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stamp review crew: pampered pets

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Hello, and welcome to another fun blog hop with the Stamp Review Crew! Today we are shining a spotlight on the Pampered Pets stamp set.

I love dogs. So, this was a must have set for me. And, of course, the dogs are the focus of my cards.

For my first card, I stamped the Buffalo Check background stamp in black ink on Real Red card stock and die cut a stitched heart. I added some Crumb Cake ink with my blender brush to create a shadow behind the heart. The adorable pup is colored with Stampin’ Blends markers. My inspiration for coloring him was Jock from Lady and the Tramp.

For this card, I drew inspiration from our pup Elphie’s bandana she got after her last grooming. But, I went with my favorite red and black buffalo plaid. I actually used a leftover bit from the die cut heart on the first card. I trimmed it by hand to make the dog’s scarf. To color the dog, I die cut the dog and dish from printer paper and used the negative as a stencil to blend some ink to color them.

We are a dog family. We have our 5 year old Yorkie, Elphie. We have said good bye to two Shih Tzus – Maggie and Pippin. Our son has Jemma, a beagle mix, the sweetest fog on the planet. and our daughter and son-in-law have three dogs – Ruffy, a Yellow Lab; Belle, a Pitbull/ Australian Cattle dog mix; and Mose, a German Shorthair Pointer. And all of these four legged friends get along wonderfully. A miracle that I am grateful for.

This photo was from Christmas 2019. Belle wasn’t cooperating, she is hiding in the lower left corner. Brett is holding our sweet Pippin, she crossed the rainbow bridge this past October. Miss her sleeping at my feet each night. as you can see, our daughter also has a bunny. In this pic, animal outnumbered humans. This year, we lost Pip, and added our granddaughter and another son-in-law, so humans outnumber animals! (I didn’t use this years Christmas pic, because the three big dogs wouldn’t cooperate and aren’t in it. LOL. Oh well.

I will now let you move on through the blog hop. You can go on to Jay by clicking the NEXT button below. Or, you can go back to Cindy by clicking the PREVIOUS button.

Thanks for stopping by! Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity!

no line watercolor

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A few weeks ago a friend who is a wonderful artist gave a lesson in water color painting. I have been practicing with some beautiful floral images from Taylored Expressions Sketchbook Florals stamp set.

If you are not familiar with No Line Coloring, you stamp the image in a pale ink (some companies have an ink specifically for this), then water color the image and the inked lines blend in. It looks like you painted the image freehand. Here are a few I painted after my lesson.

One tip I got in my lesson was to blend colors on the wet paper. It really added to the depth of the image. After I did this one, I wanted to try some other color combos.

Another tip I received was to be patient. Wait for one area to dry before trying to paint an adjacent area. This is hard for me, but I’m getting there.

I spent my time at a recent craft retreat continuing to practice this technique. I’ll share some of those results soon.

Thanks for stopping by! Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity!

pcc #418

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Greetings, crafty friends! Time to check out this week’s Paper Craft Crew challenge. I think this is a really fun one – Let’s let the critters take center stage!

I love cards with fun little critters on them. Lately, I have been having fun with the wonderful critter sets from Colorado Craft Company featuring the work of Anita Jeram. These are so much fun to color. I’m especially drawn to her sweet bunnies. Like this one from the Birthday Wishing set.

I stamped him on water color paper and painted him with Karin Markers. Sweet little bunny with a birthday balloon. So cute!

Be sure to stop by the Paper Craft Crew blog and check out the inspiration from the rest of the design team. Then, join the fun and share your own critter creation! Thanks for stopping by! Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity!

stamp review crew: tasteful touches

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Hello crafty friends! I’m here with the Stamp Review Crew for a fun blog hop featuring the Tasteful Touches stamp set. This is a fun and versatile set. At first glance, it looks like it is only for vintage-y type projects, but let you creativity loose and see it can be so much more.

I am getting desperate for spring, unfortunately I’m in MN and that is still a ways off. My projects this time of year seem to work to bring spring into my house as much as I can. I went with a bright springtime color combo of Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight, and Coastal Cabana.

For my first card, embossed the flower image with white embossing powder on white card stock. Then, I did some ink blending with Stampin’ Up!’s new blending brushes.

I took the Opal Rounds embellishments and colored them with the coordinating Stampin’ Blends. A fun springtime Hello.

My next card has a similar blended background, but this time I achieved it with water coloring.

I did a light watercolor wash of the three colors. Once dry, I stamped the lace like image in each color. Then I took a watercolor brush over the stamped images to blur them out some.

A fun springtime duo to showcase a great stamp set! Now, it is time for you to continue through the blog hop. You can move on to Charlet by clicking the NEXt button below. Or, if you are doing the hop in reverse, you can head over to Cindy by clicking the PREVIOUS button below.

Thanks for stopping by! Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity!

pcc #417

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I am popping in today to share my card for this week’s Paper Craft Crew Challenge. Check out this fun card sketch –

I was working on this card last weekend when I was at my first Craft Retreat. I had limited supplies with, so I felt it really upped the challenge for me. Here is what I created:

I used some fun products from The Stamp Market: Happiest of Birthdays stamp set and coordinating dies and from Concord & 9th: Let’s Party Turnabout stamp, and inks – Sorbet, Stardust, Sea Glass and Evergreen.

You can play along with the Paper Craft Crew. Jump on over to the PCC blog and check out the challenge details. Upload your creations to share with the crew.

Thanks for stopping by! Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity!

nut brown hare

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When my kids were little, one of my favorite books to read to them was Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney, illustrated by Anita Jeram.

I just love those adorable nut brown hares. I recently found out that Colorado Craft Company has a line of stamps designed by the one and only, Anita Jeram! I ordered the Birthday Wishing set and now I can have some adorable bunnies on my own creations!

This little guy is so much fun to color. I used Copic markers here, and I can’t wait to try water color and colored pencils.

Thanks for stopping by. Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity! And to my kids, and my granddaughter – I love you to the moon…and back!

pcc #416

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Welcome friends! Let’s play along with another fun challenge from the Paper Craft Crew. This week is a great horizontal card sketch.

I have kind of been in a same old/same old rut lately. So, I pulled out some new stamps and a different color palette. I used Concord & 9th’s new Let’s Party Turnabout and Yay for Birthdays dies. And I used my C9 inks in Sea Glass, Evergreen, Stardust and Sorbet. I LOVE these colors together!

I used my blending brushes to add a soft layer of Stardust in to the stitched circle. I felt the Stardust card stock was a little too much competition for the stamped gift and balloon.

Such a fun birthday greeting to send to a friend! We’d love to see what you create with this fun sketch. Come on over to the Paper Craft Crew blog and join the challenge!

Thanks for stopping by. Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity!

stamp review crew: itty bitty greetings

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Hello friends! I’m so glad you are joining me today! I’m hopping with the Stamp Review Crew and we are shining a spotlight on the Itty Bitty greetings stamp set. I get to kick things off as the first stop on today’s circuit!

For my projects, I paired Itty Bitty Greetings with Painted Poppies. I created a trio of 3″x3″ cards. This fun size works really well with the small sentiments.

I stuck with a black and white color scheme with a pop of Poppy Parade and Old Olive. Flowers were colored with Stampin’ Blends markers. Let’s take a closer look –

I fussy cut the flower and popped it up on dimensionals. I also stamped the image on the envelope in Poppy Parade.

Here I used a blending brush and Old Olive ink pad to add some grass to ground the image.

For this card, I fussy cut around the bottom edge and added a bit of True Love DSP. I used a white gel pen to add details to the flower centers.

Itty Bitty Greetings is a wonderful, versatile stamp set. Let’s check out what the rest of the SRC Design Team has for you! Head on over to Cindy by clicking on the NEXT button below. Or you can take the hop in reverse and go to Mike by clicking on the PREVIOUS button below.

Thanks for stopping by! Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity!

pcc #415

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Welcome crafty friends! Time to play along with another great challenge from the Paper Craft Crew. This week we have a fun color challenge.

This color combo puts me in the mood for spring. But, it is 12 degrees out and snow everywhere. sigh. Well, I’ll let my cards bring in the spring!

I used some inks from Taylored Expressions for today’s card: Guava, Pineapple and Confetti Cake. I also used the TE set Gus and Gertie. Love that pooch and birdie.

I have been having a lot of fun blending inks and using stencils. For this card, I lightly blended the inks on white card stock. Then, I added the stencil and blended the same inks to get a darker pattern. What a fun background for the dynamic duo.

Join the fun over at the Paper Craft Crew page and take the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by. Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity!

stamp review crew: sale-a-bration bonus blog hop 2

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Hello crafty friends! The Stamp Review Crew is back with a bonus blog hop to showcase Stampin’ Up!’s Sale-a-Bration brochure. These are fun products that you can get FREE with a qualifying purchase through the end of February. If you see something you like, don’t miss out! Order soon!

I have a couple more projects featuring the Berry Blessings stamp set. This set is part of a bundle – includes stamp set and coordinating Designer Series Paper – you can get with a $100 order. This time I am focusing just on the stamp set. Let’s see what we can do…

For this first card, I used the blueberries stamp and some ink blending with the new Blending Brushes to create a fun background.

I used Misty Moonlight, Gorgeous Grape and Rich Razzleberry inks. First I blended them on a piece of Basic White card stock, then I stamped the berries. This panel is cut with a Stitched Rectangle die as is the sentiment. Finished off with a few Opal Rounds.

For my next card, I took the berry fill in stamp and went in a totally different direction.

I stamped the berries in Coastal Cabana, Pumpkin Pie, and Crushed Curry to create fun dotted panel. The rest of the details on the card come from the Pattern Play stamp set. The gray is actually silver embossed.

Let’s go check out some more amazing projects! You can click on the NEXT button below to head over to Cindy or click on the PREVIOUS button to go back to Mike.

Thanks for stopping by! Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity!