Monday, April 24, 2023

Pinkfresh Studio April 2023 Stamp, Die, Stencil, and Hot Foil Release


Hi Friends! Oh boy, was I excited to see the April release from Pinkfresh!! As insanely beautiful as their floral sets are, most of the cards I send are for birthdays, and most of those birthdays are for men/boys. So when I saw all the new birthday sets, done in typical grand Pinkfresh fashion, I was absolutely stalking the mailman!

You may have come from Karin's beautiful blog, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with the Pinkfresh Studio blog.

There are lots of balloon stamp sets on the market, so what makes this a Pinkfresh balloon set? Oversized to cover the card? Yep. Coordinating stencils to easily color them? Yep! Adorable FLOWERS and streamers on the bottoms? Yep yep yep!! Ribbons Balloons is perfectly Pinkfresh!



Check out all the dimension with the die-cut streamers! To match waves of the streamers I choose the scallop panel underneath. 


Also love how closely cut the sentiment die is. Embossing the sentiment on vellum makes it appear as if it's floating and maximizes how much of the card below is visible. This comes in handy when layering it over the balloon strings that I didn't want to hide. 


The balloons are perfectly sized for a slimline card, but how do they look on an A2 card ...



Still a great size. 

Here's another die cut sentiment - love that it doesn't cover the pretty balloon colors. For the background panel I wanted to make it look a little more festive so I did a quick stitch around the edges with gold thread. 



The card base is made from the stencil of another new set, the Rosettes, which is featured on the next card:

So festive! And I love that there are so many different ways you can use them. 


This card features 3 different ways to use these:
1) As intended (like the yellow and pink rosettes) with two different colors from the stencils, and die cut so you can layer them around your card;
2) Stitched (like the green, blue and orange rosettes with gold thread); and
3) Folded (like the red rosette) where I cut out the center and then was able to fold the rosettes back and forth along the dashed lines. 


These will be such great items to add in the background of birthday and celebratory cards. Just like my next card:


Don't you think the top bits of rosettes make the card a bit more festive? OK, and this cake from the Sweet Day Stamp! With the tiny banners! That are die cut!! Eeeep!


The layered stencils make coloring this cake a breeze. For the chocolate cake portion, I flicked brown watercolor while the stencil was still in place to make the crumbs. 


And it comes with a hot foil plate, which looks amazing, especially with all the icing detail. This will be one I use for many of my male birthday cards.


It really was a joy to work on these festive cards, and I can't wait to make more with different color combinations! 

PS, I did just a few days later ...


My friend's 50th birthday was this weekend, and naturally I had to make a feminine version of this card! 


I wanted it to match the rose gold and pink decorations I made for the big dinner her husband planned.  



My friend wasn't thrilled with turning 50, so I thought saying "50 Birthday Wishes" might sound better than "Happy 50th Birthday" lol

GIVEAWAY:

If you're the lucky one, you'll receive a giant box with the FULL RELEASE! 

Or there are also ten $25 gift cards to win! 

Winners will be picked from the comments on my blog and along the entire 

hop, and posted on May 3, 2023 on the Pinkfresh GIVEAWAY PAGE. 

You must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks. Good luck!

I'm sending you to the one and only Laura Bassen, who has wonderful things to share!

Here's the complete list if you need to hop somewhere else:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

Supplies Used (thanks for your support!!):

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Colorado Craft Company - Free Digi Stamp! BOGO all Digi Stamps!


Hello Friends! Wanted to let you know there's one more day to take advantage of a Buy One Get One Free sale on a new product offering at Colorado Craft Company - digital stamps! They have added existing stamp sets to their digital library (80 so far, more on the way), so if you were on the fence about a particular set, this might be a nice way to try it out!

Here's where you need to go: Digi Stamps


And if you are on the fence about digital stamps in general, there is a free download of this set today only! Might as well give it a try : )

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

Thursday, April 6, 2023

Altenew 9th Anniversary Blog Hop Day 2 + Giveaway (over $2,500 in Total Prizes)


Hello Friends! And a big HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY to one of my very favorite companies - Altenew! As hard as it is to believe it's been nine years, next year will be a decade!! Let that sink in : ) They really are a great company with high quality products that are in craft rooms around the world. I'm so pleased to be celebrating them today! 

You may have come from the sweet blog of Rosie Neustaedter, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with the Altenew blog. 

In thinking what to make in celebration of this big event, I decided to turn to my "extras" pile. I figured that it held a year's worth of scraps, so it would be the perfect way to celebrate this past year of Altenew! In the middle of this photo is the paper I used to mop up leftover paint on a sprayed stencil (Elegant Swirls Stencil) - yep, that's the one I want to use. I also picked up the uncolored flower die and the gold "thanks" frame.

And this is the result! I thought the light olive background color would go well with yellow, so that's what I picked for the flowers from one of my favorite sets Precious Peony. And a dash of purple! 

I often like curling the edges of my focal point and only adhering it in the middle to the base for an extra bit of dimension.


