Booyah!

Hello.

With October fast approaching i wanted to go with something  bit spooky.

Don't worry i scare easily so this is a cute kind of spooky.

I used the Lawn fawn Booyah stamp set and coloured the images with copics.

The background was made using distress inks and some splashes of glimmer mist.

So that it looked more like a scene rather than the three ghosts just floating i die cut a stitched circle and the picket fence die both from lawn fawn.

The sentiment is also from the Booyah set.

I finished with some clear sequins.

Lawn fawn restocks have shipped and should be here early next week :)

  

Thanks for looking.

Sweet Smiles and Umbrellas!

I have a couple of cards to share today both of which feature Lawn Fawn's Sweet Smiles stamp set but the first one is probably not quite what you'd expect from that set!    I have a card I saw on the Mama Elephant blog on Friday to thank for my inspiration for this card, which I would credit, but it seems to have been removed.  [edited - the post is back again now so click here to see the card that inspired mine] It was a card filled with a rainbow of umbrellas and when I saw it I immediately thought of my favourite Pixar "short" - The Blue Umbrella where two "different" umbrellas meet and fall in love.  So I recreated a scene from the movie to make an anniversary card for my husband who is a huge Pixar fan.

Here's a still from the movie in case you haven't seen it so you can see where I got the idea to add the faces to the umbrella's from Mama Elephant's Chance of Rain set (it's only 6 minutes long so google it and watch it, its such a sweet story)   To make it into an anniversary card I needed an appropriately mushy sentiment - that came from Sunday Sentiments - I just didn't ink up the second line of this one as I'll pop that on the inside!   The background is a simple watercolour technique using the new hickory smoke distress ink and wide brush to get deliberate downward strokes to look like rain falling.

For my second card I used the gumball machine and ignored the faces this time!  I wanted to concentrate on the machine and make it realistic with a clear dome and a back that could be seen inside the card.

You don't need anything fancy to do this - just a piece of acetate and some stazon ink.  Stamp it twice (taking care to not stamp the gumballs on one image - only ink up the outline) and cut it out taking care to cut outside the lines on the glass dome, but just inside the lines on the parts you want to cover up with cardstock at the top and bottom so that the acetate edges don't show.

Now stamp once more on card stock with copic friendly ink - this will be your front so it is a "full" stamp.

To stamp the back I inked up the whole machine again but then used a cotton bud to wipe away the ink from the mechanism that would only be on the front.  This leaves you with a gap in the bottom of the machine so just use a multi-liner to join the lines back up again and you've got the back of your machine!

You need one more stamping process to get the back view of the gumballs - some mirror stamping.   You can do this several ways - stamp onto acetate (or even your acrylic block) and then press that onto your card, stamp onto the back of another stamp and use that to transfer your image or use a roller to take the image from your stamp and roll it onto the paper.   As this is a pretty simple image, I just used my acrylic block and then a multi liner to make the lines more solid to match the front as mirror stamping gives you a second generation style line.

Colour everything with copics and cut out all the pieces you need.  Stick the gumball images together so the colour is showing on the outsides and then using a clear glue like glossy accents stick it to the front acetate making sure to line it up with the black circles.  Sandwich the two acetate sheets together.  Glue on the backs and fronts of the machine pieces and set it aside to dry.

To make the card itself, set a stitched circle die just off the edge of your card to cut your aperture and use the next size up die to emboss a second circle around it.  Stamp the "HAVE A BALL!" sentiment which comes in the set underneath it.  The other sentiment is from "Year 3" also from Lawn Fawn is stamped onto a strip of paper from their Beachside pad.

NEWS FROM THE STORE:

• We will be getting our first shipment from My Favorite Things this week - we are starting small and got all that was available from the last couple of releases along with a few other bits and pieces that caught my eye.  Some items were out of stock so I will try again to get those with the next release which will be available in early July.
• WaffleFlower Crafts latest release will be here shortly as well along with their ink pads which several of you asked for last time.
• We will be restocking Paper Smooches this week and getting their latest couple of releases.

Have a great week - catch you on the flipside ;-)

Happy mail

Hello.

With all the  cards i make i rarely send many out, i have decided to make more effort in changing that. 

The gleeful gardens stamps from lawn fawn have a wonderful snail mail sentiment that helped me decide.

Both cards are simple in design.

I used the gingham backdrops with hero arts ombre inks on the card base.

The die cut images are all coloured with copics and then adhered to the stitched circle panel.

The  cards as they are going to be mailed are mostly flat with no embellishment just the envelopes and bird on foam tape.

I selectively inked the sentiment to just use the parts i wanted.

   

Thanks for looking.

Hammy birthday to you

 Hello.

Today i have made two very different cards using the Lawn Fawn Wheelie like you set.

Firstly this shaker birthday card. 

Its my daughters birthday tomorrow and she has a hamster and has been after me to make something with this set so "Edward" her hamster is my inspiration.

I dies cut and stamped 12 hamsters to fill the shaker. i coloured them random colours so that the one on the wheel stood out more.

Next up a much simpler hamster card.

I used distress inks on my card base then used the Gingham backdrop stamp just spritzed with water it gives a very subtle effect.

I have coloured the hamster with copics to look like "Edward".

Click the images below to go to the products in store.

   

  

Thanks for looking.

Lots of Luck

Hello.

This smaller set, Lucky charm is just perfect for wishing anyone some luck.

Full of images that represent lucky charms you can use them so many ways.

I have two looks, the first is very busy with lots going on. 

I used the cat image and coloured with colour soft pencils. the die cut cat is then layered on the stitched circles from Lawn Fawn.

The background is lots of the other images stamped in Avery Elle inks.

I finished with some clear sequins.

Next i have a very clean and simple one layer card which is just as effective for wishing some one luck.

I stamped in black momento ink and coloured with colour soft pencils direct on to my Kraft card base.

The sentiment is stamped in black archival so that it stands out more.

It was kinda tough not adding anything else but I am glad i didn't i think ant more would have ruined it.

Thanks for looking.

 

Otters and Elephants

What a week it's been at store HQ - we've never had so much stock arrive at the same time and it's been a little tough - there have been a LOT of late nights and early mornings to get through it all and this weekend looks like more of the same as Lawn Fawn's latest release is flying out of the door so fast!   I know some items have sold out already but I now have a faster shipping method available for some of the larger brands so if Lawn Fawn haven't sold out I will get in back again next week ;-)

I have managed a couple of quick makes with the new stock - firstly my personal favourite from the Lawn Fawn release which is the otter from the Year 5 mini stamp.

I used the stitched circles dies (both large and small together to get a nice thin mat) to cut the circle to stamp him on and a mat from the beachside papers.  I used their new black licorice ink, which does give a brilliantly crisp image, but it does take a lot longer to dry than standard dye ink pads so do take note of that when you use them or you could smudge your lovely work.  The colouring was done with pencils and blending solution.   I used some more of the yummy new papers to finish it off.

The really exciting news is that we have already got the new Avery Elle release in store - I can't sell it yet - but I can play with it ;-)    So here's a little taster of what will be available on Friday!

The Wplus9 elephants were so very popular and sold out in about 4 hours, so if you missed out, then let me introduce Elle - isn't she adorable!

She is stamped directly onto one of their new range of A2 cards which come in packs of 12 with 4 cards in each of 3 colours which match their ink pads (and yes we have the new range of those too!)  This one is from the range called Sugar.   These cards are such good quality!   Really thick card stock - so much so that I water coloured Elle directly onto them and there wasn't a hint of warping or pilling (I wasn't heavy handed with the water though - I used distress inks and a water brush on my craft sheet)   The little balloon is paper-pieced using one of their new pads which again co-ordinate with the inks and cards - this one is from "happy"     Another simple design, but hey - it's been a busy week - I didn't have time to get Picasso on you ;-)

NEWS FROM THE STORE:

New arrivals this week if you missed any were:

• Mama Elephant
• Wplus9
• Paper Smooches
• Lawn Fawn

Avery Elle will be on sale as soon as its released on Friday

Altenew are just waiting for some stock to arrive and then I will arrange a speedy shipment

I will get restocks back as soon as they are available...........

MAKE SURE YOU REGISTER FOR ANY ITEM THAT IS OUT OF STOCK USING THE "EMAIL ME" FUNCTION.   Not only does this mean you get an email telling you when it's back, it also lets me know how many people want each item so I make sure I order enough for everyone!