Sweet Christmas

 Happy Friday (and Happy Thanksgiving a day late!) everyone.  I hope you had a wonderful time yesterday with family and friends and of course all the yummy food!  It's time for another challenge over on the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog.  The challenge is: "To Die For" (meaning use lots of dies) and the sponsor is Fred She Said.  I'm not sure exactly what the prize will be, but I know it will include some of their adorable images.

I used the image called "Winter Emma Chickadee".  Isn't she so cute?!  I don't do a lot of this, but I thought this was the perfect image to do some paper piecing.  I pieced her scarf and mittens, coat and dress, tried to add some flocking to the fur parts of the coat, colored her face with colored pencils and the rest with markers.  I added a bit of gold glitter to her hair barrette and the punched snowflakes.  Hope on over to the CSAYL blog and check out the projects by the rest of the Design Team and then play along.  I love all the inspiration I get from visiting all of you.

Challenges:
Skipping Stones Design #155--sketch
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #99--something more than 6 months old (everything BUT the image I have had for at least 6 months; most things much, much longer)
The Squirrel and The Fox #31--anything  goes
House of Gilli #46--die cuts
Our Daily Bread Designs #131--Winter Holiday

Supplies:
Image: Fred She Said "Winter Emma Chickadee" digi
Dies/punches: spellbinders labels 4; Martha Stewart snowflake punch
Martha Stewart gold glitterr

Ribbon wreath

 Happy Friday everyone!!  It's especially happy for me because my husband has been on a medical aid trip to Haiti since last Friday and he comes home tomorrow night!!  We miss him a lot!  Moving on, it's time for another challenge from Christmas Stampin' All Year Long: Create an entire gift ensemble for a teacher.  The sponsor for the challenge is Creations by AR and the prize is two templates of the winner's choice from the store.  I love templates!  They make such cute packaging for gifts are super easy to customize.  For this gift set, I tried something new!  The JUGS challenge this week is to create a ribbon wreath--something I had never even seen before.  So, my daughter and I pulled out some ribbon (white was the only one I had enough of in my stash for 2 wreaths since you need two yards of it) checked out the tutorial and set to work.  My daughter made the one inside  the gift box and I made the one on the card front.  Did I mention she is only 6!  So although it looks intricate, it is not really that difficult.  We are going to give this gift to the lady who teaches her craft class while the two younger girls and I are at Storyhour every week.

 I used the gift/card combo template from Creations by AR.  It's supposed to be a box that doubles as a card, but I really just like to use it as a box.  The inside has a little "drawer" that pulls out and is the perfect size for a tree ornament or other small gift.

 This is the outside of the box and below is the matching card.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you will play along with us this week.  Head over to the CSAYL blog to check out the projects by the DT (I've seen a few peeks and they are amazing!) and get all the details.

Challenges:
Pretty Pattern #75--sketch (for the card)
JUGS #162--technique challenge--ribbon wreath
Sweet Stop sketches #184--sketch (for the box)
52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown--pink, black or brown, and cream or white

Supplies:
Template: Creations by AR "gift/card combo"
Stamps: Inkadinkado  snowflakes; Verve "Ornamental Christmas"
Punches/dies: Spellbinders classic scalloped oval, large; Martha Stewart snowflake punch
Fuschia ribbon and rhinestones

4th birthday

 My twins are turning 4 tomorrow!!!  See my last post for the card for the older of the two.  She loves pink! but the younger loves bright, deep colors.  She's got a lot of personality, so this bold card is for her.  Twins are different people, right, so they can't have the same type of card!

I used red glimmer mist to create the background.  I laid hibiscus ghost shapes on the paper and misted the glimmer mist over top of them.  It made a really fun bold background.  I also used gold glimmer mist on the #4, unfortunately the camera didn't pick up the glittery look of either mist.

Challenges:
Creative Inspirations #188--red for remembrance
Sweet Sketch Wednesday #179--sketch
Crafty Ann's Challenge #78--bingo (I chose the row: gems, ribbon, flowers)
Our Creative Corner--make your own background
Make it Monday #90--Creating focal point sentiments with die cuts and stamps

Supplies:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink "Big Birthday Wishes"
Dies: Papertrey Ink "By the Numbers" die
Glimmer mists; red and silver/gold

4 candles

My twins are turning 4 tomorrow!!  I can't believe it.  It seems like just yesterday that we were wondering if we would make it for even one year!  We were pretty convinced that you can die from sleep deprivation.  But we didn't, and here we are.  One of the girls loves pink, so this pretty pink card is just for her.  Check out the flames on the candles.  After I used a sponge dauber with yellow ink to create the "glow" I discovered these little yellow droplets in my stash.  I haven't really figured out what to do with them, but they were perfect to add just a little bit more color to the center of the flames.

Challenges:
Flutterby Wednesday--anything goes (as long as it has a butterfly or fairy)
DRS Designs #49--candles
Stamping with Dragon--birthday
Viva La Verve November week 2--sketch

Supplies:
Paper: DCWV Christmas pack
Stamps: SU! (candles, I can't remember the name of the set); Papertrey Ink "Damask Designs" (sentiment), "Simple Stationery" (4)
Dies/punches: Sweet n Sassy Stamps heart die; Martha Stewart butterfly punch
Ribbon: American Crafts

Wisemen

 Good morning and happy Friday to you all!  Time for another challenge from Christmas Stampin' All Year Long and I know it's one you are going to like: Anything Goes!!  Yep, I know you all like that, 'cause we always have a LOT of entries when anything goes.  We don't have a sponsor this week, but that doesn't mean there isn't a prize.  I just don't know what it is yet.  : )  But if you hop on over to the CSAYL blog, you will find out the prize and all the details.  Plus, you'll get to see the awesome creations of the rest of the DT.

I hope you are getting a good head start on your Christmas cards.  I think I finished all I need for this year (which means I met my goal of having them finished before December 1st) and am working on a buffer for next year.  If you play along this week, it means one more card done!

Challenges:
Pretty Palette #74--white, red, black, gray
Clearly Inspired Challenge #63--critters (I've never used camels before!)
JUGS #161--sketch
Our Creative Corner--silhouettes
Card Mania #7--embossing (I embossed "Peace" with black embossing powder)

Supplies:
Stamps: DRS Designs "Wisemen"; Clear Dollar Stamps "Elegant Flourishes"
Punches: Fiskars "Upper Crest" border punch
SU! real red ink and ribbon; gray pearls;glitter pen

Christmas Stocking

A fun little stocking card that I made for something else and then turned it into a card by creating a little folder piece to adhere the two side of the stocking together.

Challenges:
Crimbo Crackers #27--shaped and pink
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #97--3 different patterned papers (my third is the pink I punched the flower out of)
Sparkles Christmas Challenge--contemporary color combo
The Squirrel and the Fox #30--flowers, hats, or horses

Supplies:
Template: PTI "Stocking Stuffer"
Papers: DCWV Christmas pack
Punches: SU! snowflake punch; Ek success flower punch

Anything But a Card

 There are a couple of challenges out there this week that are "Anything But a Card", so I'm taking a leap and entering this necklace and earrings set I just finished this morning.  I have had these short (7-8 inch) pieces of beading wire sitting on my desk for months.  I didn't want to throw them out, but couldn't quite decide what to use them for since they are too short for a traditional bracelet length.  Just about the time I saw the idea in a magazine, I thought they would be perfect for beaded circles.  I don't use seed beads often, but need them every once in a while and therefore have a decent collection.  And I had this piece of seaglass lying around needing to be used too.  And voila, the necklace was born.  And I used up all but one of those short pieces of wire!

Challenges:
Tuesday Alchemy--Anything But a Card

Pink Christmas

Hi, all!  It's Friday once again and that means time for another Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge! This week's challenge is to use your favorite color combo and the prize is 7 images from Bugaboo Stamps, our awesome sponsor for this challenge.

Sorry for the blurry picture.  In Rhode Island we were hit with hurricane Sandy (though not nearly as bad as other parts of the East Coast!).  So, we are without power right now as is most of my area.  Luckily, my in-laws have Verizon Fios and even though the don't have power they still have internet!  Yeay!!  Anyway, back to the picture.  I thought I could do my post on my husband's Ipad, so I took the picture with the Ipad and then wasn't able to do the post anyway.  Oh well, so many more people have worse things to worry about right now.

As you can see, my favorite color combo is pink and green.  So pretty and though unusual for Christmas, it really does work.  I used the image Ava and Deacon Merry Christmas Sign from Bugaboo.  Hop on over to the CSAYL blog to check out the other DT cards and the full details of the challenge.  Can't wait to see what you create, though I probably won't be able to comment this week, because I think power will be out for a while.

Challenges:

52 {Christmas} card throwdown #10--die cuts/punched pieces

Christmas card #48--pop it up (my image panel is popped up with foam tape)

Seems a little sketchy--sketch

Eureka Stamps #12--buttons and bows

Creative Inspiration #187--celebrate (celebrating Christmas)

Fab 'n Funky--die cuts and punches

Supplies:

Image: Bugaboo Stamps

Cardstock and ribbon: Papertrey Ink Ocean tides

Punches/dies: Fiskars scalloped border punch; spellbinders Fleur di lis die; cuttlebug embossing folder