Challenge Reminder

Here are the details. If you want to enter the challenge, click HERE.

Winter Holidays  **(This Challenge incorporates the use of Cricut Die Cuts. Don't have a Cricut machine? You can still play. Email me at Scrapbookerphd@gmail.com and keep reading.) 

Here's the catch:
Winter Holidays Without using Holiday Cricut Cartridges (Guest Desinger Spots for Top 3 Picks)

**(This Challenge incorporates the use of Cricut Die Cuts. Don't have a Cricut machine, you can still play and win the random prize, but Top 3 picks must use Cricut.) 

SPONSOR:
Memory Works

Follow Memory Works and Representative Gina Karas

In this challenge, you can choose any winter holiday for inspiration from Halloween to Valentine's Day. Here's the hard part: you cannot use Cricut holiday cartridges. Required element: at least one Cricut Die Cut on your entry. 

Remember you can create any paper craft - card, layout, tag, etc.

Codes: 1M, 3E, C5.
*Be sure your blog post explains which cartridge you used. 

Review Challenge Rules for this blog.

Review Challenge Helpful Tips.

Mulitple Ways to Win: 

•   The Top 3 Picks will be listed with links to their blogs. Top 3 Picks will be guest designers rotating for a month. 

•   The Winner will receive a $15 gift certificate to Memory Works courtesy of Gina Karas.

•   If we have 15 or more entries, there will be a Random Prize winner with an Inkadinkado stamp set prize.

No sample designs this time - I want to see YOUR inspiration. 
Post By November 7. Winners will be announce November 8. 

Destination

Denim, Die cut, and Destination.
That's the basic idea.

First and foremost, I'm ALMOST there.... an entire week of the 365 Cards challenge! Challenge today: the letter D.

I just love this denim paper from Authentique. It's the Genuine Collection.
I used the Cricut Cartridge, Going Places to cut the earth, and it felt fitting to use this "entry date" stamp from the Travel Words set by Stampendous. Just for some extra dimension, I stamped it on a tag. It felt fitting for international travel. Reminds me of my trip to Rome!

The actual design was inspired by sketch #62 at Fetch-A-Sketch.


Thank you to the following challenges:

Created with Love: Anything Goes.
Die Cuttin Divas: Anything Goes with a die cut.
Party Time Tuesdays: Anything Goes.
The Male Room: Nature.

Noel Night

Sunday.

Monday.

Tuesday.

Wednesday..... Can I make it through Sunday with a project a day inspired by 365 Cards?

Today's inspiration came from the letter R. Not wanting to do red, rose, or romance... I went seasonal with reindeer. 

This gorgeous reindeer was cut with the Cricut Cartridge, Artbooking. I added a glittered star from the Cricut Cartridge, Joys of the Season. Finally, I added a simple cream bubble with the word, noel, inside. 

Why the lack of color? 

I was inspired by Here Come the Boys Challenge: Christmas in brown and cream.  Since I was sticking to brown and cream, I wanted to keep the design simple and went with bark-like patterned paper inspired by The Male Room Challenge: Nature. 

Thank you also to:

Creative Moments: Anything Goes.

Die Cut Divas: Anything with a Die Cut. 

Rhedd and Rosie Challenge: Anything Goes. 

A is for Apple

Do you set craft goals for yourself?

I do.

Right now, my goal is to make the daily challenge for one week over at 365 Cards Challenge. I started Sunday night with my Monkey Around card. Monday night, I created C is for Cinco.

Tonight's challenge is the letter A. 

My inspiration was A is for Apple.  

MyCricutSearch.com gave me an Aha! moment when I realized that the Apple on Kate's ABCs was absolutely perfect... for an 8x8 layout. Good thing 365 Cards Challenge accepts other paper crafts (remember to read challenge rules).

The apple scene reminds me of a time when I was a little girl sitting on the porch reading and eating an apple. I used to have a black and white photo that would be perfect for this page, but I haven't found it in ages. For some reason, I felt like a black and white photo would be perfect, so I added more brightness and glitter with the dragonflies and the butterfly.

Do I have the perfect photo? Nope!

But I'm hoping someone does. 

Want this layout? First, follow the blog. Then, add a comment and tell me why you want it. 

I'll select a random prize winner next Wednesday, and send you the layout to use. 

Other Challenges:

Party Time Tuesday's: Anything Goes. 

Die Cuttin Divas: Use a die cut.

Crafty Girls Challenges: Anything Goes. 

C for Cinco

Today, I had a challenge theme stuck in my brain. Over at 365 Cards, the challenge was the letter C — include as many elements as you can that start with the letter C. Obviously, I started listing cardstock, colors, circles, and the actual letter C. That certainly wasn't enough. What about an animal? Cat! I knew I had a cat somewhere.

Then **BAM** I found a great inspiration from a Spanish word.

So I used cardstock, colors, circles, a Cactus, and the word Cinco. Not only that, but I also used my Create a Critter Cartridge to cut all of these shapes.

With so many ideas to work with, I felt scattered, but I found a fabulous sketch from Mojo Mondays, and set myself to go. Take a good look at the sketch. I used elements of the foundation and placement, but I didn't not cut circles to mat all of my elements. The patterned paper already had circles on it, and my white cardstock was embossed with circles.

I thought I was finished. I truly did. But then... Paper Playtime challenged me to use googlie eyes. Challenge accepted. My cactus was now looking super cute.

Just for fun, I'm adding my C is for Cinco card into the link party at Created with Love Challenges for Anything Goes.

Monkey Around

Following a sketch is a great way to channel your creative mind since the goal is for you to create a craft that is inspired by that sketch. Turn the sketch sideways. Make the sketch a layout instead of a card. Change the style of the suggested embellishment. In other words, make it your own.

When I saw the sketch for Sunday night's 356 Card Challenge, it screamed, Joy Fold card. If you don't know how to make a joy fold card follow this link: Joy Fold Card tutorial.

I knew that I wanted to use an animal on my card, and I had settled on a monkey, but I did not want to go through all of my handbooks to find the right monkey. Instead, I used http://www.mycutsearch.com and used the search word monkey. This monkey is cut from the Life's a Party Cricut Cartridge, and the bananas are cut from the Create a Critter Cartridge.

The bananas on the top left side serve a decorative and functional purpose. The bananas keep the card closed.

Add just a bit of chalking to the bananas so that they don't look too flat yellow.
I also added the small leaves falling from the tree branch.

Thank you to:
Card Crafter's Circle: Autumn Splendor.
Rhedd and Rosie: Anything Goes.
The Male Room: Nature.
A Gem of a Challenge: One or more folds.

Pink Swirls, Glitter, and a lot of Love

The only inspiration I had for this project was pink thanks to Craft Your Passion.

I spent quite a while trying to combine patters, but in the end, I embossed two shades of pink with a lovely swirl pattern. Black was a great contrast color to mat each layer. The layout of the card came from a fabulous sketch from Clean and Simple. Embossed pink layers really benefit from a clean and simple look.

The first embellishment that I added was the glittered flower secured by a silver brad at the bottom left. The shimmer is beautiful in any lighting. I have had brads on my mind every since Little Red Wagon posted an eyelet and brad challenge.

This flower made me think of my vintage stash, and that is where the tag comes from. It's a multi-layered tag sticker. The word love has some glossy sparkle to it, and a small jewel is placed within the loop on the L. A silver brad, and my card was complete.

Thank you also to:

Party Time Tuesday: Glitter.

Happy Tails

Get ready for some inspiration from the dogs!

Can you believe that I have had the Paper Pups Cricut Cartridge for over a year and haven't used it once? Tonight, I decided to link up the cartridge to my Cricut Craft Room, and get started. I adore the image of the "happy" dog, especially the "circle" image with that little tag wagging. This image is my favorite. It's clean and simple, but you see it and immediately smile.

With that image and the sketch from Deconstructing Jen, I got started.  

The bone and paw patterned papers are from The Paper Stack, Spoiled Rotten collection. I wanted to add another bright color, red, and I embossed it with a simple circle embossing folder.

In keeping with the challenge at Little Red Wagon, I used some bone shaped brads at the corners of the red embossed card stock and the paw print patterned paper.

I covered the inside seams with green ribbon in keeping with all of the components of the ABC Challenge.

Spooky

It's October 25th, and I think this is going to be my last Halloween card for the season. Sad, but true. My goal was to end with a clean and simple design that had limited use of color. Clean and simple + Halloween + limited color... I sat for two hours looking at supplies, coming up with nothing. Then all of a sudden I remembered my stash of goggly eyes and black glitter paper...

Thank you to my last few Halloween challenge inspiration:

Glitter n Sparkle: Halloween.
Eureka Stamps: Halloween Colors.
Die Cuttin Divas: Halloween.
Oldie But a Goodie: Spooky.

Good Cheer

Aren't you itching for a new holiday for crafting inspiration? Have you had enough of your Halloween supplies? Luckily, I took the opportunity to use 365 Card Challenge: use both digital and regular stamps, to try out some new Christmas supplies. I combined this snowflake patterned paper from My Mind's Eye, Merry Little Christmas paper stack with Eureka's digital stamp holly background, a small joy embellishment, and the stamp, good cheer, from Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler. I inked the edges of the holly square with gold ink just to add a bit more touch of holiday color.

Easter Card

Halloween is on everyone' mind with several challenges devoted to Halloween, the color orange, pumpkins, witches, and more. 

But 365 Card Challenge gave participants a color scheme and the freedom to choose any holiday.

Here's my Easter Card. 

Halloween Sparkle

Sunday night sketch from 356 Cards!
Let's see if I can make this challenge from Sunday to Sunday: a card a day.

I loved this sketch, but I decided I had to keep using up my scraps of Halloween papers and embellishments. I had bits and pieces here and there. This card needed to sparkle.

I loved messing around with the black stripped glitter paper. Switching the orientation and overlapping the pieces added so much to the spiderweb paper background. The Happy Halloween sentiment is full of glitter and some gems, and the scary ghost just makes the card. But - my favorite part of this card is the orange string I used to mimic spiderwebs.

Thank you to:

365 Cards Challenge: Sketch
Crafting When we Can: Make it sparkle.
Glitter and Sparkle Challenge: Halloween.
Craftin' Boutique Challenges: Another Halloween Challenge.
CardzTV: Halloween.

Halloween Layout

The story of this layout is rather interesting. 

It started with my need to clear out supplies. The background paper has been around for close to 8 years. I just never got around to using it. Well, I was determined to use it now. Then, I thought, use up some of my Halloween stash. I know next year, I'll want new styles. That's where the spider web patterned paper came into play, the stickers, and the tags.  Everything else was cut using Happy Huntings Cricut collections. 

I'm thrilled with the final product. 

Thanks to the following challenges this week: 

• Clear it Out: Halloween and Orange. 
• C.. is for Challenge: Halloween.
• Craftin Desert Diva's: Halloween.
• Crafty Catz: Halloween. 
• Simply Create Too: Halloween or use Orange.

Challenge #1 Winter Holidays

Here are the details. If you want to enter the challenge, click HERE.

Winter Holidays  **(This Challenge incorporates the use of Cricut Die Cuts. Don't have a Cricut machine? You can still play. Email me at Scrapbookerphd@gmail.com and keep reading.) 

Here's the catch:
Winter Holidays Without using Holiday Cricut Cartridges (Guest Desinger Spots for Top 3 Picks)

**(This Challenge incorporates the use of Cricut Die Cuts. Don't have a Cricut machine, you can still play and win the random prize, but Top 3 picks must use Cricut.) 

SPONSOR:
Memory Works

Follow Memory Works and Representative Gina Karas

In this challenge, you can choose any winter holiday for inspiration from Halloween to Valentine's Day. Here's the hard part: you cannot use Cricut holiday cartridges. Required element: at least one Cricut Die Cut on your entry. 

How do you choose a cartridge? Don't worry. You don't need a holiday cartridge to find a die cut. Using MyCutSearch.com, you can find what you need. Here's an example: say you want to do a Valentine's Day card. First, go to MyCutSearch.com and type in LOVE in the Search Box. You will end up with over 200 options. Options are listed alphabetically by Cartridge, and guess what, the first page of options include 3 Birds on Parade, A Child's Year, All Mixed Up and Close to My Heart: Artiste. None of those cartridges are Valentine's Day cartridges, but they have great Valentine's Day elements. Don't trust me, try it and see what happens. Need more help? Check out this POST at MyCutSearch.com. 

Remember you can create any paper craft - card, layout, tag, etc.

Codes: 1M, 3E, C5.
*Be sure your blog post explains which cartridge you used. 

Review Challenge Rules for this blog.

Review Challenge Helpful Tips.

Mulitple Ways to Win: 

•   The Top 3 Picks will be listed with links to their blogs. Top 3 Picks will be guest designers rotating for a month. 

•   The Winner will receive a $15 gift certificate to Memory Works courtesy of Gina Karas.

•   If we have 15 or more entries, there will be a Random Prize winner with an Inkadinkado stamp set prize.

No sample designs this time - I want to see YOUR inspiration. 
Post By November 7. Winners will be announce November 8. 

Here are the details. If you want to enter the challenge, click HERE.

Fall Fun

Do you have paper or embellishments that you actually hate? 
Seriously, you may have bought something ages ago, and you liked it then, but now.... 

I gave myself an extra challenge this week by forcing myself to use paper I just don't like.

Since there are many fall challenges this week, I used the leaf patterned paper — the pattern is do dense, and the colors are dull. So I actually put vellum on top of it to give it a shimmery look. Then, I added several different patterns in fall colors to give the card some brightness. I cut two scalloped squares from my Elegant Edges Cricut Cartridge, and added stickers, ribbon, and brads.

Thanks goes out to all the challenges with fall themes. Gave me inspiration to use this paper.

Crafter's Circle: use three embellishments.
Redd and Rosie: colors of autumn.
Simply Create Too: use orange.
Crafting with Dragonflies: nature, trees, and leaves.
Creative Belli: leaves
Divas By Design: autumn colors.

Heritage

Before anything else, this layout is in tribute to my mother who loves all things Victorian.

I have this photo of my mother from when she was in school. It's a tiny photo, about 2 x3. I scanned it, and turned it into a 4 x 6. I was inspired by the sketch at Sunday Sketch & Stamp. Since I wanted to bring out the beauty in this photo, I turned to the Vintage Stamping Challenge. Their theme was feminine beauty.

I finally got to use my Cricut Heritage Cartridge for the silhouette on the top right corner. I cut the title, Mother, from the Circut Sophisticated Cartridge. The dress form is a stamp from my new stamp set, Vintage Threads from TPC Studio. Finally, two leather flowers finish the layout.

Breast Cancer Awareness Card

A new card for Breast Cancer Awareness. As always, inspired by a punk-rock survivor I know. 

I used two challenges to guide my design. 

Sunday Sketch & Stamp: Sketch #177.

Crafting When We Can: Make it Sparkle.

I rotated the sketch so that I could use the "Fight Like a Girl" stamp. 

The Breast Cancer Awareness patterned paper is full of glitter and sparkle, so I didn't want to clutter it up and kept the embellishments simple and small. 

Tick or Treat

Tonight, I was inspired by various challenges to make one more Halloween card.

Mostly, I wanted to take advantage of leftover supplies from previous cards and layouts. When working with scraps, I push myself to use the scraps with different styles, designs, and accents. 

For this card:

I used patterned paper from an all seasons paper pack. 

I stamped the sentiment and inked the edges with gold ink. 

Used two different style ribbons to added a little dimension to the card.

i used a glittery mat for the sentiment, and I added two gold glittery brads. 

Thank you to:

• ABC Challenges: Halloween. 
• Crafting Boutique: Halloween.
• Crafty Catz: Halloween. 
• Simply Create Too: Halloween or use Orange.

So Scary Halloween Layout

Do you have a favorite challenge blog? 
Do you have a favorite type of challenge?

I know I wait for the Challenge Me Monday announcement on The Fantabulous Cricut Challenge. I use Cricut on just about every craft project I make. I find that cards are more difficult to create with my Cricut because of the size of the card. Layouts are more comfortable for me to create a scene. 

In this Black & Purple inspired challenge, I created a line of trick-or-treaters. To give them the full effect, they are layered on a black fence with a dark purple winter tree behind them. The bright orange moon, bat, and sentiment pull this all together. I used coordinating purple papers from The Basics by The Paper Studio. I used SIX different cartridges to make this. Create a Critter 2 (moon, bat, sentiment), Graphically Speaking (tree) , Teddy Bear Parade (teddy bear witch), Bump in the Night (monster), Life's a Party (astronaut), and Boys Will Be Boys (robot). 

Who is wearing your favorite costume?

Steampunk Basics I

What is Steampunk?

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, sometimes called Retro-Future. Steampunk crafts are inspired from the steam-powered era, specifically machinery. Designs reflect the perspective of people living in the 19^th century including inventions, fashion, culture and more. Popular embellishments can range from hinges, keys, and zippers to feathers and beadwork.

Think of it this way: Imagine you were to take apart a clock. Now pull everything out and use the bits as embellishments – even the springs.

Take a look at this clean and simple Steampunk card that I most recently made for the Simply Steampunk challenge (monochromatic).

This card was made to be monochromatic. Therefore, I stayed within the brown family for colors. I started with a mustardy brown. The chocolate layer is watermarked with a compass stamp from Jim Holtz’s Travel Blueprint stamp set. I inked all of the edges with Memento Rich Cocoa ink. On the top layer, I stamped a from the same Jim Holtz Blueprint stamp set. Next, I added a few gears from Jim Holtz idea-ology Sprocket Gears embellishment set. Finally, I added the metal photo frame highlighting the top of the camera. The frame is from Momenta. 

Now, it’s time add some color and bling. The first thing I needed was a pop of color. I chose the brightest blue I could find to jump off of the page. I used a Happy Birthday sentiment stamp that had a classic feel. Keeping to the same shade of blue, I added a flower and sequins. Now, I needed to mix up my metals. I added three silver dragonflies, a gold sun, and a silver clip since the gears were all a bronze color. The sentiment, sun, and dragonflies are all popped up off the page. (Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it easy to scan.) All of these extra embellishments were leftovers from past projects just waiting to be used.

Are you ready to embrace Steampunk?

If not, Steampunk Basics II will be out soon. Stay tuned!