Coffee & Cards With Deb & Celeste / June

For our June post, it's Anything Goes !!Celeste is back and we also have our friend Michael Trent of  World of Michael Trent as our guest .I have had my eye on this new stamp set of mine and knew I wanted to make a card with it for today . Thanks to my friend Chris Franco for enabling me once again to get this Stamp of the Month from Close to My Heart . It's called To My Bestie and I absolutely love it !!

• I have a serious addiction to boxed cards that I use as my card bases and this one is from a set designed Amy Tangerine for American Crafts. There are 40 cards to a box with 10 designs in each . I chose this floral pattern for my card base,
• The Bestie image and sentiment were stamped om Strathmore Watercolor paper with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink.
• I cut the Besties image to fit in this cute pom-pom frame by Crate Paper. Isn't it fabulous !!
• The image was colored with my favorite markers by Faber-Castell, 
• I adhered the Besties image to the frame then centered the frame to the upper area of the card base.
• The sentiment was adhered below the stamped image. All items were adhered with my Scotch Pink ATG Gun .

This image reminds me of my best friend, Sue and I .We met in 1987 in the Sentara Leigh ICU and though life has taken us in different directions, she will always be my BFF. I can't wait to send her this card !! I'm excited to see what Celeste has made -- you can find her at Crafting Junky. We're excited that Michael is joining us again so please head over to World of Michael Trent for a look at his card . We hope that you will leave each of us a comment and also sign up to follow our blogs if you don't already . 

I have the coolest coffee cup for my Coconut Coffee this time. My guy Brian found it at a local 7-11 and it has an Oceana NAS, Virginia Beach design on it . We live right near the base and are very familiar with the sounds of jet planes taking off. " The Sound of Freedom " is what we call it.

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity and until my next post, Stay Creative !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - May

It's months like the past 2 that make me glad I'm making a Christmas card each week !! Lots going on and hardly a spare minute to get creative. Oh, I get very creative in my mind, but actually sitting down to make something is another story altogether .. This month's cards are courtesy of a large manila envelope of Christmas supplies that I found while cleaning/destashing . I told myself that if they didn't "spark joy"  or at least inspire 4 cards this month, I would give all of them away .. As you will see, I accomplished my task.My cards aren't all that complicated since my attention spam has been about slim to none. But I am happy with them and look forward to sending them when the holidays roll around. Thank you for joining Lisa Reynolds Bzibziak and myself as the Crafty Elves continue our Countdown to Christmas.. 

Of my 4 cards for May, only 1 has stamping on it. I wanted to show that even with a busy  ( crazy at times ) life, you can make some really nice cards with just a few of your favorite supplies !! And among my favorites are washi, twine, chipboard stickers and patterned paper. I hope you are inspired to make a few of your own..

#1  Holly Jolly Christmas

• On a textured Kraft card base, I adhered some Chipboard stickers from the discontinued Basic Grey "25TH & Pine" collection.  The 6 stickers can either be used separately as frames and the central image or altogether, which is how I chose to adhere them to my card. I added some Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue to the stickers backs for added adhesive.
• A piece of green twine from the October Afternoon "Holiday Style" collection was wrapped around the top of the card base. and tied in a knot. Quick and easy card, but I love it !!

#2  Family & Friends

• I love mixing and matching different elements and this card was no exception.
• On a red textured card base, I adhered a song page die cut.
• Miscellaneous ephemera were adhered at the bottom of the song page. A holiday tag, ticket, and word stickers ( and the song page ) all were from the discontinued October Afternoon  "Make It Merry Collection". 
• I also adhered a piece of ribbon under the tag.

#3  A Merry Christmas To All

• On a navy textured card base, I adhered a holiday frame and chipboard sticker  from the discontinued Basic Grey "Evergreen" collection. 
• The holly leaf adhered in the upper right corner of the frame is from the Basic Grey "25th & Pine'" collection.
• A strip of pale blue glitter washi was applied across the top of the card and  a strip of thin starry washi was placed across the bottom.

#4  Happy Christmas

• I have to admit - this is my favorite card !! I started by adhering a piece of plaid paper to a white textured card base.
• I appled 2 strips of Tim Holtz washi tape along the bottom of the plaid paper . I actually applied it before adhering the paper to the base and wrapped the edges around the paper.
• The sleigh and reindeer from the "25th & Pine" chipboard collection were adhered to the plaid background paper.
• A flag from the October Afternoon "Make It Merry"collection  was placed behind the sleigh.
• Checkered Moon and Shine  stamps from Rubber Moon were stamped on scraps of yellow paper. I cut the moon face from the stamped image and adhered it to the upper right corner of the plaid paper and the star was cut out and placed on the left side of the card. The star was popped up with foam tabs.
• I colored the moon and star with my Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens. 

I'm hoping that I've inspired you to join us on our Countdown to Christmas by making some cards of your own. Take a look at Lisa's cards on her blog - Life of a BZ Scrapper - for more ideas.  I've  heard from several friends that they have started making Christmas cards along with us. Last month I said I would choose 1 commenter to win a bit of blog candy. Chosen at random was Crystal Minkler . Please send me your snail mail address so I can send out your goodies !! She commented -  

Crystal O. MinklerApril 25, 2019 at 11:34 AM

" Ooohhh... Debra you had me at Kraft and washi!!! These cards are all fabulous!! Thanks for the monthly inspiration and reminder!! I can’t wait to get my studio done so I can play along and start building my Christmas card stash! "

I'm looking forward to next month already as we continue our Countdown to Christmas. 

Debra Davison/ Meticulosity

Coffee Hop - Spring 2019 / Take 1

It's been  a crazy few weeks and I'm just now posing my first link for the 2019 Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop .. I used a fun set from Polka Dot Orchard - Live Life Like a Butterfly .

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• I mounted a scrap piece of yellow paper onto a Kraft card base. 
• The coffee cup image and the sentiment were both printed on Neenah Stardust White Cardstock. I also printed the coffee cup on Kraft cardstock and a piece of multi-colored patterned paper and cut out the coffee center and the saucer. 
• I colored the Kraft coffee center image, the cup  and the butterflies at the top of the cup  with a variety of my favorite markers - Brea Reese, Flair, Sharpie and Faber-Castell.
• I placed a strip of blue floral washi with gold highlights at the top of the sentiment, which was then mounted with foam squares at the top left corner.

I liked this image so much that I made several other notecards with the images. I punched several butterflies from a sheet of undeveloped x-ray film that I got when I worked in the ICU !! These were attached to the cards with my Tim Holtz Tiny Stapler.  I also used several Candy Dot embellishments.

The  2019 Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop will allow links to be posted until 11:55 pm PST on May 10. There are already over 1000 projects posted !! I hope that you like my cards . I'll be mailing them to a friend who wanted some coffee-themed cards to send to her friends.

Thank you so much for visiting Meticulosity !!

 Be sure to check out the Polka Dot Orchard Blog .

They will be having some fun giveaways during the Hop.

Debra Davison/ Meticulosity

April Cookies - Take 1

The Inspiration photo for Challenge # 113 from If You Give a Crafter a Cookie is so much fun. There are so many elements to choose when designing your project. Bees, flowers, hexagons, amazing colors -  endless creative possibilities !! We hope that you will be inspired to link up a project before April 18.

I wanted to use the hexagons in my project because I have a cute punch and it was perfect for this Challenge. I only had 1 small bee stamp ( I know !! Can you believe it ?!?!?! ) so searched for a digi stamp and found this cute  Bee Mine Honeybee Girl from Just Me Digital Stamps on Etsy.  I really enjoyed this Inspiration picture !!

Believe in Yourself

• I began with a pre-made watercolor -look card base.
• I chose the My Mind's Eye "Howdy Doody" paper pad because it had the wonderful colors from the Inspiration photo in it . Using my hexagon paper punch,  I punched enough hexagons out of 4 coordinating paper patterns for several cards. 
• The Honeybee Girl was printed on Neenah Stardust White cardstock and colored with Brea Reese & Faber-Castell Markers. The image was then fussy-cut.
• I arranged the hexagons in 2 rows on the left side of the card - 6 on the far left and 5 for the other.  They were adhered with 1/2 inch Glue Dots.
• A piece of natural teine was tied around the left side of the card between the hexagon rows.
• The Honeybee Girl was adhered to the lower right of the card with Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue. 
• A Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush marker was applied to the the girl's shoes and wings for some added shimmer. 
• Golden rhinestones were added to he ends of the antennae,
• Believe in Yourself is from Tim Holtz "Quotations" Metallic Stickers. 

Be sure to look at my teammates' projects over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie , We would love for you to follow us and leave us comments. This Challenge runs from April 4-17 so get started on a card or tag or  other project to link up. We also choose our favorite projects from those linked up. I hope that Spring weather is reaching you wherever you live. After a few dreary, rainy, chilly day here, we are supposed to have temperatures in the 60's and 70's for the next week. 

Thank you for stopping by and taking a look at my card. I hope that you will leave a comment.

And thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

Debra Davison

February Cookies -- We're Back !!

After a short break, we are back with our Cookie Challenge at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie .  We will not be having any sponsors, but we will be choosing our favorites among the entries. I hope that you are excited  we are back and will use our fun cookie photo as inspiration to play along with us. It's no surprise that our first photo is Valentine cookies. 

I loved this picture and especially the colors - using the blue with traditional red was a nice touch . And it seemed perfect to use a new digital set that I love from Polka Dot Orchard . 

• I started off with a Kraft card base and adhered a piece of striped paper from the Pebbles "Be Mine' paper pad , leaving a small edge of Kraft showing. 
• Before adhering the top area of the striped paper, I tied a piece of Maya Road "Sweet Candy" twine around the top area of the paper.
• A sentiment, also from the Be Mine paper pad, was popped up in the upper left corner of the card  ( positioned in between the twine ).
• From the Penguin Love digi set by Polka Dot Orchard, I printed the LOVE cup on a piece of Stardust White Neenah cardstock and then fussy-cut it.
• The cup was colored with some favorite markers - Brea Reese & Faber-Castell .
• I adhered a red heart doily on the striped paper and then placed the LOVE cup on top of that towards the bottom right side of the card.
• All items were adhered with Tombow Adhesives - Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue & MONO Adhesive + Permanent Runner.

This was such a fun card to make and I've made several more to send to friends this year . Has the cute cookie photo inspired you ?? Do you send Valentines or maybe just make one for that special someone ?!?! We would love for you to link up a project of your own over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie . Challenges run for 2 weeks so there will be a new inspiration photo on Feb. 21. I hope you will check out all of the projects from our Design Team members and let us know what you think . I would love you to follow my blog if you don't already do so.

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity. It's good to be back with these fun Cookie Challenges. Now please excuse me while I go get a cookie !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Vera Lane Studio - Nov. Guest Designer

I have fallen in love with the digi designs at Vera Lane Studio . They are fun, quirky and one-of-a-kind !! Their digi stamps and collage sheets have found their way into many of my recent projects.  They have some fantastic coffee-themed stamps and you ALL should know by now that I am a lover of ALL things coffee !! So when I was asked to be their Guest Designer for the month of November, I didn't hesitate . I will be making something every Tuesday and will be blogging it as well as posting on Social Media. I might even sneak a few extra projects in too !!

For my first project, I am using a new release - Cocoa and Latte . I  am sure that their Design Team members will also have fun with these images. I wanted to make a Fall project and decided to do a fun tag with lots of dimension.

• I printed the larger Latte Fairy and sentiment on Neenah Stardust White cardstock. The fairy was also printed on a sheet of patterned paper  of Fall words and a sheet of whitish fur-patterned paper.
• On an oversized tag, I placed a layer of brown patterned paper. 
• I stenciled a floral pattern using Brea Reese Gold Metallic Texture Paste and then sprinkled a bit of glitter over the paste.
• A strip of Fall Polka-Dot patterned paper was placed along the Left side of the tag on top of a piece of gold mesh. I stapled the mesh onto the tag in areas that would be covered by the Latte Fairy.
• I paper-pieced the cup and the Latte foam after coloring the rest of the image with a variety of my favorite markers-Faber-Castell, Brea Reese & Akashiya SAI Brush Pens.
• A piece of orange/black twine was wrapped around the top of the tag several times. 
• A  strip of dark red glitter washi was placed down the Left side of the sentiment and adhered to the upper Right side of the tag. I also used a background stamp called Dirt on the sentiment.
• White Lightnin' Glitter from Double Trouble Scrapbooking  was applied to the Fairy wings.
• I made the eyes of the Fairy with a round pencil eraser dipped into a green stamp pad !!
• The completed Latte Fairy image was popped up at the bottom of the tag with Foam Tabs. All items were adhered with Tombow Adhesives, except for the tiny staples by Tim Holtz Idea-olo
• I placed several Prima "Amber Moon" crystals down the strip of Polka-Dot paper. 

Vera Lane Studio has a variety of fabulous digi stamps in their Etsy Shop. I am thrilled to be able to show you their fun styles this month !! They have a business page on Facebook , as well as a fun community of Vera Lane lovers  in a Closed Group .We share our projects and have monthly swaps. The theme of this month's swap is Coffee !! Stay tuned for more new releases.throughout the month amd projects from me.  And thank you so much again for visiting Meticulosity !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity