Avery Elle summer release blog hop!

Hi there!

Welcome to the Avery Elle summer release blog hop!

I'm showing off the new hilarious/adorable set, Legendary:

I mixed it in with images from Pool Party - the sun-bathing girl looks undisturbed by the kraken coming out of her wading pool! ha!

I stamped and die-cut all of the pieces, and just snipped off a bit of the bottom of the kraken image to make it fit better. The seams were covered by strategically-placed water droplets! Everything was colored using copic markers.

I framed out the images with a new die, the Dotted Frame - I love it too much! To finish up the card, I used a white gel pen to add accents to all of the images, and little white dots to the blue background. I like how that breaks up an otherwise plain layer. The sentiment was broken up into 2 parts, heat-embossed and added to either side of the card.

I hope you like it! Now, onto the fun stuff!

GIVEAWAY:

To celebrate the summer release blog hop, Avery Elle is giving away a stamp set of their choice to 3 winners. To enter, comment on this post! You can also increase your chances of winning by:

1. Commenting on the Avery Elle blog post
2. Following/tweeting Avery Elle on Twitter (@averyellestamps)
3. Follwing/sharing Avery Elle on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AveryElle)
4. Following/commenting on Avery Elle's instagram (www.instagram.com/averyellestamps)

You have until midnight on Sunday, May 26th to enter. The winner will be announced on the Avery Elle blog on Monday, May 27th. All products are available for purchase in the Avery Elle store right now! You can check them all out HERE.

Check out the full blog hop at these stops:

Avery Elle  

Caryn Davies

Heather Campbell

Yainea

Melania Deasy

Katie Gehring 

Amy Kolling 

Ashley Marcu

Elena Roussakis

Nicky Meek

Bloom (with Ellen Hutson)

Hi there!

I just love the Mondo flower series from Ellen Hutson's exclusive line, don't you? The newest Mondo Wildflowers bouquet is so sweet.

I colored the bouquet using copic markers, and added a bank of grey and white striped patterned paper to the left to balance the sentiment stamped on the right.



I flicked on some soft brown in for added interest before adhering the large flower image.  I just love that sentiment! Isn't it the sweetest? My eldest daughter got this card for her April birthday, and it perfectly celebrated her on her special day.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

 ♥.

thank ewe! (with Neat and Tangled)

Hi there!

I have a simple and sweet card to share today, on my last day as part of the Neat and Tangled design team:



I used images from Barnyard Buddies and G.O.A.T., from our newest release, and added a little sign to house the sentiment (from Beach Day.)

The sweet blue and white gingham on the card base set the tone for the soft card I wanted to create. I colored the images with copic markers, and filled in the gaps between images with tufts of green grass.




A huge thank you to Danielle for allowing me to part of her Neat and Tangled team for the last 3 years, and to everyone who has brought my designs into their craft rooms - I am so grateful!

♥.

Piece of cake (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Lawn Fawn's summer collection is available for right now at lawnfawn.com, and we have a bonus day of projects to show you while you wait for your happy mail.

I'm so excited to have a little cake slice box! It petite, just like Lawn Fawn's other favor boxes, and very easy to put together. I fussed with the little flower on top for longer than it took me to assemble the box.

I layered 4-5 flower die-cuts, shaping and scrunching them into a 3D flower. For the flower's center, I balled up a piece of white cardstock and played with it until it was soft and all of those paper fibers broke down.



With the lid off, you can see how the strawberry filling got in between those chocolate layers.

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

♥.

foliage frame (Neat and Tangled release week)

Hi there!

Welcome to the last day of Neat and Tangled's May release week! Everything we've shown you will be available for sale as of tomorrow morning.

Today we're showing off a set designed by Miriam, called Foliage Frame. It is a beauty:

You can use it for very quick cards, without the dies, or you can die-cut the middle and die-cut sprigs like I've done here.

I "painted" my stamp with different green inks before stamping it down so there would be some subtle variation in color. It almost looks like the leaves are in motion, doesn't it? The different colors add to the effect. Wouldn't this look beautiful done in fall colors? Or with a monogram in the center?



I stamped one of the sentiments from the set and added a few extra sprigs to frame the opening. I also flicked some brown ink onto the card-front for added interest.

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

♥.

Quilted (Neat and Tangled release week)

Hi there!

If you are looking for today's Lawn Fawn project, scroll down or click HERE.

Welcome to day 3 of this month's Neat and Tangled release week. All of the products shown this week will be available for purchase on Friday morning (May 17th).

Today, we're showing off a 6x6 rubber background stamp called Quilted Background.  I thought it looked a little like a red gingham, and very farm-y, so I brought in a few complementing images.

The farmer and side-looking chicks are from G.O.A.T. and the front-facing chick is from Barnyard Buddies. I colored all of my images and set them inside of a die-cut scallop circle so they would pop against the quilted background.



I love red and yellow together, don't you? It's just such a bright and happy color combo. I grounded the images on a black piece of cardstock. The heat-embossed sentiment adds a graphic element to the card.

I hope you like it! The design team did such a great job with the Quilted Background! Check it out HERE.

♥.

tropical father's day (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Welcome to Lawn Fawn's summer release and inspiration week! We're a day away from the end - everything will be available for purchase tomorrow, May 16th!

Today, we're showing off the Tropical Backdrop and Sunrise Backdrop:



The papa bear, from On The Beach, is lounging in a hammock (don't you love that new hammock die?) amid the Tropical Backdrop palm trees, against a Sunrise Backdrop. I did some soft ink blending on the sun's rays, as well as the layer underneath using Butter ink.

It's all peaceful until the kids jump all over you! haha. The tiny bear from Smooth Sailing is the perfect size for a baby bear, and his positioning is perfect for this!

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

♥.

you old goat (Neat and Tangled release week)

Hi there!

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

Welcome to Neat and Tangled's May release week! Before I show off today's set, I just wanted to say thank you for all of your kind words regarding yesterday's announcement. Change is never easy, but your encouragement made it less difficult.

Today we're showing off a 3x4 stamp set I designed as a companion to yesterday's Barnyard Buddies. The set is called G.O.A.T. and features a goat and his farmer. They are sized to work well with the other farm animals.

I am totally saving this one for the hubby's birthday in August. ha. I tilted the farmer a little so it looks like he has his arm around the goat, but he can definitely stand alone. I love his yellow rainboots! I placed the goat and his farmer in the foreground, and created a dirt road in the distance for the tractor and barn.



I added a little smile to the goat's face with a black copic-friendly pen. I used the same pen to add motion lines to the back of the tractor.

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

♥.

all a-boat you (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Welcome to Lawn Fawn's summer release and inspiration week! We've been showing off the new collection every day, leading up to the May 16th release - only a few days left!

Today we're showing off Smooth Sailing, and new wavy border dies:

Aren't they adorable? haha. The little critters hanging from the boats are so cute I had to include more boats and more critters.

I mixed the new Stitched Simple Wavy Borders with the older Wavy Borders that I already had. I like the mix of the 2 together! They look like moving, rolling waves!

I stamped the boats onto woodgrain patterned paper and paper-pieced just the main part of the boat. I colored the little portholes with a white gel pen and added some shading with a copic marker. I also added some darker blue dots to the waves for added texture, and used a sponge and some blue ink to add darker edges to the darker waves.

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

♥.

Barnyard Buddies (Neat and Tangled release week) + Big Changes

Hi there!

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

I'm so excited to show off my new set with Neat and Tangled for this month, Barnyard Buddies. Before I do, though, I wanted to share some big changes coming to Neat and Tangled that have affected my role there. You can read the official announcement on the NT blog this morning (click.)

Danielle is reshaping how her company runs, and in doing so, there was no longer space enough for Miriam and I to continue on as product designers in the same capacity and with the same freedom of creativity as we were used to. It was a difficult decision, since I have loved working on this team, but I truly believe that a door closed is a window opened somewhere else.

I am so grateful to Danielle for bringing me on 3 years ago, and basically letting me design whatever I felt like drawing. I am so grateful for all of you Neat and Tangled fans who have been so supportive of my designs, and I am very excited to sit back with you and see what wonderful things are in store for Neat and Tangled!

I am still illustrating! I'm planning a few months break, just like Danielle, and hopefully you'll follow my journey and be there when I pop my head up with new designs!

Back to release week! Since it's my last week with Neat and Tangled, I decided to start things off with not 1 but 3 cards for you today:



I created a sunny sky background using our Radiating Star stencil, and layered the Barnyard Buddies on a little grassy hill.

That horse is my favorite one to color!

My next card brings in the barn, tractor and sun images from the set. I borrowed clouds from So Fly to give the sky some extra presence.



I used to think cows with brown spots would produce chocolate milk... mmmm....



My last card brings in an image from another new set - you'll meet him properly tomorrow. I did some ink blending and added a herd of farm animals to the simple design.



I hope you like what you see so far! Check out more of Barnyard Buddies on the NT blog this morning - click!

♥.

my guiding light (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Welcome to Lawn Fawn's summer release and inspiration week! We are previewing the new products every day leading up to the May 16th release.

Today, I'm showing off the Outside In Stitched Speech Bubble to highlight a message in the sky:



I used another new set, Smooth Sailing, for the images and the uplifting message.

The ink-blended sky was so fun to create! I used Lawn Fawn inks in Mermaid, Fish Tank, and Deep Sea for the blues and Butter for the yellow lighthouse light.

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

♥.

Say what? (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Welcome to Lawn Fawn's summer release and inspiration week! We're showing you all of the new products every day until the official release day of May 16th.

Today, we're taking a first look at Say What? Pets!, Critter Chatter: Pets, and the Speech Bubble Backdrop.



I started out by colored the adorable kitty from Say What? Pets! and then placed her on a kitty bed from Meow You Doin.  

I really wanted her to stand out, so I kept the background very fresh and white.

I die-cut the Speech Bubble Backdrop, and then using Manatee Ink to stamp all of the cat-speak into the openings.

For added interest, I used little pieces of foam tape to elevate that Speech Bubble Backdrop.

To finish off, I stamped the main sentiment onto a strip of black cardstock and heat-embossed it. I love the graphic punch of the black against all of that white.

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

♥.

Keep on swimming (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Welcome to Lawn Fawn's summer release and inspiration week. We're showing off the new collection all week long, and it will all be available for purchase as of May 16th!

Today, we're taking a first look at Keep On Swimming:

I used a gingham patterned paper like a wallpaper, put in a strip of white "baseboard" and placed a woodgrain paper floor under the kitties' feet.

I create a pair of nesting tables by stamping the table twice, and then cutting the top off the 2nd and glueing it lower onto the legs. That way, I could include the little bird and the fish food.



The foward-facing cat is from another new set, Say What? Pets! That little kitty is too cute!

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

♥.

I sea it's your birthday! (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Welcome to Lawn Fawn's inspiration and release week - their summer collection is being peeked all week long and will be available for purchase as of May 16th.

Today, we're showing off the new Center Picture Window Card dies. It creates a fun pop-up detail that is as easy to put together as a shadow box card. (read: super easy.)



I'll give you this. The outside is pretty boring. I decorated the inside for awhile and then when I got to the outside, I found some extra die-cuts and called it a day. But I think it works! Boring on the outside, but a party inside:



It's all happening in here! I did some ink-blending onto patterned paper and it looks like a spotlight shining right in the middle! I mixed in fish from a newer set, Keep On Swimming, with images from You Are Sublime, Duh-Nuh, and So Jelly.



I really love this die. Everything folds into a flat card, but when you open it the entire scene comes to life. From above you can see the frame and the 2 extra flaps that are part of this new die set. I really can't wait to see what you all make with this one!

Be sure to check out all of the design team's inspiration on the LF blog this morning - click!

♥.

On the beach (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Welcome to this month's Lawn Fawn inspiration and release week!The entire new summer collection will be shown off, and then you'll be able to shop the new products as of May 16th.

Today, we're kicking things off with a first look at On The Beach.

I love the beach so hard. What I don't love is how crowded the tourist areas can get. Like, you're towel to towel with strangers and they can count your leg rolls. Lovely. I recreated that sandy scene with the adorable critters from On The Beach.

I used Stitched Hillside Borders to create layers of sand, and give space to 3 sunbathers. To break up the sea of kraft-colored cardstock, I flecked some soft brown ink onto the sandy background, followed by some white ink. It adds a bit of interest to a very monotone background.

To finish things off, I gave the card a white frame, and heat-embossed the sentiment onto a strip of black cardstock.

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

♥.