Follow Your Bliss…

I have a couple cards that will be featured on Ellen’s CLASSroom blog this week! Both of them naturally using some of my standby favorites from Lockhart, Spellbinders, and Copic!

Here’s a couple sneak peeks. Stay tuned!

of a project I have over at Ellen’s CLASSroom blog! Featuring Copic, Spellbinders, Lockhart, and Memory Box!

Check it out —-> HERE!

I’m sitting here, stunned that it is September. Where has this year gone? When I think back to all that has happened, I realize, yes, many months have passed. But it all seems like a blur, for some reason. Do y’all feel that way, too?

I’m hoping things slow back down this Autumn, as I really love to enjoy the cool colorful days of September and October. My favorite time of year in the mountains, and this year I have Lady G to enjoy it even more!

Before we know it, the Holidays will be here, so I decided to make some Christmas cards with Karen Lockhart’s new releases.

I absolutely LOVE these Itty Bitty ornaments. Isn’t it just the sweetest image? I colored the ornaments with my Copic markers, then cut and embossed them with a circle Nestability die. I sponged around the edge with Ranger vintage photo ink, then added Ranger glossy accents to the ornaments. That really gave them such a “real” look, don’t you think?

I used my Spellbinders Label die to create both of the bracketed style panels from Basic Grey’s Figgy Pudding paper. I chose to play off that single center blue ornament and accent with Prism’s suede brown dark cardbase. Card measures 4 1/4″ square. The circle and the polka dot panels are both up on dimensionals. The velvet ribbon is retired SU!, and the sentiment is PaperTrey.

As I was digging through my stash for some bling, I found this clear snowflake. I purchased it well over a year ago from Michael’s in the dollar bin. It’s made by Darice. I added a little aqua AMuse bling in the center, to make it “pop” a little more and tie in with the colors.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you have a great day! HUGS!

I mentioned yesterday how much I loved Karen Lockhart’s newest release of images.

This particular image is my very favorite one! I am longing to color it, but my schedule is not allowing it at the moment. Instead, I thought it would be nice to show you that you really don’t have to color an image to make a lovely card. Check it out and see:

What I chose to do, was stamp the image in a coordinating color (Adirondack currant). Then, I only colored the candle with my Copic markers, and covered the hurricane with Ranger glossy accents.

While I was in Ft. Wayne last weekend, I had my first visit to an Archiver’s store! (thank goodness I don’t have one near where I live…I’d be broke!) I purchased many pretties, one of which was this yummy Heidi Grace paper. It has a spot varnish on the flowers with glitter, and the paper is shimmery as well. It’s gorgeous!

I had these Spellbinders curved rectangles dies out from a previous card, so I used them again with the SU! naturals ivory cardstock, as well as a matting of Prism suede brown dark. I sponged the ivory with Ranger distress antique linen, and embossed the brown layer with my Cuttlebug paisley embossing folder.

I finished the card off with some antique copper brads, and this stunning copper May Arts ribbon.

So, what’s the verdict? Can an un-colored image still look lovely? 

PS–Lindsey is having a gigantic sale in her store this weekend for Labor Day–15% off everything till Monday! Use the code LABOR08 at checkout!

Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you all a fabulous holiday weekend!!!

I just love Karen Lockhart’s new releases! How adorable is this stack of books, crystal ball, and various potion ingredients?!

The curved rectangles  Spellbinders Nestability reminds me of bat wings, so I thought it worked well with this image. The image is on virtual pearl cardstock (from cutcardstock.com) This cardstock has a purple shimmer to it, and really adds to the look on this card.

It’s colored with Copic markers, and then sponged with Adirondack pitch black ink around the edges, and Stickles are on the crystal ball and the pouch of magic dust. Bat brads from Making Memories are in the top corners, and it’s popped up on dimensionals.

The patterned paper used here is Cosmo Cricket’s Haunted line, which I LOVE! Some Halloween May Arts ribbon, and a white embossed PaperTrey sentiment finish off the design.

Thanks for stopping by! Check back tomorrow for another design!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad! Today is their 51st Anniversary!

I decided to play along with Lindsey’s DTGD challenge to make my parent’s card. I hope they like it!

I love using pink & back together, but haven’t for quite some time. I love the contrast between the two colors, and the retro feel it has!

I used my Spellbinders RicRac Scalloped Pierceability die across the bottom, and then embossed across the top 2/3 of the card with my new Cuttlebug embossing folder. Before embossing, I rubbed my Ranger pitch black inkpad over it, then inserted the cardstock, and ran through my Wizard. It almost looks like fabric…very cool! Part of Lindsey’s challenge was to do faux stitching, too, so I faux stitched around a couple parts of the pierceabilty die. FUN!

I colored the Lockhart tart of hearts with my Copic markers (R83, RV34, C3), then cut and embossed with the Labels 1 die. I accented it with a Sakura white souffle pen, as well as a Sakura black glaze pen. Naturally, I covered the hearts with Stickles for some yummy sparkle.

To finish off the design, I added some ruffle-edged black May Arts ribbon, and some K&Co black bling.

Thanks for stopping by today!! Have a great afternoon!!

Can you believe it? Today is the last Spellbinders Birthday Celebration sneak peek! At the end of this post you will find a copy of the official rules for the Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek Party Drawing for the dies I’m sharing with you today, and for a chance at the grand prize of a new raspberry Wizard and $500 worth of Spellbinders dies.

I personally think they saved the best for last, but I am a wee bit biased of these AWESOME dies! Allow me to introduce Spellbinders Pierceabilities!

These cards use the RicRac Scalloped Pierceability die set (S4-166 with an MSRP of $19.99).

As with all of the Spellbinder’s dies, you can cut, emboss, and stencil with these. In addition to that, they are piercing templates! Genius I tell ya! PURE GENIUS! They are also perfect for using with the Copic Airbrush system as seen here:

Are these dies not the most gorgeous things you have ever seen? Take a peek at these pocket cards I have created with these beauties:

As you can see, your possibilities are endless with these amazing Spellbinders Pierceability dies. How about making some gorgeous belly bands to wrap around a set of cards? Create a band to wrap around a candle for the perfect gift! The results are so professional, no one would believe you when you said that you handmade it!

If you already have another die-cutting machine and need to know how to use Spellbinders dies with it, check out these YouTube videos.

The deadline for this last drawing is 12:00 midnight Central Standard Time on July 14^th.

Be sure to follow these instructions!
The name of the Grand Prize winner will be posted on Spellbinders’ Homepage www.spellbinders.us on July 18^th.

Click here to enter the drawing. If this pop-up link does not work or you use an email client that does not work with this pop-up box, you may copy and paste this address to send your entry via email to - newdierelease@spellbinders.us.

Spellbinders Birthday Celebration

Sneak Peek Party Drawing Information

Spellbinders will randomly pick one entry from each of the 14 Spellbinders Sneak Peek Blog reveals as stated in the “Rules”. This name will be drawn to receive the die being revealed on said blog. These entries must follow all rules stated below to be valid for the drawing.

Entrants visiting all 14 Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peeks Blog reveals and correctly entering their information into the 14 separate drawings, as described below, will automatically be entered into a GRAND PRIZE give away of a new RASPBERRY WIZARD and a $500 retail value die package!

Rules

Any participant wishing to be included in the daily drawing for the Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek die give away must adhere to all of the following rules:

1)Participant must click on the provided drawing link on blog to enter each individual drawing on sneak peeks between June 30 and July 13.

2)Participant must type in the subject line the name of the die being revealed.

3)Participant must send their entry for this blog before 12:00 midnight Central Standard Time on July 14^th.

4)Participant is only allowed to enter each of the 14 Spellbinders sneak peek blog give away drawings one time per sneak peek. Participant must use the same email address daily to be considered for grand prize entry.

5) Spellbinders Design Team members and employees are not eligible for drawing.

Any participant wishing to be automatically entered into the drawing for the Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek Grand Prize drawing, must enter the drawing from all of the 14 blog reveals and follow all the above rules.

Please note:

*Spellbinders will only use email information to contact the winner.

*Spellbinders will not share this email address with any other parties.

*Spellbinders will not use this email information for advertisements or communications

other than to contact the winner.

*If you wish to be included in further communications from Spellbinders, please go to their homepage and sign up: www.spellbinders.us

If you have questions regarding the contest or entries, you should e-mail Spellbinders to ask them since this is an official Spellbinders Contest.

One more day till my big Spellbinders sneak peek! WOO HOO! I can’t wait to show you tomorrow! Make sure you come back!

This card features Spellbinders Labels 2 Dies, and 2 coordinating stamps from Karen Lockhart: sniffs and ickie sickie. Karen is such a genius when it comes to clever sentiments! This one will get a lot of use on my get well cards, LOL!

I chose patterns from the Basic Grey Sugared collection for this card. These patterns are similar to the patterns in the Blush collection, and I really like them! The sniffs box was paper pieced, outlined with a Copic marker (YG93) and a real piece of tissue was pulled through a cut in the box, just like I did several months ago.

I sponged all of the edges with Ranger vintage photo ink, and added some aged copper brads to the largest label die. While I had the sponge out, I wanted to make the white embossed sentiment “pop” more. I sponged some more vintage photo ink around it, then buffed it with a tissue.

A bit of zig zag stitching, and some Martha Stewart seam binding ribbon finish off the design. It was mounted to a Prism rose light cardbase.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you are enjoying your weekend! I’m off to have some sushi for dinner…YUM!

Ahhhh, it’s Friday once again. My favorite day of the week, as the weekend is just a few torturous hours away, LOL! After I finished work last night, I stayed upstairs and completed two cards. I’ll be sharing the other one tomorrow.

I couldn’t resist using my new Spellbinders dies again. Are they not FABULOUS??? They are so fresh and right on trend. I LOVE them!! This card features the Mega Curved Rectangles, as well as the Labels 1 “bracketed” style die.

The largest die of the Mega Curved Rectangles is 4×6, which makes it perfect for a card! I used another gorgeous sheet of cardstock from the Prima Urban Cosmos double-sided paper pack. I thought the pattern and colors worked well with my Lockhart bowl of strawberries. Don’t you wish you could just sit down with this bowl right now? YUMMY.

I have been using Tsukineko Memento ink for my Copic work for the past several weeks. It is my new favorite! I love the deep, rich black and brown, and it dries in seconds. I colored the image with my Copic markers in the following colors: RV34, R43, R46, R59, YG03, YG17, W3 . Then, I cut and embossed it with the Labels 1 die, and airbrushed with YG00.

The card came together easily, using the reverse solid green color for the matting behind the strawberries. I was looking for a sentiment, when I remembered this one from PaperTrey’s Green Thumb set. Perfect! I used the 2 SU! oval punches, and layered it on the bottom third of the card, along with a bit of yummy May Arts ribbon, that happened to be a perfect match. Don’t you love it when you have the *perfect* ribbon for your card? Just one of those little joys of life, I tell ya! LOL!

I finished off the image with some Stickles on the berries, and melon green Copic Spica glitter pen for the stems and dots on the bowl.

I hope you all have a fabulous day, and don’t forget to come by here on Sunday for my Spellbinders sneak peek!!

Have y’all been checking out the daily Spellbinders sneak peeks? If not, what have you been waiting for? You can win fabulous stuff!! Read about it HERE.

If you have been following us, you’ve seen Linda’s reveal on July 5th of this awesome die set called Mega Curved Rectangles.

I am so in love with all of the new dies, and this set is no exception! I chose to pair it with the new Lockhart Apron, “hot stuff” sentiment, and Prima’s NEW Urban Cosmos paper. OMG this paper is STUNNING!!!!!! And it comes with coordinating flowers as well as some cool trim! Lindsey only has 9 of them left, so I’d run over there and snatch yours up before she sells out!!

I love doing paper piecing when there’s an image with wide open spaces. This apron works perfectly for that, and you can customize it for anything! Aprons aren’t just for cooking…how about an artist apron for an adult or a child? Or for cleaning the house? Or what about for a baby? How about “his & hers” aprons for a wedding? The possibilities are endless for this darling stamp!

This is a pretty simple design, so it does not need much in the way of blah-blah. I did just want to mention that I stamped the image a total of 5 times. Once on the burgundy curved rectangle, once on white cardstock, for the loop around the neck, and ties that hang down, once for the main print of the apron, once on the striped print for the pockets, and once on the dotted print for the towel.

I used my Copic markers in verdigris (G83) and olive (G99), as well as W3 for some shading. A bit of sponging around the edges with Ranger vintage photo ink, some aged copper brads, and a white embossed sentiment finish the design.

I just noticed that this card has no bling or ribbon…GO FIGURE!! Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you have a great day!