Day 61 - 'Leaf' it up to me!

First, a little business:

1) Just a reminder that today is the last day of April, which means that we will have another end-of-the-month winner to announce. I will see who has completed the most challenges, and I will post that info in tomorrow's post. I suspect we'll have several who have completed ALL the challenges, and I want everyone who has to be entered into the drawing. Then, assuming I didn't miss anybody, I will draw the winner at random, and post the name of the prize winner on May 2nd.

2) You have until 11:59 PM on April 30th to complete any April challenges in order to be considered for the drawing. If you aren't going for a prize, then you can go back and do any challenges any time you wish :)

3) If you are submitting your creation to be considered for Card of the Week (aka Top Trio), then you have until Saturday at 11:59 PM to complete any of the week's challenges.

Second, have you been over to the Mac Mae Kit Blog lately? Amy and Vicky have put together some stunning creations for your viewing pleasure. The May kit will officially release on the 1st, at which time the April kit will go on sale. To celebrate the release of the May kit, I will have a contest, and the winner will receive a mini kit of May kit goodness. Offical details will be posted tomorrow.

The third and final thing (before we get to our challenge) is today's guest designer. Not only is she a fabulous card maker, she is also a lovely person, always leaving wonderful comments on other blogs. You may have seen some of her cards posted on various challenges here. Please welcome:

Ann Cox

I live in a town called Normal, where I’m a teacher, writer, wife, mom to a furry baby, and lover of all things paper crafty. I’ve been crafting for about 5 years now, and I’m currently a member of the Paper Blooms design team. My style is mostly clean and simple, and I love adding rhinestones, ribbons, and texture to my cards. I love 365 Cards, and I'm so excited to be guest designer today!

So today's challenge is to put a leaf (or two or three) on your card. Stamp it, draw it, cut it out, use an image or the real thing, but there must be at least one leaf on your card. Simple, I know, but we see them everywhere in the crafting world, so I thought we'd include one among our challenges.

Here is what Ann came up with:

Simply beautiful!! And DT member Amy came up with this one:

That lace trim is such a nice touch, Amy! Thanks to both of you for your fine examples. If you want to see more of Ann's work, pop on over to her blog, Creative Antics, and say 'hi'. I guess now it's time to 'leaf' it up to you ;)

Day 60 - Say "What!?"

That's what I said when I realized that today is DAY 60 here at 365 Cards!!

It's also the sentiment that should appear on the card - and it can be inside or out.

Yep - yesterday's sentiment was just a warm-up for today - lol! It was just a teaser, but now we present the real sentiment challenge.

Once again, when I turn to my design team for an example, I am absolutely thrilled with the result. Check out Kristie's creation:

Isn't that fabulous? If you want to know what the inside says, then skip on over to Kristie's blog to find out ;)

Oh, by the way - mark your calendars for May 24th - 30th, we're going to have a great sponsor and we'll celebrate all week with some fun challenges. I'll give you more details in May!

But for now, let's see what you do with today's challenge~

Day 59 - A Certain Sentiment

I have set goals for the year's worth of cards, including making sure we work in a variety of sentiments. Some are obviously easier than others (e.g., Happy Birthday), but it's nice to have some different cards on hand for those unexpected occasions.

Today's sentiment: "I Miss You" or something similar. For me, this sort of sentiment is a challenge, because I want to convey that emotion through the overall appearance of the card.

Let's see how Tammy handled this challenge:

Seriously, Tammy, this is jaw-dropping beautiful, and a perfect example of what I mean by using the overall look of the card to convey the message.

I am anxious to see what you all come up with on this one!

Day 58 - Something's Fishy

...on your card, that is ;)

That's today's challenge: Put at least one image of a fish on your card. This can be in the form of a stamp, patterned paper, a hand-drawn image, or anything you can think of.

First, let's meet another guest designer:

Lilian Schneider

My name is Lilian Schneider. I am 43 years of age and living in the Netherlands with my husband Peter in Zaandam, a city near Amsterdam. I’ve been scrapping for a few years now and I think that it’s a great way to express my creativity. The first years I made a lot of layouts, but last year I started creating cards and I love it! I also like to browse the internet and do some ‘blog hopping’ to see what other scrappers are doing.

Here is Lilian's card:

Ooohh, love the patterned paper on this one!

Gloria's take is pretty cool, too - check it out:

Perfect masculine card, Gloria. Two wonderful examples - thanks, ladies! If you would like to see more of Lilian's fabulous creations, stop by her blog, Scraproom.

Now, if someone says to you today, "Something's Fishy", maybe they'll be talking about your card ;)

Day 57 - Super Sketchy Sunday

It's Sunday again, which means we must find out who is in our Top Trio from the past week:

1)Debbie - We just loved this card inside and out.
2)Audrey - For a see-through beauty.
3)Toni - For using the recipe to create such a delicious card.

Congrats - you are welcome to grab the COTW blinkie from the sidebar!

Great job to all of you who complete the challenges from Sunday to Saturday:

~Chiara, Fi, Audrey, Tina, Jana, Alicia, Rose, Lori L., Ivy, Maz, Bex, Paula M., Debbie S., Linda B., and Mandy~

We see many of your names in here week after week!

And now for our sketch and DT examples:

Vicky

Tammy

Sophie

Pam

Kristie

Gloria

Amy

I love the different interpretations you all come up with each week. Whether you follow the design closely, or you add an original spin, I am always amazed at the variety! I look forward to browsing the gallery later~

Day 56 - See Through Saturday

How about an acrylic (clear) card? I love when I come across these on other blogs, so I thought we'd give it a try.

So here's the challenge: Use it as the card base - front, back, or all - otherwise anything goes.

Here is Vicky's card for this challenge:

Thanks, Vicky, for introducing a whole new wonderful way of card making on this blog! Now I have so many ideas spinning through my head that I can't wait to get started. See you back here in a bit :)

Day 55 - Card Recipe

I have had such fun looking at your cards from yesterday's challenge! I wasn't very pleased with my own take on the challenge, and almost tossed it. But then I decided to share it, if for no other reason than to remind myself that we can learn from our mistakes.

So I will pick myself up and start again with today's challenge~

Wouldn't it be nice if you just had a simple recipe to follow that only allowed for variation in colors/patterns? Here's the recipe for this card:

5x5 card (solid colored card stock - may be smooth or textured)
4x4 patterned paper (you may alter the edges if you'd like)
1 shape (circle, square, star, heart, etc.) - must be solid color
3 jewels
alpha stickers

That's it! Nothing more. Can it be done, and done well? After looking at Sophie's card, I think so:

This is so pretty, Sophie! Now I know it will be tempting to stray from the "recipe", but give it a shot and see if you can stick to it. I will, too ;)

Day 54 - Recycled Elements

Did you do anything in honor of Earth Day yesterday? If not, then here is your chance, because I challenge you to recycle at least one thing by adding it to your card. I'm not just talking about dipping into your stash and using something that's been there for a few years. Look around and see if you can find something that might not ordinarily be used on a card.

You've just got to see what Amy came up with - check it out:

She took a small tin, added some beads on the bottom to create "feet", dressed it up with some fun patterned paper and made some gift tags to match that fit inside -- super cool, thanks Amy!!

This one is definitely going to be a challenge for me, and I'm looking forward to giving it a try. I just have a feeling that we're all going to have some fun with this one. So let's get to it, shall we?

Day 53 - Fun with Fruit

Yep - sounds like fun to me anyway - lol!

The weather where I am at has been GORGEOUS - and it makes me yearn for summer and all that goes with it - and although the weather was cold and rainy when I came up with this challenge, a "fruity" card certainly fits with the season now.

Today we've got another super cool guest designer. Let's all give a warm welcome to

Vianney Galarza

Hello from the Windy city…. My name is Vianney and I'm a SAHM to 3 children and I'm married to the love of my life whom I've known since we were 13 yrs old! I started paper crafting as a way to relax while I was working as an accountant at a corporation. After the birth of my second son we were blessed by being able to have one of us stay home and raise our children. I've been creating cards for about 6 yrs now and I presently design for a local stamp store and I've guest designed for an online store. I'm very active at my son's school as PTO president and I teach after school activities on occasion. Most of my work is created at night once homework is done, baths are given, tummies are full and kids are tucked away for the night. Apart from designing I also run a small but successful online shop where I sell my cards and create custom invitations, it's not much but it helps support my paper crafting addiction and the trips to the ice cream shop. I'm also a blogger though I've got to admit I don't think I'm very good at it. :) You can catch me at galacards.blogspot.com.

Here is her card:

And here is DT member Kristie's card:

Once again, two completely different cards that are equally beautiful and inspiring - thanks, ladies!!

Day 52 - Tuesday's Trio

Since we have so many new people joining in, and possibly lurking out there, I thought it might be a good idea to review the way we do things here at 365 Cards:

- Each week from Sunday to Saturday, every card that is submitted for any of the challenges are considered for the Top Trio (Card of the Week honors).

- We also acknowledge those 365ers who complete all the challenges by the end of the week.

- At the end of the month, the person with the most challenges completed by 11:59 PM on the last day of the month will win a special prize. If there is a tie for that prize, the winner will be drawn at random.

- Sometimes we will have a special challenge (or week, as with Scor-it Week), with its own set of rules, and those will be provided at the time the challenge is issued.

- You DON'T need to complete a challenge on the day it is posted if you just want to play along for fun. We love to see your take on a challenge, and we're glad you're inspired by these challenges :)

- We are a community of card makers who support and inspire one another no matter what our level of experience!

SO.....let's get to today's challenge~

Another Tuesday Trio for you, and here it is:

Brad, Blossom, and Circle

I would like to see these three things somewhere on your card.

It's Tammy's turn to share her card this week, and this is what she came up with:

A bright and fun card with a great sentiment to match! And how about that blossom made from ribbons? Love it!

Your turn~

Day 51 - Picture This

Winner of the Scor-it Mini is...............................................................

JEANNIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations, Jeannie, you have won the Scor-it Mini along with a storage case. Please email me here with your address so I can get that sent off ASAP!

Many of you completed ALL the challenges for Scor-it Week, and I congratulate you as well:

Fi, Chiara, Lois, Sandy, Fabric Butterfly, Rose Miller, Audrey, Debbie Stelton, Jana D., Kim, Maz, Di, Deanne Burton, Ginny, Wendi, Ivy, Rieca, Lucia, Deb H., Sam, Elisabeth, Linda B, Heidi Stock, and Bex.

Thank you all for your enthusiasm and effort this past week!!

The last time we had a Picture This challenge, I asked you to use a photo on your card. This time, I am providing a photo as inspiration. Here's the photo I'm talking about:

I love this photo taken by my good friend, Lora, who is an amazing amateur photographer. I would like to see how this photo inspires you. Here is how it inspired Gloria:

Gloria tells me that she thought of flowers and nature as she created this card, as well as that bright red in the photo, which she incorporated into her card. And she created "dew" on her card using Paper Glaze - how cool is that? Here's a close-up shot:

Thanks for this fabulous example, Gloria!

Now it's time for you to let the photo inspire you~

Day 50 - Super Sketchy Sunday

Okay - where to begin?

I suppose we'll start with the Sizzling Seven --- What!? Yes, you read that right. STUNNED, would be the appropriate word to describe how the DT and I feel about all the submissions this past week. And it's not just the astonishing number of cards that you all made, but also the level of creativity out there that blew us away. So we'll recognize seven of our favorite card creations - one for each challenge:

1) Gift Card Holder - Lynnette - for creating not one, but two amazing GCH's.
2) Money Holder -Maz - if you haven't seen it yet, you must check it out ;)
3) Tri-fold Card - Michelle - for a card that is beautiful inside and out.
4) Matchbook Card - Fay - for a sweet and simple creation.
5) Pop-up Card - Nancy - for her flower pot absolutely bursting with beautiful blossoms.
6) Score a Pattern - Sandy - for a scored pattern that is definitely worth a closer look.

7) Accordion Card - Jana - for a blingy and Springy card.

Congrats to you all - you are welcome to grab the COTW blinkie on the sidebar for your blogs.

I think that I was ambitious in saying that I would actually be able to acknowledge everyone who completed the week's challenges by the time of this post. Since we're announcing a winner of the Scor-it Mini tomorrow, it seems fitting that we'll give a round of applause to those who completed all the scoring challenges as well.

Now back to our usual Sunday challenge, which is a sketch. And here it is:

Vicky

Tammy

Pam

Amy

Sophie

Gloria

Kristie

Thank you all for a wonderful week, and I look forward to another great week here at 365!

Day 49 - Accordion Card

Whew - what a great week we've had with all these scoring challenges! On Monday's post, I will announce the winner of the Scor-it Mini. However, tomorrow I'll announce the Top Trio along with those who completed the week's challenges by the end of the day today.

