CCC - Paper Piecing

Merrrrrry Christmas!  (about 6 months early!)  ha ha  No time like the present (pun intended) to get started on Christmas Cards!

Today's challenge over at Christmas Card Challenges is to paper piece.  Here's what I did:

The hats and scarves on those little snowmen are paper pieced.  It was quite a little chore to cut them all out - especially those little guys.  I designed the whole card around that button - isn't it gorgeous!?

Be sure to check out the blogs of my fellow Christmas Card Challenges design team members:

Alanna

Anne C

Anne J

Heather

Jenn

Jovita

Margo

Monica

Sabrina

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

ATS Birthday Fishes

Today is the mid-linky inspiration over at All That Stickles!  For my design team post this week, I used this adorable Birthday Fishes stamp from Bugaboo digital stamps.  I just love the look on this character's face.  The bubbles are colored with yellow copic and filled in the Firefly Stickles!  Love that color!!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

My Favorites

The Crop Chocolate challenge this week from my friend, Michele, is about favorites.  She asked us to create a project inspired by something favorite.  She also asked us to use our favorite stamp.

Well, my favorite thing in the whole wide world are my kids.  Most of you know that my son is in the U.S. Army and has recently been deployed to S. Korea.  I'm getting ready to send along his first care package this weekend and created this card to go into his package.  I used the sketch over at There She Goes Challenge - and my current favorite stamp-set from them (Shiver Me Timbers).

The paper is from Carta Bella "Well-Traveled" collection.  That map paper is PERFECT for this stamp-set, wouldn't you say?!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

CIO Mid-Challenge Paper Piecing

So excited to announce that I'm on the Clear It Out challenge design team!  Woo hoo!  My first project with them was doing paper piecing with a digital stamp and using up some of my scrap papers.  I have done paper piecing with regular stamps, but I've never done it with digital stamps.  Quite a challenge.

I decided to use the below flower digital stamp from Digi Darla.  The image can be purchased, "HERE." I had made some recipe cards for a recipe swap and had all these little pieces of colored paper left, so that is my scrap paper element.  What I did was to print the image onto plain white paper and then tape a piece of colored paper over the image (very securely!) and run it through the printer again.  Then I just cut the flowers and put it on the card.  Easy sneezy!

The hearts on the side are inked up with TH distress inks through punchinella.  A dear friend sent me this stuff - and I LOVE IT!  Add a button and a touch of Timeless Twine and Voila!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Christmas House

I love Christmas - all year!  I'm super happy today to be presenting my very first design team project for Christmas Card Challenges!  Each year, I send out a LOT of Christmas cards.  Being on this design team will help me to make sure I'm not making them all at the very last minute!

Today's challenge is to create a card inspired by the photo to the right there.  What a beautiful home!  I decided to try to be somewhat literal about it and create a white house card using my Cameo.  It's not quite as beautiful as the picture, but it is decorated up and has a red door!  I love that it has a working door! 

Be sure to check out my Christmas Card Challenges Design Team-mates for more crafty Christmas inspiration!

Alanna

Anne C

Anne J

Heather

Jenn

Jovita

Margo

Monica

Sabrina

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Older, Wiser and Better

Birthdays mean that you are older, wiser, and better - or maybe just older!  I love this sentiment from Unity's Itty Bitty (aptly named Older, Wiser and Better Owl). 

It's Friday!  That means it's time for Unity Friends with Flair!  Woo hoo!  It's a perfect time to ink up this special owl and place him and his brightly tattoo'd wing on some happy polkadots!  I'm also entering this card into 3 Girl Jam Challenge blog who asked us to create a birthday project with ribbon.  That beautiful crinkly ribbon is from 3 Girl Jam!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

May Arts Nautical Challenge

If you are looking for the Star Spangled Stickles blog hop - go "here".

I was so super excited to see the May Arts challenge!  Nautical!  Nice!  Ooooh, pick me!  She did!

