OSAT Blog Hop: Happily Every After

Hey Every body! I'm so glad you could stop by today because it's the second Thursday of the month and you know what that means, right?!

It means it's time for the OSAT Blog Hop to go live and this month we've got 18 talented stampers from around the world sharing gorgeous cards and projects for you to "ooh," and, "ahh" over!

Our theme this month is Happily Ever After. Of course my mind went straight to "wedding" but I just didn't feel like making a wedding card. So, I started thinking about what "Happily Ever After" means to me... It means forever and ever I suppose which made me instantly think of my amazing parents. In April they will be celebrating 44 years of marriage! That is a really long time! Practically forever. I got a hold of my dad and asked him if I could make him an anniversary card to give to my mom. He loved the idea so here's what I made for him...

I used Pool Party cardstock for the base and mat and decorated the mat using a stencil and White Craft Ink. I wanted a subtle background so I was happy with how it came out. Then I embossed a piece of white cardstock and tore it to give it a rough edge. I used gorgeous vellum pieces from the Sweet Soiree Accessories Pack to decorate my card. I added color to them using my Blends alcohol markers. The numbers are from the same accessories pack. The sentiment is cut from a card from the Memories & More Petals Passion pack.

I added some enamel dots to finish my card off and was so thrilled at easily this card came together thanks to the card packs that I used.

For my project I decided to make a gift box. An anniversary sure seems like a great time to give someone a beautiful gift and beautiful packaging makes a gift even more exciting to receive. I used many of the same elements that I did on my card and kept the color schemes very similar so that both my card and box would coordinate.

I added some rhinestones to finish off this box and was again surprised at how easily it came together because of all of the gorgeous pieces from the accessory packs I used.

Well, that's all for me today folks! Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you'll continue on this hop by clicking the Next button below and heading over to my lovely friend, Jenny Hall! You can also get to her blog by using the Blog Roll list below the Next button. I hope you have an amazing day and that you will enjoy the rest of the hop!

-Maria Willis

BLOG ROLL:

Want to shop with me? No problem, just click the button below. 

Let me know if you have any questions!

Email: mariawillis@hotmail.com

Want a great discount on Stampin' Up! Products and to have a fun new stamping family? Join me on this fun adventure! I can't wait to be your super excited Stampin' Up! side kick and support lady! In case you didn't know, you can join Stampin' Up! just for the discount and never sell a single product. If you want to know the details just let me know. If you're looking for a discount on your favorite hobby (stamping and paper crafting with Stampin' Up! products) and want to earn money doing it... let me know! I'd love to talk with you whatever your interest might be! If you want to see a little more info go ahead and click the button below. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Stamping Sunday Blog Hop - Stampin' Blends

Hey everybody! I'm so excited today because I've been asked to hop along with the Stamping Sunday crew as their guest designer. What an honor! The theme for the hop is Stampin' Blends so it'll be fun to see the different and creative way everyone has used them. The Stampin' Blends markers are alcohol based markers and are great for so many uses. The obvious use to color on paper but keep on reading to find a couple of other uses for them.

For this hop I decided to try something that I haven't tried before and I used my Stampin' Blends on acrylic to create a fun, artsy, faux-watercolored look. 

I started my card by selecting an acrylic sheet from the Petal Passion Memories & More Card Pack (available when the new Occasions Catalog Launches on January 3, 2017). This acrylic sheet was preprinted with some subtle white flowers on it. I used those flowers as a guide for my coloring and colored on the textured side as the texture held the color well. For the flowers I used the Daffodil Delight and Calypso Coral Blends. The leaves were done with Old Olive.

At first I wasn't sure that the smooth acrylic was going to hold the ink very well. I had started with Soft Sky and decided to use the light Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends to do the background. I started to see a light layer of color. As the color started to dry I was able to add to it by coloring a second layer of color over the first layer. This also moved some of the color around resulting in a brush stroke look that I think looks like a soft and pretty watercolor painting. 

When I was done coloring, I layered the acrylic sheet over a piece of Whisper White Cardstock and added Iridescent Sequins with reckless abandon. This all got layered over Sahara Sand cardstock and some Very Vanilla Lace Trim.  After that I embellished with some Calypso Coral Ombre Ribbon, some Linen Thread, a tassel and tag from the Corrugated Elements pack. If you look closely you can tell that I colored that tiny little piece behind the sentiment with my Calypso Coral Blends. Originally, I was going to use Calypso Coral cardstock but the color was too bold. The Stampin' Blends were the perfect shade for this project. I didn't end up using it (because I LOVE this ombre ribbon) but I actually made a custom color ribbon for this project out of white ribbon colored with my Stampin' Blends. It colored evenly and dried quickly and was an easy way to get just the color of ribbon you were hoping for. 

I've also made a box to show the versatility of the Stampin' Blends markers. For this project I used a strip of black and white DSP (Petal Passion DSP) and colored it in with my Blends. I used both of the Pool Party, Bermuda Bay and Night of Navy markers to create an ombre look on the DSP. 

Here's a closer look at the DSP so that you can see how well the colors blend. It's unbelievable easy too. I like to start with my light marker, then I use the darker one. After both colors are laid down, I use the lighter of the colors to blend the line where the two colors meet. It's really great that you can do this and it does not ruin your markers!

Another fun way to use the Stampin' Blends markers is to color your embellishments. I already mentioned making custom color ribbon and you can do the same thing with your rhinestones too! I used the light Night of Navy marker to color these sparkly bits before adding them to my layered sentiment piece. I love that we can now have many colors of rhinestones that match SU colors perfectly. 

Here's a last look at my box and that Blends colored DSP peeking through as an accent piece. 

That's it for today folks! Thanks for stopping by my blog and I hope you'll keep on hopping with us to see what the rest of the crew has made. If you'd like to keep on hopping please follow the list of names in the Blog Roll below until you've seen everybody's beautiful creations. 

A huge thanks to Sara Levin and the Stamping Sunday team for inviting me to join them this week. It's been fun ladies!

Have an awesome day everybody!

Maria Willis

BLOG ROLL:

Want to shop with me? No problem, just click the button below. 

Let me know if you have any questions!

Email: mariawillis@hotmail.com

Want a great discount on Stampin' Up! Products and to have a fun new stamping family? Join me on this fun adventure! I can't wait to be your super excited Stampin' Up! side kick and support lady! In case you didn't know, you can join Stampin' Up! just for the discount and never sell a single product. If you want to know the details just let me know. If you're looking for a discount on your favorite hobby (stamping and paper crafting with Stampin' Up! products) and want to earn money doing it... let me know! I'd love to talk with you whatever your interest might be! If you want to see a little more info go ahead and click the button below. Looking forward to hearing from you!