Cricketleg Creative

“Happy Holidays” Challenge

Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards

Monday Challenge from Simon Says Stamp this time is “Happy Holidays”

happy holidays challenge

Well hi!

Welcome to another edition of Julie Enters Card Challenges! This time the challenge is creating anything with the theme of Happy Holidays!

As luck would have it, I was already working on this theme so I’m able to crank out some entries really, really fast!

Ready to see? Let’s go!

Baby, It’s Cold Outside!

I’ve been really wanting to use my new blending brushes because up till now, I’ve been using the wooden handled, foam circle ink blending tools. I have to say the blending brushes are just so comfortable to use and it feels easier to get a smooth blend. Making that blue shading around was so much easier than the other tools I have.

Stamps are from Stampin’ Up!, except for the snowflake stamp which is Posh Impressions.

happy holidays challenge

Merry Christmas Wreath

This card is the first of two I’m sharing in this challenge that use glitter and double stick tape backgrounds. Check out my most recent blog post to see how those backgrounds come together.

Finishing off the card is a die cut with just the greeting and berries colored in. I love the simple color scheme but kind of blingy look!

Merry christmas glitter stripes

Christmas Letterboard

As I was perusing other papercrafters’ entries into a recent challenge, I saw that someone had an entry featuring a letterboard die set. Not knowing this even existed, I got so excited and immediately went and bought it!

It’s really fun to use, although a bit time consuming to place the letters. Pretty quickly I figured out that placing the letters upside down and in reverse order on some temporary tape helped tremendously with placement! I could just finish an entire line on the tape, apply liquid adhesive carefully to the letter backs, and carefully place the entire line down on the board. Then I gently removed the tape while holding down the letters.

I have been having so much fun with this die set! So many possibilities!

amazon card

Gift Bags Slimline

I almost labeled these as shopping bags, which I guess they could also be. But they really look more like gift bags I suppose. Once I chose the coordinating papers, the card came together very quickly. I used some of the patterned paper to line the envelope.

I love making slimline cards as it gives me quite a bit of room to spread things out! It’s just the right space for this card.

Candle wick is what I used for the handles. Hey, it’s what I happened to have on hand! I used some washi tape from my most recent Hero Arts monthly card kit.

happy holidays challenge

Red and Pink Stripes

So here’s the second card I’m sharing where I used my glitter and double stick tape trick. It’s pink glitter stripes on red cardstock, which is a striking and nontraditional color combo.

The ornament is stamped from multiple stamps from another Hero Arts kit. I added die cut white “greenery” from another die set and I used red/white baker’s string to “hang” it from the card top.

red and pink stripes

So there you have it! Have you started making or picking out your Christmas cards yet?

Y’all take care!

Glitter & Tape Card Backgrounds

Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards, Quick Tips

Use fine glitter and double stick tape to create interesting backgrounds for your handmade cards! Glitter tape card backgrounds are an easy way to add pizzazz to your cards.

glitter tape backgrounds

If you’re like me, you may not currently have tons of background papers, background dies, or background stamps at your disposal. And, if you’re like me, you may get a little sad when you feel like you can’t create the backgrounds you want.

Well, I have a solution for you. Well, you know….for now. And it’s kind of fun!

The Glitter

Recently, on my weekly Walmart grocery shop, I ran across some super fine glitter on the back aisle of the craft section. I grabbed a couple of colors and brought them home to experiment. I mean, I paid for them first. And then I brought them home.

They really are beautiful, and are just under $3 a jar. They’re stackable, as you can see in the video. But I have them in a single layer in a drawer.

Anyway, I’m not sure how I cooked up the idea (and I’m not saying I’m the only one who’s thought of this) but I thought that double stick tape combined with this superfine glitter would make a great background option. And it’s inexpensive!

The possibilities are endless. Go for tone on tone, with a glitter that matches closely to your paper color. Do stripes–horizontal, vertical, diagonal. Make a plaid design–all one color or multicolored.

Basically, you can just go nuts.

The Tape

In this video I’m only using two tapes. One is from Lawn Fawn….1/8″ double stick tape. I love this tape and use it all the time. The other is just office supply double stick tape on the disposable roll.

The only reason I chose those two is because that’s what I had! Use what you have and have fun with the results.

You could also incorporate metallic tapes like the blue tape I used on this card. I bought that tape from Hobby Lobby and it’s made my The Paper Studio. But I really wanted to exclusively use double stick for this video.

