Anything but a card + Use a Dragonfly

This fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies our theme is Anything but a Card + Use a Dragonfly.

I was partly inspired by the ribbon spool box tutorial at Mel Stampz, but the plastic spool I used opens up like a box, so it was easy to alter. The spool originally contained white silk ribbon from May Arts, and I've been saving it for a really long time!

The Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge owner, Hilde, is sponsoring this challenge and is offering this great freebie Dragonfly digi stamp if you want to use it:

I created the pink background in SCAL and cut it on my Silhouette Cameo, but the fine lines on the dragonfly didn't cut well so I printed it on the same pink paper and added some color with Copics and gel pens. I embossed the white top with a polka-dot folder and added yellow neon ribbon. The little flowers are cut with a Sweet Cuts set.

The covers were cut with a circle die, and I was able to use a slightly smaller die to cut the frames & insides. Worked almost perfectly. I wrapped the outside with more neon ribbon and a fun patterned ribbon. I added a string of gems to cover the seam.

The wood flower & leaf on the side were painted with neon orange and green Liquid Pearls.

Here's the box opened up:

I'm entering this project into the following Challenges:
All Crafts Challenge: Anything but a Card
Brown Sugar #117: Anything Goes
Stamps & Fun = Creativity: No Cards

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

No more Owlets Jumping on the Bed! - Pilin' on another Scene

This week at Pile It On our challenge is to Create a Scene. We're sponsored by Beyond the Fringe Crafts. I've been a fan of this fun site run by Carmen for several years; she has many wonderful images in her Etsy shop, and also provides lots of freebies on her blog.

I already made a card for this challenge featuring her Wonky Silhouette Cityscape digi stamp, but since I own that image I figured I'd take advantage and show off one of her great freebies too! I just fell in love with her Six Little Owlets Jumping On the Bed set (freebies for a limited time!), and decided to make a Halloween-themed scene using it. I remember this poem from my childhood and spent many an hour playing it with my niece (although I see the lyrics now say "bumped his head" instead of "broke his head," like I learned it. I'm all for this kind of language change, as I remember thinking those monkeys were really, really hurt!)

I printed the image onto an orange cardstock base. I made a little "rug" with a striped paper from the same Graphic 45 set as the purple polka-dotted paper. The bed is fussy-cut from a white cardstock, pieced with the purple "bedspread" and colored with Copics and gel gens. I printed the owlets on Kraft paper (the set comes with a separate set of owls that line-up perfectly with the owlets on the main image, so you don't have to cut them from the big image) and colored them with gel and glitter pens.

I typed up the sentiment, printed it on plastic, and used the rub-on technique to transfer it to a wood talk bubble. I used another wood embellishment, this funky little owl, to add a bit of fun. I colored it to match the other owls, and gave it some surprised-eyebrows. I had so much fun making this, and hope my niece likes it!

Lawnscaping #92

Challenges:
Lawnscaping Challenge #92: Halloween or Color Combo (3rd entry)
Bunny Zoe's Crafts October Challenge: Animals
Simon Says Stamp: Use Kraft paper (2nd entry)

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Trick-Or-Treat Tree

I couldn't resist purchasing the Silhouette cut file Maple tree - four seasons by Suzanne Cannon. It's a great set and you can do a lot with it. I decided to make an Autumn/Halloween card, with a bit of an interactive element.

I welded two of the leaves in my Silhouette software to make the little flapped leaves. I stamped small "tricks" and "treats" onto the inside of those leaves, using tiny stamps from my stash.

The Trick-Or-Treat sentiment is a large Fiskars stamp that I stamped onto Shrinky-dink plastic, cut out with deckle scissors, and shrunk in my toaster oven. I used an actual stick for its post.

I added some inks to all the pieces, and backed it onto a very glittery black cardstock. The card base is a Kraft paper with notched corners.

I'm sending this to our niece & I hope she enjoys finding the little surprises!

Challenges: 
Cards und More #117: Leaves + Stamping
Craft It Up & Link It Up Linky Party by Craftin Desert Divas: Brown & Orange
Creative Cutting Challenge: Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday #344: Trick or Treat

Thank you for visiting,

Creepy Cute Mummy Card

I ran across this Skellie Dude by Sarah from Wonderstrange in my digital stash and thought it was about time to use it!

