First the winner of the Livvy Creations Double Sided Letter Board was Scrappinology (Gina). The following is the random selection video:

Second, the two winners of the 7000+ Subbie Giveaway and Gorjuss Girls Collaboration with Sarah Elliott were Stacey’s Stash and Debbie Vignola. The following is the random selection video:

Thanks to all those who have subscribed to my YouTube channel and played along with these giveaways!

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I am so excited to be doing a YouTube collaboration with my friend Sarah Elliott. She and I both recently passed 7,000 YouTube subscribers so we decided to do a collaboration/giveaway! We share many crafty loves, and one of them is the Santoro Gorjuss Girls so we made these cuties our shared theme (I can’t wait to see what she created). I had so many Gorjuss Girls in my stash that I had never inked up (so embarrassing) so I thought this also would be a perfect opportunity to combine this collaboration with my participation in the #thedailymarker30day coloring challenge hosted by Kathy Racoosin. I pulled out a bunch of Gorjuss Girl images and colored and fussy cutting them out to make embellishments for my new letter board (Sponsored Letter Board Unboxing and Giveaway ending 2/14/18). The following are the Copic colors I used:

The Little Friend:
Blue dress: B41, B32 and B45
Green bib: YG01 and YG07
Orange squiggles: YR04 and YR07
Raspberry/purple in tights, underskirt and hair: V04, V06 and V09
Black in hair and tights: C3, C5, C7 and 100
Skin: E50, BV01, E51, E21 and R20

Quote by Felix Mendelssohn

Oops a Daisy:
Blue dress: Y000, B91, B32, B34 and B37
Tights: W1, Y000, C00 and C1
Hair: Y11, YR31, YR04 and YR24
Skin: E50, E51, E21 and R20

Purrrrrfect Love (I did not include the heart background and kitty, as I’m a dog person):
Hat and boots: E41, E53, E55 and R30 (inside ears)
Yellow shirt: Y13, Y19 and E55
Blues of dress and fingerless gloves: BG70, B91, B34 and B37

Spring At Last:
White parts of dresses: C1
Blue parts of dress and tights: B21, B32, B34 and B37
Flowers, purse and butterfly: Y08, RV02, RV04 and RV55
Hair and dark stripes on tights: B01, C4, C6, C8 and C9
Skin: E50, E51, E21, E53 and R20

Quote by Eleanor Roosevelt

Little Fishes:
Blue parts of dress: B32, B34, B37, B69 and B39
Red parts of dress, hair tie, and pantaloons: R14, R35, R37 and R39
White parts of dress: C1, C3, Uniball Signo White Gel Pen and
Prismacolor Pencils in white (PC938), 10% cool grey (PC1059) and 30% warm grey (PC1052)
Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11 and R20

Hair: C5, C6, C9 and BV08
Seaweed: YG25, G14
Algae on rock: YG95, G99
Rock: E41, E43, E44, E84 and E87
Crab: B93, B95, B97, B99, YG01 and R35
Water: B91, B93, B95, B97, BG11, 0 blender marker and Uniball Signo White Gel Pen

Quote by CraftyPaws — I’m a So Cal Girl and I Miss the Warmth of Summer

Sweet Tea (this stamps set is discontinued but I found some at Blitsy and Quick Creations as of 2/10/18):
Blues of dress and bow: B32, B41, B34, B37 and B39
Stuffed bunny:  0, W0, W1, B91, B32, B41, B34, R30 and R20
Pink of teacup and saucer: RV000, RV00 and RV52
Cream of teacup and saucer: E50, E31 and E55
Skin: E000, E00, YR00, R20
Hair: E97, YR07, E23, E19 and E18
I also added some dimensional detail to the teacup by using the Diemond Dies Natures Flourish and the flowers from the Diemond Dies Cherry Blossom Branch and Flowers Die Set, adding flat back pearl centers for the flowers.

Quote by Lao Tzu

Diemond Dies is having a SALE on everything in the store through February 28, 2018! Use the coupon code “save14” for 14% off and free worldwide shipping on all orders of $35 or more. After that date, use the coupon code “thankskristina” for 10% off and free worldwide shipping on all orders of $35 or more.

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

The following is a video sharing the giveaway details along with a little Copic coloring and assembly of the Sweet Tea embellishment:

These embellished letter boards are being entered into the following challenges:
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes Challenge with Optional Love/Anniversary/Thinking of You
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Crafts Galore Encore Anything Goes Challenge
613 Avenue Create Anything Goes with Optional Love Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner Anything Goes Challenge

I Copic colored up this cutie and her kitty from the Santoro Gorjuss Girl “Purrrrrfect Love” stamp set with the following colors:
Heart: V04, V06 and RV66
Skin: E50, E51, E21 and R20
Hair: B01, C4, C6, C8
Boots and wrist warmers: C00, C2, C4, C6 and C8
Green parts of dress and hat: YG01, YG25, G14
Blue parts of tights and dress: B21, B32, B41, B24
Stars on tights and kitty: Y17, YR15, YR24 and R20
I also added white highlights and detail dotting on the dress, boots, hat, bow tie, and heart with a Uniball Signo White Gel Pen.

You’ll notice that I switched out the kitty’s head for a rounder, more chubby kitty from the Pretty Pink Posh “Holiday Pals” stamp set to make it look more like my one of my friend’s cat. I also added a bow tie from that set since my friend dresses her cats (lol), and I colored it to match the little girl’s dress. I fussy cut out the whole image, including using an X-Acto blade to get in the nooks and crannies by the cat’s tail and the girl’s hair, and I inked all the edges of the cut image with a Momento Tuxedo Black Marker for a finished look.

I layered her on top of a plain white card stock card front that I dry embossed with hearts using the We R Memory Keepers Next Level Dotted embossing folder. I chose a sentiment from the Avery Elle Polar Pals stamp set that I thought combined the wintery feel of Christmas with the heart reference for Valentines. I used black card stock, VersaMark Ink and Ranger Super Fine White Embossing Powder for a crisp and clear sentiment strip on which the little girl and her kitten could stand.

For finishing touches I painstakingly selected 7 tiny star confetti from the Unicorn Sparkle Blends by Doodles Paper Playground. I arranged them in 3 clusters and think they add a nice little accents. I also spotted a super cute heart in the Unicorn Sparkle Blends so I added that on the Gorjuss Girl’s hat.

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
CASology Late Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner Anything Goes Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Layer It Up Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes with Optional Cute Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
MFT Sketch Challenge #369

MFT Color Challenge #86

Full View

So I got out my Gorjuss Girl A4 Decoupage Pack that is designed for lots of layering of parts of images to create eight cards, and got to fussy cutting and layering. The die cut pieces are held in by little chads so you do need to scissor those off for a clean look. Plus, if you want a finished look, I would recommend you edge around each piece with a black marker. Now can you see why pocket letters take me so long? LOL  What is a great bonus for using these girls in a pocket letter is that you can double the number of layered image girls you can get by just using half of the layers for each girl. That is, if you use all the layers, the girls get too thick to fit in pocket letters, so using half the layers seems perfect.

Side View: to see the Gorjuss layering

I found some great black and cream striped paper from the old American Crafts “Night Fall” Halloween collection that I thought worked great as backgrounds with the moody autumnal hues of the Gorjuss girls. I distress inked the edges with a finger dauber and Black Soot ink. I also added black corner flourish die cuts for a few of the backgrounds just to help anchor the girls and add some interest.

For the center square, I added 3 Bead Landing word beads: “smile,” “special,” and “sweet.” I also added sequins in gold, shiny black, matte charcoal, and pearl flowers.  I sealed all of this up using my fuse tool to make a little shaker pocket. For the squares above and below this shaker, I made little die cut pockets with some scrap black and white delicate toile patterned paper (in contrast to the hard striped backgrounds) and inked the edges. I adhered some large cream fabric flowers to add some extra softness.

Lower Half Close Up View

For the non-Gorjuss squares, I tried to stay in black with a few pops of pink.  For the top right, I used a pink poodle die cut (representing me and my beloved Biscuit) and some “special delivery” washi tape; my letter to Beth is behind this pocket.  For the center left square, I added some softness with a hand made crochet and lace flower.  For the bottom right square, I placed a simple black die cut heart in the corner and a package of cancer awareness pink ribbon buttons (Beth hosts challenges in support of wonderful challenges like this all year long so I know she will get good use from these).

Lastly I covered the front and back (making sure to align the print) of the selvage area with the holes with a black lace printed washi. To the top hole, I tied a fun doggy chipboard tag with my info on the back.  The tag says, “Hot Diggity Dog” and I thought that represented me well while fitting in with the color scheme I had going.  Then to add some softness to the other two holes, I used the same black and white Martha Stewart polka dot ribbon (that I thought coordinated nicely with the Gorjuss girls) to tie some pretty bows.

This pocket letter is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Wednesday Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday Autumn/Fall Challenge
Craft-Dee BowZ Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow Challenge
613 Avenue Create Anything Goes Challenge with Optional Twist

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you’re having a wonderful crafty day! WOOF

The kit includes decoupage sheets that have the same image printed in numbered and partial layers (see photo above). They pop out easily, and with a little trimming (of the white nubs) and inking (of the paper edges), they can be adhered in layers with a little foam adhesive and look fabulous!

I ended up upcycled an old DVD box. I wrapped it first with some beautiful patterned paper from the Basic Grey Fresh Cuts collection. Then I had fun altering it with some beautiful Venice lace and a little bit of black crystal bling. I think it came out gorjuss! 😛

The following is a video share of this project (includes a couple extra Gorjuss Girl decoupaging tips):

This Altered Box project is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday B is for Challenge

My readers get an extra 10% off any purchases at the Not2ShabbyShop through April 2015 by using the coupon code: CRAFTYPAWS

Thanks for stopping by! Please subscribe if you wish and have a great day! WOOF

I started with a wonderful card base by Petaloo, from their Plain & Simple collection. The base is chipboard covered with white paper in the shape of a crown.  Brilliant, right?! All the decorating is the crafter’s choice. I covered the front of the card with some fun imaginesce paper called, “Princess Promenage.”  Then I hot glued different pink Recollections paper flowers on the tops of each of the crown points.  For the magnetized closure, I used a little scrap of glittered floral paper from K & Company for the side with the magnet and a handmade pink, lavender and teal flower for the front.  To create a finished look, I covered the backs of each accordian fold with more of that scrap glittered floral paper and on the fronts I used pink damask foiled paper (also from K & Company) to create a soft background for the images I planned to color and add.

The images I used were from one of my favorite stamp lines, Gorjuss Girls.  The first is a girl nestled in the crook of her magical pet fox and is called, “Stole.”  The second is a girl taking flight on the back of a giant dove and is called, “Flying Above It All.”  The following are the Copic colors I used for the first image: Fox: N0 and N2 (top coated with clear Wink of Stella); Skin: E000, 00 and 11 and blush: R11; Hair: E31, 37 and 29; Dress and Boots: BG23 and 45; and Striped socks: C1, 3, 5, and 7.  I also added some white dots with a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen to soften the solid span of the dress.  To add some fun and continue the princess theme I added a blue-green bling crown and teal and pale blue bling hearts to denote the love that the little girl and fox feel for one another.

The following are the Copic colors I used for the second image: Dove: W1 and 3 (top coated with clear Wink of Stella) and beak: Y32; Hair: E31, 37 and 39; Skin: E000, 00 and 11 and blush: R11; Stocking/boots: C1, 3, 5, and 7. Again to denote the love that the little girl and dove feel for one another I added pink and purple bling hearts and topped the little girl’s head with a pink sparkly bling crown.

I fussy cut both of the images out with my Tonic spring loaded scissors (which are great for folks who struggle with hand pain or arthritis). For the couple of places where I had to cut into the image without an edge starting place, I used an Exacto knife (HINT: replace the blades regularly to get sharp, easier cuts). I also edged each image carefully with my Faber-Castell SB size Pitt Pen to hide the white edge of the fussy cut images. Lastly, I wanted to add a little bit more dimension to these focal images so I also popped them up on foam adhesive.

The following is a video share of this card:

This card is also being entered into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Anything Goes Challenge and
Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Challenge

Thanks for stopping by! Please subscribe if you wish, and have a great day. WOOF!