Final ATCs for Janis' Birthday {And Then. . .Chocolate}

All good celebrations must come to an end, and so here we are, the last week for Janis' Birthday Celebration.  For this last challenge, Janis chose the theme "And Then. . .Chocolate" - yummy little party we've had!

What are ATC's? ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards.  There are no requirements to make them {unless you are participating in a swap or, in this case, Janis' fourth and last, theme And Then. . . Chocolate} EXCEPT they must be 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", the same size as a standard playing card or trading card.

Here are all the links for where you can still enter, but be quick! It's a good thing you can make an ATC in no time! {ends March 3, 2018}

Be sure to enter Janis' Blog Badge giveaway HERE!!!

WEEK 1 Theme - "All Those Cats!!"  You can still enter HERE

WEEK 2 Theme - "And The Chickens." You can still enter HERE

WEEK 3 Theme - "Adorable Teapot Collection"  You can still enter HERE

WEEK 4 (FINAL) Theme - "And Then.....Chocolate!"  Enter HERE

I've called my ATCs "Chocolate 1" and "Chocolate 2" and since I am really under the gun here, I'm going to be quick & just tell you what I used to make them.

Chocolate ATC #1

Heavy Weight White Card cut into ATC Size

Background made from Oxide Ink {scrap}

Sentiment from Riley & Co., Funny Bones, #RWD-564 Six Million Dollars

Tiny Money {stash}

Brown Card for Sentiment

Black Detail Embossing Powder, Hero Arts, PW-119

Embossing Ink

Shrink Plastic

Sharpie Markers

Gold Sparkle Gel Pen

The best part of this ATC was making the little candy bars out of Shrink Plastic. You can't really read them, but the candy bars say Hershey, Bite Me, YUM and Candy. I thought for SURE I had something with chocolate on it and I literally searched my entire stash {I did find the paper I used on Chocolate #2, as well as some other cool stuff I pulled out}, but I have nothing regarding chocolate except that sentiment.  Oh, well.  On to #2.

Chocolate ATC #2

Heavy Weight White Card cut into ATC Size

Image cut from Collage Sheet {out of business}

Words punched from a VERY old paper from SU!

Two Scalloped Oval Punches from My Family Treasure {out of business}

Beautiful Background Paper {stash}

I love this background paper and I have a small bit left, so you'll be seeing the end of it very soon.  I got it, along with the collage sheet, from a kit club I used to belong to that has since sold their business {about 9 years ago!}.  So this is a sort of vintage chocolate ATC.

That's it kids.  You only have about 24 hours to join in the fun, but I do hope you find some time - at the very least go and check out everyone's creations.  You can see each week by clicking on the above links.  And you can still join each week; but the whole shebang ends 11:55 pm on March 3, 2018.  Thanks for stopping by and checking out my ATCs - I appreciate your visit! Christi

I am entering my And Then... Chocolate ATCs in the following challenges:
Janis' Birthday Celebration 
Word Art Wednesday - #325, Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafting with Friends - #62, Anything Goes

It's Getting Close to Halloween!

Close enough for me to begin decorating and creating!  I got these really cool "salad grabbers" at the Dollar Tree - they are made from a skeleton arm and hand, and you get 2 of them! I just HAD to grab them and I have been painting them with glow in the dark paint; my goal is to stick them on the lawn so they appear to be coming up from the dirt, BWAHAHHAHHH!! 

As soon as I spied the Lawn Fawn Shadow Box Card die set I knew I had to have it.  Once I had the set, I watched the Lawn Fawn Video on how to assemble the card and saw fabulous ideas from their design team.  I can see holiday ornaments in my recipients futures!  Anyway, since the video tells you how to assemble the card I won't be going into that detail, however, please be aware that sticky tape DOES go bad.  Apparently, you cannot keep it for 20 years, find it, and try to use it to make something.  Also, mono-adhesive leaves a strip wider than where you want the adhesive to go, lastly, wet glue doesn't work AT ALL.  Yes, I made a HUGE mess, swore like a sailor and scared the fur babies (in my defense, they are SO cute when they puff up!) and finally got my adhesive nightmare under control.  Needless to say there is an order for more 1/8" wide tape on it's way to my door.  So, back to the card:

This is What I Used to Make my Card:

Black Card (for shadow box)

Light Brown Card (for hills)

Orange Card (for pumpkins)

Watercolor Card 

Lawn Fawn Shadow Box Card, LF1486

Lawn Fawn Costume Party Stamps, LF1458

Lawn Fawn Costume Party Dies, LF1459

Hero Arts Intense Black Ink

Paper Smooches Wise Dies Streamers, KFBD029 (here is a nice substitute)

Derwent Water Color Pencils

Stampin' Up! Blender Pens

Circle Punch

Yellow Card

Pop Dot

I made the Shadow Box and attached the hills as instructed on the video.  Then came the fun part.  As some of you may know, I get on these coloring kicks where I color & color & cut and then, days,

View From the Top

sometimes months later, I use the items I colored.  Well, I did the same with all the cute costumed folks in the Costume Party set.  I colored and cut like a madwoman.  I even have candy corn, chocolate bars and adorable individually wrapped candies ready to use.  I picked out a witch and a mummy to you in this card.  I gave the mummy a cute little pumpkin candy catcher and set a plain pumpkin near my witch.  Once I was happy with the placement, I stuck all the elements down.  I also used a nice bright yellow card, punched a moon out and pop dotted that to the upper right corner.  For the grand finale, I made a Happy Halloween banner as a sentiment. 

A2 Envie - ooops!

This scrumptious little shadow box will close to fit into a standard A2 envelope so it requires NO EXTRA POSTAGE! That is a huge selling point to me!  As you can see from my pictures below, mine did not fit in an A2 envie, due to the placement of the banner.  However, it fit like a charm in an A7 envelope, and assuming you haven't stuffed the envelope full of rocks, it should also be able to go out to the USA with one "forever" stamp. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you'll get inspired to make some screamingly cool Halloween goodies! Christi

Don't forget to play along at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog for your chance to win a gift voucher to the Dies R Us Store.  A new challenge begins on the first and fifteenth of every month.  

Be sure to Follow Us on FACEBOOK too. 

click below for:

STORE

CHALLENGE BLOG
FACEBOOK
INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

Another Look :)

I would like to enter my Halloween Shadow Card in the following challenges, found at Challenges for Days (shameless plug): 

Cuttlebug Mania - M,  Anything Goes w/ Dies and/or Embossing

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers - Sept. Anything Goes with Dies Challenge 

One Crazy Stamper - M, Seasons of Celebration

Crafty Catz - Halloween

Crafty Friends Challenge - #66, To Use Dies and/or Punches

Allsorts - #433, Feels Like Autumn 

Lawn Fawnatics - #13, Inspiration Board (see below)

Thank you & hope to see you at Dies R Us! 

Showers of Flowers for Stinkin' Inkers!

Thank you all for stopping by.  This is my first Design Team Post for the new challenge blog, Stinkin' Inkers! Welcome!!  The theme that our fabulous owner, Terri,  has chosen for April is "Showers of Flowers."  

What I Used to Make my Card:
Mint Green Card Base
White Scrap Panel
Pink Scrap 
Rubber Stamp Tapestry Set "Brambly Rose"
Corner Punch, Deco Photo or Notch, from All Night Media (discontinued)
Die-Namics MFT Stitched Oval Stax, MFT521
Hero Arts Ink in Soft Pink, Bubble Gum and Mint Julep
Stampin' Up Set "Sincere Salutations" (discontinued)
Art C Embellishments - pink flower pack, #24087
Simon Says Stamp Fine Detail White Embossing Powder
Embossing Ink
White Flower from Stash

I have a bin full of flowers (like Prima and such) that I love but never use. Some of them are too big to use on a card, some I like too much to use (I'm sure you can relate to that!) and honestly, I forget I have them.  Out of sight, out of mind.  But, for this challenge, I wanted to use a few of the various flowers I have.  Then I couldn't find them.  I looked everywhere for the baggie I have filled with fabric roses (you know the kind made of ribbon); I was certain I had ribbon roses that would match the colors on this card perfectly.  I looked where they should be, but weren't (believe it or not I am a fairly organized crafter.  I put everything away after I use it, back in it's proper place; all my bins and storage have labels on them and I can typically find what I am looking for quickly.) I looked where they shouldn't be, and they still weren't there.  Finally, I decided to give the searching a rest, 'cause you know sometimes if you just stop looking for whatever you need, it suddenly appears.  That wasn't exactly true here but I did find that I had put all of the flowers that were in shades of pink in a little shoebox-sized bin with intentions of using them for Valentine's Day. I'm happy I found them and I picked out some roses; they happen to be paper, not ribbon.  I cut the wire stems off and put them aside to add onto the card later.

Step 1

After wasting entirely too much time searching, I set about making the flower panel for the card.  I used the Hero Arts Ink colors that I had gotten in the My Monthly Hero Kit for January 2017 and stamped the roses and leaves, using the Rubber Tapestry Set (all of their sets have directions, plus recommendations for ink colors! I thought you might want to see the

Step 2

different steps used to create the panel.)  I stamped on a piece of cardstock that was 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" since I knew I'd need to cut the panel down to place on the card base.  Once the panel was fully stamped, I used the DieNamics die to cut the oval out of the middle, then cut the panel down and punched the corners.  

Step 3

Next I chose a piece of pink scrap for my sentiment.  I stamped "Thinking of you" in embossing ink and embossed it using fine detail white embossing powder.  I am so tickled that I found this white embossing powder; I used to struggle mightily when using white, it seemed no matter what I did I always got little specks everywhere; even using one of those pouches filled with whatever the magic ingredient is (I think it's cornstarch.)  I attached the sentiment panel onto the back of the stamped card so that it showed in the oval cut out.  Once I glued the panel onto the card

Flowers Close Up

base, I used 3 paper roses as accents on the side. This card would have taken me about 30 minutes if I hadn't spent hours looking for those flowers! At least I actually did use a few; many times I've searched for something and, once found, never actually used the item in my projects.  

Another Look

I'm feeling spring and, as some of the country is getting pounded with a serious snow storm, it's 70 degrees here and the good weather makes me feel creative.  I'm thinking something 3D is in the wings. Thanks for stopping by and reading about my crafty trials and tribulations! Hunting around my craft room is NOT fun, but, coming into the room and seeing 3 drawers of stamps on the ground and the trash basket tipped over is even LESS fun.  That's what my wonderful furbabies had left for me this morning!  I swear they think up ways to annoy me! LOL Anyway, I hope you'll drag out some of YOUR flowers and join me at Stinkin' Inkers! And be sure to check out the rules HERE. Have fun and get crafty! Fondly, Christi

I would like to enter my Showers of Flowers card in the following challenges:
Stamps, Ink, Paper Challenge - #93, Coming Up Flowers
Ike's World - #85, Anything Goes with optional twist In the Garden
Try it on Tuesday - Botanical
Unicorn Challenge - M, #20, Petal Power
Pin{spirational} - #187, see picture below
Addicted to Stamps - M, #145, Stamped Image & Stamped Sentiment
Card Mania - M, #91, April Showers Bring May Flowers
Naughty or Nice Challenges - M, #38, Three of Something with optional Easter Twist

In my thoughts. . .

Hello everyone - I hope you had a fabulous holiday and New Year.  In case you missed my last post I am on a new Design Team! This is my first card for House of Cards, a monthly challenge, which typically involves your choice of a color scheme as well as a theme - you can choose which one you'd like to play with.  This months challenge is:

You can use either the Colors or use a Building, or both, in your creation. 

For this challenge I chose to work with the colors.  I have been cleaning out my craft room and I literally just gave away a perfect stamp set that I could have used for this, but, such is life.  Here is my card:

What I Used to Make my Card:
Kraft Card Base
Maroon Cardstock
Scrap Silver Cardstock
Unity Stamp Co. "Bunches of Love", UK-669A (739) - sentiment
Unity Stamp Co. "Blossoming thoughts & wishes", UK-754A (930)- flourish
Embossing Fluid
Stampin' Up Sterling Silver Embossing Powder (disc, but they still have silver)

I recently was able to buy a few sentiment sets from Unity Stamp Company so I broke those open to use on this card as well as trying my MISTI (that I am embarrassed to say I have had for months!) after studying many You Tube Videos (how did we ever learn anything before You Tube?!?) anyway. . . 

I started this card by lining up the sentiment and the flourish with each other, inking them up with the embossing fluid, stamping, then taking the flourish and repeating the steps.  I finished off with the silver embossing powder.

Another look

After trimming the maroon panel, I attached it to the silver panel.  Now, that might seem like an easy step.  Should be an easy step.  Was it easy? Not the first time.  I didn't realize the maroon card was thinner stock than I'm used to using. And I typically use a wet glue when making my cards because I get a bit of grace time to wiggle stuff around before it dries.  Well, I put my glue on the back of the maroon card and slipped it under the tile I have on my desk so it would dry nice and straight.  I checked on the card a while later and was horrified to discover that the maroon panel had a HUGE blob of glue right under the sentiment and nothing I did helped.  I ripped the card apart, hoping I could somehow spread the glue.  Nope.  Dried it with my heat gun to try to lessen the buckle the blob of glue had created.  Nope.  Only one thing to do - start over.  I took a long break (as I am prone to do as opposed to wrecking my craft room like a crazy person) and made another maroon panel.  This time I used a dry adhesive and it worked. I'd rather not learn these little lessons but it could have been worse.  I didn't save the panel, or the other two I made with another embossing powder or the one I made with a different sentiment.  I did fussy cut the pretty flourish out before I trashed the other tries - who knows, they may show up on a different project.  

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and read through my trials.  I do hope to see you entering in the challenge at House of Cards.  Honestly, there is a whole month and you could win a cute badge to display as well as some well earned bragging rights.  As for me, I am off to shop for some glue dots, double stick tape or something like it.  Fondly, Christi

PS: Since I am entering so many challenges were the subject is NEW I thought I would make it simple and tell you what I used that is new.  The stamps are new, both sets that I used were just bought and while I have had the MISTI for a while, it's new to me as this is the first time I've used it :) 

I would like to enter my In My Thoughts Card in the following challenges:
Just For Fun Rubber Stamps (January) - Anything Goes 

Just Us Girls - Word Week - Word is NEW 

Sweet Stampin' - Something New 
Simon Says Stamp, Wednesday Challenge - New
Little Red Wagon - #375, Something New
The Artistic Stamper (January) - Anything Goes
Craft Stamper Magazine - (January) - Anything Goes

A Sweet Happy Birthday

Wow - 2017 is right around the corner! I could fill up this entire post talking about the magical way time flies, but, I won't.  I know you all feel the same way I do and are as baffled as I am, so no need to discuss the time thing any more.

Me and the Fabulous Feline Four recently moved into a house in one of those neighborhoods where people live in their homes for years.  The kind of place I grew up in.  We are blessed to have a neighbor, Helen, who has a little dog named Lolly.  Lolly had a fantastic relationship with the gentleman who lived in the house before us and she learned to jump over the short chain link fence that separates our properties.  She, Lolly, actually throws herself over the fence. She is a very good dog and so loving, plus it is nice to get a change of pace from the cats. She is so sweet we had to break down and get some treats for her.  So now I am giving the dog in back of us treats as well (that is a whole 'nother story). Anyway, Helen had a birthday in November and I made her this card - the dog in the middle is a replica of Lolly.  I used a tiny heart I found in my stash because Lolly has a little heart on her collar with her name on it. 

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Watercolor Paper
Tim Holtz/Stampers' Anonymous Mini Cats & Dogs Stamps, #CMS272
Tim Holtz/Sizzix Mini Cats & Dogs Dies, #661594
Derwent Intense Colored Pencils
Nuvo Crystal Drops in Ebony Black, 650N
Stampin' Up! Set Sincere Salutations (disc. but available)
Gold Embossing Powder
Embossing Ink
Spellbinders Nestabilities, Labels Seventeen, S5-025
DCWV Linen Closet Stack (disc. but available)
Pop Dots

Before I get into the nitty gritty on how I made my card I need to clarify that I used the OLD DCWV Linen Closet Stack - apparently there is another, newer stack out there with the same name.  My stack looks like this: 

This stack is discontinued but I am sure you could find one.  The pictures do not do it justice - it has some stunning papers in it.  The second thing I wanted to tell you is that even if you let your Crystal Nuvo Drop harden overnight, it will flatten if you run your image through a die cut machine.  Ask me how I know <wink>.  OK, on with the show!  

