Watercolor Happy Birthday

Hi Everyone! Wow I can't believe it's been 5 months since my last blog post! Holy cow! Time really does fly! I apologize for my long absence. Things have been crazy, at work and at home, and to be honest with so many things I'm trying to juggle, it's all just a bit too much. My only regret is not having enough time set aside to do what I love. Hopefully that can and will change soon. 

August has got to be the month with most birthdays happenings left and right. There's probably at least 5 people I know who celebrate it this month. I'm so bad at this I actually was only able to make 1 card for now. Hopefully these friends of mine won't mind belated cards! 

I used last month's Stamp of the Month from Close to My Heart. The stamp set is called Storybook Alphabet. I got this idea from Pinterest c/o Yana Smakula. Intead of using Copics though I used my love for watercolor instead and painted over the letters using Prima Marketing's watercolor confections.  I glazed over every letter with Glossy Accents hoping to give it that dimension and added my own handwritten sentiment. I wanted a clean and simple look and yet at the same time use everything I love which is watercolor and lettering. 

Here's another view from this angle.

 

Am thinking of adding some shimmer later on when it's all complete dry. We'll see how that goes. 

If you guys have Instagram account, check me out over there where I'm a bit more active. I snapped a couple of videos of how I did this card on Instragram Stories. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Paper Garden Happy Birthday Card

Today's the last day to avail of this month's Stamp of the Month by Close to My Heart and as a last hurrah, I'm sharing this birthday card I made for a special young lady. I thought of giving this to her, then later on decided it's probably not age appropriate so I made another one instead, which I will share after I've given the card.

I used Canary cardstock as base, Kaleidoscope paper to layer, and stamped the flowers from Paper Garden stamp set. I used Sweet Leaf, Gypsy and Blush inks, rolled the cardstock so the petals and leaves curl up a bit. I applied a very light sky blue background using Aqua Dolce Gelato and punched tiny flowers on Gold Shimmer trim to embellish the card a little. I am so hooked with the Gelatos. Will definitely use more of it in upcoming projects.

Here's the Kaleidoscope paper pack which I absolutely adore!!! Don't you just love the colors?

Hope you guys like it!

Paper Garden Just Because

I've been coloring too much lately and thought I'd take a break and make a card out of Close to My Heart's stamp of the month set. I love this Paper Garden set. I think it has this vintage look to it, and you can stamp it with so much color or just go monotone or give it a bit of a muted tone. Either way it's such a pretty stamp.

I've recently bought more Faber Castell Gelatos and have been using it partly as watercolor in my coloring craze. I love how versatile these Gelatos are, and they are perfect for backgrounds. You get to mix and match as many color combos as you like, make it as vibrant or as subtle as you like. So the background is a mix of Lemon and Butterscotch gelatos.

I stamped the flower with Versamark ink, heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. And then I used Jacquard Pearl Ex Pigment Powder to paint over the stems, leaves and flower. I love the way it turned out! You can't see the shimmer in the photo, but I swear it's there. I just love how it turned out! Lastly I embellished with a few gold sequins.

Hope you guys like it too! If you're interested in this stamp set, here's what it looks like. Remember it's only available for this month of September! Grab it while you still can! 

S1509 Paper Garden

Don't you just love it? I'm really a sucker for floral stamps...

Enjoy!

It's Summer and It's Ice Cream Time!!

It's summer and what's one of the best things about it? Ice Cream!!! If my daughter would have it I think she'd be having ice cream everyday!

This month's stamp of the month from Close to My Heart (Ice Cream Dream) is so cute with all these sweet treats images!

Here's a card I made with this month's stamp set. Love the sentiment! I had to cut it though because it wouldn't fit in the card anymore.

I used Copics to color the ice cream truck, sentiment is stamped using Cotton Candy ink, and I adhered a Cranberry Striped Twill ribbon for accent. The background paper is from Doodlebug Designs.

And here's what the stamp set looks like.

S1506 Ice Cream Dream (SOTM)

And here's else you can do with this adorable stamp set!

Happy Summer!

April Stamp of the Month

I've been remiss in promoting Close to My Heart lately since I got distracted with Taylored Expression, Lawn Fawn, and now my newest obsession are the La-La Land Crafts Marci and Luka images. I'm reminded that I have A TON of Close to My Heart stamps and products just sitting and waiting for me to use them again.

This month, the stamp of the month features this vintage typewriter. This stamp set is so versatile as it contains sentiments you can use all year round. When I first saw this last year I cannot wait to get my hands on it. I love the vintage look of this typewriter, especially the type font! Brings back old memories!

S1504 Typed Note

Here are some projects you can create using this stamp set.

You can get this stamp set for only $5 with any qualified $50 purchase. And while you're at it, maybe indulge in a grab bag or 2? I certainly am curious what goodies I'll be getting! And with Close to My Heart, you can be sure you're getting quality products!

Thanksgiving Recipe Box

Here's my take on Close to My Heart's Journaling Cards Box. Since Thanksgiving is around the corner, I thought making this recipe box will be a nice gift to someone. I would use it to store my favorite Thanksgiving recipes.

I used the Pathfinding paper pack to cover the box, with Champagne cardstock as my base. I stamped the word "Recipes" using Circus Alphabet stamp set in Olive ink, and but the images using Cricut Artbooking. For the stamp sets I used Pathfinding Scrapbooking Workshop on the Go stamp set. The acorns were cut using Cricut, I can't remember what cartridge they're from. I'm trying to use as much as I can with the free trial subscription that came with my Cricut Explore. The pumpkins were cut using Artbooking and stamped using Autumn Terracota ink, and after stamping I outlined them with gold glitter pen. Not sure if you can see it from the picture, but it has some glitter on it to make it stand out.

I have to say Pathfinding might just be my favorite paper line as of now. I love how the colors scream fall/autumn. Here's the Pathfinding Scrapbook WOTG.

G1082 Pathfinding Scrapbook WOTG

And here's the Circus Alphabet - July's Stamp of the Month. It is retired now, but if you want it, please feel free to send me an email, I do have some still available.

Enjoy!

Just For You Floral Card

I wanted to try just how good the Cricut Explore will cut intricate images and thought I'd try one of the floral sentiments on the Cricut Artfully Sent cartridge.

This card was done super quick, like really quick! I think it took me more time changing out the color of the raised flower I stamped and holding the ribbon down! And yes, I now get it. The new Cricut Explore does cut like butter, and is quiet compared to the old Expression machines. I still have to learn Cricut Design Space though.

Anyway, I used Hollyhock cardstock, stamped a flower in Thistle ink, and topped it with Thistle Diagonal Striped ribbon.

Now wouldn't you love to create a card this fast too? Simple to do, and pretty stylish! Grab your Cricut Artfully Sent now! For only $99 you can have this amazing Cricut cartridge which includes TONS of projects for you to create! Get yours now!

Z3017 Cricut Artfully Sent

Catching Up on Scrapbooking

Last Saturday I attended The Busy Bee's Falling for Scraps team event by invitation from my good friend Sandie Alford. Her awesome team organized the event and I was very lucky to have participated. We did 7 make and take projects, and I came out inspired, and pumped to actually finish my scrapbook layouts. I had a layout from August that I was not able to finish and was not able to offer together with my card workshop.

Here's my completed August Chalk It Up Scrapbook Layout. I tweaked the design a little bit from the intended Chalk It Up WOTG Scrapbooking kit. I tried to add in more picture slots, because personally I'm the type who wants to load the pages with pictures. I also threw in a Chalk It Up Picture My Life card in there to show just how versatile that kit is. All the cuts used Cricut Artbooking cartridge.

My September Scaredy Cat Scrapbook Layout is inspired by Sandie herself. I added in some borders and embellishments from the August Stamp of the Month What A Hoot. I did the 2nd page and tried to continue on the theme from the 1st. I added in the Dracula image from Creepy Creatures stamp set, just to make it more fun. I gave them a dash of color by using Shin Han Peony Purple and Light Orange markers. I love love this stamp set!! Everything else is cut using Cricut Artbooking cartridge.

I can't wait for Halloween. My daughter wants to be Elsa from Frozen. Probably not fit for this layout but who knows, kids, they always change their minds! :)

Geek Is Chic

I just received my order today and it include the new stamp set Geek Is Chic. I decided to play with the glasses and see if it fits the Owl from this month's Stamp of the Month and to my delight it did!

I used Chalk It Up paper for my background, Lagoon cardstock for the photo mat cut from Cricut Artbooking cartridge and black enamel stars. I just love the sentiments from this Geek Is Chic stamp set. And for some reason I can not get over how stinkin' cute this owl is from What A Hoot!! To top the whole card off, I added a paper bow using one of the Chalk It Up papers too.

You still have time! For every $50 qualifying purchase you make, this cute stamp set can be yours for $5 only, but only for this month!

S1408 What A Hoot