Crafter's Companion USA Challenge Blog

Guest Designer Janette and a Giveaway!

2012-02-27T00:00:00.001-08:00

Hello Y'all! Hope everyone is having a FANTASTIC February; for me it has been busy and fun.
I would like to start by showing you a comparison in rolled flowers. I have started with the following paper sizes. I like making small rolled flowers and find that the 1 inch squared are quite nice and delicate. So start out with a squared piece of paper.

Then snip off the corners with your scissors; making a rounded shape. You can skip this step if you are starting with a circle from a punch or die.

Next you will need to cut the papers in a spiral. You can pencil in your lines (as if to draw a cinnamon roll) or just freehand it. You can make really narrow strips or thicker. As long as you keep the width consistent then you can do it either way. The thickness of your spiral will be the height of your flower.

Then using a roller tool, tweezers or your fingers, start rolling the flower from the outside in.

Once you have rolled the flower you will come to have something like the picture below. I like to make a bit of a flat back by pushing my fingers into the paper and squeezing it. At this point I like to roll the flower very tight and hold it there for a few seconds. Then you remove your tool, or just simply let go and the flower will begin to unravel a bit and bloom:0) Once the flower has bloomed then you will add some glue to the bottom and press the inside of the flower down.

Last add beads, glitter, diamonds, pearls to the center to accessorize. I like using Glossy Accents to add the pearl. My flowers are about the same height since I cut the spiral at the same width. But you can see that the biggest difference is in the size of the flower. The 2inch square has lots more layers than the 1 inch square.

Now I would like to share my Mini Cards: These cards are about 4x3.25" I have used left overs from my Sour Cream Pouches to make these cards to accompany them. Take a look HERE to see that project:0)

I have used the bouquet from the Flowers For You Humphrey Stamp Set.

If you look closely you can see that my tiny rolled flowers have scallops. I will show you how I have done this without any fancy die.

I have used my scallop oval punch, book page, scissors, and my tweezers.

I have started by punching the page and cutting the oval as to use the outside of the oval and then made a little tab towards the inside which will be what the flower will be glued down with. I did not continue to cut til the center because then I would not have the scalloped edge. The bottom is a drawn example of where I would cut. You could also use a scalloped circle and do the same technique.

Then with my tweezers I have started rolling my flower starting with the pointed piece. I like to roll my flower tight, holding and pinching it for a few seconds so that it keeps a tighter shape.

Then released them and let them bloom.

Last secured with glue and added pearl centers.

One last look at my mini cards (in case that you want to see the end results in my card and do not want to scroll back up)...hehehe

WOW! That is a whole lot! So hope you have made it to this point...hehehe I know that there are many tutorials on how to make rolled flowers; but hope you have learned something new with this one.

Now on to this weeks stamp set giveaway!! We will be giving away Anthony & Burt - Hoppy Birthday!! To win please be a follower and leave a comment on this post. The giveaway starts today and ends on Thursday, March 1st at 8pm PST. (must be a US resident to win)

Please check back on Friday to see if you have won!!

Before I go I want to thank the PEEPS at CCCB for having me as Guest Designer :0)
BIG Hugs!

Janette

Our Friday Fav and a Winner Announced

2012-02-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

This week our Friday Fav is Cheryl from Capturing a Moment in Time Blog!! Her delightful card using the Humphrey the Elephant -Snow Day Stamp set was just so wonderful we wanted to share it with you. Here is what Cheryl has to say about her super sweet card:

"I made this card for the Crafter's Companion February "Something Sweet" Challenge. You have to use a Crafter's Companion stamp for their challenges and the only stamps I have are Humphrey Christmas stamps. So, I hope that this adorable image of the adorable Humphrey is "sweet" enough. LOL

Isn't he just the cutest thing??? I colored his coat blue and gave him a red scarf and matching mittens. It's hard to see, but I used glitter glue and glitter on all of the snowflakes. Like I said, I hope Humphrey is "sweet" enough.

Here's a close-up picture:

I was SO lucky to have been randomly chosen to receive 3 Humphrey stamps + 2 DVD's from Crafter's Companion for the January Challenge!! Now, I just need to get something besides Christmas stamps. I'll work on that. Their stamps are wonderful, BTW. I'm not a big stamper and I usually have all kinds of trouble with rubber stamps, but Crafter's Companion stamps are wonderful!!"

We think so too Cheryl!! And we are so glad you joined in on the Something Sweet challenge and showed us your fab project!! There is still time left to join Cheryl and enter the February Something Sweet challenge. Those Strawberry Kisses Stamps and that DVD are looking for a good home!! lol

Now to announce the winner of the Stamp It Australia -Destination Stamp Set. The winner is Shanna Shands!!

Shanna Shands said...

The card is so cute. I really like all the bright colors. Thanks for a chance to win that stamp looks like all sorts of fun for tons of different projects.

Congratulations Shanna!!! Please email Bindy with your full name and address to Bindy@Crafterscompanion.com

Please stop back by on Monday when we will have another stamp set to giveaway!! Until next time...happy scrapping!! Stacy

Inspiration Monday with Amy and GIVEAWAY!

2012-02-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hi there, Amy here for an Inspiration Monday. The image I used for this card was the SWALK Winter - Love You stamp set. I just think these are too adorable and would make a great Valentines card. I used my Spectrum Noir markers to color this. I love these markers and the more I use them and play with them the more I like them.

I used my Cricut to cut out the two hearts and the little hearts that I colored with my Spectrum Noir markers and then when they dried I used some Xmas Red Stickles on them to make them sparkle with love. I inked up the edges using Distress Ink in Fired Red. I hope this card gives you a little inspiration and shows you how versatile these stamps are.

Now on to this weeks stamp set giveaway!! We will be giving away the Stamp It Australia - Destination Stamp Set!! To win please be a follower and leave a comment on this post. The giveaway starts today and ends on Thursday, February 23rd at 8pm PST. (must be a US resident to win)

We will post the winner on Friday the 24th. So please stop back by to see if you have won. I hope you are inspired today to make a little something. Please share what you create and join the challenges!

Pat is Friday Fav and a Winner is Chosen

2012-02-17T00:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday everyone!! Stacy here and I'm so excited because this week we are going to highlight Pat from Patacake Pages Blog. She just blew us away with her oh so sweet project using Humphrey the Elephant. Here is what Pat has to say about her project,

"Today I wanted to make a sweet Valentine's Day card for one of my bff's. Of course, nothing says BFF like an image from Crafter's Companion Humphrey collection. I wanted to give her a card with a handmade gift, so I decided to use my Crafter's Companion Ultimate Crafter's Tool to measure and score a card with a detachable bookmark.

The Ultimate Tool

After choosing my patterned cardstock for the card base, I cut a 6x12" piece. Using the scoreboard labeled BOXER, and the end labeled Box Lid, I scored at #9 from one end. After folding the card in, I scored again at #9. The short piece leftover is folded into the card, forming a three fold card, with the piece on the right as your bookmark.

Since the patterned cardstock, which was a leftover piece from another card, was so nicely embellished itself, I decided not to go with additional layers on the front. I stamped and colored (with Copics, since I only have the Reds & Pinks from the Spectrum Noir Marker collection) my Humphrey image, then cut the scallop oval shape with my Nestabilities die and my Epic Six. I framed it with coordinating purple paper.

I also stamped the sentiment from the same set, "With Love from Me to You", and hand cut it into a heart shape. Embellishing the card front with ribbon, I placed my image and sentiment on top, adding a touch of ink on the edges and a little bling.

On the inside, I layered some coordinating patterned paper on the inside, and a stamped sentiment about friendship. The adjacent card inside has a shaped white layer for writing a message, with a tiny bit of ink and some embellishment. You can see in the photo that to the far right is the back of my handmade bookmark.

The bookmark offers the sentiment "Earth Laughs with Flowers" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and features two more stamps from Crafter's Companion, from the set Popcorn Bear "Thanks". More ribbon at the top of the bookmark finishes off the handmade gift."

We love Pat's project and hope you did too. The end of our February Something Sweet Challenge is fast approaching so if you were inspired today and haven't already joined in the challenge now is the time to get busy on those projects!! We can't wait to see what you come up with this month.

Now for the name of the winner of the Sheena Douglass Paint Fusion - Lilac Stamp Set..... drum roll please.....

The winner is Heidi!

Heidi said...

Thanks for all the detail! I just love this lilac stamp- beautiful and it will be fun to color!

Congrats Heidi!! Please send your name and address to (bindy@crafterscompanion.com) and she will pop your new stamp set in the mail to you!!

Please stop back by on Monday when we will have another fabulous Crafter's Companion Stamp Set to giveaway!!

Until next time....happy scrapping!

Stacy

Inspiration Monday: Too Much Birthday...

2012-02-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hello!! My name is Trena and this is my first time sharing for Monday Inspiration! I'm so excited to be part of this creative group of stamp artists! You can visit me at: Trena's Stampin' Headquarters.

In thinking about what to create for this month's theme Something Sweet, I went back and forth about whether to create something with food or something that captures sweetness. In the end I went with food. :o) This cute little kitten from is from the Birthday Kitten set.

I used Spectrum Noir Markers for all my coloring - the more I use them, the more I'm digging them!! Refills are now available too! To figure out what color I wanted my kitten to be, I used two things, 1) a homemade color chart (shown below) and google. Once I found a photo of a kitten I liked on google, I used my color chart to guide me for the color combinations of my markers. I searched through my paper stash and found this complimentary party paper. Sometimes I will choose my paper first and then match my color markers. Most of the time I get caught up in coloring and then search for matching paper. :o) If I can't find matching paper, I'll make my own. There are so many cool techniques you can do with alcohol inks - I'll share a background technique in a future Monday post.

After coloring, I used the BG1 and BGR1 to outline the kitten & cupcake. I then used the Blender to trace closely around the image. It pushed out the inside grey and made a subtle little line. I liked it! I actually found that by accident. I colored outside the cupcake when I was touching up color after I made the grey boarder. I was using the blender to push the pink color back into cupcake when I discovered the grey line. Isn't that how it happens sometimes? You make a boo boo and find a new technique! Some people call it a "happy accident." :o)

I then cut out the kitten & cupcake image and all the letters. I wanted the sentiment to pop against the background so I cut out each letter. I really liked the two colors I used for my letters, CR10 and DR5, so I'll add that combo to my chart! I adhered all the pieces together. I did place the cupcake outside the border on purpose - artist license. :o) Sometimes, I like to have my images hang outside the border. Lastly, I added a bit of bling to her bow and the flame with Stickles Star Dust glitter glue. Here are the colors I used on this project:

Here's the color chart I created. I colored this with my stampin' sister Marge. We were excited about our new markers and wanted to try different combinations to see how they work together. As you can see, I have more room for new combinations I find!

It's time for our weekly Giveaway!! This week we are giving away a Sheena Douglass Paint Fusion EZMount Stamp Set - Lilac

The giveaway is open to all US residents. To enter to win you will just need to leave a comment on this post. The giveaway is open until 8pm PST Thursday, February 16th. We will post the winner on Friday the 17th. So please stop back by to see if you have won. I hope you are inspired today to make a little something. Please share what you create and join the challenges!
Take care and STAY POSITIVE!

Trena

Sweet Little Baby by Karla -Winner Announced!

2012-02-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday everyone!! Stacy here to brighten your day with a little inspiration from this week's Friday Fav. We have chosen to delight you with a gorgeous layout from Karla at Made by Karla blog!!! Karla used the absolutely most adorable stamp from the Humphrey's Corner Collection - New Baby. I don't think she could have made a cuter layout do you?? Here is what Karla has to say about her project,

"My nephew has been a super sweet and happy baby. He's already over a year old and I have only made 3 LO's! I got these wonderful stamps yesterday and I couldn't resist making a LO for my nephew.

I need to print more pictures of him now. He looks so different and he's so big. But still happy and sweet as ever! Here he is at about 3 months:

Love how the Humphrey stamps look on the LO! They're colored with pencils right on the craft paper."

We love it too Karla!! Thanks so much for providing us with a little scrappy inspiration this Friday!!

There is still time to enter our February Something Sweet challenge. So what are you waiting for??!!! lol We need to find a new home for all of that Strawberry Kisses goodness!

Now the moment you have all been waiting for....the winner of this weeks Stamp It Australia -Rose Clock stamp set giveaway is....The Hoosier Stamper!!

THE HOOSIER STAMPER said...

Oh this is an awesome, awesome stamp!!!

Congratulations!! Now just email your full name and address to Bindy at bindy@crafterscompanion.com and she will pop your stamp set in the mail to you.

Until next time...happy scrapping.

Inspiration Monday: Strawberry Kisses

2012-02-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning to you, Crafter's Companion friends! Khristen here today to give you a little bit of inspiration using our new Strawberry Kisses - Together stamp set. It is just so stinkin' cute! I couldn't resist the adorable dog and cat peeking out of the rain boot. I set to work coloring the image with my Spectrum Noir markers, and then chose papers to compliment the colors of markers I used.

I inked up the edges of all patterned papers and the image itself to make each layer pop, adhering all of the layers with my Crafter's Companion tape runner. I love that this runner can be relied on to hold pieces securely. It's a gamble when switching tape runner brands, I know. I've used many that just can't be trusted with all papers. Not so with the Crafter's Companion runner. You are guaranteed a strong bond. October Afternoon alpha stickers seemed to go perfectly with that green paper matting the image. A pink velvet ribbon goes up the center, adding a soft and fuzzy texture.

These flowers and the pearls in the center came from the Fairyopolis Complete Cardmaking Kit which just seems to go on forever. All of the items are so versatile and you get so much, it can be stretched across a ridiculous number of projects...rub ons, decoupage, flowers, bling, card bases, stickers...everything you need. I love that the items work well with any theme imaginable, and with other Crafter's Companion stamp sets and products. I lightly misted the flowers with a Studio Calico Mister Huey in Clay to go along with the ink distressing, it's just hard to see in these pics. It's very subtle and doesn't take away from the pretty pink and purple colors at all. I adhered them with adhesive foam squares to lift them up off of the card.

There you have it, I hope that's just the inspiration you need to play along in our Something Sweet Challenge this month. Up for grabs: the Strawberry Kisses Papercrafting CD-ROM and 3 Strawberry Kisses stamp sets of your choice. You want these, they are truly sweet :) I hope to see your creation soon!

Don't forget to enter our weekly stamp giveaway, too! This week, it's the Stamp It Australia - Rose Clock stamp set. You have until Thursday February 9th at 8pm to enter. Just leave a comment on this post. A winner will be announced on Friday the 10th. Good luck!!

Until next time!

xx
Khristen

Be Inspired, Be Inspiring! Giveaway Winner Announced

2012-02-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday!!

I think everyone is finally coming down off of the CHA high. I know our team had a ball and really enjoyed their time at CHA. I enjoyed living vicariously through photos from the event. And I am extremely inspired by all the new product coming out!! Woo hoo!

And I know what this means for me....I need to scrap more and use up the goodies I have so I have room for some new goodies when they come out! Right??!

February just started and we are looking forward to seeing what all of you come up with for our new Something Sweet Challenge. Get busy girls and show us what you've got!! lol

One of the new things we were promoting at CHA was our new line of Stamp It stamps. These stamps are gorgeous and are really so versatile. They lend themselves to everything from cards and layouts to clocks and vases!! If you don't believe me you only need to go check out all the wonderful sneak peaks we have been sharing this week on the Crafter's Companion Info Blog.

I want to share something I made recently with one of these cool stamps. Specifically using the Stamp It - Compass stamp. SMASH books or re-purposed journal type books are all the rage right now. Well, I don't want to be left behind so I decided I needed to start "smashing" too!! lol I grabbed a journaling book that I had on hand and decided "to make it mine" so to speak.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do at first but then I came up with the saying I wanted to put on the front and it all came together quickly after that. I recently read this saying and immediately knew it was perfect for this book because I want to use my journal for collecting bits of inspiration. The saying I used on my book is, "be inspired, be inspiring". See what I mean!? Perfection. So I pulled out some wonderful G45 -Botanicabella papers that I recently purchased and got busy. I stamped out my image on cream colored card stock and inked the heck out of it using my Ranger Distress inks to "age" the papers.

I recently decided to hang my punches up on cafe curtain rods. (I hung up cafe curtain rods and then slide my punches onto the rods) This has turned out to be a fantastic thing because now they are so easy to see and so I find myself using them more and more....I totally LOVE this idea. For my book cover I punched out a border using one of my Martha Stewart punches. That woman makes fabulous punches!

I finished up by adding some butterflies that I fussy cut out of the G45 paper then some Stickles, brads and black alpha stickers from my stash and I love how it turned out! I plan to put inspirational saying, cool color combos, sketches and anything else that inspires me to be inspiring!!

I hope I have inspired you today to be a little crafty this weekend. If you find the time I would love it if you would enter our Something Sweet Challenge.

Now to announce the winner of the SWALK-You Deserve a Treat Stamp Set giveaway this week.... The winner is Lisa Townsend!!

L Townsend said...

too cute i cant stay away

Congratulations!!! Lisa please send your name and address to (bindy@crafterscompanion.com) and she will pop your new stamp set in the mail to you!!

Please stop back by on Monday when we will have another fabulous Crafter's Companion Stamp Set to giveaway!!

Until next time....happy scrapping!

Stacy

Announcing Our February Guest DT and Our Challenge Winner!!

2012-02-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Crafter's Companion USA Challenge Blog!

It is Stacy here today to reveal the winner of our January "Anything Goes" Challenge. We absolutely love all of the wonderful projects that came in this month and all the fab projects that rolled over from last month. Boy am I glad that I didn't have to chose the winner!! But happily for me I was able to have Random Generator pick our lucky winner. And I'm thrilled to announce that Humphrey has found a home! WOO HOO!! The winner of the The Humphrey the Elephant Christmas Collection CD and three stamp sets of your choice from the the Humphrey the Elephant Christmas collection is:

Cheryl Caldwell-Nyboer

Congratulations Cheryl!! Random generator landed on your wonderful Humphrey card!

Please email me (scrapwithstacy@gmail.com) with your full name and address and the names of the 3 Humphrey Christmas stamp sets you would prefer so we can get your prize out to you.

Thanks to all who entered our December Sparkle Challenge and our January Anything Goes Challenge!! I hope to see your projects here again this month as we begin our new February "Something Sweet" Challenge.

Now let me announce our new February Guest Design Team member.....Janette Garcia!! We are so excited to have someone with Janette's talent sharing her work here this month. Here is what Janette has to say about herself:

My name is Janette Garcia; I am a 28 year old work from home mom to 3 rowdy and loving boys. Coloring is my sane tool and I just love doing it with my Copics:0) I have just recently became Intermediate Copic Certified (way excited about that!) and am contsantly working towards improving my coloring skills.

Like so many others I started with scrapbooking and have moosied on over to card making. It is so much fun and I truly LOVE it! I like using bright and fun colors and think it is part of my Mexican heritage. Hope you have a minute to visit my blog http://LaJanette.blogspot.com

Thanks for having me as a guest:0)

BIG Hugs!

We are really looking forward to seeing what you come with for us this month Janette!! I'm sure it will be fantastic!

Until next time....happy scrapping

February "Something Sweet" Challenge

2012-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Crafter's Companion February Challenge!! This month our challenge to you is to make a project using a Crafter's Companion Stamp and the theme "Something Sweet". You can make a card, layout, or altered item.
This month the prize will be Strawberry Kisses Papercrafting CD-ROM and 3 Strawberry Kisses stamp sets of your choice!

Strawberry Kisses EZMount™ Stamp Sets are a range of designs created by Sally Hunter. Each set is deeply etched onto pink rubber, mounted to EZMount™ Static Cling Cushion and hand cut close to each image so it is ready to use with an acrylic block right out of the package! We finish off each set by placing each stamp onto a full color, laminated storage panel that can be used to organize your collection and keep them safe from the elements.

Each set features a central image, sentiment and accessory stamps for that finishing touch. You'll have everything you need to create fabulous cards and projects.

The Strawberry Kisses Papercrafting CD-ROM features thousands of printable elements including backgrounds, envelopes, note cards, borders, layered paper flowers and much more!

Here are some things to keep in mind:

* Be sure to read our challenge requirements so that you will be eligible for our fantastic prizes.

** For a prize to be awarded 10 people need to enter the our challenge. If there is not enough participation, the prize will roll over to the next month.

*** Do you love Crafter's Companion products as much as we do? Become a guest design team member! We will announce a new guest design team member every month. Simply put an asterisk (*) next to your name when entering your submission into Inlinkz below.

Now it is time to see what our design team has come up with this time!!

Tracy - SWALK - You Deserve a Treat

Jen - Winter SWALK - Love you

Holley - Strawberry Kisses - Yum

Kathy - SWALK 3 - Thank You

Dawn ll - Fairyopolis Winter

Sami - Strawberry Kisses - Little Miss

Amy - Strawberry Kisses - Party Animal

Dawn B - Strawberry Kisses - Yum

Stacy - Strawberry Kisses - Birthday Kitten

Khristen - Strawberry Kisses - Yum

Now it is time to see what you can come up with for our Something Sweet challenge this month!! We can't wait to see your projects!!

Let Me Motivate You And GIVEAWAY

2012-01-30T03:00:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to another Monday Inspiration! I am thrilled that I can share a quick project with you.