I wanted to make a card that was cute, but not too cute, and I already knew I was going to somehow incorporate the Mini Dogs into the card. Surprisingly, I lack happy birthday stamps (well, after I was done with the card I found some I had forgotten about, but I digress) and that actually helped me decide how "fancy" I was going to make the card.  I stamped the 3 chosen Mini Dogs on watercolor paper and watercolored them using the Inktense pencils.  I usually

Dimension

try to note what colors I used but I was so focused on making the Lolly dog LOOK like Lolly, I forgot.  And I blended them to death so I doubt even if I used the exact colors it would look anything like what I ended up with.  After I colored the pups, I made Lolly's nose shiny black by using the Nuvo Crystal Drops in Ebony Black.  I had seen these demonstrated at the last Stamp Show I went to and I was really impressed by them.  Most gloss type products leave that little "Dairy Queen Curly Q" thingie at the top of the dot but these automatically rounded themselves out.  And another cool thing is that the colors don't seep into each other.  I am currently practicing how to make eyes using the white and the black (small dot of white, topping with a small dot of black).

Another Look

I dotted the noses and set them aside to dry.  I had used 2 designer papers from the Stack, one as a background paper and the other as a layer for the Happy Birthday.  I had gold embossed the Happy Birthday then die cut it out as well as the larger panel for layering.  Once all that was done, I pop dotted the dogs onto the card and I was finished.  Helen really enjoyed her card, so much so I am making her another one like this one for Christmas.  Thanks so much for reading and I hope your holiday season has been happy, healthy & safe! Christi

I would like to enter my Happy Birthday Card in the following challenges:
Pile it On! #123 - Any Holiday/Celebration
Animal Friends Challenge #45 - December - Anything Goes
Card Mania #87 - December - Anything Goes
Simon Says Work It Wednesday - December - Use Dies

Let it Snow!

This card was born out of an experiment.  I have TONS of vellum (I even have some left from when I was a Stampin' Up! <SU!> demonstrator and that was over 17 years ago!) and I really want to try to use some of it up, so as I was brainstorming ways to use it, I thought about a window, then snow, and the rest is history!

What I Used to Make my Card:
Black Card Base
Black Cardstock
White Cardstock
SU! Set, Trees Three (Discontinued, sorry, I don't have the part number)
Embossing Fluid
Black Embossing Powder
Simon Says Stamp White Embossing Powder, fine
Vellum (regular weight)
Let it Snow sentiment was cut using Silhouette Cameo
White Card Window panel was cut using Silhouette Cameo

First. using one of those swipey pads to control the embossing powder, I swiped a sheet of vellum. On one side of the 8 1/2 x 11" (top) sheet I stamped the trees and embossed them with black powder; on the other side (bottom) I used the snow stamp to make a flurry of snowflakes and embossed them in white. I am not the best with white embossing powder - it typically ends up all over what ever I am making, mostly in spots I don't want it to. After seeing how beautifully it came out on the vellum you can be I'll be doing this much more! I then measured the trees and decided to cut out a 3" x 3" window for the trees and snow to show through. Using my Silhouette Cameo I cut the window out of white cardstock and cut the lettering out of black cardstock.

I chose the snowiest part of the vellum that I had embossed with the snow and trimmed it down.  I glued it onto the trees, and then when that was dry, trimmed the 2 vellum pieces down to fit in the window.  I glued the vellum trees and snow onto the window, and then glued the window onto the black card base, attaching the words finished the card off.  I constructed the card this way on purpose as I have yet to find an adhesive that truly doesn't show through vellum - if you have a good one I'd be grateful if you'd share it with me!

This card could easily been made without the Silhouette, after all, we used to hand cut before the invention of these cutting machines.  I remember wrestling with the Exacto knife in many a class - thank goodness these machines make creating so much easier! Making this card has brought back my muse and I am already thinking of other color and shape combinations to use to make this type of card again.  Maybe a circle window instead of a square? Some spring flowers behind a gauzy curtain? Regardless, I hope you enjoyed my little how to and that perhaps my creation inspired you to get out some of your old supplies and play ~ Christi

Another Look

I would like to enter my "Let it Snow" card in the following challenges:
QKR Stampede - #171, Snowmen or Snowflakes
DRS Designs - #206, Tis the Season
Crafty Creations - #305, Anything Goes
Paperminutes - Snow
A Snowflakes Promise - #12, Anything Christmas/Winter
Creative Card Crew - #103, Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Winter Wonderland
Crafty Cardmakers - #154, Snow
Classy Cards n Such - #117, Let it Snow

Twofers Challenge #9 ~ Flowers!

