A Blog Called Wanda

Taylored Expressions - Hey There Card Kit Launch!

HEY THERE! Literally HEY THERE! Hahaha. Today's card is bright and cheerful and has a clear message! Yippeeee! I'm happy to share the brand new card kit from our friends at Taylored Expressions! This one is FUN and great for any occasion. Super to cheer up anyone and bring some color to the mailbox. It has a really innovative stamp/stencil combo that adds different colored shadows to the large sentiment. I think it's genius!! The kit has it all: stamps, stencils, dies, envelopes, seals...and more. CLICK HERE to shop the kit before it sells out!

My card today is a big square card. I wanted to get the most real estate from that sunshiny stencil so I made a big card. I started by stenciling the yellow rays with pretty TE ink and TE blender brushes. I also splattered some white paint over it....

 

Here's a close up of the feature! The kit has three versions of the large Hey There.... Then you use stencils to add the shadows - here I've used green pink and yellow. SO FUN!! I heat embossed the sentiment with turquoise embossing powder. It was super easy to line up the stencils next to the letters. Then I die cut it out with the matching die.

 

I added the smaller sentiment with black ink onto a stitched circle....

 

 

 

Here is a photo of some of the contents of the kit. Don't you love these colors together!? I sure do!

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a photo of the stamp/stencil combo. It has a guide on the back of the packaging to make it easy to see how to line up everything. GENIUS!!

 

And here's the full kit!

Thank you for coming by today! Do you love the new Taylored Expressions Card Kit? Do you have some of the other kits?? Most of them are selling out in the first days so if you like it - head over and get yours. We could all use a little color right now, don't you think? I will see you soon, friends! XO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's card! (Affiliate links used).... CLICK HERE to go straight to the TE Website! 

More Boos!! Sweet little ghosties card!!

Hey Boos! More boos today! Another Halloween card to share with you!! This time it's little adorable ghosties colored with Copics... Lots of fun stamps and dies from Hello Bluebird! Hope you're having a great weekend. We're doing good here. Friday morning we got up to the apple orchards early in the morning and got some cider and yummy warm apple donuts. Then we went for a long drive. It was a wonderful day. Since then, I've been in the crafty cave working away! We'll start sneak peeks for The Greetery new release on Friday - woot! Thanks for stopping by today. BOO!

This finished card is a 5" x 5" square card. I used purple this time to make it spooky but pretty at the same time. Some purple distress ink blending too! It's not a color I use often but whenever I do I like it! Oh, and don't laugh - more clouds! Supply links are at the bottom of my post. 

 

The card base is white, then a layer of purple, then the stenciled cloud layer, then the trees die cut layer.... And I tucked a harvest moon in there too... I used stamps from a couple of different sets to create the Halloween scene.

 

Here's a close up of my ink blending... Two shades of purple, then splatters, then some gorgeous Nuvo drops on top. Love how it came out!!

 

I stamped and die cut the cat, pumpkins and ghosties and colored them all with my Copic Markers. I added some stickles as an accent and shimmer element.

 

Here's a side view so you can see the layers.

 

 

That's it for today's share! I'll be back on Tuesday to share the brand new kit from Taylored Expressions! Yipppeeeee! See you then! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's card! (Affiliate Links Used). Thank you for supporting me and shopping my links. I truly appreciate it so much! 

Hey Boo! Halloween pals out for a drive! Fun Spellbinders Dies!

Hey BOO! How are you, my crafty boos? Happy almost Friday! We call it Friday Eve! LOL. September is rolling along, Fall is officially here, and it's going to be 100 degrees where I live again! OY. Maybe if I love Fall hard enough I can will it to come to Sacramento! Hahaha. I hope you had a good week and I hope the change of season is treating you well. I'm in Halloween creating mode and trying to get all my ideas made and shared with you. Also, in the craft room, is the new release from The Greetery. You guys are gonna love it (Christmas!)... Stay tuned for that. I've been taking Christmas photos today. Best wishes for a fun weekend.

Today's card features awesome and super fun dies from the Sunday Drive Series from our friends at Spellbinders! Such a fun concept and this card made me smile the entire time I was making it. The finished card is a 5.25" x 5.25" square white card base. Layered with some lime green paper and then my top layer. Oh, and clouds are back (LOL)!! 

The Sunday Drive Dies collection is a car that looks like it's driving away - so clever! And then you can change out the words on the trunk lid and change the characters that are inside the car!! I used the Halloween ones that make a witch and skeleton. But there are also one for Christmas - Santa and a reindeer. EEK. The main die set has balloons and birthday images. 

 

You know I'm obsessed with clouds right now... These clouds were stenciled with white pigment ink onto black cardstock. Voila - spooky night sky! I splattered some white paint to look like stars... To build my scene I die cut a moon from vellum so that the clouds would come through. It looks like they're driving away into the sunset moonset! 

 

There are a lot of little pieces involved here but the set comes with a guide so you know exactly what each piece is. I like that you can customize every single thing to the color you want it. I chose to make a teal and purple monster car... And then customized the witch hair, hat, broom....

 

I die cut some bats and skeletons... I wanted to somehow use the balloons from the main die set... Hmmmmm.... Then it came to me: Skeleton Balloons! Ha! These spooky friends are maybe driving off to a Halloween party??!! The balloons are die cut with vellum and then I glued tiny skeletons onto them. I used several colors of Stickles to add glitter and shimmer to certain pieces of the scene.

 

 

 

I used foam tape and foam dots to assemble everything. A few spooky bats flying around them...

 

I used Copic Markers to add some accents and shadows to the 'hey boo,' the leaves, the hair, broom and skeleton eye sockets.

Hope I didn't scare ya today! Thanks for coming by to see my fun Halloween card. Are you making Halloween crafts yet? I feel like every year it sneaks up on me. Once September comes, the year seems to fly by so quickly. I have lots more things I want to make! Have a great weekend. XOXO 

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's card. (Affiliate Links Used)

Penguin Palace Stamps - New Release Blog Hop!

Hello! Glad to see you today! Welcome to Penguin Palace Stamps - first ever Blog Hop!  I'm thrilled to be joining a group of talented artists in featuring Penguin Palace's latest Fall 2020 Release. They have super cute stamps and tools for creating! The main feature of the new release is a creative, innovative and very cool new stenciling system. It's called Stencils 360! I had a lot of fun creating with the new system and am excited to show you! Sharon at PP did an awesome video showing the system and how it works - CLICK HERE to watch! I stenciled some pretty florals using the new Botanical Gardens stencil... Let's look! 

This is a big card - to feature more of the pretty design - it's a 5.5" x 5.5" square. I kept it simple, with a pretty pink card base and one layer. The sentiment is also a brand new PP stamp set - Words from the Heart 2. 

 

 

I stenciled the panel using Distress Inks in bright floral shades and using blender brushes. It's SO SIMPLE to get this multi color design! Hint - you don't have to clean your stencil off in between each color...and it's all ONE stencil! Genius!

 

After I stenciled the entire 'image' I stenciled a few extra yellow flowers and cut them out with my detail scissors to add an accent. The sentiment was stamped onto a circle and attached to the card with foam tape. 

 

Isn't this cool?? The Stencils 360 system is a big grid with markings for you to follow as you spin your ROUND stencil inside the larger grid. Here are some photos of it on my work table...

 

To do this you stencil each color and then spin!!! So easy!!!

 

Check it out!!!

 

Here are the parts of the system...

 

Each stencil has a shape on it, and you rotate the stencil according to the same design on the outline piece.

 

 

 

 

 

Truly - May you be happy - ALWAYS!

PRIZE INFO! Hop along to each blog and leave a comment.  A winner, chosen at random, who comments on each stop on the hop will win a prize of a $40CAD Gift Certificate to the Penguin Palace store!  Comments for prize close at 11:30pm PST on 7 Oct 20.  The lucky winner will be announced on 8 Oct 2020 on the Penguin Palace Blog. Good Luck!

Thanks for stopping by today to see this fun new concept in stencils. I'm happy to be able to share it with you today. Please head over to the Penguin Palace website to learn more, watch videos and shop! XOXO 

BLOG HOP DESIGNER LIST FOR TODAY'S HOP! ENJOY!

Sharon Yeung (PP Blog)

Anja Glauner

Ashley Young

Jo Thompson

Bobbi Lemanski

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Jenny Colacicco

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Ashley Tucker

Wanda Guess

Ilda Dias

Justine Hovey

Sharon Yeung (PP Blog)

Awesome new stamps from Catherine Pooler - Fall & Winter!

Hi there sweet and crafty friends! Happy Weekennnddddd! I hope you're having a delightful day today! I'm super happy because I finally got my hair cut last week! Yipppeeee! And, one of my favorite crafty friends is here visiting her family in California and I get to see here tomorrow! And go wine tasting! Yeah! Cannot wait. I also cannot wait to share two cards with you today! One Fall, and one Christmas! I'm making both right now and thought, well, why not share two things today?

Both of these cards were made with awesome new stamps and dies from Catherine Pooler. LOVE. Like really love. Fresh and pretty but still cheerful and cute all at the same time. Lots of color too!! CLICK HERE to shop the CP Store - you are sure to find something you like. Be sure to scope out the patterned paper section because their patterned paper is GORGEOUS and thick and fabulous.

First up is this sweet Fall card with warm shades and adorable images. Everything for Fall: coffee, pumpkins, acorns and leaves. What else do we need?! The finished card is an A2 cream card base then layered with orange cardstock and more cream. I used the stamps and dies from the September Club Sursee... But if you're not a subscriber, these stamps will be available for purchase at a later date! 

 

The stamps are all layered stamping and so easy to line up. To make these I actually die cut all the shapes out and then stamped right onto the shapes. Easy! I stamped some of the pieces a second time and cut out the details to make a different color (the to go cup, thermos lid, etc). All the fall shades...

 

I love Fall....and YOU!

 

NOTE: These stamp sets are from Catherine Pooler's Club Sursee Kit!! They will be available for purchase separately in the future, but right now you can only get them in the kit. Please click here for all the details! I highly recommend signing up!

 

Here's a close up of that beautiful background! I die cut the Petal Connection Cover Plate (one of my favorite CP products) and layered it over teal cardstock. Then I framed it behind a frame. I feel like it mimics clouds and wind swirling?? Are you seeing that?? 

 

I didn't use all the images I stamped for the first card.... So I made a mini card with the extras! EEK! I'll tuck this into a present this season!

 

 

 

Next up is a bright and colorful Peppermint Twist Holiday Card! Lots of glitter! This finished card is an A2 white card base. Then I layered the wonderful Peppermint Twist Cover Plate over the white. I used new patterned papers too....

 

I splattered some white paint onto my pink peppermint layer. Then I used two of the patterned papers to make a layer of color in the middle. I stamped the sentiment onto a white circle and layered that with a vellum circle!!

 

I stamped and die cut several peppermints and candies in happy colors and added lots of Diamond Stickles!

 

These cover plate dies are so precise and cut like a dream...

 

 

 

This pic shows the layers and the patterned papers up close! 

Okay! Have a great week ahead! Thank you so much for stopping by today! I'll see you soon my dears! XO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's cards. (Affiliate Links Used).

Mama Elephant 8th Anniversary Stampede Blog Hop!

 

 

 

Welcome back to Day 3 of the Mama Elephant Celebration blog hop! We are all helping ME to celebrate 8 years with a fantastic new holiday release along with lots of amazing crafty friends! There are three days total for this hop, so be sure to check out all three days by visiting the Mama Elephant Blog! Yippee!

My card was made using the adorable new Little Fox Agenda stamp set! I made it into a sweet greeting for a crafty pal by using the Heart, Letter, Coffee and Paint foxes! I also did a bit of Distress Ink Blending! The finished card is an A2 card base....Take a look! Thanks for stopping by today! XO

 

 

 

 

 

That's it for my project! Please read below for all the details on specials and giveaway! YEAH!!! So happy you stopped by today my friends! XO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today! (Affiliate Links Used)

Join us with some free goodies and the Mama Elephant annual sale! 

 

 

You can shop the newest release which is LIVE in our store now!

 

www.mamaelephant.com

 

 

That's not all! To celebrate this special Anniversary release, Mama Elephant is giving away ten $25 gift certificates to our store!!! That is 10 winners!!! Winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs in the 3 day Stampede. You have up to 4 chances to qualify to win!

» 1. Leave a comment on this blog post «

» 2. Like/share us on Facebook: facebook.com/mamaelephant «

» 3. Follow/tweet us on Twitter: twitter.com/heymamaelephant «
» 4. Follow/leave a comment for us on Instagram: instagram.com/mamaelephant «

(Each action qualifies for one entry, max 4 entries per stampeder please!)

Here are the designers for today. Please make sure to visit each of them and leave some kind words and comments!

Mette Witus » www.mettewitus.home.blog

Alberto Gava » www.loshakeratoalbertoblog.wordpress.com

Wanda Guess » www.ablogcalledwanda.com

Jessica Frost Ballas » www.allthesparkle.com

Nichol Spohr » www.nicholspohr.com

Claudia Mauri » www.mrsclocards.com

Leica Palma » www.leicacrafts.blogspot.com

Mama Elephant » www.mamaelephantblog.com

Thank you and Happy Stampeding!

Pinkfresh Studio Holiday 2020 Stamp and Die Release Blog Hop!!

Hey friends! Are you ready for some Christmas and Holiday Cheer today!? I sure hope so! It's a BIG blog hop to celebrate the Winter 2020 new release from Pinkfresh Studio! And....it's GORGEOUS! Lots of stamps and dies sure to fit every style! I have three cards to share with you today, and they're all completely different - showcasing different stamps and dies. I'm so excited to see what everyone else made today! Prize information, Hop links, and supply lists are at the bottom of my post - so be sure to read all the way to the end! CLICK HERE to shop the new release if you can't wait! I'm so happy that I was invited to participate today. Let's look at cards!

First up is this totally cheerful and bright Christmas card sure to make you smile! It reminds me of a Dr. Seuss book! Like maybe Who-ville??! I used one of my favorite color palettes: Lime, aqua, pink and red. The finished card is a white A2 card base, but that little reindeer is poking out the top! Hee hee. 

 

 

I used the dies from the Our Home To Yours new set to die cut out a bunch of little houses. I wanted the sleigh to be flying over my colorful town. The scale is way off, but that's what makes it fun! They're flying along dropping presents as they go! I layered aqua cardstock and then a white layer. Then a hill...

 

This is super fun! I stamped and die cut this image and then colored with Copics. I added a tiny pom for his hat. Oh, and lots of glitter!! Oh! And gems!

 

When I assembled the card, I first frosted the houses with white paint... Then I tucked them inside the hill and glued them all down. Feels frosty!!

 

Next up is a card with a totally different look! I used the beautiful new Pop Out Folk Christmas stamps and dies to make this traditional red and green card with a bit of a vintage feel. The card is A2 sized. I also used the AMAZING new alphabet dies - uggghhhhh - so pretty!!! The deer and tree are white embossed onto cardstock and then inked with the matching color to add some depth.

 

This stamp/stamp set is really nice - gives a homey feeling. I stamped the light images in the background with Antique Linen Distress ink onto cream cardstock. It's subtle and nice. The letters are mounted onto the card with foam circles.

 

Here's a close up of the deer and tree. Such detail - love it. I'm hoping you can see the inking over the paper. 

 

And here's a close up of the layers, the background stamping and the letters...

 

My third card is and icy, wintery, graphic card with lots of impact! The finished card is A2. I used the Diagonal Background die in white over bright red to look like candy cane stripes. I added a bit of white paint snow on the red before gluing the white part on top.

 

This die set is called Layered Snowflakes and there are tons of ways to put together a pretty look. I chose to use silver cardstock and vellum because I just wanted that really shiny look. The sentiment is from Our Home To Yours and I love that it comes with a matching die. I added a few pearls as accents.

 

 

 

I know I'm going to use these snowflakes dies a lot this season!! 

Okay! Whew! That's it for my cards for today! Thank you so very much for coming by my blog today! Be sure to keep scrolling for prize info and the full hop list. XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for my cards. (Affiliate Links Used). CLICK HERE to go directly to the Pinkfresh Studio website to start shopping! 

Pinkfresh Studio is offering free US or discounted international shipping on all orders $50+ from September 17th to September 24th.  There are several ways to win prizes too!! Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog,  Instagram feed, & YouTube channel so be sure to follow them across social media!! AND... Each stop on the hop will be giving away a $25 gift card on our blog posts!!! YEAH! The winners will be picked randomly from the comments. Winners will be posted on September 24, 2020 on the Pinkfresh GIVEAWAY PAGE. You must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks. GOOD LUCK!

The Blog Hop Link List is below - enjoy the hop! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Hey there pumpkin pie!

Hey there, sweetie pie pumpkin pie!!! Hee hee. I LOOOOOOVE THIS CARD! Lolz. Is it okay for me to say that? It has everything I love: Fall, gingham, texture, warm colors, leaves, and PIE! (I'm cracking myself up here!) How was your weekend? Happy Monday! The temps have changed here and we are having cool nights and it's so amazing. The smoke from all the surrounding fires is thick in the air, so we spent all weekend inside. Which meant lots of crafting. I hope you're doing well this morning! Thank you to everyone who shared their 9/11 story on my last post. And thank you to everyone who sent me an email with warm thoughts. I'm grateful! 

I keep a big bin on the counter in my craft room and I put my new/never used products in it so I can quickly find them and craft when I'm ready. This card today uses three things from the new bin! A couple of new stamps and dies from My Favorite Things, and new patterned paper for Fall. The finished card is an A2 card base from cream cardstock. Lots and lots of layers of papers, dies and textures...and colors! Usually I'll pop in some teal or aqua with my Autumn colors, but today I'm using a true blue, kind of on the dusty side, to match that blue in the patterned paper. 

 

I chose all my papers before I did my Copic Coloring - that's a good tip for having everything match! I started the card by doing my layers: Cream card base, kraft layer, gingham layer, wrap of pumpkin paper, then an orange circle, vellum circle and textured circle. Whew. 

 

I stamped all my images using brown ink on cream cardstock. This gives the card a warm feeling - totally different from using black ink on white cardstock. I colored everything with Copics - pumpkin, leaves and acorn. I die cut the little pie and inked the edges with distress ink. Is that not the cutest thing ever??

 

The textured circle is a beautiful embossing folder from Taylored Expressions. SO much pretty texture!! Love it. All the elements were attached to the front using foam circles. I used liquid glue to attach the sweetie pie word dies over everything else.

 

I stamped the sentiment onto a stitched rectangle (again using brown ink) and put it up in the corner of the card. I adore the mixed fonts!

 

 

Okay, sweetie pies! Take on the week! Thanks for coming by today to see my project. On Thursday I'll have two posts - two different blog hops! It's gonna be fun, so make sure to come back!! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for this card! (Affiliate links used)

9-11 Remembrance Card - Home of the BRAVE

Hi everyone.... I decided to do a second blog post for today.... I made this card this morning and really wanted to share it on this day of remembrance of 9/11. It's truly a day of reflection and prayer for me and my household. I was moved this morning to create on the spot - something I love to do. I spent the morning thinking about 9/11 and our country and her people. I prayed and thought back to that fateful day....and made this card in quiet. I miss the days when I used to craft what I was feeling. Nowadays it seems like most of my crafting is scheduled and planned! Today's card is from my heart. 

I will briefly share my 9/11 story. Everyone remembers where they were that morning... I was at home, getting ready for work and watching the Today show in our bedroom. (It was 6am in California). Even though everything started happening in New York, I got ready and went to the office. It was weird, we all showed up for work. I don't think we knew what else to do. My co-workers and I spent most of the day watching TV at the office in the hallway in between the cubicles. I worked in a big insurance office with about 100 employees. Not one single phone was ringing... It was so quiet. There were a lot of tears and shocked disbelief. We sat there stunned until we all finally went home and tried to process what happened.

The personal side of the story is that we were due to be married in three weeks - back East in Cape Cod. In 2001, we had been dating for 8 and a half years...and we had finally planned our wedding!.... Now we were wondering should we go? Can we go? Are we allowed to fly? Will anything be open? Is it appropriate? We prayed and prayed and decided to go ahead as planned. But we had to wait and see if there would be flights... Remember for a couple of weeks there were zero planes in the air.  I distinctly remember thinking - wow, what a reminder of how short life is, and that I'd better live to the fullest while I can. Each day truly a gift. (Our wedding was just us, the photographer and the minister, so it was easy to still go) We got married on the beach at the Chatham Bars Inn - gazebo (I know some of you know where that is!) 

So here's the remarkable thing, and something my husband and I talk about all the time. We flew 3000 miles where we knew no one, to get married. We traveled around New York (Adirondacks), Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, New England, and the Cape and Islands....for two and a half weeks. Every single person was KIND to us. Helpful, welcoming, lovely, sweet, and AMERICAN. People thanked us for traveling (because no one was). People helped us find our way around (no iphones yet). People gave us upgraded rooms because it was our honeymoon. I'm getting the chills writing this. We were in Boston for a few days. Every boat in the harbor had an American Flag flying. Every building had the flag out front. The post office in Salem MA had like 75 flags in front. Everywhere there was a sense of patriotism and love for our beautiful country. Compassion for others. Kindness towards strangers. I will never ever ever forget what that felt like. America at her best, after the worst thing imaginable... Something to think about here in 2020. I literally cannot believe that was almost twenty years ago. Wow. 

If you feel inclined - I would love to hear your 9/11 story in the comments. I think it's important to remember this day and to share our experiences to bring us closer together as Americans. XO

Okay, for my card... I have a couple of plastic bins in my craft room filled with patriotic stamps, dies, papers, stickers, etc. I reached for those bins and grabbed some of my very favorite Americana themed supplies from Taylored Expressions. I have lots and lots of old and new supplies from TE, so some of these things are no longer available. (CLICK HERE to see the patriotic section of TE). The finished card is an A2 kraft card base. 

 

I embossed the stars embossing folder onto kraft cardstock for my top layer. I used vellum and white heat embossed that GORGEOUS sentiment! It's big and bold and the perfect saying for today. Next I stamped the USA map and die cut it with the matching die. I thought the map would fit on the card under the sentiment, but I was wrong! LOL. So I ended up tucking the map underneath the vellum - then I wrapped the vellum around the top layer. I actually love how this looks!

 

After I embossed the stars, I used a sponge dauber and white pigment ink and inked over the stars to make them show up better. Then I squinched the paper and folded the corners using my fingers - to make it look aged. I also inked the edges with Distress ink. I added some Doodlebug Stars shapes. Finally, I used my brand new Metallic Water Colors and splashed some gold over the entire card. On the background of the card base you can see that I stamped some larger stars. 

 

 

Sending you blessings, love and kindness on this day of remembrance. I hope you had a good day. XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below for the supplies for this patriotic card. 

Leaves are falling, Autumn is calling!

Hello my fine crafty friends! Happy Friday! Hope you had a good week! It's been smoky here and I've been inside all week crafting and staying busy. Looking forward to the coming weeks when we can get outside again! I saw some leaves on the ground in my neighborhood which makes my fall lovin heart so happy. Leaves are falling, and Autumn is calling! That's the theme for today's card, made with awesome new stamps from my friends at Hello Bluebird! Today's card has a lot of steps but it was a joy to create! Different techniques: Copics, paints, ink blending, stickles... This one has it all. And, it's a slimline card! The finished card size is 4" x 9" so it's a big one! More room to add stuff - you know how I am...

The background for this card is the pretty new Fairy Glade Scene Die - loooove. All the pieces are dies - and you just cut out the whole scene! It's so beautiful and clever! I used Bristol cardstock for the background pieces - it's much easier to ink blend on Bristol paper!! After I made the background I used lots of pretty garden fairies and leaves to complete my scene.

These stamps and dies were part of the Summer Hello Bluebird release - so most of the samples I've seen are all in gorgeous pastels and bright vivid colors. Well....I got this idea! What about making some Fall Fairies?! SO my scene is done in warm tones of Fall - and my little fairies are wearing dresses in orange, red and olive... And they're busy decorating their little mushroom neighborhood for Fall! EEP.

 

I stamped and die cut out fairies, pumpkins and leaves (and a bee) from several Hello Bluebird stamp sets. I colored everything with Copic Markers and then added white gel pen highlights. I also added Stickles to their wings...

 

I think this is the most beautiful sentiment! Love the fonts, and the whimsical look of it! It fit perfectly into that space on the card. For the background I layered two of each piece (mushroom, greenery) to make it slightly raised on the card. The images are all mounted to the card using foam dots.

 

I love to pop a little bit of teal into my Autumn cards. I think it nicely contrasts all the yellow and orange.... So I made their wings using a few shades of teal Copics...

 

 

 

How adorable is that beeeee?

Okee Dokee! That's it for today! I'm wishing you a beautiful weekend! Next week holds a lot of crafty goodness! A pumpkin pie card (!), A new release from Mama Elephant, and the gorgeous winter release from Pinkfresh Studio! Yippppeeee! See you then! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's card. (Affiliate Links Used)

BOO! Have a faboolous day!

BOO! Did I scare you?! Lolz. Today I'm sharing a fabooooolous Halloween Card! It's a little shabby haunted house at 31 Spooky Lane! I'm so excited to share this one! I realize as I'm typing this post that it's very similar to my last post with the beach house... Similar, but very different! This time it's dark and moody, and instead of crabbies, we have some ghosties hanging out in their house. I do really love making this kind of card! You can totally customize the little houses to be whatever you want them to be! Some of you might recognize those green puffy clouds in the background - I posted those on Instagram a while back. I used them as the background for my haunted house.

This card uses stamps and dies from Lawn Fawn! I used the Build A House die to make the haunted house. CLICK HERE to see another card I made with this die - a farmhouse! It's super versatile! Supplies are listed HERE or at the bottom of this post!

The finished card is an A2 card base. I used dark orange as my card base, then layered white and then my top layer with all the images. I created a little scenefull of bats, spiders and ghosts. I love making Halloween Cards!!

 

My haunted house is made out of cardstock and woodgrain cardstock. I backed the window and door with yellow paper sponged with pumpkin distress ink. The ghosties are die cut out of vellum so they are see through! The hill and scary trees are one die which makes it easy to use! I stamped some flying bats on top of the green cloud background.... SO MUCH FUN!

 

I did a two step sentiment - something I love to do! Die cut letters and then the stamped words below. And a little ghost flying out of the top!

 

Here's a good look at my cloud background!! Three shades of green... Clouds can be any color! Especially at Halloweeeeeen.

 

 

Here's a side view so you can see how everything is layered. I used liquid glue to attach the ghosts - and tucked them behind things so you don't see the glue. Vellum can sometimes be a bit tricky like that.

 

 

 

I used an alphabet stamp set to stamp 31 on the house for the address... I stamped some bats on the inside of the card too.

 

 

 

Even though it's still hot here, I've been decorating the house for Autumn! Here is my tiered tray for Fall! It's on display in our entry way and each time I pass by it I smile!! I'm ready indeed!!

 

Thanks for coming by today! Hope I didn't scare ya! Fall is my very favorite crafting time. I'm hoping to make tons of things this year to share! Hope you have a great day! I'll be back soon with more fall cards, and some Christmas cards! (Yes this time of year is weird like that!) XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's card. (Affiliate Links Used)

Long time no sea! Oh Crab! Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone!

Hello everyone! How are you? Happy Labor Day Weekend...the end of Summer... What are your plans this weekend? It's supposed to be over 110 degrees here all weekend so we'll be staying inside for sure. UGH. I'm beyond ready for cool days and sweaters and all that good stuff for Autumn! It's just way too hot. And we can't go anywhere. Our downtown (Sacramento) got the brilliant idea that we could all eat outdoors on tables in the street. Um, no thanks. I can't wait for it to be time for everything to open again. I worry about all the small businesses and restaurants that are just hanging on. But here we are, September. Hopefully the rest of this weird year will go by fast. 

I got some fun new stamps in the mail a week or so ago, and decided to make an end of summer card to share with you! It's a little beach scene with a cute beach shack and some happy crabs. I have realized that I am not able to create a clean and simple card! Ha! This card was going to have just the shack, two palm trees and one crab. Well, as you can see... It ended up being a bunch of trees and a bunch of crabs! LOL. I kept getting ideas of things to add. Thus supporting my card making theory - MORE is MORE! This was such a fun card to make and combines two awesome companies - Heffy Doodle and Lawn Fawn. All the supplies are listed HERE and at the bottom of my post. 

This finished card is an A2 white card base. I layered some pretty teal striped paper and then the white/kraft layer. I really love all this cheerful color. And the sentiments are perfect for this time - long time no sea - anyone! I just love that little crab peeking out his front door of his beach house! 

 

Lots to see on this card! The small palm trees are a border die, and the large palm trees are separate dies - both from Lawn Fawn. I made the beach house first, using scraps of cardstock, and then inking the edges with Distress inks. I set that aside and made the palm trees next.

 

I stamped the sentiments onto the sand at the bottom of the card. The door on the die cut swings open! EEP. I used Distress inks and white splatters to make it look like a sandy beach scene. 

 

 

The house die! This die set also comes with a heart and a bone... So you can make it a dog house too! So cute! I love the anchor and the life preserver. Adorable!! 

 

I stamped the crabs, the pail, the shovel and the starfish and colored them all with Copic Markers. I added white gel pen accents too. You can see that I used small sponge daubers and distress inks to edge around the tops of the palm trees. This just gives a bit more interest and dimension.

 

I added a few clear enamel dots to add some shimmer to the card.

 

How silly is that little guy up on the roof!?

 

 

 

 

Thanks for coming by today! Happy long weekend and end of summer! I hope that you have a wonderful, happy, fun and relaxing weekend. I will see you soon. LOTS to share in the coming weeks! Up next, a Halloween card, more fall cards, and a blog hop for Pinkfresh Studio. It's all good! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's card! (Affiliate Links Used)

I love Hello Bluebird Stamps!! Fun gnomes and cute beach critters!

Greetings my creative friends! Happy September! I'm getting caught up on blog posts and sharing projects that I've had made... Lots going on here!! Today I'm sharing two cards I made as a guest designer for Hello Bluebird. I used their brand new release and everything is soo soo soooooo adorable! Hands down, this is one of my favorite companies. I love to color the cute critters and their designs always bring a smile to my face. I can't wait to see what they're cooking up for Winter this year!! As you are learning - I am kinda obsessed with gnomes and mushrooms! I have no explanation for it. LOL. Today I have a sweet gnome card and some beach animals! 

First up is this cutie patootie little gnome in front of his gnome house! EEK. I cannot. And that sentiment. LOVE. This finished card is a 5x5 inch square card made from white cardstock. I layered a bit of gingham and then my top layer with the images. 

 

I started by die cutting out all the pieces of the Treehouse Die from different cardstocks. I inked the edged of the tree and then splattered brown and white inks onto it for more texture. I set that aside and worked on the background. There are some stenciled clouds and a little grassy hill for him to be on.

 

The treehouse comes with those sweet little cobblestones to make a path! I stamped the sentiment onto the green hill. The clouds and the hill were inked with different distress inks and my TE blender brushes. (Supplies are all at the bottom of my post).

 

How can you not smile???

 

I adore all the little details... Little tiny shutters, and window boxes, and snails.... I added a little honeybee too! 

 

Next up is my swimming beach cuties! I used two new stamp sets for this card. The finished card is an A2 card base. The background was inked with blender brushes and distress inks! I wanted it to look like pretty clear ocean water... This card layout popped into my head as I was trying to figure out how to use ALLLLL the critters! I die cut several stitched circles and I think it all looks like bubbles! Really so much fun to make this card.

 

I colored all the images with my Copic Markers and added white gel pen accents. I also put that sweet sentiment onto a circle. All the circles are affixed to the card using foam squares. I added some clear enamel dots to keep the water theme.

 

That little fox!!!! 

 

 

 

 

That's it for today's projects! Nice to see you here on the bloggy blog. Hope you had a good week. It's the first week of September! I can't wait for the heat wave to break so we can get outside and enjoy the nice weather. XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used for today's cards. (Affiliate Links Used).

Fun with the new Stampin' Up Catalog!

Happy Monday everyone! Guess what? Tomorrow is September! For me, I officially kick off Fall on September 1st! I have already started decorating the house with leaves and pumpkins and pretty things... And I already had my first PSL of the season! (Actually I really like the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew - you should try it)... It's a strange time for crafting right now. On my desk I still have cute Summer critters, Fall Leaves, and Reindeer stamps. It's a mix of everything. The stamp companies are all doing their big Fall/Christmas releases right now so there is lots of fun stuff to play with. How's it going in your craft room? What are you working on?

My good friend Wendy is an AWESOME Stampin' Up demonstrator. I met her several years ago at a Stampin' Up function and we hit it off right away. Luckily she only lives about 40 minutes from me so I get to see her too (not often enough though)... She sent me a new SU catalog a while back and I ordered some goodies. I've been working on cards and today I'm posting three cards I've made so far. If you need some stamps - reach out to her and she'll be happy to hook you up! 

This first card was made with the new Arrange A Wreath stamp set and matching die set. I created a pretty Autumn wreath with a little chalkboard for the sentiment! This finished card is an A2 size. I layered woodgrain paper from my stash and trimmed the corners with a corner rounder.

 

I die cut two wreaths in green, and then lots of leaves in Fall colors. I used clear Versamark ink to stamp the leaves for a tone on tone effect. I splattered everything with watered down ink and white ink. I die cut the bow from bright teal cardstock for that pop of color that I love. 

 

I stamped the sentiment in white ink and then smudged it with my fingers to look like a chalkboard. Love this look!! This will be a perfect Thanksgiving Card!

 

For this next card I used the Field Journal stamp set, the Posted For You stamp set and the Postage Stamp jumbo punch. I'm obsessed with that punch! I want to punch out all the things with it!! The finished card is an A2 card base. I used cream cardstock for all the pieces. 

 

I started by stamping all the little images from the stamp sets onto cream cardstock. I used Copic Markers to color in everything. Then I punched out my 'stamps' with the punch. Aren't they so pretty!? I edged everything with Antique Linen Distress Ink to look vintage.

 

I affixed the postage stamps to the card using foam squares. I splattered the background and stamped the sentiment in the corner in brown ink.

 

My last card is made with the adorable new Whale jumbo punch!! He's perfect!! I forgot how much fun it is to craft with punches. SO easy and fast. I also used the Whale Done stamp set and the Ridiculously Awesome stamp set. I thought the faith quote looked good with the whale. A perfectly sweet encouragement card. The finished card is A2 size.

 

Layers of white paper and vellum are so fresh and bright! And my favorite color - aqua!

 

The stripes were made by cutting strips of cardstock and gluing them onto a white panel. I stamped a couple of red hearts for a contrasting color. In these times we really do need to let our faith by bigger than our fear! 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Let's have a great week! I'm wishing you blessings and peace as we continue to deal with all that is going on in our world. Thank goodness we have crafting and creativity to keep us busy and happy. XOXO

All the stamps and dies in my cards today are from Stampin' Up! Please contact WENDY CRANFORD if there are some things you'd like to order. Tell her Wanda sent ya! She's wonderful and will take really good care of you! 

The Greetery Gathered Blessings Collection - Day 2!

Hellloooooo! I told you it was going to be busy around here this week! Today is day two of the reveals of the Gathered Blessings Collection from The Greetery! The new release will be available for shopping tomorrow! YEAH! The design team is sharing more projects today to inspire you and get you ready for Fall crafting. I'm sharing three cards today!! I had so much fun creating these cards. What a joy to work with new things from The Greetery! The list of designers is at the bottom of this post - so make sure you stop by all the blogs. 

The first card for today I think is my favorite project from this release. Because I love oak trees. My neighborhood is built all around a grove of massive and majestic California Live Oaks. (My town is called Fair Oaks!).... There is one tree right outside my kitchen window and it's turning color this week. My signal that yes, Fall will finally come after a long hot summer....

This card is an A2 size card made from brown paper. I layered two layers of Postage Frames Dies (from watercolor paper)... Then I used the brand new Mighty Oak Botanicuts dies. I die cut two of the full set of dies from watercolor paper and colored with palette water colors for a saturated look.

 

 

 

Here's a close up of those gorgeous dies!!! I layered shades of browns and greens, and a bit of mustard from my watercolor palette.... It came out so pretty! These dies are going to get a lot of use in my studio.

 

I combined two stamp sets to make this pretty sentiment.... I stamped with my MISTI since watercolor paper is bumpy! I put a light wash of aqua on that top layer to look like sky...

 

I used the Pretty Postmarks stamp set to add some text on the bottom layer. After I stamped the text I splashed some water onto it to make it more flowy and not so perfect.

 

It's hard to see in the photos, but I added gold painted accents onto the acorns, and gold splatters onto the top layer. I love a little gold water color paint!!

 

 

 

 

 

For this next card, I also used my same watercolor palette to color the new Toadstool Garden Dies! This is an A2 card size. I used the previously released Sunflower Dies and the Leafy Stencil. I wanted to create a pretty Fall Garden... All I need is a gnome!

 

I die cut out all of the toadstools and flowers from watercolor paper. Then I had fun water coloring everything with my watercolors. I decided to use many different colors just to create a fun, whimsical scene. 

 

I die cut out a little hill and water colored it to match my scene. (Supplies are listed at the bottom of my post).... I stamped the sentiment in brown ink directly onto the bottom of the card. In the background I used a stencil to add some greenery to the garden.

 

 

 

 

 

My last card for today features two new stamp sets: The Mimosa Musings stamp set and the Blessed Blooms stamp set! I'm also showcasing the new Square Dance Stencils! In my head, when I create a card, I often create a story or a mental image. For this one, I was trying to recreate the old greeting cards from the 1950's and 1960's....with soft colors and bits and bobs of glitter.... Do you see it? This finished card is an A2 size.

 

I used my MISTI to stamp the blooms sprigs in pinks and green....and die cut them out with the matching dies. I used the Square Dance Stencils to create a beautiful bold gingham background for the bottom layer.

 

 

 

How PRETTY is this sentiment??? Gosh I love it!!! And matching dies for the awesome words.... You're going to like this set I'm sure!!! SO many ways to use these sentiments.

 

 

Okay! That's it for the new release! Remember - shopping starts on Friday! What are you going to get?? It's very hard to pick a favorite!! Thank you for coming by my blog and spending a little time with me! The full list of inspiring designers is below. Make sure to visit everyone!! 

There will be one $50 store gift certificate given away today and tomorrow. For a chance to win, leave a comment daily at each blog stop. Winners will be announced Friday morning, August 28th, on The Greetery Blog. 

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used for today's cards. (Affiliate Links Used)

LINKS FOR TODAY'S INSPIRATION

FROM THE DESIGN TEAM!

The Greetery Blog

Kay Miller

Laurie Willison

Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Keeway Tsao

Angelica Conrad

Kelly Lunceford

Norine Borys

Wanda Guess

Hero Arts Winter 2020 Catalog Launch! Sweet Greetings!

I HAVE TWO BLOG POSTS TODAY! Please scroll down for The Greetery New Release Post! 

Hello my sweet crafty friends! How are you?? Lots going on today here on my blog! I'm so excited to be sharing again! Today is a big blog hop to celebrate the launch of the 2020 Winter Catalog from Hero Arts! Yippeeee! There are so many new stamps and dies this time around. I had a hard time choosing which products to feature today! I decided on this adorable stamp set - Color Layering Gingerbread House - because it's so sweet! And I love the fonts in the sentiments.... I had a lot of fun making this card. It's one of my favorite winter/Christmas color combos: red, blue and pink... Oh and a sprinkling of glitter too! 

CLICK HERE to shop the new catalog! CLICK HERE to see the entire blog hop list! All of my supplies are at the bottom of my post, along with the prize information for the hop. Thank you for coming by today. Glad to see you here!!

My finished card is an A2 card base. I layered red cardstock and crisp white cardstock... And a bit of gingham from my stash.

 

 

I used my Hero Arts MISTI to stamp the layers of the house: brown, pink, blue and red. SO easy to line up everything on the little house. Then I used the matching die to cut it out. I also stamped and die cut gingerbread men, candy canes and peppermints!

 

 

I die cut a circle into the white layer of my card and backed it with gingham. I stamped the sentiment onto the bottom of the white layer - also using my MISTI. 

 

I made the little accent pieces into a fun banner to go across the top of my card! So cheerful!! I added Stickles and pearls for a bit of shimmer and shine to finish off the card. 

Thank you for stopping in! CLICK HERE to shop the new release! And CLICK HERE to see the full blog hop list! Have fun hopping and enjoying all the inspiration for today! I can't wait to hop around myself! 

Hero Arts will give away three $50 gift cards, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by leaving a comment between now and Sunday, September 6th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week! Good Luck!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used for today's card. (Affiliate Links Used).

The Greetery Gathered Blessings Collection - Day 1!

Hi guys! I'm very excited to tell you all about day one of THE GREETERY Gathered Blessings new product collection! This is the gorgeous Fall release from Betsy and The Greetery SOOOOO many beautiful new stamps, dies and stencils to spark your creativity. There are two days of full product reveals and projects (today and tomorrow) and then you can shop the new release on Friday the 28th. I'm pretty sure you're going to love it and want it all! I feel so very blessed to work with these tools and bring them to you along with the rest of the design team. It is a privilege to work with this team! Today I'm sharing three cards, and I'll have three more tomorrow. Let's get started, shall we?! 

First up is a card made with previously release stamps and stencils...but with a twist for Autumn! The Top Down Day Stamp Set now has an Autumn add on! Pumpkins for the back of the car! Adorable sentiments! LOOOVE! This card is actually me - out gallivanting in the Fall foliage! LOL. This finished card is a 5x5 inch square card. Warm tones for Fall...

 

 

 

I started with a kraft card base and then layered some pretty orange gingham paper. My top layer was stenciled with a pathway and fall trees.... I used the Fir and Foliage 1 stencils and the Pathway stencils along with sponge daubers and Distress Inks. Doesn't it look like she out leap peeping??

 

Here's a close up of those pumpkins in the back of the car! I stamped them with my MISTI and C9 ink pads (supplies are all listed at the bottom of this post)... Then I used Copic Markers and a white gel pen to add accents. I love aqua/teal as an accent to orange so I made the car in those tones.

 

Here's a close up of the sentiment - and it comes with a matching die!!

 

 

 

My next card reminds me of a pretty Fall table scape... And I used loads of new supplies! This card is an A2 size. I used the new Shiplap Dies, Pitcher-esque stamps and dies, Bittersweet Bouquet stamps and dies.... And the previously released Coaster die and Crimped Rectangles.

 

I used the Shiplap dies to create my background.... Then I die cut a coaster/napkin out of patterned paper for the 'table.' I used my MISTI to stamp the pitcher and the florals to get them perfectly lined up. Warm shades.... 

 

I was trying to mimic an old blue enamelware pitcher! So I stamped it in blues and added white splatters.... 

 

I tucked the flowers in behind the pitcher and affixed them to the card with foam circles...

 

This last card for today uses the beautiful new stamp set called All Blessings Flow...and features a lovely saying in a pretty font. This is a great stamp set for many occasions - from celebrating to sympathy. I decided to make my card vivid and bright. This is an A2 sized card and uses that amazing new Square Dance Die (background) and florals...

 

The Square Dance die perfectly fits onto the front of an A2 card.... I used liquid glue to affix it to the white card base. I die cut a stitched oval in white and a larger one in vellum to act as my focal point. I stamped the sentiment and then inked the edges with Distress Ink...

 

 

 

I stamped and die cut the florals and glued them onto the card around the oval. I added a few pink enamel dots for a pop of color in amongst the leaves.

Okay! That's it for today! I will see you back here tomorrow for Day two of the release reveals. Thank you for stopping by! What is your favorite new thing from today's reveals? Hope you are having a good week! XOXO

There will be one $50 store gift certificate given away today and tomorrow. For a chance to win, leave a comment daily at each blog stop. Winners will be announced Friday morning, August 28th, on The Greetery Blog. 

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used for today's cards. (Affiliate Links Used)

 

LINKS FOR TODAY'S INSPIRATION

FROM THE DESIGN TEAM!

The Greetery Blog

Kay Miller

Laurie Willison

Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Keeway Tsao

Angelica Conrad

Kelly Lunceford

Norine Borys

Wanda Guess

Altenew Wild Roses & Watercolors - fresh and pretty for a Summer day!

Hi friends! I'm back at my desk for a little while today and really wanted to share a card with you! I had surgery last week and have pretty much been in bed or on the couch for five days... I'm a very busy person so it's been hard to sit still - but definitely I needed the rest. I am recovering and feeling better today finally. All of my biopsies and test results came back benign. THANK YOU JESUS!! I am so incredibly grateful and at peace, knowing that I might finally be on the road to feeling like my old self. Thank you to everyone who sent me a message during this past week. I am blessed by so much kindness here and on social media. Makes me really feel loved. XOXOXO Thank you. 

I'm trying to get this post typed fast because we are probably going to have a power outage! I live in Northern California and we are having an unprecedented heat wave. As a result they are doing rolling blackouts. It will probably end up being two weeks of over 100 degree temps. And it's not cooling off at night. This is not normal (but then what in 2020 is normal?) and we are hot hot hot. I think it was 112 yesterday and it was still 100 at 9pm!! Yeeks!! We have all the lights out and all the blinds closed. Lucky is laying all spread out...we're a mess! 

A couple of weeks ago I made these beautiful die cut roses! I set them aside for a bit, and then a week or so ago I made them into a colorful and bright card. So excited to share it with you. No stamps on this card - just die cuts! All my supplies are listed at the bottom of this post. 

The finished card is an A2 white card base. The blue layer was die cut with a beautiful plaid background die. SO FRESH!! I splattered white ink onto the blue panel.

 

You guys!!! These dies are so easy!!! And it looks hard - I kinda love that. The dies all fit together and you build the color. Here's a close up of the leaves. I die cut all the pieces out of watercolor paper. And everything was painted with my brand new Altenew 24 pan watercolors. For the leaves I did progressively darker shades of green.... Then I glued all the pieces together with liquid glue and my tweezers.

 

The wild roses are three pieces (pinks) and then two pieces for the center (yellows)... I dried them with my heat tool and kept adding color until I got it super vivid!! And then I splattered everything. That's my favorite move. LOL. The flowers were mounted onto the card using foam squares. I used my fingers to gently turn the petals up off the paper.

 

A gorgeous script hello glued onto the flowers....

 

Here are my flowers before I made them into a card...

 

 

 

Here's a close up of the background die!

Okay friends! I got through the post before the power went out! I'm hoping maybe we won't get the power outage this time around! I'm off to get a giant glass of ice water and put my feet up. I am wishing you a peaceful and happy week. Thanks for stopping by today. XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the SUPPLIES for today's project. (Affiliate Links Used).

Introducing the beautiful Field Notes Card Kit from Taylored Expressions!

Hello friends. I hope this post finds you well and happy and I hope you're having a good week so far. August is rolling along, and that's awesome, because we are one step closer to Fall/Autumn! And then maybe this crazy, weird and not-so-great year can be over. 2020 has been a huge test for me. Maybe I will end up writing a post about this strange time, but not just yet. The story is still writing itself. Tomorrow I am having surgery and I'm pretty scared. I haven't had anesthesia or surgery in almost 30 years. I'm trying to stay calm and collected, but my anxiety is already through the roof with all that's happened this year. So if you have a moment tomorrow - say a little prayer for me that all goes well. I would appreciate the good vibes and good thoughts. XOXO

On to the crafty business at hand now! Today is the launch date for the newest card kit from Taylored Expressions. This is number four already, and they are so good! This new one is called Field Notes and I'm swooning over these gorgeous sketchy florals.... The kit includes three stamp sets, dies, stencils, envelopes, envelope seals....all in a pretty storage pouch. It's just lovely. I was inspired by the florals to do some water coloring with Distress Inks for my cards. I love how they came out. I have a bunch more ideas too!!

 

Isn't this a gorgeous stamp!? My first card is in hues of olive, yellow and brown for a vintage feeling. The card is an A2 card base from Kraft cardstock. The green layer is Sweet Basil cardstock from TE (all supplies are listed in the supply link at the bottom of my post). The top layer and the stamped images are on watercolor paper.

 

I used the fabulous new Masking Stencils that come in the kit to create a color blocked background with Distress inks. I started with watercolor paper and then moved the stencil around on the paper and inked blocks of Antique Linen, Crushed Olive and Mustard Distress Inks. SO FUN! I love this technique. Once the color blocks were on the paper, I misted the paper with water and dried it with my heat tool. Then I added brown splatters and inked the edges with Distress ink. I wrapped twine around the card and attached the little tag onto the twine. I think it looks like a sketchbook!!

 

This is what the included stencils set looks like. You can use the center portions or the larger portion to stencil so many different effects.

 

 

The flower was stamped with Distress ink so it would be 'flowy' with water. I used a water brush and Distress inks to color the flower. The flower is mounted onto the card with foam squares.

 

This is one of the three stamp sets included. Aren't these so pretty!? And red rubber, too. For that perfect impression!!

 

My second card is also an A2 Kraft cardstock card base. The top layer is watercolor paper. I stamped the floral three times and die cut them out with the matching dies. I used the stencil to color block some pretty aqua in the center of the card. I stamped the sentiment and the flowers with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Using brown ink instead of black ink I feel automatically makes your project seem vintage.

 

I watercolored with a water brush and distress inks - the flowers - in shades of pink and purple and green. I thought about coloring them all green too - maybe next time!

 

I used foam tape to affix the florals to the card, off center. Clean and simple, but so very pretty. I think this could be a good card for get well or sympathy. 

 

FIELD NOTES CARD KIT CONTENTS!

Okay my crafty friends - time to shop and get your kit before they sell out! I hope you take care and have fun crafting until I see you back here soon.

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see my supply links for these projects! (Affiliate links used)

Waffle Flower - Stitchables Release - Blog Hop! Stitching + Card Making together!

Hello there everyone! I have something really super fun and fabulous to share today! LOTS of photos in this post, so you know the drill, grab some coffee and get ready! Today's post has a new release from one of my favorite companies, and it combines two of my crafting loves - cardmaking and cross stitching! WOO HOOOO! Waffle Flower introduces their new Stitchables Collection today! And we're having a big blog hop to kick off the new products! Lemme just tell ya, I had a really fun time making these cards to show you. Basically, you use paper as your cross stitching fabric - and you can design anything your heart desires. So I made a rainbow heart, a vintage strawberry card, and a cute Christmas card. So easy and fun. This would be a great project to do with kids too. All the details about the blog hop, prizes, and more are all at the bottom of my post. CLICK HERE if you can't wait to shop the new release...

First up is the vintage strawberry card! There are tons of free cross stitch designs online. HERE is the free pattern for this strawberry. I used the new Stichable Pinking Rectangle Die and the Stitched Sentiments stamp set for this card. I also used cream cardstock for a vintage feel. The finished card is a 5x5 inch square. Paired with a bit of Distress Ink, and gorgeous gingham...

 

Look at all the fun dies in this release!!! Squeeee!!!

 

I started by die cutting my cross stitch square from cream cardstock. I used the free pattern and DMC Floss. THIS SHOP is where I buy all my cross stitching threads and supplies... I used three strands since the holes are large enough to hold three... I stitched with red, pink, two greens and a nice buttery yellow. After the stitching was done, I used a sponge dauber and Antique Linen Distress Ink to ink the edges. 

 

To assemble my card: Kraft card base, vellum, gingham, red cardstock, stitched layer. FUN!! I put a square of cream cardstock under the stitching layer so red wouldn't show through. How adorable is that sentiment??? The Stitched Sentiments stamp set has lots of fun stitching related sayings. Love it.

 

I added a few yellow enamel dots because I wanted to pop that color a little bit more. I'm obsessed with that tiny eyelet detail on the die cut.

 

Sew glad to be your friend! How fun would this be to give to your favorite crafting friend!?

 

Here are my thread choices!

 

 

 

Next up is a bright, bold and fabulous rainbow heart! This finished card is a grey A2 card base with a white layer and then the stitching layer. I used the Stitchable Pinking Heart Die and the Stitchable Hearts Border Die set (for the tiny tag). I chose rainbow colors from my floss stash and just stitched in rainbow order all the way down. 

 

I used the Rainbows stamp set and dies to make the clouds, sentiment and rainbow die cut....

 

I used the 1/8 inch foam tape strips (supplies linked at the bottom) to adhere my stitching to the card.

 

I stitched that cute tag with red floss. I always have jewelry supplies on hand so I grabbed a ring and put it through the eyelet detail so it would dangle off the rainbow heart. Finishing touch? Clear enamel dots of course!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And...my third stitched card is a super sweet Christmas card! I used the Christmas Bundle and the Hat Die to make this one. The finished card is an A2 white card base. Layered with dark aqua/teal and then kraft. I love kraft paper with white ink... I die cut the hat die from Kraft paper and stitched with pink and teal embroidery flosses.

 

Once my stitching was done, I added a Tim Holtz Snowflake charm as the perfect accent! To make the card, I heat embossed "Merry Christmas" with white embossing powder and then stamped snowflakes onto the kraft layer. I used the AWESOME Waffle Flower Enamel Dots as snowy white accents.

 

I affixed the hat to the card using the 1/8 inch foam strips to pop it up off the card...

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRIZE ALERT! PRIZE ALERT! For today’s hop, Waffle Flower is giving away $25 gift certificate to THREE lucky winners. You can leave a comment on this blog and along the hop by 11:59pm EDT on August 9th, 2020 for your chances to win. Winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the posts in this blog hop and will be announced on the Waffle Flower Blog on 8-12-20. Good Luck! There are more giveaways to enter on the WF Instagram! 

 

SPECIALS! From now till August 7th, 2020, all orders over $50 placed at waffleflower.com will receive a free Cloud Storage Magnetic Board! For those of you who are new to Waffle Flower, they have a Last Chance section on their website that lists many goodies for 25% off until they are gone! This would be a great place to start your collection!

 

There are TEN stops on the blog hop today! Next up is Amy! CLICK HERE for Amy Rysavy and her gorgeous projects!    CLICK HERE to go to the Waffle Flower Blog for the full list. SO much fun.

 

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below for the full supply list for today's cards. (Affiliate Links Used). Have fun shopping and crafting! Thank you for coming by today! XO

Concord & 9th Feature Friday - Hexagon Designer Dies and New Cardstock!

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! This was a tough week and I'm happy it's over.... And I have something happy to share with you! As you know, I've been guest designing with Concord & 9th all month to help launch their new color collection. Each week the designers are given a topic/challenge. This week's challenge is 'color spectrum' or use-all-the-colors! Love it! This is my final Feature Friday for July. (Can you believe it's August tomorrow???) Thanks for following along with me all month! CLICK HERE to see all the new items in the Color Collection! 

My card today features the cool and clever Hexagon Designer Dies set. It's a grid of tiny hexagons and you can design images or words into it! Kind of like those uber cool hexagon tile floors in fancy coffee shops! The possibilities are endless! I chose to use a flower design and make the flowers into a sort of rainbow pattern! No stamping on this card - all dies and gorgeous cardstock. The finished card is A2 size - and you can see that the die completely covers the front of an A2 card.

 

 

Here is my color palette for this project - alllll the pretties!!

 

I ran the hexagon die through my cutting machine once for each color. I ended up with a big ole pile of tiny hexagons! The frame is in Dove gray. Then I used liquid glue and tweezers to put the colored hexagons into the right places. The sentiment is a pretty happy mail die mounted onto the graphic frame. I used a white gel pen to outline the die, and added a few hearts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I want to give a big shout out to Concord & 9th and Congratulations on their wonderful new color collection launch! I was so honored and happy to be part of all the fun and excitement. I loved sharing projects with you all month long, and I hope you maybe picked up a few goodies for your craft room. I'll be back soon with more crafty things. Have a great weekend! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used in today's card. (Affiliate Links Used)

Flying by to say hi with some Lawn Fawn Ladybugs!

Hey ladybugs! Happy weekend! Hope you're doing well and enjoying the weekend. I'm flying by to say hi with some cute ladybugs and pretty leaves. I colored these images for the Daily Marker 30 Day Challenge a couple weeks ago and now made them into a card. I used stamps and dies from Lawn Fawn and lots of Copic Markers... A touch of gingham and that's it! A clean and simple and graphic card design. I love these Lawn Fawn leaves - So happy to have finally colored them up and used them.

My finished card is an A2 white card base. I layered kraft paper and then the top layer is white. I die cut a circle out of the right side of the top panel and backed it with gingham from my stash.

 

The stamp set comes with the leaves and this adorable magnifying glass image!! How fun. I stamped and die cut everything and spent a good while coloring. I used vivid deep yellow greens and tried some new shading techniques. 

 

 

 

 

 

I stamped the sentiment on top of the white panel. It's perfect for this card! I stamped a ladybug flight trail and then mounted the little lady with a foam circle on top of it. Everything else is also attached with foam circles. The spots on the leaves are made with splatters of Distress Ink. I also added white gel pen accents.

 

 

That's it for this Summer Sunday! Have a blessed and happy day my friends. I'll be back soon.... XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies for today's card. (Affiliate Links Used).

Concord & 9th Feature Friday - Color Focus on Sprout and Sea Glass!

Hi party people! It's Friday again! Man, I feel like these weeks are flying by... Is it only me? Days at home seem faster to me and here we are almost to August. Today the hubs and I are out on an adventure. It was time to get out. Haven't left the house in three weeks and I'm getting weird. It's not normal to be in this situation and it's definitely affecting my psyche. I hope and wish that you are having a beautiful day so far. 

Today is week #3 of Feature Fridays for Concord & 9th!! WOOHOOO! As you know, we are spending the month of July featuring the new color collection from Concord & 9th with a team of bloggers. Today's assignment was for each of us to choose two colors to focus our projects on. I chose Sea Glass and Sprout! My favorite colors always go towards aquas, teals, greens...so it was an easy choice! I made two cards to share with you. Let's get to it! Here are my two cards. I used Turnabout Stamps on both of them - LOVE me some Turnabouts!

 

Hey girl!!! This first card is an A2 card base made from the new Wheat Cardstock. I layered Sprout cardstock and then a layer of white cardstock for my top layer. I used the Blooms Turnabout stamp and used bright, happy colors!! That formed my background paper. Once my Turnabout layer was formed I used the Hey Girl die the die cut the word HEY out of it.

 

The floral layer was affixed over the Sprout green layer with foam tape to create depth and let the HEY show through! I die cut the 'girl' word from rich black cardstock and layered it on top of the opening using clear glue.

 

A pretty flower die cut from Sorbet cardstock and leaves with Sprout cardstock complete the card. It's SUPER fresh and perfect for a happy hey girl to our friends.

 

 

 

These are my two feature colors for today!

 

Next up is a big ol square card with a big ol hello! I used the Oh Hello Turnabout stamp (which is now discontinued) and the Say Hello stamp set and dies to create this card. I featured Sea Glass...which is the most beautiful shade of green tinted aqua. GORGEOUS. I combined it with great and teal for a classic color palette.

 

The strip across the front of the card is the gorgeous Dove cardstock, splattered with a bit of white paint. I layered the hello die with Sea Glass cardstock and some polka dot vellum from my stash.

 

The sunshine word was heat embossed onto Dove cardstock with white embossing powder. I added a few enamel dots from my stash as well.

 

 

 

It's like a color explosion! And I love it! I've been having a great time using the new products and sharing them with you!! What is your favorite new color??

Thank you for stopping by on this lovely Summer Friday! I will see you soon friends! 

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used for today's cards. (Affiliate Links Used).

Baby It's Cold Outside - the brand new Taylored Expressions Card Kit!

Hi friends! Last week was a complete whirlwind of fun crafty stuff!! I hope you got some new goodies and found some inspiration here along the way. Wasn't that Greetery release amazing?? Thank you for all the lovely, kind and thoughtful comments on my blog posts last week. I read EVERY comment and they always uplift me! Bless you all!

Today I'm here to show you the newest, latest, greatest Card Kit from Taylored Expressions! This is number three! I am LOVING all the kits. This one is called Baby It's Cold Outside and it features adorable snowmen!!! The kit has stamps and dies and stencils along with envelopes and seals and more - all in a cute zipper pouch for storage! It feels weird to make a winter card already, but I am always down for a snowman project! Hope this brings you some good wishes!

My finished card is a white A2 card base. I layered gorgeous red paper and then my top layer is kraft. 

 

The card kit is super innovative... The background snowmen are all one big red rubber stamp! But then, there is a die cut to cut out whichever snowman head you want to put on the body. Genius! I started by stamping the whole stamp (with my MISTI) with white pigment ink onto a kraft panel. I splattered some white ink (snow ya know) onto that panel and set it aside for the pigment ink to dry. 

Next I stamped the snowman stamp in black ink onto white paper and die cut two faces and two bodies. I colored them with Copics and added Diamond Stickles to them and white gel pen accents. I set them aside to let the Stickles dry.

 

Here's a close up of the background! The sentiments all fit onto the included sentiment banner die.

 

I used the snowflake stencil included in the kit to stencil the background of my stitched circle. Then I also stamped some larger, darker snowflakes on top of the stenciling. Gave me a nice dimensional snowy effect. I wrapped some pretty twine around the top layer and glued everything together. A nice, clean card layout.

 

Here's a picture of the included envelopes and seals. SO SWEET! Snowman mail!

 

And here's a photo of the entire kit! Yipppeeeee!

The kit is available NOW for purchase in the Taylored Expressions store. Get it while it lasts! Have a blessed and beautiful day. I will see you soon! XO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used for today's card. (Affiliate Links Used)

Hip Hip Hooray! Fun watercolor birthday card for Concord & 9th Feature Friday!

Hi friends! Happy Friday! And since it's a July Friday - you know what that means! Concord & 9th Feature Friday! Woot! I'm super honored to be part of the launch team for Concord & 9th's Color Collection!! I'll be sharing projects every Friday this month featuring the new colors. The team has been given certain topics to feature each week. This week we're all sharing a favorite ink or paper technique. I wanted to see how the new ink pads would be to watercolor with, because I love water coloring with ink pads!! I'm going to just tell you that the new inks were GREAT to water color with! Yeah!!

I chose to make a slimline birthday card using some of my fav stamp sets from Concord & 9th.... My finished card is 3.75" x 6.75". It will fit into a 5x7 envelope for mailing. The card base is kraft and I chose this color palette: Cranberry, Buttercup and Wheat.

 

I used watercolor paper for all the stamped parts of this card. I used my MISTI to get a nice clean impression on the textured paper. I started by stamping and die cutting out the hat, bow and present. The face and the sentiment are stamped directly onto the card. The Buttercup sprinkles are also stamped right onto that top layer. I used Cranberry Cardstock for the bottom layer in between the kraft and white.

 

To watercolor with the ink pads, I used a stamping block and 'smushed' ink onto it. I used a paint brush and water mixed with the ink to paint. I think the colors stayed true and vivid!! Love how easy it was...The brown for the hair was a mixture of a bunch of colors until I got the desired shade. 

 

I'm loving this clean card design - you could make this in any color! Those sentiments from the Type Talk Stamp Set and perfect for these long cards!!

 

 

 

I added a few gems to the card for a bit of festive shimmer!

 

CLICK HERE to shop all the colors!! Here they are in all their glory!! :-)

 

Thank you for stopping by on Feature Friday! YEAH! Did you get some of the new goodies?? What is your favorite technique?? Colors?!  CLICK HERE to shop the Concord & 9th Store!!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used for today's card! (Affiliate Links Used)! I will see you soon. XOXO

 

The Greetery Destination Summer Collection - Day 2! Destination Cape Cod and Destination Sedona!

Hello my crafty pals! Pack a suitcase, and grab your sunnies, cuz I'm about to take you on a virtual road trip! (that's the only kind we can do right now!)... I'm here to introduce you to the brand new, fun, creative and fabulous new stamps from The Greetery... Destination! These stamps and dies and stencils I'm showing you today are all part of the new Destination Summer release from The Greetery - and it's all available tomorrow at 10am EST. (Friday 7-17) I can't wait to share some fun cards with you today. I'm typing this beforehand of course, and I cannot wait to see what all the other designers create with these supplies!! The new products are: Destination stamps + dies, Destination Summer stamps + dies, Maps Dies (3), and Maps Stencils.

These new stamps and dies are meant for you to have fun creating your own maps!! OMG it's so creative!! I love it so much. I'm thinking invitations, wedding save the dates, miss you cards....and on and on. My two cards were inspired by the cartoon maps you get when you go on vacation somewhere fun. I chose two destinations for my creative process: Cape Cod and Sedona AZ. 

First up....Destination Cape Cod! Because it's my most favorite place on earth!! My husband and I were married on Cape Cod and I truly left my heart there. I can't wait to go back some day again... It's quintessentially SUMMER there, and in my card. Cottages, sailboats, and umbrellas... I'm closing my eyes and picturing it right now... My finished card is slightly larger than an A2 - I needed more room. So the size is 4.5" x 7". Therefore it will still fit into a 5x7 envelope. I used the Waterfront Die and then the stamps from both new stamp sets. I also used the Pretty Postmarks and the Slim Alphabet die for the words.... Let's get started!

 

I stamped compasses and postmarks along the bottom edge of the card to be the map "title" and of course put a little heart there. I used brown ink for a more vintage feel. 

 

Here's a broad overview of the map!! This die is the Waterfront Map and it has a body of water on one side. I die cut out the roads and then pieced in papers to serve as water, land, beach and greenery!! HOW FUN IS THIS???!!! I glued the pieces in using liquid glue, and the map is mounted onto a white layer.

 

The sentiment was stamped onto a vellum strip and wrapped around the center of the map. Once the map was assembled, I went to town stamping and die cutting all those cute little pieces!!! Cars, bikes, boats..... I kept a simple, clean, nautical color palette that brings the card together. Red, Blue, Yellow and aqua - the colors of Summer.

 

In this photo, you can see I tried to create a beach!! Sunshine and sun umbrellas! There are stamps of seagulls and waves to add to your cards.

 

This beautiful compass stamp has different layers to stamp around it!!! Betsy thought of everything. Truly. 

 

 

In January of this year, I was able to go on a trip to Sedona Arizona! It's the last place I went this year (sad but true)... Sedona was AMAZING. Wow, I really didn't know what to expect, but my mind was blown by the beauty and serenity of it. It left an impression on me for sure. I decided to make a Sedona map to commemorate that trip. This card is an A2 card base. I used the Round Map die for this one - it's the smallest of the three map dies. I chose to stamp all my images in warm desert tones onto kraft cardstock. It feels like Arizona!!

 

Mountains, cacti, flowers....all the desert things! Oh, and that sweet camera too!! I splattered gold onto the flowers and the map because that's what Sedona felt like to me. Golden sunshine!!

 

For this map I made some of the panels to look like sky and some to look like dirt and desert...

 

Really really REALLY fun... 

 

The cacti are so cute!! I used a Copic Marker to add some more pop to my greens...

 

Don't you wish we were all piled in that truck going somewhere fun right now!!??

Okay, that's it for me for today!! Now don't you feel like going on a road trip? I do!! Thanks for coming by today to see the new products from The Greetery! ALLLLL the new items will be available for purchase on Friday 7/17 at 10am EST!!

There will be great PRIZES of one $50 gift card each day - comments from all the blogs are included in the giveaways (winners announced Friday AM on The Greetery Blog). Be sure to stop by everyone's blogs and leave a comment to enter to win!! 

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see my supplies for today... I'll update the list on Friday with the new items, but many things are not new! (Affiliate Links Used)

TODAY'S LINEUP OF INSPIRATION!!

The Greetery Blog

Kay Miller

Laurie Willison

 Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Keeway Tsao

Kelly Lunceford

Wanda Guess

The Greetery Destination Summer Collection - Day 1! Fresh Market Florals and Farmer's Market Peaches!

Heeeeeey there my sweet peaches! It's that super fun time again - time for a new release from The Greetery! As always, I am completely blown away by the new stamps, dies and stencils and I can't wait to share projects with you!! The design team will share projects today and tomorrow, and then the new release will be available for purchase at The Greetery Store Friday 7/17 at 10am EST. The new release is called Destination Summer! We've got peaches and florals and fun travel themed products to inspire your creativity! I have a LOT of pictures today, so get a cuppa and sit down and enjoy some time with me. The list of all the designers is at the bottom of my post. Hope you are doing well and staying happy and healthy. Let's get started!

First up I'm featuring the Peach Suite of products: Print Shop Peachy Keen stamp + stencil combo, Just Peachy Sentiments stamps and dies, and the Create-a-Crate die!! It's literally so fresh and sweet!! Another amazing stencil set that has matching coordinating dies. I'm obsessed with this concept.... I made a peach card and a little crate full of peach candies. I would actually plan an entire party around this! LOL. So much fun to create.

 

The finished card is an A2 card base from cream cardstock. (Tip - for a more vintage feeling project, use cream instead of white cardstock) The first thing that came to my mind when I saw these products was vintagey Farmer's Market!! So that's the inspiration for my card and treat crate. I used the new Concord & 9th inks and papers and it all worked beautifully together. The background peach panel is the stencils + stamps!!! OMG. Can you even stand it? I cannot.

 

And here's the front of my crate!! I decorated it and had lots of fun adding inks, splatters and some stickers.

 

I stenciled the background onto cream cardstock (blender brushes and C9 inks - supplies listed below). Then I stamped and die cut another peach and some leaves. I die cut the 'peach' word using cardstock and vellum. Now, I have to talk about my paper hoarding... Which actually worked in my favor this time. In my head I KNEW that these gorgeous stickers and papers from Prima would be PERFECT for this project!! I cut out some graphics and used some stickers both on my card and my crate - too look like vintage fruit crates!! I love how this all came together.

 

I die cut some rectangles to act as my focal piece. I stamped the "you're a" at the top of the cream panel. Then I splattered everything with Distress ink. I also edged everything with a dauber and Distress Ink. I tucked the leaves in between the layers and on top of the peach.

 

Okay, now let's talk about that Create a Crate die!!! OH MY WORD. So clever and creative!! Just like the cake plate die from the last release, this is super easy to assemble. Die cut two ends and then four of the planks that go across. Easy! I used woodgrain cardstock for mine and then dusted off my little bin of brads from 1997! LOL. (Glad again that I'm a craft hoarder)... I splattered brown and white ink to 'age' the crate. Then I decorated it with stickers and cardstock.

The front of the crate is pictured above with the card. This is the back of the crate!! 

 

I used a cello bag from my party stash and some twine and ribbon... OH and that teeny tiny peach on a teeny tiny tag!!! So sweet. I put the peaches candies inside the bag and tied it with the ribbon and twine. I put in enough candy to fill that crate!! I used candy, but you could tuck in cookies, small note cards or small gifts. LOVE.....

 

Here's the crate in my hand for size reference... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added a few clear drops to the card to look shiny and pretty!! The layers and the peach were attached with foam dots for dimension...

 

Next up I have two pretty floral cards to share using the brand new Budding Beauties Summer stamps and dies.... Also featuring: Sprinkled with Kindness stamps + die and Petite Eucalyptus stamp + cut combo!! No one does florals like our friend Betsy!! This is a slimline card because I needed some height for that pretty mason jar and all the blooms to fit... The finished card size is 3.5" x 6.5" and is white cardstock. I cut one smaller layer and inked it with Distress ink for a pretty blue background. (the sentiment is in a stamp set we're showing tomorrow!)

 

 

I stamped and die cut the daisies and the eucalyptus blooms. I also added accents with a very sharp colored pencil. It just adds a little depth to the flowers.

 

This pretty mason jar is one of my favorite products from The Greetery!! I used my MISTI to line it up perfectly!!

 

 

 

And....card three for today!!! I used the gorgeous hydrangeas stamps and the beautiful new Watering Can stamps and dies for this one! It's a finished A2 card base. Combined with pretty purple and gingham.... sigh.... The sentiment is gold embossed on vellum and then wrapped around the corner of the top layer.

 

I used my MISTI to line up the flowers and the layers on the watering can. I wanted the can to look old so I splattered gray ink and white ink onto it....

 

I tried several combinations to get the right color I wanted... I ended up using two shades of gray and one shade of stone (light warm gray) to achieve this look. The fun thing is you could make this any bright color!! Maybe I need to do a vivid green can next!!

 

I used a ton of inks for all these cards today. I tried to link them all in case you like my combos. The peaches combo, in my opinion is perfect!!! Again, I tried about 20 ink pads on that!! 

Okay friends, that was a lot of stuff!! Thanks for coming by today to see the new products from The Greetery! We'll be back with more tomorrow and then all the new items will be available for purchase on Friday 7/17 at 10am EST!!

There will be great PRIZES of one $50 gift card each day - comments from all the blogs are included in the giveaways (winners announced Friday AM on The Greetery Blog). Be sure to stop by everyone's blogs and leave a comment to enter to win!! 

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see my supplies for today... I'll update the list on Friday with the new items, but many things are not new! (Affiliate Links Used)

TODAY'S LINEUP OF INSPIRATION!!

The Greetery Blog

Kay Miller

Laurie Willison

 Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Keeway Tsao

Angelica Conrad

Kelly Lunceford

Norine Borys

Wanda Guess

Soaring by to say hi! Sweet Summer Kites card for Feature Friday!

Hey everyone! Soaring by to say hi today with a fun and colorful kite card! Hope you had a good week. I feel like this week went by so fast. Lots going on here in my craft room! So excited about the ink and paper launch from Concord & 9th this week and lots of other good crafty things. It's really hot here and I'm trying not to melt. Haven't even left the house in a week. Isn't that strange?? I usually have just been going out one time a week for errands, groceries etc. I wonder if life will ever return to normal?? 

I'm super honored to be part of the launch team for Concord & 9th's Color Collection!! I'll be sharing projects every Friday this month featuring the new colors. The team has been given certain topics to feature each week. This week we're talking about some of our favorite color combinations of the new inks!! Well, that was easy and hard! Easy because I love so many color combos...and hard because I had to choose one! I decided upon a bright and happy Summer Color combination: Buttercup, Honeysuckle, Aqua Sky and Midnight! I used the awesome new Kite Turnabout stamp and this card happened!! 

My finished card is a 5x5 inch square. I've been making lots of square cards and odd sized cards lately. I let the layout speak to me and then build my card base/card size around it. This one just felt like a square! 

 

I LOVE Turnabout Stamps! Do you have some?? This kite one is SO nice!! It's my first time inking it up... You can see how nicely the inks did on a brand new stamp. Perfect! This was my first try at this turnabout. I stamped the background kites first with my MISTI and my four colors. I trimmed it into a 4.5 x 4.5 inch square and set it aside.

 

Here is my fresh color combination today!!! I love it!!!

 

To build my card I stamped two kites, one Buttercup and one Honeysuckle. I die cut them with the matching dies. Then I die cut a white stitched circle and stamped the sentiment directly onto the circle. I also stamped some little hearts onto the circle.

 

Here are my four colors - in the matching cardstock!

 

To finish the card I did a layer of Aqua Sky paper, then my kite stamped paper. I wrapped those two layers with a strip of vellum and attached it to a white card base with foam tape. I affixed the circle in the center and then put the kites on, again with foam tape.

 

I hope I've inspired you to try a summer project with these colors!

 

Just a reminder that all the new inks and papers are available now for purchase! There are some great bundles on the Concord & 9th website. These are all of the colors. The directions for my cute swatch book are on my post from earlier this week. 

Thank you for stopping by on Feature Friday! YEAH! Did you get some of the new goodies?? CLICK HERE to shop the Concord & 9th Store!! I'll be back next week with a brand new release from The Greetery!!! You're gonna love that too!! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used for today's card. (Affiliate Links Used).

Introducing: Concord & 9th Color Collection! Ink pads and papers! Coming this week!

Hi everyone!! I am over the moon excited about today's blog post! I worked really really hard on this post and all the photos and projects and everything. Truly a fun and exciting post that I really put my heart into. I'm glad I can finally share everything with you and tell you what's up with our friends at Concord & 9th! Today I am part of the team helping to launch the first Color Collection from Concord & 9th! Creating in Color! Beautiful ink pads and matching cardstock in gorgeous colors! YIPPEEEE! 

At Creativation I was able to see the new color collection in person at the C9 booth... and I was excited back then! But then, you know, 2020 happened and everything kept getting delayed. Well...now it's time! Finally it's time! I have been making projects for a couple of weeks and really have given the inks and papers a crafty workout. Verdict: LOVE. For sure these inks are staying on my desk. They are wonderful. I'll talk more about them later in my post. I have two projects to share today. AND...there is a huge Instagram Hop going on with AMAZING prizes!! I'll tell you the details about that too!

Concord & 9th is one of my favorite companies - you guys already know that! I used new dies from this month's release for my card today! I'll be posting today to launch the festivities, and then I'll be posting every Friday in July - more projects made with the new inks and papers. Soooo a lot happening and I'm so glad. All the new ink pads, cardstock and July stamps/dies will be available in the C9 Store on Thursday, July 9th at 11am EST!! Set your alarm for it!

First up today is a big chunky flower card!! I used six of the new hues to make this one.... SO FRESH! I also used the new Fresh Cut Florals dies that will be released later this week. A whole card with just dies - no stamping on this one. The finished card is slightly larger than an A2 card. I made a custom size for this one. Colors: Honeysuckle, Stardust, Ballet Slipper, Parsley, Aqua Sky and Sorbet. YUM.

 

It was super fun and relaxing to sit and die cut flowers and put them together.... You can see that I used the same color ink pad and cardstock to make the florals: I used Honeysuckle cardstock and then inked the edges with Honeysuckle Ink, etc. Gives more depth and dimension to otherwise plain die cuts. I also used a white gel pen to add accents to all the pieces. 

 

I unified the look by making the flower centers all black. Makes it pop and look graphic too. Very modern! The sentiment is also a die cut from black cardstock. I love how this turned out. These flowers are pretty on a card but would be perfect for making a paper wreath, or gluing onto treat boxes or presents!!

 

 

 

Here are the cardstock colors used on this project.... I'll be sharing my cute little swatch book next!!! 

 

 

 

Let's talk about that beautiful Stitched Blooms Die! OH MY WORD.... It's a die that makes this amazing design into the paper!!! I think you're going to be seeing this a lot in my projects. I felt like it just added a little something!

 

Okay - so the color collection comes in: Full size ink pads, ink cubes, reinkers and cardstock. 22 fresh and fabulous colors of ink. The paper pack includes black and white also. Kraft is called Wheat in this collection. The pinks and greens are luscious... All the ink pads are foam. They are CRISP and clear! So my test of new inks is to use Neenah Solar White paper with a brand new stamp and the brand new ink... These ink pads passed the test with flying colors! NO pooling or blotches... You'll see in my project on Friday - I used tons of inks. They are so nice.

CLICK HERE to read the details about the colors on the C9 website!

I made this adorable little swatch book on a ring to keep track of my colors. I love this project!! Here are all the cardstock colors...

 

And here are all my pretty ink pads all in a row.... Swoon....

 

 

 

And here is my sweet little swatch book!! EEP. Don't you love it!? I used the Crafty Turnabout Stamp Set, Crafty Dies, Tall Type Alphas and Numbers, and of course the new cardstock. I used the postage stamp die from the Crafty Dies set and die cut one of each color of cardstock. I used a hole punch to punch a hole in the corner of each one. Then I made a front cover and a back cover!! I put them all on a ring that is now happily hanging in my craft room. The #C9 part is the back cover!!

 

Here is the front cover.... The scissors are from Oceanside and Dove papers and the stamp is Wheat and Honeysuckle papers. The hearts are the Cranberry paper.

 

And here is the back cover! Black, Dove, Aqua Sky, and Mushroom papers. Aqua Sky ink! I used the Crafty Dies and the Tall Type Alpha and Numbers...

 

Here's a picture of it in my hand so you can see the scale of it. Those dies are the sweetest thing!!

 

 

Okay! You've made it through this long post! Thanks for coming by to visit today! I hope you can feel my excitement and I hope you are excited too! I cannot wait to share all month with you. My projects are coming along nicely and I'm very inspired. All the new inks and papers will be available with the July release: Thursday July 9th, 11am EST.

PRIZE ALERT PRIZE ALERT PRIZE ALERT!!! The prizes for this release are all happening on Instagram!! We are doing an Insta-hop with 18 craft bloggers. We are all featuring the new color collection on our Instagram feeds!! Please pop over to my Instagram for all the details. The prizes are AMAAAZZZING but you can only enter on IG. Here's a hint - the grand prize is one of everything!!! Oh YEAH! Good Luck friends!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used for today's projects! (Affiliate Links Used). I will see you soon (Friday!) Take care. XOXO

Taylored Expressions - Farm Fresh Kit Launch!

HAY THERE!!! Oh my goodness are you in for a yeehaw treat today! I'm SO excited to share this new kit with you! I've been keeping this a secret for a long time. It's finally time to launch the newest Card Kit from Taylored Expressions! It's called Farm Fresh! It's adorable and sweet and happy. Just what we need!! Stamps, dies, stencils, stickers, wobbles, envelopes....It has everything. And there's a red rubber gingham background stamp!! Yeahhhhhh. I totally love it. And, just like the last kit, I'm predicting a fast sell out!! DO NOT WAIT on this one!! It will make you smile. 

I made two cards to share with you. Let's get started! First up is this cutie little horse out getting some sun by the barn! This finished card is an A2 kraft card base. I layered some gingham (you know me) and some red cardstock. I used the stencils from the kit to create green rolling hills. I used a previously released clouds die to make the sky. Hay there!

 

The stamp sets are all red rubber and they stamp like a dream. If you've never stamped with TE rubber stamps you are missing out. Crisp and perfect images every time. The animals have two parts, the body and the head. So you can make them wobble!! The barn and the horse were colored with Copic Markers. Love the sentiments!

 

Here's a close up of the new stencils. I used two shades of green ink and then added a few ink splatters for effect.

 

The kit includes action wobbles that fit under the heads of the animals. EEK. I love an action wobble!!! 

 

The images are super fun and easy to color - goes quickly. I added a few white gel pen accents on my coloring and white splatters on the barn.

 

 

 

This next card CRACKS me up. Get it?? LOL. I tried this card two different ways, but ended up leaving it in the silly format with those chicken legs sticking out the side of the card. We need some levity right now, wouldn't you agree??!! This finished card is a 5x5 inch square kraft card base. I layered yellow paper too. I think the chicken is my favorite animal from the stamp set. Adorbs. The background gingham you see here in red is that awesome stamp that comes in the kit. I used my MISTI for a crisp image since it's a large stamp. 

 

This is a good card for right now when we can't go see our friends.... Just chicken in!! I die cut a square from the center of a larger square and mounted the gingham panel behind it. Then I stamped and die cut a bunch of chickens and colored with Copics. I also stamped, cut and colored two of the little fences. The sentiment goes right in the center!

 

I mounted the chickens inside the square to look like they were popping in to say hi! I tried the card without the legs sticking out and it's more 'clean' but my husband and I both decided the legs sticking out were more fun!! What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a couple of photos of what's in the kit!! You will receive a storage bag with a big beautiful label with the kit name... Envelopes and seals that match, stamps, dies, stencils, and wobbles. It's awesome.

 

 

Thank you for stopping by my farm today to see what's new!! I'm wishing you a blessed and beautiful day! Please buy your kit right away if you want one. I know the rainbow kit from last month only lasted 2-3 days before selling out. Taylor has thought of everything. I know you'll enjoy it!!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used in today's projects. (Affiliate Links Used)

Sending some Mer-mail your way today! Fun new stamps from Waffle Flower!

Helloooooo from under the sea! Hum a sweet tune from The Little Mermaid, grab a pina colada, and take a look at my fun mermaid card for today! Over the years I have befriended sweet Nina, the owner of Waffle Flower Crafts and last week she sent me a package of the cutest stamps from their Summer release! Thank you Nina!! They always have new artists and super unique stamps and dies. LOVE Waffle Flower! I smiled and was so excited to stamp with all of these ocean themed goodies!! 

One thing that is on trend in paper crafting right now is Slim Line Cards. These are cards that are 4" x 8" big....giving lots of room for more fun images!! I decided that I wanted to use a lot of stamps, so I made my first Slim Line Card. I made the card base using my Scor-Pal and paper trimmer. It's thick white Neenah cardstock. My card has one more layer of white as a frame, and then the panel with the images. This card will fit into a business size envelope. I will probably make my own envelope out of some oceany paper though!

Here's the finished card! One note about my props... I am trying to gather enough items to make an ocean themed tiered tray... I got the cool netting and the baby starfish (and some coral) at my friend's antique store last week! 

 

Isn't that mermaid so sweet! She has seaweed and a little tiny shell in her hair. I gave her red hair and a green and aqua mermaid tail. I stamped and die cut all the images and colored them all with Copic Markers. The images have touches of white gel ink pen accents and Diamond Stickles. The clear bubbles are brand new clear enamel dots from Waffle Flower. I'm gonna need more of those! They perfectly mimic water!!

 

The stamp set with the mermaid is called Mermaid Mail!! OMG do you love that little letter with the shell?? I colored lots of fish and greenery...Baby seahorses and a happy crab!

 

The sentiments set is AMAZING! The best sayings and the best combination of fonts! LOVE!!! For all my ocean cards from now on!!! 

 

The sea floor is a die cut called Stitched Slopes from SSS. I colored it with Distress inks and splatters!

 

Here is my ink blended background before I did anything else to it... All the gorgeous shades of blue distress inks!!!! Here are my tips for good results from ink blending: 1) Use Bristol cardstock. It's smooth and slippery so the ink doesn't 'stick' to it right away, allowing blending 2) Apply the ink in swirly circles and keep going! 3) Use Domed blenders to avoid the blotchy circles!! This background took a while!! I kept adding ink because I wanted it very saturated!! I added waves and sun rays with dark ink and white ink!! 

 

I made this little graphic with my finished card base... The ink blending was done first and allowed to sit a bit and dry. The I die cut one of the waves out of cardstock to use as a stencil. I inked some subtle waves using both dark ink and white ink... My first time trying this and I kinda like it. The white sun rays were made using a small sponge dauber, white ink, and the MFT Rays stencil. I splattered white ink all over it also. Later...I ended up stamping bubbles onto the background and a few plants.

 

All the elements were affixed to the card using foam circles!

 

 

 

I wanna give this guy a hug! LOLZ. So happy and fun!

 

 

 

Here is the sentiment stamp set!! I love it so much!! (all the supply links are at the bottom of my post)...

I used another sentiment on the inside of the card and also stamped some bubbles...It's wonderful!! 

Thanks for stopping by today to see me!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!! My LSS finally reopened so I'm gonna take a trip down there tomorrow hopefully. Not too much else planned. Hope you are doing great!! Next week we'll be launching the new Taylored Expressions Card Kit. OMG you're going to LOVE it. And it's going to sell out! I'll give you a head's up on my Facebook Page when it goes live!! My cards are already done and I can't wait to share them. 

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used for today's card. (Affiliate Links Used)

Fun with Photoplay Paper Collections!

Happy Monday my creative friends! It's the first week of official Summer. Here in Sacramento it's going to be over 100 degrees for the next seven days. UGH! I plan on hiding out in the studio and crafting and photographing new projects. I hate being so hot!! Especially if you add in hot flashes on top of it! (Isn't it great to be a girl??) Ha! I hope you are doing good and staying well and happy. I have a LOT of good things coming in July. I'm going to be BIZZZZZY! So many great things are coming. I'm so blessed and grateful. Thanks for going along on this journey with me. XO

I've been working with the folks at Photoplay Paper over the past few weeks on some behind the scenes sort of things...coming soon... They are the nicest and most generous bunch of people. I'm really excited about this new partnership with them. The Photoplay paper collections are awesome!!! Gnomes, sea creatures, heroes, bees....I could go on and on!!! (Remember this card?) Yeah, super cute stuff!! 

Today I'm sharing two cards! One made with the Monterey Bay Collection and one with the Wild Honey Collection. Both are perfect for Summer crafting and scrapbooking. First up is the Monterey Bay Collection! ADORABLE! This has an extra special place in my heart because my father's family is all from Carmel and Monterey. Every good memory from my childhood happened there - with my grandparents and all my family before life got complicated... I even went to kindergarten and first grade in Monterey. If I close my eyes I can smell the forest of Eucalyptus trees coated in wet fog in my grandma's backyard. That is my favorite feeling and smell in the world. FOG makes me ridiculously happy.... See above - I hate to be hot! LOL... Anyhooo I'm off topic. Let's get to the cards. 

Photoplay also has stamps and dies that match some of their paper collections. I smiled from ear to ear when I saw the cute critters in this stamp set. I mean, they're wearing sailor shirts!!!! C'mon!! This finished card is an A2 kraft card base and the papers are all from the paper collection. 

 

I stamped and die cut the two friends and colored them with Copic Markers. I added small accents with a white gel pen. I mixed and matched the patterned papers and die cut them out with stitched dies. I used a kraft card base because I like the color combo with red, blue and kraft. It feels nautical too. 

 

The sentiment, the banners and the other accents are all from the collection Sticker Pack. Nice, thick pretty stickers... (My other card for today is made entirely from their beautiful stickers)

 

They are SO CUTE!!!! I used a bit of twine as another accent. Everything is popped up with foam dots for dimension!

 

Next up is a warm and sunny card made entirely from papers and stickers...No stamping! Sometimes I really love to make cards without stamping. It's a whole different feel. Very mixed media..and the opportunity to combine colors and layers... My finished card is an A2 card base. 

 

I can't tell you enough how nice these thick stickers are...and the colors.... 

 

I layered papers and lots of stickers...and then that pretty sentiment banner...

 

My only accents are black paint splatters and a few enamel dots for a bit of shine. 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today! Happy Summer! If you've never checked out Photoplay Paper - I hope you will!! The best selection and best prices are HERE. But they are also found in your LSS and online. I've linked everything below in my supply list too.

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used in today's projects! (Affiliate Links Used)

The Greetery - TGIF - A Vintage Note!

Hey friends! Happy Friday! I'm featuring a card over on The Greetery blog for TGIF (The Greetery Inspiration Friday!) I'm sharing a vintage inspired card for this Summer Friday! I like a good vintage project, and getting my hands inky! One of the many things I love about The Greetery stamps and dies is that they can be adapted to any crafting, card-making style. Everything is so creative and flexible to make your style shine. The stamps I used for this project could be used just as easily is bright bold tones, or soft pastels, or warmer hues...

 

Today I'm using one of my favorite products from the last Greetery release: The Pinwheel Party Dies and Stencils. I wanted to use them again with a retro look... I combined them with lots of previously released goodies and Distress Inks.  

 

My finished card is an A2 sized card base in dark brown paper. I started by creating a cool, old paper looking background. I used watercolor paper, a water brush, and brown and blue Distress Inks. I kept layering the inks until I got a nice, worn paper look. Then I used stamps from the Pretty Postmarks Stamp set (the beautiful text and the circular postmark) and stamped them over the background. I sprayed the stamping with water to make it soften. I love text stamps! The overall feeling of this card is vintagey goodness!!

 

Lots of different elements on this card. I love the bright pop of pink mixed in with all the brown tones. 

For the tag, I used the Speed Tagging Die Set and die cut the scalloped tag from watercolor paper. I used Distress Inks and the Oopsie Daisy stamp set to stamp the two daisy flowers onto the tag. I used a water brush to soften the edges of the stamping to mimic water coloring. I splattered inks over the flowers and also added a bit more of the text.... LOTS of splatters!!

 

 

 

Here's a photo of my bottom layer - all inked up and distressed. 

 

 

 

I die cut pinwheels using the Pinwheel Party Dies - some from watercolor paper, and some from text paper. I used the matching Pinwheel Party Stencils to add blue and brown stripes. Then the pinwheels were inked around the edges with a sponge dauber... 

 

I stamped and die cut a pretty postage stamp to add to my collage. The sentiment was die cut from the awesome Sentiment Starters word dies set. My finishing touches are a bit of twine and a few gold enamel dots. The main elements were attached to the card using foam tape. 

 

I hope I've inspired you today to look at your stamps a new way!! If you usually do bright and bold, try vintage. If you always use one certain color palette - try something new. All of these stamps and dies are meant to spark your own style! I love that. 

I am so happy to be part of The Greetery Team! And very happy to share some inspiration on this Friday. Please head over to The Greetery Blog to leave some love and see what else is new there! So many beautiful projects on the blog to inspire us!! I will see you next week! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used in today's card. (Affiliate Links Used).

Pretty Pink Posh June Release Blog Hop - It's a jungle out there!

Hey crafty friends! Hope you're having a good week! I have something really fun and cute to share today! I'm part of a big two day blog hop to inspire you and launch the June 2020 release from Pretty Pink Posh! All the new products were inspired by Paulina's new baby and all the cute jungle themed baby items! It's a jungle out there, don't ya know! Everything is ADORABLE! I had a lot of fun crafting and coloring this card. Lots of animals and leaves and an inked background too! 

All the new release items are available now in the Pretty Pink Posh Store! The blog hop is today and tomorrow - so lots of ideas for you to see! The full blog hop list, the prize information, and my supply list are all at the bottom of this post. Hope you enjoy the hop!! 

This is a custom card size - I made the card from white cardstock. I needed a bit more room for my design! The card is 6.5" x 4.75". That way it still fits into an A7 envelope. The card base is white and then I used some brown striped cardstock to 'ground' all the COLOR in this card!! I used lots of stamp sets to create a jungle scene. I love how this turned out!! These stamps make me smile.

 

 

I used the Jungle Friends Stamps, The Monkey Friends Stamps, Toucans, Leaves and other animals! SO FUN!! I stamped and die cut out all the images first and arranged them in the way I wanted them. That's how I knew I needed a bigger card base! I colored all the images with Copic Markers and added white gel pen accents. I used vivid and bold coloring for this card.

 

These tropical leaves are the perfect touch for the cute animals!!

 

The background is bright green!! I used three different shades of green Distress Inks. Then I splattered white ink and green ink onto that panel. I wanted it to look very jungle-y!! 

 

The giraffe is from the Animal Signs stamp set, so he doesn't have a body! I tucked him in behind the lion. All the pieces are attached to the card with foam circles.

 

The sentiment was heat embossed with white embossing powder onto a black cardstock banner.

 

 

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you enjoy this awesome blog hop! I enjoyed sharing my project with you!! Take care and be well. I will see you soon! XOXO

Everything is available now in the Pretty Pink Posh storefront! Yeah!

PRIZE ALERT! There are 4 $25 gift certificates up for grabs (two winners each day)! Pretty Pink Posh will choose the winners randomly along the blog hop! So be sure to leave a comment on each blog!! Comments must be left by 11:59 PM PST on 6/24/2020. Winners will be announced on the PPP blog.

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's card. (Affiliate Links Used).

 

BLOG HOP LIST FOR TODAY!

Pretty Pink Posh blog  

Jennifer McGuire

Angelica Conrad  

Wanda Guess  

Ardyth Percy- Robb  

Adelle Emery  

Heather Hoffman    

Gemma C.

Channin Pelletier

Mayra's Designs    

Yoonsun Hur  

Guest Designing for Sunny Studio Stamps - Summer Tropical Fun cards - get me to the beach!

There's been a lot of action here this week! SO many fun opportunities and I'm really grateful to be working with these lovely companies. Today is yet another card filled post. I hope you had a great week. Summer is here and the livin' is easy. Today I am the guest designer on the Sunny Studio Stamps Blog! I'm always happy and excited to be the guest designer there! I'm so delighted to work with the beautiful and fun stamps and dies from Sunny Studio! I'm in love with everything SUMMER in the Sunny Studio storefront right now. It was hard to decide what to feature today, so I used, oh, about 10 stamp sets! LOL. I was dreaming of the beach, and palm trees, and flowers.  I had so much fun creating two cards to share with you. Grab a pina colada and take a look! ALOHA!! Cue the Ukelele!! 

Both of my cards today are 5x5 inch square card. I like to use a square card format when I need a little more real estate to work with. This size card fits into an A7 envelope for mailing!! (No extra postage required since it's not a square envelope).... 

First up is this coastal cutie, swimming by on her floatie! On the shore, some happy little crustaceans and swaying palm trees... I used the Sunny Studio Semi Circle dies to create a frame for the waves and sand. I built my card around the semi circle. I also used a layer of hot pink striped paper from the Striped Silly Paper Pack. The sand was stamped and die cut onto Kraft cardstock. The waves were die cut from aqua cardstock. All the images were stamped and die cut with the matching dies and then colored with Copic Markers. I added bits of Diamond Stickles to the images for some sparkle. To finish off the card, I created a sweet bouquet of a pineapple and Monstera Leaves. The sentiment was heat embossed with white onto black cardstock. Everything was assembled using foam dots for dimension. I also really like to use a white gel pen to add accents over my Copic coloring. I love that little parrot sitting in the tree watching everything! These stamps make me smile!! 

 

How cute is she?? I love the tiny splash stamp to show movement on the card!! Can you see that I made foam whitecaps on my waves?? I used aqua paper and then inked the tips with a bit of Broken China Distress ink. Then I splattered white paint just on the tops of the waves. I really like how that came out. I'm gonna remember that trick!

 

 

 

 

 

This little crab and lobster look like they're dancing on the sand!

 

 

 

Next up is an elegant floral card that reminds me of my vacation to Hawaii several years ago. I used the Radiant Plumeria stamp set and the Hawaiian Hibiscus stamp set to make this card. Again, it's a 5x5 inch square card made from white cardstock. I die cut the gorgeous Retro Petals Die and put it over pretty green paper from the Pastel Gingham Paper Pack. The sentiment was heat embossed in gold onto a strip of vellum. These florals are 3-4 step stamping and they are PERFECTION! I used a MISTI to get everything lined up just perfectly. (Be sure to refer to the stamping guides on the Sunny Studio website). I used shades of the islands....greens, pinks and yellows. I layered everything and attached the images with foam squares. Aloha indeed!

 

I cut a square with a stitched die. Then I glued the cut out piece to the top of the square. Then mounted that part to my card with foam tape over the green paper. This gives it a window effect!! I used Scrapbook.com ink pads for these florals. 

 

One of my favorite memories from our trip to Hawaii was a fresh plumeria wreath around my neck! Every morning my husband would wake up early and go our for a walk and he would bring me a fresh lei every day. We would put it in the refrigerator and it would be icy cold and smell like HEAVEN! I am certain that heaven smells like plumerias!!!! My favorite ones were the yellow/pink ones and I tried to replicate that look with my stamping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for stopping by today to see my tropical creations! Be sure to head over to the Sunny Studio Stamps Blog to leave some love and look around at all the inspiration!!! Big shout out to Mendi, the owner of Sunny Studio!! Thanks for having me again! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used for today's cards! (Affiliate Links Used).

Pinkfresh Studio June 2020 New Release Blog Hop - fun with hexagons!

Hey guys! How is your week going? There's a lot happening here on my blog this week, and it's all gooooood! Did you see my post on Tuesday for SCT Magazine? I loved that post! And today and tomorrow, two more posts! Yep, I've been busy. I hope you are doing great and getting in crafty time and relaxing time. 

Today's post is all about a big fabulous blog hop to launch the Pinkfresh Studio June 2020 Product Release! YIPPPEEEE! At the bottom of this post, you can read about prizes, and shipping specials, and see the links to the blogs for today. I'm always so excited to participate in a beautiful new release from our friends at Pinkfresh Studio!! Their products are so pretty and nice to create with. I made two cards today using the same product suite: Hexagons! Yes, hexagons are back on trend, and I LOVE it!

First up is a country quilt feeling card I made using the Simply Hexagons Die and the Pop Out Hexagons stamp set with matching dies. Such a creative and fun product collection! My finished card is an A2 card base from Kraft cardstock. 

 

The theme of my card was making a patchwork quilt. I have a quilt on my couch at home in these pretty colors...pinks and dusty blues and greens... So it inspired my card. I used bits of patterned paper for some hexagons, and embossed some of the hexagons... Love how fun this turned out.

 

This hexagons stamp set comes with small sentiments that fit inside the hexagons. It also has these tiny floral clusters with matching dies. It's really all so fabulous. I die cut the hexagons die from kraft cardstock and glued it to the front of the card. Then I used that as a 'frame' for all my different elements. 

 

Here's how the Simply Hexagons Die cuts out - a perfect A2 size!!! Cuts like a dream.

 

I used the hugs die cut to add a bit of a darker element for contrast. I used white paint to splatter over the card. I heat embossed parts of it too, with white embossing powder.... Oh, and added a few hearts and enamel dots for good measure!

 

These diagonal strips are one of the small stamps that come with the Pop Out Hexagons stamp set.

 

For visual interest, some of the hexagons are popped up with foam circles, and some are glued flat to the card. That's one of my fav techniques - building up elements with foam tapes. 

 

Put on your sunglasses for this next card! I used the same supplies as the card above - but made this one into a beehive honeycomb shaker card! Full of warm golden tones and pretty crystals!! This finished card is also an A2 card base. I used Distress Inks and blended them to look like a beehive. Felt like some good vibes to me!

 

This card took a little bit of construction... I inked my paper, splattered it, blended it, etc. THEN, I used the Simply Hexagons Die to cut it out. Then, I made it into a shaker card... But only three of the hexagons are shakers. The rest are flat inside the outlines of the hexagon frame. I used acetate over those three hexagons and used the gorgeous Pinkfresh Studio Crystals to fill them.

 

The card needed some black or another dark color to contrast all that yellow so I made my focal point a circle with a sentiment inside! I inked the edges of the circle and also stamped some of the small florals onto that circle. 

 

This product right here is LIFE CHANGING!! I just got these a couple weeks ago and wowza. 1/8 inch strips of foam tape!!!! Perfect for shaker cards and long pieces to attach together!!! I used these strips along all the frames of my hexagons to mount it above and to make the shaker card portions. 

 

Here is my ink blended background before I jazzed it up with water, ink, and splatters!! Such a sunny and pretty color combination. I'm really into yellow right now for summer projects. I use Bristol Cardstock for a nice even blend.

 

OOOOH. It's getting good now!

 

And here it is cut out with that beautiful die! YUM.

 

Good vibes to you!! Here is a close up of my focal point. I use the Phrase Builder dies A LOT - and love how they have outlines (in vellum) dies too. See the pretty yellow crystals?? Yeah, I spilled them. But what a pretty mess!

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for coming by my blog today! If you're new - welcome! I hope I see you again! Thanks for participating in our Blog Hop to launch this awesome new Pinkfresh Studio Release!! Please head over to the Pinkfresh Studio Blog to see more inspiration and all the links to everyone's blogs for today!

PRIZE ALERT!!!! Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog, IG feed & YouTube channel... So be sure to check out all the Pinkfresh social media channels!! On each blog today we will be giving away a $25 gift card on each post!! Yes, all of them! The winners will be picked from all the comments. Lea will pull the winners & post them on June 19, 2020 on the Pinkfresh GIVEAWAY PAGE. You must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks.  

Pinkfresh Studio is offering a FREEBIE DIE with $25+ purchase - this will load automatically into your cart! Also: Pinkfresh Studio is offering FREE US or discounted international shipping on all orders $50+ from June 12th to June 18th!!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used for today's projects! (Affiliate Links Used). 

Pretty Summer Projects with Simple Stories - Guest Designing on the SCT Magazine Blog Today!

Hi friends! I have something really cool to share today! I am the guest designer today on the Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine Blog! WOOHOOO! I always love working with the lovely people at SCT Magazine and it's an honor to be featured on their blog. My project(s) for today is perfect for Summer gift giving. I made a card and a matching gift card holder in bright, fresh Summer colors. This would be great for a birthday, a shower, or just because. I give gift cards a lot, and this is a good way to make your gift card giving special and handmade. I was totally in love with the new Summer Farmhouse collection from Simple Stories the first time I saw it. It's so bright and happy. I paired the paper collection with dies from some of my favorite companies. So let's get started! 

Here is my matching card and treat box - don't you love these colors for Summer?? So fresh!! (And of course, some gingham!)

 

Here's the card! A2 size. No stamping! This card and treat box are both made with paper, stickers and die cuts only! I love this kind of paper crafting, don't you? There are so many beautiful paper collections out now. This one is going to be my go-to this summer. I'm a sucker for red, navy and yellow together.

I love reading SCT Magazine - and I always enjoy looking at the Pagemaps and Card Pagemaps Sketches! They are a great tool for kick starting your creativity. I used a Card Pagemap from the Spring 2020 Issue to make this card for today. (Found on pages 30-32 of the Issue). I followed the sketch almost exactly. And I made my own tag from pretty paper, using the We R Memory Keepers Tag Punch Board. 

 

This card is an A2 size. I started with some wood grain paper from my stash. Then I layered Gingham Paper, then a white cardstock layer, then the custom handmade tag. The white layer and the tag were attached to the card with foam circles. I used a pretty doily to make it more of a Summer country feeling. The center image and the bee and flowers are all Chipboard Stickers. SO pretty and easy to assemble. Pretty twine and shiny hearts complete the design.

 

I love the small details. That's my style - A pop of red around the opening of the tag, some swirly twine, a few hearts - it's all good! The tag was made using the We R Memory Keepers Tag Board!! You can make any size tag from any type of paper!! Love it - and so easy!! 

 

 

 

 

 

The matching gift card/treat box was made using the Lawn Fawn Scalloped Treat Box. This is an awesome die to have in your stash. I use it all the time because it's easy to assemble and it's the perfect size!!! (Here's another project I made with this die set) I like to start with a blank canvas and add color and embellishments. I wrapped the box with two different paper layers. The floral layer is die cut so that it has a scalloped edge. I die cut the Hello die using the denim look paper from the collection. There are two layers to make it a bit thicker.

 

This box is the perfect size to tuck in a gift card and some candies. It would even be great for a smaller gift like jewelry. I closed the bow with a pretty pink, some twine and a little strawberry Chipboard Sticker. You could easily change the colors and theme of this project to make it birthday specific, Christmas, whatever! 

 

 

 

 

Please head over to the SCT Magazine Blog to show some love and get inspired by all the beautiful projects there!! I'm so happy to be guest designing for them today!! It's my pleasure truly. Thank you SCT!!

I was inspired today by the beautiful papers. As crafters, we have the fun opportunity to make gift giving special. (Since we all have so many supplies on hand!) The colors of Summer are fresh and happy, and I think we could all use a bit of that right now. Take care until we meet again! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's projects! (Affiliate Links Used)

Vintage Butterfly Card with Tim Holtz Supplies and new Speckled Egg Ink!

Hi my lovely friends! The week is flying by - like a butterfly! It's been another historic week in our country. I'm not sure how much more we can all bear. I'm praying and crafting and working... Trying to make sense of what's happening. I pray for our country and all her people. I pray for peace and a restoration to some kind of normal. I pray that everyone can heal, and get back to work and love. I hope you are doing well in your part of the world. Art is my therapy and I've been trying to create each day to maintain sanity. It's been in the 100's again so more time inside for sure! I got my hair cut yesterday for the first time since January and it felt so good. So good to see my stylist and have human interaction and so good to get my mop chopped off! 

Today's card started out by me wanting to use the new Tim Holtz Distress Color -Speckled Egg! I sat down with my new ink pad and embossing glaze and my card sort of grew from there! I made the ribbon first, then I thought it would be super pretty combined with Vintage Photo Ink and Wild Honey Ink. I have an IKEA Raskog Cart that has all my Tim Holtz products. I wheeled that baby over to my desk, and then basically dumped it all out on the floor! Ha! I thought I would make an ocean theme project, but what called out to me was butterflies! Here's my final card - it's a 5.25" x 5.25" square. Lots of pictures coming....

 

Speckled Egg is the most beautiful shade of blue! It's perfectly placed between Tumbled Glass and Broken China! It's vintagey and soft and gorgeous. I'm smitten already and know I'll be adding it to the lineup a lot! Blue and Orange are complimentary colors on the color wheel - so it looks good next to the Wild Honey Distress Ink. Warm/Cool contrast. I used the Detailed Butterflies Dies, a cool embossing folder, and some tags... I'll walk you through it!

 

I die cut the butterflies from Bristol Cardstock because it can hold up to lots of water and ink. The card is layered with some aqua cardstock from my stash and then the awesome DCWV vintagey text paper. Everything was inked and splatterd and glittered....

 

Here's a close up of the butterfly. See how it's shiny??? OOH LA LA! It's the new Speckled Egg Embossing Glaze. It's my first time using Embossing Glaze! What is it?? It's like embossing powder (so you heat and melt it) but it comes out shiny and translucent!!! EEP. So you can see the ink and stuff underneath the soft subtle color. WOWZA. Gonna buy some more colors of this - stat. I put on three layers of the glaze. I used Versamark ink with my fingers and then the glaze.

 

I used a #8 Manila Tag and ran it through my machine with this clock embossing folder. Then I used Speckled Egg, Vintage Photo and Wild Honey to  ink it up. This is several layers of ink. Ink it, dry it, ink it, dry it, splatter it, dry it... At one point my tag was actually smoking!! HAHAHA. It's hard to see in the photo but I also used my fingers in some Nuvo Mousse to add gold to it. And then glitter. The second butterfly (the brown one) also has embossing glaze on it. I sprinkled the glaze onto it and then removed a lot of it with my fingers (messily) and then heated it. It gave a different, but still cool effect. 

 

Here's how I made the tag and butterfly!! On my craft sheet I smushed the three ink colors and then sprayed water onto the color. I sort of mixed it together with a brush and then laid the tag down into the mix of colors. Here's the trick: Do the first pass of this and dry your tag with your heat tool. Then add some more and dry that. Keep going until it looks the way you want it to! My fingers were blue for a few days! HA. 

 

This is my tag with ink only - before all the other stuff.

 

And here's that pretty butterfly!!

 

And the pretty ribbon - with some hydrangeas from my front yard. I think this photo gives you a good representation of the color...

 

The smaller tag was inked around the edges. Then I used my paint brush to drip ink from the top to the bottom of it. Then I used the stamps to make the sentiment in brown ink. After the tags and butterflies were done, it was time to add all the details! A pretty metal floral piece, a pen nib, some linen ribbon, a bow....

 

 

 

 

 

Because I always mess up glitter and Stickles...I wait until the card is completely assembled before I apply them! SO once my card was done I used my fingers and a paintbrush to add the new Stickles Moon Dust Glitter Gel!! I added it to the butterflies, the leaves, and even to the ribbon. Just wherever I wanted a highlight of sparkle. This is a new product to me too. I like that it dries fast and it's very pretty!

Thank you for stopping by today!! It was my pleasure to share this card with you!! I hope I've encouraged you to play - get messy - try something new! All of these techniques are fun. Pick your favorite colors and GO!! The world needs more love and art right now. Please take care until I see you again soon! XOXO

PLEASE CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's project! (Affiliate links used)

My Favorite Shops & Affiliate Links!

Hi everyone! Just popping in today with an announcement and update. I am hoping to get a fun blog post out on Wednesday with a Tim Holtz card I made with the new Distress Ink color! (hint: it's gorgeous!) I am doing a bit of housecleaning on my blog and Facebook page. Wanted to share some news about new shops with you! I hope you are doing well and hanging in there. So much is going on in the world today. Crafting is our peaceful space. I'm so grateful for all of you here in my tiny corner of the interwebs. Bless you and whatever you are dealing with right now. I love you. 

Over the past few months I have become an affiliate for several new online stores. I'm very excited about some new partnerships with companies that I love. What is an affiliate?? An affiliate is a person who goes into an agreement with a store to act as a brand ambassador and showcase products. In return, the stores give the affiliates a commission on each sale. It's that easy. It costs the customers nothing more to purchase via an affiliate link. However, it greatly helps the blogger/affiliate. No secrets about it! It's a great system. Each affiliate/blogger has to pay for a service to provide link lists on their posts. Affiliate linking to the products in my posts is how I support my family and is one of the main sources of my income. If I have inspired you, it's how you can help me out. I'm extremely overwhelmingly grateful for those clicks. You make a difference to my family. I never take it for granted. THANK YOU!

SO WHAT'S NEW!? NEW SHOPS!!

I'm super excited to be an affiliate for my go to shop for Cross Stitching supplies and Fabric!! Fat Quarter Shop is amazing! I buy almost all of my cross stitch patterns and threads there. I also buy fabric to finish off my projects. They always have the most on trend fabric of anywhere I've bought from. And super fast shipping. Love them. 

Marker Universe is another new shop! I buy my Karin Markers there! They have good prices (and lots of sales). They also sell Tombow and Kuretake supplies.

Catherine Pooler!! OH GOSH! I have guest designed for CP a few times now. What cute goodies! Seriously the happiest and prettiest stamps! And don't get me started on their ink pads. The people that I work with from that company - top notch kind and talented. Very happy to support them this way. 

Arteza Art Supplies - this is the brand of watercolor paper I use. I also love their Bristol paper. They have a huge selection of paints and brushes too. And, they have lots of sales and specials. 

Blick Art is where I exclusively buy my Copic Markers and have for YEARS! They have the best prices of any shop... And they have every color of every style of Copic Marker. Love this store.

I became the proud owner of a Cricut Joy when I signed on as an influencer for Cricut! I love it so much. Do you have a Cricut?? I love buying directly from them because all the products are available in one place. SO many kinds of vinyl and paper!

A Cherry On Top is a fantastic scrapbooking/paper crafting store. I have been shopping with them for 15 or more years! I'm excited that they now have an affiliate program. They always have the latest on trend products from Doodlebug (and you can preorder!) Bazzill, and American Crafts. Good shipping and ALLLLLLL the latest for scrapbooking. 

THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR SUPPORTING THESE SHOPS AND SUPPORTING ME IN THE PROCESS!! Click on the photo above to see the entire list of my favorite shops. This graphic is also listed on the right column of my blog and on my Facebook Page. At the bottom of each individual blog post you will see a circular photo - if you click that photo you will see the supply list for that specific project!

Wanda

The Greetery Confetti Collection! Day 2 - Celebrating the one year anniversary of The Greetery!

Helloooooo! Welcome to Day 2 of the product reveals for The Greetery's Confetti Collection! We are celebrating the one year anniversary of The Greetery, with beautiful products perfect for parties!! I'm so excited that I get to share all of this with you! It is my pleasure indeed! What was your favorite thing from yesterday's reveal?? Aren't those balloons gorgeous? EEP. Today is more and more goodness to spark your creativity! All the new products will be available tomorrow, Friday 5/29 at 10am EST! 

Today the design team and special guests are featuring the following new products: Pinwheel Party stencils, stamps + die, Cake Pops Collection: Cake Pops die, Cake Pops stand, Cake Pops Number Candles, Cake Pops Banner, Cake Pops Sentiments stamp. Whew - that's a lot of awesomeness! I am sharing some party favor treats and a card with you today. 

I remember a few weeks ago, opening my box from The Greetery, and seeing this suite of Cake Pop stamps and dies. I just sat there with my mouth open! Like who thinks of this???? I was blown away. My creative juices were flowing fast and I thought of so many ideas! I decided on a pretty color palette based on these party fans I have in my craft room - beautiful modern girl colors.... They are called cake pops because you can add candies or other surprises inside the bubbles. I created some cake party favors to share with you, and a sweet little cake stand too. OMG you guys!!! I can't take it!!! 

Aren't these the cutest thing you've ever seen??? Those tiny banners?? Stop!! I made two cakes, based on the color palette in my party fans - there's another photo later in my post. The dies come with frosting, and flowers, and banners, and bows and a cake plate....it just goes on and on with the details. Fully customizable for any occasion. I am thinking birthday parties, and bridal showers, and weddings, and Halloween even! Anything! Just change the colors and they work for anything. I filled mine with jelly beans, which you can find in all colors...again, make the project your own! I had fun die cutting and putting everything together. The pieces are very easy to assemble too. 

 

And that pretty aqua cake stand?? That's a die set too! It's SO easy. Cut out one top, and four bases, and glue them together! Adorable. I die cut a second top out of vellum and tucked it under the aqua part. You can just see the vellum poking out from underneath. I also used white ink spray to add white splashes on it. I wanted it to look like blue milk glass... 

 

 

 

Here is the cake in my hand so you can see the size and scale of it. 

 

Here is the party fan that inspired my color palette! My paper choices are from my stash.... I used the party fans to stage my photos and I love how it all turned out. So happy and fresh! I always love a pop of gold or silver....

 

My background set up with some roses from our garden...

 

I used some of the flowers, and the bows to add a bit of flair to the sentiment banner. I used Copic Markers on all the flowers to add a bit of depth to the cardstock. Enamel Dots and white splatter too (cuz you know me...)

 

Here is the top of the cake with all the flowers assembled. Can you imagine making this in the bride's PERFECT favorite colors??? So special. 

 

 

I also added a few flowers onto the front of the cake. It's very easy to assemble the favor. The Greetery will sell the clear bubbles... You fill them with candy or treats and then glue the bottom on! The rest really is customization to how little or much you want to add. The numbers dies are so fabulous too - you can make numbers pop out the top of the cake!

 

 

 

And my final project for this Release Week is a card made with the Pinwheel Party stamps, dies and stencils! This stencil set is remarkable!!! Betsy again thought of everything!! And, as always, a use/directions guide will come with your stencils making it super easy to get amazing results. The first thing I thought of when I saw these products was - Fourth of July patriotic bunting!!! That idea just took off and sparked my color palette and everything else. This finished card is a 5.25 inch square card. I wanted more area for those stenciled images.

 

Red, white, blue and gold! Totally patriotic and festive!! Look at the detail of those pinwheel dies!!! I used the stencil to add white ink over the dark blue and the red medallions.... LOVE. I splattered everything with gold ink also. 

 

Look at that fun Let's Party stamp! Guess what? It has a matching die!!! 

 

 

 

In this photo you can see all the stenciling.... It looks so complex, but really it is SO EASY. I used four colors of ink and some small sponge daubers. That's it! It's four stencils and you can line them up to create this gorgeous look. You can even use more than two color families - the possibilities are endless. (I cannot wait to see Betsy's samples!)

 

I added the gold crepe twist die cuts and some gold centers for the pinwheels. Also a few matching enamel dots!! I hope you can feel my excitement about this. :-)

Thank you for coming by today! Remember the release will be for sale on Friday 5/29 at 10am EST.  I'm predicting a sell out! Isn't everything so amazing?? I'm so proud to be part of this team! It's a pleasure and honor to make projects to show you. XOXO

PRIZE ALERT! The Greetery will be giving away two $50 gift cards for the Day 2 Hop!!! Comments left on all the blogs will be entered into the giveaway. Winners announced Friday, 7 AM on The Greetery Blog! Good Luck!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see all the supplies used in today's cards! (Affiliate links used).

 

 

DAY TWO BLOG HOP LIST

DESIGN TEAM AND SPECIAL GUESTS!

Kay Miller

Laurie Willison

  Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Keeway Tsao

Angelica Conrad

Kelly Lunceford

Norine Borys

Wanda Guess

 

Special Guests:

Melissa Phillips

Dana Kirby

Laura Bassen

Ashlea Cornell

The Greetery Confetti Collection! Day 1 - Celebrating the one year anniversary of The Greetery!

Hello friends! OH BOY! Are you in for a treat this week! It's a brand new, beautiful, amazing, sweet, creative, unique and awesome release from The Greetery! The Greetery is celebrating their one year anniversary this week! And, the products are all about celebrating! The collection is called The Confetti Collection. Think parties, birthdays, celebrations, festivities!! For the next two days the Design Team will be doing project and product reveals. And then everything will be for sale on Friday 5/29 at 10am EST! I am hard pressed to think of another stamp/die release that is as perfect as this one. Everything is golden. I had the best time creating with all the supplies. I made six projects!! Today I'm sharing four cards. Tomorrow, another card, and some pretty party favors. Can't wait to show you! Lots of pictures today! Hope you are doing well this week. Thanks for coming by. XO

First up is a birthday card made with the creative Balloon Bouquet stamps and dies, along with the Big Balloons Die Set. Only Betsy would think to make a giant balloon stamp with FLOWERS inside of it! OMG. I made a "celebrate" card using the word stamps (in the prettiest font). I also used the Ticker Tape Background stamp. This could be a birthday card, a shower card, a retirement card, anything that calls for a celebration. 

For size and scale, this finished card is an A2 card size. The balloon is big!! I lined up the florals and leaves using my MISTI - two shades of pink and two shades of green. I heat embossed the word on the top with white embossing powder. The blue background is also stamped. I stamped it three times with the MISTI to get even ink coverage. 

 

I colored the background with blenders and Distress Inks. Then I stamped the Background stamp over the blended background with the same color! Makes such a pretty background for the balloons. I used the balloon die set and cut out two more balloons from vellum to use as accents on the card. The strings were die cut from silver cardstock. I love a bit of sparkle!! 

 

Next up is a very graphic birthday card using the Big Balloons Dies and another sentiment from the Balloon Bouquet stamp set!! I love how this came out. You could use any colors to match the celebration or the person's favorite colors! I could even see this being used as an invitation to a birthday party. The finished card is A2 and I covered the card front with some gingham from my stash.

 

The big balloon die set comes with the string and the little pieces to use as highlights. (Again Betsy thinks of everything!) I die cut a bunch of balloons out and attached them to the card. Then I used my paper trimmer to get a clean edge. The main balloon is mounted on the card with foam tape. It is also heat embossed with white embossing powder. Looks so nice against that vivid red. (This is one of my favorite Summer color combinations)

 

 

 

This third card was made using the brand new Think Happy stamps and dies!! I also used the previously released Silver Linings Dies.... They are perfect together! This stamp/die set is a beautiful half rainbow with a cloud filled with flowers! Oh so sweet and cheerful. The sentiments have a cool, modern retro feeling. It's alllll nice! The finished card is an A2 card base in gray, layered with silver and then white.

 

I die cut the rainbow and the flowers from the same colors of cardstock. Pretty bright Summer colors. I splattered some white ink all over everything too. It is very easy to assemble everything. The color combos are endless!!! 

 

I die cut the clouds dies from white cardstock to fit along the bottom of the card. I used the new Moon Dust Stickles gel to make the clouds sparkly. I easily applied it with my finger!! It dries pretty fast - so fun. I added a few raindrops embellishments too. (Supplies are at the bottom of my post)

 

And, lastly, an elegant and classy birthday card made with the Birthday Blooms stamps and dies!! This stamp set has pretty floral sprays that you stamp and mount around beautiful words. Another super versatile set!! This finished card is an A2 purple card base. I layered white and then kraft. The kraft layer was stamped in Versamark Ink with the beautiful Windowpane background stamp. Then I splattered it with gold paint. 

 

I stamped and die cut the floral sprays. Then I die cut an oval and mounted the sprays around the oval. I heat embossed the words in gold embossing powder. The birthday was embossed onto vellum (love) and the happy was embossed onto purple cardstock. I added a few pearls as accents on this card. 

 

 

Thank you for coming by today! Are you as excited as I am!? It was really hard to keep this secret! And....wait until tomorrow!!!! EEK! More projects tomorrow from the team (and guests) and then the release will be for sale on Friday 5/29 at 10am EST. 

PRIZE ALERT! The Greetery will be giving away two $50 gift cards for the Day 1 Hop!!! Comments left on all the blogs will be entered into the giveaway. Winners announced Friday, 7 AM EST on The Greetery Blog! Good Luck!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see all the supplies used in today's cards! (Affiliate links used).

 

DAY ONE BLOG HOP LIST

DESIGN TEAM AND SPECIAL GUESTS!

Kay Miller

Laurie Willison

  Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Keeway Tsao

Angelica Conrad

Kelly Lunceford

Norine Borys

Wanda Guess

 

Special Guests:

Melissa Phillips

Caly Person

Dana Kirby

Kelly Martin

Jill Hawkins

Summer Happy Mail!

Hi everyone! Hope you're enjoying a peaceful Memorial Day Weekend. I can't believe it's the end of May and the start of Summer already. What a strange year it's been already. We totally missed out on Spring. We are of course, spending the long weekend here at home. How are you? How are things where you live? Here in Sacramento things are starting to slowly open up and it feels a tiny bit more normal to be out doing errands and things. I'm so grateful for that. I hope you and your families are doing well. It's been a while since I've blogged a card. I've been busy making things and doing things - but nothing I can share just yet. 

For today's post I created a cute and cheerful happy mail card! Summer time happy mail. I colored this awesome image a month or so ago for the 30 Day Coloring Challenge. But I had never quite finished it into a card. I got up this morning and decided to complete it! Came in the craft room with my kitty assistant...Some quick ink blending...and we have a card! The finished card is an A2 card base of kraft cardstock.

 

This stamp set comes with little letters to tuck into the mailboxes! And it comes with the dies! I love it when everything comes together like that. I colored the mailboxes with my Karin Brush Markers! This was my second time using them, and yep, I'm sold on them. They are easy to color with and I love the color palette!!! (They are on sale this weekend too! 25% off) I stamped the image with my MISTI and colored with a paint brush and water with the markers. 

 

I needed a scene for my mailboxes! I die cut the clouds background and some hills too. I got out my ink blenders and some favorite Distress Ink colors and colored blues and greens. I also splattered water and ink onto the backgrounds. I dried everything with my heat tool. I stamped happy mail onto the bottom green hill panel. The mailboxes were colored and stamped onto watercolor paper. The hill and clouds are stamped onto Bristol cardstock (makes for easy blending). 

 

Here is just the image after I colored it! It's perfect for pencils or Copics too.

 

This is the brush marker set that I have! It's the 60 piece set. I love it so much! It was a gift from my husband last year!!

 

Markers are on sale through Monday!!

 

Here's a close up of that awesome cloud background die! And you can see the ink blending and splattering too...

 

I attached the mailboxes to the card using foam tape for dimension. 

 

For the past month or so I've been trying to be good about mailing letters! Here is one stack I sent out. I've sent three stacks so far... I'll get to everyone soon I hope! It feels good to actually mail out all these cards. Do you hoard your cards or mail them?? 

 

And here's a photo of the local strawberry patch by my house. OMG they are so delicious. Straight from the field and so ripe and juicy! I eat a lot of strawberries!! I can't wait to get back out to the Farmers Markets in town. I'm hoping they open up soon. Nothing like that fresh California produce for summer cooking. YUM.

Thanks for stopping by today!!! It's good to see you!!! Next week is the amaaaaazing new release from The Greetery! It's the one year anniversary collection. Lemme tell ya. Better save up your pennies. Just sayin. LOL. I cannot wait to share my projects with you!! I put extra love and care into them this time in honor of Betsy's accomplishment!! Happy start of Summer to all of you! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used for this project. (Affiliate Links Used)

There's gnome place like home... Fun with Lawn Fawn!

Hey everybody! How are youuuuu? I'm so super duper mega excited to share this card today finally! This card came together in parts...and it's finally all done, put together, and photographed and ready to blog! Yeah! (And the dies are finally back in stock!) It's made with awesome new and old stamps that I love from Lawn Fawn. I combined lots of stamps sets and dies to create my gnome home to show you! This card represents me and my husband at home sheltering in place! LOL. The little couple actually looks like us! My husband has been growing a beard for four weeks! - the first time I've seen him with facial hair in the 27 years I've known him! This pandemic is doing weird things to everyone. So here we are in our little mushroom house trying to stay positive. There's gnome place like home my friends...

This card has a lot going on - and I'm posting tons of pictures to show you everything. The finished card is a 5.25 inch square card. I needed more real estate for everything!! There's Copic coloring, die cutting, stenciling with distress inks and glitter. What more could we ask for!? This card began with me wanting to finally use that fun mushroom house die set. So I started there...

 

See - that's us - out on the front porch! Hee hee. We're happy and still smiling and holding hands. Who wouldn't be happy in that mushroom?! The mushroom house is a Lawn Fawn Die Set. I die cut all the pieces from papers in my stash. The top of the mushroom is red and underneath the dots is cream paper. To make the red top stand out more, I actually die cut three layers of red and glued them together. It looks really nice and clean like that!! I also used some white paint splatters on parts of the card.

 

There are lots of little mushroom all around and even a cute snail. Everything was colored with Copic Markers and then I added white gel pen accents and glitter accents. See that fern in the background?? We have one sweet little fern growing in our front yard so I went and cut some for photo props. I'm getting very creative around here since we can't go shopping. 

 

I totally eyeballed this sentiment and thought I had plenty of room to make it fit. WELLLLLLL it was close!!! I used my MISTI to line it up exactly right. Whew. I stamped right over the stenciling of the sun rays. The little window in the house has Unicorn Stickles on it.

 

One of my favorite color combos is red and aqua. So I knew I wanted the little house to have an aqua door. The way the die is designed - the door opens! SO freaking cute. The die set also comes with the little lantern part too. Adorable. I put a red sweet heart on the door. 

 

For the background I used the MFT Radiating Rays Stencil and three colors of yellow Distress Inks... EASY!

 

This photo shows the construction of the background of the card before all the goodies were attached. Hills, sunshine, gingham....

 

Look at that pile! SO much fun coloring everything!!! 

 

I took a photo for Instagram for the Daily Marker 30 Day challenge. It was just the mushrooms and a cute little gnome who lives in my craft room!

 

This is another photo I took for Instagram. You can see what the house looks like before glitter and white gel pen accents and the heart. You can really see how the small details really make all the difference. I hope you will try some of these tricks!

 

 

All the elements and images were attached to the card with foam squares and circles.

 

I added some sparkles to that cute little snail. And oh how I love the details in that crooked chimney. Sigh. 

 

 

 

 

 

Truly, there's gnome place like home! I'm not sure if I will mail this card or not. I might get a cute red frame and frame it for my craft room! What do you think? It makes me happy, so maybe I'll keep it. 

Thank you for stopping by my blog today! I looooooove this card and I hope it makes you happy too! Maybe I can bring a smile to your face today! I sure hope so. Stay healthy and stay crafty. Love you all! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used in today's project. (Affiliate Links Used)

Taylored Expressions - New Rainbow Kit launch!!!

Hey there my creative friends! How are you these days? I hope you are doing well! I hope you are finding joy in crafting and being at home with your family. I am here today to help launch something that will surely bring a smile to your face! Taylored Expressions Somewhere Over the Rainbow Card Kit! YAHOOOO! It's so pretty, and cheerful, and happy!! I am super excited to be part of the team today featuring the first projects made with the kit. I love a good rainbow - but who doesn't? They are the perfect crafty theme for right now!

The new kit has two amazing stamp sets, two sets of dies, a layering stencil set, rainbow envelopes, and delightful stickers, and MORE! Click here to see the entire kit! It's Taylor's first kit, and if this is any indication of how the kits are going to be, we're in for a BIG TREAT! The kit is $75.00 which I feel is a great value. All the kits will come in their own pouch too, for storage and a cute sticker on the front. Taylored Expressions always has free shipping over $50 so your kit will include the shipping. 

I made two cards to show you today. Let's look! For this first card, I combined the kit with a TE Embossing Folder, and some pretty vellum. I used the rainbow die, the clouds dies and one of the stamp sets from the kit. The rainbow die is slightly wonky and playful - I'm already obsessed with it! My finished card is an A2 white card base. The embossing folder layer is a light gray cardstock.

 

I die cut the sweet clouds from vellum and affixed them together with a dot of glue. I used the sentiment to cover where I glued the clouds together and also where I attached them to the card. I heat embossed the sentiment onto black cardstock for a graphic pop.

 

I used non traditional colors for my rainbow - heck - use your imagination! The rainbow strips were attached to the card with liquid glue.

 

This is the perfect card to send to a friend right now! And oh what a happy day it will be when we can get together and hug, and craft in person again! 

 

My second card is also an A2 white card base. I layered pretty teal cardstock and then a white panel. I used both of the stamp sets to make this one layer card. Clean, simple, and fast. Oh, and flat for mailing. The perfect mass production card! Get out your pretty ink pads and go to town with it! Use any colors you like. It's so fun that the rainbow layers are all different!! The sentiments are curved to wrap across the rainbow, but I can already think of many other uses for those curved sentiments!!

TIP: I used the graphic stamps by themselves to make a rainbow! They are perfectly sized to go over the top of the rainbow die layers or the stencil layers! I just wanted to show a different way of using them! There are so many possibilities (I can't wait to see what everyone else made!)

 

 

THE FULL KIT! $75.00

 

In the kit you will receive a rainbow of envelopes and the MOST ADORABLE happy mail stickers!! (Once you order your kit, you will have first dibs to order more of those stickers. YES please!) 

 

 

Thank you for stopping by today! It's good to see you! And launch something happy and new. CLICK HERE to visit Taylored Expressions and see the new kit and all the other amazing products. 

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used for today's projects. (Affiliate Links Used). Be well! XOXO

Pinkfresh Studio New Release - April 2020 - Blog Hop!

