Paper Craft Weekend Challenge- Use Your Stash

This past Saturday's challenge over at the Paper Craft Weekend Challenge Blog was to use your stash. I liked this one because I actually got out some stuff I haven't used in a while.

The card base is  41/4" by 51/2" dark brown paper that was in my scrap folder.The polka dot paper is cut 1/4" smaller than the brown base  and is from My Mind's Eye Stella Rose collection. The striped paper in the center is the back of the polka dot paper. A piece of cream card stock was punched with the Martha Stewart Arched Lattice border punch and placed under the striped paper. The ribbon is Vintage Vanilla crinkle ribbon from My Craft Spot. The stamp is from an old set, which unfortunately, no longer had the company's name on it. It was stamped with Versa Magic Chalk Ink, Tea Leaves. The entire image was then embossed with two coats of UTEE. It was placed on a slightly larger piece of  green print paper, also from my scraps, then this was placed on another slightly large piece of cream card stock. This was then added to a brown  scalloped rectangle cut from a small Nestability. It is adhered to the card with Dimensionals from Stampin Up. The flourish is cut from the Cricut E2  Cricut Essentials cartridge. The pearls are from Recollections.
There's still time to create and post to the challenge blog if you'd like. They also had some great tips for organizing your stash . This was a fun challenge and it made me realize that I really need to use more of what I have. Maybe I'll make that a New Year's resolution, not to buy anything for a while but to use what I have. Yeah right!
Thanks for stopping by!

One Design, Two Birthday Cards

My Mom's and Mother in law's birthdays are just two weeks apart. This year I decided to try making the same basic card for each of them, just changing the images up. It's not like they are ever going to be together to compare them and even if they did, I don't think either one of them would really mind. Well, I hope not anyway!

So, as you can see, I started with the same basic design for both cards. The card base is a 51/2" by 41/4 " piece of  kraft cardstock that is embossed using the  Sizzix Bowstrings folder. The printed paper strips are from My Minds Eye Stella Rose collection. The paper is double sided, so I used each side for the strips. The bottom one is edged with the Eyelet Border punch from Stampin Up. A piece of vintage dyed twine from My Craft Spot was tied around the strips and threaded through a clear button from Stampin Up. The tag was hand cut and the stamped sentiment is from My Pink Stamper stamped with Stampin Up Chocolate Chip ink. The brad is also from Stampin Up.
The images on both cards are from the Cricut Lite Live Simply cartridge.The bird's nest was outlined with Cinnamon stickles and yellow stickles was used on both flower centers. The scallop circle is cut with a Nestability. Martha Stewart coarse glitter was used on the bee's wings. Finally, the images are adhered to the card with dimensionals.
I liked this idea so much that I'm toying with the idea of making up several cards with the same basic designs to keep on hand, then just adding the sentiments and images to suit the occasion. Who knows, next year everyone on my list may get the same birthday card! Well, except the guys. I may have to come up with something more masculine for them.:)
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Last one, Circle Weekend Challenge!

Well, here is the final card for the Circle weekend challenge. This one was a color challenge with the SU colors black, pumpkin pie and bashful blue. I found out after I had already made my card that you're supposed to use mainly these colors and can add in some neutrals if necessary. As you can see, I used other colors and just included the challenge colors. Ah well, I really like the paper and have been wanting to use it for something!
The ghoul is from Mini Monsters and is cut from green glitter paper from the DCWV Midnight Spell solid stack. The sentiment is a $1 stamp from Michael's and the label is SU bashful blue cut with a Nestability inverted scallop circle. The spider is a brad from Recollections. The background paper is from Bo Bunny, The Whoo-ligans collection. The border is SU pumpkin pie and was cut with the Drippy Goo punch from MS and another which I can't remember the name of!
This has been a fun weekend of challenges. I've never done this before and will definitely be up for doing more!
Thanks for stopping by.
Maria

Imagine cards, Circle weekend challenge #2 and 3

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. The the second challenge this weekend was to create something for any holiday. I chose Christmas since it is my favorite and I need to start thinking about this year's cards.
This card is a 4 1/2" square. The white piece was cut with a Lacy Scallop square Nestability, the largest of the set. The print square in the center is from Imaginisce, the Cottage Christmas collection, and it was stitched to the lacy square. All the image cuts were made with the Imagine and Winter Frolic cartridge. The colors for the mouse and letters were made using RGB codes from tayloredmkt.com. The shadow and box were printed with a pattern from the Imagine More cart. Peachy Keen stamps were used to make the mouse's face. His body is outlined with a brown Copic Glitter marker. Red and pink Stickles were used on the bow and mouse ear.
For the 3rd challenge were were given a sketch. I found this Stampin Up Something Sweet set that I haven't used and decided to use this sentiment. Again, the Imagine was used for all the cuts and everything is from the Imagine More cartridge. The small squares were cut with George and Basic Shapes. The background paper is from my scrap stash. The faux stitching was done with a brown Copic glitter marker. (I really like those things!)
Whew, I think that's everything! This has been a lot of fun so far and I think has really gotten me motivated to get some stuff done. I have one more challenge to complete for this and the Circle Blog. I think I may use the same for both. I also have a fun Halloween project that involved creating something on the Gypsy. Hopefully I'll get those done this week too.
As always, thanks for stopping by!
Maria