Baking Gingerbread

The holidays will soon be upon us!  Hello friends, Mindy here with my card for this week's challenge, titled Baking Gingerbread. The image for this week's challenge was a basket of gingham ribbons, and when I think of gingham I think of home made goodness!  Whether it is crafting from gingham, or baking treats and packaging them tied with gingham strips.

Most of the items on this card are cut from dies that I have purchased from the Classy Cards 'N Such Online Store.  I started by taking out my pad of Graphic 45 -Twelve Days of Christmas papers, and cut the ever useful Twig Wreath with pine needles for the base. The next die used, was the bow die from the Bow and Bell die set. I cut it from the orange gingham printed paper from Graphic 45's By The Sea collection, and the solid outline of the bow from a scrap of orange card stock. I then adhered the solid outline of the bow to a wide strip of double stick tape and filled in the bow with the printed paper parts. I then attached it to the top of the wreath and adhered the wreath to the card front with Joy! Foam Squares-small.

Then the cutting of the tiny Batch of Gingerbread men began. I die cut them in two colors, and cut bunches of them, enough to trim the wreath and fill the cookie jar. The Tall Canning Jar die was then used to cut two jars from the vellum paper. I glued the two jar pieces together using a clear white glue, and then decorated the lid with scraps of the orange gingham paper, some twine and a pine sprig from the wreath. I also cut a small tag for the jar, and then filled the jar with all of the leftover gingerbread men.  

To finish the card I attached two scraps of the gingham papers to the card front and then using adhesive dots, attached the cookie jar to the front atop the gingham layers. I hope you enjoy the card, and have a great week!

Before you leave my blog, please stop by the Classy Cards 'n Such online store and check out all of the new products available there. Be sure to use my discount code= MINDY-10 on the check-out page to get your 10% discount on all items purchased. Happy Stamping!
Mindy

Count Your Blessings

Hello, friends, Mindy here today with a card for this week's challenge at the Classy Cards 'N Such blog, #42 Buttons and Bows!

I started this card by embossing an A2 size sheet of card stock with the Daisy Flourish embossing folder sending it through my Cuttlebug machine. I then took the Memory Box designer Stencil Garden Stems and added Embossing paste to use as stems for my button and bow flowers.

To give the background some definition, I highlighted the embossing with a white pen, a touch of gold glitter and some Cantaloupe colored Liquid Pearls. It was then set aside to let dry.  I then took some ribbon, and made three small single bow flowers and adhered a single gold colored small Medallion Sparklers button in the centers. The bows were then adhered to the background at the ends of the stems to look like a bouquet of flowers, with a double loop bow tied at the bottom of the bouquet.

I also stamped a saying, Count Your Buttons (. . . and Blessings) on a banner strip and used  Joy! Foam Pads Large to give the banner some dimension and adhered it to the front of the card.

The whole time I was working on this card, the song "Button and Bows" sung by Doris Day was going through my head.  It was a little before my time, but parts of the song were familiar to me, and those parts kept repeating over and over all day.

I hope you will join us at Classy Cards 'N Such, by creating a card or two for our weekly challenge. They are so much fun, and you can possibly win a wonderful item sold in our online store. Be sure to visit our online store, and when you are ready to check out, use the coupon code MINDY-10 (all caps-no spaces) to get your 10% discount off your entire purchase. See you again soon!

Welcome Friends! My first card with my design team duties at Classy Cards 'n Such will be showcased on Wednesday of this week, challenge #42 Buttons and Bows.  To see more about how the card was made, check out the blog at Classy Cards, and while there, be sure to check out all of the NEW items available in the Classy Cards 'n Such Online Store. 

The card pictured here, is from last week's challenge #41- Day at the Beach.

You can also use my coupon code MINDY-10 (all caps-no spaces) on all of your purchases at the Classy Cards Store!  Just enter it in the "apply coupon code" box before checking out, and you will receive a  welcome discount on your order.  You may also click the design team box in the top right column of this blog, and that will take you directly to the store.

In the right column of the Classy Cards 'n Such Blog, there is also a link to the Challenge Calendar.

Click on it to get a list of the upcoming challenges, along with lots of inspirational photos.  Maybe you will wish to submit a card or two, and join our Challenge fun! There is a super prize available weekly, each prize usually corresponds with the theme of the challenge and is from the Classy Cards 'n Such online store. Be sure and let me know, if you have any questions about the challenges. 

I hope you are all having a wonderful Summer!  The temperatures have been hot, but luckily no 100's yet here.  Stay cool and comfortable, and I will see you again soon.

Mindy

Happy Thursday Friends!

What a Great Day, friends!  It is cloudy and dreary here in So. Texas, which to some may sound terribly boring.  But we have been in a drought lately, and really do need some rain. There is 50% in the forecast today and tomorrow, so I am riding high in the hopes we get some rain.

My card today is a happy card, celebrating a Friend.  The stamped image is one of Janie's Girls stamps from Hot Off the Press, and is stamped in Memento black ink and colored with Copic markers. When dry, I fussy cut around the image, leaving a thin white border around the entire image. 

The background is a piece of glossy white card stock with Alcohol Inks from Ranger marbled on.  I played with a full 8 1/2" X 11" piece of glossy paper, and then trimmed it down to four A2 size backgrounds when done. The doily die is from Cheery Lynn Designs and makes a wonderful background for the image. The word Friend is also a Cheery Lynn Design, and was cut from black card stock, then glued to the bottom of the card. 

This card was just pieces put together to form a pleasing image.  When I have spare time, I like to color stamped images, and play with making background papers. I then cut them into usable sizes and file them for when I don't have so much time, and need to make a quick card.  I hope you will try this when you have a few spare minutes.  Play with your dies, stamps, and backgrounds, trying new products and papers.  Then when you need a quick card, you will have many pieces to choose from.  Happy Stamping!

Mindy

Play Time

Happy Tuesday Everyone!  Today I am featuring Play Time, a celebration of having a full day of play with my papers, stamps, and die cuts.

I started by stamping one of Janie's Girls stamps from Hot Off the Press, and coloring in with Copic markers.  I then cut out the design very close to the edge, and set aside until I arranged my paper scraps  in a favorable arrangement. I also had some flowers stamped and colored in my embellishment folder, and the colors seemed to blend with the coloring on m hula-hoop girl.

I adhered a background stripe paper to the card front, and then attached a small dot print covered with vellum with foam tape for dimension.  I then place my cut outs, flowers and girl on the papers. I then stamped the word PLAY on a coordinating scrap using my Deadbeat Design Alphabet stamps. To finish off, I stamped the Poppy Flower center from Deadbeat Designs in various positions on the card to set off the background.

I am so thankful to have Play Time in my studio.  I love getting in there to create something fun to send to family and friends. Until next time . . . . . . 

Mindy

CELEBRATE Good Times, Come On!

Hello, Everyone.  Join me in celebrating some wonderful news today! I have been accepted as a Guest Design Team Member at Classy Cards 'N Such. You have probably noticed that I have been submitting several cards a week to their Weekly Challenges for quite some time now.

A few weeks ago, they sent out a call for New Design Team members, and I have been contemplating sending in an application to join a team for quite awhile. Several of my friends encouraged me to try, so I did. I am so blessed to be chosen, and my first Design Team card will be published next week, July 14, 2014.

In the meantime, this weeks challenge is  Pick a Posy. Click on this link to find out more details about the challenges and to see the prize for the winner. I wish you could all be inspired to submit a card weekly to their challenge.  It is a great opportunity to be creative, and think outside of the box. The challenge theme's are posted on Monday's each week, so please stop by and give it a look-see!
We would love to see you there!

I have also been blessed with a coupon code to share on my blog, where you can receive 10% off your order from the Classy Cards 'N Such Online Store anytime you place an order, and type in the coupon code-(all caps, no spaces)  MINDY-10. The store is owned by one of our "Texas Sisters" and they have lots of supplies we use to make our cards, from stamps and dies, to embellishments and tools.  I just picked up one of the New Tool 'n One from Spellbinders that helps get all the little punchies out of the middle of the intricate dies.

Until next time, Happy Stamping!
Mindy

Hooray for the Red, White & Blue!

Greetings Friends!  Hope this patriotic card finds you well, and in the mood for a little 4th of July celebrating!

As I mentioned yesterday, I love Americana crafts and patriotic symbols. Every year I try to make a new patriotic wreath for my front door, but this year made this card instead.

I started with an A2 size card base, made from Neenah white card stock.  I then cut an A2 size watercolor paper background and inked up my Darice Stripes Embossing Folder with Tim Holtz Fired Brick Distress Ink. I then spritzed the ink covered embossing folder with water, and ran my sheet of watercolor paper through the Cuttlebug machine.  I let the watercolor paper set until it air-dried, then ran the ink pad over the top to accentuate the stripes.

The image itself is four layers of paper dies.  The background using the Ankara Lace Doily from Cheery Lynn Designs, the Grapevine Wreath (blue), Tiny Bunnies (white), and Lg. Loopy Bow (navy) from Impression Obsession Dies, all carried in the Classy Cards 'N Such Online store.  For a touch of sparkle, I cut the Sm. Hearts die from Impression Obsession in Red Sparkle Metallic paper. I stamped tiny red stars on each bunny and shaded the edges of the die with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress ink pad. I hand lettered the banner with the words, "hooray for the red, white, and blue".

I am entering this card in the Weekly Challenge #39 at the Classy Cards 'N Such Blog 

and the Red, White & Blue Linky Party at Craftin Desert Diva's.

I hope you have a wonderful day, and Keep On Stampin'!