Glittery Purples

Hello friends!  I saw a couple of challenges today and I was immediately inspired to create this monochromatic purple card.  The challenge on the Cheery Lynn Designs blog is Pretty in Purple and the Cardabilities blog has this wonderful sketch so that was the starting point for my card.  I was in the mood for glitter, so I pulled out some gorgeous Lacy Lilac glitter from Classy Cards 'n Such and set about creating this card.  Wanna see a close-up of that lovely glitter?

I started with a white card base and I added a layer of a shimmery amethyst cardstock. I die cut the Mesh border (Cheery Lynn Designs) with white cardstock and cut a little "v" at the bottom with some scissors. I cut the Lady Kate edger (Cheery Lynn Designs) with white cardstock, painted it with shimmery Light Purple Creative Inspirations paint and adhered it to the sides of the Mesh border before affixing this to my purple background.

Next, I die cut a white oval, embossed it with a dotted embossing folder and set it aside. I cut another oval with a smaller oval die inside to create the frame. I covered this frame with glue and then poured the Lacy Lilac glitter on top. After shaking off the excess glitter and returning it back to the jar, I glued this frame to my white oval and then glued this down on top of the mesh border.

While I still had the glitter out, I found a large brad, covered it with glue, and then dipped it into the Lacy Lilac glitter. I set this aside to dry while I die cut my leaves and flowers.

The leaves were die cut from the Flourish Leaf Strip (Cheery Lynn Designs) and the flower petals were cut from the Sweet William dies(Cheery Lynn Designs). I sponged some purple ink onto the edges of the flower petals and then curled the petals with my fingers. I carefully arranged the flowers (2 of the smaller size, 3 of the larger size) and pushed the glittery brad through the centers and fastened the brad in the back. This flower was affixed to my card and then I adhered the leaves underneath.

I love how this card turned out! That glitter makes me happy!! Check out all the colors of glitter in the Classy Cards 'n Such store HERE. Which color would you use to make a card like this?  You can use this code, Holly-10, to save 10% off your when you go shopping at Classy Cards 'n Such so stock up on glitter, dies, paper, and stamps today.  :-)

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Cheery Lynn Designs #76 - Pretty in Purple

Cardabilities #73 - sketch

Creative Inspirations Paint - Inspired by Spring Colors (I used Light Purple CI Paint)

Creative Card Crew #34 - Handmade Flowers

Paula Holifield Crafts - Anything Goes

Natalie and Amy #8 - Monochromatic

Love To Scrap #4 - Cut it Out (dies/punches)

Crafting for All Seasons #50 - No stamps allowed

Pale Pink Just for You

Hi friends!  Today I'm sharing this sweet pink card with you. I created it as a generic card for any occasion, so this can be used as a birthday card, a Valentine card, a Mother's Day card, a thank you card, anything you can think of!

The products from Classy Cards 'n Such that I've used on this card are:

Sophie's Heart Mini Doily die - Cheery Lynn Designs (LOVE these smaller doilies!!)
Fanciful Flourish die - Cheery Lynn Designs
Mini Fanciful Flourish die - Cheery Lynn Designs
Tropical Flourish die - Cheery Lynn Designs
Judy's Blooms dies - Cheery Lynn Designs
Love Letters 6x6 paper pad
Anytime Sentiments stamp set - Impression Obsession

My dark brown card base is a regular A2 size (11" x 4.25" folded in half). I cut one of the papers from the Love Letters pad and adhered that to the card base. I then cut two smaller layers from the same Love Letters pad and matted them with the dark brown cardstock. Next I cut out the three flourishes from vanilla and olive cardstocks and arranged them on the card.

The sentiment was stamped with dark brown ink onto vanilla cardstock and I cut a notch on the left side. I matted this with dark brown cardstock and adhered this near the bottom of my card. I die cut the Sophie's Heart Mini Doily from dark brown cardstock and adhered that over the flourishes. I then die cut the Judy's Blooms flowers, painted them with shimmery Creative Inspirations paint (Pink Highlights and Tutu Pink), and adhered them together with a brad in the center. You can see the sweet shimmer in the picture below.  I carefully glued my flower in the center of the mini doily and fluffed up the petals.

I love this card! These pretty pinks with the gorgeous doily and those flourishes - I don't think I could give this away just yet. I think I'll have to admire this in my studio for a few months first. :-)  

If you'd like to go shopping at Classy Cards 'n Such, please feel free to use this code, Holly-10, to save 10% off your order.  You'll find all kinds of dies, papers, stamps, embossing folders, and bling in the store, so shop to your heart's content.  :-)

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Cheery Lynn Designs #66 - Add a Flourish

Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything Goes

Sweet Stamps - Think Pink

Rusty Chicken Wire card

Hi folks!  I hope you're having a great Monday.  We got lots of rain over the weekend (yay) and the temperatures are wonderful! 

I pulled out some of my newest toys from Classy Cards 'n Such and created this card.  I used the brand new Chicken Wire die (Cheery Lynn Designs) and transformed the cardstock die cut with a Faux Rusty Metal technique, and then I adhered this to a piece of patterned paper from the Harvest Lane 6x6 pad.  I stamped the sentiment (from Stampavie's With Love set) directly onto one of the little tags that is in the Harvest Lane 6x6 pad.  I wrapped some linen thread around the middle and then adhered the sentiment with Joy foam pads (small).  The pretty flower and leaves are from Judy's Blooms die set (Cheery Lynn Designs).  I die cut the flowers from vanilla cardstock and then sponged some rusty orange ink onto the petals.  Once the ink was dry, I turned the petals over onto a Craft Molding Mat and used a stylus from the Paper Blossoms Tool Kit to give the petals a curved shape.

Look at the chicken wire on this card.  I cut that from kraft cardstock - yup, kraft!  I used a Faux Rusty Metal technique from Technique Junkies and some Antique Silver paint from Creative Inspirations Paint to transform this from plain kraft cardstock to rusty metal.  Isn't that cool?  :-)    

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Cheery Lynn Designs - Frame It (I used the Chicken Wire frame.)

Addicted to Stamps - Autumn Colors

Hope you have a great week!  :-)

Musical Friend

I've got a romantic and musical card to share with you today. First, the products that I've used from Classy Cards 'n Such are:

Shabby Chic Labels Four set (JustRite)
Pretty in Pink 6x6 paper pad (Glitz)
Stardream Fuse Azalea cardstock
French Pastry Doily Die (Cheery Lynn Designs)
Exotic Butterfly Mini (Cheery Lynn Designs)
Textured Two-Tone ribbon - Light Blue/White (May Arts)

I cut some dark brown cardstock to 4.25" x 11" and folded it in half to make a card that is 4.25" x 5.5".  Some musical paper from the Pretty in Pink paper pad was cut to 4 1/8" x 5 3/8" and adhered to the brown card base.  The doily is cut from the Stardream Fuse Azalea cardstock - a gorgeous shimmery mauve-y color.  I had already used the top third of this doily on another card, and this is what was left.  I cut a circle from vanilla cardstock and another, smaller, circle from the rose paper (also from the Pretty in Pink paper pad), then adhered these to the center of the doily.  I cut off what was sticking out from the edge and adhered the doily to the musical paper.

I tied the gorgeous ribbon around the card, moving the knotted end to the left side.  I stamped the "Friend" sentiment with brown ink onto vanilla cardstock and used scissors to trim it into a tag shape.  I punched a tiny hole at the top and threaded some linen thread through the hole and tied it around the knot of the blue ribbon.

I used the Dabbed Shimmers technique from Technique Junkies to cover some cardstock with some yummy, shimmery Chocolate paint (from Creative Inspirations Paint).   After it was dry (only a couple minutes, honestly!), I used one of the dies from the Exotic Butterfly Mini set to cut out a beautifully shimmery butterfly. Lastly, I adhered the butterfly to the top of the knot on the ribbon.

This was a fun card for me to make, because I was able to use up the leftover doily piece and because I stepped outside of my normal creation process.  You don't have to use the entire shape to make a beautiful project.  Sometimes it's good to try something new and just use a part of a die-cut shape.  :-)

Chirpy and the Easter bag

Chirp, chirp! I've used this adorable Chirpy stamp from Classy Cards 'n Such to make a fun little bag for Easter. The bag is something I found at the dollar store, just a plain white bag in a package of 10 for a dollar. I used the Dabbed Shimmers technique (using shimmery Seafoam paint - Creative Inspirations Paint) from Technique Junkies all over to add some color and I tied some ribbon, Mauve - Carolina Asian Sheer, to the handle. Chirpy was colored with Copic markers and I colored the ribbon on the egg to match the ribbon I used on the bag.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Anything Goes #63 - Get Ready for Easter
Crazy Amigo - Eggs
Top Tip Tuesday #73 - Easter and/or Animals
Try it on Tuesday - Easter
Crafty Boots - Easter

Did you know that Classy Cards 'n Such has GLITTER now?? I love glitter! I bought all of them as soon as I saw them, and I used the Carnation glitter on the polka dots on this egg. It matches the Mauve ribbon beautifully! Then I fussy-cut the image and adhered it to the bag. All I need is some Easter candy to put in the bag and I can give this to a special someone. :-)

I know you want to go shopping at Classy Cards 'n Such, so here's a coupon code to help you save some money: Holly-10 . Just type that in when you check out and you'll save 10% off your entire order. Stock up on glitter, stamps, dies, Twinkling H2O's, anything you want. :-)

Have a wonderful evening!

Copper Snowflakes

Are you enjoying your weekend?  Tonight I am sharing a Christmas card with y'all. Christmas?? It's spring-time! LOL Yup, I saw a fun challenge on the Jingle Belles blog and I was in love with the inspiration picture there. I just had to play along, and guess what? I now have one Christmas card ready for December!

I loved that snowflake and the neutral color palette on the Jingle Belles blog, so I went searching through my stash. I found this gorgeous set from Flourishes called Holiday Sparkle. Isn't that snowflake awesome?

I wanted to stick with that neutral color palette, but I needed a bit of oomph to make it pop. Instead of stamping in brown, I decided to emboss the snowflakes and sentiment with Copper embossing powder from Creative Inspirations Paint. I tried to use a brown cardstock layer, and then a copper cardstock layer, but they just didn't look right. More Copper embossing powder to the rescue! I embossed the layers with the same powder so everything would coordinate. You can see the awesome copper color in this picture below:

I purposely made this card CAS (Clean And Simple) and I didn't add any other embellishments. This card is perfect for mailing with just one postage stamp. Now I'm off to make a big stash of these in different colors - I'll be ready for Christmas this year! :-)

Copper Watering Can

Hey folks! Did you enjoy the special blog hop that we had this weekend for Creative Inspirations Paints and Great Impressions? That was so much fun and there was so much creative eye candy to drool over!

I'm playing with another stamp from Great Impressions called Watering Can Bouquet (G302). I stamped this with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and colored it in with a bunch of Creative Inspirations Paints.

Isn't that a great stamp? I decided to go bold and summery with my colors, but you could take this in any direction. Pastels for spring, warm fall colors, or even a monochromatic theme would be wonderful with this stamp. I used the Torn Frames technique from Technique Junkies and some bright summer-y papers from Echo Park.

The paint colors I used are:
Antique Copper (watering can)
Green Olive
Mango
Emerald
Plum
Blush
Amethyst
Chocolate
Buttercup

Isn't that Antique Copper just gorgeous?? You can see the shimmer below:

Thanks for looking! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Blog Hop - CI Paint and Great Impressions

Good morning! Welcome to a joint blog hop featuring Creative Inspirations Paints and Great Impressions stamps! If you've come here from Shanna's blog, you're on the right track. If not, please start this hop by going to the Creative Inspirations Paint blog and follow the links along the hop.

You will want to collect letters from each blog on the hop. These letters will spell out a word or words, and you need this for your comment on the very last blog in the hop (at the Great Impressions blog). You have this weekend (March 9th 8:00am EST through March 11th 8:00pm EST) to complete the hop and gather your letters. You will need to leave a comment on each blog along the way, and you need to enter the special word(s) with your comment on the last blog. You can win an awesome prize - 5 jars of paint (winners choice) and a 25.00 gift certificate to Great Impressions! My letter for you is E.

All the blogs will feature projects made with stamps from Great Impressions and products from Creative Inspirations Paint. There will be lots of inspiration and eye candy for you, so don't miss any of the blogs along the hop!

For my card today, I've used the Whimsical Potted Tulips (E640) and the A Little Hello (B151) sentiment stamps. The tulip image is colored with the following colors of Creative Inspirations Paint:

Buttercup (tulips)
Amethyst (butterflies)
Green Olive (leaves)
Plum (pots)

Wanna see the gorgeous shimmer??

Love that shimmer!! These paints are awesome! Great Impressions is celebrating the grand opening of their online store, so check them out when you are done with the hop. Your next stop on this hop is Jenny's blog - have fun!!

Shimmery Doily Backgrounds

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend! I've got some shimmery doily background cards to share with you today.

I started by stamping a doily from I Brake for Stamps with Versamark and then I embossed them with Deliquesce Fine Clear embossing powder from Creative Inspirations Paint. Then I scooped out some shimmery Blush paint (Creative Inspirations Paint) and mixed it with a little water to thin it out a bit. Using a wet paintbrush, I picked up some paint and swiped it all over the cardstock and then let it dry. This is basically the Walnut Ink Resist technique from Technique Junkies except I morphed it a bit by using the paint. :-)

Here's a close-up of the gorgeous shimmer:

I had so much fun with the pink card, I couldn't stop!!! I did three more cards in different colors. The colors of Creative Inspirations Paint that I used are:

Blush, Sky Blue, Lavender, and Sage

You can see the shimmer here:

When I opened the Deliquesque Fine Clear embossing powder, I was awestruck at how white it is. Some other brands of "clear" embossing powder are a dull eggshell white or sometimes even an ivory color. This powder is so fine and it wasn't clumpy at all (like some other brands have been). It melts beautifully when hit with a heat gun. I absolutely love the embossing powders that I've tried from Creative Inspirations Paint!! I need a huge vat of every single color!!

Here's hoping you have a wonderful week!

CI Paint: Blush, Sky Blue, Lavender, Sage
Embossing Powder: Deliquesque Fine Clear - Creative Inspirations Paint
Stamps: doily and sentiment (I Brake for Stamps)
Ink: Versamark, London Fog Memento
CS: White
Other: Labels 18 die (Spellbinders), May Arts ribbon
TJ Technique: morphed Walnut Ink Resist

Glittery XOXO Valentine

Good morning! I've got a glittery Valentine card to share with you today. This card fits in with a ton of challenges out there in blogland this week, so I picked several of them to enter this card into:

Crafty Catz #119 - Valentine's
4 Crafty Chicks - Love is in the Air
Creative Belli Challenge #136 - Hearts
Stampavie and More #162 - Love
Victorine Originals Challenge #27 - Love/Valentines


I started out by covering the chipboard xoxo piece with some white gesso. While the gesso was wet, I poured some clear glitter (Resplendence Angel Dust Glitter from Creative Inspirations Paint) over it and I set it aside to let it dry. I cut the dark gray card base to 5.5" by 8.5" and folded it in half to make a regular A2 sized card.

Most of the supplies for this card came from the Classy Cards 'n Such store, and I've provided links to those products. If you would like to go shopping at the Classy Cards 'n Such store, you can use this code: Holly-10 to save 10% off your order. The patterned papers are from the Sweet Cakes Doodlebug Designs 6x6 paper pad, and I ran two of them through a swirly embossing folder. The swirls were rubbed with sandpaper to bring out the white core (Sanded Co'redinations technique from Technique Junkies).

Some Doodle Twine (Valentine's Assortment) was wrapped around the card and tied with a bow. I used the Scalloped Hearts Spellbinders die to cut the white scallop heart and then I used the regular Heart Spellbinders die to cut a smaller heart from some more patterned paper (also from the Sweet Cakes Doodlebug Designs 6x6 paper pad). The xoxo chipboard was adhered to the heart with mini glue dots.

Did you know that Classy Cards 'n Such has started hosting their own challenges?? Please check out the very first challenge over on the Classy Cards 'n Such blog. There are some wonderful samples to drool over and when you play along, you have a chance to win a fabulous prize!

Hot Pink Flowers

Good morning! I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing weekend. Today I am sharing a fun card with some hot pink flowers - are you ready for this?? If you're not awake yet, you will be after you see these:

Isn't that fun?? I love the contrast of the soft greens and blues with those bright and sparkly pink flowers. These flowers were stamped with Versamark and then I covered them with Deliquesce Super Sparkle Pink embossing powder from Creative Inspirations Paint. You can see the sparkle in this close up picture:

This week's challenge on the Creative Inspirations Paint blog is to have pink on your project. I hope you join us and share your pink project with us this week!

Creative Inspirations Paint embossing powder: Deliquesce Super Sparkle Pink embossing powder
Stamps: Flower Fusion #1 (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Versamark, Spring Moss, Tuxedo Black Memento
CS: Aqua Mist, white, Spring Moss patterned paper, kraft
Other: Aqua Mist buttons, kraft tafetta ribbon, Dotted Wave edge punch

Celebrating Love

Happy Monday! Did you have a wonderful Christmas? We had a great time with our family at Mom's house this weekend - lots of laughter, lots of hugs, and lots of memories.

I checked out the new challenge over on the Cheery Lynn Designs blog, and their theme is "Celebrate." I created this photo tray for my grandparents who will be celebrating their 67th wedding anniversary in January. Yes, 67 years! That calls for a celebration, don't you think? :-)

I started out with some Authentique papers and some Cheery Lynn Designs dies to put together six different "trays." The "love you always" and the little flourish under the heart (upper right tray) are chipboard pieces that I painted with black acrylic paint and then covered with Antique Silver shimmery paint from Creative Inspirations Paint. I love that shimmery antiqued effect over the black paint.

You can see that I repeated some of the die cut flourishes in several of the trays. That is the Fanciful Flourish die from Cheery Lynn Designs (purchased from Classy Cards 'n Such). I've also used the Victorian Picket Fence die, the Pair of Ferns die, and the Olive Branches die. I'm loving these Cheery Lynn dies! :-)

The flowers are from a Spellbinders die (Rose Creations) and the butterflies are Martha Stewart punches.

The hearts are cut out with some Spellbinders heart dies, and I used the Cuttlebug Highlights technique (Technique Junkies) after running the gray heart through a Sheet Music embossing folder.

I used a Tim Holtz die to create the large rosette (bottom right tray) and then I hand-made the smaller rosette.

This was a fun project to make, and I know my grandparents will love this. I can't wait to see this hanging up in their house where they can see it every day. :-)

Have a wonderful day!

Salty Glimmers Christmas

Howdy, folks! I had some time to play tonight after spending the last three days taking care of a sick hubby. Hopefully he is on the mend, as no one wants to be sick on Christmas.

I pulled out my Cheery Lynn Designs dies and made this fun Christmas card. The challenge on the Cheery Lynn Designs blog is a "Tis the Season" theme, and I really wanted to play with the Christmas lights before the holiday passed me by.

I started out by creating a background using the Salty Glimmers technique from Technique Junkies. What a cool background, and I love the shimmer! After I cut out the lamp post, the Christmas lights strings, and the lightbulbs, I wanted to make them shimmery as well, so I pulled out my Creative Inspirations Paints.

The lamp post and the light strings were die cut from black cardstock, and I applied some Antique Silver paint to those. I love how the Antique Silver paint looks against the black cardstock. The lightbulbs were painted with Garnet paint, and they really pop out against the die cut fence and the dark blue background. I also painted a tiny piece of white cardstock with some Sunshine yellow paint and adhered it behind the die cut lamp.

The Victorian Picket Fence was die cut from kraft cardstock, and I lightly rubbed a white ink pad here and there to give the fence a snowy look. Well, white ink doesn't dry very fast, so I covered it with some white embossing powder and hit it with a heat gun.

The sentiment is from Rogue Redhead Designs' Candy Kisses stamp set. By the way, you still have a few days left to take advantage of the awesome sale over at Rogue Redhead Designs. I colored the scallop oval with the same Garnet paint to match the lightbulbs.

Wanna see the great shimmer?

It still hasn't quite dawned on me that Christmas is just a few days away. Where did the time go??? I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. Hugs!

