Christmas Cards

I needed a Christmas card that I could make quickly. The sketch for last week's sketch challenge over at Card Swaps on the CardMaker's site was the perfect sketch to make a quick and easy card. I made several of these which also finished up the last of my Christmas cards. All cards are now mailed! One of these years I will start making my cards much earlier and have them ready to mail at the beginning of December....one of these years!

I expect my crafting will be on hold for the next couple of weeks while I do some baking and enjoy the holidays with family and friends. I hope all of you have a very merry Christmas and a safe, happy and healthy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Birthday Clown - 2 Challenges

So this little cutie has been hanging around in my craft room all week just waiting to be made into a card. I got her colored, designer papers picked out, cardstock and embellishments picked out and then my son came home from school......then Thanksgiving happened....and well....there this cutie sat waiting. Finally found some time to put her together today. Had to do some quick cutting and putting everything together as one of the challenges I am entering this into is ending tonight. So I was working fast. Now my craft room looks like Edward Scissors Hands has been here! Here is the card I made:


I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Paper Sundaes Challenge Blog - a sketch - pictured below
A Spoonful of Sugar - Anything Goes

Supplies Used:
Image - KLM Digi Stamps
Printed Paper - Graphic 45
Cardstock - Bazzill
Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder
Image colored with Prismacolor colored pencils

Let's try this again...

Sorry guys, I should have posted this a couple of days ago but I have been busy with the upcoming holiday this week. The winner chosen by random.org of my prize from the Sugar Crash blog hop has never emailed me with her mailing address. I let random.org do it's magic once again and have a new winner...

Congratulations to Meredith!

Here is what Meredith (Ma) had to say:

"Oh wow, this is such a great project! No more boring plates to load with goodies for me!!! My son and I are *so* going to case this idea!!! Thank you!"

I know the prize is going out this time as I have Meredith's address. I will be mailing this tomorrow.....enjoy and thanks for checking out my project during the Sugar Crash Blog Hop!

A Birthday Card and 2 Challenges

November is a month jammed pack full of birthdays for me. It's probably my busiest month for making and sending out birthday cards. This one is going to someone special who is turning 21. Her birthday is not actually till December 4th but she currently is spending a semester in Spain studying so this needed to be mailed early to make it over there in time. She has discovered the discos while in Spain and loves to go dancing. So I thought dancing Rosie from Karen's Doodles was perfect for the image. Hope she likes it.

I am also entering this into the following challenges:
Stamp Something - Digi day- using something digital... image, paper etc. My image is digital
Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes!

Supplies Used:
Designer Paper: Making Memories
Cardstock: Bazzill
Image: Rosie Dance by Karen's Doodles - you can find it HERE
Tools Used: Spellbinders Nestabilities, Paper Shapers flower punch, Cuttlebug embossing folder
Technique - Image colored with Prismacolor colored pencils

Thanks for stopping by!

Challenges from the Sugar Crash Online Crop

A week ago was the Sugar Crash online crop over in the CardSwaps forum of CardMakers. You might have read one of my earlier posts as well as participated in the blog hop that was also part of the crop. 10 different challenges were posted for the online crop for everyone to try. I would have loved to have tried them all but only had time to do four of the challenges. The theme for the crop was lots of holiday glitter, bling and glam. It sure was hard trying to get good pictures to show all the bling! The picture above was for a challenge where we were to make two or more gift tags. I used my cute House Mouse stamp and glittered up the ornament as well as I used metallic cardstock for the border.

For the picture below the challenge was to make a suspension card. I used my scraps left over from my project for the blog hop to make my card suspending a snowflake. This is the first time I have tried making a suspension card and I really enjoyed it. I will be trying this technique again.

The next two pictures were for the challenge that required us to make a gift card holder. I used Dawn Griffith's tutorial to make this which you can find HERE.


This last picture is for the challenge that required us to use silver plus one other color. I chose to use white as my other color. This was the hardest picture to take. I used a really shiny metallic silver cardstock and no matter what I did....or what angle I used....I could not get a good picture.

I really enjoyed the online crop and I am looking forward to the next one!

Gift Card Holder

A quick post to show a gift card holder I made for a swap I am in. The swap called for us to make 5 gift card holders using any design of our choice. I had been wanting to try this design after seeing a tutorial by Gina K. The video tutorial is in two parts. You can find part one HERE and part two HERE.

Supplies:
Printed Paper: Basic Grey "Jovial"
Cardstock: Bazzill
Tools: Spellbinders Oval Nestabilities

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

A Squash Book / Card

I made this awhile ago for a friend who just moved into a new home. Didn't want to post it till she saw it first. I love surfing You Tube for "how to" videos and in one of my surfing trips I discovered Dawn Griffith's video tutorial for making Squash Books. I thought this would be a cute idea to use in place of the typical card. It was fun and super easy to make but honestly....when it came to taking pictures of it to post....that presented a problem...LOL! When you open the book it unfolds in many different ways or maybe the word exploding would best describe it. There was no really good way for me to photograph it for you to see how it works. The inside is made up of squares and triangles from folding three square sheets of paper. On one of the squares I have an image that I colored and the other three squares say "Congratulations On Your New Home". The entire book is held closed with a belly band that I made from ribbon that I also attached a butterfly charm to. The front and back covers are chipboard coasters that I covered with the designer paper.Below are some pictures of the inside. You can find Dawn's tutorial HERE. You can also get a much better idea what the finished product looks like in her video.

Supplies:
Printed Paper: DCWV
Cardstock: Bazzill
Image: CC Designs Digi image colored with Prismacolor colored pencils
Martha Stewart butterfly punches

Thanks for stopping by!

The WINNER is......

The winner of my RAK from the Sugar Crash Blog Hop is.......chosen by Random.org...

drum roll please......

MaryB

Mary B. said...
"Susie, you have turned me to a life of crime...I just became a purse snatcher! I have a bunch of white lunch sacks and this will be a perfect way to use them! Thank you so much for sharing the idea, inspiration, talent and fudge making tradition (peanut butter fudge is my favorite too)! Perhaps you can bring some when I am behind bars for purse snatching??!!LOL..Thanks again!"

Should I put a file into that fudge Mary to help you with the great escape? LOL! Please email me your snail mail address at : sehirsch at sbcglobal dot net and I will get your DCWV Winter Mat Pack in the mail to you.
Mary you have till November 14th to respond and claim your prize. If I have not heard from you by then a new winner will be chosen.
Thank you for hopping on the blog hop and hope we all inspired you to get creative!

Sugar Crash Blog Hop and Crop

WELCOME!

You are on the CardSwaps Sugar Crash Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Christy Croll's blog. The fabulous Christy from Tiddly Inks who is also one of our guest designers on the hop. If you didn't arrive from Christy's Tiddly Inks blog then you need to head back to the beginning which is Lora's blog. You won't want to miss anything.

There are 16 stops along the hop.Why should you hop along to them all? Well because each stop is loaded with inspiration to get your holiday mojo crafting juices flowing. You might also find a free digital image or sketch to pick up along the way as well. Also each host is offering a prize to one random winner who leaves a comment on their blog. So please be sure to leave a comment on each to let the host know you were there. For my prize I am offering the new...

Die Cuts With A View Winter Printed Combo MatStack

To qualify for a chance to win my prize you must leave a comment by 11:59pm CST November 6th. Be sure to check back here on the 7th when the winner will be posted...it could be YOU!

You are also invited to participate in the Sugar Crash Crop at CardSwaps, too. There are 10 challenges to be posted over the next 3 days (November 4-6, 2010) and EVERY challenge will have a winner. What’s the prize, you ask? A paper crafts book from CardMaker Magazine!! PLUS, one lucky crop participant will win a card making kit that makes 50 cards!!!! It’s very cool… you MUST play along. And if that is not enough...there will be games to play daily too! Hope to see you over at the crop which you can find HERE.

Now on to my project that I am showcasing! The theme for the hop and crop is Sugar Crash which means a holiday theme with lots of glitter, glam, shimmery , glitzy things!!! I decided to make a paper bag purse that would hold Christmas goodies such as candy or maybe some packages of hot chocolate. It's a simple quick project to make and would be perfect to give to friends or coworkers filled with home baked cookies or candy!


I totally glitzed my project up with all kinds of shimmer and glitter. Here are the supplies I used:

Printed Paper is by Heidi Grace Designs
Cardstock is Bazzill's Shimmer Gemstones
Image is by Digital Delights, colored with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and I used some Stickles to make the snow shimmer
Snowflake Dies are by Cuttlebug and embellished up with rhinestones.
Other tools used are Spellbinders circle Nestabilities and SU's tag punches
Purse handle is shimmery ribbon by Offray.
I used a white lunch paper bag instead of the brown as I thought it looked nicer for my theme. Check your local party store for other colors!

Side view:





Back view:

Open view:

You can find full instructions and tutorial HERE on how to make your own paper bag purse.

Christmas has always been a favorite time of the year for me. There is something magical about the holiday. One of the things I always enjoyed was making fudge with my mother. We would make several batches and make packages up to give to friends and family. I shared that tradition with my daughter and the past few years my son has joined in on the yearly Christmas fudge making. A favorite in this household is peanut butter fudge. I think the paper bag purses will be perfect for delivering batches of fudge to friends and family this year!

I hope you enjoyed your stop here along the hop and I hope my project inspires you to try it. One last reminder before you hop on:
You have until 11:59PM CST, November 6, 2010, to post your comment on the blogs on the hop (that includes mine, please! Everyone that comments on my blog will be entered in to the drawing for a prize from me. In addition, if you want to participate in the challenges for the Sugar Crash Crop go check it out after the blog hop and upload your completed projects by 11:59PM CST, November 8, 2010. There are prizes to win there, too!

Now on to your next stop which is the fabulous Diana!

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you over at the crop too!

Blog Hop Stops:
Lora
Carolyn King (guest designer)
Meredith
Ashley
Christy Croll (Tiddly Inks - guest designer)
Susie - YOU ARE HERE
Diana
Jane
Traci (guest cardmaker)
Angelina
Tami Mayberry (guest designer)
Irina
Ana
Margaret
Natalie (Chi Chi Memories - guest designer)
Laura

Join In On The Fun!

A quick post and a shout out to all my crafty and blogging friends. There will be an online crop this week, November 4th thru the 6th over at CardSwaps. There will be daily challenges and games posted. Prizes, compliments of CardMaker magazines will be awarded to random winners of each challenge for those who post their finished project by midnight November 8th. Yes you have two extra days to complete any or all challenges after the crop ends!

If that is not enough to get your mojo going for the holidays then you will want to also take a hop on the Sugar Crash Blog Hop that will also being going on at the same time as the crop....November 4 - 6. Each host on the hop will be showcasing a project of their choosing to help inspire your creativity and get those mojo juices flowing. Yours truly is stop #6 on the hop and I picked a fun and easy project that I hope you will like. Be sure to check out all the stops on the hop and leave a comment. Each host on the blog hop has a prize to be given out to a random winner of those who left a comment.

So lots of inspiration, fun and prizes at the Sugar Crash Crop and Blog Hop! You won't want to miss it. For more information be sure to check the CardSwap site HERE and our fearless leader and organizer of the crop, Lora's blog HERE. On the CardSwap site you will find a schedule of events, list of supplies needed for each challenge and sign up for Bingo as well as any other info you may be looking for. Hope to see you there and along the hop!

A Challenge...A Swap... A Project

Wow...has it really been a couple of weeks since I posted last? I had that flu bug that has been going around and it sure set me back a bit as well as I have just been busy with life. But I have managed to fit in a bit of crafting time here and there. A couple of weeks ago was World CardMaking Day and over on the CardSwaps forum on the CardMakers site there was a mini crop challenge. One of the challenges was to make a 3"x 3" notecard. Above is the one I made for the challenge. It was quick and easy to make and the best part was I used scraps from my scrap pile to make it. This was one of my favorite challenges from the mini crop. Also being the favorite of some of the other girls as well, one of the site participants chose to host a swap for making 3"x 3" notecards. I couldn't pass that up! So I rummaged through my scraps, used the same design as my challenge notecard...adding a tweak or two, and made 16 more notecards. Here is what I came up with for the swap:

Twelve of the cards are for the swap but four are for myself. Sooooo that meant I needed something to keep my set of notecards in as well as the ones I will receive in the swap. Hence the project part of this post and this is what I came up with....a box to hold my cards:


You can find a tutorial here on SCS that shows how to make this box. It was so simple and so fast to make. I already have ideas in my head about making more to give as gifts.

Hope all of you have managed to avoid that nasty flu bug that is going around. Stay well my crafty friends and be sure to keep an eye on my blog for news about the upcoming "Sugar Crash" Crop Challenge and Blog Hop that will be happening November 4th - 6th over on the CardSwaps forum. Lots of challenges, prizes and loads of fun will be going on. I will be once again one of the blog hop stops and I have a fun project that I will be showcasing.

Thanks for stopping by!

CardSwaps World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop

WELCOME!!!

You are on the CardSwaps World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Redonna's blog. Wasn't her project awesome? I hope you enjoyed her project as much as I do! I’m glad you decided to hop on over here and continue your path around.

Don’t forget, if you comment on every blog by midnight CST, October 3, 2010, you will be entered in to a drawing for prizes. The full list of prizes are on Lora's blog HERE.

There is a mini crop going on at CardSwaps and you are invited to play. Each member on the blog hop received a challenge in advance to showcase and entice you to participate!

The challenge from the mini crop I am showcasing is:

A Sketch!

I challenged myself in addition to the sketch (only the sketch is required for this challenge) to make a card in 30 minutes or less using some basic tools. Have to make things quick so I would have time for all of the other challenges on the hop..right? Of course you can take as much time as you want to do this challenge. Just make sure the basic sketch can be seen in your creation. Here is what I came up with:

I hope you like it and I hope it encourages you to try the sketch and the other challenges today at the mini crop.

For this card I used:

Stampin’ Up! Ornament Punch

Nestibilities Scallop and Classic Ovals

Basic Grey Patterned Papers

Bazzill Cardstock

Sentiment is by Inkadinkdo

I have been crafting something all my life with crocheting, sewing and card making being my favorites. As far back as I can remember I have had a fascination with paper. From making cards as a little girl with construction paper to making cards today with all the fabulous handmade and patterned papers...I love card making! I have made many friends through my love for card making. I recently joined the CardSwap forum and have been having so much fun making new friends and sharing ideas with others who also enjoy my passion for making cards. Nothing can compare to the smile you can bring to one's face when they open up their mailbox and find a card that was made especially for them!

Time to continue hopping along...

You have until midnight, CST, October 3, 2010, to post your comment on each blog on the hop (that includes mine, please!). Everyone that comments on each blog will be entered in to the drawings for blog hop prizes. In addition, if you want to participate in the challenges for the mini crop at Card Swaps, go check it out after the blog hop and upload your completed project by midnight CST, October 3, 2010. There are prizes to win there, too! I hope you complete the challenge I showcased and I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Your next stop on the hop is Jane's blog! Have fun!!!

In case you get lost along the way, here is a full list of blogs that are on the hop:

Lora

Jeanette

Laura

Faith Skrdla (Designed 2 Delight)

Redonna

SusieQ (YOU ARE HERE)

Jane

Lori (representing Stretch N Bubbles)

Irina

Meredith

Ana

Dustin Pike

Diana

Angelina

Ashley

Happy World Cardmaking Day!