Sketch A2920

I always love finding sketch ideas that help me use up scraps from my scrap binds. This stamp was one that I won from Repeat Impressions  probably over a year or so ago. It is such a sweet image and wanted to use it on this sketch challenge this week over on their blog site here:

https://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/sketch-challenges/what-if-wednesday-sketch-challenge-a2920/

I used copic markers to color the image and the sentiment is from Gina K designs,

CCEE2018- Penguin Day

Hi Crafty Friends,

It's Frances back again with one last challenge for April. I hope you have all enjoyed the challenges this month.

Penguins - Apparently the 25th April was World Penguin Day ... feature penguins on your cards this week. Don't have penguins, then create a black and white card.

Now let's take a look at what the Design Team has created this week. Check them out www.cceestampers.blogspot.com  and play along if you like. 

Here's my card and not being able to locate a penguin in my stash, I had to resort to putting one together from diecut pieces. I loved these big googly eyes I found and liked that they were the same baby blue as my background paper. 

It appears he has spent most of his quarantined time eating like I have!! It's been nice keeping up with friends via the internet, but I do look forward to getting to be with them in person when all this is over,  Life is better with friends!! 

2 Tuesday challenges on one card

I have spent the day stamping today and checking out weekly challenges. Here is the sketch for the Try stampin' or Not on Tuesday challenge:

And then I decided to do the black, white plus one color challenge on the Try It on Tuesday Challenge that can be found HERE.

I used an Unity stamp that I repeated stamping onto my patterned design paper. Then I stamped it on the smaller banner tag. I stamped it twice and cut out the rose on the second one to pop up from the other. I only colored this image using red and black colored pencils. I added red stripes and a row of square rhinestones over the top part of the banner. This is one of my favorite color combos. Hope you like it.

Make my Mondays - using digitals

I have so loved every Power Poppy digital image I have gotten from them. Coloring Marcella Hawley's love floral bouquets has be such a great way to enjoy my quarantined time this spring. I colored thes with colored pencils and then I got back over and do some highlighting with copic markers. I fussy cut this bouquet out and added the lacy border. It just looked so perfect with this rich purple cardstock base. What I love about digitals is that you can size them to be the perfect size you need for your card, and when you order them and pay for them, they can be directly downloaded to your computer instantly.

I made this card for the Make My Monday challenge, which was to use a digital image, and you can find the details for the challenge HERE.

Shopping our stash weekly challenge

I visited some old stamps from my stash this week for this challenge. the magnolia stamp is from Flourishes from when Marcella Hawley use to design for them. And the sentiment is from Verve another great stamp company that has gone out of business. The green cardstock base was in my left over halves box that I used the other half on some past project and this was the piece left over. I had this desig paper left on the cutting table from an earlier project last week. And the punches used around the sentiment are old SU punches when I use to be a demonstrator for them. The silver border printed piece I had in my embellishment drawer. The only new thing on this card is the lattice die behind the magnnlia. I colored the image with colored pencils and copic markers.  I love challenges like this one that shows those older supplies and stamps still make wonderful cards. You don't always need the latest and greatest. Great art in the images are the key for longevity for me. Although it may be a very different Mother's Day this year, I hope to send all the special friends of mine and in my family who are wonderful mothers to their children, especially in challenging times like we have had for the last 7  weeks or so. Press on Moms of the world, we can do this.

You can find the Shopping Your Stash challenge HERE.
I also did this card for the Retro challenge, which is to use stamps you have owned for over a year. These two stamps used on this card and much older than that and both the companies they were made by are no longer in business.  You can find the Retro challenge details on their blogsite:  https://www.retrorubberchallengeblog.com/

52 Christmas Throwdown challenge- Herringbone

The 52 Christmas Card throwdown challenge this week was to make a herringbone pattern on the card. I love any challenge that motivates me to use up scraps from my scrap box. This one was so much fun, After doing the herringbone pattern with my scraps, I colored this digital from Power Poppy and fussy cut it out too glue on top. I stamped the Merry Christmas and free cut a banner like shape around it. I oolored the poinsetta with colored markers, the berries with Copic markers and finished the pine needs and leaves with markers and colored pencils. You can find the Christmas card throwdown HERE.

Color Throw Down #590

I made this card for the Ways to Use challenge and the Color thrown Challenge this week. For the Ways to use it was to use some kind of faux washi tape or masking tape technique. I used a Unity set to stamp what looks like washi tape and then I embossed over it. I used the color throw down colors of kraft, yellow, green,  and navy. The sentiment stamped on the tag is from Gina K designs.

You can find the Color Throw Down challenge here: https://colorthrowdown.blogspot.com/2020/04/color-throwdown-590.html

the ways to use challenge can be found on Splitcoaststampers blog. 

CCEE2017 Interactive card

Fancy folds and interactive cards are certainly challenging to me, but I did  comply with the challenge.  Frances, is our hostess for this month, and if you are familiar to CCEE stampers, you know she is the master of interactive cards. Every month she is so amazing and creative with the theme and bringing it to life with her action cards. So, here is her challenge for us this week:

It's Frances here again with another fun challenge for you all.

