Hello friends! It’s getting closer to Valentine’s Day and Sending out love to others is a good reason to make cards! I’ve joined a couple of challenges to play along with:
I have fallen in love with these card layout dies from Newton’s Nook called A2 Card Layout Die and was also able to use as part of a sketch for a challenge that worked with it. The die made it very easy for the layout. I’ve also used some Newton’s Nook papers as well as a new Valentine themed stamp set that came out in December.
For the postage stamp on the card, I’ve taken the NN Postage Stamp Layout die and cut one in turquoise and then another in white. One for the inside and one for the frame. I cut it apart so that I had several postage stamps. I stenciled clouds on the turquoise insert and added the heart balloons from the NN Valentine Postage Samplerset over it. I stamped, colored and cut it out with the coordinating die. I also white heat embossed the number at the bottom.
I took the same stamp set and stamped some random hearts on the center kraft cardstock panel. The sentiment came from the NN Sending Hugs stamp set (retired) and was white heat embossed over the hearts.
For the die cut turquoise hearts, I’ve used the NN Charming Hearts Frame die. It cut out three hearts that I could use for accents on this card. I’ve attached the entire design over an A2 top folding kraft card base and finished it with some heart shaped sequins.
Thanks so much for joining me today! I hope you’ve enjoyed my card or found some inspiration!
Hello friends! It’s already closer to the end of our first month for 2025 and I hope you’re staying warm and/or cozy where you are!
Today I’m excited to share that I’ve joined the Alphabet Challenge design team! I’ve been playing along with the challenges for a few years, so this will be a fun one! Please be sure to check out the challenge blog to see how to play as we go through the alphabet letters every-other week (fortnight) for each new challenge.
For this challenge, we are at the letter “U” for Underwater and here’s what I’ve come up with:
Now how cute are these smiling underwater critters?! It was hard to believe that going through my stash that I didn’t have much of any underwater critters besides mermaids, but last year I saw this adorable Doodlebug Sea Life stamp set on sale and decided to add it to my collection. This is the first time I’ve used it.
For the background: I’ve taken my Distress Oxide inks and ink blended the colors Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint sketch over some Bristol Smooth watercolor paper. I sprayed it with water and blotted it up with a paper towel. I used a stitched wave die cut border at the top and another wavy landscape border die for the sand at the bottom with kraft cardstock. I’ve used markers and gel pens to create “dots” for the sand and then attached it to the ink blended panel. Once I had it all attached, I cut out the entire panel with a stitched rectangle die and then attached it to an A2 sized top folding kraft card base.
I stamped several of the images and colored them with Copic markers and die cut them out with each coordinating die. The “seaweed” was part of the coordinating die set that I inked over in green Oxide inks and then attached all of the images to the underwater scene.
Lastly, I white heat embossed a sentiment from the stamp set (it says: “with oceans & oceans of love”) in the top corner of the card base and stamped some blue solid hearts from the set for “bubbles”. I couldn’t resist adding some googly eyes to the crab too.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and hop on over to the challenge blog to play along with us! I look forward to seeing your underwater creations in the gallery!
Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll see you tomorrow for my monthly Art Journal Page!
Hello friends! For those of us that experience the cold weather season for January, I hope you’re finding ways to keep warm. I have been wrapping myself in blankets with fluffy slippers around the house…and yes, I have the heat up too! LOL I think I seem to feel the cold more as I get older in age! This week will be really cold for us here. So I suppose that’s why they say “January Blues”?🥶
Anyway, that brings me to the January challenge over at Sparkles Monthlyand for this month, our hostess is asking for “January Blues” (monochromatic blue) on your project. Be sure to stop by the blog to see what the rest of the design team has created for you. Here’s my project for this challenge:
Usually, when I think of blues, especially in January, I tend to think of snowflakes. I wanted to do something a bit different and decided to pull out my blue tone alcohol inks and make a background. It was really fun to play around with, and of course, you make a panel and make more than one to save for other cards! Blue makes for such a great masculine card too.
