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Hello friends and happy Saturday! I hope you are all enjoying a nice weekend so far. It is 93* and insanely hot and humid here in Massachusetts today, so I'm happy to be inside crafting with my friend Donna, who is here from L.A. visiting for a long weekend. Today I am linking up with the My Favorite Things Color Challenge #166, which is a fun blend of purples, teals and gray. I haven't played along with any card challenges in quite a while, but Donna participates in them frequently and has inspired me to begin creating again using challenges as my guide.  Card details:This slimline card measures 8 1/2" x 3 1/2" inches. The base of the card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using a piece of teal houndstooth paper (source unknown) I cut an 8 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece for the first layered mat. I used the Whimsy Stamps Slimline Postage die for the white frame background. Using the Whimsy Stamps Slimline Bunting Border dies, I die cut the banners from teal and purple glitter cardstock. I stamped the images from MFT Stamps Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock. I colored the images, using the required challenge colors, with Copic markers. I die cut the images using the coordinating MFT Stamps Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes dies. I adhered the images to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. I stamped the sentiment Memento Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock and adhered it to the card using 3M foam adhesive. Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the images for added sparkle.   Here is the color challenge from My Favorite Things that inspired today's card:   Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative weekend! XO, Crystal
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Hello and happy Friday! Toasty greetings is right! It's freakin' cold out there today and I'm pretty sure we're going to see snow any moment now here in Mass! I hope you have fun things planned for what's looking to be a very chilly weekend ahead. My mom and dear friend Donna arrived on Wednesday night from Maine and California, respectively, and we are heading to a craft retreat in Connecticut with a few other friends for the long weekend. Be sure to follow along on my Instastories for some behind-the-scenes fun!
Today I am sharing two cards that I threw together in very little time because, 1) I had already pre-made the alcohol ink backgrounds, and, 2) I had done all the coloring on a previous retreat! I mention this because coloring is exactly what I'm going to be doing on this craft weekend as well. Yes, for three whole days, I will do nothing but color (and eat and sleep, of course)! I choose to do this because coloring takes up a LOT of time, something that I can never find enough of when I am at home. It also means I don't have to pack a lot of bags for the weekend. I can fit everything I need into one bag versus the multiple bags I used to bring filled with stamps, inks, paper and all the other things. 
Card details:
The base of these A2 sized cards was made from either Gorgeous Grape or Call Me Clover cardstock. I lined the base of the card with pre-made alcohol ink backgrounds (more below). Using the Heffy Doodle Slopey Joe Landscape dies, I die cut two snowbanks from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I lined the edges of the snowbank with Lawn Fawn Chunky Glitter. I stamped the sentiment in the lower right corner of each card in either Gorgeous Grape ink or Call Me Clover ink. I die cut the trees using the Lawn Fawn Birch Tree Lawn Cuts and adhered them over the alcohol ink background and tucked them behind the snowbanks. I stamped all of the images from the MFT "Toasty Greetings" stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock and die cut them using the coordinating dies. I colored each image with Copic markers and added highlights to the images using a Uniball white gel pen. I adhered all of the images to the card using 3M foam adhesive.
Because I am not currently creating video content and tutorials on my website, I highly recommend checking out this Easy Alcohol Ink Background Tutorial by Jennifer McGuire. She has created a very simple introduction to working with alcohol inks to create some basic backgrounds. This was the first video I watched after purchasing my alcohol inks and then I just spent time playing around with them! The great thing is there is no right or wrong when it comes to art. You just have fun (and usually make a mess) with it! *My only tip would be that you don't need to spend your money purchasing polysynthetic Yupo Paper at nearly $1.00 per sheet. You can use the reverse side of any high quality photo paper (like this one by Kirkland) and achieve the same results!
Here is the "Toasty Greetings" stamp set from My Favorite Things that I used to create today's cards:
There is a lot going on with both of these cards between the alcohol ink backgrounds and the coloring, but when you break it up, it seems less overwhelming. Some simple advice that I can offer, from my own experience, is to dedicate some time for each part of crafting. Pick a day and color. Pick another day and create alcohol ink backgrounds. Pick yet another day for die cutting all the pieces. Make extras of each and set them aside. Then when you want to put a card together, half of the work is already done!
Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful weekend! XO, Crystal
Hello friends! Today I'm sharing another Lawn Fawn Double Slider Surprise card with you this time featuring a Christmas theme! Last week I shared both a fall themed double slider card and a Halloween double slider card because I've been having so much fun with them. Once I learned how to use this fun interactive die, making these cards became SO much easier. The age old adage is true, "practice really does make perfect." Now to master that Lawn Fawn Magic Picture Changer. . .
Card details:
The base of this A2 sized card is made from Cherry Cobbler cardstock. I lined the base of the card with a piece of red and green plaid paper. I made the double slider out of Crumb Cake cardstock. In order to assemble the base double slider component I followed the Lawn Fawn Double Slider Introduction video on YouTube by Kelly Marie Alvarez. This step-by-step tutorial is excellent for learning to assemble this die at a beginner level. I stamped all of the images in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock and colored them using Spectrum Noir markers. I also added small detailed highlights to each image with a Uniball white gel pen. I stamped the sentiment in Cherry Cobbler link and notched both ends before adhering it to the card. I also added Lawn Fawn Prisma Glitter to many of the white spaces on the elves and Santa's hat. I always use a Quickie Glue Pen in order to add my Prisma Glitter. *One last thing to note, when you make one of these slider cards, be sure that all of the pieces on the two slider pull-outs (the left and right side) are adhered directly to the card itself. You cannot use foam adhesive to "pop" these images, or the slider will not operate correctly. I only used foam adhesive on the front piece of the slider (for the elf, present, sentiment, reindeer and Christmas tree).
I combined two stamps sets from My Favorite Things in order to complete this card:
Right side of slider
Left side of slider
I also used the Lawn Fawn stamp set "Push Here" to add instructions to the pull-tabs:
I hope you are enjoying these double slider surprise cards as much as I am.
Thanks for visiting and have a great day! I'll be enjoying an extra long holiday weekend, so I'll see you back here next Tuesday! XO, Crystal
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Hello friends and happy Thursday! I hope you are all having a nice week! I have been sharing a lot of interactive and detailed cards on my website lately, so today I'm sharing something much more simple and quick. This would be an excellent card to make multiples of for Halloween - if you make 50+ cards like I do! I also recognize that my readers are all of various cardmaking levels from beginners to advanced, so I hope to inspire each of you by offering a little of everything.
Card details:
The base of this A2 sized card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. The first matted layer is a black frame that I die cut using the Hello Bluebird Gallery Frame dies. Behind the black frame is a piece of Lemon-Lime cardstock. I stamped all of the ghost-like images using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on scrap pieces of Neenah White Smooth cardstock. I cut the images with the coordinating MFT Fab-Boo-Lous Friends dienamics and adhered them to the card using foam adhesive. On a thin scrap piece of white cardstock, I stamped the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I notched both ends of the sentiment strip and adhered it to the card using foam adhesive for added dimension. Lastly, I added a coat of Clear Wink of Stella to all of the images for added sparkle.
Here is the stamp set Fab-Boo-Lous Friends from My Favorite Things that I used to create today's card:
Thank you for visiting and have a great day!
XO, Crystal
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Hello crafty friends! Today I am sharing this fun card over on the Butterfly Reflections Ink, website. This card combines my love of Halloween, interactive components, cute critters and candy! What's not to love!?
Last weekend I was in Vermont on an annual craft retreat and I brought my Lawn Fawn Double Slider Surprise Die with me because, well, I've owned it for over two years now and it's high time I learned HOW to use it! I think the Lawn Fawn Double Slider Surprise is such a cool card, but I was very intimidated by putting it all together. I strongly encourage newbies to watch the Introductory Videos on YouTube by Kelly Marie Alvarez (the owner of Lawn Fawn) and they are a game changer. Whether it is the Double Slider Surprise Die, the Lawn Fawn Pivot Pop Up Die, the Lawn Fawn Magic Picture Changer Die or any other Lawn Fawn product, she walks you through step-by-step instructions on how to assemble these products. I promise, it makes all the difference and you will feel confident and be successful in putting this card together. If I can do it all by myself, so can you! 
The base of my card is a smoky slate cardstock. I lined the card with a piece of chevron paper. To create the base of the Double Slider Surprise component I used an avocado green cardstock. I stamped all of the images from the My Favorite Things Frightfully Sweet stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I also added the pumpkins from the Lawn Fawn Costume Party stamp set and the ghosts are from the Lawn Fawn Happy Haunting stamp set. I colored in all of the images with Copic markers and added highlights to many of the images with a white gelly roll pen. I die cut the images using the coordinating My Favorite Things Frightfully Sweet dienamics, the Lawn Fawn Costume Party Lawn Cuts and the Lawn Fawn Happy Haunting Lawn Cuts.
I stamped the "pull here" tab on each side of the sliders in Memento Tuxedo Black ink using the Lawn Fawn Push Here stamp set. 
*Tip - When you adhere the images to the two outside slider component of the card, you must adhere them directly to the card. You cannot add pop dots or foam adhesive to the sliding component, because they will no slide in appropriately!
For the front of the slider component, I added the colored images with foam adhesive and adhered the images to the card. On a scrap piece of avocado cardstock, I stamped the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and adhered it to the top of the slider component with foam adhesive. Lastly, I added a coat of Clear Wink of Stella of the images for added sparkle.
I hope you have enjoyed today's interactive card! After putting a few of these slider cards together over the weekend, I am no longer intimidated by assembling this die and I hope you will try it too because it really has such a "WOW" effect!
Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! XO, Crystal
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Hello! If you are new to my website, welcome! I'm happy you stopped by and hope you find creativity and inspiration during your time here.
Over the weekend I was in Vermont on a craft retreat with some fellow crafting friends. My main objective was coloring, LOTS of coloring! But, I also brought a few interactive dies from Lawn Fawn that I hadn't put together on my own yet. When it comes to learning something new, I find that I learn best when I set the time aside to really focus. For me, craft retreats are a great way to do this. However, for this particular card, I asked if anyone in the group wanted to learn how to assemble the Lawn Fawn Double Slider Surprise die too and, to no surprise, they all did! 
I strong encourage newbies (like myself) and even those who might need a refresher to watch the Lawn Fawn Double Slider Surprise Die Introductory Video on YouTube by Kelly Marie Alvarez (the owner of Lawn Fawn). In this video, she walks you through step-by-step how to create a card using the slider die. You can also pause as you go, so that you can learn at your own pace. Once you learn to assemble the sliding mechanism, you can decorate the card however you want. First, I watched Kelly's video and began writing down instructions as I went, so that I could then in turn teach my friends what to do. I'm not going to lie, there were some significant struggles and frustrations, enough for me to probably never teach the card again (for those of you already asking about stamp camps)! But, I was able to successfully assemble my card, and in fact, made three cards last weekend using this die which I will share over the next few days.
The base of my A2 sized card is made from Pumpkie Pie cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of scrap cardstock in a woodgrain pattern to mat directly on top of the base of my card. I stamped all of these adorable images from the new My Favorite Things Sweather Weather in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I colored all of the images in Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink markers and die cut the images using the coordinating My Favorite Things Sweater Weather In the Woods dienamics (die cuts). I added highlights to each images using a Uniball white gel pen. I stamped all sentiments in Memento Tuxedo Black ink as well.
Here is the new Sweater Weather In The Woods stamp set from My Favorite Things that I used to create today's card:
I hope you have enjoyed this fun and interactive card. I'm so happy that I took the time to learn how to use this die, because once I got over my initial fears, I'm so in love with the result and frankly, found it easy enough to put together (by the third time anyway)!
Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! XO, Crystal
Hi readers and happy Friday! I hope you have fun things planned for the weekend ahead! I have lots of work to do in my craft room from preparing for next week's gel cards class to ALL the samples I need to create to share here on the blog over the coming weeks. Right now I have a whopping zero cards "in the works!"
So, there's always something crafty that needs to be done! Today I have created a fun fall card by spelling out the word "F-A-L-L" with my (retired) Large Letter Framelit dies by Stampin' UP! I used lots of fall colors in both polka dot and plaid patterns, and added a couple of cute mice - one playing in the leaves and one carrying a pumpkin to convey that fall feeling. 
Card details:
The base of this A2 sized card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. The first 5 1/4" x 4" matted layer is a yellow polka dot piece of paper from Echo Park. Using the Gina Marie Scalloped Stitched Nesting Rectangle Dies, I cut a piece of Cajun Craze cardstock and lined it with a sheet of white cardstock (also cut with the Gina Marie Designs Stitched Nesting Rectangle dies). Using the (retired) Large Letter Framelit Dies from Stampin' UP! I die cut the letters "F-A-L-L" from another piece of plaid paper from the Celebrate Autumn paper pack by Echo Park. I adhered the letters to the white cardstock using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. I stamped the mouse images in Memento Tuxedo black ink on white cardstock and colored them using Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink markers. I added small details to the images using a Uniball White Gel Pen. I die cut the images and adhered them to the card. Lastly, I added a coat of Nuvo Crystal Glaze to the pumpkins and leaves to give them a glossy coating.
Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!
XO, Crystal
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Happy Wednesday, friends! I bet you're surprised to see a dog card here coming from this cat lover! While it's true I own both cat and dog themed stamp sets from My Favorite Things, I had never used the dog stamps until today! Turns out, these playful pups do make a pretty cute card too!
Card details:
The base of this A2 sized card is Pear Pizzazz cardstock. Using the PinkFresh Studios Toy Store die, i cut the background from Crumb Cake cardstock. I lined the back of the windows with white cardstock and thinn strips of Crumb Cake cardstock to resemble shelves. I cut a 1 1/2" sheet of white brick patterned paper to use as the "sidewalk" of this scene. I stamped all of the images in Tuxedo Memento Black ink on Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock and colored the images with Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers. I used a white Uniball gel pen to add details to some of the colored images. I placed the stamped images onto the card using 3M foam adhesive. Lastly, I added a coat of Crystal Effects (clear gloss glaze) onto some of the images for a shiny raised look.
I used these two stamps by My Favorite Things to create this card:
Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!
XO, Crystal
Hello readers! Not surprisingly enough, it's another rainy day here in Massachusetts. We've sure had our fair share of rain this spring. It has rained a LOT here in the past few weeks. While the grass has never looked more green, I am beyond ready for some blue skies and sunny days!
Today I am sharing a black and white card that I created with a masculine birthday in mind. Who else is forever running low on greeting cards for men? Although looking at it now, it would also make for a great New Year's card with a little modification. . . Are YOU a glass half full or a glass half empty person? I thought I was a glass-half-full person, but I'll tell you this - when my cell phone battery is less than 50%, I'm near panic freak-out mode, so, perhaps I am more of the glass half empty type! ; ) 
Card details:
The base of this A2 sized card is made from Basic Black cardstock. Using the Gina Marie Designs Stitched Scalloped Rectangle dies, I cut a sheet of Neenah Solar White cardstock. Using Tuxedo Memento Black ink, I randomly stamped little starbursts on this sheet of paper. I die cut the word "cheers" from both black cardstock and silver glimmer paper. I layered the two together with liquid adhesive and adhered them to the card using 3M foam tape. I die cut the martini glass and martini shaker out of black cardstock as well. I adhered these shadow images to the card using foam tape. I stamped the sentiment on a thin strip of white cardstock in Tuxedo Memento black ink. I adhered the sentiment to the card with 3M foam tape. Lastly, I added a few randomly placed rhinestones for added sparkle.
Here are the products from My Favorite Things that I used to create this card:
Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!
XO, Crystal
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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. |
