Poetic Artistry

Hi friends! Can you believe it's already October? October happens to be my favorite month of the year. I love the crisp mornings and evenings, and bright, warm afternoons we have here in Idaho. And the colors are just beautiful. That's the real world, but in crafting land October is the unofficial start to the Christmas season. When I saw the beautiful products in this month's Paper Pad Club and Stamp of the Month, I just knew I had to start with this gorgeous blue and gold paper from the Blue Christmas Paper Pad.

I started by stamping the hot cocoa circle image from the stamp of the month in white onto navy cardstock and then embossing in white. I cut with a pinking circle die from my way back stash. I selected a couple papers from the Blue Christmas pad and cut them down to size, matting with more navy card stock. I then used some navy and sand inks to stencil the "air mail" border onto my card base using the EZ Postage Grid & Border Layering Stencil. I love the finished look!

I fussy cut the cocoa loving girl ephemera so there wasn't a white border, then deepened the shading on the image with Copic markers. I popped her up on dimensional foam and then gave the whole card a good splattering with white splatter ink.

I finished off with a few iridescent snowflake sequins from my stash. Such a fun card to create!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure to head on over to the Not 2 Shabby Shop to see all the new goodies in the shop!

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Hi friends! Happy National Coffee Day! Today I'm popping in with a little caffeinated craftiness featuring stamps from the Not 2 Shabby September Box of the Month and Critter Cafe stamp set. I just love these little coffee critters and thought they would look perfect hanging out at the coffee cart!

All of the images are stamped in alcohol safe ink and then colored with Copic markers in an orange, teal, and brown color palette. Football season is my coloring season, since I often gather up my supplies, stamp out images and then color them while the family is watching football. I like to cheer on the teams, but am okay with missing a few plays, especially since they always replay the important ones.

I kept the layout for this card really simple because I really loved the contrast of the vibrant colors and all that white space. A sentiment and a bit of ribbon finishes things off.

On another note, this weekend is The Paper Escape! I'm so excited to share my first class with you. Below is the link to the retreat playlist so you won't miss a thing. If you haven't registered yet, there's still time. The first three days are free, but the bonus ticket gives you access to a fourth day with two live classes and a livestream wrap-up with instructors. Many of our fabulous sponsored prizes will be given on this day! The bonus ticket also gives you access to a PDF printable with measurements and step by step instructions for all of the classes. A great value for just $20! And a great way to support our instructors.