Anything Goes for Cute Card Thursday!

Hello there friends! Have you been busy with your Christmas festivities? I am doing a “run-run Rudolph” right now and trying to finish up my Christmas cards let alone some baking, preparing for a Christmas dinner and finish wrapping up presents!! It is the fun of the Holiday Season and I enjoy spending time with my family, so I look forward to seeing them all!

It’s a new challenge today over at Cute Card Thursday! Since it’s that time of year and busy, we made this any easy “ANYTHING GOES” challenge for you!! We are looking forward to seeing what you’re making!

Since I am trying to finish up some Christmas cards, I thought I’d try and work on some doing “mass production” of a design. I only do so many of these before I have to switch things up, but I thought these turned out pretty cute:

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I have used the My Favorite Things “Filled with Joy” card kit (sold out) to make these plus I have pulled out the MFT “Simply Snowflakes” stamp set (retired) to clear heat emboss the background and then rubbed some Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink over it. The panel was cut out with the MFT Die-namics Blueprints 27 and the heat embossed sentiment strip was cut out with the MFT Die-namics Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips.

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Here you can see how I’ve pieced together the snowman. The die in the card kit cuts out everything including the letters. I’ve cut his top hat with some black felt paper that was also included in the kit and then I decided to cut out the snowman head so that I could cut out those tiny eyes and mouth with the felt paper as well! So, if you happen to get this card from me, please be sure to rub your finger over the felt pieces in his hat and face!! I very carefully and lovingly placed each tiny felt dot in!! 🙂 I think that the blue snowflake background really makes him stand out even more!

On an even closer look at the card, you can see that I’ve added a sequins snowflake to each snowman’s hat and then added some sequins to the card background. I filled each one of these with some silver Stickles. The snowman head was popped up with a foam circle and the rest is just glued down.

Thanks for dropping by and I’ll be back again soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter:

Daring Cardmakers – Snowflakes Falling
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Always Fun – Snowman
The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
Double D – Let it Snow!

We’re Recycling at Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends! I’m back to share our new challenge for Cute Card Thursday this week! I have to say that I enjoyed this challenge, and I can’t wait to see what you come up with for this one. We would like to see some “Recycling” on your projects this week! There are so many different ways you could go…do you have a box full of “trash treasures” waiting to be used? Now is the time to pull it out! 🙂

Here’s what I’ve come up with for the challenge:

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I haven’t made these for a couple of years, but I like to save those Crystal Light plastic containers and decorate them and use them as “gift holders” or like I have here for some “polar bear/snowman soup” containers!

I try and keep the decorating somewhat simple, but I enjoy adding ribbon, glitter, etc. just for the fun of it! I’ve used an oldie but a goodie and my fave set from My Favorite Things called “Cool Day“. I’ve used both of the polar bear images and colored them in, fussy cut them out and attached to the containers. I’ve also white heat embossed the sentiments from the set and cut them out with a banner die for them to stand on. I found some matching ribbon that I’ve wrapped around the top of the container and then added the bow. Although I didn’t take a photo of the top of the lid, I’ve also cut out some matching pattern paper to decorate the top of the lid. I’ve used some liquid glue to add some faux snow at the bottom of the containers and then some glitter under the polar bears feet.

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This is actually the first time that I’ve done polar bears for these. I usually use a snowman with the snowman soup poem, but since these were polar bears, I sort of changed out the wording to make it work with my design. LOL. I’ve just printed it up on the computer and added a coordinating mat behind it and attached it to the back of the containers. It slightly sticks out on each side, but I could always trim it down more if I wanted it to fit, but I was fine with it.

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I just wanted to share a photo of the original packaging of these containers. I have my family save these up for me and I will create with them each year. I have about 10 of them saved up for now. As a crafter, we always keep our eyes peeled for something we can save and create with! 🙂

And here’s a closer look at the details of the polar bears. I used my Copics to color them. For the green one, I used the pointillism technique to create the look on the sweater. I also made the elbow pads and the circles on the mug. I covered the mug with some glossy accents. I added some glitter to the top of the hat on the red one.

