Great Impressions - Beautifully monogrammed!

Happy Saturday to you all!

Today, I'm sharing a quick and easy set of monogrammed cards.  Did you know that Great Impressions carries these beautiful monograms?  I'm so impressed with them.

This week, I needed a quick and easy project, due to being sick.

Here's what I did, using Great Impressions Stamps: E612 Monogram Flourish W, 

E608 Monogram Flourish S, and E596 Monogram Flourish G.

I found some pretty papers from my a muse stash, and heat embossed the monogram in white embossing powder.  Layered the monograms, and popped them up with some

dimensional foam.  Ta da!  Easy peasy - did all three in 30 minutes!

Wouldn't this make a nice gift boxed set for someone special?

Be sure to join us in this month's challenge (HERE!) and if you use any GI stamps be sure to link up to the customer gallery (Here). 

Be sure to stop by the Great Impressions store (HERE) and treat yourself to a few new stamps!

Did you know shipping is free over $25?! 

Thanks for stopping by - see you next Saturday with a pretty spring creation!

Hugs,

Patti J.

Add a Little Dazzle!

Hi all!

In the last Coffee Lover's Blog Hop, I won a prize - it was a package of beautiful metal sheets from a company called 'Add a Little Dazzle'.  

I've sort of been intimidated (okay, a LOT intimidated) with these sheets, but decided that I needed to step jump leap outside of my comfort zone, and try them out.

So....this post will be not only my first attempt at using this product, but also, an unsolicited product review :)

The Dazzling Diva Challenge #64 was to add some texture to a project.

All righty!  I immediately thought of my embossing folders.  What better way to try out

this pretty new product?  Sigh....I have about 20 embossing folders, none of which

made me do a happy dance.  What now?

Aha!  We all have a scoring board, right?  Ta da!  The light went on.

From the get-go, this amazing blue metal caught my eye.  So, that's what I used, 

and here's what I did:

I cut the blue panel to 4" x 5 1/4", to fit just inside an A2 card base.

The blue panel was placed color side down on my scoring board on the diagonal.  

I scored lines every 1/2-inch, turned the metal, and scored on 1/2" marks again.

So far so good.  I was liking this new crafty goodness!

I adhered the metal to my card base with Scor-tape (I don't own any of the fabulous red sticky tape that they sell with their metal sheets).  It did a great job of adhering the metal to the card front.

The next step was to use a sanding block to take the color off the top of the scored lines.

Worked perfectly.

Then, I counted up four 'rows' from the top and bottom of the card, and added half pearls.

I used Tombow Mono Liquid Glue for that.

Now came the tricky part - this would determine if I loved, hated, or tolerated working with the metal sheets!  I took a Thanks die (from Taylored Expressions), and die cut it from a piece of white metal.

Oh. My. GOSH!  It cut very nicely!  

I took another scrap piece of the blue metal, and used a StampinUp! embossing folder to create a base for the sentiment, but didn't like straight edges.  Another test - how would it cut with scissors?

Like a dream!  I trimmed the cute little sentiment backing with detail scissors, adhered

the sentiment using my Xyron Sticker Maker, and popped the sentiment up with

dimensional foam squares.

I'm sure there is a learning curve, as my card doesn't look as professionally done as the owner or DT members projects do, but I will absolutely be creating with this product again!

There are videos to watch on the Dazzle blog, so check them out!  If you enter their

challenge, you could win some pretty metal sheets yourself!

Thanks so much for the great prize, Monica!

And thank you all for stopping by today!

Hugs,

Patti J.

Repeat Impressions Sketch Challenge

Howdy, folks!

So glad you stopped by - today's challenge at The House That Stamps Built

is a great sketch by Wendy, the Repeat Impressions owner.

I love all of her sketches...they are so easy to create with!

Here's today's sketch:

And here is my card:

I used Repeat Impressions 3935-F Spring Is, and Repeat Impressions 2605-P Ode to Spring.

If you'd like to own these, or other beautiful RI stamps, hurry over and check out theRepeat Impressions store!  Be sure to use the coupon on my sidebar to save 10% on each and every order!

We'd love to see YOUR beautiful projects linked up to our challenge!
Nab this fun sketch, get creative, and link up at The House That Stamps Built!
You don't have to use RI stamps to play along,
but if you do, you'll be entered twice!

It's time to see what my Fellow Rock Stars have created with this sketch!

Happy hopping!

Cheri     Deonna     Joy     Melissa     Karen     Debbie     Kathy

Thanks for stopping by!

Patti J.

Some people...

Hello, and happy Sunday!

Before I show my card, I need to apologize to some of you!  I recently decided to look

in my spam folder, and OH MY GOSH!  I am amazed at how many of the

blogs that I follow via subscription were in this file.  Also, in the file were

hundreds of comments by some of my readers.  I spent nearly an entire afternoon

telling the computer that you're not spam, so hopefully, I'll get your comments, AND your feeds

so I can comment on your beautiful creations!  So sorry if I've been negligent, while

you've been stopping by here faithfully!

I had a bit of time to create over the weekend, and was so excited to finally get to ink up some of the Unity Stamps that I recently ordered.  They've been sitting untouched for a month, and I really love the sayings, so I decided to play along with one of the Unity challenges.

For this challenge, I could follow either one of the sketches, and/or the color theme.

I chose to follow both the color theme, and the sketch on the left.

Here's what I made:

This card uses the Unity Stamps "Lasting Thoughts' stamp set.

I had some of the Authentique 'Renew' paper pad left, and the colors were perfect

for this challenge.

Hope you are staying warm, wherever you are.  We had several inches of snow, that were topped off Friday night and Saturday morning with sleet, ice, and fresh snow.  Ready for spring

to make it's appearance!

Thanks for dropping by,

Patti J.

Garden Shed Easel Card

Hello!

Welcome to my Saturday blog post for Great Impressions Stamps.

This week, the GI Design Team has been showcasing fun card folds.  If you've

not peeked in at the GI blog this week, go back to Monday, and check out

everyone's great cards!

My choice was an easel card.  If you have never created an easel card,

let me show you how easy it is!
The stamps that I used are:
Great Impressions E684 The Path to a Friend's House,
and Great Impressions H243 Garden House.
Come on, let's make one!

First, decide what size card you are going to make, and in what orientation your

card will be.  I made an A2 sized card, in portrait orientation.  Cut your main

card base to 4.25" x 11".  Score at 2.75" and at 5.5".  Your card will look like this:

Now, cut a piece of cardstock measuring A2 size (5.5" x 4.25").

Add adhesive of choice to the folded section of your card base, as shown.

I used a two sided tape, as it was more visual than a clear tape runner.

Remove the strips, and adhere your 5.5" x 4.25" cardstock, matching up all lines.

When finished, your card will look like this.

Next, cut another panel a bit smaller, and begin decorating, coloring, etc.

I have a friend with a new potting shed. It's totally adorable, and this card will be in the

mail to her tomorrow!

Here is what the front looks like.

Here is a view with the easel front in place.  I carried the clear glass 1/2 beads over from

the front, into the inside of the card, to hold the easel up.  Our verbage is written

in the small section above the 5 beads.

Here's a view looking down, at the darling GI sentiment!

See how easy it is?  Give it a shot!

What a fun way to send a greeting to that someone special!

Hope that you will become a follower of the Great Impressions Blog - the

DT works hard to bring wonderful daily inspiration for you!

I know that you'll want to add these and many more GI stamps to your collection,

so hop over to the store and look around - it's worth the trip!

Be sure to join us in this month's challenge (HERE!) and if you use any GI stamps be sure to link up to the customer gallery (Here). 

Be sure to stop by the Great Impressions store (HERE) and treat yourself to a few new stamps!

Did you know shipping is free over $25?! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Patti J.

My Creative Space...

Happy Friday, everyone!

Thought I'd pop up here, and tell you that my craft room crap room girl cave

 CRoffice is posted today on the CardMaker Magazine Blog!

I hope that you will all go over and peek.  I was limited on how many pics I should

share, so I may do this later in the year with ALL of the pics!

My uber-wonderful DH and I share an office space.  We call it our CRoffice.

Depending on how many projects are ongoing in my half of the room

we joke that it's a Craft room some days, and a Crap room others!

Don't laugh, bet yours looks just like mine!

Would love for you to leave me a bit of love on the CardMaker blog!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

Patti J.

Repeat Impressions - Photo Inspiration

Howdy folks!

Today, I'm here to share a creation made for the Repeat Impressions Photo Inspiration Challenge at The House that Stamps Built.

Here is the inspiration photo:

And here is my card:

I had this sweet little Repeat Impressions stamp - 1610-J Spring Tree, and decided to just go with the red and white and pink theme of the inspiration photo.  The sentiment, Repeat Impressions - 2511-H Even When... was the perfect finishing touch.

We'd love to see you link up YOUR card to the challenge!

Feel free to use the photo however you like - pick up the heart shape, the colors, the tree, whichever element calls your name, and get creative!  Who knows?  YOU could be the winner of

some fabulous Repeat Impressions stamps!

Now...it's time to see what my fellow Rock Stars have created with this photo!

Cheri     Deonna     Joy     Melissa     Karen     Debbie     Kathy     

After you've checked out their blogs, you will want to do some heavy duty shopping at Repeat Impressions!  Before you do, check out my sidebar to see how you can save 10% on each and every order!

Happy Hopping - Happy Shopping, and Happy Creating!

Hugs and blessings, 

Patti J.

Hello Friend...

Hello Friends!

I'm here today to share a sweet card that was created using the Die-Versions

coordinating stamps and dies, DV-9014 Cat's Meow.

I can't wait to see what the next sets bring - these have been so much fun!

I'm not usually a cat person, due to allergies, but these sweet little

faces are so hard to resist!  The precious butterfly was in this set too!

Here is what I made:

Hope they gave you a smile or two!

If you want to do some shopping for dies and stamps, be sure to check out the Die-Versions website! They have some wonderful dies that cut like butter, and are so affordable!

And now - they have sweet stamps too!!!

Have a wonderful day - thanks for stopping by!

Patti J.

P.S. Check out my sidebar for a great new deal at Perfect Papercrafting!!!

Oh, Happy Day!

Hello friends, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Even though I'm retired, there is just something about a weekend that still makes me smile, and being a holiday is a special bonus!

I have a sweet card to share with you today, using a super cute image from Great Impressions.

This adorable little gal is: H252 Gracie with Bunny. She was colored with Copic markers.  The sentiment is D490 Happy Day, and it was stamped on the focal panel just above the image. Found some purple cardstock in my scraps, and this paper is from an old DCWV stack.  (Lol...I am a hoarder, yep indeed!)  The pretty green flowers came in

my last order from Great Impressions - what a fun surprise!

 Be sure to join us in this month's challenge (HERE!) and if you use any GI stamps be sure to link up to the customer gallery (Here). 

Be sure to stop by the Great Impressions store (HERE) and treat yourself to a few new stamps!

Did you know shipping is free over $25?! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Patti J.

CardMaker Magazine Storage Tip

Hi there!

Ugh...it's Friday the 13th!

Hope you are all having a great day, and gearing up for a wonderful weekend!

It's my day to share with you on the CardMaker Magazine Blog!

Today, I'm sharing a storage tip with you.

I hope that you will head over to the CardMaker Blog, and see

how I store all of my dies!

While you're there, be sure to leave me a bit of love so they will keep me!!! lol...

Thanks for stopping by,

Patti J.

Great Impressions is sponsoring Aud Sentiments!

Good morning!

Brrrr.....it is COLD and windy here today! Hope wherever you are, you are warm,

and enjoying a lovely day!

Great Impressions is sponsoring the challenge at Aud Sentiments

this week, and I have created a card for the challenge, which is

a Spring/Easter theme.  Hope YOU will create a card, and enter it

in the challenge, too!

I used Great Impressions E840 Friendship Bees, and 

Great Impressions E830 A Good Friend for my card, today.

I didn't have a spring/Easter sentiment that I could share 'yet', so I decided to use a fun

spring image, with a friendship sentiment.  Hopefully, it will be acceptable!

I love these darling little buzzing sweeties, and they make me think that spring

might really be just around the corner!  Hope this card makes YOU smile!

I actually love this one, and can't wait to mail it to someone special!

Have a great day!

Patti J.

Joy's Designer Choice Challenge - Thanks!

It's time for a new Designer's Choice Challenge at the Repeat Impressions' Blog,

The House That Stamps Built.

Our challenge hostess this week is Joy Hadden, and she's asked us all

to create a 'Thanks' project.

This one was so much fun!

Repeat Impressions 9105-G Thanks for the Lift and Repeat Impressions 9116-N Hot Air Balloon Cluster were used to create this adorable little greeting:

This card was so easy to create.  

The base was made from white cardstock.

A piece of blue patterned paper was adhered to the card base.

A piece of white cardstock, was cut a bit smaller than the blue panel.

Using some cloud dies, the clouds were born.

The white panel was then run through the Cuttlebug, using the dotted swiss embossing folder.

The balloon cluster and sentiment were stamped on white cardstock.

The balloons were colored with Copics, each one was fussy cut and adhered to the white panel.

The sentiment was embellished with Copics, fussy cut, and applied to the white panel.  

Hope you enjoyed your visit today!

My fellow Rock Stars would be delighted for you to stop by and see their 'Thanks' creations!

Cheri     Deonna     Joy     Melissa     Karen     Debbie     Kathy     

While you are out and about, drop by the Repeat Impressions store!

Be sure to check out my sidebar for the code to save on every RI purchase!

Hope you'll create a card for Joy's DCC Challenge, and enter it at The House that Stamps Built, 

for your chance to win some new Repeat Impressions stamps!

Thanks for stopping by!

Patti J.

Sweet Day...

Happy Saturday!

I can't believe it's already February - where in the world did we lose January?

Well, as it is Saturday (whoop whoop!), it's my day to post on the Great Impressions blog.

My card today was fun and simple to create - hope you like it!

I used Great Impressions Stamps E781 Owl and Bird, and  E842 Happy Day for this project.

The sentiment actually reads 'Wishing you a WONDERFUL SWEET HAPPY DAY.
The word sweet is colored in red, and in real life, it looks great.  In photo life, it sorta looks not so good!

The image was stamped directly onto the cute patterned paper.  I stamped it again on the solid blue, and fussy cut the bird and heart. They are popped up for a bit of dimension.  The red hearts have glossy accents on them, and of course, the owl needed some teensy googly eyes, right?
Coloring is with Copic markers, and patterned paper from a DCWV paper pack.

Be sure to check out the Great Impressions blog each day for wonderful inspiration!

Join in our monthly challenge as well - a new challenge will start tomorrow!

We'd love to see what you create!

Check out the Great Impressions shop for more wonderful stamps!!

Thank you for stopping by to see my project today!

Patti J.

Duckin' In for Cute Card Thursday

Hi there, and happy Thursday!

Great Impressions Stamps is sponsoring the monthly challenge at Cute Card Thursday, 

and I thought I'd dig out some fun GI stamps, and play along!

Edit:  OOPS - missed the last Cute Card Thursday, so this little Duckie card will not be posted there.
However.......I will be posting the card from THIS post there!!!
Hurry over to Cute Card Thursday, for their Crazy in Love challenge!

This is the easiest challenge ever - 'Stamping Mad' - just use a stamp

on your creation!  Any old stamp will do, but we'd love to see a creation

with GI stamps if you have any!!!

My card today features Great Impressions B242-Duckin' In, and

Great Impressions E856-Hello Louie.

Here's what I made:

The sentiment was was stamped on white card stock.
I doodled a rectangle around the sentiment.
Louie was stamped just above the sentiment, and colored with Copics.
The corners were rounded, and I fussy cut in to Louie on each side, and around Louie himself.
I wish you could see his beak and feet - covering them in Glossy Accents made them SO cute!
A bit of black twine was all it took to finish this one.

My goal was 'cute' - hope you like it!

Hope to see your creation up over at the Cute Card Thursday Challenge this month!

Hugs and blessings,
Patti J.

Red, White, and Pink...

Good morning!

Can you believe it's already Wednesday again? Time sure flies these days.

My mom always told me that the older I got, the faster it would go.

I'm thinking mom was right!

Today, our Repeat Impressions challenge is a color challenge.  

We are to use 'Red, White, and Pink' in our creations for the challenge 

at The House that Stamps Built.

This was a tough one for me.  Somehow, putting red and pink together seemed so wrong,

Once I got the card done, I decided that I LOVE these colors together!

Here's what I did:

Created A2 card base.

Cut panel from patterned paper and adhered to card front.

Stamp Repeat Impressions 1216-O Ruffled Heart Border on white cardstock.

Stamp Repeat Impressions 1134-E Valentines on white cardstock.

Mask off the ruffled edge of the heart.

Using versamark ink, stamp Repeat Impressions 1210-K Tumbling Hearts twice (once on each side of heart)

Remove mask, and heat emboss with white embossing powder.

Sponge the inside section of the heart with pink ink.

Color the ruffle with Copic marker.

Stamp over the sentiment with Repeat Impressions 3405-C Random Hearts.

Mat the sentiment onto red cardstock.

Use a decorative punch to punch each end of sentiment.

Adhere heart and sentiment to card front using dimensional foam.

Tie ribbon from pink and red twine, and adhere to heart with glue dot.

This was really short and sweet - let me know if you have any questions!

Now it's time to see what my fellow Rock Stars have been up to!

I have had a peek at their red, pink and white creations, and they are all fabulous!

Happy Hopping!

Cheri     Deonna     Joy     Karen     Debbie     Kathy     Melissa

We hope that you will do some creating with this color combination, and link up over at The House That Stamps Built!  You can use any stamps you like, but if you use RI stamps, you are entered twice in the drawing.  

If you are going to be shopping at Repeat Impressions, be sure to check out my sidebar, and use the coupon code there to save 10% on every RI order!!!

Thanks for dropping by!

Patti J.

Love, Love, Love Challenge with Great Impressions

Happy Sunday Stamping Friends!

It's time for a new monthly challenge on the Great Impression Stamps Blog!

This month is Love, Love, Love!

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, what a fun challenge!

---------

Here is my card for the challenge:

I thought this was a perfect challenge to use the G46 Mouse with Bubble Hearts image, and the D364 Happy Valentine's and Flowers sentiment.  I did a bit of doodling on the sides of the panel with Copics.

The image and hearts were colored with Copics.  Glossy accents helped show off all of the sweet hearts.

The image was actually stamped twice, so that I could steal just the heart bubbles for a second

tier of bubble hearts.  The front panel was popped up with dimensional foam, and Ta-Da...

A fun and sweet card!!

---------

Thanks for stopping by to see my project today!

Join us at the GI monthly challenge!  

We'd love to see what you create!

Check out the Great Impressions shop for more wonderful stamps!!
You can find the new release stamps here!

Have a great Sunday!!

Patti J.