Sometimes You're The Dog...

This week I have been feeling better so I wanted to get back in the swing of things with The Daily Marker Coloring Challenge and participating in some of the fun card challenges like the My Favorite Things Sketch #306.

I have really been embracing my love of clean and simple cards lately so I decided to stay true to my style and do the same with this card!  I used the You Make My Tail Wag and Hog Heaven stamp sets by Birdie Brown, you know I can't resist a cute critter!  

All the images are colored with Copic Markers and fussy cut.  The thin background strip is just Distress Inks blended onto the card with a stencil brush (I prefer these for a lighter touch).  

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope that you have a fantastic weekend, see you soon!

Love These Lights!

My awesome crafty friend Brandi Kincaid recently designed several stamps sets for Ellen Hutson LLC. I couldn't wait to get my hands on them!  What I love most about her designs is that somehow, in each simple black line, she convoys happiness and optimism... she truly has a gift.  If you don't know Brandi's work you can check it out at the links above, I promise you won't be disappointed!

I used just two stamps to make this card for the CASE(E) this Sketch! #197 Challenge.  I love card challenges (I am sure you know that) and I just stumbled onto this one today. I am certain it will become a favorite!

This card was made using the single light bulb image from the Light Parade stamp set.  I stamped it in a sort of circular pattern several times on Canson Fanboy paper with Ranger Archival Ink. Next I colored it in with my Zigs and a brush.  Once the bulbs were dry I used the American Crafts Metallic Markers to color in the bases of each bulb.  I added some white Gelly Roll pen inside the little sheen detail and then used a Copic Multiliner to draw in the wires!  The panel was then cut down and mounted on fairly thick fun foam for dimension.  I stamped my sentiment, from the same stamp set, gave it some color and cut it with a circle die.  I added a bit of white Gelly Roll pen to mimic the lights. The base of the card is this beautiful teal cardstock from my stash (I believe it is Prism, due to it's smooth nature) a small strip of light green Bazzill peeks out from behind my watercolored panel to tie the whole card together!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I always love to hear what you think of my creations, feel free to drop me a comment below!

Hi Cutie Pie

I am so excited to be a Guest Designer for the latest MarkerPop Challenge! If you haven't played along with them before I highly encourage you to join in the fun!  This time around the challenge involves a highly versatile sketch that you can customize in so many different ways!

This time of year I try to focus on all of the things that I am thankful for. With that goal in mind I created a card with a Thanksgiving motif. This year I want to make sure I let those all those amazing people in my life know how thankful I am for their love and friendship by sending them some handmade happy mail!

I started by using my Misti to repeatedly stamp the knife, fork, and mug images in Desert Sand on a kraft card base for a tone on tone background.  The Misti makes it really easy to stamp these little images repeatedly and create fun custom backgrounds for your cards!  Next I pulled out my masking paper to create a fun photo of these cute Lawn Fawn friends (Turkey & Mice) and their favorite Cutie Pie;  I used Copics to bring these cuties to life!  The sentiment is also from the Cutie Pie set and that Polaroid style frame from this fantastic Mama Elephant set was the perfect way to finish it off!  The photo is mounted on some foam for dimension and the card base was cut down just a smidge so it will fit perfectly in an A2 envelope!

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to hop on over to the MarkerPop Blog to join in this fun challenge!

You Light My Fire

I had so much fun creating this card for the current Lawnscaping Challenge!  I started by blending Distress Inks onto cardstock.  Next, I sprinkled water over top and pulled it off with a cloth to create that mottled look, I love how it turned out!  I used Momento Luxe in Tuxedo Black to stamp the background stars and hearts, from Critters Ever After, then I embossed them with the amazing Hero Arts Sparkle embossing powder!  I filled in a few with some white pen for contrast.  The hills and circles were all cut using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Circle Dies and Stitched Hillside Dies. Finally, I stamped the adorable dragon from Critters Ever After and colored him with Copic markers before fussy cutting so as to not have any white borders in my night time scene.

There are still a few hours left to join in the Lawnscaping Challenge fun, hope to see your creations there!

MarkerPop Challenge #106

MarkerPop has a fantastic challenge for this time of year... create a Halloween card with any brand of products they sell in the shop!  This is easy-peasy even if you don't have a ton of Halloween themed items, no seriously, I only have one Halloween stamp set and it's retired!  Luckily the set I have is from Lawn Fawn, a brand MarkerPop carries, so I did some clever masking to add the witch hat to the adorable retro cat from Avery Elle's latest release!

The background is stamped with the Wplus9 set 'Ink Splats' using Distress Inks in Picked Raspberry, Twisted Citron and Seedless Preserves.  I did spray the splats with a light mist of water to get them to blend a little betters since these inks are not really made for stamping with, but I like the sort of splotchy look you get with them on these stamps. This witchy kitty is colored with Copic markers and fussy cut before being mounted on the focal panel with a little foam tape.

The greeting is a combo of the Lawn Fawn Stinkin' Cute sentiment and Concord & 9th's amazing Sophisticated Script.  The focal panel is cut with the largest stitched rectangle in the My Favorite Things Blueprints 29 Die-Namics set.  Finally I added a few sequins from Craft Medley's Rhythm n' Blues to give this kitty a little sparkle!

Make sure you check out all the other amazing Halloween creations over at the MarkerPop Blog!

MarkerPop Color Challenge 105

Due to my recent Copic Marker addiction I discovered MarkerPop's online shop and guess what... they have a color challenge!  This color combo is so awesome that I had to join in!  

When I was looking at the colors I was reminded of our time living in Florida; one Christmas we made a sand 'snowman' on the beach and used it in photos for our holiday cards!  It was so cute and I thought it would be fun to use some of the new stamps and dies I had purchased from MarkerPop to create a 'sandman' shaker card!

I used the Lawn Fawn Ready, Set, Snow stamps, dies and add-on dies, 

plus their fabulous Mermaid for You stamps and dies!

Be sure to hop on over to the MarkerPop shop and check out all the awesome sales they currently have going on!  Thanks for stopping in, see you soon!

Lawnscaping Challenge 139

The fantastic Lawnscaping Challenge team had a beautiful Pinterest board for our inspiration this time! 

All those beautiful fall leaves inspired me to create some cute place cards for our Thanksgiving table, we are pretty casual so these pops of color will be a fun addition!

I used the Stitched Leaves Lawn Cuts to cut paper from the Fall Perfectly Plaid Petite Pack, Polka In The Meadow Petite Pack and Polka After Dark Petite Pack.  Each leaf was cut in two different papers to create a front and back since I knew they would be visible from the sides.  I then cut some stitched rectangles using these Lawn Cuts and folded them in half to create the base.  Of course I needed more stitching, can't get enough, so I cut smaller stitched rectangles from the Fall Plaid papers to create nameplates and message mats.  Next I wanted the scripty thanks die to pop so I went with some solid red cardstock from stash.  The stamps above and below the thanks are from Critters in the Forest and Cutie Pie, they were selectively inked to create the message I want each of my guests to see across the table!  To finish up, I wrote each name in with a Picket Fence Distress Marker for a cute chalkboard look!

Thanks for stopping in and don't forget to check out the next Lawnscaping Challenge!