Newton Sky

Today's card features a really lovely stamp from Newton's Nook called Newton Dreams of Paris. I have family members who live in areas that are predominantly French-speaking, so I'm always on the lookout for cute stamps that have french sentiments. So, I knew right away I just had to have Newton Dreams of Paris. This set also has an air balloon - another one of images I'm constantly drawn to.

I started by stamping the air balloons onto some Copic Marker paper. I colored the images with my Copics. I went for soft, light colors with just enough brightness to make the images pop. I set them aside to work on the rest of the card.

I created a standard top-folding A2 card base (4¼ by 5½") out of light gray cardstock. I then grabbed some Lavender cardstock and cut it out with a stitched rectangle die. I found the perfectly adorable patterned paper from Studio Calico's Brighton Pier 6x6. I just love how the little clouds have a cute smiley on them!

Since the images I colored had a few really delicate details (ex. the balloon strings), I decided to paper piece them. I started by stamping the balloons where I wanted them on the patterned paper. Then, I cut out the main elements of the stamped images I colored with my Copics - Balloon, Newton in his basket and the teeny balloons. I lined them up carefully with the stamped image on the patterned paper and adhered them together. For the small images, I used liquid glue so I had a bit of wiggle room to line them up.

I adhered the front panel to the lavender rectangle with foam squares. Lastly, I adhered both to my card base.

I'm going to enter this card in Newton Nook's challenge #17.

Supplies:
Newton's Nook - Newton Dreams of Paris
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink - Black Licorice
My Favorite Things - Blueprints 13
Mama Elephant - Femme Frames
Studio Calico - Brighton Pier 6x6 patterned paper
WPlus9 Heavyweight Cardstock in Dove Grey
Simon Says Stamp Cardstock in Lavender
Copic Mini Marker pad #70lbs
3M Double-Sided Foam Tape
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid glue
Copics (B000, B00, BG01, E33, E37, E29, V12, V06, E50, E53, YR12, YR23, YR27, B45, R22, R35, R05)

Coffee Mae

 Today's card features Hipster Mae, a super cute stamp set from Some Odd Girl. I wanted to do something coffee-inspired and Hipster Mae definitely fit the bill.

I started by stamping Mae onto some Copic marker paper with black hybrid ink. I went with a slightly french, modern look and colored her with blues and red. After she was colored in, I carefully cut her out with scissors and set her aside. I also stamped the coffee cup and cut it out as well.

I made my card base from medium grey cardstock. It's a standard top-folding A2 card base (4¼ by 5½") created by cutting and scoring a sheet of cardstock in half.

I grabbed some great coffee-themed paper from Happy Day paper pad. I first die-cut a stitched rectangle from the orange paper using Blueprints 15. I then cut the cute coffee cups panel with a wonky rectangle. Lastly, I cut a small stitched rectangle out of the grey cardstock.

I assembled the card by adhering the panels together and adhering them to the base. I added Mae, grey circle and coffee cup with foam tape. I stamped a sentiment from the Hipster Mae set onto some white cardstock with brown ink and cut it down to size. I adhered it to the card.

Lastly, I added a few enamel dots around the card. And there you have it! :)

Supplies:
Some Odd Girl - Hipster Mae
My Favorite Things - Blueprints 15 die
Pebbles Inc. - Happy Day 6x6 paper pad
Pebbles Inc. - Happy Day enamel dots
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Black Licorice
Stampin' Up Classic Inkpad in Soft Suede (sentiment)
Simon Says Stamp Heavyweight cardstock in Smoke
Neenah Solar White in #110lbs (sentiment panel)
3M Double-Sided Foam Tape
Copics (Skin- E00, E11, E13, R20, R22, 0; Hair: BV17, BV25, BV29, 100; Outfit: B000, B32, B91, B95, B99, W2, W4, W6, C4, C6, 100, R05, R46, R89, BG72, BG75, Y35; Coffee Cup: G24, YG67, E50, E53, R20, E23, E37)

Bird Love

Today's card uses the Bird Crazy stamp set designed by Tim Holtz. I got this stamp set very recently, and I just had to pull it out to play with. The quirky, sketchy style the birds are drawn in is fun and I love how each bird has its own personality.

I started by stamping the bird onto some watercolor paper with archival black ink. I then used my Koi watercolors to paint in the bird and a simple background. I have a few sets of watercolors now, and I have to say that I'm really enjoying the Koi ones the best. They're very pigmented, very creamy and easy to use. I didn't do anything exceptional with the colors, just painted with blues and purples and let them blend into each other in places. When the paper dried a little, I colored in the bird with red. I let some of the red bleed into the bottom, adding an extra touch of color.

While the image was drying, I created my card base by cutting a piece of Khaki cardstock in half to create a standard A2 card -- 4¼ by 5½".

After the image was completely dried, I cut it out with a stitched rectangle. I wanted to add some splatter effects, so I pulled out the Splatter I stamp from Impression Obsession. I used French Ultramarine and Deep Purple to stamp several splatters across the image.

I used a larger stitched rectangle to cut a piece of patterned paper. I matted the bird panel to the patterned paper and adhered it to the card base. The card was missing a little something, so I die-cut a couple of hearts from red cardstock and adhered them to the card.

Since this card has hearts, it fits the Simon Flickr Challenge #11 - which is love.

Supplies:
Tim Holtz with Stampendous - Bird Crazy Stamp set
Impression Obsession - Splatter 1 stamp set
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black, French Ultramarine and Deep Purple
Koi Watercolor field set (24 colors)
Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Paper
Simon Says Stamp Heavyweight Cardstock in Khaki and Lipstick Red
Simon Says Stamp - Large Holiday Shapes die
Mama Elephant - Femme Frames die
MFT - Blueprints 15 die
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid glue

Organizing - Patterned Paper

I've finally finished organizing my patterned paper, so I thought I'd share my process with you all a little. If you'd like to read a bit about how I store stamps, click here.

Before re-organizing my patterned paper was just stacked in 4 tall towers on a shelf. I'd gone through it a few times and tried to organize it so that the front towers had the patterned paper I was planning to use - ex. seasonal paper - as well as the most recent paper pads I'd purchased. I periodically went through the towers and tried to pull out some of the more fun sets to use. My old system worked alright, but there were a few major problems:

1) It was really difficult to keep track of all the different paper I owned.
- While I was doing pretty good at not buying duplicate paper pads, I still found myself not knowing how many paper pads I had for a specific theme. So, I had a dozen Christmas-themed paper pads -- some of them with colors/style that wouldn't work with my stamp collection.

2) I was overwhelmed with the possibilities.
- This lead to either using the same patterned paper again and again, or not using patterned paper at all. And with my collection being as big as it is, this meant I had a lot of supplies just using up space and being wasted.

3) I was saving my "favorite" papers.
- There's always that one favorite paper that I just adore and want to keep forever. And then there were two, and three, and eventually towers. But as I was sorting my crafty supplies, I came to realize that some of those favorite papers weren't such a favorite now. And quite a few of them don't match my current stamp collection either.

4) I had a pretty large collection of 12x12 paper.
- There are several papers and collections that only came in 12x12 format, and I made sure to grab them while they were still available. Originally, I planned to keep them in the 12x12 format, so I could use them for boxes. But the boxes I make are always smaller than 6" in height/width/depth, so I didn't really need to keep them in the 12x12 size.

My first step was to cut the 12x12 sheets into a 6x6 size. I did this for the majority of my 12x12 sheets. The remainder of the 12x12 papers were duplicates of collections that are no longer readily available (ex. Lawn Fawn's Into the Woods collection). Since they were all unopened, I tied them with a long piece of ribbon and put them in a flat box that rolls under the bed.

Then I grabbed all of the Christmas and winter-themed papers and put them in a plastic Sterilite bin -- one of the bins I'd been using for my stamps previously. I make a lot of Holiday cards, so I wanted to make sure the Christmas papers were somewhere I can easily find and grab when I need them.

I chose 6 paper pads I really wanted to use for the next few cards and put them in a small wicker basket I got from my local Target - it was in the baby section and only cost 1.99$. My plan is to use the 6 paper pads exclusively until they're gone (or close to gone) and then move onto the next set.

