Friday, December 27, 2019

Scrapping for Less ~ December 2019 Flavor of the Month Card Kit ~ Sending Love


 December's hop/kit is all about "Sending Love." 
We all know there should be more kindness and love in this world and we have provided some super cute means to do that with this adorable kit. Our Design Team has provided some fabulous inspiration with these adorable stamps. Be sure to check out the Scrapping for Less Blog to enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win one of these mini collections...there will be 4 prizes this month! Then, head on over to the Subscription page of the website to grab your kit...but do it fast we only have a few to sell this month. ~ Teresa, SFL Owner


If you are just starting hopping, we're so glad to have you join us! 
The hop starts on the Scrapping for Less blog or you can start hopping right here.

Here's a quick look at the December 2019 Sending Love card kit...






With Christmas all done for this year, it's time to get to work on those Valentine's Day cards!! I am loving the adorable collections in the Sending Love card kit this month!



Collection One: Puppy Hugs & Kisses
Awww... this sweet puppy just tugs at my heart strings! Too cute! I stamped, colored and fussy cut the puppy. I adhered him to a stitched heart die cut from the Wild Cherry card stock. I adhered all of my patterned paper layers to a white card base. I stamped the sentiment with Gina K Red Hot ink and die cut it with a banner die. I adhered the sentiment to the card and popped up the puppy with the adhesive foam squares included in the Banana Split subscription.

Supplies used (not found in the kit):
Copics: Puppy ~ W00, W2, W4, R00, R20; Envelope ~ R00, R14, R20, R29
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue
Lawn Fawn Outside In Stitched Heart Stackables
Lawn Fawn Everday Sentiment Banners dies
Stampin' Up Scalloped Edge punch



Collection Two: Wood You be Mine?
I just adore this cute bird from the second collection!! I also used it for my Sneak Peek post, you can see that here ---> Sending Love card kit sneak peek!! I love the beautiful patterned papers in this collection too! I used a few different ones along with the Nightshift Blue card stock to create my base for this card. I stamped the bird and sentiment on scraps of white card stock. I colored in the bird and die cut it with a circle die. I mat it with another die cut circle from the Nightshift Blue card stock. I popped up the sentiment and bird on the card with the foam squares included in the Banana Split subscription. To finish off the card, I adhered a wood heart using Multi Medium Matte.

Supplies used (not found in the kit):
Copics: Bird ~ R01, R05, R22, YR15, YR24; Envelope ~ B0000, B00, R01, R05, R22
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue
Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners die



Collection Three: Friendship
I love the beautiful stamp in this collection... the heart is perfect for so many sets in the different collections. I decided to use the sentiment from the fourth collection. I stamped the hands and heart separately by masking each of them. I used Memento tuxedo black ink for the hands, but for the heart I used a pink marker. I then colored in the hands with copic markers. I die cut the stamped image with a rectangle die and adhered it to the patterned papers I'd already adhered to a white card base. I added the pretty fabric flower and a few enamels dots to finish off this card.

Supplies used (not found in the kit):
Copics: E000, E00, E21
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue
My Favorite Things Stitched Rectangle STAX



Collection Four: Snail Mail
The adorable stamps for this collection are by Sunny Studio Stamps... and they are too cute! I love snail mail and this set is perfect for this theme. I stamped the images on a scrap of white card stock and colored them in with copic markers. I then die cut them with an oval die. I mat the image with a slightly larger red oval that I die cut from the Wild Cherry card stock. I cut my layers of patterned paper and adhered them to a white card base. I popped up the mat oval piece with the foam squares from the Banana Split subscription. I then stamped the sentiment from the Sentiments of the Heart stamp set by Scrapping for Less that is included in the Banana Split subscription. I die cut the sentiment with a banner die and mat it with a slightly larger banner die cut from the Sno Cone card stock. I popped up the sentiment on the card... this time by doubling up the foam squares. To finish this card off, I added a few of the enamel dots included in the collection.

Supplies used (not found in the kit):
Copics: Mailbox ~ C00, C1, R000, R00, R05, R14, R22, R29, E55, E57, E59; Envelope ~ RV10, RV11, RV14, R000, R14, R29; Grass/Sky ~ YG11, YG17, B0000; Snail ~ B0000, B00, RV10, RV14
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue
My Favorite Things Oval STAX Set 1
Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiments Banners dies



I have a bonus card using the Arrow stencil from Collection Three along with the Love die by Scrapping for Less included in the Banana Split subscription. I also used the Sentiments of the Heart stamp set also included in the Banana Split subscription... Loving the extra goodies in the Banana Split this month!!


I sure hope you've enjoyed my cards today!
Your next stop on the hop is... Luci

Be sure to head back over to the Scrapping for Less blog to enter the Rafflecopter once you've finished hopping!


Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!
See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,
Crystal

Scrapping for Less ~ December 2019 Flavor of the Month Card Kit ~ Sneak Peek!

Hello there crafty friends!
Today I'm sharing the last sneak peek of the adorable December 2019 Flavor of the Month card kit called Sending Love.


With Christmas done, I have to admit I'm happy to start working on some other cards... and the adorable stamps in the Sending Love card kit are perfect for Valentine's Day cards or even just to send some love to your family and friends this winter.


I used a mix of products from a couple of collections and also used the awesome stamps from the Banana Split subscription.... so many fun sentiments included this month!! I used the following copic markers to color the stamped images:

Banner ~ R00, R20
Envelope ~ R000, R00, R14, R20, R29
Bird ~ B0000, B00, YR21, YR24, R00, R20


I'm playing along with the fun sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch #352... such a fun and unique design! I just had to play along with this one!






I hope that you've enjoyed my sneak peek card! To ensure you get your hands on this adorable kit you can sign up for a Flavor of the Month subscription here ---> December 2019 Sending Love card kit. Be sure to check back for the reveal of the gorgeous December 2019 Sending Love card kit tonight at midnight Eastern time. The design team is hopping with so much lovely inspiration... we hope you'll come back to have a look!

Thanks so much for stopping by! See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,
Crystal


Friday, December 20, 2019

Scrapping for Less ~ Heffy Doodle ~ A Wintry New Year with the Prehistoric Pals

Hello there crafty friends! 
Today, I'm sharing an adorable wintry New Year's card!! I just adore these sweet stamps by Heffy Doodle called Prehistoric Pals... so much fun to create a card a little outside-the-box with these characters. I don't normally think of cavemen and mammoths in the snow, but this was such a fun card to make!


I started with a white piece of card stock that I ran through my big shot with a wonky stitched rectangle die. I set that aside and stamped all the stamps from the set because I wasn't quite sure which ones I was going to use. I stamped with memento tuxedo black ink and then colored the images in with the following Copic markers:

Mammoth ~ BG000, BG02, RV0000, C00, C1, C3
House / Rock ~ C00, C1, C3, W00, W2, W4
Cave Lady ~ E000, E00, E21 (skin), E23, E25, E27 (hair), E30, E31, E35 (clothes)
Cave Man ~ E000, E00, E11 (skin), E37, E95, E99 (hair), E21, E25, E27 (clothes)
Sky ~ BG000, BG53, B00, BV00, B60, Colorless Blender
Ground ~ C00, C1



I fussy cut all of the colored images and cleaned up the edges with the memento tuxedo black marker. When I was coloring the background for this card, I placed the images on the card seeing where I wanted to position every thing. I was then able to add the shadows on the snowy ground. I only used a little bit of shadows so I could keep the card looking more wintry with lots of white.


I adhered the fussy cut images to the card using liquid glue and then adhered the entire piece to a white card base. I added some snow using leftover sequins from a past card kit and also some varying sizes of dots of white gel pen here and there. Don't they just look so excited for the snow?! I love it!


To finish off the card, I stamped the sentiment which is a combination of two sentiment stamps... "Have a Mammoth Day" and "Another Year Boulder". I was able to mask the sentiments and stamp them pretty easily with my Stamp Platform. My paper shifted just slightly on the Year stamp but I was able to fix it with my memento tuxedo black  marker... it just looks a bit more bold ~ almost like it was intentional! This adorable stamp set isn't in stock anymore, unfortunately, but there are a bunch of other adorable Heffy Doodle stamps in the shop! Check them out here ---> Heffy Doodle stamps!

Thanks so much for stopping by! 
See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,
Crystal

Saturday, December 14, 2019

~ Friends of Unity December 2019 Blog Hop ~ The Winners!

Hello there crafty friends!!
Today is a very exciting day... the day that I announce the winners for the Friends of Unity prizes from our 2 year celebration!! First of all, I have to thank all of you for coming to visit our blogs! So many wonderful comments and we appreciate every single one! Thank you so much!


I have a quick card to share using the same card design I used for the December blog hop. This time I used the adorable Owl of Us {itty bitty} kit from Unity Stamp Co. along with the beautiful Brilliant Blizzard {paper pack}. I love these papers so much!


I used a wonky stitched rectangle die and added a few Icy Sparkle Crystals from Studio Katia.
Love how this turned out! Now I think I've made you all wait long enough... it's time to announce the winners...





The winner of the Oct. 2019 All Bundled Up SMAK kit is Elizabeth Roberts!! 
Congratulations, Elizabeth!!! Woohoo!! Please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com to claim your prize. Prize must be claimed within two weeks.




Random.org chose blog #5 on our hop and that's Alaine's fabulous blog...




Random.org chose comment #34 and the lucky winner...




... of the Unity Prize Pack #1 is...
Karren Grayson!! Congratulations, Karren!!
 Woohoo!! Please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com to claim your prize. 
Prize must be claimed within two weeks.




Random.org chose blog #9 on our hop and that's Dawn F.'s wonderful blog...




Random.org chose comment #43 and the lucky winner...




... of the Unity Prize Pack #2 is...
Linda S. Vigil!! Congratulations, Linda!!
 Woohoo!! Please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com to claim your prize. 
Prize must be claimed within two weeks.


I just want to say one more time... THANK YOU!! 
Without the support of all of you... this blog hop wouldn't be nearly as much fun! We appreciate each and every one of you so very much! 

And a HUGE shout out to the guest designers that hopped with us... you all made this hop even more special! Thank you so much!!

And one last THANK YOU to Angela and the peeps at Unity for sending us such fabulous prizes to giveaway! We appreciate you all so much!


Thanks so much for checking out my blog post!
See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,
Crystal






Friday, December 13, 2019

Polka Dot Orchard ~ He Said Coffee ~ Book It Friday

Hey there crafty friends!
Today, I'm sharing a fun bookmark for Book It Friday with Polka Dot Orchard's fabulous digi set called He Said Coffee. But since we're close to Christmas, I decided to make my bookmark with a Christmas twist!!


What do you think?!
A quick little story behind this bookmark... every year during the holidays I read the same book, 'Twas The Night Before by Jerry B. Jenkins. I've done this since November 2007... over 10 years now. Anyhow, the book is a Christmas love story... filled with magic and wonder of Christmas, along with a couple that fall in love over a cup of coffee... and hot cocoa. I just love it and even though I know the ending and what happens every chapter... I reread it! And now I have this beautiful bookmark to mark my place in my reading of this book each year.


Ok, so on to the details for this bookmark... I started by combining and resizing the Man image from the He Said Coffee digi set along with the snowflake background from the Cozy Brew digi set in Microsoft Word. I then added and resized the sentiment from the He Said Coffee set. I knew I also wanted to use a portion of the Merry Christmas sentiment from the Magic of Christmas digi set so I added that, resized it and then cropped it down to just Christmas. I couldn't find the word "that's" in any of the digi sets so I just typed that with a similar font and added it to the same Word document. Once I had all of these images how I wanted them, I print it out. I then trimmed down my card stock and die cut the main image using the Basic Bookmark 3 by Papertrey Ink.  


And then the fun begins... coloring!! I wanted traditional Christmas colors for this bookmark with some brown tones to bring in the coffee feel. Here's the list of Copic markers I used:

Skin ~ E000, E00, E21
Hair ~ YR30, E30
Eyes ~ B000
Clothes ~ N0, N3, N5, N7, C00, C1, C3
Apron ~ YG11, YG13, G03, G07, G46, R00, R14, R29, R39
Coffee Tin ~ R00, R14, R29, R39, E30, E37
Cup ~ Y02, Y11, Y15, Y35, W1, W4
Coffee Bean Heart ~ R00, R14, R29, R39
Poinsettia ~ R00, R14, R29, YR00, YG11, G07, G46, E37
Snowflakes ~ BG000, BG01
Background ~ E35, E50, E51

I fussy cut the poinsettia and the coffee bean heart and cleaned up the edges of the images with markers... Memento tuxedo black ink for the edges of the poinsettia and just a R00 copic marker for the heart.


Now, it was time to assemble the bookmark. I mat the sentiment pieces with New Leaf card stock from Papertrey Ink trimming them by hand. I adhered those to the bookmark using a liquid glue. So now it reads... "You, me and a cup of Coffee... that's Christmas". Love love love!!


I wrapped the bookmark with gold metallic thread taping down the ends on the back just with scotch tape (I'll be adding more layers). I then adhered the coffee bean heart using mini glue dots. I added a bit of sparkle to the heart using a clear Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen. I also added some shimmer to the snowflakes but I just couldn't get a good picture to share that.


I adhered the poinsettia from the Poinsettia Greetings digi set using mini glue dots to give it a bit of dimension but not too much since it is a bookmark. I also added a touch of shimmer to the center of the flower using the same Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen. 


To finish off the bookmark, I die cut two more bookmarks using the same die... one from Real Red card stock and the other Cherry Cobbler card stock. I adhered both layers to the bookmark to make it more durable and I love the different reds... gives the edges some dimension! I added some Cherry Cobbler Sheer Linen Ribbon (retired from Stampin' Up!) and some beautiful eyelash ribbon that my sweet friend and fellow DT member, Bobbie Sue, gifted me a while ago... I have been itching to use this stuff and this bookmark was the perfect opportunity! I tied those off with some green bakers twine (also SU! but I'm not sure what color it is... maybe Garden Green?). And that's it!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,
Crystal

Scrapping for Less ~ La-La Land Crafts ~ Dream Come True

Hello there crafty friends!
Today, I have a sweet birthday card for a little one in your life... who doesn't love a sweet dragon?! I just adore this one from the Dream Come True stamp set by La-La Land Crafts!!


As I mentioned in my blog post last Friday for Scrapping for Less, I played some more with the fun Nuvo Chalk White Stone drops for my card today but this time I painted with the drops. I added a few drops... actually more like blobs... on my Glass Media Mat and then with my paint brush painted over a piece of pink card stock. For my other piece of pink card stock, I added drops directly on the card stock and painted directly on that piece. Both applications of the Stone drops for this technique gave me basically the same results, but I didn't have to clean up my Glass Media Mat for the latter. While I let the painted Stone drops dry, I stamped the sweet dragon onto white card stock with Memento tuxedo black ink and colored it in with the following Copic markers ~ B0000, B00, B12, V01, V04, V20. I then fussy cut the dragon and cleaned up the edges with a Memento tuxedo black marker. A little tip for those of you trying this trick for the first time... be sure to color the edges of the fussy cut image from behind so if the marker slips it marks up the back of your image rather than the nicely colored front.


I set the dragon aside and die cut the now dry Stone drop painted card stock with the Puffy Clouds die from My Favorite Things. 


The clouds turned out just as I had hoped... so much fun texture and dimension!! I love them! 


I then trimmed down my white card front to 4-1/8 x 5-3/8" and die cut it with a stitched in and out circle die. I laid that on top of my white card base and traced around the inner circle lightly with a pencil. Now I had an idea of where to blend my Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink for my clouds in the background. I blended the clouds over the Mini Cloud Edges stencil from My Favorite Things being careful to stay within the traced circle... just extra careful so my white edges on the card base stayed white. I then erased the pencil marks on the card base and adhered a few of the pink Stone drop painted clouds. I adhered the top white card stock piece with the die cut stitched circle and then adhered the remaining clouds. I popped up the sweet dragon using foam tape and stamped the Make a Wish sentiment using my Stamp Platform to ensure I got a nice crisp inking! 


And then I got to thinking it would be fun to add some drops but not the Stone drops... so I grabbed the Sea Breeze Jewel drops and Fairy Wings Dream drops and went a little crazy! But I really love the different looks of all of the drops on this card! I sure hope that I've inspired you to think out of the box a bit and use those Nuvo drops for other techniques!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,
Crystal




Saturday, December 7, 2019

~ Friends of Unity December Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friends!
It's my favorite time of the month and this month it's extra special because...


we're celebrating 2 years of hopping with Friends of Unity!! Woohoo! I am so beyond excited about this month's hop! Eeeep! 

