October HYCCT cards

As most of you know, October is breast cancer awareness month. Splitcoast Stampers (SCS) sponsors a month long Hope You Can Cling To (HYCCT) challenge.  36 Daily card making challenges,  a few extra at the start & close of the month, are posted on their site.  The cards that are made for the challenges, plus any extra people want to include, are sent to MD Anderson, Univ of Texas, Cancer Center and are available to be used by the patients & their families.  The challenges are creative, fun and motivating, and all for a great cause!  The added incentive is even if you can only make one card and upload a picture of it to the SCS gallery, you're entered into a drawing for prizes donated by several different stamp companies.

Every year it's a challenge for me to find the time to participate, especially not till after 10/15 - the IRS tax extension deadline.  I don't think I was able to start this year till after the 22nd.  But with late nights & trying not to overthink it, I actually got all 36 challenges done!!  It helped that they give us till midnight (9pm AK) on Nov 7 to upload pics.  Another big (added) challenge is that since MD Anderson is associated with the state of Texas, we are not allowed to use Bible verses or anything religious on the cards.  We can use the word 'faith' but in the general sense, not tied to any one religion.  That always cuts out most of my word/sentiment stamps!

I've read that about 215 people participated this year and over 4600 cards were sent to MD Anderson!  I'm still slowly working my way through the gallery of challenge cards, viewing everyone's creative interpretation of the challenges, so inspiring!

Here's a few of the cards I made (with the challenge listed first):

Colors of Cancer: use colors representing cancers family & friends have had. I used Pink-Breast, Dark Blue-Colon, and Black-Melanoma

Stamps: Hero Arts-saying, Sweet n'Sassy Stamps-New Beginnings butterflies & dies, Bo bunny denim paper

Hope you have a great day - make them smile or laugh, a cheery card. I used an old sketch SC38 posted on SCS as my layout.  

Stamps: Rubber Stampede-bee, Memory Box-saying; Spellbinders circles, Stickles for the wings

Use a message or image to reflect a message to or from a group of people, to send & receive a group hug. The EF was inked up before embossing. Glimmer Mist was added to give it a shimmer/sparkle. Flower brads embellish as well as help hold the sentiment down, in case the adhesive doesn't stick well on the embossed/misted background. :)

Stampendous stamp, Spellbinders Labels 18, Cuttlebug EF Bit of Paisley, SU ink, Glimmer Mist,flower brads

I heart you - make a heart shaped card or a card with hearts.  :)

Spellbinders hearts, Cuttlebug Love Language die, Stickles

Warm & Furry Fuzzies - use an image with a furry animal :)

Stamps: Crafters Companion, Mulberry Wood-Gone Fishing colored with Tombow markers

Peace & quiet, no words, just an image.  Wonderfully simple, and blue to add to the peaceful image. :) Stamp-Impression Obsession

Sending Flowers - Flowers are my favorite stamp image yet I decided to use some 3D flower stickers I had in my stash for this challenge! I loved the soft yellow of the flowers, paired it with my leafy die on an earthy base with corresponding sentiment. :)

Stamp-Printworks, Memory Box-Fresh foliage die, Jolee's Boutique flowers

Bursting with hope, create a Starburst/Sunburst with papers, not stamps or ef.  My horizon wasn't straight so I kept adding paper rays. :)  I can email the tutorial that was provided, but it also helped me to watch a video of the technique on YouTube 

Stamp-Morning Star Stamps, Paper-DCWV Fresh Floral

Make a pocket full of hope, in pink or orange with hearts or stars

Stamp-Inkadinkado, Paper-BoBunny, DCWV, McGill round envelope punch, Spellbinders-hearts, 

Cuttlebug EF-language of love, ribbon, brad

Peaceful Leaves.  I just had to look outside to be inspired for this, swirling fall leaves!  

Endless Creation-stamp, Darice EF-Fall Leaf Background, McGill-Oak leaf punch, 

corner rounder, TH Distress Inks, sponges

Use the KISS technique- adds texture to solid stamps.  KISS also stands for Kindness in Showing Support. (HA, probably not what you thought I was going to say!)  I used a stamp combo (the block background and flowers) I had used years ago, when my Mom & sisters were just showing me the fun of stamping (1998?!).  I smooched the block background stamp with a new to me checkered background stamp, trying a few different soft color combos before settling on this one. :) 

Stamps: Hero Arts-blocks, Poppy Stamps-checkered background, Rubber Soul-vase of flowers, 

Memory Box-ToY; Hero Arts shadow ink, Memento Black

Stand Tall - tall/skinny card.  I had some tall floral stamps that I thought of immediately for this challenge. I colored the rubber with markers, huffed & stamped!  It was a bit of a challenge to color red rubber with markers that barely showed, or looked like the ink dried right away, hoping I wasn't going to end up with a putrid mud color or something!  Thankfully, with much huffing & puffing, this came out on the first try. :)

StarvingArtistamps-Backlit Blooms Orchid, Tombow markers

Black & White card with a pop of color.  I always enjoy seeing cards like this made by others so thought I'd play with tape & inky sponges myself.  Thankfully the 'removable tape' only tore the card near the opening edge so I could trim it off.  The black did not stamp as solid as I liked but I found a black Zig pen that matched and touched the image up a bit. I think it added some texture/dimension! :)  

Sweet n'Sassy Stamps-Landscape Silhouettes, Memento blues, Versafine black

Let's punch out breast cancer - use punches and or dies.  My sister had punched a bunch of these 6" squares with the WRMK corner punches for me so using this makes for a big card!  The flower die was just a big so it fit just right, after trimming the stem. I have seen a few people make bows with brads, it's not easy tho. Darn tiny brads with stiff ribbon, lots of tugging & twisting but I like it!

We R Memory Keepers Mini 8 punch-Vine, Memory Box die-Bella Bouquet,

 DCWV- Fresh Florals paper, Stickles, Ribbon, brad

 Inner Strength - use a dimensional image on the inside that can be seen from the outside.  I embossed the Love You stamp & added a heart shaped rhinestone on the inside.  The embossed cover was sponged with pink and several hearts highlighted with pink Stickles.

Stamp-PSX, The Paper Studio EF-Doodle Hearts, Spellbinder Heart die, Stickles, Clear EP, Rhinestone heart

It's a cover up - with a hidden message to be uncovered not just by opening the card.  My extra front flap became a front pocket on my card when I taped the 3 sides shut!  That's what I get for not having a clear picture in my mind (focus!) as to what I was going to do.  I like the pocket (tho a bit big) so went with it & made a tag with the 'hidden message' to put into it.

Stamps: Sweet n'Sassy Stamps-Wildflowers, SU-friends saying; Paper-DCWV Fresh Florals; 

Deckle Edge scissors, tag die, ribbon