Pilin' on a Birthday

This week at Pile It On our challenge theme is Special Occasion. I made a Christmas card featuring metal from our sponsor, Add a Little Dazzle, but I couldn't help using more of this fun metal for a Birthday card:

Color Throwdown #317

Mojo Monday 370 Contest

Challenges/Inspiration:
Add a Little Dazzle #50: Inspiration Photo or Anything Goes (ATG/2nd entry)
Color Throwdown: Combo #317
Mojo Monday: Sketch #370

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

Pilin' on Christmas

This week at Pile It On our challenge theme is Special Occasion. We're sponsored by Add a Little Dazzle, so I used some of their lovely white-colored metal to create a card partly inspired by their current, Christmas-themed challenge:

I used a die-cutting stencil that came free with an issue of Simply Cards & Papercraft to cut the fancy tree from the white metal. I adhered it very carefully with Glossy accents.

Other than the white metal, all the papers used are shiny. Let me tell you, this was almost blinding under direct light! I debossed the stand of trees with a Tim Holtz folder directly onto on the shiny dark green cardstock.

The sentiment, from a Little Darlings stamp set that came with an issue of Papercraft Essentials, is heat-embossed in white.

I finished the card with some holly leaves from a silk ribbon and some gems.

ColourQ #266

TSSC #339

Challenges/Inspiration:

Add a Little Dazzle #50: Inspiration Photo or ATG (Inspired by photo)
Alphabet Challenge: T for Traditional Christmas
ColourQ Challenge: Combo #266
Craftyhazelnut's November Challenge: Anything Christmas Goes
Crafty Ribbons: Christmas Creations with Ribbon
Inkspirational #69: Shine
Moving along with the Times: Sparkle and/or Shine
QKR Stampede #112: Christmas
Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #106: Winter Holiday with Ribbon/Trim
Technostamper's Monday Lunchtime Challenge: Sketch #339

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

Pilin' on the Shine - Homemade Frames

This week at the Pile It On Challenge our theme is Shiny and we're sponsored by Add a Little Dazzle. They were very generous, and provided our DT with samples of their colorful metal sheets. It embosses and cuts beautifully on my BigShot.

You might remember my "illness to wellness" card featuring Add a Little Dazzle metal, which I made for the doctors who performed my husband's recent kidney transplant (he's doing quite well!) ... Well, his living donor recently celebrated her birthday and she requested some frames for hand-print paintings her two young sons made. Their art definitely inspired me!

This frame was made for the 2-year-old's "Crab Hands" painting:

click to enlarge

I used seashell dies (two sets; I think both are Spellbinders?) and cut/embossed them with different shiny papers, metals, and plastics. The lighter-colored shells are cut from a blue metal Add a Little Dazzle from and heat-embossed with a fluorescent orange. The little crab (from a Recollections set) is stamped & embossed the same way, but I fussy-cut it. I also added some actual shells and fishing net.

To make it easy to add the painting to the frame, I made a pocket for the back:

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. 4 Krafty Girlz #27: Anything Goes
2. Altered Eclectics: Anything Goes - Mixed Media / No Cards
3. All Crafts Challenge: Anything but a Card
4. Divas by Design: Anything but a card
5. Country View Crafts' Challenge: Nautical
6. Cuttlebug Mania: Anything Die Cut
7. Hobbybook Designer Challenge: Embossing
8. Penny's Paper-Crafty #195: Embossing

Here's the second frame I made for 4th of July theme-themed handprints by our 2- and 1-year-old nephews. I used teal metal from Add a Little Dazzle for some of the stars.

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,

Thankful Bubbles -- Pilin' On the Embossing with Add a Little Dazzle

This week at the Pile It On Challenge our theme is Embossing (wet or dry) and we're sponsored by Add a Little Dazzle. They were very generous, and provided our DT with samples of their colorful metal sheets. It embosses and cuts beautifully on my BigShot.

I embossed this dazzling blue metal sheet from Add a Little Dazzle with a Cuttlebug folder, and it was so stunning by itself that I kept the rest of the design fairly simple. The metal embellishments were cut/embossed from a soda can. The sentiment is from TLC Creations and I created the banner shape & border in InDesign. The metal sheet is adhered with ZipDry glue (it glued well, with little need of flattening) onto a silver Recollections cardstock. The white papers are a heavy, coated Hammerill cardstock.

On Friday my husband had a kidney transplant (he and the living donor are doing great!), and my Mom helped me make thank-you cards for the many people who have supported us during this time. I created this design and we ended up making many similar cards (well, Mom did...I've been cleaning and getting life organized for his 6-week recovery). I will try to get a photo of Mom's cards -- they are gorgeous!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Creative Card Crew #66: Sea/Beach
Inky Impressions #169: No DP
Inkspirational #61: Splash
Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge: CAS
Scrap it with a song: Foo Fighters - "Times like these" (Boy, this song has made me emotional in times like these!)
Simon Says Stamp: Embossing
Sisterhood of Crafters: Diecuts/Punches
The Crazy Challenge: Die cuts and punches

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,