Saturday, December 12, 2015

Advent Calendar Extravaganza with Taheerah Atchia

 Welcome to Day 12 of the Advent Calendar Extravaganza!!
Advent Calendar Extravaganza is -the- festive event of the season! This ‘hop with a twist’ was dreamed up by Taheerah Atchia and features surprise destinations each day! Joining in the fun with Taheerah are over 60 special guests - each serving up some fantastic Christmas inspiration! Just like an Advent Calendar, you’ll never know where you’re going to be visiting next until you ‘open the door’!

Behind today's door is this pillow box I made. 
 
Products used:
Avery Elle
Paper Sweeties
Eyelet Outlet


And that’s not all! With 25 *amazing* sponsors taking part as well, your crafty wish list is bound to get a boost with a chance to win a prize EVERY SINGLE DAY!! Speaking of Avery Elle ... they are today's fabulous sponsor! Make sure you comment to be elegible to win a prize!! Have a great holiday season!

Join in the fun every day at taheerah-atchia.com to see what special surprises wait behind the door!

Monday, December 7, 2015

Merry Glittery Christmas

My friend Virginia has been hosting this amazing challenge called Virginia's View for a while. It's one of the most popular challenges in the card making world. She always gets hundreds of entries from some of the most talented designers in the industry. I've entered her challenge a few times and once I had the honor of being selected as a favorite. It was quite flattering considering the tough competition.

I have admired Virginia's work for a long time. Back when I was somewhat of a newbie, I used to faithfully follow a challenge blog called Lily Pad Cards. That's where I discovered Virginia. She was a design team member. Though the challenge no longer exists, I kept following Virginia's work and eventually we became blog friends. She is such a sweet, kind person.

Like all of us, Virginia has a busy life, which is why she is taking a much-needed break from the challenge. While I'm sad to see the challenge on hold, I totally understand.


I am entering the challenge in support of my friend with this glittery card. The theme is "All About Glitter."


To create this card, I started with a Tim Holtz sun ray stencil. I spread embossing paste that I had colored blue with distress ink onto the stencil. After carefully lifting it off the paper, I sprinkled glitter embossing powder onto the card. The powder only sticks to the wet paste. Using my heat gun, I melted the glittery powder to give the rays their sparkle.

Next, I adhered the poinsettia flower I had stamped using the Wplus9 layered poinsettia stamp and dies. I colored the inside with a gold gel pen and added some stickles for additional sparkle. The sentiment, also from Wplus9, was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed onto vellum paper using silver embossing powder.





Wednesday, December 2, 2015

I'm Guest Designing for Simon Says Stamp!

Hey everyone! I am so excited! I am guest designing for Simon Says Stamp!! Here is a peak of the card I made. Not only can you see a picture of the entire card on their blog, but you can also watch a video describing how I made it!!


That's right! A video tutorial! It's my first time doing a full tutorial using editing software and voice overs so go easy on me! I hope to do more in the future!

I'm working with products from my favorite stamp and die company - Altenew!  Please visit the Simon Says Stamp blog and leave me some love!!


Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Paper Sweeties December 2015 Inspiration Challenge

 Welcome Sweeties Fans! We're kicking off December with a new challenge. We're getting into the holiday spirit with this festive inspiration photo:

In addition to the rich colors, I also found some inspiration in the round sign and the wall in the background.


Before die cutting the ornaments, I stamped them with Versamark and heat embossed them in white. I did the same with the sentiment, except I used gold embossing powder. The ornaments are "hanging" from gold twine by Martha Stewart.


To create a wood texture on the white card panel, I ran it through my Cuttlebug with a wood grain embossing folder. Then, I adhered the ornaments, the sentiment and some sequins onto the panel.







Sometimes I get hung up on how I want to lay out my card. When this happens, I turn to my Pinterest Board devoted to card sketches. Today's card was created using the sketch below, from Studio Calico. I simply rotated it by 180 degrees.

Now it's your turn to create something inspired by this month's color palette, but first, please hop along for further ideas and inspiration.
Angel Johns
Annette Witherspoon  ← ← ←You Are Here
Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties
December Guest Designer:  Tracey Kelly

Monday, November 2, 2015

I'm Sharing Handmade Kindness

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but it's time I come clean. I am a card maker who rarely sends cards. It's stupid. I know. I invest so much time making the best cards I can possibly make. I put a lot of effort into photographing it in just the right light. Then, I put the card in a box, where it just sits waiting to be given to someone who will appreciate it. Sometimes the cards make it out of the box when I give them to friends or family, but too often, they do not.

Not. Any. More.


Thanks to Jennifer McGuire and her "Share Handmade Kindness" campaign, I am motivated to spread a little encouragement to the world around me. I invite you to join me. Even if you're not a crafter, you can still participate. Bake some cookies and give them to your friends. Pick some flowers or give plant starters to your neighbors. The important thing is to spread kindness. The world needs more kindness.

Today, I went to the post office and mailed out two handmade cards. I intend to send more, including the one in the picture below:







Sunday, November 1, 2015

Paper Sweeties November 2015 Inspiration Challenge

Hello there! It's time for the Paper Sweeties November Inspiration Challenge 37. It's all things fall this month. 

I started my card by stamping the word HAPPY onto some Neenah 110 lb. white card stock. Then, using my new Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, I colored in the flowers using yellow, orange and just a hint of red. Then, I stamped and colored the sign and the word "Autumn," which actually comes from a sentiment in the Wagon Add-On set. The entire sentiment is "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." I only inked up the first word in the set.  Tip: This is a great way to stretch your stamps. Only ink the word or words you need.

After I finished stamping and coloring, I die cut all the pieces and adhered them onto my card with some dimensional foam stickers. I added some twine and a few sequins for a nice, finishing touch.


Here is the inspiration photo for this month's challenge!

Here are the products I used to create my card:




Please visit the rest of the team's blogs for further inspiration. When you're finished, enter the challenge on Debbie's blog for a chance to win a prize!
Angel Johns
Annette Witherspoon– you are here!
November Guest Designer:  Michele Henderson

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