Lawn Fawn CHA Sneak Week 2015--Day 2

Welcome back for day 2 of the Lawn Fawn CHA sneak week! They've already revealed so many adorable stamps and dies yesterday (click here to view day 1) and today they are sharing a new paper line, Beachside. This set is so awesome and colorful; and, as per usual will be available in sizes 6"x 6" and 12"x 12". These will be available for purchase mid February along with all the other dies, stamps, ink, etc., that is being revealed this entire week.

When I first saw this line I thought how adorable it would be for more masculine cards with the darker hues. But it also has lighter tones in the collection which would also work for creating starry sky scenes and girly cards, too. I'm just so in love with this collection and I know you'll love it too!

If you head over to the Lawn Fawn blog for today's sneak peek you'll also be pleasantly surprised to see that they are also going to be releasing ink, new wood veneers, and Tangerine Lawn trimmings!! I know--I'm so excited I can't wait to get my hands on these. They're new line of inks are dye based so that means you'll always get a clean crisp image every time you stamp. There are 10 colors in this release (on sale mid-Feb.): Cranberry, Wild Rose, Fake tan, Sunflower, Freshly cut grass, Mermaid, Deep Sea, Hippo, Walnut, and Black licorice.

Now--Click here to head on over to there blog for your chance to win these awesome items! Leave a comment on their blog, check out DT samples, and take a closer look at the paper line and inks!

Blick Art Haul

Over the weekend I stopped by Blick to purchase some much needed Copic refills for two of my most used markers; and, while I was there I decided to look around and see what interesting things I could find. The last last time I was there about a few months ago I hadn't yet discovered my love for watercoloring so I didn't really pay any attention to all the tools, paper, and other accessories they had available for that particular medium. So this time around I was pretty excited to ask about all the cool things I could use and test out. One of the employees there mentioned these really cool watercolor pencils--and since they were on sale I thought I'd give them a try. When I got home I tested them out on one of the watercolor postcards I purchased (in a set) and they seemed to work very well. The colors are really vibrant and I love that. Aside from the watercolor pencils and Copic refills, I also purchased a pack of blank watercolor post cards, some really thick 140lb. watercolor cardstock, a Copic color swatch book, and some carving rubber to make a handmade stamp. I can't wait to make some new things with these.

Did you do any craft/art shopping this weekend?

Snow Day Collection--Lawn Fawn Inspiration Week

Today on the Lawn Fawn blog, they're showcasing the, Snow Day Collection. This collection has some really beautiful patterned paper in the 12x12 and 6x6 size--this collection also has some adorable flair, wood veeners, twine, and a coordinating stamp set. However, the matching stamp set will have it's very own post tomorrow!

This is the first time I've ever created a card that was made entirely out of cardstock, only. If you take a closer look at this card you'll notice that I didn't use any stamped images on it. I used the papers from both the 12x12 and 6x6 sets, along with the forest border die, scripty joy, stitched rectangles, the stitched circle from the stitched banners die set, and a few wood veeners.

I think that this entire collection (including the coordinating stamp set) would be great for creating your entire collection of Christmas cards this year. You can create such bright, fun, cards!

If you head over to the LF blog you can entire for a chance to win the papers from this collection! Kelly, has also shared another awesome intro video and you can view the DT samples. You can find their blog by clicking, here. Good luck!

Handmade Bookmark

Hi everyone! I've been doing my hardest to keep up with my blog posts’ but my shop has been keeping me so busy—which is a great thing, but it also doesn't leave me with much time to really plan out a great blog post. However, my sister has been asking me to make her a few book marks. My older sister Angie is in nursing school and she has tons of books to read on a daily basis. She’s been feeling a little stressed out lately because nursing school is very challenging; so, I decided to use my Lawn Fawn stamp set, Sunny Skies, to create this happy book mark. This set has a very encouraging sentiment (Reach for the sky) which I thought would be perfect for Angie’s bookmark. That way every time she looked at it she would remember what she’s working for; or, I’m hoping it will make her smile when the stress of it all it getting her down. She asked me for four bookmarks and so far I’ve only made this one—I still need to make the other three but I, myself have been pretty busy, too.

You can find the stamp set and dies used to create this book mark by clicking here and here. When creating this bookmark I used a fun partial die cutting technique so that the kite would look like it was kind of popping off of the top of the bookmark—which I think is so cute. I created this subtle cloudy sky background using a pre-cut cloud die from the Sunny Skies dieset (which coordinates with the Sunny Skies stamp set), and used some distress ink and a foam applicator to apply the ink over the cloud die cut. There is a great video here where Kelly Marie from Lawn Fawn shares this fun technique (jump over to minute: 2:42 to view it). After that I simply began all of my stamping, die cutting, and coloring. Once I was finished with that I used a black pen to create the border around the bookmark and that’s it. My sister loved it so much she wants to get it laminated. So I can’t wait to see what they looks like. I hope you enjoyed this blog post and I can’t wait to make another one! 

Valentine's Day Candy Gram with Lawn Fawn, Video

It's been such a long time since I've posted; and, today I have a really fun DIY Valentine's Day Candy Gram tutorial. It was shared over at the Lawn Fawn blog yesterday, and I thought I'd share it today with my readers. I wanted to create something easy to reproduce, for those who like to pass out candy for this lovely holiday. What I love about this project is that it can be used all year round, by simply changing the pattern paper, and the design on the cover panel. 

I used some large marshmallow peeps I purchased from Michaels to create this fun 'I hear you' sentiment. Isn't it so sweet?! To view how I made this adorable package view the video below! 

For details on all the items I used to create this candy gram, feel free to visit the Lawn Fawn blog for the list. 

Cards For A Friend

Oh my! It’s been a few weeks since my last post. The holidays kept me away from my camera—then I sort of got used to not taking pictures for a while, and I think that’s where I went wrong. Well, perhaps I really need a small break from blogging, too. Not that I hate it, but it’s always nice to step away from the computer for a while and regroup. I had been feeling like I was running out of creativity anyway—so maybe it was all for the best.

During the holiday break one of my neighbors was moving away, but before she left she sent over a handmade jar of pickles from her garden. Isn't that so cool?! Not only did she can the pickles herself but she also grew them in her own backyard. Because of this kind gesture I thought I’d return the favor and send her something handmade by me (plus she is a huge ‘handmade’ admirer and she even has her very own jewelry line; and sells on Etsy too). You can find her work here.

Since she is moved away, I wanted to create some really cute new address cards. I have been waiting, and waiting for a moment to use the ‘we moved’ sentiment from the Lawn Fawn stamp set, Home Sweet Home; and, I've FINALLY got the chance. I’m so happy about that. I also purchased a really colorful/whimsical 6 x 6 paper bad by, American Crafts—that pad is named, Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Paper pad, and you can find it here. 

I used a variety of Copic art markers to color in all the images, and I’m really loving the way the panels turned out. 

Here is the collection of finished cards. I know she’ll love them; and, I feel that the images in this stamp set are perfect because in her family are her, her husband (the two love birds), and they have three young children (the eggs). Perfect, right? I really hope she doesn't see this post because I would like her to be surprised when she gets them—but she might see this—and if you do see this, Kimiko, SURPRISE! Haha. 

UPDATE: I purchased the die from Simon Says Stamp, it's the Notepad die, by My Favorite things. You can find it by clicking here. 

New Video: An Easy Masking Technique

Today I'm blogging over at the Sweet Stamp Shop blog, and I'm using their adorable stamp set, Press It Wash It, to share a simple masking technique using Post-It notes. Many card makers already know of this technique but this is also something fun to share for the newbie crafters who are just getting started with stamps and paper making. 

You can read the full post, on the SSS blog by clicking here. Here is the video! 


Thanks for stoppin' by! 
Nicole 

Christmas Card Crafternoon

Since Christmas is getting closer and closer I thought it would be fun to have a Christmas Crafternoon with my sisters, Angie, Melanie, and our friend Mabel. I’ve had a card making crafternoon with my sisters before but all three girls were still relatively new to creating cards. Since ‘handmade’ is still going strong—and pretty popular, they wanted make their gift giving a little more personal by making their own cards for friends and family, this year. So, what I did was come up with a few sample cards that I could teach them how to make but they were also free to use all the stamps, paper, and embellishments to create their very own designs. I’d say they had the most fun, getting messy and making their own cards—who wouldn’t have fun doing that?! Hehe. 

To set up, I covered the dining room table with Kraft wrapping paper, and simply organized by stamps, paper, makers, acrylic blocks, paper trimmers, ink, etc. on one edge of the table—so they could have everything within reach. 

Here are a few of the cards they created…

I love all of the cards they made, I’m happy that I was able to teach them a few new techniques but most of the designs they created came from their own minds. We’re already talking about having a Christmas Crafternoon part 2, where we will make Mason jar snow globes, treat bags, and tags. I’m definitely going to enjoy that one!

Pretty Pink Posh Grand Opening Blog Hop!

Today I’m excited to be celebrating the grand opening of the Pretty Pink Posh, Shop! As a crafter it’s always fun to use embellishments and PPP has lots of sequins and things for you to choose from for all of your creative projects. You even have a chance to win Pretty Pink Posh prize packs—so don’t forget to check the details on how to win below.

I've recently started using sequins on my projects and I love it—so this celebration couldn't have come at a better time. Since we’re on the topic of celebrating I’d like to share my first project using some of the PPP sequins from the, Winter snow, pack which I used to create a festive place card shaker—Perfect for Christmas dinner. I love it because it’s a playful place card and I’m sure something like this would bring a smile to anyone’s face. You could have the shaker place card standing up in front of a place setting or even right on top of the actual place setting. Either way is super cute and I can’t even decide which one I like best. 

Since I was on the theme of Christmas I thought I’d create a cute tag for a gable box, and I used PPP, Festive Holly-days, sequins, and some of their adorable Christmas bells. The sound this little bell makes warms my heart so much and it’s seriously getting me in the mood for Christmas (my favorite holiday).

Now is your chance to win your PPP packs! You can simply leave a comment on this post on or before December 3rd and two lucky winners will be chosen and announced on Thursday, December 5th! For more details on how to win, visit the Pretty Pink Posh blog be clicking, here.

Now on to the next crafty gal in the hop! Laurie Willison is going to share what she created using PPP embellishments, and to view the blog creating before me stop by Leigh Penner’s blog. If you would like to start from the beginning click here!

This hop was so fun, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!  

Sending you buckets of Love...

Today I’m working with my Simon Says Stamp, stamp set and I’m having such a great time with them. This is the first stamp set that I purchased, of theirs. I really love the quality of these stamps and I’ve also already placed a huge order with them for more! I love that this set, LoveThis, has a couple different sentiments, shapes, and patterns so that we can create a line of cards that differ from one another. For instance, you can create a birthday card, an I love You card, a just because card, and so much more. 

To create this card I started off with a A2 white card base, and I cut another piece with the scraps to create the panel that will go on top of the card. Once those two pieces were cut I took the heart stamp and also pulled a few different Hero Arts shadow inks and began stamping the heart image using the generation stamping technique. Next I used some of my circle dies to cut the circle on the panel. I simply ran it through my Cuttlebug.

Next I used three of the sentiments—I stamped the, ‘Love’, and ‘sending you buckets of love. Save some for a bad day’, in some black dye ink, and the ‘Nobody gets me like you’ sentiment in some, Hero Arts, pink dye ink. Once they were stamped I let them dry completely and then I turned the panel over and applied some foam adhesive squares on the back so that the panel would have a 3D look.

Next, I placed the panel onto my card base and soon realized that my ‘Love’ sentiment was a little too far to the right, so I fixed that by placing some sequence on the left of the sentiment—balancing it.   

I forgot to mention that I used my glitter pen to color in some of the hearts on the card base—to add some shine. I love how it turned out and you can really see it in the image above. Well, that’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed this card. Thank you!