Scrapping for Less ~ July 2020 FOTM Card Kit ~ In the Tropics Collection

Hello there crafty friend!

Today I'm sharing a sweet card using the July 2020 FOTM Card Kit using the In the Tropics Collection. I absolutely love this palm tree silhouette!! It really makes for great scene cards!

I used some Copic markers to create a light scene around the black palm tree silhouette. I went a little heavy on the oranges in the copic coloring because I knew I was using the yellow and orange papers from the collection and card kit. And I threw in a little purple-pink to work with the flower accent!

I used the following Copic markers for this card ~ B0000, B000, RV10, RV21, Y11, Y15, Y35, YR15. 

I finished off the card with a few of the shell sequins. A simple design, but pretty!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Christmas in July 2020 Hop ~ More Inspiration and the Winners for My Giveaways

Hello there crafty friend!

I can't believe that the Christmas in July 2020 Hop is done! It flew by so fast! I had so much fun hopping along commenting on each of the wonderful creations shared by so many. I thought I'd share the tags and cards that I created but that I posted to Instagram rather than here. 

A few cute tags using Doodlebug Design products on Kraft card stock.

A slimline card using the Tile Letters and Northwoods Peace kits from Unity Stamp Co.

A fun Under the Sea twist for this one using the adorable Furmaids stamp set from The Greeting Farm.

And lastly, another Under the Sea themed Christmas card using a couple of my digi sets from Polka Dot Orchard... Magic of Christmas and Under the Sea digi sets. I had so much fun creating these cards and I've got a pretty good amount to start my stash of Holiday cards! Woohoo!

Time to get to the winners of my giveaways!

The first winner of the Unity Christmas Bundle is...

Holly AKA KopyKat!!

Congratulations Holly! Please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com to claim your prize.

The second winner of the Scrapping for Less Christmas Bundle is...

Cindy Holmes!!

Congratulations Cindy! Please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com to claim your prize.

That's it for me today!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

~ Friends of Unity August 2020 Blog Hop ~

Hello there crafty friend!

It's the first Saturday of the month and you know what that means... it's time for the Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! I look forward to these hops so much each month. I hope you do too!

Our cue this month is Sympathy... a tough card to make at times. Definitely a card that we can't always be prepared for. With this in mind, I created 3 quick cards to share with you all.

My first card uses a cute Itty Bitty stamp called Floral Scroll that pairs up really nicely with just about any patterned paper to make a quick card. I cut my patterned paper to 4 x 5-1/4" and layered it on a piece of card stock measuring 3-15/16 x 5-3/16". I then wrapped some twine around the panel and adhered it to a white card base.

I set the card base aside and found an ink that would coordinate with the color in the paper... I settled on Crumb Cake. I stamped the floral scroll image and then stamped the sentiment. I die cut the stamped image with a circle die and then popped it up on the card. A very quick card that could be made with any patterned paper in your stash.

My second card is very CAS... Clean and Simple... I did a little watercolor washing in the center of a 4-1/8 x 5-3/8" piece of watercolor paper with Milled Lavender Distress Oxide ink. I heat set the background with my heat tool and then stamped the pretty flowers from the July 2020 Sentiment kit called Aging Gorgeously with VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

 I set that panel aside and grabbed a strip of Vellum card stock. I stamped the With Sympathy sentiment from the September 2017 Sentiment kit called Abundant Blessings with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then heat embossed some fine black embossing powder being careful not to warp the Vellum card stock. I adhered the sentiment to the watercolored panel with PLUS vellum tape and then wrapped it around the back and secured it with Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive. I then adhered the panel to a white card base. I really like how this one turned out and the background color could easily be changed up to suit the recipient. 

My last card is actually a CASE... Copy And Share Everything... of a card that I made last year. You can check that one out here... Don't Give Up Sympathy card. I kept the Kraft and black combo, but decided to do a slimline card. I used my new Gina Marie Designs slimline dies to die cut my panels.

I stamped the beautiful floral from the Abundant Blessings sentiment kit with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and splattered some black acrylic paint on the panel. I set that aside to dry and stamped the sentiment on a scrap of Kraft card stock. I mat it with some True Black card stock. All that was left was adhering my layers onto my Kraft slimline card base measuring 3-1/2 x 8-1/2". Another quick card!

Here's another look at all three of my cards together. I was able to make all of these in an afternoon... I hope these ideas are a help for when you are struggling to make that difficult sympathy card.

Now... it's time to announce the winner from my giveaway last month and the winner is...

Becca Yahrling!! 

Congratulations Becca! Please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com to claim your prize. 

Prize must be claimed within two weeks.

A few of my friends are having giveaways so be sure to check out all of the fabulous creations along the hop and comment on each blog for a chance to win!!

Let's get to the hopping...

Crystal <--- you're here

up next ---> Eileen

Amber

Dawn F.

Dawn B.

Kim

Bobbie Sue

Robyn

Alaine

Jeanie

Thanks so much for supporting our little hop! We appreciate it so much!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Scrapping for Less ~ Sketch Challenge #7 ~ July 2020 FOTM Card Kit

Hello there crafty friend!

Today, I'm sharing the August challenge for the Scrapping for Less: Show & Share Facebook group! This month's challenge is another sketch challenge. We had a great turn out for our July sketch challenge and I'm really hoping that this fun slimline sketch will also make for lots of entries in our August challenge!

 Before we get to the sketch and the card that I'm sharing today... the key to playing along with the challenge is being a member of the Scrapping for Less: Show & Share Facebook group so if you aren't already a member be sure to join us ---> here.  Also, please note that you don't need a blog to enter the challenge as you're adding a photo of your creation directly into the challenge album in the group. You are welcome to include a link to your blog in the description of your creation, if you'd like.

Let's have a look at the sketch challenge #7...  

You may remember seeing it in the reveal and blog hop for the new July 2020 FOTM Card Kit - In the Tropics... and you may also remember my card using the sketch for the hop. 

Unfortunately, I hurt my back the other day and I am having a slow go at creating right now so I'm sharing the card that I created for the hop. I do hope to share another card at a later time though.

I had a lot of fun blending the skies for this card. I may do a video and share some tips in how I kept the scenes in place throughout each circle. But that will be later in the month. Anywho, this challenge will run from today, August 1st and will end August 31st at 11:59pm EDT. The winner will be announced in the comments of the Challenge album on Tuesday, September 1st. Please use #sflsketchchallenge7 in any social media posts when playing along with the challenge.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Scrapping for Less ~ June 2020 FOTM Card Kit ~ Two More Cards

Hello there crafty friend!

Today I have a couple cards to share to wrap up my inspiration for the June 2020 Flavor of the Month card kit called A Walk in the Park.

My first card using the adorable ephemera from the Picnic Time collection and the fun papers. This was such a quick card once I decided on which papers to use together.

I mat the ant picnic paper on the Gumdrop Green card stock in the kit. And mat the yellow  on a Lemon Drop card front. The ephemera is popped up with some foam squares. And to finish it off, I added a few sequins from the Banana Split subscription sequins.

My second card for today uses a few different papers from the cute On the Playground collection. I had some longer scraps of the On the Playground papers and thought they would be fun together. I adhered all of them to a lightweight white card stock that measures 4 x 5-1/4". I actually stamped the slide twice... once on the ombre blue patterned paper and again on a scrap piece of white card stock. After I colored the slide, I fussy cut it and cleaned up the edges with a Memento Tuxedo Black marker. I didn't fussy cut in between the steps on the slide... I actually just colored that space with a copic marker. I popped up the focal piece with foam squares and tied the green twine around the panel. I then adhered the panel to the white card base with Tombow Mono Multipurpose liquid glue. I added a few sequins to finish off this second card.

I used the following Copic markers to color this card ~ R000, R14, R27, Y000, Y06, Y15, B000. 

I hope that you've liked my last share for the June 2020 FOTM card kit!! I'll be back tomorrow with inspiration for the new August 2020 Sketch Challenge for the Scrapping for Less: Show & Share Facebook group.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky hugs,

Crystal

Christmas in July 2020 Hop ~ Graciellie Design ~ Dreaming of Christmas

Hello there crafty friend!

It's day 5 of the hop and I am on a roll... woohoo!! Today I am featuring our fifth Sponsor for the hop... Graciellie Design!! I adore Graciellie Design's digi stamps and papers, as well as her red rubber stamps and paper pads that are available at Unity. The owner, Gracie Chavez, is a wonderfully talented artist and just the sweetest gal!! I was very excited that she said yes to my invitation to Sponsor this little Hop! Be sure to drop by her shop here ---> Graciellie Design

I had a hard time deciding which digis to use for my card today... but once I saw the cup from the Coffee Lovers digi set and the poinsettia cluster from the Merry Everything digi set, it was pretty much a done deal. The dreaming of Christmas sentiment from the Dreaming Of Christmas digi set was also a done deal because I dream of days where I can enjoy the beautiful Christmas decorations while drinking my coffee. I combined all the digis in a Word document and printed them off. I kept them kind of big... I wanted to make a large 5 x 7" card.

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

Cup ~ BG0000, BG000, BG01, BG23, C00, C1, C3

Poinsettias ~ R000, R01, R14, R27, R43, R46, G000, G24, G46

Pinecones ~ E23, E25, E27, E30

Holly ~ G000, G12, G24

Mistletoe ~ C00, C1, C3, G000, G12, G24, G46, G85 

Berries ~ R000, R14, R27

Table ~ E51, E55

I trimmed down the main panel to 4-3/16 x 6". I knew that I wanted to use a kraft card base so all I had to figure out was my paper layer. I debated doing a glitter paper... and then I thought about black, but I didn't want to go dark so I looked through my paper pads of Christmas paper and came across the Tim Holtz Paper Stash Christmas papers and these diagonal stripes papers are perfect! I cut them to 4-1/2 x 6-1/2" and adhered my layers to my card base.

I added a bit of white gel pen to the centers of the poinsettias, the whip cream, the mistletoe, and on the sides of the cup. That finished off my card! I love it!! And I know just who will be getting it! One more done for my stash! Yay!

I hope that you'll check out our Christmas in July 2020 Hop and play along! I've enjoyed seeing all the creations being shared so far... I have all kinds of ideas for more cards. If only there was more time in the day to create! That's it for me today.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Christmas in July 2020 Hop ~ Scrapping for Less ~ A Vintage Ornamental Christmas

Hello there crafty friend!

I'm back with more Holiday inspiration for the Christmas in July 2020 Hop using some fun products from Sponsor Scrapping for Less!! I'm using the gorgeous Vintage Christmas papers along with the beautiful Ornamental Christmas stamp set!! Both of these products were included in a gorgeous Christmas card kit that released last year in November... but now they are available separately in the shop AND they are on sale, along with a bunch of other products!!

Speaking of last year's Christmas themed card kit by Scrapping for Less... I challenged myself to pull out at least one of the collections and finish off ALL of the papers in that collection and I was able to make these four cards!! I am so excited to not only have a jump on more cards for my stash, but to finish off a collection!! Mind you, I still have a bunch of collections, but you have to start somewhere, right?!

This fabulous sketch from Mojo Monday was the one that I used. Isn't it a fun sketch?!

It was perfect to use with these papers!! I did change up my fourth card because I was running low on scraps and I wanted to color the gorgeous ornament in the Ornamental Christmas stamp set. It has been a long time since I've done any no-line coloring so I gave it a go with this ornament.

Here's all the cards I created...

Here's a list of the Copics I used for the first three cards ~ BG000, BG70, BG72, R17.

Very simple coloring on these!

And here's the ornament I mentioned above... isn't it stunning?! I had fun coloring it.

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

Blue/Greens ~ BG70, BG72

Yellows ~ Y000, Y11, Y15, Y17, Y28

Reds ~ R000, R14, R24

The Happy Christmas sentiment is in the same stamp set. The enamel dots all came from a random sheet in my stash... I'm really not sure which brand they are, but they coordinated very nicely with these colors.

One last look at all four cards... I really love how they turned out!

As I mentioned above, Scrapping for Less is one of the Sponsors for our Christmas in July 2020 Hop. The owner, Teresa Russell, is a very dear friend of mine and I have been privileged to work with her on the design team and as an illustrator for 3 years next month!! The time has seriously flown!! We share a love of all things Christmas so I was very excited to share my hop idea with her and she was just as quick to say yes to being a Sponsor!

Now before you leave, I have another giveaway to share.

I have a brand new Ornament Christmas stamp set AND a Vintage Christmas paper pad for one lucky winner from the comments on THIS blog post!! I'll choose and announce the winner here on my blog on August 3rd.

I hope that my cards today have inspired you to pull out your Holiday products and get inky!

Don't forget to link up your new Holiday creations on the Build Your Stash Holiday Hop blog!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal