Doodlebugs – Cover Plates with Embossing Texture

Welcome to a fresh new week everyone! I’m on the Doodlebugs blog today finding new looks for all the fun window cover plates out there. I love using them for added interest and ways to ground images but sometimes that plain background in the windows is boring. Today I played with an idea that you could definitely grow on to add texture and interest to those spaces.

I cut the Mama Elephant Window Grid from kraft cardstock and slid a white panel behind it. Then I pulled out my Little Dinosaur Agenda stamps out and chose a few to fill in the windows. After stamping and coloring the ones I picked, I used the coordinating dies to cut them out.

When it was time to start layering everything together I didn’t want just ink blending or splatter in the windows so I took the Spellbinders Columns embossing folder and ran the white panel through my die cut machine. That was cool but now I wanted a little more so I did random ink blending with distress oxide gathered twigs ink on the window panel and the embossed panel. Then I splattered it all with water. This was much more my style.

I used liquid glue to adhere those panels to a white card base and then popped all my dinosaurs up with foam squares. For my sentiment I cut one of the Mama Elephant Banner Greetings, glued the layers together and popped it in place with a foam strip like the pterodactyl is holding it while flying. This seriously made me giggle.

Remember you could keep the windows that cut out of the cover plate and emboss those pieces too! Another way to test the idea out and not use another piece of cardstock. Anyone interested in seeing that idea? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Grid Panel die
Mama Elephant Banner Greetings dies
Mama Elephant Little Dinosaur Agenda stamps and dies
Spellbinders Columns embossing folder
Distress Oxide Ink – gathered twigs
Distress sprayer
Liquid glue
Foam squares and strips
Lawn Fawn Ink – crunchy leaf (for copic coloring)

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

Doodlebugs – Texturizing Your Backgrounds

Hey friends! I’m on the Doodlebugs blog for Mix it up Monday with an idea for adding color and texture to your backgrounds in a different way. We’re going to ink, emboss and then ink again for added awesomeness!

I had an idea for embossing folders and wanted to try it so that’s where today’s project started. I took a piece of white cardstock and die cut it with the largest Spellbinders Modern Oval die. I inked the panel up with yellow ink and inserted it into the Spellbinders Tiny Dot embossing folder and ran it through my die cutter. After I removed it, I flipped it over to what we normally consider the back side. So the dots indent instead of stick up. Then I added a layer of teal ink over the top with a brayer roller. This kept the ink out of the dots and just added a layer over the panel. Then I added a layer of peacock feathers distress oxide ink over that for a darker effect. I spritzed the panel with water and then flicked white paint on it too.

While that was drying I pulled out some Mama Elephant sets to stamp, color and die cut. I started with Little Agenda Farm and then moved on to Simple Friends Bubbles for my sentiments. Last I used liquid glue to assemble my critters in place and added foam squares to the back of everything.

I didn’t want the card base to be stark white so I inked it up with distress oxide ink in ripe persimmon and spiced marmalade and spritzed it with water. Then I adhered the oval with foam tape and finally added the images and speech bubbles.

For finishing touches I added glossy accents to the critter nose/beaks and bits of the tractor and wagon too. Last I added some enamel dots across the design for a bit of shine and reflection in the light.

Products used today:
Mama Elephant Little Agenda Farm stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Simple Friends Bubbles stamps and dies
Spellbinders Modern Oval dies
Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder
Brayer roller
Lawn Fawn Ink – sunflower, peachy keen and mermaid
Distress Oxide Ink – peacock feathers, ripe persimmon and spiced marmalade
Foam tape and squares
Glossy accents
Enamel dots

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

Doodlebugs – Ink Smooshing and Two-for-One Backgrounds

Happy Monday everyone! Mix it up Monday is extra inky fun on the Doodlebugs blog today. We’re ink smooshing and getting two-for-one backgrounds from our efforts. So fun, easy to do and there is no messing up.

Start with a piece of white cardstock and water based markers like Tombow Dual Brush Pens. Scribble a color on an acrylic block or glass mat and spritz it with water. If you use an acrylic block you can stamp the block all over your paper creating splotches of color. If you’re using your glass mat, do that same thing with your paper on the mat to mop up the watery ink. I suggest using a heat gun or letting the panel dry between colors. This layers the colors and gives more interest, instead of colors blending together if the panel is still wet.

Once the panel is ink smooshed to your liking and dry, run it through your die cutter with the Mama Elephant Heart Grid cover plate die. Mine happened to keep all of the hearts in the die which made the next step easier but it’s not game over if they come out.

I chose the melon color from my inking to be the background for both of my cards. So I cut two pieces and adhered them to white card bases. I popped the first one up with foam strips.

For the next one, I place a foam square on the back of each heart while they were stuck in the die, removed the release paper and carefully placed my paper centered over the hearts. They stuck to the paper and made it easy to have them equally spaced.

Then I cut some balloons from the Pretty Pink Posh Party Balloons die set in coordinating colors and stamped this sweet Mama Elephant bear, coloring it in coordinating colors as well.

After adding the extra balloons and image to the design with foam squares, I stamped and heat embossed sentiments on sentiment strips, that are added with liquid glue and foam strips. For finishing touches I added black glaze pen to each bear’s eye and glossy accents to his nose and the balloons.

Two birthday cards in almost the same amount of time to make one. I love that kind of crafting!

Products used:
Mama Elephant Beary Good Day stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Heart Grid die
Pretty Pink Posh Party Balloons dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strip dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Birthday stamps
Embossing ink
Embossing powder
Glossy accents
Liquid glue
Foam squares and strips
Tombow Dual Brush Markers – pastel set

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

Doodlebugs – Embossing Your Ink Blending

Happy Monday friends! I have a pretty floral card to share with you today featuring some of the March Pretty Pink Posh release plus some previously released goodies from Pretty Pink Posh and Spellbinders.

I started by stamping and coloring images from Pretty Pink Posh Daisies with copic markers. I chose a gray copic-friendly ink to soften the look of everything too. Once they were colored, I used the coordinating dies to cut them out and liquid glue to adhere the bow in place.

Next I ink blended a white cardstock panel with distress oxide inks, fading from milled lavender to victorian velvet. I spritzed the panel with water and flicked pearl water color on it for interest. While that was drying I cut the next-to-largest Spellbinders Make a Wish Arch Labels from iridescent vellum. Using the florals as a guide, I stamped and heat embossed my sentiment at the bottom. This came from the Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Valentine stamp set.

When I started layering things together, my inked background felt too plain, so I ran the panel through my die cutter in the Spellbinders Candy Stripe embossing folder. This gives a little texture to the background without taking away from the florals in the foreground.

To assemble everything, I added foam squares to the florals and attached it to the vellum panel. Then I hid tape runner behind that to adhere the vellum to the embossed panel. The edges started to curl so I smeared a layer of liquid glue on the corners and a few places around the arch and held it down while the glue dried. If you use your finger or a dauber to spread the glue really thin on vellum, it doesn’t show through.

For finishing touches, I added a scattering of white pearls across the design. They’re soft and elegant, which I thought was perfect for the feel of this card.

Products used:
Spellbinders Make a Wish Arch Labels dies
Spellbinders Candy Stripe embossing folder
Pretty Pink Posh Daisies stamps and dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Valentine stamps
Pretty Pink Posh pearls – ivory
Anti-static pouch
Embossing ink
Embossing powder – white
Distress Oxide Ink – victorian velvet and milled lavender
Distress sprayer
Lawn Fawn ink – river rock
Liquid glue
Tape runner
Foam squares
LH Colors watercolor – pearl

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

Doodlebugs – Pair of Tags for Thank You Gifts

Welcome to another Mix it up Monday for the Doodlebugs blog! This time I needed a couple of tags for thank you gifts I was giving at work. The gifts were really pretty candles, one pink and one orange, so I pulled my color inspiration from that. It’s a great little trick to remember if you’re stuck for palette inspiration.

I dug through all my fun tag shapes and landed on this awesome see-through tag from Pretty Pink Posh. I cut one orange and one pink, then two white for the back layer. I sandwiched acetate between the layers so I had somewhere to adhere my images.

Trying to decide what images to use, I came across the adorable Mama Elephant Flower Shower set and thought these flowers would be perfect colored in the deep colors I was going for. So I chose two, stamped and colored them, then used the coordinating dies to cut them out.

Next, time to choose a sentiment. Obviously, I needed a thank you style but which one? I felt super punny when I read “thanks a bunch” in the Mama Elephant Banner Greetings die set and couldn’t resist. I cut the solid banner from white and the sentiment layer from black, adhering them with liquid glue.

After popping the sentiment banners and images up with foam on the tag shapes, I tied twine through the holes in coordinating colors and added glossy accents to critter noses and flower centers. Last I added black glaze pen to the critter eyes to help them shine.

These tags added just enough to a simple gift to make it feel special and that little extra.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Flower Shower stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Banner Greetings dies
Pretty Pink Posh Birthday Circles dies
Foam squares and strips
Glossy accents
Liquid glue
1/8″ tear tape
Sakura gelly roll glaze pen – black

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

Doodlebugs – Hip Hip Hooray Hot Foiling

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! I had so much fun mixing so many companies together to create these fun cards! It all started with the backgrounds and quickly grew from there. Do you ever have that with a new layered stencil? You have to try it in a billion color combinations just to see what you actually like together…or maybe you love them all and you just keep going? The second thought was more what happened to me this time.

After creating my stenciled backgrounds with the Pretty Pink Posh Half Stars stencil set, I took one of the ink pads (peach fuzz and peachy keen) and drug it across two card fronts so they color matched my ink blending.

Next, I hot foiled two “hip hip hoorays” from Spellbinders using gold hot foil and the coordinating die to cut them out. When I was looking for my hot foil plates, I found the Spellbinders Make a Wish Arch Labels and thought the tag in that set would be perfect to add to my design. I cut two of those from teal cardstock in my stash and threaded black twine through the holes.

You all know how I love my critters so it was inevitable that when I felt like my design was missing something, I went digging for a cutie to add. The Mama Elephant Hello Froggy set came out a year or so ago but I just recently ordered it so I was more than excited for the chance to use it! I stamped my dapper froggy and colored him with copics before using the coordinating die to cut him out.

With all my elements laid out and ready to go, I started assembling with foam tape, squares and liquid glue. Then I finished the design off with a bit of glossy accents on the froggy’s bowtie and buttons.

I forgot to take a picture but on the inside of each card I stamped a sentiment from Hello Froggy that says “You’re Froggin Awesome” because I thought it went so perfectly with the front.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Hello Froggy stamps and dies
Pretty Pink Posh Half Stars stencils
Spellbinders Make a Wish Arch Labels dies
Spellbinders Hip Hip Hooray hot foil plate
Spellbinders gold hot foil
Foam tape and squares
Liquid glue
Glossy accents
Lawn Fawn inks – peachy keen, peach fuzz, mermaid
Blending brushes

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

Doodlebugs – Mass Producing Birthday Cards

Hey friends! It’s Mix it up Monday on the Doodlebugs blog today. I’m mass producing some birthday cards because I need a bundle coming up soon. The way I did these made it easy to create a quick set of four cards but still gave them some individuality too.

I started with the new Pretty Pink Posh Birthday Wreath layered stencil set, blending brushes and pretty much the rainbow of my Lawn Fawn inks. These stencils were designed brilliantly so it was easy to ink the different parts in different colors with my regular blending brushes. I think the only small brush I used was for the candle flames. Anyhow, I inked up four backgrounds the exact same and set them aside.

Next, I pulled out the Mama Elephant Big Happy Birthday die. I cut four sets of three from white cardstock and glued each set together with liquid glue. Then I chose four colors of cardstock from my stash that went with the colors of the background and cut one from each, gluing those to the top of the stacked white die cuts.

Next, I went through all my Mama Elephant Little Agenda sets and found the ones with my favorite birthday images. I stamped two from each of the four that I chose and colored everything with copic markers. I used the coordinating dies to cut them all out and matched them with a different colored sentiment so I could start assembling my cards.

I used liquid glue to adhere each background to a card base and then added the sentiment dies to the center of each one. Then I added the two little agenda images to each card front with a combination of foam squares and liquid glue depending where they overlapped the sentiment.

Once everything was assembled I pulled some twine from the stash and tied it around the top of each card, tying them in a small bow. Then I added glossy accents and stardust Stickles to parts of the images on each card. Usually party hats, balloons and bows. Just a little sparkle and shine for each card front.

Voila! I have four completed birthday cards that are pretty much to same but really different because of the different critters on each. Everyone has their favorites and that makes it special for them.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Little Agenda Llama, Bear, Hamster and Frog
Mama Elephant Big Happy Birthday die
Pretty Pink Posh Birthday Wreath stencils
Lawn Fawn Inks – sunflower, jalapeno, mermaid, juice box, guava, narwhal
Blending brushes
Glossy accents
Stardust Stickles
Liquid glue
Foam squares

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

Twiddler’s Nook Keeping it Crafty Sneak Peeks

Happy Tuesday everyone! I’m popping in today to share some sneak peeks of the projects we’ll be creating at the Keeping it Crafty retreat in April. Hopefully, this will help you decide if you’re on fence about registering or not.

We’re showcasing products from Twiddler’s Nook along with Newton’s Nook, Pretty Pink Posh, Pink & Main and Thermoweb during the retreat. Your swag bags are already bursting with donated products that we’ll actually be using during the retreat, plus more fun!

There will be a Twiddler’s Nook pop-up shop on site for the day so you can see what we make and how it works in person too!

There are only a few spots left so don’t hesitate too long to register.

Click HERE for the registration form and get signed up today!

Doodlebugs – Dino Wishes, Mixing Die Cuts and Embossing Folders

Hey friends! Mix it up Monday is here in a big way today! Prehistoric big!!! Lol. I finally played with the Spellbinders Birthday Dinosaur and couldn’t stop after one so I have three cards to share with you today.

The whole thing started with me just wanting to play around with the adorable dinosaurs and escalated quickly. These dinos come together very quickly and are the simplest to put together. I recommend liquid glue so you have a second to fiddle with placement if you need to but other than that they are very self explanatory.

Once I had the dinosaurs created I went digging for bits and pieces to go with them and since I happened to have this new Mama Elephant Simple Friends Bubbles stamps and die set on my desk, I thought I would see how they went together.

Absolutely perfect, is how they went together! This sentiment set stamps and die cuts six sentiments at once which is awesome! This batch was stamped with Lawn Fawn peach fuzz ink three times to make sure I had good coverage and darken the color a little.

For my background I cut three Mama Elephant Sweet Shoppe Frames, keeping the center piece that cuts out. I glued each one to a white card base. Then used the Spellbinders In the Pines embossing folder on the center piece for each one. I chose contrasting colors to each dinosaur and ink blended those panels before gluing them back in the middle of the frames.

Last I just added my speech bubbles and dinosaurs to each card front with foam squares. They are so cute just how they are that I decided to skip shiny and sparkly for this set of cards. But by all means friends, go ahead and bling away if that’s what your heart desires. I will never stop you! 🙂

Products used:
Spellbinders Birthday Dinosaur dies
Spellbinders In the Pines embossing folder
Mama Elephant Simple Friends Bubbles stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Sweet Shoppe Frames dies
Lawn Fawn inks – lemonade, mermaid, peach fuzz
Liquid glue
Foam squares

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

Doodlebugs – Dancing Monster Celebration Wishes with a Shaped Card and Gift Card Holder

Welcome to a monstrous mix-it-up Monday everyone!!! I’m super excited to share my creations today. They were so fun to make! Words don’t really express how much I think everyone should try making one of these dancing creations from Spellbinders. They are really easy and so fun, almost as much fun to give as to get!

I started these projects by die cutting pieces from the Spellbinders Dancin’ Birthday Monster set. I mixed and matched them, creating two monsters for the heck of it. That’s when I decided it would be great to make a card and gift card holder set! I cut card layers with the Spellbinders Make a Wish Arch Labels dies – two of the largest and one of the next-to-smallest.

I ink blended the Pretty Pink Posh Trellis stencil with Lawn Fawn jalapeno ink, then popped up the orange arch and also the monster. I die cut the word “celebrate” from the Pretty Pink Posh Gift Card Bag die set three times from black cardstock and glued it underneath the arch.

For the card, I finished things off with a scattering of Pretty Pink Posh pistachio pearls and a little glossy accents on the top of the birthday hat.

Next, I created my gift card holder using the Pretty Pink Posh Gift Card Bag die set.

After cutting the front and back of the bag from white cardstock, I inked both sides with the Trellis stencil just like the card front. Then I popped up the monster with foam squares and glued my sentiment underneath him. The sentiment is also part of the Gift Card Bag dies.

Dancin’ Character Tip: You’ll see with the Spellbinders dancing characters, the legs have a tab at the top with a hole in it. To attach them to anything, add a foam circle to your base (card front or gift card bag), slide the hole over the foam circle, remove the foam release paper and adhere your character body on top. Be sure that the foam squares on your character don’t impede the movement of the legs though. I just added them to the top half to make sure I was safe.

Please leave me a comment or send an email if this isn’t clear and you’d like a step-by-step photo tutorial.

Products used:
Spellbinders Dancin’ Birthday Monster dies
Spellbinders Make a Wish Arch Labels dies
Pretty Pink Posh Trellis stencil
Pretty Pink Posh Gift Card Bag dies
Pretty Pink Posh pistachio pearls
Liquid glue
Foam circles, squares and tape
Blending brush
Lawn Fawn jalapeno ink
Glossy accents
Tear tape – 1/8 inch

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