#spreadjoynotgerms

Hi friends!

I'm extremely pleased to be joining this MEGA blog hop that Catherine Pooler and Hedgehog Hallow put together to help inspire cardmakers to send out some of the cards we all stash in order to make another person SMILE in the midst of the crazy world we find ourselves in. 

Today, I am showing off products from some of my favorite companies, Pear Blossom Press, I-Crafter, and The Greeting Farm, who are all sponsoring this hop.  I knew that I wanted to make a light-up card using Pear Blossom Press's EZ- Lights. I love how easy they make creating stunning projects.

The Greeting Farm put out these fun digis of delivery drivers and their truck. I chose to color the male driver and the truck in shades of brown. We have a favorite delivery man at our house, he works for UPS and he walks up our rather long driveway fairly frequently. I thought rather than sending this card off in the mail, we would Social Distance deliver this card to him "in person." I used Copics to color both up, then moved onto my background.

I used I-crafter's i-brush Blending Brushes and Hybrid Inks to ink blend a background. These inks are smooth, blend beautifully, and are rich in color! The brushes are small, but mighty and SO soft!

Next, I used my PenBlade and a hole punch to cut out the head and top lights on the delivery truck that I wanted to light up. Using a pencil, I traced the place on my background these would line up with so I could cut through for the lights to shine through.

After cutting the holes in the background, I used my pencil to mark where the lights should lay and chose where I wanted my base to lay and outlined it with the pencil as well.

I used thin glue dots on the bottom of my base, and small glue dots on the locations that my lights needed to lay.

 Next, I used washi tape to keep the wires all in place. There are 3 lights pre-wired on each EZ-Lights, which was perfect for this. One for each headlight, and one for the top bar.

I used doubled up foam tape and made boxes around each light. Then I went a little foam tape crazy and made sure that the card is propped up REALLY well.

After that... I got to put my masterpiece together! It took 2 tries to get the back on correctly, because foam tape is stickyyyy. Once that was there, I put down my truck, making sure to line up headlights and top lights that are backed with vellum that I colored with Copics, and topped with Nuvo Glaze to give a glassy look. I also used the Glaze on the truck windshield.

Next, my delivery driver was backed with a single layer of foam tape and put on the crease where my "grass" and "street" met.  I used I-crafter "Tropical Pool" ink and "Hushed Darkness" ink with stamps from Heffy Doodle's Interactively Your's set to create a "Push Here" arrow that I fussy cut and glued on. Finally, I added "Thanks" to the top left using I-crafter's Pop-Up Wiper Insert die set.

I'm pretty pleased, I can't wait to give it to our driver with the gift card for a favorite local sub sandwich shop inside, as an extra token of our appreciation. 

This blog hop is huge, so in order to enter for the prizes, all you have to do is comment, and each blog you comment on adds up so don't stop here! You can comment now through April 24th.

Next in the line up is Stephanie Beauchemin with The Greeting Farm! 

Be sure to also visit my friends at I-crafter who has donated a $20 Gift Certificate and Pear Blossom Press who has donated a $25 Gift Certificate that are up for draw in the giveaway! 

The winners of over 40 prizes will be announced on Catherine Pooler and Hedgehog Hollow's blogs on April 27th. Be sure to leave some love for these bloggers who have joined us and rack up those chances to win!

Until next time,

~R. Winn

Secret Agent

The new Kindred Stamps "Secret Agent" stamp set was so fun to work with! I made two cards to show off this set, I hope you enjoy!

I colored up the Secret Agent using Copics. I decided to color him different ways to show off how he fits well in different skin tones and colors, he stands out because he's handsome, but he blends in because he fits into any crowd. (Okay, I overthink things...) 

My first agent is colored as a blonde, who fair skinned, I really hope he wears sun block so he doesn't burn! For this card, I wanted to used the martini glass stamp that comes with the set, you could fairly easily mask the gun out of the agent's hand and put the martini glass there instead... but masking isn't my favorite thing, heat embossing is. So, I used Ink on 3's Juicy Clear Embossing Ink, and a green embossing powder from Lindy's Gang to heat emboss a patterned paper and created a side panel for the card. I finished the panel off by adding a small amount of Nuvo Claze to each glass, making them appear to be filled with liquid. 

I used a black cardstock for the base and added my panel, then layered my "Stay Classy" sentiment (LOVE that font!) which was stamped on some silver, mirrored paper that my grandma found at a garage sale. The silver paper is highly glossy, so I used my MISTI and stamped it out using Stazon Pigment ink in blue, to match his suit. I cut the sentiment down to a long strip using my My Sweet Petunia Cut Align and a Pen Blade to make sure it was nice and even. 

After placing my agent in the middle, I felt like I needed a few embellishments, so, I reached for my Silver Love From Lizi Peel Offs, and added 3 to the side that didn't have the panel to balance it out. Last, I added a couple gunmetal/silver embellishments that I got from CTMH years ago. To get a clear picture of the sentiment, the picture lost a lot of the luster and shine that the martini glasses have, but this was a really fun card to make.

Playing with EZ Lights

I am SO excited to share with you my project using Pear Blossom Press's new EZ Lights; I absolutely LOVE these little guys and think you will too! Pear Blossom Press invited me to participate in a blog hop to help introduce EZ Lights, and I was completely honored and thrilled!

The EZ Lights, are a set of 3 pre-strung LED lights attached to the base of the Power Packs by Pear Blossom Press. They make doing a light up card so simple, and they last for such a long time.

I started my card by blending some Catherine Pooler inks, focusing on a dusk/sunset palette, after I had it blended I used a hole punch to create a space for the lights to shine through. I wanted lots of layers on this card, I used die cut trees directly on top of my dusk sky and added grass die cuts to the bottom. 

I mapped out my EZ Lights after punching the hole, a simple pencil mark on the card base so I know where the lights go, then deciding where the best space for my button is. It's almost error proof, honestly. 

For my images, I used the Kindred Stamps "Kindred Camping" stamp set and colored up the tent, campfire, and two of the campers using Copics.  I wanted a scene that would be beautiful on it's own, and stunning lit up.

The awesome thing about the EZ Lights is how powerful they are, they shine bright even though I don't have any transparent vellum or acetate to help them.  My campfire is on XPress It Paper which is a nice heavy cardstock, then my campfire is colored with Copics, adding another layer. As you can see below, the lights still shine through perfectly, lighting up the campfire! In fact, the light shines through in the background as well, giving my dusk sky, a bit of a more realistic feel and look.

I stamped my sentiment onto a scrap of kraft cardstock using Ink On 3's Juicy Clear Embossing Ink. I heat embossed in a nice dark brown embossing powder. I arranged my girls and the tent onto my card and added the sentiment to the top right. My EZ Light button is on the top left, so I used a Lawn Fawn stamp that says "Push Here" stamped in a dusky blue to mark it.

Now... Who wants to win an awesome prize from Pear Blossom Press?? Two prizes will be awarded to two separate winners, chosen at random, from comments left on participating blogs and videos. 

No purchase necessary. Comments must be posted by 11:59 pm PST on March 25, 2020. Only one comment per blog or video will be counted, but you can comment on multiple blogs and videos in the hop for additional entries. (This is to prevent spam.) Contest open internationally to participants over 18 years of age. Void where prohibited by law. Any personal information collected will only be used for the purposes of contacting winners, your information will never be shared or sold. Comments left on YouTube videos must not violate community guidelines. This contest is not sponsored by YouTube. Winners will be announced on April 1, 2020 at pearblossompress.com and prizes must be claimed within thirty days of announcement, or new winners will be drawn.

Make sure to visit the rest of the hop for more chances to win, and to see some pretty amazing projects!

Amanda

Lynnea

Niccole

Justin

Carol

Tanna

Nicole

Alison

Sue

Rachel (You are here!)

Your next stop is Erin

Thank you for visiting me today, I can't wait to see what you dream up with EZ Lights!

Until next time,

~R. Winn