Riding on the SSS blog today!

Hi there!

I'm on the SSS store blog this morning, with a little Tandem Ride action:

 

Visit the Simon Says Stamp blog this morning to see the full card! It's such a thrill to be featured on their blog for the first time!

♥.

watermelon welcome home party!

Earlier this month, we sent our 2 older kids, Sofia and Thomas, to the same sleep-away summer camp that I attended every summer as a child. I loved the camp, looked forward to seeing my friends, being on that lake, eating candy from the tuck shop, and so many other things. I thrived so much as a camper, that I ended up spending a few summer working in the kitchen and being a counselor when I was old enough.

But sending your kids to camp for the first time is a whole different thing. I was so reluctant to send them that I didn't even sleep on that first night. I was convinced we'd get a phone call from a teary Thomas, or from a counselor, telling us one of them ended up in the hospital for something or other. Amar and I would ask ourselves, wonder what they're doing now, at least a dozen times every day. So, when Maia suggested we bake cupcakes, and maybe make some banners for when they come home, I was all over it.

Maia and I went shopping for hot pink and green poster boards, and ended up doing a lot of die-cutting and some baking to come up with this fun little watermelon welcome home:

When they first walked in, this is what they saw. I thought they might be too tired from the 2 hour drive home, but they lit up instantly and Thomas yelled to Sofia that there were cupcakes, and could they have one right away.

It's literally, a party for our little family. With just enough cupcakes and water bottles for us, to celebrate the fact that they had an amazing time away, and that we survived it. These cupcakes say: next year can happen without parental chest pains.

Maia and I found poster boards in hot pink and 2 different greens at our local Art store, and for 67 cents x3, we created all of the decorations.



I used a green copic marker to mimic the stripes on a watermelon. So easy! Let's please not talk about how melty the icing looks. I'm chalking it up to when kids *help* in the kitchen. If you're a mom with littles who like to frazzle bake with you, you're nodding right now.



The little banners were so fun to create! I used nesting circle dies, and cut them in half for the watermelons on each end.



Sometimes you just get lucky...

Like, when you realize that you have exactly 5 water bottles in your pantry and the bottles have a greenish tint to them. Watermelon perfect!

Watermelon gummy candies are my fave. I let the kids have a few each and then I slowly ate the rest of them at night, by myself, when the kids were asleep. They forgot we even had them. Bad mommy.

Also, a green copic marker can make a bowl full of limes look like teeny watermelons.

I hope you like our little watermelon welcome home!  Sofia said it cheered her up, because she was already camp-sick.

♥.

ghouls night out {lawn fawn}

Hi there! On Monday, Lawn Fawn unveiled the new set, Booyah, as part of their Fall/Winter release.

I paired the ghost from Booyah with the pumpkin-in-a-wagon from the also upcoming Happy Harvest. I dressed up the pumpkin with some fun accessories. I love all of the dress-up images found in Booyah! I can't wait to add them onto critters from other sets too!



Once the images were stamped out and colored, I did some night-sky-ink-blending, and added the stars to complete the look of a halloween night.

I hope you like it!

♥.

friend indeed {mama elephant}

Hi there! I'm back with Mama Elephant, highlighting their new set, Friend Indeed.



I no-line colored this little fox (from Charmed) awhile back, and he was the perfect fit for this card. This coloring technique makes the image look so soft and almost touchable!

I curved the "friend" sentiment before stamping it down, and nestled the sleepy fox in there.  The friend script was also stamped onto the fox, so that it overlaps.

The "oh hello" sentiment was curved above to cocoon the fox ever more.

I hope you like it, foxy friends!  Click over to the ME blog to see more!

♥.

falala in july {new lawn fawn}

You may have caught this card on the Lawn Fawn blog yesterday, but I wanted to show it off here too.

The original party animals have got a new friend in the raccoon (from the upcoming Holiday Party Animal set) and he comes bearing gifts accessories.

I turned them into a caroling quartet, with winter hats (they need scarves, methinks) and sheet music and music notes galore.

The type is courtesy of my favorite Lawn Fawn alpha, Milo's ABCs.

I hope you like it! Visit the Lawn Fawn blog today to see what's new - click!

♥.

Tandem Extras {mama elephant}

Hi there! This is my second post of the day. If you're looking to see new Lawn Fawn, scroll down or click *here*

We're continuing the Mama Elephant July stamp highlights with Tandem Extras.

The balloon is just about the cutest thing ever.

I love how quickly this card came together. I needed to create a birthday card in a hurry for a friend of Sofia's, and this one fit the bill. Just a little bit of stamping, coloring and die-cutting, and ready to go. The images are so cute, that's all it took!

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

happy harvest sneak peek {lawn fawn}

hi there!

Lawn Fawn is doing a full unveiling of their fall/winter collection this week, and I have a few cards to share over the next few days.

I made a card using the new set, Happy Harvest, which features the most adorable scarecrow you've ever seen!

I stamped the image with a light distress ink, and colored him in with copic markers. Once he was colored, I masked him to be able to stamp the husks in the background. I used oval dies to cut out the focal point and made a yellow gingham background to complete the card.

I hope you like it! Visit the Lawn Fawn blog for all of today's sneak peeks!

♥.

Tandem Ride {mama elephant stamp highlight} and belated Charmed winner.

Hi there!

The ME design team is kicking off this month's highlights with a closer look at the syrupy-cute set, Tandem Ride.

Most of the DT will show off the bigger critters, so I wanted to show you the tinier images!

These 2 mice are having a picnic in the park:

The picnic basket is exploding with yummy foods. I just love the tiny pretzel image!

And the mice! They are my fave. I used a polaroid die to make the cut-out for my scene, and frame it out with the clouds and rolling hills from *this* die set.

I hope you like it!

Before you go, let's take care of some business that is way overdue! I was so embarrassed when I got a message saying that I never picked a winner for last month's Charmed stamp set. How could I not? I can't wait to get that set into somebody's hands... and the lucky winner is:

Lindsey Bailey! Congratulations! Please email me your address (the link is in my profile) so we can send you some happy mail. 

Now, visit the ME blog this morning for more Tandem Ride inspiration!

♥.

mama elephant July stampede!

Welcome to the Mama Elephant Release Design Team blog hop!

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

www.mamaelephant.com

For my card today, I'm showing off the new and super cute set, Tandem Ride.

I know you've already seen and will see tons of ideas for those adorable critters, but how about something a little different? I nabbed the balloons from Up and Away, and gave my card a bit of a lovey feel... I was thinking of the Disney movie, Up, when I made it.

The sentiment is courtesy of another new set, Blessed. I think this one is a must have. The scripty font is so pretty, and the type font options make it so versatile.

I popped the "we are so" part of the sentiment into the tiny flag from Carnival Toppers for added interest.

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!

Now let's get on with the Stampede with our amazing designers!

Melania, Vera, Nichol, Laura, Pamela, Elena, Nicole

you're so wonderful {mama elephant}

Hi there! I have a card featuring the super cute Sunday Stroll and Sunday Sentiments sets.

Even though the design team has been crafting with them for the last few weeks, I haven't seen any cards that resemble each other. The images in Sunday Stroll have too many possilibities!

For my project, I made a card for my littlest to give to her big sister. 5 year old Maia dictated color choices, and the fact that they should be holding hands while walking the dog. The one that we don't have. The one that she'd be terrified to be near. ha.

I used the partial-die-cut technique to cut out the hand-holding girls together. The sentiment, from Sunday Sentiments, stamps so nicely into the wavy banner from the Tags a Lot die set. I love that the clear stamps can be manipulated to follow that wave!

I hope you like it!

♥.

treat yourself {lawn fawn}

Hi there! It's the last day of this month's Lawn Fawn inspiration week, and we're showing off the mini set, Treat Yourself.

Please tell me you've seen the Parks and Recreation treat yo self skit. Hilarious. Here's a link - click!

My card is less funny, but still really cute.



The Party Animals are scooping out ice cream for you! I'm pretty proud of the animal revamp, so they could each have a paw up, holding ice cream scoops and draping casually over the giant ice cream tub.  Just in case you forget what they look like, arms down, out of the package:

See? Arms down is fun, but not when you want to showcase a tub of ice cream. You need that fox to go all Vanna White on that tub and show it off. 

How to: ink up the fox, take a baby wipe and get rid of the ink that would give him an arm. Re-draw, with a copic multiliner (or any other copic-friendly) pen, a new arm.  Same goes for the bear, but he's trickier because you need to stamp the spoon first, mask it, then figure out the bear's new arm. 

I hope you like it! Check out the Lawn Fawn blog this morning for more - click!

♥.