October Rudolph Days Challenge

Hi there. Once again, it is time for the Rudolph Days Challenge. Here are the rules for your perusal...

1. The Rudolph Days Challenge will start each month (January to November) on the 25th, and will close at midnight PST, on the last day of that month.
2. The theme is always Anything Goes, as long as it is Christmas.
3. One entry per person and you just need to enter one Christmas card or Christmas project.
4. You may combine your entry with other challenges (maximum of 10 in total).
5. Your card (or Christmas project) should not have been previously posted to your blog. It should be posted to your blog during the current months Rudolph Days Challenge, (between the 25th and last day of the current month)
6. Please link back to or at least mention, the Rudolph Days Challenge.
7. Please leave a comment on the challenge post.
8. The winner will be selected by random draw and announced on the first day of the following month. Prizes will be mailed anywhere in the world.

9. A special draw will be held at the end of the year, in December,  for all those who submitted a card or project every month that year, January to November.

Our design team ladies have been busy creating lots of inspiration for you!

Linda at Snails Space Blog is up first with two very thought provoking and meaningful sentiments. I will let you pop over to Linda's blog to read why.
The first card is so pretty. I like the image and the way it is coloured in lovely soft but "Christmassy" colours.

This second card lets the die cut sentiment pop off the card. The muted background colours are very effective here.

These are two very beautiful cards made from the heart, Linda!


Next up is Sam at Whispers Cards blog. Sam has made us two adorable cards. 
First up is this adorable puppy wearing the cutest Santa hat ever! I really like the way Sam added the three smaller Santa hats above the puppy image.  The colouring of this puppy is so lovely...wish I could shade like that.

Sam's second card is a sweet little snowman. The birds are attracted to this little guy and the diecut bird and branches were a great addition! The snow is realistic...must remember to use dots and clumps of snow as that is how it collects on the ground in real life!  I also like  the muted colours of the background papers here.

Finally, here is my card.  It is an upcycle of a set of twelve matching Christmas cards and envelopes that I picked up at the local thrift shop for a dollar. The poinsettia detail is embossed and looks quite lovely as is, but I decided to fussy cut the poinsettia image from six of the cards and use them to create layered poinsettias on the remaining cards.

I cut a circle of a dark green printed DP and slid it behind the aperture that already existed in the store bought cards. I then matted with the striped Making Memories Twinkle DP and finally added a red mirri card Creative Expressions, Sue Wilson Merry and Bright sentiment, die cut.

I used those six  fussy cut poinsettia images to pop forward on the remaining cards. Sadly, I screwed up one of the images and so was left with five finished cards at the end. 

The inside is stamped with my Recollections, Christmas sentiment which continues the Merry and Bright theme. The envelopes were stamped in red and green Momento ink to create that two toned red/green look that poinsettias seem to have in real life. The image is a Tim Holtz  Stampers Anonymous one

Our prizes this month are a choice of this Impression Obsession #108F die 

or this  Holiday Trendz,  Let It Snow stamp.

Seventy-two

I am still catching my breath from the 72 birthday cards I made for giveaways at a charity event my daughter was involved with.

I kept them very, very simple in design and tried very hard to use up some VOS (very old stash) in the creating of them.  I seemed to have a plethora of embellishments suitable for toddler cards and also cards for school age children. Mostly leftovers from previous card making forays, and lots from the many garage sales I have attended each summer at my local papercraft store parking lot. Most of those garage sale embellies were 10 cents to 25 cents for a package of four items or more, so these were very economical cards to make!

 I made up 24 sets of 3 cards each...One adult, one girl and one boy. It was great fun and although they may be very simple in design, I am still proud of them. I packaged them up three at a time, in large size Avery Elle envelopes. I could have easily slid in a fourth or maybe even a fifth card as their was lots of room...but sadly my fingers did not fly fast enough to finish more.

I forgot to take photos as I made them so you have to settle for rather poor photos of some the 3 packs already in their Avery Elle envelopes...in other words, photos with a bit of glare. You will have to imagine the middle card as it is hidden...

Each had a verse and I decorated the envelopes to match. I mostly used a balloon on the front of each envelope, coloured with pencil crayons and blended with gamsol to match the cards.

Upcycling furniture for the craft room

For the past year, while I was having difficulty sitting comfortabley,  I have been working on getting more organized in my craft room. I accomplished this in 10 or 20 minute segments, and will have other posts coming up about these projects.

Today I want to show you the beauty of chalk paint on old, mismatched furniture items that are suitable for storage in the craft room.

We had a dark stained pine bedroom suite when we were first married. Forty-five years later, it was really showing all the nicks and scratches that were created over the years by various house movers. Although we were reimbursed for the damage and  replaced the furniture, I kept this one dresser from the set, to use in the craft room. It has lovely deep drawers that easily hold card boxes from Michaels.

My first thought was to chalk paint the dresser white, thereby matching the other painted furniture in my room. But then I read that dark brown or mahogany coloured stains can bleed thru chalk paint, so using an old rough looking  paintbrush, I painted on two coats of KILZ primer. Then I used two coats of Folk Art  Teal textured teal chalk paint that was purchased on clearance at Joannes for $5 a can.  It went on so nicely as it was really thick, and helped to hide the many fine surface scratches. Sadly,  it was a very bright teal and just did not look right in my aqua and teal room.  So I used two more coats of a duller Folk Art "Cascade"  teal chalk paint from Walmart, and then hand painted white in all the cracks and grooves with a fine art paint brush. Two coats of Behr white decorative finishing wax highlighted the white even more so, and I was happy with the end result.

I had a white French Provincial bedroom set that I used in the bunkhouse up at the old RV lot.. When we sold the lot, we had to leave most of the furnishings behind. I was able to keep the desk and desk hutch.

I moved that hutch downstairs to the craft room and painted the outside boards with the same teal chalk technique and then just added a little more paint across the detailing on the front. This hutch was again finished with the white Behr decorative finishing wax.

I had a devil of a time getting a good photo.

Here are some shots of the drawer interiors...
Washi tape and bling on  rolls

Envelopes

More envelopes, varying sizes

Envelopes again...do you think I have enough? Some preprinted card too as well as hessian, aida cloth, linen and others materials and fibers.

I am really happy with the end result. I put two layers of wax on the whole piece and then two more layers on the dresser top. Hopefully this will give a little extra protection to the top, as I usually drag the finished card baskets forward to browse through them!

I had three brushed silver drawer pulls leftover from a previous kitchen remodel. Luckily they fit over the old screw holes. I will have to pick up four more and this project will be done!

September Rudolph Days Challenge

Once again I used Random Org to choose our winner, #13 Michelle.

Michelle, could you please drop me an email to maureenkane@telus.net and let me know which prize you would prefer. Please provide your mailing address too, so I can get your prize mailed off to you.