Thanks for Perking me Up

Hi Friends and Stampers,

This is the last day of the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop for Fall/Winter 2019. I had such a great time making cards for this blog hop and hopping along to see what everyone else made.

For these cards, I used My Favorite Things Image Grande-Sized Love. I paper pieced her with an older Carte Bella Paper line called Autumn and colored her with my Copic Markers. Hair: C5, C3, C1, Flesh tones: E0000, E21, E11, E93. Boots: E44, E43, E42, E41, Shirt: R39, R37. I added a bottom shadow with W3. Oh and I inked her up with my Memento Black Ink.

These are fun fold cards that I learned at our local Stampin Up Monthly Meeting. The base is an 8 1/2 X 4 1/4, scored at the 5 1/2 mark and fold. The middle fold is an 8 1/2 X 2 1/2 scored in half at the 4 1/4 mark and fold. Super fun and easy to make.

I hope to be able to join in on the Spring/Summer blog hop next year. For now, it's time to get started on my Christmas Cards for this year!

Thank you for visiting my blog and for your wonderful comments.

Holly

How to Make me Happy

Hi friends and Stampers,

Here is another card for the coffee lovers blog hop.

I am back with another coffee cup shaped card. You can find the tutorial for how to make these shaped cards here. I did not use the velco but rather glued the sides and made this a pull up card. This time I am using the adorable Birdie Brown's Friends at First Sip stamp set available at My Favorite Things.  I love these cute images. I paired it with the super fun Choose Happy stamp set available at Simon Says Stamps. I used an old paper pad from Carte Bella called Autumn to paper piece her shirt and pants. I did have to double stamp her hand and collar to add another layer to those. But it's worth the extra work.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for your wonderful comments.

Holly

When Friends Gather For Coffee

Hi Friends and Scrappers,

I hope you are having a great time with the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop Fall/Winter 2019. I am super excited to be able to be a part of this hop and grateful for the time I had to be able to make these cards in order to participate. 

For these cards, I am using the super cute Birdie Brown Images called Sweater Weather in the Woods, available at My Favorite Things. I'm sorry I did not write down my Copic Marker numbers that I used for these images, but I did color them up with my copic markers after inking them up with Memento Black Ink. OMGosh what is better than a bunch of adorable animals wearing sweaters and drinking coffee? Love these! For the first background, I used the Knitted Sweater back ground stamp from My Favorite Things. I hand cute a snow drift and added some stickels to the top and bottom. For the second card, I used a pattern paper Carta Bella's Autumn Collection. I added a fence from My Favorite Things, which I do not see currently on their website. This is the closest I can find on a google search. 

The little beaver image did not have coffee in his hands, but there was an additional cup of coffee in the stamp set. So I used my craft knife around his arms and paws until I could fit in a cup of coffee. Because you know, all friends have to have coffee. It would not do to have a critter with no coffee, that would just be sad, lol. 

I hope you are having fun hopping around, thank you for stopping by my blog post and for the wonderful comments. 

Holly 

Coffee Party

Hi Friends and Crafters,

I hope you are having a great time with the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop Fall/Winter 2019! I am super excited to be able to participate this time and every day!!! 

OMGosh I do love Birdie Brown (Torico) illustrations and was so happy when she joined the My Favorite Things Team a while back. Every single image is a squeal moment for me, but I do love the whimsical images the best. So for this card, I used her Sweater Weather on Safari images. I colored them up with my Copics, which I am so sorry I didn't write them down to be able to give you a list. For the background, I used Tim Holtz Distress Water Color Paper. I sponged on Distress Ink in Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed and Twisted Citron (all available on Amazon and other stores) that I had seen done on this card. I added some water drops and applied a paper towel for the excess. Then I sprinkled on water colors from Kuretake, which I LOVE! I added a few My Favorite Things Birch Trees and leaves. For the tree's, I used my Prisma Colored Pencil to color around the divots in the tree. And I framed them with a Gina Marie Scallop Stitched Frame. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and for your wonderful comments, 

Have a great day, 

Holly 

My Fintastic Friends

Hi Stampers and Friends,

Last one today, maybe last one in a while....

Some Odd Girl - Under the Sea Mae

MFT - Wave Die

MFT - Blue Prints 16

Copic Markers

Memento Black

S.U. woodgrain background

White embossing powder

MFT Lush Lagoon ink

yellow brads from my stash

I just love this little Sea Horse! I have other Some Odd Girl stamps as well that are just waiting to get inky. I am not sure if I ever inked one of them up. So today I was rummaging through my stash and decided he would fit well on the left over circles I had from a previous card today. I also had a mishap sitting on my desk and decided to use it as the background. I inked whisper white craft ink on Kraft colored paper and it didn't work so well. So then I added white embossing powder and heat set it. Nope, not loving the result. So then I ran my Lush Lagoon over that and while it was not really suited for the project I had in mind, I decided to set it aside. Well, today I decided it would go well with the other colors and the little sea creature. And there you have it. 

Okay, time for me to clean up my mess and get ready for work tomorrow and School very soon. I had a wonderful day in my scrappy world. 

Thanks for stopping by and leaving me a kind comment. 

Holly

Splash!

Hi Friends and Stampers,

I saw a card last year and I was so excited about the image and the design, I had to make it myself. I had a few stamp sets from this company on my wish list. Then the unthinkable happened, The Alley Way Stamps announced they were going out of business and put all their stamps on sale. By the time I got there, these sets were sold out! ACK! I had the letter dies and the stencil by that point, but no stamps. Lucky for me, I was able to talk a fellow stamper out of hers, lol.  So today, I had a few things out and came across this stamp set and decided today was the day to ink it up.

 Here is the Original: 

Simonne 

And here is mine:

All Washed Up - TAWS

Something's Fishy - TAWS

Versafine Onyx Black

Mini Splat The crafters workshop

MFT Bright Lights Alphabet

MFT Blu Raspberry ink and paper

Stampoholic

So the rules of casing is that you must link to the original creator and you must change two things. I am not sure who came up with the rules but I've seen them in a dozen or so places, so I'll just go with that. I changed the ink color and used a background base layer. 

I made a very important discovery while I was stamping up this image. First it is a negative image and it's very tricky to get it all inked up at once with a solid stamp, which is why I didn't attempt it without using my Stampoholic, because it did require two inkings. Second, I used a Colorbox black from MFT's and noticed it was not as vibrant as Simonne's. So I read her card list and saw she used Versafine, which I have had forever and maybe used it twice. So I thought what the heck, and I restamped it twice in Versafine ink and OMGosh what a difference! I even had to take a picture of this one. 

You can tell the difference, the bottom one is the Versafine. Wow, huh? Well, it excited me, lol. I have to share all my discoveries that I come across. I am sure someone somewhere else has already discovered this but you know, it's always good to share info. 

About the time I saw this killer whale image, I had already watched the Blackfish video that is circulating on line and on Facebook. I do not disagree with their findings and after some time, Sea World has recently announced they no longer plan to breed Killer Whales in captivity and will no longer catch young killer whales in the wild. This means no more Shamu shows when Shamu is gone. It is great for these poor animals, but not so great for those of us who were, are, and continue to be captivated by their presence and seeing them up close. It's almost a spiritual connection to be there and see them live and in person. I hope to get to see them again before they go. But like I said, after seeing and hearing all the evidence, it is the right thing to do on Sea Worlds part. Maybe some day, someone can build an infrastructure that would facilitate them swimming by to visit the crowds. I'm not really sure. I'm planning on using this image to scrapbook the pictures I have at Sea World with the kids. 

Why am I so wordy today? lol.  Thanks for stopping by and leaving me a kind comment. 

Holly

Sunny Wishes

Hi Friends and Stampers,

Well, I did not mean to spend the whole day stamping, lol, but I did. Last day of Stay-Cation and I made the most of it. I didn't even make what I originally intended, but you know, I go with the flow and before I know it, I  have three cards.

Kraftin Kimmie Stamps - Oceans of Love!

MFT Die-Namics Blueprints 16

MFT - Lush Lagoon Ink

Memento Tuxedo Black; Tangelo; Cantaloupe

Copic Markers N-1 through N-6

Gelly Roll White

Mini Splats Stencil by The Crafters Workshop

When I saw these Oceans of Love stamps, I was head over heels in love with the images. Apparently I was not the only one, they sold out quickly!  But I was able to get them on the second go-around. I'm really glad I did. Am I the only one still using brads? Since the enamel dots came out and sequins became all the rage, I have hardly seen brads being used. Well, I used some of mine anyway, they just went perfect for the port hole. This little guy makes me miss the beach even more.

I hope you are all having a fabulous Monday!

Thanks for checking in and leaving me a comment.

Holly

Best of Luck

Hi Friends and Stampers,

Well, here it is, late at night and I am trying to get all my things done and get organized for class next week. I kept wanting to take a pic of this card during the day, but alas, it is so hard to find time, lol.

BB - Adventure is Calling

Krazy Kreations Stacked Bags outline stickers

Silk Microfine Glitter Paper

Carta Bella Old World Travel 6X6

Copic Markers

Stampoholic

I actually made this on the tail end of my last break, but have not had a moment to grab a picture and get it blogged until now. I love this adorable image. The suit cases were a lot of fun to color up as well. I love these cut outline stickers and the making things with them. They shine and shimmer up really nice in real life. I know Krazy Kreations has a few kits as well, which is always fun to make because the kits have it all and you can just be mindless and have fun.

I have another week off of school but I have to go back to work next week. I hope to get inky every night between now and then. I tried to make a card and it bombed, so I will try again. A different design. Maybe someone else's, lol.

I have gone through over 5,000 emails. I'm down to just over 15,000 lol, but that is so me. And when I say I've gone through them, I truly have. No finger on the delete button pushing it over and over again. I have to look at and inspect each one. I do not want to miss a thing. I have discovered things I missed! Not just fabulous creations of other stampers and card makers, but dies and stamps, and papers oh my! lol.  I seriously missed seeing a few products that I am going to have to have, lol. I will have to add them to the wishlist. Which is growing longer and longer while I am busy doing school work. I do have a few pile ups here, things that couldn't wait, lol.

I am half way done through my BSN program!!! Six down and six to go!!! I almost gave it up with this class. After statistics, I was just burnt out and felt like I needed a longer break, but my counselor steered me in the right direction and I finished the class. I was also able to take a week off of work just after class and this has done me a world of good. The family packed up and went to see Grampa and Cyndy in Paso Robles, we headed to the beach for an afternoon, and we have gotten back to the gym. All things I wanted to do.

I hope to be able to do more blog hopping and see what everyone's been up to. I have made it to a few but not everyone yet.

Thank you for stopping in and checking on me,

Holly