Have courage (Neat and Tangled release week)

*** if you're looking for my Pinkfresh Studio blog post, click HERE or scroll down ***

Hi there!

It's time for this month's Neat and Tangled release week. Today, we're showing off a beautiful set designed by Miriam, called Have Courage. The rest of the team has beautiful cards that feature the gorgeous ginko leaves, but I when I spotted this sentiment in the set I couldn't help but do something a little different:

I paired the sentiment from Have Courage with an image from a set you'll get to know on Thursday. I gave the magician his own spotlight and shaded the rest of the card with different grey tones.



The sentiment is a perfect match!

I hope you like it! Check out all of the beautiful ginko leaves on the NT blog today - click!

♥.

Pinkfresh Studio 4th Birthday Bash Blog hop

Hi there!

I'm thrilled to be celebrating Pinkfresh Studio's 4th birthday! Pinkfresh is such a great company, with a kind and generous owner, and I love being on this team!

There are so many prizes to be won! Each stop along the blog hop is hosting their own giveaway! Keep reading to find out more...



I created a birthday scene in honor of Pinkfresh Studio's 4th birthday. The sweet elephants from Don't Forget are having a party! I brought in the cake, balloon and party hat from Pause For Applause.

The elephant hiding behind the cake actually has no body. I kind of drew in a few missing lines to make it make sense, but he still has no legs. I think it's ok, lol.



I framed the scene on either side with my favorite pattern from the A Case Of The Blahs collection, and drew in a bit of a twirl to make the balloon look like it's wrapped around the elephant's trunk on the right. This scene looks like something out of a children's book to me!

GIVEAWAY:

the fun part! There is a 40$ gift certificate up for grabs to the Pinkfresh Studio store. All you have to do is leave me a comment before Monday, April 9th at 6AM PST. The winners will all be posted on the Pinkfresh blog on April 9th at 12:30PM PST.

Additionally, there is a 100$ gift card in the running, for leaving a comment on the Pinkfresh Studio birthday hop blog post.

Here is a list of blogs you'll want to visit today:

Pinkfresh Blog

Adrienne Alvis

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Vicky Papaioannou

Amanda Baldwin

Amy Tsuruta

Ashley Horton

Crystal Thompson

Melissa Bickford

Erum Tasneem

Flora Farkas

Lea Lawson

Heather Hoffman

Kathleen Gramuller

Lorilei Murphy

Laura Bassen

Nina-Marie Tripanni

Veera Saarivuo

Zsoka Marko

Isha Gupta

Elsie Robinson

Elena Roussakis

Simple and sweet cards

Hi there!

Sometimes I like to spend hours on one card, but sometimes I like things to move a little faster. I've made 2 cards, using products from the Ellen Hutson store, that I made in 30 minutes or less.

The first card is an Easter card, because Maia wanted one to gift her teacher with before Easter weekend:

I colored the bunny from Party Pals, and stuck him onto a banner that I hand-cut. I adhered the Happy Easter line border in lieu of a stamped greeting.



I cut into my white cardstock using the Outside In Easter Egg Stackables die, and lined the back with some Avery Elle patterned paper. I added a little sprig, from Magical Day to balance out the images and add a soft touch.

My next card is for a last-minute birthday card that I forgot to make until the morning-of. ack!

I used the sweet dogs from Dog Lady, and gave them party hats from Puppy's Favorite Things. I also used the sentiments from that set to complete the card.



I hope you like them both! If you have to make cards quickly, and at the last minute, here is what works for me: don't worry about the layout. ha! The longest part of designing a card, for me, is figuring out an interesting layout. Here, I colored images and didn't think too much about anything.

Happy Easter weekend!

♥.

Easter bunnies (for Lawn Fawn)

Hi there!

I'm here and on the Lawn Fawn blog this morning with some sweet Easter bunny party decorations:



I used the bunnies from Some Bunny to create all of the decor.



I popped the bunnies into Mini Picture Frames for simple and sweet cupcake toppers.

Kraft and blue gingham are a pretty match! I used our Stitched Scalloped Cupcake Wrapper for the cupcake bases. Just an aside: I've had to cut dairy from my diet this year, and to be honest, baking is the only place I really really miss it. I meannnnnnn.... butter! I can do the cakes with no butter, but the frosting is where I keep struggling. I hate the way shortening coats your tongue! It feels so gros. This peanut butter vegan frosting is delish. I should have thinned it out and whipped it more, but it was so tasty. In case you're in the same boat, I used this recipe for the frosting - click!



Back to the party! I created little treat boxes using our Scalloped Treat Boxes.

I not only cut a gingham roof (using the Scalloped Treat Box Spring House Add-On) but I also cut a second handle out of the gingham so that it continue to the top.

The Happy Easter Line Border and little carrot die made for a cute table sign. I cut all of the pieces out of white cardstock and used copic markers to color the carrot. I find that much simpler than taking out all of my colored papers, and I love the soft look that it gives!

These water-bottle wrappers were the last pieces I created for the party.

I hope this sparks your own creativity! Thanks for stopping by.



♥.

watercolor blog hop!

Hi there!

I'm thrilled to be on both the Ellen Hutson and Avery Elle teams, and today they are joining together to show off Avery Elle's new line of watercolors.



I had fun with the Cherry color, and used it to create a quick background for the cute critters (from Party Pals.)



I did a quick wash, waited for it to dry, and then went back in again on the right side to add a bit more depth and color. I flicked on some of the Cherry watercolor to make pink flecks, and did the same with some white ink.

The animals and balloons were all colored using copic markers.

I hope you like it! Hop along with us - here is a list of today's participants:

Avery Elle

Julie Ebersole

Caryn Davies

Lisa Spangler

Heather Campbell

Emily Midgett

Yainea

Melania Deasy

Carissa Wiley

Katie Gehring

Carly Tee Minner

Ashley Marcu

Elena Roussakis

Laurel Beard

Sandy Allnock

♥.

Toadally awesome and a gingham sky (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Lawn Fawn's March inspiration week is on the blog all week, with new products being highlighted every day. Today, we're showing off the super cute set, Toadally Awesome.



I couldn't help but use the Peekaboo Backdrop again, and create mini scenes within each panel for a "hoppy" birthday card! The pink sky gives it a sweet look.

I'm also showing you the card that was on the Lawn Fawn blog yesterday:

I used green Watercolor Wishes paper for the rolling hills, and gave it a blue Gotta Have Gingham sky. I added a row of spring flowers at the bottom, from Simply Celebrate, and little ducklings from Rub-A-Dub-Dub. They are hanging with the kid-in-duck-costume, from Easter Party.



This card just screams SPRING to me! Now, if our weather could start catching up I'd be super happy.

I hope you like my cards! There's more to see on the LF blog all week - click!

♥.

simply celebrate (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Lawn Fawn inspiration week continues with a closer look at Simply Celebrate.

I thought the little flower border would look cute paired with the flower-girl from Easter Party.



I layered them together, added a sentiment that spanned the width of the flower border (from Simply Sentiments) and popped the focal images onto a scalloped circle that I embossed using the Quilted Backdrop die.

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

♥.