Let's Cuddle

Confession:  I am not a cat person.  In fact I might just actually hate cats (sorry cat people, but cats make my eyes water and my throat itch, they make me scratch and they seem to take joy in knowing this because they stalk me).  Anyway, while I don't care for cats in general, this cat couple is so CUTE!

I let the cats be the star of the show, adding some fun papers from an old Studio Calico kit and coloring them with Copics.

Hope that 2016 is treating you well!  

Paper Smooches Clear Stamps, Comforting Hugs

Paper Smooches Wise Dies, Comforting Hugs Icons

Memento Ink Pad, Tuxedo Black

Paper Sweeties 2nd Birthday Designer's Blog Hop

Hey everyone!  I'm so excited to be helping my friend Debbie celebrate the second birthday of her stamp company, Paper Sweeties.  These really are the cutest, sweetest stamps.  Debbie has poured her heart and soul into this endeavor, and it has been wonderful to see all her hard work paying off.

You should have gotten here from my friend Lysa's blog.  If not, I have the full hop list below for you.

I really wanted to celebrate Debbie's success in my card today, and thought a Congratulations card would be the perfect way to express that.




I stamped my little girl (Emma) as well as her outfit and shoes, colored them with Copics and then fussy cut them.

I kept this pretty clean and simple, I wanted Emma to be the star, so I added a bit of stitching, and some cute little flower sequins that Debbie also sells in her store.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet because this is a lengthy hop.  Your next stop is Jill, and I have the whole list below if you need it.   You'll want to make sure to head over to the Paper Sweeties blog.  Debbie is celebrating all month and there are lots of prizes up for grabs including a $100 gift certificate to the Paper Sweeties shop!

Have fun hopping and have a great weekend!

Paper Sweeties Design Team:

Amber Kroening

Annette Allen

Annette Witherspoon

  Char Cundy

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

  Jeanne Jachna

Kerin Sylvester

Kristi Schurr
Lesley Croghan

Lisa Elton

Maria Patrick

Michelle Bala
Mynnette Kitchen

Nancy Penir

Tammy Hobbs

Larissa Heskett

Special Guest Designers:

Pattie Goldman

Teresa Kline

Lori Hairston

Colleen Dietrich

Lysa Rohrer

Miriam Prantner

Jill Norwood

Gail Lass

Mackie Robertson

Aneta Matuszewska

Tina Milbourn

Lori Ulrich

Diane Hover

Rebekah Faries

Amy Linkletter (1)

Amy Linkletter (2)

Amy Linkletter (3)

Amy Linkletter (4)

Paper Sweeties blog

Supplies Used

Paper/Cardstock:  MME - Record It Just Splendid 6x6 pad; Avery Elle - White Cardstock

Stamps:  Paper Sweeties - Emma, You are Special, So Proud of You

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Other:  Paper Sweeties - Flower Sequins; Copic Markers; CTMH - Liquid Glass; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Paper Sweeties Birthday Blog Hop

Hey everyone!  I'm so happy to be helping my friend Debbie celebrate the one year birthday of her stamp company Paper Sweeties today.  Debbie has all sorts of fun things planned this month and she's kicking it off with a three day blog hop.  She's offering a great prize too, someone is going to win the entire August release!

I created a birthday/celebration card for the hop:

I used the Emma, Dream a Little Dream, and Happy Fall Ya'll sets on this card.

I love piecing, so had a great time dressing sweet Emma.

The majority of the papers are from Authentique's Delightful collection, although her underskirt is a paper from CTMH's La Belle Vie collection.  I added some gems and Liquid Glass accents to her crown, and some SRM stickers at the top and bottom.

A little piecing tip.  I like to piece in layers because it adds depth, but in this instance, if I had left all the dress layers intact, it would have been too bulky up top and looked funny, so I trimmed the underskirt and white portion of the dress at the waist line.  Then I trimmed Emma herself, using only her top half.  This allows the figure to lay flat.  You get dimension where you should, in the layers of the dress, but she doesn't look top heavy.

 

Also, when I piece detailed images, a lot of times I don't totally adhere the image.  So for example, I didn't put adhesive on Emma's pigtails or the edges of the clouds.  I think this adds some extra dimension/depth to the card.

OK, that's all for me.  There are lots of stops on the hop, but you have until August 17th to complete it.  I've got the links for all three days listed below.  There are some VERY talented ladies participating, so start at the Paper Sweeties blog (you'll find all the details on how to win) and have a wonderful time hopping!

Have a great weekend!

Friday, August 2nd
Debbie Marcinkiewicz <http://www.papersweeties.com/category/blog/>
Jinny Newlin <http://jinnynewlin.blogspot.com/>
Amy Tsuruta <http://tsurutadesigns.blogspot.com/>
Teresa Kline <http://paperieblooms.blogspot.com/>
Pattie Goldman <http://pattie-g.blogspot.com/
Tina Milbourn <http://denamiaddict.blogspot.com/>

Kathy Montgomery <http://inmylittlekorner.blogspot.com/>
Michelle Bala <http://passionatecrafter.blogspot.com/>
Jessica Kephart <http://homespunelegance.blogspot.com/>
Karen Letchworth <http://karen-mycuprunnethover.blogspot.com/>
Lori Ulrich <http://scrappinsaints.blogspot.com/>

Saturday, August 3rd
Debbie Marcinkiewicz <http://www.papersweeties.com/category/blog/>
Paulina Nakamura <http://prettypinkposh.com/>
Teresa Kline <http://paperieblooms.blogspot.com/>
Tina Milbourn <http://denamiaddict.blogspot.com/>
Jeanne Jachna <http://akeptlife.blogspot.com/>
Miriam Prantner <http://mprantner.blogspot.com/>
Char Cundy <http://ccundy.blogspot.com/>
Lenet Mos <http://scraplenet.blogspot.com/>
Karen Letchworth <http://karen-mycuprunnethover.blogspot.com/>
Lori Ulrich <http://scrappinsaints.blogspot.com/>
Tracey Kelly <http://trace-elementz.blogspot.com.au/>

Sunday, August 4th
Debbie Marcinkiewicz <http://www.papersweeties.com/category/blog/>
Nina Yang <http://waffleflower.com/>
Tina Milbourn <http://denamiaddict.blogspot.com/>
Andrea Ewen <http://www.ewenstyle.com/>
Teresa Kline <http://paperieblooms.blogspot.com/>
Maria Patrick <http://mariasmerrymakings.blogspot.com/>
Kristi Schurr <http://kristispapercreations.blogspot.com/>
Karen Letchworth <http://karen-mycuprunnethover.blogspot.com/>
Lori Ulrich <http://scrappinsaints.blogspot.com/>
Rebecca Deeprose <http://www.paperprimrose.com/>

Supplies Used

Paper/Cardstock:  Authentique - Delightful 6x6 pad; CTMH - La Belle Vie collection, White Daisy, Parchment, and Chocolate Cardstock

Stamps:  Paper Sweeties - Emma, Dream a Little Dream, and Happy Fall Ya'll

Ink:   CTMH - Cocoa

Other:  CTMH - Clear gems, Liquid Glass, CM - Custom Cutting System Ovals; SRM Stickers - birthday Border Stickers; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Guest Designing for Paper Sweeties

Today I'm excited to be guest designing for Paper Sweeties which is owned by one of the sweetest ladies out there, Debbie Marcinkiewicz. Paper Sweetie's is having a Designer Hop all this week, with a new designer revealed each day.  Be sure to leave a comment over there each day because Debbie's going to give a $20 store credit to one commenter. 

The Sweeties are an adorable collection of paper doll themed stamps.  There are several different figure choices and all sorts of great outfits/accessories.

My first card uses Emma (I love her piggy tails) and the You Are Special set.  I really pinked this one up using Glitz's Hello Friend collection, and some pink seam binding.  This is destined for Ellie, whose favorite color is pink.

There's a little bit of sparkle from the AC Glitter tape that I added to mat the sentiment piece.  The little heart button was from my stash, and the doily is from Curtsey Boutique.



Now I realize that paper dolls aren't for everyone, but there are still lots of great images and sentiments that are good for all occasions.  This next card is a much more CAS style using the accessory images from the Happy Fall Ya'll set and sentiment from the So Proud of You set.

I first lightly sponged the background with blue ink.  The kites are colored with Spectrum Noir markers, and I used a light turquoise on the clouds.  I managed to dry out the lightest shade of turquoise, which is what I normally use.  My work around was that as soon as I finished tracing the clouds in the second lightest turquoise, I went over the edge of the line with the blender pen to make it more subtle.  

  

For the kite tails, I used a technique that I saw here, where you push washi down, lightly cut around the shape with a craft knife, and peel the excess away.  Not the easiest to do with tiny shapes, but I love the effect.   

Thanks so much for coming by today.  Don't forget to head over to the Paper Sweetie's blog, you could win a $20 credit to the store!

Supplies Used

Card 1

Paper/Cardstock:  Glitz - Hello Friend 6x6 paper pad; CTMH - White Daisy, Desert Sand, and Parchment cardstock

Stamps:  Paper Sweeties:  Emma and You are Special

Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black

Other:  Spectrum Noir markers; American Crafts - Glitter Tape; Polka Dot Whimsy - Seam Binding; Curtsey Boutique - Doily; The Twinery - Blossom twine; Close to My Heart - Dimensional Foam Tape - Uniball - White Signo Gel Pen; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Therm-o-web - Zots adhesive; Kuretake - Glue Pen

Card 2

Paper/Cardstock:  Bazzill - Wax Lips Card Shoppe Cardstock; CTMH - White Daisy Cardstock

Stamps:  Paper Sweeties - Happy Fall Ya'll and So Proud of You

Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black

Other:  Spectrum Noir Markers; October Afternoon - Woodland Park washi tape; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Three in one

 

Today's card (that just made me feel like Teri Anderson, ha ha) is for several challenges, a couple that are new to me, and one that I haven't participated in in a while.





First, my friend Debbie Marcinkiewicz recently opened her own stamp company, Paper Sweeties, and this month she started a new monthly sketch challenge.  There are all sorts of adorable sets in her store.  I used a sentiment from the Occasions set on this card. 



The second challenge I'm entering this in is also new to me:  Inspired by Stamping.  Here's the inspiration photo.  I was inspired by the colors and also the round ornament shapes and the hints of gold. 



Finally, I also drew some inspiration from Moxie Fab World's new Tuesday Trigger.  The doilies kind of remind me of the frames in the inspiration photo.


Have a wonderful evening!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  My Mind's Eye - The Sweetest Thing Lavender 6x6 pad; CTMH - Smoothie cardstock
Stamps:  Paper Sweeties - Occasions
Ink:  CMTH - Chocolate
Other:  Punky Sprouts - Lacy Blossoms; Maya Road - Twine Cording Shine Gold; CTMH - Antiqued Copper Designer Brads; Tombow - Mono Adhesive