Falalalala

 So, this stencil thing is pretty real. And pretty awesome. This entire image was colored using, you guessed it... STENCILS and INK! I know, right? I used the Under the Christmas tree stamps, dies, and stencils from Pinkfresh Studio to create the image and then simply stamped and embossed the sentiment on a strip of cardstock to finish the look.

These layering stencils are seriously just amazing. I had so much fun creating this tree! I used a bit of gold ink to add some shine and sparkle to the decorations, too! 

If you haven't jumped onto the current stencil trend, I highly recommend giving it a shot! It is so easy to do and the results can be absolutely amazing! 

Heads up: The links in this post are affiliate links. It doesn't cost you anything extra, but if you choose to purchase from that link, I do get a share of the sale. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Just a Touch of Sparkle

 I pulled out an older Altenew stamp set for this one. When I saw older....I mean like.... from their first year. LOL! But... you GUYS! It's the Boston skyline and I rarely get that in a stamp or anything else, so this ha always been one of my favorites. I used some color blocking based on a Jennifer McGuire technique video for the design and I really like how it came out.

I stamped an embossed the image in white and then used blending brushes to apply the ink, masking off a strip for the sentiment. I pulled the sentiment from the Concord & 9th Christmas Cottage stamp set, as I have always loved Christmas time in the city and it just suited this card so well. 

And then, what did I pull out? None other than good old fashioned Stickles! I added just a touch of sparkle to the card to finish it off. It sparkles. It makes me happy. The end.

I hope you have a super terrific day!

Season of Wonder

 So, I made this card and then I was so excited about it I just had to post it before the stack that I have waiting to be posted. It happens, what can I tell ya?

Here's the thing...since I took a super long break from crafting, a few trends have emerged on the technique side and I am trying to learn some new things and do different stuff. Stencils are EVERYWHERE now. Like... they are huge. And hot foiling seems to be pretty big, too. Sooooo...I decided to pull out some of my new Pinkfresh Studio goodies and practice a bit of both of those things! 

I used the absolutely gorgeous Wintry Forest stencil set with some distress inks to create this scene. Now, folks, understand that I often struggle with color choices. I am not super great at brining a bunch of colors together, but I was SO HAPPY with this color combination. Seriously. I love it so much. It makes me happy. For the final stencil, I used VersaMark ink and then heat embossed the snow onto the branches to complete the look. 

The sentiment is hot foiled using the Thrill of Hope hot foil plate set along with the coordinating dies. I cut the sentiment several times and stacked them to give it depth. 

No joke. This is one of those cards that I just kept looking at and thinking... whoa! I made that! LOL! Don't you love it when that happens? Drop a link to a project you are particularly proud of in the comments and I'll come check it out!

Have a great day!

Black Dogs are the GREATEST!

 Did you know that black dogs end up in shelters longer than any other color dog? For some reason adopters shy away from black pups. Personally, I think that is ridiculous because black dogs (labs, in particular) are WONDERFUL! I have my super great buddy, Wyatt (along with my chocolate lab, Morgan), and he is a great big ball of love. He's also a 100 lb. lap dog, but, alas....

The Newton's Nook and Simon Says Stamp Stamptember collaboration stamp set had this absolutely perfect little Turkey Day pup and I could not resist using him to create a fun Thanksgiving card! I colored him, black of course, with Copic markers and simply stamped and heat embossed the sentiment.

The background is Simon Says Stamp Fractured stamped in grey ink. Nice and simple. While this particular Thanksgiving stamp set is no longer available as it was a limited edition for Stamptember, don't you worry your little puppy loving head... you can check out the Newton's Nook collection at Simon Says Stamp and find ALL KINDS of cute critter stamps that you will just love!

Since this is such a simple card, I only took the one shot. Also... Wyatt was literally hunting me down because I got caught steeling treats for the photo. So... I will share a photo of Mr. Wyatt, since he inspired my card! YAY!

A Bit of Red, A Bit of Green, and a Bit of Brown

 I mean, when you start working on your holiday cards it's possible that 'Oh! I had better stock up on brown cardstock!' isn't the first thing that comes to mind, but, folks, I'm here to tell you that you just may want to stock up on brown cardstock for your holiday cards! This color combination presented in the Newton's Nook Inky Paws Challenge is really quite gorgeous!

The next thing that may or may not come to mind is to use these colors for... snow. Snowflakes, to be exact. Yup. From the Beautiful Blizzard stamp set. That's what I did. And you know what? I absolutely LOVE it! Turns out snow doesn't have to be blue and silver all the time. 

See what I mean? I used a combination of Hero Arts and Simon Says Stamp inks and I absolutely love how the rich color tones work with those beautiful detailed snowflakes. I stamped and embossed the Pinkfresh Studio sentiment in gold and added a strip of gold glitter paper along the edge for plenty of sparkle and shine!

And... I'm not the only one who loves stamping these pretty snowflakes! Sterling wanted to make a card, too! He is a big fan of pink, so he had to have pink on his and he chose his other colors, too. It doesn't quite fit with the challenge, but that's okay, he's two, he can pick his colors. LOL! He particularly loved the gold ink! This was the first time we've used that one and he thought it was great! We did cheat a little and used the Misti so his snowflakes were a bit easier to stamp and then ended up right where he wanted them. It is so much fun crafting with him!

More Coffee, please

But seriously, do you have some? I'd love a cup. I have to admit, I am actually a tea drinker, but since my son was born both my husband and I seem to drink a LOT more coffee than we used to. Maybe that's because Bailey's goes better with coffee than it does with tea? HA!

Kidding.

Not really. 

But, alas...I have yet another fun card for the Coffee Lovers Blog hop! I used the Picket Fence Studios Jill Girl stamp and die for this one.

I used the Picket Fence Studio Jill Girl stamp and die. I stamped her on kraft cardstock and colored with Spectrum Noir colored pencils. I just love how she turned out! The background is the Simon Says Stamp Leafy Leaves stamped in Gold Brilliance ink (Tsukineko). I did heat set the ink, since it is a metallic pigment ink, to avoid smearing. The Just Because sentiment die from CZ Designs is die cut three times and layered to give it a bit more depth. I then added just a few metal dots as accents.

This is image has such a cozy feel to it! I just love it! 

Be sure to check out the Coffee Lovers Blog hop to see SO MANY PROJECTS and join us!

And with that, I wish you a wonderful weekend!

Coffee = Smiles

 

That's how math works, right? I mean, it must be. Because we all know it's true. Coffee = Smiles. And today is the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and THAT makes me smile, too! Because basically a whole bunch of talented crafty folks come together and post super fun projects showing off yummy beverages. Coffee, tea, hot cocoa... they all apply. And I am HERE for it, man!

If this is your first visit, WELCOME! I'm Jingle and you can find me on Instagram, too! 

You guys! I even pulled out my Dunkin Donuts scrunchy for this one. Because of course I have a Dunkin Donuts scrunchy. Do you not? 

I created this card with a wonderful amalgam of products from different places. That wonderful coffee cup is from the one and only Erin Lee Creative. I don't know if her coffee stamp set is available anymore, but her Harry Potter stuff CERTAINLY is, so you should just go buy that now because it's freaking amazing. The little mouse is an undeniably adorable stamp from the Simon Says Stamp and Colorado Craft Company Stamptember exclusive. Ummm.... CUTENESS! You can find all kinds of sets with these cute mice designed by Anita Jeram. They are incredibly adorable. And that sentiment. That wicked cute freaking sentiment? Yeah, that one is a wood block stamp from Simon Says Stamp so not only does it look adorable on a card, but it looks wicked cute on my shelf, too! I die cut the tiny heart from the Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts die set - this is a super useful set to have around. I highly recommend it.

I colored this one with Copics. Shadows and I aren't actually really good friends because, well, quite frankly, I have very poor spacial orientation and struggle with the entire concept of 'where is my light source', but I think this one turned out pretty cute. All in all, I had a super fun time creating this card! Now, head on over to the Coffe Loving Cardmakers Blog to check out all of the amazing creations out there! 

Hej Hej!

 Well, that's how it would be spelled if we were in Sweden, anyway. I'm not. I have been. And I freaking LOVE that place, so when I saw this awesome Hey Hey sentiment die from Simon Says Stamp, I knew it was just perfect for me! Plus, I pretty much just greet everyone with Hey instead of Hi most of the time, anyway, so, there's that, too. 

For the background, I stamped the Simon Says Stamp Fractured background using the Rainbow Hyrbrid Ink cubes. I love that these four colors come in a set and work so brilliantly together! I then filled in a few select segments with the Spectrum Noir glitter brush. I've mentioned how much I love that thing. I REALLY love that thing. I wish you could truly see the shimmer that it gives. It is AWESOME. It is also remarkably difficult to photograph, and for that, I apologize.

The sentiment is die cut from the stamped panel and then popped up on a black card base so it stnad out really well. Love that!

This one was a simple one. It came together pretty quickly, but I love how it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

We Need a Little Christmas, Right this Very Minute

 We need a little Christmas NOW!

Okay, so I know some of you would prefer to wait a bit, and that's cool, but I had to start on Christmas cards, at least. 

Also, now that song is in your head and that's fun, sooo......

I did lots of things on this card. I don't often do lots of things, but for this one, I did lots of things. I started by stamping and embossing this wicked cool Simon Says Stamp Star to Star background in gold. I kind of love it. I then used the Simon Says Stamp Peace Hope Love Stencil and did some blending with Hero Arts bubblegum ink. That gorgeous medallion is die cut twice, once in black for the 'underneath' part (that's the technical term, naturally), and once from gold cardstock. A bit of foam tape raises the gold over the black.

Finally, the sentiment is an older Simon Says Stamp Joyeux Noel die cut from a nice bright pink cardstock.

I love that this card mixes fun stuff from several collections. I always appreciate when I can use supplies I've had around for awhile along with some of the newer stuff to create new looks.

And thus, we begin with the holiday cards of 2021. Yes, my friends, it has begun. Don't worry too much, though...I will have some others mixed in there, too. I promise.

Have a wonderful day! 

TOADally Awesome

 So, as it turns out, frogs are cute. Well, some frogs anyway. Particularly the adorable frogs in the Toadally Unfrogettable stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. I mean... JUST LOOK AT HIM!

He is colored with Copics and, well, he's just pretty much the cutest thing EVER! Nice and simple design for this one, but I feel like that image and the fun sentiment did all the work for me, so... simple it is! 

I hope you have a hopping good Monday! Hee-hee.... see what I did there... cuz frogs.... cuz.... 

okay. I'll go now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Because Beaches Make Me Happy

I am an East Coast girl. We live in a coastal town and let me tell you what the benefit of that is. The benefit of that, my friends, is that a nice walk on the beach or the simple happy making scent of ocean waters is never more than a few minutes away. And that, my dear friends, is what keeps me sane. Happy. Sane. I don't know... maybe both of those things. When I saw this amazing layered stamp set called Sea and Sky from Simon Says Stamp I was pretty sure it was designed for me. Or at the very least for the people like me. You see, my dear friends...it is FREAKING AWESOME!

So, I stamped the sky portion with cloudy sky ink because, well, I mean, it is a cloudy sky, so that just sort of made sense. I like to be practical sometimes. Sometimes. I stamped the water with a nice dark navy and then colored that with Spectrum Noir colored pencils. The sand is stamped with Stampin' Up Sahara Sand ink. Because it is sand. Again, with the practical. Who knows...maybe it will become a habit.

Finally, I added a whole bunch of sparkle with a Spectrum Noir clear glitter brush. You GUYS! If you don't have these get some. They add a TON of sparkle and shimmer. It's not subtle. I like my sparkle to...well, you know....SPARKLE!

I finished this card with a simply cut CZ Designs Wish I Could Hug You die cut sentiment because it was basically the perfect fit. I mean... the beach is like a hug. It makes you feel calm and cozy and happy. YAY beach! 

I hope you have a delightful day. Maybe with just a hint of salt water in the air.

Two Cards for the Price of One!

 Well, 'price' probably isn't the right word, but basically, I started out creating one card and ended up with two very different designs from the work I put into it. I kind of love them and how very different they turned out even though they use the very same basic supplies all around.

Here are the supplies I used:

Simon Says Stamp Leafy Leaves Background Stamp

CZ Designs Chunky Thankful Die

Prima Watercolors, Decadent Pies

And a Neat and Tangled Maple Leaf stamp that is no longer available, but you can find a similar one in this Simon Says Stamp set

Oh... and some cardstock, bristol, and May Arts twine. 

Fir this one, I stamped the background on bristol and watercolored it to create a nice fall background look. I then die cut the sentiment, saving the middle pieces, adhered the painted panel to a card base and then adhered the sentiment pieces back into the 'Thankful' to make a cool outline look. This let the background be the star of the show for this card.  A simple wrap and bow with twine finished it off nicely.

Now, as you know, I don't normally just jump into a supply list. BUT... for this one, I had to because... CHECK IT OUT! After making this card, I realized I had the perfect makings for a beautiful clean and simple design with the leftovers!

There is a slight chance I like this one even better. Even though the painting took a bit of time and effort and you can't really tell that as much here, BUT, alas...I still LOVE the way that die cut sentiment looks cut from the stamped and watercolored background. It's like.... perfect. So, I used the outline that was left over on a simple white panel and then just stamped a few maple leaves to finish it off in a nice deep red tone. 

Two cards from one set of work! LOVE IT! And I hope you do, too. Never forget to check out what your 'scraps' are giving you! You may just find some treasures in there!