Avocado Arts June Cards - Life's a Beach

Good morning! I'm up on the Avocado Arts blog this morning with a few cards using the new stamp set for June! This is such a fun and summery stamp set - who doesn't love the beach?!?!? Here is what it looks like:

I have still been loving watercolors so much - and as soon as I saw this set, I just knew that boat was going to get the watercolor treatment! Here is my first card with this set:

I usually use Versafine ink to watercolor, since it is waterproof, but for this one, I wanted it to run together a bit, so I just used my normal Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad. I used my Tim Holtz distress tool on the edges of that panel as well as the sentiment panel. My sentiment was stamped with some Hero Arts shadow ink. Pattern paper is from an Echo Park 6x6 paper pad, and I added some jute twine, wood veneer stars, sequins, and enamel dots. Each layer also has foam adhesive - so lots of dimension on this card too!

Next up - I went for a much more clean and simple look:

I stamped and heat embossed the anchor on my pattern paper with Zing embossing powder, then cut it in a circle with my Lil' Inker's Stitched Circle Die. Added some score lines to my white cardstock to frame it a bit, some enamel dots from Eyelet Outlet, and some soft sheer ribbon by American Crafts. 

There are also several new mini sets that are newly released - I decided to use one of them to make a Father's Day card:

And here is my card - I think I'm going to send it to my dad! 

Pattern paper is by MME, I added some Thickers for the word "dad" at the top, and heat embossed my sentiment on dark brown cardstock , then hand trimmed it into a banner.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!!!

Special Birthday Card

I recently had the fun privilege of making a custom birthday card for the out-of-town sister of a local friend. We sent several emails back and forth getting the details worked out - and this is what I ended up creating for her: 

I don't have a printer that does a fabulous job on photos, and no place local (that I know of) where I could get prints made. I was heading out of town and didn't have time to order and wait for it to come in the mail, so I had to get a little creative. So...I printed the photo on vellum! Worked perfect - gave it a soft and dreamy look that was hard to capture in these photos, but it really came out beautifully! 

The pattern paper is from Basic Grey. I cut a window in it, then mounted my vellum on the backside. Finally, mounted it on a soft cream cardbase. Stamped the sentiment from Avery Elle with Stazon ink, and added the name with Thickers. Finished off with a bit of jute twine wrapped around the top and tied in a bow, with a tiny dab of glue in a couple of spots to let it drape down pretty and land where I wanted it, and a tiny self adhesive bling in the center of the bow.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Favorite Friend - Unity FWF

Good Friday morning! Sharing a card for Unity Friends with Flair today! I played with the chalkboard technique, but added a metallic flair to it for this card:

I started off with some copper colored chalkboard paper from DCWV, trimmed it and added some score lines with my Score Pal, and then stamped and heat embossed an image from the Unity March 2013 KOTM with silver Zing embossing powder. I used some Memento silver ink to stamp the shadow and add the smudges around the piece.

I used gold Thickers to add the word "Friend" - then tied some natural jute twine around and added an October Afternoon button before mounting with foam adhesive on some cloud paper from Crate Paper's Maggie Holmes 6x6 paper pad. 

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you are enjoying a beautiful, sunny, summer day! Have a great weekend!

Birthday Card for my Mom

Good morning! I had to wait to share this - because I'm sure she would have spotted it! But I wanted to share the birthday card I made for my mom. She LOVES sheep - so since I hadn't had a chance yet to ink up this cutie from Paper Smooches, I knew that was going to be where I had to start:

I first stamped on Copic blending cardstock and colored it in with Copics. Then I fussy cut out the head and body - each separately to attach to the card base. I attached the body by gluing directly onto my stamped image on my pattern paper, then attached the head with foam adhesive for some cute dimension.

My pattern paper is from Crate Paper's Maggie Holmes 6x6 paper pad - SO in love with it! Those doilies are so pretty! 

I added the sentiment in the upper right corner, and added a touch of bling underneath, and thickers to add the word "mom." Also added a swirl of bling where the cute lamb is kicking up her heals! Who wouldn't love glitter dust when they are kicking up their heals?!?!?!

Finished off with a bit of May Arts glitter ribbon, trimmed on a diagonal, then stacked up underneath - and then inked the edges with some green Tim Holtz distress ink.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Jar Full of Joy

Well - my project to share today has a VERY long story attached to it! If you want to read it all, you can head over to my other blog HERE and read it. If you just want to see the crafty side - then you don't have to!

The short story is that I had been struggling for a while with our move here and missing everyone back home. Pretty much wallowing in self-pity and not seeing all the ways that God has blessed me. So I made this as a way to focus on those reminders!

I had a jar in my stash, that for some reason I kept trying to can with, and realized after it was full that none of my lids fit it - it was made in Canada, so I assume it is metric! So...I pulled out some new alcohol inks that I had been wanted to use, and colored up the jar pretty. I love how fast they dried! I used two different colors so they would kind of mottle together.

Next, I trimmed some paper from a 6x6 Crate Paper pad in half, then wrapped around each half - the two halves perfectly fit around the jar. I taped them together, then added some lace trim glued around the top, then wrapped some jute twine, tied in a bow, and attached an October Afternoon Button.

Finally, I used some Thickers, and some OA alphas to add my sentiment. The top of the jar looked empty, so I wrapped some tulle around it to finish off the top, since I didn't have a lid that fit it!

So now, I am filling it with little pieces of paper on which I am writing the many blessing I notice each day. Some days I might have more than one, some days I may not have any. But when I feel like I have nothing to add, I know I can pull out a couple of papers and quickly be reminded!

Have a wonderful day!!!

SPS January Hop and Challenge - New Years Projects

Good morning! Today the Shop Pumpkin Spice Design Team is having the first monthly hop for 2013! If you just came from Cheryl, you're on the right track. If you want to join us and hop along, I suggest you head to the beginning at the Shop Pumpkin Spice blog to join in!

There is also a challenge for you to join in! Make sure and hop over to Shop Pumpkin Spice to read the details of how you can join in! Starting today - there will be a weekly challenge for everyone to join in. I hope you'll hop along with us today - then join in with the challenge!

Here is what I made for today:

I used one of my all-time favorite 6x6 paper pad for this card - Crate Paper's Paper Heart. It is an older stack, but I LOVE it so much! You can still find it at Shop Pumpkin Spice too - which makes me super happy! Then I used one of my stamps sets that Shop Pumpkin Spice now carries - Paper Smooches Birthday Buddies - SOOO happy that you can find Paper Smooches here now too!

I colored my party dog with Copic Markers, then fussy cut him before mounting with foam adhesive on the pattern paper that I had added some stars from the same set to. I stamped the sentiment - also from this set on the hand trimmed banner.

Finished off with some faux stitching, and spelled out 2013 with some Thickers I had in my stash.

In case you get lost along the way, here is the entire hop line up:

Missy:  www.quickchickdesigns.blogspot.com

Tanya:  http://little-scrapper.blogspot.com/

Agnes (FLOWERDISCO): http://flowerdiscosscraphut.blogspot.com/

Cheryl (Shestamps): http://shestamps.blogspot.com/

Heather: www.housesbuiltofcards.blogspot.com

Marlene: http://scrappincookie.blogspot.com

Court: http://www.courtscrafts.blogspot.com/

Carissa:  http://happilyeverpapercrafter.blogspot.com/

Saundra: http://luvscrappingtogether.blogspot.com

Lezlye: http://lezlyes.blogspot.com/

Denine www.pumpkinspiceblog.blogspot.com

I am also linking this up as a second entry to the Paper Smooches Anything Goes Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend!

Year Wrap Up Post #2

So I know I posted one card this morning, and have been planning on posting a few more today! So...here is the first one I have. I made this one ages ago...but for some reason just didn't love it. I wasn't even going to post it, but decided: Why not end the year posting one of my least favorites? So...here you have it!

I think I originally made it for a Papertrey Ink Made it Monday Challenge, and didn't get it posted in time...so there it sat. 

I used some PTI cardstock, and the Hexagon Cover Plate. 

A PTI Mover's and Shaker's Sentiments stamp, and split in half with some Thicker letters for the word happy.

I cut the doily in half to make it stretch long enough for my red panel, and finished off with some jute twine and white faux stitching with my gel pen.

I've got two or three more posts coming up here shortly!

I LOVE YOU - shape card

Hello! I love those cards that pop into your head and you just know that they are going to be fun! This one took a little more work than I expected to make it look like I pictured in my head - but after 3 tries, I'm finally happy with how it turned out! Here it is:

 I had been rolling around in my head all of the different Moxie Fab Paper Crafting Tips and Tricks Week Challenges, in particular the Alphabet Stickers Challenge - and as I was trying to fall asleep the other night, this idea popped into my head! I took a few days to have time to put it together, but I'm so glad I was able to!

I used my Silhouette Cameo to weld together two large capital I's in to a card shape - this is about 5x7 inches high. I then cut out a smaller I for the center, and an elongated heart. The white cardstock is by Papertrey ink - rustic cream, and the red is from an older Echo Park 6x6 paper pad.

I used a PTI Linen Impression plate on the white letter I, then inked the edges of everything with Tim Holtz distress ink. Added the scrabble letters (they are Thickers that I just got recently and LOVE!!!), and a bit of natural jute twine in a bow along the bottom. Attached the heart with foam adhesive for a bit of dimension. 

I'm so glad you came to see me today! Hope you are having a wonderful day!