CaCaCraft by Erica

#MERAKIHUGS Crafty Meraki New Release, video hop and giveaway!!

Hi and welcome back to my blog!

I’m popping in today to let you know there is a YouTube hop going on to celebrate the first Crafty Meraki release of 2023!

There is a bunch of adorable new products in this release, and I have had a lot of fun with them. If you want to skip to the new release, you can CHECK THEM OUT HERE.

If you want to skip directly to the video hop, and I don’t blame you if you do, you can FIND MY VIDEO HERE. There is a very generous giveaway over there too, there are TWO $100 gift card to the Crafty Meraki up for grabs for TWO WINNERS! Yes, that’s right, there are two! You can find the instructions on how to enter and when winners will be announced in the description box below the video.

In my video I have used the super fun Capture My Heart 3D diecut, and made a whole load of boxes with it. I had to make a rainbow of them, in fact. I do have some tips and trick on how to make the boxes in my video, so make sure you check it out.

To create these I have used coloured cardstock from both Concord & 9th and Lawn Fawn, the full list of colours are listed in the description box below my YouTube video.

I have also used the Diamond In The Rough hot foil plate, with lots of different foils, including Black, Matte Gold, Speckled Aura and Lavender Petal, as well as using the Solid Hot Foil Plate to foil the negatives. It’s kind of addictive once you get started with foiling. I have the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil system, which works great with my Platinum 6 diecutting machine.

One of the things I really like doing is mixing new and old products, to show how well they work together.

For this first card I have used two negative foiled panels to make a card. With the Slimline Thanks tag diecut, I used the word die to cut out the Thanks out of one panel, on which I had used the Diamond In The Rough hot foil plate with Speckled Aura foil, and then layered it up to fit into the pattern of the Solid Hot Foiled negative. It gives a really cool, almost optical illusion look!

I finished it off with Ivory Opal gems, and backed on black card stock, and a white card base.

As I had cut this out of another panel, I decided to use that one too, because crafty waste is the worst! This time I used the Thanks diecut with white card stock, and layered it up three times. Between the fourth, and final layer, I tucked in some Canopy Leaf diecuts cut out of satin gold card stock.

If you want to see more work with the Crafty Meraki products, make sure you follow me on Instagram as I share regular reels and posts there with lots of fun projects.

If you want to shop any Crafty Meraki goodies, you can take 10% off your order with the code ERICA10 at checkout!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have enjoyed this post, and that you get the chance to check out the video too.

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

January 2023 My Monthly Hero Kit Blog Hop!

Hi and welcome to my blog, and my first post for 2023! Today’s post is part of a blog hop celebrating the first Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kit of the year, and there is a giveaway!

The next stop on the hop is my talented friend Jen Kray!

This kit is super cute and perfect for those Valentine’s Day projects! Beautiful card stock, sweet stamps and coordinating diecuts, as well as a stencil and a bit of sparkle.

This is what Hero Arts are saying about the kit: With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, the January My Monthly Hero kit celebrates the “perfect match”. The centerpiece of this kit is dies to create a faux matchbox, which lies flat on your card or project and can be decorated and filled with the numerous stamps and dies included in the kit. But don’t stop there, let your imagination go wild with all of the possibilities this kit contains! Use the images on their own, build repeating patterns, or add them to planner pages, journals, and more! There is a beautiful stencil included, perfect for backgrounds or mixed media projects. The kit is rounded out with a pack of fun heart-themed sequins and five sheets of gorgeous cardstock.

If you haven’t subscribed to the My Monthly Hero kit, you can sign up HERE. This is a pre-order, and Hero Arts will start shipping the kits on Friday the 13th of January. If you are not subscribed, and miss out on a kit, that’s it, you can not get it again. They are only available in a limited quantity and once they are gone, they are gone. It’s also a great deal as the kit is valued at $77, but it only costs $34.99!

There are also a bunch of fun add-ons you can get, as usual! There are a bunch of fun diecuts, including one that makes an actual match box. There is also a gorgeous heart cover plate, a hot foil plate, a striped stencil and really lovely sentiment stamps, on their own or with coordinating diecuts!! If you are a subscriber, you can add any, or all of these, to your kit order, before it ships, without having to pay extra shipping.

If you can’t pick and chose which ones to get, you can snag them all RIGHT HERE.

As a self-confessed hot foil addict, I love the option of adding foiling to my projects. It’s such a touch of luxury, and glam, and I will never, ever tire of it. The fun thing with hot foil plates is that you can actually use them as embossing plates AND you can dab ink on them and “stamp” as well. Yep, it’s not just for foiling.

However, for my project today I have used just the main kit, so let’s get into it!

First off I used my trimmer to cut out strips of the card stock included, they are about 1cm wide. I did cut two of each, because I wasn’t sure how many I needed, but I did just use one of each in the end.

To add some interest to the white card base, I have ink blended just a touch of left over pink ink (the colour is Taffy) over the stencil. By not adding more ink, the results are super soft and delicate, but you do have to blend for quite a while. I will say it’s worth it for this sort of result.

My second card is also done with just stamps and dies from the main kit, I did use some Distress Spray in Black Soot and some gold water colours to add some interest to the white background.

I cut out the flat matchbox out of white card stock and heat embossed ‘Valentine’ on it in white embossing powder for a subtle look. The hearts are cut out of satin gold card stock and I also used a few of the little red hearts from the embellishments, that come in the kit.

The little specks of red, matched with the gold, works really well I think!

Next up, I had to use that lovely Hearts Hot Foil plate. But not in red, that felt too on the nose, so I went with Matte Gold instead. It looks gorgeous!

This card is finished off by making a card base of out the Peony card stock that comes in the kit, stamping up a sentiment from the You’re Mine stamp and diecut set, and add some 3D heart balloons made with some of the diecuts from the main kit.

My last, and final card, is way outside of my comfort zone. It has so much white space I’m spacing out…!

I started out by cutting out a panel using the Heart Flourish Cover Plate, out of white card stock, and layering this up onto a white card base.

On this I simply added ‘Sending hugs kisses’ from the You’re Mine stamp and diecut set. Because there is no ‘and’ in the stamp set I used the double heart diecut instead of it, this and the lips are cut out of red card stock. To make these stand out a little I added a lot of Crystal Clear Lacquer Pen and set aside to dry.

That’s it from me for today, but don’t forget to check out the rest of the hop! To enter the giveaway, you only have to leave comments on the stops, and you have until January 15th to do so. The winner of the $50 Hero Arts gift card will be announced on the blog the following week, so make sure to check back to see if you have won!

I have used some compensated affiliate links in this post, to Hero Arts, and if you shop with these links I will get a small commission from them directly. At absolutely zero extra cost to you!

Income from these affiliate links are what pays for the boring stuff like blog hosting, internet security, equipment, and other tools for the creative side. I really, really appreciate it whenever someone uses my links, no matter how small the order, every single one helps, so thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

Pinkfresh Studio December 2022 Stamp, Die, Stencil, and Hot Foil Release

Hi and welcome back to my blog for the ultimate Pinkfresh Studio release of 2022!

This post is part of a blog hop, so if you came here from the one and only Emily Midgett you are in the right spot, and the next stop is the marvellous Heather Hoffman! You can also see the entire lineup via this InLinkz link, and in the Pinkfresh Studio blog post.

There are also TEN $25 gift cards up for grabs, and the winners for these will be drawn from the comments from the blog hop stops. So basically the more you hop and comment, the bigger your chance of winning! And who wouldn’t love to win some spending money in the Pinkfresh Studio shop??

The winners will be announced on the Pinkfresh Giveaway winner page, on the 27th of December, and make sure you check that page and claim your prize within 2 weeks. Now with all that out of the way, let’s get to my two little cards.

I know… last month I only had one card, and this month I only have two. I’m still struggling with the after-effects of my bad bout of Covid, and then having to move house before I was even close to recovered? To say I’ve been pushed to my limit isn’t far off. Imagine having to oversee a house being packed up, deep cleaned and inspected before moving out, then doing a long drive to the new house, the next day was move-in day and it was FULL SPEED ahead all day, all while being very sick and not feeling with it? I was pretty much knocked out and the next two days was spent in a foggy haze of boxes everywhere, not being able to find anything, being in pain and feeling extra awful… Even now, a month on, I am still not even close to being 100% and honestly, the fact I haven’t completely and utterly lost my mind in this process? It is pushing this one up there with some of my top achievements ever. Ever.

Now that I have gotten all my ‘woe is me’ out of the way, let’s get to the card making. For my first card I have indulged my love of hot foiling by using the lovely new Detailed Leaf and Happy Birthday pieces. The Detailed Leaf suite has a stamp, a coordinating diecut, layering stencils and a hot foil plate.

I started out by foiling the Detailed Leaf with Polished Brass foil, it comes from the Essential Metallics Variety Pack from Spellbinders, which can be found in the Pinkfresh shop now! Yay!

Let’s talk about this leaf. It is actually so stunning on it’s own, I decided to not use the coordinating layering stencils for this card, and instead went the Solid Hot Foil Plate route and foiled the negative piece as well. Because why not?

I created a white-on-white background for these pieces, to give some interest but not take away any attention from the gorgeous leaves themselves. One of my favorite diecuts for this sort of look is the Simply Diamonds one. I find it versatile and elegant.

Another fab addition to the Pinkfresh range is now word hot foil AND diecuts, oh yes! So they will come in a pack together, the hot foil plate in the gold colour and the diecut in the silver colour. Genius! And who doesn’t need a good Happy Birthday sentiment, right?

For this card I hot foiled the Happy Birthday in Rainbow foil! It looks fabulous. It really does. Much better in real life than in most of the pictures, naturally. I also layered it up with a couple of diecut pieces, to raise it up a bit. The leaves are trimmed and tucked behind the sentiment.

Not that I ever need an excuse, but I finished off the card with lots of Glacier jewels. If you can’t go nuts with bling-a-ling for birthdays, when can you?

So that’s card No1, now onto card No2!

Here I used the Detailed Leaf hot foil again, but added some colour to it with the layering stencils. In a rainbow, of course. As well as another negative foiled leaf.

On this card, I used the negatives from the Simply Diamonds cover plate too, to keep waste to a minimum. Plus it adds a fab element to a background, so win-win. The negative bits didn’t go on perfectly straight, try crafting with a cotton candy brain and cold hands. It’s not easy, nope!

To cover up the wonkiness, I used another new hot foil addition: The Nested Rectangles, and they come with coordinating diecuts too, so you can cut them out and use as frames for your images.

Again, I used the Polished Brass foil for these, to coordinate with the leaves.

I used a sentiment from the Detailed Leaf stamp set, which I heat embossed in gold, to finish off the card. It’s layered up with another two pieces, that I cut out with the coordinating diecut. A tiny… small-ish.. perhaps generous in someone else’s eyes, smattering of Sparkling Champagne pearls were the finishing touch for this card.

With that, I’m done for today. I must mention that I have used some compensated affiliate links in this post, for your convenience, at no extra cost to you. If you shop using these links, I might get a small commission from the company directly, and it doesn’t ever cost you a penny extra. Thank you so much if you chose to support me by shopping with links, I really appreciate the support and encouragement.

The next stop on the hop is the amazing Heather!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica!

Pinkfresh Studio November 2022 Stamp, Die, Stencil, and Hot Foil Release

Hi and welcome back to my blog! Today I’m hopping along with Pinkfresh Studio and friends to celebrate the November release. This is a blog hop, so if you came here from Emily Mydlowski you are in the right spot, and the next stop is Heather Hoffman!

It wouldn’t be a celebration without some amazing giveaways, and it couldn’t be easier to join in! To be in with the chance to win the ENTIRE RELEASE make sure to comment on the Pinkfresh Studio release blog post, and for another chance, comment on the Pinkfresh Studio Youtube release video. There are also TEN $25 gift cards up for grabs, and the winners for these will be drawn from the comments from the blog hop stops. So basically the more you hop and comment, the bigger your chance of winning!

The winners will be announced on the Pinkfresh Giveaway winner page, on the 29th of November, and make sure you check that page and claim your prize within 2 weeks.

For my card, and yes, I only have one card today. I have been very, very sick with Covid for the last 2 weeks and it’s been awful! I’ve barely had enough energy to get through the day, let alone do anything productive like crafting or house move prep. The movers are coming in two days and I have managed NOTHING that I had set out to do before then… but I digress.

I have used the fun Overlapping Geo Leaf set, which includes a hot foil plate, layering stencils and a coordinating diecut.

First I hot foiled a panel with Speckled Aura foil, and on top of this I have ink blended Sunshine, Sparkling Rose, Aquamarine and Grassy Knoll inks with the layering stencils to add some colour.

I added a sentiment from the With Sympathy stamp set, which is heat embossed in Rich Gold and then cut out with the coordinating diecut. There are a bunch of lovely sentiments in this set that have coordinating diecuts, which I love!

There is also a hot foil plate and layering stencils for the With Sympathy suite.

Thanks to the diecut, it was so easy to layer it up with another two pieces to add some height to it.

The final touch was adding some Sunshine and Ocean Breeze jewels to the pattern, because I’m unable to resist adding bling. With that my card is done and I hope you like it!

One of the sets I’m very excited about from this release is the Jeff Alpha Dies, as I LOVE an alphabet diecut set!

