Celebrating National Coffee Day with Polka Dot Orchard

Polka Dot Orchard has joined in with several other companies to hop along in honor of National Coffee Day. This fun event is being hosted by the Coffee Loving Paper Crafters Group on Facebook . Not only are we hopping along with so many lovely companies, our Design Team is also having a Hop to show off many amazing projects created from our newest releases. Polka Dot Orchard is doing a few giveaways as well. For more information on the giveaways and the full line up for both hops, head over HERE to the Polka Dot Orchard blog.

For my card, I used the Happiness In A Cup digi set from Polka Dot Orchard . I wanted to paper-piece the cup for this card and used some fun yellow polka-dotted designer paper.  When I was copying it again to make a few more, I accidentally copied it in black & white instead of color. But then I liked how the background looked, so I paper-pieced the yellow-dotted cup on top of the black and white printed image. I think it looks pretty cool.. Another happy crafting accident !! Have you ever had one of those. An " oops " moment that actually turned out to be not-so-bad after all???

• I printed the cup image on Strathmore Cold Press Watercolor Paper  and also a piece of yellow dotted designer paper .  The sentiment was printed on a pale green woodgrain scrap that I had in my snibble drawer. My mom was a seamstress and called all her bits and pieces of leftover thread, fabric, etc - "snibbles". And that is what I call my scraps of paper that I keep to use another day !!
• I cut the sentiment and cup images to fit on my dotted Kraft card base. I love Kraft cardstock, especially with Fall themed cards  .
• The cup and flowers were colored with a variety of Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens, Tombow Dual Brush Markers and Staedtler pens.
• Autumn-colored plaid washi was placed across the top of the card base and also down the left side .
• The cup image was centered and adhered to the far right side of the base.
• The sentiment was adhered on the bottom left of the cup image. All items were adhered with my Tombow MONO Adhesive + runner .
• Clear Wink of Stella was used to highlight the center of the flowers and a yellow glitter pen was applied to some of the flower petals to add a bit of shimmer.
• Coffee with a friend IS like capturing happiness in a cup.

Polka Dot Orchard has some fabulous new releases in their Etsy Shop, so be sure to check all of them out.  We hope that you will be inspired by all of our creations today and also the projects from the other wonderful companies participating in today's Hop. It really is wonderful how our love of coffee can bring us together !! Leave me a comment and you just might win a bit of coffee-themed Happy Mail from me ..

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

Stay Creative until next time !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste / September

It's a special day for us to post because today is National Coffee Day. So, I'm sure you can guess what our theme is !! Celeste and I have a love of coffee AND coffee cards - we really did meet through our love of both ! Today's cards celebrate our friendship, along with our love of all things coffee ..

We love coffee cards so much that we each created 2 cards . My first uses a fun little set from Flora & Fauna  - Mini Hello Autumn . This is such a cute set and so easy to color !!

• I started off with a dotted embossed Kraft card base. These were pre-made in a pack of 8 that I found at Tuesday Morning .
• I cut a square of watercolor paper to fit at the top of the card base.
• The sentiment was stamped in  Memento Dew Drop - Cottage Ivy at the bottom of the watercolor square.
• The 2 cups were stamped above the sentiment with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink .
• I colored the cups with Tombow Dual Brush Pens .
• The completed  square was popped up at the top of the card with 3L Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares .
• A strip of acorn washi was adhered across the card below the stamped image .

My next card combines a few of my favorite supplies - stamps, stickers, embossing folders and sayings.  Those donut stickers were hard to resist and I just had to pair a donut with my coffee for National Coffee Day !!

• On a piece of dark red cardstock, I embossed the coffee cups using a Tim Holtz - On The Go - embossing folder .
• The embossed paper was cut to fit my black card base, leaving just a small edge of black showing.
• I used a coffee cup from my stash that was already stamped, and paper-pieced and fussy-cut. And I can't for the life of me remember who makes that stamp !!
• I adhered the coffee cup in the lower right corner of the card.
• The donut sticker was placed next to the coffee cup.
• A Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker was applied to the left upper side of the card.

Now that you have seen my creations, take a look at what Celeste created over at her blog - Crafting Junky  . And if you're a coffee junky like me and Celeste, search for free and discounted coffee offers in your area today for National Coffee Day.  To share my love of all things coffee with you, I will choose one commenter at random from this post to receive an amazing Java Sok . These neoprene cup sleeves keep your drinks cold longer and stop condensation from making a mess. I love mine !! I have a Medium and it fits perfectly on my Venti drinks from Starbucks, but also fits drinks from other places. Today I'm drinking an Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte in my Venti reusable cup from Starbucks and have my black Java Sok over the cup. Leave a comment here on this post for a chance to win one for yourself !!

Thank you for joining Celeste and I as we celebrate this day with our fun cards !! We look forward to seeing you again next month . We'd love for you to sign up to follow our blogs if you haven't already,

Until next time, Stay Creative !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

A Little Bit of Fall with Anthony's Paper Craft

I'm posting a card with a new release from Anthony's Paper Craft. As soon as I saw this stamp set, I knew that I wanted to paper piece with it !! I got out an older Recollections AUTUMN paper pad  found on clearance at Michaels and knew it would be perfect . Gorgeous golds and burnt oranges filled this card with fall splendor !!

Wake Up and Smell the Flowers

• The floral images from Circle Flowers  were stamped on Strathmore Cold Press Watercolor paper and also on several colors/patterns from the Autumn Recollections paper pad.  I used Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink to stamp the flowers and the sentiment.
• I cut the watercolor  paper flowers into circles and then fussy-cut the Autumn colored flowers  around the floral outline.
• Using my Art Glitter Glue, I adhered the patterned flowers to the corresponding watercolor circles.
• I colored in a few areas of the flowers with my glitter pens and Faber-Castell markers.
• The Circle Flowers were adhered to a dotted Kraft card base using my Pink Scotch ATG Gun.
• The sentiment was also stamped on paper from the Autumn paper pad, cut out with a square punch and then highlighted with golden rhinestones.

You can see all of the new releases from Anthony's Paper Craft here . There is also a Stamp of the Month  and if you add it to your cart, you will get free shipping through September  ( USA only ). The stamp is  Mandala 5  ( aka Broach 5 ).

My fellow Design Team member, Michael Trent is also posting today so be sure to check out his blog - World of Michael Trent . His cards are always fabulous and I can't wait to see what he comes up with this time !! There is a wide variety of stamp designs in Anthony's Paper Craft's latest release - florals, nautical, cupcakes, a church and some cool Zen shapes to play with . Add some to your cart along with the Stamp of the Month for the free shipping !! 

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity .. 

Until next time, stay creative ...

 Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - September

I don't know about you but I am so very glad that Fall is finally here !! We are still having some temperatures here in the high 80's but there are also cooler days that are amazing .. It's hard to believe that it is September already and there are only 3 more months until Christmas . Lisa and I have been making a Christmas card each week and not missed one yet !! I'm so glad that she is keeping me focused . Have you started on your holiday cards yet ?? 

All of my cards this month are from Flora & Fauna . I fell in love with all of these holiday sets ( and a few more ) and decided to go SIMPLE. And if you know me well, you  know that I like to add things to my cards - washi, glitter, ephemera etc...  This time I stamped and colored . I will admit that it was hard but I was successful and even happy with the final results ! 

• For each of my cards, I used a pale blue card base.
• I cut  pieces  of Strathmore Watercolor Cold Press paper  to fit the stamped scenes I was going to make.
• I stamped the images onto each piece of watercolor paper using a combination of Versafine CLAIR Nocturne ink, Distress ink,, Memento Dew Drops and Archival ink. I will list each stamp set I used under  each photo . 
• The stamped pieces were popped up on the upper half of the card with 3L Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares.

Mini Penguin Wishes

Merry and Bright

Brian used Metallic Red Sharpie for the berries.

I told him I would give him credit !!

Mini Bottle Trees

I used Rose Gold Delicata Ink for the stars.

Mini Tis the Season Aviary

These stamp sets are so much fun and so easy to create with !! I know that I will be making a few more of these cards for mystash. I even stamped a few extra squares to color at a later date.  My cards are clean and simple this time around. I'm sure that Lisa has created some not-so-simple cards once again - her creations are always intricately detailed AND fabulous !! Take a look over at her blog - Life of a BZScrapper .Let us know what you think of our Crafty Elf Creations !! And be sure to join us again next month as we get even closer to Christmas 2019 !!

September Cookies - Take 2

This latest challenge was fun for me even though I do not have any children going "back to school" . That doesn't mean I don't have an affection for school supplies, especially pens, pencils and markers !! And I was lucky enough to hit the jackpot this past week and score some fabulous items at 75% and 90% off at WalGreens !! Before I go any further, I want to announce the winner of my 5 favorite supplies from my last post to celebrate IF YOU GIVE A CRAFTER A COOKIE'S birthday .. Marrianna Dougherty is the lucky commenter  chosen at random. I will send your goodies out soon and hope you have fun with them !!

Isn't this just the cutest cookie photo ?!?!? Those pencils were my inspiration for the card I made . They reminded me of Kawaii-type illustrations. I have paper and washi and stickers etc.. designed like these pencils !!

• I printed all of my school supply elements from the School Supplies digi set from  the Terevela Design  shop on Etsy on Neenah Stardust White cardstock .
• A scrap piece of striped designer paper was adhered to a 5x7 Kraft card base using my MONO Adhesive+ Permanent Runner from Tombow.
• I fussy-cut the supplies and then brightly colored them with my favorite markers - Sharpies, Faber Castell and Akashiya SAI Waterbrush .
• The notebook page, book and crayon box were also adhered with my MONO+ Adhesive Runner.
• The pencils were popped up with Tombow Foam tabs to add some dimension.
• Using my DYMO Pink Label Maker, I made the navy blue "back to school" label for the piece of notebook paper.
• Of course, I had to take the picture of my card on a piece of pen/pencil paper along with some of my favorite supplies  ( pencils and a mermaid wrap ruler ) .

I can't wait to see the projects from my fellow Design Team members over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie . Take a look at what they have created and if you feel inspired, we would love for you to link up a project of your own. This challenge is open through October 2 .  Thank you for visiting Meticulosity . I  hope that you will comment and let me know your favorite "school" supply that you create with ..

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

September Cookies-Take 1

We are having a celebration over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie for the 5th birthday of this Challenge Blog !! I was tempted by the always gorgeous cookie inspiration photos and have been a member of the Design Team since January 2018 !! Our Challenge runs from Sept. 5 through the 18th  - link up any project you would like  that is inspired by our birthday inspiration photo below . One lucky person will win a gift card for some amazing digi stamps . I will also be giving away some blog candy to 1 lucky commenter on this post. In honor of our 5th anniversary - I will be sending someone 5 of my favorite craft supplies  - can you guess what those are ?!?!?! 

For this challenge, I immediately thought of a beautiful stamp set from Close To My Heart - It's Your Day to Sparkle . It was a Stamp of the Month this year and I had to have it !! It was perfect to help me celebrate 5 years of Cookie Challenges !!

• I stamped the cake design with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink onto a  white watercolor panel and also stamped the roses from the cake onto  scraps of dark pink and green papers.
• The roses and leaves were fussy-cut from the paper scraps to paper-piece onto the cake.
• Above the cake I also stamped the word SPARKLE and the doodle line.
• The cake stand was colored with a variety of my favorite markers : Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens and Akashiya SAI Waterbrush markers.
• I adhered a piece of silver candy dot sparkle ribbon from Webster's Pages to the top of the watercolor panel ( this ribbon has long been hoarded in my craft room !!! ) .
• The roses and leaves were adhered to the cake with Art Glitter Glue .
• Wink of Stella - Clear was used to add sparkle to every other layer of the cake .
• A glittery turquoise 5 was placed at the top of the cake.
• The watercolor panel was adhered to a dark blue card base.

I hope that you will leave me a comment here - you just might receive a bit of blog candy from  me !!  Then take a peek at the other Design Team projects over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie . Please celebrate with us by linking up  a project before September 19.  Get inspired by our latest Happy Birthday cookie photo !!

Thanks again for visiting Meticulosity !!