Most of the northern hemisphere of the world is desperate for Spring to kick in.  Where I live, we’ve been enjoying mild temperatures for a couple weeks, but am only just beginning to see signs of life and color returning.  Here’s a burst of sunshine and brightness for you!

The flowered paper was made with a flower stamp from my stash (from before I started keeping track of manufacturers) and Memento Dandelion yellow ink. The bottom panel was embossed with a Darice folder called Dots.  The ribbon was a recent find at a HomeGoods of all places, but wasn’t a known brand.  I love the cheater bow I created.  Wide ribbon is so hard to tie and knot, so this worked like a charm!  The butterfly was purchased at a Scrapbook Expo, maybe 3 years ago.  I think I bought a dozen and have maybe used 3  😦  The banner was a cut file from the Silhouette online store and the sentiment was print and cut on it with a font on my computer called Frivolity.  I popped up the center portion with foam tape for dimension. Here’s the inside:

I left the inside blank for now until I decide on the recipient of the card.  I used trimmings from the front panels to give the inside a little flair.

I’m submitting this card to the following challenges:

• Come and Get It – In the Garden (flowers) –
• Hiding in My Craftroom – Freestyle –
• Eureka Stamps – Spring Flowers –
• Fantastic Tuesday – Use Patterned Paper (made my own) – ends 4/7
• Through the Craftroom Door – Anything Goes – ends 4/7
• Incy Wincy Designs – Tic Tac Toe – Yellow/Gems/Wings and Yellow/Free/Black –
• Butterfly Spot Challenge – Yellow with a Butterfly –
• Divas By Design – Anything Goes –
• Little Miss Muffet – Anything Goes –
• Stamping for the Weekend – Spring Colors –
• A Creative Romance – Spring Flowers – ends 4/11
• The Corrosive Challenge – Show Us Your Metal (butterfly) – ends 4/13
• Craftin Desert Divas – Anything Goes – ends 4/13
• Treasured Times Rubber Stamps – Mix It Up – ends 4/15
• Ladybug Crafts – Here Comes Spring – ends 4/30
• Eclectic Ellapu #1 – Wings – ends 4/5
• Eclectic Ellapu #2 – Flowers & Butterflies – ends 4/5
• Use Your Stuff – Die Cuts (banner) –
• Seize the Birthday – Birthday w/ Any Type of Bling –
• Red Rubber Designs – Spring – ends 4/10

Hello everyone! (Well, except my husband… Remember?  You promised you wouldn’t read today’s post until Friday!)  Guess what y’all, I finally found my mojo again… it was hiding in the laundry basket this time.  Nothing like needing to do 5 loads of laundry to make you want to craft!!!  I had been thinking all week about how to do this week’s sketch from Mojo Monday and ideas of any kind evaded me until today when it came together in less than an hour from scratch. Check it out:

Valentines Day cards are hard for me because neither my hubby nor son appreciate the pink, frilly cards that would be so easy to make. In fact, I’m sure this card has way more pink than any guy would like… and one too many bow!  😉  I tried to counter that with embossing and metal so the focus would be on the textures more than the colors.  The red mat is embossed with the Honeycomb folder by eBosser.   The pink is embossed with the Trendy folder from Spellbinders.  The sentiment is actually an embossed metal sticker from my stash… maybe from 6 years ago (yikes). Speaking of old, the paper is from the first stack I ever bought, a holiday pack I can no longer remember the name or maker of its so old!  The charm however, is a recent acquisition from Oriental Trading Company.  You’ll be seeing a few styles of these in the coming months!  The hearts were die cut using the Silhouette, and popped up on foam tape.  I also embossed lines around the edge of the card with a score board. The organza ribbon loops the whole card front by sliding through a tiny slit in the fold line.  When I can’t wrap the ribbon around the layers, I do it this way. Here’s a look at the inside so you can see what I mean:

The strip of cardstock was embossed with the same Honeycomb folder.  The main stamp is from Just Rite’s Large Fancy Sentiments set. I can’t remember what set the XOXO is from, but I liked the way it looked. I couldn’t find my valentines stamps, so the holiday sentiment will be handwritten along with the rest of my personal message. I will spare you all the sappy ramblings of a woman who is still deeply in love with the same man after 20 years 🙂

I’m off to submit this to the following challenges:

• Mojo Monday – sketch #331 –
• The Corrosive Challenge – Feel the Love –
• Craft Mojo Papercrafts – Love, Love, Love –
• Craft Your Passions – Love is in the Air –
• Crafty Calendar Challenge – Love is All Around –
• Crafty Sentiments Designs – Love is in the Air –
• Creative Knockouts – Be Mine –
• Craftitude Challenges – Valentines/Love –

Does this look familiar?  No, its not either Groundhog Day or that you are seeing the same card as yesterday.  OK, so it bears a close resemblance!  When I printed off this cute little pre-colored digi and papers by Doodle Pantry, I did it a couple times in different shapes and sizes.  The 1st you saw yesterday with the image in a circle.  This time I put it on a rectangle using the Silhouette software to layer the bird on coordinating digi paper that came with the file.  And for this card, I used the new sketch at Mojo Monday for the layout:

I used the Silhouette software to trace the confetti of the image to make a cut file for the embellishments.  Gotta love how versatile your images can be with the Silhouette!  I used Stickles to sparkle this version of the card up!  What do you think, does this one have more pizazz?  Here are some close ups:

I’m entering this card in the following challenges:

• Mojo Monday – #327 – ends 1/12
• Doodle Pantry Challenge – Any Digi Goes – ends 1/24
• Chocolate, Coffee, and Cards – New Beginnings – ends 1/9
• Creative Knockouts – All That Glitters – ends 1/8
• Desert Island Crafts Challenge – Used #’s 1, 3, and 8 – ends 1/14
• Silhouette Challenges – Anything Goes – ends 1/31
• Use Your Stuff – New Beginnings – ends 1/12 – Used 5 colors of Stickles I’ve had for years and a digi file I just got 😉

OK, so I’m about a week late with this greeting. That’s OK. My friends and family come to expect this from me 😉 So no one will mind getting a Happy New Year card from me mid-January! See folks… set their expectations low and they are pleasantly surprised when I’m only a week late! Ha!

This cute image is a pre-colored digi from Doodle Pantry, and the papers are also included in their digi file. It was easy peasy to import into the Silhouette software and design the card layout to match this week’s sketch from the Sweet Sunday Challenge.  Especially easy since the sketch is pretty straightforward:

Hope you like it, cause I have a new and improved version to show you tomorrow!

I’m entering this card in the following challenges:

• Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge – #201 – ends 1/11
• The Corrosive Challenge – New Beginnings – ends 1/19
• Craft Mojo Papercrafts – All Things New – ends 1/29
• Crafty Calendar Challenge – Let’s Celebrate – ends 1/31
• Crazy 4 Challenges – photo inspiration – ends 1/10
• Creative Card Crew – Anything Goes – ends 1/13