It's Coffee O'clock

Here's my second card for the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.. This one was made with a Digi stamp from Bugaboo Digi Stamps.. I am not very computer savvy but it was really easy to work with these designs.I love working with different elements, often using contrasting designs that wouldn't seem to go together. Here I used polka dotted and leaf background patterned paper along with some striped washi. Oh yeah, and a small dainty doily folded into quarters. I guess you could say that sometimes I don't know when to say "when"... I colored the image with Distress Markers.

Supplies used :

"Coffee O'clock" by Bugaboo Digi Stamps

Scotch brand washi tape

Craft Smith "Pumpkin Spice" patterned paper

Cabochons by Mark Richards

Tim Holtz Distress Markers

Rhinestone

I hope that you will follow my blog.. If you comment, you might win some blog candy from me -- a few coffee-themed goodies. Thank you so much for stopping by Meticulosity/ Check out all of the wonderful projects over at the Hop.

A { Pink } Fresh Fall Hop

I am always SO excited for another Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and this one is no exception, especially since I have several new coffee-themed stamp sets !! I have always loved using paint samples on my cards and this one from  Sherwin Williams was perfect. The colors from top to bottom are Pumpkin Curry, Copper Playa and Outgoing Orange.. I placed the paint sample on the Right side of a kraft card base. Don't you think that Kraft cardstock is absolutely perfect for Fall projects !?!?!? 2 types of washi were just the right touch for the Left side of the card. I stamped and punched 3 images from a new Pinkfresh Studio stamp set and popped them up on the paint sample with dimensionals. I did also stamp the teacup on a piece of patterned paper also and paper-pieced it to the image stamped on the square.

Supplies used :

Pumpkin Patch Gold Foil washi from Little B

My Mind's Eye Metallic Decorative Tape

Tsukineko Memento Rich Cocoa Dye Ink

"Late Nights" stamp set from Pinkfresh Studio

Has my first card for the Hop inspired you to get creative ?? I will choose someone to win some coffee-themed blog candy for commenting on my cards for this Hop.. I would love if you would also follow my blog . Make sure to take a look at the other cards for the Hop.. I am sure we will break the old record for number of projects linked up. I appreciate you taking the time to share in my obsession for all things coffee, tea and cocoa related !!

As always, a BIG shout-out to Amy Tsuruta for co-ordinating this Hop and to all of the amazing Sponsors !! There are 63 Super Sponsors this time with some fabulous prizes !! 

Thank you so much for visiting Meticulosity !!

Sending a Bunny To Say Hello

Today I made a cute bunny card to send to a dear friend. The last time I used my embossing paste, I embossed a few extra card bases so I could easily use them to create a quick card in the future.. I had already sprinkled some glitter over the paste before it dried so I had a cute sparkly background to start with..

To finish the card base, I bordered the Left edge of the card with pieces of glitter and text  washi. I then cut a tag from the  Live in Color Tags paper made by Susan K. Weckesser and placed a turquoise sequin in each corner. The little bunny is from the Bunny Hugs stamp set, also by Susan K. Weckesser. I stamped the image with Clearsnap Colorbox Color Pop Archival Dye Ink in Mystery and colored it  with a combination of Distress Markers and Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens. I adhered the tag to the base with my all-time favorite glue - Tombow Mono Aqua Liquid Glue. It even adheres really well over the glittery base of the card. The bunny was popped up using Stampin' Up dimensionals.

This bright, cheery card will be heading off to say hello to a dear, faraway friend. Next time you sit down to make a card, put together several card bases. You can put patterned paper and a doily on a kraft background or emboss a few backgrounds. Then the next time you need a quick card, you will already have a starting point.

How do you streamline your card-making process ?? This past weekend, I got out my Vagabond machine and cut out  lots of coffee cup and teacup designs and also used embossing folders to create some backgrounds.. So now I have some readily available elements and backgrounds for my next card-making session !! I will be sending  some of these to one lucky commenter. Be sure to follow my blog so you can see what I do with them in the future !!

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity..

Have a great week !!

A Hop and a Skip {ping}

Welcome to my first official Blog Hop as a member of the Skipping Stones Design Team.. I am thrilled to be included in such fabulous company. We will be having a Blog Hop each month on the second Saturday of the month. You might have gotten here from Cornelia's blog. If not, the line-up is listed at the bottom of this page. For my first project, I chose to make a card with one of my favorite themes - Coffee !!

I  used Faber Castell Whipped Spackle and a Dylusions stencil to create a background on a piece of Pebbles "Lakeside" paper. I then sprinkled the background with Mixed Berries glitter. The border at the top of the card was created using the Sizzix "On the Edge" Scallops die. The sentiment was also stamped on Pebbles paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink..

The 2 stamp sets I used are Funny Coffee Vol. #1 for the sentiment and that gorgeous coffee cup  from Coffee Vol. #2. The cup was stamped on Strathmore Mixed-Media paper  with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I colored the cup with a combination of Ranger Distress Markers and Faber Castell PITT Artist pens. I mounted the finished piece on a Kraft card base . Kraft cardstock is my all-time favorite !!  The sentiment and cup were adhered to the background using Tombow Foam tabs, A bit of Clear Wink of Stella adds a fantastic highlight to the petals..

Skipping Stones Design will be offering blog candy to one lucky person during this September Hop - a stamp set of your choice. In order to win, you must subscribe to the Skipping Stones blog, like their Facebook page and comment on each of the blogs in this Hop. For extra entries, follow my blog too.I will also be offering some blog candy for those who follow me and leave a comment on my blog.

Here is the order of our hop --
* SSD
* Martha
* Jessie
* Cornelia
* Debra -- YOU ARE HERE
* Ilina
* Tanya

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity..

And supporting my first Blog Hop as a Stamp Tramp with Skipping Stones Design..

Debra Davison

for Skipping Stones Designs

.

Thanks for {Fall} owing Me

The winner of my Blog Candy for being a follower of mine is Naomi Hanson. I want to thank everyone who checked out my post and who decided to follow me. It is very much appreciated. I will now be posting for the Skipping Stones Design Team as well as the Susan K Weckesser Creative Team. With  Skipping Stones, there will be a blog hop each month on the second Saturday and also a Challenge the last Friday of each month. For the Challenge, you will be able to link up a project for a chance to win a stamp set of your choice.. For the Susan K Weckesser team, I will be posting at least twice a month and sometimes more with special hops and challenges.

Again, thank you for visiting Meticulosity and following me.

{ Fall } ow Me

Today is a beautiful Fall day - windows open, cool breeze, almost sweater weather .. I am trying to boost my blog following so what better way than a play on words AND some blog candy ?!?!?! I stamped a cute image from Unity Stamp Company - " Every Day Be Happy " and colored it with Fall colors. I'm inviting you to [ Fall }ow me by signing up on the top Right side of my blog page.. If you are unable to sign up through Blogger, there is also another option to sign up by e-mail. With Blogger, I can see your little photo and a list. If you sign up by e-mail, please let me know. I will choose a lucky person to receive some fun Fall goodies, just for  following me. 

And as the image says, "Every Day is a Great Day to Celebrate You"..... I am so grateful for everyone that visits Meticulosity and comments on my blog. I'm surrounded by creative friends who challenge me to  do better and step outside my comfort zone. I celebrate each and every one of you every single day !!

I { HEART } Books ( and bookmarks )

Yes, that is exactly what it says -- I { HEART } Books !!  Apart from my absolute love of card-making, I am also quite fond of books. From the time I was a child and would walk to the library with my dad, I have had a fascination with books. Growing up in a very small town, we knew everyone, and the town librarian was a friend of our family. After I had read all of the children's books in the library, my father wrote out a permission slip for me to be able to take out any book that I wanted. Miss Faust kept it in my file so I never had a problem. I remember going through the card catalog alphabetically and just finding topics of interest, then taking many books home on that 1 subject. That was in the days before computers when we relied on the Dewey Decimal system  ( now I am really showing my age ).. More info on that at the end of my post of you are interested.

So where am I going with this, you might ask ?? Well, with a love of books comes a love of bookmarks. I have used the occasional slip of paper to mark a page  ( have never been one to dog-ear a book !! ). In the past, I have even cross-stitched bookmarks for myself and as gifts. But lately I have been seeing these cute ones made from envelopes and just had to give it a try.

Any book-lover MUST get this amazing book that is an alphabetized reading list that I refer to often. Nancy Pearl is an American librarian and author who shares her love and knowledge of books with all of us. And isn't my cute owl just perfect in that corner !!

I used the Going Wild stamp set by Susan K Weckesser co-branded with Unity Stamp Company. After stamping the images with Susan K Weckesser's  Clearsnap Colorbox Color POP Dye ink in Mystery , I colored them with a variety of markers ( Distress, Stabilo and Stampin' Up ). I fussy-cut them and applied Ranger Glossy Accents ( if you don't own this, you need to run right out with a coupon and buy some ).. On the owl, I applied the Glossy Accents to the glasses. There are also a few strips of feather washi on the back of this bookmark.

The fox image also came from the Going Wild stamp set. I added a strip of grass washi to the bottom of this bookmark, then gave this cute little fox a cup of coffee cut from a fabulous roll of Paper Studio washi. A few cups were also placed on the back of this bookmark along with a favorite stamp of mine from Paper Angel. Glossy Accents were applied to the ears, paws and polka-dots on the bow tie. The fox and owl were adhered using my TOMBOW Mono Aqua Liquid Glue -- my bookmarks get lots of wear and tear and TOMBOW is my go-to adhesive !!

For those of you as OCD as I am, and who could not just cut a corner off of an envelope to make these bookmarks -- this is how I made mine. I used a 5 x 7 Kraft envelope because the Kraft paper is sturdier. On the bottom corners of the envelope, on each side I measured 3 inches in, made a dot with a pencil, then drew a straight line connecting the 2 dots. I then cut across the line and erased any pencil marks that remained. Use your imagination to create any kind of bookmark that you want !!

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my other LOVE- Books !! I love all kinds of books and finally did get a nook which now has about 1000 books and samples on it. I still love the feel of a "real" book in my hands but also love the ability to have so many choices with me at one time.

My current reading list includes :
1. The Fireman - Stephen King
2. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend - Katarina Bivald
3. Packing for Mars - Mary Roach
4. Collage Playground - Kimberly Santiago
5. The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware

And who says you can't use a bookmark with an e-reader ?!?!?!?!

And for those of you who have never seen how I used to find my way around a library, here are a few pics. Now I wish I had a card catalog like that for my craft supplies !!

 Dewey Decimal System

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!