Stretching Elephants

Today I thought I'd highlight a couple of sets from Mama Elephant that may have passed you by, but that can be used in more ways than you might think and we all like to get the most out of our stash now don't we!  

Firstly, in a recent release, Mama Elephant brought out a die to go with the Type It stamp set, BUT it has lots of dies that have nothing to do with the stamps and I think its a very handy standalone die set if you ignore the typewriter and paper!   So I made a card with it without the stamps.

Firstly you get the really lovely large scalloped panel die and then an assortment of words and icons.  I went for a love and kisses theme and die cut the words from the panel, die cut them again from grey card and silver glitter stock and pieced them back in.   Then to stretch my stash a little further I used the bridge from Sightseeing on it's end as I think it makes a cute border.

That got me thinking - I could see other possibilities for that stamp - so I had another go....

I thought the centre sections would make an interesting frame, and when I stamped them I thought it looked a little like a Chinese door, so I added a panda with a bunch of birthday balloons from Pandamonium and a sentiment from Say What.

We have lots of new goodies crossing the Atlantic at the moment - new releases and restocks from Papersmooches, Lawn Fawn, Wplus9, Lil Inkers, Neat and Tangled, Newton's Nook and Avery Elle - phew - it's going to be busy!   Keep an eye on our Facebook page for news of arrivals when they happen.

Stellar Birthday

I'm sorry that the shop doors are still closed - we're getting very close to the ribbon cutting ceremony I promise - there are just a few technical issues beyond my control but I'm working very hard to get them all sorted as soon as possible and I hope to be open in a few days now.

In the meantime here's a card I made for the current Mama Elephant photo challenge but instead of going romantic I took my inspiration from the colours and bling and went for a star theme.

I stamped and embossed sentiments from Good Times and Say What first in silver and then with "vodka sparkle" embossing powders from WOW onto some pink cardstock.  Then I went to town with my die cutter and a couple of star shaped dies (MFT I think).   I used silver card, pink glitter and plain pink.  To get some very sparkly stars I embossed a couple of the silver ones with "bling bling" again from WOW.    Now I'm normally a CAS girl but clearly I didn't know when to stop with the stars and went for more is more this time!  I think it would be a suitable card for a tweenager though - they all love pink and bling right????

I'll be back for an update on the shop in a few days just ahead of the doors opening so keep an eye on the blog and facebook and form an orderly queue....

The Elephants are in the House

So, have you seen, we've got Mama Elephant stamps in the shop now - woo-hoo!  I love these stamps, the designs are fresh and funky and they stamp beautifully!   The hardest job I had this week was deciding which of my new sets to make a card with but in the end the penguins won the toss......

Only I decided to not go traditionally Christmas with them - I thought they looked a little like they were pointing at each other in that way kids do when they're blaming each other so I paired them with a sentiment from Say What to give it a fun twist.

I stamped the stitched hill a few times in grey and then stood the penguins on the hill and coloured them with copics but now realise I put the yellow in the wrong place for an emperor penguin - I need to watch more David Attenborough programmes lol!   They're still cute though ;-)

Enjoy the rest of you weekend - I'll catch you next Sunday.

Happy Crafting!
Tara