friendship cards | pop-up card

Penguins in Paradise Pop-up Card

By on May 2, 2017
Penguins in Paradise Handmade Card
My first pop-up card featuring MFT Penguins in Paradise

First Pop-up Card!

Hi friends! Today’s card is my first pop-up card. I got these cute little Mama Elephant dies from my crafty friend for my birthday last month. It’s tiny and looks like nothing but man, are they great dies! I love the satisfying feeling of a clean cut from dies. We decided to do a pop-up card challenge and this is my entry.

MFT Penguin in Paradise Handmade Card
The scene turned out super cute!

I used My Favorite Thing’s Penguins in Paradise stamp set to create the scene. I love these little penguins! They’re just adorable. I colored them with Copic markers, paper pierced the inner tube, swim shorts and beach towel with patterned paper. Paper piercing is so fun! I loved it at the end when it all came together. The beach towel is definitely my favorite.

handmade pop-up card
I love how paper piecing the beach towel turned out!

Next, I created two card bases out of Bristol Smooth paper. I knew I would be using Distressed Inks for the background and I am most successful with ink blending on Bristol paper. The reason I cut two is that one piece will be the card back the second will be used to create the pop-up piece. For that piece, I use my Cuttlebug to cute one edge to look like a hill. This is my sandy background for what will eventually become a beach scene. I blended Distressed Ink in Gathered Twigs to get the perfect sand color. (Oh! Before I did this, I stamped a sentiment in Versamark ink and added white embossing powder before I heat embossed it. I wanted the sentiment to show up after I blended in the Distressed Ink.) I then blended Broken China Distressed Ink on the other cardbase for a soft sky background.

handmade pop-up card
The front of the card – I kept it super simple since the inside was so involved.

Now the exciting part, assembly time! I used my Cuttlebug again but this time, I used the Mama Elephant Pop-up Trio Creative Cuts to cut out two pop-up tabs for two of the 4 penguins I colored. After I popped the tabs out, I glued the sand panel to the card base. I then glued the penguins to the tabs. I finished the scene by adhering the trees and the penguin laying down on the beach towel to the background.

For the front of the card, I kept things simple since it was already so involved in the inside. I used some pattern paper and adhere the last penguin holding the cocktail with the “Cheers” sentiment to the front of the card. I added some white dotted lines to frame the entire thing for a more finished look. Ta-da! It’s completed!

I hope you love this card as much as I do. This was definitely one of my favorites to create!

Supplies I Used:

handmade pop-up card
Side view of how the pop-up mechanism looks.

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friendship cards

Hey Cutie Pie!

By on May 1, 2017

 

lawn fawn handmade card

Lawn Fawn Baked with Love Challenge

My crafty friend and I had another challenge this week. This time it was using the Lawn Fawn Baked with Love stamp set and combining it with another Lawn Fawn set. This was so much fun! I used three Lawn Fawns sets to create the scene for this card: Baked with Love, Milk and Cookies, and Cutie Pie.

The Process

I die cut patterned paper with Mama Elephant’s Peek A Frame Dies. Then I used another die from the same set for the white background that kind of looks like a big postage stamp with that edge. I then stamped out the cute stand mixer, butter, eggs, cake stand, rolling pin and flour from Baked with Love. I stamped the milk carton from Milk + Cookies then I stampled the pie from Cutie Pie. I stamped everything in Copic-friendly Memento Tuxedo Black since I knew I would be coloring these with Copic markers and wanted to make sure it did not blend during coloring.  I chose colors that would coordinate with the patterned paper I am using as the background.

I then cut a strip of blue vellum paper and embossed the sentiment, “hi cutie pie” onto it with white embossing powder. I then adhered everything to the card.

This card came out so sweet I didn’t want to give it to my friend! But I do find comfort knowing she will love it as much as I do!

Supplies I Used:



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mother's day

Mother’s Day Card for my Mother-in-Law

By on April 30, 2017
handmade mother's day card
Happy Mother’s Day Card featuring Paper Smooches and Lawn Fawn.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful Mommas out there!

I worked on my first mother’s day card today. This one is for my mother-in-law who lives with me during the weekdays so I had to finish it while she wasn’t at my house. She loves bright colors and flowers so I tried to make something a lot more vibrant and colorful than I usually do.

handmade mother's day card

I used Paper Smooches Pretty Momma stamp set I bought especially for Mother’s Day.

I masked the rose a few times and heat embossed them in gold embossing powder. I then watercolored with Akashiya Sai Watercolor Brush Pens and a water brush to blend. I used Strathmore Watercolor Paper. Watercolor Paper is key to making sure you get that nice blend you want. The paper can also withhold all the water you will be using.

handmade mother's day card

I finished off the card by embossing a Lawn Fawn sentiment from Lawn Fawn Celebration Scripty Sayings stamp set on black paper. I mounted it all on 110 lb white cardstock card base and used some calligraphy ink to flick some black splatters onto the card to finish.

handmade mother's day card

Supplies I Used:

handmade mother's day card

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friendship cards | handmade card

You Are Brewtiful

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Handmade card for my Brewtiful friend!

A friend and I had a “The Greeting Farm” card making challenge and I decided to make something using the Brewtiful and Perk Up stamp sets from The Greeting Farm.

I created an side-folding A2 card using Michael’s 110 lb white cardstock as my card base. I then stamped the coffee mug, coffee beans and hearts from the stamp set with Versamark ink and used white embossing powder so I can do some embossed resist on the background. After I heated up the embossing, I blended Distress Ink Spun Sugar and Cracked Pistachio on Bristol Smooth paper. This is the best paper to blend Distress Ink with! I tried doing it on the Michael’s 110 lb because I was trying to be cheap where I didn’t have to purchase or store a lot of different paper but it was just not blending as well as I liked. I tried the Bristol Smooth and was hooked! This is the only paper I use to do any Distress Ink blending now. It can make those of us who are beginners (like me!) look like pros.

Close up of the cute girls from The Greeting Farm

I wanted to keep it soft and ethereal because my friend who I was making this for like things like that…and honestly, so do I. I wanted the sentiment to be white but I already have so much going on with the emboss resist background, I decided to cut a strip of vellum and stamp the sentiment, “You are brewtiful” on it so it would stand out against the background but still remain soft.

I’m extremely pleased with how this came out! It’s perfectly what I wanted it to be and I’m so happy to give it to my dear friend.

Supplies I Used:

 

I love the finished product!

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friendship cards

Remember, you’ve got a friend in me

By on April 29, 2017
Mama Elephant – Ella & Friends Stamp Set

I made this card for a Mama Elephant Challenge with a friend. The rule was, all Mama Elephant products! This was a lot of fun to do. I decided to use a watercoloring technique I saw Kristina Werner do on YouTube. I think I failed but it still turned out okay. Haha. The color was suppose to run down more but it didn’t quite do that but I still think it’s a fun technique and will try it again sometime. Instead of Copic markers, I used Distressed Ink to watercolor the entire card. I finished everything off with some fun clear holographic sequins I got from my local Michael’s.

Supplies I Used:

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general | handmade card

Harry Potter inspired card

By on April 19, 2017
Harry Potter greeting card
Harry Potter and Hermione Granger created from Sweet Stamp Shoppe Wizards stamps

Hi there! Harry Potter is one of my favorite book series! When I saw the Wizards set from The Sweet Stamp Shoppe, I knew I had to have it. It’s one of the first stamp sets I bought! Today I decided to make these two Harry Potter and Hermione Granger and use Gryffindor colors of amber and maroon. This card was so fun to make. I loved making the Distressed Ink background!

Close up of Glossy Accents on Harry’s glasses.

Supplies I Used:

Finished card. One of my favorites!

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birthday | handmade card

Happy Birthday to my favorite Pupperoni!

By on April 11, 2017
Happy birthday to ME from Simon Says Stamps!

For my birthday, Simon Says Stamp offered me a free stamp set with purchase. Since I wanted to get a few things, I went ahead and ordered this month and got this adorable set. I like that I can use this set to make some ‘boy’ cards for all the little boys in my life. Most of them aren’t too fond of fairies and unicorns. Haha.

I am really happy with the scene I created.

Supplies I Used:

I sent this to a friend's son who turned 9 and loves pizzas and puppies! Can't get anymore perfect than this!

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galaxy card

First Galaxy Card

By on March 25, 2017
First galaxy card using Mama Elephant Space Bears stamp set.

I have been obsessed with galaxy cards the first time I ever saw one! I love how you can use any color and it will give it a different look. For my first galaxy card, I went with what seems to be popular in the card making circuit. I started with Distress Inks in mustard seeds, picked raspberries, seedless preserves, chipped sapphire and black soot. (Can I pause here just to mention how much I love the names of the colors. How fun it must be to name all of these!) I blended all the colors except for black soot on Bristol Smooth paper. It was so much fun and magical! After I got all the color on, I went over the entire thing with black soot. This is where things can get a little hairy but have faith! Just cover it all in black soot and let some of the colors shine through. After this layer, I got a spray bottle and mist it with water. One of the fun traits of Distress Inks is that it will react with water. I gave it a few seconds and sop up the water with a paper towels and got these dots all over the project where the water picked up the color. Next, I got some opaque white paint and put it on a toothbrush and spattered it onto my project. This is where the magic happens! The white splatters and dots looked like a galaxy of stars! It was so much fun! I then let the background piece dry over night.

Always “Dream Big”

While it was drying, I colored these cute Space Bears from Mama Elephant. For this project, I used Zig Clean Real Brush pens. After coloring, I used glossy accents on the helmets to give it a little more interest and a 3D look like a real space helmet. So cute! I was pretty pleased with the results here. Both the glossy accents and background needed to dry so this is when I decided to clean up, let the piece dry and pop some popcorn and watch a movie with the kids. The rest will be completed tomorrow.

Can you see the glossy accents?

The next day, I assembled the card and this was so exciting! I decided on one bear because I messed up on one with the glossy accents. I couldn’t get over the air bubble it had.

I love this card!

Supplies I Used:

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holiday | st. patrick's day

You’re My Lucky Charm

By on March 10, 2017
St. Patrick’s Day card using Lawn Fawn My Lucky Charm

St. Patrick’s Day is coming up and I felt a little festive this year. I got this set for the cat for Chinese New Year cards, but decided to use it for it’s original intent. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. I wished all the Wink of Stella showed up better on camera. This card is all kinds of sparkly!

Inside the card.

Materials I Used:

 

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birthday

Have a Fairy Nice Day

By on March 1, 2017
First shaker card!

I made my first shaker card! I wanted to try the fun foam method from Jennifer McGuire and it was a lot of fun. This was a lot of fun. I made a few other cards I will share soon using the foam tape method to see which I like more. I know the fun foam technique mails better but so far I have been hand delivering these so maybe I need to do some cost analysis to see which is cheaper if I’m going to hand deliver. (Or maybe I will just use whatever is closest when I get my supplies from my craft area.)

Shaker Close-up

Lessons Learned:

  • Cut the foam a little smaller than the front facing piece of cardstock so the sides don’t show. (I’m sure this was mentioned in the tutorial video, but I forgot.)
  • Fishing wire is not the same as nylon thread (The finish wire was a little thick. Now only was it more visible than I would like, it doesn’t allow for much movement. This is what I get for being lazy and trying to use what my husband has.)
  • Distressed ink takes a while to dry…so don’t put embossing powder on it until it’s COMPLETELY dried! (You will see no distressed ink piece in this entire project…it was scraped after two attempts. Another time!)
  • If you decide to color with Copic markers, use Memento Tuxedo Black ink since it is Copic-friendly and does not bleed.
Inside of the card

Supplies I Used:

 

Hope you like the card! Feel free to leave any questions or comments!

 

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