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 - 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

May Cookies - Take 2

With everything going on around here the past month, I totally missed the first cookie challenge of May for If You Give a Crafter a Cookie . UGH !!!  So not like me -- and I apologize.. I am always understanding when life get in the way -- and this time it was me whose life got in the way !! But I'm back for this latest challenge and it's all about the Graduate !! 

Isn't that a gorgeous cookie photo ?!?!?!  I don't have anyone in my family who is graduating so I will be sending the card I've made to one of my friends who can use it !!

• The Brainy Books image from Lily of the Valley Digi Stamps on Etsy was printed on Neenah Stardust White cardstock and cut to fit the front of a card.
• I colored the books with a variety of my favorite markers - Faber-Castell, Brea Reese, Stampin' Up, & Distress markers.
• I stamped the year lengthwise and cut it to fit on the left lower side of the card.
• 2019 was adhered to the card with foam tabs.
• I adhered the digi image to a pink patterned card base with a Tombow MONO + Permanent Adhesive Runner.

I am excited to see what the rest of the Design Team has come up with for this Challenge. Take a look over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie  and let us know what you think . We would love it if you would link up a project of your own also. The  Challenges run for 2 weeks so be sure to have your project linked up before May 30. Thank you so much for visiting Meticulosity !! 

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 .

 .

• 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

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste - 4/28

For our April collaboration, Celeste suggested we use a stencil. Of course, I have many stencils in my stash, so all I had to do was choose one !!  It's been a very challenging month around here  -- let's just leave it at that. And one way that I relax is to read a great book and escape into someone else's world.  While I was reading this week, I decided that I needed a new bookmark . A bigger bookmark, And that is how this month's project was born. 

I immediately thought of the stamp Nerd Bird from Rubber Moon and designed by Lori Sparkly Franklin. I chose a large tag from my stash - I think it is by Prima Marketing.  And of course, it had to have some washi too !! The stencil is a Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Holiday Knit.

• I started off by selecting the area I wanted to stencil and masking that area off with some painter's tape. I then used  Brea Reese Gold Modeling Paste to stencil the design at the top of the tag. 
• I immediately sprinkled some Tumbled Glass Distress Glitter  over
  the modeling paste and shook off the excess, then allowed this to dry for several hours.
• I had stamped the Nerd Bird image onto a piece of watercolor paper,  a piece of yellow-patterned paper and also a piece of brown-patterned paper.
• The bird and nest images were cut out of the patterned paper and the complete image was cut out of the watercolor paper. 
• I layered 4 strips of coordinating washi to the bottom area of the tag and 1 piece of washi at the top above the stenciling. 
• The bird and nest were adhered to the watercolor image after I colored in the books with some favorite markers. 
• I then adhered the entire image to the tag at the top of the 4 washi strips. 

This tag is fun because it has space on the back for me to write down the books I have read. I have several other Book Nerd friends and we are always recommending books to each other. And nothing is more frustrating  than not being able to remember the title of the fabulous book you just finished !!

My coffee this time is good old Folgers  with Coconut Caramel Latte  Creamer . I picked up this mug at Home Goods and it about sums up how I want to handle this month !! Head on over to Celeste's blog - Crafting Junky - to see what her stencil project is. We hope that you will leave us a comment and also sign up to follow our blogs. 

Namast'ay in bed with my cat

Feline going back to bed

Thank you so much for visiting Meticulosity !!

Debra Davison

Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - April

Well, here we are with another successful month of Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas . Lisa and I are creating a Christmas card each week so we are ready for the holiday season and not in panic mode as card-sending season approaches !! The last 2 weeks have been crazy for me -- from a crushed foot ( my guy's ) to a broken crown on my tooth to multiple car issues resulting in many $$$$$$$$ spent.  Nothing we can't handle and we know we are lucky in so many ways but ----  sometimes enough is enough !! So this post won't be lengthy and detailed because I am off work tomorrow and   want to go to bed early and read a book .. I've been thinking about that all day ..

For my first card, I used the Snowstar Girl stamp from Impression Obsession. This stamp was designed by my talented friend, Lindsay Ostrom and you can check out all of het IO stamps  HERE. I used a bright green card base and stamped the image on kraft cardstock. A few different patterns of washi from Tim Holtz and a Paper House sticker sentiment were all I needed to make a fun card. I colored the image with a variety of my favorite markers and topped off her hat with some glitter. I'm  loving this card and hope you do too..

#1 - Believe in the Magic of Christmas

For my second card, I used a cute elf design that hadn't even been inked up yet - the stamp is Elf Christmas  from Unity  Stamp Company. I started off with a star-patterned red card base.  The image was stamped on Kraft and colored. I  placed 2 strips of coordinating holiday washi by Tim Holtz at the top of the Kraft piece and then tied a strand of holiday twine around the Kraft at the bottom of the washi strips. The sentiment from Elf Christmas was stamped and then adhered at the bottom of the stamped image with another strip of  washi. 

#2 - Elf Christmas

My next card gets away from the traditional holiday colors of red and green and uses another Unity Stamp Company image - Winter Forest. On an ivory card base, I placed my image  and sentiment  that were stamped on watercolor paper. Tim Holtz washi was placed at the top and bottom of the image and several coordinating sequins added a bit of shine at the top of the sentiment. Some coloring on the trees finished this card .

#3 - Winter Forest

And last, but not least - I love socks !! Especially Christmas socks !! So, this Warm & Cozy stamp, also from Unity Stamp Company, was begging to be used in our Christmas Countdown !! A quick and simple card , using the stamped image & sentiment and a piece of holly washi tape. Just a bit of coloring and this card was finished !! I thought about adding some sequins or candy dots or Nuvo drops but then just decided to leave well enough alone ( sometimes a hard concept for me to grasp ).

#4 - Warm & Cozy

Now that you've seen my cards, take a look at Lisa's over at her blog -   Life of a BZScrapper .Take a moment to sign up and follow us and leave a comment telling us if you're starting on your holiday cards early along with us. Have we inspired you to make even 1 Christmas card ??  I want to help you this time by having a giveaway of some Christmas goodies - just leave a comment on my post for a chance to win . 

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

 

Debra Davison