Creative Crew Challenges for December

Today I will be posting a LOT of pictures because I'd like to show you all of the creations I made for the December Creative Crew monthly challenge.  ***If you think you came to this blog by mistake looking for another card or project just keep on reading and scrolling it will probably be on this post somewhere.***  Anyway, it's been a fun journey, but my time is up and there will be new designers starting in January.  This month started out with 

"Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation" - Mason Cooley

As we end 2013, let's CASE someone else's work and give them credit for inspiring us.

CASE someone else's work?!  Hmm...I not sure about that.  I just don't usually do it, but for this...OK!  There are some ladies...(and guys too!) that do some pretty great cards out there, and I had an excuse to copy their cards! :)  **Just a side note...I did ask permission to copy and post these cards.  Remember to always respect other people's work and give them credit when you CASE their work.**

Here is the first challenge:  DSP/Color Focus: Modern Medley or basic black and very vanilla. Check out the gorgeous cards on SCS or Pinterest that only use black and vanilla. CASE someone you admire.  

I found my first card to CASE while I was checking out the colors Basic Black and Very Vanilla on Pinterest...  This CASE'd card is from LeAnne Pugliese. I didn't know it was her card at first until I checked out the watermark, and guess what?  I know her from the Paper Players blog challenge.  Maybe some of you know her from there too, or or you follow her blog.  As soon as I saw her card I knew it was the one to CASE.  No more looking for me! lol  I have to admit I didn't case it 100% because I didn't have the DSP she used or the embossing folder, but I came as close as I could.  If you'd like to check out her card click HERE.  Thanks for the inspiration LeAnne! :)  Now I'm going to have to wait until Father's Day to use it. ;)

Now on to the second part of the challenge...

Catalog Focus: candy dots

Copy someone's artwork that loves brads or candy dots. Use candy dots generously on your project.

Candy dots, huh?  I use them every now and then and really like them, but who do I know that uses them?  One of the blogs I follow is Michelle Zindorf's.  She makes amazing cards using the brayer a lot, and I remembered she uses candy dots and brads.  I glanced through a bunch of cards on her blog to find one that had dots on it AND that I had all of the things I needed to make it.  I was only missing one thing for this card and that was a stamp.  I just used an embossing folder instead.  Now I must say I did NOT use the brayer for the scene on my card.  The brayer and I do NOT get along! lol  I'm a sponging girl and my sponges and I get along just fine, so that's what I used instead to create these cards.  If you'd like to see Michelle's card and her very distinctive work check out her blog HERE.  Thanks for the inspiration Michelle!

I opened this card and turned it to the side so you could see a hint of the inside, then totally forgot to take a pic of the inside. :(

Yes, I made two of them. I figured if I was getting everything out for one I'd do two.  I always think it's pretty interesting how two of the same cards that are sponged can turn out differently.  I guess you can't see as much of a difference in the pic, but one scene is a lot darker than the other in person.  

Believe it or not, I didn't copy anything for the third part of the December challenge.  So on to the third challenge...Holiday Focus: December 24th is National Chocolate Day.

While eating the best chocolate you can find, make a card using chocolate chip on it. If you CASEd someone fabulous, give credit to this wonderful stamper.

My first pic had to be some chocolate! lol  I have a large bag of Ghirardelli chocolates waiting for my December stamp a stacks.  I always have these on the table for the last sas of the year. :) Notice the chocolate chips...yup, they are one of my favorites too.  I'm sure many of you have a stash of chocolate chips handy somewhere when you get a craving for chocolate! lol

Since I had to use chocolate chip card stock I decided to make flowers out of them.  Have you ever seen an all chocolate covered cake with chocolate flowers on it?  I have and they look pretty cool!  I decided to let that inspire me for my next card...

Chocolate chip roses. :)  

This card took a little time to make since I needed to make the flowers, then let them dry overnight.  I put dazzling diamonds in the center since I used crystal effects to hold the flowers together.  The "dazzle"  looks great in person, but boy was it hard to get a good pic with the flash on.  That's all you could see was the dazzle! lol

I couldn't put a rose on the inside, so I just went with the leaves.

