Consider Yourself Hugged Featuring Sugar Pea Designs

When Andie and I decided to make cards for this Stamptember,  I looked for my set SugarPea Designs Stamptember set from 2017 and decided to make an attempt to try no line Copic coloring.

I will say, no line Copic coloring was something I had not tried and honestly was a bit apprehensive to try.  This is my first completed image. I  need practice, but not a complete fail.

Stamptember went by fast. I hope everyone had a good time this month.

This last post was a bit of a surprise - finished here in the last minute.  To update, we posted 28 cards featuring 23 of the 28 manufacturers featured by Simon Says Stamp.  That's 82% of the manufacturers represented on our blog this month. 

I'm linking this up to the Simon Says Stamp Sugar Pea Designs Stamptember linky party.

O Holy Night - Early Christmas Card Featuring Paper Smooches

I can't believe that Stamptember is almost over.  Whew!  What a month and what a great job my bestie, Brandy, did to get the majority of the Stamptember posts done this month.  All told, we posted 27 cards featuring 22 of the 28 manufacturers featured by Simon Says Stamp.
That's 78% of the manufacturers represented on our blog this month.  I'm not sure whether to be proud of that or slightly ashamed that our stashes are that deep!  I'm going to settle on proud because I think some of our work is fantastic.

For this last card I'm sharing with you one of my all time favorite Christmas card images using Paper Smooches A Blessed Christmas stamp and die.  The image is so simple, but yet speaks volumes to me.  The humble, downturned gaze of Joseph, the grin on Mary who must have been slightly bemused at her situation while pleased to look on her son and a delighted baby Jesus - happily content with his Earthly parents.  I kept the background simple to highlight the image raised with foam tape.    This card will go in the stash and be sent out in a few short weeks (!) in celebration of Christmas.  I think I have a few more cards to make.  Yay for the Stamptember inspiration to fuel my creative mojo.

I'm going to link this up to the Simon Says Stamp link party for Paper Smooches.  I'm also linking this up with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Let's Get Ready for Christmas.  Check it out.

Just Be Jolly - Holiday Tags Featuring Avery Elle

I had these patterned paper tags die cut in my stash and was wondering what to do with them.  They have been there for a couple of years as I die cut them for a project that either I didn't use and/or didn't use up.  It's been so long I've forgotten.  I've been on a kick to use up supplies so I came up with this cute idea - to stamp and color some snowmen using me Avery Elle Be Jolly stamp and die set.  A little Crystal Accents on the buttons brings them to life and some white flocking makes the fuzzy hat have texture.



































I colored the images to match the papers, with intention to stand out and be cheery.  These are definitely cheery.

While the sentiment is lost on this last one, the snowman is delightful.  I'm pleased with how these turned out and excited to use them in the coming celebration.

I'm linking this up with the Stamptember Avery Elle linky party.  I am also going to link this up with Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge Simon Says Anything Goes.  Come join the fun.

Those Over There Are Not Giants - They're Windmills Featuring Avery Elle

While making another card a while back I stamped and colored several of these cute images from Avery Elle's Windmill stamp set. I only finished one card (a thank you to Andie for being such a generous friend) and thought now would be a good time to put the rest of them together.

Everything was colored with my Copics and the house, a couple of trees, mushrooms, and banner are all popped up from the card base.  Unlike the card made for Andie, the windmill does not spin.

Do you ever stamp more images than you end up using? If so, do you keep them for future use or toss them?

I'm going to link this up to the Simon Says Stamp link party for Avery Elle.  I am also going to link this up with Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge Simon Says Anything Goes.  Check it out.

A Birthday Scene Featuring Pretty Pink Posh

I love the story book look of no line coloring, it reminds me of the Golden books we read as kids. When I saw the Pretty Pink Posh Birthday Scene stamp set, it screamed no line coloring to me.

I stamped the image with Simon Says Stamp Fog ink and used my Faber Castell polychromos pencils to do the coloring.

I have never heard it mentioned on craft the mainstream videos, but did you know polychromos are oil based pencils and that means they resist chalk? To get the soft background I just dusted some of my chalk pastels over the image, no smearing or lifting! To make sure the background didn't fade or rub off I gave it a quick spray of fixative and it is good to go.

What crafty secrets do you have?

I'm going to link this up to the Simon Says Stamp link party for Pretty Pink Posh.  I am also going to link this up with Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge Simon Says Anything Goes.   Check it out.

Pink Fresh Studios Stamptember Exclusive Stamp and Die Set - A Soft Floral Card

Stamptember was a big celebration for Brandy and I here at Contagiously Crafty.  We have been playing along with stamps from our stash for the featured manufacturers and enjoying every minute.  Lots of conversations were had throughout the month, but in the end (so far!) we've only picked up one Stamptember exclusive - Pink Fresh Studio stamp and die.  The unique nature of the partial die cutting was very appealing.  When I got my stamp set I decided to stamp a few images using different media - Bristol cardstock, Bee Paper Watercolor Paper and Toner Grey papers.  I also did a variety of black ink, white heat embossing, gold heat embossing and rose gold heat embossing.  I singled out this white heat embossed image for my first attempt.

I used my Mission Gold watercolors and a paper towel to apply very light layers of color, building some of the accents very slowly, ultimately ending with this result.  I really wanted a soft look and was able to successfully achieve that in this card.  The flowers were so pretty I couldn't do anything but mount on a light pink cardstock base using some foam tape behind some of the bigger die cut sections.

This was so much fun to make, I can see several more cards in my future.  I'm going to link this card up with the Pink Fresh Studios linky party at Simon Says Stamp.

I'm also linking this up with the Time Out challenge 145 Breast Cancer Awareness and Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge Simon Says Anything Goes. 

