Anything But a Card Challenge 10: Things with Wings

Our first challenge for 2013 at Anything But a Card is Things with Wings. I love that this challenge is so simple that you could create a wide range of projects. I used it to get a jump start on Valentine's day by making a treat holder with some butterflies. The paper is from my new Paper Made Bakery Kit but the 'sweet' sticker and the Kreaxions butterfly punch are old products from my stash so this is perfect for the Our Daily Bread Designs new/old challenge too.

More with Perfect Sentiments

Perfect Sentiments allows you multiple entries and I have a tendency to make more than one card before I'm done playing with a set so there is a another card with some old Basic Grey and Avocado Arts Zip N By set. Some of the hearts are from other sets of theirs as well. I also used my fab Kreaxions Punch 917 to create a simple border for the bottom of my card. Remember the Perfect Sentiments challenge is Anything Goes and they are offering a fab Avocado Arts set as a prize.

Hello Deerie

Even after the holidays I find myself reaching for Punch 312. The snowy season has barely started where I live so why ignore the punch until next Christmas. On this card I punched the corners of a small square piece of paper to create panel for mounting my stamped images on. Combining the punched and stamped snowflakes adds extra interest and as I often do I highlighted the images with a touch of bling. I admit the colors are a little Christmas-y but I know a few people who would enjoy a winter pick me up hello like this.

Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas

I hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season and wishing you a wonderful new year! As a teacher this season has been especially busy, helping the kids prepare gifts and holiday items to share with their families. Also I've been battling a cold for well over a month. Luckily I have the next week off so hopefully I can rest up and maybe do some crafting. The card above was made with Kreaxions Punch 312 and Basic Grey Nordic Holiday.

Happy Black Friday

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! For everyone who went black friday shopping I hope you got what you wanted. For my card today I used Punch 311 to make a simple Thanksgiving card. I decided to go with a bit of an unconventional color scheme but I love the way Punch 311 goes with the Stella Rose collections.One way I like to draw attention to the beautiful patterns of the punches is to add gems or glitter.

Lawnscaping Challenge 21

I got my first Lawn Fawn stamp sets about a week ago using some birthday money. I don't usually order scrapping goodies online but I've been eyeing Lawn Fawn stamps for so long and the shipping is quite reasonable so I finally broke down and bought two sets. I treated myself to Critters in the Forest and Critters in the Snow because well her critters are too cute. I used both sets here and created the card for the Lawnscaping Challenge to make a thank you card. I was inspired by guest designer Jennifer McGuire's card that used a snowman since it snowed here even before October was over. I also used Kreaxions new Punch 312 which features snowflakes. Paper is Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather.

Circle Cutter to the Rescue

I used to dread and avoid any card sketch that used circles. Before the Kreaxions Circle Cutter, I always cut circles by hand because I had never found a circle cutter I liked. However when I saw this week's CPSsketch I was not intimidated at all. My circle cutter made it super simple and the Crown Punch 611 was a perfect embellishment. I love how the standalone punches can make a quick accent that coordinates with the paper line you're using.

Mail-able Cards with Kreaxions Punches

Like many of you cardmakers out there I love to send handmade cards. Unfortunately it can be quite expensive to mail them and cards with any dimension often mean a special trip to the post office to make sure you have the right postage and if you mail in a square envelope it will cost you extra as well. I don’t say this to discourage you, but instead because I think Kreaxions punches offer opportunities for us cardmakers to add great detail while still keeping cards easy and cheap to mail. On my card I’ve used Punch 916, Punch 604, and the circle cutter, but have done a fair bit of layering to add dimension without the bulk that requires extra postage. A few other tips for mail-able cards. Faux stitching will keep your card flat and is much faster. Also, I find it best to make a few cards for each occasion that are flat for mailing so that way you don’t have to worry about being inspired during crunch time because mailed cards always need a few extra days to get there. Have fun adding dimension without bulk with your Kreaxions punches!

Can't Use Just One

When I started this card I had just planned to use the star template and Punch 305 but unsurprisingly when you have all the lovely Kreaxions products sitting out in front of you it’s hard to use only a few. I wound up layering the punched star template on a circle cut with the circle cutter and then on the base of the card I punched the corners with Punch 916 and punched a butterfly for an accent. I love that their products are designed to work so easily together. I encourage you to play along with our July challenge. On my next post later this month you will see my take on the challenge.

Happy Summer Everyone!

The school year finally ended last Thursday. I loved the experience I had and am so excited to be teaching kindergarten next year but I never did get the hang of maintaining my crafting or my blogging while dealing with the job and commute. I’m hoping some summer downtime will allow me to play along in a few challenges and catch up on some fabulous bloggers. I’m still designing for Kreaxions and you can see some of their fabulous products featured in my cards today but unfortunately I had to leave my spot with Die Cuttin Divas because I just didn’t think I was giving them my best. Anyway, happy summer everyone! I look forward to sharing with you and checking out your blogs.

Just Imagine/Kreaxions Blog Hop

Welcome to Just Imagine Crafts / Kreaxions Punches BLOG HOP

Date: Saturday June 11th 12:01am EST - Sunday June 12th 10pm EST ***all day Saturday and Sunday. Winner to be chosen by Monday PM

That gives you all weekend to join us, blog hop and play along with the amazing DT who are ready to inspire you especially now that we are well into June... kids almost done school, flowers popping, planning those special summer holidays... and our Theme: Summertime ( anything goes) will be so much FUN.

Be sure to have a scrap of paper while you hop to write down the number of your favourite Punch.. when you finish the hop and return to Just Imagine Crafts you get an additional ballot when you list it in the comments section. We would love to hear what you think.

My project for the hop is a simple summer hello card using Kreaxions Punch 913 and the Kreaxions Circle Cutter.

Be sure to join and comment on my blog for a chance to win the punch I used. Punch 913.

Also if you play along and follow our rules for the June Challenge (add link) and post your project this weekend during the blog hop time allotted ... you get an extra ballot to the main draw.

If you didn't start at the beginning of the blog hop be sure to because you don't want to miss out on any of the added fun surprizes.

Order of hop:

1. Just Imagine Crafts

2. Angela

3. Barbara

4. Ginni

5. Jess you are here

6. Linda

7. Lisa

8. Stephanie

9. Valerie

10. Wendy

11. Gina

12. Bev

13. finish at Just Imagine Crafts

Hope you had fun ... we sure enjoyed having all of you visit us. Thanks everyone and have a great weekend.

Now you should go and finish off at Just Imagine Crafts.

Die Cuttin Divas Challenge 16

This week at Die Cuttin Divas we want to see some celebration cards! Such as a party hat or a gift cut. My card was created with the Sweet Treats cartridge and features Krexions Punch 907 as well.

Die Cuttin Divas Challenge 13

Here's my card for the latest Die Cuttin Divas sketch challenge. The blog may be changing hands but the challenges will keep coming and be just as fun so come play along. The punched elements along the card was created with Kreaxions Punch 907 and the little flowers are from Punch 913.

Playing Along Some More

By now you know all about the Kreaxions challenges happening this month. Bev has issued a challenge to use handmade flowers on a card. I love the ides of making my own embellishments and so I used some scraps from Punch 306 to create the tiny flowers on this card.

Create a project featuring handmade flowers and using a punch. Then you can use InLinkz on the blog to post your creation and be eligible for the April prize. You get one chance at the prize for using any punch and two chances for using any Kreaxions punch! Use this link to post your creations.

Playing Along

Happy Easter! On my last post I let you know about the Kreaxions challenge I am hosting this month but all the DT members are hosting challenges and I thought it would be fun to play along. Bev has issued a monochromatic challenge and I will admit I was pretty intimidated because that usually means mixing lines and you know I tend to stick to coordinating products (its my challenge even). But I needed some more easter cards and I had this little chick already cut out so I went with it.

The fun background the chick is placed on is created using the star template. I traced it once for the background and then I traced it again and punched it with Punch 306 to create the doily effect. I've also created this for the Pile It On use a rubber stamp challenge and the Easy Craft Projects Easter Challenge.

Create a monochromatic project using a punch. Then you can use InLinkz on the blog to post your creation and be eligible for the April prize. You get one chance at the prize for using any punch and two chances for using any Kreaxions punch! Use this link to post your creations.

Kreaxions Challenge

I love working with products that are meant to be worked with together. Some may say its less creative, but for me this hobby is about having fun with great product and if I don't win any 'most unqiue' contests I'm ok. The Kreaxions products are all designed to work together and that makes creating a fun card element so easy to do. I simply cut two circles of the same size with the cutter. I use the star template and Punch 913 to create the fun bold red accent and it will layer onto the other one seamlessly. No guess work or recutting involved.

So based on my card today I am issuing a challenge on the Kreaxions blog. Create a project using only the papers from one coordinating collection. You can use InLinkz on the blog to post your creation and be eligible for the April prize. You get one chance at the prize for using any punch and two chances for using any Kreaxions punch! Use this link to post your creations and I can't wait to check them out.

Kreaxions Circle Cutter LO

Using lots of circles on a layout can make for a really fun playful look. Unlike with most punches the Kreaxions Circle Cutter allows you to cut a variety of sizes with just one compact easy to store tool. I used my circle cutter for the pictures as well. Circles are especially fun with water layouts because they remind you of bubbles. So whip out some photos from the pool last summer or maybe those embarrassing tub photos that are oh so cute to parents and play with circles on your layout!

Jingle Belles 12

Jingle Belles has a sketch challenge this week. I admit, I was at first thrown off a little by the sketch, but I went through my stash hoping to be inspired. I found the oval sticker from the Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses collection and it all came together from there.

You can see above a closeup of the little cross shapes along the side. These are from my Kreaxions Punch 913. I love that this one punch create two borders, two corners, and a little cross shape and that's before the accessories are added which open up the possibilities even more.

Easy Craft Project #34

When I saw the challenge at Easy Craft Projects to create something for your mom I thought immediately of Basic Grey's Ambrosia because of the gorgeous butterfly paper. My mom loves butterflies and I used my Kreaxions Punch 913 to add some other creative butterflies to the card. I used the punch with the A inserts to create a border and then added some pen details to make the cut outs look like butterflies. I'm not sure this will be a mother's day card but it can't hurt to have a card for mom on hand.

Give Scraps New Life with Kreaxions Punches

I’m sure when using your punches you find yourself with lots of tiny little scraps many in great shapes like flowers, hearts, or butterflies. Using Kreaxions Punch 913 I had lots of little flowers left over when punching borders and corners and want to share so ideas on how to use these scraps.

On my first card I wanted to get creative. I used my star template to cut out a window for a shaker card. I placed some clear plastic under my window cut out. Tip: Old packaging works great. Then I placed a bunch of “scraps” inside before covering it again with the blue background paper. It may be hard to tell from the picture but in real life you can shake this card to move around the red and green flowers. I cut a small circle to add embellishment as well.

On my next card I simply used them as embellishment adding glitter to the centers to emphasize their flower shape. The circle sentiment base was made with the circle cutter of course. Also the pastel colors of this card are perfect for The Pink Elephant springtime challenge.

So pull out your punches or refresh your stash with new ones at Just Imagine and remember to use even the little scraps.