My First Attempt At An Eclipse Card with Honey Bee

Happy Saturday!  So happy you could stop by today!  I've been working on this one for a couple days (not whole days.. just my mornings before work).  I've got two firsts today... first Eclipse style card and first time coloring on kraft and I've gotta tell you, I love both!

I recently got this pretty Zen Floral stamp set during the birthday celebration over at Honey Bee.  I LOVE it!  The border at the top is all one stamp, but I used some of the separate flowers to create the cluster at the bottom.  I will tell you, I do not care for masking so I made a few mistakes because I rushed through it, but in the end I was happy with how it turned out.

I started by cutting out the hugs part of my sentiment from the Kraft Paper.  Because I had to build my cluster, I wanted to be sure I had the flowers where I wanted them and that they'd overlap my die cut.  Then I used some removable adhesive and put all of the pieces back together so that I could stamp over the hugs diecut and have it be seemless.  I stamped all of my images in Versamark and heat embossed in white.  Once that was done I colored it all in with my Prisma colored pencils.  Then, on these eclipse cards the sentiment is meant to be subtle, but since mine was part of the complete sentiment, to make it stand out just a bit, I decided to remove it before I splattered and dotted with some acrylic paint and then some Nuvo Drops.  I cut 5 or 6 of the hugs word out so that I could stack them easily to pop up rather than trying to fit popup tape and it really makes for a nice, chipboard feeling piece.  Then I attached the hugs back to the card in the space it belonged and again, to make it stand out a bit I applied some liquid glass again to bring a little attention to the word.  I used a small layer, let it dry and then applied another.  (I love my liquid glass, but there are some color formulations that will change color a bit when it's applied... see the rose on the end of the word-I'm not worried about it, but wanted to let you know)

Then I finished my sentiment with a couple stamps from a couple different sets in my stash... white embossing on black.. you know I love it.  Popped it up and added a few sequins.

This is one beautiful stamp set and I'll be using it a lot to add some pretty floral detail to many cards.  I have another one to play with too and I'll share that soon.  For this card, I'm entering it into the Honey Bee Buzzworthy Challenge for April to create a birthday card!  You do need to have Honey Bee products bee the feature on your card, but you can use other products (for instance, I didn't have any birthday sentiments, so I built mine from some other sets) and you could win a $15 gift certificate to the shop!  I guess I know what I need next!

I'm also entering this into the Outlawz Twisted Thursday for this week with a twist of Anything Goes and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which is also Anything Goes!  You should check these out too!

Love Your Pets Blog Hop With JessicaLynnOriginal

Hope you're having fun and playing along!  Jessica will be donating to the Lucky Mutts Rescue for each card linked up AND there are prizes for playing along!  You can check out all of the details and link up to the hop at the main post at the JessicaLynnOriginal Blog here!

 Today I'm sharing with you a card I made with the new stamp set, Celine's Kittens from Jessica Lynn Original:

I think this sweet kitty is my favorite from the Celine's Kittens stamp set!  You may be surprised to know that when I started this card, I was planning a masculine card... my brother as a gray cat and thought maybe I'd make him a card.. well... as you can say things took a turn...

I did stick with the gray cat however... and gave her some green eyes... and these eyes are perfect for adding a little liquid glass..

I made this while Face Timing with my besties back in NY and they decided I should use this eyelash ribbon... the thought originally was to roll it into a sort of ball of yarn, but that wasn't right... so instead I opted for the "feel" of it by using it as ribbon and tying a bow.  I added that cute little paw diecut from Elizabeth Crafts and a few flowers and sequins... this is about the time I knew there was no turning back!

And the shaker... I die cut the Smile die from MFT onto my top paper layer.  Then I added the acetate onto the back.  I placed foam tape closely around the word Smile to keep my sequins in and then covered the rest of the back with foam tape.  This needed a little extra support because the top layer was not cardstock, but thinner design paper.  So the foam tape gave some structure.  Then before I attached my top piece to the bottom cardstock layer (which also has a cool aztec background die on it from Taylored Expressions-hence the texture), I added my sequins ... I kind of eyeball where the sequins will reside and lump them close together so that I have room to add the top layer and not have sequins get stuck under the foam tape.  Once it's adhered securely I shake it around to move them around.  The tricky part is figuring out how many sequins to add.. I don't have any tips to share with you here...lol!  Sometimes it's more important than others... for instance if your shaker window has a stamped image in it...you don't want it to be covered up by the sequins laying at the bottom.  So I say too little is better than too much.  On a card like this, it really doesn't matter even if it was so full it didn't shake... it would still look cool!

Anywho!  You have ONE more day to play along with the Love Your Pets Blog Hop!  Donations to a good cause and prizes!  Why wouldn't you?

See you again soon!

Love Your Pets Blog Hop with Jessica Lynn Original!

Hope you're having fun and playing along!  Jessica will be donating to the Lucky Mutts Rescue for each card linked up AND there are prizes for playing along!  You can check out all of the details and link up to the hop at the main post at the JessicaLynnOriginal Blog here!

Today I'm using Flynne's Puppies along with a couple other stamps from JessicaLynnOriginal!

OMG... I love pugs and I know who this is for already!

Sweet, right??

I mean... if a pug was going to a birthday party... she'd probably figure that the birthday girl would love what she loves, right?  She filled this present with all of her favorites!

And this sweet sentiment, right?  I love it!

I'm linking up to this week's Twisted Thursday over at the Outlawz Ning Site which has a twist of... Anything Goes AND Simons Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge is also Anything Goes and I'm linking up over there too!  Can't beat that!

Thanks for stopping again!  Here's your sweetness for today:

Meet Jack and Slim:

This does not happen very often... but when it does... you make sure to get a pic!

Come back soon!

Love Your Pets Blog Hop with Jessica Lynn Original!

Hope you're having fun and playing along!  Jessica will be donating to the Lucky Mutts Rescue for each card linked up AND there are prizes for playing along!  You can check out all of the details and link up to the hop at the main post at the JessicaLynnOriginal Blog here!

 Today I'm sharing with you a card I made with the new stamp set, Celine's Kittens from Jessica Lynn Original:

For today's project I had a lot of fun with this stamp set!  I stamped the kitties in a bag twice... I colored in one whole image and then just the larger cat from the second.

Then I took out my Box Dies from CDD and cut two from Kraft paper.  It took me a while to decide how to place all of these but once I got it right, I was so excited because I LOVE it!

I haven't had a cat in a long while, but I know what cat's like...lol!

And I decided to make it a Birthday Card using this cute sentiment from the set.  I also stamped, colored and cut out three of the single roses from the Flynne's Puppies stamp set.  These two sets work so nicely together... you may as well get both!

Thanks for stopping again!  Oh... and don't leave without today's photo of my furbabies!

Meet Jack:

And Slim (Pouting because I just left the house..lol):

Come back soon!

Papertrey Ink April 2018 Blog Hop Challenge

It's time for a new Blog Hop Challenge over at Papertrey Ink!  This is the inspiration photo (right up my alley).  And here's how I was inspired:

I chose my paper because it had the feeling of the textured background in the inspiration photo.  And the Plaid Mix and Mat... well... I just wanted to...lol!  I LOVE that die so much!

My initial plan was to stack my cups... but I cut my first one with this cool Fancy Tea Cup Die and I had the thought.. why does the height have to come from more cups... why not this:

I used some old retired cactus stamps from CTMH for the height and then the beautiful flowers and leaves are from the Stemmed Statements stamp set.  These are the geraniums from the set, but I used these flowers mostly because the size was right.. 

I picked the paper because of the pretty floral and it had the colors in the cups from the inspiration photo... all of the colors in the bottom cup,  alike yet different... and I thought it was pretty!

And since I knew I wanted to enter this into the Outlawz Twisted Thursday Challenge with a Twist of homemade flowers, I cut and rolled this 3D flower from the Impression Obsession Spiral Flowers set.  The center stamens were from a poinsettia set and then added a sparkly center using a Doodlebug Sprinkle in green... I love the way it turned out!  It really looks like some of the flowers that are blooming in my garden right now...

These smell really good too... it's an Argentinian Cactus... one of my faves... and they're almost as big as my face...lol!

I had this banner piece sitting on my desk and it was just the right color and size for the Simple Joys sentiment from the Stemmed Statements set.   I highly recommend this floral stamp and die set.  There are some really beautiful flowers and lots of smallish sentiments like this one.  I've already used it twice in the short time I've had it, and I know I'll be using it a lot more.  A few more Sprinkles is all this one needed to finish it up!

Hope you enjoyed your time here today!  This challenge only runs until this evening, however, if you sign up for the newsletter you get an advance peek at the inspiration photo each month so if you can't play along this time, sign up for the newsletter so you can play along next time.

It's a Brew-tiful Day!

It's an exciting day over at Little Acres Creations Blog!  The winners have been announced for the birthday celebration!  After you're done here be sure to head over there to see if you won!  But before you do that, hope you'll stick around to take a look at what I have for you here!

When I first saw this stamp set I fell in love with it!  These sweet adorable little piglets are just undeniable!  The stamp set is called Pigments of Imagination.  Of course... after it came to my mailbox, I had the idea to do this!  (You knew I would!).

  

I decided to try a little "no line" coloring for this one.  I'm pleased with how these cuties turned out.  I found a Memento Pad in Sand and that's what I've been using when I try the no line coloring look.  (I hear there is a cool new disappearing ink from Inkon3 and when I try that, I'll let you know what I think!)

Well, of course that splash of mud looked like coffee to me!  And these cute little piglets looked like they were having so much fun...And this little gal, jumping through the air... she's about to make a big splash!

And this is my favorite piglet (OMG... that piggy butt!)... he was already swimming this morning and is sunning himself on this Brew-tiful Day (that phrase die is from Stamplorations and the large cup is from Memory Box and I love them both)!

So thanks so much for stopping by and sticking with me!  I tried to make it short and sweet so you can get over to Little Acres to see if you won anything!  Be sure to come back often this week... it's going to be a busy week!

Love Your Pet Blog Hop With Jessica Lynn Original!

Hope you're having fun and playing along!  Jessica will be donating to the Lucky Mutts Rescue for each card linked up AND there are prizes for playing along!  You can check out all of the details and link up to the hop at the main post at the JessicaLynnOriginal Blog here!

Today I'm using Flynne's Puppies along with a couple other stamps from JessicaLynnOriginal!

I started out by opening up a blank Word document and pulling in the sentiment JPG "All I Wanna Do IS Drink Coffee, Make Stuff, and Pet My Dog".  This was a limited edition digital stamp that Jessica released during one of the coffee hops.  I then started copying and pasting and placing the sentiments in a pattern to serve as a background.  Once I was done, I printed it on my laser printer; die cut using a Waffle Flower die and ran it through the Minc with some Gold Sequin Foil from Gina K.  I'm letting my background serve as my sentiment for now, however when I decide to give it away, I could add any kind of a sentiment on the inside.

I love this sweet lab that's in the Flynne's Puppies set!  I wanted him to be a Chocolate lab ... because...well... they are so pretty!  I added some flowers including that pretty crocheted flower that I made some time ago.  I'm entering this into the Twisted Thursday for this week with a twist of Handmade Flowers!

I stamped the To Go Cup from the A Latte Love stamp set a few times on various papers and paper pieced my cup.  Then I was trying to decide how to decorate it... well... how else would I?

One more peek at the sparkle!

Now... me babies:

Meet Slim:

And Jack:

Thanks for stopping again!  Come back tomorrow!

Love Your Pets Blog Hop With JessicaLynnOriginal

Hope you're having fun and playing along!  Jessica will be donating to the Lucky Mutts Rescue for each card linked up AND there are prizes for playing along!  You can check out all of the details and link up to the hop at the main post at the JessicaLynnOriginal Blog here!

 Today I'm sharing with you a card I made with the new stamp set, Celine's Kittens from Jessica Lynn Original:

I was thinking about this sentiment from the Flynne's Puppies stamp set and had this idea using one of the cats.  This sweet cat especially must be an angel!

I colored her with some warm gray Copics mostly and used a couple greens for her eyes.  I actually didn't put liquid glass on those eyes, but they just appear to shine don't they?

I think this card could be used for a sympathy card for someone who has lost their furry loved one, but I think it could also just be a nice card for a friend who loves cats and really this sentiment could be sent to a friend just as a sweet hello card...

And before I go, I'd like to share a couple pics of my fur babies!

Meet Jack (this was after he ate my grandma's bible):

Meet Slim:

The Cutting Cafe Designers Choice!

Welcome to some Cutting Cafe Inspiration!  Today is one of my favorite!  Designer's Choice!  Well, you know what's gonna happen when it's my choice!

I decided it had been too long since I used this Coffee Cup Shaped Card 2!  I love it to use for the shaped card and sometimes just to cut a coffee cup to fit on another project!  I started off with a little bit of foil:

If you're looking for Coffee themed files, the Cutting Cafe is a great place to start!  I love this Coffee Bean Background!  You can print it in black, brown or an outline that you can color in!  I printed mine on my laser printer in black so that I could run it through my Minc machine with some of that beautiful Gina K Gold Sequins foil.  I printed a whole sheet of the background, foiled it, and then used my Cricut to cut the layer with the beans.

Oh my!  That yummy sparkle and shine!  Then for my sentiment I turned to a page of sentiments that is included with the 3D Cup file!  28 Sentiments for coffee and tea lovers and I printed the whole sheet.  There is enough room between them to die cut them... and sometimes I end up die-cutting over another one but that's ok because I can print a new sheet once this one is used up!  Or before...lol! And since they come in PDF or JPG format, I could always pull up the sheet in JPG format into my photo editing program and crop individual sentiments to print however I want!  Change the size... leave extra space... layer over another digi!  Lots of flexibility!

This set also includes a cut for a piece to hold a gift card which I didn't use today, but it's a pocket that fits perfectly on the inside of the card.

And then, I had this adorable Llama paper from Simple Stories that I picked up at my LSS and I did this:

So, it's easy to use these files in my Cricut!  I just pull in the cut file and with the entire set chosen, set the size per the instructions.  From there I can ungroup them and play with indicating which pieces I want cut in the same colors for quick cutting.  On this one, I used the wrap cut as a template and traced it on the back of a real wrap I saved from a past coffee purchase.  The sentiment is from a stamp set I have and I die cut that pretty llama who is not getting involved in the drama, from the paper.  And on the inside:

I added a teeny tiny cup diecut... she got her coffee and she's in her Happy Place now!  And another sentiment from the 3D cup sentiment sheet.

Both of my first cards are about the size of a A2 card, however, it was very easy in my Cricut Design Space to select all of my pieces and then change the size of everything at once!  It all still fits together perfectly and I made a smaller sized card... could be a tag... or just a little card to include in a gift..

So cute right!?  I fussy cut the llama from the paper and diecut another one of the sentiments from the 3D cup sentiment sheet.

Hope you enjoyed your visit!  Be sure to come back all week because there's a lot going on here this week!  AND stop over at the Cutting Cafe Blog and comment for a chance to win three free sets!  And don't forget to check out what everyone else has made for you today!