Silver Bells in the City

Hello! Alison here. Each month, my family and I sit down for a few hours in the dining room and make cards using Sparkle Blends from Doodles Paper Playground and other fun supplies. We were off to a late start this month, so we only had our Family Crafty Time on Monday, since there was no school. Today's project was made by my husband, and I LOVE what he made. He was planning on making a card, but it morphed into more of a home decor piece. It's now about 7" x 7."

When he was figuring out what to do and he saw the Silver Bells Sparkle Blend, he quickly thought of creating a city skyline. I have a really old stamp set from Stampendous that was designed by Nat Kalbach that was perfect for what he was envisioning because not only are there multiple stamps, but a cool stencil too. He made the back layer of the city first, by tracing one of the stamps in the set and cutting it out. Then he used Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and Mustard Seed Distress Oxide with the accompanying stencil to create windows. I love how it looks like some of the windows are lit.

His top layer was done with a lighter gray cardstock, and he stamped the sketchy city with VersaMark ink and embossed it with Detail Silver Embossing Powder. Then he applied Black Soot Distress Oxide just on the edges of the skyline to deepen the color a bit. He buffed off the excess where it was on the embossing powder. He decided he also wanted to add snow, so he used a VersaMarker and scribbled it across the bottom of the cityscape and across the "street." He applied Sparkle Puff embossing powder and voila! Snowy banks.

Gene really loved the big silver bells in this Sparkle Blend, and they are really what inspired his entire project. He cut some black cardstock for his background and flicked on some Sheer Shimmer Spritz in Frost. Then he adhered his city layers using different heights of foam. Last, he placed on all of the elements from the Silver Bells Sparkle Blend, including the snowflakes, the stars, and of course the bells. He used On Point Glue for this.

It took Gene a bit longer to create this than he anticipated, but I thought he got it done pretty quickly considering all of the steps that were involved. We all love how this turned out, and I am looking forward to hanging it up over the holiday season. Have you seen the entire new release of Sparkle Blends yet? Head over to the Sparkle Blends Shop on Etsy to check them out. You can use my code, “ALISON10” for 10% off of your purchase, not including bundles. Thanks so much for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Wish You Were Here Shaker

Hello! Today I have a card that features the July "Mediterranean Dreams" Subscription Kit from White Rose Crafts. This fabulous Subscription Kit brings together sparkling, azure Mediterranean seas, sun-bleached shores and the rich colors of vibrant Mediterranean cultures in a carefully curated kit. I knew I just had to try the Jillibean Soup shaker card and I chose to use one of the stamps (from Kaisercraft) to make my background.

I stamped the seashell with Tea Dye Distress Oxide all over the background of the card. Then I applied some Walnut Stain Distress Oxide to my craft mat, spritzed it with some water, and splattered it on to my card base. Last, I inked the edges with Salty Ocean Distress Oxide with a Mini Blending Brush.

For my sentiment, I die cut a stitched rectangle from my stash, out of the pearly yellow cardstock that came in the kit and stamped it with "Wish You Were Here" stamp from the same "Summer Splash" stamp set, with StazOn Pigment ink. And this had to be the easiest shaker I've ever made! The little window is pre-cut on the card base, and the plastic window already has adhesive on it, so you fill it and stick it! I of course used the accompanying Sparkle Blend called "Tropical." It's exclusive to the kit. Plus, I added the feet wooden charm from Kaisercraft.

I love how quickly this card came together because of all the wonderful products in the kit. I kept this pretty simple and didn't even touch any of the stunning patterned papers yet. Wait until you see how great they are!

You can head over to White Rose Crafts to check out all of the contents in the Mediterranean Dreams kit. I look forward to sharing more projects using all of the items included! Thanks so much for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Treat Yourself Card

Hello Crafty Friends - Annie here with a fun summer inspired card.

New Month means a new sketch over at the White Rose Crafts LLC FB Gallery Group.

This is the sketch for this month

Here is the card I created inspired by the sketch and summer.

Materials Used:

Lawn Fawn Stamp Treat Yourself

DoodleBug Paper 6x6 Pad- So Much Pun

Memento Ink Pad - Tuxedo Black

Memento Pen - Tuxedo Black

Versafine Clair Ink - Nocturne

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink - Firebrick

Doodle Paper Playground Sparkle Blend - Icicle

Kaiser Crafts Double-Sided Tape - 12MM

Imagine Crafts On Point Glue

Woodware Crafts 1mm Foam Tape Roll

Sakura Gelly Roll Metallic Pen - Silver

Spectrum Noir Markers:

MG1, AP1, OR1, BO1, LY1, CT3,

 LG1, LG2, BT3, BT4, HB1, HB2, 

CG1, CG3, CG4, EB5 

Thank you for stopping by the blog today! 

Be sure to tag us White Rose Crafts LLC on social media 

if you create a project with products or kits purchased on the 

White Rose Crafts LLC Website .

You are my Person

Hello! Alison here. I've got a new project for White Rose Crafts today. If you visited my blog yesterday, you may realize that this card uses the exact same color palette as yesterday's card, but the design is very different. I love these colors together, and I have been super inspired by Therm O Web's Rainbow Shattered Glass Deco Foil, so this card was inspired by that.

I started off with the Gina K Designs Sweet Expressions Foil Mates. These are black toner-printed sentiments that you run through a hot laminator with the Deco Foil of your choosing. It's a very quick process with very impactful results.

Here you can really see the vibrant colors of the foil. I matted the sentiment with some deep purple cardstock. For my background, I used the Argyle Embossing Folder from Darice, but with a letterpress feel. I inked one side of the folder with Broken China, Wilted Violet, Worn Lipstick, and Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide before I ran it through my die cut machine. I was careful to not have any gaps between colors, but to also not contaminate any of my ink pads with the color next to it. If that happens, you can quickly wipe off the pad with a paper towel or cloth to keep the "wrong" color from seeping into the pad. I spritzed my cardstock with a little water because it's a heavy 110 lbs, and that keeps it from cracking in the folder. This also helped to blend the colors a little while it passed though my die cut machine.

I mounted the panel on to a white top folding card and added a few assorted sequins from various Sparkle Blends from Doodles Paper Playground that were adhered with On Point Glue. The photo below is a little blown out so that you could really see the amazing colors from the Deco Foil. It's even more amazing in person.

I love using embossing folders for backgrounds, and Foil Mates make for quick work of finishing off cards. If you eliminate the time you need to heat up your laminator, you could probably complete this card in well under 15 minutes. That's a win in my book! Please be sure to visit White Rose Crafts to check out many of the products I used today. Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Make Lemonade

Hello! Alison here. This week, the White Rose Crafts team is focusing on die cutting. WRC carries lots of great dies...some that are stand alone, and some that work with stamp sets. My card for today uses Jillibean Soup Jar dies that coordinate with their Lemonade stamps.

The last time I had used this stamp and die set, I stamped and die cut a bunch of the fruit slices, wedges, and jar lids so that it would save me time in the future. These pre-made pieces really came in handy when making this card!

Besides the fruit slices and wedges, I added some "Well, Yellow There" Sparkle Blends from Doodles Paper Playground. I like the tiny microbeads in this Blend. They look like bubbles, and really help things move around in the shaker. I backed my window with a piece of cardstock that I applied Distress Oxides to. I used Salty Ocean, Faded Jeans, and Peacock Feathers. For my sentiment, I used VersaFine Clair ink in Twilight, and on top of that, I stamped the Kaisercraft Fading Dots stamp with Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink.

My background is a piece of Kaisercraft's Kaleidoscope paper (what a great paper pad set it is!) on top of a white card base. I like the "bubbly" look the background paper ans Fading Dots stamp give to the card. Lemonade isn't usually bubbly, I know, but it could be!

Playing with dies is a lot of fun, and can really transform your cards. White Rose Crafts has a lot of fun options for you, from many different brands. Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Live Life in Full Bloom

Hello! I have a new DT project for White Rose Crafts, featuring Kaisercraft. I just received the Kaleidoscope paper pad, and was immediately inspired by the beautiful colors and faux textures on the pages.

I picked this one out of the lineup because of how springy it is. I love this color palette. And because the background is already beautiful, I really didn't have to do much to get a completed card.

For my sentiment, I stamped an image from Kaisercraft's Greenhouse Collection of Clear Stamps on another piece from the Kaleidoscope paper pad with Nocturne VersaFine Clair ink.  Behind the sentiment, I added a piece of Mulberry Lace Paper, just for some added soft texture.

I also added a few sequins from the "Springtime" Sparkle Blend from Doodles Paper Playground. That Blend has the perfect colors to go along with this collection. On my card base, I rubbed on some Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide and then dripped some Sheer Shimmer Spritz in Gold to get some of the oxidation happening but with added shine.

This is a simple, but pretty card that didn't take long to create. I love that White Rose Crafts has so many wonderful products that makes it easy to create simple cards like this one. Thanks so much for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

WRC Sketch Challenge: Alison's Take

Hello! Thanks for visiting me today. I've got a new Sketch Challenge to share with you, courtesy of White Rose Crafts. I've given myself a goal of turning each of these sketches into scrapbook pages, instead of cards for the entire year, and I've been successful so far. Here's the sketch:

And here is my take on it:

I came across these photos of my daughter the last time I was searching for pictures to scrapbook. I thought that they'd be perfect for this sketch. She was so happy spinning and twirling in this coat my mom had made for her. And her crazy outfit makes me smile. I lined the photos up and trimmed them to fit properly on my 12 x 12 layout. I added the strips of black to break up the photos just a little bit.

My daughter and I both love mixing patterns, so, much like her outfit, I found a few patterned papers that I thought were crazy together, but also perfect. The chevron and pink lacey-looking paper is from my stash, the polka dotted one is from Kaisercraft's Greenhouse paper pad, and the metallic one (also from Kaisercraft) is from the Bombay Sunset paper pad. I needed more pattern though, so I decided to ink up my pale pink background paper with the Circles and Pluses stencil from Studio Light with Distress Oxide in Tumbled Glass and Spun Sugar.

And since my girl always sparkles, I literally threw some sequins on to may layout, and glued (most) of them pretty much were they landed. I used a few Sparkle Blends to get the colors I wanted, like Unicorn (no longer available), Intergalactic, and Amethyst. I glued them all down with On Point Glue from Imagine.

My daughter was full of joy when I took these photos, and I am so grateful I have this sweet and innocent memory of her, now on a completed page. How will you interpret the sketch? I can't wait to see! Be sure to visit the White Rose Crafts Gallery Group on Facebook, and add your photo to the appropriate album. Be sure to visit White Rose Crafts to see what's new in store.  Thanks so much for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Embossing with Creative Medium

Hello! Alison here. Ever since I was an Artist in Residence with Imagine, I really enjoyed working with Creative Medium. It's thick, smooth, easy to work with, dries quickly, and comes in some really fantastic colors. To this day I love using this paste, and I am always happy with the results. I bring this up because this week, the White Rose Crafts team is sharing projects that have embossing. Embossing comes in many forms, heat, dry, wet....so you are sure to see a myriad of projects. But I chose to focus on "wet," so with Purple Iridescent Creative Medium as my embossing paste.

White Rose Crafts recently got in some fabulous new stencils from Kaisercraft. Big, 12" x 12" stencils that have 4 different designs on it. I actually plan on cutting mine down into 4 smaller stencils, so that they are easier to manage. The stencil I used is called Grunge, and it is right up my alley. I taped the stencil down to a Distress Oxide background I made a month ago, and applied the paste with a palette knife in a messy, inconsistent way. I didn't want that stenciling to look perfect, especially since my Distress Oxide background was so "messy."

The dried Creative Medium maintains a lovely milky finish, but with flashes of iridescence, depending on the color you choose. I love seeing the purple flash here and there on this card. I dried the paste with my heat gun to speed up the process, and because it causes the Creative Medium to bubble and pop, creating a fantastic texture. To top off the card, I added one of the Greenhouse Die Cuts from Kaisercraft, plus a sentiment from the Greenhouse Paper Pad.

For some additional sparkle, I added a few sequins from the Springtime Sparkle Blend. The colors in that Blend worked perfectly with the colors on the rest of the card. I adhered them with On Point Glue from Imagine. I love that this card may look like it took a lot of time, but it didn't. I didn't need to color, or fussy cut anything, and since my background was made previously, that made the whole process quicker too. What kinds of things do you do to help your creative process move a little faster? Please be sure to check out the rest of the WRC Team to see what kind of embossing they're doing this week. And then head over to the White Rose Crafts LLC shop to see what's new in store. Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day! 

Barista Blend Kit: Alison's Take

Greetings! It's Alison Heikkila. This week, the White Rose Crafts team is sharing projects using the May Subscription Kit called "Barista Blend." This is for all of you coffee lovers out there! There is a cute stamp set from Little Acres, fantastic papers from Echo Park, and exclusive Sparkle Blend from Doodles Paper Playground, and plenty more. The kit is currently available on pre-order, so if you want it, grab it while you can!

This cow is happily about to start a cup of "cowfee" and would like you to join her! I colored her with my Zig Clean Color Markers, and I added Nuvo Drops in Sea Breeze to her spectacles to make them look glassy. I inked the edges of the stamped panel with Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide.

I used a couple of pieces of patterned paper from the Echo Park "Coffee" collection to mat my image, and I backed it all with a cream card base from my own stash, which I inked with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide. I also added a few sequins from the older "But First, Coffee" Sparkle Blend. I do not have the Blend that comes in the Subscription Kit, but this was a perfect substitute. All the sequins was adhered with On Point Glue from Imagine.

My favorite thing about this kit is the paper from Echo Park. It has so many great colors, and wonderful patterns that go beyond the coffee theme. So don't think you can only use it for that! There are some really beautiful florals and more abstract patterns that I really love.

Please be sure to head over to the White Rose Crafts LLC Shop to snag your Subscription Box before it sells out. Thanks so much for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Gather Wild Flowers Layout

Hello!Alison here.  This week, the White Rose Crafts team is highlighting products from Altair Art. They have wonderful paper collections and ephemera sheets that have a romantic vibe to them.

 I have their 6x6 "Ever Dream" paper pack, and the ephemera sheet, which I really love. The colors are soft and dreamy, and i love the flowers and dreamcatchers that are on many of the pages. The background page I chose to use for this photo of my daughter is a soft pink. It's a little washed out in my pictures, but it is very soft in real life.

 I kept the page pretty simple since it is a smaller scale and the background paper already has a lot going on. I tore a piece of lavender cardstock to make a mat for my photo. And if you'll notice, I used an edge distresser on my picture to give it a shabby chic look.

 I cut a single flower from the ephemera sheet and I applied several layers of clear embossing powder on top, to make it look more like enamel. You could do this with Glossy Accents, or something similar, but I didn't want to wait for it to dry, so repeated heat embossing was what I chose to do. I popped it off of my page with foam squares. I also added some sequins from the brand new "Diamond" Sparkle Blend from Doodles Paper Playground. I attached them with On Point Glue. Lastly, I added a simple sentiment from Laurel Burch and Stampendous, which worked really well with the rest of the page. I stamped it in Stormy Sky Distress Oxide, which is a wonderful muted blue.

I love this picture of my daughter when she was much smaller. My peony flowers were the size of her head! The Ever Dream paper collection lends itself to simple, yet elegant scrapbook pages and cards. I am really enjoying working with it. Head on over to White Rose Crafts LLC to see what else you can get from Altair Art. Thanks so much for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Welcome Spring!

Hello! Alison Heikkila here. Winter has officially come to an end and I am ready to celebrate! So today I am sharing a card that screams Spring with one of my favorite stamps that is available at White Rose Crafts. It's the Hellebore from Stampendous, and yup, I've used this big, beautiful bloom before. It is a true favorite.

A couple of weeks ago, I did a Facebook Live in the White Rose Crafts Gallery group that showed some different techniques with Distress Oxide Inks. One of them was Ink Smooshing, with an embossed image, and coloring on top. This card was mostly made during that video. If you watched the video, what you didn't see was how i finished off the coloring of the Hellebore, and how I added some additional ink to the edges and the embellishments.

I had used some Gold Sheer Shimmer Spritz to help move and oxidize the ink while I was making the background. You can see all of the gorgeous shimmer and the flower has from it. To add color to the petals, I used one Zig Clean Color marker and a water brush. I also used one color for the stamens.

I added a simple pre-made sentiment from Kaisercraft's Bombay Sunset 6" x 6" paper pad and a few sequins from the "Amethyst" Sparkle Blend from Doodles Paper Playground. Adding some Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide to the edges really tied the background into the flower and gave the card more depth.

The techniques I used on this card are fun and pretty easy to do. It's great to this type of coloring on images that you may be intimidated to color. I think it turned out beautiful, and I hope you'll give it a try. Be sure to watch the Facebook Live to see how the background was created. And then, head on over to White Rose Crafts LLC to check out some of the products I used today.

Margarita Shaker

Hello! Alison here. This week, the White Rose Crafts Design Team is sharing projects that feature Jillibean Soup products. They have such fun items like sweet stamps, coordinating dies, and shaker windows. My card today is a shaker, but it doesn't use their pre-made windows.

 I use Jillibean Soup's Lemonade stamps and coordinating dies, which by the way, have an amazing price point! On a piece of white cardstock, I stamped out a ton of the fruit slices and wedges in assorted citrus colors of Memento and VersaMagic inks from Imagine. I thought that doing a whole bunch at once would save me time in the future when I use the rest of the pieces. For this card, I used only a couple of lemons and an orange. I inked the lid up with 2 London Fog and Gray Flannel Memento, to make it look more interesting than using one, flat color. I also stamped the straw, but I used Scrapberry's Stains Ink in Blue . The straw doesn't have a die, so I fussy cut it.

I didn't need to use the jar stamp itself, just the die to begin my shaker. I wanted it to look as though the straw was actually inside the mason jar, so I cut it apart and put part of it under the shaker window, and some of it above the lid. I filled the shaker with my lemon and orange wedges, as well as the "Citrus Twist" Sparkle Blend from Doodles Paper Playground. Then I backed the shaker with light blue cardstock. I thought this helped to add to the "glassy" look.

I stamped my sentiments in Gray Flannel Memento Ink, and I added just a few additional sequins to the top of the card. I put the shaker panel on to a gray card base and considered it done. I think it's adorable and fun, I really do love how the straw looks inside and out of the jar. And who could resist using this perfect Sparkle Blend. I am crazy about all of the teeny tiny fruits!

Be sure to head over to White Rose Crafts LLC to check out the rest of the products from Jillibean Soup. They are all adorable and versatile. I will definitely be using this stamp and die set a lot. Thanks so much for stopping by. Have an inspiring day! 

March Sketch Challenge- Alison's Take

Hello! Alison here. Today I am sharing a card that I created for the White Rose Crafts March Sketch Challenge. I recently received the Gina K Sweet Expressions Foil Mates, and I thought that they would be just perfect for the sketch. That was my jumping off point.

I had some blue foil in my stash that I used for the sentiment, and I love just how much foil there is on the image. It is so shiny that it's hard to photograph without a reflection!

I decided to use a background that I made with photo paper and Distress Oxide Inks. If you caught my FB Live in the White Rose Crafts Gallery Group, then you would have seen me make a few examples. You can catch the replay if you weren't able to see it live. I love the watery effect the Distress Oxides have on photo paper. They always looks so dreamy.

For my banner, I used a piece from the Kaisercraft Bombay Sunset 6" x 6" paper pad. It worked really well with my background, and I used it to help me choose the color for my card base, which is a deep teal. I added a few sequins from the "Aquamarine" Sparkle Blend from Doodles Paper Playground.

I hope you'll play along with this month's White Rose Crafts Sketch Challenge. You can add your take on the sketch in the White Rose Crafts Gallery Group on Facebook. That's it for me today. I'll be back with another project very soon. Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!