Sketchfest Saturday!

I love the tropics, can you tell? This is my sample card for Sketchfest Saturday at Caardvarks.  Today is the last day of our seven-day Sketchfest and here is the sketch challenge. I hope you have had the chance to submit some of your cards for the chance to win great prizes from Studio Calico AND a chance to be offered a position on the Caardvarks Crew Team. Caardvarks is an awesome group to be a part of. It's given me a chance to play with some fantastic craft supplies. For more details on the contest, you can read more about it HERE.

The flag pins (Making Memories) are so much fun to use -- perfect for a travel page or card. The round paper with the flowers was actually the label that came with the flag pins (I was thinking "green"). For the sentiment, I used my new favorite thing, foam stickers (American Crafts). The designer papers are from Making Memories and Little Yellow Bicycle. All these are available at Studio Calico. 

Don't forget to go back to the Caardvarks Blog to leave a comment.  Have Fun and Good Luck!

Sketchfest Thursday!

Okay, I guess I was in my tropical mood for many of the cards I've made lately. This 5" x 5" card is my sample card for Sketchfest Thursday at Caardvarks.  If you don't know yet, we're having a seven-day Sketchfest and you have the chance to win some great prizes from Studio Calico AND have a chance to be offered a position on the Caardvarks Crew Team for the new six-month term which begins November 1st. Now that's exciting! You can read more about it HERE.

These flowers (Maya Roads) are so cute. They have a pearl in the center and the petals are leather-like. For the sentiment, I used the Journal Tablet (Little Yellow Bicycle) and a foam sticker (American Crafts). The designer papers are from Making Memories and Little Yellow Bicycle. All these are available at Studio Calico. 

Don't forget to go back to the Caardvarks Blog to leave a comment.  Have Fun and Good Luck!

Sketchfest Wednesday!

Today is Sketchfest Wednesday at Caardvarks and here is today's Sketch Challenge in our series of seven. We've received some fabulous submissions and they're all so unique! The exciting part is that you can win some great prizes from Studio Calico AND have a chance to be offered a position on the Caardvarks Crew Team for the new six-month term which begins November 1st. You can read more about it HERE.

This is my sample card for today. I love those thick foam stickers (American Crafts). They have a self adhesive backing and the set comes with plenty of alphabets and numbers. For the sentiment, I used the Journal Tablet (Little Yellow Bicycle), which is full of fun things for journaling and card making. The designer papers are from Making Memories. All these are available at Studio Calico. 


Don't forget to go back to the Caardvarks Blog to leave a comment.  Have Fun and Good Luck!

Sketchfest Tuesday!

Today is Sketchfest Tuesday and we're continuing with our sketch challenges to win fabulous prizes from Studio Calico AND a chance to be offered a position on the Caardvarks Crew Team for the new six-month term which begins November 1st!  You can read more of the details HERE.

This is the sketch and my sample card for today. I love the tropics and since some of the items from  Studio Calico had these gorgeous flowers on them, I just had to go with the Aloha theme.

The letters that spell "ALOHA" were taken from a 12x12 sheet of designer paper from Making Memories. What I thought was fun was the "masking tape," also from Making Memories. The decorative tape comes with three rolls in the package, each one having a different design on them. I made several layers on this card and to finish it off, I added a real shell, which one of my daughters had brought home years ago from one of the beaches in Hawaii (it could have been from the Bahamas, I just can't remember right now).

Don't forget to go back to the Caardvarks Blog to leave a comment.  Have Fun and Good Luck!

Sketchfest Monday!

We continue our Sketchfest with our sponsor, Studio Calico. What do you have to do?

Every day this week at 12:01 am (Pacific Time), Cardvaarks will publish a card sketch. You'll have until 7 AM PST the following morning to create your card and link us to it via Mr. Linky. A group of prizes will be awarded to random Sketchfest entries.

We are so excited to announce that we will be choosing a grand prize winner from the ones who complete all seven sketch challenges. The winner will be offered a position on the Caardvarks Crew Team for the new six-month term which begins November 1st! So...if you'd like to throw your name into the hat, be sure to complete all 7 challenges by the deadlines! At the end of Sketchfest, we'll ask you to email us to let us know you completed *all* of the challenges and we'll announce our new Crew Member by October 1st. This is our first sketch.

Tomorrow, I'll have a sample for the next challenge. Good luck and have fun!

Sketchfest Sunday!

How'd you like to win an awesome prize from Studio Calico or be offered a position on the Caardvarks Crew Team? What do you have to do for this great opportunity?

Starting today and every day this week at 12:01 am (Pacific Time), Cardvaarks will publish a card sketch, created by one of our own Crew Member, Heidi. You'll have until 7 AM PST the following morning to create your card and link us to it via Mr. Linky.

A group of prizes will be awarded to random Sketchfest entries including TWO of the same Studio Calico kits that were used in the Crew Caards, "Director's Cut", and the fabulous "LOLLIPOP GUILD" kit.

We are so excited to announce that we will be choosing a grand prize winner from the ones who complete all seven sketch challenges. The winner will be offered a position on the Caardvarks Crew Team for the new six-month term which begins November 1st! So...if you'd like to throw your name into the hat, be sure to complete all 7 challenges by the deadlines! At the end of Sketchfest, we'll ask you to email us to let us know you completed *all* of the challenges and we'll announce our new Crew Member by October 1st. This is our first sketch.


Tomorrow, I'll have a sample for the next challenge. Good luck and have fun!

GCD Studios Blog Hop

The very generous GCD Studios has asked the Caardvarks Crew to showcase their new collections in a BIG way, so we are hosting a Three-Day Blog Hop starting today, September 15th to the 17th. Below, I have listed the names and links of each Caardvarks Crew Members' blogs that you can visit the next three days.

I have to say that this was my first time to use GCD Studios paper and embellishments, and let me tell you... they are awesome! The paper is so thick with beautiful designs. Their embellishments coordinate beautifully with the papers.

The cards and project that I've posted today were made using two of their new paper collections: Sunny Days and Cloisonne' along with their matching Die Cut Chipboard, Stickers and Rub Ons.

The Happy Hi card (above) is 5" x 5" and I used both paper collections, Sunny Days and Cloisonne'. I also used the coordinating Die Cut Chipboard. I added a few things from my stash to complete it, like the twill tape ribbon (Wrights), button (SU!) and thread (DMC).

For the Grateful for U card, I used the Sunny Days collection with the coordinating Die Cut Chipboard. From my stash, I added Dew Drops (Robin's Nest).

This next project is a card and envelope organizer. I made this next using the Cloisonne' collection. I also used the coordinating Die Cut Chipboard for the "drawer pull" and the alphabet, along with the label cut-outs which are included in the paper pack. From my stash, I added a Rhinestone Brad and Pretties Flower, both from SU! If you're interested in the template for this organizer, click here for more info.

For a chance to win ALL FOUR new GCD Studios releases, simply hop along each day and comment on the posts. Return to Caardvarks when you're done and leave a comment that you've completed the Hop...we'll choose a random winner from each day on Saturday the 19th so finish hopping by Friday, September 18th at Midnight PST.

Here is the BLOG HOP ORDER:

DAY #1 ~ September 15th
Jenyfur
Lauren
Mel
Lori
Tanis
Adela
GCD Studios Blog

DAY #2 ~ September 16th
Kryssi
Nathalia
Jenn B.
Pamela
Stef
Carrie
GCD Studios Blog

DAY #3 ~ September 17th
Ashley
Lucy
Heidi
Michelle
Jolene
Daniela
GCD Studios Blog

Best Wishes Melanie Blog Hop!!!!

Tonight we have some bittersweet news to share. One of our Paper Craft Planet Super Novas, Melanie Muenchinger, is leaving the Planet. Melanie has been on the Paper Craft Planet Design Team since the ‘Planet
launched last year, but with mounting family and designing commitments, she needs to scale back on her other teams to focus on illustrating for Gina K Designs. But since this is not really “goodbye” the PCP ladies are throwing a little going away "Best Wishes" bash in the form of a blog hop today featuring two sets designed by Melanie: "A Year of Leaves” or “School, Sports, Spirit!"

Gina K is sponsoring a challenge this week on Paper Craft Planet with a chance to win one of Melanie’s newest sets! Upload a new project you create with a "Best Wishes" or good luck theme to the PCP gallery by Monday night 10PM EST, with the tag GKDBW. (Here is a tutorial on adding pictures to the gallery, if you need it.)
A winner will be announced Tuesday, that person will win their choice of “A Year of Leaves” or “School, Sports, Spirit!" Hope you will play the challenge! Melanie, we will miss you on PCP and as for me, it was a privilege working with you.

Here is the card I made with her “School, Sports, Spirit!" set. I used the colors of both my daughters' schools.


Please see more beautiful samples the Supernovas created with these new sets
here:

Lynn Mercurio

Kim Burmeister

Wendy Price

Jen Tapler

Tammy Hershberger

Erika Martin

Lori Tecler

Jessica Fick

Sankari Wegman

Susanna Boyd

Melanie Muenchinger

Please check out our challenge gallery for Melanie!

You'll be missed, Mel, and BEST WISHES to you, lovely lady!!!!

A Card and Some Fun Announcements!

Tonight, Paper Craft Planet will have a blog hop to say "so long and best wishes" to one of our Super Novas. Join the PCP Design Team in wishing her the best! There will be a challenge and prize, of course! Hopping will start at 7pm Pacific, 10pm Eastern.

Another blog hop, with Caardvarks this time, will start on Sept. 15 and will end on the 17th. Our sponsor is GCD Studios. I will make more announcements about that later.

Now for the card, I made this Fall card using Fall Time Hanna from Hanna Stamps. Since I had my sewing machine out (making alterations for my daughter), I added some stitching. For the layout, I decided to try the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge.

This new Hanna set is such a pretty set. It includes some really cute accessories. You can get it on sale right now from Hanna Stamps. Actually, all the stamps are on sale right now, along with some other fantastic accessories. Now that's really exciting!

Stamp: Fall Time Hanna (Hanna Stamps)
Paper: Neenah White, Natural, Pumpkin Pie, My Mind's Eye DP
Ink: Pitch Black, Espresso (Adirondack), Copics
Acc: Ribbon (Fancy Pants), Dew Drops (Robin's Nest), Sewing Machine and Thread, Sponge, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Today is my daughter's birthday -- she's officially an adult! If it were up to her, she'd stay in the teens forever! That's her, by the way, on my header. She was 22 months old there.

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY, JASMINE!!!!!!

Two More Sneaks Before the Party!

Tonight's the night of the Hanna Stamps Release Party! I hope that you'll join us in the SCS Hanna Stamp Forum beginning at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern. Tonight we will be announcing the winner of Jeanne's Challenge and the winner of the Blog Hop! But before that, I have two more sneaks for ya!

One of my favorite new Hanna's is Elf Hanna and in that set are the two images I used on the Christmas card above. After seeing the challenge to use stars and stripes on Our Creative Corner, I decided to use striped background paper to add to the star that was already on the tree.

For my second card, I used two of the images from the Happy Birthday Hanna set. After uploading my card on here, I realized that since I used stripes as the background paper on this card, I could have added a simple star and it would have worked for the OCC challenge! Oh, and just look at that Sentiment which I had been wanting to use but never had the occasion to. I can imagine the birthday girl saying those words after receiving the gift she had been wanting!
Well, that's about it for now. Remember to visit the other Hanna Girls (links are on my sidebar) then join us at the release party for chatting fun and to see who the winners are!

Hanna Stamps Blog Hop!

If you arrived here from Ilina's blog, then you must be participating in the Hanna Stamps Blog Hop! If you didn't know about the Blog Hop and want to participate, you'll want to start at Frances' Blog.

It's Day 3 of the Hanna Stamps sneak peeks and for today's sneak, here's a card I made with the new Happy Birthday Hanna. This set is really cute -- I love it! It will be available after the Hanna Release Party on Tuesday evening.

Stamp: Happy Birthday Hanna
Paper: Neenah White, Core'dinations, DCWV DP
Ink: Pitch Black (Adirondack), Copics
Acc: Trinket Pin (Maya Road), Button (Joann), Dew Drops (Robins Nest), Half Pearl (Hero Arts), Ribbons (SU!)

Be sure to join us at the Release Party at the Hanna Stamps SCS Group Forum at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern.

Okay, next on the list for the Blog Hop is Sandra.

DRS Designs Challenge

How would you like to win some fabulous stamps and other fun goodies? Caardvarks is now hosting a great challenge thanks to our sponsor, DRS Designs. What do you need to do?

The Challenge

Create a card inspired by one of the sketches below! Link the Cardvaark Blog to your NEW card via Mr. Linky.

Deadline

Post your NEW card on the Cardvaark Blog (via Mr. Linky) by September 14th at Midnight, Pacific Time.

The Prize

Sketch #1

Sketch #2

Sketch #3

This is another card I made using DRS Designs stamp. It's a Christmas card with non-traditional Christmas colors.

Supplies for Angel Card:
So Saffron Card Stock, Neenah White, Crate Paper DP, Oval Nesties and Label Die (Spellbinder), Star Punch, 1" White Satin Ribbon (SU!), Trinket Pin (Maya Road), Cuttlebug Folder, Copic Markers, Spica Markers, Sponge, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals.

