A very special Blog Hop!

After years of waiting -- a little on purpose, a little not -- my husband and I welcomed our sweet son into the world!

My DT sisters at IAAS surprised me with a blog hop in Ramesses Richard's honor! Be sure to check out their beautiful cards -- we're especially enjoying receiving the real things in the mail! You know we'll treasure them forever!

• Chriss
• Debbie
• Hazel
• Josephine
• Sall

I don't have a lot of crafting time these days (I'm typing with one hand with the little guy in my arms!) but I enjoy keeping up with my crafting friends!

Thank you for visiting!

Pilin' On the Shaped Cards and/or Add a Charm

The themes this month at Pile It On are Shaped Cards and/or Add a Charm. 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 Crafty Sentiments Designs. I used their Mr & Mrs Snow digi stamp and with a metal window charm to create this shaped card.

I used the "Gingerbread House" Fold-a-long die set from Jen Long/Sizzix, my favorite new die! I've had the "Happy Holidays from our House to Yours" sentiment stamp for years & it's one of my favorites. I backed the window charm with vellum & a gingerbread man that I fussy-cut from patterned paper. I colored the image with Copic markers & added some mica "snow."

Inspiration/Challenges:
A2Z Scrapbooking Linky Party: (P1) Winter Wonderland
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper: (P1) Anything Goes with Patterned Paper
Dies R Us Challenge: (P1/15) Christmas + Metal Die 
Dragonfly Journeys #130: (P1) Handmade Holiday Magic
Happy Little Stampers: (P5) Anything Christmas Goes + optional twist Snow
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: (Wed) Christmas

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

Glittery Skull Birthday -- Sparkle at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Add Some Sparkle. A good friend of mine enjoys Day of the Dead-inspired art, so I made this birthday card for her with skulls & glitter!

The digi stamp is "338-Day of the Dead Frida" by Dilly Beans, and the Dia de Muertos patterned paper is from Reminisce. I colored the image with Copics & different glitter embossing powders.

I created the sentiment inside myself in SCAL3 & cut it from gold glittered vinyl on my Silhouette Cameo.

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

Ugly Christmas Sweater Weather -- Local Christmas Traditions with the Unstampabelles

Our theme this month at the UnstampaBelles challenge is Christmas theme/tradition for your Country, with the optional twist of explain the theme in your blog. 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!

Living in the United States of America, most of our traditions are imported and then exported via commercialism! I'm not sure if this is a solely American tradition, but in recent years Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties have become popular. A few of my crafting friends and I have picked up the tradition, although we tend to be a bit vain and choose cute sweaters! We've also started the tradition of making Ugly Christmas Sweater cards...and, of course, collecting Ugly Christmas Sweater crafts!

I filled the shaker with tiny sweaters cut on my Silhouette Cameo with a file from Pretty Papers, Pretty Ribbons, along with gold stars & gold microbeads. The shaker cover is from a Shake It set by Impression Obsession. The sweaters are all stickers from my stash.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas #414: (Sat) Anything Christmas Goes + optional theme: Use Sticker(s)
Creative Sketchy Girls: (P20) Sketch #30



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

Thank you for visiting,

No Place like Home -- Pilin' On the Shaped Cards

The theme this month at Pile It On is Shaped Cards. The only really rule is to be inspired by more than one papercrafting challenge. We're sponsored by Crafty Sentiments Designs.

I used the "Gingerbread House" Fold-a-long die set from Jen Long/Sizzix and paper from Graphic 45 to make this Magic of Oz-themed card.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper: (P1) Anything Goes with Patterned Paper
Happy Little Stampers: (P15) Always Anything Goes with Dies
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: (Wed) Anything Goes
World Wide Open Design Team Challenge: (P15) Always Anything Goes for a member of a Design Team

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

Warm Coffee Wishes -- Coffee Loving Cardmakers' Winter Blog Hop

It's time for the Coffee Loving Cardmakers' Winter Blog Hop, and I always enjoy playing along.

I made a quick but cute dimensional card using the Tree Fold-a-long die set from Sizzix and coffee cup dies from the Hanging Charm Pull Tab die set by Karen Burniston/Elizabeth Crafts Designs.

I cut the coffee cup and sleeves from scraps of Xmas paper and adhered them to the card with star-shaped brads.

For the inside, I used my favorite winter sentiment stamp, heat-embossing it in red. I heat-embossed the stars on the tops of the trees in glittery white powder.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Coffee Loving Cardmakers: Winter/Holiday + Coffee/Tea/Cocoa
Scrapy Land Challenge #102: Anything Goes with Die Brand SL sells (Sizzix & Elizabeth Craft Designs)

Thank you for visiting!

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!