Merci!

It's Friday yet again!  Time for another challenge at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges and another chance for you to play along with us!  

This week's challenge is:

Question: Do you hoard crafting stuff?

Theme: USE YOUR FORGOTTEN STASH ON YOUR PROJECT

I am not TOO bad at hoarding supplies.  That's mostly because I've only really been serious about crafting for just over a year, and I have a set budget that I keep myself to every month so that I don't go crazy with buying stuff.  Although, I think the people at my local Hobby Lobby are starting to recognize me, so maybe I'm fooling myself.  :)

The forgotton stash on this card is the "Merci" tag.  Back before I had my Cricut, in the days when my entire craft supply stash fit in one two shelf cupboard, I bought a couple of card making kits from the Target Dollar Spot.  The tag, and the patterned part of the tag behind it, are from one of those kits.  I had stuck them away in a die cuts drawer when I started making my own sentiments and doing more stamping, and completely forgotten about them.  

I used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder on the card back and added a strip of pink cardstock behind the tag to make it stand out.  Then I cut the Eiffel Tower from Wall Decor and More in pink and gray.  

What about you?  Do you have some forgotten stash that you could dust off to join us this week?  You can check out the blog at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges to see what forgotten goodies the rest of the DT was able to find.

SPARKS challenge

Paper Smooches SPARKS is having another Picture Perfect challenge going on right now, which was totally inspiring to me amidst my sea of Christmas season crafting.  Inspiring enough, in fact, that I actually slid aside my December Daily album and happily made room on my craft table to create- which is a big feat right now.  

This card is on a cream base, with Echo Park patterned paper.  I used some yellow ribbon- I had a heck of a time smoothing out the wrinkles from when it was in the packaging- to accent it.  The bird is a freebie from Paper Smooches which I printed on white paper and colored in with Sharpies.  I hadn't realized how well Sharpies colored until recently- basically no stoke lines!  Then I stamped the sentiment with my Paper Smooches letter stamps.  I've had requests for more "thinking of you" types of cards and less specific ones, so I think from now on I'm going to challenge myself to use challenge themes either for these types of cards or birthday cards, to help keep down the stack of really specific cards I'm accumulating in my craft room.

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was my husband's birthday.  I always struggle a little to make his cards, because he sees every single card I make so there's no surprise factor in my Cricut cuts.  I recently saw a tutorial here at Jaded Blossom for Triple Stamp Cards, and I thought it would be a good thing to try, because he's never seen me make one of these before.  I used a My Craft Spot stamp for the sentiment in the middle of the card.  I thought about using the same Jaded Blossom stamp that was used in the tutorial, but the morning I was making his card I stopped at Joann's and saw this great swirl for $1 so I thought I would give it a try for a different look.

Thanksgiving Banner

This year I hosted Thanksgiving for the very first time!  You've already seen my dessert toppers and placecards, now it's time to see the last piece (which was actually the first that I made, but I wanted to save it for a surprise just in case anyone checks out my blog occasionally.)  To help decorate for the party, I made this little banner for our fireplace.  I cut the banner and shadow from Birthday Bash at 6 inches.  The letters and letter shadow are also from Birthday Bash, but they were cut at 3.75 inches.

The turkey in the middle is from Create a Critter, cut at 5.5 inches.

All of the cardstock is Co'ordinations.  The ribbon is ribbon that I've had in my stash for years.  Sorry for the bad picture, it's hard to get a pic of a banner!

I'm entering this into the following challenge:
DL.Art- Anything Goes/Linky Party

Cat-itude

Happy Black Friday!  I hope you're not awake right now, sitting in line somewhere reading this on your phone as it posts.  :)  If you are, the good news is that Fridays are challenge day at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges!  This week's challenge is:

Question: Are you Busy this time of year?

Theme: ANYTHING GOES!

Am I busy this time of year?  YES!  Between the multiple Thanksgivings, getting all of the Christmas shopping done, my husband's late-November birthday, and having our house on the market...it'd be safe to say I'm a little busy right now.  

I put the green patterned paper (from the Basics 12x12 pack from Paper Studio) on a hot pink card base.  Then I put bright blue washi tape over it (it's brighter than it looks in the picture).  I cut the cat from Four Legged Friends.  

I punched the flower from a Fiskars punch that I bought.  For 5 dollars I have all the small paper flowers I could ever want!  Then I put a gem in the center of it.

The last touch was stamping the sentiment (it says "You've got Cat-itude!") from Scrappy Mom's Stamps "Raining Cats and Dogs" stamp set.  My sister is about to finish her first semester of grad school, and she loves cats and bright colors...so guess where this card is headed???

Do you have a little bit of time in your busy schedule for some relaxation?  Go over to Pause, Dream, Enjoy challenges and check out the DT inspiration.  Then take a little time to make any craft you want and post it for the challenge!

Yappy birthday card

I haven't had much time to make any cards lately, it felt so good to get back into it!  I've spent most of my crafty time lately working on getting my December Daily album started- I'm so embarrassed of how messy my scrapping table is!

I decided to make a birthday card to go into my stash.  It's almost birthday season in our house.  It's an A2 card with patterned paper on top, then another layer of the cardstock, and a strip of the patterned paper along the bottom.

The dog is from Create a Critter 2, cut at 3 inches.  He's supposed to be a graduation dog, but instead I cut the birthday hat and noise maker that were from one of the other buttons.  I doodled over the swirl at the end of the noisemaker with a gel pen to make the pattern more prominent.  The collar is just a scrap that I cut out of the pink paper to fit the neck.  I stamped the sentiment from Scrappy Moms Stamps (Raining Cats and Dogs set) in dark purple, and added the three dark purple buttons on the side.

Cut it up Challenges- Buttons, buttons everywhere

Paper Playtime- Anything Goes

Scrappy Moms Stamps- Cuddly Critters

Thank You

It's Friday, aka challenge day at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges!  This week's challenge is:

Question: Who do you need to give a THANK YOU to?

Theme: MAKE A THANK YOU PROJECT

There are so many people I need to say Thank You to.  I never think of Thanksgiving as a time to say thanks to people as much as to be thankful for the things I've been given, so this is an interesting reminder for me.

Sorry the picture isn't too good.  It's actually a white card with orange and teal stamping.  I used the Hero Arts "Large Open Flower" to stamp the background.  I covered it with a piece of teal cardstock.  Then I cut out a shape from Elegant Edges and stamped the Thank You sentiment from Inkadinkado's "Thank You Sentiments" set in the same teal ink that the flowers were in.  It's a simple card, but the colors are the focal point.

So now it's your turn to be thankful!  Go check out the inspiration from the rest of the Design Team at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges and join us in making a Thank You project!

Thanksgiving placecards

Last week, I made some Thanksgiving cupcake toppers. They went over pretty well here, so I decided to continue on with that theme for the Thanksgiving dinner that I'm hosting this year.

I used the exact same Create a Critter 2 cuts in the exact same colors.  I'm a little obsessive about things matching.

I made placecards out of dark brown cardstock and adhered a little bit of patterned paper with a brown, orange, yellow, and green polka dots.  Then I stamped our names in white ink using Lawn Fawn's "Harold's ABCs" set.  I'm still trying to get the hang of white ink, so it's not perfect and I ended up with white ink all over my hands.

I only made two for now, because I want to show them to my husband tonight when he gets home from work and see what he thinks before I mass produce them.  I'm trying to decide whether to add in the Create a Critter turkey as well or whether to just stick with the mammals.  Good thing I have a week to decide...

I'll be entering these placecards in the following challenges:

Fantabulous Cricut- Pilgrim’s Progress

Die Cuttin Divas- Color Challenge

Turkey

Gobble gobble!  This turkey is cut from Create a Critter 2.    I added some stickles to his hat for a little sparkle.  I put him on an A2 card, but he was slightly too tall to look good on a bottom-opening card because he took up the whole thing, so I had to make it a side-opening card instead.  I used a cream base with a yellow checked patterned paper from KI Memories Classics.  Then I added some matching ribbon- I think from American Crafts.

Because there was open space above his head, it looked a little empty...but I'm a little on edge about stamping after losing a stamp down the drain the other day (even though my husband was able to retrieve it) and am not in the stamping mood right now, so instead of adding a sentiment I added a leaf embellishment that I had in my stash.  I have a whole drawer of little stickers and embellishments that I've gotten over the years for scrapbooks but didn't need the whole thing, and now that I have my cricut I forget to use them sometimes, but I thought this leaf was the perfect colors to match.

This card is being entered in the following challenges:
CardzTV- Attitude of Gratitude
Simply Crafts- Thanksgiving Turkey
My Paper Crafts- Anything Goes/Use your stash
DL.Art- Thanksgiving
Simply Create Too- Use your stash
 (I used an old embellishment & ribbon, and my cardstock is scraps from a banner I made recently)
Little Scrap Pieces- Happy Thanksgiving
Bitten by the Bug 2- Turkey Challenge

Sweet as Pie

Happy Friday, everyone!  How are you all doing this fine, fall day?  Since it's Friday, it's time for another challenge at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges!  This week's challenge is:

Question: Are you planning a feast this month or attending one?

Theme: FOOD & BEVERAGE PROJECTS THIS WEEK

I will be attending a few feasts this month.  I always especially look forward to having Thanksgiving with my parents and sister, because they have all the old goodies that remind me of Thanksgiving as a child.  I look forward to the day when I might be the one preparing Thanksgiving dinner, but it won't be this year!

To represent this year's feast, I picked one of my favorites- apple pie!  It's cut from Create a Critter 2.  It only has two layers, because it's one of the accessory cuts.  I was feeling in a bright and cheerful mood that day, so I picked orange and blue as background colors.  

The "Sweet as" sentiment was cut from Baby Steps at .5 inches.  The "Pie" is cut from Storybook at 1.25 inches.  Then I added the blue bling arrow, which was sent to me in a prize pack that I won from Exploring Cricut.

So, ARE you going to any feasts this fall?  While you're waiting for the tryptophan to wear off, go over and visit Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges.  There's DT inspiration all over the place over there! Then head to your craft space and make something to play along!

Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day is right around the corner!  I always have a hard time with patriotic types of holidays- I think when the Fourth of July rolls around next year I'll have used up all of my red, white, and blue ideas.  This card is an A2 white base.  The blue polka dot paper is some digital paper that I downloaded for free, but I can't remember from where.  I dumbly saved the file names as the color of the paper but didn't include the source.  If you know where I got it from, let me know so I can give credit where it's due.  

The four pennants are cut at 1.5 inches from Birthday Bash.  I used blue and red ink to stamp "USA" all over them with my Paper Smooches "Alphadots" stamps. 

I used some dark blue We R Memory Keepers brads with home made red/white/blue baker's twine to hang the banners and some red ric-rak from Hobby Lobby.

This card is being entered in the following challenges:
Exploring Cricut- Veteran's Day
Paper Smooches Sparks- Trend Watch: Typography

Spa bear

I really like all the occasions the bears can dress up for on Teddy Bear Parade.  This bear is getting ready for a spa day. I cut her at 3.5 inches.  The rubber duck is on a foam dot for added dimension.

This card is actually based off of a sketch.  There are multiple layers, although it's kind of hard to tell from a picture. The first layer is the white base.  The next layer is the burgandy paper, and the next layer is the pink and white stripes.  Next is the oval (cut at 3.5 inches from Baby Steps), which is on a paper with a very faint diagonal stripe.  Then the bear and the tag.  I put some pearls in the four corners.

The sentiment on the tag is from Scrappy Moms Stamps set "Raining Cats and Dogs." I just cut out a rectangle around the sentiment and then chomped off the corners with a punch.

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Scrappy Moms Stamps- Teddy Bear Picnic
Die Cuttin' Divas- Sketch Challenge

Thanksgiving Cupcake Toppers

As much as I love baking, I haven't been doing much lately.  I've been trying to keep sweets out of the house in yet another attempt to lose a few pounds.  But yesterday I was feeling the urge to bake, so I decided to make some cupcakes.  I wanted to do something special for these- because who knows when the next time I'll have baked goods in the house will be- so I made some cupcake toppers.  I got to use my two favorite hobbies together!

Here are a picture of one of each design of toppers I made.  The toppers were all cut at 2.5 inches.  The squirrel and bear are from Create a Critter 2.  The two circles are from Elegant Edges.  I stamped a sentiment from Simple Sayings by Jaded Blossom onto each of the circles.  I'm going to tell you a secret- I have a long list of Jaded Blossom stamps that I want to buy because I love their designs, and because I've been wanting to have stamp sets for each season/holiday that were versatile for cards as well as treats.  So by this time next year, I plan to have a set for each season/holiday.  :)

I’m entering this into the following challenges:

Jaded Blossom- Thanksgiving Treats 

Go Fish Challenges- Color Challenge- Yellow/Orange 

CardzTV- I’m so Thankful  
Paper Playtime- Autumn Colors

Circus

When I saw the inspiration picture for this week's challenge at Alley Way Stamps, the first thing that came to mind was a boat.  But I don't have a boat by them, because I'm limited to the free digis (for now) because I spent all of my scrapbook budget for this month already on two albums and some page refills.  You gotta love when you need the basics.

Anyway, when I was perusing their free digis, I saw the circus tent and was immediately reminded of the inspiration picture.  The banners had really stood out to me, and the circus tent had a banner too.

I colored the tent with my colored pencils.  The word "party" is also one of their digital stamps, that I put into the flag before I printed it.  I used some blue cardstock, then layered it with patterned paper, then more of the blue cardstock that had been embossed using my Cuttlebug and a Lifestyle Crafts (aka Quickutz) folder.

My finishing touch was the three rhinestones on the lower banner.

This card was made for Alley Way Stamps Be Inspired #14 challenge.

Pumpkin Man

I'm ready to get started working with a fall color scheme!  Halloween was fun to work on, but I think I'm ready to move on.  This card has a kraft base.  Then I cut a layer of off-white, then a layer of patterned paper from Paper Studio's All Seasons II stack.

The pumpkin man is from Stretch Your Imagination.  I cut the shadow at the same off-white as I used for the background.  Then I cut the blackout image in orange and the silhouette image in dark brown.

I put some light green ribbon across the top and three green buttons along the bottom to finish it off.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Red Carpet Studio Challenges- Pumpkins and Halloween
Celebrate the Occasion- Fall
Fantabulous Cricut- Seeing Spots
Die Cuttin Divas- Anything Goes
The Play Date Cafe- Colors: Cinnamon/Squash/Vanilla/Sage

Orange and brown

Happy Friday!  It's time for another challenge at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges!  This week, we'll be talking about: 

Question: Are the leaves turning colors yet where you live?

Theme: MAKE AN ORANGE AND BROWN PROJECT

I love the leaves turning colors!  Fall is my favorite!  That's the only thing that I like about living in the midwest.  The leaves are definitely turning here, and it's so peaceful.

For this card, I was inspired not just by the colors, but by trees as well (although I do realize this is not really a fall tree).  A few weeks ago I was out of town for a conference for work, and was thinking about this pretty flourish tree by Jaded Blossom stamps- it and the sentiment are both from the Simple Sayings set- and decided to make a simple card that focused on the stamp.  

I cut a regular A2 sized card in brown, then cut the orange a quarter inch smaller on each side.  Then I stamped the tree and sentiment on the same color orange and cut around it.  I cut a piece of brown that was a quarter inch bigger than it.  Under the tree, I have some brown washi tape from We R Memory Keepers.  I popped up the tree for a little flourish.  Then I added some brown pearls for a finishing touch!

Has fall come to your home yet?  Play along with us at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges this week!  You can head over to the blog for some more inspiration from my fellow DT members and add your own projects too!