I kept this card simple as the original idea I had wouldn’t work properly. The die is an unbranded star wreath and I cut 3 but only used 2 in the end. The sentiment is from a GKD set called Sweet Thing and after stamping it I went over it with a Sakura glitter pen. Once I had the die cuts placed and glued I added some Hero Arts Glow in the Dark paint to the lilac stars. They shine here but I can’t photograph the glow in the dark part. My original idea was to use this card in 2 challenges but as that didn’t work it is solely for the JUG challenge this week.

Autumn – Sweet Stamping Challenge http://cutitupchallenges.blogspot.com/ – Happy Fall, Y’all + at least 3 Layers 

I had been wanting to use these skeleton leaves that a generous friend gave to me a year ago and never got around to doing much with. After seeing some lovely fall cards from stampinbuddies and on Pinterest I decided to make this one. Using Sweet Mango CS and Gathered Twigs Distress ink, I first cut and scored the card base and the Z fold strip. Then I stamped the leaves as shown and added the sentiment from same set randomly. The horse stamp is an old wooden block stamp and after stamping with versamark and heat embossing clear I fussy cut him out. I adhered him to the fold strip and added a small die cut piece of grass along the bottom. The fence is a purchased die cut and I glued that on top of the rest. Before gluing the Z fold added the 2 white strips so I would have somewhere to personalize the card. I also stamped the word grateful on the front. Using a tree stamp from the GKD Wetlands set I added the trees and heat embossed those with a shimmery gold powder. The random dots were bits left from hole punching some cs and I picked out the colours that seemed to work best for this card.

When the sketch challenge arrived in my inbox from MFT I decided to participate. Without any clear picture in my head except the sketch I began by cutting the pp into the oval shape. Then I had to think because as yet, I don’t have many stamp sets from MFT. I went through my stamp lists to see what I could use and pulled out this retired set called Sushi Date for which I also have matching dies. I’ve had it for a while and have enjoyed using it. Initially I was drawn to the sentiment because it kind of expressed my feeling about making the card. That is how it got created, I just rolled along. I backed the white panel with some blue that is a close match to the blue in the pp and added it to the card front. Then I stamped the sentiment in Blueprint sketch, cut it into two pieces and adhered them to another of the blue paper pieces. I decided to place it underneath the oval. I stamped and die cut the bamboo and played around with placement before gluing. At first I thought I would keep to only the one image, but then decided to stamp the critter image. Coloured that with pencils added a bit of Nuvo Crystal glaze to the eyes and ears and called it finished.

One of my friends was complaining about not being able to find good pet sympathy cards and suggested to me that I make a bunch and sell them to stores. Its a flattering suggestion, but not one I’m about to actually do, as I’m not wishing to making my hobby into a business. That said, I thought it would be nice to make her a few she can keep on hand for a future occasion she may require one. She is a huge dog lover and has two of her own. One hopes not to need sympathy cards, but the reality is that we all need them sometimes.

I used a small SSS stamp set to make these along with two Crazy Dog images from Tim Holtz. The middle card has a space left for the pet’s name to be written in and is my take on something seen on Pinterest. I added a sticky note so she knows to add the pet name. PP is from a Recollections collection I’ve had a long time. They all have a sentiment inside with a bit of decoration too. These are the first cards I’ve made for almost a month. Had fun doing them.

When my new Hero Arts kit arrived the other day I was pretty excited as they have had issues with getting orders fulfilled due to Covid-19. Anyway I decided to have a go at playing with it and this is what I came up with. I confess it isn’t my design as I basically CASEd a design from their blog. You can find it here. My version isn’t an exact copy but it is a close one. I had fun following along with the video to get something similar and am happy with how it turned out. I coloured with a combination of pencils, copics and Spectrum noir markers, but my blending leaves a lot to be desired. It took several tries for me to get the cutting and embossing right based on the instructions but I managed it in the end. As it fits the challenge I decided to enter it although when I first started the card I wasn’t really doing it with a challenge in mind.

Using one of my new MFT Floral background stamps I stamped the image in white pigment ink onto the blue cs and then clear embossed it. I already had the 2 frame die cuts on my desk as they were left from another project and I intertwined them and then laid them on the card to see how it looked. I liked it, so decided to proceed with using these but making part of the stamped image stand out more. I initially coloured in the center parts with a white pencil but it wasn’t quite white enough so went over the top with some white water colour. This I liked. I added some gold water colour to the flower centers and used a pencil on the stems. Didn’t want a lot of colour but it definitely needed the hint. From a Divinity Designs stamp set I chose the sentiment and stamped it with Blueprint Sketch Distress oxide to which I added clear heat embossing. Cut it to the size and popped it up at the bottom. Getting the negative and positive look gave me a background paper and a solid image in the frames and I love the result.

On previous posts you’ve seen scraps of the background already but this is the card originally created using it. Stamp sets used are from Concord & 9th, Inspired by Stamping with the beach ball coming from a free Internet image. I hand tore the bottom of the background piece to create the illusion of waves on the beach, then I added a piece of kraft that I shaded a bit to create the illusion of sand. Once it was glued to card front I added the chair and the ball. I added the sun and glittered the centre of it then added tiny clouds on top. Added the larger cloud and then the fussy cut sentiment. If all goes well, I hope to be sitting on our boat looking over the ocean pretty soon.

This cute digi was found on Pinterest as a freebie so I decided to use it for this challenge. I resized it a bit in CorelDraw and then printed it onto some cs. Using mostly Inktense pencils, along with one or two copics I coloured all the elements until I was happy with them. The sentiment is combination of several stamps from SSS which I put together after cutting each one to the correct size. I glued these to the card front. This was kept very simple and is for the most part a one layer card. I thought of adding some bling but decided it didn’t need any embellishment.

My card uses the middle line – insect, flowers and woodgrain and it also includes the double dare as it has bling added too. I started with one of my new Taylored Expressions layering stencils called Hexagon and after adding the mask I proceeded to ink up the panel using Distress Oxides. Once that was done I took a Sissix EB folder and dry embossed the bark wood grain. On another piece I stamped the daisies from a GKD set called Daisy Delight and coloured them with a mix of pencils and Copics. When happy I fussy cut them out. Added a few bits of foam at the back and then onto card front. From the same set I used the ladybug stamp, fussy cut and then added in the corner. Sentiment was stamped onto a sss says banner die and I found a small paper bow in my stash and added that to the flower stems. A few gems for flower centers and a pearl on the bow and the card was complete.

My idea to create this card was to fill the divided space with sweet things. All images have been fussy cut after colouring and I used several stamp sets for the images. 3 sets are from GKD and one stamp is from CTMH. I used some left over cut strips to divide up my card and tried to get even spacing considering that anything to do with numbers is not my forte. Coffee, cake and sweet wishes go together in my book. There is a bit of glitter on the card that doesn’t show in the photo. The card base is gray from SSS.