The Paper Shelter ~ Summer Break Challenge

    Hello friends! Welcome to our 2024 Summer Break Challenge at the

 The Paper Shelter. 

We have lots of inspiration for you today as both Team A and Team B are participating in this challenge.

   Our theme for this challenge is

~ Anything Goes ~

Although this is our Summer Break challenge, and I was very tempted to make a summery card, I really wanted to finish off this month with the Christmas in July theme.  So, using Grandma's Christmas Tales, I created this card.😀🤶

The card base was cut using a .cut file from Silhouette.  The background paper is from Graphic 45' called Bells and Bows.

I print and cut Grandma a couple of times and adhered the two cuts to each other with foam squares to add a little dimension.

The verse is from a 'Twas the Night Before Christmas story book. 

I kept the front of the card pretty simple. The holly corners are a print and cut file from Silhouette.  I thought they went well with the background paper.

On the back, I created a mat to write my message and also added a holly corner.

When folded, this card measures 6.5" x 5" and fits perfectly into an A7 envelope.  Having said that, it turned out rather bulky, mostly because I used heavy weight cardstock for the card base. Since I plan on hand delivering this card, it's not a problem, but lesson learnt - use regular weight cardstock for this type of fold as there are many layers to it.

Our Summer Break Challenge runs for 4 weeks, so you'll have plenty of time to make a project and join in the fun.  Before I leave, I would like to invite you to come play along with us.  Remember that The Paper Shelter has fabulous prizes up for grabs. Check out the details below ...

I do hope you will come join the fun and share your projects with us.

You'll find our challenge blog HERE.

I will be back on the 28th of August with our challenge #607.  Until then take care, stay safe and enjoy your Summer.

The Paper Shelter #605 ~ Holiday Time!

   Hello crafting friends and welcome to this week's challenge

at the The Paper Shelter. 

Team A - our challenge this week is 

~ Holiday Time ~

(Either an official holiday or vacation activities)

Continuing with my Christmas in July theme for this month, I chose to make a Christmas card, using this sweet image called Cozy Together, to send to a kitty lover.

You  may remember that I used this digi set last month.  This time, though, I'm only using the digi out of the set.  Instead of using the background that comes with it, I stitched a frame for this sweet girl and her kitty. The stitch pattern is from the Stitch & Do Kit #186.

Here is a close up of this cutie.

I print and cut it out three times.  I then fussy cut the lantern and the kitty face, out of the third print.  I layered all the images together using foam squares. This adds beautiful dimension to the image, but not a lot of bulk because I use the 1mm thick foam squares.

On the inside, I stamped a sentiment using the Christmas Sayings stamp set from Creative Expressions.  The holly stamp is an oldie from Stampabilities.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Before I leave, I would like to invite you to come play along with us.  Remember that The Paper Shelter has fabulous prizes up for grabs. Check out the details below ...

I do hope you will come join the fun and share your projects with us.

You'll find our challenge blog HERE.

Crafty hugs,

Crafty Gals Corner #257 ~ Anything Goes w/Twist - Christmas!

   Hello crafting friends and welcome to our July's challenge

 at Crafty Gals Corner! 

Challenge #257 ~ Anything Goes with optional twist - Christmas! 

 Our wonderful sponsors for this challenge are: 

(listed in alphabetical order)

     

Colour of Love

Prize ~ 3 Digital Images

* * * * * * * * * *

Fred, She Said Digital Designs

Prize ~ $10 Gift Certificate

Fred She Said Designs offers a wide variety of digital products with a floral flair and cute characters too - Digi's, Pre-colored images, Papers, Sets, Fred's Flower Kits, and even digital cutting files.  Have some fun with Fred!

* * * * * * * * * *

I started playing with Christmas Rose, Christmas Cardinal, and Winter Chickadee precoloured digi sets from Fred She Said, and before I knew it I had designed 8 different cards using Silhouette Studio.  I'm not one for mass producing cards, so you'll find that each one is unique although they all use the same 3 images. 🎄

I also used the sentiments that are included with the Christmas Rose set of digis.  The above cards are all 6.5" x 5".  All digis are pre-coloured and printed onto photo paper, then cut out using the print/cut feature on the Silhouette.

Then I made another 5 slimline cards, using the same images and the sentiments from the Christmas Rose digi set.  The Christmas Candles card was printed directly onto the cardstock as I could not get the image traced.  I used smooth cardstock and it came out beautifully.  The only difference is that it doesn't have that little bit of texture.

Now if you want to see each individual card, I have all the pics below, but there are a lot of pics, so if you just want to find out how to join our challenge, then please scroll all the way to the bottom of the post.  If not, then I hope you enjoy.  Since I always like to carry the theme of each card onto the inside, I have also included pics of the inside of each card.  So let's begin ...

Card No. 1 - using Christmas Rose

 

Card No. 2 - using Christmas Cardinal

Card No. 3 - using Winter Chickadee

Card No. 4 - using Christmas Cardinal

Card No. 5 - using Christmas Cardinal and Winter Chickadee

Card No. 6 - using Winter Chickadee

Card No. 7 - using Christmas Rose

Card No. 8 - using Christmas Rose with Bonus, which comes with the gorgeous candles.

And that is the end of all my cards for today. These have all been added to my Christmas stash 😀

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I would love to you see you play along with us.  You have until noon, CST, on 13 August 2024, to link your project to our challenge.

Crafty hugs,

The Paper Shelter #603 ~ Vintage Christmas Cards

   Hello crafting friends and welcome to this week's challenge

at the The Paper Shelter. 

Team A - our challenge this week is 

~ Three Times Anything ~

I used a couple of images from the Vintage Stickers digi sets and made two cards. This first one, I adhered the  three little stars on the top of the bauble.

On this card, I scattered the 3 little stars. I also distressed the edges of the top layer on this card and used a forest green mat.

These stickers are gorgeous and make the perfect Vintage looking cards.

I did the same for the two cards on the inside.  I used a 3rd image from the sticker sheet.  The sentiment is computer generated.

  

Both cards measure 5" x 6.5" and fit perfectly on an A7 envelope.

I love the way they came out.  I'm not a very  vintage-ee kinda person, but I do love the old traditional Christmas images, so I'll probably be playing with other images on this gorgeous set and make more cards.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Before I leave, I would like to invite you to come play along with us.  Remember that The Paper Shelter has fabulous prizes up for grabs. Check out the details below ...

I do hope you will come join the fun and share your projects with us.

You'll find our challenge blog HERE.

Crafty hugs,

Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round ~ It's a Mousy Family Christmas

  Hello and welcome to July's Christmas challenge at

 Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round

Our challenge this month is Anything Christmas/Holidays.

Here is our inspiration pic  for this month ...

It's been a while since I made a stitched card.  I love stitching on cards, I find it very relaxing, but it is obviously time consuming and time is something I've been short of lately.  But I made a little time and picked up one of my stitch kits and made this card.

This card is from the Stitch & Do kit no. 186.

Isn't this mouse family so sweet?  They look so cozy and relaxed, just sitting there together enjoying the warmth of the fire!   I personally think that all they need is hot cocoa and a Christmas movie on the telly :-)

On the inside, I used the Holidays Greeting Tree die from Cottage Cutz.

I added a sprinkling of stars to add a little sparkle to my card.

This is a 13 cm x 13 cm card and fits perfectly well into a 5.5" square envelope.

Well, this is it for my card for today. Now it's your turn to make a Christmas project, that falls within our challenge theme, and come play along with us.  You have till the end of the month to link your project to our blog at  Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round.

You all know by now how much I love Christmas, so you know that I will be celebrating Christmas in July all month long.  I hope you come back and visit.  It's just the right time to start working on your Christmas card stash!

Crafty hugs,