It’s Never Too Latte For a Friend

Hello friends! Hope that your week has been going great so far and you’re getting ready for Thanksgiving Day for my friends in the U.S. that celebrate. So since Christmas is coming up quickly, I thought it would be fun to share a couple of little gifts for a friend you might like to share coffee/cocoa with:

Aren’t these little mini coffee cups with the gift card holder so fun?! I had fun making and gifting them! Of course, I love coffee, but if your friend would rather do a cocoa, that will work for this too! I’ve used this adorable Inky Stamper Latte stamp set to create my project here with that adorable “Rosie” character popping out of the cup. I colored and cut her out with the coordinating die. For the “candy cane” image on the front of Rosie’s cup, as well as the “coffee ring stain” image on the coffee cup sleeve, I used the Inky Stamper Warm Beverages stamp set to accompany my design. (There are some great cocoa images in there to trade off for the coffee too!)

This little mini coffee to go cups were found on Amazon (4 oz cups pack of 50 with lids) and there are tons of videos on You Tube on how to construct the holder for these. I sort of tweaked mine from a die set that I’ve had for years, but there’s no reason to buy a die if you can create without an additional purchase. I’ve added an additional backing with a pocket and thumb opening to hold a Starbucks gift card in.

And then when you open the coffee cup, there is a great place to add some extra treats inside! I chose to add some Bailey’s chocolate truffle candy inside of these cups. You can also see how I decorated the cups with papers that has peppermint candies on them as well as the top of the lid, the cup sleeves with stamping and the red twine wrapped around the lid as well. The little peppermints that I’ve added on the top of the lid as well as on Rosie’s head came from the Inky Stamper Christmas Candy Mix…love that container! The Doodlebug red Gingham/Linen papers come from the Inky Stamper store as well.

And since the lid on the cup was not as secure as I would’ve liked it to be, I decided to wrap the entire thing inside of a gusseted cello bag and tie it up with some more of the red twine, which also made it look like a gift wrapped present too!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my project(s) today and have been inspired to create a fun gift for Christmas too! Thanks so much for stopping in and have yourself a very grateful Thanksgiving Day!🦃

Challenges:

Double D – Hot Beverages
Sparkles Monthly – Dies and/or Punches (both used!)
Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes
Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + coloring
Crafty Catz – Anything Goes optional Christmas
Creative Fingers – Anything Goes

Stretching Out Inky Stamper Products

Hello friends! I hope that you’re having a wonderful week so far! We have experienced our very first snow accumulation this year and it was very pretty on the inside where it’s warm! LOL It wasn’t necessary to shovel as it melted when it hit the pavement/streets, which makes it nice too! I’m excited to be sharing some more Inky Stamper products with you today as I continue on with my Guest DT for this month. This time it’s all about stretching out those products you purchase to get even more out of them which I’m sure we all need during this time of the year!

Isn’t this little mouse gnome the cutest?! I don’t think I’ve seen a mouse gnome before, but this is another brand-new stamp set from Inky Stamper called Gnome, of course!

I’m not only using this same stamp set for both of my projects today, but I wanted to point out that this one above is not a card, but it’s a gift card envelope that I’ve created using the Inky Stamper Mini Envie Die. I love this die for quickly creating the perfect sized envelope to fit your gift card inside, but Chelsea also comes up with fun mini cards in a lot of her kits that work great for tucking inside this envelope too! (There’s a brand-new kit in the store that has just came out using one of the brand-new stamp sets making a mini card in her class.) I also wanted to point out that this die can be cut from one of the 6×6 Doodlebug paper packs sold in the store too!

For the front of my envelope here: I thought it would be fun to create a little scene for my mouse gnome to hang up his stockings! I took a strip from the Doodlebug Buffalo Check/Wood Grain paper pack to place along the bottom and stenciled some bricks for the background. I stamped, colored and cut out the gnome with the coordinating die and I punched a small hole on each side of him where his hands are for the string. I then took some of the “stockings” from the Picket Fence Fireplace Stockings sequins and attached them to the string that wraps around the back of the scene panel. I added a sentiment from the same stamp set, popped up the gnome and attached to a piece of green glitter cardstock and then attached it to the envelope front.

Here you can see the other side of the envelope that I’ve white heat embossed the deer from this gnome stamp set and sponged some white ink around the edges. Now to keep the envelope flap closed, you could wrap some twine or ribbon around it, but I love using the Inky Stamper Papercrafting Velcro because it’s the perfect size for this closure and it’s such a great price! You can see how easily a gift card can fit right inside too!

And here’s another scene I’ve created using this adorable Gnome stamp set, but on a regular A2 sized card this time.

So, as I was using the Inky Stamper Mini Envie Die for my gift card envelope above, I was looking at the other die pieces that come with this set and thought that the stitched triangle die would make for some great pine trees for my little mouse gnome scene. I pulled out some Doodlebug Gingham/Linen as well as the Doodlebug Swiss Dot paper packs to cut out the triangles and design my scene with the “ground” and “snowy sky” too. I placed the “sky” paper down first, added a curved “ground” and tucked in my formed triangle pines. I also tucked in the wooden sign from the stamp set and stamped the greeting over it. This gnome stamp set also has a tiny pipe that you can die cut out which is just the right size for the gnome. You can see that I’ve tucked that in behind the gnome’s hand on the right and I added some “smoke” with a marker on the background too.

I thought that the Picket Fence Woodlands sequins would be perfect with our gnome, so I’ve attached a few over the “ground” area. I also added some Picket Fence Icicles sequins to the “sky” area for the appearance of snowfall in the background. I also added another white “snowflake” to the center of my gold cord bow at the top. This is a great way to stretch your sequins by making it apart of your main scene.

For the glittery “snow”, I’ve covered the pines, sign, the gnome, the mushrooms and “ground” with some white Nuvo Crystal Drops and then covered those areas with some loose glitter while it was still wet. The reason for that is because if you just use glitter, it will dry clear, and I wanted some white to show.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my mouse gnome projects today and have been inspired to see something different with the products that you have in your stash too! Thanks so much for dropping in! Be sure to check out the Inky Stamper Store as well as LIKE the Facebook page to see a live video on Tuesday nights. There is also a fun InkyStamper Inkspiration Facebook Group to join for more inspiration and fun challenges each month too!

Challenges:

Merry Little Christmas – Anything Goes
Jingle Belles – Funny Ho, Ho (punny gnome sentiments)
Crafty Friends – Christmas
Creative Inspirations – Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle
Craft Rocket – Christmas/Winter
Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations – Christmas Celebrations
We Love Stamping – Christmas
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes

Inky Stamper NEW Stamps Inspiration!

Hello friends! I’m really excited to be sharing some more inspiration today as a guest designer this month using some brand-new Inky Stamper stamp sets that were just released! Stop by the store and check them out…they’re so cute!

First, I have a couple of shaped interactive cards for those warm drinks as the temperatures start to cool down. I made one for Autumn and shared it in the Inky Stamper FB Group and was asked how it I made it, so I thought I’d share that one along with another Christmas style version that I made too:

Aren’t these so cute with that little raccoon from the Inky Stamper Warm Beverages stamp set?! The one on the right is the one I made with Fall colors covering the front of the cup with the Doodlebug Gingham/Linen paper pad. I also used the Doodlebug Bon Bon Twine around the cup sleeve.

The cup on the left is more Christmas themed and I’ve used pretty much the same products, but just changed up the colors a little bit. This cup is slightly different because it’s about 1/4″ shorter so that it would properly fit inside an A2 envelope. The Autumn card was a bit snug, so I tweaked the size a bit more on the Christmas to make it fit nicely.

When you pull the lid off the top of the coffee cup, there is an insert with a greeting and/or a place where you can add a gift certificate. These were so fun to create and easy to do! Mass production could be possible for sure!

All that is needed are some measurements and a few tips along the way to get you started. I thought it would be easier to understand with a video, so check that out below or watch on You Tube HERE.

I also had a birthday card that I needed to make for someone, so I thought I’d pull out the new Inky Stamper Hippo stamp set and have some fun with it!

Aren’t these party animals so cute?! I thought this one would be fun to turn into a polaroid style, so I pulled out a square die to create my own polaroid frame with it! I also cut another one in black cardstock so that I had a bit of dimension with it. I stamped the sentiment from the set at the bottom of the frame.

The background behind the Hippo was created by white heat embossing the music note image from the stamp set over some Inky Stamper Watercolor Panels and then using some watercolors for an emboss resist background. I colored up the Hippo, bird and party hat and cut them out to arrange over the background. I added a couple of pieces of the Doodlebug Grey Swiss Dot Washi Tape over top of the Doodlebug Gingham/Linen Paper that was cut out with a wonky stitched die and attached to a white top folding A2 card base. I found a couple of sequins from the Picket Fence Rubber Duckies mix and then filling the centers of them with yellow Stickles.

So many different things going on in this post, but I hope that you’ve enjoyed it and have been inspired to create something too! Thank you so much for stopping in today!

Challenges:

Love to Scrap – Anything Goes
Love to Craft – Anything Goes
Krafty Chicks – Stamp Act
My Time to Craft – Critters
Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + coloring
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
The Corrosive – Anything Goes

Lawn Fawn Thanks+Painting Divas Class Projects!

