Mama Elephant – Zodiac Monkeys on the Go

Hey friends! I’m here today with two of my most recent obsessions – decorating journal covers and the Mama Elephant Zodiac series! My husband and I were having some fun trying out our new UV printer and created a printed cover but given it is all new to us, this one got messed up and dislodged while printing. Never fear…it’s not a waste, just give me a minute in the craft room!

So the gingham banana background was something we designed and were printing. When it dislodged, it tore the corner. Then we also noticed it wasn’t taped down firmly everywhere so some spots were faded looking. No big deal, I just had some fun decorating in ways to cover some of the blemishes.

I started by tearing some yellow cardstock pieces and roughing the edges. I glued them to the cover, then added a fun strip of blue to tie the background together. I splattered the panel with white paint and set it aside to dry.

I stamped and colored images from the Mama Elephant Zodiac Monkey set with copic markers. I used the coordinating dies to cut them out and liquid glue to adhere the bits together. I popped them up on the cover with foam squares. Then went a die cut the letters for the word “notes” 3 times from white cardstock using the Mama Elephant Lucky Alphas die set. I glued the layers together and then to the journal cover.

After finishing the cover up with glossy accents and stardust Stickles on the images, I thought it needed something else. So I created a sweet monkey clip to help you keep your place! To create these, I just stamp, color and die cut the original image, then die cut the shape only two more times. Glue one blank to the back of the coloring, add a piece of double-sided tape to the bottom and adhere your paperclip, then use liquid glue to adhere the second blank die cut to seal it all together. Let it dry completely before trying to use it.

Isn’t this the cutest!?!?! I brought it to work to show someone and it immediately went home with that person. I’d say that’s a win.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Zodiac Monkey stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Lucky Alpha dies
Liquid glue
Double-sided tape
Foam squares
Glossy accents
Stickles – stardust

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

Newton’s Nook – Espresso Your SPOOKY Side

Hey friends! Happy to be over on the Newton’s Nook blog. Today I’m diving farther into my Halloween stash and giving a fun idea for a stenciled background! Let’s dive in!

Full transparency, I did this in a different order but sometimes hindsight is 20/20 so I’m sharing a more time effective or to create this card, but whatever works for your brain is going to be perfect!

I recommend a sticky mat for stenciling but if you don’t have one, tape your black cardstock panel to your stencil so it doesn’t shift while spreading paste. Then choose your different solar pastes. I used a palette knife to add blobs of the different colors all over the panel. Then I used a long paste spreader to level it all out and (sort of) mix the colors giving you the variegated effect.

Then I stamped, colored and die cut all of my images from the Newton’s Nook Spooky Coffees. Instead of my normal vellum steam, I went with fun spooky colors for a change of pace.

Next, I trimmed a piece of black cardstock to about 1″ wide and heat embossed my sentiment on it. To break up the background from the sentiment strip, I added a 1/4″ piece of brown cardstock to the edge.

Working my way from the bottom up, I added foam tape to everything and adhered the sentiment strip, then the brown strip, then the mugs on that. I glued the panel to a top folding card base and then tied string around the top for some added interest.

For finishing touches on this design, I used my glitter brush pen on all the steam for some sparkle. Then I added bits of glossy accents to each mug so they shine too!

Products used:
Ghosts stencil
Spooky Coffees stamps and dies
Solar Paste – pity part, sublime, neptune
Paste spreading tools (variety pack)
Foam tape and squares
Glossy accents
Glitter brush pen
Anti-static bag
Embossing ink
Embossing powder – white

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

Doodlebugs – Bright and Bold Summer Hugs

Welcome back everyone! This week’s Mix it up Monday for Doodlebugs is much bolder and brighter than I originally planned but sometimes you just go with the flow and see where you end up.

This card started with my desire to play with the Pretty Pink Posh Summer Fun stencil set again in a more calculated way by inking each item separately with mini blending brushes instead of the global one color per layer idea. It started out easy enough but quickly took a turn on the second layer when my color choices turned much bolder than I originally pictured. But nothing was wrong so I kept going and actually love where we ended up.

Once the ink blending was done I wanted to add some texture so I went with Distress Spritz Spray in tumbled glass lightly across the whole panel. Then while that was drying, I pulled out the Lawn Fawn Giant Sending Big Hugs die and cut it from Spellbinders glitter foam. *Pro Tip: This foam is made from something different because after it goes through the die cut machine you can actually watch it pop back up to full volume. It’s crazy.

I really wanted to tie in the sentiment to something summery so I pulled out the Pretty Pink Posh Banner Greetings stamps and dies, finding the perfect sub-sentiment to add. I adorned that with some embellishments from my stash which I think are SO FUN on this design!

After adding the whole thing to a card base with liquid glue, I wrapped some twine around the top for added brightness and interest.

Products used:
Pretty Pink Posh Summer Fun stencils
Pretty Pink Posh Summer Banner Greetings stamps
Pretty Pink Posh Banner Greetings 3 dies
Lawn Fawn Giant Sending Big Hugs die
Liquid glue
Distress Spritz Spray – tumbled glass
Blending brushes
Stellar Inks

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

Mama Elephant – Follow Your Dreams

Welcome everyone! Mama Elephant’s own, Angie, has been sharing a fun journey on Instagram that’s got us all inspired in many different ways. For me, it’s the kick to dig in my ME stash and use some of those dusty beauties in the back. Right now, that happens to be the zodiac series of cute chubby critters! I love this whole series and have been growing it slowly over the years. Today we’re going to play with Zodiac Sheep!

I started by stamping some cute sheep and fun things for them to hold onto, the necessities like cupcakes and coffee! I colored everything with copic markers and used the coordinating dies to cut it all out. This set includes dies to cut the hands so they can easily hold the items too! It’s perfect! I added a little dab of liquid glue and inserted them into place.

Next, I cut the Rolling Waves cover plate from white cardstock. I taped off the border and inked the ground with Lawn Fawn celery stick ink. The sky and clouds come out of the panel so I inked the sky up separately with mermaid ink. Then I glued the mail portion down with liquid glue to a card base, inserting the sky and finally popping up the clouds with foam squares.

I added the sheep with a combination of foam squares and liquid glue where it made sense. Switching gears to my sentiment, my daughter helped me choose this gem thinking of counting sheep while you’re heading off to dreamland. It’s part of the Way to Go stamp set. I heat embossed this on light purple cardstock and used the coordinating die to cut it out. It is adhered with a combo of liquid glue and foam squares as well.

For finishing touches on this card, I just came in with glossy accents on all the sheep noses and then bits like the heart, strawberry and coffee cup lid.

Products used:
Zodiac Sheep stamps and dies
Rolling Waves cover plate
Foam squares
Liquid glue
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn ink – celery stick and mermaid
Glossy accents

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

Journal Decorating

Hi friends! I have a non-brand specific post for you today. Quite a while ago I ordered a bulk set of kraft cardstock journals. They’re simple but I really wanted to decorate covers and share them with people. I have done a few but not many, today I’m sharing a new one I created.

These journals measure about 8.25×5.5 and the pages are lined. There are probably 60 sheets per notebook so they aren’t huge but enough to make them worth collecting thoughts on any given subject.

This one started by me playing with an array of blue distress oxide and spritz sprays on the cover. I just went to town spraying and splattering, drying in between, all over the course of a couple of days. I would splatter some water and blot it dry in between some layers too. I even tried some white splatter at one point. Just playing until I was done. Then it sat there for a few weeks, until inspiration hit.

I went digging in my stash of paper pads (I know you have one of those too…don’t deny it.) and found an old one from Simple Stories that played off of the blue I already had going on. I started cutting and tearing pieces, layering them together, gluing them down and popping some up. I roughed up some edges with my scissors, used the Spellbinders banner punch to create a couple of those.

Then I pulled out the Mama Elephant Postage Frame dies, purely for the strip of hearts you can cut at once. You get two sizes and seven hearts total with one pass in the die cutter.

I added the hearts with a combo of liquid glue and foam squares so they are at different levels all over the cover. Then, once the cover sufficed for me, I went to the side and thought it would be fun to create dividers. This took me a while to figure out because I don’t have a tab die or punch. After digging, I landed on a pull tab from the Lawn Fawn flippin awesome die set. It’s got a fun shape and wasn’t too long. In fact, the math worked out perfect for eight tabs perfectly.

I cut out a patterned paper front with a white cardstock back for each one, gluing them on the front and back of the paper. Once they were all glued I pulled out a real oldie but goodie – my crop-a-dile and added rivets to each divider. I love the detail this gives!!!

Now I just have to decide the fate of this wonderful notebook. Do I keep it or do I share it? Do you journal at all? I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Products used:
Journals (Amazon)
Simple Stories (paper pad retired but so much cute available now)
Lawn Fawn Flippin’ Awesome dies
Mama Elephant Postage Frame dies
Spellbinders Banner punch
Foam squares
Liquid glue

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

Hero Arts – Ghouls Just Wanna Have Sun

Hi friends! I’m back with some more Summerween fun with the Hero Arts collection. It’s just endless fun and is completely filling my heart with joy every time I pull it out to create. I haven’t even scratched the surface of ideas I have, isn’t that great!?!

This time I really wanted to create a scene with my beachy ghosties so that’s what I set out todo. I stamped a bunch of images from Beach Boos and colored them with copic markers. I used the coordinating dies to cut them out, including the hand slots for the ghosts so they can hold their treats.

For my background, I trimmed a piece of white cardstock down to 5×3.75 inches and heat embossed my sentiment with yellow embossing powder. Then I inked up some sky and sand using salty ocean and brushed corduroy distress oxide inks. I buffed the ink off the embossing and splattered the panel with water, blotting it dry to remove some of the color for more vibrant distressing.

Now, I arranged my images how I wanted them, adhereing them with a combination of liquid glue and foam squares. Aren’t the too stinking cute?!? You know they’re spilling the tea to each other!

Finally I popped the panel up on a white card base with foam tape. Then for finishing touches I added glossy accents to the beach ball, cherry, lemonade and strip on the hat and sand pail. Little bits of shine when the light hits the card make it so much fun!

Products used:
Hero Arts Summerween Collection
Glossy accents
Anti-static bag
Embossing ink
Pink & Main ray of sunshine embossing powder
Liquid glue
Foam squares and tape

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

Doodlebugs – Mini Note Cards Always Win

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! Today I’m sharing a mini note card mixing my favorite mini card die set from Pretty Pink Posh with a few things from Mama Elephant to decorate the front. These cards are so quick to whip up and sometimes all you need to share a little sentiment with someone special.

These are my favorite “lunch box” type notes to create and leave for my family; usually in a lunch box or on a keyboard or something. Another way to extend the use is to punch a hole in the corner and tie them to a gift bag as a card/tag combo.

To create this card, I cut the card and front layer using the Pretty Pink Posh Mini Note Card die set and glued them together. Then I pulled out a couple of Mama Elephant die sets to create my polaroid frame and kitty. These are the Mini Photo Frames and Teeny Notes dies, then my sentiment came from the Mama Elephant Simple Friends Bubbles stamps and dies set.

For the kitty, I cut him from white cardstock and ink blended with orange and then added detail with copic markers. I colored a little scrap of white paper with nose and eyes and glued it to fill in those spaces – sometimes this is the answer over keeping track of the tiny pieces that pop out.

I happened to create this on the fly for my daughter to let her know I am proud of her and the hard work she’s been putting in but they are great for any message you want to share.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Simple Friends Bubbles stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Teeny Notes dies
Mama Elephant Mini Photo Frames dies
Pretty Pink Posh Mini Note Card dies
Liquid glue

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

Doodlebugs – Fabulous Halloween

Happy Mix-it-up Monday everyone! I’m here this week with an all out Halloween card featuring this year’s Mama Elephant Halloween goodies which I cannot get enough of! They’re SO CUTE!

I actually stamped and colored all of the images in the Mama Elephant Boo Crew set and die cut them out. Things got full and I saved what I didn’t use for another card – translate to “oh darn I have to create with this set again”.

Once the images were paired down and glued together how I wanted. I switched gears to my background. I had lots of ideas but landed on the largest die in the Mama Elephant Frilly Window Frame set from peach cardstock. I inked up the edges with Lawn Fawn carrot ink and then added the Pretty Pink Posh Sunburst stencil to the center with Lawn Fawn ballet slippers to pop the pink from my images. I splattered the panel with pink watercolor paint and let it dry.

Once that was dry, I stamped my sentiment with Lawn Fawn guava ink (the ballet slippers wasn’t bright enough for me – disappointing). Then I popped the panel up on a white card base with foam tape. Next I added foam squares to my images and popped them up right above the sentiment.

For finishing touches today, I started with just glossy accents on the critter noses and the fox’s hat band. Then I wanted more so out came the stardust Stickles for the “B” and candy shaped “O”. Extra sparkle is never a bad idea.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Boo Crew stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Frilly Window Frame dies
Pretty Pink Posh Starburst stencil
Lawn Fawn ink – guava, ballet slippers, carrot
Blending brushes
Foam tape and squares
Glossy accents
Stickles – stardust

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

Hero Arts – Summerween Fun

Did you all see that Hero Arts had a Summerween release?!? I’m still squealing and so excited that my complete order hit my mailbox last Friday so I could play over the weekend. Below is my first card straight out of the package and I can’t wait to play so much more!

My main die cut image is the We All Scream die set which is SO FUN! I cut the layers all from white cardstock and ink blended each to give them color; then liquid glue to assemble the pieces together.

Now for the Ghoul Summer stamp and die set which has the coordinating awesome mini image to compliment my large die cut plus an array of fantastic sentiments to stamp and die cut! I went with teal cardstock for that pop of contrast.

Then I repeat stamped the popsicle image all over my pink background before ink blending the edges for a little depth and splattering it with pink ink and white paint. Now for assembly!

I glued the pink panel to a white card base with liquid glue. Then I added the popsicle and sentiment with foam squares. I glued the melting ice cream with liquid glue. Then I finished the design off white glossy accents on the ghostie eyes and white gel pen highlights on the ice cream. Finally, I tied some pretty ribbon from my stash around the top and tied it in a bow.

Products used today:
We All Scream die set
Ghoul Summer stamps and dies

OR you could get it all…

Want It All Bundle

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

Ranger Ink – Christmas in July Release

Hey friends! Ranger Ink had a fun release with Simon Hurley Create this month with a Christmas in July theme. I’m here to pop in with some sweet inspiration using a couple of those new goodies that I can’t get enough of!

The punny sentiments always get me and the images they tie to are always the first ones I just have to play with. So this sweet kitty was top on my list with that great Season’s Treatings sentiment. They’re too good for each other not to! This all comes from the new Christmas Pets stamp and die set. Don’t sleep on this one – It’s super fun!

The background is from the new Candy Canes layering stencil set. I love how you can add the stripes separately but then it’s a whole new level having that awesome shadow layer too! It’s so cool and gives such great dimension to a flat base layer.

For assembly on this card, I glued the stenciled layer to a card base and simply popped up the image and sentiment with foam squares. In between that I did splatter the stencil layer with distress spray stain in pewter for a silver shimmer in the splatter. Then, finishing touches were just stardust Stickles on the wreath berries and some white gel pen highlights on the bow.