Coffee, Tea or Gingerbread

I'm a big fan of gingerbread, both the edible kind and the decorating kind, and I have a handful of cute gingerbread boys and girls as stamps and dies. This digi came from the Craftin Desert Divas shop, and I cut out a Doodlebug tea cup to give him. He's cute, amma right? 

He comes in color and line art. I printed him in color but my printer started to run out of a vital ink and he came up looking less than tasty. So I took my Prismacolor pencils and made him look more like gingerbread. The bg paper is Doodlebug, as is the sentiment strip. I'm entering him in the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and you can join me until Friday evening to try to win one of the gazillion prizes!

Come back tomorrow to see who won my four Thanksgiving giveaways (you have until 11:59pm Eastern tonight to enter, just scroll down to the four posts)!

Happy Thursday! 

Chark

Stampin' Up Cable Knit Embossing

Though I have only sporadically purchased some Stampin' Up over the years, one of their parties was the first time I had anyone demonstrate stamping. It wasn't too long after that when I found scrapbooking and then cardmaking as my favorite things to do. When I saw this cable knit embossing folder in a project, I knew I needed to find me a Stampin' Up rep ASAP!

Here's my first project using it. I die cut a large ornament from the Hero Arts Ornaments Infinity Dies, ran it through my Big Shot with the embossing folder and added the cutest gingerbread boy die cut and little bits of dies I had leftover from other projects.

I could only get the texture in a pic by blurring it a bit, but look how fabulous it is! So fun and perfect for winter projects.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve, friends, wishing you lots of things to be grateful for...I have too many to count, and one of those is seeing the creative work of friends like you!

Happy Wednesday!

Chark

I Heart Gingerbread Boys

I have always loved the little gingerbread boy icon for holiday decorating and actually, just plain decorating (I have some in my kitchen year round) and this card came about because I had to buy the sticker set from Doodlebug with all the little gingerbread Santa Express stickers.

I added some of the gumdrops to the roof and gave the little guy a piece of candy. Now that's a scene I could get into. I love eating gingerbread too, though I prefer the cake version to the cookies. I'm all about the Betty Crocker Gingerbread mix, but here's an actual from-scratch recipe if you're thinking you need some gingerbread. I prefer whipped cream on mine but lemon glaze is good too.

I found these cutie earrings on Etsy and I might have to put them on my Christmas list...I can start that in September, right?

I saw this little guy on Pinterest (with no link to the original) but he looks pretty easy to sew up from felt, even for a novice seamstress like me.

When I saw this Santa Snacks stamp and cut set in the newest Hero Arts release, I had to get them. Now, what to make with them?! If you want your own set, head to the a2z Scrapbooking Supplies store and hit custom order. They're sold out already, but you can ask special order them at no extra cost. Also, you can head to the a2z blog here and enter the CASE a designer September challenge through the end of the month. Just pick a project you like on the blog and use that as inspiration with your Hero Arts products and you could win $25 to the store!

Happy Friday!

Chark

Happy 2016!

Well, crafty friends, it's a brand-new year! I have a brand-new stamp I used for today's project. The stamp is a digi from 2 Cute Ink. You can purchase individual stamps from the etsy shop, but there's also a club on facebook. 

You pay $5 each month and get all that month's stamps for free plus an exclusive digi. And you can purchase stamps for $1 from the store, instead of the $3.99 price. I gave it a lot of thought and asked some questions and decided to take the plunge. (You can cancel at any time btw.)

So I got this cutie December stamp by joining and looove him! I made this card last night while watching New Year's Rocking Eve on tv. I was inspired by others at 2 Cute Ink to try white on kraft and love how it looks!

I used Prismacolor pencils on a thin kraft paper. I printed him the size I wanted him on the 8x11.5 paper and then added in the snow and trees. Love that glitter tape from American Crafts. I'm trying to decide if he needs Stickles on his clothes or the snow. We'll see, you know how I love my glitter!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!
Chark

Authors Need Love Too

(Winners from the CASEing Kelly blog hop are in this post below)

In celebration of authors everywhere, yesterday was National Author's Day in the U.S. Here's the funny thing, I've never heard of it until this year and it's been around since 1949. That leads me to believe we don't celebrate authors enough. 

Writers open new worlds, introduce us to new people and new ways of thinking and doing and living, plus they make us laugh and cry. I personally believe you can learn something from everything you read. 

Do you read your cereal box? You know how many calories, fiber and sugar in your Cocoa Sugar Bombs. Do you read historical fiction? You know how customs and fashion has changed. Do you like Stephen King? Then you know exactly what scares you and what can happen if you go too close to a sewer drain (thank you, It, for freaking me out about evil clowns). If you read graphic novels, you can learn about Norse mythology (thanks, Thor) and if you read Shakespeare, well, you learn a lot about people and funny language from the 16th century.

Got a favorite author? Send them a little Thank You email if they're living, or if not, give them a shout-out on your blog and link to their books. Purchase a new author's books to support them or give books to a charity that collects them. Books rock, writers rock and words rock. 

I can't share just one favorite author, but here are a few of my favorite books from living authors.

St. Iggy by KL Going is a novel about Iggy, a sixteen-year-old whose mom is gone and dad is stoned and his best friend is a law-school drop out who smokes pot. It's hard to find your place in the world with no skills and no one to help you. The journey of Iggy is eye-opening.

Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang—a memoir about the Chinese Cultural Revolution, something I knew nothing about and found fascinating. This reads like historical fiction, but has the punch of truth behind it. A must-read.

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh—I found Allie's unique art online and found her hilarious, and when I picked up her book, I found her insightful. Her drawings crack me up and her writing style is just as funny. What surprised me was how truthful her writing about depression was. She breaks it down for anyone who doesn't struggle with depression and she's spot on about how it feels and makes you laugh anyway.

If you've seen this online, you've seen Allie's work.

Happy Belated Author's Day to people brave enough to face that blank page and share knowledge with the world!

And I have a project up at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies today, I'd love for you to pop by and say hi! Here's a peek at one of the tags. We have a new challenge for the month up too and will be announcing the winners from the Sept and Oct soon very soon!

Oh, and before I go, here's a list of the winners from the CASEing Kelly Blog Hop—thanks to everyone who commented!

• the Winter 2015 card kit from Create a Smile Stamps #3 Maaike Uijthoven (from Jen Lotfield’s blog)

• $25 gift certificate from Simon Says Stamp #38 Arianna Barbara (from Shelly’s blog)

• $25 gift certificate from the Ink Road  #10 Henriette (from Brandi’s blog)

• a Police Woman digi stamp from Lia Stampz #83 Angela Restad (from Ardyth’s blog)

• $25 gift certificate from a2z Scrapbooking #24 Charlene (from Dee’s blog)

• a crafty goodie bag from a2z Scrapbooking #19 Leslee (from Amy’s blog)

• a crafty goodie bag from Hero Arts #37 Liz Gessner McAlliston (from LauraJane’s blog)

• a $25 gift certificate to any online craft store (winner’s choice) from djkardkreations #56 Cat Craig (from Kristie Goulet’s blog)

• a $25 gift certificate from Altenew #53 Vinita Jain (from the A2Z Scrapbooking blog)

• a stamp set from Dee’s Artsy Impressions  #53 Jeanne (from Char’s blog)

Yay, winners!! Congrats! They'll be contacting you soon, Jeanne!!

Happy Monday,
Chark

Shake It Up, Shake It Up

Today I have a shaker card featured on the a2z Scrapbooking Supplies blog. And let me tell you, it was an adventure making it. I've tried at least 4 times to make shaker cards and they just are a little too tricky for me. I don't cut something straight, the foam isn't quite right or the adhesive catches the sequins. I just can't pull it off to my satisfaction even after viewing videos.

So I cheated a bit and started with a bag from my stamps that I just taped to the back of the card. It was less fussy and less work, so it actually turned out. Yay!

Here's a peek, hope you'll stop over and say hi! and remember my code CHARK15 if you wanna score a 15% discount on your cart of $25 or more at the a2z store. You could grab some new Hero Arts Stamp and Cuts like these or some HA digis that are exclusive to a2z.

And if you like Taylor Swift's song that I stole my title from, you might find this as funny as I did. Here's The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, lip-syncing the song. Omgoodness! 

Join me tomorrow for 1940s Baby Advice...it's bound to be good!
Happy Wednesday!
Chark