Having FUN In My Craft Room

Hello, crafty friends; and thanks for stopping by today.  If you stopped by looking for my Paper Sweeties post for today, you can find it here.  You won't want to miss out on hearing about the 1st Quarter Sweet Kit and seeing all my sweet inspiration cards using it.  I also had some extra time yesterday afternoon to make a couple more cards just for fun.  I love playing along in challenges when I'm able, and these cards were completely inspired by some of my favorite challenges where I wanted to play along.  Here's what I created to share with you today.

One of my all-time favorite places to play along is at Simon Says Stamp.  I love playing along - although over the 10+ years I've been doing so, I've won only once.  But who knows....maybe it's my lucky week at either the Monday or Wednesday Blog as I'm playing along in both this week.  First, I'll share my card for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog which called for Slimline Cards this week.  I used my one and only slimline die set for this layout.  Some Echo Park Flower Market patterned papers and stickers helped me out.

I also did a bit of machine stitching on my card to outline the green part.  The stamps I used for this card (faith, hope, love) are from a Paper Sweeties set called With Heartfelt Thoughts.  Because there's already a lot going on with the layers of paper, patterned papers, stickers and sentiments; I decided not to add anything else to this card.  I also like keeping some cards completely flat for easy mailing.  This is my slimline card for that challenge.

My second card was created for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog where this week's theme is Resist It.  I'm still fairly new to this technique, but I'm learning as I go.  First, I used watercolors to create my background.  I used Tim Holtz Hickory Smoke Oxide Ink to stain the edges and stamp my background stamping.  I used a stencil and some Stickles mixed with chunky green glitter and I spread this over the stencil to create a raised stencil background for my "Resist It" technique.  It has lots of great sparkle.

The other touches I added to this card include some machine stitching, fabric swatches (denim, cotton, canvas), a Tim Holtz metal charm, some ephemera pieces, burlap string, and lots of shabby inking.  I love all the wonderful layers to this card, and the Resist It technique adds even more texture and sparkle as well as design.  I layered the card with pale peach and forest green cardstocks and I clipped in a few miniature colored staples.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'm always so grateful for your visits and I appreciate your comments.  Have a blessed and creative week, and please stop by again soon.  Blessings to you!

Karen

Here's where I'm playing along:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make A Slimline Card - all details above for my slimline.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Resist It - All details are listed above for my Resist It technique.

Pixie's Crafty Workshop: Pixie's Playground - Snippets Challenge #396 - My card at the top was created using several snippets of patterned papers.  I used both sides of my snippets' double-sided patterned scraps to make the most of it all.

As You Like It Challenge Blog - When it comes to stamping....Clear Acrylic, Rubber, or Digi?  And Why?  For me, it's always my first choice to use clear acrylic stamps.  The reason WHY is because I LOVE using my Misti to line up my stamps and to be able to re-stamp as many times as needed to get a crisp clear image every time.  I struggled with this prior to the Misti, so this is why I love clear acrylic the most.  But, all stamps are great, right?  For the top card, I used a Paper Sweeties stamp set, and for the second card I shared above, I used a few different stamp sets.