The rest of the paper was organized by theme - seasonal, holiday, baby, girl/boy, travel, masculine, feminine, geometric and basic shapes. The collections that didn't seem to fit in any other theme were grouped together by color. I chose this particular system because thematic content seems to work really well with the stamps. I'm eager to see how it will work with paper.

Since I'd made a few MFT orders throughout last year, I had several of their package boxes still sitting in the closet. I put my 6x6 papers in those boxes, and stacked them up neatly in the corner of my crafty closet. I like the MFT boxes in particular because the lid folds in and stays shut, and the white color made it very easy to write down the contents with a sharpie.

I'm going to limit my buying of patterned paper over the next few months. However, there are a few collections that I'm really looking forward to (Lawn Fawn and Avery Elle, specifically), so I've made sure to save a little extra storage space for those.

Next, I will be tackling my cardstock, inks and embellishments. I'll keep you posted once I've made progress on those.

Anya Celebrates

  I've recently tackled re-organizing my papers (post on that coming soon!) and I re-discovered bunches and bunches of lovely paper I really ought to use. So, I grabbed a couple and created a card with them.

I started with the Anya Celebrates stamp set from The Greeting Farm.  I've had this stamp set for a while now, but hadn't had a chance to use it until this card. I stamped Anya onto some Copic Marker paper in black ink and colored her in with my Copics. I created the polkadots on the gift with the colorless blender -- one of my favorite quick patterns to create. I also added a couple of highlights to the bow with a white gel pen.

After Anya was colored in, I carefully cut around her, leaving a small white border.

Since I used brighter colors for the stamp, I settled on a background that was a little more neutral. So, I chose a hand-drawn warm gray chevron paper. I cut it with a stitched rectangle die. It looked a bit too plain, so I also die-cut a piece of striped paper from the same collection. I used my paper trimmer to cut the striped panel at an angle.

I adhered the chevron panel straight to the card base, then added the striped panel with foam tape. I adhered Anya with a combination of foam tape and my standard adhesive.

Lastly, I created a sentiment panel by stamping "Enjoy your day" from Clearly Besotted's Say It In Style stamp set onto some white cardstock. I trimmed it down and created a flag-shaped banner. I adhered it to the card, and that was it! Since both the paper and Anya were colorful, I chose to add no other embellishments.

If you'd like to see some more lovely Anya creations, check out this blog! :)

Supplies:
The Greeting Farm - Anya Celebrates stamp
Clearly Besotted - Say It In Style stamp
My Favorite Things - Blueprints 13 die
My Favorite Things Hybrid inkpad in Black Licorice
My Favorite Things Heavyweight cardstock in Primitive Cream
Copic Mini Marker Pad #70lbs
Neenah Solar White #80lbs
Copics (Skin: E00, E11, E13, E15, R20, R22), Hair (E33,E57, E59, E79), Clothes (R08, R46, R89, B91, B95, B99, Y21, Y35, Y38), Present (BG32, BG49, 0, V12, V06, V17, R22, R35)
Sakura Gellyroll White Gel Pen
3M Double-sided foam tape
Tombow Craft Adhesive Runner (pink)

OHC 11 - Pink (with Lawn Fawn)

It's time for another card for my One Hundred Cards challenge (read about the challenge here)! This round, I pulled out theme #11 - pink. When I think of pink, soft and sweet comes to mind, so I decided to use a few Lawn Fawn products.

I started by grabbing a piece of white cardstock and a piece of Let's Polka 12x12 pink striped paper and cut them out with a stitched rectangle die. I then used the largest scallop from Stitched Scalloped Borders die on the bottom of the cardstock panel. This cut out a cute scallop shape. Lastly, I ran the white panel through the Bigshot one more time and cut out two little hearts.

I stamped the adorable cup from Love You a Latte set just under the hearts. I quickly colored it in with Copics. The panel looked a bit bare, so I decided to make a quick colored background for it. I was very much inspired by Sandy Allnock, who is incredibly talented and skilled at coloring. She recently posted a video about achieving a watercolor look with Copics, and I wanted to do something similar. So, I went for a simple multi-color background with a bit of dotty texture. I didn't do enough blending to make it look like watercolor, really, but I enjoyed just playing around with color.

After the coloring was done, I created a card base out of Cashmere cardstock - a top-folding A2 base (4¼ by 5½"). I adhered the striped rectangle straight to the card. Then I added the cup panel with foam tape.

I had a piece of white cardstock left over, so I decided to make a sentiment panel with it. I simply lined up the stitched rectangle die and ran it through my Bigshot again. This gave me a tiny stitched rectangle, which was perfect for my sentiment. I stamped "i love you" from Love You Smore set in brown ink. I added the sentiment to the card with foam tape.

I wanted to add a very few small decorative touches. So, I took the small heart I'd cut out of the white panel and colored it in with a Copic marker. I adhered it next to the sentiment. I also grabbed three sequins from Avery Elle's Sugar blend and adhered them near the cup.

Supplies:
Lawn Fawn - Love You a Latte stamp 
Lawn Fawn- Love You Smore stamp
Lawn Fawn - Stitched Scalloped Borders die
Lawn Fawn - Hearts dies
Lawn Fawn - Wild Rose Line Dance 12x12 (Let's Polka collection)
My Favorite Things - Blueprints 13 dies
WPlus9 cardstock in Cashmere
Neenah Solar White #80lbs
Copics
3M Double-Sided Foam Tape
My Favorite Things Hybrid inkpad in Chocolate Brown
Tsukineko Versafine inkpad in Vintage Sepia
Avery Elle Sugar Blend sequins

Flickr Challenge 10 - Birthday Goat

Challenge #10 over at the Simon Says Stamp Flickr group is Spots 'N Dots, and since polka-dots are one of my favorite things ever, I just had to create something. So, I whipped up a quick birthday card using Birthday Farm Animals and Friendship Messages - two Simon stamp sets I've really been meaning to get a lot more use out of.

I started by stamping the cupcake-carrying goat onto some cardstock with black ink. I then colored him in with my Prismacolor pencils. I really like the sketchy pencil look, so I do all of my blending with the pencils themselves. My process is very similar to the Copic-coloring. I start with the light color, fill in the whole area, then add the shadows with the dark color. Then I go back to the light color and blend it out if needed.

After the goat was colored in, I used a circle die to cut him out. While I had my Bigshot out, I also cut a slightly larger circle out of Sunshine cardstock. I layered the two circles together using foam squares and set them aside.

I created my card base out of Fog cardstock, making it a top-folding A2 base (4¼ by 5½").

I cut a piece of wide striped yellow paper and a piece of grey polkadot paper to measure 4 by 5¼". I used the A2 curved edge die on the polkadot paper to create a curved bottom, then layered the two pieces together. I added the goat to the middle of the polkadot panel and adhered them all to my card base.

I stamped the sentiment onto a piece of white cardstock and cut it down to be the same width as the card base. I adhered it to the card with foam squares.

As a last touch, I scattered a few yellow and orange enamel dots to the bottom right side of the polkadot panel.

Supplies:
Simon Says Stamp - Birthday Farm Animals
Simon Says Stamp - Friendship Messages
Simon Says Stamp Heavyweight cardstock in Sunshine and Fog
Simon Says Stamp A2 Curved Edge die
My Favorite Things Circle STAX 1 and 2 dies
Studio Calico Essentials Yellows enamel dots
Prismacolor Pencils

Some Odd Girl - Birthday Five

 This week Some Odd Girl celebrates their fifth birthday. I'm a big fan of their stamps (as you can tell by the many, many cards that use them), so I wanted to make a card to celebrate.

Since I'm still very much under the weather, I just focused on coloring with my Copics. I colored 5 girls, one for each year, I then cut them out with a pair of sharp scissors.

I created the long card base by cutting a sheet of cardstock into 7 by 6½". I scored it in half to create a long and skinny card. I then adhered some happy patterned paper, and added the girls with adhesive and foam squares.

And that's pretty much it. Since the images are so colrful already, I didn't add any other embellishments.

Stamps I used (left to right:
Deer Mae
Baker Mae
Cupcake Mae
Big Wishes Mae
Gifty Gwen

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

TGF- Sending

 As I was looking through the The Greeting Farm blog, I noticed that there's currently a challenge running with the theme of "It's Cold Outside".

A short while ago, I got the Winter Greetings stamp from TGF with the intention of making several wintery cards for Christmas. But Christmas went by really fast, and I only got a chance to use the stamp once. So, I decided to use the stamp again today and create a fun card.

I started by stamping the boy from Winter Greetings onto some marker paper. I colored him in with Copics, going with a combination of red and blue. There wasn't anything special about my coloring this time, other than adding a bit of extra pink to his ears, nose and cheeks. After he was all colored in, I carefully cut him out with a pair of scissors and set him aside.

I created the card base out of some chocolate brown cardstock, keeping it in a standard A2 format (4¼ x 5½").

For the patterned paper, I decided to use a couple of fun papers from Carta Bella's Rough 'N Tumble 6x6. This paper pad is not at all winter-themed, but I think it has some great colors and patterns that work. I grabbed my Bigshot and cut the argyle paper with Simon Says Stamp's Frames die. I used the biggest die, which created a scalloped border and an rectangle with rounded corners. For this card, I'm using that inner rectangle.

While I had my Bigshot out, I also cut out a pierced oval circle out of some red starry paper. Lastly, I grabbed a piece of white cardstock and cut out the word "Sending" with Simon Says Stamp's die.

I adhered all the elements to the card front, using a combination of my standard adhesive and foam squares. I added a bit of shadow under "Sending" with a Copic marker. Lastly, I added 3 sparkly silver enamel dots and a doted white line to the card edges.

After stamping the card inside, the card was done!

Supplies:
The Greeting Farm - Warmest Wishes stamp set
Simon Says Stamp - Frames die
Simon Says Stamp - Sending die
My Favorite Things - Pierced oval STAX die
Carta Bella - Rough 'N Tumble 6x6 patterned paper
My Favorite Things - Hybrid Ink in Chocolate Brown
Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan (sentiment)
Copics (E00, E11, E13, E15, R20, R05, R46, R89, B41, B95, B99, E50, E53. E33, E35, E57, E59, E79, W4)
Uniball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Your Next Stamp Glittered Gumdrops in Sterling Silver
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares
Tombow Craft Adhesive Runner (pink)
Chocolate Cardstock (base)
White Cardstock (inside)
Copic Mini Marker pad #70lbs

Organization - Stamps

This past week, I've slowly started to get my crafting supplies organized. After all the massive deals, clearance and retirement sales, my crafty closet storage is just about bursting at the seams. Not to mention that I cannot find a few products I know I own... I'm also on a personal quest to use all of the supplies I own, and that's rather hard to do so if they're buried under a mountain of things.

So, I decided to do some major re-organizing and get all of my supplies in order. And I thought I'd share this process with you a bit.

Before I get to the new organization systems, here's a quick overview of how my stamps were organized before:
- I'd purchased a few sets of Avery Elle storage pockets. I found them for quite a bit cheaper on Amazon, and bought a few sets.
- For the stamp pocket insets, I used a large pack of 100#lbs cardstock from Recollections that I got from my local Michaels. This was an extremely cheap pack - 10$ for 100 sheets, and I bought it during a sale with a coupon that brought the price down to 2$ at checkout.  At the time I'd bought it, I thought I could use it for crafts. But the cardstock was of such terrible quality that it made any card using it look cheap and awful. Still, they were perfectly sturdy and great to use in storage pockets.
- I bought a few cheap Sterilite plastic bins at my local Walmart - note, I bought them at the store individually, so the price was around 3.50$ per bin.
- Stamps were organized by manufacturer, then alphabetically.

There were a few problems with my old system, the biggest being that it was hard to find stamps. I knew where the stamps I used often were, but that led to me using the same stamp again and again because it was the easiest one to find/reach. And that led to completely forgetting I had an awesome stamp for a card and going online to buy an extra stamp I may not have needed.

The other problem was that my stamp collection was growing - exponentially! So what started as 1 little bin turned into 3 bins + a huge box that I still needed bins and storage pockets. And I'd run out of room to place them all. It was time to re-think and get some new systems in place.

My first big solution was to find a place that would house all the stamps. I needed something big, sturdy but still easy to move and use. So, I drew inspiration from Jennifer McGuire's organizing video, and purchased a couple of fridge binz from Amazon. I happened to grab them at a small discount, and use up a gift card I got for Christmas. I really love how easy it is to display the stamps, and how I can grab and move the bins around if I need to. They are also very large and house quite a few sets of stamps. This was perfect for my collection.

