Spellbinders – Sky’s the Limit Collection

Hey friends! We’re half way through the week and I wanted to pop in with a few cards featuring 2 die sets from the Spellbinders Sky’s the Limit Collection. This one was designed by Simon Hurley and is really fun to create with!

I created 3 cards with the 2 die sets I was given to use. Originally I wasn’t thinking and created all 5 of the large kites for one card but quickly realized after assembling them that it wasn’t going to happen. Although it was a great excuse to make another card!

For this card I used the Loops embossing folder for the background and the Mirror Arches dies to create the frame. The sentiment comes from the Simon Hurley Space Greetings die set.

For the rest of the kites, I used a sentiment from the same die set but added everything to a shaped card created with the Make a Wish Arch Labels die set. I used an A2 panel as a guide and was able to position my images off the panel in a way that this card with still fit in a regular envelope.

Last I have a card using the Up and Away dies paired with Tiny Dots embossing and a Modern Essential Oval for the mini scene. The clouds and sun come from Up in the Air View dies and my simple sentiment is a stamp and die combo called I’ve Got You Covered.

The whole Sky’s the Limit Collection is really fun and has lots of different styles of products. Be sure to check it out!

Products used:
Sky’s the Limit dies
Modern Essential Ovals dies
Up in the Air View dies
Tiny Dots embossing folder
Loops embossing folder
Mirrored Arches dies
Make a Wish Arch Labels dies
Liquid glue
Foam squares and tape
Pearl watercolor
Enamel dots
Pearl embellshments

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

Doodlebugs – Ink Blending and Die Cutting

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! Today we are creating a fun card using nothing but ink blending and die cutting techniques. It was really fun to pull this card together and when I was finished I realized that I didn’t stamp or color a single thing. It was a woah moment.

First off, I recently ordered a couple of die and stencil sets from Waffle Flower which is what started this whole journey…just playing with new goodies, having no plan in mind. That’s how I ended up with my sentiment and those beautiful little butterflies – Waffle Flower’s Multiple Butterflies Combo and Overlapping Birthday Combo.

This is kind of funny but in that same order was the Mama Elephant Classic Card Quads. I immediately thought it would be a perfect background for the fun stenciling I had just done. So I chose 1 style and cut it 4 times from white cardstock. Then I layered the Pretty Pink Posh Deco Leaves stencil over the top of 2 at a time. I inked one blue and one green to go with my sentiment since the butterflies were already pink.

After removing the stencil, I didn’t like how white the panels still were so I added a light layer of the same color over top and thought it flowed much better. Then I added foam tape and squares to the back of everything.

After adding everything to a white card base, I came in with some Wink of Stella glitter brush pen on the butterfly wings for just a little sparkle.

Products used today:
Waffle Flower Multiple Butterflied Combo – stencil and dies
Waffle Flower Overlapped Birthday Combo – stencil and die
Mama Elephant Classic Card Quads dies
Pretty Pink Posh Deco Leaves stencil
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn dye inks – ballet slippers, mermaid, jalapeno
Foam squares and tape
Liquid glue
Reverse tweezers
Wink of Stella glitter brush pen – clear

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

Doodlebugs – Strawberry Shaped Cards for Spring

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! This week I have a couple of sweet little strawberry shaped cards using Lawn Fawn and Mama Elephant goodies together. This is a fun way to use your larger shape dies in a different way so be sure to dig through your stash and see what you’ve got!

The base of my cards are created with the Lawn Fawn Outside In Stitched Strawberry and a couple of accents from the Stitched Strawberry Frame die set too. Although you absolutely could create this without the frame die set. The only thing I borrowed from it was another layer on my topper leaves and the extra leaf attached to the stem.

I cut the layers from yellow, pink and green cardstocks and then did some ink blending on all of them to add deeper color before using liquid glue to adhere them together. Then I cut another full strawberry from pink cardstock, scored it about 3/8″ from the top and glued that flap to the back of my strawberry to create my card.

Next, I went digging for a fun critter to add and a sentiment of some sort. At first I was going the punny route but didn’t find anything that spoke to me, so I landed on sweet Mama Elephant Little Agenda bunnies and Spring Banner Greetings. I also had commitment issues on my sentiment banner color so I did one of each for fun. I still don’t know which I like better.

After the bunny and sentiment banner were added with foam squares and strips, I finished things off with black glaze pen on the bunnies’ eyes and glossy accents on their strawberry and the center of the flower on the big strawberry too.

I have no plans for these at the moment but I think pulling out my envelope punch board to make a custom sized envelope would be super cute or tying them to the handle of a gift bag would be adorable as well. Maybe even lunchbox notes!

Products used:
Lawn Fawn Outside In Stitched Strawberry dies
Lawn Fawn Stitched Strawberry Frame dies
Mama Elephant Little Agenda Bunny stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Spring Banner Greetings dies
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn ink – guava and jalapeno
Liquid glue
Reverse tweezers
Foam squares and strips
Glossy accents
Sakura gelly roll glaze pen – black

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

Newtons Nook – April Mini Release Day

Happy Release Day for Newton’s Nook! We’re having an Instagram hop today to celebrate release day and give you a nice boost of inspiration to use these new dies that are available in the Newton’s Nook shop right now!

I have a card to share with you using the Filigree Oval Frame die set again, in a simpler way than a shaker which can be overwhelming for some people.

For this card, I actually cut everything out using a pastel pink cardstock and inked over the top. I started out just playing around with no plan but I wanted to add dimension to the pink so I grabbed blending brushes and some warm colored inks. I inked up the frame in a random bit of color here and there, then went back and blended those together.

Next, I had pulled out the Monarchs stamp set thinking it is a great spring set to play with but I didn’t want black butterflies so I tried stamping them in orange on the pink cardstock and I love it! I used copic markers to add shading to the open spots which also worked well. I stamped the small shadow butterflies in black and used coordinating dies to cut everything out.

Next, I ink blended blue inks on the oval that cut out when I cut the frame and splattered it with some extra watered down iridescent watercolor. When that was dry, I stamped my sentiment in the center. For assembly, I added the frame to a white card base and popped the oval up with foam tape. Then I added the butterflies with foam squares, doubling up in the areas that needed it.

Products used:
Filigree Oval Frame dies
Monarchs stamps and dies
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn dye inks – ballet slippers, guava, lemonade, fake tan, mermaid
Foam tape and squares
Liquid glue

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

Newtons Nook – April Mini Release Reveals Day 2

Welcome back everyone. For our second fabulous background die on this release, we have the Filigree Oval Frame die that comes with a hello sentiment as well.

Filigree Oval Frame Dies

I love the pattern on this frame and the fact that the oval is cuts out is stitched and totally usable with the frame or on it’s own later too. I have a shaker card to share with you using all of this today.

I cut the Filigree Oval Frame from white cardstock, saving the oval to use with it. Then I stamped and colored the Roses image with copic markers and used the coordinating die to cut it out. After coloring the roses I chose purple for my background color. I inked the edges with a brighter purple ink and carefully die cut the “hello” sentiment from the center of the panel knowing I was going to cover that up with my oval. I inked the bottom of the word the same as the panel so they coordinated.

Next I lined the frame panel with acetate and foam tape around the edges. I glued the purple panel to a card base and sprinkled shaker filler in the center, then adhered the frame over top, sealing the shaker bits inside.

Then, I inked up the oval with yellow ink and splatters and popped it up with foam tape in the opening. I added the rose with foam squares and carefully used liquid glue to adhere the “hello” sentiment where it overlaps the roses.

For finishing touches I added white gel pen highlights all over the image.

Enter to Win a $25 Prize!

One lucky winner will receive a $25 store credit to spend at Newton’s Nook Designs online shop! The winner will be chosen at random from the collective blog posts featuring our new products this week. For a chance to win, leave comments on the Design Team Member Blog Posts (see list below) from Wednesday, April 16 and Thursday April 17th. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning! You have until Thursday, April 17th at 9 pm ET to comment — winners will be announced on the NND blog on Friday, April 18th.

Check out all the awesome Design Team Blogs below to enter:

Newton’s Nook Designs
Donna Idlet
Larissa Heskett
Samantha Mann
Diane Morales
Farhana Sarker
Amanda Wilcox

Newtons Nook – April Mini Release Reveals Day 1

Hello friends! Newton’s Nook is having a mini release this month with just 2 new dies…that you’re going to LOVE! We’re revealing one today and the other tomorrow, with an Instagram hop on release day! First up…

Lattice Die

Today I have a springy card to share with you using the Lattice die and the pretty Daffodils stamps and dies. My mother-in-law used to have a lattice fence dividing her yard and I always thought it was pretty with flowers along the bottom so that’s where I got my inspiration for this card.

I cut the lattice die from white cardstock and then used distress oxide sprays and distress spritz spray to add color and shimmer. Her lattice was bright white but I wanted to pull in the yellow for the daffodils.

I colored my images and used the coordinating dies to cut them out. Then I cut a banner from the A7 Frames die set and heat embossed my sentiment on that. I used liquid glue to adhere the stems of the daffodils in the lattice and then lined the back with foam strips and squares. I also added foam to the butterfly and sentiment strip.

Next, I cut a piece of this blue glitter cardstock I found in my stash to A2 size and glued it to a card base. I inked up the edges with a darker blue ink but it didn’t really take to this cardstock because I think it has a coating on it for the glitter. So I removed all the release paper from the back of the lattice panel and popped it in place. Then I added the sentiment strip and butterfly next.

For finishing touches I added glossy accents to the stamen on the daffodils an butterfly wings for a bit of shine with all the shimmer.

Enter to Win a $25 Prize!

Check out all the awesome Design Team Blogs below to enter:

Newton’s Nook Designs
Donna Idlet
Larissa Heskett
Samantha Mann
Diane Morales
Farhana Sarker
Amanda Wilcox

Doodlebugs – Playing with Colors and Stencils

Welcome friends! It’s Mix it up Monday and today I’m playing with the Concord & 9th Sweet Stems stencil set I picked up a while ago. It’s laid out perfectly that you don’t need to mask anything to get the perfect color layering and is really fun to create with in any color palette. To prove that, I sat and created 3 cards with what felt like no effort at all.

With a stencil set like this my first attempt is always just to play with it and see how the layers fit together. Sometimes I’m done after that but with this set I kept coming up with color combos I wanted to try out and see how they looked together.

I used distress oxide inks for this first card – salvaged patina, twisted citron, dried marigold, spiced marmalade. Then I used dried marigold for my sentiment color as well. I splattered the panels with water and then with pearl watercolor for sparkle.

For this card I switched to Lawn Fawn dye inks – no. 2 pencil, jalapeno, ballet slippers and guava. I splattered it the same and used guava for my sentiment.

This final combo is also Lawn Fawn dye inks – jalapeno with artichoke on some darker spots, ballet slippers, fresh lavender and juice box. I used fresh lavender for the sentiment.

After inking all of the panels I trimmed them down to fit just behind the Mama Elephant postage frame and used liquid glue to adhere the layers together. The sentiments all came from the Mama Elephant Way to Go stamp and die set.

I popped the sentiments up with foam strips and then popped the postage frames up on gray card bases with foam tape as well. I oriented them all differently so you could see the variations. Then trimmed any excess off the edges with a paper trimmer.

I hope this gives you some inspiration to take a moment and get inky. It’s fun and well worth the time!

Products used:
Concord & 9th Sweet Stems stencil set
Mama Elephant Way to Go stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Postage Frame dies
Distress Oxide inks
Lawn Fawn inks
Blending brushes
Foam tape
Liquid glue
Distress sprayer
Pearl watercolor

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

Doodlebugs – Spring Philosophy

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! I had a lull between new, fun orders being delivered so I gave some of my older spring products a little love. It started with a little relaxed coloring and quickly became a card design in my head.

All of these adorable images are from the Mama Elephant Rainy Days stamp set. I colored them with copic markers and used the coordinating dies to cut them all out.

Next, I cut a smaller Pretty Pink Posh Eyelet Rectangle from light gray cardstock and stamped my sentiment in the middle. As soon as I read this sentiment, I knew I had to use it today! It’s probably the #1 best philosophy for spring.

I wanted a little texture on my card base without distracting from the colors of my images so I inked up the Pretty Pink Posh Trellis stencil with gray ink before popping my sentiment panel up in the center with foam tape.

Last, I added all the images with a combination of foam squares and liquid glue. For finishing touches I added glossy accents to critter noses (including umbrellas) and all the raindrops too.

What are your thoughts on spring? It’s my least favorite season and I can’t wait for summer to take over. That’s where this sentiment comes in handy and keeps me positive.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Rainy Days stamps and dies
Pretty Pink Posh Eyelet Rectangles dies
Pretty Pink Posh Trellis stencil
Blending brush
Lawn Fawn Narwhal ink
Foam tape and squares
Glossy accents
Liquid glue

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

Spellbinders – Golden Afternoon Collection

Hey friends! Spellbinders had a new collection release in March called Golden Afternoon by Rosie’s Studio. It’s full of beautiful scrapbooking style papers and ephemera but there is also a die set in it that is SO FUN! It’s got a film strip and a bunch of smaller decorative dies together.

I decided to take the film strip idea literally and printed out a few photos from our recent Disneyland trip to die cut and insert into the film reel! Isn’t is so fun!?! I love it!

The smile sentiment, and mini banner and star are part of the My Life In Pictures set. I paired them with the Loops embossing folder for some interest and texture on my background.

I love this die set and have a billion ideas to create with it. Keeping in theme with photos, can you imagine a wedding card with photos of the couple…as babies top and bottom, then as a couple in the middle. Or milestone photos of a kiddo for a milestone birthday. So much fun and so personal!

Plus the papercrafting fun of adding critters and decorations around the film strip. The ideas really are endless!

Products used:
My Life in Pictures dies
Loops embossing folder
Liquid glue
Foam tape

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

Newton’s Nook – Time to Celebrate

Hey friends! As always, happy to be sharing super fun Newton’s Nook inspiration on their blog and here! Also, still beefing up my birthday card supply so here is another fun one for the stash. This set happens to be part of the Retiring Sale going on now too so snag yours while they’re available!

I started with the cute image from Birthday Mice, stamping and coloring with copic markers. Then used the coordinating die to cut it out. Next, I heat embossed the Birthday Roundabout image on a piece of white cardstock and did a little ink smooshing on top of it. When doing this type of technique remember to dry your panel in between inks so they layer more than mix into mud.

Once that was done and the panel was dry, I tore off one edge and used my teal blending brush (without adding ink) along the torn edge to add some color. Then I took one of the Ocean Borders dies and cut a strip of yellow cardstock to add beneath it. I also stamped and heat embossed a sentiment from the Birthday Roundabout on a Banner Trio die before putting all of that away.

For assembly today, I added foam squares and tape to the back of the inked panel, mice image and sentiment banner. I removed the release paper and adhered the wavy strip to the inked panel first, then adhered all of that to a white card base. Next I added the image and sentiment banner to that. For finishing touches I added twine around the top and a combo of glossy accents and stardust Stickles to parts of the image.

Products used:
Birthday Mice stamps and dies
Birthday Roundabout stamps
Banner Trio dies
Ocean Borders dies
Foam squares
Liquid glue
Embossing and watermark ink
Embossing powder – frosting
Magic anti-static brush
Lawn Fawn inks – peacock, peach fuzz, lemonade
Blending brush

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