More adventures in teatime card making … and a small giveaway!

The other week, I used the last pennies of an Amazon gift card to order this stamp-and-die set, the Tea Time set from Gemini by Crafter's Companion in the UK. This set was intriguing to me because the die comes in two parts, so that you can cut out the complete design of the teacup stack or simply cut out one side and let it serve as the edge of a card. Could I do it?

Why yes! Yes, I could.

Actually, I had a few flubs along the way. First, I colored with alcohol markers, which I absolutely love, but …

It didn't dawn on me that they would bleed through. So, alcohol markers will need to be saved for when the full design is cut out and I'm adhering it to a card in a way that the back doesn't show. Lesson learned.

So I turned to my colored pencils and went with fall tones on another card. I've had fun creating a few of these teacup stack cards so far, and I decided I would offer some as a giveaway this month, but I couldn't decide which color would be most popular. A fall palette? Pinks? Blues? And then it occurred to me …

I'll let YOU decide! If you're a fan of coloring and would like to win a set of four color-your-own-design cards, just leave an "Enter me" to this post by Friday, November 15, at 7 a.m. EST and you'll be entered to win, making sure to leave an email address if I don't already have a way to contact you.  And happy coloring to the winner!

Crafter's Companion Floral Tea Cups Stamps — A Review

A few weeks ago, I saw some teacup stamps on Amazon that I immediately fell in love with and ordered, and since some of you enjoy paper crafting as much as I do, I thought I'd share my experience here since I was quite happy with the results!

These "Floral Tea Cups" stamps are from Crafter's Companion and also have a matching die, which is sold separately.

Helpfully, the stamps are numbered in the order in which you're supposed to use them. First, you stamp the main background color.

Next, you use the outline stamp. (Hard to see here, but this gold color has a metallic sheen, much like a real teacup would.)

Next, you stamp the outside of the roses.

Then, the inside of the roses. (I know my pink inks don't match at all, but hey, I was dying to try these out and used what I had on hand.)

And then the finished design with the roses and leaves. I was aiming for perfection, but apparently the stamp is supposed to leave a bit of white space in the design, which makes these stamps pretty forgiving to use. And in the interest of full disclosure, I wasn't paying attention and switched steps four and five, so the leaves actually were supposed to be step four and not step five. Oh well.

I've got to find a space in my office to place a table, but until then, I work in the floor, using my trusty Cricut Cuttlebug to cut out all the teacup stacks. I love to cut things out with a die!

I made two different styles of card, and even though I wasn't thrilled with the roses' ink colors (Hobby Lobby, here I come), I was actually pretty happy with the finished cards. I had a gift card and ordered my stamp set from Amazon here, and it's also available directly from Crafter's Companion here. And as luck would have it, a kind reader just *happened* to send me some gorgeous tea-themed paper crafting supplies last week, so look for more designs in the coming days!