card stock to cut the word Joy with my Cricut Plantin Schoolbook cartridge.  The holly leaves were cut on green and red metallic card stock with Cricut Stretch Your Imagination.  I found Rachael Ray in a magazine.  I hope you can see it well enough.  The J and 2 cut outs of holly are on the front, the OY is on the inside and I put a large holly leaf next to the Y for a signature.  Hope you enjoy, thanks for looking.  ~Diane 

Thank you Aletha for the Beautiful Mandala.

I won this beautiful mandala in a giveaway hosted on our Etsy Greetings Team Blog.  The Etsy Greetings Team is a membership group I proudly belong to.  Our profile: We are a dynamic team of greeting card artists who collaborate to promote our artisan-ship through Etsy.com.

Our goal is to become the number one resource for buyers seeking quality handmade cards.

About The Artist: Her name is Aletha and she lives in Tulsa, OK, better known as “tornado alley.” She is a self-taught artist and says she is still in the process of learning. She loves rubber stamps, mixed media, and collage.  She started with rubber stamp art around 10 years ago after working at Hobby Lobby as assistant manager. Rubber stamps, watercolors, paints, inks, paper, etc., are all a part of her. What comes out of that are collages, mini wall art, frameable art cards, greeting cards, note cards, handbound journals, bookmarks, mandalas, and seasonal items. If she can stamp it, paint it, cut it, tear it, glue it, varnish it, she will do it.  And the results are breathtaking.  Aletha's shops are  named AJ's Designs.  She has an Etsy shop along with an ArtFire and 1000 Markets locations.   Aletha also does spotlight interviews on her blog featuring fellow Etsy artists.  She is always thinking of others.  Her work is beautiful as you can see.  She not only sent me the lovely mandala of my choice (eggplant and teal) I also received one of her beautiful handmade cards and bookmarks, which are equally beautiful.   So what is a mandala? Mandala means "circle."  The design is concentric and based on circular composition.  The mandala can represent any stage of life, past, present and future.   I have decided to display my mandala in my craft room where it will bring harmony to my creativity and also remind me of my wonderful friend who gave it to me.  Thank you again Aletha, for all of your kindness.  ~Diane

Challenge Card for Just Us Girls

I made this card for a new challenge blog I recently found through Mona at Cupcake Creations. I even like the name of it "Just Us Girls" challenge. This weeks challenge is to add a 3D flower to your project. This is a card my friend Michelle asked me to make for her (multitasking) ha ha. I made my flower out of vellum on my Cricut. I get these amazing vellum colors from PaperandMore. I put seed beads in the center. I used Apricot Appeal, and the patterned paper is from Memory Boutique. I used the Martha Stewart lace punch on the bottom, and this is a
5 x 7 card. And I found the velvet ribbon on sale at JoAnns. I hope you like it
and thanks for looking. ~Diane

Play Date Cafe

This is my entry for the Play Date Cafe color challenge. It reminds me of what Autumn in Michigan sometimes looks like. I had a tough time photographing this. I am working on a greatly needed new set up for photography. I don't know if you can see it, I used the Crystal Effects to layer the leaves for a more dimensional look. I used Core'dinations on the brown tree and leaves and Cuttlebug folder Snowflakes and Swiss Dots. I cut the tree, pumpkin and leaves from Cricut Stretch Your Imagination. I added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the snowflakes. Not sure if you can see it, I used a flourish Clear stamp with Stazon white opaque ink to add just a hint of wind to the picture. I must say this was a lot fun to make and the colors really challenged my imagination. Stop over to the Play Date Cafe and see what the designers made.Below is the color challenge. Thanks for looking. ~Diane

Don't forget!

Tellen's Place
3 Separate Blog Candy giveaways, 10/23, 10/26 and 10/31. Don't miss out!

The Play Date Cafe
Starts it's brand new challenge blog today! The design team has some awesome examples to get our creative juices flowing!

The Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge Blog Candy
Is good through October 23rd. Make sure you stop by their blog, they have a great challenge going too. Look at my side bar the candy looks awesome! Click on Sonia for the current challenge.

Paper Arts
Blog is celebrating 30,000 hits mark. Congratulations! Carole!

