Crafting Burn-out? I hope not!

After the 25 Tags of Christmas marathon I think I hit a little bit of crafting burn-out.  Every time I walked into my creative space I stared blankly at my supplies.  It's also entirely possible that the chaos of my space could be the cause.  LOL)  Regardless, yesterday morning I had the itch to make something and checked out some of the challenge blogs that I stalk...er...follow.  The Stampotique Designers Challenge caught my eye.  "Let it Snow"...I can do that!

Lovely little Sonia is not the image I initially was planning on using, but since I spotted her in my stash and haven't used her in ages she needed to be inked up.  Good thing too, because I still haven't sent out ANY Christmas cards.  Yikes. 

Yuletide Blessings

Now that I have all of those gift tags under my belt it's time for me to turn my eye towards some cardmaking.  I'm really hoping that I get Christmas cards out this year.  I don't remember the last time I did!  I made the following card for the current MFT Sketch and Color challenges.

After I linked this up to the challenges I felt like something was missing.  This is the new version - I added silver Nuvo drops to the wreath for that little extra somethin' somethin'.

One down and...a lot to go.

25 Tags of Christmas: Bonus Day!

Well, if 25 is good, 26 must be better.  Today is bonus tag day over at Tracey's blog.  There are so many great tags on there today that I was tempted to put my spin on several of them, but eventually I opted for Susie's beautiful monochromatic tag.

Bonus Day: inspired by Susie

I pulled out more oldies but goodies for this one:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix Festive Foliage
Memory Box Stitched Bows

Okay, as much fun as it was cranking out gift tags I think I'm ready to move on to cards.  Maybe I'll actually get some Christmas cards mailed out this year!

Ho-ho-ho,
Julie

25 Tags of Christmas: Days 24 & 25..ta da!!

Woo hoo!  I finished all 25 days of tags!  I'm stoked!

I really liked the colors on Mindy's Day 24 tag.  I think it's the contrast of the dark sky with the focal images.  Here's my take:

Day 24: inspired by Mindy

On Day 25 I absolutely fell in love with Leanne's little Santa tag.  I'm totally picturing this on a present.  CUTE!  I (as usual) had to improvise a bit, but I think it works.  Honestly, I'm not even sure this will go on a gift.  I might just hang it somewhere in my studio to make me smile all year long.

Day 25: inspired by Leanne

Schwoo!  25 tags in less than 25 days...I'm feeling accomplished.  Thanks for traveling along with me on this (sleigh) ride.

Happy Holidays!!

25 Tags of Christmas: Day 23

For today's tag I reached into my stash of stamps and dusted off an oldie.  I've had this Stampin Up set for over 15 years.  I knew immediately when I saw Carol's tag that this is what I would use though.

Day 23: inspired by Carol

Are you creating too?

25 Tags of Christmas: Day 22

Today the sponsor of the 25 Tags of Christmas challenge is Birch Press Design.  The designers used some beautifully intricate dies to create their tags.  I realized that I don't really have much in the way of intricate dies so I had to dig through my stash to get something close. 

Day 22: inspired by Joyce

Apologies to Joyce.  Her tag is gorgeous.  I mimicked the colors she used.  Hmmm...this is not my favorite of the tags I've made.  There's always tomorrow.  😑

Create on, my friends!

Spinner Wheel Card

Ever since I saw this video by Jennifer McGuire I knew I'd have to make my own spinner card.  I'm not gonna lie...it was kind of a pain in the patoot to make.  I don't have nesting circle dies which would have made the process so much easier.  But I persisted!

I'm entering this in the Lawn Fawnatics 'fun with dies' challenge. 

Happy Holidays!!  (too early??)

25 Tags of Christmas: Day 21

Oh, look at me...all caught up.  I'm feeling pretty impressed with myself.  👩  Today's highlighted company over on the challenge blog is Lawn Fawn.  I love me some Lawn Fawn!  I pulled out some of my faves to make my tag for today.

Day 21: Inspired by Elena

Go over to the blog and peek at Elena's tag - you'll see a lot of simliarities!

Happy creating!

25 Tags of Christmas: Days 1-3

I got on this band wagon a little late; it was halfway through November before I realized this challenge was going on.  I defnitely need gift tags for the holidays so why not dig into the stash to get creative?  (Great way to justify all of those purchases, hm?)

Here are my make-up day tags for the first few days...

Day 1: inspired by Svitlana

Day 2: I don't even know if it's fair to say "inspired by".  I pretty much copied Carly's tag.  I loved it! 

Day 3: inspired by Andrea

Schwoo...I'm all caught up!  I'm especially liking digging around in my stash to rediscover stamps that I'd forgotten about.  Time to dust those puppies off!

Happy Creating...🧝

25 Tags of Christmas - Days 15-20

I have some more tags to share for the 25 Tags of Christmas Challenge...

Day 15: inspired by Laurie

Day 16: inspired by Carol

Day 17: inspired by Caly

Day 18: inspired by Carly

Day 19: inspired by Marybeth

Day 20: inspired by Tracey

This last one is being entered in the Lawnfawnatics challenge # 65, too.  I love this little house!

It's awesome to have a stash of tags ready to go.  But, uh, now I need to go do some shopping so there are gifts to put them on!

25 Tags of Christmas

I just discovered that the 25 Tags of Christmas challenge over at the In My Creative Opinion blog started at the beginning of November.  I like tags.  And it's fun to make fancy, or sometimes not-so-fancy, additions to gifts.  Since the challenge started at the beginning of November, this is where I'm frantically catching up.  Here goes...

Day 4: inspired by Rahmatt

Day 5: inspired by Carol

Day 6: inspired by Carol

Day 7: inspired by Joyce

Day 8: inspired by the Erica's and Lindsey's wine tags

Day 9: inspired by all of the cute llama tags

Day 10: inspired by Larraine

Day 11: inspired by all of the interactive tags

Day 12: inspired by all the deer

Day 13: inspired by Tracey

Day 14: inspired by Carol's mitten tags

Schwoo...that's a lot of tag-making.  I still have a few to go...stay tuned...

MFT Color Challenge #129

I have a stamp set from MFT stamps that I actually purchased when it was released. (I hardly ever do that; my mom was a big one for waiting for sales and she passed that along to me. 😏)  But it was so cool that I just had to.  I love the rad snowboarding critters in this set and they are perfect for unisex wintery cards IMHO.

I have to admit that I struggled with the colors a bit.  I decided to go for a watercolor look by using my watercolor pencils to color the images.  Sadly, I don't really have colors that match the challenge this week. I improvised by mixing where I could.  That's what we do, right?

I'm looking forward to a few days spent zooming down a snowy hill.  How about you?

MFT Sketch #463

I saw the sketch posted for the latest MFT sketch challenge and had to give it a try.  It's deceptively simple and was a little tricky for me. 

Here's the sketch:

Time to add this one to my stash.  You can never have too many extra cards on hand... 😉

Baby Boy Card

One of my coworkers had a baby shower this weekend.  She is a soon-to-be first time mama of a little boy.  She is also super creative so I knew I had to make an extra special card for her.

I love, love, love interactive fun cards.  I used the Lawn Fawn scallop box card pop-up die to make this.

I'm adding it to the Lawnfawnatic blog's 'cards for guys' challenge, too.  'Cuz baby boys count, too, right??

Caffeinated Superhero

I love the boost a triple grande latte gives me in the morning.

There are some days when this is EXACTLY how I feel!  I made this card for the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

There's still time to create a caffeine-inspired masterpiece...

Silent Scream Card

Well, that's a post title that might make one rethink clicking on it!  I am a collector of coffee-themed stamps and dies.  Every once in a while there's a coffee lovers blog hop that I love to stalk.  This time I decided to make a card, too!

This stamp has some funny coffee-ish sayings...love it.

Check out the blog hop HERE.

May your day be caffeinated...

Fall Trees ATC

I have a good stash of gel prints and the 'fall trees' theme for this ATC swap was the perfect opportunity to use some up.  The tree border dies are from Lawn Fawn.  I LOVE these tree dies but hardly ever use them.  Anyone out there a hoarder of cool things that you don't get around to using?  (gulp...don't spill the beans to the hubs.  LOL)

Anyway, several years ago I made an accordion ATC and decided to do the same here.  Imagine frolicking in crunchy multi-colored leaves on a crisp fall afternoon.  I did!

Thanks for swinging by today.  Happy Autumn!

CAS One Layer Card Challenge

Well, yikes.  CAS I can do, but one layer also?  That's tricky.  C'est la vie...here's my attempt at a very CAS one layer card with a Christmas Flora theme...

The lighting doesn't show it well, but there is a dry embossed line on all sides.  I can't say that this is my fave card, but that's what challenges are all about - trying new things.

This is for the Less Is More #407 challenge.

Cheers!

Creepy Bunny ATC

It's been a long time since I've tackled some ATCs.  I joined a swap over on SwapBot with a "Creepy Doll" theme.  This bunny from Stampotique came to mind right away.  😀

I used alcohol markers, dye ink and Distress ink to make this little dude came to (after) life.  I'm adding it to Stampotique's "Black, White & one other color" Challenge, too.

Happy Halloween!

Party Animal Birthday Card

My sister's birthday is coming up and I think she'll get a chuckle out of this.  That is...if she isn't annoyed that I'm reminding her that she's another year older. 😁

I'm entering this in the Less Is More #406 and the MFT Birthday sentiment challenges.

Cheers!

Elves In The Attic

I initially started this blog as a way to share the creations I make for my Etsy shop.  It went a little sideways soon after that as I got wrapped up in creating for creating's sake and dove into artist trading cards (so cool...traded with people all over the world), mixed media, participating in crafty challenges and became a member of a stamping company design team.  Since it's been a while, I thought that I'd share some of the goodies I've added to my Etsy shop, ElvesInTheAttic.

This is a fall-inspired card that can be used in so many ways...Happy Thanksgiving, just because, thank you, miss you, thinking of you...

Click HERE to see more

I LOVE interactive cards.  What a fun way to send a greeting!  Here is a Birthday card perfect for somebody with a winter birthday or who likes to hit the slopes.

You can find this one HERE

And then this one just makes me laugh.  You have a friend that this is perfect for, right?

Click HERE to see more pics

Now, don't cringe.  I know Halloween isn't even here yet, but there are some Christmas and Hanukkah items in the shop.  Find them (and lots more!) in the Autumn/Winter Holidays section.  Shop early and avoid the rush!  😁

Thanks for stopping by.  Did you get all the way to the end?  I'm impressed!  As a Thank You from the elves and I use code IheartEITA to get 10% off your total purchase.  (Offer valid 10/13/19-11/15/19 - because my sister's birthday is on the 15th.  😉)