Inspired by YOU! Challenge #200!

It's a very special day as the Inspired By Challenge launches it's 200th challenge! We have lined up a challenge that is inspired by YOU and offers special prizes too!  We have posted the winners of all the challenges this year, and been asked to choose one card by YOU to be inspired by. 

I chose this beauty that Loll Thompson created for our October challenge.  I absolutely love her bold use of colors and clean crisp details.  Isn't that buffalo plaid gorgeous? I love how she added sweet pearls and the die cut wreath has such dimension!

My card is a CASE of Loll's layout and I used the trees from The Greetery Fir & Foliage 2.  Using Distress Oxide inks I  stamped each tree in three layers and die cut them.  In keeping with the bold colors I chose red for the sentiment and added a strip along the panel. The black stars added balance and a crisp accent.

We have such fun seeing the way you create and add your entries to our gallery at Inspired By! Now it's your turn to choose one of our past winner's projects and play along! 

It's our turn to say a huge thank you to each and every one who supports our challenge. This will be probably be my last post before Christmas. 

Wishing you JOY!

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Inspired By 197 Color Challenge

 Happy Thanksgiving! For those in the US, the day consists of feasting with family and friends, football, gratefulness for all things good and just maybe - a bit of craft time? If so you're in the right place as we have a new game going at Inspired By! 

I was inspired by the pinks and reds in the photo and the touch of blue.  Adding just a hint of gold, I kept most of the card base white.

 Featuring supplies from The Greetery, this card uses the Pine Blossom Stamps and Dies, and the Window Plaid background stamp. I know it's a busy day, but we hope you'll take a peek at our samples and find some inspiration to join the challenge.

We are so happy to have part of our family joining us for a Friday celebration this year. 

Thanks so much for your visit! 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful! 

 

Inspired By 196 Christmas Splendor

 Hello, friends. How can it be mid November already? One week before Thanksgiving?!?  I find myself getting in holiday gear and just in time for our challenge at Inspired By! 

 I enjoyed using supplies from The Greetery today, they will be listed for you below. 

The photos our fabulous leader Danni picks for us are so good that I have trouble choosing just one for inspiration. I love kraft red and green and they seemed a good mix for the natural looking greenery. 

 

  I can't wait to see how you will be inspired to play along! Thanks so much for visiting today. 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies from The Greetery: Nordic Frames Dies, Merry Sprigs stamps and dies, Written in Ribbon Holiday stamps and dies.

Inspired By 194 Welcome Friends

 Hello and welcome! I am happy to turn the calendar page and greet a new month which also kicks in my Christmas card making spree! As you will see, I was literally influenced by the photo at our Inspired By Challenge! 

Here's what caught my eye - kraft, buffalo plaid, a satin bow,

 woodgrain and layers of texture! Oh, and did I say berries? 

What speaks to you in our photos today? Hope you will craft along with us and link your project in our gallery!  For those looking for card details, I will include them below. 

I'm joining the fun with Ann's tic tac toe challenge at The Paper Players, choosing the diagonal row: ribbon, patterned paper, embellishments.

Thanks for your visit today!

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Details: I created the background on white card stock by stamping the Wood Grain Background (WPlus9) in pale gray ink. The frame (Anastasia Tag) and deer (Stag Trio Die) were also from WPlus9. 

I went for a rustic look and added a new to me embossing powder from WOW! called Perissa. It blends two metallic shades and gives a bumpy texture which I just love. You can see it on the kraft frame and a bit on the deer.The greenery was cut from Vicki Boutin Foundations card stock. This mixed media paper is heavy and I used Distress Oxide inks to blend the greens, then cut them with dies from The Greetery. Snow was created with Ranger Distress Spray and WOW Puff White embossing powder. I added Glossy accents to the berries. This card was completely inspired by things I learned from Dawn Woleslagle and her fabulous lives!

Inspired By 193 Friends Fall Together

 Hi! Today I am celebrating my favorite fall event, when friends and family gather for the Thanksgiving holiday. Our theme this month at Inspired By is Friends Fall Together. For my card, I did some ink blending on the stamps before stamping them using my MISTI so that I could achieve multiple tones. 

The larger leaf images are from WPlus9 Autumn Leaves stamp set. The smaller leaves and sentiment are from Gina K. It's my first time using the Wreath Builder template and I really enjoyed it! My card measures 4.50" square. A bit of gold thread and gold embossing are the dress ups. 

I was more inspired this time by the theme although these are super fun prompts. Hope you will play along! 

Have a great day! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Inspired By 192 Who's Your Boo?

It's Thursday and that means there is a new challenge at Inspired By! This week our theme is Halloween, and we hope you will play along with us.

I don't usually send cards at Halloween but I may need to start now that I have the brand-new-to-me adorable Good Fright stamp set from Hello Bluebird in my stash. I can't resist cute critters, especially if they are in super fun costumes!

 I used Copics to color, then fussy cut these cuties. For the background, I sponged Distress Oxide inks and to top off the scene, added the Full Moon Scene Die cut from black card stock. Spatters and white gel pen accents gave a bit of detail. Here are the photo choices for your inspiration, and you will find wonderful samples from the team HERE. 

Thanks for coming by, I can't wait to see what you will make!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

I'd Fall for You! Inspired By 191

 

Hello! Welcome to today's new Inspired By Challenge! My card reflects the fall mode that I am still enjoying. 

When I saw the prompt I pulled out my favorite bear and created a scene of him and his friends gathering. Remember the cute squirrel?

You know I like keeping sentiments wide open until I am certain who I'm sending the card to. I thought this one fit well. The background was inked with Distress Oxides and I saved a piece of it for the sentiment strip. I colored the images with Copics and added dimension with a woodgrain embossing folder. 

                              

I'm so glad you came by to visit today! I hope you will play along too! You can choose from 2 photos or a sketch this time. Anyone can submit a card or project they have made. We hope to inspire YOU to create. Enjoy!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies used: 

Stamps: Sugarpea Design - Hey Fall, HoneyBee Stamps - BItty Buzzwords and dies

Accessories - Sugarpea Design - Birch Forest Die

Inspired By #190 Pumpkins Rock

 It's time to welcome you to  our new challenge today at Inspired By, Pumpkins Rock.  Always a fun part of fall, I love pumpkins! 

My pumpkins are from the Sugar Pea Designs Hey Fall stamps and dies. I colored them with Copic markers, and used the coordinating dies to cut them out. 

My layout is similar to a sketch I saw last week (you know who you are, Paper Players!) that I loved that had three windows. The brightly colored gingham paper  help the images to stand out, surrounded by the scallops and stitching of the windows. I keep loving the gingham!

I used the TE Mini Slim Square Window Cutting Plate.Trimming the edges allowed me to adapt this on an A2 size card.

It took me awhile to find just the right sentiment. I love this one from WPlus9 because it allows the card to be for an occasions or just a happy day. 

Wishing you a happy day! Thanks for coming by to visit!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Inspired By... Colorful Fall

 Welcome back, it's time for a new challenge at Inspired By! Our weekly challenges are filled with inspiration and multiple options for your participation. I hope you will check them out and join us by adding your creation to the gallery this week! 

I love our theme of Colorful Fall.  Traditional fall colors are so beautiful, but I've been noticing a trend towards purple or pinkish leaves in the paper-crafting world lately. Here's my take on that combination. 

For the leaves, I used a sponge dauber to add layers of color until I was satisfied with the blend. I created a frame with kraft card stock, inking a leaf pattern with a stencil to add interest, adding all to a square card base. Here's the photo prompt for fall.

Here's another should you prefer to make a Holiday card. 

I will also be joining the CAS challenge at The Paper Players. 

I appreciate your visit today, thanks for spending a bit of time with me.

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Card supplies: 

Stamps: WPlus9 Autumn Leaves and dies; Gina K Stamps Autumn Wreath Builder

Inks:  WPlus9 - Hayride, Sweet Nectar, Cockleshell

Stencil: Gina K - Leafy Stencil

Inspired By Hello Fall

 Good morning to you! There will be two posts from me today, so let's get started! First up, at Inspired By we're back with two photo options or a sketch for you to try. My project is inspired by the Hello Fall prompt, and I decided to step it up and make a shaker card. 

I was thrilled to see my friend Nancy's link to a whole sheet shaker card, including a link to a great video tutorial. What fun this was to create and I'm excited that it is fairly flat to mail. I LOVE shaker cards but don't love making them with foam tape.

Nothing says fall like bright sunflowers and a wreath, don't you think? I've had this autumn sequin mix forever, and I am glad to use some of it up. The images and die cuts are from WPlus9  Autumn Blessings set. I colored with watercolors. The wreath is adhered to the card base, and the banner is placed over the acetate layer.

I hope you will join the fun at Inspired By this week. Can't wait to see your creations!

I am joining Just Us Girls challenge to make a shaker card.  Hope you have a wonderful day, thanks for visiting!

 

Inspired By: Back to School

 I wasn't sure I could manage to get a card made for today's challenge at Inspired By but I am squeaking by with a CAS thank you card. I will be needing many of those in the days to come. 

I always love this time of year when the school year begins. The weather has cooled some, so we hear kids playing outside in the afternoons. We are still grieving but beginning to look forward now that a month has passed. I am so thankful for the wonderful support we have had from the crafting community! 

I was inspired by the pretty rainbows in the photo of the classroom. What a happy and inviting place it seems to be! 

Here is my card. 

God created rainbows and they bring a promise of HOPE. 

There's hardly any stamping on my card - just the sentiment and the tiny black hearts. I used WPlus9 Postal dies and the 6x6 Rainbow papers are from Waffleflower. 

Thanks so much for your visit today. See you soon! 

Inspired By....Scrappy September

 Hello again, happy scrappy September! Our challenge at Inspired By  this week is to use scraps of stuff from your stash. Your project doesn't need to be made of only scraps, we'd just like you to tell us what scraps you incorporated into your card.

That was easy for me!

I found some already stamped images in the envelope with the Happy Pandas set, which I think is retired from MFT, and added paper from one of their packs as well. I loved the buttons idea and I barely made a dent in the button box but the buttons do look cute, don't they? 

Can't wait to see how your bits and bobs of scraps will inspire you! Thanks so much for your encouragement and inspiration!

I am also joining the challenge at 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Inspired By...Penguin Love!

 I am back from my travels and happy to have a card to share for this week's Inspired By Challenge #184! What a fun theme involving cute love-able black and white adorable penguins! 

Only I didn't have a penguin stamp, so I'm going with a Bunny Love theme instead.

While I was planning this card I stumbled across the sketch at The Paper Players, that gave me a great start. I loved these pretty wintry papers and they worked great with the sketch. 

I was inspired by the snowflakes, the heart, and the wooly hats. Which photo inspires you? I hope you will play along! 

Here is the sketch. 

Have a great day, keep smiling and remembering those you love. Thanks for your visit! 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

             Make something beautiful! 

Supplies used: MFT - Christmas Cheer

Stamps:  MFT - Christmas Cheer 
Paper: LawnFawn - Snowy Day Remix

Inspired By: Flower Me In Christmas

Hello crafty friends, happy Thursday! 

I have one more card for you this week. It's time for the new theme at  Inspired By.... Flower Me In Christmas. 

I was excited to be able to use the Christmas option for this challenge! In between travels and other events happening lately, I was able to just die cut and stamp some bits and bobs of images. I absolutely LOVE having some of these ready to go so that I can take my time arranging the elements and adding other details to a card. 

Today's card uses many of the gorgeous images in WPlus9 Designs Poinsettia Builder and Bells and Bows collection. 

There is a disadvantage to having elements made up ahead of time - I can't remember whether I used Distress or Altenew inks. 

 I used the Lavinia dies to emboss the card front. I love how this really adds a rich and elegant look without distracting from the focal point. Wrapping a nest of gold thread, I layered the die cuts with foam squares stacked singly or doubly to add dimension. The die cut sentiment is gold embossed, with a second phrase stamped in black ink. Both are from the Poinsettia Bouquets set. 

Inspired By...Flower Me In Summer, 

or Flower Me In Christmas, which will you chose? 

I know you'll be inspired by the team's samples, so be sure to check them out! I am so happy you popped in to see me today. I thank you all so much for the warm and heartfelt comments on my recent posts, they encouraged me greatly. 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!