Thanks A Latte

Gotta love when you find something so fun and so economically priced, right? I was visiting my daughter and granddaughter this weekend and we popped into her local Hobby Lobby. I was too excited when I found this fun coffee stamp set by Stampabilities for the ridiculous price of $2.99!!! I had to snag it and the fun little slab of birch wood that I used for my photograph. I'm still trying to beef up my photography but I'm still not quite there yet. 

Anyway, I created my card by matting some early espresso cardstock by Stampin' UP onto my white card base. I then die cut a piece of Canson cold pressed watercolor paper down using a Gina Marie Design stitched rectangle die. I prepped the paper for embossing with my EK Success powder tool. I stamped the coffee beans from the stamp set all over the background and heat embossed it using Zing embossing powder in chestnut. After that cooled off I added some "coffee stains" to the background using a paintbrush and some Tim Holtz distress ink in walnut stain. I mounted the panel to the card and added another strip of espresso cardstock that I had added some stitched lines to by using a Paper Smooches border die. I stamped the sentiment and the cup onto a pierced oval die panel that I die cut using a My Favorite Things die. I stamped the cup again and colored it using my Copic markers and fussy cut it and mounted it to the panel using Stampin' UP foam dimensionals. A bit of Glossy Accents on the heart of the cup finished my card. I hope you like it and thank you for visiting my blog!

Coffee And Cards With Celeste and Deb-Part 1

Today's card is part of a blog collaboration between my friend Debra Davison of Meticulosity and myself. Debra and I met through a shared love of card making and have been friends for about two years now. She and I are both in the medical field (she is a critical care RN and I'm a phlebotomist and medical assistant) and we both love coffee and crafting! We thought it would be fun to do a month of collaborations every Sunday for the month of October highlighting our love of card making and coffee. Today's card is in honor of Debra because she is a cancer survivor. Debra was diagnosed with thyroid cancer one year ago and, after some grueling radiation therapy, is alive and well today and continues to share her crafty goodness with the blogging world! This card represents the colors of thyroid cancer awareness. I started my card by layering some Stampin' UP basic black cardstock onto a white card base. I then die cut a piece of Canson cold pressed watercolor paper down 1/4" smaller and painted bold swatches of turquoise, purple, and pink using a Simply Art watercolor palette. Once dry I layered on a smaller piece of white cardstock that I'd cut using a Gina Marie Designs wonky stitch die and matted it with the same black cardstock. I popped it up using some 3M foam tape and stamped the sentiment from the A-Muse Studio's Fight Like A Girl stamp set. I then die cut the butterfly using My Favorite Things butterfly die and watercolor paper as the base layer and black cardstock as the top layer.  I added more of the same watercolors to the base layer and dried it using my heat tool. Once dry I attached the two layers together and added some large clear rhinestones from Recollections to both the butterfly and the corners of the focal panel. As for my coffee, I have to say my selection is going to be much more boring than Debra's since I'm pretty much a dark roast black coffee drinker. My selection today is Seattle's Best Rich Dark Roast served in a Pier One mug. I know...pretty boring! LOL. Anyway, please hop on over to Debra's page and show her some love by leaving a comment and/or subscribing to her blog!

Seas The Birthday

My second card today was created for this week's Just Us Girls challenge. I started with a piece of Canson cold press watercolor paper and treated it with my EK Success powder tool so I could do some heat embossing. I stamped the octopus and the sentiment from The Cat's Pajamas Seas The Birthday stamp set onto the paper using Versafine onyx black ink, covered it with Zing clear embossing powder, and then heat set. I stamped one of the party hats from the same stamp set onto some separate watercolor paper and fussy cut it out. I covered the letters on the sentiment and the octopus with some Molotow masking and let it dry. Once dry I wet the watercolor paper with a brush and combined a mix of faded jeans, salty ocean, and broken china distress inks onto the paper using both my brush and a smooshing technique with some clear acetate. Once I was happy with the results and added some water droplets using my mini mister water bottle. I heat dried it and peeled up the mask. I then watercolored the octopus, popped the party hat on top of him using a Stampin' UP foam dimensional, and then glued a few googly eyes onto him. I finished the card up by added some white dashed lines around the outside using my Uni-Ball Signo white gel pen. I hope you like it!

Happy Birthday

Today's card was created for a card order for a friend. I recently picked this pretty stamp set up during a recent sale at Unity Stamp Company but hadn't had a chance to ink it up until last night. Glad I did because it's a beauty! I started with some woodgrain paper from the Glitz Sunshine In My Soul 6x6 paper pad and layered that onto my card base. Then I cut down a panel of Canson coldpress watercolor paper and tore the edges. I stamped the floral image onto the paper using Versafine onyx black ink and then quickly covered it with Recollections clear sparkle embossing powder and heat set it. I tried to pick up the sparkle in the photo but couldn't really capture it...it's too subtle. Using Tim Holtz distress inks in squeezed lemonade, wild honey, and brushed sage I watercolored the image. I heat set it and mounted the entire panel up off of the card using some 3M foam tape. I stamped the sentiment from the Skipping Stones Heartsong I stamp set and cut it down into a small rectangle banner and mounted it directly onto the focal panel. I love how pretty this turned out!

With Sympathy

My final card today was created for the Unity {Show & Tell} Facebook group color challenge. I die cut a piece of Canson coldpress watercolor paper using a stitched edge rectangle die from Gina Marie Designs and then stamped the magnolia from the Unity Stamp Let Your Dreams Bloom stamp set using Versafine onyx black ink and some clear embossing powder. I heat set the flower and then watercolored it using Tim Holtz distress ink in pumice stone and colored the background using salty ocean. I added a few tiny splatters of the salty ocean for some additional interest. I stamped and heat set the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Botanical Silhouettes onto a strip of vellum and attached it to the inner panel. I adhered the die cut panel to some smokey grey cardstock from Stampin' UP and adhered it all down to my white cardbase. I added some silver Wink of Stella to the blooms for some shimmer and a few 4mm and 6mm clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. Love how pretty this turned out.