Happy Birthday, WPlus9!

Time for a celebration! It's WPlus9 Designs' 4th birthday and there is a new release and a celebration over on their blog. This week Dawn is having a contest entitled "Comfort Zone". Everyone has a chance to enter a card or other project that illustrates something in their comfort zone. Pick a favorite WPlus9 stamp set and a favorite color combo and enter your project HERE. It was easy to pick my current favorite go-to set, Fresh Cut Florals. I LOVE this set so much and have used it a lot since its release, often with a similar design. I didn't realize until I checked that I used lace a lot too.

This set is so pretty and fun to cut out & stamp. It's so very easy to stamp and it's like doing a floral arrangement to lay out all the pieces and create your bouquet. I've been using these colors a lot lately too. I ordered Stampin' Up cardstock to match some patterned paper and I've fallen in love with Primrose Petals.

Be sure to visit WPlus9 and check out their fabulous new release products. Products are already available for sale! The contest closes tomorrow.

Thanks for taking time to look at my card,

Enjoy the rest of your day,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Fresh Cut Florals (WPlus9)

Cardstock: White (WPlus9); Primrose Petals (Stampin' Up)

Patterned Paper: You Are My Happy (Teresa Collins)

Inks: Fresh Peach, Pale Tomato (Hero Arts); Bamboo Leaves, Rhubarb Stalk, Rich Cocoa, Cantaloupe, Moracco (Memento)

Embossing Folder: Stripes (Lifestyle)

Lace: JoAnn's

Fusion Card Challenge #3: Valentine

This week's Fusion Challenge gave me a chance to use more hearts and another angel from my Mama Elephant set. Every image is so adorable--makes me want to use them with everything! I've been able to stay inside while it continues to snow here. I did get out early for a doctor's appointment but luckily hubby drove. It added more than two inches while we were inside! I also got my eyes dilated--before I finished this card! Do you know how hard it is to glue a layer of white cardstock on white when everything is blurry!!

Hope everyone is staying warm!

Have a great day,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Love from Above (Mama Elephant)

Cardstock: White (Neenah); Cupid's Bow (WPlus9)

Patterned Paper: Bitty Dots (PTI); Hexagon Pattern (Unk.); You Are My Happy (Teresa Collins)

Dies: Of the Heart (Lil' Inker); Heart String (Penny Black); Stacked Hearts (WPlus9)

Additional: Copics; Clear Glitter

The 12 Kits of Occasions: January

SPECIAL THANKS TO KARA FOR THE FABULOUS PHOTO!

Wow, time flies! We are starting our third year with the 12 Kits posts. We've changed names and themes a couple of times and had a few changes of people in the group but it's still as much fun as the first time I posted. And I never get over being excited when the mailman brings a kit or while waiting to see what everyone else had made. 

This has been my month to be the hostess! The theme was Valentines or Anything Loved and it was such fun putting the kits together. We also have a special Guest Designer! All the details are on the 12 Kits of Occasions blog. Just click here to find out who our Guest Designer is and find links to everyone's blog.  

All my cards were made with supplies found in the kits with the exception of the Lil' Inkers clouds on my second card. The complete supply list is on the 12 Kits blog here. You might notice the Mama Elephant angels were a special favorite of mine! Hope you enjoy the hop!!

ABOVE IS A MINI DESIGN USING PTI'S LUNCHBOX NOTE DIE.
IT'S PERFECT FOR A VALENTINE NOTE AND CAN HOLD A SMALL CANDY TREAT.

Thank you so much for visiting. I love being able to share my 12 Kits creations. Be sure to come back next month when our hostess will be Renee, A Patchwork Life!

Have a Happy Valentine's Day,

Sharron

At Last: A Card---Actually Two!

After a couple of weeks of being totally unable to create ANYTHING, I was getting really frustrated!! I also needed a card for our neighbor's birthday. So I thought perhaps CASEing would help. There was this fantastic card  that Cathy, The Empty Nest Crafter, had recently made for a Fusion Challenge. She just recently was selected for their Design Team. YAY!! I know she will be fantastic on the their team and I was anxious to try out a challenge. I loved her layout so kept with the basic design. For the sun I used an PTI impression plate then used the same Lil' Inker die but chose to create a flower and added a butterfly element for the center. Thank you so much, Cathy, for giving me a boost. My neighbor loved her card!

So after getting inspired by Cathy, I was ready to make a second card. I was drawn to the flowers in the Fusion inspiration picture--the white with large black centers--and the woodgrain background. For the flowers I used a dogwood die and Cuttlebug's Branches embossing folder added a little different look. I only had an outline flower die so I cut it out of Smoky Shadow, glued it to white cardstock and then fussy cut. The yellow rolled rose is felt.

I am adding this to the WPlus9 challenge #25 also. The colors work perfectly for both challenges!

My Version of Cathy's Card

Thanks so much for letting me share,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Fresh Cut Florals, Country Charm (WPlus9)

Cardstock: White (Neenah); Sahara Sand (Stampin' Up): Smoky Shadow, Soft Stone (PTI)

Inks: Onyx Black (Versafine); Slate (Amuse)

Dies: Branch with Leaves (Sizzix); Dogwood Blossom Outline (Memory Box); Sentiment Strips (MFT); Under the Mistletoe (WPlus9)

Additional: Felt (PTI); Embossing Folder-Branches (Cuttlebug); Black Pearl (Queen and Co.); Gold Dewdrops; Gold Paper (12 Kits)

Want to Win a Kit?

Renee is the 12 Kits hostess for February and she has a fabulous offer. I'll let her give you all the details. Be sure to leave your comments on the 12 Kits blog, HERE

Hello, Hello!
Renee here and since I am hostessing for February and am busy getting kits packaged and ready to hit the Post Office the last week of the month...
and though we honestly did not collaborate on the idea Sharron and I both thought of offering a kit for giveaway...
she's just way quicker than I am and also thought of having the winner guest with us too...
so I'm borrowing that idea and offering up another chance to be a guestie here with all of us in February!
The little graphic above should give you a clue as to the theme...
Snowblind...
and if you would like to win your own kit and be our honored guest here on 12 Kits...
just leave a comment below telling us your favorite winter activity (if I could get away with it mine would be hibernating till spring because I don't like the cold so I guess instead my favorite activity would actually be complaining about the cold! *giggle*) before Saturday, January 25th at 11:59 CT and I'll announce the winner here on the 12 Kits blog Sunday January 26th!
Good luck and can't wait to see who's going to be joining us next month!

The 12 Kits of Occasions: December with Jessica

PHOTO BY KARA

Wow, another whole year has flown by and the 12 Kits of Occasions group is winding up this year's schedule. We are featuring Christmas this month which means we are already starting on our Christmas cards for Christmas 2014. It feels wonderful to know we no longer have the end of the year rush to get our cards completed.

Our fabulous hostess this month is Jessica, The Paper Parade. She has been super busy since October with the cutest little guy you have ever seen. Yet she managed to put together this amazing kit. It was chock full of whimsical images, papers and oodles of embellishments, and even included some stamps! I could have easily made a dozen cards! Thank you so much, Jessica. You even included several images from stamp sets that I had wanted to buy so it was fun to be able to try them out! And thanks to Kara who makes our wonderful collages that show the kit supplies for the month.

I started with a mini card using this gorgeous poinsettia and stamped with a stamp included in the kit.

Love Mama Elephant so these next two cards are favorites of mine.

I like to limit my comments because there is always so much to see and many blogs to visit but I have one very special announcement about next month. I am the hostess for January and decided to do a competition over on the 12 Kits blog for a Guest Designer. It was wonderful to see all the interest! Yesterday afternoon I drew a winner.  A big congrats to Michelle from Pretty Periwinkles! It will be such fun to send her a kit and hope she enjoys her happy mail as much as all of us do!

Be sure to visit the 12 Kits blog from here to find the list of participants in our hop and a list of supplies that were in Jessica's kit.  

Have a great day!

Sharron

Snowflakes in Pink & Gold!

I actually have a card to post!! I wanted to try out this gorgeous dove die that a very sweet friend sent me. And it also gave me a chance to try Kara's (KandRdesigns) two-tone snowflake technique. I used gold embossing powder and pink glitter. Just wish I could get better pictures of the gold. It has so much more sparkle in real life!

The base is WPlus9 Oatmeal cardstock (love the little flecks in the paper) and I also added some clear rhinestones for extra sparkle.

This is being entered in the following 'snow' challenges.

SWEET SNOWFLAKES

LET IT SNOW

LET IT SNOW

Thanks so much for dropping by,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Folk Art Flurries (WPlus9)

Cardstock: Oatmeal (WPlus9)

Dies: Bird (Serendipity Stamps); Peace (Memory Box)

Additional: Pink Glitter Paper (LSS); Fine Pink Glitter (Stampendous); Gold Embossing Powder (Stampendous); Rhinestones (Queen and Co.)