Christmas in September and a Fond Farewell

It seems we crafters start to think about Christmas as soon as the leaves start to fall off the trees. Maybe because we want to be sure to have time to make our hand-made cards and gifts before the holiday crunch arrives. This week I played with the poinsettia stamp from the brand new Natures Christmas set:

Digital Stamps: Lindsay's stamp stuff (Nature's Christmas SET), Rubber stamps: inkadinkado (text), Papers: Oldies from a provocraft stack, Templates: Lindsay's stamp stuff (Envelope Bonanza, Fun Fair) other: Copic Markers, Ribbon

I printed the poinsettia twice on cream cardstock (Staple brand, no kidding!) and on one layer I carefully colored the green leaves and trimmed out the four petals and center. I colored the remaining petals cardinal red. On the other copy I carefully colored the red petals with Cardinal, lipstick and coral. I Cut out the red petals and threw the leaves away. on the small cut out petals and center from the first layer I colored them a bit lighter red (more coral in that layer) and the center was yellow. To assemble the flower I first hot glued the bottom layer with the hole in it to my card. Then I glued down the middle layer rotating it so it gave me the look of more petals then finally I glued in the center. I curled and fluffed the petals a bit for dimension.

Of course I made a homemade envelope with the Envelope Bonanza kit, I like to make the envelope first so I can use the scraps as accents on my card and in this case the box that I cut with my Fun Fair SVG set. Both templates were cut with my Cricut and SCAL software. Very little went to waste in this project!

This card qualifies for the following challenges:  Aimees Challenges (Christmas Wishes), Color Throwdown, Incy wincy& OSSAT (anything Goes), Scrappekammeret (2 papers and a text stamp), Sentimental Sundays (dimension), Totally gorjuss (Christmas), Humble Pie (shaped card), YNS Challenges (Handmade flowers),  Christmas Stamping All Year Long,  Christmas Blog Challenge (red, holly green color) and the sketch from 2sketches4you.

Here is a look at the new Natures Christmas set and the other sets I used in this project:

Now for your freebie, It is a vintage Santa holding a parchment, you can write, type or stamp a sentiment on it, it would make a cute tag too, right-click on the pic and choose “Save As” to download.

This week we bid farewell to two of your very talented DT members Lisa Jurecek and Melissa Craig. The have both wowed us every week with their creations and they will be missed, but I wish them the best of luck! Now let’s see what the LSS DT has been working on this week:

Cheryl Gorka DT Coordinator

Shannon Neparko

Margie Visnick

Lisa Jurecek

Melissa Craig

Leanne Garner

Tamara Bennett

Cindi Hooks

Karin Martin

Jennifer Bliss

Rhonda Walker

Diane Bove

Tracy Vinson

Laurel Seabrook

thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting;)

Boo!

Wowee! We are almost into October, I just love this time of year, the weather is still kinda warm, the trees are blazing with color and Halloween is right around the corner! I have some nifty news for you today, I won the Delightful Sketches top spot last week and was asked to be a Guest Designer this week, here is what I came up with:

Stamp: Digital Delights (guest DT sponsor), Paper: DCWV, Seam Binding" HugSnug hand dyed by me 🙂

This is a “window” card. Diane Bove sent me some transparency sheets this week (thanks sweetie!) and I made a 5.5″ square card and cut a large circle in the center of the front panel, then I trimmed a sheet of glitter PP to 5.25″ and cut a slightly smaller circle in the center of that. I sandwiched a sheet of transparency between to two to make the window panel then glued my colored image over that. You can see it better in this photo. Don’t forget to make a envelope to fit your square card!

I am participating in a GC Creative Connection.  I heard about this month’s GCCC – Haunted – From Terry (Terry’s blog: Work in Progress)  Why not play along?  Post a creation to your blog mentioning my post and the Creative Connection post on Gingersnap Creations.  Let’s all craft it forward and see how far we can get this connection to go!  If you have not been by Terry’s blog, go treat yourself and I promise that is not a trick!

Also I am entering this in the following challenges: CCchallenges (Animal Antics), Chrasima Cards and Incy Wincy (anything goes), Color Me Copic (Coloring technique-I used #1 blending), Ginger Loft (Halloween), Oh, Alice challenges (window card), Paper Cutz (A critter), Totally Papercrafts (magic), and the sketch at KennyKrafyGirlz.

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

mice+cupcake=cute!

Happy Monday! Do you have a stash of stamped and colored images just waiting to be used? I do, I often forget they are there or sometimes I don’t want to use them because my coloring skills were not as good back then. I decided to use this one even though it is not perfect on a card for my daughter. Waste not, want not right?

She just loves House Mouse, this image was one of the first ones I colored with copics (last year!) I had stamped out a bunch of my mom’s HM stamps on Paper Co. Cardstock and colored it on the spot with my brand new Copics. It is not the greatest color-job but I kept it anyway thinking I might put it on a card and so I did 🙂

This card qualifies for the following challenges: Creatilicious (colors challenge), Oldie but a Goodie (Pink & Girly) and the sketch (I put the vertical layout on a horizontal card) from House Mouse & Friends.

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

kokeshi card challenge

We are having a gorgeous day here in the northeast so I’m gonna keep this post short and sweet! The theme at Oriental Stamp Art this week is kokeshi dolls and I used last weeks OSA card layout to make this card:

Stamps: About Art Accents, Markers: Copic, Paper: Basic Grey, Seam Binging Sew-True. Don't forget the handmade envelope!

I used a kokeshi stamp from About Art Accents, the doll sets are absolutely adorable and you get many stamps on a sheet, think of all the cool card you can make. I used two strands of clearance seam binding (see yesterdays post for deal info and free shipping coupon) as-is and made a bow (how easy) and wrapped it around my panel of BG kioshi paper (need more of that!) and I colored my image with copics:

This card also qualifies for the Caardvarks Challenge (clean & simple), and Wild orchid (ribbons and bows).

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Precious Birthday Card

Tomorrow is my nephew’s first birthday party so I dug out some of my jungle themed stamps (Mindy’s Zoo from Autumn Leaves) and some SGD Chic Bebe’ paper to make this card:

The image was stamped in bown and colored with copics.

The ribbon is the seam binding that I got on gclearence from SewTrue.com (color Tan #464 I think-it is on clearence for $4/100 yard roll) but I did not crinkle it like I usally do. It has a very light crisp almost organza like feel to it that is perfect for a baby card, I tied a button to the bow with bakers twine for a little extra flair 🙂

****This Just in-I just got an email that SewTrue has a free shipping coupon: 10H91F and it is good now though the 27th, they have black 1/4″ seam binding $3 for 100 yards, other clearence colors 1/2″ wide $4 for 100 yards and the normal stock of colors for 9.50 a 100 yard roll 1/2″ wide, I love free shipping!*******

This card qualifies for the following challenges: Really Reasonable Ribbon (Jungle), Creative Cottage (Birthday boy), Fresh Brewed Designs (Brown), Lollipop Crafts (all about boys), MamiDoodles (for a boy and some red in design), Paper Take Weekly (Animal Magic), Penny’s Challenge (anything baby), Polly Craft (cute and cuddly), Practical Scrappers (Ribbon), Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge & Spoonful of sugar (anything goes), Stamp with Fun (Stuffed Animals) and the sketch from Pixie Dust Studio used upside down.

OK, this is my last post today;) Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Sale extended and a cute scraplift;)

Happy Friday folks! Wowza, yesterdays First day of Fall sale was such a success that the servers got a bit overloaded and some customers couldn’t place their orders yesterday so I have extended the First Day of Fall 40% off sale at Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff through tonight so everyone has a chance to place their order and still get their sale price. If you just found out about the sale today well, you are just a lucky duck and you can hop over and take advantage of 40% off everything in the Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff Shop. Now for something cute, my daughter sat down at the coffee table and sketched the Witches welcome sign from yesterdays post, I think it looks better than the original:

Not bad for a 6 year old 🙂

Here is Mom’s version:

Thanks for stopping by! Remember the 40% off sale at Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff is extended until tonight at Midnight, Don’t miss out 🙂 This sale does not apply to any other shops at MyGrafico. Til next time Happy Crafting!

Witches Welcome, a Freebie and 40% off!

Howdy! Boy, I am in the Halloween spirit! For the past two weeks I have been listing to a Stephen King audio book (Bag of Bones) while crafting and I think it is beginning to affect my work:

I made this set with my Cute Halloween Digital stamps and the Fun Favor SVG set and guess what? They are on sale along with EVERYTHING in the Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff  shop for 40% off today (Thursday) only!

***Sale in the Lindsay’s stamp stuff Shop extended through Friday night at Midnight****

Holy cow, what a sale! Here is a close up of the sign, I bought a blank sign at the Dollar Tree, covered it with pattern paper using Mod-Podge then added the images that I colored with my copics and cut out with hot glue:

The crinkle ribbon I made with seam-binding and spray ink, The black has a cool shimmer because I used my homemade glimmer mist on it. Tip-If you are in a hurry when making crinkled ribbon use your heat gun to dry it, it makes it crinkle more in fact! Thanks to Cheryl for the glimmer mist on black tip!

Front of the boxes...

Check out these favor boxes, they were made in minutes making them perfect to do for a classroom full of kids. Here’s how to make them:

1. Open SCAL software and import the round box file from the Fun Favors SVG set.
2. Click on the text tool and choose the font DB Jack-o-Patterns (which is on sale for $1 at Lettering delights during their dollar days sale and it is the same as the pumpking carving cricut cart, score! You will see other Cricut Look-a-like fonts there too if you poke around a bit!)
3. Click on a face and slide it on top of the highest round part of the SVG template, resize if needed. click on another jack-o-lantern face and drag it to the bottom circle and rotate it so it is upside down, resize if needed and cut.
4. Assemble the box as directed in the kit with hot glue or tape. fill with treats and enjoy!

I love that you can use Sure Cuts a Lot software with almost any font and SVG file to cut virtually anything you want with your Cricut machine, truly awesome!

back of the boxes 🙂

Thise projects qualifies for the following challenges: Aly’s Sunday Challenge (sparkle & glitter-gimmer mist on the ribbon, rhinestone an the witch, metalic cardstcok on boxes), Cowgirls Sunday Challenge (anything but Square), Creative Card Crew, MySheriCrafts Paper Playtime (fall), Spoonful of Sugar (anything goes) GingerLoft (Halloween), Totally Stampalicious (3 ribbons) and wild orchid (Ribbons & Bows)

Here are the sets I used today:

Here are 2 new sets I released this week:

and now what you’ve all been waiting for…the freebie, click the pic to download.

Now let’s see what the rest of the Lindsay’s stamp stuff team has been working on today:

Cheryl Gorka DT Coordinator

Shannon Neparko

Margie Visnick

Melissa Craig

Leanne Garner

Cindi Hooks

Micki Harper

Karin Martin

Jennifer Bliss

Rhonda Walker

Diane Bove

Tracy Vinson

Laurel Seabrook

Remember the 40% off sale is today only at Lindsay’s stamp stuff, sale ends Thursday at Midnight, a great chance to save on brand new sets and stock up on ones you may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Paintin’ Pumpkins!

Last week the local cub scouts had a pumpkin sale and they asked if I would paint a few pumpkins for the sale, here is what I came up with:

It was really fun, I think I will paint some with the kids too. Wanna try? Here are some tips:

• Wipe the pumpkins with a damp cloth before you begin and bring them inside and let them warm to room temp before painting, make sure they are dry.
• Use acrylic paint. It is permanent, wear a smock:) Also cover your table with newspaper before you begin.
• Have fun, it’s only a pumpkin, anything goes!

The best part is that they will last longer than a carved pumpkin so you can paint it now and keep it around til Halloween (as long as a squirrel doesn’t get to it!)

I’m going to go out on a limb and enter this into some craft challenges: Challenge up your life (farm), Creative card crew and cutie Sunday , paper sundaes (fall), Delightful Sketches (pumpkins),

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Final Favors

We had the twins birthday tea party yesterday-what fun, we made fancy hats and bracelets and had an absolute ball-and I thought you might like to see the hand painted tea cups I made for the guests:

I picked up 21 (why 21 and not 20 you ask? Well, I was feeling superstitious so I got an odd number for good measure:) white tea cups from the dollar store and painted 4 of each of the following designs on them-the odd one had rosebuds because it was my favorite! I painted 21 tea cups in about 2 hours. Wanna try making some? Here’s how:

1. Select white ceramic tea cups to paint, make sure they are not chipped and have no imperfections in the glaze, try dollar stores first and be choosy when picking them out because the dollar stores get irregulars sometimes.
2. Wash the cups in hot soapy water and rinse/dry. Then wipe the outsides down with rubbing alcohol. Be sure to wash your hands well before painting them and do not apply lotion, any oil from your fingers can make the cup resist the paint.
3. I used Folk Art Enamels for this project. Paint your designs and let air dry at least 30 minutes then place the cups in a cold oven then turn on the oven to 350, bake for 30 minutes after it reaches 350 (a little longer won’t hurt) then tun off the oven and leave the cups in to cool.

for the raspberries I dipped a pencil’s eraser in wine color paint and made a bunch of dabs, so easy!

The blueberries can be dabbed on with your finger, then smooth the paint with a brush. add a vine with a skinny liner brush and some leaves and you are done!

Use a flat brush that is double loaded with color to make roses and rosebuds. *Double loading is when you put two colors on a brush-such as dark pink on one corner and light pink on the other-and work the brush back and forth on you palette until the color blends.

To make sure there was no fighting over cups I used a Painters brand acrylic paint pen to write the girl’s names on their cup. I got my pen at Joanns in the glass paint aisle, it is acrylic based. I don’t know it will survive the dishwasher so I told the girls to hand wash only. I washes in the sink just fine! Let it dry for 15 minutes after you write with it so it doesn’t smear.

Other ideas:

• buy a large ceramic plate at the dollar store and paint pumpkins, Christmas trees, stars or whatever you like on the edge of the plate-bake as above and givt homemade goodies on it for the holidays.
• Paint a set of wine glasses for a wedding gift.
• paint large mugs and fill with cocoa packets and bags of mini marshmallows for a Christmas gift.
• Let kids make their own place setting-you could buy a set of white dishes and every family member can have their own. Keep the painted design on the edge of the plates and outside of the cups so the paint is not in contact with the food itself. I reckon a steak knife might scratch it, it is super durable though.
• this would be great fun as  a party or scouts project too!

Enjoy your Sunday folks and if you feel like shopping the 25% off customer Appreciation sale is happening until midnight at Lindsay’s stamp Stuff {shameless plug} Till next time happy crafting!