Humphrey's Snow Day

I haven't played with a Crafter's Companion stamp set in a while, so I pulled out my new Christmas set called "At Christmas" from the Humphrey's Corner Collection.  I made this card for their December challenge, with a theme of WINTER FRIENDS.

I started with a green cardstock base and stamped it with white ink and a background stamp of distressed dots, then embossed it.  I added a side border with the sentiment "Merry Christmas" in it.

I colored Humphrey and his winter friend with a combination of Copics and Spectrum Noir markers.  When I went to put the image on the card, it seemed a bit spare, so I added a large diecut snowflake as a sort of frame for the image, and then added a few smaller snowflakes in the background.

This is my clean and simple Christmas card for the Crafter's Companion December challenge.  If you want a chance to win a store voucher, you must use one of the following:

• Stamps
• All CC brands (Humphrey, Toread, SWALK, Sheena, Paintbox Poppets, etc)
• US Specific (Art Kure, Anthony/Burt, Stamp-It Australia)
• UK Specific (Snowman)
• Die’sire folders, flower quilling, etc (as long as you state which it is, or that it came from CC)
• Anything using the Ultimate Tool, Envelobox, etc (please state which board you have used)
• The Darice Embossing Folders 
• CC branded products card toppers, anything from the CD-ROMS, the Reddy kits, etc

All challenge entries must be in before December 25, so get that crafting whip cracking! Ho, ho, ho!  Enjoy the holidays, and as always, keep crafting!

Fishing for Candy

Have you checked the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog this month?  There's a new challenge and the theme is STRIPES AND DOTS.  
Crafter's Companion has a wonderful line of whimsical stamps called Popcorn the Bear.  One of the stamp sets in the Men's Collection is called Fishing Popcorn, obviously for summer fun or even a Father's Day card.  You can see what the set looks like here:

Anyway, I love using stamped images for holidays other than what they were originally designed for.  Like placing an image of a witch on a valentine's Day card, or a flag-waving turkey on a Fourth of July card.  So, my idea was to place Fishing Popcorn in the middle of Fall, participating in a little unique trick-or-treating!
Besides the Fall-themed patterned paper, I found a small leftover piece of orange-striped paper. I framed both pieces with black cardstock and placed them on a 6x6 card front.
I colored Popcorn with my Copics (I added to my Spectrum Noir collection but still don't have those browns).  Popcorn is sitting on part of a cardstock tag and framed by another one.  Instead of hooking a fish, he's looking toward a sweeter catch with his trick-or-treat bag.
I decided to add DOTS to my STRIPES by embellishing with a few dotted buttons.  A bit of eyelash fiber finishes off my challenge card. 
Have you entered the CC Challenge yet?  The winner of this challenge will receive a $30 gift certificate to the Crafter's Companion online store!  That's a lot of Spectrum Noir markers I could add to my collection!!  Then again, the new Christmas stamps are just being released!!  Decisions, decisions...

Friendship Blooms

I was so excited to open up my package from Crafters' Companion!  Not only did I order some goodies for myself, but I had won the new Morehead clear stamp set called "Raindrops".

The monthly challenge at Crafters' Companion Challenge Blog is FRIENDSHIP.  So today's card features my flower-holding girl, face hidden by her over-sized rain hat.  I colored her with a combination of Spectrum Noir markers and Copics, and used a bit of Stickles to make her shimmer.  I also stamped her onto patterned paper and paper-pieced her outfit onto the image.   Then I fussy-cut her out and popped her onto some fun cartoon paper featuring the Peanuts gang.  I don't know of a tighter group of friends who have lasted through the years!!
After framing my image, I added some pearls and an extra sunflower.  I had some last few pieces of purple papers in my file drawer (hurray, my stash is going down!) and finally added a bit of fiber to the corner of my card.
I don't know if you can see it, but I also used a tiny border stamp from the same set in silver ink at the top of the Peanuts paper, since I had to cut out the original raindrops from my girl.
Have you discovered Crafters' Companion stamps and supplies yet?  This summer they have been giving away tons of prizes, and there have been some terrific sales, too.  The challenge prize for August is a $30 gift certificate!!  Oh, boy, I have my eye on that prize!!  But I'm a generous crafter, so I'm sharing this info with you. LOL!  You have until the last day of the month to enter to win!!

Crafters' Companion Anything Goes Challenge

Who doesn't love an Anything Goes challenge, especially from a great company like Crafters' Companion?!  I love, love, love what I did with this challenge, and I hope you will too!

I have been experimenting with mixed media lately, and today I took it to the next level, upcycling a rummage sale find into craft room decor.  And the bonus is that it serves as an organizational tool!  I can store little doodads by color, or hide little bottles of Stickles, or a hundred other little things.

So let me show you how I got from this: 

To this:

The first thing I did was to use my manly skills and sand the wood smooth, getting rid of all the old nasty paint, dust and dirt.

While letting my pot of creativity simmer in my head, I used acrylic paints and gave all the baskets a splash of color.  That wasn't enough, so I added some Stickles on the front and the handle.

At first, I had thought to paint the wood a dard color and try out my new bottle of Tim Holtz Crackle Paint.  But I wanted something a little more crafty.

So I painted the wood white, and started to use ModPodge to decoupage some patterned papers onto it.  There was an assortment of papers, but what I finally decided on was the red roses paper.  It was a steal of a deal, a "book" of wrapping paper for only $2!!  I have the tiniest amount of this one pattern left over, after lavishly tearing and gluing it onto my new storage bin.

Besides the paint, the glitter and the patterned papers, I used a red paper doily to frame the first of my Crafters' Companion stamped images.  She's a fairy from the Fairyopolis Autumn collection.  
Just like the patterned papers, I slapped some ModPodge onto the surface and stuck the doily and then the image on, then painted more ModPodge over it all.

I did the same with the next stamped image, a cute little fairy from the Fairyopolis Spring collection, without the doily frame.  I added some tiny Prima flowers all over the top of my box, along with bits of Stickles here and there.

I thought I was finished, but after putting the baskets in their slots, it didn't look right.  So I pulled out my acrylic paints and splashed some red on the front of the box.  While my brush was still wet, I swiped some strokes into the top of the box and the edges.

And that took me to the ends of my box, the "sides. I couldn't help it, I had to use a favorite image from the Humphrey collection, called Best Friends.  I SO love Humphrey.  If I had the money, I would own them ALL!  Mwahahahaha!!

And now my project is complete, dry and placed strategically in my craft room.  I've been doing a lot of cleaning out and organizing in there, and I am making headway.  I finally discovered the best way to store my cling stamps, at least for me.  I got a bag full of cd cases, the thick kind.  Once you pop out the cd holder, it fits quite a few stamps.I bought four CD stands from our local church's rummage sale this year, and am in the process of placing them all in the cd cases.

So here's what my crafting table looks like now, complete with my upcycled shelf of baskets.  I still haven't decided whether or not to keep the box frames on the wall, but for now they make good storage and don't take up any table room!!

Keep cool, everyone, and keep crafting, and if you've a mind to it, go on over to the Crafters' Companion Challenge Blog for inspiration and a chance at some awesome prizes.