Artistic License

Artistic license is something I don't use a whole lot, I admit. It's just not in my rule-following nature. I have actually Googled pictures of things just so I can colour them the "way they'd look in real life." I mean really, are you guys actually going to care if the giraffe on the card I make isn't exactly the same shade of browns as they are in real life? Heck no.

So, with that in mind I'm getting all up in your face (but in a polite manner, of course) with some artistic license.

KA-BAM



'Cause really, who says snowpeople have to be white? Okay, I know snow does, but other than that, who?

And look, it's a shaker card too! Time consuming, yes, as difficult as the first shaker card I ever made, no. I think it's because I hand-cut all the pieces I needed. Ha ha, take that THE CRICUT. (dun, dun, dunnnn)

Digi is a freebie from Dilly Bean Stamps and not only is it incredibly awesome it also almost perfectly represents our family. The blue snowboy just needs to be a little bit bigger (and I'd like to think the snowmom needs to be a little bit skinner) and it would be spot on.

For:

Divas By Design: anything goes
Lily Pad: buttons
Phindy's Place: a sprinkling of snow
Simply Create Too: all about Christmas
Stamping With the Dragon: anything goes
Sweet n Sassy Digis: favourite things - my digis!
Totally Papercrafts: Christmas
Aud Sentiments: winter sentiments
C.R.A.F.T.: unusual Christmas
Crafty Purple Frog: for someone special - made this for my best friend and her family
Moving Along With the Times: ribbons and bows
Totally Gorjuss: sparkle
Cardmadfairy's Challenge: winter wonderland
2 Sisters: holiday
Craft Your Days Away: buttons or bows
Crazy 4 Challenges: snow
My Craft Spot: Christmas through the window
Oh La La: lots of sparkle
Paper Creations Ink: Christmas
Pollycraft: Christmas fun
Stamps R Us: emboss it
Cutie Pie: pastel Christmas
The Pink Elephant: photo inspiration
The Ribbon Reel: anything goes + ribbon
Daisy Doodle: Christmas + digi
Heartsong Inspirations: banners and/or buttons
Hooked On Crafts: winter wonderland
Gingerloft: Christmas or winter
Lollipop Crafts: B is for... - button, bow, bling
Stamptacular Sundays: anything Christmas
Ribbon Girls: Christmas
Incy Wincy: trees
Kaboodle Doodles: bundled up for winter
Karen's Doodles: non-traditional Christmas colours
Creative Craft Challenges: free for all
Deep Ocean: C is for...... - Christmas theme, cute
Scrap-Creations: Christmas
Sassy Cheryl's: winter
Craft Your Passion: tis the season
365 Cards: Day 273 - Pretty in Pastels
Cooking It Up With Katie: anything goes
Digi Stamps 4 Joy: Christmas with no animals

Winter Wonderland @ Squigglefly

This week at Squigglefly the challenge is "Winter Wonderland" so any old winter scene, digi or feel will do.

I turned to my most fav Squigglefly digis - Shy Bears.



This is Shy Bear: Snowy Playmate. Isn't he just too cute to resist? I love how he's peeking around the snowman like that. Hmmmmmm....I wonder if his cute widdle tummy is cold. Quick go here to purchase him for yourself so you can colour extra fur on him to keep him nice and warm.

And after you've done that why don't you ski or snowboard or skate or snowshoe or sled or hike in the snowy woods or make travelling snow angels or ride in a horse-drawn sleigh (hey, I'm Canadian, I could go on all day) and make your way over to Squigglefly and enter the "Winter Wonderland" challenge? You don't need to use a Squigglefly image but if you do use one you'll be eligible for this week's prize. There's lots of great images at the store if you'd like to purchase one, or if you'd like to try before you by, check out all the freebies right here.

Also for:

Cardmadfairy's Digi Days: winter wonderland
Crafty Catz: snowmen
Phindy's Place: a sprinkling of snow
The Poodles Parlour: Christmas
Simply Create Too: all about Christmas
Totally Papercrafts: Christmas
Little Red Wagon: Christmas theme
Sassy Cheryl's: anything goes
Stamp-n-Doodle: it's snow time
Digi Doodle Shop: animals
4 Crafty Chicks: snowflakes
Speedy the Cat's Friends: make it masculine
Sweet Stamping: punches & dies
Ellephantastic: weather related
Crazy 4 Challenges: snow
Cupcake Inspirations: photo inspiration
Stamptacular Sunday: anything Christmas
Lollipop Crafts: B is for.......bear, bling, blue, brown
Gingerloft: Christmas & winter
Here Come the Boys: for the man in your life
Lexi's Creations: one for the lads
The Kraft Journal: Christmas cards
The Crazy Challenge: snowflakes and/or stars
Hooked On Crafts: winter wonderland
Craft Your Passion: tis the season
Crafty Boots: anything goes

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Another clean & simple card. And look it's not a Christmas card.



For:

Cas-Ual Fridays: sketch
Quirky Crafts: cas
Challenge Up Your Life: music (In case you don't recognize it the sentiment is a line from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow.")

Hang a Shining Star

One of these days I'll make a Christmas card using traditional Christmas colours, I promise.

Okay, that's a bit of a lie. I made a Christmas card using your basic red and green colour scheme just before I made this one. But it's very fugly so I decided not to post it. My mother saw it and commented, "It's very pretty. I really like it."

It's no wonder I refused to let her pick out clothes for me once I hit about 8 years old.

I want to mention that the star is die cut out of a sparkly white felt. It's impossible to tell in the photo. Also, and I hope this doesn't sound braggy, but the photo really doesn't do the card justice. It's much prettier in real life (unlike me *snort*).


For:

Creative Card Crew: monochromatic
Creative Craft Challenges: free for all
Unstampbelles: trees + no stamps
Catered Crop: recipe challenge - I used kraft, branch, die cuts & distressing
Scrappy Frogs: kraft
Jingle Belles: make a card for someone who doesn't necessarily celebrate Christmas
Scrapbook Sisters: Christmas time
Little Red Wagon: Christmas theme
Penny's Challenges: tie it up
Divas By Design: monochromatic
The Spotted Chick: kraft
The Paper Variety: photo inspiration - trees and brown

Parlez-vous français mes amis?

Okay, I really don't either. But I am Canadian so I can muddle out a few phrases here and there including the utmost important sentence, "Où est la salle de bain?"

But I bet everyone knows what this card says.



For:

Lollipop Crafts: anything goes
Paper Sundaes: beautiful bows
Paper-Crafting Journey: embossing
Reasonable Ribbon: cas Christmas + ribbon
Truly Scrumptious: vintage or pearls + Christmas
365 Cards: Day 260 - Make a List and Check It Twice (4 items on card) - paper, letters, ribbon, pearls
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle: embossing
Pile It On: anything that starts with a "p" - paper and pearls

Merry & Bright

Yep. Blog title right off the card. Call me Ms. Original. Or don't. I'm easy. (Going, easy-going.)



Digi is a freebie from Beccy's Place.

For:

Crimbo Crackers: make it sparkle + Christmas
Little Miss Muffet: simplicity
Digital Tuesday: Christmas time
Paper Sundaes: use a digi
Stamps R Us: bling it on
Daisy Doodles: anything goes with a digi
Creatalicious: Christmas + sparkle
Sundays With Crissy: non-traditional Christmas
Winter Wonderland: aw, what a cutie
By the Cute and Girly: Christmas girls
Phindy's Place: Christmas cards
Wags 'n' Whiskers: Christmas
Jingle Belles: card for someone who doesn't necessarily celebrate Christmas

Happy Birthday @ Squigglefly

Apparently November is our fearless leader, Marlene's birthday month so this week at Squigglefly the challenge is "Happy Birthday" which I'm thinking is pretty self-explanatory.

I keep telling myself that I should build up my stash of preteen boy birthday cards for when my boy get invited to those last minute birthday parties but it never seems to happen. So, this card has been long given out.



I used Rock It Out which is a pretty cool image seeing as you could colour it up for either a boy or a girl. You can get it for yourself right here.

So why not head over to Squigglefly and enter the "Happy Birthday" challenge? You don't need to use a Squigglefly image but if you do use one you'll be eligible for this week's prize. There's lots of great images at the store if you'd like to purchase one, or if you'd like to try before you by, check out all the freebies right here.

Also for:

Daisy Doodle: anything goes + a digi
Crafty Catz: use a digi
Divas By Design: use metal
Bearly Mine: one for the boyz

Frogs for Christmas

'Cause they're one of the first animals you think of when you think of Christmas, right?

I know I do.



Okay, I don't. But this digi was too cute to resist. It's from Pink Cat Studio.

I have a little frog story for you. This summer I went down to our basement and I noticed that a frog had somehow managed squirm through a small rip in the screen for one of the windows and was trapped between the screen and the window. I very carefully opened the window (giving him a nice froggy tummy massage) so I could reach him. I then lifted him out and relocated him to a nice shady spot under a hosta where I'm sure there were plenty of bugs. I'd like to dedicate this card to him.

I think that the fact that I first put on gardening gloves and chanted, "Don't pee on me, don't pee on me, don't pee on me, don't pee on me, don't pee on me" the whole time I was trotting back up the stairs and outside should not detract from my heroism one bit.

For:

Sketch and Stash: sketch + something old or new - new digi
Charisma Cardz: cutesy projects
Christmas Inspirations: bows
Creative Inspirations Paint: anything goes
Dream Valley Challenges: anything goes
Digital Tuesday: anything goes
Top Tip Tuesday: anything Christmas
Wags n Whiskers: Christmas themed
Mami Doodles: Christmas

Story Time

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess (sorry, I started laughing too hard to keep that in there) Plain Female of no Royal Heritage Whatsoever who ventured into the land of Paper Crafting. In this land the PFonRHW met many exciting new items. One of the items she met was Kraft Paper. Now when the PFonRHW first met Kraft she really didn't see what the big deal was. To her, Kraft Paper was rather boring and didn't really seem deserve to have so many contests named in its honour.

But then one day the PFonRHW had an opportunity to sit down and have a long chat with Kraft. There the PFonRHW found that she and Kraft had many common interests (after all they were both very plain) and they talked for hours.

After that day, they've been best friends ever since.



THE END

Don't you just love it when stories have happy endings? [Though, to be truthful I absolutely adore those punch-you-in-the-face out-of-the-blue surprise type of endings that make you want to go back and read the whole book, or in the case of my examples below, watch the whole movie over again from the totally new perspective you've just been given. (Think The Sixth Sense or The Book of Eli. Whoops, hopefully you've seen those since I didn't holler "spoiler alert.")]

Editor's Note: The above story may or may not be autobiographical in nature and the opinions expressed are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of all those at Huh. So this is a blog.

For:

Crimbo Crackers: anything goes
Crafting For All Seasons: textured
ABC Christmas Challenge: V is for vintage
Scrapbook Sisters: anything goes
Paper Playtime: any project
The Pink Elephant: distressing
Craft Your Passion: bingo - pearls, free, ribbon
Catered Crop: follow the recipe - I used Christmas, kraft and burgundy
Come and Get It: anything goes
Lollipop Crafts: anything goes
The Ribbon Girl: Jingle all the way to Christmas
The Craft Garden: Christmas with no red or green
Really Reasonable Ribbon: Christmas
Glitter Fairies: Christmas with no red, green or gold
Cupcake Craft Room: sweet Christmas - My explanation for the "sweet" part.....the ribbon was originally wrapped around a very lovely potted mum which I won as a door prize which I promptly, and totally accidentally, killed. (All I did was water it, I swear!) The fact that something good was able to come out of that tragedy is sweeeeeet.
Papertake Weekly: anything goes + bling
Ribbon Carousel: anything goes
Top Tip Tuesday: make your own backgrounds
That's Krafty Thursdays: kraft