You Cast a Spell on Me

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. I nearly had a panic attack when I realized today is the last day of September--how did that happen? Crazy!

Anyways, I'm up on the Newton's Nook Designs blog today. :) Here's my project:

I went very CAS to emphasize the cute kitties from the Newton's Antics set. I colored them with Copics, fussy cut them, and popped them up to add a little dimension. I added the hat from the wizard in the Magical Dreams set and a sentiment from the same set.

Here's a close-up:

Under the kitties, I printed a digital paper and die-cut it with a heart border. I used the White Linen cardstock from Ellen Hutson--I'm addicted to the little bit of texture it adds.

If you get a chance, check out the Newton's Nook blog. Jen shares cards almost daily. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!


Supplies
Cardstock: (White Linen) Ellen Hutson; (white) Papertrey Ink; (Premium Matte Photo Paper) OfficeMax
Clear stamps: (cats from Newton's Antics; wizard hat and sentiment from Magical Dreams) Newton's Nook Designs
Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko
Digital elements: (orange scallop paper from Stargazer collection) Dawn by Design at Pixels & Co.
Dies: (Heart Border) PTI
Copics

Wild & Free Blog Hop

Hi everyone! Today, the Glitz Digital Team is having a blog hop!

We're showing projects using the new Wild and Free collection. Here's the line-up for today's hop:

Amanda De Jong

Amanda Resende

Barbara Sokee

Donna Espiritu

Emma Poon

Fauve Van Maanen

Jocelyn Olson <--You are here!

Kym Tsukamoto

Laura O'Donnell

Maria Lacuesta

Mary Martinez

Miki Krueger

Smitha Katti

Tiffany Wheeler

Glitz Design Blog

Okay, if you haven't seen the Wild & Free collection yet, you *need* to check it out. Seriously. The kit has so many great elements and papers--there are tons of possibilities!

I'm sharing two hybrid cards. First up:

For this CAS card, I simply resized the fab Wild & Free patterned paper for the background. I recolored the background of the "wander" sentiment from Wild & Free Element Pack 1 to layer on the white background. There are several sentiment in the kit that would work well for this same design. :)

Here's a close-up:

*sigh* Isn't that paper gorgeous?

For my next card, I did more layering:

The "LOVE" journaling card started out white with an ombre (top right in the picture below):

First, I printed the pink and yellow Wild and Free paper. Then, I recolored the journaling card black and white in Photoshop to increase the contrast. Finally, I traced the image on my Cameo and die-cut it.

For the layering, I added some papers from the collection and hand-cut tissue paper for the edge. I also added a little splatter in the background with some mists. Here's a close-up:

Want to win the full digital collection? Just leave a comment, and comment along the way to increase your chances! Or, you can buy the Wild and Free kit at Jessica Sprague HERE. :) It's such a beautiful collection!

The next stop on the hop is the super-talented Kym! Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies
Wander
Cardstock: (blue) Stampin' Up
Other paper: (Premium Matte Photo Paper) OfficeMax
Digital elements: (paper from Wild & Free Paper Pack; sentiment from Wild & Free Element Pack 1) Glitz Designs

LOVE
Cardstock: (White Woodgrain) Simon Says Stamp
Other paper: (Premium Matte Photo Paper) OfficeMax
Digital elements: (papers from Wild & Free Paper Pack; journaling card from Wild & Free Element Pack 1) Glitz Designs
Mists: (Pink Guava) Maya Mists; (Dandelion Fireworks) Tsukineko
Twine: Lawn Fawn
Silhouette Cameo

New Years?

Hi everyone! Well, it's Monday. Are you ready to take on the week? :)

It's the Picture Perfect week over at Paper Smooches SPARKS.

Here's the inspiration picture:

When I first saw the image, I wasn't quite sure what to do. I don't have a Paper Smooches jar or butterfly. The jar reminded me of water, which reminded me of ice, which reminded me of snowmen...

Or maybe I was just thinking about wine. ;) I paper pieced and colored one of the snowmen from Freezy Fellas. I stamped one of the arms before fussy cutting the image. For the wine, I die-cut a Free Spirit Icons glass and stamped the images from the Free Spirits set. The sentiment is from the same set.

I added a little heart from Hullabaloo to look like one of the butterflies. Here's a close-up:

If you'd like to join in this week's SPARKS challenge, you can link up your projects HERE. I hope you'll play along!

My teammates have some fab projects. Be sure to check them out, too!

Wida

Jenny

Jocelyn

Alice

Savannah

Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Kraft, white) PTI
Patterned paper: (aqua from Maggie Holmes's Flea Market collection) American Crafts; (notebook, rose) My Mind's Eye
Clear stamps: (snowman from Freezy Fellas, heart from Hullabaloo, wine glass and sentiment from Free Spirit) Paper Smooches
Ink: (Rhubarb Stalk Luxe Ink; Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko
Dies: (glass from Free Spirits Icons) Paper Smooches, (Jumbo Fishtail Banner) My Favorite Things
Punch: (Scallop) Fiskars
Twine: (mint baker's twine) May Arts
Copics

Grateful for You

Happy Friday! Any plans for the weekend?

It's been a while since the last CAS-ual Fridays challenge, but this one is a great challenge:

So, fall colors and include a leaf in your CAS projects. This challenge is a two-weeker.

Here's my card:

I started with stamping the Hero Arts' Painted Maple Leaf stamp with Distress Inks and misting it lightly. I fussy cut the leaf ad inked the tips. I stamped the sentiment from Technique Tuesday's I Give Thanks set (love these sentiments!). I splattered different spray mist colors in the background.

Here's a close-up:

 *sigh* Are you looking forward to fall or wanting more summer?

If you'd like to play along with this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge, this week's sponsor is Simon Says Stamp.

You can link up your projects HERE. I hope you'll play along!

Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Cranberry Crush, Oatmeal) WPlus9; (white for leaf) PTI
Clear stamps: (sentiment from I Give Thanks) Technique Tuesday
Rubber stamps: (Painted Maple Leaf) Hero Arts
Inks: (Spiced Marmalade, Antique Linen on edges; Persimmon, Aged Mahogany, Barn Door Distress Inks) Ranger; (Chocolate Chip) Stampin' Up
Spray Mists--various
Silhouette Cameo

Happy Travels Note Card Kit

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great week!

The Glitz Digital team is sharing projects on the Glitz blog today using the Happy Travels collection. The papers and element packs are part of the One Buck Wednesday at Jessica Sprague today. :)

I found THIS note card set on the Silhouette blog, and I decided to do something similar using the digital papers:

I know I'm always looking for ideas for paper crafted gifts, and I thought all of these items would work as a note card kit. There are the cards, envelopes, vellum confetti, and seals for the envelope.

Here's what the cards look like:

I say "cards," but I actually lazed out and only made two cards. ;) I started by re-szing two of the digital papers from the Happy Travels Paper Kit. I fussy cut one of the airplanes from the patterned paper. Isn't that plane fun? I used a cloud from Simon Says Stamp and backed it with the other patterned paper.  The cute sentiment is from the Up and Away stamp set.

For the background, I stamped the Hero Arts Tweed in white. I love the subtle texture! Here's a close-up:

I also made envelopes:

I used the same airplane paper as the card and printed on the polka dot patterned paper on the backside. I love that with digital, I can put whatever patterns I want together for double-sided papers.

The Happy Travels Element Kit has a cool series of vintage travel posters. I'm thinking about printing a few and framing them for my son's room. I did the opposite here, and shrunk them:

After printing and trimming the images, I stitched them together to make a banner. I thought that with the note card kit, you could trim off whichever image you wanted and use it as a seal on the envelope. It would also make a cute banner. :)

Lastly, I made confetti for the note cards:

I printed two of the digital papers on vellum. As a tip, I always use the "glossy paper" option when I print on vellum. I die-cut planes and hearts out of the papers.

Phew! That was a lot of pictures. If you're still with me, I wanted to mention again if you like the Happy Travels papers and elements, they're on sale $1 and $1.50 today only. Score! You can find them HERE.

You can see my project and other samples from the team on the Glitz blog. :)

Have a great day! Thank you so much for stopping by!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Rustic White) PTI
Other paper: (Premium Matte Photo Paper) OfficeMax
Digital elements: (all papers and travel posters from Happy Travels Paper Kit and Element Kit) Glitz Designs
Rubber stamps: (Tweed Background) Hero Arts
Clear stamps: (card sentiment from Up and Away) Mama Elephant
Ink: (Real Red) Stampin' Up; (White) WPlus9
Dies: (large heart from Large Holiday Shapes; small hearts from Mini Hearts Set; planes from Small Planes; clouds from Flat Bottom Clouds) Simon Says Stamp 
Tool: (Envelope Punch Board) We R Memory Keepers

Ink Comparisons

Hi everyone! I'm doing something a little different today.

It all started with my blog friend Michelle asking on Facebook about the new Memento Luxe inks. I recently bought about half of the ink pads, and I've been very impressed about the coverage. Gayatri asked whether the inks appeared opaque on colored cardstock. I didn't know, so I did a bit of testing as I was cataloging my inks.

Jennifer McGuire did a fantastic ink comparison with the Luxe inks HERE (it's a must-see). I wanted to share what the inks look like on other cardstock colors.

I used a clear globe stamp from the You Are Here set; I wanted to test a solid clear stamp. All of the photos are in natural light, for better or for worse. ;)

First up, here are the inks on PTI's white cardstock:

There were only two tags I re-stamped. The coverage was that good for a solid stamp with a single inking. No Versamark primer, no huffing on the stamp, no over-stamping. It's pretty remarkable. I should apologize for my atrocious handwriting. ;)

I also stamped the colors on PTI Kraft:

I will say that I did have to re-stamp the Pear Tart since the color was more uneven. It might be just my particular ink pad, though. The Dandelion is very vibrant--I love it! 

Next up are the reds, pinks, and purples:

The Angel Pink is a little harder to see on kraft. For me, if I were using Angel Pink, I would probably stick to white or cream unless I was embossing (they are pigment inks).

Next are the blues: 

If there are any Stampin' Up ink fans, the Danube Blue is very similar to the retired Brilliant Blue. I thought all four of these colors showed up well on kraft.

Still with me? I raided my scrap pile and did tests of all of the inks on different cardstock colors. To spare you a 100-photo post, I'll show three. ;)

Here is a Lilac Posies on a lighter-colored cardstock:

The medium and darker ink colors stayed true on the lighter color cardstock. The lighter inks were more translucent on this color of cardstock.

Next up, I stamped Bahama Blue on PTI's New Leaf:

I was very impressed with the intensity of the color. Not all of the colors looked vibrant on this medium-colored cardstock, but a surprising number did. I think it was at this point that I added a couple of Luxe inks to my online shopping cart. hee hee

Lastly, I tested a dark cardstock:

I was pushing it trying the Dandelion, but you can still tell that the ink is yellow. The Danube Blue and Nautical Blue retained their color on the dark cardstock very nicely.

Stamp staining doesn't bother me too much, but I thought I would share what the stamp looked like when I was done:

I had never used the stamp when I started, and there is only slight staining after stamping ~50 times with the Luxe inks. I did clean the stamp after every impression. The Dandelion was the only color that I saw stain the stamp.

Please drop me an e-mail or comment if you'd like to see a particular picture--I do have other photos.

Thanks for bearing with me. Have a great day!


Supplies
Cardstock: (New Leaf, Spring Moss, white, Kraft) PTI; (Fig??) Paper Source
Clear stamps: (globe from You Are Here) Two Peas in a Bucket
Inks: (Angel Pink, Rhubarb Stalk, Morocco, Peanut Brittle, Dandelion, Peart Tart, Olive Green, Teal Zeal Bahama Blue, Danube Blue, Nautical Blue, Lilac Posies, Sweet Plum Memento Luxe) Tsukineko
Die: (Tag 2) WPlus9

The Raven

Hi everyone! This is my second post of the day. If you're looking for my Newton's Nook Designs post, please click HERE.

This week, the Glitz Digital Team is sharing projects with inks, pains, and mists. I'm up on the Glitz blog today with a project using the new Raven collection:

Okay, first of all, can I say how much I love this collection? I'm a big fan of Halloween papers, and this collection is probably my favorite. Ever. The papers are Halloween-ish, but they could be used for any season (like the papers I used here).

I started with the raven image from the Element Pack 1 and sprayed a digital mist behind him. Then, I used a digital brush from the same Elements and stamped it twice to off-set the sentiment. Once I was done printing the image, I splattered some Mister Hueys over the image. Here's a close-up:

For the Raven papers, I splattered some mist on the stripe, but I thought the triangle paper could use something extra...

I've never lit paper on fire (for a card), but I decided to try it. I used photo paper, which seemed to slow the burn time, and it gave the edges just the right distressing. Strangely, my husband didn't even question why I was standing over the sink lighting the paper with a lighter. ha ha

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! Have a great weekend! 

Supplies
Cardstock: (white) PTI
Digital elements: (stripe paper from Raven Paper Pack; triangle from Raven Elements Pack 2; sentiment and raven from Elements Pack 1) Glitz Designs at Jessica Sprague.com
Mist: (Opaque White) Mister Huey's

Newton's Nook Designs Magical Wishes

Hi everyone! It's day two of the Newton's Nook Designs' September release!

Both of the sets will be available at midnight tonight in the NND store. My projects for the Boo Crew set are in THIS post.

We're sharing projects using the Magical Wishes set. Rather than using the larger images, I decided to focus on a way to use the small stamps in the set:

I stamped, colored, and fussy cut the star, hat (off of the wizard), and potion bottle. I could have stamped directly on except I used a tag base that doesn't like Copics. ;) The sentiments are from the Magical Wishes set.

Here's they are in close-up:

Ahhh...I love a CAS tag. :)

Want to win a free Magical Wishes set? Comment on the Newton's Nook blog and comment on each of the design team's blogs. You have until 9pm CST tonight for a chance to win.

Be sure to check out the rest of the team's creations!

Tessa Wise

Jocelyn Olson

Samantha Mann

Emily Leiphart

Jennifer Ingle

Thanks for stopping by! Have a super day.


Supplies
Cardstock: (Vintage White, White) PTI; (Nightshift Blue) MFT
Clear stamps: (Magical Wishes) Newton's Nook Designs
Die: (Timeless Tags 2 dies) WPlus9
Fibers: (Ivory twine) May Arts; (blue grosgrain) craft supply
Stickles
Copics

Boo Crew

Hi everyone! It's release week with Newton's Nook Designs!

We're sharing two new stamp sets this week, and they're pretty neat-o. You'll be able to buy the sets on Friday at the NND store.

Today, I'm sharing treat bags I made using the Boo Crew set:

I started by coloring and fussy cutting the bear image from the set. Isn't he cute? To make the bag, I die-cut the treat bag and stamped candy from the Boo Crew set in Versamark.

I placed the bear on the box, but it didn't look quite right. I realized it would help to die-cut a window to see the candy. It's always good to see candy. :)

I made a second box using patterned paper. Here they are together:

The tag has a sentiment from the same set. I think I'll make a few more for my kids' teachers. Do you make handmade Halloween treats for your kids' teachers or classes? Please share--I'd love to get some ideas. :)

If you'd like to win a free Boo Crew set, here's your chance! Comment on the Newton's Nook blog and comment on each of the design team's and guest design team's blogs. You have until 9pm CST on 9/12 for a chance to win.

Be sure to check out the rest of the team's creations!

Tessa Wise

Jocelyn Olson

Samantha Mann

Emily Leiphart

Jennifer Ingle

Kim Singdahlsen (Guest Designer)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a super day.


Supplies
Cardstock: (Orange Zest, white, Clear cardstock) PTI
Patterned Paper: (black and white from Basics collection) Studio Calico
Clear stamps: (bear, candy, sentiment from Boo Crew) Newton's Nook Designs
Die: (circle from Limitless Layers; bag from Treat Bag #2) PTI
Ribbon: (Orange Zest) PTI; (orange and yellow stripe) May Arts
Copics

Wassup Foxy?

Hi everyone! Happy Monday!

It's time for another Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.

Want to see the sketch?

I used the vertical version of the sketch to make this card:

I was excited to use my brand new Paper Smooches Royal Cuteness stamps and Royal Icons dies. I LOVE the girl stamp, which I paper pieced and colored. I was going to put her on one of my Paper Smooches tags, but I could not find the die (I still haven't found it--argh!). So, I die-cut the Duo Die 2. When I was looking at the die-cuts, I realized it could look like a mirror. Score!

Here's a close-up:

Yep, that's my shirt in the mirror. LOL!

I masked off and stamped the sentiment from Smoocheroos horizontally across the banner. I kind of missed the polka dots on the sketch, but I'm counting the stripes. Okay? ;)

I hope you'll be able to play along with this week's SPARKS challenge. You can link up your projects HERE.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!


Supplies
Cardstock: (white) PTI; (silver) Bazzill
Patterned paper: (peach polka dot) Bo Bunny Basics; (floral from Hello Again) Carta Bella
Clear stamps: (girl from Royal Cuteness; sentiment from Smoocheroos) Paper Smooches
Dies: (girl from Royal Icons; frame/mirror from Duo Die 2) Paper Smooches; (banner) PTI
Digital element: (yellow stripe paper from Stargazer) One Little Bird for The Lilypad
Copics

Not Your Typical Back-to-School Card

Hi everyone! I'm not going to lie--I want to do some online shopping, so I'm going to make this post short. ;)

It's the first CAS-ual Fridays challenge of the term, and we have four new designers. Woo hoo!

It's a two week challenge to share your back-to-school projects.

I have little kids, but I made a school card for an older girl:

Other than the stars, I did all of the design work myself. In Photoshop, I simply used different fonts and colors to create the sentiment. I love the scrolly font for the "punch." hee hee

For the stars, I recolored the star image from One Little Bird's Crazy for You digital kit. I thought the stars worked with the back-to-school theme.

Here's a close-up:

Yup. Pretty non-traditional for back-to-school.

Do you want to make a school project? The winner of this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge will win a gift certificate to Ellen Hutson.

You can link up your projects HERE.

Have a great weekend!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Night) Paper Source
Digital element: (stars from Crazy for You) One Little Bird for The Lilypad
Fonts are from Dafont.com

Yours Truly

Hi everyone! Last week it was announced that I'm joining the new Glitz Designs Digital Design Team. I have been grinning ear-to-ear about it...I love Glitz, I love digital. It's just awesome.

So, what does being on the team mean? I'll be sharing the digital sets over at Jessica Sprague. It also means trying to keep up with the super talented design team members (I've been seeing their layouts--whoa! I've got to say, it's a little intimidating!)

This week on the Glitz blog, we're sharing projects using the Yours Truly collection. I made a couple of cards. I went ultra-CAS for the first one:

I used a digital journaling card from the Yours Truly Embellishments #2 and simply enlarged it. I wanted to do a little something extra, so I took scraps from Embellishments #1 (the yellow zigzag is part of a Polaroid frame) and the Paper Pack to frame the sentiment. Super easy! It was so quick and easy, I made three more for a card set. :)

Here's a close-up:

For my second card, I used the same three kits to make a more layered card:

For this card, I resized, printed, and layered papers and the Polaroid frame. *sigh* I love these papers. I wish I could wallpaper my house in that navy blue. ;)

For the ephemera, I recolored the text to make it more of a focal point. Here is a close-up:

Did I mention that the Yours Truly Embellishments #1 and Paper Pack are on sale for a $1 and $2. Seriously? What a deal! The sale is for today (Wednesday) only. You can follow the links above to find them.

You can check out my cards and the rest of the DT over on the Glitz blog. It would be great if you would leave some love over there. :)

Last week, I had a two-part giveaway. The winner of the first giveaway is:

Shelly

The winner of the second giveaway is:

richardbreaks

Thank you so much for your comments! Shelly and Richard, I'll be contacting you or you can e-mail me at redballooncards at yahoo dot com.


Have a great day!


Supplies
What You Bring
Cardstock: (white) PTI
Other paper: (Premium White Photo Paper) OfficeMax
Digital elements: (journaling card from Yours Truly Embellishments #2; navy and red papers from Yours Truly Paper Pack; yellow zigzag frame from Yours Truly Embellishments #1) Glitz Designs

Whatever You Are
Cardstock: (White Woodgrain) Simon Says Stamp
Digital elements: (girl ephemera from Yours Truly Embellishments #2; navy, grey, and red papers from Yours Truly Paper Pack; yellow zigzag frame from Yours Truly Embellishments #1) Glitz Designs
Ink: (Dandelion Fireworks) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (sequin) Hobby Lobby; (red transparency from Fact or Fiction) BasicGrey; (wood veneer star) Studio Calico
Marker: (Y13) Copic 
Twine: (red) Divine Twine