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Monday, November 21, 2011

Scraptastic Monday Challenge: Folds!

Happy Monday, my sweet friends! :o)

Today is another fabulous Scraptastic Monday at Cindy's Scraptastic Designs! The requirements this week are to create any fold card you like, but not a shape card or an A2 single fold... and it also must include ribbon and a cut from a die, Cricut, or a punch. Remember, while we'd love for you to use a wonderful image from Cindy, it is NOT a requirement. You don't even need to use any digital stamp at all, if you so choose. Simply follow the theme in whatever manner you desire! I hope you'll play along. :o)

At first I was a wee bit of a scaredy cat because I decided to challenge myself with something new! :o) Using Cindy's precious Sweet Snowman Love digi stamp, I created my first Swinging Z-Fold card:

Partially open:
Fully open, with the middle panel viewable where I'll be writing my message:
Lastly, a closer picture of Cindy's adorable stamp that I colored with Copics:
Despite being more of an adventure than I planned, this card was such a joy to make. The swinging element is way more fun than it probably should be... I may need to give this card early just so I stop playing with it. ;) It's a lovely fancy fold technique that I think will be enjoyed by the recipient. :o) Here is the link to the tutorial I (basically) followed: Swinging Z-Fold Card.

Not only did Cindy's sweet image inspire a Christmas winter wonderland, but I also was able to use more birthday goodies! For the snowy sweethearts, I cut out their wintry neighborhood backdrop with my new Spellbinders Picot Edge Circles. The design works so well with a snowflake theme. I strategically selected which part of the Basic Grey paper to cut out... see the tree behind their sweet hands? If you look carefully at the base of the trunk, you'll discover the lovey dovey couple carved a heart to signify their love (using a Martha Stewart pen... they're resourceful). The tree is wrapped in Christmas lights (I adore this paper), just like their love that shines brightly as it stems forth from their heartfelt foundation. I sparklified lots of this scene, from the snowy pile surrounding them (how long have they been standing there holding hands?!) to dollops of sparkle in the sky, her hat and ruffly trims, scarf fringe, and oodles of other little extras. Her coat is colored with new Copics my boyfriend gave me for my birthday... a few gorgeous rose pinks! Love. Not detected well in the picture are the blue and purple rhinestone buttons on the snow peeps. :o)

When opened, more seasonal delight awaits. The deep green Noel ornament stamp is heat embossed with Alexandrite embossing powder. (I am so grateful for my heat embosser! Amazing gift.) I used two of the nested Picot Edge Circles for the ornament's base, the larger one trimmed in clear rhinestones and the smaller one trimmed in Christmas green sponged ink. I used my new jumbo sponge dauber and I love it! Such a small detail, but one I've longed to be able to do. Try as I may with the ink pads themselves, I was never able to make it look nice. Now with my trusty dauber, I had to resist from sponging my entire house! ;)

The center panel is sponged in Christmas red, with pretty corners from a Fiskars punch and a tiny snowflake embellishment. A smattering of sparkles can be found throughout all three sections, because this IS a sparkling season! Clear rhinestones center the Cricut snowflakes and accent the corners, then I added red and green sparkles to some of the flakes on the SEI paper. To finish it off, I used my sheer glitter ribbon for a puffy bow. :o)

I hope you'll play along with us this week by linking up your fold cards to the challenge home of Scraptastic Mondays: Cindy's Scraptastic Designs. I am excited to see your creations! :o) Hop on over to the challenge post to see the rest of the Design Team's projects and visit their fantastic blogs. This is truly an incredible group. :o)

Thank you for visiting me today! I hope your Thanksgiving week is off to a delicious and crafty start. (And for those outside of the US... eat extra dessert this week, just because.) :o)

Challenges entered (I am so thankful to be participating in them again!):
 * CES~ Snowflakes
 * Crafty Catz~ Snowflakes
 * Frosted Designs~ Die Cuts!
 * Just Some Lines~ Tic Tac Toe (How fun is this? I used embossing/ribbon/die cut)
 * Little Scrap Pieces~ Holiday
 * Paper Sundaes~ Beautiful Bows

Key Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartridge: Gypsy Wanderings
 * Spellbinders Nestabilities: Picot Edge Circles
 * Paper: Basic Grey, Core'dinations, Papertrey Ink, SEI
 * Digital stamp: Sweet Snowman Love, by Cindy's Scraptastic Designs
 * Copics: R81, R83, R85 (snowwoman's coat, hat accent); V12, V15, V17 (snowwoman's scarf, hat, mittens); B00, B02, B04, Y11, Y13, Y15 (snowman's scarf); Y11, Y13, Y17, R24, C3, C5 (snowman's hat); R20, R22, R24 (candy cane); YR01, YR12 (noses)
 * Noel ornament stamp: Inkadinkado
 * Ribbon: Casa Collection Special Occasion (JoAnn's)
 * Miscellaneous: Fiskars corner punch, iRock (clear rhinestones), Recollections green and red rhinestones, Stampendous Alexandrite embossing powder, Stickles, Studio G green and red ink

Photobucket

36 comments:

  1. Karen your card is absolutely Stunning. Love all the colors you used and your coloring is just amazing.

    Hugs,
    Kate

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  2. Happy Belated Birthday!!!! Wow Karen, this is absolutely stunning! Amazing job with this Awesome card! I love everything...so much to see and I can tell a lot of love went into creating this!!! Lucky is the recipient who receives this beauty!!! I love how you sparklified it!!!! Its just beautiful!!!! There are just not enough words to tell you how much I adore this!!! You've definitely inspired me today!!! Thanks!
    hugs,
    joni

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  3. super cute.love your coloring you are very talented.tfs

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  4. OMG Karen!!! This is SO CUTE! I love the fold of the card and you did an AMAZING job on the coloring! They looks so bright and cheery! And the houses behind them are such a great touch! Great job!

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  5. Very pretty, love the sweet image. Thanks so much for joining us at Paper Sundaes this week
    hugs Julie P

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  6. Oh wow!!! This is just drop dead gorgeous!!! I love every element of it.
    Charlotte

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  7. adorable image, super card, thanks for playing along with CRAFTY CATZ, x carol

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  8. This is gorgeous Karen.Love the style of the card and the images you used.Your attention to detail is always full of love.Love all the sparkle.
    Hugs
    Jayne x

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  9. Hi, This is lovely the image is so adorable:) Sandra H

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  10. Karen, darling, this is beyond spectacular. You have captured the essence of winter, love, and the Holiday season all on one beautiful card. Love all the extra detail, especially the carved heart. I plan to play along (as long as there are no kinks thrown in my wheels...LOL) and planned an S-fold card I just learned how to make from Mary at CardzTV. It is similar to your Z-fold. If you don't want to play with it anymore, I would gladly display it here at my house :O)
    Hope your Holidays are Blessed and Bright!
    :O)
    Jessica

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  11. this image is just the cutest...great colors and details...thanks for joining us at just some lines

    Tina
    dt

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  12. What a splendid card! I'm not sure I've seen a swinging Z-fold card, it's so creative!! I just love the image and the way you have colored it is magnificent! It's just beautiful as always my sweet friend! Have a marvelous day!
    Shelly

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  13. oh you had me at Karen ;) thanks so much for joining my challenge your card is fabulous I love the way it opens and that stamp is adorable. Marvolous holiday card!

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  14. Karen, you did it again! Your projects are such a gift! I love this card and all its details. Such beautiful work! Ohh thank you so much for your wonderful comment. You always make my day <3

    Catarina aka docerela

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  15. Your swinging Z fold card is amazing! The image is just adorable and I just love everything about this card. All the details are just fabulous!
    Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

    Sherrie K
    http://sherriescraps.blogspot.com

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  16. Wow! Sweetie, you did it again! I can't believe how good you color your stamps. You are so good!!

    This is a beautiful card. I love Z-folds, but I have never seen a swinging Z-fold. I will have to go and see how to do that.

    I wanted to be sure and come by to say Happy Thanksgiving to one of the most giving friends I have made in this wonderful craft world.

    Have a wonderful blessed and happy day, filled with sparkles!! And thank you so much for being apart of my life. You have truly blessed me Karen. Thank you.

    Hugs, Pam at http://craftycards4u2.blogspot.com/

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  17. Oh my word what an adorable creation the I love the design and layout and fabulous colour theme too...

    Thank you so much for joining us at Crafty Catz Snowflakes Challenge I hope you can join us again next week

    Have a lovely day,
    Good Luck with the challenge,
    Hugs Bridget Crafty Catz DT :-)x

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  18. Hi Karen,GORGEOUS job with your BEAUTIFUL card my friend!I LOVE the fold and the background,SO CUTE!Your coloring is just AMAZING,Thank you so much for showcasing my digi's so BEAUTIFUL,Have a SUPER day!!:)

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  20. Super sweet! Thanks so much for joining our "tic-tac-toe" challenge at Just Some Lines! :)

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  21. What a fun card - you did a wonderful job on it! Thanks for playing along with us at Frosted Designs!

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  22. *sneaks into your blog and grabs one of your super gorgeous Copic markers and adds a little note inside the mini heart that the happy snowpeeps carved on the tree*

    Do you know what the note says, sis?

    Karen is SPARKLIFRIFIC!!!

    Tee hee hee!

    My sweetest sis...I am smiling SO much just reading the glowing love in the messages from your precious crafty friends about your creation this week. You put so much heart and soul into this project, Sunshine and it sparkles something crazy because of it! I have never, ever seen a card like this before. It is SO incredible and I just want to huggler it forever. *needs to try and make it swing too* GASP! How fun is that?! God bless my sis for bringing endless smiles to all our hearts this week with all her snowy love. I love you so much more than I can ever say...you are a blessing like no other, Sunshine!

    *monsterous Thanksgiving week huggles for my sweetest sis and all her precious crafty friends*

    Forever Super Snowy Squishies...
    ~ Christina :)

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  23. Such a pretty card! I love the snowman couple! They are adorable! Your coloring with the copics is amazing! :)

    Karen
    craftedwithlovebykaren.blogspot.com

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  24. karen your card is just amazing. i love every single thing about it! that snow couple is adorable :)

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  25. Hi Karen
    A gorgeous and beautiful card,thankyou for joining us this week at CraftyCatz
    Hugs Dianne xx

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  26. Lovely card!! So glad you played along with us at Frosted Designs.

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  27. Oh Karen, where do I BEGIN? This is so fabulous in every way. The image, the Copic colouring (you're like a Copic JEDI!), the heat embossed sentiment, the colours, the funky fold, the SPARKLE!!! Gosh, Karen, I could fill pages with all the things I love about this.

    But know what my favorite thing is? I could tell you were SMILING as you made this. I can see your joy in every detail. And because you loved creating this card, I love it even more. :)

    Hugs, Nita

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  28. Wow! Fab card. The fold looks amazing and I love the 'swinging' bit. So clever.
    Thanks for joining our 'snowflakes' challenge at CES this week.
    Caroline xxx

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  29. This is so beautiful and the work you put into it is amazing! Tfs and have a great day. :)

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  30. Wow, Karen, this is stunning! The Z fold is a great design to hi-lite the elements of the card. I love the digi snowmen images (I just LOVE snowmen!) and your coloring is amazing as always. I love the Spellbinders you used as a mat for the snowmen, they are perfect!
    All of the little details are so perfect in this sweet snowmen lovey-dovey scene! Excellent work my friend!
    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
    Sabrina :)

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  31. Karen I don't know how you do it. Another master piece. Everything about this is stunning...you never miss one detail. You used the perfect color combo and I found it played a key role in getting my eye to just the right places..does that make any sense at all? It does to ME lol. The the shape of the nestie too. Of course your coloring is perfect once again. HUGS!

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  32. Great coloring and your folded card is lovely. Thanks for playing along this week at Paper Sundaes!

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  33. Fab, festive Christmas card and pretty snowflake embellies! Thanks for joining in with us at CES this week :) Donna x

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  34. Oh my gosh, Karen, what an amazing card!! As usual, the details you put into this are just stunning!! The swinging z fold is so fabulous and I love the look of the Spellbinders dies! Wow, this is just absolutely gorgeous! Your coloring is perfect and I can't even tell you how much I love this!! Amazing!!

    Lisa :)
    indymermaid.blogspot.com

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  35. Karen,
    WOW!! This is such a stunning card:) I love the amazing details and awesome image. It is just adorable in everyway. I love this style card too-very creative once again my friend! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
    Sherrie K
    http://sherriescraps.blogspot.com

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  36. Fabulous job! I sooo love that fold and your papers and cute stamps are perfect. xxD

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Thank you for leaving some love! Have a beautifully blessed day. :o)

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