Happy New Year!

 Hi Artzy friends-

I hope 2021 is off to a smooth start for you!

Today for the Anything Goes challenge at Dare 2B Artzy I am sharing a card made with two adorable winter themed stamp sets. These two sets are great for the holidays and beyond. I am sure winter will be hanging around in my neck of the woods for several weeks to come so I will continue to make winter cards!

I have no idea what this card fold is called but I recently received a card from a friend using it and I really liked it! I love the cute polar bear and penguin images from the Just Chillin' stamps and coordinating dies sets. They look great colored to coordinate with the Snow Much Fun paper collection.

The sentiment I chose is from the Toboggan Fun stamp set.

This card fold has 3 flaps that open up to reveal another stamped sentiment inside, and space for a personal greeting.

I had "snow much fun" creating this card, and didn't realize until it was completed that it may be the perfect card to give to my husband when he retires in about a month!

I hope you will get Artzy this month and upload your creations to the challenge post for a chance to win a $15 gift card to Dare 2B Artzy - Anything Goes!

Have an Artzy 2021! Thanks for visiting!

Avra

A Peek of Fall

Hi Artzy friends! 

Here in Ohio we're back to the "dog days of summer," which is to be expected in mid August.  But over the past week we had a few days that actually felt a little fall like. The cooler temps briefly put me in the mood to make a fall card! (Don't worry, I'm not done with summer yet!)

Dare 2B Artzy has several fall themed stamps and dies, as well as papers featuring beautiful fall colors, and I've used a few of them here.

For this card I colored and die cut images from the Foxy Greetings stamp set and the Squirrel stamp set. The patterned paper is from the Autumn Oasis collection. 

I love these cute critters no matter what season it says on the calendar!

Be sure to take a look at all of the fall themed stamps and papers that Dare 2B Artzy has to offer! 

I also hope you'll join the monthly challenge on the Dare 2B Artzy blog. The theme for August is "Anything Goes."  Enter for your chance to win a $15 gift certificate to the shop! 

Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!

Avra

Bear Hugs

Hi Artzy friends!

For the past several weeks, Cindy Sartain, the owner of Dare 2B Artzy, has been  participating in online stamp and scrapbook events, and has also done weekly live videos on her Facebook group (Artzy Community.) During these videos she demos Dare 2B Artzy product, both new, and some items that have been around for a while. Her demos have inspired me to pull out some items that I may not have used recently, and create cards with them.

Today I am sharing two cards that I created with the Bear Hugs stamps and dies, as well as the Rectangle Fancy Framelit dies and the Fun Card Fold die.

The first card is a more "traditional" easel card. I love how the bears "stand up" on the card, and that the card also folds flat for mailing.

These adorable bears have their masks on and are social distancing, making them perfect to use on a card during this crazy time in our lives.

The next card is called a reverse easel card, created with the same dies and stamps.  

This card also folds flat for mailing, and the bears without their masks on can be used for a fun card any time! 

Both of these cards use beautiful papers from the All the Buzz collection

The entire Dare 2B Artzy product line can be found here. 

Our current challenge for this month is Christmas in July. You can enter your project here for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to Dare 2B Artzy. 

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Avra

Bird-Day Greetings

Hi Artzy friends!

 My card today features the Dare 2B Artzy  Little Birdie stamp set, and I think this birthday card would be appropriate for a man or woman, young or old. I don't know about you, but I love having a few birthday cards on hand that I can pop in the mail quickly when the need arises.

To create this card I first did some ink blending using three blue shades of Distress Oxide inks.

I cut an overlay with the Circle Background die out of a piece of blue mirror card. Shiny!

I colored my bird using Copic markers, and stamped my sentiment on my inked background, aligning it with the large open circle on my die cut. 

I assembled the card, popping up the bird with foam tape. 

I hope your July is going well! Please join the Dare 2B Artzy monthly challenge, Christmas in July, for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate!

Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!

Avra

Christmas in July - Dare 2B Artzy Monthly Challenge

Hi Artzy friends!

Christmas is the last thing on my mind during this 90 degree heatwave we're in the midst of!
But it will be here before you know it so now is as good a time as any to get started on those holiday cards!

Please play along with the Dare 2B Artzy monthly challenge by entering your Christmas in July themed project, anytime in July,  for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to Dare 2B Artzy.

I created this shaped winter card using the Rectangle Fancy Framelits.
I cut an A2 card base, with the fold at the top, using one of the fancy rectangle dies. I then cut another of the same sized rectangles out of my patterned paper, from the Snow Much Fun collection, and attached it to the front of the card.

I cut a piece of white cardstock with the Swirl and Stripes Background die, and wove strips of red paper through the striped portion of the die cut. I then cut the swirls side of the die cut off and adhered the woven piece to my card front.

I colored this adorable penguin from the Penguin Fun stamp set, and cut him out with the coordinating die. This set is such a fun, whimsical set that can be used for any winter season occasions.  I wanted to add him to the card with an action wobble, but the ones I had were too large for this image. I must find some small ones to add to my stash! I popped him up with foam dots, and stamped my sentiment, from the same stamp set.

I hope you'll get out some of your wintery, Christmasy, stamps and join our challenge! Who knows? It might just cool you off! 

All of the Dare 2B Artzy products I used today can be found here.

Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!

Avra

Buzzy Beez Bee Day

Hi Artzy friends!

I hope it's a bee-utiful day where you are!

Today I have a "bee card" for you! 

 

Where would we be without bees? Besides making delicious honey, they are responsible for pollinating so many wonderful fruits and vegetables and other plants, as well as benefitting the earth in many other ways.

This cute bee in the center, and the honeycombs are from the Buzzy Beez stamp and die set. 

The two smaller bees are from the Honey Bears set. Both sets contain several bee and honey themed sentiments that are perfect for many occasions.

This bee is wishing you a Happy Bee-Day!

I stenciled the background with some honeycomb stencils, then added the die cut honeycombs from the Buzzy Beez die set. I really like the dimension and interest they add to the background.

I used the stitched rectangle die from the Cupcake die to create a black mat, and popped my bees up with foam tape and foam squares.

Be sure to check out these and many other products on https://dare2bartzy.com/. You can also enter our current monthly challenge, which is Masculine Cards, for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate.

Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!

Avra

Karen Burniston Dies/Dare 2B Artzy Blog Hop

Hi Artzy friends!

Welcome to the KB Riley - Karen Burniston Dies and Dare 2B Artzy Collaboration Blog Hop!

You should have arrived from Fran Sabad's blog

Today I am excited to share a project using some of the fabulous products from both of these companies.

To celebrate our blog hop we have four great prizes to give away. You will have the chance to win one of two $25 Gift Certificates to use on the KB Riley - Karen Burniston Dies website or one of two $25 Gift Certificates to use on the Dare 2B Artzy website.

I created this summer themed pop up-card using the Karen Burniston Circle Tag Book Pop-Up

These pop-up dies look complicated, but are really very easy to put together using the short video tutorial on the Karen Burniston site, and it fits in an A2 envelope for mailing!

The Circle Tag Book Pop-Up was fun to embellish using Dare 2B Artzy papers, stamps and dies, as well as some additional Karen Burniston dies.

For the inside of my card I used Karen Burniston Beach Charms, seashell stamps and dies from the Dare 2B Artzy Seas the Day set, and papers from the Dare 2B Artzy Seas the Day collection.

The charm dies are so cute! Check out the quick video for those too. Although they are small, you may discover unexpected ways to embellish them to give them a big impact!

I decorated the front of my card with Dare 2B Artzy Ocean Waves and Anchors Away stamps and dies, and the Karen Burniston Word Set 6 - Summer.

To create the "ocean" I stamped the waves stamp from the Dare 2B Artzy Ocean Waves set with embossing ink on blue mirror cardstock (a less glossy, or matte finish works best to achieve a metallic look.) and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I was really happy with the result!

Make sure you join the hop and comment on everyone's blog post for your chance to win one of these prizes. Winners will be randomly chosen from the comments left on ALL THE POSTS received by Friday 26th June 2020.

Next on the hop is Kelly Booth!

Here is the entire hop lineup, in case you get lost -

Dare 2B Artzy

Lois Bak

Kendra Sand

Frances Byrne

Melody Blake

Karen Aicken

Karen Ostergard

Fran Sabad

Avra Williams - that's me!

Kelly Booth

Chris Pozzi

Sandy Diller

Tasha Jorgensen

Karen Burniston Dies

Thanks for hopping, and have a great day!

Avra

I could just spit!

Hi Artzy friends!

It's been a long year these past few months, hasn't it? Lol! I don't know about you, but I'm really missing my crafty friends!  I am looking forward to brightening my days with some friend time!   As restrictions in Ohio are slowly starting to be lifted, I am going to find ways to have some "socially distanced" social time with my friends. I can see their smiles, outdoors, from 6 feet away and we can all stay safe! 

This alpaca feels the same way I do!

This is a trifold, or shutter card. I used a premade card base but they are simple to make yourself. The Alpaca and the sentiment are from the Alpaca Cake stamp set. 

I just love the images and sentiments in this set, and in Spit Happens. 

One die set cuts the images in both stamp sets.

Isn't he/she the cutest?

The patterned background paper is from the Botanical Breeze collection.

Please visit the Dare 2B Artzy blog to see all the latest products, including items whose proceeds help benefit COVID-19 relief efforts. 

You can also enter the current month's challenge, whose theme is Masculine Cards, for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate!

One more thing - Dare 2B Artzy is having a design team call! You can see the details on the Dare 2B  Artzy blog.

Thanks for visiting, and have a great day! 

Avra

Coffee Lovers Hop May 2020

It's time for the Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Hop, and I am excited to be participating with Dare 2B Artzy!

I created this card with the Dare 2B Artzy Cup of Cheer stamp set.

I added some shimmer to the cups to make them extra "cheery"

I'm missing my friends right now, so this cup of cheer goes out to all of you virtually!

Be sure to hop along with us! One lucky person who comments on the Dare 2B Artzy blog will win a $15 gift card. 

You can also use the discount code COFFEE15 when you shop at Dare 2B Artzy,  for 15% off your purchase!

Thanks for visiting, and have a cheery day!

Avra