They're Creepy and They're Kooky...

Well, perhaps I should say "They're CUTESY and they're kooky..."

They're my Halloween Paint Chip Cards that I designed for my World Card Making Day Challenge!

I designed two cards for my Challenge. The first is a quick and easy, simple card in the shape of that enduring Halloween treat... Candy Corn! This was a very easy pattern to create. I based the size on the usable (non-printed) portion of my Behr paint chip. The fold of the card is along the long edge of the left side of the candy. Just for fun, I decided to decorate my card with a goofy face. I know, I know... technically candy corn has a yellow base, orange center, and white tip. Oh well. I think it still looks like candy corn!

The second card that I designed is definitely a bit more complex. And perhaps just a teensy bit creepy. It's my Frankenstein's Monster Paint Chip Card! I really like how this one turned out. I again used a Behr paint chip -- I like its larger size -- and just trimmed off the manufacturer's text along the left side. The base of the card is a 12" piece of orange cardstock trimmed the width of my paint chip. Part of the fun aspect of this design is that it is a gatefold card that opens at Frankie's mouth!

Another fun aspect of this card was in the design of the monster's face. I kept moving different shapes around to find the appropriate expression. At one point, Frankie was lookin' kinda Veggie Tales. Later it was more Sesame Streetesque. You know, like the taller, yellower half of that popular duo, Bert and Ernie. Must be the unibrow...

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In honor of World Card Making Day, here is the complete tutorial for my Candy Corn Paint Chip Card!

Supplies:

• Cardstock: black by DMD; green, white
• Accents: Leaf Self-Adhesive Felt Decorations from Scrapbooking line from Target Stores
• Tools: 1-3/8" and 1" circle punch from EK Success; 5/8" circle punch from Marvy Uchida; hole puncher; Xyron sticker maker
  
• Other: paint chip by Behr; patterns (right-click to download)
  

Instructions:

1. Cut black cardstock and paint chip following patterns. Fold cardstock in half along dashed line. Adhere paint chip to front of card.
2. Punch one 1-3/8" circle from black CS. Cut in half to form "mouth." Punch two 1" circles from white CS. Punch two 5/8" circles from green CS. Punch two small circles from black CS using hole puncher.
3. Adhere circles to paint chip to form eyes.
4. Freeform cut out "tooth." Adhere to mouth. Adhere mouth to paint chip.
5. Adhere felt leaf to top of card for "hair."

Tip: To cut patterns from black CS, print pattern on white paper. Adhere to black CS using removable tape. Cut along lines and remove white paper.

Finished Size approx 3.75" x 4.5"
Enjoy, and Happy World Card Making Day!

Winner of My WCMD Blog Challenge!

May I have a special World Card Making Day Drum Roll, please!

Announcing the winner of my WCMD Blog Challenge! It is Sandee from Dandridge, TN!!! Woo Hoo!!!

It was a tough decision... so much creativity out there! Jennie, your little duckies are sooo cute! And of course, anything baby has special meaning to me right now. And Elaine, I love how you used all those paint chip colors to create your fall leaves! However, my favorite use of paint chips has to be how Sandee embossed them and turned them into darling bird houses! And I love the trim and use of popsicle sticks!

Congrats Sandee!!! Please contact me with your info, so that I can send you your QuicKutz Cookie Cutter Shapes Bundle!

Thanks to everyone who accepted my challenge. And check back soon, as I will be sharing with you the two Halloween Paint Chip Cards that I designed for WCMD!

WCMD: My Blog Challenge

(Cue Mission Impossible theme song...)

Your World Card Making Day Challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to design a card (or two, or three, or four, ...) using those now infamous and highly sought-after PAINT CHIPS! It may be for any theme you wish, but must somehow incorporate at least a portion of one paint chip into the design.

I will pick my favorite and announce the winner here on my blog on World Card Making Day -- Saturday, October 4th. The winner will receive a brand new QuicKutz Cookie Cutter Shapes Bundle package featuring Flower, Spring, and Weather Shapes! I will also be accepting my own challenge and will share my final design(s) with you on WCMD.

To enter, upload a photo of your card(s) to your own blog or online gallery of your choice (like WCMD's own Creation Corner Gallery). Then add a comment to this post including a link to your creation. (Please enter the URL to the website, not to the image file itself.)

On to the fine print...

1. You may enter multiple times - one entry per card design.
2. All entries will be judged on overall appearance, with bonus points for creative use of the paint chip(s).
3. This challenge will not self-destruct. However, all entries must be received no later than 11:59pm on Friday, October 3rd (EST).

Stuck for an idea? Check out my previous Paint Chip Cards!

Let the challenge begin!

Birthday Blog Candy Winner!

Drum roll, please!

Announcing the winner of my Blog Birthday Ice Cream Challenge! It is Suzanne from Orange County, NY!!! All the entries were really cute, but I really love the colors and playfulness of Suzanne's card. (You can see more details about Suzanne's creation on her "The Card Garden" blog.)

Congrats Suzanne! Please contact me with your info, so that I can send you your prize package!

And thanks to everyone who accepted my challenge!

A Very Merry Birthday! To Me! To You!

That's right, today is the first anniversary of my initial blog post! So I'm throwing my one-year-old a Birthday Party complete with sweet treats, games and prizes. I'm inviting all of YOU, my blog readers, to join in on the fun and festivities! And what better way to begin a birthday party, than with ICE CREAM!!! Ice cream for everyone!

Presenting the complete tutorial on how to create your very own Ice Cream Cone Card...

Supplies:

• Cardstock: brown from K&Company; blue-green, pink, dark pink, and red from Bazzill Basics Paper; black
• Patterned Paper: The Slab II from Provo Craft
• Accents: colored wire by Making Memories
• Tools: 1" circle punch
• Other: patterns (download here!)

Instructions:

1. Cut out shapes for ice cream scoops & cone following directions on patterns. Punch two 1" circles from red paper.
2. Glue patterned paper to front cone piece.
   Cut half moon shape from dark pink paper and adhere to front of "strawberry" scoop.
   Randomly cut "chocolate chips" from black cardstock and glue to front of "mint chip" scoop.
   Cut small half moon shape from pink paper and glue to one red circle to make a highlight.
3. Fold as follows:
   Back copy of "strawberry" scoop back one inch from top
   Front copy of "mint chip" scoop forward one inch from top
   Back copy of "cone" back one inch from bottom
4. Glue front pieces of scoops & cones to back pieces on the small folded areas only (top of scoops & bottom of cone).
5. Glue back of "mint chip" scoop to back of cone, and back of "strawberry scoop to back of "mint chip" scoop, overlapping pieces.
6. Cut approx. 3" piece of red wire. Curl one end into a small circle and adhere to back of red circle with highlight using glue dot. Glue bottom half of "cherry" to top of "strawberry" scoop. Glue other red circle to back of "strawberry" scoop, making a sandwich with the wire.

Optional: Here is the text that I added to the inside of my Ice Cream Cone Card:
The "strawberry scoop" flips up to say "You're like the CHERRY on top of my ice cream!"
The "mint chip scoop" flips up to say "Life without you would be like MINT CHIP without the chocolate!"
The "cone" flips down to say "Thanks for being my friend!"

Finished Size Approx. 5" x 3.75" (plus cherry "stem")
Additional photos in my online portfolio.

: : : : :

And what would a birthday party be
without games and prizes???

And now, on to the gifts! In honor of my blog's very first birthday, I am giving away a Blog Candy prize package. The package consists of one copy of Paper Crafts magazine's latest special issue "Cards, Gifts, & More: Paper Crafting 3 Ways" (featuring 3 projects by Yours Truly), four packages of Ice Cream themed dimensional stickers, two spools of coordinating ribbon, and one Ice Cream themed box. (Sorry -- due to the high cost of shipping, I can only send this package to residents of the continental United States.)

If you would like a chance at winning this package, simply make a paper craft creation (card, scrapbook, etc.) using Ice Cream as your theme. Then upload a photo of your project to your blog or online gallery. Leave a comment on this post with a link to the website (not the image itself!) by Friday, August 29th at 11pm EST. I will pick my fave and announce the winner here on my blog on Saturday, August 30th. If you already have an Ice Cream themed project online, feel free to enter it!

I can't wait to see your creations! And enjoy the Birthday Party!

Starting the New Year with a BANG!!!

Happy New Year, Everyone!


Hope you all had wonderful holidays! Mine is starting off with a bang! (and a crash, but more on that later...) Last week I got an email from Kelly over at Paper Crafts Magazine, informing me that my "Santa Gift Boxes" were one of three winners in their December Gallery Challenge. Woo Hoo!!! The theme of this challenge was Holiday Gift Wrap.

I decorated my "Santa Gift Boxes" to look like the Big Guy himself. The smaller box's lid lifts off. The larger box's jacket opens to reveal the gift inside. Both boxes are held close by Santa's "belt."

I modeled the larger box after Williams-Sonoma's Handcrafted Marshmallows package. I find a lot of inspiration from their package designs. Not to mention some really Good Eats!

Congrats also to my fellow winners, joey73 and MOlin! Joey73 designed an absolutely adorable gift tag, and MOlin created a very elegant holiday tea tin. You can see all three winning entries (plus dozens more) in Paper Crafts' gallery for the month of January.

: : :

And what about that crash that I mentioned earlier? Well, my cellphone/PDA (that's Personal Digital Assistant, not Public Display of Affection!) died early last week, and I've been spending DAYS trying to recover as much of my data as possible. My PDA is my address book, my calendar, my recipe files, my shopping list, my diary, my memory, my LIFE! Lemme tell you, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth at the Sgro household! Why do I share all this with you, Dear Reader? Well, the moral of the story is... ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA!!!

Thank you. That concludes my Public Service Announcement. You will now be returned to your regularly scheduled life...

My Trio of Halloween Treat Boxes

As seen in the Oct/Nov 2008 issue of Paper Trends magazine!

Here they are! These are the Halloween Treat Boxes that I created for Paper Crafts magazine message board's daily challenge. I had lots of fun creating these cute, little boxes using various digital kits and the Chinese Takeout box template from PackageTech.com.

I created this box using the October Orange Kit from Two Peas in a Bucket. I finished it off with a length of black velvet ribbon from Michaels Stores.







This one uses the Treats from the Streets digital kit from ScrapStreet.com. I added some yellow ribbon from SEI's Kaboom collection and attached it with black brads from Making Memories.

I designed this last box using the Harvest Spice kit from ShabbyPrincess.com. I decided not to add a handle on this one.



Finished Size Approx. 2.5" x 2.25" x 2.5", exclusive of ribbon. More pics in my online portfolio

Trick or Treat!

Created using Adobe Photoshop and elements from the
Shabby Fall and Harvest Spice digital kits from shabbyprincess.com.

Happy Halloween everyone! Today I'm hosting the daily challenge over on the Paper Crafts magazine message board. Would you like to join us? Here's the info...

I hope you're not all Halloween'd out, because today's challenge, should you choose to accept it, is both a TREAT and a TRICK.

Here's the Treat:
Create a Halloween Treat Box out of a Chinese Take Out Box.
You could do it by decorating one that you already have (I know the craft stores around me sell them) or you could take one apart to use as a template. Or you can use this template that I found online by PackageTech.com:
www.packagetech.com/chinese-takeout-boxes.html
(Scroll to the bottom to find the blank templates and instructions.)

Now here's the Trick:
Use at least TWO digital elements, when decorating your Treat Box.
You can use ones that you already have, or choose from these Free Digital Kits that I found online:

From Two Peas in a Bucket*:
The October Orange Kit (about halfway down the page).

From ScrapStreet.com*:
Treats from the Streets or
Falling into Fun.

From shabbyprincess.com:
Shabby Fall or
Harvest Spice.

* Note that Two Peas and ScrapStreet both require that you sign in or create a free account to download their kits.

If you don't have a working printer, you can just do the Treat part of this challenge. But I'm trying to encourage everyone to try something new, like using digital elements, in their paper crafting.

Please join me in doing this challenge! No prizes or awards, just trying to get our creative juices flowing and thinking outside of the box. (Or thinking about and making a box, in this case...) I will post my own creation(s) later today. If you would like to see your Treat Box on my blog, feel free to email me a photo. I would love to see what you all do!

Happy Halloween!
Angela

Christmas Clippies!

Ok, I know I'm pushing the season a little... But I just wanted to share these with you. I created these today for a daily challenge on Paper Craft magazine's message board.

These are called clippies in the paper crafting/scrapbooking world. Clippies are bookmarks made by altering jumbo paper clips. I got my paper clips from WalMart, but they are available in most office supply stores. Splitcoaststampers.com has a great, easy-to-follow tutorial on making clippies here.

My Christmas Clippies were very quick and easy to create. First I ran my patterned cardstock through my Xyron sticker maker to apply adhesive to the back. Then I adhered the paper to my cardboard. Next I punched out the patterned circles with my 1" circle punch. (See tip below.) I used a similar technique with my solid cardstock and my 1.25" punch to create two larger circles per bookmark. I adhered the smaller, patterned circle to the front of one of the larger circles, and a piece of folded ribbon to the back of the other solid circle. Finally, I attached both circles to my jumbo paper clip with a pop-up Glue Dot. I would have used a stronger liquid adhesive (like Liquid Nails or E6000), however someone neglected to completely close the cap on her glue, and now someone has a brick of glue stuck in a tube... Oh well...

Bonus Tip! To perfectly center my punch around my patterned circles, I use my punches upside down for more precise placement.

Supplies:

• Patterned Cardstock: Letters to Santa from Candy Cane Lane collection
  by Imaginisce
• Cardstock: Textured Adhesive Matstack by DCWV
• Fibers: red & cream grosgrain ribbon from Target Stores
• Adhesive: Craft & Pop-Up adhesive dots by Glue Dots
• Tools: sticker maker by Xyron; 1" & 1-1/4" circle punches by EK Success
• Other: 3.5" Paper Clips from Walmart; chipboard (aka used cereal box!)
  courtesy of Kellogg's

Finished Size Approx. 1.25" x 3", exclusive of ribbon

Winners of my Hawaiian Shirt Blog Candy

Thank you to everyone who sent a shirt(s) to Janice for her Senior Services Meals on Wheels Fund Raiser. I would have loved to send each and every one of you something special as a thank you, but I could only choose three...

And here they are! The three winners of my Hawaiian Shirt Blog Candy! Congratulations to Lora from Brooklyn, New York, Paulette from Pompano Beach, Florida and Arlene from Chicago, Illinois! Thank you ladies!

In appreciation for all you've done, each of you will receive a package consisting of the following:

• One of my very own Hawaiian Shirts
• A "Thank You" themed set of Clear Stamps
• Two Clear Stamp Blocks
• A spool of Ribbon
  in tropical colors
• A pack of 100 Mini Brads
  (to use on additional Shirts, perhaps?)
  

My thanks to Lora, Paulette, and Arlene and to everyone who participated in this worthy cause.

Hawaiian Shirt Blog Candy

Or is it a PIF? (Pay It Forward) Or a RAK? (Random Act of Kindness) I'm kinda new at this, so I'm not sure what it is. I'm gonna to call it a great, big THANK YOU for all of you who shared your time and creative energy in order to send a Hawaiian Shirt(s) for Janice's Senior Services Meals on Wheels Fund Raiser.

As a token of my appreciation, I will be giving away three prize packages consisting of one of my own Hawaiian Shirts plus some additional cool scrapbooking product(s). Janice will randomly pick the three winners from among those who sent her a shirt.

If you would like a chance to win, please make sure that Janice receives your shirt(s) by August 27th. The drawing will be on August 28th and I will post the winners here on my blog. (Remember to include a return address with your shirt!)

For more information about the fund raiser, see this post. For more information on making your own Hawaiian Shirt, see my original tutorial here or my revised tutorial for double-sided cardstock here.

Hawaiian Shirts for a Great Cause!

When Janice asked for my Hawaiian Shirt template, she mentioned that she wanted it for a fund raiser for her retirement community's Senior Services Meals on Wheels program. I thought that this was such a wonderful use for the little shirts, and I decided to make some to send to her. Please join me in sending your own version of my Hawaiian Shirt to Janice for her retirement community's fund raiser. Here is some event info that she sent me at my request:

The Fundraiser is for our Senior Services Meals on Wheels program. Arbor Acres for the past 4 years has been hosting an event on campus in conjunction with Senior Services Community wide "Edible Evenings" Campaign. Our event's all have CAR in them since the symbol for Meals on Wheels is a paper car it looks like a volkswagon bug! So we've had such events as a CAR-be-Que, a CARnival and this year is the CARibbean Cruise.

All our events are FUNdraisers!!!! Stressing the word FUN! Last years Carnival was a huge success in the FUN department and thus as a FUNd raiser we were able to present our local Senior Services office with $17,000!!

This year we hope to raise even more. This is a resident run event with staff support. The committees and sub committees have been very busy planning and getting things ready. ... I'm coming up with decorations and signage and articles in our newsletter monthly to get everyone excited about the event as well as the craft classes.

Janice is going to use the shirts to remind residents of special events, and plans on putting them on all the tables in the dining room (that's 65 shirts!). I'm going to send her a few shirts to help her get started (see photo above). If any of you are interested in joining me, here is the necessary info...

You can find the Hawaiian Shirt template on my blog here. Janice would need the shirts by August 27th. This would give her enough time to print the info on stickers and affix to the inside of the shirts. Please keep all shirts blank inside and Hawaiian/Caribbean themed. Also, please put your first name as well as your city and state on the back of the shirt, so that Arbor Acres' residents will know where they came from!

Here's her contact info:

Janice Lutz-Vanhoy, LRT/CTRS
Director Recreation Services
Arbor Acres United Methodist Retirement Community
1240 Arbor Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27104
www.arboracres.org

Thanks in advance to all who participate! If even a fraction of the recipients of my template sends just ONE shirt, she'll have every table covered in no time!

Yay! I won my first contest!

Click to enlarge

These little shirts were my entry for Paper Crafts Magazine's online "Get Inspired Challenge" for the month of June. Viewers were challenged to design a project inspired by a favorite summer item. I chose Hawaiian Shirts as my inspiration. I originally chose this size to fit in a 5" square envelope, but it turned out that the shirts were the perfect size to hold a business or gift card! I also chose this size to maximize my paper -- I can get two shirts from one 12" x 12" piece of cardstock.

I was so excited when Kelly from Paper Crafts emailed me to tell me that I was one of three June Gallery Challenge Winners! Woo Hoo! And congrats to the two other talented ladies who also won. Lemme tell you, there was some stiff competition!

What did I win you ask? My Hawaiian Shirts won a place of honor in the Paper Crafts Gallery for the month of July, a free subscription to Paper Crafts Magazine, and these wonderful products...

Doodlebug paper, stickers & ribbon.

The stamps are from Scrapworks.

For additional versions of this shirt, see my portfolio...