My favorite everything!

“This is my favorite card that you have made to date!”

That was the best-est compliment ever!

This card was really fun to make because there was a lot of parts to it.  First, I stamped on the flowers and colored each of them with my Sharpies.  (I picked colors that would match nicely with the butterfly)  Then, I added half pearls to the center of the flowers which I love love love!  I hand cut the grass and texturized it with mini polk-a-dots.

After stamping on the sentiment, I used a small black and pink marker to make the little dots leading to the butterfly.  I mounted the entire background onto a bright blue cardstock and then attached my butterfly sticker.

Helpful tip: If you plan to add bling, stickers, half pearls etc., you should wait to attach them at the end once you have mounted your background onto your final card stock.  (In my case, the white card stock is the background and final card stock is the bright blue).  The reason is when you are applying adhesive to attach the background to the final card stock it may get wrinkled because with all the bling, half pearls and stickers makes the card stock uneven.

Hope you love this card as much as I do!

• Recipe: Craftstock/Half pearls/3D butterfly from Recollections, Stamps from Hampton Art, Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black, Sharpies, Stampin’ Up Mini Polk-a-dots Texturz plate.

String me along.

Or in this case, please use waxed cotton cord.

For some reason, the photo doesn’t give this card the justice it deserves!  lol.  I swear, it looks so much cuter in person!

I’ve been wanting to add string or rope to my cards after seeing it so pleasantly incorporated by others.  So I found this type of waxed cord in the jewelry aisle and was excited that it came in all sorts of colors.  I picked up blue, green, pink, and purple!  I’m not sure if this is the right kind of cord to use but so far it seems to be working.

I picked out the family of colors I was going to use for this card before I got started!  It gets a little tricky when you have a few different components and I like making sure everything matches well before I make the commitment!  I was planning on using the cords and embellishments on white card stock but I decided to change it up a little.  I texturized the aqua card stock with a flower template and then wrapped the cord around the cream colored card stock.  Warning: wrapping the cord is a lot harder than it looks! It took me a few tries but I ended up just holding about an inch of cord in the front where I wanted all the cords to meet and then I took the other end and just wrapped it around the cardstock.  I tied the two ends so that all of the cords would be in one knot.  (Hope that made sense!)

To attach my floral embellishment, I made a small slice in the center of the flower with my craft knife and used a brad to attach it to the cream card stock. I made sure to place the flower in the middle to cover the spot where all the cords meet.  And since I have a ton of birthdays coming up next month-I turned it into a birthday card!  Although, it looks really great as a tropical/destination wedding card!  Maybe a few small seashells, a sprinkling of glittery sand, and a cute pair of flip flops would do the trick

Happy string-ing!

• Recipe: Craftstock/Brads/Floral embellishment from Recollections, Stampin’ Up Classic Ink Spot in Tempting Turquoise, Blue waxed cotton cord from Jewelry Essentials, Happy Birthday stamp from Hampton Art, Sizzix Flowers #2 Texturz plate.

Make a Wish!

And blow out your candles.

Now that I have discovered my love for coloring stamped images, I have been using every chance I get to find stamps that are simple outlines so that I can work my magic.

For this birthday card, I stamped the two sides with the candles first and then inked the entire stamp so that the sentiment would appear in the middle.  I purposely made the middle set of candles a little higher than the rest because it didn’t look as cute when everything was lined up evenly.  I colored in each of the candle stripes with whatever color I pulled out of my marker stash.  I added some green stitched ribbon to match the card stock and texturized the white card stock with this sorta fireworks pattern.  (Turns out it’s called polka daisies but whatever!) Inside, I stamped happy birthday and added some bling.  This card is for a male so I hope it’s not too girly!

Nothing but birthday cards to come…August is a crazy birthday month! Exciting!

Helpful Tip: If for some reason, there’s a portion of a stamp you do not want to stamp-cover it with some tape as you ink the stamp.  When you are ready to stamp your image, just remove the tape and voila, you’ve just customized your stamp!  For example from my card above, just place tape over the “make a wish” sentiment and ink the candles.  I got this tip from my bff and it’s awesome!

• Recipe: Craftstock from Recollections, Sharpies, Make a wish stamp from Hampton Art, Ribbon from Michaels., Sizzix Texturz Plate Polka Daisies.

Turtle Time!

Slow and steady wins the race!

I am loving these cute stamps from Denami Designs! They as so incredibly cute and adorably small.  Love it!  For this card, I colored in the turtles using sharpies and attached it using mini-pop-dots.  After a wonderful suggestion from my bff, I stamped on the party hats, added some color, and red bling!

I love it! Who knew a turtle could win over your heart!

• Recipe: Craftstock from Recollections, Turtle stamp from Denami Designs, Party Hat stamp from Studio 18,  Sharpies, Red bling from Mary Engelbreit Rhinestone accents, Happy birthday stamp from Hampton Art, Fiskars Corner 2-in-1 Punch.

Dancing in the rain…

Requires the right kinda of shoes!

“Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.”

I love love love this quote and umbrella punch!!! You can only imagine my delight when I found the punch on sale for $4.99! Wooohooo!

I was doing some spring cleaning and found a few paint chip cards from an old project that I never got around to finishing.  The colors were so awesome and I kept thinking I shouldn’t let this go to waste! So I decided to try out some punches and viola! I used a purple/pink paint chip to punch out my cutie little umbrellas.  Genius right?

And don’t you just love the polk-a-dots rain boots?  I have to admit I have the same rain boots in my closet! lol.

• Recipe: White craft stock from Recollections,  Pink/Purple paint chip cards, Hampton Art Rain Boot stamp, Stampin’ Up Bold Bright Classic inks, Martha Stewart Umbrella punch.

Thinking of You!

Just a little tweet from me to you!

Here’s my attempt at bringing some layers, colors, and bling back into my life!  I’ve never made a long rectangular card so I figure here was a chance to try it out…

My stamp came with the small bird and sentiment.  I decide to stamp out three little birdies in different colors. From the picture it may be difficult to see but I punched out blue, purple, and pink circles to give a bit of color underneath the birds.  I also broke apart a pink flower bling and used it as part of the wings.

I hadn’t planned on using any edge punches but a miscellaneous piece of green (already punched) craftstock landed on my card and it fit perfectly with the bird and sentiment!  See, creativity can happen by accident!

• Recipe: All craftstock from Recollections, Stamp from Hampton Art, Ink from Stampin’ Up Classic bold brights, Studio 18 strass flower bling, Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black, Martha Stewart Floral Lace edge punch.

Here’s the Buzz!

Beeeeeeeeeee well!

I came across Cards for Kids which collects cards of encouragement, love, and hope for eight sick children and their families.  I felt so inspired after reading all the stories of strength and courage that I wanted to participate.  I hope my craft creations will get a giggle or two!  I made a few different cards and here is one of my favorites!

This card was quick and simple: I colored the bee with a yellow marker and added a flower bling to match the white textured background.   I used a mini-pop dot to attach the yellow circle to the white card stock.  And that was it!

Inside, I wrote a little message to the kids and signed n’ sealed it with love

• Recipe: All craftstock from Recollections, Bee stamp from Hampton Art, Studio 18 Rhinestone Strass, Stampin’ up Circle #2 Original Dies, Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black,  Stampin’ Up Eyelet Texturz Plate, Yellow Sharpie.