"White Space" Cards

Just a quick post tonight to show you two more cards that I made for challenges awhile ago. Still enjoying creating cards with lots of white space!

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Birch Tree / Memory Box Die

I have pinned and admired cards on Pinterest using this same die and similar layout as my card above. Finally bought the die....Birch Trees by Memory Box. I didn't use it right away. In fact I have had the die for a few months now. It was time to finally use it. I have been into cards with lots of "white space" lately. It seems to work well with this die. I was happy with the finished results. I made this card about 3 weeks ago for a challenge during crop week on We Craft Cards.

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Snowman Punch Art Card & Breast Cancer Awareness

Isn't this little guy cute?! I took a challenge to make  either  a Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas card using at least 3 punches. I chose to make a Christmas card. This cute little snowman took 9 punches to make him. The inspiration for the snowman came from SU demonstrator Dawn Griffith. Check out her tutorial HERE if you would like to know what punches to use and to learn how to make him.

I used some Stickles to glitter up the hearts and snowflakes  but it was a bit hard to get that to photograph. Hopefully some of these additional pictures at different angles will help to show the sparkle.

While I have your attention, I would like to take a moment to talk heart to heart with you all. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I'm sure you all have been seeing all the commercials on TV for breast cancer awareness, radio commercials as well as pink ribbons everywhere by those who support breast cancer research. Some of you might even be tired of it already....but don't be. As the commercials are saying, "1 out of 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer". That is a pretty scary number. I found out last month that I am that "one" when I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

It does not run in my family, in fact, I am the first to be diagnosed with it. I did not feel a lump, nor did my doctor during my yearly exam. Thankfully though the routine yearly mammogram caught it. An ultrasound followed the mammogram to confirm that there was a mass. Biopsy followed confirming that it was cancer. I had surgery last week and I have further treatments ahead of me. Although I have some health issues that make it harder to treat me for breast cancer, I have the fact that it was caught early in my favor.

I'm putting this in my post today with the hopes that my story will encourage those who don't have a yearly mammogram to go get it done. The key to winning the fight against breast cancer is early detection. Don't be lazy, don't be scared and don't be stupid.....schedule your yearly mammogram and get it done if you haven't already. Do it for your family and friends....do it for you.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my punch art snowman!

A Peaceful Christmas / Christmas Card and Tags

 As promised earlier, I am back with another Christmas card. I made 4 different designs this year and this was my favorite of the four. The sky is made with blending 4 inks from the Tim Holtz Distress Ink collection. I used Tumbled Glass, Weathered Wood, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot. The village and star are  dies from Memory Box. Very clean and simple but I thought elegant looking...most certainly my favorite this year.

And what does the perfect gift need? A pretty tag of course! Below is a tag that I made using the embossed resist technique and the same village die from Memory box that I used on the above card.

 For a fun tag I used a cuttlebug embossing folder, Sizzix alphabet die and a Santa hat rubber stamp to create the tag below.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas. May it be safe, joyful and spent with family and friends.

Cherry Blossom / Memory Box Die

Have you ever CASE on a card that you saw on Pinterest or maybe someone's blog? I recently pinned a card on Pinterest that I fell in love with its simplicity and wanted to make one just like it. Using the cherry blossom die and woodland branch die from Memory Box, I was able to do just that. I used kraft cardstock for the base and the mat. The mat I crimped in my paper crimper going in one direction and then turning it and crimping it again in the other direction. It is a simple but I think elegant look.

You can see the original card that inspired this HERE.

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Clean and Simple One Word Thank You Card

Hello my crafty friends! Wow, it has been a long time since I last posted. It was a busy holiday season for me. Finally starting to unwind though and looking forward to some serious crafting time in the coming new year.

I am entering my card for this post into two challenges:
Less Is More Challenge Blog - the challenge is "one word" on the front of your card.
I have been following the Less Is More challenge blog pretty much since the start of the blog but this is my first time to enter one of their challenges. I have plans to enter many more in the coming new year. If you haven't checked out Less Is More, you should. The talent and inspiration is amazing. Every Saturday I look forward to a cup of coffee and checking out the new challenge for the week. I am always amazed at the beautiful cards that are posted for the examples. Then I enjoy going back during the week several times to see all the wonderful cards that are posted for the current challenge. I hope you will take some time to check them out. Here is a link to Less Is More and you can also find a link to them on my right sidebar.

I am also entering this card into the weekly member challenge over at CardMakers on the Card Swaps forum. This week the challenge is hosted by Golda and she asked us to make a clean and simple thank you card. You can find the challenge HERE. While you are there checking out the challenge, check out the info about the upcoming crop in February. The theme is "Winter Warm Up". There will be loads of challenges, fun , inspiration, games and prizes. Oh and did I mention that the crop is being sponsored by Elmers and Spellbinders? You won't want to miss the blog hop that also will be going on during the crop. It's over a month away but time flies by fast so be sure to mark the date on your calendar, February 8 - 11th.

The details on my card:
For the exception of the flower which is cut out and pop dotted, there are no layers, just the card base. The blue flower image is Fresh Bloom by Stampendous. I colored it with Prismacolor colored pencils and used some gold Stickles on the stamen. The spray of swirls and flowers are a clear stamp by Heidi Grace and stamped with Memories Ink. The flowers are colored with Prismacolor color pencils and a yellow Basic Grey rhinestone glued in the middle of each. "Thanks" is computer generated and cardstock is by Bazzill.

I hope everyone had a happy and wonderful Christmas. Wishing you all the best for the New Year and may it be a crafty one!

Thanks for stopping by!

Simple, Quick and Easy!

Hello my crafty blogging friends! These are just some quick and simple cards that I have made for some recent challenges. They worked up fast and quick and won't require a bank loan for postage to mail them! Mailing those cards with all the lumpy embellies can be quite expensive at times!

This first card (above) was made for two challenges. The first for a challenge on CardMakers Card Swaps forum requiring us to use newsprint on our card. The second challenge was hosted on ISC and the challenge was to use the color golden yellow on your card.

The next three cards were made for three different challenges for the recent online crop, "Summers End" on the CardMakers Card Swap forum. The first card was for a challenge that required you to follow a sketch.


This next card was for a challenge that asked you to make a card showing something you would see on a beach.


My last card was for a challenge that was to make a card using all white. I love all white cards. They can be so elegant looking.


If you would like to see all the challenges that were in the crop and everyone's creations, you can check them out HERE. The next crop will be coming up in November but if you can't wait till then....there will be a mini one on October 1st for World Cardmaking Day! Hope you will check it out and join in on the fun.

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CardSwap Sketch Challenge

Hello everyone! I'm the host of this week's sketch challenge over at CardSwaps on the CardMakers site. I usually am attracted to sketches that have lots of layers and places to put all kinds of embellies. I like simple sketches but find that I rarely use them. I am also guilty of buying those larger image stamps and then rarely using the stamp because it takes up the whole card. Sound familiar?

So I challenged myself to design a very simple sketch that would showcase a larger image. Below is the sketch. For the card I used Bazzill cardstock. The image is by Hero Arts and is colored with Prismacolor color pencils.

You can find the sketch challenge HERE. Hope you consider joining us this week for the challenge. All are welcome! While your checking out the challenge be sure to check out the info on the upcoming card crop also at CardSwaps on the CardMakers site. There will be four days of challenges, games, prizes and a blog hop! Yours truly will be one of the stops on the blog hop. I'm planning a fun card to hopefully help get your mojo juices flowing. Be sure to join in on the fun! I have a blinkie on the top right to help remind you of the dates when your visiting me. It's next week so clear your calendars!




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