Thank you for stopping by and don’t forget to hop along the rest of the blog hop to see what else the design team, and friends, have made!

I have used some compensated affiliate links in this post, at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much if you shop using these links, as the income I get from these help keep all this going.

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

Catch-up and info dump!

Hi and welcome back to my blog!

I’m terrible for keeping this updated and blogging actual cards, and I am hoping I will get better at that in the new year. I know, I know, let’s not talk about 2023 before 2022 is over, it’s like jinxing ourselves speaking of the 2020’s it seems!!

Right, now that I have for sure doomed us all, let’s get to the crafting side, shall we?

The last couple of weeks, there has been a LOT of stuff going on: Instagram hop with the Hero Arts Global Team, and we also celebrated our 1st anniversary too!

There has also been a new release from Crafty Meraki, Inkon3 and on Monday the 24th was the release from Pinkfresh Studio. Check out my blog post for the release hop!

Here is one of the cards I made with the dreamy Whimsical Blooms washi tape, one of five new washi tapes.

On top of all of these crafty fun things, we are prepping for a massive house move, dealing with The Cheeky Chicas and yet another surgery & recovery, trying to get all my work done for the time I won’t have my craft room because of the move and condensing all our belongings. That alone is a massive job!

I thought I’d condense all of the fun stuff, apart from the new release blog hop post for Pinkfresh Studio, into one, rather than bombarding you with blog posts and notifications for each and every event. Once we are settled in the new house and The Man is retired from his ‘proper’ job, he’s going to be my IT guy which hopefully means we can finally get my new website up and running. It’s been in the works for a long, long time but I can not deal with technology on my own.

Ok, so Crafty Meraki just release a fab selection of hot foil products and diecuts, and I have had SO MUCH fun with that release!! Holy cannoli, I have spent lots of time diecutting, puzzling and just having fun. Here are some examples:

On Friday Oct 21st there was a YouTube hop , as well as an Instagram hop, to celebrate the new release. One lucky winner will win the ENTIRE release, so make sure to read the rules and how to enter! You have until Nov 5th.

You might already have seen the Instagram hop celebrating the new release from Inkon3, as that was on Wednesday but you have until the 28th to enter. Look for this graphic on my feed, the text will tell you how to enter and what the rules are.

I used Copic markers to colour my card, and I have over coloured it a little.This is the Hey Squirrely stamp, by the way. Some of the fluffy fur texture has been lost, but hopefully I will remember that for next time and go in with a lighter hand.

Each week there is a different promotion from Pinkfresh Studio, and it’s always a good deal, so keep an eye out in case something you have on your wishlist comes up!
This week you can pick up products in the retiring section, which are marked down 50-75% off – no discount code necessary. Shop early for the best selection, because once these products are gone…they are gone for good!

Pinkfresh Studio also host a monthly challenge with different themes and gorgeous mood boards for inspiration. The winner is drawn randomly, and that winner gets a $50 gift card to Pinkfresh Studio shop! You have until Nov 1st to link up your project!

This month the theme is Leaves, which is perfect for October! I have used different colours to the mood board but went all in with the leaves. These are made with the Fall Foliage set. It contains layering stencils and coordinating diecuts.

I have also used the gorgeous Geo Arch hot foil plate, the Fancy Circles diecut and Glitter Drops in Champagne, Gold and Butterscotch.

The sentiment is the Brushed Sentiments Hot Foil, BUT I have done the left over foils with the Solid Hot Foil Plate, and then cut them out with the coordinating diecuts.

In this post, and most of my posts, I have used compensated affiliate links to link all the products. If you are new to affiliate links, it is a way for me to earn a little money, at no extra cost to you. The way it works is that these links are linked to certain companies, and if you shop using these because you have been inspired by my work, I get a small commission from the company directly. This system never ever charge you for this, this is the company’s way of thanking me for directing you to them. The earnings I get from affiliate links go towards things like blog hosting, web page-thingies, equipment, lots and lots of glue, and crafting staples that always need replenishing. Thank you so much for shopping with these links, the support and encouragement from you guys mean the world to me.

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

You can find me on various social media platforms, by clicking the links below.
My blog
Instagram
My YouTube channel
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Pinkfresh Studio October 2022 Washi, Stamp, Die, and Stencil Release

Hi and welcome back to my blog!

Today I’m super excited to hop along with Pinkfresh Studio, design team and friends to celebrate the amazing October release! It’s full of gorgeous and versatile washi tapes and coordinating products!

