Doodlebugs – Big Birthday Wishes

Hey friends! Once again for mix-it-up Monday we’re combining dies from different companies to create adorable scenes! This one is for a birthday but changing the background and sentiment could easily lend itself to lots of other happy occasions too.

For this card, I created my Mama Elephant Favor Bag Add On Monkey first with the intention he would hold the balloons. I ink blended parts for depth and used liquid glue to assemble him as much as possible ahead of time. Then I cut some balloons from the Pretty Pink Posh Party Balloons die set and assembled them with liquid glue as well.

Next I took a piece of white cardstock and inked it up with the Pretty Pink Posh Birthday Wreath stencil set. This set has 3 layers so I used the 3 colors in my balloon bouquet so everything coordinates. I trimmed the panel down and glued it on a card base before adhering the monkey head and body. I glued my strings behind the balloons and brought them down to the monkey’s paws before popping both parts up with foam squares.

Last, I cut a sentiment banner using the Mama Elephant Banner Greetings die set. After adhering the layers together I added it to my card with foam squares. Moving on to finishing touches I added glossy accents to the monkey’s nose and eyes, let it dry and finished the design off with white gel pen highlights all over.

Isn’t this just too cute for words?!? I had fun creating it and think it would be fun to make a set with different favor bag add on critters from Mama Elephant.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Favor Bag Add On Monkey dies
Mama Elephant Banner Greetings dies
Pretty Pink Posh Party Balloons dies
Pretty Pink Posh Birthday Wreath stencils
Liquid glue
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn ink – mermaid, guava and ballet slippers
Foam squares
Sakura gelly roll pen
Glossy accents

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

Pink & Main – Just Buzzin’ By!

Hello everyone! I took some time to do journaling this weekend and while I had stamps out for that I was immediately inspired to make a card with one of the sets I was using for that too! The journals I use are Little Bits Box by Mommy Lhey Designs, who also designs stamps for Pink & Main. Thus the seamless transition to today’s card.

I was using a couple simple images from Sunshine Days on my journaling but really wanted to create a card so I stamped more of them to color with my copic markers. I used the coordinating dies to cut everything out and mocked them up in the arrangement I wanted to make sure I had enough to fill the scene.

Next, I cut the largest postage stamp from white cardstock and taped off the edges. I inked it up with distress oxide ink in peacock feathers lightly, then went over it all with the Cloudy Day stencil. I splattered the background with pearl watercolor before removing the tape.

I wanted to pull pink from the images to my card front so I cut a piece of light pink cardstock to fil and lightly inked it with the Hearts a Plenty stencil for texture. I glued it to a card base with liquid glue and moved over to adding my images to the postage stamp panel.

When arranging everything I left a spot for my sentiment which I heat embossed with Spring Meadow embossing powder. I had to take a close up photo of it because it’s just incredible how each color in the powder shows up beautifully!

After popping the postage stamp up on the card base with foam tape, I trimmed the excess off the edges and moved on to finishing touches. For those, I just added touch of gloss to the flower center, bee wings and part of the butterfly’s wings too.

Isn’t this such a fun card!?! It made me so happy to create and I love the final product!

Products used:
Sunshine Days stamps and dies
Postage dies
Hearts a Plenty stencil
Cloudy Day stencil
Blending brushes
Distress Oxide – peacock feathers
EZ Squeeze liquid glue
Foam tape
Embossing & watermark ink
Magic anti-static brush
Embossing powder – spring meadow

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

Doodlebugs – Combining Dies For a Fun Ocean Scene

Hey friends! Is anyone else just searching for all the sunshine they can get? I really feel like I am, which is seeping into the craft room. I’m so excited and happy for all of these summer themed releases starting to come out.

Today we’re creating and all die cut card combining fun products from Spellbinders and Mama Elephant. I love the new Seaside Vibes die set from Mama Elephant so I had to create with it as soon as it hit my mailbox. And when I ordered it, I thought the new Spellbinders Coastal Escape View dies would go perfectly so I snagged it at the same time. And I wasn’t wrong!

I used all of the dies from the Seaside Vibes set and pulled in the coral, seashells and palm tree island from Coast Escape View. I cut everything from colored cardstock and gave them some ink blending shadows, with a little copic detail on the seashells and palm trees too.

For once, this is a one-layer card, with no foam tape in sight. Trust me, this was difficult but I do love how it turned out. I also held back on sparkly and shiny because it felt complete once I finished gluing everything in place.

To create the card base, I traced the outer arch on white cardstock and cut it out by hand. Then I scored it on the left side 3/8″ in and adhered the flap to the back of my scene panel with tear tape. *Remember, you can use this technique on pretty much any shape to create a shaped card.*

Products used:
Mama Elephant Seaside Vibes dies
Spellbinders Coast Escape View dies
Liquid glue
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn ink – walnut, jalapeno, peach fuzz, sunflower, guava, mermaid
Tear tape – 1/4″

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

Miss Ink Stamps – Storybook Alice

Happy Thursday everyone! It’s time for more Miss Ink Stamps inspiration and I’m still having fun with the most recent additions to the Alice Collection. This week I finally played with the Storybook Alice set.

