Paper Sweeties May Release Party!

Today is the day! The Paper Sweeties New Releases are available now! Here's a card featuring the new stamp set, MVP.

Jake is ready for the game in his baseball uniform from the new MVP stamp set. I cut Jake out with the coordinating Jake Sweet Cuts die, then fussy cut all the other images. The uniform was colored with a fine point Sharpie. Jake's face and hair, along with the other images were colored with Copics. (The eyes were added with a Micron pen). I created the brick background with a stencil and Distress Inks, then used my Copic airbrush to add a "#1" graffiti image. The blue strip behind Jake was airbrushed first, for a gradient look, then, using a stencil I made from a Simon Says Stamp Star Border die, I added stars with molding paste.

On the inside, I placed the sentiment panel as a baseball "diamond," added the sentiment from the MVP set, then heat embossed the ball and bat on the blue layer. 

You're going to want to check out the rest of the DT for more ideas for these awesome new sets:

Cheryl Lea - That's Me!

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties
Emily Frasier 
Jill Norwood 

Julie Tucker-Wolek
Kathy Schweinfurth

Larissa Heskett
Mackie Robertson

Maria Patrick

Michelle Bala
Mynnette Kitchen

Nancy Penir

Have you played along with us in the Paper Sweeties 'Celebrate Mom' Inspiration Challenge yet? You could win a shopping spree in the boutique along with a Guest Designer invitation to join us for the next challenge! And, we're also hosting a COMMENT CONTEST--just leave us a little love on the challenge post for a chance to win a $100 SHOPPING SPREE! Two chances to WIN BIG in May!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Viva la Verve May 2015 Week 2 Sketch Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday: Simon Brand Products (Star Border die)
Power Poppy Power & Spark Challenge: Cut it Out
613 Avenue Create #123: Anything Goes w/optional Let's Celebrate!
Sugar Pea Designs SPD15: Anything Goes
Paper Issues: Let's Get This Party Star-ted and Par-ty Heart-y with SugarPea Designs
Lia Stamps Challenge #88: Embossing (dry or heat)

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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Tiddly Inks Baby Blog Hop: Brennan's Bits Baby Book

***Tiddly Inks also has a New Release today! Click here to go to that post!***

We, at Tiddly Inks, are here today to celebrate the upcoming birth of Brennan, whose mom is our dear fellow team member Melissa. Melissa has been on the Tiddly Inks team since close to the beginning and although she has had to take some time off to deliver Brennan, we want her to know she is missed and that we are excited Brennan is almost here. Please join us in celebrating this happy occasion by hopping along...or even better, by linking your own card to say hi to Melissa. 

My project is shown below but if you want to see more delightful cards, all the details for the blog hop can be found on the Tiddlyinks Challenge blog and there is a LINKY tool for you to add your card there as well. We kept this blog hop simple....all the links will open in a new window from Christy's blog. 

Instead of a card for Melissa, I made a blank baby book, that I envisioned Melissa using to jot down all the cute "bits" Brennan does as he grows up that Melissa will want to remember--funny expressions, comments, etc.--those things you think you'll remember, but that invariably end up being forgotten. :) Whatever Melissa decides to use it for, I hope she enjoys it! It was certainly enjoyable to make!

I used another sheet of that beautiful Mulberry paper from my friend, Deborah, for the cover of the book, which I cut from a sheet of framer's matboard. I added blue and green eyelets in the cover before stitching it together with waxed pearl cotton. The image is the adorable Sleep Tight Baby image from Tiddly Inks, and I added a dark blue digital paper (it's from a digi paper pack called Renewed Spirit, by Agnes Biro, but I can't find it on-line anymore) to the background before printing onto X-Press It Blending card, and coloring with Copics. I colored the stars with a silver Wink of Stella pen and used a black, and then a gold Spica pen for the lines attached to the stars. A silver glitter scalloped circle die cut backs the circle die cut image, and that is popped up with foam tape over a white glitter lotus pendant die cut. I ran a silver metallic ribbon through the lotus die cut and tied a little bow, then glued that to the front of the book. The "Brennan's Bits" text was die cut out of navy shimmer cardstock and glued on.

The book cover measures 4-1/2" x 6". The signatures are 24 lb colored paper. There are 9 signatures in four different shades of blue and green, with the center signature being white. Each signature has four sheets, which, when folded, result in a book of 144 sheets. I stitched the signatures together using a Coptic stitch, and left the spine exposed by incorporating the covers into the signature stitching. (There is a link in my supply list to the book I used for the instructions for making this book.)

I used a cute dp with clouds on it for the inside of the covers.

This is what the stitching looks like in the center of each signature.

Here is a look at the Coptic chain that is visible between signatures. I love these two colors together! :)

Come on over to the Tiddly Ink Challenge blog to hop along and celebrate this happy birth and please join in with your own card. There will be a random winner selected from those who link their own card.

Thanks for hopping by, have a wonderful week, and don't forget to check out the New Releases at Tiddly Inks, too!

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:
Kit and Clowder October Challenge: Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create Challenge #92: Anything Goes
Paper Issues: You're Sew Cute, You Keep Me In Stitches With May Arts Ribbon
The Stamping Chef Challenge #49: Anything Goes

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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It's A Boy!

 Hi there! I'm down to the wire on the Viva la Verve Sketch Challenge this month, and I still have another card to post for it, so I'll be very brief.

This is a new baby card for a boy. I used the colors of the dp to guide me in choosing all the other colors and elements. I colored the word, "boy," with Prismacolor pencils. The cluster of embellies is made up of a flattened bottle cap, some gears, flags, and a "baby" zipper pull. The "dirty" gear was die cut from kraft cs, then heat embossed with silver ep. To achieve the rusted/dirty look on the gear, I inked up just a portion of the silver embossed gear with Versamark, then I sprinkled Distress EP on one edge of the gear.

The inside.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Viva la Verve March 2014 Week 2 Sketch Challenge

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: The One With Lots of Rules (Anything Goes)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Happy Birthday

613 Avenue Create Challenge #65: Anything Goes

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Booties

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of your week!

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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Timeless Tuesday #239: "Build It With Dots"

Hello! And, welcome back for another Timeless Tuesday Challenge (FTTC239)!

Our hostess this week is the Amazingly Talented Allison, and she is challenging us to:

"Build it with Dots"

Just what does that mean, you ask? Well, it's simple. All you have to do is create a card using dots to color your background and/or image. Here are a couple of examples, here (notice how the ground is made of dots) and here (See how the leafy tree is colored).

I made this card for a friend who needed a baby card for a mommy-to-be who is a ballroom dancer. The onesie and booties are from the Hello Baby stamp set. I stamped them on Flourishes Classic White cs with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and colored them with dots using the Ice Blue and New Browns Copic Sketch Collections. The new baby's name is going to be Landon, so I typed it up in Word, then printed it onto a transparency and rubbed it onto the front of the onesie. I then fussy cut the colored images and popped them up with foam dots. The Hello Baby sentiment is from the same stamp set. The sentiment in the circle die cut is one that I created in Word, also. The card base, scalloped circle, and accent strip are all made using the Quick Sand cs from Flourishes Rich Browns Color Made Easy Paper Collection, and the "It's a boy" text on the strip was stamped in Memento Desert Sand Ink. You can barely see it in the photo, but there is a layer of vellum, that I dry embossed with a bubble embossing folder, that is just in front of the card base. I added a couple different dp's, which I distressed with a Distrezz-It-All, then sewed along the edges. Tiny silver nailheads are in opposite corners of the card.

On the inside, on Flourishes Classic White cs, I stamped the sentiment, from the Hello Baby stamp set, in Desert Sand ink first, then again in Tuxedo Black ink, for give it a slight shadow effect, then I stamped the booties in Desert Sand. I cut banners from scraps left over from the front of the card, distressed the edges, then zigzagged them to the upper left corner. A bit unusual for a baby card, maybe, but my friend loved it, and she said that mommy-to-be did, too! :)

Alrighty...now, it's your turn to get your dots on! ;) I can't wait to see what you come up with. And, remember, you don't have to use Flourishes stamps, but if you do, you get two ballots toward the weekly prize! You can find all the details for the challenge here.

Be sure to take a moment to visit all our designers' blogs, too. 

• Allison Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Cheryl Lea...that's me!
• Deborah Anton
• Jenny Gropp
• Judy Rozema
• Kathy Roney, our September Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by, and have a fantastic week!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Celebrate Stampember-use a product that is available from the SSS Store (I used a Spellbinders Scalloped Circle Nestie)

Here Come the Boys #61: Baby Boy
The Pink Elephant TPE218: Polka Dots & Stripes

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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TMS#166: Aaaaahhhhh!

Hi Friends! It's Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge time!

Between this week's fab sketch and the cute digi stamp I got from our sponsor, Paper Pretties, I was able to come up with a super fun card for my DD to give to a friend for his birthday.

With The Avengers movie coming out, we had lots of super hero gifts to choose from for the birthday boy, so we went with a Captain America action figure that has a working parachute. This adorable digi stamp, aptly named, "Aaaaahhhhh," was the perfect image for the accompanying card. The image actually comes with clouds drawn around the dog, but I didn't need them since I was making my own clouds, so I removed them in my photo program, then printed it out and colored the image with Copics. I used my new cloud stencil and a light blue Memento ink to make the clouds. I also made the cloud bg paper. The pattern papers are both digital. I didn't have any navy twine, so I used red and white twine and blue Distress Ink to come up with the right colors. The blue frame around the image is popped up with foam dots over the image.

For the inside, I used Spellbinder dies to cut the stars from my leftover digi paper, and the blue circle is the die cut that came from the frame on the front of the card. I heat embossed the sentiment. This was a simple card, but quite enjoyable to make.

I hope you'll join us this week at Tuesday Morning Sketches! We always have a great time, and, who knows, you just might win a prize from Paper Pretties! Be sure to check out the rest of the awesome DT's creations over at the TMS site, for plenty of inspiration, then get creative with the sketch and link your project up. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks for stopping by today, and have a great week!

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Moving Along With the Times: Seeing Red
ABC Challenges: Y is for Y Chromosome (a male-themed project)
Cards for Men Challenge 20: Animal Magic
Charisma Cardz Challenge #38: Something for the Guys
Creative Craft Challenges 2: Anything Goes
Fat Pages with Attitude Challenge 23: Anything Goes
Little Scrap Pieces: Fun Friday Use Ribbon or Twine
Party Time Tuesday #87: Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #183: It's Your Birthday

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Aaaaahhhhh (Paper Pretties); Birthday Buddies (Paper Smooches)
Paper: Merry Little Christmas Mini Kit by Erica Coombs, For the Boys by Karen Funk (Design House Digital)
Ink: Memento; Distress Ink; Colorbox; Copic markers
Dies: Std Circles Sm & Lg, Labels Three, Stars Five (Spellbinders)
Accessories: White embossing powder; Pearl Pen; Cloud Stencil (Inky Antics); Memory Thread (DMC); buttons; sewing thread; twine (The Twinery); foam dots
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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TMS #162: Welcome Sweet Baby Boy

Hi Friends, and Happy Tuesday! Ready for another Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge? Melissa's sketch is a great one--classy, and lots of room for your own spin. And, we've got Doodle Pantry as our fab sponsor! They have so many images to choose from--everything from cute to elegant. Just wait till you see the sweet image I used for today's creation! :)

I'm still in need of another nursery wall hanging for one of the babies getting ready to join the family.

As you can see, I followed the basic sketch, then added a few embellishments. :) For the tilted panel, I used some scrap corrugated cardboard, painted it with blue and white acrylic paint and distressed the edges. The sentiment was embossed with gold glitter ep and I edged the die cut with a gold calligraphy pen. The entire piece is mounted on a piece of chipboard that I covered on one side with a solid cs and on the other with dp (I'll show you that in a sec.) I used a Ric Rac die for the bottom edge and added small eyelets into each point, so I could add hanging stars.

The super cute Doodle Pantry image is one that is pre-colored, and the plaid background is a digi paper that actually comes with the image. The digi paper was originally pink, but this is for a boy, so I edited the color in my photo program to make it mostly blue. I used the .png digi stamp so I could layer it on the bg digi paper for a nighttime look. I love how that worked out. Stickles on the stars gave it a little sparkle.

I used a Papertrey Ink star die to cut the star, covered it with Stickles, and hot glued buttons to it for my corner embellishment.

Here's a good look at the layers. I think one of the reasons I enjoy making wall hangings so much, is that I can layer them up all I want. I don't have to worry about having to fit it into an envelope!

I glued two pieces of a beautiful yellow digi paper together and die cut six stars. Because I had so many stars to glitterize, I used Mod Podge and glitter to make my own glitter glue for these and covered both sides. They were very lightweight, so I added clear mini round gems to the center of each one, on both sides. Then, I added jump rings in various places on the stars to give them a more random look. I used some nylon beading thread to hang them from the eyelets, and placed three beads on each thread, for aesthetics, and also for a little more weight. It took me quite a while to figure out what to do about the knots and tails that were left after tying off all the stars. I could have just glued buttons over the holes, but this is going to hang on a wall and I wanted it as flat as possible on the back. Then, I remembered that I had just recently purchased button dies from PTI, and my problem was solved--flat buttons! I glued the cs buttons over the eyelet holes on the back before trimming the thread, to help insure that the thread would stay put, then used a craft knife to trim the excess thread.

Here's a look at the entire back of the wall hanging, which will also serve as my card at the baby shower. I typed the sentiment up in Word, printed it on a transparency and rubbed it onto the cs. The Congratulations sentiment is a Flourishes stamp. And, see that cute plaid dp I used for the bg? It's the same dp that I used on the front as the bg for the ant image. This time I just printed it so that the design is larger.

So, see, you can do all kinds of embellishing with this week's TMS sketch, or you can leave it as is--either way, it's up to you! I hope you'll join us this week. And, be sure to check out the rest of the DT's creations, as well as our newest Guest Designer, Iwona "Chupa" Palamountain. You are in for a real treat with this line up! 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a crafty week!

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:

A Blog Named Hero Challenge #11: Who's the Boss? (use embossing)

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #232: A Stitch In Time

Doodle Pantry Digital Challenge #27: Use a Doodle Pantry image

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

Stamp and Create September Challenge: Anything Goes

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Crescent Moon Ants digi stamp (Doodle Pantry); Making a Statement (Verve); Wedded Bliss (Flourishes)
Paper: Crescent Moon Ants digi paper (Doodle Pantry); The Green Stack, Old World Stack (DCWV); Floriade digi paper (Two Peas in a Bucket)
Ink: Distress Ink
Dies: Classic Rectangles Sm, Fleur de Lis Rectangle; Ric Rac Edgeabilities, Labels Twenty-Five (Spellbinders); Buttoned Up #1, Seeing Stars (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Dots, Circles & Stars embossing folder (Sizzix); Zing embossing powder; lace; ribbon; acrylic paint; gold calligraphy pen; nylon beading thread; Mod Podge; corrugated cardboard; chipboard; mini round gems; beads; eyelets; buttons; sewing thread; twine (The Twinery); glitter; Stickles
Size: 5.72" x 5"

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Tiny Miracle with Booties: Wall Hanging

Hi Friends! I'm back with another baby nursery wall hanging, and I love how this one turned out.

I used the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club MFTWSC87 sketch for my layout, and the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday FTTC184 challenge to use purple and blue for my colors.

I never think of purple as a "boy color," but I added some greenish-brown elements to offset that, and then purple was the perfect accent color. A note on the purple digi paper: the paper is actually just shades of purple and white (beautiful as-is), but I needed some blue in it, so I added the blue in my photo editing software, then texturized it a bit so it wouldn't appear "flat," so you won't find this exact paper in the digi paper pack. Btw, that particular digi paper pack is one of my favs! You should check it out--it's a beautiful set.

The image is colored with Copic markers, the edges were inked with Distress Ink, and the teeny flowers in the image were colored with a white gel pen.

I really like the Hello Baby stamp set, especially because of the clothesline image, which is adorable, but those little booties are just too cute! They were the perfect embellie for the bow. I stamped them on some scrap digi paper I had leftover from an earlier project, and used a Copic marker to add a little shadow here and there. For the shoe buttons, I used Glossy Accents. To glue the shoes to the bow, I first glued a button to the back of the image, then glued the button to the top of the bow. That gave the image more strength, and also raised it up just enough to keep the bow from being squished down.

Here's a look at the layers. I didn't use any foam dots at all. Instead, I layer pieces of crimped lightweight cs, alternating the direction of the ridges to get the height I want (kind of like layering with corrugated cardboard). I have much more control over the height and also have a sturdier finished project because the entire layer is supported rather than a few spots, as with foam dots.

As with my other nursery wall hangings, this will also serve as my "card," so I decorated the back as if it were the inside of a card, keeping everything flat so it will lie flat against the wall.

That's it for me for the weekend. Hope yours is fantastic, and that I'll see you back here again next week! Thanks for stopping by!

I'd like to enter this project in the following challenges:
MFT Wednesday Stamp Club #87: WFTWSC87
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #184 (FTTC184): use purple and blue
ABC Challenges: W for Wishes
Celebrate the Occasion Challenge #77: Child's Birthday (literally a "birth day" project)
Cute Card Thursday Challenge #232: A Stitch in Time
The Poodles Parlour: Winged Things
Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge #154: Use punches, dies, or shapes of any kind
Whimsy Stamps Inspiration Challenge #50: Lots of Layers

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Hello Baby, Wedded Bliss (Flourishes)
Paper: Vintage Damask (Double Diva Design for Print Candee); Garden Party (Mye De Leon for Design House Digital); Be You (Juliana Kreipp for Design House Digital); Shine (Karen Funk for Design House Digital) corrugated cardboard; chipboard
Ink: Memento; Copics; Distress Ink; white gel pen
Dies: Labels Eighteen, Labels Three, Labels Small, Bird Flourishes, Floral Ovals (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Arch Lattice edge punch (Martha Stewart); organza ribbon; acrylic paint; Glossy Accents; button; eyelets; brads; sewing thread
Size: 6" x 5"

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Tiny Miracle in Blue

Hi Friends! I've got a quick post for you today (short on words, several photos). I enjoyed making my DD's wall hanging so much (and, btw, she loved it!), that I wanted to make another one. I have six nieces and nephews who are expecting babies within the next six months, and I've decided to make each of them a wall hanging for the new little ones. 

The two ATC-sized image panels, as well as the blue damask paper are digital papers from Print Candee. The polka dot paper is digital paper from Cupcake Cards & Crafts. I distressed the edges with my Distrezz-It-All, and also with Distress Ink, added two little satin ribbon tags, and a few pearls to the border strip, tags, and the baby's blanket. I added meandering stitching around the perimeter of the polka dot paper, and a mini pompom trim along the edges before added a piece of cardboard backing to the entire piece.

Flourishes Sketch Challenge FLLCJUL12 worked well as a layout for a wall hanging.

I added the "Tiny Miracle" stamp to one of the image panels, and heat embossed "It's a boy!" along the blue dp border strip. Both stamps are from Flourishes' Hello Baby stamp set.

This will also serve as a congratulations card for my shower gift, so I decorated the back, too. I used the same digital papers, but on the polka dot paper, I also added a flourish that is also a digital paper from Cupcake Cards & Crafts. To do that, I just removed all the white background on the flourish paper, then put the remaining flourish image over the polka dot paper before printing it out. Oh, and I also darkened the flourish image a little bit, as it was too light to show up well on the green polka dot paper. The verse is from the same Hello Baby stamp set. The congrats and hand print stamps are listed in my card recipe at the bottom of the post.

Well, I'm off to make my DD's birthday cake for our party tomorrow. She wants a watermelon cake this year. Have you seen the pin for it at Pinterest? I made it last week, just to make sure we actually liked it, and it was delicious--if you love watermelon flavored Jolly Ranchers. For the "real" birthday cake, I'm going to make the watermelon-flavored cake, but will use regular buttercream icing, rather than the watermelon flavored cream cheese icing. All that watermelony-ness was a little too much for us! :)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Flourishes' It's Sketchy Challenge FLLCJul12

Cupcake Craftroom July 2012 Challenge: Layers

Simon Says Stamp: Tags or ATC's

Whimsy Stamps Inspiration Challenge #46: Anything Goes

 

Stamps: Hello Baby (Flourishes); Everyday Sayings (Hero Arts); Tiny Hands (Stampabilities)
Paper: Flourish, Polka Soft Moss Digital Paper (Cupcake Cards & Crafts); Vintage Damask, Blue Dream, Girl & Boy Digital Papers (Print Candee)
Ink: Distress Ink; Memento
Dies: Fleur de Lis Squares, Classic Scalloped Rectangles Lg (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Parisian Edge Punch (EK Success); Corner Chomper; Distrezz-it-All (Zutter); satin ribbon (Michaels); mini pom pom trim(Wright's); pearls; eyelets; sewing thread; paper crimper; foam dots
Size: 5" x 5"

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