Challenge Accepted

Had a week off of work and decided I'd better get cracking on making those Christmas cards. But first I had to finish my last birthday card. Finished and in the mail goes the last one of the year today! This ends my challenge of making an individualized card for each family member this year. It was harder than I thought especially starting in August when the waves of birthdays keep rolling in by the doubles. My family has almost all it's birthdays during what I call our birthday season, from August through November. Some if not most of the cards I sent during this time had the word belated in the birthday greeting. Anyway, that is over and now I'm challenging myself to make as many individualized Christmas cards as I can. I also want to enter some card contests/challenges along the way.

This card is for my dad who loved a bird he named Sonny. Don't get me wrong. He had two sons of his own (and three very lovely daughters :). Maybe he just wanted to even the son thing out because when our youngest sister was born my older sister and I rubbed it in our brothers' faces pretty hard that the females now dominated the household. So this card is for my dad. The pine cone reminds me of the times he took us to play hide and seek in the pine tree farm near our home. Simple times, fun times, great memories.

Dad is in an assisted living home now with his memories quite tangled up but he's still dad, the kind man with the bright blue eyes and the same meticulous nature, gentle laugh and accepting welcome. I tease him it's his new job to be the official welcome person because he was one of the first ones at this new place. I don't visit or call him often enough but he is in my thoughts always. Love you Dad!

 I am planning to submit this card to Paper Sweeties Inspiration December 2016 Challenge. I am new at this so I am also hoping to figure out how to add a link back to them in my blog which they require. So much to learn, which is good, but so little time, which is not so good! Plus the brain cells are getting up there age-wise.

Paper Sweeties Inspiration December 2016 Challenge

Art Impressions Stamp I won on Facebook page My Inky Oasis




Just a quick update...I didn't win the challenge and when my 6-year-old granddaughter heard that this card didn't win she was very busy for a moment in my craft room then gave me an award she made for my card.

Today I made a quick card using the new SOA (Stamp of Approval)  Wonderful World Collection. I absolutely love the sentiments that come in this collection by Catherine Pooler. I ordered this collection on Wednesday morning and it arrived Friday! Amazing.

Although the collection came on Friday I wasn't home. So today I opened it up and took it to my very messy craft room. Today was house cleaning and chore day. Yuk! After cleaning up the room I took a quick 15 minutes to stamp out this card.

Here's the recipe made from items already left out on my desk:

Using Clarity Brushes I added Distress Ink (Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, and Stormy Sky) to the edges of this card after stamping the scroll stamp around the sentiment.
I add a little butterfly and a few stamps with that small fluffy thing, added clear embossing powder and heat embossed with my heat tool.
On my desk was a leftover scrap die from the Mama Elephant Madison Frame die set so I added that and a thin line of blue around that edge. I didn't even take the time to set the card up for a picture, just held it in my inky hands and took a quick shot.

Love when it's this easy and yet I feel like I've had a chance to be creative!

Working on Mother's Day Cards, mostly because it will be here earlier than usual this year and also because I love flowers...and my two Moms, of course too! So I started with a simple card with lots of flowers. Simple and sweet was my theme. In the middle of making these easy cards my new mini front and back girl and boy stamps arrived from Impression Arts. I took a break and colored some in, then went back to my mother's day project. That's when things went out of control and simple turned into a window card, with a fence and grass and two children leaning on the fence looking out of the card with a flower garden springing up behind them. Then my new Die-namics Circle Cross Stitched Stax set arrived. So I made a frame for the window. Simple is gone but cute has arrived....just have to finish the inside of the cards and I'm good to go. Almost a month early. I think in the two years I've been doing this, being early is a first for me. Usually I'm rushing to catch the mail lady.

I was so inspired by the recent Simon Says Stamp Easter release and blog hop that I had to try my hand at using dies to cut felt. Here is my card which uses my newly purchased Lawn Fawn Stitched Stackable heart dies as a holder for a bracelet on the card. With the dies came Lawn Fawn's newly released Perfectly Plaid paper pack so I use that for a second card along with my newly purchased, Lawn Fawn, Our Friendship Grows stamp set. Love the bright happy colors on this paper pack. Perfect for spring and Easter!