so jelly.

Hi there, and welcome back to another day of Lawn Fawn's summer release inspiration week!

We're showing off my favorite tiny set, So Jelly. The jellyfish and starfish are adorable!

I used the new ocean border dies, along with So Jelly, to create this fun card. The new oval nesting dies made it easy to create a frame for my scene, and I also used the speech bubbles from A Birdie Told Me for the sentiments. The little "i'm so jelly" makes me giggle!

If you want to see how I created this card, visit the Lawn Fawn blog. Kelly Marie asked if she could recreate my card for her video and I said yes! You get a step-by-step on how it all came together.

♥.

party animal: lawn fawn summer release intro

hi there!

I am so excited for this week! Lawn Fawn is doing a summer release and it is all so fun! Everything will be for sale as of June 4th, but join us all week for previews of some of the sets and dies.

Today, we're featuring the most adorable party animals:

I did some masking to get them snuggled in together, and wearing party hats, and holding eating utensils. Let's be honest: I go to a party mostly for the cake.  If the cake was good, it was a great party. ha.

They are die-cut onto a stitched party banner, and I trimmed the scripty happy birthday to you die so that it would fit the space.

I hope you like it! There's more to see on the Lawn Fawn blog today - click!

♥

small talk

sup?

yo!

miss you lots!

just sayin'...

The little ants in Mama Elephant's new Small Talk set have a lot to say!



I thought it would look cute to perch them onto the strawberry plant from Potted Pretties. They have so much personality for such little images! I stamped and colored the images, and then added glossy accents to the berries and ants for some extra interest.

I hope you like it! There's more to see on the ME blog today - click!

♥.

from me to you.

Hi there, and welcome back to another day of Mama Elephant new stamp highlights. I'm the most excited for today, since I drew the images in the new set, Woodland Gifts.

I'm always tickled pink and every other rainbow color to see my pencil sketches morph into these perfect images that people can stamp with! It's so fun!

I made a thank you card, with the bunny this time, handing over a little jar of honey to the bear. He looks like he wants to do the slow steps backwards, doesn't he? ha. I love him. Like, maybe it's sardines in there or something. But no, honey. Trust.

I colored the images, then did a wash of a very subtle blue around them, and finished up by inking up the edges pretty heavily.  I wanted the card to look a little vintage.

I hope you like it! There's more to see on the ME blog today - click!

missing you is ruff!

Hi there! We're kicking off Mama Elephant's stamp highlights week with the cutest little dog set, Playful Pups.

Seriously, these pooches are super cute.

I thought this puppy looked a little sad, so I paired him with the missing you sentiment. I just want to hold him until he's tail-wagging-happy again!

It was fun to stamp the background with a bunch of the smaller images. Some quick coloring, and a red mat for the focal image was all it took to bring this card together.

I hope you like it! There's more to see on the ME blog this morning - click!

Mama Elephant May Stampede and Woodland Gifts giveaway winner!

Welcome to the Mama Elephant Release Design Team blog hop!

Our newest release is now live and available for purchase in the store!

www.mamaelephant.com

I am so excited by the response so far to my design collaboration with Mama Elephant for Woodland Gifts. I can't wait to see what you all do with these sweet critters!

The bear is so much taller than the teeny mouse, so I used the *new* grassy borders and the largest mushroom in the set to give him extra height. Now the bear can actually see him!

I love that the bear is a little deer-in-the-headlights. He's my fave.

I hope you like him too! Now, onto the fun stuff:

To celebrate the new release, Mama Elephant is picking 3 winners to win their choice of stamp set! Winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs in the Stampede. You have up to 4 chances to qualify to win!

» 1. Leave a comment on this blog post «

» 2. Like/share us on Facebook: facebook.com/mamaelephant «

» 3. Follow/tweet us on Twitter: twitter.com/heymamaelephant «
» 4. Follow/tweet us on Instagram: instagram.com/heymamaelephant «

Each action qualifies for one entry, max 4 entries per stampeder please!

Here's the full stampede lineup:

Mama Elephant, Laura, Pamela, Nicole G., Ashley, Elena, Geralyn, Nichol, 

Before you click away to another blog, can I just say a huge thank you? All of your sweet comments on Woodland Gifts really made my week!  The winner of the new set is:

Congrats, My Creative Therapy! I've emailed you already.

♥.

woodland gifts - new Mama Elephant sneak peek.

Hi y'all!

This blog has been a wasteland, I know, but I have been crafting and coloring while packing these last few weeks!

Mama Elephant's sneak peeks are starting today, and my joining in can only mean one thing: another stamp design with my name on it!



This one is actually a full-on collaboration. It's the very first set of images that I drew for Mama Elephant. (fun fact: the little girl wearing the bear coat in Alpine Carolers was originally drawn for this set!) Angela tweaked the images and help me bring the set to life. I really love how it all turned out, with the different animals offering presents and support to one another!

These two had differences that needed patching - hee.

Because I wanted my main panel to be flat, I masked the chipmunk so he could rest comfortably on the bigger mushroom, and be at eye-level with the raccoon. I included different items, like the bigger mushrooms and the log, so that the smaller animals could be raised up to face the taller ones.

I actually drew in the balloon string (instead of stamping it) since part of it had to pass in front of the raccoon's far paw (hand? paw?)

For the card base, I used the highlighter end of red (R29) and grey (T1) copic markers to draw in the stripes.

Now for the fun part: the Mama Elephant girls have given me an extra set to giveaway!  Leave me a comment here, and I'll pick and announce the winner on release day (May 15th)

Good luck!

♥.

new house lighting

When we first walked through the house, a few things were obvious. We would need to rip out wallpaper and repaint... and we would have to replace most of the lighting.

Nobody wants boob lighting, amirite?

On top of that, there were fixtures like this:

We both know that the dining room fixture had to go...

 So I decided, new lights everywhere! I have to admit, I was a bit naive... I didn't realize how expensive lighting can be. In our current home, we replaced all of the lighting when we moved in, 10 years ago, as a childless couple on an Ikea budget. Meaning, we bought every fixture from Ikea. ha. Except for the one from Homesense... I almost had a heart attack when I figured how much was being spent on lighting. pffft.

But at 37 years old, we decided we wanted a more grown-up looking home. And my hubs was getting scared of all the light-colored walls and white furniture I was talking about. He said the words "too girly."

In the spirit of compromise and making my partner happy, we decided on these lights for our main living areas:

While I keep painting our dark wood furniture to white, the lighting can help the space look more tailored. manly, even. ha.

I keep looking at the boxes, and I can't wait for all the ceilings to be painted in the new house! I want to see these beauties go up!

In case any of them catch your eye, here are the links:

stairwell chandelier: Lowes

dining room fixture: Lowes

entryway pendant: Wayfair

powder room lights: Wayfair and Wayfair

kitchen flushmounts: Home Depot

Please note: I linked to the Canadian Lowes and Home Depot sites. 

Let's talk paint colors next time, yes?

♥