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!

The Mask of Zorro

Or.... maybe the mask of the Great Card Caper? Sure. Let's go with that one! This week, our Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is all about Masking! It's the Mask It Challenge! The Design Team is featuring Altenew products this week. You don't have to use them to play along, but if you have some, we would love to see what you work your masking magic with them.



I used the super fun Halftone Hello stamp set to create my card. I masked a strip in the middle of the larger stamp to leave room for the smaller hello to overstamp and be clear and visible in the completed design. I love how these two images look layered!


And now it's your turn! Create something awesome using masking in some way in your design and link it up over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog for your chance to win a $50 Gift Certificate to the Simon Says Stamp Store!

Have a Happy!

Advent Calendar Extravaganza Time!

Hello, all! I am excited to be participating in the Advent Calendar Extravaganza with Taheerah today! This is a month long event STUFFED with inspiration and prizes, galore! You won't want to miss it!

Advent Calendar Extravaganza is -the- festive event of the season! This ‘hop with a twist’ was dreamed up by Taheerah Atchia and features surprise destinations each day! Joining in the fun with Taheerah are over 60 special guests - each serving up some fantastic Christmas inspiration! Just like an Advent Calendar, you’ll never know where you’re going to be visiting next until you ‘open the door’!

And that’s not all! With 25 *amazing* sponsors taking part as well, your crafty wish list is bound to get a boost with a chance to win a prize EVERY SINGLE DAY!! Today's sponsor is Altenew!

Join in the fun every day at taheerah-atchia.com to see what special surprises wait behind the door!




Because Altenew is sponsoring today, I wanted to pull out some Altenew stamps! YAY! I used the Modern Beadwork stamp set to create a super fun "ugly" sweater style card. I had a BLAST creating this card! 

It’s not a party without a prize - and with prizes every day there are several chances to win! Today’s prize is generously supplied by Altenew, so you’ll definitely want to get your hands on it! Simply leave a comment on this post to enter - then head back to taheerah-atchia.com and leave a comment there too to double your chances! Don’t forget to grab the other surprise destinations from Taheerah’s blog and head over to them to leave comments there as well to improve your odds even more! You have until 7am EST on Thursday 31st December to leave all your comments! 

Don’t forget the Advent Calendar Extravaganza runs from 1st-25th December inclusive so make sure you visit taheerah-atchia.com every day for fabulous inspiration and amazing prizes every single time! Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve, everyone! Today we have a brand new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog and it is a great one for this holiday weekend! It's ANYTHING GOES time! The Design Team is featuring Altenew products this week. You don't have to use them to play along, but if you have some we'd love to see what you do with them!



I pulled out the Altenew Quilled Elegance stamp set along with a set of Altenew dye inks to create my card for today. I love that these inks come in cubes so I can get lots of colors without a lot of cost! YAY! I did a little smooshing on watercolor paper for the color and then added the image in black ink over the smooshed ink. I colored in the letters using the Wink of Stella black brush. This has gold glitter in it, making it a perfect match for these warm color tones.



I love how that Wink of Stella adds so much sparkle to the finished design! A simple strip of paper form the Lawn Fawn Let's Polka 6x6 paper pad finishes off the card.

Now it's YOUR turn! Create something NEW and fabulous and link it up over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 Gift Voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store! Woot! Woot!

Have a Happy!

Because Sometimes You Want Clear Shaker Sides

So. Here's the thing. I had a vision. I made a sketch. It was going to be GREAT! It all started with this photo, but there was a problem.

This is the current inspiration photo from the Runway Inspired Challenge. As soon as I saw it, an idea popped into my head, so I grabbed my trusty Post-It notes and sketched out a card. I love the sketch and finally go to turn that vision into a reality last night. Only one problem. My vision had a shaker going across the front of the card. See those floral panels on her jacket? For some reason they screamed WINDOW to me, so my mind went to a shaker card. BUT...the design I had sketched sort of neglected to remember the fact that sequins will fall out if shakers don't have sides. My shaker didn't have sides.



CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

Yes, my friends, despite having not thought through the engineering quite as thoroughly as I perhaps should have in the sketching stage, I managed to maintain my original design idea and still have my shaker card. WHAT?! Yup. For reals, you guys. How did I complete these feat of awesomeness, you ask? Kool Tac Clear Foam Tape, my friends. To. The. Rescue. Yup. The sides are sealed with clear foam tape. Under the acetate. And you can barely see it. And I love that. And this card, you guys... THIS CARD!



I heat embossed the bottom panel with Wide stripes for a subtle bit of texture. The red stripe was inspired by the belt buckle in the photo, along with the stripes found throughout. I just really love how this all came together. It's one of my favorites, for sure! You can find my complete supply list below. (All Simon Says Stamp links are affiliate links and your support is always appreciated.)

White Cardstock: Crafter's Companion Ultra Smooth White
Black and Red Cardstock: Simon Says Stamp
Gold Cardstock: Bazzill Gold Metallic Cardstock (Again... SO WORTH IT!)
Stamps: Altenew Sketchy Cities Abroad, Simon Says Stamp Wide Stripe
Dies: Spellbinders Celebration Two
Adhesive: Kool Tac Clear Foam Tape, Giant Roll of Scotch Foam Tape
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black, VersaMark
Sequins: Hazel and Ruby
Acetate: Judikins Embossable Window Sheets

Have a Happy!

Another Fabulous Year of Being AWESOME!

Just a reminder... I need your votes for the Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking World Card Making Day Contest Honorable Mention! My card is the floral birthday card! Thank you so much to those who have already voted! You guys ROCK!!!

Today I am sharing a simple, but totally fun card. Date stamps. Somehow I feel like many of us end up with them somehow and then we tend to forget to use them. Or not have any clue HOW to effectively use them. I was definitely in this group, anyway. I received this super cute date stamp from the Shimelle Collection. It's adorable. Seriously. BUT, seeing as I don't scrapbook very often, AND, even when I did, I generally didn't use date stamps, I wasn't sure what to do with it. So, naturally, I took it out of the package and stared at it. Because that always works. HA!

And then I remembered THIS awesome sentiment from Altenew. Yup. Combined with my date stamp, we had LIFT OFF! I changed the dates, including the year, on the date stamp with each use to get all kinds of dates on my card. They go backwards, they go forwards, they basically go all over the place! And that works SO AWESOMELY WELL with the sentiment and I LOVE that. (And yes, awesomely is a word... spell check told me so. No...for reals, though..I was kind of surprised by that, so I thought I should share. Awesomely. It's a word.)

So, in conclusion...

• Date stamps are actually kind of awesome.
• Awesomely is totally a word.
• You actually CAN, awesomely, get ideas by staring at supplies you have no clue how to use.

Don't forget to vote. Awesomely. For reals, though.

The end.

Have a Happy!

Shanghai Day and Night

I may or may not have fallen instantly in love with the inspiration photo for the Cure for the Monday Blues Challenge this week.

Seriously, though, you guys!!! Isn't that just a happy place? Clean, beautiful whites, shiny things, and food! What more could you possible need? HA! I was very much drawn to the white on white with just a touch of gold and pale pinks, so, despite knowing the difficulty of photographing white on white cards.... I did it. What can I say? Life is all about the challenges, right? Right. K. Good. Now... my card...



I did mention the difficulty of photographing white on white, right? I promise it is gorgeous in real life. LOL! I stamped the Shanghai skyline from Altenew's Sketchy Cities Abroad stamp set and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I really love the detail in this image! I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in gold and then added a strip of pale pink paper from the Shimelle Collection and a small bit of gold washi tape from Little B Designs.



Before you go, just a reminder that tomorrow will be my TAKE THREE post for my Winnie & Walter Leading Lady position this month! Be sure to stop by because there is some VERY cool stuff coming around here!

Have a Happy!

SERIOUSLY, thank you.

No. Seriously. For reals, though. I sort of kind of lots of LOVE this Seriously die from Lil' Inker Designs. LOVE. Seriously, though. AND, I also happen to love this wicked fun Beadwork stamp set from Altenew, sooo... I decided to play with them together! YAY! I am playing along with the Cynthia Rowley Runway Inspired Challenge, inspired by this fabulous photograph.

I particularly loved the linear feel of this inspiration photo along with the gold. Because, gold. I wanted to emphasize both of these pieces in my design, so I pulled out my Tsukineko Delicata ink and went to town with the Beadwork stamp set!



I love how this stamp set allows you to create your own pattern. I created a pattern that fit nicely on the white panel (Crafter's Companion Ultra Smooth White) and then trimmed a thin strip of black cardstock to enhance that linear feel. I stamped the 'thank you' portion of the sentiment with Tsukineko VersaFine in Onyx Black. I love the detail you get with sentiments stamped in VersaFine! I then added the die cut 'Seriously' and popped the panel up with foam tape.



I am also linking this up to the CAS challenge over at Virginia's View Challenge! Have an awesome day, my friends!

Have a Happy!

What's Up?

Have you been keeping an eye on the Spellbinders blog? Because, dude. There are lots of new dies coming out and they are FABULOUS!!! I used the new Chevron border die for this card, and, umm... I super duper love it. Like, lots. For reals, though. Super. duper. lots.

I kept it simple with a fabulous line image giraffe from Altenew and a super cute punny sentiment. LOVE THAT! I colored the triangles with Spectrum Noir pens, but kept the colors fairly flat and simple since the pattern was doing all the work. 

In other news, I have a *couple* of mystery boxes left! They have been selling, so I only have a couple more! See yesterday's post for more info!

Have a Happy!!!

May Your Day Be Filled With Sunshine!

It is a beautiful day here in Massachusetts today! Sunny and not too cool and not too warm! I just love days like this! The Altenew Challenge sort of gives that feeling of that kind of day, too, which is why I felt like today was the perfect day to show off the card I created inspired by this challenge!

I loved the woodgrain along with the bright yellows and greens with lots of white. It just has a sunny feel to it! I used that as the inspiration for my card.



I super love these shadow stamps! They are just so neat! I created the grass using Spectrum Noir colored pencils in a variety of green tones.



I hope your day is, indeed, filled with sunshine!

I am also linking this up to the CAS-ology Challenge: Under

Have a Happy!

Altenew Shadow Play My Mind's Eye Metal Enamel Dots Spectrum Noir Colored Pencils Floral Spectrum Noir Colored Pencils Nature Spectrum Noir Colored Pencils Primaries Spectrum Noir Colored Pencils Essentials Spectrum Noir Colored Pencils Marine My Favorite Things Black Licorice Hybrid Ink Simon Says STamp Ink Smoke *Crafter's Companion 50 PACK ULTRA SMOOTH PREMIUM WHITE CARDSTOCK 752252 *3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent

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Another Fabulous Year of Being Awesome

It's time for another fun Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge! This week it is BACK TO SCHOOL time! The Design team is using My Favorite Things products this week. If you have them, we would LOVE to see you rock them, but if you don't, that's cool, you don't have to use them to participate in the challenge.



I used the Blueprints 17 die for my card and all I can say about that is that I am in love with it!!! I will be honest, that was a bit of a splurge for me, but it was SO worth it! The die set included the frame, the banner pieces, and the embossed rectangle that I cut from wood. There are a bunch more dies in the set, too! Definitely one of my new favorite things in my stash! The sentiment comes from a birthday set from Altenew, but I thought it worked brilliantly for Back to School!



Now it's your turn! Create something awesome with the Back to School theme in mind and link it up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 Voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store!

Don't forget to check out the Kid's Challenge, too! It is open through the month of August so there is still time!

I am also linking my card up to the Trendy Triangles Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

Have a Happy!

Altenew Birthday Bash My Favorite Things Blueprints 17 Market Street Nob Hill 6x6 Paper Pad DCWV Chalkboard Stack 12x12 Simon Says Stamp Birch Veneer Sheets *Memento Luxe Ink Pad WEDDING DRESS Tsukineko *Versamark WATERMARK Rubber Stamp Emboss Chalk Resist INK PAD *Ranger Embossing Powder WHITE EPJ36685 *May Arts GOLD Metallic String *Studio Calico GOLD Essentials Sequins 332149 *Precision Heat Embossing Emboss Tool Gun Hero Arts PW200 *Sistema KLIP IT 3 Containers Clear Three Pack 1523 *Mini Plastic TASTING SPOONS Pack of 100 47051 *Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE Powder Blue & Teal 657900 *Claudine Hellmuth Studio MINI MULTI MEDIUM MATTE Glue Adhesive Paint Ranger *Elmer's CLEAR BOND Foam Mounting Tape Permanent Adhesive

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