A Squiggly Hello Card

Hi there!  I'm happy to be sharing this card today- it's my entry in Round 4 of Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine's Gallery Idol Contest!  I'm so excited to be part of the top 10 contestants!!

Our challenge this round is to use border stamps in a fun way.  Now, I have to say, I rarely use border stamps- in fact, I only have 2 full sized border stamps (part of regular sets) and a set of sentiments.  That's it!  Luckily they worked together quite well and I came up with this:

The loopy border stamp is from the Love a la Carte set by Newton's Nook Designs.  After creating a white card base, I stamped the loopy border in a chevron pattern down the card front using 6 different Stampin' Up! blue inks.  Once the card front was full, I pulled out a small paint brush and watercolored over each squiggly line with the same color ink.  I splattered a little Pacific Point ink over the card front and let it all dry.
Next, I created the top sentiment panel of the card.  I used the Avery Elle Custom Panel Dies to cut it into a v-shape.  I stamped the sentiment from the Handwritten Borders set by Simon Says Stamp using Pacific Point ink along the edge of the panel.
The ribbon, gold sequin trim, and gold striped vellum are from Stampin' Up!.  The sequins are by Teresa Collins Designs and I got the twine from SRM Stickers.   I love the mix of gold and blue, don't you?

This card was so fun to create!  I love how the watercoloring softens the stamped image and gives the card movement.  I can't wait to try out this technique again!

I'm so happy to be part of the Gallery Idol top 10- pop over to the contest page to check out the other entries and to vote for your favorite!!  Voting ends this Thursday at noon.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Be Awesome Card for Gallery Idol Round 3!

Hi!  I am so happy to be playing along with Round 3 of Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine's Gallery Idol Contest!  This round is all about stencils!  I love playing with stencils and had lots of fun with this challenge!  I pulled out my all time favorite stencil sheet for this card:

I think the days of the week stencil from the Basically Essential stencil pack #2 by Teresa Collins Designs is so cute!  I was inspired to use it because of this fun sentiment by Mama Elephant.  It was sitting on my desk and I thought they'd be a perfect pair!

I used  the Basically Essential modeling paste by Teresa Collins Designs over my stencil and let it dry.  Next, I pulled out some of my Stampin' Up! ink pads and watercolored over the days of the week using 2 colors for each day.  The bright colors are so pretty and vivid in real life!  I love the way they look over the kraft card base.

I cut a piece of vellum into a circle and then stamped my sentiment using Staz On ink.  I added a scallop border along the bottom (Lawn Fawn paper and Reverse Confetti die) and then wrapped a bit of twine from SRM around it, ending in a bow.  I added a few epoxy hearts from We R Memory Keepers to embellish my sentiment.

It has been so fun playing along with the Gallery Idol contest this year!  Thanks again for all your votes and cheer leading!  I love reading the kind comments you've left here, at the contest page, and on Facebook- they really mean the world to me!

If you'd like to vote for me again this round, I'd love it! Pop over to the Gallery Idol Contest page to vote and to check out the rest of the entries!  Such beautiful work!!

Hope you have a great day!

Gallery Idol 2014!!

Hello!  I'm so excited to post today!  I worked extra hard on a card this weekend because I'm participating in this year's Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine's Gallery Idol Contest!!  I found out on Friday that I made it through to the 2nd round.  We were given the challenge of creating a card using diecuts and only 3 days to work on it.  I know what you're thinking- diecuts??  Really- you think that's hard!  Well it might seem easy but it was also wwaaayyy easy to overthink!  I spent all Friday and Saturday working on another card that ended up being too overworked.  Then I woke up this morning and started with a fresh outlook.  I love how my final card turned out:

I started off my craft time by cleaning up my work area.  I found all of these diecuts in a pile of leftover and discarded items- do you save yours, too?  The happy is by Avery Elle and the hello is by Paper Smooches.  I loved how they looked together and grabbed a SRM Stickers glassine envelope to use as a base- these are great to add to card fronts to hold gift cards!

The feathers (Paper Smooches) are die cut out of Scor-Tape sheets and then glittered.  I dipped the tips into the gold glitter first, pressing it into the sticky and sprinkling just a bit down the die.  Next, I pressed my favorite glitter (Elizabeth Crafts Warm Diamond) over the entire feather.  It is so pretty and sparkly in real life!

The patterned papers are a mix- the background is from the new Something Wonderful collection by Teresa Collins, the coral and yellow watercolored papers are from Stampin' Up! and the aqua is from the Plus One collection by Amy Tangerine for American Crafts.

I added a bit of machine sewing and left my threads long to fill in some space beneath the glassine envelope.  I thought it needed just a bit of color so I added the heart brad by Teresa Collins Designs next.  Lastly, I added a Starbucks gift card to the inside of the glassine envelope for the lucky recipient!

The feathers are my favorite part!  I've wanted to make glittered feathers since I cut them a couple of months ago!  Really, anything glittered is my favorite lol!  Here is a quick video so you could see all that great glitter in action:

So, now that you've seen my card, pop over to the Gallery Idol 2014 website and vote for your favorite card!  The top twenty contestants have created some amazing projects!  Thanks for all your support and cheerleading!  All the kind comments here, through email, and on Facebook have been so thoughtful- I really appreciate them!

Made With Love

Hello and happy Valentine's day!  I'm glad you stopped by because today I'm hopping along with some of my amazing card-making friends!

If you're following along with the hop then you're probably here from Laurie Willison's blog.  Doesn't she make some great cards?  Her creations always make me smile!  Laurie  is one of the twenty friends I made during last summer's Gallery Idol contest put on by Paper Crafts Magazine.   Most of us are hopping today and we each have amazing givaways thanks to a long list of sponsors!  For more information on the participants and our generous sponsors, please check out our Facebook Event page.

I've made a few little things to share with you today- all featuring one of our great sponsors, SRM Stickers!  I've paired their great We've Got Your Boarder- Valentine sheet with the American Crafts XOXO line to make some fun Valentines treats.  First up is my card:

I really loved this floral patterned paper from the XOXO line by American Crafts.  I've used it on nearly all of my Valentine's Day projects this year!  The cute 3-D heart sticker is also from the same line.  I added the sentiment sticker and then highlighted it with some fun twine by the Twinery.  Sticker sentiments seem so easy and stress free after years of stamping!  Hee!

My second project is a little clear goodie box.  It is the perfect size for one of my favorite nail polishes- wouldn't that be a fun treat to receive? :)  I've decorated it with a couple of the SRM border strips and just a little bit of twine.  Doesn't take much to make these little boxes look good!

My last treat is a glassine bag filled with cookies.  For this, I used a few hearts and a strip of First Edition DSP left over from my banner project I shared yesterday.  I simply wrapped the bag with more of that fun twine to finish the project off.

SRM Stickers has been generous enough to provide me with a givaway!  They have given me an assortment of cardmaking products including Sticker Sentiments, Fancy Sticker Sentiments, and We've Got Your Boarders to give away to one lucky reader.  Please leave a comment for your chance to win! The contest closes on February 21st at 11pm.

From here, you'll want to head over to Nina Yang's blog.  She's got another great Valentine's Day project for you as well as another giveaway!  Pretty fun if you ask me!

I'm so glad you were able to visit today! I hope you are able to check out all the participants blogs today!  These ladies are truly talented! I hear there is also a secret grand prize hidden in someone's blog so leave lots of comments for a chance to win!

-tessa

Hello Card and a Winner!

Hello there! How is your week going so far? I am recouping today after having my sweet nephews and niece come to stay with me for a week. We had so much fun but caring for 6 little ones is a lot of work! I tried to keep them busy with lots of fun activities! Here is my daughter and two of her cousins showing off the tie-dye shirts they made:

Needless to say I've only made one card over the last week! I played along with Kimber McGray's Saturday Sketch Challenge at Two Peas in a Bucket. Here is my card:

Goodies:

Stamps: Country Picnic set by Pebbles Inc.
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black by Tsunkeniko
Paper: Amy Tangerine Sketchbook by American Crafts; cardstock by Bazzill Basics
Accessories: baker's twine by Pink Paislee

Isn't it a great sketch? I couldn't help but play along! I used my AT Sketchbook patterned papers finally (I've been hoarding them!) and I love all the fun, bright colors!

I also have a winner to announce from the Shaping Up Blog Hop:

Karenladd said...
Oh my goodness, this is so darn cute! First of all, I love S'mores, and secondly...well, this is such a fun shaped card! I can almost taste that pillowy sweetness! Ha ha! Thanks for your giveaway! I'm already a follower of your blog!
Tuesday, July 24, 2012 10:41:00 PM EDT

Congratulations Karen!! I'll email you today for your shipping information!

And thank you all for such nice comments on my S'mores card!

Hope you all have a great day!

-tessa

Shaping Up Blog Hop and Giveaway!

Hi There!

Did you come from Laurie Willison's blog? If you did then you already know that today I'm hopping along with a great bunch of girls I met during the Paper Crafts Magazine Gallery Idol contest last month! We were all part of the top 20 together and have been chatting online since the beginning. These girls are a total hoot and all so talented! I hope you can find the time to visit each of their blogs today!

