A fun new challenge at The Outlawz!!

  I am very excited to have been invited to be a Guest Designer for this week's Greeting Card Challenge at  'The Outlawz'.   My thanks to Angela for asking me to join them during 'March Madness'.   The very first challenge for March is called -  'I Spy Something Green', and the challenge is to create a project that includes the color Green, along with a Sentiment!

   I wanted to create a card with a Spring theme and also wanted to incorporate some fun stamping techniques.   I started by picking out one of my favorite Hero Arts background stamps (Leaf & Floral), and inked it with a combination of Blue, Yellow and Green Hero Hues inks.   I then spritzed the inked stamp with a hint of Perfect Pearls Mist and  stamped it directly onto a  Sunshine Yellow card base.  

  The next thing I wanted to do was also make this a window card and I accomplished that by using a Spellbinder "Small Label" die set to cut out a window on the front of my card.  I then lined the inside of my card in a matching green cardstock to add more contrast and color.  Next, I created a border for my window a die one size larger for the same set.  My friendship sentiment was stamped directly onto a some matching patterned paper, then cut out and adhered the window area of my card.  I finished it off with a few matching flowers.    Hope you like it!

      I hope I have inspired you to hop on over and play along.  If you are new to card-making or challenges, these are a fun and great way to practice card-making, coloring and stamping.  The Outlawz Group is a fabulous free online group that offers a new challenge every day!  I am honored and very happy to have been a member of this group since it's very first day.  It's also a very friendly group of wonderful people who have a love for all things Crafty!!  I am so excited to be joining this group on their very first Getaway Weekend being hosted this year in Baltimore.

     This is going to be a fun-filled weekend where we all with have a chance to meet, take some craft classes and mostly have a lot of fun simply being together!   We hope the event will be the first of many more annual gatherings and would love for you to join us.  For more details, please go HERE!  I am also including a copy of the Save the Date information!   If you would like to be a prize sponsor for the event, feel free to contact me, for more details!!

 

  Update:   After seeing so many awesome cards being entered into today's new 'I Spy Something Green' Challenge at The Outlawz, I thought it would be fun to make a few more to add for FUN!    I had spent all morning and part of the afternoon cleaning and purging more 'stuff' from my craftroom, and again I came across some more of the awesome Penny Black Stickeroos and used them to create all three of these new cards!   

       My first card is a fun little Birthday card for a sweet boy who will be turning 12 next weekend.  He's the son of one of my dearest friends, and I'm so amazed at how fast these twelve years have flown by.  I can still remember being at the hospital when her was born and he was one of the first babies I knew born in the year 2000.   Where does the time go??

    These are the other two cards and both of these, I actually like much more.  I love the gorgeous floral themes and using these awesome stickers, makes it so easy to create some very quick and easy cards.  

     I hope I have inspired you to create something that shows your favorite shade of Green and look forward to seeing your projects over at The Outlawz!!   

Busy, busy, busy....

...But, all in a good way and I have had lots of time to create this week.  On a happy note, I have been feeling better too and one benefit has been spending more time offline and use my iPad to keep up with my craft groups and friends.

   I have lots of fun new cards to share and most all were created with a challenge or theme in mind when I started.  My first card was created for a new Challenge over at Crafting By Designs and it's was based on the idea of created a card using our favorite patterned paper and I did that in two different ways.  The first card I created will be my first Christmas Card for 2012 and was created with one of my favorite Christmas paper sets from last year, Bo Bunny's Snowfall collection.

     And my second card was basically created for fun and used papers from my current favorite set which is Viola from Memory Box.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to create this fun design and found it's a cool design that I've already used again!

  And with the same design in mind, I also created this bright fun card!

  And another....

   And this card was created on Thursday for the Twisted Thursday Challenge over at The Outlawz.  Our theme this week was to to create an Easel card, something I had not done in a long time!  

   My next card was one I created yesterday for the 90 Scramble over at the Hero Arts Group!  I totally enjoy this group and it's a great place for anyone who loves Hero Arts products.   The talent in this group is amazing and I've really enjoyed meeting and creating with everyone.   This is my second time playing in a 90 minute scramble and I totally LOVE them.   It's really a fun challenge and you never know what theme or idea you'll have to work with.  Yesterday, our theme ended up being "Inchies" and we had to use at least three on our card along with a Hero Arts Stamp.   

   Once I quickly dug through my stash and found my "Inchies" I had to decide which of my many wonderful HA stamps that I wanted to use.  I decided to use this set, Merci Bouquet, which is one of my newest and a favorite.  I stamped the image directly onto White Cryogen Cardstock and quickly colored it with my Copics.  I then cut it into four equal section, each jsut under 1" square, so I could adhere them directly to my Black 'inchie' bases.  I was a big Fan of Inchies when they first came out and love the whole concept.  If you would like to see more Inchie Prouduct, please go HERE!!   I've always bought all my Inchie products from Ellen Hutson and I love her store and have shopped there many times.   The service is excellent and I I have always been very pleased with everything I have bought there!   

   My little Inchie Card turned out to be one of my favorite cards this week, and one that I would like to re-create with other designs and colors!!

    I also worked on a second card yesterday and this one is for the Paper a la Mode Challenge being hosted at The Outlawz.  Our challenge this week is "No Coloring" and the technique we need to use is Paper-Piecing to create our project.   I actually love paper-piecing and use it often, but I tend to also color with it, so it was different for me to NOT have any coloring.  It took me a few tries and my first card was a bust, but I do like this one and it's the card I am submitting to the Challenge.  My stamps are again from Hero Arts and the papers are a variety I dug out of my Scrap Bin!!  

  I also has a new Sketch Card to share and it was based off of today's new Sketch #111, from the Stars & Stamps Blog, which I have copied over to share!  

Sketch #111

My Card

  This card is not making me overly happy and I find myself struggling a bit today with the "white space" area of the card and what I want to add.  I did pick out a sentiment from another Hero Arts set, but I feel like this card to not quite right, so I do hope to work on another one!  Anyone have any hints or ideas to improve it?  I'd love to hear them??

  Before I sign off, I have one more card or too to share and this one had been inspired by the favorite paper challenge at CBD.   The stars were punched from the same wonderful Viola paper from Memory Box.  It was a really easy card to create, but is full of color and texture!!  

   I'm off now to work on something new for Operation Write Home and also want to start on a new cards for today's CAS Challenge at The Outlawz.   Our challenge today is to use two different patterned papers and create a very clean and simple cards.  The cards the DT created are all fantastic and I'm think I may use the OWH Sketch and incorporate both challenges together?  

   If I come up with something good, I will be back to share, otherwise, I'm going to keep on creating and working on some new things!!  Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend and a great week ahead.

  Update:    I completed a second card based on today's Sketch over at the Stars and Stamps blog - Operation Write Home and also finished up my card for today's new CAS Challenge at The Outlawz.  I used the wonderful new Viola Collection for both cards and I'm much happier with my new OWH card!!   Hope you like it too!

  Revised OWH Sketch Card

Challenge Card

(CAS at The Outlawz)

  
    I'm much happier with my second OWH card and glad I took the time to start over!   Now, I'm off for the night and getting ready to watch "The Amazing Race", once of my favorite shows!!   Nighty Night!!