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 – 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!

Doodlebugs – Hot Foiling, Stenciling and Shaking All Make a Great Birthday Card

Hey friends! Let’s mix things up with a fun birthday shaker card on the Doodlebugs blog today! I pulled out some fabulous hot foil plates from Spellbinders and combined them with Pretty Pink Posh stencils for my background and the combo couldn’t be more perfect!

I started by hot foiling the Spellbinders Giant Party Balloon and the sentiment in the set. The balloon pieces are silver and the sentiment is moondust hot foil. To accentuate the moondust foil I went around the edge with a blending brush and Lawn Fawn mermaid ink after die cutting it out.

I wanted to make a shaker and this Giant Party Balloon set comes with the inner circle die to make that a reality. How fun is that! So I cut another large circle from white cardstock and inked the center with mermaid ink like the sentiment. Plus I cut an acetate circle and threw all my elements together with liquid glue and foam strips, inserting Spellbinders silver smooth discs as my shaker bits.

Next, I pulled out the Pretty Pink Posh Layered Candles stencil set. I inked the bottom of each candle row with mermaid and the top with peach fuzz. I replaced the candle layer with the detail layer and did the same thing again. Then for the flames, I spread Brutus Monroe yellow Chroma Glaze. It gives a shiny finish which is fun for the background of our blingy shaker balloon.

Finally, I took the mermaid ink pad and drug it across all four sides of my card base. I popped the stenciled panel up with foam tape and glued the balloon directly to that with liquid glue. Then I glued the sentiment to the front of my balloon as well.

To finish my card off, I tied some orange bakers twine around the top into a bow.

Products used:
Spellbinders Giant Party Balloon hot foil plates and dies
Spellbinders smooth discs – silver
Spellbinders hot foil – moondust and silver
Pretty Pink Posh – Layered Candles stencils
Foam tape
Liquid glue
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn Ink – mermaid and peach fuzz
Brutus Monroe Chroma Glaze – yellow

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

Doodlebugs – Sending Love and Hugs Die Cut Card

Happy Monday friends! We’re mixing things up on the Doodlebugs blog for another bit of valentine inspiration before the big day arrives. I had fun with dies and embossing today.

I adore this new Pretty Pink Posh XOXO border so that’s where things started for this card. I just cut the main piece from light gray cardstock and one heart from light pink. I still wasn’t sold on what to do so I went digging in my stash and came across the adorable Spellbinders Sweet Birdie.

I used some pink, melon and peach cardstocks from my stash to create my bird and cut a heart for the border from each color too. I glued all the hearts directly to the border except the darkest one which is popped up with a foam square. I ran a white panel through the die cutter with the Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder for my background and glued the border to the bottom. Then I popped the birdie up with foam squares to match the popped up heart.

I stumbled on this ribbon in my stash to tie around the top of my panel and added a tag from the Spellbinders Envelope of Wonder collection. The sentiment comes from the stamp set in that collection too. After tying the bow I added foam squares to the tags to keep them in place.

For finishing touches I just added glossy accents to the birdie’s eye and beak. Isn’t this such a sweet valentine?

Products used:
Pretty Pink Posh XOXO border die
Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder
Spellbinders Sweet Birdie dies
Spellbinders Envelope of Wonder dies
Spellbinders Envelope of Wonder Sentiments stamps
Foam squares
Liquid glue
Glossy accents

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

Pretty Pink Posh – Quick and Simple Valentines

Hey there! I’m so glad you stopped by today. I’m sharing a fairly quick and simple valentine card using stencils and dies from the January Pretty Pink Posh release. These products are not getting old in the slightest so I hope you’re not bored seeing ways to use them! They’re so fun to create with in different ways.

Today I started by playing with the Half Hearts stencil. I inked it up in an ombre effect light to dark from top to bottom. I used Lawn Fawn guava and peach fuzz inks with my blending brushes. Then for the second stencil layer, I spread iridescent glitz gel through it so I had some sparkle.

While that was drying I went through my cardstock stash and found almost perfect matches to the ink colors to cut hearts from. I used the new Stitched Hearts dies and liquid glue to adhere them together. Then I stamped and heat embossed a sentiment from Sentiment Strips | Valentine stamps and the Sentiment Strips dies.

To assemble everything, I popped the stenciled panel up on a white card base, glued my hearts together and popped them up with foam tape. Then Took my sentiment banner and popped it up with a foam strip over the hearts.

This card came together so quick but you could make it even quicker by substituting the glitz gel for more ink blending instead.

Products used:
Half Hearts stencils
Stitched Hearts dies
Sentiment Strips dies
Sentiment Strips | Valentine stamps
Foam tape
Liquid glue
Glitz gel – iridescent
Lawn Fawn ink – guava and peach fuzz

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

Twiddler’s Nook Spooktacular IG Hop

I can’t believe today is finally here. This has been months in the making and I’m excited to share with you the Twiddler’s Nook Spooktacular Instagram Hop! It’s a hop for us Halloween loving card makers where we come together on the 31st of each month from January through October to share fun inspiration and highlight the awesome products we offer at Twiddler’s Nook.

Today I’m sharing a fun shaker card using the Rainbow Wishes confetti as my shaker bits. I thought it was fun to add some color instead of my typical “Halloween” colors. I also used a Tonic Studios full panel shaker window which makes creating shaker cards a breeze and fun with no thick borders to hide your foam tape.

The images come from one of my favorite Pink & Main sets called Halloween Brew. Instead of going with a sentiment from the stamp set, I pulled out the Mama Elephant Big Boo and Trick dies.

For a little added spook, I used the Twiddler’s Nook blending brushes on a piece of gray cardstock with the Pretty Pink Posh Spooky Sky stencil set.

With all the layers put together, I finished things off with stardust Stickles on the stars and bubbles on my images.

Products used today:
Twiddler’s Nook blending brushes
Twiddler’s Nook Wishing on Rainbow Stars confetti
Twiddler’s Nook Pressure Pal
Tonic Studios shaker pouch
Pink & Main Halloween Brew stamps and dies
Mama Elephant Big Boo and Trick dies
Newton’s Nook Land Border dies
Pretty Pink Posh Spooky Sky stencils
Stickles – stardust
Pink & Main EZ Squeeze liquid glue

If you’d like to join us on the hop, head over to Instagram and comment for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to the Twiddler’s Nook shop. You have until February 3 to comment. The winner will be announced on February 5.

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

Doodlebugs – Valentine Train with Stenciled Background

Choo! Choo! We’re boarding the sweetest train you’ll ever see to the Doodlebugs blog today. It’s mix it up Monday and I’m excited to share my ideas for today’s post.

I was recently playing with the newest Pretty Pink Posh release, coloring this adorable Valentine Train set and brainstorming what I could add to the empty train car. I love that it’s included in the set because it immediately makes this a set for all occasions. Today I was happy to keep with the valentine theme and pull in some adorable Mama Elephant Little Agenda Bears to the mix.

I used the coordinating dies to cut everything out and liquid glue to assemble it all. Then I inked up the new Pretty Pink Posh Half Hearts stencil using Lawn Fawn ballet slippers ink. After the panel was inked, I splattered it with watercolor paints and let it dry.

For assembly, I glued the panel to a white card base and added the train track to the bottom. Then I added the train with foam squares and the puffs of smoke with liquid glue. Last, I popped up my couple of bears in the sky with foam squares too. I placed the card in my MISTI and stamped a sentiment from Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Valentine in a light gray ink.

For finishing touches I added black glaze pen to the bears eyes and noses and glossy accents to things like random hearts and train wheels. Not too much but a little shine here and there to go with the shimmer in the watercolor.

Products used:
Pretty Pink Posh Valentine Train stamps and dies
Pretty Pink Posh Half Hearts stencils
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Valentine stamps
Mama Elephant Little Agenda Bears stamps and dies
Sakura black glaze pen
Liquid glue
Blending brushes
Lawn Fawn ink – ballet slippers and narwhal
Glossy accents
LH Colors watercolor – vanilla

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

Pretty Pink Posh – Valentine Cupcake

Happy Wednesday everyone! I am SO EXCITED to share today’s card with you! I had an absolute blast creating today’s card. I used some fabulous goodies from the most recent Pretty Pink Posh release. The way this card evolved as it came together almost had a mind of its own and it was fabulous!

I started by just playing around creating my die cut cupcake. I love these flowers and actually started with a little trio, then I thought it would be cuter if they adorned the frosting on the whole cupcake. I used liquid glue and reverse tweezers to hold things in place while they dried.

Next I inked up a background panel with distress oxide inks in candied apple and abandoned coral. I let that dry overnight and came back the next day to use the Layered Hearts stencils. The first layer is spun sugar distress oxide ink pounced on so the light ink would sit on top of the darker reds. Then I spread Pink & Main glossy gel through the second stencil layer and let the panel dry.

When the panel was dry I cut it out with the largest Eyelet Rectangle die. I inked the edges of my card base with peacock feathers distress oxide ink and splattered it with water before popping the stenciled panel up with foam tape. Then I added the cupcake to the with foam tape as well.

Products used:
Big Valentine Cupcake dies
Layered Hearts stencils
Eyelet Rectangles dies
Distress Oxide Ink – candied apple, abandoned coral, peacock feathers, spun sugar
Foam tape
Glossy gel
Liquid glue
Palette knife

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

Pretty Pink Posh – Lucky to Know You Distress Oxide Play

Hey friends! I’ve been playing with the January release from Pretty Pink Posh a ton over this long weekend. We ended up with snow/ice and so much cold that it wasn’t even anything to play in outside so I took it as permission to stay home and craft! It was fabulous!!!

For this card I got extra inky and messy with distress oxide inks and watercolors to and visual texture and shimmer to the design. I inked up a panel with spun sugar distress oxide ink, spritzed it with water and flicked pink watercolor on it. While that was drying I inked up a panel with a bunch of green distress oxide inks using just the ink left on the sponge. I die cut that with all the different Stitched Shamrocks dies.

When the watercolor was dry I used liquid glue to adhere all the shamrocks, filling the panel as much as possible by trimming excess and gluing the rest to a different edge. Then I die cut the whole panel with the largest Stitched Torn Rectangle. I popped this up on a white card base with foam tape.

I cut Lucky from green glitter paper and pink cardstock, glued them together and popped them up on the card front with foam squares. I finished the sentiment by using the Lucky stamp set. I die cut it with a Sentiment Strip die and popped it up with a foam strip under the glittery lucky.

There is something about this pink and green combo that has me full of heart eyes. I love it!!!

Products used:
Stitched Torn Rectangles dies
Lucky stamps
Lucky Shadow dies
Stitched Shamrocks dies
Liquid glue
Foam strips
Magic anti-static brush
Embossing and watermark ink
Embossing powder – frosting
Distress Oxide Ink – spun sugar, pine needles, mowed lawn, shabby shutters, twisted citron, lucky clover
LH Colors watercolor

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