Easter Centerpiece - PSA Essentials Blog Hop

Welcome to the PSA Essentials Blog Hop! If you are hopping along, you arrived here from Jeanne Streiff's blog. To start from the beginning, go to the PSA Essentials blog.

The Blog Hop Grand Prize: 1 custom stamp, 3 Peel & Stick stamp sets, 2 notecards, 1 alignment tool, 1 black ink, 1 2-color ink, and free shipping to the winner. Value of the package is $150.

How to Enter: If you'd like a chance to win, you can enter here (scroll to the bottom) or go to the PSA Essentials blog.

The inspiration for this centerpiece came about when I had my 6-month dental appointment a few weeks ago. I was reading "All You" magazine and spotted this gorgeous picture inside. I knew I wanted to make something similar.

I have a 3-level cake stand my mom gave me years ago, so I knew exactly what I wanted to design.

Since I want to save these eggs and use them again, I poked holes in the eggs to blow out the contents, rinsed, and dried the eggs.

I tried using Copic markers to color some eggs. I didn't like the results; too many streaks. This yellow egg is an example. I tried stamping directly onto the egg, but it was too hard to get a good impression. I stamped onto white tissue using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I trimmed out the design and used Mod Podge to decoupage the sentiment onto the egg. The stamps I used today come from these sets: Topiary and Little Bunny.

Here's another example of my technique. This time I colored in the bunny using a Copic marker before I decoupaged the design onto the egg.

Most of the eggs where dyed with Paas egg coloring.

Here are some other details on my project. I like the look of the washi tape; that idea also came directly from the magazine.

To get the bunny Peeps to stand up, I trimmed the bottoms so they would be flat.

The guys love Lindt chocolates, so I love the looks of these little Lindt bunnies. My son Kalino gave me input as to where the bunnies should be placed.

Your next stop on the blog hop is over to Julia Aston's blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Enter here:

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Happy Easter Basket and a Giveaway at the PSA Essentials Blog

Hi everyone, Happy Earth Day! Today, several of my Easter cards are featured on the PSA Essentials blog. You have a chance (more if you spread the word) to win the Topiary set of stamps. Go here to enter before Easter Sunday ends EST.

Here's one of the cards. The bottom on the basket is a recycled Starbucks coffee jacket. I love incorporating recycled items when I can. The handle of the basket is the circular stamp that comes with the stamp set.

Here's a closeup of the basket. I used Diamond Glaze on the eggs to give them a glossy shine. I also added some "grass" to the basket with some JudiKins Speckles.

Don't forget to enter to win on the PSA Essentials blog. Have a great day!

Card Ingredients

Card Finished Size: 4.25” x 5.5”

Stamps: Topiary (PSA Essentials)

Paper: kraft (Stampin’ Up), white (Papertrey Ink), coffee jacket (Starbucks)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Tools:  Martha Stewart Scoring Board, 1¾“ circle punch (Stampin’ Up), scalloped scallop edge punch (EK Success)

Other: baker’s twine (Divine Twine), foam tape (3M), Copic markers (BV05, YR04, RV13), Diamond Glaze (JudiKins), Spring Meadow Speckles (JudiKins), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue

Card Instructions

1. Make card from cardstock.
2. Stamp egg image repeatedly on white cardstock and color with various Copic markers.  Cut out egg designs.
3. Pour Diamond Glaze onto the surface of the eggs and dry thoroughly.

Tip: Don’t shake the Diamond Glaze bottle; it will create air bubbles.

4. Trim a corrugated coffee jacket to resemble the bottom of a basket. Tie some baker’s twine around the basket.
5. Stamp the round border design on kraft cardstock and punch out with circle punch. Cut inside design to create a handle. Adhere to create basket shape.
6. Punch out scalloped cardstock. Cover with adhesive and add grass Speckles. Add to basket.
7. Stamp sentiment on card front.
8. Adhere dry eggs, grass, and basket to card front with dimensional adhesive.

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

Yesterday was my parent's 48th wedding anniversary. Here's the card I made for them. I used some beautiful stamps from Hero Arts. The Delicate Blossoms set is one of the gifts I received from Jennifer McGuire and Hero Arts for the sewing project I helped with in January.  Thanks, Jennifer and Hero Arts!

Speaking of anniversary, I forgot about my blog's anniversary. I've been blogging since March 13th, 2008. Three years have gone by quickly.

I embossed the Delicate Blossoms with white embossing powder. I used a Copic marker to outline the flowers. I loved when Nichole Heady outlined floral images with a Copic marker. I love the dimension it adds.

That's it, my dears! Thanks for stopping by.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Delicate Blossoms, Everyday Sayings (Hero Arts)

Paper: white, Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink), Crushed Curry - textured (Stampin' Up)

Ink: VersaMark, Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko)

Tools: Heat tool

Other: white embossing powder, Copic Marker, button (Papertrey Ink), white gel pen (Sakura)

Red Rose Heart-Shaped Flower

Hi there! If you are interested in winning over $500 of product, please go to the 1st Annual Love Blog Hop at PSA Stamp Camp today!

Here's one of the 4 cards I made for the PSA Essentials Blog Hop. A few weeks ago, I was sent a box with so many lovely products to work with: Prima Marketing flowers, Helmar adhesives, and ribbons from Reasonable Ribbons. My goodness, does Prima make the most gorgeous flowers! I punched out a red heart shape and glued red roses to the cardstock (I first trimmed off the wire stems). The ribbons I had been sent were all brown, taupe, and tan colored, so I used a green Copic marker to dye the ribbon a green color. It worked! I had never tried doing that before. I stamped the PSA image and then added some Diamond Glaze to the heart for some added interest.