We always love to see you join in on our monthly Challenge- This is what the prize was for the month of January

January's Theme was: ANYTHING GOES (please check the blog for rules)

It seems I am addicted to these Kanji Collection stamps. I can't stop making gift sets using these inspirational words. I stamped as many words as I could one day- then all night long while watching Tv with my honey, I was able to cut and mat each of them.

How easy to use a smaller cut of card stock and use many of these inspirational words to have these note cards around when you need them. As you can see I chose to embellish with paper buttons I cut out and a little floss in red for luck!

Now I want to share with you the name of the stamp set we are happy to be giving away this week. This week we are giving away the gorgeous Swalk Collection 4 EZMount Stamp Set - Deserve a Treat! The perfect stamp for February!!

The giveaway is open to all US residents. To enter to win you will just need to leave a comment on this post. The giveaway is open until 8pm PST Thursday,February 2nd. We will post the winner on Friday the 3rd. So please stop back by to see if you have won. I hope you are inspired today to make a little something.

Friday Fav-Pat St. Martin and Giveaway Winner!!

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

This week we are highlighting a wonderful project from Pat St. Martin from Rubber Stamping is my Game Blog. Pat used the cute stamp set from Sheena Douglass called Just the Two of Us. I just think it is so darling and perfect for a little inspiration. Here is what Pat has to say about her card,

"We are having our first snow storm for this year today. It sure looks pretty outside with the big snowflakes but I have to be honest I have not missed the snow at all. We normally get snow around the first of December so we have been real lucky this year. Over at The Crafter's Companion the challenge for this month it is ANYTHING GOES. I have had this stamp set for a long time and I finally got a chance to use it, it is called just the two of us by Sheena Douglass at Crafters Companion. I stamped all the stamps with Memento tuxedo black on Crygoen paper and I have to be honest I do not think that is the best paper for using Prisma Colored Pencils because I did have some problems with my pencils on the paper. I can’t wait to color my stamp set with my alcohol ink markers. I punched out the sentiment with 1.75” scalloped punch. Added some distress ink around the edges dusty concord. I did cut out the clouds and added some Styrofoam Fluff. Put diamond glaze on the bottle, added some shells, ribbon. I hope you enjoy my card."

We did!!! We did enjoy your card Pat!! Thanks to Pat for sharing her wonderful project with us this month here on the Challenge Blog! Remember there is still time to enter this months Anything Goes challenge!! What are you waiting for??

Now it is time to announce the lucky winner of this weeks stamp set giveaway!! The winner of the Strawberry Kisses - Babe stamp set is: Rhonda Miller!!

Rhonda Miller said...

That card is so cute. Thanks for showing how to make the flower. I'm a new follower.

Congratulations Rhonda!!! Please email your name and address to bindy@crafterscompanion.com.

Please stop back by on Monday when we will have a new stamp set to giveaway.

Until next time....happy scrapping!! Stacy

Guest DT - Kelly Massman and a GIVEAWAY!

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, Kelly Massman here. I was so excited to bechosen as a Guest Designer here this month. I really love the Crafter’s Companion stamps and was so happy to be ableto share a project with you.

Today, I’m sharing aValentine’s Day card that I made for my husband using a double box flower! I’llshow you how to make one, too! They are so fun and easy to make. I enjoyed making it for my guest design post here today at Crafter's Companion USA Challenge Blog. The elephant is from the Humphrey's Corner Collection - Birthday Girl. She is a birthday girl, but I've used her forChristmas and Valentine's already! :-)

Now, here is my tutorial for the lovely Double Box Flowers:

First, make 4 same-sized scallops:

Second,crumple the scallops:

Third,fold the scallops in half:

Addthe glue a little off center!

Gluetogether in a box fashion. You are finished!

You can stack them! Here, I’ve stacked two flowers with a big eyelet! I hope you have been inspired a bit by my project today and have time to join in on this month’s "Anything Goes" Challenge.

And the last bit of happy news I have to share is regarding the stamp set giveaway this week! This week the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog is giving away the stamp set Babe from the Strawberry Kisses Collection!! Enter to win by leaving a comment on this blog post. You will have until Thursday, January 26th at 8pm PST to enter. The winner will be posted here on Friday the 27th. So please stop back by to see if you have won. Good luck!

Have a great week!

Friday Fav and GIVEAWAY WINNER ANNOUNCED!

2012-01-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hello there! Stacy here today to tell you that this weeks Friday Fav is from one of our favorite people. Pat from Patacake Blog has re-purposed a frame and made a gorgeous altered message board using a stamp set from Sheena Douglas called Faith. Here is what Pat has to say about her project,

"I don't know about other parts of the country, but here in the Midwest, especially around Chicago, Winter finally made its entrance with pizazz. A nice accumulation of glistening snow, enough gusts to cause traffic to crawl, and a severe drop in temps has this crafty girl hiding out in her cozy, warm craft room.
Which is just as well, as I had enough time to create a project with my Crafter's Companion stamps. I used a stamp set from the "A Little Bit Sketchy Collection" called Faith by Sheena Douglas. This is one of my favorite sets, and I've used it for so many different projects.

Today I recycled a Dollar Store frame, taking out the glass and adhering some thin cork board material onto the accompanying corrugated cardboard. Next I covered the cork with patterned paper from DCWV Luxury Stack and card stock, laying a piece of jute lace across to blend the two papers together.
I stamped the background of my card stock with snowflake and star clusters stamps, using some Dazzle Versamark ink. A little dab of Ice Blue Stickles was added for some shine.
Next I stamped the bird on a branch and colored her with my Copics. I almost made her into a cardinal so I could use my new Spectrum Noir markers (I have the Pinks and Reds so far) but the blue jay was singing to me.
I fussy cut her out and attached her just above the jute border, again using Stickles to let her sparkle. I finished off my scene by stamping onto the cardstock in the upper left corner with a coordinating stamp from the same set, coloring it with Copics as well. The sentiment was stamped on matching card stock and die cut with my Epic Six and the Labels Four Nestabilities die.
The most time-consuming part of my new message board was putting the jewels and doodads onto the frame! I used up a whole bottle of Stickles, all my lovely teal-colored Skittles, the last of my snowflake punchies, my diamond dazzle super fine glitter from Stampin Up, and various sequins and jewels. But you can barely tell that the frame was black, and I think the sparkle is uplifting!
I'm entering it in Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog for their January challenge of Anything Goes. That's not all! Starting on Monday they will be giving away a stamp a week to one lucky person who comments on their blog. So hop on over and check out the inspiration offered there!"

Aren't you glad you stopped by today?? Pat has to have inspired you to go out and create something scrappy this weekend!! We hope you use your scrappy mojo to make a project for our "Anything Goes" challenge here this month.

And now to announce the winner of the stamp giveaway this week. The winner of the Art-Kure - Tewksbury Mill Stamp is: SONYA!

Sonyasaid...: What a stunning image...how beautiful. Thanks for the chance to win!

Sonya please email your snail mail address to: bindy@crafterscompanion.com .

Have a fantastic weekend. Until next time....happy scrapping.

Giveaway and - Shop til you drop SWALK card

2012-01-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning...today I am inspiring you with a card I made using Winter SWALK stamp set called Shop Til You Drop. I used my Gypsy to cut out the background for the stamped image, then I stamped the image using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and then colored in the image in using my awesome Spectrum Noir markers. I don't really know much about how to do the shading but I am going to try and practice a little with them so that I can get better.

I used some Distress Ink in Dusty Concord to ink the edges and some Icicle Stickles on the fur on the image to give it a little sparkle. I made a bow using some twine that I made myself just because I didn't want a big ribbon on this card to take away from the image because I LOVE these SWALK stamps they are so adorable.

I want to also let you know the exciting news....we are giving away one of our brand spanking new stamp sets this week. The stamp we are giving away is Art-Kure - Tewksbury. These stamps give the feeling of a timeless Britian. The giveaway is open to all US residents. To enter to win you will just need to leave a comment on this post. The giveaway is open until 8pm PST Thursday, January 19th. We will post the winner on Friday the 20th. So please stop back by to see if you have won. I hope you are inspired today to make a little something.

Giveaway Info and Our Newest Friday Fav!!

2012-01-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

I have some exciting news to announce! Starting next week we will be giving away a stamp set each week here on the Crafter's Companion USA Challenge Blog!!! WOO HOO!!!! We will post our giveaway on Monday and you will have until Thursday of the same week at 8pm (PST) to leave a comment. (Giveaway open to US residents only) We will post the winner on Friday. So be sure to stop back by on Monday and join in! You could be our first lucky winner!!

NOW on to our Friday Fav! I'm so happy to announce this weeks favorite! Her name is Cathy from Cathyplus5 blog. Cathy has made the absolute cutest card using one of the most adorable of our stamps, Popcorn the Bear -Someone Special Here is what Cathy has to say about her project,

"Well it is a new year and I want to make this year one of crafty fun and
challenges, hope I can stick to it. I recently won a couple of adorable
Crafter's Companion stamp sets. I love them!! One of them was Popcorn the
Bear, so I thought I would try my hand at coloring him with some ProMarkers that
I had won a while back. Although I colored most of the image with the
Promarkers, I had to use some Crayola colored Pencils because only have a few
markers. I am still in the learning/experimenting phase with these
markers. I used Echo Park's Springtime papers for the card, as well as
Petaloo flowers that I inked pink. To give it a little bling I added a few
different colored faux pearls. I also added a strip of pink glittery ribbon
down the side, that I pick up on clearance at Wal Mart after Christmas. In case
you have not noticed, I love pink.lol Thanks for taking the time to check
out my card:) I am entering it in the Crafer's Companion's January
Challenge. You can check it out here
happy Crafting Cathy"

Don't you just love her card?? I hope it has gotten you into a scrappy mood. Now you are all set for the weekend!! Please remember there is still time to enter the January "Anything Goes" Challenge here at Crafter's Companion USA Challenge Blog!! Until next time...happy scrapping!

Stacy

Inspiration Monday with Tracy!!

2012-01-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Good Morning, Tracy here and welcome to Inspiration Monday! Today I would LOVE to show you the cutest little stamp from our soon to be released Strawberry Kisses.

Wait until you see the rest, they are ADORABLE!!! I have colored this with alcohol markers. Quick tip, I always try to add some type of grounding to my images. When I see an image floating in the air it's not natural to me. So no matter what I'm coloring you will see I add some type of ground!

I hope you're inspired to join in our January Anything Goes Challenge. All you need is a Crafter's Companion Stamp and your creativity!!

Hugs,
Tracy Valure
http://tracysstampingcorner.blogspot.com/

Chocolate Box Birthday

2012-01-06T00:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday!! Stacy here.

I want to share with you a sweet birthday card I made using the Humphrey The Elephant - Chocolate Box Stamp Set.

I really can't tell you how much I love these Humphrey stamps. They are just so delightfully charming!

I stamped out the image and colored it with my alcohol ink markers and then I stamped it again on a piece of patterned paper. I really wanted her dress to be this sweet floral pattern. I cut out the dress from the stamped image and then attached it to my colored image. Super easy.

I hope that I have given you a little scrappy inspiration today. Be sure and check out the Crafter's Companion Info Blog today. They are having their Friday Giveaway. You should go leave a comment and get your name in the hat. You might win this weeks stamp!!

Until next time....happy scrapping!

Our January Guest DT is Kelly Massman!!

2012-01-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited to announce that Kelly Massman will be our Guest Design Team member for January!! Kelly has been a regular participant in our challenges and her project in December was just lovely! Here is some more information from Kelly:

"Hello! My name is Kelly Massman. My blog is Uniquely Me, Imperfections and All.

I am a passionate scrapbooker and lover of traveling from the Midwest. I am a librarian but work as an ESOL tutor at the local high school. I also stay very busy with my high school-aged speech and debater son and IT professional and wood-turner husband!!

I started scrapbooking over 10 years ago. Paper is one of my all-time favorite things! In fact, when I was 8 years old, my teacher asked me to complete this sentence: “If I could have anything, it would be…” My answer: 300 sheets of paper! I have quite the collection now and it far surpasses that number!

Scrapbooking is my passion! I’m a little obsessed with it! I love receiving cards, but I am a reluctant card maker. I’m not very good at making cards. It is rare when I get really excited about a card I have made. I think it is because I love photos so much and know that scrapbook pages will help me bring back good memories when I look at them later! I love to use stamps on cards and scrapbooking!!! I think coloring images is as fun as it was when I was little!

Thanks for having me as a guest!"

I'm sure we are all looking forward to seeing what awesome project Kelly comes up with this month.

Stacy

Crafter's Companion January Challenge

2012-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Crafter's Companion USA's January 2012 monthly challenge!! This month's challenge is to use a Crafter's Companion Stamp and our theme is "anything goes". We want you to just go wild. Make whatever you want!! You can make a card, layout or altered item.

Unfortunately, we did not make the 10 person requirement we need to give away last month's fabulous prize, The Humphrey the Elephant Christmas Collection CD and three stamp set of your choice from the the Humphrey the Elephant Christmas collection!!! This new CD collection contains 2 CDs with over 2,500 elements! . The prize has been rolled over to this month. Pass the word around and get your friends to join our challenge this month too. We want to give Humphrey a home!! lol All of our entries from last month will roll over to this month.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

* Be sure to read our challenge requirements so that you will be eligible for our fantastic prizes.

** For a prize to be awarded 10 people need to enter the our challenge. If there is not enough participation, the prize will roll over to the next month.

*** Do you love Crafter's Companion products as much as we do? Become a GUEST DESIGN TEAM MEMBER! We will announce a new guest design team member every month. Simply put an asterisk (*) next to your name when entering your submission into Inlinkz below.

We are starting off the new year saying goodbye to some old friends and hello to some new ones. We were so lucky to have started this challenge blog with such an awesome design team. We are unfortunately saying goodbye to Denise, Ann, Lynda, and Jinky. We will miss you very much.

Let's welcome the new design team members - Kathy, Dawnll, Jen J., Carolyn, DawnB, Tracy, Samantha, and Trena. We are so thrilled to have you on the team!! We round out the team with our remaining dt members - Khristen, Holley, Amy and myself (Stacy).

Now let's see what our talented design team came up with for this challenge:

Jen J - Humphrey The Elephant Rubber Stamp Set - Best Friends

Samantha - Strawberry Kisses -YUM

Amy - S.W.A.L.K Winter- Celebrate

Kathy - Strawberry Kisses - Flower Power

Khristen - S.W.A.L.K. Winter - Love You

Stacy - Humphrey the Elephant Rubber Stamp set - New Baby

Dawn B - Popcorn the Bear - Someone Special

Holley - S.W.A.L.K. Winter Stamps - Shop Til You Drop

I know the girls have inspired you to get busy working on your own "Anything Goes" challenge. We can't wait to see what you come up with this month!