I wanted to create a mini-album showing some of my favorite pictures of our family adventures on our boat.  The idea grew into a "mini" that is boat shaped....and well, it's not so mini!  Here is a collage:

I cut boat shapes out of UmWow Studio (UWS) chipboard.  On each boat, is a folder that contains pictures on both the front side and the back side.  I made flags from the gorgeous May Arts red/white solid stripes, and each of the folders open with a brad and a little bit of the burlap cord separated by strand.  I used every inch of the beautiful May Arts metallic chain cord to line the top of the hull part of the boat.  I totally LOVE that metallic ribbon!  I then used a solid piece of UWS Chipboard and cut a slice in a block of wood for the backing.  The wood's edge is surrounded by the very pretty May Arts white woven chevron stripes ribbon.  To finish off my project, I added a washi tape border and cut an anchor from my cameo and used TH Distress Stain in brushed pewter and stardust Stickles on it, tying it off with more of the burlap cord.  My husband asked me if I could bling up the anchor on our boat!!  ha ha!  I tied a knot from the burlap cord to adorn the base.  The paper used in this project is from Authentique Blissful and Genuine collections.

Here are some close-ups!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Lookin' Up

If you are here looking for the All That Stickles Star-Spangled Blog Hop - Click HERE!

Kraftin' Kimmies had a release party last night and challenged us to submit a project with one of their stamps - not only for a prize but also for an opportunity to guest design for them!  I purchased their World of Wonder stamp set and am excited that I finally got it inked up!  They said to add some sparkle, so I framed the image with some Stickles!

Who could go wrong with such an ADORABLE stamp?!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

All That Stickles Star Spangled Blog Hop

Welcome to the Star Spangled Blog Hop brought to you by the All that Stickles design team!

"Oh say can you see... by the gleam of Stickles. Oh so proudly we post, our patriotic projects" (if you sing it to the tune of Star Spangled Banner, we promise it makes sense ;)

In non-musical form: Today the All that Stickles design team has created a variety of patriotic-themed projects using our favorite sparkly embellishment - Stickles!

I am SO stoked about this particular theme!  My youngest son joined the U.S. Army in January.  What could be more patriotic than a project about a soldier!?!  It's been hard being an Army Strong Momma, so I've been working on a journal chronicling his service.  It helps me to miss him a little less.  This entry is about his joining up. He ended up having to go to medical processing three times as he had to lose some weight. He ended up losing 20 lbs in about 1.5 months - so determined to join. 

 

Stickles used:  Christmas Red, True Blue, Midnight Blue and Frosted Lace.

We have blog candy for those who are a follower of All that Stickles and leave a comment on every stop of the hop! Winners will be announced Wednesday June 19th at All that Stickles.

SK Digis

$6 Voucher

LoveBug Creations

$15 Gift Certificate

Scrapping Memories

10 Files of Winner's Choice

Bugaboo Stamps

10 Digis of Winner's Choice

Scrapping Fun with Tonya
3 Pack of Stickles

Your next stop is the beautiful and talented Julie's blog!!

Here's the complete lineup:

All that Stickles
Ashley

Tonya
Cathy
Ann
Cynthia
Karen <--You're here
Julie  <--Go here next

Chas

Thanks for hopping! :) Don't forget to check out our Distress Stickles Linky Party!

Stickled Dad

Over at the All That Stickles blog, my design team post is up.  The current linky party challenges you to make a project with Distress Stickles - ANY Distress Stickles.  Fun! 

Father's Day is tomorrow!  For my Distress Stickles project I downloaded this super cute Father's Day card from the Silhouette Store.  The sentiment is from a Unity Stamp of the Week.  I used Tumbled Glass Distress Stickles on the ribbon and to highlight a couple lines on the paper! 

This card is going to the best father in the whole wide world - my dad!  This is my dad a few days ago after some damn fool ran a stop sign and hit him.  His bike was in two pieces, and my dad is probably going to have to have knee replacement surgery now.  Thank God the guy had slowed down or it could have been much worse.   