I’m obsessed with the fabulous open book image but also love the new Hatter and other characters too!

I started by stamping and coloring all of my images with copic markers. Then, used the coordinating dies to cut them out. I ink blended the Starburst stencil on a piece of white cardstock using light purple ink, removed the stencil and went over the panel again with the same color to soften the bright white. Then I trimmed that panel down to 5.5×3.5 inches.

After deciding on the arrangement of my images, I glued the characters to the book with liquid glue and I also decided to add faint keyholes to the background with the Vintage Keyhole stencil. Now for assembly.

I added a strip of black cardstock to the bottom of my card front, then a strip of glittery washi tape for interest. Then I popped the background panel up with foam tape and added the images the same way. Last, I added the sentiment strip with foam strips.

For finishing touches I added scattering of dots of glue all over the background and sprinkles Champagne Stardust embellishments on them. My thought on this was the magic coming from an open book. I love how it turned out!

Products used:
Storybook Alice stamps and dies
Starburst stencil
Champagne Stardust embellishments
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn fresh lavender and narwhal ink
Foam tape, squares and strips
Liquid glue

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

Mama Elephant – Ice Cream Truck Scene Card

Welcome everyone. Today I have a sweet little scene card that makes me want summer to be here even more than I already do. Ice cream trucks are fun and exciting and we all know it’s time for warmer, nicer weather when we hear that music coming down that street.

I picked up the Little Agenda Ice Cream stamp set on release day but hadn’t created with it yet. So I definitely had to fix that asap. What better addition to pair it with than the original Little Agenda Bunny stamps too! So I chose my images and colored everything with copic markers. Then used the coordinating dies to cut them all out.

For my background, I positioned the Urban City stamp to the upper part of my panel and stamped it with brown ink. I ink blended the buildings with the same light brown and the sky with teal. Then I took a dark gray ink pad direct-to-paper for a city street look.

I glued the panel to a card base and popped my images up with foam squares. Then I stamped a sentiment from Urban City with the same gray as the road and die cut it with a sentiment strip, popping it up with a foam strip as well.

For finishing touches I added orange twine around the top of the card, tying it in a knot. Then came in with stardust Stickles on the top of the ice cream truck and glossy accents on the ice cream scoops all over.

Cheers to the thought of summer fun and treat yourself moments at the ice cream truck this year!

Products used:
Urban City stamps
Little Agenda Ice Cream stamps and dies
Little Agenda Bunny stamps and dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strip dies
Liquid glue
Foam squares and strips
Lawn Fawn Inks – narwhal, mermaid, walnut
Stickles – stardust
Touch of gloss
Blending brushes

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

MFT Stamps – Hoppy Birthday

Hello everyone! I’m so excited that my most recent MFT Stamps order came late last week and I was able to play with these adorable frogs straight away! I went with the brown copic-friendly ink again because I just love the soft lines with these colors.

I started by choosing a few of the frogs in the set to stamp and color. Then I used the coordinating dies and cut them out. I had these squares from die cutting a grid backdrop earlier and I just couldn’t part with them because I knew they would make a cool background later on. Which I was right about!

I took a light yellow ink pad direct-to-paper before popping up each grid square with foam. Then I glued that panel to a white one, and finally a teal one. I used foam squares to add each of my frogs, double-stacked if they overhung a gab between the squares so everything laid flat.

Keeping with the softer feel, I stamped my sentiment in the same brown ink on kraft cardstock and cut it out with a banner die. Then I trimmed the left side flat and adhered it to the top row of squares with a foam strip.

For finishing touches I added a scattering of glitter enamel dots across the whole design.

I had so much fun pulling this together and working outside of the box of my normal feeling designs.

Products used:
MFT Hoppin’ Good Time stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Grid Cover die
Lawn Fawn Extra Sentiment Strip dies
Foam squares and strips
Lawn Fawn sunflower ink
Pink & Main enamel glitter dots
Liquid glue

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

Doodlebugs – Birthday Balloons on Balloons

You can never have too many birthday balloons. Am I right?!? Well, I don’t think so. So when I had the chance to ink up the adorable Mama Elephant It’s Poppin, I had to pair it with my favorite Spellbinders Floating Balloons 3D embossing folder. It’s a match made in heaven.

To start, I actually stamped all of the images in It’s Poppin and colored them all with my copic markers. I used the coordinating dies to cut them out and stashed the other two for later on.

I took a piece of white cardstock and embossed it with the Spellbinders Floating Balloons 3D embossing folder, then placed the panel in my splatter box and went to town with distress oxide sprays. I let the panel dry, splattered it with water, let that dry and then thought it better to run the panel through the embossing folder again. It did make a difference in the balloons standing out.

***So, suggestion to spray your panel with color first, let it dry completely and then emboss it.***

With that done, I splattered the panel with white paint and then trimmed it down to 4×5.5 inches and popped it up on a white card base. I added a couple strips of washi tape to the bottom edge. Then I cut the Mama Elephant Big Happy Birthday three times and glued the layers together before gluing them to the card front. Last, I added the image with foam squares.

For finishing touches I added black glaze pen to the kitties’ eyes and noses and stardust Stickles to the stars in the balloon.

Products used:
Mama Elephant It’s Poppin stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Big Happy Birthday die
Spellbinders Floating Balloons 3D embossing folder
Foam tape and squares
Distress Oxide Sprays – wild honey, abandoned coral and wilted violet
Sakura Gelly Roll black glaze pen

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

Newton’s Nook – Butterflies and Rainbows

Hey friends. I’m happy to be on the Newton’s Nook blog today with a fabulous glitz rainbow filled butterfly card.

I started with a piece of white cardstock and inked up the first layer of the Butterflies stencil set in an angled rainbow. I remove the layer and went over the whole panel with the same inks so there was no white space and the rainbow continued. Then I positioned the second layer of the stencil and spread Thermoweb iridescent glitz gel through it.

While that panel was drying, I inked up the three butterflies in the Monarchs stamp set with the same inks I used to blend the background. I chose the area the butterflies would be adhered a loosely kept the colors close.

Then I die cut a black banner from the Banner Trio die set and heat embossed a sentiment from Heartfelt Butterflies on it. With the background panel dry, I trimmed it to 4×5.25 and popped it up on a card base, then popped the sentiment banner and butterflies up on that with foam squares.

Products used today:
Monarchs stamps and dies
Butterflies stencil set
Banner Trio dies
Heartfelt Butterflies stamps
Foam squares and tape
Magic anti-static brush
Embossing & watermark ink
Embossing powder – frosting
Thermoweb glitz gel – iridescent
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn inks – ballet slippers, peach fuzz, sunflower, mermaid, juice box

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

Doodlebugs – Reverse Embossed Backgrounds

Hey friends! I’m playing with reverse embossed backgrounds today and LOVING the outcome! It’s simple to do but looks complex which makes it all that much cooler!

I started with a piece of white cardstock and ink blende it randomly with distress oxide inks. Today I chose picked raspberry, abandoned coral and wild honey for my colors. There was very little blending involved, mostly just getting color coverage on the panel. Then I put the panel in my Spellbinders Flower Frenzy embossing folder with the color side touching the protruding flowers. This way the flowers are inset into the panel instead of popping up.

After running that through my die cut machine, I inked up my brayer roller with black ink and carefully rolled ink over the panel. As long as you don’t push your embossing flat with the roller, the ink will stick to the top of the panel and not go in the flower indents.

I glued the panel to a white card base and pulled out the Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Butterflies dies. I chose a simple one to cut from white cardstock with a gold glitter body. I used liquid glue to adhere the pieces, wrapped some gold thread behind the butterfly and popped it up with foam squares on my card front. Last, I chose a sentiment from the Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Valentine stamps to ink up with Lawn Fawn guava ink on a sentiment strip, also from Pretty Pink Posh.

Isn’t this technique so cool?!? I can’t wait to try it with different color combos. Maybe even leaving the embossing white and rolling a color over the top. So many possibilities!

Product used:
Spellbinders Flower Frenzy embossing folder
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strip dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Valentine stamps
Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Butterflies dies
Foam squares
Distress Oxide Ink – picked raspberry, abandoned coral, wild honey
VersaFine black onyx ink
Lawn Fawn guava ink
Brayer roller

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

Miss Ink Stamps – What a Wonder You Are

Hello everyone. I’m popping in with a bit of Alice inspiration from Miss Ink Stamps. I’m currently decorating my office at work and one corner is dedicated to Alice so I couldn’t help but pull this collection out and play a bit. It definitely made my heart happy.

I started out the top layer, ink blending distress oxides in stormy sky, faded jeans and blueprint sketch. I spritzed it with water, blotted it dry and when the panel was completely dried I cut one of the Nested Keyhole dies from the center. Now I have my window and can position my background images the way I want them.

So I didn’t run the risk of smearing ink, I blended distress oxide ink from rustic wilderness to forest moss, into crackling campfire and topped it off with mustard seed. Then I used my keyhole panel as a guide and stamped images from Smokin’ Caterpillars and Wildflower. I lined the keyhole panel with foam tape and adhered it to the background panel.

Next, I stamped an Alice from Alice’s Adventures and colored her with copic markers before using the coordinating die to cut her out. I adhered her with a combination of liquid glue and foam squares so she lays flat. Then I stamped a sentiment from the same set and cut it out by hand before adhering it with foam squares as well.

For finishing touches I added some glossy accents to Alice on her shoes, dress, headband and collar.

I do love how this turned out! I think I’ll have to create a piece or two for my office soon.

Products used:
Smokin’ Caterpillars stamps
Wildflower stamps
Alice’s Adventures stamps and dies
Nested Keyhole dies
Foam tape and squares
Touch of gloss
Distress Oxide Ink – stormy sky, faded jeans, blueprint sketch, rustic wilderness, forest moss, crackling campfire, mustard seed
Distress Sprayer

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