Artistically Inked Thank You Card

Hello there! I had some fun in my crafty space this week. It's been a long time since I've made a card just for the fun of making it. I'm generally designing cards for classes or kits, and there's always some limitations to those (simplicity, supplies, tools, etc.), but this time I got to just create and use whatever supplies, techniques I wanted. I simply love how this came out. 

I pulled out the Artistically Inked stamp set and decided I wanted to make something with it using Merry Merlot. This is a color I really don't use much. In fact, I don't think I've used it since Christmas. It's such a beautifully deep red color which was perfect for my "roses". I wanted something elegant looking so I pulled out Soft Suede and some gold to go with it. I die cut portions of the coordinating die from our Rose Gold Metallic Specialty Paper. I like that the pink color is a lighter shade of the Merry Merlot. I did opt to fussy cut the flowers and leaves rather than using the dies for those as I didn't want the white outline around the edges. 

The background paper I made by stamping the large texture image from the stamp set multiple times onto a piece of Crumb Cake. I used a blending brush to add shading of more Soft Suede all over, concentrating more color on the edges and then ran it through the Timber 3D embossing folder.  I lightly marked where the sentiment was going to go and tore the paper around that area and down the side. I used my fingers and bone folder to rough up the edges a bit and added some more color with the blending brush to the folded over parts of the paper. After I embossed the sentiment on the Merry Merlot cardstock I realized I wanted some gold accents elsewhere on the card, so I touched my finger to a Versamark pad and then lightly rubbed that in various places on the Crumb Cake layer and dusted it with gold embossing powder and embossed. I love how it just highlights some areas of the woodgrain. 

I hope you like this card as much as I do. I think I'm going to give myself a challenge to work my way through my stamp sets alphabetically. I have several that have not seen ink for quite a while, and I think it will be fun to pull them out and play with them again. 

Here's what I used to make this card:

I hope you have enjoyed today's post. If you decide to place an order through my website, if your order is less than $150, please use the Host Code listed above (on the right), so I can send you an extra free goody. If your order is over $150 don't use the code as you get to pick out the goody yourself when you place your order. 

Till next time...

God's love and blessings!

Cocoa & Crafts Blessings of Home 3

Hello there! Summer has finally arrived here in Wisconsin and I am so happy that my crafty space has air conditioning. This Grammy is not fond of hot weather, not at all. So, I spent as little time as possible in the garden early this morning, and planning on spending the rest of the day crafting in my cool crafty space. 😊

This week we are making this beautiful covered notepad. I think it's one of my favorite projects I've made in a while. I plan on making some more of these to sell at craft shows later this year. I do make a boo boo in the video, so you might want to watch first before you start assembling so you don't make the same mistake I did and have to disassemble to fix. 

 Measurements:

• Base: 8 1/2 x 11 scored on the long side at 5 1/8 & 5 3/8
• Petal Pink layer: 8 1/4 x 4 7/8
• Crumb Cake layer: 8 x 4 5/8

Supplies:

I hope you have enjoyed today's post. If you decide to place an order through my website, if your order is less than $150, please use the Host Code listed above (on the right), so I can send you an extra free goody. If your order is over $150 don't use the code as you get to pick out the goody yourself when you place your order. 

Till next time...

God's love and blessings!

Cocoa & Crafts Blessings of Home 2

 

 

Hello there! I'm back with project #2 for this month's class. We added a bit of the Petal Pink to our Soft Suede/Smoky Slate palette from last week. We are also pulling in some of the dies that coordinate with this stamp set to make a pretty bouquet of flowers. 

Measurements for this card:

• Basic Gray card base: 11 x 4 1/4 scored at 5 1/2
• Smoky Slate strips: 1/2 x 4 1/4
• Petal Pink layer: 4 1/4 x 4 1/4
• Sentiment strip 1/2 x 3 trimmed down
• Inside Basic White panel: 5 1/4 x 4

I hope you have enjoyed today's post. If you decide to place an order through my website, if your order is less than $150, please use the Host Code listed above (on the right), so I can send you an extra free goody. If your order is over $150 don't use the code as you get to pick out the goody yourself when you place your order. 

Till next time...

God's love and blessings!

Cocoa & Crafts Blessings of Home 1

Hello there! Today we are starting our June Cocoa & Crafts Class with the Blessings of Home stamp set. So, so pretty! I opted for an unusual color combination. Soft Suede and Smoky Slate give it a very vintage, sepia look. It's a simple card to put together, and really doesn't take too much time, even with the coloring. In the video, I show you a simple way to water color the flowers using ink and some water. 

The measurements for this card are:

• Card base: 8 1/2 x 5 1/2, scored at 4 1/4
• Soft Suede layer: 3 3/4 x 5
• Basic White layer: 3 1/8 x 4 3/8
• Sentiment and Smoky Slate strips: 1/2 x 5

I hope you have enjoyed today's post. If you decide to place an order through my website, if your order is less than $150, please use the Host Code listed above (on the right), so I can send you an extra free goody. If your order is over $150 don't use the code as you get to pick out the goody yourself when you place your order. 

Till next time...

God's love and blessings!

In the Moment Customer Thank You

Hello there! How are you this fine spring day? We've had a LOT of rain this last week or so and this stamp set is just perfect since this is what I love to do when it rains--sit with something warm and cozy and watch the rain come down. 

I made these as thank you gifts for my April customers. It's a small little notecard with a pocket to hold a tea packet. Because I had several to do, I opted to use my Stamp-a-Ratus to do the stamping on the front panel. I was able to stamp both the image and the sentiment at the same time which saved me time. I was also able to re-stamp a couple of the panels that didn't come out as dark as I'd like the first time around to get a nice sharp image. After the ink was dry, I pulled out my Blends to color in the image. 

A little Tear & Tape holds the pocket flap down nicely. 

The So Saffron base is 4 1/4 x 8 1/2, scored along the long edge at 3 1/4 & 6 1/2.

The front panel is 4 x 3 

I hope you have enjoyed today's post. If you decide to place an order through my website, if your order is less than $150, please use the Host Code listed above (on the right), so I can send you an extra free goody. If your order is over $150 don't use the code as you get to pick out the goody yourself when you place your order. 

Till next time...

God's love and blessings!

Customer Thank You Cards with Hydrangea Haven

Hello there! Today I am sharing the cards I made as a thank you gift for my April customers. I was super excited to see that it carried over into the new catalog. 

The layout is pretty simple, but I thought I'd share with you how I made the pretty patterned paper in the background. 

Don't mind the torn paper in the middle. I had already adhered the last card when I realized it would be easier to explain this if you could see them separate, so I "ripped" one apart for you. As you can see, the piece on the right is the vellum. I scribbled Dark Balmy Blue and Dark Highland Heather along the edge. I then dropped and splattered rubbing alcohol onto it and let it dry. I stamped the small flower cluster onto the Basic White Cardstock, and then layered the vellum over the top. I didn't worry about the middle of the piece as it would be covered completely by the large flower layers. Here they are layered together:

Isn't that pretty? To color the hydrangea, I first inked the stamp with Balmy Blue and then used a sponge dauber to add spots of Highland Heather. Each card I made came out a little bit different. I didn't put any sentiment on this card so they can use it for whatever occasion they may need. 

Dimensions for this piece:

• Card Base: 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
• Basic White and Vellum layer & inside panel: 5 1/4 x 4
• Small Balmy Blue layer: 4 1/4 x 3
• Small Basic White layer: 4 x 2 3/4

I hope you have enjoyed today's post. If you decide to place an order through my website, if your order is less than $150, please use the Host Code listed above (on the right), so I can send you an extra free goody. If your order is over $150 don't use the code as you get to pick out the goody yourself when you place your order. 

Till next time...

God's love and blessings!

Cocoa & Crafts Flowing Flowers 4

 Hello there! I'm a little bit late with this, but here is the last tutorial for our April Cocoa & Crafts class and it's a sweet little notepad. If you've ever wanted to fancy up a store bought spiral bound notepad, but didn't know how to deal with the binding part, I'll show you a quick way to do it in the video. We also get to play with the Gilded Leafing with this project. While the kit includes some glue dots for this, I have to admit I am partial to the dots of Multipurpose Liquid Glue. 

I hope you like this project and maybe learned something new along the way! 

I hope you have enjoyed today's post. If you decide to place an order through my website, if your order is less than $150, please use the Host Code listed above (on the right), so I can send you an extra free goody. If your order is over $150 don't use the code as you get to pick out the goody yourself when you place your order. 

Till next time...

God's love and blessings!