Ballerina Happy Birthday Shaker Card

I recently had a request for some birthday cards that younger girls would like so I made this interactive shaker card. I stamped CAS-ual Friday's Tutu ballerina stamp in pink and cut it out with the matching die. I attached her to the pink polka-dotted cardstock base with an adhesive spring so she "dances" and added some pink floral gems. I die cut the Modern Happy die from Frantic Stampers and the "birthday" from a Sue Wilson set of dies. I layered some mounting tape around the word openings on the back and dumped in some beads and fun sequins. Here is a look at the shaker elements all shook up:

I am entering this card into the Anything Goes challenge at Scrapy Land.  Thanks for helping me #share the joy of creativity!

Video: Easy Sympathy Card with Inlaid Gold Wreath

Once in awhile we need a quick and easy but elegant sympathy or thinking of you card and in my newest YouTube video I share how to make this card with a beautiful die from Taylored Expressions and lovely stamp from Sprinkle 'N Sparkle. I inlaid the gold leaves (Gold Touch Mirri Sparkle Cardstock from The Paper Cut) and show you how to do that in the video. Here is a look at the inside with more beautiful dies and stamps:

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Scrapy Land.

For all the links to the products I used and other information, watch the video here and click "Show More" in the Description Box. Thanks for sharing, commenting, subscribing and for helping me #share the joy of creativity!

Creativation 2018 Pictures and Favorite Booths and Products Part Two

I love Tim Holtz and I admit it publicly. I love his creativity and it is so fun to watch him demo his products! I watched his sneak peak videos on Facebook Live and have already pre-ordered many of the new products especially the new distress resist spray. (Here is a link to a video so you can see why I am so excited about this product!) I also loved many of the new Tim Holtz Sizzix dies and 3D embossing folders and have ordered most of them. Can't wait to get them and play and share here and on my YouTube channel!

This collage shows Seth Apter demoing his new unique embossing powders which I have pre-ordered every one of;  a couple pictures of new stamp sets from Visible Image which I loved; the Studio Katia booth which is full of stamps, dies and sequin mixes high on my wish list; Marisa Job's new dies from Spellbinders and Marisa with my roomie Sheri Holt and me. Marisa showed how to use her dies and foamiran to make flowers and even I can make a lovely easy flower with the right material! I will share after I receive all the supplies.

There were some other favorite booths and products I loved but did not take pictures of. I will share more as I receive and design with the various products. They include: 

Nuvo and Tonic Studios: Oh my, wait until you see the new Nuvo products especially the Shimmer Powders mixed in the new colors of Aqua Flow Pens! Paula was demoing them in the Tonic Studios booth and I want them all! Their Trend Color combos and Craft Perfect papers are just gorgeous!

Rinea Foiled Double Sided Papers: I love unique papers and found Rinea Foiled Double Sided Papers in their booth and can't wait to try some. It is light weight and holds its shape and is easy to emboss and die cut. There are many different beautiful colors and patterns.

Stampendous: I have been a fan of Fran Seiford and Stampendous for a long time and am very excited about all the new stamps and dies and other products I saw in the Stampendous booth. They have a whole new line of mini clear stamps that are so reasonably priced and you should encourage your local shops to carry them! I also loved the new 6x6 and 8x8 background stamps!

Glue Dots: I use Glue Dots all the time on my cards and so I stopped in their booth to visit and learned more about their products. I found out that their Permanent Glue Tape is virtually invisible under vellum or acetate and so will have to try that. I have three sizes of Glue Dots on my desk at all times and often wonder how we crafted before they were invented?

Crafter's Companion: I stopped in the Crafter's Companion booth to learn about the Gemini Jr. I just purchased. My right wrist was badly broken a few years back and I have more and more arthritic pain, so I wanted to try an electronic die-cutting and embossing machine. I have limited space, so decided on the Gemini Jr and it came the very day I left for Creativation. In their booth, I was able to try the die-cutting and embossing sandwiches for my new machine and of course I loved all the new Die'sire dies and embossing folders too, so my wish list is very long. I will share my thoughts on my new Gemini Jr. as I get a chance to play and create projects with it.

I visited many other booths and saw so many other new products I loved as well, but I have to stop now or I will go broke! If you have any questions about anything I shared, please feel free to put them in the comments, and thanks for helping me #share the joy of creativity!

Creativation 2018 Pictures and Favorite Booths Part One

I just got home from Creativation 2018 (formerly know as CHA) and I had even more fun this year than last! I met so many creative people and learned so much and am super excited to see all the new products coming out this year for stampers and cardmakers!

I have created some collages of the photos I took in some of my favorite booths and classes and am sharing here with you today and tomorrow. My first collage is of pictures taken at the Therm O Web booth where new products from Gina K Designs and Therm O Web were introduced. As you know if you follow me here, I was lucky enough to receive some of the new Therm O Web and Gina K Designs products a little early and I designed some cards for their booth. To see the products and card samples better, be sure to watch my YouTube video here. 

My cards are some of those shown and the pictures also show Gina K doing a demo and me with my favorites of the new Gina K products.

If you follow me, you know that at last year's Creativation I discovered Uchi's Designs animated stamps and dies and I am a big fan. They have changed their name to Motion Crafts by Uchi's Designs and have come out with so many fantastic new animated stamps and dies that I have a huge wish list after visiting their booth and watching Lucianna demo them!

I took a class with Wendy Vecchi and Ranger and I told Wendy it was the best class I have ever taken at CHA- maybe ever anywhere! Ranger was unbelievably generous with the product we received, and the class was so well organized and I learned so much! Even I can blend inks if we have the right tools! The new detail blending tools are a must have in addition to our larger blending tools! I loved Wendy's new stamps with matching stencils! They even provided us with a Ranger apron to cover our clothes- we are supposed to wear dressier (business casual) clothing to the convention and so taking a class that can be messy is difficult. So I will take my new Ranger apron along the next time I go! 

I will post more pictures as well as a list of my favorite booths and new products without pictures tomorrow, so be sure to come back. Thanks for helping me share the joy of creativity!

Card Samples from Gina K Designs Creativation Release Video

I made a tri-shutter card with the new stamps, dies, foils and Foil-Mates that Gina K Designs and Therm O Web released at Creativation for the Therm O Web booth there. I snapped some pictures before I left and scheduled these blog posts, but the best place to see the new products and all my card samples is here in this YouTube video just posted. Here is another card I made with the new products from Gina K Designs and Therm O Web:

Love that vine leafy Foil-Mate background and all the stamps and dies in the "Where the Flowers Bloom" matching sets! Here is another card I made with Gina K's new products:

The sentiments in this set of stamps are awesome! I am out of time so will close, but will share more when I am back from Creativation!

I am entering the 2nd card in the Layer It Up challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday. Thanks for helping me #share the joy of creativity!

Card Samples from the Video of the CHA Release from Therm O Web

I am on my way home from Creativation (formally CHA) and have scheduled some blog posts with more pictures of the cards I designed for the Therm O Web booth there with the new products they sent me. Today I am sharing the projects I made with the new Deco Foil Clear Designer Toner Sheets from Therm O Web. I am fascinated with these clear acetate sheets with patterns on them made of toner so when you run them through your laminator with foil, you have gorgeous foiled clean acetate sheets! Then you can run the foil through again with a black toner sheet to get another gorgeous image of the negative left on the foil! I did that for the two projects in my first picture and the floral pattern continues from the clear acetate to the darker frame. 

I will be doing a video of my favorite of the projects I designed including the shaker card and matching box above, so be sure to check back later for that. And I will share links to the new products as soon as they are available.

Here are two more cards I made with the Distressed Lines and Pinstripes Clear Designer Toner Sheets and new colors of Deco Foil. Loving the Gold and Silver Shattered Glass Foil! I attached the acetate sheets to the cardstock with micro glue dots so the adhesive did not show.

I am entering the last card in the Add a Sentiment challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday.

To see all the cards I made with the new products from Therm O Web and Gina K, click this link and watch the video here. Thanks for watching, subscribing, commenting and sharing, and thanks too for helping me #share the joy of creativity!

Video: Gina K & Therm O Web New Product Release with Samples!

I am in Phoenix right now at Creativation (formerly CHA) and will share all the fun new products and everything I learned there on this blog and on my YouTube channel soon. But before I left, I was thrilled to receive a box of new products being released at Creativation by Therm O Web and Gina K Designs and I was able to design with them and bring what I made to CHA for the Therm O Web booth! I made a video of the unboxing of all the new products and then added a later segment where I show all the projects I made before I brought them to Phoenix. You can watch the video here to see all the fun new products and the projects I made.

I loved everything I received, but was most fascinated with a brand new product from Therm O Web called Deco Foil Clear Designer Toner Sheets. Several of them are shown in the picture above, but they are clear thick acetate sheets with patterns made of toner which can be foiled and are hard to photograph. The one on the left has been foiled with blue foil. Here is a picture of the projects I made with all the products:

No time to go into details right now, but I will blog and do some YouTube videos with all the cards. In the meantime, please watch my newest video here to see all the new products from Gina K Designs and Therm O Web and each of the projects I made, and thanks for helping me share the joy of creativity!

Anything Goes 4 Kids OR Thank You Cards at SAS4Kids

It’s Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This year, all challenges at SAS4Kids are Anything Goes 4 Kids! We will have an alternative theme that you can choose to follow, but are not required to. Create and link any card that is appropriate for a child and your card could be chosen as one of our top three cards and you could join us as a guest dt member on a future challenge.

The theme for this challenge is: Anything Goes 4 Kids OR Thank  You Cards.  I stamped the background of my thank you card with some fun stamps from MFT and Verve in various colors of bright ink. Then I die cut "thanks" using an alphabet die set from Altenew out of the stamped card front and also out of white fun foam. I glued them together and placed the letters back in the holes (this technique is called the Eclipse Technique by many on line.) I added some colorful gems to complete the thank you card.

I am entering this card in the Kids Kards challenge at Dies R Us and the Add a Sentiment challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday.

Forever Love Stencilled Card from My Latest You Tube Video

I am just loving how the second easy love stencil card from my latest YouTube video turned out! It would be perfect for a wedding card or a love card for your sweetie. It was so easy to make- I just sponged red ink over a beautiful Heart Mandalla stencil from Simon Says Stamp, then die cut the Moda Scrap Lace Heart from Elizabeth Crafts out. I sponged the edges and put it right back in the space created when I die cut it out. I layered the square card front on a large square cardbase and added "forever" from Stamplorations. 

On the inside, I cut a Heart Sprinkle Trail from Simon Says Stamp. It was so easy to make these love cards with stencils and I show them step by step in my latest video here. Click on the link to watch, subscribe and share. 

I am off to Phoenix for Creativation (CHA) and the blog will be pretty quiet while I am gone. Tune in Saturday for SAS4Kids and Monday for a new video and blogpost about exciting new products being released by Therm O Web and Gina K at CHA! Thanks for helping me #share the joy of creativity!                                                                         

Video: Easy Love Cards with Stencils

Plaid is all the rage right now and in my latest YouTube video I share how to use stencils to make this warm and cozy love card that looks like flannel jammies. I used a stencil from Stamplorations and red and black inks to create the flannel plaid look. I die cut LOVE from MFT Die-namics and raised it on black foam before attaching back in the die cut spaces. "Warm and cozy" was stamped with alphabet dies from Concord & 9th and I added a couple of grey pearls. Here is a peak at the inside of the card I made for my husband for Valentine's Day:        
               

I will post another easy love card with stencils tomorrow, but to see both and how they were made, click this link to see the video. Thanks for subscribing, commenting and sharing, and thanks, too, for helping me share the #joy of creativity!

Animated Rudolph Card from Latest YouTube Techniques Class

I make and teach Christmas cards all year round so I have no last minute pressure to get some made before Christmas. In my latest YouTube techniques class video posted here, I show this jolly animated Christmas card with some cute stamps and dies from Uchi's Designs, Stamplorations and Simon Says Stamp. When you pull on the tab, Rudolph's legs move as I try to show here:

But the animation and movement is much easier to see in the video, so be sure to watch it here. If you watch it, leave a comment and are a new or returning subscriber who has an USA mailing address, you could win the three animated cards shown in the video! This contest ends when I post the new February techniques class video.

I am entering this card in the Use Patterned Paper challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday.

Reminder: be sure to enter my huge blogaversary giveaway - just click the picture on the top right of my blog to find out how you could win! Thanks for helping me share the #joy of creativity!

YouTube Techniques Class- Stamps that Move from Uchi's Designs

On my latest YouTube video, I share three cards on which the stamps move when the tab is pulled! To find out how to use the newest Motion Crafts Uchi's Designs stamps and dies to make an animated card, click this link and watch the new video. Here are a couple more pictures to try to show the wheels moving and the inside of the card:

You can win the three cards I show in this YouTube techniques class simply by being a subscriber on my YouTube channel and leaving a comment on this video (if you have a USA mailing address.) And don't forget to enter the blogaversary contest going on until the end of January for a chance to win the huge prize shown at the top right of this blog!


I am entering this card in the Something New challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday. (All the Uchi's Designs stamps are new.)

Thanks for helping me share the #joy of creativity!

YouTube Video- How To Create Cards with Stamps That Move!

See how the heart changed to a "love you" in this butterfly card featuring Uchi's Designs stamps and dies? The butterfly wings also flap as the tab is pulled up. Isn't that cool? I have been fascinated with the animated stamps and dies from Uchi's Designs (now Motion Crafts) ever since I saw them in their booth at last year's CHA (or Creativation.) The original stamps and grids had to be black to work properly, but later last year they came out with die cuts that could be cut in any color and the stamping of their animated stamps can be in color too! I share how to make this card step by step in my latest YouTube video here. I personalized the card using script stamps from Concord & 9th which you can find here and here.

Here is a look at the inside of this card. For links to all the products used and to see how easy it is to make this card, click on this link.

I am sharing how to make this card on my newest YouTube video here and to really see the butterfly wings flap and the "love you" change to a heart, you will want to watch the video. I show two other cards in the video too and you can win all three cards simply by being a subscriber on my YouTube channel and leaving a comment on this video before I post the February techniques class. (Sorry- open to US residents only.)

I am entering this card in the Something New challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday. (All the Uchi's Designs stamps are new.)

Be sure to come back tomorrow and Thursday to see the other two animated cards I share in the video. Thanks for sharing, subscribing and commenting, and thanks too for helping me #share the joy of creativity!