Samantha Walker Creative Team Blog Hop: Handmade Holiday Projects

Welcome to the  

Samantha Walker Creative Crafters Team Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Nicole Stark's Blog!

                 We have a fabulous giveaway this month of a $10 Gift Certificate to Digi Playground!

All you need to do is enter below. You can earn multiple entries by following us on Facebook, commenting below, tweeting about the giveaway, and signing up for the email updates. This giveaway is open to US customers only and closes on this Sunday at 11:59 PM MDT.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For our projects this month we did Handmade Holiday gifts.  I created a simple Nativity Glass Block:

I used Samantha's Nativity cut file #34982 and trimmed off the edges.  I cut it on matte brown vinyl and used an 8 inch glass block.  I added the vinyl to the glass block using transfer tape. and then filled the glass block with a doily and some fake snow.  The finishing touch was some gems.  

With supplies in hand you can make a special gift like this in a little time.

Samantha is giving away a free file and you can get it by clicking on the image below!

Thanks so much for stopping in today! Next up is Jamie!  You can get to her blog by clicking on the picture below!

Christmas Publication - Noel Embroidery Hoop

Earlier this year I was privileged to have a Christmas ornament published in the Holiday Cards & More special edition from Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine.  I love playing with embroidery hoops and paper but this was my first one on a smaller canvas!

Here's the basic directions as to how I did it:

-Take the embroidery hoop apart and using the inside circle.
-Add a quick drying glue or hot glue along the top rim.
-Attach the paper of your choice to it and allow that to dry.
-Trim it down so that you have a circle slightly larger than the hoop.

-Going around the circle - trim notches so that you can easily bend the additional paper onto the side of the hoop.

-Add quick drying glue to the side of the hoop and fold all those pieces down.

-Add your top hoop and your paper should now be secure!

Decorating these is super fun and nice change from the quadrilateral shape we are used to working in!  For this one I added a bold burlap bow and I really liked the effect it had!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Samantha Walker for Echo Park

Stickers: Samantha Walker for Echo Park & Imaginisce

Gems: Imaginisce

Button: Imaginisce

Burlap: May Arts

Fall Thank You Card

If you haven't already picked up on it, I really enjoy creating fall cards :)  This one was up yesterday on the Samantha Walker blog. I was pulling out the little pieces and realized they are gorgeous too!  Today I am going to show you how I incorporated those into a card too! Instead of using the whole card, I just used the overlay.

After cutting the overlay in a couple different colors I made use of the leaf for one element on my card. I then used the negative space swirls for embellishing the card.

You can peel out each and every piece of negative space from these leaves and put them together to make pretty flourish clusters or wheat clusters or simply use them individually to decorate. I bet they would be just stunning in vellum!  

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Core'dinations
Sticker: SRM Stickers
Wood: Studio Calico
Twine: May Arts

Hope you are enjoying a beautiful fall day where you are and have lots to be thankful for this month!

Happy Halloween Layout

Hard to believe Halloween is coming quickly and it's gonna be time to move on to other fall crafts! Before that I still have a little more Halloween crafting in me to share!  Today it is a layout on the Samantha Walker Blog.

My tutorial there today focuses on title work and using the negative space when you have a more complicated negative space than usual (eg spider webs). If you want to see a quick little tip that doesn't require you to have extra supplies, check it out over there. After doing my title work pretty much in the center, I decided to do pictures below it and continue to build up my title above. I hand cut a cute little ghost to add and used SRM Border stickers as an accent piece throughout.  I think I am finally done scrapping 2012's Halloween pictures - now to finish off that pile from 2013 :)

Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: Doodlebug Design, Pebbles Inc
Stickers: SRM Stickers, American Crafts
Cardstock & Tags: Core'dinations

Samantha Walker Creative Crafters Team Blog Hop: Halloween

Welcome to the  

Samantha Walker Creative Crafters Team Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Nicole Stark's Blog!

For my project this month I used the same cut file to create two different cards - this was so much fun!

I used Card Halloween & Bats (#49920) and kept some things the same but made others different.  

I love the look of a 3D card that has some transparency to the front.  To create this card I simply opted to leave out the square of cardstock behind the front cut.  I also turned it to be a vertical card.  I decorated it using the bats that are part of the file.  Outlining them with black stickles made them more dimensional.  I also added some simple stars and gems and surrounded them with white sentiment stickers.  I cut out the Eeeeek from cut file #33314 which has a whole series of fun Halloween words!

I cut the base of this card from a vellum cardstock that has a blurry feel to it - I thought it looked like spooky clouds!  I added gray under the vellum.  The bats and embellishments are all similar to the other card but has different words.  Have you ever tried cutting out a card and using different mediums?  This was really fun and a good mojo burst for me!  I am also going to share this on the SRM Challenge Blog!  Have you played along there yet?  You know I love their stickers :)!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Core'dinations

Stickers: SRM Stickers

Vellum: CutCardStock

Patterned Paper: Carta Bella

Thanks so much for stopping in today! The last stop on the hop is to head to Samantha's Facebook Page!  You can get to her blog by clicking on the picture below!

Samantha Walker Creative Team Blog Hop: Fall

Welcome to the 

Samantha Walker Creative Crafters Team Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Nicole Stark's Blog!

We have a fabulous giveaway this month of a Spellbinder's Fall Splendor Grand Impressabilities

All you need to do is enter below. You can earn multiple entries by following us on Facebook, commenting below, tweeting about the giveaway, and signing up for the email updates. This giveaway is open to US customers only and closes on this Sunday at 11:59 PM MDT.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For my project this month I combined a couple things that I love - metallics, sequins, and leaves!  I have a shaker card that I made using the 3 leaves card (51469)

I always save good wrappers from sticker sets and other embellishment sets because they make great containers for making shaker cards.  For this one I used an old wrapper and filled it with gold, white, and silver sequins.  I then sealed off the top and attached it to the backside of my base.  I layered the base onto an additional white cardstock base to add some dimension.  I then added the whole thing to a metallic gold card.  Because the shaker part in itself is busy I went very simple beyond that - adding just a chipboard sentiment and some additional metallic dots.  

When you move it around the sequins bounce all over and provide a different look at each glance!  Super fun and not too difficult to make (the hardest part was sorting thru my sequins :))

Don't forget to sign up for Samantha's Newsletter 

through the Rafflecopter widget to receive your

FREE SVG and Silhouette Studio file! 

Thanks so much for stopping in today! Next up is Jamie!  You can get to her blog by clicking on the picture below!

Lemonade Stand Layout & Giveaway Winners

First off I want to share the winners from my recent giveaways!
The winner from the Scrapping Our Stash hop is: Nichole Bentley
The winner from the Paper House Productions Endless Summer hop is: Beverly Jordan
Please email me at practicalscrappers@gmail.com and I will get those out to you!

One of my favorite things about the Summer Lovin' line from Samantha Walker and Carta Bella is that it included some moments that get left out of a lot of summer lines, but lots of us experience.  I knew I wanted to make use of the lemonade stand stuff to document my kiddos and their stands from the last two years!  I figure now that summer is wrapping up I better get some of these memories committed to layouts!  You are also going to notice a new trend with me - I have been doing a lot more 8 1/2 X 11 layouts!  Not sure why but that canvas seems to be where my brain is going a lot!

I went for an 8 1/2 X 11 base this time and layered papers onto a green cardstock background.  I left a  little of that to peek out underneath the colorful vertical stripes. I lined up my pictures (one from each year) vertically on some more green cardstock.

I fussy cut out a giant chevron from patterned paper and added that as a focal point in the base.  I really like how it plays off of the colorful vertical stripes!  

Coordinating stickers and wood pieces make up a few clusters around the layout but otherwise I kept it clean and simple.  I can't believe these summer days are already wrapped up and we're on to the next season of Back to School and Fall!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Carta Bella

Stickers: Samantha Walker

Twine: The Twinery

Wood: Studio Calico

Samantha Walker Creative Team Blog Hop - Back to School

Welcome to the 

Samantha Walker Creative Crafters Team Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Nicole Stark's Blog!

We have a fabulous giveaway this month of a Pixscan Mat from Silhouette

All you need to do is enter below. You can earn multiple entries by following us on Facebook, commenting below, tweeting about the giveaway, and signing up for the email updates. This giveaway is open to US customers only and closes on this Sunday at 11:59 PM MDT.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For my project today I created a Back to School card in the shape of a bus!

Did you know that it is really simple to make almost any Silhouette shape into a card?  Here's how you can do it!

1)  Start off by clicking on the shape

2) Choose the Replicate button  

3) Click the Mirror Above choice so you get an image directly above your original

4)Move the shape close enough to the original that the part that you want to become the card fold is touching the same part on the original.

5) Click the Modify Button

6) Highlight the whole shape

7) Click Weld

This will produce something that looks like the above screen and will work perfectly for a foldable card! This is one of my favorite quick tricks to make one of a kind cards to share with those I love!  

After adding your yellow overlay to the bus decorate it with a white pen, a back to school banner, and some stickers to make it personal!

Don't forget to sign up for Samantha's Newsletter 

through the Rafflecopter widget to receive your

FREE SVG and Silhouette Studio file! 

Thanks so much for stopping in today! Next up is Jamie!  You can get to her blog by clicking on the picture below!

Creating a Chalkboard Home Decor Piece

I had so much fun creating a chalkboard piece for Samantha Walker's blog today!  Swing by here to check it out and the details how to do it!

Samantha Walker Creative Team Blog Hop - Summer

Welcome to the 

Samantha Walker Creative Crafters Team Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Nicole Stark's Blog!

We have a fabulous giveaway this month of a Spellbinders Shapeabilities Expandable Patterns Die Fancy Lattice

All you need to do is enter below. You can earn multiple entries by following us on Facebook, commenting below, tweeting about the giveaway, and signing up for the email updates. This giveaway is open to US customers only and closes on this Sunday at 11:59 PM MDT.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For my project today I played with one of Samantha's new baskets! This one is Circle Basket with Simple Bow (#62208)

1) Cut out all your pieces in the papers you like.

2) Fold the circle along the perforated edges.

3) Add a brad and some adhesive to hold the sides together

4) Assemble the bow

4) Add the handle using a brad and then attach a doily to decorate

6) Add a center flower to the bow

7) Fill with yummy goodness :)

The summery colors from the Carta Bella lines (Summer Lovin' and Cool summer) designed by Samantha were perfect for this basket!

Don't forget to sign up for Samantha's Newsletter 

through the Rafflecopter widget to receive your

FREE SVG and Silhouette Studio file! 

Thanks so much for stopping in today! Next up is Guiseppa!  You can get to her blog by clicking on the picture below!

I (Heart) Summer Card

I have never done a gate fold card before but today I am up at Samantha Walker and I thought it was the perfect chance to try one out! Since summer is kicking off I thought it would be the perfect time to do the A2 sun gate fold card.

Using pieces from both Summer Lovin' and Cool Summer, I pieced this card together and created a bright and cheery summer piece!

First I cut the card in a bright yellow cardstock.  I then added some adhesive to the main base of the card.

I added some striped paper from Summer Lovin' to jazz up the background!

I then did some faux stitching along the edges of the sun and added some pearls.  I backed the I love Summer sticker with cardstock and cut it out.  I then added it to the center over where the card fastens.  I fussy cut a few clouds and added those to both sides as well as a palm tree sticker.  Twine and a clothespin were my final touches.  Because it is an intricate cut - you can just add a few personal touches to make it really shine!  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Samantha Walker for Carta Bella

Twine: The Twinery

Stickers: Samantha Walker for Carta Bella

Pearls: Doodlebug

Samantha Walker Creative Team Blog Hop - Birthdays

Welcome to the 

Samantha Walker Creative Crafters Team Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Nicole Stark's Blog!

We have a fabulous giveaway this month of a 

 $10 Silhouette Online Store Download Code 

All you need to do is enter below. You can earn multiple entries by following us on Facebook, commenting below, tweeting about the giveaway, and signing up for the email updates. This giveaway is open to US customers only and closes on this Sunday at 11:59 PM MDT.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Our theme this month is Birthdays!  I decided to use the free file for my project today and created a layout with it!

It's a very clean layout - but definitely not simple :).  This is a time consuming process - but I can honestly say I think it was worth every minute! Here's how I created it:

1) Expand the size of the flower so that it is in the 10 inch range.

2) Ungroup everything and cut out the two big flowers

3) Bring the doily shape to the center, highlight it, and click "release compound path"

4) Doing this will allow you to pull out all the negative space parts.

5)I decided to do four different patterns so I deleted the main outline and then dragged each of the negative parts to a different corner (as seen below)

6) If this is too much work for you, you could also trace and cut out each part.

7)Assemble the doily and parts onto the big flower pieces.

Don't forget to sign up for Samantha's Newsletter 

through the Rafflecopter widget to receive your

FREE SVG and Silhouette Studio file! 

Thanks so much for stopping in today! Next up is Jamie!  You can get to her blog by clicking on the picture below!