SQUIIRELS STASH BASH -- DECEMBER 30, 2022

Hello friends!  Welcome back to my blog!  My Squirrel Sisters and I have managed to squeeze in *one more* hop for this year.

This month's theme is FAVORITE TECHNIQUE, so you are bound to see that we all have our favorite things to do when it comes to this card making hobby we all share.  After some pondering, I decided that my favorite technique (for now anyway) is die cutting.  Now as far as a theme goes, you know that I will ALWAYS choose Christmas, and that I can't pass up a cute critter, so my card encompasses all three of these things.

Now, I REALLY busted through my stash for this card!  I have a small basket I keep uncolored images and completed die cuts in, so I rummaged through it, looking for something I could throw together at the last minute.  Like, literally.  It is after midnight as I type this, and we are leaving for Gettysburg tomorrow morning!  ANYWAY, I found some shimmer backgrounds I had made ohhh, probably this past summer or maybe even last summer.  Then I found this Cheery Deer from Lawn Fawn that I had assembled some time ago too.  I fell in love with the idea of that cute deer sitting in the middle of this shimmery background.  I cut the background down with a Wonky Stitched Rectangle die from Gina Marie Designs, then popped the deer up on foam tape.  I die cut the fa la la from Lawn Fawn's Winter Big Scripty Words lawn cuts from black cardstock and glued it down at the bottom of the shimmer panel.  All of this is adhered to a standard A2 top-folding card base.

OK friends, I have got to go to bed!  The lovely Ms. Anna is next in the hop lineup this time, but please won't you take a little extra time to hop the whole way through?  We love it when you do!  We also love it when you leave us some comment love!  Take care! 😊

~ Marie 💗

{BYSHC} SKETCH #29 -- DECEMBER 23, 2022

Hello friends, happy Friday, and happy Christmas Eve eve!  Are you all ready for the BIG DAY in 2 days?  I can hardly believe that it's that close already; I remember as a kid it always seemed that Christmas was SOOOOO FAAAAARRR AWAAAAAAY, and now it just comes and goes in a flash!  Sigh, to be a kid again at Christmas!  What a magical time!

Anyway, I digress...I'm here today to share the first card I made using the current sketch at {BYSHC}, Sketch #29:

As meticulous as I like to be when making my cards, this sketch threw me for a loop when it came to placing the triangular pieces on the green vellum mat "just right."  I NEEDED to have all the spacing equal or I would go crazy!  I tried just placing the patterned paper from Lawn Fawn's Knit Picky 6x6 paper pad onto the vellum, but it just kept sliding around, so I finally tore off some pieces of        Therm-o-Web's Pixie Tape (love this stuff!) and made hinges over the edge of the vellum to keep the pieces in place while I glued them down.  They are still a *little* off, but I think this method worked pretty well overall.

Now, the centerpiece of this card is made up of the negative pieces of this Circle Ho Ho Ho Die from My Creative Time that I used to make this ornament.  I just thought they would make an excellent focal point also, as the Ho's are so easy to read.  I glued all of the layers (7 or 8 of them) together with the white glitter layer on top and added them to a die cut circle of the green vellum.  This may have been a bit of overkill for the front of a card, as now it is pretty heavy and bulky.  I will know better for the next time!  I really like how you can still see the patterned paper, especially the red, through the vellum.  All of this is adhered onto a white A2 top-folding card base.

--CHALLENGES--

Moving Along With The Times #149:  Christmas (4/5)

613 Avenue Create #12:  ATG (4/8)

Classic Design #12:  ATG

The Paper Funday #48:  ATG w/optional twist - Holiday Time

A Place to Start:  ATG w/optional twist - Happy Holidays

A Perfect Time to Craft #12:  ATG

Fab 'n' Funky #563:  Last Minute Christmas

The Holly and Ivy #130:  ATG Christmas (3/3)

Through the Craft Room Door:  ATG (4/4)

Creatalicious #249:  ATG (2/3)

Crafting Happiness #137:  Christmas

Crafty Gals Corner #238:  Tis the Season

LeAnn's World 101 #57:  ATG

CCAYR:  Waiting for Santa

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #95:  ATG Christmas (3/10)

OK friends, thanks for stopping by today!   Head on over to the {BYSHC} blog to see what DT creations there are to inspire you, and then head on over to the Facebook Group to join in with a card if you have some time to spare in this "crunch time" before Christmas.  Take care!  😊

~ Marie 💗

LIL PATCH OF CRAFTY FRIENDS #196 -- SPONSORED BY ALEX SYBERIA -- DECEMBER 18, 2022

Hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!  As you may or may not know, this will be my last post as a DT member for Lil Patch of Crafty Friends, please see my previous post for the reason.

OK, this month we are being sponsored by the fabulous

Alex Syberia

PRIZE:  $15 GIFT CARD

SHOP

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

The design team could choose any image or cut file for their project, so I chose this gorgeous Layered Christmas Ornament and Bow cut file.  Here is what I created:

I was in need of some presents for my purple-loving work besties, so I got to work choosing glitter and shimmer cardstocks and regular cardstocks to go with them.  For some, I didn't have cardstock to match, so I busted out some Distress inks in regular and Oxides to make my own papers.  That would be the lightest layers on the first 2 ornaments.  For the third one, I just chose a silver shimmer paper to add to the mix.  I made 2 of each, for a total of 6.  That way, I could give them each a set.

  My last day of work for the year (YAY!) was this past Wednesday (thanks in part to some inclement weather on Thursday), so I have already given them to my besties, and they loved them!  This cut file was very nice to work with, and I love that it gives me that layered look that some of those expensive dies have, for much cheaper!  Thank you, Alex for the pretty cut file!  Oh, and I didn't get the chance to add the bow, although I would have loved to!

--CHALLENGES--

Winter Wonderland:  End of Year ATG (3/3)

Sparkles Christmas:  Non-traditional Christmas Colors

Crafty Calendar:  ATG

Besties International:  ATG (3/3) 

Moving Along With The Times #149:  Christmas (3/5)

613 Avenue Create #12:  ATG

Crafts Galore Encore #106:  ATG (3/3) 

Classic Design #12:  ATG

The Paper Funday #48:  ATG (3/6)

A Place to Start:  ATG

A Perfect Time to Craft #12:  ATG 

SheepSki Designs #69:  Tis the Season (3/3)

The Crafting Challenge:  Christmas (3/3)

Your Scrapbook Place:  ATG (3/3)

Ellibelle's Wednesday Challenge:  ATG (3/3)

Fab 'n' Funky #563:  Last Minute Christmas (ATG)

Word Art Wednesday #573 - #574:  ATG (3/5)

The Holly and Ivy #130:  ATG Christmas (2/3)

Through the Craft Room Door:  ATG (3/4)

QKR Stampede #457:  ATG (3/3)

Creatalicious #249:  ATG

Crafting Happiness #137:  Christmas

Papercraft Challenges #89:  Decking the Halls

Crafty Gals Corner #238:  Tis the Season (2/3)

Well, I so appreciate you stopping by today!  I don't know if I will be posting again before Christmas or not, so if I don't, I wish those of you who celebrate to have a Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays to those who celebrate other holidays this time of year and may we all have a Blessed New Year in 2023!  Take care! 😄

~ Marie 💗

--EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!--

 Hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!  I have some exciting news that I have been DYING to share with you all...I am now a member of the Whimsy Stamps 2023 Instapinner team! 

I am BEYOND EXCITED about this yall!  When Crystal Komara asked me about joining a few months ago, I was totally flabbergasted to have even been noticed by anyone, and since then I have been chomping at the bit to let it be known!  I have not always been good at keeping secrets, and sometimes I still am not good at it, but I did manage to keep this one under wraps until a couple of days ago, when it was announced.  So being an Instapinner is probably pretty self-explanatory to those of us familiar with Instagram and Pinterest, but just to be clear, those are the places where we will be concentrating on sharing our projects.  I may or may not have time to add them here to my blog, so I may be silent here for a while.  I'll have to see what happens once the ball gets rolling starting January 1, 2023.

For the time being, I am stepping down from all of my design teams, with the exception of {BYSHC}.  I signed up for a 6-month term, and I plan to follow through with it.  Once that time period is up, I will be better able to see if I can handle staying on the team or not.

ANYWAY, that's my exciting news!  I am super excited to see where this new adventure will lead!  Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for my last Lil Patch of Crafty Friends blog post coming tomorrow.  Take care! 😄

~ Marie 💗

ABC CHRISTMAS -- Y FOR YOUNGSTERS (FOR OR FEATURING A CHILD), AND/OR Z FOR ZOOM (MODE OF TRANSPORT)

Hello, my friends and welcome back to my blog!  It's time for another ABC Christmas challenge, and this will be my last one.  I haven't been on this team for very long, but it sure has been a very pleasant experience for me, and given the chance in the future, I would love to become a DT member again!  Many thanks to Helen for this opportunity to work with her and the rest of the DT!

Anyway, this challenge is for the letters

Y for Youngsters (for or featuring a child)

and/or

Z for Zoom (mode of transportation)

This card features stamps and dies from Your Next Stamp called Paw-liday Pups.  I let the patterned paper from the Journey to the North Pole 6x6 paper pad from Recollections do the majority of the work on this card.  I hardly ever do this, but I really like the end result!  I used Wonky Stitched Rectangles from Gina Marie Designs to cut the dark green cardstock mat layer, and also the image layer.  The striped layer was die cut with a Spellbinders card creator die, but it was so close in size to the image panel that I could hardly see it.  I decided to cut it diagonally and offset it a bit behind the image panel, which I liked much better.  I stamped, die cut and colored the doggie, and added white gel pen highlights and shimmer with Wink of Stella.  Since he's zooming down that hill, I mounted him to the card with a mini action wobbler.  The sentiment was stamped with Versa Fine Clair Nocturne using the MISTI.

--CHALLENGES--

Winter Wonderland:  ATG end of year challenge

Sparkles Christmas:  Non-traditional Christmas colors

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #95:  ATG Christmas

Crafty Calendar:  ATG

Besties International:  ATG (2/3)

Moving Along With The Times #149:  Christmas (2/5)

613 Avenue Create #12:  ATG

Crafts Galore Encore #106: ATG (2/3)

Classic Design #12:  ATG

Critter Crazy #69:  ATG with a featured critter

The Paper Funday #48:  ATG w/optional twist, Holiday Time (2/6)

A Place to Start #12:  ATG w/optional twist, Happy Holidays

A Perfect Time to Craft #12:  ATG

SheepSki Designs #69:  Tis the Season (2/3)

Happy Little Stampers:  Christmas

LeAnn's World 101 #57:  ATG

The Crafting Challenge:  Christmas (2/3)

Incy Wincy Designs:  Christmas and/or Movement (2/5)

Your Scrapbook Place: ATG (2/3)

The Four Seasons Challenge:  ATG Winter (2/3)

Ellibelle's Wednesday Challenge:  ATG (2/3)

Fab 'n' Funky #563:  Last Minute Christmas (ATG Christmas)

Word Art Wednesday #573 - #574:  ATG (2/5)

The Holly and Ivy #130:  ATG Christmas (1/3)

Through the Craft Room Door:  ATG (2/4)

QKR Stampede #457:  ATG (2/3)

Crafty Gals Corner #238:  Tis the Season (1/3)

I thank you so much for stopping by today!  Don't forget to head on over to the ABC Christmas challenge to see what the rest of the DT made, and to join in!  Take care!  😊

~ Marie 💗

GUEST DESIGN SPOT FOR SWEET SKETCH WEDNESDAY 2 -- DECEMBER 7, 2022

Hello dear friends!  How are you doing now that we are mere WEEKS away from the BIG DAY?  I myself am starting to freak out a bit, as I don't have any cards ready to mail out yet.  UGH!!  Making them is one thing, but sending them is quite another, isn't it?  I'll be off Thursday and Friday this week, so I am planning to put a dent in it then.  Cross your fingers for me, will ya?  😉

Anyway, for today's post, I have 2 cards to share with you that I created as a guest designer for the Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 challenge.  Each month, there are 2 sketches provided, and you can work with one or both.  There is also an optional twist to spark your creativity.  Here are the sketches for this month:

