Welcome little 'coon

Mama Elephant - Rowdy Raccoons

The raccoon is back! This time, he's featured on a baby card. I used a palette of greens and blues, so this could be suited for a little baby boy, but just switching the color palette would make this into a girly card, too.

Thanks for taking a look.
~Elle~

Baby Celebration

Today's card is another baby card- this time a bit more playful.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Soft Baby

For today's card, I decided to work with softer and more subtle tones that are fitting a baby card. It's a bit more elaborate than what I usually do, but I like how it turned out.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

LF: Boy Congrats

Today's card features an older set from Lawn Fawn called Home Sweet Home. It's a retired set that was released in 2013, but it's been sitting in my stash for ages - just waiting to be used. I decided to pair it with a newer set (Elphie Selfie) because it had a fun little bird stamp that fit the card idea perfectly.

I went for a baby boy card, as I seem to have very few of those in my stash. I added a bit of texture with a dot stencil and blue ink, and embellished with 3 glittery enamel dots.

Today's card was inspired by the Lawn Fanatics challenge:

Their challenge runs until November 19th and it's a great way to dust of your old Lawn Fawn favorites.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

(NT) Welcoming Committee

As you may have noticed, I had a super busy week at work and did not get a chance to post much... I'm hoping next week will be less busy, so that I can share some of the cards that are piling up on my crafty desk...

As a quick share today, I've got a card using Neat & Tangled's Itty Bitty Welcoming Committee. I used my Prismacolor pencils to color in the image, and backed it against a baby-themed patterned paper. As embellishment, I found some great pastel-like sequins.

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~

Lavender and Mint - Baby

Today, I have two cards to share using Mama Elephant's Charmed stamp set. Both cards were created with  a baby theme in mind. My palette was somewhat neutral, combining soft purple with mint. I think this combination works for both boy and girl baby cards because it's neither typically masculine or feminine - it's just soft and fresh.

For the owl, I went with taupe and white - adding just a touch of pink to the cheeks and orange to the beak and feet. I also used the cute wreath that comes with the set, colored with purples and minty greens.

I used a similar design for the fox card, going with earthy oranges and white. I made sure to use an orange that wasn't too bright, as it would have clashed with the lavender and mint.

Both cards use the same design, with a scalloped border and patterned paper peeking underneath. I embellished the card with some enamel shapes and added a small congrats sentiment.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

SOG - Baby (DT)

I have a sweet baby project over on the Some Odd Girl blog. Be sure to check it out! I talk about how I created the card and give a few ideas of what you can do to switch it up. :)

Bun in the Oven

 Today's card is a really sweet and very simple card that features Lawn Fawn's Plus One stamp set. For this card, I'm making use of some supplies I found while cleaning my crafty closet. The note-card and paper scraps really caught my eye, so I decided to make good use of them.

I started by stamping the cute oven and coloring it in with my Copics. I did very simple shading with pinks and grays, then I carefully cut it out, leaving a small white border.

I die-cut the yellow star paper into a stitched circle shape using Stitched Party Banners die.

The watercolor note-card made the perfect card base. I added a scrap strip of patterned paper just to tie in the pink from the oven, and adhered it straight onto the card. I adhered oven to the the stitched circle and added them to the card with foam squares.

For the sentiment, I went simple and stamped it onto a small white rectangle. I then rounded the top corners of the rectangle so it looked a bit like an oven door. I adhered the sentiment to the card, and voila!

Supplies:
Lawn Fawn - Plus One stamp set
Lawn Fawn - Stitched Party Banners die
My Favorite Things - Hybrid Ink in Black Licorice
Watercolor note-card
Copics (R81, R85, C4, C6, E33, E35, E49)
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam squares

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

Baby's First Christmas

Today's card features a really fabulous digital stamp from Mo Manning called First Christmas. If you're not a fan of digital stamps, Mo also has several of her designs in cling rubber stamps available through Penny Black and through Stamping Bella.

This card is the first in a set I will be giving to my sister-in-law for Christmas. My nephew was born right around Christmas last year. And while it's technically not his very first holiday, it's the first one that will have gifts and treats he can open himself. So, I thought I'd celebrate the occasion with a couple of Christmas-themed baby cards.

After printing out the cute baby stamp, I cut it into a rectangle and colored in with my Copics. Since the image has a wonderful sketchy feeling, I did very little blending on the colors. I colored a simple gray floor to add a bit of shadow, then matted the image onto some red cardstock.

The rest of the card was kept very simple. I cut a panel of patterned paper from Gingerbread Village pad to measure 4 x 2". I also cut a piece of brown cardstock to measure 4 x 5 1/4". I adhered the patterned paper to the bottom of the chocolate cardstock, then added a line of red and white polkadot ribbon.

After adhering the panel to a standard top folding A2 card base, I attached the stamp panel with foam squares. As a last touch, I scattered several sparkling clear sequins around the baby.

Supplies:
Mo Manning First Christmas digital stamp
Copics (E00, E11, E13, R20, B000, B00, B02, B05, B37, R08, R46, R89, Y11, Y38, G67, W2, W4)
Simon Says Stamp cardstock in Lipstick Red
Neenah Desert Storm Environmental Cardstock in 100#lbs
Stampin' Up Cardstock in Chocolate Chip
Webster's Pages Gingerbread Village 8x8 patterned paper
Red grosgrain ribbon with white polkadots
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive runner (pink)
Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins in 4mm and 6mm
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam squares
Ranger Multi-Medium Matte glue

Baby Bunny

This card uses a lovely old set by Penny Black called Touch of Whimsy. I bought this stamp set ages ago because I simply fell in love with the images. They have a beautiful whimsical design, and a combination of storybooks and ancient Chinese scroll art. I don't think I've ever seen a stamp set quite like it.

I was not pleased with my purchase originally. I didn't realize this, but Penny Black clear stamps are acrylic and I've been used to working with photo-polymer stamps. So, to switch to an acrylic stamp was a challenge and I hated my early results. But although Penny Black clear stamps are acrylic, they're still of a very good quality. I just had to change my stamping approach a bit to make them work perfectly. So, I decided to use one of the bunny stamps and have fun with the card.

I started by die-cutting a scalloped rectangle from My Favorite Things' Blueprints 1 dies, using a gray cardstock. I also cut a front panel out of white cardstock, using the larger rectangle from Blueprints 1. I then grabbed my trimmer and cut a strip of striped brown patterned paper.

I stamped the bunny in the corner of the panel, using Ranger Archival ink in Coffee. I then used my Prismacolor pencils to color in the bunny, going with greens and reds for some great contrast - and because they're gender-neutral colors.

I stamped a sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Sweet Little Sentiments at the bottom left of the panel, then adhered the white panel to the gray scallop. I adhered the patterned paper at the center of a card base, and added the front panel with foam squares.

The card needed a little shine, so I added a few sequins I got as a lovely gift with one of my Winnie & Walter orders. They're clear sequins, but they shimmer and shine a rainbow of hues when the light catches them. It's really quite lovely.

Supplies:
Penny Black A Touch of Whimsy stamp
Clearly Besotted Sweet Little Sentiments stamp
Ranger Archival ink in Coffee
Neenah Solar White cardstock in #110lbs (base) and #80lbs (front panel)
Gray cardstock
Stampin' Up Designer Series Paper Lullaby
My Favorite Things Blueprints 1 dies
3M Double-Sided Foam Tape
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)
Prismacolor Pencils
Winnie & Walter sequins

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

Avery Elle - Pastel Thanks

Confession time! I have ridiculous amounts of patterned paper. Staggering towers of 6x6 papers, a bundle of 12x12 collections and let's not even get into the cardstock stacks... I am a paper girl at heart, and nothing makes me happier than having the perfect paper for every occasion. So, when I saw that Avery Elle was introducing 6x6 patterned papers to match their inks and cardstock, I just had to get them right away. And then they sat on my craft table for a while, until I figured out just how I wanted to use them.

This card started with the Avery Elle Sorbet 6x6 paper pack. The papers in this collection are in softer pastel colors, and would be perfect for a baby card or a spring card. I also grabbed Avery Elle Mint to Be and Pixie cardstock - which matched the patterned paper.

First, I created the card base by cutting a sheet of Avery Elle Ultra smooth pure white cardstock in half. I scored it into an A2 top-folding card (4 1/4 by 5 1/2").

Using my Bigshot, I cut two circles from the pink and mint cardstock, using MFT's Stitched Circle dies.  I adhered them at the top of the card. I thought about adding a third circle, but I liked the simple look of just having 2 colors and 2 shapes.

Then I grabbed a piece of mint and pink heart paper from the patterned pack and cut them into 1/2-inch strips. I adhered them to the right corner of the card base at an angle, alternating the colors. I cut off the extra pieces on the side.

For the sentiment, I went with Avery Elle's Many Thanks stamp set. I stamped the thank you in Mint To Be pigment ink.

As a last touch, I scattered some sequins over the two circles.

I think this would make a really sweet baby thank-you card. The pink could be replaced with blue for a boy version. Sorbet pack features a sea-glass color in it as well, which is a light blue color. And there's also a brighter green, which would work great for something gender-neutral.

Supplies:
Avery Elle Many Thanks stamp
Avery Elle Mint to Be pigment ink
Avery Elle Sorbet 6x6 paper pad
Avery Elle heavyweight cardstock in Mint to be, Pixie and Ultra smooth pure white
MFT Stitched Circle die-namics
Ranger Studio Multi-Medium Matte glue
Avery Elle sequins in Sugar blend and Lucky blend

Stork and Stars

Although Lawn Fawn's Plus One is an older baby-themed set, a set of its matching dies was made available during the newest Lawn Fawn release.

For this card, I wanted to create a water-colored sky background. I started by cutting a piece of watercolor paper to measure 3 1/2 by 5 inches. Working on my craft sheet, I used distress ink pads and water to create a blended blue and purple background. If you're not familiar with this technique, check out this video by Kristina Werner.

After drying the watercolor paper with my heat gun, I adhered it to a piece of 110lb white cardstock (using lots of adhesive!). Watercolor paper has a tendency to warp or curl up when wet, so adhering it to a thick stiff base will help it stay flatter. I die-cut several stars from Lawn Fawn's Let's Polka petite 6x6 paper pad, using Simon Says Stamp mini stars craft die. I adhered them to the card with some liquid glue.

I stamped and die-cut the stork from white cardstock and colored him in using my Copics. I adhered him to the card using foam squares, and stamped a very simple greeting underneath him.

Lastly, I adhered the panel to the card base.

Supplies:
Stamp: Lawn Fawn Plus One
Dies: Lawn Fawn Plus One, Simon Says Stamp mini stars craft die
Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka Petite, Neenah Solar White 110lb (panel)
Base: Neenah Desert Storm 100lb
Ink: MFT Hybrid Ink in black licorice, Ranger Distress Ink in Peacock Feathers, Seedless Preserves and Faded Jeans
Copics: B00, Y21, Y35, E23, YR12, YR15
Tombow Mono multi liquid glue
Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares

LF- Somebunny is on the way

This is the last card for my Stamp Trio Challenge. As with the first two cards, I've been using Lawn Fawn's Hello Baby stamp set.

I started by cutting and scoring a piece of MFT's Primitive Cream cardstock to measure 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches. Then, I cut out a piece of polka dot patterned paper from Lawn Fawn's Hello Sunshine 6x6 paper pad to measure 3 3/4 by 5 inches.

After adhering the patterned paper to the card, I wanted to make the colors a bit more subtle, so I added a piece of vellum.

For the center panel, I cut out the smaller banner from Lawn Fawn's Stitched Party Banners die set. I also cut out the stitched circle from the same die set, using plain white cardstock.  After stamping and die-cutting the two bunnies, I colored them using my Copics and adhered them to the circle with some foam squares. I stamped a small heart between the bunnies.

The sentiment started with die-cutting a banner from Simon Says Stamp's Folded Banner Die. After putting together the banner, I stamped the sentiment from the Hello Baby set and adhered it to the card with foam squares.

As a last touch, I tied a piece of light lilac ribbon to the top of the pannel and adhered it to the card.

Supplies:
Stamp: Lawn Fawn Hello Baby
Dies: Lawn Fawn Hello Baby, Lawn Fawn Stitched Party Banners, Simon Says Stamp Folded Banner
Ink: MFT Hybrid Ink in black licorice and hot fudge
Paper: Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine 6x6
Cardstock: MFT Heavyweight Cardstock in primitive cream
Copics: W2, W4, W6, R81, R95
Doodlebug Sprinkles Lily White vellum
Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares
Pale lilac ribbon

Happy Shower

Continuing on with the stamp trio challenge, this card also uses Lawn Fawn's Hello Baby stamp and die set.

For this card, I wanted to create something simple and sweet. The best part is that it's a card that's easy to reproduce, so you could create a set of them and package them as a sweet and thoughtful gift for someone.

I started by taking a Lawn Fawn Mermaid Notecard to use as the card base. These adorable notecards are smaller than the A2 card, which makes the card even cuter.

I cut a piece of rainy patterned paper and adhered it to the card front. I then stamped the bunny, umbrella and 3 clouds on a piece of white cardstock. I colored them in with my Copics and die-cut them with my BigShot.

I adhered the clouds, umbrella and bunny with foam squares. I layered the bunny over the umbrella so it would look like he's holding it. I then stamped a Happy Shower sentiment and stamped a small red heart for an extra punch of color.

Lastly, I added a piece of pink ribbon to the top of the card and tied it into a pretty bow.

Supplies:
Stamp: Lawn Fawn Hello Baby
Base: Lawn Fawn Mermaid Notecard
Ink: MFT Hybrid Ink in black licorice, Memento Luxe in love letter
Paper: American Crafts Dear Lizzy Daydreamer 6x6
Copics: B00, BG11, BG32, BG49, E11, E37, E47
Scrapbook Adhesives foam squares
Pink ribbon

Fatherhood

As I was putting away all the incredible stamps from Lawn Fawn's new release, I came to the realization that my stamps are just not getting enough use. I love every stamp I've bought, even those that were bought for a specific situation/card. I've taken them all out of their packaging and put them in stamp storage pockets, but quite a few of them still have that pristine "never been used" look. I still delight in looking at them and thinking about what kind of card to make, but I really want to make sure I'm using them too. After all, I bought them to do something fun and creative and not to just have them sit in a pocket.

So, I've decided to make a little challenge for myself and do a Stamp Trio Challenge. I will take a specific stamp set and create 3 cards with it, and I'll try to push myself to make very different cards (ex. masculine, feminine and general, or different themes/sentiments).

For the first Stamp Trio Challenge, I'm going to be using Lawn Fawn's Hello Baby stamp set and coordinating dies.

So, my first card is a masculine card intended for a new dad. I rarely venture into the greeting card aisle anymore, but I still remember never really seeing a card that was meant just for a dad. There were quite a lot of mom and baby, or general baby cards, but not many dad cards - unless they were also meant for Father's Day. I think it's nice to have a baby card for a new dad, and that was my inspiration for this card.

I started by cutting a piece of Simon Says Stamp's Mint heavyweight card stock in half, so it measured 4 1/4 x 11". I scored it in half, making it into the base of a standard A2 card (5 1/2 x4 1/4). I set it aside to worn on the front panel.

I grabbed a scrap of white cardstock and cut it to measure a quarter inch less than the card base (4 x 5 1/4). I adhered two pieces of patterned paper, then adhered the panel to the front of the card. Using my BigShot, I die-cut a medium circle and a label out of white cardstock.

I created a mini-scene in the circle by stamping background pieces from the Hello Baby set and coloring around them with Copics. I then stamped out the frog prince from Hello Baby and the frog and crown from Lawn Fawn's Critters Ever After on a separate piece of card stock. I love how proud and happy the frog from Critters Ever After looks, and his slightly larger size makes him the perfect "dad". After coloring the frogs, I used my BigShot and coordinating dies to cut them out. I adhered them to the scene with foam squares.

For the sentiment, I used Milo's ABCs to spell out a custom message. I adhered the circle scene and the sentiment label to the card with foam squares. Lastly, I tied a light-blue ribbon around the front.

Supplies:
Stamp: Lawn Fawn Hello Baby, Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After, Lawn Fawn Milo ABCs
Ink: MFT Hybrid Ink in black licorice, hot fudge and gumdrop green
Copics: B000, B00, B91, B95, G21, G43, G46, Y35, YR15
Card Stock: Simon Says Stamp 100#lb heavy card stock in Mint, Neenah Solar White 80lbs
Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares
Recollections Brights patterned paper
Light Blue Ribbon

Mint Baby

This card... Oh, this card almost did not happen because this card was remade 4 times, and it's at least 90% different from my initial concept sketch. From coloring woes to glue issues to things being off-center, it was just not coming together. So, I took a step back and made something completely different. And I like it!

This card was inspired by Shari Carroll's new feature on the SSS blog: Color Coordinates. She covered Mint in one of the blog posts, and it made me think just how perfect of a hue that was for a gender-neutral baby card. So, I pulled up the tiny ray of sunshine stamp and got to work.

I paired the cool mint color with a warm gray/light brown from the Project Life : Baby paper pad. The paper flower from Prima's Sun Kissed: Bloom collection was the perfect touch to tie in the polka dots of the background and the mint. Finally, I added a few pearls to the right of the sentiment and it just pulled everything together.

Supplies:
Stamp: Simon Says Stamp: Tiny Ray Of Sunshine
Cardstock: Simon Says Stamp 100lbs cardstock in Mint
Paper: Becky Higgings Project Life: Baby Edition
Ink: Avery Elle pigment ink in Aquamarine
Flower: Prima Flowers Sun Kissed: Bloom
Copics
Pearls