Evelin T Designs | All Things Grow With Love

Happy Monday! I hope you all found some time to relax this weekend. It's definitely something we don't get enough of and today's card is here to remind you of that. I made this for a friend who's about to file for divorce. Yes, in the middle of a pandemic so most of us should count ourselves lucky that it's not us!

I'm featuring the Life is Beautiful stamp set which is filled with sweet plants, room decor and a meditating girl who's one of my most favourite Evelin T Designs images ever. I created the room setting first, stamping all the paintings and little tables of succulents. Then I watercoloured all the images with distress inks and fussy cut the two friends and popped them up on the card.

To finish, I masked off the wall and ink blended a floor and adhered some iridescent butterfly sequins to embellish the card and add some shimmer.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Paper Smooches | Blog Hug for Kim

Welcome to the Paper Smooches Blog Hug! As you all know, Kim Hughes announced her retirement on June 6, 2020 and finally closed her Paper Smooches shop on August 2, 2020. I know, both of these were very sad days. Kim delighted us with her whimsical illustrations and punny sentiments for nearly 10 years! Paper Smooches was one of the first photopolymer stamp companies I was drawn to when I started blogging in 2008 after my son was born. I was on Kim's design team from January 2012 to January 2016 -- 4 years! That's the longest I've ever been on a design team and I'll never forget it. I'm forever grateful to Kim for all the great memories and opportunities.

It was so hard to choose what to use for today's Blog Hug but I finally settled on the aptly-named We Adore You stamp set with coordinating dies. Of course, we adore you, Kim! I just love this fashionable pug and kitty couple! I stamped, heat embossed and watercolored them with distress inks.

I die cut a Word Bubbles Die from watercolour cardstock and ink blended distress ink around the edges. Then I die cut a second word bubble from vellum and heat embossed the sentiment on that, layering it over top of the ink blended layer. The grass was created with one of the Borders 1 Dies, arguably my most-used die ever.

I also smooshed my mini distress inks on a piece of acetate, spritzed it with water and used that to apply color to the watercolour panel die cut with the Stitched Square Die. After that dried, I used thread to attach Summer Fusion Sequins by Studio Katia. Since all of these Paper Smooches products are retired, I've listed alternates below in case you're looking to create something similar.

To date, Paper Smooches remains my most-used brand and you can use the Search Labels at the bottom of my blog's sidebar to see more of my projects. I also have a lot of Paper Smooches videos on my YouTube channel so be sure to check 'em out!

Here's the full 'hug' list:

Paper Smooches Blog

Jill Hawkins 

Alice Huang

Karin Åkesdotter

Michele Boyer

Savannah O'Gwynn

Teri Anderson

JJ Bolton

Kay Miller

Kim Kesti

Emily Leiphart

We love you, Kim, and wish you the very best in your retirement and future creative endeavours! Thanks so much for joining us today!

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Catherine Pooler Designs | Lovely Flowers + SALE!

You're lovely, my friend! I appreciate you visiting my blog, especially if you make it through this entire post. Haha! I promise it's not that long but there's plenty of sale information at the end. If you've had your eye on Catherine Pooler's Lovely Flowers stamp set and Lovely Flowers and Banners dies (this is such a good one), now's the time to grab it because it's being retired!

I used the following colours for the flowers: Samba, Melon Ice, Mint To Be, Stone Blue and Sweet Sixteen. I stamped the scripted background in Sweet Sixteen and the sentiment in Black Jack.

I also used the Love Note Background and a strip of glitter cardstock to ground the bouquets. To finish, I added little white silk bows to the stems and rounded one of the corners to soften the look of the card base.

If you've been waiting for the big Ink Restock, all inks and reinkers are now back in stock! Be sure to check out the Last Chance items, as well as the Sale page for popular products that would go well with the new Slimline Release! Several of my recently-used favourites are included, including Perfect Blend and Cuppa Tea. Visual links are also listed below!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Catherine Pooler Designs | Life Love Latte

Hello, friends! I have a brighter take on my Paradise Found Minis Instagram Hop card and it's impossible to decide which one I like more. I'll leave that up to you! I just love how many possibilities there are in creating a scene like this. I love mixing and matching stamp sets and there are 10 stamp sets on this card. That's right, 10!!

The sentiment is from the aptly-named Life, Love, Latte, the teeny tiny hearts are from Perfect Blend, the yellow leaves are from a Deluxe Club Sursee set called Love Grows Here, all of the green leaves and the acorn are from a former Sursee set called Autumn is Calling, the ladybug is from Oh, Baby!, the cupcake is from a former Stamp of Approval set called I Eat Cake, the chihuahua is from Peeking Pets, the mug is from another Stamp of Approval set called Cuppa Tea, the pumpkin is from Hey Pumpkin and the table (cloth) is from another Club Sursee set called Good Times Bits and Borders.

If you want a labelled version of the above photo with the name of the stamp set each image came from, you can click on the photo to the left to enlarge it.

I used all but one colour - Daydream - from the Paradise Found Minis! Having all these colours takes the thinking out of what colours to use. You can also purchase the full size ink pads separately and I have all those links below for your shopping pleasure.

Most elements were adhered flat to the panel but a few sections were popped up for interest, like the ends of some leaves and one of the dog's ears.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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VIDEO | Simon Hurley create. | Twin Birthday Cards

Did you know that Simon Hurley create. hosts a monthly challenge on the Ranger Ink blog? The August monthly prompt is birthday cards and all you need to do is use the hashtag #SHcreatedtocreate on Instagram or Facebook to be entered to win a Simon Hurley create. prize package!

My latest video features girl/boy birthday cards for my neighbour's twins who are turning 9 next week. I used the Cake Walk, Doodle Florals and Timber! stamp sets on these cards. The two cards are almost exactly the same but use different colours. I used Simon Hurley create. reinkers to watercolour all of the images from Cake Walk and Timber! I used the rock 'n' roll technique to stamp the layered flowers from Doodle Florals.

For this design, I had to draw a body for Artie the Bear so he wouldn't be floating in midair. I fussy cut extra trees to fill in the spaces between the stamped trees to hide the missing half of his body. Then I added flowers and embellished them with Rose Pink and Bora Bora pearls from Studio Katia.

Don't forget to tag all your Simon Hurley create. birthday cards on Instagram or Facebook for your chance to win a Simon Hurley create. prize package!

Thanks so much for watching!

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Studio Katia | Love You Lots + Winner Announcement

Happy Thursday! I'm on the Studio Katia Blog today with this feel-good card featuring Chunky Alphabet and Flourishing Note. I love alphabet dies so it's only natural to fall in love with this die set. They're the perfect size for customizing sentiments that take centre stage on a card.

I started by lining up Chunky Alphabet dies to spell out the words and cutting them from the front panel. I used a ruler to draw lines in pencil to help me space out the three lines. After all the letters were die cut from the panel, I erased the pencil lines.

On the second panel, I stamped, heat embossed and watercoloured the Flourishing Note stamp set. The finished piece was so lovely that it was hard to cover up with the die cut panel. I think I will have to make another one just like this and let it shine!

I smooshed my mini distress ink pads on to an acrylic block, sprayed it with water and smooshed it on to the front panel. After it dried completely, I added an acetate sheet and popped it up with foam tape to create a shaker in the centre portion. I combined Luminous Lavender Fusion, Mallow Crystals and Vanilla Luster Fusion sequins, and purposely left out the centres of the Os to allow the beautiful flowers to show through.

GIVEAWAY ANNOUNCEMENT

The winner of the $25 Gift Certificate to the Studio Katia Online Shop is:

CAROL

Congratulations, Carol!!! Please send an email to studiokatiagiveaway@gmail.com with the subject New DT Member Giveaway Winner to claim your prize.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Catherine Pooler Designs | Pretty Pumpkins

Woohoo! Hey Pumpkin is back in stock at Catherine Pooler Designs! I know, I'm totally addicted to these pumpkins from the Hey Pumpkin stamp set (also available at EH) and coordinating dies (also available at EH)! Can you blame me? ;) I thought I'd do something different today, using a similar colour theme to my Father's Day card because I still think about that combination of colours and have been meaning to use it again ever since.

We can have pumpkins in any colour we want, right? That's the freedom of creativity! I rock 'n' rolled these pumpkins with Mint To Be and Seafoam, Shea Butter and Sauna, and It's a Boy and Fiesta Blue. The stems were stamped with Twilight and the leaves were stamped with Sweet Sixteen.

The grass was stamped with Seafoam before dry embossing a makeshift white picket fence using the Narrow Stripe Cover Plate and the sentiment was rock 'n' rolled with Twilight and Black Jack. After adhering the pumpkins to the panel with foam tape, I embellished the pumpkins with Star Dust Stickles.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Catherine Pooler Designs | Halloween Shaker Card

I have another Halloween card for you using Catherine Pooler's Fall Pick-N-Mix Release products! I was so happy to hear that you loved my first grey pumpkin card featuring the Hey Pumpkin stamp set (now available at EH) and today's version is a shaker card. I recessed the pumpkins, stamping them on the card base and used the Hey Pumpkin coordinating dies (now available at EH) to cut them from the front panel.

I filled the shaker with the Mystic Sequin Mix and added leaves in Orange Peel, Mandarin Spice and Lemongrass to the front panel. The sentiment was rock 'n' rolled in Hot Tub and Daydream.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Altenew Mini Delight: Cactus Release Instagram Hop + Giveaway

Hey, crafty friends! I’m joining a fun Instagram Hop with Altenew today to celebrate the release of Altenew’s Mini Delight: Cactus Stamp & Die Set! Feel free to start the hop over at @altenewllc!

To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $15 gift certificate to 15 lucky winners! For a chance to win, please follow @altenewllc and @emily.leiphart and leave a comment by 8/20/2020. 

Altenew will draw 15 winners from the comments left on each stop on this Instagram Hop and announce the winners on Altenew’s Mini Delight: Cactus Instagram Hop post on 8/22/2020 @altenewllc  What are you waiting for? Gorgeous project inspiration and fun prizes await you!

@altenewllc

@pixelmavensretreat

@mindyeggendesign

@laurie_willison

@notablenest

@yesvirginialu

@emily.leiphart

@lilitheeckels

@sideoats

@tachita55

@mammacooksalot

@christine_m_pennington

@norinehope

I stamped and die cut Altenew’s Mini Delight: Cactus Stamp & Die Set with the Tranquility, Sugarplums and Warm Gray dye ink sets. I used all four shades of ink on each cactus. I also stamped the sentiment with one ink from each colour group to repeat the word 'strong' three times for emphasis.

I dry embossed the background panel with the Sketched Lines Stencil and used one shade of ink from the Tranquility, Sugarplums and Warm Gray dye ink sets to ink blend the bottom lefthand corner of the panel. I added a strip of glitter black cardstock on the left side before attaching the dry embossed panel, cacti, sentiment strips and enamel dots.

Altenew is running a promotion today and tomorrow. You get a free roll of Floral Flurries Washi Tape with every purchase of $69 or more.

Thanks so much for hopping along with us!

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Catherine Pooler Designs | More Fall Pick-N-Mix

Hey, friends! I'm sharing more inspiration for the Hey Pumpkin stamp set, coordinating dies and a lot of patterned paper from Catherine Pooler's Fall Pick-N-Mix Release. The supplies are the same as my release day card, except for the Daydream ink colour but that's only because the colour is represented strongly in the Fall Pick-N-Mix Patterned Paper.

After I picked the three patterns I wanted to use, I rock 'n' rolled the pumpkins in Twilight and Black Jack. The stems were stamped in straight Twilight and the leaves were stamped with Lemongrass, Orange Peel, Mandarin Spice and Hot Tub. Finally, I stamped the sentiment in Black Jack and popped up the pumpkins and leaves with foam tape. Easy peasy!

Thank so much for stopping by!

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