simon wednesday challenge: showers and/or flowers

Hello hello!  I'm playing along with Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge, where the theme this week is Showers and/or Flowers.  I made my first ever pop-up box card for this challenge.  Such a labor of love!

First I stamped, colored, die-cut and fussy cut images.

Then I put together the pop-up box...

...and arranged everything inside.  So pleased with the results.

Thank you for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Blissful Botanicals and Love You Tons
Dies: Lawn Fawn Blissful Botanicals; Love You Tons; Scalloped Box Card Pop-Up
Paper: MFT Watercolor Wash paper pack
Inks: Copic markers, Memento (tuxedo black)
Other: glue and foam tape

essentials by ellen: mix it up with waffle flower crafts

Hello there!  I'm playing along with a couple of challenges today.  The first is the Essentials by Ellen Mix It Up Challenge, where we are combining Essentials by Ellen and Waffle Flower Crafts products.

The second challenge is CAS(E) this Sketch, where we are using the following layout.

Putting together the two challenges, I made this...

For my card, I used the Wild Garden dies for the flowers. The sentiment comes from Balloon Messages.

Thanks for taking a look!

essentials by ellen: march pin-sights challenge

Oh my goodness, I am so excited to be a guest designer for the Essentials by Ellen Pin-Sights Challenge!!!  I have adored the line of Essentials by Ellen products since their first release, so this really is an honor.

The Essentials by Ellen Pin-Sights challenge is a monthly challenge inspired by Pinterest photos.  Here is the Pinterest board to serve as our inspiration:

I was inspired by the lighter greens and golden accents in the Pinterest board, and put together this card:

To make this card, first I die-cut, stamped, and colored the bear (in that order).  Then I stamped, colored and die cut all the accessories (again, in that order).  I wanted the bear to have a picnic basket full of green apples, so I colored some ice cream cones green.  They will later be positioned to look like apples.

Next, I played around with the placement of each element.  In this arrangement, I thought about making the bear a little shy by having him hide behind the flowers...

I then decided on this placement below.  Note, the ice cream cones were glued behind the basket so that they look like apples.

To bring the light green and gold together, I masked off part of the card and then blended in green ink.  Then I removed the masking tape and put it over the green ink that I had just applied.  I then lightly blended some yellow/gold to look like a little sunshiny glow.  I stamped and colored in the sentiment and finally adhered the bear and accessories with a combo of glue and foam tape.

And there you have it.  A little bear with apples and honey, ready to go on a picnic!  

I hope you get inspired by the Pinterest board, too, and play along with us.  A random challenge participant will receive a $50 gift certificate to the Ellen Hutson store (woo hoo!!!).  To be eligible, you MUST use Essentials by Ellen products and the Pinterest photo board as inspiration.   And you have to link up your creation using the inlinkz button on the challenge post.

Have fun!  And, thank you for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps: Essentials by Ellen All Inside and Bear Ware

Dies: Essentials by Ellen All Inside and Bear Ware

Inks: Copic markers in assorted colors; Mama Elephant Mojito and Buttercup; Memento Tuxedo Black

Other: Tombo glue; Scotch foam tape

CASology: landmark

Hey there!  I'm playing along with the CASology Week 239 challenge, where our cue card word is  "Landmark".

Here's my card...a little tribute to the big city I call home.

And, on the inside...

Thank you for taking a look!

Supplies:
Stamps: Mama Elephant Blogging Buddies, Central Park, Everyday Greetings
Dies: Mama Elephant Cityscape
Inks: Mama Elephant Apple, Moonlight; Smoke; Versafine Onyx Black

essentials by ellen: mix it up challenge with paper smooches

It's been a loooong time since I crafted and entered a challenge, but I'm really hoping to get my groove back.  Here's a card I put together for the Essentials by Ellen Mix It Up Challenge.  This challenge has us mixing Essentials by Ellen and Paper Smooches products.

Thank you for taking a look!

Supplies:

Dies: Essentials by Ellen Wild Garden; Paper Smooches Get Well Phrase

cas(e) this sketch #195 - guest designer

I’m so excited to join the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge as a guest designer this week!  Such an honor!  Here’s the sketch we worked with:

And, here’s my card:

I tried to achieve the splatter and blotchy look by using a heavy hand when I blended distress inks for the sky.  Then I splattered on some white color mist, waited for everything to dry, and stamped on the blue snowflakes.

