LIL PATCH OF CRAFTY FRIENDS -- SPONSORED BY SHEEPSKI DESIGNS -- SEPTEMBER 19, 2021

Hello friends, and welcome back!  It's time for Team B at Lil Patch of Crafty Friends to share our projects with you, and our sponsor is:

**Exclusive Sponsor**

SheepSki Designs

Prize ~ 3 Images

Sheep ski Design Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SheepSkiDesigns
Blog: https://sheepskidesigns.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1730005463906336/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheepskidesigns/
DT Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/knutselmeisjes/dt-sheep-ski-design/

My chosen image from SheepSki was this adorable Snowboardin' snowman.

And since this guy is having so much fun, I decided that I must make him into a slider card!  I used a slider die from a Recollections set to make the channel.  The snow was cut using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Hillside dies, and the clouds were stenciled using Lawn Fawn's Puffy Clouds dies, Tumbled Glass oxide ink, and a Taylored Expressions blender brush.   Two layers of foam tape was used to pop the panel up to allow for proper movement of the penny the snowman is attached to.   I colored the snowman using alcohol markers, and he was sized and cut with my Silhouette Cameo.  I added white gel pen highlights to all his "coal", and also dotted his pompom with it.  Star Dust stickles was added to the image as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Don't forget to pop on over to Lil Patch of Crafty Friends to see what the rest of Team B has created, and to join in on the challenge.  We always love to see what you create!  Until next time,

Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless!

~ Marie

2CCC -- SPONSORED BY QKR STAMPEDE -- SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Hello friends, and welcome back!  Holy cow, how in the world did we make it all the way to September already? It boggles the mind!   As today is September 1st, that means that start of a new critter challenge at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies!  This month's sponsor is QKR Stampede:

We were allowed to pick an image we wanted to use, and let me tell you, it was a hard choice to make!  I had heard of QKR Stampede before, but had never taken the time to check them out until this challenge.  They have so many stamps!  I was amazed at the sheer volume and variety that I found when I started to look for an image to use.  When I found this Birdhouse Digital Stamp image, I knew I had found the one!  I only hoped that when I sent in my request that it would qualify, as the bird was such a small part of the image.  I was stoked when I got the go-ahead to use it, and here is my card:

ISN'T IT JUST THE CUTEST??  Those of you who have followed me for awhile KNOW how much I LOVE snowmen, and this one is no exception! 😍😍😍  I colored these 2 cuties up with alcohol markers, and added LOTS of sparkle with Star Dust Stickles.  The little bit of patterned paper you can see around the image panel is from the Recollections Whimsy Christmas 12x12 paper pad.  I backed this paper with a piece of dark green Recollections 65lb. cardstock, and adhered all the layers flat to the card base; except for the image layer, which was popped up with foam tape.  I didn't leave myself much room for a sentiment when I sized this image, but I did manage to fit this Tim Holtz/Sizzix "Believe" die cut from the Christmas Phrases 1 set onto the card.  I cut this 3 times from the same dark green cardstock and layered them up a la Jennifer McGuire for added dimension.  Then I added some of the Star Dust Stickles to just the bottom half of the word.  Here are a few more pics:

This last one really shows all the shine of the Stickles!   I also added some white gel pen highlights, being careful to avoid the glittered areas!

--CHALLENGES--

Christmas with The Cuties #52:  Anything Cute and Christmassy

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #81:  ATG Christmas

Merry Little Christmas #38:  ATG Christmas

CHN Patterned Paper:  ATG using patterned paper

Love to Craft #62:  ATG

Mix it Up #53:  ATG

Besties International:  ATG

Color It, Create It, Show it Off:  ATG with coloring

Crafts Galore Encore #91:  ATG 

Crafty Animals #54:  ATG with an animal

Classic Design #9:  ATG 

Paper Funday #33:  ATG

A Perfect Time to Craft #9:  ATG

Well, that is all from me today friends!  Don't forget to pop on over to the 2CCC blog and leave the DT some comment love!  Also, you have all month long to join in the challenge with us, so dig out those critters and play along!  Thanks for stopping by today, and until next time,

Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless!  💗

~ Marie

SQUIRRELS GONE NUTZ -- STITCHING AND THANK YOU -- AUGUST 22, 2021

Hello friends!  It's that time of the month again where my favorite crafty people, aka The Squirrel Squad, and I share what we have made for our Squirrels Gone Nutz hop.  In case you have forgotten the reason we started this hop, we all wanted to be able to use those supplies we have stashed (squirreled) away, add a specific technique or supply, and hopefully inspire others to do the same!  Don't you just love our crazy graphic that Karen designed for us?  I think that guy is hilarious!

For this month, it was decided to do stitching, which could be real or faux, and using thank you as a theme.  Now it might seem that we really just chose a technique and a theme, without actually focusing on using any tucked away supplies.  But, you're wrong!  Some of us thought with stitching, we could be using some stitching dies that hadn't been used, or thread that we have had from other crafts we've done in the past (hello cross-stitching!).  At least those were my thoughts about it!  So, with that in mind, let's have a look at what I made:

I have been getting the Spellbinders Large die of the month for the last couple of months now, and this card uses the card panel stitching die from the May 2021 kit.  Now, I know it hasn't been in my stash *all* that long, but I really did want to use it before the flowers wilted! 😆  I cut it from black 65lb. cardstock from Recollections, and then decided to use some variegated DMC thread that I have in my stash for the larger flowers, leaves, and stems.  this was all done using 3 strands.  The centers of the purple flowers were stitched with gold metallic DMC thread in 2 strands, and the smaller flowers were stitched using Gutermann Sulky thread in Holoshimmer, done with a single strand, but stitched 4 times.  All that stitching took me several evenings of watching Outlander to finish!

Once all the stitching was completed, I used Simon's Craft Tacky glue to attach any loose ends.  Then, I trimmed and attached tiny pieces of foam tape to the back of the panel, and adhered it to the front of an A2 card base.  For the sentiment, I grabbed my Bitty Buzzwords stamps and dies from Honey Bee, and cut the "thanks" shadow layer twice from the same black cardstock as the panel, and the word 3 times from the same white as the card case.  I adhered all the word layers together with Bearly Art glue, then used my MISTI and Versa Fine Clair Nocturne ink to stamp the "sending you" from the stamp set, using the die cuts as a placement guide before adhering them to the card base. As an added touch, I adhered some gems from my stash to some of the flower centers. Here are some other views of my card...I think the last 2 pics really show the dimension this card has!

Since this is a hop, you may have come here from the fabulously talented Bory...if not, I encourage you to continue on with the hop to the wonderful Karen, and make your way back around!  We are a small hop, so it wouldn't take you long at all!  As always, thanks for stopping by, and don't forget that we'd love it if you subscribed, and left us some comment love!  Until next time,

Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless!

~ Marie

 

LIL PATCH OF CRAFTY FRIENDS -- SPONSORED BY FABRIKA FANTASY -- AUGUST 15, 2021

Hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!  Today's post is a bit cheesy, LOL!  It's Team B's turn over at Lil Patch of Crafty Friends, and our awesome sponsor is Fabrika Fantasy.

Prize ~ 3 Images

Here is my card:

I used this cute Happy Mouse image.  He looks quite pleased with himself, don't you think?

Please click on the picture to enlarge it; I'm not sure why it looks so blurry here!    Anyway, I chose to use the pre-colored version, as you do get both pre-colored and uncolored versions in the file.  YAY!  I found this cheese cut file in the Silhouette Store, and modified it to suit my plan for the card.  It is originally a "whole slice," but I chose to cut it on a diagonal.  I also added what I hope looks like a bite mark (those 3 scallops close together).  I used Oxide inks in Fossilized Amber and Scattered Straw to color the cheese, which I had cut from Accent Opaque 120lb cardstock.  Before adhering the 2 layers of cheese together, I splattered the top layer with the leftover Scattered Straw ink mixed with water.  I also had to do some fussy cutting of the bottom layer so there wouldn't be weird looking edges when I offset the layers.

I asked my crafty Squirrel Sisters for advice on what sentiment to use, and they came up with several "cheesy " ones.  I liked this one the best, as I really do love cheese!  I printed that out and cut it with a banner cut file, also layering it up 2 times to add dimension.  The mouse has 4 layers altogether, as I wanted him to really stand out.

I inked the edges of the yellow cardstock layer with Fossilized Amber so it wouldn't seem so flat compared to the rest of the card.  Everything was adhered flat to the 5.5" square card base, and the card was finished!

--CHALLENGES--

Love to Craft #61:  ATG (2/5)

Mix It Up #52:  ATG (2/5)

Crafts Galore Encore #90:  ATG (2/3)

Crafty Animals #53:  ATG using animals

Classic Design #8:  ATG

A Perfect Time to Craft #8:  ATG

The Creative Crafters #43:  ATG (1/3)

SheepSki Designs #53:  Let's Be Cute (2/3)

Pearly Sparkles #65:  ATG

Gem of a Challenge #17:  ATG (1/2)

Paper Funday #32:  ATG w/optional twist Cute Critters (1/4)

Unicorn Challenge #68:  ATG

Cute Card Thursday #691:  ATG

Creative Craft Cottage #143:  No Patterned Paper (1/5)

Aud Sentiments #281:  ATG with a sentiment (1/5)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Be sure to pop on over to the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends blog to see what the rest of Team B has created with their images; you won't be disappointed!  Please leave us some crafty comment love, and subscribe to our blogs too!  We appreciate you so much!  Until next time friends,

Stay Healthy, Take Care and God Bless! 💖

~ Marie

2CCC --SPONSORED BY SHEEPSKI DESIGNS -- AUGUST 1, 2021

Hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!  The 1st of a new month means a new challenge over at the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies challenge blog!  As always, we are Anything Goes, as long as you feature a critter!  This month, our sponsor is the lovely SheepSki Designs.

For my card, I chose to work with this cute image called Walkies:

Don't these two look cute going on their little walk?  Everybody needs a bit of exercise now and then!  I sized and cut the image with my Silhouette Cameo, and colored it with alcohol markers.  The background was created with the Twisted Sunshine stencil from The Rabbit Hole Designs and Martha Stewart glitter paste in Sour Apple.  The green is more muted in the picture than it is in real life, and of course the glitter doesn't show well either. 😐  I added the black sentiment strip for them to walk on, but I did have some trouble coming up with a sentiment that would make sense with the image, AND fit the size the strip needed to be.  I finally settled on this one from the Happiness Messages stamp set from Hero Arts.  I'm hoping it suits the image well enough!  Everything was glued down flat with Bearly Art glue, except for the image, which is popped up on foam tape.

--CHALLENGES--

Love to Craft #61:  ATG (1/5)

Mix it Up #52:  ATG (1/5)

Besties International:  ATG (1/3)

Color It, Create It, Show It Off:  ATG with coloring (1/3)

Crafts Galore Encore #90:  ATG  (1/3)

Crafty Animals #53:  ATG using animals

 Classic Design #8:  ATG

A Perfect Time to Craft #8:  ATG

The Creative Crafters #42:  ATG (3/3)

SheepSki Designs #53:  Let's Be Cute! (1/3)

Pearly Sparkles #65:  ATG 

Gem of a Challenge #16:  ATG (1/2)

My Time to Craft #462:  No Patterned Papers

Double Trouble #90:  "Are You Kitten Me?" (pets)

Lemon Shortbread #151:  ATG (1/3)

Alphabet Challenge:  I is for Insect

Polkadoodles #31:  ATG (1/2)

Penny's Paper Crafty #501:  ATG (2/3)

Colour Crazy #30:  ATG with coloring (1/2)

The Outlawz Twisted Thursday:  ATG (1/2)

The Outlawz Festive Fridays:  Birthday

I thank you so much for stopping by!  I really do appreciate the time it takes to read a blog post, and leave comments!  Please don't forget to pop over to the 2CCC blog to join us with your critter projects!  Until next time friends,

Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless!  

~ Marie

SQUIRRELS GONE NUTZ -- CHRISTMAS IN JULY AND ACETATE --JULY 21, 2021

Hello friends!  Welcome back to my blog.  I hope all is well with you, and that you are staying healthy.  It's that time of the month again, when the Squirrel Squad and I drag out those supplies we've squirreled away and put them to good use!  If you are hopping along, you should have come from the wonderful Lounon's blog, Craft Me, Craft Moi.

Since it is July, I suggested Christmas for our theme.  I know that no one is at all surprised by that!  For our supply, acetate was picked from our list. I would think that most card makers' first thought would be to make a shaker.  I totally did not want to do that, since that is what would be predicted.  Time and other ideas got away from me though, so I did end up making a shaker.  It's not the "normal" shaker though...I decided to try a full panel shaker instead!

I have been so inspired lately by AmyR at Prairie Paper & Ink on YouTube, and also by Nina Marie Trapani's latest video about full panel shaker cards, that I decided now was the perfect time to try one!  I have had this piece of plastic with the snowflakes on it since December when I received it as a treat bag full of goodies.  That's right, the bag was so pretty, that I just HAD to save it and re-purpose it!  I washed it and cut it apart, and now is its time to shine!  I also grabbed a shimmer powder panel that I created a couple of months ago and embossed it with a TOTALLY  GORGEOUS 3D snowflake folder from Sizzix, just like Nina Marie did in her video.  I continued following what she did by adding Brilliance Moonlight White ink to the raised areas, and then heat embossing with Ranger's holographic powder.  It looked SO GORGEOUS afterward!  It was a shame that I had to cover it up, but I have another similar panel that I can do the same steps with and NOT cover it up. 😀

Next, I used strong double sided tape by Scrapbook.com on the back of the panel, and adhered the plastic sheet to it, keeping one side open for the addition of the sequins.  The sequins I used are:

Moonshine Confetti by Cartwright's, Blue Blizzard blend, Frozen blend, and Winter Mix all from Sparkle Blends.  After closing up the fourth side, I added more tape, and adhered my shaker panel to a purple cardstock mat from my stash.  Incidentally, both panels were die cut using Spellbinders Card Creator die sets.  More double sided tape was added to the back of the purple panel, and then adhered to the card base.

For the sentiment, I pulled out the Christmas Phrases die sets (Tim Holtz/Sizzix), and cut "Winter" and "Wishes" 3 times each from the same purple cardstock.  I adhered them together using Bearly Art glue, and then adhered them to the panel with the same glue.  It worked very well, I might add!  When that was dry, I added several layers of clear Wink of Stella to the words so they would be as sparkly and shiny as the rest of the card!  See?

--CHALLENGES--

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #79:  ATG (3/10)

Merry Little Christmas #36:  ATG (3/5)

CHNC #551:  ATG Christmas

Crafty Calendar:  ATG (3/3)

Love to Craft #60:  ATG (4/5)

Mix it Up #51:  ATG (4/5)

Moving Along With the Times #132:  Cool it Down (2/3)

Crafts Galore Encore #89:  ATG (2/3)

613 Avenue Create #7:  ATG 

Crafty Gals Corner #221:  Christmas in July (2/3)

Classic Design #7:  ATG

Digi Doodle Studios #40:  Christmas in July (3/3)

A Place to Start:  Craft your favorite holiday/celebration (2/8)

A Perfect Time to Craft:  ATG

The Creative Crafters #42:  ATG (2/3)

SheepSki Designs #52:  Celebration (3/3)

The Corrosive Challenge #7:  ATG (2/4)

Dragonfly Dreams:  Christmas in July (2/3)

Pearly Sparkles #64:  Favorite time of year

Cute Card Thursday #690:  ATG

Creative Craft Cottage #142:  Christmas in July (2/5)

Gem of a Challenge #15:  ATG (2/2)

Word Art Wednesday #501 - #502:  ATG (1/5)

Cardz 4 Gals #151:  Christmas in July 

Polkadoodles #29:  ATG (2/2)

Digi Choosday #29:  ATG (1/2)

Penny's Paper Crafty #501:  ATG (1/3)

Christmas Craft Creations:  ATG

Crafting Happiness #105:  ATG 

Sweet Stampin':  Create your own background

Crafty Catz #560:  ATG w/optional Christmas in July

The Outlawz Twisted Thursday:  Christmas in July

The Outlawz Festive Fridays:  Christmas

Sparkles Christmas:  More than 1 Snowflake

Papercraft Challenges:  Shaker Cards

That's all from me!  Your next stop on the hop is the sweet Bory at Bory's Crafting Place.  Please leave us some comment love, and consider subscribing to our blogs and other social media sites, if you haven't already!  We hope you have been inspired today!  Until next time friends,

Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless!

~ Marie

LIL PATCH OF CRAFTY FRIENDS -- CHRISTMAS IN JULY -- JULY 18, 2021

Hello friends!  Welcome back to my blog!  Today's we're celebrating Christmas in July  at Lil Patch of Crafty Friends

And, we are lucky enough to have 2 sponsors:

Fabrika Fantasy

Prize ~ 3 Images

Fred She Said

Prize ~ $10 Voucher

I chose an image from FSS called Nuthatch, and I am using the PRE-COLORED version:

I didn't feel at all comfortable trying to color this pretty bird myself, so I am glad that Tracey offers pre-colored versions as well as ones you can color yourself.  I sized the image so I could die cut it using the largest of the smaller set of classic circles from Spellbinders, with the plan to make a frame using either a "fancy" circle, or the plain one I decided on.  The gorgeous patterned papers come from the 12x12 White Christmas Recollections paper pad.  I love the simplicity of the diagonal stripe, and the trees were perfect to go with the bird image.  I managed to find a gray cardstock in my hoard collection that matched the tone of the gray striped paper, and I used it to mat all the layers.  My cuttings left me with the strip I ended up heat embossing my Casual Fridays Snowflake Greetings sentiment on (serendipitous, no?) 😉  For that, I used Versamark ink and Recollections Snow embossing powder.  Everything was glued flat onto the 5.5" card base using Bearly Arts glue, except I did pop up the entire image panel using foam tape.

--CHALLENGES--

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #79:  ATG (2/10)

Merry Little Christmas #36:  ATG (2/5)

CHNC #551:  ATG

Crafty Calendar:  ATG (2/3)

CHN Patterned Paper:  ATG using patterned paper

Love to Craft #60:  ATG (3/5)

Mix it Up #51:  ATG (3/5)

Besties International:  ATG (3/3)

Moving Along With The Times #132:  Cool it Down

613 Avenue Create #7:  ATG

Crafts Galore Encore #89:  ATG (1/3)

Crafty Gals Corner #221:  Christmas in July (1/3)

Crafty Animals #52:  ATG using animals 

Classic Design #7:  ATG

Digi Doodle Studios #40:  Christmas in July

A Place to Start #7:  Craft Your Favorite Holiday/Celebration (1/8)

A Perfect Time to Craft #7:  ATG

The Creative Crafters #42:  ATG (1/3)

SheepSki Designs #52:  Celebration (2/3)

The Corrosive Challenge#7:  ATG (1/4)

Dragonfly Dreams:  Christmas in July (1/3)

Pearly Sparkles #64:  Favorite time of year (Christmas!)

Cute Card Thursday #690:  ATG

Creative Craft Cottage #142:  Christmas in July (1/5)

Gem of a Challenge #15:  ATG (1/2)

Word Art Wednesday #499 - #500:  ATG (1/5)

Cardz 4 Gals #151:  Christmas in July

Through the Craft Room Door:  ATG (1/2)

Addicted to Stamps and More #409:  Any Occasion

Polkadoodles #29:  ATG (1/2)

Digi Choosday #28:  ATG (1/2)

Penny's Paper Crafty #500:  ATG (1/3) 

The Outlawz Twisted Thursday:  Christmas in July

The Outlawz Festive Fridays:  Christmas

Christmas Craft Creations:  ATG (1/3)

Thank you very much for stopping by!  Don't forget to pop on over to the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends challenge blog to join in on the Christmas in July fun...I can't wait to see what you share with us!  Until next time,

Stay Healthy, Take Care and God Bless!  

~ Marie

BUGABOO ANYTHING GOES -- SATURDAY, JULY 3, 2021

Hello friends!  I hope you are all well and happy on this first Saturday of July!  Hard to believe that 2021 is halfway over already.  With the start of a new month, that means a new Anything Goes challenge at the Catch the Bug blog.  This month also starts another change to the challenges at the blog.  We will now only have 2 challenges a month; the Anything Goes starting on the first Saturday, and Stella Says Sketch, staring on the first Sunday.  These challenges will both run for the duration of each month.  The freebie Fridays will continue as normal.

So now that the housekeeping is out of the way, let me show you my card:

I chose to use this cute Chubby Butterfly 2 image.  Isn't it sweet?  I think I need to get the other Chubby Butterfly image now too...hehe!  I embossed a cardstock panel with the Large Petal embossing folder by Darice, and then used Oxide inks in the colors Carved Pumpkin, Kitsch Flamingo, and Squeezed Lemonade to ink the embossed panel.  To do this, I used my Taylored Expressions blender brushes.  I love the look that this gives!  To take it a bit further, I splattered Carved Pumpkin and Kitsch Flamingo all over the panel...and the area AROUND the panel, if I'm being honest! 😒  Once the panel had dried, I used strong double sided tape to adhere it to a black panel, and then did the same to adhere that to the A2 card base.  I love the small border of the black cardstock between the white card base and the colorful embossed panel; it really sets off those colors!

My image was printed out on Accent Opaque 120lb cardstock, and then die cut with a Spellbinders Classic circle.  I chose alcohol markers that matched the inks I had used for blending, and very simply colored the butterfly.  I added some white gel pen dots to the eyes and on the cheeks.  Clear Wink of Stella was added to the hearts on the wings, and to the yellow portions as well.  For the sentiment, I used the Honey Bee Stamps Bitty Buzzwords stamp set and die set.  I know I am going to get A LOT of use out of these!  Here are a couple more pics:

--CHALLENGES--

Crafty Calendar:  ATG (1/3)

Love to Craft #60:  ATG (2/5)

Mix it Up #51:  ATG (2/5)

Classic Design #7:  ATG

A Perfect Time to Craft #7:  ATG

The Creative Crafters #41:  ATG (3/3)

Word Art Wednesday #497 -#498:  ATG (2/5)

Lemon Shortbread #149:  ATG (2/3)

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

C.R.A.F.T Challenge #604:  ATG (2/2)

Polkadoodles #27:  ATG (2/2)

Digi Choosday #26: ATG (2/2)

Gem of a Challenge #14:  ATG (1/2)

Penny's Paper Crafty #499:  ATG (2/3)

Colour Crazy #26: ATG with coloring (1/2)

Besties International:  ATG (2/3)

Color It, Create It, Show It Off:  ATG with coloring (2/3)

Cute Card Thursday #690:  ATG

Crafty Catz #558:  ATG (1/3)

Crafty Animals #52:  ATG using animals

The Outlawz Twisted Thursday:  ATG (2/2)

The Outlawz Festive Fridays:  ATG

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Hop on over to the Catch the Bug blog to see what the rest of the DT has created with their chosen images (you are gonna love it, I promise!)  Don't forget, you have the whole month of July to join in the fun, and we love to see what you make, so please join us!  Until next time my friends,

Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless!  😀💗

~ Marie