Subway Art-Inspirted Christmas Cards (and more give-away links)

I've got a few new ways to win some blog candy!

--It's a Blog Hop!  Lots of yummy prizes!  http://www.papercraftsconnection.com/blog/2011/09/paper-crafts-magazine-presents-12-days-of-christmas-blog-hop/

--Weekly Challenge:  I love the weekly challenge the Create: blog does.  Anyone can enter.  There's no prize, but it's fun to see if your card makes the cut each week. :)  I'm determined to make the cut one of these times (I've only entered once, so it's not like I've been rejected multiple times...yet).  The new challenge is listed at the end of all the cards being featured for the previous week's challenge.
http://create.northridgepublishing.com/departments/challenges/3-border-punches-cards-challenge-gallery-and-new-challenge/

--Give-Away!  Scroll to the bottom for a chance to win 2 different prizes: http://simonsaysstampblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/fridays-favorite-5-with-kelly-marie.html

It's been a busy day around here, so no chance to make a new card, but wanted to show you a few I made the other day.  I was inspired by subway art.  Have you seen subway art?  It's pretty cool. Check out samples here:  http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=all&includes%5b0%5d=tags&search_query=christmas%20subway%20art&page=1

Anyway, here's my take on subway art-inspired Christmas cards.

I had a 12x12 sheet of paper that had nothing but Christmas words on it.  So I cut all the words out and voila!  Super easy and fun!

Have a fabulous weekend and Happy Crafting!
Cheryl

Blogs Doing Give-Aways!

I enter as many give-aways as I can.  You never know!  In fact, I've won 3 prizes from blog/FB give-aways!  It's so fun (and shocking) to win!

So I thought I would put together a few give-aways I've entered lately and let you play along.  If you win, you have to leave a comment and let me know!

As new give-aways come up, I'll try to keep you updated.  Here's a few to get you started:

--Go to Simple Stories FB page and comment or their blog and comment on their new Year.o.logy release.  It's gorgeous, as is all their stuff!  Deadline: 10/6/11
TWO winners of the new set will be announced on 10/10.

--Simon Says Stamp blog.  Leave a comment to win a stamp.  They're doing give-aways everyday this month (sorry for the late notice), so if you miss today's check back tomorrow for a new one. 

--i {heart} papers does a give-away once a month with a random drawing from their list of newsletter subscribers.  So go subscribe.  They have adorable stuff!  ($10 gift certificate is the prize)

Happy Winning!

Cheryl

Christmas Cards - Lawn Fawn "Ornate Ornaments"

Yesterday I was really wanting to do a Christmas card to post using a great Stampin' Up stamp set.  However, I just couldn't figure out where to start for my card to give it the "look" I wanted.  Finally, around 4:30 pm I checked the mail and there was my Simon Says Stamp order.  A while back I won a giveaway on Nichol Magourik's blog.  It was a $30 Gift Certificate to Simon Says Stamp.  How cool is that?!  I ordered the Lawn Fawn "Ornate Ornaments" stamp set and that was what I needed to get my Christmas card-making juices flowing.

What I love about Lawn Fawn is they have You Tube videos for each of their stamp sets showing you all the different ways to use the set.  I love that.  Here's the link to the video for the Ornate Ornaments set.  And here are 2 cards that I came up with.

 The one above was stamped on Kraft card stock. 

The "Deck the Halls" sentiment is from the Stampin' Up set "Merry and Type."  The stamps are beautifully nostalgic-looking.  The paper stack I used on the above card came from my Simon Says Stamp order as well.  It'll be my next Paper Addict post.  It's so adorable.  I can't wait to show it to you!

Happy Crafting!
Cheryl

Paper Addict - We R Memory Keepers "Autumn Splendor"

Fall is one of my most favorite seasons...as it leads into THE most favoritest season of all...Christmas/Winter!  However, I love fall colors!  The other day I got an awesome Groupon for The Sassy Scrapper which is a great local craft store near me.  This is where I found my newest paper obsession...Autumn Splendor by We R Memory Keepers!

I know my niece is especially going to love this pattern.

So cute!  So here are a few things I've made with this stack.  I loved paper piecing this pumpkin.

And another one using my Sew Easy tool.

And I found this shelf at Goodwill yesterday for only $2.99.  I figured I could do something cute to it.

So this is what I came up with.

 I'll add a picture of Olivia at the Pumpkin Patch to one shelf and I thought a little bale of hay on one shelf would be cute too! :)

Oh wait, what's this?  Oh yeah, I found these at Goodwill too.  Naturalizers for only $10.  Do you know how hard it is to find cute shoes in size 11?!  Score!

Happy Crafting!
Cheryl

Paper Addict - Simple Stories "Happy Days"

I'm addicted to paper.  There, I admitted it.  However, I don't think any of my fellow paper crafters would be too surprised, as it's a super common problem, so I'm seeing on other blogs.  I used to give my mom a hard time for having tons and tons of material for all her sewing projects...and always buying more when we would hit the craft/fabric stores.  Now I get it.  There are so many cute patterns out there...it's hard not to buy them up when you get the chance...both for fabric and paper.  (Especially when 6x6 stacks are half off like they were at Hobby Lobby last week!)  So what I'd like to do in my "Paper Addict" posts is feature a stack that I have found and love and show you some cards/projects I made with them.  Then you can add it to your "must get" paper list.

The stack I'm featuring today is Simple Stories "Happy Day" design.  Love it!  Here are a few cards.

First is a "Happy Day" card, which I made as a Birthday Card for my niece, and oh look, pennants! :)

 Next, we have a birthday card for my nephew, with, what's that?  Pinwheels! :)

Here's a closer look at the card.

And then we have a "First Birthday" card for my great-niece.

And lastly, we have a fabulous "Let's Party" card (with pinwheel) for no one in particular right now.

So do you love this paper?!  And can you kind of get an idea of where I came up with the name for my blog?  Yes, I love pennants and pinwheels and since the other names I had come up were already taken, Pennants & Pinwheels it is! :)

Any other paper addicts out there?  What's your favorite thing to make with paper or fabric?

Happy Crafting!
Cheryl

Fun and Easy Embellishments

Today I want to show you a couple new paper crafts I've been making that are so fun, cute and most importantly, easy!  First, of course, a Pinwheel!  These things are so cute!

You need to use double-sided paper.  If you have super cute paper you want to use and it's not double-sided, you can always glue two sheets together, back-to-back.  These are made with double-sided Christmas paper.  I am going to use these as bows for my Christmas presents this year!  Here's a tutorial to get you going on making some for yourself. 

Second are these adorable folded flowers.  I saw these in one of those Hobby Lobby project inspiration sheets.  They are free and they're everywhere next to different products to show you ideas on how to use those products.  It didn't give the instructions, so I figured it out myself.  And surprisingly, they turned out just like the picture!

Again, you need double-sided paper.  Get a circle punch and punch out at least 6 circles.  I'm using a 2" punch for this tutorial.  I also used my Martha Stewart Scoring Board to put a little score as a guide to folding over each edge. BTW, LOVE my Martha Stewart Scoring Board.  I have no idea how I managed so long without one!

You then just fold over each side, one overlapping the other.

Then you take your Crop-A-Dile and punch a hole in each of them near the tip.  Just got me a Crop-A-Dile last week and I LOVE it!  It has 2 different hole punch sizes and you can set eyelets with one easy squeeze!

Then select a brad of choice and put each one on and then spread them out to form your flower!

You could also distress the edges with some distressing ink or even use decorative edge scissors.  The possibilities are endless!

Hope you enjoyed...Happy Crafting!
Cheryl