I Miss You!

Hey crafty friends! I'm in the middle of packing, (I know, I know, it's one in the morning), but I needed a break and thought I'd share with you the cards I made for this week's fun sketch challenge at Peachy Keen Stamps!

I had so much fun with this sketch that I decided to make two cards instead of one!

Okay, okay, so even though the sketch was really fun to play with, I made two of the same card for two coworkers that chipped in and put together a really sweet gift basket for me on my last night of work. I was super happy Peachy Keen shipped the brand new Howling Puppy stamp set so fast, because it came just in time to create for this challenge! Better yet, both of my former *tear* coworkers are dog lovers and I'm missing them already, so this set couldn't have been more perfect!

I colored the puppy using Copics E13, E15, E17, and E18, and added some Nut Brown Flower Soft to his ears and tail. It was my first time using Flower Soft and I absolutely loved it! You'll definitely be seeing more of it on future projects. :) 

Papers on both of these cards are from Echo Park's "Springtime" collection, and I used some soft pink ribbon from my stash along with enamel dots as embellishments. The sentiment is also from the Howling Puppy set. 

Back to work... thanks for reading! :)

Kissing

Happy Monday! Everyone have a good weekend? I spent most of it doing some much-needed relaxing, and got some crafting done as well. I've got some laundry to do this afternoon and a bit of crafting to finish up, and then I'm off to the Chicago White Sox game tonight! It's been a while since I've been to a game, so I'm pretty excited. :)

One of the projects I got done this weekend is a card for the current Use What You Have Challenge at Sweet Stamp Shop. I've been a faithful participant in these challenges for a couple months now and love digging through my stash each week to see what I can find!

I am in LOVE with how the background of this card turned out! I used my stash of Tim Holtz Distress Inks (see below) to create the background. I used Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, and Barn Door. To give it a watery look I applied each of the inks on wax paper, sprayed them with water, and then pressed the paper onto the wet ink until the paper started to absorb the color. For faster drying I used my heat gun, but you could also let it sit overnight. As for the hearts, I stamped a teeny, tiny heart stamp (it came in a Gnomies sample set I won from a UWYHC a while back) in Spun Sugar and made the hearts look like they were floating up from the bottom. 

My "stash" of Distress Inks.. I may or may not have all of them. :) Because I've only been crafting for a couple of years, my stash is nowhere near as abundant as other crafters. Sure, there are a few things I bought when I first started crafting that are still lying around, but for the most part my "stash" is constantly growing, making it harder to find "old" things to use. Since I'm a girl who likes to have every color of everything (hence all the Distress Inks, Liquid Pearls, Stickles, you get the picture) I like to find ways to use my stash of these since they spend most of their time on my shelf. Coming up with techniques like the background on this card is a fun way to ensure they get used!

Now I bet you're wondering where I got these awesome stamps, right?! Both the sentiment and the two cuties are from Sweet Stamp Shop's "Kiss Me" stamp set - one of my favorites! I stamped the sentiment directly on the background once it had dried. As for the kiddos, I stamped them on white cardstock in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and then cut them out and adhered them to the card using pop dots. Love it!

I'm off to get my laundry started, have a great rest of your day and thanks for stopping by!

Get Inky Stamps Spooktacular Blog Hop

Welcome to Get Inky's Spooktacular Blog Hop!

Thanks so much for joining us! If you've come from Thia's blog, you're in the right place!

Along your blog hopping journey you will see some brilliant hand crafted works of art brought to you by designers from Get Inky! Stamps, and we know you're going to love each one of them! The first stop on the hop is Thia from Blue Moon Creation, so be sure to start there! We are THRILLED you could hop along with us, and are even giving you a 20% off your entire Etsy shop purchase of Get Inky stamps! Just use the coupon code 2013SPOOKTACULAR20 at checkout.

For my "spooktacular" project I made a 3D witch hat!

The file is from the Silhouette store. The base is black cardstock and the purple polka dot paper is from DCWV's Hallowen & Fall collection. I made a small tag and stamped the "Best Witches for a Happy Halloween" sentiment, which is from Get Inky's new Halloween set. I tied it to the hat with black twine and used Seedless Preserves and Black Soot Distress Inks to distress the edges.

I used the spider web stamp from the new Halloween set and heat embossed it using white embossing powder to give the hat a spookier look. It looks sort of yellow here because of the green paper, but I promise its white like in the picture above!

And of course we have blog candy! To be eligible to win, you must:

• Become a follower (if you aren't already) of the Get Inky! Stamps blog
• Become a follower of each design team member's blog (if you aren't already) and leave a comment on each stop of the hop

1 Winner will receive the Halloween stamp set, which you can preview at the last stop of the hop! 

Please Note: Winner is responsible for shipping costs and will be billed via email through PayPal.

3 Winners will each receive a $15 gift certificate to Get Inky's Etsy shop:

Winners will be announced on the Get Inky! Stamps blog on Wednesday August 14th.

Your next stop is Beth's blog. 

