Category: Card Kits

Thank You for Sparkles Monthly

Hello friends and happy weekend to you!  As we inch closer and closer to Thanksgiving at the end of this month, I think this is a perfect time to create a few thank you style cards to use throughout the year!

This brings us to a new monthly challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and we have the theme of “Thank you Card”  this month.  I look forward to seeing all of the projects in the gallery for this one.  Here’s what I came up with: 

I thought I’d try out a mini slim sized card for this one and the tall larger flower was a great fit for it!  I used the Taylored Expressions Natures Canvas Card kit (no longer available).

For the background panel, I embossed a kraft cardstock piece with the TE Sketched Plaid embossing folder and the went around the edges with the same color ink and then added some brown and white splatters before attaching it to a mini slim top folding card base.  I also die cut a frame from the TE Mini Slim Frame in Frame dies out of white cardstock to place over the embossed layer.

I stamped, hand colored and die cut the flower.  I used one of the greeting panels (from card kit) to gold foil and cut out the coordinating sentiment with it to pop up with foam tape over the flower stem.  It was then finished off with some gold gem/rhinestones.

  • I hope you’ve been inspired by my thank you card and will join in the fun with us this month for the challenge!  **NOTE**  This will be my final project for the Sparkles Monthly Challenge as a design team member.  I have enjoyed my time and wish Caz all of the best for the challenge blog in the coming year as well.  Thank you!

Challenges:

  1. Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes
  2. 613 Avenue Create – Anything Goes with optional: Thank you
  3. Triple B – Birds, Blooms &/or Butterflies (bloom)
  4. Penny’s – Anything Goes using Paper
  5. Crafty Catz – Anything Goes/Thanksgiving/Thank you
  6. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2545 Anything Goes
  7. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Thank you

L is for Love Letter

Happy Friday friends!  I hope that you’re having a great week and looking forward to the weekend ahead of us!  We’re planning on being outside and have fun with family!  It’s still warm, but hopefully we can get away from the 90 degree (F) weather!

Today is a new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!  Our next letter is “L”, and our hostess, Veronika, has chosen “L is for LOVE LETTER” (include handwriting & hearts)   *Please remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter.*  I hope you’ll join in the fun with us.  Here’s the project I’ve made for this challenge:

I always think of handwriting as the most sincere form of a love letter for sure, but I do not like my handwriting at all….so I prefer the typewritten style! LOL  I thought the  Just Write card kit I got from Taylored Expressions would work great for this challenge.

I fell in love with Lori Craig’s card including the colors of it, so I wanted to duplicate it!  I didn’t have everything she used in hers, but I like how it turned out!  The background was done with a 3D Lots of Love embossing folder over a stamped cork background.  I swiped white ink over the popped up hearts to try and bring them out a bit more.  The lined notebook paper inside the typewriter came from the TE Love Letters Clear Stamp & Die combo which is also where I got the “XOXO” to stamp on the heart at the top.  I also used the hearts from this set to stamp on the notebook paper.

Here’s the inside of my card where I used one of the Just Write-Insiders panel for my card and included the stenciled pen and stamped an “ink spot” all included with the card kit.

I thought this would work for my “handwriting” portion of the challenge. *wink*  I could’ve signed it to be completely official, but I don’t know who will be receiving this card right now, but it will be ready to go when the time comes.

  • Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and that you will be joining in the challenge with us!  Thank you so much for stopping in today!  Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead!

Challenges:

  1. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2537 Anything Goes
  2. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes
  3. The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
  4. Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes

A Single Flower at Sparkles Monthly

Hello friends!  Welcome to the start of a new week for mid-September!  I think Summer actually DID come back to us as we’ve set record high heats for this time of the year!  I think I’m ready for those cooler temps to come back! Ugh!  I know it won’t be long now and we can start enjoying trips outdoors as we look forward to picking apples and all Autumn festivities that we do!

Today is time to share a new challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and we have the theme of “USE A SNGLE FLOWER (floral image)”  this month.  Flowers seem to be everyone’s favorite.  Here’s what I came up with: 

Mine is a single sunflower image.  My husband planting them in our backyard this year and they were so pretty!  Of course, I forgot to take a photo of one before they died off.

The items I’ve used came from an older card kit from Simon Says Stamp including the stamp set called Sunflower Fields.  There is a single sunflower image that I thought would be perfect for this challenge, plus I can use more items from my stash!

For the size of the flower image, I wanted it to stand out, so I used a tag and twine from the kit and decided to make this a mini slim card size.

For the background:  I used a piece of watercolor cardstock and gold heat embossed the “Romantic Script” background stamp (retired) from My Favorite Things and then used some oxide inks swiped on glass with spritzed water to make a “smooshed” background.  I also used these same colors to watercolor my flower with. (except the green, I only used that for the flower)  I also used some gold watercolor to splatter over the tag.  I only splattered the tag because I didn’t think it would show very much over the card background.

I cut the smooshed watercolor panel to fit over a kraft side folding mini slimline card base.  I die cut the flower and the sentiment to attach over the tag, added some twine and then used foam tape to pop it up over the ink smooshed background.  Lastly, I’ve added some yellow sequins to finish it off.

I hope you will take some time to pull out a single flower and join us in the challenge this month!  Looking forward to seeing your creations!  Thanks so much for dropping by!

Challenges:

  1. Creative Inspirations – Anything Goes
  2. Ellibelle’s Garden Party – Anything In or From a Garden
  3. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  4. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  5. Penny’s – Anything Goes Using Paper
  6. Love to Craft – Anything Goes
  7. Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes

July AJ Page-Always Make Waves

Hello friends!  I hope that you’re staying cool and having a great weekend so far!  This is another pre-scheduled post from me again as I’m away for now.   So glad you’re here!

Today starts another monthly AJ page with my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) who is collaborating with me to “SMASH OUR STASH”! We get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles along with a prompt for each month.  I know she always has great inspiration to share, so please check out her blog too! Here’s my AJ page with the “SMASH OUR STASH” JULY prompt of “ACROSS THE OCEAN”: 

At one point I was going through my extremely large stash of card kits and realized how crazy it was that I had SO many mermaid/under the sea type of card kits/stamps, papers, etc.  So I didn’t have any problem finding something from my stash for this prompt!

For the Background:  I started with my usual size of 8.5″x5.5″ with Bristol Smooth cardstock this time.  I wanted to do some ink blending with a large 6″x9″ layered stencil that I got from Trinity Stamps.  I’ve used several different ink colors to create the underwater scene with the stencils.  I had lots of fun with it.  I then used some of the masks in the set and spritzed some water over it for the bubble effects in the “water”.  The “light beams” came with the stencil set and I just used white ink for that layer.

I thought since I was using water, that I would watercolor the images from an older mermaid card kit that I had from Brutus Monroe.  I die cut those along with the turtle and bubbles.  The sentiment came with this set too and I thought it was a wonderful saying, so I white heat embossed it on the page.

 

I also had an “Under the Sea” die set from My Favorite Things (store closed) that I cut a few pieces from to add to the scene at the bottom.  I took a gel pen and markers to add details to some of the ocean floor botanicals/rocks and then a glitter brush pen on the mermaids and glitter glue over the bubbles above the turtle to finish it off.

  • Hope you’ve enjoyed my Art Journal Page today!  Thanks so much for dropping by and spending some time with me!  I’ll be back later next week to see what you’re all up to!  See you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Botanicals (Hope seaweed counts!)

H is for HOME

Hello friends!  This will be a pre-scheduled post as I’m away for a bit, so this is going to be a very short and sweet post from me.

There is a new challenge today over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!   Our next letter is ‘H‘ and the hostess has chosen “H” is for HOME  *Remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter*  I hope you will find some time to play along!  Here’s what I’ve created:

I have pulled out an older card kit from Simon Says Stamp called “Home Sweet Home” and used some of the cloud papers that came in the kit along with the stamp set to make my little square on the left.

