Sweet Bunny

Playing around with some ephemera and colored bits that were on my desk.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Sweet Thanks

Neat & Tangled - Better Together stamp, Echo Park - Sentiments Word die

Today's card is a cute little thank you card featuring a couple adorable kiddos from Neat & Tangled's Better Together stamp set. I was drawn to this set because I loved the illustrations, and I can see how easy it would be to color the kids up to look like your own kids/grandkids. And the scripty sentiment words featured in the set (like hugs or hello) are ones that I can see myself using often.

I paired the images and the thanks die with a grid patterned paper and added a piece of purple-colored vellum for some extra texture/dimension. I finished everything off with a few enamel dots.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

SK September: Sweet Thoughts

I really liked Amelia's sweet design in The Greeting Farm's (OA) Journey stamp, so I decided to play with it again. This time, I went for a more neutral color scheme with bright red and yellow as accent colors.

I wanted to make this card look different, so I played with layers. I layered a vellum tag with a sentiment from Power Poppy's Farmer Market stamp, then set it against a neutral die-cut frame. I added Amelia with foam squares.

It felt like the card was missing a little something, so I added a couple of Prima paper flowers and a metal brad from my stash.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Gorjuss - Sweet

It's gearing up to be another busy work week for me, so I've got a bunch of quick card shares lined up for the week. Apologies in advance if my posts are a bit more brief than usual.

Today's share features a Gorjuss Girl Mini - I Found My Family in a Book. I also made good use of some frames and ephemera floating around my desk -- and, of course, enamel shapes.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Chatty Sunday: Card Set 1 (Avery Elle)

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I'd been wanting to make a few card sets for my stash - things I can give away as a gift or have on hand when I need to send a bunch of cards. I decided to warm up with a simple set of cards using just one stamp set - Avery Elle's Woodland Wonders. This adorable stamp set features several critters and sweet sentiments.

I decided to keep my cards super simple and use the same supplies and layout. The variations were subtle and came from the critters, colors and sentiments.

I used warm colors and very simple patterns, figuring these cards would be great for baby occasions -- baby showers, thank you cards and congratulations.

I colored the critters in quickly with Copics, adding fairly subtle colors without too much contrast. This means the images stood out, but not too much.

I wanted to add just a subtle touch of embellishments, so I opted for enamel dots.

I didn't use a whole lot of dimension for the cards, as I wanted to make sure they could be easily mailed.

I packed the set with matching kraft envelopes and tied it with a pretty piece of ribbon.

Even though the cards were simple, creating them still took a bit longer than creating a single card. My biggest obstacle was deciding on what kind of layout to use. I think this is one of the occasions where a card sketch would be super helpful, so that's what I plan to do with the next card set.

All in all, I really enjoyed creating this set and I'm looking forward to jumping into creating another.

Thanks for reading,
~Elle~

Just a Kiss

Today's card uses a very unique stamp and die set from Die-Versions. I actually got this set (along with 2 other stamps and dies) during their sale a couple of years ago. But I happened to buy way too many stamps during that time, and this set got tucked away before it even got inked up. Since I've been rediscovering my stash, I figured I ought to use those wayward stamps. Unfortunately, I don't think this set is available for purchase anymore, but I plan on still giving it some good mileage and using it in a few cards.

I started by stamping out the cute kissing couple onto some marker paper and coloring them in with Copics. I chose simple colors and just did some basic shading. When I was done, I die-cut the couple with coordinating dies.

Since I used some red in my coloring, I decided to grab some of the red patterned paper. I don't have a whole lot of red in my paper stash, but I came across this fabulous bright pattern from Gina K.'s Here Comes the Sun paper pad. Aside from a great pattern, this paper is also slick, giving a bit of extra shine to the card.

I matted the patterned paper with some brown cardstock, then grabbed a piece of white cardstock which I die-cut with a stitched rectangle. I adhered the couple to the panel, slightly off-center, then tied a piece of gingham ribbon at the bottom. I matted the panel to a matching brown cardstock, using foam squares to add a bit of dimension.

I went all out on embellishments, scattering cute mini hearts and enamel dots around. I adhered everything together onto a top-folding A2 (4¼x5½") kraft card base.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Timber!

Continuing on with another card in my Love card series. Today's card features something that seems to be pretty trendy lately - lumberjacks. I saw the Wood You Be Mine stamp set on Stampin' Up's website last year and fell in love with it. It was (unfortunately) only available for a few months last year, so I can't link to it. But here is an adorable alternative from Neat & Tangled and there were a couple of similar sets featured at CHA that should be hitting the stores soon.