We have some fun stuff planned... our usual giveaways PLUS we have 2 HUGE prize packages that Angela Magnuson graciously put together from Unity just for this celebration AND we also have 3 FABULOUS guest designers hopping with us this month!! A HUGE thank you to our Guest Designers... Donna K Baes, Shannon Edwards, and Jessica Pickeral!! We are so excited to have you talented ladies join us this month!!

So when I say HUGE prize packages... I. AM. NOT. KIDDING!!

Prize pack #1!!


And prize pack #2!!

Amazing, right?! I'll have details below on how you can enter to win one of these fabulous prizes!!


Now, onto our hop... and the cue this month is All is Calm... 



a little bit ironic, am I right?! Our cue is about a time of peace and calm when we're having a huge celebration. It made me giggle but I love it! I mean, it 'tis the season!


My first card is using the gorgeous deer stamp and sentiment called All is Calm all is Bright... a sweet Itty Bitty kit just perfect for the Holidays! I combined it with the beautiful Prancing Holiday {paper pack} to make a super quick card! No joke, this took me maybe 10 minutes... and that was only because it took me a couple extra minutes to find just the right red ink for the deer.


I just love it! Beautifully simple and a card that will go through the mail easily without any extra postage! Bonus!


I loved the design of my first card so much, I decided to make another one with a new release... this adorable snowman with his little birdie friends from the All the Small Things kit... oh my goodness! I love it so much! I decided to use another fabulous paper pack from Unity called Brilliant Blizzard!


I tied in the colors of the Brilliant Blizzard papers by coloring the snowman's mixed matched clothes with similar colors. Too cute! I just love this sweet stamp!


My last card is another take on the cue... rather than another Christmas card, I thought I'd create a scene of a calm winter's night using a few of the gorgeous stamps from the October 2019 SMAK kit called All Bundled Up. The last few SMAK kits have been absolutely amazing and this one is definitely a favorite!! 

I started by taping off the bottom portion of my card stock with some purple tape. I then blended Tumbled Glass, Wilted Violet and Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide inks. Once I had a nice blend, I did a little water splatter and white acrylic paint splatter. I let the panel dry overnight to be sure that it was completely dry. I also heat set it just a bit the next day with my heat gun. I knew I was going to heat emboss the cabin image and I wanted to be sure that the embossing powder wouldn't stick to the background. I also rubbed my Ranger Anti-Static pouch over the panel to be safe. 


I then stamped the cabin with VersaMark watermark ink and heat set a black embossing powder. At this point you could still see the background through the cabin so I pulled out my Hickory Smoke, Black Soot and Mustard Seed Distress Oxide inks to watercolor the background with along with my water pen. It took a few applications of the inks to get a nice layer over the background but I think it turned out well. You can see some of the white acrylic paint splatters on the cabin but it almost looks like a light snow... even though I was working towards a calm winter night. I also added a touch of gray to the ground to give the snow some dimension around the cabin. 


To finish off the panel, I stamped the sentiment with VersaMark watermark ink and heat set a fine white embossing powder. I trimmed the panel down to 4 x 5-1/4" and mat it with white card stock measuring 4-1/8 x 5-3/8". I then adhered the mat panel to a black card base. Using both black and white for my layers helps to make the black and white embossed images pop on the card.

That's it for my cards this month! AND because I love the October 2019 SMAK kit SO much... I may have just bought an extra to giveaway for this fabulous celebration of 2 years!!! Woohoo!! I will be announcing the winner for my giveaway on December 14th so hopefully the winner will receive their prize in time for Christmas!! Seriously... SO exciting!!

Thank you all so much for your continued support of our little hop for these 2 fantastic years!!! I really, truly do appreciate each and every one of your sweet comments! 

A few of my friends are having giveaways on their blogs too, so be sure to hop and comment on each of our blogs!! And if you'd like a chance to win one of the fabulous Unity Prize packages be sure to hop and comment on each of our blogs... two winners will be randomly chosen from the comments and they could be chosen from any of the blogs participating in the hop, not just mine!! So be sure to hop and comment!! 

Winners for the Unity Prize packages will be announced on December 14th here on my blog and in the Unity Show & Tell Facebook group... are you a member of the group? You can join by clicking ---> here!! 



Let's get to the hopping...

Crystal <--- you are here

up next ---> Eileen














Thanks so much for checking out my blog post!
See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,
Crystal