EZ-Lights Creating Bright Days with Catherine Pooler

Hello friends,

Welcome to the Catherine Pooler Designs x Pear Blossom Press Collab Hop! We're sharing fun, interactive cards to brighten your day! They feature awesome new stamps and dies from Catherine Pooler Designs, and with help from Pear Blossom Press, they all really light up! Be sure to hop along with us for loads of inspiration; our designers have come up with some brilliant cards.

We got to play with Pear Blossom Press EZ-Lights with the new Catherine Pooler Bright Days stamp and die set. I think they are a match made in crafty heaven! I created a mini slimline for the hop. I started by stamping the light fixture and light switch out using Midnight Ink on to Catherine Pooler Premium Paper.

Next, I used a Tombow Blender Pen to watercolor the light fixture using Limoncello ink for the light bulb, Cove Blue ink for the top and bottom pieces of the fixture, and Tranquil ink for the glass. The light switch was also colored with a Tombow Blender Pen, for the plate I used Sea Glass ink, for the switch I used Bay Breeze ink. I added some of the illumination lines from the Bright Days stamp to the light bulb and the wall in the Limoncello ink.

I used the light fixture die to cut a hole in the Happy Hearts Patterned Paper that I selected, I wanted it to look like it could be a wall and I thought the pretty diamond grid pattern could be used for that. Once the hole was cut, I fit my colored piece into it and flipped it over to add my EZ-Lights. I used the Narrow Double Thick Foam Tape carried by Pear Blossom Press to create a pocket around the lights (which I gathered at the center of the light bulb) to trap the light in the area I wanted it to be seen. I added the foam tape all over the back of the card, using washi tape to wrangle the wires and glue dots to adhere the lights to the paper.

I added some light blue glittery ribbon to the bottom of the card where I wanted to place my sentiment, then adhered the card front to my card base. Then I got to start building the card front! I added the light switch over the power button for my EZ-Lights, I thought it was clever. The final piece was the sentiment, I selected the yellow hearts Happy Hearts Patterned Paper to stamp on. I love the sentiments in this stamp set and selected the "thank you for brightening my day" to stamp in Bay Breeze ink and used a die cut from my stash to cut in out in a pretty shape. I popped this up on a thin foam tape and centered it over my ribbon.

Here is a short video showing my card "in action".

Every good hop has prizes, right? So Catherine Pooler Designs, and Pear Blossom Press are each giving away a $25 store credit! Comment on this post by June 25, 202 to be entered to win. Winners will be announced on June 28th. Be sure to continue hopping for additional inspiration and entries into the giveaway!

Your next stop on the hop is:

Ilina Crouse

Here is the full line up if you missed anyone:

Catherine Pooler Designs

Cassie Trask

Ashlee McGregor

Laura Volpes

Chrissie Tobas

Marcia Caradinta

Allison Cope

Jen Carter

Rachel Winn (You are here)

Ilina Crouse

Ali Farmer

Karen BakerPear Blossom Press (Mona Toth)

Thank you for stopping by today!

Until next time,

R. Winn

Love Wins Instagram Hop - Guest Designer for Sassy and Crafty

Hello friends,

Today, Sassy and Crafty is participating in the Love Wins Instagram Hop. I am honored to be guest designing for Sassy and Crafty for this hop.

We want to invite you to head over to Instagram to hop along with us to celebrate Pride month and our LGBTQIA+ crafty friends and allies. Today is Purple, this color represents Spirit.

Pride originated from the early morning of June 28th, 1969, when LGBT community members rioted following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. The first parade was on the first anniversary of this riot. It's important to celebrate Pride today because there are still many rights and privileges not afforded to the LGBTQIA community. I celebrate Pride in honor of the friends, family, and adopted family that I have in the LGBTQIA community. My story is not my own, but one of the amazing people in this community who have shown me the true meaning of loving yourself, of finding the magic within, and of showing kindness to others when you have nothing else to give.

My first card is in honor of my nibbling (the child of my sibling), Aries, who is an amazing non-binary adult. They were the first interaction that I had with the LGBTQIA community that impacted my life personally. Watching them become the wonderful person that they are is one of the true joys in my life. There have been highs and lows in their young life, but they have grown to be an advocate for other LGBTQIA community members, children, and people with disabilities. Their strength inspires me and their spirit is beautiful beyond measure.

For this card, I used the Sassy Girls - Kiss Stamp, I love this image and the blue eyed beauty reminded me of Aries (although they wouldn't ever wear anything that low cut.) I colored the couple using Copic markers, I made sure that I did the shorter hair as blue since that tends to be a color Aries gravitates towards.

For the background, I used a holographic purple cardstock from a past Hero Arts monthly kit (I may need to hunt down more of it because it's super pretty!). Behind the purple, I used a sheet from DCWV's Zodiac paper stack, it's black with tiny silver foiled dots all over it.

The amazing sentiment is from the new Find Yourself Stamp and is foiled with Deco Foil Transfer Sheets, Rainbow. I fussy cut around the sentiment, then added some tiny floral embellishments from my stash. My second card was inspired by the LGBTQIA community as a whole! I saw this image from the Never Let Go Stamp and thought it would be beautiful lit up with EZ-Lights!

First, I colored the hands using Copics, then used my Scan 'n' Cut to cut the center of the heart out and fussy cut the outside of the hands. To create the Pride Flag Heart, I stamped the hands onto vellum, and divided the heart into mostly even sections using a straight edge, and a pencil. Once I had my straight lines, I used Copics to color in the colors of the flag. I found that the chisel tip worked best to avoid a bunch of streaks and uneven color.

For the background, I used a white cardstock that had a little shimmer to it, then used a stencil from Layered Comic Book Stencil and Purple Paper Glaze to create a focal point for the hands and sentiment.

I added the "love you forever" die from Erin Lee Creative in purple and added holographic silver behind it, then I fussy cut a base layer behind it. I cut out half a heart from the holographic silver and used a black Copic to write "Press Here" for the EZ-Lights button. To finish the card off, I used a few embellishments from Unicorn Galore Shimmerz by Buttons Galore.

Now, if you haven't already, join the hop over on Instagram to show the LGBTQIA community, and be entered to win amazing prizes from these fantastic sponsors!

Thank you for stopping by,

Rachel

Disney Wedding Mini Album

Hello again friends, 

I am here to show off the Mini Album that I created using a the new i-crafter Mini Album Divider #1 set and the Mini Album, Accordion set. I decided to start an album for memories from my best friend’s wedding! It was in Disneyland and was SO magical!

I started with the a sheet from the Echo Park Remember the Magic paper collection, I used the largest die from the Mini Album, Accordion to start the album. The fun vacation foods and accessories made for a fun background. Next, I cut the pocket die from the Mini Album, Accordion set using black cardstock, I added the “Oh happy day” die from Mini Album Divider #1 set to the center of the pocket, and backed that in a nice gray cardstock. Adding the pocket to the front let me slip a few park tickets we had saved from the trip to the front of my album.

The interior pages are the opposite side of the vacation foods and accessories, which happened to be a bright red with white stars. On the left I used the “#” from the Mini Album, Accordion set and the Carly Alphabet dies (which I intentionally placed a bit wonky and whimsical) to write out their wedding hashtag #daddlove2015. I added an embellishment circle from my stash (likely is also Echo Park!) and trimmed the bottom of the circle so that it lined up with the bottom of the page.

For the right side, I printed the first picture of Molly and Evan on their wedding day, I took this at about 5:30 AM that day. (None of us are morning people so that’s kind of a big deal!) The photo was trimmed down and layered on top of the tag that is part of Mini Album Divider #1! The tag was cut out of the Echo Park Wish Upon a Star paper pad and I used a pretty light blue for the grommet. Mini Album Divider #1 has this fun little arrow with a heart, I added it towards the bottom of the photo/tag. To finish these pages, I added a few rhinestone embellishments from my stash!

My last page (so far) I used the actual page die from the Mini Album Divider #1 set cut from Echo Park’s Magical Adventure Paper Pad. In case it’s not already clear… I really love these paper collections and how well they mix and match with one another, and I am a big fan of magical theme parks too! I added the Chevron strip die from Mini Album Divider #1 towards the interior of this page for a fun detail.

For the photo on this page, I added a picture of Molly’s “Disney Bride Crew” that were able to attend the wedding! Molly and Evan invited their guests to “Disneybound” which basically is a casual form of dressing up in the likeness of a character or movie. From left to right, Mindy/Tinkerbell, Diana/Wendy Darling, Renee/Peter Pan, Molly – our beautiful bride, me/Ariel, Christi/Shock (from Nightmare Before Christmas). I used the frame from Mini Divider #2 to trim the photo down, and then used a turquoise cardstock for the frame itself. I used the quadrilateral from Mini Album, Accordion to “scrapbook” on and explain who was in the photo.

I cut the “beautiful” word die from Mini Album Divider #1 out from a red cardstock, but because the paper is so busy, it didn’t stand out well enough, so I added a black layer below it to make it pop. This page was again finished with some rhinestone embellishments from my stash!

Be sure to join the i-crafter Facebook Fan Club, then follow us on Instagram, and Pinterest too! Don’t forget to enter the June Challenge “Summer Fun” by including #iCrafterJune21 in your posts on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest! We love seeing all of your creations using the i-crafter products so tag us or use #icrafter when you share!

Until next time,

Rachel Winn

Grandma Dot's Mini Album

Hello again friends!

I am excited to share my take on the new i-crafter Mini Divider #2 die set! This set pairs perfectly with the Mini Album, Accordion die set. My project was inspired by photos I found of my Grandma Dot, Dorothy Jean Gabel. I turned my pages sideways to make it feel like opening a file, or at least that's what it seems like to me.

I started by picking out some scrapbook paper that felt vintage to me and die cutting out the divider page from Mini Divider #2, and distressed the corners using some Distress Ink in Vintage Photo using my i-Brush Blender Brushes. On the tab, I hand wrote "Memories of...", then used the Alphabet, Heather Upper and Lower dies to spell out Grandma's name.

The final touch for this page was a flower from the Mini Divider #2 set. I used solid cardstocks to die cut it, then used the i-Press Burnisher & Pad to add a soft curve to the petals.

The first four interior pages were cut using the Mini Album, Accordion die set and scrapbook paper. Next, I used the frame from the Mini Divider #2 and cut the picture of grandma down to fit in the frame. I had scanned the original images and printed them out using my Sprocket Plus printer. Then I used a deep pink cardstock for the actual frame in Mini Divider #2 and the small banner in the Mini Album, Accordion die set. I kept it simple and just wrote her age on the banner. This page was finished off by a few flower embellishments that have been in my stash forever!

My next page is of my grandparents on their wedding day. The image is a bit blurry but for 1940, I think that may be common! I love how sweet my grandma's dress was and my Grandpa Don's suit is SO dapper!

I added the layering page from the Mini Album, Accordion die set that I cut out using a piece of lace scrapbook paper for under this page. To write on, I used the hexagon in the Mini Divider #2, I added my grandparent's names and the date. I learned making this project, that my grandparents were married on my birthday! I used a light Distress Oxide ink and my i-Brush Blender Brushes to distress the heart in the Mini Album, Accordion die set to fill the blank space below my hexagon.

The page above their wedding day image shows my grandparents on celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. For this page, I used the deep pink cardstock leftover center from the frame in Mini Divider #2 to write on. I added a small heart cut from the lace scrapbook paper, and brushed the edges with the Antique Photo Distressed Ink. I die cut a space for the heart in the deep pink paper, this made the lace heart inlaid. I added the "Adorable" word die from the Mini Divider #2 set here as well.

The next two pages were the back of the "book" created by Mini Album, Accordion die set and then another divider page from the Mini Divider #2 set. On the top page, I added a picture of Grandma and her 12 children, they were celebrating Dorothy's 80th birthday. The divider page I distressed the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. 

For the bottom page, I added a tiny banner cut from scraps that coordinated with the color palette I used throughout the book and the banner dies from the Mini Divider #2 set. I handwrote the names of Grandma's kids on a kraft scrapbooking sticker from my stash and added tiny flower embellishments to the corners.

Close up of my banner, I was struggling to thread the twine and didn't have a needle to help me, instead I glued the twin down and then layered the banner pieces on top of it.

My grandma had a special connection to her daughters, so my next page is the Gabel Gals. I used the frame die from the Mini Divider #2 set to cut down the picture, and added the frame to the outside. I used the center piece from the frame to write out their names in white gel pen. For the flower, I took one of the flower dies and cut it out 7 times, and glued them together. Then used the page die to cut the flower down so the corner was rounded to add to the top left of the page.

The last page that I completed (because I left it open to be able to add on to in the future) is of Dorothy and her sister Delores, my Auntie. For this page, I used the layering page from the Mini Album, Accordion die set to cut out a cream dotted piece of scrapbook paper. To add some texture to the page, I used the die strip of three lines of holes from the Mini Divider #2 set, this allows the light blue paper to peek through. I added the "this is" piece from Mini Album, Accordion die set and wrote below that. To complete this page, I used the negatives from the "this is" to add "sis" to the bottom left.

Here is a flip through of the book! I apologize in advance for it being shaky! 

Head over to i-crafter to get the Mini Divider #2 set and check out the other wonderful new release items too! Be sure to join the i-crafter Facebook Fan Club, then follow us on Instagram, and Pinterest too! We love seeing all of your creations using the i-crafter products.

Until next time,

R. Winn