Hello, hello! I am excited to bring back my Mystery box Monday series. I did this series back in 2020 and since it did not get a lot of views back then I had retired it. But I missed it. This project was just some weird creative fun and I am happy to be back to it.

So, what is Mystery Box Monday? I have a “grab-bag” style box of supplies that I purchased from Piece Craft Love as part of a clearance sale back in Dec ’22. Since the box is a grab-bag, that means all the supplies in the box are a mystery. The box comes at a steep price reduction because the supplies are unknown. Who doesn’t like a good mystery?

I’m going to reach into this box and pull out three items. Much like that cooking show with the mystery basket ingredients, I have to put those items to use on one crafty project. Will these ingredients work together? Or will it be a recipe for disaster? Let’s find out…

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This time around the first two items were clearly Christmas and I thought I knew what I was going to be making, until…

I pulled out this Doodle-Pops sheep embellishment. Um… okay. Now what?

So the brain starts churning away. I could use the letters for a card title. What kind of card? Sheep means baby. Can I do baby with Christmas stamps? There are a lot of words on there, what if I just use the words as an alphabet? What about the holly leaves, what could I do with those in terms of baby? It could be a hill for the sheep to stand on…

…and the idea was born.

I knew the hill would be green and the letters red, so in order to move away from the obvious Christmas color scheme, I pulled in more colors to create a confetti feel. Marker stamping and spattering techniques pulled this card together. If you want all the details, check out the video.

As a bonus I did go ahead and create some Christmas cards too using the same design style. Now I have a bit of a head start on my holiday crafting!

So that is it this time around. I hope you join me for future Mystery Box Monday goodness. Until next time, I hope you have an artful day.

If you don’t follow my YouTube channel, you may be wondering what I’ve been up to in April. Hopefully you’ve already seen my posts for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit build and first two layouts. If not be sure to head back to read up on those.

I’ve had a few other things going on so far this month.

First up as this photo indicates, I did get a Mystery Box Monday project done and I liked how it came out. Be sure to read on for more on that.

I also made some sweet little bouquet embellishments. I did not do my usual project forgery for the CKC group this time around as my ideas were very simple and not worth a whole post/video. These sweet little bouquets came about from a spin off of the other project I worked on this month…

…I did a very big product review that I will detail in another post (coming soon!). I put that product to use in a pretty project, so be sure to check that out!

Mystery Box

Each month I reach into my mystery box of crafty supplies and pull out three items. Much like that cooking show with the mystery basket ingredients, I have to put those items to use on one crafty project. Will these ingredients work together? Or will it be a recipe for disaster? Let’s find out…

Here is a peek at the mystery items I pulled out of the box this time around. The “first” item was actually a bundle of three things as part of the thank you note from the shop. I hade some sequins, some floral embellishments and a stamp of a cat in a window. The next two items are as pictured below.

That stamps definitely set the tone for this entire project! You can view all about it in the video.

But here are the final project pictures if you want a quicker view.

Bouquet Embellishments

So this idea got stuck in my head when I was playing with my new die cutting machine. It just took me a little while to find the time to get to it. But once I was in the process it didn’t take a huge amount of time at that point since the new die cutter has a much larger cutting area than my old one!

That wraps up another blog post. Until next time, have an artful day!

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PRODUCTS USED^^

• Spellbinders, Stylish Ovals florals: https://shrsl.com/414me
• Concord & 9th, Grateful Blooms: https://shrsl.com/40scs
• Scrapbook.com, Sprigs die set: https://shrsl.com/40sdg
• Stampendous, Cat in the window stamp: https://www.franticstamper.com/Stampendous-Cling-Mounted-Rubber-Stamps–Window-Kitty_p_139798.html

^^ Disclaimer: I offer affiliate shopping linked products when possible. This shopping won’t cost you anything extra, but I get a small kick back from the companies for sending business their way. It is an easy way to tell me “Thank You” for the content I provide.

I’m hoping to help you expand the usefulness of some of your supplies. Today I’m using just 3 main products to create three different card designs. We’ll look at a few tips and tricks to expand the use of layered stencils and background dies. In fact I’ll confess, I only own one cover plate/background die!

Now, I’m going to show you some Easter cards today, but I want you to keep in mind that simple changes can turn these cards into just about any occasion. You’ll get the most tips and details from the video, but I’ll share the basics below.

For the embossing powder, it was used to:

• As a basic stamped greeting
• Edge the card front
• Edge card elements (eggs in upper card)
• Added as focal point accents (flower centers)
• Create a focal point texture piece

The stencil was featured by:

• Using a portion to create a “die cut” focal
• Using it to decorate other elements (the eggs)
• Using it in portions to decorate the background.

The cover plate die was also used in three ways:

• As intended, as a background layer. The tone on tone gives it a special tone.
• As a dry embossing texture (the video covers this technique!)
• As a dry + heat embossing focal piece

I hope you found some interesting ways to stretch your supplies! I’d love to hear the ways you enjoy using background dies, stencils or embossing powders in your crafting.

Oh what a weekend I had a couple of weekends ago. I am a fan of taking classes and the crafty events from Crop & Create Delivered by SCT Magazine are so jam packed that it is hard to get everything done. That stresses some people out, but for me I’d rather get so much for my money that I have things to continue working on! In fact these aren’t all the cards I made. I still have a few classes I’m working on.

The best part? My kids (if you can call a 20yo and a 15yo kids anymore) joined me on Friday for making cards. They chose a specific class… that 6th photo with the flowers & bees. Oh my did we have such a good time. If you get past all these fun cards, there are more below of what the kids made. There is even a very fun and silly take on the bees. So don’t miss that!

Okay I told you there would be more cards. These are the ones that my kids made.

Paige’s

Fiona’s

You made it this far and I promised you a fun & silly card. While this isn’t the most stunning photo, pay attention to the theme of this card!

She made this one as part of a batch of bees cards she made.

She even asked why we don’t craft more together. Heart officially melted!

If you want to get in on these classes, the next event will be in the fall and registration opens up in May. So check out the details… Crop & Create Delivered by SCT

I am part of the creative team over at ScrapHappy. A large part of that team is bringing you blog posts based on our monthly themes. This month is all about organization. And I was writing that blog post I realized that I have created various cut files and diy storage items for organizing. And I want to be sure to share then with you!

First check out the video to see how I organize and which pieces I put to use. (link coming soon!)

If you need any help getting svg files into either Cricut or Silhouette (you need the paid-for designer edition), then you can check out the videos linked by each word/system.

Next up is a diy set of paper drawers that is great for storing small items like ink cubes, enamel dots, die cut pieces, etc.

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This is the two part tutorial that I created for this little storage drawer system. (It is not a cut file yet. I’ll be converting this to cut files soon. Leave me a comment if you are interested in this!)

I’ve been doing free svg and sketch files for download all year long. This month I am combing the freebies into a single video. You can still download the files individually for just the files that are interesting to you! The sketch shows on the left and the cut file on the right, with a project combing the two in the center. Larger photos follow if you’d like to see more

The sketch features a single 4×6 photo but if you watch the video you’ll see how I sneak in more photos.

This file is made up of various cuts. The gray leaves there are just extras if you want to build a fuller wreath. And the colored layers in the wreath are the backings for the cut file so you don’t have to trace and cut your own backs.

Of course if you have any questions, do get in touch with me at the Contact Me tab above.

I took some video time off around Christmas to clean, organize and plan for my YouTube channel for 2021. I’ve come up with an ambitious schedule but I hope it will be enjoyable for everyone. Here is what it looks like…

MONDAYs	Tue.	WEDNESDAYs	Thr.	FRIDAYs
Counterfeit Kit Challenge (CKC)		Best of Both Worlds (BOBW) (Shimelle’s project)		Product Feature
Mystery Box Monday		CKC process		BOBW process
TBA		SCT Unboxing + Project		Cut File Friday
My Process (series)		Sketchy Wednesday		Monthly Wrap-Up

This schedule will be permanently posted in my “YouTube Schedule” tab on the main site. I hope you will come along for the ride. And if you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment!