latte christmas card

The Coffee Loving Cardmakers Winter blog hop is still going on and I've got one last project.

Link up any coffee, tea, or cocoa-themed paper project by the 18th for a chance at winning so many super prizes! So far I've made cocoa and tea projects. Today, I've got a coffee version!

 I used a Tim Holtz iced latte stamp and colored it in with alcohol markers. I love this image. I made it a peppermint mocha by adding chocolate and peppermint sprinkles on top! Even though it's winter I still love a good iced coffee. I typed the sentiment on my typewriter. The word "latte" was stamped with a CTMH stamp set called Treats of Friendship (that I won in a previous coffee lovers hop!).

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great day!

tea gift tag

The Coffee Loving Cardmakers Winter blog hop is still going on.

Link up any coffee, tea, or cocoa-themed paper project by the 18th for a chance at winning so many super prizes! Today (December 15th) is International Tea Day. So /i made this tea-themed gift tag:

The image and sentiment are from Unity's Tea Love set.

And I love those cozy plaid papers. They are from an old Basic Grey line called Jovial. I just want to wrap up in a blanket in that dark plaid in the middle. With a cup of hot tea. Instead I have a pile of dishes, loads of laundry, and dirty floors needing my attention. Sigh.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a cozy day!

you warm my heart

It's time for the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Winter blog hop!

Did you know that December 13th is National Cocoa Day?

And that December 15th is International Tea Day?
Pretty good timing for this hop huh?!

In honor of Cocoa Day I created this cozy little card:

That mug stamp is from Unity's Our Hearts to Yours.
The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's Snow Day.

I love the sweater cozy on the cup of cocoa. Isn't it adorable?
I'm hoping to get one for Christmas. :)

If you have time, you should come join the hop for lots of chances to win great prizes.

Thanks for stoppping by and have a great weekend!

hello autumn tag

I'm the current host over at The Paper Girls and we are using STAMPS!

Tim Holtz released his November tag for 12 tags of 2015 and I decided to combine the two challenges to make this tag:

For the background I used an embossing folder as a "stamp" by brayering Distress Paint on the raised side and stamping it down onto the tag. Then spritzed some Distress Stains.

 I stamped and then watercolored the pumpkin using Distress Inks and a waterbrush. And then spritzed using a marker spritzer and brown marker. Then a die-cut cork word, metal photo corner and ribbon and it was done! 

Embossing folder is "Woven" from Lifestyle Crafts.

The tree is from "leaves4fall" by Stamps of Life.

The pumpkin is a really old Imaginisce stamp.

The word Autumn and the leaf are from "Autumn Leaves" by Crafters Companion.

Thanks for stopping by today and come link up your stamping project at The Paper Girls for your chance to win some stamps from me!

wildflower tag

Welcome to the Growing in Unity Blog Hop! 

Two lucky commenters chosen from among all the blogs will be chosen to win 25 random Unity stamps!

For today's hop we are using our favorite Unity stamp kits.

I used several to make this tag:

One of my favorite background stamps is the chicken wire stamp

One of my favorite image stamps is Insightful Meadows

And one kit of sentiments I find myself using a lot lately is Empowered Words

Thanks for stopping by and remember to leave a comment here and at the other stops on the way for your chance to win!

Here's the rest of the hopping order:

Next stop>> Debra Davison

Rachel Bogner

Berina Febin

Beth Fiscus

Lisa

Rebecca Wong

Laura Beth Buchi

GIU Winners!

Thank you so much to all of you that left such nice comments for me last week! I had a lot of fun participating in Growing in Unity!

And now, as promised (just a little late), here are the two winners that were randomly drawn to receive a grab bag of 25 stamps from Unity:

UTs Hobby Time

and

Tami

Please email me your name and mailing address and I will pass it along to the generous folks at Unity! I'm at amberloyana@yahoo.com

GIU Day 5, wonderful mess

It's the 5th and final day of my Growing in Unity week!

 I posted 5 projects this week using Unity Stamps. And you can be 1 of 2 winners to win a bag of 25 stamps from Unity! Just comment on my posts for your entry every day.
Since I am posting a couple days late I will give you through Monday to leave comments and draw the winners Tuesday.

Today I have a paperboard letter I picked up at the craft store and decorated for my craft room. It started out a kraft color. I painted it a poppy red color. I stamped parts of the Up Against a Wall brick stamp. And then distressed with a few gelatos.

The sentiment is from the You Are Important stamp set.

The leaves are from the Wildflowers & Wings set.

I finished it off with a Prima flower and yellow twine.

Thanks for visiting my blog this week! Come back on Tuesday when I announce the winner. And thanks to Unity for sponsoring Growing in Unity!

GIU Day 4, sunflower card

It's Day 4 of my Growing in Unity week.

 I'll be posting 5 projects this week using Unity Stamps. And you can be 1 of 2 winners at the end of the week to win a bag of 25 stamps from Unity! Just comment on my posts for your entry every day.

Today, I have a quick little card.

 I stamped the sunflowers in a light distress ink and then watercolored it in so that the lines of the stamp blended in to the coloring. The sentiment is from this set.

Thanks for stopping by today. I'll have one more project tomorrow before the week is over!

GIU Day 3, card organizer

It's day 3 of my Growing in Unity week!
 I'll be posting 5 projects this week using Unity Stamps. And you can be 1 of 2 winners at the end of the week to win a bag of 25 stamps from Unity! Just comment on my posts for your entry every day.

Today I have a card organizer I made. It's a 6"x8" spiral notebook that I use to organize my greeting cards by month. I think I've shared different versions of this twice before. Somehow I gave them all away and finally decided I needed one for myself!

The cover was decorated with some leftover papers I had lying on my desk.  I used the Wildflowers and Wings stamp set and blended a couple gelatos on with a water brush.

Here's a look into the inside:

I used the Here's the Ticket stamp set to stamp the month on each page and just drew a few lines to add some dates to. On each month I add in any birthdays, anniversaries and holidays that I want to mail cards out for. If I make any cards ahead of time, then I store them in the pocket of each page until it's time to mail.

Here's a quick little tutorial in case you'd like to make one.
You'll need 6 sheets of 12"x12" patterned paper plus two 6"x8" pieces of paperboard for the covers (I just use the piece of  heavy paper that comes in some paper packs like Stampin Up's packs).

Score each paper horizontally at 4" from the bottom and vertically right down the middle at 6".

 Fold up from the bottom and then in half so the pockets are on the outside.

Do the same on the other 5 sheets. Stack them up with the covers and bind with your choice of machine (I use a Cinch). The folds will be on the opposite side of the spine. I recommend making the binding wire at least an inch wide to allow enough space for cards on the inside.

Then I just added white cardstock to the pocket fronts to keep track of dates.

Edited to add: This organizer was not my design. I first made one many years ago with directions from an old Stampin Up demonstrator. I've also seen it on the SplitCoastStampers forum. Decoration and paper choices were my own however.

Thanks for stopping by today!

GIU, Day 2

Welcome to day 2 of my Growing in Unity week! I'll be posting 5 projects this week using Unity Stamps. You can be 1 of 2 winners at the end of the week to win a bag of 25 stamps from Unity! Just comment on my posts for your entry every day!

Today I have a page in my art jounal to share.

The background was created with dictionary pages, washi tape, Chicken wire stamp, and lots of distress ink and ink splatters. The flowers were stamped in white from the Insightful Meadows set. This is probably my most used Unity stamp set. You must own it. You won't regret it!

The quote was printed on my label maker and I just used a Pitt Big Brush pen to shade around it.

Thanks for stopping by. Remember to come back every day through Saturday for a new chance to enter. I'll announce the winner on Monday.

GIU, Day 1

Guess what?? I get to be the Growing in Unity girl for this week!

That means that every day this week I will post a new project using Unity stamps. I'm a little late because I was a last-minute fill-in, but, hey, I still get to do it!

And  you have a chance to win some stamps too. Every day you can comment on my posts and get entered to win a selection of 25 Unity stamps! Cool beans.

For my first post I made a fall-themed gift sack/envelope.

I wish I coud tell you which stamp set this sentiment came from but I'm not sure. I think I got it in a grab bag from Unity.

Thanks for stopping by today!

yellow thanks card

The challenge at the Simon Says Stamp flickr group is to use Black, White and Yellow.

 I used Giving Thanks stamp set for the tree and sentiment over a watercolored background. I stamped the leaves is SSS Sunshine ink and added more leaves with a lighter yellow marker. And then that yellow twine. Yellow twine is just so happy!

Farmers Market pop-up card

The current challenge over at The Paper Girls is "Food".

I created a pop-up card for my in-laws. They are big gardeners so I wanted this to look like a big bountiful basket of produce. And, yes, I realize some of the veggies are out of scale with the others. Oh well!

I started with a pop-up card from svgcuts.com (sorry, don't remember which one) for the crate and made it fit what I needed. The veggies are from this cut file and are so fun to make.

After assembling the veggies, I added a little shading with my chalks.

And this card folds flat for easy mailing too!

I'm also linking up to Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thaks for stopping by and have a great day.

Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, part 2

Here is my second entry for the Fall Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop!

I fell in love with this coffee cup svg file from SvgCuts a few weeks ago. I purchased it knowing I would have to make one for this blog hop.

So here it is:

 This cup is made from scrapbooking paper. I got a little messy on the lid, but I'll change the blade out on my Cricut next time and use less glue! :)

From her left side:

And her right:

 And the lid comes off. I'm not sure if I'll use this as a gift holder of some sort or not. Honestly, I love it so much I think I will just keep it in my craft room as decor.

The paper is an old SU pack I've been hanging on to for a few  years called Autumn Meadows. My leaves and acorn are die cut from watercolor paper and painted with a water brush and distress inks. Then I finished it off with a Simple Stories chipboard banner and a fabric flower.

I love making 3-d objects from paper!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

I'm also linking up to:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

It's time for the Fall edition of the Coffee Lovers' blog hop! This is a fun quarterly hop with tons of prizes to be won! Make sure to check it out and be ready for the next round of fun.

I made a simple little card with a stamp set that I won in the last edition of this hop! It is the Treats of Friendship set from Close to my Heart. The leaves are from a Stampin Up set called French Foliage. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp's Friendship Messages.

And just like me this post is short and sweet ;)
Thanks for stopping by!

I'm also linking up to:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

so very grateful

I've got a little 'Thanks' card that I made for a few challenges.

The Paper Girls Challenge - Grateful

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make it Colorful
Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge - Complementary Colors

Sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp's Friendship Messages stamp set
Feather is from Crafter's Companion stamped in grey onto vellum

I used 2 sets of complementary colors (purple/yellow and orange/blue) for the flickr challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day folks!

pocket letter

One of the challenges at ScrapbookSteals.com's Monday Craft Challenges back in June was to create a pocket letter. Since I wasn't in a swap I decided to design one for a friend to send as a gift to her. And, yes, I made this in June and am now just getting around to posting it!

Each pocket contains something that reminds me of her. Here is the entire pocket letter:

Pocket #1
Polka dot paper, fussy-cut flowers from another paper, stamped on vellum, and a Mod Melt hot glued to a gold paper clip.

Pocket #2
She is an artist and loves birds and dragonflies. Stamped on ledger paper, ink drops, glued on and distressed dictionary paper, stamped and fussy-cut dragonfly, Mod Melt frame surrounding stamped bird.

Pocket #3
This one was so fun to do. She loves coffee as much as I do. And I really wanted to use this "be strong" stamp somewhere on this project and I thought the coffee card would be perfect and funny. I stamped, colored and fussy cut each image and popped them with foam. The two top coffee beans were stamped and fussy cut. The bottom coffee beans were from brown cardstock cirlces. I cut them into more of an oval shape and creased down the middle.

Pocket #4
She can sew. And loves vintagey things. And lace. I stamped and fussy cut more images onto a woodgrain paper.

Pocket #5
Another fun one to make. I just love this stamp. And HAD to turn it into a shaker card. I used my Fuse tool to fuse the pocket closed after adding lots of sequins and confetti.

Pocket #6
She loves dragonflies. More stamping and fussy cutting here.

Pocket #7
She loves birds. And I thought this sentiment was fitting for her too. It is just stamped onto patterned paper.

And her name was made by gluing patterned paper to some chipboard alphas and edging with a black marker.


Pocket #8
More bird stuff. Washi tape. Feather stamped on vellum and fussy cut. Paper clip flag I made with paper and another Mod Melt.

Pocket #9
She plays instruments and sings. Wonderfully. I wanted to incorporate music into a card and thought this stamp was perfect. I fussy cut some leaves and hot glued a cabochon to a paper clip.

Whew. This was really involved but oh so fun to make!

Here are the stamps I used:

1. You are Important, 

2. Empowered Words, Vintage Handwritten (behind bird); Flying Dragonflies

3. Coffee Side by Side, Tea Love, Empowered Words

4. Vintage Handwritten (on background), sewing set is a discontinued SP and Company set 

5. Bright, Happy You

6. Empowered Words; Flying Dragonflies

7. She Remained True

8. Feather
9. Musical Butterfly (discontinued from SP and Company)


Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. And making it all the way to the end of the post!

Have a great weekend!

baby jack jack layout

The current challenge at The Paper Girls is Superheroes!

I've had these photos of my little one dressed as baby Jack Jack from The Incredibles that I've been wanting to scrap for years.

I used a sunray stencil to ink a yellow starburst onto my background. Matted my photos in black. Added title with stickers. Simple journaling card. And the only embellishment is the mask that went with his costume!

I don't know why it took me so long to do this.

Thanks for stopping by today! Happy scrapping and please play along in our challenge if you get a chance!

family layout

More of our family photos scrapped.
This time for the Unity sketch challenge.

Here's the sketch:

I followed it almost exactly.

Some close-ups of the stamps:

Unity stamps used:

Wildflowers and Wings

Chicken Wire Background

Vintage Handwritten

Think Happy Thoughts


Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

thanks a latte tag

I made a little tag for the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge.
The challenge theme is "coffee or tea".

 Now while they are both my two favorite refreshments, I was in the mood for coffee when I made this!

Stamps:
Unity's Vintage Handwritten (on background) and Thanks (from grab bag)
Crafter's Companion Journal Jottings 
Close to my Heart Treats of Friendship


Limking up to Simon Says Stamp's Work it Wednesday - Refreshments


Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!