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

Live, Love, Laugh

Hi everyone! It's the weekend. Yeah, yeah! Do you have any plans?

It's time for a new CAS-ual Fridays challenge. The challenge is to make a CAS card with an element hanging over the edge of the card. This week's challenge is a two-weeker. :)

Here's my take on the challenge:

I recently bought a few items from the Amy Tangerine Plus One collection, and I've been anxious to use them. The papers, balloon, and mini washi tape are from the collection. The sentiment is from Mye De Leon's Live Love Laugh digital mini kit. I love how the sentiment works with the papers.

Here's a close-up:

Pretty simple. :)

If you'd like to play along with this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge, the winner will receive a prize from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps:

You can link up your projects HERE.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!


Supplies
Cardstock: (white) Avery Elle
Patterned papers: (Plus One) Amy Tangerine
Embellishments: (balloon die cut from Plus One Bits, washi from Plus One Mixtape) Amy Tangerine
Ink: (Pink Grapefruit, Antique Silver) Maya Mists
Digital element: (sentiment from Live Love Laugh mini kit) Mye De Leon at Pixels & Co.

Going Graphic

Hi everyone!

It's time for a new CAS-ual Fridays challenge! This week's challenge is to use color blocking. I cruised around Pinterest looking for inspiration, and I ran across this pin:

(The Berry)

I love the color combination (and I would pretty much kill for those pants!). From watching way too much Project Runway, I don't think color blocking has to actually involve blocks, so I went with triangles on my super graphic card:

It's hard to tell from this photo, but the color-blocking is one-layer. I used AUDacious Designs' Quarters template for the three triangles. I stamped on them with a digital brush to add a subtle texture (and I know, there's really no texture, ha ha). I color matched the boxes using the photo. If you want to see how I did it, I have a video tutorial (see my Digital Tutorials above).

I die-cut the "hello" from Paper Smooches' Quote Tag Dies in black. I wasn't sure about the black, so I made another card and die-cut 4 layers of white cardstock. I got the inspiration from JJ's Paper Smooches card (although mine's not as thick or cool):

I'm not sure which I like better. Which do you like better?

If you'd like to do some color-blocking of your own, you can link up to this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge. The winner will receive some CAS-ual Friday Stamps:

You can link up your projects HERE.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend!


Supplies
Cardstock: (True Black) PTI
Other paper: (Premium White Photo Paper) Office Max
Digital template: (Quarters) AUDacious Designs at Pixels and Company
Die: (Quote Tag Dies) Paper Smooches

Guesting at Paper Crafter's Library

Hi everyone!

I'm excited to be guesting for the Paper Crafter's Library blog today! Woo hoo! I'm sharing two projects on their blog, but I have a sneak peek:

I would love it if you would stop by the Paper Crafter's Library blog and see the projects. Thank you!!

Have a great day!

Looking Back

Hi everyone! I hope you had a happy holidays! It's been a whirlwind for us--Christmas, my daughter's eighth birthday, and my sister-in-law's family and brother-in-law's family visiting. It's been a great break. :)

With New Year's a day away, I decided to look back at my blog cards for this year and make a top 10 of my favorites. I haven't done a top 10 list before, but I enjoyed it...it was good to look back and remember making the card, the reason for the card, etc. I'm not sure what was going on, but I didn't have any cards in my top 10 before May. ha ha

Here's my list (in chronological order):

Congrats (AC Digitals)

Have a Magical Birthday for Gallery Idol Round 1 (Robyn Meierotto)

You Get Me (BasicGrey, American Crafts, Pixels & Co.)

Love Machine (My Mind's Eye, Paper Smooches)

Grateful for You (Hero Arts, Technique Tuesday)

Put You In My Pocket (Glitz Design)

Whitewashed Leaves (Paper Smooches)

Cashmere Dame Card Set (Glitz Design)

Oh, Hello There (Lawn Fawn, Creashens)

Joy to You and Me (Glitz Design)

All of the supplies are linked in the original posts.

Thank you for all of your support and comments this year. Sometimes it's hard to blog--I don't like my photo or the project, or I think my post content sounds lame. But, I'm very grateful for the visits and comments--you are very kind. :)

Have a great New Year's Eve! Happy 2014!!

A Moxie Fab Thanks

Hi everyone!

Are you here for the monster blog hop for Cath Edvalson? There are almost 300 of us participating as a way to say "thank you" for all she has done for the papercrafting community. We're going to miss her! *sniff * *sniff*

If you want to start from the beginning, you can go to the Moxie Fab World blog. You should be coming from my dear friend JJ Bolton's blog.

Since there are about 270 blogs to go, let's get to it!

Cath lives in New Hampshire, and the folk art look of the houses and hills in the Odl-lay-hee paper remind me of her photos. I thought the sentiment was fitting for the occasion. :)

Here's a close-up:

Cath, you've touched so many people. Your encouragement, photos, and words have inspired many, and you've brought people together. Moxie Fab World is much more than a blog--it's a community, and it's because of you. I will miss you terribly at Paper Crafts! I know that you will inspire others in whatever you do next.

I hope you'll hop along and give Cath a big Moxie Fab thanks! Next up is the fabulous Daniela!

Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Rustic White) PTI
Clear stamps: (sentiment) Swissgirl Designs--no longer available
Ink: (Strawberry) Fresh Ink
Digital element: (paper from Odl-lay-hee) Deena Rutter

Rock Chalk Baby Blog Hop

Hi everyone! In blog world, it's often hard to throw someone a baby shower, so instead, we're having a baby blog hop:

The Gallery Idol '12 ladies and I are having a blog hop for Erin Lee Schreiner, who's having a baby boy this month. Yeah! Big congrats, Erin!! If you want to hop along along, you can start at Aga's blog.

Erin likes forest critters, and I went with the woodland theme for this non-traditional baby card:

Isn't that little fox to die for? I love his little face. I made a custom sentiment using the Milo's ABCs from Lawn Fawn.

Want to hop along and wish Erin well? Here are the other peeps participating:

Aga Malyszek

Amy Kolling

Anita Recksiedler

Cheiron Brandon

Dana Warren

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Elena Roussakis

Heather Campbell

Jennifer Rzasa

Jennifer Ingle

JJ Bolton

Jocelyn Olson <--You are here.

Joscelyne Cutchens

Laurie Willison

Miriam Prantner

Nina Yang

Taheerah Atchia

Tessa Wise

Wida Yusufi-Miller

Thanks so much for stopping by! Next up is my dear friend Joscie!


Supplies
Cardstock: (white) Avery Elle; (Rustic White) PTI
Clear stamps: (sentiment from Milo's ABCs) Lawn Fawn
Ink: (Smokey Grey) Versafine

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

You Can Do Great Things

Hi everyone! Are you ready for the weekend? It's our last weekend before school starts on Monday. Both my kids are going to new schools (second grade and preschool). They both seem prepared for the idea (as much as a three-year-old can be prepared), but I'm nervous. ha ha

Anyway, it's time for a new CAS-ual Fridays challenge:

This week is a color challenge with any shade of aqua, green, and orange.

I kept pretty close to the original colors on this card:

I recolored four different watercolor images from the Watercolor Splatters set and then stamped the watercolor heart from the Valentine's Day Watercolor Brushes set. I added one of Robyn Meierotto's new sentiment stamps--she always has such great sentiments.

Here's a close-up:

I kept the card pretty simple so I can mail it in a regular envelope.

If you'd like to play along with this week's CAS-ual Friday challenge, you have two weeks. You can link up your projects HERE. The winner will receive a gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp:

SSS has some great sales going on during August, too. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!


Supplies
Cardstock: (polka dot embossed aqua) Bazzill
Other paper: (Premium Matte Photo Paper) OfficeMax
Digital stamps: (heart from Valentine's Day Watercolor Brushes) Just Jaimee for SugarHill Co.; (sentiment from Word Art Encouragements) Robyn Meierotto for Pixels & Co.
Digital elements: (watercolor elements from Watercolor Splatters) Celeste Knight for Pixels & Co.

Yippee!

Hi everyone! Just a quick post to share some good news.

I made it to the Top 20 of Paper Crafts Magazine's Gallery Idol contest. Yeah!!! On Thursday night, I pulled up the Paper Crafts Connection website on my phone and had it ready to go for Friday morning. As soon as I woke up, I checked my phone, and then had to contain my excitement so I didn't wake up my kids. Yeah, it didn't work--I woke up my son. :)

So....here's the card:

It was one of those never-ending cards that I worked on a few minutes here and a few minutes there over several days. The circles are die-cut tissue paper, and I added a few die-cut stars and sequins. For the sentiment, the "Magical" is a digital sentiment from Robyn Meierotto, and I added the rest of the text.

As part of the contest, I'll be sharing my Round 2 card tomorrow and asking for your vote. Eek! I'm excited and nervous about it. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week.


Supplies
Cardstock: (True Black, white) PTI; (silver glitter cardstock) Doodlebug Designs
Digital stamp: (magical from Little Dreamer set) Robyn Meierotto
Dies: (circles from Moves and Shakers Spinner Die Set) PTI; (stars from Holiday Shapes) Simon Says Stamp
Sequins: Avery Elle