Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Happy Holidays From My Crafty Heart to Yours

Hi everyone,

With the craziness of the holidays and some other changes in my life (I'm homeschooling now) I have found ZERO time for crafting. I'm so busy during the day now and by the time I have a minute in the evening I'm too tired. lol. I don't know how you guys are able to keep up with your wonderful crafts, blogs, challenges, swaps, videos, etc & manage to stay sane through it all?! Hats off to you ladies & gents for keeping it up and giving us crafty inspiration among the busiest time of the year!!!! I'm in total and utter awe of you and completely inspired as well.

After Christmas I hope to be able to get back to doing at least one post or video per week.

Until then may you all have a merry & bright, safe & blessed Christmas & happy New Year!

Hugs,
Bettina :)

Monday, November 10, 2014

Christmas Cards Galore using SSS Card Kit

Hi there,

I totally didn't realize how much time had past since my last post, but judging by the amount of dust around here it's been a little too long. LOL. I've been busy with this month's SSS card kit and this time I was determined to actually kill the entire kit (this is a first for me). For the most part I succeeded although if my brain didn't hurt so much from trying to think of ways to use the tiniest scraps, I could probably crank out 1 or 2 more. ;P



Anyway, the total number of Christmas cards I was able to make is 23 plus 2 little non-Christmas notecards. Not bad, if I do say so myself. I used 4 of the designs on the inspiration sheet that come with the kit and then made as many variations as possible with the remaining designer paper (which this month is Lawn Fawn's "Snow Day"---sooooooo cute!!!) Once I couldn't make any more variations I did my own thing. So, rather than post a picture of every single card, I thought I'd share a slide show of pics instead. :)


Hope you enjoyed and maybe even saw one you'd like to re-create. Would love to see it, or, if you have this kit, I'd love to see the cards you made with it. (post a comment with your link).

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a blessed & crafty day!
Hugs,
Bettina :)

Friday, October 24, 2014

Bear Hugs using a Sassy Cheryl digi stamp

Hi Crafty Friends,

Thought I'd share a card I made a few days ago for a kiddo who was having surgery.


The image is called "Bunny gets a home" and you can find it here. Couldn't be cuter don't you think? Cheryl's designs are all super cute and she has several different characters all of which have their own sassy personalities. Hop on over and meet them all here.

I tried to keep the card pretty simple, which is oh so hard for me. The image is colored with a combination of Spectrum Noir colored pencils and Crayola colored pencils. Then I used Gamsol to blend everything out. Watching the Gamsol dissolve the wax and blend the colors is fun and I'm still practicing and learning. This is only my second time using Gamsol and I like it a lot.

The papers are "Dear Lizzy: Polka Dot Party" by American Crafts and the sentiment is actually from a Pure Innocence stamps set from MFT called "Bear Hugs". I stamped and embossed the sentiment and cut it into that fish-tail banner shape and popped up the center with some foam tape while glueing the ends down flat. I thought it added just a bit of dimension.


The tabs on the top and bottom of the image are cut using a die from the Spellbinder "Address Book" die set. This satisfied the part of me that wanted just a touch of fancy while still keeping it pretty simple. As the final touch I added some enamel dots and some sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella brush pen.


So there she is. All ready to go and hopefully ease the nerves and send some virtual hugs to a nervous young lady.



Hope you enjoyed.

Thanks so very much for stopping by. Have a blessed & crafty day!

Hugs~Bettina :)

Supplies:

Inks: VersaFine Black Onyx
Colored Pencils: Spectrum Noir & Crayola
Papers: Dear Lizzy: Polka Dot Party by American Crafts; Recollections 110lb white cardstock
Embossing Powder: Recollections detail black
Image: SassyCheryl "Bunny Gets a Home"

Miscellaneous: Wink of Stella clear brush pen; Recollections enamel dots; 
Adhesives: ATG; Scotch 3D foam tape; Tombo Monomulti glue

Monday, October 20, 2014

Paisley has a Prezzie Birthday card

Hi again,

So, here are pictures of the finished card and I'm super happy with how it turned out. Tadah!!!