I found some cardstock to match up with the background and die cut the alcohol panel with a stitched rectangle die, layered it over a piece of white to attach to an A2 sized top folding blue card base. (I’m glad that I’m using some older items from my stash as I think this is old Stampin’ Up! paper that needs to be used! I THINK it’s Pacific Point?)
I pulled out a leaf die from Taylored Expressions called Subtle Sprigs and cut one in white to place over top the alcohol background. I also used the TE On Occasion stamp set by white heat embossing over blue cardstock, cutting it out with the die and placing it over the background with the sprig.
It’s a very simple card, but I wanted the alcohol background to take the stage on this one.
I hope you’ve been inspired today to play along with us this month for the challenge at Sparkles Monthly! (P.S. This will also work with the Monochrome challenge at Mix It Up this month too!) Thanks so much for stopping in today with your kind support! I really appreciate it! See you soon!
Hello friends! Just popping in with a quick post to share a card I’ve made for a few challenges.
This year, I’m going to try and “shop my stash” instead of buying and buying and buying all the things. YES…I know it’s easier said than done, but I’ve joined a fellow crafter that I’ve known for a long time to join in her monthly challenge prompts in her group on FB (This & That With Danni’s Dreams) to help keep me motivated in spending less. I’m sure she’d love you to join her, so check it out. Her monthly prompts are from her “Use Your Stash” challenges that she just started this year.
Her themes/prompts for January 2025: gnome(s), embossing folder, border die/punch, heart(s) and 12×12 paper. (You can choose one, several or all.) Here’s the card that I’ve made “Using My Stash” with ALL of the prompts:
I think gnomes are cute and I happen to have several stamps, so it was no problem finding one of those! I’ve used an older gnome set from Whimsy Stamps Gnome One Like You. I colored him up with Copics, but I fussy cut out the gnome and the heart balloon to pop up over the image on the circle that I’ve stenciled some pink clouds on.
The background has an older Sizzix embossing folder not sure of the name, but it’s a 3D embossing folder with hearts piled up. The embossing folder and hearts was another two of her prompts. I splattered some gold watercolor over the background before placing it over an A2 sized top folding cream card base. I also used a corner chomper to round the edges of the right two corners.
I’ve used some very old 12×12 papers from Stampin’ Up! called “Fan Fare”. I hoarded it for a long time and even wrote the coordinating colors on the back of the package! It’s high time to use some of it up…even if it’s a small strip! I’ve also taken the Whimsy Stamps Basic Border dies (not available any more) to cut a mirror gold strip along the edge of the papers. (The remaining of her other prompts used.)
I gold heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set over a piece of the cream cardstock. I cut it out with a banner die and sponged some light pink ink around the edges. Lastly, I covered the heart balloon with a glitter pen and added a couple of tiny sequin hearts around the gnome.
I had a great time pulling out items from my stash and it felt good to be using them! I certainly plan on doing more of these every month! So stay tuned for more posts to help “Use Your Stash”! Thanks so much for dropping in! See you again soon!
**DON’T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY I’M OFFERING IN THIS POST – THERE’S STILL A FEW DAYS LEFT TO ENTER!**
Hello friends and welcome to the New Year of 2025! Hope that you’ve had a wonderful and healthy Holiday Season and ready to start the crafty year! I look back and can’t believe that I’ve been blogging since 2006…next year will be 20 years of blogging! Holy cow! Should I have some sort of celebration?
Today not only starts a brand new year, but it’s also the start of a new challenge over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog. ( NOTE:The challenge blog has recently been taken over by Tina, but it’s running the same way that Leslie had been running it…so hope you can join along as you always have or if you haven’t yet, sure hope to see your creations over there!) The challenge will run for 6 weeks so there is plenty of time to enter. The theme given this time around is: Monochromatic (meaning shades of the same color) or you can do the ‘Anything Goes” too. Here’s the card that I came up with for the challenge using the theme:
Of course I chose shades of purple for my design in the Taylored Expressions colors: Eggplant, Dried Fig and Macaron. I also used the floating technique with the circle of acetate and the different strips attached and popped up with foam tape strips. Very easy and fun to do!
The “thanks” sentiment and strips were white heat embossed over the Eggplant color and cut out with the coordinating dies. The little hearts were also apart of the die cut. I then added some purple color rhinestones to finish it off.
I’ve used a VERY old embossing folder by Cuttlebug…do you remember that thing? I attached the embossed piece to a side folding A2 Eggplant card base and added a white panel with a sentiment on the inside.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my first card of the New Year or have been inspired to create a monochromatic card as well to enter in the challenge with us!
Thanks so much for stopping in today and I look forward to seeing all of your crafty inspiration throughout the year! See you soon!
Challenges:
Creative Inspirations – Something Old/Something New (I’ve used a VERY old embossing folder!)
Hello friends! Just wanted to pop in to wish you all a Merry Christmas and to share some final Christmas creations that I’ve made basically within the last few weeks! Some of these are cards that I’ve sent friends and family and some are recent makes for Craft Roulette challenges.
(These are money holders for Christmas with recycled wrapping paper)
(This is a diagonal joy fold card design)(Tri-Panel Card for me was 3 layer panels on the front! LOL)
(Always stepping on those tiny gems on my floor!)
Hopefully the next several cards have been received by everyone they were sent to, but if not, maybe the surprise will be which one you will get! I don’t like making several at one time, so I’ve split up the design in sessions using the Taylored Expressions Make It Merry Stamp Set along with the Happy Half Sheets: (I’ve made my own “map” with the images)
Hope you’ve enjoyed all of my Christmas projects this year and a very special thank you for being apart of the crafting journey with me! I’m so thankful for the friends I’ve met along the way!
ALERT!! GIVEAWAY!!
Since this is the season of giving, I would like to gift someone that would like to receive this set that I have collected myself (over the entire year as an extra) to give away to someone:
If you’re NOT familiar with Taylored Expressions, this is a collection of the “freebie” rubber stamps that a person receives when placing an order. Each month the stamp image changes to something else. I have not only collected a set for myself, but I’ve also collected another entire set (12 rubber stamps) to give to someone else that would like one! I have included the sturdy laminated Collection card, in addition, a sturdy plastic sleeve in which to store it all in. Plus, I’ve also included a set of 2025 tear-off calendars in a package of ten to go with it!
You can purchase these in the store here under the Pretty Postage Collection, but I’m giving them all away in one set for the entire year as I’ve collected them. I did NOT include the Pretty Postage die set that cuts out the images, but you can purchase your own by clicking on the link.
If you are interested in this give away from me (no affiliation with any company), please just leave me a comment below to tell me that you’re interested in the give away. THAT’S ALL YOU NEED TO DO, BUT YOU HAVE TO TELL ME IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN GIVE AWAY!
You will need to leave your comment below by January 3rd, 2025 to enter. I will announce here on my blog who won by January 5th, 2025. (The winner will need to be in contact for mailing out prize.)
P.S. If you have been collecting and looking for one you’re missing, let me know which month and I’ll see if I have it as I have several months that are extras! (I know that I do NOT have any August left, though.)
Just wanted to send out a little Christmas cheer to a crafty friend! It doesn’t matter where you live, I will be happy to mail it out…so please don’t let that stop you! It’s just a special gift from one crafter to another to enjoy!
Thank you for making my crafting journey a special one and for joining me here to share inspiration with one another! Looking forward to more in the coming year!
Wishing you and yours a VERY Merry Christmas with lots of joy and love!
(I will be back after Christmas (Saturday) to share an art journal page with you!)
Hey friends! Wow, how in the world did Christmas get here so darn fast?! I feel like we just got through Thanksgiving and then things were a blur after that!😳 So, I’m also now realizing that it’s been a whole month since I’ve posted! YIKES!
Since it IS December…and the middle of it…that means today starts the December challenge over at Sparkles Monthlyand for this month, our hostess is asking to see Christmas Transport 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:
For me, Christmas transport is not planes, trains or anything busy or noisy, but something a little more outdoors around the countryside. There’s nothing better than a good road trip with snow falling and the smell of fresh pine in the air! I live in an area where there are lots of tree farms to pick out your perfect tree. (Do I pick out a real tree? Nope…but I do love them and the smell. Just not the mess. LOL) I prefer to visit the trees and not chop one down.
I’ve used the adorable Inky Stamper set called Vintage Truck and I’ve decided to add the tree image to the back of his truck as he’s taking it home to decorate for Christmas! I’ve fussy cut the image out after coloring and even added a snowflake stamp to the truck door from the Inky Stamper Toboggan stamp set. I’ve also stamped a few more along with the larger snowflake and cut out to add to the background of the card.
For the background, I’ve used some paper from the Lisa Horton A Festive Tapestry pack as it was perfect for a landscape of trees. At the bottom, I’ve used the road die from Lawn Fawn and then placed it over my tree landscape and added the truck over it by popping up with foam tape so it looks like he’s on the road.
So while making this card, I had the song stuck in my head and so I found a perfect sentiment to go with it from the Inky Stamper Tree stamp set. I white heat embossed over a green piece and cut out a banner to add to the top left of the card. Everything was placed over a white A2 top folding card base and I lastly added some Iridescent Clear Drops in the center of the snowflakes.
Hope you’ve enjoyed my card for you today and I hope that you’ll hop on over to the challenge blog and play along! I’d love to see what you come up with!
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!
Hey friends! Just poppin’ in with another card I made and wanted to get it in before the deadline ends…which I normally don’t always do!😁
I have been playing along (with the exception of the last few years) with the Coffee Loving Papercrafters “Coffee Lovers Blog Hop” which has been going on since 2014! It’s hard to believe it’s been around that long, but looking back at the posts that were shared recently for “a look back”, I had a different blog platform and there I was playing along 10 years ago! Really appreciate all of the fun that Amy has provided to us through the years as well as the many sponsors that have been apart of it.
I’ve pulled out some stamp sets from one of the sponsors (Newton’s Nook) new and older from my stash in honor of this occasion:
That is the cutest cup of Pumpkin Spice Latte that I’ve ever seen! I’ve used the NN Newton’s Mug stamp set with coordinating die to stamp, color and cut him out. He was popped up with foam tape over the background. For the pumpkin image on top of the mug, I’ve used an older NN stamp set called “Love a La Carte” (No longer available). I just stamped, colored and fussy cut the image to place over the mug. I also added some gold glitter on the heart above it.
For the background: I cut a piece of paper with the NN Frameworks die set and pulled out some watercolors for the background and then splattered some gold after the background was dry. I layered this over the brown cardstock. I also used a piece of that brown cardstock to white heat emboss the sentiment which came from an older STAMPtember collaboration set with NN called “Talk Turkey“. I cut it out with a banner die and attached it to the side of the scallop panel. The leaves under the mug and over the watercolor panel were from the NN Autumn Mice stamp set and coordinating dies.
I was trying to also follow along with a fun sketch from the Inky Paws Challenge (see below) and so I’ve pulled out some more papers from the NN Coffee House Stories paper pad that I thought went with the coloring on my cup and attached it to an A2 top folding brown card base. I also added a strip of gold glitter paper to bring out the touch of glitter on the tiny heart above the pumpkin.
That’s it for today! I hope you’ve enjoyed my coffee card or have been inspired to create something fun too! I’m off to check out all the other entries for more inspiration! Have a wonderful weekend ahead!
Challenges:
Coffee Loving Papercrafters – #fallwinter2024clh 2024 Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Hop using coffee, tea, cocoa, and/or apple cider
Hello friends! November has come with the pretty leaves on the trees and the coolness in the winds. I always turn to comforting “things” this time of the year and it always gives me a sense of peace before the year comes to an end. A warm fuzzy blanket, socks/slippers, sweaters, etc. is what I usually turn to. What is your comfort “thing”?
I promised to share with you the fun things we did over at the “Inky Escape” event that I recently attended and it was wonderful to see all of my crafty friends again for laughs and fun together. I think I miss them already!
I lifted this fun photo from the Inky Stamper FB page as I don’t have any photos other than seeing what others took. There were a total of 18 of us this time:
Everyone received a “swag bag”…but the case this time was a Christmas stocking full of fun goodies and one of them was that everyone received cute fluffy socks. I’m not exactly sure which one is me in that photo, but I did have a polar bear sock! LOL We each placed one foot in the circle and Chelsea took the photo.
And speaking of the “swag bag”/Christmas stocking…here’s what we each received:
When I got to the event, there was this black stocking on my table with the cute tag attached to it with my name. Each person received a personalized tag on the swag bag, plus the “skull” dies that were used to create the tag which was inside the stocking! There are my polar bear fuzzy socks (I’ve already washed them up by hand so the colors wouldn’t bleed in the wash…and they’re so warm and fuzzy!) I also received the cute “Christmas bulb” drink holder with a candy cane straw and a little ghost stopper for the top! We used these containers to hold the “Jingle Juice” that we drank at some point! And then I received a light up Christmas bulb necklace that has different settings when you push the button the back. The theme for this event was called “Merry Spookmas” which you can see the greeting for that on my personalized tag. So fun!
And speaking of fun…here are all of the Make-n-Takes that we created during the event. We sat and made 4 projects and then two of those projects were “bonus” makes using some other special items. (There is a “story” about one of them, but you can check out each project up close in the gallery below.)
*If you are on my website, just click on each photo to enlarge and scroll downward to see more information about each photo while it’s enlarged.*
Camel stamp set used. Images were stamped on colored cardstock and cut out.I TOADally FROGgot to run the black cardstock through an embossing folder! Doh! Orange Cream candy cane inside pocket with paper bow and frog on wobbler.My favorite stamp set of this release is the Gifter set. He was stamped on cardstock and cut out. Present was paper pieced inside his arms.Cute gingerbread treat container came complete with gingerbread cookies wrapped with twine!Bonus make-n-take was easy peasy with some very cool Aall & Create washi tape that made this image!We chose the “winter” gnome that we wanted, but mine was so messed up I had to ditch it! I came home and made a birthday one that similar from my own card kit stash! LOL
The first four make-n-takes were made using the brand new Inky Stamper release that came out during this event! You should go check them out now on the website! (They’re all shown on the home page under “Featured Products”.) My favorite is that darling “Gifter” stamp set! I’m sure you’ll be seeing something from that set soon from me! *wink*
And since I was there to “crop” (as they say), I brought some things to work on that I really wanted to get done. So I decided to pull out some more Inky Stamper images to color and make a “Sheetload of Cards” using the September Sheetload of Cards Template by Crafty Al. If you’re not familiar with her, check out her You Tube Channel and look for all of her “Sheetload of Cards” videos to see how you can find instructions for each month. #SUYSSep2024 #ShowUsYourSheetLoad
I utilized her template to create the full 12 cards as demonstrated. The dimensions of the finished card design is 3.5″ x 6.25″ which I really liked as it helped to use up the full 6″x6″ size of those paper pads! Also, you don’t have to create envelopes for these as they fit perfectly inside those #6 envelopes (3-5/8″ x 6.5″) that you can find at any office supply area of a store.
As you can see, I used a variety of images that I stamped, colored and cut out for each design. I matched up my design papers to coordinate with the images. All of the images I used are from Inky Stamper. All papers come from a variety of Doodlebug Design papers.
Here’s a closer look at two of the cards I made from the set so that you can see how the card opens up and the greetings on the inside of each card. (Sentiments come from Taylored Expressions.) You can also see the coordinating envelopes next to them with the matching critter stamped in grey ink.
These cards are on the way for a special charity for ill children patients to help lift spirts and I hope each one will!
I know there were so many things going on during the event that I was even surprised that I got all of these finished. They were mostly finished with the exception of the greeting which I added when I got home. I had plenty to do while I was there and also enjoyed all the activities too!
I hope you’ve enjoyed my post today as well! I thank you so much for stopping in!