The second step was the storage pockets. Although I like the Avery Elle pockets, I bought a set of My Favorite Things Large storage pockets with my last order. If you're looking to save a bit of money, you definitely want to go with the MFT pockets. They are almost identical yo the Avery Elle pockets, being just a slightest bit wider - which means they can fit in a 5.5" insert and that makes making inserts from regular cardstock much easier. But they're a lot cheaper - cost of $8.99 for 50 pockets -- which means 4.50$ compared to the 9$ Avery Elle set.

The final step was figuring out how to organize them. I knew by manufacturer wasn't working for me, so I took a look through my blog, card collection and idea book and figured out how to separate the stamps by theme. I've got the following themes: baby, flowers & butterflies, holiday (non-Christmas), Christmas, seasonal, sentiments, animal/critter, birthday, food, school, people, patterns/backgrounds, love/marriage/anniversary, sympathy and other. Each of the sections is then stacked by manufacturer and alphabetically.

In separating the stamps by theme, I've already found what stamps I need to get more of (sympathy, baby) and what stamps I have more than enough material for (Christmas, sentiment). And it's been much easier to find stamps for a specific occasion.

Lastly, I found a set of color-coding labels I'd originally bought at Walmart to use on kraft wrapping paper. It's a great way to add cute polkadots to the gift wrap or to use for a card technique (masking dots, for example). But they're also going to be useful for keeping track of which stamps I'm using. So, every time I use a stamp, I will put a little round circle on the stamp pocket. This will encourage me to use stamps without the circle and help me track what I'm using more often.

And that's all for the stamps! Next time, I'll write about tackling paper and cardstock.

OHC - 89 - Gray (w/ TGF)

Today, I'm sharing another card for my One Hundred Card challenge.  When I pulled out theme #89 (Gray), I just could not settle on what I wanted to do. I had a million and one ideas and possibilities, and just couldn't settle down on any single thing.

So, I took a deep breath and decided to do a little coloring. I hoped that once the coloring was done, I'd know what I want to do with the rest of the card.

I grabbed the Honey stamp from The Greeting Farm. This stamp was one of the stamps from their Secret Stamp Club and she looks completely adorable. I stamped her out in black ink and colored her with my Copics. Since my theme was gray, I chose to go with a warm gray hair and a cool gray and white outfit. I also used a skin color that's much more pale than my usual combo, and added just a touch of teal to her eyes. I also used a blue-violet color to add in some shadows on the skin. After she was colored in, I carefully cut around her, leaving a small white border.

And just as I hoped, the rest of thee card just fell into place! See what a good stamp and coloring can do?

For the base, I used the Fog cardstock from Simon Says Stamp. I cut and scored it into a standard A2 card base (4¼ by 5½"). I wanted to do a soft ombré effect at the bottom of the card, so I pulled out my mini ink-blending tool and Weathered Wood distress ink. Using a very light hand, I added just a little bit of ink to the bottom of the card.

For the rest of the card, I pulled out some dies from My Favorite Things. I created the label by die-cutting a vertical frame out of some patterned paper and Bazzill Silver cardstock and inlaid them together. I then die-cut a circle and a few stars out of Smoke cardstock to decorate the rest of the card.

Before adhering the elements to the card, I created a tone-on-tone polkadot strip with Darling Dots across the card using Fog ink. I then adhered the frame, using my standard glue. I added Honey with foam squares, and adhered the circle and stars with a combination of standard glue and foam squares.

Lastly, I scattered a few enamel dots around the card. Once everything was done, I ended up loving the result! It reminded me a bit of a classic black&white movie feel. If you want to see a completely different take on Honey, check out my friend Kylie's card.  It just goes to show how versatile a stamp can be. :)

Supplies:
The Greeting Farm - Honey (Secret Stamp Club)
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Black Licorice
My Favorite Things Blueprints 13 dies
My Favorite Things Vertical Frame die (retired)
My Favorite Things - LJD Darling Dots stamp
Simon Says Stamp Heavyweight Cardstock in Fog and Smoke
Simon Says Stamp Dye Ink in Fog
Bazzill Metallic Cardstock 8.5x11 in Silver
Heidi Swapp September Skies 6x6 patterned paper
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam squares
Copics (W2, W4, W6, W8, C2, C4, C6, 100 Black, B00, B91, E000, E01, R01, BV11, BV13, BG32, BG18, 0)
Enamel Dots

Peachy Hugs

 Lately, I've found myself slightly obsessed with the color peach. I love that it's a soft mix of pink and orange, where it's softer than orange but warmer than pink. And since I've been in love with this color, I managed to grab several supplies that feature it over the past few months. So, I decided to make good use of them and create a cute love card.

When I think cute, I usually reach for Lawn Fawn - and this card is no exception. I stamped the two adorable hedgehogs from Hedgehugs onto some white cardstock and then cut them out with the matching dies. I colored them in with my Prismacolor pencils and set them aside to work on the rest of the card.

For my card base, I used a piece of medium gray cardstock, cut and folded into a standard A2 card (4¼ by 5½"). 

For the center panel, I die-cut a piece of watercolor cardstock with Mama Elephant's Femme Frames. Normally, I use the smooth side of the cardstock, but I decided to change it up a bit and use the textured side this time. I used my Koi watercolors to do a quick background wash, using a peachy color. Once it was completely dry, I used a splatter stamp to create a bit of extra texture.

Since I had my Bigshot out, I did a bit more die-cutting. I cut a scalloped patterned paper panel out of Femme Frames, using Lawn Fawn's Hello Sunshine (which is a paper line that's now retired). I cut a stitched circle with a heart in the middle out of peach cardstock, using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Party Banners and Lawn Fawn's Hearts dies. I also cut a piece of Let's Polka gray paper into a slightly larger circle with some stitched circle dies.

Then I adhered everything together! I used a combination of regular adhesive and foam tape, popping up certain elements like the watercolor panel, hedgehogs and the peach heart circle. Just before adhering the front panel to the card base, I tied a piece of peach satin ribbon around the left side.

Lastly, I decided to add a few sequins from Let's Polka mix. It was hard to capture in the picture, but they're shiny and catch the light beautifully.

Supplies:

Lawn Fawn - Hedgehugs stamp and coordinating dies

Lawn Fawn - Stitched Party Banners dies

Lawn Fawn - Hello Sunshine petite paper 6x6 (retired)

Lawn Fawn - Let's Polka Petite paper 6x6

Lawn Fawn - Let's Polka sequin mix

Impression Obsession - Splatter I stamp

Hero Arts - Soft Cantaloupe inkpad

Mama Elephant -  Femme Frames dies

Sakura - Koi Watercolor sketch box 24 colors

My Favorite Things Hybrid Inkpad in Black Licorice

My Favorite Things - Stitched Circle STAX dies

My Favorite Things - Peach Bellini prestige cardstock

Neenah Solar White in #110lbs

Tim Holtz Distress watercolor cardstock

Peach satin ribbon 3/8"

Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)

3M Double-Sided Foam Tape

OHC 07 - Yellow

Here is another card for my OHC challenge (read about it here). This time, I am working with theme #7 - Yellow. The first thing that pops into my mind when thinking of yellow is baby cards, so I decided to make a simple cheerful baby card.

I started by grabbing a Sunflower Notecard from Lawn Fawn. This little notecard is a 4-bar size, which makes it smaller and more adorable -- and isn't everything about babies supposed to be teeny tiny?

I then grabbed a journaling card to use as my pattern base. I chose a card that had the same yellow as the notecard, and stripes. I love combining straps and polkadots, and I think they create a very interesting visual. This journaling card also happened to have a banner shape that was perfect for my sentiment. So, I stamped the sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Hello Baby set in brown ink. I adhered this panel straight onto the card base.

I grabbed a piece of white cardstock and stamped the adorable floating bunny on it in brown ink. This bunny comes from a photo-polymer set called Lucky Bunnies by The Greeting Farm. It's a set that's a couple of years old, so I was not able to find a direct link to it. But here is the image of the set:

I colored the bunny in with my Prismacolor pencils. I chose a combination of yellow and orange for the bunny and a punch of bright blue for the balloon. Once it was completely colored, I carefully cut around it, leaving a small white border. I added it to the card with foam squares.

As a last touch, I added 3 yellow and orange enamel dots.

Supplies:
The Greeting Farm - Lucky Bunnies stamp
Lawn Fawn - Hello Baby stamp
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Chocolate Brown
Neenah Solar White in 80lbs
Lawn Fawn Notecard in Sunshine
Stampin' Up Project Life - Little Moments collection
Prismacolor pencils
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares
Studio Calico Essentials enamel dots in Yellow & Orange

OHC 27 - Acorn

This is the very first card created for my One Hundred Cards (OHC) challenge. You can read a little bit more about the challenge here.

Theme #27 was Acorn, and I decided to use Nutsy Kaylee stamp set from Some Odd Girl. This cute set also had a sentiment that's perfect for Valentine's day, so I incorporated a bit of subtle Valentine flair into the card.

I started by stamping the squirrel and the smiley acorn onto some Copic Marker paper, using chocolate brown ink. I colored in the two images with Copics and carefully cut them out.

Since the images had a bit of a mono-chromatic look (shades of brown), I decided to carry over that theme with the rest of the card. I created a standard A2 card base (4¼x5½") out of some khaki cardstock. I then grabbed one of the 4x6 journaling cards from this collection. I liked both the color of the card and white banner-like area for the sentiment. I cut it down to measure 5¼ by 4" and rounded the corners with a ½" corner punch.

I die-cut the hexagon from a piece of Kiss Kiss patterned paper and adhered it to the card. I then drew in some white lines and little hearts to echo the sentiment banner and the patterned paper. I also used my white gel pen to add in a stitched outline to the front panel.

I adhered the squirrel and the acorn with foam squares, then adhered the whole panel to the card base. I rounded the corners of the card base with the ½" corner punch, and the card was complete!

Supplies:
Some Odd Girl -Nutsy Kaylee stamp
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Chocolate Brown
My Favorite Things Hexagon STAX (retired)
Copic Mini Marker Pad in 70#lbs
Crate Paper Kiss Kiss 6x6 patterned paper
Simon Says Stamp Heavyweight cardstock in Khaki
Project Life - Cobalt Edition journaling cards
Sakura Gellyroll white gel pen
Scrapbook Adhesive 3D foam squares
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)
Copics (E23, E37, E25, E27, E57, E59, E50, E53, B05, R20, R85)

One Hundred Cards Challenge

Firstly, let me say... Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2015 brings you many bursts of creativity, moments of pure joy and success in whatever you're working hard on.

Since it's the first day of the year, I'm finally ready to unveil my first big project for 2015 - One Hundred Cards Challenge. This is a yearly challenge where I will make 100 unique cards based on the following list of themes:

(click on the image to enlarge it)

I decided to do this challenge for two reasons:
1) To give myself a focus and always have something to create and blog about. I particularly hope to run this long-running series as a way to post on a regular schedule. I'm a planner and having a schedule just works for me.
2) To make good use of my existing crafty supplies. I've got quite a few supplies that were bought because I fell in love with them, but they never made it past being moved into their stamp storage pocket. I'd really like to change this and make every purchase be worth it.

And with that, let me talk a bit about the theme list... I came up with the themes on a whim, using a stream-of-consciousness exercise -- this is basically where you take one word and keep writing (or typing) the first word that comes to mind when you see it. I continued down the list until I had 100 words, then scrambled them all up so I couldn't guess what the next entry was going to be.

Some of the words are fairly easy concepts, such as #7 (Yellow) and #62 (Chevron). Other words are a lot more challenging - such as #50 (Passage) or #21 (Velocity). But I've found that the really challenging and risky themes are the ones that end up being the most creative and the most satisfying to complete.

To make things a little extra challenging, I'm not going to go through the list in order. Instead, I've written down the themes on bits of paper, folded them and put them in a glass bowl. Each time I create, I (or one of my lovely family) reaches in and picks a random theme to work with.

And there you have it! I hope you'll enjoy all the cards created for this challenge. And if you join in on the challenge, definitely let me know! I'd love to check out your creations. :)