Doodlebugs – Smile, Thinking of You

Hi friends! Today is going to be the last Mix it up Monday for Doodlebugs for now. Cathy has some family things to attend to and the design team is going away. We will continue to cheerlead and support Doodlebugs in all the ways we can but weekly posts won’t happen anymore.

For my last design team card, I’m using a combo of multiple companies, old and new products. Shopping your stash can really be so fun and invigorating when you get to extend the life of something you’ve had for years and put something shiny and new to use too!

I recently got the Lawn Fawn Daisy Bloom Outline stencil and wanted to play with it so that’s how my card started. I inked it up using mini blending brushes and Lawn Fawn dye inks – guava, mermaid and sunflower specifically. I removed the stencil and splattered the panel with pink metallic watercolor which adds so much shimmery fun to the background!

This is the point where I played with the new thing I’d been putting off so what to pair with it. Digging for a sentiment to guide my way, I came across my Pretty Pink Posh die cut sentiments and loved the “smile” idea with happy flowers. To grow on that, I added a favorite banner greeting to take it a step further. But that was all too plain so I went looking for one of my staple cute critters to liven things up.

That is when I found one of my oldest and most favorite Mama Elephant sets called Page Huggers! I haven’t used it in a while so I was excited to find an excuse to. This set has four animals, today I chose the bunny for his height in proportion to the sentiment. I colored and cut him out with the coordinating die, then layered everything together.

Everything is adhered with foam squares for that dimension and interest. Plus, I want to note that there is no harsh black on my card anywhere so I went chose to stamp an image, I used Lawn Fawn Crunchy Leaf ink which is copic friendly but also kept the overall appearance on my card soft.

Products used today:
Mama Elephant Page Huggers stamps and dies
Pretty Pink Posh Banner Greetings 3 dies
Pretty Pink Posh Everyday Banner Greetings stamps
Pretty Pink Posh Large Smile Shadow dies
Lawn Fawn Daisy Bloom Outline stencil
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn ink – mermaid, guava, sunflower, crunchy leaf
Foam squares
Liquid glue

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

Doodlebugs – Happy Birthday to Moo Tag

Hey friends! It’s mix-it-up Monday and I’m here with some birthday fun using Lawn Fawn and Mama Elephant new and old together. It’s great when things work out that way – getting new goodies that give your older stuff new life at the same time!

I’ve been dying to play with the Lawn Fawn Highland Cows since they released and today I finally took my opportunity and ran with it! Isn’t this little guy THE CUTEST!?! He’s perfect! Pretty sure I’m giving this tag to myself on my birthday, not even hiding it.

To create it, I started by gathering some images from the Highland Cow stamp set and creating a mini scene. Once I had enough filler, I stamped everything and colored with my copic markers. Then I used the coordinating dies to cut it all out. However, this set doesn’t come with a speech bubble so I went digging and found this one in the Silly Goose set. Lots of Lawn Fawn sets have them so just dig in your stash.

Then I pulled out the Mama Elephant Emerald Package die set and cut the tag shape and the shape one size smaller from yellow and white cardstock, respectively. I taped off a portion of the white panel and inked it green, then flipped my tape and inked the sky teal. I splattered some water for texture and blotted it dry.

Finally, I glued the foliage down with liquid glue and popped the cow and speech bubble up with foam squares. Then I popped the scene panel up on the yellow tag with foam tape. For finishing touches I added some white gel pen to the cow’s cheecks and stardust Stickles to the tip of the hat. Last, I added glossy accents to the flower center and two stripes on the hat. I threaded ribbon through the hole, tied it with twine and voila, my tag is finished!

Products used:
Lawn Fawn Highland Cows stamps and dies
Lawn Fawn Silly Goose stamps and dies (speech bubble only)
Mama Elephant Emerald Package dies
Foam tape
Glossy accents
Stickles – stardust
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn inks – mermaid and cilantro
Gelly Roll pen – white

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

Mama Elephant – Zodiac Monkeys on the Go

Hey friends! I’m here today with two of my most recent obsessions – decorating journal covers and the Mama Elephant Zodiac series! My husband and I were having some fun trying out our new UV printer and created a printed cover but given it is all new to us, this one got messed up and dislodged while printing. Never fear…it’s not a waste, just give me a minute in the craft room!

So the gingham banana background was something we designed and were printing. When it dislodged, it tore the corner. Then we also noticed it wasn’t taped down firmly everywhere so some spots were faded looking. No big deal, I just had some fun decorating in ways to cover some of the blemishes.

I started by tearing some yellow cardstock pieces and roughing the edges. I glued them to the cover, then added a fun strip of blue to tie the background together. I splattered the panel with white paint and set it aside to dry.

I stamped and colored images from the Mama Elephant Zodiac Monkey set with copic markers. I used the coordinating dies to cut them out and liquid glue to adhere the bits together. I popped them up on the cover with foam squares. Then went a die cut the letters for the word “notes” 3 times from white cardstock using the Mama Elephant Lucky Alphas die set. I glued the layers together and then to the journal cover.

After finishing the cover up with glossy accents and stardust Stickles on the images, I thought it needed something else. So I created a sweet monkey clip to help you keep your place! To create these, I just stamp, color and die cut the original image, then die cut the shape only two more times. Glue one blank to the back of the coloring, add a piece of double-sided tape to the bottom and adhere your paperclip, then use liquid glue to adhere the second blank die cut to seal it all together. Let it dry completely before trying to use it.

Isn’t this the cutest!?!?! I brought it to work to show someone and it immediately went home with that person. I’d say that’s a win.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Zodiac Monkey stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Lucky Alpha dies
Liquid glue
Double-sided tape
Foam squares
Glossy accents
Stickles – stardust

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

Mama Elephant – Follow Your Dreams

Welcome everyone! Mama Elephant’s own, Angie, has been sharing a fun journey on Instagram that’s got us all inspired in many different ways. For me, it’s the kick to dig in my ME stash and use some of those dusty beauties in the back. Right now, that happens to be the zodiac series of cute chubby critters! I love this whole series and have been growing it slowly over the years. Today we’re going to play with Zodiac Sheep!

I started by stamping some cute sheep and fun things for them to hold onto, the necessities like cupcakes and coffee! I colored everything with copic markers and used the coordinating dies to cut it all out. This set includes dies to cut the hands so they can easily hold the items too! It’s perfect! I added a little dab of liquid glue and inserted them into place.

Next, I cut the Rolling Waves cover plate from white cardstock. I taped off the border and inked the ground with Lawn Fawn celery stick ink. The sky and clouds come out of the panel so I inked the sky up separately with mermaid ink. Then I glued the mail portion down with liquid glue to a card base, inserting the sky and finally popping up the clouds with foam squares.

I added the sheep with a combination of foam squares and liquid glue where it made sense. Switching gears to my sentiment, my daughter helped me choose this gem thinking of counting sheep while you’re heading off to dreamland. It’s part of the Way to Go stamp set. I heat embossed this on light purple cardstock and used the coordinating die to cut it out. It is adhered with a combo of liquid glue and foam squares as well.

For finishing touches on this card, I just came in with glossy accents on all the sheep noses and then bits like the heart, strawberry and coffee cup lid.

Products used:
Zodiac Sheep stamps and dies
Rolling Waves cover plate
Foam squares
Liquid glue
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn ink – celery stick and mermaid
Glossy accents

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

Journal Decorating

Hi friends! I have a non-brand specific post for you today. Quite a while ago I ordered a bulk set of kraft cardstock journals. They’re simple but I really wanted to decorate covers and share them with people. I have done a few but not many, today I’m sharing a new one I created.

These journals measure about 8.25×5.5 and the pages are lined. There are probably 60 sheets per notebook so they aren’t huge but enough to make them worth collecting thoughts on any given subject.

This one started by me playing with an array of blue distress oxide and spritz sprays on the cover. I just went to town spraying and splattering, drying in between, all over the course of a couple of days. I would splatter some water and blot it dry in between some layers too. I even tried some white splatter at one point. Just playing until I was done. Then it sat there for a few weeks, until inspiration hit.

I went digging in my stash of paper pads (I know you have one of those too…don’t deny it.) and found an old one from Simple Stories that played off of the blue I already had going on. I started cutting and tearing pieces, layering them together, gluing them down and popping some up. I roughed up some edges with my scissors, used the Spellbinders banner punch to create a couple of those.

Then I pulled out the Mama Elephant Postage Frame dies, purely for the strip of hearts you can cut at once. You get two sizes and seven hearts total with one pass in the die cutter.

I added the hearts with a combo of liquid glue and foam squares so they are at different levels all over the cover. Then, once the cover sufficed for me, I went to the side and thought it would be fun to create dividers. This took me a while to figure out because I don’t have a tab die or punch. After digging, I landed on a pull tab from the Lawn Fawn flippin awesome die set. It’s got a fun shape and wasn’t too long. In fact, the math worked out perfect for eight tabs perfectly.

I cut out a patterned paper front with a white cardstock back for each one, gluing them on the front and back of the paper. Once they were all glued I pulled out a real oldie but goodie – my crop-a-dile and added rivets to each divider. I love the detail this gives!!!

Now I just have to decide the fate of this wonderful notebook. Do I keep it or do I share it? Do you journal at all? I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Products used:
Journals (Amazon)
Simple Stories (paper pad retired but so much cute available now)
Lawn Fawn Flippin’ Awesome dies
Mama Elephant Postage Frame dies
Spellbinders Banner punch
Foam squares
Liquid glue

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

Doodlebugs – Mini Note Cards Always Win

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! Today I’m sharing a mini note card mixing my favorite mini card die set from Pretty Pink Posh with a few things from Mama Elephant to decorate the front. These cards are so quick to whip up and sometimes all you need to share a little sentiment with someone special.

These are my favorite “lunch box” type notes to create and leave for my family; usually in a lunch box or on a keyboard or something. Another way to extend the use is to punch a hole in the corner and tie them to a gift bag as a card/tag combo.

To create this card, I cut the card and front layer using the Pretty Pink Posh Mini Note Card die set and glued them together. Then I pulled out a couple of Mama Elephant die sets to create my polaroid frame and kitty. These are the Mini Photo Frames and Teeny Notes dies, then my sentiment came from the Mama Elephant Simple Friends Bubbles stamps and dies set.

For the kitty, I cut him from white cardstock and ink blended with orange and then added detail with copic markers. I colored a little scrap of white paper with nose and eyes and glued it to fill in those spaces – sometimes this is the answer over keeping track of the tiny pieces that pop out.

I happened to create this on the fly for my daughter to let her know I am proud of her and the hard work she’s been putting in but they are great for any message you want to share.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Simple Friends Bubbles stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Teeny Notes dies
Mama Elephant Mini Photo Frames dies
Pretty Pink Posh Mini Note Card dies
Liquid glue

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

Doodlebugs – Fabulous Halloween

Happy Mix-it-up Monday everyone! I’m here this week with an all out Halloween card featuring this year’s Mama Elephant Halloween goodies which I cannot get enough of! They’re SO CUTE!

I actually stamped and colored all of the images in the Mama Elephant Boo Crew set and die cut them out. Things got full and I saved what I didn’t use for another card – translate to “oh darn I have to create with this set again”.

Once the images were paired down and glued together how I wanted. I switched gears to my background. I had lots of ideas but landed on the largest die in the Mama Elephant Frilly Window Frame set from peach cardstock. I inked up the edges with Lawn Fawn carrot ink and then added the Pretty Pink Posh Sunburst stencil to the center with Lawn Fawn ballet slippers to pop the pink from my images. I splattered the panel with pink watercolor paint and let it dry.

Once that was dry, I stamped my sentiment with Lawn Fawn guava ink (the ballet slippers wasn’t bright enough for me – disappointing). Then I popped the panel up on a white card base with foam tape. Next I added foam squares to my images and popped them up right above the sentiment.

For finishing touches today, I started with just glossy accents on the critter noses and the fox’s hat band. Then I wanted more so out came the stardust Stickles for the “B” and candy shaped “O”. Extra sparkle is never a bad idea.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Boo Crew stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Frilly Window Frame dies
Pretty Pink Posh Starburst stencil
Lawn Fawn ink – guava, ballet slippers, carrot
Blending brushes
Foam tape and squares
Glossy accents
Stickles – stardust

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

Doodlebugs – Flying By to Say… and a Contest Winner

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! I’m here with this week’s fun concoction, featuring the giveaway from last week – the Mama Elephant Curly Screen Frame – and at the end of this post the reveal of the winner of this die set!

To create this card, I stamped and colored the images from the Lawn Fawn Have a Mice Flight stamp set, then used the coordinating dies to cut them out. Switching gears to my background, I die cut the Mama Elephant Curly Screen Frame from blue cardstock and the frame from melon cardstock.

I paired my blue panel with the Lawn Fawn Stratus Cloud stencil, spreading white lie Stellar Paste through it for some great textured glossy clouds. Once that panel was dry, I glued the frame over the top and popped up my images in the center.

Next, I stamped and heat embossed my sentiment, cutting it out with a Pretty Pink Posh sentiment strip die. I popped this up with foam strips and then added foam tape to the back of the curly screen panel to adhere it to a light yellow card base.

For finishing touches I added glossy accents to the mouse’s goggles and nose. Isn’t it so sweet?!?

Now, on to the part you scrolled down to find out…the winner of the Mama Elephant Curly Screen Frame die set donated by Doodlebugs!

Congratulations BO GILMORE!!! You are the winner! Please email me at twiddlersnook@gmail.com to claim your prize.

Products from today’s card are:
Mama Elephant Curly Screen Frame dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips dies
Lawn Fawn Have a Mice Flight stamps and dies
Lawn Fawn Stratus Clouds stencil
Stellar Paste – white lie
Glossy accents
Foam tape, strips and squares
Liquid glue

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

Doodlebugs – Christmas Tags Have Begun

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! If you’ve been around for a minute, you know I love making tags for all occasions. I rarely give a gift without a tag attached and sometimes I make tags for fun and go hunting for a gift to give it with. Yes, I’m serious I’ve done that more than once.

Let the Christmas tag create commence! Today I’m using Mama Elephant tags, Lawn Fawn stencils and Pretty Pink Posh stamps and dies. Dig in your stash and see what strikes you! Tags are a fun, smaller canvas and can serve as a quick bit of crafting to scratch the itch or possibly pull you out of a creative slump.

Mix and match different colors and textures. Remember you can write on the back of the tag or cut a second one so you have another layer to write on. This also gives you more area to write if you’re adding a little message along with it.

I’m curious today too. How do you attach your tags to gifts? Do you tie them on with a longer string? Attach them with tape or glue? I usually create my tags like they’re shown in the photo and depending on the gift, add double-sided tape to the back of the last layer or thread a thinner string through the knot at the top to tie them on a bag.

Products used:
Pretty Pink Posh Holiday Word Scenes stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Sweet Shoppe Frame dies
Lawn Fawn Woodgrain stencil
Blending brush
Lawn Fawn walnut ink
Foam squares
Distress Spray Stain
Gelly Roll white pen

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

Doodlebugs – Christmas Mice Duo

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! I’m here today with a pair of cards featuring the same products in two colorways to help stock my stash for Christmas cards before it’s here.

I started by cutting the Mama Elephant All Tied Up cover from pink and teal cardstocks. Then I cut the string and bow from white and rose gold cardstocks to see how the different colors looked. They’re both good but I think I like the flashy better.

I cut white card bases next and inked up the front with the Pretty Pink Posh deco leaves stencil coordinating with both panels I had ready to go. I used Lawn Fawn peacock and ballet slippers inks here.

I pulled out the Mama Elephant Holiday Happiness dies and cut both sentiments from red and pink cardstock, using liquid glue to adhere the layers. I always have a hard time choosing which to use so I love making double cards for these to use one of each.

Next, I stamped two sets of the cute mice from the Lawn Fawn Sweet Christmas Mice and colored one set gray and the other brown. I used the coordinating dies to cut them out and now we can start assembling everything together.

The gift panels are glued directly to the card bases, along with the ribbons strings. Then I popped the sentiments and mice up with foam tape and squares. I finished the designs off with glossy accents on mouse noses and stardust Stickles on bits of each image.

Products used:
Lawn Fawn Sweet Christmas Mice stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Holiday Happiness dies
Mama Elephant All Tied Up dies
Pretty Pink Posh Deco Leaves stencil
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn ink – ballet slippers and mermaid
Glossy accents
Stickles – stardust
Liquid glue
Foam tape and squares

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