25 September, 2017

Giveaway Winner for Fall Coffee Lovers BlogHop

Before I announce the winner, I just want to thank EVERYONE for entering!

I really appreciated all the love in your comments.  I will get around to replying, but the last few days have been a bit exciting and busy (more on that soon!)

So...I tallied up the number of entries each person got and gave each one a number.  In total there were 41 individual entries and as you can see below, the random number drawn was #29


So checking back with my handy numbered list, number 29 corresponds to....

Happy Frog Smiley
...Vinita Jain!

Congratulations!  Please email me your information at alex@pinkcraftymama.com

Thank you everyone for stopping by.  I wish I could give prizes to everyone!


20 September, 2017

Card 1 for Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

It's that time of year again!  The Coffee Loving Cardmakers are having their quarterly blog hop! 

(The GIVEAWAY is now closed.  A big thank you to those who entered)

Click on the image below to go see all the wonderful Autumn inspired creations.  It's Spring here in Australia, but still a bit chilly so warm coffee is always good for that.  Speaking of which...I had the most amazeballs Dirty Chai the other day...so SO good! Anyway...I digress as usual!


So...as a big fan of coffee and tea )and caffeine in general!) I have amassed quite a collection of coffee and tea themed craft supplies.  So...what to use?  I shall attempt (although I cant promise) more than one card but here is the first one.


The Greeting Farm Latte Anya Copic Coloring Verve Stamps Heat Embossing Die Cutting copper American crafts Shimelle True Stories Go Now Go coffee cups tim holtz embossing folder diffuser

I wanted to use the Verve stamp set called "Coffee" that I've had on my stash for quite a long time.  They still sell it, although there is a new one out too.  In particular the stamp "This girl runs on" shouted to me.  Very loudly.  There is also a word die which I used instead of stamping it.  

The Greeting Farm Latte Anya Copic Coloring Verve Stamps Heat Embossing Die Cutting copper American crafts Shimelle True Stories Go Now Go coffee cups tim holtz embossing folder diffuserI tried heat embossing the sentiment in copper, but I think my freshly re-inked Versamark ink pad was a little too juicy.  Also boys and girls, don't forget to use your embossing buddy first! 😬 Too late for me I'm afraid (as you can probably tell) 😂

I felt this sentiment needed a girl and "Latte Anya" from The Greeting Farm came to my rescue.  The next ideas that pushed their way to the front were using the Tim Holtz embossing folder and using a diffuser to get a flat circle in the centre.  You can't easily see it, but it meant I could stamp there and I considered colouring the image on it, bit later forgot about that!  It definitely wasn't a very well planned design, but sometimes you just have to stick ad go and not over think it.

The Greeting Farm Latte Anya Copic Coloring Verve Stamps Heat Embossing Die Cutting copper American crafts Shimelle True Stories Go Now Go coffee cups tim holtz embossing folder diffuser 
Shimelle's second line with American Crafts (True Stories) featured coffee cups and I still have quite a lot of it (Huzzah!) so the grey takeaway cup print was perfect.  I ended up using the 6x6 size as it was a better fit.  So the embossing folder has cold drinks, but it still kinda goes, right? 😉

True Stories has bold colours which I do associate a bit more with winter, but I felt the olive green, red, yellow warm grey and warm pink etc would work for Autumn too...and Anya happens to also be bundled up in warm clothes!


I used colours from this collection to colour Anya and fussy cut a few cups from the 6x6 version of that coloured version of coffee cup paper you see in the background.  It's far from my best colouring but I feel so out of practise! 😬😬😬

NPCH* felt it was Autumny enough, but I didn't so I added some leaves in the form of clear stickers from the "Go Now Go" sticker book (also by Shimelle).  The acorns needed to be backed with white cardstock first to stand out enough.  A touch of Glossy Accents makes the heart look more like a button and co-ordinate with the shiny clear stickers.

The card itself isn't a standard size so I'll have to make a custom envelope.  I wanted the dry embossed coffee cups to be as big as it could be since the diffuser took up most of the centre.  The other layers were built around it.  Being used to a 12x12 scrapbook canvas, a card size is always a bit of a shock!


Giveaway Details

The Giveaway is now closed and winner has been drawn
I have this tea themed stamp and die set by Verve to give away,  This is NOT sponsored - I just forgot I had one and bought it twice!  Oops!



*Acronyms are in the left sidebar <--


17 September, 2017

News Flash!!

Wow long time no blog!  Doesn't feel like it's been 3 months!

But I have BIG EXCITING NEWS!  I officially resigned as a Stampin Up Demo a couple of months ago!

Dancing reaction gifs

NPCH* and I have BIG crafty plans for the future, and SU was really starting to hold us back.  I'll be honest and admit that it's not JUST that.  There's a little more to it which isn't worth going into since this is supposed to be a happy post!

Let's make it clear that it has NOTHING to do with the company itself.  Stampin' Up have extremely flexible conditions and take a really sensible, balanced approach when they changed their policy about competing products.

I will still continue using Stampin' Up products, and continue mixing them with other manufacturers as I have been (all allowed thanks to Stampin' Up policy!) but we have outgrown SU and it's time to move on to bigger and better things!

It will take some time to achieve our goals, but watch this space!!!

We plan to offer (among other things) both local and online classes and more in the way of free tutorials (both blog and YouTube).

As for the other things, they're a bit secret so you'll have to wait and see.  Don't Tell! animated emoticon

I am also in the process of selling of much of my retired stock.  I am thinking of starting my own group on Facebook (just for selling my own stuff) or otherwise using one of the many existing groups.
They can be a bit painful at times, though!  Bumped Head emoticon


If anything I've said so far about our future endeavours interests you and you'd like more info, you can:

*Be notified by email when a new posts come up  Just enter your address in the "follow by email" section in the right sidebar.
*If you use Blogger a fair bit (or just have an account) click "follow" at the bottom of the left side bar.
*You can also find me on Facebook
*Just drop me an email alex@pinkcraftymama.com

Also, if you are in need of a Stampin' Up demonstrator, please drop me a line and I will put you in you in touch with a really lovely lady!

*Acronyms in the left sidebar! <---