Rubeena's Crafting Anniversary Blog Hop

Hello Folks! I'm thrilled to be a part of Rubeena's Crafting Anniversary bash ... a time for all of us to celebrate creating amazing things, sharing them with this beautiful community, and supporting each other in our various crafting journeys. You should have arrived here from the lovely Emily Midgett. If not, feel free to start at the beginning with Rubeena's blog. 

I briefly met Rubeena at Creativation in January this year. After I got back home I looked her up and just couldn't believe all the inspiring projects she's posted on Instagram. Hello, color! Since then I've been a follower, and half the time I'm commenting on her magazine-worthy photography (and her props, including my all-time favorite prop I've ever seen for card photos ... a wrapped circle of variegated pink/mauve felted balls.) The other half the time I'm trying to do math to figure out how she has the time to make so many masterpieces on such a regular basis! Rubeena is truly a gem, as her blog tag line implies : )

My crafting story began as a little girl learning at her grandma's feet, and has continued pretty constantly to this day. I started blogging to have an outlet for my crafting. Sometimes I was so over-the-moon excited about a project that I'd be busting at the seams to share it with someone. Usually it was my husband since he's the only one around after midnight (I'm an insane night owl), but his polite "oh, good job's" were never what I was really looking for. Now that I've been blogging for almost 7 years, it's hard to imagine not being a part of this community. It's gone through a lot of changes in that time, with the online idea-sharing crippling the paper crafting magazine industry (I miss walking into Barnes & Noble and showing my kids the latest Paper Crafts magazine ... they were really young and thought I was famous!) and with the move to Instagram where it's so much easier to scroll through a bunch of photos than read long blog posts. The one thing that hasn't changed, however, is all the ridiculously supportive people in our community. I've been lucky to meet many friends in person, and hope to meet some more coming up soon in January for Creativation 2019!

Alrightly, on with the show! 

I knew immediately that I had to make something in honor of Rubeena's lovable style for this celebration. It had to be bright and colorful. It had to have lots of ink. It had to have white sentiments on black cardstock. It had to be photographed with nature elements. It had to have a great sentiment.

 

This card continues my experimentation with Brutus Monroe's collection of Ken Oliver's Color Burst powders. Talk about fun!!

If you haven't played with these before, you have to see what happens when you sprinkle the powders on watercolor paper that's been pre-moistened! Super fun to watch. You never know what you're going to end up with.

 Once I sprinkled the color, I misted the paper a few more times to get the water to pool on the paper. This way I could tilt the paper back and forth to create that movement in the color. I was really happy with the colorful panel, but I didn't know what kind of sentiment to put with it, until I came to Lea Lawson's blog on Rubeena's Day 1 hop. She used a sentiment from Winnie & Walter's Kindness with Evelin T set that I hadn't used before, modifying the "your" stamp to be "you." I knew this was the ABSOLUTE PERFECT sentiment for Rubeena. She really does scatter kindness wherever she goes : ) Plus, it seems to fit with the scattered nature of the card's coloring.

Lea also embossed gold onto vellum, and I'm reminded at what a wonderful option this is. The semi-transparent vellum doesn't attract too much attention, and the surface of the vellum allows for the smoothest embossing ever! Just look at that gold!!

More buttery gold embossing, and let's take a minute to highlight those sequins! Also from Brutus Monroe, these are bottle cap sequins with fluted edges to catch the light and sparkle. But, they're flat so are a good option when you want to keep the bulk down.

Here's a closer look at the sequins, but it's also neat to look at the color a little closer. See the fun pops of green in the yellow areas? You just never know what you're going to get!

INFORMATION

This hop is epic with more than 70 guests and over $1,000 in sponsored prizes! Not only are we celebrating four years since Rubeena first discovered cardmaking but also crafting in general. This industry is made up of wonderful individuals who are creative, inspirational, kind, and incredibly supportive! Hop along so you can learn about why we create and how much joy it brings us!

GIVEAWAYS

In celebration of this anniversary, we have several amazing sponsors. Let’s thank them for their generosity! Winners will be randomly selected from comments left on all the blogs. The winners will be announced by Wednesday, September 5 on this page: http://www.arareruby.com/giveaways/. Winners will have up to 2 weeks to contact Rubeena at ararerubycrafts@gmail.com to claim their prize before another winner is selected.

Studio Katia - $50 gift card

Hello Bluebird - $50 gift card

Altenew - $50 Gift card

Pinkfresh Studio - $30 gift card

Gina K. Designs - $50 gift card

Clearly Besotted - £25 gift card

Simon Says Stamp - $25 gift card

Spellbinders Card Kit ($55 value).

Jennifer McGuire - $50 Simon Says Stamp gift card

Winnie & Walter, LLC - $40 gift card

Mama Elephant - $25 gift card

Hero Arts - $25 gift card

Nichol Spohr LLC - Custom-sewn rainbow pencil case filled with brand new Spellbinders dies

Danielle Flynn - $25 Simon Says Stamp gift card

Picket Fence Studios - four $25 gift cards

Ellen Hutson - two $25 gift cards  

Pretty Pink Posh - two $30 gift cards

The Stamp Market - July 2018 Release (estimated $100 value)

Indigojade Art Shop - $50 gift card to Art Prints & Gifts Shop

Flora & Fauna - a 4x6 stamp set

Waffle Flower - $25 gift card

Power Poppy - $50 gift card

Your next stop on this hop is the amazingly talented Caly Person!


Thanks so much for stopping!
-Kelly