Collage Valentine's Day Card

Today I'm up on the STAMPlorations blog with a whole feature tutorial on how to create this collagey Valentine wonder! 

I talk all about creating a colorful decoupaged background.

Creating a grungy background using the Artsy Border Maker stamp set. 

And the perfect non-mushy sentiment and focal image using the Funny Kinda Love stamp set.

Go check out my tutorial on the STAMPlorations blog and also feel free to use my code STAMPGIRLBECCA for 20% off anything in the STAMPlorations store. :) 

I also would be remiss if I didn't mention where I got all my lovely collage papers. My friend Lauren Bergold of all the GOOD blog names were taken gave me these awesome papers as a gift and I, of course, am in love with them. She finds the perfect old books, dictionaries, and encyclopedias and creates amazing packages of collage paper in her Etsy store.

Romantic Expressions - New Release

Valentine's Day might be gone, but I just can't make myself stop with all things glittery and pink. 

Luckily there are some new releases over at STAMPlorations today that are making it easy for me to keep on with my love of... well... love. 

Hop on up to the STAMPlorations blog to see Romantic Expressions 1, Romantic Expressions 2, and Romantic Expressions 3 in action.

Because I wanted my design to be all full of elegance, I broke out the embossing gun and sprinkled on some platinum powder. 

I also used a sketch from Sunday Stamps. 

Some foiled papers brought the elegance to the forefront of the overall design. It's textured and lovely and I just want to keep running my hands over it and twisting it in the sunlight. That's not weird - right? 

Thanks for popping by!

Growing in Unity - Day 2 + Prizes

What did the fox say?!

Ever since I designed this card for my second day of Growing in Unity guest designer posts, I've had that little earworm playing on repeat in my head. 

How fleepin' cute are these fleepin' foxes? Fleepin' cute. That's how cute. 

When I saw them in the Warmth of Winter Kit of the Month, I'm pretty sure I actually let out a little bit of squeeeeal before immediately inking them up. 


I used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors to paint it up and added some splashy colors to my winter scene. If you haven't invested in a set of watercolors, I would HIGHLY recommend these because they're so vibrant! The trees also came from the same kit. 

I didn't want to add any sentiment to muddy up the card, so I just left it blank. I think it's a perfect design for an anniversary, Valentine's Day or just an all-around general lovey-dovey card. 

I'm going to play along at
2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything goes featuring a critter
Simon Says Stamp - Stamp It

If you're feeling like leaving some extra bloggy love today go check out my fellow GIU gal for the week: Rebecca Wong Pui Yee.

Make sure you leave a comment down below because Unity is giving away two stamp sets to those of you who are kind enough to drop some lines! 

Cozy Cocoa Card - Valentines Day

I know Valentine's Day is a ways away, but it's also my fave card-gifting holiday, so I like to start on lovey dovey mushy gushy cards waaay early. 

Today I'm up on the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog showcasing two adorably cozy designs I made using Sunny Studios Mug Hugs stamp set. You should totally pop over there and check out the second design because it's equally as squeal-worthy. 

My design was inspired by the latest sketch challenge from Sketch Saturday. I'm also going to send this over to play along in Eclectic Ellapu's anything goes challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Add a Sentiment challenge.

Don't you just love those plaid papers? So fleepin' cute! 

I hope you'll pop on over to the Coffee Loving Papercrafters blog to leave a little comment and see my other design! 

Happy Monday!

Guest Designer - Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers

Have you all played along in the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenges? They're a challenge blog that focuses on both the sweet and snarky side of things. I love looking through their design team's makes each week because the gallery just cracks me up as I scroll through.

This week, they invited me to be a guest designer for their latest challenge: Y is for Yippee. 

I watercolored a sweet image from The Bee's Knees for STAMPlorations: Two of Us stamp set and paired it with a snarky sentiment from Big Grins by Becca Cruger for STAMPlorations Funny Kinda Love stamp set. 

I definitely brought the snark this week and hope you all will visit and play along with all those hilarious Sistahs at Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers!

Fusion Challenge - Pink, Pretty, Coffee!

I'm popping in for a quick card I designed for the new Fusion Challenge. 

The minute I saw this adorable inspiration image, I knew exactly what I wanted to create. This card took me all of 20 minutes and that NEVER happens! 

Usually I'm putzing around with this embellishment, trying that paper - no that one!, all the while attempting to keep myself from getting glue on my boobs (I said it) because I've left the cap off *again* and am constantly reaching for things. I can't tell you just how many shirts I've ruined with that ol' fiasco. 

But anyhow, here's my card:

I used STAMPlorations A Cuppa Love stamp set (which my bloggy readers can get in the STAMPlorations store for 20% off by using code STAMPGIRLBECCA) along with the XOXO word die.

I added some teeny heart stickers, along with a less-than-teeny heart rosette and put it all together! 

I hope you'll go check out what the other Fusion girlies have made for your eye-ticement. 

Little Red Wagon - Company or Companies you Love
Oh La La Creations - Die Cuts

Vintage Chic Card - Valentine

I know... I know... it's the day after Valentine's Day and I should stop already, but I just can't! I've whipped up SO many valentines this season and I've still got a few more to showcase. 

Case in point? This one that I designed for the latest The Card Concept challenge, which hit the internet TODAY. 

Isn't that inspiration image a beaut? I love all the vintagey goodness going on and was super inspired by the scrawly script and leather heart. 

So I decided to make some paper leather. 

Check that out! This was made with a combination of Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, and Tea Dye Distress Inks - using the Distress Ink Double Dipping technique. 

Next, I brought out a lovely little cardboard heart and did some alterations to give it texture and life. 

I started by using Vintage Photo Distress Paint over the surface of the cardboard and, while it was still wet, sprinkled some Rust Embossing Powder over the top. I heat set it with my embossing gun and edged the heart with a coppery InkaGold. 

To bring in the scrawly script, I used a big background stamp and added a layer of Distress Crayon and Distress Spray Stain splatters, edging the whole panel in InkaGold to tie it in. 

Put it all together and what do you get? Taaaa daaaa! 

I hope you'll go check out the other awesome inspiration on The Card Concept blog and then play along! 

I'm going to enter my card at the following challenges:
Mixed Media World - Anything Mixed Media Goes
Try it on Tuesday - Let's Get Messy with Paints/inks

My Valentine... A Valentine's Day Memory

Valentine's Day has always been my favorite holiday - mostly because the weekend before was always spent with my Grandma Mead, cutting up sparkly bits of pink and red and creating cards, laughing and gabbing away the hours. 

My grandma loved all 22 of her grandchildren and managed to take time for each of them in unique ways. Valentine's cardmaking weekend was "our" time and I looked forward to it every year.

I'd always buy the basics - cardstock and V-day papers, but I cringe now to think about the expense she incurred in embellishments, ribbons, stamps, inks, embossing powders and specialty tools she kept at the ready for her young granddaughter.

She'd patiently show me the latest cardmaking techniques, let me mess up her kitchen for two days, and then put it all back together again once my whir of valentine's energy subsided. My favorite part, though, was when our creative retreat came to a close. I'd line up my collection of creations on her kitchen counter and we'd carefully vote on the order of best cards. She always pretended like there wasn't a bad one in the bunch, but hey - I'm sure in my 10-11-12-year-old cardmaking infancy that she was a big ol' lovable liar.

I can't remember when or how or why this tradition started... but I miss it terribly. Her patience and love created the foundation for the papercrafting artist I am today. She's been gone now for 3 years. 
 

In the years since she's been gone, I haven't really done much of V-day crafting (at least not on the scale that I used to). No pun intended, but my heart just wasn't in it. This year, though, I'm starting a new tradition. I am teaching a Valentine's Day card class and following it up with a crafty crop. I'm excited to share my love of all things red and pink and sparkly with new crafters.

Would you all send some extra good vibes my way this weekend? They would definitely be joyously accepted! 


Now that storytime is over, I suppose I'd better share one of the designs I'll be teaching.

Check out that metallic goodness, loved up with some InkaGold paste. 

My card was derived from the Atlantic Hearts Sketch:

That scrawly "love you" comes from Verve's Stronger Love sentiment set, which has theee most beautiful sentiments. <3 <3 Seriously! Go check it out!

I also want to play along in the following awesome challenges:
Simon Say Stamp Monday - Young at Heart
Crafty Cardmakers - Love Love Love
Paper Players - Will You Be My Valentine

Thank you for stopping by and reading my memories! <3 <3

A Punny Valentine's Day Card

Ah, February, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:
1) You give me reasons to make tons of punny cards
2)  I can fully express my love of all things hot pink
3)  You're short - just like me

 

If you haven't guessed by now, I've got another Valentine's Day card to share with you! Actually - two of them! I loved the first one so much that I made it in duplicates. 

But before I get toooo far ahead of myself, let's talk about where I'm drawing my inspiration from. It's time for a brand spankin' new STAMPlorations theme & sketch challenge. 

As lovely as the sketch is, I saw the theme "Stamps & Retro" and could see no further than that. Especially since I just got the new Hello You 5x7 Stamp Club set and <3 <3 <3 everything about it!

I could not WAIT to ink up that typewriter. I also wanted more of a V-day lovey dovey sentiment, so I decided to make my own. 

I verrrrry carefully (because stamping is such an exact science right? <-- please see sarcasm in the dictionary for a full definition) drew a tiny little sheet of paper and then hand-lettered a punny typewriter-related phrase. 

I layered and layered and layered following the sketch from the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge. 

Figuring out how so many patterns could go together and not clash was so fun, that I decided to do it a second time in order to create a more masculine version and used the color challenge from The Color Throwdown.

Taaaaa-daaaaaaa! 

My cards are also going to play along in:
Simon Says Wednesday - Color of Love
Craft Rocket Challenge - It's a Love Thing
Cute Card Thursday - Be My Valentine

Thanks for popping by!!

Love & Romance - Shabby Chic Card

I am in my favorite zone right now - all things red, pink, and heart-shaped!! That's right, Valentine's are in the house and I'm having a blast.

I have a big thank you to give out to The Card Concept challenge this week because they are feeding my V-day addiction with their new inspiration image.

Seeing that vintage paper in the background made me want to go all shabby chic with my designs, so that's exactly what I did.

I incorporated the vintage paper, the notes of green, pink and beige, and brought some beautiful paper flowers (by Recollections) into the mix.

The sentiment is from a set I designed for STAMPlorations called Strong Women. I love how mushy gushy it makes me feel. 

But listen, friends, Valentine's day isn't all about being mushy. If you've visited my blog a time or two, you know by now that I LOVE humor. 

Enter: 

This sentiment from my A Funny Kind of Love stamp set. That set is FULL of fun sentiments for lovey-dovey occasions.

So there you go - two similar cards, one sweet, one snarky.

By the way - for my bloggy followers, you can get 20% off these stamp sets in the STAMPlorations shop by using my personal code: STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout.

I'm going to enter my cards into the following challenges:
Frilly & Funkie - Shabby Chic Valentine
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Color of Love
Try it on Tuesday - Hearts and Flowers

 Now get your beautiful behinds over to Card Concept and check out all the inspiration from designers who have super diverse card-making styles! 

Happy Heart Paper Piecing Handmade Card

I am finally settling in to my new crafty space which means I can once again start playing along with all those fun card making challenges out there! 

And boy did I ever see a doozy of a gorgeous inspiration image over at The Challenge this week. I've had this card in my mind allllllllll week and had to make time to put glue to paper. And... there definitely was LOTS of gluing going on for this creation!

Isn't it lovely?! Well, I took this very literally and busted out my inner Lauren Bergold to use up my ginormous scrap paper pile. 

This bag has been collecting and collecting and it's about time I started using some of it because I can't fit any more in there! Yipes! 

I started by sorting some of my scraps by color and trimming thin strips off edges. Then I took out cardboard hearts and began gluing.

This was my first chance to break out my Ranger Mini Collage Glue Stick and WOW! I really, really loved it. Unlike normal glue sticks where paper starts falling off or peeling at the edges after the glue fully dries, this stuff is STRONG! I highly recommend it. 

After I got all of my tiny pieces glued on, I trimmed around the edges of my heart and then covered a square piece of paper using the same technique.

Taaaa daaaaaaa!

I'm so in love with this! EEEEEEee It's so cute! (If I don't say so myself). If you're going to try this technique - it takes SOOoo much time and patience. On the plus side, it's VERY therapeutic. 

In addition to the challenge, I'm going to link this up to:

Naughty or Nice - Over the Rainbow

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Make it Girlie