Doodlebugs – Presents for All Occasions

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! On the Doodlebugs blog today sharing a little reminder that all the stamps and dies you have that are presents, birthday or other work great for Christmas too. That usually goes for the other way around while we’re at it!

I pulled out the new Mama Elephant Surprise Gifts set, which is not holiday at all, at wanted to make a Christmas card with it. So I colored my images accordingly with copic markers, used the coordinating dies to cut them out and some liquid glue to adhere my cute little scene.

Now that we’re on our way to holiday, I pulled out the Pretty Pink Posh Layered Christmas Trees stencil set and inked it up on a piece of light green cardstock. For the final layer I skipped inking and got a little messy with texture paste though. OMG do I love this stuff! It’s the perfect texture add-on if you ask me.

When that was dry, I trimmed it to fit an A2 card base and glued it on the front. I popped up the piggy and gifts and added a Mama Elephant Winter Banner Greeting. The array of options in these sentiment sets is amazing! Highly recommend!

I digress. Back to the card. For finishing touches today I added black glaze pen to the piggy’s eyes and nostrils. Then I added stardust Stickles to the heart he’s holding and white gel pen highlights to all the gifts.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Surprise Gifts stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Winter Banner Greetings dies
Pretty Pink Posh Layered Christmas Trees stencils
Blending brushes
Texture paste
Liquid glue
Foam tape
White and black gel pen
Stickles – stardust

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

Doodlebugs – Christmas Mug Cuteness

Welcome to this week’s Mix it up Monday for the Doodlebugs blog! Today I’m pulling out some cuteness from last year that did not get enough love! Spellbinders mugs and Mama Elephant critters, could it get any cuter? I think not!

These adorable Mama Elephant Holiday Huggers were just asking to hang out of something fun and when I came across my Spellbinders Merry Mugs I knew it was a match made in heaven! I really tried to make all 3 huggers fit in one mug but it wasn’t happening so I gave in and have that sweet bunny saved for another occasion. *Spoiler alert, gift tag to match!*

So I stamped and colored my images, die cut all the things and then assembled it all with a combination of liquid glue, reverse tweezers and foam tape. I added a double snowflake to the front of the mug with an enamel dot in the center which I really can’t get over is so pretty!

Then I cut a Mama Elephant Shimmer Lights cover from pink cardstock and glued it to a white card base. I added my filled mug to that with liquid glue and found the sweetest sentiment in the Mama Elephant Deliver Lots of Cheer stamp set to add to a banner. I stamped that with Lawn Fawn mermaid ink so it matched the mug and popped it up with foam tape.

For finishing touches I added white gel pen highlights, black glaze pen to the critter eyes and glossy accents to their noses. To finish it all off I added stardust Stickles to the Santa hats.

Oh my goodness, I really can’t get over the cuteness of this card. I love how it turned out so much!!!

Products used:
Mama Elephant Holiday Huggers stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Shimmer Lights cover die
Mama Elephant Deliver Lots of Cheer stamps
Lawn Fawn mermaid ink
Lawn Fawn Banner die
Spellbinders Merry Mugs dies
Sakura Glaze pen – black and white
Foam squares
Liquid glue
Glossy accents
Stickles – stardust

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

Doodlebugs – Mixing Your Mushrooms and Your Techniques

Happy Monday! I’m on the Doodlebugs blog for another Mix it up Monday. Today I’m sharing a fun mushroom filled gnome card. I had fun with all of my favorite techniques on this card – ink blending, messy with texture paste, coloring and die cutting. It’s all there!

After getting the new Mushroom stencil from Pretty Pink Posh, I immediately went to my stash to gather other mushroomy things to play with! Eventually I landed on the Lawn Fawn Mushroom border and Oh Gnome stamps and dies.

I ink blended the background stencils, finishing the detail layer off with texture paste. I cleaned up my space and got to die cutting my fun mushroom border. I love that this border has a grass layer so you can have fun dimension with little effort. I used liquid glue to add my mushroom caps and then adhere the layers together. With the texture paste dry at this point, I trimmed everything down to A2 size and popped the ground layer up with foam tape on the stenciled panel.

Next, I stamped images from Lawn Fawn Oh Gnome and colored them with copic markers. After cutting them out with the coordinating dies, I added them to the scene with liquid glue and foam squares. I also went it with some white gel pen highlights and glossy accents on the mushroom dots.

The Oh Gnome stamp set has great sentiments and a speech bubble with mini sentiments to use but in the end I landed on a fabulous Mama Elephant Banner Greetings die cut. It was more generic which is what I was looking for and fits so perfect up there.

Products used:
Lawn Fawn Oh Gnome stamps and dies
Lawn Fawn Mushroom Border dies
Mama Elephant Banner Greetings dies
Pretty Pink Posh Mushroom stencils
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn ink – doe, lobster
Texture paste
Glossy accents
Sakura gelly roll white pen
Foam tape and squares
Liquid glue
Reverse tweezers

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

Also, if you made it this far in my blog post, it’s my birthday! I’m going to give away some happy mail to a few commenters on this post. Comments must be submitted by Friday, Nov. 8, which is my daughter’s 18th birthday!

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 – 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!

Twiddler’s Nook Spooktacular

Happy 31st of the month everyone! Please hop on over to Instagram and join us for one of the final Spooktacular hops of 2024. We’ve got a super fun lineup of spooky inspiration for you just in time for the masses to really start fall crafting.

Today I’ve mixed Hello Bluebird cuties with some of my favorites from Mama Elephant for a sweet scene card that extends into the inside of my card too.

The images I chose today are from Hello Bluebird Spooky Spellers. They are adorable and can be dressed up and their signs customized too! I love how these features make this stamp set super versatile all year long!

For my background, I ink blended distress oxide ink from twisted citron to mowed lawn with an edge of black soot to darken things up. I added a spooky black grass border from Newton’s Nook along the bottom and a spooky tree and ghost from the Hello Bluebird Halloween Tree die set.

I stamped and heat embossed the beginning of my sentiment using the Mama Elephant Be Scary stamp and die set. I adhered it by hiding dabs of liquid glue behind the embossing powder.

Before finishing things up on the front, I went to the inside with the rest of my sentiment and also added some Mama Elephant Little Ghost Agenda cuties to liven things up a bit.

Back to the front, I added glossy accents to noses, the pumpkin face and accents on the bat and skunk. Then I added black glaze pen to all the critter eyes so they stood out a bit better too.

Finally, I glued a scattering of Twiddler’s Nook Pastel Wishes clay embellishments across the sky. I really like the combination of softer pastel elements and the dark black shadows on this card. The contrast is really cool!

Products used:
Twiddler’s Nook Pressure Pal
Twiddler’s Nook Pastel Wishes embellishments
Twiddler’s Nook Paw Print embellishment tray
Hello Bluebird Spooky Spellers stamps and dies
Hello Bluebird Halloween Tree dies
Mama Elephant Little Ghost Agenda stamps
Mama Elephant Be Scary stamps and dies
Distress Oxide Ink – mowed lawn, twisted citron, black soot
Newton’s Nook Land Borders dies
Liquid glue
Embossing powder – frosting
Embossing ink
Magic anti-static brush
Foam tape and squares
Lawn Fawn ink – cilantro, jalapeno

Remember to head to Instagram and hop along with us for a chance to win a gift certificate to the Twiddler’s Nook shop.

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!

Doodlebugs – Summer Birthday Fun

Hey friends! I’m on the Doodlebugs blog today sharing a fun birthday Mix it up Monday with summer vibes. We don’t have many summer birthdays in our family and friends so I don’t make many cards this style and it was really fun!

I started with the fun Pretty Pink Posh Celebration Cupcake dies, wanting to expand the use from 4th of July vibes to general summer, so I cut the fruit and sunglasses, omitting all the other parts at first. I added some detail with copic markers instead of ink blending this time and used liquid glue to adhere all the parts and pieces together.

Next, I cut 2 Mama Elephant Arches from vellum and a green polka dot cardstock in my stash. I used tape runner to adhere the layers together and foam tape to add the cupcake to that.

I started with a blank pink background but didn’t like that so I ran the panel through my die cutter with the Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder, ink blended the edges with some picked raspberry distress oxide ink and splattered it with white paint. Ahhh, that feels so much more like me. Then I popped the arches up with foam tape.

I cut a couple of Pretty Pink Posh sentiment strips from white cardstock and stamped sentiments from the Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Birthday stamp set in guava and peacock inks. These are popped up with foam strips.

Now my card is really bottom heavy so I went back to the cupcake die set and cut some of the other decoration type shapes out and glued them all around with liquid glue. I think they add a fun touch and extend the design up without pulling everything apart.

The last thing I did was add white gel pen accents to all of the images.

Products used:
Pretty Pink Posh Celebration Cupcake dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Birthday stamps
Mama Elephant B2B Arches dies
Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder
Lawn Fawn ink – peacock and guava
Distress oxide ink – picked raspberry
Liquid glue
Foam squares, tape and strips
Gelly roll pen – white

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

Doodlebugs – Birthday Fun with Cool Colors

Hey friends! It’s Mix it up Monday on the Doodlebugs blog. Today I’m thinking color theory while creating a birthday card for one of my very favorite humans! She loves those cool tones so that’s where I pulled my color palette from…keeping to the blues and purples more than anything. Do you do that when creating for someone specific?

I started my design my playing with the Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Stars dies. I cut them from lots of different cardstocks and arranged them on a piece of white cardstock. After gluing them down, I cut the panel out with the Mama Elephant Postage Frame die, keeping the inside and frame pieces.

Next I cut the Mama Elephant Big Happy Birthday from white cardstock 3 times and glitter white cardstock once. I used liquid glue to adhere the layers together. Then went hunting for cute critters to add to the mix. I landed on a combo of Mama Elephant Summer Floaties and the balloons from Mama Elephant Peekabuddies. After stamping and coloring the images, I used the coordinating dies to cut them out and switched to assembling everything.

I drug my Lawn Fawn fish tank ink pad across the edges of my card base for some fun textured color. Then glued the outside frame of my background panel down with liquid glue. I popped the center up with foam tape and then glued the sentiment to that. I popped the images up with foam squared and finished things off with a little stardust Stickles and glossy accents.

Products used:
Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Stars dies
Mama Elephant Postage Frame dies
Mama Elephant Peekabuddies stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Summer Floaties stamps and dies
Lawn Fawn fish tank ink
Liquid glue
Foam tape and squares
Stickles – stardust
Glossy accents

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