National Fossil Day ~ CCEE1942

Hi friends!

It must be my birthday - it's National Fossil Day!

Hee hee!

I sure feel that old most days

with a hip that doesn't want to walk and a foot that won't work ;)

It's time for a new challenge at the CCEE Stampers blog!

I'm the hostess for the month of October and thought it would be neat

to showcase cards based on Nat'l Fossil Day, which was yesterday.

 

  A fossil is a preserved impression of a once-living thing

 from a past geological age, including plants, animals, shells, and more.
  The challenge this week is to create a card including anything that has been found as a fossil -- dinosaurs, leaves, amber, footprints, etc.

 

For my card today,

I've used a sweet stamp set called Prehistoric

by Neat and Tangled.

Ohhhh I absolutely adore this stamp company!

I think this set is retired now ~ it was released in 2017 .. I think!

 I stamp/cut/colored the images with copic markers

 and set those aside to create the scene.

I used distress oxide inks, blended to create a night sky,

The little stars are a white signo pen just dotted about

and the mountains are from a die-namic from My Favorite Things.

 

In hindsight, I needed a bigger card base... one that was longer!

The card seems a bit squished now that I see it,

trying to fit all the focal points on but it's still sweet :)

You can see the design team cards here on the blog post,

as well as link up yours, too!

We'd LOVE to see what you make with the fossil theme!

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

3M: Wishing you a METAL Christmas!

Hi friends!

I'm still here!  Oh my goodness, life has been non-stop!  

I haven't had any free time to make cards :(

Between Christmas prep, 3 December birthdays, my daughter's college graduation, school, church and Boy Scouts events, we're hopping! :)

Our daughter is back home from college and all moved back in - she's starting her wonderful new job next week, so we've been enjoying so many outings and girl time ♥

Yesterday, I finally got to sit down for a few minutes and work on

my 3 Musketeers challenge card - YAY!

Barb gave us a wonderful challenge: Use Metal!

 Barb's challenge:  Since December is busy for all of us, I wanted to send a simpler challenge

and hoped it does not cause too much stress or planning for a card. 

 The challenge is to make a Christmas Card or a New Year’s card  and make it metallic! 

 You can use metallic paper or use metallic embellishments or emboss with metallic colors. 

 Use your creativity to make a shiny card!

  Ready?  Set.  Go!

My card is very simple ~ letting the gold foil paper shine through as an accent

color and highlighting the Happy Christmas!

I added extra metal but putting the silver metal snowflakes

 and added the metal gems to the center.

Simple but I do like this card - it's bright and shiny, just like holiday ornaments! 

 I do love how this came out :)
It's shiny and classic and simple!

What I learned about metallic foils and papers - 
they are hard to photograph! :)

You can see Barb's card here and Jeanette's card here.

Can you believe it's almost 2019!
I have a few more cards to post before the end of the year ...
stay tuned! ♥

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly 

CCEE1848: Circles and Squares!

 Hello sweet friends!

It's Thursday and that means it's the day

 the CCEE Stampers start a new challenge :)

And this is what I love SO MUCH about this talented group ~

one I'm very VERY blessed to be a part of ♥

The challenge themes are so creative and interesting ...

like this week!

 

This is Anne's last challenge for this month and this is what she gave us:

Anne here with my last challenge.  

This one is dedicated to my hubby, who is a retired Mathematics teacher.

Circles and squares are simple geometric shapes.

  Make a card using at least one of each.

Math and I don't get along very well  is my hardest subject

so it's a JOY to be doing mathematics on paper! :)

Here's what I came up with ↓

 

 There are quite a few birthdays coming up in December - 3 of them!
All 3 of our daughters were born in December .....
so I have to have the birthday cards ready to go :)

Using the Ski-sons Greetings stamp set from My Favorite Things stamps,
I created the {square} panel with a die-namic and then used a punch
to create the {circle} center shape.
The bear is colored with prismacolor markers and popped up on foam,
and a sentiment from the same stamp set is added on, too.

Be sure to stop by the CCEE blog and see what each of the designers
created this week with circles and squares.
Thank you, Anne, for a really fun month of challenges!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥
~Kelly

DBC ~ You Make My Heart Melt!

 Hi friends!

I'm on the Drive By Crafts blog today with this card ~ You Make My Heart Melt ♥

I think this is probably one of my favorite cards of this year :)

I absolutely adore it ~ 

from the distress ink blending to the shimmery snow to the cute little kitties ...

it's just so cheerful :)

{and we can always use cheer and happiness} :)

Here's how I made this card from Products at Drive By Crafts online store:

I used the You Make My Heart Melt stamp from the My Favorite Things stamp selections and stamped those out with Brutus Monroe Raven ink.

Oh I love this ink!  So crisp and clean and spot on!

Then, I ran the images through the Cuttlebug with the matching die-namics ~

but remember, you don't need the dies - just fussy cut your images!

I colored the images and then set them aside to work on my background.

 

Since this card is going to a sweet friend,

I knew I wanted pinks and purples as a background.

The exact shades I wanted were Ranger Tim Holtz Picked Raspberry Distress Ink

and Ranger Archival Ink is Magestic Violet.

Using my mini blending tool, I blended both the raspberry and violet inks outward 

until the entire A2 size cardstock was covered and put it aside to set.

For the lake, I wanted to simulate the sparkle of the sun on the ice,

so I added clear Wink of Stella to the image - instant ice skating shimmer!

*A little tip!  I'm a little (okay - a lot!) heavy handed when it comes to blending,

so I hold a scrap piece of paper over the area as I've blended ...

keeps the ink off my fingers AND smudges off your paper! :)

For the frame, this part took a bit of creativity

 and thinking outside the box ... or outside the frame!

I used my My Favorite Things die-namic frame but discarded the actual die cut,

and used the outer area that looked like a window box frame.

So I basically kept the part you toss and tossed saved the part you keep!

I added Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam to the under side of the white A2 size frame and inverted it and attached that to background to frame it out.
I repeated this with the kitties and the owl - popped up on 3d foam for dimension.

And lastly, I used my white embossing powder and heat gun to 

embossed the sentiment to the card and popped that up, 

too.

To create the water color movement in the ink,

I took a medium size paintbrush with plain water and flicked it onto the ink

background.  It breaks up the monotony of the background color.

 And that's my card .. I hope you enjoyed my rambling today :)

You can stop by the DBC blog and see more inspiration,

as well as take a little drive through the DBC store here or the blog here.

 

My time is almost up being on the Drive By Crafts Design Team ~

it's been a fun ride! 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Drive By Crafts ~ Valentine Shaker Card ♥

Hi friends!

I'm up on the Drive By Crafts blog today with a Valentine's shaker card

using wonderful products from the Drive By Crafts online store!

This festive shaker card includes

some fun products from My Favorite Things and Lawn Fawn,
and it's just in time to inspire your Valentine's Day cards ♥

Drive by Crafts has a wonderful assortment of stamps and die-namics
from MFT ~ perfect for mixing and matching, too, like I've done here.

Let me show you how I made this fun card!

Using the Peek-a-Boo striped heart die-namic, I created a die cut
in heavy weight cardstock to create a top layer.
I added a sheet of Lawn Fawn: Let's Polka In the Meadow
to the bottom, and filled my shaker card striped heart window
with berrylicious sequins  ~ so sparkly and glitzy!
When it was time to close the shaker card,
I used a heavy duty foam tape. 

 

  Next, I stamped, colored and die-cut MFT's Snuggle Bunnies
stamp and die-namic set.
I added those to the card using a quick and fast drying Nuvo glue medium pen and then added the matching sentiment from Snuggle Bunnies.
And voilà!
The card is complete and ready to send to your special someone ♥

I love this fun die-namic and already have a second card made
to show you soon! 

For a quick glance, here are the products I used:

MFT Peek-a-Boo striped heart die-namic
Lawn Fawn:  Let's Polka in the Meadow
Berrylicious Sequins
MFT Snuggle Bunnies stamp set
MFT Sunggle Bunnies die-namics
Nuvo Glue Medium Pen

Thanks for stopping by today!
~Kelly

Entered into these challenges: MFT Card Challenge #86
 Die Cuttin Divas #354 - heart die
Dream Valley Challenge ~ Love