12 Kits of Christmas: July with Christina

It's month #7 of our 12 Kits of Christmas project, and this month's hostess is Christina MacLaren! If you'd like to read about how this group started and works, please read this post. :)  You're in for a real treat...we're over the halfway point of the year, which means we are that much closer to Christmas...so now I'm really in the spirit! And this was one of my most favorite kits yet!

I made a total of five cards with our kit this month, but I could have made double that with everything that Christina sent. The patterned papers are just so beautiful.

Of course, I had to make at least one CAS card. I embossed the green cardstock with a Cuttlebug folder from my own stash.

I love that tree image in the first card, and the layout of the one above...a little inspiration from an old magazine. {sigh!} Here is a list of everyone else in our group. Have fun hopping around and seeing our creations:

Cathy: Empty Nest Crafter

Joyce: Cards-by-the-Sea

Kim: Cupcakes Cards and Kim

Amy: Stamp-n-Paradise

Kara: K and R Designs

Sharron: On Papillion Wings

Marybeth: Marybeth's Time for Paper

Jeanne: A Kept Life

Jessica: The Paper Parade

Christina: Sea Glass & Sentiments

Renee: It's A Patchwork Life

Thank you so very much, Christina! 

Hugs,

CAS-ual Fridays 63

This week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge is a color challenge using lime, aqua, and navy...a fun one! We are sponsored this week by Stop and Scrap.

For my card, I knew I had to use some lime paper from A Muse Studio. As soon as I think about blue and green together...out come the hill dies for a mini landscape card. I embossed the "sky" part of the card with some banners, and added the diecut sentiment using my alpha dies from Memory Box. Then I added some ribbon to the top to finish the card off.

I definitely love the lime with the navy but I am not sure how I feel about this shade of aqua...I will sleep on it and decide later. :) Hope you're having a fun weekend!

Runway Inspired Challenge Baby Shower

I've been crafting up a storm and I couldn't resist this week's Runway Inspired Challenge, mostly because I picked up the new baby patterned paper pads from Crate Paper. I was mainly inspired by the grass that the babies are sitting on in each of the inspiration photos - they're so cute! You should head on over to check them out.

The baby shower is being held in honor of Sarah Jay and Cristina Kowalczyk, RIC DT members who both had babies very recently. I used the same layout for each card and just switched up the papers for the boy and girl versions. The giraffe die and sentiment are from Clear and Simple Stamps. Hope you can join in on the fun too!

CSS App Project Sneak Peek

Happy Friday! I've got a card to share on the Clear and Simple Stamps App today. Please click here to get all the details. See you again soon...it's gonna be a very crafty weekend. :)

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #107

Hope you are all having a great week...I am in the final days of my epic and utterly awesome 3 week vacation. I am spending these last few days getting crafty, and I could not less this time pass by without playing along in another Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge.

For some reason, I have Christmas on the brain. I think it's all the waiting for the new holiday papers to come out, but it made me want to make a Christmas card today. I used 2011 Holiday Ornaments and a sentiment from Festive Foliage, as well as a snowflake background stamp from Hero Arts on this card. The center panel was embossed using a houndstooth embossing folder, and the patterned paper is from Crate Paper.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your afternoon. :)

RCC63: Pinterest Persuasion

Hi everyone! I missed you! I am finally back from my travels and trying to get back into the crafty swing of things. My hubby and I spent a week in beautiful Punta Cana and then I scooted off to Nashville to meet my dear sweet friend Renee for SAF. It seems so lonely and boring crafting alone without her now. I will try to post details and pics later this week.

There was no time for a lack of mojo this week...because it's my turn to host this week's Ribbon Carousel Challenge!

Here is the Pinterest photo I chose as inspiration for the week:

I was inspired to use my tree image from Stampin' Up!, which was stamped in their soft suede ink onto white cardstock and paired with aqua mist and orange. I layered my ribbon, rather than tying a bow-this one is the 3/4 inch Bittersweet Solid Grosgrain Ribbon. The layer of aqua under the ribbon was debossed with the woodgrain IP from PTI and the pinking edge was diecut using the border die from A Muse Studio. The patterned paper strip is also from PTI.

I would love for you all to join us for this week's challenge. Head on over to the Ribbon Carousel Blog for all the details. :)

CAS-ual Fridays 62: Back in Black

Yippeeee for Saturday!! Especially today, a day I've been waiting for for a very long time. My hubby and I returned from Punta Cana the other day and then I scooted away to Nashville to meet my sweet dear friend, Renee, mostly for today's Stamp-a-faire but I will be shocked if we get any crafting done. We love to talk. :)

Today's card is for this week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge, which is to make a card using a black card base. At first I was a little lost, since this isn't a color that I reach for often, but once I got going...it was easier than I thought it would be. It's a card that I made for my friend, Jessica, who was elected as president of a local volunteer organization. Her election was a while ago, so the card is long overdue!

This week's challenge is being sponsored by Lil' Inker Designs, so the winner receives a gift card for their store. And if you don't have their bow die yet, I will go so far as to say that you *need* it. They have tons of other fantastic dies, all with their signature stitched edge, and stamps, so I hope you can join us!

I hope you're all having a great day! See you again soon,

Ribbon Carousel and Sparkle Creations Blog Hop

Hi everyone! Today's there a blog hop going on between The Ribbon Carousel and Sparkle Creations, and I've got a cute card to share using products from each!

On my card I used the Traveling Josh image from Sparkle Creations along with the Red/Ivory Check Ribbon from RC. I used some patterned papers from Authentique as well. :)

Clear and Simple Stamps Group Post

Hi everyone! Today is the group post day for the July Clear and Simple Stamps release, and this month's challenge is Holiday in July!

I started with the Eat, Drink & Be Merry sentiment from By the Glass Sentiments, and then I found this fabulous houndstooth paper from Teresa Collins in my craft room. Next, I decided to trim it and use one of the Toppers dies to shape the end of the strip, which was then adhered so that it would look like Santa's belt:

The button was threaded with ivory jute twine, and then I inked the edges of the cardstock with Distress Inks to make it look a little more rustic and wintery. Everything was then mounted on aqua cardstock. That's a funky photo of a black button! LOL.

These were really easy to make! There are several other CSS DT members playing along in today's challenge, and since I am such a HUGE fan of Christmas papercrafts, I can't wait to see what they've come up with. Have fun hopping along with me:

Elena Roussakis

Laurie Willison

Kim Duran

Tracy Schultz

Lori Tecler

Dana Grothaus

Jennifer Rzasa

Amber Kemp-Gerstel

Jaclyn Miller

Laura Bassen

Clear and Simple Stamps Blog

Have a fun day!

CAS-ual Fridays 61: Let's Strip

Hi everyone! I've got a card to share for this week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge which is to make a card using strips of paper.

For my card, I cut 0.75 inch strips of In Bloom patterned paper and layered them onto some 80lb cardstock. Then I diecut into the strips using the My Favorite Things Die-namics Hexagon, which I really love because it offers you the ability to cut individual hexagons in two different sizes or a long hexagon border strip - this side can also be used to cut chevrons! :) I adhered the diecuts to my cardfront using some foam tape and added the sweet sentiment from Avery Elle's Bright Days set. That's pretty much it!

Hope you've had a great week and that you'll consider playing along!

Clear and Simple Stamps Collection 4 Release: Day 7 {Rag Dolls}

It's the last day of the Clear and Simple Stamps Collection 4 release, and today the team is featuring products made with the brand new Rag Dolls Collection!

For my first project today, I made a set of mini cards using the new Carlie: Missed stamps. Isn't it cute how she's resting on top of the sentiment? The images were stamped onto white cardstock in blue ink, and then I lined up the sticker border from My Little Yellow Bicycle underneath the image. The entire panel was then adhered to some teal colored cardstock. I love these two colors.

I then decided to make something using the stamps in the new Emma collection, but without using the Rag Doll image. I decided to make a girly birthday card using the sentiment and balloons from the set:

Using my Stamp-a-majig, I stamped the sentiment in different colors and used the lightest color to stamp the balloons as though they were coming out of the words. The same idea was applied on the mini card, where I only inked up the "Wish" part of the sentiment. I coated some matching pink cardstock with some glitter and added that to the sides of the cards.

There is quite a lineup of talented designers just waiting to share what they've made with these sets, so run on over to check out their projects:

Elena Roussakis

Denise January

Laurie Willison

Kim Duran

Tracy Schultz

Lori Tecler

Dana Grothaus

Laura Bassen

Stephany Zerbe

Amber Kemp-Gerstel

Ryann Salamon (guest)

Virginia Lu (guest)

Clear and Simple Stamps Blog

And here is a list of some of the new products being released today:

• Rag Doll Hats
• Rag Doll Basics
• Carlie: Missed
• Emma: Banner w/ matching die

I've had so much fun sharing all my projects with you this week as one of Clear and Simple Stamps' guest designers. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Clear and Simple Stamps Collection 4 Release: Day 6 {Toppers + Favors}

Happy Day #6 of the Clear and Simple Stamps Collection 4 Release! Today's project is one of my favorites from the whole week - this was just so fun for me to make. Today's theme is Toppers and Favors, and I am featuring the brand new bag toppers and clear gift bags.

I found some fruit-shaped reusable ice cubes at the dollar store and thought these would make for perfect favors using the Toppers sets combined with the Beverage sets that were released earlier this week. I packed 3 cubes of each color into the clear bags, and diecut and stamped the chevron pattern in black ink across all of the toppers. The set contains other patterns besides chevrons - stripes and dots, as well as a frame, and in a variety of sizes for the different bag sizes. The dies come in the same sizes too. ;)

The next step was to trim some additional diecuts to fit over the curvature of the chevron base, as well as some colored cardstock in coordinating colors. The white panels were then stamped with the large flower image from Background Basics 2 and the sentiment from By the Glass Sentiments.

Everything was finished off with some large pearls in the center of each flower. Fun, right? I am thinking that I might go back to the store to pick up more cubes. :)

Here is a list of all the designers who are featuring projects with today's Toppers and Favors goodies...Have fun seeing their creations:

Denise January

Laurie Willison

Kim Duran

Jaclyn Miller

Jennifer Rzasa

Amber Kemp-Gerstel

Clear and Simple Stamps blog

And here are some link to the Toppers sets and Clear Bags:

Toppers Combo

Toppers Fillers

Clear Candy Bag Designer Mix

Thanks so very much for all of your support this week! It means so much to me.