Hey look! It's my mini me!

I ordered these adorable little stamps this week from Art Impressions BFF line called Cupcake.   The first thought when I saw it was hey.....a little mini-me!  I love anything that mixes my card making with my cake baking.

I've been looking for some simple images to practice my watercoloring on and this one caught my eye.  The image is the perfect size for the front of an A2 card but I did think the sentiments were a little too small for me.  I like a nice big greeting on my cards so I decided to mix it up a little with some larger sentiments from My Favorite Things.  This first card I made for my niece.

This second card might look familiar.  It's one I made up last week with all the dimensional watercolored balloons.  I just thought this little mini me was a fun addition and really made it look like a party!

I can see this stamp set being used over and over again on my cards.  I think she'll be a big hit with my friends.  I wish I could find this same character in different poses.  Maybe holding a tiered cake......hmmmm, that has me thinking........

Have a great weekend!!

A.J. and Chelsea's Wedding Cake

Back in February a sweet childhood friend of my daughter's came to me with a request.  She wanted me to make her wedding cake.  I must admit, my first thought was.....as long as it's not a summer wedding.  Tiered cakes are so stressful for me in hot weather.  But I really wanted to do this cake for her so when she told me the middle of May I thought what the heck.  In northern Illinois the weather is usually still nice and cool.  Not a problem.  She also wanted to keep things clean and simple and she really wanted an art deco look to their cake..  No fondant, just buttercream.  As the guest list grew, so did the cake.  I sketched up a plan for a starting point.

I was excited to see she had chosen my favorite color light teal as an accent and she really wanted some shiny gold accents.  Adding some sculpted coins to the bottom of the cake so that any lighting she had in the room would make the cake shine.

As time got closer and the final head count rolled in, the cake got a little smaller.  We took the bottom 14" tier out of the cake design and decided to go with four tiers.  Since each tier was going to be 5" high this was still going to be a LOT of cake.

Let the fun.........and the 80+ degree weather begin!

Yes, the weather took a turn and we had wonderful, muggy, summery temperatures.  (of course we did!  LOL!)  Perfect for working with buttercream. ;) 

The windows were closed, the air was cranked up and my house smelled wonderfully yummy!!

The gold "coins" were a wonderful accent!  I would love to do a whole cake like this some time.

With the help of my husband and daughter and battling the surprise heat wave,  we delivered and set up on site.  I topped this cake with an art deco style cake topper that I made using my favorite sculpting ingredients.....Rice Krispy Treats and gumpaste.

The bride did an amazing job decorating the venue.  It was beautiful!  The cake table glowed and so did the cake.  The gold coins were a perfect touch!

Congratulations Chelsea and A.J.!  May you have many years of love and happiness together.

And thank you so much for letting me be part of your special day!

A card for Lily

Every time I see one of these adorable little girl figures I think of  my little 4 year old niece Lily.  I only get to see her a couple times a year so in between visits I'm trying to get into the habit of sending her a little something to remember me by.   This time I put this adorable card in a big envelope with a cute little sun dress, a sticker book and some skittles with the hopes this colorful package will bring a big smile.

I really love these little girl images but I'm leary to purchase the stamps because I really don't know many little girls to make cards for.  I ended up finding this free image online and thought it would be a great way to practice my coloring also.  I printed it out and then traced over it with permanent marker so that the ink wouldn't bleed.  Then I brought out my Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Markers and a water brush to play with some blending techniques.

I carefully cut this image out and then prepped the card base by stamping with a striped border stamp set from My Favorite Things . Then, I stamped and diecut a stitched frame and greeting for a colorful but simple background.  I like the affect the white frame gave on white cardstock.  It grounded the card a little so that the little girl doesn't just look like she's floating in mid air.

Thanks for stopping by!

OWH - Finishing Strong Blog Hop

I'm so happy there won't be a need for cards anymore.  It means our heroes are coming home!  It was such a wonderful experience being part of such an amazing organization.  I will miss making card though.  Here's my red, white and blue tribute to the blog hop honoring our heroes.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day everyone!

MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #229

For this week's sketch challenge over at My Favorite Things I used a  used those fabulous flamingos!

