Teen Boy Birthday Card - Unity Challenge

Good morning! I needed a birthday card for my nephew that is turning 14 (YIKES - where did the time go?!?!?) - so I thought I would take the opportunity to play along with the Unity {be inspired} Challenge as well. Here is my card:

Here are the colors - I only used the top 4, and then threw in a bit of black:

I used the June 2013 SMAK kit for the ink splats - aren't they fabulous? So perfect for a guy card! I stamped them in 3 colors of Memento Luxe pigment ink.

Over the top, I stamped my sentiment from the January 2014 KOTM, as well as those little star clusters.

Finished off by trimming and matting that panel in black, with a couple of rounded corners, then mounted it flat on a card base of Avery Elle Silver Fox cardstock - a really pretty soft gray that added the perfect touch of contrast. Then couldn't resist adding just a few sequins! 

My husband approved it as a good guy card - and since those are usually some of the most difficult, I'm happy! Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!!

Cardstock Review, Comparison, and Giveaway

Good morning! I have been excited for this post for a few weeks! I had seen THIS post over at KandRdesigns, and realized how neat it was to be able to see several different colors of cardstock from different companies lined up for comparison. So...I decided to do the same thing, only with all the colors available from each company! 

I went with 4 different companies that I already owned some cardstock from and knew I loved - Papertrey Ink, Avery Elle, My Favorite Things, and Bazzill Card Shoppe. Then at the last minute, I decided to include the new Simon Says Stamp solid cardstock that I kept hearing great reviews on. Several of these companies were kind enough to provide me with a pack of cardstock for my review (thank you!) - and I have put together a pack with some paper from each company to giveaway! Make sure and read all the way to the bottom to leave a comment for your chance to win and play with some cardstock of your own! Every single opinion below is my own) 

First question - quality. Truth is - I think every single one of these five brands is fabulous quality! You simply can't go wrong with any of them! 

Papertrey Ink is 110 lb - which makes it all a great heavyweight solid cardstock that will hold up to pretty much anything you want to do with it. Available in 39 different colors - plenty of variety to work with. They have a multi pack with 2 each of 37 colors for $15 (HERE), which is a great way to try out the many different options available. The two that are not included in that pack are Rustic White and Rustic Cream that are in my photos below.

Avery Elle is 100 lb - although their white is 110 lb. I have been buying their white in bulk for quite a while now - it is a nice pure and true white, smooth, and heavy enough to hold up to anything I want to do with it. Avery Elle's cardstock is available in 25 different colors - and they offer a build your own sample pack of 25 sheets for $8 (HERE) - again, my favorite way to try colors out, and this way you can choose only the colors you are interested in.

My Favorite Things, like Avery Elle is 100 lb, with the exception of their white which is a heavier 110 lb. MFT has the widest variety of colors, currently 43. They also offer a sample pack - 1 each of all 43 colors for $13.99 (HERE). They recently updated the sample pack so that it includes all of the newest colors released - since before it had not caught up with all the new colors they had released each month.

Bazzill Card Shoppe cardstock was all a nice solid 100 lb weight, and available in 28 colors. I found that this cardstock had some of the most unique colors - a great one to fill in with some colors that didn't seem to overlap at all into any of the other companies options. They offer a variety pack of 1 of each color for $12.99 (available HERE on the Simon Says Stamp website)

And finally, the Simon Says Stamp cardstock. This cardstock is also 100 lbs and available in 14 colors currently - although I believe there are more coming out very soon. I loved the unique texture it had! It wasn't quite as smooth as the other brands, but almost had a very slight canvas texture - similar to watercolor paper, only much more subtle. It also had several colors that were unique to it's line, without a similar counterpart from any of the other companies. It also had some of the brightest and truest colors. They offer a sample pack as well, 2 each of all 14 colors for $13.99 (HERE).

And, now I have photos comparing all the colors to the best of my ability. It was very difficult to get a true color on each of them - and computer monitors vary too, so they might look slightly different on your own computer screens! But hopefully it gives you at least a good side by side of each different one, so that you can see the differences and similarities in each brand. For simplifying purposes, I abbreviated each brand, then the name of the color follows that abbreviation. I grouped them as best as I could in color families.

PTI = Papertrey Ink

AE = Avery Elle

MFT = My Favorite Things

BB = Bazzil Basics Card Shoppe

SSS = Simon Says Stamp

First up - the Pale Pinks (very good variety, in all different shades): 

The Bright Pinks (the three raspberry shades you can tell are very similar):

The Deep Pinks/Burgundies (the 3 darkest are very similar, with just slight differences in shades):

The True Reds (this was the first picture, and I lined it up by brand, instead of grouping similar colors together - sorry about that!):

The Oranges (you can see several colors that are very similar, and several that are very unique):

The Yellows (again, several similar, and a few unique colors):

The Yellow-Greens/Olives (one of the hardest to group and photograph - definitely a wide range of hues):

The Greens (some slight differences in some colors, but several that are a pretty close match to other brands):

The Mints (I just couldn't decide where to add these, so I did them in their own group!):

The Blue-Greens (as you can see, several very similar colors in this bunch):

The Blues (Berrylicious made it into this group, but it really was somewhere in between this group and the Blue-Green group above. Kind of unique in its own way. Also, you will notice the 2 SSS colors - don't really fit anywhere in these two either - very unique and pretty colors):

The Purples (I didn't realize there would be so many shades of purple!):

The Blacks (I always though PTI had the truest black, but SSS was definitely darker! BB was very similar to PTI's black - and AE and MFT were almost more of a really deep dark gray to me):

The Grays (the light grays were very similar - PTI's Ocean Tides was a bit blue for this group - but it seemed to gray to go in with the blues, so I added it here):

The Browns (always love a good brown!):

The Krafts (I was very surprised by the krafts - they were all far more similar than I expected, and I loved them all. SSS's Khaki was like a smooth kraft - no flecks of texture like the traditional. Of note - MFT's Natural is a lighter 80 lb weight):

The Rustic/Speckled Whites/Creams (PTI's Rustic white stood out for sure as the whitest of the rustics, and PTI's cream was definitely the darkest of the rustics. The rest all fell in the center with slight variations in tone):

The Whites/Creams (the HARDEST ones to photograph! There was really a very slight difference in these colors - the photo makes it look like their are more. But each one was heavyweight and nice. I really like the smoothness of the AE, and the MFT was very similar in that area. Sweet tooth has a super faint cream/gray tint. AE's Whip Cream seemed to be the most true cream color, although very similar to BB's Butter Mints) :

I hope this was helpful to you! I know I will be referring back to these often! 

Now the giveaway - I have a sample pack of Bazzill Card Shoppe paper (2 each of each color) and an assortment of papers from each of the other companies to give away! (I am happy to ship international - as long as you are willing to chip in for shipping if it goes over $20 US, since this is a pretty heavy bundle of paper!) Here is how to enter (you can do one or all!):

1. Leave a comment - let me know if this was helpful, and what your favorite brand of cardstock is.

2. Share this post on Facebook, Pin on Pinterest, or blog about it, and leave a separate comment letting me know you did so.

3. Be a follower, or become a new follower (by email or Google Friend Connect) and leave a separate comment letting me know you did so.

4. Follow me on Facebook, and leave a separate comment here letting me know you did. 

So that means you have up to FOUR chance to win! I will leave comments open until midnight on February 25th, and then pick a winner and post it here the next day. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful week!!!

MCS Challenge - Fun with Puns

Good morning - can you believe it is Monday already? Well, the good part of Monday's is the beginning of a new challenge at My Craft Spot - and this week we are having Fun with Puns! Here is my card:

I initially intended to go cute and funny - and this just kind of happened! It's okay though - because I LOVE how it came out! Living here in Wyoming, this is a very appropriate card! I started off by cutting a heart journaling card with my Silhouette Cameo and using it as a stencil with some embossing paste. I actually find that I sometimes really like using just normal cardstock as a stencil - it gives just a slight layer of the paste, and just the right amount of texture!

I also cut the deer with my Cameo, then cut the little heart using My Craft Spot's Heart Border Die set - there is this little perfect heart in there! Cut the banner using Straight Banner Dies and added a sentiment to it with Cute Critters Stamp set. Finished off with a Natural Jute Twine bow, and some Berry Red Sequins.

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you will come join us in the challenge - I promise it will be lots of "pun" (sorry - couldn't resist!) Have a great day!

Love the Little Things

Hello again - back with yet another card that I colored the image for as I sat at the craft fair last Sunday afternoon - and playing along with Unity Friends with Flair:

For this one, I used the June 2013 Kit of the Month - these bottles are one of my favorite Unity images - so fun! I couldn't seem to get it showing up in a picture, but these bottles are also covered with a double coat of Wink of Stella - so they totally sparkle in person!

I stamped twice the sentiment banner with the same kit, fussy cut it and and the top portion of the second one, then attached them with foam adhesive for a bit of dimension.

Finished off with some pattern paper from My Mind's Eye, some solid yellow from Papertrey Ink, and a bit of jute twine, before mounting it on an Avery Elle kraft cardbase.

Also linking this up with this weeks Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Get Krafty.

Thanks again for stopping by! Have a great day!

Cute Tornado

Hello! Whew - today was a busy day! I actually made this last night for the Paper Smooches Fun and Cute Challenge, but took me until today to get it photographed and posted! With Paper Smooches stamps, fun and cute is just a given!

We drove 2 hours each way for a doctors appointment yesterday, and the wind was blowing like crazy on the way home. Granted, it was blowing snow - but the idea for this card popped into my head, and had to be made! I started off by using Borders 1 Dies to cut a mask, then inked my dark gray cardstock with white MFT ink, using the mask to add the shapes. Trying to go for the look of dust!

Next, I colored up that adorable little tornado from Eco Friendly, fussy cut it, and then attached it with foam adhesive to my card base, stamping the dust swirls behind it just before I attached it. 

Finished off by stamping my sentiment, rounding a couple corners, and stamping the sentiment.

Thanks for dropping by! Hope you are having a great evening!!!

Avocado Arts - Forever Yours and Days and Months

Good morning! I'm super excited to be sharing my first post over on the Avocado Arts Blog this morning! I have 3 cards to share today - and lots of pictures:

First up, I made a couple cards with this months stamp set - as soon as I saw this, I fell in LOVE with that adorable love bug! Isn't it the cutest?!?!?

I stamped it on pattern paper, carefully fussy cut it out, then paper pieced a bit of white paper on it. I stamped that tiny "Just Married" sentiment - that conveniently fits just perfectly in the window - then added the little bow on the back. I used Delicata Gold ink to ink up the bow, as well as stamp the sentiment in the window so that they matched just right.

I used some Heidi Swapp color shine in gold and peach on the background, a bit of embossing paste on a stencil, then attached the bug with foam adhesive.

Finally, I stamped and embossed my sentiment on a Simon Says Stamp tilted black banner. Finished off with a bit of bling and some gold sequins. The first picture shows it best, but I also used my Wink of Stella a little on the car for just a touch of extra sparkle!

Next up - I came OH so close to making a one layer card - but I ended up adding a bit of bling in the end!

I inked up "Congratulations" one time, then stamped it off 3 times to give a bit of movement. The tiny hearts are from the little love birds - I just used some washi tape to mask off everything but the hearts.

I colored the glasses with my Copic markers, then added some Stickles over the surface to provide a bit of sparkle.

Then - I had to play with the add on set for this month - this set has so many possibilities - I can't wait to use it for my scrapbooking! But first I decided to make a card with it.

 

I lined up the days of the week on my stamp press, then added a tiny sentiment from an older stamp set, Wishes and Kind Thoughts. This would have made it super easy to make a large set of notecards, with all the days lined up. So easy to re-ink and stamp over and over.

I inked them with Ranger Archival Ink, stamped on watercolor paper, then used a water brush and some basic watercolors to brush over each day of the week.

I sprayed some Smooch Spritz over the entire thing to magnify the watercolor effect and add a bit of sparkle. It doesn't show very well in the pictures, but maybe you can get a peek in this shot?

Finished off by matting in black card stock to make that panel pop before mounting on my card base.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!

Eyelet Outlet Feb Post

Good morning! I'm sharing these cards on the Eyelet Outlet blog today! I recently had a blissful afternoon of free time to play, and the inspiration to go with it - and this is what I ended up making:

For this card, I pulled out my Mini Stitched Flower brads, and Stitched flower brads - I loved how perfectly they matched my pattern paper from Simple Stories Vintage Bliss paper pad. I stamped and heat embossed my Hero Arts stamp silhouette on an oval cut with my Lil' Inkers Designs Stitched Oval die. The banner was cut with Simon Says Stamp tilted banner dies, and my sentiment is from Winnie and Walter's "The Big, the Bold, and the Happy" stamp set.

I am also linking this up with the current challenge at A Blog Named Hero - Flowers:

Next up, I went with a more masculine and simple design:

For this one I used the cameras from the Travel Brads set. The woodgrain background paper is from the same paper pad as above, and the little photos I trimmed from some Carta Bella pattern paper from their Wildflowers 6x6 paper pad. This card made me think of my hubby - he likes nothing better than getting out in the mountains and woods and hiking - and these beautiful pictures reminded me of some of the places he has gone.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Hope you are having a wonderful week!