Scrappy Sweet Creations: Love

Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts

Happy Monday!
Are you ready for a new sketch challenge at Inky Paws!?
Don't forget to check out the inspiration teams creations!!

For my card, I chose to use one of the newer sets, Deer Friend. This is such a sweet little set with all the adorable little dear images! I just love it!

I decided it had been a while since I watercolored, so I used some distress inks to color up both the background and my cute little deer. Once everything was dry, I trimmed out my deer and layered it up onto my tag.

I placed the tag onto a background that I embossed with the Cloudy Sky Stencil and then did some light inking through that stencil onto the clouds.

I hope you will join us for this fun challenge!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! <3 read more →

Hello and Happy Monday!
We're starting the second week of our current color challenge at Inky Paws! I hope you've had the time to join in!

I still haven't been feeling well, but I managed to pull together a quick little card for you.

I started with a dark brown frame using the Frames and Flags die set. I cut another piece of cardstock to fit inside of that frame and inked it up with various shades of pink oxide ink as well as splattered it with some water and shimmer mist.

To go on top of this background, I stamped one of the wreaths from Happy Little Thoughts and colored it up quickly with my copics before trimming it out and adhering it to my card front with foam tape. I also embossed part of one of the sentiments in that set onto vellum with white embossing powder, trimmed it into a banner and wrapped it around the sides of the wreath.

I finished the card off with a scattering of white nuvo drops.

Be sure to stop by the Inky Paws challenge to check out the rest of the inspiration teams creations!!

Thanks for visiting! <3 read more →

Hello and Happy Friday!!!
Are you ready for the weekend?? I am! It's going to be a fun time of laying some new flooring in our house! Such a huge project but it looks so good!!

Normally today would be my turn for a Fun Friday post over at Sami Stamps. But sadly, Sami has decided to close up shop temporarily. It's sad to see the store close, but it's for the all important reason so she can spend time with her new baby girl and son. I'm a firm believer that real life comes first in crafting, and if your kids need you, you have to be there for them. I will greatly miss Sami and her adorable images each month! But I look forward to her return someday down the road!

So with that, I still wanted to create one more card to honor Sami.

I searched through my stash of images to find one that fit the current holiday theme, but was also one that I didn't think I had used, and I found this super cute Valentine Rose Feathers birdie. So I got to work on my card.

I started by inking up the background with the Radiating Rays stencil in Spun Sugar distress ink. I am addicted to this stencil right now! Anyone else??

To help make the image pop out a bit more, I added color around the center of the rays as well and let it all fade out to white. Then did a little die cutting with the Simon Says Stamp Sparkling Snowflakes Breeze die, but I didn't want it to have snowflakes. So I cut out a few hearts that fit over the snowflakes and layered them over top. I loved the stitching and swirls in the whole design and felt they still fit with a love themed card as long as I could alter the snowflakes to something else :)

This whole breeze cut panel is layered onto some Fog cardstock from Simon Says Stamp and adhered down over the rays. I printed off my little birdie and cut him into a circle before coloring him up with a mixture of copics and colored pencils. I layered him onto a scallop cut circle and mounted him onto the card, being sure to center him in the rays as well.

Then finished everything off with some shimmer and nuvo drops and the most fitting sentiment from the My Favorite Things From the Heart stamp set, embossing in Liquid Platinum.

I want Sami to know that I do simply adore her and have loved every second of my time on her design team! <3
You have until January 31 to make any final purchases you wish to from her Etsy shop before it closes so don't miss out!!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamp and More #276-Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday-Layer it Up

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hello and Happy Tuesday!
Let me tell you...I am ready for some sunshine around here! The never ending rain and gloom is just depressing...sheesh. I mean, it's great because it keeps me inside where I get to play with all my crafty supplies...but I also would like to work in the yard and get ready for spring! Because that will be upon us before you know it. But I guess for now, I'll just keep stamping!

We have a fun Anything Goes challenge starting today at Tuesday Throwdown! This week our awesome sponsor is Lawn Fawn and they have kindly provided my team with products to use!

I got to use the super cute Wild For You set and drew some inspiration from the current challenge over at LawnFawnatics (yes I actually participated in a challenge for once!! It's been like...a year!) where the mood board is all about love and shades of red.

So I took a piece of bristol cardstock and inked it up with Worn Lipstick, Candied Apple, and a tiny bit of Black Soot to deepen the red at the top. Then splattered the heck out of that panel with some water and white shimmer paint.

Once that was all dry, I use the Simon Says Stamp Falling Hearts die cut to get that great heart detail in the background, which was backed with just a simple piece of black cardstock to make the hearts stand out.

Then I set to coloring my images with colored pencils, blending them with gamsol for a smooth finish. I die cut several heart layers with my Silhouette and cut a scallop layer out of vellum. The white layer was ink blended with the Radiating Rays stencil from My Favorite Things, and then I used the Land Borders Die from Newton's Nook for some grassy layers.

Once that was all cut out, I layered all my sweet animals up on the heart and added a coordinating banner with the heat embossed sentiment.

It's so adorable! I love this fun set!

I hope you will join us at Tuesday Throwdown!!

I'd like to enter this into the Lawn Fawnatics Inspiration Board challenge, and the Simon Says Stamp Add a Sentiment challenge!

Thanks so much for visiting!! <3

Hey hey!!!
Happy Monday!
I hope everyone is enjoying our Pretty in Pink challenge at Inky Paws! You have one more week to join us and be entered to win a $20 gift certificate to Newton's Nook!!

For my card, I made a sweet little shaker card using the lion from the Wild About Zoo set. I adore all the images in that set and this little lion just screamed to be used. While cleaning up our house in preparation for new flooring, I found a bag to tulle from our wedding! So I figured it would be cool to use that for the front of my shaker!

I stamped the background with one of the hearts in white pigment ink for a soft subtle look. Then finished it off with one of the punny sentiments that was perfect for this card!

I hope you'll join us for this Pretty in Pink challenge!

Thanks so much for visiting! <3

Hello and Happy Monday!
Welcome to a new challenge at Inky Paws! Our theme of the next 2 weeks is Pretty in Pink!

For my inspiration card, I've used the Newton's Christmas Cuddles set to create a love themed card. I can never resist putting the Seattle skyline into a card when it fits the layout. What can I say...I love my city :)

So I started my card but doing a watercolor washed background with a bright pink color. I did several layers to get the nice vibrant color.

While that dried, I white heat embossed some vines from the Falling into Autumn set and fussy cut them all out. I also did a green wash for the hill that my little love kitties will be sitting on.

Once it was all dry, it was as simple as arranging everything together. I wanted the vines to frame around my kitties so I varied their lengths and layered them up a bit and also decked them up a little with some Sparkling Clear Sequins.

My kitties were colored in with copics and fussy cut out. I added a little bit of sparkle to the collars and then layered it all up with my Seattle skyline, grassy hill and kitties.

I hope you will join us for our Pretty in Pink challenge! I can't wait to see what you create!!

Thanks for visiting! <3

Happy Tuesday!
Time for a new challenge at Tuesday Throwdown! This week is all about those Tropical Critters! Our fabulous sponsor is MyGrafico and they provided us with the adorable little Koala images!

This card ended up a lot more pink than I usually make, but I think it's just so adorable. I started by embossing my background paper for some fun texture. Then printed off my koala image and colored it in with my markers.

To give this card a little bit of life, I decided to put the heart on an action wobbler! Those things have become a mini addiction for me! They just make a card so much more fun when you have something that moves!

I finished off the card with some clear sequins for a little shine and coated the flower and heart with some shimmer pen.

Hope you will join us this week! Thanks so much for stopping by! <3

Hey everyone!
Happy snowy Monday! We woke up to about 3 inches of snow outside and the entire Puget Sound area shut down :) I love snow days. Just wishing I wasn't fighting a cold so I could enjoy it more.

I am beyond excited to share that I am the Guest Designer at Newton's Nook for February! I adore this company! When they first popped up, I was over the moon for their sweet little kitty stamps because there weren't too many of those for us cat lovers. Their selection and variety continues to grow and with each new release, my heart melts a little bit more. Check them out!

I'll give you a few sneaks at what I created, but be sure to swing by the Newton's Nook blog to read up the full details of how I made these cards! They were a ton of fun!!

I used the Wild About Zoo stamp set for these cards. The fun animal print hearts were what stole my heart in this set, but I couldn't hold back from using some of the super adorable wild animal images too!

Thank you so much for visiting!! <3

Happy New Year!!
It's good to be back to work...though I really enjoyed taking December off. It was awesome having Matthew home with me for a few weeks where we could sleep in and veg out all day...ahh...loved it.

But life must go on and we are now back into the full swing of things. And with that we have a super adorable new release today from Sami Stamps called Snowman Friends! We're also starting our January challenge to add some sparkle! This one should be pretty easy since no card is complete without some shine!

I'm still trying to shake the cobwebs out of my brain to help get my creativity flowing, so decided to keep this card nice and simple with a fun blended background and a simple colored image. I used the Frost and Whiskars image for my card today (of course! I can't resist Sami's kitty images...they're my weakness..)

For the coloring, I pulled out my brand new Prismacolor pencils that Matthew got me!! They are luscious...and might take me a little bit to get used to. But I'm excited to play around with them a bit more and see all the wonderful things they can do!

To finish off the card, I added some little sparkly snowflake dots around the snowman as well as along the snow hills, and then scattered some sequins across the background.

I hope you'll stop by Sami Stamps and join in our Sparkle challenge! Just remember to use a Sami Stamps image!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Creative Fingers #122
Paper Sweeties Snowman Photo Inspiration
Simon Says Stamp-New Something (new pencils, new image to color!)
Word Art Wednesday #264-Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting! <3

Happy Friday!
I hope your week has been super fabulous! It's been chilly here in Washington! Not sure I'm quite ready for fall, even though it's my favorite time of year. Just doesn't feel like we really had much of a summer. But alas, it's here anyhow!

Today at Sami Stamps we are doing a Think Pink showcase! This means that each image that the DT has used will be half off for the week! These are some super cute images, and with October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, they will all work perfect for any project!

I decided to reuse an image I had created something for a long time ago. This Butterfly for a Cause image is really sweet and I wasn't totally happy with my first go around with it.

For the first time in what seems like forever, I actually attempted to follow along for some challenges! Both Share Joy and Creative Inspirations have a bingo board this week, so I pulled lines from both to make my card.

I started by using some distress inks and blending them out into a striped background. I started with Squeezed Lemonade, then moved to Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Abandoned Coral, and ended with Tattered Rose. I overlapped them just slightly in each stripe so that they had a nice flow between them.

For some extra detail and fun, I took my white gel pen and a sparkle pen and went back over each stripe to add some dots. I tried to concentrate a lot of dots on the top left side of each stripe and then scattered them to the bottom of the stripe. It kind of gives a fun burst feel to each color.

Then I started on my image. I did some super quick coloring with this by creating a mask and used the same colors from the background to blend the color on! It was fast and still looks awesome! To finish it off, I did a little light stippling around the image with some super soft blue colors. I may have gone a little crazy with the dots on this card...but it was too much fun to stop!

The sentiment is from the WPlus9 set Sending Hoping Wishing. I white heat embossed that onto some vellum and then trimmed it out into a double flagged banner. There are some Sparkling Clear Sequins scattered around the card to pull it all together!

Be sure to stop by Sami Stamps to see the wonderful DT creations!

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges:
    Creative Inspirations #258-Bingo (white, distress, dots)
    Fussy and Fancy #173-My Favorite Things (distress inks and sparkle!)
    Incy Wincy Designs-Things That Fly
Share Joy Challenge #55-Tic Tac Toe/Sketch (ink sponging, orange, sequins)
    Simon Says Stamp-Anything Goes
    Word Art Wednesday #250-Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting!
<3 Emily

That dreaded rut....something I push so hard to avoid and yet somehow manage to fall into more often than I should....it can be very depressing to hit that stage, especially when your job and income rely on you Not falling into a rut.

I've been stuck in this for a few weeks now. It sucks. My mind has been completely blank. What once was filled with so many swirling ideas that I never had enough time to complete became an empty void of cricket chirps. I felt like nothing as going to pull me out and it infuriated me.

But I want to let you know, if you ever fall into a rut...there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Don't give up or throw in the towel. Just keep pushing yourself forward, no matter how frustrating and depressing that blank void is.

I can't say that I've fully pulled out of this rut yet...but I'm making progress and that makes me happy.

A few things to try if you find yourself there:
~Search the internet for inspiration
~Organize your supplies. Sometimes being reminded of what you have can help inspire you.
~Browse back through your past work. I know that seeing some of my old cards can often trigger an idea or make me balk at how awful that card was and push me to remake it :)
~Get outside! Work in the yard or go for long walks every day. Clearing your head and working with nature can be great inspiration.
~Give yourself a couple days off. Maybe your brain just really needs a break. Grab a great book and just chill.

But the one thing that worked for me (since I tried everything above..repeatedly) was to pull out my favorite supplies and force an idea out. I just started watercoloring and stamping stuff. It was all horrible and probably a waste, but every time I blended something together or inked up another stamp, a new thought came to mind. It may take a little bit of time and lots of random playing around, but if you're using the supplies and techniques that you absolutely love, something will trigger!

So my favorites are all featured in today's card, which is my breakthrough card that I will cherish forever because it became my light at the end of this horrible rutted tunnel.

First fav is ink blending! Who doesn't love a great color combo to feature on a card? And for me, I can never resist a blue/purple combo. This background was inked with Peacock Feathers, Faded Jeans, and Dusty Concord. Of course, you can't do a distress background without some water drops.

And that leads to my next fav which is sparkle! I sprayed the entire background with a shimmer spray. I just needed a lot of sparkle to make me smile :)

I also took the Beautiful Life stamp set from Honey Bee Stamps and silver sparkle embossed the outlines of the hearts. Then went back over just a few of those hearts with a clear embossing powder and embossed the solid heart. This helped make a few of the hearts pop on the card. I also white embossed some itty bitty hearts around the background too.

Next favorites - Vellum and Stitching!! With such a colorful busy background, I didn't want to cover it up or try to put a sentiment directly on it since it would probably get lost. So I took a simple piece of vellum and white embossed my sentiments on that. Then did a zigzag stitch across the top to affix it to my card.

When you focus on using your favorites, I feel like it can really pull great ideas out. Maybe all of your favorites don't work together on one card, but some of them will definitely mesh well, and that is a great start to get your mind working again.

If you've ever hit a rut, leave me a comment and let me know how you pulled out of it. I love to hear other peoples ideas, because while it is never fun to fall into those dreaded ruts, it happens and knowing ways to get out is always a huge help!

Thanks for sticking around for this long winded post! I know it was lengthy, but I wanted to share all of my thoughts with you :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Addicted to Stamps #207-Make Your Mark
    Fab n Funky #316-Anything Goes
Penny's Paper Crafty #291-Anything Goes
    Word Art Wednesday #244-Anything Goes

Love to everyone! <3

Happy Friday!!!
Before I get to my post, I just want to take a second and thank everyone that has stopped by and left me amazingly sweet comments over the last several weeks!! I've read every comment and each one has put a smile on my face! I have been trying so hard to find time to get around and return the love to each of you...it just hasn't been working...but know that I am forever grateful to each of you that stops by my little blog :)

Now, I'm here to share a super adorable new Sami Stamps release! This one is called Sweethearts..and boy they are!!

I've used the super cute Love is Sweet image for my card today:

We managed to get our office completely painted this past week, which is so awesome! But I didn't think about how it might affect now having a blue wall behind my images...doesn't seem to be too bad but I might have to adjust some lighting a little to get a better picture :)

I've been super busy getting ready for my trip to Georgia to see my sister, so my brain wasn't really functioning while I put this card together. I started by getting my image printed and colored in with my pencils. Our new challenge for this month is Paper Piecing, so I did that with her super cute little outfit and then covered the hearts and her wings with some shimmer brush. I thought it would be cute to have the hearts falling from clouds, so I die cut a few out and arranged them around the top of the cloud.

Then pulled out a few coordinating papers and made a couple banners for the background. I finished it all off with a simple sentiment and a few liquid enamel dots in the corner! Super fun and simple!

