Holiday Fun- Day 2!

I've been so swamped with my job these past few weeks that I haven't had much time to create. So… took a few days off just for some play therapy in my craft room. Most of yesterday I played, plus was up crafting until 2 AM which means I am a happy camper with lots to share the next few days. I love this time of the year!

The current Tiddly Inks challenge is named Be Merry. I decided to make a Christmas card that is very tailored to a dear friend and her hubby who have adopted two beautiful little girls. Abigail and Hope are from China and both like Pandas. I know that they will love this image from the Tiddly digi set names "Beary Sweet" (and am thinking their mom and dad will like it, too.)

Because there is five years difference in their ages, I made one image larger than the other and then flipped it to create a better layout (one reason I love digis is this kind of flexibility.) I also added the extra line "sisters" to the "Beary Special" sentiment to fit the theme of my card. The little bear and ladybug image on the inside sentiment (that I printed on my computer) is also from the digi set. To see the entire set, plus some wonderful card designs using the images, visit www.tiddlyinks.com/digital-stamps/beary-sweet-panda-digital-stamp

PS The artist that creates these amazing images has asked that anyone who posts them adds a watermark to the finished card. It took me a while to figure out how to do that... but found a free option that is fairly easy. Since I do use- and love- the work of so many stamp/digi artists I am willing to help protect their creative work. So, if you are one of these artists and you'd like me to watermark any of your images that I use, I'll be happy to do so. Just let me know. That said, I also promise that I will NEVER post your B&W images that I purchase.  And if I do post any of your sets on my blog, I'll ask your permission first. All of the stealing/posting of copyrighted images on Pinterest makes me ill!

Entered into: 

Tiddly Inks- Be Merry                                                               (tiddlyinkschallenge.blogspot.com)

Crafty Hazelnut’s Christmas Challenge- Anything Goes   (craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk)

Crafty Hazelnut’s Christmas Challenge2- Extra for Dec   (craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.com)

Christmas Cards All Year Round- Anything Goes              (christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.co.uk)

                  

This wonderful digi image named "Coffee Words" is discounted at Bugaboo for just $1 because it contains a typo/misspelling. (bugaboostamps.com) I love the image and quickly rectified the problem by layering some patterned paper strips over the two largest oopsies. The others aren't so easy to read in the word mix. And… it was so easy to make this into a shape card. I just printed it out onto a sheet of cardstock, positioning it so that the image is large (1/4 of the 8.5 x 11 sheet) and shows up below the fold line of the "card." After printing off, and folding the card, I penciled in the mug shape (which was easy to do because I just had to follow the edging of the words), cut out the shape, added the embellies. And… it's done! Am going to send it to a friend seeing if we can set up a coffee date in the coming weeks (if our harried schedules allow!)

Am entering this card into several challenges- Bugaboos Holiday Chaos week of challenges (today's photo inspiration challenge includes a table setting plus lots of red and green), SumMoreFun mood board (inspired by the great holiday colors plus the hot beverage mug for Santa), plus this great card is my first entry into the  week-long 2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog hop. There are so many wonderful prizes, plus creativity galore, and really nice people involves. Check it out!   
coffeelovingcardmakers.com/2017/12/2017-winter-coffee-lovers-blog-hop-2/

 

Entered into: 

2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop                                     (coffeelovingcardmakers.com)

Bugaboo Stamps- Holiday Chaos - 12/8 Photo                               (catchthebugblog.blogspot.com)

SumMoreFun  Challenge- Color Challenge- All Decked Out        (summorefun.com)  

                             

The current Power Poppy Challenge is entitled 12 Days of Christmas. Am entering this into the Day three challenge- Gift Bag. Used an unbelievably adorable image from Beccy's Place called "New Friends" and used the very easy to follow instructions on the Power Poppy link to make the bag topper. The mittens along the edge of the topper and blue snowflake strips that I placed across the corners of the image are actually scrapbook stickers (company unknown). I used their colors as my guide when adding color to the image, plus when selecting the pretty bow that also has snowflakes. (I did add a close up of the image because I love the way it shows the shadow cast by the ribbon, imprinting little snowflake images onto the bag front. In this close up I also noticed that I need to go and add some color to that little boy's eyes. I'll make them light blue to fit in with the color scheme.

Entered into: 

Power Poppy- 12 Days of Christmas (Day3)  (powerpoppy.blogspot.com/2017/12/power-spark-with-twelve-days-of.html)

Beccy’s Place Challenge- December                            (beccysplace.blogspot.com)

Simon Says Monday Challenge- Icy Inspiration      (simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge)

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge- Gift It                (simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge)

Di’s Digi Stamps- Winter Holidays                             (disdigidesignschallenge.blogspot.co.uk)

My final entry on this post is for several challenges, including a CAS Christmas at AAA Cards and an "inky fingers" challenge at wecraftcards. Sadly, I had to sacrifice a few of the white chocolate peppermint holiday kisses to make this card but I did it! Heh heh. (It was a little tricky to not tear the foil so that I could carefully wrap a few cardboard shaped kisses with it. And… Drat…I did have to eat more than three of the kisses in order to get two that were not torn. Sometimes crafting is so very hard.Ha!) 
The fingerprints were made with white craft ink. It came off of my fingers quickly with hand sanitizer. 

Entered into: 

AAA Card Challenges- Christmas                                   (aaacards.blogspot.com/)

We Craft Cards Wednesday Challenge- Smudge it     (wecraftcards.com/forum)

Artistic Inspirations Challenge-Challenge #191          (artisticinspirationschallenges.blogspot.com.au)
Cute Card Thursday- #507 Anything Goes                   (cutecardthursday.blogspot.com) 
QKR Stampede- #273 Anything Goes                            (qkrstampede.blogspot.com)