Mama Elephant August Stampede!

It's time for the Mama Elephant August Stampede!The new release is live and available for purchase in the store.

Just a quick note from me before we get all excited and I forget to say: I'm doing a half-release with Mama Elephant this month, so you will only see my face pop up for half of the stamp highlight days, while our family enjoys a few weeks of sun and sand in Virginia.

And now, what was I saying before? oh yeah, STAMPEDE:

I used the new set Carnival Cupcakes - it is the cutest thing ever, and designed by one of my favorite illustrators, Torico.  I have a few Birdie Brown digital stamps that I purchased through her Etsy store, when that was still in existence.  Seriously, she is amazing. I had the pleasure of working with another of her new stamp sets, while I was guesting for MFT this month.

I decided to pair the lion from Carnival Cupcakes with the ball image from Nursery Deco. He screamed circus to me - so I made it happen:

I masked the lion to be able to balance him onto the ball, and stuck a cupcake topper flag behind him (but here, it's a circus flag) so he could casually greet you... and he's a party lion, with his birthday hat. just because :) The stripes on the card base were painted on with the chisel tip of a red copic marker. I love that they are imperfect.



I hope you like him as much as I do! This stamp set is so versatile, and it goes beyond all the cute things you can do with cupcakes!  

As always, there's a giveaway!  To celebrate the new release, Mama Elephant is giving away one of each of the new stamp sets released.  Winners will be chosen at random from the Stampeding blogs and will be announced on the last day of the stamp highlights. You have 3 chances to win, just leave a separate comment for each:

Leave a comment on this blog post,

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Now get to stampeding!  Here's the complete list:

Mama Elephant ♥ Emily ♥ Ashley ♥ Nichol ♥ Elena ♥Geralyn ♥ Pamela ♥ Laura ♥ Torico 

Mama Elephant June Stampede!

Hey there!  It's time for the Mama Elephant June Stampede... are you ready? The new release is live and available for purchase in the store.

This month's crop of new stamps are must-haves, especially the sweet faces of in my heart.  I have used them on almost every card this month!  I can't help myself. 

Today, I paired in my heart with images from nursery deco:

I created a frame for the card by cutting a 4.25x5.5 inch piece of kraft cardstock with the rectangular die from femme frames. Inside, the little boy with the sleeper pyjamas (my favorite kind of pjs for toddlers, by the way. I can't ever get enough) is surrounded by his stuffed animals, a turtle and a bear, and standing in front of his room's decor.



I paper-pieced his pyjamas, and added some wooden star veneers to fill in some of the white space at the top.

As always, there's a giveaway!  To celebrate the new release, Mama Elephant is giving away one of each of the new stamp sets released.  Winners will be chosen at random from the Stampeding blogs and will be announced on the last day of the stamp highlights. You have 3 chances to win, just leave a separate comment for each:

Leave a comment on this blog post,

Like/share Mama Elephant on facebook

Follow/tweet Mama Elephant on twitter

Now get to stampeding!  Here's the complete list:

Mama Elephant ♥ Sandy ♥ Laura ♥ Emily ♥ Pamela ♥ Joni ♥ Nichol ♥ Elena (me!)

sweet baby {rock chalk baby blog hop}

Welcome to our "rock chalk baby blog hop" - whatever that means... I know it's something to do with college sports, right? ha.  (This clueless Canadian obviously had nothing to do with naming the hop or creating the badge, hee hee.)  

You should have hopped over from Debbie's blog, but if you want to see a full list of participants, click over to JJ's blog.

The Gallery Idol girls (2012 edition) are hopping for a virtual baby shower in Erin's honor.

My waddling friend, your days of struggling to shave your legs and breathing heavily when you pick something up off the floor are almost at an end.

Soon, you will be looking into your sweet baby's face and wondering at the life that you have already loved for the last 9 months.  I'll never forget the excitement within our group, when you shared your amazing pregnancy news with us.  We're so happy to be able to celebrate you and your sweet boy:

I exclusively have Christmas crafting on the brain, and I figured that there have already been some frosty mornings here, so a little teddy-in-a-snowglobe might not be such a weird thing *wink* For the record, there is no snow in the globe - it's all stars and a moon.  I saw something similar at Hallmark once and it stuck with me.

I hope you like it, Erin!  Sending you hugs and prayers for a safe delivery (full of epidural numbness, ha) and a beautiful, healthy baby boy.

The next stop on this baby hop is Heather.

♥.

sweet baby girl

Happy friday!  Just a quick little post, to show off a card I created for a recent card-making class that I taught.  The hostess is a mama-to-be, and it only made sense to cater to her already-growing baby fever :)

My own little baby snuck her tiny hand into my picture, but I thought it only made it sweeter.  A free & completely priceless prop *wink*



I paper-pieced my little family of bears, from Mama Elephant's "nursery deco" set.

And, speaking of Mama Elephant, *this* card was chosen as one of their challenge winners.  I'm thrilled, and so happy that I'll be guest designing for them in the future.

Have a great Friday, all!

simply adorably baby.

I have babies on the brain, lately, with my new niece being a week old.  I've managed to see her a few times, and every time I hold her, it's glorious.  When they weigh under 8 pounds, and snuggle themselves to sleep in your arms, you feel like all is right in the world.

I'm chatting about this card over at the Precious Remembrance blog this morning, and then it will be a mad dash to finish baking and decorating for our at-home-anniversary party this evening.  Hubby and I hit our first milestone: 10 years!  I can't wait to show off some pictures next week!

Have a great weekend!