A Winter Menagerie

 

 This week's PTI Make It Monday is Motif Building!  I love it and had to join.  I used this adorable Warmest Wishes stamp set to stamp my menagerie of winter animals!

 

 

I decided to just add shadow to the animals with a grey copic and add pops of color with their accessories.  I added rhinestones to each snowflake for some sparkle.   My sentiments  are stamped on fun banners and a little black cardstock peeks out from behind for some contrast.

 

 Thanks for coming by today!

Cardstock: WP9 Black, Recollections White
Stamps: PTI Warmest Wishes, Holiday Lights
Ink: Memento Black, Versafine Onyx
Dies: PTI DE Banner Die, SSS Stitched Rectangle
Other: Copics, Rhinestones

Stamp Storage Switch

 

Hey guys!  It's been a little over a week since I've blogged.  I've been in my craft room working on a few projects that I can't share just yet and trying out a new stamp storage system.  I've been storing my stamp sets in CD cases.  I started with Papertrey Ink and that was their storage system. When I bought brands that didn't come with a CD case, I used ones that I could pick up at Target.   I really liked this system for a long time. As my collection has grown the CD cases just started taking up too much room, became difficult to flip through, and some of the case are getting old and cracking.

It's time to try something new.  I ordered 50 of the Ellen Hutson Storage Envelopes to start with and 25 of the magnetic sheets.  I very quickly filled them all up.  Some of the sets I moved over no longer had their acetate carrier sheet so I made new ones with this clear acetate available locally.  I slipped in a piece of white cardstock that I cut to size; stamp set in front, coordinating dies behind.  Stand alone dies got their own pocket.  So far I love it!  The envelopes are super sturdy, easy to flip through, and take up way less space.  I have a ton of sets still in CD cases {afraid to count}.  I haven't decided, yet, whether I will transfer all of my sets over or just continue with this system going forward... 

Have you switched to pockets?  Are you happy with your new system?  Do you use another system all together? 

 

 

Jennifer's #ShareHandmadeKindness challenge continues this week with Kids, sharing kindness with kids and getting them involved in sharing  kindness with others.  Last week was dedicated to community.  Ryan and I left a little surprise for our mail carrier this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by! 

 

Essentials by Ellen Storage Envelopes, 25pk

Essentials by Ellen Magnetic Die Storage, 25pk

Hero Arts Clear Stamps, Acts of Kindness

*Affiliate Links Used

CASEing Genius Blog Hop Winners and Cupcakes

 

Hi! Friends of ours got engaged this past week.  We met because the groom-to-be is a coworker of my husband.  I'm always sending baked goods to work with Ryan and this called for something special.  I made 24 vanilla cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream frosting.  I wanted to make sure that the bride-to-be could enjoy a cupcake, too, so I packaged up two of the cupcakes in special little boxes.  I tied them up his and hers style.  Ribbon for her, baker's twine for him. I created seals for the boxes using the Little Labels stamp set and dies from Papertrey Ink.  I included a card that I made quite awhile ago with stamps and dies from WPlus9. 

 

 

 I added color with distress paints through a stencil, die cut hearts, and added doodle lines.  See the original post here.

 

 

 

Here are a list of all of the winners from the

CASEing Kelly Blog Hop!

Thanks so much for helping us show Kelly some appreciation and love.  All of the winners are being contacted via email.

 

• the Winter 2015 card kit from Create a Smile Stamps #3 Maaike Uijthoven (from Jen Lotfield’s blog)
• $25 gift certificate from Simon Says Stamp #38 Arianna Barbara (from Shelly’s blog)
• $25 gift certificate from the Ink Road #10 Henriette (from Brandi’s blog)
• a Police Woman digi stamp from Lia Stampz #83 Angela Restad (from Ardyth’s blog)
• $25 gift certificate from a2z Scrapbooking #24 Charlene (from Dee’s blog)
• a crafty goodie bag from a2z Scrapbooking #19 Leslee (from Amy’s blog)
• a crafty goodie bag from Hero Arts #37 Liz Gessner McAlliston (from LauraJane’s blog)
• a $25 gift certificate to any online craft store (winner’s choice) from DJ Kard Creations #56 Cat Craig (from Kristie Goulet’s blog)
• a $25 gift certificate from Altenew #53 Vinita Jain (from the A2Z Scrapbooking blog)
• a stamp set from Dee’s Art Impressions #53 Jeanne (from Char’s blog)   

VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black

Clear Acrylic Block, 3x4 Rectangluar w/ Alignment Grid

Ranger Distress Paint, Mustard Seed

Ranger Distress Paint, Barn Door

Ranger Distress Paint, Spun Sugar

WPlus9 Design Studio Dies, Hearts & Clouds

COPIC Multiliner SP - 0.3, Black

WPlus9 Design Studio Clear Stamps, Love You More

Ranger Media Stencils, Essentials by Dina Wakley

*Affiliate Links Used

Brighten Your Day

 

Good Morning!

I was inspired by Jennifer's confetti stamping for this one.  I stamped the various sized hearts as well as the sentiment in versamark ink and embossed them in white on watercolor paper.  I started by stamping the sentiment and adding embossing powder.  Without heating it, I stamped several hearts, added powder, stamped more hearts, added powder, etc until I was satisfied with the stamping.  Then, I heated everything at once. 

 

 

Once everything was embossed, I added three colors of distress ink with water, from red to pink. Once the watercolor was dry, I used the LF circle dies to cut my focal point circles.  I added a few black hearts in and around the circles.  I die cut the word love several times and stacked them up to create a sturdier embellishment.  

 

 

 I hope you have a great day!

 

Hero Arts Clear Stamps, Acts of Kindness

Hero Arts Wood Stamp, A Bit of Kindness

WPlus9 Design Studio Dies, Flower Doodles

WPlus9 Design Studio Dies, Love Mom

Lawn Cuts Dies, Circle Stackables

VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black

VersaMark Ink Pad

Ranger Embossing Powder, White

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Worn Lipstick

Ranger Distress Mini Ink Pad, Spun Sugar

Ranger Distress Mini Ink Pad, Fired Brick

Clear Acrylic Block, 3x4 Rectangluar w/ Alignment Grid

Cardstock: WP9 Black, Recollections White 110lb.

*Some Affiliate Links Used

Friday Inspiration File Week #243

TGIF!
Wrapping up the week with some beautiful inspiration. 

Check out these pins {Week #243}, and many more, in

The Friday Inspiration File.

Have a great weekend!

Sharing Handmade Notebooks

 

Good Morning!

Continuing this first week of #ShareTheHandmadeKindness, I have a few sets of cards and notebooks that I made to send to crafty friends.  They can use the notebooks to keep track of who they plan to send something to ;)  Love these beautiful colors together:

Falling For Blue, Last Leaf, Pumpkin Spice, and Cranberry Crush.

 

 

I used WPlus9's Pretty Peonies sets for these, the large scale set on the cards and the small set on the notebooks.  This is the kind of set that is so beautifully designed it makes anything you do look gorgeous.  I clustered my flowers around sentiments from the Hero Arts Acts Of Kindness stamp set.  I added a bit of dot detail with black enamel dots and my favorite little stamp from the Dream Believer stamp set.

 

 

I have created a closures for the notebooks using little Velcro circles on some and some have been reinforced and are closed with a mini black binder clip.

 

 

 I have stamped another Acts Of Kindness sentiment on the flap of the envelope and created more envelope seals using my Xyron.

 

 

Putting these in the mail today.  I hope the ladies love them!Thanks for stopping by.

 

ColourQ

 

 

Hero Arts Clear Stamps, Acts of Kindness

Xyron, 1.5" Create-a-sticker Machine

VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black

WPlus9 Design Studio Clear Stamps, Pretty Peonies

WPlus9 Design Studio Clear Stamps, Pretty Little Peonies

Doodlebug Sprinkles, Beetle Black Dot

WPlus9 Design Studio Clear Stamps, Dream Believer

Glue Dots, 3/8"

Be Creative Tape, 5mm (1/4")

WPlus9 Design Studio Dies, Small Butterfly Frame

 

*Affiliate Links Used

Cardstock: WP9 Black, White Recolletions 110lb, Neenah 80lb.
Stamps: WP9 and Hero Arts Linked Above
Ink: WP9 Falling For Blue, Last Leaf, Pumpkin Spice, Cranberry Crush
Dies: SSS Stitched Rectangles, WP9 Sm. Butterfly Frame
Other: Papertrey Ink White Notebooks, Mini Binder Clips, Velcro Circles