Papertrey challenge!

Wow, has it really been nearly a year since I posted?  I've had months of making nothing crafty, followed by weeks of intense work, but just haven't posted anything.  Recently, I have become aware of some fantastic images and dies by Papertrey Ink that I am really wanting to purchase.  But ... I really cannot afford to.  So, on a whim a few days ago I looked to see if they have a blog, and if there are any opportunities to win free products.  Happy day, I found a challenge.  I needed to take a die and use it as a stencil. Well, I only own two products (so far!) from Papertrey: a honeycomb die and the coordinating stamps.  So, that made it very easy to decide what to do! I had extra die cuts from the last time I made cards with it, so I just put a little temporary glue to hold it onto the paper and daubed in the inks. I also needed to make a card for someone in our church who just lost her step-son, so this helped me to push through and get a card made for her.   I had fun with this; my only frustration was just thoughtlessly grabbing white cardstock when I would have preferred beige for fall colors.  I was really happy with the results other than that (oh, and a major difficulty getting a decent embossed image on vellum - it took five tries, and even this one was flawed).

Christmas Fridge!

Wow, from the start of a workshop to make Christmas journals until the weekend after Christmas, life was nonstop crazy.  So, no chance to post anything until now.  So, I'm still at Christmas mode, but perhaps some, like myself, are making Christmas cards while it's still near the season, rather than waiting for fall/winter of this coming year!

We have a rather strangely designed kitchen ... I don't know what the builders of this old house were thinking, but our kitchen is only about 10x12, but has FIVE doorways!!!  As a result, we had to do what we had to do in order to make it functional.  Unfortunately, this means that the first thing staring one in the face upon entering the house (through a narrow mudroom) is our large refrigerator.  This year, I finally started decorating that side of the fridge.  I had made the poinsettias (Spellbinders) earlier in the season, but was crazy busy preparing for a December craft fair and did nothing else, planning to do it the week after the craft fair (along with most of my decorating, cleaning, cookie making and Christmas tree decorating).  Unfortunately, I got really sick, and lost the rest of the year, only feeling better just a day or two before Christmas.  But I was bound and determined to finish the fridge!  I did not end up doing all I hoped, but was pleased with what I managed.

The top has ornament images and custom die cuts from Our Daily Bread Designs; I am posting for their "Anything Goes" challenge.   I got the stamps and dies specifically for my fridge.  The pine boughs are Tim Holtz, and the poinsettias from Spellbinders.  The remaining images come from Eureka, and the bows on the Eureka ornaments also come from the ornament die set from Our Daily Bread.