For my card, I started by creating a watercolor background using some of my Peerless watercolors. I started by wetting the watercolor paper with clean water, then I dropped in some bright watercolor and let the water do the work for me. I made sure that my colors would mix well together - so, no yellow by the purple for example. After the piece dried, I die-cut it with a stitched rectangle die.

I matted the watercolor piece onto some black cardstock and adhered it to a top-folding A2 card base. Then I got to work on the lumberjack.

I stamped him out in brown hybrid ink and colored him in with Copics. I went for traditional colors (red and green with blue denim). There wasn't anything particularly special about the coloring - I just had fun and tried to add a touch of depth here and there. Once I was done, I carefully cut him out with a pair of scissors, leaving a small white border.

Before adhering him to the card, I grabbed a heart splatter stamp and stamped it onto the watercolor panel with Wild Rose ink. This gave the card a more lovey feeling and tied into the sentiment - which I also stamped in wild rose onto some white cardstock. I matted the sentiment to some light blue cardstock, then adhered it and the lumberjack to the card with foam squares.

As a last touch, I added a few sparkly sequins.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

OHC 20 - Joy

Today's card uses Mama Elephant's Chance of Rain stamp set. I picked this stamp for its cute images as well as for the sentiments. I have several stamps and papers that have to do with weather or rain, so the sentiments will be very useful in my stamp collection. My favorite, though, is the sentiment about joy. So when I pulled OHC theme 20 (Joy), I just knew I had to use this set.

I started by stamping the girl, bear and umbrella onto some Copic marker paper. I used chocolate brown hybrid ink as it softens the image a bit. I colored them in with Copics, going with bright and cheerful colors. After they were colored in, I added a mouth to the girl with a brown marker and carefully cut the images out, leaving a small white border.

I wanted a fun background that incorporated a rainy weather. I started by adhering a piece of Lawn Fawn's Hello Sunshine (retired, sorry!) patterned paper to an A2 top-folding card. I had a piece of white cardstock that was the same size as the card front (4¼x5½"), so I die-cut it on one side with Lawn Fawn's Puffy Cloud border die. This gave me a fun and unique layout.

I adhered the images I had colored and cut out, then drew in an umbrella handle for the girl. I stamped the sentiment above the images with dark brown ink, then used a light teal to stamp a cloud around it.

Lastly, I used my Copic marker to quickly sketch a ground for the girl and bear to stand on.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

SB- Follow Your Dreams

Today's card features another Tiny Townies stamp set from Stamping Bella -- Dorothy the Dreamer. Out of all the stamps I got from this line, Dorothy is the one that echoed with me the most. The minute I saw it, I felt that happy feeling. This is how the universe ought to be, with an abundance of book universes we can get lost in, and a dreamy and clever companion to help us navigate it.

I wanted my card to reflect this feeling that seems so simple, yet is impossible to put into words. I stamped out Dorothy in brown hybrid ink and colored her with Copics. I did a bit of messy coloring on her puffy skirt, tying for a loose coloring method I've seen a couple of crafters use with Stamping Bella stamps. I don't know that I was very successful, but I left it as it was. When I was done, I carefully cut the image out, leaving a small white border.

I wanted the image to stand out, so I chose two patterned papers with simple and neutral colors. Going too bright or complicated with the background wold have taken away from the image, so I went with more subdued tones. I layered the two papers together, going for a slightly different layout, then adhered everything onto a white A2 card base (4¼x5½").

For the sentiment, I used Clearly Besotted's Say It In Style stamp set. It had a lovely dream sentiment that seemed just perfect for the card. I stamped it onto a piece of white cardstock, which I cut at an angle and added to the card with foam squares.

I wanted some embellishments on the card, so I adhered 3 wood veneer stars and 3 purple enamel dots.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Summer Sunshine

I've always found it absolutely fascinating to read and listen to what creative people are inspired by. Sometimes it's a shape, a sound or a movement. That burst of inspiration feels like you're capturing an entire experience and transforming it into a single word (as impossible as that might be). Once you have the finished piece, it - in turn - can become that creative inspiration for someone else.

I'm a color girl. I have always been inspired by color, especially when it's color done well like this or this or this. Add to this my penchant for certain patterns (polka dots and stripes, I'm looking at you!), and it's easy to see why patterned papers are one of my favorite crafty supplies.

So, this card started entirely with color. I was looking through my paper pads and came across the Happy Collection pad from Avery Elle. Leafing through it, I came across the striped paper that had a yellow (mustard seed) on one side and pink (strawberry) on the other. It made me think of summer, which in turn made me think of sunshine and with a creative click, the rest of the card concept just fell into place.

I wanted to use the adorable girl from Simon Says Stamp's Slumber Party stamp set, so I stamped her in brown and colored her with my Copics. Since I had the warm pink and yellow tones for the patterned paper, I chose to use a cool tone for her outfit - and this really made her pop. Using pink on the bear and slippers tied the colors together so it looked like she was meant for this card.

