Dies R Us Red, White and Blue

Have you signed up to get e-mails from Dies R Us?  If you haven't, you are missing important information about sales and new products at the STORE.  While you are there, check out the Challenge Blog for the newest challenge, Red, White and Blue. 

How's this for clean and simple.  Look at all that white space.  I used one die set for this card. I cut it four times in white, red and two shades of blue.  I did some paper piecing to get the different colors.  The happy is debossed on the banner so it is easy to follow the lines with a white gel pen to make it stand out. I  used a birthday embossing folder on the negative part of the die and the inlaid it. 

Sue Wilson Birthday Party Frame

The team has some fabulous red, white, and blue inspiration for you at the Challenge Blog.  We would love to see your creations. 

Snowy Cabin and Playful Deer

I am so glad I live in a country where we have a change in seasons. No matter how hot the summers are I can look forward to crisp fall evenings, turning leaves and winter snow falls. On the coldest winter days, I know that we are only a few months away from spring flowers and summer picnics. So here we are in August and the Memory Box Challenge is Keep Cool and Carry On.  I decided I would enter this card in the Poppy Stamp Make a Splash Challenge and Scrapy Land Anything Goes too.  This is my second attempt at an inside shadow box card.  

Outside                                                              Inside                                                                                       

                                                                                        

You can find the directions for the Inside shadow box  from Jennifer Mcquire Here. 

Poppy Stamps challenge required us to make a splash .  I made the background by sponging some distress oxide inks on white card and spritzing it with water. Then I watered down some glue and splashed  that on the background and then I sprinkled that with white glitter.

I used these dies for the inside.

Memory Box Batavia Oval                                    Poppy Stamps Perfect Pine

     

Poppy Stamp Playful Fawn                                               Poppy Stamps House in the Woods

                                                       

                                                    I kept the outside of the card simple.
                                             

For the Outside I used these dies'

Memory Box Batavia Oval                                            Memory Box Deer Grove Oval

                                                         
    Memory Box Batavia                                                     Poppy Stamps Ava

                                                          

  I will add a sentiment when I decide if I want it for a Winter Card or a Christmas Card. 

IO It's a Guy Thing

I needed a couple of guy cards for upcoming birthdays so why not enter a challenge.  Impression Obsession's It's a GuyThing Challenge was a perfect fit. 

I used the following Impression Obsession Dies for this challenge. I have had the deer trio and grass border for years, but the bride and groom die is new.  I removed the bride and groom and added the deer. It is a great way to get more use of a die.  I can picture many scenes under this canopy of trees.


Bride and Groom Frame


 Grass Border

Deer Trio

Double D The Moon and the Stars

"Fly me to the moon , and let me play among the stars. 

Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars." 

For some reason that song came to mind when I saw this Mood Board. 

These pictures are so much fun. 

Last year I was so behind on Christmas cards that it became a stress to get them done.   I vowed that would not happen this year so when a challenge works for a Christmas card, that is what I am doing. 

I started by sponging a background with a masked moon and then used a stamp for some stars and and the sentiment.  I put the Amy Designs Vintage Village die cut on top. I cut it in black and white and did some fussy cuts to add the black to the die cut.  I also used some gold glitter paper to back the windows of the church and for a few extra stars. 

We would love to see what you have in mind for our Moon and Stars Challenge.  One random participant will win this fun die.   

The team has some fabulous inspiration for you at Double D Challenge Blog.  Go take a peek and then grab some stars and or  a moon supplies and inspire us.

Wish upon a Star

The theme of this week's Dies R Us Challenge is "You are a Star".  This card is unusual for me because there are no flowers, no butterflies, no sponging....nothing but stars and a sentiment.  I think it would make a great guy card.

I used two dies from the Dies R Us Store. I decided to use some PTI paper for my background and go with a blue and white scheme. I  cut a lot of stars in blue and white.  I just kept playing with them until some sort of composition occurred. When I was done, I decided it needed a little pop of color so I cut some yellow stars.  I ended up just using a few of the small ones.

Karen Burniston Birthday

Tutti Nessting Stitched Stars  

We hope you will join us for this challenge and a chance to win a gift certificate to the Dies R Us Store.  If you have not visited recently you need to check out all the products at the store.  Do you need ink, decorator paper, glue, embossing folders, Stickles, Nuvo drops .....? You will find them all at the store at great prices. While you are there, sign up for the news letter.  If you do, you will be notified of all the special sales that are offered.  Have fun and show us some stars and moons. 

Dies R Us Black and White

I am not sure what happened to July, but here it is August the first and time for a brand new challenge at Dies R Us Challenge Blog. We challenge you to use Black and White with NO extra color. I started with the Precious Marieke Clemantis Oval topped with white flowers and black centers.   Some pearls that were colored black with Copic markers were added to the centers of the flowers. 

Precious Marieke Clemantis Oval

Elizabeth Craft Shasta Daisy

 Cheery Lynn Daisy Strip

The team has some great inspiration for you at Dies R Us Challenge Blog. While you are there, don't forget to visit the store. don't forget to link up your Black and white project for a chance to win a gift certificate to the store. 

Double D Coffee or Tea

We have a new theme at Double D Challenge Blog. Here is the mood board Dar created for us. 

