Scrapping for Less ~ August 2018 Flavor of the Month ~ For the Love of Pets!

Now, who doesn't love furry little kitties and puppies? We have put together a sweet puppy and kitten kit for you this month. We hope you enjoy!! Thanks so much for continuing to support our kits...keep sharing in the Scrapping for Less: Show and Share group and on Instagram. We love to see your shares! Now, hop on with us and see what our fabulous Design Team and guest designers have to share with you! Make sure you check out our Flavor of the Month page to purchase the kit and check out the A La Carte page for some related products! 

The August Flavor of the Month card kit has got to be my new favorite kit!! Oh my goodness... there are so many adorable puppy and kitty stamps! Cuteness overload!!! 

Let's get to the cards...

For all of my cards this month, I decided to pair the collections with the same numbered sketch... so for my first card from Collection One I used Sketch #1.

I paired some of the fun patterned papers for my layers on the card, even using them for the flag strips. I stamped the adorable puppies on a piece of Neenah 110lb smooth white solar crest cardstock with Memento tuxedo black ink and colored them in with copic markers. I then die cut them out and popped them up on the card. I also partially popped up the sentiment strip by only adding foam tape to the bottom portion of the strip and liquid glue to the top portion. I adhered a few sequins in the bottom right corner and called the front of this card done.

Copic markers used for this card ~ E04, E07, E08, E09, E55, E57, N0, N1, N2, N3, N5, N7, R000, R14, R27, R81, R83, R89, Y06, Y35.

For the inside of the puppy card I stamped this sweet sentiment from the Puppy Pals set and also stamped a few hearts.

For my second card I used Sketch #2 with Collection Two.

Every once in awhile I decide to give a shaker another try. I still struggle with shaker cards and this card was no different. I did manage to get this card to work though so I feel victorious! I started out by blending some Mowed Lawn distress ink over the Puppy Dog Bone stencil included in the collection... I think it adds a bit more fun to the diagonal striped patterned paper. I adhered that layer to a white card base. To break up the diagonal stripes I added the yellow horizontal striped patterned paper to the card and set it aside. I stamped the puppies on a piece of white card stock. I masked the puppies with post-it note masks and then blended my clouds. Using a crafting knife I cut around the bottom portion of the puppies and adhered my stitched hills under the puppies to create my scene. I die cut the square frame using two square stitched dies together. I added my shaker elements and adhered the frame to the scene with some foam tape. Sadly, my adhesive wasn't completely dry and two sequins got stuck on the hills but it kind of looks like the puppies are playing with them, right? At least that's what I'm telling myself. LOL My final touches for this card was the metal bone clip that I adhered in the corner with some multi medium matte, the sentiment that I stamped and die cut using a skinny banner die, and on the inside of the card I adhered a small strip of the polka dot paper.

Copic markers used for this card ~ E21, E30, E31, E40, E41, E43, N0, N5, R00, R20, RV11, RV21.

For my third card I used Sketch #3 with Collection Three.

I absolutely adore this collection... the new Scrapping for Less Pretty Kitty stamp set paired with this sweet Kitten Smitten paper from Doodlebug Designs is too stinkin' cute! I love it! The sketch for this card is supposed to be a tall and skinny card, but I decided to make it into an A2 size card. I started by cutting and adhering my patterned paper layers to a Cotton Candy card base. I set that aside and stamped the cute kitty on white card stock. I thought I'd give this kitty a little calico touch and I think she turned out pretty cute. I die cut the kitty with a stitched circle die and mat it on a stitched Black Licorice circle. I popped up the main image with foam tape and then die cut a few more stitched circles to add as embellishments. I stamped the fish bones on the one pink circle and popped it up on the card adhering a little bit of yellow twine... like some yarn for the kitty to play with. I then stamped the sentiment and mat it on Black Licorice card stock. I adhered a few sequins... even adding one to the kitty's paw. So cute!

Copic markers used for this card ~ N0, N2, N3, N5, N7, 0, R00, R20, YR12, YR15, YR21.

To finish off this card I added a piece of white card stock on the inside and I stamped another cute kitty from the set in a light pink ink.

For my fourth card I used Sketch #4 with Collection Four.

This collection has a very cool Cat Paw Print stencil and I used it to add some interest to this card. First I used it on the Sno Cone card base... and then I added my layers of patterned paper that I had mat on Black Licorice card stock. I then stamped the sweet Santoro Girl with Cat on white card stock and colored the image in with copic markers. I fussy cut the image out and adhered it to a piece of white card stock that I had blended just a little bit of Tumbled Glass and Hickory Smoke distress inks for a subtle background. I used the Cat Paw Print stencil to add a few paw prints in the direction that I imagined the cat would have gone around the girl. The sentiment for this card is from the For the Love of Pets stamp set by Scrapping for Less that's included in the Banana Split subscription. Another absolutely adorable stamp set by Scrapping for Less! I popped up the sentiment and adhered a few sequins.

Copic markers I used for this card ~ N0, N1, N3, N5, N6, N8, 100, E0000, E000, E00, R20, R21, R22, R35, BV04, BG70, BG72.

And to finish this card off, I also used the Cat Paw Print Stencil on the inside of the card by blending some Hickory Smoke distress ink.

Here's a look at the Double Dip Sundae subscription.

Here's a look at the Banana Split subscription.

I hope you enjoyed the cards I shared today. I had so much fun creating them to share with you all.

Let's get to hopping and see what the other members of the design team created!

Scrapping for Less

Crystal <--- you're here

up next ---> Desiree

Luci

Stacy

Katie

Courtney

LeeAnn

Tanya

*Guest Designer* Kristie

Make sure to join the Rafflecopter back on the SFL blog to win an awesome prize!! 

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

Scrapping for Less ~ Hippo Birdie To You!

Hello! Today I'm sharing a sweet birthday card using the Hippo Birdie To You mini kit from Scrapping for Less. There are two variations of this collection in the Scrapping for Less shop. There's a smaller kit with 6 sheets of 6x6 patterned paper, the Lawn Fawn Year Four stamp set, and 3 coordinating embellishments ---> check that kit out here. Or there's a collection with the items listed above plus the X-Cut die Happy Birthday Cake ---> check that kit out here. Now, if you're just loving this sweet hippo and birdie and you want to add them to your stamp collection ---> check that stamp set out right here.

For my card, I decided to go with a sketch I saw recently on the CAS(E) This Sketch challenge blog. I love checking out sketches to get my mojo working! Sometimes, you just need that little bit of inspiration. I started with a kraft card base that I adhered my layer of brown polka dot paper to. I then stamped out my images on a piece of white card stock. I masked the hippo, birdie and the little hats and then blended my background with my go to distress inks, Tumbled Glass and Mowed Lawn. I pulled off the masks and colored in my images with copic markers (listed below). I die cut the image with a circle die and then adhered it to a scalloped circle die cut from the striped papers in the kit. I popped up the focal image with foam tape. I partially popped up the wood embellishments... where they overlap the scalloped circle they are just adhered with liquid glue. I set the card aside and stamped the sentiment from the set and mat it on a scrap piece of the striped paper. I also popped the sentiment up on the card.

{Copic markers used: birdie ~ Y06, Y18, YR15, YR68; hats ~ BG11; hippo ~ C0, C3, C5, C7; shadow under hippo ~ YG67} 

Now to finish the card off... I wanted to do a little something on the inside so that's where the die in the collection came in handy. I cut a 4 x 5-1/4" piece of white card stock and adhered it to the inside of the card. I die cut the cake out of the striped paper and just adhered it to the center of the card. Just that easy to include a little birthday fun on the inside of the card. That's it for me this time!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

Scrapping for Less ~ Pink & Main ~ A Giveaway!!

Hello! Today I'm sharing my design team post featuring the exclusive to Scrapping for Less -Wild & Free stamp set!! This set was exclusively designed for Scrapping for Less by Pink & Main for the August 2017 Flavor of the Month card kit. I created four cards using the sweet animals included in this cute set. I'm also having a giveaway, but more about that after we check out these cards! Let's get to it!

{Copic markers used ~ E11, E17, R27, N0, N3, N7, BG11, BG15, BG49}

You'll notice that the cards all use the same sketch. I love doing that for sets that include more than one image. With some fun papers and these cute images you can put cards together pretty quickly using a simple sketch like this one. I got this sketch from the CASE This Sketch challenge blog, but my cards and post were done too late to enter... that's ok though, because the sketch was what I needed to start my design!

{Copic markers used ~ Y06, Y26, Y35, YR15, YR68, R00, R14, R20, E31, B00, YG03}

For all of the cards I used up some of the older card stock that I still had in my stash for my card bases. I also used the Our Family Mini Kit from Scrapping for Less... you can check that little kit out here. The kit includes 6 sheets of the Our Family patterned paper from Echo Park, along with three coordinating embellishments. Included in my kit was some paper flowers and sequins so I decided to add those to my cards.

{Copic markers used ~ Y06, Y26, Y35, B95, B97, B99, BG13, BG49}

The remaining layers on each of the cards is the Our Family papers. I like the mix of patterns and solid papers included in the pack, it makes for easy layering and matting for the main images. Scrapping for Less has more mini kits available... you can check those out here. There's also a full pad of the Our Family 6x6 papers available.

For my last card, I thought I'd share how I colored the backgrounds of my little images using Copic Markers B00, B000, 0, YG03, YG17. I started by coloring the grass portion with YG17. I then went over the outer parts of the area with YG03 leaving a slight shadow for the animals . For the clouds I started by outlining a cloud with B000.

I then colored the rest of the sky with B00 being sure not to overlap the B000 lines all of the way. I wanted there to be some variation in the outline of the cloud. To finish off the sky, I went around the inside of the cloud with the 0 colorless blender to blend those two shades of blue and soften the lines.

{Copic markers used ~ Y18, Y35, YR15, YR68, R20}

I then colored in the platypus and mat the image. I popped up all of the images on the card and then adhered a paper flower with a sequin center. That's all my cards for this time!

Now for the Giveaway!! I have this brand new exclusive stamp set to giveaway!! AND I'm going to throw in some other goodies from my stash as a surprise (all brand new items). All you have to do to enter is to comment on my blog. AND for a bonus entry, I'm also sharing this giveaway on my Instagram. You can head over there, like my post and follow me and you'll have another chance to win!! AND for another bonus entry, follow the Scrapping for Less Instagram. You have until 8/17/2018 midnight EST to enter. Unfortunately, open to US residents only. I will announce the winner on my Instagram on 8/18/2018!! 

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

You're Fintastic!

Hello! Today I'm sharing a sweet card I made using The Greeting Farm's Mermaid Grotto and Maisea stamp sets. My inspiration started with the Beach Color Combo challenge in the Stampers Swap Shop Facebook group... using the following (or similar) colors.

I pulled out some of my Summer Dreams papers from Echo Park. I cut and layered the patterned papers onto a kraft card base and set them aside. 

I stamped the bottle, mermaid, and a bunch of fish on a piece of white card stock using Gina K. Design's Amalgam Jet Black ink. I love this ink... you can color with Copic Markers, watercolors, and even colored pencils with gamsol!! I colored in the images with the following Copic markers:

Fish ~ YR15, YR68

Mermaid ~ RV10, RV55, E000, E21, V06, V09

Bottle ~ Y06, Y17, RV10, RV55, E000, E33, E47, E50, E55, E57, BG0000, BG10, BG32, C00, C1, C3, YG17, YG67, G17

I die cut the bottle, mermaid, and fish. Using my Versamarker I colored parted of the sand and then heat embossed sand embossing powder from Hero Arts. I adhered all of my pieces to the bottle and popped it up on the card. I stamped my sentiment with Versamark watermark ink onto the teal blue paper in the Summer Dreams paper pack and then heat embossed fine white embossing powder. I trimmed the papers down and adhered them on either side of the bottle. I adhered another little fish to finish this card off. I loved this sketch #525 from Sketch Saturday so much that I just had to play along again this week.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

School Days Are Here Again

Hello! A quick post today to share a card I created to enter into a couple of challenges. I thought it would be fun to make a card from the perspective of a homeschool family. We have a few more weeks before we start back up, but when we do... I wouldn't be surprised if I have a little ninja and kitty sitting at the table with me. My kids love to wear costumes and a school day is no different!

So these little kids from Unity Stamp Company's Little Tricks Halloween and Sweet Little Halloween stamp sets were perfect for my card idea. I started with a kraft card base and added a layer of fun notebook paper from Echo Park's Back to School paper pack along with a strip of random alphabet letters in some fun colors. I stamped the boy and girl on white card stock and stamped them again on the Back to School patterned papers. I colored in little bits of the images and then paper pieced the outfits. I adhered them to a wonky oval of kraft card stock that I popped up on the card. The sentiment was cut from the patterned papers as well and popped up on the card.

I'm entering this card at the Sketch Saturday Challenge blog...

And the Inspired By challenge blog... 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

~ Friends of Unity August Blog Hop ~ Coffee & Tea

Hello!! It's time for the August Blog Hop with the Friends of Unity and our theme this month is...

Coffee & Tea!

Ahhh... I don't know about you but I just love a good cuppa, be it coffee or tea! I tend to drink more coffee though so for this hop I decided my projects are all about the coffee!! I'm also a huge fan of blues with browns ~ my absolute favorite color combo! So let's get to the projects...

It's been a while since I've worked on a mixed media project. I wasn't sure where this was going to go... but I like how it turned out. I started with a panel of watercolor paper. Using mod podge I added bit of papers... the paper with text is from a pack of Stampin' Up! papers called Typeset Specialty DSP and the other papers are from Heartfelt Creations Coffee Talk Collection. Once I had my papers adhered and the mod podge was dry I smudged some acrylic paints just using my finger to apply it. I also used a bit of bubble wrap to add texture. Some of the bubble wrap spots smudged terribly so I covered them with mod podge and laid antique gold tissue paper over top wrinkling it here and there. I let the mod podge dry and then tore off the excess paper. I applied more mod podge around the edges of the gold tissue paper and also adhered a doily... you can see some of the texture of the doily in the girls face.

 So once all the mod podge was dry, I did some blending with Vintage Photo and Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide Inks. I stamped the coffee girl image from Unity's Itty Bitty set called Best Friends. I just love this girl... she's all full of sass! I also stamped a coffee ring and splatter using my new Ground Espresso Distress Ink! So excited to have this new color in my stash! The coffee ring stamp is from the January 2017 SMAK kit called Progress and Change. The splatter is from the Blow Your Mind kit.

I trimmed the panel down to 4-1/2 x 6 inches and then wrapped some gold thread around it several times after threading the heart charm onto the thread. I added a touch of Ranger Multi Medium Matte around the edges of the heart charm to adhere it in place on the panel. To secure the thread I just used some packing tape on the back of the paper.

My final touch for this piece was the die cut COFFEE. I die cut it twice from white card stock and then once with Lost Lagoon card stock. I adhered all of the layers and then sponged some Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges of the letters. I then adhered it to the panel. Well, it was still too clean... lol... so I stamped a splatter stamp from the Never kit with the Vintage Photo distress ink and that did it. I thought I was done at this point but when I saw it the next morning I decided to not make it into a card, but to mat it and potentially frame it. So, I mat it on Lost Lagoon and then Early Espresso card stocks. I really like how this turned out. I hope you do too!

Now for my card, I started with a 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 piece of Crumb Cake card stock. I blended some Tea Dye and Vintage Photo Distress Oxide inks over the little flower stencil (not sure that it's a flower but we'll go with that) in the Woodblock Prints from Papertrey Ink. I then blended some Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide ink over the Knitted Sweater Stencil from Echo Park. I then blended some Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink over the Mini Art Is stencil from The Crafters Worshop and the coffee and splatter stencil from Tim Holtz' Mini Stencil Set #3. I stamped the big ornate background stamp from the Never kit using VersaMark watermark ink and then heat embossed fine white embossing powder. I did goof and forget to use my embossing buddy so the powder kind of splattered but we're going with it. I did also heat up the embossed area again and added some more embossing powder... it kind of thickened it up. I die cut the piece using a Wonky Scalloped Frame die from Avery Elle. I did this so I could mat the piece and then pop it up on the card. I mat it using Lost Lagoon card stock from Stampin' Up. I then mat the scalloped frame on Early Espresso card stock and adhered the entire piece to a white card base. I stamped the girl from Dream of Being on a piece of white card stock and colored her in using Copic markers {E0000, E000, E43, E47, E57, C1, R20, RV21, BG10, BG13, BG32}. I fussy cut her out and adhered her to the card. I added a few enamel dots here and there. I stamped my favorite 'happy birthday' stamp from the Abundant Blessings sentiment kit onto Early Espresso card stock using Versamark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine white embossing powder. I trimmed the sentiment and adhered it to the card. And there you have it! My projects for this month's hop.

Here's a look at both projects... it looks like the girls are looking at each other. How funny... I just noticed that while writing up my blog post. LOL

Before we move on to the hopping, I have some business to take care of. Last month I had a giveaway and I need to share who the lucky winner of the brand new Jolly Ol' Santa stamp set is...  drum roll please... the lucky winner is...

Marjorie Dumontier!!!! Woohoo! 

Marjorie please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com with your mailing address to claim your prize. Prize must be claimed within two weeks.

Thank you to all those that hopped with us last month and, of course, this month!

 One or two of my friends are having giveaways on their blogs for this month's hop so be sure to hop and comment on each of our blogs so you'll be entered into this giveaway. We sure appreciate and love all of your fun comments! 

Now let's get hopping!

Eileen

Robyn

Jeanie

Crystal <--- you are here

up next ---> Joyce

Dawn

Wynne

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

Scrapping For Less ~ Revisiting May 2018 Flavor of the Month Card Kit ~ In the Countryside

Hello! Crystal here and today I'm sharing some cards I made using up my papers from a collection in the May 2018 Flavor of the Month card kit. So, I saw this sweet sketch on the Sketch Saturday challenge blog and I thought this was just the perfect way to use up those Tiny Checks papers and play with the adorable stamps in this kit.

My first step was cutting up all my papers. I cut them all into 3 x 3 inch squares and then decided I'd trim the smaller squares to work on a 5-1/2" square card. So the squares in the background are 2-1/2 x 2-1/2" and the mat for them is a 5-1/4" squared piece of Wild Cherry card stock. That layer is adhered to the 5-1/2" squared white card base.

My focal images are all on a 2-5/8" squared piece of white card stock with the exception of this one above that is 2-1/2" squared. I did mat this one on a white piece of card stock to help pop the focal image that was stamped with Versamark watermark ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder and that white piece is 2-1/2" squared. 

For my cards with the little animal scenes, I stamped the image and the sentiment first with Memento tuxedo black ink and then masked the image before blending some Tumbled Glass and Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide inks for my background. I then colored the images in using Copic markers {I'll list them all at the end of the post} and a little bit of white gel pen for highlights.

Once my focal images were all done, I mat them on black card stock measuring 2-3/4" squared and then layered them on the 3" squared piece of check patterned paper that was mat on 3-1/4" squared piece of card stock.... phew.. that's a lot of measurements. I hope those aren't confusing! I popped up the focal images using foam tape and then added my final touches to each card. The little circle images for the cow cards are Farm Animal stickers from the card kit. I mat them on black card stock and popped them up on the card, as well. The little circle sun in the first card with the pigs is a part of the exclusive Piggy Picnic set from Scrapping for Less. And then, lastly, the 'good times' sentiment is from the Carta Bella Frames and Tags included in the first collection of the kit.

I had so much fun putting these cards together. I sure hope you like my cards for today! I just love the sweet animal stamps in the May 2018 In the Countryside card kit! There are still some kits available in both the Double Dip and the Banana Split subscriptions and even better ~ they are on sale! 

Here are the Copic markers I used:

Card #1 ~ R00, R14, R20, R81, E11, E31, G03

Card #3 ~ E0000, E01, E02, E23, E25, E51, E81, N1, N5, Y06, Y35, R20

Card #4 ~ R00, R81, R83, R85, E000, E02, C1, Y06, Y17, B000

I'm entering my last card with the cute pink cow to the Sketch Saturday challenge... 

such a fun sketch!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal