Cupcakes and Sprinkles!

What is the haze like in your neck of the woods? I am smack dab in the middle of the country, but our sun is a bright orange, veiled by a gray smoke. If it's this bad here, I can't imagine what it's like where the wildfires are raging. My heart goes out to those of you who are impacted and on the west coast. 

Whilst living in the cover of darkness, I thought it would be the perfect time to spend a moment in my craft room. I'm popping in quickly to share my make. 

My stash of birthday cards is running quite low and so I thought I'd stock up my stash this weekend. Seize the Birthday is running a die cut challenge, so I looked at my magnetic wall and found a fun die I haven't used in a bit. 

I don't craft with die cuts very often as a main focal point, but what better way to stretch your crafty muscles than to try something out of your comfort zone? I found some lovely patterned papers and used the Cupcake Builder #1 set from STAMPlorations to get to work building layers. 

I find mixing and matching patterns both relaxing and challenging, but I loved the way all these patterns wound up. To finish off my card, I added some beads for "sprinkles". 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Clean and Simple Rainbow Watercolor Card + PRIZES

Water water everywhere - at least here in Grand Forks. We're getting some super high river crests and I'm very thankful for the flood wall our city built nearly 20 years ago because tomorrow they have to close down bridges! 

But spring is also a time for celebrating because this winter brought historic snowfalls - the 3rd snowiest winter on record! 

At STAMPlorations, we have a Spring Fling hop going on  and today we are giving away a stamp set of your choice from the Bee's Knees line.  For my card, I decided to make a rainbow in reminder of the light at the end of the tunnel. 

I stamped a rainbow from the Wonderful Life stamp set and colored it in with Dina Wakely Scribble Sticks. 

If you've never used Scribble Sticks - they are awesome! You can go over them with a little bit of water and they create these vibrant, gorgeous colors. 

I stamped a sentiment from the same set below it, and then also added three little rows of watercolored rainbow strips. 

Perfectly Springy - there are still 5 whole days of the Spring Fling with a brand new prize EVERY day! So come play along!!

I'm going to link this up to AAA Cards - Made in Minutes challenge (23 minutes! - a record for me!) and CAS on Sunday - Spring challenge.

Mad Hatter Tea Party Card

All the best people are bonkers! I've never identified with a Disney phrase more than I have that one, which was spouted by the Mad Hatter in Alice and Wonderland. 

Visible Image just unveiled a whole new Wonderland stamp line featuring Alice in Wonderland characters and they're all so much fun. 

I got to have a play with The Mad Hatter set and, as you can see, added some googly eyes for the full crazy effect. 

I stamped and masked Mr. Hatter so that I could add some of the crazy laughter to the background. 

Ensue laughter stamps. And more laughter stamps. I went a little overboard haha! 

Next, I used some Spectrum Noir alcohol markers to color in my image and smudged up my outside edges with black Faber Castell Gelatos. 

I added a sentiment phrase using the same set, and some pretty patterned paper to match - glued on the googly eyes and viola! One crazy mad hatter. 

Thanks for popping by! Make sure to go check out the full Wonderland release and prepare to be amazed! 

Fun Stampers Journey + Coffee Loving Papercrafters Blog Hop

Today the Coffee Loving Cardmakers team is pairing up with Fun Stampers Journey for a super fun and inspirational blog hop. You should have come here from Lori Turner's blog.

I absolutely love, love, love the quality of FSJ products. Their stamps are sooooo fleepin' cute and I can't wait to show you what I made with thier die cuts, too!

I inked up the Coffee Helps stamp set using some Walnut Stain Distress Inks. 

 

I painted in the plate using some gold Distress Paint to give it a pop o' elegance and then I splashed the same gold paint on a Hello Word Bubble wooden embellishment. 

A little stamping in the background with the coffee stain stamp, and then some more gold paint and viola! I a clean and simple mixed media card with a whole lotta personality. 

Since clean and simple cards are the complete opposite of my normal style, I had to go back to layering it up and my next card is a shabby chic creation. 

Layers and layers and burlap and twine and lace and die cuts - oh my!!! 

I used the Coffee Helps die set and some pretty paper from Bo Bunny to create my coffee mug.

Fun Stampers Journey is giving away a $25 gift card to a lucky hopper! So hop along, comment on all the blogs, and get some inspiration! Comments close on July 27.

Next up is Dana Gong's blog. 

Happy Hopping!

