Wednesday, January 3, 2018

More Fun with the December Flavor of the Month: Winter and Love kit!

Happy New Year! Today, I'm sharing a few more fun ideas for the December 2017 Flavor of the Month card kit. I thought it would be fun to cut up one of the sheets of patterned paper from Collection Two and make Valentines for my kids. 





I cut up the nine rectangles on the patterned paper and layered four of them on some card stock.  They fit perfectly in a little envelope I made using the Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Envelope. Once I adhered the layers, I stamped ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ from the Crate Paper Main Squeeze set included in the Banana Split subscription on the back of the little card. The heart stamp on the front is also from the Main Squeeze set using Worn Lipstick distress ink. I used the little lips stickers to seal the little envelopes and there you have it... I hope the kids like them!

I made another Valentine's card using the Main Squeeze set and the Lawn Fawn Hearts die.


I started by stamping the sentiment with Pink Shimmer Delicata ink. I die cut the hearts around the sentiment and then I adhered some patterned paper behind the white card stock. I die cut the white and pink card stock and adhered them to the white card base, popping up the white heart layer.


I thought the card needed a little something but I still wanted it to be clean and simple so I added some glossy accents to each of the hearts. I captured some of the glossy shimmer in this picture. I just love all the possibilities using this kit!!


Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal





Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Snowy Hill Background with Distress Oxide

Hello! I wanted to share a Christmas card that I made and hadn't had a chance to share yet. I made a similar card for a challenge in the Unity Show & Tell facebook group, but I had made this one first.


I die cut a scrap piece of Whisper White card stock from Stampin' Up! so that I could use it for a stencil, of sorts, to make my hills using the negative side (side without the stitches) of the Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Border die. It's a thinner card stock so it was perfect to use as my stencil. I then grabbed a Stampers Select White card stock card base and blended distress oxide inks alternating between Worn LipstickBroken China, and Wilted Violet. I didn't mask anything... I was just super careful to leave some white between the layers. I started from the top of the card and worked my way down. Once I got my inks blended to my liking, I splattered some water onto the card and let the distress oxide ink do its magic. I dabbed it a bit with some paper towel. 


I then put it in my little splatter box... what's that? It's a little cardboard box that I have with some paper towels in the bottom. I use it to do my splattering and it really keeps the mess contained. Anywho, I dropped my card in the splatter box and grabbed my white acrylic paint. I put a tiny drop on my palette and spritzed it with some water to make it a bit runny. I grabbed my little paint brush and splattered away. I set it aside to dry and started die cutting snowflakes. These snowflakes are from the My Favorite Things Snowflake Splendor card kit... I just adore them!!! There are so many different combinations that you can do with these. I had a blast making mine!! 
I added some glittery goodness to some of my snowflakes using Fun Stampers Journey Sparkle Silk. I layered a bunch of different snowflakes but decided just to use one on this card. I die cut the Joy from a Wplus9 die set called Seasonal Sentiments die. I used the tiny circle die from the Layered Snowflakes Die-namics set to cut out the center of the 'O' on the Joy. Once I had those cut, I set them all aside and decided to splatter the card some more with the Sparkle silk. 


 OMG! It's so sparkly and pretty! I wish it showed up better on the picture. I adhered my Joy die cut and snowflake to the card. My final touch was a Pretty Pink Posh sequin in Ballerina Pink. In the picture, the sequin looks like a light blue color, but it's a pink sequin. Crazy, right?! Love it!


This is the other card that I made using the same background technique. I stamped the {Planner Gal} Cold Outside image directly on my white card base and then I stamped her again on a post it note and fussy cut her out. I masked the image and blended my hills using the same technique I mentioned above. I pulled off my mask and colored in the image using copic markers. I stamped the sentiment on white card stock and die cut it out using the dies from the MFT Snowflake Splendor card kit. I sponged a bit of the Wilted Violet distress oxide ink around the edges of the snowflake and then adhered it to the card. My final touch was a few sequins here and there.

This is such a fun technique and I bet you could use it for other occasions by just changing up the color combos. I may just have to try that myself!


Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal

Friday, December 29, 2017

Last Flavor of the Month for 2017: Winter and Love



As many of the country is surrounded by winter weather what better way to celebrate by having a winter/love themed card kit? Valentine’s Day is by far a super popular holiday and who can resist sendin
g a card to a loved one? This card kit will head your way in plenty of time for you to create some sweet winter love themed cards for all those people in your life that need a sweet little card! 

Our Design Team has brought lots of wonderful inspiration, process videos for you to enjoy! I hope you know we have been listening to your suggestions and we are very thankful that you feel comfortable enough to share them with us! 

Make sure to enter the Rafflecopter over on the Scrapping for Less blog for a chance to win one of the 4 collections for this month! 

Head here to sign up for a subscripition: Banana Split or Double Dip levels. Or to purchase a kit of either Banana Split, Deluxe, Double Dip, or Single Scoop for the month of December.

Also please know that we have several November kits and October kits available just in case you missed out!


Are you ready to see the fabulous and fun cards I made for this Flavor of the Month blog hop?!!?




You may remember these sweet owls from my sneak peek card. I just adore them! For this card using Collection One items and Sketch #1, I started off by stamping the owls using VersaFine onyx black ink on a piece of watercolor paper I had on my desk. I then die cut them out using a circle die that's roughly 3-1/4" in diameter. I watercolored the image using ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers. I set that aside to dry and then layered my papers onto a white card base. I started by cutting a 2" x 4-1/4" strip of pink card stock. I adhered that to the bottom of the card and then picked this cut X's and O's paper. I die cut a stitched border at the bottom and then adhered this paper to the top portion of the card. I cut a banner for the blue arrow paper and trimmed one side off to add to the top of the card. I stamped part of the sentiment onto white card stock and trimmed it to fit on the other portion of the blue arrow banner. I popped those up on the card and then adhered a few sequins to the bottom of the card.




For my second card using Collection Two and Sketch #2, I started by stamping this cute image from Santoro's Friendly Hedgehog using Memento tuxedo black ink. I stamped the image a second time on a post it note that I fussy cut out and masked my main image. I decided to go for a winter night time scene so I blended Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserves, and Black Soot distress inks. I splattered some white acrylic paint and some Sparkle Silk from my supplies. I removed the mask and colored the image using Copic markers {E50, E51, E53, E55, E57, E70, E77, E79, RV0000, RV11, RV21, BG11, BG32, 0}. I set that aside and started to assemble my card. I cut a 4-1/4 x 5-1/2" piece of pink card stock and adhered that to a white card base. I cut the different strips of patterned paper from the Main Squeeze paper pack and adhered those to the pink card. I cut a 3-1/2 x 2-3/4" piece of the aqua card stock and adhered my main image to it. I then adhered the matted image to the card. I stamped the sentiment from the Main Squeeze stamp set that comes in the Banana Split level in black ink and then trimmed it down to a banner. I colored the edges of the sentiment banner using the RV11 copic marker and then I used the Colorless blender to lighten it a bit around the inside edge. I then adhered the sentiment to the card. 



 I thought this cute image needed just a bit more sparkle so I added some Stardust gelly roll to the edge of the ground and then some clear wink of stella to the rest of the ground. It's all kinds of sparkly fun! I hope you can see some of the sparkle in this close up picture.




I had a lot of fun picking out the layers of patterned paper for my third card. For Collection Three, I used Sketch #3... I think at this point, I was on a roll with keeping to the same collection and sketch numbers... I started by cutting all my layers of paper. I cut a 5-1/2 x 4-1/4" piece of aqua card stock that I adhered to a white card base. I then adhered my other layers and set the card aside. I stamped this sweet fox and sentiment in Memento tuxedo black ink and colored in the fox using Copic markers {BG11, BG32, RV11, N0, N1, N3, E51, E55, E57, BG0000, 0}. I adhered the main image to an aqua mat and adhered that to the card. I added a teal rosette to the side and there you have card #3.




So if it's not pretty obvious at this point... I like the aqua blue colors. Ha! To start off this card, I have to admit I was inspired by another Design Team member, Katie. She had mentioned using dies for embossing and the idea to add a little interest to the grey and white plaid paper by embossing the snowflake included in Collection 4 just came to me. Thanks, Katie!! I embossed the snowflake on either end of the paper and then adhered it to a white card base. I trimmed the blue plaid paper and adhered that to the card. I grabbed another piece of watercolor paper and stamped this adorable image from My Favorite Things called Ice Skater using VersaFine onyx black ink. Using the ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers again, I colored this image and then set her aside to dry. I cut a mat for the main image and once it was dry I die cut it too and then adhered it all together. I added a few snowflake brads to the card. Lastly, I stamped the sentiment and then die cut it using a stitched banner die. I popped up the sentiment with some foam tape and there you have it!

I had such a blast playing with this kit! I hope you've enjoyed the cards I shared! Now it's time to check out all the other fabulous creations from the Design Team.


~ Blog Hop Line Up ~

Scrapping For Less

Jessica Wilson

Stacy Tiedemann

Crystal O. Minkler <--- you're here

---> up next Teresa Russell

Katie Williams

Tanya Hahn

Tina Smith


Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal




Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Scrapping For Less ~ December Flavor of the Month Sneak Peek

Hello! I have a super quick and cute sneak peek for the fabulous December Flavor of the Month card kit!! These sneak peeks are hard... I love giving you peeps the details! Ha!




Without revealing too many details, I inked up these adorable owls and the sentiment in Memento tuxedo black ink and then colored them in using copic markers {N0, N1, N2, N3, N5, RV0000, RV11, RV21, YR12, YR24, Y06, E55, B0000, 0}.




I added a couple strips of pretty paper and there you have a quick sneak peek! I hope you're excited for the blog hop tomorrow... I know I am!


Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal



Friday, December 15, 2017

It's All About Christmas at Scrapping For Less

Merry Christmas! I'm sharing a sweet Christmas card for Scrapping for Less today.



You may have already seen the pictures above on the SFL blog today. I have a few more pictures to share. I just love when a card design comes together like this one did!


I just knew I had to use this Shut the Front Door die for this card. It fit perfectly with the beautiful Cursive Merry Christmas word die from Gina Marie Designs. I started by stamping the little snowflakes from Lawn Fawn's Beary Happy Holidays in white ink all over the light blue card stock. I set that aside to dry. I wanted to make the door look somewhat real so I grabbed my leftovers papers from the November Sending Thanks Collection ~ My Mind's Eye Woodgrain papers and die cut the door, the steps and the door handle. I then die cut the wreath using leftover card stock from the October Merry & Bright Collection <--- there's still a couple kits in stock!


For the inside of the door, I cut a 2" x 3-1/8" piece of thin white card stock and used some more scraps of paper... again the woodgrain one and I also used the Christmas music paper from the I Love Christmas paper pack by Echo Park. I layered those patterned papers on top of the white card stock and then trimmed the edges. I inked up the little penguin from Lawn Fawn's Here We Go A-Waddling with Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored him in with copic markers. I fussy cut him out and adhered him inside the door. Now the fun part, adhering all the layers. Once that was done, I layered the entire panel to a white card base.


Here's a close-up picture showing the snowflakes in the background and the glittery goodness I added to the wreath using a clear wink of stella pen. I really had fun making this card! 

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the Scrapping for Less blog today... the whole design team is sharing their wonderful creations all together!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal



'Teas the Season


Hello! I have my final card for the Winter Coffee Lovers blog hop... I'm kind of bummed. I've been having so much fun making cards for the hop and, in fact, I have ideas for more cards but it's time to be done. This post is also kind of bittersweet... I don't want to put a whole bummer on the post though so I'm just dedicating this card and post to my Mom that passed away in September. She loved a good cuppa and I made this for her.


I stamped the mug and deer from STAMPlorations' Winter Mug set using Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored it in with copic markers {R12, R14, R27, 0, N3, N7, E11, E51}. I fussy cut it out and set it aside. I decided to use some patterned papers that I hadn't opened yet... these papers are from Echo Park's paper pad called A Perfect Christmas. 


I cut the papers and adhered them directly to a kraft card base. I then adhered a strip of grosgrain ribbon to the card trimming the sides. I stamped the sentiment from STAMPlorations' Caffeinated Christmas on white card stock, trimmed it and then adhered it to the card. I popped up the mug using dimensionals and there you have it! I think it's cute and I think my Mom would have liked it. :)

There's not much time left to play along but if you have a chance, go check out the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog to play along!!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal


Thursday, December 14, 2017

Stay Cozy


Hello! I have another wintry coffee card for the Winter Coffee Lovers blog hop... I wasn't sure that I would be able to finish this one in time, but I did!!


I started by blending my background using distress oxide inks ~ Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves, and Salty Ocean. I stamped the fun splattered coffee ring from Altenew's Coffee with a Splash set using VersaMark ink and then I heat embossed an ultra fine white embossing powder. I die cut the piece using the My Favorite Things Blueprints 20 scalloped rectangle die.


 I then stamped the image from Unity's {Planner Gal} Stay Cozy kit using Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored her in using copic markers {E50, E51, E53, E55, E57, V06, V09, B00, B05}. I cut the image out using My Favorite Things Stitched Fishtail Flag STAX dies. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment from the same Unity kit directly on the background. I adhered the fishtail flag image and then adhered the whole panel to a white card base. Yay! Card #7 done! BAM!

Go check out the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog to play along!!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.
~ Crystal