Winter Wishes With Florals

 Good afternoon, hope everyone is staying safe this New Year's Eve - we are doing our usual, staying at home and seeing the new year in with just the three of us. 

My post today is promoting a new to me company Kate Hadfield Designs She is a digital artist who has super cute images. She designs collections that are great for card making, scrapbooking, kids crafts and much more.

Of course my first design is a card, I have used a gorgeous Winter Flora Stamp collection which is available either as a fully colored collection or as digital stamps. I have used the stamp version:

The flowers and greenery all come as separate images in 3 different formats. I used my graphics program and arranged some of them in to a bouquet. I added a sentiment and printed on to stamping card.

The image was colored with Copic markers with the addition of Prismacolor pencils to add more dimension.

I then trimmed the image down with my new deckle edge paper trimmer. a mat of green cardstock was also trimmed with this and both were added to an A7 white card base.

Finally I added a few Nuvo drops scattered in the sentiment.

I will be using Kate's images a few times a month so keep a look out for the different genres she covers!

Thanks for stopping by and as always if you love what you see please let me know in the comments.

Ooh La La Birthday Wishes

 I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas! As the holiday season is coming to a close my inspiration today is a birthday card. I love the pooch from the Ooh La La digital stamp set, she is on a shopping mission!

I started my card with the eye shadow and lipstick images, I resized them and used multiples to make a design paper. Once printed I colored the images and cut to size. I printed and colored Miss Ooh La La and fussy cut her. My card base was matted with red cardstock and the design paper. When I placed my image on the stamped backing was too busy so I added a layer of vellum to soften it. My Pooch was added with foam squares, my sentiment matted onto red card and added to the card. Finally I added Crystal glaze to her lips nose and margarita glass!

 

She would be great for a card to celebrate the sales that are currently happening including the Joy Clair sale - 20% off the store which continues until the 31st of the month.

Thank you for stopping by. I will be back next month with more inspiration from Joy Clair. Also my teamies will be sharing with you over on the Joy Clair Facebook Group.

Winter Time!

 Good evening, I hope everyone is well and has had a great Christmas!

My post today is to share a gift I made for a friend - in all honesty I didn't want to part with it when it was finished - it look many hours to make and I'm sure it will be loved in it's new home. 

This Christmas Scene Alarm Clock is a cutting file I bought many years ago from Tina Fitch and finally decided to make it. It is cut in layers and if you look hard you can see trees, deer, squirrel and pinecones all housed in side while the clock face it set on the outside.

I cut it all in white cardstock and added sparkle with a glitter pen to the sentiment, trees and pinecones. This is difficult to see in the photo.

To house the clock and protect it a box cutting file is also included:

This again was made with white cardstock but with acetate windows.

 

Thank you for calling by and if you love what you see please leave me a comment 😘

Bringing in the New Year With Mice

 Good afternoon and Happy Christmas, the presents are unwrapped, dinner eaten and life is good!

My card today is looking forward to 2021 - It's got to be a better year than this one and House Mouse thinks so too:

I've made this card for the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge, Their optional theme this time is Sparkle/Shine.

I used the Tiny Jumper stamp from Stampendous. I wanted a few mice so I stamped him a few times and colored them with Copic markers. I then stamped on to Post -It Tape and cut masks to cover my little guys.

Using a retired Starburst background stamp from Chloe's Creative Cards after masking my guys I stamped with versamark and then heat embossed with a gold tinsel embossing powder to give a firework effect to my background.

I removed the masks and left my little guys jumping for joy in the fireworks!

I matted a white card base with black card and added my image. Finally I die cut 2021 from the black card and added it to my card.

The photo doesn't do the sparkle justice - Oh and I couldn't throw my little masks away, they just looked like the mice had been jumping in glitter so added them to my photo.

Thank you for stopping by!

From Us and Ours at Christmas

 Good afternoon, we are going to have a white Christmas, it's been snowing on and off all day it makes it feel so much more festive. As all my personal cards have hopefully been received by now I can share them here.

 Both my kids grew up being able to recite the book Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney we loved the book and still do. So when Colorado Craft Company brought out a range of stamps drawn by Anita Jeram the illustrator from the book I had to have them.  My first cards are using some of these stamps. This one went to a neighbor who recently moved states and is missed! I used to provide doggy day care for her puppy so of course cards to her always have puppies on them

This stamp is from the Christmas Presents set. I stamped the image and sentiment onto watercolor card and broke out my Spectrum Noir Aquablend watercolor pencils to color this pooch. 

I wanted a clean and simple card so card base was matted with dark red cardstock and my image added. I also matted the inside and colored and added another image from the set with Merry Christmas sentiment: 

My next card is using stamps from the same company, this set is Snow Happy:

Again I stamped on to watercolor card and colored with my Aquablend pencils the added sentiments. I matted a card inside and out with aqua cardstock and added my image on the front and stamped the cute bunny inside too

I also made some 3D cards I bought these cutting file from Silhouette Design store, cut the individual parts on my Cameo and built them up. The files are designed by Lori Whitlock and there is a whole collection of different ones:

 

I do have more to share but I don't want to spoil the surprise so check back for more later!!

Thank you for taking time to read and Merry Christmas, keep safe and well!

Altenew Educators Certification Program - Irresistible Inking Techniques

 Good afternoon! or as Mollie tells me Happy Christmas Eve Eve! Shopping is done, cards have been given out, just presents to wrap and we are ready!

I'm back today with the last class for level one of the Altenew Educators Certification Program and today I am showcasing the cards I made using techniques from Sara Naumann's Irresistible Inking Techniques. My first card uses 2 techniques from her classes, Direct inking and using an acrylic block to 'stamp' with:

I started with the Beautiful Day stamp set and stamped the outline for the flower and 2 leaf outlines. Then instead of using all the layers of the images I just used the final layer and giving a touch of color to the images. As I don't yet own the dies I then fussy cut these and put to one side.

Using a bar acrylic block I inked it with the same ink I used on my flower, spritzed it with water and 'stamped' the ink on watercolor card. My first attempted had too much color so I repeated with less ink and water which gave me the speckled look on my card. I loved this so have used it! I added a piece of washi tape along the left hand edge to define the inking. 

I decided how I was going to arrange my flowers before adding my sentiment from the same stamp set.

My leaves had foam tape added and were adhered to my card. I added a double height of foam tape to the flower and arranged this over the leaves. 

The image was added to a white top folding card base with foam tape. Finally I scattered an odd number of sequins on my card.

My second card used Altenew inks as watercolors to paint my card:

I stamped the Paint a Flower Spider Mum onto watercolor card using embossing ink. I covered this with a rose gold embossing powder and heat embossed giving me a raised edge to the image.

I dabbed ink onto my glass mat and spritzed water along side it. I then used this to paint my image, layering the color as it dried to get deeper colors.

The using a large brush I painted around the image with a ink wash, once this was dried I used the same ink as the flowers and splattered my card.

I left this to dry while I die cut my sentiment. I die cut 3 sentiments in pink cardstock. Then I added the ink used for the flowers directly to white cardstock giving me an opaque covering. Once dried I die cut the sentiment again using the inked card, giving me a perfect match to my image. These sentiments were stacked on top of each other and adhered to my image. This gives more dimension to the card.

My top folding card base had gold washi tape added to either side of it before I added my image with foam tape.

Shopping List:

Altenew Beautiful Day Stamps

Altenew Paint a flower Spider Mum Stamps

Altenew Dye Inks in Grape Agate, Jet Black, Forest Glades, Coral Berry, Evergreen and Peach Perfect.

Crafter's Companion Sentiment Dies

American Crafts Washi Tape

Sequins, Glue and Foam Tape from my Stash

Neenah Solar White Card Stock

Cason XL Watercolor card

Snowmen Surprise

Good Morning! Who's excited for the big man coming? I know we have an excited little girl, I just love seeing her face on Christmas morning, I hate that they have to grow up!

It's the final Digi Choosday challenge before Christmas and the design team have been challenged with doing something spectacular so I decided to have a little surprise inside my card.

Sorry you don't get to see it just yet!!!

