Goodbye Dynamic Duos

I am so saddened to hear that one of my favorite challenge blogs is ending. Dynamic Duos has given me some AMAZING color combinations and fabulous DT inspiration over the past two years. I'm going to miss playing along with them every week.

For the final 'Triple Threat' challenge I created this card -

I combined the PTI Circle Scribbles set with the matching stars from the new Simple Stars set. Sentiment is from Wet Paint.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Hello Sunshine

Two days ago, it was 70 degrees. In my excitement I turned over our closets removing our winter sweaters and replacing them with short sleeve shirts. I happily put away the snow boots, gloves, and hats because I was sure Spring was here!

And then this morning, this is what I saw out my window -

Yessiree, snow! A little bit of snow & frost but snow nonetheless!! 33 degrees this morning. Yikes! I actually had to use a scraper to get the ice off my windshield.

I am DYING for Spring to get here and STAY so I was inspired to make this card.

I used Snowflake flurries to mimic a pretty sun and the die cut word is from PTI's Phrase Play #3 along with the 'sunshine' from one of the Think Big sets.

Colors were inspired by Dynamic Duos again because they are so happy and will help me conjure Spring!

Thanks for popping by and hope Spring has finally sprung in your part of the world.

Dynamic Duos #98

I'm loving these pretty Spring colors at Dynamic Duos this week and having fun with some surprise goodies sent to me by Nichole Heady from PTI last week. Talk about Happy Mail!

My card uses the new Stars cover plate cut in half. My card design was inspired by one of the awesome PTI sketches provided on release day yesterday. Sentiment is from Keep It Simple:Birthday.

I added a few Doodlebug purple pearls to the hearts.

Thanks for checking it out. Hope you are having a good week!

Two Happy Cards

I think I have too much stuff. Wow, did I really say that?? Yikes!

Sometimes I feel like I have too much craft stuff when I look through things and see something that I don't even remember buying. Even worse is when I buy the same thing twice because I don't remember buying it the first time! My stuff is pretty organized, just think I might have too much. Or I should at least look through everything once in a while to remember or make a master inventory list or something like that.

Well, I rediscovered the Lil Inkers Mini Pinwheel die (& accompanying sentiment stamp set) in my stash this weekend and thought it would be perfect with some bright pink dotted paper scraps I found.  Super easy to make the pinwheel and I attached it to a spare lollipop/cakepop stick I had.

Nothing says summer and spring to me like fun pinwheels!

Fun color inspiration is this week's Dynamic Duos challenge.

Next card is inspired by this week's MUSE Challenge. Missed the deadline to post but wanted to share this card anyway.

Card is Jacquie Southas amazing card -

My birthday card uses the same colors and I used her embossed stars as the inspiration for my background. I used the Happy one liner die across the center.

Thanks for taking a peek! Have a great week!

Two for Tuesday

Hope you are having a great week so far. Sun is shining again here and I don't need a winter jacket so all is good in my little world.

Sharing two cards I made last night while watching Blacklist. Love the show because of James Spader!

Anyway, first card features a green and grey combo (Dynamic Duos challenge) with PTI's Round Repeats set. I love this set. I stamped a trio of medallions and adhered some Hero Arts jewels I bought at a clearance sale in the center of each one. Love the glassy look to them. Sentiment from Wet Paint is heat embossed in black and then two coats of clear to make it super shiny.

My second card is to get me in the mood for warmer weather. Its for the CAS(E) This Sketch challenge this week. For this card I made a little panel featuring a beach scene. The waves are the Fanfare Border Scallop die from Lil Inkers and the flip flops from PTI Flipping Out.

Thanks for taking time to stop by. Have a good one!

DD#96 & CFC130

Yay, Spring has finally sort of sprung here, at least in my town anyway. Other parts of NJ not so far away got some snow. So weird. Hopefully April will bring some nice weather!

I've got two cards to share with you today. First is a card using Papertrey's Birds and Blooms set using this week's Dynamic Duos challenge colors - gumball green and a color of my choice. For this simple wreath, I thought orange would be a nice compliment. I stamped the wreath offset on the bottom and then dry embossed vertical stripes around the wreath. Added a layered sentiment banner on top and adhered the white panel on kraft cardstock.

As soon as I saw the CAS-ual Fridays challenge using ovals, I knew I wanted to try an inlaid diecut technique. I used a bunch of greens/blues that I thought would look nice layered together - tropical teal, new leaf, aqua mist, and hawaiian shores. Once they were all cut and laid in, I heat embossed the sentiment in white.

A couple more masculine cards for my stash.....

Have a great week. Thanks for taking a peek.

Card Trio

Thanks for all your kind words about my Blog Hop card yesterday. I had fun playing with glossy accents since its a departure from my usual style. I had a blast looking at everyone's shiny creations - TONS of inspiring stuff out there!

Sharing three cards with you today. First card is for the CASology challenge. As soon as I saw the cue card LUCKY, I knew I wanted to use patterned paper from the Echo Park Well Played collection. I used my Tipped Topped dies to highlight the card themed paper. Sentiment is from AMuse. Tried to keep the design and colors simple.

I did struggle with this card a bit because I wasn't sure when I could really use a card like this. I try to make cards that I can really use or send to Operation Write Home. However, my eldest daughter thinks this card will be perfect to use when we have a friend who wins the lottery. LOL. As if this happens frequently! Anyone want to win the lotto and get this card in the mail?

Next card is a thank you card which uses the Triple Threat colors at Dynamic Duos this week.

I kept this card simple by building the elements around a Half & Half die cut in Autumn Rose. I dry embossed horizontal stripes on it and cut it in two so I could heat emboss the sentiment in the middle. I layered some Ruby Reprise flowers around the sentiment and added Aqua Mist patterned paper leaves.

Last card uses a masking technique I picked up in the Clean and Simple 3 class. I used my new Wet Paint set and Mini Blooms in the pretty colors at ColourQ this week.

Thanks for coming by to visit. Hope you are having a great week!

Birthday Wishes

I've got two birthday cards to share with you today.

First one uses inlaid die cut technique I learned from the Clean and Simple 3 class this week. Card design inspired by this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge. This one was much easier to do than my last card with inlaid die cuts because the die cuts were larger so no little tiny pieces for me to search for! :)

Next card uses my favorite tipped top dies. Color scheme is inspired by Dynamic Duos challenge.

I embossed the sentiment from Ruby Rose in black.

Also linking both these cards to theSeize The Birthday challenge

Dynamic Duos #93

Having a tough time creatively speaking lately...there's are so many projects on my plate that I am having a tough time focusing during the little craft time I have. I'm taking the Clean and Simple 3 class at onlinecardclasses.com as well as taking two scrapbooking classes at Big Picture Classes - Before Your Story and Scrapbooking Outside the Pocket. And of course, all my favorite weekly card challenges to keep up with. Yikes, right!?

I'm excited by all of them and am completely inspired by what's going on in those classrooms but yet I haven't been able to create anything. Part of it is that I don't have much free time lately because of family stuff. But maybe I'm also burnt out after a VERY busy February. Last month I created 47 scrapbook pages during the LOAD challenge and also created 28 cards.
Hmmm....maybe I'll just do what I can and not worry about not being able to keep up.

I did make one card a few days ago that I forgot to share. This one uses the pretty colors of soft pink and stone at Dynamic Duos.

I used Stitched Rectangles on both the card base and the pink patterned paper. I embossed the bloom (forgot what type it is!) from the Meadow Greens set in white and added a pale pink enamel dot to the center. The sentiment from Clearly Besotted is stamped on two banners which were dry embossed with dots to match the paper. I popped up one of the banners with foam adhesive for a little dimension.

Thanks so much for stopping by! And if you have any advice for creative overwhelm, please share! Hope you are having a great week!

Another one for Dynamic Duos #92

I'm in the midst of preparing a big package of cards to send to Operation Write Home and was inspired to make one more card using the Dynamic Duos colors this week. I think the little bit of pink with the very masculine blue is perfect for a soldier to send to his loved one at home.

If you are interested in finding out more about Operation Write Home,check them out HERE. As a wife of a soldier, this organization is near and dear to my heart. Plus it makes great use of all the cards I make.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dynamic Duos #92

I'm sharing a card I made yesterday for our old babysitter who is raising money for a Missions trip to New Zealand to teach music to underprivileged children. We were sending a small donation for her but somehow I just couldn't send her a check with a post-it on it. I had to make a card for her of course. It was very hard coming up with just the right sentiment but I think I captured just what we wanted to say.

A month ago, picked up a new Heidi Swapp mask at Michaels a month ago but wasn't sure how to use it exactly. I hadn't yet invested in any sprays but wanted to use it with ink. So I swiped a dark blue ink pad over the stars on the mask to get scattered softly colored stars. I paired it with a dark pink sentiment. The color inspiration is from Dynamic Duos this week.

I'm watching the Oscars as I catch up on blogposts and computer stuff. Funny and entertaining, so far.

Thanks for stopping by!

Playing Around with Circle Scribbles

I'm having fun playing around with some new Papertrey goodies I got last week. I loved Circle Scribbles from the moment I saw it during release week and let me tell you, its as fun and playful as I knew it would be. I'm sharing this card that I made with Circle Scribbles and the triple threat colors at Dynamic Duos. I also used the Papertrey Tipped Top dies I got last week too. When I first cut out my papers, I didn't realize that they needed to be cut in a certain direction. It wasn't until I glued down the pink and stamped panels that I realized they were "supposed" to be flush along the left side of the card panel and not the right. But I think with the playful scribbled circles, it still looks cute on the other side.

Have a good week. Thanks for stopping by!

Dynamic Duos #91

Triple threat week at Dynamic Duos this week...I love the challenge of the extra color. For this card I used my favorite PTI Mums The Word flowers which come out of vellum die cut vases. Not sure why the the sentiment banner looks so neon pink in the photo but its really not in real life.

The design was inspired by CAS(E) This Sketch this week.

Weather is warm here today in NJ - we're up to 53 degrees so these mounds of snow are finally melting. Just in time to clear the way for the next snow storm on Tues! I'm happy that we have a little bit of a break from Old Man Winter for the weekend.
Hope you are enjoying yours! Thanks for stopping by!