2019 Cat Lovers Hop Crafty Cat Card and The Gray Muse Enamel Pin Giveaway

Posted on October 21, 2019 by dannscraftingwhims

**** edited to note: giveaway now closed****

Hello and welcome to the 2019 Cat Lovers Hop celebrating our 5th year – MEOWZA!! Paws up to Janis, who puts loads of hard work into putting this hop together for us each year!!!

Unfortunately I won’t have as many posts as I’d planned for you this year (see previous post for deets), but I do have at least one card and a fabulous giveaway sponsored by Rubeena at The Gray Muse for you at the end of this post. In fact, I used her fun new Cats in the Craft Room stamp set to create a card for my dad who just got home from the hospital:

I wanted the front to rouse curiosity, so I cut out the cat that’s coloring and had him peeking into the ‘window’ with no sentiment

On the reverse side I found kitty on the craft mat in the same set that pretty nearly fits the head size and stamped it on the back for the face. The kitty in the CRAFTS box (that’s FTs, not Ps) in the set provided the paws… I just cut them out and folded them over the edge before gluing down the cat.

To give depth to the inside, I stamped the cat drawing 4 times and cut out each ‘page’, distressed the edges and then layered them exactly as the stamp, with the kitty on top. Then I drew thought bubbles to the stamped sentiments and wrote in my explanation of the scene below (now you know why I prefer using stamps!! lol!).

This card says everything I wanted to say! I’m SO happy that Rubeena has branched out into stamps! The Gray Muse is most famous for her fun enamel pins. Some are true-isms like this one: We rise by lifting others!

Supplies:

The Gray Muse Cats In the Craft Room stamp set
Spellbinders Gold Labels 4 dies
DCWV Mercury Glass Stack & Glitzy Glitter Stack
AC Cardsctock glitter card base
Core’dinations white card stock
Tsukineko Memento dye ink Tuxedo Black
Tsukineko Versamagic chalk ink Red Magic
Marvy Le Plume II pen #1122
Kaiser Craft Neon Gel pens
The Paper Studio Gemstones
Sookwang Scor-tape
Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue

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**** edited to note: giveaway now closed****

Now, for the part you’ve been waiting for!

First, in case you want that terrific cat stamp set, some of her other lovely stamps or some of her fabulous enamel pins, The Gray Muse is offering an exclusive 10% discount to all hoppers and readers of my blog during the hop (Oct 21-26)… just use the code: SPONSOR10:

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In addition, Rubeena has kindly offered to give away one of her recent kitten-in-the-craft room enamel pins to someone who comments on this post!

You can read about her Kitten & the Craft Box pin HERE and her Kitten & the Craft Mat pin HERE… they are based on her own cats! We can all relate to their shenanigans!!

What do you have to do to be entered to be the winner of one of above cute pins from The Gray Muse? Well, let’s show her some gratitude… First, go to her Facebook page HERE, like it and leave a message thanking Rubeena for her generosity! Then come back here and leave me a comment that you did so. Easy peasy. If you’re not on Facebook, or for a second entry, you can go to her Instagram Page HERE, follow it and comment on one of the two pins pictured above (just click on the picture to go directly to the post) and then come back here and leave me a comment that you did it. Maximum 2 entries per person. (BTW, while you’re there, I highly recommend signing up for her informative and entertaining newsletters. You will have until Midnight, Eastern Standard Time, October 27, 2019 to get your comments in. Sometime during the next week, I will publish a post listing all winners from giveaways on my blog from this hop (chosen using Random.org). Winners will have 48 hours to claim their prizes so be sure to subscribe to my blog so as not to miss that post!!

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But wait! There’s more!! Rubeena went above and beyond and sent me several of her pins as samples and I’ll be giving them away. In addition, before the cat pins came out, I had already purchased the trophy pin for this years hop:

Here’s how these enamel pin giveaways will work: On Sunday, October 27, 2019, you can send me ONE e-mail (d.annscraftingwhims (at) gmail (dot com)) with your entries (please mark your calendars as I may not be back here to remind you this year) as follows:

You can nominate someone else’s card for the Carmaking Talent award pin (presented by me). Did someone enter an exceptionally beautiful or difficult card that caught your eye. Please let me know the name and entry number from the Main Hop Page. Please send only one nomination.

2. You can nominate someone else’s funny/humorous card for the CUT-UP award (the interactive papercutter).Please let me know the name and entry number from the Main Hop Page. Please send only one nomination.

a b c

d e f

3. Would you like to be in the running to win one of the above enamel pins?

Please let me know the letters of the ones you’d like to win (in order of preference) and I’ll use Random.org to pick winners.

You will have until Midnight, Eastern Standard Time, October 27, 2019 to get your e-mail to me at d.annscraftingwhims (at) gmail (dot com). Sometime during the next week, I will publish a post listing all winners from giveaways on my blog from this hop. Winners will have 48 hours to claim their prizes so be sure to subscribe to my blog so as not to miss that post!! Sorry I can’t be more specific on the date, but everything is up in the air as dad just got home from the hospital and starts chemo Monday. Thanks for understanding!

Thank you, Rubeena and The Gray Muse, for your generous support of this crafty Cat Lovers Hop!! Your goodies and discount make this event even more fun!!

Phew! I’m ready for a cat nap after this!! I look forward to seeing all of your crafty projects but I may not get around to commenting on them all as I have done it the past. Hopefully, next year I can be back with you all in full force! Have fun hopping!!

~D.Ann

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Guest Designing for CropStop – Heartfelt Creations Daffodils-from-Orchids Card

Posted on March 17, 2017 by dannscraftingwhims

Hooray! Today is the day I finally get to share with you the exciting secret I’ve been busting to tell you… I was invited to be a guest designer of a project for the CropStop blog! If you happen to be coming from there… WELCOME!!

I was totally surprised and nervous as all get-out for my first ever privilege of being a guest designer! I hope you like my first project… I happen to think it’s one of my best cards. I’d be tickled pink if you would pop over to the CropStop blog and leave some love! Here’s a TINY sneaky peak to pique your interest:

I know you’re going to want to see the details close up… you can click the link HERE to get to the CropStop Blog. Meanwhile, I’ll sit here and twiddle my thumbs while you go check it out! When you’re done, please come on back here and I’ll share some extra details and tips with you, ok?!

Are you still here? I wish I knew how to embed music into my post, but since I dont, let me send you on your way by humming the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey for dramatic effect while you click on the link HERE to go check out the project…. duuuum, DuuuuuM, DUUUUUUMMMM, TaDUUUMMM!….

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So, what’d’ya think?! I hope you liked it as much as I did! Of course you know things always look better in real life… wish you could see it for real!

Here’s some of the extra details that I didn’t want to overwhelm the folks at the CropStop blog. I played around with different ways to color the flowers… The first ones I stamped with Versamark ink and then watercolored with Distress inks by putting the ink on some plastic and picking it up with a water brush.

Note: For those of you who don’t have a MISTI or other stamping device, I highly recommend using the red 11×17 Rubber Stamping Mat under your paper to help get a nice evenly stamped image.

Also, if you don’t have a palette made specifically for watercoloring, you can use any hard plastic, like an old cd, a cd cover, or the packaging from your stamps, like I did.

You can see I wasn’t worried about staying in the lines as the die would cut away the excess. I did want to go OVER the lines to get a little extra dark coloring where the Versamark stamped image was.

For the second set of flowers I colored directly with the markers.

And, for the final set of flowers, I stamped with a light gray ink instead of Versamark and colored directly with the markers again. I also colored the back sides of each flower.

These are the Heartfelt Creations Botanical ORCHID stamps. Emma Lou of Heartfelt Creations has a nice video showing how to use these to make the DAFFODILS HERE.

Here are the finished flowers in the order I made them:

If you want a softer color, the watercolor works, but for brighter colors, coloring direct on the page works better. You will loose some color with the wetting required to shape the flowers. (Note, I also tried this with Color Bursts, but they washed out too much. FYI, you would have to start out with a really dark color to allow for the loss of color in the wetting and shaping process.)

I used the Twist & Style Sizzix so kindly sent me a while back to make the stamens out of beads and wire stems. It makes quick work of wire twisting!!

Another thing I learned… The Beadalon 7 strand .015″ wire was a little too flimsy for the stems. The 26 gauge copper wire worked MUCH better. If I wanted them to stand up in a bouquet, I’d use an even heavier wire.

Here’s a close-up of the finished flowers. I took one of each different kind and put them in a bunch for variety and affixed them with Glubers. Oh, and FYI, the butterfly got its fabulous shine from Stickles (Firefly and Tropical Tangerine).

For the card base I wanted to have it embossed with the Couture Creations Serenity Collection: Chiaro 5×7 embossing folder that I won from CropStop back in January AND I wanted a nice cutout shape. This led to another learning experience…

The die cut card was so delicate that the pass through the embossing machine ‘broke’ the paper apart in several places. It worked out much better to run the paper through the embossing folder first, THEN die cut it. In the process of die cutting it, it did flatten some of the embossing, leaving a much softer look and keeping the edges in tact.

Tip: Can’t find faux adhesive pearls to match your project? Use a Copic Marker to color plain ones!

You will find the list of all the supplies used on the CropStop Blog. You can click HERE to go back and check it out again. Thank you, CropStop, for the privilege of guest designing for your blog!

Well, as Paul Harvey used to say, “And now you know the REST OF THE STORY!”

I am also playing along with the following challenges… click on any one of them for more information on how you can join the fun:

You can also feel free to join in with the Cropstop March Challenge Linky Party #26: Anything Goes… It’s always fun to see the many lovely projects and you have the chance to win a nice prize or, perhaps, even be a guest designer!

Please stop back by Next Friday, March 24, for another guest designer post for the CropStop blog… this time a MUCH simpler pair of cards using some fun cut-and-fold dies… I’ll look forward to seeing you then!

This has been D.Ann reporting…. “Good day!” : )

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Dandelion Wishes – Cat Lovers Hop

Posted on October 29, 2015 by dannscraftingwhims

Popping back in with…. you guessed it! Another kitty card! >^.^<

This Wild Rose Studio stamp is just TOO cute, don’t you think? I love how those Crystal Ice Ice Stickles shine!! Of course I know an aunt of mine who would not be happy if she had dandelions that big in her yard! (I know you’re reading this and giggling, Aunt M! wink-wink)

I had one small problem when I went to put it on the card… the die was a smidge too big! So I snipped off the ‘finials’ and put some pearls on and if I hadn’t’ve told you, you probably wouldn’t’ve noticed, would you? : )

Those Wild Rose Studios stamps often remind me of the cute Anri wood carvings like the one of the sweet girl with her kitty:

Materials used:

Wild Rose Studio Emily with Dandelion stamp
Spellbinders Gold Labels 4
Copic Markers: BV00; C1; E000,00,02,11; R20,22,24,29; YG17,61,63,67; Y13,17; YR02,21,24
Pebbles, Inc. Chalks
Ranger Ink Ice Stickles – Crystal Ice
My Mind’s Eye Vintage card
Queen & Co Sunflower gold pearls

I’m participating in the following hops and challenges:

The Cat Lovers Hop: http://herpeacefulgarden.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-cat-lovers-hop-is-here.html

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/simon-says-anything-goes-20/

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Are there any more funnies? If you follow Janis’ blog, you know they’re endless as she always has a new one! I thought this one went well with this card:

And this one is purrfect for today:

Thanks for stopping by again today! Hold on to your cats because tomorrow is the last day of the hop and I’m sure we’ll go out with a bang! >^.^<

-D.Ann

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Bonus giggles for making it through yet another post:

This week of fur therapy has certainly been fun! Speaking of things that cheer us up…

Classy All-Occasion Cards

Posted on September 17, 2015 by dannscraftingwhims

Today I’d like to show you a couple of cards that look classy, but were quick and easy to get together:

This technique is SO easy: just heat emboss the stamped image – I was tickled to pull out a stamp that I hadn’t used yet. Next, spread some red, yellow and orange Gelatos over the embossed area and wipe with a baby wipe to mix the colors on the paper.

Then cut out with a pretty Spellbinders die that embosses and de-bosses at the same time. I love using the handy Bow-it-All to make easy and pretty bows. Really Reasonable Ribbon has some great tutorial videos (HERE) showing how to use it (you could easily make your own apparatus to do this).

Ignoring the crooked ribbon on the second card, which do you like better, the black or the gold embossing? I’m still undecided, but leaning toward the gold.

Materials used:

Tim Holtz stamp: Flutter
Versamark ink
Recollections detail embossing powders: gold & ebony
Faber-Castell Gelatos: Red, oranges and yellows
Spellbinders Gold labels 4
DCWV Bella Armoire cards
Misc. ribbon and adhesives

These cards were inspired by several challenges that I’ll be entering:

NBUS (Never-Before-Used-Schtuff) Challenge #5 by djkardcreations, which you can join here: http://www.djkardkreations.com/2015/09/its-here-nbus-challenge-5.html – it’s a stamp I’d never used before!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Love this Technique, which you can find here: http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/?p=3117 I love using Gelatos on heat embossed images!