CCEE2139 - Classical Music Month

I finished up my month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers by telling them that September is also Classical Music Month.  I asked them to create a card with a musical theme.  It doesn't have to be classical music though; it could be Jazz, Country, Rock 'n Roll -- anything musical, even a musical instrument.

Back in June I attended a stamp show and was introduced to a new-to-me stamp company (which ironically is located not too far from where I live in Florida), Sugar Pea Designs.  I fell in love with this Juke Box set and knew it would go really well on a Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle card.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see some more musical creations.

Simon Says Stamp and Riley & Co. Collaboration for STAMPtember

 STAMPtember is a fun month of collaborations between Simon Says Stamp and various other stamp companies.  Today that company is Riley & Company, and they produced a cute stamp set called I Like You.

I've made two cards using this fun set.  The first one is a slimline birthday card.  I combined this stamp set with a few Karen Burniston dies -- Long Nature's Edges/Long Nature's Edges 2 and Happy Birthday sentiment die.  That sentiment on the front really speaks to me!

The inside is a simple "Happy Birthday."

My second card uses another one of those humorous sentiments, along with the Karen Burniston House & Fence die set.  The background paper is from Divinity Designs.

I want to thank Simon Says Stamp for giving me the opportunity to play with this cute new set.

C4C603 - Monochrome

For her final September challenge for the Crazies, Karen Ostergard asked us to make a monochromatic card -- any color.  One of my favorite colors is purple, so that's the color I chose for my card.  There is a little bit of gold (the scribble) on this card as well.

Actually, this card is one of eight that I made.  I have a card ministry at my church, and I have found that Crazy Al's Sheetload of Cards each month is the perfect way for me to make a bunch of cards at one time.  August's Sheetload made eight cards -- all similar, but not quite exactly the same.

Check out the Crazy4Challenges blog for some more monochromatic cards.

CCEE2138 - Autumnal Equinox

Yesterday (9/22) was the Autumnal Equinox.  I asked the CCEE Stampers to create a fall-themed card.

I pulled out my old friend Riley and one of his dress-up sets to make my card.  I saw this layout done on a Stamp & Scrapbook Expo @ Home video by Tanya Doner-Kostynuk, the creator of Riley and liked the design -- so I basically copied it; but I used different stamps and papers.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more fall-related cards.

C4C602 - Sketch Challenge

The sketch for the Crazy4Challenges for this month is a standard A2 layout.

However, I took a bit of artistic license and made a slimline card, adjusting the circles just a tad.

Be sure to check out the Crazy4Challenges blog to see how the rest of the team handled this sketch.

CCEE2137 National Mushroom Month

I'm continuing as hostess for the CCEE Stampers today.  I told them that September is also National Mushroom Month and gave them an easy challenge:  include a mushroom on your card.

Karen Burniston recently released some cute Tiny Gnomes dies, and they fit so well on slimline cards.  I made two of them and positioned them on some cute background paper from Whimsy Stamps.  The paper already has some mushrooms on it, but I added a few more for good measure.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see what the rest of the team did with this easy-peasy challenge.

C4C601 - Flowers

Karen Ostergard continues her month as hostess for the Crazy4Challenges team.  She has a simple challenge this week -- let's make or color flowers for today's challenge!

I colored ONE flower for my card, but the background paper has lots of them.  Paper Nest Dolls makes such sweet images, and this one is no exception!

Check out the Crazy4Challenges blog for some more flowery inspiration.

CCEE2136 Swap Ideas Day

Tomorrow (9/10) is Swap Ideas Day.  For today's CCEE Stampers challenge, I asked the team to find a card they had seen using a new technique to them, or a new color combination, or anything they've never done before and make a card.  I reminded them to credit the person whose ideas they have used.

I recently saw a video by Wendy VanArsdale on the BeauQCreations page on Facebook in which she made a Bay Window Card.  It was such a cool-looking card that I immediately had to make one.  (Actually I made two -- the second one is for a CCEE Stampers challenge next month!).  Here's the first one I made.

Be sure to check out some other "new" cards on the CCEE Stampers blog.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Sun or Snow

It's time again for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge.  Karen has a good one for us this month -- Sun or Snow.  As I live in Florida and rarely see it, I chose "snow."  

Several months ago I purchased some background paper packs for slimline cards from Whimsy Stamps.  For my card today, I used several of the papers from the Frozen pack.  On the front of my card I used the one with several icebergs on it -- the perfect thing for these cute penguins from the Karen Burniston Winter Animals die set.  I strategically placed two of them on the floating ice.  The sentiment is from the new Word Set 13 - Snow.  I love that two of the words in this set (Brrr! and Snow) have shadows.

Another one of the Whimsy Stamps background papers adorns the inside of my card, but the star of the show is the newly released Garden Bench Pop-Up.   As you can see, another penguin has jumped up on the bench.  In the background is the new Street Lantern Pop-Up peeking over the back of the bench.

I also used the snowflakes die from the new Long Nature's Edges 2 set, as well as one of the ones from the original Long Nature's Edges set.  All that was left was to add the small rectangle for a place to sign the card.

Be sure to check out all the cards made by the Design Team this month.  Karen will have her card tomorrow.

C4C600 - Blue for September

Karen Ostergard starts her month as hostess for the Crazies by telling us that her birthday is in September (as is mine as well).  To start our birthday month celebration Karen asked us to make a birthday card with some dark blue -- as the birthstone for September is sapphire!

I recently purchased this Diagonal Gatefold Card die from Creek Bank Creations and have wanted to make a card using it.  Today is the day!

I used some old DSP from Stampin' Up and a couple of nautical images for my birthday card.

Be sure to check out the Crazy4Challenges blog for some more blue cards.

CCEE2135 -- Honey Month

I'm the hostess for the CCEE Stampers this month, and for my first challenge I told the team that September is Honey Month.  I asked them to include something related to honey on their cards -- bees, honeycombs, beehives. . . .

One of my favorite stamp companies is Honey Bee Stamps.  They always put something extra in your order, and recently the insert was a little postcard to color with a honey pot on it.  So I used that on my card . . . not on the front, but on the inside.  The front of my card has a cute Honey Bee Stamps bee.

Inside the card, I used a Karen Burniston mini pop mechanism to make the honey pot stand out.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see how the team handled my challenge.

Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" Back to School

 I tried a new-to-me technique for my Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" challenge card this month.  It's called a Pinwheel Tower Card.  I saw several of these on Facebook, and I just had to give it a try.  As you can see from the top, there is definite more than one score on this card.

So I pulled out some images that would work for "back to school" for the four panels.

Check out the Scor-Pal blog for some more cool projects.