Polka Dot Orchard ~ National Coffee Day Blog Hop

Hello there crafty friends! Happy National Coffee Day! 

Today, I'm super excited to be sharing some fun inspiration along with my teamies from the Polka Dot Orchard Design Team! Polka Dot Orchard has joined in with several other companies to hop along in honor of National Coffee Day. This fun event is being hosted by the Coffee Loving Papercrafters Facebook group.

Not only are we hopping along with so many lovely companies, we are doing a hop with our very talented design team to show off many amazing projects created from our newest release. Polka Dot Orchard is doing a few giveaways too. For more information on the giveaways and the full line up for both hops head over to the Polka Dot Orchard blog.

My first card using one of my newest digi designs for Polka Dot Orchard, Merry Little Coffee digi set, has a subtle background using some pretty Christmas papers by Moda Scrap called Christmas Holidays. For this card, I kinda went rogue because I wanted my background subtle and my main image to pop so I pulled the colors from the background papers but brightened them up for the colors on the mug.

I used the following Copic markers for this card ~ YG11, YG23, RV0000, RV00, RV14, RV63, YR21, YR30, E23, E35, E37, E51, N0, N1.

I think the brighter colors really make the mug pop on the card... and I just adore this sentiment!!

I sure hope you like my card too!

My next couple of cards also use new releases for Polka Dot Orchard that I recently designed. This first card features Poinsettia Greetings... a fun small digi set with one poinsettia flower along with a few sentiments. I combined a bunch of the poinsettia flowers in different sizes along with the sentiment in a Word document so that I could just die cut it out with a stitched rectangle die.

This card was so fun to color and I just love coloring poinsettias in pinks!! I used the following Copic markers for this card ~ YG11, YG23, RV0000, RV00, RV14, RV63, B0000. The ribbon is a white wide organdy ribbon from my stash... pretty sure it's retired Stampin' Up! The pretty pearls are from Ink Road Stamps... Donna Pearls Flat Back Half Beads... so pretty!!

My last card features the Halloween Luck digi set... how sweet is this little kitty in a jack-o-lantern?!

I paired him up with some fun jack-o-lantern papers from the American Crafts Spooky Boo paper pad. I kept with a simple orange and black color scheme.

Isn't that font on the Happy Halloween just amazing!! I love it so much!

That's it for me! Be sure to check out the Polka Dot Orchard blog and the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog for more information on this hop and all the fun giveaways!!

Thanks so much for checking out my blog!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Polka Dot Orchard ~ Coffee Lovers Spring I Summer 2019 Blog Hop

Hi there crafty peeps!

I have one last card for the Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!

I can't believe that it's the last day of the hop! So sad!

But I have had a blast creating and hopping... checking out 

all the fabulous inspiration shared... just awesome!

My last card is featuring the gorgeous coffee cup found in the Polka Dot Orchard digi set 

called The Way of Beauty. I absolutely love that Jessica used the flower from her logo for this image!! Absolutely gorgeous!! And a blast to color too!

Knowing that my time today was limited, I wanted a card design that would be quick so I pulled out my Simple Impressions: Celebrations Patterned Paper collection from Papertrey Ink which gave me a great layer to start with. I die cut the paper with a rectangle die and adhered that to an Aqua Mist layer that I had die cut with a scalloped die. I adhered both layers to a white card base and then got to coloring!! I used the following Copic markers on the image ~ Y000, Y06, Y13, Y17, 

Y19, N0, N1, BG000, BG15

I die cut the sentiment with a banner die and popped it up on the card. I also popped up the coffee cup on the card using foam tape. My final touch was some enamel dots in a similar color.

Love how this turned out!! I sure hope you've enjoyed my last card for the hop!

Thanks so much for checking out my blog!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Unity Stamp Company ~ Coffee Lovers Spring I Summer 2019 Blog Hop

Hi crafty peeps!

Can you believe that there's only a couple more days for the Spring/Summer Coffee 

Lover's Blog Hop?! I can't believe it's almost over!! So sad... but I have a fabulous new release to share with you from Unity Stamp Company called Cafe Delights!!

When I saw the gorgeous Cafe Delights stamp set, I just knew I had to combine it with my first and most favorite Unity stamp of all times... Dream of Being!! I decided to go with rich browns for the building and some pops of red and yellow to finish it off. The Dream of Being image just had to be colored with a light aqua to contrast the rich colors. I used the following Copic markers for my card:

Sky/clouds ~ B0000, N0

Sidewalk ~ N0, N2, N4

Menu ~ N2, N5, E57

Cafe/open sign ~ Y06, Y19

Building ~ E07, E08, E09, E55, E57, E59, N0, N2

Canopy/tables ~ R14, R27, R29

Dream of Being Girl ~ E000, E51, BG10, BG32, E55, E57, E59, R14, N2

I used the Newton's Nook Square die to die cut my colored image and the back layer of Aqua Mist card stock. I adhered the layers with mono multi liquid glue and then popped up the whole square panel with foam tape onto a 5 x 5" square card base. I fussy cut the Dream of Being girl and adhered her directly to the panel with liquid glue. I decided to go without a sentiment on the front... I just couldn't cover any of the front panel.

Here's a close up of the colored images. Love love love the new Cafe Delights kit!!

Don't forget to check out the Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

The Rabbit Hole Designs ~ Coffee Lovers Spring I Summer 2019 Blog Hop

Hey crafty peeps!!

So, a few days ago I shared another card using The Rabbit Hole Designs stamps... you can check that card out here ---> Handmade Brew card. When I made the background for that card, I also made this background that I set aside just for the Caffeinated Rabbit! I have been just itching to ink this guy up!! I love this stamp so much!

This was totally me this morning!! LOL... 

So, I considered just leaving the background as is, but as I was reaching for my stitched rectangle die and I saw the Cover Up Stitched Clouds die by Lil' Inker Designs.  I thought it would make the background even better and I have to say that I love it! I very simply colored the rabbit with just a little touch of N0, N2, and R20 Copic markers. The cup was colored with V01 and V06. Now I was gluing down the rabbit and decided to put a little grey mat under him... imagine me doing a mad dash for the grey card stock LOL!! Well, since I was in a hurry I just hand cut my oval-ish mat and glued it hastily down and then finished adhering the rabbit. It was all very hare-ied *wink* *wink* and hilarious to me, anyway!

I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of the same grey card stock using VersaMark watermark ink and then heat embossed a fine white embossing powder. I trimmed the sentiment down to a flag and then popped it up on the panel. The main panel is also popped up on the white card base. 

There you have it... a fun, quick card!

There's a couple more days for the Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop. I sure 

hope you've had a chance to play along!!

Thanks so much for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Scrapping for Less ~ Coffee Lovers Spring I Summer 2019 Blog Hop

Hey there crafty peeps!

Today, I'm featuring products from the January 2019 Perk Up & Start the New Year 

card kit from Scrapping for Less. A fabulous card kit filled with coffee themed products that 

is sadly no longer available.

But for those of you lucky enough to have this kit, I thought I'd share a quick card using some 

of the products. I wanted to try to use up some of the papers in the kit. One of my goals for 

2019... using up some of those smaller pads of paper. Anywho, I layered the checkered papers to 

a white card base also adding a black strip of the black paper from the same paper pad collection called Coffee by Echo Park. I added another scrap of checkered paper to a piece of white card 

stock and adhered that on my card base. 

And to finish off the card I mat the journaling card from the kit to a piece of black card stock and popped it up on the card. Very simple, but I like the offset journaling card... I think it brings interest to the card. I just love that sentiment too! So fun!

Have you checked out the Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop yet? You really should!

Thanks for checking out my blog post for today!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Polka Dot Orchard ~ Coffee Lovers Spring I Summer 2019 Blog Hop

Hey crafty peeps!

I'm back with another... yes, another... coffee themed card for the Spring/Summer 

Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!! I absolutely love love love this gorgeous coffee cup stamp by

Polka Dot Orchard called Good Morning Spring.

It's so beautiful and was so much fun to color!!

I used the following Copic markers to color this digi stamp ~ BG000, BG01, BG09, BG49, Y000, Y13, Y17, E0000, E95, G000, G07, G17, W00, W1

I have been in the habit of finding my papers first and then coloring, but today I colored AND then went searching for just the right papers... Lol... it got a little scary! But I found these gorgeous papers with a very similar yellow and warm greys that I thought would be perfect! The papers are from The Paper Studio and they are called Ninth Street.... a gorgeous pad of papers!!

I just love how this card turned out!

Be sure to check out the Spring / Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

The Rabbit Hole Designs ~ Coffee Lovers Spring I Summer 2019 Blog Hop

Hey crafty peeps!

Today, I'm sharing my love of coffee using The Rabbit Hole Designs little freebie stamp that I received in my last order from the new May release!! If you're not familiar with The Rabbit Hole Designs stamps... you are missing out!! After you check out my card, go check them out!

Once I saw this sweet little stamp set I just knew I had to make an alcohol ink background and pull out my much neglected Alcohol Lift Ink ink pad. I used turquoise and raspberry alcohol inks and just swiped the ink across the yupo card stock using a blending tool with the felt. I stamped the beautiful partial coffee image several times, along with the 'Love' and 'coffee' stamps. I even decided to stamp a few of the caffeine molecule stamp... so fun! 

I'm not sure why my card has a yellow tinge in this picture, but I took a few different photos and couldn't get a better picture so... here it is. 

I mat the alcohol ink layer onto a piece of Tempting Turquoise card stock and wrapped the vellum layer over top securing it with adhesive on the back. I popped up the panel onto a white card base and added a few white enamel dots... bam! Love how it turned out!

I encourage you to check out the Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop... it's so much fun!

Thanks for checking out my blog post today!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

DeNami Designs ~ Coffee Lovers Spring I Summer 2019 Blog Hop

Hey there crafty peeps!

I'm back with a cute card for the Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!

I was lucky enough to have won a prize during the Fall/Winter Coffee Lover's Blog Hop back in November from DeNami Designs and I thought it would be fun to use my prize in a post

for this hop so... here is the card I created!

I stamped the adorable little coffee cups several times over a scrap piece of white card stock along with the cute little owl using Memento tuxedo black ink. I then colored in the images with the following Copic markers ~ RV0000, RV02, V000, V01, B000, B00, Y000, Y02, 

N1, E21, E23, E25, YR02.

For my sentiment, I decided to go with a fun CUTplorations die from STAMPlorations called Java Great Day Phrase die. Isn't that fun!? I thought it was cute with the little owl!

That's it for me today!! Thanks for checking out my blog!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs, 

Crystal

Polka Dot Orchard ~ Coffee Lovers Spring I Summer 2019 Blog Hop

Hello again!

I have another post today for the 2019 Spring / Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!! This time featuring Polka Dot Orchard's gorgeous Flowers in Bloom digi set!!

I combined the sentiment and the top flower together and printed them off. 

I also printed the beautiful coffee cup on a separate sheet that I added several different sizes of the same cup. Love the versatility of digis!! I colored the images using the following Copic markers:

Flowers ~ YR01, YR02, YR27, YR68, Y02, Y06, Y17, Y26, G99, YG95

Cup Sleeve ~ YR0000, YR000, YR21

Cup ~ W1

I fussy cut the cup and popped it up on the card! Isn't that flower just gorgeous?!

I love this digi set!!

Have a blast hopping along with the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!!

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

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

Coffee Loving Cardmakers ~ Happiest of Birthdays with Coffee!

Hello! Today I'm so excited to share a few variations of a Birthday card that I created with a Fall theme for my second guest spot with Coffee Loving Cardmakers. I am a huge fan of Unity Stamp Company and the original Dream of Being stamp set is THE set that got me hooked to their line of stamps. Well... they recently released a second Dream of Being set called Dream of Being {So Loved}  I was blown away! She's just as beautiful as the original and all dressed up for my favorite season ~ Fall!

So naturally, I had to ink her up for some much needed Fall birthday cards. I stamped the image and the sentiment onto several 5-1/2 x 4-1/4" pieces of white card stock and then adhered a couple of strips of patterned paper from Echo Park's Fall is in the Air paper pack. I then die cut them with a Pleated Lace Rectangle die from Gina Marie Designs.

Once that was done, I colored each of the images using the same Copic markers but changing up the colors of the clothes. Here's a list of the colors I used:

Hair ~ E55, E57, E74, E77, E79

Skin Tone ~ E000, E51, R20, RV21

Clothes ~ YR27, R56, YG61, YG63, YG67, YG91, YG93

Cup ~ Y35, W00, W1, N1

Once all of the images were colored, I wrapped the panels with twine and tied a bow. I then popped it up on a 5-1/4 x 4" piece of Summer Sunshine card stock.

 I then mat that panel on a 5-3/8 x 4-1/8" piece of Americana card stock and adhered the entire piece to a Kraft card base.

I love how simple these cards were to make and I think they turned out really nice!

Here's a close up of my favorite card of the bunch. I added some flecks of orange in the hat on this one and I really love how it turned out! It reminds me of a hat that I have! 

 I hope you've enjoyed my cards today and have found some inspiration!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

~ Crystal

Coffee Loving Cardmakers ~ Good Coffee Good Friends

I am beyond excited to be a Guest Designer for Coffee Loving Cardmakers for the month of November! OMG! This is one happy... and overly caffeinated lady!!

The next best thing to a good cup of coffee is a good friend! 

I just had to ink up this sweet set that I got during the STAMPtember event at Simon Says Stamp.  I stamped these fun gals with Memento tuxedo black ink on a 5-1/4 x 4" piece of white card stock. I did a mix of paper piecing and Copic coloring.

For the paper piecing I stamped the images on different pieces of patterned paper from the Echo Park Fall is in the Air 6 x 6 paper pad. I fussy cut the pieces and set them aside. I then colored in the images with the following Copic markers: E0000, E000, E00, E07, E08, E09, E31, E34, E40, E55, E57, E74, W00, W1, W3, C00, C1, C3, C5, R14, R20, R29, B0000, B000, BG000, BG13, BG32, Y28, YR15, YR16, YR27, YR68.

 Once the images and the background were colored in, I adhered the patterned paper pieces and then set it aside. I grabbed another piece of white card stock that I ran through my Big Shot with the Stampin Up Woodland embossing folder. I then ran that through the Big Shot again with an oval die to cut out my 'frame'. I adhered the framed woodland piece to the image and then mat the entire piece on black card stock measuring 5-3/8 x 4-1/8". I then adhered that piece to a kraft card base.

The sentiment for this AI Pumpkin Spice set is rather large so I went searching through my stash to find a smaller sentiment that wouldn't cover up the focal image. I came across the Altenew Latte set and thought this was the perfect sentiment! I stamped it with black ink and die cut it with a banner die. I then trimmed it off on one edge. I thought it needed a little contrast of color so it would pop off the card so I also die cut a black banner. I adhered the pieces together and then adhered them to the card. My final touch was a bow... oh my goodness, this bow took some work! I tied and retied and then tied it again.... but I finally got a bow that I liked. I adhered the bow to the card with some pop dots. I just love how this card turned out... I sure hope you do too!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

~ Crystal