Color Fusers--January 2023

Hello friends and welcome back to another year of the Color Fusers Blog Hop! We are so happy to have you here and we have some new friends joining us from around the world. So make sure to go all the way through the hop!

I was very excited about this color combo of Fresh Freesia, Rich Razzleberry and Granny Apple Green, however…I did cheat, I added in a fourth color because I really needed it to bring my card vision alive! I hope my fellow teammates can give me a pass for creative inspiration!

My card features a fourth color—Coastal Cabana! I had a summer sunset over the mountains in my mind and I really needed it to bring my card background to life.

This card reminds me of my recent trip I took w one of my besties—we drove through the rocky mountains, down through washington, idaho and montana. it was beautiful!

I started with a card base and first layer of Fresh Freesia. I then used our Watercolor Paper to create my background. I started by spritzing the paper with water and then I added in Coastal Cabana with a Water Painter to the top half of the watercolor paper. I then blasted it with my heat tool.

Next I added another spritz of water to the mid section of the card and added some Rich Razzleberry ink with a Water Painter. I made sure that these two colors ran together to create a ridge line. I wanted my mountain range to look like it was fading into the background. I stamped a few little stars from the Greatest Journey set on the sky part of the card.

I then spritzed the bottom half of the watercolor paper again and added my Granny Apple Green color to the bottom.

look at my well loved ink pads! I think i need to a magic eraser to them!

I used two stamp sets to complete this card—the ever fabulous and will never leave my stash stamp set, Mountain Air! I stamped the tree line in Rich Razzleberry ink. The mountains are stamped in Fresh Freesia and then I took a finger dauber in Rich Razzleberry to the tops and filled in a bit of the white space. The mountains were then die cut using the Majestic Mountain Dies.

The trees in forefront are stamped in Granny Apple Green—two full strength and one set stamped off. They were stamped using the new Greatest Journey stamp set and die cut with the coordinating dies.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set and I inked it up in Fresh Freesia and then took my Rich Razzleberry marker over top of the ‘Mountains of’ portion of the stamp to get that two-tone look. The sentiment is cut using the new Something Fancy Dies. I flicked my Rich Razzleberry marker over the sentiment and added a bit of white bakers twine behind.

I wanted some embellishments on my card so I used my Parakeet Party and Rich Razzleberry Stampin’ Blends to color some of the vanilla Classic Matte Dots so they would coordinate.

I LOVE how this card turned out and its really one of a kind, because as you all know with watercoloring, you can rarely repeat the same thing twice! Or I cannot at least! I had a lot of fun making it and my hands were a complete mess. But really, if your hands are inky, did you even really craft? Hahaha!

 

Don’t you love how many uses we have for our Stampin’ Blends? I love that we can create so many custom things such as the Classic Matte Dots, or color over our many ribbons, or on Window Sheets (a tip I shared for one of my Artisan assignments last year), we can use them for flicking/spritzing, highlighting words, doodling and so much more!

I can’t wait to see what Bonnie O’Neill creates so make sure to hop over to her NEXT or you can be a rebel and go PREVIOUS to see what Sue Vine has designed. Either way, I know you will be impressed so make sure to visit everyone on the hop to see what they have made this month! And thank you again for checking in to see what crafty projects I have been up to!

 

Happy New Year 2023

Hello to all of my friends and family! Wishing you the very best as we kick off a NEW YEAR! I am always excited for a new year and all the NEW that it can represent—new opportunities to try new things (maybe a Facebook live….), go new places (can’t wait for the Norway Incentive Trip with Shepard in May), read new books (did you see my post yesterday with all the new book recommendations), stamping with NEW STUFF (can’t wait for the Occasions Catty to go live in a few days) and meeting new friends! The world is full of so many interesting people, I can’t wait to meet some of them in 2023 (I have a whole new bunch of Artisan Design Team friends to get to know!)

Here is a little fun card for some creative inspiration. I was inspired by a card that Cindy Schuster shared recently on Stampin’ Fancy Friday and since I didn’t give out too many Christmas cards, I thought it would be fun to make some for a few crafty friends!

Petal Pink is my favorite color as of late, and if you check through the new DSP coming out in the Occasions Catalogue, you will see its a popular color with the concept artists over at Stampin’ Up! too.

The stars in the background are from an ancient stamp set called Perpetual Birthday Calendar and the main sentiment ‘Hooray’ is from a current set called Big Hooray in the Annual Catalogue. The sentiment ‘to the new year’ is trimmed from a stamp in another retired set called Cheers to That. So this card is really a mix of everything!

The main sentiment is ombre with Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Mint Macaron and Pool Party ink—literally all my favorite colors on this card!

I am really excited about the new Alphabet A la Mode dies in the Occasions Catalogue and I used them with the Foam Adhesive Sheets and all my scrap pieces of gold or goldish toned paper…this projects was such a good way to use up scraps and bits that I seem to hang on to. I also went over the ‘Hooray’ with my Wink of Stella pen so it had a bit of sparkle too.

I used a mash up of embellishments—new Pastel Adhesive Backed Gems, Polished Dots and some Elegant Gems.

 

I hope you have a creative 2023 and I invite you along on my journey! I can’t wait to see what this year has in store and I am starting a new hashtag #goodstuff2023 to manifest all the good stuff to come my way and yours!

12 Books from 12 Friends

So I recently saw a Facebook Post where you start off 2023 or any new year (really ANY TIME is a good time to start reading books) committing to reading 12 books recommended by 12 friends! I thought it would be fun to share the list I curated as a permanent record here! This way I can refer to my list and add my reviews about what I liked or disliked about these books and you may also find something to read when you find yourself in need of a new book.

Here are the recommended books in no particular order!

  1. When We Were Yours (recommended by Lynne Scratch)

  2. The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (recommended by Reagan Janke)

  3. Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner (recommended by Lise Schoenberger)

  4. Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce (recommended by Colleen Vassos)

  5. Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (recommended by Johanna Barron)

  6. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (recommended by Vicki Trip)

  7. Lessons in Chemistry (recommended by Brett Letestu)

  8. Beartown by Fredrik Backman (recommended by Katherine Keyes)

  9. The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn (recommended by Heather Weiss)

  10. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (recommended by Laurie Peter)

  11. Confessions on the 7:45 (recommended by Shawna Dohms)

  12. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (recommended by Kathy House)

And because I do plan on reading more that 12 books this year….here are a few more recommended by my Facebook friends:

13. The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure (recommended by Lorna Raczynski)

14. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (recommended by Jody Nickerson)

15. The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas (recommended by Jody Nickerson)

16. The Thursday Murder Club (recommended by Susan Edwards and Melody Hyde)

17. Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig (recommended by Heather Beztilney)

18. The Witches of Mooonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais (recommended by Natalia Sioux)

19. Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd (recommended by Katharine Reiter)

20. The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams (recommended by Christy Haggarty)

21. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaellides (recommended by Dallas Burkart)

22. Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens (recommended by Dallas Burkart)

23. The House in the Cerulean Sea (recommneded by Martin Stone)

I think this list will be a great resource for when I find myself at a book store! Thank you everyone for your recommendations! I read every night before bed so I have 365 days of reading in front of me! The only reason I will give up sleep is for a good book :)

12 Days of Christmas--Day 12

For my final 12 Days of Christmas project I want to share a mini album with you. The cover of this mini album was actually one of my Artisan Design Team projects shared a couple months back. I decided to complete this album and offer it as a class! It is a pretty simple album idea that I have used repeatedly for different seasons and events!

The base of this album is an 8 1/2 x 11, cut in two pieces. I used 2 sheets to create this album and after it was all decorated I added two binder rings (found at any office supply store) with a variety of ribbons tied around the top ring. I have made several versions of this album, either designed to be horizontal (like this one) or vertical (to stand up on a shelf or table).

The base of this album is Smoky Slate which I thought was a nice neutral to pair up with the Santa Express Designer Series Paper.

I added a mix of patterns on the left side of the album along with a strip of Poppy Parade card stock to define an edge.

On the right side I stamped ‘Ho Ho Ho’ in Smoky Slate and added a DSP tag from the Santa Express paper along with the sentiments from the Santa’s Delivery stamp set. A bit of Iridescent Trim through the top completed the look of the tag. I used some of the Adhesive Backed Stars as a fun accent embellishment on the front as well.

This page is the inside of the cover. Now, do you ever have a boo boo? I do, I dropped an ink pad in the top left of this page and since I had already completed the front cover and didn’t want to start again, I just covered it with some DSP, hahaha! Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!

This album is pretty simple because I knew that I wanted kids in my studio to make it and my youngest stamper was 6! She did an amazing job. You can step up these pages if you like, but if not I think this is an all ages project.

Merry Christmas is cut from a retired punch and I added some Sweet Sorbet Bakers Twine and a Wonderful Snowflake behind it as an accent. The Mint Macaron scalloped border is from the Hand Penned Dies. I actually never put this die away, it just lives permanently on my magnet board beside my Stamp Cut & Emboss Machine.

I love the Joyful Flurry stamp set, especially when you can mount several stamps on a large block and stamp all at once, which is what I did for the boarder. I added a couple die cut snowflakes from the dies and the “let is snow” sentiment.

The next two pages feature the Spruced Up Dies and snowflakes once again. “Snowflake Wishes…” is a sentiment from the retired Snowflake Wishes stamp set/bundle. I will never part with it as I absolutely LOVE this sentiment!

And finally the last two pages in this easy mini album. Behind the “Falala" which is from the Framed & Festive stamp set, I added the other part of the trees from the Spruced Up Dies. I love how you get 2 trees cut at once with this set. Such a time saver and brilliant. I added more DSP and some Adhesive Backed Stars as well.

The “Ho Ho Ho” page is the last page in the book and the sentiment is from the Santa’s Delivery stamp set. I added some Basic White Bakers Twine behind the sentiment and on top of another Wonderful Snowflake.

I hope this quick and easy album inspires you to create your own! I have made them for all seasons and they are suitable for any age group!

I can’t wait to see what Melanie’s final project is today! THANK YOU SO MUCH for hopping along with us as we shared 12 Days of Christmas projects. I covered cards, treats, scrapbooking and a mini album within my 12 Days so I hope you enjoyed the variety—its the spice of life after all!

 
 

12 Days of Christmas--Day 11

Fun Fact—I actually designed this card in JULY! And I have not shared it anywhere, I don’t know what I was waiting for but this feels like as good a time as any! This is my 11th project share over our 12 Days of Christmas Hop between myself and @melsinkyfingers! I hope you have been enjoying everything so far!

I actually really love this card and am so glad I came across it on my camera roll again so I can share it with you! Hopefully it will inspire you to recreate it, especially if you still have a few holiday cards left to stamp for the holidays.

I used the Spruced Up Bundle to create this fun and whimsical holiday card. The color combo of Garden Green, Sweet Sorbet, Pool Party and Coastal Cabana has probably been my 2022 holiday card favorite! I am sure if I scroll my Instagram @stampwithbrenda I will see a lot of variations of this color combo!

For this card, I used Garden Green as the base and the first layer was also run through the Timber 3D folder. One of my favorite folders!

 

I stamped out the two different tree shapes in two colors and die cut one tree that I stamped little stars on top. I love the mix of stamped and die cut trees and baby stars on this page.

I love stars, they are my favorite shape of all time so I couldn’t resist these two options that are included in the die set.

The sentiment is a mix of 2 individual stamps and is die cut with the label from the Stylish Shapes dies (another craft room must have). I added some rhinestones and Sweet Sorbet Bakers Twine for a couple embellishment touches. I am pretty sure the rhinestones are from the retired Holiday Rhinestones but you can always color our Basic Rhinestones with a Stampin’ Blend to create any color of bling you want! Isn’t that fun?

Please make sure to click the link to Melanie’s blog today to see what she has created for Day 11 of 12 Days of Christmas!