Here's the entire lineup in case you get lost along the way:

Thia

Ashley

Beth

Jessica

La-Vie

Ann

Sarah

Julie

Sue

Tonya

Tracey

Get Inky! Stamps

Sealed With A Kiss

Happy Hump Day! One week today I'll be getting ready to move! Hard to believe that day is almost here. I should probably finish packing, too, but first I want to share with you the card I made for this week's Anything Goes challenge at Whimsical Designs!

I know it's not anywhere near Valentine's Day, but I saw the "Sealed with a Kiss" sentiment from Whimsical's "With Love" stamp set and couldn't resist! Even if the card is a bit lovey-dovey. :)

The hearts under the sentiment are from a sample stamp set I won from Sweet Stamp Shop! They were just what I needed when finishing off this card.

Any guesses as to what the lips are made of?! If you guessed Liquid Pearls, you're correct! Wondering how I did it? I'm feeling pretty generous today so I'll share my secret. :) When I thought of the idea for the card I went searching the Silhouette store for a lip die cut I liked, and came across a rhinestone template instead. I didn't have the right size rhinestones (nor enough of them) to make three lip patterns, and that's when I thought of Liquid Pearls! I bought the rhinestone pattern, opened it up in Silhouette Studio, and changed the dot pattern from black to a very, very light gray so I could still see the pattern, but it would still be faint enough in case I didn't cover a dot exactly. 

Our sponsor this week is Miriam's Crafting Supplies, and a winner will receive a $5 gift certificate to her fabulous embellishment shop!

Hope to see you playing along! :) Have a fabulous rest of your week.

Have a Beary Special Day!

It's time for another fun challenge at Get Inky stamps! This time around we're challenging you to use ribbon on your projects, pretty simple, right?!

For the challenge I created a kids birthday card using the "Beary Special Cupcake" stamp set from Get Inky! Stamps. I colored the teddy bear with my Copics and paper pieced the cupcake wrapper using DCWV paper, which is part of the same DCWV collection as the rest of the papers used to make the card. The sprinkles on the cupcake are made with Liquid Pearls.

For embellishments I used some yellow enamel dots, and of course, ribbon! The color of the ribbon is called Latte and it's from 3 Girl Jam - my favorite crinkle ribbon company!

I have a busy day ahead of me full of crafting, organizing, and starting to pack! I move in 10 days and have a TON to get done before then. It's exciting and stressful all at the same time! I do have a few more fun posts for you this week, stay tuned for my experience at a Teresa Collins workshop, a couple of projects, and a Halloween blog hop this weekend!

As always, thanks for reading. :)

Hi Sweetie!

I was able to squeeze in some crafty time earlier today and wanted to share with you a card I made for this week's anything goes challenge at Peachy Keen stamps!

My inspiration for this card came from the "Hi Sweetie!" sentiment from PK's July stamp set of the month. I wasn't feeling up for making a Christmasy/wintery card, but still wanted to use that set. When I caught that sentiment out of the corner of my eye I knew it would be perfect!

I cut the lollipops using my Silhouette and used set PK-500 Snow Cuties Face Assortment for their faces. I also added some tiny twine bows to their "wrappers." Papers used on this card are all from Echo Park's "Bundle of Joy" collection, and I used enamel dots from my stash as a final accent. I'm addicted to those dang things!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a lovely rest of your day. :)

A Very "Sweet" Thank You

Happy Saturday! It is absolutely beautiful here and I'm so enjoying my weekend off work. Last night I attended a Teresa Collins workshop (more on that later this week!) and had an absolute blast. After this post I'm going to finish working on the project we made so that I can share it with you later this week!

The card I'm sharing today is for this week's Use What You Have Challenge at Sweet Stamp Shop, and I want to share a little story behind it.

For the past three years I've worked at my local library, and it's seriously been one of the most amazing workplaces a girl can ask for. Everyone there is so sweet, and there's honestly never been a day where I haven't wanted to go to work. My last day at the library is this week, because I'm moving in less than two weeks to attend a university to finish up coursework to earn my Bachelor's degree. It's bittersweet. :/ 

The past month I've been working with an eleven-year-old volunteer to help him earn his reading badge for Boy Scouts by completing four hours of community service at a library. He's the coolest kid! He's been such a huge help, and as a thank you for helping me, I made him this card and stuck a gift card to a local ice cream place inside. :)

The sentiment is from Sweet Stamp Shop's "Packaged Pretty" stamp set - one of my favorites!

I pulled out a few bottles of acrylic paint from my stash and spattered the colors onto plain white cardstock (I had chosen the paper first so that I could find paint colors to match). Then, I pulled out my stash of chipboard banner pieces...

...and adhered patterned papers from Echo Park's "A Boy's Life collection" to the banner pieces using my tape runner. I cut off the excess paper, and distressed each piece. Super fun technique! Added some twine to hold the banner together, and ta da!

I'm really glad I made the card and the gift certificate because when I went to give it to him, his mom had just arrived to pick him, and he had brought me flowers to say thank you! I was SO touched. Like, so touched I could have cried. It was super sweet. :)

Have a lovely weekend. :)