Potentially Cursed for Color Hues

Hello friends!  It's time for a new challenge at Color Hues and this time the lovely Sheri chose this wonderful combination of colors.

Color Hues

I was quite tempted to create a floral with this duo of colors, but my love of Halloween took me in a "hauntingly" different direction, bwwwhhhaaa!

I had so much fun making this card.  Spellbinders recently came out with the new Color Block Rectangle dies, which I had to have after loving the arched version that came out earlier this year.  Anyway, while I was shopping, I found this cute Halloween cat and she had to come home to me along with the rectangle dies.

I knew the basic layout I wanted but messed around with the background and finally decided to use a panel of C&9 Avacado cardstock and darken it by ink blending SSS Artichoke ink and Black Soot Distress ink over the entire thing, keeping it lighter in the middle.

The cat was easy to assemble, although the eyes were a bit tricky.  If you don't get them placed correctly, the eyes can appear crossed or wandering in opposite directions lol! Before adding our witchy cat to the panel, I stamped it with a spider web from another set.  Once I had her in place, the two die cut bats were added, along with the sentiment, which makes me giggle every time I see it!  To me the sentiment looks a bit crooked, but I checked it three times with my T-square ruler and the word are straight.  I may still fiddle around with it.

After assembling the card, I decided to add one last thing.  Using my white gel pen, I gave her some magic sparkles around her head.  

What are you inspired to create with these colors?  For more ideas, please head over to the challenge blog where my amazing teammates and our wonderful guest designer Amanda have some fabulous cards to inspire you.  The challenge will remain open until Tuesday, September 29th at 9 am EDT.  I hope you'll join us!

Stef

• Spellbinders/Simon Hurley Bewitched die set
• Spellbinders Trick or Snark Aug26 Clear Stamp and Die OTM
• Spellbinders Color Block Rectangle dies
• Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz Stamp and Stencil Halloween Collection (spider web)
• Sixxix/Tim Holtz Big Frights dies (bats)

Winter Cheers for CH140

Hello friends!  It's hard to believe but today is the first of September!  Wow!  While the year seems to be rushing by, the good news is that we have a new challenge at Color Hues.  This time the lovely and amazing Nancy is hosting and she's chosen a really nice, subtle color pairing.

Color Hues

When I saw this color combo, immediately my mind went to a die set that I'd purchased on sale last winter but never had a chance to use.  As such, I'll be sharing with Darnell's NBUS challenge.  

NBUS

It's kind of fun, when it's the last, hot dregs of summer, to think of cooler days to come, which my card reflects.  

I used three different dusty blues from Spellbinders for the sweater and cocoa cup, although my camera made the colors a bit more vibrant than they are IRL.  I wanted to use white for the gloves, so I went with a tan background and a very light gray for the "steam" coming off the cup.

I did some ink blending on all the die cut pieces for a bit of dimension before assembling.  The background was embossed then I went over the raised areas with a white pigment ink pad so all the pretty snowflakes could stand out more and to break up the solid brown.  

The greeting is from the coordinating sentiment set.  It was stamped and die cut, then added to the blue layer.  After everything was adhered, I used Stardust Stickles in the centers of all the snowflakes, including the one on the cup of cocoa.  You may be able to see it a bit better in the photo below.  It just adds a little bit of a sparkling finish to the card.

Thanks for stopping by.  I encourage you to head over to the challenge blog to see the beautiful cards created by the other DT members and our amazing guest designer, Michele Ferguson.  The challenge will remain open until Monday, September 14th at 3pm EDT.  I hope you'll join us!

Stef

• Spellbinders Mugs & Mittens dies
• SB Stay Snuggly sentiment stamp set
• Simon Says Stamp Snowflake Visions embossing folder
• Altenew Featured Sentiments dies
• Stardust Stickles
• Altenew Icy Water and Winter Lakes inks
• SSS Flannel ink

Birthday Dragon for PP801

Hello friends!  I hope you were able to join our fun celebration last week for our 800th challenge at the Paper Players!  We had a great turnout and are so appreciative of everyone who chooses to join our challenges every week.  

Since it's the 5th Sunday of the month, the amazing Jaydee is hosting out Tic-Tac-Toe challenge, and she's created a fabulous board!

Paper Players

I'm also sharing my card over at Seize the Birthday, where the prompt no stamping* dies only. (*stamped and die cut sentiment is the exception).

STB #333

For my card, I went down the center column - things that fly, free and texture.  I used a super cute little dragon die to create a fun shaped children's birthday card.

I am so smitten with this wee little flying dragon! The die set is made with the option of having the body swing back and forth but I chose not to for this card.  She was die cut from three colors of green cardstock and then the gift and her glasses were cut from the same colors as the background layers.  I'm enjoying adding eyeglasses to my critters and last week's Santa.  I think it's a fun and unexpected detail.

I used the Spellbinders Make A Wish Arch Labels dies to create the shaped card and add the wonderful texture around the edges.  After putting the layers on the card base, I added the sentiment then the dragon with foam tape.  The little clouds were die cut and tucked in behind here and the last steps were to add some sparkly gems and use a shimmer pen on the dragon wings, glasses and the gift bow.  

Thanks for visiting and I hope you'll take a moment to visit the challenge blog to see what TTT choices my amazing teammates used.  The challenge will remain open until Friday September 4th at 3pm EDT.  I hope to see your card in the gallery!

Stef

• Spellbinders Dancin' Birthday Dragon dies
• SB Essential Arches and Make a Wish Arch Labels dies
• SB Smart Glasses die
• SB Jump for Joy Sentiments Stamp
• Altenew Featured Sentiments die 
• MFT Petite Clouds dies
• Simon Says Stamp Taffy Dazzling Gems
• SB Mulberry, Orchid, Fairytale, Peridot, Rainforest and Fern cardstock
• Tonic Shimmer pen

Spectacular Santa for PP800

Hello friends!  It's an exciting day over at the Paper Players as we celebrate our 800th challenge using our very first sketch from back in August 2010!  The talented Ann is hosting and has recreated the original design from PP3. 

I was always looking for challenges for card making inspiration and I discovered the Paper Players in 2011, playing along my very first time with PP61.

But enough memory lane from me!  Here's our commemorative sketch!

Paper Players

I'm still working on building my Christmas card stash, so I used this sketch as an opportunity to play with a new Santa die.  

Isn't he cute?  He's the Spectacular Santa referred to in the blog title and he's rockin' his red and white spectacles, don't you think?  He's part of a bundle from Spellbinders with four different images.  Here's a link to a July blog post where I used the polar bear and penguin on 2 cards.  There's also a deer/reindeer but I haven't had a chance to play with him yet.

This card is sized at 5" x 7" so I could include all the sketch elements.  I dug through my limited stash of Christmas patterned paper and found the perfect design for the background.  After assembling Santa, he was popped up on a snowflake embossed panel, and a strip of green was layered below.  The sentiment is from the same bundle.  

To balance the design, the double layer snowflake was added to the left side of the green strip, and I used a trim die for the white scallop along the bottom.  The last step was to add Stardust Stickles to the center of the large snowflake as well as to all the snowflakes and snow dots on the embossed panel.  It added a lot of sparkle to the card.

Thanks for visiting and I encourage you to head over to the challenge blog to see all the fantastic cards by my talented teammates!  The challenge will remain open until Friday August 28th at 3pm EDT.  I hope you'll join in this week to celebrate such a big milestone for the Players!

Stef

• Spellbinders Spectacular Santa die set and Holiday Sentiments stamp and die set
• SB Sparkling Snow ef
• SB Ribbon & Trim die
• Simon Says Stamp Lea Snowflake die
• Honey Bee Stamps Gingerbread Village patterned paper
• Stardust Stickles

La Dolce Vita Birthday for PP794

Hello friends!  It's time for a new challenge at the Paper Players and this week the amazing Jaydee is hosting.  This is color week and Jaydee has chosen a gorgeous combination.

Paper Players

My card uses products that have been languishing in my unused bin, so I'll be sharing this at Darnell's NBUS challenge.

NBUS

I'm also joining the Anything Goes option at Seize the Birthday and the Summer Vibe challenge at Inkspirational.

STB #330

Inkspirational #371

I had so much fun creating the first card that I ended up making two.

I started by cutting the lemons, flowers and leaves from colored cardstock that coordinated with Jaydee's challenge colors and then enhanced them with some ink blending.  

The embossed background was made using Shortbread cardstock from Concord & 9th.  It appears a lot lighter in the photos - in person it is the yummiest warm color between ivory and light yellow.  It was trimmed down and added to a black matte.

The sentiments are from a coordinating Betterpress set, which I inked up in black then used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  As someone who doesn't speak Italian, I always thought ciao was goodbye, but learned it can also mean hello.  So the greeting reads hello beautiful and I like the versatility of that.  Paired with the sub greeting above, I can use it for a birthday or many other occasions.

For the second card, I kind of when overboard with the flowers lol! 

This time I die cut everything from white cardstock then ink blended them for a slightly different look.  I used the same embossed background but added the arch panel as a landing spot for all the die cuts.  The sentiment is from the same Betterpress set and I finished this off with a few opal gems.  

Do you have a favorite?  I like them both, but I like the look of the ink blending on white for card #2 a bit better.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Be sure to take a moment to visit the challenge blog, my talented teammates have some amazing cards using these colors in a variety of ways.  The challenge will remain open until July 17th at 3pm EDT.  I hope you'll join us!

Stef

Card #1

• Spellbinders Citrus Spritz die set
• SB La Dolce Vita Betterpress plate and die
• SB Lemon Fresco embossing folder
• SB Blush, Tutu and Rainforest cardstock
• C&9 Buttercup and Shortbread cardstock

Card #2 (same die and sentiment sets, and embossing folder)

• SB Essential Arch die
• Simon Says Stamp Shell, Salmon, Coral, Guava, Watermelon, Limelicious and Pearfection inks
• SB Opal gems

Toucan Birthday for PP792

Hello friends!  I'm here with my card for the new sketch challenge at the Paper Players.  This week the fabulous Joanne is hosting and has given us a wonderful sketch.

Paper Players

I'm also joining the Anything Goes portion of the current Seize the Birthday challenge.

STB #329

I had recently attended The Weekender Goes Wild retreat and created a card with some of the products.  I did take some liberties with the sketch, but I'll explain that below.

The retreat is all about tropical animals and environments.  This is Tiki Toucan and the branch upon which she is sitting, which extends across the panel and has vines and flowers hanging from it, represents the horizontal strip in the sketch and the larger leaf and flower on the left represents the heart.  Unfortunately, I had to move the sentiment up above so it wouldn't cover up many of the flowers and vines.

I started by die cutting all the parts of Tiki, along with all the other elements, from colored cardstock.  Since I'd already used the toucan twice in the class, putting her together was easy.  I did find a Toucan reference photo on the internet and the one with a similarly colored beak had blue feet!  So, of course I had to use that. ;-)

For the background I used the Tropicana Texture embossing folder. It is sized at 5.5" x 8.5" and creates two different A2 patterns, which is so handy!  I used one half which was layered on a lighter piece of green cardstock, then all the scene elements were added, and I thought I was good.  Somehow, though, it looked unfinished to me, so I ended up layering it on a larger black panel, with the card ending up at 6.75" x 5". The black really made Tiki pop and I had a better place for the sentiment.  I love how this turned out, and I hope you don't mind how I riffed a bit on your sketch, Joanne!!

Thanks so much for visiting and I encourage you to visit the challenge blog to see how my amazing teammates used this sketch.  The challenge will remain open until Friday July 3rd at 3pm EDT.  I hope you'll join us this week!

Stef

• *Items from The Weekender Goes Wild 2026 Craft Kit.  The kit and the retreat (on video) is still available on the Spellbinders website.
• *Tiki Toucan die set
• *Jungle Blooms die set
• *Tropicana Texture embossing folder
• Spellbinders Just Add Cake sentiment set (from the Just Add Cake card kit)

Kaleidoscope Floral Birthday for CH134

Hello friends!  The first of June has rolled around and it's time for a new challenge at Color Hues.  The lovely Bonnie is hosting this round and has chosen a gorgeous color duo.

Color Hues

This is such a soft and lovely color combination but remember that any hue of these two colors is permitted.  

I was searching through some dies and came upon this fun set that I'd bought a couple years ago (it was the Spellbinders March 2022 Large Die of the Month which I bought on sale).  It's not available anymore but I thought it would be a great design for these colors.  And I always feel better about buying new "schtuff" when I've made an effort to use the older products. I have made other cards with this but not for a team challenge.

I started with the turquoise panel, which was cut using a retired slimline rectangle die, then die cut the white flourished base twice for layering and adhered it to the panel. I inlaid all the white leaf pieces but left the large flowers open.  Next came the all the pink flowers that were layered on top.  It was time consuming but so satisfying when complete.  I chose the gold foiled Happy Birthday and finished up with a few gold pearls.  I hadn't made a slimline card in a while, so it was a fun change-up.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and I encourage you to head over to the challenge blog to see all the gorgeous creations by the other team members and our fabulous guest designer Kim Miller!  The challenge will remain open until 9 am Sunday June 14th. I hope you'll join us!

Stef

• SB Kaleidoscope Floral Slimline Dies (March 2022) retired
• Simon Says Stamp Slimline Nested Rectangle die (retired)
• SB You Are Everything Betterpress Plate and Die
• Honey Bee Stamps Metallic Mix Pearls

Garden Party Birthday for PP778

Hello friends!  Can you believe it's the last day of May?  Phew, another month flew by!  But it also means that we have a new Tic Tac Toe challenge over at the Paper Players.  This time, the fabulous Joanne is hosting and created a really fun TTT board.

Paper Players

I chose to go diagonal from the bottom left to top right - happy sentiment, free and die cut.

I thought this was just such a happy card, with those fun floral dies.  The die set is called Garden Party and it is included in Spellbinders Just Add Cake Birthday Card Making Kit.  The kit actually comes with 7 die sets of which I used three on this card (listed below).

I started with four purplish shades of cardstock for the flowers and one for the leaves and stems.  I chose to use gold metallic for the flower centers and stamin to match the die cut Happy Birthday sentiment.  I used the die packaging example as the basis for my card.

For the background a medium blue ink was lightly blended on a white panel, then die cut with the scallop die and adhered to the card base.  After all the flowers were arranged and adhered, the die cut sentiment and the stamped sub-sentiment (also from the kit) were added with foam tape and I was done! With all the gold, I didn't think embellishments were necessary.

Thanks for stopping by!  I encourage you to take a moment and slip over to the challenge blog, where my amazing teammates have a fun variety of cards to inspire you!  The challenge will stay open until Friday June 5th at 3pm EDT.  I hope to see your card in the gallery!

Stef

• SB Garden Party dies
• SB Make It Count Sentiment dies
• SB Just Add Cake Sentiment Stamp and Die
• Kristina Werner Essential Dies Scallop Rectangle
• SB Violet, Mulberry, Orchid, Fairytale, and Rainforest cardstock

With Sympathy for PP787

Hello friends!  We have a new sketch challenge over at the Paper Players and this week LeAnne is hosting.  She's created a fun one to work with.

Paper Players

I decided to use a die set from Honey Bee Stamps that I bought two, maybe three years ago, and never used it, so I'll be sending it over to Darnell's NBUS challenge as well.

NBUS

Here's what I came up with.

When I was young, my parents planted a beautiful Dogwood tree in our front yard.  It was my mother's favorite, which was enjoyable to think about as I was making this card.  

The branch and leaves were die cut from colored cardstock and the flowers from white.  I added ink blending to all the die cuts, including the extra flower, leaves and the circle. Since the sentiment was gold foiled, the flower centers were die cut from gold as well to bring more gold into the design. 

For the background I used a rectangle die with the same design as the circle to cut a panel of white and attach it to the card base.  The lattice was also cut from white and turned out to be the perfect size for the rectangle in LeAnne's sketch.  There were a few foiled sentiments from the same set already made and the sympathy one seemed to fit best.  Fortunately, I have no immediate need for a sympathy card, but it is always good to have extra on hand.  

Thanks for stopping by and I encourage you to visit the challenge blog, where the other DT members have some wonderful cards to inspire you!  The challenge will remain open until 3pm EDT on Friday May 29th.  I hope you'll join us this week!

Stef

• Honey Bee Stamps Lovely Layers: Dogwood dies
• Spellbinders Woven Lattice Texture die
• Pinkfresh Studio Folk Edge Circle and Rectangle dies
• Spellbinders You Are Everything BetterPress plate and die

Ravi-Best for the Paper Players

Hello friends!  It's time for a new CAS challenge at the Paper Players and this time the lovely Ann is hosting.  She is asking us to use food on our cards.  

Paper Players

I have a very fun card to share for this.  I think the older I become the more I like silly and playful cards.  Don't get me wrong, I will always love my florals, but I enjoy doing something totally different too. However, in the process of making this card, I did forget that this was a CAS challenge, so my card is a little borderline. ;-) 

Aren't they so fun?  I was giddy as I was die cutting all the parts from both the Pasta Friends and Ingredient Buddies die sets from Spellbinders. I ended up spending a couple hours die cutting from both sets, then worked on layouts. The raviolis are so darn cute plus I adore their little bows, the chef's hat and the fork, along with the ability to make one of them look like he was jumping up in the air!  I saw that on a cute card from Jennifer Kotas here.

The blue background was embossed with the SB Al dente 3D folder, trimmed down and added directly to the white card base. All the die cuts were arranged and adhered before adding the cute sentiment from the Stay Saucy sentiment set.  

So, what type of food will you have on your CAS card?  I look forward to seeing your card in the gallery but before you head off to your crafty spot, check out what my talented teammates have created here.  The challenge will remain open until Friday May 22nd at 3pm EDT.  I hope you'll join us this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

Cheers to You for Color Hues

Hello friends!  We have a new challenge for you over at Color Hues and this time I am hosting!  I've chosen one of my favorite color combinations for the challenge.

Color Hues

As a reminder, you may use any hue of the two challenge colors, so lighter, darker, whatever tone, as long as it's a yellow and a blue.  Neutrals are also welcome (black, white, gray, ivory, brown, kraft and metallics).  So sorry, but green is not a neutral lol!

I'm also sharing over at Seize the Birthday for their Anything Goes portion of the challenge.

STB #325

Okay, let's get to my card! 

For a long time I knew precisely what I was going to create for this challenge, but then...Spellbinders released their Just A Cake Birthday Card Kit and I went in a completely different direction.  Take a look!

As I am always in need of masculine birthday cards, I chose to use the Birthday Brew die set from the kit, Confetti Drop embossing folder and the Just Add Cake stamps and dies.  In addition, I used the Essential Arches and the Color Block Accent Arches, which are not part of the kit.

I love that color block look in yellow and blue!  For the beer mug itself, it was die cut from both light blue and vellum.  Between those two layers a piece of acetate was added to give the look of glass with the beer behind it.  

The watch was easy to put together, once I decided on the colors of metallics to be used.  Sandwiched between the face and band of the watch is a die cut circle of gray to make the watch hands visible.  

The background arch was cut from white, embossed with the Confetti Drop folder, then a yellow ink pad was swiped across the raised elements so they would be more visible, plus give more contrast between it and the beer "foam". I used partial die cutting to create a top-folding arched shaped card base.  The final step, after everything was assembled, was to add a few small clear dew drops for an effervescent look.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Please take a moment to visit the challenge blog for more inspiration by my incredibly talented teammates and guest designer Greta.  The challenge will remain open until Thursday, May 14th at 9:00 am EDT.  I hope you'll join us, I'd love to see your card in the gallery!

Stef

Charmed Birthday for Color Hues

Hello friends!  Today the lovely Sheri is hosting our new challenge at Color Hues.  She has chosen some wonderful spring colors.

Color Hues

Remember that you can use any hues of these colors and you'll see that with the gorgeous cards by the other design team members, as well as mine.

I've always found coral to be a bit tricky to create with using inks or alcohol markers.  But then Jennifer McGuire came to my rescue in a video earlier this year, using three shades of Altenew inks (listed below).  So that's what was used to ink blend all the die cut petals on the flower. (If anybody that has suggestions for coral Copic marker combos that don't look too red, I'd appreciate knowing!)

After the ink blending of both the leaves and flower petals was complete, the flower was assembled, all six layers (!) plus the center pieces.  I didn't care for the shape of the top flower center die that was part of the die set so I substituted one from another set.

Both the Betterpress sentiment and the flower center were inked using Altenew Antique Gold pigment ink.  Texture was added to the green background with a cover plate die, then a die cut lattice became the landing spot for the peony.  Other than fussing with the flower center, this card came together very quickly!

The challenge will remain open until Wednesday April 29th at 3:00 pm EDT.  For more inspiration, I encourage you to visit the challenge blog to see all those gorgeous cards created by my amazing teammates and our guest designer Kelly. I hope you'll join us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

• Altenew Coral Charm Peony dies
• Spellbinders Woven Lattice Texture die
• Pinkfresh Studio Stitched Diamonds Cover die
• Spellbinders A Little Message Sentiments Press Plate and die
• Altenew Pink Pearl, Coral Bliss and Coral Red inks
• SSS Lime, Limelicicous and Pearfection inks

Chompster Devours It!

Hello friends!  I have a fun card to share with you today using the new Just Add Cake card kit from Spellbinders.  I was so excited to get it because I knew all of the dies would work beautifully for many of the upcoming birthdays of friends and family members.  

Of course, I had to start with the cute little monster and because he's devouring a cupcake, I'm joining the current Sweet Treats challenge at Time Out Challenges.

TOC #310

And because I created a birthday card, I'm sharing with Seize the Birthday's Anything Goes challenge.

STB #323

This card was so fun to make!

I like the combination of orange and blue because I think it's gender neutral.  I created Chompster from two shades of orange cardstock and used the darker orange for the card base and his party hat.

The monster dies are super easy to put together and I was smiling the entire time because he's so cute!  The background arch panel was embossed with the Confetti Drop folder that comes with the kit.  

The card base was created using arch dies and one of the Spellbinders Color Block Accent Arch dies.  I think that's just the coolest look and I hope in the future they come out with rectangles with the same checkerboard design.  The sentiment is from the Just Add Cake stamp and die set in the kit.  

After creating the card base doing partial die cutting with the large arch die, the layers were added.  The only thing popped up with foam tape is the sentiment.  The final touches were to add the pompom on his hat and some Sparkle Texture Paste to the cupcake frosting.  I was hoping it would have a bit more opacity, but it still looks sparkly IRL.

Thanks for taking time to stop by!  Have a great weekend!

Stef