Mama Elephant Little Agenda Panda Cards

Today is the last day to enter the Mama Elephant top card challenge and I happened to have a whole bundle of pandas sitting on my desk last night so I made a couple more cards to enter.

This first one uses the hillside cover with different distress inks on each hill. I added pandas galore, stamped a few speech bubbles from stackable cuties and scattered color matching sequins throughout.

Pandas are my absolute all-time favorite animal so I just had to have this set and have been chomping at the bit to play with it!

The next card uses some more pandas from the same set but for a birthday card this time.

For this one I blended distress inks on a panel and sprayed it with water. I stacked 3 of the happy birthday die cuts together and glued it on, popping pandas up with foam squares all about. I finished it off with Nuvo crystal drops in coordinating colors all over.

Let’s be real, I was singing “Everybody was kung-fu fighting…hi-ya!” the entire time I made this card. And giggling…I couldn’t resist. Boy cards can be hard to make but I think this one would work great for that!

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

Rabbit Hole Designs Current Mewed – Cat

This new stamp set by The Rabbit Hole Designs fits any cat I’ve ever known so perfect. It cracks me up and I had fun playing with it to make this fun card.

Here’s how I did it.

Stamped, colored and cut all the kitties and the mouse from Cattitude.
Cut a white panel down to 4×5.25, die cut the circles and stamped the sentiment.
Ink blended a panel to go behind the circles and glued the two together.
Attached that panel to a piece of craft foam and adhered it to a card base.
Next I attached all the images to that panel and finished the whole thing off with a scattering of Crystal Nuvo Drops.

Here’s a closer look at the kitties with all their sass. The middle two remind me of my cats. I think next time I’ll color them to match.

For more inspiration, updates and news be sure to check these places:

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

The Rabbit Hole Designs Pretty in Peonies Thank You Card

Hello again! It’s a flowery kind of day, don’t you think. I’m not typically into flowers but this Pretty in Peony set is just beautiful and I love playing with them. The Rabbit Hole Designs has such a great variety of sets. Be sure to stop by and see what else they have while you’re picking up this beauty!

Here’s how I made it:

Stamped and heat embossed flowers and leaves with gold embossing powder.
Watercolored with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.
Stamped my sentiment, scattered some gold jewels about and added washi tape to the edge of the watercolor panel.
Mounted the watercolor panel on black cardstock and glued that to a kraft card base.
I also stamped the largest peony on the back flap of my envelope in brown ink for a little extra pretty when the recipient opens the envelope.

I just love watercolor flowers! Don’t you? The color variation looks like real flower petals.

Here is the stamp set I used:

For more inspiration, updates and news be sure to check these places:

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

Lawn Fawn Puffy Stars Wands

Happy 4th of July to all of my American followers! I hope you have a happy and safe holiday!

I love making my own decorations for the 4th. I don’t know why but I’m drawn to them every year. This year I made some wands to display in a jar at the table with our snack food and thought they would be fun to share with you.

Here’s how I made them:

Die cut 2 of the largest puffy stars and one of the smallest from all 3 Doodlebug papers that I had.
Scored each large star from the point to the indent directly across on all 5 points. Then fold the score lines alternating hill and valley around all of the stars.
Hot glued the tips of the coordinating stars together and then hot glued a paper straw inside the bottom of each.
Next, I hot glued a contrasting small star to the front of each large star and topped that with a clear sequin and a red gem stone.
Last I found some random red, white and blue ribbons in my stash and tied them to the straw for a little extra interest.

Here’s a closer look at the stars where you can really see the layered embellishments.

As a family, we love the 4th and are super excited to bbq, play games outside and celebrate all day long. What are you doing this year? I’d love for you to share in the comments below.

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

Mama Elephant Panda Thank You Card

We’re chugging along through the week. Thanks for taking a moment to stop in an see what I’m up to. Today it’s a fun distress ink Mama Elephant card featuring the new hilly thanks die and panda stamps. It’s bright and fun and I love how much is going on all over it.

Here’s how I did it:

Blended distress inks on a cardstock panel – picked raspberries and salty ocean – and spritz with water.
Die cut hilly thanks from the distress ink panel and also from black craft foam. Then glued the thanks hill cardstock and foam together so the bottom part of the card pops up.
Glued top and bottom panels to the card front fitting the letters and their negative spaces together.
Stamped and die cut pandas and lanterns. Color lanterns yellow – I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers but anything works for this teeny amount of coloring.
Adhered these images to the card front with liquid glue.
For finishing touches I drew a line connecting the lanterns together, added glossy accents to them for that great shiny look and glued a scattering of confetti bits on the bottom part of the card.

I love the dimension and shadow the black foam gives the hill and letters. Sometimes it’s the smallest things that make such a big impact on the card’s design.

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

Mama Elephant Hello Friend Monkey Card

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by to see this adorable Mama Elephant card using the hello friend die and little agenda monkeys.

Here’s how I did it:

Ink blended distress inks on the back panel – crack pistacchio, scattered straw and spun sugar – and spritzed with water.
Die cut the grid window backdrop 4 times from white cardstock and glued them together, then adhered it to the ink blended background.
Die cut the hello friend sentiment from gray cardstock and glued it on.
Next I glued my monkeys all over. Some are popped up and some are glued inside the grid for more dimension and interest.
To finish the card off, I added a scattering of Nuvo Crystal Drops in morning dew and sweet lilac.

Such a sweet card, sure to make you smile! These monkeys are so much fun. Even If I use the same general layout, the cards always come out so different. It’s great!

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

Simon Says Stamp Under the Sea Animals Card

Hey! Hey! Happy Friday!!! Remember that amazing mermaid card from Monday…well, I told you the other half of the background would be coming soon. And today is the day with this awesome Simon Says Stamp Under the Sea Animals card.

Here’s how I did it.

I glued the Neat and Tangled snake scales backdrop frame to a piece of cardstock and adhered it to a card base.
Stamped the fish on cardstock and colored them with copic markers. Then die cut them all and started arranging them on the background.
Once I liked their placement I glued them all down, stamped a sentiment and cut it into a strip gluing that down too.
For finishing touches, I added Ink Road Stamps gems throughout and then took my wink of stella clear glitter brush and colored in a few random scale openings over the whole background to add some shimmer.

This really was a simple card to create but the color palette is so pretty and fun. The sentiment is great for encouraging anyone going through a tough time.

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

Mama Elephant Hilly Hello Card

Welcome back! Thanks for stopping by to check out this adorable Mama Elephant hilly hello thinking of you card. I had an itch to color some Mama Elephant little agenda monkeys earlier this week and when my new Mama Elephant order came in the mail I thought this new die would be perfect to use with them.

Here’s how I did it.

Die cut the hilly hello from a piece of white cardstock, ink blended it with cracked pistachio distress ink and spritzed it with water.
Attached that to a card base and used a cloud stencil to add a few clouds to the sky with salty ocean distress ink.
I stamped the monkeys with Versafine vintage sepia ink on Bristol smooth cardstock and colored them with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers. Then die cut them all out and attached them to the card with tape runner.
Last I stamped the sentiment from Avery Elle’s simply said hugs and added some clay hearts from Honey Bee stamps.

I love how you can pair so many brands together and come up with a totally cohesive, adorable card like this. These monkeys have a special place in my heart and I love this soft, simple card.

As always, I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a great day!

Rabbit Hole Designs Mermaid Hair Card

Literally…my hair today. It’s so Monday but I’m thrilled to be sharing this Mermaid Hair card using The Rabbit Hole Designs stamp set.

I squeal every time I look at this card. I thought the background was trash when the colors didn’t do what I wanted them to but I set it aside and left it alone for a while. I started sifting through my background dies and found this awesome one from Neat and Tangled called snake scales. I swear it looks like mermaid scales to me though. Don’t you think?

Ahhh, I’m in love! Okay, enough swooning. Here’s how I did it:

Smeared distress ink on my glass work mat and sprayed it with water. Drug my Bristol Smooth cardstock through the ink, heat dried it, did it again, and then again. Didn’t like it, set it aside to mull it over.
Found my snake scales die and die cut it with the cutting side up and inked side of the paper facing down. This is helpful, I promise.
Next, with the paper still in the die, I carefully put small drops of glue ONLY on the scales, not the frame the die also cuts. Then I placed that on a piece of cardstsock and removed the die. Last, also carefully, I removed the frame from between the scales. Viola! Totally worth the extra work and BONUS I have the frame for another card…coming soon! 😉
Now I cut, stamped and colored my mermaid, then attached her with foam squares.
I cut the scalloped frame from white cardstock 3 times and glued it together for dimension and added it to the front as well.
Last I stamped my sentiment and cut it into a strip adhering it with foam tape.
For finishing touches I added SO MUCH Wink of Stella clear glitter brush to the mermaid’s hair and tail and scattered confetti from The Rabbit Hole Designs throughout too.

Look at that sparkle! Ahhh, she’s beautiful! Really, she helps a Monday though.

The Rabbit Hole Designs actually has a new release happening today and a blog hop. Here are a couple of cards from the Design Team being shared today.

Head over and check it all out!

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

Simon Says Stamp Under the Sea Animals Card

Hello everyone! Welcome back and happy weekend! I skipped the gym last night and played in the craft room. I had no specific ideas, just that I wanted to play. So I started with distress inks and made a handful of backgrounds. It’s always messy fun that gets the creative juices flowing. Today I’m sharing a card I made with one of them.

This is a direct to paper technique that I’d never tried before. I used the small distress ink cubes and just swiped them back and forth across the paper until the color was how I wanted it. I overlapped the colors a bit but didn’t try to blend them. Then I sprayed the whole thing with a bit of water and laid a clear block on top. This smooshed the water on the paper and gave the ink a fuzzy look rather than white spots like the water drops give.

Next I trimmed a piece of white card stock down to 4×5.25 and die cut the Simon Says Stamp Pebbles border from the bottom half. Then stamped a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Under the Sea Animals set under that. I chose the one that went with the snail because I knew I wanted to use him on this card.

For assembly I glued the inked panel to a card front and then only glued the top and bottom of the white panel down. This gave the pebble area the ability to lift up for some interest and dimension.

I stamped, colored and die cut the snail, and then attached him to the front with foam squares. For finishing touches on this card I added glossy accents to the whole snail shell and Nuvo Crystal Drops in morning dew scattered throughout for a water drop look.

I am really happy with how it turned out. The colors are super soft and calming and the whole card was a lot of fun to make! Have you done anything creative lately? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear about it.

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