Fancy Friday Blog Hop - A Piece of Art

Welcome back to the Fancy Friday Blog Hop!

My fancy friends and I are back!!! We loved working with each other so much that we decided to continue on with an all new blog hop to inspire you in fun new ways! These are a group of past and current Artisans that have become fast friends thru the Artisan journey. Glad to have you here! We have 10 of us this month so don't miss a one!

 
Each month on the last Friday, we will bring to you new challenges of all kinds (color,sketch, stamp focus, etc)! This month we were to create a card WITHOUT adding a greeting or any wording on the front. Shocker I know! The idea is to make it a piece of art!

I first took the Shimmery White Cardstock and ran it thru the Big Shot with the Petal Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. The four ink colors I then watercolored with are Bermuda Bay, Pumpkin Pie, Lemon Lime Twist and Berry Burst. The later two are the BRAND NEW In-Colors coming out June 1st! I can just say very loudly.....

LOVE LOVE LOVE them! The Shimmery White piece becomes pretty saturated so I let it dry completely and then even add it on top of a layer of cardstock for strength before popping it on card base with Stampin' Dimensionals. The Butterflies Thinlits and Bold Butterfly Framelits are still a favorite of mine to use and completes the whimsical feel of this card. 

I stamped the greeting on the inside of the card instead. This one is a sneak peak from a BRAND NEW stamp set called Just Add Text. Love this quote from one of the most famous artist! (I did a huge project on him when going thru college back in the day) 

Today especially, I love this quote as I love all my Artisan friends who join me on this blog hop team! They make my world better with their art!

Would love to have you join us in the Fancy Friday Challenge so make a card or two and let us know in the comments if you did or post on social media somewhere and add the #FANCYFRIDAYBLOGHOP

Thanks for stopping by my post for the Fancy Friday blog hop!

Inspire. Create. Share. That's what I love to do.

Cindy
Now move on to my fun and talented friend Shannon Lane
 by clicking on the next button below! 

Crafty Carrot Blog Hop with Crazy Cake

Welcome to The Crafty Carrot Collective Blog Hop! A selection of former Stampin' UP! Artisans from all over the world got together to form this interactive rewards program where you can learn and participate with us each month! Today we are bringing you some sneak peaks into what our April month will bring in advance so you can purchase the stamp set Crazy Cake knowing you are going to get plenty of ideas and have fun creating with all of us! THIS MONTH WILL BE THE BEST YET! SO many great birthday ideas!

 I had such a fun time creating this project with this stamp set called Crazy Cake! You can do SOOOOOO much with it as you can see by our blog hop this month. And this is just a taste of what we will bring in April! All 5 of us are so excited about this stamp set! We might even go CRAZY!!!!

Here are the products I used to create my card:

Crazy Cake Stamp Set

Cupcakes & Carousels Embellishment Kit

Cupcakes & Carousels Designer Series Paper Stack

Watercolor Paper

Sprinkles Embellishments

Pool Party, Calypso Coral and Peekaboo Peach Inks

Here is how our program works... during the month of March you purchase the Crazy Cake stamp set (or product of equal or greater value) from a participating Crafty Carrot Collective demonstrator using the host code shown below. Then, in April, you will receive the program completely FREE!

  This program brings video tutorials and written instructions by 5 very talented global Stampin' UP! demonstrators into your own home so you can stamp in your own time. What is not to love about that? 

PLACE YOUR ORDER TODAY!

Still not sure this program is for you?  Throughout this past January we offered a taste of this wonderful program for FREE for all to enjoy.  This teaser program features the Weather Together stamp set.  Like us on Facebook HERE to access it today.

Inspire. Create. Share. That's what I love to do.

Cindy

The uber talented Jennifer Frost over in Australia is next! Hop on over there and say hello!

Fancy Friday - Nontradtional Christmas

Come see our FANCY FRIDAY BLOG HOP 

for a Non-traditional Christmas Color Combo!

My fancy friends and I are back with some NEW fancy friends too! We loved working with each other so much that we decided to continue on with an all new blog hop to inspire you in fun new ways! Then a few of us had to take a break so we invited some new FANCY friends to join us and make the blog hop a little longer for your enjoyment! These are a group of past and current Artisans that have become fast friends thru the Artisan journey.

 Each month on the last Friday, we will bring to you new challenges of all kinds (color,sketch, stamp focus, etc)! This month and next will be one week early due to the holidays. This month we are having fun with a color challenge using NON-Traditional Christmas colors! THIS was quite a challenge! I so wanted to use red and green in these cards, but I didn't! Overall, I love the pop of bright colors and I love the basic layout of these cards. I could even recreate them in traditional colors if I choose!

I watercolored the strips in Blackberry Bliss on Whisper White Cardstock. It almost is a pinky purple when watered down. The JOY is die cut with the Wonderful Wreath Framelits and Crushed Curry. The Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper with the wreath die cut from the same Wonderful Wreath Framelits. Then I just placed with Fine-Tip Glue Pen, a bunch of clear and white Metallic Sequin Assortment.

The strips here are done in Crushed Curry in same technique. Then I used Cucumber Crush, Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo for the accent colors. The words come from the Holly Jolly Greetings and the coordinating Christmas Greetings Thinlits Dies. I am loving the Silver Cording here! It curves so easy into a spiral right off the spool.  You just cut a smaller piece to tie the bow.

Thanks for stopping by my post for the Fancy Friday blog hop!

Inspire. Create. Share. That's what I love to do.

Cindy
You saw Allison Okamitsu's brightly colored card before me and now move on to 

Jennifer Timko's snowflake popping card by clicking on the next button below! 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Sweet Hauntings - Stampin' UP Artisan Blog Hop

 Welcome back to the Stampin' UP Artisan Design Team Blog Hop! 

We are just brewing up something sweet with our September 2015 box from Stampin' UP! This box was FULL of super fun holiday products 

from the NEW Stampin' UP Holiday Catalog!!!!!  
I absolutely love this catalog!!!!!
I am so blessed that I get to create with these amazing products and share with you all here! Remember that every Thursday of each week, all 13 of us from all over the world will post on our blogs an inspiring project for you! Be sure to get Google Translate so that you can read in your language all about how they created their projects too. Now on to my second project for September....

This week we are showcasing this Holiday Catalog stamp set called Sweet Hauntings and the Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper. Lots of spooky sweetness will take place along the blog hop for sure!
The stamp set has this funny tag in it and I thought why not fill a jar with chocolate to go with it. I could have a little mid day treat and a Halloween decor on my office desk!

I took a wide mouth mason jar and added a door knob to the top of the lid. A little crafty DIY on the topper...Use Crystal Effects to glue the cap to the lid. Let dry for a few hours. I added a 2 1/2" circle punch of the Black Glimmer Paper to the lid first, then tapped a hole into the lid with a small screwdriver all the way thru the metal and paper. I attached a silver cabinet door knob with a smaller screw thru the hole. (a later thought was to get a crystal one)

To add the Designer Series Paper to the jar, use Tape and Tear Adhesive. More Glimmer paper lined to the top and bottom. The Into the Woods 3/8" Cotton Ribbon in Rich Razzleberry made the perfect bow and a punch of color!

To change the color of the Spider Web Doilies, just flip over to the white side and using the Classic ink (Rich Razzleberry here) with a sponge dauber to color it. This gives you even more options with this embellishment!

I wanted to play with this stamp set some more so I created a card too. The watercolor paper is colored with the Rich Razzleberry ink and Aqua Painter. I then used the rectangle framelit from the Seasonal Frame Thinlits Dies to cut it out. One more use for the rectangle thinlit...see the outline of Black Glimmer paper? I took a piece of it slightly larger than the thinlit and then cut it out to create just a frame of the Glimmer paper. It fits the watercolor piece perfectly. Less waste of this yummy glittery fun for other projects! The bottles were colored in with Cucumber Crush and they really pop against the background!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you!

Cindy

Now move on to my friend from France, Helene Legrand by clicking on the next button below!  Be sure to stop by all 13 of us! Plenty of good ideas to get your holidays kicked off!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Altered Market Fresh - Stampin' UP Artisan Blog Hop

Welcome back to the Stampin' UP Artisan Design Team Blog Hop! 

We are finishing on our August 2015 box from Stampin' UP. 

This box was FULL of more BRAND NEW products 

from the Stampin' UP 2015-2016 Annual Catalog!!!!!  Remember that every Thursday of each week, all 14 of us from all over the world will post on our blogs an inspiring project for you! Be sure to get Google Translate so that you can read in your language all about how they created their projects too. Now on to my 4th and last project for August....

This week we are showcasing the Market Fresh Stamp Set and the Farmers Market Designer Series Paper from the Annual Catalog's Artistic Expression section starting on page 111. I am sure that you are going to love this suite by the time you finish our hop this week! So many yummy ideas!

I recently received a special treat from my Aunt Dar in Michigan. She gave me a jar of her homegrown and homemade strawberry jam! IT IS SO GOOD! I knew right away what I wanted to do once I saw this stamp set. However, I want to have the saying "Thank You" instead. I stamped the strawberry image with Staz On Black onto watercolor paper. I then used my Aqua painter with Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake and Cherry Cobbler to color it in. Then I stamped the other grape stamp with the saying I wanted using the same supplies. This is where some fancy cutting comes into play. I added a visual for you to see just what I mean.

