R is for Red, Ribbon and Reindeer

Here's my second card as Guest Designer for the ABC Challenge with the theme of "R is for Red, Ribbon and Reindeer".  The sponsor for the challenge is Live & Love Crafts, but the team had an open choice for images, so I opted for this cutie from Sandra Caldwell called #99 Old Lady Reindeer.  The reindeer DP is old, from my stash, so old I can't find the maker and I've used crinkle ribbon from DL.Art.  I've matted everything with kraft but basically kept the color scheme red and white.

Here's a closeup of #99 Old Lady Reindeer.  She's colored with Copics and I've surrounded her with happy little reindeer buttons from JoAnn's with the shanks cut off.  Aren't they adorable?

Here's the dimensional shot.  I thought I'd add a bit of interest to the otherwise simple design by popping all the mats, as well as the computer generated sentiment.  Thanks so much to ABC Challenge for giving me the opportunity this month.  I've had a ball.

I'm entering this in the Crafty Catz All Tied Up Challenge, the DL.Art October linky Challenge, Simply Papercraft ATG, Winter Wonderland Let's Get Crafty or Plaid it Again, Sam, Star Stampz Buttons, ABC Christmas U is for Under the Pile (old DP), CHNC #303 Cute or ATG Christmas, CHNC Oct Christmas Extra ATG Christmas, the Crazy Challenge Use the Color Red and the Merry Christmas Challenge Add a Sentiment.

ABC Challenges "Q" is for Quick

I'm thrilled to be joining the ABC Challenge as Guest Designer for October where the theme this time is "Q" is for Quick (AKA Clean and Simple, quite frankly, nothing I do is ever quick.  LOL).   Definitely not my forte, but fortunately the adorable stamp I've been provided from  All Dressed Up, the fabulous sponsor this time, is just perfect for the challenge. I've colored the sweet stamp called Happy Christmas Little Star with Copics in pink (I seem to be in a pink and girly mood lately).  I printed the image twice for my project, the second time enlarging it slightly.  I fussy cut the sweet fairy and stack of pressies of the smaller print and the sentiment star from the larger so I could cut a window in the mat with a Spellbinders Nested Star.  The mat itself is embossed with a Cuttlebug Star folder popped with foam from the card base and then I popped the sentiment star inside.  The only embellies are the ribbon and bow and a bit of Stickles on the star and fairy wings.  Easy peasy.  Now let's see what you create.

Thanks so much to the gals at ABC Challenges for inviting me to join their lovely team this month and to All Dressed Up for the sweet stamp.

I'm entering this in the DL.Art October Linky challenge, The All Dressed Up ATG Challenge #61, the Alphabet Challenge "P" for Pretty in Pink, QKR Stampede Cut it Up, Really Reasonable Ribbon Things with Wings, Crafty Girls Creations ATG, Crafty Ribbons Use Ribbon or Lace, Simon Says Stamp ATG, the Crafter's Cafe Use a lot of Pink and Winter Wonderland Tic Tac Toe,  using either diagonally down from top right or last row down).

GDT Gig for A Step in the Dark with Aurora Wings.

WooHoo!  I'm thrilled to be guesting for a time for A Step in the Dark and this fortnight's Challenge is ATG (Dark) or Dark Fantasy, sponsored by Aurora Wings.  ASITD is a new dark crafting blog and I hope you come and join the group.  I've chosen the fabulous AW Santa Muerte for my project and made a wall hanging in traditional Dia de los Muertos colors.

This gorgeous image comes as I've colored her with Copics here and also without the background HERE.  Isn't she beautiful? (and trust me, not nearly as intimidating to color as she looks.)

The perfect DP is from K&Co and I've added some fun embellies.  In the bottom right corner I've used a Tim Holtz tombstone die cut, some Recollections roses that I've recolored with Copics and a fab spiderweb (and skullie) charm.

On the left I finally managed a hand made rose using the Tim Hotz pinecone die, enhanced with some Stickles.  I'll be making more of those for sure,now that I've finally got the hang of it.  Also some lovely Drippy Goo (MS punch) in red foil CS to match the foil flowers in the DP.

 Finally, I've made a triple looped bow with my Bow (un)Easy and added a gorgeous dripping butterfly die cut from Cheery Lynn that I originally saw on ASITD DT sister Teresa's Blog.  Thanks so much, Teresa!  (See, I told you you want to check this place out)  I've grunged up a skullie charm to add to the butterfly and finally, the sentiment is from Tim Hotz.  Be sure to vist ASITD to see the fabulous makes from the DT and some play along for a chance to win a $15 GC from the amazing Aurora Wings.

I made sure I used plenty of metal to enter the current Use Metal Challenge at LOC. 

I'm also entering this in the Corrosive Challenge Color Me Happy Challenge used Copics), the ABC Challenge "O" is for Orange, Craft Your Passion Ribbons, Paper Make Up Stamps Digi Makeover Butterflies Challenge, and 613 Avenue Create ATG/no Option.

Mirror, Mirror

Did you know that Mondays and Fridays are new release days for The East Wind?  Join the FB Group to find out all the scoop and share your fabulous TEW projects.  Here's my card with the fabulous 'Lucy Loo' Mirror Mirror.  Isn't she fabulous!?   She's colored with Copics in shades of purple to enter the A Step in the Dark Add Some Purple Challenge (or ATG as long as it's "Dark") and I was thrilled to find that purple DP from Recollections in my stash.

Here's a close up.  I've fussy cut her and attached her to a piece of mirror card stock that I've embossed several times with Utee, put in the freezer and cracked.  Kind of an errie effect, eh?  the one thing I'd do differently is cut your card staock the size you want BEFORE you do your heat embossing, because if you need to cut it to size after, some of the cracked pieces may come off.  No prob here since it's it's supposed to look old and shattered.  The sentiment was computer generated and popped a top a lovely ribbon so I could enter the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers "R" is for Ribbon challenge and make it "Girly" enough for Left of Center.

Just had to add the graphic from SOSS, they are always such a HOOT!

I'm also enterting this in the ABC Challenge "M" is for Monochromatic.  And speaking of challenges, The East Wind's new Blog challenge is Embossing Wet or Dry and the FB Contest is Something Out of the Norm.  Why not stop by and play along?

The East Wind Challenge 2

WOW!  Been working all day on the current Use a Digi challenge for The East Wind and am just making it in with a couple hours to spare.  I had the hardest time choosing which of her fabulous digi's to start with and had both the adorable Freebie image I received with the newsletter, and Aurora Poppy colored, thinking I could do both, but of course that was not to be.  Aurora Poppy won out because I was dying to use this DP by BoBunny and a never used Poppy Die by Spellbinders.  I created a window straight through the card with Aurora peeking out.  The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch and the sentiment is computer generated.

And don't faint, I actually finished the inside.  Go ME!  She's colored with Copics and I used the scraps from the DP mat on front to help finish it off. Another MS butterfly and an ancient photo corner die as well. 

I'm also entering this in the Quirky Crafts Secret Garden Challenge, the Left of Center Die Cuts Challenge, Through the Purple Haze Anything Digital, Naughty or Nice Birthday Challenge (I can't believe I went with "Nice".  Still thinkin' on "Naughty"), the ABC Challenge "G" is for Girls, and the Fussy and Fancy Birthday Challenge, Digi Stamps4Joy Add a Birthday Sentiment and the LOC 1st Anniversary ATG challenge.

Jump for Joy at with Digi Darla

I recenty had the pleasure of winning some adorable digi stamps from Digi Darla and I'm in love.  (Lots of KITTIES, among others, and you KNOW how I love me some KITTIES!) I'm just in time to enter their current Anything Goes Challenge w/ the optional Twist: Hop, Skip or Jump.  Thought I'd try for the "twist" and chose Aviator Kitty 7 (EEK!  so cute!)  He's colored with Copics, fussy cut and popped on what I thought was THE PERFECT DP by Heidi Grace.  Wow! this card almost made itself.  The card is 4x8 1/2" to get all the fab details in the DP.  Kinda fun and unexpected, don'tcha think?  The sentiment was computer generated in coordinating paper from the stack.  All I added then were some buttons.

And don't faint, I actually finished the inside!  Although I think this would be a perfect birthday card for a boy, I used a more generic sentiment just in case another occasion pops up.  I can always hand write the birthday greeting.  I even had some matching (ancient) Heidi Grace rub-ons to jazz it up a bit.  I'm pretty tickled at how this all worked out and I'll be perusing more of that DP to use with other DD digi's because I think they were MFEO.  Don't you?  Have a great weekend!

I'm also adding this to the TTRCD anything Goes Challenge Sept 17-23rd, Cutie Pie Challenges A Cute One for the Boys, and the ABC Challenge V is for Very Cute.

Dilly Beans For Mom Challenge

 

Oooohhh, this is the second post of the day, so please scroll down for the new Simply Steampunk Challenge card.

It's coming up, so this week's Dilly Beans Challenge is For Mom.  Megan has  some adorable new mermaids in the shop and I chose two that looked like Mother and daughter, #558 Ahmea and the little #560, Kiki, colored them with Copics and added them to a background I'd saved from some packaging, I think.  I loved the colors and knew I'd use it some day.  The ocean flora was cut from a felt coaster from M's that I blinged up with glitter and mica flakes and added glitter flowers as well.

I've had the metallic letters forever, too.  Thought they looked like sunlight hitting the water and added a bit more bling for the Whimsical Designs Bling it Out Challenge.  Fussy cutting the images was a bit of a challenge, but I love the way their hair and tail fins curled.  Inside it says "As wide as the ocean, deep as the sea".  There are more adorable examples For Mom from my teamies HERE.  Take a look and come play along.

Im also entering this in the Alphabet Challenge F is for Fantasy, the ABC M is for Make it Sparkle Challenge,  and the Crafter's Cafe Mother's or for a Female.

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!

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.

Celebrating The Mad Hatter with Twinkles

The Hatter shook his head mournfully. `Not I!' he replied. `We quarrelled last March--just before HE went mad, you know--' (pointing with his tea spoon at the March Hare,)
`--it was at the great concert given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!"
You know the song, perhaps?'
`I've heard something like it,' said Alice.
`It goes on, you know,' the Hatter continued, `in this way:--
"Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle--"'
-- Chapter 7, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

At The Altered Alice we celebrate Mad Hatter's Day twice a year as the date is taken from the price on his hat - ten schillings and a sixpence or 10/6. That means it is on October 6 here in the United States, and on June 10 in the United Kingdom. But mainly it is just a great reason to party with the Mad Hatter twice a year! Your challenge is to celebrate the Mad Hatter, and as OPTIONS you can use something that twinkles or shines AND/OR you can bring some spookiness into it since we are all having a "Twinkle twinkle little bat" sing-along around our mad tea table!

My project this month is the Hatter's tea cup made from a Sizzix Bigz die run through my Big Shot. Because there were no layering features, I cut the cup several times and added layers of DP from the Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland stack and also popped the rims and handle. Instead of using the saucer from the die, I substituted my Oval Nesties to more easily layer that as well. The Hatter Stamp is on the Alice II set from our fabulous sponsor this month, IndigoBlu. I've added a small bat brad and gem to the center of the clock and a black rosette made from a Tim Holtz die and Stickled around the edges for some "twinkle".

Our prize this month is an A5 sized unmounted stamp set from IndigoBlu (a £13 value), or an equivalent amount of A6 stamps. IndigoBlu is a fantastic new British stamp company that makes "Quintessential English Rubber Stamps" right there in England.

In fact IndigoBlu is sponsoring The Altered Alice for October AND November, and the design team will be working with these two fantastic Alice stamp sets, titled appropriately "Alice I" and "Alice II". Most Americans don't know what A5 and A6 mean so I'll just tell you, these sets are huge!
I encourage you to go visit IndigoBlu.com. All stamps are on sale right now with their introductory pricing, but that won't last forever, and the designs are all wonderful! In addition, the Head Honcho Alfie says The Altered Alice readers can take 10% OFF during the challenge; just use coupon code AlteredAlice in the voucher code box at checkout! Thanks Alfie!

On the tea bag tag I've added a glittered bat cut from a large EK Success border punch and another gem for more sparkle.

The frame was cut twice using my Nesties Fleur di Lis Squares from adhesive Fun Foam and stuck together to hold the wire for my purple glittered flying bats. These were also trimmed from the border punch, run through my Xyron and sprinkled with Doodlebug Sugar Coating.

They were backed in black for a shadow effect and WooHoo, more gems! "Twinkle, twinkle" little bats..." Be sure to stop by The Altered Alice for more inspiration from the DT and welcome Retta as a permanent member. She, Tracy and I make up the first week's offerings. We have new ones every week so don't forget to pop in every to The Altered Alice every Sunday. October is a long month with five Sundays, so you'll have no excuse not to join us in our Mad Tea Party celebrating Mad Hatter Day, US style! Enter by Friday, October 28; our randomly drawn winner and the honorable mentions will be announced on the last Sunday, October 30. Just make sure YOUR watch is not two days slow! Go get your "Alice" on!

I also entering this in The Corrosive Challenge Blog Purple Passion challenge, the Forever Night anything Goes Challenge, and the new ABC Anything Goes Challenge where my dear friend, Leah, is a new Design Team member. WooHoo, Leah and the newly relaunched ABC Challenges!

Macabre Monday WTF, I Mean Freakers Free For All Challenge

This week at Haunted Design House we were tired, VERY tired, so we pretty much said "WTF" which translates as a fabulously EASY challenge for all. We're having a Freakers Free For All! Woo Hoo! Show us what ya got. Twisted, creepy, even creepy cute,we wanna see it. I have been DYING to make this card and what a perfect occasion. The image is from the Femdom digi stamps set from Smeared Ink. The fab chain punch is by EK Success and the background is embossed with the Sizzix Tim Holtz Bricked folder (makes the perfect dungeon). The sentiment is computer generated. Anybody feel that way this lovely Monday morning? Yeah, I thought so.

And some words of encouragement inside. Boy, do we have some inspiration this week! Just scary what's been on the Minion's minds! You must have a look HERE and be sure to play along. (Hopefully I'm not too early, I told you it was a sort of WTF kind of challenge). LOL But it's no holds barred! I'm also entering this in the ABC Challenge T is for Trouble. Yeah, I think it qualifies. LOL

AND in celebration of our 400 fabulously twisted followers, the Masterful Mistress is offering up some sickly sweet candy up for the taking. Don't miss out! Check it out HERE! Halloween came early this year!

Hoppy Easter

Although I didn't use Celebrate with a Flourish for my BBTB2 project this week, I did check out alot of the beautiful cuts and couldn't resist doing an Easter card using the sweet bunny and Easter sentiment. I started with an egg shaped card welded in Design Studio using Easter 2010. Then I just cut the layers. Added a bit of texture to the grass layer with Swiss Dots and cut that layer an additional time so I could pop the flowers. I'm thinkin' the Swiss Dots and the striped Egg will qualify for Papertake Weekly's Challenge which is Spots and Stripes. I glittered the bunny but running him through my Xyron face down to match the glittered striped in the DP on the egg. I'm hoping that's enough sparkle to enter this into the ABC Challenge "S" is for Sparkle. You know, some people complain that the adhesive from the Xyron either leaves sort of excess adhesive over the small cut out or leaves gaps on the die cut which isn't that big a deal for just gluing, but if you're glittering or flocking it's a prob. This won't happen if you use a stylis to trace around all of the cut edges (especially the small openings in letters and such) and then really rub the clear side to make sure it comes in contact with the adhesive to help pull it cleanly away and also helps the adhesive adhere firmly to the die cut. It takes a few more minutes, but really makes a difference.

You know I love the layers, and even more if they're popped, so of course, that's what I did. I'm not sure this is what the gals at Cupcake Craft Challenges had in mind but they gave us a pretty wide berth so I'm entering this in their Lots of Layers challenge as well. And speaking of POPPED layers, I'd sure love it if you'd visit Do More With Less and check out my Guest Designer tut and come join my challenge. Yvonne's Blog is packed with super inspiration and I'm giving away a great prize.

The inside sentiment is also from Celebrate with a Flourish. I added a few adhesive pearls to enhance it. Some were colored with my Copics to match. Obviously this is an Easter card so I'm entering it in the Sparkles Forum Challenge which is Easter and also the Whimsical Wednesdays April Showers Bring May Flowers Challenge. See the flowers, Steph? I'll try to do better next time, but I didn't want to miss it. LOL