Snowman Joy Card

Holiday greetings, Stampin' Friends! I'm poppin' by to share with you this cute shaker card I whipped up for this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. 

Shaker cards are so much easier with CTMH's Shaker card supplies - foam tape and acetate circles, and Thin Cuts dies to match. I started with the Multi Circle Windows Thin Cuts die for my background, trimmed to size and mounted on a white cardstock base. I stamped a little snowflake in each window, then I created my shaker piece using the precut foam. I added sequins, glitter gems, and some adorably tiny snowflake nail art pieces to the shaker before topping it with the acetate.

Before adding the acetate topper I stamped the JOY sentiment in black ink and traced over it with Stickles glitter gel. I added my little snowman and some white glitter hearts to finish off this adorable Atlantic Hearts sketch challenge card. I hope you and yours enjoy this season of joy!

Happy Holidays Shaker Card

I know, I know...it's not Christmas time yet. Except if you are a crafter, it is time for holiday Bazaars and making handmade cards. I was playing with the Holiday Cheer Shaker Ornament kit, and I thought a removable shaker ornament would be cute on this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

I didn't have a ton of time to craft, since I just got back from a long weekend at the beach with my family and some of my stamping pals. Over the weekend I completed all the card and pages from my latest Craft With Heart Subscription boxes. When I got home I looked at the shaker tags spread across my desk, grabbed some festive washi tape, then started taping and stamping the stripes from the sketch across my background. I had intended to leave the whole background white, but I couldn't resist a little penwork around the edges.

Inside the shaker I mounted a glossy, sparkly snowman image. I did a little surgery on his arms to make it look more like he was holding that sign. Then I filled the shaker with silver sequin mix, tiny silver baby sequins, and some white snowflake nail gems. Can't wait to make a few more of these shaker tags - my friend Elaine was making the cutest tags all weekend!

Hello again, Stampin' Friends

Hello, Stampin' Friends! So I can see by the date stamp that my last post was in May. It is now October. I'd love to say time flies while your having fun, but I'm not sure that's what I've been doing, lol. In Summer I have been focused on so many things: no school time with the boys, CTMH Convention in Utah, remodeling the second floor of our new house, traveling back and forth to California with the boys and my Dad(!), and then back to school...so basically life. I've been doing life...but in my crafting I've been literally FROZEN, unable to find the time, focus, energy, and drive all at the same time for far too long, because everything around was a bit of a fixer-upper. 

Now that the new second floor is almost unpacked (and my new, bigger craft space is usable!), I am finally able to Let It Go and get my paws inky again. I have missed crafting so, so much. I've managed to squeeze in a bit here and there, but last night I sat at my new desk, made a card for the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, and I just felt so happy and at peace. I busted out the Whimsical Holiday stamps from this month's Holiday Cheer special. I paired those holiday images with Craft On papers, which are going to retire soon, but I have missed SO MUCH GOOD STUFF, so I'm gonna use whatever I have and whatever I want until I feel craft-satisfied. I will craft what I want! 

 I paper pieced the little Snow Dude, adding shimmer brush to his body and touches of marker color. The snowflakes were fussy cut and mounted onto glitter paper backgrounds (from an older Tim Holtz die set), but that adorable little swirl is from the Thin Cuts - Crafting Shapes die set which is literally to DIE for if you are any kind of crafter. I can't even with how sad I was that I just opened this set like last night. Lots of shimmer brush, red baker's twine, and bitty sparkles finished off my first card in forever. If you want to build a snowman (card) of your own...or any other theme using this cute sketch, be sure to check out Atlantic Hearts this week. Okay, bye!

Snowman Happy Holidays Card

It's the last week of school before Winter Break. Winter. Break. 4 more days and school is over for 2016. Is anyone else wondering how that happened? In any case, I needed cards to go with our holiday gifts for the boys' teachers. 

Luckily it's Monday, so there was a new sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. I grabbed some of the pieces I'd already diecut from Cozy Christmas and got to work. I have some glitter card bases that have been in my stash for so long I can't even remember where I got them. I layered on some City Sidewalks papers left from finishing my Workshops Your Way Kit. I embossed a white cardstock panel with snowflakes and mounted the diecut stamped images over the snowy background. 

I knew I wanted to add a bit of teacher theme, so I stamped and colored the apple from School Kids for the snowman to hold. I bent the snowman's arms on the block before stamping them so he could better grasp that shiny red apple. I hope you'll pop over to Atlantic Hearts and try out this fun sketch for yourself!

Sending Smiles Snowman Mason Jar Card

I'm starting to transition out of Holiday cards now, but today's card is a bit of a bridge into winter card. I just got my new Flower Market Cricut cartridge and when I found the mason jar my wheels started turning...

So I flipped over that mason jar and filled it with the Cozy Christmas snowman. I used the matching Thin Cut dies to do his hat and the holly sprig. I loved being able to shape his arms into a friendly wave with the flexibility of a clear stamp. After I stamped his body I masked it off with a post-it and stamped on the "snow" texture using one of the stamps that came with my Flower Market Cartridge. I mounted my mason jar snow globe over two kinds of embossed white cardstock (stripes and snowflakes). White on white textured backgrounds make me so happy! I used the Mojo Monday sketch as inspiration for this card design.

I cut two of these flowers from the Flower Market cartridge. I loved how the layered flower was so easy to make since the layers are automatically sized so you don't have to figure out all the measurements. I cut one at 2" plus one at 1.5" and the cartridge resized all the layers automatically - so easy! My SENDING SMILES sentiment came from another of the stamp sets that are part of the Flower Market bundle. The mixed fonts are just so pretty. I didn't mean to make more holiday cards at this point, but I'm snow glad I did!

Scrap Much? Let It Snow Simple Stories Layout

Happy Friday, Stampin' Friends! Today is the release of another fabulous sketch over at Scrap Much?!

I have been hoarding this Simple Stories Snow Patrol line until I could get these particular pictures of my boys printed. I tried and tried to take good sledding pics of them, but everything was blurry or (of course) they weren't looking at me. Then I got clever, and had them each pose by flinging themselves onto the huge snowdrift next to the front porch where we piled all the snow as we shoveled the driveway. Ready? Action! Eye contact!!

Seriously, how can you not love this adorable snowman motif? Next time we build a snowman, he's going to be saying "YAY!" like this guy. I added a bit of Doodlebug doily and a Glacier Fundamentals wooden sign. I finished off the cluster with a combo of glitter dots ('cause I love glitter) and pewter stick on studs ('cause occasionally I gotta admit I'm scrapping boys). I stitched down my layout with four strands of metallic red embroidery thread mixed with a single strand of my favorite silver sewing thread for some extra sparkle. Make sure you poke the stitch holes really well with a foam mat if you try that - I super love how the thick stitch looks, but it's murder on the fingertips of you haven't pierced the holes big enough. I wanted to continue it around the layout edge like the sketch shows, but I couldn't bring myself to stitch over that lovely snowflake border...for now...

I trimmed another size of the adorable snowman out of one of the pocket scrapbooking cards included in my Snow Patrol pack. I wish he were a stamp! I actually had trimmed up another card to add a title when I realized I'd overlooked this beautiful scripty sticker title on the coordinating sticker sheet. 

 Don't you just love this sketch? If it inspires you too, make a page and hop over to Scrap Much? to link up your creation! 

Day 294: Be Merry Snowman Card

So after I finished last night's card I thought it would be fun to make another of these non stamping cards using my Simple Stories 6x6 pad... 

So I grabbed a few scraps and some of the small square/rectangular "cards" plus a bunch of washi tape and in a few minutes I had this guy. I trimmed the sentiment out of an ornament card and added him to a Fundamental Basics word bubble sticker.  

After I layered on the washi "stripes" I popped on a few sequins, then filled them with glitter gel. I squished the gel with my fingertip to scatter the glitter. I added a few last dots of shimmer gel pen around my sequins, and to highlight details on the snowman and ornaments. I'm linking this card up to the Just Us Girls sequins trend week challenge.

Day 277: Snowman Candle Snowflake Ornament Craft

Today was a busy Thanksgiving prep day. I made a dozen each of tiny pumpkin cheese cakes and pumpkin pies, plus a couple dozen banana pumpkin grain free muffins. We finished the ridiculously messy tissue paper snowflake cutting activity, bought new sleds, and froze our toes off in the ice/snow. Stamping wasn't on the agenda, but the boys and I did make these adorable snowflake ornaments for our tree, using some of the battery operated tea lights from our Spokane windstorm power outage experience.  

The boys added googly eyes and sharpie mouths to the tea lights. We cut some hat shapes from an old shipping box and they colored them black. Then Mom (that's me) used E6000 to glue the lights onto some inexpensive glitter stars we scored at Target. so no one would be burned by the hot glue gun, with lots of advice from the peanut gallery. We added some resin glitter holly bits from my stash - I think I got them at Michaels.  Every boy was pleased as punch.

I know they won't glow forever, but I did use some scissors to trim out a segment of the snowflake so we can turn them on and off until the batteries die. I think these will be a good conversation starter when we trim the tree each year, reminding us how lucky we are, and how we sometimes take things for granted. Like power, or heat.  Sometimes the bad things can open your eyes to the good things you weren't really paying attention to before...

So tomorrow as I roast that turkey I've got dry-brining in the fridge that actually keeps things cold, I'll be grateful for my safe and healthy family gathered around me, for having enough food to feed us all, and for every little thing that I'm lucky enough to experience. 

Day 227: Holiday Expressions Blog Hop

Welcome to the Holiday Expressions Blog Hop. We are featuring festive new products from the new Holiday Expressions idea book. You may be arriving here from DARLYS'S BLOG. Let's hop!

I decided to focus on the new Picture My Life White Pines cards. Working with the new Paper Issues Sketchy Saturday sketch, I filled the spaces with the snowflake themed cards. I added a strip of another card along the top of the large snowflake card.

I slid a White Pines Complements sticker behind the small leaf card and added the photo date. I used the Fundamentals Enchantment stickers for the first part of the title. Then I stamped and cut out the SNOWMAN letters using the Hopscotch alphabet stamp set.

I added a scattering of snowflake stickers from the White Pines Complements, and topped them with red enamel gems and bitty sparkles. It was a lot of fun to make a "traditional" scrapbook page with pocket scrapbooking cards!

Next up on the hop is JENNIFER'S BLOG. Be sure to hop all around to see all thirty consultant's fabulous Holiday Expressions creations!

Some of my other Holiday Expressions product projects:

White Pines Christmas Love Card 

Joy Twinkle Wreath Card

Merry Everything White Pines Card

White Pines Just Believe Scrapbook Page

Nevermore Watercolor Card

Nevermore Watercolor Layout

Practical Scrappers Scrapping Our Stash Hop

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers Blog Hop 

where we are Scrapping our Stash.

CHA is this weekend and that means the industry is putting out all kinds of fabulous new product.  So Practical Scrappers is kicking off a new feature with a blog hop of projects made solely from our stashes! I hit up my Frosted Stash to craft this sweet snowman card. 

When we finish our 6 page scrap club each month there's always a few items leftover. You know what I mean - a couple of stickers, some scraps of paper, bits of Sparkle Flourishes...and I always tuck those pieces into a 12x12 bag and save them for a rainy day. 

Today's Scrapping Our Stash challenge brought on a rainy day lickety split! I used bits of Frosted StickEase cut apart and glittered to create the main images on my card. At the bottom there you see a bit of BabyCakes Canvas StickEase peeking out. I filled in my stamped sentiment with Diamond Stickles for extra sparkle. I used this week's awesome Mojo Monday sketch to jumpstart my design. 

A special shout out to the sponsor of today's Practical Scrappers hop: Kiwi Lane Designs!

One lucky winner today will get a border set and an accessory set from Kiwi Lane over at Practical Scrappers, so head over there for the full hop list and details on how you can win!

Or hop on over to Lee-Anne Thornton's blog to check out her stash craftiness!

Pintester Movement: Ho Ho Ho Edition

One of my Craft Fair items that got a lot of "Isn't that cute!" squeals was this guy, inspired by this Pin, which unfortunately leads to a big fat nowhere. I found these Darice Mini 19mm Plastic Top Hats on Amazon and snatched up a pack. Ok...maybe what really happened is I was all wishy washy about getting 144 of these cuties and accidentally bought the bag "using" One Click with my elbow, hence the multiple hat projects this week. Oh well, I have Amazon Prime, so my two day shipping is always free anyhow, and then I had a new project for my craft fair to do list. Must've been fate...

So, hats ordered, it was time to go looking for the battery operated tea lights. I found mine at the Dollar Tree. I embellished the hat with some skinny ribbon and one of these Teensy Jingle Bells. I went with Glue On Wiggle Eyes and Black puffy paint for the face.  I wrapped the edge in Washi Tape, and dotted Pink Sharpie Marker onto the cheek area, which smeared into a not so attractive cheek flush. Then, being me, I fixed that with a layer of glitter gel, pounced over the pink smear so now his cheeks are flushed and sparkly. I made these guys using my glue gun and my handy new Glue Gun Pad given to me by my sweet convention roommate - and I didn't even burn myself!

All of this Christmas ornament hoopla was brought on by the newest Pintester Movement Challenge, which was to make a Holiday Ornament based on a Pinterest Pin. Sonja's videos and Pintests make me laugh until I snort, so you should totally check her out. Now I'm wrapping up this adorable little guy to mail off to Jodee from Cheeseblarg, 'cause Sonja said Jodee needs ornaments. I know it's not a cool zombie snowman, or holding a light saber, but his nose does light up and all, so Ho, Ho, Hope you like it Jodee!

Want one of your very own? Comment below and next week 

I'll do a drawing to rehome the remaining snow buddies. 

Let's see who is reading this far into the post!

(P.S. Some of those links are Amazon affiliate links, and if you click through to purchase pretty much anything I may receive a tiny bit of compensation. I only link items I've actually used AND liked. Buying random stuff through my affiliate links is a great way to support my crafty little blog at no cost to you, kind of like a little tip jar.  Thanks a bunch!)

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Let it Snow...Man

Whew! Another craft fair in the bag, and now it's time to kick back, relax, and catch up on some Glee! Before I head off to a well deserved foot rub, a lot of you were interested in these adorable snowmen tubes. There were pretty fun to make...although, if I never have to stuff another mini marshmallow into a plastic envelope again...

I got the 1x8 clear bags from ClearBags.com. My team orders clear bags as a group as the shipping charges on small orders can be quite overwhelming. I could start stocking these in my stash if there's enough interest! After carefully filling the bags with marshmallows (tip - stuff in a couple and then shake to get them to move on down the line), I used Liquid Glass to glue on wiggly eyes and hand-cut Sunset Cardstock noses from a piece of scrap paper. The mouth was done with black puffy paint, just the super cheap stuff. I like it better than a sharpie because of the dimension when it dries, like it's lumps of coal.

The Plastic Top Hats I got from Amazon. There's 144 in a package, so you might want to share with a friend (or 2)...although the longer I have my package, the more things I find that would totally look cute wearing a teensy tiny top hat! Baby carrots? Totally way cuter in a top hat. Cracks me my three year old right up!

I wrapped the top hats in a bit of Washi (kind of a PITA since I had to cut it into 3rds and a bit overkill now that it's all said and done, but I never claimed to be a reasonable scrapper - it's adorable, right?) and a line of glitter glitz (way easier and looks awesome). Then I tied on a bit of ribbon for a scarf. This was one of my best sellers (and drew the most comments) at my booth today. I wouldn't say I need to run to the bank ASAP with my craft fair earnings, but I sold more at this booth than I have at my previous craft fairs...combined. I have one more super adorable top hat project that I'll post soon. 

I did these particular items as starter items for Teacher gifts or small holiday stocking stuffers, and sold them for $1. How cute would that snowman be paired with a mug and a packet of cocoa? Therefore I am linking it up to the Heart 2 Heart Gratitude challenge, as that's where my "extra" snow buddies are headed...to express our gratitude to the teachers and helpers that make my kiddos lives at school a better place. Plus a few for my ETSY shop when I get around to posting them this weekend. 

(P.S. Some of those links are Amazon affiliate links, and if you click through to purchase I may receive a tiny bit of compensation. I will only link items I've actually used AND liked. Buying stuff through my affiliate links is a great way to support my crafty little blog at no cost to you, kind of like a little tip jar.  Thanks a bunch!)

Snowman Gift Tags

Here's a pic of the adorable little snowman tags I made for last weekend's holiday bazaar. I made these using my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge. I cut out the tags at 2 inches, and a basic circle at 1 3/4 inches.

I ran the circles through my snowflake cuttlebug embossing folder. I added black sequins for the eyes, and handcut noses from an old eight petal flower punch from my stash. The mouths went on with a simple marker.

I stamped a To/From sentiment on the back of the tag, which was the whole purpose of double layering the tag - to keep the back smooth for writing on the tags. So cute...Can't wait to get wrapping!