Scrappy Sweet Creations: Thank You

Showing posts with label Thank You. Show all posts

Hello hello!
Happy Monday!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend! It was bright and sunny here in Washington and the temperatures have started to rise! I'm not sure I'm ready for a heat wave, but it is nice seeing the sun :)

Are you ready for another round of gorgeous inspiration for our current Inky Paws color challenge?

I decided to play around with my card design a bit this week to try out something new. I've been having a lot of fun with my acrylic pours, but they can take quite some time to dry and I sometimes struggle with getting them done with enough time to let them dry and complete my card. So this week I used the technique that Jennifer McGuire used where she coated her paper with multiple layers of embossing powder and then used dye inks on top.

My first several layers were with a fine detail white embossing powder because I had a full jar of that which meant I knew I wouldn't run out. But the fine detail of it didn't seem to give me the thickness I needed...so I ended up adding a couple layers of regular powder as well.

Then used a couple of Lawn Fawn inks and smooshed them over the melted embossing powder. Working in sections, I heated all the layers of powder up so they flowed really well, which moved the ink around into some cool patterns. I did this several times until I got the coverage and intensity I wanted. I love how soft the whole thing is!! Once that was done, I ended up adding a single layer of clear embossing powder to seal all the ink in since it didn't really dry and I was smearing it.

I pulled out my Shades of Autumn stamp set and did some 2 tone stamping with one of the leaves. Then trimmed them all out and layered them around my panel, which was cut with one of the pieces in the new Frameworks die set.

I added my white heat embossed sentiment from the Peony Blooms set to a circle cut piece of vellum and tucked that into the leaves. Then layered it all onto another frame that was cut with the Flags and Frames die. I love how the 2 die sets work perfectly together!!

To jazz it up a little more, I added nuvo crystal drops in Simply White around the edge in each of the scallops and scattered a few around the sentiment.

I can't wait to see what you'll come up with! Just a few more days left to join us!!

Thanks for visiting! <3

read more →

Hey there! Happy Monday!
I hope everyone had an incredibly fabulous weekend! Are you ready for our second week in the Fall Themed challenge over at Inky Paws?

I couldn't put the Falling Leaves stencil down so I created another card with it :)

I started with a grey piece of cardstock and added various fall colors in distress oxide ink over my stencil. The colors muted back a lot on the dark cardstock, but you can still see the different tones shining through the embossing. Once they were all inked, I coated the whole stencil with versamark and added some clear sparkle embossing powder and heat set that. Then repeated the inking process a second time but used ultra thick embossing powder for 2 more layers. The leaves now have great dimension and shimmer with all the layers of embossing powder.

Since the background turned out so awesome, I didn't want to cover it completely up. So I opted to use a sentiment from the Shades of Autumn stamp set and embossed that on vellum with some liquid platinum powder. Then layered the vellum onto some black cardstock and scattered a few sequins for a little extra shimmer.

Thanks so much for stopping by!! <3 read more →

Hello and Happy Monday!
Welcome back to a new challenge at Inky Paws! The challenge for the next 2 weeks is Fall Theme! Which is perfect because man is it chilly outside!

I had a little stencil fun with this card. I used the Falling Leaves Stencil and first inked up the smaller leaves in some fall colored distress inks. Once they were all colored, I covered them in clear embossing powder and heat set them. Then went back over top of the same area and inked up the larger leaves. This gives me a ton of detail and leaves! I went back over top of the smaller leaves with some glittery embossing powder just to help them stand out a little bit more.

Paired this panel with some patterned paper and then colored up some snuggling kitties from Newton's Antics. Trimmed them out and mounted them along the top border of my leaf panel. I heat embossed my sentiment onto some acetate and added that behind my kitties. The finishing touch was a few clear drops.

I hope you will join us for this fun Fall challenge! Just remember to use Newton's Nook products!! <3

Happy Friday!
There's a new super cute release out today at Sami Stamps called Fall Skunks! These guys are just so stinkin adorable (haha..)!

I wanted to create a little scene with my cute little Skunk image so I pulled out the Hero Arts Layered Tree set and stamped it out several times before fussy cutting around each tree. Since it's a wooded scene, I decided to do a woodgrain background in dark brown ink stamped onto some kraft cardstock.

I did a gorgeous deep yellow fall blended sky behind the trees and then layered everything together, adding tiny pieces of foam tape behind the tops of a couple of the front trees. Then colored my frame with the dark brown ink that I used for the woodgrain stamp and coated that with a thin layer of shimmer pen.

My little skunk was colored in with my pencils and fussy cut out. I stamped and embossed a fitting greeting onto some vellum and tucked that behind him before adhering the whole thing down to my card.

You still have a little time to enter our Anything Goes challenge! Just remember to use a Sami Stamps image!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a fabulous weekend <3

Happy Friday.
Stopping in quick to share another card from last weeks Sami Stamps release - Halloween Hoots.

I used a lot of the same products from last weeks card, but this time added ink to the Glass Bead Glitter Gel and then applied it to my card front through a stencil. Pretty fun effect with all the glitter.

Stop by Sami Stamps and join in our Add Texture challenge for this month.

Have a great weekend.
~Emily read more →

Hey everyone!! Happy Tuesday!
I can't believe the sun is shining today! It was supposed to be gloomy all week here in Washington, so I'm so excited that the sun is out! Gives us a chance to dry off a little bit and let all my flowers bloom! I love this time of year with everything blooming. My roses are just starting to pop open and they are so gorgeous! How about you?

So today we have a fun new challenge starting at Tuesday Throwdown - Embossing!! This can be powder, dry, or paste. Doesn't matter! I love to use embossing paste on my projects. It has some really neat qualities to it..but I decided to just go with some regular heat embossing for my card.

Our awesome sponsor for this weeks challenge is Create A Smile Stamps!!! I was so excited to get them added to our sponsor list this year! Plus they provided us with a discount code so I also got to get my hands on some of their amazing stamps!!! For my card today I've used the Magical Flowers stamp set. I couldn't help myself...I'm a sucker for sunflowers and that large one right there in the center of my arrangement was calling my name :)

I started my card by white heat embossing a woodgrain stamp onto some Neenah Grey cardstock. Then began layer stamping all of my flowers. In order to get everything layered like this without all the bulk, you have to do some masking.

Masking is like magic! But you have to remember that anything you want to be at the front needs to be stamped first. So for this arrangement, that was the sunflower. Once that was stamped, I made my mask and stamped the next flower that I wanted in the foreground of the arrangement but behind the sunflower, which was the super cute little flowers from the (retired) My Favorite Things Sweet Roses set. I finished off the arrangement with a few little flower sprigs and leaves from the Winnie & Walter In Bloom: Addie's Garden set.

The flowers were then all colored in really quickly with my ShinHan markers. I didn't focus much on depth or details with the markers because once they were all colored in, I went back over everything with my Spectrum Noir pencils and added the depth and details with those. I love this technique! I am horribly heavy handed and can never get nice little detailed coloring with my markers. But the pencils have such a nice fine tip that I have more control and can easily get those details exactly where I want them.

To finish off the card, I white heat embossed a sentiment from the Winnie & Walter Big Bold & You set onto vellum and then trimmed around just the top portion of the sentiment. That whole vellum piece was wrapped around my front panel and then I scattered some Sparkling Clear Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh around the card.

Do you love it? Cuz I love it!!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Create A Smile Stamps Monthly LinkUp
Simon Says Stamp-Flowers
Word Art Wednesday #230-Anything Goes

Thank you so much for visiting! Be sure to join us at Tuesday Throwdown for our Embossing challenge!!! <3

Happy Friday!!
It's hard to believe that exactly one year ago today, Matthew and I were crossing the border into Washington on the final leg of our move back home. That was such an emotional day. I wanted to savor every second of that drive through Washington. Smell the fresh air and memorize every hill and mountain on the horizon.

I remember when we finally made it to our best friends home, balling my eyes out as I embraced them in the biggest hug I think I've ever given. One of the happiest days of my life. I never thought that leaving Washington would end up being so hard...but we learned a lot about culture shock during our 4 years in Montreal, Quebec. It left us depressed and alone for so long in a place that no one welcomed us to.

So walking through the doors of a friends house after so long without anyone was a huge sigh of relief. A weight lifted off our shoulders and we finally felt comfortable and happy. And surrounded by people that we love so much! They kept us going. Their love and support and connection kept us from throwing in the towel, and finally being able to thank them for all of that in person meant the world to us.

This last year has flown by, but I have loved every second of it. Getting adjusted back to an active life has been a bit of struggle. We got so used to life being just the two of us that now we have to figure out how to balance friends back into it. But I wouldn't have it any other way! I love being home and I love the people that have welcomed us back into their lives.

This weeks Sami Stamps release allowed me the perfect opportunity to make a card expressing how I felt about everyone here in WA.

My husband bought me the Seattle Skyline Die from Impress Cards last year for my birthday. While I haven't necessarily used it much, it has been one of my prize possessions. And I knew I had to use it with this card.

The kitty flying through the air was perfect for the feeling of this card since Matthew and I are the crazy cat couple. And of course, Hero Arts has the perfect sentiments. I used one from the April card kit that expressed exactly how I feel. I am so thankful for everyone here both in person and on my blog! Everyone's love and support is amazing.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    AAA Cards #62-Anything Goes
    Cas(e) This Sketch #168
    Penny's Paper Crafty #273-Anything Goes
    Word Art Wednesday #226-Anything Goes

Thank you for everything!! <3

Hello everyone!!
Today is a huge day for me. Today I released my very first line of greeting cards! This may not seem huge to some people, but this is something I have been working on for months.

The purpose of this was I wanted to have a line of cards that would stick around in my shop. Something that I could replicate relatively easily and always have it available for purchase. I love doing one of a kind cards, but those aren't always as appealing as a set of cards at a lower cost.

The details of this release (which can be found on Etsy):
~There are 10 new designs!!
     ~5 of these designs are available as packs of 6
     ~5 of these designs are special occasion cards available for single card purchase, but can be
          purchased in multiples if desired

~Each design has multiple color options for you to choose from!
     ~I tried to keep all the colors close to the same from card to card so there wasn't a huge difference
       in each one

~You have 6 basic sentiments to choose from!!! This is perfect for your grab and go, or need a card
   quick type of situation
     ~Sentiments available:
           ~Congrats!
           ~Get Well
           ~Happy Birthday
           ~Hello!
           ~Thank You
           ~Thinking of You

~All the cards are blank inside unless you want a custom sentiment added. I do this so that you can write whatever you want without being limited on space

~Envelopes are always included

~The card packs are shipped in clear boxes within the shipping box to ensure they are protected while in transit, and you have something to keep them stored in until use.

This release was really spurred by one huge event for me though....
My application was accepted by Amazon Handmade!!! I am still working on getting that shop set up, but in the next few days you will be able to purchase everything I just released on Amazon! How cool is that!?

And because of Amazon, Scrappy Sweet Creations is now an official business!! I can't believe the huge steps forward this has taken, from just being something to keep me busy to my actual business! I love my job! :)

This whole process of getting the business running to putting together the card line has been a huge undertaking for me. It's something I've never really done before and it's been a lot of hard work figuring out the designs I wanted to release, making sure they had some sort of flow to them, and then putting physical products together so I knew what production time would be like and had something to photograph and post....it's been a good 3 months of working on this, but I'm so glad it all came together.

And I'm thankful to you...each and every one of you...for sticking by my side, showing your support and giving me the little boosts I needed to keep pushing forward. I love you all!!

So, after all that are you ready to see the release?? I'm only going to show you a few cards...you have to go to my Etsy shop (or Amazon when that is set up) to see the full release!

I'm so excited! And I hope with this greeting card release, you will see something you really want to have. That's what I'm here for, to provide you with handmade greeting cards that are perfect for every situation. Everyone loves to receive handmade cards and I hope that you will think of me when you need one :)

Thank you so much!!! <3 read more →

Happy Friday!
It feels like forever since I've done any blogging! So nice to be back!
I had an absolutely fabulous trip to see my sister and little niece last week! I didn't want to leave...cuddling with my niece was just too sweet :) But I missed my husband...and while I had a nice week, he had a crappy week...so I needed to come home to support him. But I look forward to July when I get to see my sweet niece again at my sisters wedding!!

We have a super adorable release for you today at Sami Stamps called Happy Hearts. It's is so super sweet!! I've used the image Heart Butterfly:

Dealing with the aftermath of Matthew's crappy week put me a bit behind on my projects...so this card was pulled together at the last minute for this weeks release. I don't like not being ahead on my work...or at least on time. But sometimes life just doesn't allow you to keep a schedule.

To start the card, I created a bright watercolor background. I was actually hoping it would soften a bit as it dried since I thought it was a little too bright while making it, but now I kind of like the vibrant colors.

While that dried, I printed off and colored in the butterfly with the same blue I used on the background, but I used my Wink of Stella glitter brush as my paintbrush so that the whole thing shimmers! It's really quite gorgeous! Then I white heat embossed some swirls in the background and added black perlen pen to all the dot details of the swirls.

I framed my sentiment with some black cardstock and mounted it all onto my card base! I really do love how this turned out! Even if my brain wasn't quite into card making mode...it's always nice when something comes together perfectly.

We also have our challenge running for a few more days! We're asking you to paper piece something! Just be sure to use a Sami Stamps image, and join in!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Addicted to Stamps and More #181-Anything Goes
    Crafty Catz #312-CAS
    The Crazy Challenge #216-Card for a Friend
The Paper Shelter #236-Make it Digital
    Word Art Wednesday #220-Anything Goes

Thank you so much for visiting! Have a fabulous weekend! <3

Happy Friday!!!
I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! We've been fighting off head colds all week, so it's been a bit slow going here. But we are on the mend and ready to take on Thanksgiving next week!! Glad the sickness hit now instead of then :)

We have an adorable little release this week for you at Sami Stamps. It's actually a bundle deal - if you spend $8 or more in Sami's shop, you get this sweet little collection of 3 fox images for free!! Let me tell you, these little foxes are so stinkin cute! I had a hard time choosing which one I wanted to use, because I wanted them all!!

I chose to use Acorns Under My Paws for my card. Even though I felt like complete crud working on this card, I'm so happy with how it turned out!

I started by first inking up a fun chevron brick stencil with some Pumice Stone distress ink. I tried to keep it nice and soft. Once it was all applied, I left the stencil on my card front and misted it with some shimmer mist. Leaving the stencil in place allowed for the shimmer to only hit the inked areas, resulting in a nice shimmery pattern. I love it!

Then I started working on my image. I wanted to have a really pretty fall sunsetish style scene. I printed off my image on both regular cardstock and some labels that I could use as a mask. Masked off my image and started to apply my ink. I started with Pumice Stone and Frayed Burlap for the dark shadowy area behind the fox. Then added Squeezed Lemonade for the sky. I took the edge of my ink blending foam and tapped it into my ink pad and swiped it across the sky randomly to get the fun swirly cloud design. I used Fossilized Amber and Spiced Marmalade to do this. There is a little bit of Pumice Stone in the sky just to add a bit more depth and darkness. I finished off the scene with some Forest Moss for the grass.

After uncovering my image, I colored it in with some colored pencils and used a white gel pen to fill in the little buds on the flowers.

Grabbed some coordinating paper from a Lawn Fawn pack and added that across the top of the card. Then adhered my sentiment, which is embossed onto some vellum, across my image and lined up where the background stripe is. The greeting is from an awesome Simon Says Stamp set called Lots of Thanks.

I finished off the card with a scattering of some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins. I adore this card! It turned out almost exactly as I planned. And for being under the weather while making it, I'm proud that I could still get something together :)

Be sure to stop by Sami Stamps to take advantage of this awesome little bundle you'll receive with an $8 purchase!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Curtain Call-Foxy

Freshly Made Sketches #213

Incy Wincy Designs-Critters Large and Small

Thanks for visiting! <3

HI!
It has been really quiet around here this last week...I've sort of been in a little slump and am struggling to pull myself back up out of it. It's always frustrating when the desire to work and create is there and absolutely zero ideas come to mind...I just stand at my desk and stare at things, getting more and more frustrated with each day that passes and I haven't pulled anything together?

Do you struggle with lost inspiration? How do you overcome it? I feel like I've tried everything, and I'm still drawing a blank...super frustrated!

I did find a little relief from my "crafter's block" this week with Sami's new release - Halloween Mermaids! I'm thankful to be on this wonderful team! Sami always manages to put together the exact thing I need to get my craft on and this release really helped to get a little creativity flowing.

I used the beautiful Pumpkin Mermaid 2 image for my card. As I looked her over and tried to pull some sort of idea together, the thought struck me that she sort of looked like she could be floating in the water on that pumpkin. So I rolled with that and absolutely love how it all turned out!

I started by creating a little mask so I could get a nice horizon line on my water. Inked up the water with Tumbled Glass and Mermaid Lagoon and then spritzed it with some shimmer mist. Once that was dry, I reversed my mask so I could make the sky. Added a little Squeezed Lemonade and Spiced Marmalade for the sunset and then Spun Sugar and Stormy Sky to finish out the sky. I adore how this all turned out! I really looks like a sunset on the water!! Made me so happy :)

Then I colored up my mermaid using some new ShinHan markers my fabulous husband bought me to try and help me out of my funk :) I love him so much! Not chocolate or flowers...markers :) He knows my heart!

Once I had finished coloring my image, I trimmed it out and layered it onto my sunset inked panel. Trying to create that background without full adhesive sheets to use as a mask would have been a super pain, so I just opted to color the image separate and add it on top. I did add a water line on the pumpkin...but then I covered it up with the sentiment...oops :)

To finish off the card, I wanted to still stick with the fall theme, so I used the Falling into Autumn set from Newton's Nook and chose several of the smaller leaves. I did some rock and rolling with those stamps onto some Stampin Up ink pads and then cut them all out to arrange them along the sides of the image. That was a lot of cutting, but I think these leaves add the perfect finishing touch to this card!

I used a sentiment from that stamp set as well and heat embossed it in liquid platinum onto vellum before adhering it down and adding a few clear sequins. I did add some sparkly stars in the sky and a few shimmer details to her fins.

I hope you enjoyed this card! Hopefully I will be over my crafting hurdle soon and back to posting more regularly...it's been a frustrating couple of weeks and I'm ready for it to be over, but I also know that I need to take some time to refocus on me in order for the creativity to flow properly. Hang with me! <3

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers #150-Autumn Colors
    Craft Your Passion #285-Anything Goes
    Penny's Paper Crafty #251-Anything Goes
    Simon Says Stamp-Anything Goes
    Word Art Wednesday #207-Anything Goes

Be sure to check out the rest of the release at Sami Stamps and thanks for visiting! <3

Hi Everyone! Happy Friday!...evening!
This card seriously took me all...stinkin...day!
Between not having a set plan or design, to getting distracted by my own brain a thousand times, to still not having a plan....ugh...it just took forever!
But maybe that's a good thing, because in the end I absolutely love this card!

I haven't really done a card like this before (meaning, cluster of flowers behind a die cut sentiment)..so getting the flowers placed in an appealing way was tough for me. I think that's probably what I struggled with the most...and coloring them.

I started by stamping these roses from the Winnie & Walter In Bloom: Addie's Garden set in a super light blue ink. My original plan was pink, but the coloring didn't come out right and my blue's matched better...
Once they were all stamped, I pulled out my Spectrum Noir pencils and lightly colored them all in. I really wanted the tips of the petals to be super soft, so I kept a really light hand and only applied intense color to the darkest parts of the flowers. It's not perfect, but I really love them and hope that with more practice, I can be more confident in my coloring.

I did the same steps for the leaves and cut them all out. The Thanks die cut is a cut file from Winnie & Walter that I layered 3 times and then embossed with some sparkly silver powder. I did a light ink blending on the background with some Tea Dye ink just to add a little more color and interest and then set about getting the arrangement together (which again...took forever...)

Once it was all laid out the way I wanted, I adhered it all down, sprinkled some Pretty Pink Posh sequins around the flowers and added little drops of glossy accents. I also added tiny sparkly dots around the whole arrangement. That wasn't originally in my plan, but I think it really helped finish it all off.

I hope you enjoy this card, and it inspires you in some way!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps & More #161-Anything Goes
    Chocolate, Coffee & Cards #99-Fancy & Feminine
    Craft Cardmakers #147-Floral Embellishments
Retro Sketches #180
Simon Says Stamp-Use A Stamp
    Word Art Wednesday #200-Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting!! <3

Hi Everyone!!
I hope your week has been fabulous! It's been a bit rainy and cool here in Washington, but I absolutely love it because fall is in the air!! Don't get me wrong...I love summer too but nothing beats cooler weather and the smell of fall. Which is what inspired my card today, along with getting new goodies from Newton's Nook :)

I had so much fun putting this card together! I'm not sure the background works all that well combined with my pumpkin kitty, but I couldn't resist putting the two of them together.

To start my card, I blended together 4 different colors of ink onto a piece of cardstock. Then stamped my leaves from the Falling Into Autumn set from Newton's Nook with Versamark and clear embossed them so the ink colors below would show through but be protected so I could go over the whole background with black ink. I left the black ink layer a little light so that hints of the colors below would show through but the black would still be bold enough to make the leaves pop. I learned this technique from a card that Kelly Latevola shared over on the A2Z Scrapbooking blog.
Lets just say I loved it and will probably be using it a lot more :)

I couldn't decide how to add my kitty from the Newton's Perfect Pumpkin set to this fun background. I didn't really want to stamp her on white and have all that bright white paper clashing with such a dark bold background. In the end I decided to stamp her onto watercolor paper and watercolored her in to match my sweet Cloud. Die cut out some grass and blended some greens to give it a little dimension. Then popped it all up on foam tape.

The sentiment is from the Autumn Blessings set from Simon Says Stamp. I clear embossed that onto watercolor paper and then blended the red around it, just like I did with the background, making sure the edges were a bit darker than the rest of the tag.

To finish it all off, I die cut a curve along the bottom and added some sweet Lawn Fawn paper so it would just barely peek out.

Love this card so much! It's nice to finally get the chance to really play at my work desk. We've had so much going on that my desk has not seen a lot of love. But hopefully that is changing now :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
AAA Cards #47-Spectacular Embossing
    Creative Inspirations #325-Warm Colors
    Incy Wincy Designs-Anything Goes
    Newton's Ink Paws Challenge #24-Sketch

Inky Paws #24 Sketch Challenge | Newton's Nook Designs

Simon Says Stamp-Make It Colorful
The Paper Shelter #217-Embossing
Time Out #39-Make Your Mark

Thanks for stopping by! <3

Happy Friday!
I hope everyone is ready for an awesome weekend! The sun is shining, it's going to be nice and hot here in Seattle again! We're going to pick some massive bucket loads of blueberries! I'm excited!

I'm also excited because today we have another amazing Sami Stamps release for you! This release is Shell Mermaids, and they are so precious! You must check them out!
I decided to work with the Shell Mermaid 2 image for my card.

I'll be honest...I struggled coming up with a card idea for this sweet image. My brain isn't quite back into the creative mode and I kept drawing blanks every time I tried to brainstorm. I eventually ran out of time and knew I had to get something made. So I used this fun Hero Arts woodgrain background stamp to try and mimic flowing water. I misted it a bunch and dropped water all around the image to try and represent bubbles. It turned out pretty cute, but I think the blues are little too dark...should have gone lighter.

For the image, I colored that in with some watercolor pencils and a shimmer brush. It was going beautifully till I got to her sweet hair...and I stalled...I wanted there to be curls and swooshy waves in her hair and I just couldn't get it to work out right...guess I'll have to try again sometime.

Since I was drawing blank on a good design, I decided to just keep it simple and did some zig zag stitching around the edge with a simple sentiment and some white glitter enamel dots to finish it all off.

Now be sure to stop by Sami Stamps to see the rest of this release and the DT's jaw dropping creations! While I struggled, they pulled out all the stops...their work is amazing! You must see it!

And remember we have an Anything Goes challenge still running, so join in that as well!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fabulous weekend! <3

Hi everyone! Happy Friday!
We have a gorgeous new release for you today at Sami Stamps! It's all about flowers and kitties!! I just loved this release and wanted to play with them all! But I contained myself, and chose to use the Rose Vine image for this weeks card.

This card goes out to all of you that visit here. Everyone that has left me sweet supporting comments over the last few weeks...and ever! It's been a rough month but your kind words have helped put a smile on my face and I am forever grateful that you are here with me!

As soon as I saw this Rose Vine image, I knew I had to use it. So many ideas swirled through my head and it was really hard to settle down onto just one. I loved the idea of having some sort of hanging rose "curtain" on my card...sort of like a backdrop to a wedding or something. It took me a little bit to figure out how I wanted to lay it all out on my card though.

I lined up all my images in Word and printed them out. They vary slightly in size from vine to vine because I didn't want them all to look exactly the same. Coloring them in was both magical and painful. The roses are really tiny and I don't have the steadiest of hands, so making sure to stay in the lines was a challenge. But each time I finished a rose, I just sat there in aw, it was so gorgeous. And when the whole thing was complete...I let it sit on my desk for a bit so I could just look at it beauty!

After much debate with myself, I finally decided to try and do some sort of lattice work trellis behind the rose vines for them to drape off of. I took a chevron stencil from Winnie & Walter and placed it in the middle of my card. One of the chevron patterns was the perfect width that I needed so I taped it down and added Tea Dye and Vintage Photo to get a shaded wood look. Then flipped the chevron pattern and lined it up again to get the lattice look. I love how it turned out! To get some clean edges, I just used a couple post it notes to mask a thin strip on each side for me to ink up.

The image was finally hand cut out with lots of patience and care and mounted onto the card base with some foam tape. I heat embossed the sentiment from Simon Says Stamps Autumn Blessings stamp set onto some vellum and wrapped that around the whole card, tucking one of the vines behind it.

So so gorgeous!!! I hope you will stop by Sami Stamps to see the rest of the DT's creations with this super amazing release!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps #136-Anything Goes
    Caseology #138-Blossom
    Fussy and Fancy #135-Girly
    Word Art Wednesday #175-Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting! <3

Happy Saturday!!
I hope your weekend has started out awesomely! :)
We did a little shopping and then settled into our pajamas! There's a lot of snow outside and the temps are close to being unbearable, so jammies and relaxing at home were the perfect solution.

I haven't done much crafting lately...to be honest. I've been trying to figure out what my focus will be. This whole craft adventure was a way for me to work with my passion daily once we moved to Montreal. It's been so much fun, but taken a little bit of a toll...I think I put too much pressure on being perfect instead of enjoying the fun that is to had with crafting. I still don't know what direction I'm going, or what my focus will be. I know for sure that I want to keep exploring, experimenting, and improving my watercolor skills. That was something that I completely fell in love with in my first art class in high school and that love was re-awakened this past year into my cards, and I love that! So I'm sure you will see many more watercolor pieces showing up on my blog. Including today's card :)

When I saw that Newton's Nook was having a flash challenge, I knew I had to join in since I just adore that company!

I combined a few of their stamps: Newton's Antics and Newton's Daydream. They have been watercolored to resemble my little Storm and Cloud. Those two used to be best buds until we adopted Ezio. They still get along, but Cloud tends to stay away from both of the boys now. But I can't ever resist coloring them together on my cards.

The watercolors didn't turn out quite how I wanted them. The black was a little hard to work with, and the colors on Cloud just sort of mushed all together into a blob...
But they are still adorable and it just gives me something to keep working on :)

The background was made with the Triangle Pattern background die from Simon Says Stamp. This particular piece was actually used as a stencil to make a bunch of cards for Christmas gifts, and at the end all that pretty blue looked so good, I just couldn't throw it away. It had to go on a card. And it was perfect for this one!

I followed the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and combined a few patterned papers to go behind my kitties. I stamped the sweet sentiment from the Lots of Thanks stamp set from Simon Says into the thought bubble from the Newton's Daydream set and cut that out. I added a little light blue watercolor to make it fit in with the sky a little. Finished the whole thing off with some Simon Says Stamp Moonshine sequins. I turned some upside down to be the centers of the flowers too!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Freshly Made Sketches #168

Newton's Nook-Thank You
Simon Says Stamp-Something New (both the triangle background die, and the thank you stamps are new! Got them for Christmas :) )

I hope you enjoyed this card!! Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fabulous weekend! <3

Hello!!
I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!! I'm still visiting family in Michigan, but scheduled this post so that you could see another one of the adorable new images from Sami Stamps!

This card features the Frosty Love image:

I adore this cute snowman! The hearts hanging from his (or hers?) limbs are so perfect, and make it easy to use this image for occasions other than winter or Christmas! That's what I decided to do for my card. I went with a more lovey/thanks type card. A few days ago, I saw a post from Sandy Allnock with a pink winter sky background...how awesome! I had to give it a try and this card seemed perfect for that.

I went with black and pink, not sure why, but they just looked so good together. I inked up my sky background in some softer colors. I didn't want it to be harsh and dark but soft and lovely :)

Once I printed out and colored up my image, I trimmed around it and mounted it onto the inked up background, which I drew some little hearts onto for fun :) I stamped the simple little "thanks" along the bottom of his belly and then heat embossed the rest of the sentiment underneath. Glossy accents were added to the hearts and his eyes for some shine, and that was it!!

Love love love this new release from Sami Stamps!! Go check it out!

Thanks for visiting! <3

Hey everyone!
Time for a new challenge at Meljen's Designs! This weeks theme is Thank You. Since I opened the gates on the Christmas cards yesterday, I figured I should keep with that theme a bit. The Christmas type supplies have been sitting on my desk for weeks now, and my little pile of completed Christmas cards grows a little more each day, but I held off sharing them just because I wasn't ready for that season to be here yet.

But with the snow on the ground and the wind so cold your blood freezes...I figured it was time. So for my card this week, I kept with the feeling of the holidays.

I used this super adorable image from Meljen's Designs called Cozy Little Chickadees. I just adore this image. They are so cute and snug together...and who can resist Chickadees! The image has been colored in with my ShinHan markers and cut out with an oval die. For the little snow piles on the branch, I "painted" on some embossing paste and covered it with some sparkly embossing powder before heat setting it so that it bubbled just a little. It adds some fun texture and shine to the whole image.

Overall, this card is pretty simple. The poinsettia came together super quick. I just had to sit around and wait for it to completely dry before I could add it to my card. I coated the strands of twine with some star dust stickles as well...so more waiting for that to dry. Took quite a while, but in the end was totally worth it all!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps and More #122-Make Your Mark
    Crafting When We Can #82-Use Your Markers
    Divas by Design-Let it Snow
    Fussy and Fancy #127-Pairs or Two of a Kind
    Penny's Paper Crafty #204-Anything Goes

Be sure to swing by Meljen's Designs and join in our fun challenge! Remember you don't have to use a Meljen's image, but you get a double entry if you do!! Oh and don't forget about their sale! You can read all about it in my post here.

Thanks for visiting! <3

I just wanted to let you know that it's my day to share a fun project with you over at Meljen's Designs!!

Here's a little peak!

You can see the full project and post over at the Meljen's Designs Challenge Blog!!!

Have a fabulous day! <3

Hi Everyone - Happy Friday!!!
I am so excited to share with you the new Sami Stamps release this week! It's too darn cute...just yeah...so cute!! You don't want to miss it!

I couldn't resist and chose 2 images from the release to use on my projects. This first card features the Butterfly Kisses image!

I know it's a fall release, but I decided to go cute and girly for this card. I don't have a ton of fall colored papers in my collection, but man I have a lot of pink! I really wanted to keep this kitty nice and white for the card, but after finishing it all up, I realized that the kitty kind of gets lost and blends in with the white background. A few of my wonderful teamies suggested maybe darkening up the shadows on the kitty to help pull her away from the white background, so I may give that a try. She just turned out so cute, I really didn't want to "try" something and then totally ruin the whole thing.

To get a matching strip of paper, I found that by using the victorian velvet distress ink with just a light layer of picked raspberry on top, the color matched perfect for my background paper! I love how easy it is to get the right color with those distress inks! The sentiment is white heat embossed, I colored in the hearts with my wink of stella glitter brush pen and then covered them with glossy accents to help them stand out a little.

I also used the victorian velvet distress ink to change the color of my twine to match better. It was white and grey but the white was just too bright, so changing the color helped tone it down nicely.

I'd like to enter this Butterfly Kitty card into the following challenges:
    Crafty Cardmakers #126-Cut it Out
    Let's Craft and Create #98-Animal Antics
    Retro Sketches #139

My second card features the Feather Nap image.

I so adore this image! Sami is always the best at drawing up little kitties, and they always speak to my heart and beg me to use them :) I decided to color this sweetie up like my little princess Cloud. She's been sneezing a lot and moving a little slowly the last few days and she was just heavy on my thoughts while I put this card together.

I used some Lawn Fawn papers for the background, which are about the only fall papers I have :) But they worked perfect for this card! I used a grid stencil from Memory Box to make up the blue background around the edge. It's soft enough that it doesn't distract from the center of the card, but still adds the perfect touch.

I finished everything off with a printed sentiment, a large bow, and a few matching pearls.

I'd like to enter this Feather Nap card into the following challenges:
Catered Crop-Gratitude
    Delightful Challenge-Patterned Paper
    MilkCoffee-Hand Colored Image
    Simon Says Stamp Wednesday-Thinking of You

Be sure to stop by Sami Stamps to see the rest of this amazing release! And check out the DT's creations...you're not going to want to miss those! Totally blew me away with this release, they are pretty awesome ladies! <3

Oh! And we start a new challenge at Sami Stamps today too - Anything Goes!! Nice and easy, just remember to use a Sami Stamps image!!

Thanks for stopping by! <3