Happy Birthday-Words 2 Craft By

Hello and welcome to our March Words 2 Craft By word challenge. Our quote this month is Happiness held is the seed; Happiness shared is the flower-John Harrigan. Since I always have a large need for birthday cards I thought I would use the "happy" theme and create a beautiful birthday card. To create my card I started by stamping the sentiment from the Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold, and The Happy stamp set directly onto my white A2 card base using Versafine onyx black ink for a nice crisp look. Then using a border die from Stamplorations I created a beautiful decorative edge with some textured black cardstock from Hobby Lobby and layered a piece of pretty plaid patterned paper from Authentique's Lovestruck 6x6 paper pad directly onto the card base. I then stamped the cluster of roses from the Waltzing Mouse Old Country Roses stamp set using some gorgeous Altenew inks. I fussy cut the roses out and popped them up off of the card using some foam dimentionals from Scrapbook Adhesives. To finish my card I added some large clear rhinestones from Recollections and rounded the bottom corners using my We R Memory Keepers corner chomper. I can't wait to see what fun and beautiful creations everyone else comes up with this month!

Butterfly Happy Birthday

Today's card was created for the latest Watercooler Wednesday card challenge. To create my card I started by cutting a piece of Stampin' UP basic black cardstock into a pretty decorative border using a Stamplorations Cutplorations decorative edge die. I adhered it to some pretty patterned paper from the Studio Calico Atlantic 6x6 paper pad and layered it onto my standard white card base. I then stamped the sentiment from the Winnie & Walter The Big, the Bold, and the Happy stamp set directly onto the card base using Versafine onyx black ink and my mini-Misti to ensure nice, crisp lines. I stamped the butterfly image from the Bo Bunny Flutter Stamp stamp set onto some Canson watercolor paper using Versafine onyx black ink and heat set it using some Zing clear embossing powder. I watercolored the image using some Tim Holtz distress ink and attached it to the card using some glue dots and some foam dimensionals. I added a few clear rhinestones from Recollections and some clear Wink of Stella glitter to the butterfly for a nice finishing touch. Thank you for visiting my blog! I hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend!

With Love-Coffee And Cards With Celeste And Deb

Hello and welcome to the April Coffee and Cards with Celeste and Deb collaboration. This month we have another fun guest designer joining us, my friend Maria Giselle, who I had the pleasure of meeting at a Copic coloring certification class in St. Louis two years ago. And here's a fun fact about the three of us...Deb, Maria, and myself are all in the healthcare industry and we all share a love of card making and crafting!

So, despite mother nature doing her best to hang onto winter (in our area at least) we thought it would be fun to use the above photo as our inspiration and focus on a springtime project. I used the inspiration photo quite literally and started my project with a piece of basic black cardstock from Stampin' UP and prepped it with my EK Success powder tool. I then stamped the wreath from the WPlus9 Valentine Wishes stamp set onto the cardstock using Versamark ink. I then selectively sprinkled some Zing embossing powder in rouge onto the flowers and then Recollections embossing powder in snow white onto the rest. I then stamped the sentiment from the Winnie & Walter The  Big, The Bold, and the Happy stamp set in the center of the wreath and sprinkled more white embossing powder onto it. I hit it with my heat tool to set it and then added some white dashed lines around the outer edge of the card using my white gel pen. I added some fun foam to the back of the panel and popped it up off of my white card base and that completes my card. Love how clean and simple this is but offers so much impact. I may have to duplicate this card using different sentiments in the center! 

For my coffee selection this month I opted for a Dunkin Donuts mocha macchiato and as a side bonus I got a donut for free with my purchase! Coffee and a donut? That's a win in my book any day! Now be sure to pop on over to Deb and Maria's blogs and check out what gorgeousness they've created! Thank you for stopping by today and be sure to leave a comment and subscribe. 

Butterfly Birthday

Today's card was created for the latest Less Is More challenge. I really struggle with clean and simple cards but I do love the color purple, so I had to come up with something pretty but CAS. To create my card I started by layering some dark lavender cardstock from Hobby Lobby onto my white card base. I then layered some white cardstock on top and added a few clear Recollections rhinestones to each corner. I then added a focal panel by die cutting a piece of patterned paper from the Authentique Essentials Collection 6x6 paper pad using a cross stitched edge circle die from Gina Marie Designs. I stamped the butterfly from a Hero Arts stamp set and sentiment from Winnie & Walter's The Big, The Bold, and The Happy stamp set directly onto the patterned paper. I stamped the butterfly again onto some white Copic-friendly cardstock and colored it with my alcohol markers in pretty shades of purple. I fussy cut the image, edged it with my Memento tuxedo black dual tip marker, and adhered it down to the focal panel using a glue dot and some Stampin' UP foam dimensionals. As a finishing touch I added tons of clear Wink of Stella and a few clear rhinestones to the butterfly's body. I love how this card turned out! I only wish my photo had better exposure. Unfortunately, our area got hit with a nasty ice storm last night and the sun has not really showed itself much today. Anyway, I hope you like my card and thank you for visiting my blog!

Hello My Friend-Coffee And Cards With Celeste And Deb Collaboration

Hello, and welcome to the October installment of Coffee and Cards with Celeste and Deb. We have another fabulous guest designer with us this month as well as a fun and as well as a fun twist to our collaboration. Our wonderful guest designer this month is Jennifer Loftfield. We also have an additional surprise for our dear crafty friend Terri Burson. We all decided to create our cards using the brand new wreath stamp she created for So Suzy Stamps courtesy of Deb, who purchased them for all three of us! Thank you Deb!

To create my card I started with some gorgeous patterned papers from the Authentique Remembrance 6x6 paper pad and layered them onto my white card base. I then stamped the wreath onto a piece of distressed patterned paper from the same paper pack using Copic-friendly ink. I colored the image using my alcohol markers in coordinating colors to match the paper. I stamped the sentiment from the Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold, and The Happy stamp set in the center of the wreath. I felt that the focal panel looked a bit empty so I went through my stamps and used the beautiful decorative scroll from the Simon Says Stamp Inside Holiday Greetings stamp set at the top and bottom. To finish my card off I added some Recollections clear rhinestones to the scroll and the berries on the wreath and popped the whole focal panel up off of the card using some 3M foam tape. I hope you like it!

As for my coffee choice I opted for a nice maple pecan iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts. The calendar may state that fall is here but mother nature apparently didn't get the memo. It was 98 degrees here in southeast Missouri today and I was out running around in shorts and flip flops. I'm hoping it will cool off soon and we can start to enjoy fall. Anyway, be sure and pop on over to Deb and Jennifer's blogs and show them some love by leaving a comment on their posts! 

Happy Birthday

Today's card was created for the latest The Card Concept Challenge. I absolutely love everything about this gorgeous inspiration photo and wanted to create a card using as many of the elements as I could in the photo. To create my card I started by stamping a piece of kraft cardstock using a Heidi Swapp woodgrain background stamp and ColorBox chalk ink in charcoal. I dried the cardstock with my heat tool and then went over the paper with more Colorbox charcoal ink in unicorn to give it a nice whitewashed look. I set that aside and then stamped several of the floral images from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Flower Garden stamp set onto some Copic-friendly cardstock. I colored the flowers to match the photo using my alcohol markers. I then stamped the sentiment from the Winnie & Walter The Big,the  Bold, and the Happy stamp set using Versafine onyx black ink for a nice crisp look. I die cut the panel using a Gina Marie Designs stitched rectangle die and popped it up off of the card using some 3M foam tape. I hope you like my card and I thank you for visiting my blog!

Hello

My second card today was created for the latest Just Us Girls Challenge. I love the idea of using sparkly and shiny things on my card. My daughter calls it bling. A girl just can't have too much bling, right? To create my card I started by edging a piece of white cardstock with Versamark and sprinkling on some Ranger embossing powder in gold. After heat setting the powder and letting it cool, I adhered the panel directly onto my card base. I then die cut a panel of gold foil ikat patterned paper from The Paper Studio The Shoppe On The Square 4x6 paper pad using a stitched rectangle die from Gina Marie Designs. I adhered that directly onto my heat embossed panel. I die cut the heart using an Essentials By Ellen folk heart die and stamped the hello sentiment from the Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold, and The Happy stamp set and heat embossed it using the same embossing powder. To finish my card I simply popped the heart up using some 3M foam tape. Love how simple this card was to create. I hope you like it too!

Thank You

Hello, and happy new year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Mine certainly came and went quickly and I can't believe we are standing on the doorstep of 2017. I know everyone gets crazy with new year resolutions but that has never really been my style. I just try to focus on living life to the best of my ability, but this year I do have one resolution I'd like to keep. I would like to find better photography and lighting options for my blog. I think I would feel more like blogging if my photos excited me more. They just seem so bland and boring. I am currently working on that as we speak, so be watching for more polished pics on my site soon! 

Anyway, I always send out thank you notes to friends and family for all of the wonderful treats and gifts I receive over the holidays. This year I wanted to mass produce something bold but simple that offered a lot of visual impact. I absolutely adore the Winter Cottage stamp from Altenew and love the beautiful starkness of the scene. But it's a tiny stamp and I struggled to find a way to add impact to the image, so I decided to add a big, bold sentiment to the card and just let them share the stage. I had to do some surgery to the stamps but I used the Big, Bold, & You stamp set from Winnie & Walter. I cut the "s" off of the "thanks" stamp and the tail off of the "you" stamp. I love the versatility that performing stamp surgery gives me when stamping and using my new Misti tool and Versafine pigment ink made the task go quickly. I thought about adding some glitter to the roof line and trees and embossing a few glittery, silver snowflakes but decided to leave the card clean and simple. Anyway, I hope you like it. Happy new year to all of my blog friends!

Hello

Today's card was created for the latest Tag You're It challenge. I absolutely love this gorgeous tag that the very talented Rubeena Naz created. If you're not familiar with Ruby's work you owe it to yourself to check out her blog. You can find it here. Anyway, I typically don't make tags but I was so inspired by this one, especially the colors that I chose to give it a go. I started by layering some beautiful patterned papers from the Mind's Eye Fancy That 6x6 paper pad onto my white card base. I added a pretty piece of gold glitter washi tape from the American Crafts Make It Happen tape combo pack to the side to break up the patterned papers. I then die cut my tag using a pierced edge tag die from My Favorite Things out of some Copic-friendly white cardstock. I stamped the beautiful flower from the Tim Holtz Stamper's Anonymous Flower Garden stamp set directly onto the tag. I stamped the flower top again onto a separate piece of cardstock and colored it in using my Copic alcohol markers. I fussy cut the image out and then covered it in Versamark clear sticky ink so I could cover it with some Zing clear embossing powder and heat set it for a nice shiny look. I popped the image up off of the tag using some Stampin' UP foam dimensionals for some great dimension. I then stamped the sentiment from the Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold, & The Happy stamp set onto the tag using onyx black Versamfine pigment ink and then covered it with clear embossing powder and heat set it. I added a pretty scalloped edge in pink to the bottom of the tag using more of the papers from the paper pack and a bit of glitter washi tape the bottom. I popped the tag up off of the card using some 3M foam tape, added a few sequins from The Ton, and rounded the outer corners using my We R Memory Keepers corner chomper. I love this pretty card and may have to hoard it for a while before sending it off some lucky recipient. I hope you like it too!

Superman Happy Birthday

Today's card was created for my son Brian's upcoming 36th birthday. I still can't believe I have a child that old but that's the sad reality. Cue heavy sigh!  Anyway, he is obsessed with Superman. My son is an advanced infantry airborne Ranger who is now a CWII Black Hawk pilot in the U.S. Army. Back when he was stationed with the 2/75th Ranger Regiment out of Ft. Lewis in Tacoma, WA he had a night jump that went horribly wrong and fell the equivalent of two stories from the plane. After recovering from his injuries he got a large superman crest tattooed on his back and jokes now that he's Superman because he can fly. I'm not as amused by that story as he is but he most certainly has earned the right to tell it. It doesn't hurt that he's as muscular as Superman so I guess there are similarities. 

Here is a photo of he and Erika, my beautiful daughter in-law. 

They most certainly are a handsome couple, yes? 

Anyway, to create his card I kept it pretty simple so the Superman figure would be the main feature. I started with a piece of patterned paper from the Bazzill's Adventures 6x6 paper pad and layered it directly onto my white card base. I then downloaded a Superman image from online and digitally altered it to fit my card. I printed it onto Copic-friendly cardstock and colored the black & white image using my Copic markers. I fussy cut the image out and lined the edges with my Memento dual tip black marker so it would appear to be a perfectly cut die cut image. I popped the image up off of the card using some Stampin' UP foam dimensionals and then stamped the sentiment from Winnie & Walters The Big, Bold, & You stamp set using Versafine onyx black ink and while the ink was still set I covered it with Zing clear embossing powder and heat set it so it would have a nice raised, glossy look. I went around the edges of the card with a blending tool and some black soot Tim Holtz distress ink for a nice grungy look. I'm sure he will love it! Thanks for stopping by!

Hello

Today's card was created for the latest Just Us Girls and The Male Room challenges . I love that autumn is finally here in the Midwest and jumped at the chance to create a card showcasing the beauty of the season. I started by layering on some kraft cardstock from Hobby Lobby onto a white card base. I then cut a panel 1/4" smaller and stamped the sentiment from Winnie & Walter's The Big The Bold & The Happy's stamp set at the bottom right corner using Gina K Designs ink in charcoal brown. I then took some Canson watercolor paper and did a smooshing and spritzing technique using 3 colors of Tim Holtz distress inks and dried the paper fully. Once dry I punched the leaves out using an EK Success leaf punch and then inked around the edges with Tim Holtz tea dye ink to give it a more distressed look. I added some Lawn Fawn twine in oatmeal and gold around the panel of the card and then mounted the leaves up off of the card using some Stampin' UP foam dimensionals. I added a bow using a glue dot, and called this card done. I hope you like it!