time to go bananas! {a banana split party}

The lawn fawn team is partnering with xyron this week, to bring you fun projects made possible using their adhesives.

On the last day of school, I presented my kids with an invitation to a banana split party.

They were so sleepy and hilarious when they read the back of the invite.



It said: we're so proud of you for all the hard work you put in this year...but now that school's out, it's time to go bananas! when you get home, there will be a party waiting for you - cake! cookies! cousins! and don't forget to BYOB: bring your own banana.



They gave weird, tired smiles and went to school. I waited until Maia's naptime to set this up:



I wanted it to be a fun surprise when they walked through the door/woke up from the nap.



I love the cherry on top of each letter, all glossy and cute.  I used a brown gel pen to flick some spotty banana dots on each letter, and a white gel pen to create a fun highlight as well.

I crafted the bottle labels to match the invitation. Ice cream sundae + banana, and on the stitched circle to match the banner.

I found the polka-dotted hot pink straws at the dollar spot in Target ages ago, and they worked perfectly here! I also found these yellow corn holders in the dollar spot, just a few days before this little party.  I thought it looked banana-ish, to hold a trio of cakes each:



These cakes are wonky, but so yummy. I baked up one recipe of banana-caramel cake and then used scraps to create these tiny cakes. With a gumball on top, they were the kids' choice.

Speaking of cake,



yup. you are welcome.



They were delicious.  And, thanks to my friend Marlyn (Montreal Confections), I had the sweetest bunches of banana cookies to display at the party. Spotted bananas never looked so cute.

My favorite party craft, has to be the hats.



Banana split party hats, with a cherry bead on top.



I hot-glued the bead to the hat, and then just cut slivers of black cardstock for the stem. A dab of hot glue to keep them stuck inside the bead.

I cut myself a wavy stencil (out of post it strips) and sponged brown ink all over the bottom of the hat. Then, using a white gel marker, I added a white layer over that one before adding tiny paper sprinkles all around.

My niece was the only kid who was nice enough to stop for a picture. She literally froze this way for the minute it took me to get my camera and shoot the picture. ha. It was so weird and fantastic, all at once.  My sister has them trained.

I hope you like it! We went bananas!

♥.

hang in there {lawn fawn inspiration week}

On the last day of lawn fawn's june inspiration week, we're re-visiting sets that have been given new coordinating dies: critters in the burbs, critters on the farm, plus one, and critters down under.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to craft with the tree-hugging koala.

I made a card almost 2 years ago with this koala, and I can't believe I hand-cut everything like a chump, but it's still one of my favorite cards.  It's one that got me noticed by lawn fawn, and I'd like to think it started me toward my spot on this amazing team.  click *here* to see it.

But today.

It's all about celebrating the awesome laziness and perfection that comes with owning matching dies:



I started out with a white panel of cardstock, on which I stamped and masked and masked and stamped to get a nice layer of trees. Oh, and before all of that stamping/masking, I put down a post-it-strip across both the top and bottom of the panel. Do you see how the tree bottoms are cut off? I love doing that - it makes it look like a print instead of a homey-homemade card, especially because I added a wash of blue around the trees in between the post-it-strips.

Once I was happy with the trees (are you saying "happy little trees" now? I am. ha. I used to watch that painting show all the time as a kid) I then popped the koala on there. I adhered the bottom of the tree directly onto the cardstock, lining it up with the stamped trees, but using a foam dimensional under the koala.



I stamped the custom sentiment using Milo's abcs.

I hope you like it! There's more to see on the lawn fawn blog today!

♥.

you'll never know {lawn fawn inspiration week}

Another day of lawn fawn inspiration is coming at ya! I always love it when lawn fawn comes out with new alphabet stamps, and this one is such a great size! A little bigger than the other solid alphas, Clark's abcs is perfect for building custom sentiments.

I made a sing-song of card, using the new clark's abcs and the deer from into the woods.  I stamped all of it onto the 4x6 journaling card and did my usual thing by coloring the impressed outline with a brush-tipped marker.



This deer makes everything cuter.  I hand-drew the grass beneath his feet, to ground him and add a touch of whimsy.

I hope you like it!  Visit the lawn fawn blog to see more amazing samples by the design team.  I think today may be my favorite bunch of projects!

♥.

i'll be here {mama elephant designer series}

Hi there! I'm sharing a card I made with the new Mama Elephant set, bloomsies.

The banner is so fantastic, I couldn't help but combine it with my other favorite new release, in my heart.

I stamped the banner onto a piece of white cardstock and colored it in.  I wanted to make sure that it would stand out on the card.  Next, I planned out my sentiment. There is a lot of selective inking going on, but I'm happy to report no smudges. On this version. There were a few that came before. ha.

I colored the little girl (she's so cute, it looks like she's really coming for a hug) and popped her up in the space between the words.

The banner makes the whole thing pop, don't you think? It will get so much use at my house!

Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

get well soon {lawn fawn inspiration week}

I love the new lawn fawn set, get well soon. It's a mini, and oh-so-cute.  The design team is featuring it today.



I made a mini card and a flip-top gift box (i cut it out using a silhouette file.)



The bird-nurse is barking orders. hee.  (I used this word bubble.)



What else do you put inside a "get well" gift box? I threw in some bandaids, but truthfully, I would put a few home-baked cookies if it were going to someone a little under the weather. That was a hint if ever you'd like to present me with a get well gift. I can get my own dang bandaids. Gimme some candy or some cookies to soothe the burning in my throat.

ahem.

Check out the lawn fawn blog for more inspiration!

♥.

ME + Operation Write Home blog hop

The Mama Elephant team is so excited to be partnering this summer with Operation Write Home - they are a nonprofit organization that sends beautiful handmade cards to American service members so that they can write home to their families. Isn't that wonderful?  There's no Hallmark in the desert, so this is a meaningful gift we can give them as crafters.

Mama Elephant's In My Heart set was inspired by the OWH mission, as many of  those serving overseas have little kiddos at home that they write to.  So they designed cute little kids images and sentiments to express just how much those little ones are missed. The drawings are done in such a way that they can be adapted to different ethnicities, making it a very flexible set.  Mama Elephant will be donating 20% of the proceeds from the sale of this set from now until July 31st when purchased through their store.

We know you'll want to support these efforts!  Visit the OWH website and read all of the guidelines carefully. You'll learn about why glitter is dangerous to send, and much more information on their welcome page, including answers to various questions you may have.  They also have a fun YouTube show each weekday, with project info, tutorials, and more - click!



I kept my card fairly simple, and flat for mailing, but added subtle interest by masking all of my images to be able to cluster them in closely together and sponge some soft brown ink around them.

I also added a touch of thread - less bulky than twine or ribbon, but it adds a bit of soft texture.

It's time for you to hop over to Emily's blog!

If you are just starting the hop on my blog, here is the complete hop list:

Mama Elephant ♥ Sandy Allnock ♥ Nichol Magouirk ♥ Lisa Spangler ♥ Elena (that's me!) ♥ Emily Leiphart ♥ Julie Ebersole ♥ Pamela Ho ♥ Joni Andaya ♥ Kathy Racoosin ♥ Laura Bassen ♥ Ashley Marcu ♥ Heather Campbell ♥ Operation Write Home

beep boop birthday {lawn fawn inspiration week}

Hi there, and welcome to Lawn Fawn's June inspiration week! Today, we're showing off beep boop birthday and its coordinating dies.

I made a bit of a quirky card, with beep boop clouds and white grass and robot head balloons.  Because, in a robot's world....why not?

To create the robot head balloons, I wiped off all ink below their heads and stamped down. I then only die cut until past, let's say, the ears.  This allowed me to draw in the balloon nub under the head and fussy cut around it.



It's hard to see, but the robot head balloons are smothered in glossy accents. It's such a fun little kid birthday card!

I hope you like it! There's more to see on the lawn fawn blog today.

♥.

my sunshine {mama elephant stamp highlight}

It's the last day of the Mama Elephant June stamp highlights. We're showing off polka dot sunrays today, with my sunshine.



I popped the girl from in my heart in the center of the sunburst and grounded the image with the sentiment.



Then, I just kept layering... maybe a little too much? The verdict is still out.

Either way, I hope she brings a little sunshine to your day!

♥.

kiss kiss, i love you {mama elephant stamp highlights}

Are you enjoying this week of Mama Elephant stamp highlights so far? The new stamp sets are amazing, and the design team is doing such a great job! I love seeing what the other girls have made.

Today, we're showing off the sentiment set, bountiful blessings, full of fancy,flourishy words.  I wanted to do something a little different. In Pandamonium, the sentiment reads "kiss kiss, i love u." I thought it would be fun to dress it up a bit with the new, super dressed up LOVE from bountiful blessings.

I started out by stamping the sunburst in a teal-blue ink and then I selectively inked up the sentiment from pandamonium on either side of the flourishy "love."

The pandas were then stamped and die cut and placed as close together as possible without looking like one was eating the other. The die-cut outline around the pandas did that to me at first. hee.

I also die-cut a few hearts (from the confetti cuts) and highlighted them with a white gel pen.



I hope you like it!

♥.

mr and mrs {mama elephant stamp highlight}

Hi there, and welcome back to another day of Mama Elephant June stamp highlights. Today, we're showing you the loveliest small floral set, bloomsies.

I used only 1 flower to create some background paper that would match my focal image. So fun! And, it can obviously be as simple or as elaborate of an undertaking as you want.  Tip: work on a scratch sheet of paper until you find a cluster of flowers that works and then build your pattern on a cardstock panel.

Here, I used copics in pink, mint and violet to color my patterned paper.  I didn't color directly on the card-base, but on a 4.25 x 5.5 inch panel that I adhered to a folded card.  I know there are some cardstocks that don't show any copic bleeding, but I don't own any.



For the main panel, I paired bloomsies with another new release, bountiful blessings.  Kryssi mentioned on her blog that these 2 sets were initially designed together, and they work so well that way!

The banner is my favorite element of the entire set. It's so soft and flowy. I will be using it a ton.

That's all for me! Thanks for stopping by and check out more bloomsies inspiration on the Mama Elephant blog today.

♥.

In my heart {mama elephant stamp highlight}

Hi, and welcome to the first day of Mama Elephant's June release stamp highlights. Today, we're highlighting what is hands down, the cutest set of the bunch, in my heart.

Did you happen to see that this set was inspired by Operation Write Home? And that until July 31st, 20% of the profits will be donated there?  What a great cause, and what an amazing company.

I used the images to create a soft "miss you" card.  The little girl is thinking of someone and miss them... but with a smile. ha. I used my 0.3 copic multiliner to add a little mouth to the image.  I think she looks super sweet either way, but it's fun to get different looks out of your stamps!

I grounded her with some grass and a snail couple, and then tangled the sentiment with the butterfly trail to lead your eye up to the clouds.



I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by.

♥.

Mama Elephant June Stampede!

Hey there!  It's time for the Mama Elephant June Stampede... are you ready? The new release is live and available for purchase in the store.

This month's crop of new stamps are must-haves, especially the sweet faces of in my heart.  I have used them on almost every card this month!  I can't help myself. 

Today, I paired in my heart with images from nursery deco:

I created a frame for the card by cutting a 4.25x5.5 inch piece of kraft cardstock with the rectangular die from femme frames. Inside, the little boy with the sleeper pyjamas (my favorite kind of pjs for toddlers, by the way. I can't ever get enough) is surrounded by his stuffed animals, a turtle and a bear, and standing in front of his room's decor.



I paper-pieced his pyjamas, and added some wooden star veneers to fill in some of the white space at the top.

As always, there's a giveaway!  To celebrate the new release, Mama Elephant is giving away one of each of the new stamp sets released.  Winners will be chosen at random from the Stampeding blogs and will be announced on the last day of the stamp highlights. You have 3 chances to win, just leave a separate comment for each:

Leave a comment on this blog post,

Like/share Mama Elephant on facebook

Follow/tweet Mama Elephant on twitter

Now get to stampeding!  Here's the complete list:

Mama Elephant ♥ Sandy ♥ Laura ♥ Emily ♥ Pamela ♥ Joni ♥ Nichol ♥ Elena (me!)

i'm a smart cookie {end of year teacher gifts}

I was browsing Pinterest a little while back, trying to think of something simple I could do for all of the teachers. I came across some printable tags that read "thanks to you, i'm one smart cookie!"  And the tags were free printables.  But I decided to make my own because

1. I always like my life to be as hard as possible, and

2. challenge: accepted.  if i have the stamps, and i could possibly 

fathom recreating something with what i already own, 

i'm a gonna try.

So. A slew of lawn fawn products on my table and this is what I came up with.



I grabbed the "thanks" from a good apple, the "to you" and "i'm a" from check this out (i had to get creative there,) the cookies from cozy christmas and the letters to spell "smart cookie" from riley's abcs.

Whew.

Are you still with me? Allow me to distract you with cookies.



I hope the teachers will like them as much as Maia and I did. Between us, there may be a half-dozen missing. We didn't even offer any to the man who now works in the basement. ha. poor Amar.

I bought kraft boxes from the local Dollar Store and stamped the tops with a strip from schoolhouse backdrops. A little more custom looking that way.



We still have a full week of school left, so all of the cookies are in the freezer until then, but when I do get around to making the packages, they will look something like this:



Thanks for stopping by!

ps, if you want to go the easy route and print your own tags (pffft, i won't judge, but...) just find yourself on pinterest and do a search for "smart cookie tag" and you'll end up with a bunch of choices.

♥.

life's a beach...party!

It's always so much fun for me to work with Marlyn (Montreal Confections.)  Last year, we did a woodland party for her daughter's 11th birthday (click!) and this year, Jessika had the most beautiful day for her beach party.

It all started with an invitation.



We chose our colors, I pulled lawn fawn papers and colored crabs and sandcastles aplenty.



I used the new lawn fawn set, "life is good" for all of the paper decorations, and no black outlines on any of the stamped images.



There's a video on the lawn fawn blog today that shows how I colored my images by stamping them first in a very light color. I wanted the entire party to look airy and... beachy!

The new louie's abcs and party banners were so perfect for creating the focal point of the entire table.



ok. who am I kidding? the focal point of the table is always the cake,



with the bright flip flops on top.

I can't wait to learn how to make these waves.

life is good...



I love that crab topper!



I found an amazing tutorial on Studio DIY for making these "beach balls."  She put hers on a garland, I put mine in a watery-blue dish. I love them.



I only made a few food labels, and mostly just to pull the same darker blue outline that you saw on the banner to the front of the table.



I didn't properly blend the waves on purpose. promise.  I thought it looked more interesting, like choppy waves.



For the favor bags, I cut a silhouette beach bag shape and attached simple tags.



I hope you've enjoyed the glimpse into our beach party! It was so much fun to create!

♥.