Hello crafty folks J

Hope this New Year has been treating you well, your stash is growing and your ink pads are all nice and juicy :)

I am Jaya Christina @ CraftyJC and I am a stamper and primarily a card maker. When Rashmi from ItsyBitsy contacted me if I’d like to do a guest post, I was super thrilled to try some of the new stamps and products.

I am so glad for having used the happy bird-day & the jumbo-wishes stamps, the new papers packs and a bunch of lovely ink pads.

First I made 3 Valentine’s Day cards which are so versatile, you can use it to for any occasion – you don’t have to wait till V-Day to tell your special one how much they are loved isn’t it.

I used the nice and sturdy Bright White Cardstock to size and layered that with a panel from the Pretty in Pink paper stack. Now, this stack has some lovely embellishments that lend to some easy-peasy cards. If you know me, I am rubbish with patterned papers. But I surprised myself when I saw how quickly these two cards together. Trim, add some foam tape and layer them. I’d trimmed the sentiments which are in the embellishments sheet as a banner and you have a gorgeous card in a matter of minutes. Now all you need to do is clap your hands with glee.

Next I tried out the happy bird-day stamps. I cut out a 3x3 square piece from the Bright White Cardstock and a circle as well. They stamp so well and I will be using these quite a bit.

For the first card I stamped this cute bird and then inked background with the lovely Chalk Ink in Aqua. My little one helped me colour the bird. Finished with dotted lines using a black gel pen, added another banner sentiment from the Pretty in Pink paper stack – using foam tape to add a bit of dimension.

For the second card with this stamp, I inked the entire circle cut out using the Chalk Ink in Aqua and stamped the cute little bird directly on the inked panel with a black ink. I then stamped the bird again in another piece of cardstock, coloured it used regular markers. I then fussy cut the bird (without the legs) and the leaves and then layered these on the stamped image. Added a little squiggly lines using a white gel pen. I added a stamped sentiment banner from the same stamp set. I just SOOOO love how this turned out. As you can see, Pretty in Pink paper stack makes an appearance in this card too. I love this layout so much, I must make a bunch more cards in this style.

Now comes the cute Mr. Jumbo. This jumbo-wishes stamp set is totally ADORABLE. I stamped this fellow in the Bright White Cardstock and fussy cut him – and added a tiny bit of shadow to the guy. I then stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment from the same stamp set, and penciled a speech bubble free hand and trimmed that out. Did the same for the puffy clouds too.

I then cut out a hill mask and inked Chalk Ink in Aqua and Chalk Ink in Olive to make the sky and the grass. Assembled the whole card using foam tape and this cute little card is ready to be given to my daughter on her birthday next week.

The chalk inks lend themselves easily to quickly ink up backgrounds. I’m going to be adding all the colours to my stash.

Lastly I’d like to show you this cute little Sizzix shaker box. I die cut this box using Sizzix BigShot from the Bright White Cardstock. I stamped the bird from the happy bird-day stamp set onto the lid of the box and also on a small note which slightly smaller than 3x3. The lid was quickly coloured using coloured pencils.

On the note, I did a bit of paper piecing using the Pink Stack with the background inked with the trusty Chalk Ink in Aqua. I cut out a border and belly band for the box from the Pretty in Pink paper stack

There is a brilliant video on YouTube from ItsyBitsy which shows how to make this box. Do watch it.

This box has a small cavity to add some tiny gifts, chocolates or even trinkets. Guess who’s getting this for her birthday! :) I am planning to add a small pendant in a chain inside the box.