Holy Moly, it's Autumn!

I received a lovely present from my long-time craft-blogging buddy Mimi: "An Apple a Day" die set from Sheena Douglass. Just in time for apple season!

The sentiment is a freebie from Ginger's House. I cut/embossed the apples from a shiny, textured cardstock & added a bit of red with a Copic marker & colorless blender. I've been hoarding this apple-patterned paper from Graphic 45 for years, and I'm glad I finally found the perfect project for it! I printed the sentiment onto printable acetate, and used my papercutter to create the frame with cardboard & a wood-patterned paper. The shaker is filled with gold & orange microbeads and orange hearts. I used my scraps to decorate the inside, pictured here with an inspirational apple my husband got at the farmer's market this week.

Inspiration/Challenges:

CCEE Stampers: Apples
Cuttlebug Mania: Golden Harvest + manual die-cutting machine

Fairytale Challenge: #177 Decorate inside and outside

Jo's Scrap Shack #208: Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes
YNS Challenge #74: Sketch




Thank you for visiting!

Floating Unicorn -- Star Struck at Crafting with Dragonflies

Our theme this fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies is Cards with Stars. I made a Shadowbox card featuring Bugaboo's Unicorn set.

I printed the images on two pieces of printable acetate. I also printed the rainbow, stars, and unicorn on regular cardstock, colored them with Copic markers, fussy cut them & glued them onto the acetate. I used glitter glue to fill in the clouds, and also on the unicorn's horn & hooves. I added blue glittered flocking to part of it's body. The larger stars are punched from striped paper. The sentiment (freebie from a magazine) is stamped in a bright pink (Lawn Fawn) onto a shiny paper & cut out with a Latina Crafter die. I doodled the frame.

I actually used just one piece of double-sided designer paper for the base. The middle piece is secure by gluing two of the accordion-folded pieces together on each side. The acetate naturally bows but it still closes completely flat. I added a message section on the back; I could have attached the piece to a traditional folded card base, but I wanted to show off the other side of this pretty paper!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafting with Dragonflies: Star Struck (no rude/sexy or Halloween/witch; cards only)
Crafty Gals Corner #141: Fancy Folds
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Pop It Up

Update: This was chosen as one of the Top 3 at Crafty Gals Corner!

Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join the fun at Crafting with Dragonflies, 

Simply caffeinated & a little shaky

Have you been hopping with the Coffee Loving Cardmakers? Can you believe all the creative ideas‽ Of course I had to make another project! This time I made a pair shaker cards, using my Silhouette Cameo and Coffee Cup cut files by 17turtles/Juliana Michaels.

I filled the shakers with gold microbeads & Apricot-colored glitter. The sentiments are from Doctor Digi's House of Stamps, and are printed on a shiny yellow paper. The sleeves are cut from a striped vellum.The lids & cup backgrounds are two tones of shiny white papers. I used a coffee beans die from Elizabeth Craft Designs to decorate the glittered paper front panels.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Fall 2017 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop: Coffee/tea/cocoa + Fall (2nd entry)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: CAS (2nd entry)
WordArt Wednesday: Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting! Have a perky Autumn,

Pumpkin Spice Season -- Coffee Lover's Magic Card

Happy Autumn! A new season means a new Blog Hop with the Coffee Loving Cardmakers, and I always enjoy playing along. I created this Magic Card using a template I created in SCAL and the Coffee Cup Shaker Box Card by 17turtles/Juliana Michaels.

The sentiments are from Doctor Digi's House of Stamps; I colorized them in Photoshop & added the gradient background in InDesign. The coffee beans die is from Elizabeth Craft Designs. I used an actual coffee stir stick thingy as the pull-tab.

For the hidden portion, I used a glittery orange paper for the cup; it's pumpkin spice season, after all! Here it is, with the tab pulled up:

Inspiration/Challenges:
Allsorts: Feels Like Autumn
Fall 2017 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop: Coffee/tea/cocoa + Fall
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers: L is for Lost and Found (Many years ago, I went through a Magic Card phase & created a template in SCAL; the file is on my removable hard drive, but it's small and I've consistently misplaced it when I want to grab those files. Happily, it was at hand when I made this card, although I was almost too lazy to take the time to deal with finding the template. It was worth using my template and just adding the coffee cup! Speaking of lost-and-found, I've never once been able to find this coffee bean die the first place I looked...it gets moved around. This time it was where it was supposed to be, which of course was the last place I looked!)

Thank you for visiting! Have a perky Autumn,

Circumstantially Hopeful - Not Pilin' on Patterned Paper

The theme this month at Pile It On is Feathers/Scales and/or No Patterned Paper. The only real rule is to be inspired by more than one papercrafting challenge. We're sponsored by Ike's Art. Aside from her always-creative Ike's World Challenges, she also hosts a monthly Cat-themed challenge, Show Us Your Pussies; I used one of her SYUP freebies, along with this bird from an Amy Smyth/Inkadinkado clear stamp set, to create this hopefully-humorous card!

The background is created with a piece of corrugated cardboard that comes with sandwiches at Panera. I colored it with Copic markers and a blue gen pen, and then added some blue glitter embossing powder. It was loads of fun to make, and I really like the texture.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Always Fun Challenges #23: Create a Scene
Crafty Cardmakers #195: Monochrome
Dragonfly Journeys: True Blue
Mod Squad Challenge: Heat Embossing
Show Us Your Pussies: Furrything Goes
Simon Says Stamp: CAS

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

Southwest Celebration -- Special Days at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Special Days.

