PCC224 Black-Tie Gala with Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Dec 2016 Kit

Hello and Happy Wednesday!  This week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge is a Black-Tie Gala theme.  As soon as I saw the theme I knew that I would use my December 2016 My Monthly Hero Kit!  It has a super fun pop-up die with coordinating stamps and word dies.  Here's what I came up with...

The black shimmer cardstock as well as the gold cardstock were in this kit!  The pop-up die is so much fun as were the little burst dies that cut out.  Even the word dies "cheers" and "party" were included!  This kit was such a fun one!  I added some Pearls and Pretty Pink Posh Sequins as well as the Gold Glitter Paper to cut out the small burst and "cheers"!  As of this post, there are some of these Hero Arts kits available so if you are interested, hop on over and grab one.  Most every month these kits sell out because they are such an awesome value!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Blessings, Tina

SIP #79, Anything But Christmas! Theme Challenge

Hello!  Hope your week is off to an awesome start!  It's hard to believe that this Sunday will be Christmas Day!  This month has flown by!  This week at Stamp, Ink, Paper we have an Anything But Christmas Challenge!  How easy is that??  If you haven't finished your Christmas Cards by now, just give up like I did!  lol  Seriously this has been a terrible month for me.  I had strep throat one week, pneumonia the next week and last Friday I was back at the doctor and was diagnosed with acute bronchitis!  All I can say is what I have gotten done, was done, and what was left won't get done!  My body has definitely told me to take it easy!   Well, back to this week's fun challenge, here's the challenge badge with link to the SIP Challenge Blog!

So since I've been so sick and unfortunately been out of work way more than I should have, I made a card for my sweet assistant, Nikki.  She has taken on a lot of my work these past three weeks as I'm super grateful for her!

Now I have to tell you that I am in love with this Distress Ink Watercolor Smooshed Background.  I was lucky enough to be the winner of 2 classes from Online Card Classes in the Facebook group Stamp Junkies.  One of the classes I took was called Background Check and it has some fabulous background techniques.  The classes were donated by Jennifer McGuire and she has been such an inspiration to me since I've been making cards.  I believe I have seen every video that she has ever put on Youtube!  I had heard her mention the classes but had never really checked them out.  Well let me tell you that they are definitely wonderful and video and information packed.  There are so many downloadable resources and I definitely believe they are well worth the money if you are looking for something like that!  I'm sure I'll purchase classes in the future now that I realize how much information and access you get!    Ok, so on to my card.  I made this background with Ink Smooshing Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks onto Watercolor Paper.  I loved it so much that I didn't want to cover much of it up so I kept this one really simple.  I used Mama Elephant Basic Creative Cuts Dies to cut a pretty scallop panel from the watercolored background.  I used the Simon Says Stamp "You Matter" stamp set and coordinaing "You" die for my sentiment.  The "You" was cut out of SU Basic Black Cardstock twice and then glued together before placing on the card front for more dimension.  The "are pretty amazing" sentiment from the You Matter stamp set was stamped in Memento Luxe Tuxedo Black Ink and then clear embossed.  I used my Misti to stamp to make sure that it got good coverage and was lined up exactly where I wanted it.  I didn't want to take a chance of messing up my gorgeous background.  Once I had the sentiment on, I added 3 black enamel dots and added a few splatters from some Distress markers.  I mounted my panel on a Basic Black A2 cardbase and then added three loops of black baker's twine around the top portion of the card and tied it into a small bow.  I absolutely adore how it came out and hope you love it too!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

PCC223 Paper Craft Crew Sketch Challenge!

Don't kill me.. seriously I know, I know, I know... that I said I was done with my Christmas cards.  I lied!  Sorry.  I forgot to make Jeff a card and you know I had to do that!  I used this week's fun Paper Craft Crew Sketch to create what is I promise... my LAST Christmas card!

I decided to turn the sketch on it's side to come up with my shaker card for Jeff!

I started with an A2 Neenah Crest Solar White card base and used my DCWV  Winter In the Woods Paper Stack to create the card front and shaker sentiment.  After layering up acetate, and circle windows, I filled the shaker with some white and silver sequins and snowflakes.  I finished it off with three silver sequins and a double strand of silver cording tied on the left side.  Super, duper easy and yes, I promise, it is my very LAST Christmas card!  LOL

Thanks for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

SIP #78 Winter Holiday Card!

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  Can you believe that it is almost Christmas???  This week's Stamp, Ink, Paper Challenge is a Winter Holiday Themed Card and I had just a couple of Christmas cards left to make so that's what I went with.  This means, yes, yes, yes, I am finally done with my Christmas cards!  Woo Hoo!

I decided to have a little fun with the Hero Arts Color Layering Christmas Tree Stamp Set for this week's card.  

This Hero Arts set made layering this one up super easy.   The greens I used for the trees were Stampin' Up! Pear Pizzazz, Garden Green, and Mossy Meadow Inks. I heat embossed the last "snow" layer in white embossing powder.   I think the "puffy" embossing powder will make for some fun snow though, I have some on order and waiting to receive it!  After layering up my trees, I masked them off as well as a snow bank and then sponged in various blues for my sky.  I finished it off with some white gel pin flicks to mimic falling snow and then a few sequins.  It was a super easy card to create and really looks beautiful. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

Paper Craft Crew Sketch Challenge #PCC222

Hello and Happy Hump Day!  Hope your week has been going great!  I'm still working on my Christmas Cards.. ugh!  Why oh why do I wait until the last minute.  Since I have a Design Team Card for Paper Craft Crew today, I killed two birds with one stone and made a Christmas Card for one of my sweet granddaughters!  Check out the fun sketch!!!

And here's what I made using a some awesome products I received from Gina K Designs!

This little santa from Gina K Designs "Christmas Magic" set is so adorable!  I love that it has coordinating dies.  I bought a fabulous Christmas card kit from Gina K Designs that included this stamp set as well as others, cardstock, dies and even this fun DSP.  It was an awesome value and has been well used for my cards this year!  For the adorable Santa, after coloring with copics,  I added some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter with a Quickie Glue Pen on the edge of his coat, hat and gloves.  All of my sweet granddaughters love anything glittery so this will be a winner!   I hope you love it as much as I do!  Now go make a card based on this awesome sketch and link it up!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

SIP Challenge #77 - Sketch Challenge!

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  Are you done with your Christmas Cards yet???  Well, I'm not but I'm trying to get there!  This week at Stamp, Ink, Paper we have an awesome sketch challenge that has
helped me make a few more.

A few more, yep.. a few more.  I made 4 cards before I decided which one to use for my Design Team Card.  Here's the one I went with..

I know the circle is a bit bigger than the one in the sketch but I really wanted to use the scallop circle from the Mama Elephant All Prettied Up Creative Cuts Dies since I had use those same dies to cut the stitched scallop card front.   I used some retired Stampin' Up! DSP for my window scene.  My very favorite part of this card is the sentiment.. oh how I adore this sentiment!  It is from the Gina K Designs Home for the Holidays Stamp Set!  I plan on using this one for many of my cards this year.  Yep, I know, I know, I need to get these cards finished!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

PCC #221 - Color Layering Cardinal and Barnwood!

Hello and Happy Wednesday!  I hope your week has been going well!  I've been sick for a few days but I do believe the meds are kicking in!  Thank goodness!  I'm super excited about this week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge!  It's a color challenge that is perfect for Christmas and you know I still need to finish some of my Christmas cards!  

Why was I so excited about this color challenge??  Because I had purchased a brand new Concord & 9th Stamp called "Barnwood Background" from my friend Justin at the Stamp, Ink, Paper Store!  I don't know what Barns looks like around where you live but here in Middle Tennessee they are Red and usually have "See Rock City" painted on the roof!  

So... what color are Barns in your area?  I thought all barns were painted red but my husband told me that the Rock City folks painted the barns red as payment to paint their advertisement on the roof.  

Ok, so I knew I wanted to use the Barnwood Background Stamp with Red because in my mind, that's the color barns are.  lol  Then I remembered another awesome stamp set that I bought from the Stamp, Ink, Paper store.. Hero Arts Color Layering Cardinal!  So I combined the two and this is what I came up with.  I love it!

Ok, so let's get started with the scoop on this one.  I started with an 11 x 4 1/4" base, scored at 5 1/2" for a side folding card.  For the barnwood background, I stamped first in Versamark, and then in SU Real Red Ink and then stamped it on a piece of 5 x 3 3/4" SU Crumb Cake Cardstock.  I then sprinkled it with clear embossing powder and heat embossed it.  Next I stamped the limbs with SU Chocolate Chip Ink onto more of the Crumb Cake Cardstock.  I also stamped the Pine Sprigs onto Crumb Cake with SU Garden Green Ink.  I then cut all of these pieces out with the coordinating dies by Hero Arts and adhered them with 2-way glue onto the Barnwood layer.  The Cardinal was stamped onto Layering Weight Ivory cardstock by Gina K Designs.  The 1st layer was stamped with a light coat of SU Real Red Ink, the second layer was a heavier layer of SU Real Red Ink, and the third layer was stamped in SU Cherry Cobbler Ink.  The face mask layer was stamped in SU Archival Black Ink as were the feet.  I cut out the cardinal and feet with the coordinating dies.  I then attached the feet to the bird with fast fuse and then attached the Cardinal with foam dimensionals.  The "Peace" die was a freebie that I received from Taylored Expressions and it was cut from Gina K Designs Christmas Pine Cardstock.   I cut it out twice and glued the layers together for a bit more dimension and then added it with 2 way glue to the bottom of the stamped layer.  I then attached that layer to a 5 1/8" x 3 7/8" of Christmas Pine and then mounted that on my Real Red Card Base.  I love how it turned out and I hope you like it half as much as I did.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Blessings, Tina