Purple Onion Designs: January 2016

In case you have not heard Kathy Racoosin is doing another 30 day coloring challenge! I know they have gotten to be quite popular. It is really a self challenge that will hopefully push you to get some coloring into your day. You can spend 5 mins or 5 hours, it is whatever you can fit in. You don't have to participate every day or catch up if you aren't able to color one day. No pressure! It is just a fun challenge with lots of people participating. It helps give you that creative push. You can read more about it on Kathy's blog The Daily Marker.

Kathy will have some fun giveaways on her blog for those that participate. I always sponsor some prizes for her giveaways. This time I am going to up the ante a bit and do some giveaways as well for those of you coloring images by Purple Onion Designs. The most popular place to share your coloring is on Instagram using Kathy's hashtag #thedailymarker30day challenge. Please include the hash tag #purpleoniondesigns so I can find your work. You can also link your coloring on Facebook and Twitter to Purple Onion Designs and once again include the hashtags. The last place is using the comments section of this post. Simply post a link to wherever you have posted and shared your coloring (blog, message board gallery, flickr, etc.). I will randomly do some giveaways from the colored images I have seen. The challenge starts this Monday, February 1, 2016. This weekend would be a good time to get a head start and stamp some images to color. They can be stamped cards ready to color or just stamped images on cardstock to be used on a card at a later date.

I am sharing wintery snowy cards today in celebration of the snow storm we had over the weekend. I am sure plenty of you can relate! Luckily it is melting at a quick rate. There is still plenty on the ground but it's far less than the almost 2 feet we received.

Julia Altermann

stamps used: Jolly & Helen's Hand - Everyday Sentiment Set

Marika Rahtu

stamps used: Bubbly & Handwritten Holiday

Simone Schwagler

stamps used: Birch & wishing you a wonderful holiday season

Susen Srb

stamp used: Winterberry

Helen Cryer

stamps used: Pine House, Stone Path & The Sweetest Season Sentiment Set

Debra James

stamps used: Oakley and The Sweetest Season Sentiment Set

Linda Heavens

stamps used: Snow Cabin & The Sweetest Season Sentiment Set

Sally On

stamp used: Warm Hearted

Posted at 06:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've Got One More!

I have a final addition to the design team to share today. Sally On was another customer that joined our mini holiday design team this past season. I am very excited that she will now be staying on! Welcome Sally!!

Sally creates some cute projects in addition to her cardmaking. I had shared some fun gift boxes, tags and shaker cards recently from Sally. It will be fun to see what she whips up in the upcoming months. Here are a few new projects from Sally. The first card sums up this post pretty well. :)

stamps used: Willa, Streamer & Starry Night

stamps used: Poppy

stamps used: Summer & Balloons

Posted at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Let's Welcome Another New Addition!

There is another new member joining the design team at Purple Onion Designs that I would like to introduce. I am excited to have Sonja Kerkhoffs join the design team! Sonja has shared her cards and projects with me in the past. They have been so wonderful that I have then shared them here. I had Sonja join a few other girls this past holiday season creating cards since I know how much she adores our stamps. I really didn't want it to be a temporary thing and I am excited she will be a regular member of the team here! Please take some time to visit her blog where you will see great projects like these.

stamps used: Jolly, Snowy View, Flit & Flutter and Birthday Wishes

stamp used: Christmas Tree

stamp used: Freckles

Sonja will also be sharing videos with tips and techniques in the future. Here is a photo of how she stores her Purple Onion Designs stamps. You can get more details on her storage from her blog in this post.

Welcome Sonja! I am looking forward to your upcoming cards, projects & videos.

Posted at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Welcome....

I am very happy to share an amazing addition to the design team today! You had the pleasure of seeing the fabulous work of Susen Srb in the past on my blog. I am happy to announce that she will be joining the design team at Purple Onion Designs. Susen does the most incredible watercoloring with Distress Inks on her cards. The look is so soft and dreamy. I must say that the cards are even better in person if you can believe that! I had the pleasure of receiving this card that I shared a few posts down. If you click on the cards you can really see the beauty in the colors and her painting. I also love the texture that the snowflakes add over the card.

stamps used: Henry, Grace & Snowflake Grove Sentiment Set

Here are a couple of other projects from Susen:

stamps used: Fawn

stamps used: Peanut, Tucker, Finch & Charlotte

stamps used: Johnny & Toadstool

I hope you are just as excited as I am to see Susen's work each month. Welcome Susen!

Posted at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Happy 2016! Wishing you all a very happy & healthy new year! I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays with family & friends.

The past few January's I have helped sponsor a great card drive run by Winter Sims. Cards From The Heart Card Drive collects handmade Valentine Day cards to be sent to several children's hospitals around the country. You can read more about the card drive over at Winter's blog. She explains the types of cards that are accepted, where to send them and other pertinent details. There will also be random drawings for prizes for those who send in cards. It's a great cause and a good reason to sit down and make a few cards.

Even though the holidays have passed there are still some cards in my stash that I didn't get a chance to share. Plenty of you are still ordering holiday stamps, so it is still good timing to show off the projects. Many of the card ideas are still winter appropriate if you just swap out the sentiment. There are also two videos that accompany a tag by Sonja Kerkhoffs and a card set by Julia Altermann.

Sonja Kerkhoffs