Paper Sweeties Plan Your Life Series - February 2019!

We're planning our lives today over at Paper Sweeties!  And there are adorable new Stamp and Sweet Cuts sets!  The All Occasions stamps and dies are a perfect add to your collection!

I used the heart sweet cut and flower stamp and sweet cut from the new set on this planner layout along with a few others!  I love to use the scallop sweet cut from the Sweet Borders set to decorate my printable planner pages!

Along with some pretty floral washi tape and I cut the hearts from the new set from glitter paper and one of the sheets from the Christmas Town papers!  Yup! That pretty heart patterned paper is from a Christmas pad!

And I love the hearts and flowers along with those cute little word dies from the Treat Box Sweet Cuts adn some puffy stickers from my stash.

I also strategically cut some hearts using the heart from the Treat Box dies out of some old scraps of some Doodlebug papers from last year!

That's me for today!  Thanks so much for stopping and be sure to check out what everyone else is up to!

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties
Lilian Forsyth 
Lisa Bzibziak (You Are Here!)

Maria Patrick
Taylor Golzbein

What's New 

Planner Series: All Occasions

Planner Series: All Occasions Sweet Cuts

Sweet Cuts Sweet Borders - Paper Sweeties

Treat Box Sweet Cuts

Planner Series: Celebrate - Paper Sweeties

Planner Series - Winter Sentiments Paper Sweeties

Planner Series - Get Your Craft On Paper Sweeties

Finding Beauty In Unexpected Places with CAS-ual Fridays!

Good morning!  I'm up on the CAS-ual Fridays Blog today and sharing a couple cards including this one with the beautiful Be A Unicorn Stamps and Fri-die that I made using some upcycled materials!  I don't know about you, but I've been getting some beautiful credit card offer envelopes in the mail...lol!  I open them and throw the insides into the shred pile and save those envelopes for crafty uses:

For today's cards I used the Heart Board Fri Dies, the Lovely Links Fri-Dies and the 4 Petals Fri Dies and cut them out of some of these envelopes:

So pretty... right??

Now for the details:

I started this one by cutting the Bubble Box shapes from black and white cardstock.  I stamped and embossed one of the sentiments from the Be A Unicorn set and then splattered some metallic watercolors over the top and set them aside to dry.

I stamped, embossed, and die cut the Unicorn from the Be A Unicorn sets.  Then I used the metallic watercolors in white, gold and pink to color her in.  Once she was dry, I darkened her eyes and nostrils using a black alcohol marker.

And the flowers and hearts from the pink holographic envelope were perfect to embellish!

I had a small red shiny envelope too and cut a few hearts from that and they were perfect for a quick Valentine card.  This time I cut the Bubble Box from another upcycled material from some paper flower packaging... that pretty burlap looking piece would have otherwise ended up in the garbage!

I used the Love Ya Fri-Die cut from black glitter paper for this one.

And one more look at this one:

So thanks for stopping today!  I hope I've inspired you to take a second look at things before you throw them away and use them in your creations!

I'm playing along over at Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge which is Anything Goes this week!  You should definitely check it out!

And should you decide you just need to have some things from the CAS-ual Fridays shop, I have this for you:

And don't forget to check out CAS-ual Fridays at these places!

Caffeine Fueled Paper Play - Honey Bee Stamps!

I'm up on the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog and playing along with a challenge over at Honey Bee Stamps Buzzworthy Challenges!  Hope you'll hop on over there to check out the details!  Here's a little peek!

Crafty Elves Countdown to Christmas-January 2019 Edition!

Welcome to the first ever Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas!  So... that up there... that's not my card... but it is my crafter in crime's card using that adorable Crafty Little Elf from Unity Stamps.  She's going to be our "mascot" for our new adventure together.  I was minding my own business online one day when I read a comment by Debra Davison that she was vowing to make one Christmas card a week for 2019 so that by the time December rolled around all of her cards would be made.  And me being the wise guy that I am said.. yeah... that's a good idea!  I've been wanting to do it for the last couple years because another bloggy friend, Theresa had done it and I thought it was such a great idea!  Well, Debra called me out... and we decided we'd both do it and that we'd share our makes on the 25th of each month... so here we are!  Two Crafty Elves!  We're both having a giveaway this month to celebrate so leave us some love and we'll each pick a winner from all of the comments... more on that later!  For now... here's what I came up with in January:

Well, you had to know there would be coffee!  I'm guessing each month I'll have at least one card with a coffee element... and here it is!  During the last Coffee Lovers Hop, I won a prize over at the Birch Press Design blog and one of the items I got was that beautiful Issa Snowflake Layer set.  I mean.. yeah... I spent a little more than I won... but why wouldn't I????

I mean... LOOK at it!!  This is a three die set and there are unending combinations you can create with it!  You can't be surprised that I added some glitter paper and that cool holographic paper.

I couldn't help but add a pretty plaid cup that I cut with a die from this Memory Box set!  And do you love the Merry die cut??  It's from Pretty Pink Posh and I love it!!  And the steam from A Jillian Vance Designs Coffee Tea & Me set was perfect!  

I'm playing along over at Cupcake Inspirations Pink and White Challenge.  You have about a week to join in if you'd like to play along too!

And the Layered Snowflake die from Birch Press makes such a beautiful card with SO little effort that I decided to use it again for my second:

It feels like that Snowflake and the Merry Christmas die were made for each other doesn't it?  Oh and did I mention the PPP clear sequins...they come in a few different sizes and they are quite awesome!

I'm playing along with this one over at D.L. Art January Linky Challenge!  It's Anything Goes and you can link up all month long!  Check it out!

So next I pulled out some new stamps that I ordered recently over at Honey Bee Stamps:

Eep!! I am over the moon in love with the Honey Bee Stamps Snow Buddies stamps and dies!  I stamped and die cut so many images from the set so I'd have lots to choose from when I put my cards together.  And with these traditional colors... those pretty Holiday Cheer Christmas papers from Sunny Studio Stamps were perfect!  At the same time I got the Snow Buddies, I picked up the Fa La La Honeycuts and I am SO glad I did... perfect for a fun and quick sentiment and perfect with the snow buddies!

For this one I'm linking up over at The Mod Squad challenge to Use Multiple Images... I used a few here!  You should check this one out!

So, I was transferring my Snow buddies dies onto magnetic sheets and then I drop that behind the stamps they go with and was getting ready to throw away the shiny cardboard that is part of the packaging and thought... "hmmm.. I could us that on a card... wonder what alcohol inks would do on that":

The inks didn't do all of the magical things that they do on Yupo paper, but I dropped on a few drops along with some blending solution and smooshed and twisted it using the felt applicator and loved the way the background came out!  I decided it would be perfect for another Snow Buddies card!  And it was!

I'm playing along over at Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge which is Alcohol: Inks or Drinks!  I picked inks since it was way too early for drinking alcohol when I made this :)!  I used Alcohol Inks and Markers so I think I have it covered!

Hope you'll let me know you were here!  If you do, you'll have a chance to win a gift from me!  I'm not sure what it is yet because I'm drowning in 1099s this week at work and working lots of extra hours... but I think you'll like it!  Debra knows what she's giving away... but you'll have to go there to find out!

So that's me for today!  I tried not to be my usual wordy self..not sure I was successful.  Thanks for hanging in with me!  Please make sure you go and give my cohort a visit!  Stop over at Debra's blog here to see all of the awesome she has for you and leave her some love!

The Cutting Cafe Inspiration-Printable Planners Part II!

Today at the Cutting Cafe we're sharing some more planner inspiration!  Regina has so many awesome planner files for just about everything!  You can check out the planner section here!  I've used the 2019 Planner file here and the Design Team Planner file here!

I love to use the Day Planner sheets included in the 2019 Planner file!  I use them along with some of my fave planner stamp sets along with any extra stickers I have... die cuts that I cut from scrap paper .. like the banners here and all of that washi tape I have stuffed away in a drawer.  I knew I saved all those small scraps for a reason!

I have mounted my planner pages on 6x8 cuts of cardstock and sometimes it's fun just to create an inspirational page for myself... here's a reminder for me during this busy time of year...

I especially love this checklist from the Design Team Calendar where i can keep track of what challenges I've entered and when I should check back!  I made them smaller so I could fit more on a page... I love entering challenges!

And these are a new fave of mine too!  I love that because of the ring that holds it together I can insert these worksheets wherever I want and then remove them when I don't need them any longer.  Then I can just attach them all together with another ring for future reference!

I'm sure you'll be seeing more of my planner and here are some pics I shared during our last Cutting Cafe post on the 7th!  You can read about more details at that post here!

Thanks so much for stopping today!  Be sure to head on over to the Cutting Cafe Blog to see what everyone else has created!  And while you're there comment for a chance to win three files of your choice!

Come back soon!

Double Trouble Guestie - Love Is In The Air!

This month I'm guesting over at the Double Trouble Challenge Blog!  This is me... I'm the Crazy Cousin...lol!  I chose the pink polka dot dress!  If you've never checked out this fun challenge you definitely should!  It's fun and each time Double Trouble collaborates with another challenge blog and you can easily play along with both which gives you extra chances to win at Double Trouble!  Today we're playing with The Paper Girls!

The challenge this time around...  "Love Peace and Kindness"!  The perfect reason to use this adorable Love You More stamp set from The Rabbit Hole Designs again!  I've had this idea for a while and was excited to finally get it out of my head this weekend!   Here's how I was inspired:

I started with my rainbow of Distress Oxides blended diagonally across the paper.  Then I splattered on some water and soaked up the excess with a towel.  Then I splattered on some metallic water colors.

It was fun to add some extra balloons including Coffee Shaped Ones!  I made those by stamping a cup from Janes Doodles Coffee Time stamp set (I chose it because the doodled lines and size were just right to go along with those pretty heart balloons from The Rabbit Hole Designs set).  I stamped them on Copic friendly paper and drew the lines along with just the heart balloons from the Love You More set by masking off the rest of the image and then cut them out using the Brother Scan N Cut.

I wasn't sure how they'd look once I layered them on, but I placed them all strategically with the image and drew a few extra lines and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!  And that cute little steam that I added to the cup balloons was made with the steam die from Stamp Simply's Coffee or Tea die set!  I trimmed just a little bit of the length off and it was perfect!

The sentiment was easy to decide on with the theme of this challenge...lol!  

And I added a few clouds and that sweet birdie along with various sizes of clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

So that's me for today!  Now head on over to the Double Trouble Blog and check out the challenge and what the awesomely talented DT have created for you today!  If you'd like to play along, just create something with the theme Love Is In The Air... use balloons, banners, birds, clouds, butterflies, or anything else that fits the theme!  And if you use something sparkly, glittery, or shiny you'll meet the twist and you can link up with the current challenge over at The Paper Girls.  They are collaborating with Double Trouble this week and if you play along with both, you get extra chances to win at Double Trouble!

Also!  Don't forget that you have until January 25th to hop and comment through the 2 Preview Days and 2 Hop Days for a chance to win the adorable Love You More stamp set I used here and/or the So-Fishticated stamp set and more!  You can start at The Rabbit Hole Designs blog post here for all of the details!

Thanks so much for stopping and come back soon!