Pilin' on the Wonderful Friends

The theme this week at Pile It On is Friends/Friendly Hello. We're sponsored by Inky Impressions, so I used their Super Girl LiLi along with their Sweet Wonderful You sentiment.

The papers, including the spotlight element, are all from the "Comic Heroes" paper pack from Recollections. I cut the stars with my Silhouette Cameo, and edged them with Lemon Ice Stickles. The shaker portion is filled with mircobeads & glow-in-the-dark glitter.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cheerful Sketches August Challenge: Sketch (2nd entry)
CHPPC: Patterned Paper (4th entry)
MarkerPOP Challenge: Anything Goes + Copic Markers
Melonheadz Friends Challenge: Hand-colored image
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes (2nd entry)
The Paper Girls #86: Super Heroes (2nd entry)

Update: I was the lucky prize winner for Paper Girls' Super Heroes Challenge.

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

Under the Sea with Crafting with Dragonflies

This fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies our theme is Under the Sea. No beach scenes, just under water views. I made a sparkly scene:

The watery background paper is from my stash, and I heat-embossed the whole piece with glittery embossing powder. I cut out the "Oceana Corner" die by Memory Box twice from a shiny green paper, mounted the pieces onto a double-sided adhesive sheet, and covered it with blue glitter. The fish are a rubber stamp from Viva Las Vegas Stamps. They were heat-embossed with a shiny orange powder on a copper paper. I decoupaged two of the fish with foam tape. The sentiment is spelled out with Junkitz alphabet buttons, which I strung onto a green fiber ribbon and ahdered to the card base with adhesive dots.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafty Calendar August Challenge: Bingo (third column: Ribbon, Blue, Buttons)
House That Stamps Built: Sketch A2615
Inky Impressions #27: Decoupage Your Image
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations August Challenge: Anything goes with a stamp and die

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

Back to School with The Crafter's Cafe Challenge

The Crafter's Cafe Challenge this week is Back to School. We're sponsored by Décosse's Dynamite Doodles, and I used papers & elements from their Touch of Class set to make an interactive, magnetic card. Here it is all put together:

All the patterned papers & images are from the Touch of Class set (be sure to click the link for more info on this great set + a freebie!) and are printed on magnetic paper.

I created the notebook-edge border with a Die-namics die; it's all one piece of regular paper, and I cut out the center square to create the frame. I stamped a sentiment from Verve Stamps onto the notebook-sheet, which I had cut out with a Pagemakers die.

I obviously had lots of fun making this! Here's how it's put together:

 Magnet card

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cheerful Sketches August Challenge: Sketch
Crafty Boots: Anything Square
Crafty Creations: Back To School + New-to-you Technique (magnet card)
Going Grey With Scrap-Creations: Back To School
Kitty Bee Designs: School
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge: Add a border

Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join us at The Crafter's Cafe,

Simply Best Furry Friend

Today, August 25, is my dog Walt's 10th birthday. He was the first dog my husband & I owned together, and was bred by my sister-in-law from her sweet black & white miniature schnauzers. Both parents are still alive, as are most of the litter (I can't talk about the loss of his sister...) and all have wonderful personalities and are well-loved! Walt was actually the runt, but has grown into quite a husky boy! I decided to make a quick card to celebrate the joy that he continues to bring into our lives, along with his "brother" Allen. The card design was inspired by Walt's penchant for playing in the snow. The deeper, the better! He's sporting his summer shave right now, but should have his schnauzer beard back in time to get it full of snowballs!

click images to enlarge

I used three different white cardstocks. I used the same embossing folder for both backgrounds, just the opposite sides. I used a Memory Box die to create the tree-lined background, which I popped up with foam tape. Before embossing, I heat-embossed "BFF" (from an Art Impressions stamp) in transparent yellow. It's silly, but I couldn't resist! I used my favorite Art Impressions stamp for "Walt", heat-embossing it in black on a shiny silver paper; I used a gray marker to give the dog Walt's coloring. The whole background is popped up from the base card with more foam tape.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Art Impressions Challenge #166: Anything Goes
Lawnscaping #112: Embossing
Less is More #238: Sketch


Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,

Simply Wonder Woman

I was the very lucky winner of Sketchy Colors' Sketch Challenge and received an awesome prize from Korthobby: a large bag of metal embellishments & charms all the way from Norway! I decided to make a Wonder Woman-themed card using one of my new metal embellishments & the 200th anniversary sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.

For the belt buckle, I heat-embossed the back of a metal embellishment from Korthobby with an antique-gold powder and carefully placed gemstones in some of the indented portions. Both the gemstones & the final metal piece were adhered with Glossy Accents. The friend I made this for loves pink, so I used pink gemstones.

I created the sentiment in SCAL and cut it from adhesive silver vinyl with my Silhouette Cameo. The red & blue portions are white cardstock inked with chalk inks. The belt is a scrap of gold paper. The little stars were also cut on my Silhouette, and were leftover from another project.

I'm pleased with how this came out ... almost like how it looked in my head!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Freshly Made Sketches: Sketch #200 + Clean Lines
The Paper Girls: Super Heroes
Sparkle N Sprinkle: AG with Embossing Powder etc.


Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,

Let them drink Tea - Screen Divider Card

I was inspired (again) by the Screen Divider card challenge at CCEE Stampers & the Ugly Paper challenge at the Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers. This time, I made a 3-panel Birthday Card for my husband.

click photos to enlarge

Apart from the shiny yellow & white papers, all the DPs are from Graphic 45. I feel guilty calling Designer paper "ugly" but for me that's not necessarily a bad thing. This "Gilded Lily" collection by Graphic 45 certainly captures the style of the era, but basing a paper pack on a history that ended in infamous bloodshed seems a little much...looking forward to their "Perfectly Pitchfork" collection, ha (sorry, too soon?)!

Anyhoo, I had tons of fun making this! The fancy cake was cut in 3 layers on my Cricut. The teapot is a die, as is the scalloped label I used for the bottom. The top is cut with a punch. I used a Sharpie to color the adhesive gemstone flourish. My husband definitely got a kick out of it!

Inspiration/Challenges:
CCEE Stampers: Screen Divider card / 2nd entry
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers: Ugly Paper / 3rd entry

Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,

Vineyard Screen Divider card

I was intrigued by the Screen Divider card challenge at CCEE Stampers, so I used the tutorial at Splitcoaststampers to make my own version:

click photos to enlarge

I was also inspired (again) by the Ugly Paper challenge at the Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers. If you shop at Michaels, you might remember this DP...it was a deal from Recollections a few years back. A friend of mine once described it as "hideous...who would buy this?!" and me & another friend raised our hands...hey, it was on sale! And Michaels gave away a pack of the same paper at a crop we attended, and you know that me & my crafty friend grabbed it up, ha! She used it for Thanksgiving decorations, which were beautiful, but I'm still struggling to use mine up! And my other friend still hates it & says so, ha again!

Inspiration/Challenges:
CCEE Stampers: Screen Divider card

Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers: Ugly Paper / 2nd entry

Update: This was chosen as a favorite for the Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers' Ugly Paper Challenge!

Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,

White on White at UnstampaBelles

The UnstampaBelles August challenge is White on White, with the twist of adding a color of your choice. I chose Copper as my second color. You can make whatever you like, but remember: no stamps!

The Southwest-themed shapes were die-cut from a copper paper (Recollections), and I emboss the white moon background with a Sizzix folder. The "hello" die cut was heat-embossed with golttery white powder. The beaded white flowers are from the Paper Studio, and I colored the beads with a copper Sharpie.

This Box Card was made with a template/die set from PaperCrafts. It includes a pop-up mechanism to keep the box open, which I felt was worth the time. The base card is actually two piece of regular white cardstock. I used a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the sides.

Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teamies and hope you'll join us this month at UnstampaBelles!


Thank you for visiting,

Pilin' on the Bright Colors

The theme this week at Pile It On is Bright Colors. We're sponsored by Sweet Pea Stamps, and I used Courtney McAnsh's To the Moon & Back digi stamp to make this shaker card:

I used neon papers from Kid Made Modern. The shaker part is popped with die-cut foam. I colored the image with Sharpies & glitter pens. The shaker is filled with microbeads and paper "suns" punched from more of the neon paper. I wrapped the shaker with black ribbon ... well, white ribbon that I colored black with a Copic marker. I added detail with black Liquid Pearls.

Inspiration/Challenges:
As You Like it Challenge: Favourite 2 embellishments & Why (Liquid Pearls & Microbeads; what can I say, they are both super-cool and also make a project better!)
Crafting for all Seasons #107: Bright and Beautiful
CHPPC: Patterned Paper (3rd entry)
Pile It On: Bright Colors
Sisterhood of Crafters: Rainbows


Update: I was awarded "Top Sister" for the Sisterhood of Crafters' Rainbow Challenge!

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

Feelin' Floral at Crafting with Dragonflies

This fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies we're challenging you to make a Floral-themed Card. I used floral papers from Graphic 45 to make this dog-themed card.

The dog is cut/embossed with a Die D-Lite from Spellbinders. The sentiment is cut with a Sizzix die from a piece of paper from Graphic 45's "Raining Cats & Dogs" collection. I used another die from the same set for the small green flowers. The pre-made white flowers are from the Paper Shelter. The black lace & lovely rose ribbon are from my stash.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Scrapy Land Challenges #23: Anything Goes with Die Brand Scrapy Land Sells (Dog Days) / 2nd entry
Sketchy Colors #253: Sketch
Through the Purple Haze: Flowers

Update: This was the prize winner for Sketchy Colors #253!

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

Challenge reminders: Winter White + Butterflies in the Great Outdoors

Since it will be winter soon enough, I made this sunny, snowy scene. I also want to remind you of my Design Teams' current challenges: Winter or Summer at Pile It On, Butterflies at Crafting with Dragonflies, the Great Outdoors at the Crafter's Cafe, and White-on-white + color splash at UnstampaBelles.

I used the lovely Flutter Tree D-Lite die from Spellbinders along with the Golf Club Landscape die from Memory Box. The base of the easel card & the layers were cut with scalloped, square dies. I used two white papers plus a white-frosted yellow Core'Dinations cardstock. I blinged up the whole thing with Lemon Ice Stickles. The tree was also cut with white foam to pop it up. I made the butterfly border with dies from the Flutter Tree set, put it on adhesive foam, and covered it with micro glitter.

Challenges/Inspiration:
Christmas Card Challenges: Anything Christmas/Winter Goes
Creatalicious Challenges #77: More than one fold
Scrapy Land Challenges #23: Anything Goes with die brand sold by Scrapy Land (Flutter Tree & Golf Club Landscape)

Thank you for visiting,

Banana Pie

I've starting using my Cricut Craftroom more, and couldn't resist using the Create a Critter 2 to make this silly card for my husband.

I colored the heart-patterned paper with Barely Banana SU! ink. The background & pie are a white-frosted yellow Core'Dinations cardstock. I sanded & distressed background with my Prima distressing tool. I added color to the pie and detail to the bananas with Copic markers. The burlap trim is from my stash. I sure had fun making this card, especially the tiny banana slices!

Challenges/Inspiration:
Di's Digis Designs: Monochromatic
DoubleClick Skittles: Use Food
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge: Sketch + Cricut cut
Simon Says Stamp: Food and/or Drink
Stemplegarten #40: Hmmm...Yummy

Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,