Treats & Sweets: October Studio Challenge!

It's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge. Each month we have a fun, crafty question so we can share our favorites, some tips and tricks, stamping advice and more. 

The theme for October is:

Good things come in small packages!  The holiday season is upon us and between Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukah, and Christmas there are a ton of opportunities to create and give little treats, gifts, and party favors.  Please show us something you'll be giving this year.

And here is how I'll be treating some friends during this holiday season...

I am a fan of gift cards. Who doesn't like to get one? But, they can be a little impersonal, so why not dress them up right! I decided to create a little coordinating gift tin and card for a good friend of ours using these fun alterable hinged tins from Taylored Expressions!

By using the coordinating Gift Card Frame Die, I could very easily add some festive patterned paper to the tin, along with some cute twine. 

Isn't that die-cut candy cane sweet? And, it's shiny, too -- scroll down for some tips on how to use a die and glitter tape to get some perfectly perfect stripes!

I filled this tin with a gift card to a favorite local eatery. Yum!

I like to make matching cards when I give a treat and so I used the same patterned paper on this one as I did on the tin. I also added the same twine, but this time, I die-cut some holly leaves and punched out some berries. 

To create the perfectly striped candy cane, I used some fabulous glitter tape from American Crafts. I simply measured out some pieces and adhered them to a piece of printer paper (Bean Tip: if using wafer-thin dies like TE's, you will get a clean cut the first pass through if you use a thin backing paper like printer paper.) Then, I just zipped it through and voila! A happy cane!

BEAN NOTES

Stamps: Winter Wonderland (Taylored Expressions); Patterned Paper: North Pole (Doodlebug); Ink: Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Fibers: Ladybug Twine (Doodlebug); Tools: Hole Punch (EK Success); Dies: Very Merry Outlines, Gift Card Frame (Taylored Expressions); Alterable: Hinged Tin (Taylored Expressions); Accents: White and Red Glitter Tape (American Crafts)

I hope you enjoyed my project today. What treats will you be making for the holidays? If you need more inspiration, be sure to check out the rest of the Baker's Dozen and see how they answered this month's Studio Challenge!

Charmaine Ikach

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melody Rupple

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess

Cammie King (Guest Designer)

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

For any of you who are regular readers of TSB, you know that I have been in the midst of birthday frenzy for my little rugrat's 5th birthday party. Well, Saturday was the big day, and I think it was a big success! (Lots of happy kids and no major tantrums!) So, I have one more birthday card to share with you today to help me wish my wee best buddy many happy returns!

I used my new go-to birthday set from Taylored Expressions, You Take the Cake. (Note: this set will be available for purchase from the TE Store in December.) I colored in this darling present stack, glittered it up, and fussy cut to pop out over some fun patterned paper.

I thought I'd share a photo of the entertainment at my son's reptile-themed party. Those are LIVE snakes -- I just about passed out, but all the kids loved it!

BEAN NOTES

Stamps: You Take the Cake (Taylored Expressions); Patterned Paper: Hello Cupcake! (Imaginisce); Fibers: Twine (Doodlebug); Cardstock: Choice Snow (Taylored Expressions), Yellow textured (American Crafts); Accents: button (generic); Diamond Stickles (Ranger); Coloring Medium: Sketch Markers (Copic)

Let's Clicut!

It's Monday! Today is my day with Imaginisce to share a fun project using one of my favorite tools, the Clicut!

I am in full birthday gear here at casa de bean, as the rugrat's big 5 birthday party is this weekend. But, I still needed to be thinking about the holidays. I thought I would make some placecard settings for our Thanksgiving feast and the Clicut was just what I needed.

I found this lovely tutorial by Kate Pullen on how to make a paper pumpkin. I wanted thinner strips and so I adapted the tutorial to suit my needs. Now, I usually reach for my paper trimmer when I need to cut strips, but the one I have doesn't do so well with strips smaller than 1 inch wide. So, the Clicut was just perfect!

I also wanted to make some little curly cues for the "vines" on my happy pumpkin, so I cut even thinner strips with the Clicut before curing them around the barrel. 

I hope your Thanksgiving feast is festive!

BEAN NOTES

Patterned Paper: Monster Mash and Makin' Waves collections (Imaginisce); Tools: Clicut (Imaginisce); Fibers: brown grosgrain (generic); Other: branch stand (Target)

Wintertide...

Good day to you, my crafty friends! I hope you have been enjoying your fall weekend. Lifestyle Crafts just released its Wintertide collection of dies and I am delighted to get to share some of them with you today. Plus, as an Affiliate, I get to offer readers an exclusive 20% discount code for use in the LC Store (details below.)

Aren't these pretty? The set comes with all 5 snowflakes.

There are two bonus "single" trees included in the Evergreen Punches die set.

I love winter and decorating for the holidays. When I saw these darling Snowflakes and Evergreen Punches Dies, I knew I wanted to make something that would brighten up our place during the holidays. I decided to create some easy-to-make luminaries.

To make these luminaries, I simply die-cut the Snowflake and Christmas Tree Border shapes from cardstock that I decorated with some holiday patterned paper. I added some vellum backing to create a soft light effect once these are "lit" (Bean Tip: since these are made of paper, be sure to reuse those flameless candles you used in your Halloween pumpkins!)

In less than an hour, I had two pretty luminaries that I hope will light up our holidays this year!

BEAN NOTES

Patterned Paper: Christmas Cheer Collection (Imaginisce); Cardstock: textured (American Crafts); Dies: Snowflakes and Evergreen Punches (Lifestile Crafts); Accents: Liquid Pearls, Stickles (Ranger); Fibers: Pleated Satin (Stampin' Up!), green taffeta (generic)

I hope you enjoyed my projects today -- if you do any shopping in the Lifestyle Crafts Store, be sure to enter Promo Code: BEAN for a 20% discount. 

The Apple of My Eye

I  showed you one of my fall cards featuring the October Key Ingredients Kit from Taylored Expressions and today I have another to share with you! I used the subscriber exclusive stamp set, Falling for You, this time using the absolutely darling apple image and coordinating die! I like giving my little rugrat cars (and he loves receiving them!) and I created this card with him in mind.

I just love this set and the coordinating papers and ribbon are just the thing for Fall. I die-cut the apple shape from patterned paper and also stamped it on cardstock and fussy cut around just the inside. 

Who is the apple of your eye?

BEAN NOTES

Stamps: Falling for You and Borderlicious (Taylored Expressions); Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko); Patterned Paper, Cardstock, and Ribbon: from October Key Ingredients Kit; Dies: Falling for You Dies (Taylored Expressions); Accents: Eyelets (WRMK)

Share-A-Card: Holidays!

My Imaginisce teammates and I have been lucky enough to participate on a very wonderful project through the organization, Share-A-Card. We are creating holiday cards for this terrific organization that tries to brighten the holidays of the seriously ill. 

We recently moved back to California after a few very cold winters and this project got me thinking of all my friends who will be shivering through the holidays. I thought I'd create a card for someone who could use some warm winter wishes.

I combined the Makin' Waves and Christmas Cheer collections to make a fun, whimsical surfing Santa card. I love the darling canvas stickers and put them together for a jolly old elf who really knows how to 'hang ten!'

I do hope that you check out Share-A-Card -- if you have any cards hanging around looking for homes, it's a very worthy place to send them to.

BEAN NOTES

Patterned Paper: Makin' Waves and Christmas Cheer (Imaginisce); Stickers: Makin' Waves and Christmas Cheer Canvas (Imaginisce); Dies: Make a Snowflake Die (Taylored Expressions); Accents: button (generic); Stickles (Ranger); Cardstock: red (Bazzill); Fibers: red satin (generic)

TE October Calendar Challenge!

It's time for another Taylored Expressions Calendar Challenge! I've been working on a fun calendar for the whole year and I've got another for you with this one, perfect for this boo-worty month...

I have been featuring the fun Seasonal Wreaths on my monthly calendar projects, and this month I just HAD to use the Spooky Wreath (which I paired with the coordinating die.)

I added the webs and spiders to the calendar background of my Desktop Calendar Landscape Frame.

The creepy skull is from the set, Toil & Trouble, and I gave him some Tiny Twinkle eyes and a polka-dot tie! Remember, you can jump in at any time to participate, and even back track months if you'd like to participate in the Calendar Challenge. Did you know that if you play along you could win a TE Prize Pack worth over $150? Visit HERE for all the details!

BEAN NOTES

Stamps: Spooky Wreath, Toil & Trouble (Taylored Expressions); Dies: Seasonal Wreath, Basic Bow (Taylored Expressions); Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Coloring Medium: Sketch Markers (Copic); Other: Desktop Calendar Landscape Frame (Taylored Expressions); Desktop Calendar Inserts (Taylored Expressions); Accents: Tiny Twinkles (Taylored Expressions)

I hope you enjoyed my Calendar project today. For more inspiration, check out my teammates' fab blogs!

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melody Rupple

Regina Mangum

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Filled With Love...TE October Key Ingredients!

It is officially Fall, though since I live in California, it's not very apparent! So, I was really excited to get to create a little Autumn splendor of my own with the new October Key Ingredients kit from Taylored Expressions! This month, there is a KI subcriber-exclusive stamp set, Falling for You, that is so adorable and, even better, it comes with coordinating dies!

 I used the sweet little wheelbarrow image and combined it with the die and filled it with hearts stamped on the absolutely darling patterned paper from the kit. I added the perfect little sentiment along with a pretty satin ribbon also included in the kit. 

Key Ingredients Info and Inspiration – October 10-15 - learn all about this fantastic kit club and see samples from the Key Ingredients Design Team and the Baker's Dozen!  Click here for all the info.

October Key Ingredients featuring Simple Stories Harvest Lane 6x6 papers begins shipping October 15th. Enroll now!

Exclusive Falling for You Stamp Set & Coordinating Dies- find out how you can get your crafty little hands on the adorable new stamp set at 50% off for a limited time! Click here!

BEAN NOTES

Stamps: Falling for You (Taylored Expressions); Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko); Patterned Paper, Cardstock, and Ribbon: from October Key Ingredients Kit; Dies: Falling for You Dies (Taylored Expressions), Classic Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders)

I think I could make Fall cards with this kit all day long, and there is certainly enough in the kit to do it! Be sure to visit my Baker's Dozen teammates' and the Key Ingredients Crew's blogs to get more inspiration using this kit and exclusive stamp set.

Charmaine Ikach

Debbie Carriere

Jen Shults

Monika Davis

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Tracy Clemente