X is for Criss Cross

X is for Criss Cross

Hello everyone!

I'm sharing my design team card for ABC Christmas Challenge today and I'm hosting back to back challenges. There was a bit of confusion about the last challenge so we decided to simplify it and glad we did. There were so many wonderful entries that it was hard to choose the Winner and Top 3. Be sure to check out that post to see if you are one of the lucky ones! As for this challenge all you need to do is criss cross something to create an X. :)

Our sponsor for the 'X' challenge is Fred She Said

Prize is a $10.00 gift certificate to the lucky winner.

This was the easiest card ever and most likely was prompted by the fact that I was trying to pack and get ready to travel for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I used a dimensional chalkboard sticker as the focal point and sentiment of my card and the "Criss Cross" comes in with the silver metallic twine I used to create a big 'X" under the sticker. This is a basic card (4.25" x 5.5") with a white base and red glitter panel on top. I chomped the four corners of glitter panel with We R Memory Keepers stub punch and it went together in less than 5 minutes. Note: I pre-cut solid color bases to A2 size so I always have those ready to go which is a huge time saver. All I had to do is cut and chomp the red panel, add the dimensional sticker, twine and voila! 

Be sure to check out the challenge post at ABC Christmas Challenge to view all of the inspiration by the design team. For those of us here in America we'll celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow so I want to wish all of my American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving. 

Hugs,

Lisa

Wine Tag

Wine Bottle Gift Tag Set from The Cutting Cafe

This coming Thursday our family will sit down to a wonderful meal and celebrate Thanksgiving together. Our son and daughter-in-law are hosting this year and that inspired my DT project for The Cutting Cafe. Regina gave the design team the option of creating anything we'd like for the 21st DT post on the TCC's blog. I wanted to bring my DIL a hostess gift and decided on a bottle of her favorite red wine and the Wine Bottle Gift Tag Set helps dress up the bottle. This is a great template...cutting file and there are two styles of this wine tag included. I used the wine tag without a gift pocket (above)  but there's also a template for a tag with a pocket where you can add a gift card.

You can see that option below designed by Regina Easter.

Typically I use my electronic cutting machine to cut my template...cutting files but today I used the PDF file (always included in every file) to print and cut by hand. It's a straight forward template that's easy to cut out with scissors.

I had some scraps from Graphic 45's A Place in Time on my desk so I used some of the paper, banner strips and fussy cut images to add a fall feeling to my wine tag. A handwritten note adds a personal touch.

The design team post goes live tomorrow on The Cutting Cafe's blog so be sure to check out all of the diverse crafty projects. If you leave a comment there you'll automatically be entered to win 3 FREE SETS of your choice from The Cutting Cafe.

My family has so much to be thankful for this year, our first grandchild was born in September and he has brought such joy to our lives. My husband and I are also grateful that Tristan has such wonderful, loving parents. On another note, our daughter is a senior in college so this is her last Thanksgiving as "our little girl" lol. She's 22 but she'll always be our baby! Next year will be a transition year for us as a family as she spreads her wings and flies away so we're gonna soak up every precious moment that we can.

I want to wish my fellow Americans a very Happy Thanksgiving!

May God Bless You and may He Bless the United States of America.

Hugs,

Lisa

Halloween Shadowbox

Hello and Welcome!

Today I'd like to share the Halloween shadowbox I created for my dear friend, Katrin. She lives in Germany and they do not celebrate Halloween. Really, say what??? She shared that she loves this holiday so along with our Halloween themed pocket letters we exchanged shadowboxes as well. My schedule was crazy in October but thankfully she was in no hurry and hey since they don't celebrate it no pressure! :) It mailed out 3 days after Halloween and arrived late last week which was super fast. I'm waiting to share the Halloween pocket letters because my overseas incoming pl's haven't arrived yet. Soon hopefully!   

My favorite item has to be the candy corn tree. I've always wanted to make one of these and it was super easy. Masking tape protected the areas where I didn't want color (top of tree) or needed to change colors. Dylusions ink sprays were applied directly over the exposed area and I used a manila tag to mop up the excess. A little trick I learned from Tim Holtz. :) After it dried I painted the wood base with black acrylic paint and added a "31" adhesive sticker. I have a thing for bats so I added 3 glitter sticker bats to the tree and I love the way it turned out. I see many more of these in my future! I added some small pumpkins and JoLee's Boutique stickers to the background. 

