Happy Sunday!!

It is Sunday here and I have spent most of the day in my craft room. I actually got around to photographing some cards I created last weekend. Photo editing is NOT my favorite thing!!!

I have OFFICIALLY put myself on a no buy challenge as I have been spending way too much money again on things I do not really need. I have so much that I have never even touched that it is ridiculous that I buy more. Anyone else like this?

I have been doing Kathy's 30 Day Coloring Challenge at The Daily Marker but have yet to upload any of my stuff. I am slowly going through my stamp sets that I haven't used to make sure they see some ink.

 Here are two birthday cards that I made last weekend. One was using My Favorite Things Soda Pop dies, the Bottle Cap dies and matching stamps. I made a TON of smooshed bottles in different colors so you will be seeing more cards from this collection in the future!!

The sentiment strip on the bottom was done by masking and then ink blending. I really love the way it came out!!

I am planning on making a set of these cards to give to someone as I think they are too fun.

My second card I made to send to my friend for her birthday. It is the same design as the card here but I did it in different colors.

I like the original card a lot better as the colors are more me. I created this card to go with a bunch of cards I made for my friend in this color scheme though.

I used Ranger Distress Specialty Paper for the white background. While it took the distress ink nicely, it did not do well with the Distress Sprays. I will not be using it again if I am going to use the sprays on my card.

On another note, I think age is frying my brain lately. We missed my niece's birthday party last night because I put it in my calendar for NEXT weekend. I was sick so we didn't go when I realized my mistake but I feel really bad. I am such a DORK!!

I thank you for stopping by my blog today. Have a great night!!

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Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Toe-Challenge #19

It is October 1st and it is time for a new Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge. We are already up to challenge #19-can you believe it?

For my card, I chose the top row across-Color Inspiration, Polka Dots and Birthday. We were able to choose our own color inspiration so I chose the image below that I found on Pinterest.

(original link)

I started off with a white card base and die cut a panel of orange polka dot paper. I adhered the panel to my card base at an angle.

Next I die cut a piece of white Bristol board and blended Distress Inks in "Spiced Marmalade" and "Carved Pumpkin" along the front to get the orange color from my inspiration image. I misted it with water, then blotted it. I also splattered Distress Spray in "Ripe Persimmon" to get the deep orange color at the bottom of the dress and "Picket Fence" randomly across the inked panel. After the Distress Spray dried, I adhered the panel at an angle over the patterned polka dot paper so it would peek out.

I then used the "Candles and Confetti" Stamp and die set to stamp the cake, cake stand and the flowers. The candles were from the My Favorite Things "Celebrate With Cake" set. I adhered the die cut, stamped images to the card front. The cake was adhered with foam adhesive.

The stamped the birthday sentiment in Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink onto a white card stock scrap using the Paper Trey Ink "Wishes Come True" stamp set. I adhered the sentiment at the top left to balance out the card. 

The last step was to adhere sequins randomly across the card front and use some Stickles and Nuvo Crystal drops to the candles and the flowers. I think this is one of my favorite cards that I have created in a long time!!

I hope you will join us over at Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge and give Challenge #18 a try. I cannot wait to see what you create!!

Supplies:

Stamps-Reverse Confetti "Candles and Confetti," My Favorite Things "Celebrate With Cake," PaperTrey Ink "Wishes Come True"

Dies-My Favorite Things "Celebrate With Cake" and "Blueprints #13," Reverse Confetti "Candles and Confetti"

Paper-Recollections white card stock, Bo Bunny polka dots, Strathmore Bristol Board

Inks-Ranger Distress Ink "Carved Pumpkin" and "Spiced Marmalade," Memento "Tuxedo Black," Hero Arts "Soft Granite" and "Bubblegum," WPlus9 "Fairy Dust," PaperTrey Ink "Orange Zest," Simon Says Stamp "Mint"

Other-Big Shot, Pretty Pink Posh "Clear" sequins, Stickles "Orange Zest," Nuvo Crystal Drops in "Ripened Pumpkin," Distress Spray in "Picket Fence" and "Ripe Persimmon," foam adhesive, Ranger Multi Matte

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Reverse Confetti "Candles and Confetti" Wedding Card

Happy Thursday!! I hope your week is going well.

Mine has gone quite slow. There is not much time left in school but the days are going slower and slower. I am itching to be out-as are most of the seniors that I work with. It is getting harder and harder to get them to do their assignments!!

I have a card that I created using Reverse Confetti's "Confetti and Candles" stamp and die set. My friend is getting married on Saturday. I cannot attend the wedding as I have a conflict but I had to make her a card.

I used red and white as the color scheme as these are her wedding colors.

This card is a TOTAL CASE of Kay Miller's card below:

If you have never been to her blog-RUN. She is fantastic!!

I had to do a little tweaking from her design to make my card. I did not have the cover plate die she used from Reverse Confetti so I used a PTI die and my  new Umbrella Crafts "Nesting Circles" to fake it!!

I have to admit that this new cake die is one of my favorite purchases that I have made in a long time. I can see me using this over and over again for numerous occasions. I did a lot of stamping and die cutting on this card. I did not use foam to pop anything up as it will be going through the mail.

The sentiment is from PaperTrey Ink's "Enjoy the Ride" stamp set.

Well, that is all from me today. I thank you for stopping by!! Have a great day!!

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

Umbrella Craft Wafer Thin Die Review

I have never done a post like this before and all opinions are my own-and very honest ones at that. (If you knew me in real life, you would be rolling your eyes at that because, well, I am VERY opinionated and you will know what I think-even if you don't want to. I don't even have to say anything either-my face will tell you!!)

I was recently asked to review some new dies by Umbrella Crafts that are being sold at Scrapbook.com. After some thinking, I decided to accept and here are some of my thoughts.

When I got my package, I was pleasantly surprised. Scrapbook.com sent me the whole collection below.

At first glance, they look like any other dye set you can buy. However, their construction is sturdier then most of my other nesting dies that I own. I also liked that the largest sized dies are a little larger then what I already have. For example, the largest size in the rectangle is 4" by 6." Most of my other  rectangle dies, the largest size is either A4 sized or a bit smaller.

I am not going to bore you with a bunch of words but am going to show you some projects that I created using some of the dies.

I was originally going to use them to make some scrapbook pages but since I rarely post my pages on here, I figured I would use them to make something that I would blog about, which are cards. I also combined the dies with other products because that is how most people would use basic shapes.

My first card that I created was a baby card. I used the Nested Circle Die Set and combined it with the Nested Flowers Die Set to create a sun in back of the Lawn Fawn laundry from their "Little Bundle" stamp and die set.

I made this card using a sketch over at Scrapbook.com that was for National Scrapbook Day last week.

You might notice that the blue card stock was not cut with rectangle die. That was a conscious choice by me. First, I wanted a stitching around the edge and the Umbrella Crafts rectangles do not have any stitching. Second, the second to largest size is a 3 1/2" by 5" and a bit too small for what I wanted.

All in all, I was happy with the way this card came out. I will be experimenting with these two dies together in the future.

My second card I created is a birthday card. I used the Nested Square Die Set, combined with Reverse Confetti's "Candles and Confetti" set to make a birthday card.

This birthday card was inspired by the sketch below from TGIF Challenge Blog.

I knew when I saw this sketch that it would be perfect to try out the square dies.

I die cut four squares with the smallest square die (1/5" by 1/5") taped them together and then matted them with the second to largest die, which is a 3.5" by 3/5" die.

I adhered the squares onto a white card base. I then layered the cake from Reverse Confetti's "Candles and Confetti" stamp set over the squares.

The sentiment I used was from PaperTrey Ink's "Baker's Dozen" set. I really liked that I could put the smaller square dies together and then matte them like I did on this card. These were the perfect size for what I wanted to do.

For my last project, I created another birthday card using Reverse Confetti's "Candles and Confetti" stamps and dies. I experimented with making an oval frame with the Umbrella Crafts "Nesting Ovals" die set.

I used the two largest ovals-the 2.5" by 3/5" and the 3" by 4" dies- and a piece of My Favorite Things "Dots and Stripes" paper. I wanted the oval to highlight the birthday cake-which it did beautifully.

In conclusion, I really liked these Umbrella Crafts Dies. They are a great deal for the product that you get. My only con is that I wish they had "stitching" or some sort of decoration around the edges of the dies for a more decorative effect. When I scrapbook, this doesn't matter to me but if I use the dies for card making, I prefer a more decorative edge.

I thank you for stopping by today!! Have a great Wednesday!!

Supplies:
Baby Card-Supplies Here

Square Birthday Card

InLinkz.com

Oval Birthday Card

InLinkz.com