Here We Come A Caroling Blog Hop Day3

Welcome to day three of Here We Come a Caroling blog hop. You probably hopped here from Dawn's blog, but if you just stopped in and want to see every stop, please see the links on the side of my blog! On day three of the hop, I thought it might be fun to cover We Three Kings. Once again, I found sheet music on line for free! I printed it out 4 x 6 inches and trimmed off the bottom. The card is matted with black card stock, on which I put The Robin's Nest Glitter Black and White Pine tree paper. The postage stamp image of the three kings is also from The Robin's Nest.

Supplies Used:

The Robin's Nest Chipboard Snowflakes (center top layer snowflake)

The Robin's Nest Glitter Black and White Pine Tree Paper

The Robin's Nest White Snow Glitter cardstock (snowflake cut out)

The Robin's Nest Cotton Candy Dew Drops (pearl and silver on snowflake)

The Robins Nest Ace of Diamonds Dew Drops (red diamonds on snowflake)

The Robin's Nest Glitter Read Journaling

The Robin's Nest Canvas Christmas

Black cardstock

Red ribbon

Here We Come A Caroling Blog Hop Day 2

Welcome to day 2 of Here We Come a Caroling Blog hop! You have probably arrived here from Dawn's blog, but if you just stopped by and wish to hop along, please see the right side of my blog for all the stops! Today's post is based on The Carol of the Bells! Someone on Pinterest had used a line of music to make a little banner. I so had to scraplift that! So, today I gave it a try with some K & Company Brenda Walton Peppermint Twist. I cut away the bell ringers and added some of The Robin's Nest Tear Drops for bell ringers instead. To make room for the custom bell ringers, I pop dotted the bells. The postage stamp was cut with Cricut's Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Cartridge. Tie a few bows and your done. Cute, cute, cute!

Be sure to comment on yesterday's post for your chance to win. Next stop on the hop is Bug Lover Cards.

Here We Come a Caroling with a Design Team Tryout!

Welcome to the Here We Come A Caroling Blog Hop! This hop is being sponsored by Theresa The Scrapbooking Queen. And along with the blog hop, I am trying out for The Robin's Nest Design Team. The design team tryout had very specific requirements about when to post, so I'm combining my tryout with the blog hop for a beautiful project for your family Christmas cards! All products are made by The Robin's Nest, unless specified otherwise.

I started my page with the decadent Red Paisley card stock for the background. I then used the White Snow Glitter Card stock for the large sheet music page. To get the snowflakes to pop and still show once I printed my sheet music on top, I FIRST inked it with Close to My Heart Dutch Blue ink using some daubers and sponges. After the blue ink was added, I trimmed the sheet to 8 1/2" x 11" and ran it through my printer with some free sheet music off the Internet. If you use this technique after you print on the computer, your ink will smear. so sponge ink, then printer ink. I sewed the White Snow Glitter Card stock onto the Red Paisley Card stock with green thread. If you sew on your page, pull the loose ends to the back and tie knots. I then distressed the edges with my fingernails.

The golden wreath is cut with the Martha Stewart Seasonal Cakes, in Distressed Honeycomb paper. I added Yellow Stickles to the cut and added Abracadabra Dew Drops in yellow to the center of the snowflakes for a bit more sparkle!

Yellow poinsettias were created with Sunset Diamond Dew Drops, and a bit of Xmas Red Stickles for the center. Around the yellow die cut, I sprinkled some flower sequins from Michaels with Dew Drops in the centers. I used Abracadabra for the yellow centers in the red flowers, and Pointsetta Dew Drops for the Red centers in the green flowers. The journaling block is Glitter Red Journaling block. I matted it on green side of the Glitter Black and White Pinetree paper.

To celebrate this blog hop, I am offering Blog Candy: $10.00 gift certificate and free shipping to either of my Etsy stores. Just leave a comment below about what item in my shop caught your eye and why. Please leave a method to contact you in a safe manner. For example, ssmith07 at hotmail dot com will help prevent spam! You can find my Scrapguild store HERE, and my Scrappincovers store HERE. And I must confess that with my current design team commitments my inventory is slim, so custom orders will be allowed for any prize winners! Winner will be drawn on the day after the hop: December 5, 2011.

On on to the next stop on the hop: Bug Lover Cards!

Another Moxie Fab Champion Award Medallion Entry

Oh happy day, a new baby card to make and another entry into the Moxie Fab World Champion Award Medallion challenge! Yes, a forth entry! How can I resist when Moxie has such fabulous inspiration photos and such wonderful artist who enter their challenges?

So, this time I am making my medallion part of the baby carriage. I cut it with my Tim Holtz Rosette die and clipped out the portion under my baby carriage. The baby carriage was cut with New Arrivals Cricut Cartridge, and embossed with the Provocraft Swiss Dot folder. I cut the rosette and the faux Swiss dot ribbon from vellum because I think it is the perfect touch for a baby card! The stripe paper is on the other side of The Robin's Nest Glitter Boy Star paper.

The sentiment is stamped with Close to My Heart Art Philosophy set and Cricut Cartridge and matted on more Robin's Nest paper with glitter. I also used this glittered card stock in a stripe under the faux Swiss dot ribbon.

Giving Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! I love the good food and family and NO presents or pressure. I am always grateful for the many blessings I have, and love to share them with my loved ones. So, this page had to have lots of love in it!

The title is cut with The Robin's Nest Brown glittered cardstock, using my SCAL2 and a font called Edwardian Script ITC. It is too fine to cut it well, so you will need to use make a shadow of the actual font. I did this using the SCAL2 Style dialog box and changing the Appearance box to Shaddow Black Out Rounded. I love this tool, because it allows me to make a black out mat for any title or make a very fine font cuttable!

On the left page, I made a journaling box using The Robins Nest Glitter Gold Journaling and a hand embroidered felt mat. I found the idea of a blanket stitch with beading on Pinterest. Love to visit there daily for inspiration.

The Robin's Nest Turkey Paper is beautiful, but I am afraid of white space! So, I fussy cut a circle frame using a kitchen plate, and working around the turkey and the glitter swirl on the paper. This is a wonderful techinque to turn a paper with lots of white space into a custom die cut! Here's how I got the look: using a pencil, I traced a kitchen plate. I then used my grade school compass to make a second circle inside the plate circle. For both circles, I did NOT trace over the turkey or swirl images. I then fussy cut around the circle and the swirl using my scissors and Exacto knife.

I hand cutting the swirl pattern in The Robin's Nest brown glitter paper. I clipped into the bottom side and carefully worked it around the underside of my circle frame.

I punched some leaves using the Creative Memories leaf punch. I cut a photo mat with The Robin's Nest Brilliant Brown Glittered Chipboard. Since, it is difficult to adhere on top of glittered paper and chipboard, I punched the corners of my mat using the EK Success corner heart punch.

Supplies Used

The Robin's Nest Glitter Sepia Trees on Linen (Background)

The Robin's Nest Turkey Paper (Turkey Circle Swirl in White)

The Robin's Nest Brown on Brown Rope Paper (background in circle detail & border around circle)

The Robin's Nest Brilliant Brown Glitter Chipboard (photo mat & leaves)

The Robin's Nest Black, White and Silver Dew Drops (Silver Dew Drops)

The Robin's Nest Fall Rub On 4 x 5 (leaves)

The Robin's Nest Glitter Gold Journaling

Jolee's Boutique Parcel Embellishments (Pinecones)

EK Success Heart Corner Punch

Creative Memories leaf punch

SCAL2 or other digital cutting software (Optional)

Hand crocheted flower

Vintage button

A Scrapbooker's Book Purse

One of the members of my scrap booking guild has been asking me to teach a class on how to make a purse from a book. With Christmas approaching, I thought now would be the perfect time to try this project out. And if you know me, I love purses, Art Glitter and making gifts! I visited my thrift store and purchased some books for future book purses and figure I can make this project for $5.00 or less with careful shopping! I have also been admiring the rose purses on the market, but they are always so big and expensive. So, here is my take on the book purse.

I started by choosing a book, and I chose a scrap book. Now, this might seem to miss the whole book point, but I love a handbag with photos on the outside! And this scrap book from Target had an outside photo (around $15.00). I then Googled Book Purse tutorials and found at least five. My favorite was this one from Hungry Panda Clothing: http://www.hungrypanda.net/blog/2010/02/book-purse-tutorial/

I used her instructions for cutting out the insides, adding handles, and added a flap with my Art Glitter embellishment. The purse handles I purchased at Joann Fabrics with a coupon. I like a handbag that is pretty on both the frontand the back. To make the flower, I cut a strip of fabric an inch wide and ran a basting stitch down the center. Using the Art Glitter Dries Clear Fabric glue, I ran a bead on both raw edges of the strip. I added Art Glitter 79 Black Ultrafine Opaque Glitter and allowed it to dry. I then gathered the strip to form a ruffle. Starting in the center of a piece of felt, I hot glued the ruffle in a circle along the stitch line working in small portions at a time (about 1 “). I then hot glued this to my purse flap.

For the book lining piece, I needed access to swap out that photo. I like to change the photo my season. So, I got out my trusty Vogue sewing book and made myself a bound button hole. Yes, that tailoring class I took in my fashion design program helped, but a standard buttonhole stitch would work too! Because I wanted access to change that photo I varied from the instructions on the Hungry Panda by making my purse liner removable with hook and loop tape. And I chose not to make a hook and loop tape closure as I added the flap. Another fun idea, is to make different purse linings for this purse for each season. Because it is held in place with hook and loop tape you can swap it out. And if you need a gift idea for the next holiday, you’re all set! Mother’s and grandmothers are so hard to shop for, but mine love a hand made gift! I am also including a side view of the purse and a view of the purse with it wide open.

Supplies Used
Scrap book (Target)

Art Glitter Dries Clear Fabric Glue

Art Glitter 79 Black Ultrafine Opaque Glitter

Purse handles (JoAnn Fabrics)

Fabric

Hook and Loop Tape

Felt

Sewing machine

Thread

Exacto Knife

Scissors

More Moxie Medallions on Work the Stash Wednesday

It's a work the stash Wednesday! And I am in need of a birthday card for my brother, who happens to be a neurosurgeon. So, I got on the internet and searched for free spine images. I found this vintage add and thought it funny! I added it to a stash of Basic Grey I had, but don't worry if you like it, BG offers many of their older papers in digital format!

Now, for my medallion I worked on a star burst I have been wanting for sometime. I actually was inspired by the Allstate TV commercials early in the year. I tried to search for the motif on their site and could only get an insurance quote. So, I took the round star burst in Cricut's Fancy Frames cartridge and stretched it in Design Studio. The stamp is Close to My Heart and came with their Cricut Art Philosophy package. The white card stock was cut first and then I stamped on top. Added to the card, is a slide frame I have had in the stash forever. I think it adds a masculine touch and gives me that rule of three.

I think I will have to play with this star burst look and all of my frame stamps! Maybe, I can work it into the Christmas card...