Donna's Birthday

Donna Phelan's birthday is December 25th. I wanted to make her a card in her favorite color (sunshine yellow) and as far away from a Christmas theme as I could. I made one of these oval accordian cards a month or so ago so I thought I could make another one without watching the VIDEO. NOT!!!! Karen gave some tips for assembly in the video that I forgot and so there were some issues. Note to self ....ALWAYS WATCH THE VIDEO... I had five panels made and shabbily put together. I just could not send it so I started all over again. I got four panels done in time to mail. 

I started with Elizabeth Crafts  Accordion Oval die. I cut four panels in white and four in yellow dp.

                                            

                                               

I did remember to take pictures of the individual panels before I put it together. The flower was made using IO hydrangea flowers in the shape of a lilac. The Paper is PTI.

                                                          Memory Box Rhone Butterfly Wings  

Die Mensions Birthday Cake

Sue Wilson Just for You   

 Frantic Stamper Ovals

Cheery Lynn Pour the Wine

Frantic Stamper Ivy

Sue Wilson On your Special Day

Elizabeth Crafts  Edges

Die - Mensions Birthday Balloon

                                         

Head on over to Donna's Blog and wish her a Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday and spend some time looking at her gorgeous designs.

I will enter this in the Mod Squad Challenge Blog.

Double D Silver and Gold

Can you believe this is the last Double D Challenge for this year? Where did the time go?  Next month we start a new year with new challenge boards. I have seen them and The Ds have once again provided fabulous inspiration. For this challenge  Darlene's Mood board captures the warmth of gold and silver beautifully. 

                                                 

This is my take on the challenge. I cut a Diversions Whispers Angelic in black and backed it with some double sided adhesive paper and then applied some Nuvo gilding flakes to make a background. Then I used some embossing powder to make gold and silver paper and cut two more panels. I fussy cut around the angels and star and  popped them up with a slight offset.  

Don't forget to visit the Double D Blog to see all the inspiration from the team. Then join us in the challenge. 

Double D White Christmas

Are you ready for some inspiration from Diane? I loved the light and airy look of this mood board, and the theme in general. As a kid growing up in Western Pennsylvania,  the hope of a white Christmas was always possible, but it did not  always happen.  When it did though, it seemed magical.   

I made a Christmas ornament for this card. I cut two of the  largest Spellbinders Royal circles and one of the next size but this time  I used  the negative to make a boarder around the ornament. The scene is from a Frantic Stamper die cut covered with some snow writer and glitter. I used some silver cord and some blue ribbon and topped that off with a white flower. 

The team came up with fabulous designs for this challenge so head to the Double D Blog and check it out. We are always so excited  to see your creations.


   

Dies R Us Anything Goes Christmas

Dies R Us has everyone's favorite challenge at this time of the year, Anything Goes Christmas.  I used this fabulous Frantic Stamper Church in the Woodland die for my Christmas cards last year. I love the way it cuts, I swear that I give it one pass in the big shot and all the intricate details are cut... even the tiny holes for the church steeple and the tiny pieces of the fence. I wanted to use it again for a few Christmas Cards with a slightly different design. I sponged a panel for my background using a mask to create the moon. Then I took the scene and taped a little yellow and brown paper to create the window and door then put the scene on the sponged background. I cut an oval out of some card stock and put the oval from Frantic stamper on top of it. . I framed it using my Spellbinders A2  rectangular dies, and added the IO Peace sentiment.

         

                                      
                                                                      Frantic Stamper Church in the Wildwood
Frantic Stamper Ovals


 Visit The DRU Challenge Blog  HERE for more inspiration.                                                                  

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Quick and Easy Christmas Card

After Thanksgiving the crunch is to get Christmas Cards done. I have  some pretty blue glitter paper that fit the challenge at IO. I covered the glitter paper with the IO snowflake cover plate and then used a spellbinders oval on top. another IO Snowflake and the IO Merry Christmas cut from the same glitter paper then on to a card base. Beautiful cover plates like this are all you need for a quick and easy card. I will enter this in theIO Chill Out Challenge  and The Simon Says Wednesday Christmas to Die For challenge.

