Joy to the World

Hi there and welcome back and Happy Spring!!!

 Today I have my second card for March for the Holly and Ivy Challenge. I decided to go with a monochromatic card and do white on white.

 I recently bought a few articles from Lifescraft and one of them was this town houses and trees die. 

I ran it through my die cutting machine with white cardstock. Yellow cardstock was taped to the back of the die cuts to look like there was light coming from inside the houses. 

Next I ran the Cuttlebug dot embossing folder through with a piece of white cardstock. This would be my snowy background!

Adhesive foam was then added to the back of the die pieces.

The two pieces were then layered to the front of the snowy background.

The second piece was layered to the top of the first to give some dimension. The sentiment from an old Sparkle N Sprinkle set was stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and heat embossed with Clear Detail.

This was then die cut with the Spellbinders Grommet Tag die.

The sentiment was attached to the front panel with pale yellow brads to finish my card off for today.

Hope you've enjoyed your visit today and that I have inspired you to join in the fun over at the Holly and the Ivy Challenge? It is always an anything goes theme and it is a great way to add to your 2022 Christmas card stash! You know how fast time flies!!

Till next time, take care!

Shona

Pink Poinsettias

 Hi folks and welcome to March! We're expecting to get up in the 60's this week.  Since it is so warm my bees are out and about and are already bringing in some light colored pollen!  After scouring the yard for what it might be that they are finding, I was thrilled to see them foraging on a big clump of heather in the front yard. My March header is one of these busy girls!

With Spring just around the corner, we often think flowers, and it just so happens that the theme over at Christmas Craft Creations for the month of March is also flowers - Christmas flowers! 

I chose to feature the Poinsettia! I began with stamping the Stampendous Poinsettia Background in Versamark and heat embossing with Gold Detail. 

I colored in the poinsettia flowers with Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink with a small blender.

I cut the white border off and layered to pink cardstock before layering to a white cardbase. The poinsettia from the Recollections Stamp and Die Set (which happens to be this month's prize over on the Challenge) was also stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with gold detail.

The flower was also inked with the Worn Lipstick.

The flower portion was then die cut.

I inked, heat embossed and colored the petals a third time and the smaller inside petals were then fussy cut.

I then attached the three-layered poinsettia to the prepared card front with mounting tape. Nuvo Crystal Drops Dandelion Yellow were added to the centers of all the flowers. The sentiment from Sparkle N Sprinkle set Nesties Xmas Trees was stamped on pink card with Versamark and also heat embossed in Gold Detail. I hand cut a little banner and attached the sentiment also with mounting tape.

Gold baker's twine was wrapped around the spine of the card to finish off my project for today. Taken from this angle, you lose the sparkle of the embossing powder, but you can see how detailed the embossing is.

I hope I have inspired you to join in along with the challenge and have a chance at winning the Recollections Stamp and Die set. Below is a list of all the products that I used.

Stampendous Poinsettia Background

Sparkle N Sprinkle Nesties Xmas Trees

Recollections Stamp and Die Set 529319

Versamark Ink

Gold Detail embossing powder

Distress Oxide Ink Worn Lipstick

Dauber

Nuvo Crystal Drops Dandelion Yellow

Gold bakers twine

Mounting Tape

I'd like to join in the following challenges with my card:

Christmas Crafts all Year 'Round: March Challenge: Something that starts with E or F (Embossing (heat) and Flowers)

The Holly and Ivy Challenge #90: Anything Goes

MLCCB #32: March: Anything Goes

Take care until next time!

Shona

Wish Upon a Star

Hi there, today I'd like to share a mostly white on white card, using the Precious Marieke Star Circle Die.

This is the die that I used today, the Precious Marieke Star Circle, which can be found over at Dies R Us

I began by die cutting the star circle die from both white cardstock and silver mirror cardstock. 

The negative star spots of the white version were filled in with the stars from the silver version. The little stars were quite fiddly to insert into the spots. They were held in place with little pieces of tape on the back. I used my stamp platform to stamp the sentiment from an old Sparkle N Sprinkle set. The platform allowed me to position the stamp exactly where I wanted it on the white card base in Versafine Clair Morning Mist. This was heat embossed with Silver Detail.

The circle was then attached using little foam pads behind the bigger stars and bits of foam pads behind the little stars. A few self-adhesive clear rhinestones were attached to finish off my card for today.

Below is a list of the products used in my card today:

Nesties Christmas Trees Set 420 (SNS)

Precious Marieke Star Circle Die

Versafine Clair Morning Mist

Silver Detail embossing powder

Clear Self Adhesive Rhinestones

Foam Pads

Silver Mirror Cardstock

I'd like to join in the following challenges:
Scrapy Land Challenge #126: Use a die that Scrapy Land carries
World Wide Open Design Team Challenge #11: Anything Goes
The Holly and the Ivy Challenge #61: Anything Goes
Krafty Chicks Challenge #483: Monochrome

I hope you've enjoyed my share today?

