Cute Card Thursday Has Spring Fever! (Plus a Free Stamp for Someone)

Hello friends!  Hope you are having a great week so far!  It is Thursday already and we are getting closer to the weekend and even closer to the end of March already! WOW!

Since it’s Thursday, it’s time for a new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday!  The theme of the challenge this week is “Spring Fever“!  I can feel it for sure!  Hope you can join us this week with your Spring creations!  Here’s what I’ve made for the challenge:

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You may have seen a couple of creations I’ve made using Brutus Monroe products and I’m happy that I was able to get my latest “Bunnies and Blossoms” Inspiration Box (Says it is sold out..sorry!) out for a play recently.  Oh those little bunnies with the big teeth are too cute!

So I took some Aqua Pigment Paper and did the “smooshing” technique with a couple of distress inks and the little Aqua Pigment bottle from the kit (see photo) for an added color and shimmer.  I set that aside and worked on the images.

Taking a couple of the scene images from the stamp set in the kit called “Some Bunny“, I put them together to create this scene over some X-Press It Card and colored everything in with Copics.  I then cut it out and sponged along the edge where the grass is and attached it over the smooshed watercolor panel.  I took both the bunnies from the set, colored them as well and fussy cut them out and popped up the one in the front with foam tape and glued the one in the back.  I cut both of these panels with the MFT Wonky Stitched rectangle die.

I stamped the clouds in the upper portion and colored them with a white gel pen.  I then took a sentiment from the same stamp set and heat embossed it with the Brutus Monroe Alabaster EP and die cut a banner strip.  I layered this piece over a piece of black cardstock and then took some of the paper from the kit and layered it behind the black.  This is where I took the ribbon and wrapped around the layers and added the bow too.  This was all attached to a white A2 top folding card base.

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Here’s a closer look at the image panel.  You can see the pretty shimmer from the Aquapigment from the kit mixed in.  I also took some liquid applique and put it on the bunny tails so that when I heat set them, they puffed up.  Always hard to photograph, but I’ve added some shimmer to the carrots with a clear glitter brush pen and colored the shovel parts with a silver gel pen.  Lastly, I’ve attached some sequins from the kit and filled the centers with some Nuvo White Blizzard Crystal Drops.

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From a different angle you may be able to see more of the shimmer on the card.  I love how it turned out and it certainly has me getting that “Spring Fever” where I can’t wait to go outside!!  How about you?  What do you look foward to in the Spring?

Please HOP on over to the Cute Card Thursday blog and take a look at the rest of the inspiration from the design team and play along with us this week!  Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

**BEFORE I GO**

If ANYONE is interested in either one of these stamp sets (brand new in package) from Brutus Monroe, I would be more than happy to just send it for FREE to anyone, anywhere, just please let me know by leaving a comment or shooting me an e-mail!  They are stamps that I got sent in a surprise box and I’m sure that I won’t have a need to use either one of these.  First person to request gets one or even both if you want! 

Brutus Monroe City Sidewalks-Phoenix

This one is “City Sidewalks – Phoenix” and it is a set of 3 clear stamps. (no longer available for purchase.)

Brutus Monroe City Sidewalks-Sydney-Austrailia

This one is “City Sidewalks – Australia” and it’s also a set of 3 clear stamps

Thanks so much for dropping into my friends!!  Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter my card for:

  1.  Alphabet Challenge – ‘Z’ is for Zesty Colors (I’ve used Squeezed Lemonade and Spiced Marmalade distress inks for background)
  2. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies (PIP1911) – Anything Goes
  3. Allsorts – Favorite image, stamp or die (I love using stamps and coloring them!)

Eggs in One Basket

Hello friends!  Back today to share a fun Easter card with you!

Before I get to my card, I wanted to let everyone know that this will be my last post with Sparkle N Sprinkle as a design team member.  I have truly enjoyed my time creating with the products and I’m sure I’ll be pulling them out to play with on my blog from time to time!  Sometimes we just have to lighten up our “baskets” to make things a little easier to carry.

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This little chick dressed in bunny ears just makes me giggle!!  I had so much fun with this cute March release stamp set from Sparkle N Sprinkle called Easter Parade by Jan Mahew.  The other chick has this fancy hat on and is adorable too! 🙂

To start out with, I thought it would be fun to take this basket weave embossing folder to create the background of the card (resembling a basket of course!) and I rounded the top corners of it along with taking some of the new colors of Super Thick embossing powders in the Spring Lilac and Pink Cheeks and sprinkling some over top of this background.  I heat embossed it from underneath so it wouldn’t fly all over.  (Remember that you don’t need anything to attach it with, just heat set it from underneath!)

I’ve also used these embossing powders to create the look over the eggs as well!  I stamped out the open image egg from the stamp set and then layered the Spring Lilac, Pink Cheeks and Neon Super Thick Embossing Powders in strips and very carefully heat set it from underneath.  (I did this BEFORE they were fussy cut out.)

I thought that my images needed grounding, so I took a grass border die and cut a strip to place at the bottom of the card front.  I wrapped some yellow ribbon around the basket background and also stamped out the CUTE sentiment from the stamp set and made a banner with it that I’ve also added a bow, button and twine in the center of.  I’ve attached all of this to an A2 sized top folding card base.  I flipped up the edges of the banner to give it a bit of dimension.

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Here I wanted to point out to you this adorable little chick!  If you look at his belly area, you will see that he looks quite fuzzy!  After I colored him in with my Copics and fussy cut him out with scissors, I took the Nuvo Medium Tip Glue Pen to go over his belly area with and then sprinkled over it with the Canary Flocking.  I always press it into the area for good adhesion and let it dry.  Now you have a fuzzy feeling peep!  I added him to the background and nestled him in the grass border.  I used the SNS Dimensional Glue to adhere the flat images down.

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For the eggs, as mentioned above, I melted the powders (carfully trying to keep it contained within the lined stamped egg image) and then fussy cut them out with scissors.  Then I took some foam tape and nestled them among the grass too.  As you can see, I have cracked eggs which accidentally happened when I pushed down on the eggs to stick them.  I actually thought it was sort of cute with the basket theme and funny chick dressed like a bunny, so I cracked them even more and kept it that way!  (It was hard to capture in the photo, but the eggs with the embossing have a pretty shinny sheen over them.  It was sure fun to play with those embossing powders!

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and that you hop on over to check out this fun stamp set along with those super thick EPs!!

Thanks so much for dropping in today!  I enjoy reading each comment and what you have to say!  If you’d like to see a closer look at the details about this card, you can also check out my blog post over on the Sparkle N Sprinkle blog too!

I see that several of you enjoy reading my blog on Wednesdays, so of course I will still be posting filled with lots of fun inspiration to share…so stay tuned!

Here are the Sparkle N Sprinkle products used on my card today:

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

  1.  Crafty Catz – Anything Goes with optional twist:  Spring
  2. The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
  3. QKR Stampede – #339 Anything Goes
  4. Crafting From the Heart – Just for Fun (Anything Goes)

Thinking of Tulips With Whimsy Stamps

Hello friends!  I’m here!  In case you were seeing nothing on my blog or something weird going on within the last day, I appologize!  I was messing with something and pretty much should have left things alone!  I think we are all back now and everything is good!  Whew!  (Don’t worry, I won’t be doing that again!)  I guess I thought I was savvy with tech things, but it turns out, I’m not!  Ha!

So now that I’ve got things back to normal, I can share my card with you this evening!

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This is one of the adorable March digital releases from Whimsy Stamps called Tulip by CC Designs.  She was so fun to color and I was thinking about tulips the entire time I was coloring her up!  Tulips are my favorite flower and I have a brick foundation with little buds of daffodils and tulips coming up!  Of course this makes me excited about Spring and the warm weather we are starting to get!!  (Hopefully I will be able to share photos of how they come up soon!)

Whimsy Stamps has also released some really cool digital papers that I’ve used for the background of my card here called Rustic Wood and Brick Collection.  (Reminds me of my brick foundation where the flowers are coming up!)  I have also used a retired Whimsy Stamps die set called “Garden Flowers” that happened to have a tulip in it, so I cut several in white cardstock to go along the bottom of the card.  I also took one and inked it up in the colored I’ve used on my image and tied an additional thread bow at the top of it.

The sentiment on the bottom of the image panel comes from the Whimsy Stamps Everyday Mini Sentiments clear stamp set.  I white heat embossed it and then cut out with the Whimsy Stamps Quick Strips die set.  I used a MFT stitched scallop die to cut out the image from and layered her with some red cardstock.  Before I added the blue ribbon, I attached the piece of black cardstock where my layered image panel would go and wrapped it around the brick background.  I then added a white button with a linen thread bow in the center of that.  (This is what I used on the colored tulip.)  All of these layers were then mounted onto an A2 sized top folding white card base.

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Here’s a closer look at her all colored up with Copic markers!  You can purchase them at Whimsy Stamps.  CLICK HERE  These are the colors I’ve used on my image today:

  • bow, jacket, skirt, tulips – B97, B95, B93, R39, R37, R35, YG25
  • shirt, socks, shoes – BG000, E87, E84, E81
  • hair, skin – E27, E25, E23, E21, E11, E00, E000, R20
  • butterflies – C5, C3, YR04, YR02, Y13
  • C1 around image and white gel pen for flowers and jacket along with red and black gel pens for dots on butterflies
  • covered the red portion of die cut tulip with Wink of Stella clear glitter brush pen

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my card this evening!  Are you as ready for those Spring flowers as much as I am?  What are your favorite flowers?

Thanks so much for stopping in today!!  See you again soon!

Here are the Whimsy Stamps products used on my card below:


Challenges I’d like to enter my card for:

  1.   Words 2 Craft By (W2CB63) – “Happiness held is the seed, Happiness shared is the flower.”
  2. As You Like It – Dies or Stencils & why? (I love using dies because I feel there are so many fun things you can do with them/versatile, even it you don’t stamp!)
  3. A Bit More Time to Craft – #88 Anything Goes
  4. Challenge Up Your Life – Bye-Bye Winter

Time to Celebrate at Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends!!  I’m very excited to share my card with you today for Cute Card Thursday!  We are celebrating our 11th birthday this week!!  WOO HOO!!  So of course the theme for this week is “CELEBRATE“!!  Hope you can pop on over and celebrate with us by sharing your creation!!

This week we are sponsored by All Dressed Up Stamps and I have used one of their adorable images for my card today:

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I have used this very sweet image called Time to Shine and she is having so much fun dancing around with all of the stars floating about her!

For the card, I have taken some silver sparkle cardstock and cut cut the stitched scallop frame and then placed some pretty papers behind it.  I mounted these pieces onto a piece of black cardstock as well as the image that was cut out with another stitched scallop rectangle die, also mounted with a piece of black cardstock and then added to the center of the sparkle framed panel.

I also took some pretty, pink, silky ribbon and wrapped it around the corners of these layers and also tied a bow with it that I’ve attached to the upper right corner of the wrapped around ribbon.  These layers were then mounted onto a white, top folding A2 sized card base.  Lastly, I’ve added some stars that were die cut from the same sparkly cardstock and I’ve also added one to the center of the wooden star veneer that was glued in the center of the pink bow.

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Here’s a closer look at the Copic coloring I’ve done on this image.  I have added some extra sparkly details to the image by taking a Spectrum Noir Glitter Brush Pen and went over just the bottom portion of her dress.  I then took a silver gel pen and colored in the stars around her and added some dots to her dress and hair with it as well.  I wanted to create lots of sparkle and shine to this one!  🙂

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So I hope you will stop by the Cute Card Thursday blog and check out the inspiration from the rest of the design team and hope that you will play along with us to help ‘celebrate’ our 11th birthday this week!!  Can’t wait to see your creations!

Thanks so much for dropping by!  I really appreciate your kind comments and I enjoy reading them so much!  Hope you have a fabulous day!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card in:

  1. All Dressed Up Challenge – Anything goes + ADU image
  2. All Dressed Up Facebook Challenge – Girly Girls
  3.  Crafty Friends – Ladies/Girls
  4. Simon Says Stamp Monday – Feminine/Girly
  5. Crafty Creations – Anything Goes

Another Pot O’ Gold!

Hi there friends!  I guess I am really feeling the luck of the Irish this week!  I have another fun St. Patrick’s Day themed card to share today:

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My card here may seem a bit simple, but it has a few really fun added extras to really make it shinny and glittery!  I have used one of the March releases from Sparkle N Sprinkle called Lil Leprechaun (Digital only stamp set).   I took the pre-colored versions of the set and arranged them in a blank Word.doc for how I wanted it to appear on my card front.  I used the clover images and resized them to fit around the bottom of the pot of gold area and then placed the sentiment where I wanted it off to the side.

I then printed it out and then cut it out with the Nuvo Basics Rectangle dies.

I used a couple of Copic green markers to make the “blades of grass” next to the pot of gold and clovers.  I also used some colored chalk to sponge in some colors for the rainbow behind the pot of gold.

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Here you can also see on the panel where I’ve taken some Super Thick Gold EP and sprinkled some in the corners of my image panel and then heat set it from underneath.

I also took a Nuvo Precision Glue Pen to add some “dots” in the center of the clovers and then of course used the SNS Shamrock Glitter to go over them!  I also covered the coins in the pot with the glue and sprinkled some Champagne Glitter over them for some sparkle!

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With the same SNS Champagne Glitter that I used on the coins in the pot, I also took some SNS Sticker Paper and covered an entire panel with it and burnished it in!  The shimmer and glitz on this is stunning in person and really sets off the card!  I’ve also used the Glitter Brush to take away the excess glitter particles and it’s a must have for clean up too!  (Instead of clinging to the brush, it repels it away!)  These sheets are somewhat thin, so I made sure that I’ve added some layers of cardstock in between this glitter panel for stability to the card.  (Keep this in mind if you are using the sticker paper for this idea.)

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I tried to capture some of the sparkle in the photo, but it really looks brilliant when you are holding it in person! 🙂

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and I really appreciate you stopping in!!

If you happen to use any of the links in this post, please be sure to use my special discount code below at checkout for 10% off your order:

SnS discount code badge

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

  1.  Crafting With an Attitude – Anything Goes
  2. Creative Moments – Anything Goes
  3. QKR Stampede – Anything Goes #338
  4. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  5. Pammies Inky Pinkes – Anything Goes PIP1910
  6. Not Just Cards – Anything Goes

 

Whimsy Stamps St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations Week!

Hello friends!!  I’m so happy that we are into March as I hope to be feeling warmer temps and “seeing the green” very shortly over my way!  I’m more than ready for that!

In the meantime, how about we celebrate with some inspiration and perhaps a fun event you might like to be apart of?!  Whimsy Stamps is having this fun week of St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations over in their Facebook Group – Check it out HERE!!

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I have made this super fun (mostly green) card especially for this fun event with the really adorable Little Leprechaun digital stamp by Crissy Armstrong.  I thought he was so cute sitting atop his pot of gold with his new winged friend there!  He was so fun to color up for this card! (See the Copic list below!)

For the card, I started out with some watercolor paper and I’ve used some Aquapigments (liquid watercolor from Brutus Monroe) and some extra water for the background of my card, then I cut it out with the Whimsy Stamps Hand Stitched Nested Rectangle Dies.  I also used this to cut out the leprechaun image too.  I’ve used some gold mirror cardstock to mat a layer of it behind the image panel.

I thought it would be fun to add a rainbow behind the image panel, so I took the WS Kinetic Curved Hills die set and cut strips with the straight curve die in the colors of the rainbow and added the strips over the background.  Then I attached the layered image panel and took the WS No-See All Seasons Tree die set to cut some grass and mushrooms to attach at the bottom of the card.  I used a white gel pen to color the spots on the tops of the mushrooms.  I also sponged some ink over all the pieces.  One of the sections of grass was popped up with foam tape.  Lastly I took an older sentiment from Whimsy Stamps and made a banner that was popped up with foam tape over the design.  I then mounted the entire card panel over an A2 top folding white card base.

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Here you can see a close-up view of the coloring.  I have used the following Copics to color in the image with:

  •  pot, hat band, stockings, coat trims & dragonfly body:  C8, C5, C3
  • Leprechaun outfit:  C09, C07, G05, G03, Y11, Y13
  • Leprechaun gold trim and coins:  Y17, Y15 (layered over with gold gel pen)
  • hair, skin, dragonfly wings:  E09, E23, E21, E00, E000, Y11, R20, R00
  • clover on hat:  YG97, YG95
  • outline of image and “dots” :  C3, C1, C0, Y11, gold gel pen

You can also see the rainbow has some shimmer on it.  This is where I took a Spectrum Noir clear glitter brush pen to go over it.  You can also see a bit of shimmer from the Aquapigments in the background…they’re really stunning and I’ll be using them again in the future, so be sure to check back!! 🙂

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I wanted to bring out some more of that gold with the mirror layer behind the leprechaun, so I brought some gold sequins into the layout and filled them with some gold Stickles.  When you hold this card up to the light, the whole thing really shimmers and sparkles!!  I loved how it turned out!  I hope you’ve enjoyed it too!

Thanks so much for dropping in today and I sure hope that you will be joining with us over in the Whimsy Stamps Facebook Group for the St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations this week!!  Would love to see YOUR mostly green creations too!!  🙂  Don’t forget there will be prizes, inspiration and fun!!  Go check it out!

Here’s the Whimsy Stamps products used on my card today:

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WS-Copic display

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

  1.  Double Trouble – challenge #23 – “Thing 1“:  The Wearin’ O’ the Green “Thing 2“:  Collaboration with Heart 2 Heart Challenge (entered below!)  “Thing 3“:  Include a golden touch (used gold mirror cardstock and sequins filled with gold Stickles!)shamrock border Thing 1 with BalloonsKilt wihTHING 2pot of gold and rainbow and Thing 3 with Glasses
  2. Heart 2 Heart Challenge – Greens, Rainbows & Pots of Gold (3 part challenge)Double Trouble - Green Badge
  3. Daisy Chain – Spring is in the Air!
  4. Creative Inspirations – Spring Greens
  5. Mod Squad – Green, Green Everywhere
  6. Crafting By Designs – Anything Goes
  7. Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenges – Rainbow (edited to add)Rainbow

Anything Goes for Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends!  It’s time for an easy peasy “ANYTHING GOES” challenge over at Cute Card Thursday this week!!  Our monthly sponsor Whimsy Stamps will be joining us this week and I’m thrilled to share some of those products on my card today:

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I have used this really sweet digital stamp on my card called “Penguin Loves Bunny“!  He is holding him ever so tightly and not wanting to let go!! 🙂

As I’m trying to get back into the swing of things here, I wanted to be sure to join some challenges and so I’ve picked out a nice sketch to start my card with here.  (See the details below the post for all challenges.)  I’ve been wanting to get out these yummy plaid papers that I’ve had for a couple of years.  This seemed like the perfect image for that too!

So I took the panel of plaid papers and layered it with some kraft cardstock.  I took some white organdy ribbon and wrapped a piece around the left side of it and tied on a bow at the top before attaching it to the upper right of my A2 sized top folding white card base.  I’ve cut out the image with an oval die and then layered another oval piece that was cut out with the kraft cardstock.  This oval panel was layered over the plaid.

I took a sentiment from the Whimsy Stamps Everyday Mini Sentiment clear stamp set and stamped the “miss you” underneath the image.  I also used the Whimsy Stamps Friend Word & Shadow die set to cut a piece of vellum with the shadow and then cut the word out with some pink cardstock and then attached them right underneath the stamped “miss you” sentiment.  Lastly, I’ve added some of the pink enamel dots from the Whimsy Stamps It’s a Party enamel dots set.

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Here’s a closer look at the coloring of this image.  I’ve colored it in with Copic markers in the following colors:

  • Penguin:  C8, C5, C3, C1, Y38, Y35, Y32, R00
  • Bunny:  E47, E44, E42, E41, W5, W3, W1, R20, R11, R00

I also used a blender 0 and a white gel pen for cheeks and bunny tail

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I thought this image would be so fun for Easter too!!  I can see it used in so many different ways!  It’s a new digital release for the month of March at Whimsy Stamps, so it would be a great one to pick up!!

Also, don’t foget to play along with us over at Cute Card Thursday for your chance to possibly win something from our sponsor this week which is Whimsy Stamps!  Stop by and check out the inspiration from the rest of the design team!!  Can’t wait to see what you’re making!!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today!!  Thanks so much for dropping in!!  See you soon!

Here’s the Whimsy Stamps products with affiliate links used today:

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WS-Copic display

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Challenges I’d like to enter my card for:

  1.  Tuesday Morning Sketches – #493TMS 493
  2. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + related to animals
  3. Creative with Stamps – FriendsCWS#36_Friends
  4. {Cupcake Inspirations} – Plaid CIC465465
  5. QKR Stampede – Anything Goes #337