{Cupcake Inspirations} Bithday Celebration Day 12 -Party Ending Soon!

Here we are friends! This is my final day of inspiration to share with you on Day 12 of the special celebration over at {Cupcake Inspirations} for our 500th “birthday celebration” challenge!! WHAT A PARTY IT HAS BEEN!! WOW!🧁🎉

Today, we are highlighting with our last but not least sponsor Inky Stamper – Please check out the challenge blog for more details about this sponsor.

The DT was generously given a stamp and die set to use for our creations:

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I have used this Oh so adorable Cupcake stamp and die set for my 4.5″ square card design. So I thought it would be fun to create a fun little scene where you have the mouse coming out of his little “mouse hole” in the wall where he discovers this delicious looking cupcake with the sprinkles falling about! 😂

I started by masking off the middle of the square panel and created the “floor” by ink blending from the middle out. I then moved my masking by covering that area up and used the negative from an oval die cut area to ink blend the “mouse hole” on the scene. Lastly, I wanted it to look like a “wall”, so I just took a brick stencil and inked over it to go around the “mouse hole”

I stamped, colored and die cut the image and then popped him up with foam tape over the scene and stamped the sentiment underneath him. I just glued on the sprinkles for the card. I mounted the image panel over a die cut scallop square and then added a strip of sparkle washi tape over the card base. (The scallop square panel was popped up with some craft foam.) Hard to see in the photo, but I’ve brushed some glitter over the cupcake frosting!

Thank you so much for joining me here every day to check out the inspiration I’ve made from each of our sponsors. I’m so glad that you took the time to celebrate right along with us! I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

The House That Stamps Built – A2620 Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday – Inky! (used distress inks, masking and stencils for background)
Creative Knockouts – #365 Anything Goes

{Cupcake Inspirations} Birthday Celebration Day 6

Hey there friends! We are on day 6 of celebrating over at {Cupcake Inspirations} with another feature of sponsors for our 500th “birthday celebration” challenge!! FUN FUN!

Today, we are highlighting Bugaboo Stamps & Lawn Fawn – Please check out the challenge blog for more details about these sponsors.

So on our first day, I had used some fabulous products from our sponsor Lawn Fawn. But for today’s post, I wanted to highlight our other sponsor Bugaboo Stamps…

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Now how stinkin’ CUTE is this little guy with his ginormous cupcake coming at you?!

I printed out this Picnic Ant-Cupcake2 from Bugaboo Stamps and colored him up with Copic markers. I sponged some clouds behind him and colored some grass with my markers too. I used my oval dies to cut the image out with along with the scallop oval layer behind it.

Found some fun papers from my stash along with the rectangle die, sentiment die, ribbon, twine and button to complete the card.

I “dressed up” the cupcake with some liquid applique that was heated up to make it “puffy” and then added some glossy accents over the cherry on top.

Really had fun with this cutie and I hope he brought you a little smile today friends! Thanks for joining me! See you again tomorrow!

Challenges:

Catch the Bug Challenge – End of Summer (what could be better than celebrating a picnic?!)
Little Red Wagon – Use a Stencil (cloud background)
Creative Knockouts – #364 Something to Say
Aud Sentiments – #258 Anything Goes + Sentiment
Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + Coloring

{Cupcake Inspirations} Birthday Celebration Day 5

Let’s keep on celebrating! We are on day 5 of celebrating over at {Cupcake Inspirations} with another feature of sponsors for our 500th “birthday celebration” challenge!! Yeehaw!🥳

Today, we are highlighting Newton’s Nook – check out the challenge blog for more details about this sponsor.

I adore the stamps from this company and already own some faves..including retired ones that I refuse to give up! LOL! I have recently gotten some new ones to party with though! Check it out…

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Winston is one of the cute characters I adore! I’ve used the Sending Hugs stamp set with the coordinating dies. And the special thing about the coordinating dies is that they cut out the arms of each of the characters within the set so that they can be holding different objects! I think that’s too cute!

So I’ve colored up my Winston character with Copics and for the item he’s holding, you can see he has a cupcake, which is included in this set! I stamped, colored and die cut an additional cupcake next to the banner sentiment which was included with the set as well.

For the background, I’ve done some fun watercoloring. I’ve used a balloon image from a retired set “Winston’s Birthday” which is also where I’ve got his party hat from as well. Love it along with the “Winston’s BBQ” set that I won’t give up either! LOL!! I pull it out pretty much every Father’s Day! (I made a cute apron card with it this year and forgot to take a photo of it! Sigh….)

