Be My Valentine Series Day 10 - Quick Yet Cute

For this last card I wanted to challenge myself to make a card in 10 minutes that I would still be happy to give to someone.  

I often find both sketches & color challenges to be good starting points for any card.  They also give me a great plan when trying to make a quick card like this one! For this card I combined the current MarkerPop color challenge with the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge.

I was inspired by my crafty friend Kevin Bray and his use of stacked washi tape strips to create a quick background!  Next I cut out a cute Pix image from Mama Elephant Pix's Favorites, I had painted her with Zig Clean Color Markers & Distress Markers.  I found a shimmery bit of vellum and used the Sizzix nesting hearts to cut out two to place Pix on... they really weren't distinct as two so I inked the smaller heart with Cranberry Ink from Lawn Fawn.  I still felt the vellum heart wasn't really distinct against the washi so I trimmed the card base down so it would hang off the side a bit and draw your eye.  

The sentiment is from My Favorite Things Because You Stamp Set and was embossed with white on black before being die cut with a banner from Blueprints 27.  To finish the card I added sequins, both cupped & hearts with some Multi Matte Medium!

Phew, that was 9 min and 36 sec, a total record for me!!!!

Thank you so much for joining me!  I would love to see any cards you created that were inspired by this series, be sure to tag me @modernmamabear on Instagram!

Be My Valentine Series - Day 9 - Bookmark Cards

Today I wanted to share with you an idea using a sketch from Scrapbook and Cards Today.  This is their challenge sketch for February and I thought it would be perfect for bookmark cards!  These cards are perfect for Grandparents, parents, aunts or uncles for any occasion and Valentine's Day is no exception!

The important thing to remember about a sketch is that it is meant to be a starting point but if you want to CASE it completely that is okay too!  Sketches are a great way to get your creativity flowing.  I followed the sketch pretty closely on these card but tweaked it to work with the supplies I had on hand.  I created two cards; one more manly and the other a bit more feminine.

These adorable bears were colored with Staedtler Watercolor Pencils, Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, and Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils.  I was going for a specific look with these images; I wanted them to look like illustrations.  The bear stamp sets are Cub Cuddles and Bear Hugs both from Mama Elephant.

The cards are just basic white side folding cards.  The patterned paper is from Lawn Fawn's Polka In The Meadow Petite Paper Pack (note:  I backed each bookmark with the same paper as the card front) The epoxy hearts, washi tape and red twine are from my stash. The green hills were all cut from one piece of watercolored paper using the Mama Elephant Hillside Cover die. I used some thin but strong double sided tape on each side of the extra little hill on the card front so I could slip the bookmarks into them yet keep the bulk down.

I know my Mom will be really excited to get this card!  Let me know if you end up making any of these cards, I would love to see them!

Be My Valentine Series - Day 3

Critters in love, what could be cuter!?

Today's card features some adorable Lawn Fawn critters in love!  This card was inspired by this fantastic card by Nichol Spohr. I think her use of the washi tape with this polaroid die cut is just too cute!

Each set of critters was colored with Copic markers and then die cut with this adorable Polaroid Fun die from Mama Elephant!  I did run each die cut through my Big Shot with a piece of 110lb cardstock to smooth them out and help them to fit together without gaps.

I wanted to showcase these cute couples so I chose a deep black cardstock for my background.  Once I laid out my design I used the new Lawn Fawn Valentine Borders to cut out the row of hearts which I backed with a piece of pinkinsh red paper.  I did end up adhering a few of the black hearts back into the card as I felt this looked better under the die cut sentiment. The sentiment is created using the hello stamp from Lawn Fawn's Hello Baby stamp set and their fantastic Scripty Love die.  I glued three individual cuts of the love die together to create a bit of dimension. Finally I adhered everything down and added some cute heart washi from my stash!

Stamps sets used in this card:  Happy Howldays, Merry Christmouse, Baaah Humbug, Flamingo Together and Sunny Skies So sorry some of these were exclusive Stamptember sets and one is retired, I did link those that are still available.

Be My Valentine Series - Day 2

Today's card is guaranteed to bring a smile to your dearest friend's face when they see these adorable bunnies from the Pix's Favorites stamp set by Mama Elephant!

This card was very simple to put together.  I began by stamping the Pix images with Ranger Archival Ink onto Canson Fanboy paper ( this is my favorite paper to use with Zig Clean Color Markers)  as you can guess I colored them with my Zigs and used a wet paint for blending. I did add a bit of sparkle with my Wink of Stella Clear to these cuties and once they were dry I fussy cut them leaving a white border to help them standout from my background.

I knew that I wanted to use a thought bubble so I stamped one from Lawn Fawn with Hero Arts Unicorn ink and heat embossed it using Hero Arts White Satin Pearl embossing powder.  I used the coordinating dies to cut these.

For the background I did some quick watercolor with Distress Inks on watercolor paper.  I die cut that with the Mama Elephant Hillside Cover Die and then trimmed off about 1/4" to allow for a white border on the card front.

I will admit I was so excited to put this card together that I adhered everything and then realized I forgot to stamp my sentiment!  (I had to remove the mouse pad from my MISTI due to the fun foam I had used being the background but it still worked perfectly, love that tool!)  The sentiment is from Concord & 9th was heat embossed using a white embossing powder from my stash. 

Quick, simple and oh so cute!

Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow to share some more happy heart day fun!

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!

Cards, Cards, and More Cards

Hi there, I wanted to drop in and share a few more of the cards I created with images colored during The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge!

'Happy Birthday to My Hero!'

This is the super cute card I made for my awesome husband's birthday this week!  It features owls from several different Lawn Fawn sets, one of my favorite things about the Lawn Fawn designs is their ability to mix and match seamlessly!  I found this adorable card on Handmade by Yuki (she is so darn talented that you should definitely grab some more coffee and browse her fantastic blog).  I loved the dimension that she created by placing some of the scene elements behind vellum!  Hubby really like the card which made my whole day!

'Magical Day'

My inner five year old LOVES this unicorn set from Avery Elle.  I was able to create a super shimmery glitter effect by blending out my Zig Clean Color Markers with a clear Wink of Stella pen!  This is true unicorn perfection!  The fantastic circle framing the unicorn is from Mama Elephant, I have been debating about getting this die and I am so, so, so glad I did... it is pure awesomeness in an unassuming metal die!

'Hooray For This Day'

How darn adorable are these raccoons?!  I saw this Rowdy Raccoon stamp set from Mama Elephant and I couldn't resist.  These little rubbish robbers are just too cute; there is even one wearing a cowboy hat and riding a stick horse!  But I digress... the card is made with just one image stamped over and and over again to create this cheering crowd!  Each critter is cut with the coordinating die and then they are progressively popped up on different levels of foam tape to create the dimension similar to spectator stands.  The banner stamp is from Avery Elle and the sentiment is from an Ali Edwards Story Stamp Set.  The yellow stars are from this fantastic Simon Says Stamp set and they were stamped in this yellow ink from Lawn Fawn onto some scraps of yellow paper and then I gave each one a shimmery shine with my clear Wink of Stella pen... oh how I love that pen!  I think this would be a great card to give to someone graduating.

'Jelly Good'

This card was just a quick one to check out the newest My Monthly Hero kit from Hero Arts.  Sadly the kit is now sold out but you will can purchase this beautiful ombre mermaid ink pad and the super awesome Color Layering Octopus stamp set that were released with it.  I am definitely going to have to try out the vellum layering for dimension, as seen above, with this stamp set.

Happy Friday!  Thanks for visiting and I hope you all have an awesome weekend!