Another favorite of mine is the word "BOO" spelled out with Tim's wood letterpress letters. Each base was painted black then I went over the letters with orange acrylic paint. The candied apple (to the left) is a dimensional sticker by JoLee's boutique. You can see one of Tim's wishbones on the left which are so cute. In the bottom left box I used a dimensional sticker by Recollections and I added a paper extension to it so it would stand out from the back. You can't see it but I placed some tiny pumpkins to the right of the spooky house as well. 

I knew I wanted a skeleton for one of the vignette scenes and these were really hard to find this year. I searched Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's as well as Michael's with no luck, in the end I found a four pack at the Dollar Store. I bought the last two in stock and now I'll have some for next year and I sent my friend some as well. Honestly next year I think I'll just start there for Halloween crafty stuff. The small pumpkins were purchased last year at a gift shop in Franklin, Tennessee. They were part of a potpourri pack and I just love them. I coated each one with a thin layer of Deco Art's matte gel medium to add a protective coating. I also used this product to adhere the patterned paper to the back of each small box within the shadowbox. It's a great product with many uses! 

You can see two of Tim's rub-ons in this photo-one on the glass bottle and the other on the background paper. There's also a snip of his laboratory washi tape on there as well. The large bottle holds tiny bones which are cake decorations by Wilton. In the smaller bottle I decided to crush some of the candy bones and the rub on was perfect. I dismembered the skeleton and his legs were placed in this vignette while his head and body are in a box to the left. Sound gruesome, doesn't it?!? I promise he didn't feel a thing lol.  

This close up shows what the top boxes look like. I added a dimensional pumpkin with a glitter moon and star stickers in the background on the left and the right box simply has a trio of bats with clear gemstone eyes and a small pumpkin. You can also see the Halloween puffy sticker I placed on the top left of the shadowbox. The big glitter spider has been in my stash for a while and I added some white paint to highlight his/her eyes. 

The shadowbox was covered with Hazel and Ruby's wide spider web washi tape. For the inside boxes I painted each one with black acrylic paint by Ranger and added touches of gold/silver paint. I added Tim's metal feet to each corner to elevate it and to hold each one in place I used a hot glue gun. Most of the items were added with hot glue with a few exceptions where I used Art Basic's matte gel (by Finnabair for Prima Marketing). 

Thanks for your visit today, have a great day!

Hugs,

Lisa 

September and October Pocket Letters

My AIW outgoing pocket letter to Thailand

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

So happy the weekend is here because my hubby and I are going to wrap some projects up this weekend so I can decorate for Christmas the following weekend. That's right, I'm breaking my own self imposed rule and putting up the tree and trimming the house before Thanksgiving. We'll be spending turkey day with our kids in Nashville so I want to have it done and enjoy this Christmas season. :)   

Today I'm sharing the pocket letters that I made for my pals at Pocket Letter Pals and also letters I received from them. The pl above was made for my new pal in Thailand, Buabee. She's a fellow fan of Alice in Wonderland and even though Graphic 45's Hallowe'en in Wonderland has a Halloween theme I worked around it to create her pl using the beautiful jewel tones of this paper collection. It features my favorite characters and I created a unique banner using one of the banner dp's. I did a lot of fussy cutting as well to add more interest to each vignette and the banner below.

I added magnets to keep the banner, which I placed on the outside of the pl, in place and cut out playing cards and other images to cover up the word Hallowe'en. On the far left pocket I stamped and embossed "Greetings from" in white detail embossing powder. On the third pocket I used a circle punch to create a circle frame for the Mad Hatter and then I used the punched circle and placed it in a bottle cap and created a glossy seal with Judikins 3D Art Gel. I love this stuff and it really creates a clear, shiny surface! 

Before I move on here are a few more closeups.

 The playing cards at the top were from a poker themed confetti pack I had in my stash from my son's baby shower this past July. Saying that now makes me realize I totally forgot to share pictures and projects here on my blog. Geez, I'll have to do that before the year is over lol. 

I have a stamp set by Crafty Secrets and I stamped these sentiments on a separate piece of paper and added it to this scene. I haven't received my pocket letter from my pal in Thailand yet so I'll share it with next month's incoming pocket letters. 

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The next pl was created for my new pal in New Zealand. Since they are experiencing spring, while here in the US it's fall, I thought I'd make her a spring/summer themed pocket letter. I'm so happy she likes it and we plan to exchange pl's again. :)

I used a paper collection by Simple Stories and added summer accents from my crafty stash.

This is the middle row and I added paper sunflowers, puffy ladybug stickers, wood laser accents, and word strips from the paper collection that I fussy cut. The soda bottle is a dimensional sticker from Pink Paislee and I added a metal bird house charm to the spine for her to keep or use on another pl for a pal.

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Next up is a pl I made for my friend in Germany, Katrin. We swap on a regular basis and this time we used mixed media techniques on a winged things themed pocket letter. 

Distress inks and  Tim's tissue paper provide a base for each pocket. The quote on the bottom left pocket is from a stamp set by Verve Stamps called Bird Song.

You can see the top row better in this photo hopefully. The chipboard fairy is by Dusty Attic and after painting her with distress paint I added some shimmer with Stickles by Ranger.

Wood laser butterflies and 3D dimensional stickers were used to reinforce a butterfly theme on the middle row as well as rub ons by Tim Holtz. The words are from Tim's large chit chat stickers and I popped them up on dimensional foam tape and outlined them with a white gelly pen by Sakura.

I made a matching tag as well because Katrin always includes something handmade for me. :)

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The next pl was created for a group swap at PLP's. The theme was to use a Prima doll image by Julie Nutting on our pocket letter. I didn't have one so I went to Hobby Lobby and fortunately they were on sale so I picked up a few. ;)

 I stamped the doll image several times with black permanent ink on plain cardstock then again on 2 designer papers. Using the paper piecing method I added some interest to her dress and boots with the patterned paper. Her hair was colored brown with Copic markers and a black marker was used around the edges for definition. For this pl I chose a dp by Pink Paislee and cut outs from Basic Grey. All of the elements go together nicely and I added a bit of sparkle with butterfly confetti pieces. Liquid pearls were added to the cut out roses and leaves, Stamped quotes by Verve Stamps and My Favorite Things were also added to enforce the feminine theme. 

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Next up is my last outgoing pl and it went to my pal in Florida, Mary. We also exchange on a regular basis and this time we went with a woodland animals theme. I used grosgrain ribbon on the spine which is so cute! On the middle row I went with a nighttime scene using a dp by October Afternoon which I've had in my stash for years. It was nice to use it and I hand cut some hills from green cardstock. The circle trees on the top row were made by die cutting graduated circles in different dp's and free hand drawing the tree trunk and branches. The little fox is a dimensional sticker by Jolee's Boutique as are some of the other stickers used on this pl. A fence die by Taylored Expressions helped finish my top row scene. I wish I had taken better pictures of some of my outgoing pl's but you can always click on the image to enlarge it. I was in a big hurry and didn't check the lighting, sorry about that.

That's a wrap for my outgoing pocket letters and now I'm sharing the letters that I received during September and October. 

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Incoming Pocket Letters

First up is the pl I received from my new pal in New Zealand, Raewyn. She created a cover for the front which folds inward and holds additional pockets. I love this design and I'm going to give it a try so thanks for the inspiration Rae. :)

Front Cover

What a great idea!

When you open the cover there are two flaps, one on each side and she tucked notes (not shown) under the doily flaps. It really elevated this pl and the flaps are easy to add with washi tape. Again, it's a super idea and I'm definitely giving this a try. Thanks Raewyn and for my crafty goodies too!

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The next pl is from my friend in Germany, Katrin, known as Sizu over at Pocket Letter Pals. Her mixed media pl is stunning and I LOVE the dimensional bird cage shaker she created using an Alterations die by Tim Holtz.

The colors are so pretty and the winged things she added to each pocket are gorgeous! I'm going to try and snap a pic of this outside and edit this post because this one is so dark. This pl is really beautiful in person and she added a lot of detail to it.

 This is her beautiful shaker tag!

She die cut several pieces then layered them for dimension. I love it Katrin, thank you so much and for my crafty goodies as well. :)

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Next is the group swap pl I received from Sarah70 at PLP's. We were challenged to use one of Julie Nutting's fab doll images and I love the one she chose. She also personalized it for me with wonderful quotes about grandmothers as I'd just become a new Mimi to my sweet grandson, Tristan. It was super thoughtful and I was so touched.

 Thank you Sarah for my beach themed pl and my craft goodies.

It's fabulous!

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The last swap pl was from my friend, Mary, in Florida. She mentioned she struggled with the woodland animals theme but I think she hit it out of the ball park. 

I love the vignettes she created on each pocket and I love my crafty goodies too.

Thanks Mary!

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The final pocket letter I am sharing today is from a dear friend at Pocket Letter Pal's, Glenda. She knew I was going to become a brand new Mimi in September and she made this beautiful pl to commemorate this special event in my life. It was so thoughtful and I cherish her friendship!

It's so precious and I love the "i'm a mimi" banner she created. She also used one of my fave baby collections by Graphic 45 and it was such a sweet surprise when I received it. She even included crafty goodies for me to enjoy and use on future pl's. You are a gem Glenda, thank you!!!

Well that brings me up to date with my outgoing pl's for September and October with the exception of Halloween pl's. I'll share those in a separate post when my overseas letters arrive. Fortunately my pals were willing to receive theirs late due to my crazy schedule the past 2 months.

Have a great weekend everybody, wherever you are!

Lisa xx

W is for Wishes

W is for Wishes

We have a new challenge for you at ABC Christmas Challenge and I'm hosting this one. I can hardly believe that we are nearing the end of the alphabet! Seriously where has this year gone? All you need to do to play along is use the word "wishes" on your Christmas themed project. 

Yes, I used an ivory pearl bling for baby Jesus's face.

{I wanted it to have some dimension}

I stamped my sentiment on the front of my card with Versamark ink and used white embossing powder. This little card has a lot going on actually with a hilly scene, stamped and die cut nativity, shaker window and a snowy background that's accented with white pearls. I colored my stamped scene with Copic markers and I double stamped parts of the stable and cut them out. They were popped up with Scotch foam tape and I love the dimension it adds. The die cut trees are by Taylored Expressions and I used a Sakura white gelly pen to add snow to them as well as the background.

Sponsor for this challenge is Wild Rose Studio

Prize for one lucky entrant is the Winter Bouquet die. 

To see more inspiration by my design team mates visit the challenge blog here. That's all for me today, thanks for dropping by and I'll be back on Friday (finally) with my incoming and outgoing pocket letters for September and October. 

See you then!

Lisa xx

TCC's Gable Box Template...Cutting File

Hello and Welcome!

I'm sharing my design team project for The Cutting Cafe and it features the Gable Box Template....Cutting File. This is a fun way to gift a present or use as a bakery box as I intend to do. During the holidays I like to bake homemade goodies to give friends, neighbors and my hubby's co-workers. The Gable Box will be the perfect packaging for my caramel candies which are a yearly hit with everyone. :)

I used an electric cutting machine to cut my box templates but there's a PDF file included so you can print and cut as well. Here's a tip - if you are using patterned paper you want to pay attention to the orientation of your paper before cutting/printing to ensure the pattern is in the correct direction. The file includes options for cutting with or without a window, a straight or scalloped top edge and other choices (as shown below) for personalized touches.   

My boxes are decorated with Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses, a paper collection that's been in my stash awhile, and I used cut outs from the collection on two of the boxes. The box on the left was decorated with 3D stickers from the 12 Days of  Christmas by My Mind's Eye. Tim's twine is the perfect addition to the top of my bakery (gable) boxes. 

If you'd like the caramels recipe I mentioned earlier click here and enjoy! To view more inspiration featuring the Gable Box Template..Cutting File visit TCC's blog DT post which will go live later today. I have some creative teamies and they have some fun options to share with you! If you leave a comment on that post you'll be automatically entered into a drawing to win 3 FREE sets of your choice from The Cutting Cafe. 

That's all for me today. I'll be back on Wednesday with a DT project for ABC Christmas Challenge and hopefully I'll have the pocket letters for September and October finally ready to post this Friday. 

Have a great day, wherever you are!

Lisa xx