Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste 12/17

It's hard to believe that 2017 is coming to a close. I can't tell you how much fun I've had with this Blog Collaboration !! Celeste and I have both invited friends to be our guests and this month is NO exception. Michael Trent lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil and is an amazing artist . You can follow him at his blog - World of Michael Trent . We met through our love of coffee and coffee cards and have been friends since August 2016. We have the same snarky sense of humor and I'm thrilled he's joining us. He is an amazing papercrafter, works wonders with Sharpies, works with several Design Teams and I'm sure he's created something wonderful for our collaboration. As our guest, he picked the theme for us and he chose LOVE... 

I immediately thought of my guy, Brian but he hates glitter, so that idea was out. Then I thought of coffee and books and cats and snail mail and hearts nd Christmas. Christmas -- that gave me another idea. What do I love at this time of year ?? They make me smile and I had a stamp set that had never been inked up sooooooooooooooo -- my card was born !! I love Ugly Christmas Sweaters !! It helped that Michel and I had a hilarious conversation about that very topic this past week.. I hope you like my take on the theme of LOVE ....

• On a Prima tag, I used Faber-Castell Whipped Spackle with a Stampers Anonymous "Festive" stencil to highlight the top of the card. I had trimmed the tag to fit on a light brown card base.
• I stamped the sweaters and sentiment from Mommy Lhey "Doodled Sweater" with Memories India Black Ink onto Neenah Stardust White cardstock . I also stamped the tree sweater onto a scrap piece of blue paper. 
• The sweaters & sentiment garland were colored with a variety of my favorite Distress markers, Glitter pens, PITT Artist pens and a watercolor brush using my Distress markers brushed on an acrylic block. I also drew stars on the treetops. 
• Fairy Dust Glitter was sprinkled onto the whipped spackle when it was first applied.
• A piece of Christmas twine was wrapped around the tag several times then tied in a knot. I am bow-challenged, so you will rarely see me tie a bow for my projects !!
• Tombow MONO Adhesive/Permanent was used to adhere the card front to the base card.
• I popped the sweaters and sentiment up on the card front with Tombow Foam Tabs .

Celeste will be showing you her take on LOVE over at her blog Crafting Junky and you can find Michael's at World of Michael Trent.  I hope that you will leave us comments on our projects and also sign up to follow our blogs if you haven't already done so. 

I am drinking an amazing  coffee today - a Brazilian blend sent to me by Michael - from my latest Starbucks cup. I had posted a photo of this mitten cup on my Facebook page, stating that I did NOT need another cup. But so many of my friends "enabled" me with positive comments that I just had to have it. I did clean my cupboard of 4 old  ( and I mean very old ) coffee cups, so I didn't feel so guilty. Plus, I need fun cups for these monthly blog posts !!

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity.And since we are on the subjects of LOVE and Ugly Christmas sweaters, here's a pic of my guy Brian.  

1234

Santa's sleigh being pulled by cats 

AND it lights up..

Gotta love this !!

Coffee Christmas

My last card for the Winter 2017 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop showcases some of my favorite stamps from Rubber Moon. I've always loved Christmas stamps as much as I love coffee stamps, so it wasn't hard to combine the two. The stencil and berry stamp that I used were exclusives for members of their Moon Mail Club and they are  just the cutest.  Each month I get an exclusive stamp and other artsy supplies -- you can find out more here . 

• I adhered a piece of plaid paper from The Paper Studio to a navy cardstock card base.
• The leaf/berry stencil was applied using Stampin' Up ink pads Mellow Moss & Primrose Petals onto Neenah Stardust White cardstock
• I stamped the Xmas Flowers stamp in between the 2 stenciled images and colored them with my favorite Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens. The berries were stamped with an exclusive Rubber Moon cube of 4 stamps, including that cute berry. 
• The Tree Cup was also stamped on Stardust White cardstock , colored, fussy-cut and then adhered to the center stem of the  Xmas Flowers design with a foam dimensional. 
• A touch of brown glitter was placed in the top of the coffee cup and a bit of stardust glitter was applied to the cup itself.
• I debated on whether or not to put a sentiment at the bottom and in the end, decided not to. But you never know - I could change my mind !!