For my first card I have used the absolutely DREAMY Whimsical Bloom Washi tape. Ok, so I did my usual thing and made loads of bits, ie rolled out the washi and cut the out with the coordinating diecut, and then played.

I made a YouTube video too, and just in case my face in the thumbnail doesn’t give it away, I was GIDDY over this release. Which I know I say every time, but it’s just one of those things. Pinkfresh knock it out of the park every month!

Let’s talk about the Whimsical Bloom Washi. I mean… just look at this thing! It’s so blooming gorgeous! Pun intended! (a lot, and some would say too many, espresso have been had at this point)

I don’t make a whole lot of full sized slim line cards but here I did, as well as left lots of white space too! The white space really lets the flowers shine, and that Slim Braided Circles diecut could not have been more perfect for these flowers.

The card is finished off with a sentiment from the stamp set, which is heat embossed in gold embossing powder and then cut out with the coordiating diecut. I also cut out an extra two or three layers and added those too, for extra height and dimension.

The final touch were a few Glitter Drops in Amethyst and Gold. These are a new addition to the bling-a-ling selection from Pinkfresh Studio and come in a range of gorgeous colours!!

I don’t think I can pick a favourite, they are all so delicious!

My second card is done with the same lovely Whimsical Bloom Washi tape, and also lots of white space. I honestly do not know what is going on but I’m quite proud of myself! White space is something I struggle with on cards.

First off, I diecut a heart out using the Shaker Heart diecut, out of a panel of white card stock. Through the heart shaped hole, I have then popped in the flowers so it looks like they are growing out of it.

I tried sticking to the heart outline with the flowers as well, so they make a lose heart shape too. This was then lifted with the help of some Press’n’Seal and adhered to a card base with some liquid glue.

I heat embossed the sentiment for this card in gold too, and it’s also from the stamp set. The final thing I did for this card was splatter some light gold all over it.

That’s it from me card making-wise, but as it’s a celebration of course there is a giveaway and it is a generous one!!

You can win the ENTIRE RELEASE by commenting on the Pinkfresh blog post, as well as their release YouTube video and there are TEN $25 gift cards up for grabs from the blog hop! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post before the 1st of November, and winners will be posted on the Pinkfresh Giveaway page on that day. Lots of chances to win, but remember that you have to be in it to win it! You will also need to claim your prize, if you are a winner, within two weeks so earmark that giveaway page and the date in your calendar.

You can also win one of ten $25 gift cards to the Pinkfresh Studio shop by leaving a comment on this blog post. The more you hop and comment, the bigger your chance of winning as the winners are drawn randomly over all the blog posts. Plus, think of all the inspiration you will get along the way. Another win-win situation!

To see the whole blog hop lineup, click the inLinkz or hop on to the next stop which is the amazing Heather Hoffman, or you can start out on the Pinkfresh Studio blog post.

That is it from me for today. I hope you have enjoyed this post, and the rest of the hop. I have used some compensated affiliate links in this post, at no extra cost to you, whatsoever. Thank you so much if you shop using my links, I really appreciate the support!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

CASE Me A Christmas Card series with Michelle Lupton!

Today it’s my turn to take part in my dear friend Michelle Lupton’s annual CASE Me A Christmas Card Series! Or rather, we thought it was today, it was actually yesterday but both Michelle and I were foiled by time zone converters, lol!

I’m so excited as Michelle and I are rainbow-loving-sisters-from-another-mister, so of course I had to use one of her many, many amazing rainbow cards as my inspiration.

This stunning card was just begging to be CASE’d. In case you haven’t heard of CASE before, it stands for Copy And Selectively Edit. It’s basically what we all do when we see inspiration and then put our own spin on it.

So I took this gorgeous design and put my own spin on it, two different ways. First of all I heat embossed the Holiday Sentiments Strips stamp from Hero Arts in Bright White embossing powder from WOW! Embossing, on two different panels. One on water colour paper, and one on Neenah #110 white card stock.

On the water colour panel, I used my DIY glitter sprays made with Liquid Pixie Dust from Inkon3 and reinkers from Pinkfresh Studios. With sprays you have very little control over where the colours go, and what is going to happen, so it’s best to just spray and let it do it’s thing.

On the second panel I ink blended Inkon3 Atelier inks in Bee Sting Yellow, Marigold Orange, Sweet Petunia Pink, Peacock Blue and Goddess Green. Over this I spritzed a little bit of the DIY yellow glitter spray, as well as gold splatters. Sufficient to say it’s very sparkly!

Because the stamp is perfectly sized for an A2/5.5″x4.25″ card size, I decided to simply add these panels to card bases. One of them isn’t perfectly heat embossed, so I wanted to cover that up.

I did that with Metallic Gold Pearls from Pinkfresh Studio on the ink blended card, and Clear Iridescent Pearls on the glitter spray card. Here I have done my usual ‘Lets. Use. All. Of. The. BLING!’ thing, but I love, love, love how it turned out!

That’s it from me for today but I hope you have enjoyed this post, as well as Michelle’s. Please do give her a follow if you don’t already do so, she’s amazing!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

In this post I have used some compensated affiliate links, at no extra cost to you. What that means is that if you shop using these links, I get a small commission from the company it’s linked to as a thank you for directing you to them. This doesn’t ever cost you, as the shopper, anything extra at all. It comes out of the pocket of the company. These earnings help me keep all of these crafting shenanigans going, as well as pay for things like blog hosting, cost for equipment and replenishing staples. Thank you so much for the support, it means the world to me!

From Crafty Meraki you can get the goodies listed below, and you can also take 10% off your order with the code ERICA10
Peacock Blue
Goddess Green
Bee Sting Yellow
Marigold Orange
Sweet Petunia Pink
Liquid Pixie Dust
WOW Embossing ink pad
Mini MISTI

From Inkon3 you can also get goodies:
Liquid Pixie Dust
Goddess Green
Peacock Blue
Sweet Petunia Pink
Marigold Orange
Bee Sting Yellow

Alex Syberia Designs Kickstarter Campaign | Blog Hop 2 & Giveaway

Hi guys!

Did you know that Kickstarter is all or nothing? That means that Alex Syberia Designs need to reach their funding goal to be able to go ahead and manufacture this beautiful collection, so please, help them! You can back them on their Kickstarter Campaign and you can help them spread the word about it!

Remember that you have some fantastic discounts, which are only available through their Kickstarter Campaign.

GIVEAWAY PRIZES | OVER £1000/$1200 IN TOTAL

Alex Syberia Designs:
- Full September Release Bundle (worth £329/$395)
- Two bundles to choose from: Floral Bundle (worth £160/$192) or Cuties Bundle (worth £108/$129) *
Artcreatiu – 25€ Gift Card
Bearly Art – $50 Gift Card (open to US participants only)
Catherine Pooler Designs – $30 Gift Card
Crafty Purple Frog – £25 Gift Card
Kit & Clowder – 30$ Gift Card
La papelería de Lola – 25€ Gift Card
Organizemore – $50 Gift Card
Picket Fence Studios – $75 Gift Card
Seize the Stamp – CHF 50
The Gray Muse – $50 Gift Card
Tonic Studios – £100/$100 Gift Card
Wow! Embossing powder – £20/$20 Gift Card

* Check the Kickstarter Campaign for more info

That’s a total of 15 prizes for 15 lucky winners! To be in with a chance to win one of these amazing prizes all you have to do is play along with each of the four hops! Alex Syberia Designs will draw winners from those entrants that have played along the hops by 16th October 2022.

To enter, leave a comment on this blog post as well as those of all other amazing designers. You can see the full list, with links to each blog, below.

Winners will be announced on the Alex Syberia Designs blog on the 23rd October 2022.

BLOG HOP 2 | DESIGNERS LIST

Right, now with all that out of the way, let’s have a little look at the cards I have made for this hop! If you saw my post for the first hop, you know I went straight for the Hello Lovely stamp set. I do love a big, bold bloom stamp set!

For the first two cards I decided to use the Fancy Background stencil, and I have of course gone for bright and happy colours!

First I ink blended the rainbow colours through the stencil onto a card base directly, after blocking off the bottom with PostIt tape. The reason I did this is to leave enough white space for the sentiment.

For the second card I ink blended all the colours onto a panel, then popped the stencil over this and ink blended with black ink to create a really dramatic look!

On top of both cards I have also splattered some gold to add some sparkle and shimmer.

On both cards I have used sentiment from the Birthday Wishes stamp set to finish them off. One is stamped directly onto the card base, with black ink and the other one is heat embossed in white embossing powder on vellum.

For my final card I stamped the solid ‘happy’ from the Birthday Wishes stamp set, in coloured inks, all over a card base. On top of this I stamped the Hello Lovely bloom image, in black ink.

For this card I again used the solid ‘Happy Birthday’ stamps, in black ink on a strip of card stock, and added to the card.

With a black gel pen I filled in the stamens of the flower too, but other than that, this card was done.

That’s it from me for today, but I hope you enjoyed this post and the rest of the hop!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

Alex Syberia Designs is on Kickstarter!

The moment has arrived!! Alex Syberia Designs Kickstarter Campaign is live!

Today, we are celebrating the launch of Alex Syberia Designs’ very first collection of physical products through their Kickstarter Campaign! With clear stamps, dies and stencils, there’s something for everyone to love!

To have a look at all of the designs in detail (including videos!), the exclusive offers they have for you, and see how you can support them, make sure you check their Kickstarter Campaign Page.

Their Kickstarter Campaign, full of incredible discounts for you, will run from the 15th September to the 16th October 2022.
This great milestone called for some big celebrations! Throughout the duration of the Kickstarter Campaign, Alex Syberia Designs will be hosting 4 hops:

15 September 2022 – Hop 1: Blog hop
23 September 2022 – Hop 2: Instagram hop
5 October 2022 – Hop 3: Blog hop
13 October 2022 – Hop 4: Instagram hop
GIVEAWAY PRIZES | OVER £1000/$1200 IN TOTAL

Alex Syberia Designs is giving away some fantastic prizes; their full September Release and two of their gorgeous Floral Bundle or Critter Bundle to choose from. There are also amazing companies and crafty friends who are celebrating with us. Here’s the complete list of awesome prizes:
Alex Syberia Designs:
Full September Release Bundle (worth £329/$395)
Two bundles to choose from: Floral Bundle (worth £160/$192) or Cuties Bundle (worth £108/$129) *
Artcreatiu – 25€ Gift Card
Bearly Art – $50 Gift Card (open to US participants only)
Catherine Pooler Designs – $30 Gift Card
Crafty Purple Frog – £25 Gift Card
Kit & Clowder – 30$ Gift Card
La papelería de Lola – 25€ Gift Card
Organizemore – $50 Gift Card
Picket Fence Studios – $75 Gift Card
Seize the Stamp – CHF 50
The Gray Muse – $50 Gift Card
Tonic Studios – £100/$100 Gift Card
Wow! Embossing powder – £20/$20 Gift Card

Check the Kickstarter Campaign for more info

Our first hop is a blog hop and it couldn’t be easier to enter. All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post as well as those of the other amazing designers in this hop. You can see the full list, with links to each blog, below.

Winners will be announced on the Alex Syberia Designs blog on the 23rd October 2022.

BLOG HOP 1 | DESIGNERS LIST
Below is the complete list of the super talented designers who are sharing their creations with us today:
Alex Syberia Designs
Alberto Gava
Bibi Cameron
Bonnie Crane
Brenda Noelke
Carly Tee
Cheryl Espie
Colleen Balija
Elin Venge
Erica
Hannelie Bester
Ilda
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Jo Herbert
Jo Laverty
Kavya
Laura Fadora
LauraJane
Lien Leysen
Liz
Michelle Short
Mindy
Natasha Vacca
Nicoletta
Rachel Alvarado
Raquel Arribas
Sandhya
Seeka
Tae Eun Yoo
Tasha
Tina Wilstrup
Yasmin Diaz

Many of us have seen Alex Siberia’s fabulous designs, both her digi stamp and cut files, and actual stamp designs that other companies have picked up. Today she is launching a campaign on Kickstarter to bring you her very own stamp and diecut range! I’m super excited to be part of the celebration!

I have made a couple of cards with the gorgeous Hello Lovely stamp and diecut set. It’s a big floral image, with some great sentiments, and I have made two very different cards with them.

The first one is bright and vivid, as I heat embossed the image in white embossing powder and then ink blending a rainbow of colours over it. To add a little sparkle to it, I splattered some gold watercolour over the image and set that aside to dry.

This was the cut out with the coordinating diecut and layered up with a couple of other pieces to make it nice and sturdy.

The Hello Lovely sentiment is from the same set, and it’s stamped up with black ink and cut out with the diecut. This is also layered up, with at least three pieces.

By layering a diecut image, it makes it much less likely to crumple and droop. I love doing this with my images, as it elevates a card design without taking any attention away from the star of the card.

For the card base I used the Fancy Cover A2 cover plate on white card stock, and then adhered this to a card base. I kept all the pieces in this, because I just wanted the texture.

The second card is done with the same start: the floral image was heat embossed with white embossing powder, but on Canson XL water colour paper, this time.
I used Distress Oxide re-inkers to colour the image in. The colours are Picked Raspberry, Kitsch Flamingo, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness.

I used the coordinating diecut again, and set that aside while I worked on a background. With the help of a ruler, a grid mat and a dark grey Copic marker, I made a striped background.

This was trimmed down a little and adhered to a card base. The floral image was then adhered on top, without being layered up.

I wanted this to be a birthday card so I stamped ‘Happy Birthday’ in black ink on white card stock, this is trimmed down to a skinny banner and adhered on top of the flower.

To cover up some smudges I adhered some embellishments to the card, and with that final flourish, the second card was done.

That’s it from me for today, but I hope you have enjoyed this post and found some inspiration here. I did make a YouTube video for these two cards as well, but fair warning, I had had FOUR espressos at the time of doing the voice over so I was very caffeinated and under a bit of time pressure, so it’s a bit on the wild side, lol!

If you want to support Alex Syberia Design, you can find the Kickstarter campaign HERE.

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

Pinkfresh Studio September 2022 Stamp, Die, Stencil, Washi, and Hot Foil Release

Hi and welcome back to my little corner of the blogosphere!

Today’s post is all about the amazing September release from Pinkfresh Studio! You should have come here from Emily Midgett and the next stop on the hop is Heather Hoffman! If you get lost along the hop, you can find the entire lineup HERE.

For my first card I have used the lovely Tidings Of Great Joy suite. First off I heat embossed the outline stamp with gold embossing powder, and after setting that with the heat gun, I got the coordinating stencils out.

I have only used three colours with the layering stencils, Sweet Mustard, Doe and Seaside, to create a Scandinavian look. It came out just as I had hoped and the colours went so well with the gold embossing too!

While I had the gold embossing powder and the Tidings Of Great Joy stamp out, I also did the large sentiment in it, and then I used the coordinating diecuts to cut out the middle of the panel, as well as the sentiment.

The background is done with the Dotted Scallop cover plate to create the look of snowcapped mountains, and this is then all adhered to a light grey card base. This is Soft Stone card stock from Gina K, and I love this shade.
The final touch was a smattering of Matte Gold Pearls.

Next up I have used a mix of fun products to create a couple of pastel themed holiday cards. The Swirl Background stencils and the Brushed Sentiment Holiday suite. It comes with a stamp set, coordinating diecuts, coordinating layering stencils as well as coordinating hot foil plates.

When I ink blend, I tend to make more than one, in case of mishaps or total flops. In this case, both Swirl Background Stencils backgrounds worked out and turned into cards.

On this one I have ink blended all the five Swirl Background stencils with inks, and pastel colours. For the yellows I used Sunshine and Sweet Mustard, for the pink I used Sparkling Rose and Bubble Gum, for the blues/turquoise I used Ocean Breeze and Aquamarine, and for the green I used only Grassy Knoll.

On this background I splattered some gold water colour to create some sparkly details and it instantly made the card even more fun!

I also added a Stitched Scallop Rectangle diecut, cut out of gold mirror card stock, and adhered this to the background. This one is layered up with another two pieces to create dimension.

I have heat embossed all of the Brushed Sentiment Holiday stamps with gold, and then used the coordinating diecuts to cut them out, as well as extras to layer the sentiments up with.

For this card I used Happy Holidays, and adhered these to the card as well as a few Glacier Jewels and then the card was done. Time to move on to the second card. On this one I used Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone, on the last layer, for a sparkly touch!

This card is finished off with similar elements as the first one, with a Stitched Scallop Rectangle diecut and heat embossed Brushed Sentiments saying Merry Christmas.

I think that Moonstone Glimmer paste is such a fun touch, and love the sparkle! It also goes so well with the Glacier Jewels.

I can’t pick which one I prefer out of these two, to be honest. I love how they came out, and I am definitely a fan of pastel Christmas cards.

I also made a YouTube video, you can find that over on my channel, or by clicking the thumbnail below.

A release celebration is not a proper celebration without a GIVEAWAY:
-We will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel.
-We will be giving away a total of TEN $25 gift cards along the hop. As per usual with blog hops – the winners will be picked from the comments, so the more you hop and comment, the bigger your chance to win!

Winners will be posted on September 20, 2022 on the Pinkfresh GIVEAWAY PAGE. You must check that page and claim your prize within 2 weeks, if you are one of the winners. Make sure to mark the date and earmark the page.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed this post and the rest of the hop! I have linked the products used for your convenience, with compensated affiliate links. If you shop using these links, I get a small commission from the company it’s linked to, at no extra cost to you. The earnings I get from these links help keep all of these crafting shenanigans going, as well as going towards the renovations of my future Craft Room that I will hopefully move into by the end of the year! Thank you so much for the support, it means more to me than you will ever know!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica