Scarfy Sledding

Wheee! When I was looking for wintery images for my Christmas thank-you cards, this little Lawn Fawn bunny was an obvious choice -- especially since I hadn't used it yet! Then I went looking for something wintery to back it on, which didn't go well until I remembered that Anya had bought a whole darn pack of snowy paper only a few weeks ago. My memory, it's not always so great.

Well, I not only found a nice snowy background, but one that looked like snowy hills -- perfect for the sledding bunny. Hurrah for Anya's paper!

Then I found some plaid paper and paper pieced the bunny's scarf. Hey, it looked great the seventy-five times I saw other people do it with this stamp... and it looks pretty great here too, I think. I cut the front side of the card down so that the scarf could fly free but would still be protected in the envelope, an idea which I picked up from the card Jennifer McGuire created recently showing off one of the 2013 Hero Arts stamps.

I definitely picked a matching color to stamp my "thank you" in, but maybe I should have gone for something a bit darker and more visible! Well, they're the only words on there, so I don't think they're going to be missed.

I'm entering this wintery card in the following challenges:

• CAS-ual Fridays 84: Create a Clean and Simple Thank You Card (check!)
• Allsorts 188: CAS (clean and simple meets cute)
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: New Something (both the bunny and the sentiment are new)
• Simon Says Stamp and Show: The Totally Mad (No Rules) Tea Party (anything goes... this rabbit is not stressed out enough to come from Wonderland!)
• Fashionable Stamping #38: Surprise Us
• Loves Rubberstamps 32: Anything Goes (Loves stocks Lawn Fawn stamps, although this bunny isn't currently in stock)

I'm also linking up with DL.ART's Thankful Thursday January Linky Party -- it's anything goes, but (again) a thank-you card seems quite appropriate!

Supplies: (the "thank you" stamp is a freebie from Lawn Fawn)

Tropically Krafty

A few of my aunts and uncles recently got together and got me a nice gift card, so I made them some thank-you cards. I wasn't really sure what to do until I decided to be inspired by the card they sent along with the gift card. The card was brown, with a debossed gold vine and some white flowers with dark pink centers. I skipped the vine and used much bigger flowers.

I made an attempt at stamping the flowers in dark pink and using white embossing powder just around their edges, so as to have a dark pink center. Unsurprisingly, the embossing powder stuck to everything, and my flowers were plain white. Bah. So I took my finger, smooshed it in the pink ink pad, and dabbed at the centers -- and it turns out I really like the effect!

Thank goodness for serendipity. Whatever would I do without it?

I'm entering this serendipitous card in the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: New Something (the flower stamps is new)
• Cute Card Thursday 250: Something New (the flower stamp is new)
• Simon Says Stamp and Show: The Totally Mad (No Rules) Tea Party (anything goes)
• Hiding in My Craft Room #78: Freestyle
• Fashionable Stamping #38: Surprise Us
• Loves Rubberstamps 32: Anything Goes (neither of these stamps is carried by Loves)

I'm also linking up with DL.ART's Thankful Thursday January Linky Party -- it's anything goes, but thank-you cards seem very appropriate!

Supplies:

Bookmarks XLIII: The Hat Signal

Police Chief O'Brien stood on the roof of the downtown station, huddled in the scant shelter offered by the rooftop doorway. It was cold, windy, dark; but not yet dark enough.

"Those old crones," she said under her breath. "I swear they think this is funny." She shoved her hands deeper into her pockets.

The last trace of sun disappeared over the horizon, leaving the city lit only by its own light pollution. O'Brien stalked out of the shelter of the doorway and over to the searchlight, modified specially for nights like this one. Nights when the police knew things were moving, things they didn't want to understand and couldn't deal with. It had been years.

She drew in a breath, and flipped the switch. The searchlight flickered once, then threw a steady beam into the clouds. Visible in the center was the shadow of the image on the searchlight's lens.

There. She'd done it. She'd lit the Hat Signal, and there was nothing to do now but wait and hope it was answered.

Look, it's not that I mean to make horrible Batman-referencing puns. It just happened. One moment I was stamping a witch's hat above the haunted house as some kind of an accent, and the next all I could think was Yes. The Hat Signal! I am a hilarious genius!

I'm entering this bookmark into the following challenges:

• Flutter By Wednesday #210: Any Winged Creature (bats!)
• Stampin' for the Weekend Challenge 19: Something Spooky
• Our Craft Lounge 139: Scary & Spooky
• Heck of a Challenge: Spooktacular
• Sweet Stampin': Halloween
• Fashionable Stamping Challenge #33: Halloween or Use Halloween Colors
• Ladybug Crafts Challenge 2: Halloween

Supplies: (the hat is also from a Studio G dollar stamp set)

Guest Bookmark: Jack-o-Lantern

A book-blogger friend of mine, Anya, sometimes comes over and makes bookmarks with me. She made this one at my crafty birthday party! It started out looking horribly mistaken (she shared this evaluation), but the more she added, the better it looked! It's always a relief, and something of a delight, when that happens.

I really like that copper border with gold embossing powder on it... but then again, I'm a sucker for copper.

Her crowning touch was definitely drawing the jack-o-lantern face onto the pumpkin.

Anya's asked me to enter her stuff into challenges when it's not too much trouble, and there seem to be a lot of pumpkin-themed challenges about at the moment. To be quite clear, she did make this several weeks ago and did post a small picture on her book blog. I think it's still legit to enter in current challenges -- it hasn't been posted anywhere papercrafty or entered in challenges before. But please delete this entry without guilt if your challenge is not okay with that!

I'm entering Anya's bookmark (on her behalf) into these challenges:

• There She Goes 177: Fall Fun
• Fashionable Stamping Challenge #73: Shades of Autumn/Fall
• Joanna Sheen Challenge: Autumn Breeze
• No Matter Which Challenge #3: Halloween Creations or Halloween Colours
• Touch Twin Challenge 27: Fall themed project in monochromatic colors (gold/orange)

(She does read my blog, so she'll see your comments!)

Supplies: