Hello...Lawn fawn medley

Hello 

Ive a bit of a Lawn fawn medley going on here today!

For this little card i used ....

Lawn trimmings

Petite paper pad

brightside collection pack

Bon voyage

Bannerific

I also used Chevron backdrops and Claire's ABC .

They are  not currently available but will be back in stock soon.

Thanks for looking.

I love this gnome!

Hi there, I’m back.  A huge thanks to Jenny and Kate for covering for me while I was away, that was really sweet of you girls.

I made a little gnome card today, I just LOVE this Paper Smooches gnome, he’s so fun to colour!

I used three different Paper Smooches sets for this card, the gnome is from Forest Whimsy, the toadstools from Whimsical and the sentiment from Pretty Phrases. The toadstool stamps are solid so the top is black with white polka dots.

I stamped the toadstool (masking off the far left toadstool) onto the card and then stamped the row of toadstools again three times in the different colours. I then just paper pieced them.  I cut the coloured ones slightly smaller than the black ones so that the black outline would show and then just touched up any gaps with a Copic multiliner to give a cleaner finish.

Hope you get some time to play this week, have fun!

Little Gift Tags

In between projects, I always clear my desk of leftovers, but to make tidying feel a little less like a chore, I like to gather up some of my scraps and make something small. I find it helps me to use up those teeny, tiny scraps while I still have the incentive!

Stamps help with this process, because the smaller designs really make the most of those scraps - and there's very little waste. 

During my last desk clean, I decided to make a few little gift tags. I chose my designs and colours based on a few leftover pieces of ribbon which were floating around.

This first tag uses a sentiment from Cruising Through Life, a little cloud from Bon Voyage and a circle element from Blossom Stackers. Doesn't it look like a little sun when it's stamped in yellow?

On this second tag, I've used some leaves and floral elements from Blissful Botanicals and FlutterBy. The two sets compliment each other so perfectly.

And lastly, a simple little tag made with a sentiment from Boob Tubes and an embellished star element from Learning Year By Year.

*** Please note that although the new website for Make The Day Special is now open, Emily is still working on the shop and we're currently unable to link to each stamp set. We'll let you know as soon as everything is re-stocked on the website. ***

A card and tag

I've been playing again with the fab Tattered Chicken Wire stamp by Christy Tomlinson for Unity stamps. As the shop is currently undergoing some changes I can't leave a full link to it but when the shop is ready you should be able to find it here.

For the card I masked off some of the stamp and onlu used about half the width of it to stamp across the cardstock. I then added a sticker and rub-on...nice and simple!

For the tag I stamped across the whole background and then used some gauze, printed chipboard and ribbon to embellish:

Thanks for visiting!!

Jo xx

Closed for improvements

Hi everyone

the shop is currently offline to enable us to make some improvements, we will be back as soon as possible!

Emily

A Lightbulb Moment!!

It's the start of the weekend and it looks like it's going to be a hot and sunny one here in the UK.... yippeee :0)

It's also exam season and with my daughter starting her A levels this week I thought I would make a card for her just to show how much we care and believe in her ability to get the grades she needs for uni :0)

I have gone back to one of my favourites again...Lawn Fawn, and used the lightbulb image from 'How Delightful' to make a 'punny' encouragement card....

With clear powder and Versamark  ink, I embossed a row of clear bulbs on white card and then used the emboss resist technique on a scrap of yellow card to get the bright bulb in the dark by using black ink.

You can just about make out I've used School House Backdrops to give a lined paper effect to go with the notebook top to the panel.

You can see the subtle shine to the embossed lightbulbs when they catch the light :0

I continued the message and theme inside using Jessie's ABC's and the lightbulb image again.

The Lawn Fawn sets used are: Schoolhouse Backdrops, How Delightful, Lunar Lights and Jessie's ABCs

Thanks for you patience whilst Emily re-vamps the store website, for news of it's re-opening please keep an eye the Facebook page or here, on the blog :0)

So glad you could drop by

Jenny x

A Smile....

is the beginning of Peace......
Hi there! I decided to have a little inky play yesterday and here is the Tag that I made...

I used Distress Stains to colour the Tag and then Distress and Adirondak Inks to blend over the top.

I used a mixture of Unity Store Kits for the stamping and my little Bird is stamped onto Shrink Plastic. The Flower is coloured with ProMarkers and the Verse and edges have been clear embossed...

Here are the Store Kits that I used...

The Bird is from 'Life Becoming'

The Flower and the beautiful Verse is from 'Quiet Essence'

The Background is from 'A Mother's Love'

and lastly the Stitches round the edge are from 'Key To Joy'....

I so enjoyed getting a bit inky and messy! My fingers were a lovely colour!

I'll hopefully see you all soon....

Thanks for looking..

She xx

Hey buddy

hello.

I'm filling in for Ruby today.

I made this card using Cut loose and simply said sets from paper smooches.

I simply paper pieced the clouds and kite and stamped the sentiment straight onto the card.

Thanks for looking.

Simple Stackers

I finally got my grubby (well, inky) little mitts on the Blossom Stackers Set by Samantha Walker, for Unity. Let me tell you, this set is amazing! There are so many stamps in it - and the photograph over on the website, just does not do it justice.

 Here's just a few of the circle elements, used quite simply, on a layout that I made this weekend. I've stamped each element using Stone Grey Stazon, which gives a slightly softer look than Jet Black. Then, as I don't yet have the co-ordinating die-cuts (or a die-cutter for that matter!) I've cut the elements by hand.

   

The circle elements are interchangeable - meaning that each of the stamps can be used in multiple combinations. Plus, there's an absolute ton of sentiments which can be used with the beautifully ornate frames. Honestly, I haven't had an awful lot of time to play with them all yet, but expect to be seeing a lot of this set!

*** Just a little reminder that our Make The Day Special online store, is currently closed while we give it a little make-over. Hopefully, the store should be back up and ready to ship out those all important stamps by the weekend. ***

Beauty tag

I've made a quick tag this week using the Unity/ Webster's Pages Itty Bitty stamp "Beauty".

I coloured the tag using Dylusions inks and then used black Versafine ink to stamp the roses before using a white pen to highlight details.

I stamped the sentiment using white Versacolor ink which was then embossed with white embossing powder before adding some embellishments.

Materials used:

scrap cardstock, Dylusions inks

Unity stamp (as above), black Versafine ink, white Versacolor ink, white embossing powder

white Signo pen

beaded embellishment, paper rose.

Thanks for visiting

Jo xx

Photobooth fun!!

Hello again and Happy weekend to you :0)

I've made a card to show you using the cheeky little squirrel from the Paper Smooches set called Hang Ups.... this is what I reckon would happen if he came across a photo-booth!!!

I love this cute little chap and it was great to get him inked up again... he was the reason I started buying Paper Smooches stamps, Hang Ups was my first set and my collection has grown from there :0)

To make the little Polaroid photos I carefully inked the square speech bubble in 'He Said She Said' and then drew in the gap to make a complete square.

I made a slightly smaller square mask in a post it note so I could stamp and ink through so as to leave a white edge, then cut them out and strung them on the hemp cord with tiny paper clips. 

I thought the cork effect paper would make a great pin-board type background, just right for the display :0)

The big funky exclamation mark is great to emboss, cut out and use on most of the Paper Smooches sentiments.

The Paper Smooches sets I've used are 

• He Said, She Said
• Hang Ups
• Sentiment Sampler

Thanks for looking and I hope I've inspired you to pull out an old favourite stamp set you haven't used for a while and get it inky again and remember if you've used stamps from the store, you can share your creations on the Make the Day Secial Flickr gallery here, we'd love to see what you make :0)

Have a great weekend.

Jenny x

So happy

Hello.

Ive been playing with some of my new Lawn Fawn goodies,

And came up with this little card.

All you need to make it is....

Some Lawn trimmings from Lawn Fawn.

And Claire's ABC stamp set.

And some scraps of paper or washi tape which is what i have used.

Couldn't be more simple .

Thanks for looking.

A Toast to the Happy Couple

Good Morning.

Jenny here..... I'm filling in for Ruby this week because she's having a break from crafting on the run up to her Wedding Day and I thought what better time to share a wedding card I've made with the Flourishes set called Wedded Bliss, a beautiful stamp sets with celebration couples in silhouette and lots of sentiments to choose from too.....

I've decided to make a one layer card and emboss a square Nestabilitie die into the front of my card base so I have a neat frame to stamp the happy couple into. I have used Versafine Onyx Black and then added shimmer highlights to her dress with a glitter gel pen, which hasn't been picked up by the camera at all!!

To check the best position for the sentiment I stamped it on acetate first so I could move it around the card and found it nestled quite nicely into the space behind the bride, the three black pearls balance the layout.
The flourish bkgd is from my stamp stash, not available from the store.

Thanks for popping by today and I'm sure you'll join me in sending Ruby and Ian best wishes for a wonderful wedding day... I really hope the weather stays fine for you :0)

Jenny x

Such Happy Days {Create Your Own Background}

I really went to town with my stamps for today's project. On this one layout, I've used stamps from three Unity Store Kits - Quiet Essence, All About The Journey and Learning Year By Year, as well as Schoolhouse Backdrops, Bon Voyage and Flutterby from Lawn Fawn.

To start with, I dug out some white cardstock, the remains of a chipboard alpha set, some spray inks, co-ordinating stamp inks and, of course, my trusty stamp sets. Using the chipboard alpha set as a stencil, I misted part of my cardstock with the spray inks. Once dry, I inked up some of my luscious stamps and used them to add additional colour and texture. 

Simple though it is, my favourite part of the stamped background is the outlining of the alpha section, which is stamped using the single line from Schoolhouse Backdrops. I purposefully stamped it a little 'wiggly' to add texture and make it look hand-drawn. It's come out really well!

With such a colourful paper as the main focal point of the layout, I only needed a simple, but colourful background and a few, well chosen embellishments. To add a little bit of dimension, I've layered a tag, some cardstock from my scrap box and some additional stamps.

Even I was a little shocked that I managed to include even more stamps, but those cute clouds and the sweet florals from Bon Voyage and Flutterby added just the right amount of whimsy. And I do like a bit of whimsy!

Another journal page

I've been busy using Unity stamps to make another journal page. This one is in a lovely hardback book I found in a charity shop.

I prepared the background using gesso and acrylic paint and then used stamps from Unity store kits - "Moments in Bloom" and "Naturally You" available in the shop here some of which I coloured with Faber Castell pens and some I left.

The large quote is one from the Quote Bundle Pack and the "live a good life" stamp is from the "Life Becoming" kit also available in the shop.

Materials used:

old hardback book

Unity stamps (as above), black Versafine ink

Claudine Hellmuth gesso,

acrylic paints, Faber Castell Big Brush pens

As always, thanks for visiting!
Jo xx

A Moooving Card!!

Good Morning and hooray for the weekend :0)

My card to share with you today is an idea I've had kicking around for a while in my head and now I need to send a 'moving home' card, I just had make it.

You probably know by now I have a minor obsession with Lawn Fawn stamps so you wont be surprised to see I've used them again today, I also have a love of punny sentiments and I've used of of those as well.....

I love creating scenes with the critters sets and thought a herd of cows to be quite appropriate for a moooving home card. Rather than masking and stamping them I decided to stamp, colour and cut them out to arrange them in the oval frame. The green grass and yellow sun are cut from the Lawn Fawn Bright Side 6x6 paper pad.

Top Tip : When using cut out images that have a solid black line around them the white card shows on the edge so I like to conceal it with a black Memento marker so it just neatens up the edges and gives a more professional look...it also hides any wiggly cut lines *wink*..... I also find it better to hold the pen from the back of the image just in case it slips (ask me how I know that!!!)

I have decorated the inside too with  Lawn Fawn papers and finished the sentiment off...

The Stamp sets used are : Critters on the Farm,  Claire's ABC's,  Jessie's ABC's

Hope this inspires you to get crafty this weekend... now I need to get this in the post :0)

Have a great weekend.
Jenny x

Roar!

The thing I REALLY love about stamps, is just how versatile they are. We can create cards...scrapbook pages...tags...wrapping paper...bookmarks... in fact we can pretty much use them for ANY project where an image is needed. For any of you who have dropped into my own blog, you may have seen a number of posts about Story Stones I have been making. Yes - stamps are also great for stones! And story telling. This week's favourite story stone is this cute little fellow from Unity's Mr Boy set:

Isn't he just adorable?!

He looks wonderful on birthday cards too!

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's blog hop. 

Thanks for dropping in, 

Blissful Botanicals Blog Hop

Each month the Design Team will be featuring one of our favourite stamp sets and this month it's the turn of my personal favourite - Blissful Botanicals - from the Lawn Fawn 2011 Summer Release. 

The set truly is a blissful collection of super cute leaves and flowers which make fantastic individual embellishments on your cards and scrapbook layouts - as well as being versatile enough that you can create your own backgrounds or use them in mixed media projects.

Each of us has quite different styles of stamping, so hopefully, there will be no shortage of inspiration for you along the way. But, if today's projects aren't enough, you can always have a look at some of our previous Blissful Botanicals Projects.

We're starting over on my blog - Obstinate Pursuit - but here's the order we'll be hopping in, just in case you get lost!

Clair

Jenny

Kate

Lucia

Ruby

And if Blissful Botanicals happens to be one of your favourites already? Well, we'd love to see some examples of how you've been using your stamps from Make The Day Special.  So do leave us a link to some of your own cards, layouts or projects featuring Blissful Botanicals and we'll stop by to say hello!

Clair x

Clever handmade

Hello.

A quick card from me today.

I have used "She always knew" from clever handmade.

I have kept it very simple and coloured the image with pro markers.

Oh and the background paper is from Lawn fawn.

Thanks for looking.

Well Old!!

Hi, it’s Ruby.  I’ve made a man card today.  I find cards for men reaaaalllly challenging.  I seem to get a mental block when it comes to no butterflies, flowers or pretty colours!

Anyway, this is what I’ve come up with….


Using Paper Smooches ‘Smarty Pants’ set I stamped the books/globe/smarty pants and coloured them in using my Copics.  I printed the words ‘read’, ‘travelled’ and ‘old’ to which I then stamped the word ‘well’ from ‘get well’ using Paper Smooches ‘Sentiment Sampler’ set.  I love combining stamps with computer generated words, it opens up a whole new world of opportunity.  It’s a good job the recipient of this card is my future father-in-law and doesn’t get upset easily lol

I hope you are all having a great start to your week!

Ciao for now.

Sew Pretty

My project for today uses Lawn Fawn's Sew Lovely and Bannerific. Both of these sets have been around for some time now, but I've been waiting some time to get my inky fingers on them - they were always sold out when I went to have a look. (But they're both in stock now and just as delicious as when they were first released!)

Once again, the best part of using Lawn Fawn stamps is how well the sets combine with each other - even across collections. The alphabets and sentiments always fit easily into elements like the banners, clouds and tickets from other sets, making them extremely versatile. 

Cannot recommend them enough!

Art journalling with Unity

Today I've been playing in a new journal using Unity stamps.

I made the background using Dylusions inks and then randomly stamped using Versamagic chalk inks and the grid stamp from Unity's "Moments in Bloom" store kit available in the shop here and the Unity/Christy Tomlinson stamp "tattered chicken wire" available in the shop here.

After leaving this to dry I then used a floral stamp from the Unity "Quiet Essence" store kit (again in the shop here) and stamped this around the edges using black Versafine ink before colouring in using Prismacolor pencils.

I stamped the sentiment from the Quote Bundle Pack again using Versafine ink and coloured the flowers using pencils again.

The art doll was a digital that I purchased from Etsy seller Sabrina.

Materials used:
Dylusions inks, Versamagic inks, Versafine ink
Unity stamps (as above)
Prismacolor pencils, white Signo pen
digital art doll (as above)


As always, thanks for visiting

Jo xx

An Altered Notebook

Good Morning and welcome to the usual Bank Holiday Weather we have grown to know and dislike!!

I have tried something new to share with you today and because I have never ventured into the art of altering anything, I decided to keep it fun and true to my usual style.... which means Lawn Fawn and Paper Smooches Stamps :0)

On completing this little 10x15cm notebook, it suddenly dawned on me that I had used a gazillion stamp sets and I now had to list them all on my post...aaarrgh!! So to save my sanity and you the boredom of a list I will just mention the main players in the coloured focal text, although I want to just point out the lined paper background is stamped in Versamark, using the School House Backdrops from Lawn Fawn... such a versatile set :0)

If you're wondering about the large book...it's the pencil from Smarty Pants ...... with a little masking and drawing lines with a pen and ruler I changed it into a book and the light bulb from Perpetual Bliss has also had a makeover with the filament now reading 'Ideas' instead of ''Love'.

I had great fun creating this and I intend to keep it in my bag with me so I have a place to jot down ideas when inspiration strikes. I have yet to see if a coat of Mod Podge would help to protect it from wear and tear.... I added the elastic strap to help protect the pages, so we'll see how it stands up to being used :0)

The main sets I have used are

• Lawn Fawn : Quinns ABC, School House Backdrops, Jessie's ABC, Claire's ABC
• Paper Smooches : Perpetual Bliss, He Said She Said, Smarty Pants, Word up
• Lawn Fawn Brightside paper pack...... NOW in stock

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you enjoy the long weekend :0)

Jenny x 

Bit of a mixture

Hello.

Lots of cards today, these have all been made for challenges.

And haven't posted here yet.

Stamps used on these cards are all from Lawn fawn and Paper smooches.

 Thanks for looking.

Hi there

It’s Ruby here.  Today I’ve got a really quick and simple card to share with you.


Sometimes I get so involved in the detail of a card I forget that I can just make something simple.  My bow was doing its own thing as you can see, grrr.

I used Lawn Fawn’s Judy’s Blooms and Lawn Fawn’s On the Mend.

Hope you get some time to play this week and if you always get too bogged down in the detail have a break and create something a bit more simple, it’s fun!