Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #9

Good morning!  Though I cannot believe May is already here (I feel like I say that every month), I am excited to share my card for the latest Stamping Smiles Design's Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge, which starts today.  For this challenge, I chose the middle row: birthday, sponging, and white space.  

With some of these challenges I've really tried to branch out, but this time I stuck to my comfort zone.  I die cut the Papertrey's beautiful Garden Gild cover plate die in white and trimmed out just the larger floral section.  Then I pulled out a variety of inks and sponged the colors onto the die cut.  Truthfully, this took a lot longer than I thought it would, and you could easily achieve the same look by coloring with markers, but if you are like me and don't have Copics, this is a good alternative to add some color.

I felt like the card still needed a little something and while pondering what to do, I remembered that I purchased (finally!) a Wink of Stella brush a few months ago.  I've never used it...hence the bit of pooled glitter on some of the light peach flowers (oops!), but I have to say...the shimmer it creates is gorgeous in real life!  And it is also impossible to capture in photos as I have so often seen other crafters lament.

I added glitter to just a few areas (light peach flowers, white leaves, and centers of the dark coral flowers), and I just love it.  Thanks so much for taking a look at my card today.  I really enjoyed this challenge board and am excited to see the variety of projects it inspires.  You can head over to Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge 9 for all the details.  Hope to see you there! 

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

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 + 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.)

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #6...Take Two Sneak Peek

Oh, I am so excited about the cards I'm sharing on the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Blog today!  I smiled ear-to-ear while making them.  Hope you'll stop by to check them out. :)

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #6

Hello!  I'm popping to share my card for the latest Stamping Smiles Design's Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge.  Challenge Six is a fun one with so many happy spring possibilities.  I chose the diagonal from the bottom: patterned papers, clean and simple, and umbrella.

I had so much fun making this!  I can't get enough of ombre lately.  (I know, I'm sometimes slow to catch on.) :) I even did double ombre by stamping the raindrops in an ombre fashion on top of my ink blended background.  It seemed to work so well with the sentiment.  Don't challenges seem to get lighter when someone helps carry the load?  I wanted to brighten the feel of the card even more, so I created a little shaker on top of the polka dot patterned paper.  (I know, you've seen a lot of that lately, too...I promise I tried so many other papers and this one just worked best.)  I just love this sequins mix from Pretty Pink Posh.  Look at those adorable flowers. (Thank you to the wonderful, generous Ka for sending them to me!)

I'm so glad this challenge got me to dig out Scattered Showers and Blue Skies from PTI.  It's been far too long since I've used these sets.  And I had so much fun with them that you'll be seeing more of them in a few days. ;) I look forward to seeing how Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Six inspires you!  Make sure to visit the Stamping Smiles Design's Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge blog to join the fun and admire the fabulous projects the other design team members created.

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #5

This is my second post today.  For my first post, please go here.

Can you believe it is the beginning of March already?!  Time is flying!  But the good news is that the first of the month means a new Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge.  The process of choosing three elements was quick for me this time.  I chose the middle column: beads, gold, rainbow. 

When I was making my cards for January's 12 Kits of Occasions, I loosely watercolored this gorgeous gold embossed Origami Map from Neat & Tangled and then never finished the card.  When I saw this challenge board, I knew it was the perfect time to complete it.  All I needed to do was figure out how to add the bead element.  I had a few ideas, but I wasn't loving them, so I asked my husband for his advice.  Almost immediately he said, you should do beads to mark cities around the world, you know, like in the U2 song.  Well, no, I had no idea what song he was talking about, but I did love his brilliant idea, so I chose some well-known cities I thought were neat and tried to (generally) pinpoint them on the map.  (Oh, and if you were wondering, yes, he did look up the song for me so I knew what he was talking about.)

I don't know why I don't ask my husband for card advice more often.  He's usually pretty quick to give an answer.  And clearly he has some great ideas.  Oh, wait...I do know why.  He's usually sleeping when I craft. :)

Here's one last look at the card. {happy sigh} I hope you'll join us for Challenge #5 over at the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge blog!  You could certainly go fun and festive for St. Patrick's day with this board or not like me.  I'm looking forward to seeing your takes on the challenge. :)

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge 4...Take Two

Hello, friends!  I'm over at the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Blog today sharing another card I made for Challenge Four.  I kind of love it...a lot, so I hope you'll head over and take a look. :)

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #4

I'm so happy to share my card for the 4th Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge.  I chose to do the diagonal again: thank you, distress inks, plants.  I've always loved PTI's Petite Pots, but somehow haven't hardly used them, so this challenge was a great reason to pull them out. 

I used the simplest application of distress inks and just stamped with them.  I love the richness of Distress Inks, the Mowed Lawn ink in particular.  I added a bit of shading to the pots by lightly inking them the first time and then inking up just the edges of the stamp again and stamping it a second time.  The leaf images are meant to have flowers stamped atop them, but I think they look beautiful all on their own.  I'm loving one layer cards lately, and the Simon Says: One Layer Challenge couldn't have been more timely. ;)

I had the best time visiting and seeing everyone's creations last challenge. Can't wait to see how this next challenge inspires you.  Make sure to go to the Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge blog to get all the details and see how all the other designers were inspired!

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #3

Hello!  Today I'm so happy to be sharing a card I made for the Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #3.  This was a really fun board use.  I chose to do the diagonal: love, paperclip, sketch. 

The light bulb is a shaped paperclip that my sweet friend Jeanne included in this kit last year.  I'm so glad I finally got a chance to use it! :) I had so much fun making this card.  I really wanted the sentiment to stand out, so I kept the card white and just embossed dots on the diagonal strip of paper to create the layer needed for the sketch.  This view shows it a little better.

I built the sentiment with Winnie & Walter's "The Big, the Bold, and the Happy" and Lawn Fawn's "Milo's ABC's".  To create the rectangular color blocks, I simply put one of the alphabet stamps backwards on my acrylic block and stamped using the back of the image.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I look forwarding to seeing what you create with Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #3!

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge...Take Two!

Hello!  I just wanted to stop in and share a little peek of a project I have posted today over at the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Blog.  I used the Challenge 2 board again, and I challenged myself to use the row that initially had me completely stumped.  I hope you'll pop over and take a look!

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #2

Hello and welcome to another Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge!!!  I'm pretty excited to share this card, so I'll get right to it.  I chose the bottom row: masking, stars, and critters.  

After stamping this cute little fox from ME's Three Amigos, I masked him and let the fun begin.  Honestly, I made mistake after mistake creating this background, but actually I think each mistake made it better in the end.  If you look closely there are stamped stars, but a few of the water spots are also star shaped.  (I used a wet paper towel to dab water onto my inked background through a star stencil in a few spots...like on the second water spot above the fox's head.)  

The last thing I did was stamp the sentiment from PTI's Bubble Talk...and I held my breath the whole time...I was so nervous I was going to ruin the whole thing!  It was so fun to see all of your cards for the first challenge.  I can't wait to see what you make for Challenge #2! :) Now head on over to the Challenge Revealed Post at the Stamping Smiles Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge blog.  You'll receive oodles of inspiration from the other designers' fabulous creations as well as get all the details on how to play along...and I so hope that you do!  Happy crafty to all and to my American friends, I hope that you enjoy the long weekend!

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #1

Happy New Year!  I hope today finds you looking forward to all the new year has to hold, and what's better than starting that new year with a brand new crafty challenge?! :)  The first challenge at Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge is officially up!  I'm so happy that I can finally share my first card with you, and I'm especially looking forward to seeing what you create.  Playing along is easy and fun!  

For my card I chose the top row: gold, sparkles, and acetate.  The gold glitter cardstock is so fun as is, but it's twice as fun with gold confetti shaking on top of it.  :)

And guess what?  There's a little more to this card that at first meets the eye.  If you look closely you'll see that it actually includes middle column elements as well with sparkles, embossing, and new.  As I was creating my card and reminiscing about playing tic-tac-toe with my sisters as a child, I remembered how the only thing better than winning tic-tac-toe is to get the winning spot that allows you to win two ways, do I decided to do it just for fun. :) Sparkles was my "winning spot".

And since this card embodies just what I would expect to see at a New Year's Party, I'm also linking this up to the Simon Says "Party" Challenge.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Now quick..head over to the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge blog!  You'll find the Challenge Revealed Post, which shows the rest of the Design Team's cards and more importantly shows how to play along.  I cannot wait to see what you create!  

Fun Announcement! :)

Hello, friends!  I've missed you.  Our lives have been so crazy lately, and I'm very much looking forward to having a regular routine from here on out.  Not only am I back, but I have super fun news to share today.  Have you heard of the new Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge?  If not, please check it out, and I hope you'll become very familiar with it because guess what?!  I've been selected to be one of the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Designers...

Eek!  Do you know how hard it has been to keep this secret?  I'm so excited about it and truly feel honored.  I love playing along with challenges, and what's more fun than a challenge that's also a game?  You're going to love it!  Every day until the end of the month a new designer will be announced, and the very first Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge will go live on January 1st.  Make sure you go to the Challenge Blog to check out all the details, so you can play along!  I can't wait to see you there!