Bo Bunny "Card Challenge Tuesday"

Sometimes, just every once in a while, a sketch or challenge really speaks to me, and I have no choice but to accept the challenge!  It's totally out of my control!  :o)  And such was the case when I saw the sketch for this week's Card Challenge Tuesday over at the Bo Bunny blog!  Not only did the sketch get the creative juices flowing, but the DT projects are absolutely gorgeous!  I couldn't save a copy of the sketch for some reason, so you'll have to go check it out at the link above for yourself, but here is my card based on the sketch . . .

And here are all the details . . . 

Products:

• Base cardstock is Die Cuts With a View
• Brown cardstock is a scrap - unidentifiable
• Patterned papers are all from Bo Bunny's Abbey Road Line:  Base is Abbey Road 'Sky', pleated paper is Abbey Road 'Stripe', flower is made from alternating pieces of Abbey Road and Abbey Road 'Vine'
• Stickles 'Platinum'
• Heidi Swapp large brad
• Stampabilities brown ink
• Ranger 'clear' embossing powder
• Clear acrylic stamp
• ribbon and lace from my stash

Tips, Tools and Techniques:

• Base of card cut using Cricut Expression, Walk in My Garden cartridge, card2 set at 5"
• Abbey Road 'Sky' base cut using ricut Expression, Walk in My Garden cartridge, card1 set at 4 3/4"
• Brown cardstock trimmed to size and embossed using Cuttlebug and D'vine Swirls embossing folder
• Layers of flowers were cut using Cuttlebug and Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Circles Small and Classic Scalloped Circles Small, alternating plain (Abbey Road) with scalloped (Abbey Road Vine).  Each layer was dipped very quickly into warm water, then squeezed lightly into a ball, unrolled, placed on a paper towel and heated in the microwave in 30 second increments to dry.  Once they were dry, the edges of each circle were inked with brown ink.  Then I made a small slit in the center of each circle and pushed the brad through.  Once it was assembled, I outlined the edges of the paper, and coated the brad with 'Platinum' Stickles and allowed to dry before adhering to the card with FabriTac glue.
• The pleated paper was made by cutting a strip about 1 1/4" wide by 12" long of the Abbey Road Stripes paper.  I wet it briefly with warm water, pleated and crinkled it, then dried it in the microwave, just like the flower layers.  Once it was dry, I inked the edges and, using Glue Arts Ribbon Adhesive, placed it onto the brown embossed cardstock.  Then the ribbon and bow were attached with more of the ribbon adhesive.
• The sentiment was stamped onto ivory cardstock, heat embossed using clear embossing powders, then cut on the Cricut Expression using Songbird cartridge, Frame3-s using the center point feature, and then the edges were inked and it was placed on the brown cardstock using foam squares.

I really love this card!  And I hope you like it, too!  Please feel free to leave comments or email me if you have any questions about the techniques or products I used, and I will try my best to answer them for you.  

Be Joyful!  Becky 

My Favorite Christmas Gift . . . That I Made For Someone Else!!!

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Hello Everyone!  I know, I know!  I've been gone a while, but it's been Christmas, and as a part of my decision to have a calmer, easier, less stressful holiday, I let the whole blogging thing slide, and I apologize.  But it was so worth it, as we had a wonderful, relaxing and drama free Christmas!

And I promise to announce the winners of  the CSN giveaway in the next few days, but today I wanted to share with you a gift I made for a special friend.

I just got home from a little bit of rambling with my friend Phyllis.  She is a relatively new friend - we met last spring - but has become a very special friend in a short amount of time!  We love talking and laughing, shopping for bargains, riding around the beautiful countryside, and talking about crafting together.  She is a teacher who teaches English to non-English speaking students in the K - 2 (I think) grades, but at the end of this school year she will be retiring, so LOOK OUT WORLD!  We are going to have a great time together!!!

I had a hard time deciding what to give Phyllis for Christmas.  For one thing, we didn't discuss exchanging gifts, but she has become so special to me that I couldn't imagine not giving her 'something' to let her know how much I valued her and her friendship.  I tossed around several ideas, but none of them 'stuck', and one day I was reading someone's blog (so sorry I can't remember who wrote it!) and they talked about decorating some paper mache' boxes for gifts.  In my stash I had several small boxes I'd bought a while back for $1 each, and decided to make her a box for storing things in her craft room.  This one was SO MUCH FUN!!!

The papers are from a Cosmo Cricket 'Material Girl' and 'Garden Variety' Double Stack.  The gingham fabric, twill ribbon, buttons (new and vintage), vintage spool of thread, and spool of thread charm were all from my stash.  When I thought it was finished, I decided the spool of thread needed something more, so I glued a vintage button on top, and it's perfect!  The bail fit down into the hole in the spool.

