Laura's Loft Shop and Hop- Ringing in the Holidays

If you missed it please do check out the previous stop and the gorgeous work of Jasmine here

Jasmine is also our lovely guest designer this month, so be sure to check out her work!

My card for this month's hop features the gorgeous Altenew's Pine and Poinsetta set again.

The background is a piece of white cardstock cut to 4" x 5.25". I then sponged on Distress Inks in

 Evergreen Bough, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Crushed Olive using my Ranger Round Mini Ink Blending Foam. Leave some of the central area white. Then spritz with some water and blot it.  Stamp on the top left with Penny Black's Pine Silhouettes stamp using Memento Inks on Bamboo Leaves, then Cottage Ivy then Cottage Ivy and Black together. Stamp the trees from Penny Black's Nature's Friends in the bottom right using the first two colours only. Add some highlights to the trees and branches using a white gelly roll pen. Stamp the pine cones from the Altenew set on a separate piece of cardstock using Memento Black. Colour using Prismacolour pencils in browns and purples, blending as you go. Cut them out and adhere them to your base image. Stick panel to a base kraft card. Highlight the edges of the cones using a Marvy Snow Marker or Liquid Applique. Let dry and puff up using a hairdryer or embossing gun. Add some sparkle with Stardust Stickle glue. Let dry. Stamp and emboss your sentiment (I used Merry Christmas from a Christmas wording sent by Momenta) in  Wow Sparkling Snow Embossing Glitter (also available from Laura's Loft) on some vellum. Adhere to card. 

This months BLOG HOP GIVEAWAY is fantastic!

On to the important stuff...how do you win those lovely prizes?

TO ENTER:

1. Follow Laura's Loft on IG @InLaurasLoft, like the IG Hop/Giveaway post and tag a friend. as many as you like but one tag per comment please (this part is for extra entries).  If you do not have IG, just let Laura know.

2.Visit & Like Laura's Loft store page on facebook https://www.facebook.com/Lauras.Loft.Shop

3. Leave a comment at each stop on the blog hop including Laura's.

After doing these 3 things, fill out the rafflecopter to be entered!!  Yay!

What is more she has some fabulous deals for you too (so no-one has to miss out on the fun!)

All Christmas Stamps and Dies are 30% off (discounted price shown) until stock runs out.

 WRMK products on sale 20% off with code WRMK20% from Dec. 3rd through Jan. 3

See Cindy's lovely cards here:

In case you are lost here is the complete hop:

1. Laura's Loft  

2. Deana Benson

3. Robbie Rubala 

4. LeeAnn McKinney

5. Debbie Brunssen

6. Joy Hadden

7. Lisa Bedigian

8. Jasmine Burgess 

9. Heart of Craft   ← you are here!

10. So Stinkin' Crafty 

Small print! For competition T&C's please see Laura's website. Some products in this post have been provided for use by Laura's Loft but all views are my own

Winter Wonderland with Laura's Shop and Hop

If you missed it please do check out the previous stop and the lovely creations of Cindy here

This month I am using the gorgeous Altenew's Poinsetta and Pine stamp collection from Laura's fantastic shop to create my card. 

I started by cutting some Recollections white cardstock a fraction smaller than my blue background card, at 4" by 5.25". I then used my Ranger Round Mini Ink Blending Foam and started to blend on some Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers and Chipped Sapphire. I over stamped this with a tiny snowflake from Stampendous's Christmas Charms set using Summer Sky Memento Ink. I tried first with Distress Ink but the stamp was so tiny the image bled alot. I also used Penny Black's All Is Bright set for more snowflakes in varying sizes using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. This was all over stamped on one side using Heidi Swapp's music stamp and Memento Bahama Blue. I then sprayed water on top and blotted immediately. 

The edges of the card were pressed into an embossing ink pad and then sprinkled with Wow Sparkling Snow Embossing Glitter. I love this powder so much, it melts really nicely and gives such a lovely ice/snow/ seasonal effect! The glitter stays put too. 

Then I printed the poinsetta from Altenew's set using Black Memento Ink and coloured with Prismacolours in tones of blue, white and purple, blending as I went. Then cut a second smaller layer of the front leaves and repeat. Leave the centre uncoloured. Use some clear Aleene's glue to glue some tiny sequins and beads from Baby It's Cold sequin mix. These are exclusive to Laura's Loft and are really pretty so do have a look!. Let dry and use a small foam pad to adhere to the base layer.

Attach some larger foam pads to the back of the poinsetta. Wrap some silver thread from a spool around your hand to form a circle. Arrange on card, making sure the ends are where one of the foam pads will be. (You could stick down one pad on top first and the leave a gap on the back of the poinsetta). Adhere the poinsetta and voila...Winter Wonderland!

This months blog hop prize (see Laura's website for entry requirements) is this lovely parcel of goodies, just in time for your holiday card making!

CF "Sleigh Bells" Stamp, CF "Bell Tag Fri-dies", VT "Holly Jolly" enamel dots & LLDCB "O' Tannenbaum" sequins

This month there is also generous 20% off Avery Elle stamps (ending 11/28/2015). Just use code AE20% at the checkout. 

Before hopping back to the beginning if you missed it to see what Laura has in store for you.

Here is the complete list in case you missed it:
This months guest bloggers:

Jasmine Burgess

Linda Gorman

1. Laura's Loft

2. Deanna Benson

3. Robbie Rubala

4. Debbie Brunssen

5. LeeAnn McKinney

6. Lisa Bedigian

7. Joy Hadden

8. Linda Gorman  

9. Jasmine Burgess 

10. Cindy Dooley  

11. Heart of Craft ← you are here!

Small print! For competition T&C's please see Laura's website. Some products in this post have been provided for use by Laura's Loft but all views are my own.

Autumn Beauty with Laura's Loft

Welcome to my very first blog entry for Laura's Loft's blog hop! The theme this month is Halloween or Fall (Autumn for my English readers!). There are some wonderful prizes to be won, and don't forget to check out Laura's fabulous shop too! We are very lucky to have a great Design Team and several Guest bloggers for you to check out.

I am featuring some wonderful stamps this month, Heidi Swapp's Woodgrain and Altenew's Hennah Elements sets, both available from Laura's shop.

Start with a plain white card in the dimensions of your choice. On the middle section of the front of the card use a Ranger blending tool to apply shades of blue Distress Inks (I used Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean- use more of the paler shade). Spritz with water and blot. Use some of the Salty Ocean on an acrylic block and then spritz with water then dab gently on the card to get the darker spots. Repeat around the edges with brown shades, I used Vintage Photo. Cut a branch from the front of it, you could cut by hand or use a Silhouette Cameo or Cricut. Cut a piece of brown card the same size as the front of your card. Stamp Heidi Swapp's woodgrain stamp on it using a white pad, the stamp again, slightly off set using a chocolate brown Memento ink pad. Mount behind the cut out using your favourite adhesive.
Cut some leaves out of pale yellow card stock. You could use dies, or a Silhouette or Cricut machine. Blend the edges of all the leaves with Antique Linen Distress Ink. Then randomly over blend using Wild Honey, Festive Berries, Vintage Photo and Peeled Paint. You don't have to put every ink on every leaf. Spritz with water to get a little blending and some white spots. Let dry. Spritz again then stamp the leaves with stamps from the Hennah Elements set to get designs on them. Crumple and let dry, then flatten out.  I liked the effect of the ink bleeding, but if you prefer, stamp dry to get a crisper look, then just bend the leaves. Work out a pleasing arrangement before adhering to your card. (I used Aleene's clear glue).

To Enter Giveaway Requirements

1. Follow Laura's Loft on IG @InLaurasLoft, like the IG Hop/Giveaway post and tag a friend. Tag as many as you like, but one tag per comment please. 

2. Follow Laura's Loft store page on facebook https://www.facebook.com/Lauras.Loft.Shop .

3. Leave a comment at each stop on the blog hop.
 The giveaway runs from Oct. 14th- Oct. 20th at 12 noon EST, winners will be posted October 21st.

And here are the goodies you could win! I am jealous!

And as if that isn't generous enough, there is a coupon you can use too! You can get $10 off a $75 purchase with the code $10TREAT. (valid till Nov 8th)

For full T&C's please see Laura's website.

Missed the previous blogger? See Cindy's lovely creations here....

Anxious to see more delightful cards with products from Laura's shop? Hop on over to Joy's blog..... 

Just in case you got lost here is the complete list of blog stops.....

Guest Designers this month:

Jasmine Burgess

LeeAnn Mckinney

Design Team: 

1. Laura's Loft

2. Deana Benson

3. Robbie Rubala

4. Jasmine Burgess

5. Cindy Dooley

6. Heart of Craft ....← you are here!

7. Joy Hadden

8. Lisa Bedigian 

9. LeeAnn McKinney

Lastly but definitely not least October is Breast Cancer Awareness month!

Do get a free screening and look for early detection signs.

More birthdays

Another male birthday I need to make a card for...what do you do for someone who doesn't like football, camping, beer, computers.... well with the stamps I had, I went for neutral ferns! I was inspired by this card:

Let it Snow card

It's part of the Create Along With Us challenge by Papertrey Ink.

I used Papertreys' Meadow Greens set to stamp and emboss the leaves, using a white embossing powder. ( See this post on how to emboss). I then patted some distress inks on my Teflon craft sheet, spritzed them with water and dabbed my card on them. Following that I sponged on some more colours directly to the card to give a different look and spritzed again. 

I used the same colour Distress Inks to stamp on the kraft coloured background card. 

Happy Birthday was cut using my Silhouette Cameo machine, and the front card was matted on blue then tied with white twine. 

Distress Inks used: Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire.

Stamp-a-Faire 2015 Last challenge ,make it work.

As mentioned I wasn't very happy with the last one...so I decided to revisit it with the Make it Work challenge.
Here is what I came up with:

This time I put a die cut spiders web over my ombre stripe and used a bigger bolder sentiment, accented with glitter glue. And a spider just for fun! Stamps by Inkadinkado.
Here is the old card for reference:

Still needs some work in my opinion but I will get there!

Stamp-a-Faire 2015 - Mix and Match challenge

More tough challenges from the Stamp-a-Faire day! This time the mixing colours challenge from Dawn McVey. I definitely don't use enough yellow so that was my challenge....I picked out a pinky toned purple...the two colours had alot of punch being complimentary, so I picked a moss green (another colour I don't use too much) to tone it down.

I then used a die from Memory Box called Sunburst Cutworks on the purple card. It reminded me a little of a waterlily so I added some colour with Prismacolour pencils. The edges were sponged with Distress Inks and Finnabair pines stamp with the ink splodge from Stampin Up's French Foliage set. I then stamped the dragonfly from Prima Marketing Butterfly Wings Stamp-N-Add Stamp & Embellishment Set on the moss green cardstock using Memento ink pads, let them dry and coloured them in with Prismacolours again. Finally I used some glitter glue to add some sparkle to the wings and assembled the whole with tape.

Stamp-a-Fair 2015 Challenge- Using Twine

Having been using lots of bright colours as an antidote to the all white bridal card that kicked off the day, I decided to go back to more muted colours for the Stamp-a-Fair using twine challenge.

I went back to one of my favourite sets, the topiary trees from Papertrey Ink. I made two tags and stamped them in muted colours using Memento ink pads. I accented the flowers with a little Recollections purple glitter glue for a little sparkle! Then I tied the tops with two colours of twine. The background was sponged with a sea sponge, then over stamped with the specks from Tim Holtz Cracks and Specks ste. Et voila....quick and simple (well it would have been had I not spend an hour working out the design...).