Day 5 of GIU - Hope

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Day 5 of my Growing in Unity week! I'm the Growing in Unity gal this week over on the Unity Stamp Co. blog, which means I'll be sharing a project created with my Unity stamps with you every day. I invite you to come back each day and leave a comment for a chance to be one of the (2) lucky people to win a bag of (25) Unity stamps! Woohoo! If you're new to my blog, I'd love it if you became a follower and join in the fun over on the Caffeinated Papercuts Facebook page or followed Caffeinated Papercuts on Instagram. :)

I cannot believe we're on Day 5 already - last post of my week! Get your comments in by midnight TONIGHT, June 26th and I'll be announcing the winners on Monday. Be sure to stop back and see if it's you!

Ok, before you guys grab the pitchforks and torches, this is not necessarily a Christmas card - really! I was thinking Arianna Girl could also be used as a sympathy card or for anyone stressing out and just needing some peace.

I kept her very CAS - white card base, embossed shimmer paper and the sentiment simply stamped in black before I ran it through my Big Kick. Arianna herself was colored with my Spectrum Noirs and the card was sandwiched like so - card base, fun foam, embossed piece, foam tape, Arianna. Loads of interest and dimension without the bulk.

Because the embossed piece is shimmery, I kept the little details simple; clear Wink of Stella to her wings and skirt overlay, and some Glossy Accents on the roses.

Supply list:

ARIANNA Girl | Unity Stamp Co	Darice 1218-69 Embossing Folder, 4.25 by 5.75-Inch, Circle Interlock Design	Neenah Classic Crest 110 LB SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE Paper Pack 25 Sheets
Pearl White Metallic Paper 80#	Memento TUXEDO BLACK INK PAD Full Size me-900	Darice MULTICOLOR Foam Sheets 87192
3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent	Tombow XTREME Permanent Adhesive Tape Runner	Ranger Inkssentials MINI GLOSSY ACCENTS Glue Adhesive .5oz GAC27898
*ZIG Wink of Stella GLITTER CLEAR Brush Tip Marker 025320

InLinkz.com

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Thank you all so, so much for joining me this week and all of your kind comments. I know some of you are now followers and I'm so very happy to have you here! I hope you all keep in touch - I'm always up to inky trouble around here. ;)

Happy Crafting!

Also linking up to - Unity Friends With Flair, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Double, Double Toil and Trouble

Anyone who follows me on Instagram or Facebook will remember that yesterday I posted a teaser of spooky things to come:

Ghosts and owls and bats and spiders, oh my!

I have the joy of belonging to an art group locally where every couple months we get together and just CREATE. Tonight we meet again, and our "homework" was to alter a witch's hat and Tim Holtz clock. Tragically, the clock is barely started. I blame the fact that my boys want clean socks and spoons. Obviously they've become spoiled...my witch's hat, however, I'm bringing with me tonight to show off and I love it!

The really scary part is that messy craft table!

Oh this was a fun project! The base was a plain, kraft colored witch's hat ready for finishing. The top half of the hat I covered in 1" strips of scrapbook paper using Modge Podge. The brim was then coated in Modge Podge and topped with a glitter mixture I made myself; black, deep purple, and lime green all mixed together. I then hid my paper ends with some black grosgrain ribbon.

My little rat familiar

Once everything had dried, I added on my little rat friend here. I found him at Joann's and I love him. There's just something about rats and Halloween that just seem to go together. His little paws got glued down to the hat brim with the help of some 3-in-1.

My stylish owl familiar

Then I found my owl at Michael's. It's an owl. Wearing a top hat. Um, YES! His feet got tacked down with 3-in-1 as well, and he's so stinkin' cute. I think he and my little rat friend need names.

Boo! Meow!

Of course, since it's my hat, I had to have a Halloween kitty on it. There's little Salem, hiding behind the ghost tag ready to pounce!

