12 Kits of Occasions: April with Jeanne

It's the last day of the month and I am excited to show you what I have made with this month's 12 Kits of Occasions kit...a super-deluxe, fabulous, die-cut laden package with so many ingredients...I made 5 cards and didn't even make a dent in the package.  Our hostess this month is Jeanne Jachna of A Kept Life.  I imagine Jeanne had to go out and buy herself a new die cut machine after all the cranking she did to supply us with this great kit.  Here's a picture of this month's ingredients:

Photo by Kara Vrabel

I wasn't kidding about the great big kit, was I?  There's lots to look at this month and we have two guest designers listed below, so here are my cards:

This is my favorite...I loved the great big oval shaped doily and the beautiful and intricate die cut.  Every single thing on this card is from our kit and I especially love the bold patterned papers Jeanne gave us.

Like I said, lots and lots of die cuts, especially beautiful florals.  

 I even made good use of the negative parts of the die cut!  

I loved the little ticket and the woodgrain photo frame.  I thought the embossed panel looks a lot like little tickets so the combination was an easy choice for me.

This last card is going to my mom on Mother's Day.  Is that a lot of patterned paper, or what?  I added yet another flower die cut, doily and mom sentiment.  

Want to see more from the 12 Kits of Occasions group?  Head on over to the 12 Kits of Occasions blog so that you can go around and see what the rest of the team has done with this month's kit.

We are joined this month by two guest designers...and very talented ones at that.  Please stop by the blogs of Nancy Penir and Erin Thiem.  I can't wait to see what they have done with Jeanne's kit.  

Thank you Jeanne...this was one of my very favorite months for the 12 Kits of Occasions...there literally was something for everyone!

All the supplies are listed on the 12 Kits of Occasions blog under the tab Monthly Kit Supplies 2014 here.

Fusion Challenge #8

Today's Fusion Card Challenge #8 is a bright and cheery one...just look at this photo and sketch:

I had no hesitation this week...I knew from the minute I saw this picture that I was going to base my card on the rainbow of chevron colors.  

I used Waltzingmouse Stamps Funky Feathers stamp set and brought out an array of ink colors as close as I could get to the ones in the inspiration photo.  Notice the chevron pattern in the feathers?  How cool is that?  The birthday die cut is from Papertrey Ink as well as the inked "Happy" stamp.  It is a very rare day when I make a card that can actually be sent through the mail and I am happy to say this one definitely qualifies.

I am hoping you will want to play along with our challenge...just make a card based on either the sketch, the inspirational photo, or a little bit of both for perfect "fusion"!  You have two weeks to play,  the challenge ends on Monday, May 5th, noon PST.  Here's some more inspiration from the Fusion Design Team!

Betty J

Dannielle Robeson

Deepti

Jeanne Jachna

Julia Aston

Katie Brooks

Kelly Griglione

Kimberly Wiener

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan

Michelle Folland

Michelle Lupton

Sindu

Stephanie Severin

4 of a Kind: April with Kim

It's been a long time since we had a 4 of a Kind post...and this month will be our last for awhile...lots going on with everyone in our group, so I tried to make the most of our last kit.  This month's hostess is Kim Heggins of Cupcakes, Cards & Kim.  No surprise that Kim went way, way overboard with all of our supplies for a Coffee and Tea themed kit.  Here's a peek of the kit ingredients:

You can't see it from the picture, but there is a gigantic stack of patterned papers to choose from and lots of other little embellishments too.  One of the cutest things in the kit was a "Ready to Assemble" Tea Caddy.  Despite Kim printing out very detailed instructions, pre-cutting all of the pieces and a tutorial link from Renee, I still managed to screw mine up and wrecked it.  So....here are the four cards I made minus the tea caddy.  So sorry Kim...it was cute!

The first card is all sparkly and shows off the cute steam swirl Kim gave us to use.

My second card highlighted all the cute tag, ribbon and flowers from our kit.  Don't you love that sentiment?

I used some Lil Inker Stitched dies for my third card along with one of the cute speech bubble sentiments from our kit.

My last card was the most fun to make.  I loved all of the patterned papers from the kit and mixed and matched them to create the chevron background.  Lots of glue on my fingers with this one!