I filled this box with some bits of ribbon wound onto old fashioned 'peg' clothespins, a few yoyo's from vintage fabric, and a few odds and ends from my stash.  And I had so much fun that I made her this box as well . . . 

This box was the same size around, but about 1/2 the height, and I used more of the coordinating Cosmo Cricket 'Material Girl' papers, as well as the twill tape, gingham fabric and button from my stash.  The flower was made by cutting a circle of felt, then gluing one end of a strip (@ 1 1/2") of the fabric to the center, then twisting and turning and gluing as I went, all the way until the felt was covered, then pulling the tail underneath the felt and gluing it to fasten.  The button is simply glued to the center of the flower.  And I loved this one so much that I made her this pin cushion . . . 

The base is a small tin can, covered with coordiating 'Material Girl' papers, filled with pebbles for weight, and stuffed with poly-fill fibers, trimmed with cream eyelet lace, and felt on the bottom.  (NOTE:  I put felt on the bottom of all 3 pieces - it is a very clean and professional finish, and very inexpensive!)  It was so easy to make!  

A TIP here for making the fabric part of the pin cushion:  make a large yoyo (this was about a 9" to 10" circle) out of the fabric, but instead of pulling it tight and tying off the thread, pull it about 2/3 tight, fill tightly with the poly-fill and then pull tight and tie the threads.  Run a bead of glue around the inside of the can and then put in the 'ball' and hold until it's set.  It's really easy!  If you want more step-by-step instructions, let me know!

So, what started out to be one little box, turned into this really cute craft room set . . . 

And Phyllis loved it, which was the very best part of all! 

This was a very easy project - probably the hardest part was making the fabric flower, but even  that wasn't very hard!  And I think I'm going to have to make some more of these pieces for next spring's craft shows!  

So, what was your favorite Christmas gift this year, given or received?  Many blessings, Becky

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Unscripted Sketches # 86 - Sketch + Piggyback Challenge

Welcome friends!  It is once again time for Sketch it Saturday over at the Unscripted Sketches Challenge blog, and this month we have a doozie of a sketch, plus an extra added 'piggyback challenge'.  Here is this week's sketch . . .

And the piggy back challenge is to use no patterned paper!  Now there are lots of ways you can do that, but as a Design Team member I've had this sketch for weeks, and have not been able to think of any of them!  So in desperation, here is what I came up with . . . 

As you can tell, it is a loose interpretation of the sketch; and that is exactly what we mean by unscripted, so that is cool!  As long as you can see the sketch some way in the project, it's all good!  So allow me to be the first to wish you a Happy New Year!!!

Here is all the info . . .

Product Info:

• All cardstock is Die Cuts With a View
• Stickles 'diamond' and 'icicles'

 

Tips, Tools and Techniques:

• Card base cut using Cricut Expression, Walk in my Garden cartridge, card2 set at 5"
• Smaller square cut using Cricut Expression, Walk in my Garden cartridge, card 1 set at 4 3/4"
• Starbursts cut using  cut using Cricut Expression, Preserves cartridge, Mango2, Lid feature, set at 1 1/2".
• Numbers cut using Cricut Expresion, Simply Sweet cartridge, set at 1"
• Paper rosette made of black cardstock cut into a 1" x 12" strip, scored and accordion folded at about every 1/4".  Sentiment was printed on ink jet printer and cut using Cuttlebug and Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Circles Small die.

And that was my card!  Please don't let this sketch or the no patterned paper challenge scare you off!  We would love to see what you can come up with based on this challenge!  Come back soon!  Becky

A Wonderful Giveaway!!! Just in Time for Christmas!!!

I have been given the wonderful opportunity to give away a gift certificate for $45 to one lucky winner to the CSN stores!  They have over 200 websites you can order from, and they carry everything from furniture, cookware, counter height stools,  home decor, kids items, health and fitness and so much more!!!

Simply leave a comment here on this post through midnight eastern on Sunday 12/19 and I will choose a winner and announce it some time on Monday 12/20!

Also, I have been given an additional giveaway for my other blog, so please go there and enter to win again!  I will choose a winner there on the same day.  And to make it fair, you can only win ONCE, so if your name is drawn on both, we will draw again on the second blog to get another winner.

So please, leave a comment here, then leave another on my other blog, and then go tell all your friends about it so that they can enter, too!  

Good luck!  Becky

Little Red Wagon #58 Challenge

Hi friends!  So, how are things in your part of the world?  Here in northern Georgia there are snow flurries, temps dropping from @ 35 this morning to the current 22 degrees (f) and will pretty much keep on dropping!  And the wind is blustery and wind chills are in the teens.  And it's not even officially winter yet!

But this weather is perfect for playing in my studio, and my friend Phyllis has been a bit under the weather lately, so I thought I would make her a card, and work in the challenge from Little Red Wagon this week.  Their challenge is to make a project using a die cut, and I decided to make the card itself from a diecut using my newest Cricut cartridge.  Here is my card . . .

And here is all the info . . . 

Product Info:

• Base card stock is Die Cuts With a View Pastels stack
• Image is from clipart software
• Stickles 'Diamond'
• Gems are from K&Company, Brenda Walton, Small Wonders - Girl 
• French seam binding is from Bluebird Lane Etsy shop

Tips, Tools and Techniques:

• Card was cut using Cricut Expression and the "A Child's Year" cartridge, , card feature set at 5 inches.  Stickles Diamond was added to outer edge of card.
• Image was printed, trimmed and matted with a scrap of pink card stock.  Stickles 'Diamond' was added to the flowers, edges of the water, and the pink bow in the girls hair.
• French seam binding was threaded through the holes in the card and a bow tied just above center, and then again just right of center on the lower edge of card.
• Self Adhesive gems were added to points on the card.

I really love this new cartridge, and would not have gotten it if it weren't for the wonderful 'digital handbook' feature on the Cricut website.  When you look up a cartridge, right on the details page there is a link to a digital handbook.  You can scroll through the pages and get much more information than you can get from just looking at the images from the back of the box.  

I hope you've enjoyed this card, and would love for you to come back and check in again - in a couple of days I will be having a wonderful giveaway - on both of my blogs - sponsored by CSN stores!  Merry Christmas everyone!  Becky

Unscripted Sketches # 85 and City Crafters Challenge Blog # 34

Merry Christmas!  It is finally beginning to feel a bit like Christmas here at Camellia Cottage.  And yes, I've been making Christmas projects for weeks, but they were for selling at the craft show last weekend and now that I'm finished with shows for the season, and things have calmed down a bit here at home, I have finally gotten my tree up and decorated - yippeeeee!  No other decorating has been done yet - and I'm really cool with that!  This year has become the year when my motto is "No Stress - Relax - Breathe - Enjoy!".  I haven't even taken my Christmas dishes out of their 11 month a year storage space, and I'm thinking they may not see the light of day this year.  We had such a wonderfully laid-back and enjoyable Thanksgiving that I'm thinking we'll just do Christmas the same way too!

But sharing my new Christmas philosophy is not why I am here!  Nope, not at all!  I am here to share one project for two challenges!  First is my Design Team project based on Sarah Kaye's sketch this week over at Unscripted Sketches.  And second is for the theme of "Let It Snow" over at the City Crafters Challenge Blog.  Here is the sketch from Unscripted Sketches . . .





And here is my project based on the sketch . . .

And here is all the info:

Product Info:

• Card Base is Bazzill 'burlap' texture card stock
• Patterned papers are My Minds Eye, Be Merry, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and "Trim the Tree"
• Image is from clipart software
• Glitter is Sulyn 'crystal' glitter
• Stickles 'Platinum' and 'Crystal'
• Lace and snowflake are from my stash.  Snowflake was part of a garland from Dollar Tree
• Brown ink is from Stampabilities

Tips, Tools and Techniques:

• Cut card stock to size of a 5x7 card, then inked the edges in brown ink, added glue and glitter to the four edges.  Allow to dry.
• Cut text paper to size and inked edges.  Adhered (Glue Glider Pro - PermaTac) to card base
• Cut strip of patterned paper approximately 1 1/2" x 12" and inked edges, then accordion folded and inked folds with brown ink.  Adhered to text paper..
• Adhered lace to card base.
• Printed image to size, inked edges with brown ink, matted with scrap of green card stock, embellished houses, bushes and trees with touches of Stickles 'Crystal'..  Allowed to dry, then adhered to card base using foam squares.
• Took plastic snowflake, coated liberally with Stickles 'Platinum', then added 'Crystal' glitter heavily.  Allowed to dry.  Adhered to card base.

Thank you for visiting today!  I am off to work on trying to tame my very, VERY unruly stash of ribbons, laces and trims!  Anyone have any ideas on how to accomplish that task?  I have very few on the original spools, so I need some effective way of storing them.  I'd appreciate any ideas you may have!  Have a great weekend!  Becky

At Last - A Couple of Challenges!

                                                                                                                                                             .
Well, the craft show season - for me at least - is over until next year, and am I ever glad!  The last few weeks have been particularly busy, with all my work making Christmasy items for the Christmas Craft Show, and with Thanksgiving just one week before the show.  But the show was a fair success, I've had a day to recover, and happily made the time for a couple of challenges before I start putting up my tree and wrapping gifts.

I chose to double up on challenges simply because they worked perfectly together!  Tuesday Taggers asked for a project with Santa Claus, and Little Red Wagon assigned a gift bag and/or gift tag.  I made TONS of tags for the craft show, so with all my practice of late, making a project for these challenges was a breeze!  Here is my Santa tag . . .

And here is all the info . . .

Products:

• Tag base is a #5 manila tag (4 3/4" x 2 3/8")
• Ribbon, tassel, ribbon bow,  eyelet lace and strip of gingham fabric is from my stash
• Frame is Tattered Angels Glimmer Chips Framed Fonts
• Patterned paper (pleated at top) is from a Die Cuts With a View "Prints For The Year" Ultimate Stack
• Stickles 'Platinum'
• Stampabilities Brown ink
• Red and Green pigment ink - very old, no markings on pad
• Image is from a file of Santa images purchased from Etsy vendor Magisplace

Tips, Tools and Techniques:

• Inked all edges of tag with brown ink
• Cut strip of patterned paper approximately 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" and inked all edges with brown ink.
• Pleated by hand - no measuring, just folding, then inked creases with brown ink.  Using Glue Glider Pro and permanent adhesive, attached pleated paper to top of tag, leaving space for the hole at top.
• Tore strip of red and white gingham fabric and wrapped around tag, tying a knot on front.
• Cut green satin ribbon and wrapped it around tag several times, tying in a bow on front.
• Using red and green pigment ink pads, lightly inked around frame so color would be somewhat evenly dispersed.
• Edged both inside and outside edges of frame with Stickles 'Platinum'
• When Stickles was dry, trimmed clipart and glued to back of frame, then glued eyelet lace to back of frame.
• Glued decorated frame onto tag, then glued red ribbon bow to bottom of frame.
• Attached ribbon and tassel to hole at top of tag.

And that is it!  A very fun project, and a gift tag so pretty that you don't even need a bow on the package!  I hope you've enjoyed your visit today, please come back soon!  Blessings, Becky

PS!  And be sure to come back soon as I have a wonderful giveaway coming up that includes a CSN Stores gift certificate AND some of my hand made Christmas goodies (crafts) left over from the craft show!

                                                                                                                                                  .

Santa's Workshop - Unscripted Sketches # 84

(Note:  I am so sorry this wasn't up this morning!  I had it scheduled to post at 8am, and left home before 7:30, and when I got home and checked it just now, Blogger showed it as a draft.  I apologize for  not having it up so you could see my take on the sketch earlier today!)


That's what it looks like around here . . . Santa's Workshop!  For a few weeks now I have been working on projects that I hope to sell at a Christmas Craft Show this weekend.  In fact, if you are reading this on Saturday 12/4, I am probably sitting in my booth in the gym of First Christian Church of Jasper, Georgia  right now, encouraging the customers to buy my goodies and those of my friend Sue, with whom I'm sharing a booth.  Sue makes gorgeous jewelry!

Anyway, when it dawned on me that my fellow Design Team members over at Unscripted Sketches might be expecting a project from me for this week, I knew I had to get busy, and I had to work it into my projects for the sale.  And that's how I decided to use today's sketch to make tags . . . six of them!  I simply turned the sketch a bit to make it work for the #5 manilla tags that I used as the base.  Here is this week's sketch . . .

And here is my tag based on the sketch . . .

And here's all the info:

Products:

• Base is #5 manilla tags (4 3/4" X 2 3/8")
• Striped cardstock is Little Yellow Bicycle - actually the envelopes from the card kit I won a while back
• Paper rosette made of paper from a Die Cuts With a View "Prints For The Year" Ultimate Stack from last Christmas
• Image is from clipart software, printed on my inkjet printer
• Ribbons, gingham fabric, ric-rack and lace from my stash
• Brown Ink is Stampabilities
• Sentiment was printed on my printer
• Stickles 'Platinum'

Tips, Tools and Techniques:

• Using an old brown ink pad, ink edges of tags and cardstock.  Adhere cardstock to tag.
• Make paper rosettes from patterned paper by cutting a strip 1" X 12", scoring along the length every 1/4".  When you have the scoring all done, fold the strip of paper in a zig-zag pattern.  Adhere the two ends, and push the center of the tube down to form the center.  Cut a small circle of cardstock and adhere to the back of the rosette to make it hold together.  Allow adhesive to dry completely.
• Santa's Workshop images cut using Cuttlebug and Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Circles, Scalloped Small, and glue totop of the rosette.
• Go around edges of rosette and image with Stickles.  Allow to dry.
• Cut pieces of ribbons and laces to fit across tags, layering each by overlapping.
• Print sentiment on cardstock, then cut out and ink edges.  Adhere to tag using foam dots for dimension.
• Ties on the tag are made from ivory satin ribbon and either red ric-rack or red and torn strips of red and white gingham.

I hope you've enjoyed my little project for this week's sketch!  I love making tags, and these are easy!  (And yes, there are lots of steps, but all the steps are easy!).   I hope you have a great weekend!  Becky