I stamped, colored (with Copics), and die cut the buildings.  Then I die cut the snowy hill.  Next, I adhered everything onto the card base with a combo of glue and foam tape.  And last by not least, I brushed some Wink of Stella glitter on to the buildings.  It was absolutely necessary.

Thank you for taking a look, and big hugs and thanks to CAS(E)this Sketch for inviting me to the party!  I had a great time!

Supplies:

Stamps: Mama Elephant City Sidewalks

Dies: Mama Elephant City Sidewalks and Landscape Trio

Inks: Copic markers, Mama Elephant (stargaze), Mister Huey’s Color Mists (opaque white), Tim Holtz Distress (broken china, peacock feathers)    

Other: Wink of Stella glitter brush (clear)

lawnscaping challenge #136: punny time version 3

I can't stop making pun-based cards and I only wish I had more time to play in the current Lawnscaping Challenge, appropriately entitled "Punny Time".  Here's my final entry for this challenge:

The backstory: I made this card for my pun-loving friend, Cynthia, who is celebrating her birthday at a karaoke bar, followed by a Michael Jackson tribute party.  So, a karaokeing ewe singing one of Cynthia's favorite songs, Michael Jacksons "Rock With You", made perfect sense for a birthday card.

I used a bunch of Lawn Fawn stamp sets for this set: 

• The ewe is from Baaah Humbug
• The custom sentiment was made using Smitty's ABCs
• The stars in the spotlight are from Lucky Stars
• The musical notes are from Holiday Party Animal
• The base of the spotlight was made by using the backside of the cookie platter stamp from Milk and Cookies
• And the microphone was made from an ice cream cone from Party Animal that I doctored a bit

Ah yes, up until recently my proudest moment was beating my librarian/geography and world history-loving friend in a thrilling game of "Who can name the most countries that end in the letter A" (Note: there are lots of 'em).  But now, I have to say that my proudest moment is turning an ice cream cone into a microphone:)

Thanks for taking a look!

lawnscaping challenge #136: punny time version 2

I’m having way too much fun with the current LawnscapingChallenge, so much so that I decided to make another card.  The theme:

My card:

So silly!  Didn’t know it was possible for two pieces of moldy bread to be so cute.  Thanks for taking a look!

Supplies:

Stamps: Lawn Fawn’s Love n’ Breakfast, Milo’s ABCs, Riley’sABCs

Inks: Copics markers, Memento (tuxedo black), Tim Holtz distress inks (peacock feathers, squeezed lemonade)

Other: foam adhesive

lawnscaping challenge #136: punny time

Hey hey!  I had so much fun with the last Lawnscaping challenge (use patterned paper) that I decided to use even more patterned paper for the current Lawnscaping challenge...

I love a good pun, and with the many punny sentiments that Lawn Fawn provides in their stamp sets, I had a lot to choose from.  I chose one of my favorites from the stamp set, Love You Tons, and made this.

Please check out my process for making this card on the Butterfly Reflections Ink blog.

Supplies:
Stamps: Love You Tons, Year Four
Dies: Love You Tons, Say Cheese, Spring Showers, Year Four
Paper: various Lawn Fawn patterned paper
Inks: Copic markers, Memento (tuxedo black), Versafine (onyx black)
Other: clear acetate, foam tape, glue, sequins

little tangles challenge 71: shakers and sequins

Hey there!  Here's a fun card I created for the Little Tangles challenge.  It's my first time entering this challenge, and now that I have a few of Neat & Tangled's sets, I hope to continue to participate.  The theme:

My card:

Supplies used:
Neat & Tangled's Big Top Birthday stamp set and dies; Memento ink (tuxedo black).  Tim Holtz distress inks (peacock feathers, squeezed lemonade); glue, foam tape, circle die, acetate, assorted sequins.

Please check out the Butterfly Refections Ink blog to see my process for making this card.  Thank you for stopping by!

essentials by ellen: take 3

Hey there!  I’m submitting my third and final card for the Ellen Hutson’s call for artists.  Here it is:

For this card, I used a sentiment from Mama Elephant’s GoodTimes stamp set.  I paired up the little critter from Mama Elephant’s Rowdy Raccoons with the sun from Essential byEllen’s All Inside.  I loved the way the raccoon and sun have the same smug expression, kind of like they’re besties sharing an inside joke or something.

First, I stamped the images on cardstock and colored them in with Copic markers.

Next, I die-cut the images using the corresponding dies: Mama Elephant’s Rowdy Raccoons creative cuts and Essential by Ellen’s AllInside dies.

For the watercolor background, I used a combination of Derwent Inktense pencils and Tim Holtz distress inks.  I also painted in some hearts using the Inktense pencils.  Lastly, after the background was dry, I stamped the sentiment and adhered the images on the card with foam adhesive.

Thank you so much for taking a look!

lawnscaping challenge #135

Hello there!  It’s Lorraine here, sharing a card that I’m submitting to Lawnscaping Challenge#135: Patterned Palooza.

I was pretty excited about this challenge because I’ve been trying to use up bits of scrap paper that I just refuse to throw away.  So putting this card together really helped make a dent in my scrap paper pile.  I first grabbed some Lawn Fawn paper scraps in several shades of blue.  Then I used various Circle Stackable dies to cut out half-moon shapes in various sizes.

I then adhered the die-cuts with glue and foam tape to get some dimension.  Next, I stamped, colored (with Copics), and die-cut the otter using the Year 5 stamp set and corresponding Year 5 lawn cuts.

I popped the cute otter up on some foam tape.  And then my gutsy move  -- stamping  the sentiment after I had placed down all the waves and otter.  Not perfect placement, but I still dig it.

Thank you for taking a look.

cas(e) this sketch #184

Hi there!  I can always count on the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge to help me get out of a creative funk...you know when you want to make a card, but just don't know where to start.  This week's sketch -- CAS(E) this Sketch #184  -- was a bit tough for me.  Here it is:

After struggling to come up with something I turned the sketch on its side, and I got the much needed spark of creativity to make this:

This card uses Lawn Fawn products: Year Two and Party Animal stamp sets.

Please come on over to the Butterfly Reflections Ink blog to check out my process for making this card.  Thanks for looking!

essentials by ellen: all inside

Hello, hello!  I'm here submitting another entry into Essential by Ellen's call for guest artists.  Here's my entry.

I used Essential by Ellen's All Inside stamps and dies...I really love the bear!  I also used Mama Elephant's So Breezy stamp set (just for the "wishing you" part of sentiment).

Since I wanted to play around more with the All Inside set, I grabbed a couple of my other Mama Elephant stamp sets and made a couple more.   They both use Mama Elephant's In My Heart and Many Thanks stamp sets.

All of the cards together...

Thanks for taking a look!

Other supplies used:
Inks: Copic markers; Mama Elephant (buttercup, lemongrass); Memento (tuxedo black); Tim Holtz distress (peacock feathers); Versafine (onyx black)

essentials by ellen: pin-sights challenge

Hi there!  I'm sharing a card that I made using the Wild Garden dies by Essentials by Ellen. The sentiment comes from Mama Elephant's Many Thanks, which I know I've said before, is my most frequently used stamp set ever.

To make this card, I die cut the flowers and leaves from scraps of colored cardstock samples that I've had for over 2 years (hoard much?).  I stamped and cut out the sentiment.  Then I adhered everything down to the card base using glue and foam tape.  Lastly, I glued on a few black sequins to match the banner.  With minimal stamping and basic techniques, this card could be mass produced quite easily.

I'm submitting this to the Essentials by Ellen's pin-sights challenge, or rather call for guest designers. Fingers crossed my card will catch someone's eye!

Thanks for stopping by.

thank you so much

I'm back from a wonderful time spent with my family in California.  My mom had her 50 year reunion from medical school and my brother got married while I was out there, so my time was filled with celebrations, family, and so much love!  Still feeling the love, which inspired my creation.

I'm submitting this card to the CAS(E) this Sketch #182 challenge.  This is the sketch:

And, this is my card:

A close-up:

Please come by the Butterfly Reflections Ink blog this Thursday, July 28th to see my process for making this card.

Thank you for taking a look!

Supplies:
Stamps: Avery Elle Banner and Wreath
Dies: Avery Elle-ments Banner and Wreath
Inks: Copic markers; Memento (tuxedo black); Versafine (onyx black)