Fall / Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop ~ Fall Breeze and Pumpkin Spice

Hello! It's one of my favorite times of the year... it's time for the Fall / Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! I love this hop! It's always so much fun and so inspiring!!

I shared a card a few weeks ago using the Sketchy Pumpkin Spice digi set from Polka Dot Orchard. For my card I used the background stamp... well, while I was coloring the background for that card, I also colored another background with the idea for this card in mind. Here's a list of the Copic markers I used for this card:

Cup ~ R14, R27, R89

Pumpkin ~ E55, E57, E59, YR15, YR27, YR68, G94 G99

Pie ~ YR27, E95, E97

Pumpkin Roll ~ E95, E97

Shaker ~ E35, E95, Colorless Blender

I fussy cut the colored images and set them aside.

I die cut three of the Twig Wreaths from Cocoa Bean card stock, both from Papertrey Ink and adhered them together. I used a leaf punch from Stampin' Up to punch out several leaves from Ripe Avocado card stock and then I cut those into separate leaves. I sponged the edges of the leaves with Ripe Avocado ink to add some dimension.

I tied a double bow of natural twine and then started to build my card. I adhered a couple of strips of patterned paper from my stash to the bottom of a Vintage Cream card front measuring 4-1/4 x 5-1/2. I then ran that through my Big Shot with a stitched rectangle die. I popped up the panel on a Vintage Cream card base. I then adhered the wreath, twine, and all of the fun colored pieces. I trimmed the sentiment from a sheet of sentiments that I had printed off using another digi set called Coffee Pumpkin Flourish. I popped it up on the card and called this one done!

Here's a close up of some of the colored pieces. The cup is popped up on top of another cup to give it some more dimension. I really love how it pops off the card.

One more look at the card as a whole... I love when ideas for a card work out just how you imagined they would! I love how this one turned out! I hope you do too! Happy hopping!!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

~ Crystal

Scrapping for Less November 2018 Blog Hop ~ Elegant & Sophisticated

 Sophisticated and Elegant? Well just what does that mean? 
To me it means I can dress up, be a girly girl, get all glammed up and go out on the town with my “Dapper Man”…of course, since I am a laid back at home kind of gal that doesn’t happen very often. So, take advantage of this elegance in this kit and make some very unique and different cards for those sophisticated, elegant friends that you have in your life! Join the Design Team and some wonderful guest designers as they share great inspiration for you. So join in and hop along with us! I know this unique kit won’t last long so head on over and grab a Flavor of the Month kit for yourself. Don’t forget the Rafflecopter over at the Scrapping for Less blog. Thanks for joining us today.

Hello crafty friends! I'm going to be honest, I was a little nervous when I saw that the kit this month is Sophisticated and Elegant... I'm a very casual jeans and a hoodie kind of gal. I think that laid back style is reflected in my card making... but once I saw the beautiful stamps and papers in the kit... wow! Was I excited to play!!

For my first card I used Sketch #4 with Collection One.

Isn't that stamp stunning! I just had to emboss her... she's gorgeous in silver embossing! The papers in this collection are also gorgeous! I layered the papers onto a Grout Grey card base. I then stamped the image from the What If I Fly stamp set by Scrapping for Less onto a scrap of Grout Grey card stock with VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine silver embossing powder. I trimmed the piece and mat it on the black glitter paper. My finishing touch for this card was the beautiful teal butterflies. I love them! I decided not to add a sentiment to the front of this card. I didn't want to take away from the beauty of the card.

Here's a close up of the beautifully stamped and embossed image! Such a stunning stamp!

For my second card I used Sketch #3 with Collection Two.

I trimmed down the beautiful wood paper from the Rustic Elegance papers by Scrapping for Less in collection two to measure 5-1/4 x 4" and mat it with the light pink paper from the same paper collection. I then adhered those layers to a Safety Orange card base. I trimmed another piece of the light pink patterned papers to measure 2-7/8 x 2-7/8" and mat it on a piece of Safety Orange card stock measuring 3 x 3". I adhered the square piece to the card and set it aside. I stamped the image from the Scrapping for Less stamp set called Bloom onto white card stock and then colored it with the following Copic markers: YR21, YR23, YR24, YR27, YR31, RV91, RV95, YG03, YG93, YG97, W00. I then die cut the image with a stitched oval die. I cut a 4-1/8 x 1" piece of Safety Orange card stock and adhered it over the layers on the card and then popped up the oval. I stamped the sentiment on white card stock then trimmed it into a flag and popped it up on the card. 

Here's a close up of the flowers! I love them! I used the White Pen by Reminisce {included in the Banana Split subscription} to add some highlights to the center of the flower.

For my third card I used Sketch #2 with Collection Three.

How adorable is this sweet little Sugar and Spice stamp by Santoro?! I just adore her! I just had to use the dress papers from the Fashionista papers by Echo Park included in Collection Three. I trimmed the dress paper to 5-1/4 x 4" and adhered it to a Black Licorice card front that I then adhered to a white card base. I then cut a 6 x 1/2" piece of the polka dot paper... I trimmed those into four pieces knowing that the main image would cover the space between the cut pieces. One little trick to saving some paper scraps! I set the strips aside and then stamped the Sugar and Spice girl on a piece of white card stock. I then colored her in using the following Copic markers: E23, E25, E29, E79, E000, E00, E51, R20, N0, N2, N3, N5, N7, BG11, BG32. I die cut the main image using a stitched tag die and then trimmed a Black Licorice mat for the tag. I then adhered the strip of polka dot paper to the card and then popped up the main image. I stamped the sentiment from the Puttin' on the Spritz stamp set by Scrapping for Less, that is included in the Banana Split subscription, using VersaMark watermark ink and then heat embossed a fine white embossing powder. I trimmed the sentiment down to a banner and then popped it up on the card overlapping it just slightly over the tag. I trimmed off the fringe of some of the pink bling pieces from the Pink Bling roll included in the collection and adhered them randomly all over the card. For a final touch, I used the White Pen by Reminisce to touch up the white dots on the dress.

For my last card I used Sketch #1 with Collection Four.

I just adore this collection! There are so many cool masculine stamps in the Dapper Man stamp set by Scrapping for Less. I had to ink up the hat though! Love it! So to start this card I cut all the layers of the Dapper Man patterned papers and adhered them to a Black Licorice card front that was then adhered to a white card base. I stamped the hat and the So Dapper! sentiment onto a piece of white card stock and then colored the hat with the following Copic markers: N2, N5, N7, N8, B91, B93, B95, B97. I then die cut the image and sentiment with a circle die. I popped it up on the card with foam tape and then adhered a bunch of the sequins from the collection. I just love this card!

Here's a look at the Double Dip Subscription.

Here's a look at the Banana Split Subscription.

I hope that you've enjoyed my cards! I sure had a blast creating them to share with you! Let's get to hopping and see what the other members of the Design Team created!

Next up on the hop is Stacy!

After checking out the hop, make sure to join the Rafflecopter back on the SFL blog to have a chance to win an awesome prize!!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

~ Crystal

Coffee Loving Cardmakers ~ Graciellie Design ~ Christmas Cheer

Hello! Today is my last day guest designing for Coffee Loving Cardmakers and I wanted to share a card I made using a gorgeous digi stamp set from Graciellie Designs called Poinsettia Tea Cup. I love poinsettias during Christmas time. They are my favorite flower this time of year! I just had to combine this digi image with this sweet sentiment... it made for an easy card, for sure! I am loving using digi stamps!

 I was able to combine the image and the sentiment on a Microsoft Word document and print it off. I colored in the image with the following Copic markers:

Tea ~ E30, E34

Cup/Saucer ~ N2, N5

Poinsettia/Mistletoe ~ R14, R27, R37, R89, Colorless blender, G46

Once that was done, all I needed to do was trim the white card stock to fit on my A2 card base of Smokey Shadow card stock.

I adhered a strip of patterned paper from the Carta Bella Christmas collection that I had die cut with a stitched scallop die from My Favorite Things. I then adhered the panel to the card base. I added a few Nuvo gloss white drops to the flower and some ebony black drops to the card. For some reason the black ones didn't settle right, but I'm not going to let those take away from the overall pretty card. I do love how this turned out! I hope you've been inspired to try out those digi stamps!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

~ Crystal

Polka Dot Orchard ~ Winter Bear

Hello! I'm excited to share a brand new digi stamp set from Polka Dot Orchard called Winter Bear! 

I combined three separate images for my card... I resized the tree and the bear images and placed them inside the mug image. I just love the versatility of these digi stamps! I colored the image with the following Copic markers:

Bear ~ W00, W1, W2, R000, R20

Tree ~ G24, G29, G46, E55, E57, E59

Mug ~ R14, R27, R37, E43, E44, E47

I colored before finding my papers for this card, so it took a bit of time to find the right papers but you can't go wrong with Christmas reds and greens. The papers I decided to use are retired Stampin' Up called Trim the Tree. I trimmed them to fit on a stitched rectangle die measuring 5-1/8 x 3-7/8. I trimmed the card stock with the image and used a corner rounder to punch the two bottom corners. I trimmed the sentiment down and adhered that to the card. I then wrapped the piece with a red and white twine from Papertrey Ink. I tied off a little bow and trimmed the ends of the twine. I popped up the panel on a white card base. How sweet is that?! I just love it!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

~ Crystal

Unity Stamp Company ~ Growing In Unity November Blog Hop

Hello! I'm so excited to be a part of the Growing in Unity Blog Hop!!

I really wanted an excuse to play with some of my new Unity Stamps so the timing was perfect!

I have been itching to use the Pierced Feature Frame - Ovals from Papertrey Ink and how perfect is it paired with the stamps from Unity Stamp's 'Twas the Night!!

I started by stamping snowflakes from the Snow, Snow Cute stamp set on a 4 x 5-1/4" piece of white card stock. I layered the bottom portion of the card stock with striped Classic Kraft Bitty Big patterned paper. I then mat the piece on a 4-1/8 x 5-3/8" piece of Pure Poppy card stock. I adhered the card front to a Kraft card base and set it aside.

I then die cut a piece of Pure Poppy Bitty Big patterned paper and a piece of white card stock to build the featured oval in the center of the card. It's been a very long time since I've colored directly on my stamps so I thought I would give that a try for this adorable tree and I love how it turned out. I used my neglected SU! markers ~ Mossy Meadow, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, and Cherry Cobbler ~ to color directly onto the rubber of the stamp while in my Stamp Platform and then I'd stamp. I worked in sections from the lightest color to the darkest color, cleaning the stamp and re-stamping the image with the next color. For the pot that the tree is in, I stamped it first with Real Red and then I stamped it again with Cherry Cobbler... just around the bottom and outer edges... to give it some dimension.

I adhered the oval pieces to the card base and stamped the other images.

I stamped the bear with the bird and the dog using Memento tuxedo black ink and colored them in with the following Copic markers:

Bear ~ E55, E57, E59, R20

Bird ~ R14, R27, Colorless Blender

Dog ~ N1, N3, N5, R14, R27

I then stamped the ornaments coloring the images directly on the rubber, just like I did with the tree. I decided to trim the string on the ornaments... and I adhered them to the tree. I adhered the one hanging ornament to the bears paw and then adhered him to the card. I also adhered the dog and then I got to thinking... I had to ground these images somehow... they were just floating there. So I stamped the sentiment from Old Traditions onto a piece of Kraft card stock using VersaMark watermark ink and then heat embossed some fine white embossing powder. I die cut the sentiment using a banner die and then popped it up on the card.

I just love how this card turned out! I hope it inspires you to play with some of your new Unity Stamps! Now let's get back to the hop, shall we!

~ Blog Hop List ~

Katy Duffy Fowler

Crystal O. Minkler <--- you are here

up next ---> Berina Febin

Shelly McGovern Schmidt

Brandon Leggit

Bobbie Sue McConathy

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

~ Crystal

Scrapping for Less ~ My Favorite Things ~ Have a Magical Christmas

Hello crafty friends! Have you ever been inspired to make a card that turns out to be rather involved?! You're not sure how to make the idea work? As you begin, you are thinking to yourself... 

"What have I gotten myself into?!" Well, I thought all of those things as I started this card project, but I persevered and Oh My Goodness! It turned out wonderfully...

What do you think? 

In my mind, I imagined the sweet little Birdie Brown reading my favorite Christmas poem... "T'was the Night Before Christmas"... only instead of the father being woken by St. Nicholas, it was sweet Birdie Brown and St. Nick wasn't going to let her see him so he hides behind the tree. Awww... I still love this poem to this day! 

Anywho, so I decided to pair the Our Story stamp set with the Secret Santa stamp set!!