Stamps: Candy Kisses (Rogue Redhead Designs)
Ink: Jet Black Stazon, Fresh Snow
CS: white, black, kraft
Cheery Lynn Designs dies: Victorian Picket Fence, Christmas Light Swag, Colonial Lamp Post (purchased at Classy Cards 'n Such)
Creative Inspirations Paint: Garnet, Sunshine, Antique Silver
Other: Frosty Nights glimmer mist, oval punch, scallop oval punch, white embossing powder
TJ Technique: Salty Glimmers

Shimmery Poinsettia

Hi folks! I took a little break from blogging after last week's flurry of blog hops. :-) I'm back with a Christmas card to share with y'all today.

Cornish Heritage Farms (CHF) opened its doors under new ownership a couple weeks ago, and there are a lot of wonderful digital images in their store. I used this Poinsettia Digital Stamp on my card today.

I colored this image with colored pencils, and then I used my favorite shimmery paints from Creative Inspirations Paints on the flower, the leaves, the jingle bells, and the berries. You can see the gorgeous shimmer in this picture:

I better get to work on addressing my envelopes and getting my Christmas cards out! We've only got a little over two weeks left before the big day! Yikes!

Stamps: Poinsettia Digital Stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Antique Linen, Walnut Stain
CS: Vanilla, White, Espresso, Wonder dp (Authentique)
CI Paint: Garnet, Sunshine, Winter Frost, Antique Gold, Green Olive
Other: May Arts ribbon, colored pencils, sponge, Copic markers, circle punch, Authentique Noteables
TJ Technique: Pencilled Twinks

Holiday Bears

Have you been busy with your Thanksgiving preparations? Here's some eye candy for you while you are taking a break from the kitchen.

These Holiday Bears from I Brake for Stamps are just adorable! I love them all, and here are two of them for you today. You can buy the set of six (at a wonderful savings!) or you can buy each bear individually.

I've used the sweet Caroler Bears on this first card. It looks like a simple card, but just wait til you open it. :-)

When you open it, you see the fun fold of this card. I used the Z-fold technique from Technique Junkies (Fancy Folds cd).

On this second card, I've used the darling Holly Angel Bear. She is colored with Copic markers and I used the Double Ruffle technique from Technique Junkies on the bottom edge of the card.

I also used some shimmery Fairy Dust paint (Creative Inspirations Paint) on the wings and all the burgundy-colored areas. You can see the pretty shimmer in this picture below:

Let these holiday cards provide you with some inspiration for your Black Friday shopping. You can save 10% on your purchases at I Brake for Stamps by entering this code - SAVE10HOLLY - when you check out. You can use this code for your entire order, including stamps, paints, 6x6 papers, and flowers.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. Enjoy your day!

Gingerbread House Album Blog Hop

Welcome to the Gingerbread House Album blog hop! If you have come here from the Die Cut Diva blog, you're on the right track. If not, please start at the beginning - http://die-cut-diva.blogspot.com/ - so you don't miss out on any of the wonderful albums today!

We are showcasing this exclusive Gingerbread House Album that can only be found at Creative Cuts and More. The basic chipboard kit comes with three sizes of gingerbread men, candy canes, icicles, and doors, along with the gingerbread houses and album pages. All the pieces are cut from chipboard, which is perfect for any style of decorating.

There are actually three Gingerbread House kits to choose from:

Gingerbread House Album Chipboard Kit - this is the one I worked with today

Gingerbread House Album Deluxe Kit

Gingerbread House Album Ultimate Deluxe Kit

When I started thinking about what I wanted to do with this album, I knew exactly what it was going to be - a recipe book. More specifically, this is a Christmas recipe album, full of those special foods and drinks that I usually make for the holidays. I originally thought I would paint all the chipboard pages with acrylic paint, but I ran across this incredibly cute package of holiday paper and I just had to use it. So I covered all the pages and one of the gingerbread houses with various sheets of these papers.

I used some shimmery Creative Inspirations Paints to color the chipboard gingerbread men, and I used some liquid snow for the "frosting" on the men. I found some really cute stickers at various craft stores and it was fun to mix and match these on all the pages. The icicles that you see on this front cover were painted with white gesso, and then I spread Star Dust Stickles all over them and set them aside to dry.

I loved putting this album together. Now I have all my favorite holiday recipes right where I can get my hands on them. It will be easy to find my Bohemian Tea recipe in here versus looking through 20 cookbooks. If you are having trouble reading the recipes, send me an email and I'd be happy to share my recipes with you. :-)

There will be a prize! CC&M will be giving away a Gingerbread House Album Chipboard Kit worth $12.99. The deadline for entry will be Sunday, November 13. We will announce the winner on Monday, November 14th on the Die Cut Diva blog. In order to win, you must:

1. HOP through AND comment on each blog, then go back to the Die Cut Diva blog and let us know you did so.
2. For another chance, follow the Die Cut Diva blog.
3. For another chance, become a Fan on Facebook by clicking HERE.
4. For another chance, spread the word about our Blog Hop on your blog!

Ready for more inspiration? Continue along the hop by going to Noelle's blog to see what she has to share with you today. Remember to comment on each blog to have a chance at winning a Gingerbread House Chipboard kit. Enjoy the hop!

Christmas Double Easel Card

Hey folks! I've got some awesome news for y'all! The new 3D and Fun Folds CD from Technique Junkies is ready for purchase!! See the "Buy Now" button over on the right side of my blog? Click on that and you'll be able to buy your copy of this great cd filled with 70 brand new techniques. In addition to the step by step techniques, you'll also see some gorgeous artwork for these techniques to inspire you.

This is one of several projects that have been keeping me so busy lately. I'm excited to share some of the samples that I created for this cd. What I am sharing tonight is the Double Twisted Easel Tutorial.

Isn't that a cool card? It's actually much easier than it looks - just follow the steps in the tutorial and you'll have your own card made lickety split! Just click on the "Buy Now" button (upper right side of my blog) to order your cd.

This chipboard star was painted with some gesso first, and then I used some yellow Sunshine Creative Inspirations Paints to make this chipboard star all shimmery.

For this cute scene, I colored the image with Copic markers first, and then I went to town with several Creative Inspirations Paints. The star at the top of the tree is painted with Sunshine, the red Christmas lights and the holly berries are painted with Garnet, the blue bulbs on the ground are painted with Denium, the tops of the blue bulbs are painted with Antique Silver, and the copper bands going around the barrel planter are painted with Antique Copper. Isn't that shimmer nice and festive? :-)

Check in with me this weekend as I share some more of the projects I created for the new technique cd. Some will be SO perfect for those Christmas gifts that you'll be giving to your loved ones in less than two months. :-)


Stamps: Christmas Tree Bear & Beary Christmas - I Brake for Stamps - use code SAVE10HOLLY to save 10% off your order
Creative Inspirations Paint: Sunshine, Garnet, Denium, Antique Silver, Antique Copper - use code SAVE10HOLLY to save 10%
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento
CS: Black, Red, White, dp (Recollections)
Other: Copic markers, holly leaf punch, red bling, chipboard star, gesso
TJ Technique: Double Twisted Easel - 3D and Fun Folds CD

I Brake for Challenges #12 - Halloween

Hey folks! Today's challenge on the I Brake for Challenges blog is to create a project with a Halloween theme. I pulled out this cute Vampire Costume Bear from I Brake for Stamps to share with you today.

How adorable is that?? I colored the bear with Copic markers and I used the Copic Texturizing technique from Technique Junkies to give his fur a "furry" appearance. His vest and his "wings" are painted with shimmery Onyx paint (Creative Inspirations Paint) and I used a gold glitter pen to color in his medallion and the stars.

I found some chipboard letters to spell out "boo!" but they had a glossy white finish on them. So I peeled off that glossy paper and then painted the raw chipboard with the same shimmery Onyx paint. You can see the wonderful shimmer in this picture:

There are more fun Costume Bears over at I Brake for Stamps - a witch, a pirate, and a princess to name a few. Pull out your Halloween stamps or order these Costume Bears, then create a project and share it with us over at the I Brake for Challenges blog. We'd love to see your Halloween projects!

When you go shopping at I Brake for Stamps, you can use this code - SAVE10HOLLY - to save 10% off your order. This is good for anything in the store, including stamps, Creative Inspirations Paint, Wild Orchid flowers, and 6x6 papers. :-)

Stamps: Vampire Costume Bear from I Brake for Stamps
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento
CS: Basic Gray, Black, White
Other: Copic markers, gold glitter pen, black organdy ribbon, chipboard letters
TJ Technique: Copic Texturizing
Creative Inspirations Paint: Onyx