Zva April Blog Hop Winners Announced

Hi friends!  I hope all is good for you on this fine Wednesday! I spent the day yesterday at a local farm with my daughter's kindergarten class... boy do they have a lot of energy! I'm exhausted... but I must build my energy back up to head to the zoo with my second grader on Friday. Its hard to believe that there is only one month of school left for the kiddos around here.

I just wanted to stop in today to say thank you all for visiting and joining Zva's blog hop yesterday & Monday! We have posted the winners over at our Facebook page (our blog is a little under the weather so we are rolling with Facebook this month to share our design team's work).

Since Mother's Day is right around the corner I thought I'd make & share another Mother's Day card. This one is using the beautiful flower from the exclusive stamp set Best Mom Ever from Simon Says Stamp's May Card Kit!

I first colored some water color paper with my Artisan Inks by REDlead Paperworks. I discovered REDlead at a rubber stamping show and have fallen in love with everything about them. My favorites are their unique vintage image rubber stamps, wood veneer and patina shapes and these Artisan Inks.

To create the watercolor effect on the paper, I dropped a few drops of the ink onto it and sprayed it with water to spread out the color. I then went back in and added some iridescent watercolor paint from Cosmic Shimmer into the whiter spots (cool texture).

After letting the paper dry, I stamped my flowers and cut them out, added an embossed area to look like a basket toward the bottom of my card and layered my flowers on top. Add a few marker-colored leaves and crystal flourishes, stamp and make banner and you have a finished card.

I'm trying to be more diligent about linking the products that I used in my projects below so that you can recreate any techniques that might pique your interest. I will try to link to the store where I purchased them, unless the product was provided by a manufacturer, then I will link back to them. You should be able to click the little pictures below and it will take you to the product's listing to get more information. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

Zva Creative April DT Blog Hop!

Zva Creative and my fellow Design Team members welcome you to our April blog hop! We are excited happy you are joining us and look forward to sharing our new work with you!

Today’s Blog Hop begins at Zva Creative’s Facebook page! Be sure head on over to check it out! 

Here's a list of participants (in case there is a glitch along the way):

 Teri Anderson

Anna Zaprzelska

Irene Tan 

Jennifer Snyder    

Christin Grønnslett   

Andrea Ewen

Helen Tilbury

Fabi Ormerod    

Jolanda Meurs  

Natasha Naranjo Aguirre     

Lisa Somerville

Julie Ranae

Nicole Martel

Marilia Lopes

 Windy Robinson

Justina Tey

To create this card I stamped three flower and leaf images from Penny Black's Dahlias clear stamp set on white card stock and colored them using Anna Griffin's Dual-Tipped Watercolor Markers. After fussy cutting and layering the flowers onto the face of my card, I highlighted areas with ClearSnap's Smooch Illuminate. Then I added a sentiment from the stamp set in my new Simon Says Stamp May Card Kit and added Zva's new flourish and mini flower bling. 

Aren't these new for 2013 Lavender Crystal Mini Flowers just darling?  Don't worry, if you don't like purple they come in other colors too;) I really like them because they are the perfect touch to use as center of flowers.

As you know, Zva offers many beautiful color groupings for pearls, flowers and crystals.  If you like what you see along the hop you can find a list of stores and online retailers that sell Zva HERE.  

If you would like to play along with our design team, just follow along the blog path.  I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way!

The Blog Hop starts today, April 29^th and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, April 30^th.

***Prizes***

Hidden on FIVE of the designer’s blogs is a Zva Creative prize package! Winners will be randomly chosen after the hop is over. All you need to do is leave a comment on this Blog Hop post... you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. However, the more times you comment along the blog hop path, the more chances you will have to win.

The 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, May 1^st on Zva Creative’s Facebook page! We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to Zva’s blog on Wednesday to see if you are a winner!

We also thought it would be more fun to add even more chances to win our blog hop prize!  To increase your chances of winning:

* Comment to let us know that you posted on your Facebook page about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)

* Comment to let us know that you "tweeted" about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)

* Comment to let us know that you asked your local store to carry Zva creative products.  If they already do, that's fantastic, maybe you can suggest other products that they don't carry.

*Hop over to Zva’s facebook page and “like” our page or leave a comment there to tell us that you stopped by if you already like follow us there!

The blog hop begins here at Zva Creative’s Facebook page! Your next stop is Justina Tey. Enjoy!

Thank you for joining us!

P.S. Mark your calendar to join us again on May 27^th for our next Zva blog hop!

Supplies:

Spellbinders - Grand Calibur	Zva Creative Crystal Flourish	Zva Creative Mini Crystal Flowers	Anna Griffin Dual Tipped Watercolor Markers	Papertrey Ink White Cardstock
Simon Says Stamp! Best Mom Ever Clear Stamps	Penny Black Clear Dahlia's Stamps	*Martha Stewart MINI SCORING BOARD Score Craft Tool 42-05013 New 2012

InLinkz.com

Free Scrapinar Tuesday Night!

Hi friends! I just wanted to touch base and remind you that my scrapinar on envelopes is tonight at 8pm EST US. If you are interested in picking up a few tips and tricks for making them and making them look fabulous, please click the photo below and sign up!

Not available tonight? Well as long as you pre-register you can catch the play back for a limited time after the event.  Would love to see you there!

Spring Paper Crafting: Tissue Paper Flowers

Hello, hello! Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you all are doing well:)

I have a fun tutorial for you today. If you are stopping over from Paper Crafts Connection, you already know what it is about. If not, I'm going to show you how to easily make these tissue paper flowers using a spiral flower craft die.

1) Start by folding tissue paper in a square or rectangle that fits die (don't worry about precise folding, just make sure you have multiple layers of paper to cut through). The more tissue paper you can cut, the more layers your flowers will have. I usually play around with it until I have a thickness that I like that will cut on my machine. 

2) Cut out flower and remove all layers (together as one piece). 

3) Using a pair pf pinching tweezers to hold the end together roll the flower.

4) For a smaller bud add glue while tweezers are still holding the flower in a tight spiral.

5) For a larger, more open bloom remove tweezers and allow flower to unwind naturally before adding glue to base of flower.

6) Be sure to add a drop of glue to each layer of tissue at the base of the flower. Tip: Hot glue holds well and dries quickly;)

Well, that is it! Super simple. Add your flowers to a card or use them as a package topper and you have an excellent spring embellishment!

Products used to create flowers:

Spellbinders - Grand Calibur

Spellbinders Spiral Blossoms One

InLinkz.com

Zva Creative & Authentique Paper Celebrate Spring... Day 2

Hi crafty friends!

Over the next two days a couple of Zva Creative design team members are teaming up with Authentique Paper  to bring you a little dose of Spring by showing you projects created with Zva’s blings and Authentique’s new Hope collection which is a beautiful collection for Easter or Spring projects.

So I'm happy to share an Easter card that I made for the hop! 

Our second project is brought to you today by my friend Nicole Martel. Please be sure to hop on over to her blog to check out what she has created.

Nicole Martel

And don’t forget to hop on over to Authentique’s blog too to see an additional project made just for you!

Authentique’s Blog

And you can also visit my friends who shared some projects yesterday if you are just joining us:)

Andrea Ewen

Jennifer Snyder

***Prizes!!!***

Zva Creative will be selecting two lucky winners who comment along the three day blog hop to win a Zva prize package worth $30 and Authentique’s Hope collection.  All comments must be received by 11:59pm on Monday, March 25th EST.  The winner will be announced on Zva’s blog on Tuesday, March 26th.

- – – – – – – -

Authentique Paper is the hottest new brand in the paper craft industry, best known their our signature heavy weight textured paper. Their style is vintage with a modern twist and their products are always made with the crafter of all levels in mind.

Authentique’s mission is to promote the belief being genuine is the only way to live! Their products reinforce this message through quotes, saying and the names of our Collections. They are designed to enhance the authentic side in each of us, hence Authentique Paper.

Zva Creative produces many beautiful color groupings of high quality pearls, flowers and crystal embellishments that can be used on scrapbooking, card making and mixed media projects. You can visit Zva’s gallery or blog for many great project ideas and find a list of stores and online retailers that sell Zva HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Spellbinders Explore Beyond Blog Frenzy Day 5

Hello friends! Thanks for visiting today! You have stopped by on a real special day here because it is Spellbinders Explore Beyond Blog Frenzy time! Yeah!! If you are new to Spellbinder’s Blog Frenzy, then you are in for a real treat because Spellbinder’s designers are showcasing some of Spellbinder’s latest and greatest products!

Are you ready to see what I created to share with you?

Supply List:

• Spellbinders Dies: S5-164 Grateful Lattice; S5-161 Radiant Rectangles (#2: Inset, #3 Border and # 4); S5-014 Bauble Blossoms Two (quilling strip); F-013 Jewel Tones Premium Craft Foil (red).
• Cross Promotional Partners: Bazzill Basics Paper® 12 x 12” Kraft cardstock; Beacon Adhesives 3-in-1 Craft Glue; Clearsnap Colorbox Wicked Black Dye Archival ink and Stylus with foam blending tip; Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock® Sand It Gadget; Graphic 45 Bird Song collection: Harmony 12 x 12 patterned paper; SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L™ 3-D Foam Squares
• Other supplies include: satin ribbon, chipboard alphabet, crystal lines and composition notebook.

To Create Notebook:

1) Cover face and back of composition book with kraft cardstock. You may also cover inside flaps as well.

2) Cut patterned paper to 6 5/8 x 5 3/4” and adhere over ribbon onto face of notebook.

3) Cut a piece of kraft cardstock that measures 6 5/8 x 5 3/4” with S5-164 Grateful Lattice die template. 

Note: Align paper just below the cut edge of the die template.

4) For a continuous piece, run die through the Spellbinders™ Grand Calibur® GC-001 die cutting and embossing machine a second time after carefully repositioning die on paper so that the pattern repeats.

5) Adhere lattice die over patterned paper.

6) Cut/emboss kraft cardstock quilling strips with S5-014 Bauble Blossoms Two and monogram mat with S5-161 Radiant Rectangles (#2 Insert and #3 Border) die templates.

7) Adhere quilling strips at top and bottom of lattice and set notebook aside.

8) Cut/emboss S5-161 Radiant Rectangles #4 die template. Remove foil from template and sand.

9) Stencil S5-161 Radiant Rectangles die with black ink.

10) Tie bow on notebook and embellish with crystal lines.

Stack kraft die over foil rectangle die and adhere to notebook with foam squares. Add monogram and gems.

See how fun Spellbinder’s new dies can be? Are you ready to create something today? Here’s another idea to get you started.

For Official Contest Rules… Click HERE

To Enter Today’s Giveaway… Click HERE

A most sincere thanks for spending some time with me today! Please be sure to also visit Becca Feeken’s blog as well to see what she has created for you and for more chances to win!