Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round ~ E, F is for ...

  Hello and welcome to this month's challenge at Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round.

Our challenge this month is E, F is for ...

E is for ... Elf, Evergreen, Eggnog

F is for ... Frosty, Fruitcake, Fleece

Continuing with my personal challenge, I made two cards. One with E and one with F.

So for my first card ... E is for Elf.

I used the Hero Arts Peeking Elf die to make this very cute Elf.  Although the outcome is super cute, this is one of those dies that you have to run thru your machine several times, using different colour cardstock each time in order to get the look and colours you want.  And then each time you have to cut apart the section you want in that particular colour only to piece it back together again with the other sections.  I must admit that I find it quite annoying, thus the reason I don't have a lot of these dies 😀 I like the dies with lots of pieces, so I can put a suitable size piece of cardstock over each piece and then cut them all at the same time with one or two passes thru my Gemini.  But that's just me! How do you all feel about it?  Maybe leave me your opinion in a comment?

The background pattern paper is from Hunkydory called Christmas Cuties & Colourful Stripes Duo Design Paper Pad.  Love this paper pad, it has the cutest papers with beautiful imagery and colours.

For the inside sentiment, I used a stamp from Great Impression Stamps called Christmas Greetings.  This card measures 5.5"x 5.5".

And for my second card ... F is for a Fireside Christmas.

Doesn't it look so warm and cozy? I'm pretty sure all I would need would be some hot chocolate and a nice Christmas movie on the TV 😀

To create this Easel Card, I used the Layout Square die from Marianne Design, and one of the images from the Fireside Christmas set that I got from Creative Fabrica. 

Card measures 5.5" x 5.5" when closed.  It  fits in a regular 5.75" square envelope so mailing is not a problem.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Now it's your turn to make a Christmas project,  and to 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.

Hugs,

The Paper Shelter #563 ~ A Well Earned Break

    Hello friends! Welcome back to our newest challenge at the The Paper Shelter. 

Team A - our challenge this week is A Well Earned Break!

This means that you can made a project depicting any hobby or other fun activity.

My Well Earned Break would be a trip to Paris to go on a shopping spree.  With this in mind, I created this card featuring this cute "Shopping Girl" digi from The Paper Shelter.

I created a side stepper card and used the background paper that comes in this digi set to create the upper mats for my card. I printed the cutie onto photopaper and cut it twice with the Silhouette.  I pop dotted the two layers to add a little dimension.  Next I cut out the poodle, adhered all the lil pieces together and gave her diamond collar.  Once that was done, I die cut the Eiffel Tower and all the gift boxes and shopping bags.  After adhering all the bits to their respective pieces, I adhered them to the card. 

And here is a close up of this sweet girl.

At the back, I made a mat to stamp my greeting and added a gift box and shopping bag.

List of Crafty Ingredients:

The Paper Shelter - Shopping Girl digi set

Karen Burniston - Gnome & Santa (for the small gift box)

Marianne Design - Shopping Bags, Make-up

Hero Arts - Special Birthday stamp

Hero Arts - Eiffel Tower die

Silhouette - Poodle

I hope I was able to inspire you to make a project and come play along with us.  You will find our challenge blog HERE.

The Paper Shelter offers a $30 gift certifcate for one lucky winner.  In order to get this prize, you must use a product from The Paper Shelter.  However, if you have not used a product from The Paper Shelter, you still stand a chance of winning 3 digis of your choice. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Till next time ...

Crafty hugs,

Pet Sympathy Card

 Hello friends.  Sadly, every now and then we need one of these cards.

My daughter's fur-buddy passed away last week quite unexpectedly.  We knew he had a few health issues, but just 2 days prior to his passing, he was at the vet who said he was doing well.  Zeus was almost 12 years old and had a good and happy life, and he certainly took a piece of our hearts with him. 

I made this tri-fold card for my daughter, her hubby and the grandbabies.

I used a Hero Arts clouds border die to create the clouds on front of the card. The paw prints, name and years were cut using a Silhouette.

I used the cut out of the clouds as a stencil, and created the clouds on the background by sponging Hero Arts Unicorn ink on a sky blue piece of cardstock.

The dog with the wings, halo and cloud are all from a Silhouette file.

This is what the card looks like when it's open. Closed it is a 6.5" x 5" card.

I made a little panel on the inside so that I could write my personal message.

On the back I printed the Rainbow Bridge poem/verse.

 Zeus may be gone, but he will never be forgotten and one day we will all see him again.

Crafty hugs,

Wishing you Love & Peace at Dies R Us

Hello and welcome back crafty friends.

It's my turn today to share a card on the Dies R Us Inspiration blog.  The card I made can be used for various occasions, such as birthdays, get well or just as plain friendship. You can add the special occasion greeting with your handwritten message.

I began by using a card base from Recollections. I love these packs that I get at either Michaels or Hobby Lobby (which ever store is having a good sale :-)). They come in packs of 50, measure 5.5" x 5.5", and come with matching envelopes. I added a 5.25" x 5.25" mat of teal card stock to my card base.

  

Then I got to work on my main die cut. I used a die from  Jeanine's Art, cut it and embossed it. The texture is just beautiful! While it was still in the die, I sponged it with Memento Teal Zeal ink to highlight all the embossed areas.  I also sponged the centre and added little ripples with one of the stamps from the Hero Arts Colour Layering Koi Stamp set.  I felt like I needed some sort of border around my little pond, but anything I added just made it seem too busy and took away from the main design of this die.  Inspired my a card my SIL made a while back, I decided to add a border of stitching and I think it was just the perfect touch.

Next, I went to work on my koi fish.  It brought back such wonderful memories of our beautiful koi pond we had when we lived in South Africa :-)
 I love colour layering stamps. The images become more and more real with every layer you add.  After it was all stamped, I used the matching die set to cut out the koi fish.

I wanted some water lilies to finish my card, but needed something a little bigger than the lilies that come with the koi fish set.  After looking through my stash of dies, I decided to use the water lily sets from Marianne Designs.  Now, remember that although Dies R Us don't carry Marianne Design dies on a permanent basis, they every so often, run a big sale on international dies. During these times, you will find dies from companies such as Marianne Designs, Lea'bilities, Joy Crafts and many others. The best way to know about these fabulous sales is to subscribe to the Dies R Us Newsletter. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will be able to enter your email address and be put on their mailing list.

To finish off my card, I carried the same theme onto the inside. I cut, embossed and sponged another Center Oval frame and another large water lily. The sentiments are all stamped using the Memento Teal Zeal ink and are all from the Hero Arts Koi stamp set.

Now for a quick recap of all the dies I used:

Jeanine's Art - Lace Frame - Center Oval

  

Hero Arts Colour Layering Koi Stamp and Dies

  

Marianne Designs Water Lily - Large and Small

Marianne Designs - Frogs and Dragonfly

I hope I was able to inspire you to use your dies, create a project, and come play along at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog for your chance to win a gift voucher to the Dies R Us Store.  A new challenge begins on the first and fifteenth of every month.  Be sure to Follow Us on Facebook too. 

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Till next time,

Crafty hugs,