One for the Money, Two for the Show....

Remember that old ditty?  For some strange reason it was running through my mind as I prepared to upload two new cards.  My first card is for today's Dueling Darling Challenge, "St. Patrick's Day"!  The Dueling Darlings are two teams, the Divas (my team) and the Dazzlers who create around a theme from a kit supplied by their team member.  Each month one team member from the Divas and one from the Dazzlers get together to choose a theme for their month.  From that theme they individually create a kit using stamped images/sentiments, paper and embellishments and mail to their team mates.  On the 15th of the month we reveal our creations.  Often there is an additional challenge.  Here is my card created from the fantastic kit sent by my teammate Barb:



 The Kit Contained:

Whipper Snapper Designs
4--Images—Irish Luck-stamped in Memento Black
4--Sentiment—Happy St. Patrick’s Day
it is stamped in Memento Black-2 & Cottage Ivy-1 and Stampin Up Garden Green-1

Patterned Paper:
Reminisce Lucky Me
--St. Patrick’s Day—clovers/swirls
--Lucky Stripe—stripes/clovers
--Micro clover—small clovers/stripes
Reminisce Shenanigans
--Shenanigans--Words and outline clovers

--Various Ribbons and Twine--White Buttons

--Shamrock and Leprechaun shoe Brads

--Various pearls, rhinestones and foam stickers

I LOVED all those papers and had a hard time choosing which to use so I cut strips, layed them diagonally along withe the green ribbon on a card stock panel then zigzag stitched each panel and around the edges of the panel.  This darling leprechaun image was colored with Copic Markers, die cut with Spellbinders' Nestabilities Labels Eleven and enhanced with a shamrock brad, rhinestone and shiny green adhesive embellishments.  The final touch was those sparkly green foam shamrocks in opposite corners.

And in addition to creating your card, Michelle and Barb  requested us when we post our cards to "please tell  if you have a tradition relating to St. Patrick’s Day. Do you crave a type of Irish food? Do you prepare something special or go out to a certain place to eat that day. Do you have any special memories of that holiday from the past that you want to share?"  I'm married to a man with the name Patrick McMullen. So what do you think?  Of course, we celebrate St. Paddy's day usually with him preparing Corned Beef and Cabbage.  This year we're delaying the celebration by one day.  We belong to a Gourmet Club and it so happens this month the dinner in falling on the 17th and our hosts have decided the theme should be Vietnamese food.  Go figure!

Please visit the rest of the Diva team here:
Kelly: http://sandcastlestamper.blogspot.com/
Carol: http://lostinmycraftroom.blogspot.com/
Barb:  http://inkingintoretirement.blogspot.com/
Jamie: http://butterflystamper71.blogspot.com/
Joan:  http://msearlgrey.wordpress.com/
LJ:  http://buckygirl.blogspot.com/
Tami:  http://blueinksdesign.blogspot.com/

And also visit the Dazzlers starting with their leader Jeanette here: http://creativeplayischeaperthantherapy.blogspot.com

My second card of the day is for a challenge on my friend Paola's Punch Art swap thread on SCS (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/cards-f107/pleezz-check-%2A-swaps-due-soon-punched-art-%2Adue-april-2-2012%2A-t545218.html).  Each week one of the participants in the swap chooses a challenge using punches.  Here is this week's challenge from Rosie in her own words: 

"Use DP for the background of your card, sounds easy right. Ok here is the twist, you must use a solid color paper on the top, make a frame using punches.

You will be layering the card with DP and then place your punched solid color over the top to see the DP through your punched frame.

You may decorate how ever you would like......after the first steps are done"

Here's is my card (sorry the lighting was so dim!):

Several months ago I received a surprise package in the mail from my dear and generous niece.  Inside was a treasure trove of Martha Stewart punches, all with a snowflake image.  So may punched panel was made with the punch anywhere large snowflake and the "punch around the corner" snowflake corner and border punches.  The background paper is a freebie digi paper from Lauren Meader's My Time Made Easy store.  I used some blue grosgrain ribbon from Michael's.  I stamped the "peace" sentiment in SU's Bashful Blue and used Bashful Blue cardstock for the base of the card.  I think this card also qualifies for this week's Clean And Simple (CAS) challenge on Splitcoaststampers (SCS): White with Shades of Blue.

I would love to know what you think.  Wishing you many blessings and Hugs!