Papertrey's November 2018 Blog Hop

While it has been a very long time since I've posted, I couldn't help sharing one of my favorite things about the holidays - wrapping presents.

The inspiration taken from this wonderful photo, was primarily the look of gifts wrapped all in the same color, with one or two contrasting same colors for the focal points.

Instead of ribbons to tie the look together, I used die cuts (my favorite paper item). The nice large "canvas" allows for some more oversized compositions. The graphical nature of their sophisticated silhouettes makes for a bold , yet understated, visual impact. 

Below are the images of the individual packages. You'll notice MANY Papertrey dies used, as well as supporting bits from Impression Obsession, My Favorite Things, Elizabeth, Impression Obsession, Memory Box, Poppy Stamps, and Marianne. Here goes!

Yes, I've been saving these from last year to share, and I'm not that far ahead of this year's gift giving. I sure hope you enjoyed these, and will give this look a try.

Plaid is Rad: Happy Holiday Poinsettia

 One last card for the Plaid is Rad Challenge, over at the Poppystamps blog.

Lezlye's beautiful card with the white glitter Christmas trees, uses a fabulous paper from Basic Grey released a few years ago.  It's one of my all time favorites, so I chose to feature that print, and dress it up.

I've been itching to use the Holiday Poinsettia die that I won! When Poppystamps has a release, they give you an opportunity to win one of their amazing dies with each blog post.

This poinsettia die has just the punch needed to make the focal point sing The perfect accompaniment  is the  Fancy Happy Holiday die, cut from black glitter paper. (I really need to do something about my poor photographic space. Shine just isn't an element of my photos, and what's Christmas without shine?!) The plaid from Authentic had the cute musical border which I die cut.

I included a pic of this card on it's side, because when folks pick it up, they always put it down that way. I prefer the sentiment in the vertical orientation. Which way do you like it?

Now to post these, and see what the rest of you have been up to. If you like what you see, please leave me a comment; it will make my day. Happy Thanksgiving and may your holidays be filled with creativity and cheer.

Plaid is Rad: Happy Holiday Trees

Here is a second entry for Poppystamps' November Challenge: Plaid is Rad.  I'm mad about plaid, so I whipped up three cards for this challenge. This is my second card.

Using my Stitched Evergreen Cutouts die (it's still on sale over at the store), I moved the die several times to vary where the trees fell in each row. After the trees were cut, I embossed the dots with a folder, and backed each tree with coordinating papers from a Christmas pad with small patterns. Poppystamp's' "stitched cutout" dies are a blast because there are so many different ways to lay them out, You also have all those cute little cut out trees to use on another card.

 The  Happy Holidays die is a Poppystamps beauty, and I cut it out of turquoise glitter paper and made it three layers deep for some dimension. (The close-up to the left is so you can tell there really is plaid  in the trees.)

If you enter a card, you could win the "Home for the Holidays Wreath" die. Happy crafting!

Plaid is Rad: Snowy Christmas

Hi all. If you are here, chances are you have come from Poppystamp's November Challenge"Plaid is Rad". (If you're a follower, bless your fuzzy heart. You're also may be wondering who I am, since two years have passed since my last post. Time to get back on the horse.)

Poppystamps has become one of my go-to sources for great dies and an inspiring design team. I just love plaids at Christmas time, so this month's challenge was for me.

Stitched Snowflake Cutouts is a recent acquisition (and it's still on sale for a steal). 

I cut the cream panel twice with this die, and inlaid the snowflakes with gold and green foil paper. The photo to the right is an attempt to show how beautiful the foiled papers are when die cut. It's a knock-out in person. To shake it up a bit, I let the plaid from the background show through in a few spots.

The plaid is a Debbie Mumm paper from JoAnn, and the lovely script "Christmas" is a die from Papertrey.

Thanks for visiting, and I'll be visiting you soon.

CHACB - Challenge #17 - Happy Fall, Y'all

Whoopee!!! I get to play along with Craft Hoarders Anonymous' challenge this week.

Since I usually buy my supplies on sale after the holidays, my items get used the following year. This is true of the three cards I made for this challenge, except for the IO Squirrel Dies (just released), and I could NOT wait to use them!

Don't you just LOVE the dies they have these days. More and more I'm creating cards just made with die-cuts. The adorable squirrels are sized just right to pair with  IO's pumpkin die. That fabulous swirl tree die can be a bit difficult  to remove from the paper from which it's cut. I used a trick from my favorite paper store, Absolutely Everything, and used wax paper between the die and the paper being cut. The waxy lubricant on the cut edges makes a HUGE difference. 

 Here's another pairing of those two great die sets. At first I thought the yellow, white, and daisies were more like a "spring" card, but it's growing on me. (The copic shading on the pumpkins hardly shows in person, but I just couldn't get this picture to look right. Have you been having a lot of grey days lately?)

 

This last card is made with IO's Halloween Hill Die. At first I thought this die might be limited in its use, but there are so many things you can do with it. This is just one of several cards I made with it, and I was pleased with the way the Indian glittered paper worked as a starry sky. To see this die, cut into pieces, and used on a different kind of card, click here and scroll down to the "Scared Girl with Cat".

Thanks for visiting and looking at all three cards. (They are so simple, I figured they should be shown in one post.) I can hardly wait to comment on your creations. It seems this challenge really floated everyone's boats.

Free Halloween Bingo Cards to Download - Part 3

Welcome to day three of posting some Halloween Bingo cards I've made recently. I'll start off with a sample using one of these cards, and further down this post, you'll find four of the cards that I debuted yesterday, in their single card formats.

*Dover Books*

Cat in Pumpkin

Above card's inside, finished a la Gloria Stengle

Here are the large size images of some of the HALLOWEEN BINGO cards that I used in projects on day one. (For bingo cards ranked up four and six to a page (easy printing if you want variety), see that post here.

Right click on the images below to save. All images are JPEG files. The credit for the images and fonts used are listed below each. 

The following four cards were built on a card found on CollageCandy.blogspot where you can find unaltered BINGO cards.

* Old Design Shop*
Spiderweb
* Cruickshank Font *
Numbers
* The Gingerbread House Font *
Word "Scary"

* Cruikshank Font *
Numbers

* Cats Alphabet Medium *
Word "Kitty"

*The Graphics Fairy*

Bat

*Batang Font*

Numbers

*Handy George Font*

Word "Treat" (bolded)

*Vintage Graphics Fairy*

Bat (altered)

*Dover Books*

Cat on Pumpkin

*Brair Press*

Jack-o-lantern

*Dover Books*

 Arched Cat

*The Graphics Fairy*

Bat

*Beyond Wonderland Font*

Word "Witch"

*Bolton Titling Font*

Numbers

If you would like to try your own hand at creating BINGO cards, here is the blank version I created and used for the four cards above.

For three more Bingo cards, see the previous post here.

Hope you enjoy using these as much as I enjoyed making them. Please leave a comment if you find these useful, and would like some more for Christmas or other holidays. As always, thanks for taking the time to visit.

Free Halloween Bingo Cards to Download - Part 2

Here are three of Halloween Bingo cards I designed, in their larger formats. These can be easily sized for printing, and you can print only the cards that appeal to you. (If you want these cards in ready-to-print format, click here.)

The card above was designed with the first Bingo card below, and the fabulous fiddle-playing cat is from Dover's Full-Color Holiday Vignettes CD-ROM and Book. (I am a serious Dover book fanatic. My book is old enough that it didn't come with a CD.) If you would like a free source for this image, you can find one at Magic Moonlight Studio - Free Images.

Truth be told, the inspiration for all my Halloween cards using Bingo cards, comes from the drop dead fabulous Ginny, at Polly's Paper Studio blog. If you love vintage images and richly layered compositions, Ginny is at the top of the list. Once you start looking, you won't be able to stop.

(Just a personal note here: Usually, copying cards seems like a cheat to me, BUT boy do I learn a lot when I use a great card as the basis for mine. Visual creativity is not my strongest suit, and by patterning my card off another, I discover all kinds of things that make the cards work, such as how the balance of the composition is achieved.)

On to the first batch of Halloween Bingo cards. Each of these have a different base, and are a bit less Bingo-ish than the four cards found here. (Click on images to enlarge.)

Sweetly Scrapped

Original Pressman BINGO card

The Graphics Fairy

Owl

*Chiller Font*

"TRICK"

*Bolton Outline Font*

Numbers

*Graphics Fairy*

Grave Yard Header

*Graphics Fairy*

Skull

*Elpalcodebordell*

Cross written letter - Background

*Zenda Font*

Numbers

*Graffical Muse*

BINGO Card Base

*The Graphics Fairy*

Bat Motif Around Letters

*The Graphics Fairy*

Thorny Branch Frame

*The Graphics Fairy*

Ghost Lady (Center Block)

* Cruikshank Font *
Numbers
*Bolton Titling Outline Font*
"GHOST"

To see more Bingo cards, see my lat post here.

 I hope you can make use of these BINGO cards and have a blast stirring up a little Halloween magic yourself. Your comments and suggestions are gratefully received.

Full-Color Holiday Vignettes CD-ROM and Book

Full-Color Holiday Vignettes CD-ROM and Book

Full-Color Holiday Vignettes CD-ROM and Book

Full-Color Holiday Vignettes CD-ROM and Book