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

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

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

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

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

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

• Cake Soiree Clear-Mount Bundle [147627]
• Watercolor Paper [122959]
• Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]
• Old Olive 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100702]
• Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045]
• Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad [140931]
• Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [126953]
• Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad [126983]
• Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad [126944]
• Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder [109130]
• Versamark Pad [102283]
• Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder [109129]
• Calypso Coral Light Stampin' Blends Marker [144042]
• Calypso Coral Dark Stampin' Blends Marker [144044]
• Old Olive Dark Stampin' Blends Marker [144573]
• Old Olive Light Stampin' Blends Marker [144574]
• Daffodil Delight Light Stampin' Blends Marker [144586]
• Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blends Marker [144585]
• Pink Pirouette Dark Stampin' Blends Marker [144592]
• Pink Pirouette Light Stampin' Blends Marker [144593]
• Heat Tool [129053]
• Embossing Buddy [103083]
• Big Shot [143263]

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!

Cathy Caines

Cheryll Miller

Danielle Bennenk

Dena Albee

Jenny Hall

Jerim Dickins

Jess Brown

Melissa Davies

Pam Staples

Tanya Boser

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


Here is a full list of the products used:

Product List

• Neutrals Best 12" X 12" Cardstock Pack [145411]
• Sweet Soirée Specialty Designer Series Paper [145564]
• 5/8" (1.6 Cm) Burlap Ribbon [141487]
• Picture Perfect Birthday Photopolymer Stamp Set [145519]
• Pretty Label Punch [143715]
• Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies [143751]
• Leaf Punch [144667]
• Old Olive 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100702]
• Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [126953]
• Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad [140931]
• Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder [109130]
• Heat Tool [129053]
• Stamping Sponges [141337]
• Pacific Point 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [111350]
• Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]
• Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [144108]
• Stampin' Trimmer [126889]
• Glitter Enamel Dots [144200]

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

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

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