Gingerbread

I just bought this stamp set from a•muse studio called holiday tags, and yes, it has small images and small text, but small isn't the same as too small.  It's how you use them that counts.

I stamped the gingerbread boy three times, and the sentiment once, and it is just as big a focal image as I could want on a card.  I used the same pink pen and a ruler to give a border effect.  I thought kraft cardstock would go well with the brown of the gingerbread, and I used glaze gellies to give a glossy look to the icing.  The strips of DP are really just the two sides of the same paper - I love double-sided paper!

Challenges:
Amusing Challenges - pink, green, and brown
Penny Black - Christmas
Stamptacular Sunday - less is more
Just some lines - two different coloring media
My Mum's craft shop - buttons

Christmas gift tags

Sometimes I sit down to make a card, and after I stamp the image, I don't have a whole card to put under it.  That is what happened to me when I started making these Christmas gift tags.

it'a might be hard to make out in this photo, but I used glitter on the snowmen, flocking on the penguins (they are so soft!), and the sleighs are surrounded by paper piercing.  I used a variety of ribbons, punches, and paper scraps to finish off the tags.  It was fun to do!

Challenges:

• Amusing Challenges - anything but a card
• Hiding in my craft room - scraps
• Just some lines - two different coloring techniques (copics, colored flocking)
• One Stop Craft - no flowers
• Avadares - sparkle

Parasol

My girlfriend needed a parasol for a Red Hat event in Virginia beach; the ladies are going to parade down the boardwalk with them.  She was about to spend a serious amount of money for a fancy one from a bridal boutique, but I talked her out of it, telling her that most of the ladies would probably be carrying  Walmart umbrellas decorated with tulle.  She wasn't sure about tulle, as she had never worked with it before, so the last time I was at Walmart, I picked up an umbrella and some tulle and started ruffling and basting.  The results are below:

It is not particularly glamorous, but it gets the job done.  How often does one need a red and purple parasol, anyway?

oldies but goodies

I have a few things in my stash that I haven't used in a long time, although they used to be some of my favorite tools.  After I colored this stamp (my a•muse stamps and my copics are not old to me!), I didn't feel like rummaging through my designer papers looking for something that matched, so I pulled out my old plaid-maker and made my own plaid paper with the same markers I used to color.
                                    
 I then grabbed some pinking scissors to trim the mat layer for my image.  I made a big piece of plaid, but the image was so small, I decided to only use a little of it, and set it off with some border punches that have been dormant for a while.  There are a lot of fussy details on what is essentially a clean and simple card.

Challenges:

• Amusing Challenges - coloring with markers
• Dynamic Duos - colors
• Aud Sentiments - Holiday + sentiment
• Charisma Cardz - no embellishments
• Tandastamps - CAS

Denim paper beads

I had recently teased my friend Joyce, a former Girl Scout leader, about the fact that she had never made paper beads with her troop - it was one of my favorite recycling crafts ever.  So, when she came over this afternoon, I was cutting Seventeen magazine into strips and had glue and toothpicks out, and we rolled and rolled and rolled.  After a few hours, she asked, "Are we going to do anything with these beads?"

I went into my dungeon (my craft supplies are in the basement) and grabbed some wire, beads, and toggles, and we set to making jewelry with our new paper beads.  Joyce found some pink disk beads made from seashells that I had in my stash, and made a necklace, bracelet, earrings, and two sandwiches for our lunch in the time it took me to compose my little necklace here.

The predominant blue color in the beads come from the blue jeans advertisement they were before I cut them.  The antiqued silver spacers and toggle and pale blue crystals will ake this perfect for wearing with jeans, I think.

Challenges:

• Robyn's Fetish - anything but a card
• My Time made Easy - colors
• Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes
• Little Red Wagon - upcycle

Christmas challenges galore

I needed to make another Christmas card, but was lacking for inspiration, so I went to Feline Playful, and clicked Challenges in the word cloud, and then hit CTRL-F to find the word "Christmas" in the challenge list.  It popped up pretty often, considering that it is August, but lots of people want to get a head start like I do.  52 Christmas Throwdown requested a chipboard embellishment, Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas suggested a card for a couple, and Christmas Stampin' All Year Long wanted non-traditional colors.  Yes, these are all challenge blogs dedicated to people who make Christmas cards throughout the year.

I also hit a couple of non-Christmas blogs. I♥2Stamp provided the sketch, Our Creative Corner wanted something recycled and a touch of green, Challenge up your Life just wanted a Christmas card, and Blessings Ink threw out an "anything goes" challenge.

The stamps are from a•muse studio, and the paper is all scraps, including the chipboard waste under the woodgrain paper.  The idea to hang the mittens came from my kids' bathroom - they managed to repeatedly rip the towel bar off the wall, so my husband replaced it with a board with a bunch of hooks on it.  Don't look too hard at the pink patterned paper, or you might realize it is for valentines, but hey, this is a card for a couple, right?
 

Pedestal Pop-up card

I was intrigued by this challenge on the Sweet Stamps blog to make a pedestal pop-up card.  Since I just bought this stamp from them, it was a natural to put the two together:

The sentiment is an old SU stamp, and this butterfly on the inside is an old TAC stamp:

It looks like it's flying over the card!  I left plenty of white space for writing.  The framing lines are drawn with a marker and clear ruler - it's an easy way to add a little color and definition to the inside.

Other challenges:
Kaboodle Doodles - Thank you card
Squigglefly - new technique
Cutie Pie - border/frame
Stampalot - flight