You're the Sweetest & Celebrate (Strawberries & Dots)

I made plans to get together with a couple of friends and assemble some cards. We each came up with two designs and prepped six of each card. The plan was for everyone to go home with two copies of each card. I wanted to challenge myself with a total different style than I'm used to. It still incorporated coloring (which I love), but it had tons of fluff/jewels/layers to it, too!

I had a bunch of doilies from the baking isle/dollar store and found one that was about the right size for a card. With my Stampin Up ovals I die cut the girl and the background with the scallop style. I used my Lawn Fawn Gingham Backdrop stamp for the green background pattern. Add some ribbon, velum butterfly, and some jewels to finish it off. I think it turned out great for stepping outside my usual style!

The other design was inspired by a card I had created in a Stamp Camp with some local Stampin Up demonstrators (below). 

I wanted to see if I could recreate the card with some stamps I already had... I bought cellophane bags on Amazon and have had them for a LONG time and finally decided I was going to do it.

The original card was peach and yellow with matching sequins (like everything Stampin Up - super matchy matchy!). Looking at my ink and sequins inventory I settled on a green and purple color scheme. I had a pack of purple and green sequins I had planned to use for a mermaid themed card. (It appears I may have a shopping problem...) I used my Paper Smoochies Mirror Blocks circle stamps and another small circle stamp I had to achieve the dots.

I added a little bit of clear beads to the sequins for a little extra height/dimension. I just so happened to have some baking twine that was close enough in color. Little secret - the dollar store had three different sets of three colors! That is, what? $0.33 each? WIN!!! :) 

Since I didn't have the Stampin Up "Celebrate" embossing folder, I decided to heat emboss my sentiment instead and I think it worked well. Just a tip - be sure to let your circles dry! The embossing powder will try to cling to any wet spots if you do it all in one sitting.

I hope you enjoyed and have the urge to try doing one of these on your own!

Mermaid Twist Panel Pop Up Card

My daycare provider's daughter is in synchronized swimming. For a birthday card I immediately thought she needed a mermaid card! 

My inspiration for this card was Mona's yellow box card. I tried to make as may items yellow as I could and carried that throughout the card. 

The most challenging part of making twisting popup cards is the front cover! You want the wow factor to be inside, so struggle to come up with a simple design for the front that won't steal the show (and all the hard work put into the inside)! The small image in the collage is the cover and I think it ended up pretty sweet. I did a inked embossing folder for the background and punched a hole in it.

I used Lawn Fawn stamp sets for most of the characters/critters. The background was blended using Tim Holtz Distressed Ink. Everything was colored using Copic markers (yay, coloring!). 

I really liked the added elements hanging off the center twisting popup. If you try doing this be careful everything stays within the card when it's closed!

I hope you love it as much as I do :). It was hard to let this one go... Now, sit down and try doing it on your own!

Music Exploding Box Card

My new mission: provide all nieces and nephews exploding box cards for their 16th birthday! (3 down, 17 to go!) Thank goodness they are fairly spread out. I may get roped into doing this for my own boys too...

These bad boys are very time consuming. I try to make fun interactive items on all flaps. There are 3 layers to this box and 4 flaps, which equals 12 parts to essentially make mini cards/decorate. Phew! 

Interactive parts include:

• Waterfall
• Lift-a-flap
• Spinners
• Pockets
• Fold outs
• Sliders

I also include small gifts and usually a $5-10 bill depending on the gifts already included.

Small gifts incorporated:

• Nail stickers
• Enamel pins
• Magnetic bookmarks
• Mini Post-it Notes

Below is an image of one I created a while back for a niece who loves music and plays clarinet. 

I used this template as a guide on how I was going to go about making these out of 12" x 12" pages. Be sure to get paper that is 2 sided. It makes it look fancier when the back of the flaps have color or design on it, instead of just white.

If you make a little pocket to include mini Post-it Notes be sure to plan on having that on the top most flap (when it's laying open). It doesn't lay flat if you do it in the middle layer or the bottom layer. I learned that the hard way... 

I hope I inspired you to go out there and create your own exploding box card. It's time consuming, but super fun to watch everyone Oooo and Ahhh over it.

You're Amazing - Layton's Legacy

I recently stumbled upon the Layton's Legacy and immediately knew I needed to make some cards for the cause. You can read more about Lea & Layton's story here. In short - this amazing mother is raising money to help families with babies in the NICU at The University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital. She will be giving out gift cards for Starbucks (right across the street) and is asking for card donations. I've been making cards for years now and this will be my first organization donation. I hope to continue because the idea of spreading a little kindness feels good. Below is the card I created to donate.

For this I used mostly Lawn Fawn products - Critters in the Forest, A Birdie Told Me, and the Gingham Backdrops. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up from the Watercolor Wishes Card Kit. To get the mountain background I cut my own stencil and sponged the different elements. I would love to get a mountain die set but this will work for now...

I'm planning on creating more but I specifically designed this card to go along with the current Lawn Fawnatics Challenge #28. I'll post again if I get a couple more cards made for Layton's Legacy.

I hope this card brings a smile to the face of a family dealing with life in the NICU.

Tatooine Card Scene

What's new? I've finally branched into alcohol markers. I picked up some cheap ones (Ohuhu Brand - 80 ct.) off Amazon to see how much I like them before I make the leap to Copic. I've also came across Kindred Stamps from searching Etsy for Star Wars stamps and found 3 sets of Galactic Heros (I'm in love!) I've had a lot of fun experimenting with coloring the characters. There are a bunch of pop culture stamps I really want but will have to pace myself...

Tatooine scene - I tried to make it as accurate as possible with the double setting suns. I just sponged some yellow ink onto some light yellow paper for the small sun. I used some yellow and pink ink on cream paper for the large sun. I quickly used some varying sized circle punches. 

For the card base I used some cream paper and for the desert dunes I sponged some "Hello Honey" Stampin Up ink. I created a rolling hill template out of a clear plastic sheet I have for shaker cards (.007 thickness). This was the first time I did this and I made 6 cards bases at once. I should have paid close attention to the template and made sure there was no ink seeping under the the back side. I have some smudges that I could have prevented. 

I used the same template to mark and cut the curve for the bottom of the building. I used a speech bubble from a Lawn Fawn "A Birdie Told Me" set with the die and a Lawn Fawn "Lift the Flap Stitched Door" for the droids to hide behind.

I'm happy with the finished product. I plan on putting a birthday sentiment on the inside (that is mostly what I give out). I'll probably use the Lawn Fawn "Out of this World" set - Hope your birthday is out of this world, for the inside.

I hope you love it as much as I do :)

Thor: Ragnarok Halloween

Halloween 2017! Have I already mentioned Halloween is my favorite??? Cause, it is...

I wanted to get the whole family dressed up as a group this year. It was a challenge year since my husband had to have a beard for deer hunting. I started searching for characters who have beards and came up with Thor! Thor is my favorite/dreamiest superhero and the movie will be coming out so I ran with it!

(Hulk: Ragnarok Cast)

Hulk: 

I was able to take the easy route for my older son and picked up a Hulk costume. I have a thing against masks, so I created little spartan hat for him to wear instead. It didn't turn out how i wanted, but it got the job done!

(Just out shopping with Hulk. NBD!)

Loki:

My little guy was a little harder. I didn't see a Loki costume that was 24 months, so I had to improvise. I picked up black pants and a onesie, easy. I made a detachable cape and felt shoulder pads. But, I needed a helmet in order to get the full effect. I turned to crochet. I made little horns and sewed a black hat to attach them to. He did super well leaving it alone. I was so impressed and happy!

(Cutest Loki face ever!)

Thor:

For my heartthrob, I picked up a black muscle shirt and sweat pants to go under the handmade parts of his costume. Using leftover Anakin jedi leather, I made the chest plate. Some fleece flaps and sash for different textures. And topped it off with a bright red cape! I didn't have enough time to get the blue shoulder cap done...

(Loki thinks Momma is funny!)

Valkyrie:
For myself, I used black leggings and a black tank top under my outfit. That way if something fell apart I wouldn't be indecent! I used some sporty/stretchy fabric to make my top with some gray piping between the seams. I made little arm gauntlets and finished it off with a beautiful blue cape!

(Capes are so bitchin'!)

I had good intentions to have our fur baby be Grand Master and create a little robe for her to wear, but I ran out of time! I may have to revive these when my Loki fits into the Hulk costume...

David of the Gnomes Halloween

I love dressing up for Halloween and my husband always grew a beard for deer hunting, until we struck a compromise. Now, every other year I have the challenge of coming up with costumes that work with a beard. I started searching online and Pinterest for bearded characters and stumbled upon David the Gnome!

I loved this show when I was in kindergarten :) I set to work planning out the important elements/how I was going to make them for the costumes and searching for the perfect shade of blues for each part.

I created the hats out of tag board and added a stretchy chin strap. I used a circle punch on a stickie note and used make up to create little cheek spots. I made the belt pouch out of felt. I made a simple beard out of chunky yarn. Otherwise, David's outfit was a purchased sweater and khaki pants. I picked up a skirt pattern for JoAnn's and I sewed the skirt (first time ever sewing with a pattern and it didn't turn out perfect but it worked). I borrowed my sister-in-law's wedding dress kremlin to puff out the skirt. I added felt decals to a white shirt with felt and found a purple hair hanky to complete the Lisa outfit. 

I think we turned out pretty darn good and we won best couples costume at the party! The effort was all worth it. :)