Bear Feel Better Card

Welcome to my card blog! Today I'm sharing this Bear Feel Better Card for inspiration at the Cardz 4 Guyz challenge. We would love for you to play along with this weeks challenge to create a masculine card using something that starts with the letter B. I figured a bear holding a bandage would work! The image is from Stamp Fairy which is sadly no longer available. I colored the image with my Copic markers. All patterned papers are by Little Yellow Bicycle from the Fern & Forest paper pack. The sentiment stamp is from the Sassy Salutations stamp set by Stampin' Up! I added some twine and used the bitty banner punch with some candy dots for detail. That about sums it up.

Click here to see the brilliant letter B inspired creations from the design team. We hope to see your card in the gallery!

My Bear Feel Better Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Use Your Stuff: Anything Goes
• Come and Get It: Cute Cards

Furry Friend Sympathy Card

Yesterday my parent's Great Pyrenees, Puffy, passed across the rainbow bridge. She was a wonderful dog and lived long past her life expectancy at seventeen years old. My parents raise sheep and she was their keeper and our family friend. She will be greatly missed!!!

To create this Furry Friend Sympathy Card, I used the Tall & Skinny sketch #404 at Mojo Monday. All patterned papers are by DCWV and are layered onto Very Vanilla by Stampin' Up! This card is 3.5" x 6". The sentiment stamp is from the Kind Words stamp set by Verve Stamps. I added some twine and that was it! The patterned paper did all the work on this card.

My Furry Friend Sympathy Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Mojo Monday: Sketch
• The Pink Elephant: Anything Goes
• Crafty Cardmakers: Sentiment
• Craft Your Passion: Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Neutral Flower Hello Card

It's been awhile since I've made a card using only neutral color tones. So this afternoon I sat down and created this Neutral Flower Hello Card. The layout is from this weeks sketch by Nance Leedy at The Paper Players challenge. I used the You've Got This stamp set by Stampin' Up! and patterned paper from the Go Wild designer series paper stack. The flower was stamped and fussy cut twice. Once on Whisper White cardstock and then on Tip Top Taupe cardstock. The white layer was cut a little generous and the taupe was cut right on the black line. Then they were adhered together. This made the flower stronger and helped to highlight the stem against the patterned paper and lace. Using the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and Sahara Sand ink, I added some splatters directly onto the patterned paper. To get the black circle elements, I used a large lid from embossing enamel with black ink. The white circle was stamped with Sahara Sand ink and the Hello from the Crazy about You stamp set was added in black. A little Tip Top Taupe lace ribbon layered with another strip of patterned paper secured with three staples to the right. Using several dimensionals the flower was adhered on top at a slight angle. I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day! 

Best Day Ever Card

Hello! Last night I was inspired to create this Best Day Ever Card from the sketch challenge CCMC361 at Create with Connie & Mary. It's a challenge to only use Stampin' Up! products and they always have wonderful inspiration. My friend, Joanne James at The Crafty Owl, made a lovely card using patterned papers from the Pretty Petals paper stack. I decided that was a fabulous idea and selected two coordinating papers from the stack. I love the colors in this collection!!! The stamp set used is new and is called Birthday Blossoms. I punched the flower using the pansy punch and colored it with the discontinued Blendabilities Calypso Coral markers. To pull in more green, I used Old Olive twine. That's it! I would also like to enter this card at the Sister Act anything goes challenge. Thanks for stopping by! 

Violets and Polka Dots Card

Sometimes you just have to make a card using your favorite colors and things, so that's what I did. Purple and Green are my favorites and I love zebra patterns, polka dots and violets. The layout for this Violets and Polka Dots Card comes from the Stella Says Sketch challenge #310 at the Catch The Bug Blog. On the green side I debated over using gingham or polka dots but decided to play along at Cards und More to use dots. The zebra paper is from The Paper Studio and the green is from the Amy Tangerine collection by American Crafts. I colored the violet image by Bugaboo digital stamps with my Copic markers and used a circle die cut for the shape. The white off center scalloped border is by K & Company and the final detail was adding the three candy dots. I decided not to use a sentiment on this card to keep it open to several possible occasions. Well, thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!   

Watercolor Wings Card

There is nothing like inking up a new stamp set, especially one with beautiful butterflies!!! Every card I've seen using the Watercolor Wings stamp set added to my excitement about this set. There are so many different color combinations to play with and my Watercolor Wings Card is using colors from this weeks ColourQ #296 challenge. Colours include: Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Soft Sky, Daffodil Delight and Whisper White. The layout comes from this weeks sketch challenge at Sunday Stamps. Once I had everything stamped I decided the Soft Sky chevron paper looked too clean. I decided to use the Dot Fade stencil by Tim Holtz with Daffodil Delight ink and play along in the stenciling challenge at Tuesday Throwdown. The final addition was the twine and three silver sequins. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Watercolor Wings Card Supplies:

• Paper: Whisper White and Night of Navy cardstock. Retired Soft Sky designer series paper.
• Stamps: Watercolor Wings and Watercolor Wash.
• Inks: Stampin' pads in Daffodil Delight, Soft Sky, Night of Navy and Marina Mist along with Memento Black.
• Other Stuff: Big Shot, Bold Butterfly Framelits Dies, Dot Fade stencil by Tim Holtz, sponge dauber, silver sequins, twine from The Twinery and stampin' dimensionals.

Lotus Blossom Card

Hello again! I noticed this morning there was only a day left to play along with the color challenge CCMC360 at Create with Connie & Mary, so I hurried into my craft room to make a card. The colors are Chocolate Chip, Smoky Slate and Island Indigo. I decided to challenge myself to make a floral card using the colors. The Lotus Blossom stamp set seemed like a good choice, plus it's sad to say this was the first time I've used it. The supplies used are pretty minimal! I used patterned paper from the Watercolor Wonder dsp and some Island Indigo twine. Besides the stamp set and coordinating inks and cardstock, that's it. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day! 

Manly Contemporary Diamonds Card

Thanks for stopping by to check out my latest card. Today is the start of a new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week we would like you to use your Dies and/or Punches. I used this challenge as an excuse to buy the Contemporary Diamonds Shapeabilities by Spellbinders. When I first saw it I knew it would make a cool card for a guy but I didn't have a good reason to buy it, so I didn't. A couple weeks later and the right challenge and I found the "justification" I needed to make my purchase. The hardest part when making this Manly Contemporary Diamonds Card was deciding what colors to use. I ended up using: Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Midnight Muse, Hello Honey and Cherry Cobbler. To add some interest to the background paper I used the Dot Fade stencil by Tim Holtz with Antique Linen distress ink and Crumb Cake ink. The Thinking of You sentiment is from the Wetlands stamp set by Stampin' Up! and was stamped using Soft Suede ink. That's it!

Click here to see the wonderful inspiration from the design team. We hope you will join us and we can't wait to see what you create for one of the men in your life.

My Manly Contemporary Diamonds Card is entered into the following challenges:

• AAA Cards: Paste and/or Stencils
• Less is More: Stencilling
• Craft Your Passion: Anything Goes

Oh My Gooseness! Card

Good day and I hope it's been a lovely one for you. I have a cute square card to share. This Oh My Gooseness! Card was made using a Doodle Pantry digital image. Doodle Pantry is sponsoring the challenge at Creative Knockouts to make a humorous card. In general, I think I'm funny. However, my humor is slightly sarcastic and not everyone appreciates this type of humor. So, I decided to go a safe route and stick to cute and funny. I searched my images and found this goose image that comes with a fun sentiment. It looks like these two geese are spreading a little gossip. I used the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday for the card design. The orange patterned paper is from the same digital image file and the blue is by Doodlebug Design. I stamped the yellow flowers using Daffodil Delight ink and the Petite Petals stamp set by Stampin' Up!. I used some rick rack to add a little detail and a orange stamped bitty butterfly. I think it turned out pretty good and I hope you like it too! Thanks for stopping by.

This Oh My Goodness! Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Sweet Sketch Wednesday: Sketch
• Creative Knockouts: Humorous
• Doodle Pantry: Anything Goes
• Come and Get It: Cute Animals

You Are Amazing Card

Hello! I've been working on this You Are Amazing Card for the last couple of days. I knew I wanted to use the Harlequin stencil by Tim Holtz, but then I had to ponder what came next. The colours used are from this weeks challenge at Colour Me! and include: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Coastal Cabana and Neutral. After much debate and playing, I finally decided to use the Painted Petals stamp set by Stampin' Up!. I used a narrow piece of patterned paper from the Back to Black dsp along the outside of the stenciled panel and adhered the panel to a piece of Elegant Eggplant cardstock which was adhered to a base of Coastal Cabana. Next, I stamped the focal panel then layered it onto Old Olive cardstock. The last step was securing the twine and then adhering the panel to the card. That's it! I would also like to enter this card into the Ohh So Pretty challenge at Papertake Weeekly. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back soon.

Celebrate Fourth of July Card

When it comes to making cards to celebrate Independence Day, I only make a few. I send them to close family only. My stamp collection for this holiday is pretty much nonexistent. I do however have a good selection of patterned papers. To create this Celebrate Fourth of July Card I used the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches designed by my crafty friend Jessi Fogan. I did a quick search and noticed several cards made using the retired Celebrate Today stamp from the Perfectly Penned stamp set by Stampin' Up!, so that's what I used. It's been in my collection for at least three years and doesn't get used that often. This seemed like the perfect card to dust it off. I stamped the ready made tag with the sentiment and two stars from a very old sale-a-bration stamp set. I adhered everything together, added the gingham ribbon and three silver sequins for a little sparkle. That's it!

This Celebrate Fourth of July Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: Sketch
• Cards in Envy: Red, White and Blue
• Retro Rubber: Tie It On/Ribbon or Twine 
• Crafty Gals Corner: Red, White and Blue

My Dad Measures Up Card

It's Tuesday again and time for another challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz. The theme this week is Father's Day. Since Sunday will be arriving quickly, I definitely needed to get a card done for my dad. My dad makes custom cabinets and other custom projects from his home workshop. Growing up I used to tinker in his shop with him and to this day the smell of sawdust reminds me of him. I don't have any tool related stamps and I couldn't find a suitable digital image, so I used this patterned paper by Karen Foster Designs. The Dad was cut using my Cricut machine and I added two silver brads for accents (I wish I had the ones that look like the heads of screws, but I didn't). On the inside I'll use my computer to create a sentiment using the measures up angle. Oh... just so you know, I measured all my papers twice and cut them once when making this My Dad Measures Up Card to follow shop protocol, of course. I hope he likes it!

We would love for you to join up this week! Click here for more inspiration from the design team. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day.

This My Dad Measures Up Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Crafty Cardmakers: For a Man or Boy
• Get Creative: For the Boys or Father's Day
• Come and Get It: It's a Guy Thing
• Tuesday Throwdown: Mr. Handy Man

Red Flower Thanks Card

Okay, I'm running out of creative names for my blog post titles. So here it is a Red Flower Thanks Card. I made this card using the colors from The Paper Players challenge to use Real Red, Pool Party and Island Indigo. The layout is from the lunchtime sketch TSSC365 at Technostamper and I'm also entering this card into the Craft Your Passion anything goes challenge. Most of the supplies for this card are by Stampin' Up! except for the Dot Fade stencil by Tim Holtz. Here is the supply list: Base card in Pool Party, Whisper White, Island Indigo and Pool Party cardstock, stampin' pads in Pool Party, Island Indigo and Real Red. Petal Potpourri, Another Thank You and Bohemian Borders stamp sets. The Flower Medallion punch and a sponge dauber. That's it! I appreciate you stopping by and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!!!

Definitely Dahlia Card

There was a time when large stamps intimidated me! I didn't know what to do with them. When I looked at designs using large stamps, I always loved how they looked and eventually I just went for it. Now I love stamping off to one side and using part of a large image. The new Definitely Dahlia stamp by Stampin' Up! is quite large at a little over 4 inches. The colors for this Definitely Dahlia Card are from the Color Throwdown challenge. I stamped the image in Strawberry Slush and added some leaves from the Birthday Blossoms set using Lucky Limeade. From the Kinda Eclectic stamp set the butterfly was stamped in Crumb Cake. To add some detail I used the large scallop die with Basic Gray cardstock and added some Basic Gray twine. The patterned paper is from the retired Fresh Prints paper stack and the last detail was the addition of three little pearls on the butterfly. Thanks for stopping by!

This Definitely Dahlia Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Color Throwdown: Color
• The Crafter's Cafe: Anything Goes
• Inky Chicks: Butterflies

Go Confidently Card

Hello! I hope you're having a fabulous day. Here is my latest card made for the following challenges:

> Tuesday Morning Sketches: Sketch
> The Challenge: Colour
> Penny's Paper-Crafty: Favorite Embellishment (twine)
> Creative Knockouts: Use Your Stash

The Challenge at Always Playing with Paper is to use the colours: Coral, Navy and Kraft. I searched through my patterned papers and found four that I liked and cut them into 3/4" strips to accommodate the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches. I adhered them onto a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock that was stamped using the Hardwood stamp. The sentiment stamp is one of my retired favorites from the Wordplay set by Stampin' Up!. The final touches were adding the twine and three sequins. That's it! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day. 

Happy 18th Birthday Card

My niece is turning eighteen this Friday and I decided to make her birthday card including the number eighteen to celebrate this significant occasion. I used the sketch at Mojo Monday for the card layout. The patterned papers are by Glitz Designs with a strip of black glitter tape by Recollections in the middle. For the sentiment I masked the word holiday from a happy happy happy holiday stamp and replaced it with birthday. I cut the number 18 using my Cricut machine and added some loose sugar cube glitter by Martha Stewart to the white numbers. The eighteen is accented by a bling circle by Recollections.  Now, I used the eight in the same way the Cricut machine cut it, but does it look upside down to you? I thought about turning it with the small end up but went with how it was cut. The accent cardstock colors are Pool Party and Lost Lagoon. That's it! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

This Happy 18th Birthday Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Mojo Monday: Sketch
• Crafting From The Heart: Anything Goes
• Fan-Tastic Tuesday: Anything Goes w/ Bling Twist
• Glitter n Sparkle: Anything Goes

Fishy Card for Dad

Good day and happy Tuesday! It's time for another challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week the theme is Texture. I've used dry embossing and twine to create texture on this Fishy Card for Dad. The base of this card is natural cardstock accented with Antique Linen distress ink on the edges and then topped with papers from The Paper Loft. Using the Decorative Dots embossing folder by Stampin' Up! and more natural paper with distress ink I created the embossed panel. Wrapped around the panel is some twine that I recycled from a gift package. The fishy image is from the By the Tide stamp set by Stampin' Up! and stamped using Always Artichoke ink. It's worth noting that the ink takes much longer to dry on the natural paper, in fact I finally took my heat gun to it. Next time I'll use some clear embossing powder on the image to prevent any smeared images. The dad sentiment is part of  a larger stamp that I masked and is by Hero Arts. The finished size of this card is 5.25" square. This fishy card was made with my hubby's dad in mind for Father's Day. He loves to fish!

We would love for you to make a masculine card with texture and play along this week. Click here for more inspiration from the design team.

This Fishy Card for Dad is entered into the following challenges:

• The Paper Players: Masculine
• Crafty Boots: Father's Day
• My Time to Craft: Male

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Sending Wishes Card

Hope you're having a great day! There isn't much going on around my house, I'm not complaining... I guess I like the quiet life. This morning I made this Sending Wishes Card using the Butterfly Basics stamp set by Stampin' Up! It's been in my stash for awhile but sadly this was it's first time to see ink. I paired it with a couple of my older but current favorites, the Flower Shop stamp set and Hardwood stamp. The color coral seems to be really popular right now, so I used Calypso Coral along with Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla. I'm always scared to do layered stamping but I think it turned out pretty good. I appreciate you stopping by my blog and hope you come back soon.

This Sending Wishes Card is entered into the following challenges:

• 613 Avenue Create: Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin': Something Old & Something New
• Brown Sugar: Anything Goes

Celebrating 700 Posts!

Hello! This post brings my published post total at Savvy Handmade Cards to 700!!! It's really exciting to see how quickly they add up. I started this blog on March 13, 2012 and HERE is my first post. At the time I had NO idea there were card challenges and I had never heard of Stampin' Up!, my how things have changed. I'm happy to be supported by 147 followers and over 217,000 page views. To share my creativity helps fill a big space in my life and I appreciate all the support. In celebration of 700 posts I am giving away some blog candy with a selection of Stampin' Up! supplies (see below photo). To win you need to comment on this post, the winner will be picked at random and announced at the end of June 2015.

The Thanks Card I'm sharing today was made using the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches. All supplies for this card are by Stampin' Up! and here is the list:

• Paper: Whisper White, Crushed Curry, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Soft Suede and Soft Sky cardstock. Patterned paper from the Cherry on Top paper stack and retired Subtles paper stack.
• Stamps: Sprinkles of Life, Petite Petals and Another Thank You.
• Inks: Classic stampin' pads in Soft Suede, Garden Green, Watermelon Wonder, Crushed Curry, Wild Wasabi and Lost Lagoon.
• Other Stuff: Tree Builder punch, Bird Builder punch, Petite Petals punch, basic pearls and stampin' dimensionals. 

Here is the blog candy:

12 sheets cardstock (2 each color), Cherry on Top paper stack and Watermelon Wonder dotted lace trim.

I'm entering this Thanks Card into the following challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: Sketch
• Cute Card Thursday: Summer Colours!
• Aud Sentiments: Bingo + Sentiment (middle row across)
• Sister Act: Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!!!

Stampin' Up! 2015-2017 In Color Card

Hooray for the new Stampin' Up! Catalog. The 2015-2016 catatlog was launched yesterday but I was called into work, so my plans for a blog post had to be postponed. When the new in colors are released, I like to make a card using only those colors. The 2015-2017 colors include: Cucumber Crush, Delightful Dijon, Mint Macaron, Tip Top Taupe and Watermelon Wonder. These colors had me a little stumped with using them all together but The Challenge sketch at Always Playing with Paper saved me!!! I used five flags from the sketch to represent each new color. The patterned paper is from the Cherry on Top Paper Stack and the stamp set used is called Sprinkles of Life. A portion of the proceeds from the Sprinkle of Life stamp set go to Ronald McDonald House Charities which made it easy to justify my purchase. :)

The second challenge I used to make this card is from The Paper Players and this week they have a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge.  I used the bottom row across, die-cut (ovals), patterned paper and any shade of yellow (Delightful Dijon). To lighten the Dijon color on the ice cream cone, I sponged on some Craft Stampin' Ink and rubbed it into the cardstock really well. I fussy-cut the cone and used the new Tree Builder punch to punch out the ice cream. The final touch was adding the three silver sequins. That's it!

If you haven't seen the new catalog click here for the pdf version. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Masculine Mallards Card

Hello and happy Tuesday! This week at Cardz 4 Guyz I have the pleasure of being the hostess and I chose the theme Birds for our challenge. I love feeding our backyard birds and recently we woke up to a pair of Mallards in our yard. We have received a lot of rain and our yard backs up to a creek but we were surprised to see them right up by the house. This Masculine Mallards Card was inspired by my backyard encounter. I can't wait to see what bird inspires your creation!

To create my card I used a digital image I recently won from Pattie's Creations Challenge called Mallards. Pattie Gomez is the artist and she has an Etsy shop where she sells her images. I colored the image with my Copic markers and quickly decided that this beauty needed to be a framed piece of art. I used a piece of hardwood patterned paper to make the frame and then adhered over the image with dimensionals. The rest is pretty simple and the finished card size is 5.25" square.

Click here to see the wonderful inspiration from the design team. We hope you will play along this week!

This Masculine Mallards Card is entered into the following challenges:

• The Pink Elephant: Masculine Birthday
• Love to Scrap!: Male Call
• The Paper Girls: Father's Day/Masculine

Here is another picture of Mr. Tazzy helping me craft. It never fails, I start to take pictures and he wants to help. The second picture is Mr. Dickens and he likes to nap by the window while I make cards. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Simple Dahlia Card

Good day! I have a quick post to share this Simple Dahlia Card. There is not much to this casual card, patterned paper, one stamp set, a heat embossed sentiment and a pearl/rhinestone flourish. The layout is from this weeks sketch at Mojo Monday. When I saw the sketch, I immediately thought of the Regarding Dahlias stamp set. It's on the retired list and won't be available after today (sad face). I stamped the Dahlia using a new color called Delightful Dijon and it will be available starting tomorrow along with the Bohemian dsp. That's it! I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and thanks for stopping by.