Season of Strategy

Today the Lady Commander of Copics and I were invited to dinner in Hollyston. It turned out to be more like a business meeting with their leader, Hollinda. Over four courses and some lovely holly berry tea (Angela had water as she found the tea had too high a berry level) we discussed strategies on how to keep the village safe this coming holiday season. Every year they were inevitably attacked, the enemies after their precious holly. As I passed Hollinda the salt, we began to lay down the groundwork for magical defences the Lady Commander and I could erect.  

I started this card by cutting the base out using the Art Philosophy cartridge. I stamped the salt and pepper using the Unity “What’s Shakin’” itty bitty. I added some faces using a Lawn Fawn set and a santa hat using the Lawn Fawn “Hat’s Off To You” set. I coloured everything using Prismacolor pencils and cut them out. The holly I cut using the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. I had to explain the pun on this card to a few people *sigh*. The salt and pepper are seasons and they’re greeting each other. Lol. Regardless, I earned +50 punny XP points.

On the inside I stamped the sentiment using the There She Goes “‘Tis the Season” set.

The envelope was stamped with the Dylusions “Christmas Borders” set and quickly coloured with Distress Markers.

This card will season the following challenges:

ABC Christmas Challenge: S for Something Festive

CHNC Challenge Extra for September

Completely Christmas Challenge #29: Anything Goes

Incy Wincy Designs: Shaped Cards

Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps: Wonderful Wednesday

Love To Scrap Challenge #38: Anything Goes

Open-Minded Crafting Challenge #19: Roll Out the Red

Although our plan was far from perfect, it would at least help the small village protect itself and the valuable holly until the Crafters Guild could come and assist in the battle. Also, I’ll never say no to a free dinner...so...all in all...time well spent.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

The Dove Conundrum

Greetings. Thank you for stopping by the Guild Hall. Today we received a frantic message from a couple that were about to be married tomorrow afternoon. It seems the two dozen doves they were planning on releasing at the ceremony had gone missing. The bride was desperate to have them back as they held sentimental value to her. I wasn’t one to turn down a quest, especially from a bride-to-be, so the Guardian of Glitter and I set about creating a tracking spell to see if we could locate the missing doves.

I started this shaker card by cutting the rectangular frame and wedding couple out using the “Stretch Your Imagination” cartridge. I assembled the shaker part, filling it with wedding confetti I purchased at the Everything-For-One-Brass-Coin stand at the market. The banner I cut using the “Rock Princess” cartridge and stamped it with the My Pink Stamper “Birthday Crazy” set. The base of the card was embossed with my Cuttlebug, earning my +111 bumpy XP points.

On the inside I stamped the sentiments using the Lawn Fawn “Sophie’s Sentiments” and “On the Mend” sets. I kept it clean inside since it was going to be signed by a large group of people.

This card will shake up the following challenges:

Brown Sugar Challenge #101: Anything Goes

Catch the Bug Anything Goes Challenge

Crafty Sentiments Designs Anything Goes

Die Cuttin’ Divas Challenge #173: Wedding or Anniversary

Pile It On Challenge #27: Add Some Flowers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Shake It!

Once we got a lock on their location, it was simply a matter of riding there and retrieving the stolen birds. We were surprised to learn that the thief was none other than the bride’s own sister. It was revealed that two of the doves were actually the girls’ parents, having been transmogrified by an evil wizard a year prior. The problem was when the bride purchased doves to release at her wedding, they no longer knew which ones were their parents, all the doves looking the same. As she was still holding onto the hope they would be able to change them back, the sister didn’t want them released for fear of losing them forever. It looked as though the Guardian of Glitter and I had a long night ahead of us concocting a reversal spell.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Picture Perfect Christmas

Salutations, crafty traveller. Thank you for stopping by the Guild Hall. In a mere fortnight, we shall be celebrating the great Winter Festival. With another fresh blanket of snow, the smallfolk of the village are getting more excited for the big day. All the holly the Lady Commander of Copics and I collected from Holly’s Gulch has now been transformed into Christmas decorations and hung around the village. 