Today, Vicky will share her version of an Accordion card:

This is stunning, Vicky, and I can't wait to give it a try myself! Let's all head on over to Vicky's blog for more info~

Before you post the link to your card, please be sure that the link you provide will take us directly to the card itself (i.e. online galleries) or to the post that the card is in on your blog. It's fine if you include several cards in one post, as long as you link us up to the correct post. Thanks!!

Day 48 - Score a Pattern

We have such an amazing response to Scor-it Week, with so many people jumping in and trying to get all the challenges done by tomorrow night, that I've decided to extend the deadline for completing your challenges in order to qualify for the drawing. You don't need to complete all the challenges to have your name entered in the drawing, but you do get an entry for every challenge you complete. You now have until Sunday, April 19th at 11:59 PM EST to complete all this week's challenges.

Up until now, we've been focusing on using scoring tecniques to create folds in our cards. Now the challenge is to score your pattern. This can be very simple or it can be fancy, and either way the resulting texture can really add nicely to the overall look of the card. As with the other scoring challenges, having a Scor-it board would be nice, but is not necessary.


Sophie's card for the challenge is a wonderful example of this design technique:

This is a great way to dress up some solid card stock, or even patterned paper, without using special embossing tools. Thanks, Sophie, for inspiring us with this card! You can visit Sophie's blog for details.

Day 47 - Pop-Up Card

We are having so much fun this week, I think we'll do it again in May and June! That's right, your super duper fabulous DT and I are working with a sponsor for another fun themed week in May, and then another sponsor for June - woo-hoo! Now I can tell you who these sponsors are, but where's the fun in that? I will tell you when it gets closer, and I'll will say that you're going to have a blast joining in the fun.

Here I am talking about May and June while we are still celebrating Scor-it Week! Just a reminder that if you are joining us for the first time, you have until Saturday the 18th at 11:59 PM EST to get your cards linked up to the appropriate challenges. Each challenge you complete gets you one entry for the random drawing to win a Scor-it Mini. That means you can earn a total of SEVEN entries.



For today's challenge you'll need to make a Pop-Up card. Now don't panic if you've never made one before. Check out what Amy made:

I know I'm going to be getting the details on this one - this is sooo cool, Amy! For the tutorial on this card zip on over to Amy's blog~

Day 46 - Matchbook Card

I am thrilled to see how many links you've posted since we began the week!! And I've been having a great time playing along with all the challenges.

I just need to take a moment to brag about our amazing design team members. These six women are so unbelievably talented and enthusiastic about each challenge that I throw their way - and they rise up to meet them each week! They definitely deserve major kudos for their efforts!!

Today we bring you another fun challenge - a Matchbook Card. I personally find this particular style a challenge, but I think Kristie pulled it off beautifully. Here's her card:

Want some details? Head on over to Kristie's blog for a tutorial~

With all the eye candy you've all been providing already, I just know you're going rock this challenge too!

Day 45 - Tri-Fold Card

So far the DT and I are having a great time with these challenges, and we can tell you are, too! It's exciting to check out each link and see such variation in your cards, and the week is not even half over yet.

Today's challenge is to create a Tri-Fold card. DT member Tammy really created a beauty to share with all of us:

Now I want the details on this, so I'm heading over to Tammy's blog -- I'll see you over there!

Day 44 - Money Holder

There are already lots of card linked up for yesterday's challenge, and there is more fun to come.

First, I would like to announce the random winner for the RAK for spreading the word about Scor-it Week. Congratulations to......CIN!!!!! You've won 25 sheets of card stock from Sierra Pacific Crafts and some 12x12 patterned paper from My Mind's Eye! Please contact me with your address so I can ship those off to you.

And speaking of winners, did I mention that the winner of the Scor-it Mini will also win a special storing case? Very cool!

Today's challenge is all about creating a Money Holder. Money holders can range in all shapes and sizes, but one particularly nice thing about them is that you don't have to be quite so precise on pocket size as compared with the gift card holder. I've seen them in many varieties, and I can't wait to see what you come up with. Here is the fabulous card that Gloria made:

For Step-by-step instructions on how to make this card, pop over to Gloria's blog. If you have your own design, we'd love to see that, too! Either way, get scoring and link up~