Advent calendar

I made this advent calendar for my DGD this Christmas.  The advent calendar has 24 little drawers that hold a small surprise (advent calendar from Karen Foster).  I used Bella Blvd's "Christmas Wishes" line to cover the front frame and the drawer fronts.  There is a template included for the drawer fronts, but it's basically a 2"x2" square, with half of a 1" circle punched in the center.   The only drawback is that you need some pretty small items to fit in these little drawers, LOL!

Lily Pad card sketch challenge

I made this card for the November sketch challenge @ Lily Pad .  The diagonal design line in the sketch had me stumped for awhile, but it worked out well with using the Tim Holtz snowman embossing folder because of its large snowman design on one portion.  I added a ribbon and bow and some stamped and embossed snowflake in the opposite corner to balance out the card.   It's hard to see in the photo, but I added some clear glitter to the raised portion of the embossed snowman, by brushing some Martha Stewart glitter glue over the raised image with a small paintbrush.  The subtle sparkle is really pretty in real life!

Cardabilities Challenge # 43

For this week's sketch challenge @ Cardabilities, I used some old Stampin' Up stamps, some Echo Park paper and the new Winter edition Distress Inks.  Just love the red and green colors in this set - so great for Christmas projects!

CAS-ual Friday's Sketch Challenge

This week's challenge @ CAS-ual Fridays is a sketch challenge - one of my favorite types of challenges!

Here's my card based on the sketch.  The patterned paper is from Pink Paislee's "Snow Day" line, and the sentiment stamp is from Hero Arts.  I cut the snowflake with my Cricut and then embossed it with a swirly Cuttlebug folder and added a Prima gem center. 

Making a framed Christmas or holiday collage

Today is my turn to post a holiday project for Practical Scrappers.  This is such a simple project but it's one of my favorite holiday decorations and a great way to use up leftover holiday papers and embellishments.

First, choose the size you want to create. I used a clear acrylic frame that is 11 x15 but you could use any frame size. Cut your pp scraps into various sizes of rectangels and squares and lay them down on your base until you have a pattern that you like. Now you can start adding embellishments. I added a Christmas bingo card, some rubons, stickers, a tag, and a few felt flower and buttons. Just keep in mind that any dimensional embellishments have to be thin enough to fit inside the frame. As an alternative, you can add some dimensional elements to the outside of the frame, like I did with the bow, large felt flower and jingle bells at the top corner. My collage is large enough to hang on the wall, but it would also be fun to create some smaller collages and make a grouping for the mantel or tabletop.

Ho ho ho!

I made this card for one of the challenges this week at For the Luv of Art.   I punched 1.25" circles from lightweight chipboard, ran them through my Xyron little X machine, and then adhered red and white bakers twine in a spiral to make the little "peppermint" o's.   The "H"s were cut using the Storybook Cricut cartridge and the borders is from the Fiskars Threading Water punch.

a Thanksgiving shirt inspired by Pinterest

Over at For the Luv of Art, we're having a Pinterest crop, with challenges inspired by cool things spotted on Pinterest.   One of the inspiration items was this turkey tshirt originally from Love from Texas.

I loved the ribbon tailfeathers and wanted to make a shirt for my granddaughter to wear for Thanksgiving.  Since I'm not too good at freehand cutting, I used my Cricut and the "Create a Critter" cartridge to cut the turkey body and then used ribbon loops for the tailfeathers.  A little ultra strong Heat 'n Bond, some stitched feet and some google eyes made a cute little turkey shirt.

This also fits challenge #41 this week over at Die Cuttin Divas.

 Hopefully I'll have a picture of our granddaughter in her turkey shirt to post a little later!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....at Practical Scrappers

Yesterday, we started our holiday postings at Practical Scrappers.  Every day one of the DT members will be posting a holiday project.  Audrey started things off on Monday with her paper punched pinecone ornaments - so cute!   I'm looking forward to all the projects coming our way over the next month.  :)

Today, the design team members are sharing projects made from their holiday stash - items left over from last year's projects (or maybe even the year before last!).   I got the idea for this framed piece from a card featured in Papercrafts Magazine last year.  I changed it around a little to make a framed accent instead of a card.

I used my Cricut to cut the Christmas tree from green cardstock, and then used the negative piece (the outside portion) as the frame for my tree shape.   I laid the green tree frame over white cardstock and lightly traced the outline of the tree shape.  Starting with the larger embellishments, I just started filling in the outlined shape, using stickers, rubons, buttons, and gems.   The green cardstock piece was embossed with my Cuttlebug and a Sizzix embossing folder, then adhered it over the embellished tree.  I wrapped the bakers twine around the outside of the frame and added a gingham bow. 

Be sure to check out the DT projects today.  I'm sure you'll find some inspiration for using up those holiday papers and embellishments!

more cards from Holiday Card Boot Camp

A couple more cards inspired by the Holiday Card Boot Camp class.  I love the added touch of inking and embossing.   

Jingle Belles challenge

This week's challenge at Jingle Belles is to create a Christmas card using at least one sticker.  I used a sentiment sticker from Paper Studio on this card.  The diecut shape was cut using my Cricut and the Elegant Edges cartridges.  I stamped the snowmen, added a little color with Copic markers and bakers twine, and then some bling with gems and Frosted Lace Stickles. 

Holiday Card Boot Camp - Day one

I'm taking Jennifer McGuire's Holiday Card Boot Camp, an online class with ideas and techniques for holiday cards.   Monday was the first day of the class and there was lots of inspiration (especially loved the ideas from touring Target!) and card ideas.   Here are three of the cards I made, inspired by the first day of class.


 I used my Cuttlebug and a Sizzix embossing folder for the background on the snowflake card.   The snowflake was cut with my Cricut and the Accent Essentials cartridge.  To add a little sparkle, I stitched the blue cardstock panels with silver thread and added some crystal glitter over the snowflake.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts and was stamped in silver.

The background was stamped on kraft with Versamark ink, then I added a pp panel to the center and punched the border trim from gold metallic cardstock.  The ornament was cut with my Cricut using the Joys of the Season cartridge.

The background on the last ornament was embossed with a Sizzix folder.  The branch was cut with my Cricut and the Winter Woodlands cartridge, and the star was cut from the George cartridge.  I added a little bit of glitter to the branch and some Rock Candy Stickles to the star.

free digi stamp from Paper Smooches

I just discovered Paper Smooches.  They have a blog, a challenge blog, and an online store.   And in their online store, they offer a new free digi stamp every month.   I used one of this month's free stamps to make these two Christmas cards, which will be going to the Cards that Care card drive (you can read about it here).

I printed the image out, colored it with Copics and added rubon sentiments and a border punched pp strip.

another CAS-ual Friday's challenge

This week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is to create a card with an element that goes over the edge.  I always love cards that I see designed like this, but have to admit it's not something I've tried too often myself, so I took the challenge and came up with this card.

 The background was embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder, then brushed with white ink.  The "Merry Christmas" sentiment was stamped, colored, then adhered to a border punch white strip that extends over the edge of the card.  The Christmas tree was stamped, cut out and adhered so it hangs over the edge a bit, too.

There's a wonderful card drive going on right now that's called "Cards That Care".  It's hosted by Jennifer McGuire and Vera Yates, and the goal is to collect Christmas cards that will be distributed to the elderly residents of nursing homes.  You can read all the details here.  This is such a wonderful idea!  My plan is make two of each Christmas card I make this month, so I'll get my Christmas cards done plus have a group of cards to donate.

Warm Winter Wishes holiday card

I made this card for the Frosted Designs card sketch challenge here.   The background was embossed with the Cuttlebug snowflakes folder, with one of the Easy Frames from Zoar Stamps.   The Easy Frames let you emboss your card front, leaving one area unembossed so you have a spot for stamping.   Very cool!   I bought mine from Stamp Your Art Out in Cincinnati but you can also get them at http://www.zoarstamps.com/.

The oval frame was cut with the Cricut Lacy Labels cartridge, and covered with rock candy Stickles for a little shine.   I stamped the snowflakes in the center oval with light blue ink, then stamped the sentiment over the top in black ink, and added a little glitter pen and a few crystals.