Monday, December 27, 2021

Iris Fold Ornament from Snippets (aka Scraps)

Hello, everyone!  Happy Holidays!  Today I'm sharing an iris fold card.  This was the first cardmaking technique I learned many years ago.  I decided to revisit it today to bring back happy memories of the fun cardmaking classes I attended in the good ol' days.  

When I learned iris folding, we were encouraged to save scraps of wrapping paper, patterned envelopes, etc., so I've done that over the years and it's what I've used on today's card.  Actually, everything on today's card was a scrap (also known as snippet).  Here are the patterned envelopes I used; they all arrived in the mail at some point, probably containing bills:


Below is my ornament card.  The red iris is a tiny scrap of leftover wrapping paper.  The bow and word die-cuts were made from a scrap of red glitter cardstock.  The top of the ornament was a tiny scrap of gold glitter cardstock, and the pine bough was a leftover, already die-cut for a previous project but never used.  I love how my card turned out and it brought back happy memories of learning how to make cards!


Dies:  Poppystamps Lovely Gift Bow, Poppystamps Merry Ornament (snipped off the ornament); Impression Obsession Pine Branch, Nellie's Multi-Frame Circle
Embossing folder:  Die'sire Embossalicious Let it Snow

I was inspired by the following 10 challenges:
  1. Allsorts 655 Anything Winter 1/3
  2. Ally's Angels 53 AG 1/3
  3. Cardz TV 156 AG 1/3
  4. DL.ART December Linky AG UE
  5. Pixie's Snippets Playground 418 Special Theme Christmas and/or New Year  (Di requested clever or thoughtful use of snippets and this is what I came up with - I hope you like it, Di!)
  6. Poppystamps PSC87 Happy Holly Days 1/3
  7. The UnstampaBelles 118 The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Keep it Simple 1/4 
  8. Tuesday Morning Sketches Annual Anything Goes UE
  9. Wednesday's Creative Inspirations December Christmas Time UE
  10. Word Art Wednesday 523-524 AG w Uplifting Sentiment Wk1 1/5
Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a joyful day!

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Gingerbread Cookies n Cocoa

Hello, everyone!  My gingerbread obsession continues!  Today I'm joining the December Digi-of-the-Month Challenge at Imagine That Digistamp!  This month's set is called Gingerbread Cookies n Cocoa, and please prepare yourself for lots of cuteness!  The set is jam-packed with adorable images and sentiments and I love all of them!  You can purchase this set at a discounted price all month, so if you love gingers as much as I do, head on over and check it out!

I received this set for free because I joined last month's challenge, and also because I submitted the suggestion!  Yay!  I was thrilled when Kris liked my idea and sent me the set to play with ahead of time!  Thank you, Kris!   


I made a coordinating card and tag!  First, here's the card.  I coloured all of the images with markers and then fussy-cut.  I added detail with a white paint pen.  I added Simply White Nuvo Crystal Drops to some of the icing, and Red Stickles on some of the small red areas.  I added Star Dust Stickles to the tree on the cocoa cup.  The sentiment is part of the set, and I printed it on red, hand-cut into a banner shape, and doodled faux stitching with a white paint pen. 


I printed the cookie plate on green candy cane paper (Free Pretty Things for You) and fussy-cut.  The wood-grain paper is Pretty Painted Floors, and I layered it onto a red panel.  I added a white rikrak die-cut (Your Next Stamp) and doodled some large dots with a white paint pen.  I finished the card by adding a red sparkly bow

Here's my tag.  I used the same products as for the card, but a different wood-grain paper from the same collection.  The tag itself and the tiny sentiment tag are die-cut with STAMPlorations Stitched Tags Nesting Dies.  I die-cut the large tag three times (patterned paper, red cardstock, and white cardstock for sturdiness).  The red cardstock iembossed with Die'sire Embossalicious Let it Snow.  The tag is tied with seam-binding from DL.ART, and I adhered large and small red sparkly bows.


Here is the set:


I would like to join the following challenges:
ABC Christmas December Y for Yummy UE
Classic Design 12 December AG UE
Clever Dexter Everything Holiday 1/2
Crafts Galore Encore  December AG 1/3
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas 570 AG Christmas Optional Something Beginning with R (red) UE
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper December UE
Creatalicious 224 AG Optional Christmas 1/3
Di's Digi Challenge Use a Digi 1/3
Scrapping4Fun Christmas/Winter 2/3
Simon Says Stamp Monday Sparkle Mode 3/5
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Happy Holidays 1/5
The Cat's Pajamas 12 Days of Crafting Day 3 - Baking/Food (gingerbread cookies)
The Paper Funday AG Optional Twist Holidays 1/4
Wednesday's Creative Inspirations December Christmas Time UE
Word Art Wednesday 519-520 AG w Uplifting Sentiment wk2 1/5
Your Scrapbook Place AG December 1/3 (linky problem - check later)

Guess who's back!  It's my little elf, Eli!  He showed up the other day on the first snowfall of the season, and I found him on the back deck, looking up at the sky, watching the snowflakes fall!  That snow has melted, and it has snowed again today, but it appears to be melting again.  Eli is waving hello to Hope and Diana and all the other elves that will be joining the 9th Annual Elf Antics Linky Party at DL.ART!  It's a fun tradition each year, and Eli enjoys seeing his friends again!  If you have an elf that shows up each December, why not join in the fun!


Thank you for looking at my card and tag - and my elf as well!  Wishing you a joyful day!

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Retro Kitty Countdown 3

Hi, everyone!  This is another one of my Retro Kitty Countdown cards. My intent was to make 25 of these before December, but I'm not going to make it!  I've already shared 2, 4, 568, 1012, 1618, and 24.  It was good to have a goal!


Products
Clipart:  PrettiePrintables on etsy
Dies:  Whimsy Stamps Ornaments Border, Memory Box Pine Needle Clearing
Embossing folder:  Darice Snowflake Background
Other:  Bauble die-cut from my old Dollarama stash, baker's twine, red gems, self-made sentiment in Microsoft Word

I would like to join the following 10 challenges:
Beccy's Place 9th Annual Month of Holiday Cards Day 30 Do what you love (cats)
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas 570 AG Christmas Optional Something Beginning with R (red) UE
Incy Wincy Traditional Christmas Colours closes Dec. 5 4/5
Mod Squad Animal-themed Holiday 3/3
Pammie's Inky Pinkies Animals (no birds or fish) 2/3 C10
Scrapping4Fun Christmas/Winter 1/3
Simon Says Stamp Monday Sparkle Mode 2/5

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a joy-filled day!

More Gingerbread Tags

Hello, everyone!  I've made some more shaped tags with gingerbread men.  One ginger is on a sled and the other is on a tree.


I discovered this cute little gingerbread man stamp in my stash; the brand is Personal Impressions, and this is the first time I've used it.  I stamped it twice and coloured both images with markers, one with a green crown and the other, red.  I added white dots with a paint marker.  


This tag came together quickly because the sled, sparkly green bow, and punched greenery were already cut and in my holiday scraps pile from years gone by.  The sled die is from Memory Box and it was cut from wood-grain patterned paper; bow die from Poppystamps was cut from green sparkly cardstock; and the greenery is a Martha Stewart punch.  I did die-cut an extra layer of the sled from heavy cardstock for sturdiness. I finished the tag with some green baker's twine and a green gem.


I die-cut the tree (Marianne Design) from patterned paper from a freebie gingerbead house printable (thank you to my crafty friend Gail for finding this cute freebie!). I added Xmas Red Stickles all around the tree for some sparkle.  I used my Crop-o-dile to set a red eyelet and added red baker's twine.

I would like to join the following 8 challenges:
ABC Christmas W for Whimsical UE
Beccy's Place 9th Annual Month of Holiday Cards Day 12 Shaped Cards (mine are shaped tags)
Christmas Kickstart 56 Christmas Snippets 3/3 C8 (sled tag - everything from my holiday scrap pile)
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas 570 AG Christmas Optional Something Beginning with R UE
Simon Says Stamp Monday Sparkle Mode (bow on sled tag and Stickles on tree tag) 1/5
Wednesday's Creative Inspirations Wonderful Winter/Feeling Festive UE

Thank you for looking at my tags!  Wishing you a fun, crafty day!

Gingerbread Tags

Hello, everybody!  I've made some gingerbread tags!  One is a so-called ugly sweater (I call it a cute sweater!), and the other gingerbread has made the nice list.


I'm hoping to make more "ugly" sweaters, as this die set from Nicole Silhouette has lots of options.  In this case, I adhered the cute precoloured gingerbread man from Beccy's Gingerbread set, which I fussy-cut.  I used my Crop-o-dile to set a white eyelet and added pink baker's twine.


For the nice-list tag, I printed the same gingerbread (uncoloured version) on kraft paper and added accents with a white paint pen and Simply White Nuvo Crystal Drops.  I used a notepaper die to cut lined patterned paper (Lawn Fawn) and then stamped the sentiment in brown.  I used my Crop-o-dile to set a bronze eyelet and added brown ribbon (Offray).  Both gingerbreads are from the same set - Beccy's Place Gingerbread


I would like to join the following challenges:
ABC Christmas W for Whimsical UE
Beccy's Place 9th Annual Month of Holiday Cards L for List and U for Ugly Sweater
Crafty Catz 574 AG Twist Non-Traditional Colours 3/3
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas 570 AG Christmas Optional Something Beginning with R UE
Papercraft Challenges 76 Kraft Meets Colour UE
The Cat's Pajamas 12 Days of Crafting Day 3 Baking/Food (gingerbread cookies)
Wednesday's Creative Inspirations Wonderful Winter/Feeling Festive UE
Word Art Wednesday 519-520 AG w Uplifting Sentiment wk1 5/5

Thank you for looking at my tags!  Wishing you a fun, crafty day!

Monday, November 29, 2021

Feline Festive

Hi, everybody!  I'm back again today with another holiday card, this one in non-traditional colours.  My card features stamps from Newton's Nook Ornamental Newton and the holly stamp from Carolling Newton.  I coloured the images with markers and then fussy-cut.  I added some detail with a white paint pen and applied Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle all over the ornament, but I don't think it's visible in the photo.


The pine branch die is from Impression Obsession and the background panel is embossed with a pine branch background. I adhered Newton with foam tape, stamped a sentiment, and adhered the small stamped images, three punched snowflakes (Recollectons), and a punched bow (Tim Holtz).

My card design was inspired by Newton's Nook Inky Paws Challenge 162, which is a sketch:


I would also like to join the following 9 challenges, for a total of 10:
Crafty Catz 574 AG Twist Non-Traditional Colours 2/3
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas 570 AG Christmas Optional Something Beginning with R UE
Creative Knockout Christmas Delight 2/2 C10
Mod Squad Animal-themed Holiday 2/3
Pammie's Inky Pinkies Animals (no birds or fish) 1/3 C10

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a fun, crafty day!

Butterfly for the Holidays

Hello, everyone!  Today I'm sharing a butterfly card for the holidays!  I wanted to join Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge 164 - Spin the Butterfly Wheel with W for Windmill-style Card!  I am in full holiday cardmaking mode so here is the result!  

I was eager to try Mrs. A's windmill-style card following her tutorial.  I'm not good at following directions so, as usual, I had some trouble, but in the end it worked out.  My small squares are only one inch because I wanted to use my Marvy Uchida punch, so I had to adjust the other measurements accordingly.  I like how it turned out!  

The sentiment stamp is from Penny Black, and the butterfly die is Gina Marie Designs. I adhered a flower gem to the butterfly.  The white panel is embossed with a holly design.  I also used W for Wine ( sentiment and butterfly).

I would like to join the following 10 challenges:
A Bit More Time to Craft AG UE
Beccy's Place 9th Annual Month of Holiday Cards J for Joy
Butterfly Challenge 164 W for Windmill and Wine
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas 570 AG Christmas Optional Something Beginning with R UE
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper November UE
Creative Knockout Christmas Delight 1/2 C10
DL.ART November AG UE
The Outlawz Saturday Paper a la Mode Christmas UE
Uniko 68 Celebrate plus Optional Theme Reds and Greens UE
Word Art Wednesday 519-520 AG w Uplifting Sentiment wk1 4/5

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a fun, crafty day!

Sunday, November 28, 2021

Quilt-inspired Card

Hello, everyone!  Today I'm sharing another quilt-inspired card.  The previous one featured puffy stickers in the squares, but this time I went with stamping.  

When I made my previous quilt-inspired cards, I die-cut a bunch of different colours so I would have lots of leftovers for future cards with various colour combinations.  It's a great way to use up scraps!  Today's card uses a bunch of  the unused colours. I adhered the stitched squares on a brown panel and discovered that not all of the squares are the same size; some are slightly larger, but it still worked out.

I used two stamp sets (Jane's Doodles Winter Icons and SugarPea Designs Sweet Treats Christmas).  I won the Jane's Doodles stamp from Crafty Milka a couple years ago (thank you!). I had fun stamping the small images on the various squares and I also adhered four punched snowflakes in white (Recollections punch).  This was a fun card to make and I hope to make more in this style - I still have lots of leftover stitched squares and it's a great design for small stamps!  

I would like to join the following 8 challenges:
Christmas Kickstart 56 Christmas Snippets 2/3 C8
Rudolph Day November AG Christmas 1E C10
Word Art Wednesday 519-520 AG w Uplifting Sentiment wk1 3/5

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a fun, crafty day!

Friday, November 26, 2021

Gingerbread Ornament Tags

Hello to all!  Today I'm sharing some cute gingerbread ornament tags!  They could be used as tags or you could hang them on the tree!

Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards has been inspiring me all month!  I used two of Beccy's digis for these tags (the cute gingerbread man from Beccy's Gingerbread set and the gingerbread house from Beccy's Gingerbread Wishes set).  I coloured both images with markers and then fussy-cut.  I also added Star Dust Stickles on the "snowy" icing of the house and along the snowy landscape.

Lots of layers make these tags very sturdy!  To make each tag, I die-cut the ornament shape from blue snowflake paper and again from heavy white cardstock and then adhered together for sturdiness.  Next I die-cut just the top of the ornament in silver glitter paper and adhered.  I did some layering of circles and scalloped circles (Nellie's Multiframe Circles, Gina Marie Designs). I die-cut the scalloped circles again in white so I could add a little snowbank to ground the images. I tied each tag with baker's twine.

I would also like to join the following challenges:
Wednesday's Creative Inspirations Wonderful Winter/Feeling Festive UE

Thank you for looking at my ornament tags!  Wishing you a fun, crafty day!

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Gingerbread Cookies Recipe

Hi, everyone!  Today I'm sharing - you guessed it - another gingerbread-themed card!  I just can't help myself  - the gingers are so cute and fun!  I'm working my way through my gingerbread stamps and digis.  

I used three digital freebies on this card!  The first is the gingerbread man from Mo's Digital Pencil, and he's still available in her shop (thank you!).  I coloured him with markers and doodled some dots and icing with a white paint pen.  I coloured him lighter than my previous gingers and I think he looks under-baked, so I will be going back to my darker markers for future gingers.  It's good to try something different.

I used a couple other freebies on this card as well.  The Gingerbread Cookies recipe is available for free upon request at strawberrycream39's YouTube channel (thank you!). There are three other recipes in her PDF freebie.  For my card, I digitally added a Checkered Frame to the recipe and printed it on kraft paper so I could add a bit of colour with my markers and white paint pen.  The Checkered Frame is a freebie from Tindaloo (thank you!) for a limited time only.  I altered the shape of the frame slightly to accommodate the recipe.  

The red panel is stamped with a candy cane background (Your Next Stamp Candy Cane Ink Splatter) and then embossed with a candy pattern (Cuttlebug Christmas Set). I adhered a die-cut white snowflake border (Your Next Stamp) and three punched white snowflakes (Recollections punch).  I didn't add a sentiment on the outside of the card because there is already enough going on but will do so on the inside.  

I would also like to join the following challenges:
Wednesday's Creative Inspirations Wonderful Winter/Feeling Festive UE
Word Art Wednesday 519-520 AG w Uplifting Sentiment wk1 2/5

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a fun, crafty day!

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

CASEing Myself

Hello, everyone!  Today I have another holiday card to share!  I CASEd myself!  At the bottom of this blog post you can see photos of my previous cards that I CASEd.  I've CASEd this card several times; this is my fifth time over the years!  They are fun to make so I will probably make more!  By the way, for any new crafters reading this, the term CASE means Copy And Share Everything.


I refer to this as a quilt-inspired card, which I made using puffy stickers from my old Dollarama stash. I used a stitched die that cut out all of the little squares. I won this die a few years ago from my friend Christi at Art-Without-Anxiety (thank you!).  Sorry I do not know the brand.  Just as with my previous cards, I used a white paint pen to add white stitching and a Paper Smooches Christmas Words die for the sentiment.

I would like to join the following challenges:
ABC Christmas W for Whimsical UE
Cardz TV 154 AG 3/3
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas 569 AG Christmas Optional Use Glitter UE
Cut it Up 239 CASE a Project (here's the link to one of my previous cards)
Wednesday's Creative Inspirations Wonderful Winter/Feeling Festive UE
Word Art Wednesday 519-520 AG w Uplifting Sentiment wk1 1/5

Here are my four inspiration cards from previous years:



Thank you for looking at my cards!  Wishing you a fun, crafty day!

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Gingerbread Cookies 5 cents

Hello, everybody!  I'm still on a gingerbread kick!  I adore them so much, not to eat though, just for crafting.  I gave up sugar a number of years ago so the only sweets for me are on my cards!  

This card features an adorable digital called Gingerbread Man fr Crissy Armstrong at Whimsy Stamps, and she is a gingerbread girl on my card.  I coloured the image with markers and added a few accents with a white paint pen.  I used an ice cream cart die (E-scenery) to make a candy cart.  I added puffy stickers of gingers and candy from my old Dollarama stash. The stitched landscape die is from Lawn Fawn; the candy cane patterned paper is from Free Pretty Things for You; and the heart sentiment is a digital from LOTV Digi Shop on etsy. I embellished with several green snowflake sequins.

I would also like to join the following challenges:
Wednesday's Creative Inspirations Wonderful Winter/Feeling Festive UE

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a fun, crafty day!