2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 7 | Sea-Sons Greetings

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

So you know that moment when something bad happens? That moment when you're like "Well, "crap", did that just happen?" Not something catastrophic, that's not what I'm talking about here, but something that wasn't in the plan for that day. That was my yesterday.

After I got finished with Day 6, I loaded up my video games (because as cool as I make myself sound here, I'm actually a giant nerd), and everything was totally fine, I was going from one zone to the next and waiting on the loading screen, and waiting, and waiting.

And. Waiting.

After more than 5 minutes, and the game not booting me from the server (which is generally what happens when you get caught in the loading screen), I hit the windows key so I could manually shut down the game to restart. And my screen looked like something from the Matrix. Well "crap". It still brought up the start menu, so I shut down the computer, waited a bit and restarted.

Restart went fine, there was nothing delayed or anything like that, then my background went back to the Matrix. It allowed me to log in, and it all looked okay. It said I have some drivers to update, so I went to do that, download went fine. Then the install. That's when the site told me that these weren't even valid for my computer. The same site that scanned my computer and said I needed these drivers.

So ultimately, I ended up having to get a new computer. I'm still blogging on my old one, because nothing else has happened and all my programs are here, but gaming is now happening on a different computer.

The point to my very long story, is that sometimes things happen that are not according to plan.

When I saw the stamp set I used in today's card, my whole plan was a complete underwater Christmas series. The whole Christmas was going to be ocean themed. This set was just absolutely adorable, but as you can see from the previous cards in this year's series - that didn't actually happen, and if you could look into the future, you'd find that this was the only underwater card I created. It was the first card I made this year, but then stuff that I didn't plan on happened and it was the only ocean card.

I stamped the images from Christmas Fishes with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, masking them off as I went. I wanted to create a one layer card, but still have a lot of depth.

Once all the images were stamped, I masked the bottom, what will become my sandy area and used my dollarstore blending brushes to add some Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I then used the wavy stencil and added more Distress Ink, trying to keep it darker around the edges.

Once that was dry, I masked off the upper portion and applied some Scattered Straw Distress Ink to the bottom, adding a very light touch of Gathered Twigs to darken it up.

I removed all the masks and coloured my images with Copic markers. I also used some of my brown Copics to add dots to the sand area, giving it more texture.

The greeting is Stamped with VersaFine Onyx ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 6 | Wild Wonder

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Wasn't it day 6 last year where I started talking about the colds my kids bring home just before the holidays? I'm too lazy to check, but we can probably just assume I'm close to right. It happens every year. We get right close to Winter Break and bang, all the kids are sick, all the co-workers are sick so Trina gets sick. Yep. Like clockwork, or to put a more positive spin on it, like tradition.

Because traditions are important. Structure, familiarity and whatnot. This particular "tradition" sucks, but at least it is predictable.

Today's card is probably my favourite of this year's collection, and with a few tweaks, I can probably make it for other seasons as well. So, stay tuned for that in the coming months.

All the images from Lawn Fawn's "Joy to the Woods" are stamped with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and cut with the coordinating dies (clearly I got this set and its dies before I got the SNC, so why not use them if you have them, right?)

Again I wanted the whole scene to appear very cold, I find there is an elegant beauty in a frozen scene and for me, this one captures it perfectly.

I created the background with Shaded Lilac and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink and my dollarstore blending brushes. I then used the SSS Falling Snow stencil along with some Nuvo Glimmer paste in Moonstone to get the glitter of falling snow.

I played around with the placement of the trees quite a bit. As this card is relatively flat, I wanted to create the illusion of depth by having some elements come outside my focus window.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 3 | Holly Jelly Days

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Every year there is something that all the kids want. Something that's all the rage. Something they'll just "die" without. This card is inspired by books that my daughter and her cousins are just "all about"; you'll forgive me if my lingo isn't down with the generation LOL. The things we do for our kids, right?

The images from Lawn Fawn are stamped with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured with Copic markers.

I masked off the images and used Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink along with my Dollar Store blending brush, to create a soft aura around the images. Once the background was completely dry, I used the Lawn Fawndamentals Liquid Stardust to create some shiny splatter.

I removed the masks and then heat embossed the greeting from the same same narwhal stamp set with clear embossing powder over VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Simon Says Stamp July 2019 Card Kit | Just Bee-cause

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I have a card (and VIDEO!!) featuring the Simon Says Stamp 2019 Card Kit. Click the video below to see how this card came together as well as what I did for the *inside* of the card.

I don't normally finish off the inside of my cards, and it's really something I want to try and work on.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

I also really want to thank everyone who has reached out to me over the past little while to make sure that I'm doing okay. I am, it's just been crazy busy, especially now that summer has finally arrived.

I hope you like today's card (and video) and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Lawn Fawn Magic Picture Changer | Be a Little Shellfish Birthday

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by!

I just wanted to start out by saying how grateful I am to all of you that have been reaching out. Not only is it encouraging to know that I have been able to bring some inspiration to your card making, it's incredibly comforting to know that behind the screens are real people that care and miss me. Loneliness is a terrible feeling, especially when you're surrounded by people. It means a lot that people I've never met have taken the time to reach out and just check in. It really can make all the difference in the world on a bad day. Thank you.

Today, I want to share a card I created using the Lawn Fawn Magic Picture Changer Dies. This is fast becoming my favourite interactive die set, and if you've been following along, you know I have most of them. I love how you can tell a little story without taking up additional space, this set is brilliant.

I began by stamping all the images on the front with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, colouring them with Copic markers and fussy cutting them out.

I cut the pieces for the Magic Picture changer out of the same 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and used my Dollar Store ink blending brushes with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to shade the outsides and the closed position of the changer, Salty Ocean and Mermaid Lagoon for the waves, which were cut down using the stitched wave dies.

When you pull up the little tab to get the second image, this super sweet little Shellfish appears, he was coloured with Copic markers, masked off and the same blue was used to blend around him.

Once the mechanism was together, I used the light blue from the Really Rainbow Scallops 6x6 paper pack along with the largest of the Large Stitched Rectangles for my background. Then adhered the mechanism with foam tape - this gives the recipient an easier time when trying to pull the tab.

Next I added the greeting to the front-most wave and adhered them in place, then added all my little party-going sea creatures.

To finish off the card I added some iridescent bubbles from Studio Katia, and Spectrum Noir clear glitter pen over the shell.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Simon Says Stamp Limited Edition Valentine's Day 2019 Card Kit Unboxing

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day!

Today I have an unboxing video for the 2019 Limited Edition Valentine's Day #SSSKC. I'm not sure about the names of the cardstock (sorry!), as well as a quick look at a "cheaper" alternative to the new Picket Fence blending brushes (hint - Dollar Store!!) and a quick reminder for those of you that follow me on Google+.

I recommend watching HD over on YouTube!

If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! For those of you that follow me on Google+, don't forget to subscribe, like and follow a different way so you don't miss out on any future posts! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know how you're getting crafty!!