Multicolored Sentiment sans Markers

Happy Friday to you!

I have been up for about 20 hours now so this post will be kinda quick :) Can't wait to jump in bed!!

The loves over at Lawnscaping have come up with the fabulous challenge of embossing. They were even nice enough to give the choice of heat or dry embossing. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my dry embossing. Over the past couple of weeks Marion Vagg has been posting these absolutely lovely backgrounds she created with her scoreboard. LOVE! Hopefully you'll pop over and have a look. She is such a talent! So with Marion in mind I started my card . . .

I created a diagonal line emboss on my card base using my Martha Stewart scoreboard. I scored every 1/4 inch. I really love the way it turned out. Very subtle, but it still adds something lovely to the card. 

I've had these fantastic Lawn Fawn sentiments for quite some time and have never used them. The set is called Hello Friend and there are so many cute sayings. I wanted to make the sentiment the star of my card.

You know I love me some bright colors and I thought it would be fun to create a multicolored sentiment for my focal point. However, I don't own any markers you can stamp with. Yes I said it, no markers! I got a little creative with my masking in order to stamp it just how I wanted. I used tangelo, rosebud, pear tart, and bahama blue from Memento. The yellow is mustard seed distress ink. I rounded some corners then added two strips of black I cut with the Tim Holtz scallop border die. Added a few little rhinestones and done.

If you would like to know how I stamped it all out without markers let me know and I'll put something together to show you. Thanks for visiting :)

I love a Good Sketch

Don't you?

Sometimes I have a hard structuring my elements in an interesting way. Not too plain . . not too cluttered  . . . enter the SKETCH to save the day :)

I was interested to see Vera's View over at Lily Pad Cards. This is Vera's first inspiration photo as it seems she is now taking over from Virginia. I have always loved Vera's cute CAS style so I was excited to get over there and see what she had picked. I wasn't disappointed because it, of course, is beautiful!

The first thing I loved was that little group of purple roses. It immediately made me think of the roses in Pattern Hearts and Flowers by hero Arts. I also loved the pink with the green and those bright blue butterflies *SWOON*

Unfortunately, I couldn't really find away to get them all together. Until I saw the sketch over at Retro Sketches.  Then the clouds parted, the sun shone brightly, I think I even heard Angels sing :)

Here they are all together, playing nice. Ha!

Pretty straight forward construction. That gorgeous lime chevron paper is from My Mind's Eye, Lime Twist, Life of the Party. To be completely honest it's pretty much the whole reason I bought that pack :) The little butterflies are from Memory Box Butterfly Border and the sentiment id from Year Round Sentiments by Hero Arts.

Thanks for looking! 

Color Splash

 Do you ever log into your blog dashboard and see your traffic has simply sky rocketed?! I love when this happens because generally it means someone has either tweeted about me or I've won something :) Plus, I just love when you guys come to visit!

Today when I logged in to write this post that is exactly what I found so I began the hunt to find out where all my much-loved traffic was coming from. Boy was I surprised to find it was coming from Moxie Fab World!! I'm a Trigger Target! What?! Squeel!! So much talent going on in that pool! I cannot believe I'm a target. Thank you Moxie Fab!!! If you would like to see my card it is here.

Okay I'm done happy dancing (for now) let's move onto today's card. The Play Date Cafe is doing the ever so popular Color Splash challenge.

 This time it is a splash of yellow. I have a tendency to lean towards elegant cards for the splash challenge. This time I wanted to do something a bit more cute/fun.

I started by stamping my white card base with the stripes background in black soot. I then cut two panels and rounded the corners. I colored one with squeezed lemonade the other I stamped the daisies on. The yellow panel was adhered to the cardbase flat.

I wanted the daisies to have a bit more dimension and movement so on another piece of white I stamped the daisies a second time and colored them with squeezed lemonade. Ever the fussy cutter I trimmed them out :) I popped up the daisy panel with dimensional adhesive on the card. when I added the yellow daisies I adhered only the centers. I also folded up the petals so they really stood up. The sentiment was stamped and trimmed into a small banner. It was also added with dimensional adhesive. I used black enamel accents to create the flower centers. All stamps are Hero Arts.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you found something to inspire you :)

Monochromatic CASE

Happy Monday to you!

I hope your weekend treated you well! We have a little over a week before we're off on vacation and I can't wait! Last year we didn't take a vacation because the year before that we got married. That year we went on vacation in June then got married in August, so it's like we had TWO vacations in one year. I cannot wait to feel my toes in the water and butt in the sand!! :)

Anywho, let's move on shall we?

I missed playing along with CASE Study last week so I made sure I squeezed it in this week :) I just adore Aga's creations and this week is no different. Check out this GORGEOUS card!

So beautiful! I love so many things about this card but especially how she kept it monochromatic. Sometimes these types of cards are hard for me but Aga makes it looks so easy! I decided to dive right in :)

I started by creating my tag. I loved the woodgrain but felt it would have overpowered my sentiment so I used the more subtle envelope pattern instead. I stamped this in soft pool shadow ink. The butterfly was colored with my copics then trimmed out. I stamped my sentiment then adhered only the butterfly body to the tag to create some movement.

To make my faux ribbon loop I just colored a small piece of cardstock and folded it over. I didn't want to leave out that fantastic woodgrain so I did just a small strip stamped in Splash chalk ink. The entire tag was adhered with dimensional adhesive. Of course, I couldn't let that butterfly go without a little bit of stardust stickles!

I'm off to work. Hope your day is absolutely lovely! Thanks for stopping in :)

She's always buzzing just like Neon, Neon . . .

I love this John Mayer song and it started playing in my head as soon as I saw this week's Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World!

I love, love, LOVE these bright colors!!

Here's what I came up with

So you remember the stamp I used here that I had never used before? Well here it is twice in a week. I'm making up for lost time. Ha!

I stamped the solid open flower 4 times, each on a 1 1/2 inch square. I used squeezed lemonade distress ink, tangelo, rosebud, and pear tart from memento. I rounded one corner each so that they fit to make a rounded square. I adhered them flat to my white cardbase after I rounded the four corners.

The sentiment I "created" by using the BE from the best wishes in the Essential Messages set. The fabulous is from Live & Laugh. I stamped on a scrap sheet of white then trimmed it into a banner before adding it to the cardbase with dimensional adhesive. A little line of rhinestones and stardust stickles make it sparkle :)

Thanks for stopping in!!



Life is Sweeter

Happy Saturday!

We are having beautiful weather here YAY! Beautiful weather makes me think of picnics and picnics make me think of gingham which led me to the Moxie Fabs Gingham challenge :)

Plus I just received the Hero Arts Picnic stamp set in the mail. I just HAD to put it to good use! There is this little mason jar in the set that I simply adore. SO many ideas for that little guy. Today I'm sharing one of them.

So I started by stamping and masking my jar of strawberries. I also stamped two on an extra piece of white and trimmed them out. I colored them with my copics. Sorry I don't know the numbers off hand, I'll add them later. Once my jar was colored I coated it in glossy accents then added some silver metallic pen to the lid.

The rest is pretty simple. I laid down my patterned paper (yay me!) flat to the white card base and rounded the right corners On a white panel I added a strip of blue (colored with my copic) then adhered the jar and strawberries with dimensional adhesive. The sentiment is from Hero Arts Friends set. I did a little masking to have my "Sweeter" stamped in Hero Arts Punch chalk ink. Last, I added that panel with more dimensional adhesive to my cardbase.Oh and that patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye Howdy Doody collection, LOVE!

That's it for me :) Thanks for having a look, hope you have a great weekend!!

Kinda Unconventional

Hey crafty friends!

Remember how I said I was stocking up on those birthday cards? Well, I have another one to share today. It's a little different for me but I think it's super fun, plus I got to play with my new spring distress ink colors again. I love them big time :)

For the cardbase I swiped peacock feathers onto some watercolor paper. I moved it around with a wet baby wipe until I was happy with how it looked. The background panel was created by stamping "'Party" from Life of the Party Birthday repeatedly in squeezed lemonade. This yellow is such a wonderful shade!!

Here is where the unconventional comes into play, have you ever seen a teal fox?! Nope, me either :) But it thought it would be a fun way to color him anyway LOL. I used copic BG11 and BG45. I think this card would be perfect for a kid's birthday.

I gave him a little party hat from the same Life of the Party Birthday set. Originally, I colored the hat and the banner with shaded lavender distress ink but it didn't POP like I wanted. I was being a lazy stamper and didn't want to start all over again so I just colored right on top of it with copic V04. I'm really glad I did because I adore the bright purple it created :)

I adhered the cute little fox and banner with dimensional adhesive. I added black enamel accents to his eyes and nose then some stardust stickles to his party hat. The sentiment is from Year Round Sentiments, all stamps are Hero Arts.

That's it for me! Hope your day is filled with Happy Crafting :)

Put on your Party Hat!

  Hello!

Well we made it halfway through the week, considering how I've been feeling this is quite the accomplishment :) Hopefully this cold clears out completely really soon (like yesterday!).

This month over at Hero Arts one of the challenges is Birthday Cards. I have plenty of summer birthdays to celebrate so I figured now is a great time to stock up!

Before we get started All stamps used here are Hero Arts.

I stamped the Life of the Party Dots using broken china, evergreen bough, and peacock feather distress inks. I misted before I stamped to blend. The background itself looked a bit naked to me so I rubbed on some tumbled glass too, much better!

The sentiment required a little masking in order to fit into the space I had allotted for it but I loved the font too much not to use it hehe :) It is from Year Round Sentiments. I stamped/masked the little party hats on the actual panel so I could keep those darling little flourishes. These hats are from Life of the Party Birthday. I stamped the hats a second time so I could color and trim them out. I colored with copic BG11, BG45, and BG49.

I framed the panel with a bit of teal cardstock to create my frame. For something different I used a small circle punch to notch the edges, kinda like a ticket. I added the panel with dimensional adhesive then added the hats with some more. And of course I couldn't leave the stickles off of those little hats :)

Thanks for popping by and for your sweet comments. They MAKE my day every time!

Dust Em' Off

Hello, Hello!

Are you ready for another super fun challenge? Of course you are!!

The Challenge over at A Blog Named Hero is Dust Em' Off. What is that exactly? You have to create a project using a stamp you've never used before or haven't used in awhile.

We are sponsored by the fabulous Simon Says Stamp and YOU could win a

Yippee!!

This challenge was actually really challenging (Ha!) for me. Not because I didn't have any stamps I've never used but because I do, and they aren't even new. I have purchased stamps I *LOVE* but have never used because I didn't really know how too lol. I know that sounds silly but I have a hard time incorporating certain stamps into my style. This wonderful challenge really forced me to sit down and look at them in a different way. I'm so glad too because I hate having stamps that are unloved!! Would you believe me if I said the stamp I used for today's card I've owned since Christmas! So crazy!!

Here's my card

The very first thing I did was heat emboss my sentiment in white. That way I knew how I wanted to place my flowers. I inked up my panel using a "rainbow' of distress inks then stamped the small solid flower in versamark. Side note: make sure your distress in is completely dry before moving on to this step otherwise you'll have an embossing disaster :(. I heat embossed the flowers using clear embossing powder then rubbed black soot over the entire thing. I love those bright pops of color against the black big time!! The black distress ink will really dull your embossing so be sure to buff with a damp cloth to really make those colors POP. I added a smattering of rhinestones before popping up my panel on foam and adding it to my white card base. It's hard to see in the photo but I rounded all four corners to soften it a bit.

The Shadow Inks are putting on the inspiration today so head on over to A Blog Named Hero to see what all the other girls created. 

I can't wait to see all your wonderful cards using your new (or old) stamps! 



I'm Inspired by this . . .and this . . .and that too!

Hey Crafters, kind of a long post today.

Sorry I've been missing this past week. I've been working quite a bit and then I got sick :(
I've also been running around trying on dresses because my big (middle) sister is getting married this fall :) So happy for her! I'm also happy we finally picked a dress!!

We all (there are 4 of us) decided on this beauty from Bill Levkoff in Navy Blue. Between the four of us sizes range all over so we thought this looked the most flattering on all of us. What do you think?

Any who let's move on to the card

I'm playing along with The Play Date Cafe color story and I love these colors! I'm also entering into Less is More's One Layer card using 3 stamps. That was a bit of a challenge :)

In case you're wondering about the title not only was I inspired by the two challenges but also by my fellow crafters. Danielle's use of the Artists Butterfly here inspired me to bust mine out since I haven't used it in foreva! I also adore Stephanie's use of masking here so I used some of that too :) Such talented ladies!

FINALLY (lol) the card

Okay if you've stuck with me this long I'm grateful so I'll try to keep the rundown short :)

I masked my outside border and sentiment "strip" before stamping my butterflies. I stamped and masked until the whole "panel" was covered. I kept the sentiment "strip" masked and switched out the other two. So my butterfly "panel" is masked and my border is not. I stamped the Large Plaid Pattern in Pool Shadow ink. I traced around my masks with a black pen to create my boundaries. I removed all the masks and colored my butterflies. I used Copics in YR04, YR21, YR68, BG11, BG45, AND BG49. Last I stamped my sentiment using Splash chalk ink and Tangelo (Memento). All stamps are Hero Arts.

Done! Ha! Thanks for hanging in there. Be sure to visit later I'll be sharing my card for the challenge over at A Blog Named Hero. The new challenge goes live tonight at 5:00pm est. Sure to find lots of inspiration there :)



Congratulations Jennifer!

  As I'm sure many of you know the lovely Jennifer McGuire has been long awaiting the arrival of her newest addition. Well . . . She is here!!!

Since the entire design team at A Blog Named Hero finds Jennifer to be such an inspiration (I'm sure you do too :) we wanted to send her our Congratulations! (as well as lots of love and hugs for her and baby)

This is my card for Jennifer

So happy for the McGuires! Can't wait to see pictures of the little sweetie :)

Head on over to A Blog Named Hero to see the rest of the DT's cards. They are super cute!



Happy Mother's Day!

Sorry I've been MIA this week. Super busy. I'll share more on that later. Today I just wanted to pop in and say Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful Momma's  :)

I was channeling my inner Jennifer Mcguire when I created my Mother's day cards.  

Stamped in paint and used my new Spring distress inks(plus worn lipstick) for the resist. Sprayed on Pearl Glimmer Mist to blend. Add some butterflies, some stardust stickles and they were done :)

Hope you enjoy the cards and your day!

Create Your Own Trees

Happy Monday Crafters!

I hope your weekend was filled with warm weather and good times! My sister-in law graduated from college yesterday so we spent our day with my hubby's family. It is so nice to visit with them (plus I get to see my uber-cute nieces and nephew :) We are super proud of Alyssa, she's the baby of the family and the last graduation for a long time.

Okay enough personal stuff, let's get to the card :)
This week The Play Date Cafe has some gorgeous colors to play along with.

While I was making my card I made a little discovery about myself. If you've been following along my paper crafting journey you know that I've been trying to push outside my boundaries. So I sat down with super cute pattern paper and made a card. the only thing stamped was the sentiment. Crazy, I know!

However, that's not the card I have for you today, because in making my pattern paper card I found it wasn't fun. :( I missed my stamping, big time! Apparently, I really am a stamper at heart. and I'm okay with that :) I will still try to incorporate more pattern paper in my cards but maybe just a strip or two lol

So here is my stamp-FULL card

I create my trees by stamping and masking the wood grain circle from My Happy in London Fog. Once I stamped the whole panel I trimmed them into various widths and mixed them up before adhering them to my teal panel with dimensional adhesive. I'm very happy with the way my "forest" came out :)

Those cute little butterflies were colored with copics and coated in stardust stickles. They are from Memory Boxes Butterfly Border. I just trimmed three off. The sentiment is from Find Joy and was stamped in Rosebud. All stamps are Hero Arts and the inks are Memento.

I hope you find some Joy in your day today! Thanks for visiting :)

A Little Subtle Never Hurt

  With my love of bright colors and glitter subtle is a place I don't visit very often. However this week's Runway Inspired Challenge took my hand and led my down that road. 

Here is the Inspiration photo

I really loved how the pattern was all up top. Since I tend to put my pattern on the bottom portion of my cards I decided to seize the opportunity to do something different.

Speaking of being different that pattern was stamped with a snowflake stamp LOL. I didn't have a medallion stamp and as I was sorting through I discovered that ribbon snowflake in Hero Arts Decorate Your Holidays set.  I stamped the pattern using Soft Sand Shadow ink and Latte Chalk ink.

It's hard to see in the photo but the little buckle was coated in clear embossing powder so it has a gorgeous shine. I did three coats to make sure I had really good coverage. The thank you stamps is from Year Round Sentiments.

Very different and very simple card today. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out even though it's not my usually style. That's the fun of challenges for me, pushing my creativity :)

Thanks for coming by!!



Stamp Loving!

  Hey all!

It's my turn over at

I am sharing a fun way to make sure all your stamps are getting some love :)

You know I love to use stamps differently to make sure I'm getting the most out of each set.

I created a card set but I'm only going to share one of them here :) You'll have to head over to A Blog Named Hero to see the rest!!

So I had to laugh at myself a little :) I kept feeling like I was forgetting something on my post and just now I realized I left out one of the cards. DUH!! So I thought I'd share it here.



You can also see all the products I used at the bottom of the post. All of these items can be picked up at the wonderful

Hope you head over to check it all out :)



Neon Rainbow

  Happy Friday!

Do you have any exciting plans for the weekend? I'm working, per usual. I am hoping to get in a little shopping for Mother's Day and a graduation. Unfortunately, they are calling for storms today and I have zero desire to go out in them. I guess I'll just have to play it by ear.

If you visit me regularly you know that I love to play along with CASE Study. Well this month's muse is CAS bliss. I love Agnieszka Malyszek's style. She has such a wonderful talent! Hence the reason I'm posting so early. I wanted to make sure I got to play along :)

Here is Aga's gorgeous card

and my take

Hello Neons!! Fluorescents are super trendy right now and I thought they would look lovely with the gray/black background.

I cut the hello using my cricut (first time I've used it in foreva!) from the Lyrical Letters cartridge. Once I had the window cut I heat embossed the Zig Zag background from Hero Arts on dark gray with black. I adhered the main panel with foam. Lastly I added stardust stickles to the window colors. Like you didn't know that was coming right? :)

Thanks for visiting! You guys seriously make my day!

CAS-ual Fridays + Less is More

Evening crafters!

It is super hot and muggy here in good ole OH-IO. It feels like July not May! Unfortunately the warm weather (and storms. eck) are only sticking around for a few days so it's not worth it to turn on the AC. So I'll be crafting with windows open and fans on high tonight :)

Tonight's card is squeaking in under the deadline for CAS-ual Fridays flower challenge. I also used the sketch from Less is More.

Super simple sketch but I knew I had the perfect digital stamp for it :) Let me introduce you to Herb Garden from A Day for Daisies.



Pretty simple construction. I colored the flowers with Copics. E57, YG03, YG17, Y02, and Y04. I added the little dots to the centers with my colorless blender for some texture.

I used my exacto knife to cut the inside of the window away before I added the pattern paper behind it. I LOVE how it looks like the flowers are growing next to the fence. That super cute paper (BAM! I used pattern paper. Again!!) is from My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline collection.

I mounted the whole panel to a white card base that measures 5x5. The sentiment is from  Hero Arts All Occasion Messages.

Thanks for popping in :) Hope your night is much cooler than mine is going to be!