The theme this week at Pile It On is Cultural/Family Traditions. Check out my other cards for this challenge here & here.

This time, I focused on a tradition I grew up with, which is roasting marshmallows over a campfire. It was a fun childhood experience: we'd go out and find proper marshmallow-roasting sticks, and then sit around a freshly-made fire & try not to burn our mouths too badly on the resulting S'mores. Personally, I liked to catch mine on fire...you get a show and a marshmallow crust! To create this scene, I used the Cricut's Campin' Critters Cartridge with Cricut Craftroom & my Cricut Expression.


I couldn't get the sentiment to cut correctly, so I used a Cricut marker instead. I then cut the shape around it, backed it with a black shadow layer, and filled in the letters with a black gel pen. Isn't this hedgehog(?) too cute‽ I even used the funky eyes that come with the design, adding pupils with a black pen. I covered the marshmallow piece with a Marvy Snow Pen, which gave it a fun texture.

I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder to add the trees to the background. I inked the raised trees with a Copic marker. I distressed all the mattes with a nail file. I think you can guess why I chose the colors I did! I hope this will inspire you to share a custom or tradition with us at Pile It On!

Challenges/Inspiration:

The theme this week at Pile It On is Cultural/Family Traditions. We're sponsored by Ike's Art and I used her wonderful Spanish Dancer digi stamp. I grew up in Spain, so this reflects the culture I grew up with (although I live back in the States now):

I added some actual lace to the Flamenco dancer, something that artisans used to do on postcards in Spain. The tiny castanets were cut on my Silhouette with a file I created for my Castanets book.


Challenges/Inspiration:
Craft-Dee BowZ: Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge: Anything Goes with Patterned Paper (3rd entry)
Deconstructed Sketch: Sketch #204 (final challenge...you'll be missed!)


Check out my other cards for this challenge here & here.

The theme this week at Pile It On is Cultural Traditions: be inspired by a traditional custom or symbol. We're sponsored by Ike's Art and I used her wonderful Chinese Dragon digi stamp. 
The current theme Ike's World Challenge at is "The Elements" so I combined our 4 traditional elements (Earth, Wind, Fire, Water) with the 5 Chinese Elements (Earth, Wood, Fire, Water, Metal).

I colored the dragon with Copics and a glittery-red Wink of Stella brush pen. The image includes some lovely flowers, but instead of coloring them I covered those sections with fabric and mulberry flowers. I put the dragon on an Action Wobble to add a little movement to the scene.

The flourish on the top right is cut with a Sizzlits die from blue metal from Add a Little Dazzle, and represents the Wind. I stamped a Chinese Longevity symbol from Stampin Up in gold onto wood and die-cut it. The border is cut from the same wood sheet. I know the Chinese fortune (from an actual cookie) isn't traditionally Chinese, but it's certainly a tradition! The designer papers are from Graphic 45.

Allways Something Creative

Challenges/Inspiration:
Wobble Wednesday: Anything goes with an Action Wobble
Animal Friends Challenge #27: Fantasy Animal (dragon)
Allways Something Creative #101: Sketch
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge: Anything Goes with Patterned Paper (2nd entry)
Cute Card Thursday #378: Add A Quote (fortune)
Ike's World Challenge #40: Elements - Earth, Wind, Fire + Water
WordArt Wednesdays: Anything Goes Family Friendly

Check out my other cards for this challenge here & here.

The theme this week at Pile It On is Houses/Home. We're sponsored by Fresh Brewed Designs, a company/artist I've admired for a long time. I combined her "From the Rooftops" and "My Neighborhood" digi stamps to create this scene.
I also incorporated a lovely digital sentiment by Ginny H which was offered at Aud Sentiments.


I printed the images and sentiment on white paper. I colored the houses with Copics; I was inspired by the colors of houses in my neighborhood. I popped up the piece with foam tape. The crocheted flower and button brad are from my stash. The button was originally purple, so I heat-embossed it in red. The leaves are cut with a Sweet Stamps die.

The patterned papers are from my stash; I've been saving this lovely blue piece for just-the-right project. I notched the outer corners with my favorite Marvy punch, so you can see just a bit of the yellow card base.

Crafting by Designs

Challenges/Inspiration:
4 Crafty Chicks #250: Polka Dots
Aud Sentiments Challenge #133: Bingo (Markers, Digi Stamp, Die Cut) + Sentiment (wonderful freebie by Ginny H)
Crafting By Designs: Sketch + patterned paper
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge: Anything Goes with Patterned Paper
Doodle Pantry: Anything Digital Goes
Loves Rubber Stamps #155: Spots & Dots
Our Creative Corner: What Makes You Smile (Neighborhood Friends)
Scribbles Designs Challenge: Use things that start with B (Buildings, Button Brad)
Simon Says Stamp: Friends
WordArt Wednesdays: Anything Goes Family Friendly

Update: This was a Spotlight project for Crafting By Designs #75!

I am a big coffee drinker; I like to brag that I drank coffee way before it was cool (the pre-Starbucks days) and my friends tease me about my preference for black iced coffee, no matter the weather! So when I saw the Coffee Loving Cardmakers' Summer Blog Hop, I just had to make a card and hop along.

I was also inspired by Mojo Monday Sketch #400 and Verve Stamps' Eat Me, Drink Me challenge. I used a sentiment & two sun stamps from Verve's wonderful Let It Shine set (you can see my many uses of this set here) to make a summery card.


The sun stamps are heat-embossed in yellow. I used an SU! coffee bean stamp to heat-emboss some white, whimsical clouds. The birds are from an ArtsyFartsy stamp set, simply stamped in black.

The cup is from a a Heartfelt Creations die set. I stamped the sentiment in bronze onto the off-white mulberry paper. The doily was cut from a coffee bean-patterned DP with a Sizzix/Eileen Hull die in my BigShot. I backed it with cardboard from actual coffee cup sleeves.

I notched the corners on the blue paper with my favorite Marvy corner punch, and added a slight frame of with copper paper.

The theme this week at Pile It On is For/Featuring a Father/Man. We're sponsored by Dr. Digi's House of Stamps, so I used Strongo the Magnificent to make a fun card for my dad:


The circus tent is a cutting file freebie I grabbed a long time ago, I'm not sure from where. I used SCAL to create the card base, which I cut from a yellow-orange paper on my Silhouette Cameo. The shimmery red & star-patterned DP is from Recollections' "Comic Heroes" paper pack, as is the polka-dot paper I used to die-cut the frame on the inside. The top layer was cut from a shiny yellow paper, and I heat-embossed stars in gold all over it.

I colored Strongo with Copics. My husband and I have been enjoying watching classic Strongman Competitions on TV; seriously, it is great entertainment! I made his dumbbells by die-cutting black Styrofoam from a take-out container. The dumbbell bar is made with a Fiskars stamp and Shrinky Dink plastic; the sentiment stamp is quite large, so shrinking it down made it the perfect size and even gave it a fun bend.

The tent cutting file came with a banner on top, but I cut it off and instead used a die from a•muse studio's Cupcake Toppers set. The front is made from more shiny yellow paper, and I decorated it with a sentiment stamp and gold-embossed wood stars.

Challenges/Inspiration:
Creative Corner: Just For Dad
DoubleClick Skittles #23: Father's Day or Man Project
Inky Impressions #212: Make It For A Man
Love to Scrap: Father's Day or Masculine Project
Polkadoodles: Father's Day or Anything Male
The Paper Girls: Father's Day/Masculine
Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Masculine
Simply Create Too #87: Masculine
W2SB #18: It's a Man's World