Be sure to stop by Sami Stamps to see the rest of this release, and then join in our challenge!!

Thanks for visiting! <3

Happy Friday!!!
I hope everyone has some fun plans set up for the weekend! We will hopefully be working on getting the office completed. It feels good to make progress on the house, even if it is super slow.

Today's post for Sami Stamps is for a bit of a re-release. The DT is featuring some of their favorite Love/Valentine images, and those specific images will be on sale!! Woohoo!! You can never go wrong with a good sale, especially on Sami Stamps!!

I have chosen to use the super cute Love Birds image.

I have had a lot of work on my plate lately, so I kept this card pretty simple but I absolutely adore it! I started by inking up the background in a little Tumbled Glass distress ink and then splattering it with some Salty Ocean distress spray stain. While that dried, I worked on my image. It's colored in with Spectrum Noir pencils and blended with gamsol. I coated the heart in a nice layer of Wink of Stella clear shimmer brush and then cut the image out. It's layered onto some stamped out branches from the Winnie & Walter Elsa's Flora stamp set.

I trimmed a few super thin stripes of coordinating paper to put along the side and then embossed my sentiment with some black sparkle embossing powder. The sentiment is from the January Hero Arts card kit!

I debated putting some sequins or droplets on here but decided to leave them off to keep the card nice and simple. I think they would have looked good...and I might go add them later...but I like the card either way :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
CASology #182-Adore
Share Joy #20-Sketch/Clean and Simple
Simon Says Stamp-Anything Goes

Thank you so much for visiting!! Have a fabulous weekend! <3

Happy New Year!
2015 was such a whirlwind...so much wonderful change it's hard to remember everything that happened. But I'm hoping for an even better 2016! I hope everyone has had a wonderful couple of weeks celebrating holidays and relaxing with family.

We have a fabulous new release to share with you today at Sami Stamps - Fuzzy Cup Friends!
I got to work with the sweet little Cup Bunny image:

This image was so sweet, I wanted to keep the card relatively soft and sweet as well. Matthew bought me a wonderful new leopard print stamp from Hero Arts for Christmas and I couldn't wait to use it. I thought a monochromatic stamping of it would work well for this card. The base is a piece of Surf Blue cardstock from Simon Says Stamp and I used Soft Navy for the stamp.

I cut a piece of vellum just slightly smaller than the card front so that it muted most of the background but not all of it, so it seems like I have a border around the outside of the card. I cut out a stitched scallop circle along with a thin frame to go on the inside, and then inked that little frame with the Soft Navy as well.

Then worked on my image. I colored up the bunny with my pencils to keep him super cute and soft. I really wanted some stripes on the cup but Matthew also bought me a laminator for Christmas so I could start foiling things! So I added a few silver foiled stripes to the cup!! So cute! I'm still learning how to get it just right, so there are a few patchy spots in the foil...but I'll figure it out!

I almost forgot about our new challenge starting today as well to add sparkle...but good thing I can't seem to make a card without some sort of glitter on it :) So I added a stripe of silver glitter paper around the image frame and then finished the whole thing off with a super cute sentiment from the Talk Bubbles set from Simon Says and a few sparkly dots of glossy accents.

I hope you will stop by Sami Stamps to see the rest of this release and to join in our fun challenge!!

Thanks for visiting!! <3

Happy Friday!
We have an adorable new Sami Stamps release to share with you today! This release, titled Little Angels, is absolutely the sweetest! You won't want to miss it!

I got the chance to play with Little Love Angel for my card:

With such a sweet image, I wanted to try and keep my card colors soft as well. It kind of worked, but some of the papers turned out brighter than I expected...which still works!

I started by using some Stampin Up Sage Shadow and inking up a full background with that color. When I was done, I splattered it with water to get the little faded water drops. I die cut out a fun cloud type border from Mama Elephant's Landscape Trio die set and bordered that along the edge of my image panel.

I kept my coloring simple on my sweet little angel, again going for soft colors..though that green sort of steals the show :)
Of course, I added touches of glitter to all the hearts and the cloud. The sentiment is printed off and framed with Notebook Edge border die from My Favorite Things.

I finished my image off by adding a little pierced frame around the edge for some extra detail, and a few little enamel dots in the corner.

I hope you enjoy this sweet release! Be sure to stop by Sami Stamps to see the rest of the DT's amazing creations. We also are starting a fun new challenge this week--Frame It! So join in the fun!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Crafty Catz #291-Anything Goes
    Creative Fingers #91-Anything Goes
    Penny's Paper Crafty #243-Use A Sentiment
    Simon Says Stamp-Make It Colorful

Thanks for visiting! <3

Hi!!! Happy Friday!!
Today is a great day! It's the start of PAX Prime here in Seattle!!!! It's been 4 years since we've been able to attend any sort of convention, and we are so excited to finally be back to an area that has some of the best conventions around! And one of the best parts is Matthew's company has a very large booth set up for people to sit down and play their game!

I've had the opportunity to play the game twice, once being last night with a couple of my best friends. It was So. Much. Fun!!! If you happen to be going to PAX this weekend, seek out this desk and PLAY THIS GAME! You won't regret it!

If you aren't at PAX, visit their site: Gigantic
Beta will be opening up soon so get your name in for the chance to play!! Woot!!

Since we were in downtown Seattle last night, the joy of being back to our home in Washington sort of re-flooded me today. It's an overwhelming love for this state...something I can never find the right words to say. But being here never gets old and I'm reminded each day that this is home, and it's only going to get better.

So of course, I had to make a card to reflect that :)

And of course that card has to have a cat :) The kitty stamp is from Newton's Antics.
Matthew bought me this amazing die cut of the space needle for my birthday last month and I'm finally getting the chance to sit down and play with it. It's from Impress Stamps, and it cuts so beautifully! I absolutely love it!

I did a bunch of distress ink blending on my card to keep it all soft and sweet. Since everything on here was die cut, I decided to do no-lines coloring for my kitty. This scared me a bit, but I think my little Stormie kitty turned out super cute! I impressed myself! Considering my time at my craft desk has been super limited lately...picking those markers up was intimidating, but inspiring :)

I added little bits of detail to the hills around the space needle and kitty. It was looking a little flat without all those flowers. Then stamped out my awesome sentiment and placed it over the space needle! It felt so fitting for how I'm feeling right now :)

A little heart above the sentiment and everything was done! Love this card so much!!!

I hope you are someplace that fills your heart with joy and love! I am learning just how important that really is in life :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Chocolate, Coffee, Cards #98-Use A Sentiment
    Craft Your Passion #276-Anything Goes
    Newton's Inky Paws Challenge #24-Sketch
Simon Says Stamp-Anything Goes
    Word Art Wednesday #198-Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! <3

Hey everyone,
Time to start a new challenge at Tuesday Throwdown! This week it's all about love.
We have the wonderful Sami Stamps as our sponsor this week, and she has provided some adorable images for our team to use.

I chose to use With You. I had this really cool idea of having a watercolor rainy background and the sweet couple cuddled under the umbrella together...and it just didn't work out. I tried several times to get the look I wanted before finally settling on this version...I love doing washy watercolor but when it comes to actually getting good detail for an image and making it pop...I can't seem to figure it out. Guess I just need to keep practicing.

Since I was so frustrated already with the watercoloring, I decided to keep the rest of the card really simple because it was late and I just wanted to be done. So I stamped a little sentiment tag and added it behind a button and twine.

The card is still really cute, just not what I had originally planned in my mind.

I will be absent for the rest of this week...we are headed back to MI for some sad family matters. Asking for your thoughts and prayers for my husbands family please.

Thanks for being awesome!! <3

Happy Friday!! Woot woot!
Are you ready for an awesome new release from Sami Stamps?
This one is full of feathery fun - since it's Valentine Feathers!!

I chose to work with the image named just that :) Valentine Feathers!

This card sort of morphed on its own. I knew I wanted to follow the Retro Sketch for the card and do some sort of tag...but the rest was just made up on the fly. I really love this bright and bold valentine striped paper, but it was a little too loud for my card. So I covered it with a piece of vellum and then sewed them together with some gold thread. I recently purchased the Enchanted Gold embossing powder from Ranger and absolutely love it! So of course, I had to use it on this card.

I did sort of a "dipped" tag style that I saw Debbie Hughes do a couple times. It's really fun and I love that it's just a little bit different from the normal style tag.

I printed off my image, and before I could even really think about how I wanted to color this cutie up, his belly was already colored red...wasn't completely sure I wanted that, but I rolled with it and it worked out so perfect! The thread piled behind him is what was left over when I cut the extras off the back. Didn't want that gorgeous gold thread to go to waste!!

Some read twine was wrapped around the card and tied into a bow at the top of the tag. I also stuck a sweet little heart swirl die cut from the Lawn Fawn Bugs & Kisses set behind that bow. Finished everything off with some red enamel dots and a cute sentiment!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    2 Cute Ink #122-Valentine/Love
    Chocolate Coffee Cards #84-Love is in the Air
    Crafts 4 Eternity #212-With Love
    Creative Inspirations #299-Love is in the Air
    Fussy and Fancy #132-All About Love
    Retro Sketches #151
    Simon Says Stamp-All Things Bright and Beautiful
    The Crazy Challenge #190-Love
    The Paper Shelter #189-Be My Valentine

Be sure to stop by Sami Stamps to see this cute release and to check out the rest of the DT's awesome creations!!

And don't forget we are starting a new challenge today - Anything Goes!!!

Thanks for visiting! <3

Happy Friday!
It's time for another fantastic release from Sami Stamps! This weeks release is Floral Brides! A great collection full of gorgeous brides! I just love these images!

I chose to work with the Lily Bride image:

She is just so gorgeous. Absolutely loved coloring her in. I started by lightly shading in her dress with a very soft grey color and then blending it almost completely out. I didn't want a lot of color but just enough to give some definition. Then I took a clear/silver glitter pen and added little dot details around the bodice and lower hem to represent all the lovely bead and jewel work that is on so many wedding dresses. It's not a lot of detail, but I think it adds the right amount of sparkle.

I didn't want the flowers to be too overpowering, so I just did some light pink and yellow blending on those and kept them really soft. Once those were done, I went over the veil and the flowers with a glitter brush.

The background is really simple. I die cut some heart borders from Joy! Crafts out of vellum and glued them down to a simple heart patterened paper. I colored in a few of the hearts in the background with the same clear/silver pen I used on the dress.

Finished the card off with a sweet sentiment from the Clearly Besotted-Elegant Butterflies stamp set and a few pearls.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Crafty Catz #262-New Beginnings
    Fab n Funky #242-Something New
    The Paper Shelter #186-Punches or Dies

Be sure to stop by Sami Stamps to see the full release, along with with all of the DT's absolutely gorgeous creations!! You will be left speechless :)

Thanks for visiting! <3

Happy Thursday!
Boy do we have quite the challenge for you today at Meljen's Designs...well it was a huge challenge for me anyhow. Shabby Chic! Oy...that is one style I have never been able to figure out. That and vintage...they just don't pop into my mind as styles I would use. So trying to step out of my comfort zone and put something together for this challenge was the ultimate task.

I still don't know if my card can qualify as shabby chic...I did the best I could with the info I was able to gather...let me know your thoughts :)

Everything I saw when I did a shabby chic search was soft colors and lacy edges. I don't have much lace on hand and what I do have didn't really work. This paper was purchased last year but it is one of my ultimate favorites. I use it sparingly, but it seemed to fit this weeks theme so I pulled it out and did some stitching around the outside edge.

For my focal point, I used the Sweet Lace Heart from Meljen's Designs and printed it on vellum. I did that so I could heat emboss it in white :) The image was printed twice, once for the whole image, and once for just the inner heart.

I die cut a bunch of little hearts and stuck them between the two layers before hand stitching the zig zag design to seal the layers together. It's cute and soft with some fun detail in the middle. The hearts don't shake around really but that's ok.

I finished it off with a cute little wood cut piece I got from the dollar bin at Michaels. Colored it with a pink marker so it would match the papers, and then added a few pearls.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Penny's Paper Crafty #210-Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #166-Anything Goes

I hope you've enjoyed this card! Please be sure to stop by Meljen's Designs and join in the challenge!!

Thanks for visiting! <3