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: 

Spellbinders | 20th Anniversary Card feat. a Beaver and a Panda!

My husband and I celebrated our Champagne Anniversary yesterday! If you're not familiar with this term, a Champagne Anniversary or Champagne Birthday is when the number of years matches the date that the occasion falls on. We celebrated 20 years of marriage on March 20th and it's a big deal so this called for a very special card, of course! ;)

 

I used several of my favourite Spellbinders products on this 4.25x6" card, including the Dancin' Birthday Panda, Let's Celebrate Sentiments Press Plate and Die Set and, of course, the Cherry sheet from the Doodlebug Gingham-Linen Rainbow Petite Prints 12x12" Cardstock Paper Pack.

Wait, what? Is that a beaver, you say? Yes... yes, it is! Did Spellbinders release a beaver die?! No, I dreamt it up using the Dancin' Birthday Panda and the Dancin' Birthday Monster! I'll tell you how I did it but, first, I wanted to let you know that after using the panda a few times, I noticed something shocking - she doesn't have a jacket! So I basically cut two panda torsos and used that die to make a second cut across that the second black piece to create her little jacket. Now she looks like a real panda. ;)

Now for the beaver. If you're familiar with the Dancin' Birthday Monster, you'll noticed that most of the parts are from the monster. I partially die cut the body and bottom of the head from the monster die. To finish the head, I used the top of the panda's head so that they were joined. However, the ears were too big and wide for the monster's head, and beavers have small ears, so I trimmed around the panda ears to create a smooth connection to the rest of the monster's head. The beaver's tail was created from the panda's torso and the Diamond Plaid Embossing Folder.

Let's talk about that sentiment though. I love how it turned out and I can't stop looking at it. I mean, I also can't stop jiggling the card and making this couple dance! LOL Since the sentiments are from Let's Celebrate Sentiments Press Plate, they were meant to be BetterPressed, but I decided to heat foil them. I used Cobalt Blue Hot Foil for the bottom two lines and Gold Hot Foil for the anniversary part. The bit of overlap is just so cool!

To finish the card, I cut out Smart Glasses in frames that look exactly like my glasses and my husband's glasses. I was desperate to fit in the numbers and decided to use the small Be Bold Lowercase Alphabet and Numbers as balloons. The gold string is Light Gold DMC Diamant Grande Metallic Thread.

I hope you enjoyed today's project! If you want to see all of my projects featuring the Monster Birthday Collection, please click HERE. Be sure to check out the Glimmer Foil Fiesta save up to 40% on select products now through March 25, 2024. 

I appreciate you stopping by and, if you're inspired, please shop my affiliate links below. Spellbinders would love to know that you were inspired by me. Thanks so much for your continued support!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders | Year of the Dragon feat. Dancing Birthday Dragon

Hello, crafty friends! Chinese New Year is almost here and the Year of the Dragon begins on Saturday, February 10, 2024!! As I'm sure you all know, I'm running the *NEW* Lunar New Year Challenge which has been so much fun. My team and I are loving the fabulous entries so far and I hope you're enjoying all the inspiration, too.

Spellbinders was kind enough to send me some products to create Year of the Dragon projects and this is just the first of many I'll be sharing with you. The Monster Birthday Collection has the perfect Dancing Birthday Dragon for this year's Chinese New Year festivities!

I cut the dragon's body from Grapefruit cardstock and added a bit of ink blending to create shadow areas for more dimension. The wings and belly were cut from Nectar and Sorbet cardstock. I used Poppy and Mirror Gold cardstock for the gift (aka red envelope) and crown.

To create the background, I cut an A2 panel from both Cranberry and Poppy cardstock. I used the Woodgrain Background Hot Foil Plate with Red Hot Foil on the Poppy panel. To create the sentiment, I used the Making Me Smile Glimmer Sentiments with Matte Gold Hot Foil on Cranberry cardstock.

To assemble the card, I trimmed pieces of the woodgrain foiled panel before glueing all the pieces to the card base, including the die cut sentiment. I used a foam square to pop up the dragon's head which allows the dragon's body to swing. It's super cute in action!

(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: 

Interactive Musical Birthday Card feat. Avery Elle and Lawn Fawn

Happy weekend, craft friends! If you still read my blog, you may remember last year's POST featuring another cute band of musical animals. Tomorrow, one of Damian's friends turns 16 and I'm pretty sure that if it were up to my son, this wouldn't have been the card of his choice. Lucky for me, I've been talking to the birthday boy's mother and she said that he would absolutely love a cute card! I was so happy about that. ;)

The last time I used Avery Elle's Forest Dance Party stamp set and coordinating dies was when Damian and I collaborated on this CARD for Father's Day last year. This set is currently on clearance at all stores listed in the links below so be sure to grab it before it's gone! Both Damian and his friend play drums but they also play trumpet and guitar, respectively, so these animals are absolutely perfect for this card.

I stamped all of the images and sentiments with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and clear heat embossed them on watercolour cardstock. Then I used mini distress inks smooshed on a silicone mat to watercolour them. When they were dry, I die cut them and set them aside to work on the Reveal Wheel panel from watercolour cardstock and ink blended it (top down) using Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Peeled Paint and Forest Moss distress inks. Then I splattered the panel with Tsukineko Sparkle Shimmer Spritz.

I cut a piece of My Favorite Things Colorful Canvas patterned paper in Chantilly Cream and cut it with the Spellbinders Precision Layering A2 A Dies so it would cover the card base. Then I cut the wheel itself from heavyweight white cardstock as well as from Lawn Fawn's Really Rainbow patterned paper in Purple Posies. Then I used the Reveal Wheel Friends & Family Sentiments to heat emboss on the wheel before assembling all the pieces on the card base.

I appreciate you stopping by and, if you're inspired, please shop my affiliate links below. Thanks so much for your continued support!

Supplies: 

Pop-Up Father's Day Card feat. Avery Elle, Lawn Fawn & Taylored Expressions

Hello, crafty friends! Today, I'm sharing the card my son and I collaborated on for Father's Day. I've had all these amazing Avery Elle stamp sets for some time and was desperate to use them! I'm a huge fan of Elena Roussakis' illustrations, previously for Neat & Tangled, and now for Avery Elle. The critters are so adorable and hard to resist!

One of my favourite sets is the Forest Dance Party because all the animals are playing musical instruments. Since my son plays trumpet and percussion, we included the fox playing a bugle and the bird playing the triangle. As always, we coloured the bird in widgeon colours. ;)

The sweet beaver is from Maple Syrup and the stool, books and coffee are from Feels Like Home. We stamped all the images with Tuxedo Black ink and coloured them with a mix of (mostly) Copic markers and Sketchmarkers. All of those colours and links are in the supply list below.

We created the Platform Pop-Up from Dark Brown Woodgrain cardstock and both the hills and Platform Pop-Up Add-On from Into the Woods 6x6 Paper Pack. After securing the animals to the hills with glue dots, I stamped the sentiment from Maple Syrup on a piece of patterned paper but broke up the original sentiment on two lines.

For the custom name, we die cut the letters from Mini Caps Alpha & #s by Taylored Expressions. As previously mentioned HERE and HERE, Bucky is my husband's nickname and the term of endearment we use for his (originally Minecraft-related) beaver persona. 

This style of card could be used on any occasion or as an every day encouragement card. I hope you find inspiration in this project.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Sources: 

Scrap 'n Stamp | For the Boys Inspiration Hop + Giveaway!

I'm thrilled to be hopping along with Scrap 'n Stamp Canada to celebrate the men in our lives! You should've come from Thanh's Instagram feed but if you just happened upon the hop, head over to the Scrap 'n Stamp blog to begin. There's loads of inspiration across all social media platforms and you can comment for your chance to win a $50 gift certificate to the shop. There's also a weekend sale and you can save 20% on select items. 

For my interactive card, I combined the fabulous Platform Pop-Up Die from Lawn Fawn with the Love You More Than Dies from Concord & 9th for card that can be used on Father's Day or any other day to tell dad that he's special.

I started by cutting the Platform Pop-Up from white woodgrain cardstock. I also cut the Platform Pop-Up Add-On and the hill pieces from Honey Bee's Back To Basics 6x6 paper pad. 

Next, I die cut the food pieces from Love You More Than using Spellbinders assorted cardstock pack and gold dust cardstock. After assembling the pieces, I attached them to the plaid hills.

To create the sentiment panel, I cut the scalloped frame from Love You More Than Dies and the letters from Concord & 9th's All the Letters. Before glueing the die cut letters on the panel, I stamped the curved sentiment from the coordinating Love You More Than stamp set.

To create the foremost sentiment, I white heat embossed a sentiment from Concord & 9th's Lots to Say stamp set and die cut it using one of the stitched frames from the Platform Pop-Up die set. Here's a short stop-motion clip of the card coming out of its envelope.

Your next stop is Jessica McAfee.  Thanks so much for hopping along with us and be sure to check out the sale!

Supplies: 

Ellen Hutson | Interactive Cards feat. Spellbinders Happy Dance Collection

Ellen Hutson has added lots of new Spellbinders products to the shop, including the Happy Dance Collection! When I saw the adorable drinks, flowers, glue and prize ribbon, I knew I had to have them. There are also two sentiment sets, We Dance Glimmer Sentiments, which I used on both these cards, and the Happy Parents Day Glimmer.

I made two cards using the same colours of Bazzill heavyweight cardstock from the Ellen Hutson shop. These include Marshmallow Chick, Gold Coins, Juicy Pear, Easter Grass, Gumdrop, Robin's Egg, Candy Necklace, Peanut Cluster and Licorice. The specialty cardstocks are Spellbinders gold mirror cardstock and Essentials by Ellen white linen cardstock.

On this Mother's Day card, I used the I Dance die set, adding the hot foil sentiment from We Dance Glimmer Sentiments to the sleeve on the coffee cup. I also used the flowers from the same die set as accents. You can create a huge bouquet as the object for the hands to hold but I used them as accents here.

To create the background, I cut a 0.875" x 4" strip of Robin's Egg cardstock, taped it flush to a 3.25" x 4" piece of white linen cardstock and again to a piece of 1.125" x 4" strip of Gumdrop cardstock. Then I dry embossed that panel using the Head in the Clouds embossing folder.

For my Father's Day card, I had to use the beer mug because it's so awesome! Actually, the bubbles in the beer lines are covered up by the label, which is disappointing but it still looks amazing. These dies are from the Let's Dance die set and I think you can see how it might be fun to mix and match these elements with I Dance.

Again, I used the same colours as the first card, minus Gumdrop but as I look at it now, I could've used it in the beer label since there's so much white on this design. To create the background, I heat foiled the Diagonal Glimmer Stripes on Robin's Egg cardstock, the dry embossed a 4" x 5.25" white linen cardstock panel using the Sun Rays embossing folder. This folder isn't sold at Ellen Hutson but you can get a similar effect by dry embossing with the Radiant Background Stencil.

I hope you enjoyed this inspiration post using new Spellbinders products, now available at Ellen Hutson! I hope to be back soon with more inspiration for these products. Please tag me if you create with these particular sets. I'd love to see what you make.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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