Paper Smooches August DT Blog Hop

Hi everyone!

It's Pep Rally week and we are here 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. 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. Want a chance to win a prize? 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 above or the PS blog for your chance to win (you do not need to comment on all blogs to qualify, but it increases your chances)! 
• 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. 

Here's the order of the hop:

Ashley Marcu
Betsy Veldman
Emily Leiphart
Erin Lincoln
JJ Bolton
Jocelyn Olson <--You are here
Kalyn Kepner
Laura Bassen
Laurie Schmidlin
Michele Boyer
Pamela Ho
Teri Anderson

To increase your chance of winning:

• Tell us that you Facebooked about our blog hop (leave another comment) 
• Tell us that you Tweeted about the hop (leave another comment) 
• Tell us that you posted on your blog about our blog hop (leave another comment) 

Here's my card using A Blessed Christmas:

Isn't that image so sweet? I love that it's a cute religious, Christmas image. This set has so many fabulous images!

For my card, I simply stamped and colored it with Copics. To add a soft layer, I die-cut a the window out of vellum and stamped the sentiment from A Blessed Christmas directly on the vellum (got to love the Brilliance inks). Finally, I used the matching Blessed Icons dies to die-cut the dove. When I think of Christmas, I don't typically think of rust and black colors. ;) But, as soon as I saw these BasicGrey papers with the image, I had to go with the non-traditional colors. 

Here's a close-up:

Thanks for stopping by! Next up is my sweet and very talented friend Kalyn!

Supplies

Stamps: (sentiment, holy family, dove from A Blessed Christmas) Paper Smooches

Dies: (dove from Blessed Icons); (banner, circle) Silhouette America

Cardstock: (white) PTI; (vellum) Hobby Lobby

Patterned papers: (Spice Market) BasicGrey

Ink: (Graphite Black Brilliance; Tuxedo Black Memento) Tsukineko; (Gold and Opaque White Mister Huey's spray mist) Studio Calico

Copics

Every Cloud...

**If you're looking for my Hero Arts/A2Z Scrapbooking post, please click HERE. 

Hi all! It's hump day....well, almost. LOL!

I'm on the Neat & Tangled blog today sharing this card:

I used the Clouds set designed by my friend, Miriam Prantner. I have more pictures on the Neat & Tangled post HERE. I'd love it if you would check it out!

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies
Cardstock: (white; Linen Vellum) PTI
Stamps: (Clouds) Neat & Tangled
Patterned paper: (zigzag by Sugar Rush Scrapbook Add-On) Studio Calico
Embellishments: (Crystal Clear, Pink Lemonade sequins) Neat & Tangled; (White Punchinella) Neat & Tangled; (green star from Daily Flash) October Afternoon; (yellow puffy heart, blue star, flair from Studio Calico kits) Studio Calico

Hero Arts & A2Z Scrapbooking Digital Blog Hop

Hi everyone! I'm super excited and honored to be participating in a special blog hop today:

A2Z Scrapbooking will be the new Hero Arts digital retailer, and to celebrate the collaboration, we're having a blog hop. If you're just joining the hop, you can start at the Hero Arts blog.

I made a couple of cards using a few digital techniques. Here's the first one:

I used the Sunshine Flowers cutting files and digital stamps. Instead of cutting the jumbo flower, I clipped a Just Jaimee digital patterned paper to it in Photoshop. If you wanted a one-layer card for mailing, the clipping technique is the way to go. The sentiment was die-cut on my Cameo out of white cardstock. I used two spray mists to watercolor a gradient on the die-cut.  

I added some splatter over the flower to give the flower some shimmer. 

And yes, the sentiment is different in this card. I made a set of four cards and die-cut two of the sentiments and using the digital clipping technique for the other two. I'm fickle. ;) 

My second card is a little more masculine:



For this card, I used the Firmament set and a few different digital techniques. I started with a digital patterned paper and stamped the falling stars with the digital brush. Next, I stamped some of the sketchy stars, rotating the brushes and resizing them. 

After adding the sentiment from the same set, I printed two copies. I trimmed the stars out of one of the copies and added them on top for some more depth:




I also printed one of the stars on vellum and added it to the bottom corner. I love the added translucency of printing on vellum.  



As part of the hop, there's also a giveaway! A2Z Scrapbooking is giving away a $50 gift certificate to one lucky commenter. The winner will be selected from all comments on the blogs, so the more comments you leave, the better your chances. The giveaway ends on Sunday, August 31st at 11:59 ET.

Here's a list of the participants:

Hero Arts
Tami Hartley
Kelly Latevola
Kymona Tracey
Lisa Spangler
Michelle Liimatainen
Kathy Wade
Lucy Abrams
Chitra Nair
Char K
Ruth Bosner
Jocelyn Olson <--You are here
Zoey Scarpelli
Stephanie B
Kelly Rasmussen
a2z Scrapbooking

Thanks for stopping by! Next up on the hop is the fabulous Zoey Scarpelli!


Supplies
Hello Sunshine
Stamps: (flower from Sunshine Flowers) Hero Arts digital
Cardstock: (white) PTI; (Premium Matte Photo Paper) OfficeMax
Patterned paper: (digital Ice Cream Painted Paper from Just Jaimee) The Lilypad; (yellow from Jen Hadfield) Pebbles; (stripe) PTI
Die-cut: (sentiment from Sunshine Flowers) Hero Arts digital
Inks: (Pink Ginger, hot pink) Maya Mists

Written in the Stars
Stamps: (sketchy stars, falling stars, sentiment from The Firmament) Hero Arts digital
Cardstock: (white, linen vellum) PTI; (Premium Matte Photo Paper) OfficeMax
Patterned paper: (digital Stargazer paper by Dawn by Design) Pixels & Co.; (orange stripe from Jubilee) My Mind's Eye
Embellishments: (puffy stars from Daily Flash) October Afternoon; (sequins) Avery Elle
Dies: (stars from Large Holiday Shapes) Simon Says Stamp

Woodland Animal Card Set

**If you're looking for the CASE Study Anniversary post, please click HERE.

Hi all! Ready for the weekend? We started school this week, and it's hard to get back into the routine.

I was over on the Glitz Design blog this week sharing a card set. Here's the group shot:

See the fawn? See the fox? Eek! I love these animals in the Carpe Diem collection. The set has four cards and matching envelopes. All of the cards have the same design, but I used a different animal for each card.

Here's the fox (my fave):

I explained a little more on the Glitz blog how I made him, but the animals don't look like this in the collection. I digitally clipped a zigzag paper from the Felicity digital collection to each of the animals in the Carpe Diem Element Pack 2. It's a super easy technique and a great way to stretch your digital supplies.

Here's a close-up:

After I altered the animals, I added the sentiment from the digital Carpe Diem Element Pack 2. I used the Felicity papers to layer some strips on each card. Since the cards are meant to be mailed, I tried to keep the embellishments and dimension to a minimum. If you would like to get these papers, they are 75% off over at Simon Says Stamp this week (use the code: GLITZ)!!

I had to stitch through the sequins (again). I can't stop doing that technique!

The picture with all four animals is on the Glitz blog. If you get a chance, I would love it if you would swing by their blog and leave a little love. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Supplies
Patterned paper: (Stripe from Black and White collection; pink and blue papers from the Felicity 6x6 pad) Glitz Design
Digital elements: (sentiment from Carpe Diem Element Pack 2; animals from Carpe Diem Element Pack 3; zigzag paper on animals from Felicity Paper Pack 2) Glitz Design
Ink: (Opaque White Mister Huey's) Studio Calico
Sequins: (Rosie Posie sequin) Neat & Tangled; (Platinum Color Theory star sequin) Studio Calico; (white iridescent) Webster's Pages

Paper Smooches August Releases

Hi everyone! Ready for the week? We did a quick, final getaway to Minneapolis before school starts. We stopped at Ikea (yeah!) and I finally bought a Raskog cart (yeah!).

I wanted to share a couple of cards from the Paper Smooches August release. Kim released one new stamp set and five new dies. :)

First up, I used the Chum Pals dies and Bosom Buddy stamp set:

The bear and moose are from the Chubby Chum Pals set, and I used the Chum Pals to die-cut them. Am I the only one who doesn't know what a moose nose looks like? I had to Google it (the things we do for crafting), but I ended up going with lighter colors. Anyhoo, I played around the positioning, and I finally liked how the bear has his arm around the moose--like friends. :)

 I die-cut a window using the Duo Die 4 and added the sentiment from the new Bosom Buddy set:

Next up, I used the new Great Chemistry dies:

The professor, beaker, and sentiment are from the Great Chemistry set, and I used the Great Chemistry dies for the beaker and professor. Instead of a lab coat, I paper pieced him with a plaid shirt--pretty snazzy for a professor.

I mixed in some October Afternoon All Boy papers and a journaling card:

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Here We Go, Love

Hi everyone! Ready for the weekend? We start school on Monday--ack! I'm sad!

Nancy and I are on the Scraptastic blog today. We're both sharing projects using Scraptastic Club's August This Life Noted kit. Not long ago, I watched THIS awesome video by Jennifer McGuire. In it, she showed how to use wood veneer for faux letterpress, and I've been wanting to try that technique.

Here's the card I made using the LOVE wood veneer in the This Life Noted kit:

You'll want to check out Jennifer's video to see the tutorial. I shared a few pictures on the Scraptastic blog, too. I did some gradient inking on the back of the wood veneer and ran it through my Big Shot. Usually when I try new techniques, they look pretty rough compared to the demo. This time, the technique worked easily. Yeah!

Here's a close-up:




I layered two of the journaling cards and added one of the Cut-Aparts and the black-and-white sticker from the kit. The red patterned paper layered underneath is from the Boys of Summer kit.

Here's a close-up of the layers:

The August This Life Noted kit is sold out, but you can still get the August Wood Veneers to try this technique. Be sure to check out Nancy's take on the kit (it's cool!) on the Scraptastic blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great weekend!


Supplies
Cardstock: (white) PTI
Kit: (August This Life Noted kit) Scraptastic Kit Club
Ink: (Mango) Fresh Ink; (Fizz) Avery Elle; (Apple) Mama Elephant; (Black, Opaque White Mister Huey's) Studio Calico

Scribbles and Doodles

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. We went to the county fair this weekend, and the kids had fun on the rides and playing the games. I even got to pet a 4-day-old pig, who was pretty darn cute. :)

I'm up on the Glitz blog today sharing projects related to a trend. I've got to tell you, I thought a lot about different trends (I'm so geeky, I even made a spreadsheet). Finally, I settled on scribbles and doodles, which I am suddenly seeing everywhere.

I made a trio of cards with a mix of Glitz lines incorporating the scribble trend. Here's the first card:

Using my Silhouette, I die-cut the scribbles in white. I fussy-cut around the die-cuts with papers from Glitz's Brightside, Felicity, and 77 collections. I finished the card with the Thanks Word die from Paper Smooches.

I used the Avery Elle Custom Panels die to cut the arc and then popped up some of the scribble flowers for a little dimension:

The next card is a little softer, and I used some hybrid elements:

The Glitz Black and White collection has an awesome scribble Floral paper. Using the digital version of the paper, I recolored a few of the scribbles, resized them, and fussy-cut them. The black and white paper competed with the colored flowers, so I added some vellum.

The sentiment sticker from the Felicity collection has a cute little heart doodle. Love it!

I went CAS for the last card:

I die-cut the Sketched Stars from Brightside papers and layered it over Felicity paper. I had a left-over die-cut scribble and added it under the sentiment sticker from Carpe Diem.

You can see the project (and others!) on the Glitz blog.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day. :)

Supplies
Cardstock: (white, linen vellum) PTI
Patterned paper: (Floral 12x12 from Black and White collection; 6x6 Brightside papers; 6x6 Felicity papers; 6x6 77 papers) Glitz Design
Stickers: (Felicity Stickers Titles and Accents; Carpe Diem Stickers Titles and Accents; Brightside Stickers Titles and Accents) Glitz Design
Digital elements: (Black and White paper pack 2; Brightside paper pack 1) Glitz Design
Dies: (Thanks Word die) Paper Smooches; (Sketched Stars) Papertrey Ink; (Custom Panel die) Avery Elle
Embellishments: (doily) Freckled Fawn; (Crystal Clear sequins)  Neat & Tangled; (Neon Orange twin) Hemptique twine
Ink: (Opaque White Mr. Huey's) Studio Calico

Beach Girl Card Set

Hi everyone! Happy weekend!

My friend Elena designed the cutest stamp as a giveaway on her blog, and today, a few of us are sharing cards using the stamp. The beach girl stamp is just too cute! You can get it from Elena's blog.

It's been a while since I've done all-digi--it was great to do a full digi card again. :) I decided to make a card set. Here's one of the cards:

For the beach girl, I resized her and then digitally paper-pieced her. Yep, all of the coloring on the girl (including her skin), are different digital papers from The Lilypad. The girl is the same for each card, but I changed the papers for the flags. This technique is great for making multiple cards or for paper piecing small areas. If you want a tutorial, let me know, and I'll make a video. :)

I layered her over a Lili Niclass (digital) watercolor journaling card. After I printed each panel, I stamped the sentiments--the one above is from Mama Elephant and the one below is from Paper Smooches:

See? Paper piecing but no layers. I also added the smile digitally using the Paper Smooches digital sun stamp. I added a few sequins on each and layered the panels on papers from the American Crafts #Summer line.

Here's a picture of the whole set:

If you want to see other cards using the same stamp, here are the other folks participating:

Elena 

Deasy

Laura

Dana

Iwona

Miriam

Jocelyn <--That's me!

Audrey

Cheiron

Veronica

Jingle

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Cupcakes Are Healthy

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a good week. We're getting geared up for school to start--where did the summer go? *sigh*

I'm up on the Scraptastic Kit Club blog today sharing a couple of birthday cards. I used the August Boys of Summer and This Life Noted kits for these cards....they are fab kits!

First up is the masculine birthday card:

I stamped the sentiment from the Celebrations stamp set and added a bit of mists. Then, I layered the Crate Paper Boys Rule transparency, stickers, and papers in the Scraptastic Boys of Summer kit and Add-on kit.

I am in love with the Scraptastic wood veneers, and I had to use the little car. I wish I had a car like that. :)

Next up is the more feminine card:

The cupcake and sentiment come from the Celebrations stamp set. Isn't the sentiment hilarious? And so true, too. ;)

The cupcake is layered over two trimmed-down journaling cards from the August This Life Noted kit, and the panel is layered over more Boys Rule paper.

Hmmmm...now I'm thinking about cupcakes. Ha! What's your favorite kind of cupcake?

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Smooth Sailing

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great weekend. :) I finally got my computer back (my computer was down for six days). Yeah!

I wanted to share a card that was on the Neat & Tangled blog earlier this week:

 

Pardon the greenish photo--like I said, I was without my regular computer and editing software. 

I die-cut a hole in a Webster's Pages Ocean Melody journaling card--isn't it pretty? Then, I stamped and paper pieced the boat from the Neat & Tangled Sailmates set. Love those polka dots!

I was going to hide the bottom of the boat under the banner, but when I was playing around with the Clouds set, I realized the woodgrain looked a little like ocean swells. I have no idea why I stamped the ocean in yellow--ha ha. Creative license I suppose. ;)

I added Crystal Clear and Pumpkin Satin sequins at the top and stitched through them. I added a Twine + Ink puffy star....love those little puffy stickers.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great day!


Supplies
Cardstock: (linen white) Ellen Hutson; (white) PTI
Stamps: (boat, sentiment from Sailmates; waves from Clouds) Neat & Tangled
Ink: (Black hybrid) My Favorite Things; (Yellow Brilliance) Tsukineko
Patterned paper: (Ocean Melody) Webster's Pages
Die: (circle) My Favorite Thigns
Embellishments: (sequins) Neat & Tangled; (puffy star) Twine + Ink; (chipboard love) Webster's Pages