Oh My Stars! - Layout inspiration for Pinkfresh Studio

Hi there crafty friends,

I'm back today with some new Christmas layout ideas that I've created for Pinkfresh Studio. I've used the latest Christmas collection, Holiday Vibes, on both of these layouts.

The night before I started working on these pages, an idea came to me, what if I draw a pie chart on my background, then cut it open and fold it back. Would it look like a star? I imagined it would but I wasn't sure. With a heavy heart I cut into the Merry Christmas patterned paper, not knowing what to expect, and this particular paper being the last one I had. 

Gosh, I almost cried. I backed the opening with gold glitter paper and put the page aside. I had no idea what to do with it. I wasn't planning on putting my photo inside the star, but I didn't place it well and when I tried photos anywhere else on the page, they just didn't look right. I don't have many winter photos left that I didn't scrap and none of them worked in a pentagon shape. So ugggh. I started working on my second layout instead and came back to this the next day.

I was determined to make it work, I have never once before thrown away a layout. I found a photo I had already printed out, it's totally blurry but I loved this moment and I still remember it so clearly! So I decided to use it anyway. I cut it into a pentagon shape and cut a slightly bigger pentagon from white card stock so it looks like my photo has a white border. I glued these down. 

I then took all the snowflakes/stars I found and placed them on the layout. I also fussy cut the Let It Snow paper in both 12x12 and 6x6 sizes to have more snowflakes in different sizes. I arranged them on my page and glued them down. I used liquid glue for some and pop dots for others to add interest. I embellished the layout with some puffy stickers, a tag and enamel dots. I glued down my title and added my journaling and date. To finish off this page I splattered some gold ink here and there. I'm still not in love with this page but I think I managed to save it, phew.

I've been wanting to do layered stars on a page for a million years but never got around to it - so I was determined to do it now! I die cut a bunch of stars from various patterned papers (Magical Forest, A Christmas Cheer, Very Merry, Home for the Holidays, Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings) in different sizes and layered them up. Then I stitched them down in the middle and folded up their sides.

Now I had the same problem as before, finding a photo that I can actually cut into a star shape...This is the part I don't enjoy, I think this is why I've been making more cards lately - going through photos.  It often takes hours...So when I finally did find a photo, I cropped it in Photoshop and printed it out.

I played around with arrangements and settled on this one. I glued down the stars and added some red twine to each of them so that they look like they are hanging. I also made some bows from the same twine. 

I scattered some wooden buttons around the page, added some chipboards, my title and journaling, and last but not least, some gold ink splatters. Done!

That's it for today! I hope I could inspire you in one way or another!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

X

Card inspiration - DT projects for Pinkfresh Studio

Hi lovelies,

I'm back today with my monthly card inspiration post for Pinkfresh Studio!

Today I'm showing you 3 very different cards, topic and style wise too! Not on purpose, it just happened this way :).

I wanted to use some sets I haven't had time for yet... First up is the adorable Squirrel stamp set (coordinating dies are also available)! I created an A2 size top folding card base and added a piece of white glitter paper to it. I stamped my sentiment using WOW embossing pad and embossed it with WOW Primary Apple Red embossing powder. Considering how red is my least favorite color, I sure use it a lot during holiday season! And loving it too!

I die cut a circle from white card stock and dry embossed it to add some interest and dimension to my background. I popped this up on the card front, using foam tape. I then selected a couple of patterned papers from the Holiday Vibes and the Indigo Hills 2 collections and stamped my little squirrels on them. I fussy cut them out and did a bit of paper piecing so I could have sweaters on them. 

I embossed their scarves with WOW Primary Apple Red embossing powder, the sleigh with WOW Gold Rich Pale and fussy cut these out too. I assembled the squirrels and glued them down on the circle. Finally, I added some red and white twine to my card.

Next up is one of my favorite stamp sets, Train Ride (coordinating dies are available)! I have used this set once before but that was a Christmas card. Now I decided to go with a birthday theme! And if kids birthdays, then rainbows! I love colors! So I went with a rainbow color scheme on this simple, one layer card.

