Horsey Hello

This week at Pile It On! we're focusing on Animals. January 31st begins the Chinese Year of the Horse, and I couldn't resist using this hilarious Saddle Up digi stamp and the corresponding Hay Bale digi set from Doodle Pantry.

I wanted a "model" for the horse, so I decided to color it based on Jubilee, the new horse of Chris, the coordinator at Paper Playful. I really enjoy working with Chris, and have enjoyed hearing stories about this beauty. You can see photos of Jubilee here on Chris's blog. 

The horse, pre-colored hay bale, sentiment, and backing papers are all from Doodle Pantry. The woodgrain paper are scraps of an October Afternoon DP. I colored the horse with Copics, and used a texturizing effect with Blender Solution on the background. The faux stitching on the sentiment banner was done with a TEKwriter gel pen.

For the background, I colored drywall tape with a gold leafing pen, and added some twine as well. The little metal horseshoe is actually a prong snap button, but I cut off the little prongs and attached it with Glossy Accents.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Challenges 4 Everybody #37: Anything Goes
Crafter's Cafe #47: Funny or Whimsical

Craftitude - Anything goes or Fluffy

Just Inspirational Challenges: Anything Goes
LEJ Designs #85: Anything Goes
My Sheri Crafts: Use a Digi
Paper Shelter Challenge #144: Digi image + sentiment
Simon Says Stamp: Humorous (3rd entry)
WordArt Wednesdays: Anything Uplifting Goes

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,

Valentine's Card in a Box

I had so much fun making my first Card in a Box that I just had to try the technique again.

I completely forgot to take a photo of card closed! I took a lot of time lining it up too... but it's already in the mail to my mom, so you'll just have to use your imagination!

Most of the design/product notes can be found in my Mad Hatter Designs card post; I made these two projects at the same time. The vintage Girl with Cat image (and its opposite, pink side) are from an Authentique DP. The borders were created with a Recollections punch. The polka dot papers are from Echo Park, and are sponged with ColorBox and TH inks. The lace on the corners is aged with TH distress ink.

I followed the written tutorial at Splitcoaststampers, but used the measurements from Stampin T!'s video tutorial, and made two slight adjustments (center score and card height) so that the final card would be 5.5 inches tall, to fit in an American/A2 envelope. Here are the measurements for my smaller version (I'll leave the actual tutorial to the experts!):

• Start with a 7.5 x 9 inch piece of cardstock
  Score lengthwise at 2.125, 4.25, 6.375, and 8.5. Score widthwise at 2.5.
  With the smaller squares on top, cut the paper to 5.5 inches.
• You should now have a 5.5 x 9 piece and a 2 x 9 strip. Cut this in half, and follow the score lines to make the pop-up strips.
  
• Mattes:
  Solid: Top 1: 2 x 2.375; Bottom 1: 2 x 2.875; Middle 1 (tall): 2 x 5.375
  Patterned: Top 2: 1.875 x 2.25; Bottom 2: 1.875 x 2.75; Middle 2 (tall / message): 1.875 x 5.25

This is such a fun card design, and I thank the talented person/people who came up with it!
 

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafting from the Heart: Anything Goes / Fancy Folds
Lexi's Creations: Fancy Folds
Simon Says Stamp: Humorous (2nd entry)
Simply Create Too #53: Valentine's Day or Use Hearts (2nd entry)
The Pink Elephant Monday Card Challenge: Pink & Red + Color of your choice (Blue)

Thank you for visiting,

You're Purrrfect! A very special challenge

Sammy, my teamie at Crafting with Dragonflies, is having a special Blog Candy + Freebie Challenge to promote her 14-year-old daughter's digi stamp company, Mad Hatter Designs. I just couldn't resist participating!

Do check out this challenge; you can enter for the awesome blog candy (did I spy LOTV?!), and you can help support a young artist by using this cute digi to be eligible for another great prize!

This image is called Neko (Cat), and I just happened to have the purrfect sentiment stamp already out on my craft table!

The image and paper-pieced dress are colored with Copics and TEKwriter gel pens. I had lots of fun coloring this, it's not my usual thing. The whites of the eyes are filled with a clear Sakura gel pen.

The three heart-patterned patterns are from a paper pack I acquired years ago...not sure the company. The polka dotted and striped paper are the opposite sides of an Echo Park paper, and the sentiment was heat-embossed on a scrap of DP (Authentique). The sentiment & pawprint are from the same stamp set (Studio G?), which I won a long time ago from Priscilla at the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge. The image piece was sponged with hot pink ink, and the corners were decorated with a Recollection border punch. Everything was edged with Copics. Can't you tell I had fun with this‽

Tuesday Morning Sketches #233

Inspiration/Challenges:
Mad Hatter Challenge: Freebie digi
Simon Says Stamp: Humorous
Simply Create Too #53: Valentine's Day or Use Hearts
Tuesday Morning Sketches: Sketch #233


I'll be sending this card to the Sunshine Mail Foundation, to give a smile to child in the Northern Virginia area. You can even win a prize by entering their current challenge, "Anything Goes with a twist for Valentines Day" and sending in a card (Donation guidelines here).  

Update: This card was featured on the Tuesday Morning Sketches Facebook page.

Thank you for visiting, and a special thank-you to Kayleigh and Sammy! 

Crafting with Dragonflies

Crafting with Dragonflies is back with a brand-new challenge. Our theme couldn't be easier...just make a card, any card!

The Dragonfly is a free SVG from Scribbles Designs. I spent the better part of a morning designing this in SCAL, totally worth it. The patterned papers are from a Colorbök set, and I have some fun scraps left over!

The outer border was done with Liquid Pearls.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Craft It Up & Link It Up Linky Party by Craftin Desert Divas: Shaped Cards
Crafty Calendar: Celebrations
Fantasy Stampers Challenge #2: No digi / Anything with Wings

Thank you for visiting,and hope you'll join us at Crafting with Dragonflies,

How now, brown cow! - Card in a Box

Click images to enlarge

This week at Pile It On we want to see wood items and themes (one of my favorites...which is why I chose it!). Our sponsor is A Day for Daisies, so I combined our challenge with their "Yellow" challenge to make this project featuring Cow in a Dress from ADFD.My wooden items are the Wood fence, Woodgrain DP, and Fence die cut.

The moment I saw the lovely Card in a Box at Calla Lily Studio, just yesterday, I knew I had to make one right away! There's a great written tutorial at Splitcoaststampers, but I took her suggestion and made the smaller version by Stampin T! (video tutorial). However, I trimmed my card down to be 5.5 inches tall, to fit in an American/A2 envelope.

Here's the card all closed up:

It was fun to design this as a card and as a box. I added some gold Stickles to two of the corners for a little balance. I decorated a little clothespin to hold it down for this photo; it really wants to pop up!

And here it is as a box:

I typed up the sentiment, printed it on shiny yellow paper (Recollections), and heat-embossed it in gold (Stampendous). I colored the sweet image with Copics, and used a yellow gel pen for the ribbons on its legs.

I received the wood fence from Linda as part of a City Crafter swap some time ago. I cut it down for this project, and painted with white Crackle Paint.

The Garden Fence cut file (designed by Claire Brennan) is a freebie from Waltzingmouse Stamps.

The current challenge at Our Creative Corner is to use "one of your Shopping Sins"...that is, something new that you bought without a specific purpose. The woodgrain-patterned paper (Echo Park/Lori Whitlock) is a new sin purchase...I went crazy with woodgrain patterns this year! The ribbon roses are a past sin purchase, in that I bought them maybe 2 years ago because I absolutely had to have them and never used them!

I really enjoyed making my first Card in a Box, and find myself really wanting to make more!Many thanks to everyone for the inspiration. Be sure to check out the beautiful inspiration parade for this kind of fold on Pinterest.

Inspiration/Challenges:
A Day for Daisies: Yellow + ADFD image
Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge #159: Fancy Folds
Die Cuttin' Divas: Die-cut (paper fence) + Something Old & Something New (I used Old stash ribbon & wood fence, and New paper & technique)
Just B Creative Crazy: Just Because Anything Goes Linky Party
Our Creative Corner: Use one of your Shopping Sins/Something New (woodgrain paper)
Stamp n Doodle: Animal
Sweet Pea Stampers: Flower Power
WordPlay January Challenge: Yellow

Update: This placed in the Top 3 for Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge #159. Whoo hoo!

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,