Lunar New Year Challenge + Giveaways | November 2024

The Lunar New Year Challenge is back and we've partnered up with your favourite craft companies all year long so that means there are giveaways every month! This month, we're giving away ONE $25 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp, ONE $25 gift certificate to Lawn Fawn, ONE $25 gift certificate to RAM Stamps, and ONE $25 gift certificate to Catherine Pooler Designs. That's a total of $100 in giveaways in November!

My first card for this month features products from Spellbinders and Trinity Stamps available from our October sponsor, Simon Says Stamp. The three main sets featured here are the Stitched Numbers Dies, Mistletoe Greetings Press Plate and the Art Deco Dance Foil Plate.

I've been obsessed with the the Stitched Numbers Dies ever since they were released and have used them many times in the past year, on both new year cards and birthday cards. I typically stitch on all of the numbers but decided it wouldn't be as noticeable to stitch on the Gold Glitter Paper so I only stitched on the Mirror Gold Foil this time.

I alternated the Gold Glitter Paper and Mirror Gold Foil between numbers and their shadows to provide interest against the busier Art Deco Dance Foil Plate, which I heat foiled with Sparkle Red Hot Foil. I love the rich tone-on-tone look with the red foil on Schoolhouse Red cardstock.

All that was needed to finish the card was a simple sentiment and I used Espresso Bean Hot Foil to heat foil the BetterPress sentiment on Nectar cardstock. To finish, I popped all of the numbers and sentiment strip on to the foiled background with foam squares.

The rules are simple. You must create a new Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year or a 2024 Dragon Birthday card and add the link to your post in the link-up party. For November, we're inviting you to continue making 2025 Year of the Snake cards! Multiple entries are allowed. Backlinking to an older project is strictly prohibited.

Our November Lunar New Year Challenge will run from 12:00am EST on November 1, 2024 through 12:00pm EST on November 30, 2024. We would love to see you using products from our four generous sponsors! The four lucky winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries and announced at the start of the December Challenge. 

(save and share with your project)

Visit the November Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

If you're inspired, some affiliate links are included below at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders Guest Post feat. the Beads of Friendship Collection

Hello, crafty friends! I'm on the Spellbinders Blog with three cards featuring the Beads of Friendship Collection, one of many awesome releases now available in the Spellbinders store!

If you missed my post featuring another card using products from this collection, you can find all the details HERE or by clicking on the image below.

Affiliated product links are listed below at no extra cost to you. Details on how I made each card and more photos are on the Spellbinders Blog. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders Guest Post feat. the Shine Bright Collection by Carissa Wiley

Hello, crafty friends! I'm on the Spellbinders Blog with three cards featuring the Shine Bright Collection by Carissa Wiley, one of many awesome releases now available in the Spellbinders store!

Affiliated product links are listed below at no extra cost to you. Details on how I made each card and more photos are on the Spellbinders Blog. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders Guest Post feat. Amaryllis Christmas by Yana Smakula

Hello, crafty friends! I'm on the Spellbinders Blog with three cards featuring the Amaryllis Christmas by Yana Smakula, one of many awesome releases now available in the Spellbinders store!

If you missed my post featuring another card using products from this collection, you can find all the details HERE or by clicking on the image below.

Affiliated product links are listed below at no extra cost to you. Details on how I made each card and more photos are on the Spellbinders Blog. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

Lunar New Year Challenge | Warm Wishes for the Year of the Snake

Last month, I shared a simpler version of today's card using the Spellbinders Halloween Icons Press Plate & Die Set and I promised to share a different version using the same BetterPress snake so here it is! There are 10 more days until the October Lunar New Year Challenge closes so I wanted to sneak in at least one more inspiration card for this month!

For this card, I created my signature angled panel with Simon Says Stamp's Lipstick Red, Orange Peel and Sunshine cardstock. Then I heat foiled the snakes with Speckled Aura Hot Foil. To get this pattern, I started with the two centre snakes in the same position as last month's card and worked my way out until I had eight snakes. As you may know, the number eight is the most auspicious number in the Chinese culture.

I love the way the Speckled Aura Hot Foil looks like scales and adds so much interest to the snakes themselves. Since this cardstock is fairly textured and the snakes are a BetterPress plate, I had to set my Gemini Foilpress at high heat for one full minute in order to get excellent results.

The sentiment from A Merry Little Christmas Glimmer Hot Foil Plate & Die Set was heat foiled using Matte Gold Hot Foil on Nectar cardstock. Just like on the original design, I used the partial die cutting technique with one of the Precision Layering A2 B Dies to cut in into the perfect rectangle.

Our October Lunar New Year Challenge will run from 12:00am EST on October 1, 2024 through 12:00pm EST on October 31, 2024. We would love to see you using products from our four generous sponsors! The four lucky winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries and announced at the start of the November Challenge. 

The rules are simple. You must create a new Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year or a 2024 Dragon Birthday card and add the link to your post in the link-up party. For October, we're inviting you to continue making Mid-Autumn Festival cards and begin making 2025 Year of the Snake cards! Multiple entries are allowed. Backlinking to an older project is strictly prohibited.

(save and share with your project)

Visit the October Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

If you're inspired, some affiliate links are included below at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders | NEW RELEASE | Amaryllis Christmas by Yana Smakula

Today's post features more new release products from Spellbinders and this shaped card features the Amaryllis Christmas Collection by Yana Smakula. Every collection designed by Yana is absolutely gorgeous and this one is no exception! 

It may have been designed for the holidays but Yana's Amaryllis Dies can definitely be used for more than Christmas cards and I'm sharing a card that shows how it can be used for birthdays and other celebratory occasions.

I love that this has a base die on which all the die cut pieces can be glued to. That makes it so easy to work with and arrange on a card. While the obvious option is to ink blend or colour the inlaid pieces, I chose to cut them from Lavender Glaze, Briar Rose and Passion Fruit. I cut the outline with Mirror Gold cardstock and assembled all the pieces on a Vellum base.

I used the Nested Postage Labels for the card base and stitched panel. I cut the card base from Artichoke cardstock and the stitched panel from Snowdrift, which I dry embossed using the Amaryllis Garden 3D Embossing Folder.

After creating the postage-shaped card base and glueing the embossed panel on it, I heat foiled the sentiment from Let's Celebrate Sentiments Press Plate & Die Set using Polished Brass Hot Foil on Mocha cardstock. I chose this colour because it closely resembled a pot or soil and thought this combination of foil and cardstock complemented the other colours nicely.

Both Yana's Amaryllis and the Let's Celebrate Sentiment were popped up on foam squares. To finish, I added three Fashion Oyster Pearls.

Be sure to check out the full Amaryllis Christmas Collection HERE or by clicking on the banner above. I'll be sharing more inspiration from the new collections soon so be sure to stop by again soon!

If you're inspired, please shop my affiliate links below and remember to accept your cookies so I can be credited for the referral. Spellbinders would love to know that you were inspired by me. Thanks so much for your continued support!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders | NEW RELEASE | Beads of Friendship Collection

Hello, crafty friends! I'm back with a card featuring new release products from Spellbinders and this one features the Beads of Friendship Collection inspired by Taylor Swift. Even if you aren't a Swiftie, you may have grown up in the late 80s and early 90s making friendship bracelets and sneaker pins to adorn your wrists and sneakers!

Simply based on the nostalgia alone, I'm absolutely smitten with this beautiful collection and had so much fun creating with all the hands (you know me) and bracelets. I could literally sit for hours assembling these and there are so many colour options!

The sets featured here are the Heart Hands Etched Dies and the Bestie Sentiments Press Plate & Die Set. I finally got my hands on Concord & 9th's Neutrals Assorted Cardstock Pack and couldn't wait to use it with these hands. I love that they made custom colours just for skin tones and that makes it easy to create with! I used Cocoa for the top layer and Espresso for the shadow.

For the beads of the bracelets, I used Dragonfruit, Poppy, Gold Coins, Juniper and Silver Glitter cardstock. The bracelet comes with a shadow piece but I didn't use it here, opting to layer two bracelets on each wrist. If you use the shadow, only one bracelet will fit. You could also keep it simple and add a single bracelet or make it asymmetrical. It's easy and fun to customize!

The sentiment from the Bestie Sentiments Press Plate & Die Set was heat foiled using Matte Silver Hot Foil on Juniper cardstock and I added a shadow cut from Silver Glitter cardstock. I popped the hands and sentiment on black foam squares after creating my signature background from Gold Coins, Fog and Snowdrift cardstock.

Be sure to check out the full Beads of Friendship Collection HERE or by clicking on the banner above. I'll be sharing more inspiration from the new collections soon so be sure to stop by again soon!

If you're inspired, please shop my affiliate links below and remember to accept your cookies so I can be credited for the referral. Spellbinders would love to know that you were inspired by me. Thanks so much for your continued support!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders Guest Post feat. Oh Joyful Day Card Making Kit by Rosie's Studio

Hello, crafty friends! I'm on the Spellbinders Blog with three cards featuring the Oh Joyful Day Card Making Kit by Rosie's Studio, one of many awesome releases now available in the Spellbinders store!

If you missed my post featuring two other cards using products from this collection, you can find all the details HERE or by clicking on the image below.

Affiliated product links are listed below at no extra cost to you. Details on how I made each card and more photos are on the Spellbinders Blog. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

Lunar New Year Challenge + Giveaways | October 2024

The Lunar New Year Challenge is back and we've partnered up with your favourite craft companies all year long so that means there are giveaways every month! This month, we're giving away ONE $25 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp, ONE $25 gift certificate to Lawn Fawn, ONE $25 gift certificate to RAM Stamps, and ONE $25 gift certificate to Whimsy Stamps. That's a total of $100 in giveaways in October!

My first card for this month features Spellbinders products available from our October sponsor, Simon Says Stamp. The three main sets featured here are the Dancin' Birthday Dragon, Making Me Smile Sentiments and the Starshine Background.

Ever since I made THIS card, my son has been asking for a black Dancin' Birthday Dragon. We're huge fans of the How to Train Your Dragon films and while a black dragon would be amazing, most of the details would be lost on black cardstock. Instead, I used Slate Gray cardstock, which is one of my favourite dark grey shades and just as good as black.

Other colours I used for the dragon include Fog Gray for the wings and belly, Glitter Black Sapphire for the wing details, white cardstock for the eyeballs, and black cardstock for the eye details and claws. While I sometimes secure the body so it doesn't swing (like on THIS card), I made this one interactive and it's highly addictive to swing back and forth!

Both the crown and gift were layered with Lipstick Red and Mirror Gold cardstock. The sentiment from Making Me Smile Sentiments was heat foiled with Matte Gold Hot Foil on Lipstick Red cardstock and die cut with the coordinating dies. I mounted both the dragon and sentiment on a base panel cut from Tuscan cardstock using the Starshine Background.

The rules are simple. You must create a new Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year or a 2024 Dragon Birthday card and add the link to your post in the link-up party. For October, we're inviting you to continue making Mid-Autumn Festival cards and begin making 2025 Year of the Snake cards! Multiple entries are allowed. Backlinking to an older project is strictly prohibited.

Our October Lunar New Year Challenge will run from 12:00am EST on October 1, 2024 through 12:00pm EST on October 31, 2024. We would love to see you using products from our four generous sponsors! The four lucky winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries and announced at the start of the November Challenge. 

(save and share with your project)

Visit the October Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

If you're inspired, some affiliate links are included below at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies: