SPARKLE N SPRINKLE'S FEBRUARY 1ST REVEAL

Hi there and welcome to the Sparkle N Sprinkle February 1st Reveal!

I noticed on backing out of the garage at 6.30am yesterday morning, to take my youngest to the bus stop, that I could see the bottom of the driveway!  This means that the mornings are getting lighter, earlier!!! Spring is on it's way! Well OK, that may be a wee bit of an exaggeration, but I'm optimistic!

I normally enjoy January and February, although cold, they are my catch up and organization months. I like being organized, but somehow January fled by too quickly, and I'm not there yet with either catching up OR the organization! Good news though - I still have February! 

For my Reveal card this month I chose to use the Iris Garden Set 687. It's so appropriate for this reveal being the birth flower for February! This month FOUR new rubber stamp sets and two new digi-only sets are being introduced.   These sets are 20% off their regular price, until Feb. 3rd.  All the new reveal sets are available on Cling Mounted Rubber and as a digital image.  Iris Garden #687 is also the stamp set featured in  This Month's Technique Video.

The sets are:

Seasonal Trees #680   (digi version DIGI680)

Sleep Over #686   (digi version DIGI686)

Iris Garden #687  (digi version DIGI687)

Berry Sundae #688   (digi version DIGI688)
Wild About You #DIGI692 (digi only)
Stanley Valentine #DIGI693 (digi only)

On Feb 3rd,  one Grand Prize Winner will be selected from the comments left on the designers' blogs listed below.  The Grand Prize Winner will receive

all FOUR of the new rubber stamp sets (or digi sets, if you prefer)

The new SNS Creative Challenges also begins today, with lots of prizes and recognition badges. 

The winner of the blog hop will be announced on February 3rd on Facebook, the SNS blog, and on our blogs.  This month's Blog Hop order is:

Belinda Shupe
Anita Scroggins
April Williams
Shona Erlenborn (you are here)
Eret Pank
Anne Temple
Marie Berquist

(Tip: if you have a problem with a particular link, try clicking on the person's blog title to send you to their Home page.)

Don't forget to leave a comment with each Designer to be eligible for the Grand Prize.  We love reading your comments and hope we have inspired you as well.  If you absolutely can not leave a comment for some reason, please email icinganne@yahoo.com with your comment and the name of the blog or Designer you are commenting about.

We hope you enjoy the new reveals as much as we do!

Last month the winner came from Anne's Blog. I wonder which Designer has the Grand Prize winner this month?

I had been thinking about trying a coloring technique that I hadn't used in a while and that was Perfect Pearls on top of dark cardstock. After I stamped my Irises in Versamark and heat embossed them with Belgian Cream, I used a black Perfect Medium Brush to apply Interference Green and Interference Violet Perfect Pearls to the leaves and flowers. It gave a lovely shimmery shine to the image.

So now my little flowers needed a frame. Oh, I know - I have just the thing! I had received a Die-sire Create-A-Card Christmas Present Die from a dear friend, Donna, when I had visited Florida last month. I was excited to use it and I although it was a "Christmas" die, it didn't need to be used just for Christmas cards. You know me - always trying to repurpose! So I cut and embossed the die from black cardstock and decided it needed highlighting on the raised areas. I took a Brilliance Moonlight White Pigment ink pad and swiped it lightly over the embossed cardstock. Clear Detail embossing powder was then applied and heated to achieve a rather distressed chalkboard look.

I covered a white 6" x 6" card base with Super Adhesive Sheet, removed the protective backing and centered the framed Irises piece on top before applying Peruvian Lily Velvet Glitter to the exposed adhesive. This is how it looked at that stage:

I liked the texture I had achieved but felt that it needed some more depth, so I decided to make another frame and pop it up on top with Dimensional Dots. I liked this much more:

The little single iris from the set was prepared the same way as the group of Iris and then I fussy cut it, to be tucked behind the sentiment tag. The sentiment, from Religious Sympathy Set 383,  was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Belgian White. I used one of the Spellbinders Fancy Tags to cut and emboss and then "scuffed" it up with a little more of the Moonlight White ink with some Clear Detail embossing powder. 

