*Puppy Love Blog Hop*

 Happy Friday crafty friends!  It's the first Friday of February, which means that the design team Scrap 'n Stamp Canada is HOPPING!  Our theme for February is "Puppy Love"....  

Be sure to visit each blog in the hop and leave a comment to increase your chances of winning a $50 gift certificate to Scrap 'n Stamp!  

I had fun with this one... still sort of clean and simple but with a little more detail than you're used to seeing from me.

Isn't it cute?!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; gold sparkle

*Patterned Paper:  My Favorite Things Black & White Stripes
*Images:  My Favorite Things New Best Friend; Picket Fence Studios Part of the Pack

*Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Versafine Claire Nocturne; Spectrum Noir Triblends in Dark Red, Brown Grey and Pale Pink

*Dies:  My Favorite Things New Best Friend; Lawn Fawn Hearts

*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Perfect Layers

Now it's time for you to hop along to see what the rest of the Scrap 'n Stamp design team has created for this fun hop!  Like I said, make sure to leave comments on each post along the way to increase your chances of winning a $50 gift certificate from Scrap 'n Stamp!

Tara

Kia

Nancy  <-- you are here!

Deborah

Chala

Susan

Jessica

*Two Snowmen*

 I was inspired by a card I saw on Instagram by @icardink....  I made the one on the left first and both Bruce (my hubby) and my good friend Bonnie said I needed to have something behind the snowflakes.  They both prefer the card on the right, but I still prefer the card on the left!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110; Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Basic Grey, Cherry Cobbler; Pumpkin Pie; Holographic cardstock

*Dies:  Impression Obsession snowflakes; My Favorite Things Filled With Joy

*Tools:  Gemini Jr

*Etc:  white Gelly Roll pen

*Quick and Easy Joyous Holiday*

 I swear, I'm almost done with the Christmas cards!  Another one created to use up some patterned paper.. not honestly sure how I feel about it  I feel like it's missing something.

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler

*Patterned Paper:  Photoplay Gnome for the Holidays

*Images:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips, Simple Strips Backers; Spellbinders cirlces

*Tools:  Gemini Jr

*New Years Eve*

 Well, here we are... at the end of what has been a challenging year for so many.  A global pandemic has made all of our lives different in the last 9 months, however I refuse to say that 2020 has been awful.  I had some challenging times but they would have been challenging with or without Covid-19.  But 2020 also made me stronger, helped me show myself what I can do... in 2020 I beat cancer for a second time and am hopeful for my future (which is something I didn't feel a year ago).  I have spent more time with my family of four, learned a new way to do my job (that I've been at for 8 years), I have figured out other ways to connect with family and friends... and I had the opportunity to make more cards in one year than I've ever done before!  My card count for 2020 is 327 cards... which means I will be sharing a few more 2020 cards as we start 2021.

I wonder how many cards I'll make in 2021...  2020 gave me a lots of time to play with being off while undergoing treatment and being home a lot more often thanks to Covid-19.  I'm not going to stress over it... just keep count as always, for interest sake.

But for today, another Christmas card for you (and yes, there are a few more Christmas cards to share)...

I swear to you, this card looked way better in my head...

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Real Red; green foil

*Patterned Paper:  Photoplay Gnome for Christmas

*Images:  Avery Elle Merry Merry

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  MFT Impact Alphabet

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Gemini Jr

*Dark Christmas Lights*

I saw a card like this on my internet travels and knew I wanted to try the idea of the black panel with the sparkly lights.  I embossed the string of lights stamps with gold embossing powder before adding dies of the lights cut out of glitter paper.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black; gold

*Images:  My Favorite Things Party Lights; Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Christmas

*Ink:  VersaMark; Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  My Favorite Things Party Lights; Taylored Expressions Simple Strips & Simple Strips Backer

*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Perfect Layers; heat tool

*Embellishments:  Glossy Accents; gold detail embossing powder

*Star Ornament*

 This card was created using some scraps that were sitting on my desk.  With things like my glitter cardstock, I don't want to waste anything.  It's not like I can't get more, it's just so dang pretty!  The only thing on the front of this card that wasn't a scrap was the red bow die cut.  Everything else was already cut and ready to go.

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler; silver and red glitter cardstock

*Images:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  My Favorite Things Filled With Joy; Taylored Expressions Simple Strips & Simple Strips Backer

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Gemini Jr

*Etc:  foam adhesive

*Season Sparkle*

This Memory Box star die is such a joy to use.  Not only is it beautiful, it cuts like a hot knife through butter!  I need to branch out a little as I've only ever cut it out of silver foil cardstock.... but it looks SO beautiful done this way!  I've been loving the silver with red accents this holiday season so you'll see it quite a few times in my creations.

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler; silver mirro

*Images:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips, Simple Strips Backer; Memory Box Chandele Star

*Tools:  Gemini Jr

*Etc:  foam adhesive

*AAACards #180*

Happy Sunday all!!  Here we are, just a few weeks before Christmas.  I still have a lot of Christmas cards to share with you... I hope you don't mind!  For the first time ever, all the Christmas cards I am sending out this year are individual designs.  I'm pretty excited by that!

For the month of December, there is only this one challenge with the team from AAACards.  We know that December is a busy time for so many of us so we are doing just one challenge.  For the next few weeks, we encourage you to share your clean and simple cards that are "made in minutes" with the optional theme of Christmas.  We know that the first design of a card never takes just minutes... we want a card that once it's designed would only take you minutes to recreate it.

Our sponsor for this challenge is STAMPlorations and our guest designer is Dena.

Be sure to link up your creation for your chance to win a prize from STAMPlorations and to be a guest designer in an upcoming challenge.

I absolutely fell in love with this card when I was finished it.  If I was going to make multiples of a card, this would be the one.  The hardest part would be the die cutting but since I used three different snowflakes, I could cut all three at once, cutting my die cut time in half.

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; silver and blue glitter

*Images:  Poppy Stamps Art Deco Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  MFT Stitched Rectangles; Impression Obsession Snowflakes

*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Misti

*Embellishments:  ribbon from my stash

*Etc:  foam adhesive

*Christmas Buable*

I fell in love with the Birch Press ornament dies that came out this year...  I ended up buying the basic set plus two other decorative sets....  I need more time in a day to play!  Although I can't complain as I am on track to have all of my Christmas cards individual designs this year... for the first time ever!  I sure hope I can pull it off!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; silver and light blue glitter

*Images:  Simon Says Stamp Clean Line Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Birch Press Ornament Basics, Marisol Ornament Layer A

*Tools:  Gemini Jr

*Skating*

Happy Friday, Friends!  I am back with another card for Scrap 'n Stamp Canada, following along with the Random Acts of Cardness promtps.  The prompt for today is "skating".  I have this great My Favorite Things set that was screaming for ink... so glad I finally had a chance to play.

I think I need to work with this set some more...  I had an idea of a scene in my head thanks to some ideas I saw on Pinterest, however I didn't execute the ideas all that well.  But I tried...

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Hammermill Premium Color Copy Cover 100lb

*Patterned Paper:  American Crafts

*Images:  My Favorite Things Giraffes on Ice

*Ink:  Gina K Amalgam; Copics; Gina K greens

*Dies:  Lawn Fawn Stitched Circles; My Favorite Things Giraffes on Ice

*Tools:  Gemini Jr

*Embellishments:  Lawn Fawn Liquid Stardust

*Another Gnome*

I'm back with another Gnome....  when you cut the image you can basically create two different gnomes by cutting it out of two different patterned papers and mixing and matching.  It some ways it would be nice if the pieces were all separate, but they're not so you get a second card.

This card did not come together easily for me.  I really didn't know what I wanted to do.  I suck at making scenes, as this card shows.  I don't have one of those fun "hill" dies so I used part of a large heart die to create a snowy bank for my gnome.  Honestly, other than the gnome, nothing turned out quite right with this card.

Items Used:

*Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Smoky Slate, Basic Black, Pink Pirouette

*Patterned Paper:  Brutus Monroe Sweater Weather; unknown

*Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp Clean Line Christmas; MFT Christmas Cheer

*Ink:  Gina K Amalgam; Copics

*Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Li'l Gnome; Revolution nested heart; Simon Says Stamp Clean Line Christmas

*Etc:  Christmas Red Stickles; foam tape

*AAACards #179*

We are almost at the end of the year for challenges with AAACards.  There is only one more left after this one before we start up again in 2021.  This is a great clean and simple challenge and I hope you'll play along!  Link up your cards HERE for your chance to win a prize from Uniko as well as become a guest designer for an upcoming challenge.

Our guest designer for challenge #179 is Neeti... be sure to check out her creation as well as the creations of the rest of the Design Team!

I absolutely fell in love with the die I used on the card I'm sharing today.  I just *had* to have it when I had a quick stop in to Scrapendipity here in Calgary.  They have exciting news in the form of a new, second location, opening in the next few weeks!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; blue foil

*Images:  Blue Fern Studios Holiday Greetings

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Crafters Companion Bearing Gifts

*Tools:  Gemini Jr

*Merry & Bright Snowflake*

I can't believe how fast the days are going by....  we are way more than half way through November already!  I'm on track with making Christmas cards I think, but I am way behind on shopping.  Not that I buy a lot...  a buy a few things for a few special people and my little family of four each draws a name and we each buy for one person in the family.  I need to get busy on some stocking ideas for my guys, though.  It's a lot hard with trying to avoid going out.

This card started out as a white on white card... but then I decided to throw in the red for a little "boom"...

Items Used:

• Cardstock: Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb
• Images:  MFT Merry & Bright
• Ink:  Gina K Cherry Red
• Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Marie Snowflake; MFT Phrase Builder
• Stencils:  MFT Snowfall
• Etc:  Brutus Monroe Alabaster Glitter Glaze

*Gold Ornament*

In my internet travels, I saw a challenge for a gold and red card... I have no idea where it was but it got the wheels turning.  I used one of the layers from one of the Birch Press layering ornament sets and put it on a red card front.  A little embossing for the greeting and that's about it.

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler; unknown gold

*Images:  Pretty Pink Posh Winter Wreath

*Ink:  Versamark

*Dies:  Birch Press Marisol Ornament (Layer B); MFT Filled With Joy

*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Perfect Layers; heat tool

*Etc:  gold embossing powder

*Ho Ho Ho*

Talk about a quick and easy card... grab some paper scraps, an alphabet die set and go!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Nennah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb

*Paper:  Doodlebug Milk & Cookies

*Dies:  Lawn Fawn Oliver's Stitched ABCs

*Inlaid Die Cuts*

Happy Monday!!  I'm back with another post for the Scrap 'n Stamp design team... following along with the Random Acts of Cardness prompts, today I am sharing a card I created using inlaid die cuts.  This is a fun technique that leaves you with a smooth card front, perfect for mailing (instead of a bulky card that could get damaged in the mail).  

I started out with a white panel cut to 3 7/8 X 5 1/8" and I used Purple Tape to adhere my dies to the panel so that the dies wouldn't move.  I cut out the bow, the ornament top and the word JOY from this first panel and then decided to cut the extra "O" image with the star centre out of a scrap of white cardstock and some of the elements out of silver sparkle paper as well.  I thought I was being super smart and kept all the pieces from the die cutting.... I threw out two important pieces... can you tell what they were from this photo?

I used some Gina K ink and my Taylored Expressions blending brushes to create an ombre look to the letters... I started at the bottom of each letter so that area would be the darkest part of each letter.  

Once I had all of my pieces ready, I took a piece of printer paper and covered it with Sookwang double sided adhesive.  I love the sookwang because it is super sticky and I can tear it instead of cut it!  I then laid my card panel face down on my workspace and put the printer paper on it, with the sticky side against the cardstock.  This gives me an easy way to attach my inlaid elements without making a mess with glue.

I put in each of the pieces... and this is when I realized I threw out the insides of the bow cut from the white cardstock, so I had to cut that part of the die again.  

Once I had all of the pieces attached, I flipped the piece over and burnished it all down from the back, making sure all of my elements were well adhered.  I then used my We R Memory Keepers Layers Guide to create a perfect 1/16" mat around my card front and added it all to a white card base.

I can't wait to see what you create... be sure to share it on the Scrap 'n Stamp Facebook page!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Gina K Blue Lagoon; silver sparkle

*Dies:  My Favorite Things Filled With Joy

*Ink:  Gina K Blue Lagoon

*Tools Gemini Jr; Taylored Expressions Blending Brushes

*Etc:  Be Creative Sookwang tape

*Christmas Means More*

I love this Stampin' Up! stamp set...  such wonderful sentiments, big enough to be the focal point of a card.  I'll be playing with them some more, for sure!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler

*Paper:  American Crafts

*Images:  Stampin' Up! Christmas Means More

*Ink:  Catherine Pooler Rockin' Red

*Dies:  Spellbinders

*Embellishments:  Stampin' Up! Adhesive Backed Snowflakes

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Gemini HJr

*Be Merry*

Hi! In case you haven't realized it, I am at the stage where it will probably be all Christmas cards until sometime in December or January.  Christmas is truly my most favourite reason to make cards... and every year I say I won't buy anything new and every year I buy a lot of the new stuff.  It's all just so freakin' awesome!

For the card today, I CASEd a card I saw on Instagram... please go check out Hanh's cards as she has a great style!!  I saw her card, loved it and knew I wanted to make one like it.  I changed out the stamp but that's about it...  I think that this is one of my most favourite Christmas cards of 2020... I love the light blue and silver and if you've been here for a while, you know how much I LOVE snowmen!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Hammermill Premium Color Copy Cover 100lb; Stampin' Up! Balmy Blue; silver mirror

*Images:  MFT Festive Friends

*Ink:  Gina K Amalgam; Copics; white Gelly Roll

*Dies:  MFT Festive Friends; Waffle Flower A2 Rectangles; Stampin' Up! layering oval; Impression Obsessions Snowflakes

*Tools:  Gemini Jr

*Etc:  foam tape

*AAACards #178*

I am back with another challenge with the design team at AAA Cards!  I love the clean and simple inspiration from the design team and everyone who plays along with us!  For the current challenge we have a credit to Funky Fossil Designs up for grab... for your chance to win, please share your Clean and Simple Card following the challenge!

As you can see from the graphics above, Challenge #178 is a sketch challenge with the optional twist of Primary Colours.  I strayed away from the optional twist for my card... and I made my card a rectangle instead of a square.  Check out how the rest of the Design Team interpreted the sketch... I love how everyone does it a little differently!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; silver mirror cardstock

*Paper:  assorted glitter paper from my stash

*Images:  Hero Arts Off Beat Holiday Greetings

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Impression Obesssion

*Tools:  Gemini Jr

*Sweater Weather Blog Hop*

 It's the first Friday of the month which means it's time to Hop along with the design team at Scrap 'n Stamp Canada!  I hope you'll visit all of the blogs listed below to have a look at how we have each interpreted the theme of Sweater Weather!  Leave comments on each blog along the way for your chance to win a prize from Scrap 'n Stamp!

And while we're at it... there's a sale going on at Scrap 'n Stamp!  Bundle up and Save!!  Click HERE to see the bundles on sale until midnight on Sunday, November 8th!

I took the words Sweater Weather pretty literally and used some great knit look paper from Brutus Monroe to create a Starburst card.  There are lots of ideas out there for Starburst cards, but here's a link to the one I used.  

I started out by cutting out the pieces of patterned paper as shown HERE.  I then played around with placement of those pieces before I started gluing them down.  Glue worked well for this (I am usually a double sided adhesive girl) as it gives you a little time to play with placement.  You can make a mess at the "centre" mark as it will be covered.  I took the time to lay out the pieces in the order I was going to place them so that I didn't have to mess around while gluing things to my backer piece.

Here you can see all of the pieces glued down... this was a lot more work that I'm used to doing on a card, but certainly not too much work.  I think the second card I make like this will be a lot easier... the first one is always a little more work as you're trying to figuring things out.

As you can see from the photo above, the pieces are all longer than they need to be.... I simply took my sharp scissors and cut off the edges once everything was dry.

I think there are SO many options for this technique... it all depends on what you place over that mess in the centre.  I've seen lots of different ideas for the Starburst technique... google it (or search it on Pinterest).

I finished off my card with a Christmas sentiment from My Favorite Things.  It's a pretty busy card coming from the lover of clean and simple... but I like it!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Gina K Cranberry Tart; unknown yellow

*Patterned Paper:  Brutus Monroe Sweater Weather

*Images:  MFT Merry and Bright

*Ink:  Gina K Christmas Pine

*Dies:  MFT Phrase Builders

*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Scissors; Perfect Layers

Here are the stops for the hop... remember to leave a comment on each stop to increase your chances of winning that prize!!!

Here are the rest of the stops along the way....

Tara

Nancy (you are here!)

Deborah

Kia

Susan

Chala

Tara