Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Stamp of Approval Home for the Holidays - Release Day


https://shop.catherinepooler.com/products/stamp-of-approval-home-for-the-holidays https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1080/2624/products/Coming-Soon_Square_8dc7abd9-34b8-4654-a204-98b93aa47e91_grande.jpg?v=1536588387/?aff=9

Limited quantities: 
Visit the Catherine Pooler Designs store now and get your Home for the Holidays Collection before they're all sold out.   Once they're gone they're gone!  Sorry, the items in this collection won't be available for individual sale until next year.


I just wanted to sneak  a couple more cards in today using that fabulous Catherine Pooler Ink along with the Festive Trimmings stamp set and coordinating Festive Trimmings Add-on dies.

 I blended the background with It's A Boy ink and stamped the main part of the tree with Green Tea ink.  The poinsettias are stamped with Peppermint Scrub ink and the bows are Skylight ink.


I also used the Holiday Mix sentiment stamp set that is included in this collection along with Midnight ink for the beautifully scripted "Joy to the World".  Those adorable little bells are embossed in gold for a shimmery accent.





My second card today shows the tree from the Festive Trimmings stamp set embossed in gold and cut out with the Festive Trimmings Add-on dies.  I made my own designer paper by swiping across white cardstock with my Rockin' Red ink pad.  I saturated it real good and then let it dry.  Then I stamped one of the borders from the Cozy Borders stamp set over the entire card front, also in Rockin' Red for a great tone on tone affect.  I embossed the "Be" from the Holiday Mix stamp set and found that cute little diamond accent stamp in the Tiny Wishes stamp set.


This Merry Christmas Layered Word die fits perfectly across the tree.  I built it up in multiple layers to make it nice and thick. Then I just attached it by hooking the M and the Y to the gold cord, no glue needed.


Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you enjoyed the last few days of festivities, hopping along and taking in all of the wonderful projects by the Catherine Pooler Designs Creative Team using all of the new products in this 

Have a great day and Happy Stamping!



Monday, September 17, 2018

Stamp of Approval Home for the Holidays Blog Hop

Hi everyone and welcome to Catherine Pooler Design's ........


https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1080/2624/products/Coming-Soon_Square_8dc7abd9-34b8-4654-a204-98b93aa47e91_grande.jpg?v=1536588387 https://shop.catherinepooler.com/products/stamp-of-approval-home-for-the-holidays/?aff=9

I am so happy to be here today to give you a peek at this brand new

Stamp of Approval Collection - Home for the Holidays!

Get a head start on all of your holiday cardmaking with this one box of goodies that  includes 5 stamp sets and 2 die sets that were designed to coordinate perfectly.

Holiday Mix Stamp Set
Tiny Wishes Stamp Set
Christmas Cookies Stamp Set
Festive Trimmings Stamp Set
Cozy Borders Stamp Set
Tiny Tags Dies
Merry Christmas Layered Word Dies

But wait!  Catherine wants to send you all a little extra sugar so she's also including 3 brand spankin' new, custom embossing glitters!

Rockin' Red Embossing Glitter
Lime Rickey Embossing Glitter
Something Borrowed Embossing Glitter

How new are they?  So new that most of the designers on this hop don't even have them yet so we are as excited to get our hands on them as you are!


The Home for the Holidays Collection scheduled release days:
  • StampNation Pre-Release party - Tuesday Sept. 18th at 9pm est. - members only (if you'd like to become a member you can sign up ----> HERE).
  • Wait List - Wednesday Sept. 19th at 9am est. - links will be emailed so be sure to get on that wait list----> HERE!  (This is the best way to get to the front of the line peeps!). 
  • General Ordering in the Catherine Pooler Designs online store - Wednesday Sept. 19th at 6pm est.



Let's take a look at some of  these goodies in action!  For all of my cards today I used Catherine Pooler Design's ink.

First I want to start with my absolute favorite stamp set in this collection, Christmas Cookies.  This is a 4 x 6" stamp set with Christmas Cookies in all the familiar shapes that we grew  up with.  Who remembers decorating that little angel, the Christmas tree and that sleigh?   So cute!!

Catherine will also be offering Sugar Cookies add-on dies for this set in her shop so if you're if you're like me and just have to have those coordinating dies they will be available on ordering day.  Here is a close up you can see that I used the add-on dies to cut the shapes out of kraft cardstock.  But I wanted to layer the stamped shapes so I trimmed those out by hand, making them just a little smaller than the diecut pieces. 



I kept my next card clean and simple using a dove image from the Tiny Wishes stamp set.  This stamp set is so adorable.  The coordinating Tiny Tags dies are included in this Home for the Holidays Collection.   The border I used along the bottom is only one of the 5 borders in the Cozy Borders stamp set.  The Holiday Mix stamp set was used to create this sentiment "Peace, Joy and Love".    This 4 x 6" sentiment set has 18 stamps that you can mix and match  to suit your holiday cards just right.


I attached some silver thread to create ornaments out of these Tiny Tags, then topped them off with a bow from the Festive Trimmings stamp set.  The Festive Trimmings add-on dies will also be available in Catherine Pooler Designs shop for release day.




For my final card today I went a little traditional and did some good old fashioned background stamping using clear stamping blocks from Catherine Pooler Designs store along with some of the smallest stamps in the Festive Trimmings stamp set.  I blended just a little of Catherine's Sand Castle ink around the edges to tone down the bright white cardstock a little.


I used the Tiny Tags just how I would use them on a real present, stamped with a Tiny Wishes sentiment and tied on with a gold bow.  These tags are the perfect size for your gifts!


 
So many giveaways!!  So many ways to win!!
  • Here on the BlogHOP:  Catherine will be giving away a $25 gift certificate to her shop to 3 lucky commenters!  Be sure to hop on through the list and leave a comment at each stop for more chances to win!*
  • Instagram:  Did you know we did an instahop yesterday?  Catherine is giving away a $25 gift certificate to 3 lucky commenters on instagram-----> START HERE! **
  • Join our team on YouTube tomorrow for a video hop! Just find Catherine Pooler's channel and start by watching her video.   The grand prize for one lucky commenter on YouTube.......ONE FREE Stamp of Approval Home for the Holidays Collection box!!**
*Winners will be announced on Monday, September 24th on Catherine Pooler's blog.
**To be eligible you must subscribed to Instagram and YouTube and leave your comments along the hops.


Leave a comment and hop on my friends!  Next up is my crafty sistah Susan!

Lisa Harrolle




Have an awesome day!!

Monday, September 10, 2018

MFT's 2018 Design Superstar Contest

Hello friends.  Today I'm stopping in to share a few cards I made over the weekend.  My Favorite Things is hosting their 2018 Card Design Superstar Contest this week so I thought I'd have some fun.  I pulled out a bunch of my  My Favorite Things  and spent some much needed play time in my craft room.  I've attached a couple links so if you're interested in entering the contest you can head on over and check it out!

https://www.mftstamps.com/blog/2018-card-design-superstar/


There are three categories and I just couldn't resist the challenge of making a card for all of them.  Here they are along with their supply lists.



Clean and Simple Genius
For this card I kept the card base clean and simple buy stenciling the Grid Stencil in light shade of purple, being sure to fade out the edges.  I diecut the Wine Service dies from white cardstock and stenciled the same shade of purple onto them.  Then, using a darker shade of purple I did some masking and ink blending over the stenciled bottle and glasses.  This gives the illusion that they are transparent like glass.



