House of Cards Photo Inspiration & Blog Hop!

Hi friends!  Can you believe we've come to the end of our third term at House of Cards?!  We are saying a fond farewell to some of our DT members and feel so grateful to those staying on.  To say goodbye and thank you, we're celebrating with a blog hop!

This hop will run FROM DECEMBER 1ST AT 6:00 AM CST THROUGH DECEMBER 15TH AT NOON CST,  ANY CARD STYLE is welcome and we've got a gorgeous photo inspiration for your crafting enjoyment! 

Here's our photo inspiration~

You should have arrived here from ANITA'S blog.  If you haven't, and you'd like to hop with us, please make sure you start there and continue through the whole hop for the most chances to win!  Speaking of winning, we have some amazing sponsors!

Here are all of our fabulous sponsors.

Our team will be using a variety of products

from these amazing companies!

Daydream Designs
Prize: $20 to their digital store

Deedee's Digis
Prize: Gift Card to the online store.

Eclectic Anthology
Prize: $50 gift voucher to the shop.

Great Impressions
Prize: Prize Package with 5 Stamps

Paper Sweeties
Prize: $20 gift voucher to the shop.

Stitchy Bear
Prize: $10 gift voucher to the shop.

Aren't those great sponsors & prizes? Be sure to leave some comment love at every stop!

Now on to my creative goodies! These projects use gorgeous papers from Eclectic Anthology: 

Eclectic Vintage Printable Papers - Aged Aqua

Eclectic Vintage Printable Papers - Coffee Bean

and images from Daydream Designs: Christmas Deer Outlines - PERFECT for our photo inspiration!

And, finally, a card using the Jolly Snowman from Great Impressions...

Now get to hoppin'!  Your next stop is JUDY'S blog!  Don't forget to link up a project with us after completing the hop for an extra chance to win a mystery prize from one of our fabulous sponsors, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Inky hugs,
Angi

House of Cards Sketch - O Holy Night

Happy Day After Halloween!

This day marks the official start of the holidays for me...already have plans in motion for Thanksgiving, Christmas plans being finalized and brain storming New Year's! Thankful for the sugar rush! lol

When it comes to making a few more Christmas cards in October, I can use all the help I can find! Well, this month's House of Cards Challenge is a sketch. Works for me!

Here's my take on the sketch:

At first glance this may look like a CAS card (...and to some of you it may be! lol), but this card has layers and lots of embossing - the hot kind!

- The basic notes:

- black panel is punched

- kraft layer is clear embossed and so is a section of the white base. It was super hard to photograph, but you can see how the light catches the shiny areas. It's so pretty in person!

- sentiment is gold embossed.

This card is also a gatefold card! (with a nekked inside...will finish that this weekend.)

Now it's YOUR turn! You can make it CAS (clean and simple), Classic, Cute or Vintage...whatever your style is! Link up your card HERE.

You'll find all of the Design Team cards linked up on the main challenge blog with HOC DT after their names. Be sure to visit them for lots of inspiration!

Inky hugs,
Angi

House of Cards Punches or Dies - Truly Grateful

This month's challenge at House of Cards is to use your *Dies or Punches* on your project. If you've been crafting for awhile, I bet you have a bunch of punches or dies that have been sitting around, maybe even a new one you haven't even gotten out of the package...so get them out and on your cards!

On this card I used the Cheery Lynn English Tea Party Doily Die. As you can see there are a lot of bits to weed out, but I love the tiny cut outs and the pinholes. You can die cut card stock, but I prefer to use regular printer paper to match the thin, light feel of the store bought doilies.

For the bottom of the banners, I used a square punch to cut out the triangular pieces. Using the punch allows for a more uniform look.

Even the half circle is cut out using a Spellbinder's Nesties Circle die! (Cutting the doily and the circle in half made it easy to make a second card!)

This design makes it easy to use up scraps. Keep the card base, background paper and doily neutral and mix and match the papers for the banners and the half circle for quick cards.

We would love for you to stop by the House of Cards Challenge and see what the CAS designers have made!

And then, of course, link up your project, too!

Inky hugs,

Angi

House of Cards Colour Palette - Every Day Moments

Some days I feel as if I am having a lot of 'moments'...senior moments, life lesson moments, practice patience moments...do you know what I mean?!

These last couple of weeks have been hectic with school starting back up, fall sports, work, etc. Getting back into the routine of life with kids - school time.

Thank Goodness for the creative challenges! This month at the House of Cards challenge we have a colour palette!

This definitely says, "Autumn!" I pulled a few colours for this card: gray, red, the oranges...especially for the embossed, spritzed, lightly distressed background. I'm not sure I'm lovin' the ribbon. It feels like it needs a little something more. Keepin' it real here. This card may need a makeover.

Have you ever designed a card you just don't love?

The dragonfly is embossed and the buttons were punched from cork.

Not a lot of chit chat today. There's a lot on the to-do list! Grab a cuppa and take a look at the other designs for this challenge - you'll be inspired!

Inky hugs,
Angi

Playing along with the following challenges:
Deconstructed Sketch #168

Creative Moments #51 - ATG/Fall Colours
Little Red Wagon #254 - Cork (buttons)
SSS Wednesday Challenge - Make Your Own Background

House of Cards Sketch - Fairy Wish

I love a good sketch...you?

This month the challenge at House of Cards is this sketch:

I love the lines and how you can make this sketch CAS (Clean and Simple) or ramp it up and add lots of layers.

I decided on both...lots of little layers and simple lines. Using Lucky Wishes from A Day for Daisies (one of my most favorite digi stamp stores!) and a lacy punch and, of course, some gorgeous glitter this is my card...

Love the lacy layers and subtle texture! If this card wasn't already reserved for a special niece, I think it would be sitting on a shelf near my workbench; this fairy brings smiles.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you'll find time to stop by the House of Cards blog and see the other styles for this sketch.

Inky hugs,
Angi

Also playing along with these challenges:
Marker POP! #49 - Anything Goes (08/18)
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Make It Sparkle (08/13)
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards #71 - Fairies (08/22)

House of Cards - Add a Bow (or Bows!)

I'm a work at night person (who enjoys sleeping), but I love mornings. There's so much promise at the beginning of the day...and I want to start the week with a high five...so...

Happy Monday!

Today I'm happy to share with you some good news - Mynn of the House of Cards challenge invited me to join their Classic Design Team! It's a great, easy going challenge with lots of inspiration. A monthly challenge with a new style represented each week. Something for everyone! Check out the DT's blogs in the right left column...so fab!

This month's challenge is ADD A BOW (OR BOWS!). Here's my card...

We've got dry embossing on the background, out of the box stamped & Copic colored image (colors coming soon!), thermal embossing on a tiny punched tab and, of course, bows - 2 of them!

Link up to our challenge HERE. Be sure to visit the HOC blog each week to enjoy the different styles.

Hope you don't mind the short post. I've had a busy weekend and I've got an even busier week coming up (more details and crafty posts coming soon!). So glad I was able to work a little coloring in!

Inky hugs,

Angi

Playing along with these challenges:

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #329 - Pretty Papers

Inspired By Stamping #83 - I chose to use Colors & Ribbon

Art By Miran Challenge #10 - Anything Goes

Open-Minded Crafting Fun Challenges #14 - Water, Water Everywhere (my image is a water lily...in water!)