Easiest Christmas Card Ever

                             

I found this fun paper pack by Recollections that had these adorable snow people on them and I immediately thought of my sister who adores snow people. I decided she had to have a card using this paper so I bought the pack. Now what to do with them?

 What else use both pieces and do a Z fold card for her. First I cut the papers down and  added some wink of Stella glitter in red, green and clear to my snow people and a snow writer to flock the trees.

I fussy cut along the tree line  and glued the pieces to the second panel of my z fold. A bright red IO Merry Christmas and a few IO snowflakes and I was done. The blue paper is from PTI. 

I will enter this in the IO Chill Out Challenge.

Thank You in Sunshine Yellow

I belong to a group called PEO (Philanthropic Educational Organization ) International.  Our main goal is to help each other and to help women who are pursuing a college education with scholarships and encouragement.  This month we were visited by a representative from our state chapter who gave us some pointers and encouragement. The ladies asked me to make a thank you card for her to go along with a special gift we bought for her.  Our colors are yellow and white and our flower is the marguerite so I tried to incorporate those in the design. I used the Z fold design..... again. Please don't laugh at my water color attempt. Hey, I keep trying. The stamps are from Stampendous and they were embossed in white and colored with distress inks and a water brush. To add a glass effect to my jar I embossed it with UTE three times. The Thanks is from PTI.

Those of you who know me know that unlike my friends Donna and Judy I have a trepidation when it comes to mixing papers. PTI makes that easy for me. I buy their paper packs that have different designs in the same color.  Baby steps, my friends. This paper is their harvest gold.

Of course, I had to jazz up the inside with some dies I used Memory Box Wildflower corner  and Memory Box Sylvan Corner.  For the middle panel I used a Martha Stewart punch  and added a few more marguerites (daisies).  I also made a matching envelope box, but I forgot to take pictures of it. 

I really like how this came out and I welcomed the break from fall and Christmas cards. 

I will enter this in the 

Memory Box Challenge

Scrapyland

Christmas Critters

Since my duties as a designer for Mod Squad Challenges has ended, I decided to play along and maybe win a prize. My good friends Judy Woodland and Vicki Dutcher are hosting this week and have asked us to use ribbon some where on the card. To visit the challenge go Here. I have a good friend who loves and collects penguins so when I saw this Cottage Kutz penguin set, I had to have it. I am also on a Z fold kick here lately so I created a little snowy little penguin scene.

  The card base is covered with PTI paper. Since it is a light weight layering card I glued it onto some heavier white card and then scored both pieces after the glue was dry. The second panel is white. I cut it with a Sue Wilson die three times. Then I colored the trees by using the die as a stencil. Next I cut the houses out of red and green paper and backed the windows with some yellow paper and glued them to the white houses. I put some IO fence at the bottom then added three sleds from the penguin die. One carrying the tree, another the presents, and the third the baby, candy cane and all. Papa is pulling them home where Mama is cooking dinner. I added some ribbon and some snow to complete my scene. 

 Papa is pulling them home where Mama is cooking dinner. I added some ribbon and some snow to complete my scene. 


                                       

Lots of gluing and piecing in this and some time involved. I had so much fun that I did five of these. Some of my friends and family and some of DH golfing and fishing buddies are not the frilly flower style so these will be perfect for them, Going to make a couple of simple designs using these cute penguins for my card class. My penguin friend will be sooo happy. I will also enter this in Simon Says Wednesday Christmas Critters

Double D Traditional Christmas

The Double D challenge this time is to use red, white and green (optional gold) for  traditional Christmas Cards. Darlene put this  spectacular mood board together for us.  Our entire team is so appreciative of the wonderful inspiration they put together for us each month. Are you ready to be inspired? I love the fully decked mantel, the lovely tablescape and cute truck and tree against the plaid,but I went with the decorated banister and stairway.

                                                  

I decided I would do a double Z fold card. I love how easy they are to make and you have so many options of ways to decorate. I started with a Gina K red card stock and layered that with white that embossed with a Swiss dot embossing folder. (  I wish some company would do that design in a larger size). Of course, at Christmas time, you will see these Spellbinder  poinsettias on most of my cards. I start making them in June so I have a stash of them on hand for the holidays. This IO pine branch has been used so many times the the color is wearing off the back of the die. I get my money's worth from these dies. Three Gina Marie pine cones and a .... flourish finised finished the front of the card.  I used the IO  alphabet for the block letters and some IO snowflakes in between. A few sequins in red to finish the design.

There is a fabulous IO die for the prize this challenge so bring out the red, white and green and link up your creation for a chance to win....

                                            

Go over to the  Double D challenge  Blog  to get more inspiration from the team. 

Fall Watercolor Leaves

I began teaching some ladies to make some simple cards about three months ago. I try to teach them different techniques each time and review an older technique. This month we did water color smooshing for our fall leaves. We had not made any masculine cards so I challenged them to use the same card design to make a masculine card.  I also gave them a choice of different sentiments that went with the design. One of the cards I  made for an example works for the Cheery Lynn Challenge this time so I will enter it there.  The leaves are Cheery Lynn, the sentiments are PTI and the pumpkin is from Memory Box.

                                           

I have both a large and small set of Cheery Lynn leaves so I had them make a large water color panel so they could cut enough leaves for both a feminine and masculine card.We reviewed how to use an embossing folder and sponging, but I let them choose the embossing folder and sentiment they wanted  and decide if they wanted to sponge color onto the embossed piece. I made several samples for them. 

 

Fall Wreath

The new challenge at Dies R Us is called Thankful for Nature. This sentiment from IO is perfect for a nature theme. I cut two layers of the Tutti wreath. One from black and another from a water colored panel and layered them on the Cherry Lynn doily. I cut the Diversions  oriental screen in black and backed it with kraft card that has been  embossed and sponged with distress ink. I added a bow some wheat stocks and a couple of acorns.  For those of you who have not signed up for the newsletter from Dies R Us ..... YOU NEED NEED TO. They offer tremendous sales anywhere from 10% to 70% on selected dies or company's dies. They usually have a time limit and you need to get your order in within the limit, but you can really save the $$$$$. SO SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER.

 

Diversions Oriental Screen                       Tutti Designs Leafy Wreath                                            IO Wheat
                       

                                                  
                                                                                                                                                  

                                   
Cheery Lynn Acorn                                                            Cheery Lynn French Pastry    

    

I know you want to see what the  Design Team created this time so visit  Dies R Us and then create a Give Thanks for Nature project and link it up for a chance to win credit at the store. Don't forget to sign up for the newsletter while you are there
                                    

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Double D Fall Plaids

What a warm and cozy Mood Board Darlene created for us this month. I love the warm look of the blankets and socks.

 T

The Prize

 This was a real challenge for me because I don't have a huge stash of designer paper and I don't have any stamps to create a plaid pattern. Then I remembered a Christmas paper pad I bought several years ago. Yea!!! It had a plaid design, Since I have so many Christmas cards to make, this was perfect. Here is my plaid designed Christmas card. 

I made green background using some gold glimmer mist and framed it with a Gina Marie frame cut from the plaid background. Then I used a Spellbinder's ornament die to cut the plaid ornament. I decorated it with a Spellbinder;s poinsettias, Gina Marie pine cones and Cheery Lynn holly leaves. A Peace sentiment from Cheery Lynn finished the project.  So now head on over to see the inspiration from the design team at DD Challenges  and then pull out your plaids and create.