Year of the Snake Shaker Card

Welcome to the March 2025 Lunar New Year Challenge! Once again, we’ve partnered up with your favourite craft companies all year long so that means there are giveaways every month! This month, we’re giving away ONE $25 gift certificate to Lawn Fawn, ONE $25 gift certificate to Altenew, ONE $25 gift certificate to Sunbird Spark, and ONE $25 gift certificate to Whimsy Stamps. That’s a total of $100 in giveaways in March!

My first card for March features the Tiny Gift Box Lizard and Snake Add-On from our returning annual sponsor Lawn Fawn, plus cardstock and a sentiment from our quarterly sponsor Concord & 9th! I partially cut the snake head so I could extend the body down. The coils you see are actually legs for the lizard and I love how I was able to make it look like a big snake coiled around itself a few times.

I cut the snake from Lemongrass cardstock and its details were cut from Nectar and Black. The background of the shaker was cut from Clover cardstock and the circle frame was cut from Poppy. To create the texture on the card front, I embossed a piece of Powder cardstock with the Wood Slat Embossing Folder, which is perfect since this is a Wood Snake Year! I created a custom sentiment using three separate sentiments from Merry Greetings Builder Stamps and curved them on the inside of the circle. Then I filled the shaker with sequins from my stash.

Visit the March Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! You can find the Challenge Rules HERE. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

If you’re inspired, some affiliate links are included below at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by and I’ll see you again soon!

Supplies: 

Lunar New Year Challenge | A Dragon Birthday feat. RAM Stamps

My second card for the November Lunar New Year Challenge features products from RAM Stamps and Spellbinders. The four main products featured here are the 'Year of the Dragon - Metal' Digital Stamp, 'Year of the Dragon' Digital Pattern Paper Pack, Always You Timeless Sentiments BetterPress Press Plates and Underwater Tunnel Etched Dies.

The 'Year of the Dragon - Metal' Digital Stamp comes with both outline and no-line versions, plus a few sentiments. I printed the dragon and bird image in two sizes on Neenah 80lb cardstock before deciding on a two-inch high version. I also printed out three patterns from the 'Year of the Dragon' Digital Pattern Paper Pack only using two of them in the end.

Before colouring the image with Copic markers, I selected a birthday sentiment from the Always You Timeless Sentiments BetterPress Press Plates, positioned it with Best Ever Craft Tape and heat foiled it with Matte Gold Hot Foil.

After printing the dark waves and dragon prints from the 'Year of the Dragon' Digital Pattern Paper Pack, I cut the Underwater Tunnel Etched Dies and Precision Layering A2 A Etched Dies together to create the overlay panels. After playing around with the position over the coloured image, I decided to cut an extra second layer from Matte Gold Foil Paper to highlight the foiled sentiment. I assembled all the layers with liquid glue to keep it flat and easy to mail.

The rules are simple. You must create a new Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year or a 2024 Dragon Birthday card and add the link to your post in the link-up party. For November, we're inviting you to continue making 2025 Year of the Snake cards! Multiple entries are allowed. Backlinking to an older project is strictly prohibited.

Our November Lunar New Year Challenge will run from 12:00am EST on November 1, 2024 through 12:00pm EST on November 30, 2024. We would love to see you using products from our four generous sponsors! The four lucky winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries and announced at the start of the December Challenge. 

(save and share with your project)

Visit the November Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

If you're inspired, some affiliate links are included below at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders | October 2024 Small Die, Glimmer Hot Foil Kit + 3D Embossing Folder of the Month

I'm back with two more cards combining three October 2024 Monthly Club Kits from Spellbinders. The first card features the "Festive Friends" Small Die of the Month and the second card features both the "Festive Lights" Glimmer Hot Foil Kit of the Month and "Joyful Candy Canes" 3D Embossing Folder of the Month. Club Kits close on the 27th of each month so get them while you can!

My first card features Festive Friends and I normally don't get this club kit but it's so adorable and one of the best I've seen! I wanted to keep it simple and let the polar bear and penguin shine.

I kept the colours simple with a palette of Briar Rose, Carnation and Rainforest, with basics of Onyx, Fog and Snowdrift. To make the card festive, I created the lights and star using Matte Gold Foil Paper and Gold Glitter Paper.

The sentiment from Glitter Wishes was heat foiled with Champagne Hot Foil on Onyx cardstock and used the medium fishtail die from Mini Everyday Sentiments.

The Briar Rose background panel was misted with water before I embossed it with the Argyle Socks Embossing Folder. I think it complements the bear's turtleneck and the penguin's accessories nicely!

For my second card, I started by misting a Mahogany panel with the Joyful Candy Canes 3D Embossing Folder and set it aside to dry.

I focused on the poinsettia in the embossing folder so I pulled the Holiday Blooms Dies and die cut a bunch of them in two sizes using Briar Rose cardstock.

Next, I die cut the two styles of leaves from Rainforest cardstock, and the pine boughs from Gold Glitter Paper.

After assembling each of the poinsettia with the foliage, I heat foiled the sentiment from the Festive Lights Glimmer Hot Foil Kit using Champagne Hot Foil on white linen cardstock.

I placed the sentiment before deciding where to adhere each of the poinsettia. To finish, I added a few Fashion Gold Pearls and trimmed the excess off the top and bottom edges.

Please visit my previous post with more inspiration featuring the October 2024 Monthly Club Kits HERE.

Here's a list of monthly club kits I share, as well as some of the value kits offered by Spellbinders:

Stitching Die of the Month

Glimmer Hot Foil Kit of the Month

The Deluxe Caboodle Value Club

If you're inspired, please shop my affiliate links below and remember to accept your cookies so I can be credited for the referral. Spellbinders would love to know that you were inspired by me. Thanks so much for your continued support!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders | October 2024 Large Die + Stitching Die of the Month

Hello, crafty friends! Today, I'm showcasing the October 2024 Monthly Club Kits from Spellbinders. The first card features the "Cozy Toes Slippers" Large Die of the Month and the second card features the "Merry & Bright Cloche" Stitching Die of the Month. Club Kits close on the 27th of each month so get them while you can!

This month I have the pleasure of playing with the "Cozy Toes Slippers" Large Die of the Month and it makes me so giddy. I'm sure you've seen the pyjama pants and slippers with Santa and four other animals! I wanted to work more simply with just the penguin and dress it up with all the accessories.

The "Cozy Toes Slippers" Large Die of the Month comes with a toque, ear muffs, reindeer antlers and a Santa hat in both directions which is a bonus. I wanted to keep the colours simple and consistent throughout.

The colour palette I chose for this first card include Poppy, Clementine and Oceanside, with the basics Onyx, Snowdrift, Glitter White Foam and Matte Gold Foil Paper. After assembling all the penguins and die cutting the accessories, I added gold glasses cut from the Smart Glasses Dies.

I cut the sentiment from Snowdrift, along with shadow banners from Poppy and Matte Gold Foil Paper. Then I cut an A2 panel from Oceanside cardstock and embossed it with the Diamond Plaid Embossing Folder.

I popped up the penguins in a grid pattern with foam squares, then added the sentiment strip to finish the card.

My second card features the "Merry & Bright Cloche" Stitching Die of the Month. I always love each month's stitching die and this one is no exception. I adore cloches and I was so happy to see this one with a Christmas little tree.

This card also uses the colours Poppy, Clementine and Oceanside, just like my first card. I swapped out the black for Midnight and the plain white cardstock with Glitter White Paper. This card also features Gold Glitter Paper and Matte Gold Foil Paper. 

After stitching the base of the cloche, tree and trunk using coordinating colours from the DMC Warm Color Floss Bundle, DMC Cool Color Floss Bundle and DMC Diamant Grande Light Gold Metallic Thread, I assembled the cloche using a combination of white liner tape and foam squares.

Then I cut an A2 panel from Glitter White Paper, misted it with water and embossed it with the Sparkling Snow 3D Embossing Folder. This is the first time I tried dry embossing with glitter paper and love the results. It's so sparkly in real life!

After attaching the cloche on to the embossed base panel, I added Fashion Gold Pearls as ornaments on the tree to finish the card.

Here's a list of monthly club kits I share, as well as some of the value kits offered by Spellbinders:

Stitching Die of the Month

Glimmer Hot Foil Kit of the Month

The Deluxe Caboodle Value Club

If you're inspired, please shop my affiliate links below and remember to accept your cookies so I can be credited for the referral. Spellbinders would love to know that you were inspired by me. Thanks so much for your continued support!

