Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Top 3 Sketch Challenge AHSC#651 Winner

 

Thank you Atlantic Hearts Design Team for choosing my Peaceful Place Shaker card to be among the Top 3 for challenge #651.  Congrats to the other two winners Tracey Stevenson and Christine (Belgium).  

What a fun sketch.  Just the right elements in the design for making a monochromatic Christmas shaker card to add to my growing stash.  Here is my winning card: 


You can find details on how this card was assembled by clicking here.  

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT
Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006


Freshly Made Sketches Winners For Challenge FMS708:

 Freshly Made Sketches Winners for #708

I was just checking for this week's sketch challenge and I see my entry for last week's FMS708 challenge was chosen by Judy as one of the princesses. How awesome!  What wonderful and positive news at the start of my day.  

This was extra special news as I've been so swamped with work at our Strata that it's hard to find time and energy anymore for cardmaking.  So, this card came together in the wee hours of the morning following a very long and stressful day. I was literally feeling blue, so my choice of matte colours, designer paper, sentiment and title for my post was really a message to myself to hang in there doing the thing I love.  Thanks so much Judy and the other FMS design team for affirming that! 

There were so many beautiful cards entered this week.  Congrats to Chris Lawlor the Queen and to all the other princesses and entrants for their beautiful cards too!  Here's my card and link to the details. 


HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006



Free Shipping - Three Days Only!

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Free Shipping starts October 22nd through 24th..........


  • All order types qualify for this promotion.
  • Free shipping is for three days only. Orders must be opened and closed from October 22–24.
  • Free shipping automatically applies to your cart after the qualifying amount has been met, which is $100 CAD (before tax).
  • Coupon codes and Stampin’ Rewards will lower your order’s retail amount. Orders must meet the qualifying amount to be eligible for free shipping.
  • The additional cost for expedited shipping is not covered by this promotion.
  • Prepaid 3-, 6-, and 12-month Paper Pumpkin subscriptions and month-to-month subscriptions do not qualify for free shipping.
  • Refills, past kits and add-ons do qualify toward free shipping, but you must be a subscriber to purchase. Subscriptions billed and shipped this month will be charged for the normal amount ($36.75 CAD shipping included) + tax.
HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT
Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Monday, October 20, 2025

Words of Encouragement - FMS Challenge #708

Freshly Made Sketches #708:

The wonderfully talented Jen T is the hostess for this week's wonderfully basic card sketch on Freshly Made Sketches.  Make sure you check out her own card design, it's stunning!  Also, why don't you play along.  Don't be intimidated by the blank canvas and simple design.  You  can choose any element to replace the circle and make it your own.  
 Here's My Card: 

Clean and simple cards are one of the biggest challenges I face as a papercrafter.  I never know when is enough or if I've done too little on my card designs.  After I finished this card I thought I could have possibly done more by dry embossing the white matte after I stamped the sentiment on it.  However, I didn't because I was concerned it would affect the lettering.  Oh well.  

I love the floral wreath die cut on this card.  Its a bigger image than I was going to use however it worked out well on the card. I die cut the image from a piece of Meandering Meadow Designer paper and then used the cut piece that was left, as a matte.  This combination of matte and design compliments each other quite effectively without having to do blending or other means of adding colour and design.  

Supplies and Instructions:

Stamps and Dies:
  • Encircled in Natures stamps and dies #163623
Cardstock and DSP:
  • Basic White card base - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4" 
  • Balmy Blue matte  5 1/4" x 4 1/4" 
  • Meandering Meadow DSP matte 5" x 3 3/4" - die cut taken from the center of this piece before adhering
  • Basic White matter 4 3/4" x 3 3/4" 
Ink and Blends:
  • Misty Moonlight
Accessories:  
  • Adhesive Backed Shiny Sequins #163484 

Well that's it for this challenge.  I'd love to hear your comments.  Do you use designer paper for mattes?  What are your thoughts? 

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 
Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006 

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Store 


Saturday, October 18, 2025

Peaceful Place Shaker Christmas Card #AHSC651

 Hi and welcome to this week's sketch challenge by Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenges.

I really love the layout of this sketch which features multiple layers and  opportunities to add texture.  Making it into a monochromatic shaker Christmas card meant I didn't have to colour the cute little garden cottage, which kept things simple and I was able to keep the sparkle and shine in the shaker portion of the card.  

Here is my card:  




Supplies and Instructions:

Stamps and Dies: 

  • Home for the Holidays Oct 23 Paper Pumpkin Kit stamps
  • Snowman Magic  #159816 sentiment stamps
  • Stitched Circle Dies 

Cardstock and Designer Series Paper:

  • Basic White 
    • 1/2" x 4 1/4" for sentiment strip
    • 3 x 3 for stitched circle cut out 
    • 3 3/4" x 5" for inside layer
  • Smokey Slate
    • 3" x 4 1/2" for front matte
    • 4" x 5 1/4" for inside matte
  • DSP Stampin' Up!: 
    • Peaceful Place 12 x 12 #156394 (R)
      • 1st matte 4 1/8" x 5 3/8"
      • 2nd matte 5 1/4" x 4" 
  • Window Sheet 
    • 2 3/4" x 4" for shaker window cover 

Ink:

  • Pebbled Path 

Accessories: 

  • Foam Adhesive Strips #141825
  • Frosted Sequins #135835 (R) SU
  • Subtle Shimmer sequins #156407
  • Dimensionals
  • Snowflake Sky Embossing Folder #162026


The Peaceful Place DSP was one of my all time favourite Christmas papers when it came out a few years ago. There's such a rich blend of silver foil and images on each of the pages. The first mat is a mix of foil snowflakes and basic gray background while the second matte has rows of snow capped trees making it the perfect background for the winter cottage. The basic gray layer worked really well for creating a shaker card. 

Well that's it for this sketch and I've lost count, but I think this is the 101st of 150 cards for this season. Please leave me a not to let me know if you liked the style of this card.  

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 
Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

 Top Three for Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #650.

Thanks to the designers at Atlantic Hearts for choosing my card to be among the top three winners for sketch challenge #650 for my masculine birthday card.  There were so many awesome cards from designers, participants and Birgit and Elisa A. the other two Top Three Winners this week.  Nicely done ladies! 




HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006



Sunday, October 12, 2025

Masculine Birthday - AHSC #650

Here's this week's sketch from Atlantic Hearts Challenge #650  I really like the diamond focal so decided to do the same for my card.  I don't know about you but October is such a busy month.  Almost every day there another' birthday and most of them this month are male friends and family.  This clean and simple sketch presented me with another opportunity to get a masculine card in my stash.  

Here's My Card:


Supplies and Instructions:

Stamps and Dies:

  • Happy Hour #126642
  • Brewed for You Stamps #159087
  • Brewed Dies #159092 
  • Stitched Squares Dies 

Cardstock and DSP:

  • Whisper White 
    • 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4" for card base 
    • 3" x 3" scrap for Whisper White Diamond and 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" for inside circle 
    • 5" x 3 3/4" for inside matte 
    • scraps for glasses and mugs 
  • Basic Black 
    • Cut 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" for front matte 
  • Tartan Foil Designer Series Paper #162332 
    • Cut two pieces 5 1/4" x 4" for front and inside mattes. 

Inks and Blends:

  • Pebbled Path 
  • Merry Merlot
  • Crushed Curry 

Accessories:  

  • Dimensionals 
  • Nuvo Clear drops to add shine to wine and beer mug. 

Well, there you have it.  Nothing like a clean and simple design to make the focal point stand out.  Thanks for dropping by and checking out my card this week.  Make sure you stop by the Atlantic Hearts blog as well, the designers really outdid themselves this week.   

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 
Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006 

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Shop 



Top 3 Sketch Challenge AHSC#651 Winner

  Thank you Atlantic Hearts Design Team for choosing my Peaceful Place Shaker card to be among the Top 3 for challenge #651.  Congrats to t...