A Sweet Santa Mug and More!

Hey crafty friends - the past two weeks I watched quite a bit of the Winter Olympics, including USA's hockey wins for gold (sorry, my Canadian friends). And, of course, curling with a lot of Minnesotans playing for Team USA!! Sad to see it all end for another four years!

I had some time yesterday after watching the closing ceremony & made a card for Just Us Girls Challenge #811 where Lisa (My Paper Tales) from their DT has chosen a wonderful inspiration photo. I loved Lisa's sweet Nordic cup & thought I'd pull out a Spellbinders cup die set I got on sale in AZ during the Christmas holidays.

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White;

Paper Studio cardstock; MFT Christmas Cheer;

Spellbinders Betterpress Porcelain

Dies - Spellbinders Cocoa Wonderland;

AJVD Stitched Dot Rectangle Backdrop Set

Press Plates w/dies - Spellbinders Home for 

Christmas Sentiments (retired)

Other - Spellbinders 2024 Advent Calendar 

(Day 22) sequins; foam tape; Copics for shading

I die cut the mug pieces and assembled. Added some shading to the beard and whipped cream with Copics. Adhered some pink sequins instead of the sprinkles in the inspiration photo. Matted 2 patterns of paper with pink and added to a white card. Added the mug & a Betterpressed sentiment with foam tape. 

I'll also add my cup to Darnell's February NBUS Challenge #83 since the die set was newly used. 

Saturday morning I watched Put the CASE in Chaos Episode #3. Each month, host Irene Smith and a guest (this time the amazing Ardyth) each CASE the other's card. This month they used stencils. I crafted along, creating a card inspired by each; Irene has a Facebook gallery for any submissions. First up, I made another Christmas card for the stash, taking inspiration from Irene's geometric stencil with shimmer spray:

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White;

Paper Studio cardstock;

Spellbinders Betterpress Porcelain

Stencils - Hero Arts Geometric Holiday

& Script (retired)

Dies - Spellbinders 2025 Advent Calendar Day 18

Press Plates w/dies - Spellbinders Home for 

Christmas Sentiments (retired)

Other - various Hero Arts & SSS inks &

HA Irridescent Shimmer Spray

Irene used Ardyth's favorite card format of a 4.25" square card; I simply trimmed down an A2 to card to be square. Next I took a white panel and stenciled the geometric pattern, masking off for the different colors since it's only a one layer. I must say, it was a pain but it made adding the shimmer spray at the end quick! After drying with a heat tool, I stenciled a script layer over top in Key Lime ink. Also blended ink around the edges and into the piece so it wasn't stark white. Trimmed it and added to a blue mat, then added a "tree" die cut and a Betterpressed sentiment.

Yes, I've been keeping up with my idea of using my SB Advent Calendars each day (did 2025 in January and am doing 2024 in February). I don't always make a full card that day but I do have a lot of bits ready! So I was able to grab a little tree for this card and a sentiment for the card below. The "tree" was actually a set of corner waves that I thought would make a cute pine tree! You can see Crafty Al's video with this set HERE.

I had cut the dies in green and layered the pieces onto white card stock leaving a space for "snow". Then I'd trimmed around it & added a short brown strip for the trunk. It was sitting on the table when I was looking for a die cut to add as Irene had. It's a different style of tree than the geometric ones but I thought it would work with the bigger sentiment. What do you think? Cute or should I have gone with a triangle tree?

Next I used Ardyth's sketch, again with her fave 4.25" square card but this time she'd trimmed the front smaller, then added a circle sentiment. When she trimmed off a panel for the shortened front, she added it to the inside. 

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White;

Paper Studio cardstock

Stamps - Spellbinders 2024 Advent Calendar Day 13

Dies - Hero Arts Circle Infinity Dies;

Poppystamps Scallop Pinpoint Rings

Stencils - Hero Arts but can't find the name

(maybe from a kit of theirs)

Other - various Hero Arts inks

I started by stenciling a full panel with alternating inks on a diagonal (no shimmer spray this time). Trimmed and matted then added to the card. The strip on the right is adhered to the inside so, when open, the circle hangs off the front. Die cut 3 circles (top blue is the pinpoint one), then layered and added the sentiment strip. Done!

That's it for today. Thanks for visiting & have a crafty week!!