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Cards in Envy - Hearts All a Flutter

Feb 022015

Hello there! It’s time for a new challenge at Cards in Envy – where we make cards that fit in envelopes! Cards for our challenges should be A2 sized (4.25″ x 5.5″) and have no lumpy, bumpy embellishments more than 1/4″ thick, so that the cards can be mailed at the standard first-class postage rate. For the next two weeks, we’re focusing on the theme of “Hearts All a Flutter”. We’d like to see your cards that have two or more hearts on them.

I think our previous “Going Gray” challenge was giving me subliminal messages when I was working on my card for this challenge. The card follows the current CAS(E) this Sketch! layout. The bunny tag is raised up from the card base with dimensional adhesive. I tried to keep the card gender-neutral and age-neutral so it would be a versatile one for Operation Write Home.

We hope you’ll have fun with this challenge and share your heartfelt card with us at Cards in Envy! Link your card to our challenge post by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, February 15. Happy crafting!

Supplies:
Stamps: My Silly Valentine, Belinda’s Borders (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Smoky Slate (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Smoky Slate, Basic Gray (SU)
Other: markers (Copic); dimensionals, tag corner punch (SU); cherry twine (Really Reasonable Ribbon)

CAS - Colours and Sketches #108

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Jan 222015

Well hi there! It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for a new challenge at CAS – Colours and Sketches. This time we have a sketch for you. You’re welcome to rotate or flip the sketch, or stretch it out to a rectangle if you choose. So long as we can see the basic idea of the sketch, it’s fine.

I’ve stretched the sketch out to a rectangle and turned it 90° on its side. My Operation Write Home stash is lacking birthday cards suitable for giving to guys, so I chose designer papers in a color scheme that seems pretty masculine. The card pretty much speaks for itself… so here it is:

What will you do with this sketch? There are so many possibilities! I hope you’ll try out something and share what you create with us! Link your work to the CAS – Colours and Sketches blog by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, January 28. Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Birthday Greetings (Gina K. Designs)
Cardstock: Old Olive, Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White, Season of Style designer series papers (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Old Olive (SU)
Other: sponge; Labels One Nestabilities die (Spellbinders)

Cards in Envy - Going Gray

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Jan 192015

Well hello! It’s time for another fun challenge at Cards in Envy. For the next two weeks, we’re “Going Gray” with a winter-inspired color scheme. Cards made for this challenge should use gray as the dominant color, as well as be A2 sized with no lumpy, bumpy embellishments.

After a lot of thought, I decided I’d use one of my animal stamps and have a gray animal on my card for this challenge. I originally thought about using a rabbit – but then that made me think of gray hares, which was too much like gray hairs, which I’d rather not think about! LOL! I finally settled on this mouse image. The stamp set that it’s from also has several star images. I was browsing online looking for a good card sketch to use for the layout of my card, and felt that the most recent OWH sketch might work. To me, the square element resembled a window, and I could position the mouse so it would be sitting on the windowsill, looking out at the stars. I die cut a couple of stars to use in place of the round embellishments on the sketch, but opted to use just one to make the scene more realistic. I covered the star with Stickles to give it some sparkle, but then painted over it with white shimmer paint to make sure the glitter wouldn’t flake off. The paint covered the glitter more opaquely than I realized it would, but the texture of the glitter still shows. I chose a grayish blue for my sky color and flicked some shimmer paint onto it for distant stars. Fussy cutting around the mouse’s tail and whiskers was a little nerve wracking, but in the end, I think it was worth the effort. Because the mouse stamp has him facing to the right, I flipped the sketch mirror-image so the mouse could be looking at the shiny star. It’s been a while since I’ve made a “missing you” themed card for OWH so that was the driving force behind the sentiment I chose. The card turned out quite clean and simple in style, and I have to say that I’m pretty pleased with it. 🙂

OWH Sketch 246

Thanks for stopping by today! What kind of card will the color gray inspire you to create? Be sure to check out what the rest of the Cards in Envy design team has made. Then share your own work with us by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, February 1. We’d love to have you join in the fun and creativity!

Supplies:
Stamps: Storybook, Handwritten Notes (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Buckaroo Blue (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Frost White shimmer paint (SU); Storybook dies (AE); Star Dust Stickles (Ranger)

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - January color challenge

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Jan 102015

Hello! It’s time for our first color challenge of the year at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown. It’s a lovely monochromatic scheme: shades of blue.

I’ve chosen some blues that include a couple of retired Stampin’ Up colors. It’s nice to use some of my older supplies! The layout for this card is from the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge. The card looked a little plain once I got it all put together. I wanted to dress it up a bit, but still keep the card within Operation Write Home guidelines, so I decided to add some tiny rhinestones to work as the ornament hangers. They don’t show too well in the photo, but they do add a bit of sparkle in real life.

How will you depict a “blue Christmas”? Be sure to link your card at the 52{C}CT site by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday, January 16. We’d love to see what you create! Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamps: Holiday Baubles (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps)
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Baja Breeze, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky (SU); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: rhinestones (Recollections)

CAS - Colours and Sketches #106

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Jan 082015

Hello! The design team from CAS – Colours and Sketches is back from holiday break and ready to start off another year of fun clean and simple challenges! We’re starting back up again with a sketch. You’re welcome to manipulate the sketch, or change the oval to another shape, so long as we can still easily recognize the main elements of the sketch.

I’ve stretched the sketch out to a rectangle and turned it 90° on its side. I’ve also decided to use a heart in place of the oval. Although it’s too late now to send Valentine’s Day cards to Operation Write Home to be used this year, I kept the sentiment simple enough that this card could be sent during other times of the year. The heart is raised up from the front panel with dimensional adhesive.

Be sure to stop by the challenge blog and welcome our two newest DT members, Jane and Stef! Then create your own card using this sketch, and link it to the challenge site by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, January 14. We’d love to have you join us! Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamps: Real Carnation (Hero Arts); Short & Sweet (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Pink Pirouette (SU)
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Pear Pizzazz, Purely Pomegranate (SU)
Other: Purely Pomegranate satin ribbon, dimensionals (SU); heart die (Sizzix)

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - January sketch challenge

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Jan 032015

Hello! It’s time to start a new year of challenges at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown! I know it may seem odd to be making Christmas cards now, since the Christmas season is just about over. But at 52{C}CT we present a different card making challenge each Saturday, with the idea that if you participate all year long, you’ll have a wonderful stash of lovely cards built up ready to send in December. Or, if you’re like me and you prefer to send the same card design to everyone on your mailing list, you can create a great assortment of cards to donate to an organization of your choice, such as Operation Write Home, a church ministry, or your local hospital’s cancer center.

Each month of 52{C}CT challenges starts off with a sketch challenge. Our January hostess, Deborah, has created one that’s rather clean and simple in design, but could be dressed up with embellishments if you choose. The star shown in the sketch can be made any shape. I’ve used a snowman from one of my newest stamp sets. I used dimensional adhesive to attach him to the card. When I was cutting the designer papers, I cut them to size as rectangles, and then cut them diagonally to make the triangles. This resulted in two triangles from each designer paper, so I ended up making two cards – one in portrait orientation as the sketch was drawn, and one turned on its side in landscape orientation.

Be sure to visit the 52{C}CT blog to welcome our newest design team members – Julie, Tanja, and April! Once you’ve been inspired by the design team’s work, make a Christmas or wintry card of your own using this sketch. Share it with us by linking it at the 52{C}CT site by midnight GMT/7:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday, January 9. We’d love to have you join us! Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamps: Be Jolly (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Real Red (Stampin’ Up); designer papers from Nordic Holiday 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Be Jolly die (Avery Elle); markers (Copic); dimensionals (SU)

Operation Write Home Top 14 of 2014

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Jan 012015

Hello, and Happy New Year! I’ve decided to participate in Operation Write Home‘s annual look back at favorite cards from the previous year. I’ve gone through my blog posts from 2014 and picked out the following cards I made for OWH as ones I especially liked. If you’d like more details about any particular card, just click on the date below it to be taken to the original post for that card. Without further ado, here they are, in chronological order:

Thanks for taking this look back with me! Here’s to more creativity in 2015!

Cards in Envy - Christmas Carols

1 Response »

Dec 152014

Hello! Since it’s the third Monday of the month, it’s time for another challenge at Cards in Envy. Our theme for the next few weeks is “Christmas Carols”. Let a familiar Christmas carol or a winter/Christmas song inspire your creativity, and make a card using that song as your theme. Remember that for our challenges, all cards must be A2 sized and cannot have lumpy, bumpy embellishments more than 1/4″ thick.

I wanted to go with something a little more wintry than strictly Christmasy, because I’m planning to send another shipment of cards to Operation Write Home before the end of the month and they will accept winter cards through December 31. So I thought of the song “Winter Wonderland” and created a snowy scene – which, I suppose, could also work for “White Christmas”. After I stamped the trees and bird for my scene, I masked off the ground and sponged ink for the sky. Then I flicked shimmer paint over the scene to create the look of falling snowflakes and added more of the paint along the ground lines. I actually started on the card without a particular layout in mind. It looked rather plain and boring with just the scene, so I searched through the OWH Stars & Stamps sketches until I found sketch #195, a fairly simple one with a nice large focal panel. I changed it up a bit by deciding to make the focal panel oval. I turned the sketch 90° on its side and mirror-reversed it so that the small round element would be at the bottom right corner of the card. I decided to use that element for the sentiment. So I looked through my sentiment stamps, and one of the smallest ones I had that fit the space nicely read “Let it snow”. Well, that worked well for the scene, too – although then it made more sense to say that I’d used the song “Let it Snow” for my inspiration. So I guess you could say that all three songs worked together to help me create this card! 🙂

One last note (pun intended? maybe 😉 ) regarding this card. I had all three songs making a little medley bouncing in my head as I was assembling the card… and then from out of nowhere, the music in my brain started playing the chorus from “Let it Go”, changing the words to “Let it snow”. Ha ha ha! I hope that little story makes you laugh, too.

So – which Christmas or wintry song will get your creative juices flowing? Share your work with us at the Cards in Envy site by 6:00 p.m. Central Time on Sunday, January 4, 2015. (Because of the holiday season, there’s an extra week to participate!) Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has made and give them some blog love, too! Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Scenic Season (Stampin’ Up); Holiday Script (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Marina Mist, Soft Sky, Real Red, Whisper White (SU)
Ink: Garden Green, Marina Mist, Soft Sky, Real Red (SU)
Other: Frost White shimmer paint (SU); petite oval and standard circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); Snowflake Background embossing folder (Darice); sponge

Cards in Envy - Santa is Coming to Town!

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Dec 012014

Hello! Can you believe it’s December already? It will be Christmas soon, and Cards in Envy is getting in the spirit. Our challenge theme for the next two weeks is “Santa is Coming to Town”. Create an A2 sized card (4.25″ x 5.5″) that depicts Santa Claus in some way. Remember to keep your card flat enough to fit in an envelope to mail at the first class postage rate.

For my design team sample, I wanted to make a card using the cute Santa stamp I used on an earlier card. So I looked for the stamp set… and searched for the stamp set… and looked through just about every possible place in my craft room I could think of looking in. And I still haven’t found the set. Major bummer! So I had to resort to a much different stamp. This one does have a Santa… a very, very subtle one. Can you find him? 🙂 I added some white shimmer paint to parts of the image to make it look like sunlight glistening on snow. The layout for this card is OWH Stars and Stamps sketch #236.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Cards in Envy design team has made! What kind of Santa will you use on your card – whimsical, vintage, or something in between? We’d love to see your creativity! Share your card using the linky tool at the Cards in Envy site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, December 14. Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Holiday Lane (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Naturals Ivory, Basic Black (Stampin’ Up); designer papers from Winter Wonderland paper pack (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: standard circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); markers (Copic); Frost White shimmer paint (SU)

Cards in Envy - Thankful for You

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Nov 172014

Hello again! It’s time for another challenge at Cards in Envy. For the next two weeks, we have a super easy theme for you to follow: Thankful for You. That’s right – all you need to do for this challenge is to make an A2 sized thank you card (4.25″ x 5.5″) with no lumpy, bumpy embellishments so that it could be mailed at the standard postage rate. See – I told you it was easy! 🙂

For my card, I’ve used the current layout from CAS(E) this Sketch!. For the triangles, I cut a square of designer paper and coordinating mats from colored cardstock. Then I cut the squares across the diagonal to get the triangles. This allowed me the supplies to make two “twin” cards at once. Yay! After I adhered the triangles to the card bases, I trimmed off the excess from the vertical edges of the cards. The cards are super simple in style, but I think they will be all right for Operation Write Home since the colors aren’t specific to any particular season.

If you need additional inspiration, please go check out the Cards in Envy site and see what the rest of the design team has made. Then create a thank you card following our challenge guidelines and share it with us on the Cards in Envy site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, November 30. We’d love to have you play along with us! Thanks for stopping by today.

All supplies for today’s card are from Stampin’ Up.
Stamp: Trendy Trees
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Tangerine Tango, Island Indigo, Sycamore Street designer paper
Ink: Tangerine Tango

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - November theme challenge

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Nov 152014

Hello there, and happy Saturday to you! It’s time for another theme challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown: Christmas windows. The perspective can be either looking into the window or looking out from the window. So long as the window is the main focus of the card, it’s good.

I’ve owned this cute rubber stamp of a boy and his dog looking out a window for… um… let’s just say a pretty long time. Even though I think it’s adorable, I’ve always been rather intimidated by it because I worry that my coloring skills won’t do it justice. Well, this challenge provided me with the opportunity to push myself past that fear. I guess I did OK. One of the reasons the stamp has bothered me is that there is no background to the window – so that way, the user can choose to put it on whatever type of building he or she pleases. I decided the easiest thing to do would be to add it to cardstock embossed with the brick embossing folder. I highlighted the bricks with a few swipes of my white ink pad. I was trying to follow the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge for the layout, so I tried making the one rectangular element into a snowdrift up against the side of the building, under the window. I put a few scrap cardstock shims behind the window to give it some dimension, but in hindsight I’m not entirely sure that was the best idea. Then there was the horizontal twine-like element of the sketch. The realist in me couldn’t figure out a logical reason for that in my scene. So I opted to just add a simple little bow to the snowflake, which takes the place of the button-like sketch element. The sentiment is made up from two different stamps. Since it seems to me like the boy is looking out of the window, perhaps missing somebody who is far away, it made me think of kids whose parents are stationed overseas with the military. Even though it’s too late to send this card to Operation Write Home to be used this holiday season, it’ll keep for next year.

Go check out the other design team members’ windows – this is one time where it’s okay to be a “peeping Tom”, LOL! 🙂 Then create your own card featuring a Christmas window and share it with us at the 52{C}CT site. We’d love to have you join in the fun and creativity! Thanks for stopping by today.

Edited on November 19, 2014: I’m so honored to have been named one of the “Perfect Princesses” at Freshly Made Sketches! Thank you to Linda for choosing my card!

Supplies:
Stamps: Billy and Sparky at Window (eat cake graphics); Trendy Trees (Stampin’ Up); Christmas Tags (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps)
Cardstock: Soft Sky, Soft Suede (SU); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Craft White (SU); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Brick embossing folder (Tim Holtz); Premier colored pencils (Prismacolor); odorless mineral spirits (Hampton Arts); snowflake punch (EK Success); Cherry twine (Really Reasonable Ribbon)

CAS - Colours and Sketches #99

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Nov 062014

Greetings! It’s time for another color challenge at CAS – Colours and Sketches. Lizy is our challenge hostess this month, and she’s chosen a very classic color combo.

When I saw metallic gold on the challenge rubric, I got a little excited. I knew I wanted to combine a few things I’ve tried over the last few months. After I stamped the border of red polka dots, the vanilla panel got spritzed with some gold pearl mist spray. Unfortunately, the shimmer from it doesn’t show very well in the photo. I used textured cardstock to die cut the heart. I gave it some swipes with my VersaMark ink pad and heat embossed it with gold powder to give the edges some shiny definition. Using dimensional adhesive to attach the heart gives it even more separation from the background.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the CC&S Design Team has made! Then create your own clean and simple styled card with these colors and link it to the CC&S site by 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 12. We’d love to see what you make!

Supplies:
Stamps: Grunge Borders (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps); Masculine Messages (Gina K. Designs)
Cardstock: Real Red, Very Vanilla, Very Vanilla Textured (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Real Red (SU); VersaMark (Tsukineko)
Other: Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist, gold embossing powder (Ranger); Heart #2 Sizzlits die (Sizzix); dimensionals (SU)

cherub in the clouds

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Oct 082014

Today’s card is a relatively quick one that I made up to include in the shipment I sent to Operation Write Home yesterday. It’s based off of this week’s sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch!; I’ve used the mirror image of the sketch because it worked better with the direction the cherub is facing. I’ve used clouds in place of the chevrons on the sketch. The little angel on his own cloud takes the place of the arrow element. I used some scrap cardstock as shims underneath him, to raise him off off the background clouds a bit. In the photo, you can see some of the shadow created by that. The sentiment pretty well speaks for itself. It’s a good one for OWH cards!

Thanks for stopping by to take a closer look at my card! 🙂 All comments are read and greatly appreciated.

Supplies:
Stamps: Love From Above, In My Heart (Mama Elephant)
Cardstock: Bashful Blue (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Clouds & Raindrops dies (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps)

OWH World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop!

16 Responses »

Oct 042014

Hello! Welcome to my stop on the Operation Write Home World Card Making Day Blog Hop! Today we’re celebrating the fun and joy of making cards by sharing cards made for the purpose of sending to our military members stationed overseas, so that they may write to their family and friends back at home. Be sure to check this page of the Operation Write Home website to find out more about exactly what types/themes of cards are needed.

For today’s blog hop, we’ve been asked to create cards with a love theme. That’s a theme that can be used in so many ways – as a card from a husband to his wife back home, or from a woman to her parents, or from a mom or dad to their child(ren). Really, pretty much any family situation is perfect for a love-themed card!

I’ve opted to create a card that can be sent home to a child. I think that at some point, every child wishes she or he could be a super hero. It seems only natural that a super hero would give and receive super hugs! I’ve also tied this card into today’s Splitcoaststampers.com Hope You Can Cling To challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoy the hop and come back to visit my blog again, and that you’ll join me in creating cards for both of these wonderful causes! Click on the OWH badge at the top of this post to find out where you should hop next.

Supplies used for this card:
Stamps: Super Duo (Mama Elephant for Simon Says Stamp)
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Soft Sky (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Crusader Kids die (Mama Elephant for Simon Says Stamp); Clouds & Raindrops Dies (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps); embroidery floss (DMC); mini star brad (The Paper Studio)

CAS - Colours and Sketches #93

2 Responses »

Sep 252014

Hello! It’s time for another sketch challenge at CAS – Colours and Sketches. This one has some interesting banner shapes that can be interpreted in a variety of ways.

I just received some new stamps in the mail on Wednesday. As I was trying to figure out what to make for my design team sample with this sketch, I had a lightbulb moment and saw the vertical strip and the banners as a sort of tree shape. And bingo – I decided to make a tree with branches for the little birdies to sit on. To give myself enough space to carry out the idea, I stretched the sketch into a rectangle. I used a background stamp on the brown cardstock to help it resemble tree bark. Then I cut the tree trunk shape and stamped and fussy cut the branches. I took artistic license and trimmed one branch shorter so they wouldn’t all look identical. The tree trunk was edged with a black pen to help it coordinate with the black outlines of the stamped images. I’m not sure how well it shows in the photo, but I snipped into the top edge of the green strip to help it look like blades of grass. The birds were stamped on yellow cardstock, and I colored their beaks with a marker before fussy cutting them. The leaves were also fussy cut after they were stamped on a scrap of the green cardstock. So yeah – there was a lot of fussy cutting involved in creating this card, but I think it’s still clean and simple in style.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you’ll join us over at CAS – Colours and Sketches with your own take on this sketch! You have until 1:00 p.m. eastern time Wednesday, October 1 to link your card at the challenge website.

Supplies:
Stamps: Feathered Friends [for Simon Says Stamp] (Lawn Fawn); Weathered (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi, Baked Brown Sugar, Daffodil Delight (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: marker (Copic)

Older Entries Newer Entries

Cards in Envy - Hearts All a Flutter

CAS - Colours and Sketches #108

Cards in Envy - Going Gray

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - January color challenge

CAS - Colours and Sketches #106

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - January sketch challenge

Operation Write Home Top 14 of 2014

Cards in Envy - Christmas Carols

Cards in Envy - Santa is Coming to Town!

Cards in Envy - Thankful for You

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - November theme challenge

CAS - Colours and Sketches #99

cherub in the clouds

OWH World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop!

CAS - Colours and Sketches #93

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