Cards for Him Blog Hop

Hello there and welcome to the Cards for Him Blog Hop!

Catherine has a brand new online class, featuring ideas and techniques for how to make great masculine cards! I don't know about you, but this has always been a struggle for me. I love my bright colors, my ribbons, buttons, flowers, etc. This class is going to be SO helpful, I can't wait to play with all the new techniques and ideas!

Our newest online class “Cards For Him” is now open for registration!  This is perfectly timed for Father’s Day which is right around the corner, but of course is great for masculine card ideas year-round.

We've joined forces with some of the companies and their designers that have products featured in our class for a Blog Hop to celebrate our newest release.  There are TEN FREE class registrations hidden along the hop, so make sure you leave comments along the way.

The more comments you make, the greater your chances are for winning! 

You have until 11:59 pm on May 2nd to leave a comment to be entered to win!  Winners will be announced at on May 3rd on Catherine's Blog.  

Click here to learn more and to Register by May 7 to get the discounted rate!    http://creativitygrowshere.com/classes/creativity-grows-here-2/cards-for-him/

StampNation Members, click here to grab your 50% off discount code!   http://www.thestampnation.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?131-Cards-For-Him

Here's a card I created using the "texture" techniques shared in the class. 

With Father's Day right around the corner, I thought I'd take this opportunity to get ahead of the game and make my Dad's card! I started by making my card base and then cut another piece of kraft cardstock to 4 x 5.25 inches. I slathered a thick layer of  Wendy Vecchi's white texture paste and let it dry for a few minutes, but not so long as to make it completely harden. I took out my Whole Lotta Dots set by Reverse Confetti and stamped it directly into the texture paste. It's a real shame that I ended up covering most of the dots because it looked SO AWESOME! You can still see a bit of the stamping in texture paste between the vellum sentiment panel and that hinge on the top. 

Make sure you clean the stamp off right away, don't want any of that paste to dry on and potentially ruin your precious stamp! Next step was to spray the piece with some Dylusions inks. I love these things, and you can tell I went a little nuts with it ;)

I got out some chipboard letters and, with glossy accents, glued them together to form the word "Dad" vertically. Actually, before I glued them, I distressed them with Tea Dye distress inks. The hinges are from Tim Holtz. They come in a regular chipboard color, so I added some paints and inking, and then sanded them a bit to age them. I still didn't quite get the color I wanted, but I still quite like how they turned out!

Next up, I had to figure out a way to add "Happy Father's Day" without covering too much of my card. Solution: Reverse Confetti's Lighthearted Letters to the rescue! I stamped them in a straight line (well, straight enough anyway lol) on a piece of vellum, trimmed the piece down to just the letters, and then inked the edges. I added a glue dot to each end of the sentiment and wrapped it around to the other side of the kraft panel so I didn't have to try to figure out how to adhere it on the front and not have adhesive showing. 

That's all I have to share today! I think I'm going to need to try out some other techniques now that I tried this texture technique. Once you get the hang of masculine cards, it gets a little easier (just don't grab your girly buttons or ribbon, in fact lock them away so you're not tempted, haha!)

Ready for the blog hop list?  Grab a cup of coffee and buckle up!  You are in for a treat, we've got tons of inspiration in store for you! Next up after me is Lisa Henke!!

*Start here!* Catherine Pooler    http://catherinepooler.com/2014/04/cards-for-him-blog-hop

Sandy Allnock  http://wp.me/p2kUof-32k

Maureen Merritt http://www.mamamostamps.com/2014/04/cards-for-him-online-class-blog-hop.html

Iwona Palamountain  http://www.ipalamountain.com/2014/04/cards-for-him-blog-hop/

Kristie Goulet http://kreativekristies.blogspot.com/2014/04/cards-for-him-blog-hop.html

Heather North  http://heatherscreativeblessings.blogspot.com/2014/04/cards-4-him-online-class-blog-hop.html

Amy Kolling  http://stamp-n-paradise.blogspot.com/2014/04/cards-for-him-online-class-blog-hop.html

Susan Liles http://www.susiestampalot.com/2014/04/cards-for-him-class-blog-hop.html

Jen del Muro http://reverseconfetti.com/2014/04/30/masculine-card-hop/

Stacy Shaffer http://stampinwithstacey.blogspot.com/2014/04/stampnation-cards-for-him-blog-hop_30.html

Amy Sheffer http://pickledpaperdesigns.blogspot.com/2014/04/cards-for-him.html

Sarah Gough  http://thinkingstamps.blogspot.com/

**Amber Hight http://stampingscrapbooker.blogspot.com/2014/04/cards-for-him-blog-hop.html**

Lisa Henke http://mylittlecreativeescape.blogspot.com/2014/04/cards-for-him-blog-hop.html

Leigh Penner http://leighpenner.blogspot.com/2014/04/stamp-nations-cards-for-him-blog-hop.html

Allison Cope  http://yourmemoriescanada.blogspot.com/2014/04/stampnation-cards-for-him-class.html

Verve Stamps April Release Blog Hop

Hi there! Welcome to the Verve Stamps April Release Blog Hop! Today, the team is sharing cards using a couple new compilation sets from Verve! The first one is Petals and Wings, which is a retake on an old favorite, with a few little changes. The other, is a brilliant new set called Die Sidekicks! Every stamp in this set has a matching die that you probably already own:) Lets get started!

First up, I have a card using one of the new Plain Janes, this is Hello Friend! 

The Plain Jane is actually one of the stamps from Happy Hello, but blown up to a fun, focal point size. I also used the butterflies from Petals and Wings, stamped in gray, yellow, and navy ink. The layout for this card was inspired by the newest Freshly Made Sketches #133 sketch.

Next up is a card I made using the butterflies from Die Sidekicks! This is one of my favorite cards ever, love how it turned out!

I found a picture on Pinterest that I absolutely LOVED, so I tried to remake it. Here is the original image:

I think I got pretty close, don't you?:) Like I said, the butterflies are from Die Sidekicks, but so are the scroll and the basket, which I made by cutting the Sweet Scallop Tag in half and flipping the top upside down. You'll also see some new sequins! These babies are SUPER shiny, fabulous!

I had so much fun watecoloring with this next one that I finally had to pull myself away and stop adding to it! This card uses the butterflies from Die Sidekicks and another new Plain Jane, Being Awesome!

I embossed the butterflies in black ink on Tim Holtz watercolor paper and then just started painting the butterflies in. I didn't do it cleanly, and didn't want to! I love the way the color bleeds all over the card, I even had to add some paint specks by flicking by paint brush. I didn't want to cover ANY of this card so I kept it really simple by just adding the sentiment on a strip of vellum. I wrapped the sides of the vellum around to the inside of the card so I didn't have to find a way to adhere it to the card front.

Well that's it from me! Now you're on your way to Andrea's Blog!! 

	Hop List: 1. Julee 7. Jen 2. Amber 8. Laurie 3. Andrea 9. Marisa 4. Charmaine 10. Maureen 5. Christyne 11. Stacey 6. Janelle 12. Teresa

Thanks Bunches!

Good morning! I have a quick little card to share using Petals n' Posies from Reverse Confetti!

I had actually started this card back when we were just releasing this stamp set, and set it aside because I wasn't feeling it. Yesterday I pulled it back out and was determined to make it work because I love these colors and those giant chevrons :)

I cut a bunch of flowers from the Petals n' Posies Confetti Cuts and then stamped the coordinating Petals n' Posies stamps in different colored inks. I stamped one sentiment and embossed it in white on the black cardstock, and the other sentiment was stamped on a tag cut out with the Tag Me Confetti Cuts. I added some buttons, twine, rhinestones, and a little sewing to finish it off.

That's all I have for today, thanks for stopping by!

Reverse Confetti ~ April Color Challenge

Hi there! I'm back today with MORE Reverse Confetti to share! Today is the first day of our April Color Challenge and you won't want to sit this one out. Check out these fun, springy colors!



Here's my card using the newly released Carton Cuties

I wanted to make my Easter eggs speckled, and achieved this look by putting down some watercolor on watercolor paper, spritzing it when it was dry with more paint, and got this cool splotchy look! They almost look like those malted milk balls...mmmm....chocolate...oh sorry, distracted myself:)

I wanted my background cardstock to mimic the speckled look, so I cut three strips of matching cardstock and then smooshed them around in some watercolor to get the same effect.

As I mentioned, the egg, cartons, and sentiment are from Carton Cuties (cut out with matching Carton Cuties Confetti Cuts) and the banner stamp and die from Beautiful Banners and coordinating Beautiful Banners Confetti Cuts. That's it from me today, make sure to stop by the Reverse Confetti Blog for a list of designers with projects to share with you! Thanks for stopping by today:)

Curtain Call ~ Confetti Crush!

Hi there! I have a fun card to share today, using inspiration from this weeks Curtain Call Challenge! Reverse Confetti is sponsoring this week, and I think you can see why:)

I was really inspired to make some confetti on my card, so here's what I came up with!

I just punched out some circles from different colors of cardstock with some punches and dies. I also snuck a few sequins in as well:) The sentiments are all from Lots to Say by Reverse Confetti. I cut my "Just a Note to Say" stamp into two pieces because I commonly use these in seperate pieces anyway! This way, I was able to bend the to fit the curve of the circles.

Make sure to check out the challenge this week and play along! Thanks for visiting today:)

Reverse Confetti - April Blog Hop

Hi there! So happy to be here today with a card for the April Blog Hop! We always have our crew, plus some friends join in, so there is a ton of inspiration to be had today!

The hop started over on the Reverse Confetti blog so it would be worth your while to go back if you've just stumbled on my blog, that way you don’t miss a thing! (wow, run on sentence much? Ha! I'm too tired to reword it!) We have tons of inspiration for you to see using all of Reverse Confetti’s amazing stamp sets!

I pulled out a couple sets for this card, Beautiful Banners and Petals 'n Posies. I wanted to keep my colors sort of muted on this card, not really sure why cause I love COLOR but I was feeling neutral this time, haha!

I cut out some flowers with the Petals 'n Posies Confetti Cuts, as well as the leaf. I stamped the coordinating images from the Petals 'n Posies stamp set and then layered them together.

The sentiment and banner stamp are from Beautiful Banners and cut out with the coordinating Beautiful Banners Confetti Cuts.

I hope you’ve enjoyed hopping with us today. Be sure and hop with us on the 8th of EVERY MONTH for more Reverse Confetti inspiration! Now it’s time to hop on over to Lisa Addesa’s blog. If you get lost along the way, you can find the hop order and list of all the participating designers over on the Reverse Confetti blog.

How would you like to win some Reverse Confetti goodies of your very own? Leave a comment on each stop along the way for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to Reverse Confetti. Comments are open until Thursday, April 10 at noon CST, and the winner will be announced on the Reverse Confetti Blog!

A few things before you hop along though, just to keep you “in the know”…

April’s SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY is open for you to play along. Click HERE for a chance to win. AND, be on the lookout for another great COLOR challenge on April 16th and another way to win!

Celebrate the creative side of you!