Merry Christmas!

This is my last Christmas card/ornament. The end has to be with my "coffee" stamps 😊 (and Hot chocolate! 😋)

I used glossy accent for all the hearts & coffee beans for shiny look. I found "Merry Christmas" in gold color in my confetti stash. The picture doesn't show it but I used Gelly Roll pen for the steam.

Stamps ~ Lawn Fawn
Ornament dies ~ My Favorite Things
Paper ~ Lawn Fawn
Sequins ~ Simon Says Stamps/ "Mocha Java"

These stamps are my favs, and use the set a lot, all year around, me loving coffee/hot chocolate/tea 😊 The set was released for the winter, tho, and I don't use the sentiments as often as I use other stamps in the set. At Lawn Fawnatics challenge #19, they are running the challenge of your fav. Lawn Fawn stamps, so I snuck this little one there. lol 

Hope Santa has brought you something nice & crafty this morning, if you are already in the morning of 25th, and for others, tomorrow morning! 

Thank you for stopping by my blog today!
Blessings! 

Eve

2017 Winter Coffee Lover's Blog Hop #3

Update : Well, I missed the link up time by probably, 1 min.! So you can't find this card in the blog hop list..lol... I designed a card, using this stamp from Honey Bee ("Tea Time") for sure, but as I moved along, my head started to shift and ended up something totally different from what I initially designed! And that's why it took forever to finish this card, and mised the deadline... oh well... at least, I celebrated "international Tea Day", while making this card! 😊

 

It was really hard to take a picture to show the simmer on the steam, snow bank, sequins, and even the snow on the trees. It's more shimmery in person. The front panel was lifted by a piece of white craft foam underneath. In window shills, you can see "white" (craft foam) but I did it on purpose. Now it looks like the accumulated snow on the each window shills outside. I used Tim Holtz stencil to make a paper, and paperpieced it for this teacup. This is my newest addition to my stamp collection, and I really like this MUG type tea cup after years of using 'traditional fancy tea cups" on my tea cards! When I live in the place where there is a cold winter, this is the type of mug cup for tea to warm myself up, after getting up in the morning. Those fancy cups are for Tea Time for me 😊

Tea cup ~ Honey Bee (Tea Time)
Trees ~ Inkadinkado
Sentiment ~ Lawn Fawn
Window die & border stitch die ~ My Favorite Things
Snow bank stitched die ~ Lawn Fawn
Steam die ~ Lil' Inker Designs
Kitty die ~ Impression Obsession

It was a very fun blog hop! Almost 1,000 entries for the blog in one week! 

I'm submitting this card to SSS ~ Monday Challenge (Christmas/Winter holidays) & SSS ~ Wednesday Challenge (Stitch it!). 

Thank you for stopping by my blog today. Hope y'all are having a nice weekend! 
Eve

2017 Winter Coffee Lover's Blog Hop #2

National cocoa day celebration took place under Coffee Lover's blog hop, and it was on the 13th. I finished this card a day and half later. lol, but I couldn't pass the opportunity to "honor" the National Cocoa day! Although I currently live on a tropical island, the average temp.of 83F all year around, when "winter" comes (meaning, December!), my head tells me to drink hot cocoa! And of course, at the grocery store, they ship those (seasonal food and drinks) from US mainland, according to the calendar, NOT the temperature! Just like October to November, we see pumpkins in the grocery store, and this island doesn't produce pumpkins at all! lol! 

Anyways, this is my card. Since I still needed to make more Christmas cards, I combined the hot cocoa with the Christmas theme. Inside, it says "for a happy holiday"! I imaged the ornament, hanging in the Christmas tree but I didn't have pine needles die, so I used the closest image die I had. Rather a simple card, but "faux stitching" both inside of oval shaped paper & rectangular paper give some interest on the card 😊 Entry #843!

Hot cocoa & the sentiment ~ Lawn Fawn 

Wonky oval die, Stitched rectangular die (from Blue Print #20), the handle die of the ornament (from Tag builder Blue Print #6) , Leaf die ~ My Favorite Things

Papers ~ Lawn Fawn

I'm also submitting to SimonSaysStamp Wednesday challenge ~ Stitch it! & SimonSaysStamp Monday challenge ~ Christmas/Winter holidays challenge. 

One more day for the hop, and the last day will be celebrating International TEA day! 

Thank you for stopping by my blog in your busy days. Only 10 more days to Christmas! 🎄

Have a nice weekend! 

Eve

Happy Holidays!

I signed up for Christmas card swap in Altenew fan group on FB. We have to use Altenew stamp as the main image. These are the cards I made. I made 4 cards (2 card swap partners in US, 2 in Europe), 2 little different scenes; one looked like having an icy cold but sunny day, and another one looked like having snow flurry. Sizes are a bit different, too. I often make a card, thinking as I make, and sometimes my cards get larger than regular 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch size, and sometimes, longer shape, or even smaller. lol 

An icy cold but sunny day... the picture doesn't show it well but to get that "icy" feeling, I sprayed the shimmer mist on the background. 

For a snow flurry day, no shimmer mist but used white gel pen to add snow flurries... 

I love cardinals, and I miss seeing them in the wild. The tropical island I currently reside don't have many birds, thanks to the brown tree snakes, I hear.. but never miss the cold winter. ..  

I realized that Snowy Winter already arrived at unusual places across the States, like San Antonio, TX, Clemson, SC... 

I'm submitting this to SimonSaysStamp Monday Challenge ~ Christmas/Winter holiday. 

Hope y'all are having a nice week! Christmas is coming.. very soon! 
Thank you for stopping by my blog today! 

Eve

2017 Winter Coffee Lover's Blog Hop! #1

Finally I found a time to make A card for my fav. Coffee Lover's blog hop! Since I still have a couple of Christmas cards to make, I combined coffee stamp with "Warm Wishes" sentiment for the holidays 😊 This goes out to my friend who also loves kitties. 🐱 Entry #650! 

I couldn't resist, paper piecing the entire outfit (incld. socks!) of "Cozy Lady"with "Cozy" looking papers 😊 I love this Christmas tree stamp, the kind of Christmas tree I usually get 😊

"Cozy Lady" ~ Essentials by Ellen
Christmas tree ~ Impression Obsession
Kitty die ~ Impression Obsession
Sentiment ~ My favorite things 
Design papers ~ Lawn Fawn

I'll try to make one or two Coffee (or hot cocoa, Christmas) related cards before the last day of this blog hop. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Have a nice day! 
Eve

Christmas #3

This is my new house mouse stamp which I won, from Stampendous. I really needed a new HM Christmas stamp! I love the stamps which has the house mouse and the bird. In fact, this bird is the one I had when I was in the kindergarten ... I miss him...

The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn. I used the score board, to give the embossed lines on the green card base to give a bit of interest.

I'm mailing this to one of my "house mouse group" friend. 😊
Also I'm submitting this to the House Mouse & Friends Monday challenge. 😊

Thank you for stopping by my blog in your busy holiday season. 
Hope y'all are having a great weekend! 

Eve

Happy Christmas Card day!

Update : This card was selected in TOP 3. 😊

Yes, I just learned while I was trying to upload this card for the challenge at House Mouse Monday Challenge, the theme of Birthday in December . I know another lady who has a birthday this month, and she happens to love House-Mouse 😊

I made a similar card a couple of weeks ago, using Tim Holtz stencil on the background panel, using texture paste, with some glitter this time, on a little lighter color textured paper. I love this stencil! ❤ The sentiments are from Altenew. The cupcake is from Stamps by Judith. I made a chocolate cupcake for her, with a cherry on top! 😉

I'm also sharing this at SimonSaysStamp "Christmas Card Day " blog post. I'm glad that Sir Henry Cole (1818-1874) of England created the first commercial Christmas cards in 1843! So that we, the card makers enjoy creating Christmas cards! 😊

I still have several more Christmas cards to make... 

Thank you for stopping by my blog today. 
Hope y'all are having a nice weekend! 

Eve

Christmas #2

Hi! When I read the theme of "Furry Friend" at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, I had to use this kitty from SSS, from their Halloween set! I love cats, and altho I love Tabby (orange cat) the most, my first kitty was Siamese. I used foam tape to elevate the front panel, to give the center design a bit of room because of the little bell this kitty is wearing, since I'm mailing this 😊
I love the stencil from TH, and used the texture paste over it. I DID add glitter afterwards but the picture just can't capture that well... 

Cat ~ Simon Says Stamp
All other stamped images ~ Lawn Fawn
Background panel ~ Tim Holtz

Finally I'm starting to feel Christmas.. 
Thank you for stopping by my blog today. Have a nice Thanksgiving~EVE! 

Eve

Happy Thanksgiving! #3

Thanksgiving day is almost here, in US. People who could take a long week off might've arrived at their families and friends this weekend...

