*Puppy Love Blog Hop*

 Happy Friday crafty friends!  It's the first Friday of February, which means that the design team Scrap 'n Stamp Canada is HOPPING!  Our theme for February is "Puppy Love"....  

Be sure to visit each blog in the hop and leave a comment to increase your chances of winning a $50 gift certificate to Scrap 'n Stamp!  

I had fun with this one... still sort of clean and simple but with a little more detail than you're used to seeing from me.

Isn't it cute?!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; gold sparkle

*Patterned Paper:  My Favorite Things Black & White Stripes
*Images:  My Favorite Things New Best Friend; Picket Fence Studios Part of the Pack

*Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Versafine Claire Nocturne; Spectrum Noir Triblends in Dark Red, Brown Grey and Pale Pink

*Dies:  My Favorite Things New Best Friend; Lawn Fawn Hearts

*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Perfect Layers

Now it's time for you to hop along to see what the rest of the Scrap 'n Stamp design team has created for this fun hop!  Like I said, make sure to leave comments on each post along the way to increase your chances of winning a $50 gift certificate from Scrap 'n Stamp!

Tara

Kia

Nancy  <-- you are here!

Deborah

Chala

Susan

Jessica

*CASology #383*

It's Tuesday, so it must be time for another challenge with the team at CASology!  As you can see from the cue card, we want to see your clean and simple creations using the word "envelope" as your cue.  Share your card with us for your chance to be a guest designer for an upcoming challenge!  

Please go to the CASology blog to click on the links for the rest of the design team... and leave us a little love on our posts!  We always love to get comments!

I absolutely LOVE this new stamp set with matching dies and paper from Stampin' Up!  These snails are so super cute!  I fell in love with this little guy with the mustache so I used my Scan 'n Cut to cut him out of a piece of the patterned paper (as he doesn't come as a stamp).  I didn't love the sentiments with the set for my layout so I added one from a My Favorite Things set.

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Real Red; vellum

*Patterned Paper:  Stampin' Up! Snailed It

*Images:  MFT Bitty Birthday

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Stampin' Up! Snailed It; Spellbinders Scalloped Circle

*Tools:  Big Shot

*Etc:  foam adhesive.

*Birthday Flowers*

I am constantly amazed at how fast time goes by.... here we are at the end of January already!  I don't mind when the cold winter months fly by, but it sure does suck with the spring and summer ones fly too!

I did a ombre look on these letters with a blending brush and ink and I'm really happy with how they look.

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb

*Image:  MFT Essential Sentiments

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Catherine Pooler Garden Party

*Dies:  MFT Impact Alphabet

*Tools:  Big Shot; Taylored Expressions Blending Brushes

*Ebellishments:  Lawn Fawn Liquid Stardust; Prima Flowers; Stampin' Up! bling

*Layers Layers Layers*

I had fun putting this card together for you today....  I am on the Scrap 'n Stamp Canada blog with this card, following along with the Random Acts of Cardness prompt for today.  That prompt word is LAYERS.  And I went a little nuts with the layers.  Including the mats under each layer, there are 8 layers plus the card front!  Using a 6X6 patterned paper pack from My Favorite Things made it super easy to choose the papers for my layers.

At the end of the post I have a little surprise for you too!  I did a VIDEO to demonstrate how to use the We R Memory Keepers Layers Guides that I LOVE!  Most people don't understand the concept of these tools and I LOVE them and use them on almost every card I made.  I hope the video explains things for you.

But first, the card I created...  it's so totally not my clean and simple style but I sure do love it!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White; Lawn Fawn Black Licorice

*Patterned Paper:  My Favorite Things Birthday Brights

*Images:  My Favorite Things All Smiles

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  My Favorite Things All Smiles

*Tools:  Big Shot; Layers Guides

*Etc:  foam adhesive; Be Creative Tape

And now, on to the video... please be kind as it's my first... and I have no idea how to edit a video (nor the time I think it would take to not only learn how but also to just do it) so this was all done in one take, mistakes and all LOL!  If you have any questions about the Layers Guides, let me know and I'll try to help!  These are truly the tool I reach for most on my craft desk!

In case you can't see the video (like it doesn't show up on my phone but shows up on my laptop), here is the link to YouTube...  

*AAACards #180*

Happy Sunday all!!  Here we are, just a few weeks before Christmas.  I still have a lot of Christmas cards to share with you... I hope you don't mind!  For the first time ever, all the Christmas cards I am sending out this year are individual designs.  I'm pretty excited by that!

For the month of December, there is only this one challenge with the team from AAACards.  We know that December is a busy time for so many of us so we are doing just one challenge.  For the next few weeks, we encourage you to share your clean and simple cards that are "made in minutes" with the optional theme of Christmas.  We know that the first design of a card never takes just minutes... we want a card that once it's designed would only take you minutes to recreate it.

Our sponsor for this challenge is STAMPlorations and our guest designer is Dena.

Be sure to link up your creation for your chance to win a prize from STAMPlorations and to be a guest designer in an upcoming challenge.

I absolutely fell in love with this card when I was finished it.  If I was going to make multiples of a card, this would be the one.  The hardest part would be the die cutting but since I used three different snowflakes, I could cut all three at once, cutting my die cut time in half.

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; silver and blue glitter

*Images:  Poppy Stamps Art Deco Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  MFT Stitched Rectangles; Impression Obsession Snowflakes

*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Misti

*Embellishments:  ribbon from my stash

*Etc:  foam adhesive

*Christmas Buable*

I fell in love with the Birch Press ornament dies that came out this year...  I ended up buying the basic set plus two other decorative sets....  I need more time in a day to play!  Although I can't complain as I am on track to have all of my Christmas cards individual designs this year... for the first time ever!  I sure hope I can pull it off!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; silver and light blue glitter

*Images:  Simon Says Stamp Clean Line Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Birch Press Ornament Basics, Marisol Ornament Layer A

*Tools:  Gemini Jr

*Merry & Bright Snowflake*

I can't believe how fast the days are going by....  we are way more than half way through November already!  I'm on track with making Christmas cards I think, but I am way behind on shopping.  Not that I buy a lot...  a buy a few things for a few special people and my little family of four each draws a name and we each buy for one person in the family.  I need to get busy on some stocking ideas for my guys, though.  It's a lot hard with trying to avoid going out.

This card started out as a white on white card... but then I decided to throw in the red for a little "boom"...

Items Used:

• Cardstock: Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb
• Images:  MFT Merry & Bright
• Ink:  Gina K Cherry Red
• Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Marie Snowflake; MFT Phrase Builder
• Stencils:  MFT Snowfall
• Etc:  Brutus Monroe Alabaster Glitter Glaze

*Inlaid Die Cuts*

Happy Monday!!  I'm back with another post for the Scrap 'n Stamp design team... following along with the Random Acts of Cardness prompts, today I am sharing a card I created using inlaid die cuts.  This is a fun technique that leaves you with a smooth card front, perfect for mailing (instead of a bulky card that could get damaged in the mail).  

I started out with a white panel cut to 3 7/8 X 5 1/8" and I used Purple Tape to adhere my dies to the panel so that the dies wouldn't move.  I cut out the bow, the ornament top and the word JOY from this first panel and then decided to cut the extra "O" image with the star centre out of a scrap of white cardstock and some of the elements out of silver sparkle paper as well.  I thought I was being super smart and kept all the pieces from the die cutting.... I threw out two important pieces... can you tell what they were from this photo?

I used some Gina K ink and my Taylored Expressions blending brushes to create an ombre look to the letters... I started at the bottom of each letter so that area would be the darkest part of each letter.  

Once I had all of my pieces ready, I took a piece of printer paper and covered it with Sookwang double sided adhesive.  I love the sookwang because it is super sticky and I can tear it instead of cut it!  I then laid my card panel face down on my workspace and put the printer paper on it, with the sticky side against the cardstock.  This gives me an easy way to attach my inlaid elements without making a mess with glue.

I put in each of the pieces... and this is when I realized I threw out the insides of the bow cut from the white cardstock, so I had to cut that part of the die again.  

Once I had all of the pieces attached, I flipped the piece over and burnished it all down from the back, making sure all of my elements were well adhered.  I then used my We R Memory Keepers Layers Guide to create a perfect 1/16" mat around my card front and added it all to a white card base.

I can't wait to see what you create... be sure to share it on the Scrap 'n Stamp Facebook page!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Gina K Blue Lagoon; silver sparkle

*Dies:  My Favorite Things Filled With Joy

*Ink:  Gina K Blue Lagoon

*Tools Gemini Jr; Taylored Expressions Blending Brushes

*Etc:  Be Creative Sookwang tape

*Be Merry*

Hi! In case you haven't realized it, I am at the stage where it will probably be all Christmas cards until sometime in December or January.  Christmas is truly my most favourite reason to make cards... and every year I say I won't buy anything new and every year I buy a lot of the new stuff.  It's all just so freakin' awesome!

For the card today, I CASEd a card I saw on Instagram... please go check out Hanh's cards as she has a great style!!  I saw her card, loved it and knew I wanted to make one like it.  I changed out the stamp but that's about it...  I think that this is one of my most favourite Christmas cards of 2020... I love the light blue and silver and if you've been here for a while, you know how much I LOVE snowmen!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Hammermill Premium Color Copy Cover 100lb; Stampin' Up! Balmy Blue; silver mirror

*Images:  MFT Festive Friends

*Ink:  Gina K Amalgam; Copics; white Gelly Roll

*Dies:  MFT Festive Friends; Waffle Flower A2 Rectangles; Stampin' Up! layering oval; Impression Obsessions Snowflakes

*Tools:  Gemini Jr

*Etc:  foam tape

*AAACards #178*

I am back with another challenge with the design team at AAA Cards!  I love the clean and simple inspiration from the design team and everyone who plays along with us!  For the current challenge we have a credit to Funky Fossil Designs up for grab... for your chance to win, please share your Clean and Simple Card following the challenge!

As you can see from the graphics above, Challenge #178 is a sketch challenge with the optional twist of Primary Colours.  I strayed away from the optional twist for my card... and I made my card a rectangle instead of a square.  Check out how the rest of the Design Team interpreted the sketch... I love how everyone does it a little differently!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; silver mirror cardstock

*Paper:  assorted glitter paper from my stash

*Images:  Hero Arts Off Beat Holiday Greetings

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Impression Obesssion

*Tools:  Gemini Jr

*Celebrate Large*

I will admit that way way way back when, I wasn't a fan of using patterned papers on cards.  I thought it was a cheat, a copout...  you could make your own patterned papers with stamps, of course!  But now, I like patterned papers on my cards... 

This card using a quarter inch strip of Catherine Pooler patterned paper to add a little colour and fun to an otherwise monochromatic card.

Items Used:

• Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Basic Black
• Patterned Paper:  Catherine Pooler
• Dies:  MFT Celebrate
• Tools:  Gemini Jr; Perfect Layers
• Embellishments:  Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen