Autumn Thanks

Hi Everyone!
I hope all my US friends had wonderful Thanksgivings this past week.  I know I certainly did.  I enjoyed my days off from work, spending time with my Family and getting some Christmas shopping done.  Today I want to share the card I made for the current Lawnscaping Challenge #22.  The challenge was to create something based on this inspirational photo... which by the way is just lovely.

I just love the fall harvest feel of this picture.  There are so many great elements and textures in it that I tried to pick up on as many as I could.  Here is what I came up with.

I wanted to pull in the texture of the burlap and grey weathered wood of the picture.  So I used a burlap rectangle I picked up at my local craft store and embossed the grey background panel with a woodgrain texture.  In addition to the obvious apples in the photo I wanted to pull in the fall feel of the leaves, so I created a fall tree.  I chose to stamp my sentiment on vellum to incorporate the glass bottle in the background of the photo.

Thanks for stopping by, have an amazing day!

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Young Crafters Unite! #4 Die Challenge

It's that time again, time for another Young Crafters Unite! Challenge.  This month we challenge you to use your die cutting machines! Or to mimick the look of a die cutting.

For my project I used some of the new Sizzix Framelits.  I really love these things, the cutting edge is on the inside of the shape which makes lining them up for cutting super simple.  Here is my card.

I used My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas paper pad for all the pattern paper on this card.  The ornaments and sentiment are from Stampin Up's A Cute Christmas set.  The Magical Background is stamped in Jenni Bowlin Stick Candy ink on Celery Cardstock and accented with Stardust stickles.  I finished it off with Maraschino Bakers Twine & faux stitching and a little jingle bell. :)

Be sure you check out all the other amazing design team creations.

Marie/Legojenta

Britta Swiderski

Jennifer Rzasa 

Jess Larsen
(Jess has been under the weather and will be back to join us for the next challenge)

Paulina Nakamura

Check out all the challenge details at the Young Crafters Unite! blog including the amazing prize up for grabs.

A $25 Gift Certificate to Simon Says Stamp!

Snowman Shaker

Hi Friends!
I hope you all got a chance to stop by Danielle's blog yesterday for my guest blogging post.  I shared a fun, cute Thanksgiving project using Lawn Fawn's Turkey Day mini set.  If you haven't gotten a chance to check it out you can see it HERE.  Now for today's card.  I wanted to try my hand at a shaker card after seeing Nette's shaker card she made for Lawn Fawn's Very Fawny Holiday Inspiration week.  You can check out Nette's card HERE.  How cute is that?  But of course I couldn't just make a shaker card, my crazy brain decided to dream up something a little more challenging.  Sheesh! {Note to self, keep it simple next time} So after a few days of working on it I finally finished my window shaker card.

I first stamped the frame from Fanciful Frames on my card base and used an xacto to cut out the window.  To create the shaker part I stamped out two frames (one on the pattern paper you see and another on a piece of cream card stock).  After cutting them out I adhered pieces of acetate to the back of the front frame and the front of the back frame.  I used foam tape all the way around the sides, filled it with iridescent heart glitter then stuck the back to the front.  Then I adhered the entire piece to the card base.  I dug up all my old and new snowflake punches and punched them out of cream cardstock, then coated them with Rock Candy distress stickles.  The sentiment is creatively stamped from Lawn Fawn's Making Frosty Friends set and the gingham background is stamped with Soft Pool ink for a subtle pattern.  The snowpeople on the are paper pieced from the same paper pad and adhered on the inside of the card on a lighter panel of cardstock with snowflakes stamped in Soft Pool ink (which is hard to see in the photo through the window).

Thanks for stopping by today! I'll be back tomorrow with our next challenge at Young Crafters Unite! It's going to be a fun one. :)

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Guest Blogging

Hi Friends!
Today I am guest blogging for Danielle over at Neat and Tangled.  I'm super excited that she asked me to be a guest on her blog, she is such a sweetheart.  This is my first ever guest blogging post too!  So please go visit her blog and check it out.  I am sharing a fun Thanksgiving project idea.  Thanks for stopping by!

~ Chari

Lawnscaping Thank You

Hi Friends!
Well I'm back after taking a little time off from crafting.  We had our Juried Art show at our gallery at church and it was a lot of work!  But Sunday I finally had some free time to work on some projects.  Today's project is for Lawnscapings Thank You Challenge!  What a very appropriate theme given the time of year.  My goal for this card was to use some pattern paper and some new Sizzix framelits dies I just received. So here is what I came up with.

I covered the white card base with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. Then I stamped the Hero Arts envelope background spritzed with perfect pearls mist onto the panel.  I tried to catch some of the shimmer in my photo.  The rest of the card is simple die cuts with faux stitching and stickles accents.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I will apologize ahead of time because this week might be a slow blog week for me.  I'm working away on projects for the coming weeks. :)

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Have a Very Fawny Holiday: Frosties

Hi Friends,
I hope everyone is absorbing all this amazing Fawny inspiration this week, I know I am!  Today is day three of Lawn Fawn's Holiday Inspiration Week and I'm back to feature Frosties!  I personally love this set, it was one of my very first Lawn Fawn sets I ever purchased! (along with Winter Bunny & Sophie's Sentiments)  Today I am sharing a project that I am really excited about.  I have been making these trees for a few years now and they are always fun to create and share.  I made a video to show you how to create them!!!

These trees are originally an Martha Stewart project (and to give credit where credit is due you can find her instructions HERE)  However I found her instructions a little off where the folding was concerned and I saw great potential for these little trees past the basic green paper.  By adding stamping, different papers, patterns, giltter, edging scissors, etc. there are endless possibilities!   I wanted to create a winter scene so I used Frosties to create pattern paper for my trees.  Then I made some stand up critters to finish out my scene.  Here is a closer pictures of just the trees.

And here is a video showing you how to create them!  At the end of the video I share some other trees I have made in the past years that feature different ideas!  Enjoy!



A few notes:  You do not have to have a circle cutter to make these trees, they can be cut out by hand, just make a pattern and trace around it.  Also the folding does not have to be perfect,  I have seen some very cool trees made with imperfect folding, you get more of a Dr. Suess wonky tree look when your tree isn't perfect which can be super fun! I hope you all give this project a try and share your creations with us!

Be sure to check out all the other inspiring projects as the Lawn Fawn Blog and leave comments to win!

EXTRA:  I created a pattern sheet for people who may not have a circle cutter or even a compass.  You can download it HERE.  (Please note that it is drawn on legal size paper)

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InLinkz.com

Have a Very Fawny Holiday: Happy Hanukkah

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to day two of Lawn Fawn inspiration week!  Today I am sharing the set Happy Hanukkah with you.  I have never made a Hanukkah card before so I enjoyed making something new and different.

I embossed the bold images with silver and clear embossing powders on various colors of blue cardstock. I created the loopy ribbon by using glue dots and accented the flames of the candles with yellow stickles.  

Be sure to check out the rest of today's fabulous Design Team creations and the Lawn Fawn Blog too!  I will be back tomorrow with a super fun project featuring another Fawny Holiday set.  

Have a Very Fawny Holiday: Bows & Holly

Hi Friends!
Today is the first day of Lawn Fawn November inspiration week!  This week we are featuring all the fabulously fun holiday sets to inspire you all to "Have a Very Fawny Holiday!"  Today I have the pleasure of featuring the set Bows & Holly.  I created two cards to share so that I could feature more images from the set.  My first card features the lovely wreath image.  I wanted to incorporate the wreath in a creative way so here is what I came up with.

The J and Y are hand drawn with a glue pen & glitter and the star background is stamped using Versamark and Teeny Tiny Backdrops.  My second card features the mistletoe image and would be perfect to give to that special someone for Christmas.

I created my custom sentiment using Sally's ABCs & Smitty's ABCs.  The hearts are from My Silly Valentine and the loopy boarder is from Sew Lovely.  I accented my card with stickles and used liquid pearls for the mistletoe berries.  I think the inside of this card should read Merry Kiss-mas! :)

Thanks for stopping by, be sure you check out the other Design Team creations today as well as the Lawn Fawn Blog.  I hear there is a giveaway and a fun video!  I'll be back tomorrow to feature another fun holiday set.

Favorite Things

Hi Friends!
I have been busy working away on projects for Lawn Fawn inspiration week, which starts Monday, so unfortunately I don't have any new projects to share today.  But I thought I would share some of my most recent favorite things!  So here we go...

First, I have a new favorite lip balm! If you aren't familiar with Burt's Bees they are a company based in NC and make 100% natural products.  I have always been a fan of their basic lip balm, it has peppermint in it so there is a nice cool sensation when you put it on.  But I have recently purchased this tinted lip balm in Hibiscus color.  I am in love! I don't wear lipstick (more of a lip gloss kind of girl) and this gives just a hint of color and shine.

Not sure if you have heard but but there's a new iphone in town, HA!  I'm pretty sure everyone knows that unless you live under a rock.  Well with the new iphone 4S release it was time for me and my husband to upgrade, and switch carriers too.  I learned from my last iphone that a case is imperative!  I managed to drop my last one on the concrete the day I got it, way to go Chari!  So I ordered a case this time before my phone even showed up!  I love it, it's bright, unique & happy!  I love how the three pieces overlap to create more colors...I know, I'm a design nerd that way. :)  Oh, I ordered this case from Case-mate by the way, they have lots of fun cases on their site.

My other favorite thing lately is the Micheal Buble Christmas album.  I do like Christmas, but last year I was a slight humbug and didn't like getting it shoved in my face the day after Halloween.  But this year I seem to be in a happier mood about it all. I downloaded this album the day it came out on my phone and have been shamelessly listening to it ever since. And I know I'm not the only one!  I figured I might as well embrace the Christmas holiday early because I will be seeing Christmas lights on my drive home from work for the next two months!  Christmas has already started at the Biltmore Estate & Biltmore Village which is on my route home.

Something else, that isn't a recent favorite, is the purse I have been carrying lately.  I actually got this when we were in Hawaii on our honeymoon in May.  It is just so fun an quirky covered in Jellyfish!  I will probably switch over to something less summery now that fall & winter are here. I love the bright colors, and it's the perfect small size for me.  It's also washable, which is a big plus!  This company, Bungalow 360, has many fun patterns and sizes of bags to choose from.  I also like the elephants and the penguin designs.

And last but not least I wanted to share a picture of Penny in her Halloween costume. Actually, she was a submarine last year too, but she is still so cute! :)

"we all live in a yellow submarine"

Thanks for stopping in today.  I have a full weekend ahead of me so I'm not sure if I will get any crafty posts in or not.  But for sure I will be back on Monday with inspiration week posts.  I have even been working on another video!  I hope you all like it.  See you soon! :)