One Stitch at a Time Challenge 144

Welcome to the last One Stitch at a Time challenge, and Blog Hop! I hope you're enjoying the hop, and being inspired along the way.

You should have arrived here from Jill's blog. If you didn't, you might want to go to the start, or find your place on the list below.

Choccy DT Coordinator
Jill
Josephine *You are here*
Ali
Nataliya
Vicky
Nikki
Susan
Hazel
Trisha
Mandy
CraftyGirl
Tracey
Cg
Karen

There are lots of prizes! First, there's the usual challenge which you can enter. Then, there's a freebie for everyone who completes the hop, and one lucky hopper will win the full set of images used. To complete the hop, you'll need to visit every blog along the way and collect the letters from each blog. Full instructions are on Choccy's blog and the One Stitch at a Time Challenge blog.

The letter for this page is: P

For my project, I've used some of a set of papers from Panda Bear Designs.There's eight in the set, and while they've got a Christmassy theme, several of them are quite a bit more versatile than that. The set's called 'Home for the Holidays' which is a common theme in the US, but always seems like a contradiction to me, as holiday time is when you go away, well, on holiday!

I made a five by seven card because the papers are all rectangular in format, and I didn't want to alter them more than I had to. I've used a gorgeous aqua and gold paper in the background, and an ivory paper with olive green tree and aqua 'sparkles' as the main image. The tree is gorgeous, and I didn't feel the need to add a different focal image. I generated some 'Christmassy' words in Photoshop Elements and printed it on a background similar to the ivory shade, matted everything with gold mirror board, and that's it!

And now you need to head to Ali's blog!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Crafty Boots where the theme is Christmas,
Cupcake Crafts where the theme is Christmas,
Daisy Doodles where anything goes,
Hooked on Craft where the theme is Christmas,
Love to Create where the theme is 'anything goes',
The Crazy Challenge where the theme is 'Christmas Time',
Unstampabelles where the theme is Christmas,
Bearly Mine where anything goes,
Lady Anne's Challenges where anything goes,

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 81

We've got a different sort of challenge this time at Crafty Cardmakers. We want you to make something inspired by Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce.

You can listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO1rMeYnOmM

Or here are the words:

If I could save time in a bottle,

The first thing that I'd like to do,

Is to save every day till Eternity passes away,

Just to spend them with you.

If I could make days last forever,

If words could make wishes come true,

I'd save every day like a treasure and then,

Again, I would spend them with you.

But there never seems to be enough time,

To do the things you want to do once you find them,

I've looked around enough to know that,

You're the one I want to go through time with.

If I had a box just for wishes,

And dreams that'd never come true,

The box would be empty except for the memory of how,

They were answered by you.

But there never seems to be enough time,

To do the things you want to do once you find them.

I've looked around enough to know that,

You're the one I want to go through time with ...

We are sponsored by our lovely teamie Kim Reygate. As Kim said, 'I have been lucky enough to work with some fantastic companies during this last year, both teaching and making samples and most of them are represented in the prize, so I would be more than happy to donate them to Crafty Cardmakers. Represented in the list are Clarity, HobbyArt, Sir Stampalot, Stampcraft and Woodware, some of whome will be sponsoring us in 2013, so watch this space!'

The items in the prize are:
Blue Magic stamp,
2 Embossing Folders,
2 Butterfly Stamps,
2 Colorbox Queues,
Colorbox Moulding Mat,
Magnolia Stamp,
 Petal Stamps.

And, we're also sponsored by:

Milk Coffee

Now, I sometimes take things a bit literally, and this time, I just took some words directly from the song.

If I had a box just for wishes ...

And came up with this:

I used some 12in by 12in card to make a basic box. Then, I added some Papermania Shimmer card. I embossed some Coredinations White Wash card using a time-themed folder from Sizzix, and a butterfly themed one from Personal Inspirations (I think). I sanded the result to bring out the lilac shade. Then, I cut the Spellbinder's butterflies from the shimmer card.

I used the butterfly folder to emboss some panels for the sides of the box.

I finished the box with some silver-trimmed violet ribbon and a computer generated label that I cut with a Spellbinders die.

So, how are you going to be inspired by that beautiful song? I can't wait to see what you come up with.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Flutterby Wednesdays where they're having an open challenge,
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge where anything goes,
Anything but a Card,
Creative Moments where anything goes,
Stampin' with the Dragon where anything goes,
Aud Sentiments where anything goes.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 143

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we want you to show us your folds! We want creations with more than one fold.

Our sponsor is:

Now, I know there are many elaborate ways of folding a card, but I went for one of the simplest - an easel card.

I wanted some very girly paper, and found this one on my hard drive. It's from Bearly Mine, and it was a freebie some time ago. I lightened it a little for the background, then added the Beary Dust image Corey and framed her using a transparent solid panel, with a feathered outline. I took another piece of the background image, and this time, I darkened it several times before shrinking it to a fraction of its original size. I then digitally pieced that into the image for her dress. I coloured her hair, skin and bolero using Promarkers. Finally, I added what seemed to me to be the obvious sentiment for the image!

I used a repeat of the background for the base of the card, and finished with some Spellbinders die cuts in Papermania sparkly paper, and some sticky gems.

I hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Digi Galore where it's anything goes,
Mema's Crafts where anything goes,
Emerald Faerie where they want an easel card,
Papertake Weekly where anything goes,
Artistic Impressions where anything goes,
Stampin with the Dragon where anything goes,
Daisy Doodles where anything goes (with a digi),
I Love Promarkers where anything goes,
Crafts and Me where anything goes,
Creative Moments where anything goes.

A Window and a New Toy

Well, I finally took the plunge and got myself a new diecutter. I've had my Wizard for several years, and while it cuts simple dies well, it's limited in size, and as dies have become more and more intricate, it's been struggling. I considered both the Grand Calibur and the Big Shot Pro, and finally decided on the Sizzix machine because I'm hoping it'll keep going for a long time.

It's very big, and I've had to dedicate a corner of the kitchen worktop to it, but I knew it was big before I bought it. It's definitely straightforward to use, and I should be able to use almost any dies in it. I've always pretty much limited myself to wafer thin dies with the Wizard because mine can't reverse, so any 'new' sandwiches are a risk. I'm looking forward to trying out some Sizzix dies to start with.

On the downside, after just a week of use, I broke my cutting plate. I've only used recommended sandwiches, and I must admit, I'm disappointed by that. Replacement plates are not that expensive, but I really hope that turns out to be a bit of bad luck. I've since found that I can cut simple shapes without one of the recommended layers (the solo shim) so I'll only add that when I need to do something more intricate. And then again, I've still got the Wizard, so I can use it for a lot of things. We'll see.

So, what have I been doing with my new toy? Well, I made a Christmas card, of course!

Here's where the BSP definitely comes into its own. I cut the Spellbinders fancy lattice in just four passes through the machine. (It took me 16 or so with the Wizard.)  I cut a standard Spellbinder's rectangle out of white card and trimmed it to make a frame. The paper is from a pad I've had for several years and can't remember whose it is.

And the inside! The image is from a set of Snowman stamps from Crafter's Companion. I stamped it in green ink - can't remember which variety - and coloured with Promarkers. I used the rectangle die to cut the image and then framed it using the Spellbinders Fleur de Lis rectangle. I did a similar cut for the back of the window, and the paper comes from the same pad.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps where the theme is 'Christmas Time',
Fashionable Stamping where the theme is 'To Die For',
Great Impressions where anything goes,
No Matter Which where the theme is Christmas,
Sketchy Colours where the theme is 'red, green and white',
That Craft Place where there's 'no squares allowed'.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 142

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we're having another 'anything goes', so you can show us what you've been up to!

We're sponsored this week by Rick St. Dennis.

This week, I worked with an image from Reece's Scrap Pieces, and when I got the image, we were about to have my sister and her husband arrive for the weekend. So, because all my craft bits had been tidied away (except my trusty laptop), I decided to do a digital card, and this is what I came up with!

But then, our guests left by lunchtime on Sunday to go and visit some friends on the way home, so the card, paper, glue, Wizard and so on got pulled out again, and I adapted the digital design and came up with this:

In both cases, I used the pre-coloured image that came with the set. If you check out the DT blog and some of my team-mates' blogs, you'll see how they chose to colour the digi stamp instead. I added the floral border, using the motif on the bowl, and completed the image with a green border in Photoshop Elements. Then, I did  greeting, adding two single flowers from the main image, and finally, put together a backing paper using the same single flower, although I did make it a lot smaller!

Hope you can join us this week!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards where they want clean and simple,
Simon Says Stamp where anything goes,
Corrosive Challenges where anything goes,
Glitter and Sparkle where they want flowers (I hope the use of the image flowers in the background and sentiment panels is enough.)
Joanna Sheen where it's anything goes (except Christmas!)