This week is the Dude Time Doodles December Inspirational Challenge, and we want to see projects featuring, in some way, your Favorite Christmas Movie.

Our Design Team did a super job showcasing how to incorporate Bonibleaux Designs/Dude Time Doodles into this theme, and we can't wait to see what you come up with.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Hooked on Crafts Challenge #14: Christmas
The Crazy Challenge #98: Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #51: Anything Goes
Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge Week 86: Make a Christmas Card

Stamps: O Christmas Tree, Santa's Balls & Presents! from Bonibleaux Designs/Dude Time Doodles, Frame digi stamp by Create with TLC, Fiskars sentiment stamp

Paper: Studio G, Hammermill, Recollections, Shrinky Dink plastic
Tools: Fiskars papercutter & finger knife, Marvy heat tool, acrylic block, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Martha Stewart scissors, ZipDry glue, toaster oven
Supplies: Sakura & Elmer's gel pens, Copic markers

This week at Dude Time Doodles we're showcasing a fun image by Marlooney to get you ready to Valentine's Day! This is called "Cheap Valentine", doesn't her expression say it all?!

Not being prepared to depart 2011 quite yet, I made a Christmas Gift Card Holder:

And the inside:

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges, which you might be interested in as well:
PaperCrafting Journey: Christmas Creations
Samuel Taylor's December Challenge: Anything Goes

Pop-up Gift Card Holder Tutorial at Paper Garden Projects

Stamps: Cheap Valentine & Santa's Balls by Marlooney for Bonibleaux Designs/Dude Time Doodles, Clouds digi stamp from Shelly's Images (thank you!), sentiment generated with Banjoman font

Paper: Hammermill, Graphic 45, stash DP, white linen cardstock from Paper and More
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Martha Stewart detail scissors, ZipDry glue, ZIG glue pen, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign
Supplies: Recollections flocking, stash pearl necklace, Elmer's & Sakura gel pens, Copic markers

Dude Time Doodles is sponsoring this week's Fetch-a-Sketch challenge, so you know there's going to be some great inspiration from both Design Teams! I had lots of fun making this card, using the sketch & Santi Beaches.

It's a bit difficult to see, but the base of this card is acetate (clear plastic).

Hope you'll join along at Fetch-a-Sketch, and maybe even pull out your Bonibleaux Designs/Dude Time Doodles images!

Stamps: Santi Beaches & Presents! by Bonibleaux Designs/Dude Time Doodles, sentiment from Studio G, pine tree stamp by Tim Holtz, FIskars frame stamp

Paper: Hammermill, Recollections, acetate, stash DP
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Tim Holtz paper distresser, needle, Marvy heat tool, Martha Stewart detail scissors, ZipDry glue, ZIG glue pen, Singer sewing machine, acrylic block, ProvoCraft corner punch
Supplies: Recollections embossing powder & flocking, thread, Versamark & Memento inks, tulle

I haven't participated in the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge for quite a while, and found the perfect reason when I saw "Kris Jingle" being offered for FREE on the Dude Time Doodles blog! It's only available for a limited time, and I'm looking forward to seeing people use it for our current challenge DTD Challenge, "Show Us Your December Holiday Spirit". And while you're at it, why not Bling It On for the December Pile It On challenge‽

I've been on a stamping/embossing kick, so I decided to try my hand at the ColourQ Combo #114 (Poppy Parade, Certainly Celery, Cool Caribbean, Kraft + white) and Clean&Simple Fall-to Layout #168. Oh my goodness, be sure to check out the DT and contestant projects for both challenges...simply amazing. I was truly inspired.

The blue & white pieces are stamped & heat-embossed with snowflakes in Kaleidoscope (clear, glittery embossing powder). I used some small snowflake stamps to  heat-emboss the border on the red circle. The "shadow" is the same kind of paper, but embossed all over in Kaleidoscope. I added a little hand-drawn border on the kraft piece with a glitter gel pen.

Stamps: Raisin Boat, Martha Stewart, K&Co.

I actually find myself in the odd position of being kinda caught-up with my holiday cards...but I can always make more! I couldn't resist using a couple of the super holiday freebies from Tellen's Place Designs...and it was the perfect opportunity to finally use the reindeer-themed stamp set from Studio G (I think) that I've had in my Christmas stash for years. Gotta love those little hooves! For the layout, I turned to Mojo Monday Sketch #218. Thanks everyone!

This card is all about texture (you know how I love texture!): The base is a shiny, textured Core'dinations cardstock; the bright white piece is Hammermill cardstock heat-embossed with snowflakes in Kaleidoscope (glittery, clear embossing powder); the oval is plain Recollections paper with the sentiment stamped with chalk ink & heat-embossed in Kaleidoscope; the strip uses the same Recollections paper but the hooves are heat-embossed in copper. I colorized the image in brown & printed it on white linen cardstock. Santa's beard is covered in white flocking (as is Ally's outfit on the inside, see below), the white on his hat & coat are heat-embossed with clear powder, and the snow on the chimney is heat-embossed in Kaleidoscope (I love that stuff!). I "paper-pierced" the edges with my sewing machine.

This week's Dudetime Doodles December Holiday Spirit Challenge is being sponsored by Glitterbabe's Digis, so as a way to advertise both I made this simple card featuring GlitterBabe's Dove digi stamp (thank you!). I've included instructions & tips on how to heat-emboss digi stamps, just scroll down. I was also inspired by the first of the 2012 Christmas Card Challenges (oh my!): One Layer Christmas Card.

I made a border the circle around the digi stamp, and heat-embossed it. Then I stamped & heat-embossed Peace in the middle. It's nearly impossible to see in this photo, but I painted the dove's body with Granite Tattered Angels glimmer mist. I added - • - • - borders on the front with a Sharpie white paint pen and on the inside with an Elmer's glitter gel pen.

There are plenty of great tutorials out there on how to heat-emboss digi stamps (e.g., Digital Delights, Mel Stampz), but here's how I do it:

Dude Time Doodles is kicking off December with a theme challenge: December Holidays, or, more specifically, we want you to Show Us Your Holiday Spirit!

Our sponsor this week is Glitterbabe, and the lucky winner will receive 2 free images from her store...*3* if the winning participant uses a Glitterbabe image. Can't see what you will create.

I become such a kid again during the holidays, which means I'm also prone to a certain amount of mischief-making. So here's my take on showing a little Christmas Spirit:

The framed pictures are Santi Beaches, Duck Snowball Warrior by Dude Time Doodles, which I printed onto Shrinky Dink plastic, colored, and shrunk in my toaster oven. I made the Christmasy scene with O Christmas Tree & Down the Stairs, and generated "Santa's Work Shop" for the little door.

Both Mooning Elf & the Christmas Cheek sentiment (below) are by Marlooney & are sold at the Bonibleaux Designs store.

Challenges:
Dude Time Doodles: Show us your Holiday Spirit for December

Come & Get It Challenges: Anything Christmas
Here Come the Boys Challenge #16: For the Man/Men in your Life
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle: Holiday Card

Bonibleaux Designs digi stamps:

O Christmas Tree, Down the Stairs, Santi Beaches, Duck Snowball Warrior by Dude Time Doodles

Mooning Elf, Christmas Cheek sentiment by Marlooney

Paper: K&Co., Hammermill, Recollections, Shrinky Dink plastic
Tools: Fiskars papercutter & finger knife, toaster oven, acrylic block, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Martha Stewart scissors, ZipDry glue
Supplies: Sakura & Elmer's gel pens, Copic markers

The current Pile It On Challenge is going to last all December, so you have plenty of time to play along! The sponsor is Designed2Delight and our theme is Bling.

One of the Pile It On DT members is sitting out this session (life happens!) so I rushed in to pinch-craft. Designed2Delight very generously let us choose our images from their great store, and let me tell you I'm gonna have to buy this one! Aren't these Whimsical Cardinals so expressive‽ If you click on the image, you can view it larger to see all the details.

I knew I wanted to paper-piece the image, but I ended up using fabric from a pack of Heidi Grace swatches. I printed the background pieces, cardinals, and their scarves onto the fabric, which I ran through my inkjet printer by taping it securely onto a piece of cardstock. Making sure the top is well-secured is key. This method works well for printing on tissue paper, too.

I was especially pleased to find that the images were offered together as well as separately; that's not usually the case with stamps (even digital ones), and it makes this a super deal! Having the images separately as well made it easier to print & piece. Fussy-cutting the fabric wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done, but I'm happy with the result.

I added some fringe to pre-beaded stick pins that Mom sent me recently. Man, those are some serious pins! My childhood best friend had a beautiful collection of vintage hat pins, and I remember thinking they were more formidable than a collection of pocket knives! They were really fun to use.

I stamped & heat-embossed the sentiment in red onto a ready-made tag. It says "happy holidays from our house to yours," but since the photo above actually includes my neighbor's house, here's one facing our actual house:

Challenges:

Pile It On Challenge #49: Bling

Going Grey with Scrap-Creations Challenge: Christmas

Jingle Belles: Holiday Card Link-up Party

Raise the Bar Challenge #86 + DT Call(!): Christmas

Bling it On December Challenge: Christmas

Scrappin' Chics December Challenge: December Holidays / Anything Goes

Forever Friends December Challenge: Christmas + use an Animal

I loved making Christmas projects last year with SP & Company's Ornamental Trees set, and when I saw SP Color Combo #128 (Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Lucky Limeade), I just had to pull out the set. I made a scene using these lovely triangles, and was inspired by Homer's epithet in The Iliad: rosy fingered dawn [ref.]. Although in this case it's a Real Red fingered dawn!

I matched my idea with the Card Positioning Systems Sketch #246 to make this Shabby Chic-ish card:

I used masking and emboss-resist to create the top panel.

Inspiration:

SP Color Combo #128: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Lucky Limeade

Card Positioning Systems #246: Sketch by Tami Mayberry

Stamps: Ornamental Trees by SP & Company, sentiment from Tim Holtz

Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Tim Holtz paper distresser, needle, Marvy heat tool, Martha Stewart detail scissors, ZipDry glue, Singer sewing machine, acrylic block
Supplies: natural paper & cardstock from stash, Recollections embossing powder & pop-dots, thread, Versamark, Inkadinkado & Memento inks, Paper Pretties ribbon


Update: Whoo-hoo, this card won SP Color Combo #128!

Dude Time Doodles is sponsoring the current, Anything Goes challenge at Cooking It Up with Katie Challenge (Nov. 30 - Jan. 5), and I just had to make a card for the occasion using Hanukkah Harry!

I made a flap card. Here it is closed:

Isn't he just something else?! I paper pieced him using, in part, Core'dinations cardstocks. Love this stuff...his coat is from their Whitewash collections, white to blue. I machine-embossed & sanded it to reveal this lovely pattern. His at & pants are Core'dinations too, black-to-brown from their Black Magic collection. I printed the image, flipped, onto the light side of the paper and then sorta scraped the detail lines onto the black side. Worked great, very easy!
The card opens:

The sentiments & image on the inside are all from Dude Time Doodles too. I made a piercing template for the little hand-sewn Stars of David, and although they were a bit time-consuming, they were totally worth it. So cute!

For the back, I used two Hanukkah stamps from a Stampin' Up! set. It's difficult to see in this photo, but the Star of David is stamped & clear heat-embossed on both the back of the card (light blue) and the back of the message card.

Don't forget to visit Cooking It Up with Katie to see all the lovely creations. I heard a "rumor" that NanaConnie is going to be featuring Dude Time Doodles cards all through December, so be sure to check out her blog too!

Stamps: Hanukkah Harry, Menorah and Hanukkah Sentiments from Dude Time Doodles, Jewish Holidays stamp set from Stampin' Up!
Tools: Fiskars papercutter & deckle scissors, HP printer & ink, sandpaper, Sizzix Texture Boutique & embossing plate, awl, needle, Marvy heat tool & punch, Martha Stewart detail scissors, Provocraft corner punch
Paper: Core'dinations Whitewash, Hammermill, Recollections, Mark's Finest
Embellishments: Copic markers, Recollections embossing powder & adhesive gemstones, variegated floss, Versamark & Memento inks, Copic markers for edging, Sakura gel pens