I kept the layout of the sketch pretty much the same but instead of triangles I used heart shapes.  The inside is stamped "SMILE" in the same pretty blue.  
(Update: This card received some awesome recognition from MFT!)

For this card I used the following supplies from:

My Favorite Things:

Heart Stax Die-namics

Flamingos Die-Namics

Inside & Out Diagonal Stitch Rectangle Stax Die-Namics

Mini Scallop Edge Die-Namics

Palm Tree Die-Namics

Fresh Cut Flowers Die-Namics

Smile Stamp Set

I also used:

Memento Ink: Tuxedo Black

Glossy Accents

clear sequins

And just for kicks I'll throw in this other card today using those adorable flamingos because I just can't seem to get enough of them!  The sentiment, word bubble, flowers and background die are all from Lil' Inker designs.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Enjoy your day!

So many cards!

I have just been on such a card making kick the last few months. I've been participating in every challenge I can get my hands on.  In between challenges I'm still whipping up cards, the ideas are endless in my head.  Here are a few that I didn't make for challenges but I think turned out beautiful.  For some I used older supplies that I had on hand and others are made with brand new releases that I just couldn't resist.

First is a card I made using some awesome dies and stamped sentiment from My Favorite Things.  This tropical card was so fun to make, from the palm tree to the sunset and those beautiful flamingos.

For this card I used a Martha Stewart floral stamp set that I've had in my stash for a few years and then added a new sentiment die and stamp set by Simon Says Stamp. 

I saw this awesome diecut technique online and just knew I had to give it a try.  First I stamped and watercolored these gorgeous Penny Black flowers on white cardstock then I used a coverup die from Lil' Inker Designs.   I added some dimension buy cutting the die again and doing some creative layering to raise part of the diecut image.

For this card I put my MISTI stamp tool to good use and used a WPlus9 border stamp  to create this multi colored background.  I cut a curved edge from the front of the card using Border Builders die by Lil' Inker Designs, then adhered the smaller cut piece to the inside of the card.   

And last, but not least, I am posting this Mother's Day card a little late.  I thought I had already posted it.  My mother loved this beautiful poppy card using Penny Black stamp and a little butterfly from Kaisercraft.  I did some light stamping in the background and water colored the Poppies with Ranger distress inks. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

A New Day!

A few weeks ago I picked up this really cute little stamp set from WPlus9 but I haven't had much of a chance to play with it....until today!

I see a lot of cards being made with this stamp set using many great techniques.  I think my favorite is watercoloring.  It's such a great image to color because of the size and the fact that it is a natural element that leaves so much room to the imagination and so much margin for error.  LOL!  Just grab a brush and go!  

Well all this talk of the new Kuretake Zig Real Brush markers going around it kind of sparked an interest in me this week.  It made me think about my poor little Ranger Distress Markers sitting on the shelf with no one to play with.  Yes, I am going to skip over this Kuretake fad for as long as possible and focus on using the supplies I already have.  I still have so much to learn about my Distress Markers and just need some time to work with them.  I don't do a lot of coloring on my cards but watercoloring really sparks my interest.  So, out came my Distress Markers and water brush and voila!  

Here's today's project.  Three A2 sized note cards using the same supplies, with different color combinations.  The dies I used are from Lil' Inker Designs: Stitched Mats: Circles, Stitched Mats: Rectangles and the Quilted Stitched Pattern die.

So tell me of the three, which one is your favorite?  

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a great new day!!  ;)

Lil' Inker Design's Monthly Meetup Challenge - May #2

Just for fun I thought I'd whip up one more for Lil' Inker Design's Monthly Meetup Challenge.

For this card I brought out the cute little Sending Pretty Mail stamp set.  I use this stamp set a lot on the back of my cards or to create a cute design on my envelopes.  There are a lot of great little sentimements in it for those purposes.  This time however, I decided to try to make a note card out of the cute little snail image in that set.  I broke out a few bright colors to make this some very happy snail mail.

For this card I used the following supplies from:

Lil' Inker Designs:

Sending Pretty Mail stamp set

Stitched Mats: Rectangles die set

On The Diagonal die

Stitched Sentiment Flag die

I also used:

Hero Arts Shadow Inks:  Bubblegum, Butterbar, Tidepool, Wet Cement

Memento Ink: Tuxedo Black

Wink of Stella glitter pen

Thanks for stopping by.   Have a great week everyone!

Lil' Inker Design's Monthly Meetup Challenge - May

It's time for the Monthly Meetup Challenge again over at Lil' Inker Designs blog and I'm sneaking in right before the deadline.  I've been waiting for a few new things that I ordered so that I could play.

I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Boxed Up Birthday Greetings die that came out in the last release.  I just love this die and can already see it will be a regular on my birthday cards.  So many great possibilities with this die.  For this card I cut the birthday greeting out of a blue and a yellow cardstock and layered it kind of off a little to create a shadow affect with the letters.   I also used the Border Builders die in a different way to make some red banners to stretch across this card and added some punched out images from the Spot On stamp set.

For this card I used the following supplies from:

Lil' Inker Designs:

Boxed Up Birthday Greeting die

Border Builders die set

Stitched Mats: Rectangles die set

Spot On stamp set

I also used:

Memento Ink: Tuxedo Black

silver sequins

patterned Chevron cardstock

Martha Stewart 1" circle punch

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Bring On The Cake!

A while back I ordered this awesome tiered cake die set Bring On The Cake from My Favorite Things.  Since cake decorating is another favorite hobby of mine I thought that it would be fun to incorporate that into my cards also.  It's such a fantastic die set with coordinating stamp phrases that I love.  I just don't seem to be able to use them as much as I'd like.  Well, this week I was excited to make both a wedding card and a birthday card using this set.

For this card I used the following supplies from:

My Favorite Things:

Bring On The Cake Die-Namics

In & Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangle Die-Namics

Simon Says Stamp:

Wishing Die

Sending and Wishing Stamp set

I also used:

Stampabilities: Damask cling stamp set

Hero Arts Shadow Ink:  Tide Pool

Versamark ink

white embossing powder

silver foil cardstock

small flower punch

small diamond jewels

Then while I had this die set out I whipped up this cute birthday card.  I was inspired by a card I saw over at Kimberly Crawfords blog.  I loved her use of the negative space so much that I just had to give it a try.

For this card I used the following supplies from:

My Favorite Things:

Delicious Birthday Stamp set

Happy Birthday Background Stamp

Bring On The Cake Die-Namics

I also used:

Hero Arts Shadow Ink:  Tide Pool

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Glossy Accents

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Now, it's off to bake a cake!  ;)

MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #227

Well, vacation is over and I'm happy to say I didn't miss out on any My Favorite Things challenges while I was gone.  As soon as I got back home I tackled this awesome sketch #227.

I decided to use this opportunity to make up a birthday card for one of my May birthdays.  I loved the long banner in this sketch and knew I could do something cute with it.  First by stenciling some large polka dots and then by added a super duper 3 scoop ice cream cone with a cherry on top.

I took this opportunity to play with the inside too by stacking a bunch of scoops along the side to compliment that cute little sentiment about never having too much happy (which is totally true by the way!).

For this card I used the following supplies from:

My Favorite Things:

Pinstripe Background Stamp

Smile Stamp set

In & Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangle Die-Namics

Sweet Treats Die-Namics

Large Polka Dot Stencil

WPlus9:

Happy Trio Dies

Winnie & Walter:

The Big, The Bold, The Happy Stamp set

I also used:

Hero Arts Shadow Inks: Bubblegum, Butter Bar, Cup O' Joe

Versamark Ink

Embossing powder; clear and white

Glossy Accents

Thanks so much for stopping by!

MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #226

Who's up for another great sketch challenge from over at My Favorite Things?  Let's do it!

For this card I decided to add a little patterned paper to the mix.  I don't usually use patterned paper on my cards  but I really liked the cute little triangles in this one and it reminded me of confetti.  I really loved working with this sketch.  It has so many great layers and the tag just made me feel like it needed to go with a birthday gift.  I used the Stitched Jumbo Fishtail Banner dies for the tag on this but I wanted it to have the same shape as the one in the sketch has.  After I cut it out I just re-positioned the die at an angle on each upper corner so that I would still have that stitched edge on an angle.

For this card I used the following supplies from:

My Favorite Things:
Accent It - Celebrate Die-Namics
1st Place Award Ribbon Die-Namics
Stitched Jumbo Fishtail Banner STAX Die-Namics
In & Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangle STAX Die-Namics
Fine Chevron Background Stamp

Lil' Inker Designs:
Stitched Mats - Rectangles Dies

Winnie & Walter:
The Big The Bold and The Happy Stamp Set

WPlus9:
Unforgettable Stamp set
Unforgettable Die set

Mama Elephant:
Embellished Tags Dies

I also used:
Hero Arts Shadow Inks:  Wet Cement, Charcoal
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink:  Worn Lipstick
American Crafts Dear Lizzy Paper:  Lucky Charm
twine and sequins

Thanks so much for stopping by!

OWH Sketch #253

Today I'm working off of sketch #253 over at the Operation Write Home blog.  Once again, keeping it bright and cheerful for our heroes!

For my card I chose to use chevron vertical strips instead of straight.  For the circle element I diecut a window and covered it with a transparency film.  I thought it would be fun to float a little sentiment in the window.

I added a little decorate element to the flip side of that sentiment to cover up whatever glue was showing.  I love the whole look of transparency windows and the best thing about this card is that it has a lot of interest but is nice and flat, so it's great for mailing.

For this card I used the following supplies from:

My Favorite Things:
Pinking Edge Circle STAX Die-Namics
1st Place Award Ribbon Die-Namics
Chevron Stripes Die-Namics

Lil' Inker Designs:
Spot On Stamp set

I also used:
Martha Stewart 1" circle punch
Technique Tuesday Fabulous word die
Hero Arts Shadow Ink: Tide Pool
Transparency sheets
Silver foil cardstock


Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a great week!

MFT Color Challenge #20

It's time for another My Favorite Things Color Challenge!

Working with some great MFT dies and one of my favorite banner stamp and die sets.

I used the following supplies from:

My Favorite Things:

Pierced Square Die-Namics

Polka Dot Cover Up Die-Namics

Banner Greetings Stamp set

Banner Greetings Die-Namics

WPlus9:

Unforgettable Stamp and die set.

I also used:

Ranger Distress Inks: Victorian Velvet, Pumice Stone

Hero Arts Shadow Ink: Stone Wash

Stazon black ink

Thanks so much for stopping by!

DIY Ink pad storage using foam board.

A few weeks ago I posted some photos of a storage unit I made from a cardboard box.  The idea was wonderful and I was thrilled that it was so easy.  While it worked really great it wasn't exactly what I wanted looks wise.  I have a white Expedit shelving unit from Ikea that I put it in and really wanted a nice white shelving display instead.  I thought about painting the cardboard one but that just seemed like a hassle.  I ran across some instructions on pinterest on how to make a similar storage unit only out of foam board.  I picked up 3 large pieces of foam board this week and this morning I spent about two and a half hours cutting and glueing another one together. 

 It really was a simple project.  The hardest part was cutting all the little pieces and shelving.  I made a couple measuring mistakes along the way but for the most part it went extremely smooth and easy.  All I used was two and half pieces of white foam board, a craft knife, T-square, a hot glue gun and gluesticks.  Surprisingly the hot glue was rock solid.  It adhered the pieces instantly.

It slid into 13x13" slot perfectly after I made a couple ajustments.  I added a little piece to the top front to make it look more fninished and to also make it just a tad bit higher so there would be no gap between the unit and the shelf above.  

Just like the cardboard one it slid right in.  This one is a better fit though with no big gaps on the top or side.  It's very sturdy (which I wouldn't have thought foamboard would be).  What I like the most about this though is that it's white and much brighter when it's pushed to the back like this.  It actually looks like part of the shelving unit.  For as quick, easy and inexpensive as this is to make (around $9)  I will be able to add another one as my ink collection grows.  

Thanks for stopping by!