Sneaky Peek Day 5: Puppy Love...

Hey there inky friends!  It's Day 5 of Sneaky Peek Week at The Cat's Pajamas and we're sharing inspiration today from the adorable little Boston Puppy set called "Live, Love, Bark".  How have you been enjoying the inspiration thus far this week?  Do you have a favorite set yet?  How about those adorable little critter dies yesterday (sorry I wasn't sneaking a peek...my project is being held for New Release Day...as it didn't quite fit with my Valentine's Day theme)...Sooo...I'm in LOVE with this little pooch so I decided to create a little valentine mail with him.  

I paired up the sweet Live, Love, Bark bundle with the fun Nested Hearts Die and a real standard sized envelope to help bring this sweet love Valentine life.  I also added a few bits of scraps from previous projects (love using my stash) and a little ribbon on my table.  

Notice that brown sentiment?  It's a scrap of a toilet paper roll!  I have a few thin rings cut and sitting on my scrap table from Christmas crafting extravaganzas (I saw this cute little yarn stocking cap ornament that was made with it and I wanted to make some...but I got as far as cutting the toilet paper rolls.) I didn't make those ornaments so I think I'll make some Valentine ones and put them on my tree.  Yes, I still have my Christmas trees up and plan on turning them into LOVE trees.  HA HA.  

Anyway, I finished this little Valentine off by attaching some red/white striped washi on the edge.  I think it reminds me of air-mail so I thought it worked well.  Thanks for hopping over to my blog.  I hope my card inspires you to create something SWEET with this set!!!  :). Remember, make sure to leave some love on all my fellow teamie's blogs for a chance to win a TCP prize!  See you again tomorrow for more Valentine inspiration!  

 

Sneaky Peek Week Day 3: BEST DAY EVER!!!

 

Hello there inky friends!  It's DAY 3 of The Cat's Pajamas Sneaky Peek Week and we're sharing sneaks of the fun new COFFEEEEEE (well, not all the stamps are coffee themed...but...COFFEE!!!) set called BEST DAY EVER!  Of course I HAD to use the fun image with two BFF's or LUV BUGS sharing a cuppa JOE!  WOO!  

I paired it up with some fun washi tape elements and some doodly squiggles- to help bring this sketchy card to life.  I also incorporated some golden threads and a few bits 'o bling! 

I thought giving a simple squiggly design along the top and bottom of the decorated panel helped define the layers and I just love the "take it easy" nature of the design.  

A little sentiment finishes it off...Yes, BE HAPPY...it's contagious!  

Thanks for hopping over to check out my card.  I hope it inspires you to create something FUN with this collection.  PS...My focus for this collection is Valentines so I hope you stop by tomorrow to check out more fun love creations!  Make sure to hop over to my fellow teamies' blogs to check out their fun creations and leave some love for a chance to win a TCP Prize.  See you tomorrow!  

Graciellie Designs... Love and Friends...

Hello there inky friends! I'm thrilled to announce that I've been asked to join the Graciellie Designs team!  I'm so honored to be able to create with such amazing digital art from Gracie's hands!  She is so talented and her designs never disappoint.  It is such an honor to design for her using her gorgeous and detailed digital designs!  

I decided to feature her Sweet Love paper collection in combination with her Love and Friends digital stamp set as my first official post.  I selected these two collections because of the connection I have to them and to my stamping family.  You know, it's pretty amazing to be connected to so many talented designers and crafters all around the world and it's such a privilidge to be one of these "friends".  It's amazing how we are so connected and close and in almost all instances, we have never met in person.  Someday, Someday!  

So this card goes out to all my crafty friends...Wherever and whoever you are...Sending love your way!  

I started out by copying and pasting the background paper from this collection into a Word Document.  Since the images are square, I reset the size proportions so they would fit 5.25x4 inches.  I adjusted the color by lightening it up to make it a soft and sweet background.  After that, I copied the heart wreath  and the sentiment (resized to my liking) and printed it all out on my home printer.  Once printed, I cut everything out.  I prepared my background paper onto a white card base and set it aside so I could color the wreath.  

The wreath was colored with several Copic Colors that matched perfectly with the paper collection:  

Browns: E23, E25, E71; Y28; YR14

Greens: G24; YG06, YG13, YG25, YG63 

Pinks: R20, R32; RV10

Grays: C1, C3

After coloring the wreath, I cut the sentiment and threaded it through the wreath then attached a few foam squares to pop the sentiment up onto the card base.  Next, I added some lovely burlap ribbon from my stash.  Finally, I added some blingy flat-back pearls and glittered up the florals with microfine glitter to give it some sparkle!  

Thanks so much for hopping over to check out my first Graciellie Design creation!  I'm so excited to be among such talented designers and I look forward to so many more opportunities to create with her beautiful designs!  

Love the products used in my creation?  Hop over to Gracie's shop and pick up your own collection.  They are the most fabulous and easy to use digis on the market today!  

Love and Friends

Sweet Love Digi Paper Collection

Fall in LOVE...

Hello there Joy Clair friends!  It's time for the February Challenge and we're excited to share some LOVE creations to inspire you to create this month!  As with every monthly challenge, there's a PRIZE in it for one lucky participant! A $25 gift card will be awarded to one participant who hops along with us and participates by sharing a LOVELY creation inspired by the photo above.  Simply add a link to your creation on our Joy Clair Blog Post HERE. 

Are you ready?  Let's get started!  

I took my inspiration from several of the pictures in the photo array.  Kraft card base (from the stack of books), A string of LOVE letters (from the photo of the girl holding the banner), Woodgrain (from the heart board in the top corner) and the red stitched strap (from the ribbon in the girls hair and attached to the key) and the spray of hearts (from the lady blowing confetti).  

I started out by stamping the LOVE sentiment from the Valentine Background set.  I used Ladybug Red from Memento.  After stamping, I cut each heart out and punched a few holes in each heart so that I could string white thread through them like a banner.  After that, I stamped a Kraft Card base with Brown Memento ink and the Wood background stamp. 

Next, I stitched a red strip of cardstock with my sewing machine then attached it to the edge of the card.  I strung the LOVE banner (using foam squares to secure the hearts) and attached some golden bling on the ends to hold the thread.  

I thought it needed one more finishing touch so I stamped the heart sprays from the New Baby stamp set with black Memento ink then colored with copics.  I cut them out and attached them to one side of the banner.  To finish the card off, I added glaze to the hearts to make them shiny!

I hope you're inspired by this creation and find inspiration and encouragement to participate in this months challenge from all of the February challenge designers!  Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to seeing your pretties soon!

Sweet Treats...Joy Clair January Release

Hello there Joy Clair Friends!  It's Kerry here with another FUN card inspired by one of the newest stamp sets this month.  Introducing:  Candy Hearts!    Today I'm sharing this new creation on the Joy Clair Blog and hope you are just as excited about this new set as I am. It's so fun and playful! 

As a teacher, I enjoy the time spent preparing for a fun and fabulous February 14th.  I love the joy and excitement "Friendship and Love Day" brings to children and adults alike.  To capture this joy and excitement, I created a little playful card using the Candy Hearts set.  I love how it turned out.  Take a peek, won't you!  

To create this fun card, I started out by creating a simple banner using white cardstock.  I then stamped the I (heart) you sentiment over and over again onto the panel using VersaMagic ink pads.  After that was done, I rubbed the ink pads onto some stamped, embossed and fussy cut hearts from the set.  I applied the ink direct to paper and love the soft blending this technique creates.  

To specialize the card and make it a one-of-a-kind creation, I made one "boy" with blue and one "girl" with pink ink then jumped right in with some doodling with my Micron pen ...Yes, I love to doodle. Since the hearts come without faces, I decided I'd I doodle some faces and a little bow for the girl's hair.  She needed something pretty to balance out Mr. Moustachio over there.  I also added some glaze over their eyes and her lips to make things a bit slobbery if you know what I mean!  

After stamping and finishing the Candy Lovers, I started working on the background.  I stamped the sentiments randomly over the kraft cardstock then embossed with clear embossing powder.  I also stamped a few smaller candy hearts using some Ranger Embossing ink (love the cinnamon aroma) and clear EP.  Once finished, I added some hand stitching with some pink thread.  

After stitching, I assembled the tag (more stitching), splattered some pink and aqua watered-down acrylic ink onto the panel, then layered and popped everything up on the card panel.  I also added a bit of soft white yarn for my "ribbon element".   I layered this panel onto some white cardstock and then onto a kraft card base to finish it off.  

I hope you enjoyed this playful take on this fun new set.  I can see that I will be using this set so many more times...Especially for my little kiddos at school.  :)

GIVEAWAY ALERT:  I'm giving one lucky visitor a Candy Hearts set of their own!  Just pop over to the Joy Clair blog- mention you're popping over from my blog for your chance to win!  Winner will be announced on Friday!  Good luck.