A Birthday Kitty for the Inky Paws Challenge

Hello!  It's Friday- yay!  We had a great first week of summer, full of sunshine, pools, and lots and lots of laughs.  We're off on a day adventure today- I want to take the girls to the beach!  Before we go though, I thought I'd pop on and share my card for this month's Inky Paws Challenge over at Newton's Nook Designs.  It's a color challenge this time around:

Aren't those colors great?  I had fun creating with them- I pulled out the Newton's Birthday Bash set and created this:

Aren't those fun bright colors perfect for a birthday celebration?  So cheerful!  The patterned papers are from the Take Note 6x6 pad by Doodle Bug.  I used a few patterns to decorate my card front and then colored and cut out Newton and his balloon with Copic markers.  I also colored and cut out a hat for him to wear. :)

I stamped my sentiment onto vellum and attached it to my card along with another strip of patterned paper.  I sewed along each side to hold it in place.  Lastly, I embellished with a few white epoxy dots- I thought they looked a little like confetti!

I had fun with this challenge!  I hope you get a chance to play along, too!  Pop over to the Newton's Nook Designs Blog for all the information and to see what the rest of the team did this month!  So fun!!

OK!  Off to the beach!  Hope you have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Some Fun News and a Card!

Good morning!  Today is a great day!  Sunny skies, happy kids, and fun news to share!  I am joining a new fabulous design team- a company that I've been a fan of for a long time- SRM Stickers!!  I am so excited to be an ambassador of such a great brand!  I feel like every time they come up with something new it was made just for me!  I really couldn't be happier!

I've already started designing some projects for them!  I thought I'd share one today with my fun announcement. :)  Here is a card I made using some of my favorite SRM products:

My card features an awesome sentiment sticker, some honeydew baker's twine, and an adorable mini clothespin!  They go great with this fun typewriter stamp, don't they?  The stamp is from a new company called Pink Bow Ties.  Meka, the owner, is a local lady and we share a love of typewriters!  This one is big and bold and I love it!  The inks and patterned paper are from Stampin' Up! and the border sticker is from Bella Blvd.

I am so excited to be part of the SRM team this year!  I can't wait to see what they have in store for us!

Newton's Nook Designs June Release- Sweet Summer

Good Morning!  I'm back today with the second set in the June Newton's Nook Designs release!  It's another cute one- Sweet Summer!

This one is all about the fruit!  Aren't they cute?  I stacked mine up on top of each other with the cherry on top just so I could use that cute sentiment! :)  So you could do this by masking but I found it easier to paper piece my colored pieces on top of each other.  That way I could cut off all the spots I went out of the lines lol! :)
I added the sentiment to a vellum belly band.  It's adhered on the inside of the card and can move up and down if you want to.  I added just a few red epoxy dots for embellishment.

Would you like to win “Sweet Summer”?This set will be given away to Two lucky winners! 

Here's how to win: 

Comment on the NND blog and Design Team and Guest blogs (see list below)! Two winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs release posts. Make sure to check out each of their blogs and comment for your chance to win. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning! You have until Thursday, June 19th at 9pm CDT to comment  -- winners will be announced on the blog post on Friday, June 20th.   Check out all these awesome Design Team and Guest Blogs below to enter:

Newton's Nook Designs

Taheerah Atchia

Christine Drogt

Samantha Mann

Larissa Heskett

Crafty Math-Chick

Danielle Pandeline

Valerie Ward

Tessa Wise

Ria Montefalcon  - Guest Designer

Donna Idlet  - Guest Designer

This sweet set is so fun!  I hope you get a chance to pop through the design team and guest designers blogs-  they did a great job with this set.  Sweet Summer will be available for purchase on June 20th

Thanks for visiting today!

Newton's Nook Designs June Release- Chicken Scratches

Good Morning!  It's release day for Newton's Nook Designs!  Their June release is so fun!!  Today we are sharing cards made with the new Chicken Scratches stamp set:

Chicken Scratches is all about chickens!  I had fun with this one!  I started by stamping my card front.  I chose a rainbow of colors from my Stampin' Up! inks and used them to stamp the chicken wire stamp over and over again until the space was filled.  Next, I added a panel of the sunrays patterned paper from the Hello Sunshine 6x6 pad by Lawn Fawn and sewed around the edges.  I added the doily and sewed the edge of that, too.
I stamped the chickens over the doily and on patterned papers with black ink.  I fussy cut around the patterned papers and pieced them over the images on the doily.  I added a bit of shading with my Copic markers and also added some chicken feed to the area around their feet.  Aren't they cute?  :)  I added my sentiment last.

This set is so fun!  Even if you're not a chicken person (I'm not! Hee!) this one might just grow on you!  I love the way they look paper pieced...  Chicken Scratches will be available for purchase on June 20th.

Would you like to win “Chicken Scratches”?This set will be given away to Two lucky winners! 

Here's how to win: 

Comment on the NND blog and Design Team and Guest blogs (see list below)! Two winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs release posts. Make sure to check out each of their blogs and comment for your chance to win. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning! You have until Thursday, June 19th at 9pm CDT to comment  -- winners will be announced on the blog post on Friday, June 20th.   Check out all these awesome Design Team and Guest Blogs below to enter:

Newton's Nook Designs

Taheerah Atchia

Christine Drogt

Samantha Mann

Larissa Heskett

Crafty Math-Chick

Danielle Pandeline

Valerie Ward

Tessa Wise

Ria Montefalcon  - Guest Designer

Donna Idlet  - Guest Designer

I hope you get a chance to pop through everyone's blog!  The team and guest designers made the cutest cards this time!  Thanks for stopping by here, too!

Waffle Flower Challenge- You Rock Card

Hi!  Today I have a fun card I made for the new Waffle Flower Challenge!  Waffle Flower Stamps will be hosting a challenge each month, starting on the 15th and running through the 25th of the next month.  You'll have over a month to participate with each challenge!  And, even better, there are two categories- a sketch and a technique to inspire you.  You can enter as many times between June 15th and July 25th as you want for your chance to win a stamp set of your choice!

I loved both the sketch and the technique challenges for the Waffle Flower Challenge June/July 2014  but chose the sketch to work with:

Isn't it a great sketch?  Here is my card:

I used the Rock My World stamp set to stamp out 5 different rocks.  For the larger ones, I used the back of the stamps that had writing on them.
I used a technique I came up with to give them the texture of real rocks- I started by inking the stamps with a light colored ink and stamping off.  Next, I splattered ink and mists onto the stamp surface and then huffed on the stamp.  I stamped them on to white cardstock and cut out around each rock.
I stamped my sentiment on to the largest rock using black ink.  It's a mixture of two sentiments from the set.

Along with the Waffle Flower Rock My World stamp set, I used some patterned paper and epoxy dots from Teresa Collins Designs, a faux stitched sticker by SRM Stickers, and inks and mists from Stampin' Up, Heidi Swapp, Studio Calico, and Dylusions.

I'm so happy to be part of the first Waffle Flower Challenge Design Team!  Nina is so creative- I love her stamps and her style!  I can't wait to see what challenges she'll create next! :)  I hope you'll pop over to the Waffle Flower blog to see what the rest of the team created and to play along if you have a chance!

Stencilled Thanks Card

Hello!  Hope you had a good week- we were so busy but in a good way :)  Almost done with school here and I have a feeling my days will only be getting busier once the girls are home for the summer!

I thought I'd pop on today and share a card I made recently.  I used a familiar color scheme and technique- it was fun and I love how it turned out:

I started out with a white card base and then used my hearts stencil and paste from Teresa Collins Design's Basically Essential line.  Once the paste was dry,  pulled out some of my favorite blue Stampin' Up! ink pads and watercolored over the paste with a wet paint brush.  I splattered a bit of my favorite blue, Pacific Point over it as well.
Next I pulled out the Basically Essential 'thanks' stencil and used black paint to stencil the word on to a transparency sheet.  I cut it into a banner flag and pulled out some fun embellishments to go along with it.
I layered everything where I wanted it and then sewed over all the embellishments to hold them in place.  I used a mixture of stitches for an interesting look.
I finished it all off with a bit of aqua baker's twine along the top edge.

I think this is my favorite color scheme right now!  It feels so summery and beachy!  Maybe I'll make a beach themed card with it next :)

I entered this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge this week- it's all about stencils!

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who cheered me on through the Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine's Gallery Idol Contest.  I didn't make it through to the finals but I'm so happy to have been part of such a fun group of girls!  They are all truly talented and I can't wait to see who wins this year!

Well, I hope you're enjoying your day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Urban Market Cards for Teresa Collins Designs

Hello there!  I have two cards to share today using the beautiful Urban Market collection by Teresa Collins Designs.  The patterned papers were really inspiring me this week:

I paired the Urban Market patterned papers with the chipboard stickers, decorative tapes, and sequins for these cards.  I love playing with all the bits and pieces!

The blue tiled patterned paper (dots) is so pretty!  I had to use it on a card:

I started with a kraft card base and added a panel of the blue patterned paper (dots) to the center, leaving 1/4" around the sides and top. Next, I diecut a panel of the chevron glittered paper (zig) with the Avery Elle Custom Panels dies so it had a rounded edge.  I decorated the glitter panel with a couple of the decorative tapes, a faux stitching sticker from SRM, and a bit of linen thread.  I added the fleur de lis chipboard piece over the top of it all.  I added my sentiment, also from Avery Elle on vellum and diecut it with the label die from the Custom Panels die set so that you could see all the good stuff going on underneath.  I embellished it all with those beautiful silver sequins and added the rounded panel to my card using the foam squares found in the Teresa Collins Adhesive Kit by Xyron.  The dimension is perfect!

For my next card, I chose a pretty journaling card from the cards patterned paper as my focal point:

I started with another kraft colored card base.  I added the larger dots patterned paper (zig) to the center of my card front.   I cut out the journaling card with stripes and damask from the cards paper and stamped my sentiment from Reverse Confetti on it.  I embellished with more of the faux stitching sticker from SRM, some fun decorative tape and a bit of linen thread.  I added a couple of staples to hold it in place using my pink Teresa Collins stapler from Xyron.  Over the top of the flat items, I added a couple of smaller chipboard pieces and finished off the look with those awesome woodgrain and striped sequins:

I used the foam adhesive squares again to add the panel to my card front, adding just a strip of the blue floral print (floral) patterned paper peeking out from the bottom edge.

Each time I pull out the Urban Market collection I love it more and more!  I have been using the decorative tapes, the sequins, and the glitter paper on all of my cards- they are my favorites right now!

Hope you have a great day- if you have time and haven't voted yet, please pop over to the Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine's Gallery Idol contest page.  Voting ends today at noon!

A Squiggly Hello Card

Hi there!  I'm happy to be sharing this card today- it's my entry in Round 4 of Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine's Gallery Idol Contest!  I'm so excited to be part of the top 10 contestants!!

Our challenge this round is to use border stamps in a fun way.  Now, I have to say, I rarely use border stamps- in fact, I only have 2 full sized border stamps (part of regular sets) and a set of sentiments.  That's it!  Luckily they worked together quite well and I came up with this:

The loopy border stamp is from the Love a la Carte set by Newton's Nook Designs.  After creating a white card base, I stamped the loopy border in a chevron pattern down the card front using 6 different Stampin' Up! blue inks.  Once the card front was full, I pulled out a small paint brush and watercolored over each squiggly line with the same color ink.  I splattered a little Pacific Point ink over the card front and let it all dry.
Next, I created the top sentiment panel of the card.  I used the Avery Elle Custom Panel Dies to cut it into a v-shape.  I stamped the sentiment from the Handwritten Borders set by Simon Says Stamp using Pacific Point ink along the edge of the panel.
The ribbon, gold sequin trim, and gold striped vellum are from Stampin' Up!.  The sequins are by Teresa Collins Designs and I got the twine from SRM Stickers.   I love the mix of gold and blue, don't you?

This card was so fun to create!  I love how the watercoloring softens the stamped image and gives the card movement.  I can't wait to try out this technique again!

I'm so happy to be part of the Gallery Idol top 10- pop over to the contest page to check out the other entries and to vote for your favorite!!  Voting ends this Thursday at noon.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

A Happy Camper Hello Card

Good morning!  I thought I'd pop on this morning and share a fun card I made recently.  This one features the adorable Happy Trails stamp set by Lawn Fawn:

I started my card by stamping the stars from Starry Backdrops onto a robin's egg blue card base.  I used Versamark and then added clear embossing powder and heat set it for a shiny finish.

I diecut a large stitched journaling card and cut it to fit my card front.  I stamped my scene using Versafine Onyx Black ink and then paper pieced the trees in.  I added the sun in yellow and the hello, too.  I stamped the camper onto white cardstock and fussy cut around it.  I colored the camper with a silver paint pen and then shadowed over it using Prismacolor pencils and gamsol.  I added some shadows and ground using the pencils and a copic marker, too.

I finished my card by adding a banner of the striped paper from the Hello Sunshine 6x6 pad.  I embellished it with a few sequins from the same collection and a bit of linen thread.

This one was fun!  I love how the camper turned out using the silver paint marker- I can't wait to use that again!  I am adding this to the Lawnscaping Challenge this week- it's all about embossing:

Well, I hope you have a fun day!  If you have time, don't forget to pop over and vote for this round of Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine's Gallery Idol contest- I'm hoping to make it into the next round!!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Be Awesome Card for Gallery Idol Round 3!

Hi!  I am so happy to be playing along with Round 3 of Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine's Gallery Idol Contest!  This round is all about stencils!  I love playing with stencils and had lots of fun with this challenge!  I pulled out my all time favorite stencil sheet for this card:

I think the days of the week stencil from the Basically Essential stencil pack #2 by Teresa Collins Designs is so cute!  I was inspired to use it because of this fun sentiment by Mama Elephant.  It was sitting on my desk and I thought they'd be a perfect pair!

I used  the Basically Essential modeling paste by Teresa Collins Designs over my stencil and let it dry.  Next, I pulled out some of my Stampin' Up! ink pads and watercolored over the days of the week using 2 colors for each day.  The bright colors are so pretty and vivid in real life!  I love the way they look over the kraft card base.

I cut a piece of vellum into a circle and then stamped my sentiment using Staz On ink.  I added a scallop border along the bottom (Lawn Fawn paper and Reverse Confetti die) and then wrapped a bit of twine from SRM around it, ending in a bow.  I added a few epoxy hearts from We R Memory Keepers to embellish my sentiment.

It has been so fun playing along with the Gallery Idol contest this year!  Thanks again for all your votes and cheer leading!  I love reading the kind comments you've left here, at the contest page, and on Facebook- they really mean the world to me!

If you'd like to vote for me again this round, I'd love it! Pop over to the Gallery Idol Contest page to vote and to check out the rest of the entries!  Such beautiful work!!

Hope you have a great day!