1st Blogaversary Giveaway Winners!

Thank you all for helping me celebrate my first year of blogging.  The lucky winners of the 1st Blogaversary Giveaway are:

Grand Prize - Christmas Stamps & Trimmings
terriavidreader (IN-USA),
who said: "Happy Blogaversary! These are things to be celebrated!!"

Second Prize - Field Notes Pocket Notebook
Dorinda,
who said: "Super congrats!! April is a fantastic month!!"

Bonus Winners

These 3 followers won one Paper Squirrel digital stamp of their choice:

1. garnett, who said: "CONGRATs!!!!! Thank you for sharing your treasures with us. Love your blog"
2. Sanet, who said: "All the way from South Africa.... thanks for sharing and congratulations!!!"
3. Cindy-Up In Northern Michigan, who said: "Whoo Hoo! Congrats on your first year. So many great things you've shared with all of us. Thanks!!

Congratulations, all!  Please  with your mailing address by Sunday, May 6 and I'll send out your prize.  For those of you who won a digital stamp of your choice, please also email me the name of the digi you would like. You can easily search digis using the tag "Free Digi Friday".

18 & Fabulous!

I can not believe that my niece is 18 today! How is it possible that she's now an adult who will be going away to college in the fall (going away from her parents, but she will actually be closer to me...yay). Ugh...where did the time go?!

Well, the cutest little girl has turned into a fabulous young woman who loves altered art, retro fashion, and bold colors. When I saw this incredibly elegant retro lady, I knew she was perfect for Jamie's card and built the rest around her.

The Details:

• The "fabulous, dahling, truly fabulous" retro lady is from Free Vintage Digital Stamps.  Pamela offers some of the most unique images...I just love her site! Fab-o retro lady was printed on white copy paper, colored with watercolor pencils, fussy cut, and accented with Old Paper Distress Ink to give her a little more flesh color.

• This wonderfully bold link border is from Bazzill. I trimmed it to fit the width of my card (it's 12" long, so there's still another large piece left for another card!) and accented the centers of the ovals with large pearls.

• The oval and "18" were stamped on plum cardstock, accented with Old Paper DI and then given a generous coating of Glossy Accents. The finished label is mounted on foam tape for added dimension.  

• To position the ribbon and bow just where I wanted it, I cut a horizonal slit through the card and ran the ribbon through from the back, tying the bow in the front. The fluffiness of the bow helps disguise the slit, although if you use a sharp knife, your slit will be neat and not even noticeable.

Challenges:

Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturday Challenge: Birthday

Cardmadfairy's Digi Days Challenge: Pick A Number

Emergency Crafters: Bold & Bright

Southern Girls Challenge: #43 - Get Your Girly On

Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Simon Says...Anything Goes

Celebrate the Occasion: Challenge #60 - Happy Birthday (must use ribbon)

Going Grey with Scrap-Creations Challenge: It's A Girl Thing

Supplies:
Cardstock:	Stampin’ Up! ‘Pale Plum’
Patterned Paper:	Fancy Pants ‘Love’; My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found Two ‘Blush’
Image:	Free Vintage Digital Stamps
Stamps:	Inkadinkado ‘Sharie Numbers’; My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found Two Rosy ‘Everything’
Inks:	Distress Ink ‘Old Paper’, ‘Barn Door’; SU! craft ‘Real Red’; StazOn ‘Jet Black’; Distress Stain ‘Victorian Velvet’; Perfect Pearls Mist ‘Heirloom Gold’; SU! watercolor pencils
Embellishments:	Bazzill Just the Edge ‘Black’; Hug Snug seam binding ‘ivory’; pearl accents; Glossy Accents
Tools:	3M foam tape; heat gun; Tim Holtz paper distresser; Exacto knife; foam ink blender

Free Digi Friday: Butterfly Fairy

Here's a butterfly fairy to flit around your spring crafty projects...enjoy!

Also, help me celebrate my 1st Blogaversary and enter to win some giveaways! Click HERE for all the details and how to enter. Don't miss out...tomorrow's the last day!

**EDITED**

Friday Free Digis are free for one week. This digital stamp is now available for purchase. To order, go to the side bar, enter the stamp name shown below and click 'buy now' to pay via Pay Pal.

Cost: $2.00

Stamp Name: Butterfly Fairy

I will email you the file within 24 hours of receiving payment.

Have you *liked* the ScrapaliciousUSA Facebook page yet? Be sure to get on over there so that you can be entered to win a Spellbinders Grand Calibur. Tell all your friends...the sooner we get to 1000 Fans, the sooner someone wins! Please tell them Victoria sent you.

Flower Power

The latest challenge over at the Scrapalicious USA blog is Flower Power.  Any flower counts, so be sure to play along...you could win a $10 gift certificate to the Scrapalicious USA store!

A Couple Details:

• The three flowers are K&Co. Wood Art pieces.  You get a whole pack of various shapes / images in smooth kraft-colored wood.  They're very sturdy and could be used for a variety of projects from cards to altered art to jewelry.  I colored the flowers with Distress Inks and Stains.  For the centers, I used little buttons in matching colors and added some twine.
• The background is all layered up with My Mind's Eye papers and card stock.  I used the Donut Chain edge punch (my new favorite) to create a petal border.  The Swiss Dot embossing folder gave the sage cardstock section some dimension.

Supplies InLinkz.com
Cardstock:	Papertrey Ink ‘Kraft’; Stampin’ Up! ‘Sage Shadow’
Stamps:	SU! ‘Warmest Regards’
Inks:	StazOn ‘Timber Brown’; Distress Stain ‘Barn Door’, ‘Bundled Sage’, ‘Tumbled Glass’; Distress Ink ‘Wild Honey’
Embellishments:	Close to My Heart buttons; PTI rustic button twine
Tools:	Sizzix Texture Boutique; Fiskars punch corner rounder; Zots; Wondertape; Stamp-a-ma-jig; water pen

Life is Beautiful

Remember the Bunny Box I created from a Laughing Cow box?  Well, if you do, you know that I wasn't 100% satisfied with that project, but I'm LOVING this one!  My mom and sister, Jenny, sparked the creative juices when they told me about some Easter ornaments they saw at a craft store.  They said that they looked like they were made from these little boxes...except that they were oval.  Oval, smoval...I can work with round!  So I printed this gorgeous daffodil from the Graphics Fairy that I'd pinned a few weeks ago and gave it another go.

The Details:

• Instead of keeping it as a box, I focused on the ornament idea, taping the top and bottom together with tissue tape, and adding crochet ribbon and a twine hanger.

• I colored the box with Distress Inks and a foam blender to coordinate with my background paper, then layered on my paper, the fussy-cut daffodil image, and a vellum quote using Matte Multi-Medium.
• Glossy Accents on just the daffodil blossom gives it some "pop".

• I used a pop-up Glue Dot to adhere the heart locket and added crystal glitter to the opening to "unsticky" the exposed glue dot.  It also adds a little sparkly something special.
• The ribbon is hand-dyed seam binding.

Isn't it great how you learn something from each project...even if it's what not to do?  You don't have to like them all, just learn a lesson and make the next one better.  Well now, that motto certainly applies to more than crafting, doesn't it?!

Challenges:
The Graphics Fairy:  Brag Monday #133
Always Crafting: Creative Monday Challenge #6 - Yellow and Sunshine
Love to Create: Challenge #12 - Anything Goes
Make It Monday #86
The Pink Elephant: Challenge TPE 145 - Hello Sunshine (use yellow)
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays: Recycle
Recycle, Re-Purpose & Re-invent: Anything Goes (use at least one recycled object)

Supplies:
Cardstock:	Stampin’ Up! ‘So Saffron’ (back of ornament)
Patterned Paper:	My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found Two ‘Sunshine’
Image:	The Graphics Fairy
Inks:	Distress Ink ‘Wild Honey’, ‘Old Paper’, ‘Vintage Photo’
Embellishments:	K&Co. Sentiment Vellum Quotes; Tim Holtz tissue tape ‘Symphony’; Hug Snug seam binding; lace ribbon; Papertrey Ink rustic button twine; Bead Landing Found Objects locket; Martha Stewart glitter ‘Crystal Fine’; button; Glossy Accents
Tools:	Foam ink blender; Matte Multi-Medium; Glue Dots pop-up; Wondertape; 3M Spray Adhesive; heat gun; Coluzzle
Misc:	Laughing Cow cheese box

1st Blogaversary Giveaway!

Wow, I can't believe this blog is one year old today.  It's been such a fun year and I've enjoyed sharing my creations with all of you and hope you find beauty, joy, and inspiration here!

To celebrate, I'm having my biggest giveaway ever for some lucky followers.  You have five chances to win!  Simply be a follower and leave a comment on this post by April 28 (11:59 EDT) and I'll announce winners on Sunday, April 29.

Grand Prize - Christmas Stamps & Trimmings 

Note:  This prize pack will ship to U.S. or Canada address only.  International winners will have their choice of any 3 Paper Squirrel digital stamps.

Second Prize - Field Notes Pocket Notebook

Bonus Prizes

Three winners will receive one Paper Squirrel digital stamp of their choice.

Good luck and thanks for all your support and kind comments over the past year.  Here's to many more!

Free Digi Friday: Crazy Daisy

April showers are supposed to bring May  flowers, but around here, the spring bulb flowers and trees have been flowering for weeks! Today's free digi is inspired by nature with a bit a funky twist. Enjoy!

**EDITED**

Friday Free Digis are free for one week. This digital stamp is now available for purchase. To order, go to the side bar, enter the stamp name shown below and click 'buy now' to pay via Pay Pal.

Cost: $2.00

Stamp Name: Crazy Daisy

I will email you the file within 24 hours of receiving payment.

Have you *liked* the ScrapaliciousUSA Facebook page yet? Be sure to get on over there so that you can be entered to win a Spellbinders Grand Calibur. Tell all your friends...the sooner we get to 1000 Fans, the sooner someone wins! Please tell them Victoria sent you.

Spring Flowers

My sister, Jenny, gifted me with some kraft tags that she coffee-stained herself.  Not only do they look good, but they smell pretty good as well!  (She also gave me some stained twill tape, but a little orange feline apparently thought it smelled...and tasted...pretty good too, and left me with only a couple inches...sigh.)

Using the tag was my only objective for this project.  I just started grabbing scraps of this and that and eventually it all came together to make this Spring Flowers tag.

Some Details:

• I started by randomly layering up some "Journeyman" tissue tape, then adding a strip of scalloped pink polka dot paper toward the bottom.  Tattered Rose Distress Ink "pinked" things up, then light strokes of Snow Cap paint dabber lightened the colors a bit.  On top of all that, I applied a thin layer of Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.  The white paint was still a bit wet and the crackle paint blended this and the Tattered Rose beautifully.  Because I just couldn't stop there, I sprinkled some crystal fine glitter on the wet crackle paint.  You don't get credit for it in the photo, but this adds a lovely bit of sparkle to random areas of the tag's background.

• The flower images and "Spring" are Tim Holtz Seasonal Salvage stickers.  I mounted the flowers on patterned paper, tattered the edges and outlined the images in Tattered Rose Distress Stickles.  "Spring" received a generous coating of Rock Candy Distress Stickles.  (It looked a tad too grungy and dark...I wanted to lighten it up.)
• The bottom (and probably my favorite part) is accented with random buttons in various sizes and colors.

Supplies:
Patterned Paper:	My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found ‘Market Street’
Inks:	Distress Ink ‘Tattered Rose’; Distress Crackle Paint ‘Rock Candy’; Adirondack Paint Dabber ‘Snow Cap’
Embellishments:	Tim Holtz Salvage Stickers ‘Seasonal’; Distress Stickles ‘Tattered Rose’, ‘Rock Candy’; Papertrey Ink rustic button twine; TH tissue tape ‘Journeyman’; crochet lace ribbon; assorted ribbons; vintage buttons; Close to My Heart buttons; thread; Martha Stewart glitter ‘Crystal Fine’
Tools:	Foam ink blender; deckle scissors; scallop scissors; foam tape; TH paper distresser; Zots
Misc:	Coffee-stained kraft tag

Congrats, Graduate!

Graduation season will soon be upon us and we're giving you lots of inspiration and card ideas for the new graduates over at Card A Day Blog.

Just a Couple Details:

• I colored a chipboard label with Black Soot Distress Ink and a foam ink blender.  "Congrats" was stamped in Jet Black StazOn onto white cardstock, adhered to the center of the chipboard label and accented with a layer of Glossy Accents.
• The mortarboard an SVG file from The Creative Pointe.  I cut it from black cardstock, then accented it with white Glaze pen.
• I really love all the decorative tapes out there!  This one is K&Co.'s "Smash" tape.

Supplies:
Cardstock:	Papertrey Ink ‘Spring Moss’
Patterned Paper:	Fancy Pants ‘Beach Bum’
SVG:	The Creative Pointe
Stamps:	Inkadinkado
Inks:	Distress Ink ‘Black Soot’; StazOn ‘Jet Black’; Glaze Pen ‘White’
Embellishments:	K&Co. Smash tape; Stampin’ Up! brads; chipboard label; Glossy Accents
Tools:	Tim Holtz paper distresser; eyelet setting tools; foam tape; Cricut Expression; Sure-Cuts-A-Lot

A Butterfly for Mom

We always work about a month ahead of a holiday or theme over at Card A Day Blog, so this week's theme has been "Mother's Day".  Lots of great ideas and inspiration and plenty of time for you to make your own card for mom.  Today's my day as guest designer and I was inspired by K & Co.'s "Engraved Garden" butterfly paper.

Some Details:

• The butterfly was fussy cut from the Engraved Garden paper.  I gave it a thick layer of Rock Candy Distress Stickles with Tattered Rose DS accenting the wings and Frayed Burlap DS on the body.

• This delicate Bazzill Half the Edge cardstock scroll was sprayed with Perfect Pearl Mist and shaded with Old Paper Distress Ink.  More patterned paper from Engraved Garden was layered on the card base, torn at the same angle as the scroll, distressed, and accented with Old Paper.

Challenges:

Crafty Ribbons Challenge:  #17 Things with Wings

Craft Us Crazy: Challenge #25 - Happy Mother's Day and/or Flowers

Paper Play Challenges: Week #15 - Things with Wings

Supplies:
Cardstock:	Papertrey Ink ‘Spring Moss’
Patterned Paper:	K&Co. ‘Engraved Garden’
Stamps:	Stampin’ Up! ‘All Year Cheer II’
Inks:	StazOn ‘Timber Brown’; Perfect Pearls Mist ‘Perfect Pearl’; Distress Ink ‘Old Paper’; ‘Le Pen ‘Brown’
Embellishments:	Bazzill Half the Edge cardstock strip ‘White’; Distress Stickles ‘Rock Candy’, ‘Frayed Burlap’, ‘Tattered Rose’
Tools:	Tim Holtz Paper Distresser; Stamp-a-ma-jig; Wondertape; foam ink blender