Lunar New Year Challenge | Warm Wishes for the Year of the Snake

Last month, I shared a simpler version of today's card using the Spellbinders Halloween Icons Press Plate & Die Set and I promised to share a different version using the same BetterPress snake so here it is! There are 10 more days until the October Lunar New Year Challenge closes so I wanted to sneak in at least one more inspiration card for this month!

For this card, I created my signature angled panel with Simon Says Stamp's Lipstick Red, Orange Peel and Sunshine cardstock. Then I heat foiled the snakes with Speckled Aura Hot Foil. To get this pattern, I started with the two centre snakes in the same position as last month's card and worked my way out until I had eight snakes. As you may know, the number eight is the most auspicious number in the Chinese culture.

I love the way the Speckled Aura Hot Foil looks like scales and adds so much interest to the snakes themselves. Since this cardstock is fairly textured and the snakes are a BetterPress plate, I had to set my Gemini Foilpress at high heat for one full minute in order to get excellent results.

The sentiment from A Merry Little Christmas Glimmer Hot Foil Plate & Die Set was heat foiled using Matte Gold Hot Foil on Nectar cardstock. Just like on the original design, I used the partial die cutting technique with one of the Precision Layering A2 B Dies to cut in into the perfect rectangle.

Our October Lunar New Year Challenge will run from 12:00am EST on October 1, 2024 through 12:00pm EST on October 31, 2024. We would love to see you using products from our four generous sponsors! The four lucky winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries and announced at the start of the November Challenge. 

The rules are simple. You must create a new Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year or a 2024 Dragon Birthday card and add the link to your post in the link-up party. For October, we're inviting you to continue making Mid-Autumn Festival cards and begin making 2025 Year of the Snake cards! Multiple entries are allowed. Backlinking to an older project is strictly prohibited.

(save and share with your project)

Visit the October Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

If you're inspired, some affiliate links are included below at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies: 

Lunar New Year Challenge + Giveaways | October 2024

The Lunar New Year Challenge is back and we've partnered up with your favourite craft companies all year long so that means there are giveaways every month! This month, we're giving away ONE $25 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp, ONE $25 gift certificate to Lawn Fawn, ONE $25 gift certificate to RAM Stamps, and ONE $25 gift certificate to Whimsy Stamps. That's a total of $100 in giveaways in October!

My first card for this month features Spellbinders products available from our October sponsor, Simon Says Stamp. The three main sets featured here are the Dancin' Birthday Dragon, Making Me Smile Sentiments and the Starshine Background.

Ever since I made THIS card, my son has been asking for a black Dancin' Birthday Dragon. We're huge fans of the How to Train Your Dragon films and while a black dragon would be amazing, most of the details would be lost on black cardstock. Instead, I used Slate Gray cardstock, which is one of my favourite dark grey shades and just as good as black.

Other colours I used for the dragon include Fog Gray for the wings and belly, Glitter Black Sapphire for the wing details, white cardstock for the eyeballs, and black cardstock for the eye details and claws. While I sometimes secure the body so it doesn't swing (like on THIS card), I made this one interactive and it's highly addictive to swing back and forth!

Both the crown and gift were layered with Lipstick Red and Mirror Gold cardstock. The sentiment from Making Me Smile Sentiments was heat foiled with Matte Gold Hot Foil on Lipstick Red cardstock and die cut with the coordinating dies. I mounted both the dragon and sentiment on a base panel cut from Tuscan cardstock using the Starshine Background.

The rules are simple. You must create a new Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year or a 2024 Dragon Birthday card and add the link to your post in the link-up party. For October, we're inviting you to continue making Mid-Autumn Festival cards and begin making 2025 Year of the Snake cards! Multiple entries are allowed. Backlinking to an older project is strictly prohibited.

Our October Lunar New Year Challenge will run from 12:00am EST on October 1, 2024 through 12:00pm EST on October 31, 2024. We would love to see you using products from our four generous sponsors! The four lucky winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries and announced at the start of the November Challenge. 

(save and share with your project)

Visit the October Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

If you're inspired, some affiliate links are included below at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies: 

Lunar New Year Challenge + Giveaways | August 2024

The Lunar New Year Challenge is back and we've partnered up with your favourite craft companies all year long so that means there are giveaways every month! This month, we're giving away ONE $25 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp, ONE $25 gift certificate to Lawn Fawn, ONE $25 gift certificate to My Favorite Things, and ONE $25 gift certificate from Catherine Pooler. That's a total of $100 in giveaways in August!

My first card for this month features the Boho Celebrate sentiment and Geometric Builder Circles from our annual sponsor Simon Says Stamp. For my colour palette, I was inspired by this particular illustration by littleWhale and the cardstock colours with the closest match were Schoolhouse Red, Watermelon, Carnation, Honeycomb and Blue Violet with matte metallic gold accents.

I cut an A2 panel of Watermelon cardstock as my base panel. Then I ran it through the Tiny Dots Embossing Folder on an angle for visual interest. I had done a mock-up of the card with a plain background and it really needed something extra.

I knew I wanted the Boho Celebrate sentiment cut from matte metallic gold with a Schoolhouse Red shadow so I die cut those pieces, glued them together and set it aside while I worked on the background.

After die cutting all of the Geometric Builder Circles from Schoolhouse Red, Carnation, Honeycomb, Blue Violet and matte metallic gold cardstock, I created my random background. The larger pieces were popped up with foam squares and the smaller ones were glued directly to the embossed panel. To finish, I popped on the sentiment and added a few gold sequins.

The rules are simple. You must create a new Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year or a 2024 Dragon Birthday card and add the link to your post in the link-up party. Multiple entries are allowed. Backlinking to an older project is strictly prohibited.

Our August Lunar New Year Challenge will run from 12:00am EST on August 1, 2024 through 12:00pm EST on August 31, 2024. We would love to see you using products from our four generous sponsors! The four lucky winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries and announced at the start of the September Challenge. 

(save and share with your project)

Visit the August Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies: 

Catherine Pooler | Let's Celebrate (Lunar New Year's Eve)

Tonight is Chinese New Year's Eve for those who celebrate and it's the day when most of the festivities take place! I'd only used the Paper Lantern Die from Catherine Pooler one time when it was released and I've been loving all of the inspiration from my Lunar New Year Challenge teammates so I decided it was time to showcase it again.

I love that the die is a significant size and can be featured on its own. This time, I wanted to feature more than one and create some movement. I die cut two from white cardstock to use as a base for the coloured sections. Then I cut the lantern from Schoolhouse Red, Peacock Teal and Glitter Gold cardstock.

To create the extended string for the lantern, I partially die cut it, stopping it right before the top of the die. Then I used my Quick Trimmer to cut along the two sides of the string.

I cut an A2 panel from Cotton Candy cardstock and used foam squares to pop up the lanterns, after which I trimmed off the excess at the top and bottom of the card. To finish, I gold heat embossed the sentiment from Catherine Pooler's Moments in Time stamp set on black cardstock and popped it on the card.

If you're celebrating Chinese New Year, I hope you have a wonderful celebration with your family and friends! I hope the Year of the Dragon brings you luck, happiness, good health and prosperity!

(save and share with your project)

Visit the February Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies: 

REEL | Marching Band Christmas Cards

It's almost Christmas Eve but everyone is pretty much hunkered down, trying to hide from the storm that's engulfed the city. I hope you're all staying cozy and finishing all your prep for Christmas Day! Schools were closed today which means these cards and gifts won't get to the teachers 'til after the holidays.

When this Simon Says Stamp and Wplus Stamptember Exclusive Band Camp was released in 2015, I snapped it up right away. My son was only seven then but he was already musical and I had a hunch this set would come in handy eventually. I'm pleased to say he's now in a high school Marching Band!

I stamped the images with Gina K Amalgam ink, coloured the images with Copic markers listed in the supply links below and added highlights with a Sakura white gel pen.

To create all the backgrounds, I heat foiled the Crossed Lines Glimmer Cardfront with Speckled Prism Hot Foil and Sparkle Silver Hot Foil on Midnight Green cardstock, as well as Opal Hot Foil and Speckled Prism Hot Foil on Fog cardstock.

For the sentiments, I heat foiled the Glimmer Wishes with Matte Silver Hot Foil and Sparkle Silver Hot Foil on white cardstock and Pitch Black cardstock. I attached all of the panels to white linen card bases. The embellishments consist of music note and star die cuts from silver glitter cardstock, metallic silver pearls and silver star sequins.

Since this adorable set is no longer available, there are two other band stamp sets that I highly recommend: Marching Band by Paislee Press and Merry Measure by Paper Person, which you can purchase as a clear stamp set in a kit or as digital files.

To see these sparkly cards in motion, please visit THIS reel on my Instagram feed. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

Spellbinders | November 2021 Clubs Inspiration Blog Hop + Giveaway!

I'm thrilled to be part of the Spellbinders November 2021 Clubs Inspiration Blog Hop! You should've arrived from Marie Heiderscheit's blog and I have the full list of participants below. There are also details on the generous giveaway so be sure to read 'til the end.

For this hop, I've combined the Small Die of the Month - Stitched Curved Borders & Ornaments with the Glimmer Hot Foil Kit of the Month - Curved Christmas Glimmer Borders and you can see my previous club kit inspiration cards HERE and HERE. The design of this card is basically the reverse of this design HERE. I actually made them at the same time but instead of gold, I used silver on this version.

I also used silver embroidery floss on these ornaments as they were intended. I layered the ornaments using glitter and mirror silver cardstock, with sea glass blue and white cardstock. The addition of the silver pearls pull all of the silver layers together.

I love the impact of the matte silver hot foil on the lipstick red cardstock! With all of the details on the ornaments and the bright red panel, this card doesn't need much more.

I hope you enjoyed today's card featuring the Small Die of the Month with the Glimmer Hot Foil Kit of the Month! You have until November 24, 2021 to sign-up for these particular kits.

HOP ALONG

Spellbinders Blog

Tina Smith

Bibi Cameron

Yasmin Diaz

Jill Hilliard

Jennifer Kotas

Virginia Lu

Sandra Nagel

Kathy Clement

Jean Manis

Marie Heiderscheit

Emily Leiphart

Jessica Vasher

Hussena Calcuttawala

Melody Rupple

Jennifer Snyder

Natasha Vacca

Alanna Moses

Martha Lucia Gomez

Tiffany Pryce Russom

GIVEAWAY

To celebrate this release, we are giving away a $25 gift certificate to 3 lucky blog readers – selected from the comments on our blog. Giveaway closes on Sunday, November 21st, 11:59 pm MST. The winner will be announced in this blog hop post the following Wednesday. The winner is responsible for shipping cost, duties and taxes. 

Please note, store credit (gift certificate) cannot be applied to Club Subscriptions. Store credit can be applied to shop past Club products, Club extras and regular releases.

Your next stop is Jessica Vasher and, if you wish, please head to the Spellbinders Blog to begin the hop.

SALE

Don't forget to check out the Pre-Holiday Clearance Blowout Sale for amazing deals! Some of my favourites are less than half their original price!

Thanks so much for hopping along with us!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders | It's Okay To Be Sad

The Spellbinders Mini Blooms and Sprigs dies had been out of stock everywhere for so long and I was finally able to get my hands on them! I also got the Mini Sincere Sentiments since I plan to collect all of the foiling sentiment sets. It's so hard to pick and choose which ones to get first.

A good friend of ours lost his father this week so I thought this was the perfect chance to combine the Mini Blooms and Sprigs with a sentiment from the Mini Sincere Sentiments and the Pinstripe Bracket Card Builder.

All of the cardstock is from Simon Says Stamp, with the exception of the silver glitter which is by Sizzix. I chose a combination that is more on the masculine side but also muted which suits the occasion.

The Mini Sincere Sentiment was heat foiled on Smoke Gray cardstock and the Pinstripe Bracket was heat foiled on Slate Gray cardstock. I used Matte Silver Glimmer Hot Foil on both these sections and I'm completely obsessed. Heat foiling doesn't have to be shiny to look incredible!

I die cut the Mini Blooms and Sprigs from Mint, Cornflower, Midnight Green and Fog Gray cardstock. Then I layered and arranged all the florals and foliage across the length of the foiled bracket section. After using liquid glue to attach the pieces, I popped the bracket panel on with black foam tape and embellished the blue flowers with white pearls.

Don't forget to check out the Pre-Holiday Clearance Blowout Sale for amazing deals! Some of my favourites are less than half their original price!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: