PaperFections

WSC104-Happy Halloween

It's Friday and that means Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge time again! You can find the sketch and all the details over at Beate's blog today. I couldn't let the month get away without one fun Halloween card, so I chose this sweet little Lockhart Stamp Company Witch and combined her with Basic Grey's Eerie paper. My card measures 6" x 3". Little Witchy was colored with these Copic markers and Black & Orange Spica glitter pens: The long right edge of the vertical patterned paper strip was punched with Fiskars Apron Lace punch -- love that thing! Witchy was framed with Natural White cardstock die cut with Classic Scalloped Square Nestabilities and popped up on foam tape. Green glittery ribbon ties it all up. We hope you'll play along with the sketch challenge this weekend between trick-or-treating and turning back your clocks for that extra hour of sleep this weekend (I'm SO looking forward to that)!! You can find more samples of this sketch by visiting these fabulous ladies: Beate, Cambria, Charmaine, Jenn, Laurie, Lori and Mary Jo. The paper and stamp to make this card are both on sale through October 31st at Ellen Hutson LLC -- 35% off!!... Read more →

JustRite Day 5 - Gift Set

Today is my final day of guest blogging for JustRite Stampers. I hope you have enjoyed the week as much as I have making these projects! Today I have a gift project you can use for just about any occasion AND a little sneak peek of a brand new JustRite product that will be revealed on Monday! I hope you'll join me! Read more →

Wreath Angel Decor

Today in Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom I'll show you how to make this home decor for the holidays, I hope you'll join me! The holidays will be here before you know it, won't they?!! A few last minute reminders about some sales Ellen has going on at the store: Don't forget that the Spooky Savings sale is still in effect this week through the 31st ... 35% savings on in-stock Halloween items. And all Ranger items are also on sale until the end of this month -- 15% off! You can find all the details about both sales HERE on Ellen's home page. Read more →

JustRite Day 4 - November Calendar

It's almost here ... can you believe November is right around the corner? Today over at the JustRite blog, I'm sharing my November desk/scrapbook calendar page -- I hope you'll join me! Read more →

JustRite Day 3 - Family Bingo!

I have a scrappy customizable home decor project to share with you today over at the JustRite blog. I hope you'll join me in finding out how to create this project using my Bingo card downloads! Read more →

JustRite Day 2

Over at the JustRite Stampers blog today, I show you how to make this three dimensional pumpkin box treat holder/place card. I hope you'll join me! Read more →

JustRite Day 1 - Pumpkin Time!

Today begins my week-long guest spot at the JustRite blog and I'll have a lot of Fall/Holiday inspiration for you! Starting off with this beautiful pumpkin image from the Autumn Blessings set, I made an Autumn/Thanksgiving card and beautiful pumpkin centerpiece. I hope you'll come visit and see the pumpkin inspiration I have for you today! Read more →

WSC103: Inchie Pumpkins

Time for another Weekend Sketch Challenge ... and this one immediately made me think of Inchies! I have some wonderful new Inchie Arts products to share with you today. How do you like this sweet little 3.50" notecard base in a lovely taupe color -- just perfect for Fall, I think! These NEW notecards come in an assortment of 3 each of 4 colors (solid color on the inside too, NOT a white core) light gray, dark gray, ivory and taupe: I used the taupe card, along with wheat Inchie Squares (they are the darkest cream/brown tone shown in the photo below on the top right) -- they were a perfect match to each other! Yes, now Inchie Squares come in colors ... I'm so excited about that!! Here's the new variety pack: 5 different neutral colors, 72 total to a package: rich hues of ivory, dark creme, wheat, light gray and dark gray. Still made of the highest grade artist quality material, each Inchie Square is solid core color throughout. You can stay up-to-date with Inchie Arts products by visiting their blog (it is also linked over in my left sidear -- you'll also find some beautiful inspiration there,... Read more →

Webby Treat Bag

I hope you'll join me today over at the Taylored Expressions Stamp A Sweet Impression blog, where I'll show you how to stitch up this webby Halloween treat bag! Read more →

'Tis the Season for Pumpkins!

Fall is my favorite season and the beloved pumpkin I think is a classic symbol of the season! I couldn't wait to try out a few ideas I've had for this Spellbinders pumpkin die ... I hope you'll join me today over in Ellen Hutson's CLASSroom for the full details on how I made this three dimensional decoration and card! I'll be back later today with a Taylored Expressions spooky Halloween post! Read more →

You Want A {Paper} Piece Of Me?!!

Ha -- That's the theme of this month's Splitcoaststampers Dirty Dozen & Alumni challenge! Sorry I'm a little late with it today ... both my girls came down with the flu AND strep over the weekend, poor babies! They are on the mend, thank goodness, so I was able to get a little stamping done. The Challenge: Use paper piecing on your card (Check!) Required Element: Fall OR Christmas Colors (Check -- I have some reds & greens mixed in with all this pink, LOL!) Restricted Element: None (Yay!) I'd been wanting to use this adorable bird clothesline image from Taylored Expressions' new stamp release this month, Wings of Joy, and I knew it would be perfect for paper piecing! I began by stamping the whole image onto TE Choice Snow White cardstock and die cutting it with Spellbinders Scalloped Long Rectangle Nestabilities. Then I selectively inked (with a Memento Dew Drop) different parts of the image and stamped them onto patterned paper (Jolly by Golly from the TE Christmas Key Ingredients Kit). Each mitten, sock and cap were cut out and popped up on foam tape over the stamped image on the white cardstock. I tied some ribbon around... Read more →

TE Center of Attention Product Spotlight - Stencils & Maya Mist

This month, some of the Taylored Expressions Baker's Dozen designers are spotlighting The Crafter's Workshop Stencils and Maya Mist. Here's a card I made with both of these products: For the background of my card, I sprayed Cream Metallic Maya Mist onto TE Choice Buttercream cardstock, using the Cosmic Swirl Crafter's Workshop template as a stencil. After stamping the Wise Men with Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Choice Buttercream cardstock, I sprayed the cardstock with the cream metallic mist. The mist instantly turns your cardstock into a beautiful shimmery metallic, just perfect for holiday cards! Although I do think this "cream" color is a little more light gold than cream -- still a beautiful color. CRAFTER'S WORKSHOP STENCILS: I also tried the stencil on some other colors of cardstock: In the photo above, I used the Cosmic Swirl stencil and sprayed Cream Metallic Maya Mist on the Prism Blush Red Dark cardstock on the left. On the right, I used Versamark Dazzle ink (Champagne) on the stencil like a letterpress and ran it through my die cutting machine with Spellbinders Tan Embossing Mat -- this process transfered the ink from the stencil onto the Prism Suede Brown Medium cardstock, just... Read more →

WSC102: Snowman

Here's my sample for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #102. I took a few liberties with the sketch, replacing the mat layer behind the focal image with the aqua snowflakes! I really wanted as much of that wave of pink snowflake paper to show as possible. It was machine zig-zag stitched onto the background layer. I used Karen Lockhart'sSnowman With Bird -- isn't he adorable?!! Although with all this pink going on, I'm not sure he's still a snowMAN, LOL! Oh well -- in my house with 3 females in it, that's definitely okay! S/He was stamped onto white cardstock and colored with these Copic markers: He's popped up on foam tape and the snowflake die cuts are accented with Dew Drops. Pretty quick and simple this morning! As you can see, I kept my card in the standard A2 size, while the sketch called for a longer card ... more liberties taken! I think that's the fun with sketches, though -- artist interpretation {wink}! I hope you'll check out the sketch samples these talented ladies have for you today -- it always makes for a fun Friday morning with my stamping buddies! Beate, Cambria, Charmaine, Jenn, Laurie and Lori. I'll... Read more →

Stitched Nouveau Pines

Today in Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom, I'm sharing one of my favorite papercrafting techniques, sewing/stitching, and I hope you'll join me for a few tips I find helpful! You'll also want to be sure you are signed up to receive Ellen Hutson's InTouch Newsletter. It comes out each 15th of the month and there is always a special savings just for newsletter readers! This month's Sewing article by Becky Olsen will give you some more fabulous tips, too! You can sign up for the newsletter by going to the bottom of the home page HERE and adding your email address to the mailing list. I'll be back tomorrow with a special Taylored Expressions Product Spotlight! Read more →

Merry Mass Production with Taylored Expressions!

A challenge was issued to the Taylored Expressions Baker's Dozen designers and now also to YOU! . . . Create a set of 4-10 identical or very similar Christmas cards and show at least one photo of your cards in a full group shot. Post to your blog or any on-line gallery and then go to the Taylored Expressions blog and post a link to your cards! You'll have 2 weeks to do so (you are not required to use Taylored Expressions stamps, but we would love it if you do)! Find out all the details at the Taylored Expressions blog this morning. Hopefully this challenge will help you get a good start on your Christmas cards – sometimes we need a little push to get going, don't we?!! Here's what I came up with (and now all our teachers at school are covered for Christmas cards, YAY!): Easy steps for mass production: Stamp and die cut JOY images on Choice Buttercream cardstock (I only die cut a portion of the image since it would be tucked under the patterned paper -- this also saves a little cardstock when mass producing) Color images with Copic markers (shown below); glitter edges... Read more →