Exquisite Embellishments Blog Hop

Welcome to the Exquisite Embellishments Blog Hop, hosted by the lovely Keri Lee Sereika, who authored the beautiful book, Exquisite Embellishments for Paper Crafts.

I couldn't believe that she asked me to contribute, esp after finding out all the talented ladies whose work grace the pages of the book. Thank you, Keri, for this awesome privilege! I am so excited and honored to be part of this hop. I hope you will check out this new publication, which is available for purchase now. To entice you, the ladies who collaborated on the book are doing this hop to give you a glimpse of the kind of inspiration the book offers.

My card today shows off one of my favorite embellishments, the DOUBLE BOW, that you see often on my cards. I used twill tape on this one. The card uses some retired Layers of Colors, stamps Renaissance Hearts and Artful Endearments. I used K&Co papers. The lacy border is cut using Spellbinders Parisian Accents dies.

Here is the order of the hop. Be sure to leave a comment for each and every designer as we will be drawing not one, not two but THREE winners at random. Each winner will receive his/her very own copy of the book absolutely free! The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win. The winners will be announced on Tuesday!

Keri Lee - www.pinklemonade.typepad.com
Linda - lovelylindascraftcentral.blogspot.com.au/
Sherry - www.sherrywright.typepad.com
Lori - www.loricraig.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com
Heidi - embellished-dreams.blogspot.com/
Kandis - www.mycreativetreasury.blogspot.com

***Nina - http://ninabdesigns.blogspot.com/ <<--YOU ARE HERE***

Sharon - smrdesigns.blogspot.com
Melissa - lilybeanpaperie.typepad.com
Jessica - iembellish.blogspot.com/
Tami - tamimayberry.blogspot.com/ 
Teresa - paperieblooms.blogspot.com/
Jing Jing - thislittleartofmine.blogspot.com/

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Dear Friend

I have been posting some of my publication rejects cards lately, but always forget to post the ones that actually make it :). Part of the reason is I can't keep track of the magazine's policies regarding sharing photos of published cards. I have been slacking in the submission department lately, just because life gets so busy. But I have to say it's always well worth the effort. I love the challenge of getting cards accepted, and of course the perks of getting paid and/or receiving paper crafting products are a plus. :)

Today's card was published in CARDS Magazine back in October 2010.The sentiment is from Layers of Color's Sent with Love. The paper is American Crafts.

Speaking of publications, I have some published in the recent Paper Crafts Magazine special edition magazines and their first ever book that will be revealed at CHA:

 

Spellbinders Abilities and Beyond Blog Frenzy Day

The entry window for the Spellbinders Paper Arts contest on this blog has ended.

Welcome to the eighth day of the Spellbinders Abilities and Beyond Blog Frenzy!

Spellbinders™ Paper Arts is absolutely thrilled to bring you our largest product releases ever! These new collections are some of the most innovative and beautiful die cutting and embossing templates in the world! The Spellbinders Abilities and Beyond Blog Frenzy allows you a sneak peek of our introductions for the 2012 Winter Craft and Hobby Association trade show later this month.

Win today’s new Spellbinders products!
Be eligible to win the Grand Prize by entering each day, see the schedule below!

Enter my Blog Frenzy from 12:00 am Eastern Standard Time (EST) January 19, 2012 until 11:59 pm (EST) January 20, 2012. Today’s participating Blog Frenzy includes my blog and Tina McDonald, Gloria Stengel and Windy Robinson’s blogs.

You can enter yesterday’s blogs, Linda Duke, Sherry Cheever and AJ Otto's through January 19 at 11:59 pm EST. See the Spellbinders Blog for the complete schedule of designers and contest rules. Thank you Spellbinders Paper Arts for sponsoring this contest!

I can't tell you how excited I am to finally show you some projects I made using my very first licensed Spellbinders die designs. For my projects below, the S5-089 Home Sweet Home and S5-088 Sewing Elements dies took center stage. Using the same die shapes, I made a necklace pendant and a coordinating card. I will show you below how I made the miniature versions of the die cuts into a piece of jewelry.

Here are the new dies I introduced:

Sku Name S5-088 Sewing Elements

MSRP: $29.99

PRODUCT SIZES:

Spool: 1 ½ x 2"

Machine: 2 ½ x 2 1/8"

Pin Cushion: 1 7/8 x 1 7/8"

Dress Form: 1 x 2 7/8"

Buttons SM: 3/8"

Buttons LG: ½"

Thimble: 1 x 1"

Scissors: 1 5/8 x 3/4"

Sku Name S5-089 Home Sweet Home

MSRP: $29.99

PRODUCT SIZES:

House: 1 5/8 x 2"

Roof: 2 ½ x 1 ¼"

Star LG: 1 7/8 x 1 ¾"

Star SM: 7/8 x ¾"

Heart LG: 1 1/8 x 1 1/8"

Heart SM: 3/8 x 3/8"

4 Petal Flower LG: 7/8"

4 Petal Flower SM: ½"

8 Petal Flower: 5/8"

Wings: 2 ¼ x 1"

Round Tag: 1 ¼ x 1"

Rectangle Tag: 1 ¼ x 7/8"

I first die cut and embossed shrink film, a thin plastic material that shrinks and thickens when heated.

Using solvent-based inks, I stamped various images directly onto the shrink film. I highlighted the embossed parts and images with permanent markers. I punched holes where I planned to connect the die cuts with jump rings.

I pre-heated the oven to 300 degrees F (please check the instructions included in the shrink film packaging). I laid the die cuts on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

I covered the die cuts with another sheet of parchment paper and baked them in the oven for a few minutes (again, check the instructions on the film packaging). The shrink film die cuts will curl first, then shrink some more to their final size (about 20% of the original size).

I removed the cookie sheet from the oven and gently flattened the top with a metal spatula. To finish the jewelry, I connected the pieces using jump rings and attached them to a necklace metal cord.

I will be showing more projects in the next few weeks using these new dies on various projects. I hope you can join me.

By entering the Spellbinders Abilities and Beyond Blog Frenzy you agree to the Official Rules. For questions on the Spellbinders Abilities and Beyond Blog Frenzy, send an email to contestquestions@spellbinders.us; no entries will be accepted at this email address.

TO ENTER:
My blog is open for entries from 12:00 am, January 19, 2012, until 11:59 pm, January 20, 2012, EST.
1) Send your Blog Frenzy email entry to: Reveal23@spellbinders.us
2) The subject must be S5-088 Sewing Elements and S5-089 Home Sweet Home
3) Send!

Be sure to visit all the Designers on their Blog Frenzy dates!
Daily winners will receive an email within 24 hours of the blog frenzy’s closing. The winners will have 72 hours to reply to that email to claim prize. If a winner fails to respond within 72 hours, a new winner will be drawn.

To be eligible for the Grand Prize, enter each and every Blog Frenzy within its designated time period, send your entries from the same email address for each entry. The Grand Prize has a retail value of over $1900 and includes the complete Spellbinders line of die cutting and embossing templates released at the 2012 Winter CHA show, and a Spellbinders Grand Calibur® Die Cutting and Embossing Machine!

I love your comments! Unfortunately, your comment does not count as an entry, so be sure to enter as stated above, and then leave a comment! Thank you for visiting!

To receive information and announcements from Spellbinders, sign up for the Newsletter and subscribe to the Spellbinders Blog. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube and Pinterest. Thank You!

Spellbinders is a trademark of Spellbinders Paper Arts, llc.
Grand Calibur and Edgeabilities are registered trademarks of Spellbinders Paper Arts, llc.

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Supplies used for Home Sweet Home card and pendant set:

Tools: S5-089 NEW Home Sweet Home, S4-324 Ribbon Banners, and LF-010 Square Bracket Edge Box - (Spellbinders Paper Arts); Spellbinders Grand Calibur Machine; Pinking shears; Jewelry Pliers, Necklace Chain, Jump Rings (Making Memories); oven

Stamps: Sentimental Banners, Beautiful Lace, The Love Chapter (Layers of Color)

Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa, Desert Sand, Stazon Black (Tsukineko), Spun Sugar (Ranger), Y28 Lionet Gold (Copic)

Papers: Ivory cardstock (Gina K Designs), Romantique (Prima Marketing), Luxury Stack (DCWV)

Specialty Medium: Shrink film (Grafix Arts) 

Accents: seam binding (HugSnug), paper rose (Wild Orchid Crafts), button and lace (stash), wool felt (Vintage Vogue)

Supplies used for Sewing Elements card and pendant set:

Tools: S5-088 NEW Sewing Elements, Spellbinders Edgeabilities® E8-006 Classic Petal and E8-001 Classic Scallop Edgeabilities and LF-010 Square Bracket Edge Box (Spellbinders Paper Arts); Spellbinders Grand Calibur Machine; Pinking shears; Jewelry Pliers, Necklace Chain, Jump Rings (Making Memories); oven

Stamps: Nana’s Needlework Sentiments (Gina K Designs); Sent with Love and Lovely Labels 18 (The Craft’s Meow); The Love Chapter (Layers of Color)

Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa, Desert Sand, Stazon Black (Tsukineko), Y28 Lionet Gold (Copic)

Papers: Ivory and brown cardstock (Gina K Designs), 5th Avenue and Attic Treasures paper packs (Melissa Frances), Luxury Stack (DCWV)

Specialty Medium: Shrink film (Grafix Arts)

Accents: burlap twine (May Arts), buttons and lace (stash), wool felt (Vintage Vogue)

Spectrum Butterfly and Winner

Thank you for your kind comments about my wonderful Spellbinders news! I hope that you will love the dies I've designed and will use them on your projects. I am so glad to be able to do what I do and count it a huge blessing. And one of the best things is I get to do it all from my home in Croatia!

Before I share the winner of my giveaway, here's a card that I had fun making. I wanted to do a spectrum background using my Memento inks. The reds are a combination of Lady Bug and Rhubarb Stalk. The butterflies are all from Layers of Color. The big one is colored with Copics. The banner is from Sentimental Banners and die cut with Spellbinders Ribbon Banner dies. I have to say is not one of my favorite colors to wear, but I love using it on my cards. Did you know Tangerine Tango is the Pantonne color of the year? It's not quite this orange, but red-orange like the center of my butterfly below.

And now the winner of my giveaway, via random.org, is...

#54 MaxineD!

Please email me, Maxine (click on Contact Me tab above), and I will get these dies out to you! Make sure you check out my Facebook Page the next few days. I also have a giveaway there and will announce the winner before the end of the week. Thank you all for entering. Have a great Tuesday!

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