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I feel very blessed to have so many crafting friends, both within my local community and those I've still yet to meet (in person anyway) on social media! Like anyone, I too, love receiving "happy mail" in the form of handmade cards and artwork from fellow crafters. Today I'd like to take a break from sharing MY designs with you and instead share three beautiful cards that I have recently received via snail mail. I'd also encourage you to visit the websites and/or social media pages of each designer to see more of their work.   This fun corgi card was made by Alanna Moses. This slimline card offers such amazing attention to detail from the beautiful Copic coloring, to a stenciled seashell background and 3D water droplets in the form of small acrylic beads. Yes, even though I'm a cat person, this card is "corgeous!" Thank you, Alanna!    This beautiful poppy card was made by Natasha Vacca and is a card that I wanted to replicate, so much so that I have already purchased the stamp set she used!! She used Distress Oxide inks on the background in an ombre pattern and then spattered on some white and silver ink. It's just stunning! Thank you, Natasha.   The final card I'll share with you today is from Candice Fisher. Candice and I worked together on the Butterfly Reflections Ink Design Team and I credit Candice with inspiring me to create my first slimline card! I saw her designs and then I jumped on the trend. Look at the amazing coloring and dimension on all those balloons! What a fun card, thank you Candice.  I look forward to sharing more of my happy mail in the future. If YOU'D like to send me a card (or receive one from me!) please send me an email at ckomara@comcast.net. XO, Crystal
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Hello readers and welcome back from the long H-O-T weekend! I hope you found a little time to do something crafty. Today we have a new challenge to share with you at Newton's Nook Inky Paws Challenge Challenge #130 is a theme challenge. Using the sketch shown in the image below, share with us YOUR creations!  Here is the scene I created for this week's challenge:  Card details:*A full list of supplies is located at the end of today's post. The base of this slimline card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. For the top sun part of the card, I ink sponged Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide ink onto a 3 1/4" x 3" piece of Bristol smooth paper. Using the Sunscape Stencil, I applied more Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide ink over the sky to create the sun beams. I stamped the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I used the Landborders Dies to cut the sand hills from Crumb Cake cardstock and I used the Sea Borders die to cut the waves from Pool Party cardstock and blue glitter paper.  I stamped all of the images from the Newton's Summer Vacation stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock and colored them using Copic markers. I began to adhere the colored images to the card with 3M foam adhesive (for added dimension) and created a scene. I added the Palm Trees in various colors in with the scene as well. Lastly, I added a coat of Clear Wink of Stella to many of the images for added sparkle.    Are you ready to get your paws inky with us and play along to win a prize? We will chose a RANDOM entry to win a $20 store credit to our Newton's Nook Designs online shop! We will also highlight our favorites from each challenge the following Monday so all entries have a chance to be featured on this blog! You have TWO WEEKS to play along - Deadline to enter is Friday, August 28th, 2020 at Midnight CST. The winners will be announced on the Newton's Nook blog the following Monday. Are you ready to play along and get your paws inky? Make sure you check the challenge rules page before you link up your project. XO, CrystalList of products:
Hello friends and happy Friday! I hope you have fun things planned for the weekend ahead. I hope to be spending lots of time in my craft room as I have many projects to design for some upcoming deadlines! I tried to accomplish some of them last weekend, but I have been feeling a little less than inspired lately, so. . hello procrastination, party of one! Now it's crunch time. . . Today I am sharing another slimline birthday card using the same Slimline Birthday Scallops die and Celebrate Word dies from Whimsy Stamps that I used yesterday, but this card has a whole different look!  Card details:*A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post. The base of this slimline card is made from Basic Black cardstock. Using the Five Frames Slimline die, I cut the frame initially from Neenah White Solar Smooth cardstock. Then I cut the frame five more times in Lovely Lipstick cardstock, Calypso Coral cardstock, Daffodil Delight cardstock, Granny Apple Green cardstock and finally Pacific Point cardstock. I cut candles from each of the same color and adhered the candles directly to the background on a sheet of white cardstock. I sprinkled about three tablespoons of rainbow colored sequins directly over the candles before I created the shaker frame. I lined the back of the frame with a sheet of acetate and then lined over the acetate end-to-end wit foam adhesive before placing the frame over the candles and sequins. Press firmly to ensure all ends are sealed and that sequins cannot fall out. Using the "celebrate" word dies, I cut the bold shadow from black cardstock and the thinner script word from silver glitter cardstock. I adhere both layers together using a Lawn Fawn glue pen. Then I adhered the entire word sentiment to the front of the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.     Thank you for visiting and have a great weekend! XO, CrystalList of supplies:
Today I am very excited to be sharing an awesome new slimline die from Whimsy Stamps called Slimline Stars Background Die. I am already so in love with this fun die and my brain is just swirling with ideas! I have made my card into a birthday theme by combining it with the Birthday Slimline Scallop dies, but if you scroll until the end of today's post, you can also see a variety of other ideas using this same Slimline Star background die from my fellow design team members. I always find it so neat to say how multiple people use the same product!  Card details: *A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post. This slimline card measures 8 1/2" x 3 1/2". Slimline cards are designed to fit inside a regular #10 business sized envelope and require no additional postage. The base of this card is made from Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. I die cut the Slimline Star frame from black cardstock and placed an 8" x 3" piece of gold glitter paper behind the frame before adhering both to the card base. I die cut the candles multiple times from Melon Mambo cardstock, Basic Black cardstock, white cardstock and gold glitter cardstock before layering them all together in the center of the card. For the sentiment, I die cut the shadow layer of the word "celebrate" from Melon Mambo cardstock and the skinny top layer from white cardstock. I adhered both layers of the word together using a fine glue pen and and adhered the entire word itself to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.    I hope you have enjoyed seeing the card I created using the new Slimline Stars background die. Here are more samples using this same die from the Whimsy Stamps Design Team to help inspire you!     Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! XO, CrystalList of supplies:
It's unofficially official - pumpkin spice season is practically here. . . Don't shush me! I know it's only August, but let's be real, the pharmacies and groceries stores have had Halloween candy on display since the 4th of July! So. . . if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! This past weekend, I pulled out my fall and Halloween stamps and I'm ready for rust hues and spooky boos. Today's card features the "Darling Mum" stamp set by Richard Garay Designs. This is a retiring stamp from the company, but it's so beautiful that I wanted to use it one last time before it goes into the retirement vault.  Card details:The base of this A2 sized card is made from Crumb Cake cardstock. Using the Scalloped Stitched Nesting Rectangle dies from Gina Marie Designs, I cut the background from Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. I stamped the Darling Mum stamp set three times in Versamark ink on watercolor paper. I heat embossed the image with gold embossing powder and then I colored the image using Spectrum Noir Sparkle Brush markers. After the images dried, I fussy cut each flower out. I stamped the sentiment in rust ink on white cardstock and used an oval punch to punch it out. I adhered the three mums to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.     Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! XO, Crystal List of supplies:
Hello readers and welcome back from the weekend! I hope you found a little time to do something crafty. Today I am sharing another card that I made for the Newton's Nook Inky Paws Challenge. Week number two of Challenge #129 is continuing on with this slimline sketch challenge designed to inspire you. Our challenges run for two weeks, thereby giving you more time to create, so I have designed a second card to share with you this week that was still inspired by the same image seen below:  Here is the slimline card I created inspired by the sketch:  Card details:*A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post. This slimline card measures 8 1/2" x 3 1/2." Slimline cards are designed to fit into a regular #10 business sized envelope and require no additional postage. Newton's Nook is now selling Slimline Envelopes in a variety of colors designed to fit your slimline cards! The base of this card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I created a frame also from white cardstock using the Slimline Portholes Die. I ink blended the background in Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide ink. I layered the Sunscape Stencil over the yellow sky (to the left) and ink blended Honey Oxide ink to create a sun scene. I die cut the waves from Bermuda Bay cardstock and blue glitter paper using the Shark Bites Die set. Using the Shark Bites stamp set, I stamped three of the sharks in Memento Tuxedo black ink on white cardstock. I colored the sharks using Copic markers and then I die cut them using the coordinating Shark Bites dies. I stamped the waves and schools of fish in Bermuda Bay ink on the die cut wave paper. I adhered the three sharks to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. Lastly, I stamped the sentiment in the upper right corner using Memento Tuxedo black ink.    Are you ready to get your paws inky with us and play along for a chance to win?! We will randomly select one linked entry to receive a $20 store credit to the Newton's Nook Designs online shop! We will also highlight our favorites from each challenge the following Monday, so that all entries have a chance to be featured on the Newton's Nook Designs blog. Please make sure you review the challenge rules page before you link up your project! Deadline to enter is Friday, August 14th, at midnight CST. Thanks for visiting and I hope to see your creations there! List of supplies:
Welcome August and a new release at Whimsy Stamps! Before I get to today's "Happy Hamster's" card, let me tell you a sad little story about a not-so-happy hamster. . . the pet one I had when I was around 10 or 12 years old. My poor little guy (or girl, maybe? How do we even know the gender of a hamster?!) tragically died by choking on a piece of broccoli that I didn't cut small enough for him. Yup, I am a ruthless hamster murderess. . . It's untimely death still haunts me to this day, so I wasn't sure to laugh or cry when I received this new stamp set from Whimsy! Also, I'm pretty sure that I have always thought the word was "hamPster", so here's to learning something new today!  Card details:*A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post. The base of this slimline card is made from Neenah Solar White 80 lb cardstock. Using the new Birthday Slimline dies, I cut the frame from Crumb Cake cardstock. I created an ink blended background on a 8" x 3" piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock. I blended Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide ink on the top 1/3 of the card, Broken China Distress Oxide ink in the middle and Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide ink on the lower 1/3 of the card. I then spritzed the cardstock with water to develop those ink splotches. I stamped the sentiment in the upper right corner in Bermuda Bay ink.  I stamped the hamster images in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on a piece of Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. I colored the images with Copic markers and then die cut them using the coordinating "Happy Hamsters" dies. I adhered the die cut images to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the images for added sparkle.   Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! XO, CrystalList of supplies:
Hello readers and welcome back from the weekend! I hope you found a little time to do something crafty. Today we have a new challenge to share with you at Newton's Nook Inky Paws Challenge. Challenge #129 is a slimline sketch challenge. Using the sketch shown in the image below, share with us YOUR creations! Here is the slimline card I created inspired by this sketch:  Card details:*A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post. This slimline card measures 8 1/2" x 3 1/2". Slimline cards are designed to fit into a regular #10 business sized envelope and do not require additional postage. The base of this slimline card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using the Slimline Frames die, I cut the base from Crumb Cake cardstock. I lined the scalloped frame with an 8" x 2 3/4" piece of white cardstock. Using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, I randomly stamped ants from the Woodland Picnic stamp on the white cardstock. I die cut three circles from red gingham paper and centered these on the card. Using the same Woodland Picnic stamp set, I stamped the animal images in Memento Tuxedo black ink on white cardstock. I colored them using Copic markers and die cut them using the coordinating Woodland Picnic dies. I then adhered the images to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. I stamped the sentiment in Memento Black ink on a thin strip of white cardstock and notched both ends before adhering over the center gingham circle. Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to many of the images for added sparkle.     Are you ready to get your paws inky with us and play along to win a prize? We will chose a RANDOM entry to win a $20 store credit to our Newton's Nook Designs online shop! We will also highlight our favorites from each challenge the following Monday so all entries have a chance to be featured on this blog! You have TWO WEEKS to play along - Deadline to enter is Friday, August 14th, 2020 at Midnight CST. The winners will be announced on the Newton's Nook blog the following Monday. Are you ready to play along and get your paws inky? Make sure you check the challenge rules page before you link up your project. XO, CrystalList of supplies:
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I, Crystal Komara, am solely responsible for this blog and all of its content, including, but not limited to designs, concepts, text, images and photographs. This website is for your personal enjoyment, inspiration and to help stimulate your own creativity.
If you use one of my posts, images, classes or designs please be sure to give credit where it is due. Thank you! 2019 © Disclosure:Whether gifted, or from my own supply, all of my recommendations are based on items that I use and truly love, and I think you will too. |
