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

My Alone Time / #fall2017clh

I absolutely love ALL things about rubber stamping, I also have a bit of a snarky, sarcastic side. This probably isn't much of a secret to my close friends. I love bringing out that side in the cards I create and this Dark Coffee set from STAMPlorations is just perfect.  It is from the Big Grins by Becca Cruger line and I'm thinking that maybe she and I are long lost relatives -- we have the same sort of sense of humor.

My Alone Time is For Everyone's Safety

• On a  DCWV  tag, I stamped the Dark Coffee Gal in the lower Right corner and colored her with my Distress Markers and Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens . She was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and her glasses were stamped with Clearsnap ColorBox Fireberry.
• The sentiment was stamped on a scrap of fall-patterned paper and attached to the tag with a copper staple.
• I placed a bit of Fall-themed washi on the tag, then tied a bit of Maya Road twine cording to the top of the tag. .
• A turquoise rhinestone made the perfect earring for this gal and a bit of coppery tinsel glitter added a touch of shimmer to the coffee.
• The tag was popped up on the Paperlove card base with foam dimensionals.

The image of this coffee gal really reminds me of my mom. I colored her hair like my mom's and put the glasses on her like my mom  wore. I don't think I really even thought of this when I ordered the stamp set, but then when I inked it and stamped it, there SHE was !! As you can see in the picture I posted, it's pretty close !! 

This is my second card for the Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. They have 83 amazing Sponsors with a chance at some fantastic prizes for those that link up their projects. There are already over 350 projects linked and it is only Day 2, The Hop  runs from September 15-22.

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !! I'd love for you to follow my blog. I am also having a giveaway during the Hop. If you comment on each of my projects linked to this Fall Hop, you have a chance to win a fabulous limited edition stamp - Java Girl from Rubber Moon.  

Deb Davison

Meticulosity.blogspot.com

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste 7/30

Celeste & I are back for our collaboration and our theme this month is summery / nautical. It's been crazy hot here in Virginia Beach lately and now that it is finally cooling off, it's been raining non-stop !! We don't have a guest this month  ( taking a summer hiatus ) but will be inviting fellow bloggers to join us again in September.

I have posted every day this week as the Growing in Unity girl with Unity Stamp Company, so I have been on creative overload. My card this week uses stamps from a British magazine - Creative Stamping. I searched bookstores near me and finally ordered the magazine from a shop in Britain. I wasn't disappointed - these stamps are incredible. I also used my new Tim Holtz Stamping Platform to do the stamping for this card and really loved it .. This pirate caught my eye and I had to make today's card with it !!

• On a turquoise ombre' card base, I adhered the AHOY/anchor panel from the DCWV "Hey Sailor" stack, using a Tombow MONO adhesive runner.
• I stamped the pirate image and sentiment on Strathmore Watercolor paper and the porthole image on a piece of blue woodgrain paper from Paper Studio at Hobby Lobby. Memories India Black ink was used to stamp all images. 
• The porthole was fussy-cut, including the opening in the center. I trimmed the pirate image to fit behind the porthole. The sentiment was cut with a square punch.
• The pirate was colored with Distress Markers & Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens. My Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Pen added some highlights to the pirate's beard and tattoo. 
• I adhered the pirate behind the porthole with Tombow MONO Liquid Glue and then the that completed mage to the upper area of the AHOY panel. 
• A strip of gold glitter washi was placed across the top of the sentiment, which was then popped up with foam dimensionals onto the left side of the porthole. 

 Creative Stamping Issue 43

Sea View Collection by Sheena Douglass

My coffee today is being served in a small Starbucks cup that I found on clearance after the holidays last year. I've been making iced coffee and keeping it in my fridge lately. I'm drinking Iced Caramel Custard coffee with Sweet Cream creamer . I sometimes waste more coffee than I drink so this small cup is perfect for me !!

