Header Mine

Header Mine

Thursday 27 December 2018

Top 10 Favourite Cards

This week the design team is showcasing their top 10 favourite cards of 2018.

I don't know if any of you have had to do this before but can I just tell you how hard it is to pick just 10 favourite cards?!  
High Hopes has such a large range of versatile stamps it is easy to find the perfect stamp for you card........but it makes it extremely difficult to pick favourites from the cards you have made using them! 

I hope you enjoy my top 10 favourite cards for 2018











I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic day!















Thursday 20 December 2018

Penguin Christmas

It is 5 days until Christmas and I am still working on Christmas cards. Thankfully it is the cards I can deliver in person I am putting the finishing touches on! 
This week I am having some fun with new "Penguin Tag" from the Woodsy Christmas release. I decided to make it a shaker in the tag portion of the stamp just for fun. 

Merry Christmas to all of the High Hopes and One Crazy Stamper fans and to all of my blog followers and crafty friends! 



I started by colouring my stamp with alcohol markers and adding some silver wink of stella and Stickles for a bit of sparkle. Next I fussy cut the inside of the tag, followed by the outside and ran a black marker around the edge. As I am looking at the cut out stamp I questioned my sanity on making it a shaker card - I mean the striped edge is pretty thin and I don't have any foam tape that skinny! Oooiiyyy! I forged ahead and chose my patterned paper and started cutting it to fit my card size. 
I masked off the sentiment to get the one line I wanted from it and cut it to fit. Yes, at this point I am wracking my brain to figure out how I am going to get foam tape skinny enough to fit the striped border and not stick out the sides but keep the tag shape. My solution? Take the skinniest foam tape (width) I have and cut pieces of it in half. This was the perfect solution to being able to keep the shape of the tag so my shaker bits stayed in as well as keep the tape from peaking  out the side. Phew! Crisis averted. Some red silver edge ribbon and sparkly gumdrops finish off my card. 

Card Recipe 
Stamp: Penguin Tag - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Sentiment: Sparkle and Cheer - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Patterned Paper: Have A Merry Christmas - Carta Bella, A Perfect Christmas - Echo Park

Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Misti, snowflake embossing folder - Darice, white Christmas sequin mix - Little Things by Lucy's Cards, silver Wink of Stella, Silver Stickles, sparkly gumdrops - YNS, ribbon - Recollections 

Spectrum Noir Markers: BG5 BG7 BG10 CT1 GB5 CR7 CR11 DR6 LG2 LG4 LG5 CG4 DG3 JG6

Be sure to stop by the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Facebook page and blog for daily inspiration from the design team!
                                                                 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a super fantastic day!

Sunday 16 December 2018

Santa's Helper?

I am on a last minute Christmas card making kick.  There are a few people on my card giving list who will look like this after Christmas dinner, especially after dessert! "Santa's Helper" is the perfect stamp for one of these people don't you think? 

It looks to me like someone found Santa's cookie and milk stash and has over indulged! 




After colouring up this fun stamp with alcohol markers, I cut it out using a pleated circle die and added some Stickles to his hat and coat for a bit of sparkle. The sentiment is one long sentiment that I masked off and "layer" stamped to fit my card design.  Some matching glittery ribbon and gumdrops finish off my card. 

Card Recipe 
Stamp: Santa's Helper - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Sentiment: Not Even A Moose - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Patterned Paper: Christmas Delivery - Carta Bella

Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Misti, Star Dust Stickles, Galena ribbon, pop dots - Forever In Time, gumdrops - YNS, Pleated Circle die - Gina Marie Designs

Spectrum Noir Markers: CR7 CR11 DR6 IG1 IG3 IG5 PP1 PP3 PP5 TN3 TN6 TN7 BG5 BG7 BG10 EB3 EB5 CT2 

Be sure to stop by the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Facebook page and blog for daily inspiration from the design team!
                                                                 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a super fantastic day!

Thursday 13 December 2018

Greatest Gifts

Christmas is literally just around the corner and I am still working on Christmas cards. Some will be given in person and some will be sent in the mail. Yikes - I guess I better get on that! 

