Coffee Then All the Things

Hi friends! It's Coffee Loving Blog Hop time again! Y'all know I love me some coffee, so I'm always up for creating another coffee themed card! And since it's a participation hop, there are tons of prizes from the Super Sponsors up for grabs. The hop kicks off today and runs through Friday, May 10. To be eligible for any of the fabulous Super Sponsor prizes, simply create a NEW spring or summer themed coffee, tea, or cocoa project and link it up over on the official Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop post. Enter as many cards as you like, the more the merrier! The deadline to link up is Friday, May 10.

***THIS POST CONTAINS COMPENSATED AFFILIATE LINKS***

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is one of the Super Sponsors of the hop, and I pulled out their fabulous Jesus & Coffee set to start this card. I've been telling you how much I love the new colors of Dyestress blendable inks, and here's another card that proves it!

For the background, I embossed the topdown cup and saucer image repeatedly on smooth bristol with white embossing powder. Next I smooshed on tahita, caribbean and mint Dyestress inks, for a nice emboss resist technique. I'm swooooooooning over these colors!!! 😍😍😍 When I was done drooling over the background I set it aside and started working on my other elements for this freestyle collage card.

The coffee word is stamped and embossed in white on black cardstock using the Tyepwriter Blocks Alpha set. I cut each letter with a thin border using the Cut-Align and then staggered them to fit across the Rectangular Stamp Die, popped up on foam tape.

Next I stamped a cup from the set and watercolored with tahiti, mint, and palomino Dyestress inks and hand trimmed  The sentiment strip is stamped in black and then cut with the aid of the Cut-Align.  

My final element was a sweet little butterfly from the Made New set (one of my faves), stamped onto a piece of cardstock I had smooshed the same color of inks onto.  I thought it was the perfect little accent to tie this little spring fling coffee card together.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure to hop on over to the SNSS Blog to thank them for their sponsorship and you just might see another coffee card from me while you're there.

Stay tuned for more coffee loving goodness! 

Compensated affiliate links are used where possible. When you place an order after clicking one of my links, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for using my links and supporting this blog. 💙

Blessed and Comforted

Hi friends! Happy World Card Making Day. I'm hoping to hop into the studio later today while the boys are watching football to get my craft on! Hooray. In the meantime, I thought I'd share this card I made earlier this week inspired by the current inspiration at The Card Concept.

My card doesn't have pumpkins, but the picture totally sent my mind to my new beloved Zella Teal papers. I love the neutrals with a pop of aqua and that fun lacey banner in the photo made me think of this lace I had in the stash. I guess the style here would be freestyle collage, as I added a bunch of different papers and that beautiful rose image is from the Zella Teal Ephemera pack.

I needed a sympathy card, and this verse from the Scripture Medley 5 stamp set is a new favorite of mine. It's so uplifting to know that we are promised comfort in times of mourning. I stamped it on a patterned paper stitched circle die cut. I also used the stitched rectangle die from the new Falling Leaves Die Set for the vellum and flowery patterned paper rectangle under the sentiment circle.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulously creative day.  If you're looking for a deal, check out these current sales going on at Verve through October 9...

40% off winter holiday stamps & dies

30% off autumn & coffee themed stamps & dies

30% off the pre-order of our October Buy-it-All Bundle

Our newest release is hitting the shop on Tuesday, and you can pre-order the October Buy it All Bundle this weekend at a 30% discount!  If you loved the images in our new Coffee Please Digi, but aren't into digis, this clear stamp set has a similar look and feel. In Autumn Leaves, the leaves are provided in outline and solid form for easy 2 step stamping or background creating. And the matching dies make fun fall cards a breeze. The cup image has a leafy design, too, and includes a steamy swirl, perfect for coffee steam or recreating a blustery autumn scene.

Plus...

20% off our Coffee Please DIGITAL Set

70% off clearance products

And, as always, FREE US Shipping on orders over $55.

Enabler's List

Stamps: Scripture Medley 5 (Verve Stamps)

Paper: Zella Teal (Prima), white, black, vellum

Ink: black

Accessories: Falling Leaves Die Set (A Cut ABove by VERVE), stitched circles stax (MFT), Zella Teal ephemera (Prima), 

Freestyle Breathing and a Verve Hop

Hi friends! It's another blog hopping kind of day at Verve, and our Divas and Guest Divas are coming together to celebrate our release with one last hop featuring the brand new products!  And there's a chance to win a $50 gift voucher to Verve, so be sure to give the gals a little shout out in the comments as you hop about.  I'm the first stop on this hop, so if you're just starting out, settle in and let's get hopping!

I'm going to start by saying I just love how my card turned out. {grin}  Sometimes things just click, and this was one of those times. It's a few bits and pieces left over from my release hop stamping that I pulled together to make a freestyle collage card for Teresa's Hope You Can Cling To challenge. A bit of mixed media, a bit of bling, a tag, a doily, a butterfly... creating this card was definitely a highlight of my week!

The pink panel is a bit of card stock I covered with tissue paper, then colored with distress inks and did a bit of blending with a stamper's big brush Pitt pen.  Next I added a very thick layer of gesso with the chevron stencils.  I love how the distress inks seeped through to create a slightly pink effect!

The tag was me playing around with the new scalloped topper die in the Good Work Flower Die Set. I stamped the Just Breathe sentiment in black, then offset a bit and stamped again with blushing bride for a shadow effect.  I eyeballed, it, but it's much less stressful to use a MISTI, which just happened to show up on my doorstep right after I finished this card.  So I made a little video to show how to use the die to make a tag like this, along with a review of the whole release and a rambling first look at my new MISTI with this shadowing technique.  I finished off the tag with some blushing bride polka dot hearts (probably my favorite stamp in the whole release!).

The ribbon accent is stamped with the awareness ribbon from the Just Breathe set, then cut with the coordinating Ribbon Die (previously released).  I layered a few of the die cuts together to build thickness, then added some glossy glaze and glitter to the top layer.

The butterfly is a chipboard resist shape that I sponged with distress inks, then added a bit of chunky glitter to the outer edges of the wings and accented with black rhinestones for the butterfly body. That background layer is a bit of designer paper that I scraped some gesso on. A doily and a thorough sprinkling of Shine Bright sequins finishes things off!

Whew! If you're still reading, thanks for hanging in there!  I hope you've enjoyed reading about the card as much as I enjoyed making it.  Here's a peek at the card I created using the tag I made during the video.  You can view the full card over on the Verve Blog today.

Next up on the hop is Teresa!

Want to win some shiny new Verve? I'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win a $50 gift voucher to Verve! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog today for a little more about the new products and all the prize info and deadlines!

1. Julee 7. Maureen 2. Teresa 8. Amber 3. Charmaine 9. Laurie 4. Marisa 10. Christyne 5. Amy {Guest} 11. Rosemary {Guest} 6. KellyJean {Guest) 12. Lori {Guest)

Enabler's List

Stamps: Just Breathe (Verve Stamps)

Paper: designer paper (SU!), Melange Tissue Paper and Watercolor Distress paper (Tim Holtz), white (Neenah), paper doily

Ink: blushing bride (SU!), tattered rose, spun sugar, worn lipstick (Ranger Distress), stamper's big brush Pitt Pens (Faber Castell)

Accessories: Good Work Flower Die Set, Ribbon Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Shine Bright sequins (Verve), corner chomper (WRMK), glossy glaze, glitter, resist chipboard, chunky glitter, MISTI, rhinestones, gesso, chevrons layering stencil (Tim Holtz), crop a dile, linen thread

Smile Sunshine

Hi friends!  It's Friday again and time to get your Viva la Verve! on.  {grin}  This week Laurie is giving us a double dose of inspiration with a sketch + color challenge.  You can play along with the sketch, the inspiration, or both.

I just loved the inspiration photo, particularly the teensy pop of yellow amongst the aqua and navy. Oh, and stripes + polka dots are de-lish!  Anyhow, I decided to start by picking some patterned paper with the same prints, so flipped through some paper pads until I came across the Walnut Grove pad from Pebbles.  I cut the Wavy Heart die from the navy striped paper and the Elegant Leaves die from the yellow patterned paper, then sketched in some lines for the leaves and heart.  Next I pulled out Joyful Blooms and stamped two sizes of flowers and then cut them out by hand and layered on pop dots.  The sentiment is stamped onto a die cut from the Flag It Die Set.  I looped some hemp twine and tucked it behind the whole ensemble.  Next I added some stitching and sketched outlines to my polka dot layer and colored a Freckled Fawn woodcut with a Copic marker and some stardust stickles.  I finished off with a few distressed edges and some black liquid pearls on the flower.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend.  We've got an egg hunt/pizza party with our neighborhood on Saturday and then a day filled with family on Sunday.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Joyful Blooms (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Walnut Grove (Pebbles), cream
Ink: black, copic marker, black pen
Accessories:  Wavy Hearts Die Set, Elegant Leaves Die, Flag It Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), liquid pearls, hemptique twine, woodcut (Freckled Fawn), stickles, sewing machine

Lots of Love

Hi friends!  Happy Tuesday.  Today I have another one of those little freestyle collage cards I threw together in 30 minutes or less.  I'm kind of really liking this style, especially since it's getting me to use up more of the scraps I have hanging out on my desk!

For my card I used a sentiment from the newly released No Matter What set, along with some die cuts using the From the Heart Die Set.  The papers are all scraps are from the sunshine card I made last week.  I added a few little heart rhinestones and some washi tape.  A big scallop square die and some SU! oval punches and a mini binder clip finish things off.

Hope you're having a fabulous week!  I had some much needed free time yesterday and was able to get caught up on about a month's worth of the tv show Parenthood.  Oh my word, is this season intense!  I've been balling my eyes out.  Still a couple more episodes to be caught up with the rest of the world.  It was just so fun to not have any screaming or whining and not to have to do any toy refereeing (the twins don't share well and it's a bit like breaking up a hockey fight... fists are flying, legs are flying, toys are flying.., both Mark and I have been stabbed in the eye multiple times with teethers... and we can say from experience that there are definitely a GREAT DEAL of things in life that are better than being stabbed in the eye with a sharp stick!).   Okay, not sure how I got on that tangent, but it's time for me to skee-daddle.  {grin}

Enabler's List
Stamps:  No Matter What (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Soho Garden (American Crafts), random scraps, Cream
Ink: Black
Accessories:  From the Heart Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), washi tape (Prima), paper crimper (Fiskars), oval punches & mini library clip (SU!), Big Scallop Square Nestabilities (Spellbinders), heart rhinestones (Recollections)

Sunshine for My Soul

Hi friends! Happy Tuesday! One of the things I've chosen to focus a little more on in my life is time management. I thought I was a pretty good time manager until two little souls showed up to prove how wrong I was. Now I'm trying to make peace with the fact that my time is no longer my own. So instead of focusing on all the things I can't do, I'm trying to focus on the things I CAN. Even if it's just in short little micro-bursts. {I'm the type of gal that likes to finish something when I start it, so it's a bit of mind shift to try to break projects up into more manageable tasks.} However, one of the things I want to do more is get into the studio. I'm a creative gal and my soul starts to wilt a bit if I spend too much time without a creative outlet.

So today, as soon as the nanny got here for my work day, I set aside 30 minutes to make a card. Now, that's not enough for a typical card of mine, but I recently read a bit about the freestyle collage style where you combine things that on their own wouldn't work together, but together they work.  I thought that was something I could do in about a half hour.

So here is my 30 minutes or less card... I used the Doodled Occasions set, because I just love the sentiment... you are sunshine for my soul. A few scraps from the Soho Garden collection were on my desk, so I went with those, added in some washi tape and some rosette lace. The sunshine is stamped on a scrap of pattern paper, then punched with a circle punch. I slit in between each ray with my scissors than rounded out the shorter rays. The face is paper pieced on top and I added a bit of glossy accents to both the sun and the sunshine portion of the sentiment to give it the look of an epoxy sticker. A library clip and a few little rhinestones finish things off. Don't you just love that little blue heart? It's actually from a nail art kit I saw at Claire's around Christmas time. (I totally got drawn in to the store by a HUGE Hello Kitty display!) The rhinestones were 50% off and I knew they'd be so fun to add to cards. I was right! {grin}

Okay, I have to get back to my work day, then a dentist appointment, so I better skeeeee-daddle. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a fabulous day!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Doodled Occasions (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Soho Garden (American Crafts), scraps
Ink: Black
Accessories: circle punch, petite and petite scallop ovals Nestabilities (Spellbinders), tiny attacher (Tim Holtz), library clip (SU!), washi tapes, rhinestones (Claire's Boutique), embossing folder (Sizzix), corner chomper