Bright Birdhouse - Paint & Wood with the UnstampaBelles

Our theme this month at the UnstampaBelles challenge is Decorate something Wooden, with the optional twist of Get Messy with Paint. Our fearless leader Susan described the challenge so well:

I have a wooden spatula - can I decorate that?

I have lots of wooden embellies - can I use them?

What about wooden buttons?

Can I use a twig from a tree?

What about an old box that needs rejuvenating?

Perhaps I can build a box or frame or similar from scratch?

The answer to all these questions is YES

The TWIST is to use paint

Does the paint have to go on the wood?

Do I have to use paint on everything?

Will I necessarily have to use a paintbrush?

The answer to these questions is NO!

You need to follow the twist to be considered as the DT Favorite, but you only have to follow main theme to win our prize. And you don't want to miss out on this great prize! You can make whatever you like without using any stamps.

I painted the base of this wooden birdhouse a couple of years ago, but never finished the project.

I used a rubber stencil (Recollections) to add the patterns. I painted the wood veneer pieces with chartreuse or glittery black paint, and added a layer of glow-in-the-dark paint. I added glow-in-the-dark glitter to some of the pieces. I made the beads with neon easy-bake clay & decorated them with the same stencil.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Challenge Up Your Life #87: Stencils
Creative Artiste Challenge #36: Anything Mixed Media / Use at least 3 mediums (Wood, Paint, Glitter, Clay for beads)
Simon Says Stamp: Craft Month

Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teammates the UnstampaBelles this month!

Thank you for visiting,

Owl Die for You -- April Challenge with the UnstampaBelles

The UnstampaBelles April challenge is Dies with the optional twist of adding one or more Birds. You can make whatever you like without using any stamps.

I made a shaker card using a Spellbinders die set. I cut the background 4 times: 1) patterned paper background, using the opposite side of the double-sided paper for the outer frame; 2) white foam; 3) coasterboard; 4) two-toned cardstock that I embossed with the die & sanded. The details on the birds are actually the coasterboard showing through the plastic sheet on top. I used Copic markers for the colors, but painted the eyes with glow-in-the-dark paint. I filled the sections with plastic confetti.

I cut the big owl with a die set I have in my stash. I used the same double-sided cardstock, but added some googly eyes. I made the sentiment myself: "Owl always give a hoot about you!"

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafting When We Can: Animals
Crafter's Cafe: Make us Laugh
The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #81: Silly

Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teammates and hope you'll join the UnstampaBelles this month!

Thank you for visiting,

Flickering Lights with the UnstampaBelles

The UnstampaBelles December challenge is Flickering Lights with the twist of Include a candle. You can make whatever you like without using any stamps.

Usually around the holidays, I try my hand at more 3D projects. You may remember my sparkly gingerbread house I made for last year's UnstampaBelles December Challenge; This year, I used a cut file from SVG Cutting Files.

The string of lights is a free vector file, and I made the windows & candles in SCAL; I cut everything on my Silhouette Cameo. The wreath (Elizabeth Craft) & the bottom border (QuicKutz) were cut with my BigShot. The light backgrounds were cut from a shiny silver paper. The bulbs were cut from white cardstock; before removing the paper from the mat after cutting, I colored the bulbs with markers & painted them with glow-in-the-dark paint.

Challenges:
Lawnscaping: Christmas/Holiday
We Love 2 Create: Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes

Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teammates and hope you'll join us this month at UnstampaBelles!


Thank you for visiting,

Christmas with Crafting with Dragonflies

Our theme this fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies is Christmas Cards.

I used a Fold-a-long die set from Sizzix/Jen Long to create this fun card.

The string of lights is a free vector file that was cut on my Silhouette Cameo. The bases were cut from a shiny silver paper. The bulbs were cut from white cardstock; before removing the paper from the mat after cutting, I colored the bulbs with markers & painted them with glow-in-the-dark paint.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cuttlebug Mania: Light in the darkness + manual die-cut machine
City Crafter Challenge #341: Feature a Christmas Tree
The Stamping Boutique: Fancy Folds

Thank you for visiting, 

Pilin' On the Scraps

The theme this fortnight at Pile It On is Scraps/Offcuts. We're sponsored by Fresh Brewed Designs.

I made this Halloween card using scraps from my Halloween stash. I'm glad I kept some of those smaller pieces!

I was inspired by Lori Whitlock's clever take on a pop up box card, and used the basic directions for a Z-fold card that I found here.

I used glow-in-the-dark paint to cover the gray areas on the paper strip. I stamped the sentiment on patterned paper & heat-embossed it with neon green powder. The cute characters were cut from a designer paper. I finished the card with a glittery skull sticker.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cardz 4 Guyz #143: Kinetic Card (card with some movement)
Inky Chicks #74: Too Cute To Spook
Mod Squad Challenge: Halloween
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes (2nd entry)
The Stamping Boutique: Pumpkins

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

December Challenge at UnstampaBelles - Sparkle & make us smile!

The UnstampaBelles December challenge is Sparkle & make us smile! Remember: no stamps!

This will be our last challenge until February 6th, so be sure to play along!

This was my first time playing with Karen Burniston's "Holiday House" die set from Elizabeth Craft Designs. Her Pop-It-Ups are so fun, and I adapted this set to create a little lantern.

I used watermark ink to stencil the brick pattern on the outer houses, heat-embossed them with sticky powder & covered them with peach glitter. The door- & window-frames were cut from a paper I made myself with a red gel pen & a ruler!  I colored the light strings with metallic pens, and used Marvy embossing markers & more sticky powder to cover the bulbs with glow-in-the-dark glitter.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Decorate to Celebrate: Anything 3D
Die Cut Divas: Warm & Cozy
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Let It Snow (2nd entry)
Shopping Our Stash: #229 - No Stamping + Stash (papers & stickers)

Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teamies and hope you'll join us this month at UnstampaBelles!


Thank you for visiting,

Black, Orange, Purple & Ghosties at Crafter's Cafe

The Crafter's Cafe Challenge this fortnight is Black, Orange, Purple & Ghosties. We're sponsored by Lacy Sunshine, Décosse's Dynamite Doodles, and Deedee's Digis. I used Fangletta from Lacy Sunshine to create this cute & spooky card:

The ghosts are from Cricut's Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge. The backing paper is by Graphic 45, and I embossed the spider web design onto a die-cut Vellum shape. The sentiment is heat-embossed with neon purple. I added a strip of black tulle and some glittery fabric ribbon.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Aud Sentiments Challenge #142: Halloween + a sentiment
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper: Anything goes with Patterned Paper
Creative Corner: Halloween
Eclectic Ellapu (Purple Team): Halloween/Dark/Horror
Inkspirational: Glow (glow-in-the-dark glitter on the skull)
Shabby Tea Room #261: BOO-rific Photo Inspiration
Sketch Saturday: Sketch #382

Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join us at The Crafter's Cafe,

Pilin' on the Wonderful Friends

The theme this week at Pile It On is Friends/Friendly Hello. We're sponsored by Inky Impressions, so I used their Super Girl LiLi along with their Sweet Wonderful You sentiment.

The papers, including the spotlight element, are all from the "Comic Heroes" paper pack from Recollections. I cut the stars with my Silhouette Cameo, and edged them with Lemon Ice Stickles. The shaker portion is filled with mircobeads & glow-in-the-dark glitter.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cheerful Sketches August Challenge: Sketch (2nd entry)
CHPPC: Patterned Paper (4th entry)
MarkerPOP Challenge: Anything Goes + Copic Markers
Melonheadz Friends Challenge: Hand-colored image
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes (2nd entry)
The Paper Girls #86: Super Heroes (2nd entry)

Update: I was the lucky prize winner for Paper Girls' Super Heroes Challenge.

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Over the Moon - Non-traditional Baby Projects with the UnstampaBelles

I really enjoyed making my fur-baby card for the UnstampaBelles' April Challenge, but I also made this Accordion card using papers from Graphic45's Mother Goose collection.

The UnstampaBelle's challenge is to make a Baby project with non-traditional elements. I went with a Vintage style, and used lots of brown distress ink...I have a rule about not using brown on baby cards, guess why! But I think this make would make a fun card to give at a Baby Shower.

I used dies from SweetStamps for the flowers & flourishes on the outside.

I traced the chipboard stars onto a matching cardstock which I covered with glow-in-the-dark glitter. I heat-embossed the chipboard stars with different powders, distressed them a bit, and edged the pieces with a gold leaf pen. I used a die from the Accordion card set to cut out two of the pieces, and strung the stars with ribbon.

I used a clear plastic Popeze PopBlock to adhere the little Spoon & Dish in one of the interior corners (I cut the image from the same Graphic45 paper I used for this whole project).

Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teamies and hope you'll join us this month at UnstampaBelles! You can link up your projects until the end of the month today!, but remember that you can't use ANY STAMPS (digi or otherwise.)

Inspiration/Challenges:
Ooh La La Creations #179: Nursery Times
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper: Anything goes with Patterned Paper (4th entry)
Mema's Challenge: Use a Punch or Die

Update: This was chosen as a Top Pick for Ooh La La Creations #179!

Thank you for visiting,

Sweet 16

One of our nieces is turning 16, so I made her this "sweet" card.

I couldn't resist making this into a shaker card. The stamp is actually 3 stamps from the "Bake a Cake" set by Jennifer Ellory; I stamped them all at once onto a shiny black paper and heat-embossed it in white. I cut out the cake parts with a knife and covered the hole on the inside with a piece of plastic from old packaging. I used foam tape to attach the front piece to a multicolored patterned paper and filled the pocket with glow-in-the-dark chunky glitter. I had a bit of fun with my new sparkly white Wink of Stella pen to create what I hope is a whimsical background! I wrapped baker's twine around the shaker piece, partly to hide the foam tape. I topped the cake with glittery stickers.

The background is a black-and-white, music-themed paper backed onto another piece of shiny black paper. I heated-embossed the entire piece with holographic embossing powder. Tip: when heat-embossing layered pieces, you may get some warping. If it's a background, you can die-cut a section of the piece and cover the hole with the top image.

The base card is a double-sided shiny cardstock. I used more of the music-themed paper to decorate the inside. The message section is die-cut and I added detail with blue & purple Wink of Stella pens.

Our niece & her 17-year-old sister have only been in our lives about 5 years, but we've so enjoyed watching them grow into free-thinking young adults.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Brown Sugar #129: Birthday for a Girl
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #68: Use Something Recycled (plastic from old packaging)
Sparkle N Sprinkle January Challenge: Embossing Powder & Loose Glitter (2nd entry)
The Pink Elephant: Shaker Cards

Thank you for visiting,

Glittery Hello

One of my favorite techniques is using microglitter to fill in images, but it's a long, tedious process, so I really have to be in the mood. This week I spent a quite some time using this technique to make some cards & future card toppers. I was inspired by STAMPlorations Sketch #21 to create this card:

Sketch #21

I used the outline sticker glitter technique with a Tulip outline sticker & transfer sheet by Starform and a double-sided adhesive sheet. 

I cut the border with QuicKutz die using a paper-backed adhesive sheet, and covered it with green, pink, and apricot glitters. The bright pink lace is from my stash.

The sentiment is cut with a die from a shiny green paper. The peach background & die-cut green piece are glittery papers from DCWV.

Here's another card I made using the same techniques. The image is filled with pink, blue, green, apricot, light green, clear prisma, and glow-in-the dark glitters. The die-cut border (from the same QuicKutz set) is covered with apricot glitter with touches of pink. It's backed on a store-bought glitter-covered black cardstock.

Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,