I was drawn to the cookies but could not make it work for a card so I switched to the tea tins and their pretty patterns so that is what I made.  I used an IO coffee set  as my focal image. I had just gotten a note card in the mail that had  a pretty butterfly and flower pattern. It was on my desk so I recycled it for my coffee cup and pot.  I did not have a single coffee sentiment so I computer generated this one. 

If you join us for this challenge at  Double D you will have a chance to win this fun Lawn Fawn stamp set.

Dies R Us Birthday Challenge

If you are like me, you send out a lot of birthday cards.  A birthday of a friend or family member is the perfect way to let them know that you are thinking of them. Since the Dies R Us Challenge is Birthdays this time, you have the perfect opportunity to make a card to add to your stash or to create a special card for a special person. I have used this lilac die from Elizabeth Crafts before, but today I paired it with Elizabeth craft geraniums. I love this wood grained paper, also from Elizabeth Crafts. 

The team has a lot of inspiration for you so visit the Dies R Us Challenge Blog and then create your own birthday card and link up with us and you will have a chance to win a gift voucher for the Dies R Us Store. 

Elizabeth Craft geranium


Elizabeth Craft Ladder Fern

Elizabeth Craft Lilac 2


 Elizabeth Craft Wood paper pack.

Double D Nautical

I love  the blues and the pops of red in this mood board. I had a hard time deciding which board to choose so I went through my stamps and dies and found an Xcut die that I have only used once so I decided to use it. Then I watched a video Jennifer Mcquire did on an Inside Shadow Box Card, and knew I had to give it a try. 

Here is my card. 

I started by sponging a background of sand, water and sky.

I added the boat from the die set which I cut it in black and red to get the two colors.

I decided I wanted to use the chairs and umbrella from the die set also so I cut them from blue and then some red dp and paper pieced them to get some texture. I used some sandpaper on the bottom of the frame. 

I decided to add some blue paper on the inside. I can write my message on that. 

I kept the outside simple.  I just got these spellbinders dies for Mother's Day and had not used them so I cut some blue paper with them. I had this palm tree and clouds left on my desk from another project. 

Now it is your turn to pick some inspiration from the board and create your nautical scene, but before you do check out the inspiration from the team HERE. Everyone has a different take on this challenge, and I can promise you will be inspired, but you need to know that you inspire us too. We look forward to seeing what you create each challenge. 

Dies R Us Anything Goes

Everyone loves an Anything Goes Challenge, and you will find one at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog Just remember that you must use at least one die from a company that DRU carries in their store. I got some new dies from the store that I have been having fun playing with. I really like how this turned out. They also carry distress inks and distress oxide inks and a pretty line pf papers. DRU is becoming a one stop shopping store.

Now I will admit that the lilacs take a bit of time. I cut the from lilac and sponged the edges of each flower. I recently (but after I made my card) saw  a post from Selma Stevenson. She sponged a piece of white card stock in shades of purple and blue for hydrangeas and cut the flowers from that.  I will be using that technique for my next lilac card. After they were all sponged, I glued each petal to the lilac base. I usually work on several at a time so I can let the layers dry. These are the dies I used for this card. 

Elizabeth Craft Wooden Fruit Crate

 Elizabeth Craft Fern

  Cheery Lynn Daisy Strip

        Memory Box Delicate Flower Frame

Frantic Stamper Fern

Elizabeth Craft Lilac 2

Double D Butterfly

It is the third Wednesday of the month and time for another fun challenge at the 

 Double D Challenge Blog.

I LOVE this mood board and challenge. I have always been intrigued with butterflies.  They come in so many different shapes and colors and are the perfect addition to any card. As usual, Darlene has created a fabulous Mood Board for us.

 

. I wanted to create a card for every one of the pictures, but  I chose the purple flowers and purple and blue butterfly.

I just got this Sue Wilson die from the Dies R Us Store.   I added a Cherry Lynn butterfly that is backed with velum and colored with markers. A few flowers and pearls and the card was done.  

Sue Wilson

The team has created fabulous inspiration for you so take a look at the Double D Blog, and then link up your design.  One randomly  drawn entry will win the pretty butterfly dies. 

Dies R Us Summer Fun

A new challenge starts today at Dies R Us called Summertime Fun. What reminds you of a fun summer day?

When I think of summer time, two pictures immediately pop into my head. One is the beach and playing in the sand and another is time spent on our pontoon boat at Whiskytown Lake. For today's card, I decided on the beach. It has been a while since I have done a fancy fold card so I picked one of my favorites, the double display fold, and started my card. Lots of real estate and fussy cutting on this card.

I started by cutting a piece of white card for the center scene and sponging it to create my sky sea and beach. I added the elements from  Sue Wilson Island Paradise

Some IO beach and shells dies were added to the small inside panels and a rope die was used on the taller side panels.

The Cheery Lynn Summer Fun die was cut several times from sandpaper, different colors of glitter paper, and white for a base.  I fussy cut the elements and glued them to the white base. I put that on top of another sponged sea scene which was backed with an old Spellbinder's die.  It is nice to give some older dies some love again.

Summer is Fun with so many activities.  The DRU Team has some fabulous inspiration for you and if you link up, you will have a chance  to win a a gift certificate to the DRU STORE .

Cheery Lynn Summer Fun

Sue Wilson Island Paradise




Impression Obsession Mini Beach Fun

Obsession--Dies--Mini-Shell-Set