Happy Sunshiny Day

Hi everyone!

This week on the Glitz blog, the digi team is sharing projects using the Sunshine in My Soul collection. I don't know why I have never used this collection before, but it is gorgeous! If you hurry, part of this collection is on sale at Jessica Sprague for One Buck Wednesday.

Here's my hybrid card:

For the front panel, I used ink pads to watercolor the background, and then I added splatter on top. For the grouping, I resized and fussy cut some of the elements from the Sunshine in My Soul Element Pack. I used the bird paper from the SIMS Paper Pack 2 and cropped it to fit in the frame. Isn't the bird cool? I love it! I had to add a little stitching, so I stitched through the sentiments. 

The butterfly is die-cut from glitter cardstock using the Leanna die from Simon Says Stamp. Here's a close-up:

I layered some of the Sunshine in My Soul papers underneath as well as some tissue paper to add some texture in the layers. I think I've used tissue on almost every project in the last six months...I love it! :)

I'm linking up to a couple of challenges. First, the CAS-ual Fridays Shades of Grey. I used four shades of grey on the card--the dark silver splatter, the grey on the frame, the grey on the bottom layer, and the silver butterfly. 

I'm also linking up to the Simon Says Stamp Glitter It challenge for the glittery butterfly. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day! 

Supplies

Cardstock: (tan woodgrain) Studio Calico; (Distress Watercolor Cardstock) Ranger; (silver glitter cardstock) Best Creations

Digital elements: (sentiments, frame, arrow, flower element from Sunshine in My Soul Element Pack; papers from Sunshine in My Soul Paper Pack 2) Glitz Design

Ink: (Butter Bar Mid-Tone) Hero Arts; (Wild Honey Distress Ink) Ranger; (Silver, Gold Mr. Huey's) Studio Calico

Embellishments: (flower from Flea Market) Crate Paper

Die: (butterfly from Leanna die) Simon Says Stamp

Season's Givings Blog Hop

Hi everyone, and happy 2014! 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 home decor project I made for the new year:

In my guest post at Moxie Fab World, I shared some embroidery hoops, and I *finally* made one using a paper background. I loved using paper since I could watercolor on it. I have a photo tutorial, which I'll be sharing later this week.

I CASE'd some of my prior cards for this hoop (THIS, THIS, and THIS). I painted the outer frame of the hoop and then on the cardstock background, I watercolored with mists. I fussy cut the flowers from Webster's Pages' New Year New You. I used some Webster's Pages, Crate, and Cosmo Cricket papers and vellum for the die cut hearts, and I stitched through some of them. The sentiment was made in Photoshop. Here's a close-up:

I really need to adjust the tension on my sewing machine. ;)

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

Giveaway 1: I won a Simon Says Stamp Monthly Card Kit, but I had the stamps and papers. I added some Studio Calico Mistables and extra Papertrey Ink white cardstock. 

Giveaway 2: There is a BasicGrey paper pack and some Crate Paper embellishments I won. I've added two stamp sets, Smooch Spritz, ribbon, washi, buttons, and wood veneers. 

Giveaway 3: There is a Stampin' Up paper pack, Graphic 45 paper pad, chalk cardstock, two stamp sets, rub-ons, BasicGrey brads, Thicker, washi, tags, and ribbon. 

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 1/6, and I'll announce winners later that night. 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:

Lawn Fawn

Reverse Confetti

My Favorite Things Stamps 

CAS-ual Friday Stamps 

Fresh Squeezed Stamps 

Julee Tillman: Verve Stamps 

Avocado Arts Stamps 

A Jillian Vance Design 

Latisha Yoast 

Amber Hight 

Amber Kemp-Gerstel

Alice Wertz 

Debbie Corbari 

Vera Wirianta Yates 

Lori McAree 

Carolyn King 

Sharon Harnist 

Amy Tsuruta

Beth Pingry

Becky Oehlers 

Angie Blom 

Julia Stainton 

Sharon Johnson 

Michelle Woerner 

Cindy Lawrence 

Lori Tecler 

Daniela Dobson 

Savitri Wilder 

Theresa Momber  

Giovana Smith 

Kimberly Crawford 

Maria Levine 

Colleen Schaan 

Lydia Fiedler

Kelly Klapstein

Kim Kesti

Laura Williams 

Shanna Vineyard  

Jennifer Gallacher 

Heather Pulvirenti 

Stacey Schafer 

Leigh Penner 

AJ Otto 

Teri Anderson 

Julie Overby 

Margie Higuchi 

Jimmi Mayo 

Tenia Nelson 

Lee Ann Barrett 

Iwona Palamountain  

Kim Jackson 

Linda Lucas 

Sarah Gough 

Dina Kowal

Elena Roussakis

Lisa Henke

Jodi Collins

Joanne Basile 

Melanie Muenchinger

Darsie Bruno  

Libby Hickson

Dana Joy

Jody Morrow

Heather Campbell

Savannah O'Gwynn

Lee Murphy

Lisa Arana

Jocelyn Olson <--You are here

Isha Gupta

Piali Biswas

Ashley Harris

Bunny Vance

Anabelle O'Malley

Andrea Murdock

Stephanie Muzzulin

Alyssa Bennett

Christiana Reuling

Laurel Seabrook

Melody Rupple 

Emily Branch 

Megan Hoeppner

Thanks for visiting! I really appreciate it!! Have a wonderful 2014!

Next in the hop is my sweet friend Isha.

The Best Part of Me Is You

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great week! I've had a cold since this weekend--ugh. Fortunately, no one else in the family is sick.

I'm up on the Glitz  blog today for the One Buck Wednesday at Jessica Sprague. We're showcasing the Finnley digital kit, and which is on sale for today only.

I went with a freestyle/collage approach with this hybrid card:

I had my daughter in mind when I made the card, and I wanted to keep it light and girly.

There was quite a bit of digi work on this card. First, I took the arrow washi tape in the Finnley Element 1 kit, lowered the opacity, and then duplicated the layer. A lot. I ended up with a background paper. Here's what it looked like after printing:

I did a few more steps in Photoshop. I used the digital brushes in the Elements 1 pack to stamp a feather in pink. I also clipped one of the red gradient papers in the Finnley Paper Pack to the deer journaling card to make the sentiment pink/red.

When I printed and fussy cut the elements, I gathered them together:

After I took this photo, I spritzed the doily with pink spray mist. I layered the elements and stitched through the top. Here's a look at the top portion:

And here's a close-up of the bottom clustering with the awesome Finnley Giant Rhinestone:

I'm entering the card in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge using Heather's sketch:

If you've been wanting the Glitz Finnley digital collection or want to try digi, the One Buck Wednesday is a great chance to get this kit. You can check out other samples on the Glitz Design blog.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Aqua Mist) PTI; (silver glitterstock) Best Creations
Digital elements: (all elements from Finnley Full Collection) Glitz Design
Ink: (pink mist) Mr. Huey's 
Embellishments: (Finnley Giant Rhinestone) Glitz Design; (felt flower) Prima; (doily) Amuse Studio; (white sequin) Kelly Purkey at Simon Says Stamp
Die: (Holiday Shapes die) Simon Says Stamp
Tiny Attacher

You Get Me

Hi everyone! Eek! I still cannot believe I'm in the Top 10 of the Paper Crafts Magazine's Gallery Idol contest. Thank you!!

The challenge for Round 4 was to use exactly 10 embellishments on a card. While it was definitely a challenge, I was excited about this theme. I knew right away I wanted to make another freestyle/collage card (like THIS card or THIS card). 

I decided to focus on a color scheme. It took a while to choose the colors, but I settled on this color scheme from The Sweetest Occasion. I focused on the three colors on the left.

I don't have too many embellishments in mustard, grey, and poppy, but I decided to alter some of the embellishments to get the right color. Here is a shot of embellishments before I altered them (there are a couple in the picture I didn't end up using):

I pulled together ink, spray ink, alcohol inks, spray paint, craft paint, glitter cardstock, and stamps, and I went to work altering the items. When I got done, my card looked like this:

I started with the background paper. To make it, I simply made a grey rectangle in Photoshop, duplicated it, and layered the rectangles to make stripes. 

For the embellishments, I focused on shapes and textures. I would have loved to have added two more elements, but I needed to stick to the 10 items. :) Here is what I used:

               1. Keyhole--spray painted and layered silver glitter cardstock underneath

               2. Canvas circle--(it wasn't the right color of yellow) flipped over and misted with Mr. Huey's Taxi
               3. Wood veneer heart--painted white and inked with a reinker
               4-5. Two half-circle chipboard pieces--painted silver

               6. Metal star--spray painted

               7. Ephemera heart die-cut--flipped over and stamped with Hero Arts Houndstooth background stamp

               8. Silver sequin

               9. Yellow transparency banner

               10. Hemptique twine

I have to share that the transparency banner was not what I had planned. I had a similar one, but just before I adhered it to the card, I lost it. Argh!! After spending 20 minutes looking for it, I gave up and cut down a different transparency. I'm sure it will turn up in a Lego bucket or something. ;) 

Here's a close-up:

Before I layered the elements, I created a sentiment strip. Using a sentiment from Pixel's & Co., I printed the sentiment on vellum. I could have easily printed the sentiment directly onto the paper, but I liked the softness of the vellum. Here's a close-up:

As part of the Gallery Idol contest, there's a vote for the Top 5. If you like my card, I would really appreciate it if you vote for my card! You can click on the link at the top of the sidebar or go HERE, click on the image, and vote. You do have to register, but if you have already registered, you can simply log in. Thank you so much!!

Thank you for stopping by and for your support! Have a great week!

Supplies

Cardstock: (white) PTI; (silver glitter cardstock) Doodlebug Designs

Other paper: (Premium Matte Photo Paper) OfficeMax; (vellum) 

Pigment ink: (Provincial, Strawberry) Fresh Ink

Spray ink: (Taxi) Mr. Huey's

Embellishments: (half circle chipboard from Mint Julep collection) BasicGrey; (transparency from Fact or Fiction ephemera) BasicGrey; (die cut heart from Dear Lizzy) American Crafts; (canvas circle from Fact or Fiction) BasicGrey; (metal star from Basics) BasicGrey; (keyhole) Hobby Lobby; (heart veneer) Simon Says Stamp; (sequin) Hobby Lobby

Fibers: (red twine) Hemptique

Digital elements: (sentiment from In Good Company collection) Pixels & Co.

Other: (Picket Fence Distress Paint) Ranger; (yellow spray paint, silver craft paint)

You Make Me Smile

Hi everyone! I hope you've had a great week.

It's time for another CAS-ual Fridays challenge. The theme for this week is stamping on patterned paper:

I used some of my CAS-ual Friday stamps to make a collage card:

Somehow I managed 7 layers on a CAS card. ha ha I started with a little Dewey mist and splattered it. I started by die cutting the pink chevron banner from the Atlantic collection. I stamped the sentiment from the Casual Elegance set on the banner, and then I stamped the leaves from the set four times on the Mint Julep paper to make a flower.

After the stamping was done, I die cut the small tag and used other elements from Chic Tags and BasicGrey. Here's a close-up of the layering:

Want to play along? This week's sponsor is CAS-ual Friday Stamps:

You can link up your projects HERE.

I also need to announce the winner of the Paper Crafts Magazine's 350 Cards and Gifts blog hop (drum roll....):

#28 Cheryl (Clee)

Cheryl, please contact me at redballooncards at yahoo dot com, and I'll get your information to Holly at Paper Crafts. Thanks for your comments!

Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies
Cardstock: (Rustic White) PTI
Patterned papers: (light blue on tag from Mint Julep) BasicGrey; (pink chevron from Atlantic) Studio Calico
Clear stamps: (sentiment, leaves from Casual Elegance) CAS-ual Fridays Stamps
Ink: (Chocolate Chip) Stampin' Up; (Dewey mist) Studio Calico
Embellishments: (yellow doily tag) Chic Tags; (blue journaling spot, red chipboard, red transparency arrow from Mint Julep) BasicGrey; (sequin from Kelly Purkey) Simon Says Stamp; (red enamel dot) My Mind's Eye
Fibers: (Natural twine) Maya Road
Dies: (Tag, Large Fishtail Banner) My Mind's Eye