A Direwolf's Gift

Greetings fellow craft traveller. Here at the Guild Hall we are busy wrapping presents and finishing up cards for the Winter Festival which is rapidly approaching. My direwolf, Lycan has been feeling a little lonely as my lord husband and I go about all our preparations for the coming feast. Unbeknownst to us, he had found another pup to play with, keeping him occupied. As I was riding through the Forest of Dreams I spotted the two of them darting in and out of the brush. I followed them back to the pup’s house and introduced myself to his owner. The gentleman explained that the two have been inseparable for the past fortnight.

I started by colouring the “Cozy Winter Wolf Pup” image by Meljen’s Designs using Prismacolors. I coloured him in the likeness of Lycan.

Lycan - My 'Lil Direwolf

This card was made for our neighbour across the street who hosts play dates between Lycan and his bff, Roland. We thought it appropriate to provide a thank you for watching the dogs a couple times a week as they play together for hours. In truth, the dogs have been bffs for the last year and a half! Anyways...back to the card. I cut out the trees using the Art Philosophy cartridge and stamped the coordinating image from the Close to My Heart stamp set. I embossed the red panel using my Cuttlebug. The sentiment was a combination of word from Lawn Fawn’s “Cozy Christmas” and the My Pink Stamper “Christmas Wishes” set.

The inside sentiment is also from the My Pink Stamper “Christmas Wishes” set. I then added a paw print since the card is “from” Lycan :)

On the envelope I stamped some red and green paw prints to make it all holiday-doggy style...wait...um...that sounded bad. *ahem* moving on...

This pup-tacular card will be entered into the following challenges:
Love to Create Challenge #45: Anything Goes
Cupcake Craft Challenge #222: Merry Christmas
Crafts and Me Challenge #114: Why So Blue? No Blues Allowed
Pixie Dust Challenge: Christmas Traditional Colors
Card Crafter’s Circle Challenge #53: Red White and Green
Meljen’s Designs Challenge #140: Anything Goes
Winter Wonderland Challenge: Oh Christmas Tree
Dream Valley Challenge #47: Christmas
CHNC Challenge #103: Anything Goes for Christmas
Perfect Sentiment Challenge #59: Anything Goes With Christmas

We purchased some rawhide candy canes to give to Roland, and Lycan keeps sniffing them out. It seems I will have to find a more efficient hiding place until we present the card and gift to our neighbour, lest Lycan chow them all down before then!

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

A Photo Finish

In two days time it shall be my lord husband’s nameday. I scoured the market square searching for a gift to bestow upon him. He truly is the most infuriating person to shop for and I was quickly becoming frustrated by the process. As I was about to make my way back to Guild Hall empty-handed I spotted an old man painting portraits using a combination of fairy dusts and unicorn blood as a medium. I don’t think I could’ve asked for a more unique gift idea. Surely my lord husband would enjoy a mystical painting such as this.

I started this card by stamping Ian and Anya from The Greeting Farm’s “Special Autumn” set. I’ve never used Ian before and was excited to finally ink him up. I coloured them both with *shudder* Copics from the Lady Commander of Copics weapon rack. I do most of my colouring in Prismacolors, so I was a little out of my element. I did manage to earn myself a colourful +109 Copic exp points with this though. The sentiment on the "Polaroid" came from the same TGF set. I then stamped and cut out the word balloon using an Imaginisce stamp and added the Happy Birthday sentiment. I painfully cut up some of my cute monkey paper because his nickname for me is "monkey", so I thought is appropriate.

The inside sentiment is from the My Creative Time “Wow! So Many Candles” set.

This card will be in for a photo phinish in the phollowing challenges:
Penny Black Allsorts December Challenge: It’s Your Choice
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: What’s Your Favourite (TGF stamps are my favourite stamps!)
Penny’s Paper-Crafty Challenge #106: Something New (these TGF stamps are new to me)
Challenges 4 Everybody Challenge #9: Anything Goes
Love To Create Challenge #45: Anything Goes
Spark Your Creativity Now! Challenge #4: Anything Goes
Card Crafter’s Circle Challenge #52: December Celebrations
Retrosketches #41
 
As I was packing my painting onto my horse, Ruffles, an old crone approached me whispering in a strange tongue. I’m not sure as I’m not 100% on my fairyspeak, but I’m fairly certain she was cursing me for purchasing the mystical painting! Great...now I have a curse to deal with.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Holly, That's Risque!

As I was strolling through the Market Square in the village last night, finishing up some Winter Festival shopping, I spotted a lady of the night peddling her wares from a dimly lit corner. In an attempt to be festive, she had hung some mistletoe and holly plants from the eave above her. This unsightly display did manage to provide some needed inspiration for a recent crafting quest that was thrust upon the Crafters Guild - to create a “sexy” Christmas card. Warning: this is not your grandmother’s Christmas card!

I started by stamping Kraftin’ Kimmie’s “Raychel” and colouring her with Copics. Eeech...not my best work. I am not well practiced wiedling the Copic, but I did still manage to earn +70 Copic exp points. I will need much much more to level up that skill. Hopefully the Lady Commander of Copics will be able to assist me in that endeavor.

*Ahem* moving on... I added some glitter to her dress to make it more fancy (like the holiday dresses you see in the stores this time of year...you know the ones...you try them on and you have glitter all over your face and hair for the next eight days). Somewhere I could hear the Guardian of Glitter's heart smiling as I shook those sparkles on!

I cut out some holly from the Art Philosophy cartridge and used a white gel pen to jazz them up. I hung one of the holly pieces with some red thread and left it “dangly” above Raychel’s head. I embossed the red piece of paper using the Cuttlebug and stamped the sentiment using the Dylusions “Christmas Words” set.

The inside “sexy” sentiment I just made up and printed off my computer. The Happy Holidays was stamped from the My Pink Stamper “Christmas Wishes” set. I added some holly in the corner from the Tim Holtz “Christmas Memories” set, inking it using Distress Markers.

I also stamped the same holly on the envelope to tie it all together.

This “too hot to handle” greeting will be tossed into the following challenges:
Cute Card Thursday Challenge #246: Red and Green
Paper Playtime Challenge #90: Christmas Colors
Card Crafter’s Circle Challenge #52: December Celebrations
Speedy Fox & Friends Challenge #137: Red and Green
Die Cuttin’ Divas Challenge #94: Holiday Spirit
Jingle Belles: December to Remember
One Crazy Stamper December Sketch or Holiday Challenge
Dream Valley Challenge #47: Christmas
Hooked On Craft Challenge #27: Christmas
Kraftin’ Kimmie Challenge #158: Sketch

The “sexy” Christmas card successfully created, I was able to call this QUEST COMPLETE! Phew...now to go cool down...

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Young Love Is Sew Cute

While I don’t count sewing amongst my current skillset, one of the Guild Hall’s house gnomes, Emita, fancies herself quite the seamstress. I was helping her clean up her fabric scraps (which reminded me of my hoard of paper scraps) when I came across an old doily sewn onto a scrap of denim. Amused, I held up the fabric and asked Emita what she had been attempting to make with a doily and old jeans. Emita blushed and shyly explained she had been working on a special Christmas project for a house gnome named Barkle who worked in the stables. Intrigued, I wondered if I could attempt the same concept on a paper Christmas card.

This was made using another panel from the ugly sheet of “on sale” paper I bought. 

You can see the first card I made with this sheet here. Anyways...it felt good to use another sheet of that ugly paper. I stamped some images from the Tim Holtz “Haberdashery” set to make it look more... um...”sewy”... (there I go turning verbs into adjectives again with a “y”). I also distressed the edges to make it look more like scrap of denim. I stamped the Amelia image from The Greeting Farm’s “Fuzzy Wuzzy” set and coloured her with Prismacolors. I then added some glitter to the stars in her hair and on her dress and shoe. (YAY +219 sparkly exp points!) I threaded some buttons in an “x” pattern and glued those onto the card to finish the front off.

The inside sentiment was a combination of the My Pink Stamper “Christmas Wishes” set, Lawn Fawn’s “Jessie’s ABCs” set and Echo Park’s “Holly Jolly Christmas”. Yikes...that was a lot of stamping - {lol}.

The envelope I stamped with a cheapo Recollection brand stamp that kind of reminded me of buttons.

I will be stitching this card to the following challenges:
ABC Christmas Challenge: X for X Marks the Spot
TGF Farm Fresh Friday: Christmas Themed Card
Winter Wonderland Challenge: Red and Blue
Creative Card Crew Challenge #25: Star (stars in her hair and dress)
Jingle Belles: December to Remember
Sparkles Christmas Challenge #23: Button or Bow
Hooked On Craft Challenges #27: Christmas
One Crazy Stamper December Sketch or Holiday Challenge
Dream Valley Challenge #47: Christmas

After finishing up with Emita, I urged her not to give up on her Christmas project for Barkle. She promised she would finish it...but working up the courage to give it to him was another matter altogether!

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

A Very Tangled Christmas

Thank you for stopping by the Guild Hall today. The Lady Commander of Copics has been spending the day assisting Marvin, one of the Tcho-tcho people, with his Christmas decorating. Marvin is a sad chap who’s been trying to renounce his demony ways and assimilate into human society. He wanted to start by participating in some human Christmas traditions. Unfortunately, Marvin gets frustrated rather easily, and called upon the Crafters Guild for some assistance.

I started by stamping Stampotique’s “Oh...Tree” and “Tangled Enthusiasm” images. I added some ornaments to the tree and coloured everything using Prismacolors. I then masked off the bottom of the tree and went around the edge with the Dylusions “Let It Snow” stencil. I added some holly to the other side using the Dylusions “Christmas Borders” stamp set. I coloured that with Distress Markers and went over it all with the fabled Hydra Brush to make it look smudgey. This earned me +52 water magic exp, allowing me to level up my Hydra Bomb spell. The sentiment was stamped from the Dylusions “Christmas Words” set onto a scrap of patterned paper I had kicking around in my paper chest.

The inside sentiment is from The Greeting Farm’s “Holiday Blessings” set and was coloured with Distress Markers.

I stamped some Christmas lights on the enveloped using the Dylusions “Christmas Borders” set and coloured them with Distress Markers.

This sad Christmas creation will be entered into the following challenges:
Tammy’s Scrapin Corner Challenge #39: Anything Christmas
Stampotique Designer’s Challenge #77: Let’s Get Sentimental
My Craft Spot Challenge #78: Merry Christmas
Shopping Our Stash Challenge #80: Winter Holiday
Cute Card Thursday Challenge #246: Red and Green
Paper Playtime Challenge #90: Christmas Colors
Card Crafter’s Circle Challenge #52: December Celebrations
Speedy Fox and Friends Challenger #137: Red & Green
Emergency Crafters Challenge: Deck the Halls
Little Scrap Pieces Fun Friday Challenge: It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The Lady Commander was able to help Marvin decorate his dwelling with some Christmasy decorations, bringing smiles to the Tcho-tcho’s face. It's always nice to help spread some Christmas cheer to the ex-demon community.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

An Ice Dweller Appears

Adventure continued from Mr. Snow the Soul Stealer...

Having narrowly escaped the evil snowman, the Lady Commander of Copics, Guardian of Glitter and I were getting desperate to reach the secret lair of the Cloven Sisters. A blizzard had started, the temperature dropping sharply. We trudged through the deep snow our heads bent down to protect our faces from the bitter wind. Suddenly an Ice Dweller appeared in front of me. “I know where you are headed, Guildyssssssss,” the Ice Dweller hissed. “Follows me now.” I looked to my fellow craft questers who shrugged, nodding their heads. They were thinking the same thing I was - it’s cold and we’re lost. The Ice Dweller was our only hope off this mountain.

This was a super simple little gift tag. I cut out the tag shape using the Art Philosophy cartridge. I stamped the Stampotique image and sentiment (from My Pink Stamper “Christmas Wishes” set) using Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. I then inked the edges of the tag using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink.

The back I stamped using the Christmas Wishes set again.

This mini gift tag will be entered into the following challenges:
Stampotique Designer’s Challenge #76: It’s a Wrap
CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #80: Clean and Simple Gift Tag
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes
Hooked on Craft Challenge #27: Christmas

True to his hissing word, the Ice Dweller lead us to the Cloven Sisters secret laboratory. We drew our weapons, rolled our skill checks for our spells, and busted in. After a brief but explosive battle, the Cloven Sisters were left defeated. We were able to retrieve all the stolen glitter plants and return them to their rightful owners. The Lady Commander placed a binding spell on the lab so the Cloven Sisters would never be able to leave again, thus protecting the Rainbow Glitter Caverns from any further raids. Quest complete.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Mr. Snow the Soul Stealer

Adventure continued from Let’s Go For a Skate...

The Lady Commander of Copics, Guardian of Glitter and I made our way to Moonstar Mountain where the Cloven Sisters were known to have their secret laboratory. The mountain is vast and snow covered, making it difficult to navigate. Nikki attempted to cast a locating spell, but only managed to roll a 3, failing the skill check. We wandered in what we thought was the right direction when we came across a red cabin in a clearing of trees. In front of the cabin stood a snowperson. This wasn’t a fun, jolly looking snowperson - this was a creepy, heart stopping snowman. Although the chap was smiling, I could feel him peering into my soul and without thinking, my hand slowly slid to the hilt of my sword.

I started this one off by cutting Mr. Snow using SCAL and a Mr. Men font from Da Font. 
I then went searching for some background paper to use. I found this pack of paper my lady mother had bestowed upon me last Winter’s Feast that was “photorealistic” scrapbook paper. I hadn’t even peeled the clear round stickers off the edges of the pack yet! Totally forgot I even had that in my paper chest. I cut some out to use as a nice background for Mr. Snow to stand in front of. I then cut a sentiment using Winter Frolic and jazzed it up with a white gel pen. Lastly I tied some raffia and called the front done.

I went a little crazy on the inside {lol}. The sentiment was a double combo consisting of Lawn Fawn’s “Cozy Christmas” and TGF’s “Fuzzy Wuzzy” set. I also stamped the little fire and stockings from the Cozy Christmas set and coloured them with Distress Markers. Lastly I embossed the sentiment panel with some bricks to make it fire-placey. I gained +203 dual technique exp points and +888 SUPA KAWAII exp points for all the cuteness.

On the envelope I stamped a toque from the Dylusions "Christmas Accessories" set and added some snowflakes around it to make it more snowy.

I will be entering this wintery cool creation into the following challenges:
Cardz TV Stamps DT Challenge #20: To Die For
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #140: Snow
ABC Christmas Challenge: X for X Marks the Spot
Paper Playtime Challenge #90: Christmas Colors
Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #48: Forgotten Stash
Cricut Cardz Challenge #121: Speaking of Christmas
Hooked On Craft Challenge #27: Christmas
Jingle Belles: December to Remember
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

Good thing my sword was at the ready, for just as we were about to turn away from the sinister looking snowperson he lunged for Angela. As he grabbed for her throat with his frozen hands, I raised my blade and severed his snowball head in one fluid movement. Gasping for air we quickly left the vicinity, not caring what treasures the red house may contain.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

The adventure continues in An Ice Dweller Appears...