Celebrate!

Hi everyone! Ready for the weekend? Any plans?

I'm up on the Neat & Tangled blog today. It's my first post on the N&T blog (yeah!). :)

Here's a sneak of my card:

I used three different Neat & Tangled sets and some Oh Darling papers from Crate Paper. You can check out the full card HERE.

Have a great weekend!

Band-Aids and Teachers

Hi everyone!

I'm catching up with some mid-release cards from Paper Smooches. Kim released four new dies for June--two that correspond with the Healthy Vibes set and two with the Smarty Pants set. If you don't have either stamp set, there are two stand-alone sets in this release.

First up, I used Healthy Vibes:

The bug peeking around the corner cracks me up. For a germ, he sure is cute! I used the Healthy Vibes stamp set and Healthy Vibes dies. I colored him with Copics and popped him up on some Paislee Press digital papers. I used other papers from the same collection to die cut the Band Aids die.

Here's a close-up where you can see some of the dimension:

I also made a card for the new Smarty Pants dies:

The Smarty Pies stamp set is probably my all-time favorite Paper Smooches set. I was really excited to hear she made dies for it!

I layered some mini cards from the October Afternoon Milk Money collection for the background and stamped the sentiment and stars from the Smarty Pants set. I die-cut and colored the globe with Copics and popped it up. Here's a close-up:

I stamped the professor from the Smarty Pants set, die-cut him, and colored him with Copics. Here's a close-up:

That's it for me and the mid-release. :) 

I'm linking up to the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge! There's still time to play along. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Yee Haw

Hi everyone! We finished school yesterday--woo hoo! Of course, I still have work, but I'm looking forward to the slower pace (and warmer weather!) of summer.

I'm on the Paper Smooches blog again today with Ashley. I'm sharing a project with the Southwestern Charm set.

I went a little wacky with this card, but I thought it would work for a congratulations card:

I think picking out the different papers was the hardest part! I stamped the cactus from the Southwestern Charm set on Lemon Lush paper. I had to add the rosy cheeks--hee hee. The "Let's fiesta" is also from the Southwestern Charm set. The "Yee haw" is from the Buckaroo set. I stamped it on a Word Bubbles die-cut and stamped the He Said, She Said around the Word Bubbles border.

For some reason, I thought of having the cactus drinking a margarita. I'm a traditional, on-the-rocks-with-salt margarita fan, but the light green didn't work with the cactus. I decided he would be drinking a frozen strawberry margarita. You know, the decisions we make as crafters. ;) I stamped the drink from Free Spirits and fussy cut around the drink. Here's a close-up:

I did have to add a little "salt" glitter around the edge of the glass. LOL! I layered some Studio Calico Copper Mountain journaling cards and Wanderlust papers.

If you get a chance, check out the post on the Paper Smooches blog.

Have a great weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by!


Supplies
Cardstock: (white) PTI
Clear stamps: (Southwestern Charm, Buckaroo, He Said, She Said, Free Spirits) Paper Smooches
Ink: (Strawberry) Fresh Ink; (Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko
Papers: (arrows from Wanderlust; polka dot and green dot from Lemon Lush; woodgrain and stripe from Copper Mountain Project Life kit) Studio Calico
Dies: (Word Bubbles dies) Paper Smooches
Embellishments: (clip from Copper Mountain PL kit) Studio Calico; (coarse glitter) Martha Stewart

Retro Arrow Shaker

Hi everyone! Are you ready for the weekend? We have the Cinco de Mayo festival in town this weekend--I'm hoping for warm weather.

Kim is sharing my card on the Paper Smooches blog today (that still feels weird to say). Ashley and I are sharing projects today, and I'm using the Retro Arrow Die.

I'm guesting with i {heart} papers this month, and they just got in the new Paper Smooches!

My husband's cousin's wife just had twins (a boy and a girl), and I wanted to send them a baby card:

I was making a different type of card with this die, but I watched Emily Leiphart's awesome shaker card video. It inspired me to try and make a traditional shaker card again. :) If you haven't watched the video, she has some very helpful tips!

To make this shaker, I die-cut the Retro Arrow die six times. I used a craft knife to cut out the centers of five of the arrow panels. I glued each layer together, trimmed an acetate sheet down, and adhered the full panel on top. Once I added the sequins, I sealed the panel against a paper from Carta Bella's Baby Mine collection. 

Here's the side view to see the layers:

On top, I wanted to use the new Paper Smooches Congratulations die. I trimmed down papers from Baby Mine and Hello Sunshine and then and then hand-cut them to keep the look a little "looser." 

I think I overshook the card when showing my son, because there was some serious static cling for these photos. LOL!

Even though the sentiment is a die, it's handwritten. I'm entering the card into the Moxie Fab World Hip on Handwriting Challenge. The challenge ends on the 15th, so you have a few more days to play along. :)

Be sure to check out the Paper Smooches blog to see more inspiration. :) 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Supplies

Cardstock: (white, acetate) PTI

Patterned papers: (polka dot, "baby," solid blue from Baby Mine) Carta Bella; (yellow from Hello Sunshine) Pink Paislee

Dies: (Retro Arrow Die, Congratulations) Paper Smooches

Sequins: (Flat Marshmallow) Neat & Tangled; (yellow, blue) Avery Elle

Twine: (yellow cord) Hemptique

Guesting with Winnie + Walter Part 2

Hi everyone! Woo hoo! It's Friday. Thank goodness. LOL! Any plans for the weekend?

I'm guesting with Winnie + Walter again today. Yeah! :)  The more I use the stamps, the more I love them. All of the stamps coordinate well together--got to love that! You can check out my guest post on the Winnie + Walter blog.

Here's what I came up with for today:

I used the Winnie + Walter The Big, the Bold, and You cutting files to die-cut the "congrats." I love the handwritten sentiments in the stamp set and cutting files! I finished the sentiment by stamping the "you" and "rock" from The Big, the Bold, and You stamp set.

I layered the panel over some Highline papers and added a few die-cuts and a transparency from the same collection. I thought the card needed one more element, so I die-cut the branch from the Leave it to Mom cutting files out of vellum. Here's a close-up:

Did you see that there's a Hip on Handwriting Challenge at the Moxie Fab World? I'm linking up. The challenge runs for a couple of weeks, so you have time to play along. :)

Thanks again to Shay and Julie at Winnie + Walter for having me guest. They are the nicest, funniest, and most supportive people. :)

Have a great weekend. Thank you so much for stopping by!


Supplies
Cardstock: (White Linen) Ellen Hutson; (Linen Vellum) PTI
Patterned papers: (all from the Highline collection) BasicGrey
Stamps: ("you rock" from The Big, the Bold, and You) Winnie + Walter
Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko; (Black Velvet mist) Heidi Swapp
Die-cutting: ("congrats" from The Big, the Bold, and You; leaf/bud from Leave it to Mom cutting files) Winnie + Walter
Embellishments: (transparency, photo corner, flower from the Highline collection) BasicGrey; (enamel dot) My Mind's Eye

Altenew Blog Hop

Hi everyone! Welcome to the Altenew premier blog hop!

Altenew is the latest stamp company to open its doors to the paper crafting community. The stamps that you will see here will be available for purchase on April 7th (that's this Monday--woot!). You should be coming from Jennifer's blog.

I'm sharing two sets today, the Magnolia and the Figure Effects. First up is the Magnolia:

I used two of the flowers from the Magnolia set and a sentiment from the set. I stamped the flowers on some new Webster's Pages' Our Travels vellum. The background has some simple watercoloring with mists.

Here are some close-ups:

Yep, pretty much swooning over the flowers. The background patterned paper is from the same Our Travels collection.

Next, I made a smaller layout using the Magnolia set and also the super cool Figure Effects set:

I've been liking making Handbook-sized layouts (6"x8")--I got the idea from Emma_KW (what a cool idea, no?). They seem less daunting as a card maker and I like that the albums are smaller.

I stamped the magnolia on linen vellum. All of the sentiments are from the Figure Effects set. I'm going to be using this set constantly--the sentiments are fantastic (and in a good font).




Aren't they the perfect typewriter font? Here's a close-up of the flower from the Magnolia set:

Want to win some Altenew? To celebrate the grand opening of their store, Altenew is giving away prizes! Three lucky winners will win five stamp sets of their choice. The winner will be chosen from comments left at the Altenew blog.

Plus, I'll choose a winner from the comments left on my post, and Altenew will send the winner the Magnolia and Figure Effects sets.

You may leave up to three comments here:

• Comment on the project/stamp you would like to see in future stamps.
• Like Altenew on Facebook.
• Follow Altenew on Pinterest. 

Here's the rest of the line-up:

Altenew

Cristina Kowalczyk

Elena Roussakis

Iwona Palamountain

Jennifer McGuire

Jocelyn Olson <--You are here

Laura Bassen

Thanks for stopping by! Next up is the super-talented Laura!