Coffee is Better ~ Angie Blom Digital Designs ~ Coffee Loving Papercrafters

Hello crafty friends!

I’m super excited to be guest designing for the month of February for the Coffee Loving Papercrafters!

Today I'm sharing a fun mixed media card featuring digi stamps from Angie Blom Digital Designs. I combined and resized the frame and coffee cup from the Vintage Frames and Coffee is Better Digital Stamp Sets in a Word Document.

Printed them off on white card stock and colored them up with my Copic markers. 

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

Frame: BG000, BG01, BG72, E50, E30, E35

Cup: E50, E21, E23, E25, BG000, BG01, BG72, R20, R14

Red Background: R00, R20, R14

I ink smooshed a fun background panel using Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Inks leaving some white space on the panel. I also spattered some Ground Espresso Distress Ink from the leftover ink on my desk. I adhered the panel to an A2 card base of dark brown card stock. 

I popped up the sentiment, cup and the vintage frame using foam tape. Lots of fun dimension for this card. So much fun to make! I hope you've been inspired to get inky with your coffee stamps!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky hugs,

Crystal

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Falling for the Holidays 2022 {BYSHC} Linky Party ~ Joy and Noel ~ Angie Blom Digital Designs

 Hello there crafty friend!

I can't believe that it's day 6 of the Falling for the Holidays 2022 {BYSHC} Linky Party already! Time is just zipping on by... I hope that you are having fun and building your stash along with us! Today I'm sharing a card using the beautiful new digi stamp from return Sponsor Angie Blom Digital Designs called Joy and Noel!

This beautiful digi is so fun to color! I went with a bit of a rainbow theme so I chose the Really Rainbow Christmas papers from Sponsor Lawn Fawn. I don't believe these papers are available anymore but Lawn Fawn just released some really pretty new knit papers!! I love knit papers!

Here's a quick list of the Copic markers I used to color up this beautiful digi stamp:

'J' and 'Y' ~ C00, C2, C3, R20, R14, R27

Bell ~ Y11, Y15, Y35, Y28, Y06

Bow ~ YG11, G24, G46

Lights ~ B000, B00, B02, Y11, Y15, YG11, G14, V000, V12, V15, R20, R14, R27

I die cut the panel with the largest die from the Pleated Lace Rectangles dies from Sponsor Gina Marie Designs. One of my favorite die sets from Gina Marie Designs!

I added some sparkle to the bell with Nuvo Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer pen. You can see a tiny bit of sparkle in this photo. I also added a bit of shine to the cute lights with some Ranger Glossy Accents. 

Before you leave, be sure to stop by Angie Blom Digital Designs... Angie has a wonderful Buy 2 Get 1 Free Sale going on right now!! Woohoo!! And if you haven't already, stop by the Falling for the Holidays 2022 {BYSHC} Linky Party to check out all the wonderful Holiday inspiration being shared!! I am blown away by all the amazing cards being shared!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

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Halloween Series 2020 ~ Oxide Blended Slimline Card ~ Polka Dot Orchard

 Hello there crafty friend!

I'm back for my last day of my Halloween Series for 2020! I hope that you've enjoyed the cards that I have shared! I've had a lot of fun with the different techniques and card designs! My last card just may be my most favorite so let's get to it!

It's no surprise that it's a slimline!! I'm definitely hooked on these! I used the new Webs of Life background digi along with the spider from the new Hang in There digi set. And just had to use my witches boots from the Best Witches digi set... all these fabulous digis are available at 

Polka Dot Orchard!!

I used the following Copic Markers for this card:

Spider ~ N0, N1, N2, N4, V04, V06

Witches Boots ~ V000, V04, V06, V12, N0, N1, N4

I am not a fan of spiders... lol... but I really love the touch that this spider gives to this card!

I adore how these boots turned out!! The overall card... really turned out awesome!

I hope that you like it too! And that you've enjoyed my Halloween Series!

I show a fun trick for more vibrant printed backgrounds when working with digi stamps in my YouTube video for this one. I hope you'll check it out... Here!

That's it for me this time!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Polka Dot Orchard ~ CAS Card ~ Trust Your Journey

Hello there crafty friends!

Today, I'm sharing a CAS card using the adorable digi set called Trust Your Journey by Polka Dot Orchard. I just adore this sweet digi set and the sentiments included in this digi set have such deep meaning. I especially love the one I used for my card today... 'Forget the mistake, Remember the lesson.' This is definitely a meaningful sentiment... one that I take to heart.

Now if you're not familiar with CAS cards, the acronym CAS stands for Clean And Simple... so a CAS card is a card that is clean and simple. And CAS cards are my jam! I love them! Sometimes they come together super quick but other times, even though they are clean and simple, they aren't necessarily easy. But I have found while working with digi stamps that digi stamps are perfect for CAS cards. I can easily combine images together in a Word Document and print off a card front. For the card I created to share today, I combined the image of the girl with the moon and combined it with the sentiment... both I kept higher up on the card front. I then printed it off.

I trimmed the card front to 4-1/8 x 5-3/8" and got to coloring! Since I wanted a CAS card, I only did a limited amount of coloring focusing on the direct area of the image and a little bit around it.

I used the following copic markers:

Skin ~ E000, E00

Hair ~ E35, E37, E47

Clothes ~ BV000, BV02, BV11, C00, C1, C3

Moon ~ Y000, Y02, Y06, Y15, Y35

Sky ~ B0000, B12, B21, B37, B39

Grass ~ YG05, YG11, YG17

Once I was done blending and coloring the image, I added a few stars to the darker part of the sky with white gel pen. I adhered the card front to a Night of Navy card base and called this CAS card done! I love how this turned out!

I sure hope that you love it too! If you love this sweet image, you can check it out here ---> Trust Your Journey digi set. If you're curious about digi stamps and want to see some of the other images available by the fabulous artists of Polka Dot Orchard, check out this link ---> Polka Dot Orchard.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

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

Polka Dot Orchard ~ Beary Best Friend ~ Technique Thursday

Hello there crafty friends!

Today, I'm sharing a fun and easy technique for Technique Thursday with Polka Dot Orchard... a little ink blending with some splatter! Let's get to it, shall we?!

I'm starting with a piece of Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor card stock. You can ink blend on any card stock really. I chose this card stock because I know I'll be doing a some water splatter and it works better on this card stock. I lined up my piece of card stock on my Glass Media Mat so that I can get a straight line for my horizon using the purple tape.

Once I had the tape on, I could pull up the card stock and position it at an angle... I have found this position to be most comfortable for me when ink blending. 

I thought this would be a great time to share my foam storage for my blending tools. I can't take credit for this idea... a crafty friend shared this idea with me. Some dvd style stamp cases, a few labels and velcro circles... I love it!! And I keep it on my shelf right next to my desk... super handy!!

I decided on Tumbled Glass, Wilted Violet, and Faded Jeans Distress Oxide inks to blend for my night sky background. There are so many awesome combos for night sky ink blends though.

I started by ink blending the Tumbled Glass along the tape line. I went up about an inch... maybe an inch and a quarter. And then I ink blended some of the Wilted Violet. I started blending it just above the Tumbled Glass and worked my way up and then down over the Tumbled Glass. I typically go over my blends at least three times to get a good blend. 

I went back in with the Tumbled Glass over the Wilted Violet just to lighten the harsh line between the colors.

And then I blended the Faded Jeans on the top and worked my way down into the Wilted Violet.

I went back in with the Wilted Violet over the Faded Jeans and the Tumbled Glass until I was happy with the blends. In this picture the colors look much lighter than they are in real life, but it shows the blends so nicely.

It is so cool to pull the tape off and see that stark white strip underneath. Be careful when pulling the tape up though... move in one direction and pull slowly. On a clean piece of card stock like this there shouldn't be an issue pulling it up but when you put purple tape on card stock with Distress Oxide inks blended in, you'll want to be sure that the ink is dry and then still be very careful pulling up the tape. I share this from experience. I didn't want quite this much white space so I re-positioned the tape and ink blended some more of the Tumbled Glass ink. I kept it a bit lighter and I like the line it created... like the horizon in the distance.

Time for some water splatter!! I have a tiny spray bottle on my desk and for this technique I squirt some water right into the palm of my hand... probably four squirts. I rubbed my hands together just slightly and then clapped over my panel.

If you use more water you are more likely to get bigger droplets on your panel. It also depends on how close your hands are to the panel. I wanted mostly tiny droplets so I only did a little bit of water and kept my hands higher up from the panel.

Let the water do it's magic for a few seconds while you grab a paper towel. I usually fold the paper towel in half and lay it on top and press gently with my hands.

I love the subtle splatter that water gives to the ink blended backgrounds, but white acrylic paint is one of my favorite ways to add a snowy white splatter. I added a tiny drop of Apple Barrel White acrylic paint to my well loved palette.

I added a few squirts of water to the paint. Watering down the paint helps to thin out the paint so you can get those tiny splatters like snow on your projects.

I mixed it all up with my cheap watercolor brush that I took from my kids watercolors. Shhh... don't tell them I have it! lol

And then grabbed my splatter box... an old box that I've lined with paper towels in the bottom. 

I then just tap my paint brush with my index finger over the panel and get all kinds of fun splatter. You can play with this technique too... getting your brush really wet or holding your hand closer to the panel can also get you bigger droplets. A less wet brush or your hand placement further from the panel will get you tiny droplets. It's lots of fun to play around and see what kinds of splatter you can create! One of my favorite techniques!

I had combined and resized these digi images from the Beary Best Friend digi set by Polka Dot Orchard to fit on an A2 card base for another projects, but decided to use them for this one instead.

I colored the image with the following Copic markers:

Bear ~ N0, N1, R00, R14, R20, R29, R83, C00, C1, Colorless Blender

Fox ~ R00, R20, R83, E0000, E00, E95, E99, B000, B00, B02

Bird ~ N0, N1, N2, N4, R00, R20, R83, YG11, YG13, C00, C1, Colorless Blender

Holly ~ G000, G24, G46, R00, R14, R29

Present ~ R00, R14, R29, Y06, Y11, Y15

I fussy cut the colored image and trimmed down the sentiment. I'm thinking I like this placement for my image and sentiment, but it needs something!

And the finished card! I decided to trim the panel down to 5-3/8 x 4-1/8" and adhere it directly on the A2 white card base. I also mat the sentiment with a slightly larger white mat. I popped up the image and the sentiment with foam tape... I love the extra dimension it gives to the card!

A close up of the card... love how this sweet card turned out!! I hope that you've enjoyed my first Technique Thursday post for Polka Dot Orchard... I had a blast!! I hope that I've inspired you to try out ink blending and splattering! If you have any suggestions for techniques that you'd like to see, comment and let me know... maybe your suggestion will be featured next time!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

Polka Dot Orchard ~ America My Hero ~ Happy 4th of July!!

Happy 4th of July crafty friends!!!

I'm here to share a couple cards that I made for the 4th of July using the wonderful America My Hero digi set from Polka Dot Orchard ...created and designed by my crafty friend, Jeanie Hays!! This is a fabulous digi set and wonderful for your 4th of July cards! I also think it would be great to use for military cards!

I created and designed both of my cards at the same time. I started by printing off the star background that I had resized and printed off in a Word document. This was actually printed as a full sheet of digi images that I cut down to a half sheet. I then blended Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide ink over both star backgrounds... for some reason in the picture above it's really light but this is the finished blended backgrounds that I use in both of my cards. 

 

My first card using the blue star background... see how different it is in this picture... so weird!
Anywho, I colored the wonderful jar and flag and the banner using B0000, B000, B24, B28, R000, R14, R27, E11, E35, E51, N0, N1, N3, and the Colorless Blender Copic Markers. I fussy cut the images and set them aside. I then die cut my blue star background with a large stitched rectangle die. 

I die cut the sentiment that I combined with the fireworks images. I adhered that piece to the blue star background. I then popped up the jar image and adhered the banner with liquid glue. My red layer for this card actually came from the die cut negative of my second card. I adhered my entire panel to that piece and then adhered the entire card front to a white card base.

My second card focuses on the large sentiment... I blended Candied Apple around this sentiment and die cut it with a medium sized stitched rectangle die. I layered my blue star background onto a large scrap of white card stock and wrapped it several times with some red and white bakers twine. I then layered the entire panel onto a Real Red card base.

I popped up the sentiment with foam tape and finished off my card using white gel pen to color in a few stars. I'm loving how these cards turned out! I sure hope that you enjoy them, too!

I wish you and your family a very safe and wonderful 4th of July!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal