Lightning McQueen Gift Box -- Packages & Recycling with the Unstampabelles

Our theme this month at the UnstampaBelles challenge is Boxes, Parcels or Bags, with the optional twist of Recycle Something. 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. And remember, no stamps!

I recycled an old mailing box (thanks, Amazon!) to make this Lightning McQueen Gift Box for a special 3-year-old.

I painted the box with red acrylic paint, the 99¢ kind from JoAnn's. I grabbed the eye clipart here and converted it to cut files. I drew & cut the smile by hand...obviously LOL. For the license plate, I used a clipart frame and the font Motorway by Vic Fieger. The lightning bolt is a freebie and I cut it from gold paper. I made the wheels myself in SCAL and attached with them brads so that they rotate.

I lined the box with tissue paper, and tied it with black tulle. For his gift, I made a tie-together fleece blanket. My mom is a pro at making them, but this is my first time making one in over 15 years!

I also made decorations and gift bags for the birthday party. The goodie bags follow a template from Quite Possibly Perfect Designs. The Race flag font is 101! B10 Jr by Nght's Place, the lightning bolt font is Superheterodyne by Raymond Larabie, and the race car clipart is a personal-use freebie.

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

Thank you for visiting,

Christmas Jackalope -- Funny Christmas at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Funny Christmas.

Having grown up spending summers in the Western United States, I have an affinity for the mythical Jackalope. I probably believed in them as long as I believed in Santa!

The sentiment is from a Lawn Fawn set, and Cowboy Santa & the Jackalope are from the Southwest Christmas stamp set by Art Impressions. The base card is from the "Surprise Box" die set from Our Daily Bread Designs. The patterned paper is a double-sided sheet from Authentique. The little cactus is from a Recollections die/embossing set.

Love this photo... caught our neighbor's cat in the background!

Challenges/Inspiration:
Animal Friends Challenge #68: Winter + Animal
Papercraft Challenges #25: Lots of Dimension

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

Christmas Tags at Crafting with Dragonflies

Our challenge this fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies is Christmas Tags. We want you to make a large tag, roughly 15 cm long and around 6 cm wide.

I used a Tim Holtz tag as my base, and made two matching gift tags on which I clipped a pack of instant cocoa.

I started by stamping the bow, colored it, and covered it with Molotow masking liquid. Then I stamped the mug in green on top of it, and removed the masking liquid with an eraser. I cut the mug shape from masking paper and used it to mask both sides. Then I stamped & inked to my heart's delight! The "Fa-La-La" is a rubber stamp that I colored with Marvy embossing markers & heat-embossing with clear powder for a resist effect. The snowflakes are a large stamp & are heat-embossed with glittery white. The rest of the stamps are from sets that came free with a magazine. The Santa clips were premade. For the back, I masked the mug again to serve as a message section.

I had tons of fun getting messy & making these, and can't wait to spread the smiles! Hope you'll join us for this very special challenge.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Double Trouble Challenge #15: Sweet Treats for the Holidays + Sparkly Embellishment
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Baby It's Cold Outside
Use Your Stuff #338: Mood Board + Stash (I've had all these stamps forever!)


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

Glowing for Hanukkah

I live just up the street from a wonderful little gift store, Mondo Deco, and the owners have been very generous in carrying & displaying my cards. I made sure they had plenty of my Holiday cards in stock for Small Business Saturday, including this glow-in-the-dark Hanukkah card.

The base card & pieces were cut on my BigShot with the "Surprise Box" die set from Our Daily Bread Designs. The Menorah is a rubber stamp that I stamped in blue ink & colored with Copic markers. Some of the stars are covered in glow-in-the-dark glitter, and the silver background around the Menorah also glows!

Thank you for visiting, and if you're in north Baltimore City, be sure to check out Mondo Deco,

Moochas Gracias -- Pilin' On the Pets and/or Colored Image

The themes this month at Pile It On are Pets and/or Your favorite way to Color an Image. You can choose one or both themes, and you may enter the challenge as many times you like, as long as you are inspired by at least one other Challenge theme. We're sponsored by Dr. Digi's House of Stamps, and I used their cute Cuddly Cow.

I really love using my Copic markers to color images; it's so easy to shade and the blender pen comes in handy for those little mistakes! And although cows aren't traditionally kept as just pets, my cousin lived on a working dairy farm and took her favorite cow with her to get her senior photos!

I used my "Surprise Box" die set from Our Daily Bread Designs, and incorporated a grass die from Elizabeth Crafts with the interior pop-up pieces. I decorated the box with a double-sided sheet of DP from Doodlebug. I created the sentiment myself.

Wondering why the cute cow is purple & golden yellow? As you may know, I'm expecting our first child, and my Aunt & Uncle sent us a baby coverall featuring the Minnesota Vikings. This is sort of a family joke, because my Aunt & Dad are originally from Wisconsin, and being a Green Bay Packers fan is practically family heritage. There was some smack-talking between family members when I posted about the gift on Facebook! So I had to keep up the joke...notice that I used "bay" green for the base card and "cheese" gold (Packers colors) for the message section!

Inspiration/Challenges:
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #20: (P1) Anything Goes with a Critter
DL ART Thankful Thursday Challenge #237: (last Thurs/M) Always Thankful
Pile It On: (Sat before 1st Sun/M) Your favorite way to Color an Image (Copic Markers)
Simply Create Too #144: (1st Fri/M) More than One Fold
Unicorn Challenge: (P1) Use a Sentiment

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

Santa Llama in a Box -- Wild Animals at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Wild Animals. Although lots of llamas are domesticated now, a Santa Llama does seem pretty "wild"!

The llama and succulents are from two Recollections die/embossing sets. This time, I cut the llama from a black-frosted white Core-Dinations cardstock, sanded it to reveal the white core on the raised portions, and colored in the debossed details with fine makers.

The santa hat & xmas lights are stickers from my stash. I heat-embossed the sentiment (Latina Crafter) in green onto silver paper, die-cut the banner, and edged it with red glitter embossing powder. The patterned paper is from Authentique. The base card is from the "Surprise Box" die set from Our Daily Bread Designs, and I cut it from a silver cardstock. I added the adorable llama Washi tape to the pop-up strips.

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

Stop, Smell & Shake the Lemons

I needed a quick thank-you card, so I made this using some lemon-themed products I recently acquired, including Scratch-n-Sniff Washi tape. It's delightful! Michaels has a wide variety of scents.

The sentiment is a rubber stamp from DRS Designs; I stamped it in black StazOn ink directly onto the plastic piece. The aperature was cut with a Stampin' Up! die. The  fruit sprinkles inside the shaker portion are from Queen & Co.; the lemon dies are from Elizabeth Craft Designs; the blue-and-gold and Scratch-n-Sniff lemon Washi tapes are from Recollections.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Add Gold
Try Stamping On Tuesdays #384: Sketch + Optional theme: Thank You

Update: This was chosen as a Top 3 for Try Stamping On Tuesdays #384!

Thank you for visiting!

Thankful Baby Shake -- Special Event / Celebration at Crafting with Dragonflies

It's the 2nd week of Special Event / Celebration at Crafting with Dragonflies. If you haven't joined us yet, you still have time!

As you may know, my husband & I are expecting our first child in December! So I've been making a lot of thank-you cards. Here's a trifold card made as a thank-you for a lovely stroller.

The base is a double-sided KaiserCraft paper. The rattle-shaped shaker is from Queen & Co., which Mom treated me to at the Stamp & Scrapbook Expo in Mesa, Arizona, in September.

First fold open:

I've included a photo of our 13-year-old dog Walt with the ultrasound in all our thank-you cards. He looks so cute and slightly apprehensive!

Open completely (message written in the middle panel):

I used two embossing folders on the gold paper, and added some Washi tape.

View of the back:

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

Green Llama -- Wild Animals at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Wild Animals. I had so much making my first card, I had to make another using the same sketch.

The llama and succulents & pots are from two Recollections die/embossing sets. This time, I cut the llama from a green mirri paper (which looks great IRL but is very difficult to photograph!), and used a Marvy WetLooks marker to color the raised embossing portions before cutting/embossing, and heat-embossing it with red glitter powder. The santa hat & xmas lights are stickers from my stash. I heat-embossed the sentiment (a favorite stamp) in red onto the pot. The black & white patterned paper is by jubilee/MME; I hand-colored the red & green stripe.

I also decorated the inside:

Inspiration/Challenges:
Creatalicious Challenges #150: Anything Goes + Option: Embossing - Wet or Dry (both)
My Time to Craft #383: Sketch (2nd entry)

Update: This was chosen as a favorite for My Time to Craft #383!

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

Santa Llama -- Wild Animals at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Wild Animals.

The llama and succulents & pots are from two Recollections die/embossing sets. The patterned paper is a double-sided sheet from Authentique. The lights are stickers, and the llama border is a Washi tape.

I also decorated the inside:

Inspiration/Challenges:
My Time to Craft #383: Sketch (rotated 90° counter-clockwise)
Papercraft Business Challenge #12: Anything Goes + option of Christmas Animal


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

Rattle & Shake -- Special Event / Celebration at Crafting with Dragonflies

Our challenge this fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies is Special Event / Celebration. I made this trifold card for my Mom's friend's granddaughter, who just had a baby. She also gave me some of her maternity clothes!

The base is a double-sided KaiserCraft paper. The rattle-shaped shaker is from Queen & Co., which Mom treated me to at the Stamp & Scrapbook Expo in Mesa, Arizona, in September.

First fold open:

Open completely (message written in the middle panel):

View of the back:

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