Christmas in July with 3 Crazy Monkeys!

Welcome to the Christmas in July blog hop! If you are coming from Miranda's blog, then you are in the right spot. If you just happened to stumble across this post, please start at the beginning of the hop at Angela's blog-You won't want to miss all of the amazing Christmas inspiration!

In addition to seeing some awesome projects, there is some blog candy! To be eligible to win the blog candy, you must leave a comment on each stop in the hop as well as hitting that little "follow" button! Winner will be chosen on Monday, July 28th so you have all weekend to stop by!

Now onto my project!

For my Christmas in July piece I made a card out of kraft cardstock.  I used a digital stamp from Sherri Baldy's "Besties" collection, and colored it with my Prismacolor colored pencils.  Then I cut out three tags with my silhouette and edged them with gold enamel paint. I also dry brushed the gold enamel onto the green ribbon and sporadically around the colored image.  I distressed the edges of the card with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and then edged it again with the gold enamel paint as well.  Lastly, I added some Christmas rub-ons.

If you came here from Miranda's blog and have gone all the way through this hop, starting at Angela, then you are finished the hop!  If you didn't start at Angela, then, by all means...carry on :)

In case you get lost, here is the complete lineup:

 Angela - www.crazy3monkeys.blogspot.com

 Alicia~www.goldengoddessdesigns.blogspot.com

 Carla - www.racincrafts.blogspot.com

 Ashley ~ http://marinewifesscrappinlife.blogspot.com

 Jessica ` https://craftinandstampin.blogspot.com

 Connie - www.conniecancrop.blogspot.com

 Sarah ~ www.sarahbiswabic.blogspot.com

 Haidee- http://created2bunique.blogspot.com/

 Madge- www.thescrappinlounge.com

 Robin L. ~ http://create-a-latte.blogspot.com/

 Miranda ~ www.nanasscrapspot.com

 Leah (You are Here!)

Thanks for hopping along with us!

"Z Fold" Album

I tried my hand at a Z fold album.  Although for some reason, I cannot locate the person whose video I used as the tutorial :(  I apologize if you are reading this.  If you ARE reading this, please leave me a message in the comments so I can give you proper credit!

Note Cards!

I found a video on YT by Dawn5377 showing how make these cute little notecard and box sets.  Its a great way to use up your designer paper scraps as each set takes less than an 8x8 sheet.  You can use up all your little pieces!

I think I made 11 of these sets, so easy and quick to make, and would make a great little teacher or thank you gift.  Thanks Dawn5377 for you wonderful creation!

"Enjoy" Album

This has to be one of my favorite albums so far.  I know, I probably say that about all of them, lol.  I used book rings and my crop-a-dile, and I really like the ability to add more pages that this tool allows.

The paper is from My Mind's Eye, Bramble Rose 6 x 6 paper pad.  This collection has a very "Shabby Chic"  feel to it and I love this style of albums, so it was easy for me to come up with a theme.  The inside pages are styled after The pocket pages by My Creative Spirit on YT.  You can find her video here.

It is mind-boggling how many creative and talented people there are in this world.  I love to watch the tutorials even if I don't use the information.  And I praise those who are trying to bring back the dying arts, like paper quilling and the coptic stitch, and continue to teach them.  I salute you!

New Books!

My Sister's Scrapper has done it again!  She came out with a new video tutorial on Youtube to make these gorgeous waterfall folios.  I had fun with them, and decided to make some more manly ones, lol.  This style lends itself better to more masculine paper :)

Just Playin' Around :)

"Vixen" by Zoe McGrath

I was wandering around on the internet the other night and I found some cool images to color.  This is an image from Zoe McGrath, called Vixen.  I thought she had some real potential, so while sitting on the deck at the lake the other day I colored her up with pencil crayons.  I added some glitter glue to her wings and dress and double matted her.  Then I added purple feathers to the card base to give her some wisps and glued her on top!  She was a fun image to color!

And still we color on....

Entering another challenge today, Tiddly Inks!  Love their images and characters; Wryn is my favorite.

School Girl by Tiddly Inks

 This challenge theme is BFF's, so when I was creating this card I was picturing the two funniest best friends I have ever known:  my daughter Paige and her bestie Jen.  Their idea of hanging out is each of them on one end of the couch reading a book.  That's why this stamp spoke to me so much, they have been besties for 10 years and they can always be found together, each with a novel in their hands.

This image is colored with Crayola pencil crayons. I added a ribbon bow to the hat and matted her with an old book page. I printed the "Just for you" sentiments on my printer and added shading with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain and Faded Jeans and Portfolio Oil Pastels in blue and brown.  Lastly, I added three paper flowers from Michaels.

I hope you enjoy her as much as did making her!

Art by Miran Challenge

So, my second challenge entrance is for Art by Miran, who designs these gorgeous stamps, and has now released some of them as actual rubber stamps through Whimsy Stamps!  So far, her stamps have all been digital, but it will be so awesome to have some of her designs in rubber too.  If you are interested in her digital stamps, you can find them here.

For this challenge, I used Bashful Belinda, and colored her with pencil crayons.  I do like how she turned out, although blending coloring pencils takes some getting used to.  I used some lace, my own hand-dyed ribbon, and card stock die cuts, as well as Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists, and Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

Loved working with this image, and hope to do more again soon!  Thanks Miran, your designs are beautiful!

The Paper Nest Dolls Challenge Blog

Trying my hand at a challenge this time :)  I created two cards, one with a PND  and one with a CC Designs Image.

The Paper Nest Dolls Image is Little Birdie Ellie.  I colored her with Spectrum Noir markers.  I am still learning, as I'm sure we all are, but I really like how she turned out!

The background is a mix of stained paper doilies, purple tool, pink and cream ribbon and cream and brown cardstock.  The flowers are paper roses from my stash that I stained with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and sprayed with Tattered Angels Iridescent Gold.

The Paper Nest Dolls "Little Birdie Ellie"


The second card is done with a colored image from CC Designs' Sugarplums collection :  "Sitting Sailor Emma" and "Dock".  Those of you who know me personally know that my youngest daughter loves to sail, and is now gone on a 6 week trip to southern Ontario to go sailing.  I made this card with her in mind :)

Love you Pnut!

CC Designs' Sugarplums "Sitting Sailor Emma"  and "Dock"

Both of the images were colored with Spectrum Noir markers, and the background is done with cardstock, Authentique-Abroad paper collection (6x6), die cuts from my Silhouette Portrait, and some rope trim.

I had a great time making both of these cards and hope to make more in the future!

Blues and Greens

One of my favorite summer time color combinations is blue and green.  The colors just look so fresh together.  So when I found the Colorbok Poolside 12 x 12 pad at Walmart, I just couldn't resist.  The colors are lovely in this collection, however, I can't say the same for the quality of the paper itself.  I guess maybe I just prefer cardstock?  This paper is very thin, almost too thin to do anything with.  I may have to double matt anything else I decide to do with it.  And perhaps it was my choice of album structure that didn't work well with a thinner paper.

But because I have this insane desire to try every mini album tutorial I can find on Youtube, this is what I ended up with.  I tried to make Kathy Orta's Matchbook Mini, which isn't really a mini; it's a fair size album.

I haven't name this album yet, and I can't really embellish it a lot, given its structure.  It is kind of pretty though:

A Sailin' We Will Go

A Sailin' We Will Go

My youngest daughter is gone across the province to sail for six weeks, but two weeks before she left, she was asked to go across the province, to the same city, to sail in a regatta for the weekend.  A provincial regatta, for cadets, and she was so excited.  When she came home she said they didn't do very well, but they had a great time anyways.  That's my girl!  I am so proud :)

Anyways, when we first found out she was going to the regatta, I decided I wanted to make her a journal to take with her.  Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the journal before she left for the summer, but I'll take some when she comes back.  Being fairly new to alcohol markers, I wanted to color a sailing image for her journal.  I found these images from CC Designs Sugarplums collection and printed them off on my printer.  Granted, the coloring isn't the greatest, I am a newbie.  But I like them just the same.  In the end though, they didn't really fit with the journal, so I am keeping them for another time, another use.  She is very cute though, don't you think?

Sitting Sailor Emma

Sugarplums Dock

Emma on the dock