Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!

Hello everyone! I wound up with quite the snow day here, which means I was finally able to do some catching up. This is my first of THREE projects I'll be sharing for the Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!

And let me offer a huge THANK YOU to all of these companies that are donating some amazing prizes:

17 Turtles:  $15 Store Gift Card

A Muse Studio/Chris Franco:  Cup of Good Cheer stamp set

Add a Little Dazzle:  $25 Store Gift Card

Butterfly Reflections Ink:  Prima Coffee Break

Color Cast Designs:  Coffee Lovers kit

Create a Smile:  Monster Party stamp set

Hero Arts:  A Little & Today's Special stamps/Cup 'O Joe Shadow ink

Kraftin' Kimmie:  $25 Store Gift Card

Kreative Kymona:  Fancy Mug Giveaway

Latina Crafter:  Cafe Wood Veneers + $25 Store Gift Card

Neat & Tangled:  Warm Wishes stamp set

Newton's Nook:  $15 Store Gift Card

Paper Smooches:  $25  Store Gift Card

Pickled Potpourri:  $7 Store Gift Card

Poppystamps:  Tea Cup Stack Die

Reverse Confetti:  $15 Store Gift Card

Stamp Academy:  2 classes

Stampin' Up/Veronica Zalis:  $20 Store Gift Card

STAMPlorations:  $10 Store Gift Card

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store:  Coffee Cup Prize Pack

SugarPea Designs:  $20 Store Gift Card

Sweet 'n Sassy:  Pick Me Up Clear stamp & die set

The Alley Way Stamps:  Tea Par-tea stamp set

Two Paper Divas:  Your Warm My Heart stamp set

Your Next Stamp:  $20

Verve Stamps:  $25

Whole Wild World:  Coffee before Talkee mug

●●Sponsorship prizes are eligible via random draw from linked hop participants only●●

Ok, now that we have the fine print out of the way, onto my first project!

Oh yes, yet another adorable 4 oz coffee cup full of treats and a gift card holder! But can you tell what it's made from?

I painted a Starbucks coffee sleeve with Picket Fence Distress Paint and used the Hero Arts Deco Pattern Stencil with some Distress Inks to create a fun background. A few snowflakes heat embossed with white powder and a holiday sentiment finished it all off! To keep the gift card from falling out, I glued the bottom of the sleeve together. The corrugated cardboard gives the whole thing such a fun texture!

The cup is just fun; I used a pattern I found online for the wrapper, then used my scallop punch and circle punch to make the topper. The stamps are from my oldest stamp set; the Fiskars coffee one. The red Tombow Adhesive works best for making sure these stay together!

Now then, who's been a good little crafter this year and wants a caffeinated treat? I'm giving away some caffeinated goodies of my own from the Prima Coffee Break collection! Just enter via the Rafflecopter tool below - you have until Sunday, December 14th to do so!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Crafting!

That Darn Cat...Coffee Lover's Blog Hop

Good morning everyone! I just couldn't let a good Coffee Lover's Blog Hop pass without entering at least one card, so I'm here today with my first entry.

Now here's the thing; the theme is spring, but right now in the Northeast we just got hammered with yet another snow storm. Yeah, not very spring-like outside...and when it is spring, you get mud. So instead of flowers and butterflies, this one is more reminisce of going stir-crazy waiting for spring to come!

If you've been here before, you've heard I have cats. When Newton's Nook came out with their new Naughty Newton stamp set, one cat in particular came to mind:

I'm shocked he's not sleeping in the clean laundry...

Meet Jasper. Jasper is...well, overall a good cat. Other times, however, Jasper is a bit of a jerk. Anyone who's been to my house learned fast never to leave any beverages unattended when Jasper is around. The little furball has broken two of my coffee mugs over the years and wasted countless amounts of caffeine.

Looks just like him...I clipped out the flower pot Newton there knocked over and replaced it with the coffee mug from the Verve Holiday Treats stamp set that I won during the last hop.

I colored in Jasper with my Spectrum Noir markers, fussy cut him out and added in the coffee cup. I then figured out where I wanted him on the watercolor paper and grabbed my Distress Inks and water brush to paint in that poor, wasted cup of coffee.

While it dried I used the Mama Elephant frames to die cut the deep chocolate (or is that coffee?) brown cardstock and add it to the kraft base card I created. I die cut the watercolor paper to fit on top, then stamped the little sayings in black Versafine ink. The word bubble is a set I won from My Favorite Things and the patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye. I heat embossed the 'bad kitty!' in Ranger super fine black powder and then broke out the foam tape to add it and Jasper to the card. A little Ranger black enamel for his name tag and the front was done!

And for a change, I stamped the inside, too:

I love how it turned out, and may need to frame it as a warning to others...LOL

Also linking up to:
Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes
Virginia's View Challenge 13 - Embossing

Thanks for stopping by, and happy crafting!

Warm Coffee Wishes

Good morning everyone! I'm back with another coffee card I came up with for the Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. This time I went CAS with a chalkboard twist:

I played around with the Hero Arts Chalkboard background stamp to make a great base for the card. It's stamped in Unicorn White ink (my favorite) and then smudged some with a paper towel. After it dried (and it took a while! I left it overnight) I came back in with the Latte Love stamp set from Lawn Fawn to heat emboss the sentiment and adorable coffee cup.

A scattering of 4mm Pretty Pink Posh sequins in clear and a quick rounding of the corners with a 1/2" corner rounder finished it off!

Be sure to enter our caffeinated blog candy giveaway! One lucky crafter gets an assortment of Prima Coffee Talk goodies! Entries close on Sunday, December 14th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Supply List:
Hero Arts Midnight Folded Note Cards
Hero Arts Unicorn White Ink
Hero Arts White Embossing Powder
(remember, when shopping at a2z Scrapbooking use code JENNIFER15 for 15% off your purchase of $25 or more!)
Lawn Fawn Love You a Latte stamps
Hero Arts Chalk Background Cling Stamp
Pretty Pink Posh 4mm Clear Sequins
We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-dile Corner Chomper

Happy Crafting!

A Treat for You

Happy Friday everyone! I'm back to sneak in one more card for the Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, and it's one that would work for any time of year:

Are you loving it? Because I love it. And now for the part that will have me committed; I stamped the plaid background myself. Yup, created it with my own two, inky hands. It's one of the background builder sets from Papertrey Ink and each color is a different stamp from the set. I had so much fun creating it!

The little glassine bag in the middle there? Yup, made that, too; it's a die from Memory Box and is sooooo easy! Since you really don't see it when filled and decorated, I just glued the bag together with some Tombow Mono Adhesive and then used my tape gun to stick it to the plaid paper. A little stamping and paper-piecing got me the coffee cup from Lawn Fawn and the heat embossed sentiment on the tag I cut. The little bow die from Mama Elephant made the perfect topper to my treat!

Oh I did say the bag was filled, didn't I?

It's a gift card holder. Yeah, that's totally why I bought it. The perfect way to give someone a pretty card and a sweet treat. Coffee anyone? ;)

Speaking of treats, I'm giving away some blog candy consisting of some pieces from the wonderful Prima Coffee Break collection! Enter away using Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Supply List:
Lawn Fawn Love You a Latte stamps
Papertrey Ink Background Basids: Super Stripes stamp set
Mama Elephant Dainty Bow
Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Tags Die
Simon Says Stamp Gold Ultra Fine Embossing Powder (my new favorite gold!)
Hero Arts Ultra Pink Mid-Tone Ink
Hero Arts Green Hills Mid-Tone Ink
Hero Arts Cup 'o Joe Mid-Tone Ink
(remember, when shopping at a2z Scrapbooking use code JENNIFER15 for 15% off your purchase of $25 or more!)
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue
Versamark Ink
Neenah Solar White 110# Card Stock
Scor-Pal Scoreboard
3M Scotch Foam Tape (the best!)

Happy Crafting!

Lawnscaping Blog Hop!

Good morning everyone! Welcome to your next stop on the Lawnscaping Blog Hop trail. You should have come here from Kelly's blog. This month's theme is all things fall, as you can see by our inspiration photo. Changing leaves, pumpkins, apples, pie...mmmm, pie...ahem. Where was I? Ah yes, prizes! The hop runs from Friday, October 5th all the way through Sunday, October 7th. Be sure to comment on all the blogs to be eligible for some fantastic prizes! All of the details can be found on the Lawnscaping page along with a list of all the blogs participating in the hop, in case you get lost along the way.

Now then, before I go dreaming about homemade pie again, let me share with you what I made for the hop. I decided to go completely outside my usual realm of crafting and see what I could come up with for a home decor project. While I've been avoiding jumping on the burlap bandwagon, I finally took the plunge and am hooked. That burlap wreath and the drapey curtains in the photo were just calling to me! Couple those with the pumpkins and fall colors, and you get (in my personal opinion) one really pretty, rustic wreath.

The leaves, acorns, and pumpkins are all paper pieced and fussy-cut from the Lawn Fawn Bright Side 6x6 paper pad. I love that paper so, so much and the smaller pad is perfect for smaller images. I cannot wait to get my hands on the new holiday set!

Of course, when I went to take pictures of my work in progress, BOTH camera batteries were dead so you'll just have to take my word on how I made it. If you really don't believe me, I believe some in-progress shots are up on Instagram. :p

To make the wreath I found what they call a 'craft wreath' at Michael's; it's a 12" diameter piece of wood that's made to be altered. Right next to it was a roll of 2.5" wide burlap webbing. Perfect! I brought them home and while my glue gun was warming up, I started wrapping. Once I had the spacing the way I liked it (I'm picky like that), some hot glue to the back was all it took to hold the burlap down. While it does fray when cut, the line of hot glue acted as a sealant as well - no fray shall pass! (Come on, tell me at least someone giggled at that.) I will warn you; burlap has holes. Hot glue is liquid. Hot glue will bleed through the holes and try to burn you. No, that did not happen to me and you cannot prove that it did. I don't care what it says on Facebook, it's all LIES!

Now then, while the hot glue set I got stamping and cutting. Once all of the pumpkins, leaves, and acorns were created I laid them out on the wreath to decide upon an arrangement. I've learned that doing that before you start gluing really works better in the long run. It also let me decide that the wreath needed something...like GLITTER! I pulled out my Distress Stickles and highlighted the veins of the leaves, the dots on the acorns, and the little flowers on the pumpkins. Funny thing about Stickles - they take eons to dry. No, I'm not exaggerating. I walked away for, I kid you not, 1-1/2 hours and they still weren't set! So I busted out my embossing heat gun to try and speed things along. I think it mostly helped, and it gave the leaves a really pretty, gentle curl. Satisfied that I could successfully avoid the still-tacky spots, my glue gun and I got to work attaching all the pretties. The final touch was some sheer ribbon I had on hand and my wreath was done!

Here are some close-ups of the embellishments:

Leaves and acorns

Just look at that sparkle! Well worth the drying time

Pumpkins in a little pumpkin patch

My fussy-cut, paper-pieced, glittered pumpkin. Totally worth it!

View of my door now - it's never looked so festive!

Thanks for stopping by on the hop! I hope you like my fall wreath. If so, it would be lovely if you started following my blog to see what other crafty things I come up with. There's usually coffee involved, too. Ooo, which goes so well with pie!

All right, you're next stop is Joe Shien Shien's blog! Don't forget, if you get lost along the way head on back to the Lawnscaping blog for directions.

Happy Crafting!

Krazy for Kraft DeNami Blog Hop

Good morning everyone!  Welcome to September's DeNami Blog Hop featuring the oh-so-versatile kraft paper. You should be arriving from Lisa's blog. If you get lost along the way, just head on back to the DeNami blog for the full list of bloggers hopping along today.

When: The blog hop starts on September 8th at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until September 9th, 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!

So, here's a little secret - I love kraft paper. I buy it by the 100 pack. Yes, really. It's so versatile! I also had new stamps to play with...and I was hungry. Confused yet? Allow me to enlighten you:

Mmmm, holiday cookies...

 Yup, I was thinking of gingerbread. The sugar cookie set paired with the Gumdrops makes for quite a yummy card, don't you think? I hand-wrote the sentiment with gold Stickles and masked the area while stamping to give me a nice, clean surface. A bit of scoring on the top and bottom makes a nice border for the Visions of Sugarplums...

The cookies were stamped, fussy-cut, then decorated with Liquid Pearls and watercolor pencils. I wanted them to really look like they were covered in icing, so I added a layer of Glossy Accents for dimension. It's a massively long drying time, but so worth it.

How yummy do they look?

The gumdrops received some sugar crystals by way of Rock Candy Stickles. Just look at all of the shimmer and shine!

Ok, pass the coffee - these babies are getting eaten! Oh, they're still only paper...dang...

That's it for me this month! Your next stop is Amy. Enjoy the krafty tour!

Happy Crafting!

The 12 Days of Cards - Day 5

Welcome back for Day 5 of the 12 Days of Cards series! Let me just say that a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into editing this video as it was not cooperative at all...the card, however, is just adorable. Because PENGUINS!

Yeah, stinkin' cute if I do say so myself. Now everyone better watch the video and like it so I didn't waste 2 hours of my life for nothing. And no, it should not have taken that long. I really hope Santa is bringing me a video camera!



Once everything was dried it looked even cuter. I love how the Enamel Accents turned out! I did realize that the steam from the coffee cup doesn't get cut, so I drew some back in with a black Zig marker.

Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you know when Day 6 is up, and don't forget to stop by my Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop posts for a chance to win some blog candy!

Supply List:
Lawn Fawn Love You a Latte stamps
Mama Elephant Arctic Penguins stamps
Mama Elephant Arctic Penguins Creative Cuts
Hero Arts White Embossing Powder
Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Paper
Wink of Stella Pen
(remember, when shopping at a2z Scrapbooking use code JENNIFER15 for 15% off your purchase of $25 or more!)
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue
Ranger Enamel Accents
Versamark Ink
American Crafts Galaxy White Marker
Spectrum Noir Markers
Core'dinations Glitter Paper
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Scor-Pal Scoreboard
3M Scotch Foam Tape (the best!)

Happy Crafting!

So Suzy Stamps: Decorating the Tree and Giveaway Winner!

Hello there everyone! I'm blogging about this wonderful Christmas card over at So Suzy Stamps today, so be sure to go check it out:

For those waiting on the edge of your seats for the rest of the 12 Days of Cards series - it's coming! Promise! Video editing is kicking my butt, so everything is taking much longer than I anticipated. Hang in there though, I promise it will be worth it!

Now, for those of you who joined me for the Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, I have a winner to announce!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Yay Char - you have an email headed your way! Thank you all so, so much for stopping by, visiting, and following me all over the interwebs...LOL Each comment you left made me smile and glad that I keep on crafting.

Happy Crafting!

The 12 Days of Cards - Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of the 12 Days of Cards! Real life kept interfering with my crafty life, but thanks to a snow day I'm getting caught up. Today's card is super CAS but super elegant with the help from some Liquid Pearls. It's also very mail-friendly!

It was fast to make as well - the video is under 10 minutes! A new record! LOL



Here's another closeup of the finished dove:

Be sure to swing by one of the Holiday Coffee Blog Hop posts for some caffeinated fun and a chance to win blog candy! I'll be back soon with Day 4 - be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you know the instant it goes live.

Supplies:
Stampin Up! Calm Christmas stamp set
Hero Arts Cup O' Joe Mid-Tone Ink (be sure to use code JENNIFER15 for 15% off!)
Liquid Pearls White Opal
Taupe Brown Fiber Cardstock
Scor-Pal Scoreboard
3M Scotch Foam Tape (the best!)

Happy Crafting!

The 12 Days of Cards - Day 4

Welcome back to Day 4 of the 12 Days of Cards series! Seeing as we had quite the snow storm the other day, I had snowflakes on the brain...

Seeing as I love a white Christmas, this is my kind of card. I've got the video on how I created it right here:

Be sure to swing by the Holiday Coffee Lovers Hop posts while you're here - I have some caffeinated blog candy for one good little crafter! :)

Supply List:
Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes
Mama Elephant Merry Greetings Stamps
Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Borders 1 Dies
Pretty Pink Posh 6mm Clear Sequins
Pretty Pink Posh 4mm Clear Sequins
Ranger Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue
Ranger Multi Medium Matte
Neenah Solar White 110# Card Stock

Happy Crafting!