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!

November Paper Smooches Design Team Blog Hop

Hi everyone! If you're in the U.S., I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

It's also Pep Rally week and we are here today to share a sampling of the NEW Paper Smooches December release with you! FOUR new stamps and EIGHT new dies will be available to purchase on November 30th at 8:00pm PT. Once our release goes live, you will find our new products 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. 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 PT on Sunday, November 30th to leave a comment. 
• Please check the Paper Smooches blog on Monday, December 1st to see if you are one of the FOUR lucky winners. 

Here's the order of the hop:

Ashley Marcu
Emily Leiphart
Erin Lincoln
JJ Bolton
Jocelyn Olson <--You are here
Kalyn Kepner
Kay Miller
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 Lots of Love:

The new Lots of Love set is perfect for Valentine's Day and any love card. I love the beautiful script--Kim's lettering is gorgeous! 

I die-cut the heart on my Cameo, watercolored the panel with spray mists, and then stamped over it using the Lots of Love sentiment. I went a little crazy with the watercoloring, but decided to go with the artsy look. ;) The flowers are from the new Lovely Thoughts set. I embossed the flowers on vellum and then watercolored over them.

Here's a close-up:

I finished the card by die-cutting a scalloped base out of the Notes and Things paper. 

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

Supplies

Stamps: (sentiments from Lots of Love; flowers from Lovely Thoughts) Paper Smooches

Cardstock: (Distress Watercolor Paper) Ranger; (vellum) PTI

Patterned papers: (Notes and Things 6x6) Crate Paper

Ink: (Versafine Onyx Black) Tsukineko; Versamark; (Picked Raspberry Distress Spray) Ranger; (Magnolia Magenta Gold; Salt Water Taffy spray mists) Lindy's Stamp Gang
Embossing: (Clear Fine embossing powder) Wow!

Die-cutting: (Cameo) Silhouette 

Let Our Lives Be Full

Hi everyone!

I'm up on the Neat & Tangled blog today with a card and step-by-step photos.

I wanted to use a Thanksgiving set in a (hopefully) non-Thanksgiving way. Here's what I ended up with:

This card has everything but the kitchen sink--layering, die-cutting, stamping, heat embossing, splattering, watercoloring, sewing....I guess I didn't use patterned paper. Ha!

I started with watercoloring and then die-cut part of the Album Cover Lace on my Cameo. On top of that layer, I heat embossed the sentiment from Neat & Tangled's Be Full set. The embossing powder is glittery, which looks a little lumpy in photos (it's not).

I stitched the panel onto the background to add some lift to the vellum. Here's a final picture of what the card looks like under the sentiment:



To see the steps for making this card, I have the pictures and steps on the Neat & Tangled blog. :)

Also, Danielle is having a Black Friday sale starting at 8am ET on Thursday (11/27) and running until Sunday (11/30)!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Supplies
Cardstock: (white) PTI; (Distress Watercolor Paper) Ranger; (vellum) My Favorite Things
Stamps: (Be Full) Neat & Tangled
Die-cutting file: (Album Cover Lace) iHeartStudio.com
Ink: Versamark; (California Poppy) Lindy's Stamp Gang; (Sweet Cherry) Heidi Swapp; (Dandelion Fireworks) Tsukineko; (Rudolph Mister Huey's) Studio Calico
Embossing powder: (Red Glitter Zing!) American Crafts

25 Days of Christmas Tags + A Giveaway

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! I got home at the end of the week after another week of work travel. I got home in time to see my four-year-old's preschool holiday program...it was so cute. :)

My blogging friend Tracey from In My Creative Opinion has been hosting her fourth annual 25 Days of Christmas Tags. Tracey invited the Paper Smooches team to share tags, and I'm happy to be playing along.

Here's my tag:

I used Paper Smooches' new Cool Dudes set to make the snowman. I die-cut a circle and then stamped the different features and hat. It was really fun to build the different snowmen--much better than getting cold in real snow. ;)

I die-cut some Webster's Pages papers using the Paper Smooches' Gift Tags die. I can't get enough of this die--it's a must-have! Here's a few of the finished tags:

I added the sentiment from the Warm Hearts set on a couple of the tags. Here's a close-up:

As part of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags, there are lots of prizes! Be sure to check out Tracey's blog for details. To enter, comment on Tracey's blog, and for an extra chance to win, comment on my blog below. The comment-to-win ends at 11:59pm ET on 11/27.

Sharing a Sneak

Hi everyone!

I'm up on the Simon Says Stamp blog today (eek!!). I'm sharing some gift wrapping and tags using Paper Smooches. All of the products I used are available at SSS.

Here's a peek:

If you get a chance, please check out the SSS post and leave some love. Thank you!!! And thanks to Stephanie for asking me! :)

Add a Little Dazzle and Neat & Tangled Blog Hop

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a good week. :)

This week, the Neat & Tangled DT is teaming up with the Add a Little Dazzle team. Add a Little Dazzle sells cool craft metal sheets (be sure to check it out!). Each day this week, members of the two teams are hopping. If you're hopping along, you should be coming from Yana's blog.

Here's my project:

I kept things pretty simple. As soon as I saw the Fancy Pants Oh Deer! reindeer, I knew I had to use him! I used the "warm" from the Warm Wishes stamp set and paired it with two stamps from the Simple Christmas set. For the hearts, I die-cut the A Little Dazzle Scarlet Red sheet with the Neat & Tangled My Plate is Full dies.

Don't the hearts look like Valentine's Day chocolates? It makes me kind of hungry. Ha! Here's a close-up:

Be sure to comment all along the way to be entered to win a $25 prize pack from Add a Little Dazzle and a $25 prize pack from Neat & Tangled. Next up in the hop is Lee-Anne!

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back tomorrow with another post. :)