Supplies for Planter Card:
Border Punch (Martha Swewart), Sizzix Label Die, Trinket Pin (Maya Road), Ric-rak, Copic Markers, Spica Markers, Cuttlebug Folder, Sponge, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Be sure to visit the rest of the Caardvark design team members -- link is located in my sidebar.

Two More Sneaks!

Goth Hanna? That's right... I tried to make my card look "Goth," but after it was all done, I saw Pink! I don't think Pink is one of their favorite colors. Oh well... But I really enjoyed designing this card.

Welcome to Day 2 of the Hanna Stamps Sneak Peeks. Today I want to share with you two cards from the Goth Hanna set. In this first card, I think Hanna looks really cute. Maybe her cuteness made me forget that it was a Goth Hanna, so I didn't think twice about the pink shades.

Stamp: Goth Hanna
Paper: Neenah White, Black, Rose Red, Core'dinations, My Mind's Eye DP
Ink: Pitch Black (Adirondack), Copics, Rose Red
Acc: Sizzix Alpha Die, Lock and Key Charms, Circle Cutter, Black Organdy Ribbon, Cuttlebug Folder, Sandpaper, Sponge, Dew Drops, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals

This is another version of Goth Hanna. Yes, I do believe that's a whip she's holding. The sentiment is another new stamp set called Graffiti. It's a great mini set! Lately, for the ribbons, I've been using my slit punch (the one shaped like a U). It's usually the right size for many ribbons, and best of all, the hole isn't too visible. Give it a try.

Stamp: Goth Hanna, Graffiti
Paper: Neenah White, Black, Red, Core'dinations, American Crafts
Ink: Pitch Black (Adirondack), Copics, Rose Red
Acc: Lock and Key Charms, Slit Punch, Photo Corner Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Eyelets, Black Organdy Ribbon, Cuttlebug Folder, Dew Drops, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Remember, tomorrow is the Hanna Blog Hop! It starts at Kristi's Blog at 7:00 pm Pacific and 10:00 pm Eastern. Normally, we have the Release Party on Mondays, but since it's a holiday, the Hanna Stamps Release Party will be on Tuesday. So mark you calenders!

Okay, I'm off to bed (it's now 4:40 am in California). Have a fun day and a safe weekend.

It's Sneak Peek Friday!

I'm so excited to show you some of the brand new Hanna Stamps sets. But before I describe my cards to you, I just wanted to let you know that this coming Sunday, The Hanna Chickies are having a Blog Hop to introduce the new September sets! The hop will begin at Kristi's Blog at 7:00 pm Pacific Time, 10:00 pm Eastern Time. Of course there will be a release challenge and the winner will receive a $20 gift certificate to Hanna, plus an unmounted stamp of their choice. The link for the challenge info is HERE. Also, our release party will be on Tuesday the 8th at SCS Hanna Forum. Now on with the sneaks.

With the Fall season coming, this brand new Hanna set, Fall Time Hanna, is so cute and perfect! There she is at the pumpkin patch. As usual, this Hanna set comes with lots of accessories. I did some masking on this card to create the pumpkin patch scene using some of the accessories.

Stamp: Fall Time Hanna
Paper: Neenah White, Core'dinations Card Stock, My Mind's Eye DP
Ink: Pitch Black (Adirondack), Copics, Pumpkin Pie
Acc: Cuttlebug Folder, Large Oval Punch, Chocolate Satin Ribbon, Slot Punch, Memory Thread (DMC), Mini Glue Dots, Dimentionals
This second sneak is a Riley, Farmer and Wife. At first I wanted to make a card with a country theme, but when I finally finished my card, it became a Thanksgiving card. That's the beauty of card making... you can make whatever you want and if you're not satisfied with it, just redo it or cover it up with accessories and things.

Stamp: Farmer and Wife
Paper: Neenah White, Core'dinations Card Stock, Chocolate Chip, Autumn Leaves DP
Ink: Pitch Black and Espresso (Adirondack), Copics, Pumpkin Pie
Acc: Cuttlebug Folder Paisley, Nestabilities Label Die and Square Scallop, 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Twine, Sponge, Brads, Mini Glue Dots, Dimentionals

Be sure to visit the other Hanna Chickies for more sneaks! You can find their links on my sidebar. Tomorrow I'll have more to share with you. Have a great TGIF day!