Twinkles Glow with Stamps
Is giving blog candy to 2 of her followers! Wish her a
Happy Birthday, awesome candy too! Ends October 30th.
Good Luck! ~Diane

Having fun

I bought this digital image to show support for my friend Kristen at Kards and Klay. She is a really sweet and sincere blog sister whose blog I love. I love this paper, DCWV Glitter Collection, along with my Spellbinders labels 8, and as I was working with my Christmas Candelabra cards, I thought her image would look perfect! Definitely for someone with a great sense of humor I know, but guess what? It is getting more views in my Etsy shop than my Candelabra cards! I am not the only one who needs some humor in their life! This image actually has a cow and a bull, now that I think about that, I realize I called the bull a cow! I'll have to change that in the listing for all my farm friends. Stop by Kristens Kards and Klay. She has a free Tom the Turkey digi image on her site and there is a link to her Kahwinkedink shop also. Thanks for looking. ~Diane

Fun stuff to share

So much to share today. I received my Pay It Forward Gift from Amanda at Crafty Paper Girl. I signed up for this at Amanda's site. I believe the premise is to post this on your blog to encourage generosity within the blogging community. Amanda offered to send something she made to the first 5 people to sign up, requesting only that we Pay it Forward and do the same on our blogs. So last night I received this lovely set of note cards personalized with my name. I also received one of her beautiful felt apple embellishments. (She sells these beautiful embellishments at her Etsy store) Crafty Paper Girl. I love the way she packaged this gift,right on down to the sweet little embellished note, it made it so much fun to receive! Thank you Amanda, this is really sweet.
BTW, if anyone is interested, I have only received 2 responses to my request to pay it forward, I would be happy to have 3 more. So anyone interested can view my post here and still sign up.

And on to more good things to share. I also received some lovely blog candy from Michele at Thoughts of a Cardmaking Scrapbooker. Her blog is engaging, and her work is awesome!
I found Michele's blog by following a blog hop sponsored by the Bitten By The Bug blog. I love to follow blog hops because you can find the most interesting blogs along the way. I am so happy I found your blog Michele, I love to follow you. Thank you for all of these generous goodies! I can't wait to try them out! I have never seen the cute little self inking stampers from Just Rite, I can't wait to try them out! The flowers are awesome and I am excited to try the new Peachy Keen stamp too. All the goodies were great, thank you so much Michele.

Christmas Cards and gift tags

These are some Christmas cards I worked on this weekend. I bought the lovely digital image of the chandelier from Kaboodle doodles, it is called Pink and Black. It also comes with some lovely designer paper, not shown here. This is some of my card stock stash from DCWV. I printed the image onto the designer paper, then I cut and embossed it with my Spellbinders Labels 8 Nestabilities, the matching gift tags were cut and embossed with my Deckled Mega Rectangles Nestabilities. The green and red metallic foil card stock I used for the holly leaves was a find from last year at the Dollar store. I cut them with the Cricut Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. The leaves came out so nicely, I ran back on Sunday to see if I could grab some more. Luckily I was able to snatch up a few sheets, the green is now gone. I also bought some blue and red. Not sure yet what I will do with the blue, but I'm sure you will see it here when I do. I decided to try to be more creative in my photography, so I added the branch of berries to make it look more festive. I like the way it came out. I am also working with a homemade light box so I think my photo's are a bit brighter. Thanks for looking and thanks for all of your kind comments. I sincerely do appreciate it. ~Diane

From Complicated and time consuming to simple and easy.

This is made with the DCWV THE SWEET STACK and vellum from Paper and More center flower cut with Cricut Accent Essentials cartridge,Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Pendant Shapeabilities, Spellbinders Deckled Mega Rectangles Nestabilities, small flower punched with Stampin Up punch, thank you from Stampin Up and satin ribbon.

More of the DCWV THE SWEET STACK card stock, vellum Happy Birthday printed on the computer, Princess does not show up well, but the word is made of rhinestones. Balloons made with Cricut Walk in my Garden, the crowns were made with the Sizzix embossing plate on Core'dinations card stock that I cut and sanded, then added glitter to the centers.

This cupcake was made by using my Cricut Walk in my Garden, the flower pot, I used a corner rounder on the bottom edges. The circles were punched with an EK Success punch, I used the Souffle pens to add the sprinkles. The card stock is from DCWV The Sweet Stack .

More DCWV Sweet Stack card stock and a ribbon.
So I went from complicated and time consuming to very simple and easy in these cards. I hope you enjoy, thanks for looking. ~Diane

Just for Fun

Mojo Madness 107 Contest

OK so I am taking a stab at some challenges this week. This is not my usual style, but when I saw the layout at MojoMonday Sketch Blog I immediately thought of the crown embellishments and Princess rhinestones I bought last week. The rest of the card somewhat evolved from there. I kept trying different ribbons, and I did not like any of them until went for my mini boa. Perfect fit, and after all this is just for fun. And I certainly did have fun making this one. Thanks for looking. ~Diane

CLEARLY AUTUMN

The smell of Autumn is in the air. The trees are beginning to shed their leaves, everyone is busy putting the Halloween decorations up. So to celebrate Autumn, my favorite time of year, I made this card on clear polyester film. I made all the pieces with my Cricut Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. The pumpkins were cut from More Mustard Stampin Up, the leaves are done with Core'dinations Whitewash. I added some gold ink to the pumpkins, I like the effect. The tall pumpkin lying on its side is actually on the inside of the card, to be used as the signature plate. Thanks for looking~Diane