Tuesday, June 30, 2015

STAMPlorations Birthday Bash Blog Hop Day 2 - $100 in Prizes!



Pssssst! If you haven't heard yet, STAMPlorations is turning the big 2! I've been so blessed to be able to be involved with this amazing company and I'm so happy I get to put on my party shoes and celebrate with them!
 



In honor of the big celebration, they are giving over $100 worth of prizes away over at the STAMPlorations blog, including 3 sets of the new birthday-themed stamp releases.

I got to play with Party Mates, an adorable stamp set filled with all sorts of party-themed schtuff. I saw these candles and my head just popped with the idea to do a shaker card surrounded by them. 

So here's the result!



I added in some shimmery, teensy stars to the center shaker part and surrounded it with a shimmery star yellow paper. The inside of the shaker is also stamped with a sentiment from the new Party Time sentiment stamp set.






I'm going to play along in the following fun challenges:

Tuesday Throwdown - It's in the Stars
Corrosive Challenges - Leave a Little Sparkle 

We've got some amazing guest designers partying with us this week. Today the fabulous ANNI LERCHE is strutting her stuff with us! 


Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all birthday blog hop projects here.





There are two different ways to get in on the mega-prize-giveaway-action:

1. You can hop along with the STAMPteam and comment 

2. You can link up a party/celebration/birthday project! (Using ANY products)

Remember there are over >>$100<< of prizes that will be given away, so you don't want to miss out!


Thanks for popping by!

Monday, June 29, 2015

STAMPlorations Birthday Blog Hop Bash Day 1 - $100 in Prizes!




Today is a day for celebration, my friends!! 
STAMPlorations is turning 2!!

If you've stopped by my blog, you know how much I love this stamp company. It's owned by the incredibly thoughtful, generous and talented Shery Russ and I'm so proud to support them. 

We would LOVE for you to celebrate with us! And to win some of the amazing prizes that are available!



In honor of STAMPlorations 2nd birthday, there are three new birthday-themed sets available and I am loving them. 

We've also got a stellar guest designer celebrating with us today - Amy Tsurata of Tsurata Designs! 

For my day one card, I played around with the  PartyGirl and Party Time stamp sets and made this card:


Isn't it fun and bright?! I stenciled fun Distress Ink colors with the Confetti Circles ARTPlorations stencil and paper pieced a matching dress for my Party Girl. I embossed the sentiment and added in some texture with some green sparkly mesh. A perfect card for a celebration!


Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all birthday blog hop projects here.





There are two different ways to get in on the mega-prize-giveaway-action:

1. You can hop along with the STAMPteam and comment 

2. You can link up a party/celebration/birthday project! (Using ANY products)

Remember there are over >>$100<< of prizes that will be given away, so you don't want to miss out!


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On a more personal note - I just got back from a 3-day kid's camp and will be making the rounds to visit all of you kind folks who left amazing comments for me. I haven't forgotten about you!

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Googly Eyes!! ATG at Crafty Gals Corner

Well folks, it's my swan song over at Crafty Gals Corner. I can't believe I've spent a whole term with the fabulous ladies on their DT, but it's true! I've been inspired, cheered on, and beyond honored to spend the last few months creating with them. 

A giant thank you to fabulously talented Samantha of Designs by Sammy for giving me the opportunity and for crafting the challenge blog from scratch. You are incredible!

So for my last card, I knew I wanted to do something crazy, outside the box, and fun. Luckily the sponsor of CGC this week is Rick St. Dennis who is KNOWN for crazy outside the box digital images. Woop!

I chose to work with Cat Glasses, a funky sassy retro woman. 


Here's the card I made:




I can't even look at it without laughing! Haha! I chose some funky wild papers from Bo Bunny and I chose to put googly eyes on her to make her look a little ga-ga. 

Did you catch that sentiment? It's not what you think at first glance. Here's a close up:



It's from a hilarious Lil' Inker Designs stamp set that's packed with snarky sentiments like this. And it also has a little illumination stamp for the inside, just in case the recipient misses it the first time. 



I'm going to link this up to the following challenges:

Retrosketches - thanks for the awesome sketch!


Inkspirational: Wild


As for you all - you should head on over to Crafty Gals Corner and link up any and all creations you have made! We'd love to see them and you could win an amazing prize: 


Our sponsor this week is:


Rick St. Dennis

Prize: 2 Digital Images or 25% Coupon to Zibbet Shop

By the way - if you don't hear from me for the next week, please don't think I've forgotten you. Starting tomorrow I'm heading off to a 4-day children's grief counseling camp where I'll be paired up with a kiddo and we'll do all sorts of fun things. But I will be completely away from the interwebs and will come back completely pooped out if last year was any indication. 

But I promise I'll make the rounds to see what you've all been up to when I come back. :) 

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Sharing Some Happy Dance News!!!

No card today, but I do have big news! When I first started blogging last September, it was my one goal in life to make it on to a design team. And when I did it was the most exciting thing ever! I've had the pleasure to serve on Eclectic Ellapu, STAMPlorations, and Crafty Gals Corner teams.

And then I started really thinking about the TYPE of cards I love to make and realized that I wanted to focus a little bit more on mixed media, so I kept my eyes peeled for a good team to join and when the Mixed Media Card Challenge team call came open I pounced!


http://themixedmediacardchallenge.blogspot.com/

And I just found out I made the cut! Wooooohoooo!!! Please share in some happy dances with me because I'm beyond thrilled!

As long as I'm here, I may as well mention that our challenges over at STAMPlorations run for a couple more days:

    http://stamplorations.blogspot.com/2015/06/june-challenge-stamps-washi.html                 http://stamplorations.blogspot.com/2015/06/sketch-challenge-35.html



You should go play along because there are awesome prizes!

Anyways, I'll be back tomorrow with a hilarious card for Crafty Gals Corner. Hint - it involves snark and googly eyes!

Friday, June 19, 2015

Clean and Simple and Oh-so-Retro

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd been commissioned to do some cards and I have the other two cards to share with you today. 

By the way, a BIG thank you to those who took the time to leave advice or encouragement for my card-selling venture. It was very helpful!

The first card I'm going to share sprang from this request: "I want a birthday card for my boss and she's got a BIG sense of humor". When it comes to humor, my favorite way to create is with snarky retro girls. Horrible puns are a close second. 

Luckily, I just bought some new retro girl stamps from Viva Las Vegas stamps. 



I created a sweet banner with my favorite retro color combo - teal and red - and then paired the retro girl with a semi-snarky sentiment. Mission accomplished!

I'm sending this card over to:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Use your Favorites
Seize the Birthday - ATG with option to use neutrals
Paper Players - Color challenge (just eeeking in!) 



Card number 2 was a little more challenging. She asked for a card for her friend who recently just lost her dog (heartstrings, you have been pulled!). She also didn't want the card to be too sad. 

For some reason, my sympathy cards are always clean and simple. I immediately got an idea for this card and ran to my craft room before I lost it. 



I used some very old (and I seriously couldn't tell you the manufacturer) paw print stamp set that I inherited from my Grandma and made it look like they were fading off into the distance by using an ombre effect. Then I tied on a big ol' chevron bow with ribbon from Pretty Pink Posh. 

Lastly - the sentiment. How to not go too sad? I thought about the Noteworthy stamp set from STAMPlorations and this sentiment seemed to fit perfectly. 

This card is going over to:
Addicted to Stamps and More - Clean and Simple (PS! Happy 3rd Birthday!)
Friday Mashup - Use stenciling OR create a monochromatic card

 

So these cards are a little different from my normal aesthetic, but I think they turned out perfectly for what the customer was asking for.

Thanks for popping by! I'm only >>25<< people away from reaching 200 followers and I would LOVE to hit that mark. A big thank you to all my newest followers! You make me so happy!

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Red, White, and Blue-tiful - Crafty Gals Corner Challenge

If you want a REAL challenge, try taking colors that only usually exist in one way and using them on a project that's totally unrelated to their traditional use. 




For example, Red, White, and Blue. To me, those colors are usually used as a combination together on patriotic creations. So when we got our color scheme challenge for Crafty Gals Corner and a totally non-patriotic sponsor image to use, I was initially stumped. But I dove right in and gave it a go. 


Red White and Blue 



I wanted to build up my stash of graduation cards (because I'm going to my first grad party this weekend and have ZERO cards. Yikes!). I began by using a digital image from STAMPlorations that I loved. Sketchy butterflies and a grungy background? Yes, please!

I used Fired Brick Distress Ink and a wiry brush to create some splatters. 


So I had my red. Now for the blue. I colored the butterflies with Spectrum Noir markers and grunged them up using some stamps from the STAMPlorations Mixed Media Grunge stamp set. 

Then I sponged Old Paper and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks onto my background and then used even MORE stamps from the Mixed Media Grunge set (seriously, this is probably my favorite set because it makes getting grungy, distressed backgrounds SO easy).



I raised up the butterflies to give them dimensions, added some eclectic embellishments from the Bo Bunny Carnival collection and stamped a sentiment from the STAMPlorations Noteworthy set.

I had my doubts about how this was going to go, but I sure showed myself! Stop having doubts, self!
 I'm sending my creation over to the following challenges:
 613 Avenue Create - Your country's flag colors 
Clear it Out - Your country's flag colors
Corrosive Challenges - Pile it On


Anyways - why am I talking so much about STAMPlorations when it's a Crafty Gals Corner challenge? Because STAMPlorations is sponsoring us this week, hooray! Which means YOU all get the chance to win some STAMPlorations goodies! 

The winner will receive
STAMPlorations

Prize: $10 Gift Certificate 

So get to crafting and come play with us!
Thanks for stopping by! Follow my blog or leave me a comment and I'd be happy to come say hi to you, too!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Distressed Embossing Technique + Blog Candy Winner


Big, big news! I got my very first card commissions!! Huzzah! I know I practically have the market cornered out here in North Dakota (yes, that was a population-based joke), but I haven't really tried to break into selling cards just yet. 




Don't get me wrong - I have heaps of cards stored up in my craft room and I PLAN to sell them (probably through some local boutique shops) but there are some other things I should probably do first. Like get a tax id number and packaging and make an online shop. Do you sell your creations? If so, you should tell me all about it in the comments. I'll take any advice I can get.

But anywho, back to the card!

For the commission, I was asked to create a card for a friend who was having some health problems. She wanted something that said "Feel better, Thinking of you, or You're perfect just the way you are". 

Lightbulb! I think she threw that last sentiment choice in there just for funsies, but I actually DID have a sentiment that said just that from the Wendy Vecchi Passion for Art stamp set

I began my creation by stamping the vintage lady profile using Vintage Photo Distress Ink


The reason I love Distress Inks so much is because they are water based and you can do all sorts of cool techniques with them. Rather than leaving crisp, clear lines of ink, I used a water brush and painted around the edges to give it that soft quality you often find in vintage photos. 

Next, I wanted to create a vintage frame to go along with the image. Today I'm going to share with you the result of an experiment that actually turned out! I die cut a frame on my Cricut and then I dabbed it with Picket Fence (white) Distress Paint.


 While the paint was still drying, I covered it with Liquid Platinum embossing powder. I used my heat tool to melt it and:


Ta-daaaaa! I'm definitely going to use this technique again because it looks so aged and worn and perfectly distressed! I'm definitely pleased with the result. 

I put the whole card together and added a big ol' flower from Prima Marketing to complete the look.


I LOVE this card! I'm sending this over to the following challenges:

Make Art Challenge - Use Embossing Powders and Wendy Vecchi products
Fashionable Stamping Challenge - Glitz and Glamour
Sketch Saturday - thanks for the awesome sketch! 









 

Oh - and I almost forgot! A blog candy winner is in order! Congratulations to Rebecca Yahrling! There were over 250 entries into the giveaway and your name was randomly selected! Rebecca - I can't seem to find your blog (your profile links to a google plus account that has no additional info on it!) So I hope you see this or someone who knows you sees it and tells you about it! :D

One last final PSsssssst: STAMPlorations is gearing up for their 2nd birthday!! They're going to be doing a blog hop from June 29 - July 3 and giving away over >>>$100<<< worth of prizes. So mark your calendars and go follow the STAMPlorations blog so you can be informed!


Birthday Blog Hop Alert!


Thanks for popping by! Follow my blog or leave me a comment and I would be oh-so-grateful!

Friday, June 12, 2015

Featured Friday!!! - Georgie Connelly

Hello my friendly friends! Firstly, I'd like to say a big thank you to those who left comments on my last card. Reading through YOUR stories about country life and the great outdoors had me feeling nostalgic and (I'll admit) a little bit misty-eyed! That's why I love the bloggyland - there are so many of you who just make me so happy with your comments and your inspiration.

Speaking of inspiration, if you're new here I'll let you know about a little thing I do called Featured Friday. Once a month I feature a crafter I've met in the blogosphere and share a little bit about them with YOU! 


This month's featuree is:



Georgie Connelly of Little Blue Craft Box

Georgie is a hop, skip, and a jump over the pond from me and hails from England! When it comes to mixed media projects, Georgie takes the cake. Her work is textural, romantic, and ethereal and I'm always inspired after a visit to her blog. She knows how to work embossing paste and Prima flowers like no other! 

But why tell you about Georgie when she can give you much better insights herself? I asked Georgie 7 questions about her crafty life. 

How did you get your crafty start?

Ive been 'arty' in some form or another all my life, but this recent addiction started quite quietly about two and a half years a go, about six months after my son was born. Then about a year and bit later I started my blog, I was in deep at that stage and I knew then it was a point of no return! :) Heaven forbid anyone makes me go cold turkey now - I'm sure I wouldn't survive, art is my life!!

If you could be any craft supply, what would you be and why? 

This is tough... there are so many yummy goodies to choose from! But picking one…. I'd be gesso, then I could be covered, from corner to corner, in all my favourite supplies!! ;)

How do you handle mistakes in your work?

Hmm, really depends on what I'm working with, most mistakes I embrace and can bodge/fix with a happy outcome. If I'm working with water based paints and I mess up with colour from the off then they get canned. I've really not worked out a way to rescue them without it resulting in mess. Generally gesso is my life saver.

What are your favorite card making/scrapbooking challenges?

Lindy's Stamp Gang Colour Challenge 
Dusty Attic Mood Board Challenge 
Prima BAP and Colour Board
Country View Challenges
Mixed Media Monthly Challenges
Craft Stamper TIMI

Generally I find the mood boards very motivating as they're open to interpretation and if your mojo is a little low they can give you a great boost!


What's your best organizational tip for crafters?

I'm not really sure I'm qualified to give out this sort of advice, have you seen my crafty space??! :)  The best I have is reels of double sided tape hooped around my lamp. However, it is all about to change, so I -cough cough- plan to be far more organised in the future!! 


Where do you find inspiration for your designs?

Everywhere really! I love Pinterest, Google, books... Even the simplest photo of household paint swatches for colour gets my brain whizzing! My son is my biggest source of motivation for scrapbooking, as I love layouts! But ultimately my arty crafty friends are hugely inspirational and so very talented! There’s always something new to learn or products to try, so this keeps me buzzing!


What's the best piece of advice you could give to new bloggers?

I'd say try to get yourself 'out there' as much as possible. It took me ages to realise this and feel brave enough to enter challenges, comment on blogs (I was a watcher for ages) but once you do you won't look back. The online crafting community has to be the best out there for support, be it art or otherwise. If you're unsure about something, contact another crafter - they are so happy to help and so lovely (this is what I did, and I wouldn't be here now if I didn't). Ultimately, as with anything in life, you get back what you put in so don't be afraid to make the first move! :)

_______________________________

When reading through Georgie's answers, I had to giggle about the organizational question. My craft room could use some work, too (and by some work, I mean a professional organizer and a dump truck) (ok... it's really not THAT bad) :) 

In my Featured Friday posts, my featuree and I always pick a past piece of their artwork to CASE. Georgie works on altered art, scrapbooking pages, and cards so I had a bevy of inspiration to choose from. 

After pouring through Georgie's blog, I finally settled on a gorgeous, saturated scrapbooking layout.

The Original


I fell in love with the seashells, the texture and the ethereal beachy feel. It truly is a masterpiece, and it helped Georgie win one of her very first Prima Marketing competitions!


Georgie's CASE



Did anybody else's jaw just drop to the floor, or was it just me! WOW! I didn't think very much could improve on the original, but the monochromatic feel and gorgeous textures definitely matched the spirit of the original to a T!

My CASE


http://www.damselofdistressedcards.blogspot.com

http://www.damselofdistressedcards.blogspot.com


As you can see, I had inspiration overload from Georgie's gorgeous original!! I didn't have any drywall tape or cheescloth, so I made do with some products found around my home. I gessoed a mesh potato bag to create the "drywall tape" and I used a leftover dried up baby wipe to create the cheesecloth effect. I sprayed the baby wipe with Distress Sprays to give it a foamy feel and added some frantage chips. The background was made with white acrylic paint. 

I'm sending my card over to the following challenges:

Thank you all for popping by! PLEASE please pretty please won't you go pop over to Georgie's blog and say hello to her? Let's make her day extra special! 

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Watercolored Country - Crafty Gals Corner The Great Outdoors Challenge



The theme over at Crafty Gals Corner this week is: The great outdoors! 
I don't want to say I'm a city girl, because that's probably the farthest thing from the truth, but I will say I am a creature of material comforts. 

I actually grew up on a small hobby farm on 40 acres in Minnesota. In my adult life, however, I moved to the "big city" (read 50,000 people - yes... that's big to me) and I've stuck ever since. I enjoy riding bike, and rollerblading along the river paths, but camping? Count me out.

So when thinking about the great outdoors and going through the images over at Beccy's Place, I came across this image called Old Mailbox. And I just fell in love. 

When I drive home to see my parents, I turn onto this dusty, old country road. There are usually two or three dogs - sprung up from a neighbor's farm - that trail my car. I pull up to my parents' mailbox, which is usually surrounded by tall grass and I drive down the long, tree-lined drive. 

And I just feel at home. 



As I was creating this card, those were the thoughts I had in my head. This is WHY I love crafting so much. You can really put a lot of yourself into a creation and your artwork can really express who you are as a person, even though nobody else may ever know it. 

So that's my Great Outdoors story. Thanks for listening!
I'm going to enter my card into the following challenges: 
 Simon Says Stamp Monday: For the Love of Plants
Hiding in My Craft Room - Summer colors
Just Us Girls - Summer

Anywho - back to the challenge. How do you interpret the Great Outdoors? Come on over to Crafty Gals Corner and show us! 

We have >>3<< sponsors this week, which means >>3<< prizes!


DeeDee's Digi's


Prize: $15 Gift Certificate


\

My Besties
Etsy /  Scrapbook Stamp Society


Prize: 3 of Digital Images the DT used



Beccy's Place


Prize: 3 Digital Images or 1 Digital Set

Friday, June 5, 2015

Double the Blog Hops! Coffee Loving Cardmakers and Pretty Pink Posh



So today, I'm trying to see if I can break the internet. Forget about Kim Kardashian, this post combines TWO of the biggest blog hops this side of the interwebs. I actually have 3 cards to share today, so rather than creating 3 separate posts, I combined two of them. 

Make sure you don't miss the >>STAMPLORATIONS CHALLENGE<< post I made earlier.

First up, I'm going to talk about the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog Hop which starts today and runs through the end of the week. The energizer-bunny-in-human-form (a.k.a. Amy Tsurata) puts on this show 4 times a year and it is BIG! And has lots of fun prizes. There are 32 different sponsors! Whaaaat?!


Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

I'm going to say sorry-not-sorry in advance, because my coffee lover's card is a little... steamy - and I ain't talking about the beverage. To incorporate summer into my card, I decided to go with a carnival theme - because what screams summertime more than a carnival?



While on a quest for coffee-themed stamps, I stumbled upon the Coffee Cups Lady from Viva Las Vegas stamps and I could. not. resist! Haha. I died of laughter right there and dreamt up all sorts of snarky sentiments to go along with it. 


In the end, this is the one that won out. 


Coffee Cup Lady


"One Lump or Two?" Haha. So, sorry not sorry because I kind of think it's hilarious and just on the edge of appropriate.  

I'm going to enter this into:
Fashionable Stamping Challenge - Use a Person

All the papers are from Bo Bunny's Carnival Collection
watercolor.bloghop

Next up, I'm going to share a card I made for the Pretty Pink Posh watercolor-themed blog hop. They also have a ton of dreamy watercolor inspiration up, suggested products, and great tutorials! 

For my card, I used the Simon Says Stamp Thinking of You set to stamp a half-circle of flowers. Then, I used some gelatos to create a watercolory effect. 




Using gelatos to watercolor is easy peasy. In my case, I scribbled some on to a clear block, wet my paint brush and picked up a little color.  



Then I created a rainbow of a watercolor card and added some sequins from the Pretty Pink Posh Springtime Mix, which just so happened to coordinate perfectly with the colors in my card. It's like I planned that, or something. ;) 






Ta daaaa!!
This card is also going over to Virginia's View - Ombre challenge.


Whew! I know that's a lot to throw at you in one post, but here's the last thing you have to know:

I have BLOG CANDY!!
Candy Includes:
Mixed Media Flowers from the Paper Studio
Grand Bazaar embellishments from Basic Grey
An EXCLUSIVE STAMPlorations stamp set
Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink
Chevron ribbon from Pretty Pink Posh




 There are three ways to get earn an entry-
 you can do one, or all three:


1. Follow my blog (new or old followers will get one entry)
2. Comment on this blog post
3. Comment on my STAMPlorations Blog Post


Thanks for popping by!