Goody Goody Gumdrops!!

Oh my gosh, I love the new releases from Pretty Cute Stamps this month! and this sweet Gingerbread House stamp set is going to be one of my favourites!! P.S. It's on sale right now!!

I saw the sketch at Mojo Monday this week and I just had to make another card using this set (you can see my first card here)!

I love using non-traditional colours for Christmas cards - and these pinks and blues just feel like candy to me - so to combine them with a gingerbread house and gumdrops.... Perfect!

I cut my house out with my Cricut Explore using the coordinating SVG files and then stamped directly on the diecut. Can I tell you how much I'm loving stamping on the precut images?!! I used Prismacolor Markers, which are alcohol based, to colour in my image and added some glitter gel pen and Glossy Accents. I had to add this little gingerbread man (and the light garland on my tag) from the Oh Christmas Tree set, of course!

On the tag that nestles behind the gingerbread house I added a couple gumdrop diecuts and stamps and this awesome Goody, Goody Gumdrops! sentiment. I just love that! Inside, I added a sentiment from the set, layering it on some paper that matched the front of the card.

Thanks so much for joining me today! You can see all the fun that is happening on the Pretty Cute Stamps blog celebrating the new release by checking out this week's blog posts, and make sure to check back here first thing tomorrow for Day 2 of the PCS Blog Hop!! and your chance to win a PCS gift certificate!

Linked to:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Use a diecut

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Fav Technique (stamping on a diecut)

Die Cuttin Divas - fun with puns (I think this qualifies as a 'sweet' home)

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge - #415

Pretty Cute Stamps September Release Sneak Peek!

I'm so excited to be sharing a sneak peek with you today for the Pretty Cute Stamps September New Release stamp set Gingerbread House! This is such an sweet set and one that you will definitely want to use for creating the most adorable Christmas cards!!

I used some new Echo Park paper from a 6x6 pad, The Story Of Christmas to paper piece my little gingerbread house (one of my fav techniques!). I just loved the woodgrain paper and thought it would be perfect for a bit of a twist! I absolutely adore this sentiment included in the set!! And, I had to sneak in this little gingerbread man, which is actually from the Oh Christmas Tree set ;)

I used my Prismacolor Markers to color in this yummy candy and I popped up the heart on the house with a foam dot to add some dimension. Some gems from my stash and a white gel pen added some final details.

Inside, I added two more sentiments included in the set and a couple of the single gumdrops (I'm so craving gumdrops right now, lol!) I was able to use the SVG cut files that coordinate with this stamp set to easily cut the outlines before stamping, which made this go so quickly! 

Thanks so much for joining me today!! I'm so excited for you to see the full sets of the new releases - you are going to love them! I will be back on Friday to share my project for the Pretty Cute Stamps Blog Hop, so be sure to check back. In the meantime you can check out the Pretty Cute Stamps blog to see all the projects the awesome Design Team has come up with this week! There are three days worth of Sneak Peeks and then Thursday and Friday are both Blog Hop days full of so much inspiration! Here's wishing a you a happy, crafty week!

P.S. Here's the Freebie Cut File for today!! Head over to the PCS blog for the link to grab it!

Linked to:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Love this technique (paper piecing)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Use a Stamp

Mermaid Art Journal Tutorial!

I'm posting today at the Scrapendipity Way Of Life blog and I'm sharing this lovely art journal page I made using lots of mixed media supplies and the Julie Nutting Mermaid doll stamp by Prima!

Here's a little tutorial showing you how I made it-

I started off with my Dylusions Journal and used Distress Stain to rub colour across my pages. I had previously rubbed off some stencils on these pages and you can see some colours underneath.

I then used Dylusions yellow paint over a Tim Holtz sunray stencil to create my sunrise and spritzed the pages with Perfect Pearls mist to add shimmer and blend the colours slightly.

I used more Dylusions paints and stencils to create a background. I sponged the blue paints through the TH flourish stencil and then used the circle stencil to add white circles. I used bubble stamps and the purple paint to stamp on bubbles, which you'll be able to see below.

 Here's Erica working with some purple paint and stamping those fun bubbles!

I paper pieced and coloured my stamped images (I used the BoBunny Boardwalk paper for my mermaid) and then Mod Podged them onto my paper. 

I added some stamps on top of my journal and then used the Dylusions Ink Sprays to paint in my leaves. I love using the sprays this way! I wanted to distress the cute sea creature stamps a bit so I stamped a Dylusions background stamp over top using Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

You can see how the Dylusions purple paint bubbles resists the spray that I painted onto the leaves and it seems to blend into the background! I absolutely love this 4x6 journaling card from the Laughing Lola Picture My Life cards by CTMH. I love the cards included in these collections - there are so many things you can use them for!

Lastly, I added some Distress Markers to the stamped images and then used Glossy Accents and Stickles around my page. You can see how the butterflies really pop after adding the Glossy Accents! I traced around my Mod Podged images with a brown Distress Marker and used a waterbrush to lightly blend the marker around each image.

I just love how these pages turned out! I love all the layers and the way each medium works together. This mermaid doll is one of my favourites! 

Thanks so much for joining me today! I hope you have a lovely week! Be sure to check back this week - there is lots going on with the Pretty Cute Stamps September Release as well as a fun Birthday Bash Mini Crop on Saturday!!

Linked to:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - use a stamp
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - love this technique (layering different mediums & using Dylusions sprays to paint with)

September Sneak Peeks Pretty Cute Stamps Day 1!

Have you seen Day 1 Sneak Peeks for the Pretty Cute Stamps September Release?!! They are awesome! You can check them out...
Posted by Creative Love Affair - Handmade Cards and Memory Keeping on Monday, September 14, 2015

POW!! Birthday Card!

I am on a Superhero roll right now! I just had to make this cute card for a little friend's birthday and figured I use the awesome sketch on this week's Mojo Monday blog to whip it up!

I cut my image out first with the coordinating SVG file from Pretty Cute Stamps before stamping and already had it precoloured with Prismacolor Markers. This made it super quick to put together!

I used the Boardwalk BoBunny Collection 6x6 paper pad on my card - love this background paper that looks like it's peeling up!

Inside:

Here are the stamp sets I used:

Super Sentiments

 Superheroes

Thanks so much for stopping by today! You can find a Project Life layout using these stamps as well here and find out how to enter to win a gift certificate for your very own Pretty Cute Stamps here!!

Linked to: 

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Stamp & Die Cut

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Make It Colorful

Mojo Monday - #414 Sketch

Project Life Catch Up - Week 17!

I'm finally feeling a little more settled with school starting back up and getting back into a routine! I found I really didn't have a lot of time over the summer to do Project Life, so I'm happy to get back to it now! I've printed off my pics for each week and now I can get them into my album.

Today I'm posting on the Scrapendipity Way Of Life Blog and wanted to share some easy ways to add some extra details to your journaling cards using some paper ephemera! I used some fun die cuts from Maggie Holmes and My Mind's Eye and layered them on my Project Life cards along with some stamps to add some fun accents. This cool stitching look and arrow on the card on the top right is a stamp from Pretty Cute Stamps - Awesome Arrows!

My Week 17 card was made in the Rhonna Designs App - I just love this app! and I printed it with my photos.

I used more preprinted die cuts and stamping on the second page. I find it easiest to cluster the embellishments together to get them to work on the cards!

On my third page I used some fun Cricut cuts from the Create A Critter cartridge and my Explore. I actually used the Write feature to write in my words, then added some Distress Inks and splatters with Dylusions Sprays. I used some Dylusions stamps to add some fun leaves to the dino cards.

On the bottom half of this page I used stamps from the Superheroes and Super Sentiments from Pretty Cute Stamps! I first cut the outlines using the Explore and coordinating SVG files and then coloured them in with Prismacolor Markers. Let me tell you, this makes it soooo much easier!

As I looked through my album I loved seeing all the journaling I had added and all the fun elements on my pages. Even though I'm a little behind I know this is something I do want to continue to do, and my kids love looking through the pages. That's what makes it all worthwhile!

Thanks for joining me today! I hope you enjoyed your Monday if you had a long weekend like we did here, and happy, crafty wishes for the rest of the week!

Linked to:
Simon Says Monday Challenge Blog - Stamp and Die Cut (the superhero cuts/stamps)
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Blog - Make It Colorful
613 Avenue Create - AG

Scrapping Everyday Miracles - September Challenge!

I cannot believe it is September already! It feels like it was just June - and now the kids head back to school here in Alberta today! Well, with the start of a new month comes the start of a new challenge over at the Scrapping Everyday Miracles blog, and since it's Tuesday I'm posting over at the Scrapendipity Way Of Life blog - so what better than to combine them :) I'm not quite ready to let summer go, so as you'll see my card is celebrating catching that last bit of summer fun!

This month my project is based on the awesome card sketch by DT member Bev!

I recently picked up the Crazy Birds, Crazy Things and Crazy Talk stamps from the Scrapendipity Truck (we have an awesome scrapbook truck and online store full of amazing papercrafting goodies since our LSS closed!) and I've been having so much fun using them! I also picked up a goody pack of BoBunny Ephemera full of papers from the Boardwalk collection as well as coordinating stamps and accessories. They were a perfect addition to my summer fun card!

I stamped my bird on white cardstock and coloured him in with Prismacolor Markers, which are alcohol based. I added some glasses from the Crazy Things set and popped them up with foam dots, and then I stamped a surf board from the BoBunny Ephemera set and popped it under his wing. He's totally ready to catch a wave! I also used a Tim Holtz sunray stencil on my background along with some Distress Ink to brighten up my card.

Inside, I added a stamped sentiment from the Crazy Talk set - love the handwriting in this set - as well as some shades and a splash of water from the BoBunny set.

Lastly, I had to decorate my envelope! I added another cute bird and a few more stamps and coloured them in with Distress Markers. Time to send some Happy Mail off to a friend!

Thanks so much for joining me today! Whatever your week has in store for you, I hope you get to take some time for yourself to relax a little and be crafty :) Don't forget to check out what all the other Design Team members have come up with and enter your own project for a chance to win a sweet prize!! 

This month I'll be giving away the prize for this month's challenge winner - a gift certificate to Pretty Cute Stamps! You don't want to miss out on your chance for some sweet stamps, so head on over to the SEM blog and get started!