Creative Crew, January 2025

It's a new year, and a new round for the Creative Crew! I have the privilege of being this month's hostess, and I selected stamps and dies from the "You Are So Loved" set by Gina K Designs.  

There are a lot of images in this set and everyone was sent some extra
images which are optional.  The main image is the set of hands holding hearts and the You Are So Loved sentiment.  

Also included in their kits was a panel of Holographic cardstock by Pink & Main, an embossed panel using "Cross My Heart" embossing folder by Spellbinders using Cherry Pop cardstock by Taylored Expressions, and a heart panel made with Bee Sting Lunar Paste by Simon Hurley, using a heart stencil by Gina K Designs.

My images and the sentiment are colored with Olo markers and all hearts have Wink of Stella added for some soft shimmer.

I hope that you join me in visiting the blogs and gallery of the rest of the Creative Crew.  Their links are listed below.  Thanks for stopping by!

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie 

January Hot Mess = Success Challenge

On the 12th of each month we have a challenge amongst friends. Create SOMETHING making a mess SOMEHOW.  LOL  Each of us can define "messy" in our own way, but we must end up with a card. It's a lot of fun!

This month I decided to dig out the Alcohol inks and Silver Sparkle Alcohol Ink Cardstock by Ranger and see where it took me.  Here's what I ended up with:

The first panel was a combination of three colors: Watermelon, Sailboat Blue and a bit of Dijon.

The second panel had only Turquoise on it.  I used a blender handle with a
flat foam top, applying the ink directly to the foam top.

Next I dug out a set of Stampin Cut & Emboss dies by Stampin Up.  The name of the set is Gorgeous Garden. I cut one of each die panel from each of the silver blended panels and mounted them onto black cardstock. The rectangle and the sentiment are mounted with black foam tape

Using the trimmed scraps from both silver panels I punched out some dragonflies and created a rounded rectangle to mount the "Grateful for You" sentiment, which is part of the Elegant Thoughts set by Gina K Designs.

The "Thank You" script die is by Picket Fence Studios.  I colored black cardstock with Cloud 9 Silver Shine Metallic ink pad by Lisa Horton Crafts (direct to paper). When it was thoroughly dry I die cut out the sentiment and mounted it on 3 black die cut sentiments to make it more sturdy and give a hint of dimension to the card.

I kept returning to the panels over several days. Not because of difficulty, but because I couldn't find just the right way to use them.  Now I'm glad that I took my time because I like how they turned out.  The shine on both are very pretty.

Thanks for dropping by my blog!  Be sure to visit my Hot Mess friends using the links below.

Jeanette

Barb

Terry

Carol

Unused No More Challenge!

We are starting off the new year with a fun new challenge: Unused No More!  

We all have stamps, dies, stencils, etc. which are waiting patiently (?) for us to use them for the first time.  Voila! Jeanette and Barb came up with the Unused No More challenge. We will all create with previously unused treasures from our stash and share our creations on the 6th of each month.

For this month, a Sale-A-Bration set by Stampin Up cried out "Pick me! Pick me!"  I think that this set is from 2020, so it's not the oldest in my stash but definitely overdue for ink.

Here are my cards.

The background pink panel is dry embossed with a cover plate by Pinkfresh Studio called "Floral Tiles".  The dark pink card stock is "Passionate Pink" by Gina K Designs. The image and sentiment were heat embossed with white embossing powder and fussy cut by hand. 

These are flat cards which means easy to mail out!  I've been working on a load of birthday cards to build up my supply so that I don't get behind. We shall see how that goes 😉

Here are those in our group who also have blogs.  Please drop by and admire their creations!

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Rebekah - istampscrapcraft

Shelly - My Creative Rumblings

Creative Crew Challenge: "Thanks Snow Much"!

 Yay! It's the 15th and posting day for the Creative Crew!  

Terry hosted this month and her pick is "Bear Hugs" by Taylored Expressions. She also included sentiments from the "Beary Much Love" set also by Taylored Expressions.

Terry's papers were really pretty, so I headed over to the layout sketches on Split Coast to find something that would use all of them.

The image is colored with Olo Markers. I like that I could center the star between the bears kissing on the image panel!

The only thing used from my stash is some Cherry Pop card stock by Taylored Expressions.  Super cute kit, Terry!  Thank you!

Here are the links to the other Creative Crew members blogs and galleries. Be sure to visit and admire their creations.

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie 

Hot Mess = Success Challenge

Each month on the 12th a group of friends challenge ourselves to get messy with our creative process.  The type of mess, and our individual definition of messy is wide open.  All that matters is that at the end of the mess we end up with a card created! 

I broke out Simon Hurley's kit from last September's Crop & Create Delivered virtual card making event for this challenge. I really love the cards!

Kit contents:

• An exclusive stamp and die set of penguins and sentiments (no name supplied)
• Spiral Star layering stencil
• Confetti Strip rubber stamp
• Frostbite and Clear Skies Astro Pastes by Simon Hurley (love these!)

These penguins are so adorable. I've already mailed the cards and made several more! 

This card features the layering stencil. The first layer has purple ink (I used Concord Grape by Taylored Expressions) applied with a blending brush.

The 2nd layer has the Clear Skies Astro Paste applied with a palette knife.  

While the panel dried the penguin was water colored by pressing out some ink from the pad, adding a drop or two of water and using a small brush.  I also added some sparkle to his earmuffs and scarf using Wink of Stella.

The sentiment is part of the stamp set. It was heat embossed with white embossing powder.  Both the image and the sentiment were then die cut with the dies included in the kit.

Here's a close up of the second card which features an ink blended white panel.  

It's stamped and embossed with white embossing powder using the Confetti Strip rubber stamp.  Then blue and purple inks are blended onto the panel.

Using clean sections of paper towels any ink on the surface of the embossed confetti rubs off.

The penguin was watercolored in a similar manner as the first card and Wink of Stella was applied to his balloon, hat & scarf.

The last card was really fun!

A white panel was ink blended with a gradient of colors then heat set to thoroughly dry the panel.

Then Frostbite Astro Paste was applied to both layers of the Spiral Star stencils.

A hand cut hill using white card stock has Frostbite Astro Paste applied in a thick layer. Using my fingers I created little peaks and valleys to resemble a snowy hill. This took quite a while to dry since I had such a thick layer.

The penguin was watercolored using the inks for the panel and Wink of Stella sparkled up his hat and scarf.

All of these have already been mailed out.  I especially like how flat they are for mailing yet have a lot of dimension from the Astro Pastes.  I can tell that I'll be making more of all of these for January birthdays and random kindness cards.

Thanks for dropping by my blog!  Be sure to visit my Hot Mess friends using the links below!

Jeanette

Barb

Terry

Carol

Double Duty Challenge with Concord and 9th

On the 22nd of each month some friends challenge ourselves to create 2
different cards repeating the same image, sentiment, etc on each card.  We have a predetermined list of the stamp company or specific challenge for each month and then...away we go! 

This month we feature Concord & 9th.  I went with "Pop Up Par-Tay" stamps, dies and stencil.  Using Cloud 9 Metallic Pigment Inks by Lisa Horton Crafts, I ended up with these!

Starting with two 6x6 panels one in purple and one in blue, the metallic inks were sponged onto the panels.

The blue panel has silver and gold metallic inks.

The background panel is embossed with the Diamond Cover Plate die that was included in the Jolly Holiday virtual card making event by Scrapbook and Cards Today.

The balloon die is part of the Concord & 9th Par-Tay set and the sentiment and balloon strings are from that stamp set.

The purple panel used silver, gold and copper pot inks, which are all by Lisa Horton Crafts. 

The same stamp set is used here. It's white embossed onto one balloon and  the sentiment banner.  The same cover plate from the first card is used to emboss the background panel.

Here's what direct-to-paper with the gold and silver metallic ink pads looks like:

You can see how solid and opaque the coverage is!

The sentiments and balloons were die cut from this.

Stamping the sentiment on top of the metallic inks required repeated impressions. Not a problem with a MISTI tool.

Another bonus to these cards is that they can be mailed easily. They're very flat. However the extra shine really makes them stand out.

Please drop by the blogs of the other Double Duty members and comment on their work:

Barb

Jeanette

Carol 

Creative Crew Challenge with Newtons Nook!

Yay! It's the 15th and posting day for the Creative Crew!  

Tracie hosted this month and chose "Sips and Stories" by Newton's Nook. She chose this image because November has National Animal Shelter Appreciation week and also I Love to Write Day on the 15th.

Here's my card. 

The image is colored with OLO markers.

Designer papers from Tracie include "Lovely" by Close to my Heart.

The I love Books die cut is by Newton's Nook Bookmark die set.

I added some heart and star embellishments from my stash.

Tracie asked us to share a good book we are reading or have read recently.  At this time I am making slow progress on "Revelations of Divine Love" by Julian of Norwich. I'm studying the version that was modernized slightly when published in 1934.  

It is the account of visits to an Ankress (or recluse) named Julian or Juliana who lived in a cell attached to the Church of St. Julian at Norwich. Her revelations occurred in May of 1373 at an estimated age of 30, and were shared when she was approximately 70 years old.  It is a fascinating study for me.