Thanks for stopping in today! See you soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter:

Always Fun – Anything Goes
Christmas with the Cuties – Anything but a Card
Use Your Stuff – Mood board (inspired by the sweet treats, mugs and red/white colors!)
Double Trouble – Thing 1: My sweet treat is inside the containers! Thing 2: I used the mood board above from “Use Your Stuff” challenge! Thing 3: I used lots of “sprinkles” with faux snow and glitter!
Crafty Card Makers – Anything but a Card
Artistic Inspiration – Just for Fun Challenge – Anything Goes

Seeing Stars at Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends and welcome to Thursday already! It seems like the weeks are quickly going by faster and faster as we close in on the end of the year! It’s the “crazy crafting season” for sure! LOL!

Today brings up another Cute Card Thursday Challenge and for this week’s challenge, we’d like to see “STARS” on your creations! I think this is a good one for whatever it is you’re crafting even if it’s Christmas…or not! I have decided to make mine non-Christmasy this time:

I am pretty much “out-numbered” with males in my family, so most of my birthday cards are for men and I have a couple more birthdays to celebrate next month, so I thought this was a great opportunity to sneak one into my Christmas card-making time!

All the stamps and dies used on my card today come from My Favorite Things. (I have recently purchased some Christmas items and look forward to getting my hands crafty with some of it soon!)

I started my card out with the Blueprints 27 scallop rectangle die. I took some star images from a retired MFT stamp set called “Totally Happy” and randomly stamped them with VersaMark on this card front panel and then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. I taped off the scalloped edges so that they wouldn’t get inked. I’ve used the Blueprint Sketch, Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass and Twisted Citron Distress Oxide inks and blended them over the stars for an ink resist effect. I also spritzed this panel and dabbed it with a paper towel for the water drop look.

I thought it would be fun to make a shaker card, so I die cut a star from this ink blended panel with the MFT Star Shaker Window and Frame Die-namics set and then cut the frame out from some black card stock.

What makes this such an easy shaker card is that MFT also has these Star Shaker Pouches that coordinate with the die! So I’ve taken this and fit it through the die cut star area on my card front panel and then filled it from the back with some confetti stars, I found some matching-colored seed beads and pretty sparkly silver glitter chunks to fit inside and then covered the back with some white cardstock. Just love the sound when it shakes because you can hear the seed beads! 🙂

I then took a strip of black card stock and white heat embossed the sentiment (same stamp set mentioned above.) to stamp the greeting. I first layered the scallop inked panel over a black piece of cardstock and then attached the sentiment strip and cut off the edges to match that layer. I then mounted this panel over an A2 sized top folding white card base. I finished it off by adding some silver star sequins filled with some Silver Stickles in the centers of each one.

Sometimes you wonder about “adding too much bling” for a guy, but I think this is a fun shaker birthday card that a male would enjoy too! Hope you’ve had some fun on my blog today! I thank you so much for stopping by! I will see you soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

Challenge Up Your Life – Celebrate/Anniversary, etc. (Happy 100th Challenge!)
Use Your Stuff – Stars
Crafty Cardmakers – Lots of Layers
Shopping Our Stash – (SOS 380) Tic Tac Toe (I used the middle row going down: stamps, glitter was handed from my grandma to my mom and then to me..so yeah, older than 5 years probably! LOL & Happy Birthday)
Watercooler Wednesday – WWC196 – “All About Occasions”

Birthday Wishes for Hubby

Hello friends! Happy Friday! I wanted to share a few things from my husband’s birthday we celebrated last night along with the card I made for him.

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I was going for a masculine look of course and I know that he likes nature, wildlife, etc. and with his birthday being in November, I thought a Fall scheme would work out nicely. Besides, I had gotten some My Favorite Things products and wanted to have a play with them, so I used the current color challenge when making this one. (See challenges list below)

For my design, I went with a Natural cardstock base, rounded the corners with a corner chomper and ink blended along the edges with some Vintage Photo distress ink. I got a little more carried away with the inking than what I wanted, but then went over it by spritzing some water and dabbing it up with a paper towel for the water marks. (I’ve also cut out some leaves with the Falling Leaves Die-namics die set and then sponged some colors around the edges for them as well. These were added as accents on the over-all design.)

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I was so excited about using this Delightful Deer Die-namics set. There are some T-I-N-Y bits in there to cut out and attach! LOL! I sponged around the edges and bottom of legs with a brown ink. I die cut some white dots and the piece for tail as well as cut out a couple of brown dots for eye and nose as well as cutting out his antlers. I also added a few extra “dots” with my white gel pen on the deer. It was popped up over the scene with some foam tape. The main deer was cut from Persimmon cardstock which is also what I’ve used to cut out a banner (from the Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips die-namics) that I white heat embossed the sentiment from the Essential Sentiments stamp set.

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For my scene, I took some of the MFT Candy Land Paper Pack and use the dotted “Sour Apple” color piece and die cut a panel of it with the Stitched Rounded Rectangle STAX die-namics and placed it over my ink blended natural card front base. I then used the Stitched Valley die-namics and cut some pieces from brown cardstock and lightly sponged some white ink over top of the “hills”. I placed those over top of my natural card front base and also cut out some trees from one of the FREE die-namics dies that I received with an order from some Sour Apple card stock and attached them over the “hills”.

Lastly, I wrapped some twine around the card front base, added my die cut leaves where I wanted them, attached this panel to a top folding A2 sized white card base that I’ve also rounded the corners on with a corner chomper. Lastly, I’ve added some clear crystal drops in random places.

I enjoyed creating this one using mainly die cuts and minimal stamping! I hope you’ve enjoyed my masculine card design as well! 🙂

Here’s the challenges that I’d like to enter this card for:

MFT Color Challenge – Persimmon, Sour Apple, Milk Chocolate, Neutral
Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies –
City Crafter – #437 Woodland Animals
Crafting By Designs – Anything Goes
Creative Moments – Anything Goes

If you happen to follow along with me on FB, then you may have seen where I’ve had the talented lady Dina Kowal create a portrait for me using a past photo from our beloved family member Mocca that passed away this last February. Dina is extremely talented with her pencils! My hubby was amazed and here is a photo of him with it last night after he opened it up for his birthday present:

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He said, “Oh wow!” when he opened it and wanted me to tell her that she did an amazing job, it looks just like her! I went through the photos with hubby (he’s not on social media) that Dina had shared of her on-going creative process with the portrait, and this was one from the beginning:

Mocca drawing photo 1

And this was the photo that she used for her creative process:

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We are thrilled and honored to have this stunning work of ‘Mocca’ art in our home and look forward to getting it framed and put up! Thank you to Dina for sharing her talents with all of us! 🙂

Thanks for dropping by my friends! See you soon!

It’s a Monochromatic Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! Trying to work hard on projects and getting things ready for next month. So please excuse me if I seem a bit sporadic in my presence!

Stopping in to share a new challenge with you over at Cute Card Thursday! This week the theme is “monochromatic” or some people say “monochrome” which simply means that your project mainly consists of one color or tone. Stop by the challenge blog and be sure to check out the rest of the inspiration from the design team while you’re there! Here’s my project for the challenge:

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I absolutely fell in love with this flower image from the My Favorite Things card kit that they came out with! And I can’t say that I came up with this idea all on my own either, as it is very similar to one of the samples on the project sheet that comes with the kit.

It’s very simple to do, just white heat embossed the floral image and color areas in with a Copic marker and then I used a sentiment from Lawn Fawn to white heat emboss over vellum and the card stock again and then die cut the word out and attach over the vellum strip. I had been requested to make up some wedding cards and so I’m trying to make up a few of them as this is something that I’ve completely missed in my card creating. Taking mental notes for myself!

Thanks for stopping by friends! See you soon!

challenges:

QKR Stampede – #313 Anything Goes
The Flower Challenge – Anything Goes + flower(s)
The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes

I’ve Been Schooled!

Hello friends! Hope you are doing well and are having a great week!

I took some time over the last few days to try and follow along with all of the videos and classes going on over the My Favorite Things blog as they are doing “Session 2 of their MFT Summer School“. I don’t know about you, but I find that there is always something new to learn and different things to try with crafting and I enjoy learning about it so that I can continue to improve in what I already enjoy doing. Sometimes that self-doubt creeps into the skull to tell you that “you’re not good enough” and “give up”, etc. The way for me to try and stomp out those feelings is to take classes and try something new. I just want to enjoy the process and learning can help bring on more positive feelings.

Since there are SO MANY creations in this post, I won’t go into too many details other than share the links to the MFT Summer School links that I made each card for. I hope you enjoy having a look at them:

Day 1 – Monochromatic (CAS)

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I used several colors of MFT purple (of course!) cardstock and stamped a background stamp with VersaMark over it. I think the die I’ve used is from something retired.

Day 2 – Focal Point

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Really had fun with this sweet little bear! 🙂 I loved the layout so much from class and decided to follow that for my card here. The balloon and die cut sentiment actually have shimmer over them which doesn’t show in the photo very well.

Day 3 – Visual Triangle

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This one took me quite a bit to put together. I think maybe part of it was all of the coloring, but I was struggling a bit with the concept…I’m hoping this was how she was going with it. 3 long strips at the bottom, 3 images at the bottom and 3 images at the top. The purple in the background was a watercolor wash like she showed in the video, but I didn’t heat emboss any image like she did.

Day 4 – Rainbow

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I have done this before, and I really like how you can use up your paper scraps in a colorful way. I used the same frame die here in a similar manner as I did the card above this one. I cut the sentiment several times before laying down the top one and then I slightly off centered it to show the white slightly behind it.

Day 5 – Ombre

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And here I go with another purple card! LOL! I actually remembered a fantastic video that I created this card based on a tutorial from Jennifer McGuire.

If you have any questions about these, please feel free to contact me or simply leave a comment below and I will be happy to reply.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I will see you again on Thursday for a new challenge! 🙂

Dare to Get Dirty Challenge Results Finale

Hello friends! Are you glad it’s Friday? Sometimes I think where did the week go and other times, it seems forever before we get to the weekend! I know that although I am a homemaker, there is still something about the weekend getting here. Hubby still works so perhaps that the reason, I’m not sure. None-the-less TGIF! 🙂

I know you had gotten used to seeing (lots of you really enjoyed looking at them each week too!) the Friday results of ICAD, but now that it’s over, I still have a different kind of results to share with you. As in this last Monday’s post, the following creations that I’m showing on my blog here are from the Splitcoaststampers “Dare to Get Dirty” challenges.

And as I mentioned in Monday’s post also, I am not able to reveal the full details of how I went about making these creations. But, if you are a fan club member on Splitcoaststampers, then you will know exactly what I’m talking about here! 🙂

The first card here was made for Anita’s challenge:

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It was hubby’s idea to add the Starbucks gift card on the inside! LOL! Good one Hunny! (He wanted me to give him credit for that!) Let’s just say that I had a BLAST creating this one! 🙂

challenges for the above card:

4 Crafty Chicks – Out of This World/Space
Creative Knockouts – Fancy Fold
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Distress It (distressed edges)
Sweet Stampin’ – Travel

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This card was so fun! It seems to be a creation that was commented on over in the gallery quite a bit. This was made for Angie’s challenge, and I really like how this one turned out too. The little piggy, sentiment and sentiment die all came from My Favorite Things. I paper pieced the heart for the little piggy. 🙂

challenges for the above piggy card:

Stamping Sensations (August) – ‘current’ favorite stamp (OMG this pig!)
Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies – August
Try It On Tuesday – Inspired by Song (‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ by Bonnie Tyler & ‘Smile’ by Uncle Kracker)

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This was for Sandee’s challenge. I’m getting ready to be in need of some masculine cards coming up in the next few months or so, so I’m trying to get ahead of the game by having them on hand! Let’s see how that goes! Do you remember the cool Stamp On It products that I purchased from my Stamp Convention trip in THIS POST? I’ve used it again on this card.

