Choose to be Grateful for Crafty Chefs

Hello friends!  I hope that you’re having a wonderful week so far!  The weekend is here, but it sure has been a beautiful couple of days this week with sunny and warm days so hubby and I were able to go out to walk around a bit before the snow starts hitting us!

Something that is great to go out in nature to see are the critters with the birds and the silly squirrels…we have them EVERYWHERE!  They’re busy gathering and burying their food for winter time around here.  My thoughts turned to the Simon Says Stamp “Big Thanks Autumn” November card kit (sold out, but not papers) as I love all things Fall/Autumn and this card kit with those beautiful papers spoke to me and I wanted to create with it to make my project for this month’s Crafty Chef’s Group recipe from our lovely friend Meg’s recipe:

There were some blue colored A2 card bases already cut and scored inside the kit, so I used one for my side folding card base here and then layered a dark brown cardstock piece from the kit as well as a piece of copper mirrored cardstock which was then layered over a piece of the decorative papers (I mentioned above) in the kit, which is also where the critter, mushrooms and leaves images came from on this card.

The leafy background paper was cut from a MFT Wonky Stitched Rectangle Die and then I took a strip of the copper mirrored cardstock across the bottom third of the layered pieces and also added some twine wrapped around the bottom of the layers before popping them up with craft foam over the card base.  I die cut a branch from a die in my stash and then fussy cut the images out from the papers included in the kit which were glued or popped up with foam squares over the panel.  I sponged some Tea Stain Distress Ink around the edges of these pieces before attaching.

Lastly, I’ve taken one of the sentiments from the sentiment strips sheet included in the kit and ran it through my laminator with a piece of copper Deco Foil.  (I think that is a cool way to add a little extra something to those sentiments.)  I made a banner out of it, sponged it with some of the ink I used for the images and popped it up over the leafy background piece with foam tape.  

Here’s a closer look at the critters I’ve cut out and how I’ve arranged and popped some of them up to create my scene.  There was also a very pretty SSS Autumn Sequins Mix included in the kit and I took some of those and added it to the layout and then filled the centers with some Gold Stickles glue.

For the Crafty Chef’s recipe that was given, here’s what I MUST use:

  1. Mirror cardstock
  2. 3 layers or more
  3. ribbon (I hope my twine counts!)
  4. image of garden visitors (birds, hedgehogs, etc)

CAN do items:

  1. Sparkle/Glitter (I used sequins and Stickles)
  2. pearls/gems (I did not use) *passed onto next chef
  3. dry embossing (I did not use)

If you’re interested in joining this pressure free and just for fun crafty group, just CLICK HERE to join the Facebook Group and you can even take turns coming up with the recipe if you’re interested.  There is a new recipe given for each month and no pressure to follow along or even when you want to follow along and play…which is great and I’m happy to be able to use up some of the goodies from my stash (NEW AND OLD) and just have fun with it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my creation today as well and I will be seeing you all again soon!  Thanks so much for stopping in today friend, as I’m very grateful for you!

Challenges:

  1. 2 Crafty Critter Crazies – Anything Goes + animal(s)
  2. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal(s)
  3. Creatalicious – #199 Anything Goes optional Autumn/Thanksgiving
  4. The Paper Girls – #212 Thankful/Grateful
  5. The Divas That Cut Paper – Thanks or Thanksgiving
  6. A Bit More Time to Craft – #128 Anything Goes
  7. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – #146 Anything Goes
  8. QKR Stampede – #408 Anything Goes

It’s Autumn at Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends!  Thank you for joining me!  I hope you’re all having a wonderful week so far!  It’s a tad bit warmer than what I’d like to see it be in September for sure, so I’m hoping it cools down soon!

Today starts a new challenge this week for Cute Card Thursday.  This week we’d like to see your “Autumn” creations.  We look forward to seeing what you create for it!

Here’s what I’ve made using one of our sponsor’s images:

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This little squirrel is so sweet and I love how the tail on him was designed!  This is called “Bushy Tail” from All Dressed Up.  They’re sponsoring the challenge this week, so please be sure to play along for a chance to win!

I’ve dug out some papers from my Autumn stash of papers and picked some out that I thought would go with this image.  I layered a strip over a 5″ square piece of dark gray cardstock that I embossed with a leaf embossing folder that I was finally able to use!  I sponged a bit of white ink over the raised areas.

I also took some score tape and ran it down the center of the card and added some glitter over it and burnished it in.  The image panel was popped up over the card with foam tape.  I added some twine around each corner of the image panel along with a bow that I’ve placed a pearl in the center.

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Here’s a closer look at the squirrel image that I’ve colored in with Copic markers.  I wanted to keep the squirrel looking a bit softer, so I’ve used some lighter colors.

During the fall is a good time to view all of the squirrels running around our yard trying to burry their nuts.  We seem to find them in silly places sometimes as they save them for later! LOL!

I die cut the image with a scalloped square die and sponged around the edges with some Pumice Stone Distress Ink and layered it over a piece of the dark gray and then layered it again over a piece of kraft cardstock.

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Thanks so much for stopping by and I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

  1.  All Dressed Up Challenge – Anything Goes + ADU image #96
  2.   Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  3. Allsorts – Autumn
  4. Crafty Friends – Autumn Colors
  5. Creative Moments – Anything Goes with optional Fall Colors
  6. Sunday Stamps – SSC213 “Autumn Whisper” colors

It’s a Mouth-Full!

Hello friends!  I’m back with you again to share another fun image from the Whimsy Stamps September Digital Release!

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This guy is so stinkin’ CUTE and I really had fun coloring this one! 🙂  I thought this was a great image to use any time of the year really and a cute idea for also a “new home” themed card.  I have used the So Nuts About Home Digital Stamp.

After coloring the image, I went around the edges with some distress ink using my ink foam blending tool.  Mounted that onto a black layer and popped it up over the card design with some craft foam.  I die cut a leaf from kraft cardstock and used some more distress inks with the ink foam blending tool to give it a bit of color.  I then added some sparkle with some Ranger Vintage Platinum glitter and a clear shimmer brush pen.  I curled the edges a bit and attached it over the image panel in the corner.

For the background of my card, I have used the new Autumn Beauty digital papers released this month.  You can see a bit peeking out, but it really doesn’t do justice to the papers…they’re really gorgeous!  I’ve layered them onto a piece of glitter cardstock that was cut along the edge with a scallop border die and then I lined it all up along the right side of my card base.  I’ve added a piece of burlap ribbon and a button with a twine bow on the lower portion of the card before adding my image panel to it.

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Here’s a closer look at this cutie and my coloring details.  He really makes me smile! 🙂

Hope you’ve enjoyed my creation today!  Thanks for sharing part of your day with me!

Challenges:

  1.  4 Crafty Chicks – Crazy Egg Anything Goes
  2. Moving Along With the Times – Gingham and/or Buttons
  3. Alphabet Challenge – ‘L’ for leaves