I photographed the card laying flat so that you could see the fun shaker contents inside the square frame! Lots of sprinkles, little cupcakes and balloon sequins in there! I thought it needed a pink glittery frame along with metallic shine on the party hat too! I finished it off with a metallic clear ribbon bow at the bottom.

Hope you’re having fun with the inspiration so far and I’ll see you again tomorrow!

Challenges:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – Anything Goes + animal
Papercraft – #61 animals
Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2033 Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Oh So Cute

{Cupcake Inspirations} celebrates it’s 500th Challenge! WOW!🥳

Hello friends!! Happy Monday! I have something very special to share with you today!

The {Cupcake Inspirations} Challenge Blog has hit a wonderful milestone and is celebrating their 500th challenge! How cool is that?!

I’m so thrilled to be apart of the celebration with them and share in the excitement! I hope that you will be celebrating right along with us and join the challenge too! We also have an AMAZING list of sponsors to share in the celebration with us! Please be sure to check out the challenge blog for the complete list…AND…we will be sharing inspiration EVERY SINGLE DAY throughout the 2 week challenge using products from our sponsors, so you won’t want to miss any of the posts so you can see the inspiration!

I WILL BE POSTING INSPIRATION FROM MOST OF THE SPONSORS RIGHT HERE ON MY BLOG EACH DAY AS WELL! SO STAY TUNED IN!

The theme for this challenge is “Birthday Celebration“! We can always use birthday cards! So we look forward to seeing your creations!!🥳🧁

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Remember those fun birthday parties as a child and all of those fun photos you took with your friends? Everyone is having a great time together! I miss those days for sure!

I have used the Wild for You stamp set along with the coordinating dies for the animals friends and colored them up with Copic markers. I have also taken the Party Animal stamp set and coordinating dies for the sentiment over the black banner that was white heat embossed as well as the balloon that is tied around the gator’s tail with black twine. I popped up the balloon and covered it with glossy accents. The cupcake on the gator’s back came from the “Party Panda” stamp set and dies that I received as a gift for my birthday month. (P.S. You may notice a cupcake in almost every one of my creations for these two weeks…see if you can spot them!)

I’ve used the Selfie Frames die set to cut out the polaroid frames, plus I die cut some grass in them with the Grassy Border die. I pulled out a piece of paper from the Watercolor Wishes paper pad and cut it out using the Small Dotted Rectangle die.

I finished my card with some bright blue and purple sequins. (Although it almost looks black on the photo! LOL!) I’ve added details with metallic gel pens and glitter too.

Really fun card to make with some really adorable products…love Lawn Fawn!

Thanks for stopping in today friends! Be sure to check and see what I’m making for tomorrow’s post with another sponsor!

Challenges:

Not Just Cards – August Anything Goes
Retro Rubber – rrcb141 Anything Goes (have had all at least 1 year or more!)
Arty Divas– #28 Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday – WWC284 Occasions
Colour Crazy– Anything Goes + coloring

Nautical Reminder for {Cupcake Inspirations}⚓

Hello friends! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Stopping in today to share more inspiration for the current {Cupcake Inspirations} challenge:

“Nautical” is the theme for our challenge and you still have another 5 days to play along with us! It really is such a fun theme to play with especially during the Summer!

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I don’t get a chance to be near any oceans as I live in the middle of the U.S., but I’ve always wanted to travel near the East Coast near Maine as I imagine how interesting it would be to see it all!

I don’t own very many nautical style crafty products, but I remembered this older Stampin’ Up! stamp set called “By the Tide” and it reminds me of those sailor type Inns or Pubs and you can see the wording of that with the circle anchor accent. I went with colors that related to the feel of “nautical” for me.

I also recently purchased this anchor stencil from Brutus Monroe and thought it would make a cool background with red foiling over the navy-blue color. So, I took some DecoFoil Transfer Gel Blanco so that it would be white over the dark background and the Red Static DecoFoil Sheet would show up over it. I put it through my laminator.

I just stamped the images from the SU! set in various colors, cut out layers of cardstock and added some stitch marks by hand along with a strip of anchor paper I found in my stash. I punched a hole in the circle anchor accent and tied a piece of twine through it and popped it up with foam tape.

Here’s a different angle of the card so that you can see the red shine of the DecoFoil background in the card.

I also took some of the Brutus Monroe Ruby Fluid Acrylic and watered it down to splatter over top of the crab image panel. I didn’t want to add too much in fear that it would look like blood or something. LOL!

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Hope you’ve enjoyed my “nautical” style card today and that you’ll hop on over to the {Cupcake Inspirations} Challenge Blog and see what the rest of the design team has for inspiration and play along with us!

Thanks so much for stopping in today my friends! I appreciate you taking the time and I’ll be seeing you again soon!

Challenges:

Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal
2 Crafty Critter Crazies– Anythiing Goes + animal
Allsorts – Make it Masculine
Joy of Sets – I went with Splash (hope splatter works), Sand (color), blue
Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations – Make it Masculine
Daisy Chain – #44 for the Boys/Men
Let’s Craft and Create – #162 Anything Goes + optional Lots of Layers

MFT Summer School: Rule of 3 Sympathy

Hello there friends! Hope you’re having a great week.

It seems, unfortunately, that every time I make another sympathy card, I run out and need to make another…it almost makes me hesitant to create another one to build my stash for the fear of it. But as a card maker, I create with my heart and it’s important for me to share that with others and especially in times like this. I know that those people that know me, understand this.

(This post is dedicated to a family friend that has been around since I can ever remember him. RIP Bill)

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Upon knowing that I needed to create a sympathy card, I had seen that the My Favorite Things Summer School had started and their first lesson was about “The Rule of 3” and so with that in my mind, I went to my MFT stash to create this card.

I first started with a piece of Whip Cream cardstock that was cut out with the A2 Stitched Rectangle Stax die and then stamped the large leafy image from the Dandelion Greenery stamp set with Grout Gray ink 3 times. I also stamped the smaller leaf image 3 times over it as well. I took the sentiment from the Deepest Sympathy stamp set and stamped it with the MFT Extreme Black ink. I layered this panel over a top folding A2 sized Grout Gray cardstock base.

The butterflies were cut out with a die set no longer available…but I love them and can’t part with them! I’ve used the Whip Cream cardstock for the outline of the butterflies, black for the middle sections and then I used: Lemon Chiffon, Tickled Pink and Berrylicious cardstocks for the layers behind the butterflies. I glued the centers only down so that the wings would pop out a bit.

Here’s a closer look at the butterflies and you can see on the colored portion of each of the butterflies that there is a bit of a shimmer on the wings. I took my glitter brush pen to go inside each section of them. I’ve also added 3 Ice Sparkle Crystals to the design for a bit more sparkle.

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So as you’ve noticed, I took the “rule of 3” quite literally with my design here! It actually helped me to focus on that particular lesson to finish up my card. Sometimes, I’ve noticed it really helps to “challenge myself” with a project so that I have something to focus on when I need to complete a task that would otherwise be difficult if I was just staring at a blank piece of cardstock. Don’t back down from a challenge or anything in particular that helps keep you focused…especially during times like these right now, as it is something that may be of help for you in more ways than you realize! It sure is for me anyway, and I really need it!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope that I’ve helped inspire in some way! Be well and happy friends. I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

MFT Summer School – Lesson 1 “Visual Triangle”
Dragonfly Dreams – Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – #139 Anything Goes
Pearly Sparkles – #54 Anything Goes
A Perfect Time to Craft – #8 Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft – #120 Anything Goes
Love to Craft – LTCCB49 Anything Goes
Double D – Butterflies

Name That Bird!

Hey there friends! Ever have one of those days where you were up late or you got up in the middle of the night and then realized you weren’t sure if you got any sleep at all? Sometimes I have days and then forget to do something and then I’m thinking about it all night only to realize that I’ve spent my time thinking about it and not sleeping when I could’ve just got up and done it!😂

This post is sort of a representation of that issue! Not only did I forget or run out of time to get my post ready, but it’s also THE last day of the month to get these projects finished for the challenges they were intended for! Story of my life!

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Oh my gosh this is too funny!!🤣 A few months back I had spent some time at the Taylored Expressions store and had a laugh at some of the sentiments that I didn’t realize were in the store and decided that they would make some great cards to send out and they go well with those Grumplings stamps too! I also wanted to participate in the #TEMAKER challenge before it ends, so I enjoyed putting this one together!

Believe it or not, I had a sample of dental floss in my purse and decided to pull some out and use it for this card! LOL! It meets the challenge which is to use something from your purse or junk drawer! I just tied it around the card front! I used some dies from my stash for the tree branch and the hexagon shape. The papers comes from Taylored Expressions along with the Grouchy Grumplings II stamp set (owl) that I cut out with the coordinating die and popped him up with foam tape over the branch. The hilarious sentiment comes from the Pitch Black stamp set and I know I’ll be using some of those others on more cards soon! Tee hee! I also found some fun yellow sequins laying on my desk and added them to finish it off!

Here’s a closer view of the “bird” and how I’ve colored him up with my copic markers. I’ve used the TE papers to cut out the pieces in the branch as well as the background and hexagon shapes. If you look at the “bird’s” eyes, you can see where I’ve added some glossy accents. He does look a bit tired!!

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The reason for the strip at the bottom actually came from a mistake in calculating measurements for my card panel, so I just added a strip that I cut out from the hexagon die and used it as part of the design. Sometimes there are ways to fix mistakes, so never think you’ve ruined something!

I hope you’ve gotten a chuckle from my card today as it has made me laugh!!😆 Thanks so much for dropping in today as I really appreciate your support and thoughts here!

P.S. I have been busy “behind the scenes” doing various different things and haven’t shared them as of yet in my posts, but here’s a little look at what I’ve been doing lately:

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I also haven’t shared my latest masculine cards, so I’ll be sharing those soon as well as other things I’m working on too! Just getting things sorted out and taking the time to do it is all!

Have a great day and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges (for bird card):

Taylored Expressions – #TEMAKERCHALLENGE – hexagon, yellow & purse
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
Colour Crazy Craft – Any Handcolored Image
Creative Fingers– #189 Anything Goes
Crafting Happiness– #55 Anything Goes
Use Your Stuff – Free Week
Creatalicious – #190 Anything Goes

Turtley Adorable!🐢

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great week so far! Really hate it when technology doesn’t cooporate and I have to figure it out, but hopefully I can soon! Sometimes it just needs to be done!🤔

Anyway, I was wanting to post some masculine cards I made for Father’s Day earlier this week, but I’ll have to post another time as this card was already done and is needed to enter a challenge that is ending soon:

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I love that wee little baby turtle riding on the back with his tongue out! The stamp was colored up with Copic markers, cut out with a circle die, along with another circle layer of Cabbage cardstock that I’ve also used for the A2 top folding card base, and another circle layer of vellum.

I was super excited to try out the brand new Ranger Distress line color “Speckled Egg” products! I’ve used the Distress Oxide ink to sponge over the image onto a piece of Sidewalk cardstock that was cut out with a stitched rectangle die. I also took the Circle Tone stencil and added some Opal Chroma Glaze over it. You can see how pretty the shimmer is on those dots!

For the banner along the side, I took another piece of sidewalk cardstock and cut my own banner with scissors. I took my embossing ink pad and covered the banner piece with it and then heat embossed the Speckled Egg Distress Glaze EP over it…turned out so pretty! I heat embossed the sentiment from the same turtle stamp set over a piece of vellum and wrapped it around the banner before attaching it to the card.

Lastly, I’ve added some metallic shimmer ribbon from my stash and some pretty sparkling sequins that remind me of bubbles. The card was designed based upon a sketch, see details below post.

Here’s a better view of the cute image and coloring I’ve done. I’ve added some dots with a white gel pen for their cheeks as well as their eyes and noses. I’ve also used it for highlights on their shell.

You can also see a better view of that pretty shimmer from the Metallic Chroma Glaze that I used over a stencil. Thought it was great for the circle theme going on.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and have been inspired in some way or has brought you a smile! Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll be seeing you again soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + coloring
The Divas That Cut…Paper! – Summer Fun + dies
Crafting Happiness – #154 Anything Goes optional: Under the Sea
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
Make My Monday – #125 Use Stencils
The Sisterhood of Crafters – Stenciling

Whimsy Retreat Crafty Fun Results

Hello friends! Hope you’re having a great week! I’m so glad you’ve joined me today as I have lots of fun creations to share with you!😀

This past weekend Whimsy S tamps held a “virtual craft retreat“, so I thought I’d tag along and join in on the fun! I’m glad I did because I made several cards:

The first challenge given was a tic-tac-toe challenge. I did 3 down: birthday, heat embossing and circles for mine. Almost had 2 bingos…but didn’t quite work out! Aren’t those penguin eyeballs the best?! LOL! I needed to send out a birthday card to someone so this was great timing!

The background papers, cover die, sentiment die and the penguin stamps are all from Whimsy Stamps. I even put little ice cube confetti for my shaker card!

This card was made for the second challenge given during the event which was to use a sketch and a color palette using at least 2 of the colors given. This was my take on the sketch along with using blue, green and brown from the palette.

Most all of the items used on this design came from an older card kit from Whimsy Stamps. The stamp set is still available in the store called Enjoy the Journey. For the sentiment panel, I heat embossed a sentiment from this stamp set and then used the Slimline Postage die to cut along the edges of it.

Tihs is the card that I created for the third challenge issued which was to follow a photo prompt with words: “When it rains, look for rainbows. When it’s dark, look for stars.” The first thing that came to my mind was these cool Rainbow Papers from Whimsy Stamps and so I’ve cut a panel out with an older Whimsy Stamps die along with the image panel.

This image is called Rainy Day Smiles by Sassy Cheryl’s which is what I had actually won as a prize from the event over the weekend for one of the games..so that was cool! I wanted to be sure to use it for one of my cards! I added some raindrop crystals on a few areas of the image too.

This card was made for the fourth challenge given which was simply to create a project with one of the digital freebie images that was given during the event.

Facebook actually kicked me out of the event a few times for leaving too many comments! LOL! I was trying to participate in games and it told me that I was leaving too many comments! This was one of the cute freebie images that they gave at the event called Sloth. After all that happened…I felt that this little guy was laughing at me!🤣🤣🤣 So I wanted to laugh right along with him, and I printed him out, colored him with Copics and used the Whimsy Stamps Notched Square dies and layered him over some papers from my stash and attached to a 5″ square card base that I stenciled some clouds on along with the background of the image. I die cut some leaves from the Whimsy Stamps No-See All Seasons Tree die set to add to the top corners of the image panel.

Needless to say, I did “hang in there” right along with him!!😄

And last but not least, the fifth challenge was to make a project based on one of the video tutorials that was shown at the event. Of course, I’m always inspired by Crissy Armstrong and her coloring! This sweet little penguin called Penguin Momma was a freebie given during the event and I watched Crissy color this up and I tried my hand at her tips and tricks.

I printed out another piece of the feather background and cut it out with the Whimsy Stamps Zig Zag Stitched Rectangle dies and added my own white feather to the design. I sponged some grey ink around the edges of the printed papers and added some yellow crystals.

I had such fun creating these projects and pulling out my Whimsy Stamps stash for the challenges. And now I have a few cards for sending out to people that I already have in mind! Hope you’ve enjoyed my makes today and I’ll be seeing you again soon!! (The links in this post contain affiliate links if you want to purchase anything! Thank you!!)

Challenges:

Creatialicious – Anything Goes optional birthdays
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Love to Craft – Anything Goes
Crafty Creations – Anything Goes
Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + colouring
Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
Creative Craft Cottage – Anything Goes
Creative Moments – Anything Goes
Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes

Celebrate For 2 Crafty Critter Crazies + Other News

Hello friends! Happy April 1st which means it’s time for a new monthly challenge for the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge! Remember that it’s always an “ANYTHING GOES + CRITTER” challenge to enter your creation. We’re looking forward to seeing your projects!

This month we’re being sponsored by Digi Doodle Studios! They were kind enough to provide images for the design team to create their projects with, so here’s what I’ve made for my challenge project:

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I think I could probably celebrate with these cute little hedgies, couldn’t you?!🦔🦔

This image is called Hedgie Party from Digi Doodle Studios and it was super fun to color up for my card! We can always use birthday cards in our stash, so I pulled out some papers from my stash…including some left over pieces to assemble the design.

I used a Simon Says Stamp stamp set to heat emboss the stars over the green decorative paper with gold EP. I stamped the sentiment at the bottom of the paper from the same stamp set with black ink. I cut out this panel with a square stitched die, layered over white cardstock and then attached it to a piece of orange top folding 5″ square card base.

I pulled out some gold mirror cardstock cut with a scallop square die and layered it over the design, wrapped some gold ribbon around it, placed the layered image panel over top of that with craft foam and added the bow.

Here’s a closer view of the image I’ve colored with Copic markers. I’ve also used a white and gold gel pen to create some polka dots over parts of the image.

Hard to see in the photo, but I covered the big present bow with a glitter brush pen too.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today using this sweet DDS image! Thanks for stopping in!

Other news:

Just FYI that this post will be my final creation as a design team member for not only 2 Crafty Critter Crazies, but also for Digi Doodle Studios as well. Although I adore everyone on these design teams very much, it’s just time for me to let DTs go for a while.

Challenges: