Coffee Lovers Blog Hop - CASual Fridays Stamps

Hello!  Welcome to the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!  I have a few posts today and here I'm sharing with you some CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Inspiration!  CAS-ual Fridays is one of the many sponsors offering up awesome prizes for linking up to the hop!  

You just need to create something with a coffee, tea, or cocoa theme and link it up for your chance(s) to win!  (Yup! You can link up multiple new creations for multiple chances!).  For all of the rules and to check out who the sponsors are, link up or just start hopping, check out the main hop post here up on the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog!  And for even more fun, if you're not already a member, join us over in the Coffee Loving Papercrafters Group on Facebook here where we share caffeinated inspiration all year long!  (Be sure to answer all of the questions to get added right away!

Here's how I was inspired:

At CAS-ual Fridays we're sharing projects using the newly released Coffee Chips Chipboard!  I had lots of fun with mine today and did some foiling on them!

I started this one by blending inks in a rainbow pattern onto my panel.  Then I laid the By The Beans stencil over it and applied some Translucent Embossing Paste through it.  I sprinkled some glitter over the top.   I wasn't trying to cover the entire embossed area with glitter... whatever stuck was fine and when it was dry I just tapped it off and then ran a wide brush across it to remove the excess... it leaves such a pretty sparkly surface without a ton of glitter... not that there's anything wrong with that!

I took a small paintbrush and applied some transfer gel onto the chipboard pieces.  I was fairly generous but not too heavy handed and made sure to cover the entire surface of them.  I set those aside to dry completely.  Then I cut some white cardstock using the Bubble Box Fri-Dies and secured it in the Misti to stamp the sentiment from the Stay Strong stamp set onto it leaving room for my coffee cups when they were ready.  Once the gel was dry (the jar says an hour... I'll be honest, I left it overnight because I'm impatient and went on to something else...lol!) I placed some Rainbow Deco Foil over the three pieces and ran them through my Minc on the 4 setting.  So pretty aren't they??  And I love that the Coffee word chipboard piece fit perfectly over the Coffee word in this sentiment stamp so I didn't even have to piece the sentiment together!  

I just added a few of my favorite sequins and I was done!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  Be sure you check out what my teamies have created for you today!

And should you decide to shop, Coffee themed products are 25% off for the hop!  And in addition you can use one of the DT codes for an additional 15% off any products!  Here's mine:

Now get making and link up for your chance to win!  CAS-ual Fridays is sponsoring a $25 gift code and three flash prizes of the Coffee Chips Chipboard packs!!  What are you waiting for?

A Special Freebie for a Happy Thanksgiving with CAS-ual Fridays Stamps!

Welcome back and Happy Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you are having a chance to spend time with friends and family and to reflect on all the good that is in your lives right now.  I am very grateful today for so many things including that I get to be here sharing with you today!  We've got some really great things going on here starting now!

First... a sale!!!

Awesome sale, right??  And bonus!  If you spend $55 and will get the beautiful and adorable new stamp set Snow Angel for free!

Beautiful isn't she?  I've used this set today on a tag to play along with the 25 Days of Christmas Tags challenge!

I was inspired by Mindy Eggen's tag on Day 18!  That beautiful gold embossed sentiment background got me started!  I used my favorite Scallop Tag Fri-Dies as my base.

I'll be honest... It took me three times to get the tag right...lol!  I love imperfection as much as the next guy, but I learned some things along the way.  Patience for one...lol!  For me the easiest way to do this was to stamp each line separately with Versamark, powder, and emboss and then go on to the next.  Otherwise, these eyes could not keep track of where I was stamping.  And then I would just line the next set up so that the peace was lined up approximately the same distance on each line ... so for instance... I'd place the "P" of the 2nd line somewhere around the "C" and "E" on the one above it.  Don't check... I said approximately...lol!  AND!  Don't forget to swipe over the tag before you start with an antistatic pad... I only did it once the first time and that seemed to do the trick... although I never mind a little stray powder here and there.

I'm also playing along with the Wow Embossing Powder December Challenge on Facebook to use Gold!  I think I've done that here!  I used the Gold Metallic Embossing Powder.

I just love this sweet angel stamp and the oh so sweet sentiments included in it.  You can get her free with an order of $55 or you can buy her separately... or both during the sale!

AND even better there is a brand new Coffee sentiment set available!  Meet Stay Strong:

I used one of the sentiments on this card over this cool background I made using the Tin Roof Stencil, some embossing paste and some embossing powder!  Have you ever used embossing powder over embossing paste?  I love the extra dimension it gives to the embossed parts!  Here's how I do it:

When I use this technique, I like to start with Mixed Media paper because it's a little heavier and the combo of the paste with the heat embossing can really curl regular cardstock... plus sometimes I like to add other medium as well, so (if I remember) I usually start with this kind of paper.

I die cut my panel with a rectangle die from my stash.  Then I place it on a scrap paper because I tend to make quite the mess!  It's also easiest for me if I place some masking tape around the stencil to help keep it in place.  If I'm covering the entire panel, I keep the tape off the edge of where the paper is, but the tape still helps to hold it in place.  Then  I used my spatula to apply the embossing paste to the panel through the stencil.  And finally my new best friend when using any kind of paste with stencils is the Stencil Pal with it's long straight edge for smoothing out the past and it floats over the entire panel.

When you remove the stencil you're left with this...so pretty all by itself, right?  But while it's wet, you can if you wish sprinkle some embossing powder over it....

I used the Wow Vintage Peacock and it's sooooo pretty!  I thought it would be perfect for my Emotional Support Beverage sentiment.  My favorite part I couldn't capture, but when you heat this it's so fun to watch it change.  It bubbles just a bit as it sets and then you can watch the magic happen as more of your colors come out of that beautiful powder.

So not only do you have that cool sparkly embossing, but it's raised a bit too because of the paste.  I love it!!  To finish my card, I die cut my Coffee Cup and hearts from the Heart Board Fri-Dies out of Copic friendly paper and colored them using some colors that coordinated with the background.  I love the kind of tie-dyed look!

My coffee really does understand and love me.

I'm playing along over at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge which is Anything Goes!

So that's me for today!  I hope you enjoyed your stop and if you're inspired and ready to shop the sale I have something extra for you!

You can use my code or any of the Girl Fridays' codes for an extra 15% off these already fantastic sale prices!!  And don't forget if you spend $55 before shipping and tax you will receive Snow Angel for free!  That sweet angel needs to come to your house.

Happy Holidays and take whatever chance you have to relax and reflect (and maybe shop a little...lol... I know I will be)!  Come back again soon!

Coffee Loving Cardmakers and Graciellie Design - Stay Strong

Welcome to a special Collaboration with the Coffee Loving Cardmakers and Graciellie Design!  We are going to share some makes with you with this awesome new set from Graciellie, Stay Strong:

Hopefully you've arrived here from Amy's place!  If not, I'm glad you found me and if you get lost along the way just head on over to the Coffee Loving Cardmaker's Blog where you'll find the entire list of Coffee Loving Cardmakers and links to their projects!  There is a random drawn prize and a sale!  You can find the details at the bottom of this post!

Gorgeous, right??   Every time I see one of Gracie's new designs I fall in love.  If you want to see some really beautiful images and the best sentiments, check out her Etsy digital shop here!  AND if you prefer rubber, even after we show you all of the cool things you can do with these digital images, you can get some of Graciellie Designs sets in rubber from Unity Stamps.. including Stay Strong!

I've had this pad of paper from Prima, Wild and Free, for a long time.  I bought it because it was so pretty... you know how it is...lol!  And when I was looking at the digis I decided this paper would be just right for what I had in mind.

For this one, I started in Word and pulled in the feather image from another beautiful Graciellie Designs digital set, Dream On.  I copied the image and flipped it, changed the size of the second and placed the two on the page around where I thought I'd like them on a panel; leaving enough room to die cut the images after printing them on my Laser Printer.

After I cut out the panel with the feathers, I ran it through the Minc with some Gold Sequins Foil from Gina K (because I printed these on a laser, I'm able to foil them in the Minc).  Then a few splatters of Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine and some Nuvo drops in black.  I pulled a bunch of the coffee cups, sentiments and flowers into new documents in Word in various sizes and printed them all out on Copic Friendly paper... enough for these projects and quite a few more...lol!  Then I printed a sheet of the cups onto some of the Prima paper.  For this one, I fussy cut one of the cups in the white and colored in the wrap with some W5, W3, and W1 Copics.  I cut the cup pieces out of the design paper and pieced them onto the cup.  I cut out the heart from the wrap and created a shaker.  Popped it up... added some of the flowers I colored with R81, RV34, and RV17 for the flowers and YG01 AND YG03 for the leaves.  Then some simple black Nuvo drops for the centers.

I die cut one of the sentiments I printed and popped it up with a few more flowers and some sequins.

For the next one, I layered my papers onto a card base and then used a border die to cut the front piece so that a little bit of the inside piece shows on the side.

This time I used the entire design paper piece for the entire cup except for the whipped cream.  After I adhered the DP to the white cup, I used some W3 and W1 Copic marker to add some slight additional color to the wrap part of the cup to make it stand out a bit from the rest of the cup.

The Wednesday challenge over at Simon Says Stamp is all about Food and/or Drink!  So I'm linking up over there!

Love these little sentiment labels from the Dream On set (the one with the feathers).  So easy just to cut them out by hand... part sentiment, part embellishment!

I love the challenge of finding the perfect die to cut out my sentiments!...lol... the hardest part is to make sure they're straight if you can't see through the die... there is probably a trick.. I just eyeball it.. but with this one I was lucky and the frame had an open middle...lol!

And then, I did this:

It's lots of fun to create a sentiment background in word using digital sentiments ... I started with the document I made originally with all of my sentiments in different sizes.  I moved them all so they were closer together and tried to create a random pattern with them.  (Be sure to Save As so you don't lose your original...lol... a little techie public service announcement...lol!)  Once I had them where I wanted them, I printed it out onto one of the Prima design papers and ran it through the Minc with some more Gold Sequin Foil... SO cool, right??  Well, I think so anyway!

Aside from how versatile digis are for size and direction, I think my other favorite thing about digital stamps is the Foilability (if that wasn't a word it is now.. 'cause I said it).

I framed one of the larger sentiments I printed with some layering die cuts,  flowers, sequins and this time I colored my cup!

I used the same colors in my flowers along with a bit of E35 for my coffee bits and made my swirly delight... it's almost 10:00pm here and time for bed, but if someone offered this to me, I'd snatch it up right away!

So that's it for me!  Hope you enjoyed your visit!  Your next stop along the way is Helen's    place!  And don't forget if you lose your place along the way you can always head on back to the Coffee Loving Cardmakers post for the full list!

Oh!!  And did I mention this!?  Leave some love at all of your visits and have a chance to win!

Commenting open through August 30th with the winner announced on Saturday, September 1st. Winner selected from the comments across all of the participating blogs.

And so awesome!!  Graciellie Design is having a sale on a Coffee Bundle:

Buy these sets together and get them all for 20% off here!

And don't forget to play along here: