The Ton's 4th Anniversary Blog Hop - Day 1

Happy Saturday, crafty friends! Today I am excited to be part of The Ton's 4th Anniversary celebration!

The Ton is celebrating 4 years this month and Effie has introduced 9 new designs for this release. There are some free gifts with purchase promotions ongoing. Head over to The Ton Stamps' blog for more details.

This is the first of 4 days of blog hops, full of amazing designers! You are going to see the 9 new sets in action over these 4 days, and I must say...it was SO hard to pick the sets I wanted to showcase. They are all so amazing! Be sure to check them all out over at The Ton!

I will give you all the blog hop & giveaway info at the end of my post, but how about we get to my cards first? I ended up picking Coming Up Peonies and Special Day Lanterns as my selections. The reason behind that? Weddings. Lol! I photograph weddings part-time, and I've seen lanterns like this on many occasions...and I LOVE them. Peonies are also my favorite flower, and I just love when I see them in bridal bouquets. These two stamp sets just seemed like a perfect fit for me.

I used the same Catherine Pooler inks for both the watercolor on the peonies card, and the layered stamping of the lantern card. I used the following colors (linked below to Ellen Hutson. You can also get them directly at Catherine Pooler as well): It's A Girl, Bellini, Coral Cabana, Green Tea & Eucalyptus. For my embossing powders, I used Brutus Monroe Gilded and Avery Elle Rose Gold. These are probably my two favorite embossing powders, and you will notice that I use them quite often if you frequent my blog.

To start the peony card, I heat embossed the floral image to Arches watercolor paper in Gilded embossing powder. This paper is quite textured, so I always stamp to it using my MISTI so that I can stamp a few impressions. Then I proceeded to watercolor the floral image with the inks above, drying with my heat tool occasionally before adding more layers. Once it looked how I wanted, I dried it completely, then added some splatters here & there with the leftover inks.

Next I mounted it to the front of a berry colored A2 card base with a full sheet of foam adhesive. I stamped the sentiment in onyx black Versafine to pink cardstock, then trimmed down to a thin strip. I layered it to the bottom of the card with a thin strip of foam tape, then accented the front of the card with sequins. To finish, I brushed the petals with my Midas Touch Tonic Aqua Shimmer pen.

For the lantern card, I started by heat embossing the lantern pieces in Gilded. Then I heat embossed the candle in Rose Gold. Then I stamped the candle flame in Catherine Pooler Tiara & Sauna inks. Then I stamped the floral layers to the top of the lantern in the colors I mentioned towards the beginning of the post. Finally, I stamped part of the sentiment in onyx black Versafine, and the word Congratulations was heat embossed in Rose Gold.

With all the stamping done, I decided I wanted the candle to glow a little bit. So I used one of my smaller Picket Fence life changing brushes to blend some scattered straw distress inks around the flame. I am still figuring these brushes out a bit, and I made a bit of a mistake on the right side of the lantern. After all of that stamping & heat embossing, I didn't really want to start over again. I went ahead and mounted the stamped panel to a cashmere A2 card base with foam adhesive. Then I tied a double bow from May Arts ivory burlap twine, and adhered it over top of my mistake.

Then I accented the card with my signature iridescent jewels, adding some of them over my mistake as well...and now you would never know I did anything wrong. Mistakes are bound to happen, and sometimes they are so bad that you do have to start over. It happens to all of us! But I always try to find a way to salvage it, especially after I had already put so much work into it! To finish the card, I added some shimmer to the florals with my Midas Touch shimmer pen.

Those are my cards for The Ton's 4th Anniversary! I hope that you enjoyed them! Before I get to the rest of the info you need, I did want to invite you to hang out with me on my social media channels if you don't already.

INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | FACEBOOK

 

I would love to be crafty friends! Okay, now let's get to the rest of this blog hop info you need!

GIVEAWAYS

There are also giveaways everyday on these mini hops! Win a stamp of choice from The Ton's new release. To enter, leave a comment on each blog each day. Effie will choose one winner per day (4 winners total) and announce the winners on The Ton's blog by January 12. The comment period for these giveaways will close on January 11 at 7pm EST.

BLOG HOP LINK LIST - DAY 1

1. The Ton
2. Amy Tsuruta
3. Renee Day
4. Lea Lawson
5. Janette Kausen
6. Vera Yates
7. Jana Millen
8. Laurel Beard

I hope that you have a really great time hopping along and seeing all of the amazing inspiration. I know that I can't wait to grab a cup of coffee and hop along myself!

Have a wonderful Saturday!

SUPPLY LIST
For your shopping convenience, all products are linked below. {Includes affiliate linking where possible - this allows small compensation for me at no cost to you. Never fear - I will only ever link to products that I truly love & use!}