Doodlebugs – One Design, Two Ways

Hello everyone! Today for Mix it up Monday on the Doodlebugs blog, I’m sharing a card design two different ways. Two different color ways for ink blending, two different ideas for a sentiment and two different orientations too! So many twos it should be Tuesday! (Bad dad joke of the week.)

Here’s a look at both cards side by side. We’re using the Waffle Flower Sunflower Cluster die and stencil combo with the Lawn Fawn Hello Fall sentiment die today.

For starters let’s talk about the sunflowers. This card is light and bright. I did my ink blending on a white die cut with Lawn Fawn dye inks. They’re happy and beautiful. Definitely giving that sunny vibe.

Believe it or not, this card is using Lawn Fawn dye inks but the die cut was made with kraft cardstock. I went heavier handed on the yellow inks to get the depth and added a darker shade of green for fun, it wasn’t necessary.

Next, I cut my sentiment twice from white cardstock and twice from gold die cut foam from Spellbinders. This set is adhered with the white on top and a peek of the gold glitter. I also turned this card landscape instead of portrait.

Then for this card, I chose a portrait orientation and my sentiment has the flashy gold glitter on top. Different vibes for sure but both are gorgeous!

I did splatter the card front with gold watercolor before adhering the sentiments down because, well, sparkle.

Which style do you like better? Can you think of other products we could try this with?

Products used:
Waffle Flower Sunflower Custer die and stencil combo
Lawn Fawn Hello Fall die
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn ink – no 2 pencil, sunflower, artichoke, noble fir, walnut
Gold watercolor
Liquid glue
Spellbinders die cut glitter foam – gold

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

Doodlebugs – Merry Coloring with Stencils

Welcome friends! It’s Mix it up Monday and I’m slowly transitioning my crafting to a sprinkling of Christmas, as I’m sure some have noticed. We can’t let it creep up on us unaware and be scrambling to create and mail out our Christmas cards now can we?!?

So today I inked up one of the Waffle Flower holiday themed postage stamp stencil sets. This one is called Gingerbread. If you haven’t tried this line of products from Waffle Flower just go into it knowing a few things…they are addicting and so fun to create with, they are so simple with Waffle Flower etching color or theme ideas in the top right corner of each layer, and there is something for everyone, and the collection keeps growing still!

I prefer to die cut my postage stamp backdrop first, then ink up the stencils and stamp my postage extras, then I use my paper trimmer to cut the stamps apart for today’s project. But you could use it whole as a full card design too. It’s that good!

I decided which images I was going to use and tucked the others away to create with another time. Then I cut a Spellbinders Emerald Cut Label, plus the insert layer from pink cardstock. I inked the larger one up with pink ink and splattered them both with pink ink and white paint.

At the same time, I inked the edges of my card base with mermaid ink and splattered it in the same fashion. After those were dry, I layered everything with liquid glue and foam tape.

Next, I popped my postage stamps up with foam squares on the pink rectangle and finished the design off with a sentiment banner from Mama Elephant.

To keep the red cohesive, I inked the background layer of the banner the same way I did on the bird postage stamp. It’s a mix of brown and red from the gingerbread stenciling.

Here’s a little up close of the cuteness we’ve created today! I’m itching to take the other three stamps this stencil set created and get another card checked of my Christmas list!

How far along are you this year? Be honest…I have a solid 15 Christmas cards ready to go and better get cracking if I’m going to get them all done in time.

Products used:
Waffle Flower Postage Collage Gingerbread stencil set
Waffle Flower blending brushes
Waffle Flower Postage Collage North Pole stamps
Spellbinders Emerald Cut Labels dies
Mama Elephant Winter Banners dies
Lawn Fawn Inks – walnut, lobster, mermaid, ballet slippers
Liquid glue
Foam tape

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

Doodlebugs – Mixing Critters and Sentiments to Stretch Your Supplies

Happy Mix it up Monday again everyone! I hope this doesn’t get old for you because I truly love it! My brain used to have a hard time reaching for different companies to put on the same card and now it’s like a fun weekly exercise to see how I can extend the life of my crafty stash!

Today we’re playing with cute critter sets that might not have enough or any sentiments in them. So go ahead, grab that other brand and go to town!

Today we’re starting with watercolor and the Pretty Pink Posh Reindeer Friends set along with the new Mama Elephant Holiday Block set. I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers, including the blender to keep things bolder today. If you wanted to tone down your colors, blend them with water which inevitably removes some of the pigment and lightens them.

Once everything was colored and dry, I used the coordinating dies from both sets to cut them all out. So great that the Mama Elephant dies cut the sentiments in the set too! I love it!!!!

For my background, I embossed a piece of white cardstock with the Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder and glued it to a card base. Then I cut a piece of kraft cardstock 2 inches tall and glued it on top of that. I covered the seam with a strip of black cardstock about 1/4″ thick and proceeded to add my images and sentiment with foam squares.

For finishing touches today, I added red twine wrapped around the top and tied in a bow and I also went ahead and added glossy accents in a couple of places – reindeer noses and the hearts in the sentiment.

I love how happy this card turned out! It’s a little early yet but I think Christmas crafting is going to be extra fun this year!

Products used:
Mama Elephant Holiday Block stamps and dies
Pretty Pink Posh Reindeer Friends stamps and dies
Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder
Foam squares
Glossy accents
Liquid glue

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

Doodlebugs – Die Cut Mania, Getting Ready for Christmas

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! Today I’m sharing more die cut creations but starting to sprinkle in Christmas with my Halloween and fall creations. This time I was thinking about how to stretch some of the products that might not be holiday and I chose the Pretty Pink Posh dump truck die set to start with!

I cut all the pieces from atypical construction colors and used liquid glue to assemble it. I wanted the bed of the truck to sit on top of the “frame” so I just used a little washi tape to keep them lined up while I was playing around with the other elements.

Digging for Christmas gifts to fill my truck with, I landed on the ones in the Spellbinders Delivery Joy die set. I cut the elements and used liquid glue to assemble everything. Then with the help of a little washi tape, I arranged everything taped it together on the front so I could flip it over and add dabs of liquid glue where things overlapped. After letting the glue dry for a minute I could carefully remove the washi tape and it all stayed put!

For my sentiment, I went with the Spellbinders Make it Merry banners and thought the “jingle all the way” sentiment was too cute with this truck load of gifts. I layered the black top banner over white glitter cardstock and offset them for a little extra sparkle. I popped it up on the truck with foam strips.

For my background, I cut 2 of the largest Spellbinders Emerald Cut Labels dies from white cardstock, scored one 1/2 inch from the top and adhered it to the back to create a shaped card base. Then I cut the inner label from teal cardstock and inked it up with the Pretty Pink Posh Trellis stencil and Lawn Fawn peacock ink. That is adhered with liquid glue and my truck is popped up on that with foam tape.

Isn’t this a fun segue into holiday crafting? Now that I’ve filled this truck with gifts, I’m going backward to fill it with pumpkins and when Valentine’s Day rolls around, watch out!!! We’re going to have fun with this!

Products used:
Pretty Pink Posh Big Dump Truck dies
Pretty Pink Posh Trellis stencil
Spellbinders Emerald Cut Labels dies
Spellbinders Make it Merry banner ides
Spellbinders Delivering Joy dies
Blending brush
Lawn Fawn peacock ink
Liquid glue
Foam strips and tape
Reverse tweezers

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

Doodlebugs – Ultimate Mix It Up Monday

Hey friends! I’m over on the Doodlebugs blog for our weekly Mix it up Monday but today is seriously the ultimate mix and match with so many companies together and you’d never know. They just work so great!

Isn’t this just the cutest!!! So easy too! Any order really, you just need that sweet Sunny Studios penguin colored and die cut. The awesome Lawn Fawn candy canes die cut and assembled. I started with red and white but didn’t love it until I added the pink. Be sure to play with this die set! I think I’ll try some mint green next.

Now, use liquid glue to adhere your candy canes crisscross and then add the penguin to the top.

Then stamp and heat emboss your sentiment of choice – the Pretty Pink Posh sentiment strips dies and coordinating stamp sets for the win as usual. I’m tell you, you’ll get your moneys worth from these. There is always something that works!

Now, add foam squares and strips behind your images and sentiment strip.

Now, we’re going to switch to Concord & 9th for an awesome background die. Trim your panel to 3.5×4.75 inches and cut it twice with the Double Stripe Card Front die – once landscape and then again portrait. Then you get this awesome plaid stitching.

I used green cardstock and then ink blended the edges with shabby shutters distress oxide for a little shadow and flicked forest moss ink across the panel for extra interest.

Finally, to assemble it all, I popped the background panel up with foam tape on a white card base and then adhered the images and sentiment strip on that. For finishing touches I added black glaze pen to the penguin’s eyes and glossy accents to his beak.

