Cup of Java...2018 Spring|Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Hello,

Popping in with cards made for my lovely bracelet friend, Shannon, from Fancey Stones, to send with her order.  And just by coincidence, they also fit with the 2018 Spring | Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Penny Black all the way! Love this image, as I do the Breathe.

Have you seen the bursting-at-the-seams gallery? So much coffee/tea themed inspiration...speaking of which, off to do some more gazing and admiring, with a cup of java in hand...

Thank you for dropping by!

Coffee & Friends...2018 Spring | Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Hello,

It's been a week of Mondays here...but I'm carving in some much needed crafting-time to join in the
2018 Spring | Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Only inking and stamping for this one, using STAMPlorations The Bee's Knees *And Coffee* set. I don't have the talent to watercolour these fabulous stamps in the same fashion as their creator, Shirley B, does, but...doing something different is okay, too. Right? Right! Went a little rainbow as well *grin*

The sentiment: so true!

NOTE: Honoured and thrilled that Erin selected my card as her 2018 SPRING | SUMMER HOP DESIGNER PICK!  THANK YOU!!!

Still some time left to join the gallery which, by the way, is filled with awesome inspiration! I'm in at #1030...Holy Moley WOW! Records are going to be broken for sure!

Thank you for dropping by!

Uniko Studio May 2018 Release in Review Week~Bee Happy

Hello,

Well, guess who's running late with her Release Review Day 5 post?  Card on table + cup of coffee on table. We know what happened next.  Sheesh!

On the plus side, I had a chance for another play with the new Bee Happy set, paired with the new dies (and for me, new stamps...love it!) for Originally Organic.

  

A sweet wreath for a sweet bumblebee...simple and, I hope, cheery!

I'll be showcasing more from the release in the near future...still lots of goodies to play with! Stay tuned!

Thank you for dropping by!

Guest Designer...Studio Katia 2nd Anniversary Blog Hop~Day 2

Hello,

I'm thrilled to-the-moon-and-back (on Cloud 9 still!) to be a guest designer for Studio Katia's 2nd Anniversary Blog Hop Day 2 celebrations! Studio Katia has just released 6 new Clear Stamp Sets and 4 sets of Coordinating Dies, 4 new stand alone Creative Dies, 2 new Stencils and new Embellishments. Yesterday's hop was filled with outstanding inspiration by stellar designers and today...more, more and more!

You should have arrived here from talented, enthusiastic Simon Hurley who, at only 15 years old, is already a crafting phenom! Lovely, creative Laurie Case is next on the hop, with cards that always dazzle and delight. You can find the full hop list below or visit the Studio Katia blog.

As you can imagine, I'm ever sooooo nervous being in the midst of all the AWE-mazing designers joining in the celebration! Hope my little offerings will make you smile....

This releases sees a newcomer to the Kobi family – Kobi Bearing Gifts – illustrated by Zlatina Goncheva. His tagline reads that he's a 'year round' cutie...and I agree 110%! I've created a quartet of cards featuring Kobi as the star of the stage, with the theme of 'seasons' (more or less) threading through my Copic colour selections.

Card 1: Welcome a 'Spring-ish' Kobi, "bearing" an assortment of pink, blue and purple gifts, along with a shaker-filled balloon. How fun is that background, created by another new product: the Bubbles Creative Stencil. With variations in the bubbles' sizes, fanning out from teensy in the center (Kobi's hiding those *grin*) to larger around the edges, this stencil has possibilities galore...

Card 2: Summer brings thoughts of hot weather, gentle breezes, fluffy clouds sailing through blue skies and, of course, rainbows! Here, 'Summer' Kobi is bringing an assortment of rainbow coloured gifts to the party. He's set atop an embossed version of the Bubbles stencil and paired with a sentiment from Birthday Greetings. The sentiments are a charming assortment of birthday        wishes...including some for our crafty friends!

Card 3: I know a number of people with Autumn birthdays and what better way to celebrate than with an Autumn-themed card. Here, Kobi's selected a fall palette for his gift wrapping. He's paired with a variety of polka-dots: the colourful ones placed on a panel cut from Dotted Patterns:Set 2 and, in the background, the Bubbles stencil, debossed. The banner is also from the Dotted Patterns set.

Card 4: Finally, a Christmas Kobi, who is, of course, a polar bear and, evidently, one that loves traditional red-and-green for the season. Dotted Patterns: Fancy Circle for the shaker frame; new sequins - May Crystals - for the fill.

As you can tell, I had an absolute blast playing with Kobi and some of the other new products!  Thank you, Katia and your Design Team, for inviting me to 'play cards' with you for this celebration!  To everyone who drops in: thank you immensely for your comments.  Studio Katia's awesome products did all the work here; I just coloured, inked and glued!

Time to send you off to hop, hop, hop!

GIVEAWAY

Studio Katia is giving away TWO $100 CAD gift certificates on each day of the Hop, winners will be chosen from the comments left on all blogs of the Hop! Make sure to leave all the comments by Saturday, June 2nd, 2018 11:59 PM EST.

All winners will be announced on Sunday, June 3rd, 2018 on the Studio Katia Blog.

Here is the full list of blogs participating on Saturday, May 26th.

Studio Katia (Rowena)

SimonSaysStamp

Amy Kolling

Crystal Thompson

Dana Gong

Erum Tasneem

JessicaFrost Ballas

Ilina Crouse

Heather Hoffman

Tracy Freeman

Olga Moss

SimonHurley

Carol Mayne - you are here

Laurie Case - visit Laurie next

Kristina Pokazanieva

Kari VanNoy

Natalia Zubkova

Amanda Bodine

Liliya Rytsar

Also sharing at:

Always Happy Birthday May Challenge~Anything Goes

Seize the Birthday~Anything Goes

Thank you for dropping by!

On Your Special Day Painted Rose...Just Us Girls Challenge #442~Photo Week

Hello,

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #442~Photo Week. Our wonderful Nancy has selected a lovely sunflower image to spark inspiration. Soooo pretty!

If you've come from - or are heading to - the challenge blog, you'll see an array of fabulous cards from our May Guest Designer, sweet talented Patti, from Stationery Styles, and my talented teammates: Sue, Angie, Vicki, Ina, Bobby, Nancy, Lisa, Maria.

A newcomer arrived in my collection while we were away, and I decided it would fit the challenge wonderfully. No, not a sunflower, but a lovely yellow bloom all the same: a Painted Rose from Concord & 9th.  Once again, amazing stamps that do allll the work!  Nothing 'original' in my design; the rose warrants solo performance over...and over...and over. 

Your turn!

Looking forward to seeing your Photo Inspired designs in the gallery!

Also sharing at:

Where Creativity Meets C9 Challenge #21~Floral

Thank you for dropping by!

Uniko Studio May 2018 Release in Review Week~ Designer Dies

Hello,

Welcome to Day 4 of the Uniko Studio May 2018 Release in Review Week, where we're focusing on the new Designer Dies Collection.  Fabulous to have dies for two incredibly popular stamp sets! 

    

My cards feature the Designer Dies: Explosion Collection,which makes me *BAM* *WOW* super happy! Love the Explosion series and now that dies are part of the family, guaranteed these sets will receive even more TLC.  As you can guess, one of these will be heading to my nephew and one to my niece...a fun way to celebrate their 'graduation' from kindergarten and Gr. 2 (eeeek...they're growing up tooooo fast!).  Contemplating making several more for my nephew's kindergarten class; heading into Gr. 1 *is* a big deal, right? (especially for Aunty c!).

I had a blast playing with these...as you can see!

One more day of Review tomorrow; hope to see you then!

Also sharing at:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge~Use More Than One Stamp

Always Fun Challenges #59~Anything Goes


Thank you for dropping by!

Uniko Studio May 2018 Release in Review Week~Stencils

Hello,

Welcome to Day 3 of the Uniko Studio May 2018 Release in Review Week, where we're featuring a host of fabulous stencils.

  

  

Today, I'm playing with Stylized Floral in, of course, a rainbow colour scheme.  The first is paired with sentiments from the new Just Because set....

while the second is sentiment-free, to allow those shimmery blooms to be the star of the stage (Nuvo Moonstone glimmer paste). I did, however, reach back into the Uniko archives with the vellum butterflies...from one of the first long-ago sets I fell in love with: Bright Butterflies.  I think Bev should bring them back, don't you? Hint, hint...

I'll be back on Thursday with more showcases!

Thank you for dropping by!

Merry Christmas Poinsettia...Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #293~Holiday (and a 'see you later')

Hello,

Welcome to Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #293~Holiday.

I'm joining the Muse: Christmas Visions 100th Challenge Christmas Party, where Chriss has offered this lovely card for inspiration:

So...confession time. I made the focal panel for this card - The Ton's gorgeous Cozy Poinsettia stamps and dies - back in November, but it experienced the dreaded Copic-blob mishap - and with a deep red to boot! Because the spurt happened when I was 'nearly' finished, I did my best to remedy the situation and set the poinsettias aside, suspecting they would likely wind up in the recycle bin. Of course, I promptly forgot about it...until a couple days ago, while going through my holiday-themed stamps, I discovered them safely tucked into the stamp/die envelope. A little 'tweaking' with the colours paired with a bit of splatter to minimize the appearance of the blobbing and...ta dahhhh.  Rescue mission *somewhat* successful! 

I'm sad to say that this is my final post as a member of the Addicted to Stamps and More Design Team. To say my time here has been incredibly rewarding and supremely wonderful is an understatement! It was an honour to be part of the ATSM family, playing alongside some of the best teammates ever! Thank you, Kylie, for having confidence in me; thank you, teammates, for being so welcoming and supportive. I will MISS you immensely!  On the plus side: I have every intention to play along in the challenges...so I'll end with my 'signature' closing:

See you in the gallery!

Thank you for dropping by!

Uniko Studio May 2018 Release in Review Week - Flower Power #8 and Simply Said Blocks II

Hello,

Welcome to Day 2 of the Uniko Studio May 2018 Release in Review Week,where we're featuring Flower Power #8 and Simply Said Blocks II.

  

My first card uses a combination of Simply Said Blocks and Simply Said Blocks II sentiments. Yes, this took a while to create! Yes, some of my sentiments/rows are a wee bit crooked. Yes, I had a BLAST designing it, even if some sections/bits are askew!  I added a Simon Says heart for  dimension, along with a popped up 'Make A Wish" (design innovation to hide a little boo-boo...)

Flower Power #8 is performing on my next card, with a role inspired by CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge #272:

Smitten with this 'spirograph-like' bloom and its pretty leaves...and yes, definitely quicker to design than the first one *grin*

Head over to see the pretty cards created by my talented teammie, Rahmat. Join us tomorrow for more showcases!

Also sharing at:

Always Fun Challenges #59~Anything Goes

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Blossom...STAMPlorations CUTplorations May 2018 Challenge (Reminder Post)~Things with Wings Blog Hop and Linky Parties

Hello,

We're being treated with plenty of warm weather and sunshine of late; I'm 'this close' to planting my little garden!  Tomatoes, carrots and peas: starting simple to see how these adapt to the new soil bed.

Speaking of Spring tasks...Welcome to my reminder post for STAMPlorations CUTplorations May 2018~Things with Wings Blog Hop and Linky Party.  If you've joined us already: excellent. If not, you still have time. The 'rules' are simple:

Create a winged-themed project that includes dies/die cuts

Another intricate detailed STAMPlorations butterfly coming out to play!  This set, with both an overlay and underlay, is filled with possibilities that will add 'pretty' to your card panel. Change the colour, use the overlay on its own, pair both dies (as I've done here), make them a focal point or a secondary element...these butterflies are top-notch performers!

 Recipe:
Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies
 Flutter Zen 1 Layering Dies 

Stained Glass ARTplorations stencil (embossed)
Trendy Butterflies 2

Head over to the STAMPlorations blog to see my teammates' CUTplorations delights, then play along with us!

Looking forward to seeing your THINGS WITH WINGS creations in the gallery!

For more details about how to enter and prizes (gotta love the prizes!), head here.

To receive 20% off STAMPlorations stamps, stencils and dies, I invite you to use my code: STAMPGIRLCAROLM. The code applies to regular and sale-priced products, but cannot be combined with other discount codes you have. Happy shopping!

Thank you for dropping by!

Uniko Studio May 2018 Release In Review Week~Just Because & Large Background French Script

Hello,

Guess what was waiting for me upon our return from our vacation/bike racing events? The brand-spanking new Uniko Studio May 2018 Release!  You've seen the amazing stamps, stencils and dies in action - gorgeous action, I might add -  during the introduction week, but just in case you need an 'extra' nudge to add a few of these gems to your collection, a few of us from the Design Team will be participating in a Release in Review week.  I'm excited to finally have a chance to play with my new goodies!

Today, we're featuring the oh-so-pretty Just Because and Large Background French Script stamps.

  

Initially, I planned to pair the sets to create one card, but decided, nope...they deserve 'solo' performances (with a snippet of help from an older Simply Said sentiment).  A rainbow(ish) palette on both, created with three distress inks: Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Mermaid Lagoon. 

The card below sees the Just Because flower inked, then spritzed to blend the colours. The font of the 'because'...swoon!

NOTE: Honoured to be selected for Outstanding Design recognition at CAS May Watercolour Card Challenges. THANK YOU!

Here, the inks were blended, die cut and stamped with the delicately lined French Script...

Easy to recreate, especially when lovely stamps do all the work!

See you tomorrow for another round of showcases! For more inspiration using these sets, head over to Rahmat's place; she has some beauties!

Also sharing at:

CAS Watercolour May Card Challenge~Rainbow

Thank you for dropping by!