Hello Sunshine Card

Good morning, Stampin' Friends! I got a little busy this week and was worried that I hadn't chosen a winner for last week's drawing yet...and then I realized that I set the Rafflecopter incorrectly, so the drawing doesn't end until the 19th. so if you haven't entered yet, check out the drawing entry form HERE. 

Today I'm sharing a new February Stamp of the Month card. I took a card front of Glacier Cardstock and die cut an outline heart thin cuts die. I cut the same heart twice more in Canary Cardstock, once on each side of the double sided cardstock so I could flip the inside and have the outline be more present when I filled in the card front die cut space. I filled the Glacier CS base with a heart outline and the inner heart, then trimmed off the excess heart diecut from the left side of the card. Then I flipped over a small floral cluster stamp to use the BACK side as a cloud shape, stamping that all over the Glacier Cardstock in White Daisy ink. 

I stamped the HELLO sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black ink across the die cut hearts before adding a banner made with my surgically altered circle sentiment image. The banner is popped up with thin foam tape and knotted twice with thick Gray Twine that I frayed after trimming.  I cut a 1/8" strip of Canary Cardstock and snipped off bits to make the sunshine rays surrounding my die cut heart.

I'm linking this card up to the CAS on Friday Dies Challenge, the Paper Issues Love is in the Air Challenge, and the Heart 2 Heart Love is in the Air Challenge. Don't forget, you still have a couple of days to enter my Atlantic Hearts 250th Sketch Celebration giveaway, too. Thanks for stopping by!

Live Beautifully Doily Card

I was cleaning up my photo files when I realized I hadn't yet shared this sweet Mother's Day using the National Scrapbooking Month Live Beautifully papers. They are almost gone, and Mother's Day is past, but I hope you won't mind...

There's literally no stamping on this card except for the easily changed out sentiment. How pretty is that huge vintage floral? I paired it with a doily, the subtle grey stripe from the Live Beautifully packet and the gold foil dots. I'm just so sad that there's only a little bit of time left to grab this gorgeous floral paper suite!

I cut the trio of cream roses from another print in the packet, and popped them up with some thin foam tape. The black glitter is Shimmer Trim I punched with a scallop border. I sprinkled on a few gold glitter gems and tiny gold sequins to finish this pretty project off. I'm linking it up to the Heart 2 Heart Coming Up Roses Challenge, the Color My Heart Live Beautifully Challenge, and the Paper Issues May Mom-O-Gram Challenge. 

Live Beautifully Congratulations Card

While I love making more complicated watercolor versions of this month's Live Beautifully rose images, I also wanted to see what I could do just stamping a single rose, fast and simple.

Inspired by the Navy in this week's Fusion Card Challenge, this little Congrats card comes together in no time at all. I simply inked the rose in blue ink and stamped it repeatedly all over the card front. each time I stamped the rose I also stamped off the second and third generation lighter images in the spaces between the roses. 

I love how that extra pouncing of the stamp image fills in the spaces of the background without adding more images to compete with the roses. I layered my sentiment strip over some navy organdy ribbon from my stash, and topped it off with a couple of sparkly gems. I'm linking this card up to the Heart 2 Heart Coming Up Roses Challenge. Check out the Live Beautifully Collection before it sells out!

Sawdust is Man Glitter Card

Ready to shake up my girlie, floral obsessed, glittery blog with another masculine card today? If not, look away! Never mind - I still found a way to add glitter!

So I'm making cards with Jack-Scrapbooking, and, duh, it has no card sentiments. I really like goofiness. Like super duper love punny or silly card sentiments. And if I don't have a funny card sentiment, I will make my own! That's one of the joys of stamping - complete and total control. this one I made with a retired set called Tiny Typewriter. I hoard save all my fonts forever and ever, because you never know when you'll need them again.

I used my Fuse tool to create a pocket for the "sawdust", which is a combo of brown, red distress, and white glitters with a big pinch of mica flakes. I kept the rest of the details simple, inspired by the clean and simple masculine card by Tracey McNeeley over at the MUSE Card Club challenge. I only added one tiny kraft element like Tracey's kraft stripe, but couldn't resist just a bit of penwork. This is about as clean and simple as my embellishment loving heart could manage!

Hello Friend Fusion Card

Today I'm sharing my card from our team swap this last weekend. I gathered together some of my favorite new goodies for this one. 

I used Slate cardstock as the base of my card, and stamped the top with some of the images from Season of Magic. I layered on some Pear cardstock, then a small doily, and then a black panel with the word HELLO diecut from the center. I let the doily peek through the diecut word for a fun effect.

I added a paper butterfly that I dyed with ink from my pad and a waterbrush. I embellished the butterfly body with sequins topped with black rhinestones. I added the "FRIEND" from a retired set called A Thousand Thanks, and some bits of Jeepers Creepers washi tape. Across the bottom I tucked a strip of the lined vellum from the Uptown Fundamentals, by cutting it half an inch taller than needed and gluing that strip under the Pear Cardstock to hide the adhesive.

I used both the sketch and the Photo Inspirations from Fusion Card Challenge to make this card.

Day 329: So Happy Birthday to You Card

I've decided that I love cleaning out my studio. As I discover bits and pieces of beloved past lines I'm feeling inspired to craft anew and use it up!

First I found this 1/2 inch BIRTHDAY strip trimmed from a PML pocket scrapbooking card that apparently I just couldn't throw away. then I ran across my Simple Stories I AM 6x6 pad, and I realized the colors worked together pretty well. Next thing I knew, I had a card!

I used bits and pieces from Crazy Good to fill in my sentiment. Then I added some gold sequins topped with pale grey enamel dots.finally I went back and added the stitch detail, which would have been easier to do before adding the sentiment...sometimes you gotta step back in to define the edges, you know?  The packing is going on in earnest now with the movers coming a week from Tuesday, so who knows what I'll find this week! I'm linking this card up to the Seize the Birthday Clean and Simple challenge. 

Day 249: Blossoming Friendship Card

Have you seen the new Muse Card Club Challenge? It's a beautiful floral card by Tracey McNeely to stamplift and inspire! I've been doing a lot of holiday cards this month, so it was fun to break out the Hollyhock ink and florals.

I used a new set called Blossoming Expressions, which I've had but hadn't broken open yet. It's a two step stamp set, which is one of my favorite styles. Basically you stamp the bottom/solid layer in a lighter color (in this case that's second generation Hollyhock ink). Then you stamp the detail image over top using a darker ink (full strength Hollyhock). I love the detailed effect with no coloring - like a super fast highway to Adorable-ville!

I used a post-it note to mask and layer the blossoms. I added leaves and the sentiment using Olive ink. Then I popped on a few pink enamel gems for some texture. Now I'm back to working in Studio J!

Day 243: Merry Everything Holiday Card

Can you believe that October is almost over? I wanted to squeeze in at least one more October stamp of the month card.

This card was inspired by this week's MUSE: Christmas Visions inspiration card by Betty Wright. I loved her music background, and classic red, green, and gold color combo. I embossed my ornament images with gold powder, then filled in the striped with a red alcohol marker and dabbed on some red glitter gel.

I topped the ornaments with a gold trim hand-tied bow topped with a gold paper Fundamentals bow and a red enamel gem, like a cherry on top! Thanks for the festive inspiration, Betty and Muse!

Day 230: Penguin Christmas Card

Tonight I got to play with my new holiday set called Seasons Greetings. How cute are those penguins?

I used the new Freshly Made Sketches sketch. I filled the spaces with Kraft cardstock stamped with part of the Warm Winter Wishes sentiment. I then heat embossed some white snowflakes onto the card base. 

I stamped and paper pieced the two penguins, adding clear Wink of Stella to their winter gear. I hand cut their little coffee cups out of white daisy cardstock. They make me think of my little guy Max, off for a Starbucks date with me, since that's one of our favorite things to do. I'm linking up to the Merry Monday Java Time Challenge. Thanks for stoppin' by, Stamping Friends!

Day 158: Happy Birthday Elephant Card

So I've been staring at this awesome Photo Inspiration challenge at Just Us Girls and wanting to do something with it...but I couldn't decide what.

Then tonight I took a peek at this week's Mojo Monday sketch and something just clicked. I remembered this adorable Amy Tangerine elephant diecut I've been hoarding saving, and I was off to the races! I embossed a panel of White Daisy cardstock with the quatrefoil embossing folder. Then I colored in the raised areas using a waterbrush and Lagoon ink with lots of water. 

I added a snip of Scaredy Cat B&T paper. I'm going to miss this versatile paper packet when it goes Buh-bye at the end of August (or sooner if it sells out). I stamped the main front panel with pieces from Happy Everything (the Operation Smile set that sends $3 to help change the life of a child!) and Doodled Designs. Then I added some journaling pen stitches before mounting the elephant die cut and cricut balloon. I did add some sewing thread for the balloon string - couldn't resist! 

Hope this one brought a smile to your face too!

Got my Operation Smile shirt today too - can't wait to wear it out and about tomorrow!

Day 155: This Made My Day Card

I needed a super quick and easy card today, because I am really just feeling under the weather. I managed to power through tuxedo shoe shopping and grocery shopping and very soon I'm going to tuck myself into bed for the evening and sleep...well, until my boys get up at 5 am!

Max and I went out and procured him a shiny new pair of tuxedo shoes this morning, and he is happy as a clam again. He charmed the shoe salesgirl with his enthusiasm for what might be the least popular footwear in the the children's department, wearing them right out of the store after abandoning his Ninja Turtle Crocs in the middle of the store. Before we found Max's happy feet, though, we hit up my favorite coffee shop, Atticus.  So I think I had coffee on the brain when I went to whip up this simple card. I'm linking this one up to the Friday Mashup Let's Eat Challenge. 

Now I got to work with the new Picture My Life Designs for my Convention Presentation, and I absolutely love the new cards coming this fall...but the For Always cards are my favorite of the retiring designs. I bought an extra package to be sure my pocket scrapbooking stash won't run low on these for a long while. The black, white, cream, and bamboo color palette is so elegant and works for so many things. I cut the mug out of a card, and the sentiment off another. Then I stamped the background with OH MY HAPPY from Happy Everything, the Operation Smile stamp set I've been obsessing over this week. This card took me less than 5 minutes, and that seriously just made my day!

If you missed it, you can get the scoop on Operation Smile and these fabulous Make Someone Smile t-shirts HERE.

Day 130: You Make Me a Happy Camper Card

Today I'm sharing a fun paper pieced Camper card using the Camper Crazy stamp set. 

I started with the Freshly Made Sketch Challenge Sketch. I combined the sketch with this week's Just Us Girls inspiration photo. I used some Timberline B&T plus Lagoon Hearts and Green Stripe washi tape.

I stamped the camper three times. Once on the card element, once on the gingham B&T, and once on white cardstock. On the white cardstock I colored the windows, awnings, and banner with Shin Han markers. Then I cut out the camper body from the gingham and adhered it over the camper stamped on the card. Then I fussy cut the banners and windows and glued them onto the gingham camper. I added some details with a silver metallic marker and a white gel pen.   Now I'm a happy camper!

Day 92:Butterfly Thinking of You Card

Tonight I wanted to get a little messy, so I got out the texture paste and headed over to Cardabilities for sketch inspiration. 

I added a layer of Hexagons to the white background using texture paste and an Artbooking cricut cut. Then I browsed the Internet while I waited for it to set. I loved the Just Us Girls Photo Inspiration challenge, and decided to go with butterflies instead of flowers. I stitched my hexagon textured panel to some Blossom B&T, and started gluing!

I laid down a frame of nail striping tape in a shiny bronze/orange color. Then I colored my Cricut frame with a black marker, backed the hearts with more of the Blossom B&T paper, and added some nail striping tape lines to the frame. I popped that up with foam tape before adding the leaf branches and teensy flowers. I added some Wink of Stella to the butterflies and added both epoxy bubbles and bitty sparkles to the mix.  I stamped a sentiment from Happy a Happy Day and mounted it with foam tape to finish off the card.

Day 33: Scrapping Our Stash Blog Hop

Welcome back to another Scrapping Our Stash blog hop, where the only rule is it's got to come from your stash. You might be arriving here from Jennifer's blog. This month, instead of my typical Hoop Art, I'm sharing an actual layout. I know you are shocked, right?  If you're looking for my next hoop installment, you'll find my latest hoop art here.

One of the #PICrop challenges last weekend was to scraplift this amazing layout by Leah L'Orange. I was so down for that. I grabbed another sheet of my hoard of Timberline woodgrain paper and machine stitched it to a Whisper Cardstock base. Twice. Then I added layers of paper (Simple Stories The Story of Us), PML Cards (For Always), and some washi tape that I think maybe perhaps I bought at Michaels but it's been so long I can't truly remember. You know how that goes, right?

I had a set of these Canvas letters that I'd opened but used like 2 just sitting in my alphabet bin. I added a bit of stamping from You're The Bomb (which is going away forever on Tuesday - sob!). I mounted one of my favorite Baby Max pics under an old cork polaroid frame, then I tucked some cricut leaves under the corner.

I used a Paper Issues free download printable for my tag. I love that movie! More leaves, and little touches of clear glitter pen and bitty sparkles help make this layout sparkle like his adorable baby smile! I really cannot believe that this adorable boy is 5 years old now and addicted to his tuxedo. Like it simultaneously thrills me and breaks my heart. Thank goodness for scrapbooking to remind us how far we've come, and of all the good things in our lives.  

Next up on the hop is: Katrina!

And here's the whole hop list, just in case you need it!

Jennifer

Wendy C

Katrina

Suzanna

Monique

Charity

Kerri

Cheryl

Sandy

Majken

Juliana

Day 12: Sending Mojo Love

CTMH is issuing a weekly challenge using the hashtag #jrlcreativechallenge on Facebook and Instagram. This week's challenge is to use one of the bazillion cute projects in the Annual Inspirations book to jumpstart your own project. I chose a cute gift bag from page 117.

I thought that my inspiration photo fit really well with this week's Mojo Monday Sketch. I embossed some Tropical Blue CS from my stash with the Chevron embossing folder. Then I sanded...and sanded...and sanded some more to bring out the chevron. I punched a piece of Canary Cardstock with an arrow border and backed the punched area with gold shimmer trim. then I embossed lines on either side of the shimmer trim and sanded all around the embossing and edges.

Then I stamped the clouds and drew in the border line. I colored my banner and hot air balloon using Shin Han alcohol markers. I masked the basket of the balloon to fill the basket with hearts. Golly, I love this adorable hot air balloon stamp set! It was a lot of fun to color (and I'm a lazy anti-colorer).  I popped up the balloon on foam tape and added a few touches of glitter gel to finish it off. I'm linking up to the Paper Issues: Enamored with Enamel linky party 'cause I love hearts and arrows! 

Mojo Merry Christmas

Sometimes when you see a blog challenge hit your inbox you just know exactly what you want to do. That was the case when I saw this week's Mojo Monday Sketch - and my card idea went perfectly with the Merry Monday Prompt, too! Then I just had to find the time to create.

I embossed the background Cranberry CS panel with the Dots folder. The Glacier stamped panel is a sneak peek of next month's SOTM, and that bit of Black snowflake paper is quite possibly my favorite holiday paper in the whole idea book . 

How cute is this moped?  I colored the moped using Shin Han twin touch markers, then coated with with stardust glitter gel. I took this shot at a big angle so you can really see the glitter! 

I guess I was in a holiday kind of mood, so I've got another holiday card to share tomorrow too. Happy Friday!