Category: Food/Beverages

Whimsy Stamps Special Guest

9/22/2021

Hello friends! Today I am excited to be a special guest on the Whimsy Stamps blog and I'm thrilled that the ladies behind Whimsy Stamps invited me back to be a guest for all things Halloween, because it my my favorite time of the year to make cards! Whimsy Stamps has some of the best Halloween themed products around from zombies and aliens to gravestones and haunted houses. Today I am sharing a card made using the oh-so-spooky-cute stamp set, Candy Corn Dress Up.

I just love these cute little candy corns and I wanted to color them in non-traditional colors, hence the addition of pink. But wait, there's more - it's a shaker card too! Because cards are just infinitely more fun when they move and shake!

Card details:
The base of this A2 sized card was made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using the Wonky Window 4 die, I die cut the frame from the same white cardstock.

I lined the back of frame with a piece of acetate:

I then made sure to line over the the acetate with foam adhesive, end-to-end so that no sequins could fall out:

On a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Bristol White Smooth cardstock, I ink blended Distress Oxide inks in Spiced Marmalade and Picked Raspberry:

I placed color sequins in the coordinating color section of the background (so that they would remain separated when I added my shaker frame). I stamped the Candy Corn Dress Up images in Memento Tuxedo black ink on Neenah Solar White cardstock and colored the images using Copic markers. I used my Brother Scan and Cut 2 e-cutting machine to cut the images, in lieu of fussy cutting.

Using a piece of black glitter cardstock, I cut the haunted house using the Slimline Hill House die. I only wanted the haunted house portion, so I cut it down to size. I adhered the haunted house to the card using a Tombow adhesive runner.

I adhered the candy corn characters to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. Lastly, I stamped the sentiment "Hauntingly Sweet" in Versamark ink on black cardstock. This sentiment is also included the Candy Corn Dress Up stamp set. I heat embossed the sentiment in white embossing powder and adhered it to the top left side of the card using 3M foam adhesive.

I hope you have enjoyed this fun Halloween inspired shaker card. Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

XO, Crystal
_____________________________________________

P.S. - Are YOU ready for Whimsy Stamps annual 31 Nights of Halloween?!

Get ready for Whimsy's creepy Creative Team and spooky Special Guests sharing 31 haunted Halloween projects and inspiration all month long! It's seriously spooktacular!

1 Comment

Hey Pumpkin

9/13/2021

0 Comments

Happy Monday and welcome back from the weekend! We spent a long weekend in Maine visiting my parents and it was our first real glimpse of fall with some cooler evening/morning temperatures and apple cider waffles with my family's own maple syrup! I just can't get enough of all things fall. Today I'm sharing two cards on the Joy Clair Designs blog featuring the Hey Pumpkin stamp set.

Card details:

The base of this A2 sized card is made with 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using the Diagonal Stripes Window die from Pinkfresh Studio, I diecut the frame from white cardstock. Behind the frame I placed a piece of Light Brown Woodgrain paper from Lawn Fawn. I stamped the pumpkins from the Hey Pumpkin stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored them with Copic markers. I fussy cut the image out and adhered it to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. I stamped the sentiment "thanks" in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and fussy cut the sentiment out. I placed the cut sentiment over a piece of orange cardstock and created my own shadow die by fussy cutting the second layer. I adhered the sentiment to the card using 3M foam adhesive.

Here is the second card I created also using the Hey Pumpkin stamp set:

Card details:

The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of pumpkin orange cardstock as the first mat for this card. I cut a 5" x 3 3/4" piece of Light Brown Lawn Fawn Woodgrain cardstock to adhere to the orange mat. I die cut the picture frame from white cardstock. I stamped the pumpkins from the Hey Pumpkin stamp set in Memento Tuxedo black ink on white cardstock. I colored the pumpkins with Copic markers and fussy cut the image out. I adhered the pumpkins to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. Using a leaf punch, I punched a couple gold glitter leaves out and tucked them behind the pumpkins to add some glitter and dimension. I stamped the sentiment "hey pumpkin" in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock. I cut the sentiment out and adhered it to the bottom of the picture frame using 3M foam adhesive. Lastly, I added a coat of Clear Wink of Stella to the pumpkins for more sparkle.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a great week!

XO, Crystal

0 Comments

Life is Sweet

8/11/2021

0 Comments

Hello and happy Wednesday! Today I am on the Joy Clair Designs blog sharing this sweet and summery card filled with fresh fruit from the Life is Sweet stamp set. Last week I admitted that I haven't been good recently at timing the theme of my cards around the holidays, so I think this fruity card is another one that's perfect for summer since we still have the month of August before us.

Card details:

The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using the Altenew Watercolor Stripes Cover Die, I die cut the frame also from white cardstock. I stamped multiple images from the Joy Clair Designs Life is Sweet stamp set in Memento Tuxedo black ink on white cardstock. I colored the images with Copic markers (mostly using reds, greens and yellows) and then used a Brother Scan and 2 e-cutting machine to cut the images out, in lieu of fussy cutting. I adhered the images down the left side of the card in a pattern I found pleasing to my eye. I stamped the sentiment "life is sweet" in Memento Tuxedo black ink on white cardsotck and die cut it using a 2" circle die. I adhered the sentiment to the card using 3M foam adhesive. Lastly, I added a coat of Clear Wink of Stella to the images for added sparkle.

Did you know that Joy Clair Designs is another woman-owned small business? There are so many small, but fabulous companies being run by boss women, such as Martha (Joy Clair's owner and beautiful designer). Martha also works full-time outside of this business and that is a strong testament to her commitment, hard work and dedication. I'm happy and honored to represent and design for companies like Joy Clair Designs.

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

XO, Crystal

You might also enjoy:

0 Comments

Inky Paws Challenge #134

10/12/2020

0 Comments

Hello readers and welcome back from the weekend! I hope you found a little time to do something crafty. It's Monday, so today we have a new challenge to share with you at Inky Paws Challenge. Challenge #134 is a color challenge. Using the colors shown in the image below, share with us YOUR creations!

I have a really fun martini theme Halloween take on this week's challenge colors for you:

Card details:

I stamped the images from the Cocktail Mixer stamp set in Memento Tuxedo black ink on Neenah white cardstock. I colored the images with Copic markers (in the challenge colors) and die cut the drinks using the coordinating Cocktail Mixer dies. I also stamped the bat image from the new Batty Newton stamp set in the same Memento black ink on white paper. I colored the bat with Copic markers and die cut the image using the coordinating Batty Newton dies. I adhered all of the images to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. In the upper left corner of one of the alcohol ink backgrounds, I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink and heat embossed it with black embossing powder. Lastly, I added a coat of Clear Wink of Stella to 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 Desig ns 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, October 23rd, 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, Crystal

List of supplies:

0 Comments

Whimsy Stamps - 31 Nights of Halloween

10/2/2020

1 Comment

Today I am on the Whimsy Stamps blog for day/night 2 of their annual "31 Nights of Halloween" celebration. This annual event features gory (but good) giveaways, BOO-tiful projects and frightful fun for everyone! Please refer to this post to see how you can enter to win some of these spooktacular prizes. We also hope that YOU will share your Halloween themed creations with us!

I have designed a slimline card today featuring one of my favorite Whimsy Stamps Halloween sets called Candy Corn Dress Up. I LOVE this brilliantly designed set featuring candy corns disguised as trick-or-treaters. *Confession - as I was setting up the photo layout for this image, I may have eaten approximately 108 pieces of my candy corn photo props! : )

Card details:

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. For the base of the card I used 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using the Slimline Hill House die, I cut the frame from black cardstock. I created the background using Ranger Alcohol Inks in Lemonade and Sunset on Yupo paper. Using the Pierced and Stitched Circle Dies I die cut a large circle from Yupo paper and inked on more orange than yellow alcohol ink. I then placed the moon behind the haunted house. I splattered both backgrounds with white acrylic paint for added visual interest.

I fussy cut the alcohol ink background to fit inside the Hill House slimline frame. I also fussy cut a piece of gray cardstock to fit behind the road (in the lower half of the scene) and then adhered both layers to the white card base using a Tombow Permanent Dot Runner. I die cut the two bats from black cardstock using the Build A Graveyard Die set. I stamped the candy corn images in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on the Neenah white cardstock and colored them using Copic markers. I fussy cut the images and adhered them to the card using 3M foam adhesive. I added some extra highlights to the coloring by using a Uniball white gel pen. I also ALWAYS add a coat of Clear Wink of Stella to my projects for lots of extra sparkle! Sparkle, is like butter (or bacon), it makes everything better! I stamped the sentiment in Memento Black ink on a thin strip of pumpkin orange cardstock, notched the right edge and adhered it to the bottom of the card with 3M foam adhesive.

I hope you have enjoyed this spooky-cute slimline card. Be sure to follow along for the rest of the month to see NEW Halloween themed projects every day by Whimsy Stamps' talented Creative Team.

Thanks for visiting and happy creating!

XO, Crystal

1 Comment

Corny Candy Corn

8/28/2020

0 Comments

Hello and happy Friday, friends! Today Whimsy Stamps is having a slimline cards hop on both Instagram and YouTube. Members of the Creative Team have designed a variety of slimline cards, both to inspire you, as well as to promote Whimsy Stamps for being the innovator of the slimline dies. You can begin the Instagram hop on the Whimsy Stamps account here. Or, you can start the YouTube hop here on my YouTube page!

For my card, I have used the Corny Candy Corn stamp set and the Filmstrip Slimline die to create this fun Halloween themed shaker card:

Here is the step-by-step instructional video I created to show you how to create this shaker card:

I hope you will be inspired by the many creative slimline card ideas you will see on both the Instagram and YouTube hops! Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!

XO, Crystal

List of supplies:

0 Comments

Inky Paws Challenge #129

8/3/2020

2 Comments

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 Desig ns 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, Crystal

List of supplies:

2 Comments

Summertime Scenes

7/14/2020

1 Comment

Today's card incorporates all the fun and tasty things about summer - ice cream trucks and lemonade stands! I haven't been sharing a lot of cutesy themed cards lately, but don't think I've strayed too far! I do love them, I just want to ensure a healthy balance of designs on my website, so that there is hopefully something that appeals to everyone - from intricate layering dies and floral designs to shaker cards, digital stamps and more!

Card details:

This slimline cards measures 8 1/2" x 3 1/2" inches. Slimline cards are designed to fit inside a regular #10 business sized envelope without requiring additional postage. The base of this slimline card is made from Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. For the background of this card, I cut a 8 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Bristol smooth cardstock. I ink blended Distress Oxide inks in the colors Squeezed Lemonade, Pumpkin Pie and Picked Raspberry. After the colors were all blended, I spritzed the paper with water to give it all those little bubbles and watermarks. I also die cut a long strip of grass from the same cardstock and mounted it to the bottom of the card.

I stamped all of the images in Memento Tuxedo black ink on Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. I colored the images with Copic markers and used my Scan and Cut 2 electronic cutting machine to cut each image out (in lieu of fussy cutting). I adhered the images to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to many of the images for more sparkle.

Here are the two stamp sets by Avery Elle that I used to create today's card:

Market Stand by Avery Elle

The Scoop by Avery Elle (retired)

I hope you have enjoyed this sweet card! Thanks for visiting!

XO, Crystal

1 Comment

Inky Paws Challenge #127

7/13/2020

1 Comment

Hello readers and welcome back from the weekend! I hope you found a little time to do something crafty. It was insanely hot and humid here the past few days, so I spent some extra time in my craft room. Today I am sharing another card that I made for the Newton's Nook Inky Paws Challenge #127. This week we are continuing a theme challenge 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 this week's theme:

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 in a regular #10 business sized envelope and require no additional postage. Newton's Nook is now offering a variety of slimline envelopes available in a multitude of colors. The base of this card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using the Slimline Frames and Portholes Dies, I created the frame from Crumb Cake cardstock. I cut a 8" x 2 3/4" piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock to create my backgound. I splattered pink ink along the top half of the card. Using the Land Borders die set, I cut the grass from Granny Apple Green cardstock. On a separate sheet of white cardsock, I stamped the images from the Newton's Nook Summer Treats stamp set in Memento Tuxuedo Black ink. I colored the images with Copic markers and then die cut them using the coordinating Newton's Nook Summer Treats dies. I adhered the cat images to the card using 3M foam adhesive. Lastly, I stamped the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black ink between the third and fourth kitties.

Will this theme inspire YOU to create? 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, July 17th, at midnight CST.

Thanks for visiting and I hope to see your creations there!

XO, Crystal

List of supplies:

1 Comment

Let's Venti

6/17/2020

0 Comments

Last week three of my girlfriend's and I got together outside for our first socially-distanced happy hour and it was such a nice break from everything that has been going on and a chance to catch up after months of text messages only. It was a BYOE (Bring Your Own Everything) evening where you had to bring your own lawn chair, drink and snacks, so that we didn't have to share anything. Despite the extra bit of planning, it worked out just fine and it was our time to "venti" with the girls! Okay, in full disclosure, there may have been less "venti" and more "wine-y," but whatever. . .

Today's "Let's Venti" card features the fun new "Cool Beans" stamp set by Whimsy Stamps.

Card details:

*A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post.

The base of this A2 sized shaker card is made from white cardstock. Using the Whimsy Stamps Peekabook Window 1 die, I cut the first layer from Crumb Cake cardstock. Using Crumb Cake ink, I stamped coffee beans all of the background. I lined the back of the frame with acetate film and lined all the edges with foam strips. I placed about two tablespoons of pink and iridescent sequins behind the frame before securing it down. I stamped the sentiment "let's venti" in Versamark ink in the lower right corner and heat embossed it with white embossign powder. I stamped the coffee images in Memento Tuxedo black ink on white cardstock and colored them with Copic markers. I used my Scan and Cut 2 electronic cutting machine to cut all of the images out (in lieu of fussy cutting). I adhered the images to the card with 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. Lastly, I added a coat of Clear Wink of Stella to the coffee cups for added sparkle.