Doodlebugs – Let’s Spook Up Some Fun Summerween Card

Hey friends! It’s Mix-it-up Monday on the Doodlebugs blog and with the recent spooky release from Mama Elephant, I jumped at the chance to make a Summerween card!

We had a hot spell recently and I try not to use my copic markers when it’s too hot because they leak so I stamped and watercolored these images from Mama Elephant Big Boo, then used the coordinating dies to cut it all out.

I used a combo of liquid glue and foam squares to assemble my mini scene. Then I switched gears to the background panel.

For that, I used the Pretty Pink Posh Spider Web stencil set. I inked the web layer with white pigment ink and then heat embossed white over it so it was shiny and stood out more. Then I added black paint to Ranger Texture Paste for my spiders. This made them puffy and matte next to the shiny webs.

When the spiders were dry, I added the panel to a card base and popped up my scene elements with foam squares. For the sentiment, I grabbed the trusty Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strip dies and stamps. After heat embossed one, I popped the strip up under the house for a nice grounding look.

For finishing touches I added some gold watercolor to parts of the images and then splattered a bit across the whole card front too. Last, I added glossy accents to the flame on the candle in front of the haunted house.

Products used today:
Mama Elephant Big Boo stamps and dies
Pretty Pink Posh Spider Web stencils
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Halloween stamps
Embossing powder
VersaMark ink
Anti-static bag
Texture paste
Gold watercolor
Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers
Water brush pen
Glossy accents
Foam squares

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Spellbinders – Handmade Holidays and Home for the Holidays Collections

Happy Friday everyone! This month I was also invited by Spellbinders to create with bits and pieces from the Handmade Holidays Kit Add Ons and Home for the Holidays Collection. As with most Spellbinders products, these interchange beautifully if you like bits and pieces from each one but are also packed with great things if you need to choose as well.

My first card today uses a couple of products from the Handmade Holidays Kit Add On selections. I built the gorgeous Delivery Joy Sleigh using various cardstocks in my stash and liquid glue to assemble all the pieces.

My sentiment banner comes from the Handmade Sentiments add on. I cut one from pink, then cut the sentiment, then decided to cut a solid banner from glitter cardstock to offset layer behind the pink one.

For my background panel, I added ink to the raised portion of my In the Pines embossing folder and embossed a piece of white cardstock. Then I went over the whole panel with another layer of the same ink and splattered it with gold watercolor for some sparkle.

All of the elements are popped up with foam tape and squares for my favorite dimensional look.

Okay, now it’s confession time before talking about this actual next card. Who buys the new fun gadgets but gets too nervous when they come so they sit in the beautiful box for months? Yeah, I’m raising my hand. I bought the Better Press system quite a while ago plus some plates. Nervous I would have a hard time with it, I left it all neatly stacked to guilt me from the sidelines of my craft room.

That ended with this next card though. I got a couple of plates from the new Copperplate Holiday Sentiments and Home for the Holidays Collections. I pressed the sentiment on an Emerald Cut Label with black ink. Then I pressed the Winter Rose background plate with garnet ink.

After popping the label up with foam tape, I created some poinsettias from the Poinsettia Spray die set and popped them up in opposite corners with foam squares.

I love getting a jump start of holiday cards. Normally I have plenty to go around but last year I fell short so it’s definitely on my mind.

Products used:
Winter Rose Better Press plate
Happy Holidays Better Press plate
Poinsettia Spray dies
Delivery Joy Sleigh dies
Handmade Sentiments dies
In the Pines embossing folder
Better Press Ink – black and garnet
Foam tape and squares
Liquid glue
Reverse tweezers
Distress Oxide ink – shabby shutters
Brayer roller
Gold watercolor

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Spellbinders – Stampendous Backgrounds Collection

Hey friends! Spellbinders has some new amazing giant background stamps in a collection from Stampendous. These are great 6×6 red rubber stamps and they have a removeable piece in each one to alter the look or stamp just a smaller section of the pattern. They’re really cool!

Today I have two cards to share with you featuring the Streamers stamps.

For this card, I stamped and heat embossed the streamers on a large panel and ink blended dsitress oxide inks over the top. I spritzed the panel with water and let it dry. Then I cut the panel with the largest Notched Rectangle, plus a second for the back panel of my card.

I cut a smaller rectangle from vellum and added my hot foiled sentiment to that with foam squares. I finished the design off with a scattering of smooth silver discs for extra shine and interest.

For my second card, I kept to the Stampendous theme and pulled out the adorable Bear Hugs and Hugs Accessories dies.

Once again I heat embossed the Streamers image on a piece of white cardstock and ink blended over the top. Then I added my Stampendous Bear to a Make a Wish Arch cut out of vellum. Everything is layered together with foam squares.

Products used:
Streamers background stamp
Notched Corners Frames dies
Make a Wish Arches dies
Embossing powder
Anti-static bag
Distress Oxide Ink – picked raspberry, squeezed lemonade, carved pumpkin, wilted violet, milled lavender
Foam squares
Liquid glue
Hip Hip Hooray hot foil plate
Silver hot foil
Glimmer hot foil machine

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Spellbinders – Nature’s Botanical Garden Release

Welcome everyone! I have two cards to share with you today featuring the newly released Nature’s Botanical Garden floral dies from Spellbinders. These die sets give you the ability to create realistic, 3D florals for your projects. They’re awesome for dimensional cards but also for home decor and scrapbook pages too!

I had fun playing around with colors and ways to add color to the florals, along with a little distressed design style.

This first card is a pairing of the Landscape Rose dies and Mirrored Arch Labels dies. I embossed the black arch with the Tiny Dots embossing folder and added a sentiment from the Handwritten Sentiments die set.

My other card features the Flowering Quince with Essential Modern Ovals for a focal point and another Handwritten Sentiment. These florals were die cut from white cardstock and color added with distress oxide sprays as opposed to the first card that were cut from colored cardstock. Just another fun way to add depth and texture.

Products used:
Landscape Rose dies
Flowering Quince dies
Modern Oval dies
Mirrored Arch dies
Handwritten Sentiments dies
Liquid glue
Reverse tweezers
Distress Oxide Sprays – scorched timber, abandoned coral
Distress Oxide Ink – mowed lawn
Foam squares and tape

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Doodlebugs – Mix-it-Up Monday Get Well Card

Hi friends! Mix-it-up Monday on the Doodlebugs blog is a fun design that is completely interchangeable for sentiments to make it whatever you need. I never had get well cards on hand so I thought this was the perfect time to make an extra. This combo of Waffle Flower and Mama Elephant products is really fun and sure to bring a smile.

I started by using my Waffle Flower Grip Mat and Daisy background stencil to ink up a subtle background. I used a mix of pink and purple for the flowers with apricot ink in the centers. I didn’t spend a lot of time on that because it doesn’t show much but definitely adds a little something.

Next, I cut the new Mama Elephant Note Page die with the embossed lines insert still attached. I took some Tombow markers to draw notebook lines on the paper for fun and then stamped some of the scribble images from Mama Elephant Write With Me stamp set on it. I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to color them in quickly.

I cut the Waffle Flower Oversized Get Well from black cardstock and glued it in place, adding fun white gel pen accents for interest. Then I chose the cut fox image from the Mama Elephant Write With Me to stamp and color with copic markers. I used the coordinating die to cut him out and added the note page and fox to the stenciled panel with foam tape and squares.

I decided to match the white gel pen from the sentiment to the fox image and also glossy accents on his nose and pen nib. *Pro tip: Let glossy accents dry and add white gel pen on top of it. It looks really cool and goes on smooth and easy.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Note Card dies
Mama Elephant Write With Me stamps and dies
Waffle Flower Daisy Background stencil
Waffle Flower Oversized Get Well dies
Waffle Flower Grip Mat
Blending brushes
Liquid glue
Foam tape and squares
Lawn Fawn Ink – apricot, fresh lavender, ballet slippers
Glossy accents
Sakura Gelly Roll pen – white

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Miss Ink Stamps – Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July friends! I hope you have a wonderful holiday and celebrate however makes your heart happy! We’ll be BBQing and playing in the pool if you need us!

But first, I wanted to share a sweet gift tag I watercolored the other night for a gift I’ll be giving our hosts later today.

I die cut the largest tag from Bristol Smooth Cardstock and stamped my images from Patriotic Bear and Bunny with VersaFine ink. This way I could watercolor with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.

After the watercolor dried, I added white gel pen to the stars because I was unsuccessful keeping my blue ink out of them. I also added black glaze pen to the critter eyes and noses. I cut and glued a hole reinforcer in place and threaded my different ribbons through the hole, tying them with baker’s twine.

Then at the last minute, I finished it off with some stardust Stickles on each of the stars for a little sparkle.

Products used:
Miss Ink Stamps Tags dies
Miss Ink Stamps Patriotic Bear & Bunny stamps
Stardust Stickles
Liquid glue

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Spellbinders – Out and About Mix and Match Scene Card

Hello again everyone. I’m back with another mix of the Spellbinders Out and About Collection to create a fun scene card.

I started this card with the Flower Tree die set and then cut the Stitched Hello sentiment to go with it. After playing around a bit with design set up I decided to add the sweet bird from Garden Buddies too.

I cut an arch from the Make a Wish Arches from teal cardstock and inked the center with peacock feathers distress oxide ink. I splattered a little water and glued my sentiment to the bottom with liquid glue. Then I glued the tree in place and popped the bird up with a foam square.

The top of my mini scene was boring so I took the “extra” die in the Flowering Tree set and made it a cloud for the sky. After gluing those in place, I added foam tape to the back of the arch and popped it up on a white background panel I embossed with the Flower Frenzy embossing folder.

For finishing touches I did add some glossy accents to the bird’s eye and beak, and all of the flower centers on the tree.

Products used:
Flowering Tree dies
Stitched Hello dies
Garden Buddies dies
Make a Wish Arches dies
Flower Frenzy embossing folder
Foam tape
Liquid glue
Glossy accents

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Trinity Stamps – Inky Fun with Watercolor Powders

Hey friends! Have you taken a moment to check out the most recent Trinity Stamps release yet? It’s a really big release and has lots and lots of different style products to appeal to different crafters.

Today I have two cards to share using some of the new word art stamps from Love Dani Studios. These stamps always have uplifting messages to share. This time I heat embossed both images on watercolor paper and went to town with my watercolor powders.

While my watercolor panels were drying, I took a piece of white cardstock and spritzed distress oxide sprays on it in similar colors to the watercolor choices. Then I left it all to dry over night. Trust me…it was wet and inky. So much fun!!!

With the word art images dry, I used the coordinating dies to cut each one out. Then, for this card I glued the distress oxide panel to a card base with liquid glue. Then I cut the largest ticket from the Slimline That’s the Ticket die set from black cardstock. I cut it in two, offset and popped it up with foam tape so the ends met toward the bottom of my card front.

Then I popped the image up with foam tape as well and glued a scattering of Kelly Green Heart Baubles around the design.

For the other card, I reached deep down and tried to pretend I knew what I was doing with a mixed media style card. If nothing else, this was really fun to get grungy and messy while creating!

I had spritzed a panel with distress oxide sprays at the same time I was doing one for the first card, so everything was already dry. This time I took a piece of pink cardstock and smeared my purple ink pad across it for texture. Then I cut the Sweetheart Slimline panel from a dotted pink cardstock in my stash and tore it up.

I cut some vellum to go behind the sentiment and help it stand out. But at this point when I was trying to layer things together, they were all too perfect. So I took out a REALLY OLD distressing tool from my stash and started ripping up the edges on everything. That’s when I started to love it.

I glued things to the card base at all weird angles and trimmed off the excess. Then I added the sentiment to the vellum with foam tape and glued it down. I added some staples and twine for interest and then spotted the hearts that came from the slimline die cut. So I added those with liquid glue and foam squares too.

I know this style isn’t for everyone but I really enjoyed creating these cards and have some people in my life who will love the eccentric style hitting their mailbox.

Products used:
That’s the Ticket slimline dies
Sweetheart slimline die
All Kinds of Wonderful stamps and dies
You Make a Difference stamps and dies
Distress Oxide Sprays
Liquid glue
Foam tape and squares
Water Color Burst Powders
Distress Sprayer

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Doodlebugs – Hooray! Floral Congrats Card

Hello again. I have a fun mix-it-up Monday card to share with you that started with a very simple idea and definitely evolved into its own. I think it turned out so pretty and I had fun playing with some of my favorite dies while I was at it.

I needed a congratulations card so I went digging in my large sentiment dies to see what struck me with inspiration. I landed on the Lawn Fawn big hooray die, cutting it from white cardstock three times and gluing the layers together before I even formed a solid plan. Then I went digging for a good mini sentiment to go across the center and landed on the Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips collection, and the coordinating dies.

Next, I wasn’t sure what to add around or in the large letters. My initial go-to was cute critters but nothing was vibing for me. So I pulled out my favorite Spellbinders birdie and while I was digging for that, I came across the Spellbinders Kaleidoscope Arch stamp and die set. The florals in this set are so pretty and very low stress to cut and assemble. Some of the more detailed sets stress me out with all the layers and my lack of floral knowledge.

So, I cut all the pieces for the florals and the sweet birdie, using liquid glue to adhere the pieces together. After playing around for a bit I also used liquid glue to adhere the florals popping out of the hooray letters all over. To keep the background interesting but subtle, I embossed a 4×5.25 inch piece of white cardstock with the Spellbinders columns embossing folder.

I popped the background panel up on a white card base with foam tape and then used liquid glue to adhere the floral hooray to that. Last, I added the birdie with a combo of a foam square and liquid glue, and the sentiment strip with a foam strip.

I liked the shine that the foil cardstock gave the flower centers so my finishing touches for this card were just glossy accent on the birdie’s beak and eye. Isn’t she the cutest?!? I love that you can’t go wrong with any variation of color combos on this bird. It’s always fun.

Products used:
Spellbinders Sweet Birdie dies
Spellbinders Kaleidoscope Arch dies
Spellbinders Columns embossing folder
Lawn Fawn Big Hooray die
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Occasions stamps
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips dies
Liquid glue
Foam squares, strips and tape
Glossy accents
Embossing powder – white
Anti-static bag
Versamark ink

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Spellbinders – Out and About with the Pups

Happy Friday everyone! It’s been a long week and I’m really looking forward to relaxing and crafting this weekend. How about you?

Before that though, I wanted to share a couple more projects featuring the Spellbinders Out and About Collection. These pups crack me up and I couldn’t resist snagging them and playing with them straight out of the package too!

I didn’t have much in mind but just wanted to cut and create both of the dogs – Skateboarding Terry and Roller Disco Dottie – how cute are their names too!?! After I put them together I went digging through my stash to create a card with Skateboarding Terry first.

I used the Mirrored Arch Labels nested die set to cut my focal point pieces. Then I embossed the smaller one with the Loops embossing folder and went over it with a blending brush and green ink. My sentiment strip comes from the Stitched Kaleidoscope Arch stamp and die combo.

After adhering all the layers, I went around the white card base with the same green ink and tied jute twine around the top of the card, tying it in a bow.

When I created my Dottie dog, I couldn’t resist a bright fun pink with her black and white spots so I kept that vibe going when creating a tag for her to go on. Super simple, I cut 2 Make a Wish Arches from white cardstock and glued them together for stability. I inked up the center of the front with picked raspberry distress oxide ink and splattered a little water. Then I just popped Dottie up with foam squares, punched a hole and threaded some pink twine.

The back is blank so I can write a message to go with the occasion but until then this is generic and fun so I have the versatility to choose when I use it!

Like I said earlier in the week, head over and check out the fun Out and About Collection for some sweeties to add to your stash!

Products used:
Skateboarding Terry dies
Roller Disco Dottie dies
Mirrored Arch dies
Loops embossing folder
Make a Wish Arch dies
Foam tape
Liquid glue
Picked Raspberry distress oxide ink
Artichoke Lawn Fawn ink
Blending brushes

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!