He looks so sad holding his broken bike.  Aws.  I'm super thankful to have such a wonderful dad....so, daddy - this one's for you!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Happy Friday

It's Friday!  Woo hoo!  Love Unity Friends with Flair!  When this "Queen of the Universe" went on sale at Unity, I knew I had to have it!  It makes me giggle every time I look at it.  The card is made from my scrap pile.  The arrow banner is UmWow Studios chipboard that I blinged up with some liquid pearls. 

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Inching Along

This week's challenge over at There She Goes stamps is to use this picture as inspiration for a project.

 

I love the bright pink and the yellow together, especially with a little pop of green.  I also like the pattern of the yellow wall.  I used one of my favorite TSG stamp sets (Smarty Pants) to create this card.  The background "wall" is inked with TH Distress in Mustard Yellow through some Punchinella that my dear friend, Amber, sent me....and then had to explain what to do with it!   She sent me several patterns; I can see having oodles of fun with this stuff!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Lace-filled Christmas

Christmas Card Challenge blog's challenge to us this week is to make a card with lace.  Their challenges are always optional, but I love a challenge!  I cut the tree below with my Cameo.  The white cardstock is covered with lacy Webster's pages netting.  I love the look of the scallop lace on the bottom - kinda like snow or something!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Silhouette Challenges CH#2 "Print N Cut"

I am so excited to be posting my first Silhouette Challenges design team project!

A blog dedicated to the Silhouette Cutting Machines.
You MUST use a Silhouette somehow in your project.

The details for this months challenge are:

 Ch#2
Print N Cut
Begins: Saturday, June 1
Ends: Sunday, June 30

Sponsors this month are:

My Scrap Chick
Prize: GC

Tabitha Designs 
Digi Pack (Winner's Choice)

KaDoodle Bug Designs 
Prize: $15 GC

For my project this month, I went to the Silhouette Store and purchased the adorable caterpillar in my card below.  I was SO impressed that my Cameo could figure out how to cut those caterpillar antenna thingies!  Can you imagine trying to fussy cut them out!??

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Unity FWF for My Hubby

This new Unity Stamp of the Week arrived just in the nick of time!  Today!!  I love this retro cassette, and the sentiment is perfect.  My husband is a rocker - plays bass in a band.  I'm a country girl, but he still puts the music in my step.  (Most of the time, ha ha!)

It's Friday Friends with Flair time over at Unity.  I'm also submitting this card to Clear It Out Challenges who said to make a masculine card using metal (the heart is a brad with metal). The background of this paper is from EP About a Boy.  Doesn't it remind you of the tape that would get caught in your cassette deck?  Ok, maybe I've just aged myself!  ha ha!  Yes, I used to have a bunch of cassettes....even had a few 8-tracks and even 4-tracks!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

CAS Chickies

Clean and Simple, There She Goes Stamps said.  Cute chickies, I say!  So, I combined the two and came up with CAS Cute Chickies!  The chicks and sentiment are from the There She Goes Blossom by Blossom stamp-set.  The paper and ribbon are stash :) 

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Loving Christmas in June

I'm a Christmas girl.  Love everything about the holiday!  Each year, I make >100 cards for Christmas.  About 60-70 go to family and friends; the rest are sent to Operation Write Home.  Their deadline is early, so no time to start like the Christmas present, eh? 

Christmas Card Challenges asked us to make a White on White card.  Here's what I came up with:

As long as I was at it, I decided to make a second card for this week's Cocoa Creations Raspberry pie challenge!  Here we were asked to use chipboard (the crust), something white and fluffy, something red and 3 bling.  I think I got that recipe all cooked up!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Stickles DT - Turquoise

Today is the mid-inspiration day over at All That Stickles for our Turquoise Stickle Linky Party!  (I don't know about you - I'd MUCH rather use some of my gorgeous turquoise stickles - than to try to type it on my keyboard!  It's HARD to type!)

 For my project, I decided to download a new stair-step card from the Silhouette store.  I normally just hand-make stair-steps, but I wanted to see if it was easier to just have my Cameo cut it.  Well, duh!  So easy sneezy!

I really love the combination of blue and purple with the turquoise Stickles!  The little heart in the butterfly is lavender Stickles!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)