Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Happy Birthday Dinos




Happy New Year's Eve!

I'm over on the Jane's Doodles card today with this totally non-New Year's Eve card.

I recently got Jane's Dino-Mite set and really wanted to ink it up.  Aren't these dinosaurs so cute?

I cheated a little on this card.  Lest you think I'm a better colorer than I am, I had a little help.....I selectively stamped on solid-ish patterned papers and then added some shading with Copics.  The papers are from Amy Tangerine's Sketchbook 6x6 paper pad.



The base paper is also from the Sketchbook paper pad and I love the watercolored look it has.  I added some soft shadows beneath the dinos to anchor them a bit.  The foliage and gift were also stamped on that paper and then completely colored with Copics.  I think using that same base paper as opposed to scrap cardstock keeps the tones the same so that the card is more cohesive.

I used a craft knife to cut around the blue dino's hand so I could tuck the present in there, and I added some Wink of Stella accents to the bow/strings around the gift.

Although I made this a birthday card, you could easily make this a Christmas card, or really a card for any gifting occasion.

That's all for me today, hope you have a great evening!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  American Crafts - Amy Tangerine Sketchbook 6x6 pad; Bazzill - Gold Coins Card Shoppe Cardstock; PTI - Aqua Mist Cardstock
Stamps:  Jane's Doodles - Dino-Mite
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Copics; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Kuretake - Wink of Stella Glitter Pen

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

14 Favorites of 2014, and some exciting news

It's that time again when I take a look back over the last year's worth of posts and pick some favorites to revisit.  It really has been a great year.  I've been blessed with all sorts of wonderful opportunities.  Thanks very much to all of you who come by regularly to peruse and leave encouragement.  I really appreciate it!

OK, here's the year in review (click on the photo to be taken to the original post):

January


February



March



April



May



June





July





August



September



October



November



December



I mentioned some exciting news too, right?  You all know that I've been designing stamps and dies for Neat & Tangled, well I'm taking on a larger role with them this year.  I'm working more closely with Danielle behind the scenes, and also taking on the role of Design Team Coordinator.  I've actually already been working in this capacity for a while now, and it's been a great learning experience for me.  It's fun to see a different aspect of the industry.  Danielle is introducing the 2015 Design Team this week on the blog, it's an amazing collection of very talented ladies, and I'm really excited about  all the new things we have in store for you this year!

Monday, December 29, 2014

Treat Yo Self!



Hey everyone!  Hope you had a great Christmas!

Ours was really nice, except for a little sickness, but in the end I think it kept us from going too crazy.  We still got to go visit with family and do all the things we had planned to do, but we also probably got some more sleep than we would have otherwise, which is a good thing!

I thought I would share one of my cards that was supposed to be published in the upcoming year.  I like the message for this post Christmas season.  It's a crazy time of year, one in which we often find ourselves running around trying to make things perfect for others and stay ahead of the game.  I thought this was a good reminder to not run yourself ragged.  Treat yourself to a little something, whether it's taking advantage of an after Christmas sale, sleeping in a little, or doing something fun you've been putting off.



Me, I rented The Hobbit, the Desolation of Smaug over the weekend.  It's been on my list of movies to see for a while, and I finally got around to it.  See, it doesn't have to be expensive at all, in fact I got it free since I was renting Peabody & Sherman for the girls at the same time (Redbox).  I'm actually thinking I might have to treat myself to another movie before the week is through.  The Hundred Foot Journey is next on my list.

OK, that's all for me today.  I'm working today, but hoping you are all still enjoying some much deserved time off!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Avery Elle - White, Mimosa, Orchid, and Sugar Plum Cardstock; PTI - Harvest Gold Cardstock
Stamps:  Essentials By Ellen - Merry & Bright Stamp Set
Ink:  Versamark
Other:  Essentials By Ellen - Treat Yo Self Die; CTMH - Gold Embossing Powder and Dimensional Foam Tape; Recollections - Foam Adhesive

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Signing off for the week!



I'm signing off of the blog for the rest of the week.  We'll be seeing both sides of the family, and spending lots of time relaxing and testing out Christmas loot.

I thought this card was appropriate for this time of year.  I always have lots of big plans for the holidays.  Invariably there are things that fall through the cracks, and don't get done.  Kids (or really anyone) might not react/behave in that magical manner they are supposed to at Christmastime, so if you're feeling a little on edge today because stuff is not getting done, this card is for you.

It's one of my favorite Verve Plain Janes, and I used a two step stencil by Julie Balzer from The Crafter's Workshop.  The solid image was blended in with a couple ink colors and then I used Dreamweaver's Gold Paste on the outline portion.



Have a wonderful Christmas, and remember to give yourself some grace this season....it is after all the crux of the holiday isn't it?

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Strathmore - Mixed Media Paper, PTI - True Black Cardstock;
Stamps:  Verve - Grace Plain Jane
Ink:  Versafine; CTMH - Gypsy; Hero Arts - Raspberry Jam Shadow Ink
Other:  The Crafter's Workshop - 4 Feathers 6x6 stencil; Dreamweaver's - Wendy Vecchi Metallic Gold Embossing Paste; AC - Foam Adhesive

Monday, December 22, 2014

Publication Share - A Layout!


I was able to check another big item off my bucket list this year - get a layout published.  

I was a scrapbooker before I was a card maker, but I make so many more cards than I do layouts these days, so it was kind of nice to get a layout published.

This made it into Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking magazines final print publication, Photo Pocket Scrapbooking, Volume 2.

The photos are from my younger sister's rehearsal dinner.  She got married in Vermont, and what better dessert in Vermont than all you can eat Ben & Jerry's?  

Ok, that's all for today, sooooo much to do before Thursday!!!

Friday, December 19, 2014

You Fill My Heart With Joy



It's my turn over on the Jane's Doodles blog today.

I wanted to feature this adorable little fox from the Hello Friend set.  I paired him with a paper from MME's Sleigh Bells Ring 6x6 paper pad.  It's actually a printed image of this tree, on a green background.  I love the paper, but I thought the tree would be so striking against the black card base, so I fussy cut the whole thing.  I added some green hills as some landscape.

The fox was stamped, colored with copics and fussy cut and then I nestled him in at the base of the tree.

The sentiment is also from the Hello Friend set.

Hooray for Friday!  My friend Tracy is coming over tonight to wrap all my presents....I hate to wrap, and she actually enjoys it, so I order us dinner and we watch a movie, and at the end of the night all my presents are wrapped!

Have a great weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  MME - Sleigh Bells Ring 6x6 pad; PTI - True Black cardstock; CTMH - White Daisy cardstock
Stamps:  Jane's Doodles - Hello Friend
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Copics, Kuretake Glue Pen; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Remix with Tessa - Season's Greetings



Hey everyone!  I'm sharing a card I created a while back that was supposed to have been published in the Remix section of PC&S's Card Creations issue.

The idea was that you and another crafter would create cards that play off one another, either using similar supplies, similar styles, etc.

I kind of cheated since I basically created a card and then handed it to my friend Tessa and she had to do the hard work of creating something based on what I made.

I used the Paper Smooches rainbow dies with some red, green, and gold cardstock to make a modern wreath.



The sentiment was cut three times from black cardstock, stacked together to give it some heft, and adhered over top of the wreath.  Then I added holly/berries.

Tessa's sharing her half of the remix today too.  Here's a little sneak of her card.



Head over to her blog to see more.

Thanks for coming by....a week until Christmas!!!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Avery Elle - Cherry, Jungle, Black and White cardstock; DCWV - Gold Foil Cardstock
Other:  Paper Smooches - Rainbow and Christmas Word Dies 2; Scotch - Foam Adhesive; Tombow - Mono and Multi Mono Adhesive

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room



Another quick Christmas card duo today.



I just let the watercoloring do the work on these.  I used my Kuretake watercolors, wet the paper first and added two colors, blending them together in the middle (I did speed this along with a heat gun), and then stamping the sentiment in Versafine.



These are so easy to create...I'm still a few cards short, so I'm thinking I might have to whip up a few more of these.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  PTI - Kraft cardstock; Canson - Watercolor Paper
Stamps:  Every Heart Plain Jane
Ink:  Versafine
Other:  Kuretake Gansai Watercolors; Tombow - Aqua Mono

Monday, December 15, 2014

Piecing Winter Trees



I got to tag along on another playdate with Ellie last week.  While the girls were playing the moms were crafting.



I brought along my Winter Trees set from Neat & Tangled and did some piecing.  While piecing is definitely time consuming, since I was using multiple prints for the trees, I was able to do a two-fer.



The tree image front his set is normally meant to sit more on the side of the card, that's how the hills is sketched, but for these cards I wanted them to be in the center of the card, so I just extended the hill to the left of the trees with a journaling pen.



This includes a hodgepodge of Christmas papers, some MME, Teresa Collins, and Pink Paislee as well as some Twinery twine.

Ok, short and sweet, there is a ton to do around here!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Pink Paislee - Merry & Bright 6x6 pad; Teresa Collins - Tinsel & Co 6x6 pad; MME - Sleigh Bells Ring 6x6 pad; Avery Elle - White Cardstock
Stamps:  Neat & Tangled - Winter Trees
Ink:  Versa fine
Other:  The Twinery - Marascino Twine; Recollections - Foam Adhesive; Kuretake - Glue Pen; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Friday, December 12, 2014

Christmas cards with basic/minimal supplies



In breaking up the Christmas card making tedium, I thought I would try coming up a couple cards using limited supplies.

I pulled a few Elle's Studio papers and basic punches and went to work.  The triangles on the tree card and the tree trunk were just free hand cut.  I added some black doodled lines to the triangles as well as the red polka dot panel.  The sentiment piece is a scrap.  I used the corner of a square punch to cut the ends and stamped a Verve sentiment.  A few sequins finished it off.



For the wreath card, I punched two sizes of circles from the same green papers and did the doodle thing on the circles and panel again.  The alphas were just freehand cut from black cardstock and I added a simple bow to the wreath.



Sometimes it's just fun to play a little and see what you can create with limited supplies.  These were so easy to do, and definitely kid-friendly too.  

Have a great end to your week and enjoy the weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Elle's Studio - Penelope and Serendipity Collections; Avery Elle - White Cardstock; CTMH - Black and Chocolate Cardstock
Stamps:  Verve - Peace on Earth
Ink:  Versafine
Other:  CM - Square and Circle punches; Neat & Tangled - Red Sequins; AC - Black 05 Journaling Pen; CTMH - Liquid Glass; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Recollections - Red Glitter Ribbon and Foam Adhesive


Thursday, December 11, 2014

Verve December Diva Dare - Favorite Things



Thought I would play along with this month's Diva Dare at Verve.  The challenge was to share our favorite Verve creations from the past year or create a new card with our favorite set.

I decided to create a new card.  I'm using my current favorite set, the Poppy Birthday stamps and Build a Poppy dies.

I wanted the poppies to really be the focus, but I also wanted to try a fun technique.  I die cut a bunch of the poppies and then stamped them with Festive Berries distress ink.  Then I flicked water over the poppies to create some texture.  Once they were dry, I stamped the black outlines.



Then it was just a matter of placement and adding some foam adhesive for dimension.  A few of the leaves from the set were stamped as accents and I added a thin strip of black at the top of the card to balance things out.

Hope that your week is going well.  Can you believe that Christmas is two weeks away??!!!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy cardstock; Avery Elle - White Cardstock; PTI - True Black Cardstock
Stamps:  Verve - Poppy Birthday
Ink:  Vesafine; Festive Berries Distress Ink
Other:  Verve - Build a Poppy Dies; Tombow - Mono Adhesive and Power Tabs; AC - Foam Adhesive

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Packing Snacks



Another week another layout, crazy but true.

These photos are from over the summer.  We were looking for some ways to get the girls involved with Andrew's mission trip to Rwanda.  One thing we had them do was pack snack bags for the team to take on the plane.  Ellie came along to do some of the shopping, picking out the different snacks, and then both girls helped to stuff the bags.

The base paper is from Crate's Notes & Things collection and the woodgrain is Webster's Pages Recorded collection.  The chevron pieces are from Pink Paislee's Cottage Farms Ephemera pack.  I actually trimmed down the larger one to create the two.  Those were stitched down the middle and then the sides were folded up a bit for some dimension.



It feels good to be scrapbooking more and I'm hoping to do a better job keeping up with it, or at least staying on task!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Crate - Notes & Things collection; Webster's Pages - Recorded Collection; CTMH - Colonial White Cardstock
Other:  Pink Paislee - Cottage Farms Ephemera Pack; American Crafts - Thickers; May Arts - Burlap String; Misc. Glassine Envelope; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; CM - Photo Splits

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

AEI♥U Inlaid Die Cuts - Basket full of cute



Thought I would play along with this month's AEI♥U challenge.



I used a Crate paper journaling card as my jumping off point.  Those cute images from Goldie & Red were stamped onto Silver Fox cardstock, colored and die cut.  Then I die cut the images from the journaling card and inlaid the colored die cuts.



The basket sentiment went perfectly with the cute sentiment that was already printed on the journaling card.

Hope this one puts a smile on your face, have a great day!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Avery Elle - Silver Fox Cardstock
Stamps:  Avery Elle - Red & Goldie
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Avery Elle - Red & Goldie Dies; Crate - Styleboard Journaling Card; Copic Markers; Spectrum Noir Markers; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Monday, December 8, 2014

Merry Christmas Trees



I'm starting to send out my Christmas cards, and as luck would have it, I haven't stockpiled enough to finish them off, so I'm simultaneously working on manufacturing new ones.  I'm not feeling like heavy duty mass production this year, but making a few cards in series is definitely OK.



I've been wanting to use this tree image from the Essentials by Ellen Christmas Scirbbles set.  All three cards are watercolored.



The first two are embossed in gold and then white and watercolored with distress markers and a waterbrush.  The last was just stamped with Versafine and then watercolored with Inktense pencils.



The sentiment is from the Essentials by Ellen's Merry & Bright set.

Which is your favorite?

I'm going to link this up over at Simon Says Stamp since it's a holiday challenge this week.

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  PTI - Kraft; AE - Sea Glass Cardstock; Canson - Watercolor paper
Stamps:  Essentials by Ellen - Christmas Scribbles, Merry & Bright
Ink:  Versafine and Versamark
Other:  Derwent - Inktense Pencils; Ranger - Distress Markers and Waterbrush; CTMH - Gold Embossing Powder; Stampendous - White Embossing Powder; Tombow - Stamp Runner

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Merry & Bright



Hey everyone!  Sharing a card that was up on the Jane's Doodles blog yesterday.

I hadn't gotten a chance to use the snowmen from the Warm Wishes stamp set, and needed to fix that stat!

Lots of piecing on this one.  Most of the papers are from AC's Magical 6x6 pad with the exception of that gray background which is from Teresa Collins' Tinsel & Company 6x6 pad and the carrot nose.

I added a little white gel pen accent and Liquid Glass to the lights, and I used my Wink of Stella pen to accent the light holder part of the lights as well as the bows on the gifts.


I used some 3M adhesive to pop up the the snowman as well as the lights that aren't on the snowman itself.  I like this adhesive because it adds dimension, but it's not bulky at all, so mailing this one is easy.

I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp since it's a Christmas challenge.

That's all for today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  AC - Magical 6x6 paper pad; Teresa Collins - Tinsel & Company 6x6 paper pad; Avery Elle - White Cardstock
Stamps:  Jane's Doodles - Winter Wishes, Mr. & Mrs. Claus
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Copics; Kuretake - Glue Pen; White Signo Pen; CTMH - Liquid Glass; Wink of Stella Pen; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine Special Thanks! Blog Hop



I'm participating in a blog hop honoring Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking magazine and the folks who made it what it is.  It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that this organization, and those ladies are near and dear to my heart.  (You should have arrived here from Donna Hitz's blog.)

I have been honored, nurtured, and encouraged by PC&S and the folks who run it.  In a word, I'm grateful.  Grateful for the inspiration, for the opportunities that PC&S has provided to me, and for how I have grown and been stretched through competitions, publication calls, and challenges.  Most of all I'm grateful for the community that PC&S fostered.  Without PC&S my world would be much smaller, and I would be missing out on some amazing friendships.  Thank you PC&S, I am grateful for you!



My card features Paper Smooches Blossoming Buds dies/stamps.  I cut a panel of watercolor paper and then used the dies to do some partial die cutting at the top and bottom of the panel.  I then trimmed away the excess to create the finished piece.

The flower cluster was stamped on either end with Antique Linen Distress Ink to use as a guide and then I colored the images with Kuretake watercolors.



I added a scored frame to my card base for a little extra detail and then popped the stamped/painted panel up.

Many thanks again to PC&S, to Jennifer, Susan, Stacy, Kerri, and Holly and all the other very special folks who have worked for the magazine throughout the years, including your next stop on the blog hop:  P. Kelly Smith.  Ladies, I am eternally grateful.

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  PTI - Kraft cardstock; Canson - Watercolor Paper
Stamps:  Paper Smooches - Blossoming Buds
Ink:  Ranger - Antique Linen Distress Ink; Versafine
Other:  Paper Smooches - Blossoming Buds Dies; Kuretake Watercolors; Stampin Up - Score Board; Recollections - Foam Adhesive