Hang in There

The delightful Brenda is hosting our newest Little Red Wagon and she wants to see cards that are hard to make. It's not so much that she's looking for a great deal of mastery going into our next-to-impossible feats of crafting skill, but cards (or other paper projects) that are difficult for the very reason we're sending them - sympathy, illness, thinking of you, etc. 

Years ago, I did some guest designing for Your Next Stamp (a Canadian company!) and received a fun stamp and die set called "Scratch Pad". I've always liked this set and thought that the "hang in there" sentiment would be a fun way to cheer up somebody who's otherwise having a difficult time. I love that there's even some little scratch dies that come with the set. The brick background was created with an MFT stencil and the white frame was created with a no-name die from Amazon (with a shoutout of thanks to my DT sister, Shani, for showcasing the die on her blog so I could purchase one too!). I simply tore the black cardstock to create my ripped (scratched!) mat. 

Please head over to Little Red Wagon to view the rest of the Girlfriends' projects. We hope you'll join this week's challenge too! 

2

Be U, Beautiful

It's halfway through March and we're still in full winter here. It continues to snow here and there although temperatures are starting to go above freezing which is always a delight. Spring will be here soon, I hope!

Janice is our fabulous hostess at Little Red Wagon this week and she's asking us to "Bring on the Bling!" Janice is looking for sparkle and glitter, gems and charms, as we create our projects (any sort of card, bookmark, home decor, scrapbook page, journal page, etc.).

I used two types of glitter paper and my MFT "Bold Beautiful" die to create my project. I chose papers that matched a glittery dragonfly embellishment but, when I added it on, I didn't like the look so decided my card was perfect just as it was. I was able to save the dragonfly and its continuing to hibernate until another crafty day. 

I saw the BE U idea ages ago, perhaps on the MFT blog during the release countdown? I'm typically all about proper grammar and spelling (even when texting!) but thought this was fun and decided to break the rules a bit. 

Please head to Little Red Wagon to see the rest of the Girlfriend's glitter and glam. You may want to consider wearing sunglasses!

4

Merci

Bonjour! This week, the delightful Shani is our hostess at Little Red Wagon. Shani lives in France and she's chosen the theme "Frenchified" for this week's challenge. Basically, if your creation is inspired by something with a French connection, you're just the person we want to have you join us! Think wine, brie and camembert, escargots, macarons, Marseille soaps, Chanel, Dior or Vuitton, etc. 

I decided to go ultra literal and used Paris and the Eiffel Tower on my card. I've been privileged to visit Paris and other parts of France several times. We usually rent a flat for the full "when in France" experience. Paris is one of my favourite places to visit.

The background for my card was created with an MFT stamp and the Eiffel Tower stamp is from MFT's "In Paris" stamp set. I used some blue, white and red twine (colours of the French flag) and letter dies from My Craft Spot (no longer in business). 

Please head to Little Red Wagon for "l'inspiration française" and then think happy French thoughts as you create for this week's challenge.

6

Wishing You Well

Happy March! I can't believe how time is flying. I'm in Toronto this week for meetings and professional development - and will be giving a presentation to my peers at University of Toronto tomorrow. It's busy but exciting!

Doni is our hostess at Little Red Wagon this week and her theme is "Feel Better - get well or encouragement". I made this card for my sister-in-law who is currently being treated for breast cancer (with a very positive prognosis!!). I used a stencil and frame die from MFT, a flower stamp, die and stencil from Altenew and a sentiment from My Craft Spot.

Please head over to Little Red Wagon to see the rest of the Girlfriends' creations - and then link up your own "Feel Better" project! 

6

Hello - All Die Cuts

Happy Wednesday! We're in for another doozy of a storm here in Ontario, Canada. Things are supposed to get really bad through the night so I'm relieved that I'll be working from home tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers and praying hard that things will be clear by Friday as I'm heading to southern Ontario for the weekend to cheer on my youngest in an ice hockey tournament. It looks as though things should be cleared up by then. 

Chrissy is our ever-so-creative hostess at Little Red Wagon this week and she's chosen the theme "Die Cuts". With the exception of my card base which I cut with my paper trimmer, all other elements were created from an assortment of dies from an assortment of different crafting companies - My Craft Spot, Reverse Confetti, Flora and Fauna, Gemini. 

Please head over to Little Red Wagon to see the many ways die cuts have been used by the Girlfriends - and then create a paper projects with a die cut or two to join the fun! 

5

We're a Perfect Pair

It's the wonderful Imke's turn to host our Little Red Wagon challenge this week and she's chosen the theme, "Fruits or Vegetables?" I went with veggies to create my little (4.25 inch) square card. 

I used a NBUS die from MFT to create the sunburst frame around my little pea and carrot pals (from the no-longer-in-business Lil Inker Designs). That was then popped on a coloured mat for a bit of dimension. 

Given the small size of the card and the different die frames used, I opted to include the sentiment on the inside of the card.

Please head to Little Red Wagon to see the rest of the Fruits and Vegetable creations - and then link up one of your own! 

7

Love You

It's my first time to post on Little Red Wagon in 2023. This year, I'm using Queen's greatest hits as inspiration and, this week, I've chosen my favourite of all their songs (and also ranking right up there as one of my all-time favourite songs in general) - Somebody to Love. As this week's challenge is the final one before Valentine's Day, I thought it was fitting.

I recently viewed a video short from Gerry's Craft Room YouTube Channel and used her card to inspire my own creation. I should have marked the holes first as the top right stitching is a bit misaligned. Fortunately, the grungy look of the card helps it not look too horrible! I hand-cut the heart and basically used a variety of items from my crafting stash that I've had for ages. 

Please head over to Little Red Wagon to see what the rest of the Girlfriends have created - and then link up your own "Somebody to Love" project! 

4

Grande Birthday Wishes

Happy February and greetings from a chilly Ontario, Canada! We've had some cold days here and we're heading toward some frigid temperatures this weekend. It's perfect for staying inside while enjoying hot beverages. Speaking of hot beverages, the wonderful Brenda is hosting at Little Red Wagon this week and she's chosen the theme "Feature Warm Drinks". 

I pulled out an oldie but goodie stamp set from Reverse Confetti and paired the stamps with some die cuts and a stencil from MFT stamps. I did get this general card layout idea from Reverse Confetti.

Please grab a warm drink to sip and enjoy while browsing through the Girlfriends' projects at Little Red Wagon - and then create and link up your own hot beverage creation! 

5

Happy Birthday

This week's Little Red Wagon challenge is hosted by Jan and she's picked the theme, "Happy, happy birthday"! As each and every person we know has a birthday to celebrate, this is the perfect opportunity to add to your card stash, make a tag, scrap a special day or create anything with paper that celebrates a birthday!

I'm working on adding to my birthday card stash so here's another one! I used another one of my new Altenew sets - stamps, dies and stencils - to create this card. It would have been fairly simple to put together but I seemed to be rather stencil challenged! Anyway, I eventually figured things out after multiple flips and turns and this is the result.

Please head to Little Red Wagon to see all the other birthday creations - and then link up your own birthday papercraft! 

5

I Sea It's Your Birthday

It's the Little Red Wagon's newest Girlfriend's turn to host our challenge this week. The wonderful Shani has chosen the theme, "Sea You Then". Shani is looking for any sort of papercraft with any sort of sea theme.

When the stamp set, "You Keep Me Afloat" from MFT was released, I purchased it right away, along with a background sea stamp ("Scallop Stripe"), and never used them... until now! I started by stamping a background using the sea stamp with Versamark and then heat embossing with a glittery embossing powder (although it's hard to see the sparkle in the photo). I then blended some ink in three different blues. I cut the mat and frame from different MFT dies and finally stamped, coloured and cut the fun little sea friends. 

Why not head over to Little Red Wagon to "sea" the DT inspiration and then link up your own project. We'd love to "sea" it! 

4

Super Fun Birthday

It's the wonderful Doni's turn to host our latest Little Red Wagon challenge and she's saying, "Baby It's Cold Outside". She's looking for any creation that is winter themed or related. 

We've been fortunate so far (at least from my non-winter appreciating perspective) with above seasonal temperatures here in my slice of Canada. We had quite a blizzard a couple of days before Christmas but things have been much milder since then. In fact, quite a bit of our snow has melted. I'm okay with that! However, despite my dislike of winter, I DO like certain winter-themed stamp sets that I own so pulled one (MFT's Pile on the Hugs) out to make a card for my nephew's birthday next month. I also pulled out an old Sizzix embossing folder for my snow-covered background. 

Please head over to Little Red Wagon to see the rest of the wintery creations from the Design Team - and then join the fun by making and linking up your own project! 

6

Thank You So Much

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a fabulous and restful holiday. 

The talented Chrissy is our hostess for Little Red Wagon's first challenge of 2023 and she's chosen the theme "New Beginnings" - new job, new baby, new home, etc. I am sorry to say that I did not read the description until yesterday when I was posting my project. I thought we were to use new crafty goodies on our projects and that is what I did. These thank you cards were made to send out to givers of some of the lovely items I received for Christmas - so items having new beginnings with me. Now I'm just stretching things, I know. I apologize for being a bit off the mark with this challenge. The good news is that I've got 50 more LRW challenges on which to improve this year!!

In December, I learned about Altenew from Brenda (my LRW DT Girlfriend) and checked them out. They were having a countdown to Christmas sale and I purchased more items than necessary. Rennie Roses was one of the items on mega discount when bundled (with coordinating dies and stencil). I created these cards using the stamps and stencils - as well as new inking brushes and new square dies (from Ecstasy Crafts).

Please head over to Little Red Wagon and check out the inspiration linked by the design team - and then link up your own New Beginnings projects (hopefully reading the instructions more carefully than I did)! 

Update: I got up early this morning to create something to better meet this week's challenge theme. I used some of the "didn't make the cut" pieces from my previous cards to make this one.

4