Going Green Photo Inspiration Challenge

Tomorrow is March 1st and before we know it everything will be turning green for Spring. For this challenge we will be Going Green. Incorporate the color green into your handmade card creation. It doesn't have to be a St. Patrick's Day card and no shamrocks are required. Have fun!!!

Inspirational Designs:

Erin's Card using Bugaboo Image

Andrea's Card using retired Stampin' Up! Stamp

Challenge Guidelines:

1. Create a New card using the challenge theme, no linking to old posts. 
2. Only one entry per blog address.
3. This is a card only challenge.
4. You must use a stamp, either rubber or digital.
5. You can combine this challenge with other challenges.
6. Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to this challenge. Please provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
7. All brands of stamping products are welcome.
8. HAVE FUN!!!

The challenge will run for 12 days, 2/28/2014 - 3/11/2014.

It's LOVE Challenge Winner

There were so many wonderful cards entered in our It's LOVE Challenge. Thanks to everyone who played along. The winner of the challenge was chosen by a random drawing and the winner is....

Gail L. from Lacey Lassy

The delicate details on Gail's card are truly a work of art. So very pretty!!! I will send you an email to request your mailing address for the challenge prize.

Check back tomorrow for a new photo inspiration challenge.

Fresh Prints Birthday Card

My birthday card stash is getting pretty low so I made this Fresh Prints Birthday Card using the new Fresh Prints designer series paper stack by Stampin' Up! I'm really not a fan of the color red but I really love it paired with Coastal Cabana and Crumb Cake. I used Pool Party as an accent color and even though it's not one of the dsp colors, it coordinates nicely. The stamp sets used were the Simply Sketched hostess stamp set and the Label Love stamp set which I punched with Artisan Label punch. The final touch were three itty bitty scalloped circle punches with red candy dots in the center. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful night.

*Just a fun little note- this is my 500th post for Savvy Handmade Cards.*

My Fresh Prints Birthday Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Catered Crop: Good Birthdays
• Make It Monday: Anything Goes
• Sister Act: Anything Goes

Casual Congrats! Card

Happy Monday afternoon! I hope you're having a wonderful day. It's been nice and sunny here in Oklahoma today. I would like to say that I stayed outside and enjoyed it, but no. I had a dentist appointment this morning and then went to work for two hours and then stayed in my craft room. The card I made is for one of my clients. I recently wrote a contract for her to buy her first home. I'm really excited for her and I hope she will like this Casual Congrats! Card.

The inspiration for this card came from "The Magic of Kits" article in the new Stampin' Success magazine. Stampin' Up! has a new kit available called Happenings Simply Created Card Kit (133329). It includes pieces for making 15 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" cards. My card wasn't made with the supplies from the kit but I did base the layout from one of the featured designs. I used patterned paper from the Sweet Sorbet sale-a-bration collection. It's free until March 31st with a fifty dollar purchase. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

My Casual Congrats! Card is entered into the following challenges:

• The Paper Players: Clean and Simple with Star(s)
• Make It Monday: Anything Goes

It's LOVE Challenge

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Since our challenge starts today it seemed fitting to have a theme centered around the word LOVE. The idea is to use something you LOVE. It can be a stamp, technique, color, product, or whatever it is you LOVE. Make sure you share with us what it is that you "LOVE" on your card. Thanks for stopping by and we hope you will play along.

Inspirational Designs:

Erin's Card using a Tiddly Ink Image 

Andrea's Card using Faux Patina Technique

Challenge Guidelines:

1. Create a New card using the challenge theme, no linking to old posts. 
2. Only one entry per blog address.
3. This is a card only challenge.
4. You must use a stamp, either rubber or digital.
5. You can combine this challenge with other challenges.
6. Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to this challenge. Please provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
7. All brands of stamping products are welcome.
8. HAVE FUN!!!

The challenge will run for 12 days, 2/14/2014 - 2/25/2014.

Turtle Love Valentine's Card

Yesterday while at a networking event I was delivering a Valentine's card to one of my clients. Visiting with my client was a gentleman and when he saw my handmade card he asked me to make a card for his wife. The gentleman told me his wife likes turtles and I knew Bugaboo Digi Stamps would have the perfect image and so I agreed to make his wife a card. In my mind every lady should get a handmade Valentine's card!!! This Turtle Love Valentine's Card is what I came up with. The Turtles - Love image was colored with my Copic markers. I used a Fiskars heart edge punch and heat embossed the XOXO sentiment with white embossing powder. The final touches were Blossom colored twine from The Twinery and pink rhinestones by Recollections. When I took it to him this afternoon he was really happy with it and hopefully his wife will be too. Well, that's the story. Thanks for stopping by and have a terrific day!

My Turtle Love Valentine's Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Divas by Design: With Love
• Crafter's Cafe: Must have Hearts
• Fab 'n' Funky: Love/Valentine 
• Addicted to Stamps: Make Your Mark
• Copic Marker Europe: Valentine

Something Sweet Challenge Winner

Thanks to each of you that played along in our Something Sweet Photo Inspiration Challenge. The challenge winner was picked by random draw and the winner is....

Emily Thubbron from Em's Many Thoughts 

Emily's card has nice balance and I love the image and sentiment she used. I'm so glad you shared your creation in our challenge. I will send you and email to request your mailing address for the challenge prize. 

Check back tomorrow for the start of another theme challenge.

Purrrfect Together Valentine's Card

Tonight I made this Purrrfect Together Valentine's Card for one of my coworkers to give his wife. The only thing he gave me to go on was a white cat. Being a cat lover myself, I knew I would have no problem with this request. When it came to picking the right cat image I decided to case a card by Mary J that she posted earlier this week. As soon as I saw her card I knew the cat image would be perfect! I hope my coworker thinks it's Purrrfect!!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great night!

My Purrrfect Together Valentine's Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Digi Haven: Valentine's Day
• Craftitude: Anything Goes or Valentine's/Love
• Crafty Catz: Love is in the Air
• Challenges and Candies: One Heart
• Digi Galore: Valentine

You're the Music Valentine's Card

One of my favorite aspects in making handmade cards is the ability to customize your creation to fit the recipient. My task this weekend is to make Valentine's cards to fill a few orders from my coworkers. This You're the Music Valentine's Card was a custom creation for a wife of one of the guys I work with. He told me her favorite colors are red and green and she likes music. Taking that into consideration for the basis of my design I created this You're the Music Valentine's Card. The sentiment was created on my computer. I heat embossed the heart image with Cherry Cobbler emboss powder and dry embossed the green strip of paper using the Fancy Fan embossing folder by Stampin' Up!. The music patterned paper is from Recollections and the remaining papers are all by Stampin' Up!. Before I started I was a little worried about using green, but I must admit I really like how it turned out. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

My You're the Music Valentine's Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Sister Act: Anything Goes
• Brown Sugar: Valentines
• Paper Crafting Journey: Emboss That!
• Creative Corner: Seeing Red
• Aud Sentitments: Sharing the Love
• Get Inky!: Valentine's/Love

Won't You Be Mine?

This morning I was able to snag a little crafting time before my afternoon shift at work. You may recall that I am NOT at all fast when it comes to making cards!!! Therefore, I decided to participate in Meljen's Designs Time's Up! challenge. I set the timer for 30 minutes and made this Valentine's Card for my niece. I'm pretty sure the clean desk helped with this challenge because I didn't have to dig for anything. The layout comes from this weeks Tuesday Morning Sketch challenge. The sketch was simple and only having 30 minutes to make a card made this sketch perfect. I didn't have time for layering so I added a little stitching for detail. To participate at Shopping Our Stash this week I used all supplies that have been in my stash for over a year. I'd say this Won't You Be Mine Card is a Cutie, wouldn't you? In that case I'm entering it in the Cutie Pie challenge to make a Valentine Card. Since I made it for my niece I might as well enter the challenge at My Craft Spot where the challenge is Valentine's for Kids. Well, that's about it. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day/night!!!

From Messy to Clean!

You might say I have a split personality when it comes to cleaning. At work everything has to be in it's place and I like my desk to stay clean and organized. It's a completely different story when it involves my craft desk. Well, today I decided I couldn't make one more card until I had organized my messy desk. To motivate the cleaning process I took before and after pictures to share with you. This is my desk where all my creativity happens. Thanks for stopping by and have a terrific day!

Simple Purple Valentine's Card

This week my friend Jessi created several cards using the color purple. Seeing all her posts (click here for my favorite) really inspired me to created this Simple Purple Valentine's Card. Purple is one of my favorite colors but for some reason it doesn't show up in my card creations very often. For this card I used the chevron heart stamp by Hero Arts. I stamped the heart onto a top note die cut and heat embossed it with two shades of purple. I used Zing! purple metallic and Stampendous! PEARLustre in Amethyst. I love the color intensity of a heat embossed image. Don't you? The purple patterned paper is DCWV, the XOXO sentiment is by Stampablities and the final touch are three small rhinestones by Recollections. This card came together quickly and was super easy to make. If you don't have heat embossing tools, simply stamping the image will work. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will visit again soon!

My Simple Purple Valentine's Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Sweet Stampin': Love/Valentine's
• Addicted to Stamps: Hearts
• Come and Get It: Clean and Simple
• 2 Sisters: Embossing
• Totally Papercrafts: Clean and Simple
• Challenges and Candies: Monochromatic
• Make It Monday: Anything Goes

Heart detail

Stampin' Up! Sale-A-Bration 2014

Stampin' Up! Sale-A-Bration 2014 is here and I've made a card from some of my favorite freebies. If you don't know how Sale-A-Bration works, it's really simple. For every $50 you spend on Stampin' Up! products you get to pick a free gift, click HERE to see pdf brochure. For this Happy Birthday card I've used the following freebies:

• Sweet Sorbet Designer Series Paper (133521)
• Decorative Dots Embossing Folder (133520)
• Petal Parade Stamp Set (133602 clear or 133599 wood)
• Sweet Sorbet Accessory Pack (133522)

Other products used: Sentiment from the Simply Sketched Hostess set, Adorning Accents Edgelit, and black candy dot.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

My Happy Birthday Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Sister Act: Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes with Twine or String
• Southern Girls: It's All New!!!
• 4 Crafty Chicks: Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz: Anything Goes