Day 1: Coffee Loving Cardmakers Fall/Winter Hop

Hey there inky friends!  Today is the first day of the FALL/WINTER COFFEE LOVERS BLOG HOP!  WOO HOO!  I'm so excited to be joining all my coffee-loving peeps as we celebrate our love of coffee/tea/cocoa/cider goodness...In crafty form!  All week long we'll be sharing projects we're proud of and we hope you'll join us in the fun!  Thanks to all of our amazing Super Sponsors, we have a TON of NEW and LOVED products on display and our Super Sponsors have once again shared some amazing goodies for our give-aways.  In order to have a chance at any of our Super Sponsor prizes, just play along and share your creations with us HERE!  

I created my first card/ornament combo featuring the yummy new stamps/die/stencil combo from Wendy Vecchi and Ranger called Warm Wishes.  I blended some Wendy Vecchi ink around the edges, stenciled the leaves, vines and berries (Potting Soil, Carnation Red, Fern Green, Leaf Green) and then stamped the sentiment along the edge.  I then splattered some black acrylic paint onto the panel to give it another layer of yumminess.  

To create my "2020 COFFEE LOVERS Ornament, I machine stitched a pouch using a piece of laminated film and then tucked some coffee beans and grinds into the pouch.  After it was all sealed up, I added some ribbon, corrugated paper and some bakers twine/sparkle ribbon before attaching some buttons and a little tag.  I hung this on my cardfront using another piece of baker's twine and a foam square.  I love giving cards that have a multi purpose- and this one does the trick.  

Thanks so much for hopping over to check out my card!  I hope it inspires you to create something FUN and coffee-licious!  See you again tomorrow for another fun hop project!

TCP Sneaky Peek Week #7: MORE DIES!

Hello there inky friends!  It's DAY 7 of Sneaky Peek Week at The Cat's Pajamas and we're sharing projects featuring three more die sets!  Check out this fun LITTLE TRUCK!  I new that when I saw this truck, that I would make it blue...I've got such special memories of a blue truck like this that was always parked in my grandpa's garage...My cousins/sisters and I would head out to the truck and sit inside...You see, we would find some awesome treasure inside there.  My grandpa used to hide bottles of root beer inside the cab!  Sooo...every time I see an old truck (especially baby blue), I think if my grandpa and his root beer stash!  HA HA...

I paired this little truck up with the cute and cozy panda from the Oh Holy Night set and a little graph paper for the background.  This is a small card so it's perfect to place atop a little gift.  

I matched some plum colored ribbon to tie in with the polar bear and added some sparkly silver paint on the hubcaps and other parts of the truck.  

The other two die sets are sure to be a hit too.  Check 'em out:  

This Silent Night die will look GORGEOUS on some projects!  

I've got some fun plans for the Peek-a-Boo Frames so make sure to hop over and check out my project tomorrow for the hop!!!  Hop over to the other designer blogs to check out their fun creations!  Make sure to leave a comment for a chance to win a TCP prize! 

TCP Blog

Brenda

Nancy

Christine

ME!

TCP Sneaky Peek Week Day 4: Warmest Wishes

 Hello there inky friends!  It's Day 4 of The Cat's Pajamas Sneaky Peek Week and I'm sharing a fun card featuring the new stamp and die set called "Warmest Wishes".  This is an adorable set of critters and fun sentiments!  I have colored up all the images and they will make their appearances soon but first off, I'll share this marvelous moose!  I love him! 

I decided to create a simple CAS colorblock design to allow my moose to take center stage.  I colored him up with Copic markers and used the coordinating dies to cut him out. 

This set is available today!  Stamp Set, Dies, BUNDLE.   Take your pick!

Warmest Wishes Stamp Set, Warmest Wishes Dies

Warmest Wishes Stamp Set

Make sure to hop over to each of my teammate's blogs to check out their inspiring work.  One lucky commenter will receive a TCP prize!  

TCP Blog

Brenda

Nancy

Cristena

ME!

North Pole Or Bust! A TCP Christmas

Hello there inky friends!  Today I'm sharing a sweet little Christmas card I recently mailed out in my 2019 Christmas Card stash.  I created this card with some yummy Distress Oxide Ink and the most adorable penguin image from The Cat's Pajamas.  I wanted this card to be peppermint-y so I mixed in some red and white striped ribbon and added some tiny jingle bells for fun.  

I used the adorable TCP Set called "North Pole Or Bust!" Its a sweet collection of images that include some fun penguin antics and some great sentiments.  After stamping and coloring the image, I added some glaze and microfine glitter to create a sparkly iceberg and a shiny sweet peppermint stick. 

To add some sparkle and shine, I mounted my image onto a teal candy cup and then fringed it with my scissors.  I then attached that to a red candy cup and tucked the whole thing under the ribbon I attached to the thin panel that I inked and machine stitched before mounting to an inked panel. 

I discovered something fabulous when I was using the distress ink.  I flicked water onto the panel to create some splatter marks and on some of those wet "marks", I rubbed the ink over the top and it made the splatters darker....so now I know that I can lift color and I can add color to create light droplets OR dark droplets!  WOOP!

Thanks for hopping over to check out today's card.  I'll see you again soon!

TCP Sneaky Peek Week...Stuck on YOU!

Hello there inky friends!  Today I'm joining some of my fellow Cat Packers as we begin SNEAK PEEK WEEK!  This first day of Sneak Peek week is so fun and I decided to put a little twist on this new set.  A FESTIVE TWIST! 

Today we're sneakin' a peek of the new "Stuck On You" set!  You can purchase the stamp AND die bundle HERE! It's such an adorable prickly set and I decided to put a little Christmas treat twist on it!  Each little giftie envelope is ready to be tucked into the tree...All that's needed is some CASH-OLA!  

To create my giftie envies, I stamped the Kawaii-ish cactus with Copic markers and then doodled some Christmas lights on the tall cacti.  I also added some lights across the top to add to the festive flair. 

After coloring the cactus plants, I fussy cut them and then watercolored some white paper with aqua ink and mounted that onto a piece of pink cardstock.  I wrapped some tinsel ribbon around it to give some sparkle. 

Hop over to the TCP Blog to check out the other sneaks that are being shared today! 

Sunday Sip: Graciellie Designs Farmhouse Christmas!

Hello there inky friends!  It's Sunday Sip day at Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog and I'm sharing a pretty card I created using some of the newest digital stamp sets from Graciellie Design.

To create my pretty "Farmhouse Christmas" Spice Cocoa card, I combined two of Gracie's new sets:  Festive Wreath Mini Bundle and Cheery Cocoa Mini Bundle.  I just LOVE the images and the mix of fun sentiment fonts!  It's PERFECTLY PERFECT for the Christmas season!!!

To create my card, I colored the images with my Copic markers and then added some Glossy Accents to the pinecones and the center of each flower.  I also added a bit of shine to the cinnamon stick.

After coloring, I set the images aside and started working on the base layer.  I mounted a piece of kraft cardstock onto a white card base (topfold) and then flicked some black acrylic paint onto a kraft card panel and then attached some of my favorite burlap ribbon to the Farmhouse sentiment.  I then started layering all the pieces together and voila!  This beauty was complete!

Thanks so much for stopping over to check out my card today!  Hope you have a fabulous week!  See you again soon!

TCP Tuesday #361 Layer Up!!

Hey there crafty peeps!   I'm joining my fellow Cat Packers as we begin a new TCP Tuesday Challenge!  This month, our challenge is all about LAYERS.  So come on, Layer it up!  Join the fun and play along.  You have the whole month to join in on the fun for your chance to win a $50 gift certificate to the TCP store.  Just make sure to post a project to our blog post.  Don't have any TCP products YET, no problem!  Our challenge is open to all designs.  

I played the Layer It challenge with my diecut image- I layered the color, the paper, the paint and the embellies.  Can you spy all those layers?  The die "Snowglobe Duo Die" is a perfect die for layering.  I started out by diecutting the snowglobe image and then used some Leisure Art waterbased markers to create a watercolor background on a piece of cardstock that would be placed behind the diecut.  After watercoloring, I layered that panel, the diecut and the framed portion of the die (I trimmed it to create a stand-alone frame).  

After assembling the "snowglobe", I started working on the fun wintery background.  I used my Gel Press and pressed some white pigment ink onto the plate.  Next, I used the snowflake dies to press into the ink-onto the Gelli Plate- to create a muted snowflake background.  After that, I peeled the teal panel off the Gelli Plate and flicked white acrylic paint and sparkly ink onto the panel.  

To finish my card off, I added some fun iridescent sequins onto the panel and mounted this snowy scene onto a white card base. I added some winter snowflakes to add more layering fun! 

Thanks for hopping over to check out my card.  I hope it inspires you to create something layer-icious!  

Here are the details for the TCP Challenge:

• Each month a new challenge will be posted on The Cat’s Pajamas blog and our Facebook page.
• If you want to play along you just upload your design to The Cat’s Pajamas blog page using the InLinkz button provided.
• You are not required to use a Cat’s Pajamas stamp or die but if you have them we would love to see them.
• On the day of the next challenge the winner will be chosen from the previous challenge and will receive a Cat Cash Voucher for $50.

Gettin' Down and Dirty!

Hey there inky friends!  I'm finishing up on my Christmas Cards this weekend and wanted to use the candle in the Happy Birthday Stamp Set as a holiday candle.  I thought I'd pull out my Gelli Plate so that I could make some fun backgrounds.  This first card started out with some bright, bright Distress Oxides and then I just couldn't deal with the super bright colors so I had to tone them down a bit by pulling in a little gray. 

To create my background I created several layers: 

Layer 1:  I placed three tiny drops of each color (pictured above) onto my Gelli Plate and used a bamboo scribe to spread the colors in a linear formation.  I then placed the cardstock over the ink and lifted quickly. 

Layer 2:  After that, I spread some Ivory acrylic paint on my Gelli Plate with a paint brush and used the same bamboo scribe tool to scribe some scribbles onto the plate.  I applied the paper again to lift that layer. 

Layer 3:  Next, I spread some more Ivory Acrylic paint onto the Plate then used the largest star stamp in the set to lift some of the paint.  Once satisfied with the design, I lifted the impression onto the paper. 

Layer 4:  I placed three tiny drops of (a gray color) Distress Oxide onto the Plate then added a few drops of Ivory acrylic paint and spread it around on the Plate.  I used the same star stamp to lift more star impressions.  Once satisfied with the design, I lifted this impression onto the paper. 

Layer 5:  I spritzed the paper with water to help some of the distress oxide bleed with the acrylic paint, then used my heat gun to dry the paper.  I brushed a little Ivory Paint onto the paper (just a few stripes here and there) and then used the scribe to scribble off some of the paint. 

The next layers were embellishing layers of glossy accents, microfine glitter and mini star sequins. 

After the background was complete, I stamped the stars and the candle, doodled some drippy parts for the candle and colored with Copic markers.  I added additional glitter and gloss to make it shine.  I brushed some watered down acrylic paint over the colored images to tone them down a bit and to help them coordinate more closely to the background. 

If you take a peek at the close-up, you'll notice the layers and the yummy embellies.  

 I selected some fun and festive fibers and some shiny silver edged ribbon to finish the card off! 

Adding some little blingy elements helped bring more light to this card.  I love the grays and the pops of yellow. 

Thanks for hopping over!  I hope you enjoyed this project and it inspires you to pull out that Gelli plate!  :)  See you around soon!

Beachy Christmas with Joy Clair

Hello there inky friends!  I hope you're having a great week.  I'm in the mood to for a bit of Christmas!  I love COLD, SNOWY Christmas' but I know some folks would rather spend their Christmas in steamy hot locations...so this card might be right up their boardwalk.  ha ha.

I created this project that features two new stamp sets:  Penguin Tropical Christmas and the background stamp Christmas Lights.  I pushed the lights way back into the background of my paper to give a hint of lights as well as create another layer of depth in my project.  To create my background, I stamped the Christmas Lights onto blue cardstock then drybrushed some light ivory acrylic paint over it.  After that dried, I colored the lightbulbs with some copic markers and traced around them with a black marker.  Next, I drybrushed the ivory paint over the colored lines and allowed the black ink to spread with my paintbrush.  It helped create a "grainy" effect, perfect for my background.

Next up was creating the adorable penguin in her festive beachwear.  After I fussy cut her parts, I assembled them and set her aside.

Next, I worked on the water.  I added several different colors and textures of paper to give the water some additional movement and depth.  I also added a "sandy" layer by tearing the paper.  When my water was done, I stamped the sentiment onto a white panel and set it onto the design using foam squares.  The tree was next.  I stamped, colored and cut the tree then assembled it onto the card.  

This is such a fun combo of stamps to use for Christmas cards and While I really don't care for a warm Christmas (I LOVE SNOW!), I can say that this card is already assigned to a specific pair of family members who LOVE the yucky heat.  LOL

Thanks for hopping over!  See you again!  

It's a real BLIZZARD! TCP SNOWFLAKES!

Hey there inky friends!  I'm back with another fun SNOWFLAKE card featuring fun new dies from The Cat's Pajamas.  Today, I'm sharing TWO projects that were created using the same materials- kind-of a Twofer you might say.  I was on a roll and I just kept rolling!  HA HA.  I think it helped having a yummy cuppa coffee in my new and colorful handmade mug by Caleb Zouhary (ZouharyPottery on Etsy) right at my workstation.  

I wanted to create a whimsical plaid pattern in somewhat Christmas Colors so I pulled some green, red and golden yellow Copics and drew some lines.  I followed that up with two different Staedtler pigment markers.  After creating the "plaid", I diecut the J and Y from the J*Y die ($5.00 set!!!) and then a few snowflakes from the new Five Snowflakes die set ($4.00 set!!!).  

I used the snowflake dies from both sets to create an embossed background and layered a few fun elements to make my letters and snowflake appear like floating ornaments.  DecoFoil Glitter Dust Photo Frames were a perfect little sticker element and backing for these dies.  

To add a little stamping, I diecut the little pennant from the Framed Up 2 CutUps dies. I stamped the sentiment from the Your Gift stamp set. 

Just a little distressing on the edges, a few sparkly gold pearls and this card was finished!  

Next up, I wanted to create another JOY card with my materials sitting on my desk so I diecut the letters in gold sparkly cardstock assembled the little plaid snowflake and cut some icing from the adorable Icing CutUps die.   This card came together quite quickly, but I think it's a favorite now.  :)

Such fun to create your own plaid paper.  Yeah, I have a problem cutting up pretty patterned paper so I make my own.  HA HA! 

To include some stamping, I stamped one of the sentiments from the One Liners stamp set -a piece of the sentiment "Life Is Short, Choose Happiness" and replaced the "Happiness" with the JOY! 

Thanks for stopping by today to check out my snowflakey creations.  I am having a ball filling up my Christmas Card box with pretty (and sparkly) cards!