Today is the last day of April and I am posting a set of cards for our newer challenge--Catch-up Club!  A few of my SCS and stamping friends, Darlene, Jeanette and Terry along with myself, have signed up for a number of virtual stamping events in the past 2 1/2 years.  One of the benefits of these events are that they are available to rewatch or even watch for the first time at a later date as they are all recorded. The 4 of us "try" to watch live and chat by texting during the event.  But, life steps in and there are times when one or more of us are not participating during the live.  Then, the kits from sponsors sits in our stamping area until we are ready to watch the video and create.  During one of the events, we decided we needed to push ourselves (and each other) to get some of these events done!   So--we all decided to devote one day a month, the last day of the month for the procrastinators that we are, to post cards we missed making.  So--here we are in our 6th month of The Catch Up Club!

 

Today is the day I am posting my card for our Challenge Your Stash group on SCS.  This is our 76th month of de-stash, so we are in the middle of our 7th year of challenges.  I cannot believe my thought about using what we have is now 6+ years old!   I really like these challenges and know they will continue as I know I have many, many items in my stash that I can use and love the fun challenges!

Tracie posted our April challenge--It is my pre-birthday month so let's make a card with balloons!

I wanted to use a Pinkfresh Studio stamp set that also has a coordinating die set, stencil set and a sweet roll of washi tape called Celebrate!  I picked the washi and die cut the balloons.   I have additional pieces left over that I am storing in the package to use for a future card.  I also used a Pinkfresh cover plate called Hearts & Stars for the background panel.  I then added a sentiment from a PFS Foiled Sentiment pack, with the balloon bundle along with a single balloon.  I added a few gold pearls around the card.   I hope Tracie likes my birthday card with balloons!  

 

Today I am showing off another Pinkfresh Studio stamp set that also has a coordinating stencil set called Miss Your Smile!  This set is designed to work the best as a slim-line card, so that is what I made! I stamped the corner floral image with Hero Arts Intense Black ink.  I then brush blended the 4 stencils with my Pinkfresh Fresh ink cubes.  They are so fun to use and add so much detail to the image elements.  The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp Sentiment pack.   I added a few green enamel dots around the card. 

 

Here we are--this is the Double Duty Day!  This is the 28th month, so we are now in year #3

Each month, we get to pick a stamp set from a predetermined company. Then, we will use that one stamp set and make two cards from the set.  Different images and sentiments from the same set can be used, or use the same image two different ways—Double Duty either way!  But, as an added challenge, one item must be used on both cards—same color cardstock, same ribbon, same stencil, same something.  Double Duty Again!  We will post both cards on our blog on the the 22nd of each month.  See-Double Duty again!  We will be sure to have fun getting doubly inky each month with a different stamp company.  Let’s have fun!

Both cards look very different, but using the same stamp set--one colored with Copic Markers and the other with brush blended colors over the stencil.  I used a cover plate on both cards, along with a Pinkfresh Foiled sentiment and gold pearls.

I hope you enjoyed my cards for our group.  Please be sure to check out the other Double Duty cards. Here is a link to Jeanette's, Darlene’s  and  Carol's blogs.   I am sure you will not be disappointed and will see a couple of sets of great cards.  

Next month the company we are using is Taylored Expressions--another favorite of all of us!  So be sure to check out our cards on May 22nd!  

This is my card for a swap called the SIS--Surprise Image Swap.   This is card #8  for our group.  It is a bi-monthly swap where we all use the same image, sent to us by the hostess.  The surprise part is that we are to not discuss the image at all until the day they are to be posted--the 18th of every other month.   The image for this round was provided by Kathi.  She will swap the cards and include the new image for round #9 that Lori stamps in everyone's return envie. Then--we do it all again in June!

Today is the 15th and this is my card for our The Creative Crew!  We are a group of 7 and all one team--Jeanette, Carol, Darlene, Lorraine, Terry, Tracie and me. Each month will be a new challenge posed by one of the members sending out a kit.  This month Carol sent us all a sweet kit.   Well, actually 4 of the 7 of us received the kit hand delivered by Carol at the end of last month at the No Foolin' Retreat that I hosted!

Did you know that April 8th is National Zoo Lover Day?  I did not and I think most of us had no clue.   Carol then used that theme to send us a fun image she loved as soon as she saw it.  She sent everyone this cute giraffe image called African Queen from Artful Stamper.  She die cut the some of the camel images for us to use and that is one that I picked!   The kit had some very sweet papers along with fun ribbons and some bling!  And, some eyelashes!  More on that in a bit!

I ink blended over the giraffe that was die cut with my Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs Distress Oxide Ink.  I used one of the sweet papers Carol included for the layers along with the giraffe patterned paper.  I found a perfect sentiment on an older wood block stamp in my animal bin. I stamped it in black and punched out the sentiment and backer with my circle punches.  The die cut leaves were included in the kit from Carol, so I layered behind the giraffe. I added some bling round the card.  This was fun card to make!

Oops--forgot about the eyelashes.  Yes, there were eyelashes in the kit:

Today is the the 12th and it is time for another Hot Mess card.   This is card number 47, so we are coming to and end of year #4. The idea of Hot Mess ~ Success is to Get Messy and you will have Success!  Messiness can be almost anything that we come up with--glitter, alcohol inks, glimmer glitz, sponged backgrounds, etc., anything that is a bit messy.  We are a very fun group and will post a card each month on the 12th.  The links to the other members are on my left side bar and I will also link them at the bottom at this post.

For this month's messiness, I picked a bottle of Creative Expressions Opal Polish in Golden Glow.  Darlene is the one who got me hooked on these a couple of years ago.  I then picked out a fun embossing folder from Spellbinders called Circle Illusion.  I rubbed the polish all over the embossing folder and then added a piece of black cardstock.  I then ran it through my Big Shot and it pressed the color into the embossed cardstock.  I did it on both sides to see which embossing I liked best.   I die cut the panel after it dried with my Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2--my absolute favorite die to use for a card front panel. I added a black layer behind the embossed panel, cut with the same die set.  I then die cut my Taylored Expressions Framed Script Hello Die three times from black and placed it in the center of the panel.   The sentiment is from a Gina K Designs Sentiment strip.  I added some Trinity Stamps Midnight Ball embellishments around the card!

I am a few days late, but it is now time for another The Three Musketeers post. We are ready to showcase the card we all created with the Simplest Gestures image and various sentiments from Pinkfresh Studio that I sent out for our April card, #104! That means we are in the middle of year number 7 with this fun challenge! All three of us sure have enjoyed the challenges every month and we hope that it continues for a long time! 

I think this is such a pretty image!  I sent Kelly and Jeanette a few images stamped on a quarter sheet as well as one that I die cut.  I also included a number of the sentiments that are also in the same stamp set.  I love that it comes with a coordinating die and so many sweet sentiments.

I colored the die cut image with my Copic Sketch Markers.  I die cut the sentiment with a Gina K Designs sentiment strips die.   The background panel is from Stampin' Up and is the Stitched Greenery Die--I really like the subtle stitching!    I die cut the image one more time from white for some added dimension.  I also die cut it also from Gold Mirricard cardstock and offset it for a bit of a gold shadow.  The same gold cardstock was used behind the background panel and as a gold strip for the sentiment.  I then added some clear drips drops around the image and on the gold strip.   I hope Jeanette and Kelly along with you enjoy my card!

This is my 4th One Plus Twelve card for 2023--this is year number 5.   For this challenge, we are to use just one stamp, to make a card every month and post on the 3rd of each month.  For 2023, I picked a Taylored Expressions stamp and die set called Graceful Ferns.  I think this set is so versatile and I picked the largest fern image to use each month.  There is a With Sympathy sentiment and coordinating die in the same set, so that is what I used this month.  

Please be sure to check out the other One plus Twelve cards to see what they picked for their stamp of the year for this challenge in 2023.  Here is a link to both Jeanette's  and Kelly's blog.  I am sure you will enjoy checking out each of our cards using the same stamp for 2023. I hope Kelly and Jeanette like my card and that you might too! Be sure to come back on May 3rd to see our cards for the next month!

Image/Sentiment: Taylored Expressions Graceful Ferns Stamp and Die Set

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up Basic Black, Whisper White, Crumb Cake

Ink:  Gina K Designs Warm Glow

Accessories:  Spellbinders Circle Illusion Embossing Folder; Slashed Frames Rectangle Die; Enamel Dots