Happy Father's Day!

The Challenge
I saw a fun and timely challenge on Imaginisce's blog and decided to participate. I was going to make a framed picture for my Dad for Father's Day anyway, so I decided used their challenge for the inspiration. The challenge rules are as follows:

Challenge Rules:

1.  Use the sketch as inspiration for your project (i.e. card, layout, mini book cover, etc)

2.  THEME: Father

3.  Use the color BROWN

4.  Use some kind of recycled product on your project.

Here is my take:

The Rules
1. Sketch - I used Imaginisce's sketch for my layout design. The center of my frame was only around 5 x 5." As there wasn't a lot of room to play around with, I basically stuck to the sketch. I did eliminate the circular journaling block to save some space, and replaced one smaller photo with a title block.

2. Theme - Last December, I went to a Colonial themed  Christmas celebration at Riley's Farm and I just love this photo of my Dad taken by lantern light. I imagine him to be reporting, "The British are coming!" I chose photos from this night for my Father's Day frame. 

3. Color - I used a former fall collection, "Happy Harvest" since the colors matched so well with my antiqued photos. It also contains a lot of brown which is rule #3. 

4. Recycle - I purchased a stack of clear, plastic plates on clearance at Target. I thought they would make a nice base for the photos and the frame looks like it is made out of glass. 

I didn't know if that would count as a recycled object as it wasn't a used plate so I added some hearts I punched from cork from a disposable coffee cup holder. 

It was relatively quick to make and is a nice alternative to the traditionally framed photo. I sent this off to my Dad in Taiwan so I hope it arrives unscathed. I wish you all a happy Father's Day.

I'm also entering this in:
Simon Says Stamp! - Masculine/Father challenge
Belli Blog - #171 Father's Day
Stamp 'n' Doodle - Father's Day/Male
Stampin' Royalty - #179 Man up

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,

Love to Scrap Challenge #2: Emboss It!

Hello Scrappy friends! It is time for our second challenge at Love to Scrap. We just wrapped up our first challenge, Anything Goes, yesterday and the winner and top three can be seen here.

The Challenge
For our 2nd challenge which begins today, submit any type of project that uses an embossing technique. It can be heat embossing with inks and powders or dry embossing with die cut machines and folders.

I choseheat embossing and made this small Christmas gift. It is a clear pillow box that was leftover packaging from some buttons. I filled it with mini marshmallows to look like snow. I wrapped a belly band around it and decorated it with a wintry theme.

The Details

I stamped the background snowflakes using a clear VersaMark watermark stamp pad. I then added white embossing powder and heated it on watercolor paper. This is thicker and more absorbent that cardstock. 

I stamped some blue and purple Stampin' Up ink pads on my craft sheet. I then sprayed some water onto the stamped ink which made small puddles. I dragged my paper through the puddles and got a subtly blended watercolor effect in the background. I first tried using cardstock but the colors looked dull and muddy so I switched to watercolor paper. 

I wanted a soft muted look for my central snowman image so I used the leftover puddles of ink for my colors and painted it onto the snowman with a water brush. I thought Copics might be too stark as I only wanted a hint of color since the snowman is mostly white. 

The snowman is a digital image called, "Oops Snowman" as he is falling on that little rock next to his skates. It is a digital image from the sponsor for this challenge, The Crafting Boutique.  The rest of my stamps (snowflakes, sentiment, scarf wrapped heart) are from a Clearly Wordsworth set called, "13 Snowman" that I already owned, which matched the digi stamp perfectly.

Supplies

Pillow Box - Clearbags

Watercolor Paper - Simon Says Stamps

Inks - Stampin' Up Classic, Tsukineko

Cardstock - Cutcardstock

Watercolor Brush - Niji

Craft Sheet - Inkssentials

Digi Stamp - The Crafting Boutique

Stamps - Clearly Wordsworth

Embossing Powder - Hero Arts

Glitter Glue - Ranger

Heat Tool - American Crafts

Spray Bottle - Inkssentials

Join the Fun
For more details about the challenge and to see the rest of the design team's projects, please see today's post on Love to Scrap. This challenge is open for two weeks, so get your entries in before Sunday, March 31st at 3 P.M. PST. If you have any projects with embossing on it, just link it to today's post. 

The winner will receive a $10 shopping spree at The Crafting Boutique and that will get you 5 - 10 items as everything is only $1 or $2. So get your crafting on.

I'm entering this in:
Sentimental Sundays - Challenge #146, Anything Goes
Lady Anne's Challenge - #6 Using Stamps
No Matter Which Challenges - #7 Anything Goes
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything but a Card
Love to Create - #57 Anything Goes
My Crafty Spot - #91 Embossing

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,

Popcorn Gift Card Holder with Free Cut File

***For Paper Made Bakery's December blog hop, please go here.***

The Reveal

I was asked to be a guest designer for CutCardstock's 12 Days of Christmas series. Since I love their cardstock and card kits, I readily agreed. As part of the series, there is a cute Christmas gift or gift wrapping idea each day. Today is Day 4 in the series and this is my contribution. Hop on over to CutCardstock's blog to see the entire series. 

The Details

I wanted to design something practical that I could make in bulk to give out. One thing I like to give are movie tickets or theater gift cards. What better way to package it than in a cute popcorn gift card holder? If you have another present (like a DVD), you can also add an eyelet to the top, tie some twine and turn it into the accompanying gift tag. 

I drew the image on my iPad and imported it into Silhouette Design Studio. The gift card holder is one piece and the popcorn and banner can be popped on with foam adhesive for dimension or adhered flat. All the pieces fit perfectly on one sheet of 8.5 x 11" Basic White 80lb cardstock. As my gift to you, you can download this Studio file for your personal use. It will only open if you have the corresponding software. 

Silhouette Studio Downloadable file: Popcorn Gift Card Holder

This is a print and cut file, meaning you'd print out the image on your printer first before running it through your Cameo. It will be perforated on the fold lines, so most of the work has been done, and there is no coloring involved. The download will look like the following image. 

After you assemble the pieces, you can add your own finishing touches. I mounted the banner on some Basic Black 80lb cardstock to give it a more distinct outline. I added some jewels and stars on the banner to give it a marquee feel. I added some Liquid Appliqué on the popcorn kernels to give it that fluffy popcorn texture. 

This is a great way to add a personal touch when giving out something impersonal like a gift card. Have fun creating your own handmade cards and gifts. I wish you all the best this Christmas season. 

Thanks so much for droppin' by,

Sweet Stamp Shop: November Release Blog Hop

The Hop
Welcome to Sweet Stamp Shop's November new release hop. There is a new hop each day (Tu. - Th.) this week featuring a different set of stamps. Today's hop is a health themed set entitled Get Fit. If you came from Kelly's blog, you are in the right place. Here is the blog order. 

Sweet Stamp Shop Blog

Emily 

Misty

Kelly 

Michelle (←you are here)

Kim (←go here next)

Jamie

Nicole

The Reveal #1

I utilized the "get fit" theme by making a healthy snack pack for a friend who is on a Paleo diet. I purchased some snacks, placed it in a cellophane bag and make a topper using some of the cute stamps. 

I used some mini alphas for the title. 

For the embellishments, I stamped some of the images, colored them in with Copics and added some Glossy Accents for a shiny glow. 

The Reveal #2

For my second project, I decided to use the set in an unintended way. I took the scale stamp and converted it into a mini-frame on this back to school card. 

I hope you enjoy seeing all the new creations prepared by the design team!

Your next stop is Kim's blog.  

Thanks so much for hoppin' by,

Paper Made Bakery: November Reveal + Blog Hop + Giveaway

The Hop:

Welcome to Paper Made Bakery's new November release blog hop. This month PMB is joining with Timeless Twine for a combined hop with their design team. You'll see lots of great ideas on how products from both companies can work seamlessly together. If you've just arrived from Wida's site, then you've come to the right place. If you would like to start from the beginning, please hop on over to Paper Made Bakery's blog. If you are lost, this the blog hop order:

Paper Made Bakery

Wida Miller

Michelle McClure (←you are here)

Lisa Arana (←go here next)

Jennifer Cuthbertson

Amy Tsuruta

Alicia Thelin

Stacy Muler 

Kathy Gillion 

Jenny Johnson 

Kassidy Thomas

Debbie Crowder 

Annette Allen 

Cristina Garcia 

The Kit:

November's Fresh Baked Kit entitled Christmas Treats features soft, wintry papers from Lily Bee Design's Christmas Cheer collection, an exclusive pack of matching twine from Timeless Twine and coordinating images from Fresh Squeezed Stamps' Christmas Treats set. This kit is perfect for creating homemade holiday cards and gifts. But you can use it for anything. For example, I made a Halloween card using the stamp set, which you can view here. 

The Reveal:

I made a small shadow box wall hanging for my friends. When I saw some photos of their two kids lying on the green grass, I thought it would make a perfect Christmas photo after adding some red accents. I printed out the photo as a square and cut out extra white around the photo paper to look like a Polaroid. I printed out a Christmas quote and added embellishments from the kit, and played with the twine. 

The Tutorial:

I've been wanting to make some pom poms with twine for a while now, but found it too bulky for my cards and layouts. I chose a shadow box instead of a frame especially for this purpose. This 5.5 x 5.5" Ikea shadow box is the perfect size to work with papers and embellishments from a Fresh Baked Kit. These tri-colored pom poms turned out so cute, you might want to give it a try too. 

1. Wrap your twine 25 times around the tines of a fork. (You can wrap more or less times depending on how dense you want your pom pom. You can affect the size of the pom pom by the size of the fork you use and how many tines you wrap. I wanted a small pom so I used a small salad fork and only used three of the tines.) 

2. Cut a piece of twine and thread it through the center tine and tie a knot around the middle of the wrapped twine. 

3. Slide the tied twine off of the fork. 

4. Cut the loops on each side in half. You'll end up with a scraggly pom at this point. 

5. Trim to a uniform shape. 

6. For a fuller look, unravel the twisted strands. 

I hand cut two Santa Hats from red cardstock. I used Liquid Appliqué for the fur trim and adhered the pom pom on the ends. This turned a summer photo into a winter, Christmas photo. 

The Giveaway:

As a way to say thank you for participating in today's blog hop, Paper Made Bakery is giving away two great prizes. You can enter by midnight on Sunday, November 4th by using the Rafflecopter widget below. 

Good luck to all! Your next stop is Lisa's blog. Remember there are daily inspiration projects and tutorials on PMB's blog all month long. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for hoppin' by,

Sweet Stamp Shop: October Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

The Hop
Welcome to Sweet Stamp Shop's October new release hop. There is a different hop each day (Tu. - Th.) this week featuring a different set of stamps. Today's hop is featuring a nerdy bookworm set entitled Geek Chic. Here is the blog hop order:

Sweet Stamp Shop
Emily
Misty
Kari
Michelle (←you are here)
Kelly (←go here next)
Nicole 

The Reveal #1

I altered an empty DVD case into an Amazon gift card holder. I give out Amazon gift cards at Christmas to a few people, especially to a couple that registered for their wedding there. Since the theme of the stamp set is book related, I wanted to pair it with Amazon which is still kind of a book store. 

First I printed out a sentiment on the spine and the front of the case, plus I added the Amazon smiley logo. 

Then, on top of the printed cardstock, I added patterned papers plus the stamped and colored images. Aren't the bookworms so adorable? 

I decided to enter this in a sketch challenge going on at Pamela's World of Scrap. This is based on the card sketch below. You can join in the fun here. Entering challenges is a great way to utilize all your sweet stamps. 

The Reveal #2

I saw some cute bookmark ideas on Pinterest and thought that would be a perfect match for this stamp set. 

Here is the tutorial I used for the corner bookmark (girl worm). I added some twine so it would extend out of the bottom of the book. Here is a tutorial for the top loading bookmark (boy worm). Both bookmarks are really easy to make and would make a great gift, especially paired with a new book. 

Aren't they just too cute when peeking over the top of a closed book? It kind of reminds me of Kilroy was here. 

Don't forget all three new release sets are available for purchase starting today and are on sale for only $10.00. If you want a chance to win a new set, please leave a comment or see all the guidelines for more ways to win. 

Your next stop is Kelly's blog.

Thanks so much for hoppin' by,

Paper Made Bakery Reveal: Muffin Basket

The Reveal

It is my reveal day over at Paper Made Bakery. One of the teacher's at Kevin's school is leaving so he asked me to bake some muffins for his department. I baked some for his staff to eat and then packaged some to give to the one leaving. 

I bought a wicker basket and kitchen towel at the dollar store to hold the cupcakes. I then wrapped the basket in cellophane with a raffia bow. To finish it off, I then made something with my Portobello Road kit. To see what it is, please hop on over to today's post on Paper Made Bakery.

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,