I did use some Stampin dimensionals on the banner so it has a 3D effect as well.

And the background? It is strips of the new 5/8" Striped Cotton Ribbon in Mossy Meadow adhered with Fast Fuse. I just weaved them! Don't forget to make a matching envelope with the Farmers Market Designer Series Paper and the Envelope Punch Board. You need a special size for this 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" card!

 Here is another "altered" stamp set idea! I wanted to make some blueberries instead of the grapes. (to go with the White Chocolate Blueberry Scones that I was giving as a gift) I stamped with Staz On Black onto watercolor paper again. I watercolored in the leaves using my Aqua Painter and Old Olive ink. When you fussy cut out the image, you want to alter the leaves to look like the leaves from a blueberry instead. Another visual for you!

 To complete, you will want to color on the edges with Stampin marker in Basic Black. This makes it look like a real stamp image! I also cut some of the grapes off at the bottom to resemble a bunch of real blueberries.

Then a little more watercoloring with Island Indigo to make them appear like blueberries.

I used Stampin dimensionals to place on the 2 1/2" circle Thick White Cardstock. I absolutely love this white wash wood grain pattern in the Farmers Market DSP! I made the perfect size gift bag with the Gift Bag Punch Board with it! 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you to think 

outside the box with your stamp sets!!! 

Cindy

You saw my friend, Becky Cowley before me and now move on to my friend, Helene Legrand by clicking on the next button below! Be sure to stop by all 14 of us!

Love & Rainbows - Stampin' UP Artisan Blog Hop

Welcome back to the Stampin' UP Artisan Design Team Blog Hop! 

We are just starting on our July 2015 box from Stampin' UP. 

This box was FULL of more BRAND NEW products 

from the Stampin' UP 2015-2016 Annual Catalog!!!!! I am pretty proud and humble to say that I was asked to pick the contents of this box as well as our weekly themes! (Of course, my teammates helped me with telling me what was on their wish list!) We are going to do a little peak into 5 of the 10 occasion sections from the NEW catalog this month! So you do not want to miss any of the projects this week! We are showcasing the "Love & Sympathy" section on page 19-30. Remember that every Thursday of each week, all 16 of us from all over the world will post on our blogs an inspiring project for you! Be sure to get Google Translate so that you can read in your language all about how they created their projects too. Now on to my 2nd project for July....

I must confess...this week I was stumped on what to make. I worked on about 5 cards and none of them worked for me. I was drawn to this saying in the Over The Rainbow Photopolymer Stamp Set. It gives me a peaceful feeling and I knew I wanted to use it. I just got the Fluttering Textured Embossing Folder and was itching to play with it. Then it struck me....a rainbow of butterflies! How should I color them? I selected my rainbow colors - Watermelon Wonder, Calypso Coral, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Bermuda Bay and Perfect Plum. Of course, I went right to my Aqua Painters. I love watercoloring with these! But instead of filling it with water, I filled it with rubbing alcohol. By using the alcohol, I could color the ink on Whisper White cardstock because it dries instantly. Anyone missing Blendibilities yet? Here is how you can get that look without the marker part. True you need to do several layers of coloring to get these brighter colors. See the orange butterflies? They have two colors mixed, Calypso Coral and Pumpkin Pie. These were so fun to color!

Here is a nifty trick that I did on this card. I first found a framelit from Chalk Talk Framelits that fit my image in width. However I did not want it to cover up a good part of my butterflies. So I just trimmed it down on the top and bottom. Now it works perfectly! I used a strand of the White Jute Ribbon again here.

I started making a few of these to have on hand to send to 

friends and family in need of some hope and love!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you! 

Cindy

You saw my friend, Becky Cowley before me and now move on to my friend, Helene Legrand by clicking on the next button below! Be sure to stop by all 16 of us!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Watermelon Wonder Treat - Stampin' UP Artisan Blog Hop

Welcome back to the Artisan Design Team Blog Hop! We are finishing our May 2015 box from Stampin' UP! This box was FULL of more BRAND NEW products 

from the Stampin' UP 2015-2016 Annual Catalog!!!!! 

You do not want to miss any of the projects this week! Remember that every Thursday of each week, all 16 of us from all over the world will post on our blogs an inspiring project for you! Be sure to get Google Translate so that you can read in your language all about how they created their projects too. Now on to my sweet tasty project this 4th week...inspired by the water-coloring above and one of the NEW In-colors Watermelon Wonder!

I took the Watermelon Wonder striped Envelope paper and cut it with the Mini Treat BagThinlits. Then added strips of Whisper White, Cucumber Crush and Wild Wasabi for the watermelon rind. That 1" Dotted Lace Trim in Watermelon Wonder adds a sweet finishing bow. I added a 4" X 6" cellophane bag to hold my Jolly Rancher Chews. This also features the NEW stamp set called You're So Sweet. 

Wondering how to make those watermelon seeds? Punch a piece of Basic Black cardstock with the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack Heart. Then take your paper snips and cut the heart into two. You need to make the curves of the seed to get the tear shape. I made this 3"x3" card for a little note with the treat bag. I took the Circle Collection Framelits of each color, cut in half and then place of card at angle. Cut off extra. The stripes on background were done with the Cucumber Crush Stampin' Marker.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you to put these wonderful products on your wish list when the Stampin' UP Annual Catalog goes live on June 2nd!

Now to figure out what to do with that water-coloring piece!?!?

Cindy

You saw my friend, Becky Cowley before me and now move on to my friend, Helene Legrand by clicking on the next button below! Be sure to stop by all 16 of us!

Fancy Friday Blog Hop - From the Herd

Welcome to the FANCY FRIDAY BLOG HOP for a

"Masculine" Challenge!

My fancy friends and I are BACK! We loved working with each other so much that we decided to continue on with an all new blog hop to inspire you in fun new ways! Each month on the last Friday, we will bring to you new challenges of all kinds (color,sketch, stamp focus, etc) that you can even participate in!  This month we are doing MAKE IT MASCULINE YET FANCY FRIDAY! We are showing projects for the men that suits our fancy and we hope you give it a try too!

I must say working with this stamp set made me...laugh. It is called From the Herd and can be found on Page 15 in the Occasions Catalog. The coloring part of it just reminded me of being back in art class. I used watercoloring with Classic Ink Pads with my Aqua Painter. The layer is not watercolor paper. I used the Naturals White Cardstock. When you use this technique on this type of cardstock just be sure to use less water. I love the softer watercolor look on this cardstock and the bits of speckles in the cardstock showing. I also fancy cut that balloon out and popped it with dimensionals. I have the perfect person in mind to send this to. Her birthday is coming up soon and they own a "farm" in their own backyard! If I send this card to her, her husband might get the idea to get the bull/cow and the lama to add next to their own herd! (Don't do it Turner!)

So here is my oops version! It really turned out NOT like I wanted it to go but I finished it anyways. My thought was..."hey, do the animals like all muddy like they just got into a messy mud fight on the farm with just the white of their eyes showing like oops we are caught". Does it say that or I am off? I added some mud splatters from Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set too. The wording from the stamp set just fit this card so well. Turner might get this card after his next messy farming experience occurs! 

 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspire you!

 

Cindy

We have the fancy and fabulous Kimberly Van Diepen joining our blog hop tonight!!!! She is the BOMB! She oozes FANCY and we are all so happy that she is joined us this month! Be sure to check out all of 11 of our fancy yet masculine projects!

 

Now move on to the FABULOUS and FANCY 

Connie Collins by clicking on the next button below! 

Fancy Friday Blog Hop - Fancy Technique

Welcome to the FANCY FRIDAY BLOG HOP for a

"Technique" Challenge!

My fancy friends and I are BACK! We loved working with each other so much that we decided to continue on with an all new blog hop to inspire you in fun new ways! Each month on the last Friday, we will bring to you new challenges of all kinds (color,sketch, stamp focus, etc) that you can even participate in!  This month we are doing FANCY TECHNIQUE FRIDAY! We are showing a technique that suits our fancy and we hope you give it a try!

My technique is probably one that you may have seen before but one I thought I would put my own spin on and bring it back. It is a way to create a watercolor background (or block of area) with your clear blocks. I love the look of watercolor! But sometimes my watercoloring does not always turn out like I want it. Are some of you afraid of watercoloring too? Here is a simple way to do it!

You will need Whisper White cardstock cut to the size you want, two Classic ink pads (Pool Party and Old Olive here), a Stampin' Spritzer filled with water, two clear blocks and a tissue. Guess what? I made my first stamping video ever! I even had my own "Tom the camera guy" to direct it. You can hear Allison give me her director's cue to start. 

I used the Butterfly Basics Stamp set with this card. I have seen such beautiful cards out there with this stamp set so I had to give the set some inky love. Loving this color combo too - Pool Party, Old Olive, Smoky Slate, Gold and Crumb Cake.

I had an extra stamped faux watercolor background from the video, so I grabbed some scraps on my desk (butterfly, gold glimmer paper and paper doily) and the Endless Birthday Wishes Photopolymer Stamp set (stamped in Hello Honey). The background layer is from Lullably Designer Series Paper.  I just love this pattern of this pack with the cute outline hearts in colors. Swoon!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspire you!

Cindy

Now move on to the FABULOUS and FANCY 

Connie Collins by clicking on the next button below!