Supplies: 

Lunar New Year Challenge + Giveaways | October 2024

The Lunar New Year Challenge is back and we've partnered up with your favourite craft companies all year long so that means there are giveaways every month! This month, we're giving away ONE $25 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp, ONE $25 gift certificate to Lawn Fawn, ONE $25 gift certificate to RAM Stamps, and ONE $25 gift certificate to Whimsy Stamps. That's a total of $100 in giveaways in October!

My first card for this month features Spellbinders products available from our October sponsor, Simon Says Stamp. The three main sets featured here are the Dancin' Birthday Dragon, Making Me Smile Sentiments and the Starshine Background.

Ever since I made THIS card, my son has been asking for a black Dancin' Birthday Dragon. We're huge fans of the How to Train Your Dragon films and while a black dragon would be amazing, most of the details would be lost on black cardstock. Instead, I used Slate Gray cardstock, which is one of my favourite dark grey shades and just as good as black.

Other colours I used for the dragon include Fog Gray for the wings and belly, Glitter Black Sapphire for the wing details, white cardstock for the eyeballs, and black cardstock for the eye details and claws. While I sometimes secure the body so it doesn't swing (like on THIS card), I made this one interactive and it's highly addictive to swing back and forth!

Both the crown and gift were layered with Lipstick Red and Mirror Gold cardstock. The sentiment from Making Me Smile Sentiments was heat foiled with Matte Gold Hot Foil on Lipstick Red cardstock and die cut with the coordinating dies. I mounted both the dragon and sentiment on a base panel cut from Tuscan cardstock using the Starshine Background.

The rules are simple. You must create a new Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year or a 2024 Dragon Birthday card and add the link to your post in the link-up party. For October, we're inviting you to continue making Mid-Autumn Festival cards and begin making 2025 Year of the Snake cards! Multiple entries are allowed. Backlinking to an older project is strictly prohibited.

Our October Lunar New Year Challenge will run from 12:00am EST on October 1, 2024 through 12:00pm EST on October 31, 2024. We would love to see you using products from our four generous sponsors! The four lucky winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries and announced at the start of the November Challenge. 

(save and share with your project)

Visit the October Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

If you're inspired, some affiliate links are included below at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies: 

Lunar New Year Challenge | Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to everyone celebrating today! I’ve been eating mooncakes galore for the past couple of weeks and I’ve been thinking about my parents a lot, mostly because they would be appalled at the prices of the mooncakes now. I've never seen such insane prices for mooncakes but since we only eat them once a year, I don't mind splurging or over-indulging a bit. ;) The Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival is a special time to gather with family, celebrate the harvest, give thanks to the good things in life, and pray for longevity and good fortune.

Today’s special card was inspired by the layout and colour palette of two illustrators, Zia Liu and denayunebgt. Unfortunately, Blogger does not allow me to link to their work. I was thrilled to be able to replicate Zia Liu's layout with the supplies I had in my stash, as well as one of denayunebgt's colour palettes. The bunny is the companion to the Moon Goddess Chang’e which is why there's one on my card design. Products I've used include Spellbinders' Rainbow Slice Tunnel and a sentiment from Glitter Wishes, Impression Obsession's Bunny Set and Trinity Stamps' Art Deco Dance Foil Plate. All but the sentiment are available from our sponsor Simon Says Stamp.

The cardstock colours I pulled for my card include Chili Pepper (sentiment strip), Buttercup (moon), Lemon Chiffon (bunny), Aqua Sky (top panel), Audrey Blue, Teal Topaz and Peacock Teal (foiled base panel). I cut A2 panels for each of the four teal layers and set them aside. First, I heat foiled the Art Deco Dance Foil Plate with Speckled Aura Hot Foil on the Peacock Teal panel and secured it to the card base.

Then I used the three widest layers of the Rainbow Slice Tunnel to cut the Aqua Sky (top panel), Audrey Blue and Teal Topaz cardstock. I cut the moon from Buttercup cardstock and applied some coordinating ink around the bottom edges for some shadow. The bunny was cut from Lemon Chiffon and Mirror Gold cardstock. After heat foiling the sentiment from Glitter Wishes using Speckled Aura Hot Foil on Chili Pepper, I assembled the card and added a few gold pearls.

Visit the September Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

If you're inspired, some affiliate links are included below at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies: