Friendship stars

 

Welcome to a new challenge at Cupcake Inspirations. This will sadly be the last challenge for me with the C.I. team. Life moves on and things change. But what a great run it has been. The Cupcake Inspirations team have been a great group of gals to work with.  Hopefully I will have time to pay along here and there in the future.

 

I am going out with a bang. My last challenge is a very girly color challenge using purple, lavender and pink. A shout out to all our princesses to join in!

We have a very special sponsor also:

PIXEL PAPER PRINTS

Prize: 

There will be 2 lucky winners this challenge

Prize 1- 4 Digital stamp sets from Pixel Paper Prints, 50% Coupon on a single order with no limit on the number of items) and Permanent 25% off discount to my shop.

Prize 2- 2 Digital stamp sets, 35% Coupon on a single order with no limit on the number of items) and Permanent 25% off discount to my shop.

*(Be sure to read and follow our Rules to be eligible to win)*

For many years, I worked as a designer in the infant and children fashion industry. I specialized in producing “cute things” and have a lot of experience designing prints and patterns. I realized that I could apply my knowledge to graphic design and illustration and share my creations with others. In the spring of 2011, I opened Pixel Paper Prints and have greatly enjoyed the Etsy experience!

I absolutely love crafts! Everything I design is done while thinking about people similar to me...those who like to create, experiment, and transform. :)

My hope is that you find graphics that make you smile and inspire you to create.

Belen Martindale

BE SURE TO CHECK OUR PIXEL PAPER PRINTS SHOP

  HERE!

To the stars and beyond! My card features digi stamps from our sponsor and the sentiments are from Paper Smooches.

 

You have two weeks to play along with our princess color challenge at Cupcake Inspirations. Please check out Pixel Paper Prints for fun images to use. 

 

warp speed

Welcome to a new year of challenges at CAS on Friday. I hope that 2021 is a CAS year, because 2020 was so not CAS!

The first challenge for the year is:

GET WELL

I keep a stash of all kinds of cards except get well. So this was a good way to get started. I wanted to try for something different than the usual flowers so I went through my stamps till I found this set from Paper Smooches. 

This is bound to put a smile on someone's face!

You have two weeks to share your get well cards with us at CAS on Friday!

 

Ho Ho Ho

Six weeks till Christmas!! Where has the time gone? Have you been playing along with us at Christmas 24? if so, you should have a big pile of holiday cards to get you started this year! I know I have a huge pile!

Today's challenge is Santa!  Yes "I know him!! I know Santa!!!" What classic holiday movie is that from. Share with me in comments. It is favorite of mine!

Today's card uses a bunch of old stamp sets. The Santa is from Paper Smooches "Santa Paws". It is so sad that Paper Smooches has closed shop. Their cute whimsical images started my love for all things critter! If you really want this stamp set, Amazon has it, but it will cost you!

 

You have two weeks to play along with us at Christmas 24. Lets see your most creative Santa cards!

Comfort Zone

 

Yippee it's the weekend!! So happy!! Lot's of time to spend in my studio! Today is a new challenge at Christmas 24! Today is a challenge that is out of my CAS comfort zone. We are asking you to make a card with a fancy fold. 

 FANCY FOLDED CARDS

Fancy fold cards are something I NEVER make. It is just to much work. And somehow I can reconcile CAS with fancy folds. 

So I went to google and asked her if she could help me. She told me to ask Jennifer McGuire. Jennifer never let's us stampers down. She showed me the perfect CAS fancy fold card!

 

I hope this video will provide you with inspiration to join in our challenge at Christmas 24. 

As you can see I am using a really old wooden stamp from Hero Arts- "Stunning Snowflakes". You can still get this stamp on Amazon!! I paired this with Honey Bee's "Season to Sparkle". 

I created a second card that might be a bit easier than my first one that you have to do some partial die cutting for. I agree that it is a bit tricky Jennifer makes it look so easy huh?

I hope I have inspired you to join in the fun at Christmas 24. You Have two weeks to play along!

Another birthday card

Thursday..... one more day till Friday...... almost the weekend...... yipee!!!! With the restructuring of our unit because of Covid, I now work 5 days in a row, where I used to work 4 days. That extra day is a killer for me. WAAAAAAA I want my old life back!! Something I think that I am not alone in thinking.

Today is a special Thursday because a new challenge comes out at Cardz 4 Galz. This is a special challenge because it is my choice. The theme is:

BIRTHDAYS

One can never have enough birthday cards. At least that is what I think. But hey what do I know? Maybe you don't agree, but I have an inkling (haha pun intended) that you do know what I mean.

Today's card uses "let's celebrate" from Paper Smooches and "stop, drop, party" from Simon Says Stamp.  Pink and green make me happy! Two of my favorite colors. Some yellow for contrast, some bling and this CAS card is complete.

Come and join us at my birthday theme challenge at Cardz 4 Galz . You have two weeks to enter the fun!