We have a special guest joining us this month...you all know her, love her and CASE her cards all the time...Tracey McNeely of In My Creative Opinion.

Thank you Kim for a fabulous kit this month!

Kim Heggins

Joyce Mehrberg

Renee Lynch

Tracey McNeely

Four of a Kind April 2014 Kit

Card Stock: SU – Pear Pizzazz, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Ivory PTI – Hawaiian Shores, Harvest Gold, White, Canyon Clay

Patterned Paper:  Basic Grey – RSVP

Ink: SU – Pear Pizzazz, Calypso Coral, Baked Brown Sugar, VersaFine – Black

Stamps: Reverse Confetti – Be a Barista, The Alley Ways Stamps – Breakfast Club and Paper Smooches – Cyber Café

Dies: Lawn Fawn - Speech Bubbles, Reverse Confetti – Tag Me

Ribbon: Britex

Bakers Twine: The Twinery

Buttons: PTI – Hawaiian Shores and Simply Chartruese

Cuttlebug:  Embossing Folder - Swirls

Card Concept #8: Use an Umbrella

Welcome to the Card Concept Challenge #8.  We have had some fabulous cards submitted for our challenges making it very difficult to choose a favorite.  Make sure you check out the favorites from Challenge #7 here.

If this is your first time joining us at the Card Concept...our challenge is very unique.  Each challenge you make a card using the theme and one of the Card Styles listed below: 

The styles are divided into 6 style themes:

Clean & Simple

Clean & Layered

Clean & Graphic

Freestyle Collage

Shabby Chic

Classy & Elegant

• 

Challenge #8 has been one of my very favorite challenge themes so far...Use An Umbrella.  

Not a lot of rain here in CA, but when I think of umbrellas, I always think of some type of shower...wedding or baby.  I recently found out that I am going to be a first time grandma...and I have hardly thought of anything else since.  I have a long time to wait, the baby is not due until the end of November, but I expect you will be seeing a lot of baby themed projects from me in the very near future.  

I am one of the designers representing the Classy & Elegant style.  The elegant umbrella from Marianne Creatables (Vintage Parasol) is the star of the show on this card.  If you look close you can see there are tiny embossed polka dots on the upper portion of the umbrella.  I turned my umbrella into a mobile using silver thread and cute little baby icons (Memory Box Baby Stuff) dangling from it.  The background dies are from Spellbinder (Filagree Delight and Floral Ovals) popped up with dimensional foam.  I added a little rhinestone bling and a very delicate sentiment die (Simon Says Stamp Baby).

So, whether you think of raindrops, sunny beaches or even baby showers, I hope you will join us at the Card Concept challenge and show us your card with an umbrella on it.  You have two weeks to play along, submissions close on Monday, April 28th at noon, PST.

Clean & Simple

Tracey McNeely 

Deanna Dean

Clean & Graphic

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Geri Greening

Clean & Layering

Kay Miller

Kerin Sylvester

Shabby Chic

Narelle Farrugia 

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Freestyle Collage

Karen Davis 

Cindy Lovell 

Sweet Bunny

I'm sneaking in one last Easter card before I pack away the bunnies and eggs until next year.  This weekend I had the chance to use Lil Inker's new bunny die cuts...the cutest bunnies I have ever seen! 

I made my bunny of the chocolate variety and added a pink bow and pom-pom for the fluffy tail.  The "Sweet" sentiment is a die cut from TCW.  I also used a die from Simon Says Stamp "Flag On A Line" and added a few strips to bring out the pink a little more.  The white panel is embossed with the PTI Line and Canvas impression plate.

Not much chatting today...trying to post this during my lunch break.  Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Fusion #8: Celebrate

I've been so excited to share this card with you today...welcome to Fusion Card Challenge #8.  Isn't that a beautiful inspirational photo?  I guess I am a Spring/Summer kind of person because I LOVE these colors!  

This week I used both the sketch and the photo for my inspiration.  That is what is so great about the Fusion Card Challenge...you can use either the sketch, the photo or mix them together like I did and create Fusion!  

I loved the colors...that should be obvious, but I also loved the tiny touch of gold around the edge of the chair, the pretty pink silk bows and the overall happy theme of the photo.   I used Papertrey Ink's Shape Up Series: Cupcake Die for the focal point of my card.  I cut the top part of the cupcake down a bit so that the scale would be right for an A2 card base.  I traced the base of the cupcake and cut it out by hand since I wanted to run it through the crimper without the score marks.  The crimper "shrinks" everything, so the larger base now fits the smaller size top of the cupcake.  Does that make sense? Before I crimped it, I added a thin strip of gold tape and after crimping, it almost looks like gold stitching.  The gold sentiment was the perfect size for the cupcake base...where else was I going to fit a sentiment on this card?  LOL.  Last thought...tell me why digging through mounds of buttons to find the exact right shade and size is so much fun?  My husband came into the room while I was searching through stacks of buttons and couldn't believe how many I have!

So what do you see in the photo...or will it be the sketch this week?  The Fusion Card Challenge runs for two weeks and just in case you still  need a little more convincing to play along, the Fusion Design Team have created some beautiful cards to tempt you to get busy making something fabulous!

 Sadly for our Fusion team, Geri Freeman has had to leave our little group where she will be greatly missed, but on a happier note, we are very fortunate that Jeanne Jachna of A Kept Life will be joining us and sharing her beautifully "Fused" cards with us every two weeks.  

Betty J

Dannielle Robeson

Deepti

Jeanne Jachna

Julia Aston

Katie Brooks

Kelly Griglione

Kimberly Wiener

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan

Michelle Folland

Michelle Lupton

Sindu

Stephanie Severin

Card Concept #7: Butterfly Theme

Have you started seeing butterflies around your home yet?  If not, be prepared to see a lot of them in the next two weeks here on the Card Concept Challenge...our theme for Challenge #7 is to use a Butterfly somewhere on your card!   

I hope you have been playing along with our fun, new challenge...for Challenge #6, we had 116 cards submitted...seriously, 116!  Want to see who were the winners?  Here's a link to to see the favorites.

I am one of the designers who represents the Classy and Elegant style.  

Definition:

Polished

Shiny Finish

Sparkling Embellishments

Rich Color Scheme

Sophisticated Sentiments

Regal

Sweeping

Dramatic

Monochromatic

Layered Textures

Awe

Impress

I never really thought my style of card making was Classy and Elegant, but I  have found that you only have to use one or two of the descriptions for your card to be considered in that category.  You can have a CAS or Clean and Layered card and still have it be Classy and Elegant!  Here's my take on the Butterfly theme:

It always makes me happy when I see a butterfly...so I used some a cheerful, happy new die from Memory Box with cute musical notes as my background.  I also used a very elegant 6 x 6 embossing folder from Embossalicious to add that swirly background in the corners of my base.  The butterfly is a die from Serendipity Stamps...probably the most elegant die I have.  I cut it once in glittery paper and once in a teal colored vellum.  I wish you could see how pretty it is in person!  I added some really shiny stick pins and a few more little butterflies to tie in the teal color.  I am saving this card for my son and daughter-in-law who have their first anniversary in April.  

Are you ready to see some more butterfly inspiration?  Make sure you check out all the cards made by the Card Concept Design Team...there are 6 different styles, something for everyone!

Clean & Simple

Tracey McNeely 

Deanna Dean

Clean & Graphic

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Geri Greening

Clean & Layering

Kay Miller

Kerin Sylvester

Shabby Chic

Narelle Farrugia 

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Freestyle Collage

Karen Davis 

Cindy Lovell 

Classy & Elegant

Lee Ann Barrett

*PREORDER S4-383 Spellbinders MARVELOUS SQUARES Nestabilities Dies NEW 2012	*MD1-008 Media Mixage Spellbinders SQUARES TWO Die	*s4-322 Spellbinders GROMMET TAGS Dies Shapeabilities	*Crafter's Companion Embossalicious REGAL FRAME 6 x 6 Embossing Folder 755444	*Memory Box MUSICALITY COLLAGE Craft DIE 98749
Serendipity Stamp & Die	Damask Designs

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