Friday, December 29, 2017

GIU Post #5 Love Brings You Home!

Hello and Happy Friday!  Can you believe this is the last Friday of 2017??  It seems like this year has gone by super fast.  Well now that I think about it, this week has gone by super duper fast!  I've had such a wonderful time creating with Unity Stamps this week and having the honor of being a Growing in Unity Gal.  It was my first time and was soooo much fun!

What a time I had making this last card... I really messed up.  The first card I made was with a retired Unity Stamp Set.  Ugh!  I had it made, photographed and was about to blog it and realized it was retired when I couldn't link the stamp set from the Unity website.  Do you want to see it anyway?  lol  Well here is the first card but it doesn't count...


The stamp set I used.. just in case you might own it is Grandma's Closet and it was part of a Jillibean Soup Collection.  I loved the doilies and it has some super cute sentiments.

Oh well on to the card that will count.. lol  This one uses the stamp set "Love Brings You Home". 
When I first saw this stamp set my boss (at that time) had just adopted two little boys from Ethiopia and I envisioned making a card with it using the other sentiment in the set.  Well I never made that card but I had a bit of fun making this one.. hope you like it!


For some reason when I looked at this stamp set this time I knew I wanted to stamp it in Emerald green on Kraft.  I used Stampin' Up! Emerald Envy Ink and added a layer of versamark so that I could clear emboss both the map and the sentiment.  The stamping was done on a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Kraft Cardstock.  Since the Emerald Envy Ink stamped on the Kraft looked darker than the true color, I inked the edges of my Emerald Envy 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" mat to darken them.  I then pushed a versamark pad down on all four sides of the mat and Clear Embossed them.  I found some Darice Kelly Green sequins that seemed to match fairly well so I added three and then added a seed bead on the top of each sequin.  I adhered the front panel to a top folding 110# Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardbase.  I added some Natural Twine to the top of the card and tied it in a bow.  Last but not least, I added a bit of FSJ Cool Pool Silk splashes to the front of the card.  That was it on this one.. I kept it really simple.  I tend to overthink sometimes so it's best to just walk away.. :)

Have a wonderful day and weekend and Happy New Year!  Blessings, Tina

Thursday, December 28, 2017

GIU Post #4 - Love You This Much!

Hello!  Hope you've been having a fabulous week!  This has been such a wonderful week for me being a Growing in Unity Gal!  I have had so much fun creating with these fabulous stamp sets!  Some of them I had purchased for one reason or another but hadn't used yet.  This has given me such a great opportunity to get them out and just have a blast making cards!  

Right now I'm thinking ahead to Valentine's Day with the fun owl in Unity's  "love you this much" stamp set!  I absolutely LOVE owls and this little guy is just adorable!


I started with an 11" x 4 1/4" piece of Basic Black Cardstock, scored at 5 1/2" for a top folding note card.  I added a piece of 5 1/2" x 3 3/4" piece of a wooden plank patterned paper.  My owl was heat embossed in black onto Bristol Smooth Cardstock.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks and an aqua painter to color my owl and then fussy cut him out.  Since I'm not an expert at the whole fussy cutting thing.. I ran the brush tip of a black marker around the edges so there was no white showing.  I then stamped the exact same owl and heart image with Real Red Ink onto a piece of blue watercolor look patterned paper.  I loved how it almost looked like clouds in the background!  A Real Red Marker was used to color in the hearts (of course they look a little darker since they were stamped onto blue paper).  I used a Circle Framelit Die to cut out around the owl that was stamped on the blue paper and cut out a black scallop to layer behind the circle.  Tombow Multipurpose Glue was used to adhere the colored owl over the owl that was stamped on the circle so that only the surrounding hearts were showing.   Some Glossy Accents was added over the hearts as well as the owl's eyes.  I decided that my owl looked like he was floating so I used the same circle framelits to cut a small piece of kraft cardstock for him to stand on by first cutting out a portion of a circle and  using the same framelit to cut in the other direction making a small hill.   The sentiment " I love you this much" was heat embossed with black on the lower right side.  I added a piece of Natural twine on the top fold and tied it in a bow on the left side of the card and allowed the ends to hang down ... my scissors helped to curl the ends a bit.  Last but not least I added a few Lucy's Little Things Rainbow Jewels in blue to finish this one off!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Remember I'll be drawing two winners to win some Unity Stamps so be sure to leave me a comment!  Blessings, Tina


Wednesday, December 27, 2017

GIU Post #3 - Everyone You Meet!

Hello and Happy Hump Day!  I am really enjoying my Growing In Unity week!  My next card uses one of my all time favorite Unity Stamp Co. stamps... Everyone You Meet!  Actually it's my favorite quote/saying and something that I really try my best to remember.  


For my stamped panel, I used the watercolor smooshing method to apply my color.  I started with a piece of Bristol Smooth Cardstock.  To apply  Peacock Feather and Picked Raspberry Distress ink, I  smooshed the mini cubes directly onto the wax paper and then misted it with my Distress Sprayer.  I then misted my Bristol Smooth Cardstock and pressed the wax paper ink side down onto it.  I used a heat tool to dry it and then reapplied the inks until I was happy with my background.  Once I had the panel completely dry, I stamped the sentiment with Versafine Black Onyx Ink and then clear heat embossed it. I used a bit more of the Picked Raspberry as well as Peeled Paint Distress Ink and an Aqua Painter to paint in the flowers.  My Stampin' Up! Lots of Labels Dies were used to cut out the sentiment and then cut another larger label out of Tempting Turquoise Cardstock.  I tied a piece of Black and White Gingham Ribbon around the Turquoise Label and then attached the sentiment label over it with foam tape.  My card base is 110# Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock that measured 11" x 4 1/4" and was scored at 5 1/2" for a top folding note card.  I used a We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper to cut the rounded corner on the upper right and lower left corner.  My patterned paper measured 4" x 5 1/4" and was rounded the same as the card base and adhered with Fast Fuse.    I also used Fast Fuse to adhere the label layers since it is a strong adhesive and holds well.  I finished this one off by adding some Lucy's Little Things Rainbow Jewels onto the cardfront with Multi Medium Matt adhesive.   I think it turned out super cute and I hope you liked it!  

Remember at the end of the week, I will be drawing 2 winners that have commented on my posts.  I hope you are feeling lucky!  Blessings, Tina

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Growing In Unity Post #2 - Holy Cow!

Here I am again with another super easy but I think super cute card!  Do you have any cow friends?  Well I do!   One of my very best friends, Suzi, collects cows!  She even has cow art work in her living room.  I know she will love this card for her birthday!

The Unity Stamp Co. stamp set I used is "Holy Cow" by Lisa Arana.  It has three sentiments and I managed to use two of them!


Thankfully with the help of my Misti, I was able to do some repetative stamping in the background without messing it up too bad!   I used a Kraft Cardbase and my repetative stamped layer is Kraft as well.  I stamped the "Herd it was your Birthday" sentiment diagonally with Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake Ink for a tone-on-tone look.  I added a slightly larger and skewed layer of Basic Black Cardstock behind it for some contrast.  The Cow image was heat embossed in Black on Whisper White Cardstock as was the sentiment below the cow.  I used a set of Stampin' Up! dies called Lots of Labels Framelits to cut out my tag.  The dies cut a fancy scallop on the top and bottom but I used my Paper Trimmer to cut the bottom scallop off and then punched a small hole in the top of the tag. After running some black and white gingham ribbon through the hole,  I used foam tape to adhere to the front of the card.  Some natural twine was used to tie a bow around the ribbon.  Although this was an easy card, it certainly turned out cute and I know Suzi will love it!

Blessings, Tina


Growing in Unity - Comfort to Go!

Hello and Happy Day after Christmas!  I hope your Holidays were fabulous!  I'm so excited to share that I was chosen as one of the Unity Stamp Co. Growing In Unity (G.I.U.) peeps!  I made a simple card with the Comfort to Go Stamp Set.  It is super cute and I love a stamp that seriously does all of the work for you.  That's exactly what this one does.   So the truth is I love anything that Angie Blom designs!  She is amazing!  You can stamp or emboss in any color and it would look fabulous!  For Christmas, it would look fabulous stamped in Red.  Silver would be super cool as would any metallic... I'm thinking gold, copper... I may need to make several of these!


I started to go with a black and white card but decided to add a little color.  Since I like my colors to repeat at least three times I did a skinny layer of turquoise behind the patterned paper and the stamped panel.  I used Pretty Pink Posh Onyx sequins and added a small clear seed bead over the top of the sequins to finish it off.  If you are a coffee lover like I am, you probably already have this fabulous stamp set... if you don't you should!   And guess what.... it's on sale right now!  Hope you'll head over and check it out!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Please take the time to leave some love as there will be a prize for 2 lucky commenters at the end of the week!  It could just be you! 

Blessings, Tina

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

PCC273 Inspiration Challenge Holidays with Stampin' Up! Carols of Christmas


Hello and Happy Hump Day!  Are you ready for Christmas?  Well I hope so because it will be here in just a few more days!  I still need to finish a couple of Christmas Cards for friends at work.. can you believe it?  I started in July and still need to make a few more!   Well this Challenge over at Paper Craft Crew will help you finish any last minute cards and give you a little break because it's a two week challenge!   


I decided to make a few simple cards.. man do I love simple cards.  Here is one that is super simple and I think it turned out really cute!


With a big sentiment like this you really don't need a lot else!  I started with 110# Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock cut into an A2 cardbase. I used the SU Quilted Christmas DSP cut out with a Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangle Die.  I matted it in Real Red and then adhered onto the A2 card base. For the sentiment,  I inked up my stamp in my Misti in Real Red and then rubbed off the "the" in Deck the Halls and used Stampin' and Write Markers to color in the word in Garden Green.  It was all stamped onto Whisper White cardstock.  Since I used my Misti, I was able to restamp the "the" again after coloring in with the marker to make sure I got it nice and dark.  I used my Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangles dies to cut out the rectange.  The rectangle was matted in Real Red Cardstock.  The holly is from the Gina K Merry and Bright Card Kit.  I used the same colors and again used my Misti to stamp it on Whisper White cardstock and then used the coordinating dies to cut it out.  I adhered them to the rectangle with a glue dot and used a Mini Dimensional to adhere the part of the leaf that hangs over the edge.   This was such a simple card to make but super cute!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina


Tuesday, December 19, 2017

SIP #130 Say No To Christmas with Stampin' Up! Cake Soiree

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  Hope your week is off to a terrific start!  Last weekend was a fabulous weekend for us and I'm looking forward to the end of the work week so I can enjoy an extra long Christmas weekend!  I'll be off work for 4 days in a row!  Woo Hoo!  I just have to get through 3 more work days after today and it's sweet long weekend freedom!  

As usual, Tuesday means another Stamp, Ink, Paper Challenge and this week's it's Just Say No to Christmas which basically means.. make anything BUT a Christmas Card!  Well isn't that easy!


Have you ever had a day where everything just goes wrong?? Well that was the type of day I was having when I started playing around with this Cake Soiree Stamp Set and Sweet Soiree Framelits.  First of all.. it's a fabulous stamp and die set.  There are just soooo many possibilities.  I started stamping, coloring, and playing around with it and everything I tried to do just didn't work.  I finally decided to just breathe in, make it a little crazy and love it like that. lol


My background was created on SU watercolor cardstock by pressing some Tim Holtz Distress Inks onto wax paper... I used Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed and Picked Raspberry.  After inking the wax paper, I sprayed it with my Distress sprayer and then squished it onto the watercolor paper.  I used my heat tool to dry it.  Once completely dry, I embossed the Best Wishes Sentiment in the upper right hand corner.  I used my Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangle Dies to cut out the watercolored panel.   The cake was heat embossed in black onto Whisper White Cardstock.  I used the Stampin' Blends to color in the case.  The cake stand was cut out of Gold Foil Cardstock.   The flowers on the top of the cake were stamped in Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo and the leaves in Old Olive.   I added some gold sequin trim in the upper left corner with a stapler and then added a some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Confetti.  I adhered the panel onto another panel of Old Olive Cardstock and then adhered that onto Basic Black panel cut with the Mama Elephant Scallop die from the All Prettied Up Creative Cuts Dies.  All of that was adhered to a top folding Neenah Classic Crest Solar White card base.  Kind of crazy.. a lot going on... but I still like it!   I had tried mounting it just on the Old Olive and then white but it really needed the black to make the colors pop!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

Here's a list of the Stampin' Up Products Used:


Product List

Sunday, December 17, 2017

December Scrapbook Sunday Blog Hop!

Hello Friends!  I hope your weekend has been fabulous!  I'm excited to share with you that there is an awesome new blog hop that you will love!  It's the Scrapbook Sunday Blog Hop featuring Stampin' Up! Produ!cts and today is the debut of it!  How fabulous is that??!!  I'm super excited that I was asked to create for it!  I'm really hoping that all of this inspiration will help me get caught up with my scrapbooking!  I certainly have a lot of catch up on!


Welcome to the First Scrapbook Sunday Blog Hop!  If you've already been hopping you should have landed here from Tanya Boser's Blog and thank you for continuing on!  If you've started with me, please make sure you hop all the way through to check out every bit of Scrapbooking Inspiration!

This is our Inspiration Sketch.. isn't it fabulous!!!


Of course it was totally screaming at my to scrap some Christmas or Winter pictures but I decided to go with something a little different.  My husband and I went on an 8 day cruise October 28th through November 5th and I felt like this sketch would work great for a couple of pictures from that cruise!  October 29th is Jeff's birthday and we typically cruise every year right around that time.  We not only celebrate his birthday but since the cruise is our Christmas Present to each other, we celebrate our love.  Jeff and I married just a little under 10 years ago and neither of us had ever taken a cruise prior to that.  Since we've married, we've been on 10 cruises!  This particular page showcased pictures from our tour around Cozumel, Mexico.  It was such a fun day to "Celebrate The Good Stuff"!  And yes.... I'm the bird lady in the first picture!  How does it go.. a bird in the hand is worth one on the head???  lol  Well maybe not but that was a super fun day!



Now I first have to apologize for my scrapbook page photography!  I promise I WILL get better!  I'm accustomed to photographing cards but not full 12x12 pages!  Just a note.. some of these products used are Sneak Peeks of products that will be available until January 3rd when the new Stampin' Up! Occassions Catalog is live!  My 12x12" Smoky Slate Cardstock from the Neutrals Best Collection was where I started!  I added a 12" x 3" strip of DSP from the fabulous new Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper (available January 3, 2018 in the Occasions Catalog!).  I really love the look of this DSP.. the green brought out the green in the birds and the pattern on it almost gave it a bamboo look!  I added a strip of 5/8" Burlap Ribbon.. I really loved the natural look it added.  My 4 x 6" pictures were matted in 4 1/8" x 6 1/8" panels of Old Olive Cardstock that had the edges sponged with Old Olive Ink.  The stamps used were from the Picture Perfect Birthday Stamp Set (also available January 3, 2018 in the Occasions Catalog!)  I stamped the "Celebrate The Good Stuff" sentiment in Black Archival Ink and then clear embossed it for my Title.  I used the Pretty Label Punch to make the tag on the side of the picture on the left.  I also clear embossed Black Archival Ink with the "Today We" part of another sentiment from the same stamp set.  I used a scrap of Washi Tape to block off the letters under that sentiment when I inked up the stamp so that I could do some selective or partial stamping.  I only wanted the "today we" so that it would transition into "Celebrate the Good Stuff".   I wanted to use flowers that looked a bit tropical and I really thought that the flowers in the Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies were perfect for that!  I have to tell you that I think the Seasonal Layers Dies are a must have for any scrapbooker!  There are so many options for every season!  It is one of my go-to die sets!  I cut the flowers out of scraps of Pacific Point cardstock.  I adhered a small circle of scrap Whisper White cardstock behind each of the flowers for the center to stand out a bit.  The leaves were punched out with the Leaf punch in Old Olive Cardstock and sponged with Old Olive Ink around the edges.  I adhered the leaves with Tombow Multipurpose Glue and adhered the flowers with Mini Stampin' Dimensionals.  I finished it off with three Glitter Enamel Dots in blue.  

Right after the full Blog Hop List is a list of all of the products used if you are interested in any of them.  One of the perks of being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is the priviledge of pre-ordering new products!  If you can't wait on some of the new goodies .. think about signing up!  


Next up is Cathy Caines.. just click the Next Button below and you'll be there!



Below is a list of all of the Scrapbook Sunday Bloggers in case you've lost your way!

Tina Rackley Riddle <---- You are here!


Here is a full list of the products used:

Product List

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

PCC272 Sketch Challenge with Stampin' Up! Merry Little Labels

 Hello and Happy Hump Day!  I hope you're having an awesome week!  I've been sick the last 4 days so I'm hoping it will be looking up pretty soon!   Since it is Wednesday, I'm over with the Paper Craft Crew with a Design Team Card for a sketch challenge!  I think this is a super fun sketch with lots of possibilities!


I decided to use the Merry Little Labels stamp set and make a Let it Snow themed card..


So when I bought this stamp set I could have sworn I had the coordinating Everyday Label Punch... well I was wrong.  So I fussy cut around the stamped image... ugh!  I had stamped the Let It Snow stamp with Versamark onto Dapper Denim cardstock and then heat embossed the image in white.  The DSP used was from the Christmas Around the World DSP pack.  I cut the snowflake in Whisper White from the Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies.  It was super fun and easy.  I loved this sketch!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

SIP Challenge #129 - Red, Green and Gold!

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  It's getting dangerously close to Christmas... are you ready??  I'm feverishly trying to finish my tags and cards!  I should have already had them mailed out but I'm close to it... I promise! 

This week's Stamp, Ink, Paper Challenge gave me a chance to get another card made.   This week is all about Red, Green and Gold and how Christmasy is that??!! 



 This week's card is so simple that I honestly feel a little bit guilty.  I love when I can use up some of my stash of patterned paper!


I used the Stampin' Up! Good Tiding Stamp Set for the sentiment... I absolutely adore this sentiment and the size of it!  I stamped it on thick Whisper White Cardstock and used a Stitched Shapes Die to cut out the Circle.  I used the Layering Circle Framelit Scallop Circle in Gold Cardstock to matt the stitched circle.  The holly on the edge of the circle is from the Gina K Designs Merry & Bright Card Kit.  The patterned paper in the background is from Fun Stampers Journey. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

SIP #128 - Let it Snow! Lawn Fawn Exclusive Christmas Like No Otter


Hello and Happy Tuesday!  Hope you are having a wonderful week so far!  This week over at Stamp, Ink, Paper we have a fun Let It Snow Challenge!  There are sooo many possibilities with this one!!


My original thought was to make a snow scene using the Lawn Fawn Birch Tree Dies and the design just expanded from there.  What do you think??



First of all I cut my birch trees out in 110# Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock.  Next I made my card base out of the same cardstock for a top folding card.  For my ink blended background I used a piece of Bristol Smooth Cardstock.. I love the way distress ink blends on it!  I started out by blending Broken China Distress Oxide Ink on the top of my Bristol panel.  I blended it into Wilted Violet and then blended that into Worn Lipstick at the bottom of the panel.  I decided that the top needed to be a bit darker so I blended in some Faded Jeans Distress Oxide ink.   I used my  Tim Holtz Distress Spritzer to spritz water and then dabbed a paper towel on it and heated it with my Heat Tool.  Once I was happy with that panel I used my Lil' Inker Designs Stitched Rectangle Die to cut a panel out.  I also used the top of the same stitched rectangle to make stitched details on the top of the birch trees.  I adhered them with Ranger Multi Medium Matt.  I then used more of the Neenah Classic Crest Solar White in 110# to cut out 3 layers of Lawn Fawn stitched hills.  I adhered two layers of stitched hills on the bottom of the card with more of the Ranger Multi Medium Matt.   For the top layer of stitched hill I used the same Lil' Inker Designs stitched rectangle die to make the stitching up the side and on the bottom so it would match the rest of the card and used foam tape on it to give it dimension.  The snow was made by adding small drops of Nuvo Crystal Drops in Simply White.  Once those were dry I added some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Confetti.  I used my Misti to add the sentiment from a Hero Arts Stamp set called Winter Animals.  It was an add on set for the November My Monthly Hero Kit.  My original idea was just to make a scene but then I realized it needed something extra.  I thought about the animal silhouettes from the Winter Animal stamp set but since they were silhouettes and I had so much white, I thought the all black silhouettes might be too much.  I decided to stamp one of the otters, the present and the santa hat from the Exclusive Lawn Fawn Simon Says Stamp Set called "Christmas Like No Otter".  I used Stampin' Up! Stampin' Blends to color them in and I fussy cut them out.  I used a black marker to color in the edges so as to hide my not so great fussy cutting.  I first adhered the otter on the back slopes with foam tape.... then I realized that the back slopes should be water... Duh!!  lol  So I added some Peacock Feathers Distress ink to a small acrylic block, added a little water and used my aqua painter to pain the back slopes like it was a stream.  I wasn't completely happy with how the water looked so once dry I used a stampin' blend marker to color over it.  Leave it to me to change my plan.. lol  I used a white gel pen to add a some small dots of snow to the water.  I added more sparking Confetti to the front snow slope around the sentiment.  Finally... I decided it looked pretty good.  I added the panel to the Neenah Classic Solar White 110# Cardbase.  I toyed with matting it but decided it looked better directly on the White.  Whew!!!  What a process this one was.  

Here's how I finished up the inside....

  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope you'll take the opportunity to make a "snow" themed card and link it up for the challenge!  Blessings, Tina

Thursday, November 30, 2017

A Paper Pumpkin Thing Blog Hop Back in Plaid


Hello and Happy Thursday!  I hope you've been having a wonderful week!  It's time for some awesome Paper Pumpkin Alternative Design inspiration... I hope you're ready!  Both the October and November 2017 Kits were awesome!!!  I think they have been two of my all time favorites!  If you've already been hopping today, you should have landed here from the fabulous blog of Kimberley Morris and I thank you for continuing!

The super cool thing was that both the October and November Kits coordinated and both were seriously fabulous kits!  Since I didn't hop in October (I was on a cruise), I'll show you my alternate cards with the October kit first.



Both of the alternate cards with the October kit were super easy.  Sometimes easy is good!

The design of the November kit is to make Stockings.. all super adorable just as designed!  With the tag, stamp set, and Cherry Cobbler twine,  I made a card and an alternate stocking layout. 


I love that the plaid DSP from the Merry Little Christmas DSP coordinates with the kit as well!  Since the tree on the tag was embossed in gold, I thought the addition of the gold foil snowflakes worked perfectly.  I also loved the idea of adding a pop or two of Cherry Cobbler.  

Next up is none other than the Crafty Yogi, Audra Monk!  Just click the next button and you'll be there for some more awesome inspiration!









Below is a list of all of our Hoppers in case you've lost your way:

  1. Sara Levin
  2. Rachel Tessman
  3. Kimberley Morris
  4. Tina Rackley Riddle - You are here!
  5. Audra Monk
  6. Rick Adkins
  7. Jennifer Hill
  8. Kelly Acheson
  9. Megan Thompson
  10. Lori Mueller
  11. Monika Davis
  12. Dena Rekow
  13. Andrea Tracy-Tucker
Thanks so much for stopping by! Blessings, Tina

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

PCC270 Sketch Challenge, Monochromatic with Lawn Fawn Stitched Ornaments

Hello and Happy Hump Day!  I think after only working 2 days last week that this week will never seem to end!  Oh well, work during the day and craft at night... that's the way I roll!   It's Wednesday so that means another Paper Craft Crew Challenge!  What do you think of this sketch??


I took one look at this and immediately saw Christmas Ornaments!  Of course you know I still have Christmas Cards to make so you knew it would be something to do with Christmas! 


I love this Black and White Christmas Pine Patterned Paper from FSJ so that's where I got my inspiration!  I decided that I wanted to make my ornaments black, white and shades of gray or silver.  These Lawn Fawn Stitched Ornaments Dies were perfect to make use of all of my colors.   I absolutely love how it turned out!  It looks even more beautiful in person!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

SIP Challenge #127 - Wrap It Up! Tags My Monthly Hero November 2017 Hero Arts

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  I hope you had a wonderful and hopefully long Thanksgiving Weekend!  I had a wonderful and super long holiday and I am so thankful we were able to spend it with most of our children and grandchildren.  We are truly blessed! 

This week's challenge at Stamp, Ink, Paper is All Wrapped Up and is all about packaging or tags.  For me this was a really cool challenge because I had recently received my November My Monthly Hero Kit from Hero Arts that had lots of tag stamps and dies along with a ton of sentiments!


Here are my super cute tags....




I adore these little tags.  They are so cute, they could be ornaments!  I made most of them into shakers as the dies in the kit had shapes that were perfect to cut out the inside.  For the tree, I used some Lucy's Things "Little Things Rainbow Jewels"  that I thought worked perfectly for the ornaments.  The kit was wrapped up with some twine that I used for some of the tags.. for the others I used some Red and White twine from my stash.  

Here's a look at the back of the tags.... 


I kept the back simple in that I stamped the exact image as the front but added the To and From Shape to the back so that I can write the names on it.  I have lots more of these to make but I love how these first few turned out!  I hope you love them too!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina



Wednesday, November 22, 2017

PCC 269, Very Vintage Stampendous Snowy Postcard Stamp

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving Eve. Tomorrow is the day.. I hope you have the Turkey bought!  We aren't having Turkey this year.  Honestly I didn't really intend to cook.  The last couple of years we have gone to Cracker Barrel with the kids that were in town on Wednesday night to have our Thanksgiving.  Everyone just has so many places to go that it seemed silly to spend so much time cooking a huge meal for the kids to spend 1 or 2 hours and leave to eat someplace else.  Well this year I decided I wanted to try cooking again but this time I will cook on Wednesday instead of Thursday and I'm not making a thousand dishes this time.  So I've bought a ham, and will be making homemade macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole and green bean casserole.  Those are usually the most requested dishes by the kids!  Hopefully keeping the menu a little more simple and having it on Wednesday will be a great combination and will work out well!

Well since it is  Wednesday, that means another Paper Craft Crew Challenge.  This one was super easy and a lot of fun.  It's a Very Vintage Theme and that's one of my favorite styles!



I used the Stampendous Snowy Postcard Stamp on this one.. it is perfect for a Vintage Look!

I started off by Stamping the Snowy Postcard Stamp onto Crumb Cake Cardstock with Early Espresso Ink.  Once I stamped it, I used an Aqua Painter and some Old Olive Ink to color in the Houses and Holly Leaves as well as the oval ring around the scene.  I sprayed the edges with water and used my finger nails to distress the edges.  I used a heat tool to dry it and then used the aqua painter to color the edges with more of the Old Olive Ink.  I then sponged some Crumb Cake Ink onto the front to age it.  I stamped the retired French Script Stamp in Mossy Meadow Ink (also retired) onto Old Olive Cardstock.  I distressed the edges of this layer the same way I distressed the edges of the top layer.  I used craft glue to adhere slightly skewed the Snowy Scene onto the Old Olive layer.  I tied a piece of Tan Lace around the two layers and then adhered them both to an Early Espresso A2 Card Base.  After deciding that the left upper corner needed some love, I cut some Pine Boughs out of Wild Wasabi Cardstock using the Take A Bough Die set from Concord and 9th.  I sponged the edges with Old Olive Ink and then adhered them with Ranger Multi Medium Matt.  I used a Gina Marie Pine Cone Die set to cut out the small pine cone.  The bottom layer was Chocolate Chip Cardstock and the upper layer was Soft Suede.  I sponged some Soft Suede Ink over the top of the Pine Cone and adhered it over the Pine Boughs with Glue Dots.  I know that had a lot going on.. thanks for hanging in with me on it!  

Thanks for stopping by and have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

SIP Challenge #126 - Thankful with My Monthly Hero from Hero Arts

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  I hope you're ready for Thanksgiving because it's just 2 days away!  This week's Challenge over at Stamp, Ink, Paper is all about Thankful, Grateful, and Blessed.  I decided since I was finished with my Thanksgiving Cards that I would make a Thank You.  After all when you are Thankful for someone or something, you often say Thank you, right??  

http://stampinkpaper.com/?p=3487





Finally I used the My Monthly Hero Kit from July 2017.  I had previously only used one image and wasn't exactly sure how much I liked it.  Well ..... I LOVE it!  Some of the cutest images!  I just adore this little pitcher and the bouquet of flowers is just perfect in it.  I honestly had part of this card already made.  I have a drawer that I keep half made cards in.  Am I the only one that starts a card and then gets on a completely different track and ends up with partially made cards?  Well I do it a lot.  For this one I had the Early Espresso Base done with a layer of Old Olive embossed with the Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Embossing Folder.  I also had the strip of the Early Espresso Chevron DSP matted in Early Espresso Cardstock on the partially done card.  So what I did was add some of the light pink DSP matted on a scrap of Early Espresso.  I used my bone folder to pry open a section of the already adhered strip so I had room to tuck the new strip under the old one.  Once through, I adhered the right side down first.  I then added some Natural thread on the left side three times around and then tied it into a bow.  I used some Multi Medium Matt to adhere the bow down and then used some craft glue to adhere the left side of the new strip down.  I heat embossed my Thank You sentiment in White on the top of the Chevron Strip.  Both the flowers and the pot were first inked with Versamark and then with Soft Suede Ink onto Neenah Classic Solar White Cardstock.  I then clear embossed them.  I used my Stampin' Blends to color both the flowers, leaves and the planter and then used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  I adhered them all with 3M Foam Tape.  Finally I decided that the planter needed grounding so I cut a small section of a White Doily and adhered it with Multi Medium Matt.  I finished it off with 3 Espresso Pretty Pink Posh Sequins!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

PCC268 Sketch Challenge with Gina K Designs Festive Foliag!

Hello and Happy Hump Day!  I'm super excited to be back at Paper Craft Crew this week with my take on a super fun sketch!  There are soooo many possibilities with this one.. take a look!


How fun is that??!!  I decided since I did the spotlighting technique on mine and had stamped pine branches and cones that mine didn't really need the banner.  


The stamp set I used was one I bought last year from Gina K Designs.. it's called Festive Foliage by Claire Brennan!  I used it for so many of my cards last year and I do believe it will be used for quite a few this year as well!  It has some awesome Christmas foliage images as well as sentiments!  I used my Misti to stamp the images with SU Sahara Sand Ink onto Neenah 110# Classic Crest Solar White Card Base.  Once I had it stamped on the card base, I stamped it on a piece of Whisper White Cardstock again in Sahara Sand.  I then used a sponge dauber to add SU Chocolate Chip, Early Espresso, Old Olive, and Mossy Meadow (retired) inks to the stamp as well.  I used the SU Layering Circle Framelits to the section that I wanted to spotlight and added an Old Olive small scallop border (also from the same die set).  The sentiment was added at the top on the right in Old Olive Ink and then Versamark and clear embossed.  I used a 3/4" x 5 1/2" piece of  Merry Little Christmas DSP in an Old Olive pattern.  I ran some Natural Thread around the strip of DSP and tied it in a small bow and then added the circle layer with the spotlighted design over it.  I used my scissors to snip the overhanged portion off from the back of the card.  Lastly.. as usual, I added a few Pretty Pink Posh 4mm sequins in Espresso with Multi Medium Matt adhesive.   

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina



Tuesday, November 14, 2017

SIP #125 Color Challenge with Stampin' Up! Vintage Leaves

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  Hope you are having a fabulous Fall weather week.  Today is of course another Stamp, Ink, Paper Challenge and is my very last Fall Card of the year!  Take a look at the Challenge Graphic.. it really does scream fall to me!





I decided considering the colors in the challenge that it would be a perfect time for one last card to mail out for Thanksgiving.  I used the incredible Vintage Leaves stamp set from Stampin' Up! but the
sentiment is from the retired Lighthearted Leaves stamp set.  I love this sentiment and can't seem to part with this set!  All of my stamping was done on one layer of Watercolor Paper.  I used the smooshing technique to smoosh some Pumpkin Pie, and Daffodil Delight Ink onto the watercolor paper and dried in between layers with my heat tool.  Once completely dry I ran my embossing buddy over the front of the card.  I used my Misti to stamp the leaves and Sentiment first in Versamark and then in Early Espresso.  I then heat embossed all of the stamping with clear embossing powder.  There ending up being just alittle more white on the stamped panel than I wanted so I took a sponge and a little bit of Daffodil Delight Ink to fill in the other areas.  I used my Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangle Dies to cut out the stamped panel and layered on a skinny layer of Early Espresso Cardstock.  All of that was mounted to a A2 card base of 110# Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock.  Lastly I added a few sequins from Pretty Pink Posh to finish it off.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina





Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Pallet Birthday Card with Concord and 9th Petals and Pallets Bundle

Hello and Happy Tuesday evening!  I wanted to share my Pallet Card made with the Concord and 9th Petals and Pallet Bundle and the Happy Balloons Bundle!


I loved the idea of a Pallet Sign Card!  Pallets are so popular now. After I cut two pallets out of Kraft Cardstock, I used the coordinating wooden plank stamps in SU Crumb Cake Ink to add the woodgrain.  I heat embossed the Forever  Young sentiment in Black to make it stand out.  The Celebrate Balloon and Birthday Wishes banner were stamped in Black on Soft Sky Cardstock.  Those were both from the Happy Balloons Bundle.  I cut out the banner prior to stamping the sentiment... I found that made it easier.  To finish it off I added some Doodle Bug Sequins and some Natural Thread for the Balloon String.    I love how it turned out.   Hope you do too!  Have a wonderful day!

Blessings, Tina

SIP #124 Girls Night Out with Stampin' Up! Half Full

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  I hope your week is off to an awesome start!  Since it is Tuesday that means another Stamp, Ink, Paper challenge and this time it's all about Girls Night Out!  

I finally got the opportunity to use my Stampin' Up! Half Full Stamp Set.  I have a few friends that are all about wine so I why not start on Christmas Cards for our card swap!  


This one was pretty simple with just a little bit of coloring.  I stamped the glasses onto Kraft Cardstock with using my Misti and the Creative Corners to align the wine glasses.  I used two light colored pencils to color in the white wine.  The larger wine glass was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink onto Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80# cardstock.  I used the Stampin' Blends Markers in Cherry Cobbler to color in the wine and the berries and in Old Olive for the holly leaves.  Both the large wine glass and the berries were fussy cut.  I used my Stampin' Write Basic Black marker along the edge of the fussy cutting so that the white would not show.  The DSP used is from the Stampin' Up! Quilted Christmas 6x6" paper stack.... I love these prints!  The larger splats are of course from Gorgeous Grunge (Retired).  The smaller splats are from my Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker.  I remove the top and pull the brush edge against the edge of the top to make the splatters.  


Here's how I finished up the inside.....


Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina