Fall is in the Air

Oh my, hard to believe but fall is fast approaching so the new two-week challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow is called FALL IS IN THE AIR.  We want you to make vintage or shabby chic cards depicting fall.

I found this wonderful image by Kate Greenaway in the digital collection at the New York Public Library web site .  The card blank is Bazzill card stock, the background paper is digital paper from Sprouting Seeds Studio and the green paper is from Provo Craft.

I cut the flower with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die using a cone shaped coffee filter.  It has been inked with Scattered Straw and Dried Marigold Distress Ink from Ranger.  I added a button from my stash for the centre.

Two of the leaves were cut with the Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves die, embossed with the Victoria embossing folder from Cuttlebug and inked with Bundled Sage and Dried Marigold Distress Ink from Ranger.  The patterned leaves are from a clear stamp set by Just Right and were stamped with Coffee Archival Ink from Ranger, fussy cut and inked with Bundled Sage and Dried Marigold Distress Ink.

The flourish corners were cut with my Cameo and the spray of berries came from my stash.  The pearls are from Dollarama.

Friday Focus at Frilly & Funkie

Today it is my turn to present the Friday Focus segment at Frilly and Funkie and Linda has asked me to feature two products from The Funkie Junkie Boutique - crinoline and venise lace.

Here is a sneak peak at my project but to learn all about it and the products I used to create it, click here to be taken to Frilly and Funkie.

Pie Anyone?

The new two-week challenge at Frilly and Funkie is called EAT, DRINK & BE MERRY.  We want to see you create vintage or shabby chic projects that feature food or drink or both.

I found this great image online of a gorgeous cherry pie being taken out of the oven at My Kinda Vintage and decided to go with a cherry theme.  The cookbook cover was an online find. 

The card blank is some textured card stock from The Paper Studio and the papers are from Raspberry Road.  A Tim Holtz Collage Texture Fade was used to emboss the gold Recollections card stock.  I used a Martha Stewart Arch Lattice edge punch to create a little border and then added some ric rac from my sewing cupboard.   The pearls are from Dollarama and the button and floss are from my stash.

The lovely filigree corner piece has been painted with some red craft paint and then sealed with some Matte Multi Medium.  The little lace motif is actually a section cut from a longer piece of lace.  Everything has been aged with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Ranger.

The following items used in this card came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique where you will always find products at least 20% less than the manufacturer's suggested price.

My Rose Garden

My Rose Garden is the name of the next two-week challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow.  We want you to make vintage or shabby chic cards or other paper-crafted projects with lots of roses.

Heather Hudson at My Artistic Adventures is sponsoring us this week and all of us on the Design Team have used rose images from her lovely collage sheets.

I started with Staples white card stock for my card blank and used papers from Raspberry Road.  The lace is from a bridal supply store and I ran a piece of satin cording through it that has been in my stash for years.  I added a few little gems from Michaels for some sparkle.

I used some Worn Lipstick Distress Ink from Ranger on a little frame from the dollar store and added a computer generated sentiment.  The roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the tulle is from Fabricland.  I added some pink satin ribbon from my stash and some fibres from EK Success to the rose tag from My Artistic Adventures.

Every Possibility

It is time for another new two-week challenge at Frilly and Funkie and this time it is an easy one - ANYTHING GOES.  Of course your project must be vintage or shabby chic but you can create anything in your Frilly or Funkie style.  Don't forget though that you can only enter your project at Frilly & Funkie and four other challenges.

Now I know I am supposed to be making Frilly projects for your inspiration but I had a request to make a card for a friend to give to her minister because he is leaving her church to go to a large Toronto church.  I decided to accept her commission and kill two birds with one stone so this is my Anything Goes offering. 

Literally as this posts I am landing in Birmingham, England for a three-week vacation visiting dear friends, including Sue my teammate at Frilly and Funkie.  Since I am going to be gone for so long I had to get all my DT projects done before I left along with related blog posts so when I saw a chance to lighten my load, I have to admit I took it.

I used some Bazzill card stock for the card blank and some very old Provo Craft paper for the background.  I used some Wild Honey, Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Ranger to create one panel and then embossed a piece of Recollections card stock with a Tim Holtz Patchwork Texture Fade to create another panel.  It was also inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I used the Tim Holtz Stuff to Say stamp set to stamp the sentiment and the Steampunk set for the three dapper gentlemen using Ranger Black Archival ink.  The sentiment was cut out with a pair of Fiskars deckle scissors and then inked with the same Distress Inks.  The gentlemen were stamped onto a piece of plaid paper from my scraps and inked.  I added some burlap, a few metal pieces and a button on top of a little embossed circle.

So this certainly isn't Frilly but then it can't be when it is for a fellow and I don't really think it is Funkie so let's call this FRUNKIE - LOL.

Here are the products I have used from The Funkie Junkie Boutique - a super place to shop since everything is always discounted at least 20% from the manufacturer's suggested price - and the most awesome customer service.

Back to School

The new two-week challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow is called BACK TO SCHOOL and we want to see your vintage or shabby chic school-themed projects.

This week we have a Guest Designer joining us so please make Mynette Kitchen feel welcome and head over to her blog to check out her work.

School starts on September 3rd where I live and that is the day my husband and I leave for England so I was concerned that I might miss my little Grandson's first day of school since he starts Junior Kindergarten this year.  I have walked with my Granddaughter to every one of her first days (she is going into Grade 2 this year) but in the past the first day for the little ones often has been a week later than the rest of the school.  Thankfully he starts the same day so I will be able to share in his excitement.

I started with some red Bazzill card stock to make my card blank.  The gingham and polka dot paper are from Raspberry Road.  I found the focal image online at Catnip Studio, the flash card is from Red Wagon and the clock is a digital element from Friendly Scrap.

I took a card stock scrap and embossed it with the Notebook Texture Fade from Tim Holtz.  The text are stickers from DCWV and the button, ribbon and twine are all from my stash.  I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Ranger on all the pieces.

Step X Step at Frilly and Funkie

It is my turn this week to post the Step X Step feature at Frilly and Funkie and I promised I would tell you how I made the card, hat and hat box for my DT project for the current challenge (My Steamer Trunk) so click here to learn how I did it and see all the products that I used.

My Steamer Trunk

I am the hostess for the new two-week challenge at Frilly and Funkie and I chose MY STEAMER TRUNK as the name for this challenge.  The idea is to create a vintage or shabby chic project that depicts what you might pack in your steamer trunk or where you might be taking it.

I had fun making this combo project so come back on Saturday and I will tell you how I did it.  I made a card, a wee hat and tiny hat box.  My card is about what I would pack to go off on my steamer vacation but I did do a bit off stamping on the background to show where I might be taking it.  It looks like I am off to England, France & Italy.  If truth be known I really am heading to England in 2 weeks and was in Italy last year so now I just need to check France off my list.

I used a focal image from Vintage Fan Girl along with products from The Funkie Junkie Boutique, Michaels and Wild Orchid Crafts but as I mentioned I will tell you in more detail on Saturday.

Here are the products that I used from The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Playtime

The challenge for the next two weeks at Sugar Creek Hollow is called A CHILD'S LIFE.  We want to see vintage or shabby chic cards or other paper-crafted projects that depict the life of a child and you must include a child in your project.

This week we are happy to welcome back A Day for Daisies as our sponsor.  They will provide one random winner with a $12 gift certificate to their store and Sugar Creek Hollow will provide a winner's badge.  The Design Team will also select their Top Pick and the creator will receive a winner's badge and will be in the running for a Guest Designer spot.

My card this week features one of the gorgeous images from A Day for Daisies and this one is called Sisters and Dolls.  I was surprised that I really wanted to create with it given that I hated playing with dolls as a kid but this sweet image won me over.  We lived in a really old house and it had a rather scary basement with a barrel where we put paper to be burned (it was legal back then).  Well one early evening my Mother went down with some paper to throw out and started to scream.  In the half light she thought there was a dead baby hanging from the barrel only to find out that it was a doll that I had ripped the head off and thrown over the edge.  Now that I am the age I am (not telling) you would never suspect I was a such rotten little kid - LOL.

The card stock to make my blank is from Recollections.  The papers are from a My Mind's Eye pad called Blush.  I cut the oval with one of the Spellbinders Petite Scalloped Ovals Large Nestabilities and chalked the edges with some Mungyo chalk.  The image has been coloured with Prismacolors and blended with Gotrick OMS.  The ribbon is from Fabricland, the lace from a bridal supply store and the pearl stickers are from Dollarama.  The floral spray is a combination of a recycled piece from an old card and some little roses from Wild Orchid Crafts.  I made the stick pin myself.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Ladybug Crafts - Say It With Flowers
Delightful Challenges - Make It Pop - Layers or Dimension
Milk Coffee Challenge - Show Off Your Coloring Skills
Digi Stamps4 Joy - Make Your Own Embellishments (stick pin)
LEJ Designs - Lovely Lace
Bearly Mine - Tic Tac Toe (Color Pink, Ribbon, Digi Images)
Card Crafters Circle - Ribbon and Lace

By The Seaside

It is time for the new two-week challenge at Frilly and Funkie and our hostess Rebecca wants to see you create vintage or shabby chic projects inspired by sand, sea shells, sunshine and the seaside so she has called the challenge By The Seaside.  Since this is basically the same theme that I set 2 months ago for the Sugar Creek Hollow Design Team for the current challenge, I would say great minds think alike since neither knew what the other was doing - LOL.

I made a 5" x 7" card this time and used some white card stock from Staples for my blank.  Then I started on the background, which also started life as a piece of white card stock.  First I took some embossing paste and stenciled the dots in the upper right corner and then patted some on the bottom to make the sand.

I painted the sand with some tan acrylic paint and once it was dry I inked over it with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Next I laid some wallboard tape down above the sand for more texture and then painted over it with some blue acrylic paint. Again once it was dry I added some Broken China Distress Ink.

The focal image came from an inactive blog called She Sells Seashells and I turned it to grey scale, flipped it and after it was printed I cut it out and added some Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I then added a little bit of cheesecloth and some lace that has been inked with some of the Vintage Photo Distress Ink. A row of tiny shells and beads was added across the top of the lace.  The beach hut clock came from the web (sorry forgot to write the site down) and the flowers were recycled from a card someone sent to me.  The pebble in the centre came from my stash.  The words were printed on my computer, cut with a pair of deckle scissors and then inked with some Broken China Distress Ink.

I am going to enter this card in thr following challenges:

Dream Valley Challenges - Summer Days
Opus-Gluei - Don't Be Such A Beach
365 cards - Textured Background
Tok-Bobok - Vintage
A Creative Romance - Beach Babes

The following products used to create this card can be found at The Funkie Junkie Boutique where you will always find prices 20% lower than the manufacturer's suggested retail price:

Friday Focus at Frilly and Funkie

This week it is my turn to present the Friday Focus at Frilly and Funkie and I am going to show you how the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die can be used with a wide variety of materials.

This fabric flower that is on the card I made for the current challenge is just one of the flowers that I will show you.

Check out all the details here.

Water, Water, Everywhere

It is time for another two-week challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow and it is called Water, Water, Everywhere.  We want you to create your vintage or shabby chic cards or pther paper-crafted projects with the ocean or beach in mind.

For my card I used white card stock (Staples) and then created the background using Broken China, Faded Jeans and Wild Honey Distress Inks (Ranger).  Then I made the water using similar colours of Adirondack Alcohol Ink (Ranger) on a piece of transparency (sorry they don't have names on the bottles - weird).  The sand is just some torn kraft card stock (Recollections) that has been embossed with a Bubble Texture Fade (Tim Holtz).

I found the image online but forgot to tag it with the web site (oops - my apologies) and it is mounted on top of a tiny piece of corrugated cardboard that I swiped with some Picket Fence Distress Stain (Ranger).  The beach hut was handmade using some striped paper from Free Vintage Digital Stamps, a bit of white card stock (Staples) and finished with a white button from my stash to which I added a blue card candi (Craftwork Cards).

The image, beach hut and sand were all inked with some Frayed Burlap Distress Ink (Ranger).  The sun was made with a Marvy Uchida punch and inked with some Wild Honey Distress Ink (Ranger).  To finish off the card I added a cluster of little shells & beads from Michaels along with some teeny roses from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The pearl (in the clam shell - LOL) is a sticker from Recollections.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Kitty Bee Designs Aloha Friday Challenges  - Summer
Stamping with the Dragon - On the Beach
Fusion Card Challenge - Used Photo Inspration
Happy Campers - Summer
Crafty Creations - Summer
Papercraft Star - Photo Inspiration
Tuesday Throwdown - Toes in the Sand
Bastel-traum - Shabby Chic/Vintage

Fancy Fold at Frilly and Funkie

Boy has the past two weeks flown by because it is already time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie.  For this challenge Sue has asked us all to create vintage or shabby chic projects with folds.

I decided to create an accordion card, which isn't the fanciest of folds but more interesting than an ordinary card.  The fun part of this type of card is that you can treat it a little like a mini album, so I did but I kept reminding myself of the postage costs and didn't get too carried away.

The covers have been punched with a Martha Stewart Around The Page Punch and all the papers are from a My Mind's Eye pad called Sunshine.  The big flower on the front was created using a variety of fabrics cut with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die (more to come on this in a later post) and finished with a button for a centre.  I then added some pretty lace, a computer generated sentiment cut with the Spellbinders Square Fleur de Lis Nestabilities die and some Recollections pearl flourishes.

The first inside page features a filigree corner piece that I painted black, a vintage clock that I found online along with a vintage lady called Lilly Elise.  A pretty lace heart and little cluster of flowers completed this page.

The second inside page has a piece of word art that I created myself and cut with the Spellbinders Square Fleur de Lis Nestabilities die.  The flower is a metal piece that I painted black and then added a button for a centre.

The third inside page features some lace, a Recollections gem flourish and a tag from Create With TLC with a black gem from Michaels.

The final page has a flower cut from the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die with a pearl sticker for a centre and a message box cut from the Spellbinders Square Fleur de Lis Nestabilities die.

Many of the elements have been inked with Antique Linen Distress Ink and a black organza ribbon from Michaels holds the card together.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Anything Goes Challenge - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Die-ing for a Punch
Bastel-traum - Shabby Chic/Vintage
Card and Scrap - Lace or Ribbon
Emmas Cards UK - Die Cuts
Dream Valley Challenges - Fancy Folds
Penny Black & More - Dies & Punches
Corrosive Challenges - Fancy Folds
Hobby House Challenge - Vintage

The following items used to create my project come from the Frilly and Funkie Boutique where you will find items at least 20% less than the manufacturer's suggested retail price.

On The Road

The challenge for the next two weeks at Sugar Creek Hollow is called WHEELS and we want you to create vintage or shabby chic cards featuring vintage things with wheels - cars, bicycles, wheelbarrows, etc.



We are pleased to welcome Doodle Pantry as a sponsor and they will providing one random winner with 3 images of their choice from the Doodle Pantry store.

I have created this collage type card reminiscent of going on holidays with the Vintage Auto image from Doodle Pantry that can be found here.  I coloured it with Prismacolors that I blended with OMS.  I cut an extra image and popped the luggage up a bit.

Then I went online to find the old map for the background, the signs and the ledger page.  I used the Tim Holtz Collage Texture Fade to emboss the kraft layer.  The sentiment came with the vintage auto image and added it to a hand cut tag and finished it with a Making Memories brad.  Everything has been inked with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Ranger to make it look even older.

To finish it off I added a button from my stash along with some suede lacing.  This card will work for a guy so with my husband's birthday coming up in September, I am relieved to know that I will actually have a card done for him this year.  Now I just have to remember it - LOL.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Creative Moments - Holidays (as in Vacations)
Crafty Cardmakers - Holidays (as in Vacations)
Digi Makeover - Anything Goes (must use a digi)
Alota Rubber Stamps - Vintage
Emergency Crafters - Summer Days & Holidays
Seema Crafts - Holiday/Vacation

Summertime

Today is my first challenge project for Frilly & Funkie as part of the frilly side of the Design Team.  The challenge for the next two weeks is called Summertime and we want you to create something vintage or shabby chic that reminds you of summer.  You can incorporate a scene, the beach, sunshine, bright colours or FUN. 

Summer always makes me think of flowers and usually bright colours are the norm but summer also reminds me of fresh air and for this project I thought pastel colours fit the bill.

I used some card stock from Bazzill for my card blank and then  found some lovely pale purple paper for my background online at Far Far Hill, which was inked with some Milled Lavender DI.  The next layer is embossed with the Sheet Music Tim Holtz Texture Fades and then inked with Milled Lavender DI.  The tag is a freebie from Astrid Maclean topped with a filigree piece that has been painted white with a pearl sticker added to it.

All of the flowers have been created by cutting crinoline on my Cuttlebug with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die - one was dyed with Wild Honey DI, one with Milled Lavender DI and the white one just had the edges inked with the Milled Lavender DI.  For the centres, I added a little rose from my stash to one flower and two lovely floral buttons from The Funkie Junkie to the other two.

Over the lace I added some white satin ribbon that I ruffled with my sewing machine and then topped with a narrow green satin ribbon from my stash and some pearl stickers.  The butterfly was made from vellum with a Martha Stewart punch and then I hand cut a solid butterfly and inked it with the Milled Lavender DI.  The two butterflies were joined together and some pearl stickers were added to the front.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

"C" is for Challenge - Flowers
Cuttlebug Mania  - Make Your Own Flowers

These supplies are from The Funkie Junkie Boutique where you will always find prices at least 20% lower than the manufacturer's suggested price.

Happy Announcement

Today I have a happy announcement to share with you.  I recently was invited to join the Design Team at Frilly & Funkie.  This is a bit like old home week for me because Linda Coughlin, the owner of Frilly & Funkie along with another of her designers, Sue Carrington were teammates of mine when I was on the Design Team for Isabella's Sketchbook.

I will be part of the frilly team and today is my first post.  I am doing the Saturday Step X Step and sharing how I made the card that I posted last week called Love Hearts.  Here is a little sneak peek at the tutorial, which you can find here.

The most wonderful part of the Frilly & Funkie blog is that the Design Team does two tutorials each week - one on Friday that focuses on a product in Linda's store and another on Saturday where you can find out how something was created.  Also, you not only get to share your creations in their challenges, which run every two weeks but you can also share a project in their Sunday Share feature as long as you have used products from Linda's store in that project.

Now if you haven't shopped at The Funkie Junkie Boutique I encourage you to do so because the prices are at least 20% less than the manufacturer's suggested retail price and Linda has the most wonderful customer service.


I will be back on July 10th with my first challenge project for Frilly & Funkie and hope you will join us.

Love Hearts

The new challenge for the next two weeks at Sugar Creek Hollow is called YOUR FLAG COLORS.  We want you to make a vintage or shabby chic card or other paper-crafted project using only the colours of the flag of the country you live in.  Since I live in Canada my card is red and white while the ladies from the US and the UK that are on the Design Team have used red, white and blue on their projects since those are the colors of their flags. So now that you know how this works we want to see the colors of your flag.

We have a Guest Designer with us too this time.  Please make Sanja Grdinic feel welcome.  Oh and by the way, she is from Croatia and her flag is also red, white and blue.

I printed a bunch of different red and white papers from various digital files I had and used the Moroccan one for the background.  I also pulled out a few scraps from my stash.  Then I made a rolled paper heart from the various papers.  I also made a heart from corrugated paper.  The rolled paper heart is finished with some ric rac around the edge, a lace border along with a crinkled ribbon seam binding and a paper rose.  The other heart was inked with Fired Brick Distress Ink and then coated with Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle.  It too was finished with a crinkled seam binding bow and a paper rose.

The big flower was made by altering various sizes of paper flowers using Fired Brick Distress Ink and some Pearl Glimmer Mist and then finishing it with a paper rose in the centre.  The main band is red burlap with a narrower band of white crepe paper.  The little hearts were punched and then stamped with a little alphabet set and some red ink.

The supplies for this card are:

Card Stock:  Staples
Papers:  Corrugated Cardboard (The Funkie Junkie), Crafty Card Making, Mel B. Stampz & My Stash
Tools & Embellishments:  Alphabet Stamp (Hampton Arts), Paper Flowers (Prima & Recollections), Ranger's Fired Brick Distress Ink (The Funkie Junkie), Mini Heart Stamp (Marvy Uchida), Crepe Paper & Red Burlap (The Funkie Junkie), Ric Rac & Lace (My Stash), Red Paper Roses (Excelsior Wholesale), Seam Binding (Hug Snug), Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels)

Come Into My Garden

The new challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow is called MIXED MEDIA so we want you to use other things besides paper in your vintage or shabby chic project.

I don't think my project is either vintage or shabby chic and it certainly looked better in my head (don't you just hate when that happens) but it was fun to do.  I have a dear friend who is going to have knee replacement surgery in a couple weeks and I wanted to make something cheerful for her so I decided to make this canvas vignette. 

Here are the details but it is going to be a long post so if you are interested, I suggest you grab a coffee - or better still a glass of wine.

I started with an 8" x 8" canvas that I picked up at Dollarama and gave it a coat of Liquitex Gesso.  Then I took some Golden Light Molding Paste and spread it thinly over a honeycomb stencil that a friend cut for me with her Cameo and then peeled the stencil back.  I also dabbed some of the paste in a couple of spots - just because I could.

Once the paste was dry I painted it with Folk Art French Blue and then I covered most of that up (daaah) with different colours of Golden Fluid Acrylics (Yellow Ochre, Green Gold, Naples Yellow Hue & Burnt Sienna).  I thinned out some Golden Red Oxide and spritzed it over the stencil hoping it would land in the grooves and I suppose if you look really, really close you can see some.

The gate is made with corrugated cardboard that I coated with Mod Podge and then inked with some Walnut Stain Distress Ink (Ranger).  The hinges are just black card stock and the handle is a shelf peg from my husband's tool box.  The fence was cut from Recollections Kraft card stock using my Cameo and was then inked with some Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and Black Soot Distress Inks (Ranger).  The grass was part of the same file as the fence and I inked it with some Forest Moss Distress Ink (Ranger).

The plant pots were both made from foil tape used by heating & air conditioning techs.  The big one was embossed with a Tim Holtz Honeycomb Texture Fade while the hanging pot was just textured using an embossing stylus.  Both pots were coloured with a combination of Terra Cotta and Butterscotch Adirondack Alcohol Inks (Ranger).

The flowers were all made from paint samples that I grabbed from Home Depot and cut with a variety of EK Paper Shapers flower punches.  I used Making Memories brads for the centres in the flowers in the big pot, Dollarama gems for the little yellow flowers and Recollection pearl stickers in the flowers in the hanging pot.  The leaves are cut from some ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

I made the sentiment in Photoshop and cut it using a Spellbinders Labels Ten die.  The Welcome sign was computer generated.  Both were inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger) and hung with some copper wire from Artistic Wire and a black brad from Making Memories.  The hangers were cut from Recollections black card stock using my Cameo and a corner file from Bird's Cards.

The sun was made with a Marvy Uchida punch and inked with some Rusty Hinge & Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger).  The butterfly was a silver charm from my stash and I dabbed it with some Terra Cotta Adirondack Alcohol Ink (Ranger) along with some bright green and bright blue that don't have names on the bottles (gee thanks Ranger).  The bee, lady bug and dragon fly are all buttons from Dress It Up.

Whew - are you still with me?  If you are bring your wine and join me in the garden - I like red by the way :)

Step Into Christmas

If you have read my blog lately you will know that I just returned on Tuesday night from a week in Maryland with the lovely Ann English.  I met Ann when we were both on the Phindy's Place DT  as well as through Sassy Cheryl's PCP group.  Before we left her house to head for the airport on Tuesday, I checked the challenge at Sassy Cheryl's and lo and behold Ann was the one who set the challenge this week (she keeps a secret well).  She wants us to create STEP CARDS so in between loads of laundry and ironing yesterday, I created this Christmas card.

I have never tried a side step card before so thought that might be fun to tackle.  It isn't difficult at all as long as you pay attention to where you are cutting, which I didn't the first time - dah.  The card base was made from Recollections card stock and the paper is from an old Provo Craft paper pad.  I raided my scrap bucket for the card stock to make the trees, which were hand cut, embossed with a Snowflake & Swiss Dots embossing folder from Cuttlebug and then dotted with a few pearl stickers from Recollections.

The sentiment is computer generated and the Sassy Cheryl's image was a freebie once upon a time.  The snowflake was cut using the Create A Flake Two die from Spellbinders.  The ribbon started out as Chalk White Hug Snug Seam Binding but I transformed it by dying it with Weathered Wood, Bundled Sage & Broken China Distress Ink from Ranger.  The edges of the image & sentiment were inked with the Bundled Sage Distress Ink.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Sassy Cheryl's - Step Card
ABC Challenge - O is for Open
A and T Emerald Faeries - Dies/Punches
Country View Challenges - Die Cuts
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Use your favourite embellishments (Pearls)
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Anything Goes (must be Christmas)

Father's Day Collage

The new challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow is a timely one - FATHER'S DAY.  Don't forget, we are a vintage and shabby chic challenge blog so we want to see a card or other paper-crafted project in one of those styles.

Ragnhild is joining us this week as Guest Designer, so please check out her card and the inspiration she provides along with the wonderful inspiration from our Design Team.

I decided to make a collage style card for my husband since my Father passed away 30 years ago. The background paper is from My Mind's Eye and I stamped the keys from a set by TPC Studio.  The horse is from The Graphic's Fairy and the clock is a digital element from Cuddlebeez (no longer online).  The car is a stamp from Indigo Blu and the sentiment was computer generated.

I cut the gate hinge with my Cameo using Tim Holtz Grunge Paper and then inked it with some Terra Cotta and Rust Adirondack Alcohol Ink (Ranger).  The butterfly was a gift from a friend and the metal washer is from my husband's tool box.  The lock, paper clip and the pin are from Tim Holtz.  The gear is from Bead Landings and the button was in my stash.  The bottle cap came from Labatt's after my husband drank the beer for me (I am a red wine or scotch gal) - LOL.  I made the insert using the same font as I did for the word Father and then added an open frame digital element from C. Renee.  All the distressing has been done with Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger)

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

C.R.A.F.T. - Father's Day/Male
Delightful Challenges - For Dad
Paper Crafting Journey - Masculine Cards
Happy Campers - Use Metal
Shelly's Images - Show Us What You've Got
Crafting by Designs - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
The Stamping Chef - Metal
Celebrate The Occasion - Fluttering By (must use butterfly)
Crazy Amigo Challenge - Auto/Car
Creative Craft Challenges 2 - For the Fellas
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes