Concord & 9th #FeatureFriday - Dahlia Turnabout

Hello! I can't believe it's already my last guest design post for Concord & 9th! This month has FLOWN by! Today I'm using the Dahlia Turnabout. This is my absolute FAVORITE from the November release. I've always been a fan of the turnabout stamps and I love that this one is smaller! I made a bunch of projects again, so let's get started!

Let's start with one of my favorites, shall we? This card is such a happy accident! This is the first time that a turnabout stamp has come with a matching die and I love it! I was messing around with the die trying different techniques - what it looked like cutting once or all four times, etc. I was stacking up all of my scrap pieces in a pile and my husband walked by and commented how cool my new card was! Little did he know he was looking at my garbage pile! But lo and behold...he was right! So I stacked up all of my pieces and added a happy die cut from the Bits & Pieces stamp set!

I love how it looks like one of those layering dies that are all the rage right now!

For this card I stamped the dahlia image four times and white heat embossed the image. Then I watercolored over the top with Gansai Tambi colors. I added about 5 layers of color because I wanted the image to really pop. I heat embossed the greeting and added some Nuvo drops!

This was actually the first time I stamped this image and again it was just me messing around and practicing! I loved the color combo so much that I made it into a card! The sentiment is from Bits & Pieces stamp set and added some Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

I loved my other watercolored card so much that I did another version! I love the little pops of black!

Tis the season for stretching stamps to be Christmas stamps!! My original plan was to do a trio of dahlias, but I thought the card wouldn't be balanced if I did a third dahlia image. Instead, I pulled out the large merry and bright sentiment from the Ornamental stamps and added it where I had planned to stamp another dahlia!

This one is a little different - instead of stamping the image I used the coordinating die cut all four times and used the piece as a stencil! I added some of my favorite Distress Inks to create a gradient of color. I love how it turned out! I stamped the sentiment in a coordinating color and added some clear shimmer Nuvo drops.

I made a shaker card with the Bits & Pieces bundle last week and I loved how the red beads looked with gold glitter paper! I wanted to try it again - but with a twist! Instead of creating a shaker card I spread a puddle of glue onto a piece of cardstock and added enough beads to cover the glue. I LOVE the texture! It's like a peek-a-boo card with an insane amount of texture!

I just love love LOVE it!!

While I was glueing things down I thought I would make a non holiday version! And of course I had to include a rainbow - so why not a rainbow of sequins!!?!? I put down lines of glue and added colorful sequins to fit behind the turnabout die cut.

If you look close you can see that some of those red beads got stuck in my card! Ah! They are so tiny I didn't even realize! Oh well...they kind of look like they were added on purpose! :)


Thank you for joining me these past 4 weeks! I can't believe it's over! But believe that I will be using these products again!

Concord & 9th #FeatureFriday - Bits & Pieces

Hello, everyone! I hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving! Today is Friday, so that means it's time to feature another stamp and die set from Concord & 9th and today is the Bits & Pieces bundle! I have to tell you...I've been waiting for this one! It's so versatile! I made 9 cards for today and I still have the stamps on my desk! Since I have so many cards to share I won't be giving step by step instructions, just a general overview. If you have questions leave me a comment and I will answer them for you!

As I said before - I love the versatility of these stamps! Looking at the stamp set it just looks like a bunch of little images...but when you start putting them together magic happens!! I paired the large circle and the leaf/petal image together to make flowers!

I added some sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. I can't keep my hands off of them! You'll see! The sentiment is from another Concord & 9th stamp set released this month - the Dahlia Turnabout.

I'm a sucker for geometric shapes! I grabbed all three circle images - the solid, dotted, and striped - and stamped them randomly around my card in 5 shades of ink - a yellow, pink, mint green, a warm gray, and purple. When I was done stamping I didn't think the lighter colors stood out enough, so I used a black pen to draw in an outline. I'm terrible at freehand drawing, but the loose style of outline went well with the design!

I stamped the sentiment on black cardstock and added quite a bit of Wink of Stella shimmer along with sparkling clear droplets from Pretty Pink Posh.

Since we are talking about geometric patterns...how about this one! I wanted to use all of the pieces to build up a rainbow patterned card. I started with the yellow stripe and worked out in both directions keeping my stamping in rainbow order. I added some of the overlay images in a gray ink and again outlined the shapes with a black pen. I used the sentiment from the stamp set and added some black Nuvo drops.

My original idea for this card was to make a cake with flowers on top. In the end...I don't think it looks like a cake, but it's one of my favorites that I made! I stamped the flowers first using a bit of masking and then used coordinating inks to stamp the stripes below. I'm in love with the hello sentiment, so I used it again on this card!

Let's shift gears a bit! I wanted to show how you can use this stamp & die set to make a Christmas card! This is my absolute FAVORITE that I made! I started by using the hexagon die to cut my piece of paper. I thought the white paper was too plain, so I grabbed my Ornamental stamps from the last release and used a few of the images along with gray ink to fill up the paper. There were empty spaces, so I used Jennifer McGuire's trick and used my stylus to fill in some dots.

Then I made my shaker card! I used gold glitter paper for the background and filled up the hexagons with red seed beads from American Crafts. I used the merry die from last month's release and cut the top from gold glitter paper and also cut 4 gray pieces to use to stack up my die cut. I really love this one!

Since we are already talking about Christmas cards I will share my other 2 with you! I used the solid hexagon stamp in 2 shades of red, 2 shades of green, and gold embossing to create this background. I just stamped the first one in the middle and worked outward in a spiral. My only concern was not putting the same color directly next to each other.

I stamped the sentiment from last month's Ornamental stamp set and embossed with glittered embossing powder. I added some sparkling clear confetti from Pretty Pink Posh and this one is done!

One more Christmas card! This one is so easy! I used silver and gold embossing powder for the stripes and just die cut the merry from red and green glittered papers!

I again used some gray papers to stack up the die to give it some dimension. This card is so glittery! - perfect for Christmas!

I wanted to show how you can use the same design from the last card, but tone it down so it's not so Christmasy! I used the same gold embossing powder, but I stamped the other stripes in regular gray ink. Then I stamped and die cut some flowers and leaves and added them to the card front.

The die cut is from the Bits & Pieces die set. I love the script! I stacked up 5 die cuts and added Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents for shine.

On to the last card! This is another one of my favorites because I love how ingenious Concord & 9th stamps are! They've included a stamp that builds to make a background and then you add flowers and other doo dads to create a whole card! I'm in love!! I used black ink for the stripes, gray for the fill in branches, and then I used 2 colors of inks for my flowers.

It's amazing how quickly this card came together! I stacked up some gold and black die cuts for the sentiment and covered it in Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents. I partially stamped a sentiment from the stamp set and cut them out and popped them up with foam tape. In the end, I wanted a bit more sparkle, so I added more gold glitter paper underneath!



And that's all 9 cards! I had so much fun with this stamp and die bundle! The possibilities are amazing! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Concord & 9th #FeatureFriday - Beautiful Branches

Hello! I can't believe it's already my second post for Concord & 9th's Feature Friday! Today myself and the other ladies are showcasing the Beautiful Branches stamps and dies! This is a fantastic all occasion set and I love the script sentiments! Gorgeous! I made three projects again this week - I will share them along with some of the supplies I used!

Here's my first project! I started with a piece of Neenah Desert Storm and used Hero Arts white embossing powder for the branches. The flowers are with Simon Says Stamp Ultra Fine Steel Navy embossing powder and I used Zing! copper metallic embossing powder for the centers. I stamped the sentiment and embossed it with the copper powder three times to add a ton of dimension. I felt the card was empty, so I added a bunch of Antique Rose Nuvo drops. As you can see...one of them got a little big and wonky. I got out of hand! But I wasn't going to trash the whole card because of one mistake!

I love all of the shine!

My idea for this card was to have hanging lights from the top of the card...but it didn't look how I imagined it, so I tweaked it to be winter berries! I stamped and embossed the branches with the Zing! copper embossing powder and embossed a bunch of berries with Hero Arts white powder - same with the sentiment. I added red centers to each of the berries with Autumn Red Nuvo drops.

It's not what I had planned for...but I like the result anyway!

I saved my favorite for last! I know it's not spring...but I couldn't resist a bright and springy card! I stamped the branches with Versafine Onyx Black and added the flowers with Simon Says Stamp Steel Blue, Thistle, and Wisteria inks and the centers with Slate ink. I was going to leave it as is...but it needed another pop of color, so I added leaves using Simon Says Stamp Catkin and Willow inks.

I wish I had stamped the sentiment lower. It looked a little off - so I tried to fill in with some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins!

Thanks for coming by! Stay tuned for more projects using Concord & 9th stamps and dies!

A Little Trio of Bears

Hi! I have one more project to share featuring the Concord & 9th Hi There Bear stamps and dies! 

This one is super simple! I was inspired by a card that Tracie Pond designed for #c9FeatureFriday last week! I loved her panda peeking in from the edge of the card...so I thought I would try it for myself! I just LOVE the sentiment that says "we all voted". I'm going to use it all the time! My family always pretends to vote on things. It's a joke when we all get together! I stamped three different bears and die cut them and their accessories with the coordinating dies. I arranged them on the card so they would peek in from different areas of the card, stamped my sentiment, added some Wink of Stella, and added some Nuvo Drops! Super duper simple, but these bears are so cute they make any card amazing!

We All Voted...

Hello! I have more cards using the Concord & 9th Hi There Bear stamps! Today I created a set of cards that are almost the same. I used different embellishments and I goofed on one...but we'll talk about that later! 

I'm in LOVE with these bears! SO SO SO in love! I love the variety of bears that you can make! And I have an idea to use some masking to make a Pooh bear!!! We shall see if it works!

I started by stamping the outline of the bear four times with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I stamped two right side up and two upside down. Then I filled in the bears with various colors of ink! And of course I made one a panda bear!

I die cut the tiny heart from red cardstock and covered them in Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents and adhered them with foam squares to the panda's raised hand. I stamped the sentiment and heat embossed it onto black cardstock. I left one card plain, added Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins to another, and clear droplets to the last.

Can you see my goof in this one? That's right...I only stamped one bear (the brown bear) upside down. *face palm* I almost trashed it, but I thought I would keep it around for now! Maybe I will use it and maybe I won't! It took my husband a little while to find the mistake so maybe it's not that noticeable!

Thanks for joining me! I still have one more card to share featuring the Hi There Bear stamps and dies. And be sure to stop by on Friday to see another stamp featured!

Concord & 9th #FeatureFriday - Hi There Bear

Hello! I am so excited to announce that I have been asked to design for Concord & 9th for their #FeatureFriday for the month of November! I am thrilled and honored beyond words!

Well, let's jump right in! This is the first #FeatureFriday for the month and today we are featuring the Hi There Bear stamps and dies! This set is tooooo cute! There are multiple images to create different bears - panda bears, brown bears, black bears, polar bears - the possibilities are endless! And there are so many coordinating images to go along with the bear - an umbrella, bouquet of flowers, cotton candy, a balloon! So cute! And my favorite part is that there is a stamp with a stripe background that the bear will fit perfectly into!

I made three projects for today, but I will have more coming later this week!

If you really know me then you know I have a deathly fear of bears...but not panda bears! They are too cute! I knew I wanted to make a little panda card! I started by stamping the "friend" image repeatedly using my MISTI and embossing with gold powder from Hero Arts. Then I stamped my panda bear with gray and black ink and also stamped the balloon.

I used the coordinating dies to cut out my stamped images and some hearts, a bow tie, and a gift bag. I also used the nifty "u" shaped die to cut a place in his paw to hold the balloon! I love it!

I added Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents to the bow tie, balloon, and hearts.

I wanted to show the range in the stamp set, so I decided to use just an accessory image - the umbrella! I stamped it three times across my card and then masked off the the middle and right umbrella. I stamped the sentiment multiple times using a technique from Jennifer McGuire. Then I used images included in the stamp set to add color to the umbrellas. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that each little portion of the umbrella can be stamped separately so that I can do a rainbow!

I added Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents to the umbrellas!

My last project isn't a card! Are you shocked?! Me too! My son just turned two and we have been teaching him little things - he can count to three and now we are learning color matching! I LOVED this stripe background and that the bears can fit right into the negative space of the stripes! And then you can add any kind of bear you want! I love the panda bear and I didn't want to add too much color and confuse my son, so I made the other bear with the same gray ink!

No glitz or glam - this was a really simple project! I cut pieces of cardstock to be slightly bigger than the stamped image and used my MISTI to complete this project so quickly!


I hope you guys enjoyed these projects! I'm so thrilled that I will be back next Friday with more projects using a different product! Hooray!