A cozy Christmas...

Good morning! I hope everyone had an absolutely wonderful weekend. I'm FINALLY feeling a little better, so I took the opportunity to sit down at my desk and make a card to make a last minute submission to the current challenge over at A Blog Named Hero! The theme is Holiday... and you know how I love holiday cards! I hadn't had a chance to ink up the new Coffee Cup Tags from Hero Arts yet, so I knew this was the perfect opportunity! 

Chalkboard cards are one of my most favorite "technique" cards... The finished product is just so cool, in my opinion. To start, I stamped and white heat embossed the pretty floral coffee cup, whipped cream, sentiment and some pretty foliage onto some dark gray card stock. After all of the heat embossing was finished, I used my white Prismacolor pencil to add some shading to the whipped cream, as well as a few accents to the sentiment and some lines to create a frame around the edge of the card. 

My take on the "chalkboard look" is to add several different layers and intensities of white, such as white colored pencil, white gel pen, white pigment ink, etc. In addition to the white pencil I added, I also used my white gel pen to add some decorative dots on the corners of the frame. I also used some white pigment ink around the edges of the A2 panel to give it that nice, worn chalkboard look. As a final touch, and to add a little color, I used some Ruby Stickles on the berries.

That's all for me today, so I hope you enjoyed this quick little project! Have a fabulous day, friends!  

You're so kind.

Good morning! I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a fruitful Black Friday shopping extravaganza. I have a card and a deal to share with you today, so I hope you have a little fun money left!! 

So, I'm a little skeptical of jumping on bandwagons in general. I like to think that I am my own person, that I do what I like because *I* like it, and not because someone has told me it was cool. BUT.... I have totally and completely jumped on the colored pencil on kraft paper bandwagon. And I'm loooooving it. (My only problem is a  lack of colored pencils, ha!) Let's get started on some details for this project! 

This card is an homage to the most recent Concord and 9th release. Their frame card dies are SO incredibly innovative, and I am totally smitten. I need more hours in the day to make all of the projects that I have in mind with them. I had some down time while I have been sick over this past week, so I was able to sit down and just play... such fun!

I started by stamping the totally stunning floral bouquet from the Hello Lovely stamp set a few times on a panel of kraft paper using black ink. (It's nice that you don't have to really worry about which black ink you're using with colored pencils... just grab whatever is closest and go!) I colored it with a variety of Prismacolor colored pencils... I have the 36 pack, so my shading was a little limited. Hopefully Santa will bring me a larger package for Christmas. ;) Tip: I have found the blender pencil to be invaluable. I'm honestly so used to my Zig markers that I found the colored pencils a little daunting at first, but the blender pencil made such a huge difference that I can't stop using them haha! I added a few white dots to the ends of the stamens on the flower centers to add a little dimension and interest. 

For the greeting, I decided to stick with simple white. Since the colored panel doesn't have any white (other than those few gel pen dots), I thought a white die cut would really pop off the page. I die cut the Happy Frame using the Kind add-on dies out of white card stock and placed it approximately where I wanted it on the colored panel, then used the "you're always so" stamp from the coordinating Kindhearted stamp set to heat emboss directly on the colored panel using white embossing powder. (That was a leap of faith, for sure. I was a little-a lot- afraid of messing up the panel!!)  I used dimensional adhesive to make the die cut pop even further off the page, literally. It's hard to see in the photo, but the last step was to take a Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen and color a few layers on the "kind" die cut just to add some shimmer. 

Now, for the sale!! Concord and 9th is generously giving their customers not only a 20% discount off of the entire store, but orders over $100 will receive a free Thanks card die!! If you've had your eye on any of the incredible dies and gorgeous stamps they've been releasing lately, this is the perfect opportunity to snap them up and get a generous freebie in the process! 

The sale runs from this morning, 11/26, through 11/28 at 11:59 pm MT. 

Now, go forth and shop! :)

Have an absolutely fantastic weekend, friends!

The Ton and So Suzy Stamps, Day 3!

Back again for my last post for the collaboration between The Ton and So Suzy Stamps. If you'd like to start at the beginning of the hop, click here to go back to The Ton's blog.  I have one last card to share with you using The Ton Stamps and So Suzy Stamps, so let's get started on the details!

To start, I stamped The Ton's Scenes: Department Store using Versamark ink onto watercolor paper, then clear heat embossed it. Next, I used my Zig Clean Color markers to color the entirety of the background, and I gotta say, what fun that was! So many great color combinations you could have with this stamp. I stamped and die cut the super chic gal from City Girls: Retail Therapy, then colored her with my Zig Clean Color Markers and wet paintbrush and popped her up with some dimensional adhesive.  

The gorgeous sentiment Flair and Laughter from So Suzy Stamps was stamped onto a strip of black card stock and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I notched the end of it, then popped it up onto the A2 card front with some dimensional adhesive. 

Now, for the giveaways... Up for grabs: a $25 GC So Suzy Stamps, a $25 GC to The Ton, and a fabulous Bunkie Bag that can hold your MISTI and other stamping supplies while you’re on the go! Leave a comment on the blogs by November 24, 11:59PM EST. Winners will be announced on November 25th for Black Friday Shopping!

Well, that concludes my submissions for the So Suzy Stamps and The Ton collaboration blog hop! I hope you've enjoyed all of the eye candy and gotten some inspiration to combine your stamp manufacturers! Have a fabulous day and a wonderful holiday, friends! 

The Ton and So Suzy Stamps, Day 2!

 Good morning! Back again today with day 2 of The Ton's collaboration with So Suzy Stamps. Yesterday's somewhat smart alecky card is tempered with the sweet sentiment included on this frosty snowflake card. I'm a bit under the weather, so I will keep this one short and sweet! 

To start, I heat embossed several of the detail layer snowflakes from The Ton's Crystal Flurries using silver detail embossing powder in the corner of a panel of white card stock, then heat embossing the lovely holiday sentiment from Snowflakes and Friendship by So Suzy Stamps. Next, I used Soft Amethyst and Grape Crush inks together with my blending foams to blend a halo over the snowy corner of my card front, concentrating my lightest color towards the sentiment, with the darker color towards the edge. 

After I had completed my ink blending, I filled in some gaps with snowflakes stamped with silver Delicata ink to create a bit of dimension amongst the snowflakes, almost a bokeh effect. I cut a piece of silver glitter card stock to be 1/4" wider than my inked panel. I butted the inky panel up to the corner of the glitter panel, then adhered them both to a plum colored card base with dimensional adhesive. The final finishing touches were some Glass Slippers sequins scattered here and there on the card front.

And there you have it! To start at the beginning of the blog hop for the collaboration, start back at The Ton's blog. To be entered to win the awesome prize package, be sure to comment at all of the blog hop stops for maximum entries. Now, for the giveaways... Up for grabs: a $25 GC So Suzy Stamps, a $25 GC to The Ton, and a fabulous Bunkie Bag that can hold your MISTI and other stamping supplies while you’re on the go! Leave a comment on the blogs by November 24, 11:59PM EST. Winners will be announced on November 25th for Black Friday Shopping!This is a fun collaboration between The Ton and So Suzy Stamps to showcase the styles of both stamp companies and the versatility of the designs of each. Each designer has created fun projects so be sure to hop along to see all the gorgeous inspiration. The hop continues until Wednesday and some of us designers will be creating and posting for each day of the hop. Be sure to follow us and check back the next couple of days to check out our collaboration projects!

The Ton and So Suzy Stamps, Day 2!

 Good morning! Back again today with day 2 of The Ton's collaboration with So Suzy Stamps. Yesterday's somewhat smart alecky card is tempered with the sweet sentiment included on this frosty snowflake card. I'm a bit under the weather, so I will keep this one short and sweet! 

To start, I heat embossed several of the detail layer snowflakes from The Ton's Crystal Flurries using silver detail embossing powder in the corner of a panel of white card stock, then heat embossing the lovely holiday sentiment from Snowflakes and Friendship by So Suzy Stamps. Next, I used Soft Amethyst and Grape Crush inks together with my blending foams to blend a halo over the snowy corner of my card front, concentrating my lightest color towards the sentiment, with the darker color towards the edge. 

After I had completed my ink blending, I filled in some gaps with snowflakes stamped with silver Delicata ink to create a bit of dimension amongst the snowflakes, almost a bokeh effect. I cut a piece of silver glitter card stock to be 1/4" wider than my inked panel. I butted the inky panel up to the corner of the glitter panel, then adhered them both to a plum colored card base with dimensional adhesive. The final finishing touches were some Glass Slippers sequins scattered here and there on the card front.

And there you have it! To start at the beginning of the blog hop for the collaboration, start back at The Ton's blog. To be entered to win the awesome prize package, be sure to comment at all of the blog hop stops for maximum entries. Now, for the giveaways... Up for grabs: a $25 GC So Suzy Stamps, a $25 GC to The Ton, and a fabulous Bunkie Bag that can hold your MISTI and other stamping supplies while you’re on the go! Leave a comment on the blogs by November 24, 11:59PM EST. Winners will be announced on November 25th for Black Friday Shopping!This is a fun collaboration between The Ton and So Suzy Stamps to showcase the styles of both stamp companies and the versatility of the designs of each. Each designer has created fun projects so be sure to hop along to see all the gorgeous inspiration. The hop continues until Wednesday and some of us designers will be creating and posting for each day of the hop. Be sure to follow us and check back the next couple of days to check out our collaboration projects!

The Ton and So Suzy Stamps Collaboration, Day 1!

Good morning! Today marks the first day of The Ton's collaboration with a fantastic stamp manufacturer, So Suzy Stamps! 

This is a fun collaboration between The Ton and So Suzy Stamps to showcase the styles of both stamp companies and the versatility of the designs of each. Each designer has created fun projects so be sure to hop along to see all the gorgeous inspiration. The hop continues until Wednesday and some of us designers will be creating and posting for each day of the hop. Be sure to follow us and check back the next couple of days to check out our collaboration projects! You should have arrived from Suzy's blog and your next stop is Ceal's blog. 

For my project today, I used one of Suzy's absolutely fabulous sentiment stamps: Pour Yourself A Drink. We all have days where we just need a little pick-me-up, and this card would surely accomplish that for me!

I started by stamping the fun So Suzy sentiment using Versamark on plain white card stock. I heat embossed it in clear, then trimmed down the sides to create a 3 3/4"x 5" panel. Next came the watercoloring; I stamped the gorgeous chica from The Ton's Born Classy and some of the lovely roses from Fresh Cut Garden Roses Outlines onto some watercolor paper using Versamark ink, which I then heat embossed with clear EP. 

I watercolored Ms. Sassy Pants with a combination of dark blue and bright turquoise Zig markers to create this gorgeous teal-y blue-y gown. (yes, I use technical terminology.) I heat embossed the feather mermaid tail included in the Born Classy set using some dark silver glitter embossing powder on vellum. Of course she had to have a drink to help her pull herself together, so I stamped and colored a glass of champagne for her. I die cut everything with the coordinating dies, then turned to the roses. 

The roses... You know I can't resist adding flowers, especially on a super feminine card like this one. Kinda helps balance the sassiness, don't you think? I water colored the Fresh Cut Garden Roses Outlines with bright fuchsia and purple Zig markers, then watercolored the leaves with some dark teal to coordinate with the dress. I die cut the blooms with their coordinating dies, then began assembling my project. I popped up the sentiment panel with dimensional adhesive, then added my florals and my sassy chica. 

Now, for the extra fun part.... giveaway goodies! The Ton and So Suzy Stamps are giving away a $25 GC So Suzy Stamps, $25 GC to The Ton, and a fabulous Bunkie Bag that can hold your MISTI and other stamping supplies while you’re on the go! Leave a comment on the blogs by November 24, 11:59PM EST. Winners will be announced on November 25th for Black Friday Shopping. The more comments you leave, the more likely you are to win! Good luck and happy hopping! 

25 Days of Christmas Tags- Concord and 9th

Good morning, friends! Today, I'm excited be part of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags celebration, started by the ever-creative Tracey McNeeley! 

 The Where Creativity Meets C9 team is playing along on behalf of Concord and 9th, so we are focusing on using the fantastically versatile Bags and Tags dies. 

For my project, I chose to make a wine bottle tag. Wine + Christmas=perfect, easy gift, for a hostess or just for a friend! 

Making this tag is ridiculously simple. Start with a 7.5x2.5" rectangle of sturdy card stock. Score at 2.5 inches to create a square, then use the circle die included in the Bags and Tags die set to create the hole for your wine bottle neck. Easy peasy! (I also rounded the corners of the top of my tag with a corner rounder.) 

Next, I cut two pieces of white card stock:  2.5x3" and 2.5x2.5". These were then die cut using the Christmas Cottage dies and set to the side while I focused on the greeting. I heat embossed the greeting from O Christmas Tree using some silver detail embossing powder... isn't this sentiment just perfect? Such beautiful balance of the calligraphy and handwritten fonts, such wonderful placement... It's the little things in life, folks! :)

I popped up the Christmas Cottage die cuts with some dimensional adhesive, then decided it needed a bit of "sparkle" to really complete the snowy, wintry look I was going for, so I added some Sprinkled Sugar Stickles to the roof of the house, the snow drifts, and the trees, as well as adding some falling snow around the sentiment. (The Sprinkled Sugar Stickles are neat and a bit different from the normal, super sparkly Stickles... They have a very subtle shimmer and add just the perfect amount of dimension. Only problem is waiting for them to dry!! Haha!) The final touch was a white twine bow around the top to create a visual cascade down the front of the tag from the top right to bottom left. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed this tag and are enjoying the massive amount of inspiration that this awesome 25-day long event is providing! I know I am! I will freely admit that I struggle with tags, because the canvas is so much smaller than my normal canvas... BUT I truly enjoyed this challenge, and I'm so grateful to have gotten to be a part of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags! Have a fantastic weekend, friends! 

Where Creativity Meets C9: November Challenge!

Good morning! My apologies for the lateness of this post... My kiddos birthday was a couple of days ago, and I've completely lost track of time! Aaahhhh!! 

Anyway, the challenge for this month's Where Creativity Meets C9 challenge is... SPARKLE AND SHINE. Nothing wrong with the world that a little sparkle can't fix. 

For my project, I used some newer holiday goodies from Concord and 9th... Christmas Cottage and Happy Card Frame dies. I know, I used the same set last month, but I just couldn't help myself! I am in love with these fabulous die cuts!! 

I started by die cutting all of the trees and house from Christmas Cottage using simple white card stock at varied heights. I then die cut a scalloped frame, as I knew I wanted to make a shaker, then trimmed the edges of the die cuts to fit horizontally across the frame. I added Star Dust Stickles to the die cuts where I thought snow would have landed and allowed them to dry over night. 

I used a double layer of foam tape on the frame to ensure that I had plenty of room for both the dimensional die cuts and the shaker bits that I intended to add. 

I die cut the "happy" from the Happy Card Frame dies from some super shiny blue foil card stock that I found at Hobby Lobby. (Hobby Lobby has some fabulous foil card stocks, and if you can find them during a 50% off sale, they're quite economical!) I placed my "happy" die cut on my frame, then stamped the "holidays" from the coordinating stamp set directly on my card base. I filled the shaker with several different shades and types of white sequins, as I wanted to have a bright white, sparkly card with a pop of color for the sentiment.  

And there you have it! It's quite thick, so I will have to hand deliver this one, but it's totally worth it for all of that awesome dimension! Absolutely in love with these die cuts!

Now, you have until November 29 to create your own sparkly and shiny project using Concord and 9th products and link it up to the Sparkle and Shine challenge post over at Where Creativity Meets C9! One winner will be chosen randomly for a generous $25 gift certificate from our wonderful Concord and 9th sponsors, and the best entry will be given an opportunity to guest design with the WCMC9 design team on a future challenge!!! Good luck and happy sparkling!!! :) 

Merry Christmas To You!

Well, hello! Merry Christmas! I can say that because it's November, right? Right?! I hope your November is off to a wonderful start. I've never been much for Halloween... Too much hype, not much payoff... plus, I don't truck in blood, gore, and getting scared just for the sake of getting scared. There are far too many things in real life to be scared of... But my little ones were pretty cute in their costumes. Totally worth it. But now we're moving on to my absolute favorite crafting season... Christmas!!!

Anyway, here's a set of cards that I made using the new PTI Vintage Ornaments II set! I'm so pleased that PTI is starting to release more images that are fit for coloring... I love my solid image stamps, but I find my fingers itching for my watercolors when I want to get crafty. 

With this card set, I decided to take a non-traditional color scheme, but I feel like this color scheme still screams "vintage" to go along with those beautiful ornaments. I heat embossed all of the ornament outlines included in the stamp set using silver detail embossing powder, then used my Zig markers to watercolor them. I fussy cut them, then die cut and stamped several pine boughs from PTI's Spruce and Sprigs set using Tropical Teal and Pinefeather inks. I also stamped a few of the sprigs on the card bases themselves, to create a fuller look.

The next step was to cut frames from the PTI Pretty Frame die using a few different shades of coordinating foil card stock. Shimmer and sparkle is the order of the day with Christmas cards! 

The greeting is from the Christmas Cheer stamp set and dies. I die cut the greeting from silver glitter card stock, then arranged it the way I wanted it on my card front so that I could place my sentiment stamps and stamp them using my MISTI. 

I decided midway through my assembly line that I liked the frame lying flat as opposed to popped up, so one is popped up with dimensional adhesive, while the other two are adhered directly to the card base. I popped up the ornaments and some of the Spruce and Sprigs pieces. 

I hope you liked these little holiday projects! I purchased my first colored pencils the other day... Sam's had a sale on a 36 pack of Prismacolor pencils, and I jumped on it... so I've been practicing with them with these gorgeous ornament stamps. I'm so excited that The Daily Marker 30 Day challenge starts today, so be sure to follow me on Instagram, (@eamidgett)  because I'm going to be trying to play along every day this month! Have an awesome day, friends!