Note: This is the first of THREE posts today, so be sure to check the others!
It’s the first of the month, so that means a new challenge. September’s challenge will be cute creatures! Dogs, cats, bears, pigs, bugs, otters, dolphins, whatever you like. And, as I mentioned last week, I’ve implemented card uploads directly into LiveLoveCards! So, you don’t need a blog or any other photo-sharing account to enter. Just upload a photo directly from your computer to the challenge page. I uploaded my card so you can see how it looks.
The last day to submit your entry is Friday, September 30th, 11:59pm CT. One random winner will be selected from all entries and announced on Saturday, October 1st.
The giveaway will be a $25 gift voucher to Simon Says Stamp, one of my favorite stores!
ALSO! Don’t forget that I will pick out the honorable mentions and feature them in a special post on October 1st. These are entries that are extra creative, different, or just plain special for some reason.
Okay, just to recap the main rules:
Your entry must include a cute creature of some kind.
You can submit as many entries as you like! However, please submit only one entry per card.
After submitting your entry, leave a comment on the entry just before yours.
Leave more comments on entries, if you’re so inclined. 🙂
To be eligible for a prize, you must be an active member of LiveLoveCards at the time the winner is announced and your card must have been made in the current month.
The window opens to the inside, where I have a hidden sentiment behind the cat’s head:
The kids have been asking for a cat. Over the weekend Courtney and I went to the pet store to drop the dogs off for grooming and pickup some worms for the lizard. Lo and behold, the pet store was hosting a kitten adoption… I lose all self-control at those things. If I touch a pet I need to bring it home. Fortunately for my husband, you have to submit an application before getting a kitten. He blocked the kitten adoption because he says we are “already at our pet limit”.
Creating a kitten card will have to suffice for now. Here are a couple of close-ups:
This window die is really nice because there are a lot of dry embossed lines in it. Enjoy the video. I look forward to seeing your work!
Supplies:
To purchase at Ellen Hutson, click the EH link. To purchase at Simon Says Stamp, click the SSS link. Copic markers used: cat (Y21, YR24, E99), fish bowl (B02, B000, C1, 0, E55, YR04), table (C4, C1)
This card was made with many SU circle punches and the scalloped circle punch.
Purr-fect
September photo challenge
Squirrel with Nuts
Snow Bunnies.JPG
Lawn Fawn bunnies know how to celebrate winter!
Crazy Dog Forgot Your Birthday!
HappyTuesdayCards
Super easy card using MFT Warm and Fuzzy Friends.
Cat in a window: Never give up
September challenge launch card!
Etch-A-Sketch Card with From the Herd
Remember the Etch-A-Sketch? I used stitched rectangle dies, round the corners and the Stampin Up "From the Herd" stamp set on vellum. These guys are hilarious!
Bird Crazy Birthday Card
I love Tim Holtz's Bird Crazy and Crazy Things stamp sets!
SEliot Hello There
Love this hen! And it gave me a chance to play with my new Spectrum Noir pens. Hope you like it!
I used the Sizzix Circle #4 Flip It die. The orange background paper is SU and was laying on my desk, so I pulled out some patterned paper from Gina K Designs and it went perfectly with the SU paper. Then I used the stamp set Bounty of Blessings by Gina K Designs and added it to the front of the card.
Underwater Fun Birthday.jpg
Art Impressions Dog Stack card created by
Girl with Pups
Thank you card for my daughter…featuring, my daughter and our two dogs. 🙂
Big Birthday Bear Hug
Birthday card for my hubby.
Hello Foxy
Imaginisce - Twitterpated Collection - Foxy
Has to be one of my favorite stamps ever! Stamped in Black then clear embossed. Colored with copics then fussy cut.
Cutie Pie.jpg
Pachyderm in Hat.
House Mouse.jpg
Relax card using house mouse stamp
farm.JPG
Card with Lunar Animals stamp set and MFT farm fence die
Box.JPG
Card using Lunar animals stamp set and Sweet & Tangled box die
Bucky Beaver Get Well.jpg
Stamp chosen from Create A Smile Doctor's Helpers
Minnie Mouse Welcomes Paige
This was made for a friend who had her first baby girl, and the whole family is crazy for Disney.
Cats
Wedding card for my brother who owns two cats!
Cute snowman
Cricut Doodlecharms snowman on Hero Arts Tiny Star background
Birthday-Cow.jpg
by Annie A.
Fox and friends using Sketch by lovinpaper
I am following sketches by mychicknscratch.com and this is number 5 of the sketch. The stamp for the focal is Penny Black Woodland Friends. The cardstock and pattern paper is Gina K Designs.
Quack, quack
September photo challenge
Kitties
Sherry W. - card design by Sandy Allnock
Happy Meow-lloween
Used the stamp set by Art Impressions called Meow-lloween.
IMG_1187.JPG
House Mouse - In a Nut shell...Charlene Thompson
I love you cuties
Used my moms stamp set... Too cute!
Pop up card for my mom
I used the interactive cake dies from MFT, such a fun set!
Autumn Greetings
Used a retired stamp set from Hero Arts (Li'l Hoot).
Happy Halloween
The stamp set I used is Trick or Treat by Simon Says Stamp. I used glitter embossing powder on the sentiment and I colored the images with Spectrum Noir markers.
Best Fishes Kid\'s birthday card
This is the Best Fishes stamp set using the bead gel (added a bit of blue to the gel) and a stencil for the background.
Best Fishes Shaker card
This is a shaker card made with the Best Fishes stamp set and Martha Stewart Seed beads for the shakers do the paper is from Stampin Up!
Birthday Cake Mouse
This is one of my favorite House Mouse stamps by Stampendous, I believe.
Versafine Black ink, embossed with clear powder, water colored bird using Gansai Tambi paints. Inside says "But, it's an awfully BIG NUMBER!"
Crazy Dogs
Chirp chirp
I love you this much
I used SSS heart BG stamp with clear embossing powder. Colored Joey with copics and fussy cut, and adhered with dimensionals. The hearts in the pouch are colored with copics and crystal effects on top. The sentiment was stamped on vellum with versamark, then embossed.
Thank you for supplying uploading photo storage for the challenges. but if I want to upload a card from my blog, can I still insert the URL for the image, or no?
wrote on September 2nd, 2016 at 11:33 am
Darlene DeVries
You’ll need to upload your image, but you can include a link to your blog in the description.
wrote on September 1st, 2016 at 2:44 pm
Brenda L.
Super cute encouragement card Darlene! I love the way your cat and fish bowl turned out. Hugs, Brenda
wrote on September 1st, 2016 at 2:53 pm
Sherry W.
Very cute card.
wrote on September 1st, 2016 at 3:12 pm
Barb H.
I love love love this card! You make me want to order this set!
How do you decide when to buy matching dies for a stamp set and when to to just get the stamp set and fussy cut when needed?
I’m not Darlene, but I thought I’d chime in about your question. For me, I started out ALWAYS buying the coordinating dies. But I finally smartened up, and now I take a close look at the stamp images. If they look pretty easy to fussy cut, I’ll just save some money & skip the dies. If they’re really intricate, or there’s some special feature with the dies, I’ll get the dies. For instance, the “All Inside” set by Essentials by Ellen has a die that cuts the bear’s arms, just enough so you can slip something in so it looks like he’s holding it. Probably would work with fussy cutting, but sooo much easier with the die! Sorry for the long answer. HTH! 🙂 ~ Andrea
wrote on September 2nd, 2016 at 11:42 am
Darlene DeVries
lol Andrea – just saw you response – I used the same example! 🙂
I will usually buy the dies if they add something special, like the All Inside dies that cut the bear’s arms open, or dies that add dry embossing like this ice cream cone. I’ll also buy them if I think I can use them without the stamps.
wrote on September 1st, 2016 at 3:41 pm
Almadirpaul
Love your kitten story.
Thanks for making it easier to upload photos. Works really well.
Thank you, Darlene, for adding the ability to upload images directly to here. I think it will be MUCH easier, especially for commenting!
I love this card! We have 3 cats, and our youngest, Barney, was lying on my footrest, against my leg, while I watched your video. Kind of the perfect scenario. LOL The trick with cutting around the whiskers is kind of a “duh” moment. It seems so obvious–when someone else points it out–like, “why did I never think of that before???”
I also like your cat story. We had 6 cats and 2 dogs at one time. The dogs went to live with my brother finally after he got married, and we’ve had our cat population dwindle through death. Three is a very nice number, though! Sorry you’re at your pet limit. But maybe something will come along. Never give up! 🙂 ~ Andrea
wrote on September 1st, 2016 at 6:22 pm
ben9903
I love these forward and backward images, and making animals look like they are peering through a window! This is adorable! Thanks for sharing!!
wrote on September 1st, 2016 at 6:31 pm
Carol Mac
Sweet card, Darlene! I don’t have any “critter” stamps or dies, and need to get some! I say that every time I see you make one of these cards, now I am going to SSS to see what I can find! I have the window die too and I like the fact that you left it open (no glass so to speak). I also have two 4-year old black cats, Fred and Gracie (brother and sister) and they love this card too!
wrote on September 2nd, 2016 at 11:46 am
Darlene DeVries
I originally wanted to put acetate in the middle, but it wouldn’t work out with his paws over the edge. If I put his face on the inside of the card, it would look like half his head was outside the window and half was inside. If I put his face on the underside of the acetate facing the inside, I wouldn’t be able to get his paws over the edge. In the end, I went empty!
Oh Darlene, I adore this sweet card, all of the images on this set are so cute, this particular kitten is adorable. Love the stamps with a front and back, they create the cutest little scenes.
As always, fabulous video, thank you.
Hugs.
Maria Rodriguez.
wrote on September 2nd, 2016 at 9:13 am
Elyse
Just precious!
wrote on September 2nd, 2016 at 2:39 pm
jpklehm
This is such a cute card, Darlene…well done! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Pam K.
wrote on September 2nd, 2016 at 9:49 pm
Diana
My kids gave me the “Crazy Cat Lady” action figure, so of course, cat cards are my favorite. Love this one.
wrote on September 2nd, 2016 at 11:15 pm
blondie37
Oh Darlene
Love these Pussies . Now to start saving for these. I am a CAT person too and cannot resist Kitty sets
Front and back pussies : What a cute idea
Raewyn
wrote on September 6th, 2016 at 4:05 pm
Barb H.
The new upload photo technology isn’t working well for me. I was finally able to upload one card picture which wasn’t one I really wanted to enter. The two I want to enter both error out saying they were already submitted followed by an error saying it failed.
wrote on September 6th, 2016 at 4:59 pm
Barb H.
I just figured out the problem. I can’t upload photos directly from my IPAD to the Live Love Cards site. I need to send the photos through my email to myself so I can save them on my computer and then upload from there.
wrote on September 6th, 2016 at 9:45 pm
kmdagrace47
Thanks Barb H. I had the same problem trying to upload from my I-phone!!!
wrote on September 7th, 2016 at 10:09 am
Darlene DeVries
Yes, sorry about that. Uploading from mobile devices is a problem right now. I’m working on a resolution.
wrote on September 7th, 2016 at 10:06 pm
Darlene DeVries
It’s fixed! You can now upload from your device. 🙂
wrote on September 7th, 2016 at 9:00 pm
Sharon Farrah
Love, love this card!
wrote on September 17th, 2016 at 7:27 pm
Hannah Means
What an adorable stamp! You coloring is outstanding!
Connie
Being a cat person, I really loved this card. It’s definitely on my to-do list! Can’t wait to see what else you have in store for us today!
tesoro72@aol.com
Thank you for supplying uploading photo storage for the challenges. but if I want to upload a card from my blog, can I still insert the URL for the image, or no?
Darlene DeVries
You’ll need to upload your image, but you can include a link to your blog in the description.
Brenda L.
Super cute encouragement card Darlene! I love the way your cat and fish bowl turned out. Hugs, Brenda
Sherry W.
Very cute card.
Barb H.
I love love love this card! You make me want to order this set!
How do you decide when to buy matching dies for a stamp set and when to to just get the stamp set and fussy cut when needed?
Andrea
I’m not Darlene, but I thought I’d chime in about your question. For me, I started out ALWAYS buying the coordinating dies. But I finally smartened up, and now I take a close look at the stamp images. If they look pretty easy to fussy cut, I’ll just save some money & skip the dies. If they’re really intricate, or there’s some special feature with the dies, I’ll get the dies. For instance, the “All Inside” set by Essentials by Ellen has a die that cuts the bear’s arms, just enough so you can slip something in so it looks like he’s holding it. Probably would work with fussy cutting, but sooo much easier with the die! Sorry for the long answer. HTH! 🙂 ~ Andrea
Darlene DeVries
lol Andrea – just saw you response – I used the same example! 🙂
Andrea
Great minds think alike! 😀 ~ Andrea
Darlene DeVries
I will usually buy the dies if they add something special, like the All Inside dies that cut the bear’s arms open, or dies that add dry embossing like this ice cream cone. I’ll also buy them if I think I can use them without the stamps.
Almadirpaul
Love your kitten story.
Thanks for making it easier to upload photos. Works really well.
Andrea
Thank you, Darlene, for adding the ability to upload images directly to here. I think it will be MUCH easier, especially for commenting!
I love this card! We have 3 cats, and our youngest, Barney, was lying on my footrest, against my leg, while I watched your video. Kind of the perfect scenario. LOL The trick with cutting around the whiskers is kind of a “duh” moment. It seems so obvious–when someone else points it out–like, “why did I never think of that before???”
I also like your cat story. We had 6 cats and 2 dogs at one time. The dogs went to live with my brother finally after he got married, and we’ve had our cat population dwindle through death. Three is a very nice number, though! Sorry you’re at your pet limit. But maybe something will come along. Never give up! 🙂 ~ Andrea
ben9903
I love these forward and backward images, and making animals look like they are peering through a window! This is adorable! Thanks for sharing!!
Carol Mac
Sweet card, Darlene! I don’t have any “critter” stamps or dies, and need to get some! I say that every time I see you make one of these cards, now I am going to SSS to see what I can find! I have the window die too and I like the fact that you left it open (no glass so to speak). I also have two 4-year old black cats, Fred and Gracie (brother and sister) and they love this card too!
Darlene DeVries
I originally wanted to put acetate in the middle, but it wouldn’t work out with his paws over the edge. If I put his face on the inside of the card, it would look like half his head was outside the window and half was inside. If I put his face on the underside of the acetate facing the inside, I wouldn’t be able to get his paws over the edge. In the end, I went empty!
Laura Norris
This card is just soooo cute! I love those front and back stamps- so creative! Great job Darlene.
swimbikerunat60
Oh Darlene, I adore this sweet card, all of the images on this set are so cute, this particular kitten is adorable. Love the stamps with a front and back, they create the cutest little scenes.
As always, fabulous video, thank you.
Hugs.
Maria Rodriguez.
Elyse
Just precious!
jpklehm
This is such a cute card, Darlene…well done! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Pam K.
Diana
My kids gave me the “Crazy Cat Lady” action figure, so of course, cat cards are my favorite. Love this one.
blondie37
Oh Darlene
Love these Pussies . Now to start saving for these. I am a CAT person too and cannot resist Kitty sets
Front and back pussies : What a cute idea
Raewyn
Barb H.
The new upload photo technology isn’t working well for me. I was finally able to upload one card picture which wasn’t one I really wanted to enter. The two I want to enter both error out saying they were already submitted followed by an error saying it failed.
Barb H.
I just figured out the problem. I can’t upload photos directly from my IPAD to the Live Love Cards site. I need to send the photos through my email to myself so I can save them on my computer and then upload from there.
kmdagrace47
Thanks Barb H. I had the same problem trying to upload from my I-phone!!!
Darlene DeVries
Yes, sorry about that. Uploading from mobile devices is a problem right now. I’m working on a resolution.
Darlene DeVries
It’s fixed! You can now upload from your device. 🙂
Sharon Farrah
Love, love this card!
Hannah Means
What an adorable stamp! You coloring is outstanding!