For this card I used the following supplies from My Favorite Things:
Stamps:  Uncorked
Dies:  Wine Service
Stencil:  Grid Stencil
Paper:  Silver Shine, Black Licorice, Neenah Solar White cardstocks





Coloring Virtuoso

I colored one of my favorite critter stamp sets for this coloring challenge.   I'm a bird lover and these little Birthday Chicks are so stinkin' cute!  I love that there are so many different little birds in the set to choose from and they are so simple to color.  Here I used Copic Markers.  For the card base I did some tone on tone embossing using the Balloon Strings Background stamp and white embossing powder.  Then using some watercolor paper and distress inks I created a blue, watercolor background, then diecut it using the Heart Stax dies.   I layered the heart on top of a larger white heart.  I created the greeting using Brushstroke Birthday Greetings and Label Maker Sentiments.
For this card I used the following supplies from My Favorite Things:
Stamps:  Birthday Chicks, Label Maker Sentiments, Balloon Strings Background.
Dies:  Birthday Chicks coordinating dies, Brushstroke Birthday Greetings, Heart Stax.
Ink:  Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon (Ranger Distress Oxides), clear emboss (Versamark), 
Paper: Razzle Berry, Black Licorice, Neenah Solar White.
Accessories:  Opaque Bright White Superfine embossing powder (WOW!).
 



Innovation Master

I love the playful look of a shaker card but I have to admit I don't make them very often.  I mail most of my cards and sometimes shakers can be a bit bulky.   Using the Merry Christmas Centerpiece die set for this card I was able to avoid all that bulkiness and I didn't have to use any dimensional tape.  I chose to only use the very center of this die  as a shaker so instead of tape I simply diecut and layered four of these circles on top of each other. The transparency sits between the first two layers so there is plenty of room for these little bits to move around.  Copic coloring the Birthday Bears as polar bears, they finished off the Christmas feel of this card perfectly.  I dressed up the little packages by adding my own hand drawn designer wrapping paper. 
For this card I used the following supplies from My Favorite Things:
Stamps:  Birthday Bears
Dies:  Merry Christmas Centerpiece, Circle STAX Set 2
Stencil:  Split Diagonal
Paper:  Silver Shine, Jelly Bean Green, Neenah Solar White





Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a great week!

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

"New" Craft Stash Blog Hop - Use it or lose it!



Hi everyone and welcome to the "New" Craft Stash Blog Hop day 3.  A bunch of my crafty friends got together and thought it would be fun to have a little challenge within a blog hop.  Just for fun!!!   We've noticed that most card makers seem to have a stash of supplies that they buy and then set aside for future projects.  You tell yourself you'll eventually get around to using them but........
  • Time slips away and before you know it months have passed and you still haven't touched your "new" stuff. 
  •  You stored your "new" stuff away and completely forgot it existed (sometimes we even buy it again!).
  •  You lost your "new" stuff.  Crazy, but it happens!
  • You just can't seem to find the inspiration to use your "new" stuff (that's why we're here today!).  
Sound familiar?   Well, this is our challenge to all our crafty friends.  Break out your "NEW" stash.  Grab something that you've never used or barely used and get busy!  Use it or lose it sistas!

 
https://shop.catherinepooler.com/collections/stamps/products/faithful-flutterings-stamp-set

I'm a little embarrassed to admit I've had this beautiful layering stamp set for months and it's never been out of the package.  Because it's such a large set though, (6x8") it was hard to lose in the crowd.  I've been eyeballing it and I just wasn't feeling inspired I guess.  So, I pulled this beauty out and put it to the challenge today.
 

https://shop.catherinepooler.com/collections/mediums/products/glass-bead-glitter-gel-by-faber-castell?aff=9
 
I've only used this product once or twice and that was back in November on a Christmas card.  I absolutely love it but never seem to remember to use it on my projects.  Not all cards call for this amount of sparkle but boy when they do the results can be stunning!

Here I stamped a whole background of butterflies and then spread a layer of the gel all over it.  The affect was dreamy!
For this card I also used the following supplies:
Dies:  Postage Stamps, Hello (Catherine Pooler Designs).
Ink:  Sweet Sixteen, Pixie Dust, Sugared Lavender (Catherine Pooler Designs), Haze Blue (Zig Kuretake Real Brush Markers).
Accessories:  Glass Slipper Sequin Mix (The Ton)


Check out that Glass Bead Glitter Gel close up!


Keeping my next card clean and simple, I stamped and cut out this butterfly.  I don't have the coordinating dies but this image is super easy to fussy cut.  For a little more interest I stamped the solid butterfly in Catherine Pooler's Black Jack ink directly onto the cardfront to create a shadow, then popped up this butterfly with dimensional tape.  I worked with a couple more stamp sets to piece together this custom sentiment.

For this card I also used the following supplies:
Stamps:  Delicate Polka Dots background (The Ton), The World Awaits (Stamp of Approval Love is in the Air collection/Catherine Pooler Designs).
Ink:  Tiki Torch, Orange Twist, Black Jack and Midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs).
Accessories:  Glass Slippers sequin mix (The Ton).


And what the heck, since I'm on a roll with my "new" stamp set, let's try one more!  I stamped and cut three of the small butterflies for this horizontal top folding card.  I did some light stenciling on the background and added a border along the bottom before adding the butterflies with dimensional tape.  I pieced together another custom sentiment to stretch along the bottom of the card.

For this card I also used the following supplies:
Stamps:  Eat Sleep Create (Catherine Pooler Designs), Haute Stripes (The Ton).
Ink:  It's a Boy, It's a Girl, Party Dress, Midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs).
Accessories:  Swoop Stencil (Catherine Pooler Designs), Split Diagonal Stencil (My Favorite Things), Glass Slippers sequin mix (The Ton.....can you tell it's my favorite?  ;)



A big shout out to all the companies that sponsored this three day blog hop!  They're giving away some great prizes!  All you have to do is hop and comment along the way on each blog. Winners will be chosen on Monday, July 23rd so take your time and enjoy the hop my friends!

Stampscapes 2 prizes – Choice of Nature Sheet ($26.50 ea)
CAS-ual Fridays Stamps $25 gift certificate
Catherine Pooler Designs $25 gift certificate
Right at Home $20 gift certificate
Stamplorations $20 gift certificate


A few of our hop designers are also giving away some goodies on their blogs too:
  
Ingrid - Prize Pack
Allison - $25 Power Poppy E-Gift Card
Ilina - Prize Pack
Tracie - $25 Catherine Pooler GC
Nanette - Prize Pack from Catherine Pooler Designs



It's time to hop along for more inspiration and see all the different ways to use your crafty stash.  Don't forget to leave your comment down below before you go.

Can't think of anything to say?   Tell me what "new" goodies you have in your stash that need some TLC.


 Next up on today's hop is the awesome Justine Hovey!

Justine Hovey <---go here next!
Jennifer Cerizo

 Here are the links to get started on Day 1 and Day 2 if you missed them.  Have fun!!
Have a great day!!

Saturday, June 23, 2018

Stamping for Families Blog Hop


http://www.inlinkz.com/new/view.php?id=786565

Hi friends!  It has been a while since I've posted here on my blog due to my broken ankle craziness but I wanted to come out healing mode to participate in this really special blog hop.  As a birth mother, adoptive mother,  foster mother and an aunt to 21 nieces and nephews, I am hopping along today to show my love and support for all of the children who are caught in the middle of our country's border policy with Mexico.  

While I'm not here to argue politics with anyone,  I do want to say that my heart always has been and always will be, on the side of the children.   These innocent children were brought here and put in a traumatic situation thru no fault of their own.   They are scared and hurting because of the poor choices and senseless policies that were carried out by the adults around them.  We are all guilty of wanting the best for our kids.  We want them to grow up safe and healthy and happy.  Most parents do the best they can to make this happen but some are faced with many obstacles that leave them feeling desperate and destitute.  I can only imagine how desperate a mother must be to make such a hard and treacherous journey with a child on her hip.  


With that image in mind I decided to make this card.  In honor of  my three girls.  Each one coming to me with a different story.  Each one following their own path but all of them having one thing in common, their love for their mothers.

For this card I used the following supplies:
Stamps:  Shady Canopy (Penny Black), City Girls Park Life (The Ton), Travel Wagon (Unity Stamps).
Ink:  Green Tea, Eucalyptus, Spruce, Icing on the Cake, Midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs), Tumbled Glass Distress (Ranger),  Copic markers.
Paper:  Neenah Solar White 110 lb.
Accessories:  City Girls Park Life coordinating dies (The Ton), fun foam.




In the link below, you can follow along the path of some other beautiful crafters who are expressing their love for these children thru their card making today.  Also, if you are feeling inspired to make and share your own lovely card in this hop, you can add it to the link below.  Sandy Allnock is offering a free seat in her classroom to one lucky hop participant and also for one lucky commenter on her blog.   So be sure to stop  by and say "hi!".





Take care my friends.
Thanks so much for stopping by.  Happy Stamping!!

Monday, May 7, 2018

Bike Week Winners!

Congratulations Bike Week Winners!  Please PM me here or on Facebook with your contact info!  Note:  Winners will have until 6am Thursday, May 10th to claim your prize.

1.  cghundley:  you get first choice!
2.  Sharon Jones let me know your first and second choice please!
 3.  Demi1 the final set will be yours!

 Motorcycle Layering Stamp Set
https://www.thetonstamps.com/products/motorcycle-layering-set 

https://www.thetonstamps.com/products/motorcycle-boss

 Beautiful Day Bicycle
https://www.thetonstamps.com/products/beautiful-day-bicycle


Have a beautiful day!

Friday, May 4, 2018

Bike Week - My kinda ride - Friday


It's' Friday and the final day of Bike Week.  Thank you so much for riding along with me this week as I showcased some awesome stamp sets from The Ton.  Thanks to Effie over at The Ton for offering up some great stamp sets for the giveaway.  The Motorcycle Layering Stamp set and the Motorcycle Boss set are so unique and fun.  I had a blast working with them this week.  But today I'm pulling out a little stamp set that really won my heart.  This little two wheeler is more my speed.  This is what my bike in the garage really looks like!



That's right!   My little blue bicycle created using The Ton's 3x4" stamp set:


https://www.thetonstamps.com/products/beautiful-day-bicycle

Surprise!
 Add this to the giveaway list!  Three winners will now be chosen from this week's comments so one of you could win this adorable little "bike" set just in time for spring!


For my first card. I made a pretty little scene that I could color with my Zig Kuretake watercolor markers.


The Bike:


My second card is a birthday card using whole a mix of stamps and dies from The Ton.


  • First I masked a strip off the bottom of an A2 size white card front.  Then I did some ink blending with The Ton's Smoky Quartz ink.
  • I stamped all of the images and sentiment with The Ton's Copic friendly Caviar ink then colored the images with Copic markers.  I masked off the little baskets before stamping the puppy and flowers.
  • After stamping the sentiment I diecut it out using the The Ton's Modern Labels die set.  I added some craft foam to the back.
  • I adhered the panel to a card base, then glued on the sentiment label.



 Wait, there's a GIVEAWAY:
  • I'm giving away THREE stamp sets from The Ton:  1 Motorcycle Layering set 6x8"  1 Motorcycle Boss 4x6" stamp set and 1 Beautiful Day Bicycle 3x4" stamp set.
  • THREE lucky commenters will win one of these stamp sets!  All you have to do is ride along with me this week and leave a comment each day, here on my Bike Week blog postings. (see Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday here.)
  • The first random winner chosen will get first choice on which stamp set they win.  The second name drawn will get second choice and the  remaining stamp set will go to the third random winner chosen.  
  • (Sorry, open to US residents only, due to shipping restrictions.)  
  • I'll give you through the weekend to get your comments in and will announce the lucky winners on Monday, May 7th 
Just a quick note:  The Ton shipping dept. is currently on hiatus but will be back in the shop on May 10th and will get your orders out promptly. 


Thank you so much for riding along with me thru  Bike Week.
 Remember to comment below for your chance to WIN!  Good luck!

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Bike Week - Build-a-Bike Thursday


Hello and welcome back to Bike Week!  Today I'm going to rev things up a notch, pull out all my tools and build my own bikes.  The Ton's Buildable Motorcycle Standalone Dies are an amazingly, fun way to add a motorcycle to your cards.  No stamps are needed, just a diecut machine (my Big Shot is ready), glue and a good pair of tweezers.



OK, I'm not gonna lie.  Just looking at all these parts intimidated the heck out of me.  Lordy, how in the world would I manage to get everything in the correct place....or even begin to know what each part is?  This die set is truly a puzzle and a challenge the first time around.  But I promise, after I put it together the first time, the second one was a breeze!

For my first card I enlisted the help of: 


https://www.thetonstamps.com/products/motorcycle-layered-coordinating-die



 This die cuts the basic motorcycle shape and served as base for my Buildable Motorcycle parts.  You absolutely DO NOT need this die to assemble the Buildable Motorcycle but it does help.  I'm going to show you two bikes today, one with and one without this base so you can see the difference.


I started with the background on this card by doing some masking and ink blending
 


Motorcycle assembly: 
I cut out all of the die pieces twice.  I found that was the easiest way to do it as you will need two of some of the pieces to build your bike and extra parts you can use as fillers.

  • The "chrome" pieces were cut out of silver mirrored cardstock.
  • The base piece, triangle piece and wheels were cut from black cardstock.
  • The seat, fenders and gas tank were cut from white cardstock.  I colored these pieces using Copic Markers then added some clear Wink of Stella over the top for sparkle.
  •  I assembled the bike by adhering the tires and "chrome" rims to the base first.  Then the triangular frame piece. I glued on the fenders, seat and gas tank next.  The tailpipes  and all the little parts fit in as shown.  You'll notice some of the little pieces are glued on top of each other to add dimension. Also note that I cut and adhered two handlebar/headlight pieces along with the two long posts that attach to the front wheel. 




For my second card today I diecut and assembled this same Buildable Motorcycle only this time I didn't use  the other die for the base. Now that I knew where all the parts go, I found it much easier to make this die set work on it's own.  

Tips:
  • If you look closely at the photo below, you'll see the embossed lines and little cutouts that will help guide you to proper placement of the gas tank and the tailpipes.  
  • Once these are all in place it's time to start adding all the little parts.  I recommend a good pair of  tweezers to make this task much easier. 
  • Don't be afraid to load up that bike engine with lots of little pieces!  Of course I'm not a mechanic so I have no clue what any of it is anyway.  But I do know that the fuller the engine area looks, the better.  So just have fun and put those tweezers to work! 


I kept this ladies card background clean and simple:


For the motorcycle:

 Wait, there's a GIVEAWAY:
  • I'm giving away two stamp sets from The Ton:  1 Motorcycle Layering set 6x8" and 1 Motorcycle Boss 4x6" stamp set.
  • Two lucky commenters will win one of these stamp sets!  All you have to do is ride along with me this week and leave a comment each day, here on my Bike Week blog postings. (see Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday here.)
  • The first random winner chosen will get first choice on which stamp set they win.  The remaining stamp set will go to the second random winner chosen.  
  • (Sorry, open to US residents only, due to shipping restrictions.)  
  • I'll give you through the weekend to get your comments in and will announce the lucky winners on Monday, May 7th 
Just a quick note:  The Ton shipping dept. is currently on hiatus but will be back in the shop on May 10th and will get your orders out promptly. 


Thank you for riding along today!  I'll be back tomorrow with a surprise ending to Bike Week so be sure to come back for the final ride!
 Remember to comment below for your chance to WIN!