Welcome to our first Encore Challenge of 2025. A group of us from an annual spring retreat are participating in this challenge throughout the year to encourage ourselves to use those supplies we’ve used once and never returned to since! Our fearless leader, Darlene, says about her challenge, Go and grab a stamp set, stencil or dies–your choice, that you have used once before and have always wanted to revisit it and use it again.  However, despite your best intentions, you have yet to use it!  Now’s your chance! Go dig it out and have fun with it once again.  Create anything you like, a card, gift card holder, decorate a gift bag, make a refrigerator magnet…whatever lights up your creative juices! So–Encore Challenge!  This covers pretty much everything in my studio! I won’t have to look too far or think too hard for something to use!! This card is made with a retired Stampin’ Up! set, Celebrate Everything. Used it once, never touched it again and it’s been years since that first use. Our Encore Challenges will be posted on the 25th of the each month….as you can see a bit late!

My card,

This paper was so fun to pull out, look at all those fun faces ready to celebrate! Please check out more creations for this challenge here:

Darlene – According to Bijou

Barb – Barb’s Inkin’ In Retirement

Carol – Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette – Cre8tive Play

Terry – It’s Totally Terry

Supplies used:

Stampin’ Up! Celebrate Everything, retired

Close To My Heart alpha set for the word “you”, retired

Basic Grey KneeHighs 6×6 paper pad

Stampin’ Up! White and rose red cardstock

SU 1 3/8″ and 1 1/4″ circle punches, star punch

Gold paper

Ranger Distress Oxide Ink, Broken China

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Reminder:

Don’t forget to play along in our Art Nudge January challenges for a chance to win a prize package. The deadline to enter on Jeanne’s blog is January 31st.

This sweet inspiration photo led me to pull out my fun Gnome Sweet Gnome die set by Taylored Expressions. I love all things gnomes. And coffee, and chocolate and and, and but we’ll just stick about gnomes today. They are just so dang cute and fit into every holiday and season. I made many Valentine’s last year with this die set!

My card,

Supplies used:

Taylored Expressions Gnome Sweet Gnome die set

Stampin’ Up Holidays & Wishes retired set

Snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folder

Red gems

VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne black ink pad

Stampin’ Up Basic Gray ink (sponging around sentiment banner)

Stampin’ Up White, Ivory, some shade of brown (!), and Basic Grey cardstock

American Crafts 6×6 paper pad (Gnome hat)

Tombo Multi Adhesive

I love this City Stacks stamp set from Concord & 9th. I also have the City Stacks die set. I colored the buildings with Copics and cut out and popped up a few of the buildings to give my scene some depth. I love a good city view at night, whether right downtown myself or from a distance traveling on the highway. I like to VISIT the city, I wouldn’t like to live there!

Supplies used:

Concord and 9th City Stacks Stamp Set

Concord and 9th City Stacks Die Set

Irrisdescent Foil Gems from SU

Papertrey Ink long sentiment strip set (retired)

Supplies used:

Stampin’ Up! paper stamp (retired)

Stampin’ Up! Simple Shapes (retired)

Ellen Hutson Leading Lady: Little Lady (retired)

Angie Blom Love My Teacher digi set (sentiment)

Stampin’ Up! white and pumpkin pie cardstock

Black ink

Stampin’ Up Pumpkin Pie ink

This week’s Art Nudge is so cheerful and sweet! It brought to mind get well wishes and the sweet little bear from Concord and 9th that is no longer available. The photo inspiration also encouraged me to use texture by using a few embossing folders.

My card,

After stamping and die cutting my little bear, I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to add some yarn like texture to him. I also embossed the background layer with another Cuttlebug embossing folder. I fussy cut the grass out and added a few gems to the flower centers of Bear’s bouquet.

Supplies used:

Concord and 9th Hi There Bear stamp and die sets

Embossing folders, herringbone and mini polka dots

Stampin’ Up! White, So Saffron (Lemon Lolly is linked bc So Saffron is retired!), Peach Parfait (Peach Pie is linked bc Peach Parfait is retired) and Pool Party cardstock

white gems

mini clear gems

Papertrey Ink banner die

The cold winter days of January have arrived, so it’s been so cozy to have a few more quiet at home days in my studio. I’m still working on getting my New Years cards out in the mail to family and friends! This quote often proves true for us here in the Midwest.

Stay warm. Stay cozy.

See you next week!

The Art Nudge Team is taking off with a fresh start this year! I’m so excited and honored to be a part of it. The inspirational photos and colors that Jeanne puts together are always so beautiful. Come join us by following along with Jeanne’s Art Nudge blog or our FB group, although the main place to enter your creations is with the Inlinkz link party on the Art Nudge blog. Every Tuesday evening at 7pm CT, a new inspiration photo will be posted and our design team members will be posting samples Tuesday night and Wednesday on the Art Nudge FB page and our personal blogs and social media (#artnudge). You can create any kind of project your creative heart desires and be inspired by any part of the inspiration piece shared (colors, layout, theme, or anything within the photo that inspires you. You will have until the last day of the month to link up your projects to be entered into the monthly prize drawing for all 3 January inspiration photos. Read all the challenge guidleines on Jeanne’s Art Nudge blog post.

This sweet snowman appeals to me so much because I’m such a winter lover (born and raised in the greater Buffalo, NY area…think lake effect snow!!). The blue/grey background color is one of my favorite colors!

And I’m always a fan of a pop of color!

My sample,

For a stronger pop of color than coloring would have given, I stamped the snowman’s scarf on SU Pumpkin Pie cardstock and fussy cut it out and glued it on. I added light frost blue coloring to the scene to bring in more of that favorite color of mine and to add to the frosty winter scene!

Supplies used:

Stampin’ Up White, Pool Party, Baja Breeze and Pumpkin Pie cardstock

Snowman scene, Whimsy Stamps: Winter Lake DA1098

Sentiment, A Muse Studio Warm Winter Wishes HC 9-8458B

Orange gems

Copics

Tombo Multi Adhesive

Stampin Up Stampin Dimensionals

Thank you for stopping by!

Happy New Year!

Unused No More is a new monthly challenge our retreat leader, Barb is hosting for our group. “Unused OH MY!!” is my response. I can’t even put a number on the amount of unused goodies in my stash….so I’m looking forward to this gentle push to start using and stop hoarding.

I’m also trying to reestablish my early morning creative time that is so necessary for feeling whole and complete each day. Somehow creative work can so easily be pushed to the side all day if I don’t create first thing in the early morning. For me, creative work is relaxing and inspiring in so many ways and needs to be quiet and uninterrupted. It’s a special time with my sweet dog, Opal who LOVES to be in the studio with me. Her bed is right below my main work counter. If I get up between 4:45-5:15 AM, that gives me plenty of time for the Miracle Morning work, creative time and quiet spiritual meditation and reading time before I need to start waking my two school age children up for school at 6:45.

This morning it was mostly easy to climb out of bed after having a migraine yesterday afternoon. I was in bed all afternoon, evening and overnight. Today I’m recovery mode, and it feels wonderful to have a quiet, relaxing day to recoup, drink coffee (and water!!) and catch up from the busy weekend.

This morning’s card:

The background is a sweet stenciled background using what I practiced with at the retreat last year from a sweet friend’s stash of goodies that was brought to share. I haven’t worked with stencils much. The coffee stamp is a new to me set from the garage sale pile at the retreat!

Supplies used:

Taylored Expressions Perk Up Stamp & Stencil set

Paper corrugator tool (not completely unused, but rarely used!)

Creative Expressions coffee clear stamp set from retreat garage sale purchase (first time used, no decent link of set to share)

Stampin’ Up Adhesive Backed Swirl Dots

Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Ivory, Espresso and Kraft.

Retreat Participants:

Barb

Jeanette

Terry

Darlene

Shelly

Carol

LJ

And a few other lovely creators that don’t have blogs or Instagram! We have a lovely group chat for ALL of us and it has been wonderful to keep in touch ALL year long!

This card uses the image RSC-021, We Heart You and comes with this sweet image and the Thinking of You sentiment. Adorable!

I’m so excited to see the spring season upon us. It feels so refreshing and abundant! Opal and I walk around the yard daily now noticing things coming up through the earth. Jonquils and crocus so far. A few small tree buds.

Today a few of my cards are even spring themed…

Alpha themed card, LOG. My background paper has a wood grain pattern.

Alpha theme: NERF. These little bunnies are foam stickers that remind me of the material of nerf balls that my son has for some of his Nerf guns! Shh, I stole the bunny stickers from my 9-year-old daughter’s huge collection of craft goodies!

This is for this week’s Splitcoaststampers Technique challenge to use the Pencil Indenting technique. For me this added texture, more than a color difference, and I’m ok with that. This lil’ duck is super cute and happy about warm and happy spring days!

This is for the Splitcoaststampers Tuesday Teapot Party challenge to use balloons.

This Halloween card inspired by our Alpha challenge this week: OPERATION. As in the old childhood game of Operation! I dug out my Halloween stamps and found this old set from TAC! I added little hearts with hand written broken lines drawn on them!

And this final card is for yet another Alpha challenge: MONSTERS and for this week’s Splitcoaststampers Color Challenge.

Thank you for stopping by! Take a moment to enjoy the outdoors and breathe in some fresh air and soak up some sunshine perhaps if you are lucky. Take good care and keep well.