Quick Valentine Set // Hero Arts

Today I want to share a quick set of Valentines that I whipped up real quick yesterday for friends. These are so easy to make, quick and they work well for both genders!

This Hipster Animal set is SO fun! I love "dressing up" the animals, and they will be perfect for quick birthday cards, for boys and girls! This stamp set is available at your favorite online stamping store, as well as the Hero Arts store.
Now for a closer look at each individually...

This sentiment actually said "hoppy birthday", but I just made sure not to ink the "birth" part, and it worked for the Valentine.

I die cut tags to go behind the main panel, and you could leave them like that and write a note on the back. However, I wanted them to be little cards, so I cut smaller card bases, and when I went to die cut them, I made sure the die didn't cover them entirely - the left edge of the die didn't touch the cardstock, so when I ran it through my machine, it didn't cut the left edge (the fold of the card)

These cards were a quick use of some larger scraps of patterned paper.

The owl and the bunny are my favorites - what are yours?

I hope you enjoyed these Valentines, and I hope you have a happy St. Valentine's Day! Thanks for stopping in and God bless!

SUPPLIES

Cardstock: Canson Bristol, DWCV (black)
Patterned paper: Crate Paper (assorted collections)
Stamps: Hero Arts Hipster Animals
Ink: Versamark, Hero Arts Clearly Kelly Urban Inks (grey), Black and Strawberry
Other: embossing powder (Hero Arts)

Tools: heat gun, Cuttlebug, My Favorite Things Pierced Rectangle dies, Paper Smooches Quote Tag die

Flying Dog // My Favorite Things

Today I'm popping in with a fun shaker card for the MFT Color Challenge #38 and the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge (Ray of Sunshine).

To start off, I blended a background for the two pink colors in the challenge, using some Distress Inks. I made it a shaker using some Martha Stewart star confetti, and Darice sequins.
Making shaker cards with My Favorite Things stamps has definitely become a thing for me recently. I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm totally blaming Melania Deasy. ;)

The rest of the card finished simply off with an adorable colored pup, a bunch of balloons (created from the one balloon in THIS cute stamp set), string, an embossed sentiment and vellum clouds.

I colored the dog with my Zig's, and for the balloons, I only had a rather bright shade of yellow. To tone it down and get a gradient look, I used my Wink of Stella pen to blend it out, which had the added bonus of adding some nice shimmer. The Zig's actually blend really well with the Michael's brand cardstock (which is also nice and heavy, at 110 lb) - at least, their newer cardstock.

I found some cardstock I bought this past summer noticeably different from cardstock I bought in December. The older, summer cardstock was a little creamier in tone (which I prefer), but was kinda horrible when it came to coloring. The more recent cardstock is dreamy with Zig's, and more pasty white.
I'm playing along with the fun 30 Day Coloring Challenge.

Thanks so much for stopping in today and God bless!

SUPPLIES

Cardstock: Michaels
Stamps: My Favorite Things Top Dog and Birthday Bears
Ink: Distress Ink, Versafine
Other: sequins (Darice), confetti (Martha Stewart), vellum and string (stash), Zig Clean Color brushes

Tools: Cuttlebug, My Favorite Things Top Dog die, Avery Elle Double Pierced Rectangles die, Paper Smooches Quote Tag die

Dotty Watercolors // Throwback Thursday

I've never made a Halloween card, so I don't have any to show you in anticipation for it, but today's card, from April 2013, does use Halloweenish colors.

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Yeah, I felt pretty proud of myself on this one...;)

What I did here was heat emboss the image, mask of the edges, and then go to town (get it? ;)) with inking up the back of several small, circular clear stamps and then stamping the little splotches on the paper. I thought the effect was kinda interesting - I don't think I'd be a good judge of the overall card though, because I'm just happy with the fact that I got my hands "dirty" for once.

Thanks so much for stopping in and God bless!

SUPPLIES

Cardstock: Strathamore, Core-dinations
Stamps: Hero Arts, Paper Smooches
Ink: Versamark, Distress Inks
Other: embossing powder (Martha Stewart), gems (Doodlebug)

Tool: heat gun

Throwback Thursday // Old pub

A lot of my drafts are actually published cards I had ready to post in case of rejection. Today's card was published in an issue of Paper Crafts.
Don't worry, I'll spare you most of my old pubs, but this one kinda makes me chuckle;

I'd been waiting awhile for a good card to use this fun camera paper on...

I pretty much had the entire card assembled aside from the glasses when I thought "hm, what should I put in this big hole here?", and thus the glasses came to be!

Thanks for dropping in and have a great day!

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Cardstock: Canson
Patterned paper: Echo Park "This and That"
Stamps: Precious Remembrance "Moms and Dads", Paper Smooches "Sentiment Sampler"
Ink: Stazon
Other: wooden tag (Darice), string (stash), washi tape (Basic Grey), paperclip (Tim Holtz)

Father's Day Inspiration // Papertrey Ink and Paper Smooches

I interrupt your regularly schedule day to bring you a quick post with some inspiration for Father's Day.

I'm not gonna lie, I struggled this year. The first card was a disaster (check out my instagram on Sunday for a look at that monstrosity), and while the second card turned out clean and streamlined enough, it just didn't have enough character for my dad.
Here's that second card...

Luckily, my dad is one of those guys that like golfing, so that made it relatively easy to pick out stamps. I die cut a half circle to go behind a heat embossed golf cart, and then used some scrap papers  to add a little golf course scene. Some grey paper made the road, and just for a little more interest, I punched the corners of the front panel with a 1" circle punch (a go-to technique when I'm stumped on how to make a card more interesting) 

But, like I said, the card was a little boring for me, so I tried my hand at it again to make a more personalized card. 

While this result was difficult to photograph, I'm pleased with it because I know he'll get a kick out of it. 

I handwritten the sentiment (thanks Pinterest) using a Memento marker, because I didn't have anything nicer. I'm just gonna say that the uneven look adds to the character of the card, to make myself feel better. ;)

Some little gems top of heat embossed stamped shirts, that were colored in with water and random inks.
This card is more personalized, because one, the sentiment perfectly fits the egos (mine included) of my dad's nine children, and two, my younger sister and I iron his shirts for him and we somehow always manage to get behind, and then he has to nag us to get on top of them. ;)

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Paper Smooches // Throwback Thursday

Today's Throwback Thursday (a way for me to clean out my 100+ drafts....whew, this is gonna take awhile...) is circa June 2012.
My thoughts on the card from three years ago:

I wanted to make a boy themed card using the Paper Smooches turtle image.

I'm not quite sure if I like it or not, but I decided to share it anyways. ;)

To create the notebook edge without a notebook edge punch, I simply punched holes, and cut slits with a scissors. Ripping the edges up a bit helps add to the look. ;)

Embossed sentiment to make it pop out from the patterned paper...

Thanks for popping in and God bless!

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Cardstock: LSS
Patterned paper: K&Company 'Cut N Paste', My Minds Eye 'Stella and Rose'
Stamp: PTI 'Mat Stack 1'
Ink: Tim Holtz 'Tea Dye'
Other: gems, Martha Stewart embossing powder, Crate Paper sticker, Tim Holtz paperclips

Tools: trimmer, scissors, adhesive, Cuttlebug, PTI Mat Stack 1 die, hole punch

Paper Smooches // Scripty Sayings

I'm free! Spring break is here (unofficially) at last! Now I need to get working on that mountain of homework...

...this card was inspired by THIS pin - I used some pretty Dear Lizzy paper, Lucky Charm (one of my all time favorite collections)

Thanks so much for stopping in and God bless!

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Cardstock: Canson
Patterned paper: American Crafts "Lucky Charm"
Stamps: Paper Smooches "Scripty Sayings"
Ink: Versamagic
Other: pearls, gems, embossing powder

Tools: heat gun

Papertrey Ink // Simply Jane

Hi! Just popping in real quick with a simple little number using up more scraps (I tell ya, I've been on a roll)

I die cut the flowers right into the card base using some Paper Smooches dies, but then I wasn't happy with the way they were aligned, so I set the base aside for later use. Looking in my scrap bin, I found a pretty die cut cork piece, and quickly put it together with the base, along with a cabochon and a scrapped vellum sentiment.

Thanks for stopping in and have a blessed Sunday!

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Cardstock: Canson
Patterned paper: Crate Paper (old)
Stamp: Hero Arts
Ink: Versamagic
Other: cork (Joann Fabrics), cabochon (eBay), vellum

Tools: Cuttlebug, Papertrey Ink Simply Jane dies, Paper Smooches Flowers dies, Fiskars border punch

Thanks

...be to God! I'm not going to take the calculus class this semester! Although I will still have to take it in the summer...or next fall...blech.

This card involved some tricky die cutting - I had to keep the upper/lower part of the die off of the plate when die cutting, then do the same with the other side. With all that work, I just finished it simply with some enamel dots, Wink of Stella glitter on the sentiment (impossible to see in this picture) and some simple patterned paper.

Also, just wondering, but would any of you like me to be more specific with the product description? I used to give company name and product name, but I've gotten kinda lazy and just gone with company name recently. However, if you'd prefer, I can whip myself back into shape. ;)

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Cardstock: Canson, Bazzill
Patterned paper: Crate Paper Maggie Holmes
Other: enamel dots

Tools: Cuttlebug, Paper Smooches die

Playing with scraps

It's always a fun challenge to me, and a great way to kickstart my mojo. ;)

I have a whole green container dedicated to my scraps - what do you do with your leftover card scraps? Throw them away? Keep them? Pass them on?

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Cardstock: Cason
Patterned paper: Crate Paper
Stamp: Hero Arts
Ink: Archival Ink
Other: pearls and sequins (Michaels), string and clothespin (Darice), embossing powder

Tools: Cuttlebug, Paper Smooches dies, heat gun

Distracted

...that's how I feel, and so that's the kind of card I have for you today.

I wanted to try to shove as much pretty stuff on one card as possible, but this time, it didn't quite work out for me.
For the glitter border, I took one of the Maggie Holmes sticker borders and added glitter to the back. Easy peasy, nice and squeezy.

But speaking of pretty stuff...

Anyways, that's all for me today - peace out!

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Cardstock: Canson

Patterned paper, vellum, and sticker: Crate Paper Maggie Holmes 

Other: cabochon (Etsy), glitter (Martha Stewart), kraft tag (Maya Road), sequin, enamel dot and pearl (stash)

Tools: Cuttlebug, Paper Smooches dies

I miss

...a lot of things, but most especially, my family's faces! Only 25 more days!

So, in case you can't tell because of my poor design skills, that little guy with ribbon coming out of the bottom and top of his face is a watch.
Yep.

Man, it looked so much better in my head.
Ah well.

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Cardstock: Canson
Patterned paper: Bazzill Basics
Stamps: Paper Smooches
Ink: Stazon, Memento
Other: gems, ribbon (Papertrey Ink)

Back home

...from a short but fun trip to Nashville with some friends, to visit the Nashville Dominicans. :)

I'm really excited about the two cards I'm sharing today, and I was planning on going on and on about the amazing stamp set I used to make them, but honestly, I'm still kinda loopy from twelve hours of driving, so I may have to save it for another day.

These two cards are for the Simon Says Stamp Stencil challenge, the Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes, Paper Crafting Magic Stencil, NBUS Anything Goes, and the Fusion Card challenge.

The set I wanted to gush about is the Altenew Painted Flowers (which appears to be sold out on their website again - good for them!) 

This set is pretty much one of my stampy dreams. 

YUMYUMYUM.

I had a really hard time putting it down, so basically I made four variations of the above card in two days, and here is just one of those variations. 

For both cards, I masked off the sentiments (using them as a my stencils) using die cut washi tape, but for this second card, I also impressed the dies into the cardstock, in hopes that the ink wouldn't bleed so much when I stamped over the mask. I don't think it helped much, but I think it added just a teensy bit of legibility, which is the only straw I have with these cards.

Of course, I couldn't have made either card without the Mama Elephant Inline Letters dies or the Paper Smooches Quote Tag dies, both of which are pretty much my die-cutty dreams.

Mmmm, dreams...dreams sound good.

Thanks for stopping and God bless!

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Cardstock: Canson, Core-dinations
Stamps: Altenew "Painted Flowers"
Ink: Distress Ink, Hero Arts, Papertrey Ink
Other: washi tape

Tools: Cuttlebug, Mama Elephant Inline Letters dies, Paper Smooches Quote Tag dies

Paper Smooches SPARKS Anything Goes challenge

...I can't believe it, but it's my last week designing for Paper Smooches SPARKS.

Whoa.
In all honesty, this was one of my favorite design teams so far - everyone was so chill and relaxed, and I've never had more inspirational coordinator than Savannah! HUGE shout out to her for all the work she puts into the challenge, and to the rest of the amazing design team!

Now, on to the card....

I never realized what an awesome, chunky-yet-still-small sentiment THIS was until I randomly picked it out for the card. I also made a video for this card, which hopefully I'll add here later when it's finished uploading. ;)

Now, if you'd like to see the rest of the design teams samples up close (and I know you do!), I've got the links all ready for you;

Erin

Karin
Isha

Savannah

Also, if you're playing with any Paper Smooches products this week, you should totally enter the challenge.

Because it's anything goes.

So, it's super easy.

So, you should most definitely play along with us. ;)

Thanks so much for stopping in and God bless!

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Cardstock: Canson

Patterned paper: Crate Paper "Story Teller"

Stamps: Paper Smooches "Sentiment Sampler"

Other: embossing powder (Hampton Art), twine (Darice)

Tools: embossing gun

Weaning off

...of cardmaking.
So, I've decided to post my Gallery Idol entries on my blog - I usually don't, because I usually forget and not posting also helps me forget that, once again, I lucked out. ;)
But between school, and adventuring with siblings, I just don't "stress" at all with cardmaking much lately. I'm going to go a whole semester without making cards, so I'm trying to wean off this addiction now so I don't go crazy without paper and adhesive in my hands, in the coming months. ;)

You can't tell in this photo, but the "congrats" is actually an embossed silver, which adds a nice subtle shimmer.

This card uses some pretty fab washi tape from Pinkfresh Studio - Aztec Love.
You may ask, do I love it like an Aztec? No.
But, you may also ask, do I love it like a fabulous roll of washi tape? Oh yes.

Wink of Stella. There's really no occasion not to use this fantastic stuff.

Actually, this card was an occasion to not use Wink of Stella - a little voice told me it wouldn't sit quite well with the slick washi tape.

So, none of my cards use washi tape in a remarkable or cool way, but it was fun to pull them out and put the darn things to use! I tell ya, before I had any washi tape, I was constantly coming up with cool ways to use it, and then as soon as I had a few rolls, poof! All the ideas - gone! The really crazy thing, is that when I see more pretty washi rolls online, I try convincing myself that THIS PARTICULAR roll really will get me going! It's nuts, I tell ya.

Anyways, I'm going bonkers from a whole bunch of traveling (from Madison and back again!) and work, plus, I have a project to work on (the joy of summer classes), so, thanks for stopping in and God bless!

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Card #1
Cardstock: Canson, DCWV
Stamps: Mama Elephant "Inline Letters", My Favorite Things "Best Friends"
Ink: Brilliance, Hero Arts
Other: washi tape (SEI, Stampin' Up!)

Tools: Cuttlebug, Mama Elephant Alphabet dies

Card #2
Cardstock: Canson, Bazzill
Other: washi tape (Pinkfresh Studio), thread, Wink of Stella, sequins (Michaels)

Tools: Cuttlebug, Paper Smooches Quote Tag die

Card #3
Cardstock: Canson
Stamps: Paper Smooches "Scripty Sayings", Hero Arts "Miss You So Much", Papertrey Ink "Tweet Talk"
Ink: Stazon
Other: washi tape (Stampin' Up)

Paper Smooches SPARKS Picture Perfect challenge

...stopping in today with a fun picture challenge from Paper Smooches SPARKS!

I chose to use the super fun color combo (not a combo I usually see with party pictures!)

For the sentiment, I took the "hello" from the Quote Tags die set, and die cut it out of masking tape. I then used the negative, placed it over the card, then watercolored the sentiment in using Hero Arts inks. Removed the masking paper, topped with Wink of Stella (of course) and oila!

If you'd like to play, please don't feel constrained by the picture colors - you could be inspired by anything, like the ruffles, balloons, wood textures - anything that sparks your creativity! ;)
Check out the rest of the design teams cards for more inspiration;

Erin

Karin

Savannah

Enjoy your Sunday and thanks for stopping in!

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Cardstock: Canson

Other: gems (Joann Fabrics), vellum, Wink of Stella

Tools: Cuttlebug, Paper Smooches Quote Tag dies, water, paintbrush

Four down

...one more final to go! Woohoo!!

Anyways, I'm taking a break from studying to post this card for this months CAS-ual Fridays challenge (three colors and three enamel dots), Less is More challenge (three colors) and the Simon Says Stamp challenge (anything goes)...

This was SUPER fun to make! I made a little trio using the same basic design - I'll pop back in later to update that.
ETA - here's the second one promised...

I used some older stamp sets, but they're so versatile and classic, and they fit perfectly.

When I layered the sentiment, instead of die cutting the red cardstock (which has a white core anyways) a million times, I just cut some thin cardboard packaging three times, and adhered those together using my mini Xyron sticker maker.

Anyways, I gotta get back to studying, so enjoy your day and (if you wouldn't mind) say a prayer for me on this last stretch! ;)

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Cardstock: Canson, DCWV
Stamps: My Favorite Things "Framed Greetings", WPlus9 "Heartfelt Holiday"
Ink: Studio Calico
Other: pearls, nail polish

Tools: Cuttlebug, Paper Smooches "Quote Tag" die

Make Misteaks

...and yes, I know I spelled that incorrectly. ;)

I'm just popping in between studying for finals and Mass this evening with a card for the Simon Says Stamp (anything goes) challenge and the Mama Elephant challenge...

I used the Inline Letters, which I super duper love a lot, to cover up my terrible watercolor mess die cuts. Seriously though, I'll try to update this post later with a picture of the watercolor mess I cut the letters from it is baaaaaaddddd. I know they say it's hard to make watercoloring look bad, but believe you me, I've done it.

Anyways, I think perhaps I make a little too many "misteaks" and that I should treat myself to a quick nap to help me prepare for a late night. ;)
Thanks for stopping in and God bless!

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Cardstock: Canson
Stamps: Mama Elephant "Inline Letters"

Tools: Cuttlebug, Paper Smooches dies, Mama Elephant Alphabet die

Paper Smooches SPARKS Designer Drafts challenge

...I feel like it's been forever since I last posted a SPARKS challenge - this week's one is so fun!

It may look like a tricky one, but if you check out the SPARKS blog, you'll see the AMAZING samples the rest of the design team came up with using it!
For now, here's mine...

I've probably already mentioned it, but I'm pretty much in LOVE with these Quote Tag dies - so. much. fun.

If you wanna check out the rest of the design teams samples in depth, here are the links, all nice and ready for ya!

Erin

Isha

Karin

Savannah

I have a couple projects, a couple finals, one BIG final, and work this week, so no promises on any projects for a few days (though I may just pop in to destress - again, no promises ;))

Also, I know the "read more" option of this blog layout is probably pretty annoying - I'm going to try to make my own website (complete with portfolio and all!) this summer, so if you could bear with me until then. ;)

Thanks for stopping in and God bless!

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Cardstock: Canson

Patterned paper: American Crafts "5th and Frolic"

Stamps: Paper Smooches "Sentiment Sampler"

Ink: Distress Ink

Other: wooden tag, gems, vellum and string (Darice)

Tools: heat gun, Cuttlebug, Paper Smooches "Quote Tag" dies

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop challenge

For CFC 131 (rule of thirds) and this months Papertrey Ink blog hop...

I had a hard time thinking of a way to interpret this challenge, when this card kinda came out of the blue.

Uses three colors, and this is as close as I can get to embroidered without using any stitched or sewing stamp sets. ;)

Thanks for stopping in and God bless!

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Cardstock: Canson, Bazzill
Stamps: My Favorite Things "Framed Greetings", Papertrey Ink "Sweet Life"
Ink: Hero Arts, Stazon
Other: vellum

Tools: Cuttlebug, Paper Smooches "Quote Die", Papertrey Ink "Sweet Life" dies