Now putting this card together, I knew I needed a larger card base so I chose to make one that would fit the larger #10 envelope. So the card base for this card measures 8 x 9-1/4", scored at 4"... so a 4 x 9-1/4" card base. Since I wanted the scene on the top of the card to be Birdie Brown imagining herself in the poem, I needed both the bottom and top scenes to match as best I could. I trimmed the striped paper from the Sunny Studio's Holiday Cheer paper pad to fit both scenes and used a scrap piece of wood patterned paper for the flooring. Now the fun part, I stamped all of the images (some of them two times) on white card stock with Memento tuxedo black ink. I did a combination of paper piecing and Copic coloring for the images being sure to keep everything that would be in both scenes similar in their coloring or paper piecing.

Here's a list of the Copic markers I used:

Tree/Santa ~ G24, G29, G46, YG0000, YG23, R14, R27, R37, R89, B000, B02, RV21, RV34, E000, E51, R20, N0, N1, N3, N5

Cookies/Plate ~ RV21, RV34, E27, E35

Presents ~ RV21, RV34, B000, B02, YG0000, YG23, R14, R27

Dog ~ W00, W1, W3, W5

Birdie Brown ~ E000, E51, R14, R27, R37, E09, E15, E97 

Furniture ~ E55, E57, E59

Book ~ E34, E37, E39

For the top portion of the card, I adhered the patterned papers on a separate piece of white card stock so that I would be able to pop this portion up on the card base. Giving it dimension adds to the scene of the card. I fussy cut the edge of the top portion to give it that bubble imagination look. I also adhered a strip of white card stock underneath to help separate the scenes. I fussy cut each of the pieces out by hand because I didn't want any extra space around the images... that would take up extra space from the card. I also ran my Memento tuxedo black marker around the edges to help keep the edges of the images neat and clean. That's a trick I also do with paper piecing... it helps the paper pieces look neater on the stamped images.

All that remained was adhering all of the pieces that I had fussy cut to build my scenes. I used a liquid glue for that.. I think it gives you a little freedom in adjusting the images if needed since it doesn't dry as quickly. I used two small circle punches to make the little thought bubbles. I then stamped the sentiment but found it was too long to adhere to the card so I trimmed the words up and mounted them on some of the scrap patterned paper. I adhered those on the card and my final touch was some Sprinkled Sugar Stickles that I added to the ornaments on the trees.

I just adore how this card turned out! It sure was a crafty adventure and I hope you enjoyed it!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

~ Crystal

Coffee Loving Cardmakers ~ I Just Need Coffee!

Hello! Today, I'm sharing some truth... I just need coffee!! Haha... but really, I'm sharing a fun card for another fabulous guest spot at Coffee Loving Cardmakers. 

I created an alcohol ink background and also used Alcohol Lift Ink and of course, one of my favorite owl stamps from Rubbernecker Stamps.

Trying to get a photo of this card was a challenge because of the shine on the Yupo cardstock. With that being said, that white behind the owl (to the right) is glare. 

I was having fun the other day creating a bunch of backgrounds using alcohol inks and I thought it would be fun to use some coffee colors. I don't have a lot of alcohol inks so I ended up using Butterscotch, Espresso, and Turquoise (of course!) with a bit of Gold Mixative. Once my background was how I liked, I blended Alcohol Lift Ink over the Tim Holtz Mini Stencil Set 3 - the one with the coffee ring and splatter. I dabbed the background with a paper towel until it wasn't as saturated and then I rubbed the background to remove the rest of the Alcohol Lift Ink. Doing that basically lifts away the alcohol ink that was on the background. Such a fun technique!

I set aside the background piece and stamped Preston ~ isn't he the cutest! ~ onto Canson XL watercolor paper using VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine black embossing powder. I watercolored Preston with my ZIG Clean Color Real Brush pens and then die cut him out with the coordinating Preston Die Cut.

I set Preston aside and went back to work with the background... I needed a sentiment, but Preston doesn't come with one so I searched through my Rubbernecker Stamps and found the perfect sentiment, ironically, in the Coffee Set. Preston looks like he NEEDS coffee! Don't we all?!

I stamped the sentiment using Versamark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine black embossing powder. Since I was heat embossing on Yupo card stock which is a plastic card stock, I was careful to not heat it too long... just enough to melt the powder. 

I then mat the background piece with Taken with Teal card stock from my stash. I popped the background up on a Vintage Cream card base and then adhered Preston with Multi Medium Matte. I just adore this card! I sure hope you like it too!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post! 

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

~ Crystal