I also used this stencil and stamp for my November Moon Mail Swap. Here are 2 cards that I sent to my partner. 

Thank you for stopping by to see my last card for the 2017 Winter Hop. I know that there are over 800 projects linked up already. How amazing is that !! My next project will be finishing and addressing all of my holiday cards. They are traveling near and far - to many of the 50 states, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany and Austria ( to name a few ).

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season filled with many fun-filled days of creativity. 

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Fa La Llama Latte

Not quite sure how I got into the Llama obsession, but then again -- who could resist this fun paper pad by Craft Smith  at Michaels. Excited to be posting a third card today for the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, especially since a busy work week is starting . I will barely have time to check out the new link-ups, let alone make more cards. Today's card is a fun take on a favorite Christmas carol plus a favorite drink !! Hope you like it ..

 

• On a navy blue card base, I adhered a piece of patterned  paper from the Craft Smith Falalallama paper pad. 
• A journal card from the same paper pad was then cut and adhered to the patterned paper. 
• I stamped the coffee cups on Neenah Stardust White cardstock with Memories India Black ink. They were then fussy-cut and colored with my Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens. Foam dimensionals were used to adhere the cups to the back of the llama. 
• The sentiment was printed on my computer on Stardust White cardstock , then paper-punched into a square. 
• My fun Fa la la  stamp from Rubber Moon Stamps was stamped on the square using Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads in Festive Berries and Evergreen Biough.
• A strip of rhinestones was placed at the top of the Llama Latte square and then the square was adhered to the card.
• My Tombow MONO Permanent Adhesive Runner was used to adhere all the above-mentioned items.
• Brown glitter was used to highlight the coffee in the cup. Gotta have some glitter !!!

Be sure to check out the 2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop . There are already over 350 projects !! Hoping to post some more cards to the Hop towards the end of the week. Enjoy some of your favorite coffee today and listen to some holiday music. I'm also finishing up some Christmas cards - this cute little Llama just might be decking the halls in a faraway land this holiday season .

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity

Debra Davison 

Cocoa Girl

Day 2 of the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and it's a dreary, rainy day here in Virginia Beach. But a good day for a Salted Caramel Mocha Cocoa right from my Keurig Coffee machine. I know that the official National Cocoa Day isn't until 12/13, but I just couldn't wait to ink up this stamp !!

oh baby, it's cold outside

• I stamped the Cocoa Girl image from Deep Red Stamps on my favorite Neenah Stardust White cardstock with Memories India Black Ink. 
• This is such a detailed stamp that I felt it needed just a hint of color. I water-colored the cup, using my Stampin' Up Wild Wasabi stamp pad and a water brush. The hints of red were from a Stampin' Up  Real Red marker and the face/hands were colored with an Antique Linen Distress Marker.
• I adhered a small white doily from Art-C to a plaid card base by The Paper Studio @ Hobby Lobby. 
• A piece of red plaid washi was placed down the left side of the stamped image. 
• The sentiment is from Small Talk Occasions by Tim Holtz/Idea-ology .
• All items were adhered with Tombow MONO Permanent Adhesive runner. 

I hope you've been taking a look at all of the links at the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. I'll be posting a few more cards before it ends on December 15. 

#winter2017clh

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

A Winter Celebration

Welcome to the first Day of the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop !! The team from Skipping Stones Design will be bringing you some coffee inspiration with projects of our own and I hope you will take a look at all of them here. For my project, I decided to use some hoarded paper, non-traditional colors and a few of my favorite things. So make your favorite cup of coffee, tea or cocoa and relax with some fun inspiration from the Skipping Stones Design Team.

• I placed a silver doily on the left side of a Recollections snow-flake card base and a strip of turquoise glitter washi down the left edge of the card.
• The coffee cups from the Funny Coffee stamp set were stamped on several patterns of paper from my hoarded Dear Lizzy Christmas collection from American Crafts, using Memories India Black Ink. The cup handles were also stamped on some plain white card stock, in order to fussy-cut the area inside the handle and then color them to match the card base color.
• I fussy-cut the coffee cups and added brown glitter to the coffee area. The cups were then stacked along the right side of the card.
• Using a matching piece of music paper, I stamped the sentiment from the Christmas Song stamp set and adhered it at the top of the card with foam dimensionals. All other elements were adhered with Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue.
• A piece of rustic twine was wrapped several times along the inner edge of the washi to complete the card.

Doilies, washi, and twine are a few of my favorite elements to use on cards. I love the non-traditional colors of this one !! After the card was completed, I realized that the words on the tag at the top of the card - " Oh, what fun it is to ride in a "  - matched up perfectly with the words on the middle coffee cup - " open sleigh ". Not planned, never even thought of that while stamping or cutting. Just a happy accident, but I love when things like that happen !!

I hope you will also take a look at all of the amazing link-ups at the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop . Thank you for visiting Meticulosity. Please sign up to follow my blog if you haven't already.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity 

Coffee & Cards With Deb & Celeste 11/26

This time of year we reflect on what we are thankful for. Family and friends come to mind first. Then health is something we might take for granted until something happens. A roof over our heads, food to eat, a steady job. The list goes on. I am also thankful for all of the amazing people I have met through social media. Celeste and I met online through our love of cards. A group I have been involved with on Facebook is the Global Postcard Art Swap ( heART Exchange ). Three times a year ( Feb, June/July & Nov ), you can sign up to swap postcards with 3 people. You create these postcards with a theme that is chosen for each swap. The theme for this November's swap is appropriately  THANKFUL and that is also what we have made the theme of this blog post.The cards made by the participants in each Global Swap are fabulous - watercolored, mixed medium, paper pieced, rubber stamped etc... I am in awe of everyone's creativity...

• I stamped THANKFUL from the Prima "Autumn Moon" stamp set onto 3 pieces of fall-patterned scrap paper from my stash.  I then used scraps of autumn-themed papers to create my card bases. I covered some postcards that I had gotten free at a local store -- they were ads for the company and were sturdy for mailing, and I just adhered papers front and back to go with the theme of  THANKFUL.
• Bits and pieces of paper, doilies, dots and washi were placed on each card. I also punched out a few butterflies for the one postcard, stapled the middle, then folded them in half. I glued one side only to the postcard to make it look like they were flying !
• I used some lined paper on the front of the postcard and placed a piece of glitter washi down the middle to separate the address and note sides.The acorn stamp is also from the Prima "Autumn Moon" stamp set.
• I sent these to California, Maine and the United Kingdom in acetate envelopes to protect them from the perils of the USPS.
• Another card ( shown below ) was made for my swap partner in the Coffee Loving Papercrafters Group on Facebook. There is a swap each month we can sign up for and we are given the name of someone to send a Coffee, Tea or Cocoa card to. I used a limited edition Mommy Lhey stamp set and the same Prima "Thankful" stamp. 

I hope that my postcards and cards inspire you . Join a group and swap with some like-minded creative people.It is so much fun. Be sure to take a look at Celeste's November post at Crafting Junky. I just know that she has come up with a fabulous card celebrating being THANKFUL.. And Celeste's crafty friend Becky Ledbetter is joining us again with her blog post over at This Chick's Challenge.Becky says that her blog is her attempt to "challenge myself to do the things I love more often".. And that is something that will always make us thankful !!

For my coffee today, I am drinking Toffee Nut Starbucks coffee with Frosted Sugar Cookie Creamer in a fabulous Starbucks mug from a friend in Spain... Thank you to Natasha for adding another great cup to my collection... Let me also thank Louise Gale for being an amazing hostess of our Global Postcard Art Swaps / heART Exchange & Amy Tsuruta for hosting the  Coffee Loving Papercrafters  page. I know that so many of us are thankful that they have brought us together to share something we love !!

We hope that you will sign up to follow our blogs. I'm excited about next month already because Christmas themes are some of my favorites ! If you  would like to be our  guest sometime in 2018, please let one of us know and we'd be happy for you to join us and show off your talents.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

St. Tropez Seas

I am a rubber stamper at heart - I rarely make a card without any stamping at all . I often buy paper and stamp sets from the same collection.  I did that with the Prima Amber Moon collection that I used in a prior blog post.  I bought some paper and the ephemera pack from the Prima St. Tropez collection, not really having any plans for what I was going to do with it. I actually think I ordered it to justify the cost of shipping and then just happened to fall in love with it !!

When I sat down to make cards with St. Tropez, I was planning on looking for some nautical stamps to use with it. But I started cutting and trying out layouts, and before I knew it, I had these beautiful cards !! For once, I didn't feel like adding more and more and more !! The colors and artwork are absolutely stunning. I have a friend, Paula who recently moved to her seaside dream spot and she will definitely be receiving one of these cards.. 

• These cards could not be any easier, or more stunning..
• Using Kraft cardstock for the bases, I cut several St. Tropez patterns for backgrounds. 
• Pictures and sentiments were cut from the St. Tropez collection and chosen from the Ephemera pack and adhered with Tombow MONO Aqua Adhesive Runner and foam tabs. 
• I used a few strips of thin glitter washi to finish off 2 of the cards. 

" Like the ocean, my love for you has no end "

Thank you for stopping by and seeing what I created today-- without any of my beloved stamps. A bit out of my comfort zone, but I might have to do this for some of the > 100 holiday cards I will be sending !! How many cards do you send ?? Leave me a comment and I might just send you some Christmas goodies to help with your holiday card list !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Lovely seaside town of Dawlish

Coffee and Cards with Deb & Celeste 10/22

I'm SO very excited about our guest this month. Chris Franco and I met online a few years ago through our love of card-making. She's been stamping almost 20 years and currently  is a demonstrator with  Close To My Heart, a wonderful papercrafting company.  She also loves coffee as much as we do, which made her an even more perfect guest. Celeste and I are so glad that Chris joined us and she chose an amazing mood board for us to use as inspiration. 

Isn't that a fun mood board ?!?! I loved the color combo immediately but what drew me to this board was the fact that there are mailboxes in it.  If there's one thing I love as much as card-making, it's letter-writing. I'm in several Happy Mail groups and postcard swaps, and seem to get something in the mail at just the right time whenever I am in need of a pick-me-up. I have a wonderful friend in Scotland, Liz McGuire and she was the inspiration for using the United Kingdom-style mailbox.  I have several other UK friends too, who keep my mailbox full of snail mail !! I did try to  use at least a few of the mood board colors and I hope you like my card. And kudos to Chris -- I had so much fun with this one. 

• On a Cocoa-colored card base, I adhered a piece of paper from the DCWV Collage Art paper stack,  I cut the paper so that I had the bright sun in the upper right corner.
• I downloaded free digis for World Card-making Day from Heffy Doodle, then printed the bear and UK mailbox on white and brown cardstock, and also on red, blue and woodgrain papers.
• The images were fussy-cut and paper-pieced together. A few areas were colored in with several  of my favorite markers. 
• On a matching piece of Collage Art paper, I stamped my sentiment, using  Memories India Black ink . The sentiment was then cut to fit the area above the bear and adhered with Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue. I send lots of Snail Mail to cheer friends up and I love this sentiment - Don't Ever Give Up. It is from the stamp set "StrongerTogether"  by Close To My Heart. Proceeds from sales of this stamp set will be donated to the Red Cross to benefit disaster relief efforts.
• I had several small envelopes in my stash that I has stamped awhile ago and they were perfect for the bottom of the card and also 1 for the mail slot.
• I popped the sentiment up with foam dimensionals and also applied a string of rhinestones along the top, 
• This card is made for all of my Snail Mail, Happy Mail, Postcard Swapping friends.  You all inspire me, support my creative side, keep my mailbox full and never let me give up !!

Please go to Chris's site Stamped Blessings to see what she was inspired to make. We are thrilled with her choice of a Mood Board !! I'm sure that Celeste has also created something fun at her  blog    Crafting Junky. It's always interesting to see what different ideas we get from the same inspiration. 

For this week's coffee, I am drinking Starbucks Fall Blend in a fun spinning zombie head Walking Dead mug .  I am a true Walking Dead fan and the Season 7 Premiere is tonight. There's nothing I like better than a HUGE mug !! ( I like big mugs and I cannot lie !!  LOL )  Thank you for visiting Meticulosity once again. I hope you will sign up to follow me if you haven't already. Please also take a look at Celeste 's and Chris's blogs and follow them too !!

CTMH "Stronger Together"

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Skipping Stones Design Team Intro 2017

I'm so excited for this Blog Hop today to introduce the new Skipping Stones Design Team.  We have been on a bit of a break but we are back now and are ready to introduce everyone.  I hope that you will look at my card and then go to the other blogs to see what what my team-mates have been up to.

I recently discovered the amazing Prima collection Amber Moon and just had to use it to create my card for this Blog Hop. This collection has the prettiest autumn-colored  and themed papers. And you all know about my passion for coffee, so is it any wonder that I used the Funny Coffee set by Skipping Stones !?!?

" I don't have a problem with caffeine.

I have a problem without it "

• On a cream-colored card base, I adhered a wood-patterned piece of Amber Moon paper, using my  Tombow MONO permanent adhesive runner. I used this adhesive on the entire project.
• I stamped the coffee cup from Funny Coffee with Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto a polka-dot piece of paper, also from the Amber Moon collection. It was then fussy-cut. 
• I then stamped the coffee ring onto wood-grain Amber Moon paper with Rich Cocoa ink & the sentiment onto a scrap piece of lined paper.
• The banner at the top Right of the card  was paper-punched using scraps of Amber Moon paper. I love the richness of the colors from this collection -- they are absolutely beautiful. 
• The sentiment was adhered using my Tombow MONO runner and the cup was popped up with  Tombow Foam Tabs .
• A strip of thin gold glitter washi was placed along the bottom and the right side of the card & 2 Amber Moon crystals were placed on the sentiment to complete my project. 

The line-up for the Blog Hop is below.  Please take a look at their projects too and welcome them to the Skipping Stones team. We look forward to inspiring you in the months to come.

Skipping Stones Design Blog

Debra Davison - YOU ARE HERE

Ginny Maxam

Ashley Hamman

Lisa Dannenmann Ambrose

LeeAnn McKinney

Martha Lucia Gomez Hernandez

Annie Collins

Steph Ackerman

Kelly Clark

Jessie Knight Rone

Esther Mendez

We will each be posting twice a month on the Skipping Stones blog . Thank you to Larissa Collins Pittman, who is now our fearless leader. We look forward to working with her and being able to brighten your day with some fun projects using our Skipping Stones Design stamps.

Funny Coffee

Debra Davison

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity

Welcome to all of my new teammates !!

GIU Blog Hop 9/24/17

I'm participating in the Growing in Unity Blog Hop today with some other GIU girls . Please be sure to visit each blog listed below for a chance to win 1 of 2 prizes from Unity Stamp Company. It's no secret how much I love Unity stamps and the one I used today is no exception. I have had it for awhile but hadn't inked it up before. So I guess there's no time like the present !!

I love to paper-piece and this Martha Girl stamp is perfect for that !! But I really think that Angie meant to call this one "Deb Girl"... I stamped the images several times on kraft and Neenah Stardust White cardstock & then went to town coloring and paper-piecing . The woodgrain background seemed perfect for the first days of Fall and I balanced the sentiment on the left side of the image with a cute banner on the right side.

Here is the line-up for the Blog Hop. Your next stop is Michelle's blog. You might have gotten here from Brittany's blog.  Remember to stop at all of the  posts and comment for a chance at a prize from Unity.

Brittany Morgan 

 Www.Craftypaperbee.blogspot.com

Debra Davison  -  YOU ARE HERE

Michelle Domescek 

http://snailmailstamping.blogspot.com/

Janet O Harman 

http://twosistersscrapbooking.blogspot.com/

Mary Kay Werry  

https://mkwcardsblog.com/

Jen GD 

http://jensunchartedterritory.blogspot.com/

Jeanette Cloyd 

https://creativeplayischeaperthantherapy.blogspot.com

Unity Stamp Company

Thank you so much for visiting Meticulosity. I was thrilled to be a GIU girl for the second time and hope to do it again next year.  I'm glad you are here today to hop with us . Happy Stamping !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity