13 March 2024

Crafty Gals Corner #253 ~ Anything Goes

      Hello crafting friends and welcome to our March challenge


Challenge #253 ~ Anything Goes!

 Our sponsors for this challenge are: 
(listed in alphabetical order)


Prize ~ 2 Digital Images

* * * * * * * * * *

Prize ~ 3 Digital Images

* * * * * * * * * *
I needed a couple of cards for different occasions and so loved the images from our sponsors this month that I have a project from each to share with you.

My first project was made using the Pint (Colour) & Beer Backing Papers from Dr. Digi's House of Stamps, to create this masculine birthday card.  





I used a Silhouette design to cut out the base of my card and to generate the sentiments.  This is a 6.5 x 5" card and fits perfectly into a A7 envelope. The large beer mug was printed on photo paper.  This gives you a crisp image and the littled added shine from the photo paper adds to make it look more real :-)  On the other hand though, I could not use anything to make the foam more realistic because it would not stick to the photo paper and one of the pastes actually ate away at it.  It was not pretty, I assure you.  Lesson learnt!

Now for my other project:

Using the  Leprechaun Hat with Shamrocks from Pattie's Creations, I created 
this St. Patrick's Day card. 







The stitched shamrock pattern was found on Pinterest, and resized to fit the corners of my card.  I used variegated DMC floss to stitch the shamrocks and the border.  I was going to cross stitch the entire border, but found that I actually like it better this way.  I print and cut the image a few times so that I could add an additional layer to create a little dimension, and to have a layer of the shamrocks to place on the inside.  When it was all done, I felt that it was just too green and white so I added the cute lil ladybirds. The sentiment is a stamp from the Happy Days stamp set by Cardz TV.  This is a 5.5" x 5.5" card and fits perfectly into a 5.75" square envelope.

And that is it for this month's challenge at Crafty Gals Corner.  Thanks so much for stopping by.   I would love to you see you play along with us.  You have until noon, CST, on 9 April 2024, to link your project to our challenge.

Crafty hugs,


The Paper Shelter #587 ~ A Cherry Birthday

 Hello crafting friends and welcome to our newest challenge at the The Paper Shelter


Team A - our challenge this week is Spring Colours

I love Spring as it is an indication that Summer is just around the corner. One of my favourite fruits is cherries.  Once upon a time, when I was a child, I used to go with my cousins to a cherry orchard to help pick cherries.  Not too sure how many made into the basket though, but it is one of my fond memories  😀

When I saw this cute image called Cherie Cherry, these fond memories inspired me to make this card.


I used the 6" x 6" Terrific Towers die from Made to Surprise to cut the base and all the layers of my card.  The cardstock is Bazzill and the cherry pattern paper is from Doodle bug.


Here is a close up of this cutie.  To make the background I used a Clouds stencil, from My Favourite Things, and Memento's Summer Sky ink and created the sky.  I cut out two grassy borders using a die from Precious Marieke.


On the back I made a panel for the greeting and for me to write my personal message.  The Happy Birthday die w/Shadow is from Kat Scrappiness.  To add a little more interest, I cut out a few ladybugs and scattered them around. The little ladybug die was a gift from a crafts company, and I cannot remember which one, I'm ashamed to say.  If any of you know, please leave a comment below so that I can update this post.  I blame it on old age and the fact that I forgot to write it down.  😀 I also have a gold fish and a cute lil hibiscus from this same company.


This is a 6" x 6" card and fits into a 6.25" square envelope perfectly.  It will need a little extra postage as it is not one of the normal sizes used in the US.

So this is it for my card for this week.  Remember that The Paper Shelter offers a $30 gift certifcate to one lucky winner!  In order to get this prize, you must use a product from The Paper Shelter.  However, if you don't use a product from The Paper Shelter, you still stand a chance of winning 3 digis of your choice. 


I hope you will come join the fun and share your projects with us.   You will find our challenge blog HERE.

Crafty hugs,


09 March 2024

Easter Circle Layout Card

 Hello friends!  I'm sorry I have been mostly MIA and have not had a chance to go visit your blogs, but I've been dealing with life and it has taken away from my crafting time.  All I've had time for is my DT commitments and very little else.  
I had thought that by now, I would be back to my normal routine.  You see I  gave myself January and February to deal with a bunch of personal things and to catch up on things that needed attending to.  And I made good progress until the beginning of March came around and I realized that Easter is at the end of March and all of a sudden, between Birthday cards, (March is my busiest month with family and friends) Easter cards and New Home cards, I have 23 cards to make this month and some need to be done very soon so they can get mailed and hopefully reach their destinations overseas on time.  Now add 36 Easter treat boxes for hubby's work, as well as my normal DT projects, and well ... I think you understand!  Oh and I almost forgot ... an Anniversary card too 😀 
I have a card to share with you today, that was inspired by some pretty papers from Marianne Design and by a card design made by my sister in law, Marian from Marian Creaties.


Love how it came out.  Of course I love, love this bunny image.  I used the Circle Layout Die from Marianne Designs and cut out the image.  Next I made another 5 layers of just the frame, out of cream cardstock.  I adhered all the layers together and then paper pieced the inserts back into their place.  When this was done, I adhered it to a 6 x 6 card base, added the decorative corners and a placed a small periwinkle pearl on the centre of each.


Herer are a few close ups..


I kept the inside very simple.  This is where I will write my personal message.  I used the same colour cardstock I used to build the frame layers in the front of the card, and cut and adhered the decorative corners to bring it all together.



It fits perfectly into a 6.25" square envelope and although it will need a little extra postage,  It was the first time I made this type of card, but it won't be the last for sure 😀

That's all for today folks. Now I got to get busy with more Easter cards, then the treat boxes and lastly will be the New Home cards.  But there are birthday cards and DT cards inbetween, so do come back to visit when you can.

Now I don't want to jinx it, but hopefully things will return back to a more normal pace in April, and I will be able to come take a look-see at all your beautiful projects.  I do miss that very much.

Till next time,


29 February 2024

Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round - Stitched Polar Bear

 Hello and welcome to March's Christmas challenge at Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round.  This is one of my favourite months - it's St Paddy's month, my son's birthday, my mom's birthday and my birthday too, which falls on Easter Sunday this year!  How cool is that? 😀


Our challenge this month is Arctic or Antarctic Animals.
Here is our inspiration pic ...


I didn't go with a cute penguin from Antarctica though, I went with a cute polar bear  from Arctica instead.  


Inspired by my friend Deanne, and having several sweater dies, I decided to use this Stiched Sweater die from Marianne Design. The floss I used is from Artiste, and the polar bear pattern was found on Pinterest.


It was quite a bit of work, but I love the way it came out.


For the background, I used a sheet of this beautiful Winter paper from the Perfect Pop Ups paper pad by Made to Surprise. For the greeting I used a die from Spellbinders, called Make it Merry Sentiments.


I cut out the trees in green and white to give it the appearance of snow on evergreen forest trees.  This tree die is from Studio Light.  The pretty little Cardinals were cut using the Birch Trees die from Impression Obsession.


On the inside I used a little cut out of the Winter paper and matted it onto blue cardstock to match the rest of the card.

Talking about Arctic and Antarctic animals I have a fun fact to share with you, which of course you may already know, but just the same here goes ~
there are no penguins in the North and there are no polar bears in the South Pole. I remember being taught this at school, (way back when) but wasn't sure if it was still the case as I had read an article that a group of scientists were going to introduce penguins to the North.  Apparently it didn't go well for the small colony of penguins. From the follow up article I read, no body really knows what happened to them.  Scientists have also thought of placing polar bears in Antarctica, but it would disrupt the natural eco system down there, so they have shelved that idea for now.  I'm sure the penguins and the seals that live there are very happy about that.  There are apparently no large predators on the Antarctic landmass, so they only have to worry about whales when they go for a swim. I say leave these animals alone, they're exaclty where God meant them to be!  Just my 2c. 😀

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Now it's your turn to make a Christmas project, that falls within our challenge theme, and come play along with us.  You have till the end of the month to link your project to our blog at  Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round.