This card was designed for the Creative Card Crew “Poinsettia or Holly” challenge that is happening now. This fortnight we are sponsored by Delicious Doodles. Play along to win some delicious digis!

I started this card by printing the Delicious Doodles “On a Winter’s Day” image three times. I then stamped out three polaroid images using the Lawn Fawn “Say Cheese” set. Because the Delicious Doodles image isn’t square, I chose three different squares of the image to use in each picture (for example the one I lined up on the left, one I lined up on the right and the last one I cut the square right from the middle). That way it looks kind of like someone was just snapping a bunch of different pics of the same scene in front of them and the birds are actually flying rather than in the same spot in three different shots.

I distressed the edges of the photos using Antique Linen Distress Ink, earning me +183 vintagey exp points. I used the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge to cut out the holly on some shiiiiiiiiny paper and the sentiment I stamped using the Bug Bites “Mistletoe” set.

On the inside I cut the shape out using the Art Philosophy cartridge and stamped the two sentiments using the “Say Cheese” set and the Echo Park “Holly Jolly Christmas" set.

This holly jolly card will develop in the following challenges:

Card Crafter’s Circle Challenge #104: Celebrations

Challenges For Everybody #35: Anything Goes

The Cheerful Stamp Pad Challenge #75: Signs of Christmas

CHNC Challenge Extra For December

The Corrosive Challenge #189: Anything Goes

Craftitude Challenge #54: Anything Goes

Craft Your Passions Challenge #192: Let It Snow

Delicious Doodles Challenge #65: Christmas/New Year

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #190: Holiday Cards

A Gem of a Challenge #109: Anything Goes

Incy Wincy Designs: Let It Snow

Jingle Belles 2013 Wrap Up

Little Scrap Pieces Fun Friday Linky Party
Loves Rubberstamps Challenge #82: Anything Christmas

One Crazy Stamper December Winter/Holiday Challenge

One Stitch At A Time Challenge #193: Seeing Red

Parade Your Crafts Challenge #10: Christmas Projects

Pile It On Challenge #48: P is for...polaroids

There is still much to be done before the big day - crafts to make, gifts to wrap, decorations to hang. I may need a few more stamina potions to get through these next couple weeks.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Holly, That's a Lot of Demons!

Welcome to the Guild Hall. As we enter the final moon’s cycle of the year, the preparations for the Winter Festival are in full swing across the realm. Today the Lady Commander of Copics and I travelled to Holly’s Gulch to collect some of the red berried sprigs that grow there. The area is known to be overrun by vicious mustak demons, so we loaded up on weapons and elixirs for the quest. Although dangerous, Holly’s Gulch has the most abundant source of holly trees in the realm, and we weren’t about to let some pesky demons stop us from acquiring Christmas decorating supplies.  

I made these Christmasy post-it note holders for the girls in my office (which I’ll be giving them tomorrow so they can use them throughout December). These were super fast to make and a good way to use up scraps of paper. 

Ooooo...shiny.

I cut the scalloped circles out using the Art Philosophy cartridge and embossed the white part with my Cuttlebug. The holly I cut using the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge and added the lines with a white gel pen. I stamped the banners using the Lawn Fawn “Bannerific” set and added the sentiment (which is a Unity stamp). That’s it. Then just pop in the post-it notes and call it a day. This project earned me +888 speed exp points, which will surely help me in my other quests.

These post-it note holders will stick themselves in the following challenges:

Divas By Design: Use Some Red

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday: Anything Goes

Allsorts Challenge #235: Inspired By Christmas Song (Holly and the Ivy)

2 Sisters Challenge #172: Anything Goes

Little Scrap Pieces Fun Friday Linky Party

The Corrosive Challenge #188: Happy Holidays

Sentimental Sundays Challenge #183: Traditional Christmas Colours

Love To Create Challenge #94: Holiday Gift/3D Project

Dream Valley Challenge #71: Anything But a Card

Friends Of SpeedyTV Challenge #101: Anything But a Card

One Crazy Stamper December Winter/Holiday Challenge

CHNC Challenge Extra For December

Pile It On Challenge 348: P is for...Post It Notes

Since we were last in the gulch, it seems the mustak demons have tripled in number. Luckily, the Lady Commander and I were able to fend them off long enough to collect the holly we needed. We battled our way to the exit of the ravine, our health tonics running low. We were just about out of the gulch when a hoard of mustaks appeared, cutting us off from the exit. As we were now boxed in, I decided to take a chance and use my remaining mana points to cast an escape spell. Luckily I rolled high and the spell was a success, transporting us safetly back to the Guild Hall.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Speedy Turkey

As this is the second post of the night and I am weary from the events that transpired, I shall keep this short. In less than three weeks our family shall be celebrating the Feast of Turkeys and as such, I have been finishing up my creations for the celebration. 

I threw this one together using the card feature from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. The letters I cut from the Birthday Bash cartridge. I used one of my border embossing folders to add a little something-something to the plain space on the right side of the card. I decided it was still a little too plain for my taste and tied an orange thread on the side to finish it off. This quick creation earned me +492 speed exp points allowing me to level up! After the last few creations which have been time drainers, it feels nice to just pound one out.

I shall be entering this into the following challenges:
Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #37: Yellow & Red
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Emboss It
The Corrosive Challenge #158: Animal Companions

I shall now be retiring to the slumber chamber as I am so tired I feel I could sleep a fortnight.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Damsel in Distress...Ink?

Today I undertook a quest to help the needy. It was a true crafter's quest. Last night we were awoken by a loud banging on the Guild Hall's enormous wooden door. I lit a torch, donned a robe and crept downstairs to see who would be foolish enough to call on us at such an hour. When I opened the door, a young lass, drenched from the pouring rain, stood  before me. She begged me for the assistance of the Crafters Guild. Having travelled a fortnight to reach us, I found it hard to refuse. Also, I was so close to leveling up, I could use the experience from a new crafting quest.

The young woman was in desperate need of an anniversary card for her beloved, as they were celebrating the first year of their union.  

The card base was cut using Just Because Cards. The champagne glass I cut from Stretch Your Imagination. The phrase "one year" was cut using Wrap It Up. It actually cuts out the phrase "one year older" and a candle, but I cut off the "older" part and saved it and the candle in my "bits box" for another project, earning +15 exp in "hoarding". The random shape the "one year" was glued on was already in my "bits box", left over from another crafting quest, and I honestly can't remember which cartridge it came from. The inside phrase was stamped using my Lawn Fawn set "Sophie's Sentiments".

I then cut out an envelope from Just Because Cards to make it a "fancy" envelope and inked all the white edges using Tim Holtz Distressed Ink "Old Paper" (probably my most used colour).

 

This project, which earned me a +76 combo bonus for using three different cartridges, will be entered into the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #121 - Wedding Bliss. 

It feels good to make something that helps out someone in a crafting crisis. It also doesn't hurt that the young woman left a sack of gold in exchange for the Crafters Guild's assistance...hey....these bills don't pay themselves.

~Guild Master Crystal ~

Christmas In July Challenge

Today I'm here to show you my recent creation after visiting the alchemists cave and dabbling in some new techniques.

I coloured the stamped image by Whipper Snapper Designs with my Tim Holtz Distress markers. This was the first time I tried them out and am still not used to blending with them. I think I will need to work on leveling up that skill. Checking my stats page, it seems I need about 287 exp points to reach the next level. The background was embossed with my Cuttlebug and inked with Distress Ink. The snowflakes on the side were cut using the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge.

Overall I like how this card turned out and can't wait to create more next Saturday at the Crafters Guild Christmas Card Crop! 

I created this card for the "Christmas in July" challenge over at Die Cuttin Divas.

Thanks for stopping by the Guild Hall. I'm off to attempt my next crafting quest!

~ Guild Master Crystal ~