Sylvia here with our next episode of the Card Caravan’s challenge!

The Card Caravan Design Team would like to welcome all of you returning participants and, also, those of you joining us for the first time!

Let’s start with the winners from our last challenge where LuAnn challenged you to make a birthday themed card/project.

Again, the team was amazed by the beautiful cards and projects that were created for the challenge! Thank you all so much for your participation!

Here are LuAnn’s top 3 picks – in no particular order:

• Maria Matter
• lalkygirl
• Hussena

Congratulations! Please feel free to grab our badge for your blog!

Now, on to our new challenge!

Since I’m your host for this challenge and I {heart} everything that sparkles, it’s no surprise that our theme this fortnight is

GLITTER 

Or better said: use something that glitters, shines or sparkles. It does not have to be ‘glitter’ literally, but rhinestones, jewels or anything else that sparkles is perfect, too!

Ok, how about some inspiration from our amazing team?

I’m totally in awe with this supah sparkly chipboard number as a focal point on Melissa’s adorable card! Melissa used Karen Lewis’  Sophia paper pack to create this beautiful card:

Ohhh, I love Cathy’s Santa peaking and the huge glitter snowflake on her card! To create this adorable card, Cathy used the  Wish List Letter To Santa bundle by Etc by Danyale:

Check out all of the glittery goodness on Julie’s cards. Julie used Danielle Engebretson’s Visions of Sugarplums: The Kit.

And finally, here’s my card using Visions of Sugarplums by Danielle Engebretson:

We can't wait to see your sparkly creations!
Sylvia

Welcome to our second Card Caravan challenge!

First of all, we want to thank all participants of our first challenge!  We had so much fun visiting your blogs and drooling over your wonderful creations! 

I’m sure you all want to know who the winner of the ‘Ultimate Sampler Pack’ from The Twinery is. Using random.org, the winner is:

#18  – Diane!

Congrats, Diane! Please contact LuAnn (luann at thedigichick dot com) with your full name and mailing address to claim your prize!

And here are LuAnn’s TOP 3 Favorite Peeps in no particular order:

• Linda
• Linda W
• Kristi

Congrats ladies! Please grab the badge to wear it on your blog

Now onto our second challenge: We want you to use one or more BUTTON(s) on your creation!

That’s pretty easy, isn’t it?!

To get your creative juices flowing, here are some samples from our incredibly amazing DT:

Julie using ‘Artisan Labels set 1′ and ‘Rosettes Set 1′ by The Cutting Files and  ‘Sunshiny Day‘ by Karen Lewis

Cathy using My Altered Life collab kit by The Digichick Designers.

Melissa using ‘Camporama‘ by Karen Lewis.

LuAnn using Back To School – The Elements by Melissa Wilson and Mari Koegelenberg.

Sylvia using ‘Treasured Moments’ by Sugarplum Paperie and Sahlin Studio.

I hope you feel inspired 

Thanks so much for stopping by and we all can’t wait to see your button creations!
Sylvia and The Hybrid Chick Card Caravan Challenge DT

Here’s a template for you to follow BUT I thought this would be a little bit too easy for you all … so I will give you another requirement to the challenge: Please use something RED on your card

Anything else is up to you! You can interpret this sketch any way you’d like – for example, you can rotate it or make the circle smaller or whatever. The main part is that we still need to be able to identify the basic sketch

Here is your template for the challenge:

You can download it here (the zip file includes both psd and png files)

Need a little bit of extra inspiration? Here’s a sample card I made using the beautiful
Cowboy Cool kit by Elise’s Pieces:

And here are some more wonderful examples made by our creative team:

The super talented Jacinda made this gorgeous card

And here’s another card made by our Hybrid Chick Dalis who used Dance & Movement: Ballett and Frame Essentials by Karla Dudley

And last, but of course not least, here’s a beautiful card by Melissa who always makes the most beautiful hybrid cards.

To participate, please take a picture of your card, upload it to a gallery (we have an open gallery the Digichick) or your photobucket account and then come back and post a comment here with a link to your card. The challenge is due to April 30 11:59PM EST.

There is a secret prize for all of our participants.

So what are you waiting for? C’mon, have fun and play along .. can’t wait to see what YOU do with this sketch

supplies used:
‘Circle of Love’ kit by Kellie Mize Designs
rose cardstock (Bazzill)
Nestabilities Label 8 dies (Spellbinders)
Big Shot (Ellison Design)
paper flowers in different sizes (various flowers from my stash)
cellophane bag
scissors
double sided ahesive
mini glue dots
staples
treats to put in the bag

How To’s:
1. Create your layout and print it slightly larger than the label die you want to use (size will depend on how large/small your cellophane bag is).

