Hello friends. Thank you for joining me today. This post is also featured on the CutCardStock blog. I am an influencer for CutCardStock and have received some paper products in exchange for this post. For today's post, I will share with you using 12x12 white paper to create textured backgrounds and color with Copics. Please read along for how I assembled these two cards today. Affiliate links are included at no cost to you. If you choose to use these links, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support. 

That time is here...stressing over valentines for your children's classmates. I end up dreading this every year and waiting until the last minute to get something done. This year in my quest to actually organize and do things ahead of time, I decided to start my project a bit early. This also coincided with my first blog post for CutCardStock.com as an influencer. I am excited to be working with them. I purchase a lot of my basic cardstock, especially Neenah solar white papers and envelopes, from them. CutCardStock.com has a lot of variety and they can do custom cutting on site. I decided to use 12x12 sheets of their DCS white and show ways to stretch that white cardstock. Please read on to see what I made. 

I am pleased to announce I have been invited by Cut Card Stock to be an influencer for the next few months. I like Cut Card Stock because of their customer service as well as their selection of paper especially Neenah. I’m looking forward to sharing how I use their products in my projects.

I was sent some products to try. Here is what I chose from their website.

1. DCS 12x12 white card stock (this is 80# cardstock which I will be using for a variety of techniques. Stay tuned...)
2. DCS Wild Blueberry Navy cardstock
3. Neenah 130# solar white 8.5x11" sheets
4. Neenah Classic Crest solar white A2 envelopes
5. Basis Sample Pack
6. Stardream metallic sample pack
7. Curious metallic sample pack

Cut Card Stock sells sample packs of different cardstocks they carry. These sample packs are great for you to see the cardstock colors colors and the sheets are A2 sized! By having sample packs, I can use A2 sized sheets to accent, to die cut and to use as thin borders. 

Thank you for joining me today. I hope you check out CutCardStock. Although I was provided with some materials, I am not an affiliate for CutCardStock. The links inside the post are provided to you for your convenience. Have a crafty day. 

What is it about Christmas and the holidays that makes us want to connect and share with others. Sharing a homemade card or gift is the highest compliment you can give someone because you are sharing your time and passion. I love sending unique cards to others and I am starting this series to share with you some card ideas. I hope you are inspired to make these cards yourself.

Hello and thank you for joining me on this blog hop to celebrate The Altenew Educator Program and Love & Friendship. If you are following along on the hop, you have come from the talented Nandini Karmarkar of Paint, Paper, Scissors. Your next stop on the blog is the amazing Christine Pennington. If you get lost along the way, see the full list on the Altenew Card Blog.
I am excited and honored to be a part of a very selective group of such talented people. The Altenew Educator Program really helped me to gain confidence in my card making and helped set me on a path to teach others about the joy in making and sending cards. Each amazing Altenew Academy class taught me how to improve my skills and introduced me to new ways of looking at my crafting supplies. The support from the Altenew Educator Program Coordinators really helps boost your confidence, improve your card designs, as well as your photography and blogging skills. Watercoloring is a medium I struggled with but the Altenew Academy has three great watercolor classes that helped me to improve my skills: Watercolor Basics and Beyond, Watercolor Creative Media and Stunningly Simple Watercolor Techniques. I took all three of these classes and they were wonderful. 

Today I will be featuring the Altenew watercolor pan set which is a 36 half pan watercolor set that coordinates perfectly with the Altenew Inks. I made three cards for this blog hop that feature three ways to watercolor: with black pigment ink, white heat embossing and no line. Thank you for joining me on this hop to celebrate the Altenew Educator Program.

Hello and thank you for visiting my blog. For this card I played around with Nuvo Embellishment Mousse, Hero Arts sand embossing powder and layering die cuts to create some texture on this scene card. This card was relatively easy to put together once each of the components was built. For the colored die cuts, I actually colored those over a year ago and pulled them out of my stash for this card. Please read on for how I built each of the card components and put them together for a fun summer thank you card. Some items used to make this card are listed at the end of the post. If you would like to build this card and purchase items through these links, I may receive a small commission. Thank you for your support.

I recently met a crafty friend on line and we met up to craft together. She introduced me to a great Birch Press Layered die, Adora. I’ve loved Birch Press dies but just hadn't ever used them so I quickly grabbed three colors of paper out of my scrap stash and die cut them. The Adora die has a repeating heart pattern and after I cut out the patterns, I was left with all these colorful hearts. I didn't want to waste them so I decided to make some cards but needed white as a neutral to go with my color palette. I grabbed the Altenew Radial Hearts cover die which has a repeating heart pattern and cut out a piece of Neenah solar white. I saved all these heart pieces and decided to use them on a card. Well I ended up making 5 cards and would like to explain how I made them using dies and leftovers. Please read on and note that affiliate links are used in this post. If you decide to purchase the items through these links, I get a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Hero Arts has a great product that came out in November 2018 but I only recently discovered it. The Peek-a-Boo Die works with three different background stamps to cut out an A2 sized card front and score tons of doors where you can stamp or include little messages. This post is about the die and using it with the Mail Jumble background stamp to make a Thank you card. Please continue reading to find out more about this great product.

Tim Holtz and Ranger recently released new alcohol inks in a pearlized formulation. Some of these inks were included in the May Simon Says Stamp kit. Using these new inks and some inspiration from Michelle Short on the Hero Arts blog as well as Jenn Shurkus, I made some alcohol ink panels. I then used these ink panels to complete some cards I needed to celebrate the coming of babies. Please read on for how I put together these cards. 

In November of 2018, I embarked on a journey where I was not sure was going to lead; I became a participant in the Altenew Educator Certification Program. For the past 5 months I have been steadily working towards certification under the guidance and tutelage of Virginia Lu and Erum Tasneem who have been so gracious with their time and positive feedback. Throughout this journey, I have taken 25 classes at Altenew Academy, made 44 cards, one tag, four framed pieces of art and now taught one class. I feel proud of my accomplishments and happy to be able to share a love of crafty techniques to my friends and get them excited to try something new. Please read on for how the class went, the fun we had and what the students learned in the class. If you would like to read about how I prepared for the class, click here. Affiliate links are used in this post. If you choose to purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.