Love is in the air....

....and so is a feeling of Spring with the wonderful milder temperatures we've had the past couple of days!!   Oh how I wish that winter was already behind us, and this really was the beginning of Spring...!!   Ahhh..that sure would be lovely!!

    Today, I have quite a few new cards to share, all of which were inspired by some of my favorite challenges along with a brand new one that I just happened to find this weekend after visiting another blog.

     My first card was inspired the Sunday Sketch challenge hosted every week over at Operation Write Home's - Stars and Stamps blog!!  I really struggled with this one and two previous starts ends up in my recycle bin.  Even in the end, this did not turn out as I hoped and is a bit different than the sketch -- so I'm sharing for fun and to show once again that some days, I simply can't come up with a good card!!

Sketch # 207

My Card

(Flipped and Reversed)

  My favorite part of this card is the pretty iris on the left, which is actually a fabulous Stickeroo, by Penny Black.  Even though I am not generally a sticker gal, I LOVE their stickeroos and love how you can create a really pretty card with them, even when you are struggling!   My next card, created for fun and to add to my OWH Stash, was also created with a Stickeroo from the same set - Romance of Flowers!!   I really love how the second card came out and the best part is how easy it was.  I simply picked out a Hero Hues cardbase that matched the colors and then matted it on some patterned polka dot paper and added a plain white strip down the back.  I tied on some twine and will add a nice sentiment on the inside.  

  And that brings me to the new challenge which is called "Cards in Envy" and I found it after visiting one of my OWH Friend's (Carol's Blog)!  I stopped at her blog to see her adorable OWL card that she created for Sunday's sketch and that's where I saw she had another cute card she was submitting the Card With Envy Challenge.  I went there next, loved the concept and decided to play along in the current challenge, the "Snow Buddy Like You" challenge, which I thought would be really fun, especially since I Love snow people and have a wonderful collection of stamps in that theme!!

  This is very much a CAS style card and I started by picking out my "Warm Hearts" stamp set, from Paper Smooches.  It's one of my favorites, but then again I LOVE pretty MUCH every set the Kim has created, not to mention all the awesome dies! I stamped my little snowman and then added my adorable sentiment up above him.  I colored him up with a combination of Copics, Glitter and Wink of Stella Markers, and then used a circle shaped die to but him out.  I then cut a mat in black and mounted my little snowman on that and finished off my card by adding one sparkly snowflake falling from the sky.  

  Next is one of the cards I created today and this one was inspired by the brand new "MUSE" challenge, and this wonderful card that was created by Therese Calvird, one of the very talented MUSE DT Members!!

Therese's Inspiration Card

My Card

 

  I used the colors and the idea of a "line" of design along the bottom area of the card with a sentiment above.   I cut four of my hearts with my set of Simon Say Stamp "Hearts of Plenty" Dies, all in white and then chose a cute teal polka dotted paper (Memory Box), for the final one to go more with the look of Therese's card!  I colored each of the other hearts with my Copics and also added sparkle to the large pink heart with a Wink of Stella Marker.  I used two Stampin' Up punches for the little add on elements, the flower on the light blue heart and the tiny heart on the big pink heart.    My sentiment is the same one I used on my Snowman card, as I thought it worked perfectly for this card too!   To finish this off, I cut two thin strips of black card stock to frame in my hearts!  Hope you like it. 

  I have one last card today and it turned out to be one of my favorites.   This too was inspired by a challenge and this one is for the newest challenge over at CASology, with "DOT" is this week's Cue!!

   The very first thought that came to mind for me, is polka dots and since I had a full sheet of Memory Box's Teal Polka Dotted card stock sitting on my desk, I knew that's what I wanted to use on my card.   I had no idea right away on the theme, until my mail lady arrived, with a little package of Happy Mail, which were two of the new Exclusive dies from Simon Says Stamp and I decided that I would use them both on my card.  

    I punched the hearts in the polka dotted paper and used my Copics to color the leaves in a matching deal.  The "love you" die was used with some Hero Arts Pool card stock and the matching sequins were from my stash!!   Very much as CAS card, I really love how it turned out!  :)   Another card that was very easy to create and also fun!!

     This card is also being submitted to the newest challenge - NEW YEAR - NEW STASH over at A Blog Named Hero, which Simon Says Stamp is currently the sponsor!!  WOOHOO!!   How cool would that be to win a gift certificate, so I can buy more of these amazing exclusive dies!!

     That's it for today -- hoping tomorrow will be another fun and creative day!