The "Framed Lizard" rubber stamp is from Stamp A Mania, a small company that specialized in Southwest-themed stamps; I colored it with Copic markers & glitter pens. The patterned paper, including the patterned strip, is from Reminisce. The diamond shapes (JudiKins/1995!) are heat-embossed in gold on black paper. The sentiment is made with a die cut & a gold sticker.

Inspiration/Challenges:
JFF Monthly Challenge: Sketch + rubber stamp
International Art & Soul Challenge: Special Days


Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

Simply Cacti -- Sets of three + Cardboard with the UnstampaBelles

The UnstampaBelles September challenge is Sets of 3 with the optional twist of cardboard.

The cactus pot (Spellbinders) & flowers (Sweet Stamps) were die-cut from the cardboard front of a package of Tim Holtz paper. The cactus die & designer papers are from Echo Park.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes with Dies
Dies R Us Challenge #80: Die Cut handmade flowers (I used 2 Sweet Scraps die-cut flowers for each bloom)

Update: This was chosen as a favorite for the HLS September Die Challenge!

Thank you for visiting,

Rockin' Birthday -- Special Occasion Cards at Crafting with Dragonflies

Our theme this fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies is Special Occasion Cards.

The plastic shaker is from Jillibean Soup.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Stamp (no digi)
Southern Girls #168: Shake Your Groove Thing (shaker card)
Stella Says Sketch #513: Sketch

Update: I was a lucky winner at Bugaboo Stamps/Stella Says Sketch as well as at Southern Girls!


Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join the fun at Crafting with Dragonflies, 

Believable, Incredible Slider

I made this interactive card with Taylored Expressions' "Build a Scene - Calendar" die set.

I cut several frames from cardboard, cutting down two layers to create two gapped sections, which I used for the little plastic sliders. I decided to get extra-silly and cut the moon/sun/cloud from magazine photos...my husband was pretty creeped out when he saw the faceless negatives on my workdesk! The sea isn't cardboard, the 3 pieces are die-cut from a blue medical mask. The back of the scene is made from fabric canvas, embossed with a TE embossing folder. The speech bubbles stamp & die are from Latina Crafter.

I was inspired by the Coney Island-inspired song "Paper Moon" ... I grew up with this wonderful version:

Inspiration/Challenges:
Share Joy Challenge: Sketch
Scrapy Land Challenges #73: Anything with a Die Brand they sell (Taylored Expressions)

Thank you for visiting,

Chalkboard Rainbow

I had so much fun using the current sketch at Taylored Expressions' Share Joy challenge for my "Don't Stop Having Fun" penny slider card that I just had to use it again. This time, I used the "love bug" from  their Little Bits "Transportation" die set along with some scraps of chalkboard tape leftover from my previous card.

I just happened to have a stack of rainbow-inspired cardstock scraps on my table from an ongoing project, so it was super-easy to cut the cute cards. The sentiment & smiley pieces were made using the Chalkboard technique. I used the Embossing Resist technique along with the "Retro" stamp from Kaiser Craft & Peeled Paint distress ink + black ink for the middle layer. I'm going to send this to my folks...they were both teachers, and I remember Dad painting Mom's chalkboard with the standard green chalkboard paint every few years!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Paru's Card Making Challenge: Rainbow
Share Joy Challenge: Sketch (2nd entry)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes (3rd entry)
WOW! Embossing Powder Challenge: Emboss Resist Technique

Thanks for stopping by,

Sketchy Transportation

I've enjoyed playing along with Taylored Expressions' Share Joy challenge over the years, so I definitely wanted to join their 9th Birthday Bash! This penny slider card features their Little Bits "Transportation" die set.

I used some papers that I've been hoarding to use with these dies. The striped paper & red "road" are from Cosmo Cricket's "Social Club" collection; the color combo is so unusual but works somehow! It goes well with the arrow-patterned paper from Pebbles, Inc., and the chalkboard "road" tape that I bought at Michaels recently. I created the circular penny slider portion with Spellbinders circle dies., and used thick cardboard to pop the raised portions. The sentiment on the truck is a Tim Holtz rub-on, the sign sentiment is fussy-cut from a patterned paper, and the small arrows are cut from a scrap of the backing paper with a Taylored Expressions die from their "Build a Scene - Calendar" set. The cars are made from thin cardboard & tin foil. I'm planning on sending this to my BFF.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Dragonfly Dreams: Patterned Paper
Share Joy Challenge: Sketch

Thanks for stopping by,

I Treasure You -- Pilin' on the Feathers/Scales

The theme this month at Pile It On is Feathers/Scales. The only real rule is to be inspired by more than one papercrafting challenge. Be sure to stop back on the 3rd Sunday of the month for a bonus theme!
We're sponsored by Ike's Art and I used her fantastic Dragon digistamp to create this shaker card.

Featuring Dragon 1 by Ike's Art / Click to enlarge

I digitally added the sentiment using the Charlemagne font.. The shaker portion is filled with teal & gold microbeads & a mix of jewel-colored mica bits. The bubble border is made with a die from Pink & Main; I cut it from paper I heat-embossed with Aged Copper embossing enamel. I filled the holes with glitter glue, and used the same glitter glue on the shaker frame & the dragon's belly.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cardz 4 Guyz #177: Something beginning with D (Dragon)
Ike's World #96: Anything Goes with a twist: Mythology
Sketch-Tanten Challenge #35: Any Card / Optional Sketch
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
Unicorn Challenge: Mythical and Magical


Update: This was chosen as a Top 3 for Ike's Mythology Challenge!

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

Vintage Humor -- Lace/Pearls at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Lace/Pearls.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Hand Stamped Sentiments #271: Sketch
Inkspirational: Stamp from when you started crafting (I've had the sentiment stamps forever: I used the birthday sentiment on one of my first blogged cards, and Mom gave me the humorous stamps before then) 
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,