This is a mini slimline sized easel calendar.  It folds flat for mailing and then sets up with a base at the bottom.  (I figured a message could go on the back.)  I got the Square Calendar Tear-Offs as well as the Landscape Calendar Table Tent Base from Taylored Expressions.  The “slash marks” on the home sweet home square also came from the TE Square Tear Off Calendar Stacklets Die Set which is how I was able to cut out the square to fit onto the design too.

Obviously, I have August 2025, but I also have 2026 calendars that I will have to replace for the new year.  I really love making these calendars every year to give as gifts and I thought it would be nice for someone moving into a new home as well.

  • Thanks so much for dropping in today!  I hope you will take a look at what the design team has for inspiration and join in the challenge with us!
  • I’ll have another scheduled post for tomorrow to share my monthly Art Journal Page.

HEY! “C” is for Circles!

Hello and happy Friday my friends!  After things got heated up the last couple of days, I think I’m ready for a couple of days of cooler weather!  I don’t want to skip Spring by going straight into a hot Summer!  Hope you have some great things planned this weekend!

Today starts a new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!   We are now onto the letter “C” and the hostess has chosen “C” is for Circles  *Remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter*  I hope you will find some time to play along!  Here’s what I’ve created:

I do love me some circles and I thought I would just use them all over the place for this challenge!  I pulled out my Taylored Expressions “Talking in Circles card kit” that came out earlier in the year and no longer available.  However, the panel that I’ve used to create this design are still available in the store called “Talking in Circles A2 Sugar Cube Maps“.  They make it easy to follow where placements need to be and lined up.

I used the TE A2 Thin Frame Cutting Plate for the black frame around the circles.  I thought I would try and use another cutting plate, but the design pretty much covered it up.  I layered this whole panel over a top folding A2 white card base.

For the sentiment in the center, I used another circle die from the TE, but I don’t think it’s in the store any longer.  I cut the “HEY” circle out from black cardstock and layered some vellum behind it.  I white heat embossed the “You are awesome” sentiment over black and cut that out with a Simply Strip die.  This was popped up with a foam strip over the design.

Thanks so much for stopping over today!  I hope you’ve enjoyed my card and you will take a hop on over to the challenge blog to see what the rest of the team has come up with.  

See you soon!  In case you need to know…you are awesome!

Challenges:

  1. Love to Scrap – Anything Goes
  2. Allsorts – Paper Piecing or Anything Goes (Not sure if this is considered paper piecing)
  3. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes
  4. CRAFT – Anything Goes
  5. The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
  6. Crafter’s Cafe – Anything Goes optional: no squares

It’s Easter at Sparkles Monthly!

Hello friends!  Hope your March is going along well and you’re starting to see some signs of Spring coming!  We even have a few flowers trying to pop up out of the ground which is so fun to see!  I hope they can hold out for a few cold days ahead.

Today I’m stopping in to share my card for the new challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and we have a very fitting theme of “Easter” this month.  I think I’m more than ready to start some Spring related projects, so I look forward to seeing the gallery.  Here’s the card I came up with:

How sweet is that bunny passing out his colorful eggs!  I pull out an older card kit (2019) and it had this adorable Simon Says Stamp set called “Bunny Wishes” (no longer available) mixed in with the kit which I don’t think came with it, but I wanted to use it with some of the other items that were in the kit like the papers.  It was like getting a brand new order and forgetting what I purchased! 😆 

I also used this beautiful oval die (not available) from SSS that cuts the oval, the flowers and the stitching marks around it.  I added a border of grass to place at the bottom and then I stamped the sentiment from the set and also stamped the “Easter” greeting on another piece of light blue cardstock cut with a banner die.  The gingham background was cut with a double stitched rectangle die and then I used the oval die to cut an opening for the bunny scene.  I added foam tape around the edges to pop up the panel on an A2 top folding pink card base.

Here’s a close-up view of the cute images that I’ve colored with Copic markers, cut out with the coordinating dies and then popped up over the floral oval scene with foam tape.  The extra Easter egg behind the basket was just glued to the scene.  It’s hard to see in a photo, but I’ve covered each egg with a glitter brush pen.  It’s sparkly IRL.

I did recently get this pretty Iridescent White Cord from SSS and took two strands of it to create a bow and then I attached it to the top of the oval.  It gives it a nice sheen and I might be using it again soon!

Thank you for stopping in today!  Hope you enjoyed my card and will join us for the challenge this month!  Have a great weekend!

Challenges:

  1. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2510 Anything Goes
  2. Make My Monday – Use a Die/Punch 
  3. Passion for Markers – Dies &/or Punches + markers (used dies and Copics)
  4. Little Red Wagon – Start Easter Projects
  5. Penny’s – Anything Goes Using Paper
  6. Tic Tac Toe – I used 3rd down or middle across
  7. Four Seasons – Spring/Easter

X is for X’s and O’s

Hello friends and happy Friday!  The weekend starts and we’ve had some snow blowing around over our way with wind and colder weather, BUT next week it’s supposed to be warmer with Spring-like temps…but that’s the Midwestern climate!   It will level out later in the month.

Today is another new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!  Our theme for the next two weeks is “X is for X’s and O’s (as in hugs & kisses)“.  We look forward to your entries!  I had some fun with this one:

I’ve had this Tic Tac Toe set for years and never even broke it out to use!  It was from the My Favorite Things “X’s and O’s card kit (obviously no longer available).  I also used those adorable My Favorite Things Bitty Bears (retired) to help with the hugs and kisses part.  I’m so happy to be using something from my stash and especially something that I haven’t used at all!

The card was pretty simple as the die cuts for the tic tac toe square were cut in different colors, found some polka dotted papers to match and also used those same papers to paper piece the heart on the top bear.  I stamped the sentiment from the kit, popped up the colored and die cut bears with foam tape and added a few purple gems.

Before attaching all of the elements, I applied the polka-dot striped paper to a white front card base that was cut with a double-stitched rectangle die also from MFT, and then attached to an A2 top folding white card base.

  • Thanks for stopping in today and I hope you’ll join in the X’s and O’s with us over on the challenge blog!  Have a great weekend and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes with animal(s)
  2. Critter Crazy – Anything Goes with Featured Critter(s)
  3. The Divas That Cut…Paper! – Critters plus a die cut
  4. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2509 Anything Goes
  5. The Neglected Stuff – Anything Goes with neglected item (my neglected item is that MFT X’s and O’s card kit that was never used circa 2017!) About time, huh?!
  6. Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes

Mix it Up With Paper Piecing!

**THIS IS POST TWO OF TWO FOR TODAY!  SCROLL BELOW TO SEE MY POST FOR THE GDT CREATIVE ARTISTE.  THANK YOU!**

Hello friends and a happy November!  I think that the last two months completely flew by and here we are getting closer to the end of the year…what?!  I hope that you look forward to happy times ahead and lots of crafting fun too!  I’m thankful you’re here with me, so let’s get this month started.

Today begins a new challenge over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and it’s always “Anything Goes with an optional theme“.  The optional theme this time is “Paper Piecing“! (This challenge is open for 6 weeks, so you have plenty of time to enter!)  Here’s what I came up with using this theme:

I absolutely love the look of quilts, but I like to keep my making of quilts done with paper!  So I thought this theme would be great for making a quilt pattern design for Christmas.  I normally paper piece stamped images, but I wanted to do something different this time and pull out more stash items and use them!

Several months ago, I purchased a card kit from Taylored Expressions called “Pieced Patterns” and I loved the concept of cut out squares attached over a “map” to follow along on how/where to place the squares.  It’s really easy to piece different colors/patterns together to make a design.  Some squares were also cut diagonal and I stamped a tone on tone pattern over some of the squares before they were cut out.  Then they were placed over the “map” design and cut out with a square die.  I also cut the stitched scallop frame to go around the square pattern.  I die cut a white snowflake twice to layer in the center of the pattern and added a red gem in the middle of it.

I attached the paper pieced pattern over a white card front that was cut with the Taylored Expressions Pierced Lattice Cutting Plate that was then attached to a top folding A2 white card base.  For the sentiment, I white heat embossed it from the Taylored Expressions Jingle All the Way stamp set and cut it out with the coordinating die.  It was popped up at the bottom with thin foam tape.

I can see this might be fun with several different squares cut out ahead of time to place over the different “map” designs to create multiple design patterns ready for cards!  It’s just a matter of taking the time to cut out all of the squares.

I have decided to create a “bonus” card using the same “paper piecing” technique, but with a stamped image this time…as we all need more Christmas cards, right?!  

For this card, I pulled out an older card kit from my stash (2016) and used the Doodlebug pattern papers that was included with the kit.  The papers are too cute not to use and hoarding them is not a good idea! 

I stamped the tree onto a stitched white rectangle, then stamped the tree, star and banner over some of the pattern paper, carefully cut it out and attached it to the stamped tree and white panel.  Before I attached the stamped pattern pieces, I used my Copics to color in the tree stump and outline around the tree.  I also added some details to the pattern pieces for shading as well.

 The banner was popped up with foam tape and I attached all the layers together over a top folding red A2 card base. All the cardstock/papers were included in the kit. I’ve added some red rhinestones on the tree where the ornaments were to finish it off.

Anyway, hope you’ve enjoyed all of my projects today and I hope you will take some time to check out the challenge blog to see what the other talented designers have made.  I look forward to seeing what you make!  Have a great day!

Challenges:

  1. Inkspirational – #327 Seasonal (Winter/Christmas) 
  2. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2443 Anything Goes
  3. Cardz 4 Galz – #237 Showcase Your Patterned Paper (second card)
  4. Crafty Catz – #681 Anything Goes with optional twist: use dies/punches (top card, but dies used on both of them!)
  5. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – #240 Anything Goes
  6. Penny’s Paper Crafty – #583 Anything Goes Using Paper

Sheetload of Cards With Flashback Card Kit

Hello friends!  I hope you’ve had a good week and looking forward to a great weekend ahead!  The weather has been unseasonably cool for this time of the year and I’m able to get my windows open the last few days and enjoying it!  Unfortunately, it’s going to warm up again, so I know that the air will come back on.

Today I’m sharing something that is a bit different and new to me, but I think it will come in very handy for the future as my “goal for next year” is to use up those old card kits that have been stored in my stash for WAY too long!  I’m hoping to start this on my blog next year each month and focus on a card kit each month so I can clear things out from my stash!  Stay tuned!

I found a fellow crafter Call Me Crafty Al and I decided to give her “Sheetload of Cards“ a try for this month and see how it goes!  It would probably have been much easier to do it the way she did, but I challenged myself to use my card kit items instead:

Here’s the set of all eight cards using the same sketch from Crafty Al’s Sheetload for this month.  You may not recognize the card kit that I’ve used as it’s an old one from Simon Says Stamp.  The box had November 2015 written on it, and the paper inside had “Here’s Looking at You” card kit on it.  I know that I have pulled it out and used a few things out of it, but there was still plenty to use!

I was looking to make some uplifting/inspirational cards so this all worked out great.

Click on the photos above if you’re on my website so you can get a closer view of them.

I’ve used all of the cardstock except one sheet of kraft, all of the 6×6 papers were used except two sheets and I’ve also used up some of the journaling cards that were included as well as the stamp set and thread.  The reason why some of the edges are rounded is because the journaling card inside the kit had rounded edges.  I just decided to incorporate that into the design and I think it worked out okay.

Honestly, I don’t know weather to be proud of myself for using up my extremely old card kit or feel embarrassed for having such an old card kit still in my stash!😂

Regardless, I hope you’ve enjoyed my play with the “Sheetload of Cards” for August 2024 utilizing a very old card kit!  How about you?  Do you still have some card kits or stashes of something from 2015…er older?  Would you like to use them up too?  Follow along with me next year each month as I attempt to use up those old old old stash items and have a session of “Crafting to the Oldies“!  This is me holding myself accountable!  Let’s do this!

  • Thanks so much for dropping in today and have a great weekend!❤️