Each of the girls participating has created a card for the Paper Crafts July Gallery Challenge which is running now through the end of the month. Want to see what summer themed shaped card I made? Here it is:

Goodies:

paper: cardstock by Stampin' Up! and Bazzill Basics; polka-dotted print from Cakewalk collection by October Afternoon
ink: Crumb Cake by Stampin' Up!
diecut: Cute Smores by Sarah Bailey for Silhouette; Cameo


S'mores are one of my favorite summertime treats! I used the Cute Smores shape by Sarah Bailey in the Silhouette store as the base for my design. After cutting out the main pieces, I inked the edges and put it together. I added the polka-dotted heart and sentiment to finish it off.

To say thank you for all your support during the contest, I am going to give away two of the stamp sets I received for being part of the Top 20 this year:

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post between now and Sunday July 29th 11:59PM EST and I'll choose a random winner to send these great sets to! Good luck!

Next up in the hop is the wonderful Nina Yang! Please check out our Facebook Event page for the full list of participants. I hope you have fun looking at all of their cards! These ladies are seriously talented! Each one of us is giving away a fun prize as well so don't forget to leave lots of comments! :)

I hope we've inspired you to create something for the Paper Crafts July Challenge! If you do, please join our linking party:



Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!

-tessa

Take a Chance Card

Hi there!

I wanted to say thank you to everyone for your kind words and comments over the last few days! It is very nice to hear and really does make my day when an email like that pops through!
Want to see the card that got me into the Paper Crafts Magazine Gallery Idol Contest in the first place? Here it is:

Goodies:

paper: Crumb Cake and Whisper White cardstock by Stampin' Up!
Washi Tape: Sea Foam Chevron by SEI

I created the mini poster in word and then printed and cut it out. I tore one of the chance strips off- someone wasn't afraid to take one! :) I added a little strip of Washi tape to finish it off- now it looks like it's hanging on a wall somewhere...

I saw some inspirational picture on Pinterest that had a poster similar to this and decided to make a card with that idea. I changed the words but the feeling still comes across the same way. It definitely encouraged me! I'm so glad I decided to enter it into the contest this year!

If you still haven't voted, please go check out all of the entries for the 2012 Paper Crafts Magazine Gallery Idol Contest! Voting is open until noon tomorrow. They will announce who goes through to the next round on Friday!

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to take a chance every now and then- you never know what might happen!

-tessa

Stamped Confetti Card

Hello!

Thanks to the Paper Crafts Magazine Gallery Idol Contest, I have another card to share with you today! I was in full rainbow mode all weekend and ended up making a bunch of fun cards with the theme You Color my World. Here is one of them:

Goodies:

Stamps: Confetti (a pencil eraser), Friendly Phrases by Stampin' Up!
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Tempting Turquoise, Lucky Limeade, Daffodil Delight, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Regal Rose, and Blushing Bride classic inks by Stampin' Up!; Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: Sahara Sand by Stampin' Up! OP White by Bazzill Basics

I stamped each of the confetti dots with a regular old pencil eraser! It worked perfectly for the look I was going for. I love the subdued look the Sahara Sand cardstock gives each ink color, too- it's rainbow with out being too rainbow, right? Hee!

If you haven't voted yet, please visit the Gallery Idol Contest page- all of the cards entered are so inspirational! Have fun voting for your favorite!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

-tessa

A Tie Dye Technique... for Paper!

Hello there!

I have a fun card to share with you today! I made it for the second round of this year's Paper Craft Magazine Gallery Idol contest. The theme was you color my world and here is what I came up with using the rainbow as my inspiration:



Goodies:

Stampin' Up! Stampin' Write Markers
Whisper White, Basic Black cardstock
watercolor paper
Mini Mister
Silhouette Cameo (to cut out letters)

I have never tried tie dying before- on fabric or paper- but I'm so glad I did! I love how it turned out! Here is a little tutorial on how I did it!

First, gather your supplies:


Next, scribble a rainbow bulls eye onto your watercolor paper:


Next, you are going to mist it with water but before you do, have your heat gun ready to dry your paper:


Go ahead and spray your watercolor paper- The more water you add, the more the colors will run... the trick is not to get it so wet that everything turns brown and yucky

When it looks like you want it, zap it with the heat gun to set the color. This will warp the paper but it uncurls once it is dry again!

Not too tricky, right? Hee! A trick I learned with this technique is to start with a larger sized watercolor paper panel then you will need for your final project. That way, if the colors all run to the edge and pool, you can still cut them off without losing the tie dye effect.

Now that you know how I did it, please head on over to the Paper Crafts Magazine Gallery Idol Contest page and vote for your favorite rainbow themed card! Every single card entered is so creative! I can't wait to see who ends up in the next round!

I had so much fun playing around with this card! I hope you try out tie dying soon!

Thanks for stopping by,


-tessa