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,