Goodbye

Here we are at the end of January already, and it's time to say good-bye. This is my last post for Cropstop. I've enjoyed working for Haylie-Jo for these past two years, and have been inspired by the projects you-all have linked up each month! I wanted to say a big THANK YOU for all the sweet comments you left on the challenge post this month saying how you've enjoyed the projects I've posted each week and will miss the challenges. So kind of you to take the time to say that!

Supplies and Tools:

Doily Embossing Folder (Sizzix - Tim Hotlz)

Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain (Ranger) 

Distress Ink in these colors: Gathered Twigs/ Vintage Photo

Sponge Daubers

Distress Embossing Ink (Ranger)

Brilliant Sparkle Gold Embossing Powder (Cosmic Shimmer)

Script Stamp (Stampin' Up)

Fiskars Paper Crimper

Love This Die Set (Echo Park)
Sheer Ombre Gold/Ivory Ribbon 
Plaid Background Stamp (Impression Obsession)
Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Tuxedo Black Ink (Tsukinedo)
Little Birdies (Dina Wakley - Ranger)

ATG Gun

Cuttlebug

Here's wishing you all a wonderful 2019 -- full of happiness and creativity!  Come back on Thursday to see who won the Final Cropstop Challenge.

Guest Designer - Rebecca Yahrling

We're back with another fun guest designer post hosted by the talented his week - Rebecca Yahrling (Flickr Gallery here). Wow! Wow! Wow! This week she's created not one, but four adorable gift containers for holiday giving. I'm thinking I need to make some of these up for the food gifts I'll be giving this year!

Here's Rebecca's instructions:

"I am honored once again this week to be your Guest Designer. And their store has so many products to help us in our crafty endeavors.

With the holidays fast approaching, I thought I would try something a little different. A decorated box! It will hold quite a bit so you can use it for many different things. I always make lots of Christmas cookies so that is what I will put in my boxes.

 

Start with a 12x12 piece of double sided decorative patterned paper (or you can also adhere two, one-sided papers together as I did with my snowman box). Score one side at 3" and 9" then rotate the paper and score at 1", 3 1/2", 6 1/2" and 9".  Cut down to the middle score lines on both sides of the lid and also at the bottom to the first score line (see photo). 

Cut tabs off the top corner of sheet on both sides (also shown in photo); keep these for another small project I will show.

 

 

Tape the box together with a strong adhesive (I used scor-tape). See photo.

Now the real fun begins with decorating your box however you wish. 

 

 

This is what I did for the snowman box: I added a small rectangle of hook & loop tape for my closure using tacky glue to secure. I then wrapped & glued (tacky glue) a silver metallic wire ribbon around the box, but adhered under the lid at the top and then just to the hook & loop tape under the lid (otherwise, your box won't open!). I then die cut my decorative pieces for the top; a flourish from white glitter paper, a white doily, a blue mini doily and a blue tag (twice for dimension & stability). I glued down the flourish & the large doily. I popped up the mini doily and then glued (tacky) a white plastic snowflake on top. I then stamped the sentiment in white on the tag (it says 'menu: milk & cookies'). I used silver thread to hang the tag through one of the holes on the larger doily.

 

 

On the Deer box, I adhered the blue ribbon, but left a long tail at each end so that I could tie a loose knot for closure. I die cut my pieces: a light blue majestic label and a frill oval in cream cs. I inked all the edges of both pieces with  hickory smoke and gathered twigs. I stamped the sentiment in black & clear embossed. I adhered the blue tag and then popped up the cream oval atop it. I then die cut two flourishes from a green cs and adhered them as shown. I glued three deep red roses as shown. I then inked a wood deer with gathered twigs and for the tail, I used a white gelly roll pen. I popped him up on the right to finish. 

 

 

Now, remember the flaps I cut off at the beginning? No waste! You can adhere them together at the bottom flap (see photo). Then, holding the two sides together, punch a hole at the top, big enough to thread your ribbon through. 

 

 

Decorate as you'd like. You can add a little treat or a gift to the inside with glue dots. I plan to make some kind of a brownie bar or maybe fudge, and will put one in a small plastic bag & adhere it with a couple of glue dots.

I hope you enjoyed these projects and are inspired to make your own any time of the year. They were fun to put together and I hope to make more. Good way to use up some paper you've been hoarding forever. lol  Until next time,

Crafty hugs, Becca xxoo"

 

Supplies:

Spellbinders: Majestic Labels Eight, Frill Oval, Flight 1

Darice: Flourish die, white snowflakes

My Favorite Things: Mini Doily die

Whimsy Stamps: tag die

Peachy Cheap: large doily die

Fiskars: scallop edger punch, trimmer, hole punch

Stamp sets: YNS 'Food Truck Holiday' and Unity Stamps 'Warm Winter Comforts'

Ribbons: Offray, Joann's & Michaels

Inks: TH distress inks, Colorbox

Adhesives: Scor-tape, Tombow mono liquid glue, Aleene's tacky glue, foam squares (Recollections)

Designer papers: Cosmo Cricket, Creative Imaginations & unknown

Creatology: wooden deer

Cuttlebug

 

I'd love to see what you've been creating, so stop by the current link party and showoff any creation that includes a product or two from one of the companies carried in the Cropstop store. 

Guest Designer - Marsha Drain

It's time for some guest designer inspiration, and today we're sharing the work of Marsha Drain of Gramma's Room. Marsha not only made an adorable birthday card, but she also included directions and a template for creating a step card! I love the bright, happy colors of her card, and especially like her fun design.

Here's what Marsha says about putting this cheerful card together:

"Most of the time I do my cutting with a guillotine type cutter but in order to make this side step card, I pulled out my smaller cutter .  I started with a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 piece of orange cardstock.  After cutting the two lines as per the template, I moved the card to my Scor pal and scored all the lines.  After making the base and adhering the dotted patterned paper with Tombow Adhesive tape, the really run part began - stamping the cake, the cluster of balloons and coloring them.  Both the cake and the balloons are cut out with coordinating dies.  The large balloons were cut from cardstock that matched the Copic colors I used on the small balloons.  The sentiment piece is cut with a Spellbinder circle die and backed with a Spellbinder scalloped circle die. After coloring the cake, I added liquid pearls to the dots on the cake

All the balloons and sentiment are adhered to the steps with Scor Tape.  The last step was to pop the cake up with dimension foam tape."

 

Products used:

Paper Sweeties stamps and dies

Stamploration balloon dies

Spellbinder circle and scallop circle dies

Scor pal

Scor pal tape

Tombow mono adhesive

Fiskars  trimmer cutting blade

Copics

 

 

I'd love to see what you've been creating, so stop by the current link party and showoff any creation that includes a product or two from one of the companies carried in the Cropstop store. 

Guest Designer - Kitty

It's time for another guest design spot here on the Cropstop blog! Today we're featuring the work of Kitty of Fit Kitty. She created an elegant butterfly card to inspire us. I just love the embossing and the pretty polka dot paper behind her butterflies!

Here's what Kitty says about putting this gorgeous card together:

"Hello, everyone!  It's Fit Kitty here!  Today I'm excited to be a Guest Designer at Cropstop!  Thank you to Esther for inviting me!  For my project, I decided to make a quick and easy anniversary card featuring butterflies. 

This quick and easy card worked out well for me considering my husband's health, which has left me with little time for crafting at the moment.  I started by die-cutting the Oriel Butterfly from patterned paper, the Lunette Butterfly from white cardstock, and then the Butterfly Buttons from teal cardstock.  I adhered the butterflies together, Lunette onto Oriel and Button onto Lunette.  I embossed a white cardstock panel and stamped the sentiment (I recommend stamping the sentiment before embossing, but I had no problem stamping on the embossed cardstock).  I layered the embossed panel onto teal cardstock and then onto patterned paper.  I finished off the cardfront by adhering the layered butterflies and embellishing with a number of sequins.  Lastly, the cardfront was adhered to a top-folding white A2 card base."

Products used:

Dies:  Memory Box Oriel Butterfly, Memory Box Lunette Butterfly, Poppystamps Butterfly Buttons

Embossing folder:  Cuttlebug Floral Screen

Clear stamp:  Sentiment (Hero Arts Everyday Sayings)

Ink:  Lawn Fawn Peacock

Patterned paper:  Echo Park Dots and Stripes

Cardstock:  Recollections

Equipment:  Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Spacer A, Cutting Pad B, Replacement Adapter C, Fiskars Personal Trimmer and Replacement Blades, EK Success Craft Tweezers

Adhesive:  Scotch Advanced Tape Glider and Refills, Ranger Multi-Medium Matte

Other:  Sequins from my stash

Now it's your turn -- Stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any project that includes a product or two from one of the companies Cropstop carries in the store.

Guest Designer - Rebecca Yahrling

Today we have a mixed media canvas created by our talented guest designer, Rebecca Yahrling (see her Flickr gallery here). Not only did Rebecca create something unique and beautiful to share with us today, but she also included a mini tutorial (with pictures!!) of how she put this together.  So without further ado -- here's what Rebecca says:

"I am thrilled and honored to once again be a guest designer at Crop Stop.

This project was totally inspired by Shari Carroll at Simon Says Stamp. As soon as I saw her monogram project, I knew I wanted to do something similar for my new craft room. I have already bought several 'R's to decorate and this canvas will be center stage. For me, this was a very intimidating project as I haven't done very much mixed media. But I want to! I didn't have any of the supplies that Shari used and just used what I already have. It really was fun to make and I'm happy with how it turned out.  Here's what I did:

 

 

I started by brushing white gesso on my canvas and set aside to dry.  I cut a 2"x7" strip of white textured paper and decoupaged it onto the top portion of the canvas. I then stamped a design on white tissue paper, using several stamp sets with black dye ink, keeping in mind my canvas size of 5x7.  I decoupaged this below the white textured paper.  The black ink bled a bit and I freaked out at this point, but continued anyway. lol (There are no mistakes in crafting, right?!)  

 

 

I traced an "R" onto the back side of the corrugated cardboard, reversed; cut out with scissors. I cut out the hole with an Exacto knife. My darling hubby was kind enough to cut a piece of Tim Holtz idea-ology ruler to 4 1/8" for me. I glued (Aleene's) the ruler and the "R" onto the canvas where the two papers met. I then added Aleene's tacky glue in three places and added a handmade mix of purple seed beads and let dry. I added plum metallic paint and white gesso to the "R"; let dry. With HS teal metallic paste, I painted the two wood leaves (I didn't have any aqua paint); let dry. 

 

 

Using a paintbrush dipped into dylusions crushed grape ink spray, I dabbed lines down the canvas as shown, also adding water to make it run and dabbing off the excess with a paper towel. I heat set to dry, then did the same with the vibrant turquoise. Once dry, I outlined the "R" with a black sharpie. I didn't like it! To tone it down, I added white gesso over the whole canvas, in sections, wiping away (gently) as I went along, until it looked like I wanted.

I did some ink splatters on the canvas and wood leaves with Tattered Angels gold glimmer mist. Once dry, I added all my pieces in a design I was happy with using tacky glue. And it was done! 

(I think it needs to be sealed, so I will have to go buy some matte sealer. Not that I need an excuse to go to the craft store! lol). 

I hope my canvas inspires you to try mixed media.

Here's a list of supplies Rebecca used:

Stamp sets:

7Gypsies 'Trousseau'

Tim Holtz 'Flights of Fancy'

MFT 'Distressed Patterns'

Inks & Ink sprays:

Dylusions vibrant turquoise and crushed grape

Tattered Angels glitter mist: gold

Delta black dye ink

 

decorative paper by 'Black Ink'

5x7 Artist canvas board

Tim Holtz idea-ology ruler piece

Folk Art metallic paint: plum

Heidi Swapp metallic texture paste: teal

Plaid decoupage

White gesso (Darice)

Aleene's tacky glue

Darice faceted rondel

Other:

tissue paper, corrugated cardboard, Fiskars scissors, gems, beads, Exacto knife, Plaid palette knife, wood bird (Studio Calico), wood leaves, metal flower, paintbrush

 Now it's your turn -- Stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any project that includes a product or two from one of the companies Cropstop carries in the store. 

Guest Designer - Rebecca Yahrling

Today we have a fun (and adorable) little ice cream card created by our talented guest designer, Rebecca Yahrling (see her Flickr gallery here). I love those super cute ice cream cones and the fact that she created a shape card with matching envelope!

Here's what Rebecca says about putting this mini card together:

"First, I want to say thank you so much to Esther and Crop Stop for having me as a guest designer. It's such a huge honor to me. And I hope my card makes you smile today!

I started by die cutting five ice cream cones (Sizzix); the cones from kraft cs and the ice cream from three colors of cs (2 layers for dimension). I embossed the ice cream with the polka dot ef (Cuttlebug) and the cones with the diamond pattern ef (Darice). I adhered them all together with a ZIG glue pen. I used a brown marker (Sakura) to color in the polka dots to resemble chocolate chips. I then added Ranger glossy accents to each and set them aside to dry (maybe an hour).

I then cut a 4.75" square white card base. I used MCT scallop frames to cut the largest from patterned paper (Echo Park) and the 2nd largest from aqua cs. I adhered the largest to the card base. I wrapped some AC gold & white twine around the smaller frame as shown, securing in the back with Scotch tape. I then adhered this panel to the card with double sided tape. I die cut the sentiment in two colors of cs and adhered (ZIG) together, offsetting a bit. I added this to the bottom center of the card using the ZIG pen; adding a pink gem for the dot of the 'i'. I then adhered the ice cream cones, popping up the middle cone.  I also added a cone to the front of the envelope and decorated the inside of the card by adding a square of pink cs, another cone and a die cut strip 'Happy Birthday' in white."

 

 

 Here's a list of supplies Rebecca used on her card:

Dies:

Sizzix 'Whimsy & Delight'

Peachy Cheap 'Smile'

My Creative Time scallop frames

Impression Obsession 'Happy Birthday'

Paper:

Echo Park 'Party Time'

Embossing folders:

Cuttlebug polka dots

Darice diamond pattern

Other:

Ranger glossy accents, ZIG glue pen, AC twine, Sakura pigma marker, Scotch tape, Fiskars trimmer, Cuttlebug, double sided tape, gem, cardstock, foam squares

 

 

Now it's your turn -- Stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any project that includes a product or two from one of the companies Cropstop carries in the store.

Guest Designer - Heather Mills

We're back with another project from a talented guest designer. Today we're sharing the work of Heather Mills of Wire Wrapture. Heather created a beautiful summer themed card featuring sunflowers with fun sparkly centers! I love how she paired her image with the wood grain embossing folder - perfect combo!

Here's what Heather says about putting this lovely card together:

"I started out with some white co'ordinations card stock (which of course, I cut using my Fiskars paper trimmer!) for my base and scored it with my scor-pal as a top folding card.  For my next layer, I used the Darice Woodgrain embossing folder to emboss another piece of co'ordinations card.  Then I used my Ranger mini ink blending tool to ink the edges of the embossed panel with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink.  I use Spectrum Noir markers to color my image twice, so I could cut out the two larger sunflowers and pop them up with some foam tape.  Then I used Ranger Cinnamon Stickles to dot the center of the flowers.  I love the sparkle it adds.  I matted the image panel with some My Favorite Things brown card stock and then layered that on some My Favorite Things patterned paper.  I heat embossed my sentiment with white embossing powder on a scrap of the same MFT card stock and added 3 tiny rhinestones.  For adhering things together, I use my Tombow permanent adhesive runner for most things.  I used it to adhere the image panel and the mats together.  But whenever I adhere embossed panels, I like to use scor-tape as I feel it gives a stronger hold.  In the picture below, you can see more of the sparkle from the stickles."

Now it's YOUR turn! Stop by our current link party and showoff any project that includes a product or two from one of the companies Cropstop carries in the store. 

Guest Designer - Stephanie Wright

It's time for another guest designer spot here on the Cropstop blog. Today we're sharing the work of Stephanie Wright of Sasha Belle Designs.  Stephanie has created a beautiful spring step card to share with our readers, and has also included a great tutorial!

Here's what Stephanie says: "I am so honored to be Guest Designing for the Crop Stop blog today. I found a simple Step Card tutorial by Loll Thompson on Pinterest and used that for my card base. I decided to make this a birthday card for a friend who like purple and also likes butterflies. I really like this step card design because it still allows room to write a message on the interior.
 

After following the tutorial to make my card base, I cut solid cardstock slightly smaller to mat patterned paper. I inked the edges of the patterned paper with Distress Ink for extra dimension. The green patterned paper strip across the bottom front of the card was embossed with an embossing folder. After inking the edges of this strip, the embossing was also highlighted with ink to really help it pop. 

The sentiment on the right side was stamped with Versafine black ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. A Spellbinders circle die was used to die cut the sentiment which was then matted on a Spellbinder Picot Edge Circle die cut. After adhering these to the panel, the circles were embellished with clear bling. The sentiment on the left was stamped directly on the patterned paper and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. The small butterflies were punched from dark purple cardstock with a Fiskars punch. The centers of the butterflies were accented with Stickles. The large butterfly was die cut with a Momenta die from cardstock and then from vellum. The vellum layer was also embossed with the coordinating embossing plates. The vellum layer was adhered to the cardstock layer only in the middle. After adhering the large butterfly to the card, it was accented with clear bling."

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill (dark purple for butterflies), Taylored Expressions Vellum, Unknown {Pealized (cardbase), Lavender}
Patterned Paper: Recollections
Stamps: My Sentiments Exactly clear stamp set (Inspirational Birthday Innies & Outies)
Ink: Tsukineko Versafine (Onyx Black), Ranger Distress Ink (Dusty Concord)
Tools/embellishments: Scor-Pal scoring board, Scotch ATG gun, Fiskars (Trimmer and Butterfly punch), Mementa Butterfly Die, Spellbinders dies (Standard Circle Small, Picot Edge Circles), Bling (The Paper Studio, Gina Marie Designs), Simon Says Stamp embossing powder (Clear), Star Dust Stickles

Now it's your turn....stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any projects that include a few products from companies Cropstop carries in the store! I'll look forward to seeing your work appear in the gallery! 

April Link Party - #38

It's time for a new challenge here on the new Cropstop blog. After missing the month of March (due to technical issues with the other blog), we're so happy to be back on schedule!  

Today I'm sharing a bright and cheery bird themed card I created to inspire you! Here's how I put this happy spring card together:

•  I started by running a piece of pink polka dot designer paper through my Fiskars Paper Crimper
• I layered my pink piece on a piece of green dp and cut a blue strip for across the bottom
•  Using a piece of White Sheer Ruffle Edge Ribbon I tied a pretty bow around the bottom of my card front
• Next I cut the large birdcage from black card stock using the Gilded Birds die from Memory Box and popped it up using mounting tape
• Using the same set I die cut two little white birdies to perch inside the cage
• I decorated my cage with some flowers from the Tea stained Teals set (Petaloo)
• In the top corner I stamped a sentiment from  Little Birdies (Dina Wakley) in Tuxedo Black Ink (Tsukineko)
• Inside I added a decorative panel punched with the Petal Heart punch-all-over-the-page (Martha Stewart)

Now it’s your turn to share the projects you’ve been working on!
Here’s how our challenges work:

• Create ANY new project using products from companies  CropStop carries in the store. It’s ok if you didn’t buy it from us, and also fine if it’s a product we don’t currently have it in stock as long as it’s from one of the companies we carry!
• Please, no back-linking old projects.
• Limit five (5) entries per challenge.
• Link your project here, link back to this post, and mention the CropStop Challenge in your post.
• We’ll choose one random Winner who will receive a prize from the CropStop Store! (100 or more links = two winners and two prizes!)

Thanks so much for linking up with us, we look forward to seeing all your great entries this month. Grab our badge and help us spread the word that CropStop is a great place to play along!