Be bold!

Hi there!

I am a few days late showing you a card I created for Vanessa (of Butterfly Reflections Ink) using the Neat and Tangled set, Big Bold Brew.

I love his over-sized coffee mug! I'm thinking of getting one for the house.

The main image was stamped, colored and die-cut (including the little coffee drips he's spilling) and mounted onto a kraft circle.

I framed out the circle with a stitched circle frame die from Lawn Fawn.



The background was created using another Lawn Fawn die, the Stripey Backdrop. I just love how the red pops against the white overlay.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

let's flamingle!

The newest Lawn Fawn collection had me itching to create something tropical for this month's mini party post:

I used the new Flamingo Together stamp set to create a few party decorations.



My kids started to try and make nonsense of any 2 words: let's choco-ingle, let's tac-ingle... I was pretty direct: it pretty much only works with f-l-a-m-i-n-g-l-e. So stop it.



I made the simplest cupcake toppers, but so cute! I just think he's adorable.

I dressed up some yummy cupcakes (really, so good. I bought the new cookbook Cookies and Cups and made the brown sugar cupcakes, with the marshmallow buttercream. ugh, I wish I had some right now.)



The stitched scalloped cupcake wrappers, stamped with the wave image from Loveable Legends, makes the perfect base for the flamingo.

I dressed up waterbottles with a simple white wrap, stamped with palm trees from Flamingo Together.



It looks like a shirt my mom used to have in her closet. I am not joking.



Every party needs a fun favor box! I used the pillow box die, the leaves from the blissful botanicals die set, and the owl scales from the Give A Hoot dies to create these pineapple favor boxes.



I cut the owl scales, then flipped the box around and cut them again on the other side.  To hide the space in the middle, I stamped and die-cut the large thanks sentiment.



Thanks for stopping by! I hope you liked my tropical flamingo party!

♥.

donut balloons and circus bears

Hi there!

This card posted on the NT blog yesterday, but in case you missed it, I'm sharing it here too.  I can't get enough of the fun images in Big Top Birthday. It's such a fun set to play with!

I stamped and colored the clown, strongman, and circus bear, and popped them up onto a circus-friendly-red-and-white-stripe circle.  Instead of holding up the cake (or the bear!) the strongman is holding up the sentiment banner.

To avoid having white die-cut outlines where the strongman's hands line up with the banner, I masked his hands and stamped the banner in place before I used the die to cut him out.  For a little bit of extra effort, I like that it looks more seamless.  You can see it better in the photo below:



I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

fairies and flowers

Hi there!

I have a sweet little Avery Elle card to share with you today:

 

I love the idea of these fairies flitting around flower canopies. Very Disney-esque, no? I combined the Canopy stamp set with the Pixie Dust set to create this very girly birthday card.

My 6 year old Maia demanded it for herself, and it's been sitting on her dresser for about a week now.

I hope you like it!

♥.

Say yes to donuts + giveaway winner!

Hi there!

All of the new stuff is now available in the Neat and Tangled store, and I couldn't help but craft one more card for you today:

I used Say Yes To Donuts, and piled all the kids onto the one donut.



The more, the merrier!

I also have a winner to announce:

Taunya, congrats! Shoot me an email at mom2sofia(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your copy of Say Yes To Donuts!

Danielle has a list of winners on the NT blog as well - check it out!

♥.

sweet on you

Hi there, and welcome back to another day of Neat and Tangled's May release week!

Today, we're showing off the new Stitched Starburst die!

I think it works so well with Big Top Birthday:

Here, I only used the stitched lines die (without the actual die-cut starburst.)  I thought it added a soft and subtle texture to highlight my balancing lion. Especially when backed with the amazing hexastar die! I cut away some of the hexastar panel to make it fit better in the space.



I borrowed the sentiment from Say Yes To Donuts (speaking of which, have you entered my personal giveaway for that set? Leave me a comment *here* to enter! You have until tomorrow.)

I hope you like today's card! Check out the NT blog this morning for more - click!

♥.

Donuts and coffee and a giveaway

This is my 2nd post today! If you're looking for Lawn Fawn flamingos, scroll down or click *here*

I am so excited to share 2 other sets that I designed for Neat and Tangled's May release. The donut images may be familiar, if you've followed my blog for any length of time. Last year, I threw my kids a donut-themed birthday party that looked like this:

Since then, I dreamed of having these images in stamp form. I tweaked the images a bit so that they worked for card-making, and I hope you love Say Yes To Donuts as much as I do:

I made a main donut boy and a main donut girl. I like to think of myself as an equal opportunity stamp designer. haha. I hate having nothing to use for boy cards! And then, there are the extra heads that could peek out from behind the sides of the donut, or drape over the top. I think it would be totally fun to use the birthday hats from Big Top Birthday on these little guys.

I also worked on a separate, 3x4 set (my first mini set!) to bring you what I love best with my donuts: COFFEE. Big Bold Brew features the boy holding his giant mug of coffee, and a mix of fun (and I hope fresh) coffee-themed sentiments.

I thought I would make a simple card showing how the 2 sets could work together:

I really did draw them to work together, aren't they cute? I love his giant mug, and how the coffee is spilling out. 

The hardest thing about designing coffee and donut sets? Coming up with some fresh sentiment ideas! I hope you like some of the ones I picked. 

Before you go, I am doing a giveaway for a copy of the Say Yes To Donuts stamp set. Leave me a comment on this post and tell me what you think of these new sets! I'll announce the winner on Friday morning's post. 

Now hop over to the NT blog to see what the rest of the DT made - click!

we flamin-go together {new Lawn Fawn}

Hi there!

Welcome back to another day of Lawn Fawn inspiration. The summer release is flamin-go hot, as we showcase today's set, Flamingo Together!

I finally got my dies! haha. Just in time for the last day! I stamped, colored and die-cut the flamingos, and perched them onto a black sentiment banner. I love the pop of the white heat embossing again the rest of the scene.

The palm trees stamped onto the card base make me think of a cheesy hawaiian shirt.

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

go on and be awesome!

Hey there, and welcome back to another day of Neat and Tangled's May release week.  All new products will be for sale as of Friday morning (May 20th!)

Today, I'm showing off the new set, Awesome. It's awesome, and it's called Awesome. yessir.

I mixed Awesome with a little set you'll be seeing very soon... eek! I love this little donut image! So, donut mind if you... and then "go and be" is from the Awesome set. To end off the sentiment, and instead of stamping the large handwritten "awesome" that is included in the set, I opted for the matching die-cut instead. Isn't it... awesome?

Check out the NT blog this morning for more inspiration, and for a chance to win a few new sets - click!

Big Top Birthday! {new Neat and Tangled}

Hi! If you're looking for my Lawn Fawn post for today, scroll down or click *here*

It's Neat and Tangled release week, and I am thrilled to show you the first of 3 stamp sets that I've designed this month!  All of the new sets and dies will be for sale in the Neat and Tangled store by Friday morning.

Big Top Birthday is a set that mixes birthday treats with circus performers, and is a blast to work with!

Let's see what you can do with this set! The little bear can juggle ice cream cones or cupcakes.

Here, I stamped him juggling cupcakes, rotating them so it looks like they really are being tossed in the air. I borrowed a sentiment from another set you'll see in just a few days...

The strong man can hold up the cake, the banner, or even the bear or the clown! The clown. I know most people are scared of clowns. I am too. But she's cute, no? I'm not scared of her.

This card was on the Butterfly Reflections blog yesterday, but I'm posting it again in case you missed it.

Let's look at the strong man in action one more time:

He kills me. The sentiment is another one from an upcoming set. I had in mind that there could be mixing and matching. That's what happens when you are the designer. hee.

I hope you like Big Top Birthday so far! There's more to see on the NT blog this morning, and information on how you can win your own copy of Big Top Birthday - click!

yay, kites! {new Lawn Fawn}

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

Today is our showcase of the adorable new set, Yay, Kites!

The dies are still in the wind, but I have to admit that I am starting to enjoy the challenge of creating these flat scenes.  I stamped the squirrel and the bunny holding onto the same kite, and then perched the bird onto the bunny's ear. I then stamped the rolling hill from Gleeful Gardens before masking each of these elements. I then used the copic airbrush system and a BG23 marker to create a light background.



I colored the images, added some white gel pen highlights, and stamped the sentiment from Hello Sunshine. While the mask for the kite was still on, I stamped a trio of cloudd. Then, I stamped them again onto white cardstock, snipped them out and fit them into place.

I hope you like this simple scene! There's more to see on the LF blog this morning - click!

♥.

hip hip hooray!

Hey there!

I'm on the Butterfly Reflections ink blog with a huge sneak peek at one of my new sets with Neat and Tangled. It will be shown in full tomorrow, but I'm showing you some images a day early!

 

Click over to the Butterfly Reflections Ink blog to see the card in full!

you are a-moose-ing {new Lawn Fawn}

Hi there!

Welcome back to another day of Lawn Fawn inspiration! We're showing off the new summer collection - yay!

Here's a look at the new set, Dad + me:



So, it's already happened at our house. Our kids, ages 11, 9 and 6, think Dad is totally embarrassing. haha. And they rate me the cool one. I'm not dispelling any rumours, as wrong as they may be.

I thought this would be the perfect card for them to give their Daddy for Father's Day next month.

My package of matching dies is still AWOL, so I did more masking to bring interest to a flat panel. I stacked 3 baby moose on top of each other and put the joke glasses on the daddy moose. I wanted to make a fun and playful card that showed all 3 of our kids.

I hope my quirky card makes you smile today! There's more to see on the LF blog this morning - click!

we mermaid for each other {new Lawn Fawn}

Hi there!

It's Lawn Fawn's summer release week, and I am so excited to show off my favorite set of the entire collection, Mermaid For You. Because, mermaids! Is anyone else so excited that Lawn Fawn is starting to come out with more people-y images? Fairies, and now mermaids!



I am sad to say that I don't have any dies for the new sets yet! My package got lost in the mail and I'm waiting on the new one. But, you can make yourself a pretty sweet card using only the stamps! I created some depth by stamping the mermaids, masking them, and then stamping the school of fish so that it looks like it's in the background.



These mermaids are so stinking cute! The little belly belt is actually supposed to be a tiara, but she already had a shell in her hair. hee. And I added little lines to their tales. Wavy lines for her, crosshatch for him.

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

celebrate your day (and other news!)

Hi there!

Are you ready? This little blog is about to blow up! Here's what's coming:

I have new designs to upload to my etsy shop. woot! They might be up as early as tomorrow, although I'll wait and blog them in another week, after release week stuff for Lawn Fawn and Neat and Tangled. If you are a Harry Potter fan, there may be something there for you. Just sayin.

Lawn Fawn's new summer release is starting today! Visit their blog for details on how you can win the entire new collection. Mermaids! Blenders! Joke glasses on moose! Trust me, you want to check it out.

I designed 2 new sets for Neat and Tangled! Release week starts on Monday (May 16) with everything in the store and available for purchase on Friday (May 20.) Check out their blog today for a sneak peek of everything upcoming!

Speaking of Neat and Tangled's new release, I'll be doing a guest spot for Butterfly Reflections Ink on Sunday (May 15.) You could see a card using a new set a whole day early!

I'm still editing pictures from Sofia's Harry Potter party and Maia's kitty party - I can't to show you both! I am still weaning myself off of sugar... so much sugar... 2 parties in 2 weekends is no joke.

For now, here's a card I made with Avery Elle's current release.



I can't get enough of those woodland critters. I used the long "celebrate" sentiment from Sentimental, and added little leaves to the ends so that it looked like a branch for the owl and bird to perch on. I love that the birdie is telling a little secret.

I also used the stripe image from Brushed to fill in the bottom half of the card. I stamped it 3x in soft colors (I tried to pull colors from the critters themselves.)

Here are all of the supplies I used to create this card, linked up to the Avery Elle store:

Supplies:

Sentimental Clear Stamps

Woodland Wonders Clear Stamps 

Woodland Wonders Dies

Brushed Clear Stamps

Wonky Stitches Dies

I hope you like it!

♥.

hello chum!

I have a fun little card to share today, that I made using Avery Elle products.

That poor little piece of bait! I think he's met his end. The shark looks like Bruce from Finding Nemo, doesn't he? So many sharp teeth, hee hee.

I used the double pierced square dies to frame out my simple scene, and the fishing line above the hook was hand-drawn.

I hope you like it! All of the supplies I used are linked to the Avery Elle store below.

Supplies:

Hello Chum Clear Stamps

Hello Chum Elle-ments Dies

Double Pierced Squares Elle-ments Dies

The Everyday Collection Patterned Paper Pad

♥.