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 !!

Coffee & Cards With Deb & Michael / July

While Celeste is enjoying some time away, my coffee loving, card making friend from Brazil ( by way of New York )  - Michael Trent - will be joining me this month. You can find his paper-crafting genius at his blog World of Michael Trent . Our theme for today's post is Christmas in July .

I recently purchased a stamp because it reminded me of our cat, Pixie. As soon as it arrived, I knew it was the perfect stamp for this post !! Pixie is all white with the most beautiful golden eyes. I hope you like my card featuring the Pixster.

• I stamped the Meowy Catmas image on watercolor paper with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink  and the sentiment with Abandoned Coral Distress Oxide. It is one stamp - I just inked the upper image and the lower sentiment separately.
• The image was colored with fine Sharpies.
• I trimmed the image and then cut red and green mats. 
• I cut a decorative square from a die and adhered it to the upper left side of the green mat.
• The image was adhered to the red mat, then the red to the green.
• I adhered the entire matted image to a Fa-la-la card base. 
• A touch of gold was added to the cat's eyes - just like Pixie.

I also colored a few more images because I loved it so much !!

I can't wait to see what Michael comes up with - his cards are always fabulous. Take a look over at his blog  post-  World of Michael Trent . He also loves coffee as much as I do so I'm curious to see what he is drinking this morning. I'm having a cup of Honey Bun coffee in my new cat mug  ( I really didn't need a new mug, but I couldn't resist this one at a clearance price on Macys.com ).

Thank you for visiting me here again at Meticulosity !! To celebrate Christmas in July, please comment for a chance to win some Happy Mail from me full of holiday surprises . Until next time, Stay Creative !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

July Cookies - Take 1

It's only fitting with the weather we are having that our inspiration for this latest If You Give a Crafter a Cookie Challenge is BEACHY. I absolutely love the cookie designs this time and wish I had them on a plate here right now !! I live in Virginia Beach but I'm really not a beach person. However, I do love to take a nice a walk on the Boardwalk  to see our fabulous King Neptune statue. 

I used an amazing stamp for this Challenge # 120. Seaside Memories from Blue Fern Studios is really a beautiful stamp and I hope that you like it as much as I do !!

• For my card base, I used some note cards that I have had for many years !! This one has a gray marbled pattern and I loved it for this card .
• Using my MISTI, I stamped the Seaside image onto watercolor   paper with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink . With an intricate stamp this size, my MISTI helped me get crisp overall coverage .
• I also stamped the upper half of the Seaside stamp with Broken Chine Distress ink and punched a heart out to use as a highlight  on the main stamped image. 
• I colored the word SEASIDE with a Faber Castell PITT Artist Pen.
• The heart was placed on the black stamped image, popped up with foam tabs. It was placed in the exact same position as its corresponding black stamped image.
• I adhered the completed stamped image to the card base with my Pink Scotch  ATG Runner.
•  I also made another card using this technique. I just couldn't get enough of this beautiful stamp !!

There will be projects from my fellow Design Team members over at the If You Give a Crafter a Cookie blog. I hope you will take a look at all of them !! This Challenge runs for 2 weeks so get inspired and link up your own creation before July 25. 

King Neptune Statue / Virginia Beach

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

Until next time, stay creative.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

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

May Cookies - Take 3

As soon as I saw the Cookie Challenge picture for this post, I immediately thought of a friend's daughter . She is bright and articulate and wants to be a scientist when she grows up .. I wouldn't be at all surprised if she became President of the United States !! Or an astronaut, or a nuclear physicist or maybe even an amazing doctor or nurse. Her possibilities are endless. Her name is Claire and she was my inspiration.  Whatever she chooses to do with her life, I have no doubt that she will make a huge impact !!

I used the fun Super Girl set  from Close To My Heart  that I bought from my amazing friend Chris Franco. You can find her  fabulous creations at  Stamped Blessings . The Super Girl set  is retired but there are plenty of other great products available. I am a pretty good clearance shopper and got the Super Girl stamp AND die set for only $6 !! I hope you like what I created for the Super Girl that I know - Claire !!

• I first embossed a cloud background with an embossing folder onto blue cardstock, then trimmed it down to fit on a 5 x 7 card . The clouds are easier to see on the close-up below these instructions.
• The images were stamped on Strathmore 400 Series Watercolor Paper using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink.
• I used the matching dies to cut out the girl and WOW images . The sentiment was punched out with a Tag punch.
• I colored the images with my Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens .
• The buildings at the bottom are from a scrap piece of DCWV paper. I cut it to fit at the bottom of the watercolor paper to look like Super Girl was flying over the city.
• I adhered the images to the background using my Scotch Pink ATG Gun.
• Glossy Accents  was used to highlight her glasses.

This was a fun challenge !! I hope that you will be inspired to create a project of your own and link it up before June 13. Be sure to go to the IF YOU GIVE A CRAFTER A COOKIE blog and take a look at the other creations from our Design Team.  I'm going to put my card in the mail to Claire, along with some stickers !! Because what Super Girl doesn't love fun stickers !!! Some might even have glitter on them.. 

Until next time, Stay Creative !!

Debra Davison/ Meticulosity

Coffee & Cards with Deb / 5th Anniversary Post

It's time for a Coffee & Cards post with my dear friend Celeste, but she unexpectedly couldn't be here today . So I will instead have my coffee alone with you and bring you my 5th anniversary post. I can't believe that it has been 5 whole years since I started Meticulosity. Wednesday,May 21, 2014 was my first ever post and I've come a long way !! In the past 5 years, I've made some amazing friends, worked on some fabulous teams and been inspired by many creative people. For today's post, I thought I would use a fantastic stamp sent to me by my friend Jennifer Bishop-Anderson of Dreamz Etc. . She designed the stamp  Artistic Penmanship for Carabelle Studio and also designs for Blue Fern Studios. A big thank-you to Jennifer for helping me celebrate 5 years of blogging !!

 Artistic Penmanship

• I started with a blue-patterned card base.
• The image was stamped on watercolor paper with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and cut to fit on the card.
• The hand was colored with Akashiya SAI Watercolor Brush pens .
• I adhered the image on the diagonal in the center of the card towards the right side.
•  A strip of floral embroidery patterned washi was placed down the left side of the card.
• Some shimmer was added to the dragonfly wings with a ZIG Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush pen .
• Recollections rhinestones were placed along the bottom of the stamped image. 

I loved this design so much that I made 2 cards. I just altered the card base, washi tape and the color of the rhinestones. I love writing letters which I think is what drew me to this stamp. 

To celebrate my 5th Blogaversary, I will be sending 1 commenter - chosen at random - a variety of my favorite supplies. There will be a paper pad, washi tape, embellishments, a stamp, bags and stickers. Just leave a comment here on this post for a chance to be chosen. I couldn't have done this without you  - I greatly appreciate all of your support and comments and encouragement. I'm looking forward to another year of creativity with all of you. 

Today I am drinking Caramel coffee out of the cup that started it all - my Meticulosity cup from Starbucks !! Here's to another 5 years !! And many more fun coffee cups...

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - February

Thank you to everyone who commented on our first Crafty Elf posts !! Lisa and I are keeping ech other motivated and can't wait to show you February's cards. After some sort of glitch with comments  ( I think it's a problem with Google + ), I've chosen a winner at random for  a Crafty Elf stamp. Vannessa Osbourn was new to my blog and I'm so excited to have her and thrilled that she won . Can't wait to see what she does with the stamp - send me your snail mil address and I will get it in the mail !!

For my first card, I inked up a holiday set that I never got around to using for my 2018 cards. It was a quick card to color and I cut  several extra images for more cards. I loved the vintage look of the background paper and couldn't wait to use it on a card !! I hope you like it ..

• On a Cranberry cardstock base, I adhered a piece of Vintage Xmas Tree paper from  American Crafts  All I Want For Christmas Is You paper pad .
• Using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink,  I stamped the girl image and the sentiment  from  the  Oh What Fun stamp set by Unity Stamp Company on  Strathmore Mixed Media Paper .    
• I fussy-cut the girl and colored her with a variety of my favorite markers - Faber-Castell, Brea Reese and   Staedtler. 
• I cut the sentiment, mounted it on a piece of dark green cardstock  and adhered it to the top of the card base in the center.
• I had cut the tree paper so the image was to the left and mounted the girl on the right, using Foam Tabs.   
• I adhered 3 green rhinestones on her coat as buttons.
• The pom-pom on the hat and the whipped cream on the cup were highlighted with some extra fine white glitter.      
• Tombow Adhesives were used to adhere all elements ( MONO Adhesive+, MONO Aqua Liquid Glue and Foam Tabs ).       

Now, for my next 12 cards - YES, I did say 12 - I gathered these supplies :

1. My favorite holiday washi
2. My favorite Sizzix On The Edge Scallops Die
3. A variety of sequins, rhinestones and other doo-dads !!
4. My MONO Adhesive+ Permanent Runner
5. 12 cardstock bases - I used A2 sized.
6. Scraps of holiday paper
7. A 12x12 piece of American Crafts Christmas paper with 12 journal card designs on it. I cut the images apart and had 12 holiday designs to work with. 

I added a cute Rubber Moon Tree Cup stamp to the snowman.

Washi and/or border scallops were added to all cards.

Green-striped Candy Dots were added to the Merry Christmas card.

All others had scallop borders or washi.

Sequins were placed on the tree and a washi frame was added.

I used a fun corner rounder on Season's Greetings.

Happy Holidays has washi, a scalloped border and dots added.

I've had friends tell me that they would love to make their Christmas cards throughout the year but just don't see how they can manage.  These 12 cards I made take minimal time and you can add as little or as much stamping as you'd like or as time allows. I only added stamping to 1 card but they all will be stamped on the inside.  I actually cut the paper into 12 cards and made 4 each week, along with other cards and Design Team projects. If I had just sat down to make all 12 cards at once, I probably could have finished them in 2 hours or less. 

Lisa and I have really been enjoying our Countdown and hope that you are inspired to make some Christmas cards throughout the year too. I hope you will comment on my February cards and then head on over to Lisa's blog at  Life of a BZscrapper to see what she has created. 

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

Please join Lisa and I next month as we continue our Countdown.

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

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste - 2/17

February is the month of LOVE and as you can tell by the name of our blog collaboration, Celeste and I are crazy about our coffee !!  Soooooooooo,  Celeste chose our theme this month and it is COFFEE LOVE !! I had no objections and was thrilled with the inspiration pic that she chose...

I combined a few of my latest favorite stamps -  a few from a digi set and another from a new company I absolutely love !! Do you ever combine your "real" stamps with digi stamps ?? I thought these went together perfectly.

Caffeine

True Love . Fuel . Willpower

• Once again, I started with a Kraft card base and adhered a scrap piece of striped paper to it, leaving a small border of Kraft showing.
• I printed the sentiment on Neenah Stardust White cardstock,  the spoon on a piece of dark gray paper and the cup on a piece of pink and a piece of Kraft . I did print multiple images so I would have supplies ready for a few more cards !! These are all from the Coffee or Cocoa Digital Stamp Set by Gracielle Design.
• The cup and spoon were fussy-cut as well as the coffee from the Kraft paper.
• I trimmed the sentiment to fit and then stamped  the background using my "Dirt" stamp and Close To Cocoa ink from Stampin' Up.
• I adhered the Kraft coffee onto the cup, then the spoon onto the coffee. I envisioned myself stirring some sugar into my cup of coffee.
• The cup was then adhered to the bottom right side of the striped background. Tombow Adhesives  - MONO Aqua Liquid Glue and MONO Adhesive + Permanent Runner - were used for the entire card assembly.
• A happy accident resulted in the chemical composition for Caffeine being stamped below the sentiment. When I was deciding where to place the sentiment , I realized that I had a nice space above the cup that would be perfect to use my cute new Caffeine stamp in the Caffeinated Cat stamp set from The Rabbit Hole Designs . This set has the cutest cat which I am sure will be showing up on my blog very soon !! It was stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink
• I placed some glitter on the spoon to add a fun shimmer !!

This card was fun to make and I'm even thinking about making some Christmas cards with these stamps!! I cannot wait to see Celeste's card and as always, I'm sure it is amazing !!  Take a look at it here at  Crafting Junky We would love for you to leave comments and follow our blogs if you don't already. 

I had my eye on a coffee cup at Starbucks but really do NOT need any more cups !!! So, I was pleasantly surprised when they had this re-usable cup for sale with the same design as the one I wanted. Plus this one was only $2 .. How could I resist !?!?  Today I am drinking French Roast coffee with Marshmallow Peeps Creamer !! I am not a fan of Peeps but this creamer is delicious !!!

Thank you so much for visiting Meticulosity..

Debra Davison

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

Anthony's Paper Craft Feb. 2019 New Release Blog Hop

Anthony's Paper Craft has some fabulous new stamps coming out in a February Release and this week, several members of the Design Team will be sharing a few with you.   I'm excited to see what Michael, Mary and Mike create and will add links to them at the end of this post. 

I actually chose this stamp because it reminded me of a song I heard on the TV show THE WALKING DEAD. Weeds or Wildflowers by Parsonfields is the first thought I had when I saw thie sentiment with this new stamp and I just had to use it for this Hop. 

May All Your Weeds Be Wildflowers

• I started with a 5x7 kraft card base for this card.
• Tim Holtz washi tape was placed down the Left side of the card base- a strip of dark red striped and a thin strip pf gold glitter tape.
• I stamped the flower image of the FLORAL BACKGROUND 3 stamp onto a piece of cream-colored brick patterned paper  ( found at Hobby Lobby in a single sheet ).
• The sentiment was stamped onto a piece of floral brick paper, using a piece from the Country Road Paper Pack ( also found at Hobby Lobby ) . Both were stamped with a Versafine Clair "Nocturne" ink pad .
• I colored in some of the  floral image with a variety of Tombow Dual Brush Pens . I loved the contrast of the crisp black ink on the brick wall and didn't want to color too much of the design  or make it too bright. I used colors that matched the brick pattern that the sentiment was stamped on.
• The sentiment was trimmed to fit in the space above the floral image and popped up using foam circles.

This Floral image is just one of many new releases that will be available from Anthony's Paper Craft in February. I hope that you like my sneak peek and that you will also go and look at those done by my teammates at the links below. I am sure you will be inspired !!

Michael Trent - World of Michael Trent

Mary Kay Werry - MKW Cards

Mike Fernholz - Dezines By EM

I hope that you enjoyed my card using an upcoming release by  Anthony's Paper Craft . I will let everyone know when the stamps are available for purchase. I'm sure we will be posting more samples throughout January so be sure to follow Anthony's Paper Craft on Facebook.  

Thank you again for visiting Meticulosity.

Debra Davison