Polka Dot Orchard 13 Days of Thanks Instagram Challenge!

Hello!  Did you know that Polka Dot Orchard is having a 13 Days of Thanks Challenge on Instagram that runs through November 28th?  You've got three more days (including today) to enter!  The theme is 13 Days of Thanks!

To enter:
~ 1. Post your Fall/Thanksgiving creation on Instagram
~ 2. Use #GiveThanksPDO1119
~ 3. Say something you are thankful for
~ 4. Follow Polka Dot Orchard on Instagram

I've got some inspiration for you today using a new digital set from the Polka Dot Orchard, Let's Get Basted:

Cute digi, right?  This adorable set has this image and a couple different sentiments.

He was so fun to color!... him with his little baster...lol!

Love this cute sentiment!

You can find all of the details for the challenge at the Polka Dot Orchard Blog here as well as a freebie and a sale!

You do not have to use Polka Dot Orchard products to win, but we'd love it if you do!  And your prize is bigger if you win and you've used an image from Polka Dot Orchard!  Hope you'll join us and I can't wait to see what you create!

Thanks for stopping!  Come again soon!

Cutting Cafe Inspiration - Fall/Thanksgiving Greeting Pillow Boxes

Welcome to some Cutting Cafe Inspiration!  Today we're playing with the Fall/Thanksgiving Greeting Pillow Boxes!

I love these boxes!   What a great way to give a little treat!  Maybe put one next to each table setting at the Thanksgiving table?

I've filled my pillow boxes with Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans..mmm... not sure if these will make it to Thanksgiving though...lol!  With this one I added a little coffee cup tag that I made using the Coffee Cup Shaped Card file and one of the sentiments in the pillow box set.

I'm linking this one up over at the 2019 Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!  You should definitely check that out... you have until the 8th to link up!  I'm also playing along over at Double Trouble Challenges You Have Us In Stitches (my little tag has stitches) and I've met the twist with Coffee!  and I'm playing along over at Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge which is Thanks/Thanksgiving!  I've got that here!

More Coffee Beans... mmm.. I'm Grateful for Coffee Beans...lol!  And you!!

Thanks so much for stopping!  Be sure to head on over to the Cutting Cafe Blog to see what everyone has created and comment there for your chance to win three files of your choice!  And come back again tomorrow for some more coffee!

Caffeine Fueled Paper Play - The Rabbit Hole Designs!

I'm up on the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog today and playing along with a challenge over at The Rabbit Hole Designs Fan Facebook Group!  Hope you'll hop on over there and check it out!  Here's a sneak peek for you:

The Cutting Cafe Inspiration-Autumn/Halloween

It's kind of an Anything Goes share for us today over at the Cutting Cafe... we chose from tons of Autumn/Halloween themed files for today's post.  I chose the Fall/Thanksgiving Window Boxes to work with, but I used them in a different way... with a little help from my mom!

I pulled the file in with these boxes and kept only the layer that fits on the top of the box in Design Space.  Then I resized each of these layers to 5x5.

I knew I was going to create shaker cards with these, and I wanted to be able to layer another color over just the sentiment.  I could have just cut a second square and trimmed the word out with scissors, however, I enlisted the help of my mom to trim away the edges within Design Space!  She says I taught her about the Slice feature, but apparently I've forgotten because she had to teach me!

She cut these for me, but when we got together again, she showed me how to use the Slice feature and I'm looking forward to testing it out again in the near future!

Before I added the clear acetate to the window layer, I did trim off a quarter inch from each of the edges because I knew I wanted my card to be five by five, but still wanted some of the printed paper to peek out around the edges of the shaker window.  My card base is 5 x 5, the design paper layer is 4.75 x 4.75, and the window is 4.5 x 4.5 after trimming off the edges.

In this file there is also a cutie pie turkey along with some layers.  After I resized this window, I layered each of the pieces... wings, body head and beak over the top in Design Space and re-sized them so they'd fit correctly over the turkey shadow attached to the window.

There is also a Gobble Window that we sliced this sentiment out of and re-sized it small.  I didn't create a shaker card for today using the Gobble window, but you'll be seeing that soon!

I hope you enjoyed your stop today!  I know I really enjoyed creating these shaker cards from the Window Box file!  Be sure to check out the Cutting Cafe Blog to see what everyone has created for you today and comment there for your chance to win three files of your choice!

Come back soon... Wednesday I'll be sharing a card I made using the Gobble window!

CAS-ual Fridays-Stretching Your Stamps and Dies

Welcome back!  I'm up on the Cas-ual Fridays blog today I'm sharing with you a card I made using some themed dies but used them in maybe an unexpected way.  Here's what I made:

So I was chatting with a friend and she was talking about her decision to buy the Ornament Tag Fri-Dies over the Acorn Fri-Dies... of course she wanted both, but sometimes you have to choose and I thought .. yeah... because it will soon be time to switch from autumn themed cards to Christmas so it made sense... and then I thought about the ornament die and thought... why not use it for an autumn themed card?!  Ornaments aren't just for Christmas!

I had planned on making a Thanksgiving card already and colored this little fox from the Bushy Tailed stamp set because I knew I was going to use him along with the Acorn Fri-Dies.   I colored him with Copics and texturized him using some terrycloth and blending solution (a quick photo tutorial regarding this is here if you missed it). 

Then when I decided on the ornament, I pulled out some pretty autumn colored papers from Pink & Main and cut out my pieces to create a shaker.  This is my favorite way to use the Ornament Tag Fri-Dies, but you don't have to make a shaker with it!  It's very versatile!  

And when I thought about what I'd fill my shaker with I decided on these pretty sequins from Paper Sweeties and thought a few acorns would be cute!  So I stamped some of the tiny acorns from the Autumn Blessings set in a sand colored ink and did a little no line coloring... cut them out and added them to my mix... I'll be honest.  I was a little worried about them possibly flipping over so I glued them in place.  I didn't want them to look glued in place or get covered so a couple I glued on top of a sequin and stuck one under my popup tape and glued that in place.  I love the way they look!

Then I die cut some leaves using the Acorn Fri-Dies out of some paper that was previously created using the Shaving Cream Technique (I'll think I'll share this oldie but goodie with you next post!) and some flowers from the Garden Fri-Dies were cut out of some previously watercolored paper).

And!  In the spirit of stretching your products, I used the Happy word die from the newly released Happy Hanukkah Fri-Dies and stamped and embossed the Thanksgiving from the Autumn Blessings stamp set to build my sentiment.

And as a side note... she did end up getting both...lol!

One more look:

I'm playing along with the Wednesday Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp which is Thanks/Thanksgiving this week!

Hope you've enjoyed your stop today!  And hope I've inspired you to look at some of your stash in a different way!  Should you decide to shop, here's this for you:

And be sure to stay connected with Cas-ual Fridays on social media!