The white organdy ribbon was tied in a bow around the popped up frame - but it looked too new! So I took the heat gun to it and crinkled it to age it a little! Little self adhesive pearls were then added to the centers of the Irises and below the sentiment to complete my card.

I hope you've enjoyed my share today. Here is a sneak preview of some of the cards I've done with one of the other sets we are revealing this month,  Seasonal Trees; Hope you'll stop by again soon to check them out.

Remember to leave a comment for me and the rest of the Designers to be in the running to win all these sets that we've shared with you today! Next stop is the talented Eret.

Hugs,

Shona

RIBBIT - BE MY VALENTINE?

How are you getting on with your Valentine's Day cards? Well, here is another idea if you're not done, using the Sweetheart Frog Set 677 from last month. Isn't he just adorable?

I was inspired to make this card today, after seeing my dear friend Donna's post. I loved the stenciled background she had made and it really made me want to go play with some stencils and paste! So I looked through some of my stuff and lo and behold I found five different Sweet Stamps' Stencils. One of them was called "Cattails" - oh boy, did I have a stamp to go with that stencil? Yes I did!

So I got out some brown cardstock, the Sweetstamps' stencil and spread some Dreamweaver Copper Embossing Paste over the stencil. After removing the stencil, I then applied a brand new SNS Embossing Powder (Abracadabra) and left it (impatiently, I might add) for the rest of the day - I usually leave these overnight as the suspense of how they are going to come out almost kills me!! Anyway, I went up this evening to heat emboss and this is how it came out:

Here are three of many others that I did today:

Aren't these fun?  Well anyway, back to the Cattails! After I had made the background, I stamped the frog image in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics as per the photo below:

I then sponged a little Memento Lulu Lavender around the frog. An oval was cut from the background of the Cattails to make it look like we were looking through his window into the swamp. To bring the two together I applied Embers Glitter to both the Cattails in the background and the image.

The sentiment was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with Copper Dreams before being cut and embossed with Spellbinders' Ribbon Banners and then a little Lulu Lavender ink was sponged before removing the die. It was attached to the card front with Dimensional Dots. The embossed panel was then layered to a purple card base also with Dimensional Dots.

So there you have it. Another fun little Valentine. Thanks for stopping by in my neck of the swamp!

I'd like to enter this little card in three Challenges:

Sweet Stamps: Challenge 206: Stencils and Paste 
Crafty Sentiments: Love, Valentine's Day Challenge
Cards and More: Animals

Hope you'll stop by my blog this weekend, for the Sparkle N Sprinkle February 1st Reveal, when we will bringing you six brand new sets from Sparkle N Sprinkle.

Hugs,

Shona

YOU SET MY HEART A FLUTTER!

Hi there,

Today I am sharing a card using another of the Sparkle N Sprinkle January Reveal sets.  This time it's the Sweetheart Frog, Set 677.

I received a couple of Sizzix Movers and Shapers at Christmastime and this card uses the Square Stand-Up one. These are fun to use and the card opens out and lays flat for mailing (if you don't add wobbles and Dimensional Dots like I did!). The little easel stop is already built in!

I stamped the froggy image in Black StazOn ink and then colored with an aqua brush and watercolor crayons. I cut and embossed the image with Spellbinders Classic Ovals Large, sponging on a little Memento Summer Sky before removing the die. I added Celestial Glitter (G1031) with a Sakura Glue Pen to the cattails.

The birds were added using a Darice Embossing Folder (Nature 3-pack). I ran the top piece of cardstock through the embossing machine which had been swiped with Memento London Fog, I then filled in the inside of the birds with a Copic marker - C5. Memento Summer Sky and London Fog were then directly applied to create the streaked sky effect. I carried the Summer Sky down to the base.

The blue cardstock was run through the bottom portion of the card base die before running through the Sheena embossing folder - "Water Ripples". I attached that to the base of the easel card and then used the Glue Pen again to add some more Celestial glitter to the ripples. The base of the card was edged with London Fog.

I ran another piece of the same blue through the embossing folder and cut and embossed with the one size larger oval to layer the frog image to. I attached the image with a Wobble to make it have a little more movement.

The sentiment was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Black Detail. I added a little pre-made flower to the tag, which was cut and embossed with Spellbinders Standard Tag and attached to the base with Dimensional Dots.

Hope you've enjoyed my Valentine Day's card share today. That special love day will be here before you know it!

Hugs,

Shona

A MUSICAL HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Hi there, I'm back to share a card that I made last week for my daughter, Gillian's birthday. She's the singing and ringing member of the family - pretty much her life is music. Right now she is on a two-week East Coast tour with her Handbell Choir from College. Here is the link to the itinerary for those of you in warmer climates. It may be that she will be at a venue near you - and if you like handbells - you'll love the concert!  Anyway, back to the card, which of course, had to have music incorporated into it!

Over the holidays, while I was making my MIL's birthday card - I broke my Big Shot!  Total crisis! Amazon Prime came to the rescue and two days later a Big Kick was delivered!  I've had fun getting to know my new friend. This card uses the Sizzix Movers and Shapers XL Die - Square Stand-Up. 

Gillian's favorite color is purple, so I used a purple card base and then distressed the music sheet paper with Memento Lulu Lavender before layering to the base.

I stamped the music label from Sparkle N Sprinkle's Set 424 in Versamark and heat embossed with Concord. The set coordinates with SB Labels Thirteen and that is what I used to cut and emboss the image and the layer with. The sentiment was stamped on glossy white and was cut and embossed with SB Classic Ovals Large. Lulu Lavender was sponged over the sentiment before the die was removed. I attached the sentiment with a wobble to add some movement.

I tied a bow at the side of the top flap with lavender satin ribbon before adding the stamped pieces with dimensional dots. A little note charm was tied to the bow to finish off the card.

Hope you've enjoyed my quick share today. I'd like to enter this card in the Scrapy Land Challenge #9 - Use a die that Scrapy Land sells.

Hugs,

Shona

WEDDING CONGRATULATIONS!

Hi there,

Hope the New Year is off to a good start for you. Today I'd like to share a card made from one of the other new December Reveal Sets. This time I chose to use the Love and Kisses Set 676. It was intended to be used as a Valentine card set, but I chose to change it up a little and make it into a fun engagement or wedding card.

I stamped the kissing couple in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock and colored them with Copics B34, B66, B63, Y32, E31, YR00 and R00.  They were then fussy cut out. I applied a little Sparkling Snow glitter to the hearts on the girl's dress with a Sakura Glue pen.

I used the Die-Versions Congrats. Cut-Out at the base of a 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of glossy cardstock. Then I ran the same piece of cardstock through the embossing machine with the Darice Fireworks embossing folder. Memento Rose Bud ink was applied directly to the white glossy cardstock, which made the fireworks pop!

A strip of 3/4" Tear-ific Tape was attached behind the Congrats. cut-out and the background was layered at this point to a red 6" x 6" card base. Cerise Glitter was then applied to the exposed sticky surface of the Congrats. background. Sparkling Snow was also applied to the firework lines with the Sakura Glue Pen.

The hearts were leftovers from a Cheery Lynn Doily Heart die cut, which were covered with Brushable Glue and then applied with Cerise Glitter.

The hearts and the couple were attached to the card front with Dimensional Dots to finish the card.

Hope I've inspired you to put a spin on your stamps. They don't always need to be used for what they were intended!

I'd like to enter this card in the Scrapy Land Challenge #9 - Anything goes using a brand of die that Scrapy Land carries (I used Die-Versions and Cheery Lynn)

Till next time,

Happy Stamping,

Shona