Can you believe it? We mixed 4 companies together today and they created the cutest holiday card!

Products used:
Sunny Studios Roly Poly Penguins stamps and dies
Lawn Fawn Cute Candy Canes dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Christmas stamps
Concord & 9th Double Stripe Card Front die
Distress Oxide ink – shabby shutters and forest moss
Foam squares and tape
Liquid glue
Reverse tweezers
VersaMark ink
Embossing powder – white
Anti-static pouch
Glossy accents
Sakura black glaze pen

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

Doodlebugs – Hang in There Mini Scene

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! Sometimes creating even a whole card front can feel overwhelming. Whether it’s too much coloring of images or too much space to fill. Today I have a fun design to share with you that shrinks your scene space but is really fun and has lots of interest too.

I started with a few images from Pretty Pink Posh Batty About You. I colored them with copic markers and used the coordinating dies to cut them out. Then I used a dab of liquid glue to adhere my bat to the tree branch.

Next, used some distress oxide inks to create a spooky sky on a piece of white cardstock. I started with crackling campfire, carved pumpkin and wild honey. After those were blended I went over the whole thing lightly with black soot, then went back over it all with the same colors to blend the black a little. I love the smoky look I ended up with. Next, I spritzed the panel with water and flicked black metallic watercolor on it too.

I trimmed a piece of black cardstock down to 4.25×3.5 inches and ran it through my die cut machine with the Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder. This part of the design is easy to change up. Use a stencil or patterned paper, or maybe you like it simple and plain cardstock is your jam. Then just cut a 1/4″ strip of contrasting cardstock to adhere to the top. It’s like a bridge over the seam of your ink blending and the bottom panel. It polishes the design a lot.

Next, pop everything up on the ink blended panel with foam tape and squares. Placement of the sentiment can vary on this design too. I like the dab of orange at the bottom so that’s where my sentiment strip ended up this time. But it often ends up just below the seam strip or even up in the scene itself. Play around with it and see what you like.

Products used today:
Pretty Pink Posh Batty About You stamps and dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Halloween stamps
Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder
Distress Oxide Ink – crackling campfire, carved pumpkin, wild honey, black soot
Foam tape and squares
Liquid glue
Distress sprayer
LH Color watercolor – black

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

Doodlebugs – Using Color Palettes to Extend the Use of Products, Fall Vibes

Welcome to another Mix it up Monday for the Doodlebugs blog! Today I’m playing with a few different die sets that were released during other times of the year but if you just change the color palette you use them with, it’s fun and easy to use them all year long.

I started with this great Love You die from the Concord & 9th Markered Messages die set. I cut some strips from my chosen color palette. I was thinking soft fall vibes. I glued those to a piece of cardstock and cut the “shadow” circle from that stripes. Then I chose a chocolate cardstock from my stash to cut the word portion out. I used foam squares to adhere the two together.

For my background, I wanted to tie the brown in more so I cut the Pretty Pink Posh Pierced Leafy Vines background die from it and glued that to a white card base. To separate the sentiment from the background panel, I used shabby shutters distress oxide ink on a piece of cardstock. I spritzed it with water and flicked white paint on the panel before popping it up with foam tape.

Last, I went digging for leaves that fit my vibe to adorn my sentiment panel. I found this one in the Pretty Pink Posh Winter Mug die set. I cut it from a few colors in the stripes and glued them in place with liquid glue. To finish off the design I found a few baubles that resembled water drops to glue to my leaves.

Products used:
Concord & 9th Markered Messages dies
Pretty Pink Posh Pierced Leafy Vines die
Pretty Pink Posh Winter Mug dies
Distress Oxide Ink – shabby shutters
Liquid glue
Foam squares

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

Doodlebugs – Spooky Wishes, Using Repeat Dies to Create a Fun Background

Hey friends! I’m back to my usual antics with a fun Halloween card for Mix it up Monday on the Doodlebugs blog. Today we’re playing with repeat die cuts to create a fun background on your card.

I’ve had the Mama Elephant Circle Combo dies out quite a bit lately so they were my first to reach for with the variety of stitched circle sizes in that set. I chose 3 fabulous colors that seem to be my Halloween palette for 2024 and cut the 3 smallest circles from each one. I arranged them on my 4×5.25 inch piece of white cardstock and used liquid glue to adhere them in place. I trimmed off the excess of the circles hanging over the edge and splattered the panel with orange metallic watercolor.

Next, I pulled out some of the Pretty Pink Posh Halloween release and cut bats from the Ghost Holder die set. I used mini foam squares to pop them up all over my design. Then I used a sentiment from the new Halloween Corners stamp set using Distress Oxide ink in kitsch flamingo and spiced marmalade. I love that this stamp set has dies for the sentiments along with the images.

I popped my sentiment up along with one final bat. Then I popped the panel up one an A2 size piece of black cardstock and used liquid glue to adhere the whole thing to a white card base. Sometimes I use black card bases with another white insert inside but I’m running low on black cardstock we have to ration things until my order comes. haha!

How do you feel about the abundance of non-traditional color palette for holidays lately? I feel like it’s getting more popular every year and I’m absolutely here for it!

Products used:
Mama Elephant Circle Combo dies
Pretty Pink Posh Halloween Corners stamps and dies
Pretty Pink Posh Ghost Holder dies
Liquid glue
Foam squares
Distress Oxide Ink – kitsch flamingo and spiced marmalade

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

Doodlebugs – Florals For All Through the Year

Hey friends! It’s Mix it up Monday on the Doodlebugs blog and I’m moving outside of my typical and playing with florals. There are some newer die sets from Spellbinders that are a fabulous price point but adorable, fun to create with and really versatile. The one we’re playing with today is called Little Blooms. The dies in this collection range from $7 to $15 and you can use them for a billion and one different cards!

For today’s card, I cut the different elements from a limited color palette (happens to be a favorite these days) and used liquid glue to assemble all the pieces. I played around with arrangement on my craft mat and landed on a loose circle. To make it easy to add them to a card front, I used a piece of Press-n-Seal to hold them together while I added foam squares to the back of everything. This also made it a piece of cake to figure out what size circle die I could use for my background and actually adhering all the pieces to that circle at once. Definitely a kitchen item to keep in your craft room.

So after the florals were stuck to the Press-n-Seal, I die cut a white circle from the Mama Elephant Circle Combo dies and ink blended distress oxide spun sugar to the center. I spritzed it with water and blotted it dry. Then I cut two of the scallop layers from a peach-orange cardstock and used liquid glue to adhere all my layers together.

After removing the release paper from the foam squares on my flowers I popped them in place on the scalloped circle card front. To turn this into a card, I cut the same stitched circle a second time, scored it 3/8″ from one side and used liquid glue to adhere it to the back.

I went digging for a specific theme of sentiment and landed on it in the Spellbinders I’ve Got You Covered stamp and die set. I stamped it with celery stick ink and cut it out before popping it up across the center with foam strips.

I’m not a floral crafter but sometimes they’re just what you need. This little die set will be a long standing part of my stash for that reason. It’s simple and so pretty.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Circle Combo dies
Spellbinders I’ve Got You Covered stamps and dies
Spellbinders Little Blooms dies
Liquid glue
Reverse tweezers
Blending brushes
Distress Oxide Ink – spun sugar
Lawn Fawn Ink – celery stick

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

Doodlebugs – Monochromatic Fun and Shaped Cards

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! On the Doodlebugs blog I’m playing with monochromatic designs and shaped cards to make things a little extra interesting.

I started by creating an adorable Spellbinders Roller Disco Dottie with a red collar and red skates. She’s the cutest but I couldn’t decide on a complimentary color that I liked today. So I decided to keep it all in the family, the red family.

Next, I pulled out some Mama Elephant dies and created a sentiment banner using Spring Banner Greetings dies. Then I created my card base with the Mama Elephant Circle Combo dies. I love the wiggle room of liquid glue for all of these types of things. It gives you that couple of seconds to line things up.

After creating the 3 top layers of my circle, I cut an additional white circle, scored it about 3/8″ away from one edge and then used liquid glue to adhere it to the back of the stacked circle combo. You can decide if your card opens up or to the side this way too. Total flexibility.

I ink blended the center of the circle on the front and splattered it with the same red ink color. Then I popped Dottie and her sentiment banner up with foam squares and strips.

I’m excited to pop this cutie in the mail to a special friend along with some crafty goodies I picked up.

Products used:
Spellbinders Roller Disco Dottie dies
Mama Elephant Circle Combo dies
Mama Elephant Spring Banner Greetings dies
Liquid glue
Foam squares
Scoring board
Blending brush
Lawn Fawn lobster ink
Reverse tweezers

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