High Hopes Challenge 10 - Metal Madness

Well... hubby's plane broke down, so I had spare time today, and what better way to spend it than trying for a chance to win some cute stamps? Today's challenge over at the High Hopes Blog is to use metal in your layout.

And while I could have taken the easy way out with just using brads or eyelets of sorts... when have I ever been one to take the easy way out? lol I decided to use actual metal... tinfoil that is.



I read recently about running tinfoil through the cuttlebug, and I saw this as the perfect chance to try it out. I had no idea where I was going with it, no vision in my head. I even told my daughter, "Sometimes the best way to create, is simply to play." So that's what I did.

I attached tinfoil to a piece of cardstock (shiny side down), and ran it through my cuttle bug with an embossing folder. I swiped the top of it with white embossing ink and loaded it up with holographic embossing powder. The effect is subtle, but I think quite striking.

I eventually settled on a traditional red and green color scheme. Embossed some dots in my Christmas green background paper, and used water color pencils to color in my Daper Dan Snowman. I cut the slider tag from my cricut and glittered the edges. I wanted a red flower to balance out my card, but unfortunately I don't have any, and I'm not allowed to buy any more goodies till after Christmas. So I took a white flower and pressed it against an ink pad several times. I added the glitter snowflake brad, and it actually looks nice. Add three small red brads to the top of the ribbon and put it all together!

All in all, I'm not sure I pulled off the metal to the best of it's ability. But I think the card is cute. It beats boxed cards anyway, as it is original. :)

A different kind of art...

I interrupt this card making spree I've been on for a post about a different kind of art. One that has no techniques, cool toys or special color corridnated patterened paper. However, this art is filled with love, smiles and it's definitely hand crafted.



For those who don't know me on a personal level, my husband has been stationed in Iraq since Sept. 3rd, 2007. I got the call a few days ago that we can expect him home between this Saturday and Monday. So while it kinda stinks that he misses Thanksgiving, the kids (and I) enjoyed spending our morning working on his Welcome Home Banner.

Here's another earlier in the morning, we're all still in our PJs just getting started.



You can see my fall table deco pushed back against the wall. Though it's not a typical way to spend Thanksgiving, it is an upbeat and good way to spend the morning. No matter how you celebrate the holiday, or if it's not your country's holiday, I hope you have a fabulous day filled with blessings to be thankful for!

Color Inspiration 32

I've gotten a bit burned out on craft show creating, so I thought I'd take a day to create something that I want to make. Kristina's Color Inspiration got my mind in gear. While I love the elegant look you can achieve with red and black, I find that I don't gravitate towards red very much. My style tends to be a "cute" sort of thing, and red is a little harder to blend in with cute. So I really did enjoy doing this challenge today, it's nice to be pushed out of your comfort zone.



I started with the Package Packin Penguin from High Hopes Stamps. Painted his body and the package. Then I broke out my glitter gel pens for his clothing and a golden bow. I love the barely glitter glisten the gel pens give. Unfortunately my picture doesn't capture it well. :(
I then cut him out with my oval Nestabilities and added him to a scalloped oval Nestability that is dotted with white stickles. (They sure do look 'tall' in this pic.) I chose to emboss golden presents on the vanilla card stock, giving me my metallic without it taking over my card. Add a pretty ribbon, bow and gold embossed sentiment held in place by a white snowflake, and ta-da! A cutesy Christmas card.

You know, I just realized I'm in a lot of trouble once Christmas card season is done. That's like what all my stash is focused on! I need to expand!

High Hopes Challenge 9 - Joy

With my recent rekindled interest in stamping I've been looking for cute slash whimsical stamps. A little over a month ago I came across some snow folk from High Hope Stamps. I love them! Their stamps are so cute, just my sorta thing. Then a few days ago, I found out they have a blog! With chances to win stamps! So yeah, I'm totally going to be doing these challenges now. :)



I'm not happy with how the coloring came out, this is definitely not the card to use to showcase their stamps. I wanted to use my water color pencils on it, but unfortunately my collection of pencils is very limited, and none of the colors I have compliment my paper choices. My markers and chalk as well are all to bright/pastels. But I did not want to miss this challenge! So, for now I used regular old colored pencils. I know it's missing the 'oomph' but it's still cute! (Thanks to the High Hopes Stamps.)

Goodie Holders

I'm still working on projects for the arts and crafts show next weekend. I came across Becca's amazing blog, she does the most beautiful elegant work! In that treasure of a blog she has this most creative craft! Goodie holders made from empty ribbon spools! My first one took me near two hours to figure out. Becca gives you the bigger picture and some basic steps, but it's up to you to figure out the particulars and I love that. It really allows you to use your own creative juices and makes the project more your own.



My first couple I made with a more deep green and burgundy. Unfortunately, I do not have the scalloped circle nestabilities (pout pout) so I used my circle cutter instead. I did two solid circles for the endcaps, and then I did two rings to fit over the spools insides and give a nice clean finish to the endcaps. I actually stamped on the clear plastic sheet, to try to give it a little something extra. I'm not sure I achieved what I hoped for, as all I can focus on is the chocolates inside! lol I attached two pieces of 1/2" wide ribbon to the bottom of my spool before covering it up with a piece of cardstock. Those run up through the center of the candy and up out the top, tying a bow at the top holds the container closed.



Since I'm making these for a craft show, I added a little 2x2 card along with a dangley ornament making them ideal for quick and easy gift giving! I'm really pleased with how my ornament turned out. Using my cricut and the Christmas Solutions cartridge I cut two solid ornaments out of cream colored paper, then cut the fancy ornaments out of the burgundy. I ran the solid ornaments through my xyron (I love that little thing) stuck the burgundy ornaments on, then filled in the spaces with gold embossing powder. A quick shot of heat, stick them back to back and the look is beautiful! (I swear, it's cooler in person than in the picture!)



After those I decided to switch it up to a snowflake theme. I have four of them, but only one is completely finished. My poor Xyron needs a replacement cartridge! This particular one is made from my largest ribbon spools, so it's a monster! A pretty monster though. :) Done with sparkly ribbon this time it's a much softer look. I added some light blue tissue paper for festiveness and cut a bunch of snowflakes (on my cricut as well) to carry the theme through.



I repeated the process of embossing the back layer of the cut out on the snowflake as I did with the ornaments, only using "Bridal" embossing powder rather than gold. I opted to stick a cut out on the little 2x2 card this time in lieu of stamping.

Overall, I am very, very pleased with these. It took a little while to figure all the details out, but once you do they're not that hard to make. I'm hoping I can get the other three finished up tomorrow. Then I have three more spool sets waiting for a new design!

Warm Wishes

Here's a cutie that I did up today for a RAK. The cute moose and sentiment is part of a little packet of stamps I found when walking down the Wal-mart Aisle. It wasn't with the stamps (which would make sense to me), but I was so happy when I ran into them. I got one of each sort, the little images are great for these A2 sized cards. I colored him in with my water color pencils and matted him with metallic blue. Add a strip of striped paper to enhance his long legs, a cute button, and viola! A friendly card that isn't too girly!

Keepin at it...

Despite having a few slightly sick kiddos I was able to get some crafting in today. I had started these snowman poop packets yesterday, but do to my sinus cold quit half way through. Today I finished them up. There's a couple different designs I've done, but only took pictures of three.



Thanks to Christmas Cards All Year Round for the fabulous idea!

After finishing up I decided to take a second look at a church and tree scene I had started on the other day. My original vision included dark red and gold type colors, but no matter what I did with it I couldn't make it work. Today I revisited it, but with a light blue idea in mind. I think it turned out great.



The picture really doesn't do it justice. I need to figure out a better way to take pics, but after spending so much time on my feet going back and forth between my two work areas, I'm tired and have no patience to work on getting good pics. This picture of it flat on it's back shows the dimensions of the card clearer.



The church and trees were cut with my Cricut, thanks to the Christmas Solutions cartridge. I really wish I were a painter, the classic church screams for a beautiful winter scene background!

Pointsettas and Snowflakes

Yesterday I just didn't have the inspiration to work on a larger project for my arts and crafts show coming up. So instead I defaulted to creating Christmas cards. :)

This was my first, and I admit I stumbled through it. The background is beautiful, but I struggled to get the Pointsettas right. I ended up inking red paper to try to get a decent shade. I may need some more work on that.



The papers came from a Holiday pack I purchased from Hobby Lobby. The ribbon came from there as well. The Pointsettas and the words came from the Solutions Christmas Cartridge on my Cricut.

After that card I moved on to another, and it was a totally different story. I love it when cards just come together and seems like you don't even have to try. I'm on a snow trip this year. Snowflakes, snow men, I love them both!



I used the same cartridge to mark then cut out the snowflakes. I inked the blackout pieces to give them a little depth. I added two different toned blue jewels that I had in my stash before mounting them with dimensionals. The ribbon I picked up from Walmart and I cut the tag with my Cricut and stamped the sentiment. Add some glittery embossing powder and two snowflake brads and viola! A pretty Christmas card!

If only they all practically made themselves!