A Little Christmas in July, Part 2

You were probably all wondering why there was a "part 1" after my last post, right? That would be because I made THREE different Christmas/holiday cards this week! While I wasn't melting, that is...

Pink by Design is doing a Christmas in July challenge this week, which fit in with my holiday mood perfectly! I inked up a cute little tag set and added them to some layered holiday paper. A bit of ribbon and some Distress Inks and suddenly you have two CUTE cards.

Santa's Toy Store, every kid's dream

Closeup of the tag; stamped with Memento and made shabby with Distress Inks

Second card - sleigh rides!

 Anyone else started their holiday crafting already?

Happy Crafting!

Red, White, and Blue Stars Card

Yes, sometimes I really do still get to post twice in one night! I have time to show off one more card I made for a challenge.

Remembering with you

 The stripes and polka dots you see as the background paper are actually washi tape! I covered a sheet of paper with them, then punched a bunch of stars out of a pretty shimmer white cardstock. I felt it needed just a little something more, so I stamped two of the star punches with tiny stars from Lawn Fawn. To finish them off, I traced the edges with my Distress Markers in red and blue before layering them on with foam tape. The sentiment is from Pink by Design.

Side view of the card so you can see all of those lovely layers

Oooo, layers!

I'm linking this one up to:
Washi Up! - use red, white, and blue washi tape

Happy crafting!

Cupcake Gift Tags

Happy Saturday everyone! I was feeling creative this week and decided to enter Pink by Design's Birthday Challenge. I thought I would share these adorable cupcake gift tags I made up:

Kindly note the yummy glitter 'sprinkles'

I made these up with kraft paper tags I found on clearance at...sheesh...Michaels, Joann's, one of those stores. Some simple stamping with my older-than-dirt cupcake stamp set (seriously; like the packaging disintegrated so I can't even tell who the manufacturer is anymore!) and coloring with my pencils and these babies were looking c-u-t-e! I inked up the edges with my Distress Ink and then added "sprinkles" with my Stickles. I then carefully put them to one side and let them dry for hours. Yes, I may have finally learned my lesson about how long it takes Stickles to dry...maybe...ok, probably not, but at least for now I have.

These little cuties will be listed in my shop soon, and in the meantime be sure to enter our Box o' Crafty Goodness giveaway!

I'm linking up here: PbD Birthday Challenge

Happy Crafting!

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!

PbD Challenge #11

Altered mini composition notebook

Back cover

Front inside cover

Back inside cover

This week's challenge over at Pink by Design was to create a project using school supplies. Well, seeing as my DS is only in daycare, we actually don't have too many around the house...but I did have some mini composition notebooks! I decked it out with paper that reminds me of old school photos and some washi tape (hey, it's tape, right?). The inside cover reminds me of ledger paper...or an attendance sheet! The little rectangle referenced ink, and we all know that you use pens in school. The back cover got some striped paper (school colors?) and the sentiment on the cover...well, that's just me.

How's that for thinking outside the box?? :D

You can play along here.

Happy crafting!

Happy Birthday, Pink by Design!

Tomorrow Pink by Design stamp company turns 2 years old! The celebration has already begun on Pinterest where we're all Inking it Pink!

In celebration I unearthed a couple photos of projects I made with their stamps that I never posted. (Sadly, I have a whole stack of their lovely items that still haven't seen ink...)

Sentiment from 'Here Comes the Bride'

Some of you may remember this one from my shop last Valentine's Day. I salvaged some puzzle pieces and gave them new life with a coat of red paint. The sentiment was a perfect match (ooo, I kill myself!) so I stamped it in black VersaMark ink and then topped it off with some clear embossing powder for added texture and shine. They're easy to make quickly, but each one is still unique thanks to the puzzle pieces.

Sentiment from 'Here Comes the Bride'

This one was fun to make. I started with a big square card base, 6"x6" (oh yes, extra postage would be required) and added a layer of the pretty black & cream damask print. I think it was from a pad of...oh boy...no, it could have just been a single sheet from my stash. Have I mentioned lately that I love hoarding scrapbook paper? Anyway, I punched out and embossed two black 2" circles with my Big Shot then layered them on the card. I glued the first down right to the card, then popped up the second one to give it some dimension. On top of that went the wedding cake. I admit, that one isn't from PbD - it's one from the dollar bid. I stamped it on white card stock then fussy cut it out before decorating. Gel pens and Stickles made excellent 'frosting', don't you think? The sentiment is from the same PbD set I used on the puzzle card - it's really perfect for all things lovey-dovey. :) The edges got inked up and small red pearls added to compliment the colors on the cake. I popped that one up with foam squared, too. I went pretty dimension crazy that day, but it turned out really pretty. Sheer ribbon wrapped around the side was the final touch and I sold it at a craft show to a mother of the bride. She wanted something really unique for her daughter, and when I mentioned that it was OOAK she was sold! I love the thought that a happy bride & groom received this on their wedding day. <3

Oof...I'm being tackled by a toddler demanding food! LOL I'd better feed him something before he starts gnawing on the furniture...tomorrow I'm off to an all-day scrap crop! Yay for uninterrupted crafting time!!

Happy Crafting!

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:

Pinwheel 'Happy Birthday' Gift Tags

So I have to say, I love Pink by Design stamps. They have fun stamps that give a nice, clean impression time after time. So when I discovered that they're doing weekly challenges now I just had to jump on board!

You can find this week's challenge on their blog: Ink it Pink it Challenge PbD03: Red, White, & Blue

So, I was going to link up the sailboat card I made, but then I got the urge to make pinwheels. I've been wanting to make them ever since I saw the Lawn Fawn tutorial video a few months ago and today I had a brainstorm as to what to do with them. (Yes, it did hurt a little...all good brainstorms do.)

So I grabbed a piece of My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper and made a little 3"x3" square. Some cutting, hole punching, and folding got me an adorable pinwheel! I secured it with a pretty brad and attached it to half a lollipop stick with a Glue Dot. I then grabbed one of the shipping tags I had crumpled up, smoothed out, and rubbed Distress Ink all over and added some of my new addiction to it - washi tape.

I am absolutely in love with the stuff! I have 6 rolls I'm playing with now and more on the way...shhh, don't tell my husband! One of the really, really cool things about washi tape is that you can stamp on it! In keeping with the theme, I added a strips of red polka dot & blue striped washi to the bottom of my tag and stamped it with one of the Happy Birthday sentiments from the Pink by Design set Birthday, Birthday. It is quickly becoming my go-to set for birthdays. There are so many different fonts! I liked the fun feel of this one:

Are you seeing how cute this is?? I added my pinwheel onto the tag and I was DONE! It was so quick & easy!

All I need is a package or gift bag to put it on!

Of course, then I was standing there going "you know, I already have another square and lollipop stick ready to go..." and suddenly I had two gift tags. I reversed the paper and washi tapes in the second one to make them a little different.

They're just so bright & cheerful!

So then I realized that the baby was still asleep...and I wondered what they'd look like on the red tags I had done up...and suddenly I had four gift tags.

Making these might be a bit addicting...

Aren't they just so stinkin' CUTE! They would be such an adorable addition to a present...heck, they're practically a present within themselves! I'm putting them up in the store as well, hopefully they head off to a good home quickly. I like it when my creations get a good home.

So, are you all off to make pinwheels now? :)