Friday, August 16, 2013

Playing with Sprays

Happy Friday everyone! I've been playing along with the Unity Stamp Co. Itty Bitty a Day Challenge on Facebook this week and decided to finish it all off by playing with my new Heidi Swapp template I snagged with a birthday certificate (thanks again, Kristen!!).

I wanted CAS, shimmery, and FAST. My first attempt is still drying (bit too much spray, perhaps too thin cardstock) but this one came out, I think, pretty cute.

Shimmer and shine in the early morning light
Little hexagons dancing across the front...hehe, with the edge of the template visible as well. I rolled with it, and made the mental note to cover areas I don't want glitzed better next time. The 'thanks' is an unpackaged Itty Bitty I have which is, well, awesomely versatile.

Pardon my iffy lighting, but the sun wasn't quite up yet when I was snapping these before work. Oops.

Top view to see the overall effect
The dots in the hexes are from my rolling a paper towel roll over the sprayed area to pick up the extras. It came out so neat!

Thank you everyone for your comments via the blog post & Facebook about my 'Not Quite Perfect...' card. I love the change-up ideas, and the ones that basically told me to lighten up. Sometimes we crafters just need to hear that!

I'm also linking up to Friends with Flair today! Happy Crafting!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Not Quite 'Perfect'...

Ever have one of those ideas/designs that look fantastic in your head, but when you put it to paper...well...not quite so fantastic? That's what happened to me last night.

I'm trying to get caught up on thank you cards and had the idea of using a kitchen-y Itty Bitty Unity stamp with some matching paper I had. Instead of stamping the image in black (like always), I decided to change it up and use gray. I colored, I layered, I threw more embellishments at it to make it better. After all, when in doubt, add more embellishments!

The result:

Perfect? Maybe not...
  My reaction to the result: meh. I've done better, I've done worse. It's perfectly usable, I'm just underwhelmed by the result.

Even Liquid Pearls didn't really help
I tried the border punch to give it some pizazz as it looked quite sad just sitting on the paper. But then the holes were lost, so I filled them in with Liquid Pearls for some pop. It needed some texture, so I chose the crocheted ribbon to hide the edges.

Side view - I'm thinking my towel looks like a scarf. :/
So I ask you, my loyal readers - how would YOU redo this card? Help a fellow crafter out!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Sweet & Simple DeNami Blog Hop!

Good morning everyone! Thanks for joining me in hopping along this month with DeNami Stamps. The theme this month is Sweet & Simple. You should have hopped over from Lisa's blog. Remember, if you get lost along the way, you can always start back at the DeNami blog.

When: The blog hop starts on August 11th at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until August 12th, 2013, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize).

Why: To be inspired by fun DeNami Design creations and also the chance to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website!


Prizes: We are giving away THREE $20 gift certificates to our website! We'll be giving away one gift certificate to a random participant (DT members not eligible) and then we'll also be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop!


All right, now that the fine print is out of the way, onto my card! I came across this cute stamp in a clearance bin of all places, so of course I had to give it a good home.
 
Deck the halls with holiday chickies, fa la la la la!

I kept it nice and simple by simply layering three different sizes of my Spellbinders cutout with some lovely holiday paper. Some watercolor coloring, a bit of Stickles (because it's not done until there are Stickles on it!) and a whole bunch of foam tape and this cute little holiday card was all done!

Look at those luscious layers!
Here's a great tip; for my patterned paper, I used both sides of a double-sided page. Hey, they're meant to match, so take advantage of the opposite side!

Ok, now you're off to Linda's blog to keep on hoppin'.

Happy Crafting!

Friday, August 9, 2013

Friends and Rainbows

Happy Friday everyone! I'm hopping along again this week with the Unity Stamp Co. Friends With Flair party. While I was busy organizing all of my Itty Bitty stamps, I came across this little cutie again. Seeing as it's POURING rain here (hence the iffy photos; no sunshine!) it seemed totally appropriate for today. :)

friendship is the rainbow between two hearts
I love how it came out. A bit of pretty storm gray twine, some Stickles, watercolor pencils and a bunch of foam tape. Done! :D

Closeup of the rainbow and sentiment
Yes, the Stickles took forever and a day to dry but they were soooo worth it.

Now, don't forget that Sunday we'll be hopping along with this month's DeNami Blog Hop; Sweet & Simple and starting Monday I'll be trying to play along with the Itty Bitty a Day challenge for Unity!

Also, you still have time to enter our giveaway over at Joie Joelle's blog! It's a lovely treat package of bottlecap magnets, tea and cocoa pouches, and more.

Happy Crafting!