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!

Christmas tag

Today I have a tag to share with you!  I cut this tag from Plantin Schoolbook at 6 inches (which made it 4.5 inches wide).  I used some kraft paper for the shadow and some patterned paper from The Paper Studio for the tag itself.  Then I cut some sea green cardstock to go across the tag where I could stamp the sentiment "Merry Christmas" from My Creative Time's Gift Card Sentiments.  I had to mask the sentiment to get it that far apart, but I wanted the snowgirl in the middle.

The snowgirl is cut at 5.25 inches from Jolly Holidays.  I love the snow people on that cartridge- their smiles are just so me.  I haven't put any ribbon or twine into the hole yet because I haven't decided exactly how I want to use it- as decoration, as a kind of card, or as a tag for a present.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:
My Creative Time- Large tags
Paper Playtime- Anything Goes

Three stars

I am having a lot of fun playing along with coloring challenges!  I still love my Cricut, but I feel like stamping and coloring is giving me a whole other side of cardmaking.  There's a challenge at Paper Smooches Sparks right now that is a photo inspiration.  Here's my take on it:

I used the free digi stamps for the stars.  They're actually supposed to be 4th of July related, but I colored them to match the colors from the inspiration picture instead.  I put them on a piece of Recollections patterned paper and then matted that onto some grey cardstock.

The yellow cardstock on the bottom was stamped with my new Paper Smooches "Alphadot" stamp set.  Loving it!  I thought I had lost the number 0 down the drain the other day after washing some ink off, and I thought I was going to die.  Luckily, it had stuck to the sink and survived.

Candy

It's time for another challenge at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges.  This week's challenge is:

Question: Who loves candy?

Theme: MAKE A CANDY-LICIOUS PROJECT

I like candy, but not as much as many people.  If we have chocolate in the house, I'll eat it.  But I don't ever crave it and I don't mind when we don't have any.  

This card was made with Smiley Cards.  I cut the candy at 3 inches, including the shadow.  I put the patterned paper on an orange card base.  I don't know what company made the patterned paper, because I got it from a garage sale.  I used some scraps of pink paper as an accent to match the pink cheeks.  I stamped the sentiment from Pink by Design's Big Thoughts

Are you a candy fan?  Make a candy-licious project and post it at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges.  There's plenty of inspiration there from the rest of the DT as well.