Paper Sweeties Challenge - January 2017: Anything Goes!

Happy New Year 2017!!!!  And welcome to the Paper Sweeties January 2017 Challenge! 

Isn't this inspiration photo sweet!  I love the darling winter scene and those adorable COLORFUL snowman!  I was so inspired that I actually made two projects for today....

First a sweet snowman ornament....I took a picture of it in my hand so you can get a feeling for the size of the ornament:

I created this darling little snowman using the sweet cuts from the "Snow Friends" set.  I have outlined the steps and the order in which I did them in case anyone would like to try making one:

Step 1:   I diecut the snowman body twice from white felt and the snowman hat twice from black felt.

Step 2:  I used black and orange embroidery floss to hand sew the eyes, nose, and mouth onto one of the snowman body die cuts. 

Step 3:  I hand cut some brown felt to create arms for the snowman.  I used straight pins to pin the arms into the two sides of the snowman's body in preparation for sewing.

Step 4:   I then used a running stitch with a full strand of embroidery floss in the same white to sew around the snowman leaving an opening at the top to stuff it before sewing it closed.  I stuffed it with some filing I had on hand and then sewed it closed.

Step 5: I pinned the two black hat die cuts in place on top of the snowman's head.  Then I sewed around the hat attaching it to the snowman's head but leaving the top of the hat opened until I stuffed it too.  Then I sewed it closed.

Step 6:  I hand cut a small piece of red felt to create a hat band for the snowman's black hat.  I wrapped the two ends of the hat band to the back of the hat and trimmed so that they met in the middle.  Then I used red embroidery floss to sew the band into place.  You could use hot glue for this step if you wish.

Step 7:  I added a torn piece of my favorite red gingham fabric for the scarf, sewed on a black piece of embroidery floss for the ornament hanger and two red buttons.  I die cut a holly embellishment from the "Jingle All They Way" sweet cuts and added three tiny red pearls to it.  I then used my hot glue to attach the holly embellishment to the hat and to get the scarf to lay flat.

Step 8:  I took the completed ornament outside and sprayed it with liquid adhesive and then sprinkled some glitter on it for some SPARKLE!

Just one last step....

Step 9:  To make the ornament look cute from both the front and back when it is hanging on the tree I added a sweet sentiment to the snowman's backside:

Step 9 cont'd:  I die cut a heart shaped tag from the "Beautiful Little Wishes" sweet cuts and stamped the "You Melt My Heart" sentiment from the "Thanks Snow Much" stamp set.  I then used some red crochet thread to tie a bow through the top and hot glued the tag to the back of the snowman!

I love the sweet detail that this heart shaped tag adds!  I could have actually put a face on both sides if I had thought of it....but it is cute either way!

My second project was inspired by the pretty array of colors in the Inspiration photo.  The colors reminded me of the Northern Lights...so I made this sweet shaker card:

I used my distress inks to create the multi-colored background and then once again used the "Snow Friends" stamps and sweet cuts to create my sweet snowman.  The sentiment is embossed with white embossing powder and is the same one I used on my snowman ornament above from the "Thanks Snow Much" stamp set.  I added some Copic Marker to the heart to make the sentiment stand out more.  I also added some white gel pen dots and snowflakes to the background and glued some of the sequins and snowflakes from the Sequins Winter Mix in place before filling my shaker.

 Since Christmas is over I thought this card would work perfectly for Valentine's Day!

That is it for me today but as always there are many more wonderful blogs to visit on today's blog hop:

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties

Jill Norwood 

Julie Tucker-Wolek
Karen Letchworth

Kathy Schweinfurth

Larissa Heskett
Lilian Forsyth 
Lisa Bzibziak

Mackie Robertson

Maria Patrick

Michele Henderson
Michelle Bala

Nancy Salkeld
January Guest Designer:  Dawn Barwick

A warm welcome to Dawn Barwick who is this month's Guest Designer!  We are so happy to have her joining us today!

Don't forget that you no longer need to have a blog to play along in our challenges.  You can now upload a photo on our Facebook page "Paper Sweeties Inspiration".  Just go to the Photos tab and click on Albums and find the January Inspiration Challenge:  HERE

We look forward to seeing what you are creating!  It is one of my favorite things to see - someone creating adorable cards or tags with the products that I help represent as a Creative Designer for Paper Sweeties!  I love all of the wonderful projects that have been uploaded on our Facebook "Paper Sweeties Inspiration" page this month!  A big shout out and thank you to Janis Morris, Rayann Culp and Tiffany McGill for sharing with us along with EVERYONE that participated in our December Inspiration Challenge!  We love sharing paper crafting with each and every one of you! 

The Design Team will be back for the January Countdown and Release starting on the 13th of this month with Planner inspiration and the 14th with New Stamps and Sweet Cuts inspiration!  Hope to see you then!
Crafty Hugs!
Jill

Snow Friends - Stamp Set - Paper Sweeties	Snow Friends Sweet Cuts Dies - Paper Sweeties	Paper Sweeties - Thanks Snow Much	Beautiful Little Wishes Sweet Cuts Dies - Paper Sweeties
Jingle all the Way Sweet Cuts - Paper Sweeties	Winter Mix Sequins - Paper Sweeties