Interactive - Anyone who knows me knows how much I love cards that pop, slide or move in any shape or form. For our challenge this week, let's create an interactive card ... what type you make is up to you.

Here is what our Design Team created this week ....

www.cceestampers.blogspot.com


My card is a simple suspension card. The rose panel twirls around on a piece of jute.  The rose is from Unity and the inside script is from Stampin' Up. The embossing folder is a Tim Holtz Sizzix folder. 

A spring bouquet

This pretty bouquet is a fabulous digital from Power Poppy. The senetiment is from an old set I have had for a long time. This card is for the Dragon Dreams Challenge and the Allsorts Challenge I colored the image with colored pencils and highlighted with Copic markerrs I robbed my scrapbos of some great leftover designn papers left from other projects that seem to go well with this cheerful card. Hope this brings some enlightenment to your day! Be safe and stay home!!

HMFMC 314

This card was made for this week's House Mouse challenge. This is one of my more recent purchases of House Mouse stamps.  Since the quarantine I have learned to enjoy some of the smaller things in life to take notice of: squirrels, birds, lizards, and yes, even an afternoon nap. I used colored pens to color the image. I used dies and a flower punch to help put this together.

Paper Players CAS 487 sparkle

I made this CAS card for the Paper Players Challenge this week. We were to add a sparkle. I made a white card, smeared some spun sugar distress oxide ink onto it. Then I stamped this butterfly from Our Daily Bread designs, colored it with pink copic markers and colored pencils, and cut it with a die. I covered the whole butterfly with a sparkle gel pen to get a soft shimmer on the wings. I stamped the small sentiment, stamped some spattered dots of darker pink ink, added the printed heart border and placed the butterfly on top of it.  I've been taking advantage of my extra stamping time by taking part in weekly challenges. You can find the Paper Player challenge HERE.

Creative Artise challenge #59

/During the pandemic, I have had more time to explore the internet for stamping challenges that I have ot tried before. I found this site: https://creativeartistemixedmedia.blogspot.com/2020/04/welcome-to-creative-artiste-challenge-59.html  that calls for mixed media and this card met that requirement. The geraniums are a Power Poppy digital that I colored with Copic markers and colored pencils. For the background panel I used versafine black ink to stamp the Stampin' Up background verse. I fussy cut the geraniums to fit the black panel and the sketch was one used on the sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers this week. I really liked that sketch and have made a couple of cards using it this week. I have been inspired this week to work on floral cards because spring has arrived here in my part of the world---the Gulf coast of Texas.

Color Throw Down 589

I did this for the Color Throw Down challenge to use black, grey, and red. I hope I find the link working today so I can load it over there on their site. This is a Unity stamp set that is so fun to color.  I used Copic markers for my coloring  and I also used a white colored pencil on the rose to highlight the lighter shades on the red petals. The background design paper had roses done in black and grey.

Click this site to find the details of the challenge - Color Throw Down challenge

Festive Friday Challenge

This is for the Festive Friday challenge. I am using a superhero (the nurse), she is wearing her green scrubs, I put some encouraging words on it and added some hearts. I am so proud of my great niece who has been a nurse for just over a year and I am so thankful for all the work she is doing as are all of our medical teams all over the world. What devotion and courage they display in doing their jobs. Words are just not enough in expressing gratitude to them. Praying for these angels of our world daily. Find this challenge HERE 

This image is from Unity and so is the sentiment. I colored it with colored pencils and copic markers.

Double D challenge - showers and flowers

This card I made for the Showers and Flowers challenge going on over at Double D this week.
The digital of the little girl in the raincoat is from Sassy Cheryl Designs,  the stamped flowers and leaves are from Rubber Tapestry stamps, and the sentiment is from Untty. I fund this sentiment to be a timely one for this pandemic. You can find the details of the challenge HERE.

CCEE2016 stenciling

Hi Crafty Friends,

It's Frances here with another challenge for you today.

Stencils - There are so many fun stencils out there these days, to help decorate our cards. Let's create a card that uses at least one stencil, either for a background or focal image.

Let's take a look at what our Design Team created for this challenge over at the CCEEStampers blog site: HERE

Here is mine:

Tthis is a digital image from Power Poppy. I added the stenciled stripes with marigold marmalade distress oxide ink. The sentiment was stamped in versafine black ink. I colored the diigital image with copic markers. 

Make my Monday Challenge - spring flowers

These beautiful flowers are a digital from Power Poppy. They were colored with copic markers and the  sentiment is from Sweet and Sassy. I made this card to enter into the Make my Monday challenge to use spring flowers. I think these fit the bill. You can find the details for the challenge HERE.

/Retro Stamp Challenge Square

I used the colors from SCS' color challenge this morning, and the challenge from Retro Rubber Challenge to make aa square card for this card this morning. I used white 5 by 5 inch card base of white, I embossed it with this terrific embossing folder from Darice, then cute smaller sqaures of so saffron. Using the petal pink and mint macaroon for the flowers and leaves I added to the so saffron squares. I used pearls for the centers. Then I added this sentiment from a PSX rubber stamp dated 1996. (I;ve been rubber stamping for quite some time!)  You can ckeck out the color challenge over on Splitcoaststampers and the Retro Challenge HERE.

Paper players color challenge 486

I have been enjoying the birds that come to my backyard during my quarantined time over this past month. Blue jays are some of the ones that I have seen and when I saw this color challenge today on Paper Players, I knew which stamp I wanted to use. I am not sure I got close to that blue but it was the closest I had for the one mentioned in the challenge that can be found HERE.

I have been enjoying my extra time getting to stamp and checking on some of these fabulous challenges that can be found every day somewhere on the internet. I check Challenges for days to find where some of them can be found. 

The stamp I used is from Unity, the circle for the sun is from SU, I embossed the blue panel with an embossing folder from Tim Holtz, and the die is from Sizzix. 

Easter Blessings

I know this is a very different Easter for all of us, but I have probably spent more quality time reflecting on God's love, mercy, and grace more than ever before. Yes, it doesn't quite seem the same but that does not mean that new awareness and the feeling that change is not needed in our world, and more than anything that God needs to be the center of our world and not our selfish, worldly desires. More than any lesson I have learned, I have truly seen that His grace is sufficient in my life. He has provided me with food, I am retired so I have not lost my fixed income, but I am grateful for an income. I have discovered how much joy nature can bring to my day when I watch the birds, squirrels, and lizards hopping around in my backyard. I feel like they are all little messengers from God and bringing reassurance that if God takes care of them, He certainly is mindful of mankind.

Thank you for the promises you give us, God and thank you for never giving up on us. You let us suffer some of the consequences we deserve but I know your mighty hand will pull us out of this fire. Like the silversmith refining the silver to take away the impurities, your watchful eye is on the whole process to retrieve from the fire as not to destroy us but only to burn of the impurities. Have mercy on us, O LORD, and restore a rightful spirit within us. In the name of the name above all others, Christ Jesus, your beloved son. Amen.

Purple Hydrangeas

I did this card for the Splitcoast stampers challenge to use Purple, for the Little Red Wagon challenge to mix 'em up, and the Global Design Project to make an Easter or spring card. For the Mix 'em up challenge the digital hydrangeas are from Power Poppy, the stumps used in the background are all retired Stampin' Up stamps, and the sentiment is from Gina K. The die is from Sizzix,  I used Distress Oxide inks to color the flower, copics for the leaves, and some of the flower
Here are where you can find these challenges:

https://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/ways-use-f46/wt787-purple-04-09-2020-a-t632999.html

http://www.global-design-project.com/2020/04/global-design-project-235-theme.html

http://lilredwagon.blogspot.com/2020/04/challenge-544-mix-em-up.html

Double D Banner Challenge

I loved finding Power Poppy having a big sale on their digital stamps this week and this is one of the dozen that I had to have. I decided this looked like a very yummy birthday cake and decided with a few colorful banners hanging above it, it would be great on a card for the Double D banner challenge this week. You can find the details of the challenge HERE.

I colored my image with my copic markers. The sentiment is from an old retired set from Stampin' Up.

CCEE2015

Hi Crafty Friends,

It's Frances here, issuing the challenge again this week.

Apparently today is Unicorn Day … let's feature unicorns on our cards this week.

Here is what the Design Team came up with this week ....


Frances Byrne - StampOwl's Studio

Anne Harmon - Inkinginred

Lois Bak - Clownmom Creations


Vicky Gould - Village Stamper Ramblings


Vicky Gould - Village Stamper Ramblings


Lynn McAuley - Confessions of a Left-Brained Stamper

Kelly Santi - Sandcastlestamper

And here is mine:

I recently found this stylistic unicorn stamp at Tuesday Morning so it jumped into my cart and I made this card. I make a lot of kid's birthday cards for a friend of mine who is helping her son raise her grandkids because they lost their mom to cancer last year. Abi's class  has always got somebody celebrating a birthday and Unicorns seem to always be a hit. 

I stenciled the background with distress oxide inks  using a make up brush as my blending tool. 

CCEE2014

Hi Crafty Friends,

It's a brand new month, which means it's time to introduce our new challenge hostess to you, which is Frances Byrne.

According to the Days of the Year web site, April is Garden Month. So for our challenge this week be inspired by a Garden .... flowers, plants, trees, insects, garden shed, etc. Anything that you might find in a garden is good for this challenge.

Check over on the CCEEstampers@blogspot.com to see all the great creations from the team.  Join in on the fun if you like.

Used a new embossing folder from Spellbinder and also a Spellbinder die set  that I hadn't made a card with yet. The sentiment is from a very old stamp set from Clear Art Stamps (2009).  I have such fun making use of old and new stuff. It is like researching in a grand old library and finding buried treasures that still fit the bill today!!  

Praying for the world and for everyone's safety from this pandemic. We are all in this together and we will see our way through.  Like a little quote on FB said this week: If something like a little microscopic germ can cause something so huge, just think of what our mustard seed of faith can do in comparison. Hold on to your faith.