Cute Companions Ornament from Pat

2011-12-30T00:07:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! It is Stacy here again today to try to give you a little inspiration to start off your scrappy weekend. This week we are going to pick Pat from Patacake Blog AGAIN! What can I say?? Pat's projects rock!! lol This time Pat made the most precious ornament. I just had to share it with you. Here is what Pat has to say about her project:

"With my Christmas cards all postal, my creativity turns to tags and packages and ornaments for the tree. I made an ornament last month using Crafter's Companion Christmas Tree stamp set and, believe it or not, empty toilet paper rolls.

This time I had an extra colored image left over from a wreath I had made using the Cute Companions stamp set called Christmas Magic. So I made an ornament for my tree. I decided to try my hand at one of those handmade flowers, the ones you make out of patterned paper and a gazillion folds! Well, my Ultimate Crafter's Companion Tool made short work of scoring my paper (3"x6") at half inch intervals. I did this to two pieces of leftover Christmas paper. Then I adhered the fans into two semi-circles, and then adhered them together, holding them in place with binder clips until the glue dried. Next I inked the edges of my "fan flower" and adhered it to a paper doily. Then I had to add some shine, so I Stickled the edges of both my flower and the doily. Last two steps were to pop on the image, which had already been colored, Stickled and framed, and to attached some gold cord from which to hang my ornament. (I also added a white ribbon with pearl embellishments to hide where the cord was tied to the ornament)And now you see it proudly displayed on
my Christmas tree! I can't wait for hubby and the kids to "discover" the new ornament!

BTW, have you been over to the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog? This month their challenge is to "make it shine", whether it be cards, layouts or altered art. Just use a CC image and give it some glow and play for a chance to win an awesome prize!"

Pat's right. You just have to use a Crafter's Companion stamp and make your project sparkle!! You still have time to enter to try to win this month's awesome prize! So go get busy already!! What are you waiting for??!! LOL

Thanks for stopping by our blog. Until next time...happy scrapping.

Monday Inspiration

2011-12-26T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone....I wanted to inspire you a bit more this month with our Sparkle Challenge. I chose to bling out a holiday card a bit. I put a nice shimmery layer over the big red bow and added a row of crystals to my border. That really pretty pine swag was made with stamps from the Sheena Douglas Paint Fusion Tree set. Hope you had a fantastic Holiday and that you are relaxing with family and friends. Have a great day!!!

Friday Fav with Pat

2011-12-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

Today Pat, from Patacake's Pages, shares a beautiful accordian ornament with us.

Here is what had to say about this amazing ornament:

"I had made using theCute Companions stamp set called Christmas Magic. So I made an ornament for my tree. I decided to try my hand at one of those handmade flowers, the ones you make out of patterned paper and a gazillion folds! Well, my Ultimate Crafter's Companion Tool made short work of scoring my paper (3"x6") at half inch intervals. I did this to two pieces of leftover Christmas paper. Then I adhered the fans into two semi-circles, and then adhered them together, holding them in place with binder clips until the glue dried.

Next I inked the edges of my "fan flower" and adhered it to a paper doily. Then I had to add some shine, so I Stickled the edges of both my flower and the doily. Last two steps were to pop on the image, which had already been Copic-colored, Stickled and framed, and to attached some gold cord from which to hang my ornament. (I also added a white ribbon with pearl embellishments to hide where the cord was tied to the ornament)."

Thanks for sharing your project with us this week, Pat! There is still time to make a project for our December Sparkle and win some fabulous prizes.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Denise

Inspiration Monday with our Guest designer Steph

2011-12-19T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

It’s Steph againwith a 2^nd post for the month ofDecember.

What struck me as I was looking at all the projects on theCrafter's Companion challenge blog was that there are no cards with onlysentiment on it - not 1 that I saw, nah dah!And for those of you who know me,know that I need to buck that trend and take on a challenge. I wasn't sure if acompany that made cute image stamps could also make sentiment stamps wellenough to hold it's own. So I made a card with just one Crafter's Companionsentiment from the Popcorn theBear Someone Special stamp set.

It does hold it’s own – first of all, I love that it’s theright size. I also love how “solid” the font is yet with a bit of fancy. Thedie cuts were all various Spellbinders dies, pearls were Viva Decor Pearl Pen,embossed background is an embossing folder from Sizzix and my sparkly glitteris from Stampendous. I actually also spritz my background with Tattered AngelGlimmer Mists but the shine didn't quite come through on the photo (only thecolor did).

You still have time to use any Crafter's Companion stamp(sentiment or image) and join us in this month's Sparkle Challenge. The prize this month is 2 CD full of over 2,500 images of the Humphrey the Elephant Christmas Collection and 3 stamp sets of the Humphrey Christmas collection of your choice.

Our Friday Fav is PAT!!

2011-12-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone!! It is Stacy here today to share this weeks Friday Fav with you. We have chosen Pat from Patacake Pages Blog this time. Pat has made the most adorable and creative wreath. Here is what Pat has to say about her project,

"I have been dying to break out my Crafter's Companion stamps and make something SHINY! That's what the CC Challenge Blog is asking for this month: a card or project that uses a Crafter's Companion Stamp and Make it Sparkle.
I had an idea to make a Christmas wreath using some CDs from my stash, but circles and I have never been too friendly. Then I saw someone use plastic lids of assorted sizes and made a wreath out of them. Well, darn if I couldn't find my inspiration again, so I just tried to piece a wreath together myself. I stamped, colored and cut out the four images from the Cute Companions Christmas Magic stamp set by Jayne Nestorenko and the CC inspirational team. I like the way they are designed, as you can use them to create ornaments, or to put together with another stamp from the set to make snow globes.
So once I used my Creative Memories circle cutter on the images, I was able to cut out three more sizes of circles for my wreath.
I cut out a chipboard circle base on which to adhere my circles. I started with the largest, all made from patterned papers and placed them on the base, using some dimensional tape on some but not all the circles. Once I had them all down, I started adding snowflakes and stars and bling.

Did I mention that my images ooze shimmery Stickles?! Here's a close-up of one of them.
Yes, you're right, I even Stickled some of the lines on the patterned paper circle!

Of course, having put a shine on the images, I couldn't leave my white snowflakes to be ignored, now, could I?

No, I thought you'd agree with me! So for the several snowflakes I added to my wreath, I added Diamond Stickles, jewels, and Skittles.

Here's a close-up of one of the many snowflakes I added to the wreath, highlighting the extra glitz I put on the whole project. I hope you like my recycled, upcycled paper wreath. I also hope you have time to join in the December challenge at the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog. Their prize is da' bomb!! "

Pat is totally right....our prize this month is DA BOMB!! lol So now you just need to get scrappy and made something with sparkle. You might be our lucky winner.

Have a wonderful weekend and until next time....happy scrapping.

Monday inspiration

2011-12-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone...Lynda here with a Monday inspiration post for you. It's the gift giving season and that means it is also time for beautiful gift wrap and tags!!! What better way to show off your gift than with a beautiful tag...I decided to use the Fairyopolis CD Rom and print some of the images. These are the perfect size to back with cardstock or pattern paper; add a hole and some beautiful ribbon and you have a wonderful tag. I stamped the cute sentiment from this Humphrey set onto the back of my tag: "for you at Christmas".

I added lots of glitter pen to my fairy wings....you can see them shine in the first photo and the second shows how wonderful she looks when she' s all finished.

Be sure to pull out your stamps and CD Rom and print some images.

Be sure to add some bling or sparkle to your stamped project and join in the challenge this month!

Happy crafting...Lynda

Especially for You

2011-12-09T00:17:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. It is Stacy here today to hopefully bring a little inspiration your way. This month our challenge is to use a Crafter's Companion Stamp and Make it Sparkle. Well, the first person to join in the challenge made such a beautiful project that I just had to chose her for our Friday Fav this week. That person is Kathy from Kathy's Double K Krafts!! Way to go Kathy!

Here is what Kathy had to say about her project,

"Can you believe it's December? I wanted to make something special to give away in a future contest and I saw this on a site called Amazing Paper Grace, pop over and check it out. They have a great step by step tutorial. Thank you for the great project.

This project is for the December Crafter's Companion Challenge. The theme this month is Make It Sparkle. How fun is that?

This month's prize is: The Humphrey the Elephant Christmas Collection CD and three stamp set of your choice from the the Humphrey the Elephant Christmas collection!!! This new CD collection contains 2 CDs with over 2,500 elements!

I started out with text weight parchment paper.

I used white, blue, and green. This type of paper folds

well, goes through the Big Shot machine with ease,

and inks up well.

This is the top of the flower.

Closer view. I am hoping you can see all the

STICKLES glitter glue. It made every part of the project

sparkle.

This is a top view of the box, with a peek-a-boo center.

So when you put the flower inside, it is seen without opening the box.

I put a small charm inside, but you could put a gift, maybe earrings, or a pin, or a ring.

It would make a great gift box and you don't need to wrap it.

This is the bottom of the box, and the pedestal base.

To make the box and pedestal I used

The-Boxer-and-Envelobox-Creator

It is a must have. This product made it so easy to score.

Also the Ultimate Tool has the pegs to make the bows

I used on the box and card.

When I had to glue down the lace pieces to the box,

Stick-Spray-Repositionable-Adhesive

is what I used. It covers the lace evenly, and it gives you a little time to reposition it if need be.

For the card I wanted a sentiment for any occasion.

I went through all my stamps and the one I liked the most was

Especially For You

From the stamp set

A Winter's Tale by Beatrix Potter.

I use this stamp set all the time.

Pop over to Crafter's Companion and check out all

the wonderful stamp sets.

Crafter's Companion has a wonderful Blog and Facebook page.

Make a project and enter the contest."

You need to do like Kathy said and get your project made and entered in the contest this month! You could be the lucky winner of the fab prize. Thanks to Kathy for some wonderful inspiration!

I also want to encourage you to go join in on the Crafter's Companion Christmas Blog Hop that starts today, December 9th and ends on Sunday, December 11th. Each Design Team member will be giving away a Humphrey's Collection Stamp Set on their individual blogs and ONE LUCKY WINNER will receive an entire prototype set of SPECTRUM NOIR MARKERS!!!! That is 72 markers for one extremely lucky person to enjoy. So go hop along right now!!

Until next time...happy scrapping.

Inspiration Monday with guest designer Stephanie Lee

2011-12-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody,

I'm so honored to be invited to join the Crafter's Companiondesign team as their guest for the month of December. I absolutely lovePopcorn the Bear and Souffle the duck and I have recently discovered Humphreythe Elephant. Actually, while I was writing this post and browsing the Crafter's Companion website at thesame time, I also discovered TheUltimate Tool as well - measure, cut, score, emboss, embellish all in 1tool. I could make cards, gift boxes, envelope, there is even a peg to makebows as well! Wow - what rock have I been hiding under and guess what I will beasking for Christmas this year!

Oh yes, and my name is Stephanie Lee and I blog from The Arty Carty Blog. I also sell my cardsthrough my own greeting card company, ArtyCarty Handmade Cards. I am blessed tobe married for almost 15 years to a man who is wonderfully tolerant of me andmy paper and ink passion and the shopping that comes with this addiction. Wehave two great kids – Shawn who is 6 and Emma who is 2. I discoveredscrapbooking and card making 6 years ago when my son was born. He inspired meto start creating. I don’t have oodles of experience like many crafters so Ilove experimenting with different materials to see what new and special thingsI can come up with as you see from my cards I make for Crafter’s Companion.

The theme this month is "Sparkles" - not an easytheme for me. I'm more of a die cutting, embossing, stamp and color kinda gal.I do embellish with pearls and twine or ribbon just because I love the cleanand neat linear lines. So I'm rolling up my sleeves this month and taking onthis challenge of going outside my comfort zone and playing with all kinds ofsparkle maker.

Here is my card of the adorable Popcorn the Bear:

I actually had a blast experimenting with all thedifferent mediums to try and create "Sparkle" on my card. I usedglossy accent to sparkle up the ribbon around Popcorn's wreath, the berries onthe wreath is "colored" with Stickles, the rest of Popcorn wascolored in Copic markers. I then edged the focal image with Viva Deco Inka-goldpaste, ribbon had a touch of sparkle from my stash and my DP had some withmetallic accent from Kaisercraft.

Are you all sparkled out yet? I hope you will enter thismonth's Sparkle Challenge and don't forget to check out all the great stampsand products at Crafter's Companiontoo.

Crafter's Companion USA Sparkle challenge

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Crafter's Companion USA's December monthly challenge. This month's challenge is to use a Crafter's Companion stamp and something that sparkles. This can be glitter, bling or a combination of both. You can make a card, layout, or altered item.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

* Be sure to read our challenge requirements so that you will be eligible for our fantastic prizes.

** For a prize to be awarded 10 people need to enter the our challenge. If there is not enough participation, the prize will roll over to the next month.

Now let's see what our talented design team came up with for this challenge:

Khristen - Humphrey the Elephant Mistletoe Kisses

Denise - Sheena Douglass' Paint Fusion Christmas Tree Stamp set

Lynda - Sheena Douglass' Paint Fusion Butterflies

Holley - Humphrey the Elephant Feed the birds

Stacy - Humphrey the Elephant Meeting Santa

Amy - Humphrey the Elephant Santa and Rudolph

We can't wait to see your projects!

Winner of the 6 Humphrey Stamps and December Guest Designer!

2011-12-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

We have loved seeing all your gorgeous Holiday and Friendship projects. The entries we received were so beautiful! Today we are so excited to announce the big winner of the 6 Humphrey the Elephant stamp sets. The winner is.....Kathy at Kathys Double K. Krafts. The random generator landed on her beautiful Christmas gift box she entered:

Congratulations Kathy!!! Email me (lala3237@verizon.net) with your address so we can get your prize out to you.

We are also so excited to share that Stephanie Lee will be our guest design team member in October! Here is more about Stephanie:

Helloeveryone! My name is Stephanie Lee and I am thrilled and honored to be guestdesigner for Crafter's Companion this month.

I am blessed to bemarried for almost 14 years to a man who is wonderfully tolerant of me and mypaper and ink passion. We have two great kids – Shawn who is 6 and Emma who is2. I am alsooriginally from Singapore, immigrated to Australia with family in my teens andnow to USA for work in Corporate America. My husband and I have been in the USfor over 15 years. I discovered scrapbooking and cardmaking 6 years ago when my son was born. He inspired me to start creating. Forme, there is something liberating about experimenting with different materialsto see what new and special things I can come up with. Since then, I have hadsome wonderful opportunities to earn a living papercrafting – selling mygreeting cards through my own company, Arty Carty Handmade Cards.

That’sabout it. Come visit my blog at http://blog.artycarty.com. I am excited toget to know you. Don’t forget to play in this month’s challenge – Sparkle. If you didn't win this month, we have a fun sparkle challenge this month!

We look forward to seeing what you make,

Denise

Kathy is Our Friday Fav AGAIN!

2011-12-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! It is Stacy back today to share this weeks Friday Fav. This week we couldn't help but choose Kathy from Kathy's Double K Krafts again because her project just screams FRIDAY FAV. Kathy mixed it up and decided to make her Holiday project be for Valentine's Day. Nothing like getting ahead of the game right? Here is what Kathy has to say about her project:

" Today I am making my third card for the November Holiday Challenge.

I used Valentine's Day. This is the box.

I found the pattern on Free card kits .com . Very easy to print and cut out. I used the Ultimate Tool to score all the flaps.

The Extra Strong Glue Tape was the best, for holding the card stock together.

I pulled out one of my favorite stamp kits.

The Fairyopolis Cardmaking Kit The fairy is made from the Flower Fairy's Decoupage Sheet.

The little rub-ons are in the set also. I used two stamps, One from the spring collection (Life can be a fairytale) and the other is from the summer collection (Every girl wants to be a fairy). This box would be great for a ring or earrings, or candy, or maybe a corsage box with a beautiful flower and a love note. All kinds of things. Just remember good things come in small packages.

The challenge this month was so much fun. Please come over and join in. Make a project and enter it in the contest."

It is now your turn to join in the challenge this month at Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog. We are eager to see what you make for our "Holiday" themed challenge.

I hope you were as inspired by Kathy's project as we were. Happy Friday!! Until next time....happy scrapping!

Inspiration Monday

2011-11-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, it’s Pat once again with another project for November.

I am just now realizing that there isn’t a lot of time left before Christmas, thinking as a crafter! So today I made an ornament using an image from the Flower Fairies collection of stamp sets called Christmas Tree. I love how the fairy is looking down on all the Christmas love gathered together under one roof. I have the whole family over for Christmas dinner every year, gathering around a table laden with holiday goodies. I plan on making a couple of these ornaments to hang from the suspended ceiling tiles, all around the room.

I made the ornament from…wait for it…toilet paper rolls!

I saw a tutorial on another blog and couldn’t wait to try it with my Christmas Fairy. First I folded four rolls in half, and then I stapled them to form a circle, and added a little white paint, inside and out. After applying a second coat, and while the paint was still wet, I sprinkled Stampin Up’s Dazzling Diamonds glitter onto the ornament (you can’t see the glittery effect in the photo, but it presents well in person).

Meanwhile, I colored my fairy with Copics, adding a little Stickles and Liquid Glass for some added shine. By then the ornament was dry and I could add jewels to each rounded end, as well as a couple diecut snowflakes. I added my Crafter's Companion image to the front, and tied a piece of lace to the top from which to hang my ornament.

I had fun being November’s Guest Designer here at Crafter’s Companion, and want to thank them for giving me the opportunity to show off my creativity on their blog. Don’t forget Crafter's Companion USA when it comes to your Christmas wish list!

Steph Lee is our Friday Fav

2011-11-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday! It is Stacy here today to share our Friday Fav with you. You are going to love this one!! This week we chose this wonderful card by Steph Lee at Arty Carty Blog!! I think the coloring on the images is marvelous. It seems like we could all learn a thing or two about coloring from Steph! Here is what she had to say about her card,

"Yeah yeah yeah – it’s a triple yeah because I love Wags ‘n Whiskers (WnW) stamps, Christmas is coming and this is my favorite holiday of the year and my birthday is 2 days before Christmas too!! It’s all good.
I love how versatile this stamp is – put on some mistletoe and you get a Christmas card; slap on a heart and it’s a Valentine image, I can see myself using this for an anniversary card as well. The papers on this card is from Authentique Paper and the sweet little duck is from Crafter’s Companion.

It’s your turn – let’s see what you’re sending out this Christmas."

Yes, now it is YOUR turn to join in on our Crafter's Companion "Holiday" Themed Challenge this month. You could be the lucky winner of these "oh so adorable" Humphrey's Corner Stamp Sets! Have a wonderful weekend and until next time..... happy scrapping!

Inspiration Monday

2011-11-21T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone...Lynda here with another Inspiration Monday post for you. With the holiday season fast approaching...it's time to start getting busy with those holiday greetings...so for my Holiday theme card this week, I am sharing with you one of our holiday cards...this features the Holly Paint Fusion set by Sheena Douglass.

I hope my card inspires you to jump in on our holiday theme this month and play along...

Happy crafting...Lynda

Friday Fav is Kelly Massman

2011-11-18T00:12:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog!! It is Stacy here today to share our Friday Fav with you. This week we chose Kelly Massman from Uniquely Me, Imperfections and All Blog as our Fav. Kelly made this super adorable card that I just knew would inspire you to join in our Holiday Challenge here this month. I personally just love all the embossing she has added to the card. What do you think??

Here is what Kelly had to say about her project,

"I made this little card using Card Patterns Sketch 141 with a Humphrey's Corner Collection - Birthday Girl stamp from Crafter's Companion. I decided to use her in this Christmas card. It fits, too! I colored her with some Copics as well as some CTMH watercolor pencils. I used the CTMH Art Philosopy Cricut Cartridge which I embossed as well as a Jolee's star and some red Colorbok decorations my friend Lural gave me! I am "teaching" her some things about card making, and she so kindly brought me some embellishments to return the favor. I think I have her addicted to card making now!!!!

Anyway, I am entering the card in Crafter's Companion challenge ."

Well, I'm sure glad she did because I love this card!! Thank you Kelly for our Friday inspiration!

There is still time to enter our Holiday Challenge. And we would love to see your projects. Maybe you could be our next Friday Fav! And maybe you could win the fabulous prize!!

Have a wonderful weekend. Until next time....happy scrapping.

Inspiration Monday: Believe

2011-11-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning, it's Khristen bringing you a bit of inspiration with the new Humphrey Father Christmas stamp set, newly released in the Crafter's Companion store. I think this is my favorite of all the new releases. Seriously, how cute is this image? I pulled out my colored pencils and went to town, adding Glossy Accents on Santa's belt, boots, and glasses. I love the way it makes the glasses shine like glass, and the boots and belt look like patent leather.

I heat embossed the sentiment as I had stamped it on vellum, adding Glossy Accents around it after mounting it to the red cardstock. Some green and red Stickles and fun twine complete this card, ready to be mailed in my massive batch of Christmas cards! I'm certain that whoever receives this beauty will love it as much as I do :)
Head over and pick up some of the new line of Winter Humphrey stamps today and join in our monthly challenge for your chance to win.

Have a great day!

Khristen