The theme at As You See It is Zoology. They are asking us to fill in the blank with our favorite animal. My favorite animal is the Giraffe – it stands tall and proud, head and shoulders above the rest and is not afraid to stick its neck out. My Giraffe is from Wild About You a retired set by Theresa Momber for Gina K Designs. I colored with Copics, stamped the sentiment in Dark Chocolate and die cut with a deckle edge die and mounted on a mat of Dark Chocolate. I stenciled the Palm Frond by Honeybee Stamps in Fresh Asparagus for a jungle like background. Always good to add another masculine card to my stash. I’m also entering this in the challenge at  Sweet Stampin’ to feature an animal.

The Old School challenge at Make the Cards is to use any or all of the items shown in the graphic below. I die cut the white panel with a stitched die, the used the Christmas Tree from Spellbinders Merry Stitching die set. I used DMC floss color 700 for the tree and gold cord from my stash for the base. The sentiment is from Sentimental Holiday, stamped in Red Velvet. I matted the white panel with Red Velvet then Lucky Clover on a white card base. I lost the little star cutout, so cut another from holographic CS. As I was moving things on my desk, I found the original star, so layered that under the holographic one for a bit of dimension. I added a bit of bling from my stash, and another Christmas card done.

Black and White are classic colors whether in fashion, décor or card making. Black and White is the trend at Just Us Girls this week. All products are by Gina K Designs. The pattern paper is from Petite Patterns – something I’ve been hoarding forever, cut with Master Layouts 1 and matted with Black Onyx card stock.  The sentiment is from Hippo Bird Day. I wanted a little squiggle under the sentiment, but couldn’t find just the right one, so I settled for a tiny flower from It’s All You, a recent incentive. I wanted to use a little fishtail piece of black gingham ribbon but my ribbon wasn’t cooperating. Then I thought I’d found a piece of black gingham PP, but after cutting it and putting it with the rest of the card decided it looked more dark green than black – scratch the ribbon.

The theme at Just Us Girls is “Harvest”. What says Harvest more than a sheaf of wheat? I cut 15 stalks of wheat from the Autumn Bouquet Fancy Die set by Hero Arts from Honey Mustard cardstock, then swiped the Honey Mustard ink cube across the tops. I glued several to the Dark Chocolate panel, then used foam strips to the remainder for dimension. The bow is from the same die set, cut twice from a scrap of red.  The sentiment is from Beyond Baskets embossed in gold I used a Faded Brick mat on a Honey Mustard card base. Wow! One Thanksgiving card done!

I struggled to come up with a card using the current combination at Color Hues.  Yellow and Pink are not colors I normally use together. I tried several ideas and finally broke out the Sketched Flowers set from the Time to Coast Stamp TV kit. I stamped the sentiment in Passionate Pink. The flowers were stamped with Wild Dandelion and Bubblegum Pink, using the opposite color for the center. I was surprised and delighted with how this turned out.

I love the series of Basket stamps sets from 2011 by Melanie Muenchinger for Gina K Designs. All images were stamped and fussy cut. The Holiday Basket was stamped in Dark Chocolate on Kraft. The toys and ruffle are from Basket Blessings (2011). The ruffle was stamped on pattern paper from my stash and attached to the edge of the basket with foam squares for dimension. The toys were colored with Copics and trimmed to allow the toys to be tucked into the basket. The sentiment was stamped and cut with a tiny tag die. The gingham pattern paper is from my stash. The card base is Powder Blue.  I made this for a special couple to celebrate the birth of their sweet baby boy. I’m entering this in the following challenges:

Retro Rubber Challenge #164 Anything Goes

Sweet Stampin’ – Gingham, Tartan & Plaid