Please check out Celeste's card at Crafting Junky to see what she came up with this month. We hope you will sign up to follow our blogs. Have a great Sunday and Happy Stamping !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

My Planner Gals - GIU Day 4

Thank you all so much for visiting my blog for my first 3 GIU posts. For Day 4, I decided to let you all take a peek into my Happy Planner for this week.  I sometimes think that my planner is way more organized than I am, but I do have fun decorating the pages !! Does anyone else feel that way ?? 

I absolutely fell in love with the new Planner Gals by Angie Blom. Now that I have purchased these, they have also come out with short-haired Gals . ( There might be another Unity purchase in my future !! )

• Planner gals and their sentiments were stamped with Memories Black India ink. I used two of the gals - Be a Beauty & Don't Be Perfect. I stamped the images on blank planner pages from previous months, the cut them and adhered them to the pages for this week.
• I colored in the images with Distress Markers and Faber - Castell PITT Artist pens  and drew stripes on the be-you-tiful gal's shirt 
• Some of the flowers were highlighted using a Zig Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Pen. This has to be one of my very favorite pens for adding shimmer to a project !! I also used some "Rock Candy" Distress Stickles Glitter Glue .
• I added some Craftsmith washi tape from their French word /black stripe set, purchased at Michaels. I am not a "fill in every bit of white space" planner girl, Unlike my need to add more and more to cards that I make, I am more of a minimalist when it comes to decorating my planner.
• A "hoarded" banner sticker and some enamel dots by Basic Grey also were added to the pages. I used a variety of stickers and embellishments to highlight weekly activities.  I like to leave space for spur-of-the-moment fill-ins.

My $5.99 Blitsy Happy Planner

Hard to believe that Day 4 is here . I'll be back again tomorrow with my final project and hope you will stop by to see it. I want to thank everyone at Unity Stamp Company for giving us all this chance to show our creative side to everyone.  Their stamps are amazing and their designers are phenomenal !!  I'll see you back here at Meticulosity tomorrow. Please comment on each post this week for your chance to win a grab bag of 25 Unity stamps.

Happy Stamping !!

Coffee - It Saves Lives

Today I'm using a cute digi from Bugaboo Stamps to make this card. This will be the third card of mine for the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and it's always fun seeing what everyone makes !! I changed the word "children" on this image to "friend". But how true is that sentiment,especially first thing in the morning. My shift at work starts at 0600 and getting up at 0430 is brutal. So, my morning coffee is of utmost importance !! Just ask my co-workers !

• I printed the Bugaboo digi - Frame It JJ Coffee - and colored it with my Distress Markers.
• The image was adhered to a fun geometric-patterned card base.Isn't that fun ?!?!?!
• A piece of Doodlebug "Coffee Break" washi was placed on a cute wooden coffee cup die cut  and then placed on  the lower R corner of the card.

There are almost 500 projects linked up to the Hop already and it's not over until Friday, June 30. Don't forget to leave a comment here for a chance at some blog candy at the end of the Hop.. And thank you once again for visiting Meticulosity and fueling my creative spirit !!

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.

A Hop and a Skip {ping}

Welcome to my first official Blog Hop as a member of the Skipping Stones Design Team.. I am thrilled to be included in such fabulous company. We will be having a Blog Hop each month on the second Saturday of the month. You might have gotten here from Cornelia's blog. If not, the line-up is listed at the bottom of this page. For my first project, I chose to make a card with one of my favorite themes - Coffee !!

I  used Faber Castell Whipped Spackle and a Dylusions stencil to create a background on a piece of Pebbles "Lakeside" paper. I then sprinkled the background with Mixed Berries glitter. The border at the top of the card was created using the Sizzix "On the Edge" Scallops die. The sentiment was also stamped on Pebbles paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink..

The 2 stamp sets I used are Funny Coffee Vol. #1 for the sentiment and that gorgeous coffee cup  from Coffee Vol. #2. The cup was stamped on Strathmore Mixed-Media paper  with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I colored the cup with a combination of Ranger Distress Markers and Faber Castell PITT Artist pens. I mounted the finished piece on a Kraft card base . Kraft cardstock is my all-time favorite !!  The sentiment and cup were adhered to the background using Tombow Foam tabs, A bit of Clear Wink of Stella adds a fantastic highlight to the petals..

Skipping Stones Design will be offering blog candy to one lucky person during this September Hop - a stamp set of your choice. In order to win, you must subscribe to the Skipping Stones blog, like their Facebook page and comment on each of the blogs in this Hop. For extra entries, follow my blog too.I will also be offering some blog candy for those who follow me and leave a comment on my blog.

Here is the order of our hop --
* SSD
* Martha
* Jessie
* Cornelia
* Debra -- YOU ARE HERE
* Ilina
* Tanya

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity..

And supporting my first Blog Hop as a Stamp Tramp with Skipping Stones Design..

Debra Davison

for Skipping Stones Designs

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I { HEART } Books ( and bookmarks )

Yes, that is exactly what it says -- I { HEART } Books !!  Apart from my absolute love of card-making, I am also quite fond of books. From the time I was a child and would walk to the library with my dad, I have had a fascination with books. Growing up in a very small town, we knew everyone, and the town librarian was a friend of our family. After I had read all of the children's books in the library, my father wrote out a permission slip for me to be able to take out any book that I wanted. Miss Faust kept it in my file so I never had a problem. I remember going through the card catalog alphabetically and just finding topics of interest, then taking many books home on that 1 subject. That was in the days before computers when we relied on the Dewey Decimal system  ( now I am really showing my age ).. More info on that at the end of my post of you are interested.

So where am I going with this, you might ask ?? Well, with a love of books comes a love of bookmarks. I have used the occasional slip of paper to mark a page  ( have never been one to dog-ear a book !! ). In the past, I have even cross-stitched bookmarks for myself and as gifts. But lately I have been seeing these cute ones made from envelopes and just had to give it a try.

Any book-lover MUST get this amazing book that is an alphabetized reading list that I refer to often. Nancy Pearl is an American librarian and author who shares her love and knowledge of books with all of us. And isn't my cute owl just perfect in that corner !!

I used the Going Wild stamp set by Susan K Weckesser co-branded with Unity Stamp Company. After stamping the images with Susan K Weckesser's  Clearsnap Colorbox Color POP Dye ink in Mystery , I colored them with a variety of markers ( Distress, Stabilo and Stampin' Up ). I fussy-cut them and applied Ranger Glossy Accents ( if you don't own this, you need to run right out with a coupon and buy some ).. On the owl, I applied the Glossy Accents to the glasses. There are also a few strips of feather washi on the back of this bookmark.

The fox image also came from the Going Wild stamp set. I added a strip of grass washi to the bottom of this bookmark, then gave this cute little fox a cup of coffee cut from a fabulous roll of Paper Studio washi. A few cups were also placed on the back of this bookmark along with a favorite stamp of mine from Paper Angel. Glossy Accents were applied to the ears, paws and polka-dots on the bow tie. The fox and owl were adhered using my TOMBOW Mono Aqua Liquid Glue -- my bookmarks get lots of wear and tear and TOMBOW is my go-to adhesive !!

For those of you as OCD as I am, and who could not just cut a corner off of an envelope to make these bookmarks -- this is how I made mine. I used a 5 x 7 Kraft envelope because the Kraft paper is sturdier. On the bottom corners of the envelope, on each side I measured 3 inches in, made a dot with a pencil, then drew a straight line connecting the 2 dots. I then cut across the line and erased any pencil marks that remained. Use your imagination to create any kind of bookmark that you want !!

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my other LOVE- Books !! I love all kinds of books and finally did get a nook which now has about 1000 books and samples on it. I still love the feel of a "real" book in my hands but also love the ability to have so many choices with me at one time.

My current reading list includes :
1. The Fireman - Stephen King
2. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend - Katarina Bivald
3. Packing for Mars - Mary Roach
4. Collage Playground - Kimberly Santiago
5. The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware

And who says you can't use a bookmark with an e-reader ?!?!?!?!

