Heffy Doodle and Chibitronics Blog Hop

 

Hi Folks! Welcome to the Chibitronics and Heffy Doodle Blog Hop! You may have come from Koren Wiskman but if not feel free to start at the beginning with our wonderful host Heffy Doodle.

The stamp illustrations at Heffy Doodle are just as sweet as the owner, and fellow Chibitronics team member, Lesley Oman. Today I'm using the Hootiful Stamp Set to create a little night scene of owls flying around under a crescent moon. 

 Let's take a look inside the light-up card:

On the inside of the card I've run the copper tape to three different LEDs. Because the moon is backed in vellum, and I didn't want a bright spot of light showing through the vellum, I offset the LEDs slightly to the right side of the crescent moon opening. This will generate enough ambient light to make the vellum moon as bright as it can be.

Note that the owl is on a sliding pull tab. Once it's pulled out all the way to the left the owl will land on the tree branch, and the copper tape on the bottom of the pull tab will connect the broken copper tape in the circuit, turning on the LEDs.

Here's the other side of the top panel where you can see the square piece of vellum I adhered behind the crescent moon opening, as well as the pull tab with the copper tape wrapped around it. Since it's a very long pull tab I created a "tunnel" for it to go through and stabilize the back and forth motion.

Here's a peek between the pull tab and the card panel. I added a folded up piece of cardstock to make sure there's enough pressure pushing down on the tab's copper tape to complete the broken circuit on the card base. 

Now when you pull the tab, the owl flies to the branch, and the crescent moon lights up!

Here's the progression of the owl across the card : )

The owls, tree stump and tree branch were all fussy cut so they could be positioned just right on the card. I made the nighttime background with Catherine Pooler ink blended through the awesome Circles of Life stencil which I can see using on so many different cards.

Here's a nighttime view of our adorable owl family under the moon! Whoooo knew?!

Prizes
Heffy Doodle will be giving away a £50 gift voucher to one commenter and Chibitronics will be giving away a starter kit to one commenter! Have fun visiting our blogs, and best of luck!

Please continue along the hop at Jessica McAfee where she has another fun light-up card to share with you.

Thanks for stopping by!
-Kelly

IG: notablenest

Here's the whole hop, for your reference:

Heffy Doodle

Koren Wiskman

Kelly Griglione <--you're here!

Jessica McAfee

Wei Wei Wang

Francesca Vignoli

Yukiko Sugiyama

Isha Gupta

Eiko Uchida

Ali Farmer

Kelly Szafron

Cassie Tezak

Vanessa Reinheimer

Yukiko Inami

Trinity Stamps - Build-a-Succulent Cards

Hello folks! I'm back with another set of succulents from Trinity Stamps! This time it's the Let Love Grow Stamp Set and Let Love Grow Coordinating Die Set, and instead of taking things away from the image to modify it, this time I'm adding things to the image to modify it. Stop by and see how I've adapted this image to fit both a landscape and a portrait card.

Thanks for stopping by!
Kelly

Trinity Stamps Guest Designer

Hi Folks! My favorite part of the Creativation trade show in January is always meeting people in our community. This year at the Ellen Hutson dinner I was thrilled to see for the first time my long-time blogging friend Katie Brooks and give her a huge hug. I also had the good pleasure of meeting Taniesa, the owner of Trinity Stamps. Her story of starting a new company with the same work ethics as her grandparents, who were also very successful business owners, is very touching and inspiring.

While we were chatting, Taniesa asked if I would like to be a guest designer for Trinity Stamps, and I totally jumped at the chance. I'll be appearing on their blog twice this month ... the first post being today!

 

I'm sharing two different cards with the same gorgeous succulent image, and showing how I modified it for the second card. I'd love it if you'd come by and visit!

As always, thanks for stopping by : )
-Kelly

Pinkfresh Studio April Essentials Release Blog Hop

 

 
Oh boy, I've been waiting to share the HUGE Die release from Pinkfresh Studio with you! It's called the "essentials" and it's just that ... dies that you'll turn to again and again for your paper crafting. You'll notice they're all the basics (rectangles for card panels, circles, ovals, tags, borders, words) but they all have a little something special making them not-so basic. Like the diagonal stitching on the rectangles, the cutouts for the tags, etc.

You may have come from the blog of Ivana Camdzic but if not please feel free to start at the beginning of this Blog Hop with our wonderful host Pinkfresh Studio.

The first set of cards features the Classic Edgers with 5 different options to add a fancy edge to all sorts of things ... card borders, the bottom of the card itself, the end of a tag, you name it. Here I've used it to "hold" the bouquet of flowers from the Embroidered Blossoms stamp set.

Here's a closer look at the pretty details of the edger die, including the cutouts and the dotted edge of the scallop. 

The coordinating card features a loopy scallop edge with a blue pattern on it ...  this actually comes from one of the dies in the Classic Tags with Fillable Elements set. Instead of using this die to cut a pattern at the bottom of a tag, I used it to create a stencil by cutting the pattern from adhesive vinyl (but this also works well if you cut it from regular copy paper). Then I just sponged ink through my handmade blue stencil along the length of the border. This is a GREAT way to get extra mileage from your dies.

You could use this formula with any set of floral stamps ... just stamp a bunch of them on the bottom section of your card and layer a border on top. It's also a great place to put a secondary sentiment if you need it!

Speaking of tags with fillable borders, here's one of those! I cut two of the classic tag shapes from Classic Tags with Fillable Elements and cut out the cute little floral heart motif from the top tag.

Love all the texture it gives your project, as well as how it lets the bottom layer show through. Then I just stamped a sentiment from Scripted Bold Sentiments 2 to finish the tag. Done!

Also from the Classic Tags with Fillable Element die set there are circle tags, with optional circular cutout elements. Again, I cut two of the circle tags plus a border out from the top tag. Yellow ink is softly stenciled through the Fancy Floral 2 die. A flower from Embroidered Blossoms is stamped on top. The sentiment is again from Scripted Bold Sentiments 2.

The third tag style included with the Classic Tags with Fillable Element die set is a scallop tag. Here I've layered an additional piece on the bottom where I've used the Inverted Stitched Scallop Circle to create a fun inner edge, and a lacey fillable element to create a fun outer edge.

 

As with all of today's projects, the flowers and sentiments are from Embroidered Blossoms and Scripted Bold Sentiments 2.

Such a variety of tags!

Finally, I've got a card featuring the self-explanatory Diagonal Stitched Rectangles. Love these! What a staple they will be for card makers! Those diagonal stitches add just the right amount of texture and shading to the edge of the rectangle to make it interesting but not distracting from the overall design.

On the diagonally stitched rectangle, I've stenciled one of the patterns from Classic Tags with Fillable Elements again by making my own stencil from die cutting adhesive vinyl and sponging purple ink through it. Two for the price of one!
 

The beautiful florals are from  Embroidered Blossoms and Embroidered Blossoms Dies, and the sentiment is again from the workhorse set Scripted Bold Sentiments 2.

Such a variety of projects from these true essentials for any paper crafter!

GIVEAWAYS:

There are so many ways to win! The full April Essentials release will be given away on the Pinkfresh blog and on the IG feed.

In addition, I am giving away a $25 gift card on this blog post! To be eligible, just make sure you're following this blog and leave a comment below.

The winners will be posted on Sunday, April 14th on the Pinkfresh GIVEAWAY PAGE. Please check this page and claim your prize within 2 weeks. Best of luck!

SHOPPING PROMO:
More good news! First is a free, adorable House die with purchase. There is no code necessary, and the die will automatically load into your cart.

You can also take advantage of the free/discounted shipping from April 8-11th on orders $50+. You must use the code APRESSFREESHIP50. Shipping is free in the USA, and $5.50 off for International friends.

Your next stop is another Kelly ... Kelly Lunceford who has something fabulous to share with you!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed your time : )
-Kelly Griglione


If you get lost along the way, the full hop list is below:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

New Essentials By Ellen - Instant Photo Frames and Handful

I've got two more new stamp and die sets to share with you from the latest Essentials By Ellen release! This first card showcases the new Instant Photo Frame die, which as you can see at the bottom of this photo, also comes with some fun sentiments in the middle if you choose to use them. 

As soon as I say the graphics for this set I KNEW it would be perfect for all the Leading Ladies. And sure enough, it is! The sentiments are from Everyday Punnies that I posted about yesterday. I'll just warn you all now, you're probably going to see a lot of that set from me : )

My homemade stencil from the Skinny Stripes die is on the background again.

This next set is Handful and has these great tall, skinny sentiments to go along with hands holding different things. I made these before going on vacation, and on the plane ride as I was getting my IG posts ready I slapped myself in the head after realizing what I did. My intent was to have this be an aerial scene looking down at someone relaxing at the table, about to drink their coffee. I didn't realize that the hand on the left DID NOT COME WITH A SWEATER! So it looks like someone who's I guess so in need of help that she's sitting at the table with one sleeve rolled up. Hahaha!

Now just pretend she's taken her first sip of coffee, and ...

... is relaxed enough to realize her imbalance and has rolled her sleeve back down. When I got home from vacation I stamped the coffee hand again, cut the sleeve out, redrew the arm lines a bit, and put it on top of the bare arm. Now this person looks a little more composed and ready to deal with what she needs to ; )

The small panel is matted with a section from the Bed of Roses die which I just love using for backgrounds. 

Hope you enjoyed these two new sets! These, and the entire release, are available now at Ellen Hutson!

Thanks as always for stopping by!
-Kelly

Affiliate Links:

Everyday Doodles by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps Everyday Doodles by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies Everyday Punnies by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps Everyday Doodles & Punnies, Essentials By Ellen Stamp & Die Combo Handful by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps Handful by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies Skinny Stripes by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Bed Of Roses by Julie Ebersole Uni-ball Impact Gel Pen, White Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Black Jack My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (6-1/8 X 7) Sizzix Big Shot White & Gray We R Memory Keepers Basic Score Board Life Changing Blender Brush - 6 Piece Fine, Picket Fence Studios (LCB-6) Life Changing Blender Brush - 4 Piece Broad, Picket Fence Studios (LCB-4) Teflon Bone Folder