Just For You

Hi everyone! I've been so busy at work lately I haven't been crafting as much as I'd like. I made this card using paper from the Ivy Lane paper pack as my background paper. I stained the sides using Tim Holtz Walnut Stain distress ink. I went a little overboard with it and probably should've toned down the edges. I had hoped to achieve a vintage looking card. The flourishes were cut using Cricut Accent Essentials cartridge and Cocoa cardstock.

The flowers are from Just For You stamp set and were stamped in Sunset and Sorbet inks. I adorned the card with Sparkles Brown and Tan Assortment and stamped the sentiment using Saddle ink.

PB & J Birthday

I've been so busy at work lately and crafting has taken a back seat the past week. I sit in my craft area every night thinking making a card will somehow take the stress away, but unfortunately being so drained and stressed from work somehow nipped my creativity pool as I couldn't come up with anything at all. Well it's the weekend and I'm glad I at least was able to make something. I'm using the morepb&j2stamp from The Stamps of Life and making another PB&J card.

I couldn't find a plug sign stamp so I just substituted with a heart instead. The jelly was stamped using Hero Arts Mid Tone Shadow Ink in Raspberry Jam, the blue label using Close To My Heart's Sky ink, the peanut butter cap was stamped using Hero Arts Red Royal Shadow Ink, body using CTMH Desert Sand, yellow bottle label using CTMH Buttercup. I love these ink colors!

Hello There!

I've missed Lollydoodle and thought I'd create a card again using its super cute papers. While the most popular pairing is an Owl, I thought I'd use a butterfly instead. I just bought this really cute Sizzix butterfly dies from The Stamps of Life yesterday during their store opening. It's brand new product that's not even on the website yet so I can't put a link yet.
Admittedly I'm having a creative block, sad to say. I thought with the long weekend I'd be on a creative roll, but of course life doesn't work that way. Instead I'm suffering some sort of a block and I can't seem to come up with anything pretty. This will have to do for now.
Everything is from the Lollydoodle Cardmaking WOTG pack, except for the brown butterfly background, which is just some scrap paper. Sentiment was stamped using Lagoon ink, and satin ribbon is from scraps.

Embossing Folder Box

A trip to IKEA today and I found this really interesting wooden box. I've been looking for a better storage solution for my embossing folders other than a tote and today I saw this box. Lucky for me, when I got home and tried them, the folders fit PERFECTLY!!!! The FORHOJA costs $14.99 and is a box of 4. I could use one of the small ones to fit just the small embossing folders or use the big one and fit the big and small size side by side. Either way, it works and I can now browse through my embossing folders instead of having to take them out of the tote one by one!

Thinking of You Egg Tote

I wanted to do a last Easter project so I thought of making an Egg shape tote. But halfway through the project I changed my mind and switched to a more generic theme, Thinking of You. I still used egg shape cut to make the tote but decided to change the paper. I used a sheet from the Jubilee paper pack and the wavy border accent came from my scraps of Ariana paper.   At first it didn't seem like the paper matched, maybe I'm having an off creative day today. But as I added a plain yellow ribbon and the stamp sentiment, it all came together somehow. I used a stamp from Jeanette's Archive Friendly Thoughts and used Tim Holtz distress markers and water colored the image. I used Faded Jeans as the background so the blue will tie in with the Ariana paper border. I love Tim Holtz Distress markers! I used a regular water brush (now my favorite tool) to color the whole thing in. The flowers and leaves were colored using Mowed Lawn and Barn Door. I used Mustard Seed for the little dots so the yellow will somehow tie in with the ribbon color. And the last touch was to mark the edges using Tim Holtz Walnut Stain distress ink.

You'll have to forgive my ribbon as my fingers aren't so adept in making them. Maybe it's time to get one of those ribbon making spools thing....

Here is an image of the stamp I used.

A1154 Friendly Thoughts

Here's how the back side looks like.

You Drive Me Wild

I was going through my stamps collection and saw a couple of Lawn Fawn stamps I 'hoarded' during the Scrapbook Expo that I haven't even gotten around to using. So today I made this card using Lawn Fawn Happy Trails Stamp Set and it coordinating die cut set, the Lawn Cuts Happy Trails.

The trees were colored using Spectrum Noir markers, in 3 shades of Green. 1 shade using Jade Green, another using Light Green and another using Green Turquoise. The car was colored using Dark Red. The sun and clouds, I used TCW (The Crafter's Workshop) stencil. Not sure what the name is but it's the one with the cityscape too. I added 2 Queen & Co. red epoxy bubbles to the sentiment to further accentuate the red car. As I adhered it to the brown card base, I used White gel pen to add the stitch border.

Hope you'll like it!

Hello Love

The card I made today is inspired by a Silhouette cut file that I own. I changed up or tweaked the design a teeny weeny bit. For this card I used Cocoa cardstock and a B&T paper from Ariana paper pack. I added a couple more accent strips with scalloped border to create more contrast.

The flower and sentiment were stamped using Hello Blooms stamp set. I used Indian Corn Blue, which is a really nice color, but my husband kinda raised his eyebrows with this card I made today. Normally he'd say "that's cute!", but today, I got a raised eyebrow instead. Then again when he said it I hadn't completed the accent border pieces yet so who knows right? So my 2nd choice of ink color would've been something green, perhaps Pear or Topiary, but I'm feeling a bit adventurous today so I went with something unconventional. 

I love Hello Blooms, it is one of my have to have stamp set. The flowers are so cute! And this stamp set uses the Cricut Artiste to cut the flower shapes. I have to admit I'm not a pro at that, and obviously still need a lot of practice, but I still like the look of layered the flowers on top of each other to create a bit of a dimension. Check out the image below to see what other pretty flowers are on this stamp set.

Washi Play

I finally got the chance to play with the ton of Washi tapes I got at the Scrapbook Expo. I made a set of these everyday cards that should be appropriate for any occasion. I used a variety of Close to My Heart Mini Stamps - Balloon, Perfect Polka Day, Hi, A Little Gift, Colored Egg and Parasol. Washi tapes are from Queen and Co., and a couple from We R Memory Keepers. I think this should be enough Washi play for me for awhile. I used a lot of supplies to make these, each sentiment came from different CTMH stamp sets, with only the Parasol using a Stamps of Life sentiment. Inks are a mix of CTMH Sweet Leaf, Chocolate, Cranberry, and Hero Arts Mid Tone Shadow Ink Bubble Gum Pink, Orange Soda and Red Royal. The images were colored in using a mix of Memento Markers and Wink of Stella Markers.

Happy Easter Egg-Citement

I'm a bit late but hey, at least I still have a week left to do some Easter cards. Today's card uses Close to My Heart Hoppy Easter stamp set. This is so just so adorable! I had so much fun coloring eggs, trying out different color combinations to make the eggs pop. I also used Colored Egg for the additional eggs on the card. Isn't it obvious I got carried away with the eggs?

I used Lagoon cardstock and embossed it with Chevron pattern to create a background. I did not want to use any more B&T paper given my eggs are already creating a bit of a noise.  The sentiment was stamped using Easter Wishes and Hoppy Easter. It was stamped on a scrap of Skylark paper I had and I snipped the middle to make it look like a banner. I added black epoxy bubbles to accentuate the sentiment.  The pink strip of paper was also a scrap that I added to bring out some nice color.

And as always, my bunny and Easter eggs have all been colored using my ever so dependable Spectrum Noirs markers.

Hope you'll like it! Enjoy!

Balloon Talk

Welcome! Today's post features this month's SOTM Balloon Talk.

For this card I used Paper Fundamentals Assortment as my background paper. I stamped the boy with the kite using Windy Day, and colored them using Spectrum Noir markers. I added a couple more tiny flowers at the bottom from the Around The Block (retired) stamp set. I stamped the sentiment "happy" using Black ink. I also used the "awesomeness" sentiment that's part of this month's SOTM and cut it out to remove the call out arrow. I made it a perfect rectangle so it becomes the 'title' of my card. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Here's this month's Stamp of the Month - Balloon Talk. It's such a versatile set you can practically use it for any theme! Get it this month for only $5 when you place qualifying orders worth $50! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Where Flowers Bloom

I love these new A size stamp sets that are in this Spring/Summer Idea Book! For this card I used Hope and colored the leaves and flowers with my Wink of Stella markers. I love these markers and will most likely get more colors of it.

The card size is 8" x 3.5" folded, and for the 2 card bases I used Recollections neutral colors. The background paper is from Ariana and I only used the 1 sheet. The 4 teal epoxy bubbles are from Queen and Co.

Treetop House Step Card

After making my first box card, I got motivated and inspired to do more of those 3-D like cards. My 2nd attempt is now what they call a step card. This is a Lori Whitlock house step card design which I got from the Silhouette store. I used all the cut files except for the treetops. I actually stamped those using Close to My Heart Treetops (C1368) in a variety of Topiary, Pear and Sweet Leaf inks. The background paper I believe is from Basic Grey, or Ki Memories, I'm not so sure anymore. It was pretty easy to assemble, and since I'm not in the mood cutting more images, I just used puff stickers to decorate the card and surround it with flowers.

This will be a nice card to welcome someone to a new home or neighborhood.

PB&J - I'll Always Stick By Your Side

My stamp of the month from The Stamps of Life came in today and I just wanted to play! I was skeptical at first when I saw the reveal, but it quickly turned to excitement as soon as I got my hands on it. So here's my first take on this month's PB&J theme.

I used kraft card stock as the base, white card stock as layer, and background paper is from Basic Grey. I stamped the PB & J jars, text and sentiment using Memento Tuxedo ink, but used Close to My Heart's Saddle Ink for the peanuts and Hero Arts Shadow Ink Grape Juice for the grape. The jars and peanuts were colored in using my Spectrum Noirs, pretty easy as I didn't really want to do any blending. I used a mix of Gold Browns (GB 8 and 9) and Purple (PL 3 and 4). The tag die is from Paper Smooches and I just used a scrap of brown ribbon to embellish.

Discover the Art of Business!

It's April and yes! Close to My Heart is offering this awesome deal!! Join Close to My Heart this month of April and you get to pick a FREE Cricut collection of your choice!! That's on top of the new consultant kit you'll be getting, all for just $99!! What are you waiting for? Come and take advantage of this deal now and join the team! If you have any questions leave a comment or email me at shabbychiccrafting@gmail.com. I'll be happy to answer any questions you have regarding Close to My Heart!