And for those of you who have never seen how I used to find my way around a library, here are a few pics. Now I wish I had a card catalog like that for my craft supplies !!

 Dewey Decimal System

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

A Full Mug - GIU Day 4

The June 2014 Kit of the Month is called -- "In Love with Love"-- and I am definitely in love with all 18 stamps !! It's no secret that I also love coffee so I chose the Full Mug sentiment and image for today's card.

I stamped the mug's image twice then colored some of the mugs and cut them out to layer on top of the image that I had stamped on patterned paper. I used some Faber-Castell Whipped Spackle and a Tim Holtz Doily stencil on the right side of the patterned cardstock by Momenta. I sprinkled some Donna Salazar "Sugar Shimmer" Fairy Dust Glitter  over the wet spackle. The border at the top of the card and the red and yellow flowers were cut out from an old calendar. I used some Tim Holtz washi at the top of the border. I then stamped the saying on the left side of the card. Maya Road Twine Cording in Sweet Candy complete the card. 

A Full Mug Makes Everything Better

Whipped Spackle with Glitter, Paper-pieced Mugs

I have been loving playing with embossing pastes and the whipped spackle that I used on this card.Textures and layers always seem to add so much to a project. I have many stencils that I can't wait to play with. Once again, thank you for visiting Meticulosity. I always welcome your comments and it inspires me to try new techniques and perfect others. 

Please comment -- you could win a prize of some fantastic Unity stamps. I will pick 2 winners at random who have commented on all 5 of my blog posts this week. 

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Vive la France

I wanted to do something to show my support for Paris, France and the French people as well as all of the victims of the 11/13/15 terrorist attacks.  This Hero Arts International Skyline stamp was the perfect one to use. I used Riding Hood Red ink by Stampin' Up, my Salty Ocean Distress marker and my favorite Neenah Stardust White paper. A hint of a gold mat completes the image. I have seen several other cards made in support of France.... The colors of France are showing up on many landmarks, buildings and bridges..

Vive la France...

Coloring Books are Good for Your Soul

The gals at Mountain Plains Crafters had a great time last week hopping along showcasing  Adornt's Art Play Paintables. This week we are highlighting their new line of coloring books.. With designs by Lindsay Ostrom, Carolee McMullin, Stephanie Ackerman, and She She Designs,  these are printed on heavy watercolor cardstock and have both large page-sized designs as well as some smaller Art Play sized options. There are 8 coloring books with a variety of themes- Christmas, Halloween, Live Simply and Critter Friends to name a few..

I decided to use my coloring book -- Live Simply by She She Designs -- to make some cards representing support for Cancer Awareness. I used 2 of the larger designs and cut them apart to make cards out of them. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and it always gets the most publicity. But I wanted to spotlight a few others that have touched my life. And show my support for all those whose lives have been impacted by cancer -- patients, family members, friends, supporters, caregivers.. I used  Tim Holtz Distress Markers and Stampin' Up Markers to color the designs. I colored directly onto the paper and also used the acrylic block technique & my water brush. I used my Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush for highlights. The sentiments are from the Unity Stamp Company kit "All Things Are Possible".

Endometrial Cancer Awareness Card using Peach

Yellow is on each card as the Cancer Survivor color
For Darlene

Thyroid Cancer Awareness Card using Pinks, Teals & Purples
For all those fighting the fight with me
We've Got This !!

Breast Cancer Awareness Card using Pinks
For Denise

All Cancers Awareness Card using Lavenders
For all those touched by cancer

I hope you enjoyed seeing what you can do with the coloring book pages. Please visit each blog to find the word clue then follow the directions on the Adornit blog for your chance to win one of their coloring books ... I've had such fun with these products and hope you have been inspired by all of us at Mountain Plains Crafters. Thanks for visiting Meticulosity. Head on over to my craftily fantastic friend Sheryl's blog for more inspiration from these amazing coloring books..

This post has been brought to you by the word :

"ARE"

Thanks so much to Adornit  for enabling our Coloring Book obsession !!