No words (Neat and Tangled release week)

Hi there!

Welcome to day 2 of this month's Neat and Tangled release week. All of the products shown this week will be available for purchase this Friday morning.

Today, we're showing off a new set designed by Miriam, called No Words. It is filled with messages of love and support for when there are really... no words.

I paired the sentiment set with some florals that I designed (you'll see more of them tomorrow!) I stamped and die-cut some of the smaller sprigs and arranged them into a bouquet. I tied them with a bit of twine and framed out the bouquet with heartfelt sentiments from No Words.



The patterned paper are a bit of an ecletic mix (the one directly under the florals is from a Christmas pack!) but I like how they work together.

I hope you like what I've created today! Be sure to leave a comment here before you go - one person will win a 25$ gift card to the NT store from among the design team blog comments.

And be sure to check out the NT blog for all of the design team inspiration - click!

♥.

Hello, spring! (Neat and Tangled release week)

Hi there!

Neat and Tangled's March release is coming in like a soft, warm breeze. As long as I don't look outside my window, where everything is still white...

Danielle designed today's set, Hello Spring, as a follow up to Hello Winter.

The sentiment was an obvious complement to the images from Cottontail Cuties. I stamped and colored the images, and set them against a sunny yellow gingham sky.

I added grassy hills and framed out the images with the sentiment.



If you're still looking at snow outside, I hope this card puts a SPRING in your step today!

Check out the NT blog this morning for more inspiration using this set - click! And before you go, don't forget to leave a comment - at the end of the week, a winner is chosen from among the blog comments. There is a 25$ store gift card up for grabs!

♥.

Ellen Hutson design team blog hop

Hi there!

I am so excited to announce that I've joined the Ellen Hutson team! My fellow design team members are so talented, and we've put together a get-to-know-you blog hop to celebrate.

As a stamper and cardmaker for the past 10 years, I love that I still get so inspired by my peers. Being on design teams means seeing and working with stamps that no one else has worked with yet. I have to get creative without seeing what anyone else has come up with first. When I do see the creativity of fellow cardmakers, I am continually surprised. My favorite cards mix and match from different stamp sets to create one-of-a-kind cards.

For my card today, I worked with stamps from 2 of my favorite companies. From the Essentials by Ellen line, Leading Ladies - Dog Lady, and from Avery Elle, Loved and Admired.

I love the sentiments in the Avery Elle set so much! 

I stamped, die-cut and colored all of the images and figured out how I wanted them placed. Then, I did a wash of Cherry watercolor behind the wreath, so that everything inside would pop. As an aside, the new watercolors that Avery Elle released are fantastic and you need them.

Before I adhered the girl and the wreath, I flecked some soft brown ink over the entire card-front.



I hope you like it! Before you go, we've all been asked to answer a few ice-breaker/first-date-type questions. ha.

Coffee or Tea? 

both, but I need my coffee first thing in the morning. Tea is for the afternoon. Black coffee, and Ginger&Turmeric tea.

How did you come up with your blog name?

the M-E in Just ME started as a partnership between my sister Melissa and I (Elena.) Hence, the name. We had plans to open an Etsyshop and sell party decor. She still uses the name to sell photo-cards on Etsy and I have this blog and my own Etsy shop where I sell my digital stamps.

Tell us one random tidbit about yourself.

I married my kindergarten sweetheart. I have the class picture and everything ♥.




That's it for me! Thanks for stopping by on your way through the hop:

Ardyth Percy-Robb  

Carissa Wiley   

Carly Tee Minner 

Carolyn Peeler 

Elena Roussakis

Emily Midgett

Heather Campbell 

Julia Stainton 

Julie Ebersole 

Justine Hovey  

Kelly Griglione  

Kittie Caracciolo 

Laurel Beard 

Lisa Adametz

Lisa Spangler 

Lydia Evans 

Michele Ferguson  

Sandy Allnock 

Sharon Harnist 

Therese Calvird

Yee-haw! A barn party for Lawn Fawn

Hi there!

I'm here and on the Lawn Fawn blog this morning with some ideas for a barn or farm-themed party.



I used the critters from Hay There to make adorable cupcake toppers and drink tags.

I stamped out the background of the sign using Gingham Backdrops (perfect for a barn-theme!) and spelled out the greeting using Cole's ABCs dies.

I stamped more gingham onto Tiny Tags for the drink bottles. I chose the cross-stitched circle dies to mat the chick onto - they give a country kind of feel, don't they?



My favorite party element are these barn milk bottle favor boxes. So easy to make! and they reinforce the theme perfectly.  A folded piece of white paper acts as a roof and all I needed to create the barn door was a square frame die and a few extra strips of cardstock.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

Hay There (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

All of the new Lawn Fawn collection is available in the store right now - woot!



Kelly Marie re-created this card on the LF blog yesterday. I love it when she does that, it's fun for me to see someone else craft my design.

I used the new Hay There stamp set, and the Peekaboo backdrop. The sky is Gotta Have Gingham. I can't stop using that paper pad - it's so soft and perfect for spring.

That horse with the blond hair, though... haha. diva.

I hope you like it! Make sure to check out the list of inspiration week winners on the LF blog this morning - click!

♥.

Easter party (Lawn Fawn inspiration week)

Hi there!

Welcome back to more of this month's Lawn Fawn inspiration week. Today, we're showing off the Easter Party stamp set, as well as the Outside In Easter Egg Stackables dies.

I love this little bunny-costume-kid so much! It's my second time using him this week. I'll use the others soon, hee hee.

I nestled the bunny into some grassy hills and placed him in front of a giant easter egg. I used the negative space from an Outside In Easter Egg, and created a gingham egg sleeve.

To finish off, I opted for the Happy Easter Line Border as the sentiment, and splattered white paint over the kraft card-front.

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

♥.

Pinkfresh Studio Technique Talk blog hop

Hi there!

I'm excited to be joining Pinkfresh for an entire blog hop devoted to showing off stamping techniques.


I went a little old-school and used small floral images to stamp out a full background. Here is my DIY patterned paper:

I used 2 little flower stamps, both from the new Sweet Treats stamp set, to stamp an entire card-front. The 3-flowered-cluster image had little black dots around the flowers, so I used a black pen to add more dots at the end to fill up the space.

I then used copic markers to color in the florals. I used pinks for the larges flower and colored the trio in violet, yellow and a lighter pink. The entire background got colored as well, in a soft blue/grey.

My favorite patterned papers are the ones that look a little vintage. So, to bring a bit of that quality to this paper I shaded the edges with a soft brown ink.

As a final touch, I used the same brown ink and flecked it onto the entire area.



Yeesh! My brush is in bad shape, haha.

I hope you like my little tutorial. It's fun to see what you can do with the smaller stamps in a set! To end off, I added a sentiment from another new set, Bird With Flowers, and some bling by way of a few sequins.



Now, onto the fun part:


All you have to do to be eligible is to leave a comment on each one of the participating blogs! Comments will close at 11:59pm PST on February 26th and the winner will be announced on the 28th. Good luck!

Here is a list of blog hop participants:

Pinkfresh Studio

Erum Tasneem

Zsoka Marko

Julia Stainton

Isha Gupta

Elena Roussakis

Amy Tsuruta

♥.