Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - August 2019 Edition

Welcome to the August edition of Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas!  My friend Debra Davison and I decided we were going to create a Christmas card a week for the year so that come December all of our cards would be made and it has been awesome!  I've so been enjoying the chance to use some of the products I purchased during the season last year and love our monthly posts!  

For me, this month's post is all about elves! So without further ado:

I picked up this Elf'd set from Ellen Hutson after one of the first Coffee Lover's Hops I participated in.  It was a while ago... and this is the first I've used it.  It's not even available any more and I'm just NOW using it.  The good news is I just got the coordinating dies on clearance!  I don't know why I hadn't used it... I love it... that's why I bought it...lol!  So I'm very excited to be using it now.

I'm playing along at Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge which is Clean & Simple.

I used the die for this guy and laid it on some Copic friendly cardstock and traced the outer edges with a very light cool Gray Copic... C0 I think.  Then I used C00, C0, and C1 and dotted around the outline using the darker color on the crevices and lighter as I moved outward.  Then I used some Alene's True Snow and dabbed it around with a paint brush.  Next I used some glittery clear stickles and dabbed it around.  And Voila!  Snow Angel!  I popped up that cute little elf right in the middle.

The snowflakes and sentiment banner are from Paper Smooches.

The sentiment is from Picket Fence Studios.

I used this embossing folder from Taylored Expressions.

Of course I had to have a cup or two for you!  I used the Holiday Cheer papers from Sunny Studio Stamps.  This one was fun!  And did you see how perfect that sentiment die is for one of these cards?

There is Elf right there in it!!  I added some mirror cardstock over the glitter on the "elf" area so it would stand out just a little bit more.

The Treat Yo-self Die is from Ellen Hutson (also not available any more...lol!)

The heart and mug are from MFT.

For this one I used the Sunny Studio Stamps paper and the awesome Letterboard Essentials Dies from Ellen Hutson and that Christmas Light Border is from Craftin Desert Divas.

And guess what I got since your last Crafty Elves visit:

I got my hands on one of these adorable Crafty Little Elf stamps from Unity Stamp Co.... you know... the namesake of our little monthly post!  

I'm playing along with a Mini Challenge at Unity Show & Tell Group which is Drips, Drops & Splatters and at Wow Embossing Powder Fans Group's Pearl Challenge.

Well... the splatters are obvious...lol... but some of those splatters are with some pearl white watercolor... hard to see, but it's in there!

I've also used:

Christmas Over/Again by Brutus Monroe for Unity Stamp Co.

Sending Love from Birch Press Design.

Nested Rectangles and Nested Deckle Rectangles from Rubbernecker Stamps.

Wow Gold and Wow Sparkling Snow Embossing Powders.

Merry Christmas Dies from MFT.

And finally... yeah... he's not an elf, but I love this Winter gnome from Picket Fence Studios A Gnome Winter Stamp Set:

Isn't he just so adorable??

For this one I also used the following items:

Cable Knit Embossing Folder and Snowflake embossing folder from Taylored Expressions.

Funky Flakes and Coffee Cup Fri Dies from CAS-ual Fridays.

Now it's time to announce the winner of some Happy Mail from last month's Crafty Elves post:

Lagene!  Please e-mail me at bzscrapper66 at gmail dot com with your mailing address!

We're doing it again... next month I'll choose someone from the comments on this post to win some Happy mail from me.

Thanks so much for stopping and come again soon!  Be sure to head on over to Debra's place and see what she's created for your viewing pleasure!

Krafty Chicks Challenge - #458-Die Cuts!

Honored to be guesting over at Krafty Chicks Challenges this month!  Krafty Chicks Challenges start on Thursday at 12:00am MST and you have until the following Wednesday at 12:00pm (noon) MST to play along!  The challenges are Anything Goes with an Optional Twist and this week's twist is Die Cuts!  Check out all of the rules here! (There aren't many!)

Today I'm using some beautiful dies from Stamplorations (those sweet Trendy Spring Blooms dies and lovely (Crazy Double Running Stitch Nesting Rectangle Dies) and from Birch Press Design (the Genevieve Butterfly Layer Set and Sending Love Stamp and coordinating Dies sentiment sets).  The large background label shape is from Spellbinders and the fun Paper Smooches Bannerific Dies were used for the Handmade Hugs part of the sentiment.  I LOVE that the outline cuts out separately so you can outline it in a different color... or even a pretty print... coming soon...lol!

So happy you stopped to visit today!  Be sure to check out what the Design Team members from Krafty Chicks made for your viewing pleasure today and hope you'll play along!

I'm also playing along with the June Cutplorations Challenge over at Stamplorations... there is a fun inspiration photo:

Be sure to stop by tomorrow to see what we're playing with over at The Cutting Cafe!

Crafty Elves Countdown to Christmas-January 2019 Edition!

Welcome to the first ever Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas!  So... that up there... that's not my card... but it is my crafter in crime's card using that adorable Crafty Little Elf from Unity Stamps.  She's going to be our "mascot" for our new adventure together.  I was minding my own business online one day when I read a comment by Debra Davison that she was vowing to make one Christmas card a week for 2019 so that by the time December rolled around all of her cards would be made.  And me being the wise guy that I am said.. yeah... that's a good idea!  I've been wanting to do it for the last couple years because another bloggy friend, Theresa had done it and I thought it was such a great idea!  Well, Debra called me out... and we decided we'd both do it and that we'd share our makes on the 25th of each month... so here we are!  Two Crafty Elves!  We're both having a giveaway this month to celebrate so leave us some love and we'll each pick a winner from all of the comments... more on that later!  For now... here's what I came up with in January:

Well, you had to know there would be coffee!  I'm guessing each month I'll have at least one card with a coffee element... and here it is!  During the last Coffee Lovers Hop, I won a prize over at the Birch Press Design blog and one of the items I got was that beautiful Issa Snowflake Layer set.  I mean.. yeah... I spent a little more than I won... but why wouldn't I????

I mean... LOOK at it!!  This is a three die set and there are unending combinations you can create with it!  You can't be surprised that I added some glitter paper and that cool holographic paper.

I couldn't help but add a pretty plaid cup that I cut with a die from this Memory Box set!  And do you love the Merry die cut??  It's from Pretty Pink Posh and I love it!!  And the steam from A Jillian Vance Designs Coffee Tea & Me set was perfect!  

I'm playing along over at Cupcake Inspirations Pink and White Challenge.  You have about a week to join in if you'd like to play along too!

And the Layered Snowflake die from Birch Press makes such a beautiful card with SO little effort that I decided to use it again for my second:

It feels like that Snowflake and the Merry Christmas die were made for each other doesn't it?  Oh and did I mention the PPP clear sequins...they come in a few different sizes and they are quite awesome!

I'm playing along with this one over at D.L. Art January Linky Challenge!  It's Anything Goes and you can link up all month long!  Check it out!

So next I pulled out some new stamps that I ordered recently over at Honey Bee Stamps:

Eep!! I am over the moon in love with the Honey Bee Stamps Snow Buddies stamps and dies!  I stamped and die cut so many images from the set so I'd have lots to choose from when I put my cards together.  And with these traditional colors... those pretty Holiday Cheer Christmas papers from Sunny Studio Stamps were perfect!  At the same time I got the Snow Buddies, I picked up the Fa La La Honeycuts and I am SO glad I did... perfect for a fun and quick sentiment and perfect with the snow buddies!

For this one I'm linking up over at The Mod Squad challenge to Use Multiple Images... I used a few here!  You should check this one out!

So, I was transferring my Snow buddies dies onto magnetic sheets and then I drop that behind the stamps they go with and was getting ready to throw away the shiny cardboard that is part of the packaging and thought... "hmmm.. I could us that on a card... wonder what alcohol inks would do on that":

The inks didn't do all of the magical things that they do on Yupo paper, but I dropped on a few drops along with some blending solution and smooshed and twisted it using the felt applicator and loved the way the background came out!  I decided it would be perfect for another Snow Buddies card!  And it was!

I'm playing along over at Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge which is Alcohol: Inks or Drinks!  I picked inks since it was way too early for drinking alcohol when I made this :)!  I used Alcohol Inks and Markers so I think I have it covered!

Hope you'll let me know you were here!  If you do, you'll have a chance to win a gift from me!  I'm not sure what it is yet because I'm drowning in 1099s this week at work and working lots of extra hours... but I think you'll like it!  Debra knows what she's giving away... but you'll have to go there to find out!

So that's me for today!  I tried not to be my usual wordy self..not sure I was successful.  Thanks for hanging in with me!  Please make sure you go and give my cohort a visit!  Stop over at Debra's blog here to see all of the awesome she has for you and leave her some love!