A die, a stamp and some enamel dots later, I had a finished card - a summery "Hello Sunshine" that's warm and feminine.

Since this wednesday's challenge at Simon Says Stamp is Anything Goes, I'm going to go ahead and enter.

Supplies:
Simon Says Stamp - Slumber Party stamp
Simon Says Stamp - Bring the Sunshine stamp
Simon Says Stamp - Small Hello die
Avery Elle - The Happy Collection 6x6
Simon Says Stamp - Heavyweight cardstock in Sunshine
Neenah Solar White cardstock in #110lbs
Simon Says Stamp Inkpad in Sunshine
My Favorite Things - Blueprints 13 (large stitched rectangle)
Mama Elephant - Femme Frames (small stitched rectangle)
Enamel dots
3M Double-Sided Foam Tape
Copics
Zig - Wink of Stella (clear)

TGF - Warm Wishes

For today's card, I'm using the other image in the cute Winter Greetings stamp set from The Greeting farm. I'm feeling pretty ill at the moment, so please excuse me if my tone is not as cheerful as usual. I'm still cheering happily inside and enjoying creating things, but it's being filtered through yucky and miserable sick germs.

But, onto the card! I stamped the girl out with brown hybrid ink and colored her in with my Copics. I used quite a bit of colors on the pink hat and scarf, as I just wasn't hitting the same contrast as the rest of her outfit. I probably spent too much time on it, but in the end it turned out alright. After the girl was colored in, I cut her out with a pair of sharp scissors and set her aside.

I wanted to play around with shapes, so I pulled out several dies and a lovely patterned paper from Basic Grey - Aurora. I first cut the purple paper with the scalloped Mama Elephant Femme Frames -- this is my go-to die for creating a frame for the front panel. Then I cut out a pinked-edge circle from a starry grey paper and a pinked-edge square from white cardstock the sentiment.

I stamped the sentiment in brown, then assembled the card. I adhered the papers to a piece of blue cardstock, which I cut and folded into a standard A2 card. I added the girl and the sentiment panel with foam squares. As a last touch, I added a few enamel dots, as well as 2 pieces of snowflake wood veneer.

Supplies:
The Greeting Farm - Winter Greetings stamp
My Favorite Things - Pinking Edge Circle STAX dies
Avery Elle - Pinked dies
Mama Elephant - Femme Frames
Basic Grey - Aurora, 6x6 patterned paper pad
My Favorite Things Hybrid inkpad in Chocolate Brown
Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Copics
Snowflake Wood Veneer
Enamel Dots
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam squares
Blue cardstock
White Cardstock
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid glue

Baby Sage

Today's card is a baby card, featuring Whimsy Wee One stamp. I wanted to make a baby card using soft colors, so I decided to use some of my distress markers and watercolor. I'm pretty pleased with the results, and hopefully the card's recipient will like it too.

I had a standard A2 card base from white cardstock left over from a previous project, so I decided to make use if it.

I started by stamping the baby and carriage onto some Distress Watercolor cardstock, using Coffee Archival ink. Then I taped the cardstock onto a stiff board and started watercoloring.

I used distress marker, aiming for gender-neutral colors. I didn't do anything special in terms of coloring - simply laid down flat color in various areas, making sure I didn't work on two touching areas so the colors wouldn't spill. Once the image was completely dry, I used the brush tip of the markers to add in some shadows where needed. I think this added just enough depth while keeping the colors even. If the transition was too stark, I simply used a damp (not very wet) brush tip to soften the transition.

I stamped a sentiment from Avery Elle's Storybook stamp set in the upper left corner, using the same Coffee ink.

Once the image was completely dry, I trimmed around it. I found a piece of striped patterned paper in my scraps, and used a scalloped edge punch on the side. I adhered it straight to the cardstock with my standard dot adhesive. I then adhered the watercolor panel, using foam tape.

Supplies:
Whimsy Wee One rubber stamp
Avery Elle Storybook stamp
Ranger Archival Ink in Coffee
Distress Watercolor markers (Shabby Shutters, Weathered Wood, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Vintage Photo, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Weathered Wood and Shaded Lilac)
Tim Holtz Watercolor Distress Cardstock
Neenah Solar White 110#lbs cardstock
Stampin' Up Lullaby designer series patterned paper
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)
3M Double-sided Foam Tape

Blog Hop: Warm Wishes Coffee

This card is my second entry to Pretty Pink Posh's Cutting Edge blog hop.

For this card, I decided to use the Hot Concoctions set by Paper Smooches, as well as a few fun dies. I stamped the coffee cup twice onto some Copic marker paper, and colored them in with my Copics. I also stamped out a couple of hearts and colored them in as well. I carefully cut them out and set them aside while I worked on the rest of the card.

The first step was to make a watercolor background. I wanted it to look a bit like the paper was coffee-stained. So, I used the Brushed Corduroy distress marker to create a warm brown-toned wash on some watercolor paper. While it was still wet, I made some splatters with a brush, using Gathered Twigs distress marker for color. This created soft and diffused texture you see in the upper left of the panel. I wanted to make sure there were some detailed drops, as well. I waited for the background to dry, then I splattered some more drops of Gathered Twigs. Then I set it aside to dry completely.

It was time to have fun with dies! I started by grabbing My Favorite Things' Blueprints 13, Mama Elephant's Femme Frames and Pretty Pink Posh's newest Stitched Duo II dies. The awesome thing about all 3 of these dies is that they each make a stitched rectangle of a different size, and they nest together just perfectly!

I cut the biggest panel with Blueprints 13 out of brown cardstock. For the medium panel, I used Femme Frames and a piece of patterned paper. Lastly, I cut a panel from the watercolor background with the rectangle from the Stitched Duo II dies.

Before assembling the card, I adhered the two coffee cups and hearts with Tombow Mono-Multi glue. I also drew in a couple teeny hearts under the red heart. I stamped some curly steam as well as the sentiment in brown ink. Then, I put the card together. I used a combination of my standard dot adhesive and foam tape.

Once all the layers were ready, I adhered it to a white standard top-folding A2 card (4 1/4 by 5 1/2").

Supplies:
Paper Smooches Hot Concoctions
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Black Licorice
My Favorite Things Blueprints 13 dies
Mama Elephant Femme Frames dies
Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Duo II dies
Stampin' Up Classic Inkpad in Baked Brown Sugar
Stampin' Up Cardstock in Baked Brown Sugar
Neenah Solar White 110#lbs Cardstock (base)
Stampin' Up Retro Fresh Designer Paper
Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Paper
Copics (E81, E42, E35, E37, E29, G12, G24, YG63)
Distress Markers in Brushed Corduroy and Gathered Twigs
Tombow Mono-Multi Liquid glue
Tombow Dot Adhesive (pink)
3M Double-Sided Foam Tape (permanent)

Bedtime Story

I was in the mood to color something sweet last night, and I decided to color this absolutely adorable Bedtime Story digi from MilkCoffee (on Etsy). It's one of bunches of digis I treated myself to recently, and I really enjoyed coloring it. I'm thinking of making Saturday my digi cards day. I'd love to use all the fun stamps I bought recently. :)

After I printed out the Bedtime Story image, I used my bigshot to cut it into a rounded tag frame. The die I used is from My Favorite things, named Rounded Banner STAX - but it's unfortunately retired. I was able to grab it during the amazing clearance sale they had on their website a few weeks ago.

I colored the image with my Copics, including a bit of a messy backrgound for the stars. It feels like I used up half my markers trying to blend that background, too! The coloring itself took quite a bit longer than usual, as there were a lot of little details I wanted to pay attention to.

But once the coloring was done, I got to work on the rest of the card - which was actually rather simple. I created my card base by cutting and scoring a piece of Simon Says Stamp Lavender cardstock in half for a standard A2 card.

I grabbed a piece of starry paper from Studio Calico's Print Shop 6x6 and cut it to measure 4 by 5 1/4". I adhered a strip of Stampin' Up white ribbon to the right side, and adhered it straight onto the card with my dot adhesive.

I adhered the colored panel with foam squares, positioning it toward the bottom of the card.

Lastly, I added a (slightly wonky) white ribbon and 2 enamel dots to the upper corners.

Supplies:
MilkCoffee Bedtime Story digital stamp
My Favorite Things Rounded Banner STAX (largest die)
Simon Says Stamp Heavyweight 100#lbs cardstock in Lavender
Studio Calico Print Shop! 6x6 patterned paper
Stampin' Up Whisper White organza ribbon
Studio Calico Yellow & Orange enamel essentials
Tombow dot adhesive runner (pink)
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares
Copics: Skin (E00, E11, E13, E15, R20, R22, 0), Girl's Nightgown (R11, RV42, R32, R35), Boy's hat/sleeves (B00, B02, B24, Y35, YR15), Boy PJs (B000, B41, B45), Girl Pillow (R81, V12, C2, C4), Boy Pillow (C2, C4, G24), Book (E42, 0, E53, E44), Boy Hair (Y11, Y35, E35, E37), Girl Hair (E33, E39, E29), Stars (Y11, Y35), Background (BV01, BV11, BV13, 0)