Click here to go to the Blog Hop today. Have a great weekend!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Bouquet Toss (PSA Essentials)

Paper: white (Papertrey Ink), Real Red (Stampin’ Up), Garden Variety paper (Cosmo Cricket)

Ink: Holiday Red, Espresso Brown (PSA Essentials)

Tools: Large Heart Punch (Stampin’ Up), Tim Holtz Distressing Tool (Tonic)

Other: Diamond Glaze (JudiKins), gold cording (from Peru), Painterly Petals Floral Embellishments (Prima), ribbon (Reasonable Ribbons)

Love, Love, and More Love

I hope you had a great weekend. I spent what felt like most of the day on Saturday taking down our Christmas tree and packing up all Christmas related items. The Little Guy was extremely sad. If it was up to him, the tree and decorations would stay up all year.

Here's a card I designed for PSA Essentials using the Bouquet Toss stamp set. I stamped the image many times using Tuxedo Black Memento ink. Without paying attention to staying in the lines, I colored the hearts with different Copic markers. I cut out each heart and adhered each to a white card base. For added interest, I covered one of the hearts with Crystal Effects and let it dry overnight.

Here's a closeup to show how I used Crystal Effects on one of the hearts and some dimensional adhesive to lift the heart off the card.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Bouquet Toss (PSA Essentials)
Paper: white (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukinenko)
Tools: Scoring Board (Martha Stewart)
Other: Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Copic markers, foam tape (3M), Diamond Glaze (JudiKins)

Instructions

1. Create a 4.25" x 5.5" card base.
2. Repeatedly stamp the heart on a separate pieces of white cardstock. Use Memento ink since it will not smear with you color in with Copic markers.
3. Color hearts with various Copic markers.
4. Trim out each heart.
5. Use Diamond Glaze on one heart and set aside for dry completely.
6. Arrange hearts on card and attach to the card base.
7. For texture, use dimensional adhesive to attach the one heart.

Cards For "Lawn Fawn Hearts Cards For Kids" Blog Hop

Hey there! I was happy to participate in the Cards for Kids drive hosted by Kelly Marie of Lawn Fawn. The Lawn Fawn Hearts Cards for Kids blog hop starts today. If you want to start from the beginning, start here.

I choose to make cards for Kennedy and his family (13 yr old brother, Kaleb and mom, Kristen). Kennedy is 6 years old and was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) earlier this year. You can read more about CML here. He is such a cutie! I can relate to 6 year old boys, since my son Kalino just turned 7.

I made Kennedy a card with some cute aliens from the Greetings, Earthling set by Stampin' Up. If he's like my son, he'll get a kick out of the wacky aliens and the "Greetings' Earthling!" flag. I used my Copic markers to do all the coloring. I'm very new at using Copics and have less than 2 dozen colors so far. They are fun to play with!

Next, I made this card for Kennedy's brother, Kaleb. The stamps are from the Everyday Button Bits set by Papertrey Ink. I used my Copic markers to color in the bike and add "spokes" to the button wheels. I sponged over some Hero Arts clouds that I cut out with my Silhouette.

And finally, I made this card for Kennedy's mom, Kristen. I used the Papertrey Ink set, Everyday Button Bits. I also managed to incorporate some baker's twine on this card. The paper, buttons, and ribbon are all from Papertrey Ink.

The next stop on this blog hop is Tanis and her blog Card Confessions. Have a good one!

Fill This Day With Joy

Happy Earth Day! Today has not gone smoothly. My gmail account was hacked and spammed all my contacts during the middle of the night. A lot of you got a wacky email from me. Ugh!

I made this card for Kristina's 1-layer (no embellishment) challenge. I've never made a 1-layer card...ever!

We've been enjoying some days off for Spring Break. Today was a break in the rain, so I took a picture of my card near a sunny window.

When you were a kid, did you do this type of squiggly drawings on a piece of paper and then color them in with Crayons or markers? Well, I thought I was alone on this until I saw a YouTube video by Courtney and she mentioned the same. Well, instead of Crayons, I used my growing supply of Copic markers. I went to a stamping convention on Saturday and I tripled my collection! Well, that was easy to do since I only owned 3 Copics before. Haha!

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits (Papertrey Ink), Look Up (Practicing Creativity)

Paper: white (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Black Sharpie, Copic markers

Tools: Corner Rounder (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: Gray colored pencil (Crayola)

Easter Greetings

Happy Easter! It was a cold and rainy day here in Northern California. Luckily, the scavenger egg hunt I planned for the Little Guy was an indoor event. He had fun. My Sweetie made dinner, so that was great. I was able to create this card.

To everyone in Baja California and Southern California, I hope you're OK after than large earthquake this afternoon.

This card started with a Baja Breeze cardstock base. I don't have the Hero Arts Cloud background stamp, but I can cut the design on my Silhouette since Hero Arts released this image for the Silhouette. I used the negative as a stencil. I applied white craft ink and then imbossed the image with white embossing powder. I've had this The Cat's Pajamas Spring Fling set since last year and I haven't used 80% of it.

I only own 3 Copic markers, but I used them all on Driving Mr. Carrot! I also did some paper piecing and I used some colored pencils. I forgot to use Memento ink when I stamped the image...oh well. The eggs are also paper pieced.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Spring Fling (The Cat's Pajamas)

Paper: Baja Breeze (SU!), white (Papertrey Ink), patterned paper (Carolyn Gavin for K & Company)

Ink: Memories Black

Tools: Silhouette (with Hero Arts Cloud background), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), 1 3/8" circle punch & scallop circle punch (SU!), 2" circle punch (Fiskars), embossing gun

Other: Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, foam tape (3M), white embossing powder, Copic markers