Till next time,

Shona

LOVE ON OUR 25TH ANNIVERSARY

Hi again,

Back for another quick post. I had made this card last week for the hubby, after being at the Somerset Scrapbook Convention, where we were playing with all the tapes and glitters in the booth.

I made this card quite quickly I might say. The SNS Tear-ific Tapes make it very easy!

I put a strip of the 2 1/2" Tape down the left hand side and removed the protective backing. Then I laid another strip of the same width down on the right side (it is OK to overlap), but leave the protective backing on the right side for now.

Apply a piece of the same tape to a piece of white cardstock and run it through a die cutting machine with three of the scalloped heart dies. Pick off the protective backings of the hearts and place them down on the exposed sticky side. The heart shapes will act as masks. Apply Sonic Velvet Glitter to the remaining exposed tape. Brush off the excess with a glitter brush.

Remove the heart masks and then apply the brand new Dogwood Rose velvet glitter to those sticky areas. 

Remove the right side protective backing and add 2 lengths of 1/4" tape and 1 length of 3/4" tape. Leave the backing on those strips and apply Reflection glitter to all the remaining exposed area.

Remove the two left side backing strips and apply the Dogwood Rose. Repeat with the last 3/4" backing and apply Sonic glitter to that area.

Now the fun part - making a ribbon to match your project. Here I used the 1/2" Tape. Take a strip of the tape and burnish your selected glitter (I used Reflection on mine) well into the tacky side of the tape. Just put a pile of the glitter on a coffee filter and pull the sticky tape (a couple of inches at a time) through the glitter. When the one side is covered and you've shaken and brushed off the excess glitter, remove the other side of the backing. Yes, I know it sounds strange, but you do have a "glitter sandwich" with just glue in between! Here is the link for glittered ribbon on the website if needed.

... and if that is not cool enough - yes, you can curl it!!

Just do it gently with a pair of scissors as you would a normal ribbon!

Cut and emboss the white heart from glossy white cardstock and add the silver stickers.

The next step is to emboss your chipboard piece. I had a question recently answered at the Somerset Convention. Why do chipboard pieces leave an outline on your Versamark (and other) pads? I love embossing these chipboard pieces, but they were ruining my pads. The reason is that the chipboard is cut with a laser and in effect it is burning the chipboard. If you run a piece of paper towel around the outline of your chipboard piece, you will see a black residue come off on the towel. It will now not be left on your new Versamark pad! I keep a "dirtied" Versamark pad specifically for my Chipboard pieces now, as I hadn't known that. Another option is to use a dauber with the Versamark. It's all a matter of preference.

I chose to heat emboss my "Love" with Silver Lightning embossing powder. 

... and the silver brad was also embossed with Silver Lightning and then I reheated it with Super Thick Clear embossing powder. The brad held the ribbon in place and the heart was attached with Dimensional Dots as shown.

Hope I've inspired you to get out those glitters! It can make such a quick but effective card!

I'd like to enter this card in the Scrapy Land Challenge where they are looking for die cuts and heat embossing.

See you next week for the Sparkle N Sprinkle October Reveal!

Hugs,

Shona

SPARKLE N SPRINKLE'S SEPTEMBER 1ST REVEAL

Welcome to Sparkle N Sprinkle's September 1 Reveal.

This month SIX new stamp sets are being introduced, plus the re-release of the Wonky Lines background stamp. These sets are 20% off their regular price, until September 3rd.  All the new reveal sets are available on Cling Mounted Rubber and as a digital image. The Magic of the Season, set #653 is the stamp set featured in  This Month's Technique Video.

This month, I decided to go with Autumn Splendor - Set 651

Here are this month's reveal sets:

Autumn Splendor #651   (Digi version - DIGI651)
Farm Sweet Farm #652  (Digi version - DIGI652)
Magic of the Season #653  (Digi version - DIGI653)
Thanksgiving Friends #656  (Digi version - DIGI656)
Bountiful Blessings #658  (Digi version - DIGI658)
Sweet Holiday #655  (Digi version - DIGI659)

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

1) all SIX of the new rubber stamp sets
or 
2) all the new digital stamps and digital stamp sets. 

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 Sept 3 on Facebook, the SNS blog, and on our blogs:

April Williams
Eret Pank
Belinda Shupe
Emmy van den Heuvel
Shona Erlenborn (that's me)
Anita Scroggins
Marie Berquist
Anne Temple

(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 cannot 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.

This month we were given a few pieces of "bling" from Mon Ami Gabby to play with, so I thought it would be fun to incorporate some of the samples into my design this month. I had a few strings of the Diamond Mesh that came in some lovely fall colors, so I used two of them to trim the bottom of the dress.