I have a few friends and family who love snowmen so this stamp is perfect for one of the snowmen lovers on my list. I love this group of snowman friends all hanging out in a fuzzy mitten. So fun!! 



I coloured this fun stamp with alcohol markers and cut it out with a new to me stitched tag. Gold Wink of Stella on the ribbon, clear spectrum Sparkle pen on the stars and some Stickles on the snowman hat added some more fun sparkle.  I added some fun gold sequins to some of the white space around the stamp. Next, I chose my patterned papers from Simple Stories and cut them to size. I took my smaller piece  of paper and put it in my Misti, held my breath and stamped the sentiment. A few sequins add some sparkle to the sentiment too. 
Some gold trim ribbon and gumdrops finish off my card. 

Card Recipe 
Stamp: Snowmen Stocking - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Sentiment: Magic Of Christmas - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Patterned Paper: Cozy Christmas - Simple Stories

Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Misti, white gel pen, stitched nesting tags - Tutti Designs, GL Gold Wink Of Stella, Icicle Stickles, Spearmint gumdrops - YNS, gold sequins stash.

Spectrum Noir Markers: CG4 DG3 JG6 IR1 IR2 TN1 EB1 EB2 XR7 CR88 DR6 black IG1 IG3 IG5 CG1 DG2 DG4 CT1 CT2 TB1 TB2 FS8
Copic Markers: E37 B00

Be sure to stop by the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Facebook page and blog for daily inspiration from the design team!
                                                                 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a super fantastic day!

Thursday 6 December 2018

Hitting The Slopes

This week I am hitting the slopes with "Skiing Raccoon" and my Prismacolor pencils. 
I personally am not a skier but I had some fun building a snowy scene for this acetate front card. 




After colouring my stamp with Prismas I added some sparkle to is hat and the snowflake on his sweater with Stickles and then hand fussy cut him. 
Next, I cut my card base and all the pieces to build my scene. Stitched dies were perfect to add a little bit of texture to the snow hills and some fun trees that we hope our skiing raccoon can avoid help complete my scene. 
The sentiment is added directly on to my snow hill - so thankful for my Misti because I held my breath and did it after my card was assembled. Some twine, a snow flake and a few crystals for bling finish off my card.

Card Recipe 
Stamp: Skiing Raccoon - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Sentiment:Sparkle All The Way - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Patterned Paper: White Out Collection - Bo Bunny

Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Misti, double stitched hills die - YNS, stitched hills die - Whimsy, Star Dust Stickles, Sheer Treescape die - Memory Box, Crystazzi crystals - stash, twine - stash, snowflake punch - Marvy

Prismacolor Pencils: 10, 20, 50, 70% french grey, 90, 70, 30, 10 warm grey, deco pink, blush pink, pink, dark brown, chocolate, beige sienna, peach beige, tuscan red, scarlet lake, poppy red, salmon pink, olive green, spring green, apple green

Be sure to stop by the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Facebook page and blog for daily inspiration from the design team!
                                                                 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a super fantastic day!

Sunday 2 December 2018

Poinsettia Challenge Card

I made this card a couple of weeks ago for a sketch challenge.
 I decided to challenge myself to do a card with something that was not coloured. 
I have a growing collection of dies......probably second only to my patterned paper and stamp collections so I decided to use a die or dies for something different. I have to admit it felt weird not to colour something for a card first! 

Here is what I came up with


The Sketch 

Card Recipe

Sentiment - Sm. Christmas Script- High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Brick Stencil - Whimsy Stamps
Build A Poinsettia die - Whimsy Stamps
Fish Tail banner die - Your Next Stamp
London Fog ink - Memento
Gem - stash

This card was entered into the Bazzill Basics Paper monthly challenge on Facebook for the November challenge.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic day! 




Thursday 29 November 2018

Christmas Penguins

I have been playing around with some non traditional colours for my Christmas cards lately and this week is no exception. 

These cute penguins got the "no peeking, poking, shaking" memo a little late I think! It was so hard as a child to resist the temptation to pick up the presents from under tree wasn't it?! If we got caught we got in some major trouble so I would sit and look at the presents instead and try to guess. 
Truthfully, I find it just as tempting as an adult! 





I coloured my stamp with alcohol markers and cut it out using a hand stitched rectangle die. I added some fun polka dots to one of the hats just for fun and some pom poms with just a hint of silver in them. I was going to re stamp my sentiment because it isn't 100% straight but given what the sentiment is, I left a little crooked because it fits the card theme. 
I added this to an older collection of patterned paper from Bo Bunny. Some matching white and silver ribbon and sliver glitter enamel dots finish off my card. 

Card Recipe 
Stamp: Christmas Penguins - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Sentiment: Peeking Poking Shaking - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Patterned Paper: Altitude Collection - Bo Bunny

Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Misti, white gel pen, hand stitched nested rectangle die - Whimsy Stamps, Celebrate It Ribbon, pom poms - stash, glitter enamel dots - Gina Marie Designs

Spectrum Markers:  BG5 BG7 BG10 OR1 GB5 CT4 CR11 AG1 AG3 AG5 TN1 EB1 MB3 DP2 DP3 DP4 BT4 BT6 BT7

Be sure to stop by the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Facebook page and blog for daily inspiration from the design team!
                                                                 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a super fantastic day!

Monday 26 November 2018

Best Fishes

Seems like Santa has been getting some R and R and doing some ice fishing before his big day! 

I have a few people on my card giving list that love fishing! They sleep and dream in fishing and yes, ice fishing included. 
"Fishing Santa" paired with the "Christmas Fishies" sentiment is perfect combo for the person who loves fishing on your card giving list! This card is made for a gentleman so my challenge was to keep it masculine and Christmasy all at the same time. 



After colouring the stamp with alcohol markers and a touch of Prisma pencil, I hand fussy cut it leaving a thin white edge. I added some stickles - not too sparkly or colourful to his hat and set him aside to dry. I coloured his buttons and the reel on the fishing rod with a silver gel pen - gotta get a bit of sparkle in there for Christmas right?! 
Paper from Echo Park's Celebrate Winter collection was perfect for my masculine theme. The sentiment comes as one large sentiment so I masked it and stamped it separately just for fun. 
A touch of a fish net die cut and some matching sparkly gumdrops finish off my card. 

Card Recipe 
Stamp: Fishing Santa - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Sentiment: Christmas Fishies - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Patterned Paper: Celebrate Winter - Echo Park 

Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Misti, silver gel pen, fish tail banner die - YNS, fish net die - Tutti Designs, Twinkle Stickles, sparkly gumdrops - YNS


Spectrum Markers: FS1 FS4 TN2 TN4 CR7 CR11 DR6 BG5 BG7 BG10 TN1 MB1 MB2 TB8 BT9 TB9 YG1 YG2 YG3 
Copics: BG01 B02 B04
Prismacolor Pencil: 30% Cool Grey 

Be sure to stop by the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Facebook page and blog for daily inspiration from the design team!
                                                                 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a super fantastic day!

Thursday 22 November 2018

Christmas Wreath

I don't know about your neighbourhood but some of my neighbours have started putting up their Christmas decorations. 
This week my card was inspired by the outdoor decorations I see going up. There are a lot of people who are putting up lights, blow up a characters and wreaths on their door or on the brick above their garage door.

Inspired by the wreath on the brick look, I decided to design my card with that in mind. For me this is a CAS card design and I have used some non traditional colours for this gorgeous wreath from the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Woodsy Christmas new release. I had to sit on my hands, I find the CAS style quite challenging!  



The stamp is coloured with alcohol markers and hand fussy cut leaving a thin white line. I set it aside and cut a piece of white card stock to the size I needed. I taped it down with painters tape and then placed the brick pattern stencil over top and taped down the corners. London Fog ink was perfect for my brick colour as I wanted it to be kind of subtle so the wreath is the focus. 
Originally, I was going to pop the wreath up on pop dots so I added a silver glitter heart with a piece of thread in the middle. The heart kept sitting sideways so I ended up just gluing everything down. I put my cardstock into my Misti and stamped my sentiment (after I masked off the exclamation mark) and added a silver glitter heart beside it. 

Card Recipe 
Stamp: Wreath - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Sentiment: Merry Christmas - High Hopes Rubber Stamps

Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Misti, silver Wink Of Stella, silver glitter paper, brick stencil - Whimsy Stamps, London Fog ink - Memento

Spectrum Markers: BT4 BT5 BT9 CR1 CR3 EB6

Be sure to stop by the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Facebook page and blog for daily inspiration from the design team!
                                                                 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a super fantastic day!

Thursday 15 November 2018

Sledding Gnome Fun!

How fun are these sledding gnomes from the Woodsy Christmas new release!
They bring back so many memories of sledding fun from my child hood. We had a huge hill that lead to a ditch that we sledded on. It ended with a "jump" that landed us in the bull rushes, much to my Mom's dismay! My brothers, neighbours and I had many hours of fun! 



After colouring my stamp with alcohol markers, I hand fussy cut it and added some Stickles to their hats and the sleigh front. 
Next I started forming my card base. I used a tutorial from my fellow DT and super talented friend Cheri which she calls a front step easel card. You can find her easy to follow tutorial here
Once my base was cut and scored I added some fun snow banks and trees to the patterned paper and the mountain folds of the base to create my scene.  Some plain and sparkle gumdrops finish off my card. 

Card Recipe 
Stamp: Sledding Gnomes - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Sentiment: Dashing Through The Snow - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Patterned Paper: Northern Lights - Recollections
Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Misti, Twinkle Stickles

Spectrum Markers: FS1 FS2 TN2 TN4 BT3 BT4 BT5 HB1 LV1 HB2 BO2 BO4 B06 CG1 DG2 
10% and 30% Prismacolor pencils for shading

Be sure to stop by the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Facebook page and blog for daily inspiration from the oh so creative design team!
                                                                 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a super fantastic day!

Monday 12 November 2018

Wasn't Me Brutus

Anyone else have two pets that blame each other for their shenanigans? 
I had a kitten first and then a puppy. Both of the had their moments with wreaking havoc on my house. They would blame each other and look all innocent when something went wrong. Little did they know, as their personalities came out it was pretty easy to tell who the trouble maker was! 

It is these fun memories that inspired this fun Christmas card, coloured with Prismacolor pencils. 




After some creative masking (the tree stamp has a cat and mouse on it) and stamping, I coloured my stamps with Prismacolour pencils. Brutus is stamped  hand fussy cut and glued down to create my scene.  I cut it out using a notched rectangles die. I set it aside and chose some fun pet themed Christmas patterned paper. Some ribbon, a gold bell and some enamel dots finish off my card. 

Card Recipe 
Stamp: Wasn't Me, Brutus - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Sentiment: Cat Did It - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Patterned Paper: Christmas Pets - Recollections
Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Misti, Gold Wink of Stella, enamel dots - Gina Marie Designs

Prismacolor Pencils: Prussian, Kelly, Sap Green, Chocolate, Beige Sienna, Peach Beige, Black Raspberry, Crimson Red, Scarlet Lake, Warm Grey 30%, 70%, 90%, Dark Umber, Dark Brown, Light Umber, Bronze, Pink, Blush Pink, Deco Peach, 20% Cool Grey

Be sure to stop by the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Facebook page and blog for daily inspiration from the oh so creative design team!
                                                                 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a super fantastic day!

Thursday 8 November 2018

Woodland Noel

How fun are these woodland friends all hanging out in a stocking?!!
When I saw this stamp I knew I wanted to colour it up in some earthy tones and find a way to make it look like these cute friends are hanging from a tree branch. 
What was in my head didn't work out and this card went totally sideways from "the plan" but I am happy with the end result. 

Meet "Woodland Stocking" from the new Woodsy Christmas release!



After colouring these cuties with alcohol markers, I cut it out using an oval die. I chose some matching wood and subtle snowflake paper for my background. The stamp was hand fussy cut leaving a thin white border. Next I cut some matching branches for the top of my oval. I chose not to add a sentiment because I thought the Noel on the stocking was perfect. I added some clear sparkle pen to each letter for a bit of bling. A glitter ribbon bow and enamel dots finish off my card. 

Card Recipe 
Stamp: Woodland Stocking - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Patterned Paper: Winter Wonderland - Simple Stories  

Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Misti, Clear Spectrum Sparkle pen, Galena ribbon, foam pop dots - Forever In Time, mini greens die - Tim Holtz, enamel dots - Gina Marie Designs, Oval die - Gina Marie Designs 

Spectrum Noir Markers: BG5 BG7 BG10 MB1 MB3 MB4 OR1 TN3 TN6 TN7 GY2 FS8 EB1 TN1 DR6 CR7 DR6 CG1 DG2 YG3 BGR2 BGR3 BGR4 VB2 VB3 

Be sure to stop by the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Facebook page and blog for daily inspiration from the oh so creative design team!
                                                                 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a super fantastic day!

Thursday 1 November 2018

Winter Stroll

I have a confession to make. Winter really isn't my favourite time of year. There are some beautiful days though - you know the ones... the sun is glistening off the snow, little to no wind, not too cold and a fresh blanket of snow. 
I love to take my dog for a long walk on this type of day! He loves to bury his nose in the snow and run!!

This "perfect" winter day was the inspiration for this weeks card. I mean why wouldn't a bear want to take a stroll in the woods with mountains in the background on a beautiful winter day right?! 




I started today's card by stamping one evergreen tree, masking it off and stamping some of the mountains. I stamped an extra tree and the bear and coloured everything with alcohol markers and fussy cut them. "Snow" was added to the sky with a white gel pen.
 I cut my patterned paper to the sizes I needed and cut the scene was cut with a stitched rectangle die. I added a bit of extra white card stock to the bottom of it for more room. 
Next, I took a hills die and cut out thin strips of card stock and added them to my scene to act as snow drifts. I added the second tree and the bear and stamped my sentiment. Some twine and gumdrops finish off my card. 

At the very end, once everything was glued down I held my breath, grabbed a paint brush and added some glitter snow to the mountain tops and trees. 

Card Recipe 
Stamp: Bear, Mountains, Winter Evergreen - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Sentiment: Hello Winter - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Patterned Paper: Let It Snow - Carta Bella  

Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Misti, white gel pen, stitched rectangle and oval die - YNS, Aleene's Glitter Snow, twine, gumdrops - YNS 

Spectrum Noir Markers: EB3 EB6 EB5 BG5  BG7 CG4 DG3 JG6 IG1 IG3 BGR3 BGR4

Be sure to stop by the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Facebook page and blog for daily inspiration from the oh so creative design team!
                                                                 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a super fantastic day!

Thursday 25 October 2018

Our Gnome To Yours

I have someone in my life who loves gnomes and hot chocolate.......so when I saw the newly released "Cocoa Gnome" from the Woodsy Christmas release I knew it would be perfect for their Christmas card. 



After stamping and colouring my stamp with alcohol markers and Prisma pencils, I cut it out using a stitching and pierce mark circle die. I added some stickles to his hat edge and pom pom. Patterned paper from Echo Park was perfect for my card design. All of the patterned paper edges were inked to match my colour scheme. Some sparkly icicles, gumdrops and sparkly ribbon finish off my card. 

Card Recipe 
Stamp: Cocoa Gnome - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Sentiment: Gnome To Yours - High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Patterned Paper: Celebrate Winter - Echo Park 

Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Misti, stitching and pierce mark die - YNS, gumdrops - YNS, enamel dots - Carta Bella, Galena ribbon, Twinkle Stickles 

Spectrum Noir Markers: FS1 FS4 TN2 TN4 FS8 MB1 MB2 MB4 CR7 CR11 DR6 TN1 EB1 1B1 1B3 1B2 BT7 IG1
Prismacolor Pencils: 10% french grey, 30% french grey


Be sure to stop by the High Hopes Rubber Stamps Facebook page and blog for daily inspiration from the oh so creative design team!
                                                                 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a super fantastic day!