Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste - 1/27

Well, 2019 is here and Celeste and I are continuing our collaboration into the New Year. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and that 2019 is a happy, healthy one for you and those you love. Our inspiration for this month's card is a mood board chosen by Celeste. I really loved everything about this photo - the colors, the images and the "mood". 

For my card, I used the color scheme, the snowy scenes and the silver & black tones. I was lucky enough to get some Stampers Anonymous stamp sets that I have had my eye on for awhile. They had a 50% off promotion in November during their Days of Thanks Sale. I took advantage of the Stamp promotion one day and the Mixed Media promotion on another. I knew I wanted to use some of my new stamps for today's card.

 The background piece of paper is from a fabulous American Crafts 12 x 12 paper pad. I copied an area of the page at 50% in order to get the trees for the base of my card.

• I used a Kraft card base and cut it just slightly larger than the tree background.
• The snowman image from the Stampers Anonymous Tattered Christmas stamp set was stamped onto the tree background in the lower right corner and also onto a piece of Neenah Stardust White cardstock using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink .
• I fussy-cut the snowman from the Solar White cardstock and adhered it over top of the snowman stamped on the tree background image. 
• The snowman's nose waa colored in with a Brea Reese marker. 
• I stamped the Let It Snow image from Stampers Anonymous Handwritten Holidays 2  onto a piece of vellum  cut to fit in the upper left corner of the tree background. 
• We R Memory Keepers Silver Sequin stickers were placed around the sentiment on the vellum. 
• I didn't have any vellum glue so I placed Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue on the back of the vellum underneath the sequins so the adhesive did not show.  Clever, huh ?
• I will admit that I smudged the first Let It Snow sentiment. Note to self : do not carry a still wet sentiment around with you while you go searching in your studio for washi tape to place on your card!!
• I also have to give thanks to my guy, Brian. When I stamped the snowman on the background, it was not at the bottom of the paper and appeared to be floating in the trees. I really hadn't noticed that yet, but he pointed it out and when he did,  I realized that it did look a bit odd. So I placed a piece of word washi from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas set. along the bottom of the card . It fit perfectly !!  It helps to have a guy with a Graphic Arts degree and an eye for design/layouts. 

I was quite pleased with my card since it has been a busy week of crafty projects and deadlines for me and I had absolutely NO idea what I was going to make when I sat down to create a card,  Then I thought of my new Stampers Anonymous stamp sets and took it from there. I know that Celeste will have a fantastic card made so please take a look at her blog - Crafting Junky. We would love for  you to comment on our posts and follow our blogs if you haven't signed up already.

My coffee for today's post is Winter Warmer, a blend of butter rum and coconut flavors with a little Half and Half. The mug is one I got on clearance after Christmas in 2017 along with a tin of Hot Cocoa. I thought the mug perfectly matched our Mood Board theme.

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity again and sharing coffee and cards with me & Celeste as we start 2019. We look forward to seeing you each month as we challenge each other to create fun projects that we hope will inspire you. If there is any crafty challenge you would like to see us undertake, please comment and we will see what we can do.  Until next time, stay creative.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - January

A question was asked about crafty New Year's Resolutions in one of the Facebook groups I frequent . I responded that I wanted to make 1 Christmas card each week so I would have about 48 cards when the holidays rolled around.  And knowing that I can usually make more than 1 card at a time, I figured I could get a bit more than that. Turns out I am not the only one who thinks this way. Lisa Reynolds Bzibziak replied immediately and said she wanted to do the same thing. I know Lisa from the Coffee Loving Papercrafters Facebook page . So, what started out as a promise to keep each other focused on making a card a week has turned into a monthly blog post of our holiday cards !! We are the Crafty Elves and our little mascot is this cute Crafty Little Elf  from Unity Stamp Company. She will help us count down the weeks until Christmas card sending season arrives !!

I made a variety of cards for the first month. I placed stamps,papers, embellishments, adhesives and dies in a photo box along with card bases ( some made by me, others pre-made ) so  I always had everything handy. I made 2 of the cards when I just sat down with the intention of making one of my Christmas cards. The other 2 were made along with other cards when I was also completing some deadlines for Design Teams I am on. I am not going to be giving detailed instructions/supplies used for each card but feel free to ask me about any details. I will be listing the stamps I used under each card's photo.

Stamps Used:

Baby, It's Cold by Vera Lane Studio

Digi Stamp Set

 Stamp Used :

Gracielle Design's Cozy Layers Mode

Unity Stamp Company

Stamp Used:

Christmas Cottage by Stampemdous

 Stamp Used :

Gracielle Design's Cozy Layers Mode

Unity Stamp Company

Glitter highlights on roof,fence

   Glittered foam on my latte                                   

I actually made 8 more cards this month for a total of 12. These were some of my last minte designs at the end of 2018 so I had all of the supplies handy. I can't wait to see what Lisa makes and hope that you will go to her blog at Life of a BZ Scrapper to check out her creations !! We will be posting each month on the 25th and would love for you to join us by starting your Christmas cards early too. In order to help you, we will both be having a giveaway. Comment on our posts and you will have a chance to win a fun holiday stamp to get you started. I will be sending my winner our mascot Crafty Christmas Elf . Comment by the end of January and we will announce winners the first week of February.

Crafty Little Elf

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity.

Lisa and I hope you will join us each month for the Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Anthony's Paper Craft Feb. 2019 New Release Blog Hop

Anthony's Paper Craft has some fabulous new stamps coming out in a February Release and this week, several members of the Design Team will be sharing a few with you.   I'm excited to see what Michael, Mary and Mike create and will add links to them at the end of this post. 

I actually chose this stamp because it reminded me of a song I heard on the TV show THE WALKING DEAD. Weeds or Wildflowers by Parsonfields is the first thought I had when I saw thie sentiment with this new stamp and I just had to use it for this Hop. 

May All Your Weeds Be Wildflowers

• I started with a 5x7 kraft card base for this card.
• Tim Holtz washi tape was placed down the Left side of the card base- a strip of dark red striped and a thin strip pf gold glitter tape.
• I stamped the flower image of the FLORAL BACKGROUND 3 stamp onto a piece of cream-colored brick patterned paper  ( found at Hobby Lobby in a single sheet ).
• The sentiment was stamped onto a piece of floral brick paper, using a piece from the Country Road Paper Pack ( also found at Hobby Lobby ) . Both were stamped with a Versafine Clair "Nocturne" ink pad .
• I colored in some of the  floral image with a variety of Tombow Dual Brush Pens . I loved the contrast of the crisp black ink on the brick wall and didn't want to color too much of the design  or make it too bright. I used colors that matched the brick pattern that the sentiment was stamped on.
• The sentiment was trimmed to fit in the space above the floral image and popped up using foam circles.

This Floral image is just one of many new releases that will be available from Anthony's Paper Craft in February. I hope that you like my sneak peek and that you will also go and look at those done by my teammates at the links below. I am sure you will be inspired !!

Michael Trent - World of Michael Trent

Mary Kay Werry - MKW Cards

Mike Fernholz - Dezines By EM

I hope that you enjoyed my card using an upcoming release by  Anthony's Paper Craft . I will let everyone know when the stamps are available for purchase. I'm sure we will be posting more samples throughout January so be sure to follow Anthony's Paper Craft on Facebook.  

Thank you again for visiting Meticulosity.

Debra Davison

Valentine's Day @ Anthony's Paper Craft

Hello to everyone - I'm so happy you've stopped by for my first post of 2019 !! What better way is there to start off the New Year than with a fun heart-filled project. Today I'm using the January Stamp of the Month from Anthony's Paper Craft - Valentine's Day 2 . If you purchase this stamp through the month of January, you will get free shipping/ USA only. So why not treat yourself to a few great stamps and take advantage of that perk. 

I love paper-piecing and this stamp was perfect to use with a cute new paper pad !! I actually made 2 cards , each with a slightly different look at the top. I send quite a few Valentines and this stamp allowed me to use many of my fun patterned papers.

• Using 4 coordinating patterned papers from the Pebbles "Be Mine" pad , I stamped the Valentine's Day 2 image with  a Versafine Clair "Nocturne" ink pad .
• I cut the heart and  sprinkle papers to fit on my card bases - 1 bright red and 1 cranberry, They were adhered with Tombow MONO Adhesive+.
• The heart images were cut out of the doughnut and strawberry papers and adhered to my 2 card base images - 1 of each pattern on each base.
• Several red and gold glitter hearts were paper-punched and adhered to the center of the patterned hearts.
• On the top card, I made a border with pale pink cardstock from a Martha Stewart border punch. I placed a piece of heart washi from The Paper Studio across the top area of the border .
• On the bottom card, I used another Martha Stewart border punch to make a pale pink eyelet border and ran a strand of twine through it, then finished it off with a bow. 
• I am NOT an expert at tying bows, so I  was completely thrilled with how this one turned out. I placed a bit of glue over the knot so it would not unravel.

I hope that you like my cards made with this Stamp of the Month. It is a very versatile stamp and some of my fellow Design Team members will also be creating projects with it  Michael Trent has a fabulous card on  his blog, Mary Kay is also posting today over at her blog  and Mike will be sharing his project on the 25. Check them out for some Valentine inspiration.  And don't forget that there is free shipping / USA only when you buy this Stamp of the Month at Anthony's Paper Craft through January.

Valentine's Day 2 stamp set

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity for this first post of 2019 !! I look forward to many more posts to get your creative juices flowing . Celeste and I will be continuing our blog collaboration this year with our first post on 1/27. And I have another fun collaboration beginning in a few weeks. Please sign up to follow me so you won't miss any new posts. Stay tuned for more great new stamps from Anthony's Paper Craft too .

I wish all of you a happy, healthy & creative New Year !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity