Miss. Carrie's Creations

It’s A Let It Shimmer Technique Blog Hop

Published on June 15, 2020June 15, 2020 by Miss. Carrie's Creations15 Comments

Welcome to another Technique Blog Hop where we will be showing you a variety of shimmery techniques as we highlight a few of our current Close to My Heart products! If you have come here from Krista Hershberger’s Blog, you are on the right path! When you are finished taking a look at my shimmery Out of This World cards and learning some Shimmer Brush techniques, you can click on the link at the end to move to the next blog. This blog hop is simple, fun, and full of ideas. If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melissa’s Blog.

For this blog hop, I had a hard time deciding what type to video to create – a tips & tricks or a process video – so I decided to do both. I had so much fun using my Shimmer Brushes to create these three Out of This World cards and I couldn’t wait to share them with you.

Before we get into the tips & tricks portion of this post, I want to show you a few close-ups of those globe die cuts. These were cut using the Thin Cut from our Aurora Cardmaking kit. Aren’t those just stunning?? I just love the look of old globes.

I used our Shimmer Brushes to create the splattered backgrounds and shade two of the globes. If you would like to know how I made each one of these, you are in luck♥. I will be posting a video tutorial on my YouTube Channel later in the week to go along with the video tutorial I have posted below.

♥ Today, I am going to give you a few Tips when it comes to using our Shimmer Brushes. I have also included a short little five minute video for you to view.

For those of you who may want to skip this tutorial and move on with the hop, you can click this link to move on to Melissa Robinson’s Blog.

Please take a few minute to subscribe to my channel & comment to let me know what you thought about this tutorial.

TIP #1: Store Shimmer Brushes Upright

This may seem obvious to some, but I realized recently that many people do not know that you should always store them upright. When they are stored upside down, the ink can drip into the lid and create quite the mess when you open it.

I like to store mine in our Workspace Wonder Tool Caddy, but I have also seen them stored in a Mason jar or coffee cup.

TIP #2: Pull the Lid to Open – Do Not Twist

This is another little blunder I have seen commonly done with our Shimmer Brushes. Many people will “twist” the lid open, unsealing the ink within and creating quite the mess. (Just ask my 10 year old niece how fun that is.)

Now, there are a few times that you might want to twist open that brush which leads us to my next tip.

TIP #3: Twist to Release Pressure

I often travel to locations in the mountains where there is an increase in elevation and, when I take my Shimmer Brushes, the pressure increases in the base causing it to drip ink all over when I go to use it. I have found that I can release that built-up pressure by carefully unscrewing the tip and pulling out the brush, then tightly screwing the tip back on.

After I have replaced the brush tip, I will brush the excess ink off onto my All Purpose Mat or a scrap piece of paper before I begin to use it.

There you have it.♥ Just a few tips & tricks for using those awesome Shimmer Brushes in your stash. Oh, by the way – our shimmer brushes are NOT labeled with the colors at the top. That is something I did using a label maker.

I can’t wait to share with you how I made each one of those Out of This World cards. I will be posting the process video, later this week, showing you how I used a few of my Shimmer Brushes to create backgrounds, blend watercolors, and create a blended alcohol-ink-like look. Now ‘Hop” on over to Melissa Robinson’s Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting tips and other fun ideas for using Shimmer on your projects.

Some of the links in this blog post are affiliate links. By clicking on those links, and making a purchase, your are helping to support my small business. This is at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Cute as a Bug Scrapbook Page | Video Collab

Published on June 15, 2020June 14, 2020 by Miss. Carrie's CreationsLeave a comment

I am so excited to share with you another video collab from our Creative Design Team. This group of ladies has been such a blessing to me and it all started because sweet Jayma Malme had the idea to get all of us together to create some projects each month – JUST FOR YOU♥. This month, we are showing you some Creative Ways to use Tags and you are NOT going to be disappointed.

I decided to create a Sweet as a Bug layout with an”extended tag” background for these adorable photos of my nephew. Isn’t he the sweetest??♥ He happens to be almost 21 right now, so I am sure he is going to roll his eyes when he sees this layout.

For those of you who prefer to head right on over to the video collab, you can click on the video below and it will take you to the list of tutorials on YouTube. For those of you wish to see a few more details about this layout, you can keep on reading.

Please take a few minutes to subscribe & click the notification icon so you are notified when new videos are added.

This layout was created using a variety of scraps from the Stitched Together & Mixed-in Papers. I chose to use our Tags & Tabs Thin Cuts to create the illusion of an elongated tag behind the photos. All I did was cut two of each tag from Stitched Together and Mix-Ins paper AND a PML Card from the Stitched Together pack.

I love having PML (Picture My Life) cards on hand for projects♥. They are designed for pocket scrapbooking, but I have found that they are great to use as photo mats, journalling boxes, and for little accents like that tag when you don’t have a paper to match.

In fact, I used quite a few of those PML cards on this project. One as a journaling box, one as a sentiment accent, one for the tags, and one for that adorable large ladybug. Yep, I cut that little gem out by hand and I am glad I did.♥ It is the perfect accent for this page.

I also added a few Ladybugs from the sticker sheet and some delightful wooden buttons onto the page. At the time, I wasn’t quite sure if I would use “Cute as a Button” or “Cute as a Bug” for the title, so I decided to add both elements on this layout.

To create movement, I added thread trails with White Twine to help those buttons to feel “grounded” and create the illusion of flying ladybugs. When making a thread trail, simply draw loops onto your page with a pencil then trace the lines with a fine tip glue pen. (I like Art Glitter Glue & Tombow glue pens because they dry clear.) The twine is laid down onto the glue trails and topped with a few wooden buttons. Really simple to do and it makes a fun addition to any project.

My last minute addition to the page was the title. Like I said earlier, I was struggling with this and wanted something to fill that empty corner of the page.

I started out trying to created something on my Cricut, then realized that I hadn’t use stamps for a title in a long while, so I dug out that big, bold Chronicle Type alphabet and went to work. I used a stamping platform to avoid making any stamping mistakes, added a few tiny hearts, and label-maker label to complete the title.

All in all this layout turned out super cute and I can’t wait to add it to my scrapbooks. I hope that you enjoyed this video collab project and that you learned a few new ways to creatively use tags. You can view the full list of Creative Design Team creations HERE on my blog or in the description of my video.

For those of you who wish to recreate this layout, you can find a complete list of supplies I used below. Please tag @misscarriescreations when you post your creation so that I can see what you made.

Here is a List of the Supplies Used on My Project

A Happy Stitched Together Gift

Published on June 12, 2020June 10, 2020 by Miss. Carrie's Creations14 Comments

For the Color Dare Challenge

Don’t you just love receiving little unexpected gifts in the mail? Personally, I prefer giving them♥. This week, I was working on a few “happy mail” projects using the Stitched Together collection and realized that they would be perfect to share on the Color My Heart Color Dare blog. Before I show you my Happy Stitched Together Gift, let me show you which colors you get to use for this week’s challenge.

All of these colors on this Tic-Tac-Toe board come from our delightful Stitched Together collection and for my project I chose to use …. ALL of them♥. I couldn’t help it. The color palette in this collection is so bright and cheerful making this a fun little gift anyone would love to receive in the mail.

I started out by creating a 4″ x 3″ pocket that I made using some textured Candy Apple cardstock left over from a project I made using the Blue Skies collection. The pocket was decorated with a few pieces of Stitched Together paper and stickers. Aren’t those flowers just too stinkin’ cute?♥

To create the sentiment, I used the Stitched Together Cardmaking stamp set and Thin Cuts dies. When I first saw this stamp set, I honestly thought that I would never use it, but, I must admit, I love the look of that layered “happy” image.

The “happy” sentiment was stamped in Lagoon Ink then topped with a “happy” die cut cut from Sapphire cardstock. I then layered another sentiment on top using some foam tape for dimension.

To finish off the project, I added some White Twine, Bitty Sparkles, and a White Ribbon bow dyed with Peach ink. The little gift was tucked inside and the whole package will fit right into an envelope to send off to someone special.

I hope that today’s project inspired you to try something new and that you will consider joining us for this week’s Color My Heart Color Dare challenge. You don’t have to use the Stitched Together papers or CTMH inks, but we do ask that you stick to the color palette shown and link your project to the blog before June 25th.

Sweet Cone Flower Card

Published on June 10, 2020 by Miss. Carrie's Creations19 Comments

These past few weeks, I have been in a bit of a creative rut so I decided to start searching the internet for some paper crafting challenges. Challenges inspire me and give me a jumping off point♥ when I have no ideas of my own. I am not one to search Pinterest because I have found it to be the eternal time sucking rabbit hole with my attention deficit brain. Instead, I chose three challenges which I combined into one simple card.

The colors for this card are a little outside my comfort zone, but I like how the Color Throwdown challenged me with this combination. The stamped flower image from A Million Little Things, was shaded using our TriBlend Markers.

I used a combination of blue, purple, greens, and tan to create the cone flower, then stamped some splatter using Carolina Ink. I love the simplicity of these flower images – they call to my gardening soul♥.

One of the challenges I joined also spoke to the gardener in me. I was inspired by the words in this quote at Time Out Challenges. I felt like this card speaks to the all the gardeners out there “who make our souls bloom”.

After I was finished shading the image, I roughed up the edges, wrapped some twine around the base, and backed it in some Sapphire cardstock.

I chose to keep the background of the card white, but felt like it needed a little texture, so I pulled out my score board and created a grid pattern on the card base. This is a very simple technique♥ that creates a striking backdrop on any card.

When I was finished, I realized that the design for the card matched the Atlantic Heart Sketch challenge perfectly. I moved the sentiment to a different location, but the design was perfect for this stamped image and I really like how this card turned out. I can honestly say that these challenges have started to help my creative brain start working again♥.

If you have been in a bit of a creative rut lately, I challenge you to do what I did and join a few online challenges. For me, they provide the inspiration I need and make my creative gears turn. Maybe they will do the same for you.

A Simple Sunflower Tag Card

Published on June 8, 2020June 7, 2020 by Miss. Carrie's Creations2 Comments

For the Heart2Heart Challenge

Hello, my friends! I hope that you are doing well and ready for another Heart2Heart challenge. This week, our Design Team was asked to use Tags – one of my favorites to make – so I am pulling out the June stamp of the month again to create something to inspire you. Before I show you my Simple Sunflower Tag card, I want to remind you how to join our monthly challenges.

When you join our monthly challenges, we do ask that you use at least one Close to My Heart product AND that you are sharing original work when you link your photo to the blog post. You can read the complete set of rules HERE.

When I first saw our Garden Tags stamp set, the gardener in me leapt with joy. I just adore those rustic, vintage-like images that have been placed perfectly to align with our Tags & Tabs Thin Cuts. Last week, I used this stamp set to create two old-world tags and, this week, I am using two of the images to create a Simple Sunflower card.

Don’t you just love this?♥ I was able to design a delightful little tag as a focal point atop other images from the same stamp set. The background is a stark contrast to the bright sunflowers and all I had to do to create it was mask off the top & bottom of one of the stamps.

Once the background was stamped, I cut it out using our Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts. I had debated hand stitching the background onto the card, but I think I like the simple look of the embossed stitching on this project.

The Sunflowers themselves were shaded using our TriBlend Markers. In quite a few gardens here, we have a sunflower with a slight coral tint♥ that darkens as it fades. I tried the emulate this by blending the Light Yellow with Coral shades.

One of my favorite things about creating tags is getting to chose the ribbon, thread, and twine to match it. I have quite the collection in my craft space. For this card, I chose to stick with yellow & black. If you have been collecting Close to My Heart goodies for as long as I have, you probably recognize the ribbon and the waxy flax.

Once all the layers were complete, they were assembled using Foam Tape. I am loving the simplicity of this card. There are so many possible designs you could create using the Garden Tags stamp set.

I hope that today’s project inspired you and that you would consider joining us for the Heart2Heart Tags challenge. If you do, make sure that you link your project to the blog before June 30th.

By the way, if you are enjoying the Garden Tags stamp set as much as I am♥, you will want to grab it before the end of June. This is one of our exclusive $5.00 Stamp of the Month sets the you will want to get your hands on before it’s gone.