Your Own Sparkle AJ Page

*This is a scheduled post as I’m away for my son’s wedding and don’t have access to Internet at this time*

Hello friends! Here we are towards the end of June already and in full Summer mode now! Time has went by so fast! I do hope you’re all doing well, staying safe and enjoying your time however you’re spending it.

The end of the month also brings the monthly AJ page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too! We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles! So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” June prompt of: “buttons/sequins/gems.“

So who doesn’t have oodles of sequins in their stash? (I probably had enough to cover the entire page, but left it strictly for the fish scales and “bubbles”.😄) I was inspired by the Art Journal Journey challenge prompt this month of “FISH” and with the stash prompt in mind, it had me thinking of a book I had gotten for the kids years ago, perhaps you’re familiar with “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister?

In the book, the fish’s scales were very shimmery, and it made me think to add the sequins to a fish, so I actually found a fun and free “coloring page” fish image to print out and color for my page! I used Copic markers to color that fish and the sequins are a glittery silver sequin that were topped with some silver Stickles as well as the “lines” on his fins. I also added some clear iridescent sequins for the “bubbles” above him.

For my background – Since the goal is to use my stash, I pulled out my set of gelatos that I’ve had for a few years to create my background. I found it fun to blend them and smudge them with my finger. I also used a piece of punchella trim for stenciling with them too. Of course, since they’re water soluble, I needed to cover it with some matte medium using a spatula rather than a brush. Once the matte medium dried, I added some printed vellum pieces ripped up over it and then used some white and silver paint for splatters and stamping an empty roll circle. I also went around the edges a bit with the silver paint for shimmer. For a little bit more texture, I took some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) and heated up a few “piles” of the crystals and melted them…I haven’t used that in a long time either! I needed to be VERY careful with my heat gun because of the matte medium…it started to smoke a bit! 😮

For the background fish – I had a few extra cut out fish pieces from a previous project I made using the Taylored Expressions Hook, Line & Sinker Stamp & Stencil Combo with dies and adding them to the scene. I also added some sparkly fish that was die cut from the TE Little Bits-Fish dies. (I haven’t posted this project yet, but I will later on!) I took a micron pen to add a fishing line coming down from the top with a hook.

Here’s a closer view of the fish as well as some of the details in the background.

For the sentiment – it was printed out along with the fish and then I just ripped around it and then using the same ink colors as the background fish, I blended over this piece. I also used the same UTEE on it as the background. I took a white Big Brush marker to highlight the letters and underline. I also used it for highlights on the fish. I used different colors of the Big Brush markers to add some shading details around the fish.

All of the sequins and silver Stickles were added very last to the page.

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Fish (will have to link later when I get back!)

Smash Our Stash-“Learning to Fly” AJ Page

Hello friends! My fellow U.S. friends will be celebrating Memorial weekend which means that the end of the month is here already! Summer is coming very quickly and it seems that time is really flying by!

With the AJ prompt this month of “ephemera” my first thought turned to the the H-U-G-E pile of packages that I have of those Tim Holtz Idea-ology ephemera and paper dolls packs. There are actually SO many different pieces in just one package that I decided to concentrate on just one of those packages from the “Botanical” collection. (I did pull in one more layer from the “Snippets” pack as well.) I actually love the images which pulled me in to purchase them, but there they sit and never get used…so I’m using some today! Yay! That “Botanical” pack is my fave with the birds and butterflies in there!

For my page background: I started with my usual 6″ x 9″ watercolor 140# paper with the pre-cut holes at the top for my book. I glued some of the “Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tissue Wrap” ripped pieces over the blank background first. I then took a baby wipe and several colors of “DecoArt Media Fluid acrylics” and blended them together until I achieved desired look. Trying to get another color over top, I decided to pull out the “Distress Oxide Spray Salvaged Patina” after the paint had dried up. To help spread some of it around, I also sprayed with water too. I was pleased with all of the coloring in the background, but felt it needed a toned down border because of the Vintage looking ephemera, so I blended some “Vintage Photo and Black Soot Oxide Inks” at the edges.

At this point, I started adding images by working on the stamping around the edges with a script text stamp using a hybrid brown ink in random places. I also used the same ink to stamp a couple of the flying birds in the background. This is where I thought it would a good idea to add some splattering with white and brown paint. I finished it with more splatters of some “Liquid Pixie Dust” which gave it some pretty subtle sparkle all over.

So starting at top of my page, I decided to start adding the images to create my scene. I ended up die cutting a branch from some dark brown cardstock and attached it to the edge of the page and then took one of those ephemera birds and popped it with foam tape over the branch. I glued the butterfly above the bird and the “daisy” flowers off to the right were glued down while keeping in mind the placement of the large birds at the bottom.

The sentiment came from one of the stickers from the “Tim Holtz Idea-ology Clippings Sticker Book”. I used a brown Micron pen to sketch around it, but decided it was too light, so I went around it again with a black one too.

For the bottom portion, you can see that I’ve glued down the little tag under the title. (I added a piece of twine around it before I attached it.) I also glued the corner floral spray in the bottom left of the page. I’ve used foam tape to pop up the large birds as well as the butterfly above the floral spray.

The last thing I did was to grab the dark brown “Big Brush Marker” to add some shading around some of the ephemera pieces. I didn’t do anything to the pieces that were popped up with foam tape.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my Art Journal inspiration today! Thanks so much for joining me and Carol for our fun collaboration and you can always have fun following along with us every month!

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and please stop to remember and honor those who’ve sacrificed for us.

I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Birds
Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media #82
Mixed Media Lovers – Anything Mixed Media
Dragonfly Dreams – Butterflies and/or Flowers
The Corrosive – Anything Goes
Arty Divas – Anything Goes

Some Inky Stamper Escaping!

Hello friends! It has not only warmed up over my way, but we went from about 50 degrees to straight up 90 degrees within the last few weeks! I think it’s supposed to slightly cool down in a few days, but I’m happy it’s warmer anyway. Hope that you’re all doing well too. Been wanting to share with you what I’ve been up to, but first I have this fun card I recently made:

I thought this was so fun and easy to create! If you’ve ever made a gate-fold card, try one of these interlocking ones! I love the way it opens up from just a traditional card. This is the first time I’ve tried one of these and I’ve made it for this month’s Inky Stamper Inkspirations FB Group‘s challenge…which is to make a gatefold card.

I’ve also used one of the brand-new stamp sets that came out from Inky Stamper called “Iguana“. I’ve stamped the images out on Bristol Smooth watercolor and used my Zig Brush Markers to color them in. The stamp set has a coordinating Iguana die, but I fussy cut the cactus out to place behind him. I white heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set and die cut it out with a banner die to place at the bottom of the card.

You will notice that I’ve only attached HALF of the panels on the front so it can be opened freely with the circle frame interlocking with the circle image panel.

To complete the decorating, I’ve used the Doodlebug Swiss Dot paper pad and added some Picket Fence Reflections Gems for a few accents on the front. I also took a few markers to add some stitch lines.

Here’s what the card looks like when it is completely shut. You just have to be sure that the two circle panels can freely open without interference, which is why I had to cut a very small piece from the Iguana’s tail so it could close properly. I honestly don’t think it takes anything away from the design.

And then when the gatefold opens, you can see my inside sentiment. I’ve taken a strip of the paper I’ve used on the front and added it to the inside to make it all cohesive. (I think I’ll add some stitch lines to it now that I’m looking at it.)

And speaking of “Inky Stamper“, I had a really fun time not this past weekend but the prior weekend taking part in the “Inky Stamper Escape Event”! I spent the weekend crafting, doing some fun make’n takes, shopping and meeting the special people behind the company! So very exciting and so much fun…especially meeting new friends!

SO EXCITED to have met Chelsea and Kim! Really enjoyed the time and trying out all of the new things!!

Here we are! This is the crew that stayed for the weekend although there were several others that stopped in to partake in the make-n-take fun or do some shopping. It was so fun to meet some new friends and get to know them too!

And of course here are the Make-n-takes we did with all of the new release items! Lots of interactive fun with a waterfall card, shaker card, slider card, mini treats and even a mini card with a cool foiling technique.

The swag bag was too cute with a special tag that had my name on it, an Inky Stamper pin and lots of fun goodies inside (not shown). Plus an Inky Stamper mug with some yummy goodies inside too! Aside from being spoiled, it was fun to be able to stamp with friends while working on some of my own projects. Really great time and special thanks to Chelsea and Kim for making it a memorable one.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my gatefold card and post today! Thanks so much for stopping in as I enjoy hearing from you!

Challenges:

Inky Stamper Inkspiration FB Group – gatefold card
Crafty Friends – Animals and/or birds (including insects)
Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal(s)
Krafty Chicks – Stamp Act
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
QKR Stampede – Anything Goes
Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes

ATCs, Greeting Card Gift Set, Pet Sympathy and Class Results too!

Hello friends! It seems that I have went MIA on you, but I promise I’m still here! I’ve been really busy “Behind the Scenes” as they say and have many things going on at once that I’m trying to juggle, but I do have TONS of things to share that I’ve been doing and hope you enjoy seeing them! (LOTS of photos!)

First up I have a couple of fun Summer themed ATC sized cards using some Inky Stamper sets called “Splash” and “Chaise Lounge“. (Still not wanting to warm up much for Spring…so I’m wishing for HOT summer now!😁) I made them for this month’s theme of “ATC sized or mini cards” challenge in their FB group. I started out with a sunray stencil and used some yellow glaze paste and once dried I added some watercolor over it which was resisted by the glaze which gave me this look for the background. I splattered it and then added some strips of blue dotted paper cut from a wave border and then I ripped a piece of gold at the bottom. I cut cut with a scallop die and layered over a black 2.5″x3.5″ piece of black cardstock folded in half and went around the edges with a gold ink pad.

I white heat embossed the sentiments from each stamp set and then cut portions of them out with my scissors to attach over the backgrounds. The images were colored with Copics, fussy cut out and popped up with foam tape over top.

Next, I wanted to share a “Greeting Card Gift Set” that I have made and gave as a gift for someone. I used this wonderful product idea from Taylored Expressions called “Stamp & Give Card Kit 1” and it’s something that I had wanted to put together for a very long time on my own, but this product came along recently which pushed me into gear with no excuse of gathering things together on my own as this was already together for me. All I had to do was do the stamping and stenciling. I coordinated the colors with what was in the set. I like the fact that the recipient of this give set can choose which greeting they want to use for each card and the package of greetings are ready with a foam strip on the back of each one. For my designs, I’ve used the TE “Floral Flurry” Background stamp and stencils which I received from the “Stamp Joy Virtual Event” that I had attended. (not in store as it was exclusive for the event…photos at the bottom of post for that!) I’ve added 3 gems randomly to the fronts of each card.

With the kit, it comes with all of the envelopes, card bases, glassine bag to hold all of the sentiment strips, the card fronts and even the acetate box to put them all in. I just added some ribbon once I put all the cards inside. I certainly plan on doing some more of these greeting card gift sets soon! I think it’s always nice to have a set of themed cards all together and ready to go when you need to grab one quickly!

Unfortunately, next up I needed a pet sympathy card and I thought you could never go wrong with paw prints and hearts. I’ve kept this simple and pulled out some favorite Whimsy Stamps “Fill My Heart” and “Furever In Our Hearts” stamp sets for the paw prints and the sentiment. I’ve also used the My Favorite Things “Paw Prints Die-Namics” to die cut a couple of paw prints over the heart that I’ve punched out from red cardstock along with some smaller hearts above it.

I’ve used a glitter brush pen to make the hearts sparkly looking. This was all done over a kraft colored card front that was cut with a double-stitched rectangle die and placed over an A2 sized white card base.

I really need to get a set of pet sympathy going so that I already have them on hand as needed because it seems like I’ve sent many out and don’t have anymore…and I need another one already. I actually need to make sure I have several sympathy cards in general on hand, so I know I’ll be replenishing that soon too.

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And lastly, I thought you might want to see all of the projects that I made during my classes and make-n-takes that I’ve done during the Taylored Expressions “Stamp Joy Spring Virtual Event” from last month…gosh, It’s been that long already and I’m just now posting them!🙄

The first four cards were from the classes on the first day (using the same product/style line), and the others are from the second day with all of the Make-n-Takes. If you’re visiting directly on my website, just click on each photo below and it will enlarge so you can see it better along with the typed details about it!

This is the first card in the TE Stamp Joy class series using the “Floral Flurry” products that I also used in the greeting card gift set above in the post. We used some markers on this for details and did some foiling. This is a “special” card….see next photo for the inside.

I’m really far behind in catching up with whatever the challenges currently are as well as seeing what’s going on with my fellow blogging friends, so I will get going as soon as I can!

Thanks so much for stopping in and I’ll see you soon!😘

Challenge Up Your Life With Splatters

Hello friends and happy April 1st! We’re moving right along into Spring now and it seems that I’m still waiting for the warmer temperatures to come rolling in any time now. Hope that you’re enjoying the season wherever you are.

Today I’m super excited to be joining the “Challenge Up Your Life” challenge blog as a guest designer! I had previously won a Top 3 and a future guest design spot from a past challenge I had entered. So today their new challenge for April is “SPLATTERS“. Hope you can share your splattering makes with us this month! (Check out the challenge blog for details and inspiration!)

#146_Kleckse_CUYL

Here’s the card that I’ve created for this month’s challenge:

I haven’t used my alcohol inks in a while, and I just got some new Black Alcohol ink cardstock to try out. I started by dropping some alcohol ink “mixatives” and added a few other metallic and non-metallic alcohol inks over it. It seemed that the Pearl “mixative” was a good base to layer other colors over top of it. I pushed the colors around a bit with an air blower where I wanted but left some black area in places too. I then took a brush and loaded it with some silver metallic alcohol ink and splattered over the panel. I thought the black made for a really easy galaxy style background with great results.

Once I was finished with the look, I also took some silver foil that picks up places over the “wet looking” areas of the alcohol inks. This is such a shiny and shimmer look!

The stamp I chose to use for the card comes from the Taylored Expressions Gus & Gertie-Best Buds stamp set and dies. I stamped and colored the image on white cardstock, then cut it out with the coordinating die. The die also cuts the stars next to the image, but I just cut this die out again in silver mirror cardstock for just placing the stars where I wanted them on my card. I also took a strip of regular black cardstock and silver heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set and layered it over more silver mirror cardstock.

The alcohol ink panel as layered over the silver mirror cardstock and attached to an A2 sized top folding black card base. And before popping up the colored image with foam tape, I splattered some yellow over the moon and then once dry I covered it with a glitter brush pen. It’s so hard to capture it all in a photo, but hopefully you can see some of the details if I point it out.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today with the “splatters” theme and come join in the challenge with us this month!

Thanks so much for stopping in and enjoy your day!

Challenges:

Krafty Chicks – Anything Goes
Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes
Fab ‘N’ Funky – masculine
Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

Hopping By For an Easter Hi

Hello friends! I don’t make too many Easter cards, but I sure do love those cute bunnies, the Spring theme and of course who doesn’t love a good chocolate candy or two?! I’ve been seeing some bunnies hopping around my yard lately and so they’ve inspired me! Since the month of March is starting to run away from me, I wanted to participate in a few challenges going on.

This cute little bunny waving out his hand to say “hello” is Bunny from Inky Stamper! He comes with the bow tie I have colored and popped up with foam tape. He also comes with the sentiment as well as the smaller egg hiding among the grass. Such a CUTE stamp set not just for Easter, but other occasions too!

For the Inky Stamper Inkspiration FB Group, the challenge for the month of March is “stitching” and it can be any sort of stitching. I’ve pulled out some Doodlebug Swiss Dot papers along with a special Doodlebug Cute & Crafty paper pad (used for the large egg) to create my scene.

I’ve used lots of fun stitched style dies to help me out including the stitched hexagon die from the Inky Stamper Mini Envie Die set you see at the top to create a border. I’ve also used the Taylored Expressions Stitched With Love Cutting Plate over my stitched oval piece. (You will see this same cutting plate in the card below too.) I’ve also used some stitched cloud dies from Lawn Fawn. I’ve also used a grass border die for the bunny to stand on too.

Once I’ve die cut and placed all of my images and die cut pieces together on my card front, I took a black marker and a white gel pen to create stitch lines for the challenge theme as well. I even added stitch marks to the small egg and the bunny’s bow tie. The sentiment was white heat embossed over a black strip and attached to the large oval “egg” and I’ve added some glossy accents to the bunny’s eyes. I think he turned out pretty cute!

This card was made for the #TEMaker challenge in the Taylored Expressions FB Fan Group. The challenge for March is using the colors Lavender Glaze & Potato Chip and/or Easter Parade (Easter/Spring theme). There are SO MANY cute Easter products, but I was trying to use some things that I haven’t pulled out yet.

As in the card above, I’ve used the TE Stitched With Love Cutting Plate over a piece of Toffee cardstock. I used a double stitched circle die to cut it out along with another piece of white cardstock to layer behind the Toffee.

The center of the circle was made by taking the Lavender Glaze and Potato Chip cardstock and using the Easy Strips 1/4″ die and layering them over a double adhesive sheet. Once I’ve cut it down to size, I attached it over the white A2 top folding card base and stamped the Full Circle -Easter stamp in Toffee ink. I took a white pencil to color in portions of the images within it.

I then used foam tape to pop up the toffee layer over top centering the circle image through it. I white heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set and die cut from a banner die in my stash and popped it up over the center of the circle image. I also die cut a Lavender Glaze frame from the TE A2 Think Frame Cutting Plate and attached to the card along with a little white bunny from the TE Little Bits-Oh Hoppy Day die set. I sponged some brown ink around the edges and glued a white pom pom for his tail and attached him right above the frame on the right bottom of the card.

It looks like he’s getting ready to hop into the hole to join his other Spring friends.

Well, I HOP you’ve enjoyed my Easter cards today, or at least gotten a smile or been inspired in some way! Thanks so much for taking the time to stop in as I enjoy hearing from you!

Challenges:

Cardz 4 Guyz – Equinox Seasonal Change-Spring
CRAFT – Anything Goes
Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes with Colored image (top card)
Crafty Catz – Anything Goes Optional Easter
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
A Bit More Time To Craft – Anything Goes

Sing Spring AJ Page

Hello friends and a happy weekend! I really can’t believe that we’re already on the last Saturday of March right now! This month flew by, but I’m so happy to get even further into the Spring months, how about you? The chirping birds seem more intense as Spring gets into her song!

Today I’m sharing my monthly Art Journal page and collaborating with my blog friend Carol as we both try and get creative with journaling by using up our never-ending stash piles! So please pop on over to her blog to see some more inspiration with our “SMASH YOUR STASH” prompt of: “Die cuts/punched out pieces/tags(unfinished to decorate)“! Let’s get to creating!

Well, I don’t know about you, but I sure do have TONS of those punches that I hardly ever use any more. I also keep piling up tons of die cuts too! So this was my focus on my page today by pulling out lots of those to come up with a Spring theme in mind…

I started out with my usual 6×9 thick watercolor paper with the binder holes at the top. My first thought was to create a blue “watery” background by using my Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors to paint an ombre blue. It was nice to pull these out to play with as I haven’t used them in quite a while. While it was still wet, I covered the panel with some Sea Salt crystals and let it dry. After it dried, I scrapped off the salt. If you’ve never tried it, it makes for a really unique look. I then took a raindrop stencil and went over it with some blue Chroma Glaze. I really like how the glaze makes it look shinny. I mixed some blue and yellow Deco Media Fluid Acrylics to make the green color and sponged it over the bottom to create my grass scene. I also had a tall grass stamp that I stamped over it with green ink. Lastly, I used white paint to splatter over the background.

So this is where I moved onto the rest of my separate pieces to create my scene. I pulled out circle, square, heart, scallop border, birds, leaves, flowers, branch, grass borders, etc and began cutting out all of my pieces! The yellow bird at the top was stamped and then punched out. The birdhouse on the right is all punches and the daisy flowers at the bottom are all punches. The larger birdhouse with the bird and flower vines is a die set by Lawn Fawn, the branch and leaves at the top right is a die set from My Favorite Things and I’ve also used a couple of different grass die cut borders at the bottom from My Favorite Things. This is my very first time using that birdhouse die set and I’ve had those grassy border dies forever but use quite often.

I was also quite happy that I was able to pull out several pieces of scrap papers from my stash to punch and die cut all of them too! That’s a good way to use up more of your stash when you’re using punches and dies!

Trying to zoom in a bit so you can see the background and how it looks with the watercolor salt technique as well as the shine from the raindrops. For the birdhouse posts, those are just strips of woodgrain looking pattern paper that I’ve cut into strips and then ran through an embossing folder. I used a sander to bring out the texture.

I stamped the music notes next to the birds and also stamped the “sing” letters in the center of the birdhouse. I’ve got both of the birds popped up with foam tape. I’ve glued the birdhouse posts to the page, but popped up the large birdhouse with foam tape as well. You can also see where I’ve went all the way around the edges and I sponged brown ink around everything. I also stamped a random image around the edges with brown ink too.

At the bottom of the page, you can see that I’ve taken a brown marker to write “Birds can sing on the darkest of days because they believe in” and then I stamped “SPRING” over a strip of pattern paper and attached at the bottom and used the brown marker to create the dash lines. Also did this on my made up punched birdhouse.

Both the last grassy border and the leaves above on the branch were die cut from green cardstock, but I’ve also used some green mica spray and sprayed over top of them which gives a pretty shimmer to them. Before popping up the yellow bird at the top, he was also sprayed with a yellow mica spray.

To finish it off I’ve added all of the white gel pen details and along the edges of the page. Lastly, I used some yellow Stickles to center each of the daisy flowers as well as the flowers on the birdhouse. I used black Stickles to the bird’s eyeballs.

Really enjoyed putting this one together and playing around with more stash items! Hope that you’ve enjoyed as well and have been inspired in some way! I thank you so much for stopping in! Have a great weekend!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Spring
River of Creativity – Anything Goes but NO CARDS
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday – Bright and Cheerful
Everybody Art – Spring

Penny’s Paper-Crafty Guest Designer “Sealed With Love”

Hello friends and happy Wednesday! We seem to be rolling well into this month of March and my thoughts are turning to Spring and being able to get outdoors again after the cold winter months get put behind us! I’m seeing a couple of buds on my daffodils…yay!

I’m super excited to be sharing a card with you today that I’ve made for Penny’s Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog as a guest designer for their #517 challenge! Last month, I had won a top pick for a prize as well as a future guest design spot with my calendar cards that I had entered. The challenge is always “Anything Goes using Paper“, so I hope you will take the time to join in the fun with us for this challenge! Here’s what I’ve created:

Isn’t this fella so cute?! I was given a few choices of images from the challenge sponsor(s) to use for my creation and I picked out this adorable image from Pattie’s Creations called, of course, “Snail Mail“. You can click on the name to get him in the store! Who doesn’t love a good snail mail especially with that adorable smile! 🐌 I colored him up with my Copic markers adding a few dotted details with my white gel pen. He was fussy cut with scissors and popped up with foam tape.

So, I thought it would be fun to create a background for him using the Taylored Expressions Sealed With Love background stamp. I used the heart stamp to give color and then colored the one envelope underneath the snail. I also used the sentiment in the clear set that comes with it and white heat embossed it over a strip of cardstock that was later added to the design.

I cut the background in half diagonally and used the Lawn Fawn Stitched Cloud Portrait Backdrop die and then sponged some blue ink over top of it. I used the top portion of it for my card front and cut this piece as well as the bottom stamped piece with the Lawn Fawn Small Cross-Stitch Rectangle Stackables die. To break up the section of where these two pieces meet on the front, I took some dark brown cardstock and cut a strip with a My Favorite Things border die. I layered this onto a piece of cardstock that was used for the sentiment and that’s where the ends of the scallop border was cut off. I then attached all of the layers onto an A2 sized white top folding card base.

I decided to die cut some hearts out with the same-colored cardstock (as the sentiment piece) to place above the snail’s head. I added some sparkle over them with some Stickles “Star Dust” glitter. I used it for the snails’ antennas and underneath his body where he’s sliding across to deliver his envelope.

I do hope that you’ve enjoyed my creation today for Penny’s challenge and will think about popping over there to see the wonderful inspiration from the design team! I sure had fun playing along too!

Thanks for dropping by and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

Love to Scrap – March Anything Goes
The Male Room – Animals
Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes with coloring
Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
My Time to Craft – Animal theme
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2211 Anything Goes

Cheerful Sketches Guest Designer “Gnomie”

Hello friends! I think we’re getting closer and closer to Spring! I sure am ready for it, how about you? Let’s welcome the warmer weather and pretty flowers to come!

Herschaalde kopie van RON ILONKA

I had previously made a winner/top 3 for a challenge I had entered which was exciting to have also won a place to be a future guest designer for one of the challenges too.

So this month, I’m very excited to be joining my friends over at the Cheerful Sketches challenge blog as a guest and they always have a beautiful sketch along with lots of inspiration for it each month! So please be sure to check them out and play along if you can! Here’s the lovely sketch they’ve provided for me to work with this month:

This is a very nice sketch and open to lots of different interpretations as well, so I had fun playing with it along with an image that was provided to me from a current sponsor for the challenge and here’s what I came up with:

Everyone loves the gnomes and this one is too cute riding his snail friend! I’m using the “Grumblebonce Rides Again” from Dr. Digi’s House of Stamps for my card today. I’ve colored him up with Copic markers, added details with gel pens, glitter under the snail and glossy accents on the snail’s eyeballs. I die cut the image with a stitched circle die and ink blended around the edges before attached to another loopy circle die cut from brown cardstock.

I found some fun papers fitting for the image with red plaids and a strip of mushrooms that I’ve attached over another loopy die cut strip I’ve had in my stash forever. I wrapped some gold ribbon around it and attached to the red plaid papers that are attached to a 5″ square top folding brown card base. Before attaching the red plaid papers, I used a distress tool to rough up the edges. I’ve popped up the image with foam tape and added 3 gold enamel dots in the upper right corner.

With the card now laying flat, you can better see some of the shine from the sentiment at the bottom. I found these fun gnome style sentiments that can be foiled. So I used some gold foil and ran the strip through my Minc Machine. I sponged some blue and brown inks over it and then added some die cut mushrooms behind it and layered a piece of brown cardstock to layer behind it.

I placed the mushroom sentiment at the bottom with a portion of it with foam tape and the other parts just glued to the circle sentiment panel. I think it turned out pretty cute and I had fun coloring it up!

So please be sure to check out the challenge and come play along!

Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll see you soon!

An Electric Connection and Happy Mail Love For Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day friends! Today is the day all about hearts and love! Although I’ve already sent out my Valentine cards, I have a couple of lovely individuals who take a peek at my blog from time to time…so I have to wait until they’ve received their cards before I share them here!😉 It’s somewhat hard to “hide” my crafting since hubby’s now retired! LOL So here’s the cards I made:

I just KNEW the minute I saw this Taylored Expressions Love Lights Stamps & Stencil Combo set that it was something perfect for making cards for my retired electrician hubby! This set also coordinates with other products and so I started by foiling the TE Foil It-Love Lights panel and then ink blending with the stencil set. I had to use blue as this is hubby’s favorite color. So, I’ve used the TE Sprinkles and Potato Chip inks. The cardstock is TE Sprinkles. (I used softer tones for the Valentine feel.) I also used the coordinating TE Mini Strips-Watt’s Up sentiment set that was silver heat embossed over the TE Sprinkles cardstock and cut out with the TE Mini Strips-Asymmetrical Die. I just love the punny sentiments that go with this set!

The tiny light bulb for the accent I used actually came from a TE ‘freebie’ with one of my orders, so I die cut the light bulb with white glitter cardstock and lightly sponged some yellow ink in the center. I die cut the center and bottom of the bulb with silver brushed cardstock and glued it onto the light bulb. I die cut a circle from some vellum and also sponged this with yellow ink and glued the light bulb on top of it and attached it to the side of the card nestled with the sentiment strips that were popped up with foam tape. He will have gotten this one this morning.

And here’s another card that I sent to someone very special! It’s a simple card, but wow it was so much fun to create with using the Simon Says Stamp Limited Edition Happy Mail Love card kit! (Looks like it’s still available at the time I’m writing up this post, but not sure how long it will stay available.) I so love those CUTE Doodlebug products and there are so many of them including the stamp set that goes together in this kit! I wanted to play some more with it, but I have so many other things to focus on, so I’ll have to come back to it later! LOL

I’ve used the Doodlebug background papers from the kit and cut it out with a Lawn Fawn Cross-Stitch die and also cut a strip of ‘grass’ with green cardstock at the bottom using the Lawn Fawn Grassy Border die. The heart papers were attached over a red piece of cardstock from the kit and layered onto a top folding A2 white card base. The grass border was attached over the red cardstock and heart background papers. This gave me the room to take the CUTE Doodlebug LOTS OF LOVE Odds and Ends Ephemera die cut shapes to create my scene with! This pack came in the kit and there are SO many pieces! I’m sure you could go on and on making cards! The bird and bunny die cuts were popped up with foam tape. It’s hard to see in the photo, but I’ve taken my glitter brush pen to all of the hearts on the images and the cheeks on the cloud.

I think these cards did what was intended which was to create smiles during this cold winter season! I sure hope that it has done the same for you as well! 😉 Wishing you a happy Valentine’s Day with all of my heart! ❤ Thanks for stopping in and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges: