Adulting is hard

I've got another project for the Winter Coffee Lovers blog hop.

 Stamps are from Unity's Feb 2017 Kit of the Month called Unexpected Places. 

I LOVE the sentiment! It's so true.

And now I feel like I need a bunch of wintery coffee cozies.

Happy Cocoa Day

It's time for the Winter Coffee Lovers blog hop!

Today happen to be National Cocoa Day so I made this cozy little cocoa card:

Stamps are from Verve's Coffee Helps set.
Paprs are Lawn Fawn's Snow Day.

Thanks for stopping by aliong the hop today!

Merry & Bright

Welcome to the December Unity Stamps blog hop.

I finally started working on a few Christmas cards.

I used Unity's A Joyous Season kit.

I stamped and masked the trees, embossed the snowflakes, and blended distress inks for the background. Then sprinkled some water and white spray ink.

I decided to use some distress grit-paste for the snow hills

And then finished up with some twine.

Here's the rest of the hop order:

Denise Sayers

Lori Simonson 
Shannon Edwards 
me>>>   Amber Sheaves  
go here next>>>   Kim Chong
Angela Bode
MariLynn DeGroot
Amanda Rhodes
Paula McClane
Amanda Garrett
Crystal O. Minkler

Thanks for stopping by today!

I like coffee best of all card

 Here is my third project for the Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop:

I had fun using color burst to create the background on this card.

Then I fussy cut some leaves and the coffee cup and used that really great sentiment stamp from Verve (which I won in a previos coffee lovers blog hop!).

Thanks for visiting my blog during this hop!

Sending a latte love card

It's time for the Fall Coffee Lovers blog hop! I love linking up to these quarterly blog hops. There are always tons of prizse for those that share projects and for those commenting on projects. Definitely check it out if you have time.

Here is my second project for the hop:

The image on this card is from Unity and sentiment is from Verve. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog for the hop.

GIU Day 3

 It's day 3 of my Growing In Unity week.
I will post a new project each day this week using Unity stamps. At the end of the week, I will get to randomly pick two of you to win a prize from Unity. All you need to do is comment on my blog posts. You can comment on each day for up to 5 chances at winning.

Today I made this card:

The background was made with Vintage Handwritten and lots of spray and distress inks.
I love the large peony from the Donna Peony set and used it as the focal image.
The beautiful sentiment is from Keep Going Anyway.

Thanks for stopping by today!

GIU, Day 1

You probably know that Unity Stamp Co. is one of my most favorite stamp companies around. Every week they have a feature they call Growing in Unity (GIU) in which they feature a lucky crafter/customer/fan on their blog. This week I am the GIU girl! I will post a new project each day this week using their stamps. At the end of the week, I will get to pick two of you to win a prize from Unity. All you need to do is comment on my blog. You can comment once a day for up to 5 chances at winning.

For my first project I wanted to share these Christmas cards I made. Elf is one of my family's favorite holiday movies. So I had to buy both these stamp sets and make a few cards to mail out to my other Elf-loving friends.

The image is from Elf Christmas and the sentiment is from Full of Merry.
Here's a close-up of the sentiment. It reads "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear".  A quote from Buddy the elf!

Mke sure you stop by each day this week and comment for your chance to win a great prize from Unity!

pumpkin spice and everything nice

It's time for the Fall Coffee Lovers blog hop!

There are dozens upon dozens of sponsors just waiting to give prizes away to those of us who link up a project this week. And many, many others are giving away prizes for commenting along the hop.

All you need to do to win is link up a coffee, tea, or hot cocoa project and/or comment on the links.

This is my first project. It has almost everything I love about fall - pumpkins, colorful leaves, cozy sweaters, and coffee!

I started with a woodgrain embossing folder. 

Then I die cut some leaves out of watercolored paper. 

The little cup is from Verve's Coffee Helps stamp set.

And that beautiful girl stamp is from Unity's Dream of Being set.

Thanks for stopping by and go check out some beautiful projets on the hop this week!

hello washi card

Our new challenge at The Paper Girls is to use washi tape.

I used 5 different rolls to create my panel on this black card. Then I stamped Whispy Prairie in white.

I cut the sentiment with this die and created an ombre on it with an ink blending tool.

 Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can come link up a washi tape project to our challenge!

hello

I've got my last project for Summer of Creative Chemistry. 

This is the Week 8 challenge to use embossing powder and distress ink.

Spray ink and stencil for the background. Then a stencil used to emboss on white core paper and distressed.

I chose the airplane stamp for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge "Things with Wings".

The sentiment is heat embossed with a rust effect.

Fun card to make.

Thanks for stopping by!

nautical card

Today's card is for Simon Says Stamp's Monday challenge which is "Nautical/By the Sea".

I've been working through the Summer of Creative Chemistry class at Online Card Classes. This week's challenge was to make a project using alcohol inks. I used aqua, storm, and gold alcohol inks to make the background before stamping this shell. Here's a look at the gold shimmer:

So fun. 

I also used some texture paste, gold thread and beads to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

many thanks

Over at The Paper Girls, Michele has challenged us to use up our scraps.

Here is the card I came up with:

I only let myself use scrapsthat were already out on my desk.

I had stamped and colored the flower for a previous card but it was off-center and I had to re-stamp it. But "the mistake" was still on my desk so I trimmed it a bit and added black splatter.

The sentiment was from a stamp set sitting on my desk. I had this yellow card base I had cut for another card but ended up not liking the color. So I used it for this. I just added some leftover patterned paper from my desk as well as black washi tape.

Thanks for stopping by and come join in on the scraps challenge!

you are so kind...

A quick card for the current challenge at The Paper Girls. We're making projects for the ladies. So I made this feminine card using pink, flowers, pleated ribbon and watercoloring.

Stamp is Let Your Dreams Bloom from Unity and I used Tattered Rose and Olive Green Distress Inks.

Thanks for stopping by today and reading!

trust your heart

I'm hosting challenge #101 over at The Paper Girls. It's a mixed media challenge. Here's the card I created:

On my background I collaged a dictionary page and shaded the edges with a charcoal pencil. Flicked some black india ink, and dripped some yellow spray stain. Stamped several flowers. Used a stencil to apply translucent embossing paste and Perfect Pearls. I distressed the edges and added aqua gelato.

Then for the main image, I stamped this flower in distress ink and then painted it with a waterbrush. Sentiment is from this kit.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you'll come enter our challenge!

robot birthday card

I'm back for my final guest designer spot this month for the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge! It has been so fun designing with those talented ladies this month!

The last challenge of the month is "We Can See Clearly" which means we're using acetate or vellum.

I decided to make a masculine shaker card for my son's birthday.

I started with a gray card base and applied translucent embossing paste through the Dot Fade stencil to give it some texture. I layered a couple papers from the Time Machine 6x6 paper pad. It's a really cool masculine pack with lots of clock parts and gears. I made sure to distress the edges too.

 I made a pocket using a page protector and the Fuse tool, stamped a robot from Robots Blueprints on it, stuffed it with mini gears, gold and silver sequins, and mini beads. I wanted the shaker portion to be used as a bookmark, so I added a metallic eyelet and ribbon to the top. And then to make it easy to remove from the card, I attached the shaker using clear photo corners. And finally, the sentiment is from Friendship Messages.

Thanks for stopping by and come link up your projects for a chance to win $50 to the Simon Says Stamp store!

coffee and a friend

It's time again for another Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog hop! Come link up any coffee, cocoa, or tea project for your chance to win some fabulous prizes!

 I made this spring-colored card using this die that I won in the last hop!

 I know technically it's supposed to be a cocoa cup, but I made it into a coffee cup. WIth whipped cream. Cuz sometimes you just gotta.

 Sentiment is from Unity's Kimmie Girl set.

I love that leaf-covered mug!

I'm also entering Unity's weekly challenge using this color scheme:

Thanks for stopping by today. Make sure you go to the Coffee Lovers blog and check out all the hundreds of projects and link up and comment for your chance to win!

Do More of What Makes You Happy

Guess what. I'm the guest designer for the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge all this month! I'm SO excited!!

The first challenge of the month is to Make Your Own Background. They are also showcasing Darkroom Door products too. I made this card:

I started by blending blue, yellow and green Distress Crayons on white cardstock. Then I placed the Tim Holtz Rays stencil on top and rubbed a baby wipe thru the design removing the crayon so the rays showed. To give it a bit more definition, I outlined the rays with a gray distress crayon and blended it. Then I stamped the Darkroom Door Happy stamp with Stazon ink and inked the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink. For an embellishment, I strung small black beads on black twine and stapled it on with my tiny attacher. Then my panel was mounted on SSS cardstock.


Come link up a project to the challenge for your chance to win $50 to the Simon Says Stamp store!

Thanks for stopping by today and make sure to go do more of what makes you HAPPY!

iced coffee card

Guess what? I am a guest designer today over at the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog!

I'm sharing this card I made using a Tim Holtz stamp and lots of distress inks and water.
You can check out the post here. Come say hi :)

Have a great day and enjoy your weekend!

hello sunshine

Our current challenge at The Paper Girls is SUNSHINE.

I created this card.

I blended yellow distress inks on a tag and then used Tim Holtz's Rays stencil with colored modeling paste. I layered it over several papers and a fussy-cut feather from the Unity stamp set Beautiful is Never Perfect.

The sentiment from Jar of Mixed Sentiments was stamped on deli paper and stapled to the tag.

And that's how this card was born.

Thanks for stopping by today. Come link up your Sunshine projects for a chance to win!