Santa Bear

I have another Christmas card I have created. I'm using these as my cards for family members and friends so that everyone gets a unique to them card. Plus, I get to give away these cards I'm creating and let people enjoy a handmade card from us this year. Photo cards just never happened. Hey, when you're a photographer, your family is the LAST to get photographed. Well, there's always next year, right??

I've got an adorable bear dressed as Santa from the Popcorn the Bear, Santa Bear stamp set from Crafter's Companion. He's a bigger stamp, which I love because then he becomes the focal point! I stamped him with Memento Tuxedo Black on white card stock. I colored him in with Spectrum Noir markers (TN1, TN2, TN3, TN5, TN7, IG3, IB1, DR1, DR5, DR6 and Blender).

I ran my patterned card stock from my stash through my Cuttlebug using my Darice Harlequin Embossing Folder from Crafter's Companion. It adds just a little bit of texture to the card.

I added a snowflake, small rhinestones to the edges, and a simple sentiment in the center from the Sentimentals, Christmas Magic set. I stamped it in white ink on a piece of red card stock from my stash. I freehand cut the edges to give it some interest. I adhered that and the snowflake with the Crafter's Companion square foam adhesive. LOVE those.

There you go! Hope you enjoyed my little Santa bear card. Thanks for stopping by.

Crafter's Companion Monthly Challenge

Happy hump day! I've got a fun challenge for you to participate in and make it over that hump in the week to the weekend of what I'm sure is packed full of holiday festivities.

Join the Crafter's Companion monthly challenge for December with the theme of RIBBONS/TWINE! I chose to use the Stamp-It Australia Twinkle sets for this project. I used the Christmas Happiness and Believe for this card. I inked them up with Memento Tuxedo Black and stamped them on my kraft piece.

I then took the snowflake images from the Believe set and inked those up with my Distress ink, Tea Dye and stamped them here and there. I wanted them to be pretty faint, but fill in the open space!

After I stamped it, I then colored in the holly leaves with my Spectrum Noir markers (CG1, CG2, CG4) just to give it a little color.

After that, I rubbed some of my Delicata, Golden Glitz ink here and there on the card to give it a sheen when you turn it in the light. See the photo below (hopefully you can see the little bit of shimmer). Adds just a little gentle sparkle. Dab it on your finger and just kind of swipe it across the area you'd like.

For the little bits that look like snow, I used my white spray mist and flicked on the color.

Once dry, I glued on my pretty aqua ribbon/trim at the top. I then took another piece of this awesome red fiber I had in my stash for a loooong time and wrapped that around the top. I taped it onto the back; you'll never see it! I then glued my kraft piece to my white card base and there you go! Vintage Christmas card DONE!

I hope you play along with us this month. Pop on over to the blog to enter! Read all the rules and details there as well. You have until

Lawnscaping Winter Blog Hop 2013

Welcome to the Lawnscaping Winter Blog Hop! I'm very excited to be participating in this hop :) As you can see from the image above, the theme for the hop is WINTER!! What better timing, right? For my project, I chose to make a Christmas banner for my china cabinet. I had purchased this simple banner kit this past fall on clearance (under $4!) so I couldn't wait to get started with decorating it. 

First, here are the details for this fun filled hop. There will be LOTS of prizes. The specific information about the sponsors and prizes can be found by visiting the Lawnscaping home page. Leave comments on every blog that is participating in the hop for your chance to win. You can leave comments up until Sunday, December 15 at 11:59pm EST. 

You should have arrived from Taylor Usry's blog. Next, you will want to move on to Karin and continue hopping!!! Good luck and enjoy the winter blog hop from Lawnscaping.

And now on to my project...

Here is the banner I created for the winter themed project and then close ups of each pennant to show you the details I used. I have listed the products I used below (some items are from my stash so I don't have those!). Thanks for stopping by and enjoy hopping along!!! Thanks for visiting.

Supplies Used:

KIT-Banner Kit by Canvas Corporation

PAPERS-Teresa Collins, XMas Ads (newspaper print & red and white deer); Little Yellow Bicycle, Christmas Village and Brown/Black Dots; others in my stash

STAMPS: Sweet Stamp Shop, Monogram It; Stampin' Up!, Stitched Stockings; Technique Tuesday, Kids Are Cool by Ali Edwards; Pink Paislee, Sentiment Series; Lawn Fawn, Winter Gifts, Milo's ABCs, Into the Woods, Winter Sparrows.

INKS: Memento, Tuxedo Black; Memento Luxe, Pistachio; Versamagic, Sugarcane; Distress Inks, Old Paper, Iced Spruce, Festive Berries, and Tea Dye.

SPECTRUM NOIR MARKERS: DG2, DG3, DR5, DR7

OTHER: Kaiser Craft, chipboard letters; Maya Road, Snowflake Transparencies; Stampin' Up!, Stitched Stockings Punch; Crafter's Companion, Spray & Sparkle Glitter Varnish-Iridesent; Mister Huey Color Mist, Warm Calico and White. 

ADHESIVE: Crafter's Companion, Foam Squares; Xyron, Mega Runner.

CardMaker Magazine Joint Blog Hop

Happy December! Today, I'm participating in the joint blog hop with Crafter's Companion and CardMaker Magazine. I have a cute little Christmas card for you today.

I used a kraft colored card base (yes, I'm slightly obsessed) and some festive green patterned paper from my stash. I then stamped and colored in the image which is from Mulberry Wood-Giving. I love the sweet moose artwork! I used my Spectrum Noir markers (FL3, BT7, PL3, JG5, HB3, OR1, BP5, CR10, DR3, CR3, LG3, LG4, LG5, GB1, GB8, GB9, GB10, TN4, TN7, IG2, IG4, BG2 and Blender). I cut out the image in a rectangle shape and rounded two corners to mimic the corners I rounded on the card base and patterned paper piece. I then distressed the edges to add interest.

The sentiment is from the Stamp-It Twinkle, Believe set. Very simply stamped in black on white cardstock and I cut in a rectangle and distressed the edges as well. I glued that down underneath the moose image. I then added a few clusters of white pearls as well as adding some white spray mist which I unscrew the top and use the actual wand and dotted the mist on over the drawn snowflakes on the stamp.

Here is the list of amazing designers participating in the blog hop:

CardMaker

Kendra Wietstock

Mary Dawn Quirindongo

Stacy Morgan

Khristen Foss

Laurel Beard

Chrissie Tobas

Alice Golden

Stacy Harper Watson

Denise Coulter
Christiana Reuling

Michelle Woerner

Roxanne O'Brien <<<YOU ARE HERE!>>>

Trena Brannon

Leah Lucescu

Rosemary Dennis

Tenia Nelson

Stephanie Severin

Jennifer Ingle

Latisha Yoast

Taylor Usry

Crafter’s Companion

Please visit all the blogs listed above to see the amazing projects created for this special event and be sure to visit the Crafter's Companion USA Facebook page and fill out the entry form there for your chance to win some AMAZING prizes. 

Two Prize Packs will be given away on the Facebook page.  Each will include a stamp, 2 six-marker sets, an embossing folder & a CardMaker Subscription. 

Have fun hopping around!!! 

Good luck :)

H-OWL-iday Card

I just adore owls. So I grabbed my Mulberry Wood-A Christmas Gift set and stamped them with my Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad onto the Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock. I colored them in with my Spectrum Noir markers (CG1, CG2, CG3, CR1, CT1, DG2, DG3, DR5, DR7, FS3, CR11, EB1, EB2, EB5, TN7, BT1, JG2, BT5, IG1, IG2 and the Blender pen). After I was done coloring, I cut around the image leaving a slight border.

For the card, I chose a kraft colored base (all my cards are 4.25x11, scored and folded to 4.25x5.5). I chose two scraps of holiday paper I had on hand and my Centura Pearl cardstock. I embossed the snowflake background with dies I have. It creates an embossed look without cutting it. This works great with this Centura Pearl stock because it's heaver. I ran it through my Cuttlebug several times and it pushed the dies into the paper but didn't cut through. Worked perfectly. Here it is on an angle so you can see how that looks.

I chose to put everything on a diagonal for interest. I cut and glued down the snowflake embossed piece, and then glued the patterned strips over that. I trimmed them to the edges of the card. I then took my owl image and used foam adhesive squares from Crafter's Companion to give it some dimension.

For the sentiment, I had some kraft colored stickers on hand. I used the "With Love this festive season" from the Sentimentals-Jingle Bells set. It fit perfectly onto the sticker. I snuck that in behind the holly on an angle as well. And finished! I hope you liked my card.

HAPPY CRAFTING!

Friendship & Flowers

I've got a cute little card that would be great for sending to a friend just because! It would brighten up her day I'm sure.

I have a tutorial showing you the steps I used for coloring, with my Spectrum Noirs, this little girl image which is from Sheena A Little Bit Skethy-Busy Doing Nothing. Please see below and I hope it helps you with any shading questions you might have. Once you get it down pat, it's super easy. Just takes a little time to color, but I do LOVE to color...

The sentiment is from the newest Crafter's Companion release called Everyday Sentimentals which are available on November 22nd. You will definitely want these!!!! Trust me :)

So, let's get on with it!

#1 - Start with coloring her face. I used FS2 for the full coloring of it all. It lays down a nice light base.

#2 - I went in and added some simple shading under the sleeve, elbow, hairline, eyes, wrist and fingers with FS3. I went in with just a touch of FS6 for a few spots. 

#3 - I colored the "sky" in with BT1 and you can see it's not fully even like a sky with clouds would be. I then color all over with the blender to smooth out any marker lines.

#4 - I colored the center of the flower with GB5. And I flicked on the yellow for the petals with CT1 and went back around the center of the flower to add darker highlights in CT3. The ground was colored in with DG2 and I went in with darker areas with DG3. 

#5 - I colored her dress using PL1. I wanted to show you the difference between the dress without and with shading from #5 to #6. You can clearly see how much detail the shading adds in the next photo!! For the hair, I used an all over color of EB1 and went in with some darker areas in EB2. I used the palette blending method (see THIS video on YouTube for instructions) to add in the darker areas you see with TN7. I use this method allllll the time. Seriously will change your coloring!

#6 - I went in with the palette blending method again using PL2 to pick up PL4 and added in the dress areas. You can see the difference, right? You just want to add in some shadows in her dress where fabric would normally look darker; folds, neckline, by the bow.

#7 - I chose to color her bow in grey using BG2. 

#8 - Again, with the palette blending method, I picked up BG8 with my BG4 marker to add in the bow shadows. 

And here's another shot of the finished card. I hope my stepped out photos helped you with seeing a coloring project from start to finish. Thanks for stopping by!

For the One I Love...

I'm back again with another card I created for the newest release from Sheena's A Little Bit Scenic-Seascapes! For this card, I chose the puffin image. I just LOVE these birds (no, they are not penguins!). I watched a special once on these fascinating feathered friends and their beauty is just breathtaking. I'm an animal lover anyway :)

I used my Spectrum Noir markers (IG1, IG2, CR10, IG6, IG8, BT1, OR1, OR2, GB5, GB6, DG4, and Blender) to color him in. Generally I will Google the image I'm coloring for a specific animal or flower to get the colors accurate and true to life. That's a great tip in case you're unsure. Puffins have more than just orange on their beaks. They have a strip of yellow! Stunning colors...


I colored him and diecut him out in a simple circle shape. I used BT1 to color in a "sky" around him although it's hard to see in the photo since it really is subtle. I then took a piece of vellum and used my Flowers & Vines embossing folder from Crafter's Companion.

I have a simple kraft card base, to which I glued the embossed vellum onto. I then took a strip of an olive green to match the grass under the puffin's feet. I used a die to cut the scalloped shape out as well as the small dot pattern. I then glued that to the vellum.

For the sentiment, I simply used the "For the One I Love" stamp from the Bebunni Peek-A-Boo set. I cut a pennant shape on one end and used 2 small staples in an X pattern on the end for interest. I glued that down to the olive scalloped shape. I then used my foam squares and tucked the puffin circle behind the little pennant sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

Seashell Discoveries

Hi there! Since it's getting colder, and winter is upon us, I wanted something to remind me of the warm days of summer. What can I say? I like the warmer weather vs. the cold/snow/ice! This set I used is from the brand new release from Sheena's A Little Bit Scenic-Sea Shells.

I took my Spectrum Noirs and went to town coloring all the seashells. I used FS3, FS6, EB1, EB2, PL1, BG4, GB5, GB6, GB7, GB10, BG1, BG2, BG6, BG8, BG10, TN7, CT1, BGR1, and the blender pen and colored them all in. I then cut out each one and set them aside.

For the base, I chose an aqua shimmery cardstock to look like the sea, and then a brown panel that mimicked the sand. I stamped the sentiment from the set on a plain white cardstock with black ink and cut it in a simple strip to go across the card at the bottom. Once I had all that glued on, I just used foam squares and started layering them until I liked the placement.

Here's another shot from the side:

I love the summery feel! Did you?

Crafter's Companion November Challenge`

Crafter's Companion has a new Holiday/Christmas challenge for November. One lucky winner will be chosen at random to win a £30 / $30 voucher from Crafter’s Companion, Ltd. For my project this month, I used the Mulberry Woods set that I LOVE (I have a thing for owls) called Wish Upon a Star. 

I used my Memento Tuxedo Black to stamp my owls onto a white card base. I then colored it in with my Spectrum Noirs (CT2, CT4, TN7, TN8, EB1, EB2, GB10, GB6, GB8, EB5, TN2, DG3, PL4, LV2, CG1, CG3, DR1, DR7, DR5, IG1, BT1). I also used a glitter pen I have to add a little sparkle to the snow, stocking tops and the hat on the large owl. It's hard to see in the photo. 

I went and sponged on my Distress Inks in Evergreen Bough and Tea Dye to add to card base. I did use BT1 to add a "sky" around the tree, but I wanted a little more to draw your eye to the image. 

I stamped the Celebrate the Season sentiment in the lower right corner from the Sentimentals-Jingle Bells set in Delicata, Golden Glitz (coming soon). I heat embossed it to make it stand out on the card. 

I hope you'll join us this month and enter the Crafter's Companion Holiday/Christmas challenge.  It's a great way to not only get some of your holiday cards done, but to also have a chance to win some goodies. Simply make a project – a card, a scrapbook page, a box, a bag, a tag, a bookmark, a bit of home decor, an altered journal….anything that has Christmas or winter theme with a Crafter's Companion product.  You can find more info here. The Design Team will also choose their favorite top 3 creations.  If you are a chosen you will get a blinkie to display proudly on your blog. There will be a CARD OF THE MONTH winner, as well.  If your card is chosen as card of the month you will be featured on the Crafter’s Companion newsletter. You will also get a blinkie to display on your blog.  

Crafter's Companion & Xyron 30 Days of Holiday Gifts

Welcome back! I've got a simple and totally cute project for our Xyron-30 Days of Holiday Gifts going on. So let's get started!

For my project, I chose a clear pillow box that I had purchased last year. I had quite a few left so I figured these would be GREAT for small teacher gifts. Very simple to make, but totally cute.

I took the Xyron High Tack Glue Dots and stuck them to the front of the pillow box. I dug out some glitter in red, green and silver and went to town. I did a couple sprinklings, shaking off in between, to be sure that the glitter covered the tacky glue dots. They're not sticky now! And they're pretty! I then took some silver sequins and filled in the spots between the glitter dots. I stuck them on with the high tack glue dots again. These really ARE awesome!! They stick so well. So keep in mind, when they're stuck, they're stuck ;)

For the tag, I used the smaller tag from the Large Tag Package from Crafter's Companion. (You MUST get these) I chose the Mega Runner from Xyron to apply my glue in a zig zag pattern for my glitter application. I chose to apply red glitter. I used the Mega Runner because it glues down in a dot pattern and I thought that would look cool behind the glitter. :) I love it. I then used my Spray & Glitter Varnish in Iridescent over the entire tag to give a really wintery look. It's hard to see in the photo, but it's there!

I stamped the circular sentiment from the Sentimentals-Jingle Bells in Staz-On Silver on white cardstock. In the opening in the center, I used the star ornament from the same Sentimentals set and stamped it in Pistachio/Memento Luxe. I diecut out the circle and used a high tack glue dot to stick on my tag. Because of the glitter spray I used, I wanted to be sure it was tacky enough to stick. DONE!

I picked a simple ribbon from my stash, tied it through the hole in the tag and done. Oh, inside the box is tasty dark chocolate sea salt popcorn. Someone will be happy!!!!

Bebunni Release!

Hey there! Crafter's Companion has released a new set called Bebunni. He/she is ADORABLE. I think you're going to really want them all...

Here's the card I created using one of the images from the Bebunni release. He's holding all these balloons. I love the bright colors that I used for each balloon. This was a lot of fun to color...I used my Spectrum Noir markers and used a bunch of colors I've listed below. I chose to make him a little gray bunny to offset the bright colors in the bunch of balloons. I drew in a tiny little heart on his tag by his backside :) Just a cute little detail.

I chose to cut out only around certain balloons to show through the card base's pretty orange color. I used my Florabunda embossing folder (not available at the moment) for the background. I love, love, love the embossing folders Crafter's Companion carries. I want them all. I'm slowing getting them too! I just used a strip of grey patterned paper to balance the colors.

For the sentiment, I simply stamped in black ink and cut out a freehand pennant and added an enamel dot. I used pop dots underneath it and put that on it's side. So that it wouldn't take away from the image.

Please HOP on over to Crafter's Companion today to see all the new sets from the Bebunni release and much more!

Spectrum Noir: TB3, BT4, BP3, TB9, PL1, IG1, IG2, CG3, DR1, CT3, GB5, DR7, True Black, Blender, OR1, GT2, PL4, BG1, BG2, BG6, IB3, CR7, JG1, PP1, PP3, PP5

TAWS Challenge: Be Inspired 41

Hey there! I decided to have a little fun with the latest TAWS Challenge. The inspiration photo is below.

First off, those dishes should be mine. Anyway, here is the card I came up with for the inspiration photo! 

I just cut my normal card base (4.25x5.5 card folded) and cut a smaller white panel and used my Spectrum Noir markers to color on a diagonal. Then I took another panel, the same size (I normally cut them to 4x5.25) and used my Big Bite and punched random holes all over the page. I then glued those two panels together and used pop dots on the back of the bottom panel to pop it off the card. This way, my colors showed through! 

I then took the speech bubble from the Cover Ups set and stamped that with Memento Tuxedo Black on white cardstock and used the dotted background stamp (Cover Ups) with Memento Summer Sky and stamped that to mimic the dots in my created background. I stamped the thanks sentiment (again...Cover Ups!) so I can use this card for whatever!

Hope you enjoyed my take on the inspiration picture. I had fun playing along! Thanks for stopping by.

Thanksgiving Card

I have a Thanksgiving card that would be perfect to give the host for Thanksgiving this year. It would be a sweet thought thanking them for inviting you and providing you with a warm and tasty day of yummy foods!

I used the 6x6 Embossalicious folder, Floral Stitch, that just was released and available at Crafter's Companion. I LOVE embossing folders. I chose to use this a little differently. I embossed some yellow cardstock from my stash and cut out the flowers. I used brads for the centers and used pop dots to make them jump off the card. I used a little Distress Ink in Pumice Stone.

The pennant sentiment is from Mulberry Woods, Wish Upon a Star. As you can see, the sentiment can be used for other things other than just Christmas :) Funny thing about the sentiment is that it was stamped on a part of my gift card I had received from a friend from Starbucks. Always look at packaging to use in your projects. This was stamped with Delicata, Golden Glitz.

Thanks for stopping by!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

...Christmas! Okay, don't be mad, but I like to make holiday cards well before the holidays :) I know there are only 60-something days left. So let's get to it!

I chose to use the Stamp-It Australia Pointsettia that I stamped with Delicata Golden Glitz (coming soon) onto some paper from my stash. I love that ink. Sigh. I then took some regular rhinestones and used my Spectrum Noir GB7 to color them the shade of gold to match and it was perfect! I love those! I then fussy cut around each pointsettia and stuck the rhinestones into the middle. Just love how those came out.

For the sentiment, I used Memento Rich Cocoa and inked up my Stamp-It Australia Holiday Round Christmas stamp. I fussy cut around it and used the same "gold" rhinestones on the sides.

I took a kraft base and then another paper from my stash, the red background, and glued that down. I arranged my pointsettias how I wanted them, adhered with foam circles, and snuck my sentiment in on the side. And there you have it! A classic take on holiday colors for a fun card.

Visit Crafter's Companion today for all their amazing holiday products.

Another Bebunni Release!

Hey there! Crafter's Companion has released a new set called Bebunni. I've created another adorable card using this set. 

Using my Spectrum Noir markers, I colored this guy up to be a brown bunny. He's holding a little gift with a tiny tag. I fussy cut around him after coloring him in. I also added another little heart to his tag. It's the details that count, right? :)

I used the Grande Dots embossing folder for the background and chose kraft for that so he stood out. I then added some cream colored enamel dots here and there on top of the embossed dots just for fun.

Because of the card layout, I didn't add a sentiment, so this could be used for a birthday, graduation, just because, thank you, anything kinda card!

Please HOP on over to Crafter's Companion today to see all the new sets from the Bebunni release and much more!

Spectrum Noir: TB2, TB3, BG1, BG2, EB7, PP3, BP7, GB6, GB8, GB10, PP5, CT1, CT4, FS2, FS3, FS6, IG1, Blender

Crafter's Companion Challenge

Have you played along in our October challenge yet at Crafter's Companion?  if you've never played along, you are MISSING OUT!  all you have to do is enter by following the theme and by using product carried by Crafter's Companion (excluding Spectrum Noir markers, although we certainly would love to see your coloring, too!) - this includes anything from stamps to embossing folders to The Ultimate Tool (check it out HERE - it does SO much!).  SERIOUSLY!  we carry a large number of brands you already use, so take a look in the shop! 

The theme is baby. The team has created some AMAZING projects to inspire you,

 and if you play along, you could win £30 or $30 to spend at Crafter's Companion!

I chose the Humphrey set, Welcome Little One. This elephant is too sweet. I colored him using my Spectrum Noir markers (CT2, CT4, GB6, GB8, LG5, PP3, IG1, IG2, IG4). I diecut the sentiment out and snuck it behind him. 

I chose some fun patterned paper to compliment the colors I used for him and his flower. I love that this could be for a boy or a girl! The pennants are my favorite thing to use, so I just freehanded them and went to town!

Hope you join in on the fun this month! Good luck! :)