It's a Party!

To me, nothing says "Party!" like glitters.  Tons and tons of glitters.  So I made this sparkly shaker birthday card using Pinkfresh Studio's Pop Out Sunburst stamp for double the fun.  As soon as I saw this stamp, I was intrigued by the possibilities!  I can create a rainbow sun ray background, or do alternating colors.  In this case, I stamped every other sun ray with Versamark and then used embossing glitter for the shine!

The sentiment is from this gorgeous Waffle Flower stamp and die set, first stamped using Tsukineko Tuxedo Black ink, then in Catherine Pooler Something Borrowed ink.  Coincidentally, it's from Catherine Pooler's "Life of the Party" collection. ;)  

I am entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, where the theme this week is "Let's Party!!!"

I used the following supplies:

Pinkfresh Studio Pop Out Sunburst

Waffle Flower Oversized Happy stamp and die set

The above are affiliate links, and I get a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase the supplies through my links.

Thanks for looking, and have a great and festive day!

From Our Home to Yours...

...belated Merry Christmas!  

I made this holiday card before Christmas, but the hustle and bustle of holiday preparations pushed posting this to the back burner for a bit.

First, I created dots for the background using Hero Arts Chevrons stencil.  This is a pack of 2 stencils, and I love those dots! I can definitely see myself using these in many cards in the future!  I used Catherine Pooler inks and pounced them through the stencil.  Then I cut the die from gold foil cardstock, and heat embossed the sentiment using gold embossing powder.

The die is actually a set of three dies from Hero Arts, but I used just one of the dies instead.

I'm entering this card into the Hero Arts Stay Crafty Challenge #30.  The challenge this month is to use circles in the card.  I hope the stenciled big dots in the background meet the criteria.

The supply list is below:

Hero Arts Tri-fold Village Fancy Die - this is on sale right now for $5 off!

Hero Arts Chevron Stencils 2-Pack

The above are affiliate links and I get a small commission when you purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

I hope that you spent your holidays surrounded by love and happiness, with loved ones, friends, and anyone/anything that makes you happy. :)

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Cards from DIY Stencils

As promised, here are some cards I made using the DIY stencils I shared in my previous post.

First up is this stenciled green Christmas card:

I used a brush to apply Catherine Pooler's Grass Skirt on white cardstock die cut with Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles die using the leaf and berry stencil that I made.  I applied Red Stickles on the berries and gave it time to dry.  This was the hardest part -- you can tell patience is not my strongest point.  However, I've ruined many cards by smearing wet Stickles, so I definitely gave it my best.

While waiting, I stamped the "Joy and Peace" sentiment on white cardstock using Catherine Pooler's Rockin' Red, which I mounted on red cardstock.  The sentiment came from an old Hero Arts set called December.

Once the Stickles was dry, I popped up the sentiment on foam tape.

This is not the traditional Christmas colors (or leaves and berries, for that matter), but once the sentiment and red Stickles were on the card, it looked really cheery and festive. :)

My second card is another Christmas card:

I used the DIY stencil I made to emboss a snowy background for my snowman.  I pressed the Versamark ink pad through the stencil and embossed it with white embossing powder.

I stamped and colored by snowman using the Lawn Fawn Frosty Friends stamp set and cut it out using the coordinating die.  I cut out some snowy hillside using Lawn Fawn Sitched Hillside Borders out of white cardstock for my snowman to stand on.

I colored the images with Copic markers.

So what do you think?  Not too shabby for DIY stencils, right?

I hope you give making your own stencils a try and share with me what you've created in the comments below.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Ribbon Christmas Card

Can you believe that there are only 11 days to go before Christmas?  It crept up on me!

I've been looking for an excuse to play with these Lawn Fawn die.  I cut a few of these bows in different sizes in red checkered paper from Die Cuts with a View, arranged them into a tree shape, and voila!  Instant Christmas tree.

I cut the star out of gold cardstock.  I used the same gold cardstock for the bow "tails" as the trunk of my ribbon tree.

Does it look like a Christmas tree made out of bows?

I used the following products:

Hero Arts Infinity Dies (Star)

Lawn Fawn Put a Bow On It

The above are affiliate links, and I get a small commission if you purchase them through my links, at no cost to you.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Striped 2-in-1 Birthday Card

I recently got an order from The Stamp Market, and it included this amazing Birthday Cover Plate die.  It's perfect for making quick cards, while still looking very polished and pretty.

I decided to step it up by cutting strips of different colored cardstock and sticking them on a background, then run the sandwich with the Birthday cover plate die through my Big Shot.

Now I have a 2-for-1 card!

I love, love, love monochromatic cards!!!

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Celebrating 40 Years with Stampendous

In honor of Stampendous' 40th anniversary, I'm sharing this card that I made from one of my old (but loved) Stampendous stamp sets.  Happy Messages and Bold Blossoms were one of my first photopolymer stamp sets, more than 10 years ago, when I was just getting into stamping.  Yes, these stamps are THAT old, but they still stamp beautifully.  It's no wonder Stampendous has been in business for this long -- their stamps are really of good quality.

During that time, coordinating dies for stamp sets were not as popular, so I fussy-cut the red flower in the middle to give the impression of a die-cut image.  A card-maker's gotta do what a card-maker's gotta do. ;)

As a bonus, I also used the Stampendous embossing powders (Ruby Red and Lapiz Pearl) for this card.

Thank you, Stampendous, for 40 wonderful years!  I wish you 100 times more stampendous years of excellent quality products and stamping fun.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Purple and Silver Birthday Card using DIY Stencils

As promised, I'm sharing with you a birthday card I made using once of the stencils I DIY'd using my Silhouette Cameo. 

The splotches on the stencil were the perfect highlight to my card.

I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Dusty Concord, Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves, and Shaded Lilac) to create my own background.  I'm not very good at blending, but I'm working on it.  You'll probably see more blended backgrounds on my next cards because I'm trying to get tons of practice, so thank you for your patience with me. :)

The white cardstock was die cut using Simon Says Stamp's Stitched Rectangles die.  I pounced Platinum Planet from Tsukineko's Brilliance ink through the stencil.  

I used Lawn Fawn's Happy, Happy, Happy stamp set and coordinating die to cut out the "Happy."  I cut it in four layers of cardstock to "pop" up the sentiment.  The words were heat embossed using Stampin' Up's Silver embossing powder.

I am entering this on the Lawn Fawnatics Challenge Blog for Challenge 114 - Card Sketch challenge.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

DIY Stencils Using Cricut or Silhouette

 Stencils are definitely on trend right now, and there are many options available on the market.

However, if you're looking for a specific stencil and can't find it, or if you're just trying to stretch your crafting budget, then this hack can definitely help you!

If you have an electronic cutting machine (like a Cricut or a Silhouette), you can use these bad boys to cut any stencil that your crafty heart desires.

To cut this actual stencils, I used my Silhouette Cameo.  However, I'll show you how to do this with a Cricut using Design Space.

You'll need your Cricut Explore Air (or Cricut Maker), a 12x12 Cricut cutting mat (light grip or standard grip) and 6x6 square of acetate.

1.  Launch Design Space.  Click on "Image."

2.  On the Search bar, type "Stencil."

3.  Choose a stencil image that you like and click on it.

4.  Click "Add to Canvas."

5.  Once the image is on the canvas, click on it to resize it.

6.  Make sure the size says 6x6.

7.  Click "Make It."

At this point, Design Space will prompt you to connect and turn on the power to your Cricut (if you haven't done so already).  On the Cricut, select "Light Chipboard (0.327mm)" as the material.  I know you're really cutting acetate and not light chipboard, but this will allow the Cricut to cut the acetate well.

Let the machine do its magic, and ta-da!  You have your very own stencil/s!

On my next post, I will show you some of the cards I've made with these stencils.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Embossed Purple Flower Birthday Card

I always find myself needing birthday cards.  With a big family and many friends whom I don't see as often as we typically would, birthdays always come up sooner than I expect.

Going through my old stamp sets, I found this beautiful Stampin' Up set (Flower Fest).  The images were just begging to be embossed, and embossed them, I did.

Using Versamark ink, I stamped the images and then embossed them using Stampendous embossing powder in Violet and Olive.  I punched the flower image using the coordinating scalloped circle punch, and popped it up on some foam tape.

The sentiment was from Stampendous (Happy Messages) and was stamped in beautiful Grape Crush ink by Catherine Pooler.  I just love how vibrant it looks in real life.  The photo really does not do it justice.

What do you do with your old stamp sets?  Do you purge your sets or do you continue to use them?  I love that I'm still able to use my old sets.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Candy Cane Tags

My 9-year old wanted to give candy canes to all of his classmates for Christmas.  I am generally averse to all these sugar, but it's the holidays and I figured we can all use some candy canes this time of the year.

We got 2 boxes of candy canes from Michael's (Sour Patch flavored, of course).

Then, I got started with making these tags.  I cut out 23 tags using a Hero Arts Nesting Tags die out of kraft cardstock, and white stitched labels using a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles die.

I stamped a green (Catherine Pooler Grass Skirt) Christmas tree using an image from Stampin' Up's Scentsational Season.  I think this is a retired stamp set. :(

The "Season's Greetings" sentiment again came from "More Merry Messages," also from Stampin' Up.

The "To" and "From" were from an old Papertrey Ink stamp set (Boxes, Bags, and Tags), and they were the perfect size for my white stitched labels.

My son will write his classmates's names on the label, then we will use the sparkly red ribbon to tie the tags on the candy canes.

Thanks for looking, and I hope your day is as sweet as a candy cane!

Red, White, and Green Christmas Card

So excited to share this card with everyone today.

I'm a little late to the holiday card-making party, but I thought I can still make some cards to get back into the swing of things.  Starting with this one. :)

While waiting for my new stamps to arrive, I used my good old Stampin' Up stamp sets:  Ornament Keepsakes and More Merry Messages.

I stamped these on white cardstock using my new awesome Catherine Pooler inks:  Spruce, Eucalyptus, and Rockin' Red.  It was my first time trying out these inks (needed to update my ink pads, too), and I was blown away!  Super crisp images, and all you need is a little tap.  

I embossed the ornaments with Versamark ink and Stampin' Up Clear embossing powder, then cut them out using the coordinating Framelits dies.

I looped some black and white twine around the ornaments, popped them up with some foam tape, and and mounted these on dark green card base.

The sentiment was stamped with my go-to black ink (Memento Tuxedo Black), and I'm glad it has not let me down.

I'm entering this card to Sunday Stamps Winter Wonder Challenge, using 3 colors from their palette and a neutral of our choice.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

It's Been 6 Years...

 ...since my last post.

I started this blog many years ago as a way to share my creations and connect with other crafters like myself -- card makers, scrapbookers, and bakers.  

While I was still stamping and baking, life had become quite hectic and there was little time to do much else aside from life, family, work, friends.  My craft room became our guest room, then it became my office, then just storage for stuff that I can't find room for.  You get the idea.

Over Thanksgiving, I decided to re-organize my craft room, played with some of my stuff, and before I knew it, I'm back!

I'm so excited that I'll get to share what I make again.

After 6 years, I'm back.  And I hope I'm here to stay!

Thanks for visiting! :)