It’s our Celebrating Summer Blog Hop!!!

Each of our fabulous designers has their own unique take on how they “celebrate summer”  and we have a wide variety of gorgeous creations for you to see.   So – settle in and enjoy the hop.

Did I mention prizes??? FIVE great prizes are available and the winners will be announced on Saturday, May 19th on the SNS blog!

To be eligible for the prizes you MUST comment on each and every designer blog. THREE of the prizes are from three different designers – if you miss comments on their blog – you miss out on a chance for a prize!

Just a reminder that through the end of the month, the Sparkle Team presents Water, Food & Beverage and designer, Rosiland Solomon images on special – 15% off!  To view all our specials, which also include a few glitters, embossing powders and flocking – just click here.    http://sparklensprinkle.com/o/specials.php

Leaving a heartfelt comment  inspires, motivates and bring happiness to each designer!  For those who have hopped with us in the past, the heartfelt sharing you left on our blogs, also touched our hearts!  Thank you!!!

HOW TO LEAVE A COMMENT:  Are you new to blog hops?  To find the comments section on each designer’s blog, scroll down to the bottom of that day’s post.  The word COMMENTS (possibly will be very tiny) should be found.  Click on the word COMMENTS.  A box will pop up (or you may have to scroll down again).  Write your comment (sign your name if leaving an anonymous comment).  Perhaps one of those wonky SPAM preventer options will show up.  Just type in the shown characters and click enter.  That’s all there is to it!  You will become an old hand in no time at all.  Designers covet sincere comments left on their blogs.  Visitors who leave comments, in turn, encourage and inspire the designers.  (If you absolutely cannot leave a comment on a particular blog for some reason, please e-mail  Brenda@sparklensprinkle.com with your comment AND the name of the blog or designer you are commenting about.

READY TO START HOPPING???   If you get lost along the way, just come back to the SNS blog and click on the next designer in line.   Good luck!!!

Grab your favorite beverage and maybe a snack and enjoy the hop!!!

Don’t forget! – It’s on for two days……..so if you run out of time, you can still come back and finish the hop

Now – time to hop!

April Williams   http://stampwillydesigns.blogspot.com

Marie Berquist  http://craftemarie.blogspot.com

Shona Erlenborn   http://shonasstampingstage.blogspot.com

Julie Zippel  http://backtobasicsandbeyond.blogspot.com

Shanna Shands   http://scsdesigns.blogspot.com

Barbara Bruder  http://www.artandsoulcreations.blogspot.com

Angie Blasingame  Angie Blasingame   http://hopemorestudio.blogspot.com

Karalee Ingram  http://kareescardsandcraftsofcourse.blogspot.com

Jill Jacobsen   http://www.stampinhands.com

Gerlinde Townsley   http://mycreativecorner-gerlinde.blogspot.com

Charlene Driggs   http://www.paperandinkplayground.com

Karin Martin   http://karin-withaniforpaper.blogspot.com

Brenda Smalle   http://www.rubberroomantics.blogspot.com

Hi Everyone,

We’re celebrating summer with the blog hop here tomorrow, so I thought I would show off a surfing card!  This was made using stamps from the Surf’s Up (455) and Surfin’ Woody (456) sets .  Bright colors always say summer time to me, so I used this fun sentiment and some surf boards that I fussy cut out of matching paper.  I cut my patterned paper in wavy shapes to simulate the ocean and ran the edges in some Cerulean Star embossing powder (EP433). Such a rich, beautiful color!

I knotted a bit of twine for a great nautical embellishment and the peace sign finished off the card.   Complete card details can be found right here.

Are you ready for the hop tomorrow?  As usual, there are prizes and the May stamp specials are 15% off!  All kinds of great things happening, so I hope I see you then

Have a great day and thanks for dropping by!

Karin

Four brand new stamp sets are available today……….

Set 460S – Vintage Boutique is a smaller Stampette with a gorgeous dress form and a lovely ironwork border.

Set 461 – Sew Fabulous is filled with vintage sewing items.

Set 462S – Zendoodle Rainbow is another Stampette set filled with fun images in the Zentangle style.

Set 463 – Zendoodle Flowers is another Zentangle style set filled with gorgeous, fun & funky flowers.  This set also comes as a combo with with the matching Spellbinders Labels 18 Dies.

Hope you enjoy them and more new sets are on the horizon!

Today I am showing how to use hand sanitizer to make a fun “water” scene on a card.  These type of cards are fun for all ages!  I hope you have fun with this today.

Supplies:

1. hand sanitizer or hair gel
2. small zip lock bag
3. glitter or mica chips
4. aqua or light blue alcohol ink or re-inker
5. die cut for window — I used an oval Nestibilities die
6. white cardstock
7. patterned paper
8. contrasting cardstock

Take the small bag and squirt about a third of a travel size bottle of hand sanitizer into it and seal. You can also use hair gel.

Some hand sanitizers and hair gels come in colors, but I only had clear so I added a few drops of aqua alcohol ink. I wanted the color to be light so that my image would show up better.  I also added some blue/purple mica chips to it . Glitter would work well too.

On white cardstock stamp your image in the middle and color. Then adhere the bag over the image using Tear-ific Tape.

Adhere patterned paper onto white cardstock and cut window using the die.

Using the oval dies, cut a frame from the contrasting color cardstock to place around the window.

Pop dot this layer over the image and embellish. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the technique today. Please stop by next week for a glittery technique!

April

Sparkle N Sprinkle supplies used:

1. Elwood stamp
2. Tear-ific Tape
3. Blue Jewel glitter
4. Waterscape glitter

Today is a very special day for many of us because we celebrate the joy of motherhood.  There is nothing that gives as much joy as your children.   I recently watched my oldest daughter receive her college diploma and I have to admit I was very proud!!  I also think of my mother and all that she has done for me, and cannot begin to thank her enough!!

There are many people that are very special in our lives, whether they are moms, dear friends, or neighbors.  A handmade card is a wonderful way to let them know just how special they are.  This card is perfect for this.  It is designed to show off the lovely flowers, Hibiscus Flower, embossed with Teddy Brown Embossing Powder, trimmed and surrounded with sparkling Pine Star Embossing Powder.  The front of the card allows a portion of the card inside to be revealed, showing a lovely background of hummingbirds, created by embossing the Caliope Hummingbird and Bee Hummingbird images.

Opening the card reveals the Words had Wings sentiment stamped on a rectangular flourish frame die cut.  You can find all the details for this card in our gallery here.  All the stamps used on this card can be purchased individually or together in the Hummingbirds & Flowers stamp set, on sale this month at a 15% discount.  Check out all the May monthly specials.

Don’t forget to come back for a new Technique Tuesday and our Celebrating Summer Blog Hop on May 17-18.

Happy Mother’s Day!!

Welcome back to Technique Tuesday again! I have a stamping friend who uses crayons quite a bit to color stamp images. I am amazed at how well the images look.  After seeing these images I decided I would try some myself and I actually like the look. So today we are going back to our childhood and color with crayons!

I started coloring the image first with a white crayon to give it a soft palette  so that the colors would blend a little better.  Then I started with my lighter colors first on top of the white.

I then went over the lighter colors with my darker colors to shade some areas.

After I was finished shading with the darker crayons, I went over all of it again with the white crayon to blend it some more.  Here is the finished image.

I think it turned out quite well!  Now on to the crayon resist.

Supplies:

1. brayer
2. multi-colored ink pad
3. any color of crayon
4. dragonfly stamp
5. white glossy cardstock
6. permanent black ink pad

Stamp dragonfly several times on the glossy cardstock using permanent black ink.

Take any color crayon and color in and outline some areas of the dragonflies.

Brayer over the piece of glossy cardstock using a multi-colored ink pad.  I used a pad that had variations of blues and purples.

Now wipe off any wax left from the crayon.

So, break out those crayons or borrow from your kids or grand kids and give this a try! LOL! Have fun!

April

Sparkle N Sprinkle Supplies used:

1. Bird of Paradise stamp
2. Dragonfly stamp

Hi Everyone,

We’re all excited about the next blog hop here at Sparkle N Sprinkle.  It’s all about Celebrating Summer, so I hope you will mark your calenders for May 17 & 18th and  join us for the fun!

What’s summer with out a visit to the beach, right?  So I used the set Surf’s Up (455), and lots of Blue Jewel Glitter (G1113) to make my card.  Just a quick and simple card that’s flat and easy to mail. I love having these types of cards in my personal stash…They’re great for when a last minute  need arises

I used the stamp Surfboard Trio (3587-455M) along the bottom, paper pieced the one surfboard and added some color with a Copic marker to the others.  I chose the Kraft colored base to echo the color of sand and the glitter is a great Caribbean blue! By the way, using glitter is just the easiest thing when it’s coupled with Sticker Paper (99558). Next to Tear-iffic tape it’s one of my favorite things!

Thanks for dropping by the blog and be sure to check out my card gallery for all the specific details!

Karin

Another weekend and another great show behind us.  Margaret & I met so many fabulous people in Manchester this last weekend.  The venue was awesome and all the vendors had tons of space around them to make shopping for the customers much easier and less crowded!   Here are a few shots of Margaret & I, our booth and some of our customers!

Some long time customers who stopped by several times to visit!

Margaret preparing for the crowds

Brenda ready to rock & sparkle

Our customers just LOVE filling their own tubes!

Checking out the Mudd Puddles

Robin checking out!

Lynne & Linda enjoying the demos

More demo fun

Susan showing off her demo sample

Bling it on Brenda with Susan - our customers come in all sizes!

Hope you enjoyed seeing us at work.  Come visit us at a show near you!!!!!!!!!   May 4-5 – Scrapbook Expo in Del Mar, California (San Diego area)  -  May 18-19 at the Scrapbook Expo at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando (Kissimmee) and the end of the month – the Great American Scrapbook Show (3 full days) in Arlington, Texas (Dallas)  May 31 – June 2.

Hi Everyone,
It’s time reveal the sketch for May and to show the great creations made by the sketch designers using the May sketch.

Here are the designers creations

Karalee’s Creation

Marie’s creation

Shona’s creation

The designers have been hard at work again for this months challenge and have come up with spectacular examples for you, don’t you think.

And now, who won the April’s Sketch Challenge??  Well without further ado the winner is:

SUZ  H

please contact me at barbara@sparklensprinkle.com to arrange for your prize to be sent.

Here are the guidelines for playing:

• Create a NEW project for the challenge. No back links please.
• Please use Sparkle N Sprinkle images only
• Please link to your blog or to your post at the SplitCoastStampers gallery (SCS)
• If posting to the SCS gallery, please be sure to include the code that appears on the sketch to tag your card to the challenge. Please enter that code using the keyword SNSSC07. If posting on your blog please include the code on your blog also. Each monthly sketch will have its own unique code that will appear on the sketch.
• Please link the card or project to the inlinkz icon at the bottom of the current challenge page. Please make sure to link to your challenge card not to your blog address.

If you have any questions please email me at Barbara@sparklensprinkle.com

I am looking forward to seeing your creation here.

You have until May 31 , to enter.

The prize is the stamp set of your choice.

Wow! It is Technique Tuesday already! This week really flew by. I was making a flowerpot card last week and I wanted the pot to look glazed. This isn’t really a new technique but a little twist on an old one.

Supplies:

1. Ultra Thick clear embossing powder
2. Blue, brown, and pink Brilliance ink pads
3. embossing folder
4. heat gun
5. cream cardstock
6. Versa Mark ink pad
7. sponges

Fold cardstock and cut both sides of the cardstock to make a pot shape.  Pat the Versa mark ink pad all over the front of the pot and sprinkle on the Ultra Thick embossing powder. Heat with heat gun. I added UT four times to make it thick enough to press in the embossing folder.

Heat up the flowerpot one last time and quickly press an opened embossing folder into the hot UT. I had to press the embossing folder twice, doing one side of the pot, then heating the other side and pressing the embossing folder on that side to get an even press.

When this is dry — it dries quickly — sponge on the Brilliance inks starting with the lightest color first. Brilliance inks work well  on the UT because they do not rub off the slick surface. They also add some sparkle.  I used a border punch to add a rim to the pot, embossed it with UT and pop dotted it to the top of the pot.

Thanks again for stopping by. I hope you have fun trying this technique. Have a great day!

April

Sparkle N Sprinkle supplies used:

1. Versa Mark ink pad
2. Waterscape glitter
3. Ruffled Tulips