Seahorsin' around (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

We're a few days into this month's Lawn Fawn inspiration week! Today, we're showing off the fun little set, Seahorsin' Around. I combined it with a few other sets to create an underwater birthday scene:

I brought in images from Mermaid for you, Bicycle Built for You, Party Animal and Elphie Selfie! The little puffer fish is from Keep on Swimming!



It looks like a small family of seahorses! I love that when Lawn Fawn builds new sets, they always keep things consistent so we could mix and match from other sets.



The ink-blended background is my favorite. I keep it darkest at the bottom, and lightened it up as I went up. I added all of those white dots with a white gel pen.

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

♥.

Nicholas' puppy party (with Lawn Fawn)

A few weeks ago my nephew, Nicholas, celebrated his 2nd birthday. I asked if I could bake the cake and make all of the decorations. My sister kindly indulged me.

I used Lawn Fawn stamps and dies to create my party decor. The puppies and their accesories are some different sets: Happy Howloween, Happy Howlidays (no longer available), and Party Animal.



I love the banner that spells WOOF, with the dogs interacting with the letters in different scenes.

For the food, I keep things as punny as possible. Pupcake cupcakes (which, I would like to specify that my daughter insisted on just plunking butterscotch chips onto the tops of each one...)

Pup-corn! What's easier to stick on a party table than a bowl full of popcorn? But always a favorite.

And I imagined that these lollipop sticks looked like something you'd ask a dog to fetch. I couldn't find the long pretzel rods I was picturing at first, but the colors on these were perfect for the table!

The kids were scared this was actual toilet water. Poor dears. We like to keep them real naive.  I stamped the letters using different Lawn Fawn alphabet stamps.

I also stamped a little sign for the table - Bone Appetit! I kind of love this the best.



I created cupcake toppers with all the dogs I colored, and a cake topper too:



The howling dog is yelling TWO for the birthday boy.

Let's talk a little more about the cake, shall we?



On the one hand, I have never done a striped buttercream before and I was kind of thrilled that it mostly worked out (that top stripe got a bit lost but the rest is good, right?)

On the other hand, I used a too-big cake board and didn't do enough to cover it up. And I didn't even see it until I was editing the photos. I couldn't keep up with everything I had going on, haha. IF I had stuck it onto a small cake board, I would have been so much happier with how it looks on the table.

Oh well! No one seemed to mind much and the entire cake was gonzo by the time the party was done.

I hope you liked this look at Nicholas' 2nd birthday party! It was so much fun to put together!

♥.

no tricks, just treats (lawn fawn party post)

Hi there!

I have a quick and cute halloween party to share with you today: no tricks, just treats!



I made 3 of everything so that each one of my kids could have a special little package on halloween day. My 2 oldest kids have retainers this year and they are already lamenting all the gummy candies that they will not be able to eat. ha!



I love all of the critters dressed up in their Booyah costumes! Especially the bat sheep - cracks me right up!

To dress up the water-bottles, I dangled tags (the Small Stitched Envelope label) dressed up with a casual knot.



The cupcake toppers are my fave. I stamped the greeting, from Happy Howloween, to frame the images.



The Candy Corn patterned paper from Perfectly Plaid Fall ties everything together. I just want to point out that the little sprinkles on top of the cupcakes are maple flakes. MAPLE FLAKES. I found a little jar on severe liquidation at William Sonoma (because I can't afford WS treats otherwise, I mean maple flakes at 3$ are fine, but at 25$? nope) and I have been putting them on everything. On toast, on oatmeal, in coffee. So good. Everyone loves maple, right? Not just me because of the Canada connection?



Moving right along, these gable treat boxes are so perfect. I dressed up the same critters and slapped them onto the fronts.



I hope you like my all-cute-no-spook halloween party! I set up for this photoshoot, and cleaned everything up before the kids came home from school. I can't wait for them to see it all put back together on Monday!

♥.

fa la la (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there, and welcome back to another day of Lawn Fawn's October inspiration week!

Today, we're showing off the new Fa la la la la border:

I used the same sheep as I did for yesterday's tags (because I told you I love him.)  I also used the same stitched borders, only more of them on the card.

To help the white sheep pop against the white die-cut circle, I rubbed some soft brown ink into the center of the circle die-cut, which was enough to set the sheep apart.

Did you notice the figgy pudding balloon? From Party Animal.  I added the icing top myself, with a copic-friendly pen. The berry and leaves are from Joy to the Woods. Also, the little Santa hat he's wearing and gingebread cookie he's holding are from Holiday Party Animal.

I nestled the Fa la la la la border right into patterned paper and die-cut circle, by cutting it into those layers so that everything would layer flat except for the sheep and balloon.



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

♥.

happy 8th birthday! {lawn fawn inspiration week}

Hi there, and welcome back to another day of Lawn Fawn inpiration. Today, we're showing off the planner set, Plan On It: Calendar.

I don't have a planner, or a cute little calendar. Truth be told, I just get everything written down in my husband's agenda. I figure we'll both know what's going on better if it's all in one place. And I don't think he'd appreciate me stamping cutesy things in his planner.

Luckily, Plan On It: Calendar can be used for birthday cards:

When the packaged stamp comes your way, the numbers are laid out in the same way I stamped them on my card. I recreated the layout on a big clear block, and highlighted the number 8.



To make it even more obvious, I stamped party hats for these 3 party-going-cuties and added the number 8 to them. The set includes all the number circled, as well as plain.

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

♥.

Lawn Fawn woodland party

Hey there!

I created some decorations for my niece's 1st birthday party. I'm kicking myself that I forgot to get any pictures of the actual party, but I set up a little something at home beforehand to show you the decorations for Leah's big day:

I {heart} stamping. I don't care how many dies there are on the market (and I do love and use them!) but I adore taking stamps to ink to create something one-of-a-kind. The best way to make something uniquely special, in my opinion, is to mix and match stamp sets.

Here, I've used Mom + Me, Gleeful Gardens, Hello Baby, and Party Animal to create this cute woodland scene.



My jumping-off point was the table sign I created. I originally meant it to be Leah's 1st birthday card, but one phone call from my sister changed things a little bit. ha. I used this sign as the foundation for the rest of the decor.

Once the theme was decided, it was easier to create little cupcake toppers and the cake flag. Don't you think? Once the main idea is set, everything else starts free-flowing. I used the same images and ideas, and just kept making little variations.

The bunny with the fork in his hands kills me. I love him.



I used the scalloped cupcake wrapper die for the simple grocery store cupcakes (gasp! I'm trying to watch my sugar intake, so this was the easiest way for me to resist the extra calories, hee hee.)

The red and white stripes on the party hats spilled over to the treat bags (bag, I should say. I only ended up making one because I found out there weren't any favors being handed out. Except doggy bags of MEAT. no joke. I left the party with a steak, some chicken steak and a few chicken drumsticks. best favor ever.)



I hope you like the woodland themed party I crafted with Lawn Fawn supplies! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

Let's party! {lawn fawn}

Hi there, and welcome back to the last day of Lawn Fawn's March inspiration week.

We're featuring the Stripey Background die. I love it for creating a quick graphic background that covers the entire card base.

I couldn't help but use the Big Foot again, from Lovable Legends. I paired him with party accessories from Party Animal.



I usually hate die-cutting all of the little pieces separately (like the hat, cake and flag here) because, with the white die-cut outlines, they never look like they fit together seamlessly. Here, before cutting out the party hat, cake and flag, I stamped the Big Foot's hands and head, and I do like how that looks much better.

What do you think? Worth the tiny bit of extra effort?

I could have also done the same thing for the balloon string and the present, but since they were more in the background, I left them alone.

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

chirpy chirp tote bags {lawn fawn inspiration week}

Hi there!

I'm finally joining the Lawn Fawn team for inspiration week. I had a couple of cards on their blog already, but they were ones I'd already shared here last month. (In case you missed them, they were of fairies and laundry - click!)

Today, we're showing off the Easter-themed set (and happy Valentine's day to you, by the way, haha) Chirpy Chirp Chirp. I'm showing you how to use the new Tote bag die and make these fun Easter favors:



I used a few sets to create these packages: the critters from Party Animal got dressed up as well as the little chick from Chirpy Chirp Chirp! I love that the bunny hat is one-size-fits-all. I then gave them each an egg to hold, from Happy Easter. The sentiment is from Hello Baby.



To create the dressed-up fox, I first stamped the bunny hat, masked it, and then stamped the fox (but I wiped off the ink from his tail.) I then masked the fox's body and stamped the little bunny tail in place of his regular, foxy tail.

\

Same deal with the bear. I then cut them both out with scissors and popped them onto the Tote Bag.



Since the outside of the Tote Bag is plain white, I used pastel-colored cardstock to create filler for the treats. I think it's a fun touch!

I hope you like what I've made today! There's more to see on the Lawn Fawn blog today - click!

♥.

a pizza my heart {new lawn fawn}

We interrupt your holiday baking, gift-wrapping, michael-bublé-christmas-crooning to bring you a mini Lawn Fawn Valentine's inspiration week. Lawn Fawn is doing a mini new release, with all of the products for sale at the end of the week.

Today, we're showing off the adorable Pizza My Heart set. As in, you've got a pizza my heart. As in, you've got a piece of my heart. (honestly, I had to go over and over this with my kids. It took a while to see the lightbulb flash over their heads.)

I gave the Party Animal bear a little chef's hat and scarf, and an outstretched arm to hold up the heart-shaped pizza. I love that the pizza comes with no toppings, and you get to add them in! So cute!



My kids were all wrinkling their noses when I stamped the mushrooms. Honestly, there is not a vegetable these kids are excited about these days.

To frame out the scene, I had to add gingham! Nothing says pizza from an authentic italian pizzeria like a red-scarf-wearing bear and red-and-white gingham. Except maybe a little nod to the motherland with that green stripe. All the colors of Italy represent!

Visit the Lawn Fawn blog to see what the rest of the design team has cooked up - click!

♥.

happy haunting! {lawn fawn and chameleon pens}

Lawn Fawn and Chameleon Pens are teaming up this week with fun Halloween projects.

I used the pastel pack of Chameleon pens to color the bear from Party Animal. He's Halloween-ready, with accessories from Booyah!

This was my first time using Chameleon pens, and it was fun to experiment with different markers! I like my images to be lightly colored, and look shaded. It took awhile to understand that instead of coloring first and adding the shading second (like with Copics) I had to keep coloring lightly and adding the shading a little bit at a time at the end. (I had to stop coloring every 20 seconds or so to re-click the pen into the chamber to remove saturation.) If you are confused, watch these videos! I found them very helpful to start, and then I had to figure out what worked for me.

I hope you like it!

♥. 

this is gonna sound corny... {lawn fawn}

hey there! Lawn Fawn's August inspiration week is wrapping up with a look at Holiday Party Animal, the companion set to the original Party Animal(s).

I did something a little corny:

I stamped the 3 party-ready-critters with a pie each, and paired them with the sentiment from Happy Feast.

I curved the first part of the sentiment so that it followed the curve of my oval die-cut, and added the latter part on a straight piece of kraft cardstock.

I keep adding frames to my cards! I usually batch-craft my cards for the month, and I guess that's what happens. I like something on one card, so I'll add it in a different-but-same way on another. I think adding the oval frame gives the card a more tailored look.

The striped tone-on-tone orange paper that I used for the background is fall perfection, no? I love the new Polka in the Dark paper collection. Stripes and polka dots in all the fall colors!

I hope you like it! This is my favorite card this month, and now I wanna bake some pies!

There's more to see on the LF blog this morning - click!

♥.

falala in july {new lawn fawn}

You may have caught this card on the Lawn Fawn blog yesterday, but I wanted to show it off here too.

The original party animals have got a new friend in the raccoon (from the upcoming Holiday Party Animal set) and he comes bearing gifts accessories.

I turned them into a caroling quartet, with winter hats (they need scarves, methinks) and sheet music and music notes galore.

The type is courtesy of my favorite Lawn Fawn alpha, Milo's ABCs.

I hope you like it! Visit the Lawn Fawn blog today to see what's new - click!

♥.

treat yourself {lawn fawn}

Hi there! It's the last day of this month's Lawn Fawn inspiration week, and we're showing off the mini set, Treat Yourself.

Please tell me you've seen the Parks and Recreation treat yo self skit. Hilarious. Here's a link - click!

My card is less funny, but still really cute.



The Party Animals are scooping out ice cream for you! I'm pretty proud of the animal revamp, so they could each have a paw up, holding ice cream scoops and draping casually over the giant ice cream tub.  Just in case you forget what they look like, arms down, out of the package:

See? Arms down is fun, but not when you want to showcase a tub of ice cream. You need that fox to go all Vanna White on that tub and show it off. 

How to: ink up the fox, take a baby wipe and get rid of the ink that would give him an arm. Re-draw, with a copic multiliner (or any other copic-friendly) pen, a new arm.  Same goes for the bear, but he's trickier because you need to stamp the spoon first, mask it, then figure out the bear's new arm. 

I hope you like it! Check out the Lawn Fawn blog this morning for more - click!

♥.

party animal: lawn fawn summer release intro

hi there!

I am so excited for this week! Lawn Fawn is doing a summer release and it is all so fun! Everything will be for sale as of June 4th, but join us all week for previews of some of the sets and dies.

Today, we're featuring the most adorable party animals:

I did some masking to get them snuggled in together, and wearing party hats, and holding eating utensils. Let's be honest: I go to a party mostly for the cake.  If the cake was good, it was a great party. ha.

They are die-cut onto a stitched party banner, and I trimmed the scripty happy birthday to you die so that it would fit the space.

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

♥

way to go! {avery elle guest designing}

Hi there!

It's another week of Avery Elle guest designing, every Wednesday in July.

In case you missed the first few weeks, click and click again!

Today, it's time to bring out the big balloons (in case you're a Katy Perry fan, hee hee.)

I paired the new balloon dies with the party animal stamp and matching die, and added a tag from thanks a bunch.



From this angle, you can see the glossy balloon animal in all her glory, and the shading that I added to the patterned paper beneath the large die-cut balloon negative.

I hope you like it!  I'm having so much fun with Avery Elle this month!

♥.