The optional twist is Ditsy & Dotty (Spots & Stripes).  Here are my cards, using only the first sketch:

For the blue card, I used beautiful papers from the 6x6 Oh Holy Night paper pad from Hobby Lobby, and this gorgeous Momenta dove die set, also from Hobby Lobby.  I cut the dove parts from gold foil paper, and I partially cut the wing design from the white glitter cardstock I have been using lately in order to inlay the leafy part of the design back into the gold wing. Honestly, I did that to hide the fact that I made one HECK of a mess getting glue on the gold foil.  UGH.  I did my best to clean it up, and the finished result looks fine.  I used some white Diamond Dotz over the holes in the design, and a holographic one for the eye.  When I bought these, I actually thought that the holographic ones looked black, which is why I bought them.  Guess I'll have to go back to JoAnn's for some more!   The peace and joy words are also part of the dove die set, so I cut them from the same white glitter cardstock and used them as the side elements on the sketch.

For my second card, I used papers from the Christmas Gingerbread Kisses 6x6 paper pad from My Creative Time.  This company is fairly new to me, but I have to say that I am in love with their gingerbread products!  SO CUTE!!!  The cutie patootie gingerbread in a hot cocoa cup image also comes from the paper pad, and was die cut with the die that coordinates with the You Warm My Heart stamp and die combo.  That's another thing I love about this company...Emma (the owner) sells the stamp sets and coordinating dies together, and the price point is excellent.  Not only that, but oftentimes the dies will correspond to images in the paper pads that you can cut out for quick card making.  How's that for fantastic??  And that isn't all; the die sets always contain dies to cut out the SENTIMENTS!!!  My mind is literally blown by how well-thought-out Emma's products are. 💥 Obviously, the sentiment comes from the You Warm My Heart stamp set.

I was lucky enough to find coordinating cardstock colors in my stash to make mats for all the papers on both cards. 😁

--CHALLENGES--

Winter Wonderland:  ATG (1/3)

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #95:  ATG (1/10)

Crafty Calendar:  ATG (1/3)

Besties International:  ATG (1/3)

Moving Along With The Times #149:  Christmas (1/5)

613 Avenue Create #12:  ATG w/optional twist --Up in the Sky

Crafts Galore Encore #106:  ATG (1/3)

Classic Design #12:  ATG

Critter Crazy #69:  ATG with a featured critter (dove)

The Paper Funday #48:  ATG w/optional twist - Holiday Time

A Place to Start #12:  ATG w/optional twist - Happy Holidays

A Perfect Time to Craft #12: ATG

SheepSki Designs:  Tis the Season (1/3) 

Crafty Friends #162:  Traditional Christmas Colors

Happy Little Stampers Christmas:  ATG

LeAnn's World 101 #57:  ATG

The Crafting Challenge:  Christmas (1/3)

Incy Wincy Designs:  Christmas (1/5)

Your Scrapbook Place:  ATG (1/3)

Sparkles Challenge #15:  Dies and/or Punches

The Four Seasons Challenge:  Winter

Ellibelle's Wednesday Challenge:  ATG (1/3)

Fab 'n' Funky #562:  Die Cuts or Embossing only, NO Stamping

Word Art Wednesday #573 - #574:  ATG (1/5)

The Holly and Ivy Christmas challenge:  ATG Christmas

The Sisterhood of Crafters:  ATG Christmas or Winter

Cardz 4 Galz #187:  Anything from the 12 Days of Christmas (dove)

Double Trouble #127:  Kaleidoscope of colors (Thing 1 choice - you choose the theme and colors)

Through the Craft Room Door:  ATG (1/4)

Peace on Earth Christmas #29:  ATG Christmas (1/3)

QKR Stampede #457:  ATG (1/3)

Creatalicious #248:  ATG 

I thank you so much for dropping by today!  I know that the designers over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 have created lovely projects using these sketches, so head on over to the challenge blog to check them out!  You have all month (pretty much) to play along, so hopefully you can find a few hours of creative time here and there to join in with a card or two!  That's all for now, friends.  Take Care.

~ Marie 💗