Patterned Papered Dreams

Grandpa Birthday Card with Waffle Flower Crafts and a Winner

Hello again! What??? Me blogging two days in a row???? Haha, yeah, and this is just the beginning because the Waffle Flower Crafts Fall Release is on it's way and it's jam packed with awesomeness! I'll be sharing a few projects during the introduction days between October 1 and 5, but be sure to check the WFC blog where all the full reveals will take place. I can't wait to share the lovely new products with you :)

However, I'm not done with the previous release. Oh, no. And here's the proof:

 

 

Grandad birthday card, anyone? As I've said many times before, I know some people struggles when it comes to creating masculine cards, so here's another idea. I used Surface - Tag stamp set for the Happy Birthday and stamped "Grandpa" using Be My Guest Stamp set.

 

 

I also wanted to show you that the Surface - Tag Die - Santa Add-on dies can be used for other than making Christmas/Santa inspired projects. Because a white beard? Yeah,  that totally screams Grandpa to me. But if your dad, husband, brother, boyfriend or friend sports a fantactic blonde, brown, grey or black beard, this would work perfectly too :)

 

 

I die cut the largest tag from Surface - Tag Die - Starter Kit from both cardstock and patterned paper and adhered them together for added stability. The buttons and belt were die cut from kraft and silver cardstock. I threaded the buttons with rustic twine and covered them with glossy accents.

 See the beard? Some time ago I found in a Bolivian street market some awesome pieces of fuzzy paper. It's a paper covered with a fuzzy layer, kind of a velvet finish, really cool to the touch! Sadly, they hadn't a cardstock version, but I worked easily with the paper by adhering it to scrap cardstock. By the way, use a dry adhesive or double sided tape for this, because a liquid glue would warp and even trespass the paper.

So I used the fuzzy paper for the beard and the result is oh, so cool!!! The pics don't capture the texture really well, but I made my best. Lookie:

 

 

I also have a winner for the $10 gift certificate to the Waffle Flower Store that I gave away on this post:

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 2

I am so loving these! They are so cute! These would be so cute to make a set for my students' birthdays! They would love using them! Thanks for sharing!

Posted by: Indy | 09/18/2014 at 02:18 PM

Congrats, Indy! I'll contact you!

Aaaand, that's it from me! Thanks so much for stopping by and  I hope you'll come back on October 2 for some previews of the WFC Fall release.

Creative & Getting to Know Me Blog Hops

Hello, friends! Today's post is a bit different than usual. It's about creativity and inspiration... Oh, well, if you think about it, all posts are about that, right? But today, instead of showing it through a project, I will try to put it into words :)

I was tagged by my wonderful friends Nina and Kelly for both the Creative Blog Hop and the Getting to Know Me Blog Hop, so I decided to make a single post for both hops, as some of the questions are the same. My teamie May also tagged me some weeks ago and I was unable to play at the time, so with a bit of delay, here I go!

1. What am I working on now?

Right now I'm having a ball creating projects for the grand reveal of the October Waffle Flower Crafts release. It's going to be amazing! I've been sharing some sneak peeks on Instagram and Facebook. I am also busy with my SRM Stickers Design Team assignments for next month. I love coming up with fun ways to use their stickers, vinyl and super cool packaging products :)

2. How does my work differ from others in my genre? // If you had to describe your signature style, what would it be?

Oh, heck! To the first question, I have no idea! Ok, perhaps... my fellow crafters have more defined signature styles that makes their work recognizable, while I'm equally happy with ink up to my elbows or with the simplest and cleanest of designs. This said, I'm above all, a stamper. 99% of my cards and tags include stamping. I'm also a hardcore die cutting lover, both with the Big Shot and the Cameo. Lately I've been creating my own cut files and it's SO fun! Also, I gravitate towards clean and graphic, bright colors combined with black, and probably 95% of my card bases are white and on 90% of them I heat emboss something (ah, the magic!). Another design element that attracts me a lot is woodgrain: paper, embossing folders, washi tape... you name it.

3. Why do I create what I do? // What inspires your designs?

I don't know why I create what I do, but I sure know why I create: it makes me happy. It's that simple. I crave creating something every single day. And the days that I'm not able to do it, which are lots because I'm a mother who also works full time, I get grumpy.

My designs are inspired by the muses because I'm a genius Pinterest, graphic design in all it's forms (textiles, prints, catalogues...), paper crafting products  and the work of other crafters, of course!

4. How does my creative process work? What method/process do you apply to each of your creative project, and how long does each project take to complete?

As I said before, I haven't got a lot of crafting time, so between DT commitments, magazine submission calls and just for fun projects, I need to be fast! Now, don't take me wrong, that doesn't add any stress to my crafting process. Actually, projects that take ages to complete usually end up boring me. So I would say, the average time it takes me to finish a card is around an hour, and much less for tags.

I don't have a method, unless staring into the wall infront of my desk is considered a method, ha! My process is usually chaotic unless there's something very, very specific that inspired me in the first place -a layout, a stamp that I want to use in a particular way, a technique I want to try, a color combo-.

5. What three crafting tools/products can you not live without?

- White cardstock

- Stamps + Ink (these two count as one, right?)

- Silhouette Cameo die cutting machine. I also adore the Big Shot, but I chose the Cameo because you don't need dies, and you can create anything yourself, from custom sentiments to 3D stuff and everything in between! And of course there are a zillion designs you can purchase too.

Well, that's it! Now, I should tag another three crafters, but I've decided to make things a big different. If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged. I really appreciate each and every visit to my blog. There are so many awesome blogs to visit out there, so many talented designers, that I'm grateful and honored that you decided to stop by mine and spend time here. So, this said, nothing would make me happier than visiting you too, and learning about your process! If you decide to play, you will need to post your answers to this same questions next Monday. Please, leave me a comment so I can visit your blog and get to know about you :)

And, today more than ever, thanks for visiting!

Kid's Stationery with Waffle Flower Crafts. And a giveaway!!!

Hello, hello! Today I have something to share that isn't a card or a tag. *gasp* I have already declared my true love for Be my Guest stamp set by Waffle Flower Crafts, but I had yet to play with Riverside stamp set from the August release and it happened to be SO perfect for this project! I made a little personalized stationery set for my son. He recently celebrated his 7th Birthday and these will be perfect to send some thank you notes for the gifts he received :)

Here I am showing four different designs, but you could make a bunch of these in no time.

 

 

I started cutting cardstock pieces to around 4x3 inches and rounded the corners, and then I set on a design with simple stamped images on one side and personalized lettering on the other.

 

 

The lettering was added with Be My Guest stamp set and all the images are from the Riverside set. I colored them with Copics. Nothing fancy, just added color, no shadowing. You could also just stamp the images and let your kids do the coloring for even more personalized notes!

Here are the individual shots:

A mountain scene that involved masking the mountains to add the cloud.

 

 

River with cute little fish. The fish were stamped separately, fussy cut and adhered.

 

 

Of course, I had to use the adorable bunny in the set. I masked him so he could sit on the grass. The tree was die cut with the Riverside coordinating dies and stamped.

 

 

And finally, a starry sky scene.

 

 

I hope this little project inspires you to go beyond the card with your Waffle Flower Crafts stamps and dies. They're so versatile!

And yes, today I have a giveaway too! Leave me a comment before this Friday for a chance to win a $10 credit for the Waffle Flower Crafts store. As always, if you follow me on Bloglovin' you can leave a second comment and increase your chances to win :)

Thanks for visiting and happy Thursday!

On the SRM Blog Today!

Hi friends! I'm up on the SRM Stickers blog today with a fun and very useful project with vinyl. It's my first time using heat transfer vinyl and I'm delighted with the result! Hope you'll stop by and check it :)

 

 

Happy Tuesday!

A project for Top Dog Dies

Hello everyone! Some weeks ago the lovely folks at Top Dog Dies sent me some fantastic dies to play with and today I'm guesting on their blog, and I also have a card to share here. Besides, I'd like to report that their dies are awesome! Great quality, and even the most detailed ones cut like butter :)

I played with the Heart Border die and the inlaid die cuts technnique to create a colorful background. This technique has been around for a while now but I still find it one of the coolest things you can do with dies!

 

 

To create the background, I die cut the Heart Border die from a cardstock strip in white and backed it with scor-tape (any double sided adhesive tape or sheet will do). Next, I die cut the hearts border again in a few bright colors and inserted the hearts one by one inside the white strip. Once I was done, I adhered the colorful strip to the card base, trimmed the excess from the top and bottom  edges of the card and added a stamped sentiment from Technique Tuesday.

 

 

 

That's it! Don't forget to check the Top Dog Dies blog for another project that includes a little tutorial!  There's also a giveaway you don't want to miss. Check it here. Thank you so much for inviting me, Top Dog Dies!

And here's some info about Top Dog. They carry lots of awesome dies!

Top Dog Dies is a new online store that offers their own brand of wafer-thin and steel-rule dies, along with dies from brands you already know and trust, including Little B, Lawn Fawn, Taylored Expressions, Savvy Stamps and Cheery Lynn Designs. Top Dog Dies is also the leading U.S. retailer for Tattered Lace, a new line of intricate dies designed by British designer Stephanie Weightman.

 

Some published projects

Hello friends! It's been a while since I've shared my published projects on the blog, so today I have two of them. I love submitting cards, tags and other paper crafted stuff to Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking magazine. Their current submission calls are listed here and right now are two different ones for the iconic Card Creations and for the April 2015 regular issue. If you've never submitted, go and give it a try! The PPC&S team is a joy to work with :)

Ok, now on to the projects.

First, a little clean and graphic Christmas number from my favorite issue: Holiday Cards & More Volume 9. This publication is jam packed with Holiday inspiration, from cards to tags, to gift packaging and everything in between. A must have! You can get it here.

 

 

For this card I designed a cut file than you can download for free with your copy of the magazine :)

Here comes another project. This tag is published in the October 2014 digital issue that just went out for sale yesterday! It shows a fun hand stitched pattern using the rhinestone feature on the Silhouette Cameo.

 

 

You can purchase the October issue here or even get a year subscription for as little as $9,99 a year. Is that a deal or what?

I hope you leave inspired to try your hand at submitting to the magazine because it's a fun and rewarding process. Thanks for visiting!

 

 

 

Waffle Flower September Blog Hop

 

Hello there! I'm on the Waffle Flower Blog today for the grand opening of the Waffle Flower Crafts & Freckled Fawn Blog Hop. It's a week long event! Here's a little peek of one of the projects I'm sharing there...

 

 

I hope to see you at the Waffle Flower Blog! There are prizes and lots of inspiration...