A Notecard Set Featuring Tim Holtz

Brandy and I are such fans of Tim Holtz.  He's one of the folks we've watched and followed over the 15+ years we've been crafting together.  As such, we have quite the stash of supplies and materials that we accumulated through out fandom and attending all three Creative Chemistry classes over at Online Card Classes.

Today I decided to pull out some of the supplies that have languished in the stash and make good use of them.  These cards were made with an assortment of Tim Holz Wildflowers Thinlits and Garden Greens dies die cut from Distress Ink and Distress Oxide backgrounds..  The background paper is Tim Holze Kraft resist paper that I layered with matching Distress Ink and Distress Oxides.  They blend so delightfully.  The flowers are made using Tim Holtz glassine paper, an oldie but a goodie.  Here's some additional inspiration from Tim Holtz Kraft glassine ideas.

While making these cards in the midst of creating for Stamptember which has involved lots of techniques, I'm reminded how very much I enjoy working with my Distress products and what a delightful finish they provide.  I should definitely use them more often!

This pink card is mostly Distress Oxides and I'm pleased with how bright the card turned out in the end.  Again - reminder to use these techniques more often.

I'm going to link this up to the Simon Says Stamp link party for Tim Holtz.  I am also going to link this up with Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge Simon Says Anything Goes.  Check it out.

Simple Fall Themed ATCs Featuring Tim Holtz Products

I am a huge fan of Tim Holtz, especially anything Distress. I had a creative block a few years ago and then I saw a Tim Holtz video on Christmas tags and I have been creating ever since. Thanks, Tim.

When I saw the Glorious Bouquet stamp, I instantly and foolishly thought it would be easy to watercolor.    For the record, it is not.

I stamped the image several times using different inks on different paper (including my Arches hotpress) and I just couldn't get a crisp enough image to watercolor or to even try to to use with my colored pencils. I am not sure what adjectives best describes how I spent most of my day (frustrated,  irritated, or disappointed), but all I know is that I was far from happy with any attempt and was about to throw in the towel, when I decided I was not going to let the stamp beat me.

I decided to do some Distress Oxide blending on Bristol smooth cardstock and once it dried just stamp the image over it.  I figured the fall colors would show through the open parts of the image and they did.  From there I cut it down into ATC sized card fronts that can be used on a small note card in flowers or some other gift to a friend at a difficult time.

Today was a good reminder that not everything is going to turn out exactly as we want it to, but if keep trying it will usually turn out how it is supposed to.  While I don't need reminded of it, today was a great example of Andie's constant friendship. Thanks for being you, my friend.

I'm linking this up to the Simon Says Stamp Tim Holtz linky party.

You're So Lovely Featuring Studio Katia

I have been a fan of Distress Ink longer than I have been a card maker. However, I was really late to the party on using Distress Ink as a watercolor paint.  When I finally decided to give it a go, I thought the Studio Katia You're So Ranunculus stamp set would be a good set as there are a lot of petals to practice shading.

I made three different cards, each with a different color of embossing powder, to be honest embossing in gold to watercolor is not my favorite look, but I wanted to challenge myself to see how it would turn out. In the end, I think it turned out better than I expected.

My son stopped by and saw my three card fronts sitting out and said the gold embossed version was the best.  He said he wanted it to give to a friend that is very kind to him. So, that is where this card is going.

Do you ever challenge yourself to use products in a different way?

I'm going to link this up to the Simon Says Stamp link party for Studio Katia.  I've also linked this to the SSS Monday challenge Stitch It since the frame uses a Wonky Stitches rectangle die. Check it out.

New Baby Girl Card Featuring Clearly Besotted

I'm stopping by today with a cute little card made for a baby shower using my Clearly Besotted Spring Plushies stamps and dies.  I had previously stamped, colored with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers and die cut the images out.  This made it easy to put together this card quickly when the need arose. 

The background was stamped with my Concord and 9th Stripe stamp in a light pink to set the stage and make a highlight for my pretty little bunny.

I'm going to link this up to the Simon Says Stamp link party for Clearly Besotted.  Check it out.

I Think You're Cool Featuring Neat and Tangled

I want to start this post by saying Nichol Spohr is a creative genius! I love almost everything thing she creates and I aspire to have 1/3 of her creative prowess.  I watched Nichol's most recent tri-fold card creation and thought I would try the same concept, only using my Neat and Tangled Stay Cool stamp set.

What, these aren't photos of a tri-fold card? NO, they are not.  I had decided the background of my tri-fold was going to be the Aurora Borealis and I set off with my trustee Distress Oxide inks, make up blending brushes, and sturdy masking tape to try and create the northern light. I have provided a photo of that result.  I was so happy with how the background turned out! I don't think the photos do it justice, but I splattered Nuvo sparkle pen on it to try and create some shiny stars.

As I was trying to clean up the ink pads before starting the next phase of coloring and the Peacock Feathers fell out of my hand and wrecked the bottom of the card. I almost cried and came very close to throwing the while panel away...so close.

I walked away from the entire card making project for the evening.  The next morning I thought I might be able to save at least one of the images if I cut the panel down; which is what I did and why the tri-fold inspired by Nichol is not what you see in this post.

ATC Card

I ended up coloring the images with Zig Clean Real Brush markers. The ground in each scene was hand drawn, there are no stamps or dies for that.  Since I had to cut down the card, I  also needed to then solve for a background, enter in Tim Holtz Simply Snowflakes embossing folder and his metallic paper and two cards and 1 ATC later it is done.

Have you ever thrown away a card you were making because of an apparent catastrophe?

I'm linking this to the SSS Neat and Tangled linky party.