Season's Givings Blog Hop

Hi everyone, and happy 2015! Welcome to the Season's Givings Blog Hop!

Latisha Yoast came up with a great idea to share our new/unused crafty supplies--to have a blog hop and give the supplies away to people hopping. I love this idea!

I'm so thankful for the blogging community. I know everyone is busy, and it means a lot to me that people take the time to stop by. I wanted to do the giveaways as a thank you!

Here is a card I made for the new year:

This month, Winnie & Walter is celebrating their first anniversary, and they're hosting a month-long birthday bash. Part of the celebration includes several challenges (they'll go live at 7am CT 1/1). I'm joining in the fun and playing along with Laura's challenge. If you get a chance, check them out (the prizes are huge!).

For my card, I used The Big, the Bold, and the Extras stamp set and matching cut files from Winnie & Walter.  I did some two- and three-step stamping for the flowers and layered them over some Maggie Holmes vellum flowers. The leaves were die-cut using the cutting files. I was very inspired by THIS gorgeous card.

Here's a close-up:

I'm also linking this card up to the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge. There's still time to link up.

I've been fortunate enough to receive or win some extra supplies, and I'm thrilled to be passing them on! I have two giveaways for two winners. If you enter once, you're entered into both:

[Click on picture to enlarge.] Giveaway 1: Mama Elephant, Avery Elle, and Imaginisce stamps; Crate Paper embossing folder, 6x6 pad, two sets of stickers from the same collection; Pink Paislee washi; Studio Calico sequins; ColorBox Cat's Eye.

[Click on picture to enlarge.] Giveaway 2: Fancy Pants 12x12 papers, stickers, die-cuts, felt flowers, buttons, and clips; KI Memories stamps; Glitz Design washi; Studio Calico ink pad. 

Here's the scoop: 1) You can leave a comment for a chance to win. 2) For a second chance, you can "follow" my blog and leave another comment to let me know if you already follow or are a new follower. You can follow my blog by clicking Google's "Join this Site" on the sidebar and/or following by e-mail.

The giveaway will end at 6am ET on 1/7, and I'll announce winners here. Also, I'm happy to pay for international shipping.

The people/companies below are all offering different giveaways. To enter, all you have to do is go to their blogs, leave comments, and you'll be entered:

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

Lawn Fawn

Spellbinders Paper Arts

Reverse Confetti

Clearsnap

Ice Resin

My Favorite Things

Technique Tuesday

Paper Smooches

Sweet & Sassy Stamps

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store

Avocado Arts

A Jillian Vance Design

Latina Crafter

Die-Versions

Unity Stamp Company

Splitcoaststampers

Verve Stamps

Latisha Yoast

AJ Otto

Vera Yates

Julia Stainton

Judy Hayes

Kim Watson

Yana Smakula

Chari Moss

Taheerah Atchia

Shemaine Smith

Emily Spahn

Kimberly Crawford

Lee Murphy

Lovely Linda

Laura Williams

Lori Tecler

Chaitali Narla

Darsie Bruno

Lydia Fiedler

Giovana Smith

Teri Anderson

Beth Pingry

Dina Kowal

Daniela Dobson

Lisa Adametz

Piali Biswas

Kelli Green

Keri Lee Sereika

Jocelyn Olson <-- You are here

Julee Tilman

Michelle Woerner

Lori McAree

Theresa Momber

Anita Autore

Melody Rupple

Sean Fetterman

Bunny Vance

Tricia Traxler

Lisa Arana

Lorena Cantó

Amy Tsuruta

Jodi Collins

Tenia Nelson

Kelly Klapstein

Jill Cornell

Emily Leiphart

Becky Williams

Margie Higuchi

Lee Ann Barrett

Lisa Hoel

Heather Campbell

Lisa Henke

Sheri Holt

Michele Kovack

Ashley Harris

Sharon Harnist

Lori Craig

Nicole Nowosad

Laurel Beard

Michele Boyer

Christiana Reuling

Laurie Schmidlin

Jennifer Priest

Stacey Schafer

Heidi Blankenship

Heather Pulvirenti

Anita Madden

Gloria Stengel

Sarah Gough

Rachel Kleinman

Natalie Dever

Lorine Mason

Loretta Lock

Meihsia Liu

Sarah Martina Parker

Angeline Choo

Christine Emberson

Karen Hightower

Sabrina Alery

Debbie Seyer

Dana Joy

Cat Tidwell

Deborah Saaranen

Ceal Pritchett

Lisa Lara

Colleen Schaan

Anabelle O'Malley

Megan Hoeppner

Monika Davis

Marisa Ritzen

Wanda Guess

Jenny Peterson

Annette Allen

Gracie Chavez

Christina Griffiths

Niki G.

Kristi Schurr

Jennifer Ingle

Karolyn Loncon

Camille Robinson

Lindsey M-P

Kathy Clement

Maria Levine

Savitri Wilder

Savannah O'Gwynn

Teresa Horner

Laurel Seabrook

Libby Hickson

Yvonne Van de Grijp

Leigh Penner

Lisa Lee

Tina McDonald

Nina Yang

Angel Johns

Thanks for visiting! I really appreciate it!! Have a wonderful 2015!

Next in the hop is the super talented Julee!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Rustic White) Papertrey Ink; (white) Avery Elle
Stamps: (flowers, leaves, sentiment from The Big, the Bold, and the Extras) Winnie & Walter
Die-cutting/embossing: (white leaves from The Big, the Bold, and the Extras Cut Files) Winnie & Walter; (Woodgrain Impression Plate) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Versafine Smokey Grey) Tsukineko; (Birch) Fresh Ink; (Peridot Mixed Media Ink) ColorBox
Mists: (Opaque White, Dewey Mister Huey's) Studio Calico; (Solar Gold Radiant Rain) Luminarte
Embellishments: (vellum flowers from Open Book Floral Ephemera) Crate Paper; (Mint Color Theory star sequin) Studio Calico; (4mm Clear sequin) Pretty Pink Posh; (matte gold 10mm sequin) Teresa Collins

Our Home to Yours

Hi everyone!

I'm up on Neat & Tangled blog today sharing a card and quick tutorial.

Here's the final card:

I used three different Neat & Tangled sets to make this card: Simple Christmas, So Very Blessed, and Time Warp. There are step-by-step pictures on the Neat & Tangled blog that show how I combined the different sets.

After I was done stamping, I dry embossed the panel with a PTI Woodgrain plate--I love the subtle texture. I finished the card by adding glitter to a BasicGrey die-cut, a sequin from the Classic Christmas Sequin Mix, and some spray mists.

Here's a close-up:

If you want to play along, the Little Tangles team has an embossing challenge right now. You can check it out HERE.

Sadly, this post is my last one for Neat & Tangled. I wanted to give a shout-out to Danielle for being an awesome leader. Thanks for asking me to be on the team, Danielle! *hugs* Also, thank you to my fantastic and supportive teammates! You all are a super talented bunch!!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Warm Winter Wishes

**Hi everyone! If you're looking for my Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Special Thanks blog hop post, please click HERE.

Wow, it's December--I can't believe it! It's been cold in South Dakota, which inspired today's card. :)

I'm guesting for the Little Tangles Team today for their new challenge--embossing! You can check out the details of the challenge on the Little Tangles blog.

Here's my card:

I started this card by heat embossing two trees from the Neat & Tangled Winter Wishes set. I then repeated the stamping/embossing about 20 times to create a background. I was inspired by one of Laura Bassen's cards, and I did some gradual blending with Distress Inks. I added some splatter with a Pearl mist to give the background some shimmer.

Here's a picture of the background:

On top, I die-cut a Simon Says Stamp Eliza snowflake and layered a sentiment from the Winter Wishes set. The card still didn't feel finished, so I threaded some Crystal Clear and Christmas Mix sequins.

Here's a close-up:

I hope you'll play along over at Little Tangles with the embossing challenge! You can link up your projects HERE.

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


Supplies
Cardstock: (white Ellen's Essentials Linen) Ellen Hutson; (white) Hobby Lobby
Stamps: (trees, sentiment from Winter Wishes) Neat & Tangled
Ink: (Evergreen Bough, Tumbled Glass Distress Inks) Ranger; (Ocean) Hero Arts
Die: (snowflake from Eliza) Simon Says Stamp
Sequins: (Crystal Clear, Christmas Mix sequins) Neat & Tangled

Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Special Thanks Blog Hop

Hi everyone! I have a special (but sad) post today.

Today, 200+ people are hopping to say thanks to the staff at Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine. If you're hopping along, you should be coming from Susie's blog.

For those who don't know, Paper Crafts will have its last issue in February 2015. Since the announcement, I've thought about what to say. Ultimately, it comes down to thank you. Thank you for being such an influence on the papercrafting community. Thank you for your hard work and the love you poured into issues. Thank you for being awesome people who made people smile every day.

Kerri does awesome "What I've learned from..." posts on Paper Crafts Connections. I did a little reflecting on what I've learned from Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking over the past several years:

1. Go for it.  'Nuff said.
2. It's good to try new techniques. It's hard to fall into a rut when you have calls pushing you to try using hardware or string art or acrylics. 
3. What not to wear. I really should say what is "in" to wear. PC&S has always been cutting edge on spotting trends, and reading the issues/calls made me feel almost cool. 
4. Freestyle/collage is a real life style. I want to put seven unrelated embellishments on a card? That's okay! 
5. Barbie shoes don't make great stamps. Yes, I've tried that. And celery. And corn. My husband thought I was completely nuts when I told him I had to go to the grocery store for a call. Believe me, I would never have tried those techniques if it hadn't been for PC&S, but trying something new is good. :)
6. Gallon, quart, and pint is more than just for paint. The Card Design Handbook? Life changing. 
7. It's more than a magazine. The editors and staff, the blogs, the contests, the challenges--it's such a sense of community. These folks are social media gurus!
8. They are teachers. When I had a DT end, Susan and Jennifer took the time to give me some great advice. They taught me a lot about myself. 
9. Rocky Road is good. The PC&S editors were very supportive of different styles, different supplies, and different techniques. I dug that (like I dig Rocky Road ice cream). 
10. Crafty friends are good friends. I've met fabulous friends through PC&S, and I know I'm not the only one. :)

Thank you, Jennifer, Susan, Stacy, Kerri, Holly, Matt, Melinda, and (honorary) Cath for all that you have done.

I also wanted to share a card:

I used the pretty new Amy Tangerine Stitched collection to make a very scrappy card. Here's a close-up:

Lastly, I wanted to link up to the PC&S Farewell Slideshow. (Awww....)

Thanks for stopping by. Next up in the hop is Chaitali!