This is my #3 & the last Thanksgiving card this year. I received this Indian girl stamp from my stamping friend some time ago, and wanted to use it, and send the finished card to her 😊

I used Lawn Fawn's birch tree dies, and inlaid onto the front panel. All leaves I used on this card were cut by Lawn Fawn's STITCHED leaf dies. The sentiment is also Lawn Fawn, on the gold vellum, to be able to see birch trees behind.

I'm submitting this to Simon says Stamp Monday challege for the theme, "It's a stitch up". I love these stitched leaf dies. Those stitched lines give a bit of life on the paper. ❤

Hope y'all are having a relaxing weekend, getting ready for Thanksgiving day! 
Thank you for stopping by my blog today.

Eve

Christmas card #1

Lawn Fawnastics is having a challege #16; Use your oldest Lawn Fawn stamp. "Critter in the snow" is my oldest stamp set which I bought in the fall of 2010. Lawn Fawn opened for business in March 2010. 6 months after the opening, I decided to buy some of their stamps for the first time. This is my first Christmas card this year. 

I use VersaMark dazzle on black card stock, swiped with my faves, perfect pearls in 3 colors; interference green & red, Sparkles, to give more Christmas feeling. The "dull silverish gold" color heavy weight paper behind the front panel is from the "wrapping box" of cookies from Japan. It's not gold nor silver and I really liked the color behind the front image, showing stars to be that color. 
These are the stamps and dies I used. All Lawn Fawn. 

Critter in the snow (2010)
Santa's hat ~ "Hats off to you" set (2010)  Actually this stamp set was the oldest stamp among Lawn Fawn products I have but I didn't buy that set until some years later.      
Speech bubble ~ the coordinating die set of "A birdie told me" stamp set but I only bought die set (2012). 
The sentiment and the sparkles ~ "Merry Message" set (2016)
Starry skies die (2017)
Stitched hillside border dies in shadow box die set (2017) This set has two small stitched hillside in a package and I used both to make a larger hillside border, for the larger space, and cut the shimmery white paper. It worked pretty well 👍

I'm also sending this card to a card making friend in Norway. My first time, mailing something to Norway! 

Hope y'all are having a nice weekend! Thanks for stopping by my blog today. 

Eve

Happy Thanksgiving #2

My 2nd Thanksgiving card this year. I used this SU! stamps which I never used til now... the box says 2000 release, so, I probably bought it around that time. It's a stamp set and comes in a plastic container. The container was yellowed after 17 years of the release, but the wood mounted red rubber stamps are intact! These are the kind of stamps I just love to "decorate" my craft space with. 😊

Water coloring has been a trend for a while, and like this, background brush strokes. I combined old with the new, and this is rather clean card I made for my non stamping friend. All leaves are heat embossed in gold over the background coloring. Since these leaves are beautiful as the way they are, I wanted to show the stamped images as much as possible, and came up with the idea of using vellum for the sentiment, and used the short sentiment, too, to not distract the whole image. That's also the reason I used thin colorless twine on the bottom. Same reason for only two sequins. I used a MFT's stitched banner die, to give just a little bit of interest. I used "Rose Gold" embossing powder for the sentiment. It's kind of the thing at the moment, and several stamp companies released this beautiful color for EP. 

I'm submitting this to SimonSaysStamp Monday~Thanks/Thanksgiving challenge. 

Have a nice day! Thanks for stopping by my blog today.
Eve

Happy Thanksgiving! #1

Update : This card was shown on Lawn Fawn's Fawny Flickr Friday blog. 😊

Finally I had a chance to use this Lawn Fawn's new set, which I bought back in August when they released many amazing stamps and dies. I hadn't had new stamps for Thanksgiving for some years, and this was the perfect for my card I envisioned! And the set was meant to make this "feast table", which I miss, every Thanksgiving with my godmother and her family in VA. Beautiful sky and so many colorful leaves in the scene of Thanksgiving day. This is def. my Thanksgiving day with them, in Virginia! And my most fav. holiday of all.😊 

I fussy cut all the stamped images, colored them all. The most tiring process was the leaf! I used one of Lawn Fawn stand alone leaves die set from a couple of years ago, the smallest leaf. I ran through cuttlebug 36 times (to get 36 leaves!) from different "pearlized" card stock I "hoarded" for several years (from Joann or Michaels...can't remember). 6 different colors. The hardest (time consuming) was to place them in the perfect position. The tree stump ("feast table"), mushrooms "chairs", and animals are attached with foam tape, to give a bit of dimension, so leaves had to have foam as well but not all of them. 

 

First, I placed them, took the picture on my cellphone, and started to build up. I used Xyron sticker maker, Ranger's multi medium matte finish liquid adhesive and foam tape, depending on where to place them. In the middle of the process, I changed some positions of leaves. I'm content with how it turned out. The perfect image of my Thanksgiving Day in VA 😊 🍂 🍁🍃🍂🍁🍃
The sentiment is the new die from Lawn Fawn, too. I made it into a banner, making it looks like tying to the trees 😊 Of course, I had to have a cardinal in this scene. I miss seeing the cardinals, too... 

I'm submitting Simon Says stamp/Monday challenge. Also uploading it in Lawn Fawn's Flickr Friday. 

Hope y'all are having a nice week! 
Eve

Let's toast!

I made this card for my friend's birthday, who moved to CA, far away from here... 😢 

I really like this Lawn Fawn's stamp set. Well, I love "roasting marshmallows" (or just marshmallows! 😊 ) "Roasting marshmallows" remind me of "fall" in western PA. To me, it's a "Fall" thing. 🍂🍁
The leaves are also from Lawn Fawn. I used the clear nuvo drop for dew on the leaves. 

Congratulations to Astros fans. I don't follow MLB but I know how you feel, a little, being a die hard fan of a sport team, and they won this year (but we won last year, too... ) 55 years is a long wait.... Enjoy the celebration! 

Eve

Oct.31, 2017 Happy Halloween! Trick or Treat #3

"This is probably my 2nd time to buy A Card Kit in my over 25 years of stamping. I don't find interesting to use a kit when I'm creating, but this one, as soon as it was released, I placed the order! 😊 Except the big sheets of holographic stickers, I love them all, and I knew I could use them all. "

This is a card, made of different company's stamps, but the haunted house, spiders, and those little Nuvo Glow Drops, both apple sour and banana split are from this kit!  What inspired me for this card is those trick-or-treater image, already colored, I found it in my very old stash. It's SU! from early 2000s'! Wow, over 15 years ago! ... On the envelope, you can see the whole stamped image but I didn't stamp on the 3rd floor. No space for this already prepared regular card front size. I masked the house and the trick-or-treaters, and used a Stamp Camp back ground stamp, using a couple of Tim Holtz distress inks, splitzed with the water on the stamp. I found a spooky looking tree and bats from Lawn Fawn Halloween set, and I'm not sure what company but found the sentiment stamped and heat embossed already in my old stash. I used MFT stitched banner die for the sentiment, attached with the foam tape for the dimension. I found a little ghost plastic embellishment from my stash, and "painted" with "Nuvo Glow Drops Apple Sour". I also used "Nuvo Glow Drops Banana Split" on all the windows of the house.    

And this is how it looks in the dark...Spooky... fun! I really love these "glow in the dark" drops!  

I'm submitting this to Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge (Wed.version) and Simon Says Stamps Limited Edition Halloween 2017 Card Kit gallery. This isn't a challenge, just a gallery. 

Happy Halloween, Everyone! Have a safe & fun evening! 
Eve

Trick or Treat #2

"This is probably my 2nd time to buy A Card Kit in my over 25 years of stamping. I don't find interesting to use a kit when I'm creating, but this one, as soon as it was released, I placed the order! 😊 Except the big sheets of holographic stickers, I love them all, and I knew I could use them all." 

Another card, using this kit, and for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge ~ Photo inspiration. 

I love candy corn. My October tradition is to buy a bag of candy corn, and nibble them throughout the month of October. I love the Original flavor!

I used "Nuvo Glow Drops Banana Split" to "paint" over the yellow water coloring.  I used "Nuvo Glitter Drops" on all candies, and glossy accents on the caramel part of the caramel apples. 

This is how it looks in the dark, cool, huh? I like it a lot! 

I'm submitting this to Simon Says Stamps Limited Edition Halloween 2017 Card Kit gallery. This isn't a challenge, just a gallery. And, to Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge~Photo Inspiration. 

Hope you all are starting a great new week! 

Eve

"Fall Color" Birthday card!

Hello! 
The birthday of my friend in House Mouse group is coming up. I checked with HM challenge. One of DT at House -Mouse & Friend Challenge made a birthday card in fall color, and I decided to do the same 😊

I chose this image, as if those mice are heading to my friend's birthday party! 🎂

I used Lawn Fawn's background die to make the swirls on the background paper. Fall can be very windy, sometimes! I used LF's birch tree die and stitched leaf dies, cut them out, and distressed them. I wanted to give a bit more texture on the leaves, so I heat embossed, using the clear EP. I love the way they turned out 😊

This is the inside. I used this stencil, just inking the "plate" and "chocolate cake", added white embossing to the icing and candle parts, and used stickles for the flames. I used the wink of stella to give shimmers to all the confetti and ribbon but it's hard to tell on the picture. This mouse is also heading to my friend's birthday party! 😉 I stamped "party mouse" on the envelope, gave the shimmer to the hat also. It's now ready to be mailed! 

I'm submitting this to House Mouse challenge #252. 

Hope you all had a relaxing weekend! Thank you for stopping by my blog today 😊

Eve

Nature's beauty...

I love seeing deer. Although deer can be seen all year around, even on the tropical island of Guam which I've never seen, but then, I've never seen the infamous brown tree snakes (knock on wood), I l love seeing them in snowy winter... and I hate winter and snow, to live! lol.. .maybe I'm missing this scenery from western PA.. 

Christmas challenge at Simon Says Stamps Wednesday challenge, featuring Penny Black.  CAS & could be a card to a "male" friend. I could add more but on this, I didn't want to. Penny Black makes beautiful stamps, and you don't have to add much. ...only to make a beautiful background, trying to match these beautiful stamps. 😊 I didn't have acrylic paint nor reinker in white, so I used Uni ball white gel pen, to add those snow flakes. I even didn't want to use snow flakes stamps which I have because the tiniest one was still big to this scenery... 

But, I had to add something.. lol so, I added craft foam pad underneath of the front panel, to give a bit of dimension. 😊

I love this stamp set. I love the nature. I love the animals. ❤

Also submitting to the Penn Black Holiday head start challenge which is running from July 31 to Oct.29. 

Hope you all have a great long (in US) weekend. 

Eve

Happy Little Critters!

Update ~ This card was featured on the challenge, and I received this badge from the challenge. woohoo! 

This stamp set was released in summer, 2014. Ever since, I'd been wanting it esp. when the fall came, last 3 years. Finally I got it, and found the time to play. 😊 "S'more" is American invention which I love, although its real origin is unknown, but has been very popular at camp sites in US, since 1920's according to Wikipedia.You can have S'mores throughout the year, but to me, it's a "fall" thing. 🍁

I made this card for my friend's birthday. Also, I'm submitting to Lawn Fawnastics Challege #14 ~ Happy Little Critters. I love animals, and Lawn Fawn's critters are my favorites! 

Hope you all are having a nice Sunday evening.

Eve

Happy World Card Making Day 2017!

Yesterday was World Card Making day, and one of my fav. brands gave us four challenges. I finished the second challenge, which is to use their dies only, no stamping; MFT Die-namics designs.  Some months ago, I bought their Blue Print die set #20. It's amazing. I used to sew a lot, and found the "quilt printed" paper in my stash. This paper must be from over 10 years ago.. The camera doesn't catch the color of the heart which looks like silver, in the middle, but it's "dull gold".. I kept it from the package of something. hahaha. I often do, to cut out the beautiful part of packaging, keeping them in my stash. 😊 I placed the larger heart cut out from vellum underneath. I found a left over yarn from years ago, too. Recently I've been organizing my craft supplies, and finding so many things from "years ago", which I can use on my cards. 😊

Hope everyone had a great day, making a card or two 😉

Eve

It's Meow-lloween!

This is probably my 2nd time to buy A Card Kit in my over 25 years of stamping. I don't find interesting to use a kit when I'm creating, but this one, as soon as it was released, I placed the order! 😊 Except the big sheets of holographic stickers, I love them all, and I knew I could use them all. 

I used WOW "Glow in the dark EP" for the 1st time. Fun! The "fun swirly night sky background paper through the window" had a price tag on the back of this paper and the name of the stamp store. It was the store which closed over 13~14 (?) years ago, and the price was 75 cents for 12 x 12. Never used it, just "hoarded"! hahaha It was time to use! 😊 Some people don't like the black cat, so I used medium grey paper for a kitty. A kit comes with the die for this image 😊 I found another "oldies", the little witch shaker piece. It was the perfect size! I also bought a pack of Halloween postal stamps (the real one from USPS) and didn't use it at all last year, but this year, I'm using them! 

And this is how it looks in the dark. You can see a bit of stamped image in the natural lighting on the card. Cool, huh?! I love it!

I'm submitting this to Simon Says Stamps Limited Edition Halloween 2017 Card Kit gallery. This isn't a challenge, just a gallery. And, to Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge~A Walk on the Dark Side. 

Just realized. In US, it's a long weekend! (Columbus Day). Hope everyone is having a relaxing (& long if you are in US) weekend. 😊

Eve