The three "flowers" on the left were cut from a piece of Flower Diamond Mesh which was made with clear flowers. I was able to color them by using Adirondack Alcohol Ink Sunshine Yellow.

My background was done using the Dry Embossed Flocked Backgrounds technique, with the Sizzix embossing folder (Rays), some Sun Dazzle Sparkle N Soft, a piece of Super Adhesive Sheet and Memento Cantaloupe ink. I love making these fun, fuzzy backgrounds. Adds a lot of texture to your projects. You can see the embossed pattern more clearly in the photo below.

I was thinking sparkly and blingy went well with this lovely image. I stamped her in StazOn black, then she was fussy cut and colored with watercolor crayons using a waterbrush. I added Celestial glitter to the wings and flower centers and then Bridal glitter to the dress using a Sakura Glue Pen.

I used Gold Mirror Cardstock to add even more shine to the card, although it does make it difficult to photograph! The sentiment was stamped in Versamark then heat embossed in Black Detail. It was then cut and embossed with a rectangle die cut. The circle behind her was cut and embossed with Spellbinder's Classic Circle die. The background was layered to another piece of the Gold Mirror Cardstock and then I assembled the card using Tear-ific Tape and dimensional dots. Dimensional Glue was used to attach the "flowers". Full instructions can be found here, in the SNS Gallery, if needed.

Hope you've enjoyed my project today, and that you'll check out the rest of the Design Team's projects. Remember to leave a comment for us all, to be eligible for the Grand prize win!

Till next time,

Shona

MY FIRST PUBLISHED ARTICLE!

I apologize for being MIA over here for a while. This last month has been so hectic. Knowing it was going to be crazy, good old Donna suggested I take a couple of months off from my designer duties over at Sparkle N Sprinkle. It was definitely a wise decision. I have been doing very little stamping, except for the graduation cards, as they were needed - two minutes before they left the house - not even time to take a photo!! 

Anyway, yesterday the mailman brought me a lovely surprise. A complimentary copy of the August/September issue of Scrap and Stamp Arts.  

My article  "Fun with Flocking" appears on page 31. Here it is - I hope you can read it? 

The Tulip Trio card is the one that I sent to Edith!

Till next time,

Big hugs,

Shona

EVERYTHING HAS A SEASON

Wow, what a quick month May has been! Too many volunteer obligations! Now, I've got less than a week to get the backyard photo ready for the prom photo shoot!

As I mentioned in my May Reveal post, my favorite stamp set this month was the Garden Silhouette. Just love it. Silhouette stamps and gardens - two of my very favorite things! Here is the sneak peak that I left you with.

I used two of the images from the Silhouette Garden set to make this simple card. Might make a few more of this to have on hand for upcoming birthdays. 

I made the background, with a gorgeous summer's night, just around sunset, in mind. Using an felt applicator and a few Adirondack Alcohol inks, randomly put drops of Stream, Sunshine Yellow, Purple Twilight and Meadow and dab onto white glossy cardstock. Add a little Blending solution to mute it down if needed.

The two images were stamped side by side in Black StazOn. I then took a piece of the background and added more Blending Solution, to mute the colors. When it was dry, I heat embossed the sentiment using Versamark and Black Detail. It was cut with scissors and added with dimensionals.

A piece of scalloped white lace trim was folded around the back of the card front to emulate a window valance. Layered on to black, white and then to the black card base.

A quick and simple card - don't you just love those?

I'd like to enter this card in The Artistic Stamper challenge - In the Garden.

Thanks for popping by today, I'll be back in a few days to share some more cards from the May Reveal. Here's another sneak peak, using the travel mixed media set and some new but "dirty" embossing powders, to whet your appetite:

Till next time,

Hugs,

Shona

SPARKLE N SPRINKLE MAY REVEAL

Hi, and welcome to Sparkle N Sprinkle's May's Reveal.
Our website was not playing nicely, so we are a bit late showing off our May projects with the new images.

This month Sparkle N Sprinkle is introducing EIGHT new rubber stamp sets and 5 new digital sets. Through May 21, the rubber stamp sets are 20% off their regular price.
The beautiful Nesting Bird set is available:
 on Cling Mounted Rubber
as a digital image
and is also included in Jazzy Jill's Technique Video for the month.

SPECIAL FOR VIDEO KIT CUSTOMERS ONLY:
FREE shipping any size order. When checking out in the on-line store, please use a credit card (not PayPal) and write VIDEO KIT CUSTOMER in the COMMENTS section. Your account will be manually adjusted.
Video Kit Customers using PayPal, please phone the office to receive free shipping.
Offer expires May 21, 2014.

On May 21 EIGHT winners will be selected from the comments left on the designers' blogs listed below. Each winner will receive a new stamp set, and the choice of one embossing powder and glitter to go with their new set.

The new stamp sets are:

Travel Mixed Media #607
Floral Flourish #634
Leafy Flourish #641
Nesting Bird #602   (digital available)
Church Sympathy #604   (digital available)
Across the Miles #603   (digital available)
Spunky with Flowers #605 (digital available)
Garden Silhouette #600 (digital available)

The blog hop winners will be announced on May 21 on Facebook, the SNS blog, and on our blogs:

Anita Scroggins
Steff Munnings
Donna Ellis

Shona Erlenborn (you are here)
Eret Pank
Mayra Hernandez
Emmy van den Heuvel
Belinda Shupe
Marie Berquist
April Williams
Anne Temple

Remember to comment on each of the Designer's blogs to increase your chances of winning!

My personal favorite set this month is Set 600: Garden Silhouette. I happen to love using silhouette stamps and gardening is another of my creative passions. 

Sparkle N Sprinkle is now carrying stencils and embossing paste. Did you know that you can make gorgeous, sparkly and dimensional  backgrounds for your projects using embossing paste, a stencil and your choice of embossing powder? Here is the tutorial in the tips and techniques section if you'd like to check it out. 

I went a little crazy with this technique one evening. I used different stencils and varied the embossing powders used.  Here's a look at some of the results:

I wish I had taken a photo of all the backgrounds I made, before I started using them!! One of my favorites was made using the Clockwork stencil by Tim Holtz. I made two backgrounds, one using Blue Silver Embossing Powder and the other with Silver Lightning. 

The first card shown used the Blue Silver version. Here is the Silver Lightning background:

Don't you just love the chunky sparkly dimension?

My only advice with this technique is set aside some time to do several at once. You will need to have soapy water on hand to clean the paste off the stencil as soon as you take it off the cardstock. I placed the stencils in a basin of soapy water immediately and cleaned them all at the end.  As long as they are soaking in the soapy water it is an easy clean-up, just don't let the paste dry on the stencil!  The other benefit to doing more than one at a time, is you need to apply the embossing powder to the paste while the paste is wet, but you have to wait till the paste is dry to heat emboss the powder. I left the backgrounds overnight to dry and then embossed them all in the morning. So much fun!! It felt like Christmas morning - opening presents!!

As soon as I saw this sentiment in the Garden Silhouette set, I knew I had to make something with my clockwork backgrounds. For my first card, I inked up a mirror background stamp with the Creole Spice Kaleidacolor ink pad and then spritzed it with water before stamping onto glossy white cardstock. I left it a short while to dry. The colors will become muted and "dreamy". The image was stamped on top with Memento Tuxedo Black. 

I applied Versamark to the Prima flower and heat embossed with the Silver Lightning embossing powder again. It was attached to the background with a brad, then the image and background were layered to black glossy cardstock. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark on glossy black cardstock and heat embossed with Belgian Cream. It was cut up and taped to the focal image. Complete instructions, if needed, can be found here.

For a totally different look, using the same stencil, I added a "few" glitters to my second card:

As I mentioned before, one of my other passions is gardening and I love taking photos of everything that happens out there! The flowers in the card were cut out from this photo, taken last year:

After cutting out the flowers, I applied Lavender Iris, Bubble Gum, Raspberry Soda and Pretty Princess glitters with a Sakura Glue Pen to add some pink sparkle, to highlight the gorgeous colors of the Coneflower! 

The sentiment was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Black Detail and then cut and embossed with Spellbinders Fancy Framed Tags Three. I distressed the edges with some Memento Sweet Plum ink before adding a little Versamark and heat embossing with Sangria Star.

To assemble the card and pull the silver and pinks together, I decided to add a glittered border, using the same stencil and a couple of the Velvet glitters. I applied 2 1/2" Tear-ific Tape to the right side of pink cardstock. Versamark was applied to the back of the stencil that will be touching the tape, this makes it easy to release from the tape afterwards. Remove protective backing of tape and lay the stencil on top. Apply Orchid Rose and return excess glitter to jar. Take off the stencil (you will need to remove the Versamark ink from it - some soapy water works fine) and then apply Reflection glitter to remaining exposed tape. There is a tutorial for this technique in the Tips and Techniques Section, if you need more detailed instructions. 

A strip of Orchid Rose balances out the left side of the card and the flowers were attached with dimensional tape of various depths, to create lots of dimension. This card and directions can be found in the gallery, here.

I'd like to enter this card in the challenge over at The Artistic Stamper, where the theme is "In the Garden".

Hope you've enjoyed your visit with me today, I'm leaving you today with a sneak peak of another card I made using the Garden Silhouette set.

Till next week!

Hugs, 

Shona