Guest Designing for C.R.A.F.T. Challenge

I'm thrilled today to be joining the C.R.A.F.T. challenge as Guest Designer.  The theme this week is Christmas and there are 2 fabulous Sponsors, 

Star Stampz

and Digital Paper Craft

I have the pleasure of working with two adorable Snowmen from Digital Paper Craft.

I've colored them with Copics and added them to a pop-up scene I made with the snow drift die, stitched snowflakes and paper from Lawn Fawn, and sentiment die from Kat Scrappiness.  Thank you so much to Jo and the team for allowing me to join you this week.  Be sure to visit the C.R.A.F.T. Challenge blog to see the fabulous creations and we hope you come and play along.

I'm entering this in the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #53 AG, Kerst Christmas March FB Anything Christmas, 12 Months of Christmas Link up AG, the Holly and the Ivy Christmas challenge AG, Season's Greeting Christmas Challenge AG, CHNC Challenge #324 AG, CHNC Extra  for March AG, Crimbo Crackers #128 Die Cuts, and A Snowflake's Promise March Challenge #38 AG.

Lacy Sunshine Anything Goes

 

This is my second post of the day, so please scroll down for my Dilly Beans DT card for the new Challenge.

Here's a little tag I did for the current challenge at the Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog.  Although I started it using the freebie I got from the Loyalty Plan (use any LS image for one challenge, get the next Challenge image as a freebie)  from the last challenge but didn't quite get it done, it totally works for Anything Goes this time.  I've made a Spring tag using my Cricut for the garden gate.  It was designed in DS using the Picturesque cartridge with the "Spring" header from Stretch Your Imagination.  The pieces were then embossed with the Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes folder.

The adorable image is Gemma's Spring Gumdrops.  Could she possibly be any cuter?  I've printed her several times in several sizes so I could fussy cut her flower, colored her with Copics and fussy cut and popped her in front of the fence.  The flower on her head is popped as well and there are two more growing beside her on the other side of the gate.

As you can see, the tag is quite dimensional.  The DP behind is from an old DCWV sack and I've added a little punched butterfly and Prima flowers to the top of the gate.

I'm also adding this to the 4 Crafty Chicks Spring Challenge, C.R.A.F.T Challenge What Season Where You Are, Art Impressions "Getting Girly", Outlawz Twisted Thursday Add a Butterfly, Creative Knockouts Texturize it, Cute Card Thursday Floral Delights, Southern Girls Floral Frenzy, Stampavie and More Girly, TTRCD ATG Mar 25th -31, Tuesday Throwdown Digi Dimension, All-Crafts Challenge Anything but a Card, Artistic Inspirations ATG, Created with Love Girly Challenge, 613 Ave Create ATG, Whoopsie Daisy Welcome Spring, Catered Crop Spring Fever, Craft a Scene Let it be Spring, Eclectic Ellapu Flowers and Butterfies, and Robin's Fetish Anything but a Card.

Smeared and Smudged 12 Days of Creepmas Day 1

It's here, it's here,  The 12 Days of Creepmas sponsored by the Smeared and Smudged Forum and for the first time I'm a Jolly Blogger.  You've seen my "Dark Side", most often with my DT posts for HDH, but I love to play on the Forum as well.  Get ready for 12 Days of Creepmas fun offering the creepy cute, the cheeky, the gothic, the just plain creepy and the possibly the slightly gruesome, as it pertains to the holiday season.  It's all in fun, so let's get started with Day #1.  The Blog role is on my sidebar if you wish to hop along and see the fabulous projects from the rest of the Bloggers.  For those who comment on each of the blogs all season long there's a fabulous prize to be had. 

I thought I'd ease you in with a "creepy cute" image from Lacy Sunshine.  This is Amelia, one of my faves from Lady Heather's Curiousities.  She obviously has a bit of a split personality.  The front of the card is half of the 6x6" square covered with skully digi paper from the unfortunately now defunct Crafty Chaos.  The tombstone is a Cuttlebug die and I've added dark metal snowflakes from Recollections.  The oval die is Spellbinders, split and popped with a glitter zig zag sticker down the middle.

Amelia is colored with Copics, fussy cut and popped, and I've added a Glo skull from my HDH DT sister Creepy Glo's Etsy shop (great Creepmas stuff to be had there) and a bat charm (with the ring clipped off) to her hand.  "Naughty" and "Nice" is done with stickers from Studio 112.

Miraculously enough, I've finished the inside as well.  Woohoo!  The DP is Recollections (honest, it was from a last year's Christmas stack, if you're wondering about the color choice).  The sentiment oval was placed directly beneath the one on the front and I repeated the "naughty" inside 'cause you know her true inclination.  The acetate glitter snowflakes are from MAMBI with more metal ones on top and the fab skull and crossbones is from Tim Holtz.  Sorry I'm sort of the wordy type but I can't promise I'll do any better.  Now hop on to  over to Violent Kittie (don'tcha just LOVE her name?  Jezzie is SOOO jealous!) and see what Creepmas cheer she has in store for you.

I'm also entering this in the Lacy Sunshine Anything Goes Challenge, Simon Says Wednesday ATG, the Corrosive Happy Holidays Challenge the C.R.A.F.T. Use Metal/add a Charm Challenge, Drunken Stampers Metal challenge and Left of Center using the LOC theme.

Simply Steampunk Metal challenge

It's the first Friday of the Month and that means another fab challenge at Simply Steampunk.  This time we want to see METAL on your project.  The team is showcasing the beautiful new Zodiac Steampunks drawn by the uber talented Abigail Larson, available at SBS. I've made an easel card using the gorgeous Aquarius.

Although these images respresent the signs of the Zodiac, they are not overly literal and lend themselves to many applications.  And because they are digis, they resize easily and can be cropped, as I did here, to give a different affect.

I certainly didn't have any trouble finding metal, did I?  The raindrops  and sentiment are from Colorbok and the fantasy flowers are paperclips I bought at Starbucks eons ago to which I've added some Primas and pearls to soften them up.  No gears this time for me, just delicate feminine beauty.  My DT sisters have done an outstanding job yet again, so be sure to visit Simply Steampunk and give them some love.  We're excited to see your Steampunk projects incorporating some metal and although we welcome anything that fits our challenge, please remember that only those featuring an SBS Steampunk image is eligible for a prize or badge.

I'm also entering this in the C.R.A.F.T. Monochromatic Challenge, the Simon Says Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge, Lady Anne's Monochrome challenge, 613 Avenue Create anything Goes, the Crafter's Cafe Anything Goes and Tammy's Scrappin' Corner Use a Digi.

Simply Steampunk Clocks and Timepieces

Woohoo, it's time for another challenge at Simply Steampunk and that's exactly it:  TIME.  We want to see clocks or timepices on your projects.  I call my piece, Cherish Every Moment Because Time Flies, using the adorable Jude from the Robert's Family Portraits Release.  Wanted to do a little staging here, with antique toys, a memory of how quickly children grow up.

I've assembled a faux watch using pieces from Tim Holtz.  Thought it would be fun to do something a bit different, for a change.  Jude is colored with Copics and captured in the pocketwatch.  The watch fob incorporates additional Steampunk embellishments.  The team has done an outstanding job so be sure to visit them HERE, at Simply Steampunk.  Remember, you must use an SBS Steampunk image to be considered for a prize but hopefully you snagged either a Freebie from our release hop or took advantage of the fabulous sale over the Memorial Day weekend.  We can't wait to see what you come up with.

I'm also entering this in the C.R.A.F.T. Anything but a Card Challenge, The Happy Campers Use Metal Challenge, Digi Stamps 4 Joy "Oh to be Young Again" Challenge, Pink by Design Anything but a Card Boys, boys, Boys Challenge, Simon Says Stamp Masculine, Simon Says Stamp and Show Brought to You by the Letter "S" (Steampunk) and Digi Darla's Make it Masculine Challenge.

BBTB2 All Shaped Up

Happy Labor Day!  Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend. Perhaps you'll have a little extra crafting time and can join in our new challenge All Shaped Up at BBTB2, chosen by our sweet and talented Stephanie.  Stephanie is asking for shaped cards.  Well, right up my alley, eh?  I live to do shaped cards with Design Studio, but I want you all to remember that many of the Cricut cartridges have shaped card options that do not require any welding at all so check your manuals.  You may be surprised.  Usually when doing shaped cards I use a number of different cartridges to pull it all together but there are so many cuts on my new CTMH Artiste cart that I was dying to try, that this one came together completely from that cartridge.  It started with the wings.  Beautiful, eh?  Although there actually is a heart shaped card option on page 72 of the manual, I welded 2 regular hearts together (with the wings on the back side only)because I wanted mine to open that at the top instead of the side.  Here's another of the fab bow options, embossed with the Cuttlebug brocade folder and this is the first time I've actually made a Cricut cut rolled flower.  WooHoo!  There's a bunch of them on this cart (page 54).  Can't wait to try more.

Although I'm really pleased with the front of this card, it's the inside I'm really excited about.  On page 51 there are a couple of these pop up words easily cut with Artiste and ready to add that extra surprise inside.  Although I've actually done some from scratch, they're a royal PITA to do manually in DS and here on Artiste was the perfect word.  After cutting and prefolding, I inserted the cut in my welded card, traced around the edges to get the right shape and trimmed it to fit manually.  It's embossed with Swiss Dots and the sentiment is complete with the "u" from the full font, also available on Artiste.  I highly recommend this cartridge for the huge variety of motifs, sentiments, cards, and 3D items included for every occasion along with fab extras like chipboard and coordinating acrylic stamps.  My dear friend and DT sister Susan is a CTMH consultant and has tons of inspiration on her Blog using this cart so be sure to check out her CTMH website for the specials running this month.  Now hurry to BBTB2 to see the fab projects by my teamies and come play with us this week.  We love to see your creations, just play by the rules, ok?

I'm also entering this in The Crafty Cardmaker's Winged Things challenge, The Catered Crop In the Pink Recipe Swap, Allsorts Anything but Square, the In the Pink Winged Things Challenge and the C.R.A.F.T. Shaped Card Challenge.