Starry Birthday

Hello!  This week at Topflight Stamps, we are sharing our star-themed creations. I've got a starry birthday card to show, which positively GLITTERS in person, thanks to Spectrum Noir Glitter Paste in Candlelight Gold and the Darkroom Door Starry Night Small Stencil.  The glitter paste is a dream to spread over a stencil, goes on easily and give such a 'wow' factor.  The background panel is navy, which is a good contrast for the gold stars.  The white panel was made with with a Crealies Stitched Rectangle, on which a sentiment from Visible Image Go To Words was stamped.  I finished it up with some gold star ribbon trim from my stash, and a few red stars.

Supplies Used From Topflight Stamps Store:

Crealies Stitched Rectangle Dies

Darkroom Door Starry Night Small Stencil

Spectrum Noir Glitter Paste Candlelight Gold

Visible Image Go To Words

Have a blessed day!

Mixed Media Butterflies

Hello!  This week at Topflight Stamps we are focusing on Mixed Media.  For my card, I lightly spritzed water on a piece of watercolor paper. Then on a silicone mat, I smushed some Lavinia Graphite Dye Ink and also spritzed it lightly with water.  I placed the watercolor paper onto the ink and picked it up, dabbed it in a different place, lifted it, etc.  Once dry, I laid the Lavinia Laurel stencil over it and added grit paste.  When that dried, I used my fingertip to smooth on some gold paste.  On some white cardstock, I stamped a butterfly twice from the AALL & Create Delicate Wings set, fussy cut and layered on to the base. It looked a little bare at that point, so I opened the Creative Expressions French Fabric Tags stamp set and stamped two little tags.  After sponging both of them with a light brown ink, they were added as a layer in front of the butterflies. Finally, a few purple punched flowers dotted with Hunkydory Pearls topped it off.

Supplies Used From Topflight Stamps Store:

AALL & Create Delicate Wings

Lavinia Laurel Stencil

Lavinia Graphite Dye Ink

Hunkydory Pearls

Have a blessed day!

Topflight Stamps 8th Birthday Blog Hop!

It's Topflight Stamps 8th birthday and to celebrate, I’ve teamed up with some great designers to showcase celebratory projects using the unique products available at Topflight Stamps. Please hop along with us and see all the beautiful talent from this group of amazing designers! There is a master list of Hop stops on the Topflight Stamps blog! We are also Hopping on Instagram! You can start at the Topflight Stamps account @topflightstamps .

Did we mention there will be prizes? 🎉🥳

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Of course, it wouldn’t be a birthday celebration without prizes! Topflight Stamps is giving four lucky winners $50 Gift Certificates to the store. Two winners will be chosen from commenters on the blog hop and two will be chosen from commenters on the IG hop. For a chance to win, make sure to visit the stops on the hop and leave a comment by April 1st. Winners will be announced on the Topflight Stamps blog on Thursday, April 3rd. U.S.A winners only due to shipping issues. Good Luck!

Topflight Stamps Blog

Kathi Rerek

Dina Kowal

Esther Asbury

Annette Allen

Rachel Kleinman

Connie Mercer

Lisa Hoel

Gwen Lafleur

Me!

Ericka Strange

Autumn Clark

Natasha Vacca

Mel Pilling

Colleen Balija

Alanna Moses

Sara Naumann

For my birthday card, I started with a plaid piece of patterned paper.  Using Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves ink and PaperArtsy Scrapcosy PS317 stencil, I added a regal design at the top and bottom of the paper.  On cream colored cardstock, I stamped the following in Versafine Onyx Black ink and then trimmed them out and sponged edges with brown ink:  Crafty Individuals Seven Cheeky Songbirds and Crafty Individuals Vintage Tickets & Ephemera.  The Crafter's Companion 'Loving Thoughts' sentiment was stamped on a round die cut, with edges inked in a vintage brown.  All of the elements were layered on top of two pieces of vintage lace, nestled between both of the stenciled borders.  Thanks for joining me! Best of luck on the hop!

Supplies Used From Topflight Stamps Store:

PaperArtsy Scrapcosy PS317 Stencil

Crafty Individuals Seven Cheeky Songbirds

VersaFine Clair Fallen Leaves

Crafty Individuals Vintage Tickets & Ephemera

VersaFine Onyx Black Ink

Crafter's Companion Loving Thoughts stamp set

Lucky To Know You

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  It's Colleen here with you, sharing some fun things from the Topflight Stamps store.  I used green ink and a Lavinia stencil called Laurel to make a leafy, verdant background.  The sentiment from Crafter's Companion "Fabulous Fuchsia - Loving Thoughts" stamp set is perfect for this holiday, too.  It says: "I'm so lucky to have a friend like you."  So sweet!  I mounted it on a couple of layers of green cardstock, then set it atop a strip of rosette ribbon I had in my stash.

If you are looking for sentiments for your cards and creations, click here to see the 450+ items in this category!  There is something for every occasion.

Supplies used from the Topflight Stamps Store:

Lavinia Stencil - Laurel

Crafter's Companion - Fabulous Fuchsia - Loving Thoughts stamp set

Thanks so much for joining me!  Have a fabulous St. Patrick's Day!

Design Team news!

Hellooo everyone!  I've got some fun news:  I have joined the Topflight Stamps design team!! Thank you to Donna and the rest of the team for having me. 😊  This week, we're featuring Anything Goes.

Since Christmas is not far in the rearview mirror, I am still in a holiday mood for cardmaking.  At the end of this post, I've linked to the products I used today.

The first card uses several items from the Topflight Stamps store.  I started with a black cardstock panel to mount on a wine-colored card base.  Before mounting it, I used a PaperArtsy Stencil, PS317 with Spectrum Noir Glitter Paste, Candlelight Gold.  Oh.My.Goodness.  That glitter paste is amazing!!  It spread so easily through the stencil, and gave such an elegant boost to the card.  In real life, it is so sparkly.  Gorgeous product.  (Now I want more colors, lol)

While that dried, I started on the rest of the card.  Using matte gold cardstock, I die cut a stitched rectangle with Crealies Rectangle Dies.  Behind it, I added a layer of fun foam to lift it up from the card.  On top of the rectangle, I used a pretty Eiffel Tower stamp from Katzelkraft - KTZ252 - Ephemera.  I stamped it with Lavinia Graphite Dye Ink Pad - and trimmed it out with scissors, then glued onto the matte gold panel.  The holly leaves and berries from  Visible Image Christmas Robin stamp set were stamped with the same Graphite ink used above, trimmed with scissors, and colored with alcohol markers.

The second card also features PaperArtsy Stencil PS317 with Spectrum Noir - Glitter Paste - Candlelight Gold.  Since I had the products on my desk, I made two black panels with the stencil and paste.  I'm a little new to stencils, so I learned something.  On the first black panel, the images came up crisp once I pulled away the stencil.  I did not clean the stencil before using on the second panel.  Lightbulb moment!  The stenciled image was less crisp than the first.  Still gorgeous though!!  Since there were some areas that were not what I had hoped for, I found a Christmas gift tag in my craft stash and used it to cover some of the glittery paste.  I like it, but now I know for next time. 😉 

I've linked to everything I used below, with photos to help you visualize the gorgeous products used.  And my Christmas card stash just got a little bigger, yay!  

PaperArtsy - Large Stencil - Scrapcosy - PS317

Crealies - Crea-Nest-Lies XXL - Double Stitched Rectangle Dies

Visible Image - A6 - Clear Polymer Stamp Set - Christmas Robin

Katzelkraft - A5 - KTZ252 - Unmounted Red Rubber Stamp Set - Ephemera

Spectrum Noir - Glitter Paste - Candlelight Gold

Lavinia - Elements Premium Dye Ink Pad - Graphite

Thanks so much for joining me today!

God bless you!

Framed Butterflies

I was playing around with my Crafter's Template this afternoon, Butterfly Meadow.

Butterfly Meadow

First, I sprayed Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist through the template onto natural cardstock.  Then I trimmed down the stenciled image to include just a few of the elements.  I mounted it onto a layer of kraft cardstock.

For the focal point, I cut a Spellbinders Fleur de Lis square in black cardstock, then layered on a plain square die like this, to create a frame:

While holding the black frame in place, I sponged different Distress inks within the frame.

Then I attached the frame to the stenciled layer with dimensional foam stickers, and added pearls.

The last step was to add this layer to a vanilla card base, off-center.

Hope you've enjoyed this simple card!  Thanks for coming by.



Paper: Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Confetti White cardstock - SU
Ink: Peeled Paint, Broken China, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain Distress - Ranger
Other: Big Shot; square, Fleur de Lis Square die - Spellbinders; pearls - Queen & Co.; Simply Khaki Glimmer Mist - Tattered Angels; Butterfly Meadow Crafter's Template
Dimensions:  4 1/2" square

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Silhouettes

This is my second post for the day.  Please visit HERE to see 'Parrot Tulips Valentine'.

I've not used a stencil on a card in a long time, but had the opportunity to play with one the other day.  I used Adirondack Color Wash to create a pretty silhouetted scene:

The stencil I used is from The Crafter's Workshop, available through Blockheads Paper Arts:

I protected an area on my table with paper, then laid my template on white cardstock and spritzed until I could see the images very clearly.  I let it dry for a few moments before removing the stencil.  After my paper was dry, I placed some heavy books on top to help flatten it out again.

I trimmed my image and added a strip of Pacific Point cardstock which had been border-punched.  A piece of seam binding ribbon - from my scrap bag - was tied around the layer, then I mounted it with foam dimensional stickers to the card base.  A little bit of olive bling helped finish off the card.

This template is an ample size (6" square), so I actually got two cards'-worth out of one project.

Challenges entered:

• Paper Players - use flowers
• Paper Sundaes - Clean and simple
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - 'Fly Away with Me'

I visited my doc today about those x-rays on my hands.  He tells me it is osteo-arthritis, not rheumatoid arthritis (thank God!).  He recommended glucosamine-chondroitin, as did my friend who is a pharmacist.  I know I need to be careful about how much time I am on the computer, too.

Thanks for visiting me!

Colleen

Stamps: none
Ink: Adirondack Color Wash spray - Lettuce
Paper: Pacific Point - SU; White - PTI
Punch: Double Arches - Martha Stewart
Other:  Mini Butterfly Meadow 6 x 6 Template  - Crafter's Workshop; white seam binding; green rhinestones - Michael's