Celebrate! STAMPlorations turns 5!

5 years.

We're celebrating 5 years of one of the most generous, lovely, and amazing stamp companies out there - STAMPlorations is turning 5!!

And what would be a celebration without a little bit of a party?! This month, the STAMPlorations is offering up some pretty sweet swag if you party along with us

In honor of the shindig, we're all sharing our favorite creations we've made for STAMP along the way. 

I'll start with a brand new card, created just for this celebration.

 Products used: A Snarky Birthday to You | Celebrate word die

We're also sharing our top 3 cards we've ever made while on the design team. 

I'll start with this card.

First of all - look at that great photography. (haha, I'm joking of course). 
But this card is the one that started it all. Nearly 3 years ago, Shery Russ, the owner of STAMPlorations, took a chance on little ol' me and added me to her design team. The card above is the one I submitted for my call and it will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart. Right now, it sits on a shelf in my studio, reminding me daily just how fortunate and blessed I am. 

Next up? 

This little number, created with a stamp set I designed just for STAMPlorations called Wonderful Life. I love the happiness embedded into the bright colors, and this picture is actually my facebook cover photo, too!

Lastly, I chose this one. 

I've learned a LOT from Shery over the past couple of years, like how to layer on stencils in a background to create a rich design with tons of depth. This card above is the perfect example of her influence!

 So now - it's time to party!! Hop on over to the blog for all the celebration details.

$500 in prizes! You read that right. 50% off flash sales. FREEBIES, PEOPLE!

Unicorns and Gelatos and Circles - Oh My!

Magic was in the air of my craft studio - mostly because I broke out the mythical creatures (namely in the form of a glorious unicorn from the Visible Image Believe in Unicorns stamp set).

Just look at that majesticness!

 To make this shimmering creation, I started with a good base of black and grunged it up a bit using the Fibonacci background stamp. This stamp has quickly become one of my faves because it is so big and covers the whole background of a design perfectly. 

Next, I created my own patterned panel using a sheet of white cardstock and the Universal stamp set, which has all these scribbly circles.

I used three colors of extra bright gelatos to add a pop of color to my creation. 

I love working with Gelatos - there are so many ways to use them. If you haven't tried them, they're a sort of gel-like crayon that is water soluble. So you can use them as crayons, or mix them with water for unique watercolor effects.

 For this technique, I applied a thick layer and let the colors overlap as I was scribbling, then I used my fingers to blend the colors together.

I put everything all together, and created a my unicorn focal circle, then added a sentiment from the Go To Words stamp set. 

Products Used:

 

Thank you all for popping by!

Friends are Angels Stamped Card

I am in LOOOOOOOVE with the new releases at Visible Image.

One of my favorite new sets is So Much Stronger, which has all of these gorgeous sentiments that are bold and powerful (like the one I'm using in my card).

 

I have been hoarding erm... carefully saving some Tim Holtz angel wings and as soon as I got my hands on this gorgeous set, I finally had the perfect card to use them on. 

I'd chosen some teal and warm brown papers to use on my card, so I wanted my silver wings to match. InkaGold to the rescue! 

InkaGold is perfect for altering chipboard, paper flowers, and metal pieces. It can be used as a paste, or mixed with water to create watercolors. 

After I smudged with teal, I added a second layer of light gold. OOooooo shiny!

I used the same gold around on a die cut piece that would be my focal panel for my sentiment.

Sponged around the edges with some brown Distress Inks to give it a vintage vibe. 

I added a ribbon, and embossed the lovely sentiment and I have one stunner of a final design!

Magical Unicorn Card

You. Guys. 
I can now die happy. Why? Because I created my very first ever unicorn card! 

I never knew how much I needed a unicorn stamp in my life until I got the Visible Image Believe in Unicorns set. The second I got this in the mail, I immediately went off to my craft room to ink it up. It's just so beautiful. 

I inked up a sheet of heavy weight white card stock using the Distress Ink double dipping technique. Colors here are Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, and Cracked Pistachio. 

Next, I used swathed some metallic shimmer white embossing paste through the Fibres stencil to create some shine and texture. 

Just look at all that shimmer! Oooooohhhh

I embossed and fussy cut my prancing unicorn. 

I put it all together and what did I got? An amazing magical unicorn who's taking center stage in a shimmery, color-filled design. I completed my look with a scrawly sentiment from the Go To Words set. 

So majestic. I hope you all enjoyed this design! :)