I'm a guest designer over at Jillian Vance today!

Hey everyone! It seems like I've been gone forever! I haven't forgotten about my blog - but I think that I did go through a few days where I didn't even look at my own blog!  It's been crazzzyyy over here, and I'm still recovering from this stubborn cold that I had a week ago.

Anyway, I'm proud to be a guest designer over at The Princess & The Paper today.  This is a stamp company owned by Jillian Vance, and the most interesting thing about it is that she's only 11 years old! Can you believe that???  She started her own business last year and has designed many sets of wonderful clear photopolymer stamps. 

I had the pleasure of 'meeting' her and her mom when Tamara and I owned the Paper Dolls blog.  We featured them as artists, as well as they became our guest designer for one of our challenges and even generously sponsored our final challenge. 

Anyway, so just to show you all how special they are and their wonderful stamps that they make, I made a card using one of Jillian Vance Design Stamps - More Stitches set. 







































This set is so cute – with various stitches in two widths as well as some cute sentiments to go with it! Jillian is so talented – I can’t believe she’s designing all these amazing stamps at her age!

Okay, here’s my card:

You like???  I went with something simple, but I think that I personally think that it bring out these beautiful stamps this way :)

To make this card, I just cut out 9 square pieces (1 3/4” x 1 3/4”) of various patterned paper, and I stamped the edges of them.  I adhered them on the 5 ½” x 5 ½” card.

I stamped the sentiment onto another paper and adhered onto the card using a foam tape to give dimension.  I embellished the rest with rose ribbon, natural twine and Chocolate Truffle (Annie's Paper Boutique) twine, buttons, mini spool, and crinkled ribbons (Scrapinkris).

Anyway, I hope that you go over and leave some love on their blog for having me there :)

Oh, one more thing... did ya all check out this new collection that is going to be coming out from SVG Cuts??? This is amazing (Mary has done it again!) - and I just can't wait to play with it! I LOVE gingerbread houses!!!!  You've got to watch this - here is the link to the teaser video!

...and I'm working on several different projects at once, so I'll probably be seeing you next Tuesday with My Thoughts Exactly Stamp Release!  This is a cute set - you don't want to miss!  and it's so versatile and can use it all year round! That's the only hint you're gonna get!

Thanks! and Have a crafty day!

You Take the Cake!

Hey you crafty gals!  What's new?  Any exciting things going on with ya?

Well, I've been given this awesome 'gift' from my kids this week... one brought it home from school last week and ever since, this 'gift' has been going around...  and I really didn't want it, and I tried so hard to not get it, but somehow the biggest 'gift' ended with me...  Yes, it's that icky word - COLD, and I don't get sick that often, but this time, it's taken a toll on my body and I've been achy, sneezing, coughing, wiping my nose.. you name it, I have it. 

So, this week, I've actually been laying on my bed for longer than I have been sitting at my crafting chair...  That says a lot - coming from someone that rather craft than sleep.

Anyway, today is My Thoughts Exactly DT Thursday and due to above, I don't have a whole lot of things to share today, but I made a pretty card that I'm gonna share!

It's actually perfect as it's my mom-in-law's birthday this weekend, and I was able to make a card for her AHEAD of time, instead of my usual night before crisis.



I just love this paper line - it's the 5 & Dime collection from October Afternoon. So pretty!

I also stitched around the edges of the cardstock, distressed it and inked it to give it a little vintage look.



I finally even got to use the Papertrey Ink's Banner Builder Collection dies that I've had sitting in my drawer for the past year! It's so cute - and I must use this more often! You like the bow? The bow is from My Grafico Ribbon Bow Template collection.



I stamped my sentiment 'sweet birthday wishes' from Sweet Thoughts onto a Canvas Corp canvas, and then I zig-zag sewed it and put an eyelet into it.



The buttons are always cute and adds so much! LOVE buttons!



... and added one more sentiment at the bottom of the card 'you take the cake', which is also from the same stamp set, Sweet Thoughts.

Thanks for stopping by, and make sure that you go check out Lenae's blog, Sugar Gem for more inspiration projects with My Thoughts Exactly stamps!

Letterpressed holiday cards.

I pulled out my Letterpress out again yesterday...  Yes, it's a big deal.  I don't pull this thing out that much, mainly because it's a pain to clean up and all, but really, everytime,  I make something out of it, I love how my cards turn out.  It's somehow just the look of the letterpressed stationery is so classy and elegant...  So, I keep telling myself that I should pull it out more often, but before I know it, a few months passes again...

Anyway, for the past few times, when I have been doing the Letterpress, I have been trying to focus on using their templates as the focus.  This time, I tried to use the templates as a "background" or not the only thing on my project, and use SVGs and stamps to spice up the card.  I think that it turned out really cute!

Here are the cards:



Love the leaves and acorn in this one! and the swirl border at the bottom! This is from the Thicket Printing Plate.



It's hard to see it in pictures, but all the letterpressed areas are debossed with ink in that area... it's really pretty! I tried to mix in different colors to give the 4 objects a different color... and then I used the glitter glue to bling it up a bit :)



Cute stamps, isn't it??? ('leaves are falling' and 'autumn') This stamp set is from Heirloom Traditions (Punkin' Patch Stamps) The backing cardstock of the stamps is the Jillibean Soup Core Impressions. I love these cardstock - they are already embossed, and you just take a sandpaper and distress it a bit and the core lighter layer gets exposed.

I also am into the burlap and the twine and the canvas thing... this burlap ribbon that I used in this card was something mom brought back for me from Japan, but am lovin' them! I'm gonna see if I can pick some different ones up on Etsy!

Okay, I'm going to jump ahead by a few months and the next two cards are Christmas cards...



I think that this is my favorite out of the three cards that I've done here... the silver dotted background and the red striped lines are both letterpressed (Wintertide Printing Plate), so it's actually really sharp to look at in person. I stuck to the minimal colors, but added in a candy cane (Santa's North Pole Workshop SVG Collection) and a peppermint (Christmas Cookie Party SVG Collection), along with some presents to embellish the card up a bit.





The stamp is from the Holiday Traditions set (Punkin' Patch Stamps) and I have to say that is my current favorite set right now! SO SO Cute and you'll be seeing a lot of my projects using those stamps!

... and my last card (same Letterpress templates)...



The gingerbread man is from Holiday Treats SVG Collection and this cute gingerbread house is from the Christmas Cookie Party SVG Collection.



I just LOVE these dew drops - I got mine on eBay a couple of years ago, but adds the perfect amount of color and cuteness to your projects!



This last stamp is from Gingerbread Kisses (Punkin' Patch Stamps) and I took a red pen to accent in the candy cane :)  The red hearts are not so perfect, but they are done with Red Ranger Pearls.

I'm workin on a few more right now, but I've got some other projects that I need to do, so thought that I'd share these for now!

Thanks for comin' by, and have a crafty one!

OH, and until October 23rd - you get FREE SHIPPING on Punkin' Patch Stamps with coupon code: HALLOWEEN2011SHIP

Creepy Halloween Treat Cart.

Hey all!  Here's a project that I had made a while ago, that I thought it would be really cute to put Halloween Treats in, but just never got around to sharing.  So here it is!



Isn't it fun?  My kids love it!  Who wouldn't like to get a cree-pyyy gift like this?  It makes a great Halloween decor, too!

All the files are from SVG Attic (Happy Haunt Halloween Party Kit, Stop and Shop SVG Kit and Fun Favors SVG Kit), and used Echo Park Apothecary papers, and Dream Loft Haunted Apothecary labels.  Isn't that big "Happy Halloween" stamp awesome?  That was from the $1 bin from Jo-ann's when I went down to the US.

I altered some of the files to make them longer so that it would sit better inside a cart. Of course, I inked all the edges to give it a creepy look :)



I cut little boxes and filled them up with spooky treats!







The purple liquid is grape juice!



Anyway, sorry about my quick post - (I'm still trying to get my hubby's Gala tickets done!) I hope you liked my project!

See ya until next time!

FANG-tastic Blog Hop Giveaway Winners and my 500 Followers Giveaway!

Good evening everyone!  Thanks so much for all the love :)  It's always so much fun getting comments!  Many of my projects takes a while time to make, but it's so worth it, when people love what I made!  It just makes my day!

So....  ready for the FANG-tastic blog hop winners???  (and yes, I've included the two that couldn't comment on my blog into my count :) )

$15 SVG Cuts gift card goes to this lucky person... :)

smyiow, who said...

Amazing! All these projects are amazing. 100% perfection! I love them all!!
my-o-scrappin.blogspot.com

smmyiow@gmail.com


The lucky recipient of Trick or Treat Punkin' Patch Stamp set  is....
 

 

Charity Adams, who said...

The DVD box is too cool. Love your work.
Charity
http://adamsacres.com/

October 7, 2011 2:07 PM
 
Charity - please send me your mailing address :)
 

The Digi Bistro $12 gift card for CUTE CUTE files is given to...

 

Julie, who said...

This is so awesome! Will have to use some of these for our daughters' Halloween party this year. You have an amazing talent!
October 9, 2011 5:58 PM


The amazing Halloween twine from Trendy Twine goes to:

Lisa R. said...

Wow, you've been a busy bee! Fabulous set! Did all of the requests, following everything. TFS joy4umetoo at hotmail dot com
October 7, 2011 9:38 PM

Lisa, please send me your mailing address!



I will be contacting you shortly, but you can always feel free to contact me first - that would make my life really easy!  My e-mail is thienly dot azim at gmail dot com. 
Thank you again for all my wonderful sponsors...  my hop wouldn't have been the same without you.

One more exciting news... there are more chances of winning prizes for following me (on Facebook).  (Sorry for all the non-Facebooker's...)  I have hit 500 followers today and I thought that it would be fun if you could celebrate it with me!

I am having 3 days of giveaway and it starts tomorrow!!  Details here:

So, I will be making a post on FB wall on Days 1 and 2, and you MUST comment under that post in ordered to win.

For Day 3, I will be giving away a prize to whomever that has sent the most followers my way. This is in effect already, so start sending people to Mod Paperie page, and let them know that you sent them!

Congratulations to all the winners and Good luck everyone for the next set of giveaways!

Ghastly Ghouls - Halloween Gift Box Challenge

Hey there, you ghouls!  Getting ready for Halloween yet?  In need for spooky ideas for gift boxes??

As you may know, my awesome uber talented friend Tamara (Happy Life, Crafty Wife) has teamed up with one of my favorite designers, Lori Whitlock.  She's the one that has designed the whimsical and modern papers for Echo Park - which I pretty much have purchased every single one of them!  She also has a FB page, so if you haven't been there yet, go say hello!

Anyway, they are holding their first ever challenge ever together on Tamara's blog, and of course, I wanted to show my support as she's been a great friend of mine. (Well, their prize is quite appealing as well.. :) )

I was supposed to work on my hubby's store's Holiday Gala tickets today...  I always make it for him twice a year - tickets, bag stuffers, store posters.... but had to put that aside for a little bit, 'cause this project was my priority! LOL!

For the challenge, you have a choice of either a Spider or a Ghost Window Box, and you should've seen what Tamara made as an inspiration project! These projects are WOW - you've just gotta go see them!  So...  after contemplating on which one I should tackle on,  I chose a ghost one.  You can download the files here.

I wanted to do something cute and I was so inspired by Tamara's Christmas Ornaments that she did, I had to use this technique to do a 3D ghost!  I used Echo Paper Apothecary Papers, and used lace (I inked it) and crinkled ribbons to embellish it.    I also used various stamps sitting around my area, so please don't ask me which set these are from...  The only one that I know is the "Ghastly Ghouls" is from the Inkadinkado stamps from Michaels this year. 

So, you wanna see my box?



You like??? Here's my little 3D ghost:



I stamped a little "BOoo" sentiment and attached it with an inked clothespin.



I love this 'stamp' stamp, but ahhh! can't remember which company makes this! I also have a burlap ribbon underneath it.



I stamped this sentiment onto two papers, cut out "ghouls" from one and used foam tape to adhere to the original - it added dimension, which is always good!

Ready to see the inside??? Yes, I also did something to it!



You open up the box... and there's treats! I added 'eyes' to the marshmallows for a treat! Don't cha think it's cute???



...and just for the fun of it, I attached the other half of the ghost to the back of the lid, to make it look like it's coming out through the box.... oooohhh.... spookyyy!



Anyway, here's my entry - wish me luck!

For anyone that's interested - the deadline is the end of this Wednesday! Good luck everyone!

FANG-tastic blog hop: Fright Night Movie Night

Welcome to the last stop of the wonderful blog hop!  Hope that you enjoyed this as much as I did - and got some good inspiration for Halloween projects!

So, yes, if you happened to just stumble across my blog, you are technically in the place where I want you to be, but it's not fair is it to keep you all to myself! Muwahahaha!!!  There's lots of talented girls in this hop, so please go back to Alyssa's blog - My Thoughts Exactly, and start your little haunted journey from there.

Make sure that you come back though - as I've got 4 PRIZES that I'm giving away! Will discuss the details later!

Alyssa - My Thoughts Exactly
Becki - The Happy Card Factory
Bee - Dare to bee Creative
BeeLinda - Bee's Hive O' Drama
Cher - Cher's Studio
Jennifer - Our Change of Art
Jessica - Crafty Rocket Science
Kim - Kimberly's Craft Spot
Lenae - Sugar Gem

Okay, let's get to my spooky project for today.  I've decided to take a little break from my favorite Echo Park Apothecary papers, and decided to play with K&Co Ghostly Greetings.  These papers are soo cute, and just caught my eye when I walked into Michaels, along with million other items!

For my project, I've decided to take the SVG Cuts Summer Blockbuster SVG Kit and make it into a Halloween Fright Night Movie Night.  You've got everything that you need in this one collection - from popcorn boxes, to a treat tub, to a DVD/Blu-ray case to the invites.  There's even those movie clappers that you can make and customize to your theme!  (... and there's other fun embellishments, too!)

Summer Blockbuster SVG Kit

Pretty cool kit, isn't it?

So along with this cool kit, I decided to collaborate my project with another great online SVG store, The Digi Bistro.  I used Pick Your Poison and Halloween Town to embellish my kit.

Pick Your Poison SVG Collection

Halloween Town SVG Collection

Total cuteness, right here!

Along with these great sets, I also used several stamp sets to bring out my project!

Punkin' Patch Stamps - Trick or Treat



Punkin' Patch Stamps - The Witching Hour



My Thoughts Exactly Stamps - Fright Night Phrases






















My Thoughts Exactly Stamps - Ghostly Greetings

 

...and to tie in all my elements together was the great Halloween Twine from Trendy Twine (Annie's Paper Boutique)! It added soo much to my project! Twine is so fun - it's easy to add it anywhere, and there's so much that you can do with them!

...also, I was just a little tight on time this week, so I had a help from my already made embellishments - K&Co Glitter word art stickers and some matching embellishments to go with paper.

So... putting this all together - here is my project!



So fun, right? My kids were so excited to see this! All the containers are filled with brain bits, that actually resemble somewhat close to popcorn... (is what my hubby wanted me to write!) To take my pic - I had to pop 3 bags of popcorn, so we were eating popcorn all night! (and this is after I stuffed the boxes with containers, so I wouldn't have to make as much!) It's a fun party size, but for a smaller movie night, maybe resizing it a tad smaller may save you some popcorn!

Here's a movie clapper to set the right tone for the party:



The clapper arm actually moves up and down and I twisted some Halloween Twine around it.

I also made a DVD box for the movie! (I actually have this movie, and in my mind, I was SURE that I had the DVD for it, but it was actually VHS! Shows how ancient I am! LOL! So, this image that you see inside the box was actually an image that I just printed off from the internet!)





Here are LOTS of pictures of the popcorn boxes:



























I just love the touch of eyeballs in this cauldron!

... and lastly, but not least, is the big tub!









(This is about the extent of my Copics right now - just coloring in space! I actually was trying to learn it the other day, spent a little while coloring in stamps, but realized that I needed more colors to be able to blend like what I had imagined...)







Okay, so you've seen enough pics. Now we can get onto what you're interested in... the GIVEAWAY!

I've got 4 great sponsors to give away products that I've used in my project!

Leo & Mary from SVG Cuts/Punkin' Patch Stamps have generously offered me 2 prizes!!!

The first prize is for $15 gift card to SVG Cuts. Who doesn't like SVG Cuts? I think that anyone would be excited to get this! This amount would get you 2 collections and a free gift - which is the newest released collection of the week! (Hey - did you see the newest Caramel Apple Pie SVG Kit? Sooo cute! I so wanna try making that crate!) Here's their FB page - I'm sure you all are followers by now!

The 2nd prize is for the Trick or Treat Stamp set from Punkin' Patch Stamps! You liked the stamps that I used in my project? Well, I used most of the stamps from this set in the pictures that you saw above! It's a great set of Halloween stamps that you can use on cards, layouts, or any 3D projects! If you haven't become a part of the FB group, here's the link - and let Leo know I sent you!

For the 3rd winner, Cher from The Digi Bistro has generously donated $12 gift card to her store - that is enough to purchase the two Halloween collections that I used in my project! (or, you can get something else, if that's what your heart desires!) She's got a FB page, and if you haven't joined there yet, what are you waiting for??? Let her know I sent you!

... and lastly but not least, what would I do without twine? My project wouldn't have been the same! Lesley from Trendy Twine has donated 50 yds of this amazing Halloween Twine to the 4th winner! In order to win her twine, please go and 'like' her on FB if you haven't yet (and tell her I sent ya)!

That's right - there's 4 WINNERS from my hop this time! Make sure that you leave me some love here for your chance to win! You have until Monday, Oct 10th 11:00PM PST.  I will be announcing the winners on Wednesday.

Make sure that you have left comments on other blogs, as there are other fantastic sponsors in this hop: My Thoughts Exactly, SVGs by Bee and Pumpkin Spice online craft store.

I hope that you enjoyed this hop, and have fun craftin'!