Friday, August 27, 2010

Challenge #62 - Anything Goes - Softpencil Sponsor


Hello CSAYL Friends! Well it's challenge time again and this week our fabulous sponsor is Softpencil. Whoohoo! Gosh, Soft Pencil have such cute digital images. Be sure to stop by Softpencil and check them out!

This week our challenge is a little different. Just to change things up a bit, the challenge this week is to create a non-Christmas card. Yup, you read correctly. This will be a great time for you to maybe create a Halloween, Thanksgiving, Birthday or any type of card. Anything goes!



Just a little info about Softpencil

Hello everyone! my name is Elizabeth Pujalka and I´m the illustrator and designer behind Softpencil, home of Michu and his lovely friends, where you can find cute illustrations for your crafting needs.

In addition to my line of digital stamps, I´ve just released new lines of high quality clipart, printable papers and DIY printables thay you can´t miss out!

I create my characters in my home-based studio near the most beautiful park in the city.
I invite you to know my whimsical world plenty of gorgeous animals and sweet, little boys and girls and to enjoy creating with them!

The winner of this week's challenge willa be a $10 Softpencil gift certificate. How fun is that!! The challenge ends on Thursday, September 2nd midnight PST and the winner will be announced on Friday, September 3rd so be sure to check back to see if you've won!

To play along. . insert the link to your card below (click on the blue "add your link" button). If you are unable to link it, please comment this post with the link to your card. If you upload your cards on SCS or PCP, please add the key word: CSAYL and the title "CSAYL62. We hope you'll play along this week.


Guest Designer

Carmen of Beyond the Fringe Crafts




Hello, my name is Carmen. My earliest memory of scrapbooking goes back to before it was considered a craft. I had a photo album to which I added cartoon cut-outs, Chinese money bags, four leaf clovers and whatever else appealed to me at the time. Officially, I have been scrapbooking about 7 years, with a more recent focus on card making. I’ve always been a creative person who loves to sew, make soap and play classical guitar. I write short stories, poems and non-fiction articles as well, and I love to read!

This experience involved a few firsts for me, as it was my first time being a guest designer, my first time using digital stamps, and my first time using alcohol ink markers. I really enjoyed the process of putting this together, and I hope you like the card I designed! It was created with my son in mind, who just bought a new home. The sentiment reads, Congratulations on your new ‘pad.’

Thanks so much for the opportunity to participate!

Carmen


Check out the fabulous cards created by the design team:





Challenge #61 Winner - Pink Cat Studio Sponsor

Thank you to everyone who played along in last week's challenge! Such beautiful cards! We loved all of them! Well, we have a winner for the 5 Pink Cat Studio digital images! Yipee! Our winner this week is Brenda of Stamp It Up! Yay! Congratulations Brenda. Please contact Maria at cardinspired@gmail.com to claim your prize!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Challenge # 61 - Ribbon Challenge - Pink Cat Studio


Please scroll down to the previous post for the winner of last week's challenge

Hello CSAYL Friends! Well it's challenge time again and this week our fabulous sponsor is Pink Cat Studio. Pink Cat Studio will be sponsoring CSAYL on every 3rd week of each month up until December. How fabulous is that!!!!

This week our challenge is another fun and simple one! Hey, the goal is to get you to create a card so sometimes an easy challenge is enough to get our Christmas card making mojo going. The challenge this week is to create a card using two or more different ribbons. Now, who doesn't love ribbons? Well, this is your chance to find creative ways to use your ribbons!

The winner of this week's challenge will win 5 Pink Cat Studio images of your choice! Wow, 5 images!! That really ROCKS!! So be sure to play along and you may be chosen to win the 5 images! The challenge ends on Thursday, August 26th midnight PST and the winner will be announced on Friday, August 27th so be sure to check back to see if you've won!

Just a little info about our
FABULOUS sponsor




Pink Cat Studio is all about offering fun and whimsical stamps to inspire your creativity. They have a huge selection of super cute digi and rubber stamps to choose from and they add more each week. Owner and artist Melissa started PCS in 2005 and over the years nothing has excited and inspired her more than to see your creations with her stamps. Melissa’s goal is to continue to delight & surprise you with her designs. Stop by the studio today and get in on the fun!

To play along. . insert the link to your card below (click on the blue "add your link" button). If you are unable to link it, please comment this post with the link to your card. If you upload your cards on SCS or PCP, please add the key word: CSAYL and the title "CSAYL61". We hope you'll play along this week.
Guest Designer

Diane of Diane's Favourite Cards



Hello everyone… my name is Diane and I live in England with my gorgeous husband and my lovely children, Sarah who’s 16 years old and Benjamin who’s 13 years old.

I’m so pleased to be invited to be this week’s Guest Designer and have really enjoyed making my card for this weeks challenge. It’s a good feeling to have made another Christmas card ready for later on this year, I wont have to panic in November as I’m making my cards throughout the year – thanks CSAYL !!!

I started making cards and scrapbooking way back in 1999 and I absolutely love my crafting hobby. My favourite technique is decoupage using either stamped or digi images; making cards using this technique is just so relaxing . I became part of blogland just over 2 years ago when I created my blog and soon became addicted to entering challenges.

Thanks very much for the opportunity to join in this weeks challenge.


Check out the beautiful cards the design team created



Michelle - Creative Journey



Challenge #60 Winner - In Style Stamps

Thank you to all the players of last week's challenge #60. All your cards were beautiful and we appreciate all of them. Unfortunately, there can only be one winner! Who is the winner of 4 In Style Stamps images? Well, it's Sarah of Aunt Bee's Pickles! Yay! Congratulations Sarah! Please contact Maria at cardinspired@gmail.com to claim your prize!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Challenge #60 - Designer Paper Challenge - In Style Stamps


Hello CSAYL Friends!! Well it's another week of challenges! This week our lovely sponsor is In Style Stamps ! Yay! In Style Stamps will be sponsoring CSAYL on the second week of every month up until December! How wonderful is that?

Well let's get started. . .this week's challenge will be a very easy one. The challenge is to create a card using 2 or more different designer paper! It may sound like an easy challenge but sometimes coordinating two different designer paper that have different colors or patterns can be challenging.

Come play along with us this week and you will have a chance to win four In Style Stamps digital images. The challenge ends on Thursday, August 19 and the winner will be announced on Friday, August 20th! Good luck!



Just a little info about our sponsor

In Style Stamps has an amazing selection of images and stamps - there is something for everyone! They offer both rubber stamps and digital images, and more is added to their inventory every month! The rubber stamps are deeply etched, cling mounted and ready for use. The digital images are high quality, very detailed, and available for immediate download. They also offer a great selection of affordable priced May Arts ribbon!

The amazing In Style Stamps design team, along with owner Virginia, creates fabulous samples to inspire everyone. Be sure to check out their blog to see what they've been up to lately. If you don't have any of In Style Stamps' images, you are missing out!

To play along. . insert the link to your card below (click on the blue "add your link" button). If you are unable to link it, please comment this post with the link to your card. If you upload your cards on SCS or PCP, please add the key word: CSAYL and the title "CSAYL60". We hope you'll play along this week.

We can't wait to see what you come up with. Hope you'll play along this week!!

Guest Designer

Marianne of Marianne's Craftroom




I live in Norwich, UK and have been cardmaking for 4 years. I never knew a hobby could be so addictive. I love stamping, designer papers, flowers and snowflakes. I started my blog in June 2009 and absolutely love entering the challenges and blogging. I have learnt so much in the past year and feel my cards have really improved in that time. A couple of years ago I started scrapbooking and love this too although I don't have as much time to do it as I would like. I am a design team member for another Christmas challenge and have been lucky enough to have been a guest designer for several challenges.



Check out the beautiful cards the design team created




Friday, August 6, 2010

Gift Set challenge #6 - Keepsake Box


Hello CSAYL Friends!!! Well, this week is a gift set challenge! Yay! It's time you start creating your gift sets . . .Christmas will roll around before you know it. Why not join us and play along in this week's challenge and get started on your gift sets!

Before we begin, we'd like to introduce our new designer Taylor Usry of The Quiet Moments! We're excited to have such a talented designer on our team.



Hi, I'm Taylor! I currently live in southern Virginia with my wonderful family. I'm lucky enough to get to stay home and work (part time). I enjoy reading, cooking, spending time with my sweet family, and of course all things crafty - cardmaking, scrapbooking, knitting, fabric, you name it. Being a crafter has led me to wonderful friendships, fueled my desire to expand my creative horizons, and helped enable me to buy more goodies! I cannot get enough paper, ink, embellishments, stamps -- all of it!!!! I have a serious love of the winter holidays, and am thrilled to be a part of this awesome team!


Now to this week's challenge. . .

This week's challenge is to create a "Keepsake Box" with a matching Christmas card. It's a really simple project and it's a great box to store a small gift for Christmas.

Here is the tutorial for this week's challenge:

3.75 x 6" Keepsake Box


To play along. . insert the link to your card below (click on the blue "add your link" button). If you are unable to link it, please comment this post with the link to your card. If you upload your cards on SCS or PCP, please add the key word: CSAYL and the title "CSAYLGS6". We hope you'll play along this week. We can't wait to see what you come up with.

Check out the beautiful gift sets the design team created:


Taylor - The Quiet Moments



Maria - Stampin Inspirations

Tina - Mommy Scraps Alot




Peggy Marsh - The Wired Angel