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This is a challenge that is released today at the “Dare to Get Dirty” event for Kelli Jo’s second challenge. I think it turned out pretty cool and can I just say that I wish I had this hair?! LOL! The sentiment was white heat embossed from My Favorite Things More Essential Sentiments and then I added some heart sequins. And that’s all I can say about it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my creations even if you don’t understand how I’ve arrived at the completed design. 🙂 Looking back at these now, I can see how they could each fit into a masculine style category which is pretty cool!

Thank you so much for stopping through my blog and having a look! Hope you will consider becoming a subscriber or check on updates in your favorite reader with me…I have much more to share!

Enjoy your weekend!

Card Results For Dare to Get Dirty Event

Good evening friends! I don’t normally post in the evening, but I had been working on some other things this weekend and today and hadn’t had a chance to create a post to share my creations with you for the “Dare to Get Dirty” challenge on Splitcoast Stampers!

And of course since the challenges are exclusively for the SCS fan club members only, I cannot share the details with you about what the challenges are about…so please keep that in mind when you see my creations for this without full details! 🙂

The first three cards that I’m sharing were created for my challenge during this event. It went “live” yesterday and there are really so many wonderful and creative entries in the gallery for this! I’m so glad everyone has been having fun playing along with it!

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I couldn’t stand how stinkin’ CUTE this My Favorite Things stamp set was, so of course I HAD to go grab it! I had been holding off on it for quite a while and then finally broke down and just got it! That cow in there just kills me! LOL!! I am talking about the MFT BB The Whole Herd stamp set. I’ve used a ton of different paper from my stash to create a scene for the pigs. I’ve also used various MFT dies to put everything together. I have handwritten the words that are on the trough the little piggy is standing in.

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My next card is made using the tutorial on SCS called the Herringbone technique. (You do NOT have to be a fan club member to see this technique…it’s open for everyone.) It’s been around for a while, but I really love the results it can bring to a background on a card! I have used the flower image from a retired Lawn Fawn stamp set and a greeting set and die from Impression Obsession.

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This final card for my challenge is done using an ‘Iris Fold‘ technique. I have used a circle die cut to create my design and then went around the circle with a tag die from Lawn Fawn that I also used an additional circle die that I’ve used to cut out the center of it for a framing effect and so that it looks more like an ornament. I used an embossing folder from SU! as well as the snowflake image in the middle of the ornament along with a wonky stitched rectangle die to cut the panel out with and then added a sentiment cut with a die from CAS-ual Fridays with gold foil card stock. The gold thread was added through the tag hole at the top and secured around the back of the main image panel and lastly, I added a crystal in the center of the snowflake.

Another card I wanted to share was for another challenge issued from a fellow Dare to Get Dirty Dozen design team member. This one took me a while to grasp how to make it happen, but once figured out, it turned out pretty cool:

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Again, I can’t share with you the details about the challenge, but it’s sort of a ‘mixed media’ based design! 🙂 I’ve die cut some stars using some silver foil card stock and added a sentiment to go with it embossed with white EP over a black banner strip.

Thought this would make for a fun masculine style card.

Be sure to stop by again tomorrow! I have something fun to share with you!!!

Birthday BEAR Hugs & ICAD Week 5!

Happy Friday friends! Just stopping by to share a few creations that I’ve been working on! I can’t believe how crazy busy this week has been, but I’m still pressing on and having as much fun as I can stand in my craft room! 🙂

I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve pulled out some of the huge stash of My Favorite Things stamps, so I played around with some challenges! Check it out:

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How cute is that bear peeking out from the gift box?! So, keeping with the challenges, I’ve used the MFT sketch and color challenges to base this card on. I also wanted to play along with the birthday project challenge as well…so killing several ‘birds’ at once here. (See all challenge details below.)

I pulled out the MFT Ripe Raspberry card stock for the base of my card and used the MFT Beary Special Birthday stamp set with the sentiment in white ink to stamp all over the background of the base. I colored the sweet bear and cut him out with the coordinating die and popped him up with foam tape at the bottom of the card. For the top panel, I took the MFT Mini Clouds Edges stencil and created a cloudy sky on white card stock. (I didn’t have any but was trying to match up the colors with the MFT Blue Yonder for the color challenge.) I then cut this panel with the MFT Stitched Basic Edges and then cut out a MFT Blu Raspberry piece of cardstock with the MFT Stitched Scallop Basic Edges die and layered it underneath the cloudy sky background. I attached this to the Ripe Raspberry card base.

I took the bunch of balloons from the same stamp set and colored them with coordinating colors, I fussy cut just the balloons because I took the image and stamped it on the cloudy sky background so I could pop up the balloons with foam tape. I also covered the balloons with some Spectrum Noir clear sparkle glitter pen. I then took a sentiment from the same stamp set and heat embossed it in white embossing powder over some MFT Black Licorice card stock and cut the strip with fish tails and then popped it up over the balloon strings with foam tape. Lastly, I added some Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins and added some silver Nuvo glitter drops in the center of each one.

I can’t believe that I have fully completed week 5 of the ICAD challenge so far! Although things have been a bit hectic, I am determined to continue on with these index cards each day…I am surprised by how they turn out sometimes too! Here are the weird and random tiny pieces of art I’ve created each day this last week:

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I truly am hoping that this will help me to become a better artist. I am proud of myself for pushing on when I want to just give up sometimes, but that’s exactly why I need to challenge myself to continue when it gets hard. I’m also happy to pull out media that I’m either not familiar with or pushed to create beyond what I am comfortable with…like drawing! LOL! I can’t wait to look back at these all at one time when I’m done!

Have YOU challenged yourself lately?

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you’ve enjoyed my creations!

Challenges I’d like to enter my ‘Happy Bear-day” card for:

MFT ‘The Birthday Project’ – Use a bear image on your birthday card
MFT Color Challenge – Blu Raspberry, Ripe Raspberry, Black Licorice & Blue Yonder
MFT Sketch (MFTWSC392) – sketch
The Paper Players – PP400 – Celebration

Going in Circles for Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! It’s another Thursday that has gone by this month already! This Summer seems to be going very quickly and I hope you’re out enjoying it!

There is another fun challenge this week at Cute Card Thursday! I hope you will join with us to share your “Circles” themed creations! Here’s the creation that I’ve come up with for my card:

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I have decided to make a circle shaped easel style card along with using even more circles within my card design! With the exception of the circles for the card shape, everything else I’ve used is from My Favorite Things stamps! I thought it would be fun to take the Stitched Tripple Peek-a-Boo Window die to cut out the circle windows to fit these adorable pigs in from the Hog Heaven stamp set. I cut out an additional circle for behind the window and sponged some different colors of distress ink behind them. I colored and die cut the images out with the coordinating dies and popped them in various places behind the circle windows as well. I stamped the sentiment and cut it out using some circle dies and this works as a “stopper” for my easel card design. I popped it up with some foam tape. I stamped the flowers from the same stamp set.

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And here’s a closer look at the front of my card. I just love how the top piggy is leaning over the circle and window and the bottom piggy is peeking out with a wave from the bottom circle window! I thought he needed a little twine bow tie too! Finished it out with some circle sequins with a little glitter Stickles in each center.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today! Please be sure to stop by the challenge blog to see the other wonderful circle creations from the team! See you tomorrow!

challenges: