More challenges...

So, today's posting is all about challenges! I love them, and it certainly stretches my imagination. The first card is a combination of two challenges, one by "No Time to Stamp? Stamp Simply #108" and the other is by "My Favorite Things: So You Think You Can Stamp" contest.

Stamp Simply #108's challenge was to use Kraft Paper paired with Black and MFT is to celebrate Dance: Flip, spin or lift, so I made a Spinner card! Of course, it had to be Halloween as this is a favorite holiday!


Using one of the larger Nestabilities Labels Four, I cut out my center opening, out of my kraft card and 2 pieces of the spider web paper (the Paper Studio). Next, going one size down for the label, I cut out 2 kraft pieces then with Versafine black ink, stamped my images: Tree (Hampton Art), Spider Web & Spiders (Inkadinkado), Spooky and small Spider Web (TM Designs). With stretch cord (in the jewelry section) I made my spinner piece by stretching the cord on the back of one of my stamped images, then adhering the back of my other stamped image onto the other piece, covering the cord. I attached the cord to brads at the top and bottom of my center cut out, stretching it tightly so that my images would spin when turned. I used Martha Stewarts Spider Web Corner punch for the corners, added rhinestones and highlighted areas with a Signo White Gel Pen. When you give this card, you turn the image about 10 times, then close the card. When the receiver opens the card, the image will spin! Card size: 5 3/4 x 4 1/4 inches. (Top image is one side, image below is the other side.)


My next card is a combination challenge as well. I needed to use Purple, Orange, and Olive Green for the challenge over at Pals Paper Arts, and a Mo Manning digital image and Purple for Mo's Digital Challenge. This delightful image worked well for both challenges!


The adorable little girl image was a freebie on Mo's group at SNR Card Universe and fits perfect for the orange, green and purple theme. I printed the image on Whisper White cardstock, then colored with Prismacolor Markers. I stamped "Trick or Treat" from Hero Arts then mounted it to an olive green panel. I cut a strip of Halloween designer paper (The Paper Studio) and adhered it to a punched corner purple patterned paper. I then added orange grosgain ribbon, then added this piece and the stamped image piece to an orange 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inch card. I added a pretty bow, paper flower embellishments and rhinestones to finish it off.


Lastly, this is the necklace I made for my daughter's birthday this year. Let me tell you, this was a bugger to make!!! She absolutely loves Jack Skellington from A Nightmare Before Christmas, and when I saw that someone made tiny glass Jack faces, I had to see if I could put them into a glass bead. WELL!!! I had never done this before and the glass pieces are maybe 4 mm, I'm talking TINY. So I melt the white and black glass rods onto the mandrel, make a pretty swirl, add some dichroic sparkly glass for snow and then take a deep breath! I plunged a hole into the hot bead, insert the glass face and melt it in a bit. This is where it got tricky! Since these glass faces are so tiny, you have to add a dollop of hot clear glass on the top of this glass face and it will magnify it. I only purchased 12 of the faces! It took me 12 times to finally make THIS bead! Some cracked, some got soot on them, others were smeared, and I was pulling my hair out! Finally, finally, a week before her birthday, this bead emerged! She loved it, and I had fun telling the story!