Popping in!

 

If you're a regular follower, you'll know that I'm a stamp lover. I've been stamping for more than 10 years and I love all of the fun techniques and products that accompany stamps. That said, sometimes I like to venture out into the digital world and search for free digi stamps that I can use. I recently happened upon this lovely site called Birds Cards that offers free digi stamps and cutting files. Beautiful stuff! I found this cute poppies file and knew I had to use it right away. 

I printed it twice in the same size and then cut a few pieces of the 2nd copy to adhere over the 1st copy. I colored the first copy and then colored the select pieces from the 2nd copy and cut them out using my Westcott 6" Microtip scissors - these babies are amazing for fussy cutting! The handles are large, so no finger pain. 

I love the cute little protector cap it comes with, as well! Seriously though, these scissors are awesome and I highly recommend them. The super sharp titanium bonded blades and the large comfortable handles make fussy cutting a breeze.

After I cut the selected poppies, I adhered them with foam dot adhesive. These poppies can be stretched big enough to look nice on a layout as well. Thanks for taking a peek!

Sandy Beaches

I remember getting sparkly and fun cards for birthdays when I was a kid. The more texture and layers, the better! As an adult, I still really enjoy all the textures and fun embellishments. I like the added interest that textures add. On this card, I used several different textures. The cardstock (Webster's Pages) is smooth, so I added that as a base. The "aloha" stickers are also smooth, and beyond that, everything has a texture.

To create the palm trees, I used a Cuttlebug die and folder set (At the Beach) and cut and embossed kraft paper for the trunks along with American Crafts Glitter Cardstock for the palms. I added coconut buttons with GlueArts Mini Adhesive Squares. The flower was made with American Crafts textured cardstock from the Tropicals pack. the green was die cut with a Spellbinders foliage die and the flower was made with a couple different punches. 

The sandy island was my favorite part. I had a piece of kraft paper left over from another project; it had some computer generated text on it. I put an adhesive sheet over it and then accented the edges with Glossy Accents. I sprinkled Sandtastik loose sand over it and let it dry. Sandtastik sand is a lot of fun, by the way. It comes in all different colors and Sandtastik also sells Sculpey clay along with many other fun craft mediums! For product reviews and tutorials, check out Scrap n' Art - we have done several features on Sandtastik.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Not so much

You'd think with the kids at my parents' house, I'd be getting all sorts of things done. I suppose if you count watching 1.5 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Hulu, you'd be right. Other than that...not so much. I do have a couple of cards to share with you though :) 

This card was sort of a "throw-together" card. I didn't plan on doing it and I just happened to have these elements already made. I just put them on the base and decided - yes, that will do. I do like the orange and pink though.

Cardstock: American Crafts

Adhesive: Glue Arts, Beacon Adhesives (Zip Dry)

Die Cuts: Spellbinders (Foilage, Beaded Oval)

Embossing Folder: Sizziz

Stamps: Martha Stewart Crafts (flower) & Papertrey Ink (sentiment)

Trim: Hobby Lobby

Ink: Memento

This next card was one of my favorites. I just love bright colors with black and white. I used a Pink Paislee Mistables tag, but instead of misting over it, I sponged Memento inks over the white emboss resist. It creates a much brighter color palette with less drying time than the sprays. I added a rub-on sentiment and a few pink and blue gems to finish it off and embellished the card with a Petaloo flower and some baker's twine.

You can't see the embossing on the white cardstock very well in the photo. It's a zebra print. 

Cardstock: American Crafts

Adhesive: Beacon Adhesives (Zip Dry), Glue Arts (Adhesive Squares)

Embellishments: Pink Paislee, Petaloo, Want2Scrap, Melissa Francis (rub-on)

Ink: Memento

Thanks for taking a peek!

Hello June!

What a pretty month you're starting out to be - the sky is blue, the sun is radiant and I'm ready for summer. I just got back from visiting western NE; I stayed with my parents and got to see a lot of friends and family. My brother, Brian, came back from CA and it was great to see him again. Micah and Alexis couldn't get enough of him! My brother, Neil, brought his girlfriend, Casie, and it was great getting to know her as well - a kindred crafty spirit! I also got to hang out with my bestie, Dayna, and we had a great time stamping in her basement. I got to see lots more friends I haven't seen in a long time, so all in all, it was an exciting and fantastic trip.

I'm hoping to be able to get lots of crafting done in the next couple of weeks as the kiddos are still vacationing at the farm with my parents. I got everything re-organized today, so hopefully that helps. I haven't actually gotten anything else done, so I guess I'll share some older stuff I haven't gotten around to posting yet. This is a layout I made for my mom's heritage book; it's of her and her dad. This is a great way to use up scraps of random paper, by the way!

 This card is a fun little vintage number I threw together after I embossed that background with a newish Sizzix embossing folder.  I love that pattern! The clouds are by Papertrey Ink (dies), the label is a Spellbinders die and the sentiment is a Cuttlebug die. The vintage image is from PaperDreamsFactory - they have the BEST vintage images! 

I've got more to share, but I'll post them later this week. Oh, and make sure you check out the June issue of Scrap n' Art. It has so much cool stuff in it! Thanks for taking a peek!

When I'm not feeling particularly creative, I take the time to make up a bunch of die cuts to use on future projects. That made this card a cinch to make - I probably spent all of 10 minutes on it. I stamped the bird cage onto the Spellbinders Beaded Oval with Rosebud Memento ink (the birdcage is from Tweety Jill). The sentiment (Papertrey Ink) was stamped over it with Cocoa Memento ink. The paper is from a 6x6 Prima paper pack I picked up at Hobby Lobby and the other two die cuts are also by Spellbinders.

So, if you find yourself with some extra time but no extra mojo, try making up a batch of die cuts. You'll thank yourself later ;)
Thanks for taking a peek!

Heat Embossing

 While I like to color in stamped images, one of my favorite things to do is heat emboss. Lately, I've been embossing with opaque colored powders from American Crafts and they are so much fun. On this card, I heat embossed the sentiment and cake. I went over the cake with Perfect Pearls after it was embossed.

This bodice was heat embossed onto the white paper after I had machine embossed the oval with my Grand Calibur. To do this, you simply use the sandwich for embossing rather than cutting - you still use the Spellbinders dies, but it won't cut through the paper.

If you would like to know more about the different types of inks and which inks are OK for heat embossing, check out this handy dandy resource. Thanks for taking a peek!

I'm done I'm done I'm done!

Finals week is officially over and I'm free until the fall semester.
ahhhhhhhhhh

Oh, and today happens to be National Scrapbooking Day, so I have a few projects to share. I created these for challenges on www.scrapbook.com today and I actually won one of their awesome prize packs!

I made this for my mom. I found the vintage seed packet online HERE along with a ton of others - you have to check these out! Did I mention they're free? ;)  I printed them out on cardstock using my printer's "best" setting.

This is a layout for the 2nd challenge - it had to be about your home in some way. I chose our dining room table because we love to have people over!

This is the 3rd project I made, it was for a journaling challenge. 

Well, I feel rather productive today! Thanks for taking a peek :)