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Sunday, December 15, 2019

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. 

Saturday, November 30, 2019

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.

Friday, November 29, 2019

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

Thursday, November 28, 2019

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!!

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

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?

Monday, November 25, 2019

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!

Sunday, November 24, 2019

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!

Saturday, November 23, 2019

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!

Friday, November 22, 2019

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...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

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?

Saturday, November 16, 2019

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... 😉

Sunday, November 10, 2019

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??

Thursday, November 7, 2019

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...

Sunday, November 3, 2019

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!

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

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!

Saturday, October 26, 2019

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!

Saturday, October 19, 2019

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!

Sunday, October 13, 2019

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.  😉)