2. Put your label die on top of the patterned paper – tape it down to secure it (see picture) and run it through the Big Shot (Cuttlebug or whatever machine you have) to create a half label.

3. Take a coordinating piece of cardstock and lay the same label die you used before onto the cardstock. Trace around the OUTSIDE with a pencil and then cut it out with a pair of scissors or a craft knife

4. Take your half label of printed paper and adhere it to one half of the cardstock label you cut out in step 3:

5. Score the label in the center and fold it in half:

6. Now you can dress it up a little bit further.. I created my flower by layering three paper flowers of different sizes and colors together and then adhered it to the front with a glue dot:

7. Fill your cellophane bag with the treats and close the bag by stapling:

8. Adhere the topper that you created to the top (I used two strips of double-sided adhesive tape) and you’re done:

I hope this doesn’t look too complicated, because it really is NOT . It’s very quick and easy to do!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me using the comment function here or by sending me a pm in the forums.

Sylvia here introducing something new: Hybrid challenges here at The Hybrid Chick!

We will be hosting a hybrid challenge on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month. The challenges will be all different. This week I have a card sketch/templates for you to use.

There will be great prizes for everyone who participates in our Hybrid Chick challenges. For participating in our first challenge, your prize is this wonderful sheet of printable Valentines tags by Mari Koegelenberg. All you need to do is create a card following the sketch, take a photo of the finished card, upload it (The Digichick Gallery is an open gallery!) and come back and post a comment here in this post with a link to your image

Here’s your template (click on the image or link beneath the image for downloading):

download here

And to get your creative juices flow, here are some wonderful inspirational cards based on the sketch from our amazing team:

JUDE made this wonderful card in warm colors

credits:
70% Cocoa Solids paper pack by Lil’ Digi Bits by Jude
Luv Song Alpha by CD Muckosky

And here’s mine

credits:
Forever Friends from February Grab Bag by Elise’s Pieces Designs

To be eligible for those gorgeous Valentines tags, you need to finish your card (and post a link to your card in the comments section below this post) by February 20th.

If you have any problems either with the template or the challenge, just let me know by leaving a comment.

Ok.. let’s flood our gallery with your hybrid gorgeousness… can’t see what you all will come up with

Sylvia here to show you how to make a super quick and easy bookmark.
And I’m so excited to have something new for you: a video tutorial!
We hope the video will make things a lot easier for you and hope you enjoy it!
Please let us know what you think about it.

supply list:
6” x 6” patterned paper from Confectionerie Scrap Pack by Quirky Twerp
Scor-Pal or bonefolder

optional:
Vintage Photo Distress inks by Ranger
Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool by Ranger or sponge
Melt Art Non-Stick Craft Sheet by Ranger or other ‘slick’ surface
Inkssentials white gel pen by Ranger
Paper piecing tool

And for those of you who can’t or would rather not watch the video, here’s a traditional photo tutorial, too

How To:

1. Score your 6 x 6” patterned paper at 3” rotate it 90° and score again at 3”

2. Score diagonally

3. Fold along the diagonal scored line to create a triangle (see picture)

4. Flip it over and fold the lower triangle up (see picture)

5. Fold the left and right edges down and tuck them under the upfolded triangle (see picture)

Your bookmark is done and you couls stop here. But you can also go further on and dress it up a little bit more like I did here:

6. Ink the lower triangle and the edges with Distress ink and the blending tool (or a cosmetic sponge or whatever you have on hand)

7. Create a line of holes with your paper piecing tool around the edges to create the faux stitching

8. Draw lines with a white gel pen to create the faux thread

9. You could further dress it up by adding some little self-adhesive gemstones or some paper flowers or whatever you like

And this is what it looks like when in use:

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me anytime – just leave me a comment here on the blog or send me a pm in the forums.

Supplies used:
Tiny Princess by Sugarplum Paperie
Tender Talk {Wordart} by Jan Hosford
Seasons of Love: Word Art by Elise’s Pieces Designs

2 x 4 x 4” patterned paper print outs
1 x 4 x 8” cardstock
1 x 4 x 4” cardstock
1 Button (or large brad or something similar)
Scor-Pal (or just a bonefolder)
Double sided adhesive tape (or adhesive of your choice)
Ribbon (optional)
Pop Dots (optional)
Distress ink (optional – to ink the edges of the papers)

How To:

1. Score your 4 x 8” cardstock at 4” and 6”

2. Fold your cardstock as shown in the picture

3. glue your patterned paper that will be the front of your card onto the 4 x 4” cardstock
4. glue the other patterned paper onto the 4 x 8” cardstock as shown in the picture,
put your doublesided adhesive tape (or any type of glue you prefer) on the folded cardstock as shown in the picture
and glue the button onto the bottom of the card (referring to the picture below)

5. put the 4 x 4” piece onto the taped side (see picture) – and you’re already done!

You can also flatten the card so it fits into an envelope and you can easily send it by mail, too:

Here’s another easel card I did for Christmas:

using ‘Snow Much Fun’ by Mari Koegelenberg Creations

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me anytime – just leave me a comment here on the blog or send me a pm in the forums.

Today I’m going to show you how to create a beautiful treat bag using Kelleigh Ratzlaff’s templates and one of the many wonderful digi kits in our shop

I will also show you an easy technique called ‘faux stitching‘ that gives your cards or other hybrid projects a nice texture and finishing touch.

Here’s the supply list for the Holiday Treat Bag:

• Treat Bag: Scalloped template by Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs
• Snow Much Fun digital kit by Mari Koegelenberg Creations
• light blue cardstock
• paper piecing tool
• old mousepad
• white gel pen (‘Inkssentials’ by Ranger)

optional:

• neutral cardstock (instead of colored)
• Distress inks ‘Broken China’ (Ranger)
• cosmetic sponge
• ornament stamp (Inkadinkado)
  
• Nestabilities die cut ‘classic circles large’ (Spellbinders)
• Paper Flowers
• Mini Brads
• Spacers
• Metal charm ‘Snowflake’
• Red satin ribbon
• Glitter glue (Stickles ‘Platinum’ by Ranger)
• pop dots

Let’s get started….

To begin, open the treat bag template pdf file and print the outlines onto cardstock. Next you will need to create two rectangles in PS or PSP or whatever photo editing software you are using and flood fill these two rectangles with patterned papers you like – I used papers from Snow Much Fun. These will be the front and back sides of your treat bag.

The printouts must fit the front and back side of the bag (in this case it’s 3 x 4 1/4 inches each).

Print and cut everything out.

If you used an already colored cardstock for your treat bag print out, you can skip the next step if you want to. But if you used a neutral cardstock, you will now need your ink to color the neutral cardstock to match the patterned papers.

As I’ve chosen a ‘wintery’ patterned paper in this case, I used a Distress inkpad byRanger in the color ‘Broken China’ .  I took a cosmetic sponge, wiped over the ink pad and then went over the cardstock in circular motions – from the outside to the inside (see picture above). This will not give you an even coloring, but a wonderful dreamy, cloudy look. I also love to color the edges of the printed patterned papers for a softer look with the same ink (this is optional … it’s just that I am addicted to coloring the edges of my patterned papers this way )

Now glue your patterned papers to the front and back sides of the (still NOT assembled) bag.

Now onto the ‘faux stitching’ technique:

You need a paper piecing tool (a needle stuck into a cork or into an eraser will work also). Place your cardstock over an old mouse pad or a piece of foamed plastic.

Poke holes (you may want to use a metal ruler as a guideline) with your piecing tool around all edges of your patterned papers (see picture left)

When you are done, take your white gel pen and draw the ‘thread’ between the stitchings.

You can now add some stamping like I did (I just stamped an ornament to the sides of the bag), add some embellishments (I used paper flowers, spacers, brads) or add an additional image or sentiment. You can add whatever you like onto your bag. And as I’m a glamour lover I also put some glitter glue on the flaps to add a little extra pizzazz.

My tip: embellish the bag completely, before you assemble it!

When you are ready, just glue the bag together (I like to use double-sided adhesive tape, but I’m sure any type of strong glue will work well).

Now cut out a small strip of cardstock (I made mine 1/2 inch wide) and glue it to the inside of the bag sides to create the handle. I threaded an additional ribbon with snowflake charm around the handle, but it’s totally up to you how much or less you want to embellish your bag!

And here’s the result once again:

I hope you will give these cute little treat bags a try and show us your results! If you have any problems, questions, hints… please don’t hesitate to post a comment or just pm me in the forums. Create the bag to your liking!

I hope you had fun and hope that I taught you something new

Sylvia