blog hop

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Card Hop: Happy Thoughts

Welcome to A Year of Card Techniques Blog Hop where each month we feature a different card technique.  We’ve assembled a team of card makers who range from new to advanced, so you’ll see a great variety of cards and ideas.

June‘s hop is devoted to basic card folds; featuring drapery/curtain fold, peek-a-boo fold or double-z gate-fold.  And we’re adding a twist of using double-sided paper.   We hope this gives you lots of ideas and will inspire you to try these card folds yourself…and pull out that double-sided paper as well!    If you would like to check out our past technique hops, you can do that here:

We have an amazing sponsor this month, Candy Spiegel.

Please take a moment to check out all the crafty goodness on her blog, Candy Scraps.

And the awesome prize this month is four stencils from Elizabeth Craft Designs:

We  really appreciate feedback, so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in the hop today.  While you are encouraged to comment at any time, only comments received by  Friday, June 23, 2017 at 8:00pm (EST) will be eligible to win.   The winner will be announced on Sunday,  June 25, 2017 on A Piece of (my) Heart’s blog, so be sure to check her blog on Sunday.

And speaking of winners, the lucky hopper from last month is SUSAN ELIOT; picked by Random Name Picker.  Congratulations, Susan!  Please get in touch with last month’s sponsor, Jodie Park, to claim your prize.

You should  have arrived here from Jodie’s Blog. If you’re visiting  here first, you might want to start at the beginning so you don’t miss a thing and increase your chances of winning by commenting on  each blog.

 

Flamingos always make me smile, so I thought this would be the perfect card to cheer someone.

I started by cutting black cardstock 4 1/4 x11 and scoring it at the 5 1/2 mark. Then I cut flamingo paper (by Doodlebug) 4 1/8 x 5 3/8.

I used a centering ruler (by Tim Holtz) to find the center on the side of the paper and marked it with a pencil.

Then I cut a slit at the mark about 1 1/2″ into the paper, as shown. Then, fold each corner back.

I added flamingo brads a friend gave me and then adhered it to the black card base.

Finally, I stamped “Happy Thoughts” to the front and it’s ready to send!

Now  you’re off to visit with Debbie. Hope you had fun and thanks for stopping by.  See you next month with another technique!

Here’s the full line-up in case you get lost:

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Foxy Watercolors

Welcome to A Year of Card Techniques Blog Hop where each month we feature a different card technique. We’ve assembled a team of card makers who range from new to advanced, so you’ll see a great variety of cards and ideas.
For May, we are venturing into the world of watercolor. There are so many watercoloring techniques available to us today; far too many to list here. But actions speak louder than words; so our team has worked with their favorite mediums to bring you lots of examples and loads of inspiration.
If you would like to check out our past technique hops, you can do that here:
We have an amazing sponsor this month, Jodie Park of Close to My Heart:
Please take a moment to check out the great products Close to My Heart has to offer. To visit Jodie on Facebook page, just click here.
And the awesome prize this month is:
We really appreciate feedback, so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in the hop today. One winner will be chosen from all comments on the hop as of May 26, 2017. The winner will be announced in our June hop; so be sure to come back next month.
And speaking of winners, the lucky hopper from last month is Golden Goddess Designs; picked by Random Name Picker. Congratulations! Please get in touch with last month’s sponsor, Wilma Payne at wpayne@email.com, by May 26th to claim your prize.
You should have arrived here from Jodie’s blog. If you’re visiting here first, you might want to start at the beginning so you don’t miss a thing and increase your chances of winning by commenting on each blog.
Here’s my project:
I have to admit, watercoloring has not been my thing. I can never get it to look right. But this technique, I think looks pretty good and it’s super easy. It’s sort of my take on the Watercolor the Art Impressions Way by Bonnie Krebs (click here to learn all about it). I love her techniques and I bought quite a few of her stamps, but I wanted to apply some of the same techniques to other stamps, so I tried it with Distress Markers and these stamps from Krista Schneider.
First, I put the stamps on an acrylic block and colored directly on them with a Distress Marker.
I stamped them on watercolor paper and then used a damp brush to drag the color from the edges to the center of the image. The trick is to limit the amount of water. I dipped my brush into a cup of water and then wiped it on a paper towel before using it. If it is too dry, it won’t move the color — just wet it a little more until you can see the color move. If you use too much water, your image will become a lake of mud …
I went back in with the marker to color the nose and a bit of shading on the fox and did the same thing with the owl’s beak and the center of the flowers.
I then used the coordinating dies to cut out each image. Use either a magnetic plate or washi tape to hold the dies in place while cutting.
I took another piece of watercolor paper and cut out the Dotted Oval die by Elizabeth Craft Designs. I inked the border with Distress Ink.
For the background, I smeared Distress Oxide ink on the acrylic block, wet it and then swiped it over the cardstock. I then sprayed it again with water and used a paper towel to remove some of the color … I just wanted the impression of sky and grass …
I put the two pieces back together and adhered them to the new papers from Elizabeth Craft designs and then onto a white cardbase.
Then I put the pieces I had stamped, watercolored and cut out back into a scene.
I love the soft look of watercolor with these whimsical stamps — it’s OK to go out of the lines on this project!
Now you’re off to visit with Debbie. Hope you had fun and thanks for stopping by. See you next month with another technique!
Here’s the full line-up in case you get lost:
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Decorative Christmas Candle & More

It’s been a busy few weeks and I have lots of news to share.

First, I was asked to be on the design team of Scrap It Girl! Scrap It Girl is a monthly challenge blog run by my online friend Kimberly Congdon … each month there is a theme and participants can create whatever we want based on the theme. The design team shows off what they did and then everyone is invited to submit their creations. At the end of the month, a winner is chosen to receive prizes!  I’ll join in the fun in December with a clock challenge.

Globecraft & Piccolo released some new products this week, so I have been busily updating the website. There are new colors of 3D Enamel Gels, snowflakes, leaves, a fireplace, a window and more. Follow the “shop now” link on the right of my page to check them out.

Then, I completed my Copic Intermediate training in Grand Rapids last week. So, in January, I’ll be offering advanced Copic classes including shading, hair and face tones, and more.

A few days ago, I was notified that I made the Mosaic Moments Design Team! It has not been publicly announced yet, so it should remain our little secret, but I am so excited I couldn’t wait any longer to share it! This is one design team I really wanted to be a part of. I have been making Mosaic Moments pages for years and I love how easy the system is to use and how amazing the results are. I have had the opportunity to interview Tami Potter, the owner of the company, and have met her husband and her daughter. They are wonderful people and I am so excited to be a part of their team! And, in January, I will start teaching classes using this system.

I am also participating in my very first blog hop Nov. 16-18. I’ll be posting my project on Nov. 17 — which I just finished at 10 p.m. last night! I hope you’ll stop by and check out all of the wonderful homemade creations for the holidays.

Finally, Friday and Saturday I will be helping Capture A Memory and Michigan Scrapbooker Magazine with their booths in Birch Run at the Deer Widows Weekend Scrapbooking and Stamping Show. There are lots of vendors participating in this show and it should be plenty of fun. Capture is selling Elizabeth Craft products. If you haven’t checked them out yet, you need to! They take minimal effort and provide maximum results. And, I believe we are the only store in Michigan to carry them. Stop by and say, “hi”.

On top of all of that, I am also working on holiday classes, including this decorative Christmas candle. The class is scheduled for Nov. 28 and is limited to 6, so sign-up quickly.

It uses the Copic Airbrush System, a stamp by Impression Obsession and a Piccolo key.

So you see, I have been working hard even though my blog has been a little quiet lately!  Good things are definitely happening!