Mix It Up with Mixed Media

Hello friends and a happy July to you! We’re celebrating July 4th Independence Day this weekend and I know it will be hot! I think we’ll be watching fireworks from our TV inside the cool air this year! Hope that whatever you’re doing this weekend that you stay cool and safe while you’re having fun.

Today also brings us to a new challenge over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog. The challenges always run for 6 weeks so there is plenty of time to enter. The theme given for us this time is: Mixed Media or you can always do the ‘Anything Goes” too. Here’s the card that I came up with for the challenge using the theme:

This was such a fun card to make! I normally do mixed media on my art journal pages or a larger/3D item, but this time I wanted to make a card for this theme. I pulled out some really fun AALL & Create products that I’ve been wanting to use and I thought this would be a good opportunity to try them out! (I don’t know what it is about these wonky characters, but I think the weird eyeballs are so cute!) I’ve used the “Coffee Time” stamp set with the girl, coffee cups and coffee beans at the bottom. I’ve also used a Simon Says Stamp “Sunflower Fields” in the background and the “Sending Sunshine” sentiment.

To create the background: I’ve stamped a very large sunflower image in yellow ink over a white card base. I’ve then used an AALL & Create “coffee stains” stencil with brown ink over top. I then ink blended some more brown inks over the edges of the panel and then splattered it with both brown and white paints. I took a pen and doodled around the edges and then attached it to an A2 top folding brown card base. I had a left over strip from a collection of coffee backgrounds that I’ve made in a previous post you can see HERE and attached that to the bottom where I stamped the coffee beans in brown ink over it. (I thought it would make for a good “grounding” for the coffee girl and cups to stand on.)

I’ve used another AALL & Create product called “Heart Nook” that I die cut some circles from, and I thought looked like coffee stains, in glitter cardstock. I also cut an additional strip of that to go along the bottom strip of the card. I then added the stack of coffee cups, the girl that I colored up with Copics and fussy cut out. I white heat embossed the sentiment, die cut and popped both that along with the girl using foam tape. I also separately cut out her eyeball and popped that up over her for extra dimension.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my coffee mixed media card today! I had fun coloring her up and very happy to use more things from my stash too! Please be sure to pop on over to the Mix It Up Challenge blog to have a look at what the rest of the team created and play along!

Have a wonderful July 4th weekend.

Challenges:

Just Us Girls – #781 Stencil Week (coffee stains stencil)
Crafty Catz – #697 Anything Goes
Creative Fingers – #304 Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2526 – Sunshine (hope sentiment and yellow works!)
Addicted to Stamps & More – Die Cut(s) and/or Stencil(s) – I used both!

Lots of Stamp Joy and Summer School Sessions!

Hello friends! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week and looking forward to a great weekend coming up! We are having a heat advisory for the next several days over my way, so I thought it would be a great idea to stay indoors and craft! I also thought this would be a great time to catch up with some posts sharing some things that I’ve worked on the first part of this year that I hadn’t gotten a chance to share with you.

LONG POST – pull up your chair with your favorite beverage and enjoy!

I thought I’d share the Taylored Expressions Virtual Stamp Joy that I did back in March. I actually spent the weekend attending the classes and creating as I followed along. I managed to get all of the projects done the day after the event was over, but failed to post all of what I had made due to the fact that I was busy helping two different people move…and then life just got really busy after that as well! LOL

*I also have added an additional event from Taylored Expressions this last weekend called “Summer School” which concentrated on foiling techniques. Although I’ve done foiling before, I sure enjoyed seeing new products and learning a few new techniques too! (These four cards are at the end of the gallery photos below)*

If you’re on my website, just click on the images below to enlarge the photos and view any details underneath each one. ENJOY!

Dimension Class-ink blending and splattering die cuts

I always love to learn new things with stamping/crafting along with all of the fun new products that come out too! I know I REALLY don’t need to purchase more things, but when cool stuff comes out, it’s really hard to pass it by! I think doing these classes and joining in on different challenges help me to use these fun things up!

So I hope you’ve enjoyed my post sharing all of the things that I’ve been doing! I will have another post sharing more things that I haven’t shared yet too! In the meantime, I’ve also been working on a scrapbook which has been fun and something that I haven’t done in a really long time! A baby can do that to you! LOL

Thanks so much for stopping in today my friends! I’ll be seeing you soon! Have a great weekend!😊

Penny’s Guest-UnFROGettable

Hello friends! Welcome to June! The “lazy days” of Summer are here! I’m hoping I can be lazy this Summer, but not sure about that! LOL

I’m very happy to share my project with you today as a guest design spot I won from challenge #594 at Penny’s Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog! This is a fortnight (bi-weekly) challenge starting today and the theme is always Anything Goes Using Paper! Hope you will stop by the blog to see the team’s inspiration and play along! Here’s the project I made for the challenge:

They gave me this super cute image called “Frogtini” by Pattie’s Creations to use, so I colored him up with Copics and added some stenciled waves at the bottom along with some blending of yellows and blues above him to create this relaxing scene. I cut him out with a stitched circle die and layered him onto a silver mirror scalloped die cut circle.

I used a fun card sketch I found along with pulling some papers and a sentiment out from an older card kit I had in my stash to complete the card. For the A2 sized top folding card base, I used a corner chomper to round the edges and then I used some more of the yellow ink over the background where the circle image was going to be for a bit of softness and color.

I embossed a strip of the silver mirror cardstock with a 3D embossing folder and rounded the edges of that strip along with the green paper strip to create my layout. I popped up the circle image with foam tape over top.

Lastly, I white heat embossed the “unfrogettable” sentiment and cut it out with a coordinating die and placed it at the bottom of the circle with foam strips behind it. I used the other part of the sentiment and stamped it directly above the frog’s head.

For some more finishing touches, I attached some green sequins, used a glitter brush pen for the frog’s sunglasses and covered the martini glass with Stardust Stickles along with some green Stickles for the centers of the green sequins.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today! I had fun coloring him up! Thanks so much for stopping in and I wish you a very hoppy and relaxing day!🐸

Challenges:

Hand Stamped Sentiments – #464 Sketch
As You Like It – Favorite Type of Embossing & why? (I really like both, but my all time favorite is the heat embossing because it’s so magical!)
Crafty Catz – #694 Anything Goes with twist: “make us smile”
Creative Fingers – #302 Anything Goes
Daring Card Makers – Tic Tac Toe (I used across middle row)
Cut It Up – #331 Anything Goes with a die cut (used two circle and coordinating sentiment dies)
Gem of a Craft – #6 Anything Goes Cardmaking/Papercrafts

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Hello friends! Hope that you’re doing well and enjoying the month of May so far! As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been very busy working on projects “behind the scenes” that I will be sharing at a later date. The next couple of posts are scheduled as I will be away until next week. But I need to catch you up on the new challenge for now…

Today starts a new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog! We are now onto the letter “D” and the hostess has chosen “D” is for Dogs *Remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter* I hope you will find some time to play along! Here’s what I’ve created:

I’ve pulled out this adorable stamp from my stash by Newton’s Nook called Birthday Barks and I’ve colored the stack of dogs along with a few extra balloon and gift images with Copic markers and cut them all out with the coordinating dies. (I’ve used a white gel pen for highlights and a silver gel pen for the bottom dog’s collar.) Some of the balloons and gift images were glued on the blue background, but the stack of dogs and a few of the other images were popped up with foam tape.

I’ve used some papers from the Newton’s Nook Birthday Woofs Paper Pad and the blue background was made using a solid balloon image from my stash and stamping it with white ink. I’ve black heat embossed the sentiment from the Birthday Barks stamp set and added a few clear sequins to the background.

This will make a great birthday card for a guy or girl! (I’m sure I’ve probably missed someone’s birthday somewhere! LOL) Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and will stop by the challenge blog to see what the rest of the team has come up with. Pull out those dog stamps and come join in the fun!

Thanks so much for stopping in today and I’ll be back with another post tomorrow!

Challenges:

Allsorts – #824 Anything Goes (Happy Birthday!)
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2521 Anything Goes
Passion for Markers – #790 4 legged Friends (colored with Copics)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
Krafty Chicks – #770 Anything Goes

Mix It Up with Paper Piecing!

This is my second post for today, please scroll down to see the Pearly Sparkles Guest Challenge details or click HERE.

Hello again my friends and Happy May Day to you! I think I’m so ready for May so that I can start being outside with hopefully better weather than what April gave us!

