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

Sweet Tweets

You all must know by now how much I love rubber stamps !! Some might say that I have an obsession with stamps. I've been playing with some great new releases by Rubber Moon and they are just SO much fun to work with. Tweets and Chirps by Lori Sparkly Franklin has the sweetest, most fun images. Lori is an amazing mixed-media artist - she paints, she makes jewelry, she designs stamps . Lori says that she doesn't remember playing with Barbies as a child, but a new box of CRAYOLAS was ecstasy ! A woman after my own heart. I hope you will love her new line as much as I do !! These birdies are my new best friends ..

•  I started with some pastel card bases - 2 solid and a diagonal striped. Doilies are a favorite supply of mine, so I added 1 to each base.
• Journaling cards are fun to stamp on and quick when you want something to stamp on, but don't want or have time to measure and cut. These are from the Charming Collection by Becky Higgins for Project Life.
• I'm all about using scraps of paper on my projects and the clouds and banners were both paper-punched using bits and pieces from my scrap drawers.
• The stamps are Identical Tweets & Just a Little Note and were inked with Memento Tuxedo Black . I stamped the images directly on the journal card and bird images also on scraps of patterned paper. These birds were then fussy-cut and paper-pieced.
• Washi was placed on all 3 cards ( I'm washi-obsessed, too ) . Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue adhered all of the elements to the cards.
• A piece of long-hoarded Scrappy Floss by Karen Foster gave a pop of color to the banners. I have this floss in red and turquoise and it came in containers that look like  dental floss !! It has been discontinued so I use it sparingly. I never complain about having to floss when I use this !!

From start to finish these 3 cards took me about 30 minutes ! I wanted to play with these new stamps but didn't have much time, so I used what was easily at hand. There are many other stamps in this Tweets and Chirps collection and I can't wait to ink them up. Another reason I loved this collection so much was that it included another LOVE of mine -- BOOKS !! These will be the next stamps I play with !!

I hope you will take care of yourself today and do something for YOU !

Spend some time outside looking at the birds .

Ink up a new stamp set ..

Check out all the amazing stamps at Rubber Moon.

Buy yourself a Sweet Tweet ...

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity

Debra Davison

Houses to Share

This month we are sharing our creativity as members of the Susan K Weckesser Creative Team by giving away something that we have made . As we head into 2017, I am getting my new planner ready and also notebooks to carry with me. I am always jotting things down at the bookstore or craft store, haven't gone totally digital yet. I still love my handwritten To Do lists !!

I decided to share a few notebooks that I embellished with the cute house that has been a favorite of mine these past few months. The stamp set Heart-Full Homes has many cute stamps including the house I used. I will be wrapping these notebooks and leaving them  at my local coffee shop and bookstore. There is an Art Abandonment Group on Facebook that I have been following and I will be including a note created by them. The recipient can look up the Facebook page and post about their find or e-mail me if they would like.

Notes 2017

My Thoughts 2017

• The 3 notebooks that I used were all clearance items at Barnes & Noble many years ago. I did not pay more than a few dollars for any of them. 
• The paint samples that I used reminded me of a house,which was perfect ! I adhered everything with Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Adhesive.
• The house image was stamped with Susan's Clearsnap Colorbox Color Pop Archival Dye Ink and then colored using a combination of my favorite markers - Stabilo, Faber Castell and Distress. I also added a glittery heart to each of the roofs.
• My Dymo Label Maker created the cute labels on each notebook. And I added a cute paper-punched cloud to finish the piece.

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing what I am going to be abandoning this week. I'd like to send a notebook to 2 of my followers who leave comments on this post. I will choose 2 people at random. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Have any of you ever done any art abandonment projects ?? I'd love to hear about it if you have..

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

Heart-Full Homes

Art Abandonment Note

Debra Davison

Susan K Weckesser Creative Team

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste 12/11

Welcome to our December Collaboration !! We've timed this one exactly right because it coincides with the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. So, of course there had to be a coffee tie-in. Carly Pool is our guest this month and she suggested a wreath theme; the catch was that we couldn't use leaves. That was a fabulous idea, Carly !! I really had to put on my thinking cap.. I wanted a twig wreath but didn't have any stamps I could use. And something else you may not know about me is that I cannot draw or doodle one little bit. The perfectionist in me comes out and I erase more than I doodle/draw.. So I enlisted the help of my guy, Brian, who is a whiz at graphic design. He drew the twig wreath that I used on my card, using 2 colors of Distress markers. I think that I may owe him dinner for this favor !!

• I used Sketchy Coffee Cups from Stamplorations and stamped the smallest cup on white cardstock  5 times and also on different holiday patterned papers 5 times. In addition, I also stamped the cup 5 times on kraft cardstock. I fussy-cut the plain white cups, the cup itself from patterned paper ( excluding the handle, which I colored ) and also the coffee from the kraft paper. 
• The sentiment by Waffle Flower was stamped on a favorite cardstock of mine - Neenah Astrobrights Stardust White. This cardstock has flecks of color it it and is one that is a go-to supply for me for many of my cards. I then paper-punched that image into a circle that fit into the inside of the wreath.
• I placed a portion of a kraft doily at the bottom of my wreath design and then added a strip of snowman washi by Scotch Brand. 
• Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue was used to adhere the sentiment and also the main image to the pink card base. I popped up the coffee cups on the wreath with foam dimensionals.
• Chocolate Pixie Stix Glitter from Pink Paislee was used on the small kraft fussy-cut coffee pieces. I love all of those cute glittery coffee cups !!

Today's card was brought to you by a lovely cup of Lipton Matcha Green Tea. I found a fun Retro tea cup and couldn't resist it. And with temperatures down in the 30's tonight, tea is perfect !! Please take a look at Carly's wreath over at her blog - By Gods Grace Card Designs. She is amazingly talented and uses a variety of techniques to create her fabulous projects. We are so happy that she joined us this month. And don't forget my partner in crime, Celeste and her post at  Crafting Junky. Take a minute to sign up and follow our blogs if you haven't already done so.

"Do I Look Like I Care"

I will also be linking my card to the Winter 2016 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop which is from December 9 - 16 this year. I absolutely LOVE coffee cards, coffee stamps and of course, Coffee. But they don't discriminate -- tea and cocoa cards are also welcome.. There are hundreds of cards linked up to that blog hop already and they are all marvelous !! Thank you so much for visiting Meticulosity. Celeste and I will be back again next month with another guest blogger.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Heart-Full Homes

I have had SO much fun creating these postcards for an amazing group that I have joined recently - The Global Postcard Art Swap / heART Exchange  .  The cute little houses are in a stamp set designed by Susan K Weckesser -  Heart-Full Homes. These houses are so fun to create with. I have stamped them on patterned paper for this swap and then colored in different elements of each image. They were then cut out and adhered to the postcards with my favorite adhesive - Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue.

I used Strathmore Watercolor paper / 400 series from a 6 x 12'' pad. I can get 3 postcards from each sheet and there are 12 sheets in a pad. I buy them when I have coupons to my local craft stores and can get them for under $5. The watercolors are from a $5 set I purchased at Michaels. I made vertical stripes on each card in several colors and widths using different sized brushes and amounts of water. The theme of this swap was PEACE so I also used a Peace, Love, Joy stamp by Paper Source and a Peace On Earth stamp from Wordsworth / Ampersand Press. The clouds were punched out with a paper-punch from the same paper that was used on the houses. Grass washi by Scotch was a fun addition to the bottom edge of the card.

Postcard stamp by Amy Tangerine / American Crafts

The Global Postcard Art Swap is a group that "creates art from the heart in the form of a postcard to send and receive around the world". You can check out the Facebook Group or go to this link and sign up to be a part of the swaps that occur several times each year.The connections that are made through these swaps/groups are priceless !! At this time of Thanksgiving, I am so very grateful for all of the wonderful people that I have in my life. And it is through the joy of letter-writing /snail mail, that I have made some of my strongest friendships.

 

Postcards that I have received

Having fun with the Rhonna Designs App on my phone

I added some Susan K Weckesser images to my postcard photo.

Susan K Weckesser's "Heart-Full Homes" stamp set

Wishing you and yours an amazing Thanksgiving..

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

Fall Into A Good Time

I love this time of year with all of the gorgeous colors and awareness of all that we have to be thankful for.  Our Skipping Stones Design Challenge for October is running a bit behind but I wanted to share my card and will update this post if we get the challenge / link-up completed.

Earlier this week, I used this stamp set - I'd Pick You - by stamping the larger floral design and then cutting out banners, This time, I have used the entire smaller floral stamp for this card 

• I stamped the floral design from "I'd Pick You" onto a piece of off-white cardstock and also stamped the floral petals 3 more times on 3 different autumn-colored patterned papers. I then fussy-cut the 3 floral petal images.
• The leaves of the image were colored using different shades of Green Stampin' Up markers.  I then placed the 3 floral images onto the cardstock, centering the middle one on top of the stamped image and arranging the other 2 on the right and left side.
• I had cut the off-white cardstock to fit on a very dark brown card base. At the top of that piece with the stamped floral image, I placed a piece of Tim Holtz Ideology "Materialize" Design Tape. I then adhered that entire image to the card base with Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue.
• The Pumpkin Spice paper pad by Craft Smith has to be one of my favorite paper collections. They are available at Michaels and I will admit that I bought 7 different pads when I went there about 6 weeks ago !! YES, a bit paper-obsessed here !! All of the Autumn sayings were cut from a piece of the Pumpkin Spice paper. I arranged ( and arranged and re-arranged ) the sayings around the stamped image until I had them exactly how I wanted them on the cardstock. They were adhered with a Tombow MONO Permanent Adhesive Runner.
• To finish the card, I placed 2 wooden buttons on the card. I have been hoarding these buttons by Stampin' Up forever !! I tied a piece of twine through the larger button.

"I'd Pick You" stamp set

Thank you so much for visiting Meticulosity. Please leave me a comment and also follow me if you aren't already. I hope this blog post inspires you to  create a project that shows why you are grateful.

Debra Davison /  SSD Stamp Tramp

Coffee & Cards with Deb and Celeste 10/2

I'm sure there are many people like me, who still haven't gotten enough coffee, even after the recent amazing Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. So my friend Celeste and I decided to continue the theme and bring you a collaboration of coffee and cards. We met through our mutual loves and now want to share them with you on our respective blogs. Celeste has been one of my most supportive friends and creative cheerleaders !! Each Sunday in October, we will offer you a glimpse of our creative world. What coffee are we drinking ?? Or what fun cup are we using ?? The cards will each have a theme, not necessarily coffee-related. For our first card, Celeste chose a Clean & Simple style with any theme. Those of you who know me, know that I love using many different elements on my cards -- paper, washi, glitter, rhinestones, doo-dads of all kinds !! But for today, I will be Clean & Simple.

For my first card, I used a Sizzix Flea Market embossing folder with a piece of orange cardstock. The coffee cups were from a free digi set that Verve Stamps offered at a previous Coffee Blog Hop.They are no longer available but Verve  has several other great coffee sets and dies available.

• Okay, this is as Clean & Simple as I can get !!
• I mounted the embossed design on a Kraft card base using Tombow Mono Aqua Liquid Glue.
• I fussy-cut the Coffee-cup digis and colored them with Distress Markers & Stabilo pens.
• Foam dimensionals were used to mount the cups onto the embossed card front.
• I added a touch of Clear Glitter Wink of Stella to the coffee cup lids.
• I really wanted to add more but restrained myself !!

I actually read up about the "Clean and Simple" style for cards; I learned about white space,focal points and even the Rule of Thirds. So having said that, my idea of Clean & Simple is a minimum of supplies and embellishments.. My card has an embossed base and 3 cups. Pretty simple for me !!

Today's card is brought to you by Cinnabon Coffee in my new Crazy Cat Lady mug that my amazing friend, Kelly gave me.I seem to have an obsession with Coffee cups and try not to buy any more. But I can't prevent people from giving them to me, can I ???

Please go to Celeste's blog, Crafting Junky and see what she is up to for our first collaboration.. I am sure it will be fabulous, just like her !! And remember, we will be back every Sunday in October with more Coffee & Cards..So stay tuned !!

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity.

Please sign up at the Top Right of this page to follow my blog.
And please also sign up to follow Celeste at Crafting Junky.