Hello friends! There are SO many things going on this month and I’m having such a hard time keeping up with all of it! After having some computer issues and trying to figure out what’s going on…I realized how far behind I am with my crafting! I have waaay too many new things I want to play with too! Really hate it when that happens!🤨😅 Totally missed out on World Card Making Day this year…however…
..before the WCMD “Inspired By” challenge ends over on the Whimsy Stamps Inspiration Blog, I wanted to be sure to play along which is using one of the design team’s projects for inspiration to create your own project:
I have made this fun slimline card using the Whimsy Stamps Penguin Poop stamp set along with the Whimsy Stamps Slimline Connected Bubbles die for my card today. I am a huge penguin fan and these guys crack me up so much!
I wanted to keep the colors in a cool tone. Over a piece of Bristol Smooth watercolor paper, I’ve cut it down to fit over a black side folding 3.5″ x 8.5″ slimline card base. (I use the 8.5″ measurement because I find the size easier to use with a piece of 8.5″ x 11″ cardstock. Then I only need to cut at 7″ on the long (11″) side and score in half at 3.5″ on this same side. I am then left with another piece for layering over the slimline card if I choose.) It’s easier to remember also…which is something good for me right now! LOL! I digress…
I’ve used the Pink and Main blender brushes to ink blend Weathered Wood, Shaded Lilac, Broken China and Stormy Sky Distress Oxide inks for the background and then I used a water spritzer to make the droplet pattern over it.
I’ve cut the Slimline Connected Bubbles die from some Brutus Monroe Mermaid Glitterstock and glued it over the ink blended background. I had a left over border of a punched out goo drip from white glitterstock, so I used the die to cut out pieces to glue over top of some of the circles from the die. I stamped the sentiments inside a couple of the circles where I wanted with black ink and then used some foam dots to pop out the stamped and fussy cut penguins.
Lastly, I’ve taken a black marker to make some stitch marks along the edges of the ink blended panel and glued on some clear sparkling crystals.
Here’s closer view of one of the penguins. It was very easy to grab a couple of Copic markers to color them in with and they were pretty easy to cut out along with the balloon. I’ve used a black twine to connect the backside of the balloon and added a dab of glue to the penguin’s hand.
I used a glitter brush pen over the balloon and then added some glossy accents to both of the penguin’s big eyeballs.
This was such a fun card to create and it will be perfect for a winter birthday I will have coming up soon!🥳 The way I’ve been crafting behind, this will help out to have ready on hand when I need it!
Thanks so much for stopping in today friends! I hope you’ve enjoyed my slimline card and that it has brought you a smile! I’ll be seeing you again soon!
Hello friends! Stopping by with a reminder today that there are still a few days left to join our “Sports” themed challenge over at the {Cupcake Inspirations} blog! Hope you will join in the fun with us!
It’s that time of the year over here in the U.S. for Fall football season and I have some male family members that enjoy watching it along with having birthdays around this time which brings me to making these type of cards for them! So this challenge has worked out really well for that! So here’s my second card for this challenge:
I’ve pulled out this older Stampin’ Up! stamp set that I refused to part with just for this reason because I knew that I would be using it down the line…which is the “Great Sport” stamp set. (I think it’s maybe circa 2013?)
I think the embossing folder is just as old if not older than the stamp sets that I’ve used as it has that pattern on it that would remind you of the football texture. (pigskin leather as the guys say) I’ve recently picked up some sport themed decorative papers and thought I would use a strip down the center of my design and then I’ve also used the same pattern to stamp the wings and football images over that were all fussy cut out with scissors.
For the navy banner in the background, I’ve used a die cut to cut it out with and then stamped some stars with white ink over it and then sponged around the edged of it as well. I took another strip of orange colored cardstock and stamped a fun birthday greeting over it and then added some stars around it that were punched out from navy cardstock. All of these layered were attached over an A2 sized top folding navy card base.
Really thought it would be fun to add an interactive detail to this card as well by adding a wobbler to the back of the football image. So when you put your finger along the side of the ball, it will wobble.🏈😂 (something fun for the birthday guy to play with!)
For the decorative papers I’ve used, I took a sand block to distress the edges a bit and smooth out the edges of my fussy cutting details.
Hope this will help bring a smile!
Thanks so much for dropping in today and I’ll be seeing you soon friends!
Hello friends! I hope that you’re all having a wonderful week so far! The weather has really been changing this week as we get into Fall now. Speaking of that, it’s time for sharing some fun Halloween themed projects!
I’m VERY honored to have won a guest spot for this month over at the Digi Doodle Studios Challenge Blog! So, for the October challenge, the theme is “Pink and/or Halloween” You can choose to use either or both…I’ve decided to use BOTH on my creation:
As a winner, I was given this darling image to play with called Gwendoline DDS Good Halloween Witch and I thought she would be so much fun to color up in the pink and black colors! I think she turned out adorable in her pinkness!
I have also decided to print out a sentiment from the DDS Halloween Happiness Digital Sentiments Collection that I’ve used as a strip on the right side of my panel placed directly under the image panel. Both of these panels have been sponged with some pink ink around the edges. The witch image panel was popped up with some craft foam.
For the papers, I have printed out the fun pink and black dotted patterns from the DDS Wonky Halloween Digi Paper Pack and then used a sander around the edges of them for a bit of distressed look. Before attaching the black with pink dots strip in the center, I wrapped some pink metallic ribbon around it with a bow. This strip was placed behind the image panel, but in front of the layers behind the image panel. Those layers are pink metallic mirror cardstock and a scallop die cut black cardstock which was also layered behind the sentiment strip. All of the panels were placed over a black top folding 5″ card base.
I’ve added a couple of die cut spider webs from some white glitter paper and attached them in the corners of the design and then found some pink sequins with stars that I filled the centers with some pink glitter drops scattered around as well as placing an extra die cut star and sequins in the center of the bow.
And here’s a closer look at the coloring I’ve done over her using Copic markers. I’ve used a white gel pen for the dots on her cheeks as well as highlights on her legs.
It’s always hard to really show all of the wonderful shimmer and sparkle, but I’ve used a glitter brush pen over the pink stars in her dress as well as the stars surrounding her. (Her pink earrings were covered with it too.) I took a pink metallic gel pen to color in the dots on her dress and the ones surrounding her. I then took the pink glitter drops that I’ve used in the center of the sequins and add a couple more around her trailing stars and the center of the star in her wand too.
I also very lightly sponged in some pink chalk for the stars and dots area around her after it was all dry.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my card for today and have been inspired in some way!
Thanks for dropping in today my friends and I’ll be seeing you again very soon!😉
Challenges:
Daring Cardmakers – 3 Things Starting with ‘S”: Stars, Spider Webs, Sequins
Hello friends! It’s been a week since my last post, but I’ve been busy cleaning up around my house to get prepared for the cooler weather ahead of us shortly and it’s starting this week to be very cold in the evening…so it’s just one of those things that need to get done is all. I actually love all things Fall including that! (Yes, I’m weird! LOL!)
Today starts up a brand new challenge over at {Cupcake Inspirations} and the theme is….
SPORTS!!!⚽⚾🥎🏀🏐🏈🏉🎱🎳⛳⛸
That is also something else that I enjoy in the Fall season! I like to watch football with my hubby and since I have had boys that played in several different sports along with my husband liking all things sports, I’m always involved in it in someway!🏈 I thought I’d try something a bit different with this theme that is something I like to do for myself….
Although this card may look a bit simple in style, I did spend some time putting it all together.
I’ve used this darling image from All Dressed Up Stamps called “And Relax” that I’ve fussy cut out after printing and then I created a separate plain panel with just the words enlarged a bit more than what the image was printed.
The printed words panel was die cut with a stitched rectangle die and then I masked off the Kramer stencil from Brutus Monroe and covered it with some glitter glaze (unknown color) that was lurking in my stash and it turned out so pretty when dried! I popped up the colored image with foam tape, added sequins filled with some Nuvo Emerald City Glitter Drops which seemed to match up with the glitter glaze nicely. I layered the front image panel over a stitched rectangle Raven cardstock layer and attached these layers over an A2 sized top folding white card base.
Here’s a closer view of the coloring I’ve done on the image using Copic markers. Since it’s an image with really tiny details and small areas, I kept the coloring light and simple. I’ve only added dots to her cheeks with a white gel pen.
I’ve used a craft knife to cut in the areas and I left a white border around her so that all the details showed up with her hair strands and neck line.
You can also see how pretty that sparkle looks from the glitter glaze over the stencil too! The Nuvo Glitter Drops matched up nicely with it!
It’s a Monday, so perhaps this might be something good to think about doing today, right?!😁
Thank you for stopping in my friends! I appreciate you taking the time! I’ll have more coming soon!! See you then!
Hello friends! I hope that you’ve had a great weekend! The weather has really started to cool down over the weekend and I can feel the Autumn breeze in the air right now!
I’m swinging in today to remind you about our current color combo challenge over at {Cupcake Inspirations} and the second card I’ve made using the colors GREEN, PINK and LIME:
If you remember my card from last week, I had so much fun blending the green ink colors on the grass, I thought I’d continue with another panel of the ink blending on this background too! I also spritzed it with water and then once it was dry, I stamped the images from a Simon Says Stamp Crafty Friend stamp set with black ink. I’ve used the stamp set throughout the card with the cut out scissors and envelope accents and the strip across the pink piece too.
I did white heat emboss the sentiment from the stamp set over the black strip on the heart. I used just a set of Hero Arts Inifinity Heart dies to cut out the pink heart and another will vellum behind the heart and pink strip. The pink heart was popped up with craft foam and so was that little envelope over top of it. I did run the pink die cut heart through a Tim Holtz embossing folder and rubbed some white ink over it.
The blended ink and stamped background was cut out with a stitched rectangle die and layered over a black and then a green panel, which was then layered over top of an A2 sized top folding white card base. I finished the card with some pink die cut hearts and some Studio Katia Cupid’s Kiss Crystals. (So happy to have again pulled out an older card kit!)
Here’s a closer look at the images on my card. I just fussy cut the envelope and scissors WITH my scissors.😂 For the open areas in the handle of the scissors, I just took a small hand held circle punch to create the circle openings.
I have taken one of the pink hearts that I die cut for my background and used one over the tiny envelope on the heart. The crystals add a nice bit of sparkle to the design too.
I think this will be a nice card to send out to one of my crafty friends! I think maybe we could all use a crafty hug right now so maybe this will help! Thanks so much for stopping in today and I’ll see you again soon!
Hello friends! I hope you’ve had a fantastic week! It seems like this month is flying by!
I’m excited to share with you a fun video hop collaboration with Pink and Main on my You Tube Channel today! (Be sure to check it out on MY VIDEO because there is a giveaway and you’ll need to leave comments on the videos to be entered to win!) So head on over to see the wonderful inspiration with the Pink and Main products going on!
Here’s the fun Autumn themed slimline card I’ve made for the video hop today:
So Pink and Main has come out with some fabulous new products which I’ve used for my card here and I’ve added some fun techniques to use with some of those products as well!
The background was really fun to create using the Pink & Main Blending Brushes along with the new Crackling Campfire Distress Oxide Ink color that just came out! I’ve also used the wonderful Leafy Stencil from Pink & Main over the background too. The cups and leaves were also colored using the oxide inks and a waterbrush which you can see in my video as well as how I’ve inked and cut out the one image backwards so I have two cups with the handles in opposite directions on my design here.
You can check out how I’ve put this design together and the techniques I’ve used in this video below, or to leave a comment and see the link to the next person in the video hop, CLICK HERE to go to the video on You Tube.
I absolutely fell in love with that Need to Venti stamp set and coordinating dies! I loved that older Christmas Mugs stamps they had previously came out, but Autumn is awesome to add to my collection because it’s my favorite time of the year! So be sure to check out how to stretch out the use of this set in video above!
The Blessings slimline die was so fun to use on my card too and I love that the frame cuts out separately from the center and there was room to layer behind it before attaching to your slimline card base. The Brutus Monroe Copper Glitterstock was the perfect accent behind the scallop frame. That frame was cut out with several layers of cardstock and stacked together for thickness.
The same Copper Glitterstock was used to cut out the sentiment dies as well. I’ve used some vellum to layer behind the Autumn sentiment, which the backing diecut was also included in this same slimeline die set! The final measurement of my slimline card was a piece of brown cardstock measuring 8.5″ x 7″ and scored at 3.5″ in the center. The finished card will fit inside a #10 envelope when closed.
Here’s a closer view of the details with my colored cups using the distress oxide inks and waterbrush. I’ve also used the same Need to Venti stamp set and oxide ink colors to stamp the leaves and die cut them out to arrange over my scene as well.
I popped up the cups with foam squares and added some drops over the whip topping in the cups with some Nuvo Honey Gold Crystal Drops.
Hopefully you can see the pretty Autumn colors and dimension in the card. I sure had lots of fun putting all of this together!
Thanks so much for dropping in today and I’ll be seeing you soon!
Hello friends! I hope that you’ve had a very pleasant weekend! I enjoyed spending some time visiting with my son for his birthday as I haven’t seen him for a while, so it was nice to laugh with him. If you haven’t checked out the card I made for his birthday, check out my last post for the blog hop along with a video I shared!
Today starts a brand new challenge over at the {Cupcake Inspirations} challenge blog! We are Playing with a fun color combination this time using the colors: Lime, Pink and Green It’s not only a yummy cupcake, but yummy colors too! Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!
Here’s my take with the colors for my first card for the challenge:
For some reason, the first thing I thought of was gnomes! So I grabbed this really adorable Gnome Matter What clear stamp set from Whimsy Stamps and colored up that gnome and frog pair! I fussy cut them out and made a grassy hill for them to sit on by ink blending a panel that was spritzed with water and then cutting it out with a mushroom border die from Lawn Fawn.
I also used the Lawn Fawn Watercolor Wishes paper pack in the pink shade for the background behind the grassy hill which I stamped the sentiment over and gently rubbed some more pink pastel over it.
The entire panel was cut out with my fave Wonky Stitched Rectangle die from MFT and layered over a bright pink A2 sized top folding card base.
A closer look at the images, you can see how I’ve got them colored up with Copics, but I’ve also added the usual details to the images with a white gel pen for the gnome’s cheeks and flower center. I went over the flower with a glitter brush pen. I’ve also added some dots to his shirt with a metallic green gel pen and then went over his buckle with a gold gel pen.
I’ve just attached the gnome with liquid glue, but I’ve used foam tape to pop up the frog pair and then I’ve added some more dots with the white and green metallic gel pens and then went over their eyes with glossy accents for shine.
I think maybe this is a fantastic message for all of us right now. That gnome looks pretty chill!😉
Thanks for joining me today friends and I’ll be seeing you soon!
Hello friends! I’m so excited to be sharing a special collaboration blog hop with my fellow crafty friends collab FB group as we share our own personal progression on how practice over time can help to increase your confidence and skills within your crafting journey.
So please grab your favorite beverage and join us in this fun and informative blog hop that shows how “the power of practice” can be utilized in your own crafting! (highlights are done in red.)
I would like to start off by stating each person’s experience is their own journey and will run on it’s own pace which is something that we all need to be aware of and patient with. Some particular skills will take much longer to grasp than others and you need to take it easy on yourself without harsh judgement. Just enjoy the process and have fun with it! (That was and still is the hardest thing for me to learn.)
Although I’ve been paper crafting for the last 20 years or so, I’ve been involved in several different crafts throughout my entire childhood or since I could hold a crayon in my hand! My grandmother as well as my mother has passed down their experience with crafts which I learned from and picked up many others along the way including what I love today. So some things I do may already come naturally for me without recognizing where it came from because it was taught to me long ago. There are some things, however, that I’ve had to spend the time learning.
Now taking classes aren’t the ONLY way to learn something for sure! Good ole “Trial and Error” are great for learning and gaining personal experience from…which I tend to learn the most from actually!😁 Another thing that helps is new tools/products to help make the process easier or look more “finished” or “professional” in nature. When I first started with my stamps, there was not a common heat tool for instance. I had to heat emboss over a stove! So times have changed as well as techniques and inspiration. Inspiration is EVERYWHERE over the Internet too! Many people have so many clever ideas…I wish I could keep up with them all! Some things may not be of interest to you and others may intrigue or intimidate you. Find what interests you the MOST..at the time…and work on it because you will love learning about it which means you will gain more knowledge from it. You don’t have to share with others what you do as long as YOU enjoy what you’re doing. Do what feels right to you and your journey. It’s never about others, it’s about YOU!
I feel like I could write an entire book on just this matter, but since this is a visual craft, it’s better to “see” with your eyes sometimes or show how things can come together…or not!🤨
I’m starting with a photo of a card I had made back in 2007 when I had already been a year into having a blog and was still a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator at the time. Even the technology of simply taking a photograph has improved tremendously over the years…
I no longer have most of the products used here and I had to lift the photo from my Splitcoaststampers gallery as they have stored my oldest photos I have anywhere. This was the first place that I shared anything I made online. (There are 124 pages of my gallery and if you look through, you will see the progression over time.)
Now I could really criticize myself and pick this all apart, but it was part of my process at the time. And at that time, I was happy with it. It looks like I’ve colored with ink pads and a blender pen, cut out the images with scissors as well as cut fringes of the grass border. (tools have improved since and many purchases have been made as well!😊) As we move forward, I can share how I updated that design today:
What I have decided to do was to take the photo of the older card above and make an updated version of the same design, but with the mindset and techniques that I’ve learned since. You can see that my coloring has improved as well as the different tools and items that have been updated to help with my design execution. I still used similar colors, similar layout design as well as coloring an image, but just maybe updated the look from the practicing of not just the coloring over time, but the practice of just cutting the layers and putting things together as compared to years past. Just meerily putting together card after card has helped me with the practice and made me better aware. So you can see how just putting together a card in general, with practice, can help improve skills!
Another tip I find helpful is to join your fellow crafty friends in groups and collaborations like this blog hop as well as other groups which is what I’ve also made this card for, called “The Crafty Chefs“, where we take turns coming up with a new “recipe” to follow each month. There’s no pressure, just a group of friends coming together, learning from each other through challenges, and inspiring one another as we enjoy our love of crafting! For me, this is a huge deal. Check out the link above if you’re interested in joining with us! It’s still fun to craft, but it’s even better when it’s shared with someone. So here’s the September Crafty Chef’s recipe that our head chef Linda has come up with for us to use.
(I have used ALL of the “must do” items and then added a couple of pearls from the “can do” items.)
I have found that within the last several years, many people enjoy watching video tutorials on You Tube..which makes sense because seeing someone actually doing something or putting something together is a better way to learn rather than just seeing a finished photo of a project. So to see how I’ve made my latest card for my son’s birthday, check it out below or CLICK HERE to view on my You Tube channel:
Hopefully through the video you were able to learn a few things that you can incorporate into your own card making. Sometimes we can improve upon ourselves by even trying to recreate something we’ve done in the past and add some new things you’ve learned along the way. It’s a great way to see how far you’ve come along and not be so critical of yourself to remind you that you are always learning, as I still am right now as well.
I have to chuckle at this card for my son’s birthday as he is a fun-loving jokester that will appreciate this along with the fact that it’s a bear image. He was nicknamed “Bear” in his school years, so I thought these Big Grumpy products from Taylored Expressions would work perfectly for this! I’ve also used the Big Grumpy Birthday stamps to go with him along with the other products used in my video above.
For the sparkle, I’ve taken some Stickles Star Dust glitter and added to the birthday hat as well as the center of the bow in the present. I used a glitter brush pen over the balloon and bow. I added dots to his cheeks, hat and the present with a white gel pen. I forgot to mention in the video that I’ve added a couple of brown pearls to the blue strip so that I added something from the “can do” list for the Crafty Chefs recipe!😉
I really hope that this post was helpful as well as enjoyable for you and that you received some benefit for taking the time to read over it. I know that I will be looking forward to seeing what my other crafty friends have to share and inspire me with! I think there is something to learn from everyone no matter how long you’ve been doing it.
The power of practice simply means, to me, being able to refine your skills into something that you want to be better at, take in more information or take it to the limits of your ability. This is done by repeating often and over time to increase or add to your knowledge of what you’re trying to improve upon. If we are not trying new things, then we are not learning or growing as individuals.
Thanks so much for stopping by my friends and I’ll be seeing you again soon!
Hey there friends! I’m so excited to share with you my project I’ve made for the September *Cheerful Sketches* blog challenge as a guest designer for this month! Please be sure to check out the original September challenge post for details and where to link up your project.
Here’s the project that I’ve made with the sketch photo and image that was provided to me:
This darling little image is by Colour of Love Shop called Li’l Fidget Unicorn Girl – A Daisy Thing and you can click on the link to see/purchase image in the shop if you’re interested. They’re sponsoring the *Cheerful Sketches* challenge for this month, so be sure to check out all of the wonderful inspiration from the team over there!
I have used the sketch for inspiration on how to layout my card here after I colored her up and then cut her out with a circle die. I also ink blended around the edges for a bit of color and then I found some pretty papers in my stash to cut out wih die and accent the circle image panel as well. I’ve used a Spellbinders scallop circle die as well as a MFT older die frame no longer available.
I had some pretty fairy style papers in my stash and I’ve added those as well as more of the papers from my layered die cut circle from Brutus Monroe called Mermaid Skin Cardstock and lavender cardstock from my stash. I then added some pretty flowers as well as sequins and glitter over the design.
I’ve also stamped a “Make a Wish” sentiment in the bottom right corner of the card.
Here’s a closer look at the Copic coloring I’ve done on the image. I’ve added some glitter to her unicorn horn on the top of her head and I’ve used several different gel pens to add dots and details to the image as well. It was very hard for me NOT to use a purple color on her for the flowers…so I think it incorporated well into the design.
You can also see the wonderful shine over that Mermaid Skin cardstock I’ve used to! It’s just beautiful when you’re holding it in person!
You can also see where I’ve taken some Ranger Stickles to fill the centers of the sequins and add additional drops.
Sometimes it’s fun to just sit and color up gorgeous images like this and I think this was a really good one to practice along with the sketch! I really hope that you’ve enjoyed it as well and has brought you some inspiration today!
Thank you for stopping by and I’ll be seeing you again soon!
Challenges:
Creatalicious – #194 Anything Goes with optional: pearls and/or lace
Hello friends! I hope that you’ve enjoyed your weekend. I’m still spending some time with my husband as it’s a long Labor Day weekend for him. The weather over our way will certainly start to shift now and I’m looking forward to everything Autumn which is my favorite time of the year! Such a great time to be outdoors before the Winter sets in!
Today is our midway reminder over at the {Cupcake Inspirations} challenge blog with our “On the Farm” theme. So if you haven’t played along with us yet, I hope you’re able to share your project with us within the next week! We are enjoying seeing the wonderful creations so far!
Here’s my reminder project for this week:
I decided to pull out one of my past card kits that I didn’t get much a chance to play with and put together a card with that Farmhouse Friends stamp set included with it.
There were lots of different textures included with the kit including that piece of buffalo check pattern mesh fabric that I put a layer of red cardstock, included in the kit, behind it. I ran a piece of brown cardstock through an embossing folder as well as stenciled a cloud background over one of the printed panels included in the kit. I also took some copper DecoFoil Transfer papers and foiled over the printed barns on it. I put together this fun layout with those different pieces, cut them up and then die cut the entire panel with a Wonky Stitched Rectangle die from MFT. I used the die again to cut an additional panel out with some kraft cardstock.
That layer is where I’ve added the stamped, colored and cut out images from the stamp set. I’ve also stamped a sentiment from the set at the bottom of the panel as well. I layered this piece over some more of the brown cardstock and popped it up with foam tape. Before attaching it to the panel, I wrapped some twine around the front panel and added a bow next to the animal panel. I added another layer of brown cardstock behind this and attached it all to an A2 sized top folding kraft card base.
Here you can see the shine from where the printed barns were foiled over the cloud stenciled background.
There was a “stain pen” included with the kit that you could actually use on the tiny wooden fence also included in that kit which you can see as a prop in my photo. But I used it to color in my stamped fence on the card this time. I’ve also taken a white gel pen for highlights on the animals and then I added some glossy accents to the chicken’s head, the pig’s nose and the sheep’s eyes which you can sort of see the reflection of light over those parts.
I lastly added some real wooden dots over the design including in the center of the twine bow.
Have you ever been to a farm or are familiar with the setting of a farm? I grew up out in the country and have pretty much lived most of my life either near a farm or in a rural small town setting, so farm surroundings are very familiar to me and I forget that not everyone has had the experience of it. I can’t imagine not being able to hear the sound of a cow “moo” for instance. If you’ve not been on a farm, it’s quite an experience and lots of hard labor, but also a rewarding experience at the same time…so check it out sometime in your life if you can!
Hope you’ve enjoyed my creation today friends and thanks for stopping in!