For this one I created another A2 size, top folding card base, but in landscape orientation. I first stamped the train and the animals. Now that I'm looking at it, I really should have used a darker shade of purple for my little critter on the last car, he is barely visible!

I then stamped a lot of lollipops and presents in coordinating colors. I added a Birthday sentiment using black ink so it stands out, as well as some black and white twine. To finish it off, I glued down a slim strip of patterned paper from the Indigo Hills 2 collection at the bottom. 

On my last card I used the beautiful Fancy Blooms stamp and die sets my friend Ruby designed. Now, I don't particularly love coloring nor am I any good at it, but I do love Ruby, so the least I could do was try and come up with something! 

I made another A2 size top folding card base (landscape orientation) and glued down a strip of black card stock in the middle, then layered a slightly smaller strip of gray patterned paper (Indigo Hills 2 collection) on top of it. I stamped 2 groups of flowers and some leaves in Versafine black ink, then colored them in. The weather here is quite depressing, gray skies and all, so I wanted something colorful that reminds me of summer. Hence the bright colors!

Once done, I checked where I want to add my flowers exactly, so that I know where to stamp my sentiment. This sentiment comes from the My Favorite Things to Say stamp set, which is simply fantastic. It's full of great sentiments and I love the various fonts. Especially the one they used for Enough (on my card). Then using foam tape, I added my flowers in two opposite corners. As a final step, I placed some enamel dots here and there.

That's it for today guys! I hope I could inspire you in some small way!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

X

Pinkfresh Studio Holiday Cards Blog Hop - Day 1

Hello crafty friends,

Welcome to the first day of the Pinkfresh Studio Holiday Cards Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from the super talented Wanda's blog! I always love seeing her beautiful projects and amazing photos on Instagram! 

For today's projects I wanted to use some older stamp sets from Pinkfresh Studio, that I haven't had a chance to work with yet! I don't know about you, but I hate leaving stamps and dies untouched, I need to try them all at least once! I wish I had time to use them more often too! The reason I haven't used these particular sets before is because I am not so into coloring, I simply have no patience for it. Which is weird because I really loved coloring as a kid! Oh well, I guess we all change!

Back to the cards! On my first one I've used the adorable Festive Llama stamp set. There are also coordinating dies available but I fussy cut this one out because I was too lazy to take out my die cutting machine. Oh God, I feel a pattern emerging here (ie. I'm just lazy in general?!). I picked a pattern paper from the Holiday Vibes collection and matched my color scheme to it. Luckily I had some alcohol markers in matching colors, because I only have like 30 markers...I stamped the images in black ink and did very basic coloring, I didn't think it needed more.

I made an A2 size top folding card base and adhered the patterned paper on top. I then die cut a basic oval shape from another patterned paper from the same collection and using foam tape, I adhered it down in the middle of the panel.

I also added foam dots to my llama and presents and attached them to the oval shape. Last but not least I added a sentiment which is a sticker from last year's Christmas collection, December Days. Gosh, I loved that collection too!

On my second card I've used another super cute set, Simple Joy! There's coordinating dies available for this set too, but again, as before, I was too lazy...:( Same as before, I created an A2 size top folding card base. Then I fussy cut a part of a patterned paper (with the lights) from the 6x6 pad in the Holiday Vibes collection and using foam adhesive I added it to the top part of my card. I also added a strip of green gingham paper at the bottom.

I'll be honest, I accidentally colored the chair red and then there was no way for me to color Santa's pullover red too haha! In the end, I actually prefer the green, it's something different! I glued down Santa in the middle and added the kitty on foam dots. I tucked a puffy sticker present behind him.

I love the mittens in the Holiday Vibes collection and thought they looked cute hanging from behind the lights, so I added them there! My sentiment I've cut out from the Very Merry patterned paper. 

That's it! I hope you like how these two cards turned out and I could inspire you in some small way! 

I've been making Christmas cards since July and I'm still not tired of them haha! I wouldn't mind making them all year round!

Now for the fun part! Giveaways and promotions!

