Friday, November 30, 2012

Something for Christmas, but Not a Card!

This week's Totally Papercrafts challenge will make you put on your thinking cap! Our challenge is to make something Christmas-y, but not a Christmas card. A-ha! This was good timing for me as I am working on an order of candy boxes for someone at work. Here's my project for this challenge:


Don't you love that patterned paper? I have a weakness for striped paper and I love the scale of this for cards and other small projects. It's not available yet, but it will be on the DigiStamp Boutique site soon!

Here's a better view of this cute new reindeer from this month's November release at DigiStamp Boutique.



If you're a regular on my blog, you've seen these little boxes before. If you're new, you may want to check out this Milk Carton Box tutorial. These are simple to assemble and make a nice little gift filled with candy or other small items.

This week's challenge is sponsored by the wonderful Wild Rose Studios. Head on over to the Totally Papercrafts blog to get some design team inspiration for your non-card project. Wow! The DT ladies have really outdone themselves this week. There are some great projects!  Then be sure to join us for a chance to win two stamps of your choice from Wild Rose Studios!
Lisa

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Not a Creature Was Stirring...

...except Arthur Mouse! This little cutie is one of the Offers of the Month over at Digi Stamp Boutique.


What do you think of my papers? Sally-Ann, owner and creative force behind DigiStamp Boutique has branched out into digital papers. The green is from the Dotty Christmas paper set. The red dp hasn't been released yet but there are more digital papers coming, so keep on checking the site! :)

My layout is based on an old sketch from SplitCoastStampers (SC237). Whenever I have stampers block, a sketch always helps me get going. I colored Arthur up with my trusty Copics, adding some silver Stickles and some dimensional white fabric paint. Then I popped up the image to allow the ribbon to thread under the image neatly. I'm entering my card into the following challenges:
Divas by Design - Use 2 or More Patterned Papers
Moving Along with the Times - Lets Go Dotty
Pause, Dream, Enjoy - Anything Goes
Loves Rubber Stamps - Fun with Ribbons

Sadly, it's back to work tomorrow after a long holiday weekend. Where did those 5 days go and can I get a few of them back?!
Lisa

Friday, November 23, 2012

All Stitched Up!

Happy Friday! Did you go Black Friday shopping today? I confess that I did, but not at 5 in the morning. I went out with my daughters for a few hours later in the morning, got a few good deals and came home. That was enough shopping for me!

This week's Totally Papercrafts challenge is All Stitched Up and we're sponsored this week by the awesome digi stamp company A Day For Daisies and the wonderful Stamp and Create.  Just include some kind of stitching (real or faux) anywhere on your card and you're good to go! I love open challenges like that. Here's my card for this week. It features the adorable Birds for Bree image. I just love this dp, too - it's from the MME 6X6 Reunion pad. I don't normally like orange, but I love the patterns and color combos in this pad!


Isn't she cute? I just love those little birds, too. I'm entering her into the Anything Goes challenge over at Lady Anne's Challenge blog. Coincidentally, they are being sponsored by ADFD this week. I would love to win more of these wonderful images!

Check on in at the Totally Papercrafts blog and leave a little love for the other DT members while you get a little stitching inspiration. Then play along for a chance to win!
Lisa

Friday, November 16, 2012

Clean & Simple in Black & White

This week's Totally Papercrafts theme is CAS (Clean & Simple) using Black & White. We are allowing one other color so I (of course!) chose pink. :) Our sponsor this week is the adorable Meljen's Designs and I chose this adorable Cat and Mouse image. It was the perfect image for a black & white card.


Head on over to the Totally Papercrafts challenge this week to join in on this fun challenge. You could win your choice of FOUR images from this great sponsor! And be sure to visit the other DT members and leave them some love. We appreciate your comments!
Lisa

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Christmas Cards

My oldest daughter, Jessica, has an on campus job at her college. She asked me to make Christmas cards for her two bosses. Because her co-workers (about 20 of them) are also going to sign, she needed space for everyone's signature. I came up with the idea of doing a simple tri-fold card - an 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper folded mountain valley style would fit perfectly into a regular business sized envelope. My daughter chose this cute new Happy Santa set from Torico's Birdie Brown site. I like that the variety of images and included sentiments (love those!) made it really easy to come up with two different cards.

First up, card #1:

Here's a close up of Santa and his reindeer: 

I simply opened up a Word document to create my cards. My youngest daughter taught me how to be able to put my images in Word exactly where I want them. Under Picture Tools, choose Wrap Text and then choose the "Tight" option. Do that for each individual image and then you can move them where you like!

Here's card #2 - just switched out the greeting and the Santa and voila! Fini!


Here's another close up of Santa (excuse the glare on the right):

The sky was the most nervewracking part. I couldn't color it in with Copics, like I did everything else, because it was so large. I decided to use chalk, but I always have a hard time getting my color to be even and not streaky. Whew, I was glad when I was done with that part! (It's a little hard to see the chalk in the photos - it's more noticeable in person.) After I colored everything in, I added some bling with Stickles - Icicles Stickles for the snow and gold and silver Stickles for the reindeers' bells. (I made them silver on one card and gold on the other just for a little variety.) I also used some white flock on Santa's beard and hat. I spent the whole evening coloring and decorating these cards but I had a blast doing so!

Hopefully I've inspired you to get started on your own holiday cardmaking. I still have to decide on the design for my family holiday cards and get going on those, too!
Lisa

Friday, November 9, 2012

Cute and Girly!

Oh, it's my favorite kind of challenge this week at Totally Papercrafts - one where I can use lots of PINK! :) This week's theme is "Cute and Girly" and our sponsor is the oh so cute and girly Saturated Canary. Krista, owner of Saturated Canary, graciously provided us with our choice of digital stamp for this week's challenge. I chose this adorable image - Belle.


For my layout, I used an old SplitCoastStampers sketch. Other than the maroon strip down the center, I managed to use nothing but scraps from my existing stash. Yay me! After coloring her up with my Copics, I added some self-adhesive rhinestones and a Martha Stewart punched butterfly. (I added some color to the punch out with my Copics.)

Head on over to the Totally Papercrafts challenge blog to check out all the DT Cute and Girly-ness. Play along for your chance at a great prize from Saturated Canary!
Lisa


Friday, November 2, 2012

Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star

Happy Friday and welcome to another Totally PaperCrafts challenge! This week's challenge is a fun one - Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star. I don't know about you, but I need to get going on my holiday cards and this is a good start!


For my card, I used this adorable skating Percy from the Christmas Percy Set from DigiStamp Boutique. I  love penguins and he is just so cute and fat and cuddly looking! :)  I had a blast coloring him up! My papers are a mishmash from my supply. The finishing touches are a bit of ribbon, some chunky Martha Stewart glitter and this cute little round sentiment from DigiStamp Boutique's Simply Christmas Greetings A4 sheet. I love these greetings. They're so simple - print out, punch it out with a circle punch, add a bit of Copic color and you're done! For my layout, I used this older SplitCoastStampers sketch:

I'm also entering Percy into the following challenges:
By the Cute & Girly - Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
Forever Friends - Anything Goes
Crafty Ribbons - Christmas
Card Makin Mamas - Anything Goes
Pink Gem Designs - Polka Dots/Stripes

Why don't you check out the other ladies' cards over at the Totally PaperCrafts blog for some cardmakking inspiration. Then play along for a chance to win a gift certificate from the generous Simon Says Stamp!
Lisa