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Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Picket Fence Studios

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Picket Fence Studios published on 7 Comments on Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Picket Fence Studios

Today is Crafty Friends Blog Hop day! I’m thrilled to say that we celebrating Picket Fence Studios, a long time favorite of mine. I also have a bit of news. This is our last hop as a group. We have so loved sharing our favorite companies with you! I hope you will enjoy this last hop.

I am such a fan of the BFF Girls and this BFF Kate is one I reach for over and over. Something about her cool attitude makes me want to be her. I gave her a cute fall outfit and added a background that seemed to accent her.

I used the Fairy Wings stencil to add a little bit of detail. After inking the side of the front with Distress Ink, I then added black ink with the stencil. An easy and fun way to add texture and I love this design. Finally I picked a sentiment from the Simply Wonderful stamp set. Love a good sentiment set!

I’m happy to add a shopping code for this hop too! Use CRAFTYFRIENDS20 either today or tomorrow (Sept 20 – 21) for a 20% discount. I have linked my affiliate link and I appreciate you shopping with me (click the button or the code).

Now on to the rest of the hop. I’m sending you to the fabulous Tanya Boser. Here is the whole list in case you get lost.

Thanks so much for dropping by today! Again, I sad that this is the end of an era but crafty friends are the best of friends so you will see us all around!

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Ellen Hutson Essentials

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Ellen Hutson Essentials published on 7 Comments on Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Ellen Hutson Essentials

I’m so excited that today is Crafty Friends Blog Hop day! We are celebrating Ellen Hutson today with a focus on Ellen Hutson Essentials. Our timing is particularly great because Ellen Hutson is holding The Summer of Stamping event and today there is a new release (along with many other fun reveals all month).

I just recently got the Be the Change Stamp Set and coordinating dies and the first thing I thought to do with it was to create “real” lightning bugs. I mean, who can resist with such a cute image and the perfect sentiment? Want to see it lit up?

I LOVE THEM!! With a card like this, the best way to explain how to make it is to show you. So I created a video on how I built my circuit using the Chibitronics kit. If you have any questions after watching, let me know. These are just so fun to make and I highly recommend it when you want to create something special.

I am so happy to share this shopping code that is good for today and tomorrow (July 20 and 21, 2020). Just click the button above to shop and use the code: CRAFTYFRIENDS. I have linked my affiliate link and appreciate you shopping with me.

Now to the rest of the hop. I’m sending you to my friend Amy Kolling and I know you will love what she created. Here is the whole hop in case you get lost along the way.

I hope you enjoy our hop and have fun shopping too! Thank you so much for stopping in today. Let me know what you think about my lightning bugs! See you soon.

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Honey Bee Stamps

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Honey Bee Stamps published on 12 Comments on Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Honey Bee Stamps

My second post of today because it is a busy week! It is Crafty Friends Blog Hop day! This month we are showcasing products made with Honey Bee Stamps. They are another of those companies that are such great stamping community members and I am thrilled to be a part of celebrating them.

I was in need of some less “girly” birthday cards and the Piece of Cake Stamp Set was the perfect answer. So many fantastic options! I colored the cupcake with Copic and put it up on its very own little pedestal.

Isn’t it fun? The sentiment is from the same set and I thought a little banner was perfect for it. I found this cute patterned paper in my stash that matched the scallops of the holder. And it was in green, clearly meant to be!

I continue to be so thrilled that companies are working with us to give you discounts for our hops. Shop with Honey Bee Stamps on May 20 – 21 and use the code CRAFTYFRIENDS20 at checkout to get a 20% Discount. Click the graphic above to get to the shop.

Now on to the rest of the hop. I’m thrilled to send you to my friend Amy Kolling. Here is the list in case you get lost along the way:

I hope you enjoy this hop as much as we do! Thanks for stopping in for my second project. Don’t forget to go check out today’s release peek from SugarPea Designs too. See you tomorrow!

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Trinity Stamps + Discount Code

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Trinity Stamps + Discount Code published on 5 Comments on Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Trinity Stamps + Discount Code

So happy to be here today with Crafty Friends Blog Hop day! We have another amazing company for our focus this month: Trinity Stamps.

I just fell in love with this sweet little set called Hopeful Flowers. That little watering can with the flowers captured me! I colored it using my Copic Markers and cut it out with the coordinating dies. In order to keep focus on the petite image, I kept the rest of the card simple.

The Thank You Senti-mini set has these “go-with” sentiments for the Thanks and Thank You. This one seemed just right for the flowers. I sponged on a little ink in a happy yellow for a bit of a halo effect and added Polkadot Party: Shiny and Matte White Confetti Mix sequins.

I continue to be so thrilled that companies are working with us to give you discounts for our hops. Shop with Trinity Stamps on Feb 20 – 21 and use the code CRAFTYFRIENDS20 at checkout to get a 20% Discount. Click the graphic above to get to the shop.

Now on to the rest of the hop. I’m thrilled to send you to the lovely and talented Jenny Hall. Here is the list in case you get lost along the way:

I hope you enjoy the hop as much as we do. Thanks so much for stopping in today!

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Gina K. Designs + Discount Code

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Gina K. Designs + Discount Code published on 5 Comments on Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Gina K. Designs + Discount Code

One of the best days of the month is here! Crafty Friends day! My friends and I have a company focus this month on the fabulous Gina K. Designs and I’m so thrilled. Not only do I love her designs, but I have come to see that Gina herself is such a leader in the industry on how to succeed in business and still be amazingly kind and generous. Now THAT is something to celebrate for sure!

I chose the Tropical Blooms stamp set to work with since it remains a favorite of mine. Something about this image and the sentiments just simply works. I stamped the image onto watercolor paper with Versamark ink and then heat embossed with gold powder. The raised embossing helps contain the water and made this quick coloring even easier. I used coral and rose Daniel Smith watercolor paints to create a bit of variance in the petals. Then I played with a couple of greens and a bit of blue for the leaves. Nothing particularly fancy because I wanted the colors to remain pale on the flowers.

To help them pop a bit, I decided to blend on some green Distress Inks onto another watercolor paper layer. I started with Twisted Citron Oxide but it wasn’t the right shade. So I added some Peeled Paint regular Distress Ink over it to get it right. That is the beauty of these inks, they blend and mix and they are not overly persnickety. I cut the panel out with an old Pretty Pink Posh scalloped rectangle (it must be retired, I could not find it to link). I stamped on part of the sentiment and then used the die set for part too. All of the cut outs were popped up using my favorite Foam Squares by Gina K. Designs. For this I used white but they also have black ones that are great for those dark panels and images. Finally, after some playing around, I decided the base needed some ink too so I brushed Tattered Rose Oxide Ink onto it.

I continue to be so thrilled that companies are working with us to give you discounts for our hops. Shop with Gina K. Designs on Feb 20 – 22 and use the code CRAFTYFRIENDS20 at checkout to get a 20% Discount. Click the graphic above to get to her shop.

Now on to the rest of the hop. I’m thrilled to send you to the lovely and talented Amy Kolling. Here is the list in case you get lost along the way:

I hope you enjoy the hop as much as we do. Thanks so much for stopping in today!

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Picket Fence Studios

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Picket Fence Studios published on 5 Comments on Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Picket Fence Studios

Hi everyone! It is Crafty Friends day and I’m thrilled to be sharing that our hop focuses on one of my favorite companies, Picket Fence Studios! If you are new to the hop, welcome. We are a group of friends who have a similar craft background and wanted to work together to share inspiration each month.

I had a hard time narrowing down what to use for this hop but thought that a focus on the “BFF Girls” was a great place to start. I love this whole line and “Kate” is one of my favorites. I created the background with the Watercolor Brush Strokes stencil and some Hero Hues ink.

I colored “Kate” in a coordinating green Copic color and worked on some distressed jeans for her. After coloring her pants, I dabbed some Blending Solution with a piece of terry cloth to create texture. I love this when I remember to do it and it is such fun! The sentiment is from the set called Your Eyeliner Straight and is a new favorite of mine (also part of a current gift special from Picket Fence Studios!). It seems perfect for this fashionista too.

As you have come to expect, we have a 20% discount code that is good for Jan 20th – 21st. Just use the code CRAFTYFRIENDS20 when you shop. Click the graphic above to go straight to the shop.

Now on to the rest of the hop. I’m thrilled to send you to Jenny Hall who is next in the rotation. And here is the list in case you get lost along the way.

I hope you enjoy all the inspiration from the hop this month. Make sure you go over and see all the new products that have been announced at Creativation by Picket Fence Studios. You are going to fall in love with them!

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – The Stamp Market

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – The Stamp Market published on 10 Comments on Crafty Friends Blog Hop – The Stamp Market

Welcome to the November blog hop with my Crafty Friends, my second of two posts today! This month we are excited to bring you inspiration from The Stamp Market. I have only recently discovered this company and I’ll tell you what, I LOVE their products. They have a clean, fresh vibe that I can’t resist.

So I fell in love with the Leaves Cover Die the second I saw it. And this is why! Just look at what you can do. I cut the leaves out of watercolor paper and then simply added color. I was playing with fall colors earlier in the month for a background and decided I needed to stretch the idea a bit. I used my Daniel Smith watercolors in yellows, oranges and red and just kept adding paint until it was right. I cut the sentiment out of more watercolor paper with the Lots of Leaves Dies and added the same colors to it. In order to help it pop a bit, I added another die cut of the sentiment underneath.

Here you can see the watercolored panel that I cut down to use inside the card. It is uncolored near the top and there is plenty of room for a note on the lighter parts. As we approach Thanksgiving, this card simply reflects all that is nice about fall in Virginia.

As with previous months, we have a discount that is being offered via our hop. Click on the graphic for a link right to The Stamp Market. Note that there are some restrictions but there is also a sale through November 22nd on the new Color Crush line using code COLORCRUSH20.

Now on to the rest of the hop. I’m thrilled to send you to Amy Kolling, who is next in the rotation. And here is the list in case you get lost along the way.

I hope that you love this month’s inspiration as much as we love sharing it. Make sure to leave us a note to tell us what you think. Let me know if there is a company you’d like to see us collaborate with in the future too!

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Ellen Hutson

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Ellen Hutson published on 6 Comments on Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Ellen Hutson

Welcome to the October hop with my Crafty Friends! I cannot even tell you how excited I am about this month’s featured company. I have been a long time fan of Ellen Hutson and what a thrill to have their team support our hop. For those of you new to this hop, we are a group of friends with a similar beginning in stamping who became friends. Each month on the 20th, we will share inspiration with a focus on one company.

As I mentioned earlier this week, my crafting time this month is pretty much gone due to training on a new plane. But before I left, I just had to pull out the amazing Mondo Holly set to use for this hop. I LOVE this big, gorgeous image! Ok, in truth, I love ALL of the Mondo images from Ellen Hutson. They are so fun to color and are perfect for practicing all kinds of coloring.

I used this coloring as a “brain break” while I was studying leading up to my training. I love just playing with shading! I first stamped the image in Momento Tuxedo Black onto Simon Says Stamp white card stock using my Misti. I always worry about embossing powder with my Copics so it was easy enough just to stamp with a known ink. I started with greens and kept adding richer colors until it had the depth I wanted. They I went to the reds and did the same. Finally a bit of brown for the stem. Then more magic. I went back to the Misti, used some anti-stick powder and over stamped the image with Versamark Ink. Then I heat embossed using Gold Rich Embossing Powder from WOW. Oooooh…..aaaaahh! Using the coordinating die, I cut out the image.

For the card base I stamped the sentiment from the same set in Versamark and heat embossed again but thought it needed a little something else. So I used a technique I learned from a dear friend, Lisa Curcio. As seems to happen in the world of stamping, we were apparently working on similar cards at the same time. She told me about her technique of using watered down liquid glue to create splatters for heat embossing. Well isn’t that smart?! I gave it a go and you can see the result. I used a small paint brush instead of a water pen (an old one used for messy techniques) and it worked perfectly. I did find that it took a little longer to get the powder to set versus using ink but otherwise quite easy.

As you have seen in previous months, we have a Crafty Friends discount code to share with you (what awesome generosity!). Click the button above and use the code CRAFTYFRIENDS20 for a 20% discount on the Ellen Hutson Essentials Line for two days, today and tomorrow (Oct 20-21). There are so many wonderful products in this Essentials Line so happy shopping!

Now on to the rest of the hop. I’m thrilled to send you to Amy Kolling, who is next in the rotation. And here is the list in case you get lost along the way.

I hope you love all the inspiration on the hop! Please let us know what you think and if you have any favorite companies you’d like to see featured!

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Hero Arts

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Hero Arts published on 10 Comments on Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Hero Arts

Welcome to our second month of the Crafty Friends Blog Hop! For those new to our hop, we are a group who had a similar beginning in the crafting world and had the good fortune to become friends.

We will feature a different company on the 20th of each month. I’m super excited that we are focusing on Hero Arts for September!

I chose to use some of their new Christmas products as I start to get more serious about making holiday cards. The Paper Layering Poinsettia Die is absolutely a dream to use. These were cut from Bristol Smooth paper and watercolored with Daniel Smith paints. The process is super easy to do but the look of watercoloring makes them feel special. Each flower is unique and you could make a stack of these super fast (no one needs to know it was quick!).

I combined the die set with a sentiment from the Color Layering Nordic Tree stamp set. It is stamped on black card stock with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. The patterned paper is from my stash but I like the little bit of texture that didn’t draw the eye from the gorgeous flower.

As part of our fun today, Hero Arts has generously offered a discount for shopping through the Crafty Friends for today and tomorrow (Sep 20 and 21). Click the coupon above and then use the code Craftyfriends20.

Now on to the rest of the hop. I’m thrilled to send you to Amy Kolling, who is next in the rotation. And here is the list in case you get lost along the way.

We hope you are inspired by this month’s hop and all of the Hero Arts products! Thank so much for stopping in!

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Concord and 9th

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Concord and 9th published on 10 Comments on Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Concord and 9th

Welcome to something brand new! I am so excited to share with you a new monthly blog hop. We all know that crafty friends are some of the best friends so what better than a Crafty Friends Blog Hop?! Who are these stampers? A group who had similar beginnings in stamping and had the good fortune of becoming friends.

We will feature a different company on the 20th of each month. To start it off this month, I could not be more thrilled to say that our featured company is Concord & 9th. I’ve been a fan of theirs since the beginning and I love that they are celebrating with us this month.

I wanted to create a card for a recently engaged couple in my family and thought this was the perfect time. I started with the wreath and elements from the Furry Friends Stamp Set. Armed with some amazing WOW! embossing powders, I inked up the stamps with Versamark Ink and then embossed in Rose Glintz, Oyster Glintz and Platinum to create this gorgeous color palette.

Let’s fact it, no embossing ever shows its best in a photo but I tried to capture the shine on an angle so you could see more. Using the Rose Glintz again, I chose a sentiment from the Give Thanks Stamp Set for the center of the wreath. I found this older printed paper from Simon Says Stamp in my stash and found it went perfectly with the Rose.

So now on to more fun! As part of the celebration, Concord and 9th has shared a limited time discount for shopping with the Crafty Friends. YES!!! Click on the graphic above and use the code CRAFTYFRIENDS20

Now on to the rest of the hop. Jenny Hall is next in the rotation if you did not start at the beginning. And here is the list in case you get lost along the way.

We hope you are as excited about this new inspiration as we are. Thank so much for joining in today!

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