Finals Week, UGH! (Yeah!!!!)

I worked the entire weekend on my research papers, and case studies, and book assignments, and discussion assignments, OH MY! Needless to say, I was way too tired to craft.

This week is finals week and on top of studying, I have a ton of homework. So, I won't be crafting through the week, but wait for the weekend. I'm free until January (bring on the paper and ink!!!), then it's one more class and I'm done.

I'm planning to post next week. In the meantime...

~~Don't forget about my 200,000 blog hit giveaway, win a~~~

$25 Simon Says Stamp Gift Card (See details here). 

Hope you have a wonderful day. Happy crafting.

Dana

2014 Christmas Card #7

~~Don't forget about my 200,000 blog hit giveaway, win a~~~

$25 Simon Says Stamp Gift Card (See details here). 

I know I said yesterday's card was my favorite, but this one is so adorable, I'm rethinking that statement. This card again uses the Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit and Lawn Fawn's Sweet Christmas stamp set. I have made tons of cards with this kit and I have plenty of supplies left to make a few more. I haven't even started using the December Card Kit yet. I forgot how great a deal these kits are.

I stamped the all the images on Copic X-Press It cardstock in my new MFT Black Licorice Hybrid ink and colored them with my Copics.

I have been using the Momento Tuxedo Black ink for my Copic coloring for years, but I had a hard time getting a true crisp black. The MFT Hybrid inks work very well with Copic and the images are solid, crisp black. I'm so glad I listed to Amy over at Prairie, Paper, and Ink. She made the switch and I could definitely see the difference in her videos.

I white heat embossed the snowflake from this set above the house and created a winter sky using Distress Ink in Broken Chine, Peacock Feather, and Evergreen Bough.

I cut a bunch of patterned paper rectangles and mattes. I rounded all the corners with my Corner Chomper and layered all the mattes to the background. I Heat embossed the sentiment on a piece of patterned paper and trimmed it out using the MFT Wavey Borders die on the bottom. Using my Corner Chomper, I rounded the top right corner of the sentiment strip.

I fussy cut all of the Gingerbread people and the tree. I adhered the images and the sentiment strip tot he card using foam adhesive. I added stitch lines using my Signo Uniball Gel pen. I first thought I would add a solid white frame, but with all of my images, it got lost. I don't really like the solid lines, but I wasn't wasting a piece of quality cardstock, so I went with it.

I add glossy accents to the buttons on the Ginger People and accented the card using more of the My Mind's Eye Jubilee enamel accents from the kit (I've used tons of these and I still have a bunch left).

I hope you enjoyed today's card. I had a lot of fun coloring these images. I'm on the lookout for fun, non Holiday, images to color. I think I've colored everything in my stash. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting.

Dana

2014 Christmas Card #6

~~~Don't forget about my 200,000 blog hit giveaway, win a~~~

$25 Simon Says Stamp Gift Card (See details here). 

This is one of my favorite cards. I love the simple scene and soft colors. It has tons of heat embossing, which happens to be one of my favorite techniques. 

The papers are from the Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit. The stamp set is one I purchase quite a while ago from Close to My Heart but never used it is called Captured Moments. It is retired, but there are a few for sale on etsy.com or ebay.com. I embossed the image at the bottom of this snow flake paper from Lawn Fawn's Snow Day paper pad. Using pink cardstock from the kit, I embossed the sentiment from another old Close to My Heart stamp set called Holiday Commentary, again retired, using Ranger's Liquid Platinum embossing powder that came in the kit. 

 I cut a banner tail on the end of the pink paper and added an enamel accent from the My Mind's Eye Jubilee collection.

I wanted a metallic mat for the image, but I didn't have any paper that matched the embossed sentiment, so I added a thick layer of the Liquid Platinum embossing powder around a piece of heavy-weight scratch paper. I then layered my scene on top of this and popped this entire piece up on teal cardstock. 

I added this whole piece to the front of a white A2 card blank. I finished by adding stitch lines with my Signo Uni-ball white gel pen to the sentiment banner. 

I hope you are enjoying the 2014 Christmas Card series. I have several more cards to share, even my first attempt at a shaker card (not sure how successful I was). I hope you are getting inspired to create something for you friends and family.

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting.

Dana

2014 Christmas Card #5

~~~Don't forget about my 200,000 blog hit giveaway, win a~~~

$25 Simon Says Stamp Gift Card (See details here). 

I have another card today made with the November 2014 Simon Says Stamp Card Kit. 

Using the Be Joyful stamp set, I heat embossed the snowflakes on white cardstock with white embossing powder. I did the same for the trees using green embossing powder on a heavy-weight white cardstock. I've had the green embossing powder in my stash forever and I have no idea what brand. I don't think it is great quality, as you can see it didn't emboss smoothly, but I kind of like it for this card. gives the trees a bit of dimension. #happyaccidents

I then fussy cut the trees and hand cut a couple of snow banks from white cardstock. Using Distress Ink in Broken China, Evergreen Bough, and Peacock Feathers, I created the sky portion of the card.

I stamped the greeting from the Be Joyful stamp set on one of the "snowy hill" pieces. I layer the back "hill" flat to the cardstock. I added the back tree on top of that. Then I adhered the front "hill" using foam squares. I glued the bottom half of the front tree to the "hill" and used foam squares to adhere the top half of the tree to the sky.  The kit came with a package of enamel accents by My Mind's Eye called Jubilee. I adhered one of the hearts (let's be honest, to cover an inking mishap) above the greeting. Again #happyaccident

I adhered my scene to a piece of white cardstock that was slightly larger than my focal piece. I then popped this up on a 4 x 5 1/4 piece of tree card stock from the kit and then adhere that to a piece of Riding Hood Red cardstock from Stampin' Up. Christmas Red Stickles ornaments were the finishing touch.

I hope you have a wonderful day and happy crafting.

Dana

2014 Christmas Card #4

~~~Don't forget about my 200,000 blog hit giveaway, win a~~~

$25 Simon Says Stamp Gift Card (See details here). 

Today's card features products from the Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit. It is a standard A2 card using patterned paper from the card kit. The paper is Snow Day by Lawn Fawn.

I stamped the tree image and all of the ornaments from Lawn Fawn's Trim the Tree stamp set onto Copic X-Press It Blending Card. I colored the tree and each ornament with Copic Markers. I used an awesome holiday stamp by Stampendous called Holiday Words to create the sentiment. What I love about this set is that all the words are separate, yet each has it's own character that allows you to build interesting sentiments. 

I fussy cut each ornament and adhered it to the tree. I set this aside and cut the background piece with one of my Spellbinders Label Nestabilities dies. I used my white Signo Uniball pen to add stitching. Next, I added the strip of beautiful snowflake paper to the left side of the card.

Using my Sakura Stardust gel pen, I add a bit of shimmer to the ornaments and a few Sakura Metallic pens to add "lights" to the tree.

I finished off by adding sequins trailing down the left side. These are also from the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit and faux stitching around the sentiment using the blue Metallic Sakura pen.

This was my first time using many of these products and I love them. 

I hope you have a wonderful day and happy crafting,

Dana

Free Holiday Digi Papers

I'm taking a break from posting the rest of my Christmas cards to send you a gift. An entire set of Holiday Digi Papers. 

Click the Image to Download

OR

Go to: http://www.mediafire.com/download/yc981dyu7aehsxs/HolidayPapers.zip

All of these papers were made using templates from all the designers over at Pixel Scrapper.

I like papers that can be used for any time of the year, so I added a bit of purple to the pages. There are only a couple that are definitely Christmas or winter themed, but the rest can work for any kind of project. 

Don't forget about my 200.000 blog hit giveaway, 

$25 Simon Says Stamp Gift Card (See details here). 

Hope you have a great day and happy crafting.

Dana

2014 Christmas Card #3

Giving is always the best part of the Holidays. Today's card features Mimi and her friend exchanging gifts from the Penny Black's Christmas with Mimi stamp set and papers from My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas 6 x 6 paper pad.

I stamped the image with Momento Tuxeo Black ink and colored it using my Copic Markers. I matted the image using patterned paper. I attached a piece of blue patterned paper to a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 A2 card base created with Neenah Desert Storm cardstock from Simon Says Stamp. I cut banner ends in a few strips of patterned paper and added them under my sentiment.

I used sequins from the Simon Says Stamp November 2014 card kit to add flurries to the left side of the card. 

I just love these Mimi stamps. They are so fun to color. Stay tuned for the next card in my 2014 Christmas Card series. 

Don't forget about my 200.000 blog hit give away, $25 Simon Says Stamp Gift Card (See details here). 

Hope you have a great day and happy crafting.

Dana

Supplies:

Momento Tuxedo Black

Penny Black's Christmas with Mimi

Neenah Desert Storm

Copic Markers

SSS Sequins Snowdrift

2014 Christmas Card #2

~~Don't forget about my 200,000 blog hit giveaway, win a~~~

$25 Simon Says Stamp Gift Card (See details here). 

UPDATE: This stamp set is available at Simon Says Stamp.

This is one of my favorite stamps sets. It's from Impression Obsession and it is called Let it Snow. I'm not sure you can purchase it any longer, but I can't make a set of holiday cards without using it on at least one card. I colored the image with my Copic markers and added Diamond Stickles to the snowmen.

All of the patterned paper and cardstock is form the Simon Says Stamp November 2014 card kit.

I used my spellbinders snowflake die and circle dies for this card.

Finally, I popped everything up on foam tape and called it complete. This card just sparkles in real life.

Thank you for stopping by and happy crafting.

Dana

OMG! Nearly 200,000 blog hits. Giveaway time!!!

I cannot believe I have gotten nearly 100,000 blog hits in about one month's time. It took me 4 years to hit the 100,000 mark. I want to thank everyone who visits my page regularly. Without you, I would never make it this far.

I know I have had periods without posts and you keep coming back. Many times it is due to my college workload, but that is coming to an end (About flipping time). So I will have more time to devote to posting and hopefully making those videos I keep promising. (I just need to get over my fear and do it.)

So to celebrate this milestone, I am having another giveaway. 

I am giving away a $25 gift card to Simon Says Stamp.

To be eligible to win, all you need to do is leave a comment below telling me your fondest holiday memory. The giveaway will end on December 31, 2014, at 11:59 pm CST. A winner will be chosen at random and will be announced here on my blog on New Year's day. 

Please be sure you leave contact information if you want to be part of the giveaway. 

Thank you for being part of my crafting journey. Stay tuned from my next 2014 Christmas Card post. 

Wishing you peace and love this Holiday season. 

Dana

2014 Christmas Card #1

As promised, my Christmas card series has begun. Today's card was made using papers from My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas 6 x 6 paper pad. I've had this paper in my stash for quite some time. I realized the colors matched many of the elements in the Simon Says Stamp November 2014 Card kit.

I used the Sending Holiday Cheer stamp set by Hero Arts. I bought this last year and it has become one of my favorite Christmas stamps. I started of by creating a mask for both houses using Inkadinkado's Stamping Mask paper. Then I stamped the yellow house onto white Papertrey Ink cardstock and applied the mask to that house. I then stamped the second house slightly up from the other house to make it appear the green house is behind the yellow house.

Using Distress in the colors of Broken China, Evergreen Boughs, and Peacock Feathers, I created the sky. Using my Signo Uni-ball White Gel Pen, I added dots for snow. I then removed both masks and colored my houses with Copic Markers. Once that was finished, I used my Spellbinders circle dies and die cut around the image. I used a slightly larger scalloped circle and created a mat out of patterned paper. I adhered all of these together, added Diamond Stickles to the snow areas on the houses, and set this aside to dry.

I cut a 4 1/4 x 11 inch piece of white cardstock for my card base. I scored that at 5 1/2 and folded it to make a standard A2 card base. I then used strips of the paper and applied then across the card. I stamped my sentiment, added the enamel accents from My Mind's Eye that came in the SSS November Card Kit. Lastly, I adhered my focal image using foam dots and the card was done.

I hope you enjoyed this card and got inspired. Stay tuned for the next card in this series. Thank you for stopping by and happy crafting.

Dana