12 Kits of Occasion - Watercolour Wonder

It's the last day of the month!  Yep.. things are a little tricky this year - 29 days in February since it's a Leap Year!  So confusing!!! LOL!!! But I'm so happy because it's time for my 12 Kits of Occasions reveal.  So what is the 12 Kits?  It's a group of 12 friends who love to design cards.  Every month we take turns providing a kit to the rest of the group.  We all get the same kit - and on the last day of the month we reveal what we made with the kit.  It's fun to see how some of our ideas are the same and others?  Well not so much!  LOL!  Sometimes I scratch my head and think ... "how'd they come up with that?!!"  

The kit this month...   Amazing!!   Take a look.....

 This kit was put together by one of our newest members Nancy Penir from Artful Notions Blog!  Nancy spared no expense with this kit.  She chose the theme "Watercolour Wonder" and provided everything needed to start splashing..  including watercolors, watercolor pencils, brushes, masking fluid and so much more.  The kit included images stamped on watercolor paper, die cuts, ribbon, gems, and even pattern paper and ribbon if you didn't feel like painting!   

My tricky ingredients to look out for this time?  Let's see... the only things left from my kit?  The embellishments if you can believe that!  Look for wood and cork dots!

So where to start?  Gosh I made so many things.. YEP!  A new record for me... count 'em...  NINE!! YES!!! 9 cards!   So yes.. if you're wondering... I had a blast!

 Had to show you a close up with the glittery frosting!

This little kraft tag was included in the wrapping of our wonderful kit!  I couldn't toss it - so a beautiful wedding tag to share!   Don't you love the glittery ribbon?

Ready to see more?  Here's a list of the 12 Kits of Occasions Design Team and we have a special guestie this month too Marcia Hill!

Nancy Penir - Artful Notions  (our hostess)

Marybeth - It's Time For Paper

Joyce - Cards By The Sea

Kim - Cupcakes Cards & Kim

Jessica - The Paper Parade

Sharron - On Papillon Wings

Tracey McNeely - In My Creative Opinion

Lindsey Larsen - Occasional Crafting

Michele Ferguson - I Card Everyone

Lisa Elton - My Paper Tales

Michelle Leone - Pretty Periwinkles

You can also visit our blog - The 12 Kits of Occasions - where you'll see a sample from each of the designer and find links to their blogs.  There is also a complete ingredient kit if you see something you must have!  LOL!

Have a great day and thanks for the visit!

Playing with Deco Foil at The Twinery Today!

Do you love your bling? Well you are in the right place this week. Deco Foil sent some of their Foil Transfer sheets to the Twinery Design Team to play with. I love trying a new product so I couldnt' refuse when I was asked if I wanted to play along. The team has already shown you how easy it is to use Deco Foil with your laser printer and laminator. But what if you're like me and you don't have a laser printer, or one that uses toner? What if you don't have a laminator? I wanted to think of a way to use the product without these items.While working out ideas at the craft store I found Deco Foil Transfer Adhesive. This is a thick glue that you can apply to just about everything - wood, metal, paper etc. I love wood veneer embellishments and wanted to see how well the foil would apply. The Transfer Adhesive has a fine point tip so you can apply it exactly where you want it - think accents or even writing a word.

I generously applied the adhesive to the veneer wood embellishment with a disposable paint brush. When it was dry I pressed the foil into the glue and it adhered beautifully. If you miss a spot you can always repeat the process to add more shine. Tip: For small embellishments like these bitty wood stars it helps to adhere them to a sheet of scrap paper before you treat them. This keeps them put - all in one place. They're easy to remove from the scrap paper later when you want to use them.

I love purple and gold together so some beautiful Orchid Twinery Twine is the perfect accent for my elegant birthday card!

Deco Foil and Twinery Twine make a great addition to your crafty stash - they're both an easy way to make just about everything look elegant and extra special!

Finished Size 4.25 x 5.5"

Twinery Twine Orchid

Deco Foil Gold 

Wood Veneer 

Stamp:  Waltzingmouse Teeny Trees

Dies:  Pretty Little Studio Stitched Border, Cheery Lynn French Pastry Doily

Pattern Paper:  Basic Grey South Pacific

Ribbon 5/ 8" Silky May Arts 

Button

SPDSS42 Hoppy Easter!

Happy Wednesday!   I hope you're having a great week!  The weather here is beautiful!! YAY!! Mori and I get to go walking!   I love listening to the birds sing - and I even heard some cranes whirling overhead!   It almost seams too good to be true!   Spring really is on it's way!! LOL!  

A new sketch challenge begins today at Sugar Pea Designs. The prize - a $75 gift certificate to the shop is awarded monthly.  Since the sketch is weekly you can play along with the design team as many of the monthly challenges you like.  The more weeks you play, the more entries you have for the prize.  You can get all the details here at the Sugar Pea Designs Blog.  Here's the sketch this week....  



I've got Easter on my mind so I thought it was the perfect time to start playing with the One Big Hoppy Family Set!  This set is amazing - Mom, Dad, and yep!  lots of bitty bunny kiddos so you can make lots of fun scenes! 

I stamped Mom and the kids with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored them up with Copic markers.  I chose colors to compliment my background papers. When I was finished I fussy cut the image and decided it needed a frame.  I cut a background matt with the Zig Zag Stitched Circles.  I love the little arrows all pointing toward the center - like HEY!  Look at me!!! 

The "Hoppy Easter" sentiment was die cut with the Stitched Flags.  There is a stitched detail along the edge.  I keep thinking I'll make a coupon book and use the stitching as a tear away / perforation. 

I wanted to show you the dimension on this card.  It has lots of layers but the base is completely flat.  I wanted to raise the circle so I could slip a button underneath.

The twine is wrapped completely around the card and tied on the front.  When I adhered the scalloped circle I left a space in the adhesive foam so the twine slides freely underneath. 

Need a little more inspiration?  Check out what the rest of the team made!  Just click on their names here.

Kerin Sylvester
Brandi Hall

Claire Broadwater

Deanne Kay

Karren Johnson

Laura Jane

Lee Ann Barrett

Lesley Croghan

Mackie Robertson

Now it's you're turn!  Hop on over to Sugar Pea Designs and play along with us!

Finished Size 4.25 x 5.5"

Stamps:  Sugar Pea Designs One Big Hoppy Family

Dies:  Sugar Pea Designs Zig Zag Stitched Circles, Stitched Flags, Spellbinder Scalloped Circles, Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Borders

Twinery Denim Twine

Pattern Paper:  Echo Park For The Record 2 12"

Hugs and Kisses from Angel and Dixie

Hi and thanks for stopping by ! Some days it's just hard to get motivated. I confess I find myself getting lost on the internet for hours at a time. The Pretty Little Studio Blog to the rescue! We have lots of great ideas for ways to use your crafty stash. Today's feature is "Pinterest Inspired". We show you a hand picked photo from Pinterest and then spin it into a project. Check out this gorgeous pic...
Lots of great ideas for this one right? It looks like a party going on! Maybe a shaker? A birthday card? I gravitated to the pretty pastel colors for my card today.
This one is a great way to use lots of scraps that you just can't part with. I created a background using papers from two collections - Hopscotch and You and Me. The papers from each collection are easy to mix and match.
Are you a card maker like me? Then you're going to love the latest addition to the store. The "Hugs and Kisses" sentiment is from a package of Die Cut Tags that you'll find in the Wonderland Collection. There are 25 die cut sentiments in the package in a variety of colors. Some are specifically winter related, but others are very general like "Happy Birthday", "For You", etc. that you can use on a variety of projects.

The kitties in the basket are a die cut called "Angel and Dixie". Kitties are always getting into things! LOL! They look like they made a little bed out of this basket of yarn. Of course they need a nice knitted blanket! I tucked them in with a Cambridge Doily. I'm always trying to stretch my supplies, so when I saw that the entire doily wouldn't show behind the large die cut I snipped the doily in half. I'll save the other half for another project. I use the smaller 4" size for cards.

To continue the theme of knitting / sewing, I slid a pin in behind the die cut. Since the die is adhered with adhesive foam tape it was easy to stick the end into the foam. A seam binding bow and a button with some twine threaded through are the finishing touch. I adhered the bow using my hot glue gun, and then topped it with the button. I left the string that is threaded through the buttons extra long for a more playful look - or maybe cat's whiskers? LOL!!

These little guys are adorable!

Finished Size 4.25 x 5.5"
Pretty Little Studio Products:
Pattern Paper | Hopscotch | You and Me
Die Cut Tags | Wonderland Collection
Die Cut | Angel & Dixie
Doily | Cambridge | 4"

Misc:  Ivory Button Twine Mary Arts, Pin, Button

Here Comes Peter Cottontail!

You already know that Poppystamps has so many pretty dies - but have you checked out all the great stamp sets they have? Today I'm playing with the Easter Excitement set. What's really unique to me about the Poppy sets - besides the obvious super cute images - is the number of dies you get with the coordinating dies set. There is a matching die for just about every image in the stamp set.
It's really easy to create a scene. I used Peerless watercolors from Birch Press Design to make a simple background. You don't have to be an expert at watercolor - I used two colors for this background - blue for sky, and green for grass. If you look close you will see that I kept a very small margin between the green and the blue so that they would not blend together.
Next add the stamped images... I stamped the sentiment and stitched springy arch that gives my bunny motion directly onto the watercolor paper with Versafine ink. Make sure you ink it up good and stamp it a few times on scratch paper before you commit to the textured watercolor paper. Dont worry if your impression isn't perfect - you can fill in any missed areas with a fine point marker.
I stamped the images with Memento Tuxedo Black, and colored them with Copic Markers. The images are easy to die cut because the coordinating dies are window cuts. You simply place the die over the stamped image, tape the die in place and then die cut.

I adhered the die cut images with adhesive foam tape to add some dimension. I love all the extras in the stamp set like the butterflies, and little chickie. There is even a jelly bean, heart and carrot in the set!! This was a fun scene to create and I know you'll love working with these sets.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day! 

Finished Size 4.25 x 5.5"

Poppystamps Easter Excitement Stamps and Dies

Peerless Watercolor

Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Markers

On My Mind

Wow it's a nice day in the Chicago area.  Finally the temps are above freezing!  I can't tell you how tempted I am to run outside in a pair of shorts.  Midwest folks will know what I'm saying.  Our first nice day and we all have the windows either open or down and our coats off.  Never mind that the rest of the country would still consider it more than a little chilly today!  I had to get out and walk Moriko!  It's so WINDY - and it's garbage day - so there is all sorts of things flying down the street - plastic bags and empty water bottles.  Poor Moriko thinks they're all alive and wants to chase them down the street!!! 

I'm posting at The Twinery Blog today with this floral card that was inspired by the latest Card Concept Challenge.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the inspiration photo - all those pretty flowers... and oh those colors - yellow pink orange and blue.  Is this yummy or what?   Of course I had to get out a pretty flower set to work with! 

I decided to stamp my own background for this one.  I started with the big scallop frame stamp that is in the Papertrey Ink Nostalgic Notions set.  The white inside and outside the frame was a little disturbing - you know how I love my color...

So I blended some Distress Spun Sugar along the edges, making sure to not get it inside the scalloped area. Last I took the little flower cluster stamp from the button set and added some flowers on the outside of the frame. 

 The double stamp flowers were fun and easy to work with.  

 Of course I had to add some Twinery Twine.  It's my favorite brand!  I'm usually reaching for the striped, but it seemed to get lost in the red and white stamped background so I went with the solid.  It's bold enough to hold it's own here. 
The finishing touch?  A few gems of course!   I think gems are sorely neglected lately - seems like I'm always using enamel dots or sequins lately.  Gems made the perfect flower centers today! 

 Turn to the Left...

Turn to the right!   mmmmm bop.. fashion...  LOL!!

Have a great day and I hope I see you at Fusion Card Challenge!  Happy Friday too!  
 

Finished Size:  4.25 x 5.5"
Stamps:  Papertrey Ink Nostalgic Notions
Twinery Solid Maraschino Twine
Gems