Guess What Is New. Seasonal Expression Blog Hop

Hello.  Welcome to this months special hop featuring the brand new mini idea book, Seasonal Expressions 1. You should be coming from {Kelly Janes}. Next in the hop is {Michele Rowley}.

The first set of cards will be a workshop I am doing in January.  It was inspired by a fellow consultant a while ago.   I can't give credit because I don't have a picture saved. (Edit:  someone helped me figure out who I was inspired by, which was Lisa Stenz)  I just remember them doing a group of cards with the stamp set Holiday Tags and just one strip of color.  I made it my own by featuring embossing folders.  There are a few new embossing folders, but I used the heart and the diamond.  Now this stamp set will always be available since it is Cricut compatable.  

Now I have the Explore, which I love.  But it does not have the Real Dial Size option which you use on the other Cricuts when cutting out the shape to fit the stamp.  All you do is use the size indicated on the carrier sheet, like 1 1/4 in for the card below, and place it in the height option.  Now make sure to use the right decimals or you will come out with the same results as I did.  I cut out a bunch of the shape on one sheet of cardstock.  I thought I put the right numbers in but when I stamped the image, there was a huge amount of white space around the image and it didn't line up correct.  So i sat and cut out different sizes thinking 1 1/4 wasn't the right size.  Guess What?  It was and I just put the wrong size in the first time.  Oops.  I will use the wrong size shapes for something. 

Did you know there is a right and wrong way to emboss paper.  With our white core, if you do not go with the grain, it will show.  They have a video on embossing and shows how to find the grain.  Check out the video on Youtube from {Close To My Heart}. I did not follow this and this was the first round of embossing.  Does not look pretty.

I love making  3 x 3 cards.  They are easy to make and perfect to use for school valentines or in lunch bags.  And all of these cards are one layer so its even easier.

This card needed a little umph so I added one of the hearts from the puffies.

          

This card has the cute heart colored in.  I used the ShinHan markers.  I used the Carmine marker but the red clashed with the sentiment so I took the colorless blender to change the color. In real life, the hearts don't look as blurred as the do in the picture.  I used our basic ink with this, not archival or pigment, so the markers do blur the edges a bit. 

I used the basic post it note masking technique to get the arrow through the heart.  Didn't even have to cut the post it into a heart shape.  Love when things are quick and easy.  

This card was inspired by the one in the idea book on page 13.  But with a change.  When I was taking everything out of the box, the puffy stickers where near the stamp set.  Found out the stickers fit perfectly with the monster.   Now you can use the embossing board, but I don't have ours, and just moved so I haven't unpacked mine contraband board.  So I justed used our ruler and embossing tool to do the score around the image.

After making this card, I thought " what other stamps will these cute stickers work with.

This is from the Owls stamps set, which is not featured in the current Idea Book or mini, but is still available online.  Our stamps are always available for a year, even during this year long book transition.

These two are from Cuddly Salutations, a hostess only stamp in the main Idea Book.

This is from Frightfully Fun, a Halloween set.  Love this mustache on him.

Now I just realized that I did not feature any of the pretty new papers from this mini, so do come back to see some projects with those.  And I already have another project using new items from the mini in the works, but since I just moved and only have access to the items I made sure to place aside to unpack first so I could do these projects, I don't have all the materials needed to finish it.

Go to {nikkageers.ctmh.com to get everything you need to make your own.

Thank You for stopping by.  Now join {Michele Rowley} and the rest of the blog hop.

Recipe:

-Happy Holidays Card-

Stamps -     

Holiday Tags D1560

Paper -

Card Base X254

White Daisy Cardstock 1385

Pacifica Cardstock X5759

Ink - 

Pacifica Ink Pad Z2192

Other - 

Artiste Cartridge Z1790

Diamond Embossing Folder Z3020

-Happy Valentines Day Card-

Stamps -

Holiday Tags D1560

Paper -

Card Base X254

White Daisy Cardstock 1385

Hollyhock Cardstock 1246

Ink - 

Hollyhock Ink Pad Z2128

Other-

Artiste Cartridge Z1790

Heart Embossing Folder Z3018

-Be Mine Card-

Stamps -

Heartstring Workshop On The Go G1090

Paper -

White Daisy Cardstock 1385

Ink -

Sweetleaf Ink Pad Z2153

Ruby Ink Pad Z2170

Other -

Stuck On You Puffies Z3037

-Hugs & Kisses Card-

Stamps- 

XOXO M1054

Doodled Designs A1170

Paper -

White Daisy Cardstock 1385

Ink - 

Ruby Ink Pad Z2170

Black Ink Pad Z2105

ShinHan Carmine Marker Z2448

ShinHan Colorless Blender Z2469

-Heart Valentines-

Stamps -

Forever In My Heart C1604

Paper - 

White Daisy Cardstock 1385

Ink -

Black Ink Z2105

Ruby Ink Z2170

Pixie Ink Z2644

-Love Ya Silly-

Stamps-

Love Ya Silly B1470

Paper -

White Daisy Cardstock 1385

Black Card Stock 1386

Card Base X254

Ink -

Lagoon Ink Z2195

Black Ink Z2105

Other-

Stuck On You Puffies Z3037

Ruler Z1471 (or Scoreboard Z1937)

Piercing And Embossing Tool Kit Z2046

-Mustache and Bowtie Animals-

Owls B1450

Cuddly Salutations (Hostess Only) B1458

Frightfully Fun B1453

Stuck On You Puffies Z3037