I think Zoe picked a perfect theme for Twofers 9th challenge.  Winter is settling in and I know that I could use the colorful boost of some flowers!  Bringing out the old style Adirondack ink pads brings back so many memories for me - I literally learned to stamp with these inks and I still have the very same ink pads years later.

 

How I Made My Card:
White Card Base
Magenta Stamp 9 Square Roses, #30.011.N
Sentiment from SU! Set Sincere Salutations (discontinued but plenty to be found)
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Ranger Adirondack Ink in Meadow
Derwent Intense Water Color Pencils
SU! Blender Pen
Green Card
White Card

I began the card by stamping the Magenta stamp on a piece of scrap white card, then colored it in using Derwent Pencils and an SU! Blender Pen.  Once that was done, I set the image aside to completely dry.

I decided the image needed a mat, so I chose the green card - I cut the image and the green card down to layer size, and mounted them onto the white card base.

Lastly, I looked for a green that I thought complimented the green layer, stamped the sentiment in the Adirondack Meadow color, layered that on another piece of trimmed green and glued that to the card. I didn't even realize that my card incorporates traditional Christmas colors! Tis the season!

Just another view

If you need a bit more inspiration take a peek at my teamies blogs, Zoe & Jane.  Now it's your turn! All you have to do is enter one project, follow the rules (you MUST rubber stamp on your creation!), and you will be eligible to win a $20 gift certificate to Alleystamp!  Come play with us at Twofers (you have 2 whole weeks!) and you just might win ~ Fondly, Christi

I am entering my Flowers card in the following challenges:
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Inspiration Station - #62, Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon - #318, Traditional Christmas Colors
Creative Fingers - #99, Anything Goes
Just Add Ink - #291, Just add C - so I used C for color!
Simply Papercraft - #19, Anything Goes
Sisters of Craft (M) - Anything Goes
Allsorts - #340, Clean & Simple
Crafty Gals - #48, Anything Goes

Golden Butterflies, Twofers Challenge #7

I have quite the collection of decorative papers from back in the day when I first started paper crafting.  It's not easy to take the stash from its hiding space, so when I do, I typically take pieces of a few different patterns I think I may like to work with. When I saw that my next challenge on Twofers was Things with Wings (yes, I try to work ahead, but, you know what making plans means) I decided to remake a card I had already designed. When I spied this stunning green & gold paper I knew exactly how I wanted to use it. So introducing my Golden Butterfly card:

What I Used to Make my Card:
Vanilla Card Base
Vanilla Scrap
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Crazy Talk Set, SCMS236
Die-Namites Butterfly Wreath, #DN-1005
Quickutz Butterfly Die, KS-0799 (2 part die) (do a Google search for the part number)
Gold Cardstock
Green Cardstock
Green & Gold Designer Paper
Distress Ink in Forest Moss
SU! Corner Rounder Punch

I had actually had another card made with similar elements that I wasn't too thrilled with so I sort of CASE'd (CASE stands for Copy & Share Everything) myself.  I tore the other card apart, hoping to save some of the pieces, but no such luck. However, here is a picture of the first card:

First Card

As you can see I changed a bit, but the overall design is similar. The designer gold & green paper isn't as large, but that is because I didn't have a larger piece hanging around and I didn't want to pull the whole stash out to get more, and I actually like the vanilla card base showing through a bit more.  I cut the Butterfly Wreath and the butterfly wings out of gold card.  I set the gold wings aside and glued my wreath on a scrap of complimentary green cardstock; one of the things I didn't like about the old card was the green panel appeared so severe to me, so this time I rounded the corners of it.

I then die cut the butterfly body out of the same green card as the green square & set them aside.  I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of vanilla card using Forest Moss Distress Ink, and then edged the panel with it as well.  I positioned the sentiment panel behind some of the elements of the Butterfly Wreath and glued it on.

