November Cookies - Take 1

It's time for Challenge # 130 over at the IF YOU GIVE A CRAFTER A COOKIE Challenge Blog . I will admit that this one was a bit hard for me - theme wise.  When I looked at the Inspiration photo, I saw beer and babies !! I told a friend that if you drank too much beer, you could end up having a baby, but that didn't seem to translate into a card !! So after a few searches on Etsy, I found a sweet design from Lily of the Valley Digi Shop - Toy Rabbit. And I'm pretty proud of my card too !!

That Toy Rabbit digi was a perfect image for some paper-piecing .I used scraps for most of  the card.Totally did not go with a beer theme but I am sure some of my fellow teammates have come up with some fun designs..

Good Things Come in Small Packages

• I started with a tan card base and adhered a piece of plaid paper to the front, leaving only a small border of tan showing.
• The Toy Rabbit image was printed 3 times - on a light brown piece of card stock, on a cream piece of cardstock and also on a plain piece of white copy paper.
• The rabbit was cut out of the light brown paper and the baby formula was cut from the white copy paper.
• The rabbit and formula images were adhered to the cream  cardstock base image, which had been trimmed to fit on the plaid background.
• I colored the images with a variety of my favorite markers - Faber-Castell, Tombow Dual Brush and Glitter Gel pens.
• I adhered a Tim Holtz Idea-ology sentiment to the lower left side of the card.

I'm very interested to see what my fellow teammates came up with for this challenge. And I'd love for you to get inspired and link up a project before November 28.  Take a look at our latest Challenge post HERE .

Thank you for once again visiting Meticulosity..

Until next time, Stay Creative !!

Debra Davison 

February Cookies 2019 - Take 2

For our second challenge this month over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie, it's all things BABY !! Now, it's been awhile since I had a baby and there are no grandchildren (yet), so I don't have many baly stamps . But I knew there was a cute set in my stash somewhere and luckily, I found them !! Our Inspiration photo this time is soooooo cute !!!

I couldn't decide which stamp to use from the Little Cupcake set  by Inkadinkado, so I used them all. The set is from 2007, which just goes to show you that I am definitely a stamp hoarder !! But then , you never know when you will be needing a baby stamp. I am more likely to use it for a grandchild card these days !!  LOL

• I chose Journal Cards from the Project Life Maggie Holmes "Gather" edition that went well with a Baby Girl theme.
• Using Versafine Clair 'Nocturne" ink, I stamped most of the images onto the journal cards. The Baby Girl image was stamped with a dark pink Stampin' Up ink and the Sweet Peas were stamped with a green Stampin' Up ink.
• I colored some of the images with Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens .
• Two of the diapers and the chickadee were paper-pieced with scraps of yellow and pink paper.
• I placed strips of washi tape onto some of the journal cards.
• Holes were punched in the upper right corner of the journal cards and then they were all fastened together with a silver binder ring.

I loved the idea of this baby "card" using all of these journal cards fastened together.  There is room on several cards for personalizing a baby's name , birth date etc... I was really pleased with how this turned out and hope that you like it too !! Take a look at the other projects by my teammates over at the If You Give a Crafter a Cookie Challenge Blog - I know they will be fabulous !! We'd love for you to link up a project between now and March 6 . How could you not be inspired by that cute Inspiration photo ?!?!?!

Thank you again for visiting Meticulosity. 

I hope that you will leave a comment and also sign up to follow my blog if you haven't already. 

Debra Davison

Polka Dot & Peppermint - Coffee Hop # 2

I just had to make a card with this Freebie set from Polka Dot Orchard . It is being offered free  HERE for the Hop and as soon as I saw it I thought - Peppermint Mocha !! Jessica Pickeral Burnham is the owner and she's also a Super Sponsor for the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop . Check out her blog post and see the rest of her digi stamp sets !!

• I started with a Kraft card base . I always love Kraft, but at Christmas time especially, I think it give a great vintage feel to a card .
• The background image and  coffee cup digis were printed on Neenah Stardust White cardstock . I fussy-cut the cup and trimmed the background to fit the base .
• I also printed the cup on a Holly-patterned paper from The Paper Studio. It was then cut out and adhered to the cup.
• The images were colored with my favorite variety of markers - Brea Reese Markers, Sharpies and Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens.
• I placed a strip of Little B Red-foil Striped washi  across the upper part of the background digi.
• A gold tinsel bow by American Crafts added more shine to the middle of the washi strip.
• I adhered the background to the Kraft with my Pink Scotch ATG Runner and popped up the Coffee Cup with Tombow Foam Tabs. 
• A few red rhinestones were added to the holly paper on the cup and Fine White glitter was used on the whipped cream. 

There are already over 350 projects linked up at the 2018 Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and it is only Day 3 !!  Be sure to go there and check out all of the inspiration and think about linking up a Fall/Winter themed Coffee, Tea or Cocoa project of your own !!

Thank  you again for visiting Meticulosity. Please comment for a chance to win some Blog Candy from me  -- I will choose 1 person at random at the end of the Hop from those who comment.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

January Cookies - Take 1

I am so excited to be a new member of the Design Team for If You Give a Crafter a Cookie. They began in 2014 and have 2 challenges each month. Each challenge is based on a picture of cookies, which intrigued me right away !! I hope that some of my creative friends will link a project up to their blog. There are prizes each month from some great sponsors !!  Here is the picture for Cookie Challenge #85, which runs from Jan. 11-24. I hope you like what I've come up with and also take a look at what my team-mates created.

Cookie Challenge #85

We were just in the path of Winter Storm Grayson, so I wanted to make a bright, cheery card. I got out my new Distress Crayons and a fun Unity stamp and this is what I came up with !!

• I stamped Lauren from Unity Stamp Company twice; once on Neenah Stardust White Cardstock and once on a piece of word-patterned paper with my favorite Memories India Black Ink.
• The shirt, pants and flower/leaves were then fussy-cut separately from the word-patterned  image.
• I then colored these fussy-cut flower/leaves and pants with Distress Crayons. The color was applied to each piece, then blended with my finger, adding more color as needed. This was SO much fun to do -- now I need more colors !!
• The intact stamped image of the girl was colored with a combo of my favorite Distress Markers and Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens and some glitter pens; then adhered to a bright green card base at an angle.
• Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue was used to adhere the pants, shirt and flower/leaves to the Lauren image, 
• THANKS was applied with some Prima Marketing canvas letters from my stash. See, it pays to buy those letters at Tuesday Morning even when you don't have a clue what you will be doing with them  !!
• A strip of grass washi was placed along the bottom of the stamped image.
• I have to give a shout-out to Echo Noble, an amazing stamper/papercrafter who  inspired ths card . I saw her video using this Distress Crayons technique with this stamp and I was hooked !!

Thank you for  visiting Meticulosity and taking a look at my first Cookie Challenge !!  I hope that some of you will link up a fun THANK YOU project -- each Challenge runs for 2 weeks. The prize for this Challenge will be a ribbon sampler to use in your future creations.  I'm excited to be on this team and can't wait for Challenge # 86.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity,blogspot.com

Time For Tea / #fall2017clh

Well, the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop is in full swing with close to 700 links already !! Today I've created a Tea card because I think I might just like tea as much as I like coffee. Have you tried the new Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea Latte at Starbucks yet ?? Might just have to do that soon .. I'm playing with more Rubber Moon stamps today . I used Corner Sun, Checkered Moon, and Lou Moon. 

Rubber Moon is a new sponsor for the Blog Hop with a prize of a $20 gift certificate.  I am also having a giveaway for those who comment on each of my cards throughout this Hop !! So far, I have linked 3, # 108 and # 357 and # 697.

• On a Moss Green card base, I adhered a piece of  Ki Memories "Vintage Charm"  paper. I  think I went with a quirky vintage feel for this card. I love mixing different paper patterns and this card is no exception.
• Memento Tuxedo Black Ink was used to stamp all 3 images mentioned above.  I stamped on my go-to favorite, Neenah Stardust White and also on Strathmore Mixed Media. The Corner Sun and Checkered Moon were also stamped on several patterns of Pumpkin Spice Paper by Craft Smith, fussy cut and used to make the paper-pieced images. 
• I die cut those cute tea cups and tea bag with the Sizzix Tea Cups Dies. Again, I used that fabulous Craft Smith "Pumpkin Spice" paper pad.
• My Distress Markers and Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens added Autumn colors to my images. 
• I assembled the card using Tombow Adhesive - both the Permanent Tape Runner and MONO Aqua Liquid Glue. A piece of Turquoise Scrappy Floss was used on the tea bag and attached with a tiny staple. 
• The Corner Sun was paper-pieced and adhered to the upper L side of the card. Checkered Moon was paper-pieced and adhered to the lower tea cup.The cups were then stacked and adhered to the background paper. 
• Recollections Wood-Grain letters spelled out TEA next to the sun and some Fall-colored sequins created seam coming out of my cup. I think it just might be that Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea Latte that I want to try !!
• Can't forget some shimmer on the fun sun and moon designs with a ZIG Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush.

Again, thank you so much for visiting Meticulosity and validating my creative spirit !!  I hope you are finding some inspiration here and in all the great links over at the Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. Comment on all of my posts for this Hop and you could win this new stamp by Rubber Moon. A  Java Girl -- how perfect !!

Deb Davison

Meticulosity.blogspot.com

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste 8/13

I'm so excited for our blog collaboration this month because we do have a guest joining us and it is Hetty Sanders. We met through our love of coffee AND papercrafting in the Coffee Loving Papercrafters Facebook group. How appropriate is that !?!? This month we were challenged by Celeste to use this mood board for inspiration to make a coffee card. I love these colors and had fun with this theme.

• I started with a colorful Molly & Rex card base from Michaels. The mood board is "pastels and colors" and this was a perfect base even though much of it was covered.
•  Using Gansai Tambi #34 Dark Pink watercolor and a wide brush, I created my background on Strathmore Mixed-media paper .
• The Penny Black "Espresso Break" image was stamped using Memories India Black ink . I highlighted several areas using my Distress markers and Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens.
• The coffee sentiment is from the Recollections "C'est La Vie" paper pad . I adhered it to the top of the card using a Tombow MONO Adhesive Runner .
• The stamped image was placed at an angle and popped up with foam dimensionals.
• For some shimmer, I used 10mm faceted rhinestones by Love Nicole from AC Moore and placed  2 ( a pink and a blue ) next to the upper left side and the bottom right side of the stamped image.

Coffee is the Best Idea

Celeste's card can be seen at Crafting Junky . You will love what she created !! I know that I do .. Hetty's card comes to us all the way from The Netherlands. She lives in Amsterdam and you can find her card at Craft Chaos . We all hope that you will comment and let us know what you think and also sign up to follow our blogs. 

Today's coffee was brought to you by this coffee cup given to me by my BFF Sue.  It sits on my desk holding an assortment of go-to markers . I'm not even sure I have ever put a drop of coffee in it !! But it seemed perfect for today's post. ( And P.S. I am drinking a bottle of Starbucks Vanilla Iced Coffee. )

Thank you so much for visiting Meticulosity.

I look forward to seeing you next month.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Christmas in July - GIU Day 5

For those of you who know me well, my love of ALL things Christmas is no secret. Patterned paper, stamps, washi, embellishments. You name it and I love it !! So I couldn't let my last GIU day pass by without a holiday card. And because I can be a bit quirky at times, it's not a traditional red & green card.  

Ever since I saw the Imagine Only stamp by Angie Blom, I have thought of making a holiday card with it.  This has been a fabulous GIU week for me and all of you are the reason why !! I could never thank you enough for all of your visits to Meticulosity and also your comments. They made me excited for each of my 5 posts !!

• Once again, I stamped on patterned paper - this time, I used Crate Paper's Peppermint collection. I cut the paper  to include the pretty scalloped border. I also stamped the image again on a doily-patterned piece of Peppermint collection paper and fussy-cut the headband and dress . All images were stamped with Memories India Black ink.
• The image was colored with my favorite Distress markers and Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens . A Zig Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush pen added a bit of shimmer. A silver glitter pen by Kaiser gave her eyelashes a little "pop"..
• A bit of fine glitter was added to the areas around the girl. To me, Christmas + card-making = glitter  ( to the horror of my guy, who ends up wearing it most days !! )  
• I placed a variety of washi across the bottom of the of the card. The teal washi strip under the girl is from My Mind's Eye, the snowflake washi with a hint of red is by Docrafts and the last 2 snowflake washi are from Recollections @ Michaels.
• I just couldn't find  the perfect saying for this card so I decided to use a die-cut from the Graphic 45 "Christmas Past" collection. I adhered it to a piece of slightly larger silver glitter paper.
• I adhered paper and elements with Tombow adhesive - the permanent adhesive runner for larger areas and the MONO Aqua Liquid adhesive for smaller areas. 
• AND because it is a holiday card especially, I could not say enough was enough. Soooooooo, I added a few Basic Grey Opaline half-pearls along the top scalloped border. 

It's hard to believe my week is at an end. Please comment on each post this week for a chance for 2 lucky winners to receive a grab bag of 25 Unity stamps. Winners will be chosen at random.  Comment by midnight EST on Sunday, July 30. I hope you will continue to support all of the GIU girls. There will be 2 more next week who will share their creativity with us. And again, a big thank-you to Unity Stamp Company for allowing me to be a GIU gal !! I hope all of you were inspired and  I would love to see what you create with your fabulous Unity stamps. 

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity.

Debra Davison

My Planner Gals - GIU Day 4

Thank you all so much for visiting my blog for my first 3 GIU posts. For Day 4, I decided to let you all take a peek into my Happy Planner for this week.  I sometimes think that my planner is way more organized than I am, but I do have fun decorating the pages !! Does anyone else feel that way ?? 

I absolutely fell in love with the new Planner Gals by Angie Blom. Now that I have purchased these, they have also come out with short-haired Gals . ( There might be another Unity purchase in my future !! )

• Planner gals and their sentiments were stamped with Memories Black India ink. I used two of the gals - Be a Beauty & Don't Be Perfect. I stamped the images on blank planner pages from previous months, the cut them and adhered them to the pages for this week.
• I colored in the images with Distress Markers and Faber - Castell PITT Artist pens  and drew stripes on the be-you-tiful gal's shirt 
• Some of the flowers were highlighted using a Zig Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Pen. This has to be one of my very favorite pens for adding shimmer to a project !! I also used some "Rock Candy" Distress Stickles Glitter Glue .
• I added some Craftsmith washi tape from their French word /black stripe set, purchased at Michaels. I am not a "fill in every bit of white space" planner girl, Unlike my need to add more and more to cards that I make, I am more of a minimalist when it comes to decorating my planner.
• A "hoarded" banner sticker and some enamel dots by Basic Grey also were added to the pages. I used a variety of stickers and embellishments to highlight weekly activities.  I like to leave space for spur-of-the-moment fill-ins.

My $5.99 Blitsy Happy Planner

Hard to believe that Day 4 is here . I'll be back again tomorrow with my final project and hope you will stop by to see it. I want to thank everyone at Unity Stamp Company for giving us all this chance to show our creative side to everyone.  Their stamps are amazing and their designers are phenomenal !!  I'll see you back here at Meticulosity tomorrow. Please comment on each post this week for your chance to win a grab bag of 25 Unity stamps.

Happy Stamping !!

Paint Your Own Rainbows

Imagine my excitement when I submitted an application to work with Susan K. Weckesser's Creative Team and was asked to join her for a 6 month term starting in July. I have been a fan of Susan's work and absolutely love  her co-branded stamp line with Unity Stamp Company!!

Tonight Unity is releasing 2 new sets of Susan's designs for their 4th of July Sale and I couldn't wait to create something with the Unicorn & Rainbows stamps. There is also a cute set  with an owl and a fox called Going Wild.

I used a piece of an older Stampin' Up paper pad, cut out the elements of Unicorns & Rainbows and mounted them on the background paper. I colored the images with Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens and Tim Holtz Distress Markers. I traced the sentiment onto a piece of confetti vellum and attached it with some bronze staples. My favorite Grass washi by Scotch was placed at the bottom edge of my card and enamel hearts by Chickaniddy Crafts were placed on the tree.

I plan on painting my own rainbow as a member of Susan's Creative Team by creating what I love, exploring new techniques and learning from the many talented members of the team.Thanks for joining me on my creative journey!!

Take Note - GIU Day 3

It's hard to believe that it is my GIU Day 3 already. I hope you have liked my projects and left comments for a chance to win some Unity stamps !!  Excited to be featured on the Unity Stamp Company blog today .. The stamp I used on this card is from one of my  favorite kits -- Everything Stronger -- and has sentiments for sympathy and support. I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer last year and my summer/fall was spent having surgeries and treatments. It was not a fun time but I stayed positive ( most of the time ) and spent alot of time making cards to support friends who were going through their own challenges. I fell in love with this kit when I saw it and I hope you do too.. 

I used a card base by Heidi Swapp , placed a doily behind the stamped image and added some rhinestones along the Right side edge. I colored with Faber-Castell Pitt Pens and Staedtler markers. 

 

Just some trivia about this stamp... The 2004 song "Beautiful Soul" by Jesse McCartney is one of my favorites so when I saw the Everything Stronger stamp set, it reminded me of that song.  Fast forward to 2016 and another favorite of mine, the TV show Fear the Walking Dead. Imagine my surprise when I realized that a 12 years older Jesse McCartney had played Reed, one nasty bad guy,  on the series. Great storyline for him...And it reminded me of this stamp set.. So, that was how this card was born !!  Thanks for indulging my love of trivia !!

Thanks to all who have been leaving comments ! I will choose 2 winners at random to win 25 stamps from Unity from those of you who comment on all 5 blog posts.  I will also send some blog candy to 2 others who comment..