Charms/Tags at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is to add a Charm or Tag. I made a gift bag for my neighbor. It's filled with cauliflower brownies & the recipe is on the tag.

I cut the bag from a glittered Recollections paper on my Cameo using a Silhouette design. The brads are from my stash; they're actually silver, but I colored them with a yellow marker. I hung a little cupcake pan charm from the gold closure string. The tag, including the sentiment and message section, is made with papers from the same Recollections paper pack as the bag.

Cauliflower Chocolate Brownie Recipe
(based on http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/06/18/cauliflower-chocolate-cake)
[my notes are in brackets]

Ingredients:

1. 1 Cup flour [Bob’s gluten free]
2. ½ tsp baking soda
3. ½ tsp salt
4. 1 tsp baking powder
5. 2 Cups riced, uncooked cauliflower [pre-riced cauliflower + broccoli from Giant Food]
6. Mint (optional) [Chocolate Mint from my neighbor's garden)
7. 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 Cup milk + as needed [fat & lactose-free]
8. ¼ Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
9. ⅓ Cup sugar of choice [brown]
10. ¼ Cup additional sugar [granulated]
11. 
¾ Cup mini chocolate chips [Nestle Tollhouse GF]

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F, and grease pan.
Combine first 4 dry ingredients in a bowl, mix very well and let rest. 

Blend the cauliflower with the vanilla & mint in a food processor, adding the milk until there are NO lumps whatsoever. 

Slowly incorporate flour mixture, sugars & cocoa until just combined, then add the chocolate chips. Bake 30 minutes. [The original recipe makes one 8x8 sheet cake, but I used a silicone brownie bite pan.]

Inspiration/Challenges:
Everybody-Art-Challenge #411: Little Present
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

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

Tricks & Treats

Halloween cards are so fun to make, I had to make another one with some ideas I've been playing with.

I made the spider with black ribbon & black adhesive gemstones. The "web" is made from pieces of lacy ribbon. The pumpkin pail was created from glittery orange cardstock with an oval tag die & and circle die with a stitched border. I used foam to create the shaker; I hand-cut the inner circle. The handle is die-cut with two circle dies. I filled it with black, white & orange microbeads, and candy corns that I stamped with two stamp sets & colored with Copics. For the sentiment, I used a rubber stamp that I've had for at least 6 years and an ombre ink pad. The background is a shiny off-white cardstock, the pumpkin border is a Graphic designer paper, and the card base is purple paper.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Fairy Tale Challenge #178: Pumpkin
Paper Creator's Crafts: Simply Spooky
Pile It On: Fantasy and/or Spiders/Cobwebs
Really Reasonable Ribbon: Anything Goes with Ribbon
STAMPlorations Sketch & Theme Challenge: Sketch

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

Spooky Shaker -- Tic-Tac-Toe with the UnstampaBelles

The UnstampaBelles October challenge is Tic-Tac-Toe with the optional twist of journaling/writing about your decision making process. You can make whatever you like without using any stamps. You need to follow the twist to be considered as the DT Favorite, but you only have to follow main theme to win our prize. This challenge has so many possibilities!

I used the middle column: Lace, Bling, Die-cuts.

The panels are from a sheet of Graphic 45 paper. I cut out part of the the first two panels & popped them with black foam tape to created shaker portions. I filled the shakers with a mix of microbeads and glitters. I added round gold glitter stickers (bling) to the corners. I colored white lace with a purple Copic marker and added it to the tag that I cut from a different sheet of Graphic 45 paper. If you look closely, you'll see die-cut bats (Lawn Fawn) and several sizes of butterflies (SU!) that I cut from coordinating DPs. The skeleton is fussy-cut from the last panel, but backed with black paper. The card base is a shiny black paper.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cut It Up Challenge #133: Shaker Cards + Die cut (bats & butterflies)
Deep Ocean Challenge #166: Halloween

Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teammates the UnstampaBelles this month!

Thank you for visiting,

Sweet Birthday at Crafting with Dragonflies

Our challenge this fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies is to make a card without an image, using only Designer papers & a sentiment.

I raided my stash for some fun papers. I used a Spellbinders die cut for the large sentiment. I stamped "you are" onto a paper embellishment. For the interior, I used a Pop It Up die from Elizabeth Craft Designs to cut the pop-up mechanism directly on a pretty patterned doily. The pop-ups pieces & the sundae are from the same paper pack as the ice cream paper on the inside. Really a very easy card!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Seize The Birthday: Birthday
Stick it Down: Card Sketch

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

Witchy Pun -- Pilin' on the Fantasy and/or Spiders/Cobwebs

The theme this month at Pile It On is Fantasy and/or Spiders/Cobwebs. The only real rule is to be inspired by more than one papercrafting challenge. We're sponsored by Sasayaki Glitter Digital Stamps.
This sentiment popped into my head the other day. Brujah is "witch" in Spanish, and with the "Ha" it kinda sounds like Brouhaha. I know, terrible joke, but it was so silly I just had to use it! It's also a nod to the classic song, "Season of the Witch." 

I created the sentiment with the fonts Wretched Remains and KR Trick Or Treat. I fussy cut the ghost letters and colored them with Copic markers. The banner part is printed on a manila paper, to contrast with the white ghosties & to match the background of the witch image. The witch & pumpkin papers are from Graphic 45. The cobweb background was created by embossing a shiny black paper and sanding down the raised portion. This was a fairly quick & quite fun card to make, even though it makes little sense. Hey, Halloween is the time for a little craziness!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Alphabet Challenge: P is for Pumpkin
Fab 'n' Funky #366: Word Art
The Fairy and The Unicorn Challenge #8: Anything Mythical/Mystical + Option: Witching Halloween
Scrap From Your Heart #14: Halloween

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Cupcake Card -- Not Square or Rectangle at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Not Square or Rectangle. Looking through my stash, I ran across a template for a cupcake card that my Mom made my years ago. I of course had to make it more complicated & create a shaker card.

The cupcake wrapper shape is cut from corrugated cardboard (Panera!) and covered with a metallic wrapping paper. The sentiment (Spellbinders) is underneath the thin acetate sheet I used to cover the shaker portion. I filled it with little plastic shpes & microbeads. On the outside, I added 3 plastic squiggly shapes that I've had in my stash forever.

Inspiration/Challenges:
C.R.A.F.T. #437: Shaped Card (not square or rectangle)
Watercooler Wednesday Challenges: Birthday
WordArt Wednesdays: Anything Goes

Update: I was the lucky winner for C.R.A.F.T. #437, as well as at Top 2 pick!

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

Simply Snowpeople Shaker

My recently attended a weekend-long Crop & craft sale, and she sent me this fun build-a-snowman clear stamp set. It has all the little pieces, which I stamped separately, fussy-cut, and pieced together. I colored them with Copic markers & glitter pens. I covered the mittens with glittery blue flocking. I stamped the snowballs & sentiment with blue ink; I used black Memento ink for the other parts. The sentiment is made from stamps from A CAS-ual Fridays set. I used foam to create the base, including a strip below the die-cut treeline strip. The shaker is filled with blue glitters & microbeads & three little snowman heads!

Inspiration/Challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays #184: Sketch

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Christmas

Thank you for visiting!

Dancing Skeleton -- Tic-Tac-Toe with the UnstampaBelles

The UnstampaBelles October challenge is Tic-Tac-Toe with the optional twist of journaling/writing about your decision making process. You can make whatever you like without using any stamps. This challenge has so many possibilities!

I used the last column: String, Brads, Stickers.

The skeleton-patterned paper is from Recollections, and I coated it with a layer of clear embossing powder to make the black background "pop" a bit more. I die-cut the banner pieces & strung them with gold string. The skull stickers are one of my favorite items from my Halloween stash. For the front closure, I heat-embossed a bone-shaped brad with a glittery white powder & wrapped more string around the whole piece. The string on the back is covered by the message section.

I had originally planned to make a Jumping-Jack/Pantin doll, but I can never get those to work & settled on just using brads to make the sketelon movable. I acquired this Skeleton cut file in 2010 as a freebie; I can't find the link now, and honestly it is a little tricky, but the Silhouette Store has several Posable Skeleton cut files. I cut this skeleton from shiny white & black cardstocks on my Silhouette Cameo, and glued/sealed the layers with Glossy Accents. I added my much-loved sugar skull washi to the inside panels, and also used it for some of the little die-cut banners. The sentiment is a gold sticker. The skeleton hangs from a brad, so that it is easily removable. I had so much fun making this!

Inspiration/Challenges:
DL ART Thankful Thursday Challenge #213: Halloween (or Thank You)
Naughty or Nice Challenge #44: Something Spooky
UnstampaBelles: Tic-Tac-Toe + optional twist: journaling/writing about your process


Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teammates the UnstampaBelles this month!

Thank you for visiting,

Pinktober at Crafting with Dragonflies

Our theme this fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies is Breast Cancer Awareness Cards.

I also used the first stanza from a poem by Emily Dickinson, made into WordArt by Cec Wintonyk.

I stamped the feathers (Stampin' Up!) on a bright pink paper & heat-embossed them with a light pink powder. The pink mesh is actually a drawer liner! I won the flowers many years ago in a crafting challenge. I printed the sentiment directly onto the window plastic & filled the shaker with pink glitters & sequins. The shaker frame is a die-cut from Elizabeth Craft.

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

Monochromatic at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Monochromatic. I decided to go with a blue palette along with some of my favorite sea-themed crafting goodies: the "Clever Koi" from Memory Box and the bubble frame die & embossing folder from Cuttlebug.

The marbled paper is from Michaels/Recollections, and the blue mesh is from a package of garlic! The plastic water droplet embellishment has been in my stash for a long time. The shaker is filled with microbeads & 2 shades of blue glitter.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Kitty Bee Designs: Water Fun
My Time to Craft: Die Cuts only
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Heavy Metal (the dark blue fish is die-cut from a soda can)
Sunday Stamps: Sketch

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

Royal Birthday -- Pilin' on the Fantasy

The theme this month at Pile It On is Fantasy. 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 Sasayaki Glitter Digital Stamps and I used their adorable Dragoon digi stamp.

I got together with my local crafting buddies last week, and we made a quick stop to the new Tuesday Morning and their fairly impressive craft aisle. I got a die & some vinyl, but I ended up taking my husband back the next day for the "castle" die (Crafter's Companion/Downton Abbey) and star-patterned embossing folder (Darice). We also got our boy Walt a new bed; you can't quite tell from this photo, but he was thrilled with it and I barely got it in the house before he made me drop it and he cuddled right in, ready to watch me use my yummy new craft purchases! To make this story even better, when I got home I realized that two of the castle die packages had gotten stuck together! I only paid for one, and called the store to let them know, and they let me keep the second one, which I gave to the friend who took me shopping in the first place!

The shaker background square is filled with paper crowns & gold star sequins. I had cut the crowns on my Silhouette Cameo for a previous project. The DP is from Graphic 45, as is the little sentiment strip on the bottom castle, which reads: "Life is the most wonderful adventure." The Happy Birthday die is from Impression Obsession, and is cut from a patterned paper; actually, I cut this for a different project but it worked so great with this!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge: Anything Goes
Crazy 4 Challenges: Interactive Card
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes
Sisterhood of Crafters: Use Your Dies
Sketch-Tanten Challenge #36: Any Card / Optional Sketch 
Use Your Stuff #281: Old & New Stash (Old: I made the die-cut crowns well over a year ago; New: castle die & stars embossing folder)

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