Monday, February 29, 2016

Happy Little Stampers- March CASE the Designer: Yay Kim!!


Happy March everyone! Spring is fast upon us and I couldn't be happier! When I saw Kim's card for the CASE the designer challenge at Happy Little Stampers, I have to say I was stumped. This comic strip trend is totally new to me. But a thought popped into my head in the middle of the night- my best ideas come in the middle of the night- don't yours?



My boss is all Irish and plays in an Irish band and guess what his favorite beverage is- well I suppose it is a no brainer- BEER!!  I pulled out my Paper smooches set- "A Magical Spring" . The card essentially stamped itself and if that wasn't magical to watch!!



The foam on the beer was fun, I used white opal liquid pearls. When it was completely dry, I hit it with the heat gun till it bubbled like the foam head on a beer.

So this card goes to the best boss in the world along with a growler of craft beer to celebrate St. Pat's. 

I really can't wait to see how all of you CASE Kim's card. Join us this month at Happy Little Stampers!!


Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The Male room Challenge #29 Monochromatic



All of you were champions last week with a challenge that was even a challenge for the DT. Today we ware reward you with a fun one a The Male Room.  I always like these. Monochromatic. Same color, same color family, same shades, you get the picture dontcha!??!


I think monochromatic cards are great ways to make set of cards, like I did here. I made the same card in blue, green and turquoise- manly colors. But you make it in pink, yellow, or lavender and you have a very feminine card. See how versatile monochromatic cards can be?


For my cards today I used the "mixmash" stamp set from Happy Little Stampers and mixed it up. Too busy do ya think? Sometimes I do get carried away.

So get out your favorite color and stamp away making us your best manly monochromatic card an share it with us at The Male Room!!

Thursday, February 4, 2016

February Blog Hop at Laura's Loft


Are you getting tired of hearts, love and Valentine's day? Well Laura's Loft has fun challenge to get you well ahead on some upcoming holidays. The theme this month is St.Patrick's Day or Easter. It is never to early to start preparing for both of these holidays.

 If you arrived here from Linda's blog I know her creations inspired you! I can only hope I can do the same!

http://dabblesbylinda.blogspot.com/2016/02/somebunnys-luck-with-lauras-loft.html

We are also showcasing a guest designer: Noe.  Please be sure to check out her work!

I send cards out for all the holidays, I mean I a cardmaker aren't I. One of my favorite holidays to make cards for is St.Patrick's day. I mean it does feature the most beautiful color in the world- GREEN!! Also, I do know quite a few Irish folk- including my own DH, George. 

Over the years I have collected quite a few St. Patty's stamps. This year I was ready for some new stamps. I headed over to Laura's Loft and picked up some new stamps. Let me show you what I came up with.

I was really thinking outside the box here. I started with My Favorite Things- Abstract Art.
I stamped it using a the distress ink minis,  kits #15, #2, #13, and #14- lucky clover, mowed lawn, cracked pistachio and twisted citron.

 The sentiment and shamrocks were from Newton's Nook- Simply Seasonal and were black embossed.  I thought outside the box on this one huh?

My second card shows how you can use those tiny little stamps that often come in sentiment stamp sets. Again I used Newton's Nook- Simply Seasonal. I took the wee shamrock in the set and created a fun shamrock wreath.


I traced a circle lightly with a pencil to use as a guide and just stamped my shamrocks around the circle using the distress mins again- kits #15, #2 and #14. Lucky clover, mowed lawn and twisted citron.  I stamped the saying in black, added a ribbon and bling and voila there you have it.


What is better in blog hop than some blog love as in a give-away!! Here is an awesome prize that Laura is providing from the Loft!

Fuse tool, basic enamel dots, jewel box exclusive sequins and Wow embossing powder white opaque ultra high

Here are the requirements to be entered in the drawing for the giveaway.

TO ENTER:
1. Follow Laura's Loft on IG @InLaurasLoft, like the IG Hop/Giveaway post and tag as many  
    friends as you like but one tag per comment
2. Follow Laura's Loft store page on facebook https://www.facebook.com/Lauras.Loft.Shop
3. Leave a comment at each stop on the blog hop

Be sure to check out these collections for new additions Laura has this month:
Tim Holtz mini ink kits 
Stamping Bella
Hero Arts
Ranger
New sequins mix for St. Patty's day

Don't forget there is a sale on Christmas stamps going on. All Christmas stamps and dies are 45% off!! No code needed. Please check out the sale page.  

