Valentine Explosion Card

Happy Friday, all!  Are you anticipating the big storm?  We're all ready, but I am so full of listening to hype about it I am thinking it might be a bust...you know how that goes!  Anyway, I had a wee bit of free time in my craft room yesterday morning and I made a project I have been wanting to do for a long time (like 10 years)!  I received an explosion box card from a friend for my birthday (my 60th!) and I have saved it all this time to make one like it!  So here we go with my Valentine version:

The card is basically an open-bottomed box with three flaps that hang down and the fourth flap stands up with a space to write a sentiment on the back.  There are two little inserts on the inside on which clear acetate strips are attached, and they hold the hearts.  Here's a side view:

I used some current as well as retired papers, dies and stamps...it was a fun project to create!!!

Here's the back view:

And it folds flat to fit inside a regular A2 envelope!

I offered this yesterday as a door prize to the ladies at the retirement community where we had a little stamping get-together!  The winner was really excited to receive it!  Thanks so much for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed! And stay warm and safe!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Sealed with Love (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Bubble Bath, Strawberry Slush, Bubble Bath Shimmer, Sweet Sorbet (ret),  Red Glimmer (ret), White Glimmer (ret), Made with Love DSP
Ink	Poppy Parade
Accessories	Rhinestones, Mini Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Be Mine Dies (ret), Give It A Whirl Dies (ret), Love Die (Papertrey), Love Notes Dies (ret), Word Window Punch (ret), Country Heart Punch (ret), Small Heart Punch (ret)

FMS720 Smiley Bugs

Happy Thursday, peeps! Busy day today, so this will be short! I didn't get to play with the FMS sketch last week so I made sure I played with it this week!  Here's their sketch:

I wanted to play with some of the cute images from the Cute as a Bug DSP, so I simply diecut a couple of the images and mounted it on a panel of Pumpkin Pie DSP to make another CAS card.  Here we go:

Sentiment is from Layers of Beauty!

I left the inside blank because I think this card could be used for any number of occasions!  Thanks so much for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers of Beauty
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Basic Gray, Cute as a Bug DSP, Pumpkin Pie DSP (ret)
Ink	Versafine Black
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes DIes

SUO393 Rev Up The Fun

Happy Wednesday, all!  The SU Only challenge is a color one this week:

and I needed a birthday card for my great-nephew Sawyer.  I had an idea in mind and decided to incorporate these colors as well. All my images are retired SU, and I hope that's okay for the challenge!  I also used the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches  for my uber-CAS card:

So here we go:

I know the image looks black, but trust me, it is Night of Navy! I stamped designs from Gorgeous Grunge and Perfectly Wrapped in the corner in Crushed Curry, then stamped the Extreme Dirt Bike stamp in Navy.  I did add some speckles as well, stamped off.  Sentiment is from Rev Up The Fun:

I added a simple birthday sentiment on the inside.  And since the Little Red Wagon challenge this week is K for "Keep it Simple", I am adding it there as well!

Here's a picture of Sawyer and his brother, sister, mom and mom mom; they have a cookie-making day every Christmas at their mom mom's house:

That's a lot of cookies!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Extreme Dirt Bike, Gorgeous Grunge, Perfectly Wrapped (all ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Night of Navy
Ink	Crushed Curry, Night of Navy
Accessories
Tools

JAI777 Something Seasonal

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  The Just Add Ink challenge this week is "Something Seasonal":

I have a class this week at the retirement community where Dana works, and they had requested winter birthdays, so one of the cards we'll be making just happened to fit JAI's challenge:

The skates are from Avery Elle and the sentiment is from SU's Greetings of the Season and Everyday Greetings (both from 2024).  Skates were stamped in Basic Gray, and then colored with Blends.  They're mounted on a pretty embossed panel of Coastal Cabana.  The inside sentiment is from Waffle Flower:

And since this Avery Elle set has been in my stash for at least five years, I am adding it to the Retro Rubber challenge of "Anything Goes"!

Lots of errands to run today, so I am "skating" off, saying thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed! And STAY WARM!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Everyday Greetings (ret), Greetings of the Season (ret), Holiday Skates (Avery Elle 2020?)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Coastal Cabana
Ink	Basic Gray
Accessories	Ribbon from my stash, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Holiday Skates Dies (Avery Elle), Snowflakes Swirl embossing folder (Darice), Blends

AHSC665 Holiday Snowflake

Happy Monday, peeps! Time for a new Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge! It's a fun one, with lots of layers:

I really loved the inspiration photo from Inspired By this week, so I used that for my colors and theme:

And here we go:

I have to admit that this card took me WAY longer than it should have---I just have so many products from which to choose, LOL! I started with an Almost Amethyst card base--anyone else remember THAT color?  What a pretty shade of purple it is!  I added a snowy embossed panel and a Pool Party strip that was stamped with the Buffalo Check in Craft White ink---subtle, but it's there!  The snowflake was diecut from some white glimmer paper, and I added some other purple glimmer snowflakes:

The sentiment banner is from Spellbinders; I also added some Smoky Slate pearls.  The inside sentiment was stamped in Smoky Slate as well, and I adhered a few leftover snowflakes:

There are tons of possibilities for which you could use this layout!  I hope you have fun with it!  Be sure to share your creation with us at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch blog!  Thanks for visiting today! Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Peaceful Season (ret), Buffalo Check (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pool Party, Almost Amethyst (ret), Grain & Grunge (Honey Bee), Lavender Glimmer (Recollections), White Glimmer (CTMH)
Ink	Smoky Slate, Craft White
Accessories	Dimensionals, Smoky Slate Pearls
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched Shapes Dies (ret), Stitched Snowflakes Dies (ret), Seasonal Tags Dies (ret), Handmade Sentiments Dies (Spellbinders), Circle Scallop Dies (Nestabilities), Snowflake Dies (Shady Lane), Scattered Snowflakes Embossing Folder (Spellbinders)

PP769 CAS Brrr!

Happy Sunday, peeps!  Time for a new Paper Players challenge, and this one is from our amazing hostess Joanne!  She has a clean-and-simple theme for us:

She wants "Signs of Winter"....but specifically NOT Christmas!  Well, winter certainly is rearing its head here--snow and COLD!!!  I pulled out some stamps featuring hats and mittens and went to work:

My stamps are from W+9, stamped in Azure Afternoon.  I got my color inspiration from Color Hues:

After stamping and diecutting my winter wear, I used the sketch from Sunday Stamps to arrange them:

My embossed panel used an embossing folder from Tim Holtz, and I stamped some snow around the mittens and hat and added a cute "Brrr" sentiment from Colorado Craft:

A little Crafter's Companion stamp went on the inside. I thought I would add a birthday or get well sentiment as well, when I need a card for that occasion!

I hope that you'll play along with our challenge this week!  Remember to keep it CLEAN AND SIMPLE!  I know we want to add lots of bells and whistles, but this week, keep it all about stamps, ink and paper!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Holiday Cheer (W+9), Winter Blessings (Crafters Companion), Just Add Snow (Colorado Craft Company), Paper Pumpkin (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Azure Afternoon
Ink	Azure Afternoon
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Holiday Cheer Dies (W+9), Deer Knit Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz)

AYSI364 Another Beer

Happy Friday, all!  It's time for a new As You See It challenge of 2026 and it's a fun one!  It's a fill-in-the-blank, and we want you to use your newest craft purchase!

My newest craft purchase is some Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol!  This technique of blending colored pencils with Gamsol has been around for a long time, but I never jumped on that bandwagon, so "Santa" very nicely gave some to me for Christmas (thanks, John!)!  And since Wayne's birthday is today, I decided to use this technique on a Unity stamp set---a mug of beer!  So here we go with my CAS creation:

I stamped the beer mug with Versafine ink, diecut it out, then colored the beer with Goldenrod and Spanish Orange Prismacolor pencils, adding a little Light Cerulean Blue to the mug itself and Black on the suds:

I added the sentiment to a Very Vanilla card and popped up the beer, adding some shading to the bottom with Pecan Pie ink.  My Wink of Stella kind of "exploded" while I was trying to add some sparkle, so it is VERY sparkly, LOL!  Here's the inside, using another sentiment from the same Unity set along with a Waffleflower Inside Sentiments Birthday set:

I am also entering this at the Addicted to CAS challenge, where they are looking for "glass"!

SO....what new goodies did you get for Christmas or just recently?  We'd love to see what you create with them!  Share them with us over at the As You See It blog!  Can't wait!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Friends are Like Seashells (for the bubbles; ret), A Cold One (Unity), Inside Sentiments Birthday (Waffle Flower)
Card stock & Papers	Thick Very Vanilla, Thick Basic White
Ink	Versafine Black, Basic Beige, Pecan Pie
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, A Cold One Dies (Unity), Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, Blending Stumps, Wink of Stella, Aquapainter