Watch the video below to see how I, on the fly, made a few backgrounds with very little effort.

So there you have it! Glitter tape backgrounds are a fun, easy, and inexpensive card option for birthdays, Christmas, New Year’s, and so on and so forth and what have you!

Hey drop a comment below and tell me how you successfully tame glitter in your card projects. I’m off to clean up the glitter spills on my desk!

Y’all take care!

Thanksgiving Challenge

Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards

Simon Says Stamp has offered the Thanks/Thanksgiving theme for the most recent Wednesday Challenge.

Because I’ve done a bunch of “thanks” cards lately, I chose to focus on Thanksgiving for the theme. I typically don’t make Thanksgiving specific cards.

I’m still working on building up my supply of stamps, dies, and supplies from a loooooong cardmaking break. And one of the challenges for me with these, um, challenges is that I have to be extra creative to figure out how to use what I already have. Or use what little I have recently accumulated.

So this week’s entries are a combo of old and new. Old and new papers, stamps, and supplies.

Autumn Thanks Stacked Card

So this one was posted earlier this week (which is why it’s not in the group pic above) along with more info and a YouTube video. I’ll post the picture here, but to learn more about the card, check out the blog post.

I used paper and stamps from Simon Says Stamp.

autumn thanksgiving challenge

Old Fashioned Stove

If you’ve read my About Me page you’ll know that I used to be a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator. Hence, the majority of my stamps are from that company. Not only that, but the majority are from back in the 90s!!

Back then, a cozy country feel was all the rage. I still love looking at this old fashioned stove stamp on my stamp shelves but find that I rarely use it.

But with Thanksgiving and all it’s turkey, dressing, pie, etc., I figured a cooking themed card would fit just right. It’s paired with lots of stamped and cut out accessories and food. A Simon Says Stamp background paper and sentiment complete the card.

old fashioned stove thanksgiving challenge

Stained Glass Cornucopia

One thing that always bothered me about the set of stained glass stamps from Stampin’ Up! was that it wasn’t card sized. But I’ve solved that by pairing the embossed and colored image with some patterned paper and a sentiment.

I’ve shown a close up here so you can see that the gold embossing powder has glitter in it. That powder is still going strong from back in the 90s when I first bought it. It’s called Motherlode. Not sure if there’s an equivalent powder out there now.

stain glassed window

Here’s a close up of that glittery embossed image.

stained glass window

Autumn Scene

Back in my demonstrator days, I would often act as “hostess” for various groups of orders and would consequently earn hostess stamp sets. Sometimes this was great. Other times I was like, meh.

The two stamps used below are from a hostess set that I have NEVER USED. Nope, not even once. I just didn’t think they were very practical.

So–and this is one of the things I love about participating in challenges–I dared myself to use these stamps and make it pretty. Surely I could challenge my creativity here and look beyond the outline image on the stamp.

I have to say, I’m pretty happy with the result. I’d like to do this scene again but for a spring look. Hey, maybe they’ll do a spring challenge in a few months.

The card is framed with some new paper from the monthly Simon Says Stamp kit. I also trimmed it with some bronze metallic tape and a leaf die cut out of bronze metallic cardstock.

autumn scene

Autumn Floral

We’ve come full circle here as I’m using that sunflower and leaves floral stamp from the first card I’ve featured in this post. This is another embossing project. And I decided to do everything embossed in a copper powder.

I used alcohol markers to color in the embossed images. I’ve used a metallic brown and a metallic copper tape at the top and bottom to give some accent. I really love using this stamp but doing completely different color palettes each time. It’s a fun challenge in and of itself.

If I could start this card over, I think I would double or even triple emboss the big “thanks” stamp to give it a more even finish. But I think it still looks great.

thanks card
thanksgiving challenge

So there you go! These cards will be sent off soon to some ladies from church to wish them and their families a Happy Thanksgiving!

I’ll see you in the next challenge!

Y’all take care!

“Remembrance” Challenge

Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

The Monday challenge from Simon Says Stamp is Remembrance.

remembrance challenge

Well, hi!

Welcome to another installment of entries for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Blog Challenge. This week’s theme is Remembrance/Thinking of You.

Because I already did a “Thinking of You” challenge very recently, I decided to lean more into remembrance as the focal point for my challenge entries. And to be more specific, I wanted to work with old photographs.

My Sisters’ Birthdays

Because I have two sisters’ birthdays coming up in December, I figured I’d go ahead and crank out all three sisters birthday cards for this challenge. (The other one is in July, but why not do it now too?)

I found old photos from their birthdays on my computer and built the cards around their photos using similar color palettes for two of them. The other one seemed to have all pink in the photo so I went with all pinks for the card.

For this first one, I just layered paper in the background. Then cut strips of coordinating colored cardstock for the candles and glued them on randomly. The “flames” are a tear drop hole punch that I colored in with markers. The sentiment is perfect!

anna's birthday card remembrance challenge

Here’s that pink themed card. I stamped the cake layers as actual cake layers, but then used them vertically as candles on the envelop flap as well.

bonnie's birthday card

I used dies from Altenew (I have the matching stamps but didn’t use them) for the balloons on this card and envelope. The balloon strings are baker’s twine. Also, look at my gorgeous Mama! More on her later.

amy's birthday card

My Beloved Rosie

Unfortunately, on Easter Sunday this year we lost our beloved Rosie girl. She was hit by a car and passed away from her injuries. It was a shock and we all miss her terribly. She was the sweetest dog.

Each morning when I walk our other dogs, I pass the spot where we found her and spent our last moments stroking her and telling her it was going to be okay. Each morning, I see that spot and my heart just aches.

So I decided to make a sweet little remembrance to keep in my craft studio. It’s not a card, just a sweet little display of my Rosie…my shadow…my girl. Just to keep near me. It features two of my favorite pictures of her.

Rosie

My Mother

My mother lost her battle with Alzheimer’s in June of 2016. If you’ve lost a loved one you know that you can go for periods of time and remember fondly with no longing. But then suddenly you get triggered by something, and you just have an intense longing to be with them.

This happened to me just a few days ago. I was having a rough, hormonal kind of day already. But I decided that, to help me get going into the holiday spirit for Christmas card making, I would listen to an old Christmas album that I grew up with. I listen to this album ALL THE TIME. But as soon as it started play, I just started balling.

I began to think of my mother and my childhood and how much simpler things were then. And I just felt that intense longing.

So when remembrance was chosen as a challenge topic, I knew I had to make something around my mother. She was just such an amazing woman and I miss her so much. Plus, I mean, she was just gorgeous!!

Mom

So these are my entries. And now I have two beautiful and touching mini memorials to keep in plain sight in my craft studio.

I’m off to work on some more projects.

Y’all take care!

Autumn Thanks Stacked Card

Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards, Quick Tips

Easy technique to create an interesting card by using stacked cards–a card on a card. This Autumn Thanks Stacked Card was created using stamps from Simon Says Stamp.

autumn thanks stacked card

Well, hi!

Hey, guess what? I have a new card video and it’s not a Christmas card! I know, right?

The thing I love about this type of card is that you don’t need any special tools to make it. No dies or mechanisms. Heck, you don’t even really have to measure! Just make a smaller card to stick on top.

I really love the large autumn floral stamp. It came in the Simon Says Stamp card kit this month. Currently, I receive monthly kits from Hero Arts and Spellbinders as well. Monthly kits are a fun way to build your collection and also to challenge your creativity! I admit that I sometimes turn up my nose at some kits but then quickly have to repent when I see what amazing things people create!

I’m trying to do shorter video posts on Thursdays (as opposed to my Monday posts) so take a few minutes and check out this video to watch the Autumn Thanks Stacked Card come together.

Also, someone please tell me how you avoid smudging your cards with ink! It seems to be my mistake of choice lately as I have done it here and here.

There you go! And happy fall to you all!

Y’all take care!

“Thinking of You” Challenge

Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge last week is the theme of Thinking of You.

thinking of you cards

Well, hi!

Here’s a new batch of challenge cards from the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog. The theme from the most recent posting is “Thinking of You.”

I don’t have a ton of stamps that imply that sentiment. In fact, I believe you are seeing all of them in the image above. The one on the truck is printed from my computer.

All of this challenge’s cards are pretty simple, and that was by design. I wanted to focus more on the sentiment so I kept everything else pretty clean.

I’ll list a close up image of each of the cards below, going from least to most favorite.

Thinking of You at Christmas

Using a greenery stamp from Sunny Studio and an ornament stamp from Stampin’ Up!, I created a simple layout. However, there was so much white space that seemed very empty. So I used an ink blending tool to create shading around the edges of the card. The sentiment stamp is also from Stampin’ Up!

thinking of you at christmas

Fall Tree

Four stamps make up this design and are all from the same Stampin’ Up! set (I have lots of Stampin’ Up! as I used to be a demonstrator). Patterned paper and metallic tape complete the design.

Fall Tree with Baker’s Twine

Same tree, stamped with darker leaves. And I added more patterned paper behind. The very simple design is completed with brown and white baker’s twine.

Pick Up Truck

This stamp comes from an inexpensive stamp set I bought on Amazon. It comes with various items that can go in the back. I figured the class blue truck with pumpkins would look nice. I used ink blending to create a ground of grass, and also added light blue shading for a hint of sky.

As stated previously, I printed this sentiment from my computer.

Watercolor Flowers

Another Stampin’ Up! stamp set and the sentiment is from them as well (although from a different set). I stamped the flowers using Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto watercolor paper. I then used a very loose watercolor technique to color in the flowers and leaves.

This is my favorite of all the cards because the technique itself is so liberating. I love painting outside the lines and allowing the paintbrush to go…just….wherever. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable process for me!

Okay, there you go! A few more cards to add to my collection, ready to be sent to a friend or loved one who needs a little boost!

Make sure you check out my other challenge cards. I try to post entries twice a week on the blog, so keep checking back.

Y’all take care!

Snowy Lamp Post Card

Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards

This card features a solitary lamp post against a snowy background

Yes. Yes, another Christmasy card. Sorry, I can’t help it. Plus, I haven’t used this die set since buying it and I really want to play with it.

I also wanted to try something just a little different than what I normally do for a snowy background. Typically, I try for something blended. I’m either using ink blending tools with stamp pads for a soft blended sky or I’m using Copic markers to make a more bold sky but still with a soft transition between colors.

For this Snowy Lamp Post Card I wanted to do something less realistic and that would draw the focus right to the lamp atop the post. I achieved this with a die cut circle as the “glow” for the lamp candle.

Watch the video to see how I made the snowy background as well as how I finished the glowing circle.

I’d love to hear from you so let me know what your favorite way to make snow for cards is. And feel free to check out my most recent Christmas card here.

Oh, and if you want to know how to get my hi-tech splatter and spray box, make sure you check out Simon Says Stamp’s monthly kit which comes with a free hi-tech splatter and spray box. (I’m being sarcastic…it’s just the box y’all, but you should still check out getting monthly kits.)

That’s it! Y’all take care!

Christmas Tags Challenge

Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week is Christmas Tags!

Christmas Tags together

Well, hi!

Welcome to another post with entries to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week’s challenge involves making Christmas tags. It’s coming, you know.

The ideas for these came together pretty quickly. They were fun to make, but one card gave me a struggle. Can you guess which one?

The Gift Box Tag

I thought it might be fun to make a tag for a gift that looked like, well, a gift with a tag!

I cut out a rectangle in the size I wanted and snipped off two opposite corners at an angle. I applied patterned paper to what would be the “sides” of the box (left side and bottom). Then I added paper to the “top” of the gift box.

I stamped the ribbon twice on cardstock using an old Posh Impressions stamp I have. One of the images serves as the main part of the ribbon and the other image I cut up to finish off the ribbon going around the gift box.

I applied a little tag with a to/from inside, and it was done. A fun, quick, cute little tag I think.

gift box tag

The Stained Glass Tag

I’ve been having fun stamping on vellum and coloring in with alcohol markers to see what happens. After stamping this stained glass stamp (Stampin’ Up!) with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto a patterned vellum, I allowed it to dry but eventually used a heat tool to finish the drying.

I colored it in with my Ohuhu markers. What’s interesting to me is that when you apply a second layer of marker the color kind of does this weird thing that ends up looking more like stained glass. Kind of hard to tell in the picture, but it leaves an uneven blend which I think mimics a rustic stained glass pretty well. In the picture below it’s most noticeable on the tree trunk.

stained glass tag

The Lighthouse Tag

I thought it might be fun to do something less traditional. Well, at least not your typical Christmas snow scene. So I pulled out this lighthouse stamp from Stampin’ Up!

Things were going great at first. (By now, you have guessed that this is the problem child of the group.) I stamped it with Memento and colored in with my alcohol markers. No problem. Everything was looking great.

Then I used my white gel pen to add snow.

And that went pretty well. For everything that was NOT burgundy.

I tried doing multiple coats. I tried adding glitter. I tried adding matte snow pieces. I tried acrylic paints. Nothing would completely cover up that hot pink that resulted from trying to top burgundy with white!!

But I just kept adding layers until I could get it MOSTLY under control. So my next question is….HOW ON EARTH DO YOU ADD SNOW TO ANYTHING RED? I’ve never had this problem before!

You may not be able to tell from the picture below (I photographed it immediately after topping with another layer of acrylic paint!). But it’s so small, maybe nobody will notice!

lighthouse tag

The Ornament Tag

I used stamps and dies from the Hero Arts monthly kit from this October to make this shaker tag/ornament. Tags like this are fun because the tag becomes a gift too!

It was the quickest shaker I’ve ever put together! Having the dies from the kit really helped the layering to go fast. You can see another shaker card I recently made here.

You could add an additional small tag to the string (so as not to write on the ornament) or just write the to/from on the back.

ornament tag

The Hutch Tag

I think this one is my favorite. I love the colors and the homey feel. This hutch and accessories stamps are all from Stampin’ Up! and it’s been a good long while since I’ve used this style. These were purchased during the “country” decor phase of rubber stamps back in the 90s. But I can’t part with them. Good memories.

Giving these stamps new life in a tag was a good way to dust them off. I stamped everything separate….no masking…and fussy cut them out after coloring them in with alcohol markers.

Though it is hard to tell in the photo, there are gold accents on every piece. I added the accents after gluing the pieces to the hutch. I backed the hutch door area with some white cardstock after cutting along the door lines. Then I backed the whole thing with a pretty green cardstock.

hutch tag
hutch tag inside

You can see the surprise stocking and the to/from inside the cabinet. Kind of a fun tag to make!

Okay. These Christmas tags are done and done! Hope you enjoyed taking a peak at these tags. And I sure hope you have a solution to my burgundy/hot pink snow problem! If so, please…..advise!

Y’all take care!

Holiday Ice Skates Card

Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards

Lovely ice skates bordered by snowy greenery for a beautiful holiday card!

holiday ice skates card

My favorite cards to make are holiday cards, specifically Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. But my all-time favorite is Christmas. I’ve loved Christmas since I was a small child! Creating a whole mood with a Christmas card is just so satisfying!

When I thought up the design for this card, I got so excited to make it! I’m not an ice skater, but I love ice skating. In fact, one of my very favorite Christmas movies, The Bishop’s Wife, features an ice skating scene that I just adore! (I just tried to find a link to that scene, but no luck…sorry.)

Anyway, I love the look of ice skates hanging with greenery. So cozy and vintage feeling. So I was very excited to shoot a video featuring that on this card. Other than the tiny laces and berries, everything went together very quickly.

Another beautiful look for this card would be to switch the card base to kraft paper and the ice skates to white cardstock. That would be beautiful and the snowy splatter would show up even more. Hmmm….I think I have something to go do right now.

Enjoy the video, and please leave me a comment and let me know your favorite Christmas movie!

Check out some of my other Christmas cards here and here.

Y’all take care!

“Have A Sweet Day” Slider Card

Handcrafted Cards

This interactive “Have a Sweet Day” Slider Card is an easy way to add a fun element to an already cute card.

have a sweet day slider card

Well, hi!

Welcome to my second interactive card video posted to the blog! Interestingly enough, my first interactive card video uses stamps from the same company! You can view that card video here.

I finally got my hands on the Lawn Fawn slider dies! I definitely will be using the curvy one in the future. But for now, I just used the straight die which works perfectly for this cute donut truck.

Lawn Fawn has many interactive dies from simple to complex in nature. These are the simplest and can be used with a variety of images. I chose to use an adorable food truck.

The Cruisin’ Cuisine stamp set (and coordinating die set) has been burning a hole in my stamp supplies just waiting to be used for a cute card! Remembering that I have a good friend who is a donut fanatic, I thought a donut truck card would be fitting.

I first found this stamp set through Sandy Allnock, who is an artist and paper crafter on YouTube. Amazing videos! Go check her out! Her truck is an ice cream truck and she hand draws her background with Copic markers. I opted for an easier route and used stencils, but I love how that turned out!

Watch the video to see the whole card come together, as well as find out how I covered up a mistake! I tend to make those a lot. 😉

Sunny Studios has a ton of cute stamps. You can see the blog post of the other card I made using their stamps here.

Thanks for stopping by! Leave a comment and let me know what your favorite type of food truck is.

Y’all take care!