Don't forget Laura always has $10.00 off at checkout for all orders over $75.00 or more. use coupon code $10off75 at checkout.

Next on the hop is Linda Be sure to check out her awesome creations.

http://angeldreamcrafts.blogspot.com/2016/02/happy-st-pattys-day-with-lauras-loft-dt.html



I know it it is easy to lose your way and you do not want to miss out on any of the fun, so here is a list of all the hoppers:




Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Fall into Spring at Laura's Loft


Hi everyone! I am feeling like spring into fall over at Laura's Loft! Who says this set of "fall florals" from My Favorite Things has to only be for fall. I am so feeling this set for spring! Especially since it is going to be 63 degrees tomorrow! Yay! And Phil did not see his shadow so spring is right around the corner! Even bigger yay!!



I had fun stamping this set using the distress mini kits # 2, #10, #14 and #15.  The sentiment is from Avery Elle  "laurals"



So head on over to Laura's Loft for all the ingredients for this fun card and check out all the other cool stuff she has while you are there!!

https://lauras-loft-shop.myshopify.com/







Tuesday, February 2, 2016

The Male Room Challenge # 28 Oriental


Wow!! That was quite a response to our last challenge at the Male Room!! I guess you all have a lot of wee boys and babies to create cards for. That was fun huh? 

Well this week we are going to have you think a bit. Don't be scared, it is gonna be fun! The theme is 
oriental.

http://themaleroomchallengeblog.blogspot.com/

I have to admit, back when I first started stamping, Asian was a very popular theme, but I have since purged myself of many of those stamps. I was happy to discover this set from Lawn Fawn that fit the bill perfectly.

There is a story behind this cute cat. It is a called the maneki-neko- the Japenense lucky cat. the traditional color is white, black and orange.


A calico like my sweet Pinkie Pinkston. Many of maneki-nekos have their paw raised. What this means varys quite a bit, but the higher the paw is raise the more luck it will bring.


The Asian symbol stands for good luck that I hand wrote.  Black red, white and red seem Asian so I went with that color scheme.

So dig through your stamps, think outside the box and show us a male inspired oriental card at The Male Room.





My little maneki-neko:

 

Butterflies at Laura's Loft




Well it is a busy week for me in blogland this week! Lots of stuff happening. Today I am sharing with you a card that I made using Altenew's Painted Butterflies stamp set that I ordered from Laura's Loft.

https://lauras-loft-shop.myshopify.com/


What with Jonas going through my neighborhood a wee bit of spring in the form of butterflies is a welcome reminder that spring will be bursting out before you know it.

I stamped the butterflies with the Altenew mini cubes- "cool summer nights", "shades of purple" and "summer afternoon". These inks go on flawlessly and smoothly. The colors blend together perfectly. If you don't have any they are a MUST HAVE new ink!



To add a wee bit of interest, I shaded each butterfly with a some colored pencil. A bit of shine with a glitter pen and each butterfly pops!


So if you want a bit of spring like me, head over to Laura's Loft and find your springtime! 


Monday, February 1, 2016

House of Cards February Challenge: Shape Cards


Happy February everyone! I hope those of you who had to struggle through winter storm Jonas fared well. It was awesome that it was on a weekend and I did not have to worry about getting into work, loosing my parking space and missing school. It is surprising how quickly it is melting, another blessing.

Anyway the challenge this month at House of Cards is to create a shaped card. No squares- do something fun! Get creative! I know you all have it in you. Stretch your wings.



For me- all I can say is thank God for all those amazing dies out there. I used a die that I got Christmas of 2015 and never used at all!! It got mixed up with a bunch of other dies and it was outta sight outta mind.

When I was thinking about the challenge I remembered this set from Papertrey Ink. I used the die and the stamp set. Because it is February, I had to go with a Valentine theme. George- my guy is a serious tea drinker, so he will be getting this card and and some special tea to go with it for the big day.

This challenge can send you in a million directions, check out what the other designers have done this month at the House of Cards!