Today also brings us to a new challenge over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog. The challenges always run for 6 weeks so there is plenty of time to enter. The theme given for us this time is: Paper Piecing or you can always do the ‘Anything Goes” too. Here’s the card that I came up with for the challenge using the theme:

Look at this darling little gnome holding on tight to his balloons! I got this adorable stamp from Ink ‘n’ Splatter a while back, but this is the first time I’m using it. He’s called Party Gnome Celebration. *Today is also the start of this company merging back up again with Digi Doodle Studios! Dina has some cute artwork with her digital and clear stamps both! You can see some past creations I made on my blog here under the category: Digi Doodle Studios.*

I’ve stamped the party gnome, colored him and then used some pattern paper from my stash to paper piece onto the balloons. I just stamped the same image over different pattern papers, fussy cut each balloon out and glued each balloon in place.

For the background, I thought it would be fun to use some more of the pattern papers to create inchie squares and make a layout with them. I attached the squares to the card front and then I embossed over top of it with a very old “Dotted Cuttlebug” embossing folder. (If you’ve been a crafter for a while, then you know it’s old! LOL) I black heat embossed the sentiment from the Party Gnome stamp set and cut it out with the same wonky stitched rectangle die set I’ve used for the front panel and popped that and the gnome up with foam tape. I also stamped a few of the confetti image around the sentiment and then topped the card off with sequins.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and I hope you find some time to create for our Mix It Up Challenge as well! Hop on over to the see the inspiration! Thanks for dropping in!

Challenges:

Tic Tac Toe – #269 ( I used straight across middle row)
Can You Handle the Pressure? – Anything Goes with embossing folder with optional: weather twist
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2517 Anything Goes
Penny’s Paper-Crafty – #595 Anything Goes Using Paper

Weather Related at Sparkles Monthly

Hello friends! When I read about the weather from other areas, it always amazes me how different and even to extremes the weather gets especially during this time of the year! I hear everything from rain, sun, snow, tornadoes, flooding, cold, warm, hot, etc. So where do you find your own weather to be at right now? In my area, we have reached past the snow, but it’s still pretty cool at night…so I know that Spring and the rain is here for us with a bright spot of flowers/sprouts starting to come out in the Midwest U.S.

With this in mind, we have a new challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and we have a very fitting theme of “Weather Related” (rain, wind, sun, etc.) this month. Would love to see lots of different varieties of weather related projects, so I hope you’ll join us. Here’s what I came up with:

I was so happy to finally get a chance to use this adorable set by Lawn Fawn called Beary Rainy Day as I’ve had it for a while, but never used it until now.

I started with a kraft A2 sized top folding card base and stenciled some white clouds over it. I then splattered some navy watercolor paint over it.

While that was drying, I worked on my scene. For the background, I took some blue oxide inks in Blueprint Sketch and Salty Ocean and ink blended them on the stitched die cut panel. I used some water to spritz over it for a watermark look. While that was drying, I took another stitched panel and ink blended some Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness Oxide inks for the grass area and die cut a hill to place at the bottom. Before I attached it, I also die cut a white picket fence to go behind it. I placed this scene onto a piece of navy cardstock and attached to the card base.

To complete the scene, I’ve stamped, colored with Copics and die cut the critters, rain puddles and clouds. I used the coordinating raindrop die with the set and just die cut a few raindrops in silver glitter paper to add to the scene. Lastly, I white heat embossed part of the sentiment on navy cardstock, cut out with a banner die and then just stamped the sentiment at the bottom in navy ink. Also hard to see in the photo, but I’ve added some shimmer to the puddles with a glitter brush pen.

That’s all from me today! Hope you’ll stop by the Sparkles Monthly blog is see what the team has come up with using this theme and join us in the challenge! Thanks so much for stopping in as I love to read your comments!

Challenges:

Craft Rocket – #124 Layer it Up
Addicted to Stamps & More – #490 Die cuts and/or stencils (clouds stenciled and variety of die cuts used)
Penny’s Paper-crafty – #594 Anything Goes Using Paper
Crafty Gals Corner – #266 Fill in the Blank: “Adorable puddle jumping!”
Time Out – #286 Pick 2 from list: I picked Stencil & Water + Spots ( I was inspired to stencil some clouds and add some spots (splatter) to go with the colors/clouds of my scene and I was inspired by the water with the rain, puddles and watermark for ink blending)

Thank you to all the challenge blogs for keeping us all inspired to create and play along with our supplies! I try to play along as much as I can.

March AJ Page-Favorites

Hello friends! Here we are again at the end of another month! Although I’ve been really busy this past week, I think I’m ready for March to be over with! Mainly because of this crazy weather and another because I’ve been busy doing things other than crafting! LOL (Must be time for that organizing…er as I like to say “agonizing”!)

Today is our monthly AJ page with my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) who is collaborating with me to “SMASH OUR STASH”! We get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles along with a prompt for each month. I know she always has great inspiration to share, so please check out her blog too! Here’s my AJ page with the “SMASH OUR STASH” March prompt of “Favorite Things”:

I’m sure you might’ve guessed that one of my favorite things to do is obvious on this page! (This craft room actually looks a bit more organized than mine is currently!) I did have so much fun with this one! I’ve used SO many of my favorite things on here: old stamps, mixed company favorite stamps, foiling, heat embossing, coloring (Copics and watercolor), ink blending, die cutting, fussy cutting, using old paper stash, mix of papers, favorite colors, the subject of stamping, my favorite room, wearing sweats, crafting while sun going down, etc, etc, etc. Honestly, this was easy, but it could be because I enjoyed putting it together.

For the background: I used a standard white cardstock base measuring 5.5″x8.5″ and then took some very old Stampin’ Up! paper (Porcelain Prints) to cover the entire size so that I could get the look of wallpaper. I then used some textured woodgrain cardstock from my stash for the floor, the window and the shelves. (The shelves were popped up with a foam strip) I die cut a scallop border in white for the trim above the floor and also die cut a frame for the wall hanging. The sentiment for the wall hanging was gold heat embossed and placed behind the frame. (I sponged some white clouds in there too.) The border at the top was printed off my computer and I used another scallop border die to cut it out. I sponged some brown ink around the edges of the page and added all of the elements.

The stamper girl image was from an old company called “Hambo Stamps” (went out of business several years ago), but I think it’s so cute and funny! This is where the gold embossed sentiment came from as well. Had fun coloring her up with my watercolor pens.

For the window, I used the Taylored Expressions Foil It-Dreamscapes along with the coordinating stencils that I received from Virtual Stamp Joy earlier this month. (I will share my projects in another post later on.) I also used the TE Arch Windowpanes die set to cut out a frame in the woodgrain cardstock over one of the ink blended panels.

And lastly, the little crafty items on the shelves and floor came from the Lawn Fawn Just Add Glitter stamps & dies. I stamped and colored those up with Copics to place on the shelves. I also thought it would be fun to add some glitter spilling from the gold glitter bottle and dumping onto the floor…always a fun thing to happen in the craft room while you ignore it because you’re so intently working on something!

All this page did for me was to remind me that I really need to do more organizing! I hope you’ve enjoyed my page today and take a hop on over to see Carol’s inspiration too! Thanks so much for stopping in today!

(P.S. I’m currently away and it will be a few days before I can reciprocate your comments, but I truly appreciate your kind words of support.)

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Home Sweet Home
Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone – March (no cards)

Y is for YUMMY!

Hello and happy Spring! Hope you’re having a great March so far. We just received about an inch of snow on Spring day, so I hope it starts getting warmed up from here! I’m ready for warmer weather so I can cook out on the grill….YUM! Speaking of that….

Today starts a new letter over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog and our lovely hostess would like to use “Y” is for YUMMY as the theme this time. How fun is that! Remember you have two weeks to join in the gallery to play with us. Here’s my creation for this challenge:

I couldn’t resist getting out this fun “Food Truck” set from Riley and Company to color up! I also paired it with the BBQ Riley to complete the scene full of yummy goodies! The images were both stamped and colored up with Copics. I used the coordinating die to cut out the Food Truck and I just fussy cut with scissors for the BBQ Riley.

Before attaching the images, I used a cloud stencil and blended the background and then took a piece of green cardstock to cut out a grass border for the bottom. I ink blended the edges of the blades and then used a green Copic marker to add some shadowing for the stamped images before placing them down on the scene. BBQ Riley was popped up with foam tape.

Here’s a closer view of the images. I used a liner pen to draw “yum items” under the menu board on the truck with a drawing of a balloon. I also used a silver gel pen to color in parts of the truck, the lights above the “food” word along with the utensils on BBQ Riley and parts of the grill.

I found a speech bubble and sentiment from my stash that I thought would be perfect for this card and stamped it above Riley’s head as he’s holding up a hot dog.

Do you like to stop and eat at food trucks? What’s your favorite? Last summer we went to a small town festival and they served some lemon shake ups at one place along with some BBQ shredded pork and it was so yummy! We also like to grab some kettle corn to take home too.

Did I make you hungry now?! Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and I hope you’ll stop by the Alphabet Challenge Blog to come play along too! We’d love to see your yummy creations! Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by! I enjoy reading your thoughts! Have a great weekend!

Challenges:

AAA Birthday – #71 Masculine
Love to Craft – #85 Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create – Anything Goes with optional: Any Occasion
Unicorn – #107 Boys/Men
Passion for Markers – #780 Add a Sentiment (colored with Copic markers)
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2511 Anything Goes
Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – #250 Anything Goes

It’s Easter at Sparkles Monthly!

Hello friends! Hope your March is going along well and you’re starting to see some signs of Spring coming! We even have a few flowers trying to pop up out of the ground which is so fun to see! I hope they can hold out for a few cold days ahead.

Today I’m stopping in to share my card for the new challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and we have a very fitting theme of “Easter” this month. I think I’m more than ready to start some Spring related projects, so I look forward to seeing the gallery. Here’s the card I came up with:

How sweet is that bunny passing out his colorful eggs! I pull out an older card kit (2019) and it had this adorable Simon Says Stamp set called “Bunny Wishes” (no longer available) mixed in with the kit which I don’t think came with it, but I wanted to use it with some of the other items that were in the kit like the papers. It was like getting a brand new order and forgetting what I purchased! 😆

I also used this beautiful oval die (not available) from SSS that cuts the oval, the flowers and the stitching marks around it. I added a border of grass to place at the bottom and then I stamped the sentiment from the set and also stamped the “Easter” greeting on another piece of light blue cardstock cut with a banner die. The gingham background was cut with a double stitched rectangle die and then I used the oval die to cut an opening for the bunny scene. I added foam tape around the edges to pop up the panel on an A2 top folding pink card base.

Here’s a close-up view of the cute images that I’ve colored with Copic markers, cut out with the coordinating dies and then popped up over the floral oval scene with foam tape. The extra Easter egg behind the basket was just glued to the scene. It’s hard to see in a photo, but I’ve covered each egg with a glitter brush pen. It’s sparkly IRL.

I did recently get this pretty Iridescent White Cord from SSS and took two strands of it to create a bow and then I attached it to the top of the oval. It gives it a nice sheen and I might be using it again soon!

Thank you for stopping in today! Hope you enjoyed my card and will join us for the challenge this month! Have a great weekend!

Challenges:

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2510 Anything Goes
Make My Monday – #247 Use a Die/Punch
Passion for Markers – #779 Dies &/or Punches + markers (used dies and Copics)
Little Red Wagon – #798 Start Easter Projects
Penny’s – #592 Anything Goes Using Paper
Tic Tac Toe – #tttc266 I used 3rd down or middle across
Four Seasons – Spring/Easter

X is for X’s and O’s

Hello friends and happy Friday! The weekend starts and we’ve had some snow blowing around over our way with wind and colder weather, BUT next week it’s supposed to be warmer with Spring-like temps…but that’s the Midwestern climate! It will level out later in the month.

Today is another new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog! Our theme for the next two weeks is “X is for X’s and O’s (as in hugs & kisses)“. We look forward to your entries! I had some fun with this one:

I’ve had this Tic Tac Toe set for years and never even broke it out to use! It was from the My Favorite Things “X’s and O’s card kit (obviously no longer available). I also used those adorable My Favorite Things Bitty Bears (retired) to help with the hugs and kisses part. I’m so happy to be using something from my stash and especially something that I haven’t used at all!

The card was pretty simple as the die cuts for the tic tac toe square were cut in different colors, found some polka dotted papers to match and also used those same papers to paper piece the heart on the top bear. I stamped the sentiment from the kit, popped up the colored and die cut bears with foam tape and added a few purple gems.

Before attaching all of the elements, I applied the polka-dot striped paper to a white front card base that was cut with a double-stitched rectangle die also from MFT, and then attached to an A2 top folding white card base.

Thanks for stopping in today and I hope you’ll join in the X’s and O’s with us over on the challenge blog! Have a great weekend and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

Crafty Animals – #92 Anything Goes with animal(s)
Critter Crazy – #96 Anything Goes with Featured Critter(s)
The Divas That Cut…Paper! – Critters plus a die cut
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2509 Anything Goes
The Neglected Stuff – Anything Goes with neglected item (my neglected item is that MFT X’s and O’s card kit that was never used circa 2017!) About time, huh?!
Crafts Galore Encore – #133 Anything Goes

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