Merry Christmas

Merry Chrismtas! Stampendous is featuring CAS Christmas cards all month. This one is not only clean and simple, but it's quick and easy to make. I simply stamped the Jumbo Cling Poinsettia on the upper left and lower right corners of my card. As you can see, I stamped them off the page. It adds a more interesting visual effect and also allows more clean "white' space on the card. I used Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol oil to color the petals and leaves and some yellow glitter in the inside. I distressed the other corners just a little to fill in the "white" space. Finally,  I added the sentiment, which was created with the Small Typewriter Perfectly Clear Alphabet. Voila. There you have it. I hope you enJOY this card!

Joyful Poinsettia

I love the Jumbo Poinsettia from Stampendous. I've made a ton of cards with this image this year. You'll see at least one more in the near future.

I recently took a class on coloring with Prismacolor pencils taught by my Stampendous DT member and personal friend, Melinda Gleissner at My Noteworthy Cards. Melinda is a coloring expert, and I am fortunate that she shares some of her knowledge with me. Case and point is this poinsettia. I used Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol oderless mineral spirits to blend the colors. Then I added some yellow glitter glue in the center just for that little hint of bling.

Now for the paper. Did you know there are tons of free printable sheet music on the Internet? I found this gem online, printed it, distressed it, sprayed it with water, crumpled it up, dried it with my heat gun and then uncrumpled it. The result is this very aged, vintage look. It almost looks as though I dug it out of an old piano bench.

I hope your holidays are filled with joy.

Oh, and stay tuned because I have some exciting news to share in the future!

Wee Scapes Blog Hop - Aloha!

 Aloha and mahalo for hopping along today!! Stampendous is partnering with Wee Scapes, a company that makes cute miniatures that you can use to construct models (think trains, school projects). When I first looked at their products and then saw the Stampendous Hula Kiddo, I immediately knew what I was going to do. The bushes and turf just screamed beach to me!

Now that we're in the dead of winter, I think this little wee scape will help us escape to a tropical island. At least in our imaginations.

How did I create this little paradise? First I took an unfinished shadow box, white washed the front to give it that beachy look. I glued some sea shells to it and created the banner using the Small Typewriter Alphabet Clear Stamp Set.

Now for the inside. I covered the shadowbox with a lighter blue paper. I cut the waves with my Silhouette die cutting machine and glued Stampendous Shaved Ice to the tips to add some sparkle. I adhered it to the the box using foam dots because I wanted to give it a little dimension against the lighter blue sky. Then I tore some of the brown turf for the sand and green for grass.

The tiki hut was a little trickier. I painted the roof with copper colored paint and added some moss. Then, created the poles with craft sticks and hemp twine. Before gluing the sticks to the roof, I made a little wedge from cardstock, glued it to the top of the back side of the roof. Why? Because I needed the roof to be at an angle. The wedge, which is hidden, helps prop up the roof.

I adhered the palm trees and bushes and finally, I glued the Hula Kiddo, which I colored with Copics and fussy cut, onto the edge of the roof to make her look like she was dancing in front of the hut.

I really like the outcome. I've had this vision (hula) dancing around in my head for a couple months. I love how it came to fruition.

Several of us have fun projects to share. Please hop along  and enjoy the creativity:

Stampendous Blog

Annette Witherspoon (Hey! That's me!)

Lea Kimmel

Jennifer Dove

Jennifer Ingle (Jingle)

Melinda Gleissner

Wendy Price

Suzanne Czosek

Pink by Design New Release Hop

Today I'm sharing a card I made for Pink by Design's December release. We're hopping along with some inspirational projects using the new releases. If you're hopping along, you probably came from Sabrina's blog. If not, I invite you to join in the fun. The hop starts at Sarah's blog.

My card uses the Joyful Tags set, which is November's Stamp of the Month. This set features sentiments for many special occasions. I used the Merry Christmas sentiment, but the set includes sentiments for New Years, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthday, thank, congratulations and more. It also includes the tag stamp, which is perfectly sized for each sentiment. I finished it off with a nice tidy bow made from 3 Girl Jam crinkle ribbon. Isn't it gorgeous? I used their handy bow maker tool to tie it and I gotta say ... I don't know how I ever lived without it!

 Thanks for hopping. Your next stop is Dawn. Below is the entire lineup. Oh, and if I don't "see" you again, have a Merry Christmas and blessings to you and your family.


Sarah www.pinkcricut.com
Meriah www.twoscraptasticgals.blogspot.com
Paula http://morethanfavors.blogspot.com/
Bryan http://scrapguy.blogspot.com/
Liz www.217creations.com
Gloria http://gloriasgoofycraftspot.blogspot.com/
Julie http://jk-littlebitofbling.blogspot.com/
Rebekah http://craftyteachermom.blogspot.com
Sabrina http://sabrinaalery.blogspot.com/
Annette http://www.aspoonfullofsugarcrafts.blogspot.com/
Dawn http://dawnmercedes.blogspot.com
Melisa www.MelisasCraftyCreations.blogspot.com

Spring Clothespin Wreath

This week Stampendous has been playing with DIY Bangles, but don't let the name fool you. They sell more than just bangles. You can buy beads, various shaped pendants, floral craft rings and other wood products. Today I am showcasing the floral craft ring. You can't really see the ring, but it's there!

I just started off with the wooden craft ring, a 12x12 sheet of paper, designer paper cut into strips, clothespins and Zip Dry glue. I covered the ring with the 12x12 paper, then covered the clothespins with the strips of paper. I couldn't resist embossing the edges of the clothespin for a distressed look. I really like the effect. I just used my VersaMark pen on the edges of the clothespins, added embossing powder and heated it with my heat gun. Last, I sealed everything with Fast Finish.

Next, I affixed the clothespins onto the ring. I can't remember exactly how many I used, but it was a little more than 50. I bought two 50 packs at Target for less than $2 apiece. Clothespins are cheap!! I put another coat of Fast Finish on it just for good measure.

Now, the real fun began! I embellished it with paper medallions, flowers a butterfly and a banner. The flowers are from the Jumbo Cling Tiger Lily. I stamped two lilies with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored them with Copic markers, and used embossing powder, mica fragments and glitter to embellish them. I also used a little embossing enamel and fran·táged the edges of the yellow flower. The butterfly is from the Jumbo Cling Butterfly Trio. Again, I stamped with Memento, colored with Copics and embossed it. Likewise, I sealed it with Fast Finish. (Can this just be a given?)

The banner also uses the Stampendous Small Typewriter Alphabet set. I cut out canvas with pinking shears, stamped SPRING, dried the ink with my heat gun and sealed with Fast Finish. Then I  punched eyelets and ran some twine through them before tying it to the wreath.

This is my first wreath and I gotta say, I kinda love it!!

The gang is all here with terrific projects to astonish you. Sit back, get a
cup of something warm, a fuzzy sweater, a friendly kitten and be ready to be
amazed. At each blog (or just the ones you want) leave an insightful
comment that lets us know you actually looked at the project and we'll enter
you once for each comment in a chance to win some DIY Bangles, beads, or
circles plus some Stampendous goodies with which to embellish them.

Annette Witherspoon

April
Derrick

Barb Turpin

Jennifer Ingle (Jingle)

Kristine Reynolds

Lea Kimmel

Mary Dawn Quirindongo

Melinda Gleissner

Tenia Nelson

Wendy Price

We sure hope you've had some serious fun with
our collaboration this week! Thanks for joining us. Would you mind sharing
our hop on your Facebook page? We'd sure love to grow our audience a bit
more to be able to keep bringing you all these great prizes.

Join us as well for our new December Challenge
- CAS (Clean and Simple) Christmas Cards. We'll be doing our best to give
you last minute card ideas you can complete quickly to fill out your card
sending list. We'll be providing simple Christmas card inspiration all the
way up until Christmas day, so stick with us. This will be our last
challenge of the year and we're mulling over what to do next year, so stay
tuned for that as well!

Stick around and we'll announce November Prize
winners and the Winners from this hop early next week (once we've recovered
from our Warehouse Sale and Holiday Party this weekend!)

Not a Card

It's Friday, which means Pink by Design will be posting ABC projects. What's ABC? It's not projects with alphabets. It's Anything But a Card. Today, we are showing gift card holders.

I made this gift card with my Silhouette Cameo. If you pull the chimney, the center piece holding the gift card comes out. I will be giving away this file on my blog later today. All I ask is that you follow my blog. You don't have to, of course, but I would really like it if you did. :-)

Steampunk Bangle

Well, I did it. I made my first ever steampunk project. I gotta say, I kinda love it. This fun adornment is for the Stampendous co-hop with DIY Bangles. The bangle started off as an unfinished piece of wood. They sell for under $5 at the DIY Bangles store. You get to add your personal touch by finishing it any way you want.

I started mine off by brushing on some watered down acrylic paints in silver, copper and a little black. Then I adorned the flat oval-shaped areas with various steampunk-style oddities like gears and keyholes. The flower and bee are from the Thoughtful Wishes and Queen Bee Perfectly Clear Stamps, respectively.

The bee pictured in the third photo, uses a faux metal embossing technique with Sterling Silver embossing powder. Just poor some embossing powder on a piece of paper and heat emboss it from the back. When the powder is still hot, stamp the image in the molten powder. It creates a great debossed effect that looks like stamped metal. However, I have a couple tips. First, ink your stamp with VersaMark and have it ready because once the powder is melted, you have to work fast. Second tip - use a clothespin to hold your paper. I burned my hand a couple times. In fact, I think my middle left finger no longer has a print!

Anyways, I used some Fast Finish by Beacon Adhesives to seal it and then wrapped some wire in a few spots.

I hope you enjoy it. Please check out the other gorgeous projects.

Scrappy Holidays!

Hi again. I'm here to share the Pink by Design Tip of the Week. We are sharing projects made with scraps. Because I had a lot of fun (and a lot of scraps) I made three Christmas cards.

The first two cards are pretty self explanatory. I cut Christmas scraps into squares and rectangles, tied some scrap ribbon and twine to them and voila, you have a card with Christmas presents. I stamped some tag images just to add some extra appeal and to show off one of the new releases by Pink by Design.

  The second card uses a similar process, except I cut the scraps to form a Christmas tree, tied some scrap ribbon into a knot and glued it to the base.

The last card is a little trickier, but not really. LOL! To make the wreath, I cut some paper into a donut shape. It doesn't have to be perfect because it will not be visible. Next I made the "leaves" by folding paper in half and hand cutting out the leaf. I glued them onto the "donut," added a ribbon and the Merry Christmas tag.

I hope you and your loved ones have a happy holiday season. Don't forget, there is a sketch challenge going on over at the Pink by Design blog. Your entry could win you a gift card to Pink by Design.

Pink by Design Sketch Challenge

Well, my friends, if you haven't already heard, Pink by Design has introduced a new platform on its blog. Here is the schedule:

Monday -  Participate in a new challenge
Wednesday - Learn a new crafting tip
Fridays - See and get inspired by some fabulous non-card projects!!

This week's challenge is based on this sketch:

 My card is below. You can get even more inspiration from the Pink by Design blog, where some of my team members posted some gorgeous projects.

And because we want you to participate in this challenge, we are giving away gift cards to the Pink by Design store. You can add your link below.

Vintage Step Card

Hi everyone. Annette here with a step card featuring these adorable new vintage-like images of children riding wagons, scooters and bicycles. In fact, the set is called Children Play.

I decided to break out my Prismacolor pencils to color these images. I felt like the look of colored pencils complemented the vintage images. To give them an even more aged look, I distressed it with yellow and brown tones. The sentiment is new, too, and can be found in the Thoughtful Wishes set. I added some some lace and gems for the final vintage touches.

CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge

I thought I'd try a new challenge I recently stumbled upon. It's called CAS(E) this sketch! The sketches are clean and simple designs, just the way I like them. This challenge ends in a few hours, but if you stay tuned, more will be coming. I encourage you to check it out, too!

Here is my card:

It's based on this sketch:

I just happened to get some new stamps from A. Jillian Vance Design that includes the image of the three pumpkins. I colored them with Copics and fussy cut them. Before adhering them to the card base, I applied a technique called Fran·táge. Created by Fran Seiford, owner and creator of Stampendous stamps, this simple technique involves sprinkling a bit of embossing powder and heat setting it from the back of the card so the powder doesn't blow away. Pretty neat, huh! I love the extra texture and bling it offers. It also helps draw the eye to the pumpkins, which are the main focal point of the card. Here is the full recipe:

Stamps: A. Jillian Vance Design
Paper: Recollections and Echo Park
Markers: Copic
Inks: Memento, Versamark
Embossing Powder: Stampendous!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a crafty day!!

Make it Pop!

 Hello there. I am excited to share with you a technique I used to give more dimension and add that little "pop" to your jumbo flowers.

Have you ever closed your eyes and all of a sudden an idea "pops" in your head. That's exactly what happened with this card. First, I stamped the Jumbo Cling Dahlia on card stock with Versa Mark ink and then heat embossed with Stampendous Pirate Gold embossing powder. Next, I fussy cut the flower with scissors. Then, with a finger knife, I carefully cut each petal starting at the tip and working down midway to the base. I didn't cut all the way to the base because I wanted the flower to remain in tact. After I finished all the fussy cutting, I curled up the tips to give it a more realistic, three-dimensional effect.

 

Here is the entire recipe:
Stampendous Stamps: Jumbo Cling Dahlia, Happy Messages Perfectly Clear Stamps
Ink: Versa Mark, Memento
Stampendous Embossing Powder: Pirate Gold
Designer Paper:  My Minds Eye
Ribbon: May Arts

Give A Hoot and Save the Turkeys!

Hello everyone. This is Annette from A. Spoon Full of Sugar Crafts. I'm excited to be guest designing for A. Jillian Vance Designs.

How cute is Hootie as a turkey!?! It cracks me up!! I remember when I first laid eyes on him thinking "I really want this." So when I got a little extra birthday money in my coffers, Hootie Turkey went into my cart.  (Thanks mom and grandma!)

Sometimes I like to study my new stamps to try to picture how they would look on paper. I just felt like his turkey feathers would look great paper-pieced with patterned images. Then, when I saw the sentiment, the first thing that sprung into my head was the Chic-fil-A ad with the cows holding the signs. I did a little measuring and I was able to fit the sentiment inside Hootie's wings.

Thanks for letting me share my card with you. I hope you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving!!

October Catalog Hop-Saturday

We've been celebrating the new October catalog releases all week. The party wraps up today and we're going out with a big bang!

Here is the card I made using the Children Play Perfectly Clear Stamps. This set is so adorable!! It's filled with vintage looking images of children riding bicycles, wagons and scooters. I colored the girl on the bike with Copic markers and cut it out with a circle punch. I just happened to have some paper with outlines of vintage children. I used it in the background and fran•táge'd it with some Shabby Blue Embossing Enamel.

Check out all the goodies in the newly released October Catalog. Just click on the image to open the catalog and flip through all fun new releases.

Please take a moment to check out these gorgeous projects from my team members, too. They will give you some great ideas for how to use these new goodies!


 Annette Witherspoon 

Asia King 

Barb Turpin 

Cyndi Bundy

Janelle Stollfus  

Jennifer Ingle 

Jennifer Dove 

Kristine Reynolds

Lea Kimmel 

Mary Dawn Quirindongo 

Melinda Gleissner  

Pam Hornschu 

Rhea Weigard

Suzanne Czosek

Taylor Usry

Tenia Nelson

Tobi Crawford

Wenday Jordan

Wendy Price 

Yana Smakula 

October Catalog Hop-Friday

We're celebrating the new release of some totally gorgeous Stampendous! stamps this week. One of these gorgeous sets is the Cling Jumbo Butterfly Trio. If you look carefully, you can see two of them in my card. I stamped the largest image and embossed it with Stampendous! embossing powder. Then used my new distress inks (Happy Birthday to me!) to add color. Then I did the same with the smaller image, which I layered on top of the larger image I finished off the butterflies with three gems in the center. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the wings are slightly bent as though they are fluttering.

Speaking of fluttering ... the sentiment is also from a new release - Thoughtful Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamps.  I finished it off with some more gems, a heart and some sparkly floss.

Want to see all of the newest images? Please flip through our newest catalog by clicking on the cover below. You can also print or download a pdf of it to your computer.

 Please check out the other DT projects on the hop! They will leave you feeling inspired!!

Annette Witherspoon ««« Me :-)

Barb Turpin

Jenn Dove

Kristine Reynolds

Tenia Nelson

Wendy Price

Stampendous and Core'dinations Co-Hop!

Hello friends. This week you saw some amazing inspirational projects using Core'dinations and Stampendous products. Today we're "leaf"ing you with some more inspiration.

I have to say that I love this paper. I guess you could say I've "fall"en for it! You can stamp on it, emboss it and die cut it. No matter what, your project turns out really nice. In the card below, I used all three of those techniques. First, I die cut the Core'dinations gemstone paper with my Silhouette machine. Tip: Set your blade to a heavy card stock and use the double cut feature  to ensure your blade cuts entirely through the paper.

Next, I stamped the swirlys from the Flourish Frames Perfectly Clear set with Versa Mark and heat embossed them with Pirate Gold and Shabby White embossing enamel. I stamped the card base with stamps from the same set and then did a little fran•táging with the Pirate Gold. (I love the Pirate Gold in case you haven't figured it out. LOL.) I stamped "fall" using the Small Typewriter Alphabet Perfectly Clear Stamps. I wanted to make the word look like it was "falling" with the leaves. Gems and ribbon from May Arts add the final touches to this card.

Your next stop is Cyndi. Take a few minutes to check out the blogs of these super talented ladies. I promise they will "leaf" you feeling inspired. Here's the lineup:

Stampendous Blog

Core'dinations Blog

Annette Witherspoon ← You are here :-)

Cyndi Bundy

Janelle Stollfus

Jennifer Ingle

Krissy Fossmeyer

Kristine Reynolds

Lea Kimmel

Mary Dawn Quirindongo

Melinda Gleissner

Rhea Weigand

Stephanie Lee (Arty Carty)

Suzanne Czosek

Tenia Nelson

Wendy Jordan

Wendy Price

Happy Blogiversary Melisa!!

Hi everyone. Today I'm hopping for my friend Melisa Alzammar from Melisa's Crafty Creations. If you're following along, you should have arrived from Anna's blog. If you just happened to land on my blog, I invite you to hop along with us.

Melisa is one of the sweetest designers I have had the pleasure of knowing. We first met when we designed for Joys Life. As fate would have it, we got to design together again at Pink by Design, where we still get to make fun stuff. Our friendship has grown since then. Not only do we share a passion for paper crafts, but we are both mother's of young children. We often find ourselves encouraging one another to "hang in there" when our kids have tried our patience. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting her face to face yet, but I would love the chance to see her in person. I know we would hit it off. So when Melisa asked me to be a part of the hop, it was a no brainer. Yes, of course!! I am honored!

Here is a fun little creation I made for her Halloween/Fall theme. The leaves and pumpkin are from the Silhouette store. I used Stampendous embossing powder in Pirate Gold to edge the pumpkin and leaves. It's almost like a gold leafing effect.

Your next stop is Barb. I've included the entire lineup below. Do leave comments on everyone's blog. I know some designers are giving away great prizes. You won't want to miss out on your chance to win!

Melisa   www.MelisasCraftyCreations.blogspot.com

Anna   www.stampanna.com

Annette http://aspoonfullofsugarcrafts.blogspot.com/  <-----You are here

Barb www.bugbites411.blogspot.com

Candace www.scrappin2littleprincesses.blogspot.com

Elizabeth www.217Creations.com

Gloriahttp://gloriasgoofycraftspot.blogspot.com/
Jeanne www.jeannespapercrafts.com

Julie http://jk-littlebitofbling.blogspot.com/

Kathy http://kathyand3kids.blogspot.com
Lisa http://prettypaperprettyribbons.blogspot.com/

Nicole http://teachdanz.blogspot.com

Rebekah http://craftyteachermom.blogspot.com/

My First Stampendous Post!

Hello peeps. Please click here for Saturday's Blog Hop post.

Hi everyone! Have you recovered from World Card Making Day? I got to spend a good part of the day cropping at my favorite LSS.I didn't get much done (never do at crops), but I had loads of fun.

Speaking of fun, I am excited to share my first official post for Stampendous. We're teaming up with Core'dinations for a week of fun and prizes. Here is the card I made for the hop. I used the Core'dinations Gemstone collection in Opal. I happened to have a die cut of the word "fly", which I cut out with my Silhouette machine, but ended up not using. I masked it over the cardstock and distressed around it. I then stamped the cling Butterfly Post onto the paper with Versa Mark and heat embossed it with Stampendous Pirate Gold embossing powder. The gold polka dots in the upper right and lower left corners are actually washi tape. Then, for my first time ever, I used the fran•táge technique. Wow! I love it. That is my new favorite technique!! I finished it off by adhering a butterfly sticker from my stash.

The sentiment on the card base is from the set Sincere Sentiments. The pretty gold ribbon is from May Arts.

Do take this opportunity to hop around to all the blogs playing today. Such
a wealth of great ideas for combining Stampendous images with Core'dinations
paper! You'll love what you learn and you may even win some paper and stamps
if you leave "delightful and insightful" comments wherever you visit!

Stampendous
Impressions Blog

Core'dinations Blog

Ellen (Core
Team)

April Derrick

Annette Witherspoon

Suzanne Czosek

Blog Hop for Smitha's Card Shoppe!

Hello again! Two posts in one week. Looks like I'm making up for lost time.

I have been so blessed to make many friends during my card crafting journey. Serving on design teams and being active in the online crafting community has enabled me to develop and nurture relationships with some wonderful and talented women across the world. One of them is my friend Smitha.

She has a fantastic eye for design. Her cards and scrapbook layouts are always top-notch. She's an award-winning paper crafter whose work has been published in several magazines. I am so blessed to have a friend with so much talent.

Smitha just launched her new Card Shoppe, where you can buy fun and cute cards that can be printed in the convenience of your very own home, at any time you want. Perfect for busy crafty moms :) I am honored to be part of a blog hop to celebrate the launch of Smitha Katti's Card Shoppe!

If you've arrived from Smitha's blog, you're in the right place! If this is your first stop, please go back to Smitha'sblog so you don't miss anything! 

Here are a couple of samples of her cards. One thing I love about these cards is the versatility. You don't have to be a card maker to benefit from these. All you need is some cardstock, a color printer and some scissors. That's it. Need a card quickly? Just print, cut and go, which is what I did with the first card.

Now, if you're like me and you can't leave well enough alone like to put your own touch on things, Smitha's cards are also for you. I added some flowers and gems to the second card just because that's how I roll.

I used the birthday girl set of cards, as seen here, because, uh ... well ... uhm, because I will be a birthday girl in just a couple weeks!! Yee haw!!

  

Smitha is giving away some of her cards to celebrate her store's launch. Just leave a comment here to win five cards from Smitha's new Card Shoppe!

To see more of her cards (and some more chances to win these cards!), hop on over to  Ashley's blog.

Just in case you get lost along the way, here is the order of this blog hop...

Smitha

Annette (http://aspoonfullofsugarcrafts.blogspot.com/)

Ashley (http://www.ashleyhortondesigns.com/)

Jessica (http://canyoupixelthis.com/)

Joscie (http://www.cutchens.com/)

Kristin (http://rukristin.blogspot.com/)

Nirupama(http://avinashhecker.blogspot.com/)

Thanks for hopping with us today! Hope you have a great crafty weekend!