WPlus9 October 2012 Release Previews - Day 2

Hello there! Welcome back to Day 2 of the WPlus9 October 2012 Release Previews. Yesterday was an eyeful of inspiration. So hopefully today is even better. Today we're introducing Iconic Christmas and Simple Snowflake Die. I have two cards today so let's get to the first one first.

Iconic Christmas is filled with beautiful Christmas silhouettes and wonderful sentiments. A sure must have in your Christmas stash. Here's what I made with it.

I used Defining Words to make the background for my main panel. Then I added some snowflakes from Folk Art Flurries. I just love brown and light gray together. I die cut the tree using the Iconic Christmas die and stamped the tree silhouette on it. Then I decorated the tree with smaller images from the set.

I adhered it to my card panel and stamped the little girl and the snowflake on the top. I also stamped the sentiment underneath. To finish things off, I tied some twine around the cardstock and added a tag from Timeless Tags and the snowflake from Seasonal Sentiments Die.

Next up, I used the Simple Snowflake die to mat the die cut images from Iconic Christmas that I had stamped.  I adhered them over a strip of patterned paper that I sewed on.

Then I stamped the sentiment to the right and added some buttons to balance things off. 

There you go! That's it for me today. Please head on over to the WPlus9 blog for more inspiration as well as the other WPlus9 DT members blogs.

Cristina Kowalczyk

Elise Durenberger

Jinny Newlin

Kerrianne Gwin

Lea Lawson

Savitri Wilder

and our Guest Designer Anya Schrier

I'll see you all again tomorrow for Day 3 of the WPlus9 October 2012 Release Previews.

CARDS Magazine Feature

Hi blog friends! I'm sneaking in this little post to share something exciting with all of you! If you can, please get your hands on one of these...

I'm the featured designer for the month of October! :) Yipee! I was so excited when they asked me. I think I always do the dance of joy whenever a wonderful surprise like this is sprung on me. lol! It's a fantastic magazine with a lot of inspiration for fall and Halloween. I have some new and old cards featured using my favorite stamp sets. And a little feature where you can get to know a little more about me. :)

Thank you for all the wonderful words you leave by my blog. I love our big world of crafting so much because of all the fiends I have met along the way. It makes the crafting all the more sweeter. :)

Check out my posts for the WPlus9 October Release this week! 

Wplus9 October Release Previews - Day 1

Hello there! I'm back with a release post just as promised! :) Welcome to WPlus9's October Release Previews - Day 1. You are going to love what Dawn has come up with this month!!! I have quite a few projects so I'll make the intro short. :)

Today we're introducing Seasonal Sentiments Die, Pretty Patches: Christmas, Folk Art Flurries, and Clear Cut Stars. Whew! That was quite a long list! Let's get started then! Here's what I came up with for today...

Let's start with my little card. I used Pretty Patches: Christmas and Folk Art Flurries on it. I stamped the circle label and a snowflake inside. Then I die cut the circle. I stamped "Joy" on a piece of cardstock and hand cut it. Then I adhered it over the circle label. I used a snowflake die underneath as a mat. More on the snowflake die in the next few days of the release. :)

I stamped the LOVE and HOPE directly on the card base, as well as the longer sentiment on the bottom. I added a strip of patterned paper from My Mind's Eye and tied a ribbon underneath it. I didn't have to add anything else to the card. The stamps and dies all worked beautifully and they're the stars on the card. :)

My second project is a new product that Dawn is going to start to sell over at the store. I was sooo delighted when I saw it! You can never have too many packaging options as far as I'm concerned. I love pretty packaging! And alterable ones....oh my goodness!!!

For this project, I used Folk Art Flurries. I stamped them all over the pillow box. Then I tied a strip of twine around it and attached a piece of cardstock with my sentiment on it. I continued my sentiment using the Seasonal Sentiments die. I added a mini clothes pin to the tag and adhered a die cut snowflake on it. The possibilities for this product are endless! So excited!!!! :)

For my third and final project for today, I have another card. We have another alterable product that's about to grace the WPlus9 store. It's a thin chipboard that cuts very well with your existing dies. I used it with my Clear Cut Stars for this card.

I die cut the circle chipboard. Then placed a Clear Cut Star to die cut the center. I painted it white, sewed the edges and added glitter to it. 

 I used Pretty Patches Christmas on the medium tag from Timeless Tags, stamping the sentiment in portions to fit the tag. I also die cut the word love from Seasonal Sentiments Die and adhered it to the side.

I also die cut spread out some snowflake die cuts for a little pop of white against the red.

Ooooh!!!! I almost forgot!!!! We have a Guest Designer for the month of October! Please help us welcome Anya Schrier! She makes magic with WPlus9 stamps and dies!!!! I absolutely adore her work! She's also a design team member for the Cloud9 Challenge site. It's a wonderful challenge site for WPlus9 lovers! :) Please make sure to check it out.

I hope you enjoyed today's previews. I'll be back tomorrow for more! Make sure you head on over to the WPlus9 Blog for more inspiration as well as the DTs' blogs. Thanks for stopping today! Be sure to come back tomorrow! You are going to LOVE this release!!! :)

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 117

Hello there! It's finally the weekend yay! It's been such a gloomy week. I hope this rain goes away next week. I haven't been feeling very well. I think I might have carpal tunnel syndrome. My left hand has been hurting for days. I have yet to see my doctor to figure out what's wrong. There's pain on the back of my hand that shoots up my arm. I know that carpal tunnel syndrome has numbness as one of it's symptoms but so far I haven't had those.

It's also going to be a busy weekend. I have to help a friend with a baby shower and there's an upcoming release next week that I have to make cards for. Whew! I'm just hoping it all goes smoothly and I get everything done in time.

So, here we go. It's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 117. This one is from Kelly! Enjoy!

Here's my submission for this week's sketch. I followed the sketch quite loosely. Instead of a label, I chose to use a star and some Christmas images for my card. I used Seasons of Love - Tags for the star. I stamped it with Aqua Mist ink then I applied some glitter on it. 

The sentiment is from Very Vintage Christmas. I stamped it in red then stamped it again in Ocean Tides. Then layered the Ocean Tides strip over the red image. I also put some glitter on the edges of the tag. 

In the sketch, there were 3 flowers on the bottom of the label. Instead of using flowers, I adhered these cute little charms behind the star and have them hanging from it.

For the background, I stamped the Dainty Dolies - Large in gray. I used Colorbox chalk ink on it. I'm a little disappointed with the quality of the ink though. I have always loved Colorbox because I always get good results from it. Not with this color though. I'm not sure why. Can you recommend a good light gray ink for me please? I would really appreciate it.

The little Ocean tides images in the doilies are also from Very Vintage Christmas.

There you have it! I hope that gave you a little kick start of inspiration to join us this week in Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 117. Thanks for stopping by today. I'll see you again on Monday for the release I was telling you about. ;)

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 116

Hello! I'm here again! I have one final post before the week is over. It's Saturday, so Welcome to Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 116! I hope you had a chance to join us in the last challenge. If not, we have a new one this week!

This week's sketch was inspired by none other than the head mousetress! :) 

Since I've done several Halloween cards already, I thought I would make a Christmas card instead this week. It was great to pull out my Christmas stamp sets as I have not used them in a while.

I used Festive Foliage and Seasonal Remedies for this one. Every year I tell myself that I would start making my Christmas cards early. But every year I never do and I always end up buying cards. A card maker buying cards for Christmas! lol. 

Well, since I started this one, I might just make enough for this coming December. This is a pretty simple and clean card. I let the stamps speak for themselves. And I love this color combination! :) 

Anyway, I hope you'll be inspired to dust off you Christmas stamp sets and start making your Christmas cards early! Start with this sketch challenge! I'll see you over at the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge! :)

The Craft's Meow September 2012 Release Blog Hop

Hello there! I hope you're not sick and tired of me yet. lol.  I have one last post for The Craft's Meow September 2012 Release. It's our Blog Hop, so please join us!!! :)

Did you just come from Iwona "Chupa" Palamountain's blog? If not, you might have to start at The Craft's Meow Blog to get into the right order of the hop.

Here's my card for today's Blog Hop. I used Fall Blessings, Golden Days and Good Times. For starters, I used Golden Days to make my background panel. I love to combined stamp sets and if I can make my own patterned paper for my background panels, I will. And that's exactly what I did here.

Afterwards, I adhered a strip of polka dot patterned paper over it. Then I stamped these chevron strips from Good Times and hand cut them. I tied a ribbon around them and attached some felt leaves and a button.

For my main image and sentiment, I stamped this cute little chick from Fall Blessings. I stamped him onto a circle die cut and colored him in with Copic markers. Then I used a scallop circle as a mat underneath. 

If you missed yesterdays previews you should know that Golden Days is September's Gift set. It's free for purchases $50 and over. But even better, you have the chance to win the ENTIRE September release! All you have to do is to leave a message on ALL of the blog hop's participants! Lisa will pick a random winner from all the comments. Deadline for commenting is 9:00pm PDT, Sunday, Sept 23rd.

Now that you're done here, please head on over to Jen Cuthbertson's blog. Happy hoppin'!!!

The Craft's Meow September 2012 Release Previews : Golden Days/Good Times

Hi there friends! A storm passed through NY yesterday and everyone was on tornado watch. Tornadoes in NY? I've only been here for 4 years but I've always thought that tornadoes only occur in the South and Midwest. Thankfully, our neighborhood was unaffected. I hope it wasn't so bad in other areas though.  

Anyway, let's get down to business. Welcome back to Day 4 of The Craft's Meow September 2012 Release Previews. We have two new sets for you to preview today. Golden Days by Karen Baker and Good Times by Kaitlyn Ord. 



For my first card I used Golden Days. This is a wonderful fall themed stamp set perfect for the coming season. I took one of the leaf images from the set and stamped an upper and lower border image on a piece of kraft cardstock. I punched he corners with a SU corner punch. Then I adhered a strip of striped brown patterned paper in the middle.

I die cut the banner pieces and letters from patterned paper and plain cardstock. For the smaller banner pieces, I stamped more images from Golden Days on it before adhering it to the larger banner pieces. Then I layered the letters over it.

I adhered the banner using foam tape. Then ran a piece of twine through the holes that I had punched earlier. I also stamped my sentiment under the strip of patterned paper. Lastly, I tied a gold ribbon around the top part of the card. 

Onto my second card. For this one, I used Good Times. This is a wonderful set for people who not only make cards but scrapbook too! It's great for project life too! :)

I started my card with a strip of vintage cream cardstock. I stamped the chevron pattern on it and adhered it on the top of a patterned paper panel. Then I took out some of my left over scraps of patterned paper and stamped the banners on them. I hand cut them and  ran them through my sewing machine. I adhered them on the main panel side by side like so. :)

Then I die cut a doily, a circle and a scalloped circle and layered them one over the other.  I also stamped this label and a sentiment on it and attached it on top of my stack. I added the die cut felt leaves and mini wooden clips on the side.

I adhered everything over a kraft card base. 

I'm looking at the clock and it's 1:00am now. I am officially tired. :) The black tea doesn't seem to be working anymore so I'm going to finalize things here.

Every month TCM offers up a stamp set as a gift for every $50 purchase over at the TCM store. This month's gift is Golden Days. 

Do you want a chance to win these sets? Easy! Just leave a comment on the TCM blog! Make sure you visit the other DT members' blogs. They have more inspiration for you! Come back tomorrow for the blog hop ok? You'll have the chance to WIN the ENTIRE September collection then! :) See you soon!