Spoooooky Halloween tags

Speaking of those tags, are you loving them as much as I am? I inked up two of the freebie tags Unity loves throwing in with their orders. The large one is a mix of Concord Grape and Black Soot Distress Inks and the little one is Peeled Paint, Wild Honey, and Black Soot. The images were stamped with Black Soot as well, then when they were dried I added in liberal amounts of Rock Candy Distress Paint. I love how grungy and spooky they turned out! The ribbon I had stashed in a drawer and looks like it once came from the dollar bins at Target. Some Glue Dots holds them down nicely.

Scary spider bling

Finally, I added spiders; big, blinged out, spiders and their web. Yeah, they're pretty awesome.

I cannot wait to see what the other ladies came up with tonight! It's bound to be a good time. I'm linking up to Unity Friends With Flair.

Happy Crafting!

Distance Has No Meaning...

Hello everyone! I'm sharing one of the last cards I made up for Operation Write Home with my Unity Stamps today.

 I colored the sentiment and image using my Distress Markers and coloring the stamp itself. Especially an image like this, it's so easy! The texture is from my stamping it on a linen cardstock and I love the result.

Speaking of Operation Write Home, today was to be the day I announced the winner of the giveaway. Just one problem - there were no entries. Not a one. So, the short answer is that there is no winner. The longer answer is that I'm giving up on hosting contests for the foreseeable future. Either my promotion skills are severely lacking or I simply do not have a large enough audience or my giveaways are terrible and no one has mentioned it to me. Anyway you look at it, they are almost always a bust and I'm taking the hint.

As for Operation Write Home, I'll be sending in a nice bundle of cards to them, including many of the ones I've made for blog hops.

I'm linking up to the weekly Unity FWF today!

Enjoy the weekend! I'll be having a crafty one with my friend Rachel from Sheepish Shenanigans. :)

Happy Crafting!

Winter Songbird Card

Happy Friday everyone! I'm hopping along again with the Unity FWF crew. I decided to get a head-start on creating some cards for Operation Write Home and World Card Making Day, and came up with this sweet little winter scene:

Not that I want it to be winter just yet, but still darn cute

The sweet little birdie and her sentiment are an Itty Bitty set from Unity and, as always, are absolutely adorable. No glitter, some layers, and some pretty paper means it's perfect for Operation Write Home.

Have you caught on that I'm pushing Operation Write Home? ;) In case you missed yesterday's post, here's the 4-1-1:

If we're all making cards anyway, why not send them to people who need them the most? Let's see just how many cards we can send! Mailing address is in the giveaway post, as is the deadline of Friday, October 11th. The holiday card deadline is fast approaching, hence my chosen date.

Oh, and I had 'help' photographing my card this morning...

No Mommy, I wasn't trying to knock the card off my windowsill...

She's lucky she's so pretty and affectionate.

All right, I cannot wait to see all of  your cards! Feel free to post them to our Facebook wall or tag us on Instagram at #caffeinatedpapercuts before you pop them in the mail!

Happy Crafting!

Playing in Leaves Tag

Happy Friday and happy fall everyone! In my neck of the woods it has definitely turned into sweater and boot weather and the leaves have started changing colors. The perfect mood-setter for today's tag!

I'm playing along again with Unity Stamp Co.'s Friends with Flair Friday hop, and had to ink up this little cutie this morning:

Leaf me alone; so punny!

 Yup, a little snowball playing in the fall leaves. Too. Cute. I stamped her up in Memento Espresso, aka my new favorite ink color EVER. It's nice and dark for coloring, but not as harsh as the Black. I say 'her' as when I reached for my colored pencils I decided to color the hat & scarf set in sage green and pink. Hey, it's not often around here that I get to use pink, after all! The tag is actually one of the freebies that Unity likes to toss in with their orders that I inked up with Rusty Hinge and Wild Honey Distress Inks. The background is a leaf stamp from the dollar bin somewhere (worth it) stamped in Memento Toffee Crunch (another awesome color). The sentiment was stamped in Memento Tangelo and mounted on some chocolate brown cardstock I had in my scraps pile. Ta da! A cute, simple, quick & easy fall tag.

View from above, taken while I tossed cats out of the way...

I used some twine and yellow/green trim I had in that stash pile for the topper and called it awesome.

I'd love to see what YOU have made for fall! Feel free to share on our Facebook page, via Twitter, or tag us on Instagram at #caffeinatedpapercuts.

Happy fall and happy crafting!

Die Cuts, Doilies, Twine, and Buttons, Oh My!

Ohhh has it been a month of ups and downs! We were buying a house, then we weren't, then we were, then they buyers for OUR house fell through...aaarrrrgggghhhhh! So now we're staying put, renovating, and trying again next year. C'est la vie. One day I will have my larger house with a massive craft room and a double wall oven. Ah dreams...

Because of all the chaos (though omg, is my house CLEAN!) I really didn't have time to play in my craft room recently. I did find, however, my failed attempt at the previous 10 Minute Craft Dash. I meant to enter it anyway (despite it taking me 18 minutes, it still could have been a favorite) but, of course, I was busy packing. I'm pleased to share it for Unity's FWF instead!

Washi, doilies, twine, AND buttons?? Yummy!

 I scrap-lifted a beautiful card I found on, shock!, Pinterest, and came up with this beauty. It really does have all of my favorite things on here: kraft paper, twine, buttons, washi tape, Stickles...sigh. I love it. The sentiment is from Unity (of course) and is truly wonderful. It can easily be used as either an 'I care' or a sympathy card.

All right, I'm off to go shopping for my baby's 3rd birthday party tomorrow! I still cannot believe I'm the proud mama of a three year old. Sigh.

Happy Crafting!

Playing with Sprays

Happy Friday everyone! I've been playing along with the Unity Stamp Co. Itty Bitty a Day Challenge on Facebook this week and decided to finish it all off by playing with my new Heidi Swapp template I snagged with a birthday certificate (thanks again, Kristen!!).

I wanted CAS, shimmery, and FAST. My first attempt is still drying (bit too much spray, perhaps too thin cardstock) but this one came out, I think, pretty cute.

Shimmer and shine in the early morning light

Little hexagons dancing across the front...hehe, with the edge of the template visible as well. I rolled with it, and made the mental note to cover areas I don't want glitzed better next time. The 'thanks' is an unpackaged Itty Bitty I have which is, well, awesomely versatile.

Pardon my iffy lighting, but the sun wasn't quite up yet when I was snapping these before work. Oops.

Top view to see the overall effect

The dots in the hexes are from my rolling a paper towel roll over the sprayed area to pick up the extras. It came out so neat!

Thank you everyone for your comments via the blog post & Facebook about my 'Not Quite Perfect...' card. I love the change-up ideas, and the ones that basically told me to lighten up. Sometimes we crafters just need to hear that!

I'm also linking up to Friends with Flair today! Happy Crafting!

Friends and Rainbows

Happy Friday everyone! I'm hopping along again this week with the Unity Stamp Co. Friends With Flair party. While I was busy organizing all of my Itty Bitty stamps, I came across this little cutie again. Seeing as it's POURING rain here (hence the iffy photos; no sunshine!) it seemed totally appropriate for today. :)

friendship is the rainbow between two hearts

I love how it came out. A bit of pretty storm gray twine, some Stickles, watercolor pencils and a bunch of foam tape. Done! :D

Closeup of the rainbow and sentiment

Yes, the Stickles took forever and a day to dry but they were soooo worth it.

Now, don't forget that Sunday we'll be hopping along with this month's DeNami Blog Hop; Sweet & Simple and starting Monday I'll be trying to play along with the Itty Bitty a Day challenge for Unity!

Also, you still have time to enter our giveaway over at Joie Joelle's blog! It's a lovely treat package of bottlecap magnets, tea and cocoa pouches, and more.

Happy Crafting!

FWF Friday and a Coloring Contest Entry

Happy Friday everyone! It feels like I've been on the run all week and drooling over the pictures coming back from CHA. Instead of participating this time, Unity Stamp Co. stayed home and gave everyone a digi to play with for a coloring contest! Woo!

I, of course, immediately felt intimidated by all the beautiful creations popping up all over Facebook...sigh...but I pulled myself together and came up with this little lovely.

Flowers and butterflies...truly beautiful indeed

 I printed out the flowers and sentiment on a transparency and then set to work coloring with a mix of Copics (as I still only own 6! LOL) and Distress Ink Markers. Using the ribbon, I then attached the lovely striped shimmer paper to it and mounted the whole pile onto espresso cardstock and a kraft card base.

Side view to see more of the layers and under-papers

For the sentiment I used a scrap of light blue patterned paper leftover from a wedding invitation order. I dug through my brad stash and found this sweet little butterfly that is obviously on its way to visit those flowers.

Closer view of the papers and coloring

I think it came out alright, though it's probably not going to get me the coveted guest Design Team spot. If only my printer could print on watercolor paper! Ah well, it was still fun and I enjoyed playing with the markers this way.

Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Crafting!

A Little Christmas in July, Part 1

Happy Friday everyone! We're back from our vacations and settling back in to our routines...and doing laundry. LOTS of laundry. Browsing through all of the Christmas in July sales on Etsy, I found myself reaching for my holiday stamps. Of course, my craft room is approximately the temperature of lava thanks to our lovely heat wave this week, so I wanted something I could make before I melted clean and simple that I could add to our holiday line. And, of course, I wanted to play along with this week's Friends with Flair over at Unity Stamp Co.!

A little holiday peace

So, a bit of stamping, some embossing powder (that I almost didn't need a heat tool for, it's so blasted HOT) and we have a lovely holiday scene.

I can totally see making more of these

I love how the kraft paper is the perfect backdrop for some sparkle and shine. The glittery 'peace' is actually glitter embossing powder. All the loveliness of glitter without the mess! Huzzah!!

Hehe, a glimpse of my new shoes. How do I always get my feet in these shots?

I'm linking up to the FWF party. If I have you in the holiday mood, be sure to see what else I've cooked up in my Christmas in July section. Sale ends the 21st!

Happy Crafting!

FWF Friday at Unity - Sun Sand and Sea

Happy Friday everyone! I don't know about you, but I'm ready for the weekend to begin. We're having a yard sale this Saturday and Sunday (all you local followers, stop by!) and the weather is set to be GORGEOUS! Oh, and hey, happy first day of summer!

I don't know about you, but when I think of summer I think of the beach. So when I saw Unity's beach stamps, they had to be mine. Bonus: no surfboards or palm trees, YAY!! That's become a pet peeve of mine lately, too many companies including those in paper packs and embellishments. Please people, I live in the Northeast. We don't have palm trees at our beaches!

This card started off with white cardstock...before I went to town with my Distress Inks. :) Tea Dye, Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Bundled Sage created the perfect balance of sand and sea. Then I broke out my new Perfect Pearls and Perfect Pearls Mists that I found at Michael's, on clearance, and I had a coupon. Woot! I used Bronze for the seashell frame, then stamped the sentiment with SU Midnight Muse.

 The seashells were stamped on ivory cardstock I had in my stash with CTMH Bamboo, then the edges were inked with Distress Stain in Frayed Burlap.

 Before I put all the layers together, I spritzed the base card with the Perfect Pearls Mist in Cappuccino and my "ocean" got a spray of Perfect Pearl. Then everything was attached and I popped up the starfish for some added height.

Yes, those are my fingers...no, I don't have a manicure. I'm sure that breaks a rule somewhere...LOL

The result? A pretty, shimmery, beachy card that glitters and glows without the use of glitter. My husband was impressed. LOL

Look at that sparkle! Yowza!

 

Finished card

Now I'm off to dream of the beach...I'm linking up to Unity FWF.

Happy Crafting!