- Each day 6 random comments will be picked to win a $25 gift card to the Pinkfresh Studio store. There will also be 2 grand prizes picked from the comments left on the Pinkfresh Studio blog posts: each day a different bundle of holiday stamps and dies. Prizes will be pictured each day on the Pinkfresh Studio blog. That is 12 chances to win over the two days plus the grand prizes! Winners will be posted on Sunday, November 11 by 2pm CST on the Pinkfresh Studio GIVEAWAY PAGE. You must check that page and claim your prize within 2 weeks!

- The exclusive Holiday Vibes die will be added to any purchase in the Pinkfresh Studio store, free of charge! No promo code needed, it will automatically be added to your shopping cart. How cool is that? Even I don't have this die, boohoo!

Phew, that's a whole lot of information! But I hope you've enjoyed this post anyway :).

As always, I'm the last one in the hop hehe, so from here you go back to the Pinkfresh Studio blog!  I'm also attaching the full blog hop list at the end of this post, for your convenience. Have fun hopping!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

X

* Full disclosure: I'm using affiliate links in this post, which you can use at no cost to you.

An InLinkz Link-up

Christmas card inspiration - DT project for Pinkfresh Studio

Hey guys,

I'm checking in with some new Pinkfresh Studio cards! On today's cards I've combined the super adorable Holiday Vibes collection with some of the stamps from the Pinkfresh Studio July release.

All my cards have an A2 size top folding card base, although one of them is in landscape orientation.

Often when I'm bored I fussy cut (or hand stitch) just to do something! One of these times I fussy cut  one of the 12x12 patterned papers, Christmas Cheer. It's such a cute paper, I can't even!

I added some patterned paper to my card fronts (Very Merry and Merry Christmas), then started creating my scene.

I adhered the little animals and leaves, then I took a bunch of Christmas stamps sets and added some simple black images. The presents and snowflakes are from the Train Ride and the Magical Christmas  stamp sets. The sentiments are from the Magical Christmas and Great Joy sets. 

Once the stamping was done, I added the little hats with foam dots. I love the oversized look!

Next up is a card with the Magical Christmas stamp set (coordinating dies are also available, however I just quickly fussy cut out my unicorn because I often have no space to take out my die cutting machine). I cut an A2 size piece of the Home for the Holidays patterned paper for the background. This has some sentiments along with the polka dots on it, but I covered them up with the Merry and Bright sentiment from the Great Joy stamp set. 

I fussy cut out some lights from the 12x12 Seasons Greetings patterned paper and adhered it to the top of my card, using foam tape. I added a bit of water color to my unicorn, stamped its scarf in red ink, embossed its horn with gold embossing powder, then attached it to the card with foam dots. Last but not least I hung some fussy cut ornaments from the top. These are from the 12x12 Christmas Cheer paper.

I've created a shaker card next. Using the Great Joy coordinating dies I cut out a window from and A2 size patterned paper (Let It Snow). I also cut the wreath from white card stock which I then stamped and embossed using the Great Joy stamp set. I adhered these two to acetate then added foam tape to the back.

I covered my card base with the Home for the Holidays paper, placing it in a way that the Holiday Vibes sentiment would show in the shaker window. I placed some sequins and beads in the middle and attached the card front to the card base. I added a few details: die cut and twine bows plus a few fussy cut pieces (again, from the Christmas Cheer paper), to add some dimension.

Then we've arrived to my last card for today! This is a very simple one! I adhered a piece of the Very Merry patterned paper to my white card base. I stamped my sentiment right in the middle in black ink. I've used the Magical Christmas stamp set for this. 

Now, there were lots of partial presents in the 12x12 Christmas Cheer paper and as I don't like to throw away any scraps, I tried to use as many of those as I could. The rest of the presents I had to trim down after adhering them to the background paper. I also added a few candy canes, some fussy cut, some stamped. The tiny candy cane stamp is from the adorable Train Ride stamp set. 

That's it for today guys! I hope I could inspire you to mix and match stamp sets for your holiday projects!

Thank you for stopping by! Have an awesome day!

X

* Full disclosure: I'm using affiliate links in this blog post at no cost to you. *