Jan-Feb 2022 New Products Blog Hop

Welcome to the New Products Blog Hop featuring items from the Jan-Feb Seasonal Catalog. You probably came from Darlys' blog. But if you started here, that's fine. The hop is a circle so keep going until you get back where you started. If you get lost along the way, head to Melinda's blog for a complete list of participants.

I have three different cards using three different sets of products for you because--frankly--I just couldn't choose among them. So many great things in this catalog!

My first card features the Sawyer Cardmaking Workshop (new) plus Slim Line Alpha Thin Cuts (Core Catalog).

My nephew and his wife just had a baby. They have two girls and have given each a "bird" middle names, so I knew exactly what I wanted to do to welcome Little Miss Ruby Wren. The cardstock used on the letters is retired, but that part is so easily replaced with different cardstock that I decided to include it in this hop anyway. 

The bird and branch were done on watercolor paper. I used Black Detail Embossing Powder for the bird. I then watercolored, using the barrier created by the plastic embossing to keep colors in place. On the branch, I just let the brown of the branch and green of the leaves bleed into one another. The tiny little tag and hello were done on regular White Daisy Cardstock. To ground the card, I added a half-inch wide border of plain Black Cardstock.

I sent this picture to my sister. She cropped it and put it on her Skylight because she loved it so much.

Here's card #2...

This "Udderly Wonderful" stamp set was the very first thing in my cart. It's different than anything else I have, and I love the punny sentiments. I used two papers from the current Mix-In Paper, tore the edge of the black one and layered it on top of the gray one. I then ran both through my die cutting machine using the Stitched Rectangle Frames. I embossed the sentiment in White Detail Embossing Powder. The cow was stamped in black ink and then colored with alcohol markers to get some blend. I used the coordinating thin cuts to cut out the cow head. I stamped and colored the bell then cut it out using my Microtip scissors to eliminate the white border that would have been around it had I used the coordinating thin cut. I then created a small slit under the cows chin with an x-acto knife and inserted the bell. I used foam tape to secure the bell on the underside. I added more foam tape around the edges of the cow head and added it to my card. I tied a knot of Gold Embellishing Thread and tucked it into the slit, securing it with a dot of Liquid Glass. It doesn't show up well in the picture, but it gives just a little something, something in real life.

My final card features Build-a-Flower (new) and the For All Occasions stamp set (Core Catalog).  But it also features one more stamp set from the Jan-Feb Seasonal Catalog. Can you spot it?

That bottom border is the light side of Flamingo Cardstock stamped with the new Barn Door stamp set in Flamingo ink. I LOVE that I now have the ability to create woodgrain in any color I want! My colors here are Raspberry, Flamingo, Caroline, Bluebird, Lemonade, Sundance, and Nectarine on the flowers. I want to point out that I used Lemonade and Sundance on the large yellow flower at the top of the cluster. The center of the blue flower is Lemonade overstamped with the smaller center in Nectarine. Using Nectarine over Lemonade made the Nectarine fade a bit, making it identical to Sundance stamped straight on white as shown at the top of the big yellow flower. I hope that makes sense. The leaves are Clover (outline) and Green Apple (centers) with Evergreen vines. My sentiment is Sapphire. (NOTE: Please click here to see another fun way I've used this Build-a-Flower stamp set for a previous blog hop.)

The drawback of solid image stamp sets like this is that you need lots of ink colors. The benefit is that, if you already have those colors, you can do amazing things in a very short amount of time. I stamped the vines directly on my card base. Everything else was stamped on White Daisy, cut out, and then layered either by gluing directly to the cardbase or using foam tape. The final touch was adding dots of Sage Liquid Pearls. 

I made five more of these, leaving off the sentiment, so I can add whatever I need for any occasion.

Well, that's it for me. Now you're headed to Megan@Crop Craft Create. I can't wait to see what we she and the rest of our talented Makers have created to inspire us. 

Until next time,

Becca

Smitten Blog Hop

Welcome to this special blog hop featuring the Smitten promotional items. This is such an adorable Valentine themed set! I can't wait to see what all our talented Makers have created. You should have come from Gina's blog, but don't worry if you started here. The hop is a circle, so just keep going until you get back to where you started. You can always head to Melinda's blog for a full list of participants if you get lost along the way.

Here are my cards:

For this card, I combined the fan image with the Slim Alpha Thin Cuts. To give them just a little more oomph against the Ballerina background paper, I outlined parts of the letters with a Black Journaling Pen. LOVE how this turned out. 

For these next two cards, I added images from the Build-a-Flower set which just released January 1.

The paper, hearts, sentiment, and sticker on the cup all come from the Smitten collection. The cup was made using parts of Build-a-Flower. Here's a look at this set so you can see how I did it.

The only altering of an image I did was to curl the stem image (Don't you just love that we can bend images?) into a C shape for the cup handle. I cut everything out, layered it up with foam tape, and added some Liquid Glass over the coffee part to give it shine.

This one used none of the Smitten paper because I like to show how you can still use the stamps once the coordinating paper is gone. Note that scallop border. It comes from Build-a-Flower.

This final card uses just the image and paper from Smitten along with the middle sized die from Stitched Square Thin Cuts. This Capri colored gingham paper is so fabulous. I wish I could get about twenty sheets of it. 

This special set can be found under the "Promotions" tab on my website. It runs through the end of February or while supplies last.

Now you're off to CatScrapbooking. I can't wait to be inspired by her and the rest of our blog hop participants!

Until next time,
Becca

January SOM Blog Hop: Sweet Little Things

Happy New Year! Welcome to the first stamp of the month blog hop for 2022. This could be my favorite SOM of all time. Soooo cute! I can't wait to see what all our talented makers have made for us. You should have come from Gina's blog, but the hop is a circle so start anywhere and keep going until you've seen all the inspiration. Melinda has a complete list of participants on her blog if you get lost along the way.

Here's an up close look at this darling stamp set:

And here are my cards.

I watercolored on both, but on the first one I embossed the image whereas I only stamped in colorfast ink on the second. I used watercolor paper for both. You can see that the image is much crisper on the first card than on the second. Embossing lays down a natural barrier with that almost plastic line of melted embossing powder. I really love how that makes watercoloring so easy.

On the second card, I wanted the bee but knew it would be impossible to cut out. So I stamped the image directly over my background piece after I was done stamping the multiple sentiment lines and making my mushy mess. I didn't bother coloring in any of it except for the bee. I then stamped the image again on watercolor paper and cut it out to place over the top of the original image for a stand out piece. 

I'm not sure which background I like best, the clean and simple first one or the sloppy mess of a second one where I flicked color all over. Both have their place.

Now you're off to Darlys' blog. I'm SO EXCITED to see what our talented Makers have come up with. I have a feeling they're going to wow us all!!

Until next time, 
Becca