Happy weekend! It’s very hot here today as we are under a heat advisory! So thought it was best to stay indoors and keep working on my “catch-up” posts! This one is a bit different than my usual papercrafting posts, but it’s my finished projects from the crafting retreat I had with friends right before the wedding and why I was so busy! But first, I’d like to share a fun “thank you” card I made for my friend that hosted it all:

And as you know from my last post, I was on a Lawn Fawn fever mode, so this was also made for my friend that hosted the fun “Painting Divas” retreat for us! This ADORABLE set called Just Add Glitter was a perfect set to use to create a card for the theme as well as those products to accompany it with the Art Supplies dies, Canvas and Easel as well as the Paint Splatter Background Stencil too!

For the background, I created a scene with a brick stencil from my stash that I’ve had for years which was blended on with some grey ink. The bottom solid grey portion of the scene I used that paint splatter stencil and some Distress Oxide colors and blended in over it. By using the oxide inks, the colors showed up better over the grey.

I used these same colors of Oxide inks to sponge over the die cut pieces from the Art Supplies dies as well as the “masterpiece” splatter on the “canvas” and the brick wall splatters. I’ve used some LF Woodgrain paper to cut out portions of the “wooden” pieces and the rest of the pieces were cut from white cardstock and then just colored with Copic markers. I arranged the scene to make it fit the way I wanted and then attached it down with some of the pieces being popped up with foam tape. (The sentiment on the rainbow canvas blob was from a freebie stamp the company is famous for adding to your order.) I had fun making this one and I chuckle at the “I arted” sentiment! 😅

Painting Diva Vicki 2022

For the “Painting Divas” Retreat, we had projects with different teachers and of course you probably recall the Mixed Media birdhouse I did from my past blog post. CLICK HERE TO VIEW POST The theme was on that cute little sign as we arrived…”Gnomes & Fairies & Unicorns & Glitter”…how fun is that?!! We were to create a decorated gift bag to bring with us using the theme and enter for a contest…but totally forgot to bring mine back home for a photo to show! LOL (I am hoping that we get together to share some photos as I wish I had taken more than what I did!)

I took a quick photo with birdhouses everyone finished for my class, and it was so fun to see everyone’s interpretation of how they made their own. I enjoyed seeing what everyone did! (I think two of these are missing in this photo.)

Now, I am not an avid decorative painter and don’t spend a whole lot of time doing it, but a couple of girls at this retreat are, and have been doing it for many years! (even longer than I have been a paper crafter…which is a LONG time! LOL) So I have had the privilege of learning a bit about it. I’m glad to have this time to share something together and doing when we can. I appreciate it and the memories that are made. 🥰

Below is my gallery of projects that I did for each class. I did this in order of when each class was taught. If you’re directly on my website, just click on each photo to enlarge it and also see the description of what the dimensions and types of surfaces that were used. All were hand painted by me using acrylic paints.

Painted over a canvas board measuring 8″ x 10″ with addition of 3 stars, buttons and knob for nose. You could make a face or paint a gnome, so of course I painted a gnome for mine. I went on my own and added twine to the star…not sure I like it.

I have one last project to share which is something I recently finished up before this painting retreat, but it had been sitting around the last few years as an un-finished box not being used.

A few years back, I had gone to a paint convention and purchased this brush box that was hand-made by an older gentleman and vendor at this place. I started it quite a while back and finished up the top portion of the box doing some ombre painting. I added the wooden lettering on the front and some glitter paint to the lettering after it was sealed.

And here’s what the inside of the box looks like with all of my brushes stored in it. (Well most of them anyway! LOL) What I like is that there are separate compartments so that I can organize the different types/styles of brushes in each. The brushes are protected and dust-free. The dimensions of this brush box are 11″ x 7″ x 4″ deep all made with wood. The hardware was removed and then replaced after painting and sealing.

Like I mentioned, I don’t always do decorative painting like this, but since it’s already part of my life and I have accumulated things related to it, I will probably do some things here and there. It’s like a mixed media thing for me as I don’t always do that, but sometimes I enjoy getting things out for something different. I like many different crafts which makes this all so fun for me. It’s nice to have a variety of interests to keep enthusiasm going!

How about you? Do you have interests in other things besides paper crafts?

Stay COOL and safe out there today friends…how do you like to keep cool?

Thanks so much for joining me today and I hope you were inspired in some way on your visit!

Challenges:

Crafty Animals – Anything with an animal (card)
Dragonfly Dreams – Indoor Hobbies (card)
Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes with Dies (card)
Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes with Stencils (card)
Addicted to Stamps & More – Any Occasion (card)
Cardz 4 Galz – Get Inky (card)
Creative Moments – Anything Goes optional: CUTE (card)
Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes (card)

Lawn Fawn Fever!

Hello friends! I have LOTS to catch up on with all of the blogging of projects that I’ve been working on over the last few months, so I will probably share several projects within one post until I can get caught up!

I know that Christmas in July is going on everywhere right now, so I thought I’d share that along with a few other projects I had going on during my “Lawn Fawn Fever” episode! I have loved their cute little critters for so long and hope you enjoy what I’ve made:

It’s been a while since I even played along with a Lawn Fawnatics challenge, so I decided to join this one which is asking to see your Lawn Fawn “Fun with Food” challenge projects. What could be more fun than sharing Christmas cookies?! I’m not sure I’d share any with mice…but these guys are too cute and add some more fun to the scene. They’re a bit older and I know I’ve had the set for several years as it was one of the STAMPtember sets called “Merry Christmouse“.

I used some older Lawn Fawn papers from my stash to create the table and backdrop setting and then cut it out with the Lawn Fawn Outside In Rectangle dies. I used the following sets which include the one mentioned above for my scene: How You Bean?, How You Bean? Christmas Cookie Add On, and Thanks a latte. I Copic colored them and even added a few stamped images over the cookies including some Chunky Glitter.

For the mouse hanging over the hot cocoa cup, I cut around his arms to fit over the cup. I popped up the candy cane as well at the mouse next to the jar for depth on the scene. I added some touches of glitter and then on the mouse Santa hat, I took some liquid applique and heated it up until it was puffy. The sentiment was white heat embossed over the dark chocolate cardstock and then I just used my scissors to cut it out and attach at the top. Really fun scene to create!

I also took part on Friday with the “Hive Five Kit” class they did using the adorable new Hive Five card kit they came out with recently.

For the first card, I made my sentiment too high, so I had to “arrange it” how it worked for me, and I wanted it to be a birthday card instead. The other project was just the hexagon tag. I changed mine into a shaker and then added to a card. I also added the speech bubble on this one.

The products included with the card kit were really fun and I’m glad I got it!

The majority of this card came from a fun little kit that my sweet blog friend Shirley gifted me included with a SWAP that I was in with her. (Details of that are below.) Really love that she included the backdrop for the sky which worked out perfectly! I actually already purchased this awesome Lawn Fawn Platform Pop-Up die along with the Platform Pop-Up Add-on and the Upon a Star stamp set and dies, but she was so very kind to have all of these pieces already stamped and cut out for me! I just colored in the critters and the stars, added a few more here and there along with some glitter, white heat embossed the sentiment over the navy cardstock and put it together.

I hadn’t even broken out my Platform die at the time, so this was my first time putting one together! It looks a little more intimidating than what it really is, so I had lots of fun with it! Thanks so much for sharing the fun with me my friend! I can’t wait to attempt another one soon! (Thanks for helping me with my addiction! 😁)

And as I had mentioned above, I was asked if I’d be interested in joining this “Summer Sampler SWAP” with my wonderful blog friends Patti, Shirley and Donna along with a few other ladies to take part with! When it was described to me, I quickly realized that I had seen these 12″ x 12″ sized papercraft stamped samplers all over Pinterest. Of course, I had thought to myself that would be fun to create and never did.

Each square is 3-1/4″ and we each were to use the same color for the back layer so it was all similar for the finished project to coordinate well. So 9 of us created 9 squares, kept one for ourselves and then mailed out the others to each person in the swap. Really fun to see everyone’s idea here with the theme of “SUMMER” too! I love them all and thought how fun that each one is so different from the others!

This is my finished 12″ x 12″ shadow box framed piece with everyone’s squares that I’ve attached to a wood panel background paper. I have it hanging on the wall. I think this would be so fun for each season or even gifts! Hope we can do another one!😉

And here’s the square that I did for the swap. I zoomed in to take the photo and it’s behind the glass, so it’s not a real great look at it, but as you see, I’ve used Lawn Fawn again! LOL

I had some fun 4th of July papers and thought it would be neat to make somewhat of a shaker element with confetti stars. I’ve used the Lawn Fawn Dandy Day Flip Flop set along with a mouse from the Bubbles of Joy set for the front of my square. I was trying to give the impression that the mouse had a sparkler, and the sparks were flying while the other mouse was enjoying the show. I used glitter and die cut a star from silver glitter cardstock for the center of the dandelion. I added a red bow at the top. I thought with using a shadow box frame that the dimension wouldn’t be an issue and it wasn’t.

There’s always something fun to keep me hopping, so I know you’ll see more soon including the wedding & painting class projects! I promise I’ll get there! Thanks for dropping by!!

Challenges:

Lawn Fawnatics – Fun with Food (first card)
Crafty Gals Corner – Christmas in July (first card)
Krafty Chicks – Christmas (first card)
CRAFT – Christmas (first card)
Jingle Belles – BLING on the Holidays! (first card)
Double Trouble – Christmas in July Thing 1, Thing 2 & Thing 3 (I’ve used old stamp sets, papers and added some fun bling on my cookies -plus added to the partner challenge in first card!)
Alphabet – ‘H’ is for Holidays (first card)
My Time to Craft – Christmas in July (first card)
Papercraft – Christmas in July

What? It’s Christmas Already?!

Hey there friends! Wow, so my last post was Thanksgiving and I pretty much missed the entire month of December it seems like, right?! It has been a very crazy month with lots of different things (including personal) going on so pardon me for going MIA!

I HAVE been working on some projects here and there and I would be happy to share those, but for right now, let’s focus on the Christmas projects that I’ve been working on getting ready for the up-coming Holiday next week!

I have already sent out my Christmas cards, thank goodness, as I wasn’t even sure that was going to happen either! I was very impressed with the new Taylored Expressions Create-in-Quads Mistletoe Layering Stencil and how quickly I was able to knock out 4 card panels at a time, which was a huge time saver to get my Christmas cards finished up! There is actually a set of 4 designs here (like shown below), but I was in the middle of addressing the cards and forgot to photograph some before shoving into envelopes! LOL This set was using the white cardstock with the green and red colors which turned out very pretty. I also used the red glitter paste for the highlights on the berries.

And here is the other set of four cards that I made using the Toffee colored cardstock with green and white inks for the stenciling. I’ve also splattered these with brown and white paint. The sentiments were white heat embossed over some TE Chocolate Truffle cardstock and cut out with some MFT dies. Before attaching to the pre-made white A2 card bases, I also wrapped some twine around some of the panels or added a bow with it. (I love the homespun look of the white mistletoe!)

These all turned out great because they were pretty much flat and fairly easy to mail off. I think I was short just a few which is where I’m glad that I still have a few extra cards that I had made throughout this year and I have previously given out some “extra special” Christmas cards earlier in the year as well. I think you may have already seen them from a previous post…I will have to take a look and see under my “Christmas” section!

If you’re looking for a last-minute Christmas gift/tag, these wood slice things are so quick easy and fun to create! I’ve had a huge box of these wood slices for a long time, so I pulled one out to make a project for the Inky Stamper December challenge on FB. I had hubby drill out a hole for me at the top before decorating so as I knew where to put everything.

I’ve used the Inky Stamper Christmas Bauble stamp set for the stamping on the wood and colored in with pencils and gamsol. I’ve added details with a glitter brush pen on the ornament and added some snowflakes with Nuvo White Crystal Drops. I had to mask the frog to stamp the Santa hat on him. I’ve used some silver twine for the hanging portion and then I glued a silver bow with some silver ribbon from my stash under the hole.

And lastly, I’ve also been working on some commissioned cards as well! Last year, I had a request from someone to create a special Christmas card for his cleaning lady. I had him pick out an image and asked about the colors…you may remember it as I had posted it last year.

a few months back, someone had asked me to re-create the same design for them with pretty much the exact design with the exception of the sentiment which I changed out for this person. This one went to another country and I was concerned about the shipping costs, but it was not a problem. The package had taken an unexpected journey because of the crazy mailing system going on at this time, but it arrived eventually and was in “perfect condition” as reported to me, so I was so thrilled with that and they seemed very pleased with it.

With the square size of the design (5″ x 5″), I’ve handmade the envelope for this one as well. I found the exact papers used in the designs for these cards, but I don’t think I have any more left after completing this one.

Here’s how I’ve decorated the inside of the card and left blank as requested for their own personal use.

So now, I just want to take this time to say THANKS SO MUCH for hanging in there and stopping in today! I don’t have too much time on my hands right now as I’m getting ready to make some Christmas treats and the Holidays will soon be over. I hope you are all doing well and I wish each and every one of you a very safe, happy and healthy Holiday Season!

See you again in the New Year 2022 friends!!

Hey! Let’s Squash It! I’m Guest Designing!

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great week! I’m stopping in today as a guest design spot winner to share a fun new challenge today over at the Let’s Squash It! Challenge Blog!

I’ve just recently discovered this challenge blog a few months ago and thought it was fantastic because I have so many embossing folders and I know I only use them a fraction of the time creating cards. I thought that this would give me some inspiration to use them and learn fun new techniques with them to stretch out the use as well! I had won on a previous challenge so was asked to be a guest designer for them in this month’s challenge! How exciting!

So, for the challenge this month, they ask that you “use some stenciling over your cards and then use an embossing folder over it“. So, this had me thinking and I don’t really recall doing this before! So of course, you start pulling out tons of stencils and then grabbing the embossing folders to see what looks you might achieve with the idea and here’s what I thought of…

I love how it turned out! I’m so thrilled that the card is pretty much flat first of all. It has only the card front layer attached to the card base and then the sentiment strip. Great for mailing a Christmas card!

I took the Taylored Expressions Rectangle Masking Stencils and then also added a Snowflake Masking Stencil (unknown from my stash) so that I could line it up properly over the rectangle area. I started by ink blending with TE inks in a rainbow color pattern in a diagonal direction. BEFORE removing the stencil, I sprayed it with some Shimmer Spray. I lifted off the snowflake mask being careful to leave the remaining rectangle stencil in place and then I took the “negative” snowflake from the stencil to cover it up. I then used some blue tones of TE ink over the rectangle stencil in a straight across direction with the rainbow snowflake being covered up. Once I was happy with the ink blending, I removed all stencils.

Lastly, I took the entire stenciled panel and ran my Sizzix Winter Snowflakes Textured embossing folder over top of it. That added bit of an embossing folder really stepped it up! I also rubbed over top of the impressions with a white ink pad on the colored sections to make it pop a bit more.

I white heat embossed the sentiment from Taylored Expressions Mini Strips Holiday and die cut it out with the TE Mini Strips Asymmetrical Die over a TE Blue Corn cardstock piece which was what the card base is cut from too. Popped up the strip with foam tape and finished with some silver sequins.

So, I hope you’ve enjoyed my creation today and that you’ll pop on over at the “Let’s Squash It!” Challenge Blog to check out the challenge this month and play along with us too! Looking forward to seeing what everyone’s comes up with for this one! Thanks for stopping by today and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

Creative Inspirations – Wonderful Winter/Feeling Festive
Crafty Creations – #427 Anything Goes
Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
Dragonfly Dreams – Christmas/Winter
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
Christmas Crafts All Year ‘Round – Letters ‘U’, ‘V’ or ‘W’ for inspiration (I used “W” for winter!)
Merry Little Christmas – Anything Christmas Goes

It’s the Handmade For Holidays Release at Taylored Expressions🎄

Hello friends! I’m so excited to share the “Handmade for the Holidays” release at Taylored Expressions today! You can go check out all the things right now in the store! I’m extra excited that I get to be a part of this special release with them as a guest designer too! (This was for my win during the TE 13th birthday celebration challenges I had entered from last month! 🎉 Yay!) There will also be a huge post about it on the Taylored Expressions Blog too! I really hope that you enjoy the projects I’ve made to share with you and if you stop by the store, please let Taylor know that I sent you!

For my first set of projects, I’ve made a fun Christmas décor item that you can gift for the Holidays, use as a center piece for your table setting, etc. I’ve taken the Taylored Expressions (new) Accordion Tree die and used it to make a trio of trees with the “poinsettia style” attached to the accompanying TE Tree Stumps (sold separately) to go with this die and another two trees without the stumps. For the trio of trees, I’ve used the Merry Blooms Stamps, Stencil & Clear Combo set to create a background over a Toffee cardstock base inking and blending with Sweet Basil, Cherry Pop and Mulled Wine inks. I’ve also used the same products to make the tag as well. I’ve gold heat embossed the centers for the poinsettias in the background. I’ve also taken the TE (new) Itty Bitty Sentiments Holiday stamp set and used the tiny images from the set to create backgrounds for the other two trees. I’ve splattered the tree backgrounds as well as the tag background with acrylic white and gold paints. These die cut trees were glued back-to-back with the score line in the center as a guide which makes them 3D looking. I’ll explain each item below:

This was such a fun 3D project to create! I wanted all the trees together in one piece, so I thought it would be fun to grab one of these wood slices I’ve been hoarding forever and glue the trees to this base. There is an accordion star that comes with the accordion tree die, but I thought it would be fun to take the TE Perfect Poinsettia die and cut out several of the smallest bloom to make that the “star topper” for the poinsettia tree. I’ve used the coordinating stamps to stamp the “veins” and gold heat embossed the centers for them. I folded them in half and glued it to the top of the tree. I also attached some TE Gold Drip Drops for the “ornaments” over the tree (TE Drip Drops make perfect “ornaments” for these trees!) and added some gold twine bows front and back. I’ve ink blended the edges of the poinsettia tree with Toffee ink and gold paint sponged on the poinsettia topper.

This is what the other side (back) of this piece looks like…so it’s visible from all angles. Here you can better see the other two trees and how the backgrounds were made. I’ve also added some thick white paint to the edges of them to make it look more like “snowed over” trees especially since they were splattered with white paint. For the wood slice that the trees are attached to, I’ve used some Ranger Mica Flakes for a bit of sparkle attaching it with Multi-Medium Matte glue.

For the tag, I’ve die cut the background explained above with the TE Stacklets 2 die and wrapped some gold twine around it with the TE (new) Itty Bitty Sentiments & Tags Holiday set for the little tree with the gold heat embossed sentiment over it. I’ve also gold heat embossed the large sentiment from the Joyful Season stamp set & dies that I’ve popped with my favorite product TE Sticky Strips. I’ve cut out another layering piece behind the tag with Sweet Basil cardstock, punched a hole and added more gold twine.

And how stinkin’ CUTE are these guys?! This is my second set of projects for this release using the NEW TE Snow Squad Dies & Clear Stamp Combo set. As you can see, the cute die cut critters are made to perfectly fit the Tag Stacklet dies! I’ve the Tag Stacklet 2 die set for my sweet penguin! The critters are so easy to cut out and decorate them as you like! I like that the clear stamp set comes with it to stamp in the eyes as those tiny dots can be so hard to deal with and loose! You get a penguin, a polar bear and a snowman with this die set!

Again, I thought it would be fun to create a background for my card and tag set, so this time, I’ve taken the TE Let It Snow Layering Stencil set for a snowy background. I’ve started with a Mint Julep cardstock base, blended the same color ink for the first layer, Sugar Cube ink for the second layer and for the third layer, I’ve used some TE Glitter Grab and immediately covered it with some TE Silver Glitter. Love how it turned out with the subtle color!

Starting with my card details, I’ve decided to give the snow squad critters soft colors with their scarves. The clear stamp set with the dies also come with a two-line image for adding details to the scarf, so I silver heat embossed those and then added some matching TE Tiny Diamonds Pastel in between those lines. They matched up perfectly! I inked around the edges of each die cut piece for the critters and stamped the face images including the cheeks which I off-stamped first to keep them light. I used a white gel pen for highlight details.

I thought it would be fun to have these Snow Squad critters pop out from a snow drift, so I took some TE Sugar Cube Glitter Cardstock and cut out a “snow drift” with a piece of the their scarves over it and popped them up over the snowy background I’ve created using a TE Diagonal Stitch Rectangle Stacklets for the stitching details behind them which was layered over an A2 sized Sugar Cube top folding card base. For the sentiment, I silver heat embossed it from the TE Winter Wishes clear stamp set over a Mint Julep cardstock that was cut out using the TE Stitched Banner Stacklets die.

And of course, I had to use the penguin again for my coordinating tag! I’ve used part of the same background I’ve made for the card and cut it out using the TE Tag Stacklets 2 die set with another Sugar Cube cut out for the layering base.

I did the same thing for this tag that I did for the card above with the snow drift, but I also added a tiny tag that he’s holding with some Doodlebug Gray Twine. The tag was created with the same TE (new) Itty Bitty Sentiments & Tag Holiday sets. I’ve stamped the row of tiny trees from the set with the Mint Julep ink and then silver heat embossed the sentiment above it. I’ve also used more of the TE Tiny Diamonds Pastel for the center of the bow on the present along with the penguin’s scarf. I’ve punched a hole at the top and added more of the same twine at the top.

So how about you?! Are you ready for the up-coming Holiday Season? I sure hope that I was able to bring you some inspiration with your handmade projects for the Holidays! Again, you can check out all of the brand new Taylored Expressions products in the store as it’s now been released! Be sure to check out all of the wonderful inspiration on her blog too!

Thanks so much for stopping in today! I appreciate all of your kind support friends! Have a great day!

Challenges:

Happy Little Stampers – OCT Anything Goes with Dies (all projects are using dies!)
Simon Says Stamps Wednesday – NOT a card
Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
Krafty Chicks – Christmas
Creative Knockouts – Embossing (I used heat embossing)
The Crafter’s Cafe – Use a Stencil (used on all projects)
Creative Fingers – #217 Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes

Adelina Fairy from Digi Doodle Studios Celebrating Peace & Happiness for 2021🎉

Hello friends! It’s New Year’s Eve and I’m so excited to kick this year to the curb…how about you?! Whatever your plans are to ring in the New Year, please stay safe and enjoy sharing with those you love for hope of peace and happiness in the New Year for 2021!❤🎉

Today, I have a card that I’ve made for a challenge deadline and needed to have it in by today, so I wanted to be sure to share it with you all:

This was actually a “Digital freebie” from the Kit and Clowder Group Advent Calendar of Events they do every year. Digi Doodle Studios gave away this darling image called Adelina-Fairy.

I made this card and colored up this sweet image as the Digi Doodle Studios Facebook Group was holding a special “coloring challenge” using this specific image and I wanted to make sure that it met the deadline for getting it in and so I actually posted it in there yesterday, but I’m posting on my blog today along with more photos and details.

The image is beautiful with her poinsettia flowers and so I wanted to be sure to color it up with red and green colors in mind…although I think she would be great for ANY occasion as well as coloring the flowers differently. I used some die cut circles for cutting her out with and then layering her over a die cut piece of gold mirror cardstock.

I’ve used some poinsettia decorative papers from my stash for the background and layered some red poinsettia embossed strips layered with gold mirror cardstock over the background before adding the layered circle image on top. The embossed strips also had white ink rubbed over top lightly to emphasize the textures. I white heat embossed a sentiment and cut it out with a banner die to place on the bottom corner with craft foam which is what I also added behind the image circle panel too.

Before attaching the bottom strip to the card, I also added some gold cord and a bow. I finished off the card with three poinsettia flowers from my stash. The entire card measures 5″ square.

Here’s a closer view of the image and how I’ve got her colored up. I added some really subtle shading with my Copics underneath her legs for shadows. I did my usual white gel pen for checks and hightlights and then I used a gold gel pen for coloring in the dots on her wings and in her hair.

Really enjoyed coloring this gorgeous image and it’s awesome that I now have another Christmas card ready for next year as well! Thanks so much for stopping in today! Hope that you’ve enjoyed my final card and post for the year.

I want to thank each and every one of you for the wonderful support, kindness and friendship you have given to me this past year. It really means so much to me and it’s been quite a year of creativity too! I see that so many of my favorite companies are represented as my top photos which tickles me so much!

Here’s to wishing us ALL a happy, healthy and prosperous life in 2021!!🎉

See you in the New Year friends!

Challenges:

Digi Doodle Studios Facebook Group – coloring challenge
Double D – Poinsettia
Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + coloring
Creative Moments – #205 Anything Goes
Die Cut Divas – Anything Goes December

Christmas Chaos Finish Line…

Hello friends!! I sure hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas! I am sure looking forward to starting a New Year as well! Moving on to positive things for sure! 😀

**Needed to apologize for anyone who subscribes to my blog via e-mail and couldn’t get the link to work from my last post. I don’t know what happened, but it got “wonky” when I scheduled it. CLICK HERE for the link to that post if you didn’t get a chance to view it.** THANK YOU!

Although I’m finished with sending out my Christmas cards, I still enjoy creating for Christmas and can ALWAYS get a good start on Christmas cards for the next year too, so that’s what this fun “Bugaboo Holiday Chaos” challenge event has allotted me to do and have some fun! So, this post will finish up the last of my projects for that event before the deadline is up! (To see the first 3 challenge projects, I made CLICK HERE for that post.)

Here are my projects to finish up the challenges:

This card was made for the Holiday Chaos Bingo Challenge on Day 4. There was also this really adorable freebie up that day, so I wanted to be sure to grab it while it was available. This is the Kidz Reindeer image and I enjoyed coloring him up for my card here. For the Bingo, I used the middle row across, but could also have used the first row down or first square diagonal too. (See photo below)

I happened to have some Christmas Lights pattern paper with some of the green lightbulbs foiled on it. I thought the green shimmer ribbon would go well with that and break up the “busy-ness” of it! I took a Christmas Lights die from Lawn Fawn to attach across the card and image panel and then white heat embossed a sentiment at the bottom. I’ve used some glitter for the snow around the image and then I’ve covered all the Christmas Lights with glossy accents.

If you know Bugaboo Stamps, then you got to love Stella! 😂 This was made for Day 5 Holiday Chaos with the theme “Make Us Laugh”. So of course, my mind went to Stella, and I thought this Stella Calendar November was a good one for a laugh about now as we were just hit with a winter storm with snow and ice.

Found some snowflake papers and paired her with some purple colors along with just adding some silver glitter snowflakes to the design. I added a button in the center of one of them and attached a sliver bow over top.

Stella’s glasses were colored in with a gel pen for the shine.

This card was created for Day 6 Photo Inspired Challenge. I thought it was such a darling photo and I noticed that the deer in the photo was so large compared to that little girl and so I was trying to capture that detail about with the photo by making the Bugaboo Ornament Element and this cute moose that was actually part of a tag image that I fussy cut out and attached him to the ornament. (I can’t find the moose I used in the store.) I die cut a snowflake and the “believe” word to attach over top of the ornament. I then took the sweet Bugaboo Ava Mistletoe Fairy that I’ve colored and fussy cut out in a smaller size to place on my scene.

The scene was created with some white Glitterstock that was die cut with a hillside border die with some die cut pines behind it. I also used an embossing folder for the snowfall in the background. I colored the snow with a Copic marker under the images before I attached them to the scene.

And this card was made for the final Day 7 color combo challenge. Plus, there was this really fun and cute freebie during the event that I grabbed up again before it expired, but it’s the Bugaboo AKV Reindeer Skate image. I colored him up and even created an “ice rink” for him with a pen and then used a Copic marker to make a “skating trail” inside the rink and then I covered the entire area with a glitter pen for shimmer. I also stamped some snowflakes above him and dotted the centers with a gold gel pen which was also used to color part of his scarf with.

I added some papers to the opposite side of the image panel and lined the center between with gold foil paper. I also gold heat embossed a sentiment over a red banner at the bottom and attached three gold accents at the top too. The base of the card is kraft. Hopefully I have met all the challenges. 😉

Thank you SO MUCH for joining me here today friends! I will be back with just one more project for tomorrow as I need to meet another deadline for a challenge…so I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges: