Stamp A Faire 2017--Ashley's Challenge: 3rd Anniversary, Leather

I really enjoyed making my own faux leather as part of Ashley's third anniversary challenge.  This was a cool technique and perfect for masculine or vintage inspired projects!  I kept thinking of an old leather suitcase when I saw this technique and that made me think of travel, so I used that as my inspiration for my card.  I pulled out Destination and We Go Together (I believe both of these sets are retired now) and the Mix and Mat Postal die to complete the focal image of my card, the background map is from Hero Arts and I topped the card off with a few wood arrow embellishments.

Stamp A Faire 2017--Michelle's Challenge: 2nd Anniversary, Cotton

The second challenge for the 2nd anniversary had us get the needle and thread out for some stitching!  I'm so glad I was able to find some crinoline at JoAnn's last weekend.  This was one of my favorite projects for the entire event, but please don't look too closely at my stitches, as they aren't very even! (My boyfriend's mom is a seamstress, I think she would be horrified at my stitching!)  I think these sachets would make a wonderful little gift, or as a stocking stuffer for the holidays.

I used Michelle's second method for dying the crinoline with Copic markers.  It was a quick and easy way to get the colors I wanted for my flowers. I used the Friendly Flower dies and some Royal Velvet buttons, and the latest Mix and Mat Pinked Edge die to make my sachet.

Stamp A Faire 2017--Stephanie's Challenge: 2nd Anniversary, Cotton

I will admit, I had a hard time coming up with something for this 2nd Anniversary challenge.  Stephanie's cotton candy card was unique and so cute, but I didn't want to recreate it.  As I was pacing my craft room Friday evening trying to come up with an idea, my boyfriend walked by and asked me what I was up to.  I told him I was trying to come up with an idea to execute for this dyed cotton challenge.  Without missing a beat, Rob suggested, "how about a bunny tail?"  And voila, here is my card, thanks to Rob's brilliant suggestion!

Stamp A Faire 2017--Laura's Challenge: 1st Anniversary, Paper

We have the opportunity to make two projects for each anniversary year as part of this year's Stamp A Faire event.  I'm back to share my second project for year one, in which Laura Bassen challenged us to use our paper scraps and add a vellum overlay.  Oh, if only I could actually make a dent in my paper scrap drawers (which are segregated by color)!  At least this challenge made me glad that I hadn't dumped my scraps of Melon Berry polka dot paper!  I used the Mighty Oak die, a leaf die from the Leaf Prints die collection and the Scripted stamp set and dies for this card.

You'll see I ended up making a lot of fall themed projects for Stamp A Faire.  I'm ready for autumn, it's my favorite season!

Stamp A Faire 2017--Rebecca's Challenge: 1st Anniversary, Paper

Papertrey Ink is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year, so the theme of this year's Stamp A Faire follows the traditional wedding anniversary traditions for each year.  Up first is paper!

Rebecca Luminarias challenged us to make a handmade paper embellishment.  I was intrigued with her paper tassels and managed to find a package of small tassel caps at my local craft store, so decided to give those a try.  They were surprisingly easy and a lot of fun to make!  I used mine to decorate a gable box that I received as gift packaging from a store.  A Limitless Layers: Square die cut topped with a few stamped die cuts from Still Life: Summer helped me cover up the store's label on the side.

Stamp A Faire 2017: Take Ten Warm Up Challenge

Brace yourself because I have a lot of projects to share!  Over the last four days I participated in the 2017 Papertrey Ink Stamp A Faire event.  There were a total of 21 challenges and I completed all of them!  It was a crafting marathon weekend!

On Friday, the event kicked off with a warm up challenge where we could pick one of ten inspiration photos/color schemes and use that to jump start creativity.  I picked the first photo, which included several tropical images in an Aqua Mist, Vintage Jadeite, and Bright Buttercup color palette.

I'll be back shortly with more projects to share!

PTI August Create Along with Us: Potent Potions

I'm back to share a couple of cards I made for this month's "Create Along with Us" challenge at Papertrey Ink.  This month's release focused on autumn and Halloween products, which thrilled me to no end since that's my favorite time of the year.  I can't wait to get my hands on the new Wicked Elixirs set and dies.  While I wait for my order to arrive next week, I drew inspiration from the "potent potions" theme and created my own version using the Love Potion stamp set and dies, along with some creepy images from the Tiny Treats: Halloween set.

My apologies for the terrible shadows on the photos.  The sun is beating into my craft room right now.  Great natural light, but the shadows are tricky for photo editing!

Thanks for stopping by!