Sheena Victoria Floral Collection Release from Crafter's Companion

I love this release- and I know you will too! There are so many gorgeous flower stamps/dies - and they are all so lifelike.  Be sure to check out the Crafter's Companion Facebook page to see more inspiration, and head over to the store to grab your own.

Stamp Sets Sheena Perfect Partners Victorian Floral Sweet William Set
Metal Die : Sheena Perfect Partners Victorian Floral Sweet William Die
Spectrum Noir Colors: PL2, PL4
Other CC Products : 8" X 8"Vintage Floral Collection - Vintage Words Embossing Folder

I Love You to the Moon

I'm back today to share a sweet vintage card.  Sometimes  detailed images, like this Mother and Child, can be slightly intimidating to color, but it is super easy.  I used Spectrum Noir Alcohol markers to color and then just cut out the image.  I matched the colors of the patterned paper with my markers.  The sentiment, To the Moon, was stamped on patterned paper to tie it all together.

Happy Times With You

 

Hi! I've got a mixed media layout to share with you today - and it really goes to show how easy it is to introduce mixed media techniques into your everyday projects. I've used Art Anthology Colorations mists and the Sorbet  and Velvet dimensional paints.

Here, you get a glimpse of techniques -mists were used to distress the edges of the papers, a wooden butterfly  has been embossed and misted, resist papers  have been colored with spray, and stenciled texture paste has been sponged with the Colorations.

Here is a close-up of the wooden butterfly.  It was misted first, then embossed, and then misted again.  It really creates a ton of texture.

This piece of paper was stamped, then a stencil was laid over the top, and texture paste was applied.  After it was completely dry, the Colorations were sponged on.  You will also notice that the photo has been rubbed down along the edges with the Velvet paint.(I just finger painted this on).

Finally, I added highlights to this silk flower by brushing on the Sorbet paint.  It really added some highlights to the flower, as well as drawing in the main colors of the layout.

I hope you give some of these quick and easy techniques a go.  I will be back on the Art Anthology Blog on January 25 with a really fun video to create a faux mosaic background.

Art Anthology

Colorations: Cinnamon Toast; Studio Blue,Peacock Feathers,Timeless

Sorbet - Viridian
Velvet- Aloha Zva Creative

Orange Crystals CRW-03CB-146

Large Crystals CRW-05CA-169

Large Flower FL-04CA-107

Small Bling Flourish  CR-07CA-121

Bling Flourish CRB-07CA-108

Small Pearl Flourish CRW-07CA113

Pink Paislee

Hope Chest Patterned Paper

StencilGirl

  Damask, Crackle

 Spellbinders

 Blooms One,  Blooms Three

Susan Lenart Kazmer

Iced Enamels  Relique Chartreuse

Xyron

Mega Runner, Teresa Collins Foam Adhesives

Zva Creative December DT Blog Hop

Happy holidays to you! Zva Creative and our talented NEW 2014 Design Team welcome you to our December blog hop where we officially welcome many of our new team members to our monthly hops! We are very excited about this year’s team and are sure that you will be inspired by and love their work. Are you ready to hop along and get to know them better?

And as a bonus— today’s hop is EXTRA special because you will get a sneak peek of Zva’s newest products which are set to be released at the next CHA tradeshow!

The hop begins at Zva Creative’s blog! Be sure head on over to check it out! You will also find a complete list of all the participating blogs there (in case there is a glitch along the way). 

As you know, Zva offers many beautiful color groupings for pearls, flowers and crystals.  If you like what you see along the hop you can find a list of stores and online retailers that sell Zva HERE. 

I'm really excited to be hopping along for my first time as a member of the Zva Creative team! I hope you enjoy the card that I have to share with yo today.  I have featured one of our new crystal swirls - CR-07CA-114.  It is the perfect size to make a statement on a card.

 

 I also got a chance to play with the set of PanPastels that I got for Christmas.  After I embossed my patterned paper, I brought out the raised areas using the pastels.

 The roses were made from patterned paper and die cut with Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms.  I also tucked a large Zva Creative Crystal ( CRW-05CA-169) into my floral cluster.

If you would like to play along with our design team, just follow along the blog path.  I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way!

The Blog Hop starts today, December 30th and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, December 31st.

***Prizes***

Hidden on FIVE of the designer’s blogs is a Zva Creative prize package! Winners will be randomly chosen after the hop is over. All you need to do is leave a comment on this Blog Hop post... you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. However, the more times you comment along the blog hop path, the more chances you will have to win.

The 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, January 1^st on Zva Creative’s blog. We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to Zva’s blog on Wednesday to see if you are a winner!

We also thought it would be more fun to add even more chances to win our blog hop prize!  To increase your chances of winning:

* Comment to let us know that you posted on your Facebook page about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)

* Comment to let us know that you "tweeted" about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)

* Comment to let us know that you asked your local store to carry Zva creative products.  If they already do, that's fantastic, maybe you can suggest other products that they don't carry.

*Hop over to Zva’s facebook page and “like” our page or leave a comment there to tell us that you stopped by if you already like follow us there!

 The blog hop begins here at Zva Creative’s blog. Your next stop is Carole Maurin. Enjoy!

Thank you for joining us!

 

P.S. Mark your calendar to join us again on January 27^th for our next Zva blog hop!

 

Xyron and Heidi Swapp Blog Hop

Today is the final day for the Xyron and Heidi Swapp Blog hop - and we have had so much fun creating with these great products!  If you have missed any of the projects, be sure to see them all on the Xyron Blog and the Heidi Swapp Blog!

I have a tea bag dispenser to share with you today.  The original tutorial can be found here, but I changed the dimensions a little bit, so that the scoring is more user friendly.

 

Cut a piece of red cardstock 6 x 12".  Line the paper up on a Scor-Pal with the short edge against the left side.  Score at 3", 5 3/4", 8 3/4" and 11 1/2".  Turn the paper so the short edge is at the top, and the long edge is against the left fence of the board.  Score at 1", and at 1 3/4" - ONLY IN THE 2ND BLOCK.

Trim the papers as shown.

Cut patterned paper to decorate the sides of the box.

(2) 2 3/4" x 4 3/4"

2 1/2" x 4 3/4"

2 1/2" x 3 7/8"

Run the patterned paper through the 5" Creative Station, and adhere to the cardstock base. Use the Xyron Double Sided tape to assemble the box.

To make a lid, cut a piece of cardstock 4 1/2" x 4 3/4".  Score at 3/4" on all four sides.  Trim the flaps and adhere using the Xyron Adhesive Dots.

Decorate the top with patterned papers.

3 x 2 3/4"

(2) 1/2" x 2 3/4"

(2) 1/2" x 3"

Cut a 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" piece of cardboard for the base and decorate using the Heidi Swapp Embellishments. Adhere the box to the base using the Double Sided Tape.  Decorate with ribbons and other embellishments as desired

Xyron 5" Creative Station

Xyron 1/2" Double Sided Tape

Xyron 10 mm Adhesive Dots

Heidi Swapp Believe Paper Pad HS00980

Heidi Swapp Color Magic Pressed Paper Frames HS01085

May Arts Ribbon: 1.5" Crochet NP10; 3/8" Reversible Dots 453-38-14

New Chipboard Release at Words or Whatever - Wow

Each month, Words or Whatever has a wonderful new product release.  This month, they are celebrating Back to School ( since it's an Australian company, their kiddos are heading off to school now).

So here are a couple of layouts that I created using a few of the new goodies.

 

I colored my chipboard with Clearsnap ink, and also added hightlights with Smooch.  My journaling was printed onto vellum and cut into strips and run through my Xyron 1.5" Sticker Maker - it works beautifully with the vellum, as it shows none of the adhesive through the paper.  I added a little text to the book in the lower right corner, by cutting apart Tim Holtz Tissue tape.

 

I found an image of an old school library card, and printed it out on cardstock and made a cute little library pocket for it.

The Little Kids border is not a new release, but it was perfect for this theme.

School Days:

School Pack (Wow1166)

 Vintage Book and Quill

Little Kids Border WOW1452

AltaMATZ Chicken Wire Piece (Alta055) 
Graphic 45 Patterned Papers - An ABC Primer
WorldWin Papers Vellum
Xyron Mega Runner
Xyron 1.5" Sticker Maker 
Clearsnap Ink

 

 

I added some puff paint to my abacus beads to make them look rounded and then painted them with Smooch.

 

I cut apart one of the "2013" titles, and used it for my math equation, with the help of some simple embroidery.

"No Matter How You Count It"

MDF Abacus

2013 Mixed Pack WOW 1741

Pink Paislee Patterned Paper - Old School

Epiphany Crafts Tools and Epoxies 

Xyron Mega Runner

Be sure to check out the Words or Whatever Blog, for my inspiration from the rest of the team, and to see more of the new products!

Scor-Pal and Pink Paislee Week

It's always fun to try different fancy folds on cards and the trendy papers from Pink Paislee's Portfolio Collection seemed perfect for this angular folded card.

Scor-Pal

Scor-Tape

Pink Paislee Patterned Papers - Portfolio Collection

Pink Paislee Artisan Chipboard - Arrows

Pink Paislee Artisan Words - Travel

Pink Paislee Artisan Corners

Pink Paislee Alphabet Stickers - Portfolio

Pink Paislee Artisan Ribbons - Zig Zag

WorldWin Cardstock

Clearsnap Smooch Spritz

Clearsnap Color Box Wild Hare Pigment Ink

Spellbinders Labels Twenty-One

Cut card stock base 6" x 12". With the long side against the upper fence, score at 3", and 9". Turn a quarter turn and score at 2".  Cut as shown below.

Score from the upper inside corner, to the lower outside corner on both sides.

Fold in, towards the center.

Fold the lower edge, back up towards the folded edge, so they line up , and fold using your Scor-pal tool.

Your card frame is now ready to embellish.

Ink all edges using grey ink.  Cover all panels on the card base with coordinating patterned papers that are cut 1/4" smaller than the card base.  For the center section of the card, cut a 6" x 6" piece of cardstock.  Trace the shape of the Spellbinders label around the top, and handcut, just the top edge. Cut the patterned paper with the same die. and layer it onto the base. Layer other paperson the card as shown and decorate with the Pink Paislee embellishments.

When the card is folded and ready for the envelope, this is how it will look.

When the card is opened to display, the fancy folds will serve as a stand, to hold it up.

You Shine Layout

Supplies:

WorldWin Papers Cardstock

Patterned Papers: Kaisercraft – Magnolia Grove Collection; Pink Paislee – Mistables Collection

Heartfelt Creations Stamps: Botanical Floral 2 (HCPC 3407); Bella Rose Leaves (HCPC 3390)

Heartfelt Creations/Spellbinders Dies: Bella Rose Die (HCD712) ;Decorative Butterfly Border (HCD702); Rose Creations

May Arts Ribbon: Mini Pom-Poms  419-10

Zva Creative Bling

Dusty Attic Chipboard Alphabet

Tattered Angels: Glimmer Mist – Olive Vine; Rum Punch; Glimmer Glam’s – Tide Pool; Chalkboard – Strawberry Shortcake

Clearnsnap Ink:  Mixd Media Inkz – Leather;  Color Box Pigment Ink – Harbor; Color Box Chalk Ink – Gray Whale

Art Institute Glitter: Gala Glitz – Orange

Ranger Stickes – Lime Green

McGill Paper Blossoms Paper Tool Kit and Mat

GlueArts Glue Glider Perma Tac, U Cut It Dimensional Foam Adhesive

Glue Arts Dries Clear Adhesive

Other:  Gesso, Corrugated Cardboard, Sewing Machine, thread

Designer Notes:

1.        Cut patterned papers to layer for base of layout as shown.  Ink all of the edges with dark brown ink and distress with water or distressing tool as desired.

2.       Add decorative machine stitching in black thread around the main panels.

3.       Cut a circle from corrugated cardboard. Paint with gesso.  Allow to dry.  Spray with Glimmer Mist, and paint areas with thick layers of Glimmer Glam. Allow to dry.

4.       Paint chipboard letters with Glimmer Glam.  Adhere to the corrugated circle.

5.       Stamp and die cut 6 layers of flower petals for each flower. Spray with glimmer mist and allow to dry.  Ink edges with brown ink.  Shape with flower shaping tools and assemble.  Add small amount of Dries Clear Adhesive and sprinkle with Gala Glitz.

6.       Stamp and cut two Leaf flourishes. Attach behind the floral cluster.

Feminine and Frilly

I have a rather girly card to share with you today.  Sometimes, it can be a little scary, figuring out how to use patterned papers with detailed scenes or graphics, but you just have to jump in and not worry too much about covering over some of the gorgeous designs.  Although it is very layered, I still kept a light and airy feeling by using transparencies, vellum and sheer ribbon for my layers.

Here is a close-up, where you can see the layers a little better. 

 I used the new Spellbinders Marvelous Squares, and cut two layers from WorldWin Papers vellum. Next, I cut a layer using Scor-tape, and then attached one side of the sticky to my vellum, and then removed the backing paper and sprinkled it with Wow Embossing Powder (Opaque Bright White Regular). I heat set the powder, and it gives a nice distressed appearance, as the adhesive heats up, and crackles a bit. 

I assembled my card, and added the cardstock lady from Pink Paislee's Vintage Vogue collection, a few flowers and a lovely May Arts Ribbon Bow (350 5/8"x50y SHEER/RUFFLE EDGE - 350-58-17).  I inked the edges of the Webster's Pages background with Tattered Rose Distress ink.

Thanks for stopping by!

Beauty In All Things

It's a beautiful summer day, here in the mountains of North Carolina, and I thougt I would share a happy card with you.  I've got lots of projects that I'm working on for the Summer CHA, but just wanted to sneak a fun card in for you today.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Patterned Papers: Pink Paislee

Cardstock: WorldWin Papers

Stamp: Unity Stamp - Kit of the Month June 2011

Cheery Lynn Designs Dies: Horizon Coved Rectangle Reflections Die, Border Carnivale

Wow Embossing Powder

Spellbinders Labels Five

Want2Scrap Nestabling

May Arts Ribbon

Challenges:

Friends With Flair - Friday Hop

Unity - KOTM Sketch Challenge

Simon Says: Diamond Jubilee

Unity Challenge: Stripes

Stamp and Show: Texture

A Walk In the Park

My sister, Lori, and I are hosting the challenge this month at CottageCutz dies - and it's super easy! We just want to see you use your CottageCutz dies on a layout. The random winner will get a $25 gift certificate! To get you started with some inspiration, here's a layout that I made last night.

CottageCutz Dies: Blossom Branch, Scallop Three Edger, Floral Doily
Spring Awakening Papers from the ScrapCake
Epiphany Crafts Studio Tool Round 14
Epiphany Crafts Round 14 Bubblecap
Epiphany Crafts Vintage Settings
Unity Stamps - All Worth It
Wow! Embossing Powders: White
Wow! Embossing Powders, Suzy West Collections: Earthtone Pepper, Bay Area Blue
Pink Paislee Chipboard Letters
Worldwin Papers Cardstock
Jillibean Soup Alphabet Stickers
Want2Scrap Pearls
Ranger Distress Stain
Versamark Ink

In the Limelight with Flourishes

I have been a huge fan of Flourishes stamps for a long time! So when I was asked to share a project that combined gorgeous Flourishes stamps and my Scor-Pal, I jumped at the chance.



I love making fancy fold cards, but today came back to my all-time favorite fold, an easel card. I wanted to use the Birthday Pennants stamp set, and thought that the easel card was a great choice. This set is so cool, because it coordinates with the Spellbinder's Nested Pennants and the Nested Lacey Pennants.

Another technique that I love to use with my Scor-pal is making a pleated embellishment. For this card, I cut a strip of paper an inch wide, and scored it every half an inch. I put Scor-tape down and used it to attach it to the card. This is a great way to add dimension to your projects.

Thanks for letting me share some Flourishes love with you today!

Everything's coming up Poppies!

I love poppies! I have to say they are one of my favorite flowers, so I decided I needed to figure how to make one using my CottageCutz dies. I used the Pink Peony Flower for the petals and the stamen is from the Orchid Flower.



Step 1. Cut one base flower, 2 petal pieces and 3 stamens.


Step 2. Ink the petals. I used Distress Ink ( Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door and Black Soot).


Step 3. Cut into the base flower to form four separate petals (but don't cut all the way through). Cut the end off of the stamens, so you just have a tip with three balls.



Step 4. Shape the parts with a flower shaping tool or ball stylus.


Step 5. Assemble the flower. Add a little Flower Soft in Sage Green for the centers.



Here's a layout that I made using some of the poppies. This is a picture of my nephew at the Land of Oz festival with the Wicked Witch. The quote says, " And now my beauties, something with poison in it. Poppies...poppies. Poppies will put them to sleep." ~ Wicked Witch of the West



I added some Epiphany Crafts epoxies. I love the large bubble on the bottom left that I added mini letter stickers for the date, before I punched the epoxy out! I used my Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive and Scrap Dots to put it all together.




Challenges:

Helmar: Sketch