February 2013

A sequin-y hello!

A Lot to Say, sequins, swirly twirly tags 2.28.2013

Hello!
Chari here today with a super sparkly, sequin filled card. I had this idea when I first got my sequins from Neat & Tangled and I'm so excited that it came out just like I pictured it in my head. I love when that happens!

I created a panel full of sequins in mermaid tail, pretty pretty pink and summer sun. This was the most time consuming part but I set myself up in front of the TV with some matte multi-medium and tweezers and got busy. I stamped the A Lot to Say stamp on a piece of white cardstock and used my xacto knife to cut out the inside of the image. You could do this with scissors as well. I attached the sequin panel to a card base then adhered the word bubble panel on top of that using foam adhesive. The sentiment is from Swirly Twirly Tags and also popped up with foam adhesive.

Based on a sketch :)

2.27.2013

Hello there friends!

I thought this month I'd do something a little bit different, and use the current challenge over at our sister-blog Little Tangles, to give my mojo a boost...I mean, give me a starting point.

The current challenge happens to be a sketch!

SO cute right?!

Now I had planned to do at least 3-4 cards for you but alas, aforementioned mojo took a runner. But thankfully I eeked out these two cards for you before it did!

First I punched a circle out of some printer paper, and used it as a mask before spraying Dylusions Lemon Zest ink. After that dried, I added the footprints and the heat embossed sentiment (American Crafts Zing Embossing Powder)

Next I stamped, coloured and fussy-cut out my little bear (he looks so pleased with life, dont you think?!) and then I added a little twine bow around his neck, before popping him onto the card with dimensional adhesive.

Lastly I rounded the corners. Done! Super cute :)

Ok, the next card!

I HAD intended to flip the sketch around for this one, but it worked better in the original 'direction' so I left it as is.

I punched a circle of sturdy cardstock, covered it with Multi Matte Medium, then used a selection of Neat and Tangled sequins, to cover the circle. I set this aside to dry.

Next I stamped the chevron stamp in white chalk ink, and then added the circle element. Finally I added the teal Thickers and a couple of extra sequins, before I drew some border lines using my white gel-pen.

Sketches are a great kick-off point for card-making or any crafty project. Why not give this one a go?! There's so much you could do with this sketch!

The Little Tangles challenge finishes Sunday, March 3rd at 11:59 EST

We hope you'll join in! Theres a great prize to be won!

See you again soon!

Linda xxx

InLinkz.com

February Guest Designer: Yainea!

Guest Designer, kindness matters, swirly twirly tags, Yainea 2.26.2013

Hi everyone! I am happy to be here today to share 2 more projects from our February guest designer, the incredibly talented Yainea!

If you missed her first 2 projects you can check them out HERE.

Now for the good stuff :)

Okay, let's talk about how cute this packaging set is...I love how she created the tag and matching bird embellishment using the Swirly Twirly Tag set. And what a gorgeous spring color combo!

I just love how she positioned the sentiment from Kindness Matters. And how fun that she turned the little heart stamp into an embellishment!

Thank you so much Yainea for being a part of Neat and Tangled this month :)

Danielle

Mixing it up with Neon!

Party Dots 2.22.2013

Hello! Chari here today with a card featuring some bright neon colors. I don't play with my neon inks very much so I thought I should show them a little love. I also wanted to try some ink mixing after seeing my good friend Britta give it a try recently.

I used the big circle stamp from party dots and stamped it in pink neon ink first, then I inked it up with the blue ink, turned it 180 degrees and lined it up and stamped it again. This is a good way to stretch this stamp and get a different look out of it and experiment with different color mixing as well. To tie the sentiment in with a little neon I stamped it in black ink first then offset it and stamped again with green neon to create a shadow. I finished off by adding a little shine with some crystal clear sequins from Neat & Tangled.

SUPPLIES:

Hello!

2.21.2013

Hey there! It's Suzanne here today with a Hello card using My Heart Sings and Swirly Twirly Tags. I stamped everything in Hero Arts navy shadow ink to match these PB&J papers from Basic Grey. Then I added the bling, cording and doily while putting this all together.

I love the retro feel of the patterns and colors here, and the bird image looks so gorgeous pieced, I think!

Hugs,
Suzanne

You Are So Thoughtful

2.20.2013

Hi guys, it's Mary Dawn. I've made a card with 2 of my favorite stamp sets--an "old" favorite and a new favorite. Old is relative, but Kindness Matters is from one of Neat & Tangled's earliest releases. And Party Dots--this set makes me so happy--is from the most recent release.

I stamped the solid dot trio from Party Dots with gray ink onto a flecked cream card base and stamped the outline in turquoise and bright pink. I think this gives the card a sort of mod/retro vibe. I can dig it. I added a strip of gray cardstock on the right of the base and added my sentiment and heart from Kindness Matters along with some self adhesive rhinestones.

Happy Valentine's Day!

danielle walls, little tangles, Valentine's Day 2.14.2013

Hi friends! Danielle here with a quick post to share a card :)

The current challenge over at Little Tangles is love, so I made a card to play along using this new free Neat and Tangled digital stamp.

Do not fear the digi stamp! This one is super easy to use. I opened it in Photoshop, and printed it. Um, that's pretty stinkin' easy. Oh, then I cut it out.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with lots of love :) Don't forget to play along in the current Little Tangles Challenge, it ends this Sunday and a free stamp set is up for grabs!

Danielle

Red String of Fate

My Heart Sings, On the Strip, pamela ho, swirly twirly tags 2.13.2013

How about a non-traditional Valentine's day card? If you have heard of the Red String of Fate, you'll know that it can easily be tied in with Valentine's day.

I made a clean and simple card using Swirly Twirly Tags and On the Strip. On the Strip is definitely a must have! It's perfect not only for faux washi, but also for backgrounds!

The coverage of the stamps are gorgeous! Never a failed impression! I stamped hello from Swirly Twirly Tags on the outside and my love from My Heart Sings on the inside. A very non-traditional Valentine's day card!

I tied a Red String of Fate on little bird and kept the ends longer.

-- pamela

February Guest Designer: Yainea!

Guest Designer, My Heart Sings, Yainea 2.12.2013

Hi friends! Hope that your week is off to a good start. I'm popping in today to introduce our February guest designer, Yainea from My Paper Journey! :) If you're not familiar with her work you MUST head over to her blog right now to check it out!

Hi! My name is Cristina but I use Yainea as a nickname all the time. I live in a small city in the northwest of Spain. As a Computer Engineer I love all computer related stuff, even playing video games. In the complete opposite of that I love making all kind of things with my own hands: baking, sewing, painting and of course, crafting! Also, I love animals (I have two dogs and a cat), going to the movies and reading.

* * * * * * * * *

Yainea has created not one, but two amazing projects that are just perfect for Valentine's Day! She used My Heart Sings for both cards. I love all the colors (especially in the first since it's kind of the Neat and Tangled color combo) and layering of elements.

See you later this week :)

Danielle

Soapin' you'll be my Valentine

2.11.2013

Hi all!

Katie Gehring here, taking a break from Cupid's ~~sweatshop~~ workshop to share the Valentine's we created this weekend for the girls' classes. While I am all for chocolate and other yummy treats this time of year and will be sending in sweet treats for the parties, but times 24, it gets to be a little much. This year, I thought we'd try something different for the take-home treat, giving heart-shaped soap. And yes, I am totally fine with being that mom who gave her kids' classes soap. :)

First step was to make the soap. I found a great tutorial here, and used my heart ice cube tray from IKEA as molds for the soap.

Before we poured the melted soap into the molds, we put a pinch of tissue paper confetti in each heart, and then allowed time for the soap to set up. 20 minutes later, the soaps were done.

I have to say that they turned out pretty cute, and they were E-A-S-Y to make. The silicone IKEA ice cube trays were great molds and were perfectly suited for soap making, unlike last year's disastrous attempt at making brownie pops which may have resulted in the trays melting onto my oven racks...

So, next I needed a super cute tag to accompany the little bags of soap, so I turned to my Neat and Tangled sets: Party Dots, Elves at Work and My Heart Sings.

First up, I stamped the large dot circle onto thin pink cardstock and die cut the circle using the 2.5" circle die from Spellbinders. I thought this image looked like soapy bubbles.

Next, I needed to print my pun-tastic sentiment onto the tags because I love a good pun like macaroni loves powdered cheese sauce.

I wanted to print the sentiment onto the stamped tags because I was concerned that stamping on top of the printed sentiment would cause the ink to bleed. I set up a document in microsoft word and created a series of circles, slightly larger than the tags.

Next, I created a text box and typed my sentiment inside each circle. The font I used is called The Only Exception and can be downloaded here. Next, I clicked print. Using temporary adhesive, I attached the stamped tags to the printed template and ran the page through my printer again.

I stamped the little boat from Elves at Work and the hearts from My Heart Sings onto the tag.

I removed the tag from the paper, rubbed off a bit to adhesive residue and had the girls sign their names to the back of each tag. Then I attached the tag to the bag of soap with a bit of baker's twine:

Just think, only 39 more to go! I better head back to the ~~sweatshop~~ workshop before Cupid notices I have gone missing. Hope you have some good clean fun planned for this Valentine's Day!

Katie

Supplies:

A Flair for Buttons Valentine's Day Blog Hop!

a flair for buttons, danielle walls, On the Strip 2.09.2013

Hello everyone! Danielle here today with a very fun and LOVE-ly post :)

Welcome to the {a flair for buttons} Valentine's Day blog hop! Join our designers as we showcase some of Shelley's awesome new flair. We hope to inspire you along the way! You should have arrived from Shelley's blog.

I did lots of layering with fun textures, patterns, and colors while still trying to keep it relatively CAS. These cards are a little more 'floofy' than my usual style, but I had lots of fun making them! I used the "love" flair from the new Home 2 Flair set for both.

For this one I used a few of my obsessions, Crate Paper On Trend patterned paper and Studio Calico wood veneer hearts. Oh, and some Picket Fence Distress Stickles! (All products can be seen at the end of this post!). Any questions about the cards or products used just leave it in the comments below!

For this card I used the On the Strip stamp (now back in stock HERE) for to get that washi look on the card base, and then layered my elements on top.