"And Now For Something Completely Different"

 Hi All!

     In my last post I mentioned that this post would be something that is not card related. *GASP*  "Not a card!", you say?  "Why would you not make cards in every spare moment?!", you ask?  Well, my answer is, "I'd love to!"  But here's the sitch.  School has started.  (cue the groaning realization) Distance learning is a very time consuming thing with us.  My little guy is in 2nd grade this year and has a lot of trouble staying focused and following instructions and my bigger guy needs a lot of redirecting and reassurance.  SO. The first half of my day is spent sitting next to or very nearby my squirmy student trying to keep him on task and following along with his teacher.  A LOT of, "Are you doing what you are supposed to?", "Are you following the instructions? She just asked you to do something.", and not so much along the lines of schooling but still important, "Stop picking your nose, the whole class can see you doing it!"  My craft area is upstairs, the school area is downstairs.  So if I wanted to make cards during that time, I'd need to spend time planning out and prepping things to do downstairs.  Sooo not my creative process!  I will be able to do my Paper Pumpkin kit down there since it comes with everything I need to make the cards, so that will be nice (until I get an idea for how to change them and make something new, then I'm back to doing cards after bedtime)

    I did not just want to spend the whole time on my phone and decided that I could pull out a craft I've been wanting to put some time into playing with, but didn't because all the crafting time I could eke out was spent making cards.  Of course, right?!  Out from the dusty depths of my craft shelf comes my bag of watercolor stuff!  I don't get to paint every day, just the ones where my little guy is having an easier time concentrating for whatever reason and I can sit at the table behind him rather than right next to him.  It's actually kind of nice, because if he was able to do this whole school thing all by himself, I'd probably be stuck doing boring things like chores instead.  This forces me to sit and do something for me. Yay, self care!

                                          Anyway, on to the finished products so far!

This little guy is one of my son's stuffies.  They both love pugs!

I also did some playing around with "charging" where you drop wet paint onto wet paper and the paint mingles and makes cool colors and shapes within the area you have gotten wet.

These I was painting at the same time, I'd do a ring on one, then the other, wait til they were dry and do it again.  I'm not sure I love these.  I may try again using a different technique...

My tweety bird came from one of those color combo suggestion sites you see on pinterest.

I hope you enjoyed my deviation from card making!

Sweet Spider Dreams!

 Hello, Hello!

     Ok, I know it's a little early for Halloween stuff, but my SU! Team Leader challenged us to make a card using this image as inspiration for us to look through our Holiday Catalog and find the corresponding Suites using the clues, then make a card using one that we like...

                                 

     How many can you identify?  I chose #2, the Suite called Magic In This Night.  Now I only have the DSP (Designer Series Paper) from that set so I combined it with some other fun things from the main catalog and some retired bits I have stashed. Here's what I made:

    First, I took some of the white and black plaid paper from the Plaid Tidings 6x6 pack, sponged it with Granny Apple Green and Memento Ink, then used my Stampin' Spritzer with some slightly watered down Memento Ink refill drops in it to spray the drops and blotches.  I used my scissors to scrape the edges to rough it up.  Then I matted that strip on a bit of the spider patterned paper (I cut the spider out of the piece that's under there too).  Next, I overlayed those on the beautiful rose patterned paper in the pack.  I used the Gold Hoops embellishments along with some gold twine (retired) to make my spider web (thank you Youtube for videos on how to make dreamcatchers!).  I also used my new Alphabet Dies and Rainbow Glimmer paper to "BOO!" you! ;)  All mounted on a Rich Razzleberry mat and a Basic Black base.

     I hope you enjoyed my first Halloween card of the year!  Keep an eye out for some other fun stuff I'm working on.  *Hint* It may not be cards next time!!

     If you would like to order any of the items I talked about, or anything else you see in our catalogs you can place an order on the Stampin' Up! website here:

https://www.stampinup.com

and make sure you choose me as your Independent Demonstrator.  I also have a Host Code for you to use that will be good until September 30th if you are placing an order under $150.  If you are ordering over $150 then you would qualify for your own Host Benefits (free stuff!!) so you wouldn't use the Host Code.  Either way, any order over $50 I will send you a gift and a handmade thank you card!

Host Code:  TVKFUE2E

Or if you like having an all inclusive kit style experience, try out our Paper Pumpkin monthly subscription.  All you need to make multiple cards or projects with instructions, mailed to your door each month!  Check it out here:

https://www.paperpumpkin.com

Thank you for visiting!!

More Prized Peonies!

 Good afternoon all!

     I'm back with some more cards made with my sister in law's Prized Peony bundle!  I'm happy/sad to say that I have sent her this wonderful set and it is now in it's rightful home. :)  Before it went home, I made a bunch more cards and I'd love to share them with you.  These cards are all made with the same layout, but I just had to make it in a bunch of colors!  I started with the, now retired, Lovely Lipstick color, and ended up making ones in Blushing Bride, Blackberry Bliss, Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, and Highland Heather, all using black as the accent color.  They look so pretty!

          This one is made using the dies from the set and the new Magenta Madness cardstock and the old staple Whisper White with a little Blushing Bride sponged on.  Whoever came up with these dies is a genius!  These look complicated, but putting them together is really easy.  You cut the 4 pieces and then nest them into each other starting with the smallest.  And the bottom edge of each piece is exactly the same shape so you know where they go. Just line up those edges at the bottom!  If you look carefully at the bottom edge of my white flower, you can see where I didn't line them up exactly right, but you can see that the shapes are the same!

      My last one for today makes me very happy. I used our yellow vellum (retired) and sponged it with Flirty Flamingo ink and paired it with some wood, lace, and gold on a Terracotta Tile base.  The gold is one of the pieces from our new Forever Gold laser cut specialty paper. Lots of fun pieces in there!  I don't normally do this many layers on a card, but I love how this one turned out!

                                    I hope you enjoyed these!  See you next time!

Prized Peony fun!

Hello, Hello!

     Well, we are almost into August already! How times flies when you're stuck at home! ;)  I got to play with a new set this month. My stepmom bought it for my sister in law, but they let me play with it for a bit before sending it on.  I may just have to buy this set myself now that I've had some fun with it!  The set is called Prized Peony Bundle and it comes with The Prized Peony cling stamp set and the Peony Dies.  I love, love, loved the dies that cut the pieces to make a semi 3-D peony.  The dies looked intimidating, but the flowers were actually really easy to put together once you know how to do it. They just nest into each other starting from the smallest to biggest and the bottom edge of each one is the same shape so its easy to line them up!  This one I used a pink vellum and sponged the edges of the pieces before assembling.  Then I put it onto the back side of one of the Feels Like Frost Designer Series Paper. I lined it up with one of the stems on it and colored that in with a Stamp N Write Marker.

                                   

     And the stamp set is so versatile! They are great for focal points or background stamping! On these ones I used the large peony stamp as the focal point and colored them with my Stampin Blends, and used the little diamonds texture stamp in the back ground.

                            

     But then this one I stamped the two different peonies all over my Whisper White to use as a background.  For my sentiment I stamped the "My Thoughts Are With You" first and covered that with a scrap of stick note and then stamped over that with the peony. (the technique is called masking)  

                                       

Okay, Okay, enough gushing.  I'll probably have more later, but I will have to cut myself off soon so I can send them to their rightful owner so she can enjoy them too :)

     Oh, and I also want to let you know that I now have cards up for sale on an Etsy site!  A dear friend of mine graciously offered to share her site with me, so head on over to AdventureHollow and check out our cards, masks, and vintage treasures! Tell your friends! :)

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AdventureHollow

More Box of Sunshine Alternatives

Hello Again!

     I continued to play with my "Box of Sunshine" subscription kit from Stampin' Up!'s Paper Pumpkin.  I LOVE last month's kit!  I used some of my retired products to coordinate with the pieces in the box to make these fun cards, and I have so much more left to play with!  I did decide to turn off my subscription for now (I love that we have the option to decide which months we want to get!), but I may regret it.  The sneak peek for this month's kit looks interesting. I see dusky evening colors, fireflies, and fireworks... I'll leave an image below so you can see too.  If you would like to sign up for your very own kit, delivered to your door on the months that you choose, sign up at https://www.paperpumpkin.com and make sure you list me as your demonstrator! Order by the tenth for this kit ;)  

   Anyway, back to my cards. I had a great time making a "floating frame" card using a few of the lemons from the kit.  It's hard to see in the pic, but they are all up on dimensionals so that they look like they are "floating" above the cardstock.  I also cut out the center of the front so that you can see the sentiment inside. Then I took that center piece with its lemony bits and used it on another card along with some bee themed items I had from past years as well as one of the stamps provided in the kit.  I am particularly proud of that card actually. :^D  The other two cards are kind of a combination of the layouts that Paper Pumpkin provided instructions for. (those that know me know that I have a really hard time making something exactly as the instructions show, I just gotta play with it!)  My favorite thing about the two is that I even used the scrap edge piece from where I popped out the sun to use on my tags in my previous post.  I just fussy cut around it and used it behind my pineapple. #sharesunshine

     I hope you enjoy them!  See ya next time!

Oh, and here is the sneak peek for this month's Paper Pumpkin!

My First Post!

Hello, Hello!

     Welcome to my first post on my first papercrafting blog!  I am super excited and just a bit nervous to finally get going on this.  I have been wanting to share the things that I make with others for a few years now, but between my two boys, the dog, the husband, the house, the family, etc. (aka LIFE) I just haven't seemed to have the time to really sit down regularly enough to do it.  Well, I'm MAKING time now! Yay me!
     I have decided to start out with something small papercrafting wise.  Just some tags.  However, they are going on some gift bags that I hope will make a big impact on a few special friends' day!  I've had the pleasure of receiving a few different themed gifts left on my front porch for me or my boys over the last few years and it has always been a wonderful surprise.  I've decided to share the love as well.  The gifts I'm giving are inspired by Stampin' Up!'s latest Paper Pumpkin subscription kit called "Box of Sunshine".

     Here's the idea:  you fill a yellow box/bag/container with items that are yellow or orange or otherwise "sunshiny" in color.  Brighten someone's day by giving it to someone!  Now these can be as big or small as you like and for adults or kids.  I went with bags instead of boxes this time, but I may do some boxes in the future.  Hmmm... I may have to go shopping again, I just had an idea to decorate some Mini Paper Pumpkin Boxes... :) #sharesunshine