Go to your happy place

Every year I get away to the Pocono mountains in Pennsylvania  for a crafty weekend of stamping, good food and good times with my best buddies. My buddy Judy aka "the angel" has a house in the "Nos" right on a gorgeous lake. Every year the weekend seems to grow and this year all of us will be there.

To get everyone psyched, I will be sending out this card. My card reminds me of one of the views from the porch.

My card fit into three challenges so I am submitting this to Time Out Challenges where the challenge  is:

'Holidays with the Optional Twist of No Stamping' 
(stamped sentiments allowed)

 I am submitting it to my friend Kylie's Happy Little Stamper CAS challenge   

where the challenge is:

I am also sending this out to a new challenge to me: The Sisterhood of Crafters

CLOSE TO NATURE

What does that mean to you?  

This is a perfect challenge since that's what we have going in to the NO's- a sisterhood of crafters and the theme couldn't be better!!!

I used the British view of holiday- our idea of a vacation here in the states.

The inside of the card says "go to your happy place". We have a running theme of the Nos being our happy place so this card is perfect for our upcoming holiday.

 The masking was a bit tricky and took several tries to get the masking inside to line up with the outside diecut window.

Check out both of these fun challenges and join in!!

Happy Little Stampers- March CASE the Designer: Yay Kim!!

Happy March everyone! Spring is fast upon us and I couldn't be happier! When I saw Kim's card for the CASE the designer challenge at Happy Little Stampers, I have to say I was stumped. This comic strip trend is totally new to me. But a thought popped into my head in the middle of the night- my best ideas come in the middle of the night- don't yours?

My boss is all Irish and plays in an Irish band and guess what his favorite beverage is- well I suppose it is a no brainer- BEER!!  I pulled out my Paper smooches set- "A Magical Spring" . The card essentially stamped itself and if that wasn't magical to watch!!

The foam on the beer was fun, I used white opal liquid pearls. When it was completely dry, I hit it with the heat gun till it bubbled like the foam head on a beer.

So this card goes to the best boss in the world along with a growler of craft beer to celebrate St. Pat's. 

I really can't wait to see how all of you CASE Kim's card. Join us this month at Happy Little Stampers!!

Melting

I just love the new look of my blog and having the tabs at the top make it so much easier to check out challenges. While going through new challenges, I saw Inkspirational was having a fun word challenge.

Thinking snowmen and snow, I pulled out my Christmas stamps and came across this oldie but goodie from Paper Smooches. When I saw the candle, I was thinking,that makes no sense in this Christmas sense, until it clicked..... the sentiment worked perfectly with the candle. Snowmen went right out the window and my card was created.

Every now and again I give my guy a card just for nothing. This is going to be one of those cards.
Giving cards is my way of showing love and it is a lot less calories than cooking or cheaper than buying a gift......ok that might not be so true..... I do spend money on this craft..... :)!

Anyway check out the new challenge at Inkspiration and show me how you melt.

Lucky Day

Addicted to CAS is having a challenge that is near and dear to my heart- GREEN. Everyone who knows me, knows that I think green is the most beautiful color in the world! Sorry Margarita,  it really isn't pink! 

I spent the day trying to finish my paper for school and just needed to call it a day and put it away. Tomorrow is another day.

Soooo, out came all the green inks and green type stamps. I used as the base of my card Paper Smooches Reflection set. This set is so great, that when I lost one of the smaller stamps in the set, I bought another one. The bird and branch are from Wplus 9 Love Birds.

 Well, even though this is a CAS card, it did take a bit of time and planning, now i gotta go and make dinner. Check out the green challenge over at Addicted to CAS!

Holiday Blog Hop at House of Cards

Hi everyone! Where does the time go? Can you believe we have come to the end of our third term at House of Cards? We are saying a fond farewell to some of our design team members and I am so thankful to those who are staying on. To say farewell and thanks, we are celebrating with a blog hop! 

This blog hop will run FROM DECEMBER 1 AT 6:00AM CST THROUGH DECEMBER 15 AT NOON CST, ANY CARD STYLE is welcome and please check out the gorgeous photo inspiration for the crafting challenge.

You should have arrived here from our awesome leader Mynn's blog. If you haven't and you would like to hop with us, please start at Mynn's blog and continue through the whole thing for the most chances to win.

Oh yeah, how could I forget- winning! Check out our amazing sponsors!

Here are all of our fabulous sponsors. Our team has used a variety of products from these amazing companies.

$50 gift voucher to shop

$10.00 gift voucher to shop

Gift card to the online store

Prize package of 5 stamps

$20.00 to their digital store

$20.00 gift voucher to shop

While these are all great companies, I went with this great reindeer image from Great Impressions. It just so fit the inspiration photo. The design is a taken from a card by Jennifer Maguire. 

Here is a peek in the inside of the card.

The saying is from Great Impressions too.

I hope you enjoyed my take on the inspiration photo. Now get hoppin'! Your next stop is my good buddy, Cornelia and I know she is gonna have something awesome to share. Don't forget to link up a project with us at House of Cards after completing the hop for an extra chance to win a mystery prize from one of our fabulous sponsors also!