Happy "Boo-Day" and BBTB2 Blog Hop

Happy Halloween everyone and welcome to our Monthly Blog Hop for BBTB2. If you came from Susan's Blog you're on the right track. Our dear and fabulously talented Shelly chose either ghost cut from PDDU for this challenge, but I took some artistic license and used the one from Happy Hauntings instead. I was browsing my DS files and came across one called "Boo-day" that I'd done eons ago using the ancient Stamped (not to be confused with Stamping)cartridge. The sentiment was all that as there and I'd done it way before there was any "spooky" Halloween font available. I was originally thinking Halloween birthday, I guess, but actually, Halloween is sort of a "Boo-Day" in itself so I decided to go from there. Try as I might, the suggested cuts didn't work as well for my design so I opted for the others (and you can too, remember, we're easy at BBTB2).

It's my usual shaped front style, welded in DS. The "Happy" is also from the Happy Hauntings Cartridge and the entire mess is welded to the rounded rectangle from George. The inside mat is from my Halloween stash and set the tone for the color scheme. I'd planned to do something more colorful, but in the end I enjoyed the neutral theme. The rest of the DP is from the DCWV La Crema Stack and the ghosts were cut from old glitter paper from WalMart. The sweet little flocked ghosty brad is by Making Memories.

I've done my usual dimensional layers and am pretty pleased with how it came out. I've been in a bit of a funk lately and I'm hoping to snap out of it soon. Now hop along to Carri's Blog, but don't forget to leave a comment to be entered in my giveaway, a $40 gift certificate sponsored by Custom Crops. Check out their sale going on NOW with Cricut carts starting at $15.00! I'll be drawing the winner using Random Org on Saturday, November 5th. WooHoo! If you ever get lost along the way, hop back to BBTB2 to get yourself back on track and of course, we'd love to see your take on the challenge. Please link up a new creation using any ghost cut by Nov 13th to win our much coveted POW blinkie. Happy hopping, and have a wonderful, safe, Halloween.

I"m also just squeeking in on the ABC "B" is for Boo Challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the 2nd Annual Dia De Los Muertos Blog Hop!

Heinously Haunted Houses

It's the day we've all been waiting for! The Masterful Mistress and the Minions wish you a fabulously safe and spooky Halloween! Our challenge this week at HDH is Heinously Haunted Houses and there is a fabulous prize pack being offered by the Mistress herself so let's see some spooky stuff. I've merged two digi images from Make it Crafty, the Spooky House and Spooky Graveyard. I've colored them with Copics in neutral tones and used my Nesties Grand Creative Book Pages to cut both the image and the scalloped base. The hanging handle was cut with Nesties labels Ten and threaded with a hand cut banner. "Welcome" is spelled out with letters from the QuicKutz Haunted Mini Alphabet that works in your Cuttlebug, Big Shot, or Grand Caliber using the same sandwich you'd use for your Nesties. the entire piece was inked with Distress in Pumice Stone, Brushed Corduroy and Black Soot. The Minions will be taking a little break from our regularly scheduled challenges for the rest of the year, but you never know what might be brewing at HDH, so don't be strangers. In the meantime, go have a look at the fab inspiration HERE, and don't forget Wicked Wednesday when Creepy Glowbugg posts the winners and her amazing creation.

Tiddly Inks Fabulous Inky Friday

I just love the new Fall Queen digi at Tiddly Inks Shop! Little Mavis looks so cute perched atop those pumpkins and I just couldn't resist her. She's colored with Copics and cut with Nesties. The DP is from an old DCWV Fall stack. For embellies I used some burlap ribbon and layered card stock and more DP on top. The leaves and acorn are wooden (so cute) and were found in the button section of J's. Flowers are Prima and that's it. Love that she can be used for any Fall occasion (and there's a new Christmas version of Mavis for all you kitty lovers now too. WooHoo!) Pop by the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog for more inspiration from our Tiddly fans and DT.

BBTB2 Happy Hauntings Witch Challenge

Happy Monday! Just one week to go until the big day and I've LOTS to do still. (Make that EVERYTHING to do still, I'm such a procrastinator and I've been a bit preoccupied! LOL) This week my dear friend and MSU alumni sister Susan has chosen the witch from Happy Hauntings for our BBTB2 challenge. I wasn't quite sure what to do with her until I was shopping in Target and saw some honeycomb tabletop decorations that reminded me of something I had as a child. That, combined with the Whimsical Wednesday challenge of Halloween Home Decor, led to this project.

Nothing fancy here. I just cut the witch and layers at 5 1/2 inches twice (once flipped) so it would be two sided. I kept the colors to a minimum to hopefully capture more of a vintage feel and embossed the cape and broom. The black layer is popped on both sides, as is the broom. Athough the orange base is also 2 layers, I should have cut it in chipboard for strength as she is adhered to the honeycomb by her foot and just the bottom of her dress. I wanted to be able to close the honeycomb for storage so I glued one side together (with the witch in place) and used some removeable tape and a paper clip underneath for the other. "Happy Halloween" is also from Happy Hauntings and I added tabs to it so it would just fit in the slots of the honeycomb for display instead of gluing it permanently.

I dug out the original hanging decoration to show you. (Couldn't get a pic so it's hanging from the cat pole but won't be staying there. LOL) This is truly vintage from the 50's and is a little worse for wear. Wish I'd been a bit more creative with my cut and I will probably try again as I'm not so pleased with it. I was trying to follow the challenge exactly, but I think I could have found a more vintage looking witch. My FAVE decor item I've made using a witch is HERE. I have trouble doing a second project when I've made one I love and I'm in a bit of a creative slump as I'm trying to get back on track with healthy eating and exercise (and no WINE!) to make up for the year and a half (or more) of crafting 24/7 and I'm sort of a crabby BI---, I mean WITCH! Sorry! My DT siters have done a much better job than I, so be sure to check out the rest of the DT at BBTB2 and we'd love it if you'd play along. Yo uhave 2 weeks to complete the challenge, please make it a new project and link back to BBTB2 and you may use any witch from any cart. I'm also entering it in the Getting Cricky Orange and Black (and only one other color) challenge.

Macabre Monday Movie Madness:Pumpkinhead

This week at HDH the challenge is to create a project inspired in some way by the B Horror fick Pumpkinhead. Okay, I'll admit it. This one slipped by me. I Googled it and the dude looked nothing like a pumpkin to me, but I had this fab digi stamp of the same name by Rick St.Dennis so of course I HAD to use him. He's pretty darn creepy himself, no? Looks like he's about to stomp the crap out of that smiling jack-o-lantern. I've added a "lucky" 7 , cut with my Cricut from the Happy Hauntings cartridge in order to play along with the SBS 12 Days of Halloween (7 pumpkins glowing) and embossed it with a Sizzix folder. The sentiment was done with my Dymo Label Maker. (I'd be feeling luckier if I never ran into this guy on a dark street. LOL)

I've colored this "gourd-geous" guy with Copics and fussy cut him out. Love the detail of this image. The Minions have a fabulous assortment of projects this week, some even featuring the DUDE himself, so be sure to have a look and don't forget our Wretched Wednesday when Creepy Glo posts her fab stuff and announces the winners from the previous week.

Three Black Cats

I recently bought some of the cool Silhouette digis from Bugaboo. I LOVE them! Of course I love their cutesy stuff too, but this is a whole new ball game. The current challenge at Bugaboo Stamps Catch the Bug Challenge Blog is Animal Antics so I decided to use the Happy Halloween Cat and do some cropping and pasting to add two more to enter Day 3 of the 12 Days of Halloween at Simply Betty. I also wanted it to be really bold and graphic so instead of coloring, I printed the image twice, once on orange and once on yellow and used my Nesties paper piece the moon. ( I just lucked out on the size, here) Pretty cool, eh? Since all three kitties didn't fit that well within the circle, I added a punched fence from Martha. Then, to balance the design, some pumpkins trimmed from a border punch and photocorners from EK Success, a few adhesive beads (which I hope will count as "bling" for the Fussy and Fancy Fridays "3 B's" challenge) and there ya go! I'm also entering this in the DYSU Trees challenge. Just so ya know, you don't have to enter all 12 Days of Halloween to win a prize at SBS, and this year you have until October 30th to link up any (or ALL) of them.

On the Fourth Day of Halloween...

My true love gave to me,

Four skeletons,

Three black cats,

Two trick or treaters

and an owl in a rotten oak tree.

I'm so excited to have been invited to participate in the fabulous 12 Days of Halloween Simply Betty Stamps event. Visit the SBS Blog to see the daily prizes up for grabs. Unlike last year when you had two or three days to complete your projects, this time around you have until the 30th of October to upload all your projects for all the 12 Days. Play a little, or play a lot. Of course each day will have it's own linky, and you must upload your projects accordingly. Each project must be a new project. On the 30th, all links will close, Betty and the DT will take one week to sort out the winners and announce them on Nov. 5th. There will be several winners, but one person that enters ALL 12 days and is best of the best will be chosen to be a part of the SBS DT for 2012!

I've used the fabulous Draco the Ghost Gent, one of the Steampunk Victorian Halloween stamps. Isn't he a dapper dude? He's colored with Copics and cut and matted with Nesties Mega Ovals. The skellies are a Tim Holtz stamp that I've heat embossed with white opaque embossing powder, fussy cut and arranged in an underlined "4". (Hope you caught that. I had an extra, what can I say? Personally I think Draco looks like a skellie but DH said no because he has a chin. HUH?)

They're popped for dimension as well as the fab Draco. the papers are DCWV Le Crema and K&Co. The little swirls on the corners are the off cuts from an EK Success border punch. The SBS DT has more gorgeous examples and there's plenty of time to catch up on the previous day's offerings as well. Visit the SBS Blog HERE to be amazed and inspired.

A Tiddly Inks Halloween

Oh what fun we have at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog today. We're celebrating Halloween in major style and I really think the Tiddly Inkers have outdone themselves. There are so many cute Halloween images in the SHOP that it was tough to choose, but when I saw Sugar Angel and Angel Spice with their little treat bags (and their fab haircuts, LOL, available individually, as well, but the set is such a DEAL!), it brought back fond memories of trick or treating with my BFF, so I thought I'd create a little scene. The house and fence are Tim Holtz dies and the grass and kitty, MS. The little row of pumpkins are felt from Queen & Co.

I merged the two images in my Printmaster Program. This is SOOO easy to do with the PNG version of the images in any computer program like Photoshop etc. Then I colored them up with Copics and cut them out with my Nesties Grand Oval. The top of the sentiment is done with my trusty Alpha Beads.

The easel card is done with my Nesties Labels Three Grands. The fun candy DP is an older K&Co stack. To hold the easel up, I've added a row of adhesive beads and completed the sentiment with a puffy sticker from atd. I just know you'll want to play along with this fun challenge AND on Christy's BLOG you can see the new images as well as a contest for Fall cards that you won't want to miss. See ya there! I'm also entering this in the Simply Betty's 12 Days of Halloween Day 2 Challenge,The Crazy Challenge Halloween, Paper Sundaes Halloween or Fall, The Sparkles Forum Halloween and Desert Islands Crafters using 1, 3 (orange at the moment), 5, 6 and 7 (the fence looks like stripes to me).

BBTB2 Trick or Treat Hello Kitty Challenge

This week at BBTB2 our lovely and talented DT sister Theresa chose the Trick or Treat Kitty from the Hello Kitty cart. I just love Hello Kitty, but I wanted to think outside the box (or in this case inside the box, LOL) and make something 3-D. I've had a jack-in-the-box idea for some time and thought this might be the perfect challenge to try it out. I was hoping to create a real working jack-in-the-box but the head proved to be too heavy for the body so I had to modify my design and just go with the appearance of a kitty-in-the-box. I still think it turned out pretty cute. The body was created with strips of 2x12"card stock, glued at right angles and the alternately folded over each other. Just keep adding strips for as long as you need it. this creates a "springy" body, but the longer you go, the less stable it becomes (if you know what I mean). The kitty was cut a 5" twice on blackout and trimmed the head and paws to use in my piece. I used an empty ribbon spool covered with paper between the front and back of the head to give it dimension. This was part of the reason it was so heavy, but oh well, hind site is always 20/20. Both head and body were hot glued to a rosette ruffle I made with 2 strips of 1 1/2 x 11" card stock.

Originally I planned on using a larger box with an attached lid that the kitty would pop out of but as I said, I just couldn't make it work. Instead I used a smaller box with a detached lid, cut a part of the rim of the lid and glued it open and then hot glued the kitty at the height I wanted to the open lid, just at the ruffle. I attached the paws to those cool sort of thick and thin pipe cleaners and used a metal candy brad and toothpick for the lollipop. The box trim is from the Tim Holtz rosette die that I'd originally cut for the ruffle but found it to be too small. I'm not thrilled with the box decoration. I really think it should say "Trick or Treat", but I cut the phrase with the Cricut twice in different sizes and didn't like how it was looking so I gave up and used puffy stickers because I was running out of time. The flower is Recollections. Be sure to bop over to BBTB2 to ooh and ahh over the rest of the DT's creations and we'd love it for you to play along using a "new" creation and linking your blog post to our linky and back to our challenge. If you don't have Hello Kitty, any other Halloween themed kitty project will do. I'm also entering this in the ABC "B" is for Boo challenge.

Macabre Monday Lurid Landscapes

This week at Haunted Design House our challenge is Lurid Landscapes. I scoured the net in search of someting spooky, but most of the stuff either easn't that scary or had a copyright thingy soo I was in a bit of a tizzy then I remembered my fab Holy City stamps from Smeared Ink. Hey yeah, graveyards are landscapes. WooHoo! I live near San Francisco, and those who travel frequently or live near tourist destinations are certainly familiar with the sort of fold out postcard books available. That was my inspiration.

It all folds up and this is the cover of the project. The skellie is from a Tim Holtz Halloween set and the words are computer generated. I might add that these are RUBBER STAMPS, no digis! Do you believe it?

Again, only the words are computer generated.

All from the same set from Smeared Ink.

In fact, there were only two in the set I didn't use. That a lot of stamps!

I was so excited that I didn't mess up that I had to give you closeups of ALL of it. LOVE how well these fab stamps work.

I thought this was a cute ending. I added the little raven to the skellie's arm. Looks like he wrote the sentiment. Wonder who he's sending it to? Be sure to check out the fab work by the rest of the Minions and check out our fab HDH Blog Candy for our soon to reach goal of 500 Followers, offered by our own Creepy Glowbugg and also check out the fab candy she is offering on her personal blog. (She's doing penance for her last week's DT project. LOL) I'm also entering this in the Forever Night Black and Creepy Challenge, Simply Create Shades of Black, Shopping Our Stash Spooky and/or Orange and Black and the Simon Says Stamp Halloween/Goth Challenge..

Fabulous Inky Friday

It's Fabulous Inky Friday at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog when we announce our winner, highlight cards by our fans and post some more inspiration from the Tiddly Inkers. I chose to use the brand new image Danny's Duck. Is he about the sweetest thing on earth? He just begged to be paper pieced so that's what I did, and I used Deconstructed Sketch #23 for the layout. The DP's are Nana's Nursery. I used Nesties Scalloped squared instead of border punche because for the life of me I just couldn't punch right today. LOL Don't forget our current challenge, Boys will be Boys, and be sure to stop by the SHOP and check out what's new. I'm also entering this in the Divas by Design Button Up challenge and Ruby's Rainbow Cute and Cuddly challenge.

Bah! Humbug! Meets Octopode (by accident)

Eiyiyi! I'm NOT keeping up! The days 'til Halloween keep flying by (no Beck, I haven't started yet, LOL some inspiration, eh?) and I'm still trying hard to keep up with my DT stuff as well as my fave challenges around Blogworld. Bah! Humbug! this week is Glitz and Glitter, and Lily at TOFF has a musical theme going. I had totally different ideas for BOTH challenges but realized I wouldn't be able to do them both unless I combined them, so this is the result. Probably not what either of them expected (or you either, considering the challenges) but it is what it is, and I kinda like it. First off I just bought a wad more Octopodes and I was dying to use the sweet new Winter Girl (that I don't see in the shop at the moment, but I'm sure she'll be back soon). Figured she'd be great for a Christmas card. The hitch was I was also dying to do the thing in sepia tones which doesn't really translate to glitter (or Christmas, for that matter) but Winter

Wonderland wanted Christmas with Autumn Colors.

She's colored with Copics and the snow flakes behind her were done in my Printmaster Platinum program by cropping some musical digi paper I just won from the House Across the Bay. The cropping is done with dots and I couldn't exactly see what I was doing but I was going for a sort of rough snowflake shape. The result was pretty funky but I thought it was perfect with my Octopode gal. The images were merged but it didn't really gel until I drew around them with my Memento marker to make them look more like a digi stamp as well.

To glitz it up, I applied Stardust Stickles to the snowflakes and cut a glitter card stock mat with my Nesties Grand labels One. There's also some Rock Candy Distress Stickles on her boots and I printed, colored and cut her hat and scarf a second time and popped them for dimension. To add to the musical theme, I added the note brads and the rub on words to "Let it Snow" from Melissa Frances.

Finally, I popped the frame and added chipboard letters from Prima that I've had forever (and never used). They look just like they were encrusted with ice crystals. Sorry I didn't take a pic of the unopened package ladies, but this qualifies for the ABC Christmas Unused Stash Challenge. So there you have it! A real collaboration while designing. I know it's different, but I had a ball.

The Saturated Canary Challenge #1

Okay, I almost couldn't get any later than this. In fact I would have been too late had I not bopped over to The Saturated Canary Challenge Blog and noticed the deadline for this first sketch (and photo inspiration challenge) ends at midnight! EEEKK!!! I pretty much stink at sketches (no creativity for thinking outside the box with them) but Halloween...NO PROB! I chose the adorable Frankenstein Tambry digi for my project. She's colored with Copics to match the Basic Grey Eerie DP and from there I just pretty much followed the sketch.

Look at that face! Is she precious or what? (Actually, they ALL are and you can see them in the Etsy store HERE, but you'll have to wait 'til tomorrow because Krista took a mini vacay). Go Krista! Edit: She's BAACK!, go shop!

I took a close up of the little dangling charm so that the lovely ladies at Forever Night challenges could see that she's Trick or Treating. She's just a little shy. Love that webby ribbon and the crocheted lace. Thought it looked nice with the crocheted flower on top. So there we go. Friday there will be a new challenge at The Saturated Canary AND Forever Night. WooHoo!

BBTB2 Vulture Challenge

OOps! a little late today. I'm not sleeping well and my schedule is all off. Today my dear friend and DT sis Agnes (Flowerdisco) has chosen the BBTB2 challenge this week which is the vulture from Life's a party. I can't believe it's ANOTHER cart I don't have. Too many too fast, these days. Well, there is another vulture on Zooballoo, but try as I did, I just couldn't make that pitiful little thing work for me so I chose the raven from Oct 31st instead. I thought he would be a good substitute, lovin' tearing apart dead carcasses and all. However, when I read Agnes's intro she was talking about cute...ahhh, well, not so much. But hey, I all but exhausted my cutesy quotient last week with that frog so it is what it is. Sorry Agnes.

Yes, it's a shaped front card done in DS using the raven and moon from Oct 31st, the drippy swirl from Happy Hauntings and the skull from Wall Decor and More. The background paper is from the 6x6 Blackbird (how fitting!) collection from Memory Box which lead me to emboss the moon with the Goochie Script (5x7) embossing folder. (In case you can't see it, there's script on the DP as well.) Shades of Poe, eh?

Lots of layers and the raven is glittered with Doodlebug Sugar coating after running it through my Xyron right side down. The swirl is enhanced with Glossy Accents and adhesive gems. Both the moon and the skull are cut from iridescent card stock but the glimmer doesn't really show up well here. All edges were inked with Distress. My DT sisters have done an amazing job on this challenge so be sure to stop my BBTB2 and have a look. We'd love to see your take as well. Remember, the challenges run for 2 weeks, you may substitue the cut for another similar one, please enter new creations only and link them back to BBTB2. I'm also enter this in the Gingersnap Creations Theme Challenge, Horror Stories.

Someone to Watch Over me

This week our Macabre Monday challenge at Haunted Design House is Gods and Monsters. You can choose from those of Greek Mythology, a classic movie, or some bizarre divination from a tale from long ago. I'm not sure I'd call this lovely gargoyle a monster, but it's gonna have to work for this challenge. The fab image is the very first I fell in love with from our dear Teri at Delicious Doodles HERE. (P.S. if you're not into creepy, there are tons of just plain beautiful digis at Delicious Doodles as well.) I just love gargoyles.

Besides the architectural purpose of diverting rain from the roof away from the side of a building to keep the water from eroding the mortar, non water spitting grotesques, also known as gargoyles, are said to scare off and protect from any evil or harmful spirits. My little guy is gonna sit on my desk and keep me nice and safe. I'm sort of bummed you can't see the embossing here under the sentiment. I used the Tim Holtz Bricked folder from Sizzix because I thought that was fitting.

This was my first attempt at a twisted easel and I used my Nesties Large Octogons to construct the base. The roses are from Recollections. Everything I've used for this card I've had for WELL over 6 months so I'm entering it in the Simply Create challenge and the monochromatic color scheme qualifies it for the 4 Crafty Chicks challenge as well. I'm also entering it in the Sentimental Sundays Anything Goes challenge, and Simon Says Stamp and Show Things with Wings.

This great image requires no coloring and just begs to be decoupaged. He was printed 6 times and I fussy cut up a storm. Just LOVE the way he pops off the page. The Minions truly enjoyed this one so pop by HDH for some inspiration and be sure to visit often this month. Besides Creepy Glowbugg's post on Wednesday with the Gruesome Twosome announcement and such, we're also bringing you all around cool and spooky stuff to make your October the best month EVER!

ADFD Texture Challlenge

I finally got a chance to play again with A Day For Daisies. The current challenge is Gimme Some Texture. I've used the adorable image Pumpkins and Butterflies. My original plan was to use a Cuttlebug folder for texture, but I'd already colored my image and made it fairly large so the folder I had chosen was too small. What to do? At Gingersnap Creations, the Spicy Supply Challenge is crimpers. Oh yeah, I have one of those...somewhere. Found it crammed in a bottom drawer and ran my kraft mat through. LOVE how it looks on kraft. (as a matter of fact, I love this particular kraft which is quite a rich color (for kraft, anyway) and comes in 12x12 sheets in a value pack from J's. I'm thinkin' it's from The Paper Company. The card base is soft suede from Stampin' Up. The combo...YUMMY! Of course my image is colored with Copics and I spent a really long time trying to get a truly saturated color on that pumpkin so I could enter the Copic Creations challenge.

I cut both the image and frame with my Nesties Octagons and popped the mat for dimension. For further texture I added some felt daisies I'd picked up for a buck at J's. I did a bit of coloring on them with my Copics as well, to make them look more Fall like. Then just a gingham ribbon to enter in The Ribbon Carousel Anything Goes Challenge and some adhesive beads and I was done. You've got a bit more time to enter these challenges so why not pop by ADFD, Gingersnap Creations, The Ribbon Carousel and Copic Creations and get inspired by the wonderful work of their fabulous DT's.

TOFF Men

WooHoo! I finally managed an Octopode Factory Friday Challenge. Been missing them the last few weeks. The challenge is MEN. I've been dying to do a pirate card for awhile. First of all, I had the perfect colored treasure map digi from Tiddly Inks, and then there's the TWO (yes, you heard me, not one but TWO) fabby pirate stamps from The Octopode Factory to choose from. There's Captain Hook as well as Captain Jack (oops, I don't see him in the shop at the moment but he does look exactly like Johnny Depp, in the movie...REALLY). Anyway, I chose Captain Hook because he's a bit more masculine and I find the whole "hook" thing kinda cool. LOL

He's colored with Copics in shades of purple and green and I can never figure out why purple just doesn't photograph correctly. I've added an earring, because no self respecting pirate should be without one. The sentiment is computer generated and quite fitting since my pirate is ALWAYS looking for booty and I've added a Wonky Eyed Skull from my sister Minion Creepy Glowbugg's Etsy shop where X marks the spot.

The Captain and sentiment are popped and I've done a ton of distressing with my Distrezz-it-All and Distress Inks. The DT has some fabulous examples (as always) this week AND, if you've been craving some Octopodes RUN, don't walk, to The Octopode Factory IMMEDIATELY because you can get 30% off with the code theprancingpony at checkout until tomorrow morning since Lily is away celebrating her 18th birthday at Disneyland Paris. Lucky girl! I'm also entering this in The Digi Doodles Shop Distressing Challenge, Ruby's Rainbow For the Boys challenge.

Bah! Humbug! Nativity Challenge

This week at Bah! Humbug! they're celebrating the true meaning of Christmas with a Nativity challenge. This became slightly more difficult for me than expected when I realized I have NO Nativity stamps and would have to rely on my Cricut. The Nativity I chose came from the Christmas Village cartridge and the figures are designed to be free standing. I welded the figures in DS, hid the contours of the bases and also welded a small rectangle from George at the base of each figure to hide the slit at the bottom where the base fits in. Of course, no shadows again, so I hid the interior contours of the images, cut it in brushed gold card stock and glued them slightly offset. The Star is from Joys of the Season.

I decided to keep it pretty CAS. I thought just the white and gold looked elegant, but a plain white mat look unfinished and it was too large to emboss with a regular A2 Cuttlebug folder. I decided to use the smallest of my Spellbinders Grand Circles to emboss only (tape your die in place and run it through your machine with the embossing pad and plate so it won't cut through) and then added some holographic peelie stars. I popped the cuts and added an adhesive star to the star cut and a few adhesive rhinestones to the manger. I'm actually quite pleased with how it came out. Look ladies, no camels. LOL Really though, the B!H! DT examples are lovely, as always and welcome back, Ann! Oh, and today is my dear friend Barb's Birthday (and it's her final week as a B!H! Guest Designer) so pop by and sing her the b-day song. I'm also entering this in the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Resist the Temptation challenge, The Crazy Challenge Monthly Christmas No Red or Green Challenge, The Jingle Belles Peace on Earth challenge, the Sparkles Forum Christmas Songs challenge (Joy to the World), Fab's big Christmas Something Shiny (and/or Snowflakes)Challenge for Oct, CHNC Suitable for a Male Challenge.

Paint it Up With the Tiddly Inkers

This week at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog we're painting it up. You can use any type of paint, watercolor, acrylic, Distress Ink, just paint it on. I took this opportunity to try a technique I've been seeing all over blogland. It's the faux woodgrain technique using acrylics and plain white glue (like Elmer's). First I painted my tag with acrylic in brown. After it dries, I brushed on a coat of white glue and waited 'til it was just tacky. Over that I painted another coat of acrylic. This time I used a color called Bleached Sand. As it dries, the cool crackle appears like magic. Soo much FUN! (And I didn't even really get my hands dirty...much. LOL) To add some strength to the tag, I backed it with brown card stock. I thought the sweet Lilli Claire Tiddly Did You Hear? was perfect for the rustic background. She's colored with Copics, fussy cut and popped. I colored my metal "friends" sticker with a Bic permanent marker and added some cute flower brads and a ribbon. Please stop by the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog to see the amazing work by the rest of my teamies. and don't miss Christy's Blog where she previews a NEW little Christmas Lilli Claire image and has a fun little freebie to match. I'm also entering this in the Craft Your Days Away Tag It challenge.