Coffee Lovers BLOG HOP!!!

I am so so so very excited to be a part of my FIRST EVER blog hop, The Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!! It is a huge, huge, did I say HUGE blog hop with tons of amazing sponsors and creative people!

I made a summer coffee themed card that challenged me like I have never been challenged creatively before. When I think of making a coffee themed card I would never picture putting summer colors and designs in it. I think dark reds, greens, blues, browns and antique looking designs so I had to reach deep deep down in my creative brain and put ink and glue to paper.

Once I got my little hands on a coffee themed stamp set that I liked the game was on! I pulled out some paper I was saving and began to create and got a bit off track :). I ended up with two very cute non-coffee related cards that I absolutely love but frustrated me because they were not even in the ballpark of  the challenge I had to complete.

   

FINALLY....I found some inspiration from looking at all the fun cards and crafts others were doing in the blog hop and was able to create this beaut of a card. I used a paper pack I won from the Crafts Direct craft fair I went to a few months ago, my new coffee themed stamp set my husband found me, my favorite tool in my craft room (my heat gun), embossing powder, and bakers twine,

I hope you all enjoy this card because I had a really fun time making it! Be sure to check out all the other AMAZING blogs in the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop here!

Critters!

It's the time of year were I start thinking camping, hiking, bonfires and anything fun outside! This stuff gets my blood pumping! It is who I am! It's also the time of year to celebrate that special man in your life, whether that be your dad, husband, brother, or whoever.

This year, for father's day, I decided to hand make the cards I am giving instead giving one of the cliche store bought blah blah, you are a good dad or husband cards. I feel like hand made things mean so much more to a person. I thought this would be a great way to put my love for outdoors and my love for those special men in my life together into another love of mine....CARDS!!!

For my husband I made the Moose card because he LOVES LOVE LOVES anything Moose relate. I embossed the card base with a crakle embossing folder and my Sizzix Bog Shot. I then took a piece of heavy weight card stock and used a green, black, and gold spray ink on it to give a distressed look. For the Moose in the middle of the card I heat embossed it to give it a bit of texture and shine. Once I had everything in place and was about to glue it down I felt like it was missing something so I added the burlap, brads, and a few pop dots and WHAMO, I had a beautiful card for my husband!

My dad's card was a bit of a challenge. He is all over the place with his interests and it is hard to put only one on a card. I chose to go with his interest in birds. I chose to use a chickadee stamp that was once my Grandma Mead's. I did this because before my Grandma passed away this last fall my Dad would  go to her house and fill her bird feeders for her almost every week. He would fill the feeders and then go in for a cup of coffee and a good long chat.  It was his was of being able to spend time with her.

With his card I really wanted to make the Chickadee the focal point so I stamped and embossed it, and added a little black chalk around the edges to give it that POP! I used some burlap (because after I used it on the previous card I fell in love with it and bought a ton) and some paper ribbon I found at hobby lobby (which I am pretty sure is supposed to be for floral design) to accent the Chickadee. A few brads and pop dots and it was finished!

I cannot wait for both my husband and my dad to see these cards! I hope you all enjoy them!

I will be linking these cards up with the Crafty Gals Corner "Critters" challenge 

BABY FEVER

I bet you guys thought I quit already. Well you can't get rid of me that easy :). I have had a very very busy week and memorial day weekend with my family. My sister Becca Cruger from Damsel of Distressed Cards even came to visit me! The sad part to that is that we were not able to actually sit down and and put our crafting minds together making cards....BOO! :(

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite baby cards I have ever created! I have been getting baby fever pretty badly the past month and my way of combating that is to craft and make baby related cards. This normally purges my thoughts of babies.

While making this card I experimented with the new Cricut Explore, which by the way is AMAZING, and used it to cut out the onesie, circle, duck, and banner.

I embossed the onesie and card with the Sizzix Bigshot embossing folders to add a little bit of texture to the card.

After I got it all put together I didn't think it had enough pizzaz for me so I took perfect pearls and painted the duck with gold. I also took green and blue chalk and went around the edge of the card and WALA! My masterpiece was complete.

I am going to link this card up with the Fusion Card Challenge  and the Crafty Gals Corner Critter Challenge 

 

The Beginning of Something Amazing!

Hello All, 
I am beginning my blogging adventure with a card challenge!! I know, bold right? Well that is who I am, crazy and bold! I have spent a lot of time reading and admiring other people's blogs and cards and thought, why cant I do that? Well here I go!

My first ever blog post will exhibit my most recent card I created specifically for the Unity Stamp Company's monthly challenge. With this said, after creating this card and surfing other amazing blogs I found a few more challenges I though I should enter, so I did. 

In the Unity Stamp Company challenge you were able to pick whether you wanted to follow a color scheme, a card design sketch, or a scrapbook page sketch. The only real rule was that you had to use a Unity Stamp Company stamp. With that said, I convinced my loving husband that I needed a new stamp set, OH DARN! 

Once I got the awesome "Bright Happy You- by Lisa Arana" stamp set from the Unity Stamp Company in my hands I began to create. I chose to follow both the color scheme and the card design sketch. I used the rose stamp and the "happiness looks beautiful on you" stamps from my new set.  I embossed the card background with my Sizzix Bigshot using the Stampin' Up "Perfect Polka Dots"embossing folder. I also embossed the rose in the center of the card to give it a little more texture. The ribbon I used is the ribbon used on my wedding invitations five years ago!

I went a little out of my comfort zone with the color scheme. I am mostly a plain color, reds, black, brown, and white kinda gal so this was really fun for me. 



I would like to link this card up with a few Challanges
-- Unity Stamp Company monthly challenge. 
-- Crafty Gals Corner May Flowers Challenge.
-- Crafting by Design Flowers Challenge and their "Anything goes" challenge
-- Inspiration Destination Anything goes Challenge
-- Through The Craft Room Anything Goes Challenge

I would also like to give a HUGE shout out to my Big sister Becca Cruger from Damsel of Distressed Cards for showing me the blogging and card making light! Love you Sister!