Stinkin' Cute

Today feels like a Lawn Fawn kind of day, so I'm sharing a card featuring the cute mini Stinkin' Cute. I've had this stamp and coordinating die for a little while now, but I couldn't decide what kind of card to make with it.

When in doubt, go for cute! So, I grabbed some adorable pink paper from Let's Polka in the Meadow and die-cut it into a scalloped rectangle. While I had my Bigshot out, I also die-cut some white cardstock with the Stitched Journaling Card die. I cut a black piece of cardstock with the same die, then created a scalloped border.

I adhered the black and white pieces together, then tied some pink ribbon around it. I added the skunk and heart with foam squares, then embellished with a few enamel dots. As a last step, I added the cute sentiment.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

AE - Birthday Boy

Today's card is a birthday boy card- something I need to have quite a bit of in my stash, as we have a lot of boys in the family. The card features Avery Elle's Stoked stamp set, which has some fantastic images and sentiments to match. It's great for boys of all ages, especially teens - and we all know how challenging it can be to make cards for teens...

I paired my image with a patterned paper featuring blues and oranges. It was a boy-themed paper pack, but this particular pattern was versatile enough to use for any age. I colored my image to match, adding shades of blue and gold along with some gray.

A birthday banner and a few enamel dots finish off the simple card quickly.

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: Using up Supplies

 
I'm starting today's chat with a quick card share that illustrates something I've been working on a lot lately - using up my supplies. The card itself includes some paper and embellishments from Lawn Fawn, most of which are no longer available for purchase.

I have a stash of "consumable" supplies I got over time. It includes patterned paper, embellishments, ink, and more. The majority of these supplies are retired, and others are just perpetually out of stock because they're popular with crafters. Ever since I got them, I've always hesitated using them - rationalizing that I'll miss them when they're used up and regret not saving them for the perfect project.

And while that logic is sound -- after all, what I hate the most is being unprepared and feeling like I'm missing a million things -- the reality is actually quite different.

First, there's no such thing as a "perfect" project. Every project is important in its own way, whether I love or hate the result. And - more importantly - creativity is not product-dependent. By assuming that I'll be so upset over a missing supply that I won't be able to think of a creative way to do without it, I'm really telling myself that I have no confidence about my skills. Some of what feels like my best work came from being limited - by supply, theme or more. So, I should embrace the limitations and be excited about all the new ideas that might spring from them.

With that line of reasoning in mind, I went out and grabbed some of those supplies I've been saving and used them on a card. And another card. And another. It didn't use up everything, but I've got a little stack of cards I can use or wrap up as a set for a friend/loved one.

I was dreading that I would feel regret after using those favorite supplies, but I actually felt happy. I felt like my original purchase was justified -- which is an even better feeling! I didn't buy my supplies so they can sit in the crafty closet. I bought them because they inspired me and I was excited to use them.

I realized that I wasn't really trying to hold onto the supply itself, but that excited, inspired feeling I got when I looked at something I liked. That feeling isn't tied to the specific product alone. Sure, maybe I'll need to wait a little while before I find another amazing paper pad or before flair is back in trend. Eventually, though, I'll find something new I love. And then I can have fun shopping for it.

In the meantime, I've got plenty of treasures in my stash to keep me busy and plenty of ideas to play around with.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Spice!

Today, I'm sharing another card featuring Birdie Brown's Recipe for Happiness. I still just love the whimsical look of the chef, and how perfectly it fits with my food/cooking-themed patterned paper.

For this card, I chose to add some gingham ribbon. I think it works just great with the chef theme, as it reminds me a bit of a picnic table. This particular ribbon is dark brown, but the card could have easily worked with red or green as well.

Thanks for reading!
Elle

Dream Big

Since I mentioned WPlus9 in my last post, I thought I'd share a card created with some goodies from WPlus9. One of the things I appreciate about my collection of goodies from WPlus9 is that they're all very unique and different, which I really appreciate. Sometimes I want to take a step back from my usual familiar style and it's awesome to have a collection of supplies that give me a different look while still matching up with my basics like cardstock and patterned paper.

For my card, I used Dream Believer - which is a stamp set I had my eye on for a while. It's a little more expensive than the usual set, but it's also quite a bit larger and offering a lot more stamps. Aside from a ton of elements for building a dream-catcher, there are several sentiments in a scripty font that will be useful for quite a few future cards.

I also chose to go with WPlus9 inks - Warm Wool, Hayride, Miami Spice and Gala Apple. For embellishment, I reached in my sequins storage and grabbed a few sequins that matched up in color - along with the enamel dots, of course.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Hello Yellow

Copics: W2. W4, W6, W8, R32, Y11, Y15, Y35, Y38, YR14

 I'm sharing a card today featuring WPlus9's Unforgettable stamp set and some no-line Copic coloring.

I started by stamping the elephant in medium grey dye ink. Now, normally, you wouldn't use dye ink for Copic coloring because it would bleed. But that turned out to be perfect for my technique, because it turned the ink practically invisible. If you're interested, Dawn has a guest video on this technique that shows it off perfectly.

I used a similar technique with the balloon and then I used the coordinating dies to cut out my images. For the background, I went with a layer of striped patterned paper, a plain white panel and a cute chipboard frame. Since the frame had a sentiment, I didn't think it needed anything else.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Hugs & Prayers Floral

I wanted to take another opportunity to play with the Friendship Blooms stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. My previous card focused on the flowers, colored in purple. With this new card, the flower was more of an embellishment than a focal piece.

I also used some circle dies to create an interesting layout, echoing the polka dots on the patterned paper.

Since the card was so simple, I only added 3 enamel dots as embellishment.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Happy Mothers' Day

Power Poppy - Go Wild stamp set; Prismacolor pencils

 

I'm sharing a quick card to wish all the moms in my life a happy Mothers' Day. Thanks a bunch for all you do for your families! :)

(New) Gnome Town

I think we've saved the best for the last, with the incredible Gnome Town stamp from Some Odd Girl!

Now, a big stamp might be intimidating, but Gnome Town is so charming that I jumped straight into coloring. I used only Copics and tried my hand at some reflective lighting to complement my night-time scene.

Since the stamp was so large and detailed, I simply adhered it to a wood-grain patterned paper. I decided not to add any sentiments or embellishments to not detract from the awesome image.

See how the rest of the Odd Girls used this stamp on Some Odd Girl's Blog!
~Elle~

(New) Background Elements

Today's Some Odd Girl release is actually a whole collection of must-have stamps! The background builder features several pieces of flora that allows you to build a background for your gnomes, fairies and woodland critters. What's great about this collection in particular is that the stamps are at drawn at a very high resolution. So, you can print out your images as large or as small as you need them.

I really wanted to highlight one of the trees, so I printed it out large enough to fit a card front and got to coloring! I used pinks for the leaves, just to do something unique and I did a simple dotted background on a plain white card base. A sentiment sticker and a couple of enamel dots, and my card was done.

For more uses of this fab collection, check out Some Odd Girl Blog!
~Elle~

(New) Gnome Mountain

Today's card features a very grumpy-yet-adorable gnome that's just perfect for cheer-up cards, birthday cards and congratulations. With his grumpy look, the stamp lends itself to funny cards and serious cards alike. And the addition of the little snail adds just the right amount of cute.

I kept my card super simple, matching up the Copic coloring with an ombré patterned paper and a few small enamel dots. Like my previous two cards, I found the sentiment in my stash of stickers.

Check out what the other Odd Girls are up ton on Some Odd Girls' blog!
~Elle~

(New) Gnome Fishing

We're continuing on with Some Odd Girl digi stamp releases! Today's stamp is Gnome Fishing, and it features a fun fishing stamp - perfect for boy cards, masculine cards or just a fun new something to color.

Like yesterday, I created a custom hand-colored Copic background for my image. I chose more masculine colors this time around, sticking with blues and greens. I set the stamp against a woodgrain background, and added a simple "Relax" sticker. As a last touch, a few enamel dots and shapes rounded everything off.

Be sure to check out Some Odd Girl blog for more inspiration!
~Elle~

(New) Gnome Girl

Today is the beginning of an exciting new week for Some Odd Girl -- it's release week and there's oodles of fantastic new digis coming your way. The theme for this release is gnomes, and they're absolutely adorable!

The digi we're featuring today is Gnome Girl, who comes with a cute pose and the tree stump and foliage. I was immediately inspired to create a forest scene, so I took out my Copics and did a loose hand-colored background.

I chose some pretty papers that had similar tones to my coloring and added a simple sticker for a sentiment. A couple of enamel dots and the card was done!

Join me tomorrow for another fab digi, and remember to check Some Odd Girl blog to see what the rest of the talent created.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~