For You, New Tilda Card

Happy Hump Day Everyone!
I'm been so busy with Design Team projects that my poor Magnolia stamps are feeling left out and sad.
So I decided it was time for a Tilda and of course I picked out my very favorite! Don't ask me why as I just can't answer but there is something about Well Dressed Tilda that makes me smile, and perching her on the book pile makes if even better!
I combined 7 challenges to create this card which doesn't feel like very many for me! LOL
Mojo Monday gave me the sketch
Just Magnolia gave me the color scheme of Pink, Grey with the option of Black
Roses On Paper wanted to see Stitching so I got out my pen for some faux stitching
Magnolia Down Under wanted to see Buttons
Die Cut Dreams wanted to see Ribbon and Trim
One Stop Craft Challenge wanted to see die cuts
and finally
Use Your Stash had a free choice as long as it was old! Well the dp on this card is from Keeping Memories Alive and they've not produced their own brand of paper for at least 5 years! In fact I think these pieces are closer to 10 years and no yellowing at all so it must be good stuff! LOL







Anyway I hope you like her!
Katie

Fabulous Design Team News!

Sorry for the second post today!
I have some super news that I've been holding in and now I can shout it out loud!
I have been picked to join the brand new Design Team over at THE PIXIE COTTAGE!
This is a name that may be new to you now but very soon you'll all be clammering for the super new stamps that will be coming out!
Michelle has gathered some brand new stamp artists and created their images in deep etched rubber for your stamping pleasure.
The stamps are already up for preorder and I can't wait to start creating with them.
You can see all the preorders at Michelles Scrapbooking and More and you're sure to love them! The designs range from cute and whimsical to classic and beautiful. I especially love the background stamps and can't wait to add my Tilda's to the beautiful scene's!
The team is a stunning array of talent and I can't wait to get to know them all and get creating.
The other members are:
Kristen
Andrea
Pam
Tara
Renata
Risa
Tammy
Anne
Peggy

I'll be debuting some new projects for The Pixie Cottage really soon and I hope yo'll come back to see them.
Katie

Happy Halloween 2 U!

Happy Tuesday!
This week the My Grafico Design Team have joined forces with Tuesday Morning Sketches to create some fantastic cards for you to see!
I've used some wonderful images from the Trick Or Treat set and they are all so cute!
I've also added, surprise, surprise, more challenges!
Dare U2 Digi wanted to see Punches or Die Cuts.
One Stop Crafts also wanted Die Cuts
Simon Says Stamp said "It's a Stitch Up" and wanted either real or faux stitching so I got my fine tips out!
Three Clovers wanted Numbers
and
PaperPlay said "Spot It" and wanted anything with dots!



I interpreted the sketch into a gatefold style with the circle being the opening.
I colored the Jack O'Lantern and the Witches Cat with Copic's and cut both of them with Nesties.
The "2 U" are chipboard and it took 3 layers to make me happy. First I colored with Copic C7, then I added black glitter glue and finally Art Institute super fine green glitter!
The HAPPY letters are from Target's $1 spot from last year (yes I'm a hoarder!) and the Halloween are rub on letters. The spotted dp is DCWV from last year too.



The inside has lots of room for a special message.



I love this Kitty and think she looks so happy in her Witches hat!

I'd love to see you join in at My Grafico this week and remember it's a combined challenge with Tuesday Morning Sketches so you get 2 entries in 2 challenges with a chance for 2 different prizes with just 1 card!
Have a great day!
Katie

Friends With Dirty Faces :) New Cute Daisy May DT card

Happy Monday Everyone!
It's time for another new challenge at Cute Daisy May and this week it's a recipe.
The challenge is to use 1 Ribbon, 2 Buttons and 3 Flowers. You can add to the recipe but they must be the minimum.
You can see all the fantastic Design Team cards over at the Cute Daisy May Challenge Blog
I've used a super cute image from Sheet 44 and I think she's just the sweetest thing!
I've also included some more challenges to this card.
Creative Card Crew wanted to see decorated insides,
Crafty Creations wanted to see a Window
In The Cottage Studio had an "Inside Out" theme where they wanted both the inside and outside decorating.
and 365 Cards Day 208 had a Combo Challenge and you had to choose a challenge from June, July and August and put them all on one card. I chose Day 118 - I've been Framed, Day 135 - On The Outside Looking In and Day 159 - Setting the Scene, Indoors.



I know it seems a little "naughty" looking in through the window but I just love how this turned out. The sentiment is KI Memories and I based the whole card around this phrase!
I colord her with Copic's and added Glossy Accents to the bubbles for a little "pop".
The papers are double sided so they made great curtains when folded back and I think it's K&Co but I could be wrong.
The lace is made from a Martha Stewart border punch.



Here you can get a better view of how the window looks.



I made the window/curtains follow through to the inside too.
I hope you like her and I'd love to see you enter the challenge at the Cute Daisy May Challenge Blog this week.
Katie

OK, 19 challenges in one card! Am I going too far? LOL

Happy Saturday!
First let me apologize for the lack of posts this week.
I've been busy with upcoming Design Team projects and didn't get a chance to do anything that wasn't on my to do list!
But this morning Nathan was at his Merit Badge college (the last of 3 weeks)with Andy and Georgia was at Girl Scouts so I got a couple of hours for me.
There were so many challenges that I didn't do last week so I wanted to fit as many as I could into this one card, I think I did good ;)
First I started with the sketch fom Sketch Saturday and I rotated it to fit with my image.
There were a lot of similar themes so it was much easier to have a big list this week;
My Time To Craft wanted an Autumn Fest
Allsorts was Autumn Days
Creative Inspirations was Autumn/Fall
Stamp With Fun was Autumn
Digital Tuesday was Autumn Leaves
Then came the recipes;
Play Along Monday had 1 Ribbon, 2 Eyelets (inside the card this time) and 3 colors, I chose Brown, Rust and Green
Digital Ink Co had 2 Designer Papers and 3 brads/buttons or eyelets (the buttons are embossed on the border)
Kaboodle Doodles wanted 1 cardstock, 2 dp, 3 embellishments and 1 digi image
Add some embellishment challenges;
Whimsy Stamps wanted Buttons, Buttons, Buttons!
Paper Cutz wanted at least 3 Buttons
I needed some techniques;
Basic Grey wanted Embossing (and BG paper of course)
La La Lands wanted Paper Piecing and you know I love that!
Cupcake Crafts wanted to see Distressing and so I inked the edges and sanded the edges, the leaves and th embossed border.
365 Cards Day 210 - Try A Technique, Sanding
Scrap And Stamp Saturday wanted Distressing and at least one stamp
Finally I need a color scheme so I found a color challenge and 2 "inspiration challenges"
Color Chef Challenge wanted Orange, Brown and Green and Cream or White
Pals Paper Arts had a Pottery Barn photo for inspiration and
Etsy Inspired had a jewelry store for inspiation and I chose this beautiful piece for it's copper and green tones and earthy feel.



This fabulous image of Cherry is from Pollycraft and I just love her!
I paper pieced the hat, dress and tree. I added color with Copic's to her faces and shirt and did markers and paper piecing on the sleeves.
I embossed my favorite embossing border folder which is those cute buttons! I then inked and sanded it.
I added the Harvest ribbon to the border and also took a piece to use as my sentiment.
The dp is Mellow by Basic Grey.


Inside is more dp and message mat with more ribbon and two heart eyelets.



A close up of all that paper piecing.
Anway I hope you like her and have a great weekend!
Katie

Recipe Box and Matching Card

Happy Tuesday!
It is grey and actually "cold" only in the 60's for high's and that's cold for TX!
Last week I showed you a Halloween altered lunchbox and it actually got chosen as a Top Pick in the Halloween section at Card Of The Week.com!
So It spurred me on to create another box.
This time I chose to make it into a recipe box and to include a matching card!
I hope you like it!

Here you can see the box and the card together.
I used some fabulous dp from The Paper Studio that I got at Hobby Lobby, it really was the starting point for the whole project. The chipboard letters are from an old collection from the $1 spot at Target.
I used my Threading Water border punch for the border around both the box and the title and carried it through to the card.

This fantastic image is from Victoria Case from her "Girls" CD which is still available, you just need to email her directly, but it is well worth it!
I colored her with Copic's and added faux stitching to the mat and also to the nestie holding the the sentiment.

The inside is more of the wonderfu dp and a message mat trimmed with the Threading Water punch.

Here is a close up of the box alone.
I hope you enjoyed looking and have a great evening!
Katie

I'm Not Shaken OR Stirred! - New My Grafico card

Hi Everyone,
It's time for a new challenge for the newest My Grafico Challenge
This week's challenge is to make a card celebrating Retirement.
Well this was a real challenge for me but I think I pulled it off!
We got to work with a really super set of images called Funky Flamingo's and it was such fun!
Of course I had to add a few other challenges to this card.
There were 2 challenge blogs with similar "recipe" challenges that worked well together. Simon Says Stamp wanted 3 embellishments, 2 papers and 1 image and Creative Card Crew wanted 2 papers, 3 flowers, 2 brads, 1 button and 1 ribbon (I had to add something to the inside to make it qualify but I still got it all in!)
Charisma Cardzwanted lots of flowers.
Stamp Something wanted favorite papers or colors and really this card has both. I love blue and green together and the papers are from DCWV and I use their stacks ALL the time!
The Secret Crafter wanted "One for the Girls" and I certainly think this Flamingo in her bikini and sipping a cocktail is one of the girls!
Creative Inspirations wanted an Animal theme and I hope a bird is classed as an Animal! LOL


I colored this cute Flamingo with Copic's and the dp are from the Citrus Stack by DCWV. The border punch is Martha Stewart, the flowers are Prima and fabric brads are The Paper Studio. I printed the sentiment myself.

The inside is more dp and a large message mat with a ribbon and button border.


Anyway, I hope you're not too relaxed to go and join in the My Grafico Challenge this week!
Katie

Witchful Thinking, a new card for Cute Daisy May

Happy Monday Everyone!
Today it's time for another new card for Cute Daisy May. Today's challenge is to add texture to your card and I chose a fabulous image from the pen of the wonderful Linnie! It's sheet 97 and you can buy it HERE.
This one is so cute that I know I'll be using her again :)

I've added some challenges to this one too.
Tuesday Morning Sketches actually don't have a sketch this week but they want to see you using Ribbons!
Also one of my favorite blogs La La Land has an embellishment challenge to add 3 different ones. I have ribbons, brads and tags.

I colored this cutie with Copic's and cut her with one of the newer Label nesties. I added the ribbons "arrow style" with patterned brads.
The dp is KI Memories.
I used a few different things to add texture to this card. I started off covering the base of the card with "splatter net" which is a product I've add for years but they no longer produce it. It is mesh with paint splatters on it and this one is purple. I like that you can see the patterned paper through it. The I used a border embossing folder that I thought looked like eyes to emboss the accent border. I added googlie eyes and glitter to the characters and they give it even more texture.
I added a Martha Stewart "Drippy Goo" punched border to the top of the card and the bottom of the accent border.
I hope this gives you a few ideas when you are looking to add texture to your projects.


Inside is more dp and a wonderful spiderweb message mat.

I hope you'll go over and play at Cute Daisy May this week and show us all your different ways of adding texture to your cards.
Katie

Trick or Treat - New Pile It On Challenge card

Happy Sunday,
I hope you are all having a great weekend.
Today's card is my DT card for the Pile It On challenge.
Today's challenge is to include punches on your card and we got to work with the super images from Crazed which was great.
As Pile It On is a blog that wants you to combine as many challenges as you can I obvious had to do a little searching before creating my card.
Delightful Sketches started me off with the sketch (I love their sketches and try to do each one)
Tuesday Taggers wanted Punches and/or Die Cuts.
PaperTake Weekly wanted "Fake Anything" so I added faux (aren't I being posh!)stitching to the mat on the front and inside too.
Everybody Art Challenge was looking for something Shabby so I inked the edges of the mats as well.
Daring Cardmakers wanted us to get Shabby too!
Paper Maniac wanted you to use Ribbon.
Belli wanted a Fall or Halloween theme.
Paper Play were looking for tags so I add my sentiment on one.
Treehouse Stamps wanted us to go "Just Around The Corner" and I think my fancy corner punch counts here!
Finally I used the elements from the recipe at my own challenge blog Cooking It Up With Katie which was use 1 image, 2 shapes (I used squares and circles) and 3 paper embellishments which I did with the square accents, punched borders and paper tag.

This fantastic image is from my new favorite artist, Mo Manning, and she is simply called Halloween Witch. She was so wonderful to color and I admit I'm getting hooked on her illustrations and stalk her blog and site every day!
The papers The Paper Studio and the Bat border punch is from EK Success. The Halloween accents are from this weeks Pile It On sponsor Crazed and the sheet is called Halloween Fun. They have a fabulous deal of 5 sheets for $10 going on right now so it's the perfect time to try them out! Plus enter the challenge and you will be in with a chance to win some!
The sentiment sticker is The Paper Studio also. I used an older Emaginations corner punch but sadly that company is no longer around :(

The inside is more dp and a matching "shabby" message mat with an additional rub on sentiment that I aged with more inking.

I hope you'll give Pile It On a try this week and get your punches out and get creating!
Have a great rest of your Sunday.

BOO! Did I make you jump?

Happy Saturday!
It's another busy weekend here with mre Boy Scout stuff and everything else that goes on in a family of 5!
Today I don't a card or anything with a challenge on it, but I do have a crafty creation to share!
Back in 2005 I started making Altered Lunchboxes and to date have made well over 100 different ones. I love how easily you can adapt them to any theme you like and how the same box can hold memories, recipes, photos, addresses, cards.....you get the picture.
Well the trend died down and you didn't see them around much.
But towards the Holidays there are always those people that you just can't shop for and that's when one of these boxes can be the perfect gift!
So as well as selling my cards on eBay I do make a few of the boxes and I really love them!
Enough of my prattling on and on and here is my latest!


The colors and design of this paper is so much fun!
I added tons of ribbons to the handles, I knew my stash would come in handy!
I crackle painted the chipboard letters and I love how that part turned out.



Here you can see a better view of the letters and also the cute spider crawling down from them!



Inside there are a dozen index style cards for you add Halloween memories to or you could store your favorite Halloween photos in ready to go in your scrapbook.

Anyway, I hope you liked it and if you would like to see more photos you can do on the eBay listing
Have a great Saturday and be sure to check back tomorrow for a new card for the My Grafico Design Team.
Katie

My Own Challenge Blog :)

Hi Everyone,
I hope you have room for another challenge blog on your list as I've started one of my own!
Cooking It Up With Katie will have a challenge every other Thursday and they will all be "recipe" challenges.
Just like a cooking book I'll give you the basic recipe and you "cook up" the rest!
For now it'll only be me with the examples but if we get popular I may well invite a few guests to join us!
All the rules and details are over at the challenge blog
Challenge #1 is:
Use 1 image
Add 2 different shapes to you project in any form you like
And use 3 Paper Embellishments, these can be store bought, handmade, punched, die cut, anything you like just make sure they are made of paper.

My card also includes challenges from other sites.
The color inspiration came from Basic Grey Challenges and the sketch came from Allsorts (they wanted any 2 colors too so I pulled the Blue and Green from the Basic Grey inspiration).
Also a good friend of mine runs a color challenge blog at Easy Breezy "Kewl" Colour Challenges and this weeks challenge is Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Basic Gray and Burmuda Bay and I think my blue and green color scheme fits in with that fine!
Also I found another challenge blog that was new to me (and I love the name as admit we all call it C^@p at times! Scrap Your Crap wanted you to use you chipboard and I'll admit to having tons and not using it like I should. So I added chipboard circle with heart centers that I inked.



The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil and it's a trio set of 3 teen images.
Mo Manning was orignally a children book artist but has branched out into digital images and I'm so thankful she did! Her work is fabulous, different from other out there and so wonderful to color.



Here you can see the inside is more of the wonderful Basic Grey paper from the Phoebe collection and I added a heart to the message mat.



I wonder who she's thinking about?

Anyway, I'd love it if you could join in with my challenge and if you could spread the word to others that would be great too! The more the merrier and I can't wait to see what you come up.
Go over NOW and join in!
Katie

Double Trouble!

Second post of the day!
I hope you read about my excitement over a new challenge blog I'll be a part of, if not scroll down to read it below.
Today's card just make me smile everytime I look at it!
First here are the challenge I used for it's creation.
Crazy 4 Challenges gave me the sketch. It is a brand new challenge blog but it has some very familar faces at it's helm.
Pile It On and Polly Craft both had the same challenge of "Black and White and 1 other color", so I chose Pink to add to the combo.
Flutterby Wednesday's wanted to see Pink along with either a Fairy or Butterfly.
Rosie Dee's wanted you to use 2 squares and a rectangle on your project
and finally Courtney's Closet challenge was a "playdate"



I hope you don't get tired of seeing Mo's images as today's features another of her fantastic creations! This one is called Stepsisters although I think they could be friends not having a good day as well! LOL
I colored them with Copic's and with Black being one of the colors it gave me an excuse to play with my Grey's again and I just love that!
The dp is a combo of The Paper Studio and some Dovecraft from a pack I picked up on my last trip back home to England. The rhinestones are from the $1 spot at Michaels and the flower, butterflies and patterned brad are all from HobbyCraft, again from my England trip.
The sentiment is The Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby.

The inside is more dp with a matted message mat.

I just love the look on the faces of these girls and I hope you do too!
Keep coming back as this will be a very exciting week on the blog and especially on Thursday when I'll give you all the news on my very OWN challenges blog!
Katie

Another new challenge blog and this one I'm really excited about!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!
I'm so excited and to let you all know why!
A fellow team mate of mine from a couple of other challenge blogs, Jane, is starting her own monthly challenge blog and it will be so great!
Instead of just paper crafts, which the majority of challenges blogs feature, this one is for ALL handmade creations!
So if you are a dressmaker, a knitter, a flower arranger, a painter, a home decorator or really anything you make yourself you can be in!
The challenges will be wide reaching so that you can find a way to incorporate your favorite craft and join. Just imagine a blog with cards, cakes, sweaters and woodwork all in one place!
I know that before I discovered paper crafts 12 years ago that I loved to arrange flowers and still today my house is filled with my creations. I love to choose "silk" stems and leaves, wandering around the store creating the bouquet in my hand as I go along, adding, taking away, bending stems this way and that.
So be sure to keep tuned into By the Cute and Girly to see when the launch will be and to see what wonderful creations the hand picked team comes up with.
Oh, and did I forget something..........yes, I'm sure I did.......oh yes.....I'M ON THE TEAM!!!!!!!
So if you want to see what other things I can come up with other than the odd card or two then be sure to check it out!
Katie

Autumn Leaves - New card for My Grafico

Another double posting day :)
It's time for another challenge at My Grafico and today it's hosted by yours truly!
I came up with a recipe that I'd love you to try and if you do you'll be in with a chance to win this fabulous set called Autumn Elements which is so cute and was great to work with!
The recipe for the challenge is:
Use 1 image,
Add 2 Patterned Papers
and finally use 3 different embellishments.
I think you'll like it and it's a pretty easy challenge to add to others if you are into combined like me!
I used the fantastic sketch from Dare U2 Digi and also added the "Favorite Embellishment challenge from Stamp Something. My favorites are flowers and brads and as I couldn't choose I used both!
Also Our Creative Corner had a Fall theme that this fitted with perfectly.
Whimsy Stamps also wanted the Fall theme so it was another to add to my list!
Finally Play Along Monday is a new challenge blog and this challenge was to include Autumn Leaves and I sure did this! LOL


This girl is from the set you can win and she looks like she's having so much fun!
I colored her with Copic's and cut her with a label Nestie.
The dp is from my stash and I embossed the back panel with my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.
The flowers are Prima and the fabric brads are from the $1 spot at Target.





I hope you've liked today's card and I'd love you to go over to My Grafico Challenges and play along with my recipe!
Katie

Just for the New Mommy, Cute Daisy May DT Card

Happy Monday Everyone!
It's time for another challenge at Cute Daisy May and this time the challenge is to create a baby card.
There were so many wonderful images that the Design Team got to chose from and I chose this super cute Mommy from Sheet 64.
I also am entering this card at Sketch Saturday for their DT Call and the 1st round application deadline is today! It was quite a complex sketch but it worked wonderfully for this image.



As usual I colored the image with Copic's and I edged it with a border made from the Apron Lace border punch by Fiskars.
The dp is DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Boy stack. I used the same border punch to edge the bottom of the card. I printed out the sentiment and added it to a circle sticker. I topped it with a Martha Stewart premade bow.
I added Dew Drops as a finishing touch.



For the inside I use one of the new Spellbinders Pendant dies as the message mat.



What New Mommy wouldn't want this after all her hard work growing a baby? :)
Have a great day!
Katie

Time for Tea?

Happy Sunday Everyone!
I'm in the middle of a busy weekend but I wanted to squeeze this card in for you :)

Friday Sketchers had a super sketch that I just had to do.
The Pink Elephant had a challenging color combo of Red, Yellow, Black and White that I didn't think I could do but I did!
Simon Says wanted us to get Oriental and I had the perfect image for this that I'd been itching to use.
Paper Play had the hard challenge of No Patterned Paper and I've always passed on that challenge but when I saw Charisma Cardz had the challenge of Patchwork I knew I'd be fine with just cardstock :)




I'd been dying to use this fantastic image from Mo's Digital Pencil and with the Oriental challenge I no longer had an excuse!
I colored her with my Copic's and it was wonderful! All the papers on this are just cardstock. I used Coredinations cardstock that has different colors in the center which make it perfect for a project like this I used a different embossing folder on each color and then sanded the embossed area to reveal the color below. So it may look like a patterened paper but it really isn't!
I added Spellbinders corners that I embossed to match.
The sentiment is a Jolee's sticker.



The inside has more cardstock with a Teapot and Teacup to match the sentiment.



I just had to show her again as she is delightful!
Mo is such a clever artist and her images are wonderful to work with.
Have a great rest of your Sunday!
Katie

Costume? What Costume?

Happy Saturday!
Yeah it's the weekend and we have a super busy one planned!
Nathan is going a Boy Scout Merit Badge College, Georgia has a Junior Girl Scout meeting and then she has a birthday party with a movie and a sleepover to go to.
Then Nathan has a poll party with more Scouts tomorrow!
Hopefully it will be quieter by Monday!

Now on to today's card. I'll admit that this is one of my favorite cards I've done and I think it's because I'm at that "Mommy Stage" where clothes and attitude are big issues ;)
Of course I had to add a few challenges to the card or it just wouldn't be me!
Creative Inspirations started me off with a great sketch with the addition of brads or eyelets, this time they are sponsored by Paper Angels
No Time To Stamp wanted to see the Halloween theme.
Creative Inspirations Challenge had the color combo of Lilac/Purple and Grey and these are two of my favorite colors to color with. Plus it gave me the excuse to color more black hair!
Finally Paper Blooms , Gingersnap Creations and How Much Is Too Much all wanted a little Bling Bling!



This fabulous image of Cherry can be found at Polly Craft and I just love her! She was an absolute delight to color and I added just a little sparkle to soften her "hard edges" enough.
The papers are just from my stash and I printed the title in Burton's Nightmare again as I love it for Halloween projects.



The inside is just more dp and a message mat.



She may think she's tough but I still think she's cute!
I hope you like her as much as I do.
Have a great weekend!
Katie

Use It Challenge Designed by me!!

Happy Friday!
I can't believe another week has rolled around!
Last week I was picked as the winner at Use It Challenges and it meant I got to design a challenge for them!
I love the way they do it at Use It as it takes challenges just a little further than other blogs.
It gives you super themes and recipes and the challengers give fantastic examples!
I hope I've done a good one for them, I certainly had fun coming up with the idea and making the projects.
My challenge is:

1. Create something Fall related. This can be a card, a scrapbook page, a piece of home decor, a recipe box, anything you like! Use Fall colors and embellishments too.
2. Add some embossing, wet or dry, and try it on something new if you can.
3. I want to see flowers, easy yes, but I want Handmade ones not ones out of a jar! They can be handcut, punched, stamped, die cut even crocheted as long as you made them yourself.
4. Try a little paper piecing. This can be as simple as to cut out your title or as elaborate as cutting a whole scene free hand. You can use a pattern, use a stamp or make it up as you go just as long as you get out the scissors :)




I made two pieces for this challenge so people could see different thing they could do with the same "recipe".
I hand cut the bird, the pumpkin and the leaves. I punched flowers and layered to make the sunflowers. I added fabric brads by The Paper Studio for the centers. I embossed the pumpkins with a Cuttlebug folder.
The dp is My Minds Eye from the Spring collection but I thought the colors looked Fallish too!
The scene was created on the large Octagon Nestie but the I matted it using my trusty ruler and exacto knife :)
I added faux stitching with a black pen.



The inside is more dp and a coordinating Octagon for the message mat.




Here is a close up of the scene.



Then I created a matching door hanger.
It started as an unfinished wooden piece from Hobby Lobby which I traced and cut dp to the pattern.
I inked all the edges and added faux stitching, which I love as you can put it where a sewing machine won't work.
I hand cut and punched all the accents, embossed and inked and then created the scenes. I added a "Family" tag that I inked to match the rest of the piece.



A final look at both together.
Of course they've been other challenges popping up while I created this and as it happens some fit with this one too!
La La Land Crafts wanted some distressing.
Treehouse Stamps had a Fall theme
Crafty Creations wanted some embossing (just like I wanted too!)
Papercutz had an ABC challenges and this project counts for A-Autumn Leaves, B-Brads and C-Circles (the brads are circles aren't they? and the center of the A is a circle! Hee Hee!)
And Lili Of The Valley had a color challenge of Green, Brown and Orange.
I'd love to see you join in the challenge I created for Use It Challenges and maybe you'll get to design the next one for them!

ETA, I've just been over to the Use It blog and it seems like it's the last challenge ever this week :( I'm so sad as I love the challenges over there. I'd love to give Rae a huge thank you for letting me host the last one and if we could lots to enter this week it would be a nice goodbye for all her hard work.
Have a great weekend.
Katie