So Sweet of You

Hello, hello!

I hope you had a fabulous Christmas, and holiday break!  I am coming down from sweets, and binge watching old episodes of Sherlock.  Love that show...so sad I have to wait a year to see more!  

I have managed to make a card or two while enjoying my break, and that includes playing with some new Copic Markers.  Oh, how I love these markers!  For my clean and simple card today, I used a super cute set from Wplus9, that the i {heart} papers store currently has, Punny Produce: Pears.  I also paired it with the really fun Simply Said die and stamp set from Avery Elle.

To begin, I stamped the pear image onto a white card base, and colored it in with YG21, YG23, YG25.  I went back in for more shadow using YG63, and YG67.  

I added a bit of shadow under the pears, and then took the You die cut and, gasp!  Cut into my image!  That was slightly nerve wracking, since I just spent all of that time coloring it, however, I am super happy with the look.  I die cut a bunch of You's from black card stock and layered them up, adding the final layer.

I then glued that back into the slot, after adhering a bit of typing paper behind the negative.  Love!  It's just super simple, yet complex.  Stop on by the i {heart} papers store, see what's there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas!!

It is so hard for me to believe that it is Christmas day.  This year flew by for me, just. flew.  I want to wish you, my faithful blog readers, and friends a VERY Merry Christmas, and a thank you for always stopping in.  

I have a Christmas card to share with you, that features Lawn Fawn's Joy To the Woods set from the i {heart} papers store.  

I started by stamping a line from an old Wplus9 set, and then the ornaments attached to it.  I colored them in with Copic Markers, and covered them in Glossy Accents.  I stamped my sentiment, and then adhered strips of cardstock to the base of the card.

  

I thought it would look cool if I cut the panel around the ornaments and pop them up.  Oh, and I added a bit of Silver gel pen to the ornament caps for detail.

Well, thats all!  Thanks sooo much for stopping by, and have a Merry Christmas!!

Thinking of You

 Hello, and happy Friday!

I have a colorful card to share with you, using a few Avery Elle products from the i {heart} papers store.

I started with a white panel, and white heat embossed a star background onto it.  I then took a few Ranger Distress Inks, and blended in a colorful sky.

I die cut the banner from the panel using the More Stories Elle-ments Dies, and stamped it with the coordinating set, More Stories.

I also die cut some snow mounds using the Custom Panel Dies, and added some stars using the Finished Frames Elle-ments dies.  Lastly, I die cut and stamped the cute penquin, colored him and added him to my panel.  I then took the whole thing, and popped it up onto a standard size card.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I am off running, as Christmas is right around the corner!  Have a good one!

Take Two Thursday: December SSS Card Kit

Hello, hello!

Katie and I took a bit of a break from our series this past month, but we are back with a new collaboration using the December Simon Says Stamp card kit.

I love the full size containers of embossing powder, and the fab stamp set.  I used both on my card today to create a little shaker.

I started with a panel of white cardstock, and heat embossed the large circular image in Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder.  I then die cut a circle out of one of them, and adhered a piece of acetate to the back.

I stamped the line of hearts around the other gold circles, and then took foam tape, and added dimension around the open circle on the backside.  I added Pretty Pink Posh sequins, and adhered the panel to a card base, cut from some of the cardstock in the kit.

I think I might like these kits.  They are fun!  Please go check out what Katie came up with using it, because I guarantee you will like what she did!

Thanks for stopping by!

RIC #74

ETA: The winner of my $10 Starbucks giveaway was Lori (I have emailed you)!  Congrats Lori, and thank you to all of you, for your lovely comments!  It was fun hearing about your fav hot beverage.   

Hello, fashionistas!

This weeks Runway Inspired Challenge is pretty cool!  I love the dress she is wearing, and there are endless possibilities for inspiration.  I decided to keep it literal, as I haven't played with watercolors recently.

I brought out Wild Honey, and Rusty Hinge Distress inks, smooshing the color onto my craft sheet and painting it onto a piece of dampened watercolor paper.  I dried it, and reapplied the color a couple of times, and allowed it to dry before attempting to use it on my card.

I sliced it almost in half, and popped up both pieces, with foam tape, onto a white card base.  I took a sentiment from Wplus9's Hand Lettered Thanks, and stamped it right in the space with black ink.

I took a few clear rhinestones, and colored them with an orange Copic marker, before adhering them to the card.

I hope you can join us this week.  I know its busy with Christmas right around the corner.  Our awesome sponsor this week is Ellen Hutson, yeah!

Have a great one,

An IHP Post

Hey friends!

I am stopping in quick to let you know I am up on the i {heart} papers blog today.  I hope you might go check it out!  Here is a little sneak peek for you!

Thanks for stopping in today!  I will be back tomorrow with a new Runway Inspired Challenge card.

A Little Black and White Hello

 Hello, hello!

Thank you so much for your awesome comments yesterday on the Holiday Coffee Blog Hop!  I loved reading about how you like your coffee.  Commenting is still open for that yummy $10 gift card to Starbucks!

So, today I have a fun card using i {heart} papers goodies.  Did you know they now carry Winnie & Walter stamps?  Love!  I paired the The Big, The Bold, and Extras, with Avery Elle's Simply Said: Hello stamp set, and die.

I began with a white panel, and die cut the Hello from it.  I then added a gradient of pink Distress Ink to a scrap piece of cardstock, and adhered that behind my die cut window.  I stamped part of the sentiment, as well as the flowers, in black ink, and added it to a white card base using foam adhesive.

I then finished it off with black enamel dots.  I really like the contrast the black and white flowers provide against the bright hello sentiment. 

Well, thank you so much for stopping by today!  I hope it's a good one for you!

Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Hi!  I have a special post for you today!

Today I am joining in the fun Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, that the lovely Amy Tsuruta has put together.  You might remember a certain Coffee Lovers Blog Hop a couple of months back, done by Chaitali Narla.  Well, this is a lot like that, only a Holiday version!  It was just so much fun, we wanted to do it again!  Now, how about that coffee card?

For my card, I had to grab the Love You A Latte stamp set, and matching die set from Lawn Fawn!  I started by cutting a panel of white cardstock to fit the front of my card, die cutting a circle using a large circle die.  I then took the heart stamps and added those in pink, all over the front of it.  On the card base, I marked the area that would be seen in the window, and created a gradient by sponging aqua ink in an upward motion with my sponge tool.

I stamped my sentiment, and added two cute die cut cups, that I colored with my Copic markers.

So, how about a little giveaway?  I knew you would agree!  I am giving away to one lucky commenter, a $10 gift card to Starbucks!  Yeah!  Free coffee (or tea, or chocolate)!

You have until Sunday, December 14th at 11:59pm EST to leave your comment on this post, telling me what you like to put in your coffee!  Do you add a dash of sugar?  A splash of cream?  I would love to know how you drink your favorite cuppa!  Be sure I have a way of getting in contact with you if you are my lucky winner.  :)  Good luck, and don't forget to keep on hoppin' for endless coffee card inspiration!

Merry & Bright Tag and Tutorial

Hi!

It's a new week, and the time is getting closer, and closer to Christmas.  I am busy getting homemade gifts made and to go with those gifts, handmade gift tags!  I am currently making this trio of gifts for the women in my family, and the guys will get something too (obviously manly, lol!).  To help me on my tag making spree, I tapped into the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist from Ellen Hutson to get me going.  I also distressed it to coincide with Virginia's Views latest challenge!  It's been awhile since I did a bit of distressing! Check it out:

I started by using a Heidi Swapp stencil, and adding Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste to the top of a tag I made out of cream cardstock.  Julie Ebersole is the master of making her own tags, and I think it's super fun.  Here is how I made it.

Gather these items:

1. Crop O Dile

2. Angle Corner Chomper

3. 1/2 in circle punch

4. Piece of cardstock cut to your desired tag size (mine is 2 3/4 x 4 1/2)

5. Ink

6. Ruler, and pencil

Using the Angle side, punch the corners of one side of your piece of cardstock.

Measuring from the center, mark where you need to punch the ribbon/twine hole

Punch hole using the large punch setting on the Crop O' Dile.

Taking a piece of white cardstock, apply an even layer of ink, and allow it to dry.  This will be your reinforcer.

Using the hole punch again, make a hole in the colored piece.

Take the 1/2 inch hole punch, and punch that out.  You can then glue this to the tag when you are finished decorating it!  Easy!

So, to complete my distressed tag, I took the Merry & Bright stamp set, and matching dies from Wplus9, and cut out the smaller poinsettia images.  I also die cut a few of the leaves, and greenery, along with the candle and glass lamp, arranging those on my tag front after stamping them with Hero Arts, and Wplus9 inks.  I then stamped my sentiment in Walnut Stain Distress ink.

To finish it, I glued on the reinforcer, and added rustic twine.  I can't wait to add these to my gift bags, and hopefully I can show you how they all turn out.  Thanks for hanging in there with me!

A Very Merry {Shaker} Christmas to You

Hello, and happy Friday!

I have a fun shaker card to share with you today, using some products from the i {heart} papers store.

I started by using the lovely Winter Wonderland set from Wplus9, inking up the tree, and the deer, as well as the snowflakes for the background.  Using the Landscape Border Dies from Wplus9, I cut it three times, and added a really light blue Copic marker to the edge.  I added some detail with the Wink of Stella glitter brush pen to the deer and its scarf too.

After I adhered the scene down, I die cut a circle window from my white panel, using Lawn Fawn's Circle Dies.  I adhered a generous amount of foam adhesive to the backside and added my sequins to the shaker window.  Oh, and I had heat embossed my greeting onto that same panel before all the foam, and adhered it to the card base.

I hope you've enjoyed!  Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine Special Blog Hop

Hello!  I have a special post today.  If you are following along on this special hop, you should have arrived from Amber's blog.

I know the news has been quite a shocker for the paper crafting world.  Paper Crafts Magazine's last issue is February 2015, and I still can't quite wrap my head around it.  As many of you know, I took a bit of a hiatus after the birth of my son, a couple of years ago, from submitting and was really getting back into the submitting game again, now that he is older.   

So I was shocked when I saw the news circulating on Facebook, and thought surely, it must be a joke.  Nope.  My beloved paper crafting magazine was ending.  My dreams of any future cards within it, gone.  Well, I am not alone, and a very large group of us are honoring the lovely ladies behind the mag, with a special blog hop.  They poured their hearts into that publication, and we honor them with this hop.  Thank you Susan, Holly, Jennifer, Kerri, Matt, Stacy, and Melinda!  Of course, the Go-to-Gals need thanked as well.

Here is the card I created in honor of this wonderful group of people, and the magazine we all loved.

I used a sentiment from Mama Elephants Many Thanks set for my greeting.  It just seemed to fit for how I feel about my years as a contributor of the magazine.  I started by blending in Ranger Distress Inks, in Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, and Picked Raspberry onto my card base.  I then die cut a rectangle from a panel, stamped small hearts and some dots, and popped it up.

I then took Lawn Fawn's Snow Day stamp set, and colored and cut out the cute little bunnies, and adhered them to the panel.

I once got to meet some of the lovely women of Paper Crafts at the 2010 Craft & Hobby Association back in 2010.  It seems like just yesterday I went.  It was a surreal, dream come true!  If you want to see some of the pics, you can go to this blog post I wrote, all those years ago.

My CHA adventure

Thank you so much for hanging with me, now it's time to hop on over to see what the talented Mayuri has for you!  Enjoy!