Sometimes the best cards don’t make perfect sense…and that’s exactly what makes them fun.

When I saw this month’s Colorful Options Challenge featuring a patriotic red, white, and blue palette, I decided to embrace all three colors rather than focus on just one or two. The inspiration board immediately made me think of sunny summer days, lakeside adventures, and carefree afternoons.

Then I reached into my ephemera stash and found this vintage-looking image of a skier.

Wait…a water skier? Snow skier? Either way, it felt delightfully out of place.

Pairing that image with Lawn Fawn’s playful sentiment, “Have a Dam Good Summer,” creates a bit of a paradox. The sentiment suggests lazy summer days at the lake, while the focal image feels like it’s racing through another season altogether. Somehow the contradiction works, giving the card a quirky personality that makes me smile.

To keep the design cohesive, I leaned into a mixed-media, grunge style with layers of stamping in Prize Ribbon and Lumberjack Red, adding splatters of Perfect Pearls for just a touch of shimmer. The blue dominates the composition while the red accents provide balance, and the white background allows everything to breathe without becoming overwhelming.

One of my favorite parts of creating is discovering that unexpected combinations often turn into the most interesting projects. Sometimes a paradox is exactly what a card needs.

Materials Used

• Paper: Fabriano White White
• Stamps: Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous
  • Tidbits (CMS488)
  • Pattern Pieces (CMS012)
  • Mini Glitch (CMS405)
  • Classics #12 (SCF012)
  • Grunged (CMS402)
• Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink & Distress Oxide
  • Prize Ribbon
  • Lumberjack Red
• Perfect Pearls: Pearl & Merriment Red
• Sentiment: Lawn Fawn On the Beach (freebie)
• Focal Image: Ephemera piece from my stash

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you’ll join us for this month’s Colorful Options Challenge. Whether you use one color or the entire red, white, and blue palette, I can’t wait to see what you create!

Happy crafting,
Makira

Hello, crafty friends! 🍁✨

This month’s inspiration takes us straight into the heart of the Día de los Muertos festivities. The board is alive with bold colors, vibrant papel picado, sugar skulls, festive dancers, and the warm glow of candles. I wanted my project to capture that magical mix of tradition, celebration, and just a touch of spooky charm.

For my make, I chose to feature one of my favorite October pairings: a curious black cat and a glowing jack-o’-lantern — all hand-drawn with colored pencils on rich grey cardstock. The soft pencil strokes bring the kitty to life as it peeks over the pumpkin, bathed in that eerie green glow we all love during Halloween. Behind them, I sketched a pattern of mischievous jack-o’-lantern faces to keep things playful yet just a little haunting.

The drawing is framed with layered cardstock in deep charcoal, fiery orange, and brick red, echoing the warmth of an autumn night and making the pumpkin’s glow stand out even more.

Why not venture over to the challenges:  Park Hopping My Happy Place and check out the amazing creations from the talented design team members.

I hope you enjoy this design, and be sure to join in on the fun for the Park Hopping My Happy Place.

Happy Saturday, everyone! I’m delighted to share a fun steampunk-style card. This card is my design team contribution to the Colorful Options Challenge. For this month, I’ve embraced neutrals with a bit of a dusty green.

Remember, Colorful Options is all about color challenges. While the current theme centers on a books and library vibes, you’re free to explore any color or combination that resonates with you from the inspiration board above. Pick a color or combo of colors, make them the star, and join in the creative fun! If this muted palette isn’t your thing, play along with a rainbow-inspired make instead.

My card is a combination of Tim Holtz & Merimi Small Art ephemera and images. Some simple collaging with a bit of color pencil enhancement to “hide” some of the edges.

I hope you enjoy this design, and be sure to join in on the fun for the Colorful Options Challenge!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I’m delighted to share a festive Christmas card featuring the beautiful Waffleflower stamp die-cut. This card is my design team contribution to the Colorful Options Challenge and Park Hopping My Happy Place. For this month, I’ve embraced the classic colors of red and green. There’s something about this palette that instantly brings Christmas to mind!

Remember, Colorful Options is all about color challenges. While the current theme centers on a picnic, you’re free to explore any color or combination that resonates with you from the inspiration board below. Pick a color or combo of colors, make them the star, and join in the creative fun!

Why not venture over to the challenges: Colorful Options Challenge  & Park Hopping My Happy Place and check out the amazing creations from the talented design team members.

This design is part of a mail mix I made. Thought I’d include it for some additional inspiration.

This design was a quick and easy make, and I’m excited to share it with you!

The Card:
I started with Bristol Smooth cardstock and cut it out with the Waffleflower die. I then did some masking & stamping with a Sassy Club stamp set. Then I pulled out the Copic collection & began coloring. For the background, I added a gold gel pen and a white pencil for interest. Then, varying postage stamps were stamped over everything. I used Tim Holtz’s Christmas Postage (Stampers Anonymous CMS323) & an assortment of Waffleflower postage marks. A little red and white border was added before placing it on the green card base.

The Envelope:
For the envelope, I used a digital layout and then brought it to life with a little ink, scoring & cutting.

Fun “Tuck-Ins”:
I added a few playful “tuck-ins” with the set: a gift card and three stamps. These were downloaded from Etsy and modified to fit the desired size. I printed them on clear sticker paper, then used my Cricut to cut them out. Despite the added elements, the total weight of the package remains under 3 oz, so it will only require double postage to send.

I hope you enjoy this design, and be sure to join in on the fun for the Colorful Options Challenge!

Happy November, crafters.

We are celebrating the color RED over at the Colorful Options Challenge.

Additionally, this card serves as inspiration for the Park Hopping My Happy Place community.

My color scheme inspiration is drawn from the striking black and red pattern on the inspiration board. The theme itself is rooted in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, highlighting the essential role of education within that enchanting story.

This card is designed for a graduating senior who will be starting her engineering studies this fall. To celebrate her academic journey, I thought it would be fun to incorporate graph paper and numerical elements into the background, symbolizing engineering. I’ve also incorporated her university’s colors—red, black, and white—adding a touch of school spirit.

Make sure you join in on the blog or on Instagram for your chance to win a gift certificate of your choice (Simon Says Stamp, Scrapbook.com, or Amazon). Visit the challenges to check out the amazing creations from the talented Design Teams. You can’t win without entering! Come join the fun!!

For the Colorful Options Challenge, you have until Thursday, November 28th, 11:59pm US CST time, which translates to 5:59am on Friday, November 29th in the UK or 6:59am on Friday, November 29th in CET.

For the Park Hopping My Happy Place, you have until Saturday, November 30th, 11:59pm US CST time, which translates to 5:59am on Sunday, December 1st in the UK or 6:59am on Sunday, December 1st in CET.

If you’re looking to recreate this card, here’s what you’ll need:

• Azteca Watercolor Paper, black & white cardstock from the stash
• Distress Oxide: Lumberjack Red, Festive Berries, Worn Lipstick
• Distress Watercolor Crayons: Black Soot, Old Paper, Lost Shadow, Tattered Rose, and Worn Lipstick
• Distress Crayon: Black Soot, Lumberjack Red
• Distress Oxide Archival Ink in Black Soot
• Stampers Anonymous, TH: Mini Glitch CMS405, Tidbits CMS488
• StampingBella Oddball Girl Gradute eb687
• Tim Holtz Sizzix: Alphanumeric Theory
• Distress Mica Stain: Mulled Cider
• Distress Ink: Black Soot, Lumberjack Plaid
• Distress Grit Paste Snowfall
• Tim Holtz stencil: Digits THS 145

Wishing all the entrants good luck! Have fun, everyone!