Lastly,  I attached the green and gold designer paper onto the card base,  centered the green square on the designer paper strip, glued it, then attached the green butterfly body to the gold wings and "fluffed" the wings up a bit to add some dimension.  Attached the butterflies onto the card and there you have it!

I would love to know which design you prefer, so if you could, just leave me a comment.  Thanks so much for popping by and I do hope you will consider playing with us at Twofers. You have 2 whole weeks to add a creation to our linky and that gives you a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to our wonderful sponsor, Alleystamps.  I would also be grateful if you'd consider becoming a follower. I am about 20 shy of reaching my goal of 100 new followers for 2015.  Fondly, Christi

I would like to enter my Golden Butterflies Card into the following challenges:

Lawnscaping Challenges - #117, Thinking of You 
Use Your Stuff - #198, Use Your Old Stash (the background paper is over 10 years old)
The Paper Girls - November - #91, Stamps
Addicted to Stamps - #112, Things with Wings
Left of Centre Challenges - #103, Things with Wings
Incy Wincy - Anything Goes

October Card Chain Challenge Reveal! Christmas Cat

This month I am writing this post on October 15th so that while I am away I'll just be able to click a button and it will post for me - the internet is a wonderful thing (as long as it works the way I want it to <grin>) - And I am still late posting this LOL!  I was given the opportunity to send to the lovely Dawn, who I had sent to in August, but said she really didn't mind and would love to get another card by me ~ she's so sweet! My sending partner is Helen; unfortunately I won't be getting the card in time to post here, but, please feel free to check out her inspirational blog!

Now Deborah gives us plenty of themes to choose from - 

One of the following themes: – Thanksgiving  or  Cats  or  Friendship

So, of course I chose CATS! Now I had sent a cat card out last month and I was tempted for a hot second to do something else, but, I just so happened to become the new owner to a stamp/die set that I HAD to use. So, here is my card: 

What I Used to Make my Card:

Red Cardstock Base

Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Crazy Things Stamp Set, #CMS237

Newton's Nook "Newton's Antics" stamp set and die set

Derwent Inktense Pencils, 12 pack 

Inkadinkadoo Sentiment, #9726-LL (discontinued but available)

Star Sequins (gold, green & red)

White Cardstock

Red Cardstock

Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black

140lb Watercolor Paper

SU! Blender Pen

Pop Dots

Pity the Hat covers most of him!

First thing I did was stamp the kitty from Newton's Nook a few times on watercolor paper and I sat and colored in all the cats using different colors - expect to see them popping up soon.  I choose one for this card and decided he needed a Santa Hat.  So I stamped the Santa Hat from the Crazy Things stamp set, once on red card and once on white card.  I fussy cut the red hat out, and then the ball at the end of the hat and the fur trim out of white card.  I attached the trims to the hat and set it aside.

  

I colored my kitty using Derwent Inktense Pencils, my absolute FAVORITE 

pencils (I have to get the 24 pack - on my wishlist!) used an SU! Blender Pen to

color him in, and then die cut him out using the coordinating set, he was ready to go.  I stamped the sentiment on white cardstock using the Jet Black ink and trimmed it down. I think it's cute that he looks like he is holding the sentiment (or stalking it).  Next, I took the Santa hat and used pop dots to attach it to the cat's head.  For the finale, I had taken some old sequin stars from the stash and interspersed them through out the card.  I hope Dawn likes it!

Now, if this sounds like fun, getting a card in the mail every month, then please consider signing up for the Card Chain Challenge - you can do so here - November is the last one of 2015, but they will return January of 2016.  Thank you so much for stopping by and please consider becoming a follower of mine - I am trying to get 100 followers in 2015 and I am only a few shy - thank you! Christi

I am entering my Christmas Cat card in the following challenges:
Her Peaceful Garden - Cat Lover's Blog Hop
Winter Wonderland Challenge Blog - Anything Goes as Long as it's Christmas
Fab 'n Funky Challenge - #279, Anything Goes as Long as it's Christmas
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes (#2)
ABC Christmas Challenge - V for Very Cute
Allsorts - #335, Christmas