Building on that idea, I adhered the gold "thanks" frame from the Framed Thanks Die so that the edges came in a bit, popping the "thanks" up.  


On the bottom section of the gold frame I added some vellum, which may be a bit difficult to see here, and gems. 


9th Anniversary Special Offers

  • 4/5/2023-4/6/2023: Enjoy FREE U.S. shipping with code HAPPY9TH or $9 OFF shipping on international orders over $29 with code ANNIV23 at checkout and receive a FREE brand-new Playful Wildflower 3D Embossing Folder ($8.99 value) on orders over $69. Shop here: https://altenew.com/

  • 4/3/2023-4/10/2023: FREE Mini Blending Brush Set(worth $26.99) with every order of the brand-new Billowing Peonies Complete Bundle. Shop here: https://altenew.com/products/billowing-peonies


Giveaway Prizes

Over $2,500 in total prizes! Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 10 lucky winners. There are also 24 awesome companies/crafty friends who are celebrating with us, and they are offering the following prizes:

 

 

Be sure to leave comments by 4/16/2023 for a chance to win one of 56 prizes! To make the hop more exciting, start your comment with "Hi from (city or country where you're from)!" 56 winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the blogs on this hop and will be announced on the Altenew Blog on 4/21/2023.


I'm happy to send you to the very sweet Sathya Kala who no doubt has something very festive to share with you!


In case you need other links, below is a list of all participants in the hop:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
Thanks for stopping by! -Kelly


Supplies used (affiliate links at no cost to you, thanks for your support!):


Precious Peony


Framed Thanks Die

Elegant Swirls Stencil

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Altenew Celebrating Parents Card Drive

Hello Friends! Wanted to quickly share a card I made for the Alenew Celebrating Parents Card Drive! You can find out more information about this worthy event at the main Altenew blog post. We have an instagram hop going on now if you want to catch that for a chance at some prizes and more inspo!


For this card I really wanted to amp up the white textured background with this combination of different looks:

I don't think you can ever go wrong with too many layers. If something looks missing on your card, or you feel it's not "done" yet, consider adding a layer to it somewhere. 


And of course the bouquet is so happy-feeling! It's from Our Friendship Blooms which has a beautiful stamp, stencil and die set.

If you have some cards gathering dust on your shelves, or feel inspired to make a few sets, please consider the Caring Parents card drive. They would really appreciate and treasure your handmade cards!

Thanks for stopping by!
Kelly

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Colorado Craft Company Anita Jeram Summer Garden - Cutest Bunnies Ever!!!

Hello Friends! Oh my, if you've been hopping along the Colorado Craft Company blog hop for Anita Jeram's newest Summer Garden release, you're probably on cuteness overload by now! Anita is probably best known for her bunnies, and this release has all of them!! 

You may have come from Kassi Hulet, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with Colorado Craft Company.


There are several different sets featuring different characters, the Carrot On set has this adorable bunny triumphantly holding his carrot high! I love this sentiment that comes with the set and thought it would be fun to make an actual heart that is full of carrots.
 


I used a very small amount of color for the carrots as I wanted the main image to be the focus. Popping the bunny up with foam tape is another way to give it focus.



You'll notice I stamped the bunny directly on the heart as well so the fringe on the scarf and the whiskers on the bunny show. Unfortunately, they didn't make it through my fussy cutting : )



Here's another super cute bunny, but what put me over the edge was the sentiment ... "Totally ROOTING for You" lol! This is from the, no surprise, Rooting for You set. 


This little guy is so darn sassy pulling up his beets, with his little hip swagger. Adore!! He's standing in a bit of ombre grass patches, helped by the Greener Grass set. 


The background is from an oldie but goodie Stripes and Dots Background which is great for creating your own striped background in the exact colors you need. I like that it has little dots around the thin stripe so it looks like you perfectly stippled the background.


Finally, this Summer Garden Background is for those who are indecisive. Not sure which critter is your fave from this release?! Get them all! Yep, they're all here on the background, in a smaller version.


"You're never too old to play in the dirt" hahaha, what a fun and different message to send someone! 



Prizes!
This release is so amazing we're doing three different giveaways! Enter as many times as you'd like until March 19th. Winners announced on March 21st. Good luck!!

Giveaway 1: All designers will be giving away a stamp set from this release (your choice) to a lucky winner that we will draw from all the comments left on their social media hangouts. Leave a comment, follow or like and be sure to join their email lists too.
Giveaway 2:
We'll be giving away a complete bundle of this release to one randomly chosen winner that has placed an order using your favorite designer's affiliate link. So many chances to win! 

Giveaway 3:
We'll be giving away 3 sets to 3 randomly chosen winners on Instagram. To enter visit our Instagram post at: https://www.instagram.com/coloradocraftcompany/ for details.


Next I'd love to send you to the lovely Kelly Taylor who's got some really fabulous eye candy to share!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

Supplies used (including affiliate links, thanks so much for your support!)