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Jun 30, 2014

Exciting News!!

Happy Monday everyone! 

The last two weeks of June have been super busy (but fun) for me, starting with (finally) painting our living room, a few days of vacation, and a birthday party for my daughter, so I didn't make any cards during that time, and I hardly had time to check  my blog. The couple cards that were posted I had created well ahead of time. But with the beginning of July things should go back to normal here.
No new card today either, but I do have some absolutely wonderful news to share.

I was invited to join the Just For Fun Rubberstamps design team.

This is a new to me company but they have been in business since 1994. I loved their selection of stamps, and when I saw they were having a design team call, I just had to send in my application. 
The company manufactures their own stamps and you can choose from wood mounted, cling mounted or unmounted.
Hope you'll have some time to check out their store and visit the Just For Fun Rubberstamps blog

Have a great week everyone! 
I will be back on Sunday at the latest with a new card. 



Jun 25, 2014

Wish Big

This is another scheduled post, so hopefully blogger will work as expected and publish this post.

For today's card I used one of the new stamps from Whimsy's Crissy Armstrong collection - Happy Birthday to Ewe (all whimsy links are below). I used some mixed mediums to create the background.

After my papers were adhered to the base (I used mixed media card stock), I softened the pattern a bit by applying some gesso, then I brightened it all up by applying gelatos. I used a mini cloud stencil and some gesso to add the clouds.  I decided I could use a tree for my background too, and remembered the swirly tree from Whimsy's "For all the women in our lives set" and went with that tree. The brown circles that you see on the paper were part of the print on the paper. I added the white spots using gesso and a stencil (tile texture).


More gelatos were used to create shadows and finally I adhered the image.
 It has been stamped onto copic blending card, colored with copics and fussy cut. Of course on my first try I got ink marks all over the sheep (my fingers were covered in glue, ink and gelatos), so I ended up re-stamping, coloring and cutting another sheep. Wish I wasn't such a messy papercrafter!
To finish the card off I stamped the sentiment (Whimsy Stamps - boy talk) using black ink, then inked the edges of the whole card front also using black ink. Finally I adhered it onto a heavy white 110 lb recollections card base. 




Thanks so much for stopping by!


Products used:
Inks: Memento black, distress green and brown
Other colors/paints: Faber Castell gelato - blue and green, white gesso
Tools: mini cloud stencil, tile texture stencil

Jun 23, 2014

By the Sea

Today I am sharing a card created with stamps from the Whiff of Joy Number 2 stamp kit. I've had so much fun coloring up these cute images from the stamp kit.  Hopefully you had a chance to pre-order this kit. All the  stamps are so very cute, and matching sentiments were included too!  It's too late to order the kit now, but keep your eyes open, soon the pre-order starts for the secret stamp kit Number 3. I know I am already looking forward to it!
The image has been stamped onto xpress blending card using memento black ink, then colored using copic markers. It's been fussy cut. The beach and sea were cut out using some very old templates that I've had forever. 
For the half circle background added some gesso to the light blue designer paper, and stamped one of the sentiments all over it using very light ink. Then  I layered it onto a circle doily diecut. 
I did some sewing around the edges, added a matching strip of card stock, and then the anchor with some twine. The anchor was also stamped onto xpress blending card, colored with copics and cut out. It is part of this cute stamp kit. 

And that would be all from me for today. Thanks so much for visiting. 
Hope you have a fabulous day!!

Jun 18, 2014

More Favorite Things for Penny Black and More

I didn't think this card was going to happen, but since both kids were busy playing with their friends, I found some time in the afternoon to clean my stamp area, and usually when it's all nice and clean I like to get inky :-) And so I decided to make a card for the current Penny Black and More challenge.

The theme this month at Penny Black and More is Favorite stamp or crafting item. For my first DT card for this challenge I used one of my first Penny Black stamps (because they really are all my favorites and so hard to choose). For the reminder card I decided to use one of my newest Penny Black favorites.
 The design was inspired by this gorgeous card by Heather. First I stamped the music sheet background stamp on to white card stock at an angle. Next I stamped the flower from the set "Delicate Florals" by Penny Black. I colored the blooms with gelatos and the leaves with copics. Inked the edges using some distress ink and then stitched around the edges and added the butterfly with some sticky pearls.

There is a little bit of time left to play along with us this month. We have some fabulous prizes to give away, and don't forget you can enter up to 3 times.

Playing along here:
  Sweet Stampin -  Say it with Flowers
Everybody-Art-Challenge - Pearls 
Crafty Catz - Stitching

Have a great day!!

Jun 16, 2014

Little Maya with Tulip

Happy Monday and thanks for visiting! I don't have much time to spend in my craft space for the remainder of June, but I did get to create a couple cards recently. Kids are on summer break now, hubby is vacation too, and so I am pretty sure there won't be much time to make cards.

Today's card I made using the new stamp "Maya" from Whimsy's Wee stamps collection. Isn't she adorable!! By the way right now there is a little sale going on at Whimsy - save $5 on your order of $25 or more. Use code 5on25 between now and June 25th.

Besides Maya from Whimsy I have also used "Life Defined" from Whimsy's Raindrop Echo designs. I love using this background stamp! The sentiment is from the new set "Life's Moments", and finally on the top right left I used a stamp from the clear photopolymer set Simple Buttons by Raindrop Echo and I used the little circle die from the tiny tags die set to cut it out. I embellished with some butterflies, pearls and twine. Glittered her wings and did some stitching.

Playing along in a few challenges:
Come and Get It Fairy Fantasy
Dragonfly Dreams - Things with Wings
Crafts and Me Challenge & Inspiration Blog - Add Wings
Sparkle N Sprinkle - Anything Goes with Glitter, Embossing Powder and/or Flocking
 
Have a great day!!

Jun 15, 2014

Slightly nutty but very sweet

A few weeks ago I came across a really cute pin on Pinterest for Father's Day, and I really wanted to make something similar. So I made this tag to go with a jar of Peanut M&M's for my kids to give to their Daddy on Father's Day. 


I used many different mediums to create this, dylusions, gesso, distress inks, embossing powder, archival black ink... Also used several different stamps and some stencils too. The verse was simply printed out on the computer, cut apart and inked the edges. The leave stamps that you can see are from a Penny Black clear stamp set. The hearts are from a very old SU stamp set. To emboss around the edges I inked them up using distress ink and then added the embossing powder. 


The tag turned out a little bit larger than I wanted it to (didn't look at my jar before I made it), but I think he will love using it as a book mark. (He loves reading!) 

Playing along here:
Crazy 4 Challenges - Stenciling
Pumpkin spice -  Masculine
MilkCoffee Challenge- Fathers Day/Special Male
Paper Crafting Journey -  Anything Goes
Fab 'n' Funky - Humor
Frilly and Funkie - Father's Day/Special man

Hope you have a nice and sunny day!

Jun 13, 2014

Something simple

Happy Friday!
Ever since I received the stamp set "Boy Talk"  in the mail from Whimsy's May rubber stamp release, I had planned on creating a CAS masculine card with it. Finally yesterday looking through some old sketches that I had scribbled down, I decided that I found the perfect one to use.


A pretty CAS card. I simply adhered some designer paper onto white card stock. Left the top white and stamped my sentiment onto it. The little flags were done using Whimsy's die set "Contest Ribbon". I just cut them out in different sizes. The original sketch I saw had a star placed to the right side, I decided to use another sentiment from the set "Boy Talk". I punched it out using a 1 1/2" circle punch then layered it onto a die from the same die set "Contest Ribbon". I think this makes a quick and simple male birthday card, something I usually struggle with a little. Perfect for a teen boy or young adult, or even a younger boy. 


Below is another card I created with the same sentiment. I made it a little while ago, but didn't like it much, so I never posted it.

I had used a stencil and distress inks for the background. The star was cut out using the star die from Whimsy's "Sun Moon Stars" die set. The little star in the circle was then stamped all over the background. I glittered the star and added a few silver sequins.

Playing along in the following challenges:

 Stampin' For The Weekend -  Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps and More - CAS 
CAS-ual Fridays -male card with ribbon but no Kraft

Jun 9, 2014

Spray inks and a Sunflower

Happy Monday! Hope your week is off to a great start!
Today I am sharing a card made with one of the new stamps from Whimsy Stamps' Time 4 Tea designs - Sunflower. Another card I designed to be entered into the new Mixed Media Monthly Challenge blog, that just launched their first challenge on the first of June. I still have lots to learn when it comes to mixed media, and so I decided to play along in their challenges so I can learn more and get better at it. This month the challenge is "Spray inks" and I am still learning how to use them properly.


 I started out by masking of part of the card using torn paper, so I could spray the top and bottom separately green and blue. Then I used the mini cloud stencil by TCW and some gesso to make the cloud. I ended up adding more gesso over the whole sky part because I wasn't completely happy how the sky looked. 
Next I stamped Whimsy's "Live Defined" background, masking the grass portion, as I only wanted it on the sky part. 
On the bottom portion I used the mini tile texture stencil from TCW and some water mist to lighten parts of the ink and to create a fun texture. Next I stamped some grass onto the card. I wanted a little border so I used Whimsy's tree stamp from the set "For all the Women in our Lives" and black archival ink. 
The image was stamped onto copic blending card and colored using copic markers. Fussy cut and adhered to the card. Sentiment is included with the fun "Sunflower" image by Whimsy's Time4Tea designs. I finished it off my adding a couple small butterflies (MS punch).


Besides Mixed Media Monthly with the theme of spray inks I'd love to play along in a few other challenges.
Addicted to Stamps -  Outdoors
Fairytale Stampers - Flowers
Bastel-Traum - summer
Live & Love Crafts Challenge - Summer Garden
Color Me Creative Challenge -  Anything Goes
Stampin' For The Weekend -  Anything Goes 
STAMPlorations Challenge Blog -June - Stamps & Borders
Thanks so much for stopping by!  

Jun 6, 2014

More Beachy Things

I colored some more images from the Whiff of Joy No. 2 kit (Summer Kit) and had some time today to make it into a card. I wanted to create a beachy scene so I used a couple different mediums for it.

I started out with a piece of designer paper from basic grey as my background paper. But I applied gesso to it so now the pattern is barely there (it's the light, dark and black swirly things that you see.) 
Next I held a chickenwire stencil over the paper and spritzed some dylusions over it (top corner). I tore some craft card stock, and some blue designer paper to create the "beach" on the bottom part. Stamped a tiny dots stamp over the kraft cardstock for a sandy impression. 

Images  have been colored  using copics on xpress blending card and then fussy cut. The sentiment which is part of the Summer stamp kit has been cut apart and then adhered onto my card front. I layered the card front onto white card stock and then island indigo. I added a little bit of cheesecloth behind the white card stock.

Here is another view. 
Would love to play along in these challenges:

Mixed Media Monthly (this is a brand new challenge blog which I was so happy to discover as I am pretty new to mixed media), their theme this month is spray inks - I used dylusions.
At Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge -the challenge is for the boys. I think this makes a great masculine card. 
 Outdoors is the challenge at Fussy and Fancy . At Penny's Paper-Crafty the theme is Bears or Mice (I used the cute Henry the mouse as my focal image). Masculine is the theme at Stampin' Royalty. And then at City Crafter Challenge this week's theme is Nautical.



                                                         Thanks so much for visiting!
                                   I hope you'll have a fun-filled weekend with lots of sunshine!

Jun 4, 2014

Just Beachy

Happy Wednesday! I made today's card for the Whimsy Stamps June Facebook challenge. This month the theme is "Just Beachy". This could be a beach scene, beach image, or simply beachy colors. I did struggle a little bit with this one, as I didn't really get any "beachy" stamps from the last release, but I did receive a beachy sentiment stamp set (Sun-sational from Raindrop Echo Designs) so I decided to use it for the challenge and create a CAS style card with it.



The flourish behind the sentiment is from Whimsy's set "Lavish Flourishes" and still one of my most favorite stamps. Not much to tell here, I simply stamped the circle sentiment onto recollections 110lb card stock, then punched out using a 1 1/4 inch punch, layered onto a scallop circle shape (SU), and then adhered onto the card using dimensionals. Papers are from my stash. Flowers are by recollections, I added rhinestones to the flower centers and then some twine. 

If you'd like to join is this month in Whimsy's Facebook challenge, simply click this link. You may use any Whimsy rubber or digi stamps as the focal point to play along, and there is a fantastic prize up for grabs. 

 

Besides Whimsy's Facebook challenge I'd love to play along here:
Fan-Tastic Tuesday -  Summer
Loves Rubber Stamps  Anything Goes
Card Mania  Flowers
 Crafty Cardmakers -  Use one or more Flourishes
Cupcake Inspirations -Flowers

Card and Scrap -  Clean and Simple


Have a great day everyone, and thanks so much for visiting!!

Jun 1, 2014

Penny Black and More - Favorite things

This year is flying by way too fast, I can't believe it's already June! And the kids are already on summer break which of course makes them happy! I hope the weather is nice where you are. We had some wonderful summery weather here already!

Since it's the first Sunday of the month, it's time for a new challenge at Penny Black and More. This time we'd like to see you use

 your favorite stamp or crafting item. 

Choosing my favorite stamp is never easy, as I really love a lot of my stamps equally, so I decided on one of my first Penny Black stamps - Poppy field. I added a little button and some twine which are my favorite embellishment - I reach for them just about every time I make a card.
 The image has been stamped onto copic xpress blending card and colored using copic markers.

The card is pretty CAS, I simply embellished with a butterfly border (Whimsy Stamps), button and twine, and did some sewing. To finish it off I added some glitter. Sentiment is one of my old favorites from SU.

Hope you'll get a chance to join us. Lots of prizes up for grabs again, and don't forget you don't have to use a Penny Black stamp. You can use any rubber or clear stamp, or Penny Black stickeroo.

I am playing along here:
Delicious Doodles -  For The Love of Animals
Fussy and Fancy - Outdoors
Stampin With The Dragon - May - Flowers
Hanna & Friends - Dies

Have a great day!!