MMMC #7 TIC TAC TOE + Holiday Inspiration DAY 1

Happy December! What a busy fun-filled post I have going on today to kick off this month! Today we're celebrating a fun new Mixed Media Monthly Challenge AND Day 1 of the 12 Days of Holiday Inspiration!

Our amazing sponsor for December is the Inspiration Emporium and they are offering a lucky winner a $25 gift certificate!!! They also have a special DISCOUNT CODE for you so click over to the MMMC page to get your code!! 

Welcome to Day 1 of the 12 Days of Holiday Inspiration Blog Event brought to you by "The Inspiration Crew"! We’re just a group of online crafty blog friends who love being creative. This time we're doing a 12-day event to provide you with tons of Holiday Inspiration.

We're making crafty projects using products we like and some of us are even offering prizes! Check each blog and the information there for what prizes are being offered and when the winners will be announced on that blog.

At the bottom of this post is a list of all the crafty ladies participating in this event. Be sure to visit all the blogs each day for loads of fun Holiday craft ideas.

The TIC TAC TOE challenge for December was so much to play with! For these fun ornaments, I made a tic-tac-toe by using a DIE, GLITTER, and STARS. I was inspired by an ornament Christy Tomlinson created in her Artsy Ornaments 2013 class. 

I had a lot of fun creating these ornaments. I purchased a pack of 4 glass bulbs from Michael's. Then I painted the inside of each one by squeezing some paint inside, adding a couple drops of water, and shaking shaking shaaakkking shaking the living daylights out of the bulb. Eventually the entire inside was coated with paint and I waited overnight for them to dry.

Next I took these epoxy stickers from Heidi Swapp and glued them to the front of the bulb. Then I painted the outside of the bulb. It dries fairly quickly and I gave it two coats of paint. 

Once the outer layer of paint was 100% dry, I ran over the bulb with some good ol' sandpaper. This scrapes off the top layer of paint and leaves your inside paint color showing through. I wanted the words to look like they were a piece of the glass bulb, so I lightly painted over them the same color that I used for the inside. Lastly, I die cut some stars and glued them around the bulb. To seal the paint, I covered the bulb with some Glitter Mod Podge! Right now they're hanging on our Christmas tree :)

I made two more ornaments that don't match for a Tic Tac Toe, but I thought I could share them anyways for my 12 Days of Holiday Inspiration project ;) I'll also be linking these ornaments up to the newest Virginia's View Challenge - Distressing! 

The words on these ornaments are actually die cuts from Papertrey Ink 'Wet Paint' word dies. I really love how these ones turned out!

NOW it's your turn to create a tic tac toe and link your project to the MIXED MEDIA MONTHLY December gallery!! I can't wait to see what fun things get linked up this month :)

PRIZES! I NEED TO GET RID OF ALL THIS STUFF IN THAT PHOTO! SOME OF IT CAN BE YOURS! As part of the 12 Days of Holiday Inspiration Event, I will be giving away a SWAG BOX of fun goodies to a lucky commenter! Comment on all 12 days to increase you chance of winning. And I PROMISE it will be PACKED with crafty goodness... I'm in the holiday giving spirit after all! ;)

Donna Bowman 

Rachel Kleinman (that's me!)

Ceal Pritchett

Ardyth Percy-Robb 

Jennifer Cuthbertson 

Lynn Kopas

Misty Buck

Love at First Slice

Yesterday proved to be a very successful Thanksgiving in our little household! We even got some light snow, which was very peaceful to see while watching the National Dog Show :) It can be difficult to think about food right now, but these little cuties deserve some love!

These little "Guac Love" cuties from the Sweet Stamp Shop are so sweet and versatile... I think they could make an adorable new born card, too! I even created my own sentiment using some letter stickers to say 'love at first SLICE'. Using stickers for your sentiment is an easy way to personalize your card and to also get more versatility out of your stamp collection. 

Now these guys are ready for a fiesta! I'll be flying home to Phoenix next week and I see a lot of yummy Mexican food in my near future! The little speech bubbles and phrases in the "Taco Bout It" set are so fun to mix and match to make my card special :) This could be a great party invitation!

Now in 30 minutes my Alma Mater is playing their biggest football game of the season! And it just happens to be our huge rivalry game too! I'm decked out in Arizona Wildcat gear and ready for the Duel in the Desert!

Bear Down!

<3 Rachel

Little Prince

I have a very special post today, in honor of a dear crafty friend and fellow Mixed Media Monthly Challenge team member... LALO!

She recently gave birth to beautiful baby number 5!! He is such a precious little bundle, and we know Lalo must have her hands full! The MMMC team wanted to throw a little bloggy baby shower of sorts :)

Here is my baby card made especially for sweet Lalo...

Lalo and her family live in gorgeous Hawaii, and she often posts pictures of all her babies SURFING and just enjoying the great outdoors. So this little prince beach card fits perfectly for her family and new little bundle :)

Stamps are from Lawn Fawn "Life is Good" and "Hello Baby". I colored images with Copic markers and blended Distress Inks to create the sunset sky.

Please head back to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge post and wish Lalo a big Congrats on her new baby boy!!

<3 Rachel

Brown Thursday Unity Hop!

It's the biggest Unity Hop of the year! Brown Thursday has arrived and the design team has SO much to share with you. PLUS it's the biggest sale of the year... 55% off EVERYTHING at the Unity store!!

There are also a TON of new releases today, but I'm actually going to share a a card with an older stamp - Lizzie Girl.

This card is pure paper piecing, one of my favorite things to do with my stamps. If you look closely, you'll see that I used a total of 8 different patterned paper for my Lizzie Girl. I love her plaid rain coat and I would love one like that for myself! :)

Remember to leave comments on each blog along the hop for your chance to win this fun itty bitty prize pack!

Once you're finished hopping, you can start SHOPPING! Make sure to enter the code 55THANKS at checkout to get that amazing deal!

Spellbinders + DCWV 2014 Holiday Blog Hop

Welcome to the Spellbinders Product Partner Holiday Blog Hop for 2014! I'm excited to be a part of this hop representing DCWV! For all the details, inspiration, and info about PRIZES please visit the DCWV blog or the Spellbinders blog :)

I created a holiday frame for my coffee table using DCWV Winter in the Woods stack and the gorgeous Spellbinders Contemporary Circles background die. Now I invite you to follow a full step-by-step tutorial for how this was created!

Materials:
DCWV Winter in the Woods stack
DCWV Vintage Essentials stack
DCWV Glitzy Glitter stack
Spellbinders Contemporary Circles die
Distress Ink Tea Dye and blending tool
Inexpensive frame (this one is from Ikea)
Glitter tape
Stickles in Silver
Wink of Stella glitter pen in clear
Mod Podge
Foam brush
Cutter Bees (detailed scissors)
Foam tape
Tombow Mono Multi Glue

Trace the photo mat that was included with your frame onto your paper and cut. Glue the cut paper onto the mat, then ink around the edges.

I die cut the Spellbinders Contemporary Circles from a lovely light blue paper. I backed the cut paper on some silver DCWV Glitzy Glitter paper, and framed the edges with silver glitter tape.

Adhere the cut paper to the back of your photo mat.

Now use DCWV Vintage Essentials tissue paper to decoupage the frame. Then place your photo mat inside the frame.

Now that the base of the frame is complete, we can start decorating the inside!

One of my favorite things to do with my DCWV stacks is fussy cut! I cut the 'Merry and Bright', which will be the main focus of my frame. I also cut out little deer and snowflakes and glued them to some twine to wrap across my frame.

I had originally kept the 'merry and bright' sentiment on the full journal card it's from, but I didn't like how much it was covering that great Spellbinders Contemporary Circles die cut. So that's why I decided to fussy cut around the individual letters.

I also popped the sentiment up with foam dots. This also helps keep it away from the gorgeous background die.

From this point on, I really just kept cutting images from the DCWV stack to embellish the edge of the frame. I added glitter accents throughout the frame.

Now for all the finished photos! Woohoo! You'll notice that I kept most embellishment off of the die cut background. I really liked how detailed that die was and I didn't want to cover it. I also love the glitter background, it looks like shimmery snow!

I really really love that gorgeous Spellbinders die! I have already cut it for many more projects and cards to come.

Now make sure to head back to the Spellbinders blog and the DCWV blog for a lot more holiday inspiration! Thanks for joining me!!

Have a fabulous holiday season!

<3 Rachel

ETA - Linking up to the Paper Issues "Say it ain't snow cold outside" linky party!

Appalachian Trail

It seems like over the weekend winter unofficially begun for most of the country! My instagram is filled with photos of snowy yards and icy roads. We've had some very frigid days, but thankfully for now we are snow-free! Don't get me wrong, the 'first snowfall' is always beautiful, peaceful, and memorable... but it's all the horrible snows that follow for the next 4 months that I'm not a fan of!

So to trick my brain, I went back in time to scrapbook some photos from this summer. Matt spent a couple extra days in Maine and he got some gorgeous photos while hiking the Appalachian Trail! They finally needed to get in the scrapbook.

Paper Issues has a new Sketch Saturday, which means me so so happy! I struggle with layout designs, so I almost always follow a sketch when scrapping. I followed the sketch pretty closely, I just rearranged where my title and journaling went. THANK YOU Paper Issues for offering a sketch! I hope you keep it up :)

My title is "Hiking the Appalachian Trail". I used a mix of Thickers, some white chunky glitter and the other has a map print (which is fitting with the theme). The two types ended up working really well together, but the only reason I did that is because this title has so many dang A's in it!!! One thicker sheet does not accommodate The Appalachian Trail!

There is a variety of embellishments on this page. I wanted as many light-blue items that could fit! Embellishments are from Heidi Swapp Project Life kits, Maggie Holmes, Glitz 'Wild and Free' stickers, Studio Calico wood veneers, Crate Paper globe, and some washi tape.

The pattern papers are from Carta Bella "Ahoy", October Afternoon "Midway" and "9 to 5". I'm also linking this layout for the Paper Issues "Game On" issue. I'm entering this because hiking (especially a crazy intense trail like this!) is definitely considered a sport in my book!

Have a fabulous week ahead :)

<3 Rachel

Thanksgiving Wine Tag

Welcome to our Thanksgiving Blog Hop! We are a group of crafty 

blog friends who like to get together and share crafty ideas. We're 

using products we like to make projects we enjoy creating. 

All Thanksgiving tables need wine, wine, and some more wine! Here is a simple wine tag that just uses 2 stamps! I used images from the October Unity Kit of the Month. I colored the image with copics and heat embossed the sentiment in gold. To make the tag shape I simply rounded the corners and die cut a circle on the back flap. Done and done!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit the blogs of the other ladies 

participating in our Thanksgiving Blog Hop today - I've listed their 

names and links to their blogs below!

Donna Bowman

Rachel Kleinman

Lynn Kopas

Jen Cuthbertson

Ceal Pritchett