Monday, January 11, 2016

The Challenge Winners

Thank you for joining us last week at The Challenge and for playing along with our Sketch Challenge! The team and I have have chosen the winners! 



Congratulations, Lisa!


This adorable card is SO much fun! 
Love the trio of hearts and the way you flipped the sketch!

I hope you will join us as our next Guest Designer for The Challenge! Please email me by clicking on the "MAIL ENVELOPE" icon on the top right hand side of my blog...above my photo.

(In alphabetical order)




Please join us in one hour, we will be back with a brand new challenge for you!

Viva la Verve {Just a Note}

Well that weekend zoomed by! The fun ones always do! I really enjoyed myself and spent some time in my craft room. I tidied and purged. Sure helped me to get my creative MOJO back. It was a bit "tired" lately but I can see now that the cleaning of my room has really helped!!! 


I thought the Viva la Verve Sketch was simply awesome and super HARD! 
That is why I just HAD to tackle it! Ha! I inked up two of my favourite stamp sets Floral Notes (LOVE the sentiment font in this one) and Great Friend (best blooms ever). The circles are from SugarPea Designs called Zig Zag Stitched Circles. I LOVE them!


Thank you so much for stopping by my blog! I hope you have a great week!

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

SugarPea Designs Sketch Challenge {Smiling's My Favorite}


Hello stamping friends! It is time for another fun sketch at SugarPea Designs! Don't forget, you have all month to play along with our sketches and one random winner will win a gift certificate to the SugarPea Designs Online Store!!! So come and play along!


I want to make a couple of Christmas cards per month so I have a head start on Christmas 2016! I love the sweet Elf stamp and die set called "Merry Makers" from SugarPea Designs!!! I kept my design simple and clean. 

Merry Makers Stamp Set



 SugarCuts – Merry Makers die

Here is the Sketch! I hope you will come and play along with us at  SugarPea Designs!

Monday, January 4, 2016

The Challenge #55 {A Sketch}

Hello and Welcome to The Challenge! We are back after a lovely Christmas break and we are ready to inspire you!

Each week we have a fun challenge for your to try!!! We do a different style of challenge each week! We like to mix things up and keep them fresh!

Here is the monthly rotation:
Week 1-Sketch
Week 2-Colours
Week 3-Photo Inspiration
Week 4-Masculine Photo Inspiration
Week 5-Wild Card (a surprise!)

This month we are thrilled to welcome Bev Katsman Buenker as our Featured Designer!





"I'm Bev, and have the blog Happy Dance. I've been paper crafting for over 20 years, and while I have three more scrapbooks to make (and then I'm done forever), most of my time in the craft room is devoted to cardmaking. I've been retired for nearly three years, and stay pretty close to home and the DH who needs a little extra help these days. We're very blessed with a large family, and have twenty grandchildren spread out in age ranges and distances, whom we dearly love. Our home sits atop a bluff just three houses away from Lake Michigan in Southeastern Wisconsin. I love making cards, and tend to like a more Clean and Layered style, but am game to get out of my comfort zone every now and then. It's been a delight to meet and make new friends here in blogland, and I've actually been lucky enough to have met a few of you in person; what a delight!! Life is good, happy dances everyone!"


Isn't Bev's card delightful! Welcome, Bev!

For my card, I decided to make a sympathy card. I used an Altenew image and combined it with a neutral backdrop. The flower is coloured with Copics. I punched out two butterflies to add to the side. I was drawn to neutral colours and design.

The design team have created some inspiration to get you in the crafting mood! Come and join us! Our weekly winner will be our next Guest Designer! So come and join the fun!


A few rules to keep things fun and fair!
1. Use the challenge to create a card.
2. Please add the challenge graphic to your blog post (copy and paste).
3. Have fun and comment on the submissions of others.
4. Anything that is offensive to myself or to my viewers will be removed.
5. Please only link to 3 other challenges plus our challenge for a total of 4 challenges.
6. Have fun!


Sunday, January 3, 2016

New Designers at The Challenge

Happy New Year! Wow! Where has the time gone!? Christmas and the holidays just zoomed by like they always seem to do! I am excited for 2016 and I am thrilled to announce that we have three new designers joining The Challenge Design Team! Welcome to Broni, Nina and Jinny! 

Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor

Hi, I'm Broni, mom to 2 beautiful daughters and Nana to 4 fantastic grandkids.  I live in South Carolina and work as an accountant during the day.  I love spending time with the kids, crafting, and frequent trips to the beach!  I began my card making career in 2006, and in 2007 was invited to join the Splitcoaststampers Dirty Dozen design team.  I'm so happy to have been asked to play along with all these talented ladies here at The Challenge! Thanks, Lesley!




My family and I live in a small suburb of Kansas City, Kansas, just over an hour and a half north of where I grew up.  I am a former kindergarten teacher turned adoring wife, of 14 years, to BJ and stay-at-home, homeschool mom to Ezekiel (12 yr.), Adina (7 yr.), and Kaden (23 mo.).  When I’m not taking care of or playing with my family, you can find me cooking, baking, gardening, sewing, taking pictures, blogging at Soaring, and of course, paper crafting.  My love for the latter started, over fourteen years ago, at a Stampin’ Up workshop; but I have been creating with any and every form of crafting media, that I could get my hands on, since I was old enough to hold a crayon.  I’ve been honored to have had a number of published works of art, as well as to get to design for some of my most favorite manufacturers and challenge blogs, and am just thrilled to have the privilege of joining The Challenge Design Team!  I hope that I can inspire you all to get creating.

Nina Forsyth - Notes by Nina

Hi, my name is Nina Forsyth and I live on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. I was introduced to card making when a friend had asked me to attend a stamping workshop in 2006 and my interest has only grown. I look at each and every card as a miniature canvas. I started blogging in 2008 and if I can inspire someone to create, then I am happy. I am looking forward to creating with The Challenge team.

We are back to challenges tomorrow, January 4th! Hope you will join us!


Friday, January 1, 2016

My FAVOURITE Paper Projects of 2015

This year I slowed down in the crafting world. I took a wee break at the start of the year and then took the summer off. I still love to craft but I am spending less time online. I find it can really drain my creativity. I am unsure of where 2016 will lead me "crafting" wise but I will be doing a major overhaul of my craft space and of my craft supplies. Sometimes less is more!


And here are my favourite paper projects of 2015...this past year I delved into watercolouring, vellum and Copics. 

January 2015



February 2015



March 2015



April 2015


May 2015



June 2015


July 2015


August 2015



September 2015

October 2015




November 2015
(was a busy month!)





December 2015