Winter "Wonderland"

I just adore the the unique birds from the Bird Assortment clear set stamp from Amy Smyth/Inkadinkado. They just have the best expressions! I used this cardinal stamp to make a slightly ironic "Warm Wishes" card:

The bird and matching branch were stamped in black Memento ink and colored with Copics. The sentiment (I can't remember where I got it, but it's my favorite holiday sentiment) is stamped with a green pigment ink. I added some icicles to the branch with Glossy Accents.

The scalloped ovals were cut with dies. I painted the larger oval with Glossy Accents. The background is embossed in my BigShot, and I inked the embossed part with watermark ink and heat-embossed it with clear powder, to complement the icy elements. I finished the card with some lovely white leaf ribbon.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Christmas at Sweet Stampin': Christmas Critters
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge: Anything Christmas Goes
Stamping Sensations: Things with Wings

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

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,

Glamorous Flowers at OSAAT

OSAAT September Prize Pack

This fortnight at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), our theme is Anything Goes with a Flower. StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds of digital products from many wonderful artists. Even if you don't use a store image, you'll still be in the drawing to win the super-duper September prize pack.

I used this fun Starlet digi stamp by Pookie Designs; can you see the tiny dog in her purse‽ I colored the image with Copics and paper-pieced the dress and bag. I also used white tulle to give her fishnet stockings.


The sentiment & shoe are chipboard pieces that came with the matching papers.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
A Creative Romance: Anything Goes
Clear It Out: Polka Dots (Stash item: Polka dot paper)
Crafty Catz #247: Pretty Women
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper September Challenge: Anything goes with Patterned Paper (2nd entry)
Shopping Our Stash #169: Use a photograph or a person image (Stash item: Chipboard pieces & matching papers)

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time,

Booty Shaker - Talk Like a Pirate Day

Today (September 19) is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and for some reason I get a real kick out of this new tradition. I've made Pirate-themed cards for the past few years, and this year I had lots of fun participating in today's Talk Like Pirate Blog Hop.

I've received many positive comments on my star-themed ATC shaker, so I used the same technique to make a pirate-treasure-themed shaker ATC:

click to enlarge

The treasure chest is cut from shiny gold & brown papers using cut files from KLDezign. I filled the chest with spots of gold & silver liquid pearls and put it on a a blue, metallic-coated paper.

The wood-patterned paper is backed with the same textured, brown cardstock I used for the porthole frame. I glued some scrap plastic onto it and popped it up with foam tape. The frame is decorated with a silver pen.

The ridiculous sentiment was set in the Snidely font and heat-embossed in gold on shiny black paper. I cut it with a banner die and lined it with a gold-leaf pen.

The seashell is cut/embossed from a lager can. I wrapped the ATC with a brown raffia and added some fishing net.

I'm entering this project into the "Pirate Day" challenge at Die Cuttin' Divas.

Thank ye for visiting,

Gift Card Holders at Crafting with Dragonflies

This fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies we're challenging you to make a Gift Card Holder. We're sponsored by Bugaboo and I used their wonderful Cat in Hat - Youer than You digi stamp:

I had so much fun using this Buagboo image for my Tissue Box Cover, so I couldn't resist using it again for this card for a good friend of ours. He was amazing supportive during a rough time, grabbing us groceries & driving us around. I told my husband that we couldn't just reimburse him, I needed to make a card! Our friend's cat and dog were my inspiration and I did my best to reference their coloring. I colored the Buagboo image with Copics and distress ink, and added FlowerSoft and flocking to the cat. The dog is heat-embossed in yellow on black paper with a clear stamp from an Inkadinkado set.

I'm not sure why, but when I thought about the design for this card I immediately wanted to include an origami cat made from a dollar bill. Just seemed like a fun idea! I decided to make an Origami Money Cat, based on the video tutorial by Jo Nakashima. I didn't want to glue it down, some I created a pocket with a die-cut fence.

I used drywall tape for the grassy background on the front, coloring each piece with different greens. The clouds are die-cut from a white metal from Add a Little Dazzle. The sign image is glued onto a wood coffee stirrer.

For the inside, I made a simple pop-up base and attached a blue rubber band (an upcycled tourniquet actually) with leaf-shaped eyelets and gemstone brads. I used a Chinese money envelope for the gift.

I'm entering this project into the following Challenges:
Sweet Pea Stampers: All Creatures Big and Small

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at Crafting with Dragonflies,