Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Treat Yourself & You're Stinkin' Cute Gift Tag

I put together this gift tag using the Treat Yourself and You're Stinkin' Cute mini sets from Lawn Fawn, and loved the finished product! I stamped each image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then colored in the images using watercolor pencils. I die cut a circle using a circle stackables die set, and mounted the images with foam squares. I finished the tag with blue and white bakers twine from Paper Source, and wrote the to/from info on the back of the tag, for my sweet niece!


This tag is being entered into the current Lawnscaping Challenge #126: Sweets.

Love You S'more Birthday Card!

My nephew's birthday is today, so for his card I wanted to make use of the Lawn Fawn Love You S'more stamp set as well, and create a fun woodsy-themed card.

I first created my card background with espresso ink and the fir stamps from Lawn Fawn's Deck the Halls set. I stamped and heat-embossed the fun images from Love You S'more, and colored in the s'more (inside the card) and the marshmallow with watercolor pencils. I used the coordinating dies to cut out the images, using the largest flame die with Poppy Paper Source paper, and then stamped one of the smiles from Pizza My Heart.

I adhered the various images using 3M foam tape on the outside of the card before working on the sentiment inside.

For the sentiment, I created a hybrid sentiment by using elements from two sets. I spaced these out on a stamp block and then removed the large S'MORE before stamping and embossing with espresso ink and clear embossing powder. (For the sentiment, I used HAVE from Sweet Smiles and the rest came from Love You S'more). I then stamped S'MORE with VersaMark ink and embossed using both a bright orange and a yellow embossing powder from Paper Source, which gave a fun finish. I then added the s'more to the inside with a foam square to finish off the inside.






The front of the card didn't quite look finished to me, so I decided to add the two strips of paper diagonally across the front. I had a scrap of Red Paper Source paper that had been stamped with the gingham background using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink that I paired with a solid Clover Paper Source paper to add to the card's front, which worked perfectly to finish out the card.











This card is being entered into the current Lawnscaping Challenge #126: Sweets.


Let's Toast!

For the current Lawnscaping Challenge (Sweets!), I decided to create a congrats card, and finally try out the Lawn Fawn scripty congrats die. I was wanting to find a use for the Perfectly Plaid and other patterned 6x6 papers, too, as I often create cards without patterned paper and wanted to challenge myself to use them for something other than my iPhone case!

I started this card by creating a card base from Superfine White Paper Source paper, then cutting the blue plaid sheet down to match the size. I found two corresponding green patterned papers to use for the grass, and die cut them with the Speech Bubble Border die to create the hills (one paper was sent to me from Lawn Fawn with an order a while back, and the other from a random assortment of 6x6 patterned paper packs that got jumbled together). I stamped Let's Toast! inside the card with Memento Tuxedo Black ink at this point, too. I then rounded the bottom corners of the card base and the patterned papers, and set them aside.

I stamped the fun images from Love You S'more in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Superfine White Paper Source paper, and colored in most of them with distress ink 'watercoloring' (with the exception of the marshmallows and s'more on the inside of the card, which I'd colored in with watercolor pencils), and stamped the brown sticks/logs stamps with espresso ink before die-cutting all of the images with the corresponding dies. I also used the smaller two flame dies to cut out the flames from Sunshine and Poppy Paper Source papers, as I wanted them to stand out a bit more. Lastly, I die-cut the scripty congrats four times - twice from white cardstock and once each from Clover and Sunshine Paper Source paper. I glued the congrats with the green on the bottom, whites in the middle, and yellow on top to give them dimension.

I then began adding the various elements using a tape runner for most of the elements, and using foam squares to pop up the elements that are raised. The green bird on top of scripty congrats and the S'more inside the card were popped up with 3M tape, as I wanted them to have less elevation than the scene at the bottom of the card.

This card is being entered into the current Lawnscaping Challenge #126: Sweets.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Interchangeable Phone Case - Carrots and Spring!

For the past few years, I've used a clear phone case for my iPhone, and cut paper backgrounds to cover the back, which has allowed me to change up my iPhone case regularly, and is much cheaper than buying a new case every time. I just switched mine up for Spring, and thought I'd share the fun result.


I recently bought the Lawn Fawn Rooting for You stamp set and coordinating dies, and have been having a lot of fun playing with the set. It comes with multiple stamps to use in layers to make each of the root vegetables, and I really enjoyed stamping out a ton of these veggies and experimenting with color combos. I now have a whole garden full of paper vegetables I can use in different projects!




I made these two cards (basically copies of two cards I'd seen from the Lawn Fawn blog!), and am loving the set! I particularly love how you can use the set without the faces (like in this first card below), and it could easily make for a more mature and sleek card, or add the fun faces and cheeks to make something more whimsical.




I also recently bought the Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid 6x6 paper deck that includes a ton of really great plaid Springtime designs, and knew I was going to use one of them for my phone case this season. I also happened to have picked up a pack of the new seasonal Ultra Bright Springtime coverstock paper during my last shift at Paper Source, and was excited to see the fun bright colors coordinate very well with the perfectly plaid pack.

I initially just cut the perfectly plaid paper using the template that came with the phone case, but after using it for a few days, I felt like it was missing something. I sifted through my new Paper Source papers and found the Tulip, Grass, and Mint colors, and then found a sheet of the Poppy from my stash. I die cut the carrots out of the Poppy and Tulip and die cut the leaves out of the Mint and Grass papers.


I played around with the pattern of the carrots over the plaid background, seeing what it looked like with having them diagonal, or having every other carrot facing a different direction, but ended up deciding on three carrots lined up sideways, and made sure I placed them facing down when looking at the phone's camera for a horizontal picture. It gives your subjects something to smile about! :)

Monday, March 14, 2016

Husband's Birthday Card!

This Lawnscaping Color Splash challenge came at just the right time, as I needed to make my husband's birthday card. I hope he doesn't read my blog and see this before his birthday... :)
At our wedding in November, we decorated in part with planted succulents in fun mugs we'd found from thrift stores. It just so happens that the tiny succulent from Stuck On You fits perfectly with the tiny teacup from Love You a Latte!
I started by stamping the mug randomly on the card front, and then adding in the succulent stamp with a grass green Pigment Ink that coordinated perfectly with my Paper Source Clover paper (used for the sentiment banner). I wanted to stamp the mugs and succulents first to help with spacing the other filler stamps later.
I then found the two open heart stamps in the Blue Skies set to scatter around the card. I really liked the look of the solid image and the open images on this card, but felt like it needed another solid image to help, so I added in the tiny solid hearts in black at the last minute. I initially wanted to do the smaller hearts in green, but am so glad I chose black at the last minute, as it helps the sentiment and succulents really pop from the card!
I added the #happybirthday sentiment from #awesome on a strip of the Paper Source Clover coverstock, and then trimmed it and cut the notches in both sides (since I don't yet have the lawn cuts to do this!), and then adhered it to the card with foam squares. Lastly, I added one mug and succulent on the inside center of the card.

I am SO happy with how this card turned out, and am sure I'll continue to make more B&W cards with splashes of color in the future!

This card is being entered in to the Lawnscaping Challenge #125: Color Splash.



Saturday, March 12, 2016

Thankful

One of my favorite Lawn Fawn sets is Blue Skies!



I made this simple card with the yellow splash of color for the Lawnscaping Challenge #125: Color Splash! I lightly colored in the larger balloon with watercolor pencils before die-cutting it, and adhered it to the card with foam squares. I used Butter yellow embossing powder from Paper Source on the sentiment, and trimmed the black paper into a flag before adhering with a tape runner.

I'm really enjoying this challenge, and excited to work on a few more cards using this technique!

Friday, March 11, 2016

Baked With Love jar recipe gift tags & Thank You card

This Christmas, my husband bought me the Tangerine KitchenAid mixer from our wedding registry! (!!!!!!) This, of COURSE, required me to immediately buy the Baked With Love set from Lawn Fawn. :) I immediately went to work baking some delicious treats, and then found reasons to use the stamp set, first for his thank you card, and then translating this same card idea into a gift tag/recipe card for a few jar gifts we gave in January!

For Phillip's Thank You card, I mimicked a card I'd seen through the Lawn Fawn blog, where the creator used the fantastic Gingham Backdrops set to create a tablecloth, and then mounting the die-cut and watercolored (using watercolor pencils) Baked with Love images. The card (along with tablecloth) was first die-cut into a circle shape. I die-cut a second circle and scored it about 3/4 inch down from the top, then adhered the two circles together (just above this fold) to create the folded card.

Phillip and I had made mason jar cookie mixes to take to two friends (one for a birthday, another as a host gift), so I replicated the circle design as a gift tag, writing the recipe on the back. For these tags, I replaced the other Baked With Love images with cookies instead that were made by die-cutting tiny circles with the lawn cuts from Owen's ABCs out of Paper Bag paper that had been pre-dotted with 'sprinkles', and then edging them in espresso pigment ink. I then cut a bite out of one card for each tag, and adhered all the pieces together. I made sure to match the kitchen aid color to the recipients' mixers, of course. :)



SUPER EASY and fun gift idea - and delicious recipe, too! We also kept one mix of the cookie ingredients for ourselves, and thoroughly enjoyed them after delivering the treats to our friends!



Happy 7th Birthday to my Nephew!

My nephew turns 7 this weekend, so I had to put together a birthday card, and felt like this was a great opportunity to try out the black & white with a splash of color technique for the 125th Lawnscaping Challenge!

For this card, I used stars from the Blue Skies, party hats from the Hats Off to You, and the small cupcake from Birthday Tags to create the fun B&W patterned background. I then used the photo frame die from #awesome to cut out three frames from an old Paper Source calendar, and stamped and die-cut a fourth frame on white for the top layer. I figured out my placement then set these frames aside so I could color in the background that was framed with watercolor pencils. I also die-cut and colored in the larger cupcake from the Baked With Love set (also using watercolor pencils). The frames were added on with your standard tape runner, shifting them so they created the fun color splash, and the sentiment (also from #awesome) was heat embossed in white on black, and the strip added to the card with tape runner as well. Finally, the cupcake was adhered with a foam square to make it pop.


This card is being entered in to the Lawnscaping Challenge #125: Color Splash.