Bears Afloat

Today the Lady Commander of Copics and I travelled to Stuffington to assist the bears there that had been stranded by the recent flooding. Most had got out safely, however there were still a few trapped within the village. I cast a water resistant spell on us before we loaded ourselves into a canoe to search for lost bears. It wasn’t long before we spotted one. The poor fellow was in the middle of the water, clinging to some debris, trying to stay afloat. The Lady Commander and I paddled over to him, helping the sopping bear into the canoe. 

This card was created for the Just Some Lines anything goes challenge that is happening now. It’s our last one until September, so make something using any JSL image and win yourself some digis!

I started by colouring this cute bear using Prismacolors and cutting him out. I needed something for him to peek over and chose the “Simple Hello My Friend” Unity set. I had a tiny 3x3 square left of the paper from this project and used it to mount the bear and sentiment.  I then decided there was too much empty space at the bottom and stamped that circle pattern using an unknown Unity stamp (it was added in free with my last order and was just in a clear baggie, so I don’t know the name of it). I kind of regret using that yellow crinkle ribbon, but I had these feelings after it was adhered and the bow was hot glued on...sooooo...not much could be done at that point.

It’s probably hard to tell from the first picture, but his paws are kind of curled up. This earned me +218 dimensional exp points.

On the inside I pulled a signature Crystal move and used up a strip of the patterned paper from the front. The sentiment was stamped using the Unity “I Miss Your Face” set (you will also notice the mysterious circle pattern stamp used again).

Alright...my new name for this set is “crop circles” because it is both interesting to look at and a mystery - lol. Until I find the actual name I will refer to this stamp as such. *Ahem*...so I stamped Unity’s “Crop Circles” onto the front of the envelope to tie it all in with the rest of the card.

This bear will take a quick peek into the following challenges:

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #13: Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp and Show: Stripes

DRS Designs Challenge #76: The Letter “B” (bear)

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

Challenges 4 Everybody #23: Anything Goes

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge #104: Office Supplies

A Gem of a Challenge #86: Teddies

Desert Islands Crafters Challenge #56 (used #3: patterned paper, #5: ribbon/cording, #9: teal & #10: Sentiment)

The bear sputtered his thanks, letting us know where some other bears were still stranded. We spent the rest of the day rescuing those we could find. It would be a long while before Stuffington was habitable again. Perhaps the Crafters Guild could find a way to raise some gold coins to assist the cute colony.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Summer Days Driftin' Away...

Greetings traveller. Today we are once again adding to the family archival tome. As summer has finally descended upon the realm, we thought it fitting this time to create a summer themed entry into the ancient book. After locating some aging photos, the Lady Commander of Copics and I set to work.

Click to make BIGGER

I know, I know...two scrapbook pages in one month. It’s unprecedented. For this one we used some old photos of my parents from the 70s enjoying a summer day at the park (before they had us rugrats to contend with). I don’t make the typical scrapbook layouts...it’s more haphazard and all over the place than most you see. Anyways... We used that same weird fabricy tissue paper stuff that we used on the previous page, this time in green. The cute porcupine cooking a marshmallow was cut using the Campin’ Critters cartridge and placed next to the picture of my dad roasting a hotdog. The bikini was cut using the Nifty Fifties cartridge and the “teeny bikini” words were cut with the Life’s a Beach cartridge. (It might be hard to tell from the picture, but my mom is wearing a bikini top). Both were embossed using my Cuttlebug of +60 impressions. All the other stuff was random stuff my sister and I had in our crafting chambers.

I just have to comment on this picture because I find it hilarious. I was born in the 80s and didn’t get to see 70s fashion, so I laughed when we came across this picture of my dad with those lovely heeled shoes, long flowing hair...and what is up with that hat?! {lol} I love it. :)

Seriously...was this my mom’s hat that he was wearing?? {lol}

This layout will be roasting in the following challenges:

One Crazy Stamper June “Summer Fun” Challenge

Little Scrap Pieces Friday “Summer Luvin’” Challenge

Milk Coffee “Summer Fun” Challenge

Pile It On Challenge #25: Vintage or Shabby Chic

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #13: Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

DRS Designs Challenge #76: The Letter “B” (bikini, bbq and binoculars)

The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge: Sunshine on a rainy day

The Corrosive Challenge #177: Summertime

The Cheerful Stamp Pad Challenge #63: From the Past

My Creative Moments Word Play Saturday June Challenge “Summertime”

This fun summer page was added to the ever growing tome and returned to the dusty caverns until next time we indexed the records. From this quest, I managed to earn some much needed LO exp and go up a level! Fare thee well until your next visit.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

An Underwear Affair

Thank you for stopping by the Guild Hall today. We have a visitor here that has travelled to us from the faraway land of Bloxville. They are a strange people there, choosing to wear their small clothes over their tunics and gowns. Corrin came with grave tidings. An invasion of hildabeasts was expected in their land in the next fortnight and she was requesting the assistance of the Crafters Guild to defend the smallfolk. I readily agreed, not only because it was the right thing to do, but also because Bloxville is the realm's major exporter of pigment dust used to create various inks and potions.

This was created for the Creative Card Crew “No Designer Paper” challenge that is happening now! Come play along and you can win a $15 gift voucher to Scrapping Center! Woot!

 

This card was an experiment of sorts. It started with my buying some Distress Paints from the store. Upon returning home, I immediately wanted to play with my new stuff. “I’ll use ‘em to make a background for a card - no problem,” I thought to myself. So I blobbed some red, yellow and purple paint on, sprayed with water, swirled it around. Alright. So far so good. “Oh...let’s use this green on this leaf stencil,” I says to myself. So I grab the stencil and blob on the paint like I’d seen Tim do in some videos, lift up the stencil and TA-DA....well that looks like crap. Wow...I musta done something wrong, because it did not work AT ALL. Okay. I can save this. I dutifully shake the green paint to reapply some and “HOLY @!*# !!! THE CAP IS LOOSE!!!!” At this point, green paint is gushing down the side of the bottle, running all over my hands, dripping on my work surface. Ummm...it was a disaster.

After cleaning that all up, I tightened the cap and blobbed some paint over the horrible attempt at stenciling the leaf pattern and then just stamped some leaves over top the paint (once it was dry of course). Here’s what I learned: 

1) DO NOT twist off those clear caps - they just pull straight off. Twisting them maaaaaay loosen the black part and cause a paint explosion 

2) Stamping with Distress Ink over Distress Paint doesn’t seem to work so well. I let those leaves dry suuuuuuuuper long - even heat setting them - and I was still rubbing green ink off while assembling things. Maybe I’m just not patient enough.

Okay...moving on (sorry that was kinda long). The girl was a combination of the Dylusions “Curious Corrin” and the Unity “Change is a Good Thing” sets. I also stamped a little flower using the Lawn Fawn “Sophie’s Sentiments” set to make the undies look more girly. That whole new CrAzY image was then coloured up using Distress Markers and assembled with some glue of +59 stickiness. The sentiment I stamped using the Unity “Hiya Gorgeous” set. 

On the inside I stamped the undies again to make some “patterned” paper. The top sentiment was stamped using the Unity “Consider Yourself Vintage” set and the bottom came from the My Pink Stamper “Birthday Crazy” set.

On the envelope I used the leaf from the Dylusions “Further Around the Edge” set (same one I used on the front of the card) and inked it with some different colours of Distress Ink and BLAM stamped it on.

This whacked out creation will show off its tighty-whiteys in the following challenges:

Fairy Tale Challenge #70: Happy Birthday 

Crafty Sentiments Challenge: Girl Power

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #13: Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp and Show: Stripes

Challenges 4 Everybody #23: Anything Goes

MFP SpeedyTV Inspirational Challenge #16: Pillows

We drew up battle plans with Corrin providing her with what weaponry we could spare. I promised the full Crafters Guild, including Guild Mercenary Kimmy, would there within the fortnight to defend against the evil hildabeasts. She thanked us, blessing our small clothes (it’s a strange custom of their people) and took her leave through a dimensional portal.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Teddy Bear Council Meeting

Today is the great meeting of the teddy bear council. Usually this conference is held in their homeland of Stuffington, however they have experienced massive flooding these last two days and have had to evacuate all their villages, the little bears taking shelter in nearby settlements. As an ambassador for the Crafters Guild I sit on the teddy bear council to bring forth Guild related issues. I figured crafting a new accessory to increase my note taking skills by +60 points would be just the thing for this meeting.  

I made this post-it note holder for the Just Some Lines Anything Goes Challenge reminder post. Just make anything using a JSL image (there’s a freebie provided) and you can win some JSL digis! Easy!

 

I started this fun post-it note holder by colouring in the Just Some Lines teddy bear using Prismacolor pencils. I punched him out with my circle punch and then cut out the blue shape using the Art Philosophy cartridge to place behind him. If you recognize the paper I’ve used for this, it’s because it was the leftover strip from this card I just posted.

I stamped the inside top flap using the Unity “Lightbulb Moment” set. The magnets I just got at Wal-Mart. They come in long strips and I simply cut little squares, using them to help keep the flap closed...also magnets are fun and earned me +60 metal elemental exp points.

I stamped some fun images throughout the post-it pad - not on every sheet...but on lots of them :) Also managed to slightly bend the post-it pad in the process. Oopsies :(

This bear will stick to the following challenges:

Love to Scrap! Challenge #8: No Cards Allowed

Stampotique Designer’s Challenge #105: Anything but a Card

With my new note accessory in hand, I threw on a clean tunic and headed to the meeting. I do hope they serve something other than stuffing for snacks this time...sigh...Perhaps I should have had Olga prepare me a sandwich.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

A Split Personality

Salutations. Today I had the displeasure of dealing with a raging splitster demon. I received a raven from Gamsolton requesting aid after the demon wandered into the village and started creating problems for the townsfolk. These demons are particularly difficult to control due to their split personalities. One minute they can be charming you, and the next thing you know there’s a dirk through your belly. 

So here is the story with this crazy card. My siblings and I decided to get our parents tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld. But because they are kind of expensive, we split it between a Father’s Day gift and my mom’s birthday present. Instead of making two separate cards (because that would be too normal), I decided to make one card with a split personality. So here we go.

I started by stamping The Greeting Farm’s “Sunday” and “Sasha” images and chopping them down the middle, earning me +193 two-faced exp points. I then coloured them using Prismacolor pencils, trying to keep their colour scheme similar. Setting those aside I folded my gatefold card and picked out some papers for each side. I wanted it to look like two separate cards if you viewed the halves individually, with only the people to "tie to together".

I cut the letters using the Birthday Bash cartridge and using a white gel pen added some dashes. I decided the Sasha side didn't look birthday-ie enough, so I cut some balloons using the Create-A-Critter cartridge. It still looked too plain to me so I stamped the Unity “One Night Only” image and cut it out to add to each side of the card.

So...I apologize. I forgot to take the picture before writing in all our names; I was so excited when I was finished this card (it took a reeeeeeeeeally long time to make). Inside I stamped the sentiment(s) then added the Unity “Better Together” image to represent my mom and dad on a date {lol}. On the bottom I made a pocket and decorated it using the Unity “Misplaced Chevron” stamp. Still looked too plain, so I added the word bubble from the Unity “Hiya Gorgeous” set and some lols from The Greeting Farm’s “Special Autumn” set. 

I then made these tickets to put in the pocket. I stamped the “One Night Only” image again and this time stamped in red the actual date of the show, what the show was and who it was for. You can’t tell from the picture, but I used my perforating blade on the edges of these tickets and where it says “save this stub this is your receipt”. (I don’t even think my parents noticed that detail). Oh well.

This card will do double duty in the following challenges:

Anyone for Anya: Perfect Layers

Friends of SpeedyTV Challenge #77: Birthday

There She Goes Challenge #212: Anything Goes

TGF Retro Fresh Challenge: Layers

I rode into Gamsolton and after some digging around located the splitster demon. It cast a +55 charm spell, but luckily I had swallowed some tango-root beforehand, anticipating this move, so it didn’t affect me. One strike with my blade, Kraft Knife, was all it took to send the creature back from whence it came.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Just One Taste Is All It Takes

Today the Guardian of Glitter and I spent a relaxing afternoon gathering fruit. We picked some dark red cherries in the peaceful village of Mapshire, went to the angry town of Thompson and plucked the tangy oranges from their trees, then went to the settlement of Lycanton and snagged some of their gleaming red apples. We wanted to depart Lycanton before nightfall, as all the inhabitants are werepeople and we didn’t want to get involved in any scuffles. Nikki tried to take us down a back alley “shortcut” where we were stopped by a shaddy looking werefox named Redd. He was selling black market strawberries that would supposedly fetch a pretty penny back home, being that they were grown in the swamps of Glitz.

I made this card using a kraft base and some of my precious My Little Shoebox patterned paper. I stamped the jar and strawberries using the Lawn Fawn “Summertime Charm” set and coloured them with Distress Markers and my Hydrabrush of +59 wetness. I then added some brown cord (that we’ve already determined I’m old enough to play with) to the top of the jar. The sentiment I stamped using the Lawn Fawn “Harold’s ABCs” set and used some glittery alphabet letters as well. They are supposed to be adhesive, but they're so old they wouldn't stick, so I had to glue them down "manually". A little raffia tied this card front off. (Wow...I just earned +80 punny points).

On the inside I stamped some images using the “Summertime Charm” set and the sentiment using the My Creative Time “Wow! So Many Candles” set.

To make the envelope match I stamped some strawberries on it, then added the little dash lines...not entirely sure why.

This sweet card will store itself in the following challenges:

Divas By Design: Happy Birthday

DRS Designs Challenge #74: Eat, Drink, Be Merry!

MFP SpeedyTV Friends of SpeedyTV Challenge #77: Birthday Card

The Cheerful Stamp Pad Challenge #62: “You’re Sweet”

Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge: Kraft

CardzTV Design Team Challenge #31: Love in a Jar

My Creative Moments Word Play Saturday “Summertime”

Desert Island Crafters Challenge #56 (used #3:patterned paper, #5:ribbon/cording, #6:something glittery & #10:sentiment)

As the Guardian of Glitter’s eyes grew wide at the site of the jarred magically strawberries, I quickly pulled her away and ushered us out of Lycanton as quickly as possible. I had heard nasty rumours of people eating such strawberries and becoming addicted to them, eventually selling everything they own in a vain search for more of the habit-forming fruit. I didn’t need any of my guildys to become dependant on magical fruit!

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

"Dart" Off Into the Sunset

Once again, it is time to add another page to the family archives. The Lady Commander of Copics and I went into the caverns and found the old tome where the records are kept. After sifting carefully through boxes of yellowed photographs, we found some of our parents’ wedding and decided to use those to create the new archival entry. 

I don’t make scrapbook layouts often, because I don’t feel I’m particularly skilled at them, but I guess that means I need the practice. For this page, we used some vintagey looking patterned paper and this weird “tissue-fabricy” type paper that I had procured at the Everything For One Brass Coin stand in the Market Square. I chose these papers because I felt they matched the autumn colours in the photos (my parents were married in October). With great difficulty I tore the fabric/tissue paper and added it to the side of the page.

The sentiment was cut from the “Dreams Come True” Disney cartridge. We used orange and green for the flower because it matched those super ugly flower things on my father's beloved Dart. (I also love that the front wheel doesn't have a matching hubcap - lol). It’s hard to tell in the picture, but the letters were embossed with my trusty “Swiss Dots” Cuttlebug folder and the orange flower was embossed with some floral patterned folder. That crazy silvery glittery plant life was from the depths of my sister’s stash...I’ve no idea from whence that originally came. Working on this earned me +70 LO exp points. I’ll need many more to actually level up though.

The happy couple will drive off into the following challenges:

Love to Create Challenge #69: Vintage or Shabby  

My Craft Spot Challenge #101: Wedding

Crafts and Me Challenge #137: Vintage

Simon Says Stamp: Transport

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #273: Once Upon a Time

Little Scrap Pieces Fun Friday: Nice Day for a White Wedding

Desert Islands Crafters Challenge #56 (used #1:diecut/punch #3:patterned paper #4:gemstones #6:something glittery #7:dry embossing #10:sentiment)

With another page done, we carefully placed the ancient tome back and went to clean the dust from our tunics.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~