3

Hello (Mama Elephant)

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Hi Everyone,

It never ceases to amaze me as to where ideas can come from. The idea behind this card actually came from the “Surf and Turf” set by Paper Smooches. I had the set out to make a little seascape. In fact, I had actually roughed out a little scene but it didn’t really look right. In a little fit of pique, I stamped the log image in a row and, to quote Bev, *PING* an idea was born – the ADORABLE little munchkins from the Mama Elephant set “In My Heart” would look so cute climbing on the logs in the playground…so I set about trying to make that idea happen. This meant another quick visit to the Mama Elephant site to get the “Tree Friends” set so I could have a couple of lovely trees to frame the logs. (Yes, I *had* to get a new stamp set…the sacrifices one must make for their art! haha) This gorgeous set comes with a tree stump so my idea changed gears a little but I am actually really thrilled with how this card turned out. I didn’t do anything fussy at all – straight colouring and bam, done!

Here’s the card…

Hello Materials used: Stamps - In My Heart, Tree Friends (Mama Elephant); Dies - Die-Namics Blueprints 5 (My Favourite Things); Distress Inks; Distress Markers; and Wink of Stella.

Hello
Materials used: Stamps – In My Heart, Tree Friends (Mama Elephant); Dies – Die-Namics Blueprints 5 (My Favourite Things); Distress Inks; Distress Markers; and Wink of Stella.

It was suggested to me that I only needed one tree so I might give it another go and see how it looks with just the one. I’m also now crushing on the Ripe Persimmon Distress Marker. Such a gorgeous shade. lol

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are all having a super creative day!

Happy Stamping!

11

Happy Birthday (Penny Black)

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Hi Everyone,

On Friday my youngest nephew turned 11! Happy birthday Max! His birthday party is going to be held this weekend at an archery venue. I had planned to keep with the theme and make him a card based around archery but I couldn’t find a stamp set that I loved enough to use for more than just this card. (I do try to make purchases where I can use the set over and over). I finally found one I liked a lot – Mama Elephant’s On Target. I also thought the Avery Elle’s Aim High had potential too – thanks Elle!) but by the time I decided to go ahead I was concerned that I wouldn’t get them delivered in time. I couldn’t find a local stockist for either stamp set. Drat!

Onto plan B! Max is mad keen on soccer and it just so happens that I had only recently purchased Penny Black’s Sunny Days because it has so many gorgeous images (with a more masculine flavour) including a little soccer playing pooch. Voila! Problem solved.

I used the soccer ball to stamp up my own background – really love how it turned out too. Then just made up a little scene for the dog. I kept it very simple.

Here it is…

Happy Birthday Materials used: Stamps - Sunny Days (Penny Black); A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted); Dies - Blueprints 5 (My Favourite Things), Lawn Cuts - Spring Showers, Grassy Border (Lawn Fawn); Designer Paper - 6x6 Paper Pad - Hello Sunshine (Lawn Fawn); Cardstock - American Crafts; Distress Ink; Distress Markers; Glossy Accents and Wink of Stella - Clear.

Happy Birthday
Materials used: Stamps – Sunny Days (Penny Black); A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted); Dies – Blueprints 5 (My Favourite Things), Lawn Cuts – Spring Showers, Grassy Border (Lawn Fawn); Designer Paper – 6×6 Paper Pad – Hello Sunshine (Lawn Fawn); Cardstock – American Crafts; Distress Ink; Distress Markers; Glossy Accents and Wink of Stella – Clear.

Whilst it doesn’t look overly birthday-esque, I know Max will love it because of the soccer theme. That’s the main thing.

Hope you are all having a creative weekend!

Happy Stamping!

6

Hello

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Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all enjoying the weekend!

Inspired by Elle’s challenge I was flicking through my stamps looking at the sets I haven’t used yet (either the entire set, or just elements within the set) and saw the My Guy set from Paper Smooches.

I originally purchased this set for the car and the golf cart images (LOVE these) but haven’t done much with the other items. Looking at the set again I noticed…the boat. SQUEAL!! How had I never noticed that cute little stamp before?? Immediately a bunch of ideas ran through my head and then it all went horribly wrong. haha I sketched out the dominant idea and I thought it looked so cute but when I tried to make it happen I just couldn’t get it to work. I slept on the idea and this morning I tried again. It’s not a bad recreation of what my brain had designed. lol It’s not as wonky as the photo would suggest either. lol

I’ve decided that I might enter it into the Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge blog’s Anything Goes challenge too as it certainly fits. haha

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge Blog

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge Blog

Anything Goes Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge

Anything Goes Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge

Here’s the card…

Hello Materials used: Stamps - My Guy, Salutations (Paper Smooches); and Pastel Pencils (Bruynzeel).

Hello
Materials used: Stamps – My Guy, Salutations (Paper Smooches); and Pastel Pencils (Bruynzeel).

I sketched out the landscape with the lake on which the boats could sail with Bruynzeel pastel pencils and then put a wash of water over to soften the lines. Popped this panel up with foam mounting tape and added it to my card base. I ummed and ahhed over which sentiment to use then settled on “hello” as you could really use this card for a number of different occasions.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you have a great day!

Happy Stamping!

10

Stamp Trio Challenge: Hello Baby (3)

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Hi Everyone,

Today brings me to the end of my first Elle’s Stamp Trio challenge. It has been such a fun challenge as I tried to make three completely different cards with the stamp set Hello Baby from Lawn Fawn. I have made a vintage card, a cute Keep in Touch card and today I have gone for something completely different.

It crossed my mind that Lawn Fawn stamps are, in general, cute and so I tend to make cute cards with their products. Now, I LOVE cute but I thought about challenging myself to make something that wasn’t “cute”. A challenge within the challenge. lol And, I am really thrilled with how this card has come out. (Well, truthfully, there are little bits I want to change but I’m sticking with my plan to complete a card and then start changing up bits and pieces).

Here’s the card…

Hello Materials used: Stamps- Critters on the Savanna, Hello Baby, Hello Sunshine (Lawn Fawn); Lawn Cuts - Spring Showers (Lawn Fawn); Distress Ink; Inktense Pencils (Derwent); and Wink of Stella.

Hello
Materials used: Stamps- Critters on the Savanna, Hello Baby, Hello Sunshine (Lawn Fawn); Lawn Cuts – Spring Showers (Lawn Fawn); Distress Ink; Inktense Pencils (Derwent); and Wink of Stella.

It looks a lot better in person – the water came up so well. Can you tell I used the tree from the Critters on the Savanna set for the rocks? I think the tree top looks great as rocks (and I’ve used them that way a few times now). lol

Thank you, Elle, for such a great challenge. I look forward to playing along again soon.

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have a great day!

Happy Stamping!

6

Happy Birthday

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Hi Everyone,

When I first made this birthday card, I really hadn’t planned on sharing it. I was in a hurry to get it completed and in the mail so it wasn’t quite how I wanted it to be. Then I remembered when I first started my blog I said this would be a place where I would share “the hits as well as the misses” and that “not every card would be a work of art”. With this philosophy in mind, and the fact that I haven’t finished the third card in my Stamp Trio Challenge, I decided to go ahead and share. Please don’t get me wrong, I quite like it and wouldn’t have sent it off into the world if I didn’t but I had a different vision in my head.

Here’s the card…

Happy Birthday Materials used: Stamps - Party Girl (Julie Nutting/Prima); Designer Paper - Unknown; Distress Inks.

Happy Birthday
Materials used: Stamps – Party Girl (Julie Nutting/Prima); Designer Paper – Unknown; Distress Inks.

The Julie Nutting dolls are SO FUN to colour. I bought another in the set and cannot wait to have a play with that one too.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you are all having a great day!

Happy Stamping!

6

Lawn Fawn – Pin of the Day

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Hi Everyone,

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time you would know I am a HUGE fan and supporter of Lawn Fawn. I love their products, their blog and their videos. I was so excited today when I found out they had chosen my card to be their “Pin of the Day“. As I usually do, I wanted to record it here so that I can remember it.

Lawn Fawn - Pin of the Day - 8th July, 2014

Lawn Fawn – Pin of the Day – 8th July, 2014

Speaking of excitement, I forgot to post that Paper Smooches (one of my other super favourite stamp companies) featured an older card of my on their Facebook page back in May. It came completely out of the blue and it gave me such a creative boost.

Paper Smooches - Facebook - 28 May 2014

Paper Smooches – Facebook – 28 May 2014

I create for myself because it makes me happy. It relaxes me. It excites me. It’s my passion. I do it for me BUT I have to say that it feels really good to know that others appreciate what I create. From being featured on blogs, or facebook, to the comments written here on my blog, they are all very much appreciated by me. Thank you!

Hope you all have a wonderful day (and that you forgive this self-indulgent post).

Happy Stamping!

4

Stamp Trio Challenge: Hello Baby (2)

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Hi Everyone,

I am back today with Card 2 for Elle’s Stamp Trio Challenge. I am having such fun with this challenge. (See this post for my first card in this series).

For Card 2, I moved away completely from the baby/family theme. When I had first seen the Hello Baby stamp set from Lawn Fawn it crossed my mind that the little duckling would look adorable carrying a swag and that it would make such a cute “Bon Voyage” style card. Immediately, I knew that the card would have the centre circle but I had planned to layer it on a panel of many different complementary colours before attaching it to a white card. Unfortunately when I stamped the sentiment on this panel, it didn’t stamp clearly and I didn’t line it up perfectly when I tried to re-stamp it. Instead of trying to re-make the panel, I decided to go super simple and just use the grey and white polka dot background to finish the card. I really like how it ended up – simple but cute and it really could be used for anybody.

Here’s the card…

Keep In Touch Materials Used: Stamps - Hello Baby (Lawn Fawn), A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted), Pandamonium (Mama Elephant); Dies - Grassy Border (Lawn Fawn), Standard Circles Small (Spellbinders); Designer Papers - Hello Sunshine (Lawn Fawn) and Copic Markers.

Keep In Touch
Materials Used: Stamps – Hello Baby (Lawn Fawn), A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted), Pandamonium (Mama Elephant); Dies – Grassy Border (Lawn Fawn), Standard Circles Small (Spellbinders); Designer Papers – Hello Sunshine (Lawn Fawn) and Copic Markers.

I know I will be returning to this design because I still have a few more things I want to try (such as re-creating the panel I mentioned above; adding ribbon; adding sequins/enamel dots). In the meantime, I am off to create card three.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Happy Stamping!

6

Stamp Trio Challenge: Hello Baby

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Hi Everyone,

My very talented friend, Elle, from Creative Cardsea, had a brilliant idea to challenge herself to make the most out of her stamp sets. To quote Elle,

So, I’ve decided to make a little challenge for myself and do a Stamp Trio Challenge. I will take a specific stamp set and create 3 cards with it, and I’ll try to push myself to make very different cards (ex. masculine, feminine and general, or different themes/sentiments).

I think this is such a great idea and I wanted to play along. Elle started her challenge with the Hello Baby stamp set from Lawn Fawn. Since I have just purchased this same set I thought I might as well start the challenge using this set.

As soon as I saw the set I thought the bunnies would look amazing in sepia tones. I had originally planned to put the bunnies on a tag with a pretty green ribbon but somewhere along the line it morphed into something else. lol

Here’s the card…

Some Bunny Loves You Materials used: Stamps - Critters on the Savanna, Hello Baby (Lawn Fawn), A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted); Dies - Stitched Scalloped Borders (Lawn Fawn); Designer Paper - 6x6 Patterned Paper Pad - Serenade (Basic Gray); Cardstock - American Crafts, Unknown; Distress Ink; Distress Markers; Glitter - White (Wow); and Wink of Stella.

Some Bunny Loves You
Materials used: Stamps – Critters on the Savanna, Hello Baby (Lawn Fawn), A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted); Dies – Stitched Scalloped Borders (Lawn Fawn); Designer Paper – 6×6 Patterned Paper Pad – Serenade (Basic Gray); Cardstock – American Crafts, Unknown; Distress Ink; Distress Markers; Glitter – White (Wow); and Wink of Stella.

So this is my first card in the Stamp Trio Challenge. Now I’m off to make card number two.

Thanks Elle for creating such a great challenge! If you play along, please link to your card in the comments as I would love to see what you make. And please visit Elle’s blog – you are in for a real treat!

Happy Stamping!

4

Into the Woods

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Hi everyone,

I spent a bit of time thinking about how I create during my hiatus from creating and I worked out a few things. Firstly, that I do actually have a number of ideas floating around this head of mine. Secondly, is that these ideas all tend to come to the forefront whilst I am making a card and it often confuses the original idea. Sometimes this means that I don’t end up making anything because the design is changing in many different, and not always complementary, ways part way through. Of course, sometimes this actually works well. lol I decided that really, I LOVE creating so what is the harm with trying to finish one idea before starting the next. If I end up with five cards which are similar? Does that really matter? I don’t think so.

With this principle in mind, I pulled out the new Lawn Fawn “Into the Woods” stamp set. I’ve coveted it for a while and finally splurged on it. I think it is just darling, like all Lawn Fawn products are.

I really wanted to keep the card super simple and I actually really like it like this. Here it is…

Hello Materials used: Stamps - Critters on the Savanna, Into the Woods (Lawn Fawn); Hero Arts Shadow Inks (Hero Arts); Copic Markers and Wink of Stella.

Hello
Materials used: Stamps – Critters on the Savanna, Into the Woods (Lawn Fawn); Hero Arts Shadow Inks (Hero Arts); Copic Markers and Wink of Stella.

As I was making the above card I kept thinking that maybe it should be on a background but instead of chopping it up like I normally would, I just made another card. Here it is…

Hello Materials used: Stamps - Chevron Backdrops, Critters on the Savanna, Into the Woods (Lawn Fawn); Cardstock - American Crafts; Hero Arts Shadow Ink (Hero Arts); Copic Markers and Wink of Stella.

Hello
Materials used: Stamps – Chevron Backdrops, Critters on the Savanna, Into the Woods (Lawn Fawn); Cardstock – American Crafts; Hero Arts Shadow Ink (Hero Arts); Copic Markers and Wink of Stella.

Love this card but as I was making it I wondered if I should have added some more green. And so I tried it. Here’s the card…

Thanks Materials used: Stamps - Chit Chat, Chevron Backdrops, Critters on the Savanna, Into the Woods (Lawn Fawn); Lawn Cuts - Chit Chat (Lawn Fawn); Cardstock - American Crafts; Hero Arts Shadow Ink (Hero Arts); Copic Markers and Wink of Stella.

Thanks
Materials used: Stamps – Chit Chat, Chevron Backdrops, Critters on the Savanna, Into the Woods (Lawn Fawn); Lawn Cuts – Chit Chat (Lawn Fawn); Cardstock – American Crafts; Hero Arts Shadow Ink (Hero Arts); Copic Markers and Wink of Stella.

And while I was making this I thought to myself that I wondered how it would look if I had more of a wood grain appearance. I got a little sidetracked from my original plan while making this card, and I think it just proves to me that you have to remain flexible and just go with the flow sometimes. Here it is…

Thanks Materials used: Stamps - Chevron Backdrops, Chit Chat, Critters on the Savanna, Into the Woods (Lawn Fawn); Lawn Cuts - Chit Chat, Grassy Border, Spring Showers (Lawn Fawn); Cardstock - American Crafts; Designer Paper - Here & There (Studio Calico/American Crafts); Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug); Hero Arts Shadow Ink (Hero Arts); Copic Markers and Wink of Stella.

Thanks
Materials used: Stamps – Chevron Backdrops, Chit Chat, Critters on the Savanna, Into the Woods (Lawn Fawn); Lawn Cuts – Chit Chat, Grassy Border, Spring Showers (Lawn Fawn); Cardstock – American Crafts; Designer Paper – Here & There (Studio Calico/American Crafts); Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug); Hero Arts Shadow Ink (Hero Arts); Copic Markers and Wink of Stella.

I still have a number of things I want to try based around this design so you might end up seeing some more. Plus there are so many other darling little stamps in that set that I really want to use.

Oh, and the other brainwave I had about creating…well, I will save that for another post.

Thanks for sticking with me!

Happy Stamping!

8

Life is Good

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Hi everyone,

Wow, doesn’t time pass by so quickly? It seems unbelievable to me that I haven’t posted since May but what is even more unbelievable to me is that I hadn’t actually created anything during this time. There are many reasons as to why but I am hopeful they are all behind me for now. I have taken advantage of a few sales during this time and picked up some lovely new supplies. I am delighted to finally be able to share something new!

When I first received the Lawn Fawn stamp set “Life is Good” I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it…and yet what I ended up with was quite different and I LOVE it. lol Funny how this happens! I started by creating the little scene (we all know how much I love scenes) and then it crossed my mind how fun it would be to be looking out a porthole and coming across an island paradise. I jumped onto the Silhouette store and found a cute porthole shape and from there the idea began to come alive.

Here’s the card…

Life is Good Materials Used: Stamps - Life is Good (Lawn Fawn); Lawn Cuts - Spring Showers (Lawn Fawn); Die - Porthole (Silhouette); Patterned Paper - Unknown; Copic Markers; Distress Ink; and Glossy Accents.

Life is Good
Materials Used: Stamps – Life is Good (Lawn Fawn); Lawn Cuts – Spring Showers (Lawn Fawn); Die – Porthole (Silhouette); Patterned Paper – Unknown; Copic Markers; Distress Ink; and Glossy Accents.

You might have noticed that there isn’t a greeting – I’ll add this when I send the card because I am not sure how or when I will use it at this stage.

I loved this idea so much that I went on to create another two versions. There are only a few differences and I have to say I love each look.

Here’s card two…I used grey cardstock for the porthole and I also popped it up. The basic scene is the same.

Life is Good Materials Used: Stamps - Life is Good (Lawn Fawn); Lawn Cuts - Spring Showers (Lawn Fawn); Die - Porthole (Silhouette); Patterned Paper - Unknown; Copic Markers; Distress Ink; and Glossy Accents.

Life is Good
Materials Used: Stamps – Life is Good (Lawn Fawn); Lawn Cuts – Spring Showers (Lawn Fawn); Die – Porthole (Silhouette); Patterned Paper – Unknown; Copic Markers; Distress Ink; and Glossy Accents.

Here’s card three…I used a much larger porthole, popped it up, used a hammock instead of the crab and also added a sentiment.

Life is Good Materials Used: Stamps - Life is Good (Lawn Fawn); Lawn Cuts - Spring Showers (Lawn Fawn); Die - Porthole (Silhouette); Patterned Paper - Unknown; Copic Markers; Distress Ink; and Wink of Stella - Clear.

Life is Good
Materials Used: Stamps – Life is Good (Lawn Fawn); Lawn Cuts – Spring Showers (Lawn Fawn); Die – Porthole (Silhouette); Patterned Paper – Unknown; Copic Markers; Distress Ink; and Wink of Stella – Clear.

Ahhh, it is soooo good to be creating again!

Edited to add: Have any of you seen any archery type stamp sets? My youngest nephew is having an archery party for his birthday mid-month and I thought I would create a card keeping with the theme…if I could find a stamp set. Any help would be gratefully appreciated. :) Thanks! :)

Thanks for stopping by today.

Happy Stamping!