Glittery Snowflake Holiday Card

Is anyone else busy huffing glitter in their craft rooms this time of year? There's something about the holiday cardmaking season that brings out my innate love of glitter and intensifies it to an all-time high. 

...

Sorry, I got distract by glitter for a second and had to stare at the photo above before I could continue.

Luckily, whether you are a glitter fan or not, STAMPlorations has you covered. Our Theme and Sketch Challenge has two great options for you to craft your heart out AND win some pretty sah-weet prizes. 

This month's theme is:

And this month's sketch is: 

You can choose to play along with either the theme or the sketch, or mash 'em together and play along with both! 

I made this sparkly background using Ken Oliver Color Burst crystals and covered it with a layer of Faber Castell Glass Bead Glitter Gel, smooshed through the Old Rose Prints mini stencil. 

I added some chipboard snowflakes, plus glittery snowflake embellishments and embossed a big ol' sentiment (Merry & Bright - Typografia Christmas) to complete this holiday card. 

All-in-all if you're looking for quick and stunning cards to send out this Holiday season, totally pin this design because it packs a big bold punch while being pretty simple to put together.

Pssssttt right now if you use code DECEMBER2018 you can get 30% off your order of stamps in the STAMPshop. Plus if you use code STAMPGIRLBECCA you get an extra 10% off. So treat yourself or some of your fave crafters to a snazzy and low-cost Christmas present! 

2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

It's a hip hop, a hippity hop, a hip hip hop hooray!

(if you haven't heard that song, you need to google it now so that it's as stuck in your head as it is in mine.)

Anyhow

I'ts the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! Woooo!!!

I know you all have many places to hop along to, so I will keep this post short and sweet. 

When I think winter, I immediate think Valentine's Day, because that' my favorite part about winter. Ergo (using antiquated words is fun, huh?), I decided to create a wintry love-themed coffee card for this particular hop. 

I looooooove this cheeky stamp set (A Cuppa Love), which I designed for super sponsor STAMPlorations. It's perfect for Valentine's Day, lovey-dovey cards, friendship cards, and more. 

Best of all? This set is only $10 AND during the hop you can get it (and anything else in the STAMPlorations store) for 20% off using code STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout. 

Well what are you waiting for?! Get to hopping you crazies! I'll be popping in with more cards throughout the hop and can't wait to see what you make! 

Fusion - Hot Stuff in the Winter

It's a PARTYYYYYYYY! One of my favorite challenges on the web, Fusion, is turning the big 3! 

When I first started blogging a little over 2 years ago, Fusion was one of the first challenges I found. Since I'm a girl who likes options, I love the fact that there is both an inspiration image AND a sketch to choose from. Or you can get all funky with their challenges and use both! 


That's why I was so excited when I was asked to join the other super-amazing-awesome-incredible-talented designers this year. I'm still feeling the pinch-me moment! 

 
It is -17 degrees here. Air temp. With the windchill it is in the -30s. 
So when I saw the current inspiration image, I decided to take a chilly card and turn it into something oh-so-warm.

I used the Stunning Snowflakes set by Uniko, along with some blue & purple colorburst powders to create my background, then used my new STAMPlorations A Cuppa Love stamp set to add in my warmth. :) 

But I'm not gonna hog the spotlight here. Let me introduce you to a woman who needs no introduction, especially when it comes to hot beverages - Ms. Amy Tsurata. 

In honor of our pahr-tay for Fusion's 3rd birthday, we all got to invite one guest. Now the prospect of choosing just one of my hundreds of bloggy friends left my nails in a permanently bitten state. However - as soon as I saw that inspiration image... there's no way I could have invited anyone BUT the coffee queen herself, Amy T. 

And check out her glorious cards! 

Amy used the sketch & inspiration image, because she's genius like that. And she even used my Literary Caffeinations set and the STAMPlorations After Coffee set. 

Would all of my bloggy friends go give Amy a little love today on her blog post? 

Now go make sure you check out the Fusion Pahr-tay and especially make sure you play along!

Snowflake Card with Distress Ink Smooshing Technique

Today, I've got a super awesome tutorial to share with you and it's all about altering chipboard with perfect pearls. 

I really love to use wooden veneer or chipboard. It's a really simple way to give a clean and simple card a little something extra. Sometimes I'll use the plain old wood, and sometimes I want to do something a little fancier. This happened to be one of the fancy times. 

Our current challenge at STAMPlorations happens to be Clean and Simple (or you can choose to use the sketch) (or you can do both) (I just like parentheses). 

I chose to doll my wooden snowflakes up by using Perfect Pearls. There are many different ways to use Perfect Pearls but today I'm going to show you how to create a shimmery, metallic look with them. 

It's easy! Hardly any steps are involved - just pour a little bit of powder into the cap and mix with a few drops of water to make a paste. Then apply to the chipboard. You can use as many coats as you want to build up the opacity. 

I used a shimmery white and a shimmery turquoise and then I added some rock glitter while the pearls were still wet. Because why not? It turned out really cool! (pun intended)

I also knew that I wanted to play along with my girl Jenn Shurkus's and her friend Audrey's Coolest Card Series challenge. This week they are focusing on watercoloring techniques - and using snowflakes/snow/snowmen.

I made a watercoloresque background using the Distress Ink Dipping Technique and Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, and Evergreen Bough. 

Then I embossed a sentiment from the STAMPlorations Fond Expressions 2 stamp set and put the whole kit and caboodle together. 

You've still got plenty of time left to play in the STAMPlorations challenge! I hope to see you all there!

As for me, I'm also going to play along with:

Clear it Out - Winter theme with snowflake stash

Sparkle N Sprinkle - ATG with loose glitter & embossing

Card and Scrap - White and Blue

Creatalicious Challenge - Snowflake

Southern Ridge Trading Company - Winter

Thank you for popping by! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! 

Old and New and Snow and Blue

First and foremost I feel the need to shout to the rooftops my amazement and gratitude. THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUU! Ummmm I can't believe how many kind and wonderful comments you left on my last blog entry. Darnell really has some awesome friends, and so do I! Usually I try to call out each newbie by name, but as I now have over 30 new followers you're going to have to forgive me for not doing so. You'd be here all day! I have been diligently trying to work my way around and do the follow and comment backsies. If I haven't gotten to you yet, I promise I will!

Ok. Now for sloppy seconds: A card! Actually two of them. I've been crafting away here in the Frozen Tundra. 

My first card is all about the glitter and glam. I saw this AMAZEBALLS new technique over at Jessi Fogan's blog, OneCraftyMomma called a Faux Faux Patina. She wrote an awesome tutorial, so I'm not going to duplicate the entire step-by-step over here. Go check it out!

I started by inking a snowflake embossing folder with Weathered Wood Distress Inks and embossing a white piece of cardstock.

Then I followed step 2 of Jessi's tutorial using Chipped Sapphire, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean. 

Ooooo! So blue and wintry!

I did a variation of the next phase of Jessi's tutorial, and used perfect pearls mixed with water. I spritzed in Perfect Pewter, Perfect Pearl, and Forever Blue

When it all dried this background was shimmery, shiny, and all things that are right with the world. I absolutely LOVE how great this technique turned out (which, if I haven't mentioned by now, Jessi's blog has a great tutorial) (yes you should visit).

I also wanted to make up some extra special embellishments, so I die cut two pieces of vellum in the shape of snowflakes and painted the heck out of them with perfect pearls. 

 Just an FYI, these pictures are FALSE! They were taken after the snowflakes dried. What really happened was that as soon as water touched the vellum they curled into eeensy weensy little balls and my fingers got all full of shimmery paint as I attempted to make those buggers lie straight. Just to teach them a good lesson, I made them sit under some heavy books overnight. That'll show them.

If this card had any more glitter it would be a disco ball!

I made this card and combined some of the great challenges that are going on now:

House of Cards - Blue and Glitter Inspiration Image

Penny Black & More - Stencils and Embossing Folders

Retrosketches - Sketch

STAMPlorations - Stamps and Ink

Simon Says Stamp - Inky Background 

Now, I did tell you that I made two cards, It's my dad's 50th birthday this month! I love my poppa and he's as zany as I am (probably more so, if you can imagine that!) 

This is him and I at a New Year's Eve Party four years ago. I was making fun of him because he couldn't even keep his eyes open for a photo! Old Man! So he spread those peepers as wide as he could and so did I! And now this photo is framed in my house. It's my favorite! 


I was thinking about what card to make him. I love distressed cards and I love inky cards made with Distress Ink techniques, but I'm a real sucker for a good pun. He's kind of losing his hair... shhhh!  I had a *lightbulb* moment while I was cleaning my kitchen yesterday and just had to run right away to my craft room before I forgot (at least that's why I told myself I couldn't finish the dishes). 

Out popped this card:

*snicker* Shakespeare reference and and a bald joke, all on one card? I'm in love!

After I finished it I thought, hmmmm.... Should I take this even farther and make an accompanying card with a Depends that says "To pee or not To pee?" Nah - I gotta save something for his 60th!

I'm sending this over to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - New. Brand New die cut, referencing my old man. I'd say that works. And to Virginia's View Challenge - Clean Slate. This is definitely one of the cleanest cards I've ever created! And to Seize the Birthday. It doesn't have the "Party" toppings, but it's definitely a b-day card.

Ok. Whew. We made it through. I promise to keep more succinct next time! Thanks for stopping by! Leave me a comment or follow my blog and I'll be sure to return the favor.