Pink by Design MasterCrafter Challenge

So back in August, Pink by Design put out a call; a new kind of challenge had arrived and the first 100 people to sign up got to play. Amazingly enough, I was online at the right time and managed to snag a box...a mystery box. You had no idea what it contained until you got it and you had to create a project using everything included. Whoa. Today is the day we can finally link up our projects and the voting begins to see who will be the MasterCrafter!

Admittedly, there was a short time where I was terrified - what if the box held things like pink and lace and girly-girl stuff? What on earth would I do with that?!? Turns out I had nothing to fear, for the contents were pretty darn cool.

Ooo, the shiny toys! Possibilities!

What was in the box:

- Scissor Mouse sponsored by Westcott
- DCWV Rockstar mat stack sponsored by DCWV Deals
- Cotton Bag Sponsored by State line Bag Co.
- 1/2 sheet of Rhinestones sponsored by Queen & Co.
- Sentiment stamp sponsored by Pink by Design (I received 'trust')
- 2 buttons

What I added from my own stash:

-PbD stamp set 'Happily Ever After'
-Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Wild Honey, Tea Stain, and Crushed Olive
-StazOn True Black Ink
-Lawn Fawn Twine in Natural
-13"x13" shadow box (really truly, it was just sitting in my craft room!)
-random piece of 12"x12" scrapbooking paper
-crown stamp (dollar bin at Michael's)
-foam tape
-black stamp marker from LePlume

Though I've never used it before, I've always loved the rock star paper. It's cool enough for both boys and girls - yes! So, what did I make?

My MasterCrafter design of a scrapbook layout in a shadowbox frame

Angled view; less glare from the glass

Oh yes - I made a heavily layered layout and put it in a shadowbox frame. My little boy just turned 2 and provided the perfect photos for the layout. Of course, the one thing I forgot until after I was done is just how hard it is to get a good photo of something involving glass! So...much...glare! Seriously, you're seeing the best of about 12 photos here.

Here are some close-ups of the key elements:

The muslin bag got distressed, stamped, and blinged-out with the rhinestones

The buttons got strung through some twine and wrapped around the whole page to make...

...guitar strings!

I paired the 'trust' stamp that was included with 2 more PbD ones from my stash

Yeah, that is one seriously cute, Goldfish-encrusted grin. My little love. That photo happened when he decided to come stick his face in the camera, so I clicked away. Who knew it would turn out so perfect?


EDIT: Still begging for votes, but the voting dates have changed! Please, head on over to the Pink by Design blog starting October 7th and vote for me to become the MasterCrafter. Voting closes October 11th and it would be beyond awesome to win. MWAH!

Ok, on to the photo montage of how I put this bad boy together!

I already had the photobox frame which, in this case, measures 13"x13", leaving me a workspace of 12.5"x12.5". Lots of room! So I grabbed a piece of 12"x12" paper I had lying around in a color that I really wasn't crazy about and used that as my backer piece. I decided to make a patchwork quilt out of the different papers in the pack, so I started laying out my design then got cutting.

Figuring out spacing BEFORE cutting. Sometimes I'm so smart!

Paper all sliced up and edges inked

I used the white insert from the frame to line up my paper, then started gluing

My completed background

I really, really like how it came out. That's the nice thing about paper stacks - all of the papers compliment each other. Thanks to the patterns, I could even work in some of the pink papers despite it being a boy's layout. It came across as cool, not girly. Rock on.

From here I moved on to the muslin bag. It really didn't match in its natural form, so I grabbed my Distress Inks and started layering them on. I tucked tissue paper inside the bag to prevent bleed-through and it provided a cool effect while rubbing on the inks. I have to say, that little bag loved the inks! Soooo easy. When I was happy with the colors, I grabbed the crown stamp I had that, gasp!, matched the crowns on the paper perfectly. Using the rhinestones as jewels was a perfect way to bring some bling in. I let the bag dry overnight and did wind up going back over the crown with my marker as it had faded too much. I love how grungy it came out! Since I already had my marker in hand, I added my little prince of a rock star's name and called it done.

A blend of crushed olive, wild honey, and tea stain resulted in one cool, grungy bag

Close-up of the bag; you can see the crown is already fading

Oh yeah, the bag wasn't the only thing stained...blech!

Completed bag with the crown drawn back in

While the bag dried and I scrubbed my hands clean (surprisingly easy to do, by the way) I chose and printed out my photos and got to work matting them. I also attached my "guitar strings" and buttons while munching on the hidden stash of Halloween candy in my craft room...shhhh! I laid everything out on my background and realized something was missing. In the end, I grabbed one last piece of paper from the stack and fussy-cut the flocked heart design out and added it to the middle. Perfect!

Final layout check before applying the adhesive

My fussy-cut heart embellishment

From here it was simple. Grabbing my ATG gun I glued everything down. I used foam tape to pop up the photo in the corner and the heart embellishment to give it some dimension. Then it was just a matter of lining it up in the frame, adding the bag, and I was done!

One last look...grr, with some glare

I'd love to hear what you think! And pretty please, remember to go vote!

Happy Crafting!

p.s. Don't forget to stop by tomorrow when the Lawnscaping Challenge Blog Hop begins!

A Little Christmas in July

Thanks to the holiday sale I had on Etsy, I've been in a Christmas mood...so when this week's challenges came out for CAS-ual Friday and Pink by Design, I was inspired to combine them. CAS is looking for a black base card while PbD08 is Christmas in July! Too fun!

 Here's what I came up with:

Snowflake 'Peace' card

Sadly, you can't tell in any of the photos but the white for the snowflake is a pretty, shimmery paper. I used black card stock for the base, then added another layer of black that was embossed with snowflakes. The top layer is popped up with foam tape and stamped in white ink with the 'peace' sentiment.

Better shot of the embossing

The flash popped up for this one...ugh!

The snowflake is punched out of the last layer of black paper and I tucked the shimmer paper behind it. Much easier than trying to glue down a punch-out!

Here's where I'm linking up this week:

Sparks Challenge!

I had some time before I had to post for the next challenge so I didn't smoosh this one in with all the others I posted on Wednesday. While I, of course, didn't win anything it's nice having inspiration coming from another source like a challenge.

Now then, check out this simple little card I made with some ribbon, Paper Smooches stamps, and...shhhh...an Itty Bitty stamp from Unity. Turns out I don't have any sentiment stamps from Paper Smooches. Oops. But isn't this stamp from the Potpourri collection awesome?? I love being able to build my own backgrounds!

Potpourri Collection from Paper Smooches, 'Happy Birthday' from Itty Bitty, orange grosgrain ribbon

I can see doing this card in lots of different colors with many different sentiments. How easy would it be to make it masculine or feminine?? Yes!

View from above

The Paper Smooches Sparks challenge is going on now! See what you get inspired to make.

Happy Crafting!

Lawnscaping Challenge - Coloring, part 2

All right, here's the baby boy card I made for the challenge. This one I can easily use and will probably give to the expectant mom due in July for her baby shower. So many little boys around these days!

I used the Lawn Fawn Plus One set for this card, too. It's just such a cute set! I stamped up the background then colored it in with my watercolor pencils using sweet little boy colors. (Look, you can see the gel pen stitching this time!!) I mirrored the colors for the stork's bundle and the stitching around it, then topped it with the sentiment flag. The teal twine is from Lawn Fawn's new set of goodies...it's really awesome to work with.

All right, I think that's it for today. I'll be back tomorrow with my card for the Paper Smooches challenge!

Happy crafting!

Lawnscaping Challenge - Coloring, part 1

Whee...now on from Easter cards to a different kind of spring time renewal: babies! Seems like many of my family and friends are having them at the moment. Not only did my sister-in-law make me an Auntie right before Easter, but a friend of the family is due in July as well! More boys for my little boy to play with, yay!

Of course, I had to start with a girl card just to get it out of my system:

I stamped the background using the Lawn Fawn Plus One set and colored them all in with watercolor pencils. I layered some green shimmer paper scraps around the edging to create a binding and have it look like a little baby blanket. I made stitching with a white gel pen, but you really can't see it. Boo. Next time, darker gel pen. The little stroller is from Plus One as well and I colored it up to match the blanket colors. So sweet and girly...with no girls to give it to!

Come see all the entries over on the Lawnscaping Challenge blog. I'll brb with my little boy card!

Welcome to the First of Many Posts Today!

Oh yeah, lots and lots of posts today! I'm entering several online challenges with several different cards...and each one needs its own post! Oh yeah, and most have a deadline of today...eeek! Ready for some creative overload??

First up is the CAS-ual Fridays weekly challenge!

It's all about what you'd find in your bunny basket come Easter morning. I came up with two different cards for the challenge. We'll start with my favorite of the two, and the one I actually gave to my sister & her fiance for Easter. Problem is, I'm not sure if it would be defined as "clean and simple". Any thoughts??

I love this card. I couldn't find a bunny die anywhere, so I wound up finding a template and making my own. That seems to be this year's theme; they don't make what I want, so I'm making it myself! I visualized the patterned paper as wallpaper and have them sitting on a table...the scalloped edge is the tablecloth. Get it? The bunny eyes are just brads with some coloring done to them so they look like those classic chocolate rabbits. Yum...

Everything got inked up and I wrote out the speech bubbles myself. Obviously this is why I took drafting in high school, right? ;)

Back soon with more cards!

Say it with Conversation Hearts!

I was inspired by the Crafty Steals blog to try to make a card from a sketch...I think it came out rather cute:

After all, who says that conversation hearts are only for kids? A little paper punching, some ribbon, add a smattering of embossing, ink everything...tada! I simply used my own handwriting for the sentiments, in classic conversation heart red. What do you think? If you really, really must have one of you own I've got it up in my Etsy shop.

Ok, now I'm off to play with all the fun 'toys' I bought today...yay! The one nice thing about having a husband glued to the PS3 is that I get plenty of craft room time...mwahahahaha...

Happy Crafting!

Lawnscaping Challenge #26 Winter Wonderland

Where has the week gotten to?? We finally have snow here which helped with my inspiration for this week's Lawnscaping Challenge. Of course between snowshoeing, helping a friend build a deck (I was the only one he trusted to cut 45 degree angles on the miter saw - go me!), general running around, and spending some quality time in the craft room here it is Saturday already and I'm just sitting down to write!

So this week's challenge was Winter Wonderland, something that has finally happened around here! I was really excited about this one. My Christmas present to myself this year was a Sizzix Big Kick and a bunch of cartridges that were on deep sale on Black Friday. My husband was thrilled because then he had an easy time shopping for me this year...hehehe... I had picked up one of the snowman cartridges (cartridges? punches? someone correct me if my terminology is off, please!) and a snowflake embossing folder. Better still, the Lawn Fawn Ornate Ornaments stamp set that I have includes a snowflake stamp - perfect! Put them all together and see what you get:

Isn't he adorable?? I love how he came out. Here's how it started out:

What I used:

• white linen cardstock (paperandmore.com)
• purple striped scrapbook paper (my stash)
• brown cardstock (stash)
• black cardstock (bazzill)
• purpley/bluey cardstock, cut to 5.25"x4" (bazzill)
• orange metallic cardstock (paperandmore.com)
• white glitter cardstock (Joann's)
• ivory linen cardstock, measures 5.5"x4.25" when closed (paper and more)
• Memento Paris Blue ink
• dark gray rhinestones, two sizes (Michael's)
• clear Stickles
• silver Stickles
• Lawn Fawn Ornate Ornaments stamps
• Spellbinders snowflake embosser
• Sizzix snowman cartridge
• glue
• Zots 3D

Start off by making your card base. Emboss the purpley/bluey cardstock with the snowflake background and attach to the base card. Cut a piece of the white glitter cardstock to fit across the entire width of the card, then freehand cut it to make it look like a snow mound (I had this piece left over from cutting out larger snowmen). Attach it to the front of the card as well. Using the little snowflake in the Ornate Ornaments set and the Paris Blue ink, make some snowflakes floating down from the sky.

Cut out the snowman using the Sizzix cartridge. This is where the rest of the paper is used! You could probably use fabric for the scarf as well, but I loved this pattern for a scarf. To assemble and attach him I used glue on the scarf, carrot nose, and arms to attach them to the snowman. I then used the 3D Zots to attach the snowman to the card, putting him where I thought he looked cute on the snow mound. One last Zot for the hat right onto the card and he was assembled!

I then went back and decorated the hat with the silver Stickles and the snowman with the clear Stickles, just to give his snow some sparkle. Rhinestones for his eyes and buttons and we have a snowman!

On the inside I simple wrote "Thanks 'snow' much!" for a sentiment and the card was done! It was nice to build a snowman inside where it's nice and warm.

Have you built any real or paper snowmen lately? I'd love to see them!

Happy Crafting!

Lawnscaping Challenge #25: Birthday!

Now that I'm blogging again and the holiday rush is over, I've actually started (gasp!) reading blogs again. I know, it's craziness, but it had to happen eventually. I've followed Lawn Fawn's blog for over a year now but just recently discovered their Lawnscaping blog and challenges. Their current challenge is right up my alley so I decided to jump in and come up with a birthday card!

Here's their inspiration photo, in celebration of their birthday:

Now obviously they'd like it if I used Lawn Fawn stamps for the challenge, but it's actually not a prerequisite. Good thing, too, as it turns out all I have are Christmas stamps and Get Well stamps from Lawn Fawn! Eep! (Their new breakfast set is totally on my 'must have' list, though).

So, what did I make? Take a look:

And then on the inside:

Cute, right? Who doesn't love yummy cupcakes on their birthday, especially chocolate ones.

How I made it:

• ivory linen cardstock base (paperandmore.com), cut to a folded size of 4.25"x5.5"
• chocolate toile paper (Recollections, Michael's store brand) cut to 4"x5.25"
• chocolate cardstock (from my stash), cut to 3.5"x4.75"
• pink cardstock (from my stash), cut to fit the stamp...about 1"x2"
• white cardstock (seriously, you should see how much paper I own)
• birthday stamp set (from my stash)
• chocolate ribbon (stash again), about 4"
• StazOn Java Bean & True Black ink
• Versamark Plumeria chalk ink
• watercolor pencils
• glitter glue
• hole punch
• cutter
• scissors
• adhesive
• Zots 3D dots

I started by stamping the cupcakes onto the white cardstock using the True Black ink. Then I started 'decorating' my cupcakes with the colored pencils. You could probably use Copics as well, but I haven't been able to budget them into my 'habit' yet. Carefully cut them out leaving a little bit of a white edge and set aside.

Ink the edges of the chocolate toile paper with the Java Bean and attach to the ivory card base. Next comes the inked chocolate cardstock. Stamp the sentiment onto your pink cardstock, punch a hole for the ribbon, then ink the edges. (Don't do what I did and ink the edges before punching the hole...you wind up with Java Bean fingers!) Feed a bit of ribbon thru the hole and knot it, trimming the ends to make them uniform and cute. Attach to the bottom corner with the 3D Zots to pop it off the card. Now for the cupcakes - attach them with the 3D Zots as well, then add 'confetti' with the glitter glue. After the glitter is dry, stamp the inside of the card with your sentiment. All done! A pretty, handmade birthday card for friends and family. You can easily make several of these at a time and keep them on hand for, well, birthdays!

Let me know if you make one yourself - I'd love to see how it came out.

Happy Crafting!