Hello friends and happy weekend to you! As we inch closer and closer to Thanksgiving at the end of this month, I think this is a perfect time to create a few thank you style cards to use throughout the year!
This brings us to a new monthly challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and we have the theme of “Thank you Card” this month. I look forward to seeing all of the projects in the gallery for this one. Here’s what I came up with:
I thought I’d try out a mini slim sized card for this one and the tall larger flower was a great fit for it! I used the Taylored ExpressionsNatures Canvas Card kit (no longer available).
For the background panel, I embossed a kraft cardstock piece with the TE Sketched Plaid embossing folder and the went around the edges with the same color ink and then added some brown and white splatters before attaching it to a mini slim top folding card base. I also die cut a frame from the TE Mini Slim Frame in Frame dies out of white cardstock to place over the embossed layer.
I stamped, hand colored and die cut the flower. I used one of the greeting panels (from card kit) to gold foil and cut out the coordinating sentiment with it to pop up with foam tape over the flower stem. It was then finished off with some gold gem/rhinestones.
I hope you’ve been inspired by my thank you card and will join in the fun with us this month for the challenge! **NOTE** This will be my final project for the Sparkles Monthly Challenge as a design team member. I have enjoyed my time and wish Caz all of the best for the challenge blog in the coming year as well. Thank you!
Hello friends! Happy Friday and happy Halloween too!🎃 I might be having a few treats tonight, but hopefully without any tricks involved! 😉
Today is a new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog! Our next letter is “O”, and our hostess, Helen, has chosen “Oval with One Word Sentiment” I hope you will join in the fun with us! *Please remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter.* Here’s the project I’ve made for this challenge:
I usually make cards with a specific theme, but I rarely make cards with just an “any occasion” involving a simple sentiment like “hello”, so I went with this in mind for the challenge.
After foiling, I pulled out the TE Masking Stencil-Framework (coordinates with the foil panel) and used it to stencil the center oval with the TE Mini Slim Stencil-Trellis in light blue ink. I then took the left over ink from the blending brush and lightly went over the entire inside oval shape. On a separate piece of white cardstock, I stenciled the TE Cottage Charm Stencil & Die Combo and attached the floral spray on each opposite ends of the foil oval. I was trying to go for Autumn style colors for the flowers, but the red tone looks a bit more pink in the photo now that I’m looking at it. I still like it though.
I attached this panel onto a light blue A2 side folding card base, popped up the gold foil sentiment in the center with foam tape and added a couple of gold gems.
I hope you like my card today and you will pop on over to the challenge blog to see the inspiration from the rest of the design team. Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!
Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll be back tomorrow with another post and challenge!
Hello friends! I hope that your October month is going well so far. We’re starting to get some noticeably cooler temps in the forecast as we creep towards Halloween at the end of the month. Love this time of year when those leaves start showing their pretty colors as they fall from the trees! We should be getting that soon as well to clean up the yard! LOL
This brings us to a new monthly challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and we have the theme of “AUTUMN LEAVES & PUMPKINS” this month. I look forward to seeing all of the projects in the gallery for this one. Here’s what I came up with:
I fell in love with this cute scarecrow from Newton’s Nook called Autumn Fieldsand I knew that I wanted to use it for this challenge. I colored up the image along with a few pumpkins and cut them out in the coordinating dies. I was going to add a couple of leaves for the background, but I thought it would be cool to pull out the NN Fabulous Fall Toner Card Fronts and ink blend over it for the background. So I gold foiled the background and blended some various inks to create the background scene for the scarecrow.
I die cut a grassy hill border from Lawn Fawn and inked the blades with a gold ink pad and layered that onto my foiled leaves background. I tucked in the scarecrow and pumpkins for grounding and then white heat embossed a sentiment (from the scarecrow set) that was cut out with a banner die (from MFT- closed). I also used the gold ink pad around that as well.
Hello friends! We’re still having some very warm temperatures with humidity making it worse. With seeing the kids starting back up at school, I am so ready for Autumn weather to get here! Notice I didn’t mention the “W” word…just Autumn! LOL Hope your able to have stable conditions wherever you are.
Today is time to share a new challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and we have the theme of “CAS (Clean & Simple)” this month. I always find this theme great for making a quick card when you need one. Here’s what I came up with:
Although I’ve only used one flower image for my card, I’ve also added a few die cuts and simple foiling on the sentiment to elevate the design a bit.
Here’s a closer view of the flower and foiled sentiment pieces. I forgot to mention that I’ve also dotted the center of the flowers with a silver gel pen.
For the finished card design, I used a regular A2 sized top folding horizontal white card base and then I cut an additional white card front piece from the TE Petite Scallop Rectangle Stacklets dies. I also used the TE Diagonal Stitched Rectangle Stacklets dies to make the slanted stitch marks on the inside of the scallop panel. (this doesn’t cut anything out, it just makes those lines around the edge.)
I placed this panel along with the flower and sentiment pieces over top to finish the card.
Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and that you’ll stop by the challenge blog to see what the rest of the design team has come up with. You have a whole month to join in the fun with us! Hope to see your creation in the gallery!
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 cutsDimension Class-markers over die cutsDimension Class-stacked die cuts for layersDimension Class-liquid watercolor smooshing with die cutsInteractive Class-Light Up CardInteractive Class-Light Up Card pushing button to activate itInteractive Class-Pop Up CardInteractive Class-Pop Up Card when you pull up on the tab to reveal message and flowers pop upInteractive Class-Rip Strip Card – when the recipient pulls on strip, it reveals messageInteractive Class- Spinner Card – bee spins and moves along curved trackSession 1 -stenciling on perforated papersession 2 – watercolor panels using Karin Brush markerssession 3 – stamp a stack using quad stencils to make four cardssession 4 – marker coloringsession 5-ink blending on stamp and embossing over imagesession 6-calendar easel card with message padsession 7 – ink blending over glitter cardstockSummer School-double foil technique and using markerSummer School – clear foilSummer School – foil paste and sprayed foil techniquesSummer School – Foil paste over color cardstock
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!😊
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 usedSO 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.)
Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great month so far and looking forward to a great weekend ahead! I know it’s starting to get “crunch time” with the Holidays quickly approaching us in a few weeks, so it’s time to get those Holiday cards finished up and sent out!
Today starts the November challenge over at Sparkles Monthlyand for this month, our hostess is asking to see Christmas Florals on your project. Be sure to stop by the blog to see what the rest of the team has created for you. Here’s my project for this challenge:
After I foiled the panel, I used the coordinating layered stencils to go over it. I was almost thinking that I might not want to cut the panel out after blending it because I liked it so much, but I wanted to try out the die that cuts each of the blooms out. I love that the center of the large poinsettias has an extra cut in the center to lift up the edges too. I ended up layering two of the poinsettias together for each one for even more dimension. I layered some of the leaves around them and they were popped up over the card with foam tape again.
For the background of the card, I used the TE Sketched Plaid embossing folder over a toffee cardstock. I took some gold ribbon and wrapped it around the two corners with the top one in a bow. I then attached this over a white top folding A2 card base. I used my corner chomper to round the corners of the base and toffee card panel.
Lastly, I die cut the “JOY” letters in white and gold mirror cardstock and attached them by slightly off-setting them before placing on the card front. I added the holly to the “O” and a few more of the tiny blooms that were cut out from the blended panel to finish off the card.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today or have been inspired to get those holiday makes going by joining in the challenge with us this month! I look forward to seeing what you create! Thanks so much for stopping by and I’ll see you soon!
Hello friends! Sending a happy Mother’s Day to all of the celebrating moms this weekend! It’s a beautiful day out today and tomorrow will be too, so I’m going out to plant some flowers that I’ve been wanting to do! I hope that you’re having a nice weekend in whatever you’re doing.
I just wanted to share a card that I had made just for Mother’s Day:
I love how this turned out with all of those blooms bursting out from the antique pail! I’m in the middle of going back over some classes that I’m doing, and this was one of them that I’ve switched up to fit this occasion. The original card had carrots as a base and I didn’t have the flower dies they used, so I made my own version with what I had.
The antique pail, flowers, leaves, bow and foiled sentiment dies all came from Taylored Expressions. The scallop rectangle frame came from My Favorite Things and some of the design papers I’ve used came from Scrapbook.com.
The background papers and large flower came from the same pattern papers as a couple of other flowers and dark green leaves. I used some light pink ink to sponge some of the other flowers and center of bow. The center of the scallop frame has some light green blending, so that it wasn’t so stark white behind the flowers. I also sponged around the antique pail.
I arranged the flowers inside the pail and turned it over to attach with glue over the center of the scallop panel. I popped up the front flower and added some colored gem dots to the center of the flowers and bow. I attached some mirror cardstock to the back of the scallop frame panel to match the foiled sentiment. The sentiment was attached over the pail at the bottom.
It took a little bit of time to cut and arrange all of it, but it was fun to fiddle with.
Thanks for taking some time to stop by and I hope you’ve enjoyed this pail of flowers for Mother’s Day! Have a fabulous weekend whatever you do! 🌼🏵️
Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great week so far and enjoyed a nice Valentine’s Day yesterday with some yummy sweets! We enjoyed some treats of our own! 😉
Today I have a new challenge to share with you for the Sparkles Monthly Challenge blog and this month the lovely Dawn would like to see some “Hearts & Flowers” on your creations! Although Valentine’s Day is over, I think hearts are great for adding any time of the year, so check out the inspiration from the design team and here’s what I’ve made:
I’ve made a mini slim card using the Taylored Expressions Hearts in Bloom Layering Stencils which are so great for mass producing several cards at once. For this card and the other cards below, I decided I wanted to use the TE Hearts in Bloom Foil Panels which works with these stencils. I foiled them with gold foil. I think the foiling adds such a pretty shine and glitter. I also used the TE Love & Hugs Foil Panels for the sentiment and die cut it out with the coordinating die set.
So after foiling everything, I used the stencils to create the pretty bouquet of flowers with the hearts in it and then added a frame around the edge with a TE Diagonal Stitch Mini Slim die that doesn’t cut anything, but adds those slash marks. I used some foam tape to pop up the foiled sentiment and just attached everything to a coordinating mini slim card base.
I couldn’t just make this one to show you, so here is the whole set of cards I’ve made together:
Those stencils create all of these patterns at one time. I just lined the foil panels up at one time and then used each stencil for the colors. If you didn’t want to use the foil panels, you could also just use the stencils on one sheet of cardstock and then cut them apart to make the card fronts.
I found these sets to become very addicting! And just like that, two of them have been sent out!
I’ve been really busy with creating behind the scenes and I will be sharing more soon! I will be around to see what’s been going on with you all shortly! I really appreciate your kindness and support…it really means so much!❤️ Thanks for stopping in!
Hello friends! It’s that time of year when we turn over a new year and then realize that we need a calendar to keep track of our days…at least I do anyway! I don’t feel ready for the year ahead until I’ve got my calendars up and ready to roll! Usually, I’m ready to go by the end of the year, but I ran out of time with the Holidays, and I had planned on giving calendar gifts which I sent late, but I did get them done! I still feel in Holiday mode because of this…Ugh!
So this month I’ve been working on several calendars and spending most of my time coloring them up. It’s been very cold over my way, so I actually enjoyed doing them. Here are a few sets that I sent out for gifts:
I think these Taylored Expressions Feisty Square Calendar Cards are my favorite!😆 I was laughing at each one as I was coloring them up! The cards are already printed and makes it easy to get them colored up and attach them to the Desk Calendars. All of the image cards are blank so that you can use them however. I decided to just create my own background with each one using my markers in different ways while I was coloring them up.
I gave this set as a gift and wasn’t sure how they would choose to be displayed, so I added a magnet on the back of each one and also included a Walnut Wood Display, so they had a couple of options to use.
This next set was put together the same way I did the calendar above, expect these are the Taylored Expressions Scratch-Off cards. (This one is not available in the store because I received the entire set with my Advent Calendar purchase.) I thought these pups and cats were too cute and a perfect gift for someone that has both a dog and cat in their family.
After I colored them in, I added the Taylored Expressions Scratch Off Stickers to cover up the joke punch line. I then used the TE Square Tear Off Calendar dies to create the design around the edges and a layer of cardstock to coordinate behind each one before placing on the calendar cards. I also stamped “scratch off” under each card so that the person can scratch off the joke punch line for every month and see a new joke.
I also added a magnet on the back of each one as well as include a Walnut Wood Display so the recipient can choose how to display the calendar.
Click on the photos to enlarge on website!
Every year I always get the Inky Stamper Calendar kit that gets put together at the end of each year. There is usually a number limit on how many are available each year, so if you are interested, you might want to click on the link to get one because I’m not sure how many more there are left.
These were also fun to put together and color. I chose to stamp my own images and cut them out. You still get the pattern papers and white sentiment strip with each month.
I absolutely love how this calendar turned out! I’ve used the Taylored Expressions Friendly Square Calendar Cards and I thought they were so uplifting. This time of the year positivity is something that is very important to me and can be hard to come by. The days seem to be gloomy and short with little sunshine, so coloring all of these was great to fill my time with.
For this display, you may remember a calendar I had done a few years ago on THIS POST using the TE Snarky Calendar Cards. I’ve decided to update that one and used the same display stand to create this one, which is why I prefer using this stand. It’s nice and durable.
I have gold foiled each card and colored it. I’ve made a new background display card with a layered stencil and I’ve layered everything with gold foil cardstock. I’ve got a bag on the back to store my extra cards so that I can switch them out whenever I’d like. All of the gold shine really catches my eye and is pleasant to view.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my post this afternoon and I REALLY appreciate you taking the time out of your day to leave me a comment. It means very much to me as does your support!
Have a beautiful day and I’ll see you on Saturday for my first Art Journal Page of the year!
