Ancient Art of String Weaving

Today the Lady Commander of Copics came across a treasure from the underground caverns whilst searching for an old family cookbook. She never did locate the cookbook, but was very excited to find an old tome on the ancient magic of string weaving. Apparently you use a loop of string and various finger maneuvers to create a pattern which will then cast the desired spell (hopefully). Angela was eager to attempt this string weaving magic; I suggested we go outside lest anything go awry.

This card was created for the reminder about the Just Some Lines November challenge which is happening right now! Make a project using a Just Some Lines image and three different embellishments for your chance to win!

I started this card by colouring the Just Some Lines “Em - Thank You String” image with Prismacolor pencils. I was surprised with how well the pleats in her dress turned out, because I usually have real troubles with those...not as good as most I’ve seen…but the best ones I’ve ever done. This earned me +281 pleaty exp points allowing me to level up. I added some pink twine that matched the background paper, a couple eyelets and some brads. I like these embellishments as it keeps the card flat, making it conducive to mailing. 

On the envelope I stamped the bird (which is a Unity stamp) because it looks sort of like the bird on the background paper. I then embossed the envelope with a Tim Holtz folder and my Cuttlebug.

This thank you card will unravel in the following challenges:

Crafty Sentiments Designs: Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Brown Sugar Challenge #70: Thank You

Milk Coffee Thanksgiving/Thankful/Thank Yous Challenge

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #297: Anything Goes

Challenges 4 Everybody #34: Anything Goes

Chocolate Coffee and Cards Challenge #53: So Grateful

Craft Your Passion Challenge #190: Thanksgiving/Give Thanks

Love To Create Challenge #93: 3 of Your Favourite Embellishments

2 Sisters Challenge #172: Anything Goes

Friends of SpeedyTV Challenge #100: Anything Goes

The first “spell” in the tome was called “Cat’s Cradle” and required two people. We followed the directions scrawled on the delicate pages, creating the various patterns, but nothing seemed to happen. We tried another called “Cup and Saucer”. Again there seemed to be no effect. Giving up, we heading back into the Guild Hall only to come upon a kitten laying in a cradle sipping some tea. Well then…

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

A Colourful Stroll Through Shimmer Forest

Today I spent some alone time walking through Shimmer Forest. As the snow softly fell, landing on my heavy winter cloak, I admired the delicate pearly flake trees where the snow fairies were known to make their home. The fresh snow crunched underneath my boots of +70 agility as I moved silently through the forest. Against the snowy white backdrop, the different coloured trees created a beautiful pearlescent rainbow, and it wasn’t hard to see why the snow fairies chose to live here.

Hold onto your potion satchels - there’s a lot to show here. I made this card set by first stamping all the white pieces of card stock with the tree from the Unity “Warmth and Winter Wishes” itty bitty and heat embossing it. I then created a couple masks and proceeded to colour the background and tree using Distress Inks and a blending tool (choosing colours based on the challenges I was entering).

After the backgrounds and trees were coloured, I sprayed some Perfect Pearls mist onto my craft mat and using a paintbrush, flicked it onto the background for a snowy look. I also “painted” the inside of each tree with it as well for some added shimmery exp points. The sentiment on this particular card came from the My Pink Stamper "Biggie Christmas Sentiments" set.

This particular card will be entered into the following challenges:

Divas By Design: Use Some Red

Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge #187: Green Christmas

I created the top border with a snowflake edge punch and, not wanting to waste anything, glued the punched out snowflakes around the trees, earning me +55 completionist exp points. The sentiment on this card is from the My Pink Stamper "Christmas Wishes" set.

The inside are all the same (so I won't bore you with pictures of each one), but match the outside of the card. The shape was cut with Art Philosophy, using the same paper as the top border.

The snowy hills were cut using the Give a Hoot cartridge and some shimmery white paper. The sentiment on this card is from the same set as the tree - Unity's "Warmth and Winter Wishes".

This particular card will be entered into the following challenges:

Pile It On Challenge #47: Non-Traditional Christmas

Creative Craft Challenges2 #24: Non Traditional Christmas Colours

Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenge: Anything Goes

The envelope for each card was stamped with a snowflake stamp using the same colour of Distress Ink that the tree was inked with. I'm not sure how I feel about this colour combination, but I wanted them to all be really different and I only have so many Distress Inks. This sentiment is from the Unity "Ornamental Season" itty bitty.

You really have to catch it in the right light to see the Perfect Pearls.

The final touch was three gems which I stuck on each tree for even more Christmas bling. The sentiment on this card was stamped using the Echo Park "Holly Jolly Christmas" set.

This card set will be entered into the following challenges:

CHNC Challenge Extra For November

Christmas Cards All Year ‘Round November Challenge: Winter Wonderland

Sentimental Sundays Challenge #182: Winter Wonderland

There She Goes Challenge #235: Christmas Card Sets

Friends Of SpeedyTV Challenge #100: Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Challenges 4 Everybody #34: Anything Goes

Simply Create Too Challenge #51: Snow

The Corrosive Challenge #188: Happy Holidays

Little Scrap Pieces Fun Friday Linky Party
Allsorts Challenge #234: Bring on the Bling

Cute Card Thursday: Anything Goes

Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long: Christmas Gift Set (I hope it’s okay there are more than 3 cards)

Then...as a total experiment, I created this card box following the tutorial I found on the Lawn Fawn blog. I only have diamond shaped dies, so my window was a diamond instead of a rectangle. I just used some clear plastic that was the packaging from a set of clear stamps. 

I did run into a few issues (buuuuuuut this was intended as a “test box”)

1) I will not use paper from the DCWV “Shimmer Stack” again. I chose it because I don’t have very much patterned paper that has stuff on both sides, and it's really thick, which I thought would be good for a box, but it looks like crap when you fold it. The edges all crack and you can see the white core. Blech. That got me -77 presentation points.

2) As you can see by the bottom mangled reinforcement, I had some issues with that. I don’t really know what the best adhesive to use is to get the “start” of the twine stuck in there. I tried my liquid Scotch white glue, but it didn’t hold. Then I got the great idea to use hot glue, but I managed to glue down the reinforcement making it almost impossible to wrap the twine around. Siiiiiiiiigh. I peeled it off as best I could, and was left with this mangled mess that barely works.

Ah well...lesson learned. My next one will be better.

After all the chaos surrounding the Winter Festival preparations, it was nice to decompress a little amongst the beauty of Shimmer Forest. Unfortunately, I did run into a couple of rogue ice-storm bandits, but being the prepared guildy that I am, was able to dispense of them quickly with a few well aimed arrows. Weapons - never leave home without ‘em.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Stale Candy Canes

Today the house gnomes were busy stocking the storeroom shelves with Christmasy treats in preparation for the holidays. I was in my crafting chambers, drawing up plans for our next quest, when I heard a shriek from the kitchens. I rushed downstairs, sword drawn (because frankly you just never know in these parts) to find Olga huddled in the corner pointing silently towards the pantry. Cautiously I moved towards the open door and peered in. At once I spotted the source of her terror. In the corner on a low shelf, two little mice had found some old candy canes that had spilled out of a jar and were munching on them.

“Oy, mi’lady. Your candycanes seem a ‘lil stale,” one of them quipped. 

This card was created for the Creative Card Crew “Sweet Treats” challenge that is happening now. Create a project using something sweet and you could win a $15 gift voucher to Scrapping Center!

 

I started this card by cutting the large shape and its mat out using the Art Philosophy cartridge. I then stamped the House Mouse “Candy Cane Tester” image and coloured it in using Distress Markers and my weapon Hydra Brush. I cut the shape out for the sentiment using Art Philosophy again and stamped the phrase using a combination of Lawn Fawn’s “Cozy Christmas” and Inkadinkado's "You're So Sweet", earning me +222 dual tech exp points.

On the inside I stamped the image and sentiment using the Unity “Ornamental Season” itty bitty and just inked around the edges so the panel matched the ones on the front.

I didn’t really know what to do with the envelope as I don’t have ANY candycane stamps other than that teeny-tiny one I used on the front, so I stamped the house image from the Echo Park “Holly Jolly Christmas” set and some snowflakes. I figured house...house mouse...kinda works right?

These mice will sweeten up the following challenges:

Penny’s Challenge #154: Anything Goes

MFPSpeedy TV Simple Salutations Challenge 72: Holiday Cards

Brown Sugar Challenge #69: Anything Goes

CHNC Challenge #152: For a Child

CHNC Challenge Extra For November

Dream Valley Challenge #70: Clean and Simple

Challenges 4 Everybody #34: Anything Goes

The Corrosive Challenge #188: Happy Holidays

Well I definitely wasn’t expecting talking mice in the cupboard! Turns out they were passing through the area and had stopped at the Guild Hall to take cover from the storm that had passed by a few days ago. I asked them if they knew Maxwell of the Moonstar Mice who was travelling the world. They said they had run into him a few months back in Fort Stickle and he seemed to be doing well. I packed the mice two tiny packs of supplies so they would be well stocked for their journey, but assured them they would always be welcome at the Guild Hall, despite Olga’s shrieky greeting.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

A Christmas Cheer

Salutations crafty traveller. Thank you for stopping by the Guild Hall today. This morning, the Lady Commander of Copics and Guardian of Glitter decided to set up the Christmas tree in our massive dining hall. Despite my complaints that it may be a tad too early for Winter Festival decorations, they were adamant to get the thing up. A few of the house gnomes assisted them in their Christmasy endeavour, also very excited for the fast approaching Winter Festival. Speck, one of the smaller house gnomes hastily made a sign and just danced around the room, cheering everyone else on.  

This Christmas card was created for the reminder about the Just Some Lines November challenge which is happening right now! Make a project using a Just Some Lines image and three different embellishments for your chance to win!

I started this card by colouring the Just Some Lines “Em Thank You Sign” image using Prismacolor pencils and paper piecing her dress. I stamped her sign using the Echo Park “Holly Jolly Christmas” set. I then die cut the image using the Lawn Fawn “Tag You’re It” die set, trying that “off the edge” technique with the sign. The little holly in the corner I stamped from the Tim Holtz “Christmas Memories” set, using Distress Markers as ink so I could get the two different colours. I cut the Christmas Tree out using the Art Philosophy cartridge and added some embellishments for decorations. 

On the inside I stamped the sentiment from The Greeting Farm’s “Holiday Blessings” set, paper piecing the trees with some scraps that were left over from the front’s background paper.

The envelope I stamped with trees using the Hero Arts “Christmas Reindeer” set.

This card will skip on into the following challenges:

MFPSpeedy TV Simple Salutations Challenge #72: Holiday Cards

Brown Sugar Challenge #69: Anything Goes

CHNC Challenge #152: For a Child

CHNC Challenge Extra For November

Crafty Sentiments Challenge: Christmas

Penny’s Challenge #154: Anything Goes

Well...even though it’s another moon’s turn before the Winter Festival, we now have the tree erected in the Guild Hall. I suppose it will be one less thing to do in our growing list of preparations.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Throwing in the Towel

With only five weeks to go until the big Winter Festival, preparations are in full swing across the realm. Knowing that we frequently have to clean muddied armour and soiled tunics from our crafty quests, Mr. Claus had contacted me for some tips as he needed to get his suit cleaned and repaired after his imprisonment last winter.   

I started this CAS card by stamping the bathtub image from the Unity “Pure Happiness” set (I wrote the "sc" for "Santa Claus" on the towel...the stamp doesn't actually have that on it). I then stamped the "Santa's Gear" image from Stamp-It Australia. Everything was coloured using my trusty Prismacolor pencils. 

I added some glitter to the “fuzzy” parts of Santa’s clothes as well as the soap in the bathtub, as I imagine that Santa would probably bathe in glitter. (If you click on the picture to make it BIGGER you can see the shiny glitter better). The sentiment I stamped using the Lawn Fawn “Smitty’s ABCs” set. After matting the image on some silver cardstock, I adhered it to the base using foam adhesive for some added dimension and +194 puffy exp points.  

On the inside I stamped the first sentiment using the Unity “Naughty is the New Nice” set and the Merry Christmas from the Echo Park “Holly Jolly Christmas” set. I then used the Santa from the Tim Holtz “Christmas Memories” set and lightly stamped him in the background. I wanted to keep it faint enough that you could write a message over top if needed.

The envelope was stamped with the snowflake from the Unity “winter joy.peace.love” itty bitty set.

This card will keep it clean in the following challenges:

Delicious Doodles Challenge #62: CAS

CHNC Challenge #151: Indoors

CHNC Challenge Extra for November

Jo’s Scrap Shack FFC#26: Anything Goes

Little Scrap Pieces Fun Friday Linky Party

One Stitch At A Time Challenge #190: Anything Goes

Crafty Sentiments: Christmas

Craftitude Challenge #53: Anything Goes

Penny’s Challenge #154: Anything Goes

Dream Valley Challenge #70: Clean and Simple

MFP SpeedyTV Simple Salutations Challenge #72: Holiday Cards

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: It’s a Mystery (where Santa is…)

After viewing the damage that the suit had taken during his time in captivity, I suggested that he perhaps think about investing in a new one. Sighing heavily, he agreed. I offered the help of the Guild Hall’s best seamstress, Milda, who was brilliant with a needle and thread and even better at stitching magic into the article. Mr. Claus was very appreciative as there were only five weeks until the big day. Hopefully it was enough time for Milda to construct him a new magical suit.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~