Heeeeyyyyyyy creative and crafty friends! Thanks for stopping by today! It's a fun blog hop today to celebrate the brand new release from Pinkfresh Studio! Everything they make is fresh and pretty - and this release is just that - fresh and pretty! I love being able to join the awesome crew at Pinkfresh to share the love. You should have arrived here from Tae-Eun's blog! Welcome! So glad you're here.

The new release is live now for shopping! CLICK HERE to go to their website and look around at the new things! I have two projects to share today. Please read all the way to the bottom of my post for details on prizes and shipping deals!! 

First up is a card made with the fabulous new Diagonal Stripes Die and the new Whole Lot of Awesome stamp set! The finished card is a 4.75" square card. I used heat embossing, vellum, and some pretty flowers too!

 

I started this card by choosing a modern color palette of lime, aqua, coral and grey. That's where my inspiration came from for these projects. Some of my favorite colors. I used those four colors with vellum and bright white! I first die cut the Diagonal Stripes one time from each color paper. Then I layered them onto a thin piece of paper using an adhesive roller. Once I had the strips in order, I used a Stitched Square Die to cut them into a perfect square for my background. 

 

I used this gorgeous new stamps and white embossing powder to emboss the sentiment onto a vellum strip. I splattered the vellum with white gloss spray also. I wrapped the vellum around the square/stripes layer and the grey bottom layer. I affixed it on the back using adhesive runner. I made some flowers using the Lovely Blossoms Stamps and dies.

 

Here is my pretty pile of stripes!!

 

To finish off this card I used pretty, shiny, bright white enamel dots for the flower centers and accents. 

 

 

 

 

Next up is a pretty trio of tags I made using the Fillable Pocket Tags and the brand new awesome Bows Dies! I used the exact same color palette (because it makes me happy!) and also used vellum and white. I'm going to save these pretty tags to tie onto gift bags and wine bottles. I love to have handmade tags in my stash for when I'm putting a gift together. You could also glue these tags onto a card front - the ideas are endless! The white tags tuck into the grey sleeve. 

 

Here's a close up of that pretty bow! I accented it with silver cardstock. I do love shimmer and vellum together! The tag set comes with smaller dies that cut out the designs. I love this concept!

 

 

This is the other bow in the new die set. I love that it's really modern and different!! 

 

I splattered white glossy spray onto the grey parts of the tag holders. I also used the same enamel dots and twine as accents.

 

Here are my little tag holders!! You can see those accent dies in the background.

 

 

 

I die cut the beautiful Leafy Envelope Die using vellum and then snipped off the top part with my scissors. This way, the leaves look like they're busting out of the top of the tag holder!! I love how this came out.

 

 

 

These would make wonderful Christmas tags - with red and green and maybe pops of gold cardstock instead of silver! An entirely different look with the same supplies. 

Okay, that's it for my projects today! Thank you for coming by! Next up on the blog hop is Yasmin Diaz! To see the entire blog hop list, please go to the Pinkfresh Studio Blog!

PRIZE ALERT PRIZE ALERT PRIZE ALERT!  Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog, Instagram feed & YouTube channel. WOWZA! Each blog stop will be giving away a $25 gift card on our blog posts! So be sure to leave a comment here and on all the other blogs. The winners will be picked from the comments. Pinkfresh will pull the winners & post them on May 8, 2020 on their Giveaway Page. Be sure to check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks!!

Pinkfresh is also offering free US or discounted international shipping on all orders $35+ from April 30th to May 7th!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used for today's projects! (Affiliate Links Used).

Watercolor Sketch Book Card!

Hi creative and crafty pals! It's time to post another card... How are you holding up? I hope you're doing okay and staying healthy and happy. I'm starting to fade and burn out, if I'm keeping it real. My positive attitude is now not quite so steady. I'm worn out and weary - tired of the anxiety and the unknown. It's truly been a test. I can feel the weight of knowing that we will all be so different once this is over. I'm sending each one of you a virtual air hug right now. No matter how you're doing, it's totally okay. Grace. 

Crafting remains my one respite from the stress and overthinking. I can get my mind off things by coloring and painting and stitching. So that means I've had lots of projects to share. Today's card was made with water color paints and some cute Waffle Flower stamp sets. The finished card is an A2 horizontal card base. I layered a stenciled panel over the card base, one other layer and then my colored images. It's going to be perfect for one of my crafty friends. 

 

I stamped all the images with my MISTI onto water color paper. The MISTI is best for wc paper because sometimes you have to stamp a couple of times to get a crisp dark image. I used my Mijello Mission Gold 36 watercolor palette. It's my favorite true watercolor paint palette! I used warm earthy tones of greens and browns and then popped in a little pink and blue.

 

After I watercolored everything, I die cut out all the pieces using the matching dies. I set everything aside to work on the stenciled background. 

 

I used a cream cardstock panel and die cut it with a Stitched Rectangle Die. I used Distress Inks and daubers to color in that pretty leaf stencil from Pretty Pink Posh. I edged it in brown and green and also did some water splatters onto it. I wanted my card to conjure up the image of being outside painting in the woods!

 

I used this image below to show the images for the Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge! I love creating a little scene for photos!

 

I heat embossed the sentiment in white embossing powder onto black cardstock and then die cut it out with a stitched banner die. I used a few enamel dots to pop a bit more of the aqua blue color onto the card. 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your kind comments, your support and love, and for coming by my blog to visit! I'll keep crafting as long as my brain still has mojo! Thinking of you! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used for today's card. (Affiliate links used)

Hello from the garden! I tried No Line Watercoloring - and I loved it!

Helloooooo my sweet and crafty friends! Happy to see you here on this Monday! I am SOOOO happy to finally be sharing this post with you. It took me forever to edit all the pictures and get this one ready. I love how this project came out. I tried something new to me that I've been interested in forever. No line water coloring! And I used some brand new tools too. I have a lot to tell you about in this post. I am a convert to this technique already and excited to try more images. I used one of my favorite stamp sets for this project because there are tons of small and pretty stamps to color in. I hope my post will inspire you to try no line water coloring if you haven't already!! 

This finished card is 5x5 inch square card made from wood grain paper. I layered another layer of wood grain paper and then the pretty gingham. I wrapped the top two layers in natural twine and then affixed that to the card base. The top layer is a water colored circle and I'll talk more about that later in this post. The images were all colored with Karin Brushmarkers and die cut out after they were colored. 

 

This is probably the best photo to see up close on the coloring. Here's how you do it! I used Antique Linen Distress Ink to stamp all these images onto a sheet of watercolor paper. This color ink is a very light beige so it will 'disappear' as you color over it. That's the 'no line' part of it. Usually I would stamp in black and color in the images - the lines. With this technique it looks like I painted the images!! Aren't they pretty!!?? I'm so excited.

 

The sentiment was stamped onto the top watercolor circle using a MISTI. 

 

I water colored the circular background, splattered it with white paint too! All the little gardening images were attached to the card using foam dots. The stamps and dies are all from Altenew. LOVE. 

 

 

 

I'll talk a bit more about the markers and the technique here... I used small paintbrushes, clean water, and the Karin brush markers. The markers are filled with watercolor paint. You can write with them (think brush lettering) or paint with them as I did here. The colors are GORGEOUS!!! I have the Zig markers too and I think I prefer these new Karin Markers because the colors are softer, and that is more my style. I did not mix colors at all... The set I have has 60 colors and that's plenty! I found that the markers worked best with a wet to wet technique. I put a bit of water onto the area I wanted to color and then touched the marker tip to the water. It spread so nicely and was easy to work with my brushes. Like so easy. I can't believe I haven't tried this sooner.

 

I really took my time with the coloring of these images. I got lost in the process and let my worries go! I love coloring like that. I would say it took me about two hours to color everything. I used quick bursts from my heat tool in between colors to get nice separation of the different colors.

 

This is what the set of markers looks like. They come in this very cool packaging too. Easy to store away and they look pretty in my craft room. I think they will never run out of ink! They are fat and juicy. I'm hooked. If you buy the entire set, it works out to less than $2 per marker which is a great price.

 

 

 

Here are all my little images before I die cut them out. I adore those sweet gardening boots!!

 

The circular background layer is kind of hard to see, so here's a photo of it! I used a stitched circle die and made it from watercolor paper. I smushed some Distress Inks onto a stamping block for my palette. I used LOTS of water and a big paint brush and swirled the colors around. I wanted it to look like ground and sky. I showed my husband this part and he said it looks like a globe! LOLZ. Super simple way to get a nice background when you don't want it to be just white behind your images.

 

 

Everything was attached together with foam tape and foam dots! 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for visiting my website today! I wish you a blessed and happy and creative week ahead! I'll be back later in the week with another water color card! Until then, stay well! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used for today's card! (Affiliate Links Used).

Cupcakes please! Revisiting an old favorite stamp set!

Hey everyone! Happy Saturday! I'm popping in with a quick blog post to share something cute and fun!! The other day Taylor was doing a Facebook Live and she used this older stamp set and I was like "I LOVE that stamp set!" So I thought I would go through my photos and find some of my projects I've made over the years and share them with you! This is hands down my favorite cupcake stamp set from any company!! And as you'll see, I love to pair it with the Sprinkles Embossing Folder. 

For five weeks I have been cooking EVERY meal for us here at our house. I've been keeping it super healthy - salads, grilled chicken, light pastas, etc. and I've been super proud of me. Yeah me! LOL. Well, yesterday we had pizza and ice cream and extra toasty Cheezits. Lawdy be, I'm so ready to go out and have someone else cook for me! Yesterday was the first time we ordered food too. I guess the streak had to come to an end. So today I'm thinking of making some cupcakes. 

I'm sharing three cards with ya, all made with the Simply Stamped Cupcakes set!! This first one is a perfect birthday card! It's an A2 card covered with patterned paper. Iayered pretty pink cardstock and then cream embossed with the embossing folder. The sentiment was gold heat embossed onto a strip of vellum. Some Diamond Stickles - of course - and you're done! The stamps are super easy to line up either with a MISTI or your stamp positioner. (Also, they are delicious red rubber!!)

 

Next up I took the same exact concept and made it into a Halloween card! Just a few yummy bats and a green cherry! I made a Christmas one with holly too but I can't find that photo anywhere!!! 

 

For this most recent one I used the awesome blender brushes and the Polka Party stencil. Then I used the embossing folder on an accent circle to frame the cupcake. This is a fun way to use your embossing folders - cut your shape first and then emboss so the embossing doesn't get squished.

I told you this was a quick post! I hope you're having a nice weekend! The weather is nice here and I think we're going on a trip to Puerto Backyardo! LOL. Seriously, some Vitamin D can't hurt. I feel like a vampire stuck inside. Love you guys! XOXO

PLEASE READ: In the past few weeks I have several subscribers' emails from me get returned. BOO. I did some investigating and they all have an ending with charter.net  SO, if you have a charter.net email address, something is happening!! Did you all get a new address to use?? Please re-subscribe if you see this. 

SUPPLY LINKS are below! (Affiliate Links Used)

Sending a Squeeze!

Hello friends! What day is it? It's Friday!  I'm excited to have a project over on The Greetery Blog today! I'm posting here too because sharing is caring! Every Friday on The Greetery Blog there is a feature called TGIF = The Greetery Inspiration Friday = and one of us on the design team shares a card or project with everyone. Well, today is my day! Yeah! I'm sharing a bright and cheerful card for you this Spring Friday! As the season changes to Spring I am always inspired to use vivid and happy colors in my crafting. Right now I am making everything with yellow! I guess we can all use a little sunshine, right? And I know I could use a squeeze! (I'm definitely a hugger)

 

I'm featuring one of my very favorite The Greetery stamp sets - Lemon Blossom. So fresh and pretty, and so many different ways to use this stamp set. I combined it with the beautiful Windowpane Background Stamp. Reminds me of a pretty tablecloth with a big bowl of lemons. I even made my husband go out in the backyard and get some lemons to use in my photo shoot! LOL! The finished card is an A2 kraft card base.

 

 

 

I used a MISTI to stamp and heat emboss the background in white embossing powder onto a sheet of teal cardstock. Then I die cut that layer out with the awesome Crimped Dies. Then I added a layer of vellum, die cut from the smallest size of the Crimped Dies. 

 

I wanted to try something a bit different with the lemons, leaves and flowers stamps. So I stamped the images onto colored cardstock instead of white! I used a slightly darker shade of the same color to stamp onto the paper. I used the matching dies to cut out everything. 

 

 

 

The Lemon Blossom stamp set has the word "squeeze" in it! I paired that word with the "sending a" word dies. At this time, I know I miss squeezing my friends...so this is the perfect card to send.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finished off the card with a few clear gems in the flower centers. I also used white paint to splatter white ink onto the die cut pieces and the background. That is one of my favorite techniques! 

 

 

 

Wishing you a beautiful weekend full of happiness and creativity! Take care friends. I'll be back on Monday with a pretty water color card I made with Altenew stamps and dies! XOXO

 

Please head over to THE GREETERY BLOG to share some love and look around at all the other inspiration there! I'm so blessed to be part of this creative team!

 

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's project! (Affiliate Links Used)

 

 

 

Something fun and new in the craft room - A Cricut Joy!

EDITED 4/19 - MY LUCKY WINNER IS LYNDA P! Thanks for all the kind comments!!

Hey everybody! How are you doing? How was your Easter? We had a super mellow day at home (of course) and watched tv and crafted most of the day. I made a spaghetti dinner! What a weird Easter - one we will remember. I was so sad not to be able to go to church and sing and see the beautiful flowers and all the cute kids in their nice outfits. Easter's my favorite holiday and this one just passed on by with no fanfare. Next year for sure will be so special! I hope you're doing well at your house and keeping busy and staying healthy. 

I have something REALLY fun to show you today! A new toy in my craft room - A Cricut Joy Machine! YEAH! The amazingly generous folks at Cricut sent me an awesome package full of goodies to try out, experiment, review and share with my followers. These items were a gift to me as a blogger, and my opinions are all my own. This is the newest machine in the Cricut lineup and it's smaller and easy to tote around with you. And, as I discovered, so easy to use, and perfect for my crafting needs!

Overall my impression is a ten out of ten! I am not a 'technology' crafter. I admire all the gorgeous things people create with their machines. But I am more of a hands on crafter/creator. That being said, the new Joy machine is the right fit for my craft room. I can use it with my phone (more on that below), It's small and easy to store and use, it's cute :-), there are so many materials: vinyl, paper, labels, iron ons, and I can make everything that I want to make! CLICK HERE to see the entire Joy collection! Here is my set up all displayed on my craft cart...

 

It's so fun! And check out that awesome carrying case! Perfect for bringing to a crop or to a friend's house. In the photo you can see the machine, the carrying case, the tool set, pens, vinyl, cards and cutting mats. For us card makers, there is a specific mat that helps you cut out card fronts - genius!

 

Cutting mats and cards!

 

When you first unbox the Cricut Joy you will see the machine, the power cords, and an envelope with instructions and test papers! Literally, you just plug it in! The blade is already inserted and ready to rock and roll. 

 

To get started I downloaded the Cricut Design App onto my iPhone! So easy. The app is very intuitive to use and I was making cuts in less than five minutes. Inside the welcome envelope there is a sheet of vinyl and a sheet of paper for you to practice on. You design your project and the app walks you through the cutting process. I was worried that this part would be hard - but it was not!! Inside the app there are all kinds of graphics and designs. You can buy a membership to access all of the graphics or you can buy one at a time. Also, there are plenty of free svg files on the web for us to access. 

 

This was my first project on some grey metallic vinyl! SO beautiful! Each graphic can be sized up or down to the correct size for your project. LOVE it!

 

Up next I wanted to cut a butterfly out of the enclosed paper... Again, less than five minutes, and I'm cutting out a beautiful butterfly! Here is another photo of the design app. There is a grid and you pinch/zoom to make the image bigger or smaller. You then choose your material and cut!

 

Beautiful!

 

 

 

And here it is! You use the tools to 'pick' out the small details in the cuts and reveal the image. So intricate and yet perfect on the first try. I was truly impressed and excited to make this. I've been intimidated by this whole process and it could not have been better.

 

 

 

Next I cut out some letters in permanent vinyl and put the word 'create' onto my stamping mat! Looks fun! I feel like now I'm going to customize all the things in my room!! Yeah!

 

Next up - I made a card! Here is the card mat with the card front tucked inside the top layer. The card packs come with cards, inserts (cool unicorn insert here) and envelopes. Really simple to create multiple cards. 

 

One cut and there you have a pretty birthday card! Voila! Tuck that pretty shimmery paper inside and you're done. Boom.

 

 

 

Now I had some confidence going in using my machine so I made my favorite project of them all! Customized drink tumblers!! I had ordered these tumblers on Amazon for this purpose while I was waiting for my Cricut Joy to arrive. I found a cool graphic and cut it out with the Permanent White Vinyl. For this project you will use Transfer tape to remove the vinyl from the backing, lift it, and transfer it to the tumbler. I LOVE THIS! I have always wanted to be able to make stuff like this. There's not stopping me now! It says Coffee Craft & Repeat! I made a pink one and a blue one.

 

I cut another butterfly from vinyl and put it onto the front of a yellow metal tin. 

 

 

For Valentine's Day my husband bought me a Cricut EasyPress Mini to make iron on projects! (I also use it for my cross stitching projects) Now I can use my Joy and the iron on transfer materials to do iron ons. Stay tuned for those projects to come. Yeah!

 

Here are my cool tumblers!! Like seriously, how fun is this???

 

In this photo you'll notice that there are marker pens! The markers fit into the slot in lieu of the blade and you use them to write onto your projects. Fun and perfect to use with the label maker materials or to write on your card projects. I didn't try this out yet, but I can't wait to! Also, notice on the packaging, everything says Cricut Joy so you can't make a mistake and buy the wrong materials! Love.

 

 

 

I want to take a minute to share the things I love about my new Cricut Joy! I feel like now I have the creative tools to make customized things like cups, mugs, t-shirts (iron on materials), labels, and cards without it being a big undertaking. I can pop the machine out of the case, plug it in, and create. I like that I can design on my phone via the app and save projects for later. So if I'm sitting in line, or in the car, I can create a project and save it for when I get home and then cut! (It works via bluetooth connection). I love all the different materials. The Cricut Joy has specifically made materials that you just feed into the machine without a mat. Wow. That's cool. No way to mess it up! I am super impressed with my Joy machine. I would definitely recommend it for card makers and crafters or all types. So far I do not see any negatives - All of the projects I've shown here in my post were the first cut, first time trying it out. 

As a fun treat for this post, I thought I would give away the pink tumbler I made! So one lucky winner will receive this Coffee Craft & Repeat cup for your craft room! To enter to win, please leave a comment on this post with an idea I should try with my new Cricut Joy - or an idea that you've already tried with your Cricut!! Enter before 4/18/20 at midnight PST. I will draw one random winner and email that winner next week. Good luck! 

Thanks for coming by today and sharing in my excitement about my new tools! CLICK HERE to see all the Joy products! I would suggest if you're interested to buy it directly from the Cricut site. They have everything in stock (some things are already hard to find other places) and super fast shipping. The price is the same everywhere right now also. And, as I'm typing this, there is free shipping!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used today to create my projects! (Affiliate links used). I will be back soon with a fun card with supplies from The Greetery! Take good care! XOXO