Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Hello Friends! The Summer Edition of the Coffee Lover's Blog Hop is happening from today until June 12th, and while I don't have any coffee or tea Paper Sweeties stamps yet, I was able to improvise so that I could participate in the blog hop.

I used a flower pot from the Garden Time stamp set to create a cute glass of sweet iced tea. I used Summer Sky ink to stamp the image then colored the tea with Copics. To get a few ice cubes in the glass, I stamped them with a chisel tipped Brushstix and white pigment ink. A good coating of UTEE melted on the tea glass gives it a nice glassy finish. The "Sweet" sentiment is from the Happy Sweet Cuts die set. I cut several layers and glued them together for stability. All my supplies are listed below.

Paper Sweeties is a "Super Sponsor" for the hop and has offered a $50 gift certificate to one lucky hop participant!

Have fun checking out all the fabulous inspiration in the hop gallery, leave a little blog love along the way, and play along to share your creativity, and possibly with a nice prize! 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a fun weekend!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #231
613 Avenue Create #126: Anything Goes
Corrosive Challenge #225: Anything Goes
Chocolate, Coffee, and Cards Challenge #92: Summer Fun
Fresh Brewed Challenge, June 3-9: Fun in the Sun
Verve June 2015 Inspiration Challenge: Eat Me, Drink Me

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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Remembrance/Honor Challenge at Tiddly Inks!

It's November 11th, Veteran's Day in the United States, the day America has rightly set aside to honor all veterans who have served honorably in the military, whether in wartime or peacetime. (And, if you are in the U.K., you just observed Remembrance Sunday). If you know a veteran, be sure to take time today to thank them for their service to your country! 

And, in keeping with the holiday, over at Tiddly Inks, the theme for the current challenge is Remembrance or Honor: Create something in memory or in honor of someone. So, create a card or project for a veteran, or for anyone whom you want to honor or remember, for any reason.

I used the Light My Life digital image, colored completely in Earth-colored Copics, to make a card for my brother, whose birthday happens to be today, November 11th. I wrote the "Remembering You" sentiment by hand, and obviously need some practice on hand-lettering. The suede "ribbon" was a waist tie from an old jacket. I love it when something I've saved "just in case" I might need it some day, finally comes in handy. ;~)

Did some hand-lettering inside the card, too, with a little doodling on the top and bottom of the sentiment panel. 

So, who will you honor? Check out the beautiful creations from the Tiddly Inks Design Team for ideas and inspiration, then create your own card or project and link up for a chance to win! 

I hope you have a great week. And, if you are a Veteran, THANK YOU! Your service to our country is greatly appreciated today, and every day!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge 201
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Thinking of You
613 Avenue Create Challenge #97: Anything Goes
The Shabby Tea Room-Week #239: Just Neutrals
TSC Challenge #54: Anything Goes

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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Happy Spook-aween!

Happy 4th of July!!! Do you have big plans for the holiday weekend? Since we just got back from vacation, we don't have a lot planned, but we will be spending the day around the pool at my mother's house, with family, and making it a combination celebration for Independence, and for my DD's 10th birthday, which is on the 5th. Happy Birthday, Sweetie! :D

I've been doing a lot more coloring lately, since I took the Copic Whimsical Faces & Hair class about 3 weeks ago. I need a lot more practice, and tend to have to color several images before I have one I'm satisfied with, but the class helped me a lot. It was a fun class, but the best part of the weekend was getting to meet my former Flourishes teamie, Deborah Anton, in person! She came for the class and we spent a few days together. OMGosh, she is so sweet, and we had a great time! I was sad to see her leave, especially since she moved over 200 miles further away this week! :(  But, that just gives me an excuse to take a trip to Virginia, once she gets settled in! :D

Oh yes, I have a card, don't I? ;)

I know it's just barely summer, but Halloween cards are fun to make anytime. This little cutie is a Tiddly Winks image. I colored her with Copics on Neenah paper. The dp is from a discontinued We R Memory Keepers 6x6 paper pad called Spookville. The moon is made from 2 layers of vellum. I embossed just the top layer with a swirly embossing folder to add a little texture to it.  

The white panel on the inside has a die cut border, made with an Impression Obsession die called, Halloween Hill. The detail on that die is amazing, and it pops out of the die easily every time. I colored the windows and pumpkin "lights" with a Copic marker.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a Happy 4th!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Robyn's Fetish Challenge #218: Stripes or Dots
MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #183
613 Avenue Create #78: Anything Goes
Corrosive Challenge #202: Color Me Happy

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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Every Day a Picnic

Hello there! We just got in from an Orlando vacation, late, late last night, after driving 9 hours with no air conditioner! OMGosh, how in the world we did that when I was a kid, I'll never know! It was miserable! But, the rest of the vacation was great! I was able to meet up with friends and go to StampFest in Orlando while we were there, and, my DH, DD, and I spent four days in the parks. My DD, who turns 10 this week, rode her first "big kid" roller coaster, the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, in Universal Studios, and now she is a roller coaster fanatic! If you haven't seen that coaster, you MUST check it out! It starts out climbing 17 stories straight up...YES, straight up! Then the big drop, followed by a loop that you actually spiral around! I was scared to death that my DD was going to go flying out, but she not only stayed in, she was grinning ear to ear at the end of the ride. Here's a good video of the ride, if you're interested in seeing what crazy people do on vacation! ;D

While we were gone, I was able to do quite a bit of coloring. This is a MFT stamp, colored with Copics. I airbrushed the sky with a Copic marker.

The inside is simple. I just love this sentiment. I have so many people I'd like to send this to. 

Hope you are having a wonderful summer!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
MFT Wednesday Stamp Club 182
Corrosive Challenge #202: Color Me Happy
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create Challenge #78: Anything Goes

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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Timeless Tuesday #262: It's a WASH!

Happy, Happy Tuesday! Aaannnnd, we're back...with another Timeless Tuesday Challenge!

Deborah is our hostess this week, and she has challenged us to get out those rolls of Washi tape and actually use them! I don't know about you, but I rarely use Washi tape. They are in a drawer, so I often forget I have them, but even when I do remember, I have a hard time figuring out where to use them. So, this was a real challenge for me. But, I persevered, and before I knew it, I was a Happy Camper!!! ;)

This card is not my usual style. I love fun, bright colors, but I don't use them in large doses in my cards very often. But, I recently got some Gelatos and wanted to give them a try, and since they are all bright colors, that's what I went with. :) I used the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch #166 for my layout. The bright bg paper is my first attempt with Gelatos. I just scribbled a few colors from the MFT Color Palette Challenge #3 (had to use pink and blue to make the purple color since there isn't a purple in the Gelato set I have) onto a piece of textured watercolor paper then used a paint brush and water to blend them. After it dried, I mixed some gesso and water and did a little dripping and dropping with a water dropper. For the image, I first used the S'More Fun Silhouette Cut File to cut out the camper and that cute little banner, stamped the images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then colored them with Copics. All those gold areas on the camper are meant to look like rust, but I'm not sure it comes across that way. ;) The vellum circle behind the image was dry embossed with a blueprint embossing folder, and the sentiment was heat embossed with black ep. The kraft strip in the center of the card has a piece of Washi tape on it. 

I almost didn't even show the inside of this card, it's so plain. But, I thought I'd show an easy way to spruce up the inside with hardly any effort at all. The strips of color on the top and bottom of the white die cut are simply from the die cut negative that was left over after cutting the bg for the front of the card. All I had to do was distress the edges with Distress Ink to match the front of the card, then glue them onto the white panel and trip the excess. Barely any waste at all, and it took all of 2 minutes to finish the inside.

So, now that it's your turn, I hope you'll play along! I can't wait to see how everyone takes on this challenge! I'm hoping to get inspired on new ways to use Washi tape!!! For the challenge, you don't have to use Flourishes stamps, but if you do, you get two ballots toward the weekly prize! You can find all the details for the challenge here.

Also, take a moment to be inspired by all our designers' blogs, and be sure to leave some love for them, too! :)

• Allison Cope
• Cheryl Lea...that's me!
• Deborah Anton
• Jenny Gropp
• Katie Sims

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful week!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
MFT Color Palette Challenge #3
MFT Wednesday Stamp Club #166 (MFTWSC166)
613 Avenue Create Challenge #62: Anything Goes
Simon Says Monday Challenge: D is for Distress

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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A Better World

Well, it looks like our snow is going to be gone within the next couple of days. My DD is devastated. I am thrilled! Maybe when I was her age, I wanted snow, but I sure can't remember ever feeling that way. While she and her dad were outside in the snow, I had time to make another card.

I used this week's My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch for this one, and as I usually do, for some reason, I turned it on it's side.

I kept this one pretty simple. The globe on the bg was part of the dp, and I added the MFT sentiment in Olive Grove ink. The chevron layer was cut with a Spellbinders die, the strip that has a map on it is a piece of paper tape (not Washi tape) that I've had forever--probably 10 years before I started stamping. I have no idea why I bought it, and I hardly ever use it now, but it worked well here, I thought. Over the striped ribbon, I put a rolled felt flower and leaves, as well as a red flourish, all made with MFT dies. I finally bought a melting pot the other day and needed to make sure it worked, so I heated it up and dipped the red flourish in the melted UTEE to get a glossy look. I can already see that I'm going to use my melting pot often. :) 

On the inside, I sponged Crushed Olive Distress Ink, then used a Tim Holtz thank you stamp. The map image is the Antique Map background stamp from Flourishes. I had to use it since it literally just arrived from halfway around the world! Yep, you read that right--I ordered the stamp from a shop in Singapore! It took about 3 weeks to arrive and cost me almost twice what it would have at Flourishes, but I waited too long to get it directly from Flourishes, and by then it was sold out, and the ONLY place I could find it was a store in Singapore called Maple Treehouse. I was a little concerned about buying something from so far away, but it turns out the store is a good one, and the shipping was reasonable, too. Moral of that story: don't wait! ;)

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
MFT Wednesday Stamp Club #163
Simon Says Monday Challenge: We Love Stamps

~Hugs to ya,

 

Supplies:

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Swallowtail Courage

Hi Friends! I hope you've had a good week so far. Ours has been interesting, but extremely trying. We have honeybees in one of our exterior walls! What a frustrating mess! We thought they were just in a garage wall, and that the beekeeper had gotten all of them a few days ago, but they are back with a vengeance!!!

But, on to my card...

The design is from this week's My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club (MFTWSC120), and the color palette is from The Play Date Cafe Color Challenge #178 (PDCC178). It was a simple card to make, but it may not be obvious how I did it, so here are the deets: The card base is gray. I heat embossed the beautiful Swallowtail image on white cs, with a bright pink embossing powder then randomly swiped a Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink pad directly on the cs. The edges were sponged with Memento London Fog. The layers behind the image are gray, then yellow, then pink. The final, largest layer is gray cs, dry embossed with a Bubble embossing folder. Then I used a silver and a white paint dauber along the outer edges, finishing it with Black Soot Distress Ink.

For the flags, I die cut them, then folded them along the yellow twine, gluing the ends together, and I added just a tiny bit of glue to the back to hold them in place over the image, but I left the pointy ends of the flags loose. The clear gems were added to each flag with Glossy Accents.

On the inside, I used a smaller butterfly stamp randomly on white cs, punched the corners with a Stub Corner Chomper, stamped the sentiment in gray ink, then again in pink ink, and sponged yellow, then black ink along the edges. It is mounted to pink dp and the yellow pearls in the corners are dots of Liquid Pearl.

Oh, what I would give for a butterfly infestation rather than honeybees!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a fantastic, bee-free weekend. :)

I'll be entering this card in the following challenges:

My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club #120 (MFTWSC120)
The Play Date Cafe Color Challenge #178 (PDCC178)

~Hugs,

Stamps: Swallowtail, Papillon Potpourri (Stampin Up); Words of Wisdom (Verve)
Ink: Distress; Memento; Versamark
Dies: Banner Stacklets 1 (Taylored Expressions)
Accessories: Bubble Embossing Folder (Sizzix); embossing powder (Recollections); twine; mini round gems (Recollections); Stub Corner Chomper; Liquid Pearls; acrylic paint
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Something Wonderful

Hi Friends! I hope you had a good week. Got big plans for the Easter weekend? Except for church on Friday night (our church is having multiple Easter services all weekend long to accommodate the large crowds we always get at Easter), we'll be having a quiet one at home this year, so I'm sure I'll have some crafting time in there somewhere. ;)

My card today is a birthday card in beautiful spring colors, based on this week's ColourQ challenge, and the layout is from the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch.

Isn't that dp beautiful? It's from a new 6x6 pad that I believe is exclusive to Joann's, called Journeys, by Kathy Davis. The entire pad is in blue, green, and purple. I was so glad when I saw the ColourQ color palette this week, so I had a reason to use it. And, with this layout, I was able to cut the dp so that the word "beauty" in the upper right corner wasn't covered up by anything.

The card is simple, with some sewing, a metal embellishment, and Bloomers in the upper corner . On the sentiment die cut, I sponged Memento and Distress Inks inside the die, stamped the sentiment, then, using Distress Ink, I inked up a small flourish stamp, spritzed it with water to try to achieve a watercolor look, then stamped it above and below the sentiment. Not sure if I was successful with that, but I do like how it turned out. ;)

On the inside, I used Lavender Stickles around the circle die cut to add a little more color and pizzazz.

I still need at least two more birthday cards real soon, so you may see me here again tomorrow. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful day.

I'll be entering this card in the following challenges:
My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch Challenge #117 (MFTWSC117)
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #213: Grab Some Thread (FTTC213)
ColourQ Challenge #182 (CQC182)-- **ColourQ Courtier Winner**
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge: Quotable

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Pearls of Wisdom (MFT Stamps); In the Word (Taylored Expressions); Signature Greetings II (PTI)
Paper: Journeys (Kathy Davis)
Ink: Distress Ink; Memento
Dies: Circle Border (Simon Says Stamp); Std Circles Lg (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Mystic Embossing Folder (Spellbinders); Bloomers (Webster's Pages); Stickles; metal embellishment; sewing thread
Size: 5" sq.

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Peach Cobbler Recipe Page

I'm purging my craftroom! Click below to see what's for sale:

Stamps for Sale

Dies for Sale

***Peach Cobbler Recipe Page published in Rubber Stamp Madness Magazine--Spring 2017***

Hi Friends! How was your week? I hope you had time to do a little crafting. I've been all fired up since my stamping trip to Savannah. The group decided to make a recipe book, so everyone is making a recipe card as a 6" x 6" page to share. I was going to share my bread and butter pudding recipe, but I have the fab peaches stamp from Flourishes, so I opted to go with Peach Cobbler instead.

This is my original recipe page. I used the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch #107 for my layout. All my dp's are digital. They are by Juliana Kneipp, and I originally got them from Design House Digital, but they don't have them there anymore, so I don't have a link for you. I printed the recipe onto a vintage tag that was part of the Old Sweet Times digital pack, then added a kraft tab and eyelet. The ribbon is ivory seam binding that I dyed with Distress Ink Reinkers. I sewed two strips of burlap behind the recipe, and stapled the little "Sweet!" flag to the card.

I did some zig zag sewing on this, and pulled out some of the stitches in one corner. On this particular page, I tried to distress it further by dragging it through water, but I forgot that when you print digital paper and it gets wet, the design completely disappears. Oops! I still kind of like it, and kept it for this page, which will go in my personal recipe book, but for the rest of the pages, I skipped that step.

I colored the peaches with Copics, and love how they turned out, but I needed to make 13 of these, and that just wasn't feasible, given how long it takes me to color with markers, so I went a different route for the rest of them.

This is a picture of the peaches, as I colored them for the rest of the recipe pages. I used Distress Inks and sponge daubers. It's not as "clean" as coloring with Copics, and the leaves aren't as detailed, but I love how they turned out. Even IRL, you can barely see a difference in the Copic peaches and the Distress Ink peaches, and the Distress Ink leaves ended up being a better color for this project. Best of all, though, I was able to color 13 of these images, and cut them out with my craft knife in just a few hours--less time than it took me to color one peach image with Copics.

This is what the entire page looks like with the peaches that were colored with Distress Inks.

And, here they all are, ready to go! I was glad to get them done early, even though they aren't due until April, because several ladies in the group are coming to spend the weekend with me the first weekend in February while they are here for the Lawrenceville Stamp Convention, and I can send them back to Savannah with them, just in case I don't make it down there for the April meeting.

Here's the Peach Cobbler recipe, in case you can't read it in the other pictures. It's actually a "dump cobbler" since you just dump everything in and cook it. It makes a yummy, thick and buttery crust on top that is to die for!

I'll be entering this in the following challenges:
MFT Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch #107
Color Throwdown CTD225  (*Winner: Featured Stamper!)
Delightful Challenges: "Tag, You're It" (*Winner: 1st Choice and Guest DT spot!)

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the long weekend!

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Peach & Cherries, Wild for Watermelon (Flourishes)
Paper: Hello Fall, Old Sweet Times (Juliana Kneipp)
Ink: Distress Ink; Copics; Memento
Dies: Creative Page Tabs (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Seam Binding (Hug Snug); rhinestones; eyelets; mini staples; burlap; sewing thread
Size: 6" x 6"

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In the Sweetness of Friendship

Hi Friends! I won't keep you but a sec, with the card I want to share with you today.

I used the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch #91, the Colour Q #156 color palette, and Flourishes Timeless Tuesday theme of "Fall."

I went with lighter shades of the colors to give the card a softer feel. 

I cut the leaves from felt. I used MFT felt for the rose colored leaf, and "Eco felt" from Joann for the tan leaf. The difference in the felt is amazing. Not only does the MFT felt look and feel better, it also cuts better. I can see that I'm going to have to invest in more MFT felt!!!

The inside is pretty simple, with two leaves stamped on white cs, with a strip of dp from the front of the card stitched across the top of it. I punched the top with the binding edge punch to match the front, too.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great night!

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #188: Fall Theme

MFT Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch #91 (MFTWSC91)

ColourQ Challenge #156 (CQC156)

Tuesday Throwdown #117: Fall Colors

Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge #225 (PWC225): Fall Inspired

Party Time Tuesdays #87 (PTT#87): Anything  Goes

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Sweetness of Friendship, Falling Leaves (Flourishes)
Paper: Tim Coffey Fall Mat Pad (K&Co); Indie Chic "Saffron" (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Memento; Distress Ink; White Gel Pen
Dies: Reverse Wonky Rectangles, Assorted Leaves, Curved Rectangles, Parisian Motif (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Binding Edge Punch (EK Success); felt (MFT Stamps & Joann); burlap; Cotton Perle thread (DMC); buttons; sewing thread
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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