Deck the Halls With Inky Paws Blog Hop

Today I'm joining the Newton's Nook design team and featured guests for a blog hop to conclude their Deck the Halls with Inky Paws week. So fun! If you've missed out on the week so far, check out the Newton's Nook blog to catch up. For today's hop, you should have arrived here from Jennifer McGuire, and when you're finished here, you'll visit Laura Bassen (full hop list below). The hop begins at the Newton's Nook Designs blog.

ENTER to WIN! 

Newton's Nook will be choosing two lucky winners to win a $10 store credit for Newton's Nook Designs online shop! To enter, just leave comments on the Design Team Member and Guest blogs (see list below)! Two winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs in the blog hop. Make sure to check out each blog and comment for your chance to win. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning! You have until Sunday, December 7th at 9 pm CST to comment  -- winners will be announced on the NND blog on Monday, December 8th.

Deck the Halls with Inky Paws Blog Hop

Newton's Nook Designs
Nichol Magouirk
Jennifer McGuire
Amy Sheffer <--- you are here
Laura Bassen
Heather Hoffman

Taheerah Atchia

Lydia Brooke

Larissa Heskett

Samantha Mann

Crafty Math-Chick

Shellye McDaniel

Jess Moyer

Stephanie Muzzulin

Danielle Pandeline

Tessa Wise

I had colored a family of cats with a different project idea in mind. That idea hasn't come together quite like I want it to (yet), but I couldn't abandon this Siamese, which was my favorite. Here, he sits peacefully in the snowdrifts enjoying his white Christmas.

The background is dry embossed, and the raised areas are colored with a white gel pen and brushed with a clear Wink of Stella pen. The image, from Newton's Holiday Mischief is colored with Copics, and the scarf is brushed with clear Wink of Stella.
Simple, sweet, peaceful.

Have a beautiful Friday, and enjoy the upcoming weekend. 

Thanks for visiting with me here today!

Congratulations

I was peeking around at some of my favorite challenge blogs last night, wanting to make something just for fun, and decided to combine the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the color combo at The Color Throwdown. 

The festive colors and metallics easily led to a congratulations/celebration card. There was probably plenty of splash with just the brown and gold splatters in the background, but I piled on a bunch of sequins anyway. Have I crossed the line into gaudy? Kind of looks like a confetti cannon explosion!

The sentiment and banner stamp are from Reverse Confetti's BEAUTIFUL BANNERS set, and the banner shape is die-cut with the corresponding BEAUTIFUL BANNERS Confetti Cuts dies.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a festive day!

REVERSE CONFETTI STAMPS: BEAUTIFUL BANNERS

REVERSE CONFETTI DIES: BEAUTIFUL BANNERS Confetti Cuts

PAPER: white card stock, dark brown woodgrain designer paper

INK: VersaMark

OTHER: clear and silver embossing powder, powder tool, 

Heidi Swapp gold Color Shine, Mister Huey's Pony Color Mist,

Pretty Pink Posh clear and silver star sequins, silver thread, foam adhesive

Deck the Halls With Inky Paws Featured Guest

[Second post today -- for my Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Special Thanks post, scroll down or click HERE]

I'm so excited to be today's featured guest for DECK THE HALLS WITH INKY PAWS week over at Newton's Nook Designs! The week of fun began on Monday and concludes with a big blog hop and prizes on Friday. Be sure to tune in to the Newton's Nook blog each day this week so you won't miss a thing!

My first card features WINTER TAILS. I knew I could have lots of fun making piles and piles of snow.

Hate snow? "Make it stop" is the perfect sentiment. Love snow? Switch out for "let it snow." 

I stamped the snowy hills, added some Copic shadows and tiny dots of glitter, then embellished with sequins and wood veneer snowflakes.

My next card features the sweet kitty, Newton, playing with a strand of Christmas lights. This image is from NEWTON'S HOLIDAY MISCHIEF.

I wanted to give the impression that Newton is either getting ready to put the lights on the tree or has mischievously pulled them off the tree. His head is stamped a second time, trimmed out, and popped up in front of the tree (which I cut with my Silhouette), so that he looks almost like he's crawling under the tree. 

A little Copic shadowing grounds the scene. I added clear glaze to the lights for extra shine.

I hope you've enjoyed my Newton's Nook creations today. Thanks for visiting! And thank you, Jennifer Jackson, for inviting me to join you this week!

Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine Special Thanks Blog Hop

I'm joining in with paper crafters worldwide today to thank the wonderful folks at Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine for all that they've done for the industry over the years. If you've arrived here from N@ Ali, you're right on track. When you're finished here, you'll head to Nance Solkeld (I'll link again at the end). A big thank you to Taheerah Atchia and Veronica Zalis for making this hop happen!

Like so many others, I'm saddened and shocked by the news the magazine is closing down. I am so grateful for everything the publication has done for the industry, especially the sense of community they were able to foster online. Best wishes to the magazine staff as they move to their next endeavors. Go-To Gals, past and present, thank you for sharing your talent. A special shout-out to Cath, too! We've said our goodbyes to her already, but she's still very much a part of this send-off. Much love to you all!

I thought I'd share the one card I ever had published in Paper Crafts. It's also the one card I ever submitted, so hey, 100% acceptance rate! (You also won't get published 100% of the times you don't submit!)

I created today's card with my published card in mind, but made some updates (I made the original in 2009!). Here's what I came up with:

Trees were trendy then. I swapped trees for things that are trending now: donuts and spectacles. I kept the scene design, but switched out the torn designer paper hills for die-cut hills for a more current look, switched the machine stitching to the popular faux stitched die-cut edges, and used sponging and inks instead of designer paper.

The donut and donut hole are die-cut with Reverse Confetti's DONUT YOU KNOW Confetti Cuts dies, and the sentiment stamp is from the corresponding DONUT YOU KNOW stamp set. (I did modify the sentiment a tiny bit -- the stamp reads: "what I'd do without you." I just changed "I'd" to "I'll" by not inking the "d" and using a Copic multiliner to squeeze in two "l"s.) Stitched hills, rectangle, and clouds are Lawn Fawn dies.

Thanks for joining me today. Next stop on the hop is Nance Solkeld!

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Clearly Christmas

It's time for a new Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge!

photo source: bhg.com

We have a new sponsor, Winnie&Walter, for the Curtain Call Inspiration: Clearly Christmas!  A randomly selected participant in the Clearly Christmas challenge will receive a $30 Winnie&Walter shopping code, while the LEAD will be invited as a Guest Designer in a future challenge!

I was super excited to play with Winnie & Walter's Winter Woodland stamp set and coordinating Winter Woodland Digital Elements (which are cut files for each of the shapes in the set). I think without our gorgeous challenge photo, I would have done something rustic and woodsy with this set, so I really love how the inspiration photo helped me use this set in a completely different way!

For today's more elegant take, I arranged the pine needles and sprigs underneath a pair of tags, then accented with clear sequins. On top of the tag pair, I placed a silver buck and some loops of silver thread. The stitched rectangle background panel is lightly sponged with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.

Make sure you visit each of the designers' blogs for more inspiration!

Clearly Christmas Designers

Amy White, Guest Designer
Amy Kolling
Amy Sheffer
Amy Tsuruta
Gayatri Murali
Kim Singdahlsen
Laurie Willison
Lisa Henke
Marisa Ritzen
Maureen Plut
Monika Davis
Sarah Gough
Sheri Gilson
Stacey Schafer
Tenia Nelson
Tracey McNeely

Follow us!

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge Facebook Page

Curtain Call Pinterest Boards

Stop by the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Clearly Christmas for the challenge details and to play along with us!

Thanks for visiting!

STAMPS: Winter Woodland (Winnie & Walter)

INK: Memento Luxe Pear Tart and Danube Blue, Tsukineko Metallic Silver

PAPER: Neenah Solar White card stock

OTHER: Winnie & Walter Winter Woodland Digital Elements, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, 

Reverse Confetti Tag Me Confetti Cuts die, foam adhesive, Pretty Pink Posh clear sequins, 

silver embossing powder, heat tool, vellum, enamel dot, silver thread

Thankful

Wishing my American readers a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! I enjoyed Thanksgiving Day yesterday with my parents, my sister, and my brother and his family, my sister, and my parents. We're not all together nearly enough so I treasure these occasions. For the second year, my mother has had us go around the table each giving thanks for something and dropping a bean into a vase. We go around maybe a dozen times, digressing into stories and memories and conversation along the way. The variety around the table is always fun -- everything from family, health, and jobs to stuffed animals and even Xbox. 

A few paper crafty things I'm thankful for:

- the wonderful online community of paper crafters 

- my blog as a way to connect and share with others 

- my readers (and the fact that I still have any, after slowing way down the past few years!)

- fabulous design team opportunities - thank you Reverse Confetti, Taylored Expressions (I start with their blog team next week!) and Curtain Call. I have a super fun guest spot next week, too - look for those posts Wednesday and Friday. 

- fun product! Always thankful for that :) Hope you score some great shopping deals, either in stores or online. (You won't see me anywhere near a brick and mortar store today! Online is a different story, though.)

Here's a deal for you from Reverse Confetti:

Thanks for visiting!

25 Days of Christmas Tags #2

Today, I'm honored to be participating in Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags series agin. Tracey has invited the Curtain Call Crew to be her guests today, so be sure to stop by Tracey's blog for lots and lots of tag inspiration!

Many prize opportunities are available throughout this series, too. Prize sponsors include:

  

 

   

For prize details, click HERE. For today's tag inspiration, click HERE. Thanks, Tracey, for having us as your guests today!

For my tag, I started out with the wire "joy" by Jillibean Soup. I decided to use it as part of a "Joy to the World" sentiment and pair it with a globe that I cut with my Silhouette. The letters "to" and "the" were done by combining individual letters from Reverse Confetti's BRING ON THE MERRY stamp set. "World" is spelled out in letter stickers by Authentique. Christmas accents include holly from Reverse Confetti's NORTH POLE WISHES Confetti Cuts die, and a snowflake from Reverse Confetti's LET IT SNOW Confetti Cuts. The tag was cut with Reverse Confetti's TAG ME Confetti Cuts die set.

Thanks for stopping by!

REVERSE CONFETTI STAMPS: BRING ON THE MERRY

REVERSE CONFETTI DIES: NORTH POLE WISHES, LET IT SNOW, TAG ME

PAPER: white, blue, grass green, garden green, and red card stock; designer paper scraps

INK: Staz On Jet Black

OTHER: vellum, Offray black satin ribbon, The Twinery denim solid twine, wire word by Jillibean Soup, 

Pretty Pink Posh sequin, Authentique alphabet stickers