Countdown Calendar Tutorial

Hello everyone,

Only 58 days 'til Christmas!!  I have created a countdown calendar for my son.  I think he will really enjoy it.

For a complete tutorial showing how to cut, score and assemble this project, please pop over to my Technique Tuesday post here.  I hope you enjoy!

Big hugs & happy crafting!

Dawn

Altered Gift Bag

Hello everyone,

I hope your week is off to a great start!  A quick post from me today to share a vintage gift bag I created for Scrapbooker's Paradise:

For more details and a complete list of products used, please pop on over to my post on the Scrapbooker's Paradise blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Happy Crafting!!

Dawn

Time to get Sketchy

Hello everyone,

It is almost the weekend!  Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating :)  With it being a long weekend, hopefully you will all have some extra time to get crafty.  To help inspire you, we have a brand new Playing in Paradise sketch challenge starting today.  This time, our talented team leader Pam has designed a wonderful sketch for you.  This sketch would make a gorgeous layout, and, of course, with a little finagling it can also be made into a gorgeous card or other items.  We would love to see your take on the sketch; everyone is welcome to play along.  Here is my take:

These jumbo peruvian lilies by Stampendous are so gorgeous.  They were coloured with distress inks mixed with coordinating Smooch ink colours to make them shimmery and pearlescent.  I stamped them twice to layer them and give them dimension.  A little paper curling and some pop dots... they look so beautiful in real life.  This photo attempts to show some of the dimension:

Here is Pam's beautiful sketch, which I have rotated and flipped:

The team has made some gorgeous projects to inspire you, so please do pop on over to take a peak on the Playing in Paradise sketch challenge.  I hope you will join in; I'd love to see what you create!

Supplies:

Stampendous Jumbo Peruvian Lily

Ranger Watercolour cardstock

Black Stazon ink

Distress inks (rusty hinge, wild honey, scattered straw, vintage photo)

Smooch pearlized accent ink (gold lame, pumpkin)

Pop Dots

C.C. Designs sentiment

Spellbinders Wonderful Wings butterfly die

Bazzil Card

Graphic 45 Bohemian Bazaar 8x8 paper

Lace from my stash

Spellbinders Captivating Squares die

Thanks so much for visiting and for taking the time to leave a comment!  I have a major visiting/commenting catch up session planned for the weekend, so see you then!

Hugs & happy crafting!

Dawn

All I Want for Christmas...

Hello everyone,

Happy hump day!  I hope your week is going well.  Have you started your Christmas cards yet?  It is hard to believe that it is already October.  Thanks to Christmas at Sweet Stampin' I already have a stack of Christmas cards prepared :)  A new challenge starts today, and it is a good one - a card for a male.  Eeeek!  We all have men in our lives who (even though they may not admit it) enjoy getting a hand made card, and if you're anything like me, you put off making them until the last possible minute.  They can be so tough!  So this month, we hope to help you to get those male cards done early.  The team has made some gorgeous cards to inspire you, so please do pop over and check them out.  Then come and play!

After much procrastinating, I finally opted to make a sappy card for my hubby.  He says he likes funny cards, but I think he will like this one too.

My card features the adorable Warm Winter Wishes by Sugar Nellie which I have framed with a gorgeous crocheted mat that my talented blog friend Jessi (One Crafty Mama) sent to me.  Thank you Jessi!!  Because it is black, it was really hard to photograph it in detail, but I attempted anyway:

It looks so gorgeous IRL.  If you pop over to Jessi's blog, you can find all the details for getting your very own mats.

Supplies:

Stamps - Warm Winter Wishes by Sugar Nellie, stamped on 300g hot pressed watercolour paper and coloured with Distress inks (black soot, tattered rose, faded jeans, broken china, wild honey) and embellished with polar white flower soft.  Sentiment is from the Christmas Messages set by Stampin' Up!

Paper - black and white card, DP is from Authentique, Journey collection

Other - Jessi's crocheted doily mat, Stampin' Up! Northern frost snowflake die inked with frosty ink for a little shimmer, ribbon from my stash, white lace stickles, Stampin' Up! marker and Copic glitter pen for colouring the sentiment, Magnolia vintage tag die

We have a fantastic sponsor again this month - My Mum's Craft Shop will be giving a £10 voucher to one lucky winner!!  

I would like to enter my card in these fun challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - photo inspiration (I went with the colour)

Crafty Hazelnut's Challenge Extra - anything goes

Papertake Weekly - two by two

Simon Says Stamp - no digis/use rubber

ABC Challenge - W for words (add a sentiment)

The Sugar Bowl - anything Sugar Nellie goes

Thanks so much for stopping by and for taking the time to leave a comment.  I appreciate each one and will do my best to catch up with you as soon as possible.

Hugs and happy crafting,

Dawn

Paper Planes

Hi everyone,

I hope you have been well & staying away from the little flu critters.  It seems that ever since my son started Play School a few weeks ago, he has had maybe two days without a cold :(  We are all a little sleep deprived...

Onto happier thoughts, I have a LO to share of my little guy (before he got sick).  The complete project, as well as product info can be seen on my post (here) on the Scrapbooker's Paradise inspiration blog.  I hope you will pop on over and have a peek!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hugs & happy crafting,

Dawn