The color inspiration for the stamp came from Pinterest. I gave my Spectrum Noir markers a good workout on this one. lol. The papers are from MME "Happy Day" 6x6 paper pad and they go just perfectly with the colored image. I used some Amercan Craft trim to frame the image. 


I used Bellariffic Friday Sketch # 20 (from Oct 10) as the layout for this card and it really suits the image because it's long and narrow. The sentiment is from a Lawn Fawn stamp set and I embossed it with some black embossing powder. I decided to stamp it on patterned paper rather than white cardstock and I think it looks rather sweet.


For some finishing touches I added some sequins (I wish I had used some restraint with them-lol) and my new Wink of Stella brush pen, which I absolutely LOVE. Are you seeing all that sparkle?!


That is the card. Hope you enjoyed. Oh, before I forget, here's the video on how I made the card. The video almost got scrapped because my nose kept getting in the frame, but I decided to suck up my pride and post it anyway. ;)



Sure glad you stopped by. Have a blessed & crafty day.

Hugs~Bettina :)


Supplies:

Stamp: Stamping Bella "Paisley has a Prezzie"; Lawn Fawn "Happy Everything"; Stampendous birthday greeting (inside of card-not shown)

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaFine Onyx Black
Spectrum Noirs: hair: GB8, EB3, EB5, GB9; skin: FS2, FS3, TN2, TN3; dress top: GB1, GB3, OR2; dress skirt: TB1, TB2, IB2, BT4, BT5, BT8; present, stockings, bows, shoes: PP3, PP2, PP6, DR1, DR5, CR6; ruffles only: PP3
Papers: MME "Happy Day" 6x6
Embossing powder: Recollections detail black
Embellishments: clear Wink of Stella brush; misc. sequins; American Craft trim
Adhesives: ATG, Scotch 3M foam tape

Friday, October 17, 2014

Card Sneak Peak

Hi there,

Here's a sneak peak of a card I just finished. If all went well, I might even have a process video to go with it. (crossing fingers)


Thanks for stopping by & please check back again soon for pics (& maybe a video) of the finished card.

Have a blessed and crafty day.

Hugs,
Bettina :)


Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Shabby Vintage Pennant

Hello crafty friends,

Time for another post. My plans to enter lots of challenges have been foiled (by life--lol) but I managed one more timely entry. Yay! It's for Tina Cappa's 500+ subbie challenge on YouTube. You can click here to get all the lovely details. Her challenge ends on the 15th of October so there's a little bit of time if you'd like to join.

UPDATE: Tina has extended the deadline for her challenge until the end of October, so YAY! Lots of time to join in!

Here's my entry:

It's a pennant!!! Never made one before let alone in the style Tina requested: shabby or shabby vintage. Whether or not I succeeded with the style I'm really happy with how it turned out. While I struggled with a lot of decisions about which embellishments to use, I knew for sure I wanted to use the lace. I also thought this Gorjuss Girl image would work well. I paper-pieced her dress and colored her in with Spectrum Noir markers. Then I used a Label Eight die from Spellbinders and used some distress ink around the edges. Well, it turned out to be a little bit too large for the pennant so I decided to frame the image using a pre-cut frame (came in a pkg with a bunch of different sizes by Recollections); the shape was similar to the Label Eight but smaller and I liked the dimension. I painted it off-white (because it was brown), and cut the image to fit. 

The pennant is a piece of 6.5" x 7.5" chipboard that I covered in lovely papers from the DCWV The Primrose stack. That stack has beautiful papers in soft blues, soft blacks, pale greens, & pinks with lots of florals & birds and it just feels very vintage. I layered a pink print on top of a music sheet print and cut the pink print paper slightly smaller. I roughed up all the edges of all the papers and made some tears in the pink print so that some of the music print could show through. The back is covered with a soft blue printed paper from the same stack. Before I placed the first layer of paper down, I placed some black self-adhesive lace on a roll to frame out the shape. You can just see it peeking out.



Next I placed the framed image somewhat centered and glued the lace, pearl trim, and rose trim in place.

The flowers are all by Recollections. The layered flowers come in a mixed package where some of the flowers have print and some are plain. I layered them and used brads to hold them together and hot glued them in place. Then I surrounded them with pink & blue roses (also from Recollections). I also added some random gems from my stash and created a couple of bows.


To get the ends of the bows to curl, I actually wrapped them around a metal crochet hook and zapped it with my heat tool; kind of like a mini curling iron. I love the effect of the curls.


Finally, I decided to add a removable charm dangle that I made with some beads and chain from my stash. (I love all sorts of crafts so I have lots of different kinds of material). I think it adds a sweet touch, don't you? And as a bonus, she can remove it and put it on anything she wants. Love the butterfly!


I used my crop-a-dile to punch two holes and add eyelets. I didn't have white ones in the right size, so I used the blue-ish ones I had instead. It still works although I'm thinking of painting them white?....


So, that's my entry for Tina Cappa's challenge. Hope you go check out Tina's channel and I hope you enjoyed my project and maybe got inspired to make something. I really enjoyed making this sweet pennant.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a blessed & crafty day.

Hugs~Bettina :)

Supplies:

Stamp: Gorjuss Girl-"You brought me Love"

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz distress ink: Peacock Feathers
Spectrum Noirs: hair: EB3, EB5, EB8, IG10; face & skin: TN2, FS3, FS2, CR3; dress top ruffle: CR3, PP2, PP6; dress slip: BG1, BG2, blender
Papers: DCWV The Primrose Stack; chipboard (1/8")
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities Label Eight
Embellishments: Recollections Lace on a roll; Recollections floral embellishments & roses; Recollections pearl brads; Celebrate It Nylon ribbon-white; miscellaneous lace, pearl trim & gem stones; miscellaneous beads (probably Bead Landing), chains & findings

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Thankful & Grateful

Hi,

Just finished my entry for the Unity Stamp Company monthly "be inspired" challenge. There's still time so if you'd like to join in click the link:


Here's the inspiration for this month's challenge:

 

Here's my entry: 


It's so sparkly! I'm pretty happy with how it came out and I love the stamp; it's the SOTW (Stamp of the Week) stamp from last week, I believe. It's called Thankful & Grateful Oak. It's soooo pretty!!!



I stamped the tree on some pretty paper (from BoBunny) cut into a square and embossed it with some copper embossing powder and layered it on gold glitter paper (DCWV Naturals paper pad; 12x12) and dark red. The sketch showed a sort of semi circle shape in the background so I drew one out on the back of the gold glitter paper and cut it out to fit on the background paper from BoBunny Autumn Song collection. I stamped the sentiment that came with the SOTW and embossed that in copper as well. 



The inspiration picture showed some zig zag lines so I decided to try using my sewing machine and stitched around the layered mats using variagated colored thread and a zig zag stitch. For the focal image I decided to leave the thread loosely hanging off the corner but I cut it off on the sentiment. 

I distressed the edges of all the papers with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink. Then I used my Cricut and using the Straight from the Nest cartridge found leaves that I cut at about 1" out of olive green cardstock. I distressed all the leaves with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo, Fired Brick, & Spiced Marmelade and randomly placed them along the curve of the gold glitter paper. The focal image, the sentiment and a few random leaves are on foam 
dimensionals.



That's my fall card and my entry. Hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a blessed and crafty day. 

Hugs~Bettina :) 


Supplies:

Stamp: Thankful & Grateful Oak by Unity Stamp Company
Inks: VersaMark, Tim Holtz: Vintage Photo, Fired Brick, Spiced Marmelade
Papers: dark red cardstock; olive green cardstock; DCWV Naturals 12x12 paper stack; BoBunny 6x6 Autumn Song Collection
Embossing powder: copper
Misc supplies: ATG gun; Scott 3M foam tape; Tombo monomulti glue; variagated thread

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Paisley Has a Prezzie card

Hi again,

Bonus post & a video!!! Yay!

For this post I wanted to share the actual card I entered in Jamie's (Scrappin Stampers) monthly challenge (I talked about it in the previous post). It came out so cute.


The challenge was to make a fall or back to school card or project. The card was inspired by AmyR who is Prairie Paper & Ink on YouTube. She made these awesome cards on Kraft cardstock using white embossing or white stamping and coloring with colored pencils. I love that look and wanted to try it out for myself.  The stamp I used is Uptown girl Paisley has a Prezzie, by Stamping Bella, and her actual image shows her holding a present behind her back. Well, I wanted her to hold a pumpkin to really make it more fall themed.



I used my new Spectrum Noir colored pencils to color her in and then I used my Cricut Create a Critter cartridge (p. 70) to cut out the pumpkin from orange cardstock; it's cut at 0.75". To add details to the pumpkin I used a VersaMarker pen; it's like the pen version of the VersaMark sticky ink pad. With that pen I drew on the lines and used white embossing powder. For some shading I used Spectrum Noir alcohol markers and for even more detail I used a white gel pen.


For the "bow" I wanted to do something a little different. I found some orange organza ribbon in my stash and played with it by folding the ribbon back & forth on itself and fanning it out. When I liked how it looked I stapled it and hot-glued it behind the image like you see here.


Finally, I embossed the sentiment with a copper embossing powder and used the Wink of Stella pen (not the brush) to add some sparkle to the pumpkin and all the purple areas on the stamped image.


So, that is the card for today. I will post more soon since I'm working on more challenge entries.

I did promise a video so here it is. Hope you enjoy!



Talk to you again soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Have a blessed & crafty day!

Hugs~Bettina :)

Supplies used:
Stamps used: "Uptown Girl Paisley has a Prezzie" from Stamping Bella, "Greetings" by TPC Studio.
Spectrum Noir Markers: OR1, OR2, GB3
Spectrum Noir Colored Pencils (Essentials Set): 001, 039, 095
Inks: Versa Mark; Versa Marker;Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Vintage Photo; 
Gel Excel Reminisce white gel pen
Embossing Powder: Recollections Black Fine Detail, Recollections Detail Embossing Powder: Snow; copper embossing powder (probably Recollections)
Cricut Cartridge: Create a Critter (p. 70) for the pumpkin
Papers: Kraft cardstock from SSS card kit; BoBunny Autumn Song collection (6x6 paper pad)

Embellishments: orange organza ribbon from Michaels
Adhesives: Foam dots, Tombo Mono-Multi Glue, ATG tape, hot glue

Teacher Thank You card

Hi there,

I had wanted to have a crafty weekend but had so many mishaps that I was only able to make 2 cards. I still need to make 3 or 4 cards & other projects because I plan to enter several challenges going on (more on that in later posts, I think)

So here's one of the cards I made.


It's a flip card I made using my new Sizzix Square Flip-Its die set. In no time at all with this set of 12 dies you can make this type of card with all the layers. So fun!!! It's hard to see, but I actually embossed the sentiment; I feel like it stands out just a bit more that way. Next time I will try to use a lighter weight paper because I used a 110 lb paper here and find that it's hard to stay closed. Since it's my first time making this type of card and using this die set I'm not sure if it's supposed to be that way? 


The papers are by Mambi. The stack of books is actually a stamp by Unity Stamp Company and I colored it with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, fussy cut it, and stuck it on with some foam tape.


I had intended to use it as an entry for Jamie at Scrappin Stampers. She has a monthly challenge on her Facebook page. However, I changed my mind and will just keep this card on hand. Never hurts to have a teacher thank you card handy, right?!  I will share my actual entry card to Jamie's challenge in another post instead. :)

I'll be back in a bit with more posts and a video tutorial.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a blessed & crafty day!

Hugs~Bettina :)

Supplies used: 

Dies: Sizzix Cards-Square Flip-its #2 (559175)

Stamp: Itty Bitty by Unity: Struggle is Part of It; TPC Studio (sorry, not sure of the name of this stamp set. Had to throw out the packaging because it was a mess) but the set has several versions of "Thank You" and some speech bubble stamps. Hope that helps :) 

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink; VersaFine Black Onyx

Papers: Recollections 110 lb white cardstock; Mambi Sheets 8x8 school pad

Embossing powder: Recollections Detail Black

Scott 3M foam tape, ATG gun

Spectrum Noir: TB4, TB5, JG1, JG4, GB3, GB4, DR3, DR6 

Inkadinkadoo embossing buddy

Monday, September 15, 2014

Make Magic Happen

Hi there,

Time for a Halloween card, I think. Been sick all last week but finally feeling better and ready to make something. Here's the card I created yesterday using my new Itty Bitty stamp by Unity called "Make Magic Happen".



When I got the stamp I knew I wanted to try some chunky embossing powder that I remembered I had in my stash. It's Recollections chunky embossing powder in Aged Black and it's got these wonderful gold specks mixed in. Here's a close up of the amzing texture you get. Looks like a metal pot! I LOVE it!!!


I also knew I wanted to use distress inks to try to create a glow coming from the pot as though there's something magical brewing. ;) Then I wanted it to fade into a purple/dark background. After I laid out the colors and blended them as much as I could I sprayed it with water and everything magically blended and all the splotches from my feeble attempts at blending disappeared.

I tried stamping the sentiment in Brilliance: Galaxy Gold but didn't like it because it didn't stand out at all. Since it was pigment ink, I used a sponge dauber and sponged over the sentiment in the same ink in a circular motion until the words blended in. This created a subtle shimmery cloud that seemed to be hovering over the pot. Then I used Memento Luxe: Wedding Dress ink to sponge around the edge of this "cloud" which created a subtle fog effect. Totally covered up my, err, mistakes. lol.  Then I embossed the sentiment onto the shimmery cloud with black embossing powder. Also colored in the spider and used purple, green, & pink Zazz glitter glue and stickles to add sparkle to the bubbly pot.


I cut the image to 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" then sponged around the edges of the card with black soot and mounted the image on a purple mat that was cut ever so slightly larger (also sponged with black soot) and finally placed it on some background paper from the DCWV Spooky Time stack using some dimensional foam tape.

So, that's the card. It was so much fun to make and I absolutely LOVED using the chunky embossing powder.

Here's a video on how I made the card (once again not without technical difficulties-lol):



The list of supplies used is at the bottom of this post but I thought I'd try and take a snapshot of everything I used (if you're a visual person, like me) ;)



Thanks for stopping by.

Have a blessed & crafty day.

Hugs~Bettina

Supplies used:

Stamp: Itty Bitty by Unity: Make Magic HappenInks: Tim Holtz distress inks: Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Seedless Preserves, Black Soot

Other inks: Versamark, VersaFine Black Onyx, Brilliance: Galaxy Gold, Memento Luxe: Wedding DressEmbossing powder: Recollections detail black: ebony, Recollections chunky: aged black
Papers: white cardstock, Recollections: purple, black, DCWV The Spooky Time stack
Misc.: Zazz glitter glue in grape (purple), grass (green), & taffy (pink), Stickles by Ranger; Scott 3M foam tape, ATG gun

Spectrum Noir: GG4, GG5, True Black, Inkadinkadoo embossing buddy, stamp majig by Inkadinkadoo





Thursday, August 28, 2014

Gorjuss Girl "On Top of the World"

Hello there,

So here's the video of the Gorjuss girl card I created in the previous post. It's not quite the video I had intended to make but it's all I've got at this point. It's a learning process. Apparently an 8GB memory SD card is not big enough for me, the slowest crafter on the planet. LOL. Maybe I need a 1 mil GB SD card, if there is such a thing. Anyway, the video I ended up with is basically the home stretch assembly of the card with me trying to recap the dies used and other parts I made that are intended to go on the card. So, while it's not the video I had hoped for I still hope you enjoy.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a blessed & crafty day!

Hugs~Bettina :)


Sunday, August 24, 2014

Pretty Pink Posh Cutting Edge Challenge Blog Hop

Hi,

Today I'm so excited because I'm participating in the Pretty Pink Posh Cutting Edge Challenge Blog Hop. My first blog hop EVER. Yay! The blog hop ends Monday August 25th at 11:55 pm PST so there's still time to participate so get on over there and join in the fun and a chance to win amazing prizes from amazing sponsors!


For this challenge I decided to use the Gorjuss girl "on top of the world" stamp set and did a partial die-cutting technique so that her feet dangle beyond the edge of the die. The die I used here is from the Spellbinder Labels 8 die set (the second to largest). 


Other dies I used are the Die-Namics Ticket Strip die from MFT used for the blue paper strip in the background, the label die from Blueprint #5 from MFT for the sentiment and, finally, for the banner and hearts I used the Stitched Journaling Card die set from Lawn Fawn.



The sentiment and the heart stamp are from the Gorjuss stamp set and I embossed them with some Recollections "Snow" white embossing powder.  The papers I used are from DCWV Sunday Afternoon stack (12x12). The card base is Neenah Environment Smooth Desert Storm cardstock from SSS and measures 5 x 7. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the image, the heart, and the sentiment are actually popped up on some 3M foam tape.


This heart is actually embossed on vellum and layered on some Bazzill "Candy Hearts" pink cardstock that was included in one of my SSS card kits. Both are punched out with a Martha Stewart 1" circle punch.



The image is simply colored with Crayola coloring pencils and then I used mineral spirits to blend the colors out. I love the soft color pallette. For the banner I used some baker's twine that I unraveled down to 2 threads and glued the tiny flags cut from the Lawn Fawn Stitched Journaling Card die set along its length. Once I attached the hearts I used a Wink of Stella glitter pen (not the brush-cause I don't have one of those yet) and then coated them with Glossy Accents. Can you see the sparkle & shine? 


So, that's my entry for the blog hop. Hope you enjoyed.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a blessed and crafty day.

Hugs~Bettina :)

P.S.: I will try to have a video up soon about how I put the card together but I lost some footage (I'm technologically challenged-lol) so we shall see...




Monday, August 18, 2014

Hello everyone,

Just finished making/casing a super-fun, easy & versatile card that was completely inspired by Laura Sterckx at makingcardsisfun.com. She has a YT tutorial also here. I didn't have the same colors but I think it still came out cute & fun. It's going to an 11 year old who probably won't treasure it but I'm sure she'll enjoy it; my daughter (same age) loves the card so I think I'm on the right track, lol.

I also didn't have the cute balloon stencil that Laura used so I made my own using Spellbinders circle dies and cut 2 small'ish circles out of some blank stencil material that I found at Michael's. I found it in the section where they carry stencils for home-decor and there are 3 sheets in a package. It wasn't easy as butter to cut it with these thin dies even when I used a shim. The dies only cut through partially and I ended up having to use a cutting blade to finish the job. I bet a Tim Holtz die could cut through it no problem but I don't know if those come with basic shapes? Anyone out there know?

Anywho, here's the video on how I made the Laura Sterckx inspired card:


And here are pics of my version of Laura's card:




Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed & crafty day.

Hugs,
Bettina

Supplies used:
Inks: Tim Holtz distress inks: Picked Raspberry, Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar, Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers. Versafine black onyx
Embossing powder: Recollections detail black
Papers: white cardstock, Recollections pre-made cardbase & envelope set (5x5)
Misc. sequins for embellishments
Inkadinkadoo embossing buddy




Sunday, August 3, 2014

Scrappin Stampers Challenge entry for August

Hi there,

Thought it was high time to enter a challenge. Haven't done that in what feels like eons. Jamie at Scrappin Stampers (she also has a shop here: https://www.zibbet.com/Not2Shabbyshop) has monthly challenges. Last month's theme was summer. I didn't get a chance to enter that one. But this month's challenge theme is Something Sweet and I decided to make this little note card.


I'm loving the colors on this. I used Tim Holtz distress inks and got everything all wet & inky. It was so fun.

I also decided to make a very quick video to go along with this. My first attempt at speeding up a video & editing on my new computer. It wasn't hard but it took me for EVAH.
Anywho, here's the video:



So, go check out Jamie on her blog or check her shop and join in the fun.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed & crafty day.

Bettina :)

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Dina Wakley Media Painted Tag

Just found this video on YT and LOVE love LOVE the way Dina Wakely created this tag and I have a thing for birds, too. I so want to try doing something like that. She makes it looks like it's a very easy and simple process; very doable. So, I'm thinking my next post will be my attempt at this tag even though I don't have any of the supplies Dina uses but I figure if I can pull it off with what I have, I just know you'll be able to do it, too.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed and crafty day & enjoy the video share.

Hugs~Bettina :)


Saturday, July 19, 2014

Stretch Your Stencils

Hi again,

Today I thought I'd post a link to a video that I actually made a while back (in June or so). I'm sharing the link because I'm not able to upload videos to my blog; I think I'd have to upgrade or something. Anywho, In the video I share how you might be able to use your existing stencils to emboss on paper. I got the inspiration from one of the SSS kit inspiration sheets where one of the cards caught my eye with its lovely, subtle soft texture which looked embossed to me. There was a moroccon stencil included in the kit so I played around with it to see if I could re-create the look of that embossed background and I share the results in this video on my YouTube channel:



So, I hope that inspires you to get out your stencils to use them in a new way.

Thanks for visiting and have a blessed & crafty day.

Bettina :)

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Thinking Of You card

Hi folks,

Hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July and is enjoying their summer. I can't believe it's already mid July; where'd the time go?!

I'm trying to figure out some technical issues with the Movie Maker software on my new computer; apparently it's not able to convert the file from my camera so I'm unable to edit any videos because I can only hear the audio. (*sigh*). Been wanting to make a tutorial for some time now but I can't get around this problem. So, instead here are some pictures of a card I made recently.


It's a standard A2 size card I made using the new Mama Elephant stamp set "In My Heart". This set has the cutest images and sweetest sentiments. You can find them here. I colored this image with my Spectrum Noir markers and used the coordinating die to cut her out.


I also purchased the "Landscape Trio" die set from Mama Elephant which I used to create the scene of the rolling meadows and the cloud shape. The meadow is cut from green cardstock, the cloud from some white, and the actual sky background is a very light blue cardstock scrap I found. I love the faux stitching the dies create. I used foam tape to adhere the cloud, the front layer of the meadow, the buttefly, the little girl, and the sentiment. I used different thicknesses of foam tape to create the various layers and depth. Check here if you're interested in this die set. I love it!


The sentiments is actually from Lawn Fawn; it's the "Chit Chat" stamp set and I used a coordinating die to cut that out as well. I'm in love with this Memento Luxe ink color Lilac Posies. It's like the perfect shade of pink and it just looks yummy. The picture doesn't do it justice.

I stamped the grass (included with the stamp set) all over the green cardstock to add more texture & interest 'cause it was looking a little bland. Also stamped the butterfly (also part of the set) on the background then stamped it again, colored it, and cut it out and used a tiny piece of foam tape to place it over the stamped image.



Finally, I added some sequins because I can't leave well enough alone and clean and simple cards are super hard for me. But I think it's still clean and simple. What do you think? Did you make anything fun lately? Would love to hear from you.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed this card.

Have a blessed & crafty day.

Bettina :)

Supplies used:

Stamps & Dies: In My Heart by Mama Elephant, Landscape Trio

Papers: White, green, and light blue cardstock; card base is white cardstock
Inks: Memento Tuxedo black, Spectrum Noir: FS2, TN1, TN2, PP3 (Face, arms & legs) PP3, BP1, PP6 (dress), Memento Luxe Lilac Posies
Adhesives: 3M Foam tape and Recollections foam dots
Embellishments: Pink & Irridescent White sequin (Michael's brand)