I started by adding Winnie's White Christmas Snowmen and dog image so some of the digital design paper from Winnie's White Christmas papers 2 and printed it onto stamping card. I colored the image with Copic Markers and cut to fit my card base. I matted the base with some glitter card stock and added my image.  then used foam tape to pop up a circle sentiment from Winnie's White Christmas sentiment collection.

But before I did all that I worked a little magic......

I made a pop up Christmas Tree using dies. I then decorated it with glittered enamel drops, a little cardinal and of course a star. I die cut a beaded circle to go around the base of my tree to look like a tree skirt. I then cut a semi circle from 2 pieces of the design paper and added these to the sides of the card. Finally I added strips of a different patterned paper to the edges so It looked like a rug.

The Digi Choosday Challenge runs for 2 weeks, it is always anything goes so there is no reason not to enter and you never know you may just win!

 Looking for more inspiration? Then check out my teamies designs over on the Facebook page, you can also post your own Polkadoodles' designs on the Craft Stamp and Colour with Polkadoodles Facebook group

Thanks for stopping by, now go join the challenge!

Santa's Favorite Gift Tags

Good Morning! It is white over here, it snowed at the weekend and because it's so cold it's hanging around.

I'm here today with inspiration for the gifts you are going to be giving during the holidays. Each gift needs a cute tag to go with it and I am going to share 4 with you using Santa's Favorite Digital Stamp Set:

The first 2 have the adorable Santa's Favorite penguins - the little guy fishing and my favorite the penguin in eye glasses:

 

I die cut some tags and mats for my little guys. The penguins were fussy cut with my scan n cut and colored with alcohol markers. I couldn't resist giving one little guy candy cane glasses. I used crystal glaze on the glasses and the other little guy's proud catch! Foam tape was used to adhere them to the tags and some bows and ribbons completed the design.

My second set of tags used the same Santa's Favorite digital set, the remaining penguin is skiing and I decorated a tree for him.

 

Both images were colored with alcohol markers and added to the tags with foam tape. I then added snow writer to the edge of the tree layers and decorated it with red ornaments and of course a star at the top! My little skier had glitter added to his hat pompom and glaze to make his eyes shine. again ribbon and bows completed the tags.

Thank you for stopping by. I will be back during the month with more inspiration from Joy Clair. Also my teamies will be sharing with you over on the Joy Clair Facebook Group.

Make A Wish at Christmas

Good Morning! hope everyone is ready for Christmas. If you need to make some last minute cards Joy Clair have the products you need! Digital stamps work great for last minute papercrafts as you don't have to wait for them to arrive, you can download them instantly!

My card today uses 2 of the digital sets available:

I first used Make a Wish, resizing the row of gifts so they fit great on a slimline card. I then used Santa's Favorite for my sentiments. they were resized and printed along the top of my row of gifts. Aqua and purple are one of my favorite holiday combinations so the gifts were colored and a few gold touches and white highlights added with gel pens. Finally I matted a slimline card base with gold and aqua cardstock before adding my image.

So if you have any last minute cards to make these sets make great quick and simple cards.

Thank you for stopping by. I will be back during the month with more inspiration from Joy Clair. Also my teamies will be sharing with you over on the Joy Clair Facebook Group. 

Snow Drift Pile Up

 Good Morning! Hope you are al staying safe and well, please don't forget to wear a mask!

It's Tuesday again which means hello to another Digi Choosday challenge. My card today is a slimline, which I'm starting to enjoy making and I use a pile of Snow Drift Friends:

Aren't they adorable? I colored them with alcohol markers, trimmed to fit my card base which was matted with green cardstock. to finish I used tiny gold brads to fix a banner from Winter Wonderland Tags and Frames to the bottom of my card 

The Digi Choosday Challenge runs for 2 weeks, it is always anything goes so there is no reason not to enter and you never know you may just win!

 

Looking for more inspiration? Then check out my teamies designs over on the Facebook page, you can also post your own Polkadoodles' designs on the Craft Stamp and Colour with Polkadoodles Facebook group

Thanks for stopping by, now go join the challenge!

Digi Mojo with Stamper's Delights

 Good morning!!!! We finally got the decorations up and the weekend and the house looks more festive.

There is a fab event happening over on Facebook and Stamper's Delight are taking part with a great free image. As part of the design team I couldn't resist designing with this cute Chibi Girl:

Isn't she super sweet she is called a gift for you and has a huge stack of gifts!  Although I have made her into a Christmas card she could be used for any gift giving occasion.

As well as a free gift Stamper's Delights is also sharing a 50% off coupon code all details are on the Digi Mojo Facebook Page and over on the Stamper's Delights Inspiration blog.

Thanks for stopping by, why not stop by the Stamper's Delight Facebook page for regular news and inspiration from my Teamies you can also enter the progressive challenge there, no blog needed and receive freebies! 

Candy Cane Tails And Christmas Wishes

 Good Morning! Christmas is fast approaching - are you ready??? we are just about, still some deliveries to come in and food to buy oh and of course the Christmas tree to put up but that will be done tomorrow!

Christmas cards are something I love making and today's post shows another one using Joanna Sheens House Mouse Xmas Project Book, this is no longer available but is a great resource;

Just look at those 2 cuties with their entwined candy cane tails. They were sat in a wreath in the image but I wanted to bring the image alive so I die cut a bunch of pine branches and built a 3D wreath around them. I carefully cut their tails out of the image so I could continue the wreath under them and adhered them back in place on foam squares to give dimension. Red pearls made great berries.

For my card I matted an 8x8in card base with red card, I added some die cut holly tuck ins to break up the red. The project book has papers to match each image so I printed and trimmed some down. I them added glitter to the design before matting with green card and adding to my base. My image was also matted with green card and added to the card. Finally I die cut Love from red and green card and added this to the corner of the card.

What I Used:

Image and Backing Paper: Joanna Sheen's Christmas House Mouse Project Book

Pine Branch Die Cut: Tattered Lace

Card Base: Craft UK Ltd

Red and Green Card: Core'Dinations Premium

Holly Die: Tattered Lace

Glitter and Red Pearls: From my Stash

Love Die: Tonic Studios 

I will be entering tis card in to the House Mouse and friend Monday Challenge the theme is always anything goes but has an optional theme of Christmas this time around.

Thank you for stopping by I love sharing my work so if you like what you see please let me know in the comments 

Altenew Educators Certification Program - Easy Die Cutting Techniques

 Good evening! it's the December the 1st - how did that happen! this year appears to have dragged at times but has flown by at other times!

I'm back with another of my Altenew Educators Certification classes and this time it's all about easy die cutting techniques lead by Yana Smakula.

The first technique I have chosen to showcase is using stamps and matching dies - and I decided to follow Yana and use vellum for my image:

I started by prepping my vellum for embossing and stamped the Fresh Freesia flower in versamark ink. I then heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Once set I turned the vellum over and using Mango Smoothie and Frayed Leaf inks blended ink over the flower and foliage respectively.

I then turned back over laid the coordinating die over and ran it through my die cutter.

I used 2 of the sentiments, positioned to look like one sentiment, on my white card stock, again prepped this for heat embossing, stamped them with versamark ink and embossed them with gold embossing powder.

I trimmed my card stock so it was slightly narrower than my cream A2 card base and adhered this in place. using glue finely dotted behind the lines of the stamped image I placed my flower onto the card and finished the design with a few gold toned sequins.

My next card used the negative die cutting technique, I chose to used Wings of Hope dies as this comes with a few leaf type dies.

I started by ink blending the edges of a piece of 4x5.25in cardstock with Forest Glades Ink. I then laid my dies in place, temporary sticking them with washi tape so they didn't move as I ran them through my die cutter.

Once cut I discarded the die cut pieces just keeping what would normally be the 'waste'. This was glued onto a piece of dark green mirror cardstock which was the same size. I then added this to a black A2 card base. 

Using the same green mirror cardstock I die to the Happy Die and fixed this in place with foam squares. I stamped Birthday from an Altenew set I purchased with a magazine and added this across the downward strokes of my Happy.

Finally I added a few adhesive green gems randomly around my card.

I am loving this course and could not recommend it enough, it is teaching me techniques that I would probably never have used whilst also showing me different ways to use my stash.

Thanks for stopping my and if you love what you see please let me know in the comments

Altenew Educator Certification Program - Seasonal Scene Building

 Good morning! It's back to school teacher for me today after the holidays, we had a great family weekend!

My post today is showcasing the next class in me Altenew Educator's Program, Seasonal Scene Building taught by Nichol Magouirk. It is a great class with lots of content.

My first card uses the Modern Fox stamp set:

Nichol makes Spring cards, here in Michigan spring can be still very cold so my scene is a frosty one. I started with using Forest Glades ink to create my ground. I then used distress ink and a cloud stencil to lightly create sky.

I then stamped my tree in Evergreen and Dark Chocolate inks. I used the naked tree to add 2 further ones in the distance.

My fox was stamped with Paper Bag and Jet Black ink, I think he's spotted his dinner off the card! I then stamped the sentiment in Dark Chocolate to coordinate with the images.

I used foam tape to add my image to a grey card base. Finally I added some white gel pen to the tree to make it look frosty.

My next card uses a stamp set which builds a scene with all its components - Be a Lighthouse:

I started my card by die cutting an oval from a piece of dark grey card. I then placed this over a piece of white card the same size and with a pencil drew inside the oval onto the white card. This gave me a template, I used the penciled oval to center my images.

I used distress ink to give me sky and water before I stamped the scene.

I started with the waves stamp, I initially used Ocean Wave ink, but thought this was too bright so toned it down with Dusk ink. My lighthouse and land were stamped in Jet Black, Grapevine and Evergreen Ink. The stamps layer really well. I then masked off my light house and added the clouds in Nimbus and Cloudy Sky ink. I added these in a random areas stamping outside of the penciled oval too. Finally I added some birds in black ink.

I then glued the card with oval die cut onto my image making sure the center my scene. Foam Tape was added to this an adhered to a grey card base. I stamped one of the sentiments in Versafine ink and heat embossed this with clear powder. This was trimmed to size and added level with the horizon.

My style is usually clean and simple, I rarely do full scenes so this class took me out of my comfort zone and hopefully will encourage me to do more with my stamps 

Thanks for stopping by and if you love what you see please let me know in the comments

Making Holiday Memories

 Good morning, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and didn't over eat!

My post today is sharing one of the adorable bears from the Making Memories Digital collection. There are 3 sweet bears and some great sentiments:

Rather than add him onto a card I made him into a card. I resized him and printed him onto stamping card. He was colored with alcohol markers and glaze pen added to his eyes and nose. I then used my scan n cut to cut him out, I kept the cutting lines on my machine, added an offset and cut 2 more images in grey card. One of these was scored at the base of his antler headband and both grey sections were glued together by the antlers making a card base. I then added my bear - he can now stand up!

Here's a view of the card back so you can see how it works!

If you are shopping for crafting supplies during black Friday / Cyber Monday check out the sales in the Joy Clair store:

                                            

Thank you for stopping by. I will be back during the month with more inspiration from Joy Clair. Also my teamies will be sharing with you over on the Joy Clair Facebook Group.

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Santa's Little Helper

 Good Afternoon! We had a fab Thanksgiving day yesterday, a lot quieter than normal but I'm good with that!

It's the Kawaii new release day over at Stamper's Delights and I say this every time but the images are sooo cute! Meet Xmas Elf Gift:

What I Did:

I resized him and printed onto stamping card. In my graphics program I cropped the image so I only had the gift, I resized this 3 times and printed onto stamping card. my little guy was then cut out using my scan N Cut and I cut the extra gifts out by hand. All were colored with alcohol markers and I added glaze to the pompoms on his collar and the scissors.

There is a sentiment included with the elf, I added this multiple times to my graphics program, recolored them and printed onto white cardstock.

A white A7 card base was matted with red card and my sentiment layer was added. Finally I added the little elf with foam squares. The gifts were stacked at the side of him again using foam squares.

What I Used:

Digital Images: Stamper's Delights - Kawaii Xmas Elf Gift

Stamping Card: X-Press It

Alcohol Markers: Copic

Glaze: Gelly Roll Glaze Pens

White Cardstock: Neenah Solar White Cover 110lb

Red Card: Tonic Studios

Head on over to the Stamper's Delights Store to see all of this week’s New Releases.

Why not stop by the Stamper's Delight Facebook page for regular news and inspiration from my Teamies you can also enter the progressive challenge there, no blog needed and receive freebies! 

 All the design team projects are available on the Inspiration blog - hop on over there for more inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by and if you like what you see please leave a comment to let me know! 

Happy Xmas Tags

Good Morning! The sun has been shining here over the last couple of day and which always brightens my day!

As it's Tuesday that can only mean one thing, a new Polkadoodles challenge over at Digi Choosday and this week the design team were challenged to make a Christmas card with at least 3 tags. Well my card has more than 3:

What I Did:

I imported the tag into my graphics program and resized it. I then copied it so I had enough for my sentiment. I then added the letters to spell Happy Xmas, using a color from the original tag.

These were then all fussy cut and a tiny hole punched in the top of each one. I threaded them onto twine and spaced them equally.

My A7 card base was matted with red cardstock and I cut a sheet of digital design paper from Polkadoodles as my 2nd mat. I arranged the twine holding the tags across this and fixed them in place with tape.

I then adhered this to my card base. My tags were placed evenly and fixed in place with foam tape. Finally I added tiny red pearls to the tags.

What I Used: 

Digital Tags: Polkadoodles - Winnie White Christmas Tags and Frames

Digital Paper: Polkadoodles - Winnie Wite Christmas Paper collection 3

White Card for Base: Neenah Solar white Cover 110lb

Red Cardstock: Tonic Studios

Baker's Twine - From my Stash

Glue: ZipDry

Foam Tape: Dollar Store

Pearls: From my stash

The Digi Choosday Challenge runs for 2 weeks, it is always anything goes so there is no reason not to enter and you never know you may just win!

 Looking for more inspiration? Then check out my teamies designs over on the Facebook page, you can also post your own Polkadoodles' designs on the Craft Stamp and Colour with Polkadoodles Facebook group

Thanks for stopping by, now go join the challenge!

 

Altenew Educators Certification Program - Celebration Stencil Techniques

 Good afternoon, It's chilly but fair here today, since the virus struck weekends have mainly been family time at home and today is no different. 

I have completed another class on my AECP and today I'm sharing some of the work I have done for it. The class this time was about stenciling with Laurel Beard - if you have watched any of Laurel's you tube videos you will know she does amazing work with stencils.

My first card used a die as a stencil. I used pail colors to I could keep with the CAS looking cards I love to make:

I die cut the Shutter Cover Die with cover weight cardstock, I taped this in place over my white cardstock and stenciled through it with Soft Lilac Dye ink. I matted an A2 card base

 with black card and added my stenciled panel. I then stamped 2 lavender buds with Lavender Fields and Forest Glade ink. I die cut these with the coordinating die placed them on my card leaving room to add the sentiment with accompanies the flower which was stamped in Jet Black Ink.

My second card was a new technique for me using texture paste. This is a medium that I hadn't used before. I bought the mat opaque white kind so I can color it to coordinated with my needs!

I started by smooshing some Ocean Wave ink onto my glass mat, I then added a small amount of the paste and mixed them together which gave me a gorgeous muted turquoise color.

I fixed the Halftone Stencil to my white cardstock. Using a pallet knife I spread the paste across the stencil in a thin layer - I was just like icing a cake! I carefully removed the stencil and left to dry.

Meanwhile I stamped the Faithful Feather stamp using Jet Black, Misty Morning, cloudy sky and Nimbus inks (which are available as the Tranquility Ink set) for all the feather layers. I die cut this with the coordinating die. 

I then chose a sentiment from Label Love stamp set and stamped this with jet black ink onto white card then cut around the edges.

Once dry I trimmed my stenciled cardstock down and added it to a grey A2 card base. I arranged my image and sentiment and adhered these with foam dots.

I am really enjoying the techniques I am learning doing this course and also loving sharing them wth others!