Surfin' Santa Scene - Summer Christmas at UnstampaBelles

The UnstampaBelles December challenge is Summer Fun with the option of Christmas. We're sponsored by Bizzy Becs Paper Crafts, and you can link up your projects until the end of the month. Remember, you can't use ANY STAMPS (digi or otherwise)!

Most of my UnstampaBelles teamies live in Australia, which means that we enjoy opposite seasons. I'm spending most of December in sunny Arizona, but it definitely doesn't compare to the Summer Hemisphere Christmas they will be enjoying!

I used SVG files for the surfboard and sleigh. I coated the surfboard with Gloss Accents.

The "sand" is made with a cardboard coffee sleeve. I embossed the sentiment directly onto it and inked it all with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo distress inks. The "sea" is a blue, rubber tourniquet edged with scalloped scissors. The seashell is die cut from a beer can!

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

Pilin' on the vine

This week at the Pile It On Challenge our theme is Sprinkle It (glitter, flocking, embossing powder... anything you "sprinkle" on.)

We're sponsored Doodle Pantry so I used their Grapes digi stamp:

Challenges/Inspiration:
Get Creative Challenges: Anything Goes + Optional Twist: Glitter (there is a touch of glitter in the "wine stain")
The Pink Elephant Monday Card Challenge: Anything Goes
Perfectly Rustics: Embossing
Sparkle N Sprinkle: Anything Goes with Loose Glitter, Embossing Powder and/or Flocking

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

Live, Laugh, Love - Lace at OSAAT

OSAAT November Prize Pack

This fortnight at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), our theme is Anything Goes with Lace. StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds of digital products from many wonderful artists. Even if you don't use a store image, you'll still be in the drawing to win the super-duper November prize pack.

I used the Anthurium Digi Stamp and Paper Pack by Coosty Creations and a sentiment stamp from Indigo Blue for my card:

Inspiration/Challenges:
Catered Crop: Anything Goes
Technostamper's Monday Lunch Time Sketch Challenge: Sketch #342

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time,

Chinese Love

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has little bags in their stash filled with leftover bits from past projects. Earlier this year, I made a large custom order of cards based on my Chinese New Year never-ending card, and ended up with a fair amount of leftover Chinese ephemera and papers. I also pieced this lovely decoupage piece some months ago and never ended up using it, so I was glad to see the Asian Art & Ephemera Challenge at Lunagirl Moonbeams and have a reason to make a card with some of these stash items. I made a Joy Fold card:

The gorgeous front piece is from a Dufex die cut sheet. I popped up each of the layers with foam tape. I matted it onto a light gold paper. To close the card, I used a bird-shaped paperclip.

The pattered papers are all from Graphic 45's Birdsong collection. I used a smaller sheet of the background paper to make the mini-card. The Chinese symbol reads "Love" and was created in SCAL & cut with my Silhouette Cameo.

I cut the flower in black and shiny red with the Wildflower Corner die by Memory Box. The message frame, corner elements, and the good luck character are all from Chinese money envelopes.

I really had fun making this, which ended up being perfect as a birthday card for a friend of mine. Many thanks to Lunagirl Moonbeams for the great inspiration!

Update: This was the random prize winner for the Lunagirl Moonbeams challenge!

Thank you for visiting,

Logical Journey / Crafting with Dragonflies Week 2

This is the final challenge at Crafting with Dragonflies. I joined the team last year and will miss the fun (you can see all my Crafting with Dragonflies posts here.)

This is the second week of Anything goes Challenge with option of Goodbye/Farewell. I made a Ciao card last week, but I wanted to make a reminder card, featuring another image from our sponsor Pickled Potpourri Designs.

I used an Einstein quote wordart from their Words of Imagination set as well as a frame from their Deco Frames set.

The flourish pattern is stamped with an SU! Roller Wheel. I edged the pieces with a fun film-patterned Washi tape. The banner is cut with a CTMH die using a Washi from the same set. The banner & sentiment are popped up with foam tape. The tassel is cut with a Sizzix die from a handmade, black paper. It's attached with a square, black brad. The background is a shiny, textured white Core'Dinations cardstock which I notched in just the top right-hand corner with my favorite Marvy punch.

CAS Challenge #100

Inspiration Challenges:
CAS Challenge #100: Sketch

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

Incense Tube Box + Tutorial - UnstampBelles midway post

The UnstampaBelles November challenge is Box + Tutorial. We're sponsored by The Stamp Spot, and you can link up your projects until the end of the month. Remember, you CANNOT use ANY STAMPS (digi or otherwise)!

We were recently gifted some large incense sticks, and since they are especially pungent I thought it would be fun to make a decorative box to hold them.

Allen likes it!

The incense sticks are almost 19 inches tall (great for a yard), so I used two 12-inch pieces to create a 20-inch-tall box. I scored the one of the short ends of one of the pieces at 1/2 inch, and fringed the smaller portion (this is the bottom of the box).

I scored one end of the other tall piece at 1/2 an inch and at 3.5 inches, and then cut the shorter end down to 3 inches. The smaller piece will be used for the lid. The 1/2 inch score on the larger piece will help line up the box with the second portion and create a 20-inch-tall box.

I used a Spellbinders circle die for the base circle. It has a diameter of about 1.875, which means the circumference of the box is 5.888 inches (I cheated and used an online Circle Calculator). I cut the side pieces at 6 inches wide so that I could use one sheet of 12x12 paper for the whole project.

I decorated the box with a sheet of "Live Laugh Love" and a burlap-patterned paper from Recollections, as well as some orange bulap ribbon and my favorite washi tape.

Here's a photo showing my fringing technique:

I didn't follow any tutorial, I just decided I could do it! Trust me, if I could do this you can too. The trickiest part was making the tube, and I used adhesive tape to help me line it up. I must admit that the incense is still pungent, but I really enjoy it and the box may or may not become a gift!

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

Pilin' on the Vintage

This week at Pile It On our challenge theme is Vintage. We're sponsored by Rogue Redhead Designs, and they were incredibly generous & sent our PIO team their beautiful half-plate set Winter Women.

I've been a huge fan of RRD for several years; If I did more stamping, I'd own all their stamps! Seriously, they are well-made stamps and worth every penny. I especially enjoy their background stamps.

I wanted to use as much of the stamp set as I could, so I made a Card-in-a-box:

All of these stamps, including the shoe-pattern on the upper flaps and the sentiment on the back, are all from RRD's Winter Women set. It's difficult to see in this photo, but I stamped the shoe pattern in pink and blue on manila paper (same paper as the base card). The other off-white papers are a vine-patterned, pre-embossed DP. The patterned papers are from Graphic 45, included the paper used for the shoe stamp.

I edged all the pieces with Vintage Photo distress ink. I used brown ink to stamp all the images, and colored the lovely ladies with Copic markers. I added a touch of lace, but decided not to add any other embellishments & just let the stamps shine!


Challenges/Inspiration:
Craft Your Passion: Something beginning with B (Box, Boot)
It's All About the Vintage: Special Folds + Vintage
Ooh La La Creations: More than 1 Fold
Suzy Bee Challenge #55: Vintage
Top Tip Tuesday: 3 or more Papers

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

Giving Thanks at OSAAT

OSAAT November Prize Pack

This fortnight at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), our theme is Anything Goes with Giving Thanks. 

StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds of digital products from many wonderful artists. Even if you don't use a store image, you'll still be in the drawing to win the super-duper November prize pack.

I used Sunflower by Barbara Jensen to make this relatively simple Thank-you card:

I also had fun using this image last year for a notch-swing card. In fact, I think I used papers from the same Graphic 45 collection. It was definitely time-consuming to fussy-cut, but so worth it. The vase is fussy-cut from a FlowerSoft decoupage sheet, and the patterned papers are from Graphic 45.

The tag die & matching stamp are from a Cuttlebug set. I cut it from a pre-embossed cardstock, stamped it with Memento ink, and edged it with the same Copic I used for all the edging (E07). I tied the tag to the vase with a stitched green ribbon.

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge: Thank You + Stash (I've had these papers for years, and the vase cut-out is probably 3 years old!)
2. Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper November Challenge: Patterned Paper (2nd entry)
3. Crafting By Designs: Give thanks
4. Dream it Up: Thankful and Thoughtful
5. Hambo Hoedown: Thank you card
6. QKR Stampede #113: I'm Thankful For
7. Quick Quotes November Challenge: Gratitude
8. Simply Create Too Challenge #74: Thanksgiving / Thank You
9. The Stamping Boutique Challenge #43: Thankful

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time,

Happy Unbirthday!

I totally forgot to put my brother-in-law's birthday card in the mail, and since his birthday was last Saturday I figured I'd make him an "Unbirthday" card and cut my losses!

I kept it very simple. The background is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, and used some of the same paper for the sentiment strip. I embossed a dotted border on the strip by hand with my embossing tool. The base is a light blue paper.

The sentiment is a stamp from Rogue Redhead Designs, and I heat-embossed it in neon orange. The little bubbles are stickers from Stickopotamus.

The banners are cut from three colors of blue rubber tourniquets. My BIL works in medicine, so I think he'll get a kick out of that!

Atlantic Hearts #81

Challenges/Inspiration: 
Atlantic Hearts: Sketch #81
Polkadoodles #43: Recycle It (rubber tourniquets)



Thank you for visiting,

Crafting with Dragonflies final challenge!

This is the final challenge at Crafting with Dragonflies. I joined the team last year and will miss the fun (you can see all my Crafting with Dragonflies posts here.)

So our theme this fortnight is Anything goes with option of Goodbye/Farewell.

I used the sweet Daydreaming set by Melanie Millet from our sponsor, Pickled Potpourri Designs, to make this Ciao card:

This fun digi set comes with the front face, the open window, and the inside image. The cute little doggie is from Art Impressions. I printed the open window onto a textured Core'Dinations cardstock, added some color with Copics, and folded the shutter outwards.

I'm entering this project into the following Challenges:
Art Impressions: Animals
My Craft Creations: Always Anything Goes
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper November Challenge: Patterned Paper
The Corrosive Challenge #212: Girly



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

Autumn Wishes

I cut a ton of leaves with a Tim Holtz die some time ago, and I wanted to make a card using a lot of them. Here's an Autumn/Thanksgiving-inspired card:

Challenges/Inspiration: 

Freshly Made Sketches: Sketch #161
Lawnscaping #93: Fall and/or Pumpkins
Shopping Our Stash #176: Leaf Me Alone / use leaves (all of the items on this card have been in my stash for over 6 months!)

Thank you for visiting,