have a sweet day.

Time for another lawnscaping challenge!

I don't usually copy myself, but I had someone ask me for a set similar to *this one.*  Sooo, a 3-D paper-pieced cake, fawnie-style:



I used "bake me a cake," "blissful botanicals," and "bannerific" to create this vintage-y card.  I love that lawn fawn images can take a more elegant turn, depending on how you use them!



A few rolled flowers, with a side-order of cake.



I hope you decide to create something paper-pieced this week!  You could win a prize from lawn fawn:

♥.

sending hugs {cardmaker blog hop}

Hi there!

Some of the lawn fawn girls are joining the cardmaker blog team for a fun blog hop.  No rules, no theme, just a fawnie good time with a prize at the end :)

I stamped myself an entire background with our sharp backdrops, and die-cut a leaf  (from blissful botanicals) into what I eyeballed to be the middle...

I backed the focal mat in a brighter pink, and adhered the leaf-stems-only to the base.  I love the little pop of color!

The sentiment (from so much to say) was embossed onto a banner flag and adhered with a little strip of pink lemonade twine.  

Hope you are having a good day! hugs! Here's a list of the rest of the hop stops:

cardmaker blog ♥ aj otto ♥ elena roussakis (you're here!) ♥ christine okken ♥ lynnette kauffman ♥ glenda j. wyatt ♥ latisha yoast ♥ ivanka lentle ♥ tiffany johnson ♥ jennie harper ♥ chari moss ♥ melanie muenchinger ♥ yainea nunez ♥ lawn fawn blog

Daphne's Closet {lawn fawn inspiration week}

Another day of lawn fawn inspiration!  Today, we're showcasing the fun papers found in the Daphne's Closet collection.  They're full of retro patterns, and with fun paper names like bell bottoms, cute cardigan, and prettiest blouse - how can they not put a smile on your face?



I've create a trio of treat boxes for you using the new papers, and had a bit of fun with the new "blissful botanical" dies to create folded name tags.  I attached each embossed leaf to a mini-clothespin, and clipped them onto the boxes.



Oh goodness.  I'm sorry for the weird photo, but I had a hard time giving you a shot of the open tag, and holding my camera steady all at the same time.  (Real life ew: if you look closely at my finger, right under my red nail, you'll see part of the scar.  The one that I got by trying to dig frozen strawberries out of my hand-blender, while it was still plugged it.  Gah!  It's been a few years, but I still shudder anytime I have to use a hand-blender...)

If you don't already know how to create a folded tag using any of your lawn fawn dies, I created a step-by-step tutorial, which Kelly Marie will be featuring on the lawn fawn blog before the end of the month.  I hope you try it - it's so fun!  Imagine, a little hedgehog tag?  A mailbox tag?  Oh sweetness - a gnomie tag??  The possibilities are endless.

And, since I had three boxes to photograph today and not just a single card, this is how I did it:



Before we bought the girls a bunk-bed, Amar made a headboard for Sofia using some beadboard and crown molding.  I have since claimed it for card photos.  Not too shabby, for about 15 bucks!

I don't always rely on natural light to take my photos.  I often have to shoot quickly for a deadline (who's procrastinating? me??) so I do have to shoot in my basement.  I'll show you that set-up sometime in the near future, and share the equipment I use to make it happen.

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back in a few hours with my lawnscaping post - it's a lawn fawn double-dose today *yay*

you brighten my day

I haven't made time for entering challenges lately, but I really wanted to play around with the current tuesday trigger, over at moxie fab world.

From this delicious embroidered pattern, to this card:

Now.  I lurve this card so much, but the photo of it, not so much.  We have been on March break this week, and my goal is to spend every waking minute with the kidlets, not setting up for photos....I snapped this one quickly on our dining room table.

I grabbed several elements from the inspiration photo:

- the fabric texture, which I translated into my impressed white mat with its roughed-up edges.
- the color scheme, incorporated into my botanicals and banner
- the random grid stitching, (and for this one you'll have to trust me) which I showed on my white mat, in the form of randomly-stamped tiny hexagons.  They're not showing up in the picture too well....grrrr.... but they're there.



If you squint, you can see them in this photo *grins*

I used all lawn fawn stamps for this card: blissful botanicals, bannerific, the tiny flower from summertime charm, and the hexagons from interlocking backdrops.  I have to give a shout out to the new dies.  They are awe-some!  I lurve the fact that I can stamp and then die cut a perfect white border afterwards.  If you own lawn fawn stamps, you need to own the dies too!



There's still time for you to play along with the moxie fab challenge!  I love seeing what inspires different crafters, all from the same photo.

ps, colored-in banners are my new fave.

an ivy-league valentine & some fawnie news

News first, or card first?  Card first or news first?  *grin*




hee hee.  I've been waiting awhile to share that I've joined the lawn fawn design team!  woot!  I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Kelly Marie and the rest of the very talented group.  (I'm trying to play it cool here, kids, but I am pretty sure I've died and gone straight to crafty heaven.)

We're sharing some valentine's day inspiration this week, and I thought I'd use a few non-valentine sets to create this ivy league-inspired card.

I started out with a kraft base, and stamped the notebook image (from "schoolhouse backdrops") in white ink.  Next, I stamped the library card image onto white cardstock and created a custom sentiment (using "smitty's ABCs").



I then created a pocket for the library card out of red cardstock, and stamped the apple from "silly valentine" and the leafy images from "blissful botanicals" around it (or, around him?  the apple has a face, so I think it should be a "him." or "her." whatever.)



For fun, I stamped the elements first in versamark ink, and then shadow-stamped them again in a darker ink.  Just a little something extra.

Hope you like my card!

Lawnscaping challenge #40: diy patterned paper

Time for another lawnscaping challenge!  We're challenging you to DIY your own patterned paper.  I used blissful botanicals to create my patterned paper:

 I stamped them, colored in the flowers and the white space around them, then stamped the subtle background stamp over top.  I didn't want to hide very much of the paper, so I die-cut a favor flag and stamped the flag frame and lawn fawn sentiment into the opening.  A strip of washi-tape, slung over the spine of the card, finished it all off.

So stamp yourself some patterned paper and use it on your project!  This week's sponsor is none other than Lawn Fawn :)

Hope you decide to play along!

lawnscaping challenge: color splash

I thought I'd join in, just for fun, even though my term with lawnscaping only officially begins in July...

(A final little plug for Gallery Idol... today is the last full day to vote.  Click on the card ------------------->)

And, back to the card :)  I stamped a background using images from "blissful botanicals" and used an orange copic marker to "splash" some color around... I didn't color the flowers in perfectly on purpose - I wanted it to look more whimsical...

Then, I created a folded tag shape by die cutting a PTI tag sale 5 shape (but where I folded a piece of white cardstock and omitted the fish-tail part at the end.)  The tag is adhered to my card with foam squares, and I tied it shut with some yarn and thread (which I colored with copics to match my card.... I love doing that!)

 When the bow is untied...

it reveals a hidden message... I love this little interactive element!

Thanks for peeking!

retro-sketch #12

We will be enjoying a nothing-but-blue-skies-beautiful day off today - it's a Canadian holiday honoring Queen Victoria - but I thought I would pop in before anyone wakes up with a card I made over the weekend...

Here's another great sketch from the retro-sketches challenge blog:

and here is my take on it:

 I started out with a kraft cardstock base, and added a mat stamped with Wplus9's knit background (in autumn rose ink).

For the focal mat, I stamped the greeting first (from Paper Smooches' "pretty momma" set) and then stamped florals (from Lawn Fawn's "blissful botanicals") all around in a slightly lighter brown ink.  To tie it all into the knit background layer, I stamped a few solid flowers in the same autumn rose ink.  I also stamped my favorite Hero Arts' envelope pattern background over-top (I think if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you might faintly see the nice detail that it gives.)

Thanks for peeking!

CAS-ual Fridays: oh baby!

I feel like I'm making an awful lot of baby cards & stuff lately, so what's a few more *wink.*

When I saw the CAS-ual Fridays challenge, my first thought was: darn, I just posted a baby card yesterday!  haha.  But I do know of a few more pregnant friends who will be needing cards, so...

I made a girl/boy mix :)

I used PTI's "distressed stripes" for this super-simple baby card.  I stamped 1 of the stripes repeatedly over the front in SU's pool party ink.  The sentiment was created using a lawn fawn alpha set.  I textured the focal mat using PTI's linen+canvas impression plate (the canvas side).  I think it adds a nice touch, echoing the distressed nature of the stripes...

I love how the girl version turned out!  I stamped b-a-b-y (using lawn fawn's "quinn's abcs") and then created masks for each of the letters.  Using images from "blissful botanicals," I stamped a little floral and butterfly scene.  After removing the masks, I colored everything in quickly with copics (I love how I always say "quickly" about my copic coloring - because that's really all I know how to do!) and gave it some texture with the same PTI impression plate (the linen side on this card).

Thanks for peeking!

lawnscaping challenge: fall apples

A fall photo-inspiration for the newest lawnscaping challenge:

To this card:

I used 3 lawn fawn sets: "silly valentine," "blissful botanicals," and "critters in the burbs."

I created several masks for my smiley-apples and stamped them repeatedly into a large pile.  They were colored in with copics.  The leaves and tree were also stamped and colored with copic markers.  

Thanks for looking!