12 Kits of Occasions - April '16

It's the last day of April (sniff, sniff...I love this month), which means I get to share a few cards I made with this month's 12 Kits of Occasions.  Tracey (from In My Creative Opinion) was our fabulous hostess, with a color scheme I adore.  And if you are a coffee drinker, you will especially love this kit filled with oodles of darling sentiments and die cuts.  But...you'll have to check out the 12 Kits of Occasions Blog and all of my talented teammates creations to see the majority of this fabulous kit.  As I'm sure you've noticed, I just haven't had much time to craft lately, and I'm rusty for sure.  I was also in desperate need for some thank you cards. I never ever have enough of those around, so I {selfishly} abandoned the theme of the kit and made what I needed. 

First up is this darling bear from Essentials by Ellen's All Inside set.  I love it's cleverly designed die that cuts the arms, which are holding the single out-of-color-scheme object Tracey included in the kit, a red heart.

This next card features my favorite paper from the kit.  I just love these colors together!  Looking at it makes me wish I had had time to make more cards! Also, I was super excited to use one of the stitched panels my sweet friend Michele (who I met in real life this month!!!) gave to me.

I'm also linking this one up to the Simon Says: Anything Goes Challenge. 

And finally a card featuring the twine, sequins, and super cute donut dies from the kit.  I thought this sentiment from Clearly Besotted's An Apple a Day finished it off perfectly.  My favorite part, though, is the glossy accented chocolate glaze on the donut.  I'm not a huge fan of chocolate, but even I think this donut looks pretty tasty.  Sadly, that is the end of my cards for today.  The good news, though, is that there is a lot more to see from this kit, so please head over to the 12 Kits of Occasions Blog where you will find links to all my teammates projects and our special guest designer...the person I think of literally every time I hear the word coffee.  Plus, make sure to leave comments along the way as Tracey will be drawing a winner from the comments to receive a special prize.  I hope this weekend is a beautiful one for all of you!  Thanks so much for spending some of it here with me. :)

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #8...Take Two Sneak Peek

Hi!  I'm sharing a card on the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Blog today!  It was definitely a card that stretched me, but I'm pretty excited about the result.  I have Lynn (from The Mango Boys and Me) to thank for giving me the final nudge I needed to try my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers a try for the first time.  I hope you'll stop by and take a look. :)

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #8

Hello! It seems like ages since I've been able to blog.  I've had sick kiddos and a teething kiddo, which means not a lot a sleep for any of us and no craft time for me.  I'm so grateful I did some work a few weeks in advance, so I have a card to share for Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #8, which starts today.  Yay!  I kind of chuckled when I realized the sentiment I had used....ironically, so fitting for our current situation. :) For the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge, I chose the top row: 3 of a kind (3 potted flowers, 3 words, 3 fallen petals), enamel accents, and square card.

I rarely make square cards, so this was a good challenge for me.  And a little secret about the enamel accents...they were white!  Yep, I didn't have any orange dots small enough, so I colored the white ones with a permanent maker.  Worked great.  I sure hope you'll join us this two week challenge!  There are lots of fun options with this board that work so easily with any cardmaking style, so make sure to head over to Stamping Smiles Design's Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Eight for more inspiration and to link-up your projects! 

Creative Fools Blog Hop Winner

Hi!  Just popping in to share the winner from the Creative Fools Blog Hop.  Random.org chose Comment #2. Congrats, Tricia T!  Please email me at occasionalcrafting@gmail.com so I can mail you your prize.  Many thanks to all for your kind comments on my punny cards! You guys are the best! :)

Creative Fools Blog Hop + Giveaway

**This is my second post for the day.  To see my Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #7 post scroll down or click here.**

Happy April Fools' Day!  My awesome teammate Nora (from A Creative Touch) has organized a super fun blog hop, which starts here.  We each have a "punny" card to share and some of us (including yours truly) even have PRIZES to give away. :)

I think this is such a fun way to celebrate.  Much better than the playing pranks kind!  I only did that once...and I still remember it and feel bad.  I believe I was six.  Ice in my parents bed (my little mind didn't think about the fact that it would melt and soak down into the mattress) and mustard in the white tub...why, I don't know.  It probably goes without saying that letting mustard sit for a long time leaves a pretty tough stain and a completely soaked mattress takes a really long time to dry.  My poor mother.

Anyway, back to a much happier topic...cards.  We each picked a previous challenge board and created a punny card based on the elements.  I picked Challenge One and used the diagonal from the top: gold, embossing, shaped frame.

Can you tell I'm having a hard time letting go of Easter?  I feel this way after most holidays...they always seem to sneak up on me, so I'm not quite ready to move on when they are over.  And these bunnies from Clearly Besotted's Woodland Kisses are so cute, I couldn't let the season pass without them making an appearance.  When I finished my card I thought the pun was cute, but not really comical.  My husband agreed.  So another card was in order. 

And this one cracks me up.  I'm fairly proud of myself because while my husband can dish out quick funny comments and puns like you would not believe, I am what you might call funny challenged.  I laugh easily, but I am not funny.  All of my funniest moments are complete accidents and usually extremely high on the embarrassment scale.

My husband even laughed when I showed him the pun.  Yay!  I love how this one turned out.  I smooshed the octopus "ink"and then added a distress ink blended, water splattered octopus on top.  Isn't he cute? It's been a long time since I pulled out Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Sea, so it made me extra happy to dust off another long-time-no-use set. Hey, maybe I should start LTNUS, like Darnell has NBUS. :) 

And speaking of Lawn Fawn, they are one of the cutest punny-filled stamp companies I know, so the prize I'm giving away is their Let's BBQ stamp set.  I figure since I'm always behind, I'll help you be one step ahead for fun summer cards, although really you can use this set all year.  Just leave a comment on my blog by 12 pm (CST) on Sunday, April 3rd.  I'll randomly choose a winner from comments here and announce the winner on Tuesday, April 5th. 

Laughter is good for the soul (it also burns calories...win-win!), so here's the line up so you can keep hip hopping along and filling your day with happiness. :) 

SSD Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Blog

Nora

Lindsey (you are here) ;)

Shannon

Olesya

Tracie

Amina

Rachel

Francesca

PS I'm also happily linking these up to the Simon Says "Anything Goes" Wednesday Challenge. 

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #7

It's the first of the month and that means a brand new Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge.  Yay!  This board is full of things that lend themselves to spring goodness which makes me happy. :) I chose to work with the first column: bunny, decorative frame, and washi tape.

My card is made with supplies from March's 12 Kits of Occasions.  It was such a darling kit, I just had to use more of it. :) I'm also happily linking this up to the Simon Says "Anything Goes" Wednesday Challenge. 

Make sure not to miss out on the fun for Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #7.  All the details on how to play along as well as the other designer's awesome inspiration cards can be found here.  Hope to see you there! (PS The Tic-Tac-Toe DT are also embracing April Fools' Day with a super fun blog hop + giveaways...so look for a second post today.)