I also HAD to make an envelope using the envelope punch board.

The little strip along the back is so the envelope will close without needing to tape or glue it.

And finally the last project for December...

Scrapbook and More Focus: Make a calendar, to do list, booklet or journal for a friend to use in 2014.

My plan was to make a one page calendar with all of 2014 on it.  Nope, didn't happen since my printer decided to go wacko!  It sounds like it's printing, shoots out the paper like it printed, but nothing.  Just a blank page...err!  And yes, it has plenty of ink!  So on to plan B.  I needed a birthday card for me niece and decided to make her a little booklet/journal and slide the birthday card inside the folder.  I got the idea for this from Steph at the SU! Convention back in July.  It was one of the pillow gifts she made for me and the other ladies.  You can check out what she made on her blog HERE.  I just downsized it and made it the perfect size for a little girl. :)  I quickly snapped a few pics of it and decided I'd get her sister's made too!  Whoa!  I'm ahead on one thing!  Amazing! 

I still need to put crayons in it, but I managed to get a pic of the birthday card with this one. :)

I've added the dimensions for this mini journal/booklet and pocket.  The score lines are marked too.  Hope this helps if you want to make one yourself. :) 

I hope you enjoyed my Creative Crew Designs for December!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

First Card

Stamp Sets:  The Open Sea, World Map & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Basic Black & Very Vanilla

Ink:  StazOn Black

Embossing Folder:  Woodgrain

Punches:  1 1/4" Circle & 1 3/8" Circle

Black Brads

Baker's Twine:  Whisper White

Second Card

Stamp Set:  Wetlands

Card Stock:  Chocolate Chip, 

Crumb Cake & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Old Olive, Soft Suede,

Soft Sky & Pacific Point

Embossing Folders:  Modern Mosaic & Woodgrain

Framelits:  Deco Labels

Candy Dots:  Neutrals (Soft Suede & Chocolate Chip)

Sponges

Third Card & Box

Stamp Sets:  Perfectly Penned, Everything Eleanor

& Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Chocolate Chip & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Chocolate Chip

Punches:  2 3/8 Scallop Circle & 1 3/4" Scallop Circle (for roses)

Sizzlit:  Little Leaves

Embossing Folder:  Delicate Designs

Ribbon:  1/2" Seam Binding in Very Vanilla

Envelope Punch Board

Crystal Effects

Stampin' Glitter:  Dazzling Diamonds

Sponges

Fourth Card & Journal/Booklet

Stamp Sets:  Too Kind, Loving Thoughts

& Apothecary Art

Card Stock:  Strawberry Slush, Wisteria Wonder

& Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Strawberry Slush, 

Wisteria Wonder & Pistachio Pudding

Ribbon: 3/8" Tafetta in Whisper White

Sponges 

By the Tide Birthday

Today's card is for my son's 20th birthday.  Wow, where did the years go!  I sure love him though, so I had to make him a special card (I must love a lot of people because it seems like I'm always making special cards. lol).  He's definitely an outdoors man, and enjoys fishing, so I figured some sort of fishing card would be the way to go.  I used this week's Paper Players challenge #173 "Any Shaped Card" to come up with this idea.  It could be any shape except the normal rectangular card so I used the Deco Labels Framelits to make this card's shape.  Instead of layering behind the card to get a dark background I sponged around it instead.  I think that was faster to do than cut and stack the layers to get them to look just right.

I had to take a few close ups so you could see the pieces I cut out to add dimension. :)

When I make a "shaped" card I don't like to have a piece of it missing, so I never fold a piece in half and leave part of the shape off the card.  All you have to do is cut two of the same pieces, score the back piece where you want the card to flip at, and put your adhesive on the top part of the back piece of the card. :)  Here are a couple of pics in case what I wrote doesn't make sense.  I'm definitely a visual person so pics help a lot!  

This is the back of the card and you can see where I scored it and attached it to the front piece of the card.

This is what the inside looks like when you flip it open.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  By the Tide & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Not Quite Navy, Island Indigo & Garden Green

Framelits:  Deco Labels

Sponges

Evergreen

Happy Thanksgiving!  What are you thankful for today?  I'm thankful that I will be able to spend the day with my family. :)  There's a lot more that I'm thankful for than that, but that's just the start.  Now on to today's card.  It's for the next 'Tis The Season sketch challenge.  I went with a pretty basic card this time by only using two colors, and switching a couple pieces of the card stock around to make them just a little different from each other.

I don't really know which one I like better.  

And now the group of them.  So far I've managed to keep up with making four cards for each of these challenges.  So glad I'll have cards done for next year if I manage to keep this up.  Now I just need to finish my cards for this Christmas. lol

Don't forget to check out what the other members of the design team made HERE, then play along yourself. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Evergreen & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Cherry Cobbler & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Cherry Cobbler

Embossing Folders:  Modern Mosiac, Delicate Designs,

Petals-a-Plenty & Pretty Print

Candy Dots:  Regals

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Let It Snow!!

Let It Snow!!  That's the theme of today's card using the SUO (Stampin' Up! Only) challenge #84.  I needed a card for my brother-in-law's birthday so I thought it would be a good theme to go with for a guys card. :)  Let's just hope he doesn't read his emails before he goes to work early in the morning since my cards get emailed to my sister.  Anyway, lots of sponging and embossing for this card, and I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to actually make sure the trees were a little offset from each other.  Wish I could get a better picture because the card looks so much better in person, but that's the way it goes sometimes. 

 I had to quickly stamp and do just a bit of sponging on the inside too because I think it adds just a little more to the card.  I know it's a little light, but that's the point.  I need to be able to write on the inside so the writing can be seen instead of being covered up by the stamp.  Wish I could whip out the front of a card as fast as I can the inside! lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Lovely as a Tree, 

Gorgeous Grunge & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Night of Navy & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Night of Navy

VersaMark

Stampin' Emboss Powder:  White

Punches:  Decorative Label & 1 1/4" Circle

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Open House Mini Cards

Wow, what a week it's been for me!  After prepping for and having an eight hour open house this past Thursday, helping my daughter sew curtains on Friday and losing our electricity for most of Saturday (and getting pretty much nothing done!) I'm finally back to blogging.  I thought I'd show you one of the crafts the ladies made at my open house.  They made four 3x3 cards uisng 2012-2014 In Color DSP and made a little box to put them in.  The box was made with the Stampin' Up! Envelope Punch Board.  Love that thing.  It's so easy to make boxes using it! 

Here's how I made the box to put the cards in...

Cut your paper 6" x 6".  Using the Envelope Punch Board punch and score at 2 11/16" (between 2 5/8" and 2 3/4").  Then punch and score again at 3 1/4".  Cut out the corners on the top like show in the picture and snip the bottom so you still have tabs.  Fold and glue or tape together.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Set:  Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  2012-2014 In Color DSP & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple,

Gumball Green & Midnight Muse

Punch:  Pansy

Jewel:  Basic Pearl

Dimensionals

Let it Snow...

Today's card is my design for this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge.  And like my title says the twist is Let it Snow!  I actually had a different card in mind, but another designer had the same idea as I did, so I went back to the drawing board.  I came up with this card using the colors from Dynamic Duos...black and smoky slate.  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Lovely as a Tree & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Smoky Slate & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Smoky Slate

StazOn:  Black

Punch: 1 1/4" Circle

Sponges

Autumn Accents Thinking of You

Another quick post for today of one of my November stamp a stack cards.  A quick and simple card using the Bigz Die Autumn Accents.  After the leaves were cut out I quickly ran them through a few different embossing folders, then did a bit of sponging on each of the leaves.   

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Set:  Sassy Salutations

Card Stock:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler,

Always Artichoke, Crushed Curry & Pumpkin Pie

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Cherry Cobbler,

Always Artichoke, Crushed Curry & Pumpkin Pie

Embossing Folders:  Woodgrain, Stripes,

Houndstooth & Argyle

Bigz Die:  Autumn Accents

Linen Thread:  Natural

Sponges