Baby Boy Blog Hop for Jinny

Hey everyone!  I'm excited to be participating in a blog hop for my sweet friend Jinny to celebrate the birth of the latest addition to her family, Kaden Matthew.

I realized in creating this card that I really don't have a ton of baby stamps, so this card is stamp free.

I used patterned paper and a tag from Elle's Studio's Cameron collection and die cut alphas to create the sentiment.  I added some die cut stars, adhering them first to the tag and then stitching over them to create a banner effect at the top of my tag.



The trim is May Arts, I just love this Chevron Twill and have it in several colors.  Rather than wrapping it around the patterned paper, I just folded the ends over and stitched it to the patterned paper piece.



Anyway, I won't blather on, I want to make sure you are able to check out all the great projects and please go leave Jinny some love too.  I know she'll appreciate it!

Here's the full hop list in case you get lost:

Lynn Mangan - www.themangoboysandme.blogspot.com

Laurie Willison -www.soapboxcreations.blogspot.com

Angi Barrs - http://cokiepopaper.blogspot.com

Jennifer Turner - www.withlovefromsophienme.blogspot.com

Tracey McNeely - http://inmycreativeopinion.blogspot.ca

Annette Allen - myclevercreations.blogspot.com

Lisa Elton - http://mypapertales.blogspot.com/

Ashley Horton - ashleyhortondesigns.com

Miriam Prantner - http://mprantner.blogspot.com

Monika Davis - www.stampnmad.typepad.com

Leslie Germain - thememorynest.blogspot.com

Julie Tucker-Wolek - http://thetuckerwolekclan.blogspot.com/

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Elle's Studio - Cameron; Avery Elle - White, Silver Fox, and Fog cardstock
Other:  Elle's Studio - Cameron Tags; Lawn Fawn - Cole's ABCs Dies; Poppystamps - Superstar border; May Arts - Butter Chevron Twill; Xyron 1 1/2" sticker maker; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Hello Darling

I was able to finish up one more quick card yesterday, this one for the current Mama Elephant Challenge.

I embossed that gorgeous doily stamp with white detail powder, then added a wash of color using Pickled Raspberry Distress Ink and a water brush.

After the panel was fully dry, I stamped the sentiment and then used a Versamark marker to color select portions of the doily.  After restamping the doily, I added silver embossing powder.  I wish you could see how cool it looks in real life!




Some tiny clear gems finished it off.

Have a wonderful Friday!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Avery Elle - Silver Fox Cardstock; CTMH - White Doily Cardstock
Stamps:  Mama Elephant - Filigree
Ink:  Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry; Versamark; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Versamark marker; Water brush; CTMH - clear gems

WPlus9 Comfort Zone Challenge

I was able to get some stamping/crafting in today and decided to play along with WPlus9's birthday Comfort Zone Challenge.  My comfort zone tends to be CAS and when it comes to WPlus9 it involves Fresh Cut Florals.  On this card I used the original as well as the More Fresh Cuts set.

I played around with colors and flowers until I found the right mix.  I wanted to balance the size of the flowers/colors.

Another little detail, to add some extra depth to the card, I stamped a few of the leaves in white pigment ink on the card base and then then stamped over them, slightly offset, with my dark green leaf color.  Just adds a little more dimension.

The banner was cut from the same kraft as the base and them stamped with the white pigment ink.  I tried it first with a what cardstock banner, but that seemed a little too jarring.

OK, short and sweet tonight.  Have a great evening!

Supplies Used

Paper/Cardstock:  PTI - Kraft; CTMH - White Daisy

Stamps:  WPlus9 - Fresh Cut Florals, More Fresh Cuts, Basic Banners

Ink:  CTMH - White Daisy, Gypsy, Amethyst, Ponderosa Pine, Lagoon, Pacifica, Creme Brûlée; Hero Arts - Soft Pink and Raspberry Jam; Memento - Tuxedo Black

Other:  Wplus0 - Fresh Cut Florals, More Fresh Cuts, and Basic Banners Dies; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape; Tombow - Mono Adhesive 

I haven't stamped in days.....

Because we've been away on vacation.  We left for Orlando last Friday evening and got back yesterday tired but very, very happy.  It was a great trip, the girls' first to any big amusement park let alone four.  Thought I would share some highlights.

With the penguins at Sea World

Furry friends at Sea World (dressed up for the country concert that evening)

Petting stingrays

Checking out the dolphins in the underwater viewing area

Legoland:  I might have had an ulterior motive in going to Legoland.  I begged my parents to take us growing up and they refused to!  Of course at the time there was only one Legoland and it was in Europe, but still!

Carina and I got to go on a lot of rides together at all the parks since she's too short to go on roller coasters and I don't ride them.  Andrew and Ellie were roller coaster buddies.

Carina is a crazy driver....

Figured all of you fox crazy ladies would like these

There are some serious lego statues around!

Disney - of course we had to see princesses.  Ariel is Ellie's favorite.  The wait was 60+ minutes, but she did it without complaining, cheerful the whole time, and she still says it was worth it even though Andrew and Carina went on a couple rides and saw Clarabelle while we were waiting.

Cinderella's castle with Minnie ears.

Epcot - for whatever reason Ellie really wanted to meet Pluto so she was thrilled to see him first thing when we got into Epcot.

While Andrew and Ellie went on another 'tall' ride, Carina and I got to see Mickey, Goofy, and MINNIE!

And another princess.....

It really was wonderful despite long days, really warm weather (80's the whole time we were there), no naps, and no stroller (that's right, we went stroller free).  There was lots of joy, lots of happy, and I'm pretty sure that we have definitively proved that liberal use of gummy snacks makes everything better.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope to have something a little more creative to share soon.  :)

Anniversary Card

Another card utilizing a journaling tag from Carta Bella's Hello Again collection today.

I mounted the card a piece of Silver Fox cardstock and then added speech bubbles in the same color using Lawn Fawn dies/stamps/alphas.

So simple, and I think that even though it's got a pink base its masculine and clean enough to give to a guy.

What do you think?

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Carta Bella - Hello Again collection; Avery Elle - Silver Fox and Pixie cardstock
Stamps:  Lawn Fawn - Milo's Alpha and A Birdie Told Me
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Lawn Fawn - A Birdie Told me Dies; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape

Everything is going to be okay - Recent Publication

Sharing a recent publication from the Practical Solutions for Paper Crafters issue of Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine.

The challenge for this card was to up cycle something.  I decided to play with my alcohol inks and some of the plastic sleeves that stamps come in.  Mine are forever tearing at the seams, so I have an ample supply of them.



This is extremely easy to do.  I just applied three colors swiping each across the stamp sleeve and keeping them pretty much separate/no mixing.

Once the ink was dry, I trimmed off two strips of color.

After stamping the sentiment, I placed the strips over top of the sentiment, turning one so that the colors went in reverse.  This created a great blending effect where the strips overlap.

I've got one more card in this issue....it involves bubble wrap and gold embossing, but the issue is chock full of goodness, so make sure you pick up a copy!

Congratulations Housewarming Card

A couple weeks ago I was a guess for Top Dog Dies.  This is a card that was shared on their blog, but I thought I would share it here too.  I used their Our Home Album and Home Album Finishers dies.  Obviously the die is meant to be for a house shaped mini album, but it's perfect for the front of a housewarming card too.

I cut the basic house from yellow cardstock and added some scoring for 'siding'.  I used a slightly darker shade of ink than the cardstock and a sponge dauber to give the scoring some extra dimension/definition.

For the roof, I cut two roof pieces with brown cardstock and used the edge of one as a mask to create the shingles on the roof.  The chimney was cut from white cardstock and color was added using two shades of red.  Once the color was right, I went back in with a chalk marker for the caulking.



I backed the windows with a bit of very light gray cardstock, and free cut the banner and added the handwritten sentiment.



Once I had the house assembled, I just attached it to a 4x4 card.

That's all for today!  Hope that you are having a wonderful week!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstck:  Avery Elle - Silver Fox, Daisy, and Cherry Cardstock; CTMH - Chocolate and White Daisy cardstock; Recollections - Black Cardstock
Ink:  CTMH - Honey, Cranberry, Barn Red, and Chocolate ink
Other:  Top Dog Dies - Our Home Album and Our Home Album Finishers Dies; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape; Stampin Up - Scoreboard; Tombow - Mono and Multi Mono Adhesive