August Paper Smooches DT Blog Hop

Hi all!

It’s Pep Rally week once again in the Paper Smooches world, and the gang had gathered together today to share a sampling of the NEW Paper Smooches September release with you!  FOUR new stamps and EIGHT new dies will be available to purchase on September 1st. (Woohoo!) You will find our new releases HERE.  

To add extra fun to our blog hop…we are offering up a prize! 

The prize – a $25  gift code to choose what you like at the PS online store.

Here are the details:

• FOUR winners will be chosen at RANDOM from any of the design team blogs and the PS Blog to win the $25. prize.
• Just leave a comment on any of the design team blogs listed below or the PS blog for your chance to win!  (you do not need to comment on all blogs to qualify but it increases your changes)
• Deadline: You have until midnight MT on Sunday, August 31st to leave a comment.
• Please check the Paper Smooches blog on Monday, September 1st to see if you are one of the FOUR lucky winners.

• Ashley Marcu
• Betsy Veldman
• Emily Leiphart
• Erin Lincoln
• JJ Bolton
• Jocelyn Olson
• Kalyn Kepner
• Laura Bassen
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Michele Boyer
• Pamela Ho
• Teri (<—— you are here. indeed.)

To increase your chances of winning:

• Tell us that you Facebooked about our blog hop
• Tell us that you Tweeted about our hop
• Tell us that you posted on your blog about our blog hop

(which means that you have up to three extra chances to win on each blog)

So enough chatting! Want to see what I made? You are totally on…. like yeah. 🙂

I completed all the stamping for this bad boy with the new Holly Jolly stamp set. Think ornaments. Think bows. Think holly. Think garlands. Think pretty, happy things and you’ve got Holly Jolly.

And… cough… cough… I also used a new die on this one. Hmmmmm. 😉

So yeah. Kinda fun, huh?! 🙂

So that’s what I have today. As always, thanks for stopping by today! I appreciate all your kind words.

Go-to Gal Designer Challenge: IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko

Well, well, well, friends! We meet again! It’s time for another challenge with the Go-to Gals.

We’ve challenged each other this time to make something with the fine products from IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko.

What’s the deal with these challenges? Well, every so often we challenge each  to make something (just for the fun of it) with a specific manufacturer’s products. Sometimes, we all play. Sometimes, we all don’t. That’s OK because it’s all about having fun.

So here’s what I made.

 

I’ve been a Tsukineko ink fan as long as I can remember. In fact, my Tsukineko black ink pads sit on my desk at all times.

For this project, I have been itching to make something with their Radiant Neon ink pads so I challenged myself to use for today’s challenge.

Nothing really super fancy here. I just took some stamps (from Avery Elle), inked them up and then stamped them one after the other. You’ll notice that I left them overlap a little. I love that the ink still pops even with that little overlapping.

Can’t wait to see what the rest of the crew cooked up.

• Heather
• Kim
• Laina 
• Laura

Be back again later, gators!

PS. Who scored the stash of Studio AE stamps mentioned in this post here? Well, that would be JilldHawkins. Jill, I’ve sent you an email! Thanks to all who left comments. I’ll have another giveaway here in the next week or so!

Giveaway Time

Calling one. Calling all.

I’ve got some slightly used stamps that are desperately in need of a good home, and I’d like to give them to one of you.

As you may have heard, Technique Tuesday and Ali Edwards recently ended their business relationship. Technique Tuesday ended the Studio AE program  and launched two brand new monthly auto-ship programs –  Memory Keepers Studio  (stamps) and Fresh Cut Studio (steel dies). And Ali  is launching a new venture too.

I have loved working with Ali’s stamps. But in order to keep my TT stash of stamps manageable, I went through my stash and pulled out a few of  my Studio AE sets to give away today. (Most of these stamps are no longer available… and those that are, won’t be for long. Technique Tuesday is no longer manufacturing any Ali stamps.)

I’m hoping one of you will give these stamps the crafty love they deserve. (And… ok… before anyone gasps…. don’t worry! I’m not getting rid of all my Ali stamps! I’ve still got tons more in my stash, but I haven’t used these ones in awhile so I felt it was a good time to pass them onto someone who will use them. 🙂 )

So here’s what is in the stash:

• Summer Rocks by Ali Edwards
• Fun in the Sun by Ali Edwards
• Heartfelt by Ali Edwards
• Beauty of Spring by Ali Edwards
• Celebrate Fall by Ali Edwards
• Get Outside by Ali Edwards
• Hello Routine by Ali Edwards
• Bring on the Love by Ali Edwards
• This Story by Ali Edwards

Please note that I used all of these stamps to create sample projects  for the Studio AE program for Technique Tuesday. These stamps have been all been used. Some sets were inked up more than others. A couple of these stamps are early versions of the stamp sets so they lack printing on the packaging. Most of these stamps were available for only a very limited time.

And here’s a little extra fine print.  My only request is that whoever wins these stamps not sell them. If  you won’t use any of these stamps or they are duplicates of stamps you own, please just pass them onto a crafty friend or two. Please share the love.

So if you are still interested, please leave a comment on my post by midnight EST on Tuesday (the 8/26). I’ll pick one of you to score the goods. Yes, the winner will get all nine stamp sets. (And please note  the winner must take them all. No exceptions. Sorry. )

Good luck!

Today’s card

Hi all!

Took a bit of a blogging break over here on the personal blog-a-roo for a couple days. But don’t despair. 😉 I’m back.

I’ve got another card to share with you that I whipped out with the September card kit from Simon Says Stamp!

 

The books with the words? Yeah. They SLAY me! So yeah. Had to use make something with that stamp from the kit’s stamp set.

And by the way, that brown line? Once again, it’s a stamp. It’s actually a shelf, but I’m kinda digging doing the line thing with it.

I’ll be back again tomorrow… for reals. 😉

Have a great day, y’all!

 

Today’s card

Hello all!

Just a little card to share today.

My friend, Stephanie, from Simon Says Stamp! sent over one of their September Card Kits of the Month to play with for fun of it. And so I was like.. yeah, I’m there. 🙂  Because, you know, a little crafty play time is good for the soul. 🙂

The August kit has a fun book lovers theme with a cool “To Thine Own Shelf” stamp set, as well as a bunch of fun stuff (including some fun papers from the Public Library collection from October Afternoon).

The phrase here is from the stamp set. And the line is actually a shelf stamp from the set, but I was feeling a little daring and decided to just use it as  a line. The circle is a wood dot (from Teresa Collins).  It came in a natural wood color, but I changed the color to match the line by rubbing a little brown ink onto it.

So that’s what I have. I’ll share another card tomorrow made with the kit.

PS. I had a post the other day over on the Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking blog. Stacy, didn’t have anyone else for the day so she asked me. JUST KIDDING. Anyway, I’d honored if you’d give it a look. Here’s a sneak peek.

For Betsy…

(Looking for my MFT: Release Rewind post? It’s the one right below this one. You can scroll down or get there by clicking here.)

Just a little something today.

Just a little something for Betsy. 🙂

You might have heard the news.

Betsy (Yes. The Betsy!) is retiring from the world of Go-to Gal’ness.

I’m super happy for Betsy to spread her wings and fly.

But I’m selfishly mourning a little bit. Don’t worry, Bets, I’ll get over it. 😉

We’ve been on this Go-to Gal train for a long time together. And, dang, I’m going to miss you, Betsy.

Sure, all of us know out there that Betsy is this super amazing, talented crafter and designer. I can’t tell you how many times in my real life when I’ve mentioned I do stuff once in awhile for Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking magazine that I’ve had someone say “I just love Betsy Veldman” or “Betsy’s my favorite.” The girl’s got fan girls all over.

Not to mention the number of times I’ve seen seen projects that have been heavily inspired (or just plain duplicated) from Betsy’s body of work. The girl just plain inspires a lot of people!

What you don’t know is Betsy is one of the most humble people I know. She’s nice, genuine and… well… the real deal. Oh yeah, and boy.. she is witty. Is she ever!

Betsy, I’m going to miss you as a Go-to Gal, but I’m happy for you to spread those wings and fly.

Be sure to check out the blogs of the rest of the Go-to Gal crew. (Yes, Betsy. The fun is just getting started. XO.)

• Heather
• Kimberly
• Kimmers
• Laina
• Laura

MFT: Release Rewind

Hi all!

We meet again! It’s Release Rewind time with My Favorite Things so I’m back with a few more projects made with the August release. Hope you can handle it. 😉

So let’s do this!

This is card #1.

I’d been having such fun with the Geek is Chic Die-namics that I pulled them out again to make this bad boy. I used the same technique as the first card in this post to make the nerdy glasses. The words are from the  used are from the Eye Charts stamp set.

Look really close at the background and you’ll see two patterns. I stenciled the polka dots onto the cardstock panel with Jumbo Polka Dots Stencil and then stamped over with the Writing Tablet Background stamp.

Kinda fun, right?

And here’s card #2.

I… just… couldn’t help myself. Had to take another trip on the Halloween side. Created the scene here with the Spooky Scene Die-namics and the spider from the Centerpieces Spooky Window Die-namics.

By the way, that phrase? It’s from the Spooky Sentiments stamp set.

And meet card #3.  I’ve still got the Halloween thing going on.

I used many of the same supplies as the last card here, other than I added some stars cut with the Blueprints 18 Die-namics.

And guess what? I’ve got two more cards to share with you.

Here’s #4.

This was pretty fun! I cut the circles here with the Pinking Edge Circle STAX Die-namics and then cut some additional holes into the largest one with the Stitchable Dot Circle STAX Die-namics. It’s a fun look, I think.

And… whew… here we are with my last card to share with you today. Meet card #5.

You survived. Kidding. Kidding.

I had a few bits and pieces leftover from other projects on my desk so I just kinda went to town, putting together a freestyle card here. A little bit of this. A little bit of that.

You’ll see the pattern from the Small Checkerboard Stencil sponged onto the tag, a few dotted circles cut into the card and circle elements (with the Stitchable Dot Circle STAX Die-namics), a patterned stamped onto the card base with the Cheesecloth Background stamp and so on. Really, it’s just a lot of fun stuff mixed together. 🙂

Whew! So there you have it. Gosh, that was a lot of stuff! 😉

By the way, here’s a complete list of all the MFT supplies I used to make these cards:

• Small Checkerboard Stencil
• Geek is Chic Glasses Die-namics
• Jumbo Polka Dots Stencil
• Writing Tablet Background stamp
• Eye Charts stamp set
• Spooky Scene Die-namics
• Centerpieces Spooky Window Die-namics
• Tag Talk Die-namics
• Spotlight Sentiments stamp set
• You’ve Got Mail stamp set 
• Pinking Edge Circle STAX Die-namics
• Stitchable Dot Circle STAX Die-namics
• Blueprints 18 Die-namics
• Cheesecloth Background stamp
• MFT Ink pads: Razzleberry, Blu Raspberry, Orange Fizz and Lemon Drop
• MFT Cardstocks: Razzleberry, Blu Raspberry, Orange Fizz and Lemon Drop

Be sure to hit the MFT Blog to see which other design team members are sharing projects today. And thank you, guys, for stopping by.

 

MFT: August Launch

And we have lift-off! 🙂

The August release from My Favorite Things is now available, and I’m super excited to be here again with a few more projects made with some of the new products. Hooray!

To celebrate the new release, I dove in deep with the new Geek is Chic Glasses Die-namics and coordinating Geek is Chic clear stamp set. (Say that 10 times fast… ha!) So here we go.

Meet card #1.

I stenciled the background here with the Small Checkboard Stencil. It was easy. Just taped the pink paper down and then taped the stencil on top and sponged the ink (Razzleberry) liberally over it.

Those glasses? Yeah. Totally geeked out over them. I cut the glasses twice: Once from white cardstock and once from black cardstock. I snipped the middle from the white pair and pasted that middle on the black pair. It reminds me of taped up glasses.

And meet card #2.

I again created my own background paper. This time, I used my (…. quickly becoming my favorite stencil ever… but I digress) Jumbo Polka Dots Stencil and an orange ink pad make those dots.

The rest is pretty easy. I cut three pairs of glasses with the Geek Is Chic Glasses Die-namics, stamped sentiment (from the Geek is Chic stamp set) and added a hello word (cut with the Happy Hellos Die-namics).

Sorta kinda love that die-cuts layered together look. Sorta kinda love it a lot.

Ok. And here is card #3.

So I lived on the edge with this one and made a tri-color pair of glasses. How did I do it? Well, simple. I cut three strips of cardstock, adhered them onto a larger panel of cardstock and die-cut the glasses from it.

And this is card #4, which is closely tied to card #3.

See those lenses? Yeah. They were left over from the last card and I just couldn’t let them go to waste so I die-cut a black pair of glasses and plopped them inside them.

So that’s what I have.

Here’s a complete list of all the MFT supplies I used to make these cards:

• Happy Hellos Die-namics
• Small Checkerboard Stencil
• Geek is Chic Glasses Die-namics
• Geek is Chic stamp set
• Jumbo Polka Dots Stencil
• Writing Table Background stamp
• File Folder Edgers Die-namics
• Office Supplies Die-namics (for the paper clips on the Quirky card)
• Washi Tape Die-namics
• Washi Patterns stamp set
• Blueprints 18 Die-namics (for the circles on the file tab and stars (on the Awesome Takes Practice card)
• Office Supplies Die-namics
• Cheesecloth Background stamp
• MFT Ink pads: Razzleberry, Blu Raspberry, Orange Fizz and Lemon Drop
• MFT Cardstocks: Razzleberry, Blu Raspberry, Orange Fizz and Lemon Drop

Be sure to hit the My Favorite Things blog to find links to everyone else who is sharing projects today that have been made with August’s release.

And be sure to visit the MFT shop to find all the new stuff.

 

MFT Countdown: 1

Hello again!

I’ve got one more batch of projects made with the August release from My Favorite Things. I hope you can handle it. 😉

Today’s post is a bit of a trip on the Halloween side again.

Here’s project #1.

As part of the August release, MFT has put together a really fun set of Halloween dies called the Spooky Scene Die-namics. They are awesome for making… well… spooky scenes for cards.

I thought they’d be fun for making Halloween treats too so I challenged myself to make a treat with them. I found some small clear drinking glasses at the dollar store. I die-cut a fence and just tucked it inside the glass, just before I put the candy in it. (If you have a Winco grocery store nearby, I found these solid candies in the bulk foods department. You could probably find solid ones at a party store as well.).

Then I made the little scene to stick in it.

What you might be surprised by is there’s actually a toothpick holding it up.

I just assembled all the die-cuts together and then adhered the toothpick to the back of the tree die. It worked like charm!

Now, keep in mind, I used this pick with candy. But you could easily make these picks and stick them in cupcakes, brownies and other treats to give to your favorite goblins and little (or big) monsters. I mean, seriously, imagine a whole bunch of these treats all lined up.

So I also made a card to share with you all today.

This was sure fun to make!

The spider web was cut with the new Spider Web Cover-Up Die-namics, while the spider was cut from a die from the new Centerpieces Spooky Window Die-namics. (Both will go on sale on 8/12). The words are from the Spooky Sentiments stamp set (available on 8/12 as well).

So how did I create that background? Simple. I pulled out my stash of watercolor crayons.

I scribbled color onto a stamping block. Spritzed the color with water and then dragged the block down a piece of white cardstock.

I left the color dry and ended up with something like this.

Then I die-cut two of Spider Web Cover-ups and layered them together, placing them over the watercolor background.

Love that extra little bit of depth that the addition of the second web adds.

Here’s a complete list of all the MFT supplies I used to make these projects.

• Spooky Scene Die-namics (available 8/12)
• Spooky Sentiments stamp set (available 8/12)
• Spider Web Cover-Up Die-namics (available 8/12)
• MFT Ink pad: Black Licorice

Be sure to hit the MFT Blog to see which other design team members are sharing projects today.

MFT Countdown: 2

Hi all!

Another day. Another day of sharing something (and something else) I made with some of the products from My Favorite Things’ August release.

Let’s do this. 🙂

Meet #1.

See that envelope? Totally die-cut that bad boy with the new You’ve Got Mail Die-namics dies (available on 8/12).

All the words and stamped elements on that envelope? Yep. They are from the coordinating You’ve Got Mail clear stamp set (also available on 8/12).

I used a few other products on this guy. I cut the tag with the Tag Talk Die-namics and hello word with Happy Hellos Die-namics. I created the tag with the File Folder Die-namics. And, finally, I stamped on the blue piece of cardstock with the Writing Tablet Background stamp (which also lands on 8/12 at MFT).

And meet #2.

I whipped many of the same supplies to make this guy!

I thought it’d be fun for this card to let the backside of the envelope show so that’s what I did. Before  I folded and sealed the envelope all up, I set the new Jumbo Polka Dots Stencil (available on 8/12) on it and sponged some yellow ink over it. The result is the polka dots you see. If you decided to try that technique at home, be sure that you apply ink with a stencil first and then fold up the envelope. You’ll get much nicer, cleaner polka dots.

Here’s a complete list of all the MFT supplies I used to make these cards:

• Happy Hellos Die-namics
• File Folder Edger Die-namics
• Writing Tablet Background stamp (available on 8/12)
• You’ve Got Mail Die-namics (available on 8/12)
• You’ve Got Mail clear stamp set (available on 8/12)
• Tag Talk Die-namics
• Jumbo Dots Polka Dot Stencil (available on 8/12)
• MFT Ink pads: Razzleberry, Blu Raspberry, Orange Fizz and Lemon Drop
• MFT Cardstocks: Razzleberry, Blu Raspberry, Orange Fizz and Lemon Drop

And with that, this post is a wrap!

Once again, be sure to hit the MFT Blog to lots of other design team members, who are sharing projects made with the new products. There’s some really amazing stuff!