28 February 2024

The Paper Shelter #585 ~ 10th Birthday Card

 Hello crafting friends and welcome to our newest challenge at the The Paper Shelter


Team A - our challenge this week is Pink and/or Pearls.

My little granddaughter is turning 10 in a couple of months. She loves baking and is very good at it too!  There is nothing she has baked that I didn't love.  With that in mind and the sweet images from The Paper Shelter, I created this card for her.


This post is picture heavy so I'll try to keep it simple.  I made this Mini Miaru card by following a tutorial by Sam Calcott from Made to Surprise. 


When closed, this card measures 6" x 5". I printed all my images onto photo paper and used the Silhouette to cut them out.


Here is a close up of the front of the card. I used the Patisserie digi.  I thought this would be great for my Emma as she wants to be a baker and own her own bakery when she grows up 😀 I created a narrow chocolate brown shadow for all the digis so they would stand out more. I also cut them out twice and pop dotted the top layer to add a little dimension. 


The doilies I used on my card are all from Recollections.
The pearls are from Marianne Design.


Here is a close up of The Great Baker digi. The pink cardstock for the card base is from Bazzill.  The pink checkered background paper is from my scraps drawer.  I was lucky that I had just enough to use on this card.


I made a belly band to keep the card closed and ready for mailing. I used the Romantic Cupcakes digi as the focal point on the belly band topper.  I used the D'vine Swirl embossing folder on the white mat.


I chose to use this extra back panel. I agree with Sam Calcott, it does add more support to the card and helps it stand up better.  It's also where I plan to write my personal birthday message.  Looking at it, I think I'm going to print out another cupcake and adhere it to the bottom right hand corner - just to add a little extra something on this rather plain panel.  


As you can see, it fits really well on an A7 envelope.


It does have a little bulk to it.  Of course I did pop up my two main images so that added more bulk than normal.  Since I'm hand delivering this card, it is not going to be a problem.  However, if you decide to make this card, you will have to add a little extra postage.

Well, that is it for today.  Before I go, let me remind you that there is a $30 gift certificate up for grabs, at The Paper Shelter, for one lucky winner.  In order to get this prize, you must use a product from The Paper Shelter.  However, if you don't use a product from The Paper Shelter, you still stand a chance of winning 3 digis of your choice. 


I hope you will come join the fun and share your projects with us.   You will find our challenge blog HERE.

Crafty hugs,


14 February 2024

Crafty Gals Corner #252 ~ Add a Heart!

      Hello crafting friends and welcome to our February challenge


Challenge #252 ~ Add a Heart!

 Our sponsors for this challenge are: 
(listed in alphabetical order)


Prize ~ 3 Sets of Digis

* * * * * * * * * *

Prize ~ 3 Digital Images

* * * * * * * * * *
Using Valentine Gnomes from Last Minute Manda, and a file from Silhouette, I created this Valentine card.


I cut out all the layers of the card and adhered them together.  Next I cut out the gnome digi twice and also adhered the layers together, to add a little dimension.


I was still not too happy with the way it looked, so I created a black shadow for the image. This added to the dimension of the digi and created a little contrast.
I used Glaze markers to colour in the letters. It gives it lovely shiny texture that I could not capture on the photo.  I used Copic markers to colour in the rest of the image. 


On the inside I used a heart from Silhouette, created the sentiment and print and cut it.  Then I adhered it to the red mat layer and called it done 😀

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I would love to you see you play along with us.  You have until noon, CST, on 12 March 2024, to link your project to our challenge.

I wish you all a very Happy Valentine's Day.
Crafty hugs,