2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 7 | Sea-Sons Greetings

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

So you know that moment when something bad happens? That moment when you're like "Well, "crap", did that just happen?" Not something catastrophic, that's not what I'm talking about here, but something that wasn't in the plan for that day. That was my yesterday.

After I got finished with Day 6, I loaded up my video games (because as cool as I make myself sound here, I'm actually a giant nerd), and everything was totally fine, I was going from one zone to the next and waiting on the loading screen, and waiting, and waiting.

And. Waiting.

After more than 5 minutes, and the game not booting me from the server (which is generally what happens when you get caught in the loading screen), I hit the windows key so I could manually shut down the game to restart. And my screen looked like something from the Matrix. Well "crap". It still brought up the start menu, so I shut down the computer, waited a bit and restarted.

Restart went fine, there was nothing delayed or anything like that, then my background went back to the Matrix. It allowed me to log in, and it all looked okay. It said I have some drivers to update, so I went to do that, download went fine. Then the install. That's when the site told me that these weren't even valid for my computer. The same site that scanned my computer and said I needed these drivers.

So ultimately, I ended up having to get a new computer. I'm still blogging on my old one, because nothing else has happened and all my programs are here, but gaming is now happening on a different computer.

The point to my very long story, is that sometimes things happen that are not according to plan.

When I saw the stamp set I used in today's card, my whole plan was a complete underwater Christmas series. The whole Christmas was going to be ocean themed. This set was just absolutely adorable, but as you can see from the previous cards in this year's series - that didn't actually happen, and if you could look into the future, you'd find that this was the only underwater card I created. It was the first card I made this year, but then stuff that I didn't plan on happened and it was the only ocean card.

I stamped the images from Christmas Fishes with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, masking them off as I went. I wanted to create a one layer card, but still have a lot of depth.

Once all the images were stamped, I masked the bottom, what will become my sandy area and used my dollarstore blending brushes to add some Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I then used the wavy stencil and added more Distress Ink, trying to keep it darker around the edges.

Once that was dry, I masked off the upper portion and applied some Scattered Straw Distress Ink to the bottom, adding a very light touch of Gathered Twigs to darken it up.

I removed all the masks and coloured my images with Copic markers. I also used some of my brown Copics to add dots to the sand area, giving it more texture.

The greeting is Stamped with VersaFine Onyx ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 4 | Take the Ho-Ho-Holidays

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

You ever have that moment? That split second, when you when you want to throw your hands up in the air and just - not? Just toss in the towel? Quit? As a mom I experience those moments a whole lot. As someone with a full time job, I experience those moments a whole lot. As a crafter, I experience those moments a whole lot.

The entire month of December is like one of those moments. As a crafter, aside from posting here and if I ever actually get time, to YouTube, I've already moved passed Christmas. You know what I'm talking about. For me, I'm mostly done Valentine's Day and I'm well on my way to planning out Easter. It makes it incredibly difficult to stay in the Christmas Cheer moment when all you want is a really good Spring Sentiment set.

Anyway, my point is - take some time for yourself this week, today, after you read this and realize "Wow, she is SO right", if you have vacation time and you're able to take some, even just a day. Do it. Take a day. A day with no plans and no chores and no work, and dare I say it? A day when the kids are still in school? Take that time for yourself, because as I've learned I'm generally not the only one who feels this way, and if one person will say it, a hundred more are thinking it. So just go on, take a day.

Today I wanted to share an interactive card with you featuring some of Lawn Fawn's Winter release. I stamped the images from Ho-Ho-Holidays with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, coloured them with Copic markers and fussy cut them out.

The roof and chimney were made using the Roof-Top Border die set, then I used Fired Brick and Gathered Twigs Distress Ink to shade them. I also cut a snowy border from some glitter cardstock, but that was an afterthought and so only made it to one layer of my roof. If I were to remake this card, I would add it to all the layers.

I used a piece of patterned paper from my stash for the background and used the "Lets Toast" Pull tab die set to make Santa pop out of the chimney.

The greeting was heat embossed with clear embossing powder over VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Simon Says Stamp July 2019 Card Kit | Just Bee-cause

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I have a card (and VIDEO!!) featuring the Simon Says Stamp 2019 Card Kit. Click the video below to see how this card came together as well as what I did for the *inside* of the card.

I don't normally finish off the inside of my cards, and it's really something I want to try and work on.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

I also really want to thank everyone who has reached out to me over the past little while to make sure that I'm doing okay. I am, it's just been crazy busy, especially now that summer has finally arrived.

I hope you like today's card (and video) and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Lawn Fawn | Bunny and Turtle Birthday

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Every now and then I get a special request. Someone needs a birthday card, but instead of choosing from what I have available, they want something a little more specific. This card was one of those.

I was told "something nice with a turtle and a bunny". Literally that is all I had to go off of. Ummm, what? There was no colour palette, no insight into what it was she wanted. Just "a turtle and a bunny".

Needless to say I fretted about this for a bit. I stopped offering custom cards quite some time ago, for any of you that have done this, you understand why. It can be incredibly frustrating when you think you've got what they are looking for, having literally put in hours of time only to hear "It's nice.... but maybe some brighter colours? or more muted? or something funner." So more hours go in, and it's not like we can actually charge for our time... I mean who is going to be paying for each iteration of a card because it's not "quite what I'm looking for".

So now for the most part, what I have available is what I have available. But this was for my mom. How could I say no? Fortunately, she provides me with quite a bit of creative freedom and there haven't been any flat-out "no" cards.

I stamped the banner, the bunny and the turtle (now wearing a hat) with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, coloured them with Copics and fussy cut them out.

I used one of my DIY stencils to create some fading grassy hills with Distress Ink and did the same with the cloud stencil for the sky. I then stamped some of the flowers directly to the panel and coloured those in as well.

I trimmed down a piece of perfectly plaid patterned paper (yay alliteration) and adhered that to the front of a standard A2 sized card base. I then trimmed down the coloured panel with the second largest of the Stitched Rectangle dies and mounted that on top. Finally I added my banner and my little birthday critters.

If I'm being completely honest, I was not really all that happy with this card, but mom LOVED it, and at the end of the day that's really all that matters.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

The Greeting Farm "Be A Unicorn" | Party Like a Pony Birthday

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Remember before you had kids, everyone was like "Oh, you should totally have a baby!", and "They're so cute!", and "Being a parent is such a rewarding experience!"? Remember that?

Let's get real for a minute. No one ever said anything about how incredibly frustrating it is to raise another human. How growing a human will take away a huge part of your identity. How your whole life will revolve around another little person. How you worry about whether or not you should go back to work, because if you go back to work, you'll worry about daycare and what to do if your job calls you out of town, but if you don't go back to work and "you're just a stay at home parent" you worry about all sorts of money issues and the giant gap in your career (whatever that may be) that could set you back years in your climb of the corporate ladder, not to mention thinking about retirement.

And when do you get time for yourself? You either spend every waking minute running after your kid(s) or you're so exhausted from work, then coming home and cleaning up after your kid(s) and dealing with whatever 3, 5, 9, 14 year old drama happened that is likely the end of the world.

My point today is carve out time for yourself. Every moment with the kids is important, but you can't take care of another human effectively if you, yourself are worn down completely. And that's in a house with TWO parents. I've done the single parent thing as well and that's an entirely different ball game. That's the difference between pee-wee and the major leagues.

So if at the end of the day, your child is fed, clothed and remembers to say "Thank you" (most of the time), you're probably doing a good job. Give yourself a break and if you need help, ask for it.

Today I have a card that has nothing to do with the ramble I just went on, but a super cute celebration card, featuring stamps from The Greeting Farm.

To begin, I cut down a piece of butter yellow cardstock with the largest of the Large Stitched Rectangle dies from Lawn Fawn, and another piece of 110lb Copic-friendly white cardstock with the next largest die from the same set.

I used a small polka-dot stencil and some Sunflower ink (Lawn Fawn) to create a fun tone-on-tone patterned paper. I then stamped the Unicorn, butterflies and the greeting with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and masked them off.

I used my cloud stencil (DIY!!) and some Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to create my sky, then blended in some Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink for my grassy area.

Once that was dry, I removed the masks and coloured the images in with Copic markers. I adhered my coloured panel to the yellow piece and mounted the lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

To finish off the card I used clear Wink of Stella on the pony's hair and tail as well as on the butterflies' wings. Finally I used some Glossy Accents on the wings to add a bit of shine. 

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

MFT "Friends at First Sip" | Appreciate Your Friendship

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

So remember how I switched jobs a couple months back? Loving it, by the way. But it's now stampede week in Calgary. If you don't know what that is, you should Google it. "The Calgary Stampede". Basically, it's a giant 10 day party, where people skip work, engage in crappy behaviour and spend the day drunk, eating the weirdest food ever. Today, is day one. That means there's a parade. A parade that shuts down roads to our downtown core. A parade that somehow gives the impression that parking rules no longer apply (not to mention the next nine days). I work with guys in the construction industry and entire sites have to shut down for this "party". So hopefully, I'll be able to get to work without losing my mind, and just pray to the gods that my parking space hasn't been snagged by someone hoping to avoid getting towed.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep that much last night. Coffee was the first thing on my agenda this morning, luckily, MFT has an awesome new(ish) set all about the black gold in a cup.

To begin, I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured her in with Copic markers. I then masked her off and used my Dollar Store (FTW) blending brushes to add some Tumbled Glass and Mowed Lawn Distress inks to create a soft background.

I really wanted her to be the star of the show, so I chose not to create a more detailed background, but I definitely did not want her to be floating in the middle of nothing - she hasn't had *that* much coffee, yet.

I then stamped the greeting from the same set and trimmed down the panel. I adhered it to a piece of kraft cardstock, then mounted the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Lawn Fawn "On the Beach" | Have a Relaxing Birthday

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Well it's summer time now. My kids are all off school, and for the most part seem to be under the impression they can play video games or sit in front of a screen all day long. That is not the case. Last night the two older ones sat down and had to write out a step-by-step checklist of their chores. Sure, the chore is "do the kitchen" but what exactly does that entail? They sent in their lists last night, where they will be consolidated and finalized today (for each of their chores, not just the kitchen) then laminated as a checklist, so we don't have to continually send them back to rewash a dish, or actually wipe down all the baseboards in the bathroom when cleaning the floor. It'll be good to have everyone on the same page regarding our expectations. It'll definitely make for a smoother summer, and hopefully instill some good habits for their futures.

Today I have a (mostly) single layer birthday card, that can be used for either as either a masculine or feminine (which is always handy) using Lawn Fawn's "On the Beach" stamp set.

To begin, I stamped all the images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock then coloured them with Copic markers and masked them off. I used the negative space of a circular mask to allow for ink blending.

I used my dollar store (FTW) blending brushes along with Distress Ink to create a soft sandy/beachy background for this guy to be hanging out on.

Once I peeled the masks away, I put the panel back into my MISTI and stamped the greeting. I then adhered this panel to a piece of patterned paper and mounted the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Lawn Fawn Magic Picture Changer | Be a Little Shellfish Birthday

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by!

I just wanted to start out by saying how grateful I am to all of you that have been reaching out. Not only is it encouraging to know that I have been able to bring some inspiration to your card making, it's incredibly comforting to know that behind the screens are real people that care and miss me. Loneliness is a terrible feeling, especially when you're surrounded by people. It means a lot that people I've never met have taken the time to reach out and just check in. It really can make all the difference in the world on a bad day. Thank you.

Today, I want to share a card I created using the Lawn Fawn Magic Picture Changer Dies. This is fast becoming my favourite interactive die set, and if you've been following along, you know I have most of them. I love how you can tell a little story without taking up additional space, this set is brilliant.

I began by stamping all the images on the front with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, colouring them with Copic markers and fussy cutting them out.

I cut the pieces for the Magic Picture changer out of the same 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and used my Dollar Store ink blending brushes with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to shade the outsides and the closed position of the changer, Salty Ocean and Mermaid Lagoon for the waves, which were cut down using the stitched wave dies.

When you pull up the little tab to get the second image, this super sweet little Shellfish appears, he was coloured with Copic markers, masked off and the same blue was used to blend around him.

Once the mechanism was together, I used the light blue from the Really Rainbow Scallops 6x6 paper pack along with the largest of the Large Stitched Rectangles for my background. Then adhered the mechanism with foam tape - this gives the recipient an easier time when trying to pull the tab.

Next I added the greeting to the front-most wave and adhered them in place, then added all my little party-going sea creatures.

To finish off the card I added some iridescent bubbles from Studio Katia, and Spectrum Noir clear glitter pen over the shell.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Lawn Fawn "Smooth Sailing" and Chibi Lights Appreciation

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

It's been a bit, right? I know, I'd like to say that I've been super busy, and I guess in some ways I have, but the truth is, lately I just don't wanna. I don't want to post, I don't want to video, I don't want to talk, I don't want to play, I just don't wanna. I've been spending some free time making cards, but what used to take me an hour, will now take the morning or two mornings. The thought of sitting down to edit a video is a completely overwhelming thought. Even today, I'm blogging because I had to turn my computer on to do some other stuff. Work is keeping me busy and maybe that's why I just don't have a lot left in me.

Today, I want to share a card I created using the Lawn Fawn "Smooth Sailing" stamp set and Chibi Lights. I had purchased the starter set some time ago, but no matter how many times I read the instructions or watched tutorial videos I was terrified of messing it up. But why? What was literally the worst thing that could happen? I lose a foot or so of copper wire?

So when I got my hands on this set, I finally took the plunge. And after I lost a foot or so of copper wire, I managed to get it working and it turned out just better than I thought.

After I got all the mechanisms sorted out, I stamped the images from Smooth Sailing with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured them with Copic markers.

I used the stitched wave borders die to cut down a piece of patterned paper and then used some Salty Ocean Distress Ink to add some shading. I cut down another piece of cardstock with the Stitched Hillside border for the sandy island.

The sky was created from a leftover piece of a starry sky background from another project.

So when you press the button, the lighthouse actually lights up!! It takes a lot more planning than usual to create this kind of card, and perhaps after a I've done a few more I'll do a video, but I make no promises on when that will happen.

I thought I would add this last photo in so you could see them side-by-side.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. As for me, I'm trying. I really am. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Lawn Fawn "Oh Gnome!" | Masculine Birthday Card

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

I know it's been a little while since I posted, it's been kinda crazy around here. If you remember last year when my full time job was part time and I got that other full time job, then my part time job offered me a full time position, so I left the original full time? Catch all that? Well the original full time job called and offered me an amazing opportunity, so I've moved back to that company full time. It was a difficult transition because I wasn't looking for a new job, it all happened very fast, Friday was my last day at the one and yesterday was my first day at the other, as well as having my older daughter's 13th birthday, then my birthday and we all have this dreadful lingering cold.

Lemme tell y'all, it's all I can do to even stay awake.

So today, while I have a couple minutes of quiet after delivering the youngest to daycare and before I head out to work I wanted to share a masculine birthday card I created using Lawn Fawn (shocking, right?) stamps and dies.

To begin, I stamped the gnome from "Oh Gnome" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and masked him off, I then stamped the large mushroom over him, so it would appear that he is sitting. I also stamped the other two mushrooms because they are just too darn cute! I removed the mask and coloured all the images with Copic markers.

I used the grassy hillside border dies to cut two levels of grass, and the new mushroom border die to cut out some mushrooms from cream cardstock and the caps from some deep red cardstock.

I pieced all the mushrooms together and adhered them behind my grassy pieces. I used my Lori blending brushes (dollar store FTW) to add colour to both the grass and the sky. I had some extra clouds lying around from another project so I added those to the sky just to fill in some of the space.

I die cut a balloon from the same red cardstock, then ran the mushroom cap die over the cream cardstock so I could use the little spots to make the balloon look mushroom-y as well.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Lawn Fawn "Beam Me Up" and Outta This World Pop-Up Birthday Card

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I wanted to post a card that I created using some older supplies in my stash. You know when you get a new thing and you're like "I HAVE ALL THE IDEAS!!!" and then you get it and you make a few things then it gets put into the stash and mostly forgotten about because there's something else new and shiny for you to play with.... it's almost like they do that on purpose... hmmmm.

Every now and then I'll be flipping through my giant binder 'o dies and I'll see something and remember all the ideas I had. That's what happened. That's how this card became more than an idea.

For the outside, I trimmed a piece of 110lb cardstock using the largest of the Small Stitched Rectangle dies and blended my background using my Lori Brushes and Distress Ink. I only really focused on the middle, I wanted it to look like a space tunnel or a wormhole, through which he was stealing away the cake.

Once the ink was dry, I used clean water and splattered for my distressed look, then splattered again using Copic Opaque white to get the stars.

I stamped my ship and all the images inside the card with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic friendly cardstock and coloured them with Copic markers. For his tractor beam, I prepped a piece of vellum with my powder tool then stamped the beam image with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with Lawn Fawn's Glow in the Dark embossing powder. I would love to show you a picture of what this looks like, but I can't take a picture in the dark to save my life. I can't even tell you how many I tried and they look awful. So you'll just have to trust me when I say it looks nifty.

Once the entire panel was dry, I prepped the lower right corner and stamped the greeting then heat embossed with Lawn Fawn's White embossing powder. This is the first time I've used their embossing powder, normally I use the Ranger detail white, but I gotta say this stuff is great. I mean, I'm not going to toss my other stuff, but it's really nice to know that I have more if I ever run out in a hundred years.

To finish off my ship, I adhered small red gems over the lights to give it some dimension. I think I would have gotten nearly the same result with glossy accents, but I had them on my desk, so why not.

Turns out, he's bringing the cake to a party!! YAY!!

I created this galaxy background the same way directly on the inside of the card base. While that was drying I used the pop-up dies to cut a piece of kraft cardstock and sponged on some Gathered Twigs and Vintage Photo Distress ink to give a bit of texture to the ground.

Once I had everything dry and put together I adhered all my little guys in place. I wanted to two ships to be floating, so I used the acetate trick to make them really look like they were on their way in. More guests to the party!

If I were to make this card again, and I'm sure I will, I would use a different alien. While this guy is my favourite, he just looks silly with the birthday hat, and I think it would have been nice to have some birthday hats going on. Maybe we'll see that in the future. Who even knows.....

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

My Favorite Things "Bitty Bears" Wednesday Sketch Challenge

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

So remember back in June when my part-time job went full-time? One of the other part-time people got a full-time job so we've had to hire a replacement for her. So far, I gotta say she's pretty awesome. Anyway, because she also has a full-time job, her training has to happen after hours, so on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm at work until 9:00pm, but it kinda works out because I get to start later so I have some extra crafty time during the week! YAY!!!

For today's card I'm working off the MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge; each week they provide you with an inspiration sketch and you use your stuff to make a card, then enter it in the challenge. If you click on over to the Recognition page, or have been following my blog for a while, you'll know that I used to participate in challenges all the time, like dozens a month. But since going full-time I haven't really done as many because there just doesn't seem to be any time left in my day. This morning, I put together this card and will be submitting it to the challenge.

Hopefully this productivity continues.

To begin, I used Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio Distress inks along with my Lori blending brushes to create an ombre background.

I set that aside to dry then stamped the greeting and three of these adorable little bears from MFT's "Bitty Bears" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured them with Copic Markers.

I then used a stitched square die to cut out the little guys and one of the banner dies from MFT's Die-namics Blueprint #27 to cut my banner.

Once the background panel was completely dry, I adhered it to the front of my standard A2 sized card base and used foam tape to pop up the squares. The banner was adhered with 1/4" Scor tape to lay flat.

To finish off the card, I added a bit of sparkle to their noses and used a black gel pen over the eyes of each bear to make them stand out.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think!


This card is for:

Lawn Fawnatics Challenge "Inspired by a Book, Movie or Song"

Hello, everyone. Thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day!

Today's card is for the Lawn Fawnatics Challenge "Inspired by a Book, Movie or Song". This one took me a while. Not gonna lie, I was super intimidated by the stuff the design team put out for this challenge. Their cards are absolutely amazing!

The movie I chose was "Mary Poppins", I wanted to do something I hadn't yet seen on the entries and something that would let me use some of the sets that were hanging out in my stash that I hadn't opened yet. (Crazy, right?)

All the images are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I started by stamping the umbrella from "Elphie Selfie" and masking that off, I then stamped one of the fairies from "Fairy Friends", but made sure to not ink up her wings.

For the houses and trees I stamped the images from "Happy Village" with a bit of masking to make the front layer a single piece. I coloured all the images with Copic markers. I added some clear Wink of Stella over her dress and the umbrella.

For my background panel, I sponged Peacock Feathers, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot Distress Ink to create my twilight sky. I knew that the front row of house was going to be popped up, so I sponged a bit of Forest Moss to create the ground.

Once the ink was completely dry, I splattered some White Gold from the Gansai Tambi Starry Colors palette to create some soft stars.

I adhered the back layer of trees with the larger cluster of houses directly to the panel and popped up the front row with some foam tape. I popped up the top half of Mary Poppins with more foam tape, but used Scor tape to adhere her lower half to the panel. I wanted her to appear to be coming out of the picture as though she were flying up and away from the houses, but the effect did not translate well to camera. In person you get the idea.

The greeting from "Fairy Friends" was stamped with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with Lawn Fawn's Silver embossing powder.

I then mounted the panel to a piece of dark blue cardstock with foam tape and adhered the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Lawn Fawn "Butterfly Kisses" Happy Spring Slider

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today, I have a super cute spring slider card featuring Lawn Fawn's "Butterfly Kisses" stamp set, along with the Slide on Over die set. As soon as I saw this set the idea for this card flew into my head and I couldn't wait to get it out and on to paper (literally).

I stamped all the images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly paper and coloured them in with Copic markers. I then fussy cut them out.

I used my homemade cloud stencil and Tumbled Glass Distress inks with the Lori blending brushes to create the sky. I cut down two pieces of cardstock with the grassy border dies and used Mowed Lawn and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks to create the ground.

Once the ink was dry, I used one of the Slide on Over dies to cut my track. To make the butterflies appear to be floating I adhered them to a small piece of acetate. I placed the fox over the track and used a small piece of foam tape to attach him to a penny. Next I adhered the background grassy piece with additional foam tap to ensure that the penny will slide smoothly.

The bunny and the bear are adhered directly to the foreground grassy piece and that was attached to the panel as well.

The entire piece was adhered to the front of as standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Lawn Fawn "Butterfly Kisses" Interactive Magic Picture Changer Card

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Okay, first off just let me say OMG! I LOVE this die set. I think I have all of the interactive dies from Lawn Fawn and this one is by far my most favourite (and not just because it's new!), it is super easy to use and you get a huge bang for your buck - so to speak.

If you haven't watched the video by Kelly, then you should head on over and do that (here's the link, I'm not affiliated, I just think they are amazing). This is one of those dies that lets you tell a little story to your recipient along with giving them a card, which is pretty amazing if you ask me. You also get double the space without a whole bunch of bulk and that is always a good thing.

To make this card I stamped this adorable bear and butterfly from the "Butterfly Kisses" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly paper and coloured them with Copic markers. I then masked them off and used Cracked Pistachio Distress ink along with my new blending brushes (dollar store FTW) to create my grass. I then used my homemade cloud stencil along with Tumbled Glass Distress ink for my sky.

For the second part of my scene, I started by stamping the butterfly, masking him then stamping the bear and colouring them the same as in the first picture.

Once all my images were stamped and stenciled I used the "Magic Picture Changer" die set to get all the pieces I needed for my mechanism.

There's a couple of things I want to mention:

1. I use 110lb paper, it's really hard to fold on the score lines along the edges when you use that thick cardstock, but I haven't found an 80lb that I like along with my Copics, so as it stands, this is something I'm just going to have to take a bit of extra time with. It definitely (and obviously) can be done, it's just not super easy. 
2. Use a powder tool. I thought I could try getting away without using one (I like to learn things for myself... LOL) and I was most definitely wrong. A powder tool or even a soft paintbrush with kitchen flour will be your best friend when making these cards. And be liberal. Like REALLY liberal with it. Get that stuff everywhere.

I used the largest of the Large Stitched Rectangle dies to cut a piece of the green Gotta Have Gingham paper to cover my A2 card base. I cut the frame and the pull tab from a piece of the pinkish paper from the same pack.

I mounted my Picture Changer mechanism to the front of my card with foam mounting tape (more dollar store FTW) and pressed it down firmly.

To finish off the card I used some clear Wink of Stella on the butterfly in each phase of the picture, making sure to let it dry before moving the slider. I also used Ranger's Multi Media Medium Matte to adhere some sequins from my stash, because I gotta have me some sparkle.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Clearly Besotted "Some Birdie Loves You" | You're so Tweet

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I wanted to share a card that I had created before Valentine's Day but it never made it up on time. I had considered not posing this, but then I figured it could also be used as a thank you card or a card just to let someone know you care.

I stamped the images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured them with Copic markers. I masked off the images and sponged Distress Ink to create a sunset background. I picked the sunset colours to compliment the blue of the bird. I was going for the black mask love bird look, and while it isn't perfect, I think it came pretty close.

I used Lawn Fawn's Stitched Note Card die to cut down my panel and adhered it to a piece of blue cardstock. It was afterwards that I decided the blue was too plain, so I used Fish Tank ink to stamp the music notes as a soft tone on tone background. The colour dried back more than I had intended, but I was too far along to start again, you know how it is.

I used my clear gelly roll glitter pen over the lines of the cage to give them a shiny metallic look. To add a touch more detail, I used a black gel pen over the eyes and a white gel pen to give it some highlight.

I then mounted the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Lawn Fawn Interactive Card | Happy Heart Day | You're Stinkin' Cute

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I wanted to share a super sweet card made for Valentine's Day, but could really be given at any time to someone you care about.

To begin, I stamped all the images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured them in with Copic markers.

I cut two panels using the second largest of the Large Stitched Rectangles Die and used one of the curved grassy border dies to get my little hillside.

So I've been seeing the new Picket Fence Brushes, and lemme tell ya, I want them. But I don't want to pay that price. The best deal is for the big pack of 10 but there are so many in there that I know I wouldn't use. So what's a girl to do? You'll see in a video I have coming up soon so keep an eye out!!!

I used a few different Distress Inks to create the sky and the grass, with the new super secret (until I post the video) brushes that I found -- AT THE DOLLAR STORE!

I used Lawn Fawn's "Let's Toast Pull Tab Add On die" to create the mechanism that allows this little cutie to pop up.

I mounted the grass panel with foam mounting tape (dollar store) to the background panel. I then adhered that with more mounting tape to a piece of the pink gingham paper, cut with the largest of the Large Stitched Rectangles and then adhered the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

To finish off the card, I used clear Wink of Stella and Glossy accents on the heart.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! For those of you that are Google + followers, please follow the blog, once they turf the Google + option, you'll miss out on future posts, and we wouldn't want that!!! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think. 

This card is for:

Clearly Besotted | "Some Birdie Loves You" Happy Heart Day 2019

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a good day.

Today I thought I would share a card I created using the "Some Birdie Loves You" stamp set by Clearly Besotted two ways. The card itself is the same, but I've changed the colour palette to get two different looks.

To begin, I stamped the toucan on right and masked it off, I then stamped the toucan on the left, masked it and stamped the branch from Mama Elephant so that they would have something to sit on. I didn't want to create a mask for the branch because I'm super lazy, so I very carefully sponged Distress Inks around the birds and the foliage, trying to get as little ink as possible in the branch itself. 

I removed the masks and stamped the hearts at the top and the greeting using Memento Tuxedo black ink, then coloured all the images with Copic markers.

To finish off the panels, I used clear Wink of Stella over the beaks and the hearts and put Glossy Accents over the hearts as well. As a finishing touch, I used my white gel pen to add some highlights to the birds, leaves and some dots in the centre of each of the flowers. I adhered each panel to a piece of coordinating cardstock then mounted the lot the the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card(s) and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Lawn Fawn "I Love You(Calyptus)" | Mirror Stamping for Happy Heart Day

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Sooo funny story: I've talked that last couple of days about how I've been making a lot of cards, and not really posting. While I've been trying to post my regularly, it occurred to me this morning that the entire point of that was to get my Valentine's Day cards up - y'know, before Valentine's Day. Whoops.

Today, I have this adorable Valentine's Day or even just a thinking about you or encouragement card, featuring Lawn Fawn's "I love You(calyptus)" stamp set. Along with a bit of mirror stamping.

To begin I stamped the heart and masked it off, then I stamped the adorable koala from the I Love You(calyptus) stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then mirror stamped the same image to make him face the other way.

I used one of the stitched rectangles to cut down the panel and masked off both the koalas. To create the background, I used Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink for the bottom, Spun Sugar and Milled Lavender for the sky. I wanted to create a very soft background to go with these little guys.

I removed the masks and coloured all the images with Copic markers. I used the "Sending Hugs" Line Border die to cut my greeting out of a piece of watercolour paper that I had "rainbowed" for another project (it didn't make the cut).

I used clear Wink of Stella over the heart and covered it with Glossy Accents then placed my greeting border die on top. Once that was dry, I mounted my panel to a piece of patterned paper, then mounted the lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

To finish it off, I used some Nuvo Crystal drops to add a touch of dimension.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think. I cannot begin to tell you how much every like, thumbs up, subscribe and follow means to me. I'm so grateful for all of you.

Lawn Fawn "Lovable Legends" | Unbelievable Birthday

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Two in a row. That's right folks. LOL. See? I am really trying. Perhaps my crafting is cyclical? Lots of posting, lots of making but never do they meet..

Today I have a simple to make birthday card, featuring Lawn  Fawn's "Lovable Legends" stamps set.

To begin, I cut down a piece of 140lb cold press watercolour paper using the largest of the "Small Stitched Rectangles" die, I then used Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon and Twisted Citron Distress Inks to create my background. I just sponged them on randomly, much like the beginnings of a galaxy background. In the end you couldn't really see the Twisted Citron, but it did help create some nice highlights when I was sponging.

I used some clean water in my Distress Sprayer and spritzed the background to get that wonderful distressed look.

Once the panel was completely dry - not just mostly, but completely! - I prepped it with my powder tool and stamped the giant squid and the greeting with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with Lawn Fawn's White embossing powder.

I then used Peacock Feathers and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink to drop in some colour to the squid. My idea here was to create a somewhat transparent look with the purple acting as the shadows around his curves.

The stamp set comes with a long dotted wave border stamp, so I used that along with the Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink to create some tone-on-tone wave textures.

I had an extra frame from another project that coordinated well with the panel and (more importantly fit) so I adhered both to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

To finish it off, I covered the giant squid with clear Wink of Stella (and as you can see, I went a little bit heavy handed here). But I gotta have that glitter. I then added some clear and iridescent bubbles.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate every like, thumbs up, new subscriber and comment - I LOVE hearing from everyone!