Welcome Baby Boy

There's nothing as sweet as a newborn baby.  Whether it's a friend, a family member, a church member, neighbor or stranger; it's always FUN to make a sweet baby card to help someone welcome their new little one.  At Stamp Simply, you will find several amazing Baby Themed Stamps & Dies along with stamps, sentiments and dies for every occasion throughout the year that you can think of needing.  I love being able to pull out a baby card like this one when I need it.  And the expectant Mothers always love receiving a hand-made card.

I used a "wheaty" white paper (it has little grains and flecks in the paper - one of these little flecks showed up in the "crotch" area of the Onesie where the buttons are...lol) as my card base.  I layered that with a patterned paper from the Echo Park School Rules 6x6 Paper Pad.  I don't own the cute Echo Park It's a Boy 6x6 Paper Pad or I would have likely used that on my card.  Sometimes, we just have to make it work with what we have on hand; so instead, I used the Echo Park School Rules 6x6 Paper Pad and Echo Park Farmer's Market 6x6 Paper Pad for the background, the Onesie, Bib, Safety Pins, and all the little banners.

Using those papers listed above, I cut the small banners using the Fishtail Banner Dies.  The sentiment was stamped onto another banner cut with the Fishtail Banner Dies, and I used some Graphite Black Ink and the sweet Welcome Baby Stamp Set to stamp the sentiment.  The Onesie, Bib, Safety Pins, and Star were all cut using the darling Baby Basics Die Set.  There are so many paper pads, dies, stamps, stencils and wonderful products waiting for you at Stamp Simply.  We'd all love to have you stop by the Stamp Simply Blog for some inspiration, and the Stamp Simply Store for some fun shopping.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog.  There aren't adequate words to express how grateful I am for all of you who visit me and leave me comments.  It's been a long journey here on my blog, and now trends have turned more toward Instagram where I really struggle to grow.  If you'd be so kind as to FOLLOW my Instagram Page, I'd sure be grateful.  It's SO hard.  I'm always happy to do the same for you, my friends.  I get so much awesome inspiration from you all.  Thanks again for visiting, and happy crafting.

Here's where I'm sharing my card:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Add a Sentiment

Cut it Up Challenge Blog - Challenge #346 - Anything Goes Using Dies

Blessings,

Karen

Silly Rabbit.....Easter is for Jesus

As Easter approaches, we all enjoy coloring Easter eggs, having Easter egg hunts, and filling the kids' Easter baskets with candy and treats from "the Easter Bunny".  But all of that fun stuff set aside, Easter is really about Jesus and the incredible gift He gave us when He suffered and died on the cross to settle our sin debt and create a way for us to get to Heaven.  It's important to take time to remember the true meaning behind this beautiful holiday and give God thanks for loving us so much.

As always, no matter what the occasion; Stamp Simply always has the perfect stamps, images, sentiments and products to help you create the perfect cards and projects.  This card uses basic white cardstock for the base.  I topped the cardstock with several cuts of beautiful patterned papers from the Echo Park My Favorite Easter 6x6 Paper Pad.  Next, I stamped the cute rabbit using the Easter Is for Jesus Stamp Set and cut the bunny and cross with the coordinating Easter Is for Jesus Dies.  The first two photos show the front view of my card.

The second photo shows you the inside view of the card.  The two sentiments (front of card and inside of card) are found in the same Easter Is for Jesus Stamp Set, as are the cute Easter eggs.  I used 3-D Foam Tabs to raise up the bunny, cross and eggs.  I added a bow using some Baker's Twine topped with a Buttercream Paper Flower.

The cross was cut, again using the Easter Is for Jesus Dies from the Craft Consortium's Wood Textures 6x6 Paper Pad.  There are many beautiful Paper Pads at Stamp Simply in addition to all their wonderful stamps, dies and more.  Thanks so much for stopping by to take a peek at my card today.  I'm always grateful for your visits.  OH, and how about a SALE??  Yes, please.

I'm playing along here:

Inspiration Station Challenge - March: Bunny Inspiration Photo - I love this inspiration and the sweet stamp/prize.  This is my first time using this particular bunny stamp from Stamp Simply.

Blessings,

Karen

March Word Power Challenge Guest Designer

Hello, creative friends!  Thanks for stopping by today as I share to inspire you in the hope that you'll stop by and play along in the March Challenge at Word Power Challenge #3 that starts Thursday, March 7.  As you might you guess from the name of the blog, the main focus of the cards you enter in this challenge need to make the WORDS the focal point of your card.  I made this fun card to get your creativity flowing.

I pulled out some much older patterned papers from an Echo Park line called Reflections by Lori Whitlock.  Yes, it's old stash paper; but I liked the map papers because they sort of go along with the sentiment stamp I used which says, "Happiness Is Not A Destination, It's A Way Of Life".  I stamped it right on the map paper.  The stamp is also super old.  It's from a (now long since closed down) My Craft Spot - a store I loved.  It's a little bit strange that I also used a floral patterned paper (the dark blues), but it's part of the line so it worked.

I also found a cool itty-bitty compass in my stash of metals, etc.  Some Solid Dark Green Baker's Twine was a perfect color accent to use for tying around my card and using to tie a bow on the side.  My only regret with this card is that I probably should have stamped the sentiment in black to stand out more, or at least a darker blue.  I used a blue because I was a little bit afraid of the black getting lost in all the other black lines of the patterned paper.

We all hope to see you and your wonderful art at the Word Power March Challenge.  Let us see how you put the power of words to your art.  Oh, I also did some stencilling on the focal card by using a circle/bubble stencil and rubbing it with Antique Linen Oxide Ink.  Yes, lots of ink going on everywhere.  Thanks so much for stopping by today, everyone.

I'm playing along in the following challenges:

Stencil Fun Challenge Blog - March Challenge - Easter/Spring - I didn't create an Easter card, but I did use a circle stencil from Funky Fossil Designs on my background behind the sentiment.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Simon Says "Add a Sentiment" so I stamped the large sentiment right onto the map pattern paper.

Snippets Playground - Challenge #475 - Use Your Snippets - I haven't played along in this challenge for quite some time.  That never means, however, that I'm always using my snippets.  This card (as I explained above) uses some really old patterned papers from my stash, and I was really happy to enough enough big pieces of the map paper left over that I was able to use it in this way.  I like how the map paper looks on this card (even if it is too busy).

Blessings,

Karen

Cityscape Christmas Greeting

Hello, sweet blog friends!  Welcome by my blog today as I share a quick card that was created 100% JUST FOR FUN.  No Design Team assignments, no deadlines to meet...just some fun in my craft room while everyone else was busy doing other things today.  There are some challenges where I was itching to play along, and I'm happy that I had time to create a card to enter and join in (some of) the creative fun happening in our fabulous crafting community.

For my Cityscape Card (above), I used some Echo Park patterned papers, and My Mind's Eye (Cozy Christmas) chipboard, sentiment, ephemera and stickers to create my card on a light greenish Bazzill card stock base.  I attached my chipboard cityscape and berry sprig, and adorned the card with some red, natural and olive bundled burlap strings, red, white, blue and green double head stamens, and a few festive berries from my stash.

Thank you once again for stopping by my blog today.  Our house is a bit chaotic, but a whole lot of fun at the same time.  I made a big breakfast for everyone, and the kids are watching a movie now while I'm finding some blogging time.  I'm always SO grateful for your visits to  my blog.

Here are the challenges where I've been wanting to play along, and am excited to link up:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Cityscape Theme

Mod Squad Challenge Blog - Christmas/Winter Theme