2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 10 | Of Christmas Past

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

Today is the final day in this year's card series, and I chose to keep this card for last, because it was really this stamp that started it all.

Six years ago, when I started making cards and had no idea where to start, what was I to do? It was Pinterest. I scrolled and scrolled looking in wonder at the beauty people were creating and adding to the world, not just for Christmas, but for everything! Birthdays, Easter, Sympathy, Divorce, Babies, New Pets - I cannot remember wanting to be a part of anything more than I wanted to be a part of this.

And then there it was. The sweet little fox that started it all. His big bushy tail wrapped around him as he sat in the corner of the card. I fell in love with that little fox and that was the beginning for me. I haven't stopped since.

I have taken breaks, I have been frustrated, angry and sad. I've used card making to pull me out of dark moments of despair. When my Father passed away, I would sit for hours just surrounded by my colours, letting their beauty guide me back.

Each birthday, funeral, wedding and anniversary has been marked in some way with my cards, that little something more that I could do.

I discovered more brands, I soaked up YouTube videos like a dry sponge wanting to absorb it all; but I still come back to that little fox when I just need something to make me smile.

So for today's card, my ghost of Christmas past, I hope he brings a smile to your face as well.

I stamped the fox from "Into the Woods" with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink, I masked him off and stamped the log from "Critters in the Forest" and masked that as well.

I used Tumbled Glass and Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide Inks and my dollarstore blending brushes to create my sky. Once that was dry, I masked off the bottom and used Moonstone Glimmer Paste by Nuvo through the Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil to finish off my background.

I removed all my masks and coloured the images with Copic markers. I mounted my panel to a coordinating piece of purple cardstock then 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.

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 3 | Holly Jelly Days

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

Every year there is something that all the kids want. Something that's all the rage. Something they'll just "die" without. This card is inspired by books that my daughter and her cousins are just "all about"; you'll forgive me if my lingo isn't down with the generation LOL. The things we do for our kids, right?

The images from Lawn Fawn are stamped with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured with Copic markers.

I masked off the images and used Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink along with my Dollar Store blending brush, to create a soft aura around the images. Once the background was completely dry, I used the Lawn Fawndamentals Liquid Stardust to create some shiny splatter.

I removed the masks and then heat embossed the greeting from the same same narwhal stamp set 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.

2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 2 | Frosty Merry Christmas

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

It's no surprise that I don't like winter. This is, what, our sixth? no, our fifth winter season together; and every year we discuss how much I hate winter and how I don't like the snow, or the cold or the grey or the anything that has to do with anything winter related.

But let's be real for a minute. Hating winter and being cold is one thing, SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder is a real thing and it's scary. It's waking up to see a grey sky with a little bit of snow on the ground and staring out the window and crying for an hour. It's struggling to do anything because the blanket of snow on the ground literally feels as though it is smothering you, or in this case, me. It's your partner worrying about you because the forecast looks bad. It's more than some seasonal blues, it's a crushing weight that is incredibly lonely.

Find something that you love. Find help, it's a real thing and it's a terrible thing to go through alone.

Now that that's out of the way, lets get back to the card. The thing that I love, the thing helps me get through the winter.

The images from Lawn Fawn's Frosty Fairy Friends are stamped with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured with Copic markers.

I then masked the images and used Shaded Lilac and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink for the background sky. I didn't intend for these to be this year's winter colours, but as I worked through this year's series it turned out that purple and blue were where it's at.

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 "Hap-Pea" Belated Birthday

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

A little while ago, I showed you the Lawn Fawn Spring 2019 Release Haul video, and in it I mentioned that I had already made a card for my Aunt's birthday using the "Be Hap-Pea" stamp set. I chose this set because she enjoys gardening and when I saw it I immediately thought of her.

I stamped all the images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, I masked all the images off and sponged Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink around the images. Once that was dry I removed the masks and coloured all the images with Copic-markers.

I used the "Hap-pea" and "Birthday" from the "Be Hap-pea" set along with the "belated" from the "Hang in There" to create my greeting.

I used the second largest of the "Large Stitched Rectangles" dies to cut this panel and the largest of "Large Stitched Rectangles" to cut the patterned paper. I adhered them together then mounted them 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 line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

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" 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 "Go Wild Again" | Snappy Birthday

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

So, while I'm waiting for the rest of my Lawn Fawn stuff to come in, I thought I would share a super cute card using the "Go Wild Again" stamp set by Clearly Besotted.

When I first came into the stamps from Clearly Besotted, it was mainly for their beautiful floral sets. I absolutely adore how elegant their flowers are, they make for some of the most wonderful cards for "grown ups". Not really, but you know what I'm saying. But they also have some super amazing cute stamps that can be for grown ups and for those of us that are kids at heart.

To begin, I stamped this super sweet little gator with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and masked him off. I then stamped the plant and the water. I removed the masks and coloured all the images with Copic markers.

I then remasked everything and used Bundled Sage and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks to create more of the background.

Once that was completely dry, I used clear Wink of Stella over the gator and the water to make sure they had some serious sparkle. I used my MISTI to stamp the greeting, the black with Memento and the green with a couple of Lawn Fawn inks.

I adhered the panel to a piece of green cardstock then mounted the entire piece to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

To finish off the card, I covered the water with Glossy Accents by Ranger.

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.

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 "Treat Yourself" with a Plethora of Stamp Sets

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

Today I wanted to share a "Just Because" card featuring a bunch of different Lawn Fawn stamp sets. I know we've talked before about how well their sets coordinate with each other, but lemme tell ya, it never ceases to amaze me. I think the most incredible thing about Lawn Fawn is that you can make the most unique scenes using as many or as few stamp sets as you would like.

All of the images are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured with Copic markers.

I started with the sloth from Slow Down and Enjoy, I masked that off and stamped the cup from Thanks a Latte; masked that off and stamped the Doughnuts from Sweet Friends, masked those and stamped the plants from Critters in the Jungle. How can you tell I love to do masking? It's just like magic when all the masks come off to to make a cohesive scene.

Once all the images were coloured, I sponged a halo around the scene with Distress Inks and used warm grey markers to create shadows. I then cut the panel down using the second largest of the Large Stitched Rectangle dies and adhered that to a piece of patterned paper.

I stamped the first part of the greeting from Slow Down and Enjoy and the second part from Village Shops, with Memento ink as well, 'cause my blacks just have to match

I adhered the whole piece to the front of a standard A2 sized card base and finished it off with some crystals from Pretty Pink Posh, clear Wink of Stella on the icing, which I then covered with Glossy Accents.

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 following me on Google+, please don't forget to subscribe directly to the blog or you'll miss out on future posts when Google+ is no longer a thing. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

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 "Coaster Critters" | Awesome Birthday

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

I mentioned in the last post, the one with the late Christmas card, that I've been creating more than I've been posting. Which is good - I have a bunch of cards stocked up now, so I don't feel pressured or the need to scramble when something comes up. But it's also bad - I haven't been sharing with you all and I miss that. I love reading all your comments!

I never thought it would be so hard to be a full-time Mom with three kids, have a full-time job and do everything else that is expected of us adults. Lemme tell y'all, I don't remember it being this hard, before. But then I only had one kid and it was just me and her. There are so many more people in the house now that finding even a few extra minutes is tough. The older two are great and pretty self-sufficient now (for the most part), the little one *thinks* she can do it all on her own .... but not so much.

Anyway, today I wanted to share this super fun birthday card featuring Lawn Fawn's "Coaster Critters" stamp set. I'll be honest, this one didn't really strike my fancy when it came out. In fact, it took a little while for me to warm up to this set. Don't get me wrong, it's super cute, I just didn't know what to do with it. It seemed to me that this was a one and done sort of set. How many roller-coaster cards can a person make? Luckily, I'm a huge fan of mixing and matching sets and none do it better than Lawn Fawn.

We all know I'm a fan of one layer cards, I love the magic of masking! To begin I stamped the three little critters (which will be making appearances outside this county fair) as well as the ticket book with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. Then masked them off. I then stamped the balloons and masked them, then the larger piece of the roller-coaster, masked that then the smaller piece and the flag and masked those. Yeah, I masked a lot. LOL

I used Tumbled Glass and Cracked Pistachio Distress inks to create my sky and grass, adding a bit of Bundled Sage to the very bottom.

I removed all the masks (which I save with the stamps to use again - literally until they fall apart or the ink starts to seep through) and coloured all the images with Copic markers. I really wanted to keep this one in primaries. I added some detail with my white gel pen, then stamped my greeting with the same Memento Ink.

To finish off the card I used clear Wink of Stella on the balloons, all the metal of the coaster cars and rails as well as the top of the stand.

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 each of your "likes", comments, subscribes and "thumbs up" means to me.

This card is for:

Lawn Fawn | Little Late Christmas Card

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

It's been a bit, I know. I've been in more of a "make the cards" than I have I been in a "post all the cards" mode. I had to post this last Christmas card, because it's super cute, and I had to wait until the person I gave it to had received it. To be fair, she received it a bit ago... but, like I said I've been making more than posting.

To begin, I stamped the hat from "Hat's Off to You", then masked that off and stamped the shark from "Duh-Nuh" and stamped him off as well. The string came from the "Toboggan Together" set and the little fish came from "Fintastic Friends". All the images are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I stamped off the remaining images as well as the edges of the panel.

I used Broken China, Salty Ocean and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks to create my background. I then placed my wave stencil down, and used a glitter gelly roll pen to trace the curves and get some shimmer. With the stencil in place I pressed a damp paper towel over top of the panel to lift some of the ink.

Once the panel was completely dry, I removed the masks and coloured all the images with Copic markers. I added some liquid adhesive to the trim and the pom-pom of the hat and dipped it in Lawn Fawn's fine prisma glitter.

I popped the panel up on some foam tape and adhered it to a piece of patterned paper 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.

Happy Holidays 2018 | ft. Lawn Fawn "Magic Color Slider" Dies with "Caramel Apple" stamp set

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

Today I want to share a card (and video tutorial) for this year's Happy Holiday Series, featuring Lawn Fawn (surprise, right?!) "Magic Color Slider" Die set with the "Caramel Apple" and "Sweet Christmas" stamp sets.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

This card really fits more between Halloween and Christmas because the caramel apple, I think is more of Halloween thing, right? But I'm using Christmas colours so it'll work. LOL I think that's the best part about card making, is being able to just change up the colours and say it's for a different season. One little change and it's a whole new card for a whole new season! Don't believe me? Check out this video here.

I wanted to keep the outside relatively simple, so that the slider would reveal a super fun surprise! I mean that's the point right? 

The interactive die sets can be incredibly intimidating, but I've found that they are super intuitive. If you're like me, you're probably watching the release videos the minute they're out (how else are you putting your wish list together?) and the instructions that Kelly Marie provides are always great.

See? Super surprise! I LOOOVE this die set. I really don't know why I don't use it more. The best part is, you can combine this set for the outside of the card with any of the pop-up sets for the inside of the card for someone you REALLY want to surprise. I wonder how many different interactive sets could be used on a single card.

I even remembered to do something for the inside of the card this time around, so I thought I'd include photos of that as well. It's usually an afterthought for me, so I don't really include them when I do a video. I know I'm not alone in this....

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.

Floral Thoughts Series If Friends Were Flowers | ft. Clearly Besotted "Pretty Pansies"

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

If you aren't having a great day, then I hope you are at the very least having a better day than I am. We've talked a lot about how my schedule has been crazy; full time job, three kids, just life etc. But I'm trying to post more often, I'm trying to be in the craft room more often, and it's a challenge.

Lemme tell y'all there are days where I get home and I just want to go to bed. I don't have an overly physically demanding job, but it is mentally (and emotionally) exhausting. So today being more challenging than most, especially after taking a few days off to do mom stuff, today I just wanted to through up my hands in the air and be done with it all. I cried. Actually cried at my desk. Now, I'm not one to typically let other people see me cry, but it couldn't be helped. So when my husband asked me what I wanted for dinner, I told him a bottle of wine and a jar of Nutella. No joke.

He declined. Which I think is rather unsupportive. Not really, he's probably right. And we didn't have wine or Nutella for dinner.

The plan when we got home was to sit and watch a show, but I felt that in an effort to bring myself a bit of joy today, I was going to blog first. So now you all know where I'm at. I don't blame you at all if you've just skipped over the last couple paragraphs.

Anyway, for today's card I wanted to share a beautiful new (to me) stamp set from Clearly Besotted. I gotta say that when it comes to floral images, Clearly Besotted is the place to go. Their images are so detailed, and yet leave you enough space to colour using any medium your heart desires.

To begin, I stamped the larger floral image from the Pretty Pansies stamp set, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, then masked that off and stamped it a second time along with the greeting.

I masked off the second image and used some Lawn Fawn "Butter" ink to add a bit of colour to the background around the flowers. I removed the masks and coloured all the images in with Copic markers. Interestingly, I know what a pansy looks like, but I had to Google it to actually get my colours. In retrospect, that seems silly, because I could have coloured this any old way I pleased.

I used some cool grey markers to add a small drop shadow, which isn't even really noticeable, but you would probably notice it if it weren't there.

I adhered the panel to the a piece of coordinating purple cardstock from my stash and then mounted the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base. To finish off the card, I covered the blossoms with clear Wink of Stella, then added crystals from Pretty Pink Posh.

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.

It's That Time Again 2018 Edition | ft. Lawn Fawn "Thanks a Latte" and "Happy Harvest"

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

I know I promised another sloth card in my video yesterday, but sadly life got in my way and I was unable to get to it. It is International Count Your Buttons Day - also a thing, you can totally Google it. There's a great link if you are looking for what International Day it happens to be. Because who doesn't like a fun holiday.

That was just a fun fact, it has nothing to do with today's card. LOL

Every year, I try to include a Pumpkin Spice card. What says fall better than pumpkin spice? Exactly nothing. You can see the 2017 card here, and the 2016 card here. In continuing with my tradition, it is a tradition if it's three years running, right? Today, I want to share the 2018 of my Pumpkin Spice Coffee card. I've made others and you may find them if you go back through the blog.

To begin, I stamped the cup from Lawn Fawn's "Thanks a Latte" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic friendly cardstock. I did mask off the back rim, so I could add these little pumpkins from "Happy Harvest". I then stamped the scarf and did a bit of stamp surgery to get my greeting.

All the images are coloured with Copic markers. To finish off the panel, I used clear Wink of Stella over the scarf. I then mounted that panel on a piece of orange cardstock and then adhered the whole piece 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:

2018 Sporadic Fall Series | Happy Everything| ft. Lawn Fawn "Happy Harvest" and Large Wreath Die

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

Today I want to share a card (and video) featuring Lawn Fawn Stamps and Dies, while I have done company mash ups in the past, where I mix different companies together, today I decided I was going to do a seasonal mash up. Where I live it can be any season at any time, and we are currently experiencing a Fall/Winter mix. Gotta love the prairies.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

Check out the video above to see how this card came together. You'll also see the list of Copic Markers I used and some initial thoughts on the Lawn Fawn embossing ink pen.

So this card also has some new to me products, including the Lawn Fawn embossing ink pen, the Lawn Fawn Textured embossing powder and the Marvy Snow Marker - So I have used this marker in the past but I think this is the first time I've used it in a video or in a card that I've posted to the blog.

If you have never used the snow marker before, but want to add some super fun texture to a card you should check it out. In the video I try to do a close up of the poofing that happens when you apply the heat gun to the marker stuff. It's like MAGIC!!

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.

Hello Little Monkey | ft. Hello Bluebird "Jungle Littles" and "Spring Script"

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

Today I'm going to share a card that I created for my friend who just had a new baby! He's about the cutest darned thing I've ever seen, let me tell ya.

When I saw these little critters from Hello Bluebird stamps, I about died. Mostly for the sloth because that's my favourite animal, but the rest of them are just as sweet. They went with a monkey jungle theme for the nursery so this one worked out perfectly.

To begin, I stamped the monkey and the vine with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. There was a bit of masking involved, as I wanted him to be swinging by his tail, to fill in any lines that were missing, I used a fine-tip Copic-safe black pen to draw them in.

I then coloured the images with Copic markers. For the greeting, I prepped the lower part of my panel with my powder tool, then stamped the large "Hello" from the "Spring Script" set with Peeled Paint Distress Oxide Ink (using the MISTI, just in case) then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Not only does this help the Oxide ink dry faster, but it gives just a bit of dimension and some shine. I stamped the "There" with VersaMark ink on black cardstock and heat embossed with white powder and trimmed it down.

I mounted my panel to a piece of patterned paper then adhered the whole lot to the front of a top folding standard A2 sized card base. To finish off the card, I used some clear Wink of Stella on the leaves and the banana and then coated them with Glossy Accents by Ranger, because while he may not appreciate the shine, I know his Mom did.

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.