Peonies Bouquet Anniversary Card

Today's design team project is my first for the monthly moodboard challenge over on the Crafting Desert Divas Gallery FB page...come join us for a chance to win some prizes!

The Peonies Bouquet digital stamp image sure is a gorgeous one! I loved coloring it up using my watercolor crayons and then blending it out with a waterbrush.

Fun little details were added using Glossy Accents on the sentiment, berries and flower centers along with some iridescent glitter.

Until next time~

Celebrating a Warm and Cozy Kind of Love

Today's card is my design team creation for the new sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. I will also be entering it @ Cupcake Inspirations for "Winter Theme", @ Dare 2B Artsy for "Winter Wonderland" and @ heARTful Stamping for "AG+a stamp". 

The sketch this time was a challenge for me, as I couldn't decide how I wanted to approach it at first. But once I had decided on using the snowflake washi tape, everything just fell into place from there on out. The "amazing" was die cut from silver glitter paper and the "love" stamped in black ink.

Inside, I stamped and colored a long ago retired Stampin' Up! Penguin pair using Spectrum Noir markers.

I also used my Xyron sticker maker to add the adhesive to the back of the sentiment diecut to make applying it super easy!

Be sure to check out all the fabulous card entries and design team samples @ Atlantic Hearts and consider joining along in the fun with us this week! Until next time~

Craftin Desert Divas January 2018 Mood Board Challenge

I am so excited to be sharing my first official project for the Craftin Desert Divas digi design team and today's card was made for the January Mood Board challenge that you too can participate in at our Craftin Desert Divas Gallery FB group. There are prizes -so come check it out!

For this card I used the adorable sledding penguin  and igloo from the Chilly Time Digital Stamp Set and colored them up with my Chameleon pencils. Just in case you have never used digital stamps before, but you want to know what they are all about, here is a quick tutorial on the CDD YouTube channel. And know that you do not need fancy software like Photo Shop to use digis...I just use the free Word program that came with my laptop and learned how to do that through YouTube videos. I am NOT computer savvy at all...so if I can figure it out, YOU can too, lol!

The background was made using Ranger Alcohol Inks and Blending Solution on glossy cardstock. I then accented it with sequins from the Cotton Candy pack and the Shimmer Sequins pack.

The "Smile" sentiment on the front is from the "Simpy Said" Clear Stamp Set

and is stamped in Onyx Black Versafine ink. The inside sentiments are both from the Birthday Sentiments Digital Stamp Set.

After fussy cutting the igloo and sledding penguin out, I covered the igloo with Glossy Accents and sprinkled it with Sparkle Dust Glitter. I also covered the sled with more Glossy Accents to highlight it and give it some dimension. To make the hills, I cut wavy lines through sparkly light gray cardstock and used my paper piercing tool to perforate the edges and help define it. The smaller hill at the bottom was adhered using 1/4" foam tape for additional dimension.

We've had quite a cold snap where I live, with daily temps in the teens...so I have been staying cozy inside and coloring the nights away! Until next time~stay warm~

Glad Tidings

Today's card is the last of the cards I'll be sharing that I sent out for the 2017 holidays and this one went to my USPS mail carrier. I will be entering it @ Stamping Sensations for "Winter Trees and Flowers", @ The Paper Girl's Challenge for "Glitter", @ Merry Monday Christmas Challenge for "Embossing" and @ Tuesday Throwdown for "Silver and/or Gold".

It's hard to see in the pics, but there is a neat stitched texture on the circle behind the tree...you can catch a hint of it here in this closeup. The tree was heat embossed in gold glitter embossing powder and fussy cut out.

The trees were stamped on the burgundy patterned paper using the same color ink I used to stamp the sentiments and tiny gold star sequins were added for accent. The gold splatter on the kraft cardstock was made using FSJ gold Silk.

Until next time~

A Sparkly Love Anniversary Card

Today's card was designed for the Mix It Up Challenge Blog November Design Team with the optional technique of "Stenciling" using the sketch from Sunday Stamps as my inspiration. It will also be entered @ Crazy 4 Challenges for "Using Pink" and @ heARTful Stamping for "Anything Goes + a Stamp". 

The first step in making this card was to stencil the polka dots design on the front of an A2 sized horizontal top folding card made from Bristol cardstock for it's sturdiness qualities and ability to take the wetness from the gel medium well. I used Frog tape to secure it to my work mat and then used a palette knife to evenly spread the matte gel medium across the stencil on the card front. I then carefully pulled the stencil off and sprinkled the crystal glitter all over the wet gel. I also rinsed the gel off the stencil right away! I then set this aside to dry while I worked on the other parts of the card.

 I stamped and heat embossed the blooms from Close to my Heart in Silver Pearl powder, colored them with watercolors and cut them out using the matching die set once they were completely dry.

Using the sketch as my guide, I trimmed the vellum layer and added the washi tape banner. The "love" was die cut from some DCVW holographic paper I bought at a stamp and scrap store while we were on vacation in Bermuda.

There is so much sparkle and shimmer on this card -I just LOVE it, lol! As you may be able to see here, I even added clear wink of Stella to the blossoms.

Once everything was assembled, I wrapped the silver thread around the card front 2 times, tied it in a bow and secured it with a mini glue dot. The bloom was adhered with foam pop dots, but everything else is glued flat.

Inside, I stamped the sentiment in London Fog Memento ink and added the embossed and die cut blue bloom. This card will be going out in the mail to one of my sister-in-laws and her hubby in the next few weeks.

Until next time~

How to Make an Adorable Kitty Birthday Card Using The Best Glue Ever

Hello crafty friends! Today's card is a cute kitty on a 6" x 6" square top-folding white card base. The patterned papers, embossing folder, glitter and the stamp set that I used are all from the Itsy Bitsy shop. The first step after trimming all my paper layers was to run the floral layer through my Amaze machine with the Mums embossing folder -but only partially -meaning that the left side of the piece of paper hung outside of the folder and stayed smooth. I then lightly sanded the paper to remove the color off the very top and give it some definition.

Using the Best Glue Ever to adhere the embossed paper to the other card layers means that I know it will stay stuck and not pop off later...the dimension from the embossing proved to be a challenge for securing until I discovered how well the BGE works!

I also used the Best Glue Ever along with the No Clog Writing Cap to "color" in the white circles on the yellow patterned paper and then turned them a sparkly rose gold using glitter.

To color my images, I used Distress Inks as water colors...tapping the ink pad onto an acrylic block and picking up the color with a water brush. I just kept layering colors until I got the look I wanted. I then fussy cut out the party accessories and added them to the kitty using mini glue dots. The square kitty panel and the sentiment panel were adhered using mini foam dots for added height.

Here you can get an up close look at how using the sanding block in the first step really pops the embossed dimension up off the patterned paper. This works really well with white cored and white backed papers.

I also went back and added glitter to the pile of gifts once the water color on them was all dry.

Inside I used up some paper scraps and did some quick stamping and coloring. This card is now ready to be given to my niece for her 16th birthday coming up after this weekend.

Until next time, happy crafting with ScraPerfect and the Best Glue Ever! 

Beautiful Paper Tole Bird Card with Itsy Bitsy

Today's project uses no stamping or inks...GAH...can you believe it?!? Instead, I made good use of beautiful papers, a pair of tiny scissors, some gorgeous glitter and foam squares in 3 sizes to accomplish a Paper Tole of sorts. Have a look...

Using 2 identical sheets of the same patterned paper from this Happy Birthday paper pack is what makes this design work. I started with a 6" x 6" white card base from the Value Pack and layered it first with the tan striped pattern. I then traced that directly onto the floral pattern exactly where I wanted it, so that the parts I wanted to include would show front and center.

The next step was to cut out the parts of the pattern design that I wanted to highlight with elevation...1 large rose, 1 small rose and the bird.

Using small detail scissors makes it easy to cut in close and capture all the details! The leaf embellishments are left over from the Poppy Paper Crafting Medley set that I also used in my first Itsy Bitsy post.

I used generous amounts of foam squares in all 3 sizes to layer everything up! And on the leaf diecut pieces I used mini glue dots.

Before adhering the smaller flower to the card front, I added Pale Copper Fairy Dust glitter to the center of it. Here you can see the spout top that I was bragging about the last time...still loving it, lol!

I wanted to make my own envelope for this card, so I used another pattern from the same paper stack and turned the pink strip to the inside. I then ran just the top flap through my embossing machine with the Blossom-Mums embossing folder to impress the floral design on it...it offers a very classy look, as you can see in the pictures further down below.

The final touch after assembling all the layers was to add 3 of the 6mm adhesive backed half pearls scattered across the card front as you can see here in the detailed pics near the left side.

I love the way this card turned out and it was alot of fun to stretch my supplies and create something without any rubber stamps and ink!

The inside I left blank with plenty of room for a handwritten message -just using a few scraps of the patterned paper left over from the card front.

And here's what the envelope flap looks like from the inside...

and from the outside, once the card is tucked safely inside! So pretty, right?

Thanks for having a look ~ Until next time ~ Happy Crafting!