The card base is a kraft paper that I wrapped with fabric tape. It really looks mummy-ish, doesn't it‽
As some of you know, we spent many hours in the hospital this summer, and the nurses often sent us home with extra medical tape & were nice enough to let us keep the blue rubber tourniquets they used to take blood. We're enjoying healthy times these days, but I amassed quite the collection of medical supplies for crafting purposes!

I colored the rubber piece with a black marker (it barely adheres) and added an orange washi tape to create the side banner.

The oval pieces were cut with a Sizzix die. The purple oval is cut from a very glittery cardstock.

I printed the image on white paper and colored it with Copics and gel pens. I fussy-cut it and glued it to the Kraft piece embossed with a Sizzix folder. I placed the piece on an Action Wobble for a little fun!

Do check out Wonderstrange. They have the most unique digis & project tips on their Freebies page.

Lawnscaping #92

Challenges:
Lawnscaping Challenge #92: Halloween or Color Combo (2nd entry)
Simon Says Stamp: Use Kraft paper
The Crafter's Cafe Challenge #87: Spookable

Thank you for visiting,

Pilin' on the Scenery

This week at Pile It On our challenge is to Create a Scene. We're sponsored by Beyond the Fringe Crafts. I've been a fan of this fun site run by Carmen for several years; she has many wonderful images in her Etsy shop, and also provides lots of freebies on her blog.
 
Her Wonky Silhouette Cityscape digi stamp has been a favorite of mine for some time and this idea just popped into my head:

click images to enlarge

I converted the from Beyond the Fringe Crafts digi stamp into a cut file and a black-out version SCAL and cut them on my Silhouette Cameo. The blackout (windows) is a shiny black paper, and the cut-out version is heat-embossed in black. The spooky crows are cut from the Birds on a Wire die from Spellbinders, and were also heat-embossed in black. All the patterned papers, including the die-cut fence, are Graphic 45 papers. The "Boo" tag is a fairly heavy Stone Sticker from EK success, and I added some black embroidery thread to it as if it were hanging from the fence.

I backed the scene with a black tulle-covered orange card base. I used a scalloped die for the inside message section. I added a Halloween poem stamp, a corner spiderweb stamp, and a couple of extra blackbirds.

Challenges/Inspiration:

1. A Gem of a Challenge #130: Spooky Halloween
2. Artistic Inspirations: Anything Goes and/or Halloween
3. Cardz 4 Guyz #41: It's Spooky - Halloween
4. Craft It Up & Link It Up Linky Party by Craftin Desert Divas: Halloween
5. Creative Knockouts #60: Halloween
6. Hiding in my Craft Room #171: Any Holiday
7. The Male Room #21: Halloween
8. Tuesday Throwdown #218: Halloween Colors

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Pink for BCA at Crafting with Dragonflies - Week 2

This is the 2nd week of our Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness (Cards only) at the Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge. I used Butterfly for a Cause by our sponsor Sami Stamps.

This card is pretty much a different take on my previous Pink Card. The image was printed on a bright pink paper along with a sentiment from TLC Creations. I colored it with Copics and gel pens. The butterflies were cut/embossed with a SU! Embosslit die from a pink metal sheet from Add a Little Dazzle.

I'm entering this card into these fabulous Challenges:
Die Cuttin' Divas #188: Think Pink + Die Cuts (butterflies are die-cut)
Digi Makeover Challenge: Think Pink + Digi Stamp

My thoughts are with you all struggling with this (or any) disease, yourself or with a family member. Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at Crafting with Dragonflies,

Halloween Houndstooth

I have two houndstooth papers — a black-and-white paper & an orange-and-white cardstock — that I've been looking for an excuse to use together. So I just had to try my hand at the Sketch + Houndstooth-pattern Challenge at Poppy Sketches. I also used the classic purple, orange, and black Color Combo Challenge at Lawnscaping.

I didn't originally intend to make this a Halloween card, but I just unearthed this frame stamp set from my stash. I don't think I've ever inked it up! I heat-embossed it in dark violet on white paper, and cut out the frame portion with a finger knife. I then stamped it in back on a textured, orange cardstock. I added some orange coloring the the pumpkin & a scrap from the border, and place it in the purple frame.
The middle orange strip is cut from the black-and-white paper and inked in orange. The purple trim is a delicate ribbon from Wrights. The fancy border is a die from Spellbinders' A Gilded Life collection, and I cut it from a two-toned, textured Core'dinations cardstock. The card base is a shiny silver cardstock.

I finished the card with two black gem-topped acetate spider tickers that a friend just gifted me. Never thought houndstooth could look so spooky!

Poppy Sketches #15

Lawnscaping #92

Challenges:
Lawnscaping Challenge #92: Halloween or Color Combo
Poppy Sketches: Sketch #15 + Houndstooth pattern

Thank you for visiting,

Classic Time

I've been working with some houndstooth-patterned papers, so I used some of those scraps to make one final card for Simon Says Stamp's Color Challenge:

SSSWC

The lavender and orange strips are strips of the black-and-white paper that I colored with inks and Copics. The orange houndstooth cardstock is a DP from my stash. I stamped the sentiment directly on it, and it's much more readable in real life. It is from a CTMH set and reads "Every moment in time is a gift and a blessing." The old-fashioned clock is a Tim Holtz die that I cut from gray & sparkly green cardstocks. I added some color to the grat outline with a dark gray Copic. I put it on an Action Wobble:

I notched the corners of the patterned paper base with a Marvy punch, and backed the card with a shiny black paper. Had lots of fun with this one!

Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,

Sew Buttons!

I can't get enough of the interesting color combo at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, and I couldn't resist using it again for a CAS-ish card:

For the background, I backed a black cross-stitch fabric scrap to a shiny black paper, and distress the edges.  I tied some help twine onto the tiny flower buttons and matched them with some mulberry flowers from my stash. The ODBD sentiment is stamped onto a paper-backed piece of an old fabric bag. The ruler, from a Cardmaking and Papercraft free set, was stamped onto a gray cardstock and attached with a dark gray, heart-shaped eyelet.

SSSWC

HLS

Inspiration/Challenges:
Happy Little Stampers: October Sketch
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Color Coordinates (4th entry)

Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,

UnstampaBelles October Challenge - Time + Shabby Chic without Stamping

I'm very proud to announce that I'm the newest member of the UnstampaBelles Team! Their monthly challenges are unique: Aside from a theme, you cannot use any stamps! Quite a challenge for me, but I'm really looking forward to it.

The UnstampaBelles October challenge is Time + Shabby Chic. We're sponsored by the wonderful company Flourish with a Bling, and you can link up your projects until the end of the month.

I decided to make a card slightly inspired by "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, which seemed like a fun way to incorporate both themes.

I used papers from Graphic 45, and a lovely script-printed adhesive cork. I added some black lace behind the cork strip, and distressed all the edges with a distressing tool and Antique Linen ink.

The raven die is from Tim Holtz, and I cut it with black paper & painted it with a black glimmer paint. The "Nevermore" piece & clock are painted with clear crackle paint and ink-distressed with more Antique Linen. I couldn't resist adding this cute wooden ink well, which I painted with black crackle paint.

I've been familiar with "The Raven" for most of my life, but when I moved Baltimore — the home of Poe's gravesite, the football team named for the poem, and even an apartment complex named The Lenore — it gained more significance for me. I ended up studying Creative Writing at the University of Baltimore, and one of my favorite memories is going to a poetry reading where we started by reading the poem. One of my professors looked over & saw that my husband (not a UB student) was reciting it from memory. Man, I got a lot of "cool" points for that! I also take pop-culture pride in introducing my favorite poetry professor to the version of the poem as presented on The Simpsons, and I think she still uses it in her classes.

Many thanks to the UnstampBelles for inspiring this card!

Creaine #41

Challenges:
Craft and Smash: Gothic
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper October Challenge: Patterned Paper (3rd entry)
Creaine Challenges: Sketch #41

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at UnstampaBelles,

Pilin' on the Cheer

This week at Pile It On, our challenge is to Use a Cheerful Message. We're sponsored by Oddball Art, so I used their Happy Cloud, Sad Cloud, and Kawaii Clouds digi stamps to make this notch swing card:

The sentiment, from Paper Makeup Stamps, is a quote from Dolly Parton: "If want the rainbow, you've got to put up with the rain."

Challenges/Inspiration:
ABC Challenge: V is for Vibrant
Aud Sentiments Challenge #117: Anything Goes with a sentiment
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper: Anything goes with Patterned Paper (2nd entry)
Craft Your Passion: Hope/Love/Encouragement theme
Doodle Pantry #51: Use a Digi
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #57: Anything Rectangular/Square with twist - add some Yellow

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,