Later alligator! (Neat and Tangled release week)

Hi there!

We're onto day 3 of this month's Neat and Tangled new release reveals. Today is our showcase of Later Alligator, a 4x6 stamp set that I illustrated. I've seen other croc/alligator sets out there, but this one might be a little quirkier, with the fish balloon and the YASSS banner and the little stuffed animal frog. hee.

I stamped, colored and die-cut the images that I wanted for my card. I love the one at the top, holding his hat and suitcase! His friend at the bottom is waving him goodbye.



Once I figured out my layout, I grabbed a card-front-sized piece of white cardstock and did some soft ink blending with distress inks. I flicked droplets of water on top of the sponged ink for that soft, dreamy look.

As soon as the paper was dry, I stamped out the greeting (using my MISTI tool for perfect placement!) and then popped up the croc and alligator using foam tape.



I love the little bird peering at the sentiment, and the little snail crawling across the his sentiment too.

I hope you like what I've created! There's more to see on the NT blog this morning - click!

Before you go, don't forget to leave me a comment! You'll be in the running for a $25 store gift card, chosen from among the design team blog posts at the end of the week.

♥.

so foxy (Neat and Tangled release week)

Hi there!

For day 2 of July's Neat and Tangled release week, I get to introduce a 3x4 set I illustrated, called So Foxy. If you loved the simplicity of the previously released Koalifications set, I think you'll like this one too!

I have a few projects to show you:

The image is all one stamp - the fox holding the banner. There are different sentiments you could put inside. I designed the image to work on a card front, but also for tags. Just a little note: the sentiments are all straight, but I bent the sentiment a bit to fit it over his little feet. It's so easy to do! But keeping the sentiment straight means that you could use them apart from this one image.



I stamped and colored the fox, and set him onto a soft woodgrain background. I cut into the background with a circle die and slipped a pop of blue behind him. I colored a few butterflies included in the stamp set, and also the little snail from Later Alligator (which you'll see more of soon!)

I also have a simple tag idea to show you:



I just think this is so sweet. The little bird from Later Alligator, perched on top of the banner. I simply adhered the images to a scalloped circle shape and added a folded flag topper to create a tag, ready for gifting.

I hope you think she's so foxy! Leave me a comment before you go - you could win a $25 NT gift card at the end of the week. And check out the Neat and Tangled blog for more of this sweet fox - click!

♥.

The game of life (Neat and Tangled release week)

Hi there!

It's time to kick off July's Neat and Tangled release with a first look at a fun set designed by Miriam, called Life's A Game.



This one took me all the way back to my childhood! Hours of playing - how many kids will you have? Will you have a good job? haha. My sisters and I loved that board game so much!

I started by stamping out a bunch of board pieces. In the version we had at home, all of the regular squares were orange or yellow and then the "special squares" were a different color. I threw in blue and green squares to simulate those.



I cut out the letters to spell out L-I-F-E in the same way it was on my old box front. So iconic!

On the card base, I ink-blended some blues and green to simulate the grass and water patches on the board game - I took some liberties with that one!

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

And remember to leave comments on all of the design team members blog posts this week - at the end of the week, Danielle will choose one comment at random to win a $25 store gift card. Good luck!

♥.

Plaid papa (Ellen Hutson)

Hi there!

If you're looking for my Lawn Fawn post, scroll down or click HERE.

I'm thrilled to be showing off a card I made for my daddy for Father's Day. I haven't given it to him yet, so thank goodness he's not a social media kind of guy! We're waiting for the family to get together this weekend, and I think he'll love it.

The card was made using colors from this inspiration board:

It's always amazing to me that I could use colors that match but come out with a card that has such a different feel than the storyboard.  This is what I came up with:

I used the EBE Plaid Maker set to create the background plaid - I tried my best to keep it all straight but I don't mind the little imperfections - they make it all look more handmade and whimsical. Creating a background like this was an easy way to pull in all of the inspiration colors!



For the sentiment, I stamped the first part onto a sentiment banner and then used the Block Words to spell out B-E-S-T and the Classic Block Alpha dies to cut out P-A-P-A.

I hope you like it! Check out the Ellen Hutson blog for more color board interpretations - click!

beautiful music (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

On the final day of this month's Lawn Fawn inspiration week, I'm showing off the Happy Anniversary Border die:



Ever since I laid eyes on the music-themed set, Critter Concert, I wished for this sentiment! I decided to make my own - ack! Because I was definitely using the Happy Anniversary border, I needed a smallish font, something that could fit into the banner flag that fit the die-cut-border's proportions.

I found Plan On It: Spring Cleaning in my stash and went to work, stamping the letters out one at a time. All the letters I needed were in that set, save the F in beautiful - but I don't think you can tell that I drew it in myself. And to clarify, yes, I did cut up the letters in the Plan On It set, and I do that often with sentiments in any set. ha. I have no problems surgically giving my sets new life!



To build my card, I cut a heart and did some watercoloring on it in shades of pink. Then, I colored my band critters, stamped out extra music notes and added them to the heart along with the 2-part sentiment.



I layed those pieces onto a layer of Polka Dot coverplate (which I trimmed down using a rectangle die) and placed everything onto my white base.

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

♥.

the dog house (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Lawn Fawn's June inspiration week is winding down, with only a few days left to enjoy. Today, we're showing off the Scalloped Treat Box Dog House Add-On. I love Lawn Fawn's Scalloped Treat Box! It's so versatile, and the fact that you can turn it into an adorable dog house with the add-on dies is so much fun.



Wouldn't this box make the cutest favor for a dog-themed birthday party? I cut the treat box out of white cardstock, and then cut extra strips for the front. I used a tiny hole puncher to punch little "nail heads" so it could look like barnwood that was nailed down. Behind the holes, I colored the main box with a grey copic marker so that it could look like silver nail heads.

Then, I cut out the pieces that came with the die: a red roof and doggy bowl, the big bone tag and smaller bone treat, as well as the dog and tennis ball.

I stamped a sentiment from Happy Howloween onto the big tag and attached it with a red and white twine.



I wanted to make it look like the puppy was peeking out from inside the dog house, so I chopped a little and stuck him onto the black doorway. I used a brown marker to darken his ears and color around his one eye. Just those little touches take a flat die-cut from boring to super cute.

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

♥.

you're a star! (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Welcome back to another day of this month's Lawn Fawn inspiration week. Today, we're showing off the How You Bean? Star Add-On stamp set:

I used the original How You Bean? jar and the How You Bean? Shaker Add-On dies to create this jar full of stars!

I wanted to make it look like the stars were floating out of the jar, and creating a light in the night sky. I blended some blue inks, and kept it darkest around the edges to achieve the look.

I heat-embossed the sentiment onto a kraft banner and added little white Nuvo drops around the floating stars to add to the dreamy effect.

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

♥.