A Banner Celebration

I made a set of four cards using the 'They Say it's Your Birthday' papers from Carta Bella, and the great 'A Banner Celebration' die set from Spellbinders.

The candle and balloon papers work so perfectly with this die set!  And their flip sides are the great green and blue patterns.  I mixed and matched them all along with a few dies from my stash.  First up, is a horizontal card where I wanted to show off the great candle paper:

Then I made a shaker!  There are a bunch of silver discs under the acetate, and I made it a shaped shaker using the Essential Arches die:

With the arched cut out, I used it as a base after fussy cutting out a bunch of the candle boxes:

And finally, I had to show off the pretty balloon paper.  I kept it fairly simple, just used my postage rectangle die to frame the sentiment, then added a few candles and balloons.

All supplies are available at The Papercrafter's Workshop.  They ship!

Holiday Mansion

I pulled out a retired Art Impressions set that I had previously stamped to do a little colouring while I watched a video or two... this is the Holiday Mansion with the Garden Set add-on.

It was stamped on Cryogen cardstock which has a creamy cast to it, so I paired it up with some old Carta Bella papers from my stash, and set about colouring the pieces with my Copic markers.  There are matching dies that cut out the windows, doors and small items as well.

I made my background scene with the patterned papers - I love this look!  And it's a great way to use up patterned paper.  It's a little larger than an A2 size, being 4 5/8" x 6".

Hoopla & Embroidered Blooms

Today I'm using pretty much the entire Embroidered Blooms set from The Greetery, along with the Hoopla Oval die that I got to use it with.  I was looking for a pretty colour combo, and somehow decided to use patterned paper, so I found a 6" paper pad that has been in my stash for years - Cool Summer by Carta Bella.  It made for a bunch of pretty die cuts, and a fun mix of flowers.

I cut the Hoopla die out of some tan cardstock, and used Vintage Photo and Weathered Wood Distress Oxide inks to darken and grunge it up a little, then I cut the bits out of gold and silver cardstock, and the center out of cream - to be the 'fabric' base. 

After cutting everything, I inked them up a little to add some shading, and then adhered everything down.  I used the It's Your Day Betterpress sentiment with it's matching die, and created a brown banner to layer it on so that it would stand out more from the busy background.  Some Wink of Stella was added to the flower centers, and a few gold pearls were tucked around the hoop.

Happy to have two of these in my stash!

Honey Jars

 This is the sweet Honey Jar stamp and die set from The Greetery that my niece gifted me last year.  I had all the bits and pieces stamped, ready to go - and have finally put together a couple of cards.

The Honey Bees dies are also from The Greetery, which I coloured up in Copic markers.  I wanted a bit of a homespun feel to my cards, so I've pulled out the Farm to Table papers by Carta Bella from my stash, trying to simulate a patterned tablecloth, and sweet gingham jar topper.

Pumpkin Spice

 I pulled out this sweet Lawn Fawn set that I haven't used in a while, to put together a little Pumpkin Spice card this week.  Those LF face stamps always make me smile.

Coloured with Copic markers.  Papers are Home Again by Carta Bella.

Ai Matchbooks

 Have you tried the Art Impressions Matchbooks, yet?  Everything 'mini' is big right now, and these are quick and easy to assemble.  Here is 5320 - Kitchen Set:

It all starts with the 5318 - MB Envelope Dies set, with includes the main die for the envelope, and a bunch of small dies to decorate it with - I added a coordinating bow:

You open the flap to see a little folded card inside!

The 5317 - MB Template Die is the base of the card, and works best in double sided paper:

                              

Just open the flap, and the tiny card unfolds.

All of the pieces pop up to make a darling 3D card that is about 2" x 2 1/2".  The Kitchen set includes all the little pieces that you see here, plus their coordinating dies - you can cut and stamp them all at once, then quickly colour them like I did with Copic markers, and a little paper piecing for the tablecloth.  The kitten is from the 5324 MB Cat Accessories Set.  Each piece has a flap that folds back and glues onto the base.

A close up of those adorable windows!

There are all kinds of Matchbooks to choose from, you can find them on the Ai website here!

Second Coffee Lover's post

 I have a second card to post in the 2021 Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop today.  I've been inspired by patterned papers lately, so here's my card using Flower Market by Carta Bella:

Dies are Leafy Branch from Pinkfresh Studio, Cups of Cheer from Memory Box, and Say it With Stamps from Photoplay.

You can see the rest of the hop here!

2021 Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!

 It's here!!  And I'm all prepped and ready to go with my (first?) post...  Visiting a couple of old favourites, as nothing beats Verve coffee stamp sets:

                     

Patterned paper is from Home Again by Carta Bella.  Dies are Cups of Cheer from Memory Box, Hexagons from MFT and A2 Double Stitched Rectangle Die from Art Impressions.  Stamp set is Better With You from Verve.  You can find the rest of the hop here!

Pink Christmas part 2...

 I have the other 3 styles of Christmas cards to share, that I made using Merry & Bright papers from Carta Bella.  Love these papers!

Sentiment is from Verve, decorative rectangle die is from The Greetery.

Word die is Echo Park.

And here's the whole group, one more time!

Pink Christmas

 It's Pink Shirt Day!  So what's a crafter to do, but post a pink card or two?  I am on a mission to use up supplies that have been in my craft room for awhile, and managed to create 8 Christmas cards using the Merry & Bright papers from Carta Bella. 

I also made a point of using some of the STICKERS that came with this paper pack - something I never do, but they're wonderful stickers, and make great accents.  I added a few die cuts and kept the colours bright and fun.

I'm also loving all of the Nuvo Drops that Santa put in my stocking this year - those little green dots are one of my new colours!  I'm going to split up my cards into a few posts, but here's the group of them together:

2020 Fall/Winter Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!

 Finally!  It took me several days to get this one assembled, but I am happy to be participating in the 2020 Fall/Winter Coffee Lover's Blog Hop.

Look closely!  I've die cut the word COZY out of the patterned paper, and have layered it with 5 other die cuts to create a raised word.  Scroll down to see it a little closer up.  These are the lovely Winter Market papers from Carta Bella.  I cut out a rectangle, 1/2" in from each side, and slid a piece of very sparkly silver glitter paper underneath (it is SO much sparklier in person!)

I added some glitter snowflakes and a couple of mugs of cocoa, along with the sentiment that I white embossed on the dark grey cardstock.

Wishing you all a Cozy holiday!

Doctor cards

I have a nephew who is doing his residency after finishing med school, and he needs a stash of thank you cards to thank the many mentors & practices that he works with all the time.  I've made him a few of these in the past, and apparently they're quite a hit when he hands them out.  So here are 3 from my latest batch:

 I used the Hello Again papers from Carta Bella, and used my sewing machine to add a little zigzag stitching to the backgrounds.

 This image is from the Art Impressions Proud Nurse Work & Play set.  There's a similar sentiment with a birthday angle in the set, but these are to be thank you cards, to I printed out all the sentiments with my computer

My two fellas are from the UM4099 set from Art Impressions, and I raised up the sentiments with pop dots, and added a syringe to "Doctors call the shots".  Everything is coloured with Copic markers.

Christmas Wonder

 I have the last of my Ai Christmas cards to share with you today - two cards using the lovely Christmas Wonder Set (Sku #4936) from Art Impressions:

  I kept both of these images to a fairly neutral palette - other than red & green, I used just the Copic Warm Greys & a hint of gold.

For this card, I fussy cut out the lamp post and the tree, and popped both of them and the sentiment up with pop dots.  Happy stamping!

Copics used: Greys - W7, W5, W3, W1, W00

Reds - R37, R35, R32, R30, R59

Greens - G46, G43, G40

Skin/hair - E11, E00, E000, R30, Y26, Y23, E50, E55, E53, E51, E47, E44, E43