Challenge Inspiration

I was going through some of my favorite craft blogs and found a few challenges that really inspired me.  Here is the birthday card that I created using that inspiration:

 I'm entering it into PTT's #108 Color and/or Photo Inspiration Challenge

This is the inspiration they provided:

 

I'm also entering this card into The Twinery's "Let's Polka...Dot" challenge

 

I used their "Charcoal" and "Maraschino" twines.  I just got them yesterday and I LOVE them!

New Twine

Huzzah!  My goodies from The Twinery came!  I decided to start making a few Easter cards that I could send to my family and thought adding some twine would be a cute touch.  Then, I was browsing The Twinery's blog and saw they had a challenge going and I couldn't resist.  I'm entering this egg-shaped card into The Twinery's "Let's Polka...Dot!" challenge.   I strung the banner with their "Marigold" colored twine.  Love the touch.  I embossed the center egg with Darice's "Dot" embossing folder.

 

Check out The Twinery's blog and challenge here!

 This is their challenge graphic

Twinery

Yay! Now I'm going to be stalking my own mailbox for the next week. I've just purchased a sampler pack from The Twinery and can't wait to start using the goods. I went with the "Colorful Bunch Sampler Pack". I see others use their twine in projects and it always looks so lovely. They have an offer code right now for 25% off until Feb 19th. Offer code: VDAY25OFF

One last Valentine

This little fella is just bursting with love!  I used a small A1 card base from David Tutera's Celebrate line.  The whale and all of the hearts are cut from the Create A Critter cartridge.  It's free to use in the Cricut Craft Room right now, so I did some exploring.  I jazzed it up with some of Martha Stewart's glitter glue and I used Glossy Accents on the little water spout, but you really can't tell.  The stamped sentiment is from Fiskars set.  Sorry about the photo, I could not get the dang camera to focus well on this for whatever reason.

I'm entering this in My Craft Spot's Challenge #86 "For Your Sweetheart"  and Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog's #148 "Be My Valentine"

To The Perfect Pear

I made this as either an anniversary or a congratulatory wedding/engagement card.  I haven't decided you, so I have left the inside un-stamped. I like how the coloring turned out, especially on the yellow pear.  I used a sponge to ink up both pears to look more realistic.  I popped the green pear up to make it a little more interesting. The pears are cut from the "Just Because" Cards cartridge, pg. 36.  The "to the" and "Perfect Pear" stamps are both Peachy Keen stamps from the PK-162 Fruit Sentiments ONE set that I just got.  I just got married recently and I wanted this card to be different from all the standard (yet lovely) cards the hubby and I received when we got engaged and then married.

 I am entering this into Peachy Keen's Challenge 13-6 "Anything Goes" and Party Time Tuesday's Challenge #107 "3 and 3"  (I used 3 accents in the bottom right corner)

Peachy Keen

Well, I've gone and done it.  I've been seeing so many people use Peachy Keen stamps in their craft projects that I went ahead and purchased a few small sets to play around with.  I'm absolutely blown away by their quality!!!  I assumed they would be like all the other clear/cling/acrylic stamps that I own, but they are stiffer, more solid, and I like it!  I'm super impressed and I'm sure I'll be picking up more in the future. 

Here they are:

 PK-294 The Cornies 1 1/8"

PK-162 Fruit Sentiments ONE

PK-943 Funshine Face Parts

I'm going to say right now that I wish I had ordered the Funshine Face Parts in a larger size, but oh well!

Hoppy Valentimes

I had a lot of fun making this Valentine.  I added a few extra elements that took additional time, but I like how it turned out.  The card backing is a 5.5"x 5.5" khaki folded card from Paper Source.  I LOOOOOVE Paper Source.  I made all of my wedding invites and thank yous from their paper.  Such high quality and beautiful colors.  I made the clock out of Shrinky Dinks shrinkable plastic.  It makes me giggle to look at this fella because he reminds me of Flava Flav.    The frog was cut from the Create A Critter 2 cartridge.  I embossed the frog with a Darice embossing folder called "Dot".  I added Glossy Accents to the hearts inside the butterfly's wings and added 2 different Washi tapes to the top and bottom of the card.

 

I stamped the sentiment using ColorBox's Petal Point Classic Pigment Inkpad and alphabet stamps from My Sentiments Exactly.  I quite enjoy the double pun :)

I am entering this card into My Craft Spot's challenge #85-Valentine's for Kids!,  PTT's challenge #106-Love and Romance, and also Pumpkin Spice's challenge #6-Anything Valentines

Cheers from the frigid North!  It's snowing like crazy here in MN.

Valentine's Cards

These are the 3 cards that I made for my 2 sisters and Mom/Dad.  They all follow a heart-stitched-on-a-clothesline sort of theme.  At least that's what I was going for.

I think that I like this one best, but it's hard to decide

 

I am entering this card in: PTT's #106 LOVE and ROMANCE
PumpkinSpice's Challenge #5 Hearts.  Check out their store at ShopPumpkinSpice.com
The Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog #147 Queen of Hearts

Here are the other 2 valentines up close:

Why I love Target

O baby.  I've been trolling the internet for the best price on the Sew Easy piercing tool and accessories for about a week now.  I wanted to get a starter set, but the ones I found online all had stitch heads that I wasn't interested in, and I felt like that was a waste of $.  Randomly decided to take a quick peak in the arts & crafts area of my local Target while there for groceries and EUREKA!  I found this gem.  A starter set that was cheaper than any I found online AND it had the exact stitch heads that I wanted.  You read my mind Target.