Zen Garden Release Blog Hop Day 1!

Hey there, friend!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today for all the excitement for the Zen Garden Release! I tell ya, every Catherine Pooler Designs release gets better and better!


I've been having SO MUCH FUN playing with the products in this release, and I'm just tickled pink to share my creations with you!

Be sure to head here to find and purchase any of the products from the new release. 

The first card I'll be sharing is from the Chevron Cheer stamp set. 



I stamped the chevron image in light ink on to a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of Catherine Pooler Designs Premium white cardstock and then colored in the image with my Copic Spica Glitter pens. You wouldn't believe the amount of shimmer that these markers give!  I stamped the "thank you" sentiment in black ink and then trimmed down the panel before gluing it on to a a black piece of cardstock. I then glued that finished panel on to a cut and scored 4.25 x 5.5 inch card base.

Are you ready for another card?! This one uses one of the word dies from the new release. Are you swooning over this font yet?! I mean....SERIOUSLY!! It's the perfect size to carry a horizontal card. And now you're gonna want to buckle your seatbelt cause it's TIME FOR THE INKS.


 You guys, I know you know. I know you know how awesome the CPD inks are, but again....the shades just keep getting better and better. There are some blues and greens in this collection that are just dreamy, plain and simple. So I took my ink brayer and just did a simple rolling technique and applied stripes of color on to a cut and scored 4.25 x 5.5 card base. I cut several layers of cardstock using the "thanks" word die and then glued them all together before adhering the stacked sentiment on to my card.



So in case you didn't notice, this card doesn't take a master's degree to put together. That's why I love bold and beautiful word die cuts like this one, because it takes the work out of designing an eye catching card.

Now, it's time for a deep breath.

Cause, I'm venturing into cross stitch territory, and lemme just tell you--THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. So grab your coffee and possibly your tranquilizers so you can stay calm if you attempt to combine cross stitch with this stamp set.



So I stamped the same Chevron Cheer set on to my CPD cardstock, and then I spent a RIDICULOUS amount of time poking holes into my cardstock to create the cross stitch holes. Drop the dumbbells, cause you won't need any arm workout for the rest of the week if you do this. After you poke the holes, you'll want to just choose some thread color that you like and stitch away!



Stamp the sentiment in black ink and then slap some foam tape on the back of your cross stitched panel before placing it on your cut and scored 4.25 x 5.5 inch card base. I added some coordinating washing tape to the sides just to help the cross stitched panel jump off the card base a bit.

All right, people. For those of you who are just in it to win it, let's get on to the details of the blog hop!


Catherine Pooler Designs is giving away 2 complete sets of Zen Garden inks on each day of the Blog Hop! Just hop along to all the blogs and leave a comment on each post for a chance to win!

Here is the complete list for Day 1 of the Blog Hop:


  1. Kelly Martin>> You are here!  

Thanks again for stopping by today and I hope you enjoy the new release!

Hugs,
Kelly



150 comments

  1. OMG Kelly, I can't believe all the holes you poked...a labor of love, fantastic card!

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    1. Colleen, SERIOUSLY?!?! It was quite the task lol! thanks for your kind comment!

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  2. These are great cards! Those chevrons remind me of Easter eggs!

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  3. Beautiful cards! Can't wait to get my hands on those inks!!!!

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  4. Fabulous cards!!! Your stitching is beautiful.

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  5. Love those ink colors and your cards!

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  6. Lovely cards and great job on the stitching.

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  7. I agree that the colors get better and better.

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  8. I think these colors may be my favorites. Love your cards - so simple, yet so pretty.

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  9. Love the cards and the new inks! I am going to have to try those new inks soon!

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  10. Kelly,
    Great card ideas. I really like how you used the brayer technique. Thanks!
    Linda

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  11. Wow you are super woman of x-stitching for sure! Great cards.

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  12. Cool ideas. I just saw someone use gift cards like what you did with the brayer.

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  13. Beautiful cards. Thanks for sharing.

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  14. I love your Thanks card. I bought a brayer a few months ago. So time to break it in. ;)

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    1. It's swiftly becoming one of my favorite tools!

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  15. Great design ideas and use of colors.

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  16. Gorgeous cards! You did a beautiful job on your cross stitching.

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  17. New brayer...added to the wishlist!

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  18. That birthday card is a "must-make" !!

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  19. Those cards are great. However, I will leave the thread using to you; I am just not patient enough to do the hole-poking!

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  20. Looks awesome! But I won't be doing the cross stitch on mine!

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  21. I'll have to get my brayers out of the drawer. Thanks for sharing.

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  22. Whew, I hope the cross-stitch was therapeutic at least!

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  23. My favorite is the big Thanks card!

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  24. Gorgeous cards, but will leave the stitching to you. Thanks for sharing.

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  25. Wow your cross stitch card is amazing!!!!

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  26. Love the Thanks card and think your washi tape was the perfect touch for your stitching project. I admire you for doing that. It is not something that I will be attempting:)

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  27. Kelly your cards re unique and lovely.

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  28. wow talk about a labor of love - the stitched card is just awesome:)

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  29. Really really like the thanks cards and the colors used!!

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  30. Love the color and simplicity of the thank you card.

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  31. Wonderful cards! I haven’t used brayers in a long time, guess I need to revisit!

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  32. Love that brayered background with the new Zen colors.

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  33. Amazing cards! I can not believe all the holes you poked in that last card to do the stitching. WOW!! Thanks for sharing.

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  34. Love the combination of blues and
    greens. Beautiful card.
    The chevrons are fantastic.
    thanks for sharing.
    txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  35. Beautiful cards!! Thanks for all the inspiration!!

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  36. You know how I feel about your cards. MY. GOSH. That stitched card!! <3

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  37. I would be thrilled to receive any of these cards in the mail - thanks for sharing your creativity! :)

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  38. Wow! Very different card with the stitching. Thanks for opening my mind to new ideas!

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  39. Ok, I love the "thanks" card and how simple it is. But cross stitching has my heart. Never would have thought of that here!

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  40. Wow that cross stitch is amazing and looks it too. I love love lobe the Thanks die. Hopefulling ill get my hands on it soon one day.

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  41. All those holes. I think I would frame that card, although Jennifer McGuire would be proud of you. Beautiful cards. Thank you for sharing.

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  42. Kelly-THANK YOU! It never occurred to me to use my brayer on my ink pads to create that wonderful color block look. So love it! Love how fresh your cards are. :)

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  43. Hi Kelly! I can't get over how much I love your stitched card. =)

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  44. "Grab your coffee and tranquilizers". Has to be one of the best things I have heard in awhile. These cards are really great. That stitched one has my jaw dropping and those blues really ARE dreamy. Looking forward to getting my order!!

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    1. But seriously Terri....that's really how I felt LOL!

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  45. I love how everyone is totally enamored with the greeny blues of this set. And why not? They are totally worth mooning over! But what a fantastic idea to use the chevron as a stitch pattern! I love how that turned out. I might need to CASE that very soon here, because it's gorgeous. Thanks for sharing your lovely ideas with us!

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  46. The first card reminds me of Easter eggs.Lots of fun!

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  47. Your cards are all very lovely. As a former cross-
    stitcher (that's how I originally got the crafting
    bug!), I can really appreciate your last card. :-)

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  48. Such awesome cards! Love that chevron background. As crazy as you are to punch those holes - the results are stunning! I am also a former cross stitcher that occasionally gets that yearning again (but don't think my eyes will go for it), I can appreciate the effort and also the beauty of this card. You also made me rethink my brayer... Haven't used it forever and just noticed it yesterday as I was cleaning my craft supplies. HMMMMM, is this a message to dust it off???? Thanks for sharing your creativity!

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  49. Fun cards that are simple and still striking. I especially liked the cards where you created stripes of color adding the ink directly to the page, at least that looks that way. Thanks.

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  50. Ink brayer??? Great, something else I need to buy, LOL. Love the paint roller look.

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  51. Ink brayering an old and great technique. Lovely

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  52. Both chevron cards are so fun and colorful and your stitching was a brilliant idea!

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  53. Cool beans! I especially like your fancy geometric cards!

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  54. Pretty cards, Kelly! I especially love the multi colored card! Such gorgeous colors!

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  55. Love those Copics. I can't beleve you stitched the whole thing.

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  56. Very fun cards! Your stitching one is a crazy amount of cool effort for some lucky person

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  57. The thanks card is new to me. I have never just applied ink with a brayer in stripes. Nice.

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  58. That brayered card is beautiful. I haven't touched my brayer in years, I'll have to break it out.

    Love your cards, and I especially like your narrative, so fun to read.

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  59. You are correct about the colorsbeing dreamy....can hardly wait for my order to arrive....Catnerine’s inks have made me a better stamper!

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  60. Both cards are so beautiful, I love the Thank you card, but the stitched card is VERY beautiful and unique. Thank you for sharing your talents with us.

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  61. Incredible cards - love the colors

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  62. Your cards are super pretty, thank you for sharing :)

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  63. LOVE the "Thanks" card. Amazingly simple and so darned pretty!!!

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  64. Your cards are stunning and I really need all the new ink colours now!

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  65. Omg..didn't think to use an ink brayer with these inks. I love the simplicity of your "Thanks" card, it turned out beautiful! I also did not realize I was looking a thread on your chevron card I literally thought it was ink...yes my glasses are on order! Also, I loved your narration, you had me chuckling along the way. Thank you!

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  66. Going to try this. Thanks for sharing 😊

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  67. Love, love your thanks card. Your labor of love card, (stitching) would test my patience.(lol) Thank you for sharing,

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  68. Really like the last birthday card! love the chevron with the stitching! again adds alot of depth! Beautiful choice of colors as well!

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  69. Great colors and designs on your cards.

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  70. WOW!!! Kelly these are amazing! That cross-stitch one blows me away!

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  71. On your first card using the chevron...I thought clever placement of that chevron to create a SPOOL in the middle. Then you go and include REAL THREAD in the last card! Well done...patient crafter!

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  72. Now that's dedication! The stitching adds such a nice touch, but they're all great cards!

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  73. Oh, what fun you must have had with the new goodies!

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  74. The thanks card is beautiful, looks like an easy technique that I could teach my young group.

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  75. What wonderful cards you have created. I especially liked the first card with the beautifully colored chevron. Super pretty

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  76. Such gorgeous cards, I haven’t really seen an ink brayed before (newbie crafter), I love the effect it created!
    The chevron cards are so pretty! I love what you did with the stitching, I definetly cannot cross stitch to save my life but your card looks so pretty I may have to try it..
    thanks for the inspiration Kelly!

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  77. Great cards, love the look of the brayered colors. I'm going to have dig out my brayer to try that. Awesome cross-stitched card too!

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  78. Fantastic cards. I'm getting so much inspiration from this hop.

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  79. Such fun cards. The thanks die is awesome and i love the brayer technique. Awesome job!

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  80. Gorgeous new colors! Love your pretty cards!

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  81. Love the way you’ve used the chevron stamp

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  82. Beautiful cards, Kelly; thanks for sharing your creativity!

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  83. These are all so fun. I can't believe all the effort you put into the last one!! :-O Crazy, but the end result is fabulous. Love all your creations ♥

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  84. The cross stitching was beautiful! I'm working up the confidence to try!

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  85. Hi Kelly. I enjoy your cards using this fabulous ink! I must get some! Love it!

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  86. The cheveron stiched panels are amazing! Holy moly that's some stunning work!

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  87. Great cards! Those blue & green colours do look dreamy. Due to exchange rate & shipping cost I haven't been able to order CP inks, but they are on my wish list for sure.

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  88. Wow! Love these new colors!!! Gorgeous cards!!!

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  89. Beautiful cards, that last one with the yarn is so cool!

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  90. WOW - that's some serious work going on with the cross stitched card, so gorgeous! What patience! All your cards are lovely - the brayer one is very clever!

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  91. Wow! I love cross stitching, but I'm not sure I could have poked all those holes! The result is stunning though! Very creative!

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  92. Love the blues and greens!!! Great new colors.

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  93. Beautiful cards and love the variety of techniques especially the stitchibg.

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  94. Love the simple elegance of your cards. I am amazed at the patience you had, with poking all those holes! I don't think I could have done it! You are an inspiration!

    Sammibug aka Samantha Houp aka Sammi

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  95. Wonderful cards. Love the stitching on the one card.

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  96. Lovely cards, great ink collection.

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  97. I admire your effort but don't have the patience to do the stitching. Maybe it's because I have chronic pain and have to do easier cards so I can finish before the pain makes me stop. Lovely cards!

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  98. Fabulous card designs and so pretty too!!

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  99. I need one of those smaller prayers, it makes such a cool background.

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  100. The stitching! I’m like woah. Just woah. Jenny x

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  101. Those ink colors are fabulous! Can we just talk about your stitched card for a minute? I LOVE IT!! It looks like it took loads of time...but I think it was worth it! I'm inspired! (but I don't think I'll do a stitched card this elaborate for a very long time, LOL)

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  102. Wow, you took us in new directions. I love these cards. I'm a cross-stitcher from way back so I was drawn in by your embroidered card. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful ideas.

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  103. Wonderful cards. Love all the colors. Thanks for sharing..

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  104. Kelly ...... REALLY? You win the Patience Award for the Stitched card. It is FABULOUS and after all that work, you need to frame it. So amazing. I really liked the direct to paper plaid with the sentiment. That is a winner as well.

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  105. Fantastic cards, Kelly! I especially love the "Thanks" card! The colors are fantastic and the design is simple but beautiful! My favorite kind of card!

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  106. Your cards are awesome and I cannot even imagine how long the one card took but it was well worth it! Thank you for sharing

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  107. Wow, super fun and graphic cards - so creative!

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  108. Wonderful cards, Kelly. I particularly like your brayered background, but then I'm a sucker for blues...

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  109. Just love these - but girl, cross-stitching!!?? WHAT!? That's amazing and I'm glad you did it, and I can honestly say I probably never will. BUT it's gorgeous, quite the labor of love! Thanks for sharing. :)

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  110. All your cards are gorgeous but my preference goes to the “Thanks” card for the color combo !
    [margessw(at)icloud(dot)com]

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  111. Lovely cards Kelly and some wonderful techniques. Thanks for sharing.

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  112. Kelly, your cards are beautiful and fantastic with the new Zen collection.
    Thank you for the inspirations. Love them all!

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  113. I love the look of your brayer card! And so easy too. I would have never thought to do cross stitch on a card but that chevron oval is perfect for it. Your cards are great!

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  114. Wow! Amazing cards! I never could get the hang of cross stitch, so will just admire your work! Not going to even try that technique lol! Thank you for the wonderful inspiration & blog hop!

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  115. Wow great cards. What patience you have to punch all those holes. Thanks

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  116. Wow, I am so impressed! Great cards and yes, swooning over the font on the word dies. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  117. Your right, those colors are amazing!

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  118. Fabulous designs. I love the stitching and the first card I see so bright and cheery. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  119. Great cards. Lovely colors, patterns, and designs.

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  120. Yojr cards are very pretty. Thanks

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