World Card Making Day and Giveaway Reminder

Every year on World Card Making Day (and National Scrapbooking Day) I'm a little frustrated by my inability to get anything created.  This is partly because I get a little overwhelmed by the number of challenges out there and because with two small girls and a husband who is usually coaching on Saturday I'm doing a lot of running around as opposed to sitting down and creating.

This year I decided to just focus my efforts on one thing as opposed to trying to sift through all the many challenges occurring and trying to do all of them or combine them, etc.

I opted to complete the Studio Calico challenges.  There were six of them, and what I loved about them this year was how doable they were.  No find 10 random things to put on your card or use a digi element or some other more difficult/complicated thing.

So here they are for your perusal.  The first challenge was to use a journaling card.  This took no time at all, and I might try and recreate it with patterned paper.  The journaling card is SC as is the small stamped sentiment and the congrats die is Ellen Hutson.

The next challenge was to create a fall card.  I pulled out the Maple Leaves Journaling Card Die which I die cut from regular cardstock and watercolored with Kuretake Gansai watercolors.  Because I used regular cardstock the warping gives the die cut extra dimension.  I love this die more every time I use it!  The patterned paper is BG Persimmon.

Next we needed to create a card using alpha stamps or stickers.  I needed a birthday card for this weekend, so I used this cute critter from Mama Elephant with some thickers.  So quick and easy!

The next challenge was to use a stamp/die in your stash that you haven't had a chance to use yet.  I pulled out this Terrarium set from SC.  I stamped the terrarium on a piece of scrap cardstock and then cut out the middle so I could use it to ink the inside of the bottle.  I also added some embossing powder to some of the stones at the bottom and used a gold Wink of Stella pen to add highlights to the plants.

The penultimate challenge was to use two or more die cuts.  I've had these Maggie Holmes flower dies forever and this was a great chance to put them to use.  They're paired with an SC sentiment die. I used Copics to add some color/shading to the flower/leaf die cuts.

The last challenge was to create a Christmas card that was relatively easy to mass produce and mail.  I pulled out the Winter Trees set I designed for Neat & Tangled last year.  It's stamped on Kraft cardstock.  Then I colored the entire image in (dry) with Inktense pencils.  Once that was done I used a wet (not very wet) brush to activate and blend the coloring.  Super easy.  I finished it with some white splatters and then stamped the sentiment.





And there you have it.  None of these was particularly time consuming to make and I really love that I was able to get out some things that had been languishing in my pile of stamps/dies to use.  I also love that I was able to knock out another Christmas card.

OK, just a reminder that the giveaway of the exclusive Neat & Tangled stamp set from this month's Scrapbook Circle kit ends tonight.  If you haven't yet entered to win, you can do that here.  Good luck, I'll pop in this weekend to announce the winner.